Troublesome Family II

AN TIME 1620

" Fuck that. I call upon our contract, [ Maria stand before me ]."

Maria feels his body move without his will. He shoots up and walks stiffly down the staircase. His heart thumps and cold sweat lines his forehead. Maria tries to veer to the left or right but his feet correct themselves to the staircase. He tries to grab anything on the wall to deter his path but his sweaty hand moves to propel him forward.

Rose gets up and attempts to pull him in the other direction to no avail.

" Rose what's happening?!"

" He's using his quirk on you! It's why-" Rose's mouth moves but no words come out.

Well, that answers what the powers in this world are.

Maria's feet no longer slap the floor, they move softly forward and down the steps.

At the bottom of the staircase, he stands before a small titan. Not nearly as muscular as Becca but he didn't need to be. His white frazzle hair is tied in a man-bun and his black eyes were leaking black mist. Unlike the rest of Maria's family, he looked pissed.

" You heard his whole spiel before he left Boris, It was true. And now her crawls back like the leach you all taught him to be."

The titan whips his head to Maria and looks up and down at him.

" And look at his fucking audacity. Wanted to remember good ol' memories eh?" His voice grows deeper and distorted. It promises violence, " [ Maria punch yourself ]."

His body disagrees with himself again, his fist curls, and punches his stomach without hesitation.

" No!" Rose screeches.

" Using your quirk on your family because think you're tough ?" Boris pushes the titan but he doesn't move.

Instead, he ignores him and the mist starts pouring out angrily twisting and obscuring his face.

" Remember me?"

" Are you Florent?"

Everyone in attendance visibly flinches. But Florent only laughs and laughs hard. A maniacal deep laugher. It stops abruptly

" Having a good time that that one? Fuck you. [ What do you remember about me, Maria ]?"

His body replies deep and distorted. Without emotion, Maria's body replies, "[ I never had memories of you ]."

Florent huffs, " Yea sure, learned some whats to resist me huh? Maria look in my eyes, you're barely a man but, can you do that?"

Maria glares into his eyes. He wants answers, well he'll get them.

"[ Why are you back ]."

This time he felt it, the compulsion. A subtle oozy vibration in his throat. It swore safety in compliance. A lie. This time he gave it more than it asked.

"[ Things happened and I had to come here ]."

"[ What happened, Maria ]?"

"[ I died. I suspect I was shot to death in a grave of the family graveyard ]."

The air grew dense.

A pin-drop silence made its way.

The elephant in the room is truly out.

It was evident on Florent's face, that he truly got more than he wished. His eyes stop misting immediately. The titan was petrified by what was implied. His retribution was replaced with pure terror.

" .. what?" Florent's anger was gone. His voice was now small.

" Maria is dead."

" No, you're not."

" Go ahead use your quirk, someone killed me. I don't know why, I don't know anything."

" Jesus." Boris scowls.

Rose pleads, " Maria you know when we used to play house? I-I always made you the princess."

" I met you today."

" I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Rose's breathing grows ragged.

" It's okay." He soothes her.

" I'm sorry." Rose gasps out.

" Rose?" Florent asks alarmed.

It doesn't sound right. She gulps for air but this was unlike before. It's strangled and wretched. Rose falls down clawing at the ground.

""" ROSE"""

The three of us turn to her but Florent gets to her first.

He cradles her and we all see it. Visibly under her skin her veins are bright red and pumping desperately. The red grows darker and darker quickly, settling to a toxic purple. Her lips a tinge of the same purple. The digits from her hand now look necrotic and cold. Yet, waterfalls of sweat roll from her skin.

She thankfully has enough vitality to struggle but it getting nowhere. And the struggles becoming increasingly sluggish.

" She's poisoned," Boris offers, " I saw this once, Yasuke poison. Ithela's Curse."

" The fuck do we do then?!" Florent instantly replies.

Boris's eyes water and his gaze grows darker, "Nothing."

In the back of his head, Maria hears a plea. ' Please let me save my sister. I have so much…'

He focuses on himself, using his sparse experience in internal soul sight. He constructs an avatar of Iekk. It forms quickly, a vine golem covered in flowers. He then pictures diving into what he knows Maira as : an asshole whos kinda rich. Cathing the echoes of him the avatar is sent into Maria's mindscape.

Thankfully it's successful.

A projection of what Maria knows as home constructs itself quickly. It looked to be one of the rooms in the Montesino household. Much like the one he was settled in. Though the room was obnoxiously pink, fluffy, and frilly. Stuffed bears, dolls, plushies, and the likes settled on the furniture and tv. The walls were painted with things more apt in a My Little Pony episode. Piles of dirty clothes were strewn about on the floor converging into two lazy mounds of what looked like boy clothes and girl clothes.

It must've been very lived-in in reality. But in the mindscape, it was fractured. Webbed cracks everywhere many chunks missing and replaced by milky nothingness. The pastels and pink that once decorated the walls tore themselves away and floated into the milky white.

In the middle of the room stood what was once Maria. He looked like an older Rose. He had black hair and normal-looking hazel eyes. But like much dead perceived by soul sight, was missing most of his soul. Like the space, he was fractured and missing chunks. Maria was distorted in some areas and was leaking milky nothingness into the cracks of the room.

' I want. Love Rose so.. accept... me? Please.'

Fucking ghosts always want a favor they can't repay. But Maria's duty tugs at him. Telling him he has to take this, he has to in a way take on Maria.

It's inevitable.

So begrudgingly he tells the spirit, " You will pass on and I will take the rest of you. I swear as Iekk, Keeper of the Inevitable."

What was once Maria breaks completely and flows toward Iekk. He feels it, her love, regrets, and fractured and disjointed memories. Though now he remembers a bit. Remembers how to save Rose.

He snaps back to reality back to the same moment as before. Turns out Maria had a few things to offer.

" Sup guys!" I beam in faux happiness.

" The fuck happened to you."

" Doesn't matter, Rosie listen to me."

Rose's eyes flick to me.

" Best friend's share, give me your burden."

It didn't take much convincing. Her desperate eyes mist, whips of abyss leak.

Rose's complexion instantly gets better. The black veins have gone. but that's all he see's before Maria feels Ithela's Curse.

News flash she's a bitch.

The asphyxiation hits him and he feels his body fight desperately. His blood feels iron hot as the heart fights.

" Mi.. so sorry" Rose cries hoarsely

" I'm fine," He struggles out, " This can't kill me anyway."

Well, that's what past Maria told him. Past Maria, theorized that through death he's gained a quirk. It lets him keep anything he's gained. So if he, resisted the curse a little he cant progress worse. And exponentially he can grow enough for it to be not a problem anymore. His proof? none, just kinda how he felt.

Freaking ghosts.

His body fights the curse desperately. As whispers on advantage are nowhere to be found. The curse is taking his air. Cruel kisses from Ithelia, that only take.

He spasms and cramps.

Vision and sound getting blurry.

The last on his senses tell him his digits are disintegrating. Something wet is crawling across his face.

All that's left is garbled yells and movement on his body.

He feels the curse alleviating.

Ithelia's kisses are gone.

But too much damage has been done.

Blood leaks from Maria's orifices, mouth, eyes, and nose leaking the toxic purple, but he's lives no more.