It was like the voices that had been haunting him for days ran on a switch: whenever he was alone, there they were! As soon as he was with someone else: it was like they'd never been there and it was pushing Jet to the edge. At first, he'd been sure it was the gamemakers, but considering what some of the whispers were saying and what voices they were using, he wasn't so sure anymore. What if...what if this was just the final product of the end of the last arena combined with all the stress from the Capitol leaving him to finally snap now that he was in the arena again and constantly looking over his shoulder for an attack. Maybe he was simply going insane.
That certainly seemed the case when he turned down a hallway and the chorus of whispers that had been plaguing him suddenly stopped. Blissful silence left a bewildered Jet slowly heading down the seemingly dead-end hall. It was long and the walls were lined with intricate mirrors leading all the way to what he could see was a large and open room. The first large mirror he walked past, he thought he caught sight of something in the mirror, something that wasn't himself, but it wasn't there when he looked again. The second mirror had the same effect, but when he looked at this one, whatever it was winked out of existence just as he was looking at it. Jet was instantly on edge. The last few mirrors did exactly the same thing, it wasn't until he finally got to that large room that he saw what had been haunting him.
It was a cathedral. Octagonal in it's structure and stained glass made up an intricate pattern on most of the ceiling, causing what little light there was from the storm outside to appear colored. The stone pillars were intricately carved and framed windows -whose glass reflected the inside instead of showing the outside- along nearly every wall except the one across from Jet which held the largest and most ornate mirror he'd seen yet. There, surrounded by mirrors, he could see the reflection of himself twist and change into the picture of his father instead. Ciro Licursi stared back at Jet with hate and anger and every way that Jet moved, the man in the mirror moved.
The voices started up anew, louder than before. 'Just like your father' 'A disappointment' 'fell into a bottle.' "Shut up!" Ciro's expression twisted into one of fury to match the one on Jet's face. A split second later, the vision changed.
Where his father had stood there now was a taller, lankier red-head whose brown eyes held contempt and hatred. Jet himself, over thirty years younger, the person he'd been. But other voices flooded his mind as those eyes glared him down.
'Hey, Goldie. We solid, right? You and me? Family.' Q's voice. Almost pleading.
'Ruuuubio...' A haunting whisper. Nevua.
'What. A. Guy. You a big damned hero, huh?' That same hateful voice as Nevua taunted him for his courage.
'For as Messiahs will and gift, we are meant to change. WE ARE MEANT TO GROW AND ALTER AND SO EMBODY THE DUALITY THAT IS OF THE MOTHERFUCKING UNIVERSE! We will turn their false peace to war! WE WILL TAKE THEIR FALSE HOPES AND MAKE IT TRUTH! We who know death and yet are only of life. WE WHO KILL OUR LOVES--' Initiate's last sermon, followed swiftly by a joyous laugh in his friend's voice that was discordant with all the pain and anger and hate in his head.
' I said don't--LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT-- Fuck! You know... You know that you are hopeless. That you are mine.' Nevua's scream in his ear forced his eyes closed and when he opened them again, the vision in the mirror across from him had changed. He was there, as he is now, but he had his younger-self in front of him, a knife tracing his cheek and down to his throat just as Nevua had done to Jet over a year and a half ago. But as he could feel the sharp edge against his skin like back then, he was the one holding the knife, threatening the red head's life. His own-no the one he should have had. Nevua's voice returned, right at his ear whispering in a seductive and evil way that made Jet's skin crawl.
'That's it, dusi. do it. NOTHING NOTHING nothing nothing nothing... will save you. My Rubio...'
"SHUT UP! SHUT THE HELL UP!!"
Jet's voice broke through the voices in his head and echoed around the room as his hands came up to clutch at his head. There was a click and a whine in the air as he activated his accelerator and tome slowed. He dashed through the cathedral and broke every single window and mirror in the entire room with his own hands, leaving them torn and bloody. When he stopped in the middle of the room, on his knees, time started again and all the glass shattered at the same time, causing a rainbow of sharp rain to fall across the chamber.
The cathedral in the Castle, Thursday
That certainly seemed the case when he turned down a hallway and the chorus of whispers that had been plaguing him suddenly stopped. Blissful silence left a bewildered Jet slowly heading down the seemingly dead-end hall. It was long and the walls were lined with intricate mirrors leading all the way to what he could see was a large and open room. The first large mirror he walked past, he thought he caught sight of something in the mirror, something that wasn't himself, but it wasn't there when he looked again. The second mirror had the same effect, but when he looked at this one, whatever it was winked out of existence just as he was looking at it. Jet was instantly on edge. The last few mirrors did exactly the same thing, it wasn't until he finally got to that large room that he saw what had been haunting him.
It was a cathedral. Octagonal in it's structure and stained glass made up an intricate pattern on most of the ceiling, causing what little light there was from the storm outside to appear colored. The stone pillars were intricately carved and framed windows -whose glass reflected the inside instead of showing the outside- along nearly every wall except the one across from Jet which held the largest and most ornate mirror he'd seen yet. There, surrounded by mirrors, he could see the reflection of himself twist and change into the picture of his father instead. Ciro Licursi stared back at Jet with hate and anger and every way that Jet moved, the man in the mirror moved.
The voices started up anew, louder than before. 'Just like your father' 'A disappointment' 'fell into a bottle.' "Shut up!" Ciro's expression twisted into one of fury to match the one on Jet's face. A split second later, the vision changed.
Where his father had stood there now was a taller, lankier red-head whose brown eyes held contempt and hatred. Jet himself, over thirty years younger, the person he'd been. But other voices flooded his mind as those eyes glared him down.
'Hey, Goldie. We solid, right? You and me? Family.' Q's voice. Almost pleading.
'Ruuuubio...' A haunting whisper. Nevua.
'What. A. Guy. You a big damned hero, huh?' That same hateful voice as Nevua taunted him for his courage.
'For as Messiahs will and gift, we are meant to change. WE ARE MEANT TO GROW AND ALTER AND SO EMBODY THE DUALITY THAT IS OF THE MOTHERFUCKING UNIVERSE! We will turn their false peace to war! WE WILL TAKE THEIR FALSE HOPES AND MAKE IT TRUTH! We who know death and yet are only of life. WE WHO KILL OUR LOVES--' Initiate's last sermon, followed swiftly by a joyous laugh in his friend's voice that was discordant with all the pain and anger and hate in his head.
' I said don't--LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT-- Fuck! You know... You know that you are hopeless. That you are mine.' Nevua's scream in his ear forced his eyes closed and when he opened them again, the vision in the mirror across from him had changed. He was there, as he is now, but he had his younger-self in front of him, a knife tracing his cheek and down to his throat just as Nevua had done to Jet over a year and a half ago. But as he could feel the sharp edge against his skin like back then, he was the one holding the knife, threatening the red head's life. His own-no the one he should have had. Nevua's voice returned, right at his ear whispering in a seductive and evil way that made Jet's skin crawl.
'That's it, dusi. do it. NOTHING NOTHING nothing nothing nothing... will save you. My Rubio...'
"SHUT UP! SHUT THE HELL UP!!"
Jet's voice broke through the voices in his head and echoed around the room as his hands came up to clutch at his head. There was a click and a whine in the air as he activated his accelerator and tome slowed. He dashed through the cathedral and broke every single window and mirror in the entire room with his own hands, leaving them torn and bloody. When he stopped in the middle of the room, on his knees, time started again and all the glass shattered at the same time, causing a rainbow of sharp rain to fall across the chamber.