Rebellion (After the Haunted FF)

Chapter 36

Armen's point of view-

I suddenly felt warm, along with a growing pain in my chest. It's been awhile since I've felt physical pain. I was beginning to gain feeling within my body, no longer feeling numb like I have been for the past four years. I felt the clothing against my skin, I felt my hair tickle the back of my neck, I felt my feet against the ground. Yet I still felt confined and helpless. I was able to feel, yet I was numb. Like I was asleep in some coma. I was still terrified, unknowing of what was to come.
A gasp of breath flooded into my lungs, taking away the pain in my chest. Breathing... It felt so weird having the need to breathe again. My eyes watered and burned from the need to blink. A burning sensation covered my skin, which was one of the few things that I was able to feel during these four years before Drake destroyed one of the sacred diamonds. After I...died, I just felt cold and numb both physically and emotionally.
Then there was my own heartbeat. A sound that I never would have believed would hit my eardrums again. That slow, steady, rhythmic beat that I never thought I would ever feel again.

Bum... Bum...Bum... Was my heartbeat always that...slow?

I slowly moved the fingers on my right hand one by one, the numb sensation fading after so long. My bones popped and shook as they tried to get used to movement again. I looked down at my body, holding up my arm to examine it with wide eyes. My clothes were mended and my skin was clean, not baring a single wound. I watched my fingers move slowly and watched them shake with movement that was barely noticeable at first glance. I was in complete disbelief. How was this possible?

"I...How is..?"

I then began to remember everything. I was turned into a Nightmare, along with everyone else who had ever perished at the hands of Herobrine or were somehow associated with him in life. I remembered being filled with this burning hatred that I could not explain and could not get rid of. That constant pain. I remembered watching over Drake and occasionally being able to break free from the darkness to reveal myself to him but my plans were always foiled. I would always be dragged back into my Nightmare form or only appear to Drake in some mangled form. That did not help with the fact that he was already having hallucinations of me, so he never knew what was truly me and what was fake.
My eyes averted from my hand when I heard a sound similar to a choked up whimper. I looked up, gasping as my eyes rested on the broken down body of my best friend. My brother.
Drake sat before me, on his knees and his head hung low which made his hair cover my view of his eyes. Black shadows were covering his body like hands emerging from the ground and clawing at him viciously. They were keeping him in place like chains in a prison cell, an environment that I knew he was familiar with. The shadows had a dark, transparent black aura like a flickering blaze. Drake's hands were limp at his sides with tendril like shadows wrapped around his wrist. He appeared so broken. So...empty inside.

"D-Drake?"

A lump formed in my throat but I was able to force it down with a cry. "Drake!"

He was unresponsive to my pleading call. I found myself able to move, not spending a single moment of hesitation as I ran to his side. I fell to my knees in front to him, feeling an intense burning and pain against my exposed skin. Physical pain felt so strange. My hands rose up, instinctively grabbing Drake's shoulders and shaking him as I called out his name. I hated seeing him beaten and bruised. I hated what he did in order to make this come about. What he sacrificed to save me...
He looked up, a weak smile spreading on his cheeks. His lips quivered and his eyelids drooped. His mismatched orbs glowed, both of filled with...happiness. My eyes teared up and my fists tightened their grip on his shoulders. Why would he do that?

"A-Armen..." His raspy voice muttered. "I-Is that...you?"

His trembling right hand rose up and cupped my cheek, touching me as if to be sure that I was real and not an illusion in his head. I let go of him, one of my hands rising and grabbing his arm. I sobbed, knowing what was happening and terrified of what was to come.