Chapter Text
The years hadn’t been kind to Famine, she felt slower and weaker than she had ever felt before. Humanity was pushing her closer and closer to the chopping block and she wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or afraid. She had been around for too many years, but the death of a Sin was something not to be taken lightly…
A small rat scurried past her foot as she shoved her hands deeper into her pockets. She was walking in downtown Livingston at the god-awful time of 2:36 am. He was sporadic and unpredictable which did nothing but helped him keep a host longer than anyone else but made him difficult to track down, but Famine had eyes and ears everywhere; a perk of being a Horsemen.
“He won’t travel out too far…” she mused aloud as she stopped and looked up a middle-class apartment. Well-kept and clean, but she took note of the faint scratches on the handle of the door. She moved on.
She was new with her host as well. A thin woman that barely found the money to pay rent, much less buy food. Her skin clung to her bones like wet clothes and she was in an almost permanent state of unconsciousness. She wasn’t an ideal host, but she’d do.
Famine stopped at the corner and waited for the light to turned red despite no cars being on the road for miles. She wasn’t in too big of a rush, not yet anyway. Another right, straight, straight, left, and another right.
The shadow of the alleyway loomed ahead of her with a lone street lamp at the other end flickering a sickly yellow light every now and again. She could see the faintest outline of something in the brief flicker of light, but more importantly, she could smell it. The unmistakable copper tint of blood that she had come to know and where there was blood there was usually a body.
She walked blindly into the alley, trusting what little light she was given not to trip. Her footfalls echoed softly through the alley, but it was enough for it to become the only noise in the alley. The farther she walked, the stronger the scent of blood became.
Suddenly, the silhouette of a tall broad man was in front of her when the lights flickered and shoved her against the concrete wall with incredible strength. She felt her skull crack against the wall and a knife press against her neck ready to slice it open; she felt static tingle her skin.
“It’s me,” she said staring down the space she guessed where his face was. The grip on her throat loosened slightly, but the knife stayed still.
“Move the fucking knife,” she spat again, “So help me if my host wasn’t so weak, I’d kick your ass right here and now.”
That seemed to prove enough. He pulled the knife back from her neck and dropped her down to the ground. She gasped slightly for air and rubbed her throat before glancing up at her attacker who simply went back to his work.
“I'm impressed you had the smarts to kill in a dark alley this time," she taunted as she stepped up beside him, "The last time I saw you, you killed in a well-lit parking lot and your host was killed three days later.”
W͎͙͈̽͋̈́̄̉̏h͇̥̹̝̜̽ͨ́ͮ̄̎a̳͎̥͕͛͋t̤̙̩̝̪̙͆ ̦̏̌d̶o̠͈̮̐̈̓̎͗̓̂ ̨͖̼͕̰͇̝́ͧ̉͒̏ͤ̓ẏ͚͍̽o̟͎̝̳ü̢͎̟͙̭̫̹̋ͣ̈́͆͌̎ͅ ̺̦͖̮̎̊ͧ̓̉ͧ͞ͅw̡͉̐͐a̪̒̏͑ͦͪn͈̣̗̟̉ͭ̒ͦ̃t̵̝̦?̄̈̋͆͑
There he was
“You should know how I am by now,” Famine answered and leaned against the wall and he plunged the knife into his victim's eye, “I want to keep tabs on you and you’re good company to keep around…sometimes.” He stayed silent once more and Famine sighed quietly.
“Who have you met so far?” She asked again as blood splashed to the ground. Another flicker of light and she saw blood covering his arms before they were plunged back into darkness.
No͠ ͢͠o͢n̴̴͘e ͝i̵͜m̴͡po̕͝r̛҉͟ţ̕͢a̡n̴҉͞t
Famine knew there was more to his story and simply listened to him work. Silence wore down everyone at some point, even someone like him.
J̴̕͟u͘͜st̶͏ ͞t̵h̕a̡͞t̴ pi҉͏͘e̵̡͘c͢͏͢e ̢ǫ̴f̛ s͟͟͜ḩ̴i҉͢t̸ ̴̕f͝ro̷̷͘m̡ ̧͜b̴͡efo̸̵҉r̶̛e
“Are you sure you two aren’t hunting each other out? You two seem to be finding each other a lot these days,” There was the sound of metal of rock, his knife slashing the ground just inches away from her feet by the sound of it.
It wasn't hard for Famine to know who he was talking about just by that simple description alone. She knew just about Sin and Atrocity that had walked the earth and there were only a few Sins that ever encountered the man standing before her.
Ma҉y̡͟͠b̢̨ę he growled, and Famine could hear the twisted grin in his words.
"I'm serious about this, Insanity." The street light flickered, illuminating pitch black eyes staring back at Famine daring her to make a move, "You don't truly know this world yet. They will chew you up and spit you out without a second thought. Stay. Out. Of. It."
Silence; Tense and very dangerous silence. Insanity could live up to his name and lash out at one of the top Horsemen and easily take her out. She was weak enough that he very easily could, and he already got the jump on her once tonight. She placed a lot of trust in the younger Sin by coming out here so weak by herself. Famine kept her weapon ready to pull from the void just in case he did decide to try his luck on her.
Iţ̶'͢͡s҉ ̢̛n͟͠ot̢͏ ͝͠w̢̕ǫrt̢͞h̨͠ ̷͡t̷̛h͘e ̢e͘n̛erg̛͞y͜͠ ̵͜a͘͜n҉y͞w̧ay̢ he growled and Famine saw him turn away in the flickering lamplight.
"That's what I thought..." Silence once more, but this was only slightly less uneasy than the last. Famine sighed deeply as a strong scent of the body between them, "Go home for the night, I'll make sure the body is taken care of and found properly." Insanity hesitated for a moment like he wanted to say more but decided against it and walked pasted Famine back out into the main street. Famine fumbled about in the dark shifting the body before hoisting on her shoulders. She walked a few steps, fell and made sure to leave bloody handprints on the ground. She summoned a crowbar and coated it in that victim's blood before leaving the alley.
While hundreds of miles away, far underground, a group a people meet in secret far away from anyone else. Their work, sinful and immoral as it is, is threatened with their lives and families. Bodies were stung up in the halls, and those that refused to work were killed in front of everyone as an example of what would happen to those that disobeyed.
The driving force behind the project was a War, a power-hungry and vengeful Horseman on a path to find those that wronged him and those he loved, but he knew that he could not do this task alone.
His beautiful Queen; his one true companion. When then chaos he caused was over, then she was sure to burn what was left alive to a powdered ash. His beautiful Arson was taken away by Justice after a small “accident” involving the rest of his Council. He was promised that he would have her back one day, but he was done waiting. He was having her back now.
He had spent months searching for the perfect host for her, but he couldn’t trust a living host. If she resided in a mortal host then he ran the risk of losing her all over again. So, he widened search and began including freshly killing humans as test subjects. Then, he began trying to implant what remained of Arson into his human test subjects. The results were… disappointing… to say the least. Most subjects committed suicide within the first 48 hours, while the rest fell into a coma and later died due to brain damage.
But then, there was a breakthrough. One of the scientists proposed an idea that had been used over a decade ago to reanimated bodies to test the idea of memory retention after death. For three weeks he pushed the group day and night to perfect it until they finally had it. They said the testing host was sure to survive, so War had saved his most perfectly preserved body just for this; Young woman killed before her prime. Forever stuck as she was killed, a perfect host for his Queen.
“We're ready to go, sir." One of the scientists said at one of the terminals as War plugged in the flash drive to the mainframe. He had been waiting for this day for months; now he was finally going to have her back.
There were a few shouted commands from a few other scientists before the machines started up with a loud buzz. More shouting filled the air along with the strong scent of copper and the filling of static. A few scientists flinched away from their controls as blue arches of lightning jumped into the air.
Suddenly, the ground began shaking and the protective glass shattered with a blinding light; Everyone, including War, was throw back at the force. Regardless, War was the first up and to the test subject only to find her eyes wide open and shining like molten lava. War smiled kindly and laid a hand on hers, but she didn't respond.
"Welcome back, my love."