I am me (Slayer Jue Viole Grace)

Chapter 4

Hockney

_________________________________________

          Hockney couldn't sleep. It wasn't a big surprise. Hockney couldn't sleep well most nights ever since Hell Joe fragmented the painting that held his soul and scattered them. Those first nights after that day had been the worst, the feeling of being incomplete was overwhelming. Over time, as he gathered pieces of his soul, Hockney learned to manage. Still, he knew that the emptiness would continue to haunt him until he reunited his soul once more.

          Sighing, Hockney got out of bed and wandered the halls until he reached a large balcony overlooking the cage. Even if his soul were complete, too much had happened in the past few days for him to sleep properly. That battle had been a lot to take in. Hockney was no stranger to conflict, there had been plenty of that when he served Hell Joe. However, contrary to the name, the Floor of Death was mostly devoid of death. Or rather, everybody was already dead. Hell Joe was the only one capable of permanently killing others on that floor. Since he left to climb the tower as a regular, the largest battle he had been a part of was the one at the Last Station. But this, this battle, it was on a whole other scale. He didn't have time to think about it when he was fighting, but when the dust cleared, all that remained was a sea of blood and bodies. It was a gruesome and sobering picture. He needed some fresh air to get his mind off of everything.

          "Hockney? Why are you up here? Can't sleep either?"

          Whipping around, Hockney could see Elaine approaching. "Elaine? You're awake! We were getting worried that you might sleep forever. When did you wake up?" Hockney exclaimed.

          "Earlier today. The others told me what happened, and how I'm alive right now. Honestly, it was kinda overwhelming, so I came out here to get some air. I've gotten three days' worth of sleep anyways," she said with a smirk.

          Leaning over the balcony, they stood in silence, simply looking at the night above. Over the two years after the Battle of The Last Station, Hockney came to enjoy Elaine's company. Underneath her guise as a proud predator, he could tell that she enjoyed the company of others as much as he did, even though they both claimed to be loners. With Bam constantly out on missions for Evankhell, all they had was each other to talk to. Of course, it certainly helped that Elaine held herself with a certain grace that made her a great subject for his paintings.

          Elaine was the first to break the silence. "Have you talked to Viole recently?"

          "No, I haven't had a chance to. Since the battle, he seems to keep himself busy checking on the wounded. When he isn't doing that, he's been keeping to himself. He seems to be going through a lot since the end of the battle, so we've all decided to give him his space," Hockney replied.

          Elaine turned back towards Hockney. "Something's up with him," Elaine said in a serious voice.

          "What do you mean?" Hockney asked.

          "Maybe because his blood flows through me now, but I could feel it as I was talking to him, the conflict within. Even now, I feel it–despair, anger, fear, and most of all, resolve." As she said those last few words, Hockney could see her grip the balcony so tightly the metal started to creak. "But when we were talking earlier, it would've been impossible to tell he was hiding such strong emotions. He kept them bottled up, and that worries me. Of all people, I know that you can lose yourself if you hide from your emotions for long enough."

          Hockney shuddered. He knew Elaine was talking about her time on the Name Hunt station. When Elaine opened up to him about her time there, she'd told him that being the warden of that station had left her feeling like she was no more than a cog in a machine. She had lost all hope that she would ever leave the Name Hunt station long before Bam arrived and continued to serve out her punishment simply for the sake of it, because she had forgotten what it felt like to do anything else.

          "It does seem like this battle affected Bam more than anybody else since he was the one to lead us into it. I'm sure he feels the brunt of the aftermath. Perhaps we should talk to him in the morning, and let him know that his friends will always be here to help him out." Hockney said after a moment.

          "Yeah, it'll give me chance to thank him properly," Elaine replied. "Also, don't you dare tell him or anybody else that I was worried about him, or I will let Fenryl use you as a chew toy."

          Hockney chuckled. "Why, can't let anybody know you aren't as tough as you seem? That you're way more of a softie than you'd like to admit?" Hockney said in a playful tone. Hockney's grin disappeared soon enough when Elaine punched him hard in the shoulder. "Ok, alright, I get it. Don't worry, I won't–."

          Hockney broke off when he felt an abrupt, sharp pain in his head as if it was splitting in two. His vision started to change and morph. He tried closing his eyes, but it only disorientated him more when he could still see his surroundings shift until he stood in a place that was completely unfamiliar to him. It's another vision. This hasn't happened since we fought Hell Joe! Within his vision, it was as if everything had a fuzzy filter on it. The edges of his vision seemed to be distorted around him, and he could only clearly make out what was happening in front of him. Looking around, he could tell he was in a room in the Cage, as it had a very similar layout to the room he was staying in. Sensing movement beside him, he turned around to find its source and found himself face to face with Karaka. I must be in Karaka's room right now! Why am I here? Suddenly, Hockney heard a dull thumping coming from the direction of the door.

          Karaka walked past him without acknowledging his presence and opened the door to reveal Bam. What's he doing here? Judging from how Karaka reacted, he guessed Karaka had the same question. The look on Bam's face was one of pure determination. Getting closer, Hockney could see that Bam and Karaka had started talking, but all he could hear was a soft mumble as if everything was underwater. Straining his ears, he started to make out bits and pieces of what Bam was saying.

          "No Karaka, there's only oneway to truly protect everybody. By staying with FUG, or my friends, Iwould only lead them to their deaths. I won't make that selfish mistake again.That's why I'm leaving tonight."

          As suddenly as it started, his surroundings started to shift back. Hockney felt short of breath and stumbled forward, clutching the railings of the balcony. Everything was still blurry, but he could make out Elaine standing over him.

          "Hockney, are you okay? One moment you looked fine and then the next you became even paler than you already are. What happened?"

          Hockney felt like he had been holding his breath for the past ten minutes, and struggled to form words. After taking a couple of deep breaths, he finally choked out what he'd been trying to say. "No...time...we have to stop him now!"

          Elaine helped him up to his feet. "Stop who?"

          "Bam! He's planning to leave tonight, alone!"

Word Count: 1301

_________________________________________

A/N

Wow, it has been a minute. Sorry for the late update but I ended up getting covid recently, and on top of that, I had my college finals this past week. But I'm back now, with a short and sweet chapter! And for those of you who are still here, be on the lookout for another chapter later this week, likely on Friday! As always, if you want to critique anything in the story, feel free to leave a comment!

08/07/2023

Another round of small edits.