• Alyx sat at his desk nervously looking at the clock. A few more minutes till he could say he was just leaving early. He tugged anxiously at his sleeve, hiding his wrists that would reveal his less than unimpaired composure through his blackening veins, and looked at his reflection in his watch to make sure that nothing more would show himself breaking at the seams. Today had been just a little too rough during a hard week and he couldn’t take it. He thought about how he should take a week off work because he knew how well his lovers could handle him when he couldn’t even handle himself.

    He closed his eyes and smiled as an attempt to regain himself as his older secretary walked in to announce someone who decided to come up unannounced without an appointment. He flashed a smile at a blonde man who strolled in, admiring his probably fresh manicure before his bright golden eyes darted up to Alyx. “Alyxander! How’s it been!? I knew you’d send me off if I had asked to come up so~,” he paused as his grin stretched across his face, “I just came up in my usual, unannounced way. Keepin’ you on your toes, Black!” He clasped his hands together.

    “Galeon.. I was just about to leave for home..”

    “Glad I caught ‘ya then!” He was almost giggling with delight which made Alyx purse his lips at such a childish, annoying reaction. “I heard you’re having some issues with the company~” He padded casually over to Alyx’s desk and slid a thigh onto the corner, shoving a picture of Alyx, Ars and Will forward. “You’re putting your old man to shame..” He clicked his tongue in disappointment and glanced up at Alyx, “Good thing he’s dead, right?!” He laughed, genuinely amused.

    “What do you need, Galeon?” Alyx’s patience was running dry. He didn’t need this from anyone, let alone the one person who could dig under his skin as a profession. Not now.

    “I’ll be willing to take the burden of this company off your hands and set you for life.”

    “F--k off.” Alyx scowled and reached for the phone on his desk before his hand was slammed down, just before his fingers could touch the receiver. “Don’t touch me.”

    “Such vulgarity! And.. a threat, Black? Really?”

    “A promise.”

    “Original~” He smirked and poked Alyx’s nose. “I can’t have you calling security on me. No, that won’t do. Just let me buy this place and I’ll be out of your gorgeous, gorgeous hair.” He winked and Alyx look sickened.

    “I may have absolutely hated my father but I love this company and I will defend it to my grave. I have put so much work into undoing my father’s tyranny on this ******** company. I love this company, I love the people who work here and-”

    “Alyxander, honey.. calm down! I’m trying to make it easier on you!”

    “Get out.”

    “You’re being unreasonable..”

    “Get-..”

    “Alyx~ Think about this~”

    “OUT..” Suddenly Alyx blinked and the dark, outer edge of his irises seemed to bleed out into the whites of his eyes till they became black. The veins in his cheeks pulsed the shadow that started pouring from his heart and slowly, many of his veins were becoming dark.

    “Oppsies!~” Galeon sighed and stood up before he strolled towards the door just as smoothly as he walked in.

    Alyx shot out of his chair before grasping the receiver. Instead of calling his security team to escort Gale, he immediately called Will. He was panting and almost in tears as he felt himself slipping. “Please.. please pick up.. please.. f--king please..” His voice was growing darker and he didn’t even recognize it although he knew he was the one producing the words. After only two rings he dropped the phone and flung it before slamming a fist onto the top of his desk, crushing the desk beneath his hand. The middle caved in and his computer monitor slid to the middle before crashing onto the floor.

    After a few moments, Alyx’s secretary, normally an amusingly monotone woman that Alyx had warmed up to over her time working there, walked in before looking extremely surprised. Her eyes wandered up from the desk to Alyx’s face before twisting in what looked like horror to Alyx but his control on reality was being drastically altered. Suddenly the elderly woman disappeared and in popped in Galeon, causing Alyx to tense up and growl out in an inhuman nature. He clenched a hand into another fist and straightened his fingers as sharp, transparent talons grew from his fingertips. He walked over and lunged at Galeon before shoving his fist easily into his chest cavity.

    Galeon’s ******** annoying, smirking face faded into his innocent secretary’s shocked and pained expression before Alyx pulled his hand from her chest. Immediately he caught the woman and laid her gently on the ground, “No, no, no! I’m s-so sorry, please no.. Oh god..” He sobbed before bringing a bloody palm to his face and wiping his increasingly sweaty brow, leaving a streak of red across his forehead and down his face as his hand swiped with frustration. He stood up, shaking and struggling with ripping off his jacket, his eyes scanning the office for reapers that he knew often came.

    His sticky hand raked through his hair before he cried out with pain as the shadow ripped through his chest so fast that he could only compare it to the day he died. He squeezed his eyes shut and everything went black. A few flashes of horrified and appalled employee’s later he found himself at the entrance of the building on the main floor, palms down on the tile in a puddle of blood. He glanced over and saw a mauled receptionist with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. He heaved and spit up an extremely dark, tar like substance, struggling to stand in the slick blood. He managed to lose his shirt in the blackout and he was covered in blood. He caught a glimpse of himself in the large mirror behind the receptionist’s desk and internally sobbed, finding that he was not in control of his actions.

    He watched as Ars and Will slammed through the door, Ars looking around. Firstly, Alyx noted the distinct smell of all the blood, but maybe it was because his face was so caked in blood. Secondly, he noted that Ars must have insisted to come along and he looked around with some shred of hope that broke Alyx’s heart because he could see it draining as he saw people cowering in the corners of the room and a few people lying and either dead or bleeding out quickly.

    He wanted to tell them how he tried so hard to call, how he never meant for this to happen and how he was going to come home that very day and plan a nice vacation for them for the following week because he knew he needed time off. He saw this coming but he didn’t see Gale coming. He wanted to cry to them and bury his face into their shoulders and let them hold him because after all of this he just wanted their love. He remained stationary, watching them without a single movement. He couldn’t even hear what they were saying but all he wished was to cry out for help. He was being crushed physically, emotionally and mentally.

    He felt a delirious grin spread across his face before he started stumbling toward a small group cowering in the far left corner. He fell to his knees in front of a small, blonde young lady. His blackened hand that protruded his shadow came up before his other hand, normal aside from discoloration clasped around her neck. The woman was crying, sobbing even, and begging for her life before she went silent with the combination of Alyx’s hand mercilessly tightening around her neck and his hand raking up her stomach. He kissed her forehead, leaving the residue of whatever substance he had spat up, before tossing her limp body onto the rest of the group.

    On the inside, Alyx was fighting with everything he had just to be able to take control even for a second. He wanted this to stop, he didn’t want Will and Ars to see him this way and his body wasn’t complying to let him look back and see their expressions. He did quite an elegant spin before crashing his foot into another victim’s head and bouncing it off the wall. Something dark in him mentioned how pretty the splatter looked and turned his head towards Alyx’s lovers who were now joined by another reaper. He couldn’t tell quite what was going on but it looked like an argument.

    The blue-black haired male swung his shadowed hand through the group leaving a mess of splattered and spraying blood while a few people remained there, desperately trying to reach out to their coworkers but so unsure of what to do. Alyx just stood there, looking smugly at his wonderful lovers, then walked over to behind the receptionist’s desk and grabbed the hair of an older man, dressed in a suit just as expensive and thought out as Alyx’s, who cried out until his body fell from his neck and the decapitated head hung in Alyx’s hand. He tossed it over the front of the desk and chuckled before he fell forward onto the desk and heaved up an unsightly amount of the same black substance.

    He glanced up and the second blackout ensued.