Once-Dead OCT: Round 2 - Eclipse

Despair. Complete and absolute despair. Why? Why was he so miserable? He just imagine a reason. It wasn’t fair. He wanted to scream. He wanted to shout. But what would be the point? What would be the point of anything? It was meaningless. He could have experienced any kind of emotion and it wouldn’t have made any difference. His mind was a literal mess. Just nonsense pilled on top of more nonsense. It was like internal gibberish. No coherence, no clarity. Just… Noise. Noise. Noise. As if the whole of reality was shouting at him. He couldn’t bare it. Out of confusion or maybe just sheer indifference, he tried to express all of his thoughts out loud. ‘Tried’ being the key word here. It was all erratic and directionless. Every word flew out of his mouth completely unfiltered, as if he couldn’t control it. In reality, he just couldn’t be bothered to think about it. So what if it was all mindless dribble? So what if it didn’t make any sense? His life didn’t make much sense, either.

He didn’t even know where he was or how he got there. His eyes were shut, his face drowning in the palm of his hand. He just wanted to hide from it all, pretend as if there was nothing there. As much as he was horrified by his own mind, the so-called reality was just as unpleasant. It only served to provide more pressure to his fragile psyche. He heard sounds, but they just couldn’t get thru. He chose to ignore it. But he was still thinking about it. He was still thinking. Thinking. Couldn’t stop thinking. Thinking. Words and notions flew by without any processing. Then silence.

“Hello? Anybody in there?” A voice.

He slowly lowered his hand and opened his eyes. He immediately regretted that decision.

The world had gone insane. There were no words to describe what he was seeing. Reality was melting. That was the best his mind could come up with as he witnessed every single natural law being twisted and downright broken. All of senses were rendered useless. He felt and didn’t feel at the same time. Every notion he could think of was gone. He couldn’t even… He…

“Hey! Are you even listening to me?”

He blinked. As he reopened his eyes, the world was normal once again. Well, as normal as it could have been. He tried to ponder about what just happened, but quite frankly he couldn’t even recall what just happened. Did something happen? Once again, he chose to ignore it. He instead focused on the figure in front of him. It was a human female approximately two feet shorter than him, sporting black and red hair. She looked very agitated for some reason.

“Wake up, jackass!” She shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Yes?” He didn’t even flinch.

“Oh, fucking finally!” Veronica gave an exaggerated sigh.

“You look familiar.” It was pretty evident by now that there was no emotion present in his voice.

“No shit.” Veronica responded. “Listen, I am really don’t have the time for your nonsense right now. Can you just answer a simple question?”

He was being asked a question. There was a small part of him that actually found the notion quite humorous. However, that idea was very quickly overshadowed by annoyance. He lowered himself in order to meet her eye-level.

“What?” It was short and direct. There was a slight anger in his gaze.

Veronica had to admit that she was a bit surprised to get such a reaction out of Hyde, but she quickly shrugged it off. “Have you seen Desdemona around? It’s really urgent.”

“Desdemona?”

“She’s one of the staff members. Pail skin? Dark hair? Blue eyes? British accent? Kinda insane?” She tried her best to describe the woman in question with the assistance of certain gestures that only confused Hyde. “Ring any bells?”

Hyde continued to stare into her eyes. Veronica could swear that he was trying to mentally stab her with those big lizard-like eyes. It was unsettling to say the least.

“I know an individual who matches that description.”

“Great!” Veronica allowed herself a little smile. “When did you last see her?”

“Rather recently.” He didn’t even seem to blink.

“Do you know where she is now?”

He didn’t answer. She waited a while, but there was still no response.

“Look, we are going to start the next round in a few moments. Thusly, the entirety of the staff has to be present.” There was anger in her voice, with a touch of paranoia as well. “The girl has been missing for weeks now and as of now, you are the only lead I have. Could you please just tell me where she is?”

Hyde raised his head and quickly scanned the room. They appeared to be in the lobby of the hotel. It was quite spacious, judging by the amount of… people who were currently occupying it. Once again, he turned his attention to Veronica.

“I don’t know where she is. And I don’t care where she is.”

Before Veronica could respond, Hyde straightened himself and looked around the room once again. “Who are all these people? Why are they here?”

Veronica was obviously caught off-guard by all of this. “Wha… I… Uh… They, um, they are the rest of the contestants? I told you, we are starting the next round soon. You are all here to see who you are going to have to fight next.”

“Fight?” Now he was really confused. “Why do we have to fight?”

“Are you s…” He was getting to her. Again. “Hey! Quit changing the subject! Tell me where is Desdemona!”

“I already told you. I don’t know.”

“That’s not…”

“Quiet!” He growled at her and placed his index finger right in front of her face, stopping her mid-rant. “I was kind enough to answer all of your questions. Now, I was hoping that you would have the decency to return the favor. It seems that I was mistaken. You, in fact, don’t seem to posses any desire to assist me. If that is the case, I suggest that you leave. Now.”

Veronica stood there, mouth agape, in pure astonishment. She wasn’t really afraid of Hyde. She considered his threats as empty as his head. She just didn’t expect that kind of reaction out of him. This entire conversation had been a very confusing experience. It was also a giant waste of time. On second thought, what exactly did she expect? This was Hyde she was dealing with. Instead of arguing with him any further, she decided to turn around and angrily walk away.

Many eyes were now glued at Hyde. They were attracted to the commotion. They were observing him, their expressions in many a variety. But he was also observing them back. He exchanged stares with some of the other “contestants”. They were an interesting lot, from what he could tell. After a while, most of them decided to pay no more attention to him, focusing instead on other things. Hyde imagined that they were all in the same predicament as he was. He could see the confusion that he himself felt. They might not give him many answers, but at least he hoped that they would be more willing to aid him than any of the staff members. He was really starting to get frustrated with this entire ordeal. All he wanted was an explanation, but with every turn this place just got more and more complicated. Not only that, but all the people who he had encountered thus far had turned out to be colossal jerks, reluctant to give him an iota of an answer. He wouldn’t allow them to push him around any longer. He was going to show everyone that Doctor Hyde was not the one to mess with.

Just then, he felt something, no, someone bumping into him from the back. He was pushed forward, but was able to retain his balance and not fall flat on his face. He turned around to face his attacker. It looked like another human, a young male to be precise. But there was something about him that immediately grabbed Hyde’s attention. Mainly - his hair. Now granted, Hyde didn’t consider himself an expert on human biology, but he was pretty sure that their hair wasn’t supposed to look like… that. It seemed to resemble spikes more than anything else, as well as being divided into streaks of black, red and yellow. He also had a pair of black, feline-like ears at the top of his head. He was so baffled by these attributes, it took him a while to notice that his ensemble was the gaudiest thing he could remember seeing in his entire life. Combined with his hair, the boy was an almost spectacular display of the most garish colors one could imagine.

“Hey! Watch where you are going, bug man!”

“Me? You are the one who bumped into me, you little prick!”

“Well, maybe if you moved out of the way, that would have never happened!”

Hyde almost couldn’t remember what it meant to hate someone this much. Not just dislike, but truly despise. Not only did he give him a migraine with his appearance alone, but he was also an asshole.

“Hey! Wait a minute… Are you by any chance Doctor Hyde?”

“I am. What’s it to ya?” He was surprisingly calm despite the overwhelming desire to punch the kid’s face in.

“Well then, you are my opponent for this round, bug man! My name is Benjamin Scaret. But you may call me Eclipse.” The boy proclaimed with a great deal of enthusiasm.

Doctor Hyde could only stare down at the little “human”. He didn’t understand a single word he just said. “What?”

Hyde looked around. Everyone had spread across the entire lobby, as if they were trying to keep a distance from each other. A lot of them were drawing out their weapons and positioning themselves in an attacking stance. It had finally dawned on Hyde what was going on. This was that fighting thingamajig he was informed of. Before he could even utter a single word, Eclipse drew out a sword of some sorts and proclaimed with an arrogant smirk: “I hope you are not afraid of the dark.”

And just like that, the lighting system in the lobby was turned off entirely. In a mere moment, everything was pitch black. Hyde didn’t like the dark. He really didn’t like the dark. It was like an empty void that seemingly went on forever. He had enough of dark empty voids for one lifetime. Not only that, there was the issue of being surrounded by people trying to beat each other to a pulp. For example, he was forced to fight against…

He felt an immense amount of pressure focused on his stomach. Somebody had kicked him directly in the gut. And he had a pretty good idea who it was.

“Why you little…” Without much thought, Hyde charged forward only to be met with another kick, this time from the behind. Once again, he maintained his balance remained on his feet.

As he turned around once again, he was met with an array of glowing projectiles. He quickly ducked, avoiding all of them.

“Don’t tell me. You can see in the dark?” Hyde asked with a genuinely concerned voice.

“Yup.” The young man happily confirmed.

“Shit.”

With that newly gained knowledge, there was nothing for Doctor Hyde to do except flailing his entire body aimlessly in the vain hope that he would in fact hit his target.

“Really? That’s all you’ve got? Pathetic.” Eclipse gloated as his sword began to glow, preparing to fire more projectiles.

“Gotcha!” Hyde growled as he leaped towards the emitted light. He wrapped his arms around Eclipse’s chest and squeezed him against his, squeezing his body as hard as he could.

“Better…” Eclipse wheezed out. “But not… good enough.”

He then proceeded to headbutt Hyde in his jaw. Hyde felt an unbearable jolt of pain, forcing him to loosen his grip on Eclipse, allowing the boy to escape into the darkness. Hyde placed his hand around his chin, desperately trying to sooth the pain. He tried to make out Eclipse in the darkness, but to no avail. He could hear the other participants in the distance. He could hear them roaring. He could hear their screams of pain echoing thru the room, combined with an occasional bellow of triumph. Why did they have to fight? What was the purpose of it all? What happened to the ones that lost? This thought process was interrupted by Eclipse’s taunting: “What’s the matter, bug man? Decided to give up?”

“First off, I’m pretty sure I’m neither an insect nor am I a human. Secondly, there is no way I’m going to lose against a… Whatever the hell you are supposed to be!” He shouted in a random direction.

Eclipse used this opportunity to strike Hyde once again from the behind, but Hyde counter-attacked by slamming him with his tail to the ground. As Eclipse managed to get up again, Hyde was no longer present. He cautiously inspected his surrounding, but was still unable to locate his opponent.

“No, your help isn’t necessary, New Moon.” Eclipse said out loud. “Sure, I’m sure. This guy is a total pushover. He doesn’t even have the guts to face me.”

“You know, talking to yourself is a really bad habit.”

Eclipse faced the sound of the voice, only to be greeted by a wall. It took him only a millisecond to realize where the voice was coming from, but it was already too late. That was indeed Doctor Hyde, holding himself to the wall’s surface with his sharp claws. He pushed himself of the wall and pounced on Eclipse. As he pressed the boy against the ground, he didn’t waste any time. He started to tear, punch, scratch and was generally just whaling on him like a wild animal. After a while, Eclipse was barely moving. Hyde was breathing heavily, his teeth still grit. He placed his hand around Eclipse’s neck and pushed him against the wall.

“You arrogant bastard.” Hyde taunted, still gasping for breath. “You think that you are pretty smart, huh? You think you are brave? You think that you are perfect?”  

Eclipse’s face severely swollen from all the punches he endured. That combined with the fact that he was being chocked resulted in him desperately trying to breath in. But it was all in vain.

“Well, you are not. You are just very, very stupid. Seriously, what were you thinking? Do you know who I am?” His voice was overcome by rage. “DO YOU?”

Eclipse was starting to lose consciousness. He couldn’t take this anymore. Hyde leaned forward and whispered gently into his ear: “Neither do I.”

He marveled at the now unconscious boy. He proved that he could hold his own. He wasn’t a pushover. Maybe now he will get some much-needed respect.

Kill him...

No. He couldn’t have heard that right.

Help us.

He thought that he got rid of them.

Brother, save us.

They never went away. He pretended that they did.

Kill him!

“No…”

He is in your way! Finish him! Kill him!

He rouse his stinger arm and placed it on Eclipse’s neck. “I can’t…”

Yes you can! You did it before! You can do it again!

“Why?” He cried.

Kill him!

“I…”

KILL HIM!

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After all the matches were finished, the power was turned back on. The light shone on the carnage that occurred. The lobby was almost unrecognizable. From top to bottom, everything had been damaged in some way or another. It smelled of death and sweat. There were bloodstains in various shapes and sizes decorating the destruction. Chunk of the walls were scattered across the floor, as well as over a dozen bodies. Some were alive, some were dead. It wasn’t very clear which one was which.

The winners had returned to their rooms, patiently awaiting their next fight. The staff, on the other hand, had to take care of the mess. Actually, at the moment it was just Veronica.

“Figures. Why do I always get the short end of the stick?” Veronica grumbled. She was passing thru the wreckage, checking everything on her clipboard. “Oh, well. I guess that somebody’s ought to do all the dirty work. As long as I don’t think about it too much.”

It wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience to check if ones life had come to its end, but if the almighty clipboard so desired, it had to be done. She was almost finished anyways; there was only one more she had to check. As she approached her last given location, she noticed a figure kneeling in front of one of the bodies.

“Oh no…” She was already getting a headache.

It was Doctor Hyde, kneeling over Eclipse.

“You do know that you are not supposed to be here, right?” She tried her best to pretend she actually cared. “Look, I can understand that you are worried about people like this guy who are still alive. Really, I get it. But you have to go back to your room and leave this stuff to me. It’s nothing personal. It’s just how things work around here. Okay?”

Hyde remained silent and motionless.

“Hey!” She shook him by the shoulder. “Did you hear what I just… Oh my God...”

One look at Hyde’s face was enough to warrant such a reaction. He was crying a thick black liquid. The same liquid was pouring out of his mouth. If he looked sickly before, now he looked downright dead. His face was seemingly stuck in expression of pure unhappiness and melancholia.

“Hyde?” Veronica asked with genuine sincerity in her voice. “You okay?”

Hyde began to shake as if was suffering from a seizure. He was also frantically bobbing his neck up and down, until finally vomiting out the horrid liquid. He continued to do so for a minute or two until facing Veronica and asking: “Did I win?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah! You won.”

“That’s cool.” He smiled. “I think that deserves a victory nap.”

Those were his last words before he fainted in the puddle of his own vomit.