Changed Men(Red And A now Silus)

The sound of sirens could be heard, both police and firetrucks doe Shadow wouldn't know. He just heard rather loud sounds that started to annoy him and they were closing in quite fast. Still, he was having lunch for the first time in a long time and it was his best cooked dish by far. Soon enough, the sound of sirens came close enough that Shadow could guess they were on the same street as him and that itself was confirmed when he looked up to see a car in-front of him. The doors opening to show two men, both hoping out and pointing their guns at him. "Freeze. You have the right to remain silent." One yelled to him and Shadow looked up to the man only to see a look of horror. The top of his mask still covered his face but the bottom part was gone and in it's place was a charred leg. Now that he thought about it, the meat was a little overcooked. Standing, he ripped the leg away from his mouth and started chewing on the burnt meat.

"I don't see a reason to remain silent.. Whats with those sticks in your hands? I want one." Shadow would say as his mask grew over his face and the officer fired his weapon. The bullet bounced off Shadows skin but it stung like hell and it ruined his blood soaked shirt, he spent time making it that drenched in blood. "That was rude. I was just trying to help, can't you smell that lingering smell of burning flesh. It covers the foul smell that was before." He would say with a laugh before pulling some nearby fire over and sending it at the two. "I also like the sound of screams... Sadly they die down after a bit." Shadow would declare as he walked over to the screaming officers and picked up one of their weapons. The shell was melted and it began to burn his hand from the heat that remained on it. "i need to learn how to aim. Sending large fireballs was fun.. but I wanted to know what this was." He would say in disappointment before walking back to his leg. The other cars with obnoxiously loud noises arrived.

J. Listen. I know you don't remember a lot but can we just take a break from this? dark would plead with the Revanant but only got a mocking laugh.

"it's Shadow now. maybe even Shadowolf... nah that won't stick. Shadow it is and Dark.. I have forgotten a few things but I haven't forgotten you or what I can do thanks to you. Thanks by the way." Shadow would say before sitting down and looking at his leg. His head looking up to the uniforms that stood opposite to him. A large smile hidden from their view by the mask arrived. "More... Please more."

Well this was a long winded event, and apparently Lucius was going into a bit of a meltdown. Silus was actually used to this, people freaking out on him, people trying to kill him. This was essentially his every day scenario, people trying to kill him. He had been so traumatized by murder attempts, and the sucky experience we call life, that he had become so desensitized to these things by now. Lucius just went on, and on and on while Silus sat there like a guilty child, his already self-deprecating nature only worsened by Lucus' verbal assault. Lucius even managed to knock over the puke bucket which made Silus cringe a bit as he watched the odd colors run. The unsanitary nature was something that made him uncomfortable.

  ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, somebody do something about it, ew, ew, that's gonna mix with something in here and turn into a monster, I just know it. The thought plagued his mind as he continued to despise his life and the fact he even existed. Did he really help Lucius in the end? Was freeing him from his strings something that was truly worth it? He was a hero, he had to do it...he just HAD to. But it made what his daddy said seem so easy. When you free a man, you may in fact save his soul...but men have been tied to their evil since they were born...taking that away is like taking a puppet off of it's strings. When you cut the strings of the marionette you have truly freed them...but once they are freed, how often can they stand? Once they are clipped from their strings, after they are free....how often do they fall? When you're free...you are free to learn, free to witness and free to make your own moves...but they've been bound so long... the knowledge is maddening, the weight of gravity makes it too hard to stand and all things are made harder. Silus never wanted to believe that. He saw wisdom in it, and he never defied the teachings but...he couldn't help but save them. This was his choice. That's what made him different from Zell, Sean and everyone else in this universe. Even if it were a lost cause he needed to. Silus may have loathed himself, his life and who he was...hating himself to his very core...but he made himself a promise.

 I'm going to help this one stand...then that's it.

    Lucius had said a lot. Ultimately Silus had watched as Lucius put two pills in a translucent bottle on the table. Silus immediately knew pills as a symbol, a symbol he knew on a personal level. Immediately Silus saw nothing but Red...the person and the color. Clutching his little fists as he closed his eyes, and his head hanging low while he felt internal combustion. In an in a flash Silus launched himself forward, knees coming up as he made himself a human cannon ball, crashing into Lucius and knocking him to the ground. His knees dug into his chest and his hands gripping the cloth on the chest piece. Silus' eyes were bloodshot as his eyes fixated on Lucius, the smell of alcohol present and only adding to the little boy's righteous anger.

 "Are you listening to yourself, or are you just tuning yourself out!? What do you think it means to not be a puppet? Did you just think that it was gonna forgive your sins and move on? You've been freed from more than just your sins. When you cut a puppet off it's strings how often do you see it stand on it's own? When you cut a puppet from it's strings they are freed, but they're introduced to a while new world. They've never had to walk on their own before, YOU'VE never had to walk on your own before! You've always been the pawn of someone else tugging at you. They made you move, they did all of your thinking for you. Now you're on your own. You have to start back at the basics! You need to learn to stand on your own, without the strings. You're free of someone else manipulating you, you're free of your strings both physically and mentally! You have to learn to walk again, you have to learn things you've never known you needed to learn, and in doing that you'll learn things other people could only dream of!" He was quite literally screaming at Lucius the entire time, his little hands tremoring form the force he had been exerting on himself, clasping to the cloth with such conviction. His heart was broken, yeah he was crying, for many reasons at this point, but ultimately he had to address these issues here and now. No more running away.

 "When we freed you, we got rid of your sins, but we didn't get rid of Lucius! So pick up your pride like you always do, batten down in and realize this is just another, more powerful opposition your mind needs to conquer. I FREED A MAN, I DIDN'T FREE A COWARD!" Silus said as he literally punched Lucius in the forehead...actually hurting only himself in the process the sounding of a crack hitting as his wrist buckled, instant swelling taking in as he winced, shaking with a sharp inhale between pain and crying. "You're still you....you're more you than you've ever been. You're meeting yourself for the first time and THIS is the first impression you want to make? You're Lucius... No matter how impossible you keep fighting. You're a symbol of more than just yourself...you're a symbol of everyone you've ever loved, everything you've ever been...anyone whose ever loved you... We freed you...we didn't CHANGE you. No matter how terrifying it is, no matter how awful or powerful it is you still have your pride! You still have your reason to fight, and you still have me! Now get yourself together!!!" Silus said as he literally let go of Lucius and grabbed his wrist, doubling over and rolling off to the side he knew didn't have vomit all over the floor with a repeating comment of "owie owie ooooowwwww!" over and over again as his wrist wracked with pain.

  In the back of his mind he knew immediately that he had to worry about Ryan...but he knew he had to wait. He didn't hear all of it, too engulfed by his own problems at that second, but he knew Ryan was involved. He'd need to address that as soon as he possible could... if only he had heard it all.

Lucius was having a break down, he was drunk and suicidal. The combination of emotions running through his body was too much, even for him. He couldn't handle this, all he wanted right now was comfort, he wanted all of this to go away. He had built himself into a mental corner, and there seemed to be nowhere to run. So much guilt, so much hatred, so much despair, and he couldn't hide from it anymore. Sure by some slim chance he escaped the situation with his doppelganger, but he came out of it completely wrecked. He felt so small, so incredibly worthless, he had accomplished nothing he set out to do, and lost himself in the process.

Before the very intoxicated Lucius could react, Silus was in motion. In an instant he felt himself falling, and he hit the ground along with the boy, who was now pinning him to the ground by sitting on his chest. Silus was yelling, which sort of freaked Lucius out, he didn't think the boy could even get this pissed off. Lucius just stared at Silus with watery bloodshot eyes rather then trying to get him off, listening and considering the words. Puppets were mentioned again, but at this point Lucius did understand what Silus meant by it, so he wasn't annoyed by it like before. The example made sense, it did. When you were set free, that was good, but it was also overwhelming. That's what was happening to Lucius, his past was coming back to haunt him, all the things he didn't know and couldn't control hit him in the face. You reap what you sow, and Lucius had sowed some horrible things.

He did have to learn again, it was like he was a totally different person. He didn't know who he was, he didn't know anything anymore. Silus was right, he really was, but the pain was still there. His sins, they felt like they were still there, and the worst part was he knew he would acquire more even if he had rid himself of them. He felt unworthy of love, he felt unworthy of life. He felt that if Lucius Alba died today, no one would care, and that sent pain directly to his core.

Silus ended up hitting him, which did nothing really except hurt the boy. Lucius found himself crying just as Silus was. Have you ever held in your emotions for so long that it feels like the tears will just start to burst from your face? That's how he felt, he had absorbed all the heart ache and locked away the guilt and grief, and it was all coming out now. Tears rolled down his expressionless and distraught face, this was so pathetic, this was so weak. But he pushed through it all, because he felt cared for, because he felt understood, He picked up his pride, and he wiped his face. After a moment of just laying there, he pulled himself up from the floor, then picked up his chair and sat down.

"I need help..... I don't know how to do this Silus. There's no guide book, and i feel helpless... I'm tired. I'm glad you have faith in me, but i don't even know if i do anymore." Lucius said. He had pulled himself together slightly, and was far more calm, but there were still obviously issues that would take time to heal. He had been broken, but sometimes that needed to be done to create something stronger.

Okay that was enough of this. Silus groaned as he sat up and forced himself to relax. Lucius was useless like this. Useless to himself, useless to his family and useless to Silus. At this rate it was actually a wonder Blood Tithe didn't eat him alive. Silus finally had an idea and so he sat up and started to drag his hands around, outlining Lucius like a chalk outline while the subject he was tracing around was pretty much just talking and contemplating. All Silus wanted him to do was keep talking. That was something he did a lot of...he just needed to keep doing it now.

  Silus finally finished his drawing as he made streaks of white on Lucius, who was likely too drunk and too busy talking to care, the white spreading out until it became a straight jacket. After Lucius was successfully tied up, Silus drew a rope and tied it around Lucius' feet, slining it over his shoulder with his good wrist and starting to drag Lucius behind him, leaving him to mumble holalr or scream as much as he wanted. If Silus was accurate then he'd be fine as he drug Lucius through the lab and then into the hallway.

 "Hector! Heeector! I need some help! Heeeector!? Where's Lucius' bed?" Silus asked as he looked down the hallway, half expecting to see an Exosuit charging at him with mounted ballistic missiles.

Lucius kept on talking, muttering off drunken angst. In all honesty he didn't even realize what Silus had been doing the whole time, and that was putting his artistic abilities to use to tie him up in somekind of straight jacket. As soon as it formed around him he jerked around in attempts to free himself from this surprise, but before he even thought to use is damn corrosive energy that could eat through nearly anything, he was drug off his chair and once again onto the floor.

"What the hell are you doing Silus?!" Lucius said. He wondered how Silus was pulling him, the kid was like...a quarter Lucius' size, strong kid. Lucius squirmed around, pretty much out of it as he hadn't slept for weeks and just drank gallons of alcohol. Hector immediately went to arm the EXOSUIT and several turrets popped out of nowhere. And if that wasn't enough, massive metal doors slammed down over all exits.

"What is it you're doing Silus? If you think Lucius needs rest, me and Lucius' children are more then capable of putting him to rest." Hector said, slightly slipping up about the whole kids thing. Though, he hadn't really been told not to say anything.

"Hector......you idiot. Open the doors....and put the damn guns away." Lucius said with a sigh, though for some reason he still didn't make a move to get out of the jacket. Perhaps because he really didn't feel like moving on his own. The guns then slid back into their hiding spots, joining with the walls as if they were never there. The doors also opened, allowing Silus and Lucius to proceed.

"My apologizes Sir. Lucius' resting place is down the closest hall to you, second door on the right." Hector said, slightly embarrassed that he had just slipped up about something. After all he was supposed to be good at keeping secrets. Though, Lucius never really expressed the need to hide them before this, the AI would have to pay closer attention in the future.

"C-children?" Silus said, picking up on THAT almost immediately. He didn't even care about the guns, actually he was glad to see Hector, flashing him a genuine smile and a little wave before contemplating what he just heard. He never would have thought Lucius to be a father. That made things weird now. Silus was friend with someone's father. Well...loose terminology of course, but the point remained the same. He would probably have been better off with being friends with the kids than with Lucius. Less homicidal tendencies...hopefully? Who knew, actually Silus couldn't help but look back at Lucius over his shoulder with a very curious look, slightly stunned as his lips were pressed together in contemplation. Finally...he spoke what was on his mind. "W-wait if you have kids....W-why do you have kids!?" Silus was slightly paranoid by this event unfolding.

"So uhm...kids...wow..." He said to himself, still slowly and carefully dragging Lucius as best he could. He followed the hallway until he reached Lucius room. He went to get to the door, opening it however he could manage and then dragging Lucius in. Yeah this doesn't look suspicious. This is like the movie hard candy when you get to the point of it. A Texan voice popped up, Silus looked around eyes searching everywhere for the source of the voice he could only hear. Looking over Silus saw a familiar tan-skinned brown haired angel sitting with his back against the closet. Silus' smile grew huge and he gave a boyish grin and chuckle before waving...at the closet.

"I haven't seen you in forever! And I don't know what the plot of hard candy was but it sounds kinda weird." Silus said, unfortunately all Lucius would see was Silus talking and conversing with his closet. Fantastic isn't it? Silus eventually managed to struggle and get Lucius to his bed and then picked up the most prominent pillow. Reaching into his little hoodie he pulled out what appeared to be several bags of drugs. There was a type of brown heroin, then there was a fine powder like that of cocaine, and when you looked it looked like there was a special "herbal blend" of sorts, oh and how could one forget the legitimate rock-candy looking drug. Silus began to sort them out and look them over, eyes focused intently as he seemed to pick one out. Then he reached into his jeans, his little tongue sticking out as he seemed to reach in deeper than his pockets seemed to go. Without a second thought he withdrew an aquamarine gem and then a spoon. Quickly Silus placed the gem on the center of the pillow and began to mash up the drug-looking contents in the baggie before spreading the strange cocaine looking substance in a swirl around the pillow.

This is borderlining hysterical. What happens when one of these kids comes in and sees you sittin' there. Their dad tied up in a straight jacket, an eleven year old knelt over his pillow with what looks like crack and a spoon. Let alone when you turn to look at them and have glowing purple eyes... The older boy seemed to laugh at the premise alone. Silus just shook his head, not understanding the implications. "Be quiet, I'm trying to concentrate. If you're just gonna distract me go wait outside or somethin'." Silus giggle at the HalluciYancey Silus listed the lighter and brought it to the spoon while the white powder lay in a fixated symbol. Silus closed his eyes before letting himself find his zen...his center...his inner calm. Then in an instant he tossed the spoon away, as it was utterly useless to the ritual and he ignighted the pillow itself, letting it burn a smokeless burn. The flames all rushed over the pllow until they reached the aquamarine gemstone in the center. After that the pillow was black, but the podwery substance burned, giving the entire room a very nice scent. The pillow was now a very fine black, with the white switling design, there was a contained fire as a gem getting where the rest at the center and the fire was now all decorative tassles that outlined the pillow, still dancing as if they were somehow molten. The pillow was quite nice looking and the gem seemed to eminnate a small barrier around the pillow. HAlluciYancey tried to reach out, diving forward to take it, Silus slapping at the hand (or air as Lucius would see) and glared at nothingness.

"uhm... 'Kay. Here's the deal. This pillow is now your best friend. This barrier is super soft and comfy, it'll keep yout head slightly suspended and it will always give you a restfull sleep. But once your head hits this pillow...you'll sleep until you're fully rested, or until someone throws water on your face. There's no other way for you to wake up... so if you got...I dunno a doctor's appointment or somethin' don't use it. 'Kay?" Silus asked as he tossed the pillow onto the bed, watching it bounce a little.

Ok, this was odd to say the least. Lucius wondered if he was the only intoxicated one in this lab when Silus started talking to....nothing. As expected he asked about the kids, and Lucius would answer without giving to much information.

"Yeah.....it's a bit of a new thing for me." Lucius said, hoping that would be enough to get off the subject. He didn't really mind if his kids met Silus eventually, but explaining all that now....that would just be awkward. He hadn't really formed a bond with them yet, so calling him his kids was kinda odd. Once they got into Lucius' room Silus pulled out some....bags of drugs. You know, everything weird about the kid made sense now, he was just high all the damn time, wasn't he? Eh, maybe not, guessing from the fact he was rubbing it on Lucius' pillow it was likely some occultish thing. Eventually that was comfired when Silus told him about the pillow, it seemed he would be getting a good night sleep tonight. At this point, Lucius realized how stupid he looked, so he utilized his energy to break free and tumble to his feet.

"Alright...." He said, before practically falling onto the bed and falling into a deep sleep. Hector then got info on shadow, who seemed to be going on a murder spree. Well, that was interesting. To bad Lucius wouldn't know about it for perhaps.......a couple days.

END