a body and a heart | niko, day 7

They're quiet. There's a silence permeated by the sound of only one breath.

When the canon fires, it's not sharp or abrupt. This time, it's an expected, calming thud to let Niko know that it's over. Karl's blood continues to pool, and Niko steps back to stare at the body.

The naginata falls to the ground first. Niko follows behind, collapsing to his knees before letting himself rest backwards. His eyes don't break from the body. They never do.

He's seen death before. He's seen it on Ivy's face, he's seen it on Elm's, he's heard the canon for the two girls fighting up the steps of the mountain. This is different. None of the death he'd seen before had come by his hand. No, this time he welcomed death with open arms, encouraging it to fire a canon and lead a boy to the afterlife.

The boy from five thought it would be easy this time after seeing death come to Mirage's beck and call twice. It's not easy, though.

His face is almost submerged in blood now. The hunger and thirst from the past days have drawn gaunt lines on his face. This is the only moment Niko had stopped to consider him. The boy laying down in the ground, his body protecting his source of insanity, had not seemed human just moments before. In the silence without the mutterings of a madman, however, they're the same except for one key detail. One is alive and one is dead.

It would almost be a solace to be laying on the ground dead. Not carrying the sight of Karl on the red-stained ground would be a comfort.

After what feels like an hour of staring, he moves. Dragging his legs over to the boy, he rolls him off the bag with a grunt. He needs to know.

In the sack, he finds the usual. A needle and thread, some bandages, and thankfully some food and water. There's a weird smell, though.

Then, pulling it out of the bag, his eyes widen at the jar. Blackened with dried blood, he can't see what's inside of it at first. Shaking it gently by his hear to make sure there's nothing alive rattling around inside it, all he hears is the light thud of an object bouncing back and forth.

Loosening the lid, he looks inside.

With a gag, he drops it and the container tumbles to the ground with a crack.

The heart rolls out.

The smell comes with it and Niko's vision goes hazy once again. The heart lays in a pool of Karl's blood.

A few, deep, shaky breaths later, he's steady enough to look back at the body and the heart. This is what It was. There's no label for the heart which Karl belonged to. It must have been someone important to him, though.

The jar is of no use anymore. There isn't anywhere to wash it and Niko can't stand the smell. He collects the rest of the things and moves away.

Right before he's about to leave the clearing where they fought, he looks back once more. Karl's blood now stains the heart, giving it a lifelike glare. His eyes, lifeless, seem to be staring at it resting in front of him. Maybe the heart truly has something to it, some real power that controlled Karl and forced him to protect it.

He internally repeats his mantra to himself once again, his lungs matching the beat as he desperately tries to stay calm. Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out.

Turning away, the image is burned into his mind. It will follow him into the final four, and hopefully, it will stay in the arena if when he returns home.

[camo]
[stuff in maint to come]

---

bean

[kaitlin]