Chapter Text
Arthur takes a half-step forward, as if in a trance. Push him , a voice says, and Arthur physically recoils. (The control snaps like a string of spider silk.)
NO , he thinks with the sudden, vicious certainty that the voice does not belong to him.
Oh, I see. It thrums slyly. You want to protect them. How interesting. Well, if that's your goal, you are doing a terrible job, hm?
....what do you mean? Arthur knows he shouldn't talk to it, knows he should tell Lewis and get them out of here, but. Well. He's always been too curious for his own good.
You're still here, aren't you? It croons, Selfish, greedy, broken, twisted you.
The thought nearly knocks Arthur over. Of course. Of course. How could he forget. He's... he's going to destroy them. He's greedy and selfish and he destroys everything he loves eventually. This is something he knows. (He can't feel the subtle seeping of green mist into his heart. The demon makes sure of it.)
you're right . Arthur thinks, frantic. oh god, you're right. i need to fix this. how do i fix this?
Easy . The demon says. You've wanted to do this for years already, right? You wouldn't even have to jump.
It's not even a question— (dontdoitdontdoit STOP) — he knows what he has to do if he wants to keep them safe. It's a win for all of them, really: Vivi and Lewis won't have to deal with him anymore, and Arthur won't have to exist. So he lunges forward, ignoring Lewis's panicked cry, and steps into open air.
Lewis shouts his name, surging towards the edge to grab his arm. The purple-haired man has a split-second view of Arthur's glassy eyes before the gold sparks into poison, and a grinning monster shoots Arthur's arm right off with green lightning. The strange electricity arcs up the severed limb, racing up Lewis's. The lightning makes his arm spasm, dropping the unnaturally green limb and going limp and numb at Lewis's side.
A crack, a splash, and the horrifying sound of something relatively blunt being driven through a human ribcage. Lewis' scream is matched by another, and then there's a many-tailed fox lunging over Lewis' head at a laughing shape in the mist with a snarl and Arthur is— Arthur is—
Lewis howls again, and his whole world breaks in two.
Seconds before he hits the ground, Arthur has a realization.
Wait— he thinks frantically, Wait, no, what am I— I don't want to—
Too late, the demon laughs. The world explodes into white-hot pain and fear. He has one final, fractured thought, desperate and afraid, and then Arthur knows nothing more.
Arthur wakes to cold stone.
He is alone.