27: He Who Has No Fear.

Eternal darkness was all they could feel as they looked around the surroundings, unable to see a single thing.

" Hello! Is anyone there?!" Nora asked, stretching out her right hand to assess her current area of location.

She slowly got up from the floor dusting off her body, moving every part of her body delicately so as to avoid bumping into anything.

Her heart was beating louder with each passing moment as the fear she had tried to hide so much slowly began to creep up on her.

She wrapped her arms around herself and slowly kept on moving forward while she continued to breathe heavier with each step.

" I need to get out of here." She mumbled under her breath as she increased her pace.

" Nora..."

" Nora!..."

She paused for a moment at the call of the familiar female voice. Her eyes widening instantly as she tried to hold back the tears that were about to fill her eyes.

She switched from walking to running, trying to get away from the darkness that now enshrouded her.

Long suppressed emotions were forced to surface from the single voice she had heard and it wasn't long before she began sobbing.

Another step forward and she slipped before falling down but not against the floor like she had expected.

The suffocating wind rushed against her face and she began to cough violenty as she fell to an unknown destination.

" Nora! Nora!! Noraaa!!!"

" Stop it! Stop it now!" She cried at the top of her lungs as tears flowed down her cheeks.

She crashed hard against the ground immediately after that and continued to cough violently with her palm up against her lips.

The world around her instantly lit up and suddenly she could see buildings surrounding her and a very marbled one that only brought back memories for her; she knew where she was quite well and only wanted to leave.

********

Neo had suffered the same fate as her and found himself currently standing in a room lit up by a burning lamp, staring blankly at the unfolding scene.

Before him was a boy with bruises and cuts all over his skin; his whole body starting from the top of his head was almost covered in blood.

There was a shattered glass bottle right before him and a man standing there with his right hand held down due to momentum.

Tears filled up the boy's eyes as he looked up at the man who had a grumpy look on his face and blank eyes; he seemed dead; a significance that he had been consuming a lot of alcohol.

" Papa... please." The boy said as he quickly ran forward and held tightly onto the man's leg.

" Get your filthy hands off of me!" The man screamed at the top of his lungs as he pulled up the boy by his hand and flung him to the end of the room.

Tears flowed down his cheek as he stood up from the floor after crashing against the wall and he ran away immediately after that.

His destination was his room where he stayed with his elbow against his face and his knees on the floor along with his forehead.

He kept on sobbing until he felt an arm wrapped around him and pulled him up from the ground.

" I'm sorry, I'm sorry for what I've done." The man said as he hugged him tightly.

He continued to watch as the constant abuse and apologies repeated itself until the boy collapsed one day and was left alone on the floor half dead.

He managed to survive, waking up with a hazy feeling and his body covered in blood as usual.

He felt hungry and after searching through the entire house to see that there was nothing left for him to eat, he set off to the street in search of something to eat.

He wasn't very successful but returned home only slightly hungry.

Just as he reached for the doorknob he heard a loud bang in the house and soon came a loud scream from his father along with the mocking laughter of some other men in the room with him.

He paused for a moment as he slowly brought down his hand from the knob but just as he turned around he saw a man dressed in black standing before him.

" Hmm, interesting, it seems the hag has a son." He muttered with a slight mischievous chuckle as his gaze remained intently on the boy.

He began to tremble and stepped back slightly before taking to his heels but he could only take a few steps before he was grabbed by his collar.

" No! Papa!"

He kept on screaming to no avail and could only watch as the man lay half-dead on the floor while the gruesome men forcefully pulled him along with them.

Neo couldn't help but start laughing at the scene as he instantly fell to his knees.

" This- this was really the best you could come up with you stupid curse." He teased as he continued to laugh out loud.

He didn't seem the least bothered by anything that was happening nor was he ready to care anyway.

" You certainly are another strange one, but how long do you suppose you can hold out against your fears?"

Neo instantly paused at the sound of the question and slowly looked around as darkness enshrouded him once again.

The light slowly shined upon him once again with another scenery, one with the same boy, but he seemed younger.

He was standing before a woman kneeling on the floor with her mouth filled with blood and a dagger stuck into her abdomen.

Tears were flowing down her cheeks as she slowly reached out her hand and drew him closer before wrapping her hands around him.

" I'm sorry."

Those words echoed through his head as his eyes slightly widened for a moment while he stood there stunned.

The black hair, green eyes, and jade white skin; he was nothing but a mirror reflection of her and the same could be said for him as well.

Neo was staring at the very death of his mother, a replay of it to be precise.

His pause was only for a few seconds as he regained his composure and a smile crept up his face but nothing even a chuckle escaped his lips.

" Well, you did great there I can give you that — being able to push me to the edge of the wall like that... Well then, can you tell me what amount of negative energy you managed to measure up so far."

" You certainly are a tricky one. Is that you cannot feel any emotions at all, or are you just simply not human."

" You can say whatever you want punk, but believe me when I tell you that you won't like when I try to break free myself. I'm too weak for a supreme curse now, aren't I? Why don't you entertain me with the strength you've managed to extract from all their negative energy. I'm sure you'd enjoy it if I happened to be your first murder victim among the lot of us." He said with his usual bright smile on his face.

Whether he had a trick up his sleeve to defeat a curse twenty times stronger than him or was praying for a miracle to happen before the worst, no one could predict what truly lay within his heart.

A/N: There will be a third chapter coming today.

A token of gratitude to all you who have been with me till this point and a hundred collections to the story.

Cheers!