Island Clockwork Island

[Ichimonji]

Clockwork Island #28
Taking Down The Organ Dealer!​

Doni held the scalpel up, trembling at the mere sight of the man. The man approached nonchalantly. They both knew how it would end. When the man was mere inches from the scalpel, Doni dropped it, hands still shaking. Her breath slowed as the overbearing man showed the mark of the Hunter’s Dream. A superior.

Doni turned to Gehrman, seeing his mind trapped. The superior alleged The Earl was to consume him. Her eyes widened. Once more she was going to lose those important to her. Doni was an empathic woman, but something she had never felt occurred.

Suddenly, her heart beat loudly. Her breath quickened. It was as if emotions displaced in the air we’re on the same wavelength as Doni’s emotions, transplanting to her for a moment.

​

No! Don't do it, Hei! Don't listen to him! A female voice echoed in his mind. Something was starting to resurface within Gehrman's mind.

[Doni] “No! Don’t do it, Hei! Don’t listen to him!”​

​

Doni’s voice had changed, taking the same pitch as the one in Gehrman’s memories, listing a name she should not know. Doni buried her face in Gehrman’s chest, over the symbol, and wept. She desperately pleaded him to come back. Doni assured him if he came back, she would be the stalwart to keep the “ancient” away. Doni stated she would go with him, wherever he may go, even becoming an Assassin herself.

Clockwork Island was freed of tyranny, but Gehrman’s soul was still bound by same.

 

[Guren]

Clockwork @Ichimonji

Surrounded by void, Hei looked around, trying to find clues that would reveal his whereabouts. But alas, for the young man, there was no singular marker that'd point him to information. It wasn't until the being began to speak that he'd be freed from this spell.

"It is time. The bells have chimed, relinquish thyself vessel."
"I'd rather find oblivion than offer up my body to that insanity."
"It wasn't a choice, Little Pierrot. Much like Maya didn't have a choice to become the sacrifice."

The being said and true to its word from the gate numerous dark tendrils would begin to latch on the young hunter, each hit on his body would erase a part of his being. The being in front of him would in turn receive these erased parts, a transition of equivalent exchange began. Gehrman would fight this losing battle until there was not an inch left of him. He'd stumble upon the lack of a foot, fall over at the lack of a leg. Eventually the man was forced to crawl away from this place, but the being who was receiving Gehrman's essence followed him in turn.

"There is no one who can stop this transference. Maya was the linchpin, the one who kept your soul stable, she had to be eliminated. Then came Gehrman, that insufferable fool. Putting a shell over your body, using that traumatic experience as a way to break your mind. Reduce you to the shell you are, a mindless drone." The being said as he now started to gain Gehrman's arms and hands.

"YOU ARE THE MEANS TO END THE DREAM. MY LITTLE PIERROT!" The creature shouted as its voice morphed to a more sadistic tone.

Gehrman nay, Hei. Was crawling away with only an upper body and a left arm, and saw the void collapse in on him. He was about to give up this fight until a voice echoed throughout the area. The same one that plead to him all those years ago. Gehrman's face lit up upon hearing it, nearly succumbing to tears.

"Maya?!"
"Maya?!"

The calling from the hunter would eventually establish itself, revealing a young woman with ocean blue hair in front of him. The being that ate on Hei's essence would lash out, claiming the impossible, but the voices would mute as sound in itself turned completely null. Hei's attention was completely on the woman in front of him, and he was about to beg forgiveness to her. But she'd not respond with words, but rather with vision. She'd show him the crying woman back in reality, begging for Hei to wake up and for them to journey together. A resemblance to a situation long ago.

"Forgive yourself Hei-kun. Just like I have done a long time ago."
"You are not alone...."

Maya or whatever this phenomenon was vanished from Hei's sight as sounds returned to its regular volume. The being was still cursing and lashing all around itself, like a child in the middle of a tantrum. Hei would grip his hand into a fist and light exploded all around him, converging around him and shooting up like a beacon. The black tendrils equally shifted in colour as they were converted to pure white and now began to feed off the being. Within the beacon of energy stood 3 individuals, Hei, Maya and finally Doni. The one who accepted Hei when he was almost no one. The one who saw the humanity behind the hollowed individual.

"No..No THIS CANNOT bE!"
"I WaS sSO CcCLOSe.....I AM HERE LITTLE PIERROT! YyoUr sSoul SsHALl BE Minnnnnnne" The being cried as it was forced back into oblivion.

​

Eventually, Hei would wake up and found himself back under the clockwork tower. His original form restored, having relinquished a part of his sorrow and grief. And received a new partner to walk this perilous life through. Doni should she look up and observe the hunter she'd see what he was supposed to look like this entire time. He'd look a lot younger with his dark hair and with, for the first time this entire adventure, sporting a faint smile. With his body now straightened and leaning against a nearby wall, he'd look up at the stranger that had arrived. Finally replying to his question.

"The name's Hei, Bruno."
"You cheeky brat. You know you're not supposed to say that."

The worst case scenario had been averted, the earl was not summoned and Hei managed to find his own way back from the prison of his mind. But Doni unbeknownst to herself had inserted herself deep within Hei, replacing Maya as the linchpin to his soul. The one who'd keep the darkness away. The door which kept the earl's influence at bay now guarded by a stone statue of Doni, guarding it and keeping it sealed until Hei was strong enough to finally and fully accept himself and cast away his doubts.

Contract Closed

Fin
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