There was no sound.
No echoes, no whispers, not even the distant hum of something existing.
The emptiness was not merely the absence of all things... it was more than that.
A void so absolute it did not allow even the concept of emptiness to remain.
There was no up, no down, no horizon stretching into infinity.
Only nothing. Non-Existence...
Yet... looking closer, a body lay within it.
A form battered and broken, pressed against the floor of a place that did not exist.. a place of Non-Existence....
And there he was.... Darkness Angel.
He was still alive.
His chest rose, barely, in breaths so shallow they barely disturbed the stillness. His form twitched once, faint, as if struggling against the weight of something greater than mere agony.
And then.. Footsteps.
A sound that should not have existed here.
A slow, measured rhythm, casual in its approach, echoing without an echo.
The Wanderer Who Laughs.
He walked without hurry, his presence warping the emptiness itself, bending it, forcing it to acknowledge him.
And then he stared silently at darkness angel for a moment, before he sitting, lowering himself beside the broken form of Darkness Angel, he grinned.
Not because there was joy.
Not because there was amusement.
But because it was simply what he did.
A habit. A reflex. A thing that had become part of him.
And then... he spoke.
"Emptiness is such a beautiful thing, don’t you think?"
His voice did not disturb the silence. It became part of it.
His grin widened slightly as he tilted his head, gaze shifting, as if watching something only he could see.
"Emptiness has different meanings, different rules, in every layer of existence. But there is only one emptiness that defines all others."
He paused as each passing moment, a beat of stillness, stretching between his words like something tangible.
And then...
"The emptiness of the heart."
His voice dipped lower, smooth, unhurried.
"The world can be full.. overflowing and yet, if the heart is empty, you will feel nothing."
His fingers twitched, almost thoughtful.
"Even if you have everything... power, authority, all things in absolute existence you will still feel it."
The grin did not fade.
"Isn’t that a little unfair?"
Darkness Angel did not respond.
Could not respond.
And that, somehow, seemed to amuse him.
A chuckle escaped his throat, soft, edged with something wrong.
"I thought it was unfair too, at first," he continued, tilting his head. "But then I discovered something."
He lifted a hand, fingers flexing, curling slightly.. almost like reaching for something unseen.
"If I laughed more, I wouldn’t feel the emptiness."
His voice did not rise, did not shift. But something in it felt warped.
"Haha. Isn’t that wonderful?"
He exhaled softly, almost wistful.
"I never thought it was possible at first. But after trying it… I found out it was."
And then... He leaned in.
Slow. Deliberate. Calm
Lowering his form toward Darkness Angel, his voice slipping into something close to a whisper.
"And I learned…"
A breath.
"That the only way to feel that true happiness.."
His grin widened, stretching the edges of his expression into something that should not be.
"... is to pass through emptiness and agony."
A pause.
Something settled in the empty silence.
Something unspoken...
And then...
The Wanderer Who Laughs laughed.
Soft, at first. Almost gentle.
Then deeper. Warmer. As if he had spoken some great truth.
As if it had all been so simple.
And then, finally..
His gaze lowered, deep yellow inhumane eyes gleaming with something indescribable.
"After realizing that, I set my goal," he murmured.
His hand lifted, fingers splayed open, gesturing as if presenting something grand.
"To help others feel what I felt."
The grin did not fade.
"So…"
His head tilted, his gaze narrowing ever so slightly.
"How do you feel?"
The silence stretched.
The emptiness did not answer.
And so...his smile widened... As Silence.
A silence deeper than absence, heavier than stillness.
It pressed upon the space like an unbroken weight, as if the very concept of sound had been erased.
And within that nothingness...
A breath.
Faint at first. Weak. Dragging itself into existence like something struggling against inevitability.
Darkness Angel lay upon the emptiness.
His form, battered, barely more than a shadow pressed against a world without definition. His wings, no more, ripped apart from his body and lifeless, barely twitched as though grasping at a sensation long lost. His crown, the dark ring upon his head, glowed with a dull, dying light.
And yet...
He did not speak.
The Wanderer Who Laughs sat beside him, waiting.
Watching..
The grin on his face unwavering, carved into his expression like a thing that had long since stopped being a choice.
And still, Darkness Angel remained silent.
Still.
Breathing.
Alive, but barely.
Seconds stretched into nothingness.
And then...
"Just..."
The word barely formed.
It did not carry through the emptiness.. it scraped against it.
A sound torn from something deeper than voice, forced into existence by sheer will.
His lips trembled, barely moving. His jaw clenched as if struggling against some unseen force.
And then he continued...
"...Kill me."
The words fell.
Soft. Quiet.
A plea, not of desperation, but of certainty.
The Wanderer Who Laughs blinked.
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His grin faltered... for a moment. just for a moment...
A flicker of something unreadable passed through his gaze.
Then slowly, his lips curled again.
The smile returned, wide as ever, stretching with something deeper, something more intimate.
"Though this may be the end of your journey here in this fruit…"
He leaned forward slightly, tilting his head, voice a gentle mockery of concern.
"But do you think I’m dumb enough not to know?"
His grin widened.
"That you are from the Death Pathway?"
Darkness Angel did not react immediately.
Then, slowly, his lips curled... just slightly.
A breath of a smile. A thing barely there.
"Even if you know..."
His voice was slow, intentional, as if each word was being pulled from the depths of exhaustion itself.
"Does that change anything?"
The Wanderer Who Laughs let out a soft chuckle.
"It does."
His voice carried a weight, an amusement layered over something else, something deeper.
"Because in your next life... "
He lifted a hand, fingers curling slightly, as though grasping at something unseen.
"I mean, after dying here and coming back, you will tell me something as I’m very curious..."
He tilted his head.
"I want to know…"
A pause.
The grin did not fade.
".... if you’ve been impacted by agony and emptiness."