Shadow Slave | School Days

Light passed through Sunny's cracked open eyelids as he surveyed the room around him. It wasn't quite odd that he had passed out, after all he had stayed awake for the majority of his time trapped in Morgan's hell. Regardless, sleeping near people who he didn't know remained entirely foreign. 

Sitting up, Sunny's senses were soothingly caressed by the enriching aroma of stir-fried rice. Remaining seated, his stomach growled in protest, demanding that he leap off his bed and assault whatever meal was blessing his nose however Sunny refused its commands. 

Footsteps calmly approached his door causing Sunny's body to tense, he didn't have his knives with him. Although he was far more deadly barehanded, the knives he held that he didn't quite know who had gifted to him served to constantly soothe his mind. Removing the everlasting sense of loneliness that oppressed his soul. 

Blue laced silver hair came into view as a pale woman wearing light blue regalia came into view. She wore an indifferent expression across her face and held a sword firmly placed underneath her robes, only the hilt slightly peeking out from beneath it. However, her captivating appearance wasn't what interested Sunny as his eyes narrowed at the food in her hands. 

Slowly, she made her way next to him and placed the food on his lap, cocking her head to the side before looking his shirtless form over. "You're starving, eat." She said, however, Sunny simply lacked the strength in his arms to move his hands properly and he'd be damned if he made a fool of himself by spilling it across the bed. 

"I can barely move my hands Moonveil." Sunny or at least one of the Sunny's who inhabited his mind had heard of that name before. She was one of Song's daughters who possessed the highest fighting capability barring their mother, acknowledging her name made Sunny feel something unique within his very soul. 

Despite his fractured mind, Sunny only seemed to possess his combat skill and memories of people. However, though his combat skill felt almost natural, his mind recalling the perfect way to fight and kill as though he had lived through it all himself, his memories were far different. 

It was like he's been living his entire life merely as a soul who's been looking at the world through Sunny's eyes. Merely playing back foot to his desires and scanning through his memories like a child watching a movie. And so, meeting Moonveil in person was like a child meeting a movie star for the first time. 

Despite this, he didn't let it show as the woman stared at him with a look mixed between exasperation and pity as she reached down and grabbed his spoon firmly. 'I heard he doesn't like being touched, yet he's practically asking me to feed him. How tepid.' 

Scooping up a spoonful of rice, she stared at Sunny expectantly as he tentatively opened his mouth allowing her to feed him. Quite frankly, he was too hungry to be embarrassed by such a process, each bite making him feel heavenly in comparison to his former state. 

Letting out a satisfied hum, Sunny's eyes widened at the explosion of tastes that collided with his tongue as he turned his attention to Moonveil, looking her directly in the eye as he spoke. "This food is amazing! May I ask who made this?" Moonveil stared at him for a moment, a pink hue arriving upon her face before she cleared her throat. 

"I did." At this, Sunny fell into deep silence as his mouth hung open in shock, taking the opportunity Moonveil fed him another spoonful of rice, emptying the bowl as Sunny finally found the words to say. "Once I'm... not bedridden which should only take a day at most. Can you teach me how to cook?" 

Moonveil's eyes widened, staring at him like he had just told the most outrageous lie in his entire life as she rose from his bed and handed him a bottle of water. "You're going to recover from... that state... in a day?" Her concerns were founded, Sunny's ribs were entirely showing, his cheeks were sunken in and his eyes looked hollow. 

Frankly, he looked like a man who just died. Sunny stared at her like she had just asked the obvious and nodded, shakily moving the bottle to his lips before drinking the entire thing in one motion. "I just need to eat twenty-four more times today and drink three gallons of water and I'll be fine." 

Placing a palm on her face, she studied the gaze he was giving her and arrived to only one conclusion. 'He wants me to cook... twenty-four times for him. I might just kill myself.' Sighing, she made her way slowly towards the door before Sunny called out to her once more. 

"Moonveil, do you have a phone and headphones. Or just anything that plays music, I don't want to sit in silence." The look in his eyes was different, unique, terrified. Even though he wasn't showing it, there were deep scars indented into his mind which couldn't easily be exterminated without help. 

Giving him a curt nod, Moonveil decided that it would be better in building their relationship if she teased him here. "In other words, you enjoy hearing the sound of my voice." Sunny deadpanned, staring at her with a blank expression before sighing. "Yes." 

Immediately, Moonveil had found the situation flipped on her as she turned around and exited the door with another curt nod. 'I'm the one supposed to be befriending him, and he's trying to seduce me. I swear that guy has a girlfriend. Is it normal for strong people to have multiple wives? I don't get it.' 

Sitting alone in the room, Sunny quickly found the silence oppressing. Each dull noise that resounded in the background only served to fuel his lingering insanity. The constant ticking of a distant clock, the sounds of furniture creaking in the background. All of it was too overwhelming. 

Unknowingly, he found himself digging his fingertips into his arm, scratching long lines across it and quickly drawing blood. It didn't hurt in the slightest, but the sight of a vast explosion of color was the only thing which took his mind off the silence so he kept doing it. 

Soon enough, he found himself sitting in a pool of his own blood, soaking in his own blood as he stared at his freshly healed arm. "Who...am...I?" He mumbled, his voice low and grim as he stared at his own reflection in the pool. Steps quickly made their way towards his door as the stench of blood quickly exuded from his room. 

At his door was another woman, standing roughly around Nephis' height with tanned skin and pale brown eyes. Her hair was a few shades lighter than his own and her expression of calm confidence quickly faded away at the sight of him, blitzing over to him, Silent Stalker quickly reached under his bed, pulling a cloth from beneath his bed before wiping his wrist and chest down. 

Sunny shivered under the contact, attempting to resist weakly yet his mind was too busy consuming his soul to allow for any genuine terror to arrive into it. And so, Silent stalker quickly found herself removing almost every article of clothing from his bed as she quickly threw it into a nearby basket, wiping down his bloodied hands and pulling out a bandage. 

"Don't bother, they've already healed." Sunny called, gesturing weakly to his arm before Silent Stalker took notice of his entirely healed wrist. Instead of commenting on it, she levelled him a harsh glare as she all but screamed at him. 

"Why did you do that to yourself!?" Sunny was taken aback by her volume, unable to properly respond as he stared at the woman blankly for a moment. "Who do you think you are? Trying to hurt yourself like this, what could have brought you to doing something so...so fucking stupid!?" At her initial question, Sunny's face contorted into one of confusion as his eyes refused to meet hers. 

"I don't know who I am...it was so quiet yet so loud. And so fucking lonely." She could tell that he was referring to the fact he remained entirely alone within his room, sighing to herself, she placed her back against the wall and slid to the floor, her eyes remaining entirely fixed on him as she pulled out her phone. 

After a while, music began emanating from her phone as she stared at him for a moment before closing her eyes. "There, it's music. Good music too, I heard you like NLE. So, we can listen together if you're feeling alone or some stupid shit. Just don't start fucking hurting yourself, too many people's lives are depending on you." 

With that, the two fell into silence before Sunny quickly found himself drifting to sleep once more. 

-- 

A single sentence from Eubin was all it took to break Nephis. All of her mind tried to deny it, all of her mind wanted to deem Eubin as a liar who was only manipulating the truth for the sake of her sick, twisted goals. And yet, inevitably, unwaveringly, unchangingly, the truth settled itself within her very soul. 

Sunny was gone. 

Or at least, Sunny was hidden within a pile of trauma. Cassie, despite being the blind one of the two had to lead Nephis back home after she completely froze in her tracks upon ending her call with Eubin. It had been an awkward process, neither woman knew what to say to the other as the two entered their respective rooms in silence. 

Staring at her phone, Nephis saw that the videos of what had happened to Sunny had been mysteriously sent to her phone even despite her crushing the initial device which contained them. Meaning, someone wanted Nephis to know Sunny was broken. 

She didn't dare click the videos, yet Sunny's voice still resounded in her mind like a distant dream. 

'Neph, save me. Neph, where are you? Neph, I'm dying. Neph, I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. You abandoned me here! I hate you! I'll fucking kill you!' 

Those were Sunny's last words concerning her before he fell into complete silence, bursting into random fits of laughter afterward truly showing his mental state had been utterly shattered. She was enraged, she wanted to cry, she wanted to kill something, to kill someone. 

And so, at dead of night, that was what Nephis left to do. 

To take a life.