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~~~~~~Agrabah (Desert)-Empire/Trident-Class Warship~~~~~~
“Is that all you got!? Come on! I know you got more than that, you pasty bastard!” Yelled Dominic, the pain a weird draining sensation but combined with a searing hot pain. All this yelling continued on as Nomis faced the wall of monitors, looking up from the numerous keystrokes he continued to input into the machine, in order to keep an eye on the growing Meter diagrams the screens showed him. Already some were steadily rising, yet it appeared to be those that only now reached a tenth of their scale that annoyed the man at this moment.
“UNCLE NOMIS! I KNOW YOU LIED TO ME! TIME FOR THE TRUTH!" The roar that bellowed into the room actually caught Nomis slightly off guard, the older man quickly looking over his shoulder to see Caleb walking into the room, with an anger he hadn't seen for quite some time.
"Caleb. If you'd please wait for a little whole longer, we can discuss things once this has been taken care of. I must have full concentration." Said Nomis, turning back towards the machine and screens as he began to up the strenght of the machine that held Dominic.
"NO! NO! NO!" Caleb roared again, "YOU ARE GOING TO LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE!" He said.
Caleb would not have his Uncle's usual dismissal. He wouldn't allow Nomis to simply push Caleb's around. Time and time again, any time Caleb brought up a matter that questioned his faith in Nomis or even slight doubt, his uncle would act harshly towards the the youth. If it wasn't that, then it was Nomis completely ignoring Caleb as he just did. This time, however, was not going to be like that. Caleb would not have it and it was about time that his uncle understood that.
"It seems there's trouble in paradise.." Dominic said snickering, but then he grunted in pain. He felt an extra dose of pain from the machine each time he laughed.
It was the silence the came from Nomis that was possibly the most chilling in the room. No movement, no sound except the grunts from Dominic as the machine continued its work, Nomis just simply stood at the console, back to Caleb and the bound man.
"Fine then."
That was all that was said. With a twist of his hand on the dial, both the pain and intensity of what was happening to Dominic shot up, far more than he probably could have expected in such a short amount of time. Leaving the device to its job, the older man quickly snatched the metal cane leaning against the wall beside him, before turning and marching straight towards Caleb like an angry Behemoth Heartless. Before just as suddenly stopping before him.
"What is it?"
Though it wasn't a roar, the annoyance and anger was still there, something Caleb had seen just recently with his Uncle, just before he had dealt with the two intruders.
"Hahaha, the wonder twins actually having problems.." Dominic said, continuing his unneeded banter about what was going on in the room. Suddenly he felt a deep pinch of pain as his power was being drained from him at a faster rate. "HAH! That doesn't hurt." He was lying. It did hurt...a lot.
Caleb ignored Dominic's comments as he had calmed down just slightly. it was being replaced by slight surprise from his uncle's rather calm mannerisms. Of course, that was a façade. Caleb knew this form of Nomis' 'calmness'. It was the only look he gave when he was deeply angered, but would not show it unless pushed further. Even still, Caleb would not let up one bit.
You lied to me." Caleb said, "You told me my mother and father died, but they didn't. They're alive and I almost killed them." Caleb said, eyes starting to water, his tone elevated, but mood surprisingly controlled.
"PLOT TWIST!" Dominic kept talking. The more he did, the more his power would get drained. He must have a death wish.
"Continue with your snide remarks, perhaps it will dull the pain." Nomis said towards Dominic, the man not even bothering to look at him, his full attention being solely on Caleb.
"You knew full well your Father was alive. I made no secret of that. As for your Mother, she was as good as dead to you. She clearly didn't care enough to take you or your Father with her, and even then your Father choose the same way and left us too. What does that tell you? Wouldn't you think they would have done anything, risked anything to bring you if they truly wanted you?"
Dominic knew that Nomis was right. Each time he talked, the pain increased, but he couldn't help himself, especially after what Nomis just said in response to young Caleb. "Hah! That's a good one, Skelly." Dominic said as he started to pant. The pain was beginning to become too much.
"Do they truly mean anything to you, Caleb? Haven't I been better than they ever had? You've gotten so much stronger, you've seen many things almost no one has ever had the chance to witness. All I have done, has been for you, whatever else you may think." Said Nomis, the man completely ignoring the small jab that Dominic tried to add into the conversation, though it was enough to cause the man to look back towards the wall of monitors and to see the steadily rising Meters.
Dominic laughed again even though the pain was increasing. Each breath he wasted, the more he risked unconsciousness. "Oh, you think you're better than them huh? Then, go on, Nomis. Do tell young Caleb how his father had to rip his any chance of having a mother cause you were becoming so unstable." Dominic said, "go on, you can do it, since you're on such a truth-telling spree."
That was all it took to get Nomis to react. Swinging his body around to face Dominic, Nomis' arm violently swung as he turned, causing the metal plate currently plastered along Dominic's forehead to whiplash the man's head backwards against the machine. The new feeling was as if Dominic's head was currently latched in some kind of Giant's grip, the tight hold growing worse the longer Nomis held it.
Just as soon as Dominic had opened his big mouth(he does that a lot), Nomis had reacted angrily. By using his useful control over the Taint Metal that was holding Dominic's big gash on his forehead shut, he was able to make the Crimson Flash's head bounce off of the metal contraption that he was stuck to. All Dominic felt was metal on metal and that added to the immense pain he already was in.
Caleb had been so silent despite being so angry towards his uncle, but what Dominic had said reignited the boastful anger he had when he entered the room. "Is what he says true? Did you drive my father to get my mother away from me?" Caleb was more desperate to get answered even more than ever.
"Your Father sent her away, not I...telling me some sorry tale of losing her and that was the end of it! I only ever found the truth before he left you and I!" Nomis' anger was now spilling through, the older man's eyes glaring towards Dominic with all the pent up rage he had.
Caleb was so confused. Shinto told him otherwise. Cerden told him otherwise. They told him one thing and Nomis told him another. How was the teen supposed to know who was telling the truth and who was lying their asses off?
"You planned it with them, didn't you? You and your little friend Shinto...tell me!! Tell me you took my Brother away from me!!!"
Dominic's head was hurting so bad, and Nomis yelling didn't help. "Don't you turn this around on me -- ow -- you're the one who was losing it back then. So of course Shin and I took measures into our own hands. We needed to get my sister away from you and your crazy paranoia. We might not have been the ones to take Flora out of there, but you're damn right we helped plan it" Dominic said wishing he had some kind of pain medication. His head was killing him. "As for Cerden leaving eight years afterwards, that's on you pasty." Dominic said. He turned his attention to Caleb, "If you want someone to blame for your mother leaving, that was me. However, your father was forced to leave thanks to Mr. Sunshine over here." Dominic said, referring to Nomis.
Everything that came out of Dominic's mouth just angered Nomis more, the tight grip reaching near 'egg-breaking' levels of strength upon Dominic's head the more Nomis heard.
"You and your stupid sister just couldn't help it! All of you, ruining everything! Things were supposed to be better, they should have been better!!" One more violent whack of Dominic's head hitting the machine was done before Nomis' hold finally faded, the older man turning back towards Caleb with the same rage filled eyes still.
And there it was. At long last the monster that Cerden, Shinto, Flora, and Dominic all knew came out, and in front of his own nephew no less. Dominic, even though in more pain he had ever been in, had a satisfying grin on his face. It was followed by a laugh that was barely audible due to the fact that he was near unconsciousness. Something else could be seen, but due to the level of intensity that the situation was at, no one would notice that Dominic's ears -- both of them -- had blood starting to come out of them.
Before he had even realized it, Caleb found himself lifted up from the ground. He had jumped three paces forward as he pushed from his right leg. His left knee was bent and forward. Left arm reached out and shadow tendrils extended. These thorns of darkness quickly wrapped around Nomis' throat, and lifted the male up in the air. In his right hand, Caleb had a balled fist. He would motion it towards himself and the tendrils tugged Nomis' body more to Caleb's reach.
When Nomis was just one foot away from Caleb's face, the teen embraced the darkness powers within his soul and surrounded his right hand with said darkness. He then released it as he did a straight jab to his uncle's gut. He repeated this several times until blood no doubt would come out of his uncle.
But none did...at least not even a portion of what young Caleb would have believed. Though the anger filled eyes faded into something more like surprise the moment he was picked up, Nomis eventually just looked down towards the Nephew with a sort of saddened gaze, even as the tendrils burned into his neck and the darkness encased hands of Caleb began to burn through his waistcoat, soon revealing why no blood was present.
The same metal that coated his hands, now could be seen on Nomis' own stomach to Caleb, the young man able to see the odd patches of Taint covering his body, with the newest coming from his very own attack, the faint sign of blood just along the edges of the metal itself.
As he repeatedly hit his uncle, Caleb wasn't thinking. He had no sense of self. It was like each time he hit his uncle, he was reliving those words that his uncle said about his mother. It made no sense though. Caleb didn't even believe he had a mother until just recently and now he was flooded with emotions.Among others, surprise came into the mix as he saw no blood coming from his uncle's mouth or from the area in which Caleb was hitting.
Tightening his metal fist, the floor opening up below Caleb would have been the first thing the Nephew noticed, the young man falling for a brief moment before the metal panels returned, trapping him now half way through the floor and allowing Nomis to plant his feet back on solid ground. With a tight grip, Nomis suddenly began to tear the tendrils apart with surprising ease, like weeds from a garden. Once free, the lifeless stalks faded away from his hands, revealing the large scars on his neck before they too were replaced by a metal plate.
"What the--" Caleb didn't even notice it until it was too late. The floor beneath him opened briefly at his waistline and it closed. Nomis had freed himself of the tendrils that previously bound him by the neck. He would see, however, that all the injuries that his uncle sustained were replaced by the taint metal.
"You are my nephew, Caleb." Said Nomis, his voice now slightly hoarse as he rubbed his throat with his hand, metal scrapping against metal.
"I thought you would be here, for me. It looks like I was wrong, you want to now leave, just like everyone else." Stepping towards Caleb, Nomis' shoes crushed into the dark tentacle stumps that belonged to the young man, watching as they too began to fade.
Caleb wanted to respond to his uncle, but now having realized that he lost control of himself like that, he couldn't. The words wouldn't come to him, and perhaps he felt that he shouldn't.
"You want to leave so bad...then go..." With that, another motion of Nomis' hand soon caused the floor to reopen again, dropping Caleb through it and soon finding himself outside.
Caleb soon was going to speak, but it was too late. Caleb noticed the floor reopening and he fell. No, he didn't fall to a lower level. He fell to the desert that the Trident Warship was above.
"And then there were two." Dominic chimed in, "you must really love pushing people away, huh? First your father goes away, then your sister-in-law, then me and Shinto, then your own brother, and now even your nephew deserted you." Dominic said, reminding Nomis of his obvious lonliness. "You need to work on your people skills."
The words came one after another from Dominic, and yet Nomis remained where he was during the entire exchange, still staring down towards the now solid floor, where Caleb had been just a few seconds ago. Remaining silent, the man knelt a little in order to pick up the dark cane from the floor, before turning and still silently making his way towards Dominic, his eyes coldly staring at the man even as they were face to face. It was like Nomis wasn't seeing a living thing in front of him any more, it was clear he saw Dominic as something else...he saw the blood trickling from the man's ears.
"Looks like you need to be fixed again..." Said Nomis as he rested the cane against the side of the machine, and soon raised the glowing metal of his hands up to cup the sides of Dominic's head.
