Execution. ft Caleb
head canon the blast didn't kill Josephine, it was Caleb. Like imagine if both Caleb and Josephine survived the blast, both serious injured but their breathing and Caleb realizes that this might be his only shot to kill her/ get her out of the picture.
Its seconds after the explosion and Caleb is completely disoriented, breath heavy, vision spotted with black dots and those weird little things that flit across your vision when you sneeze too hard before he realizes what's happening. His head snaps up, tinnitus and dizziness making it hard to pull himself off the floor and there in the threshold of the kitchen, where the fire seems to have originated from is her. The cause of all this.
She barely looks conscious, it'd be a miracle if she were with all the blood coming from her forehead.
Some small weak part of him; the fabricated Caleb who puts his heart on the line for family, who babysits for free and carries groceries for the elderly who live on the street. That noble, fabricated part of him blossoms and shrivels all at once and its dying petals fertilize something much more sinister. You're still outside, he knows that because he’d turned to face the door as you opened it. You probably aren't hurt, maybe roughed up but…
Josephine lets out some weak sound, body jolting as she tries to crawl forward on both her arms and…oh.
He should go check on you. He really should. That's the mantra that plays on repeat as he jerks upright like a marionette with a new master. You could be hurt, scared and confused… he should go, find a way out and make sure you're alright. The closer he gets the more he sees, both legs crushed from debris, her pants dyed red and leaving a snail trail of blood in her attempt to escape. Her breathing sounds wet, rickety and shallow like those old lungs are finally ready to give out, another step and he sees the way her back shudders with every breath, like it's getting harder to breathe.
It must be painful… shame.
Caleb takes one more step and this time he's close enough that when Josephine's hands reach out, shaking and pale, her fingers brush over the scorned part of his shoes. Her head reels up helplessly and he sees it. A flicker of hope, the way her eyes brighten and her mouth starts shaping itself around his name before she catches herself. A dying gasp leaves her and the smile that pulls his lips so wickedly far from his usual tooth smile, from the bright grin he’d spent years molding into place.
It's cute really, almost as cute as the way you peer at him through your eyelashes when you want him to make dinner and handle the dishes. You could be bleeding, unconscious or worse. The remnants of his softer self whisper when Josephine shrinks back and tries to squirm away. But you are a hunter, a big girl who doesn't need him to constantly hover. What could a few minutes do?
His evol activates before he can even think about, gravitational pressure pinning the elderly woman but her legs. The choked cry that leaves her is gurgled and raspy and swallowed up by the raging inferno that's eating up the house but it sounds divine to him. The pressure lifts before pressing harder and he watches on, utterly invigorated as she writhes and lets out coarse screams. Just a few minutes. That's all he needs, a few seconds to finally, finally let this out before he slips back into being your sitting gege.
He moves then, stepping over her and lowering a harsh shoe right onto the outstretched hand. Josephine screams again, blood and spit mixing as the fall from her chin and the other hand snapping forward to claw at his leg. It's only then that Caleb realizes the severity of his injuries; his right arm is practically eviscerated, pants charred and stuck to parts of his legs and his left eye is starting to cloud over with blood. He should go now, this should be enough. If his injuries look like this then who knows what yours might be.
“P...ease…p-please just,” Josephine starts, veins visibly bulging from the strain of trying to pull herself up.
Caleb isn't sure what wicked, twisted look he has right now but whatever it is, it morphs into that charming smile of his, voice failing as he tuts and jerks his leg back away from her wrinkled hands. The sudden movement jerks her forward and she lets out some animalistic sound. She's sobbing now, probably accepting whatever fate Caleb decides for her.
The memories are a bit fickle but he recalls the instructions perfectly. The lab mice in a clear containment cell, the heavy, weathered and that steered him to face those little mice with their wide beady eyes and twitching noses. Slowly, envision it like always and draw it out.
He'd been horrified before, absolutely terrified the first time he'd ever compressed a mouse to the point of bursting. Not because of the blood, no. but because you'd been there as well, gripping his small hand and silently crying throughout the entire resonance. Watching those poor little mice get squeezed and then suddenly popping like balloons with too much air.
He doesn't flinch this time, keeps his eyes trained on Josephine as she hangs her head and sobs into her arms. The pressure builds slowly, then all at once and it's when Josephine snaps her head up with some odd unnamed emotion that she goes pop! just like the mice from back then.
It's quiet for a second, well… quiet as can be in a blazing fire, but that moment of pause is enough for Caleb to take a breath and immediately coughs from the smoke build up but it feels…good? Like he's finally dropping the dead weight of resentment like a sack of particularly heavy stones. At first he attributes his light headedness to the smoke, carbon monoxide poisoning working its way into his system, then he feels weirdly lethargic, not like the adrenalin has worn out but like he's slowly losing all bodily function too quickly to keep up with.
Right, youre…youre waiting for him, out there. Aren't you? Waiting…for him.
It takes a monumental amount of effort for him to even turn around, there is something there in the corner of his rapidly tunneling vision. A person maybe? Caleb barely makes it another step before he falters and tips forward.
Fade to black and that's all folks.
Randomly got this idea while I was eating dinner and just started typing with one hand.
Evil Caleb is such an attractive concept to me. Like I'm a SUCKER for the whole yandere shtick. when he threatened to put a collar on us in the main story my first though was 'dont threaten me with a good time, colonel'