#I want to be the Zack to her Rachel from Angels of Death kind of if that makes sense | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

porcelain-soupspoon4 · 4 years ago

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You’re Not So Bad (Isaac Foster x Reader)

A/N: I finished Angels of Death a few weeks back, and it was so good! I just had to write a short story about it. I’m not the best writer, but hopefully my first writing of this anime is somewhat close to Zack’s character.

Warnings: Cussing, Blood Mention (it’s Zack)

You never expected to meet someone like Zack until he arrived on Floor B2. You assisted Reverend Gray, acting as another guardian of B2 after he took you in when he found you as a homeless teen, sleeping on the outside steps of his building. He wasn’t the best father figure you could’ve had, but he still treated you better than the streets did. When hearing the elevator on your floor ding, you wanted to see who was there, but Reverend Gray stopped you, warning you to be careful of the people you may meet. When you asked why, he described the people that held the names Isaac Foster and Rachel Gardner. In all honesty, you didn’t think they were actually as bad as he made them sound, considering that he over exaggerates his descriptions of people to you to keep you safe. Also considering the other psychotic people he had as guardians on the other floors, you could trust your own gut when you met the duo. You stayed hidden in the background while you watched Reverend Gray journey with Rachel to Dr. Danny’s floor. Watching them leave from the end of the hall, you saw a man in a dark brown hoodie and a scythe laying on the ground. That must be Isaac Foster. You could tell that he was bleeding out badly, a pang of guilt and empathy coursing through you. You were hesitant to approach him, remembering that the Reverend said he was dangerous to meddle with and there was a high chance he could react violently to you if you dared to try and talk. But seeing him looking on the verge of death, you couldn’t help but walk slowly toward him. It may seem unreasonable to walk right into danger, but you knew you could take care of yourself. Reverend Gray provided you with a weapon of your own, a basket-hilted sword. He helped you to perfect every swing and stab. Not only that, but you weren’t too bad at fighting hand-to-hand either. Luckily, Isaac Foster appears to be too injured to try and fight back anyway. I honestly don’t think my sword would be able to block his scythe well, I hope he doesn’t use it on me, you thought. As you got closer and closer to the strange man, he fidgeted a bit. You paused your movements, clutching the handle of your sword in its scabbard. He weakly turned his head towards you, his eyes opening slowly.

“Who the fuck are you? You gonna try and kill me?” he questioned, a sharp tone in his voice. You noticed he made no effort to reach for his scythe, so you let go of your sword’s handle.

“No.....I wouldn’t try to kill someone if they’re already dying,” you responded. He let out a dry laugh.

“I hate to break it to ya sweetheart, but I’m not dying any time soon. Monsters are hard to kill. Besides, good ‘ol Rachel’s gonna fix me up. But enough of the chitter chatter, you didn’t answer my first question. Who the fuck ARE you? I thought there’s only one guardian on each floor, unless Reverend Shithead cheated,” he spat. You let out a small chuckle, finding his way of talking a throwback to when you were a teen. Although, he seemed to be around the same age as you, twenty or twenty-two years old. His bandaged face looked confused to your lighthearted reaction. He scowled, “Hey, what’s all that laughing for? I didn’t even say anything funny.”

“Oh nothing, just thinking of my teenage days. But to answer your first question, I am another guardian of this floor. My job is assisting Reverend Gray on this floor, though I’m not really allowed to interact with the people who come here. But I uh, couldn’t help feeling a bit bad for you, seeing you bleed out like that,” you finally confessed. Letting out another dry laugh, he looked at you with a smirk.

“Feeling bad for me, huh? Not the best decision. Don’t know if you can already tell, but I’m a cold-blooded serial killer. If I wasn’t feeling shitty at the moment, I’d cut that pretty head of yours off. Seeing you this calm around someone like me really pisses me off,” he said. You only let out another small chuckle, which irked him even more.

“I’m sure you would, Isaac Foster. Although, I don’t think a fight between the two of us would end so quick. My weapon may be smaller than yours, but I can hold my own very well. If I could survive majority of my childhood and teen years being alone in the streets, I think I could survive you,” you calmly said. His temper apparently sky-rocketed because the next moment, he was yelling.

“The name’s Zack, you bitch! Don’t go being so confident in yourself, it’s sickening to watch. I bet my ass could ruin all that confidence with just one land of my scythe. I’ll have you begging for your life, just you wait ‘til I’m in a better state to kill ya. Ugh, now I have two bitches to kill!” he groaned, then coughed loudly, more blood oozing out of his wound. You felt guilty again, wanting to at least stop the bleeding for a little while.

“I carry some bandages and patches with me in case there’s a time I ever need to fix myself. If you need some I can-”

“Just leave it alone, will ya? I already got Rachel getting shit for me back on the other floor, I don’t need your damn help! Why the hell does everyone wanna help me?”

“M’kay, but you’re bleeding pretty badly, by the time she comes back, you’ll most likely be passed out-”

“I said leave it alone! Stop tryna play nurse, your stuff probably won’t even do shit.”

“But it’s better to stop the bleeding as soon as-”

“Will you shut up? You’re gonna make me go into shock.”

“I just wanna help-”

“I said I don’t want any damn help!”

“Well you won’t be much of a monster by bleeding out all over this damn floor! If you wanna at least live long enough to kill that girl Rachel, you could at least be somewhat decent and let me patch you up before you go all out, getting your own self killed instead! Now shut the fuck up and let me help! Geez! How does that blonde girl deal with you?” you shouted. Your yelling got him to close his mouth and shut up, surprised that he got someone as calm as you to get angry. How can I get her angry, but not scared shitless? It’s like she wasn’t even phased by my damn appearance, he thought. There was a short silence in the hallway, until Zack finally spoke up. “Didn’t know you had all that anger in ya. Heh, to be honest you even got my crazy self startled. I have no clue how Rachel deals with me, but all I know is her messed up head wants me to kill her. So I’ll do it. If I want to keep my promise to her.....I guess you should do what ya want. But don’t be a pervert about it.”

A small smile formed on your face as you took out your supplies in the small medical bag you carried around.

“How the hell are you smiling after all that? Sheesh, I’m starting to think you’re even weirder than Rachel is,” Zack let out noises of disgust. You scoffed, rolling your eyes at his childlike behavior.

“Tell me something.....,” he began to say, “why haven’t ya mentioned anything about my appearance? I’m literally covered in bandages and burnt underneath. Don’t I freak you out at all? Why aren’t ya scared?”

“Well, I’ve seen crazier. I also don’t like to make a judgement about someone based on only their appearance. Sure you’re not ordinary looking, but I know there’s more about you than what I see on the outside,” you replied. Everything that you needed to help him was taken out. You didn’t have any type of alcohol or a sewing needle and thread to fully cover what you believed to be a deep gash in his abdomen, but it was all that could be done for now until Rachel got back. You reached over towards his wound, but hesitated. You looked him in the eyes, as if you were silently asking for permission. He nodded slightly, his breathing hitching a bit when he saw the look your eyes held. You looked so genuine, not one hint of fear in you. Was that.....kindness? No, it couldn’t be. Why would anyone show kindness to him? You unzipped his hoodie, a faint blush on your face. Sure he was an asshole, but it still felt.....somewhat intimate? Not in an inappropriate way, just in a trustworthy way. The fact he had so much trust in one stranger to help him like this.....it was odd. You undid the bandages already on him that were worn out. His wound was revealed, and so was his skin. Wow....is all of him burned? You shook your thoughts away. You grabbed a bunch of gauze sponges you had and grouped them together, beginning to apply pressure to his wound. Zack hissed at the pain, saying almost every curse word you think is in the dictionary. You let out a soft “Sorry” as you continued to clean up the big amount of blood on his body. Once you began to bandage him up tightly, Zack started up another conversation.

“You’re different from the other guardians.....why aren’t ya trying to kill me? Isn’t that what you guardians do?” he asked curiously. You showed him another small smile. That damn smile, why does she smile so easily at me? It’s not like Rachel’s forced ass smile. What’s up with this bitch? Why is her smile so.....familiar?

“Well, like I said before, I just assist Reverend Gray on this floor. He’s the main guardian. I’m just someone he happened to take in after he found me sleeping on the steps of this building. Heh, teenager me. Homeless after my parents abandoned me as a toddler. I’m not sure what made Reverend Gray want to keep me. Sometimes he acts like a father, but then I remember how self praising he is,” you sighed, “I know the people on the other floors kill so you expect me to be the same, but I don’t want to kill someone if they aren’t totally out of their mind.”

“So is that why you didn’t try to kill me? Cause ya think I’m not totally out of my mind? Heh, well I’m pretty sure me killing people for fun isn’t sane either. I hate seeing people happy, sooooo I kill ‘em. What’s not psycho about that?” Zack stated.

“Well for starters, I didn’t try to kill you because you were already injured, so it wouldn’t have been fair. And you can’t be totally out of your mind if you let me help you with your injury.” Zack scowled at your reply, knowing you were right. Even as a serial killer, he had morals. He hated lying, and he himself would never tell a lie.

“You remind me of him too much,” he grumbled. Your head perked up.

“Did you say something?”

“I said you talk too much.”

“No, you definitely said something else.”

“No I said you talk too much.”

“Doubt it, tell me what ya really said.”

“That is what I really said.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Zack.”

“Ugh, I said you remind me of him too much,” he said softly.

“Him?” you questioned. Zack sighed. “There was this man I met when I was younger, a blind man. He let me stay at his place for a couple days. Even after I told him I killed a guy, he still had that dumb smile on his face. He always had that smile on his face around me. It was annoying, him being so calm around someone like me. Pissed me off, but I didn’t kill him. He fed me and everything. I mean he already died cause of something else, but it doesn’t matter anyway. Are ya done with my bandages yet? It feels like it’s been hours!”

You rolled your eyes at his commentary. “Well, whoever that man is, he had quite the patience with you.”

“Hey! I was giving you a compliment! Geez, way to be rude!” Zack crossed his arms, turning away from you. You only chuckled once more. You finally finished wrapping enough bandages as you could, making sure it was snug enough.

“Happy now, angry boy? I’m done. They’ll still get bloody, but at least the bandages are fresh and not worn out,” you said, giving him another smile just to annoy him.

“Thanks,” he mumbled. “I never caught your name. Since I told ya mine, it’s only fair you tell me yours.”

“It’s (Y/N),” you said.

“Well (Y/N),” Zack rubbed the back of his head. “You’re not so bad.....maybe I’ll keep ya alive.”

#angels of death #angels of death zack #isaac foster #zack foster #isaac foster x reader #isaac x reader #zack x reader #angels of death x reader #zack foster x reader #angels of death imagines #isaac foster imagines #isaac foster fluff #anime #isaac foster fanfic #angels of death fanfic #aod #aod x reader #satsuriku no tenshi

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chuuyas--boo · 3 years ago

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The "Judge" and The Sinner.

Tw: Violence, language, murder, Self harm

(Partially based off of 3 episodes of Angels of Death; Episode 4: A sinner has no right of choice, Episode 5; Don't let me kill you just yet, and Episode 6; Zack is the only one who can kill me. Some torture methods will be skipped over/changed slightly because most human beings can't endure all of the torture Zack and Rachel (Mostly Zack cause he's an idiot) went through without dying.)

The elevator doors opened and Riley slowly walked out onto B3, immediatley noticing the machine guns mounted on the walls, as if the last floor wasn't difficult enough; Running from the sweet but obsessive and insane ginger haired grave-keeper; Eddie.

A single bullet was fired from one of the guns, just barley missing Riley's arm causing her to stumble back, just as more bullets were fired rapidly, getting closer until they stopped, only inches away.

"Great...trying to fill me with bullet holes huh?"

"Hiii~! Terribly sorry I'm late! It took you so long to get here...I nearly dozed off! Still...I'm surprised you weren't killed just now! You sure have incredible intuition dear~"

"What..."

"Y'know something? I had a feeling you'd be a great sinner~! ...I must've needed some excitement cause that woke me right up!" "That's great and all miss...but I don't really care...Could you just let me through...?"

"I supposed I can do that~"

Bright lights shined on Riley and she narrowed her eyes so it wasn't so harsh.

The iron bar door slid open and Riley walked through, and walked down the hallway to a room with locked doors.

"You said you'd let me through..." her voice was calm yet slightly irritated.

"My~ You're so impatient! At least let me finish putting on my makeup!"

Riley let out a huff of annoyance.

"There's a certain procedure each criminal must go through before their punishment is assigned~ If I were you, I'd start getting ready now. In fact I'll even open up a room for you~"

One of the doors unlocked and Riley went in.

(ignore the fact Zack and Rachel are there, it's a room with the mugshot board(?), a camera, and a table with a bin with the name boards)

"Every legitimate criminal has a mugshot, right~? Take a pretty one for me! ...Oh and it's not a proper mugshot without your name board, of course~"

Riley walked over to the table, grabbed her name board out of the bin which said "Riley Morgan" on it, in letters that looked as if they were painted with blood...which wouldn't be surprising if it WAS blood.

"How am I supposed to do this by myself..."

Riley huffed, and moved the camera closer to the wall, hung the name board around her neck and quickly took a picture, narrowing her eyes slightly at the flash.

"There..."

Taking the name board off and tossing it to the side, Riley grabbed the photo and held it up towards the security camera, and the iron bars slid out of the way.

Walking out of the door; into another hallway, but this time with poorly drawn images of what seemed to be torture methods.

"They're illustrations of punishments I designed, for sinners just like you~! I'll give you a choice,...there's more than one way to punish a sinner you see~, So I've got a variety of painful options waiting for you! Of course...if you'd rather spend the rest of your life rotting in a cell...it's always on the table~!"

"What kind of pathetic person would decide to rot forever..."

"Oh~? Too bad...and here I was hoping I'd get to keep you forever! ahahah~!"

Silently Riley walked into one of the rooms, filled with dolls...life size wooden dolls in rows of chairs...with what looked to be an electric chair in the front. "She- She's really trying to fry me to death!"

But suddenly the iron bars slid open.

"Ahaha~! I know you wouldn't survive that kind of punishment! I'd like to see a little sinner like you suffer for longer~ So I ever so kindly let you through!"

Riley hesitated before walking out of that room, into another hallway, with a door that had a warning sign on it. "Doesn't seem like the best of ideas...but it's the only chance I've got"

Opening the door open, Riley imagined sitting in the electric chair and being shocked over and over until she eventually died and shuddered, once inside the door locked behind her. "Great..., as if it wasn't bad enough to be locked in here, it really stinks!" scrunching her nose at the smell, she noticed a corpse in the middle of the room.

Sighing, Riley walked over to one of the blood stained windows, pulled her knife out of her pocket and bashed the handle against the window as hard as possible, but nothing happened, not even the slightest crack.

The TV's in the room turned on, showing Cathy.

"Hiiii~! Did you miss me dear?"

"Like the plague." Riley said flatly.

"Let me give you an explanation of the room you're in right now! And you'd better listen closely if you want to live. I got a little carried away with the design~ It's completely sealed, making it impossible for air to get in or out! The window glass has been reinforced, so you won't be able to break it! And the best part...I'm about to fill it with something veryyy special! If you stay in there long enough, you'll be on your way to a nice, peaceful death. It's poison gas~! Obviously I wouldn't confine you to a place like that with no way out...in fact, here's a gift~ I've mercifully provided a gas mask! As long as you do your best, of the utmost faith you'll escape! Oh, and of course I think it'd be a bit boring if I let you sit in there forever, so I've added a time limit! I knowwww~ I'm sooo thorough! After your time runs out you'll be given another gift! A gas so potent the mask won't do any good against it! That's all for now, have yourself a good time in there, and try not to die, okay~?"

Sighing, Riley glanced at the gas mask in the middle of the floor as the poison gas began to flow into the room, noticing the cracks in the eye lenses "Yeah...that won't be all that helpful..." and then walked over to the corpse on the floor and crouched down.

"There's writing..."

Riley gently shoved the body out of the way and read it

"The one with the ugly foot, the foolish killer who stomped out life with the right foot..."

Pausing as the writing got more difficult to read Riley huffed and then continued.

"It says something like...if you feel guilty get rid of your right foot, if the crime and punishment are equivalent, light will shine in hell."

Riley hesitated before grabbing the right foot, and walked over to the scale and placed it on one side, then grabbed the bag that was placed on the table and set it on the other side of the scale and watched as it balanced out.

The gas started to get to her, and Riley started coughing as it got harder to breath, quickly running over to the gas mask and putting it on, despite the cracks in it, it'd be better than nothing. The gas mask helped a little, but made it harder to see.

"This is stupid! Why the hell bother providing something if it's only going to make it harder you sadistic bitch?!"

Letting out a sigh of frustration Riley looked around hoping something had happened, and noticed the safe in the corner of the room had opened slightly, inside was a wire and a key card. Grabbing both, Riley walked over to where the key card would be inserted and put it in.

The gas stopped slowly and Riley smiled to herself, glad she had figured it out.

"My, my~ What a smart sinner you are~!"

"You're the one that made me come in here in the first place..."

"And you're the sinner who got yourself into this place~! You coulddd chose to rot in a cell~ It's still an option on the table dear~"

"Like I'd decide to do that! I'd rather die immedatley."

"My, my~ someone's eager to be punished for her sins~!" "Not like I can leave this floor till I'm "punished" anyway..."

Cathy laughed as Riley walked out of the room, down a hallway very slowly, the gas still taking its toll. Eventually she sat down against a wall where the cameras wouldn't see her and fell asleep.

Waking up with a jolt, Riley shook her head trying to get rid of the thoughts from the nightmare. Getting up and slowly down the hall, into a room with a smashed doll house, half expecting to be required to do something, she sighed and glanced at the TV in the room.

"I'll let you pass through this one~ I didn't know enough about you to mentally torture you so you're lucky!"

"and you said I took a long time to get here, in that time you could've figured out more about me, but why would you want to? I'm just an ugly, pathetic, useless, boring bitch."

"Oh~? I don't think you're boring! You're actually quite an interesting sinner~ You're smart and I like that about you~ You remind me of that gorgeous sinner; Eddie~!" Not knowing if that was a good thing or not, Riley slowly walked down another hallway, separated in two by a wall in the center with barbed wire on the top, stopping at the table. The door up on the ledge opened and Cathy stepped out.

"How nice to finally meet you in person~!" Riley just gave her a cold glare "You gonna let me through or not?" "My! You shouldn't be so rude to a pretty lady like me~! In order to continue, you must inject yourself with those syringes, one contains vitamins and the other contains dangerous drugs!" "Which is which?" "AHAHAHAHA~!! It doesn't matter! I won't tell, besides I forgot~! Once you inject every last drop I'll gladly open up the door for you! You might wanna hurry though...or else someone you love will die~" and with that, Cathy went back the way she came.

"Great...this could kill me, I'll probably die anyway..."

Grabbing both syringes, Riley looked at them; one of them contained green liquid and the other was yellow, but the colors didn't give any hints as to which was the vitamins and which was the drugs, it wouldn't matter since she'd have to inject both. Quickly Riley injected both into her arm, tossed the empty syringes to the side and the door opened.

"Stupid bitch...my heads pounding..." Riley stopped in the dim hallway and leaned against the wall with her hands against her head.

The so called "dangerous drugs" just brought out the voices in her head, telling her to kill someone, or something and they only got more persistent by the second.

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Riley's voice had gone shrill, laced with insanity as it echoed through the dark empty hallway.

Continuing to walk down the hall as the voices got more and more persistent until she walked into a large room and the door slammed shut behind her, locking.

"Glad you could finally join your sister and I~! It took long enough..." There was a girl standing in the middle of the room with long dark brown hair and blueish green eyes.

"What does she have to do with this? I want nothing to do with her! She left me and Jack, and Jack died!!"

"Oh~, you don't want revenge~? All those voices in your head telling you to kill her but you just can't? Maybe you aren't as great of a sinner as I thought..." The brunette glanced at Riley "R-Riley don't...please..."

"Oh but why not!? Huh? WHY NOT LEXI!? Why shouldn't I? You left us alone, and Jack died. Why shouldn't I rip your throat out right here right fucking now?! So you can go be pathetic somewhere else? Nahhh~ I'll kill you myself, slowly and painfully and see how you like it!"

Fear shined in Lexi's eyes as Riley stepped closer

"Scared~? You should be!" Cathy laughed as she watched the two

"AHAHAH~!! I've provided you with a gun as well~ Kill her as you'd like!" Riley grabbed the gun and pointed it right at Lexi's head.

"You could've avoided this y'know? But you didn't...and now you'll pay for it!"

"RILEY PLEASE!" "You're gonna beg to live? Pathetic. If you're gonna beg, do it right, you don't look nearly as pathetic as he did." "W-wh-who d-did?" "You don't know? AHAH! Go on~ Tell her~!" Riley shot a cold glance at Cathy, enough to make her shut up, temporarily. "You're clueless...Jack? Yeahhh...I did it. I killed him." "YOU WHAT?"

Lexi attemped to grab the gun out of Riley's hand only to have it pressed to her chest.

"He begged me to, so I did." "You whore-" "Do you WANT me to pull this trigger? The trigger that'll end your pathetic existence?"

"Do as you please...it doesn't matter anymore..." Riley pulled the trigger but nothing happened.

Cathy giggled and then bursted out laughing.

Silently Riley pulled the knife out "You'll die one way or another~" and pointed it at Lexi's throat.

"Please...-"

Without saying anything, Riley took the knife and slid it across her arm, blood gushed down her arm but she seemed unbothered.

Silently Cathy got up, and walked down the stairs to where the siblings are "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE KILLING HER!" "Did I say I wasn't going to..?" The drugs would've worn off at this point, but because Riley was younger and smaller they hadn't yet, without hesitating she flicked the knife back towards Lexi

"RILEY PLEASE! Can't you hold back?" "Hold back!? IF I COULD I WOULDN'T BE HERE!" "Sinners can't control their bloodlust~ Just accept it!" Lexi stepped back only to stumble and fall

"Get up. Now." Lexi didn't get up, so Riley grabbed her arm and jerked her up making her stand up and quickly plunged the knife into her stomach over and over, blood gushed out and covered the floor around them, Cathy laughed as Riley plunged the knife deeper every time until she stopped and Lexi's body fell to the floor, limp and dead.

"My, my~ You ARE a great sinner~ Now you'll get your punishment~!"

Riley just glared at Cathy silently, her eyes seeming cold and dead.

Without warning the 4 guns in the corners of the room began firing, not knowing what to do, Riley ducked hoping they'd stop before they got to her, unfortunately they didn't and one shot her in the leg.

"You'd look great filled with bullet holes~" Collapsing on her knees, Riley glared up at Cathy "So would you" and pointed the gun at her, forgetting nothing had happened when she pulled the trigger last time.

"Go on~ Shoot me~!" "Why are you so eager to be shot?"

"Just do it! Unless....you aren't as great of a sinner as I thought~" Riley pointed it at Cathy's head and pulled the trigger but nothing happened "AHAHAHA~!! Foolish of you to think I'd actually give you a loaded gun!"

Despite the blood gushing from the bullet wound, Riley shakily got up "So...are you gonna kill me or..." "No. A sinner like you is much too interesting to be killed~!"

Riley sat on the floor, watching blood pool around her, and her sisters dead body in silence.

#Tw: Violence #Tw: murder #Tw: Language #Oc: Riley Morgan #Oc sibling: Lexi Morgan #Oc sibling: Jack Morgan #Catherine Ward #Angels of Death oc #satsuten #satsuriku no tenshi #tw: self harm

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femalechibiblogger · 5 years ago

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My Top 10 Most Tragic Villains

1. Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader

Anakin Skywalker is one of the most important characters in the Star Wars franchise. In the first movie, Anakin is only mentioned and is described as being a skilled Jedi Knight, a good pilot, and was also a good friend. Even in the prequels and cartoons that came years later, Anakin is shown to be kind, caring, and determined to save those closest to him. However...no one would have expected a great Jedi and friend to become the most infamous villain in the series. Anakin’s darker feelings, such as anger and jealousy, made him vulnerable to the Dark Side of the Force. When he has visions of his pregnant wife, Padme, dying in childbirth, Anakin is determined to do anything that he can to stop his vision from coming true...including betraying his friends, killing children, and helping a Sith Lord conquer the galaxy. However, Padme still dies, and Anakin becomes the Sith Lord: Darth Vader. Anakin had lost everything...his friends, his wife, everyone...and now all he had left was Emperor Palpatine and the Empire. But for many years, Anakin was unaware that his children had survived: His son Luke, and his daughter Leia. In the end, Anakin chooses to save Luke from Palpatine, and dies knowing that his son never gave-up on him.

Despite Darth Vader having been a villain, he is only a villain because he was deceived and tormented until he lost everything and everyone who loved and cared about him. For many years, Anakin was haunted by his past actions, and lived in great regret of what he had done. But in the end, we see that he still had some good left in him, as Palpatine could never destroy Anakin’s love for his children.

2. Arthur Fleck/Joker (2019)

Arthur Fleck is the main character of the original DC Comics story in the movie, Joker. Arthur is shown to be a mentally ill man who suffers from uncontrollable laughter due to a brain injury, who lives with his delusional and emotionally disturbed mother. Arthur worked as a clown, but his dream was to become a comedian. However, Arthur had been mocked by many people in Gotham, which caused him to kill three men who were harassing both him and a woman on a train. Arthur’s actions cause an uproar consisting of people who are either poor, unemployed, mentally ill, or all of the above. As the story progresses, Arthur discovers from shocking truths about his life: His mother had lied about him being the illegitimate son of her former boss, billionaire Thomas Wayne... His mother was actually his adoptive mother, and that he allowed her boyfriend to abuse Arthur...abuse that had caused him his head injury which is the reason for his uncontrollable laughing. Tired of being lied to and ridiculed all his life, Arthur kills his mother, dresses up as a clown, and kills people on live television. Not only that, but the protests that Arthur had unintentionally caused resulted in the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, whose murders were witnessed by their son Bruce.

This is one of the few stories that actually features Joker’s backstory. This movie is not based off of any comics, and is therefore an original story. While Joker is one of Batman’s most dangerous villains, this may be one of the greatest portrayals of his former self. Arthur Fleck had suffered his whole life, until he snapped and would become one of the Gotham’s greatest threats.

3. Simon Petrikov/Ice King

The Ice King was the main antagonist of the cartoon, Adventure Time. Throughout the series, Ice King would attempt to kidnap princesses, especially Princess Bubblegum, and would often fight the two main protagonists: Finn and Jake. However, Ice King’s past was unexpectedly revealed in the episode, Holly Jolly Secrets. At first the episode is comedic and shows videos of Ice King’s hilarity...but it all becomes serious and sad near the end. Ice King is revealed to have once been a human named ‘Simon Petrikov’, who specialized in mysterious, supernatural artifacts. Simon had a great career, and was madly in love with his fiance: Betty. But one day, Simon found a mysterious crown buried in ice and snow. When Simon put it on his head, it gave him visions that made him act insane without him even realizing it. This drove Betty away, and Simon began to slowly change physically, emotionally, and mentally. In the end, Simon was driven completely insane and lost all memories of his past. His obsession with princesses is because he used to call Betty his ‘princess’...though he did not remember calling her that. In the series finale, Simon is freed from the crown’s power and is returned to his old self.

While Ice King was introduced as a comedic villain, and was the main antagonist for most of the series...he is still a tragic villain do to him once being a sane man with a good life, but began to lose his mind because of the crown’s magic. At least he was transformed back into his old self, in the end.

4. Mr. Freeze

Mr. Freeze is one of the most famous and tragic villains in the Batman universe. Mr. Freeze is, of course, a villain who uses the cold in his crimes. But in the past, Mr. Freeze was a scientist named ‘Victor Fries’ who had a loving and caring relationship with his wife: Nora. Victor loved Nora more than anything in the world. But at some point, Nora was diagnosed with a fatal disease with not long to live. Desperate to save her, Victor had Nora cryonectically frozen in order to keep her alive until a cure for her illness was found. Unfortunately, however, the equipment malfunctioned, causing the lab to explode in ice with Victor in it. Victor survived, but the explosion caused his body to only be able to survive in extremely cold weather. Nora had also survived...but her condition was even more serious than before. Victor created a suit to help him live, and began to commit crimes so he could continue keeping his wife alive.

Mr. Freeze’s motive for his crime spree is his wife’s life. He would go to extreme lengths to save her life...even if it meant becoming a bad guy.

5. Zack Foster and Rachel Gardner

While number 5 on the list consists of a duo...Zack and Rachel make one heck of a team. Zack and Rachel are the two main characters in the anime, Angels of Death, in which all of the characters are, in fact, mentally unstable individuals who like to kill people.

As a child, Zack had lived with his mother until her boyfriend set him on fire for his own enjoyment. While Zack survived this attack, his mother abandoned him at an illegal orphanage, where many other orphans were mistreated and starved by the couple who owned the orphanage. Zack was forced to bury the bodies of the orphans who died there, and was treated as a pet by the couple. One night, Zack watched a slasher film, which gave him the idea to stab the couple to death while they slept. Afterwards, Zack left the orphanage and was soon taken in a blind, homeless man who was the first and only person to ever show him kindness. However, the man was killed by a couple of sociopaths. Zack found out and killed them. For many years...Zack would kill people who were ‘happy’ and lied to him, thus earning him the title of a serial killer.

Rachel had lived with her parents before the start of the series. Rachel’s father was a cop who had a drinking problem, which resulted in several fights between him and his wife. Both of them blamed each other for Rachel’s lack of emotions, but only stayed together because of Rachel. Rachel’s father saw her as an insane girl, and her mother hated her and would even beat her. One day, Rachel found a stray puppy and wanted to keep it, but her parents wouldn’t listen to her and just kept on fighting with each other. But later on, she went back to where the puppy was and it bit her. This caused Rachel to blackout, but when she came to...she saw that she had killed the dog without even remembering what she had done. She then “fixed” the puppy by sewing it back together, thus “making it her’s”. When Rachel returned home with the puppy that night, her father snapped and stabbed her mother to death. Rachel witnessed it and ran back to her room, with her father chasing after her with the knife. Rachel took out a gun that her mother had hidden from him, and shot her father in self-defense. Rachel then sewed her parents’ bodies together, as her way of “fixing” them and creating her “perfect family”. A week later, the police arrived at the house and saw Rachel with the sewed up puppy and her parents. The police thought that Rachel was a surviving victim who was in shock, and was sent to a mental institution for treatment.

Zack and Rachel are quite complicated, as they have both protagonist and antagonist qualities. They both kill people and use each other to escape a building full of death traps and killers...but they also care and understand each other, as they have both suffered years of abuse to the point of developing murderous instincts.

6. Dr. Doofenshmirtz

Dr. Doofenshmirtz was basically the main comedic-antagonist of the cartoon, Phineas and Ferb. Doofenshmirtz is the arch nemesis of Perry the Platypus, and is always making some kind of ‘inator’ device to conquer the Tri State Area...though many of his “evil” plans backfire and are not really THAT evil. Though the reason why Doofenshmirtz is an evil genius, is because of his bad childhood.

Both of his parents neglected him, he always lived in the shadow of his younger brother, his only friend was a balloon, no one ever came to any of his birthdays, he was forced to wear dresses after his brother was born, and he was even disowned at one point and was forced to live with ocelots. So, yeah...it’s no wonder he turned to a life on crime.

Doofenshmirtz is quite hilarious and not very evil...but his terrible childhood makes you wonder how he hasn’t killed anyone! At least his arch nemesis and teenage daughter care about him.

7. Denzel Crocker

Denzel Crocker is one of the main antagonists of the cartoon, Fairly Odd Parents. Crocker is a fourth grade teacher who is obsessed with catching fairies...which makes the people around him see him as crazy. Of course, there is a reason for his obsession with fairies.

When Crocker was a child, his single mother worked two jobs and left him with an abusive babysitter. Because of this, he had fairy godparents...just like Timmy Turner. His life with his fairies was the only time in his life when he was happy. However, after Timmy went back in time and accidentally revealed that Crocker had fairies, his fairies were taken away from him and his memory was erased several times. People even forgot all of the good things that Crocker had done with his fairies, and was now hated by the townspeople. Because his memory was erased more than once, his appearance changed...but he still did not forget the existence of fairies, only forgetting that he himself had fairy godparents as a child.

Crocker’s obsession with proving the existence of fairies has caused him to become a laughing stock, to the point where he was expelled from Harvard, was denied funding for his fairy research, lost his girlfriend, and he never moved out of his childhood home. Crocker is capable of building extraordinary machines and is quite smart, but he wastes his talents on trying to prove the existence of fairies. If only Crocker had never became obsessed with fairies, he may have been able to live a normal and decent life.

8. Wellies

Wellies are the residents of Wellington Wells in the game, We Happy Few. Wellies are known to be decent citizens in Wellington Wells...but their minds and emotional states are from from decent. They kill or throw out anyone who becomes a Downer (a person who either won’t take Joy, or cannot take Joy due to having a bad reaction towards it). But their villainous characteristics are all caused by denial and drug usage.

In an alternate timeline, England surrendered to Germany during WWII and the citizens of Wellington Wells were forced to send their under 13 children on a train to Germany. The children never returned, even after Germany lost the war, and all of the townspeople were so traumatized by what had happened that they now rely on a drug: Joy. Joy is a pill that makes people forget the past, and put them in a state of constant happiness. The Wellies are addicted to this drug, as they cannot bear to remember what had happened to the children. To make matters worse, their whole civilization is now on the verge of collapse due to many problems caused by them always being on Joy: Broken machinery, plagues caused by pollution, towns beginning to collapse due to poor maintenance, starvation due to lack of food production, and a government who cannot bear to face the reality of their situation and would rather be on Joy than solve the problem.

Because of their reliance on Joy, Wellies are completely unaware that the town is collapsing, and would rather be in denial than face reality.

9. Mary

Mary is the hidden antagonist in the game, Ib. At first, Mary appears to be an innocent girl who claims to be trapped in the Fabricated World like the main protagonists, Ib and Garry. However, it is revealed that Mary is actually a girl from a painting who wants to escape the Fabricated World by replacing either Ib or Gary in the real world.

Depending on the game’s ending, Mary either replaces Ib or Garry in the real world by leaving one of them behind in the Fabricated World, or is defeated by Ib and Garry and remains trapped in the Fabricated World.

Mary was the last painting made by the artist: Guertena. She saw him as her “father”, because she was created by him, and was devastated by his death. Mary is very lonely in the Fabricated World, and wants so desperately to exist in the real world. Mary would do anything to become real and have a friend and family of her own. Years of loneliness can make a person desperate and insane.

10. Zombies

Zombies are always the villains in anything zombie-related. They are undead humanoids who eat human flesh, and drive survivors to do questionable things and fight for survival.

However, there is something that some people seem to forget: Zombies used to be normal, ordinary humans who did not become zombies by choice. They were turned into zombies either because of a mysterious virus, or a nuclear weapon that mutated them into creatures of the undead.

Zombies do not remember who they once were, and some even end up killing and eating their own loved ones without even realizing it. They have basically been ripped of their humanity and are now walking shells of their former selves.

#top 10 list #zombie #villain #tragic #dr. doofenshmirtz #angels of death #ib #video games #cartoon #denzel crocker #we happy few #wellies #ice king #mr freeze #darth vader #joker #arthur fleck

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2isted-chocol8 · 5 years ago

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Heeeey💓💓 do you have fic recs for zackray??

I do!! And like, a lot! So prepare yourself! Though not all are *explicit* Zackray, they all show their relationship in different ways! These are a lot of my favorites in no particular order:

Oneshots / few chapters

Last resort by sukikobold - Complete

Now that they’re out of the building and the cops have (mostly) given up chasing them, Zack and Ray discuss what they could do for income. Unfortunately, they have very different opinions on what is acceptable.

I like the characterization in this one, as well as their interactions. I had a few laughs, and the second chapter is quite sweet despite the circumstances.

Graveyard shift by reaperzack - Complete

Rachel is pretty sure the guy who always comes in around three in the morning to buy a large coffee with a triple-shot of espresso is a serial killer. He also tips ridiculously well, though, so she doesn’t really care about things that aren’t her business.

This one is hilarious and one of my favorites. I read it again from time to time, and had a good laugh. Is a simple au that works.

Touch Starved by redawilo - Complete

Although it wasn’t too surprising when she thought about it, Zack had been oddly familiar with Ray ever since he rescued her from the rehab center. There was nothing indecent about it, of course, but she was starting to wonder if he was capable of not being in physical contact with her. Not that she minded.

If you want a good dose of fluff, this is your fic.

Worth a Thousand Words by sukikobold - Complete

Zack had a lot of fun playing with that camera on B3. He figured it might be even better now that there weren’t any more psychos trying to kill him. But there’s one thing he absolutely refuses to take a picture of.

This one is so short but so sweet! It explores a different face of Zack and I loved it so much.

Outcasts of the abyss by Gottemorto - Complete

“Teach me what it’s like to be human." Neither of them were human in the slightest - but out in that vast ocean where they were nothing but outcasts in the eyes of their own kind, a strange promise shall form between an apathetic mermaid and a monstrous land-dweller.

This is a mermaid AU that strangely works. Also the writing is A+

A Little White Christmas Lie by MarshmallowBirb - Complete

It’s Christmas Eve and Zack and Ray have a little bit of money to have their Christmas meal at a buffet. The catch is, they have to pretend to be married to get the best price.

I remember I laughed with this one, and it is really a fun situation to observe. Liked it!

That Which We Call A Rose by kiichandesu - Complete

“ Isaac Foster ”That’s the first name he’s ever given. He doesn’t know where it came from and what it means, but he quickly grows to hate it. A study of the many labels Zack is given, what he thinks of them, and how he lives with them.

I’m a sucker for this type of fics and this one delivers well. Really well.

Moondrop by Sasaria - Incomplete

“There have been sightings of pirate ships lately. Especially that pirate ship, the one that only appears on nights with a full blue moon. Have you heard of it? It’s called the Angel of Death…” Rachel Gardner’s never believed in fantastical pirate stories, but one stormy night, while aboard her parent’s cargo ship, she’s kidnapped by a sinister pirate named Zack. “I needed a token, a sacrifice,” he says with a glint in his eye. She can smell death on him as he touches the knife’s blade to her throat. “You fit the bill perfectly.”

It has only one chapter so far, but the writing is amazing and I’m a sucker for pirate au’s. 100% recommend.

After the Story Drabbles by Redawilo - Complete

A collection of drabbles that are more things I wanted to get out of my head than actual fics.

Four short chapters, sweet, and full of fluff. What more can you wish for?

I Love You by reicherufosuta - Complete

Zack can’t sleep. He thinks about the truth he could be unaware of.

Really short, really sweet, and completely worth the read.

Multichapters / Long fics

Between Silence and Sound by Sasaria- Incomplete, 23k words

Having escaped the strange building, Zack and Rachel steal a car and remain on the run for several months after. It’s on long stretches of road and under diamond-bright stars that they realize there are so many things to be discovered about one another. —「 Road Trip · Nonlinear Fic · Character Study 」

For the love of god read this fic. It is REALLY good and I love how the author makes the characters feel real, and the writing is AMAZING. Can’t recommend this one enough.

Quiet like a fight by shanatical - Incomplete, 70k words

The odyssey of Rachel Gardner, who isn’t actually as Quirkless as she once thought and has zero compunctions against using that to get what she wants. Being stuck in Japan is a bit more of a hurdle than a death sentence and a high-security institution, but she and Zack have dealt with steeper odds, she’s pretty sure. Plus Ultra, as they say.

Okay, this is not a Zackary fic, and is a my hero academia crossover. But it’s stupidly good, I’ve read it twice and since it’s my rec list I’m putting it here. The writing is really good and all the characters are amazingly written too. Go read it.

Scaring darkness away by LinkedSoul - Incomplete, 250k words

There’s a corpse into Zack’s dumpster - his usual hideout when he’s chased. And he’s chased, so no choice, he hides into the dumpster with the corpse. Who turns out to be a living girl called Rachel Gardner, who comes from a fucked up place like him. He should have killed her before, but he thought she was a corpse and now it’s too late: he’s already beginning to get attached to that brat. What a mistake. It might as well be Zack’s most beautiful mistake.

This one is pretty known and has a slow start, but I’ve been enjoying the latest chapters more and more. A really nice au that explores Zack’s and Ray’s relationship. Really good if you want a really long read!

NSFW (because of course)

(I’m really picky with these lol)

A Perfect Life by MarshmallowBirb - Complete

After a night out, Zack attempts to take a bath. But Ray isn’t going to let him take it alone.

Okay, I’m gonna be sincere- This one’s my favorite nsfw one. The characterization is amazing, the writing is really good, and I enjoy the way it’s handled. It’s one of those that I re-read from time to time, so, I really recommend it.

Ecstasy of the damned by Marshmallowbirb- Complete

Rachel Gardner has been the only one able to see a certain black-winged angel for as long as she could remember. When her parents shipped her off to a convent, she thought she’d never see him again. But she might have underestimated the lengths Zack would go to be reunited with her.

I’m really picky with explicit works, but this one did the trick for me. Also I’m a sucker for fallen angels au’s so there’s that.

Pillow Talk by ShipperTrsh - Complete

Their oath still replays in his head from time to time, he knows damn well he isn’t a liar, but he feels more at peace next to her. The timing never feels right. Zack wants to keep seeing more and more of her expressions. He doesn’t know where he’s going with this – whatever this is – with her, but he just keeps running with it for as long as he can. God he’s never felt so relieved and disorientated at the same time.

This one is sweet. Like really really sweet. So sweet it will give you diabetes. And you won’t regret it.

Authors with various Satsuten related works that I enjoy and u should definitely check and see if they have something of your liking

Sukikobold

Linkedsoul

Khymer

Reicherufosuta

Reaperzack

2isted_chocol8 (yes, I will shamelessly put myself in here because yes)

Anddddd I think those are most of them. Have a nice read!

#satsuriku no tenshi

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giranswife · 5 years ago

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Insert Bio’s: Angels of Death

(( I KNOW I KNOW oaijfwoiajweof;iajefw we’ve got a bio up folks! It’s kinda short, but that’s because like there wasn’t a whole lot in it. But also I am really excited to write some fics that I have in mind, hopefully. ))

Name: Ashley Wolfe

Age: 22

Personality: She’s the counterpart to her brother, pure and sweet to a fault. A lot of times will lure sacrifices in with her outward cheerful appearance. On the surface it may seem like she wants to be there, but on the inside she’s quite timid and a little frightened. Her heart is quite big, especially for those that she’s close to.

Once she’s comfortable she’s quite energetic and outgoing, especially when she’s given a little bit of hope from Zack that she never expected to have again. Slowly her original personality begins to come back, finding more and more reasons to be herself again. After being weighed down for so long.

Appearance: She has long blonde hair that frames her face in waves, with round, bright blue eyes. She’s fairly short with a small frame, though she is also curvy. Her style is best described as pastel punk.

Backstory (high possessive mention): She and her brother (Dante) share a floor together, and they’ve always been fairly close their entire life. It was just them for a majority of their days growing up, which is why Dante is always, and has always been, protective. For as long as she can remember he’s been there for her, and a part of her feels indebted to him in some ways. Because of all that he’s sacrificed for her, even after that started to become almost an obsession.

There was a darkness to his behavior, turning into a possessive relationship. The old Dante was gone and replaced with something much different, or it was always there and just didn’t surface until now. He started to treat her like a prisoner, treating her like a caged bird many of times. To the point that she felt like she needed to escape, if there even was an escape.

It wasn’t until she met two certain people that she finally had hope. Too afraid to do it on her own, or just needing an excuse to finally break free.

Zack: She had quite the crush on Zack for a long time, so when he appeared on their floor she was extremely fidgety. She almost didn’t get a moment to speak with him, because Dante was already on it to keep her hidden. Or do whatever he could to get rid of them. Although, he wasn’t smart enough and she was able to get to them before he could interfere.

At first she served as a means standing in their way, until Dante came into the picture and confronted Rachel and Zack for interfering with his sister. Something that seemed really strange to Zack, but he wasn’t really seeing anything past getting rid of him. Though, it was ultimately Ashley that ended up injuring him in the hopes of stopping him from harming her or Zack or Rachel. Which, in turn, is how she became a sacrifice.

That is when she made a deal with Zack to keep her alive, in exchange for her helping them press on and eventually helping her escape with them. Since he made an agreement with her, he planned to keep it, and that’s how they started their adventure together.

It was during that time that she and Zack grew closer. She became important to him in ways that he didn’t see coming, until he was worried about her safety more than anything else.

Dante:

His personality is mainly just extremely possessive. He may feel internally as though he cares about his little sister, but it is a much deeper rooted issue underlying. He doesn’t quite tend to her the way an older brother should, which shows through how he treats her with a little too much care that it can be suffocating.

He wasn’t always like this, though, being a rather sweet and kind older brother. One would say the relationship turned sour between the two of them when he almost lost her a few times, and more of the darkness inside him began to surface.

#self insert #self ship #insert: angels of death #ship: love in darkness

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medea10 · 5 years ago

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My Review of Angels of Death

#anime review #rachel gardner #isaac foster #daniel dickens #angels of death #satsuriku no tenshi

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randomnumbers751650 · 6 years ago

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So, I'm writing this because I'm trying to understand psychological horror, focusing on two animes from last year: Angels of Death and Happy Sugar Life. I wanted to write this because I got inspired by discussions on the Netflix's Ted Bundy show, Explanation Point's video on HSL (which made me watch it), and because I made the mistake of reading AoD's prequel manga Episode 0. Spoilers abound.

Due to way I was raised, I have difficulty in understanding stories that villains are the protagonists. Why would anyone cheer for them? Sure, there are many logical arguments, like the attempt to understand how his mind works and the cathartic feeling of being able to do feelings you know you'd be wrong. I have a RP blog and I once talked to with a friend on trying to understand how musing an utterly despicable muse could be so cathartic and she wondered if it's because it allows her to vent her stress and negative feelings on fictional characters, instead of real people. Logically, it makes sense, but I still feel odd about it.

I first watched Angels of Death because I really enjoyed the portrayal one of my best friends in the RPC had of the protagonist, Rachel Gardner. I honestly think it was a well-written anime, Rachel telling Zack that they weren't tools and the climax with the building on fire were my favorite moments. AoD also had a great advantage because it was self-aware, the banter between Rachel and Zack was pretty hilarious, and Cathy and Danny were also evilly funny. I always wondered how AoD managed to get to be an anime and Ib not...

Also, another thing that AoD makes sure to show is that every single named member of the cast is a murderer, and the man behind everything judges himself God for the sake of an experiment. It shows Zack murdering people in flashbacks and enjoying every single minute of it. In fact, the biggest plot twist is that the apparently innocent Rachel is probably the most dangerous murderer of them, the moment when she tries to kill Zack in her floor was a moment that actually got me on the edge of my seat (said event was properly foreshadowed).

When I say all characters of AoD are well-written, I say this in a "technical" sense - given their backstories, they act in a way consistent to what they are. Zack had a really crappy childhood and turned into a murderer; Danny was bullied and indirectly caused his mother's suicide; Cathy is subconsciously guided by a desire to punish sinners that caused her parents' death; Eddie was rejected so hard that he saw killing what he liked as the only way to preserve; and Rachel also had a crappy childhood, but parents who hated each other and killing her father in self-defense just broke her, her emotionless insanity is what guides her death wish (funnily enough, it doesn't seem that Gray has anything but a god complex). In other words, while they might be nearly a caricature, they still show to act on motives that make sense for them.

The question that guides the series is "what does it mean to be human?" In the end, we all want to avoid loneliness, as Gray says to Danny while the building explodes. Danny had a really pathetic death - he was a "love to hate" villain, even if he had a childhood excuse, nowhere implies that we should sympathize with him, on the contrary, he's one of the creepiest waste of air type of characters - if we showed his portrait in the game, one could put a sub "Most Likely to be a Pedophile").

But then I decided to read the prequel manga. I hated it. A lot. The characters are nothing but violent dicks to each other, in a grand scheme to get the role of "angel" in Gray's experiment (I used to muse Dr. Danny in my RP blog, it was fun to protray him as a pathetic peepermaniac, but I lost my drive after it). It doesn't try to be nuanced or anything else, but I guess if the objective was to remind us that the characters were murderous scum, it succeeded. The effect was so bad on me, that made me question the entire point of AoD itself.

I thought about this for a while. In Aod, we're basically siding with two murderers and Zack's popularity is immense, he's a Chad of murderers. The question is why?

It would be easy to dismiss his popularity as an example of the "bad boy fantasy", mostly associated with women who latches on a "bad boy" type in hopes of "fixing him", but that alone is insufficient to explain (and although it's usually recognized as a 'feminine fantasy', I want to avoid any implication of sexism, even though I don’t doubt this has been discussed in woman’s studies).

At point a friend of mine linked me Explanation Point's video on Happy Sugar Life. Why is Satou, a murderer and near pedophile (near pedophile because she doesn't engage in actual sexual activities with Shio, but it's not less disturbing), a sympathetic character? I won't recap the entire video here, but Satou is sympathetic because of many factors, such as the fact almost everyone around her is worse (arrogant rapist manager, sadomasochist actual ebebophile Danny's long lost brother, lolicon, an actual succubus in human form, obssessed copycat stalker, mad artist - the only developed characters that save themselves are Shoko and Asahi (and not 100% in his case, his determination was his downfall) - I honestly dislike Shio because she's annoying), had a crappy childhood, and that she seems sincere in her feelings for Shio.

The issue, in the end, it's about the way it's framed. Lindsay Ellis has a pretty good video on framing, on explaining how Mikaela actually had potential to be a well-written character in the first Michael Bay’s Transformers movie, but it was ruined by the way she was framed - as mere fanservice, instead of a strong character. The same principle applies to Happy Sugar Life, just pay attention to the way Satou is framed, as a strong character, in “pure” love, flowers appears on the screen when she’s thinking of Shio.

Framing is one reason why HSL failed or, at least, lost a part of its power as a cautionary tale. In the last episode, the way her imagination exploded with images of what her happy life with Shio could be, sprinkled by sappy imagery. Even if Satou killed herself to save Shio as a way to defy her aunt, it still gives a mixed message.

If we apply EP’s argument on Satou to Zack, I think we have even better “case” for Zack. Let’s count the reasons why one should sympathize with Zack:

Antagonists (Danny and Cathy) are worse people

Strong and powerful, to the point of turning into a shonen protagonist when cutting rocks in the last episode

Has a code of honor, only kills people who are laughing

Has standards, refuses to accept godhood from Rachel

Enjoys what he does, he’s probably the most sincere character of the cast

Has a twisted sense of humor

Has a sad backstory, that offered the chance of following another path (but the old man died)

Recognizes he’s messed up

Ridiculously loyal to Ray in the end

We never get to see the PoV of his victims and when we do, the frame actually makes Zack sympathetic - for example, the woman in his flashback, we see her lying to him and him killing her for it - it’s a bad thing, but the scene is framed in a way that Zack is the offended party (it was his PoV anyway)

He’s hot - granted this only works for the anime, because in the game he was some sort of tall mummy gremlin

As another friend of mine said, when I brought this to her, in the end you’re kind of cheering for them to escape police and continue murdering others. And, in the end, they do get away - Zack (and Ray, to some extent) is never punished for his crimes, even though the ending is ambiguous most people believe they escaped anyway.

In HSL we have a similar situation: even though Satou killed herself, Shio is still irreparably damaged, preferring to live her “happy sugar life” in her head than the real world. In fact, HSL’s ending is one of the most hopeless that I’ve ever seen recently, that the entire surviving cast is apparently beyond repair (as worse as Shio worse is Taiyo - it’s quite rare to portray female on male abuse on such a realistic way, any other anime would make a semi-hentai scenario on him, but here, I wouldn’t be surprise if he died starving himself to death in his room). HSL’s ending managed to be much more hopeless than AoD’s ending.

But, returning to Zack, the way his story is framed makes him a sympathetic character. However, while I argue that Zack is a well-written character, he’s not a very realistic one for one simple reason: he’s too conspicuous to be a successful serial killer, he’s too loud and messy; actual serial killers are methodic people, they plan a lot to not leave clues. Meanwhile, Zack is dumb as a rock, which might add him being an escapist character another trait of him.

And that’s where the comparison with Ted Bundy enters. It might be a stretch comparing a fictional character with a real person, but I still think it has some merit. While I haven’t seen the Netflix series, I read the debate on whether it glorifies Bundy or not. Basically the way the series frames Bundy is an argument for the glorification, but the interview with the victims who escaped him and loved ones of his victims is an argument against it. But the fact remains that both have their fans.

If we criticize Bundy’s fans for not noticing how much of a pathetic and deranged person he actually was, why can’t we do the same for Zack’s fans? Well the fact that one is real and the other fictional might be one reason, and being fictional he acts as an outlet for our own frustrations and tendencies just as I discussed with my friend above, but I feel that alone is insufficient, there must be a further reason... but I can’t think of anything else. Otherwise an argument has the danger of turning into the fallacy “videogames make kids violent” sort of thing.

One thing that has to consider is that both AoD and HSL are psychological thriller/horror series. If Zack, Ray and Satou got caught, the shows would be lesser works of art, because one function of psychological horror is to challenge our perceptions of justice.

Horror challenges our perceptions of safety and we are used to the bad guys being punished in the end, it’s a safe assumption. Instead, in horror, the bad guys get away and might be sympathetic, making us sympathetic to their getaway. It’s horror in the sense our own safe perceptions of morality and justice are twisted upside down.

I could go on and approach the thorny question of whether AoD glorifies murderers and HSL glorifies yanderes with children, but this essay is already getting too big, so I leave it for another occasion.

#satsuriku no tenshi #happy sugar life #psychological horror #explanation point #more to the ted bundy debate

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oveliagirlhaditright · 5 years ago

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Summary: Logan convinces Max to get a new catsuit, figuring the Familiars and public know her look too well. What neither of them realized was that this outfit was a trap from the Breeding Cult, meant to get rid of Max's immunity to the comet. And when they storm White's base, this becomes apparent when the suit is triggered and Max nearly dies. But then Logan comes and absorbs the effects.

Author’s Note: This plot is... weird. I'm not even going to deny it. But I had another account where I wrote LoMax fanfiction, but have deleted it. And even though you don't see it on this account, I feel like I exhausted every LoMax idea I could think of on that one. Which means I sort of have to think out of the box now to get inspired for them. And I want to be inspired for them. But despite the weirdness, I hope you'll all find a pretty good tragic piece here.

Speaking of which... I didn't want to kill Logan (and yes, this fic kills Logan. Warning you now), because I love love love him and he and Max are the OTP to rule all OTPs. But this is what the muse hit me with. -shrugs- I blame it on me just watching Wesley's death in Illyria's arms on Angel the Series.

Anyway, happy Dark Angel year! Which was really why I wanted to finally post something for Lomax/the fandom again!

“I don’t wanna hear it, Alec. I don’t wanna hear how it was apparently always wrong for me to love Logan… Because he was just looking out for me again, in trying to find a way for me to stay off the Breeding Cult’s radar—…and for me to stay away from him, if that’s what I really wanted—and he died for it! So save your ‘I told you sos!’”

Max wasn’t sure if she was actually being fair with this. Because maybe in having lost Rachel, Alec would understand what she was going through and know not to go there. When she’d told him about Ben, he’d been silent… Hadn’t he?

Well, even if that was true, Max was too livid to give him the benefit of the doubt right now—or to give him with anything for that matter. She wished they weren’t friends, and that they’d never met. Because maybe if they hadn’t, none of this would have ever happened.

All Max wanted to do was curl up on Logan’s couch and die herself. And she did do the former.

Hours Earlier

“So… Why do you think I need a blue catsuit again?” Max asked, as she slid into said outfit in Logan’s bathroom: somewhat remining her of the night she met Mia. But Max refused to think on that now, since she and Logan had actually been good then—all things considered—and now they weren’t.

Logan sighed—Max could hear this with her cat-like ears—before he rolled closer to the door in his wheelchair, presumably so she could hear him even better.

“Because, Max… The Familiars know too much about you now. And what you look like. The public, too, for that matter. This way, you can hopefully change your look enough that people won’t necessarily notice you on missions. I also bet White and his crew think you’d be too arrogant to alter your suit at all. So they probably won’t even think it’s you in this blue suit for a long time.”

There were a lot of holes in this logic, Max knew. But she wasn’t willing to argue with Logan about it today: not when he was being nice and trying to do something to protect her.

But Max wondered if that was all it was. She got the sense, that—despite everything—he preferred the woman she’d been a year ago. And that by even moreso taking her away from that image, he’d be more okay with their breakup.

And if that was the case, Max wanted to kill him… It wasn’t his fault, of course. He still had no idea that she’d lied about wanting it to be over and being with Alec. But there was a selfish part of Max that had to know how he’d ever believed any of those things from her.

But none of this mattered right now, her inner-soldier chastised her. Breaking into White’s new facility was what was on the agenda… And keeping Logan far, far away from her as she did so.

But still… as Max came out of the bathroom and gave Logan a look, she found she couldn’t help poking fun at him like she’d used to.

“Next you’ll say that you expect me to wear red, white, and blue?”

Past Logan would have responded to that negatively, Max knew, in thinking that she was mocking his patriotism and desire to return America to its former glory… whatever that was. But the Logan who had been more chill this year than he had any right to be, just raised an eyebrow and asked, “What?”

Max laughed… and instantly hated herself for it, as she fell back into the bad routine of sitting on his computer desk while he typed away. “Nothing. You can mostly forget about it, Logan… It’s just that one of the few times I managed to go to school as a kid, we got quizzed about police officers. And one of the questions was if they wore red, white, and blue or not… for some reason. Wearing blue just makes me think of that now. Like, social justice warriors should wear some of our flag or somethin’.”

And while Logan didn’t quite chortle at this himself, he did smile at her as he looked at her the way he had when she’d first told him about OC and Diamond at Crash. “Becoming my field commander more and more, I see.”

Really, Max should have seen Logan bringing back that old joke from a mile away… but she hadn’t. And she was glad that she hadn’t, so she could again feel the kind of warmth she’d been craving ever since she left Hannah’s house.

“…Anyway, Logan… What can you tell me about this place that’s trying to manufacture the comet?” Max asked, once again reminding herself to get back to business. The fates of Logan, OC, Sketchy, Kendra, Herbal, Bling, and even Normal—God help her—depended on it.

And for that reason, Max figured there was a good chance she was going to die on this quest: for all that “a life for a life”, and “the universe needs to stay in balance” mentality. And since those muscle brutes wanted a world to themselves and were willing to die for it. But Max still wanted to be alive and kicking, damn it! There was still so much she wanted to do with her home girl, Joshua, her friends…even Alec, the transgenics, and Logan. Most of all Logan.

Logan’s lips formed into a thin line at her question, and Max could tell he was just as concerned as she was—but she tried not to let it show: deciding to adopt Zack’s sense of phony sentimentality, for just a moment—and it told her that as much as he’d been talking with certainty earlier, about how she would be working for Eyes Only again after this… he wasn’t so sure.

“…What’s there to tell? It’s an abandoned airstrip again. And the articles they’re using to try and manufacture the meteor are nasty. Some of these items were used to try and destroy the world before—via water, of all things—and I really wish you didn’t have to be around them. Bring Alec, if you have to. Joshua too, maybe… and whoever else. You guys should probably enter through a weak spot in the roof, land on the scaffolding and jump down to the operation’s center… There will be a few Familiar guards there I’m sure, but hopefully you can take them. Then destroy everything and get the hell out of there.”

Max didn’t have to be told twice. She nodded once, taking it all in that fast, and walked out on the man she loved once again.

But somehow, Max found herself stopping at the threshold this time and turning around. She didn’t really know why she was saying this now, but she was speaking the words: “Not kissing you the night we took down Manticore was the biggest mistake of my life.”

And then she was riding away from Fogle Towers on her Ninja: Logan’s gasp of breath at her news still greatly on her mind, as she headed the way of his savior. The way of Joshua.

…

Everything went to Hell in record time once the transgenics got to their enemies’ lair: Max, Alec, and Joshua had barely made it down from the ceiling before the water of the device had somehow sprung free and been drawn to Max. And at once, it had her seizing in a way she never had before and made her completely useless.

She tried to fight on—and to ignore the pain and the fear—in focusing on the sort of grim determination Jondy had had during their live ordinance drills from back in the day, but it was mostly to no avail. Joshua and Alec ended up kicking a lot of ass for Max… but all the ass kicking was on normal guards, not Snake Cult. Which told Max that this was a setup from the get-go, but then them outing their location so easily couldn’t have been anything else.

Ames White—the only bastard they were looking for who actually was here—just laughed and scurried away, before any of the three of them could catch him. No doubt he thought she was dead and that they’d won: since no one had extracted her blood yet, and nothing could pass on that cure for the real meteor now.

And wasn’t it her end? Even though Max wanted to punch the sky and say “no”, she was starting to doubt that it wasn’t…

And that was why Alec—via Joshua’s command—called Logan over, so he could come say goodbye to her… Her brothers told Max that they were too afraid to try and move her, in case they made her suffer anymore or so that didn’t kill her if leaving her untouched for a moment meant she would have been fine.

When Logan got there, that was when the strangest and worst thing of all happened.

If Max had thought anything would kill Logan, that was from some sort of allergic reaction… it would have been through the Virus. Of course…

Not through his sucking out whatever was in her new outfit into himself.

If Max wouldn’t have been dyingherselfthis instance—while holding Logan in her arms, and not even caring about the damned Virus because now this illness had somehow been passed to him and he needed to know she loved him—she might have ribbed him, for the fact that it had been hisidea for her to get these clothes…

But Max wouldn’t blame Logan for his own death—she never would—and this ensemble would have possibly helped her in two ways, if things had been different, but that didn’t matter now.

Right now? The catsuit she was wearing was disappearing from Max more and more, and leaving her in some sort of red outfit as what was rest of the blue (that was becoming less and less) seemed to rest against Logan in Max’s eyes

One of the Familiars had gotten the idiotic notion, that if they couldn’t beat her then to join her, Max was realizing now: which was how they’d made this… hoping Max would buy the new uniform—and rather foolishly, she had—and that when she’d put it on, it would render her no longer immune to the comet and cripple her? Surely in looking at her genetic code, and the remains of the last time this harbinger had been on the Earth, they had finally figured out what made her immune to it… and how to change that. They’d just needed one chance to infect her, and they’d found it.

…But they hadn’t been counting on the fact that someone who couldn’tbe healed by her immunity would be right by her side, and touch her, and negate it: since the immunity negater thought that if this person couldn’t be saved—and they couldn’t be—it had already done its job.

The furious part of Max—who hated that the love of her life was dying—wanted to despise him for this: that even in his last moments, Logan was still somehow being too big a person and leaving her behind… almost choosing the world over her. Again. But she knew that was ridiculous and shoved the idea down.

Logan hadn’t consciously decided this, after all, and in his last moments he didn’t need to hear these kinds of thoughts.

No.

Max just focused her attention on kissing every available piece of skin on him that she could find—something that she should have done a long time ago—as she held Logan’s hand.

And she would have even been content to die with him—and maybe she still would—if she didn’t already hear Alec begging her to leave since the police were here, and the anti-transgenic cry was already loud enough… And if she knew Logan wouldn’t come back and haunt her, if she didn’t get away now so she could save everyone.

“Logan… I love you,” Max said, with a tingle tear that landed on his cheek: It reminded her of the one she’d cried at Bennett and Marianne’s wedding, that Logan had seen… how she should have married him even back then! And Max chose to believe that his red face right now wasn’t from the sickness, but in blushing in thinking the exact same thing.

“Don’t ever doubt that for a minute… wherever you go, though I’m sure it’s Heaven. I- God, I never thought I’d say these words. It’s so embarrassing and cliché, but… I love you more than I thought it possible to love anything. And you’re the one who showed me how to love… I only pushed you away this last year because I was afraid of losing you. And I can’t believe it’s happening now!”

Logan squeezed Max’s hand here with a surprising strength. And even that took her aback, since she knew he didn’t have much of it left… as he was now turning purple. If only she knew what was even happening to him!

“I love you, too, Max,” Logan whispered, as tears streamed down his own face… that broke Max’s heart into a million pieces to see.

But at the same time… at least it meant he was taking this seriously. And he wouldn’t get to the Pearly Gates, knocking on God’s door, and only then stop to realize all he’d selflessly given up.

“I always have. Always will. And I’m sorry—But I’ll wait for you.”

And it was at this point that Max began openly sobbing like she had with Ben (because hadn’t the “I’m sorry” part been the exact words she’d said to Logan as she died? But unlike what had happened with her, she knew he wouldn’t come back). Logan reached out a hand to put on her face, but didn’t quite make it as he winced in pain.

“Little Fella, we need to go now!” Even Joshua was urging Max at this point, as he tried to pull her along—was Alec doing so too?—even as he stopped for a moment, stammered a few words, and let out a sad and lonely howl.

“…Max, I’m sorry. I really am. I liked the guy too, but I see White coming back now with a red version of his water thing. And if that’s the real comet they’ve manufactured, we’ve got to get plans to share your blood STAT, and-“

But Max paid the two of them no mind—fighting them both and breaking away just once, like she needed to.

“…Logan, if you—the great and powerful Eyes Only—are going to Heaven, then I don’t know how it will ever take me… But if I’ve ever believed in anything, it’s you. So I’ll have faith in you and wait for the moment we can be together again.”

And like she’d been wanting to do for solong—she leaned down and kissed his lips—enjoying it much more than she should have, since they’d been denied it for so long.

But the moment they’d come alive in this way, for the first time in a long time—perhaps even moreso than they ever had been before. And why did Max have visions of dancing behind her eyelids?—was exactly when life left Logan’s body.

And then all Max was aware of, was numbness.

…

The next thing Max knew after she slept—had she slept? When was the last time she’d ever done that?—was her laying around in Logan’s apartment like she owned the place, and really… she should have. God, why hadn’t she married him again?!—and Alec trying to reason with her… about something. But the subconscious part of her mind had blocked it from there, that was for sure.

That was when the conscious part of her mind snapped at Alec, and Max found herself heading back to Logan’s couch: the only place where comfortableness and truths lied.

And then Alec’s words in her ears from far away: “…I wouldn’t have said any of those things, Max.”

Then after Alec went away, Max heard the closing of the door to an Aztec and she cried.

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apriumjam · 6 years ago

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Satsuriku no Tenshi Light Novel Volume 1 - B4 (Part 1)

Satsuriku no Tenshi - Until Death Do Them Part - B4 (Part 1)

Story by Makoto Sanada, written by Chiren Kina, illustrations by Negiyan, translations by me.

If you want to help out with translations, feel free to contact me!

Prologue | B7 | B6 | B5 | B4 (Part 1 / Part 2) | B3 (Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4) | Zack’s Memory || Index

“This place…is kinda cold.”

“Yeah.”

Getting off the elevator, they’re greeted by a plaque engraved in the wall, reading B4, and cold air that fogs up with each breath. It’s as if they’ve arrived in a world of winter. Inhaling results in the intake of a chemically scent so strong as to make Ray’s head spin.

Inside the room is a pool that has been split into two by a narrow path. Looking into the bluish-green waters, Ray can see a dark shape at the bottom. It seems strangely human-like in shape.

(I wonder what that is.)

The girl stares into the water in concentration. But the pools are unexpectedly deep, and with the low visibility, she can’t make out what it is clearly. Leaning down close enough to see her face reflected back at her leads to the unpleasant scent becoming even stronger. She’s reluctant to investigate further.

“Hey, what’re ya lookin’ at?” Zack stares at her in puzzlement as she crouches down.

“There’s something in the water…”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hah? Ya don’t know. Then I don’t either. Anyway…aren’t ya cold in that flimsy jacket?” Zack poses his question as he stares at her exposed legs. The temperature is probably about ten degrees Celsius. Ray’s clothing happens to consist of a white jacket atop her shirt, and a pair of black shorts.

“I am cold, but it’s all right.” Her answer comes out in a quiet mutter. Saying she isn’t cold would be a lie. And she really is cold. But simply saying she’s cold won’t magically conjure up any other clothes she can wear, so it’s really pointless overall.

“Huh. Well, starin’ at that whatever it is ain’t gonna help ya. C’mon.”

“Yeah. I can kind of smell dirt from beyond those doors…” Staring across the short bridge, she can see that there is a sign near the door there. It says “Second Cemetery”.

“Gonna check it out?” Zack begins walking along the bridge.

“Yeah.” Ray follows after him.

▲▽

(Are we really inside a building…?)

The Second Cemetery is revealed to be a spacious, wide room. The old-looking walls are made of brick, and the dirt beneath their feet is damp.

“…Graves…”

And there are several tombstones, engraved with someone’s names.

“Makes no damn sense either. Tch, what’s the point of makin’ all these graves?” Sounding utterly disgusted, Zack looks around the room.

I hate the smell of dirt.

Whenever he breathes in that scent, unpleasant memories of his childhood flit through his mind.

“Wanna try diggin’ any of ‘em up?” Trying to shake off those images, he attempts to make a little joke.

“I don’t care.” Ray, however, answers him coldly as she explores the room. Her only obligation is to get out of this building with Zack. Anything else, the man can do as he pleases.

(Tch…what a boring brat.)

Feeling his mood spoiled by the girl’s response, he follows her further into the room.

(It really is cold…)

Ray’s eyebrows pull together as she feels the chill flowing against her skin. As she walks among the graves, she sees something conspicuously large among them. Coming nearer to it, she realises that it is not a tombstone, but a monument.

(There’s something written on it…)

Upon the stone is yet another set of mysterious writing.

“Here lie the graves of those impure.

“The pitiful ones, neither wanted by God or the angels.

“Covered by soil, beneath the dirt, they wait for purification.”

(Angels…)

“An angel, or a sacrifice?”

Ray is reminded of those words. They don’t seem to have any sort of deep meaning despite their prevalent re-occurrence. But she still doesn’t understand what they are meant to represent.

A little ways past the monument is a large pit – perhaps a dug-up grave. Peering into the hole, Ray sees something quietly crouched at the bottom.

“…” She stares intently at it.

“D’ya wanna get in it that badly?” Zack asks coolly, watching her as she stares into the grave without even twitching.

“No…looks like I can’t,” Ray mumbles quietly as she shakes her head. The thing that looks as if it’s crouching is, in fact, the dead body of a man. It seems as if he had been killed very recently. “This grave already has someone in it.”

(Another dead body…)

“Aah, all these bodies are makin’ me sick! Don’t you look over here!” Zack irritably snaps. He approaches the grave and shows absolutely no mercy for the body inside as he begins to stomp on it. It becomes so messy that it’s impossible to think that man might have been alive only a few days ago. Zack’s demeanour as he kicks the corpse – as if to even some sort of grudge – is odd, even compared to before.

“Ah…” Ray quickly turns her gaze away. Even though it has become nothing more than a lump of flesh, waiting to rot, the girl feels as if it made eye contact with her for a moment.

That is when she notices a door labelled “storage room”. Coming closer to it, she suddenly feels the air grow much colder against her skin. It seems to be coming from this room.

▲▽

The room denoted as “storage room” is as dark and quiet as night – or perhaps it would be better to say that it makes Ray think of the afterlife. Stepping inside reveals the room to be unbelievably cold.

(It’s like we’re in a freezer…)

Ray rubs her arms over her jacket.

Further inside is a pool smelling of chemicals, like the one in front of the elevator. At the bottom are human-like shapes. Ray can’t see them clearly, but it’s likely they’re corpses. The walls here seem brittle and cracked, perhaps because of the humidity.

“The walls are all crumbly…”

“It’s all damp’n’worn-out…this ain’t a good place t’ be.” Zack loiters around the room as he mutters to himself.

Within the storage room is an enormous refrigerator. Upon seeing it, Zack recalls how Ray’s “wish” had caused him to vomit all the snacks he had eaten earlier.

(What is she doin’, askin’ someone t’ kill her all of a sudden…I don’t get it at all. And ‘cause of her, I’m hungry.)

“Aah…is there anything in there?”

Sighing loudly, he thoughtlessly opens the fridge – and immediately loses his appetite.

“Whoa. A body…”

What was in the fridge was not anything edible, but rather, something that would make him expel the contents of his stomach again – the grotesque sight of a dead man’s body. It’s so destroyed it looks like simply touching it might cause its legs, arms, and head to fall off. The body is covered with a thin vinyl, and upon it is some sort of note.

Watkin Beckett (36)

Place of death – B3

Cause of death – Blood loss due to bullet wound

※ He sustained terrible injuries, so exercise caution when handling the body

“Was this person also…a sacrifice?” Ray asks, glancing at the body in the fridge.

“How should I know?” Zack’s response is utterly devoid of interest. He doesn’t want to touch the corpse, and if possible he doesn’t want to look at it, either. And he hates the stench of rotting bodies most of all.

“It says ‘B3’…we’re on B4, so we still have a way to go.”

“Huh, that so.” Zack gives a hearty yawn, like a cat.

“Do you know a lot about this place?” the girl asks, staring up at his listless expression.

“Dunno. I just came here ‘cause I was told that I could kill whoever I wanted to. I guess the other guys are the same? I dunno the details.” Dimly, he thinks back upon when he had been invited to this place. But he can’t recall how many years ago that’s been – he’s forgotten.

“…I see.” Ray murmurs.

“Could kill whoever I wanted to.”

Those words seem to catch at something in her chest. At the same time, she asks another question, as if to shake off old memories.

“Where were you before you came here?”

“I can tell ya, but what d’ya wanna know for?”

“Nothing…I just felt like asking.”

“What? Anyway, shouldn’t you be the one tryin’ t’ remember what you were doin’? Even if we get outta here, I’m not gonna take ya home.”

(Home…?)

If this were an anime, an enormous question mark would appear above Ray’s head right about now.

“…You said you’d kill me after we got out of here.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Zack speaks like someone who has just remembered something they had forgotten.

“…Please don’t forget.”

“I’m not going to!” Zack irritably tears his gaze away from her. He doesn’t have the desire to kill this doll-like girl, even though he’s made that sort of promise with her. Frankly, all he can think about is getting out of this building alive.

(Well, when we get outta here, those dead eyes’ll prolly be back t’ normal.)

“I’m freezin’, so I’m gettin’ out of here!”

“…Okay.” The girl nods, her expression gloomy. Even though she’s made that promise with him, she has no positive proof that he’ll keep it. If he winds up not killing her…she can no longer see any reason to want to leave this place.

There’s an uncomfortable silence between them now as they leave the storage room. This time, they go down a hallway. There, they find a door with a signboard that states “First Cemetery”.

▲▽

Ray’s blue eyes immediately alight upon a glittering new tombstone.

She comes closer to it, walking across the damp earth and between the other gravestones.

“…”

The grave, which gleams unnaturally in this room completely devoid of any presence of life, has tiny letters neatly engraved in it.

“Huh? What is it? Somethin’ written there?”

“…A name.” With a closed-off expression, she gazes at the letters lovingly carved into the stone.

“It’s a gravestone, so that’s obvious. What’re ya so surprised about?” the man asks carelessly, peering into her paling face.

“…It’s my name. My name is on it.” Ray doesn’t take her eyes off the tombstone despite feeling his gaze upon her. Her voice is strained. This glistening new grave has “Rachel Gardner” emblazoned upon it.

“…That so,” Zack mutters. He can’t read that name. He doesn’t even know her name in the first place. So even if he would have been able to read, he wouldn’t have known it to be Ray’s name.

“Then, is this one mine?”

In front of Ray’s tombstone is what looks like an enormous boulder, one that might have been used for carving. It’s as if someone had simply abandoned it there. It was probably prepared in a hurry as soon as Zack had been called a sacrifice. Having lived in this building for a while, he quickly understands that it’s the work of the master of this floor.

“…Damnit, I’m not even dead yet and he’s makin’ me a grave. That pisses me off. I wanna smash it.”

Zack glowers at the boulder, an enormous contrast to Ray’s immaculately carved gravestone. His dirty palm squeezes around the scythe slung over his shoulder.

(…Stop makin’ such disgusting things, damnit.)

“Your scythe will be the one to break first.” Despite warning him in that calm voice, she continues to stare at her gleaming grave.

“Shut up, I know that. Stop starin’ at that thing like an idiot.”

“I’m not staring.”

“Hmph, whatever. Sorry, unlike you, I don’t wanna die.” Zack progresses further into the room as he speaks. When he does, he notices an enormous crack in the brick wall, perhaps because it was brittle.

“Hey, hey…just how beat up is this place?”

In response to his voice, the girl turns toward the man and rushes up to him, peering into the crack with him. It feels like it’s trying to invite her inside.

(I wonder where it leads to…what’s inside?)

“It looks pretty deep…”

“Is it all right if I go in?” Ray suggests, thinking that Zack probably wouldn’t be able to fit.

“Hah? D’ya think you’ll run away’n’get out of here by yerself?” Zack’s voice is threatening, as if he doesn’t trust her.

“I won’t run away. …You haven’t killed me yet.” The girl unflinchingly meets his gaze.

(Did that bastard Danny drug her or something…?)

Zack instinctively turns his gaze away.

Certainly, on his floor, Ray’s reactions had seemed a bit weak in comparison to other sacrifice’s – but she’d still shown him a girlish despair and fear. She hadn’t been so calm or assertive. And Zack feels strangely uneasy about her abrupt change.

“You were…seriously creepy right now…”

(Creepy?)

Ray’s head tilts slightly at Zack’s unexpected reaction. She hadn’t had any intention to make him think she was creepy.

“…Well, whatever. It’s not like we can just stand here’n’do nothing. Go on and get back here.” Zack’s speech is half-hearted. He doesn’t want to think, he just wants to find a way out of this building as fast as possible.

“Okay.”

“And if ya die on the way there, make sure to tell me.”

(…Die on the way…?)

“…If I’m dead, I can’t tell you.” Though she’d thought for a short period of time before responding, she does so with her usual composed expression.

“…”

In the silence, Zack abruptly comes to realise just how illogical his statement had been.

“…Th-then at least make yerself useful before ya die!”

Reddening slightly beneath his bandages in embarrassment, he lightly smacks Ray on the rear.

Useful…

“…All right.”

Staggering slightly from the impact, she looks up into Zack’s face and firmly nods her head. But she hesitates stepping into the crevice. She feels like she wants to stare at that gravestone – with her name upon it – for a little longer.

“Hey, go already! I don’t got a lot of patience.” Unable to bear seeing her in such a state, Zack urges her forward with an irritated tone of voice.

“Okay. Also, I want you to look for something, like a card,” she suddenly requests. On B7, B6, and B5, she had needed a card to get to the elevator.

“Yeah, all right.”

“…And.”

“Hah?! There’s something else?!”

“If you could…please don’t destroy my grave.”

As she asks this, her face seems just a little bit sorrowful.

She doesn’t know who made that grave. But, the truth that her grave exists somewhere in this world…eases her heart. And it seems to beat just a little faster.

Without waiting for a reply, she squeezes her delicate body into the gap in the wall.

“…Who cares.”

Left alone among the graves, Zack mumbles to himself.

▲▽

Ray proceeds through the cramped space.

It’s gloomy, like a cave, and she can barely see. Dirt trickles from the ceiling down in front of her; the sensation is almost choking. Ray moves forth, trying not to breathe in the stale air – and suddenly the path in front of her opens up into a small, cramped room. It almost looks like a secret base of some kind. A lightbulb above bathes the room in a warm orange glow that seems to cut through the unpleasant chill she feels.

(A room for building graves…?)

In the centre of the room is a large work desk. On top of it are various items carelessly left there, such as a catalogue for gravestones and papers with tombstone designs drawn on them.

(…What’s this?)

There’s some kind of blue notebook lying open on the table.

(There’s probably something written in that.)

There might be something about the building in that notebook… With that thought in mind, Ray peers at the page the book has been left open on. The childish handwriting reveals a strange message.

I learned about her for the first time today.

I was curious about her for a long time. But I never really knew about her!

I want to meet her, but he’s in the way. She has a really pretty voice!

She’s definitely, definitely a wonderful girl. I have no doubts about it!

After all, I fell in love with her at first sight.

Ah, this is bad…I have to make special preparations for her!

Something I made for her, a special place only for her – a place where she can eternally slumber.

She reads the odd note with a dubious expression.

(Someone’s diary…? …Whose room is this?)

There’s another door further in the room. Approaching it slowly, she places her hand upon the knob and turns it. But it won’t open.

(It’s locked…how do I open it?)

Her gaze alights on the scattered grave blueprints.

(…There might be some clues in here…)

Just as this thought comes to mind, she hears a terrible racket coming from the place Zack waits for her – the First Cemetery.

(…So loud. What is he doing?)

▲▽

Having been left alone in the graveyard, the creepiness of the room only seems to grow. He feels as if he’s been abandoned for a different world entirely.

“Damnit, even if I look around, there’s only graves in here.”

(And these graves are seriously annoying.)

Zack tch’s quietly to himself as he stares at the roughly hewn stone, likely the grave meant for himself.

(I wanna break it…)

However, even he knows that Ray is right – if he tries smashing it, his scythe’s blade will what breaks first.

(Isn’t there anything else in here?)

As he looks around, his gaze abruptly alights upon a pickaxe left leaning against one of the tombstones. It was probably left by whoever was digging up the earth.

(A pickaxe…)

Zack smirks and picks it up. Since it isn’t his own weapon, he has no qualms about breaking it.

(This damn gravestone…)

“I’m gonna smash it!”

Having decided this, he begins to laugh. It isn’t that he’s having fun. He’s simply disgusted that his grave would exist here.

(I’m not plannin’ on dyin’ yet!)

A loud clang echoes through the chamber as he strikes the grave with the pickaxe. But it doesn’t crumble.

(It’s hard…)

It won’t break from such a strike. The blade of the pickaxe is a bit chipped now.

“Hah – don’t be so tough when yer such a shitty piece of work!”

He wonders why. There are – emotions he’s never felt before welling up deep inside his heart. He never felt like this when he was just the master of his floor, chasing after sacrifices. His voice grows harsh as if to convey his hatred for the one who had made this grave, and he strikes it again and again with the axe.

It’s like a switch has been flicked. He won’t stop. He can’t even stop himself. He slashes at the tombstone that had been crafted for him over and over again.

And at some point, it becomes merely a rubble of rocks scattered about the floor.

But the actual breaking of it feels even better to him than he had expected.

Not even a minute has passed, and it’s already lost all form.

(I did it!)

But for some reason, he still feels irritated. Zack glances around the room, clicking his tongue. Everywhere he looks, he sees only graves – which should be obvious, given that this room is called a cemetery. Beneath the graves are, of course, bodies. That’s nothing that brings joy to him.

(That’s right…I’ll break all of ‘em…!)

It’s damn creepy to be makin’ these things anyway. It’s pointless for these things to exist. No matter how much you pray, they’re dead; people don’t come back to life. Corpses are gross. I know that!

“Hyahahahahah!”

He doesn’t have an ounce of hesitation. As he thinks this to himself, mad laughter rushes up from his throat.

(Aah…I’ll smash every single last one of ‘em!)

Zack’s eyes gleam from the slits of the bandages wrapped around his face.

Raising the pickaxe high, he begins to slash at gravestone after gravestone, releasing his pent-up frustration and anger, transforming each grave into nothing more than rough piles of stones.

(Oh, that’s right, there were a bunch of graves over there, too – )

After demolishing the last grave in the First Cemetery, he rushes to the Second Cemetery as quickly as he can. He won’t be able to calm down until he destroys every single thing he can possibly break.

(‘Cause graves are useless!)

“Hyahahah!”

Laughing uncontrollably, Zack stares at the gravestones lined up in front of him, and begins to hit them with all his strength. Reigned by his instincts like this, he neither needs to think about nor remember anything. The only thing he abides by is the strange elation filling him up.

And in just a few minutes, he’s mercilessly ruined each and every one of the gravestones.

At some point, there had been the sound of a switch flipping, or perhaps something breaking, but Zack had not paid it any bit of mind.

(Is this all of ‘em?)

Feeling somehow satisfied and slowly regaining his composure, the man briskly returns to the First Cemetery.

Somewhat taken aback, he gazes at the destruction he’s caused, before his eyes land upon the monument with Ray’s name engraved upon it. It looks so very different from the other graves that he had forgotten to smash it.

“If you could…please don’t destroy my grave.”

But he remembers that request. Zack feels his strength leave his body, as if a button has suddenly been pressed.

(…She asked me not to break it…)

He doesn’t care about what she wants –

But for some reason he can’t bring himself to go against her. He feels like he shouldn’t break that grave.

“…”

Dropping the pickaxe to the ground, he sprawls out in front of Ray’s grave, as if exhausted.

What d’ya need a grave like this for…

▲▽

As that unpleasant sound rings out over and over again, Ray stares down at the grave blueprints. There’s some sort of strange equation written in them. It’s as if it points to the location of something, though it doesn’t state precisely what that thing is.

(Maybe…there’s a switch to open the door beneath one of the graves?)

Putting together the numbers in the formula and recalling the arrangement of the graves in the room, Ray becomes certain that this is true. But the moment she comes to this conclusion, she hears a beeping sound from the door.

(…?!)

Turning toward it, she comes nearer to the door. She gently holds the knob, and though she hasn’t done anything, it’s unlocked.

(It was definitely locked earlier… Did he open it? How…?)

Feeling somewhat suspicious, she opens the door and proceeds through it. On the other side is a large room. Perhaps it’s a reference room of some kind; the walls are lined with shelves so full of books that there is not a single space between any of them.

Ray selects one of the books and pulls it out. Maybe it’s because it’s been a while since she’s read one, but she feels strangely happy to be touching the pages. She has always enjoyed reading, ever since she was little. The words move her heart, and she reads again and again to remember each and every word.

That book was like that, too… Those words had seemed to become a part of her very being.

That book, the book she read that night, had held the word of God.

(But, that book isn’t here…)

As she recalls the contents of that particular text, she skims through the one in her hand to confirm its subject matter. It seems to be some sort of religious tome.

(…It’s not the God I know…)

With a cold gaze, she returns the book to its shelf. She has no interest in a fake God.

(What’s that?)

She sees some sort of large folder on one of the lower shelves. She carefully picks it up and opens it. It seems to be composed of a large number of resumes or profiles. The first page is about Watkin Beckett, age 36.

(Watkin Beckett…)

Ray remembers this name. This is the name she had read on the rotten body in the fridge.

There is a picture of Beckett on the file. It’s an image of the man on a plain black and white background, smiling.

The next page has a picture of a man who looks similar to the one Ray had seen in the open grave.

(Is this a list of people who have come here…?)

Thinking to herself, she turns through the pages with her ghostly pale hand that looks as if it knows no defilement. And finally stops at a particular page, heart jerking in her chest as her eyes go wide. There is something about her written here as well.

Rachel Gardner.

There is, of course, a picture of herself. She has a vague recollection that this is a picture Danny took of her when she first came in for counselling.

(…Oh…)

For a moment, Ray reads the profile as if it were written about someone else. When she had laid on that operating table, she had finally known about herself and her past better than anyone else. But she still can’t remember why she had come to this building.

(…Why was I taken here…?)

She sighs a little.

But it might be better that I can’t remember…it probably would have been better to not remember any of this…

Feeling rather despondent, she turns another page. At the final one, her hand comes to an involuntary stop.

(Is this…him…?)

Her gaze falls upon what is unmistakably a picture of Zack.

(He killed people at the institution he lived in? Then he was involved in other murders…and I guess he was killing people in here, too…)

Right now, he’s on the run…but I wonder how many he’s killed…?

She unconsciously reads the words on the resume one more time. It’s not that she wants to know about Zack’s past. She simply has an instinctual feeling that she must know about him.

“It seems he is extremely responsive to human emotion.”

(…Human emotion…)

“Don’t run around all happy like. …Whenever I see someone lookin’ too happy, I…just get the urge to kill ‘em.”

Those words surface within Ray’s mind.

(I…don’t look happy. I guess that’s why Zack can’t bring himself to kill me…)

Feeling rather melancholic, she closes the folder. And at that moment, a soft voice makes its way to her ears.

…Hey, I know your wish. That’s why I’m going to see you so I can grant it for you.

It’s an unsettling voice, accompanied by childish laughter.

“…Is someone here…?”

Ray looks around questioningly, trying to dispel her fear. But there’s no one there, and no one answers her.

(…A ghost?)

No. Feeling a bit frightened of such an unknown existence, she moves in the direction of the voice…further into the room. It continues on into a passageway that abruptly ends. For some reason, there appears to be some sort of circular indentation in the ground.

(What is this…?)

She steps into the cavity, but nothing happens.

Is there…some other mechanism?

(Anyway, I’ll take those profiles and go back for now.)

Turning back, she takes the files about herself and Zack and makes her way back to the First Cemetery.

▲▽

(…They’re all broken.)

The cemetery is quiet, and doesn’t look at all like it had previously.

“Um…”

Dubiously, she steps in front of her grave and peers down into Zack’s face. He lays upon the ground as if sulking.

“Ah? What are ya doin’?! Yer slow!” In reaction to her voice, the man stands up.

“…That’s what I want to say,” Ray mutters as she stares at the graves brought to ruin. But it’s easy for her to understand that he must have done this because she’d asked him to wait, and he’d lost patience.

But…he didn’t break mine.

(Did he leave it because I asked?)

“So, what did ya find?” Zack asks her, completely nonchalant about the state of the room.

“Um, I found some sort of reference room with a bunch of resumes.”

“Hah? Re-su-me?”

(What’s a resume…?)

“Yes. See, Rachel Gardner…this is a paper with things written about me.” She speaks disinterestedly – this is how she tells Zack her name for the first time – and holds out the paper to him.

(Ra…chel Gardner…?)

But he can’t remember that name. And even if he looks at that profile, he can’t read it.

(I can’t read this…)

The only thing he’s aware of is Ray’s picture. And the Ray in the picture just looks like a beautiful girl to him, a girl completely free of troubles. It looks like she has no reason to want to die.

“I dunno what this is, whether it’s a re-su-me or whatever the hell, but I can’t read it.” Zack speaks without hesitation. Even if he holds something with writing in his hand, he can’t make heads or tails of it. Every single thing just seems annoying and pointless.

“Right…”

(He can’t read…)

That makes Ray feel a little strange. Never before has she met an adult who can’t read. So she’s a little curious as to how he sees letters. Do they look like pictures to him?

“So you don’t need that?” she asks, recalling what was written on her profile.

“No, can’t do anything with it, anyway… And all it does is tell us stuff about you.” Zack’s words sound like a declaration as he drops the piece of paper to the ground.

“Yeah…”

(All it does…)

For some reason, those words stir Ray’s heart.

“So, what’s that one about?” Zack jerks his chin at the other paper Ray holds.

“This one…says something…about someone named Isaac. …Is that you?” Holding out the paper, the girl stares straight at him.

“…Yeah, that’s right. Isaac Foster is me.” Scowling slightly at her, Zack’s expression seems to become slightly more mature.

“So, what did ya think after readin’ that?”

(What did I think…?)

For an instant, she can’t answer.

What did I think? His past…doesn’t concern me. After all, I just want him to kill me…

After they get out, she’ll be able to get Zack to kill her. To Ray, that promise is everything.

“…Nothing. This is just a paper about you. Nothing more than that.” Ray answers coldly, staring at the profile.

Perhaps she had used Zack’s words on purpose, or perhaps she had simply unconsciously taken a liking to how he had put it.

But Zack strangely dislikes Ray’s wooden manner of speaking.

(‘Cause she didn’t think at all, just said what sounded right, yeah…?)

“Yer not scared of me?” Zack’s words are deliberately calm.

“…Scared? No, I’m not,” the girl replies to him nonchalantly. After remembering everything, she no longer feels frightened. It’s scarier to be alive right now.

“Huuuh…” With a keen gaze, Zack stares into her blue eyes. He has no idea what she’s thinking.

Not scared, huh…

“Oh, come to think of it, I once knew a woman who said the same stuff as you…” His hand tightens around his scythe. And, as if he’s overlapped Ray with that woman in his mind, he begins to tell her of a memory he doesn’t particularly want to recall.

▲▽

…I wonder how many years ago that was.

“You’re Isaac Foster? I’ve been a huge fan ever since I saw you in the news!”

The moment that woman saw my face, her eyes began to shine. It was the first time anyone had ever said anything like that to me.

“Ah…? A fan?”

I’d thought about killing her as soon as I caught her…but I guess I let my guard down a little.

“Yes! So, I’m not scared of you.” She smiled as she spoke.

Her confident attitude intrigued me, so I gave her five seconds to run instead of three. Her face grew pale and she began to struggle violently.

(Ah…what should I do…)

Should I let her go…?

For a moment, I thought of something stupid like that. So, to test her, I said –

“Yer my fan, right? Stop strugglin’ if yer not afraid.”

And –

“Are you stupid?! I’m not your fan! I just said that because I didn’t want you to kill me! You monster!”

She started to scream –

▲▽

“I…hate liars. So, I killed her.”

Zack speaks coldly, as if he can remember that moment vividly. He doesn’t know why, but the memories he wants to forget never seem to fade.

Nevertheless, he’s both disgusted and surprised with himself that he would start talking about such a thing simply out of a singleminded desire to scare Ray.

(I hate liars…)

“…Does that story have anything to do with how I can make you kill me?” After thinking a moment, Ray asks him this with an utterly straight face.

“…Ah?”

“If I take those steps, will you kill me? Oh, maybe I should be a fan of yours, too?”

(He gave me three seconds that time…)

“Hah…? What are ya talkin’ about?” Zack stares at her, open-mouthed, disappointed by her half-insane trail of thought. He’d made that promise with her, but he’s never met someone who would say such a silly thing when they might be in danger of being killed.

“…Am I wrong?” Ray’s eyebrows furrow together. She has absolutely no self-awareness that what she said was strange.

…Ah, that’s right…she wants me to kill her!

(Why did I tell her all that…)

I want you to kill me – as he remembers that completely ungirlish request, this whole debacle suddenly seems ridiculous to him. And trying to make someone who wants to die be afraid of him was his first mistake.

“…Whatever. Anyway, why aren’t ya scared of me?” he asks her somewhat exasperatedly. He regrets telling her that stupid old story.

“I don’t know anything about you.”

“Hah? You don’t know…ya read that thing, didn’t ya?”

“I did. But, I just met you, so…I don’t know much about you yet.”

Now that she says it, that’s true. It feels kinda weird ‘cause of that strange promise, but it’s true. We’ve only just met.

Despite her monotonous words, Zack finds himself agreeing with her.

“…That so. Then, was there anything else?” Feeling somehow defeated, he weakens his grip on his scythe as he asks his next question in an attempt to change the subject.

“Um, I heard a voice.”

“A voice?”

“Yes, a boy’s. He said he knew my wish…” She still clearly remembers that voice.

“Hah?! That’s creepy!”

“Yeah. But I didn’t see him. Also, I found a dead end. There was some kind of hollow in the floor. It must be a part of some sort of mechanism…”

Though Zack seems strangely surprised, Ray completely forgets to tell him that the voice had said he wanted to meet her to grant the wish, and continues on with her report.

“What kinda mechanism?”

“Probably a door will open somewhere. Since there’s nowhere else we can go.”

Nothing had happened when she had stepped in that indentation in the hallway. So Ray has come to the conclusion that there must be an additional one somewhere, and that the two work in unison.

“Yeah, probably.”

“Yeah. So I want to go look for it.”

She has a bit of a hunch. In front of the elevator, in that pool…she feels like that hadn’t been a dead body. Thinking carefully, nothing had been suspended in the water, so those shapes could not have been human.

“Aah, I get it. But first, I gotta do something.” Zack stares directly in front of him as he speaks. He sounds annoyed.

“What…?”

Zack is staring at Ray’s grave. She has a bad feeling. She has an uncomfortable idea of what he wants to do.

“This grave…” Mumbling to himself, Zack approaches the tombstone with Ray’s name. And, staring fixatedly at the grotesquely gleaming gravestone, he retrieves the pickaxe he’s discarded to the floor. Ray has the feeling her misgivings were correct.

“This grave pisses me off so much that I gotta destroy it…!” With a bold grin, he swings the pickaxe toward that glittering tombstone with all his might.

“…Wait!” Ray lets out a small cry that she isn’t even consciously aware of. But Zack can’t stop himself. He simply thinks of the person who had made that grave as he mercilessly crushes it into smithereens.

“…”

Ray stares at the tombstone dumbfoundedly. She’s unbelievably sad. She feels as if the place she belongs in has been razed from this world.

“Hey, yer grave ain’t here. Ya only get t’ die after I get out of here.” Zack declares this, seeing her look so despondent.

Ray twitches slightly, widening her eyes.

“…Yeah.” And, looking up at him, Ray nods, though somewhat dispirited.

Will Zack…really kill me…?

She still can’t truly believe those words. Zack might simply want to get out of here. But…when Zack had said he hated liars, his eyes had been frighteningly earnest.

(I want him to kill me already…)

She thinks that often. Maybe when she had first encountered Zack, she shouldn’t have run – then he would have just killed her. In her frozen heart, Ray thinks about that for a little bit.

▲▽

Shortly after, Ray leads Zack to the elevator with heavy footsteps. She has to ascertain whether or not that thing at the bottom of the pool is a part of the mechanism. The man, for his part, looks pleased.

Rushing to the water, Ray peers into the pool. As she expected, there’s a large switch of a similar type as in that hallway.

“Hey.”

“What?”

“Um, I’m not sure if that’s the mechanism, but I want you to go over there and stand on that switch.” Ray points at the switch in the pool.

“Ah?! Go in the water? Me?!” Zack’s eyebrows lift. Even if this wasn’t such a cold floor, he still wouldn’t want to get into that water. It smells gross, like chemicals.

“…If you don’t want to, you don’t need to.” Ray’s arm drops as she looks at Zack’s clearly unsettled expression.

“Hey, I didn’t say I didn’t want to!”

“But your face says you don’t want to.”

“Aah?! There’s nothin’ wrong with me makin’ a face like that! Just t’ let ya know, I ain’t plannin’ on dyin’ here, unlike you.”

“Then, I want us to cooperate…”

“Yeah, I get it, even if ya don’t tell me. I just gotta get in, right, right?!” Swearing angrily to himself, the man gets into the pool and wades to the area she’d pointed out to him. What he’s looking for is probably a metre in. The entire lower half of his body is submerged in water.

“Damnit, this pisses me off…’n it’s cold…” It’s even colder than he had expected; if he stays in there too long, he feels like his body might start to freeze over.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m not, but that doesn’t matter! I just gotta get on this, yeah?!” Mumbling complaints, he steps upon the swtich. It makes a small, pleasant noise.

“Yeah.”

As she nods deeply, she notices a small memo pad at her feet, as if someone had dropped it there.

(…What is this?)

She slowly picks it up. It feels as if someone had been touching it recently; it’s ever so slightly damp with water.

I’ll lend you a hand.

If you want to suffer, I’ll make you suffer. If you want it to be peaceful, I’ll be nice. I’ll let you choose what you want.

Tell me, how do you want to die?

The writing is childish, just like in the note she had read earlier. She doesn’t know who wrote it. But she’s certain that it is addressed to her.

(That notebook, too…)

A place where she can eternally slumber.

Recalling the note, she ponders a bit. Since the person isn’t Zack, she might be able to get them to kill her right away… Her heart stirs.

“Hey, what are ya doin’?”

For some reason, Zack stands straight in the cold water, staring directly at her.

“I found a note…it says ‘I can kill you’.” Despite her inexpressiveness, her face trembles slightly with the thought of someone else killing her. Zack’s face twitches in annoyance.

“Ah? Kill you?” For some reason, blood rushes to his head.

Don’t underestimate me.

“Give me that.” Stepping off from the switch, Zack approaches the side of the pool and forcibly yanks the paper from her hands. Then he tears it up into small pieces, dropping them in the water.

“Listen here. Don’t ya go thinkin’ about gettin’ someone else t’ kill ya! You’ll piss me off if I won’t be able to get out of here.”

“Right…but will you really be able to kill me? Since I’m boring…” Ray’s voice is so soft it seems like it might completely vanish. She’s concerned that he won’t kill her when they get out. She wants to disappear from this unhappy world as soon as possible.

But Zack is simply fed up by her trying words.

“If ya want t’ die, why don’t ya just kill yerself…?”

For some reason, the thought that she could be killed by someone else irritates him. But when he looks into her eyes, like a still lake – any desire to kill melts away.

“…Because suicide isn’t allowed.” After a long silence, Ray finally speaks, her words like scatters of rainfall.

“Aah? Why’s that?”

“��.God…because God said so.” Ray’s eyes grow distant. She recalls the book she had read that moonlit night. But Zack ridicules her serious words.

“Heh…God, huh. Then put some effort into makin’ me want t’ kill ya.”

(Effort…?)

Ray can’t think of anything. After all, to this man, killing someone must be as easy as eating a piece of candy. That was how he had killed Doctor Danny. He’d cut through his body without an ounce of hesitation. But when Ray asks him to kill her, he won’t. And she can’t understand why that is.

“What should I…?”

“Huh? Be useful. And if ya want me t’ kill ya, stop makin’ that boring face. If you’re a human…you can get angry, and cry, and stuff like that, right?”

“Get angry, or cry…?” He probably doesn’t like expressionless faces. Thinking this, she tries to make some sort of face. And though she childishly tries to do so, her eyes remain utterly dead.

“Do ya even got face muscles…? Maybe yer already dead, or a ghost or somethin’.” Zack seems to come to a similar conclusion. Though a ghost likely wouldn’t wish someone to kill them.

(A ghost…)

Ray’s eyebrows lower slightly. It’s rather irritating for him to call her a ghost.

“…I’m alive, that’s why I want you to kill me.”

“Argh, I get it. C’mon, try smiling.” Despite her dark expression, the man continues to lightly give her orders.

(Smile.)

Perhaps that’s proof that she’s alive.

“…How is this?” The corners of her lips pull up in a faint curve. She tries with all her might to smile. But as Zack had pointed out, it seems like her facial muscles simply don’t respond.

“Yer eyes are totally dead.” From Zack’s point of view, that was by no means a smile.

“I see…so it’s no good,” Ray mumbles, feeling discouraged. But that emotion also doesn’t reach Zack’s ears.

(…I don’t even know if she’s even alive.)

“But…I’m not a ghost,” Ray continues, as if she had read Zack’s mind. She thinks she won’t be afraid no matter how scary a person she sees. But she absolutely can’t accept that she’s a ghost. She feels so uncomfortable at the thought that Zack might see her as one that she unthinkingly rejects it.

“Hah? What, I know that! Ghosts don’t exist, idiot!”

“Eh…? They don’t?” Ray looks utterly surprised. She recalls a horror program she had watched one night when she couldn’t sleep, in a pitch-black room. Even if it had only been a fake ghost – after seeing it, she’d been so unnerved at seeing the strange spirit on the screen that she had thought they might truly exist. Sometimes, it frightened her to the point she couldn’t sleep. She truly doesn’t like ghosts.

“‘Course they don’t! Yer weird, that’s why I called ya a ghost! If they really existed, they’d prolly be around here somewhere.” Zack is strangely serious in response to her speculative questions about ghosts.

(Oh…)

Certainly, it wouldn’t be odd for them to be in a building like this. But, since she hasn’t seen any, it might really be as Zack says…they might not exist…

(Does she seriously believe in ghosts…?)

“Anyway, how old are ya?” Zack asks, abruptly curious. He can tell she’s younger than him just by looking at her…but she’s smart, believes in ghosts, and wants to die – he has no idea exactly how old she is.

“I’m 13…” She answers honestly. There’s no particular need to lie. And Zack had said that he hates liars.

(13, huh. Still a brat.)

“And you are?”

“Ah? I’m an adult,” he replies. He likes saying that – it’s cooler to say he’s an adult than to say he’s 20.

“…An adult?”

(Maybe 20?)

At only 13, being 20 years old seems quite a bit older than her. But the Zack in front of her doesn’t feel older. Perhaps the only thing that makes him seem older is the fact that he’s taller than her.

“Ah, but that doesn’t matter. Do something with that mechanism or whatever it is and get back here.”

(We just wasted time on dumb crap…)

He can’t just stay in this water forever. He’s getting a little irritated at the cold.

“Yeah. I’ll go check out the floor in the crack.”

Zack had been the one to ask about her age first…so, feeling somewhat gloomy, she turns toward the door. They can’t afford to prolong their conversation.

“And hurry it up!”

“Okay.” Nodding, Ray leaves.

As she walks back to the First Cemetery, her heart whirls a little as she recalls the words on the memo – I can kill you.

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xenoshadel · 6 years ago

Text

Small Victories

Series: Angels of Death

Summary: Post-canon where after Zack and Rachel escaped, Zack wants to learn how to read. Granted it'll take some time on top of learning how to write, but it'll make a small victory of its own down the road. Warning for Zack being, well, Zack. Also on Ao3!

A small victory for Zack is finding a few snacks in the trash that still had the wrapping on. For Rachel, it’s gathering enough money to stay in the cheapest hotel they can find for a few nights. It was Rachel’s idea to beg on the streets for money, but after seeing how much more she made while people were quick to ignore Zack, the latter had more of an itch to kill someone and steal their wallet. He claimed it was easier that way, and it was a topic that didn’t have a moral victory if they could still scrounge up enough cash.

The apartment was as shabby as all the other ones they stayed at: a small living room with a tattered couch, a smaller kitchen down the hallway, a bedroom and a space with a table. Zack dropped the scythe he recently found—and grew to adore as much as his old one—on the couch while Rachel tucked the pieces of cardboard she carried with her by the bookcase in the living room.

“Hey,” Zack said. “I know you wrote things on the cardboard for people to read while you begged for a little while, but what does it actually say?”

“I wrote: ‘Homeless and cold, please spare any change you might have for food. God bless.’ Simple and to the point,” Rachel explained.

“You wrote that? And people can read it?”

“Well, yeah. Why?”

Zack narrowed his eyes in thought. “I did some thinking before you found the hotel and you offered to teach me to read. It would make things a hell of a lot easier if we split up and I knew what the store signs read or whatever papers in the alleys had to say. So I… might want to learn today.”

Now that was surprising of him to say. “You don’t sound like you want to though,” Rachel said.

“Well of course not, but like I said, it’ll be easier if I can read and I can’t exactly have people in the streets read to me while I mob them. So you down or what?”

Zack felt a little exasperated at the stare she gave him. Not of surprise or excitement, just the same dull look she always had on. He was ready to take back his words until she turned around to look through the apartment. Rachel found a stack of papers in the kitchen and the space with the table had a few pencils.

“If you insist, then yeah I can teach you.”

“Gee, no need to sound so excited now.” Sarcasm aside, Zack was a little curious when he walked over to sit on the chair across from Rachel. He picked a sheet of paper to place in front of him and had an awkward time positioning the pencil to stay comfortably in his hand. He decided against it and gave the pencil to Rachel instead. “So, what first?”

“We can do the alphabet for starters. I’ll write out each letter first and pronounce them for you.”

It seemed simple in the first few minutes until Zack started to count the letters after what seemed like a bit too many to him. “Hey, how many letters are there?”

“Twenty-six.”

“The hell? Why are there so many?”

Rachel gave him a blank look. “I don’t know. That’s just how the English alphabet was designed. Some languages have more or fewer letters.”

“More than twenty-six? Well shit. Alright, whatever.” Zack tried to follow along again, his eyes squinting at each shape of the letter. He sounded proud of himself when he looked over the easy ones like ‘l’ and ‘o’ while those that looked similar to each other gave him an annoying itch at his fingertips.

Rachel finished all the letters and started another row of shapes that looked different to Zack and he asked, “Wait, what are those supposed to be?”

“When it comes to writing, there are capital and lowercase letters. I wrote the capital letters first and those are for the first letter of a sentence or the first letter of important words, like a name. Lowercase letters then follow after it.” Rachel continued to write the letters until it seemed like the whole page was full of shapes, not noticing that Zack was already lost when she finished.

Well that made things more annoying. Zack pursed his lips. “The fuck? Why is it so complicated?”

“That’s just how the system works for reading and writing properly. Plus if you can read, you can also write.”

“Now why the fuck do I need to do that for?”

“To write notes for yourself, maybe as a reminder?” Rachel shrugged.

“I may not have a head like yours but I’m not stupid enough to forget things,” Zack scoffed. “What else, write a fuckin’ diary to talk about my feelings?”

Rachel watched him lean against the chair and kick his feet up on the table. “That’s one option.”

“Dear diary. I found a squirrel and told him my name, even spelled it out for ‘em. He ran away before I finished and the fucker hurt my feelings. Maybe writing them out will make me feel better but I still want to tear that bastard into shreds. Love, Zack.”

Rachel paused. “Some people write explicitly but most find that it helps make them feel better.”

“What does? Writing out their feelings like a sissy?”

“Well yeah. Even though it didn’t happen, imagine if you wrote it down. How do you think you’ll feel?”

“Eh? I’d feel the same? Like myself? The fuck kind of magic is writing supposed to do to me?” Zack put his feet down and leaned close to her. “Are you a fuckin’ therapist now?”

Rachel sighed, “Far from it, unless you want Doctor Danny to come back from the dead.”

“Fuck yeah I do! That way I can rip him apart for sure and the guy will be booted to hell,” Zack laughed. “Should’ve done it when I had the chance. Damn.”

“Do you want to continue or not?”

The thought of slashing the doctor’s head off was brushed away from her unfazed voice, and Zack sighed, “I didn’t say I’ll stop, did I?” He snatched the paper from her. “Lemme go through this then.”

Well, neither of them mentioned him stopping but if that meant giving him more motivation to practice then by all means. Rachel stepped around him while Zack pronounced each letter of the alphabet to himself and rewrote them on a new sheet of paper. There were a few times he almost broke the pencil from using the eraser too hard at the mistakes he made, and he kept grumbling to himself when he stopped to brush the eraser shavings away.

“Why the fuck does some of the letters look like that anyway? More scribbles but fancier, psh.”

Rachel ignored him, knowing that a response will make him more irritated with his progress. He didn’t seem too frustrated though, determined and annoyed were better ways to describe him, despite how much time he took with his handwriting.

“Ah fuck, why bother with all this if I can say words,” Zack muttered.

“Some letters are trickier to write than others, but at least try to write the whole alphabet down.”

“There you go with your orders. I was already doing that, eh?”

Zack could make the argument that the pen was mightier than the sword if he stabbed someone hard enough with it. He remembered hearing that phrase before, and he was sure the pencil will work just as fine if he was really pissed off. The sharpener was on the table and he took a few moments to use it when the lead was too dull to continue.

“You know, I found papers with writing in the place you stayed at when I went to your floor for the knife. Did you… try to write?” Rachel asked.

Zack paused. “Not like it mattered but yeah, guess I did. I knew that the alley papers with my picture were about me but it didn’t mean shit if I can’t read ‘em. Writing would’ve been pointless but I wanted to have a go to see what it felt like. Didn’t last long, didn’t fuckin’ matter.”

Rachel noticed how careful he was about making the pencil sharp and it was probably something he did back then, too. “But now it matters?”

“Because it’s important now, yeah. Sure.” He ruffled her hair, smirking when she tried to fix it. “I don’t have the greatest teacher in the world but I’m not complaining a whole lot, hm?”

He sounded a little satisfied with himself with the smile he wore, and Rachel returned a small smile of her own. He quipped at it remaining the same as ever but changed his focus onto the paper. Zack finished the alphabet and still had enough room on the bottom of the page to try a combination of words. He surprised her when she realized that he was trying to write her name, though with mild difficulty when he attempted her first name. After scratching it off to avoid wasting the eraser, he tried again with her nickname.

Zack handed the paper to her. “Well? I didn’t like how I made the rest of the letters for your name so I did that instead, Ray.”

“Not bad. It’s still legible enough to read,” Rachel said.

“I ain’t some fancy prick,” Zack snorted. “Don’t need to be one anyway.”

“Maybe I can teach you cursive writing too.”

“The fuck is that?”

Rachel smiled, turning the paper over to write her full name. To say that Zack was surprised would be an understatement when he watched her write out the letters and how they stayed connected. The loops and swirls looked more garbled than his own handwriting and he threw his hands up.

“There ain’t no fucking way that’s writing! Even I can do something like that!”

“It’s cursive writing. Something people back in the day used and some people to this day continue to write in cursive,” Rachel explained. “Think of it as writing meant to look fancy.”

“If that’s fancy then my writing is fucking beautiful.” Zack rolled his eyes. “But this isn’t necessary writing? I don’t need to know this, right?!”

“Well, it might be helpful if you came across cursive writing and knew what it read.”

“Aw c’mon! That’s more work to do and remember!” Zack glared at the writing, trying to make sense of the swirls that looked like witchcraft symbols to him. He could guess the first letter being ‘R’, but the rest that followed lost him. She was probably messing with him, though her eyes barely held any amusement for him to threaten her with, and he sighed heavily instead. “Save this lesson for much, much later, aight?”

“If you insist. I’m sure we’ll have enough paper to practice by then.”

“Shut it. I ain’t the fastest learner but damn it the pencils will be put to good use. What else do we have to write with?”

Blue eyes looked around them. “I did spot a few pens by the door, but ink and lead aren’t the only things you can use if you’re in a situation without a writing utensil. Blood can be written with as well.”

“Blood?” Zack gave her an odd look. “You got a sick mind now? Slicing yourself up to send a message to someone?”

“It sends a message in its own way.” Rachel shrugged. “If there’s no ink or lead and you still have something to write with, even your own hands, then it works.”

“And that’s batshit crazy,” Zack muttered. “So wait, when we went through all those floors and you saw some writing on the walls, you read all that?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you remember what you read?”

Rachel raised an eyebrow. The memories blurred together for her and even if she did remember, it wouldn’t be significant. “No. They weren’t important and were too vague to be helpful as clues.”

“Huh.” Zack sounded unconvinced but there wasn’t a point to ask more about it. He looked back at the stack of paper. “Well, I’ll try again on this.”

The fact he was committed to learning how to write when he was previously against it amused Rachel. She didn’t have it in her to laugh about it, let alone have her eyes do the talking, but a small smile was the most for either of them to understand the message. “Let me know if you need help with something.”

“Hey I can manage just fine,” Zack said. He was already in his mode of concentration, which frankly was something he wasn’t used to being in. He didn’t remember the last time he had to think that hard for any reason when things were simple back then, but he supposed it wasn’t as simple now.

He paused at the thought and turned to Rachel, who went to look through one of the books in the shelves of the living room. She picked a heavy one and brushed the dust off it while she made her way to the couch, and Zack caught gold writing on the cover when she opened it. A simple thing to notice, and if he was able to read the cover, it'll be a small victory of its own. And if Rachel can read the whole book without a problem, maybe there will be a day where it won’t be as… complicated for him, to put it.

He sat back at the table, his hand reaching for the pencil and he took a moment to inspect it. The point remained sharp and with a bit of movement, he can create something that was already so simple to everyone else, until one day he can be on the same page as them. Zack chuckled a little at his own joke, mainly to brush off the impending headache after using what felt like too much brainpower to him, and picked a clean sheet of paper to start off with.

“Guess it’s the alphabet again.”

Scritch scritch.

“Lowercase ‘b’ is that way… ‘D’ is that way… ‘M’ then ‘n.’ ‘P’ is… ah shit, the lead broke off.”

He picked up another pencil to resume his work. Most of the letters were written without his headache growing, and he decided to attempt something else.

“Z… nah that’s not straight enough. Or maybe that’s okay? For fuck’s sake, I don’t think it matters.”

Scritch scritch.

“Z... a…”

Zack felt silly for trying so hard, but if Rachel happened to be feeling smug about this, he will be sure to prove her wrong. Or did she ever smug? Nah, that’s too useless to think about, and he was nearly finished anyway.

“C… K. ‘Kay. Cool?” Zack looked at the paper, squinting at the letters. “Guess it does feel different to actually recognize it. Z.. a… ck. Huh.”

A touch of pride that blossomed when he read his name a few times over. That was his name he successfully wrote, his name. Granted it didn’t match the feeling he had after a sweet kill or cutting down someone that smiled too broadly, but it felt nice to do a good job at something that was still a part of him.

“Hey Ray! I got my name down!” he called out, a little too giddy at his own victory.

Soft footsteps when Rachel made her way to him and she looked at the paper. Her eyes didn’t match his excitement, but she nodded in approval. “I think it’s more legible this time, too.”

“Oh come on. Whatever, it’s good enough for the day!”

Rachel tilted her head. “You don’t plan on practicing more?”

“After learning the alphabet, reading that, and writing this?! I don’t have enough brains in me, squirt,” Zack scoffed. “Doing more would kill me, though I’m dying for a kill.”

He laughed at the subtle way her eyes narrowed at him. “I’m kidding. Maybe. I think writing in blood won’t be so fucked up after all if it’s someone else’s blood and me writing my name on them. How cool would that be?!”

“You will be identified sooner and breaking out of jail won’t be so easy after a few times,” Rachel simply said.

“Way to ruin the party.” Zack stuck his tongue out. “I’ll still do it, mark my words. Ha! Get it?”

No response from her but Zack still laughed anyway. He clapped his hands and announced the extra brainpower he used was enough to make him hungry, and he strolled towards the fridge. Rachel shook her head, gathering the papers to put away for the next day and she stopped at the paper Zack used.

He wrote his name and at the bottom of the page, he wrote her name as well. Zack and Ray, and he did seem more proud of himself when he walked away. Rachel glanced between the paper and him, who found a jug of soda to chug down, and made another little smile before she put the papers in a folder.

Life wasn’t as simple as before, but maybe it was getting better with the small victories.

#angels of death #satsuriku no tenshi #angels of slaughter #rachel gardner #isaac foster #zack foster #xeno writes #if I like a series enough for a fanfic then yeah that means I really like it #I know I'm not the only who worked with this prompt but hey #I just love Zack and the thought of him trying to write?? precious #long time no writing hello!

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