Refelctions of a Dark Mind [Darkwing/Open]

[Chaos]

Chaos had come back to the world that never was. His hand had finally grown back and he stilled needed to find more modern information. The several hundred year gap in his knowledge was bad enough, but the lack o knowledge of multiple worlds.

Of course he had found that knowledge of multiple worlds was not the norm. It astounded him how few realized what lay so close to them, and as long as a world had darkness, Chaos could reach it. It gave untold freedom to Chaos, a chance to kill on other worlds.

For now he came back here to find more information. Perhaps someone could tell him what he would need to know. Yet this city seemed so empty. He could feel things watch him, and he could feel the city teem in Heartless, yet he saw no one else upon the roads.

He continued deeper into the city eventually coming to the skyscraper. He looked up it's tall mirrored surface and amazed at the impossibility of it, his world had not been near advanced enough to do such when he had been sealed away. His eyes were drawn to the screen which lit up with images of Chaos moving through the streets killing men and women as he passed.

He was indiscriminate and cruel. Sometimes he would kill quickly, but that was only when he came upon a group. When he only encountered one or two he enjoyed himself. Around him he city was burning to the ground. He remembered that moment. That had been the first time they had sacked a kingdom.

Soon he would get to experience that again. He would march upon a world with an army of Heartless behind him, burning as he went. Chaos would drink wine out of the last human's skull. Well at least the last human he doesn't approve of. He liked the idea of a hand chosen colony to continue the human race. Perhaps he could shape them to be worthy of him, or at least repopulate the worlds so that they can do it again.

[Darkwing]

There was another person roaming the city streets. His boots slapped against the rain soaked ground. The man's parafin white face was formed into an amiable smile as he approached the man with white hair. Crimson eyes glinted as they locked onto Chaos. "I've been here for days wondering if I would see anyone else. The company is much appreciated." Darkwing said. His raven hair seemed to be in utter disarray, though at least some attempt had been made at pushing it back from his face. Darkwing didn't quite see conversatio though, what Darkwing saw was a meal. Darkwing was not the type to discriminate over the gender of his victims, sure he would have some sun with a female before draining their body of every drop of blood, but he found it just as satisfying to splatter a male's blood everywhere, then lap it up.

"I've been stuck in this wretched city for three weeks, would you mind giving me some help?" Darkwing asked. That was his plan. Gain this man's confidence, come off as a sheltered aristocrat who had no idea of the harsh nature of the world, then when the man's back was turned . . . well, that's when thing got messy. It was simple, and except for the results, it was clean and utterly undetectable to most. However, Darkwing found something odd about this man. He was different, though Darkwing couldn't lay a finger on what it was exactly.

[Chaos]

Chaos smiled to the man. He studied him, noting very quickly many things. The first that this man was a predator. Chaos read it in his motions and word choices. The next was that he had targeted Chaos, the thought alone was amusing. Made more so by the memories being projected on the building. It was odd that it was not from his perspective, likely some magic of the board.

He was wearing a wed jacket that went to his knees, and black pants underneath it. He wore a white skin tight shirt. He wore a black bandanna over his forehead. He turned around and looked up to see if the images were still playing. He watched himself smile as he threw a man through a large window with one hand, as he snapped the women's neck with the other. He had personally killed hundreds that day.

He turned back and smiled to the man. "How may I help you sir." He asked jovial. He wondered what the man would do. He had recovered from the injuries he got from fighting Sentenza and was ready for anything. Besides, Chaos had to respect some who's balls were that huge to approach him like prey with his personal glory showing in the back ground.

[Darkwing]

Darkwing's face contorted into a horrid grin as he looked up at the screen behind Chaos. "My, did you do all that?" Darkwing asked, licking his lips. He apparently enjoyed watching the carnage which Chaos and his horsemen unleashed quite a bit. "I was going to tear your body limb from limb, then enjoy every drop of blood in your body." Darkwing said, losing all semblance of his former politeness. He was no longer looking for food, he had a more useful idea of what to do with Chaos. "Tell me, what do you call yourself?" Darkwing asked, his fangs flashing menacingly as he grinned at Chaos. Darkwing's crimson eyes went wide with a look of madness. "Anyone who can cause that much carnage is a friend of mine." Darkwing said, "You may call me Darkwing, however, if you wish to be the type of idiot who's willing to fight me, you may call me 'Death' or 'Executioner." Darkwing was making an offer to Chaos to join forces in his own cryptic way. "I can tell by the look in your eyes, you too are tired of the madness this universe breeds, the destruction, the foolishness." Darkwing said, "You too feel that this universe has long lost it's right to live."

[Chaos]

"You were going to try, I know." Chaos said with a warm smile. "I could read in your stance what you wanted." He continued to watch the creature relax.. Chaos rarely did such himself, and he wouldn't around this one yet. He could see the creature was prepared to fight.

He listened to the being speak and truly enjoyed listening. It was part of who Chaos was, he did not fake it, instead he became what he acted. Almost every emotion he conveyed was a facade. He only ever let the dying see his true self. However he had had a long time to perfect his art, to learn every emotion so well as to be able to feel it on cue. That was his talent.

"I am known as Chaos." He said with a slight bow. "That is but some of my humbler work, my good sir. I look forward to sweeping through the worlds with a renewed vigor and strength. I do hope to top my ammeter days."

He brought his arms up to highlight the beast before him. "Why would I fight such a predator? I wanted to see what you could do, see if you could be of use. No sir, I am no hero, I have no need to selflessly throw my life away in a vain attempt to stop the inevitable."

"No sir, I do not tire of it, to tire of it meant I stood with it at one point." Chaos said. "I have never cared for humanity. As to it's inevitable conclusion, I intend to play a small part. After all, what good is the apocalypse with out it's Horsemen." Chaos did not fear revealing his nature to this being. This being was a possible ally, and if he could become a threat. Well Chaos had already killed two threats thus far. Well there was enough of a chance either could be alive to not count them out.

[Darkwing]

"Chaos you say?" Darkwing inquired with a chuckle. His grin broadened. "Humblest work . . ." Darkwing repeated to himself. However he seemed to frown at Chaos' reactions. "Please, I wasn't born yesterday. Flattery may get you everywhere," Darkwing stated, "but in a more literal, and far more messy sense of the phrase." Darkwing unleashed a laugh so hideous and full of madness, the the very ground on which they stood seemed to cower from it. "You are quite the comedian." Darkwing said, "Monsters are not born, they are made. There is that one point for all of them when they decide that something of the world needs to be erased. No one is born with a thrill of killing, finding the stench of blood drenched earth to be the most potent aphrodisiac, finding comfort in the suffering of the fools in existence." Darkwing let out a sad bitter laugh. "I remember when I was a fool, who honestly thought that light could balance with darkness, there could harmony, there could unity." Darkwing said, "Don't lie to me or yourself, you weren't always the killing machine I'm watching now. I didn't always kill, murder, rip apart my enemies, and neither did you. I tried for peace, but I realized just how cruel the world was, no how all of existence was."

[Chaos]

"Oh dear sir." He said with a smile. "That was honest flattery. You do me injustice You act as if I must keep you in good modes." " The smile faded as his voice hardened. "I do not choose my words because I fear your wrath." He then smiled again, but this time it was more predatory.

"I assure sir, I do not jest. I have never once shown an ounce of pity to a human. Even in the fog of youth I had already begun to realize what a waste most humans were. My first human kill was when I was 11. She was serving girl, a few years older then me. She had thought we were going to have sex. I was already able to seduce by then. The shock and horror on her face." He stopped and just smiled fondly, as the monitor behind him played the scene.

He pulled the girl through the woods to the lodge reserved for the hunting noblemen. Of course now nothing was in season, so no one would use it in several months. He pulled her through the entrance and right to to spot he had prepared. He asked her to close her eyes.

He pulled the knife out of it's hiding spot and pushed the girl against the wall. He leaned in close and brought his lips to hers. He then sharply brought the knife across her throat. He stepped back to admire his work as she gurgled some unheard plea or question. He just watched the blood spill down her white dress. It was so absolutely beautiful. It had always inspired him when he played his hand at art.

"But you are correct, there was a time when I was content to live among the sheep." Chaos said with a mild shrug. "They would feed my hunger, and I would share with them my genius. A more then reasonable bargain." His face then contorted to a slight rage. "But it seems they thought the exchange was unreasonable. Things got out of hand." He said darkly and with a menace to them."Needless to say, my relationship to humanity terminated."

[Darkwing]

The grin remained on Darkwing's face. "You call that monstrosity? It's reprehensible indeed, it disgusts me to the core, even I have standards, but you call that monstrosity?" Darkwing asked, "That was the result of decadence and boredom. Please, I know the aristocrat's life. Some do everything imaginable for their pleasure, some are noble, some have skeletons in their closets." Darkwing summoned his rapier. "You think that makes you a monster after the display from before?" Darkwing asked, "Please, you simpleton. A kill is not a monster. Slaughter is a monster, unrepentant, decadent, slaughter. You slight her throat? What then? What did you do with the corpse? Can't you be a little more creative than simply slitting the throat, even at that age you probably knew all the ways you could kill someone!" Darkwing pointed his sword at Chaos, somewhat accusingly. "There was a change in you at some point, you weren't a monster until that change had occurred. I know your type well, you're killed with such nihilism that you see this as your only reason to live." Darkwing said, "You have no heart, no penance, and something made you that way, I can guarantee you boy, one isn't born with a love of killing, the urge perhaps, maybe you even enjoy it, but that doesn't mean you love the look of watching a pair of glistening eyes fade to a dull nothingness."

[Chaos]

Chaos studied the madman as he accused him. His eyebrow raised at the rapier. He continued to watch the man dispassionately as the many heroes he had slain moved across the screen behind him. He had been artful in each and every hero he had ever killed. He enjoyed the challenge of breaking their will. In each of the memories his forehead was bare, revealing the tell-tale ouroboros of a homunculi.

"I have always favored such a sight, but yes there was a time when I did not envision every world on fire." Chaos said with a dark smile. "That was shortly after my rebirth. I am proof of humanities inevitable end. I was chosen to take flight on the winds of Armageddon. I will never rest until all of the worlds lay burning at my feet."

Chaos looked to the man and smiled deeper as he stepped back spreading his hands. "You say I am a monster, and that may seem true, but I am a force of nature, a creature destined to rain destruction on every world. I am Chaos, horsemen of the Apocalypse, and I will usher in a great end to this farce they call life. I will purge every world of their filth, I will pay them back for every wound a thousand fold. Every debt will be collected and ash will be all that remains of their once proud ignorance. I would salt the earth where they lay, but that would provide a grave marker to an insignificant beast that deserves no remembrance nor ceremony. Is that what your looking for." He asked with a deeper tone and a playful inquisitive look upon his face.

[Darkwing]

"Please, no man, no beast, no monster is created or born to destroy." Darkwing said bored with Chaos' motives already. Darkwing rolled his eyes. "Is that really all you fight for?" Darkwing asked, "because you see that as why you exist?" Darkwing wasn't sure how he felt about Chaos yet. "Why is that your purpose?" Darkwing asked, "Because of your name? Because you intend to interpret something like that as a sign?" Darkwing sent his rapier away. "To quote the Bard, 'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,' or rather, as case may have it, a monster by any other name would slaughter as many." Darkwing sneered at Chaos. "You'd destroy even if you weren't named Chaos, so why do you fight?" Darkwing asked.

Darkwing fought to punish the injustice and decay of the hearts of everyone. "I suppose you wish to savor each killing? How does that fulfill your goals? One by one killing worlds and their inhabitants?" Darkwing asked, "Worlds are like the heads of the hydra, you shear one off, and 3 more grow in it's place." The mad grin returned to Darkwing's face. "What if I told you that all worlds, and everyone could be ended in one decisive strike? What would you say?" Darkwing asked.

[Chaos]

"You really want to believe that don't you." Chaos said. "You honestly want to believe it is only the cause of corruption, does it make you feel better? Would you then posit that such corruption is the fate of all who live to long? Would you use it to explain your fall, hide behind your theorem to protect what little humanity you have left?" He asked with a quizzical smile. "How would you explain the Heartless then, their only point is to make more causing infinite destruction. Once I was a man, but even then I was a monster. You ask why I destroy, it is because I desire it, what else should matter. Yes I desire absolute destruction as recompense for killing me when I was a man, but I have always desired destruction. I am a killer, a murderer, an assassin, a destroyer, a malcontent. I am all these things and more, and I always have been. I am the monster that was, my birth was the only trigger needed to turn me into a killer. I apologize if that does fit into your view of the worlds truths, but it is what I am. I am Chaos of the Four Horsemen, I am the ender of worlds, and I desire destruction untold merely because I wish it. It may seem capricious to you, and vain, but what does the matter when we both seek the same end."

"That just means I won't get bored. I fight each world one at a time for the same reason I destroy each world one city at a time, because we must take steps to achieve our long goals, and I have nothing but time. In the end I will walk on the dead dust of every world, and the Horsemen will be all that remains. That is that nature of the beast." Chaos said. "As to your plan, it sounds intriguing, but I have a feeling I will quite bored in a century, but do go on."

[Darkwing]

"Corruption is the fate of all who hate to long." Darkwing said. "I'm sure you know the old adage that, 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions,' I can tell you that it is very, very true." Darkwing stared into Chaos' eyes. "They say the eyes are windows to the soul. What I see in your eyes Chaos is . . . indecisiveness. A Man who thinks he knows what he wants, a deep lofty goal that he can't hope to fulfill, but only makes that goal for the illusion of something to strive for. You are devoid of hope." Darkwing said. "Devoid of a heart for that matter, but the hopelessness is what I notice the most. Please, attempts at angering me are paltry at best. You're what, 400, 500? Take a few millenia, boy, then you might get inside my mind, with luck."

"Tell, do you know what, 'Kingdom Hearts,' is?" Darkwing asked. He didn't wait for Chaos' answer before going into his explanation. "It is the heart of all words. That which sustains all of them . . ." Darkwing conjured a small illusion of solar system in his hand, "There are more worlds than this in existence, certainly . . . but without kingdom hearts . . ." Darkwing crushed the illusion. "Do you understand?" Darkwing asked.

[Chaos]

Chaos raised an eyebrow at the being before him. Was he so insane that he saw the world in only his truths? Was his world view so narrow that it could not include a being such as Chaos? Then to call out that Chaos' bravado was in fact a mask for depression was almost to much. Chaos had never once doubted his abilities. A trait that had caused his own downfall twice before, but also a trait incompatible with depression. It was an insult like no other he had ever suffered. He narrowed his eyes as he continued to study the man.

On the screen it showed Chaos clothed in all black nobles garb on some sort of table with a man in an old style doctors outfit. He had his hands clasped together as Chaos' eyes opened. "Ah yes, you are the first to have awoken. I have brought back to lead my armies to conquer the world. I have made you a homunculus, a creature unburdened with a soul, stronger and faster then a human. I am your.."

The words were suddenly cut off as Chaos lashed out and gripped the mans neck. The man fumbled for a crimson stone, but Chaos snapped his neck before he could do anything. "I don't take orders." He said simply as he dropped the body to the ground. He looked around him On the other tables he saw those who would be the closest he had ever felt to family. He knew what they would become. He already knew the names he would give them. He had been given his chance to seek vengeance for his wrongful death at those miscreants that had hung him. Wasn't his glory worthy of a few sacrifices.

On the street Chaos sneered as the scene played out above. He forced himself to blank his mind, lest the dark being before him see what happened next. He could not afford to let anyone know that a philosopher's stone flowed through his veins.

He looked up to Darkwing and considered his plan very carefully. "And what is our fate at the end of this?"

[Darkwing]

Darkwing watched the scene with some interest before turning to Chaos. Darkwing gave a wistful smile. "The fate of all things. Is that not what you want? The utter downfall of all existence? If what you tell me is true, and you truly are 'Chaos', a horsemen of the apocalypse, not simply some frankensteinian beast who rebelled against it's creator then decided it's own name, isn't that what you want?" Darkwing asked. "Please, if you can't even muster up the acceptance of that fate, then how is anyone to believe in what you are? Your fellow horsemen hardly deserve your respect if you can't even desire the downfall of all existence."

Darkwing tapped his foot gently. "Though you pose an interesting question. What of beings without hearts? I certainly hope they can survive in the void of space, or face everything coated in the sublime despair of darkness . . ." Darkwing said, "Otherwise, it'd be best to know your own weaknesses." Darkwing's smile spread into a mad grin once again. "However, it's become obvious to me that you are hardly worth my time, you are obviously a pathetic indecisive creature who only has a shallow wish that he cannot comprehend the effects of fulfilling." Darkwing said, turning and starting to walk away. "Legion, add him to your, 'collection.'"

A wide toothy grin and a glowing pair of red eyes appeared in the darkness, soon followed by a being with a whimsical appearance. Only the grin and his eyes showed from underneath the hood of the dark cloak, and the sleeves were far to long for his arms. "Ladies and gents, boys and girls! It's the one and only, ring master of death, the king of the abyss, Legion!" the man said spreading his arms out, as if he was making a presentation. "Gotta say, for some random idiot Lord Darkwing found on the street, you look delicious! No random heart to be confused about, just a delicious, energy rich soul!" a tongue shot out from the grin and Legion smacked his lips. "Nothin' personal, you've just outlived your usefulness, didn't last long did it?!" Legion asked before laughing as if it was all some sort of joke, "Come on, skulls don't fuck themselves you know! Get over here and give me a hug!" Legion swung his arm and a blade on a chain flew out of the sleeve, aiming to split open Chaos' head. Legion knew that wouldn't be enough to kill him, but Legion liked to play with his food before he ate it.

[Chaos]

Chaos smiled at the being, as if it amused him rather then worried him. The creature was strange and thought it would take him down. That both of these fools thought that would be enough made him laugh, and laugh he did. It was cold, callous and malicious. It was the laugh that only one man enjoyed, and that was one who made it. Any normal mortal would realize the predator's voice within the laugh. It was the laugh of a man who was about to stop holding back. He truly found the whole of this situation hilarious.

Suddenly the laughter stopped as he hand struck out and caught the blade. He held it firmly in his hand and noted that id did not break his skin. That was a good sign. "I have been called many things, but never pathetic." He said his voice sharp and cold. "I wonder how it is that you can exist as you are and not even sense the power or nature within me." Chaos said with a smirk, ignoring the beast before him.

"I mean I can sense the predator in you, I can even feel your power, yet your blind to mine. You think me some fool creature, some ant to be crushed under heel. You see my origin as reason to dismiss me. You feel your age automatically causes you to outrank me. How is it you can not see that I am stronger then you, no matter how small the margin. You were interesting, despite your obvious madness, and I humored you." Chaos said letting slip his mask of diplomacy and showing Darkwing the monster underneath.

"Yet in your madness you dismissed the fact that a creature like me could exist. Do you think you are the pinnacle?" Chaos asked. "Do you believe yourself so worldly that you must have all the answers? This is why I don't work with madmen. Look at your plan, you don't even have the answers, but going one at a time I always ensure survival, work, and play. If you could tell me I would survive, maybe I would be inclined to listen."

"Instead you just insult me, cast dispersions on my motives, and try to send a minion to dispatch me. I have killed hundreds without thinking, and maybe your age lets you win that race, but have sacked entire kingdoms. What can you say you have done towards your goal, planned. I have marched against armies, killed entire countries to a man." Chaos said sneering. "You think you mean so much to the worlds, I doubt anyone knows you name beyond the ignorant fools you surround your self with. Now say your sorry and I won't get angry."