Return From Madness (Cain/Open)

[Zen]

It had been so long, at least it felt that way, and things had gone so horrible ever since that day her brother had taken her while she was on her way home from the store.

She had tried to fight him, but it had been no use, he had always been stronger, and she had screamed but of course nobody heard or if they did, they didnt care.......

She remembered the fear, the way his hand felt across her face when he had told her to shut up. They had left, and things had only gotten worse from there. She had hoped that Cain would find her, she missed him so much, and every day without him brought nothing but increasingly more fear.

Now, here she was, staring at the place she had thought she would never go again..She had snuck out, but at what cost?

She tried not to think of that, biting her lower lip, her brown hair falling down around her slender form as she ran her hands idly over her flat stomach. A tinge of pain surfacing in her, ripping through her as she whimpered softly.

It took all she had to do it, but the bruise on her jaw, hidden only by her hair, was the last straw when she had looked in the mirror the night before. She hoped he was here, she had to find him.....It was all she could think of.

Slowly she started toward the school, only to be drawn by the sounds of a crowd of students off to the side. She didnt know why, but she felt like she had to see, had to go to where they were, biting her lip all the more nervously as her arms wrapped around her stomach tightly.

The closer she drew, the more she recognized the sounds...fighting.....and it was bad....the sounds of bone breaking, that wet sound of a fist hitting something bloody....sounds of gurgled pain from somebody.......It was enough to make her stomach turn. The rest of the students were backing away and that made her stop for a moment...fear crippling her and preventing her from moving forward as she looked at their pale faces.

Why couldnt she just turn around? Why could she not leave and go and find Cain like she was here to do? She did not have a lot of time, she knew that but she even as her head told her no something else drew her forward until she was finally at the front of the crowd.

Seeing the bloody mess she covered her mouth, her other hand gripping her stomach as she let out a small whimper.....taking a step back before she would realize something......the one on top...the one winning......the one causing all this.....

Cain?

Tears filled her eyes......not because of what he was doing, but because she could almost feel the pain he was releasing with each blow to the kid who was clearly almost done for.

Jumping forward, probably not the smartest thing to do, she dropped her hand away and cried out.

"Cain! Stop this!"

She felt her entire body trembling, the urge to back away there, but sure that he would not hurt her....he loved her, just as she loved him.....God to see him in so much pain...it was breaking her heart more than it already was......A soft whimpered plea following.....not sure if he would hear it or not.......

"Please......"

Just then a set of hands grabbed her, trying to pull her back before she got hurt, making her cry out and try to get away, but they wrapped about her waist and tugged her back further.

"Let me go! Cain! Please!"

The sounds of them trying to get her to settle down and understand muffled by her own cries and her own struggles to get free....to get to him.....

[Cain]

And another day has arrived. #774 had once more become a battlefield for the many that walks its hallways. For those who sought to survive, and for those who sought to destroy. The residents of the now-notorious school was now either one or the other. People deviated from one type to the other, always. However, there were some cases, where the transformation was so severe, it totally rocks the whole student body. Take for example, Cain Aurelius here. He had a fight record, sure, but anyone who looked close enough would realise that all of those that he had been fighting were people who the other students knew to be bullies. Yeah, he was the bully of bullies.

However, now... His records had escalated to a new level, with victims ranging from all types and status of American high school. No one was left for mercy. It seemed that Cain's sense of protectiveness had disappeared, and all he sought for now was the adrenaline and thrill of combat. And inflicting pain. Every single day, the man would throw himself at anyone he felt a bad vibe against, his fists pumping and his legs pushing, as he would bring his own schoolmates down to the ground, blood always being shed. Today, was not going to be any different.

The Junior sat upon the bench in the middle of the school courtyard, wearing a black leather jacket over a plain white shirt and a pair of black denim jeans. He wore his Sabre Dunks, and whatever other equipment he wore that defined who he was as a fighter. As the Sabre Fist. His right hand was raised, in its grasp the pendant of his Bloodlust of the Sabre. The same pendant that had been driving Cain forward the past few days. He was in a mess, really. And there seemed no stopping him from walking down this dark path.

Today, his victim? A freshman. A simple freshman who had not been in this school for more than a week. Unfortunate fellow. As he was walking down for his first Friday of being in school, Cain would come up to him and pull at the back of his collar, forcing him down to the ground. And then, fists would be thrown, legs swung as Cain would continually beat the guy down, before forcing him to get back up. It was a vicious repeated scene, the boy barely being able to get up on his own now. With that, Cain would simply hold the boy aloft by the collar, his own right hand smashing down on his bloodied face, a wide grin of excitement and thrill plastered under his lips.

It was brutal.

"Cain! Stop this!"

Cain's fist stopped mid-way, the Junior's body freezing at that very moment. His eyes shot wide, that smile disappearing almost immediately, replaced by a gaping wide mouth. That voice. No, it couldn't be. She was gone... She was supposed to be gone... He turned his head, his heart beating hard against his chest, as he had a brief flashback of how much he had suffered against his own weakness for the past two weeks. And there, standing at the edge of the circle, was the very same woman that Cain had devoted his heart to. The very same woman who was taken away and had sent Cain spiraling down to the ground.

He let go of the boy, the blood of his victim trailing down to the crimson gem on his necklace. And faintly, it started to emit a soft and eerie vermillion glow. Cain lowered his head, his hair covering his eyes for a moment, as slowly, that sinister grin returned. Bloodlust. Boy, was it a dangerous thing to be addicted to. As the students around Zen tried to pull her away, Cain would flicker forward, closing the distance between them in mere milliseconds, his right leg raising and catching the closest one under his chin, before reaching forward and grabbing his shirt as he flew off the ground. He would pull him down immediately, right after his feet left the ground, throwing him face first into the dirt, before smashing the same foot from earlier onto the back of his head.

The transformation from a shield to a sword is indeed a horrific sight.

Cain reached forward, grabbing one of the wrists that held onto Zen's arm, before sending his other arm upwards, smashing into the underside of the elbow, snapping the arm by that joint, before pushing forward with the gripped arm, forcing the arm to bend in an even more awkward manner, the bone threatening to tear through the skin now, as the boy screamed for mercy.

And all Cain could do was smirk.

[Zen]

She felt that air around him, it was hard not to, and as he went about now destroying the boy who had been doing nothing but trying to protect her she shot forward, avoiding another set of grasps as she got between him and the boy, ignoring the screams or the way that this look in his eyes made her scared deep down.

No, she loved him and she was not going to let him turn into this...No that thing he had tried so hard not to be.....

Reaching up, both of her small hands coming to rest on his face, not caring about the blood that now covered them from the student he had already beaten to near death....She would force him to look at her, tears filling those almond eyes as she spoke up softly.

For all she knew he could hit her, do to her what he was doing to them, but she trusted him, more than she did anyone else in this world, and she hoped that he loved her enough to see through his madness to her, standing there before him.

"Cain......baby please.....Stop....you are better than this....You are more than some mindless, fighting machine.....You are the man I love....the one who is soft and kind, and the one who stands for the things that are right in this world....."

She bit her lip, a single tear sliding down her face as she leaned in, her lips brushing against his own, again, the splatters of blood not bothering her in the least.

"Please calm down.....I need you....I cant bare to see you this way........"

She didnt know what else to do, other than to take his hand, and force it against her chest, her heart racing inside her and now being felt by his hand.....

"For you......"

Her own hand slid forth, small palm pressing against the front of his bloodied chest........

"For me......."

She knew he was so much more than this, so much more than his father had trained him to be....He was a real man, not some mindless fighting machine.....She just....she wasn't sure she would be able to reach him.....God let her reach him......

Leaning in, she tried the one last thing she could think of, her forehead pressing against his own as she whispered softly. That long brown hair falling around them, and her scent enveloping them both.

A soft, loving whisper escaping so that only he would hear her....

"Your son's need you....."

She didnt pull back, she just waited. If she could not get through, then this would continue, and he would hurt her in the process.....she would suffer it, because she loved him......but she would never give up on him........

[Cain]

As soon as Cain felt a faint touch on his cheeks, the man would suddenly feel a warmth fill his body. A calming and familiar warmth, as his body would slow to a stop. Her name echoed in his head, his bloodshot eyes flickering towards her, his breathing slowing down as he found himself thinking back on the memories that he had of her.

"Cain......baby please.....Stop....you are better than this....You are more than some mindless, fighting machine.....You are the man I love....the one who is soft and kind, and the one who stands for the things that are right in this world....."

And with every word, a bit more and more of his bloodlust faded away, the Junior calming down bit by bit, a complete transformation akin to that of his initial blood lust. His eyes would then stare into blank space, sweat forming on his forehead and fixing in with the blood, giving an illusion that he was bleeding then. As she kissed him, he found himself being thrown into a mental void. He was not sure what he was thinking of then, just that he was definitely confused.

"Please calm down.....I need you....I cant bare to see you this way........"

And Cain felt his hand move, but made no resistance against it, his eyes still staring into blank space as he soon felt a steady beating against the palm of his right hand. Her heart. He could feel its rhythmic movement in his hand. And the same warmth would be felt upon his chest, her words almost falling to deaf ears as Cain found himself entering a state of mental limbo. He was lost. He was confused. He was stuck between falling in and falling out.

"Your son's need you....."

His sons. Cain's eyes widened, as the resolve that had once filled him a few weeks back now returned. He remembered the promise he made to himself and Zen. The promise to take care of their sons. Cain allowed himself to calm down a bit, the crimson gem in his possession dimming a bit as he looked down at her stoma-... Wait... What was this? Where were his sons? Her stomach was flat. That did not make sense...

The crimson gem started to glimmer brightly once more, his body shaking as he stepped back, away from Zen, looking at her stomach.

"Wh-... Where are they? Where are my children?!"

[Zen]

He had finally started to calm down, though in all honesty it was as though he was lost some place within his own mind. She felt the heat of her tears slowly sliding down her face as she let out a soft whimper.

Then, just when she had thought that he had come around, when he actually seemed to get that familiar look into his eyes, he jerked away, eyes going down to her stomach. Instinctively she wrapped her arms about now flat abdomen, her head lowering as she let out a little whimpered cry.

Then those words.....After all she had been through it was instinct to let out a tiny yelp and shrink back slightly, not used to having him talk to her like that, let alone yell at her.

The words, the ones he wished to hear were lodged in her throat and as much as she tried she could not get them out. Hell, she could barely breath. With each heavy rise and fall of her chest she felt her hands starting to shake. Slowly she took a step back from him. She did not want to believe he could hurt her, but the way he was acting, that tone.....It scared her.

"I....t..they..."

Those words barely more than a whimper as she felt her chest tighten. He knew how prone to panic attacks she was in the face of violence, but it was worse now....Reaching up she tucked her hair back behind her ear with one trembling hand. That bruise she had kept hidden upon the side of her face now visible. Not that she noticed or even cared at this point.....

"I .....I snuck out.....t..to fin..find you."

She managed to get those words out, yet she could not raise her head, not look at him. She hated that look he had. She knew it all too well had seen it in her brother's eyes and her father's every time they had hit her, every time they had broken her down into nothing.

But to see it from him, even if it was not directed at her, was still enough to break her heart.....Because right now, in her mind, it felt as though he were angry at her....Angry for being gone, angry for the fact that she no longer carried his children inside of her....What if she told him the truth of what had happened and where they were? Would he hurt her like he had the man laying there on the ground? Would he turn away from her?

So many questions in her mind that they clouded her mind and made everything else in the area seem to fade away. Labored, heavy breaths.....more like gasps for air as her lungs began to burn.

Maybe she should have never come, maybe she should have never brought this kind of pain upon him to start with. Yet no matter how much a part of her wanted to turn and walk away.....to leave him here to get over her to get over their lives so that he could be happy, she could not bring her feet to move. She just stood there, trembling and trying desperately not to look him in the eyes.....

[Cain]

Her hands would coil around her flat stomach, the sound coming from her mouth telling more evil than Cain would have liked to know, the Junior's brain simply going blank, finally exhausted from the vortex of confusion and despair that it had been thrown into. His mind had jumped to a single conclusion. Zen was here, bruised, with her stomach now flat, the thought of it sending Zen to tears too. His sons... They were gone. As soon as the word gone reached Cain's head, he felt his whole world crumble. His body shook, his head dropping as his teeth grinded hard with each other.

"I....t..they..."

Her stutter, her tears, her cries, it all directed Cain to the same conclusion, despite how much he tried to deviate himself away from it, using the smallest detail from Zen's reaction to give him even just a faint glimpse of hope, but the enraged man found none. It was all dark, what he saw in his mind. The image of his brother's face came to mind then, the Junior's body snapping immediately into action as he lifted his leg, before stomping it down on one of the student's hands, the sound of bones crunching sending shivers down the spines of many of his audience, not a single one of them daring to come near Cain nor disturb the couple's dreadful reunion.

"I .....I snuck out.....t..to fin..find you."

The image of his brother once more came to his head, his leg twisting as he dug the hell of his sneakers into the back of the unfortunate freshman's hand, doing even more damage to the hopeless hand. Then, it was suddenly replaced by the image of her sitting at the corner of an empty room, being kicked by her own blood. And it was enough to send Cain back into the frenzy. And fortunately for his blood lust, a senior had decided to try to sneak up from behind Cain and subdue him with a hold. Cain would lift his right foot back, snapping it backwards and sending a harsh back kick, finding the man's stomach, causing him to double over and stagger backwards.

Cain would swing his right foot forward once more, as he twisted to his right on his left foot, turning himself around, his knee stretching up to almost touch his chest, his leg still straight, as he brought it down hard on the back of the senior's head. A dangerous and lethal ax kick that knocked the man out before he even touched the ground. He was breathing heavily, every movement of air in his mouth now audible, the simple act accompanied by growls. He turned back to Zen, his teeth blared and eyebrows furrowed, a crimson glare of rage fixated upon his eyes.

"Tell me where your brother is... Now..."