Lanterns in the Fog (Raph/Closed)

Today was slightly busier than normal, in Karakura Town and the cars were honking like nobody’s tomorrow, aggravating Raph’s already bad headache. He wouldn’t have minded as much if the sidewalks had been more empty which, of course, they weren’t. He grumbled a bit about how they were nearly as bad as the roads themselves and he couldn’t fathom why in the world anyone would come to this small town, if they didn’t have a job. Buuuut then he remembered the proximity to Tokyo, which was what had brought him to Karakura in the first place. He sighed and pulled out his phone, looking at message after message from the company, talking about how they would be repairing the server room soon and how wonderful it would be if he could return. Thankfully, they’d had him come in to a different department, though the boss was someone that he wasn’t exactly favorable with. The two butted heads constantly, especially when Raphael had put in for a few days bereavement for his own department head’s funeral.

But he had gotten the days off after threatening to take the matter to HR as part of a violation or retaliation, something like that. Still, the head of the analytics department had backed down after that, and Raph had been enjoying his stay in analytics. He wondered if they’d let him dabble in both aspects, though several emails had been hinting at something of a promotion for him, were he to return. This was already preeetty tempting, and Raphael simply became more and more engrossed in his phone, as he was wont to do. Yet something suddenly grabbed his attention and told him that, if he kept walking like this, he was going to trip. He looked up from his phone and saw a man, a rather bad smelling guy, reaching down to pick up pills.

“Ya need some help there, guy?” Raph immediately asked, looking down at the man and kneeling. “The hell happened to make ya lose all this?”

“The hell happened to make ya lose all this?”

The vagrant winced but calmed as he realized the voice wasn’t inside his head. It was rather odd anyone would talk to him, let alone help him. Eyes darting to the ground and then back to the man. He looked rather...plain. Like someone who could fade into the crowd and no one could say he was ever there in the first place. Sol envied that.

“Light. A...light, then scratching. Growling? No, no, scratching. I think?” Sol’s blue-gray eyes had a slight quake to them, something subtle and hard to catch but was a clear indication that he wasn’t all there. As much as he would like to be. Or wouldn’t like to be, it varied by the hour. Silently he picked up his pills, scooping the remaining bits into the container and taking the ones the man had picked up hesitantly.

Sol looked him over again, scratching the burn scars on his neck.

“You’re not Japanese...foreign. Tourist?” The voices were starting to bubble up but the white-haired vagrant could feel the numbness of the drugs start to push them down. He flinched at that but visibly relaxed afterward.

Raph looked at him for a second or two, as he picked up the last of the pills. “A light? And scratching? That seems really weird… W-Where at, if you don’t mind me inquiring?” He squinted a bit, almost looking angry, but was trying to shut out the voices of the people that were raging all around him. He wanted to turn and tell the woman that was giving him an odd look and just go talk to her goddamn husband already, but then there were other complications that could arise from that. His head was pounding again, and he pulled out a bottle with his ibuprofen, before taking two really fast.

“And what about you?” he said as his head began to calm down. “You…ok? You live around here or something?” Raph nodded when the man stated that he wasn’t Japanese. “Right, American. But I’ve been living here for a little while. “You don’t…” Raph looked around and looked a bit closer at the man. “You don’t look like you’re all there. Are you doing ok?” He sighed. “Do you need some help, man? You look a little sick…”

His eyes narrowed in annoyance as a few more people’s thoughts reached him as he sat there trying to look over Sol. That was when the smell hit him. “Oh. Man… When was the last time that you had a shower, man? Alright... So, come with me and we’re gonna get you a shower, and some…new clothes at the very least. Then we’ll come back here and check on the light and any kind of scratching…”

There was a lot of questions all at once. Not something he was accustomed to other than someone asking him to leave or move out of the way. The vagabond’s eyes did stop shaking once he saw Raph knock back a couple pills, could tell the man was in pain. Almost a familiar pain. He thought it was best not to follow that train of thought.

Help, though? Most people could only handle a few brief moments with him. It was rare that someone would offer the vagrant assistance. Should he trust him? It was a thought that came and went as fast as it was conjured. His skin did itch and perhaps he could get a better meal than a moldy half-eaten sandwich.

“Okay...okay. Yeah, okay. Though I don’t have money if this is some kinda scam.” Sol said as he stood up, motioning at himself up and down as if to emphasis that. While his mind slowly became more and more numb but he remembered he had to ask something else. Something customary...tradition. It was called something, had a name. Name.

“Menya zavoot Sol.” The vagrant tried to say then shook his head. “My name is Sol...”

The man, probably a little confused that someone was offering aid, seemed to consider everything for a few minutes, and even in his headache, Raph could tell his gears were turning. He seemed to be a bit off, but if nothing else, Raph had a baseball bat at home he could conk the guy out with, though he hoped that would be a worst case scenario. Best case, he was gonna get this guy a shower, some old clothes Raph had seeing as they looked to be about the same size, and probably something to eat. The dude looked awful.

“I don’t have the energy to scam anyone, man,” Raph replied, looking at the dude a bit exasperated. It was true, though. With his job, Raph didn’t have the time or energy to actively try and scam anyone, though he did understand that cynicism was one of the best forms of psychological defense. He pulled out his phone and immediately sent a text off. The reply, was…well it was about what he was expecting. Mikey didn’t like the thought of a smelly hobo in his car, but Raph was calling in a solid you-owe-me. As per their agreement, Mikey had to do one thing for Raph, no strings attached, and this was gonna be it. Then he returned his phone to his pocket. “Well, Sol, since it’s gonna be a few minutes till our ride gets here, we’ve got some time to chat. And I’m, Raph.”

He could feel his blood boiling as he heard people wondering why in the world anyone would waste their time with a smelly hobo. ‘Trying to help someone like that? Americans must be crazy…’ Suddenly he wheeled at the woman that had just walked past them. “Yeah, and maybe if you had a heart, instead of a black hole, you’d have fuckin’ helped him!!” The woman stopped, turned and looked at Raphael with a bit of confusion and fear before taking a half step in her original direction and taking off running. Turning away towards the street, he swore under his breath and looked at Sol. “I can hear people’s thoughts in my head a lotta the time… All…the time… Sometimes it just gets to me more than other times…”

Raph was certainly straightforward and to the point, Sol fidgeting with a thread coming undone on his knit gloves. Buzzing caught close to his ear forced the vagrant to take a swat at something flying pass him. Sol was so distracted that he snapped to when Raph snapped at the woman all of a sudden. That was strange to the vagrant...well, maybe not, Sol had a tendency to lash out at the voices in his head from time to time. However…

It was...rare that someone would be so honest about hearing voices.

Excitement seemed to well up for a second. The thought of not being the only one crossed his mind for a second before descending into the lethargic sea that was his drug addled mind. They were still there, the whispering in his mind, but it was like they were trying to speak through tar. That was just the way he liked it, muffled and quiet. Almost absent if he could get his hand on an audio player but his last one broke when he fell down a flight of stairs.

“Don’t have to apologize to me, abi. The voices are always there….” Sol gave a nonchalant response, tapping the side of his head and popping another pill he randomly found on his person. It was green and circular. He couldn’t recall what that one did exactly but hoped it would make him squirm less.

Or at the very least stop seeing the weird, nervous man standing next to him. Curly black hair, a sweater vest and long face that would impress a horse. Rubbing his eyes, the vagrant looked at the man again who was almost transparent. People continued to brush pass him...no, just walk right through him. Looking back over to Raph, Sol proceeded to poke his shoulder only to feel solid resistance.

“I think this guy needs food more than I do…” Sol mumbled, looking back at the ghost with a chain hanging from his chest.

“You can see me, right? Please, there’s something eating people...you can help me, right?” The ghost pleaded, Sol sneering at it as the voices threatened to bubble up deep within. A surge, a thousand pushing on the barrier that was his consciousness only to fade back down. The vagrant tried to ignore him, chalking it up to the drugs. It wasn’t real...people weren't see through.

Raph looked to the side at Sol’s voice and sighed, shaking his head as Sol seemed to doubt the ghost’s existence, going so far as to poke him in the shoulder. Raph turned. “Don’t man, that’s rude.” Then, looking at the ghost himself, “Calm down, sir. I’m sure that one of the Shinigami will be around soon enough and you’ll be fine. There really isn’t all that much that we can do… We don’t have any special weapons, equipment or abilities, like they do. Just please try to hide…” He sighed again, looking at Sol. He didn’t know how stable the guy was, especially given how he’d reacted a few seconds ago. Still…

“Ok, so this guy’s already dead, and he’s talking about he masked monsters that eat people’s souls,” he replied. “Or hollows in this case. They eat souls, and sometimes kill people to do it, in order to apparently satiate some deep seated hunger. But this devouring drives them nuts.” He sighed a bit and shrugged. “Our friend here is a ghost. Ya see quite a few of them, around here especially. But that draws in the hollows, which then draws in the Shinigami and then…” He trailed off a little bit. He knew people were staring a him but he didn’t really care.

He shrugged, looking at Sol. “Long and short of it is that when ya die, you’ll wander around like this poor guy, with a chain on your heart and if a hollow finds ya before it’s all gone then you become one. I…think that if it’s all gone before a shingami finds ya it’s the same thing, but I neeever got full confirmation on that.” Raph chuckled a bit awkwardly before looking at the chain on the man’s chest. “And apparently it’s never the same for anyone. Sometimes it’s longer, sometimes it’s shorter.”

The dead become ghosts that walk around with chains? Hollows? Shini-whatsits? Shinigami...that meant something. A friend had told him once, long ago. Visions of people cheering behind chain linked fences, blood on concrete, of a man made of glass with a knowing smile. Again the word bounced around in his head for a moment as he continued to listen to Raph’s explanation. It was hard to pinpoint till it clicked. God of death. Reaper.

Should he laugh?

That wouldn’t have been appropriate, the voices in his mind mumbling in silence as Sol tried to cut through them and the distortion provided by the drugs. Now that it was mentioned it was almost like a veil was lifted. Subtle, tell-tale signs. A girl wandering the street untouched by the traffic, people congregating about only to be stepped through like they didn’t exist. Monsters with skulls for faces, swarming and feeding. Him feeding…

It was difficult to remember, difficult to decide what was reality, his own insane thoughts, or something fueled by his massive intake of medication. Lip twitching, Sol staring at the spirit, the vagrant continued to listen Raph explain how things seemed to work in...the afterlife? That seemed an off way to think about it but not entirely wrong.

Fressen.    Mange le.     Don’t listen, don’t listen,  don’t listen. FEED!

The quaking in Sol’s eyes, that touch of insanity, came to a stand still. That last voice was distorted, inhuman as it reached from the depths and tried to take hold. Force him. Take control. No longer paying any heed to Raph or the lament he had for the poor ghost in front of him, the vagrant’s hand darted out and took hold of the spirit’s chain. A small gust twisted away from him, ruffling clothes and pushing aside the stray bit of debris. Lifting the ghost up and bring him face to face, the spirit suddenly startled that anyone living could touch him, Sol cocked his head to the side as he stared hatred into the man’s eyes.

“Tell me...of...monster. W-where?” He spit the words out, struggling to form them. It took serious effort for him not to do...something? The voices clawed to be heard, to force him to do something he’d regret as he shut them down. Instinct was only tempered by curiosity and willpower.

The reaction was difficult to tell, at first, but it was like someone had flipped a switch. One second Sol was fine, standing right beside Raph and the next he was on top of the ghost man, forcing him to the ground and demanding to know where the hollow was. But…why on Earth would he want to know where such a monstrosity was? His actions also seemed incredibly erratic, when compared to how calm and fairly collected he’d been just a second or two ago. Raphael wasn’t sure whether this was a pre-existing condition or something that was caused by the drugs the man took.

Raphael’s hand reached up almost immediately and grabbed the man’s shoulder. There was no fear in his eyes, despite the fear that pounded in his chest and the voices that echoed in his head. “Sol! Get ahold of yourself! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He’d seen the gust of wind that launched off of the other man, watching him concernedly and curious about what exactly was going on with the man he knew. “Why in the hell would you want to get anywhere near one of those monstrosities? They devour human souls like you and I would eat cereal! Have you completely lost it?!”

Unlike Sol, that seemed to possess a mysterious power that radiated off of him, Raphael didn’t have any such thing and so, as he stared at Sol, there was just his will. Yet, even that was prodigious and as he stared at the man that he was trying to help, the questions burned in his eyes.

A voice pulled at him, soon after that a hand on his shoulder as he was spun about to look Raph in the eyes. While Sol’s were wild and savage, tempered only by restraint, Raph’s blue eyes were strained with worry and frustration. It was conflicting to the say the least, the vagrant mulling about the questions for a moment before releasing the ghost’s chain.

Every passerby avoided their tussle, gave them a wide berth. Even if the ghost was visible to those walking around them, it still would look like a stressful altercation on the verge of violence. Not knowing how to answer, skin crawling as the voices raged to take over and speak their mind, the vagrant eyes held a spark of understanding.

Without warning, Sol took the hand of the ghost and then Raphael. Slamming them together and holding them there, the ghost looking like he would die of fright if he wasn’t already dead, the vagrant gave Raph a firm look. Thoughts were difficult to grasp amid drowned whispers and compressed rage but the white-haired man made an effort of it.

“H-his time is not over. Their time. Not over while being hunted. No p...peace. Pain and frus-frustration. Powerless. You see him. Feel him. He’s not invisible, not nothing...not nothing.” Those last words were almost a whisper, a far away look glazing over his eyes before blinking them several times. Sol released his grip and stood, taking a few steps away and tugging on his ear, if only to keep him focused.

Taking a good look at this unassuming man who had been willing to help him, a dreg of society, Sol caught something just beyond what sight offered. It was like looking at something...a candle flame flickering in the dark.

There was something odd about Sol, Raphael realized, beyond what many would say was odd about him. It was almost a kind of kinship, or perhaps a familiarity, maybe Raphael was even seeing a way that his own life could’ve been though how exactly was a question he didn’t want to ask. Yet, within there was something far darker, no that wasn’t quite right; it was more like a long shadow strung out from under a light that was far away. It was a way to project willpower outwards, and the frenzied look worried Raph. Yet, under his own power, Raphael asserted his own strength of will and mind, pushing it into Sol, they stood there for a few seconds like that.

He wasn’t concerned with the plebians that simply walked around them, focusing almost entirely on Sol. Their eyes locked, their minds in some restrained, yet unspoken, battle that only they could understand. In a way, Raphael was unnerved while he watched Sol. He seemed to be more animal than man, kept in check only his own focus. Such a thing, while occasionally helpful, was like a coin and had two sides. While one was certainly strong and knew what it wanted, it didn’t know how to get it in a way other than attacking.

But that was fine. It was a way that he knew to express it, to survive as himself and Raph couldn’t quite find it in himself to fault the other man. There were things bothering him. He’d had a sense of foreboding since before running into Sol, and this man simply seemed like a byproduct of that sensation. Still the desire to practically hunt this thing that normally hunted them was disconcerting. When Sol smacked Raphael’s hand against the ghost’s his steely expression didn’t change. Raphael knew that when people died they were on Earth, if they still had regrets and most people did.

After hearing Sol out, Raphael nodded slowly, a short burst of wind, less wild and more controlled than Sol’s had been escaped whipped around Raph, momentarily tossing his hair up. “I’m well aware that their time is not over, Sol. I can both see and feel him, and yes I know that there is no peace, not even for the dead. But you must understand, it doesn’t mean that you can go and hunt the hollows as you please, none of us can do that. We’ll investigate still, but we’ll need to be careful.” His tone was somber and a bit more commanding, but he was still being friendly as he looked to the ghost. “Show us where this monster is.”

It was a strange sensation. Almost a connection of sort that Sol had never felt before. Like a reassuring hand on the shoulder that dulled the voices even more than the narcotics he had taken. Both soothed and irritable, the vagrant rolled his shoulders and looked away from Raph as though Sol was embarrassed of himself that he could not have maintained such a collected demeanor.

Run ins with these hollows was different than this. Far better, that was for sure. Better than that demon-faced man the other day that creeped him out more than any monster could. Ever since he came to Karakura there seemed to be danger around every corner. Yet Sol was so very tired of running. Would it be so bad to hide amid a pit of vipers? Would they think to look for him here, of all places? Question after question shot through his mind, though each serious question was accompanied by dreams of a warm bed and warmer food. When was the last time he had a parfait…wait, had he ever had one?

Jaw hung open once he noticed a gust of force leave Raph, Sol eyed the other man with something akin to suspicion and curiosity. Perhaps there was more similarities than he had cared to admit? As Raphael lectured Sol on the finer points of avoiding danger, something Sol had clearly been lacking as of late, the vagrant could only look at the ground and nod. His attention snapped back to the ghost whom he decided to give some space after so clearly assaulting the poor thing.

“Of course, oh thank you! I feel like I can’t pass on until I know everyone is safe! Thank you!” The man declared, enthusiastically shaking Raphael’s hand as he explained to them.

As they navigated the crowd, the spirit continued to talk with them. As though he had been pent up and was unloading everything he had been wanting to say ever since he died. The duo tried to stop him, put him back onto the task at hand, but it became futile after awhile and they just let him carry on for a bit.

Eventually they came upon a more suburban neighborhood, away from the taller buildings and retail stores. Nothing looked off but Sol could tell almost immediately that the area felt...tainted? Scratching the burns on his neck as his eyes darted around, he reached into his pocket and fished out a few more pills which he popped in his mouth. He chewed loudly with his mouth open, tapping the side of his head as the voices tried to breach the layer of control he put on them.

“Remember what I said...beware the mist...that’s when people go missing. I, I can’t stay here…” The ghost said, nervously wringing his hands and looking around. There was still a couple hours of sunlight but Sol couldn’t begin to fathom a guess on where to start. Everything in the area just felt wrong.

Though Sol looked away from him, Raphael had the strangest feeling that Sol had understood him quite well; Raph wanted to help but not without due caution. The ghost thanked them profusely, expressing that it didn’t think it could go on without knowing that everyone else was safe. Raph might’ve been a bit stronger than most, but not horribly. He could probably have taken on weaker hollows, maybe a slightly strong one, but he was nowhere near strong enough, despite almost daily training. Something was there, a block perhaps, that he knew made him weak.

The ghost, however, proved to be quite the chatterbox as they moved, feeding them information both relevant and irrelevant. Yet he could hear a hesitation, nervous mutterings from the ghost about where they were going. He wanted to ask, wanted to pry, but decided against it for now. There would be time enough for that later. One word he could quite clearly discern was fog. The mind was a fascinating thing. When words stuck out more in a person’s mind they were very easy to discern within the whispers. In this ghost’s mind the word ‘fog’ stuck out like a light in the darkness.

The trek was long, but eventually they ran into an area that was far away from the shops and skyscrapers, very suburban and it felt peaceful; but therein lay the problem. It was too peaceful, even for such a good day. Out of the corners of his eyes he could see Sol take some of the pills that he had in his pocket; he’d have to remember to ask for those, when all of this was over. The ghost told them to avoid the mist. And Raphael couldn’t help but ponder about the mist itself.

“If you’re not planning on staying around here, then I would get far away from here and hide somewhere. They can find spirits much easier than they can find normal humans… We don’t tend to be as tasty, though sometimes they’ll attack, of course. Thank you for the information.” He looked back at Sol. “…we need to stay together around here. I don’t trust this peculiar fog. I’d rather us not get lost here…”

“Yes, yes, of course, of course, I can just...go. I’m going!” The spirit declared, taking off down the street as the mist started to grow thicker. Streetlights flickered on but only added to the ominous atmosphere and did little to light their way.

Sol and Raph walked, both tense and on high alert. Wouldn’t people be coming home from work by now? Goosebumps danced along the vagrant’s skin but he couldn’t tell if it was the drugs or the creature’s domain they found themselves in. Muscles tensed though he knew better, training from his past telling him to be loose and ready for anything. Eyes darting over to his newfound ally, Sol mused talking to him more. Raphael was someone like him. He could tell that much.

“Whatever comes, you should stay back. I’ve come across these...Hollows, you called em? I can...I can hurt them.” Sol was forming words slowly, trying to concentrate on sounding coherent at the very least. Challenging was the best way to put it as he was juggling muddled thoughts, clamoring voices, and throttling the instinct to cry out and charge into the mist.

“Gücün var. Eh...er...you. You have power. Don’t look in here when I’m fighting. Help some other way if you can...no, you can. You can.” Sol muttered, tapping his head a few more times though he didn’t feel it right away. He didn’t want Raph...connecting like he was. It wouldn’t end well. His right eye began twitching more than the other as he scanned the mist that began to hang lazily above the pavement and cement.

Dancing lights appeared and reappeared. Mere flickers as the sun began to dip behind the rooftops.

Pressure began to weigh heavy upon the two telekinetic men, the mist thickening and shifting as though it had a mind of its own. Chittering in his mind was pressing through his drug-addled mind, that form of comfort from numbing himself was dwindling quickly in the face of such a potentially daunting foe. Was he becoming more immune to the drugs he was taking? He decided best to hold off on taking more, certainly in the territory of a foe he couldn’t see but could certainly feel.

Sol took lead as he moved slowly, ignoring the floating orbs of light that danced back and forth, popping in and out of the mist. They almost seemed like balls, carried by small creatures but it could have been a trick of the light. Swallowing hard, he let his senses guide him as he suddenly came to a stop when he felt a harsh crunch underfoot.

“What…” Sol muttered, lifting his foot and reaching down, though he couldn’t see where he what he was looking for. Finally making contact he brought up the object he had stepped on, looking back at Raph as he unfurled his hand to reveal a small butterfly hair clip, now broken and shattered.

Had it belonged to a child? The voices edged further onto the cusp of his mind and it took a considerable amount of willpower to force them down, sweat beading across his forehead…a low rumble could be heard not far off now, Sol giving Raph a glance to see if the other was willing to move forward.

Raphael watched as the man seemed to look about at the fog and wondered if he was thinking about taking more of his pills. Smiling as the man decided against it and instead elected to move on. Yet as the two did start moving on Raphael noticed the balls of light dancing within the fog in front of them. Immediately he was reminded of the will-o-wisps and knew not to even wonder about it. Raphael took a few steps further and took a look at what Sol was holding in his hand. “A hair clip? I wonder where in the world this came from, and if its owner is around anywhere nearby…” He looked around. “Regardless, I don’t like this. This place feels dead.”

Raph moved forward as the rumbling growl started up again, louder this second time and Raphael took another few steps forward. “Whatever the hell comes outta there…we might want to run, so I’d get ready to try and run away.” There was a silent few seconds where Raphael watched the world ahead of them. “Like seriously, if something big comes out then we might want to get the hell out of here. It could be quite bad if a hollow comes outta there…”

Sol wanted to agree with the other man's desire to avoid confrontation. It was normal to feel fear, terror in the face of an ominous and foreboding sense of maliciousness that hung thick in the mist laden air around them. It was normal to want to run, want to hide, want to do anything to get away from the unseen eyes barring down on them. Even the vagrant could understand that much through the jeering and quiet screams in his head that grew louder every moment they were there.

Something deeper seemed to move him, though. To seek out this threat. It wasn't sane, it wasn't rational. Instinct. That was the best he could think of it as he grit his teeth through the burning hatred that was bubbling up from within. As if to be beckoned on call, there was a sudden and notable change in the air. Like the feeling of having your skin crawl when metal screeches against metal only absent the sound.

“Hmmm...mm...mm.”

Before either of them had realized, hundreds of lights began to dance around them, drifting up out of the thick mist. Each orb carried by what looked like the silhouettes of monkeys, dancing back and forth, moving here and there. Their playful movements did little to calm the vagrants nerves, he could almost sense that they were nothing more than illusions. No. Rather than illusions, perhaps pieces of something bigger. Like lures.

Voices pressed against the barrier of willpower and narcotics, threatening to burst, threatening to overwhelm him as his skin suddenly felt like it was on fire.

“You two...mm...mm...different...different.”

Its voice came from everywhere, deep and menacing. A subtle movement of something bigger moving in the fog before vanishing once more. Bigger was an understatement...it easily dwarfed the two men. While that sense of static, sense of unease hung in the air, it didn’t attack them though Sol had a feeling that it could probably dispatch them quickly if it had kept better hidden. No words left the vagrants mouth as his lips drew back into a snarl. They festered...

“You...can go. No need...mm...mm...for food that bites. Bites.”

Raphael watched the lights around them both, his eyes narrowing into slits. This had always happened whenever he encountered the creatures; he would feel the overwhelming sense of fear but, stronger still, he had feelings of rage that burned with him. Why this was, Raphael couldn’t know despite his own lineage. He was very different from his mother and brother, more like his father in the regard of hollows. His mother had explained what happened to Shinigami that got bit, but explained that he’d never have such issues, which fascinated him.

The noises increased, the rage bubbled over, and the creature finally began to reveal itself. Coward, hiding within this mist, using the lights… Literal will o wisp… Yet his rage was bubbling over and he wanted so badly to just stab this thing. Then it spoke. “…food that bites.” He nodded a few times. “Food…that bites. I see. So you’re more of an opportunist and trapper.” Raphael nodded. “But you don’t want to try to hunt anything that could bite back. That’s a rather sad attitude for a hollow to take, don’t you think? One thing that I will say for your kind, though, you all are at least true to yourselves.”

He turned to Sol. “How do you want to handle this? We can either do as it says that we are free to do, or we can do something else.” He got a bit closer and whispered. “Remember that the size of such a creature, doesn’t always mean that it’s exceptionally strong…especially if its main goal is to draw its prey in.” He turned to the vagrant, watching him, standing beside him. He knew tactics fairly well, and in this situation, he wasn’t going to risk the thing sneaking up behind them. “What do you think that we should do?”

“Hmmm...mm...mm.”

It didn’t seem to take kindly to Raph’s remarks, the silhouette of the creature in the fog almost seeming to puff up from their right while that menacing aura growing thicker than the mist around them. Lights all around them began to waver before becoming erratic, their soft yellow glow taking on a sinister red that reflected off the mist and bathed the area in a crimson wash. Drugs had long faded and now the voices pressed, they cried out in a grand chorus of hatred that dripped with bile and venom.

Time has come, unleash, the little apes, mama kita harus lari! The lady, she follows, attention, der affe tanzt an der leine! The little mandolin plays, Å far, hvorfor ble du? Kill the fuckers, kill her, kill him, töte sie ALLE! I, we, I don’t want to play, tag, tag you’re it, no tag-back back back to another time, hate, no I can’t! YES! Paws on him, don’t let them touch me, hepsini siktir et ve baltaları sırtlarına göm! Rip them apart, avec dent et griffe!

“I’ll take the brunt, strike when you see an opening.” Sol said softly, a murderous resonance flowing off of him as his right eye burst into a stream of red smoke. Skin hot and threatening to burst, sweat beaded out of every pore yet he never took his eyes from the massive form hiding in the fog. A rush of violent force erupted around them as it cleared the fog, revealing their foe.

Its skin was a dark purple, white lines tracing the form of what could only be described as a massive orangutan. Mask as white as snow, a visage of a skull spread wide with beady eyes that carried a sickly yellow glow. Teeth sharp, with a grin that split its face wide. Gut protruding out, arms twice as long as the beast was wide, angled out and massive fists curled onto the asphalt. Smaller creatures like monkeys were all around them. Mindless, chittering things that held a single antenna on their head, a bulb at the end like an angler fish.

There had to be dozens but they didn’t look to be hollows, the vagrant noticing they were forming from the disgusting boils along the gargantuan shoulders the Hollow had. He’d be disgusted if he wasn’t filled with unbridled rage.

“Mmm...gave chance...gave chance. I can...we… can...mmm...MMM! WE CAN BITE! WE CAN EAT!” That mellow, disturbing tone was gone as its voice cracked to give way to something raving mad and animalistic. With a cry that shook the very earth around them, the smaller creatures attacked as the Hollow’s massive fist came careening down towards the duo.

A million lifetimes flashed by his face in an instant, hatred and love, the loss of mother and father and brother; then followed the transformation of life into death, into life again. His Eyes seemed to explode with possibility. He wondered, as he sat there watching the enormous ape creature with rage in his eyes and fury in his limbs, if this was the stroke to move him forward. It didn’t matter. They would kill this…thing. Raphael, while not overly powerful, was able to combat creatures of this strength. He could, at the very least, damage it.

It was…grotesque, was a nice way to say it. The monstrosity was tall, with long gangly arms and powerful fists, with dark purple skin, almost black. It had a bit of a beer belly, or at least what would’ve been were it a man, and it’s mask seemed to be curled into a sneer with sharp teeth. Its beady eyes gave it the same look that Raphael would ascribe to a weasel, or something that couldn’t really do it’s own work at least. Yeah, weasel was about right. One of the sniveling office managers with the stringy limbs that yelled at everyone below them to get back to work while brownnosing those higher than them. Made Raph sick.

To make matters worse the smaller lights seemed to be coming from the heads of monkeys. This thing wasn’t a will o’ wisp it was a buncha monkey things pretending to be angler fish. He grabbed a nearby piece of wood that had splintered. Wonderful thing wood, despite how easy it was to break sometimes. It could puncture into things nicely.

“I would be delighted. Let’s make this thing sorry that it came to our world.” Then he looked up at the creature as it roared. “You can try, Bobo. You can try.” And with a quick movement, he moved left, out of the way of the creature, but enough to give him a nice opening, when needed.

Muffled and dull, like trying to whisper in a hurricane. Words that should have reached Sol were lost in the torrent of voices that had erupted, spit forth after boiling at the surface for so long. There was an odd sensation, a surge of courage that subtly tugged at him coming from his compatriot. Little did it matter as the massive fist came crashing down upon Sol, the vagrant standing his ground as a torrent of invisible force wrapped around the fist to soften the blow. Leg buckled, the white-haired vagrant fell to one knee as the cement beneath him caved underfoot. Earth cracked, the sheer weight of the colliding force exploded into a massive surge of dust and debris that did little more than create a spectacle.

Red smoke shone with an otherworldly glow as it whipped forth from his right eye, the tattered pupil spinning and quaking in place as he stared bloody murder into the creature. Balking at the resilience Sol had displayed, nails dug into the massive fist and held in place, the Hollow tried to pull away only to find the vagrant refusing to relinquish his catch.

Raph was right, the size didn’t match the monster’s strength. It was purely a glutton that relied on trickery and deceit. It had let itself succumb to its own illusion of strength. However, it still had numbers on its side. A deep, ungodly howl escaped the creature as the monkeys now swarmed Sol all at once. Boils began to fester and pop all along the Hollow’s back as more vicious little critters began to pile onto the vagrant.

They bit into his flesh, claws digging into him from a hundred frantic hands. They paled in comparison to the hundred voices crying out inside his mind, forcing their words into his mouth as Sol muttered curses and pleas in a handful of languages. Finally he let out a resounding cackle that made the great beast sweat, halted the endless assault of the legion of monsters. Madness given true form as he felt his will reach out in physical form and twist the beast’s arm until it split skin and burst bone. Letting out another bellow of pain, it went to slam its other fist to free itself from the raving madman.