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A week had passed uneasily in Nikolai's home. The purple wall stayed over Nikolai's door the entire time. He never left, not even when Aysun called out to him, and for a while Aysun was convinced that his uncles had gotten into a nasty fight like his parents would. However, the boy was not left to fend for himself. Often Ezekiel would be at the windowsill to keep the boy company, sometimes the man with the weird mask would stop by, but there was another man that visited each day and for a majority of the time. He said his name was Erik and that he was a close friend of Nikolai's, sent here by Leon to keep an eye on them.
Whenever he stopped by Erik would drop off some food he picked up on the way and would occasionally give Aysun a toy that reminded him of him. The man spent most of the time humoring the boy by watching TV or playing with him in whatever scenario he imagined up. He was very fun in Aysun's eyes, so he overlooked the many times Erik ascended the stares to disappear for an hour.

On this day Erik did not show up. Aysun wondered why, though he occupied himself with watching TV as Ezekiel perched himself on his shoulder. Hearing the thud of footsteps, Aysun blinked and looked over, tensing at what he saw.
It was Uncle Nikki, but at the same time it wasn't. He looked like he did that time ago when he and Uncle Leon had a fight. His hair was darker and longer; there were curly horns at the side of his head; there were wings behind him, and if Aysun looked hard enough he could even see a tail. Nikolai's face looked strange too. His eyes were black and white and there were black tears over his cheeks, though that wasn't the weirdest part. Nikolai looked out of it. He had a thousand yard stare and looked as though there had been something keeping him up at night. Was it Uncle Leon?
Aysun jumped when he heard a noise and looked to his side to see Ezekiel cawing at Nikolai. It wasn't the same kind of caw Aysun was used to, it wasn't friendly.
Nikolai tilted his head in the direction he heard the noise, taking in the sight of Aysun and Ezekiel for the first time. He looked like he didn't recognize them. Aysun felt a shiver run down his spine as he was stared at. Something didn't feel right. "U-Uncle Nik-" The man was right in front of them before he could even finish his sentence. His eyes still empty, Nikolai reared back a claw and lurched it out at them.
Aysun screamed, he held his arms over his head and shut his eyes tight, but he felt nothing. He risked opening his eyes to see that Ezekiel had moved him near the front door. The couch was in half, and Nikolai looked at his hand curiously. His eyes rolled to the side of the head, where the scared boy trembled at what could've been his fate.

Trembling Aysun immediately latched on to Leon once he recognized him. He whimpered quietly, scared that Nikolai would hear him and attack again. Why did he even do that? Why did he look so scary?
Looking over Leon's shoulder, Aysun gasped as he saw purple smoke began to fill the entire house. It was slipping through the cracks of the door too, looking for the two.

The fog touched them, then it vanished completely. The way the fog disappeared completely, the silence that wasn't broken by even the birds or the wind, the eerie calmness, it was like there had been an implosion.
Suddenly, the door shattered as a claw shot through the center. The door, now reduced to piles of wood, fell to the ground to show Nikolai, his eyes trained on the two.
"There you are." he brightened. He grinned like he normally did, though at the same time it was obvious something was wrong. His eyes were slightly wider, and looking carefully would show that his eyes were shaking, unfocused and wild. His smile twitched occasionally - No, it wasn't just his smile. All of him twitched. Sometimes his shoulder did, sometimes his head, sometimes a finger. Everything about him twitched uneasily. It was an entirely different side that even he wouldn't have recognized.
"How was your date with Maggie, dearie? Hmm? Was it fun?" he hissed the last word, his right hand extending its claws in a sharp SWISH!
"Look at you. So happy. She tricked you again, didn't she? Just like I warned you. Hmm. It's okay, darling. I'll dig my nice, long claws into your body and dig out whatever trap she planted. Just like she did with this one." He glanced at Aysun, who refused to look at him. Smiling softly, Nikolai looked back at Leon. He though he was giving a soft look, that was. What was really one his face was a twisted smile and eyes that had stopped noticing the difference in reality. "Stand still, dearie. It'll only hurt for a while~" he cooed before lashing out at him.

Seeing that he was once again met with a handful of air, Nikolai pulled his hand up and snarled in frustration at his claws. Suddenly he found himself attacked by a stink bomb. His eyes, glowing in the darkness, narrowed and he saw away at the smoke until he could make out one person.
"You." he growled, wings spreading. His frown turned into a twitching smile. "Have you come to die like them? It's okay, dearie, even if you weren't a trap like them I would have killed you like the PEST you are~" He smiled so sweetly despite his obvious threat.
Nikolai leisurely made his way to Shiloh, relishing how much this moment reminded him of back in Heaven. At this point he was eager to absorb more souls, and he licked his lips with his forked tongue at the memory. A purple mist left him like a menacing aura, stretching out in its search for where Leon and Aysun had run off to. While they were tracked, Nikolai would take his time torturing the Sineater.

The mist was gaining on Leon, absorbing the entire land from tree to house as it got closer. Three feet, two, one...
Something stopped it. There was a cool breeze that met the Neutralisa, and faint, black wisps of smoke rolled over them, stopping the purple from advancing.
Listen carefully, said a patient voice. It was Chaos', though he couldn't be seen. His body, at least, couldn't be seen. Nikolai's mind has been corrupted. He believes everyone is a fake sent by Maggie, and no amount of reasoning can stop him. The insanity taking over his mind is familiar to Envy's old host. If he continues down this path then his synchronization with Sloth will break and he'll be stuck with a broken mind for the rest of his life.
Only the other Sins know how to stop Nikolai. You need all six of them to contain him with how strong he is now. In a moment you will know the location of the Sins. I will keep Nikolai here until then.

Nikolai merely smiled. He vanished within seconds only to reappear in a different area, doing the same thing until he was right in front of Shiloh. "My, my, such an apathetic look on your face. Well, you got the pathetic part right, at least~" he purred as he delicately ran his claws down Shiloh's cheek, making sure not to hurt him. Yet. "I'll numb everything you have until you're a soul stuck in your own body." he hissed right when an enormous purple snake lunged out at Shiloh.

There was a pause. A caw shouted among them, and soon Ezekiel flew down, flying over Leon's shoulder. He grew until he was large enough for Aysun to ride, looking at the Neutralisa expectantly.
There is one I know that should be able to protect him, Chaos started. Ezekiel will take him there.
"No!" cried out Aysun as he looked up at Leon with tears in his eyes. "I don't wanna go! Y-You always l-leave me all alone when things are scary!"

Aysun shook his head and tried to wrestle out of Leon's grip. "No!" he kept screaming out, not wanting to leave again. "No!! I wanna go with you!" Set down on the crow, Aysun's energy pooled together and exploded into a waterfall a tears. He tilted his head back and wailed into the sky. "Why don't you want me around?" Ezekiel stayed silent save a quiet caw that was almost comforting. He flapped his large wings and began lifting off into the ground.
As he got higher and higher, Aysun looked down and reached out for Leon's hand, his face a mess of snot and tears. "Daddy-!" he cried out, too scared and sad to catch himself. Ezekiel flapped his wings again, and they were out of sight.

~~~

Ish stood near a tree (which, admittedly, wasn't very descriptive seeing as though there were many trees) and stared at the battle going on at the end of the neighborhood. Nikolai was practically destroying Shiloh, but the hungry Sin could tell Nikolai was playing with him now. A few houses nearby had taken serious blows and were now leveled. Thankfully most of Nikolai's neighbors moved away long ago after the first few attacks of past enemies. The entire ground was covered in a thin blanket of purple, a mist that was no doubt still searching for Leon. It was covered by a wall of black smoke that seemed to create an orb over the fighting area. Ish wasn't sure if Nikolai was aware of it, maybe not if he hadn't noticed the other Sins waiting outside the barrier.
"So what's the plan?" Luxure asked, standing very close to Ish though he didn't seem to notice or care. She looked at Leon and set a hand on her cocked hip. Nikolai's husband was quite the looker. Sure she saw him during the wedding, but she didn't get much time to look him up close. Despite the desperate situation, she couldn't help but look at those bulging muscles~