Chapter Text
He was awoken by unbearable itching.
"Ah..."
He hissed. He almost fell out of the bed as he got himself into a sitting position, hands buried in his hair.
The skin on his head was numb. It was itching and burning and no matter how hard he rubbed it it made no difference whatsoever.
One particularly painful sting made him jump to his feet. The ceiling lights above him turned on automatically upon detecting the movement. Blinking hard, trying to get used to the sudden brightness, he walked over to the mirror. His knees felt weak as he did so.
From the large plastic surface reflected a face which if he didn’t recognize as his own he would’ve assumed belonged to a ghost. Under his eyelids his skin took an ashy color. His hair, unusually for him, was a mess. He must’ve been moving a lot in his sleep. He frantically swept strands of it from his forehead, failing to keep it from covering the burning areas.
He let out short, whistling breaths. There was something under his fingers. He could feel it. The thing that was itching and hurting so badly, it was there, he just had to get his hair out of the way and he would see it.
The panicked sounds stopped promptly when he finally got to it, whatever it was.
Two lumps, one on each temple. His skin was a bloody red color, almost as if it would burst open at any moment. He touched one of the outgrowths carefully. It was thick and smooth.
He remembered the glass of water on the nightstand. If he was lucky enough it would still be at least a little cool. That might ease the stinging.
He turned his head, intending to go grab it, but a wave of nausea hit him. His vision was blurry, too blurry to walk. Suddenly the few steps separating him from the other side of the room felt like an impossible task. He narrowed his eyes, tears already forming in the corners of them. Stretching his arms outwards to keep his balance, he slowly made his way there.
He grabbed the glass with trembling hands. He sighed with relief when he felt the coldness. He lifted it slightly above his head and poured about half of the liquid on himself. No use. The lumps were too numb to feel a thing. On the verge of a sob, he took a long sip to distract himself. The coolness traveling from his throat to his stomach calmed him down.
With newly acquired clearness of mind, he noticed something strange. The water he had poured on his head dripped down onto his ears. He hadn’t realized it before, but they felt oddly… uncomfortable, too.
He turned around to look in the mirror again. His eyes widened.
They were becoming pointy at the ends. The skin they were made out of was much thinner than before. There was redness on the base of his ears similar to the one on his temples. And what filled him with the most unease, that area was growing fur.
Not hair. He was sure of it. It was animal-like fur.
With an overwhelming sinking feeling in his stomach, he built up the courage to touch it. He couldn’t tell whether his entire body was swaying or the floor was shifting under his feet as he stepped closer to the mirror, entranced. His fingertips approached his ear.
He was awoken by loud knocking on the door.
He jerked his head up. A hot stiffness followed by a shooting pain spread out along his neck. Initial confusion gave place to irritation when he realized he had fallen asleep at his desk. He groaned.
There was no time for that. Not now. He would rest only after it was all over.
Norman got up from his chair. The beige cloak he always wore still enfolded his arms, although it was a bit creased. He quickly straightened it with a couple swift movements.
The person waiting for him outside knocked once more. Norman could sense they were getting impatient, but tried not to let it seep through.
It had to be Zazie, he figured.
He ran his hand across the headkerchief covering his hair. Through the thick layer of material he could feel his sweat. He was supposed to take it off for a couple hours, but then he fell asleep, leaving it on for yet another night. At this point he had it on for good two, maybe three full days. The urge to rip it off, to let the swollen skin underneath it breathe hit him like a wave. Instead, he tucked in a couple loose strands of hair. He put on the hood.
He pushed the door open, confirming his suspicions. In front of him stood Zazie, dressed in a cloak similar to his.
“Good morning, Zazie,” Norman greeted him.
He hummed lowly in response.
“I’m late, aren’t I? I suppose I lost track of time. Shall we get going?”
Norman lifted up the lamp he held in his hand, causing it to cast a ray of dim light onto the already creepy and rather unsightly view. He eyed the deceased creature up and down.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been here,” he said. Immersed in thought, it came out as more of a murmur.
It indeed has been a while. The massive corpse’s stench was more prominent now, and Norman wondered how come Cislo with his hypersensitive sense of smell was not bothered by it. Not only that, a thin, foggy layer covered each of the demon’s eyes, and the skin around the spears impaling it looked dried out.
“I come here all the time.” A smile crept on Cislo’s lips as he spoke, not taking his gaze of the demon.
“It’s relaxing!” added Barbara, in her usual cheerful tone.
It was a good thing they were feeling optimistic, Norman thought, even though he couldn’t say the same about himself.
The comfortable atmosphere amongst the gathered soon fell, when Cislo silently got up from the wooden box he was sitting on and turned to look at his leader. His elongated, gray fur covered ears were hardly visible from under his cloak, pressed tightly against his head as he cautiously considered his next sentence.
Cislo was always on the more emotional side. Despite his mostly positive attitude it wasn’t easy for him to hide when he was getting stressed about something.
“What did they want?”
Norman fixed the cloth on his head, making sure it was still keeping his hair in place.
“Different things”, he began. He gave the lamp to Zazie, who was now shifting nervously from left to right. “One thing is they don’t want to annihilate the demons.”
“I knew it,” growled Barbara, eyes glued to her feet. Her long tail was tucked uncomfortably between her legs. Unlike her companions, Barbara let her impulsiveness shine through. In Norman’s presence, however, she tried to keep her composure.
“And what about you, boss?” asked Vincent. He spoke confidently, but with his hood off the feathers growing out from behind his ears instantly gave him away – he was concerned.
Vincent was the oldest one in the group, and with that came his need of being seen as calm and collected no matter the situation, as somebody worthy of his boss’s trust. If not for his lack of control over the raven black feathers awkwardly situated on the sides of his neck and springing out on his wrists even Norman wouldn’t see through him.
“Don’t jump to conclusions. There’s no change in the plan,” he assured, his voice cold and devoted of any emotion. Vincent’s gaze softened behind his glasses. “Another thing, though. The evil-blooded girl is alive.”
“What?”
“That can’t be good, can it…?”
Norman raised his hand slightly, stopping them. “I’ll find a way to deal with it.” For a second, he considered ending the conversation at that, perhaps giving them a slight smile of reassurance. These four shouldn’t be worrying now, just a few days before they were going to carry out the plan. If he really focused he would find a way out of this on his own, he was sure. But was he? He cleared his throat. “She met Emma, Ray and the others. They’re friends.”
“Huh?” Barbara drawn her brows together, eyes wide open.
Cislo pursed his lips, looking once at her, once at Norman. “I thought…”
“This could be convenient, in a way,” Vincent cut in. He didn’t have time to elaborate further as Barbara spoke up.
“So that’s why, hm?” She was crouching down on the floor, digging her fingers into her thigs. “That’s why they don’t want to kill demons?”
“Barbara…” Cislo took an unsure step towards her. He reached his arm out.
A swift movement of her tail slapped his hand away.
“Friends with them? What are they thinking?!” Her voice became shaky. She grabbed her head. “Argh…! My head is splitting!”
She jerked and fell onto her side. Immediately Vincent and Cislo rushed to her.
“Where’s your medicine?”
“I left it in my room,” she gruntled.
“Have mine,” said Vincent and passed her his pill bottle. He stood up, leaving Cislo to help her get into a sitting position. He turned to look at Norman and Zazie. “The interval between the attacks has gotten shorter the past few days. For all of us. We have to take heavier doses.”
Norman knew this.
It was the reason he kept himself up at night. Why he tugged his hair, slouching over the table, papers scattered everywhere. Why he forced his mind to stay alert despite his sore muscles protesting, his limbs threatening to give up on him any moment he denied himself even a mere minute of slumber.
“Perhaps there’s not much time left.”
With how much – or rather how infuriatingly little – data from the facility they gathered this might’ve just been true. They could hardly hope for finding the cure anymore.
He nodded in understanding.
“Boss, we spoke to Emma and Ray while you were gone,” confessed Cislo. He was still on the floor next to Barbara, letting her lean on him. He lowered his hood. “They’re nice kids. Even with how naïve they are, they’re really great. But…”
His gaze met Norman’s. For a brief moment, there was silence as they studied each other’s expressions.
“…You’re on our side, right?”
On their side.
On their side against the demons, and now against the Grace Field’s children as well.
“You’re still the same boss? You’re not gonna just back out now?” The words flowed from his mouth like a stream. Panicked, accumulated since the evening the day before.
Not one other person from the group dared to interrupt. Instead, they quietly observed their leader, awaiting answers.
“You’re the only one of us who can…”
Continue this. After everybody else gives in to the sickness.
“We’ve come this far,” he said, sternly. If destroying himself meant no one else would ever have to, he was ready to do so. “Of course I’m not backing down.”