Dark Reaction
The Angel of Darkness was on a rampage against the scientists that had been running extensive tests on him.
“I’m sick of being your fucking lab rat,” he snarled, snapping out his curious, sharp, obsidian metal wings. “We already know what you’ve done to Shiro!”
Seiki’s eyes misted over at the thought of his incapacitated brother, who was laying in the hospital ward at the other end of the complex. Sometimes when Seiki visited him, he found him mumbling deliriously. More often, he would just stare into those dulled blue and gold eyes and find nothing behind them. Shiro, the Granter of Life. Sharp, careful Shiro…
Seiki gritted his teeth, a blade of the darkest poison materializing in his hand. He pushed the blade through the air, slicing through the thick, viscous panic until he had the scientists cowering against a wall.
“P-please,” one had the courage to squeak, “please don’t hurt us. We’re trying the best we can to--”
“Shut up!” Seiki thrust the dark blade frighteningly close to him. “You’re not fucking ‘trying’ anything! All you’re doing is running more tests so you can all find out where you fucked up! You don’t really care about him or who he is.”
He grabbed the one who spoke out by the collar and dragged him close, threatening to pierce his skin with the mortal sword.
“From now on, we’re gonna fucking play by my rules. You will do what I tell you, when I tell you until Shiro is back to normal. And don’t think I won’t kill any of you fuckers on the spot if I see anything shady, because believe me, I will. I won’t even fucking think twice about it.” He shoved the stray scientist back into the flock. “Get moving.”
---
Seiki stepped into Shiro’s room, where he saw him staring up at the ceiling, just as blank and empty as any other day. Seiki wondered if he was looking for any answers or familiarity in the ceiling. Or if he even knew it was there at all.
Even though it broke his heart to try and talk to that blank face and stare into those dying eyes, Seiki still did it. He knew that his brother, his mentor, was still in that husk somewhere.
“Hey,” he muttered. “How you feeling?”
No reply.
“I thought so. Listen, bro, I got those scientists to finally do what’s best for you. They won’t be hurting you anymore, I promise. Any one of them steps out of line, I’ll kill them without hesitation.”
Still no response. But Seiki continued to talk.
“I’ve been reading over your notes again. I even added a few handwritten sticky notes for you when you get better. So you can see what I think needs clarification or when you’re rambling. But I’m nowhere near as bright as you are, Shiro. My ideas seem dumb compared to yours.”
Shiro blinked, slowly and deliberately. It was more than Seiki could bear.
“Look at what they did to you,” he sobbed. “What I let them do. You didn’t deserve anything like this. You always kept me out of trouble and helped me with my powers and yet… look at you. Lying here, dim and dead.”
A scientist walked into the room tentatively. Seiki didn’t even turn around.
“This had better be good,” he growled with an animalistic fierceness, his eyes narrowing to little more than slits.
“We… we think we may have figured out what’s wrong.”
---
“When we were creating Shiro, we were trying to tweak his recombinant DNA into something even more amazing. Something more groundbreaking than anything science had ever seen before. We imbued him with the power of the elements of Light, Air, Water, Aether, Life, and Time. We added properties to him that had never been attempted before. We wanted to create a superbeing. However… his body and brain can’t handle his own complexity. Essentially, in an effort to simplify himself, he’s destroying himself. We aren’t sure if it’s possible to fix. You seem to have handled it better, or at least have stayed fairly stable longer, because of your elements.”
“Darkness, Death, Earth, Entropy, Fire, and Gravity? If anything, I should be the one dying, not my brother!”
“…Well… we may be able to fix it. But if we can’t… it may not be long before something similar happens to you.” The long-winded scientist quickly turned and left.