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‘I have since learned not to wax poetic about those I adore with every ounce of my barren soul. For they always escape in the end.’
‘Then again, I can’t blame them. They were never mine to keep locked up. Like an ephemeral bird in a cage.’
Those words scrawled in such jaunted lines filled Xisuma with dread as it contextualized the scene in front of him, crystal clear. Dropping the burned paper to the floor, bile rising to his throat as the smell of singed flesh reached beyond the door.
Palms slowly opened the door—the squeak accompanied by the sound of his shoes hitting the linoleum. This was just supposed to be a simple welfare check.
‘But I must have you—the only object of desire that could possibly quench this unbearable thirst…some serendipity for this god-forsaken ailment.’
And have he did. Specimens of all sorts lined the shelves of Doc's lab. Meticulously labeled in that same familiar scrawl. One jar held a piece of Cleo's skin that she had given him. Another jar held some radiated redstone dust.
Keralis occupied one of the gurneys. He was presumed to have gone missing a week before Doc, himself had gone MIA. Overall, it wasn't weird for any of the hermits to not be seen for long stretches of time, left to their own devices. The map was ever expanding. Always more destined to be explored. But they also knew Doc tended to saunter off to his lab.
The state Keralis was found in was brutal, dissected with no regard to his humanity. Blood pooled around him, no longer oxygenated. A now purple color as the hemoglobin had broken down. Xisuma had found vials still in the centrifuge. It had been spun. The yellow plasma was now collected at the top.
Furthermore, the incisions weren't the clean lines that Xisuma had seen from the scientist's work. Lines that took a steady hand.
Doc wasn't any better in his post-mortem condition. Xisuma quickly cataloguing the blooms along his green skin. Hyacinths covered his arms akin to freckles.
'If...if I could find a cure, then surely, we could be together as one.'
From what Xisuma could gleam, it seemed Doc was on the cusp of the beginning trials for what he thought would solve the hanahaki. He had heard stories about it from Etho but hadn't ever seen it himself. Not with his own eyes. Etho had described it as being incredibly painful. Starting as innocuous blemishes on the skin before working its way inward. It then mimics that of pneumonia. Suffocating from the inside out.
But this? This reeked of desperation. Quite obvious that he was running out of time. To the point that Doc threw ethics out the window. Not getting Keralis' informed consent as no one would dare agree to such torture.
Etho being the one to pull the sheet over Keralis and Doc’s bodies so Xisuma didn’t have to. Providing a sense of comfort. Then wrapping the foiled blanket around Xisuma’s shaking frame. ‘I don’t need this,’ he dismissed.
‘Suma, you’re not okay. You just came across two of your friends dead. A murder-suicide. I’m not leaving you alone here,’ Etho sternly told the man. Doc had used his one charge as a creeper hybrid to blow the place up. Hence why Xisuma had came across charred remains. The scars that littered Doc’s corpse. What identified Keralis was the tattered clothes.
‘But alas I have come up short. And if I can’t have you then no one can. I hope you can forgive me of ridding the world of your siren call.’
Etho over the years made sure Xisuma never found out about his actual role in the tragedy. Seeing that Doc was never a creeper hybrid. It was a lie made up to hide the truth. The truth was that Keralis had been able to send out a mayday call.
From his description of everything that had happened, Etho pieced together Doc’s condition. The similar erratic behaviors when the sufferer is in denial. He hadn’t expected a permit regarding surrounding land to go through. It wasn’t Doc who had run out of time; it was Keralis.
On the call, his breath was shallow…wheezy. Begging to shut it down before the death rattle took over.
Taking a small horseback ride over to the lab. With his swift sneak leggings, he crept towards the lab. Consistently on the lookout for Doc. But he wasn’t worried. Knowing at this point, Doc was living in that lab, despite how it went against lab safety protocols.
Pouring accelerant over right outside the door. Sparking it with his flint and steel, he watched as the flames licked at the floor, spreading like all fire. Etho was careful enough not to leave a trace. Hoping the environment would cover up the scene before anyone stumbled upon it. Unfortunately that did not happen. All because of the damned zoning permit.
‘It won’t be long before we meet again, my fallen angel.’