A Full House

Necessary Background Music:

The rain was soft. It cascaded down the tainted windows of the Toromaki manner, draining into the sharp, vacant openings left in the glass. A flash of light in the distance sheared away the darkness in the living room and something moved. A black heap of cloth surrounding a shivering creature. It had buried itself under a guise of indifference. Beneath these once-lavish blankets was a young man acting as a scared child- or was it a scared child acting as a young man?

His arms were wrapped around his knees and he hugged his thighs close against him. Wide, frantic pupils darted about, trying to glimpse the pale skin of their own body. Something to confirm their reality. However, their vision was distorted by the tears welled up within them, resembling the rain outside.

Images flashed across his mind. A young girl with brown hair. Petite, cheery, a cute smile... with no eyes. They were gone, and gore only filled their place. Even so, he could see her gaze back at him, wondering why he wasn't there. Why he couldn't have been there to stop this. Ashamed, he stripped away a blanket. He shivered more, feeling some of the cold touch his skin.

The next was a taller, older girl with pink hair. Stern and determined, yet fun-loving. Her eyes were gone too. Not missing, only gone. They averted their gaze, too hurt to look him in the eye. She held a hand over her heart, protecting it so it wouldn't be hurt again. Afraid, he stripped away a blanket. He shivered more, feeling some of the cold touch his bones.

The next was a boy who resembled him rather well. Silver hair and intelligent eyes. Yet he seemed a tad more mature physically, and less so emotionally. He didn't look away, but his back was turned, glancing with a sideways smile, black swirling about in a vortex that was his pupil. He extended his hand, inviting the timid child to come with him. Astonished, he stripped away a blanket. He shivered more, feeling some of the cold touch his muscles.

The next was an older man, also bearing silver hair, although his expression was far more sinister, his hair longer. He merely stood there and laughed, mocking the child that was too afraid to stand up. Angry, he stripped away a blanket. He shivered more, feeling some of the cold touch his blood.

The last was of a man and a woman. The man full of vigor and youth, his hair a striking jet black. The woman composed and elegant, her hair a beautiful, shining steel color. They turned their heads and slowly began pacing away from the child, talking to one another happily. Alone, he stripped away the last blanket. He trembled, feeling the cold pierce his heart.

Now alone in the darkness, he rose and, with a outburst of pent up sorrow, broke down a door that had been recently locked up tight. He threw himself onto the floor, groveling about the two corpses that lay beside him now. Their skeleton fingers touched ever so slightly, wrapping their son in their lonely embrace.

Hours of misery and pain passed. The child's head throbbed as he begged his mother for painkillers. Once again, he rose and caught himself stumbling into a corner. A horn slowly emerged from the side of his head and gripped it with a trembling hand. He did everything he could to rip the piece from his skull, but could not succeed. The thunder and rain was overwhelmed by a strange howling that resembled the whaling of an infant, and the roar of a beast all at the same time.

He now lurched over, eyes wide with terror and excruciating, torturous pain. His mouth hung open and a trickle of dark, crimson liquid pooled onto the floor beneath him. Time twisted forward, the poor abomination stuck in this state. Eventually, something else began to emerge from his gaping maw. A tuft of matted hair blocked his airway and he choked, making a slur of incomprehensible noises. Slowly but surely, what seemed to be an exact copy of himself was released onto the rotted wood that lay beneath him, silent in sleep.

Something about it seemed... off. It looked peaceful in its slumber. Almost happy. Happy was not an expression that belonged on that face. Ace raised a claw into the air, prepared to slaughter the abnormal being, but was halted by the limits of his own body. Dizzy, he collapsed on to the floor, his head burning in a cold sweat. The rain tapered off, leaving nothing to accompany the lonely beast, save for his own despicable creation.