The next day was quiet. When Sam tried to talk to either of the two, Aubrey would passively reply, but never actually delve into legitimate conversation.
To Aubrey, Sam was acting as a bit of a needless hassle, someone who was upset for no reason. After all, Sam hadn't known either James nor Nico for very long, and thus Aubrey didn't understand why he cared so much.
Aubrey only had a few concerns in his life at the moment.
First, was blending in. Aubrey was doing quite well at that, hardly talking about the missing friends. He made sure to keep Davis on a leash, so that he wouldn't make careless mistakes. When it came down to the cracks along his body and his growing paleness, however, that was getting in the way of his goals.
Second, was Sienna. Things were going well between them, though she occasionally commented on his paleness, which he brushed off, much to her concern. She was incredibly important to him, and the quirks of his body were also interfering in this as well.
Third, was Sam himself. Aubrey, who hated to be inferior, now that he'd had a taste of superiority, did not want to be inferior to Sam, who had a much stronger Ability than he did, one which made everything so much easier. But of course, Sam was on a higher level than Aubrey's other friends, and so he did not want to kill him in his sleep—instead opting to grow in strength to outmatch Sam.
Fourth, was his worsening appearance. It was getting to a strange, uncanny point, which irritated him immensely. And thus,
—Why is this happening?
In the mirror, Aubrey saw his skin as pale-white. His hair was as dark as ever, but his figure was beginning to look less and less human. The cracks in his skin, even though he used all kinds of products, continued to form and get even worse.
He used the Mothman's wings to cover up his body, but that was not enough. When he peeled them back, he saw his body growing disgustingly thin and skeletal.
He shook his head, crouching down and hugging his head with his arms.
Fuck, fuckfuck, what's happening to me?
With no other choice, he sought out the people most familiar with Monsters.
…
"So tell me, what is happening to me? Why do I look like… this?"
He wasn't entirely inhuman. The worst aspects of his body could be covered up. Yet, they seemed to only get worse.
"We have a theory. You said your symptoms didn't start until your friend, Nico, disappeared, correct?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Be honest. Did you kill him?"
"...I don't want to answer that."
"I'll take that as a yes."
Sitting in a fancy room, he faced an older man with crossed arms.
"We can only assume that the more contact you have with dead humans, either by killing them or eating them, turns you into more of what you really are—a WendigoWalker."
"Huh? Wait, waitwait, so I'm ending up like this because I… tch. Is there any way to stop it?"
"Not that we know of."
"Motherfucker… what am I going to look like in the end?" Aubrey asked, to which the older man shrugged.
"What do WendigoWalkers look like to you?"
"Hk. They… no, no no no, I won't let that happen," Aubrey declared. "I have a girlfriend. If she saw me as a monster—there's no way she'd be able to love me! That can't happen, it absolutely cannot happen. I won't let that happen, fuck, fuck!"
Aubrey got up, digging his fingers into his skull.
If his appearance was that of a monster, then it was entirely over for him. There would be no possible way he could ever blend in with human society ever again.
Forever, he would be looked at with disgust—
—Not again. Absolutely, never again.
I am going to look like a normal human being, no matter what. Wait, if I'm a skinwalker, can I transform into the human beings I kill?
Aubrey attempted it, but to no avail.
Yet, even still,
Maybe I have to actually desire it. That has to be it. I won't let that not be it.
Aubrey stormed out of the room without even another word.
…
Running through the street, marked by silence, The Black Wraith quickly kicked in a window, shattering it with unnatural muteness. He climbed through the window pane, looking down on a young boy sleeping in the second story.
I don't want to be a child.
The monster passed through the room, leaving behind horrible frost upon the lands as the mark of his misdeeds.
I'll build up the legacy of The Black Wraith. I'll show them how terrifying it can really be.
Silently, the black silhouette lumbered down the hall, knife in hand. It opened the door to the master bedroom, smelling the scent of a human being beyond the door.
It approached the sleeping person, a young man much like himself, potentially house-watching with his younger brother while their parents went away.
Raising the knife into the air, The Black Wraith's eerily quiet figure remained still.
—
His work was quick and silent. Immediately after ending the life of an innocent man and removing a limb to devour, The Black Wraith made an attempt at being human.
Going into the bathroom, it looked into the mirror, seeing its body. Then, it made an attempt at a Trait—
Success.
Gaining the person's clear skin, The Black Wraith appeared much easier to be a human being.
Yet, immediately after, the cracks began to appear once more along its skin. They were painless, yet still had a texture and looming sensation that irritated him.
No… that can't, be.
For the first time in a long, long time, The Black Wraith wished to see its face. Using both hands to lift and put its hair up, The Black Wraith looked at itself in the mirror, as the cracks spread from his chest to his upper neck.
Its dark brown, almond-shaped eyes looked down, widened with despair.
"No, no no no, no nononononononono, FUCK!"
Taking a step back, The Black Wraith—Aubrey, saw his metamorphosing figure. His skin, which had gotten a bit more tan, was quickly being drained of its color, ending with him having almost snow-white skin.
Helpless to change his appearance, Aubrey's hand firmly gripped the side of his face, as if clawing into himself.
"What… no, no…" He whimpered as a sob. "Why do I look like this? What will Sienna think?"
The cracks.
"No…!"
They grew up from his neck, all the way to the top right side of his face. Feeling their texture, his heart sank even further, sensing his disgusting nature.
"Wha…"
Aubrey's left eye remained entirely widened. When he tried to relax it, he found that the eye itself would not go back to a normal position. He could blink, but he absolutely could not get it back to normal. The eye, so wide it seemed as though the eyelids were removed, stared intently, its color shaping from dark brown to bright blue, as though he and his lineage had always lived in colder climates.
Hearing footsteps from beyond the door, Aubrey turned to see the door swing open. Immediately obscuring his face in black, he looked down to see the sleeping boy, who had awoken due to his cold and the yelling.
The child shrieked, falling to his rear as he looked up at the monster before him.
The Black Wraith clutched the knife in his hand, looking down at the child with no visible intent.
"AAA—"
The screams snuffed from the world by pressure to the throat, the kid looked up to see the monster he'd heard so much talk of with his friends, pressing its boot upon his throat.
"...Am… Someone, help."
—Yet, the monster begged for help.
It collapsed to the ground, on its hands and knees as it let out pitiful sobbing.
"Someone, anyone—hk, help me. If, hk, if the universe wanted to…"
The idea that the universe was the one responsible. How foolish.
After all…
"Wasn't it… hk," he choked out in between his sobs, "Fate that brings all the monsters together?"
It was Fate. Fate which determined which monsters would interact. Fate which denied ordinary humans the opportunity to hunt monsters with killing intent. Fate that had caused this from the very beginning—caused the very first WendigoWalker to break into Aubrey's house that night.
Fate. It was Fate.
"If Fate… did this to me… for what I've done. For the people I've hurt, for the nastiness in my character, then… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY! JUST, PLEASE…"
Begging pitifully before even a child's eyes, The Black Wraith's heart agonized.
"Stop… doing this to me. Please, don't hurt me anymore, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I won't hurt anything ever again, I'll never kill a person, animal, or insect, or monster—ever again! I won't do any of that, so please, please, pleaseplease, just… let me live a normal life."
Speaking from the depths of his soul, The Black Wraith——Aubrey Palmer, cried out for mercy. For the chance to live an ordinary life, to simply blend in with society, as he knew exactly what lay ahead of him.
If one does not look human, they will not be treated as one.
No matter what sort of thing he did, no matter what he tried, he would never blend in as a normal human being, if his appearance was deformed so.
Because he knew exactly what would happen to him, Aubrey Palmer cried out, digging his head into the cold ground, for the forgiveness he sought, for the chance to live a normal life, for his humanity to be returned to him.
After all, it was only now that he lost his humanity. Not when he was changed biologically, not when he lost Sam, not when he killed his first person. Only now, when placed into a body which society would never accept, had he lost his humanity.
He wept bitterly, asking for humanity.
God is loving and forgiving. Fate, however, was not.
In this realm, where there was no concept of God, Fate was the deciding instrument which carried everything out. And Fate would not listen to Aubrey Palmer's cries, not even for a second.
This was his doing, after all.
On the night of the break-in, he grabbed a gun and ran out. Not to protect his house, not to protect himself. It was so that he could kill someone and legally get away with it .
That was the reason he smiled that night.
His deformation was the result of him killing a human being; essential to the wendigo. Consuming human flesh was only the action which sped up his existential mutilation.
Because he so thoughtlessly killed his friend, he was punished.
Because he was indifferent to the death of his friend, he was punished.
Because he thought it necessary to hurt another innocent human being as they slept, he was punished.
Aubrey Palmer's punishment was a decisive blow aimed at his heart. What he held most dearly was the ability to blend in with society.
And thus, that shall be removed.