#aftertalegeno

[chocoo-milkk]

I'm just going to die. . .

. . . WHEN I WANT

[unscentedtoast]

AfterDeath Ghostly touches

{pain, more pain, even more pain}

After staying in the save-screen for so long, it begins to mess with your head, making you bend the border between reality and fantasy. Geno was no exception, having had his fair share of hallucinations. Fantasizing about escaping his pitch black prison, only to be brought back to the blank truth. Stars did he hate it here, constantly believing that, somehow, he managed to escape, somehow, he managed to be free, somehow...

It was a hopeless wish... There was no escape from his shadowy fate. There was nothing there but him and the emptiness. Or so he thought.

Recently, Geno had been seeing another skeleton during his hallucinations. A skeleton with a black robe that was almost as dark as the save-screen itself. Their eyes empty and soulless, whose feet never touched the ground. Geno tried to touch them, but whenever he got close, they would disappear. He would sit for what felt like hours, staring back at the only thing that just might be real. He tried to talk to them, but they would never speak, only sit and watch as he gave a half-hearted attempt to try and interact with what was most likely a figment of his imagination.

As time passed, Geno believed more and more that there was nothing there, that it had all been a cruel joke his mind played on him. That he was truly alone. But still, he persisted, he spoke to them, talking about what it had been like when he was free, speaking about all his highs and lows, his favorite places to go and his dreams of being on the surface. He spoke to them as if they were an old friend, someone who he knew when he wasn’t trapped in the save-screen.

Occasionally when he would let the weight of it all crash down on him, he would barely be able to see the figure staring at him as he slowly broke down, being able to see their expression change ever so slightly, but still recognizing the pity in their empty eye sockets. It only made him feel worse, having his own mind take pity on him for what he had become.

Once, when his meltdown had become especially bad, when all the pain and sorrow had overflowed, and his tears bubbled up and blurred his vision so much he could hardly see anything at all, when he was in so much pain all he could do was curl up in a ball and cry. Geno noticed something appear in the corner of his eye socket, the skeleton that he would constantly speak to had shown up again. He couldn’t move, he just couldn’t. He couldn’t even toss a glance in their direction.

Geno was so far gone, he hadn’t even noticed the gentle humming until it was right behind him. He felt arms wrap around his body as he curled up tighter, the gentle comfort causing him to tear up even more. Had he really been so desperate for comfort that his body made him believe that someone was really there? The thought alone caused him to let out a muted sob. Good stars did he need this. Geno sat there for what felt like hours, just listening to the soothing humming and feeling the gentle coolness from the body pressed against his.

He finally calmed down and shakily let out a soft sigh. He heard the humming slowly come to a stop and felt the arms draped around him lift away from his sides. Geno momentarily panicked, not yet ready to let go of the comfort he desperately needed. He whipped around, even though he expected to find nothing, he hoped, he so desperately hoped that someone was there. When he turned, he felt his tears begin to bubble up again.

Nothing, there was nothing. His tears spilled over and he curled back up, desperately wishing he could hear the soft humming and feel the cool touch once again.

[stormy-tempest]

Castle arc cover of my book, I also did a little animation at the side heh heh