Hold Me Till the Pain Stops

Then suddenly, it was as if time gained back all of its speed, and Sagacity was gone. Natic, with surprisingly unprecedented speed, looked around at everything and finally truly understood the situation that was happening. This caused him to fall to his knees, screaming a scream so loud it deafened most of the heroes near them.

A white energy sprung from his body and around him, burning—as if it was burning him. The feeling caused even more pain to his body, and all the stress and power flowing through him caused his hair to turn white. As if it was out of nowhere, another burst of energy sprung from Natic's body, a hundred times stronger than the last. All the heroes around him were obliterated—not even an ash left of their bodies. All except Alexander. His bloodtrait allowed him to regenerate his body, but most of his clothing got destroyed, revealing his Corrupted Bloodtrait and his Child of Apocalypse eyes.

The smell of burning bodies filled the air, and the destruction of buildings and screaming of Titans filled the ears. Alexander managed to scream out the words while not even shaking with anger, but filled with unbridled fury.

"YOU DARE ATTEMPT TO CALL YOURSELF ANYTHING ELSE NOW?! YOU FILTHY BASTARD! I SWEAR TO GOD, EVEN IF IT KILLS ME, I WILL DRAG YOU DOWN TO HELL!"

Alexander created wings out of his blood on his back and flew towards Natic. It was like it was happening in slow motion to Natic, but he was still far too confused to understand what to do. His face got grabbed by a bird talon constructed out of hardened blood, and Alexander flew Natic through several buildings, as well as several Titans, causing them to fall on the floor and kill more citizens.

The more blood was shed, the stronger Alexander got, but the angrier he also got, to the point where he only saw red. But then everything seemed to slow down again, but Natic was able to move. So he wrapped Alexander in his strings and made him crash into the ground. The smell of dry blood permeated the air to a nauseating degree.

Alexander got up in excruciating pain and got a good look at Natic. He thought, What the hell are you, brother? Why is the tree of Yggdrasil and several gods tattooed across your body and glowing white? That speed. I was in the air, then suddenly I crashed so hard through a building, it's as if it wasn't even there. The building is just ash now. How the hell can one do this? I must retreat for now. I don't know if my regeneration can catch up. It's as if I'm stood in front of a GOD.

Alexander flew away and used all the smoke the throw caused as a way to cover his flight. Natic still stood there in excruciating pain, now looking around at the city. Not one citizen's scream could be heard anymore. They had all now either turned to Titans, or they died in all the chaos. Natic's breathing started to heavy, and a horrendous headache started to hit. The sunlight started to dim as the day started to end, and suddenly a bright light was shined on him. It was helicopters with reporters on the side. They had seen everything.

Natic now stood here with a dilemma: destroy the Malice Titans and get blamed and thought of as trying to cover up a crime. Or run and get blamed for the destruction of the city and the deaths of whoever else died to these Titans.

He made his choice. And through all the pain this new power gave him, he leveled everything. Every building. Every Titan. Every street corner. The entire night being watched by reporters as his face was plastered everywhere. Nothing there stood a chance. Every single Titan fell as if they were insects—these gigantic beasts thought to be invincible a minute ago. All gone by sunrise.

As well as every building. Every street. And every sentient being. All of it gone. And in the middle of it all, with a light shining on him, with reporters terrified to even look at him, was Natic. As he stood in the rubble of his actions, with the air having a reddish-black hue and a terrible smell that could knock out even the biggest of animals, there he stood.

The monster covered in red and black blood. Reporters gave the name: Death.

At only thirteen years old, Natic was now said to be responsible for the deaths of forty million. After this night, his name and face were plastered nearly everywhere, and many, many hunted him down to try to claim the bounty on his head. They would all fail. It got to the point where entire armies and populations went after him at once. Although they all suffered the same fate as the last.

Within these four years, 378 billion died by his hand. All the yelling and the screaming. HELP ME. SAVE ME. I DON'T WANT TO DIE. YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME. The blood could never be washed off.

Grace said in a soft voice, "Dear, wake up. You're scratching at your skin again. I'ma go get your medicine."

Natic sat up, staring forward, the pain rocketing through his skin to the point where his nervous system was overwhelmed and he could no longer feel anything. He sat there looking forward with bloodshot eyes, and even with his extreme healing factor, he started to bleed slightly from his arms from all the scratching and his power tearing him apart.

When Grace came back, Natic asked, "What do you think, Grace?"

Grace, confused, asked, "What do you mean?"

Natic, in a monotone tone, said, "I deserve this, don't I? The monster who caused all this pain to others now suffers as well. It's kind of poetic, in a sense."

Grace sadly responded, "Dear, don't say that."

Natic responded, "Your sister, though."

Grace took the pills she grabbed and some water and fed them to Natic to help with the pain, as well as some antidepressants she had created. She then said, "Natic, my sister loved you as if you were her own. She said so in the letters she sent to me. If she trusted you, I do as well. If you wanted to harm me, you would have done it by now as well. You aren't the most patient sentient I know, dear."

Natic responded in a sad and confused tone, "Still, how can you look at me and know everything I've done and still say you love me? Most of reality, even after everything, still despises me. Why don't you? Why don't the others?"

Grace got back on the bed with Natic, grabbed a hold of him, gently pushed his face into her chest, softly wrapped her arms around him, and started to caress his head. She then asked, "Would it have saved everyone you have if we all hated you? Will our hate change your past, dear? Will our hate make you better? Will my hate bring my sister and niece back?"

A small tear rolled down Grace's face as she asked the last question.

Natic responded, "No. I-it wouldn't have."

Natic took a deep breath and clutched onto the side of Grace's garments, unable to cry but still saying, "I'm sorry. So, so sorry."

Grace responded with a soft smile and said quietly, "Don't ya think I would have at least tried to end you at this point if I held any resentment?"

Natic just sank into her body without responding.

She asked him, "How's the pain feeling?"

Natic responded softly, "I can't feel it anymore."

Grace said, "Hey, let's go out to the diner. They should be open by now. I'll take ya somewhere special after. I've been working on something. It's why I've been getting home later."

Natic nodded his head, and they both got up from the bed and went towards the bathroom. Grace followed him inside and cleaned the blood from his arms. While Natic was changing, Grace changed the sheets as they had his blood on them. She took a bit of the blood to study it later to see if it could help her make him better permanently, instead of just stopping the pain for periods of time.

They both got changed and walked out of their house hand in hand. The diner was just a short walk, and the rain that had been pouring down had finally stopped. Grace, having a little fun, stomped on the puddles once in a while, doing small twirls in the air, trying to put a smile on Natic's face. It worked, as it managed to make him giggle a bit as they were walking past. Although some faces on the street looked at Natic with fear still, as they still only knew him as the Man Named Death. And after the atrocities and failure to prevent the attack on Syzygy, a lot of them blamed him for that as well.

Although on their walk there, they were stopped by a kid and his parents. He couldn't have been more than eight or nine years old by the looks of it.

Grace asked the boy in a joyful voice, "Oh, why hello there, ya little cutie. What are you guys up to at not even the crack of dawn?"

The boy's mom responded, "We're sorry to interrupt you. We work early in the morning, so we were taking our kid to daycare, and we happened to see you. Our kid wanted to show the one behind him something he had drawn, if that's not too much of your time taken away."

Natic, confused, walked up to the boy, crouched down to meet him at eye level, and asked, "Well, what do you want to show me, kid?"

The boy took a folded piece of paper from his back pocket sporadically and shoved it into Natic's face. Excitedly, he said, "LOOK! LOOK! It's—it's you! Here, I drew you! Looook! I-I saw you on the TV a while ago fighting a bad guy, and no matter how much you were hurt, you just kept going. The way your body glows is so cool. And those things, and the way you can turn them into different things—my favorite is when you use the fire strings and just blast the bad guys and monsters away. Also! Also! Just recently, six months ago, I think, you saved my life when our home was being attacked. My mommy and daddy were looking for me, but-but I snuck off to play with some friends in the park inside the city when-when it got attacked. I remember when a monster came and tried to attack me. Before it could do anything, you came flying and sliced it up into little pieces. Then a bunch of other monsters came as well, and you took them all out too, without trying at all. That's sooooo cooooool! You're such an amazing hero! And I just—and I just wanted to give this picture I drew. It's—it's you saving me from all those monsters, ya seeeeee."

The boy was jumping up and down and nearly ready to explode from excitement from this interaction. He had the biggest grin on his face, and his eyes were looking at Natic wide open, so excited to meet his favorite hero.

The boy gave Natic the drawing, gave him a quick hug, and walked away with his parents, looking happy as can be. Natic held the page, and drops of water fell on the page.

Natic said as he wiped his face and looked at Grace, "Hey, Grace. Do you think it's gonna start raining again?"

Grace responded, "Hehe. I think a little trickle is still falling from earlier, dear. But come here. The diner is only a few seconds away this way."

They continued walking over towards the diner and went inside when they finally got near. Since it was so late at night, barely anyone was there, so they had the place mostly to themselves. They both sat down and ordered some food, and Natic laid his head down on the counter while he waited for the food.

Grace said, "How often are you sure they clean those tables, dear? There might be a bunch of germs there."

Natic responded, "I'll just heal any sickness I were to get anyways. I haven't gotten sick since I was thirteen, when the god insignias got imprinted on me."

Grace responded, "I'd always been curious why you never got sick. I just never got around to asking. I'm jealous. Ya never have to know the pain of a stuffy nose." She laughed.

The waitress from the other side of the counter came and put the food on the table. Natic had a burger and fries with a chocolate milkshake, and Grace was just given a strawberry smoothie, as she wasn't very hungry. Natic grabbed the milkshake and hid himself in his robe, legs and all.

Grace just sat there and looked at him for a second with a small smile, thinking how far he had come when they first met. Went from a rude and combative monster, ready to attack at anything, to now cradled up in his robe with a milkshake.

It's like looking at two different Luminarians, Grace thought to herself.

Then she grabbed the burger that Natic had ordered with both hands and extended her horns towards the hood of the robe he had on. She went inside the robe and softly flicked him on the head. He popped his head out of the top of the robe like a turtle poking its head out of its shell. She first put her hand on the back of his head, leaned him forward, and kissed his forehead. Then she leaned back and put the burger near his face. He leaned forward and took a bite of the burger.

Grace smiled and giggled to herself and thought, He looks like a chipmunk. She giggled. How cute.

The waiter on the other side of the counter, washing dishes, shook her head and laughed to herself, thinking, Oh, young love. What a wonderful thing. If only I could start again, maybe I could have a bit of that as well. I hope it all turns out well for them. They look so cute with one another.

They finished their food and paid. They left a three hundred percent tip for the waitress, as since they are paid so much by the kingdom, they don't really know what to do with all the money, so they like to leave it around for someone who they think could use it better than them. And that waitress had served them well for a while now.

Grace looked at her phone and noticed it told her that the sun was gonna rise in a bit. So she told Natic to get on her shoulders and close his eyes, as she wanted to take him somewhere really quickly before sunrise.

Natic agreed and climbed on her shoulders as she jumped around through the city for a second. Then Natic heard a portal open, and he could feel himself go through it. Suddenly, the air smelled way cleaner. Suddenly, air started to strike his face, and lights dimmed with a green flash every few seconds.

At the apex of the next jump, Grace told Natic, "Love, open your eyes, please."

Then Natic opened his eyes, and what he saw was an open field full of multicolored and tall flowers with the sunrise shining over the flowers. Although it was still dark enough for fireflies to start flashing brightly in the sky, shining nicely over the flowers. Natic was too distracted by the spectacle to even speak. He was awestruck.

Grace started giggling and said, "Hey, this is the city that got destroyed. I wanted to plant a flower for everyone who died that day. I'm taking you to the middle, where I—well, you'll see when we get there. It can't be too long from now. It took me a darn good while to plant all these dang things." She laughed.

Grace kept jumping towards where the flowers were planted, and eventually they ended up there. She had planted three flowers: one for her sister, one for her sister's husband, and one for her niece.

Natic climbed down and went up to the flowers and noticed a pink teddy bear at the base of the three flowers. Natic grabbed it softly and gently put it to his chest. He sat there like that for a second, and Grace walked up behind him and held him from the back.

She said, "I miss them. I never even got to see my niece. My parents didn't eat for weeks when she died and couldn't handle almost anything for a really long time. I had to take up their work for a while while they were grieving. I didn't want anyone else to deal with such grief because of preventable things like illnesses. Doing that allowed me to get my mind off of it, ya know?"

Natic nodded his head and apologized profusely for what happened, but for the thousandth time, Grace reassured him, reminding him what happened that day was not his fault. She went behind him and with both her hands started to softly caress his head.

They stayed there for a second, and the sun started to shine higher and higher. Since it was cloudy with some scattered spaces, the light started to shine like pillars around the area. One of them shone onto them.

Natic let out a small laugh and said, "What a nice light show. Thanks, dear."

Grace answered, "I wanted to give you something special. As a reward, ya know, to show you that I can see how much you're trying."

Natic answered, "What did I do?"

Grace, confused, asked, "What do you mean, what did you do?"

Natic answered, "Why was I the only one who got to live that day? I caused more pain than anyone there combined. Yet I'm the only one who's even got a future—not just a future, but one that looks bright. Why? I don't deserve this."

Grace responded, "Love."

Grace embraced him from behind without saying a word and just held him tightly. "I love you. I at least think you deserve it."

Natic turned around and held her tightly as well. They both stayed there for a second, embracing each other.

Eventually, the clouds started to clear, and the sun started to shine down harder. The wind blew petals into the sky, making a colorful spectacle. The sweet and soft smell of the flowers was like candy that filled the air.

Grace and Natic let go of each other and sat down in the field, just taking in the scenery. Natic yawned a little, and Grace softly grabbed his head and placed it on her legs. She started to caress his head and the side of his face. Eventually, a few minutes later, while they were like this in silence, she suddenly started to hear Natic's breathing get louder but slower and soft. She looked down, and there was a piece of his hair in his mouth as he was fast asleep.

She smiled softly, picked him up, and carried him all the way home. They eventually got home, and she put him in the bed and wrapped herself around him. And they both caught up on last night's sleep.