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One thing Charles had finally learned, was to be sceptical. Be sceptical, all the time.
He'd been deceived... by that smile. His smile had drawn him in, and he'd been enamoured. He had spent time with him, and trusted him, he'd given that man everything. He dedicated his life to him. But the wool had been pulled over his eyes, and he'd been deceived. After all, deceit came naturally to someone whose whole personality was simply a mask. Charles had finally learnt his lesson, albeit in the hardest way possible. A wolf in sheep's clothing is more than a warning.
To be fair, he didn't know much about him to begin with. Originally they had met through online chats, and he was an avid fan of his works. They had eventually grown closer, and agreed to meet in person.
He should have known you can never change somebody's mind when it's made up, you can only either delay the inevitable or turn them against you. He was exactly as he had described himself, but Charles... well, he wasn't Charlotte. As much as he wished he was her, his perfect idealised self, he wasn't. Out of the two of them, he was the black sheep. Although... he felt something more than wanting to save his friend's life. He wanted to save more than his friend, he wanted to save his c-
Nah, he would never admit that to himself. He had more than one thing stopping him from doing so.
Not long after he had talked him down, a few weeks maybe, Vincent moved into town. Of course, he couldn't meet up with him much because of both of their situations, but it was nice, knowing that instead of hundreds of miles away the person he liked the most lived not even a ten minute walk away.
Scarlett didn't like that, but why should he care? She'd been appearing a lot less frequently now, and less violent, since he chose to keep taking the pills and trying to refill them more often. It had been working, thank gods.
He didn't realise the god of his world was nothing more than another scared boy.
Eventually, they grew closer. Everybody close to him had become distorted at one point, and he had grown use to the mangled mass of organs he usually saw instead of faces, but... Vincent was different.
Vincent was different.
He had never appeared distorted, his face had always remained pale white and pure, and clean. Charles could take off his gloves and not feel disgusted or contaminated, he could feel the touch of another person without vomiting, he finally felt like... maybe he could cleanse this world. Maybe Vincent could help him overcome his fears, maybe he could learn to love him the same way he did- but all of that was just maybes and hope. Until... until that one day, when they met on the rooftop again, but under a differet context. As he walked up the stairs, Charles' chest was tight, but when he saw he was far from the edge railing, his breath eased and he relaxed a little.
Instead of a goodbye, this was a hello. A, 'Hello, Charlie!'. A smile and a confession, and the relief of finally not having to hide the fact that Vincent was the true god of his world, and would remain so until they chose to leave, together.
His soul belonged to him and him only.
Blind trust was a foolish mistake. Scarlett Eyler was right.
A few months later, his old friend and ex-girlfriend, Anri Warhol, moved back nearby. They caught up over coffee, and the two of them started spending a little more time together. He introduced her to Vincent, and the two of them seemed to get along. Well, originally.
"Baa baa, black sheep, have you any soul?
No sir, by the way, what the hell are morals?"
[Vincent <3: Hey Charles I heard something]
[Vincent <3: Anri's apparently a little whore and her alibis are turning tricks]
[Charlieee!!!: What?](edited)
And over a few texts, things just... fell apart. Oh god, who should he choose? He couldn't choose. They were both so important to him, and they both meant so much to him, Anri was his friend, but Vincent was his boyfriend, but- but-
He couldn't sleep easy anymore. Since he had been closer to Vincent he could sleep a lot better, and especially when Anri returned to their hometown, but he just... found it difficult to sleep easily. It was probably because he blamed himself; all he could think of when the lights went out and it was just him and is pathetic little mind was just how selfish he was being. He had no idea who to side with, because he couldn't see things from an unbiased point of view, so he was completely selfish. Scarlett had told him so and for once, he had agreed. She'd become less forceful about the Trial whenever she did appear lately, mostly just digging at him about the current situation. With Anri being accused of horrible things, and the discovery of... well, the Heaven's Gate suicides, he just wasn't sure who to trust anymore.
He hadn't yet confronted Vincent, but he knew it was inevitable. How could he not? His boyfriend had caused, whether directly and indirectly, other people's suicides. How could he just let that slide? The only reason he knew he was involved was because of the very nature of the website- it was the exact theory that he had described to him as they stood on the rooftop that day.
It ended in an argument, and them agreeing to meet in person at the park that night to discuss things.
Charles pulled on a coat, with an extra jumper underneath for warmth, and set out to the park. He waited for what seemed like forever, and eventually it began to rain. Yet still... he stayed. He had luckily put his umbrella in the pocket of his coat- his father's old coat, in fact. Charles gripped the umbrella, remembering the one time he was walked underneath it with his father, and cursing him for leaving- but that wasn't the point of tonight. He prayed that he hadn't been set up, but when it became clear that Vincent wasn't coming, he let out a soft sigh. The umbrella dropped into a puddle as it fell from his hand, as he put his head in his hands and just thought.
"So, he set you up, huh?"
There she was, sat on the bench beside him. Scarlett was wearing a yellow raincoat, which was strange, since she always seemed to be wearing a school uniform no matter the weather.
"...Since when did you change your clothes?"
"Since you started being more friendly with me. But don't deflect. I told you he'd set you up Charles, you just didn't listen." She put her hand on his back- he could barely feel that she was ice-cold, so it... kind of felt nice, having somebody who resembled a human touch him without him being freaked out.
"...I'm sorry. I thought he'd come." The next sigh to leave his blueish lips visibly hung in the air for a few seconds before fading.
"Well, he didn't. Come on, we should go home. You'll worry Mother if you're late to bring her meal."
Knowing that Scarlett was right once again, Charles nodded, standing up and beginning to walk home. He didn't bother to pick up the umbrella.
[Charlieee!!!: I thought you'd come. ]
[Charlieee!!!: Please ]
[Charlieee!!!: How did you justify lying to me and leaving me out in the rain?? ]
After a few minutes of being left on read, something in Charles just... snapped.
[Charlieee!!!: did it happen to come as second nature??]
[Charlieee!!!: you would know about leaving people out alone wouldn't you]
[Charlieee!!!: mark my words, one day, you'll pay. Karma's gonna come collect your debt]
Let's say Vincent wasn't the most pleased after reading those messages. He didn't want to cause people's deaths to begin with. Those people already had the seed planted in their minds, just maybe the website gave them a 'justifiable' motive. All he had wanted was to help people like him, but Charles had taken it the wrong way. He wanted to meet up, he really did, he didn't mean to leave him out in the rain like that. But he couldn't exactly message him as his belongings were being searched and he was being questioned. Something about the way Charles just assumed he had malicious intent irked him beyond belief, after all, he had only wanted to give people the reassurance he didn't have until Charles gave it to him that day. So, he just left him on read. How could he respond without hurting him when that was all he wanted to do at the moment?
He didn't see people as prey. He didn't see anybody as prey, and he wasn't a criminal. He... maybe his stories and contributions weren't good enough. Maybe he wasn't convincing enough. Or maybe he was too convincing. He didn't know because nobody would explain what he had done wrong, and all he wanted was to know why everybody was suddenly upset, why everybody had turned on him, why even his own boyfriend hated him. Maybe... Maybe he was too dependant on those around him. A parasite infecting everybody he sunk his teeth into... just like Charles had described how he saw the world. How ironic. He became the one problem he hated the most.
All he wanted now was to run away. Run away from everybody, run away from the problem he had created, run away from himself. But all he was was a petty little coward, and he knew that better than anybody. The only person that knew the true extent of his cowardice was him, not even Charles had seen that part of Vincent and thank god he hadn't, or thing have gotten extremely ugly.
But... maybe that was what he needed. Maybe that was what was destined to happen all along. He needed to be lethal, he needed to be slick, or... Or Charles would leave him lonely, dying in a filthy ditch. Because at the end of the day the only person he could trust to care about him was himself.
But dear gods, he couldn't sleep easily anymore. He knew he was being selfish by only thinking of himself, but that was what Charles had wanted him to do, right? He wanted him to put himself as his first priority and not anybody else, and that included putting himself over Charles. Even if it hurt him so fucking badly to do it, he had to, or he had no idea what would happen. Even if he had lied to everybody for so long it had become second nature But... maybe he could change?
No. He had already tried. And all it had done was hurt everybody.
[Charlieee!!!: Maybe you'll change, abandon all your wicked ways, please ]
[Vincent: I want to make amends and start anew again ]
[Charlieee!!!: Maybe you'll see all the wrongs you did to me ]
[C: I want to start all over again]
Seriously?
Fuck it. If he was going to put the C mask back on, and take on that identity again, Charles was fucking done with him. He needed better, somebody who wasn't a cult leader, somebody who cared about themselves, somebody better. Somebody who didn't just put on and take off a mask when they felt like it. He didn't care what his reasons were anymore.
Charles needed to be the god of his own world again. He needed control once more.
And two power-hungry people together would never go well.
[Charliee!!!: Who am I kidding? Now, let's not get overzealous here ]
[Charliee!!!: You've always been a huge piece of shit]
[Charliee!!!: If I could kill you, I would, but it's frowned upon after all ]
[Charliee!!!: Having said that, burn in hell, moron ]
[C: goodbye charlie]
Neither of them could sleep easy that night.
One quiet god awaited his return to his heavenly domain.
And another stared at the ceiling, making a pact to remain on earth for as long as his dear mother.
After all, this was the karma they both believed they deserved, and that would come collect its debt.