I am writing this from an AU standpoint where Bern stayed on Earth to keep a ‘normal’ job and stayed out of bigger stuff, just for more writing material for myself, just to clear up any confusion about possible character actions, location, etc.
The dark shadow of night painted the city in a dark black, only lit up by the red lights flashing from police vehicles near the edge of a forest connected to the city. A group of officers were all collected around a blood trail, as a young man with magenta hair and eyes with a blue jacket would walk up between them.
“Ah, Adonael, you have arrived, it is good to see you, Detective. We have no idea what could have caused this, we were hoping you would be able to understand it a bit better.” a Police Officer would run up next to the young man to talk, as they moved towards the blood trail.
“...Do we know where the body is? Or have you not investigated further.” the young man would kneel down next to the blood trail, looking it up and down.
“No we have no clue where the body has gone, think it could be one of those… Bio-Android thingies?” a different Police officer would question to the young man who would just shake his head.
“No, a Bio-Android wouldn’t benefit from a random murder, it would absorb the person much sooner than it’d injure them and drag them away. It looks like the person was mauled by an animal, and then dragged away. This is most likely a wild animal attack but, I’ve never seen one come onto the edge of the city to take someone like that.” he would begin to walk around the start of the blood trail, walking towards where the trail led.
“Uhm, sir? Where are you going, do you need anything?” one of the Police Officers would jog after the young detective.
“I just need a few of you to follow me, in case this is more than a wild animal attack.” and on his cue, all but a few Police Officers would get themselves ready and start to follow after the Half-Demon while the remainder kept any outsiders away from the crime scene.
The group would walk for many miles, hours upon hours stacking up on top of each other as the night seemed to last forever at this point. The blood trail kept going and going, and the group was tired and needed a place to rest up.
“Okay, we can stop here and relax. This blood trail has gone on a lot longer than I thought it would, there’s no saving the person at the end of it…” the Detective would just sit at the base of a tree, sighing a bit sadly knowing that he couldn’t help someone who in this situation, but he still vowed that he would figure out what happened.
As time passed, the Police Officers would slowly get up, ready to move again, Bernael standing up as well and fixing his jacket a bit.
“Alright, let's get moving… we won’t be able to save them, but we can still make sure that their family has closure if they have a next of ki-” the detective would try to speak to the Officers until dozens of howls would come out from the forest around them.
“Wolves..? They sound close. Maybe we should get movin-” one of the younger police officers would start to speak after, but a large clawed hand would grab his face with blinding speed, and pull him up into a tree above.
Without a doubt, everyone was on high alert now, as they started to form a back to back formation, trying to cover every single corner.
“That’s no wolf that I’ve ever seen. Does anyone have visual on the Officer or the creature?” Adonael would just speak to the rest of the officers, his own vision scouring the immediate area, unable to see any trace of them.
Nobody would respond, because nobody else could see anything at all either, or were too afraid to, as the dozens of other ‘wolves’ would show themselves, their large, upright forms standing in the darkness staring at the group of officers and the Detective. The beast from before would land in front as well, holding the mauled and ruined body of a police officer in its hulking grip as it would throw the lifeless corpse back to the rest of it’s pack. Multiple would be on it like they were starving, the sounds of bones snapping from fanged teeth and meat tearing almost too clear from the pile of creatures descending upon the body.
“Run…” Bernael would state shortly before, grabbing the closest officer and yanking him back.
“RUN!” he’d yell again, impatient with his order as he pushed a few more passed him and then immediately fired a small red beam into the crowd of creatures, who would all disperse and evade the beam, turning their eyes to the fleeing officers and the Detective.
One singular Officer remained, frozen in fear and fallen down behind the Detective.
“Dammit, you’re going to get us killed you fool!” he would grip onto the man by the collar of his uniform, pulling him along with him as he began to dash after the other fleeing officers, hearing the running of furious paws chasing after him and catching up fast. He didn’t know where the hell they were all running, he just knew they had to keep running or each and every officer by his side would die.
An officer near the front of the group, however, would call out to the rest of the group.
“THERE’S A MANSION, GET INSIDE.” It didn’t sound like the safest idea, but it was the best thing they could do at the time, with wolf creatures close behind them and an easy place to barricade inside of, it was their only hope.
Bursting through the door, the officers and Bernael would pile inside, Bernael immediately turning to close the door, getting a good look outside as he was doing so, only to see the wolves walking around on their hind legs, each one a very specific distance away from the outside of the house. He didn’t understand what they were doing, really, but it worried him to hell and back, and thusly he’d slam the door and turn to the rest of the Officers inside.
“Well, this definitely got more… interesting for sure. I should have never asked you guys to come out here with me.” Adonael would lament over the loss of one of the officers and how it all could have been avoided if he just went alone, but that was beside the point.
“This Mansion is quite big, this isn’t an actual registered home so assume it’s a capsule home of some sort. I don’t like the feeling of this place, so everyone, split up in pairs…” he would continue on, staring down at the officer that was dragged by him.
“You’re with me.”
With that, everyone would start to wander around the house, going in different directions just looking for some semblance of a clue as to what was going on. Bernael couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread from the house, however, as the creatures outside stopped almost perfectly outside of the house, as if there was something even they were afraid of.
“Sir, isn’t this a b-bit much for us to be getting into?” the young, more frail officer with Bernael would question a bit sheepishly.
“Honestly? Yes… You all should have never come here… I should have gone alone, I am sorry…” the detective would reply, the two walking in silence afterward for a small bit, till a small tune would be played throughout the mansion, or for as far as the pair could tell. Followed by the stepping of feet and the scratching of long nails on walls.
“Move, we don’t want to be around when whatever that is gets closer…” Bernael would grab onto the young man's arm and started to pull him along again.
“W-Wait, how do you know it’s anything bad? That could just be someone who owns this place, shouldn’t we talk to them?” the young Officer would question as he was dragged along, and the two would dart into a pitch black room.
“Did you see those things outside? Trusting anything here would be foolish… just keep your voice down.” Bernael would whisper lowly to the Officer, before walking a little bit deeper into the room, letting his eyes adjust as much as they could before continuing on. All that was before him were a bunch of dolls, oddly placed in a way to make them be staring towards the door that the pair came in from.
“H-Hey… these people must really like collecting dolls huh? There are so many…” the officer would speak quietly and walk with Bernael, trying his best not to touch any of the dolls, the two heading towards two human-sized ones towards the middle of the room.
“I wonder why anybody would need dolls this big…” the Officer would continue on referencing the large ones in the middle of the room, reaching his hand out to touch the doll, feeling his warm leatherwork on the outside of its body.
“It must be really well made and well taken care of, it seems so fres-” the man would cut himself off with a yelp, as the doll seemingly grabbed onto the Officer's hand, forcing him to stay still with almost inhuman strength.
“H-Hey let go of me!”Bernael would blink at the predicament and slowly move over, his arm being grabbed from behind as he was about to help the Officer. When he looked back, the doll he was in front of had reached out and grabbed him to stop him from getting any closer to the other, it’s blank expression never changing but it’s head cocked to the side now in a lazy fashion. Bernael would try to yank himself out of it casually but suddenly a ton of force was applied to his wrist, feeling the bones starting to break, making him wince and clench his teeth.
He’d quickly look back to the police officer, the other doll slowly moving its hand towards the man's face, clamping down and starting to squeeze. He knew that the man would die if he did nothing.
“Why won’t you play with me? Why won’t you play with me?” the doll holding onto Bernael would start to speak, it’s hand raising and moving towards his face now. Using his free hand, the boy would create a sword made out of ki in one of his hands, the dolls grip tightening ten fold till it just ripped off his hand, he’d yell in pain, slicing the doll in half with his blade.
“Why won’t you play…. With…… meeeee” the doll's voice would go low and distorted as it was cut before turning off, Bernael immediately turning to cut off the hand and the torso of the doll attacking the officer. Adrenaline kicked in to let him do this till he’d just slump down to his knees, bringing the ki blade towards the stump where his hand used to be, the burning energy cauterizing the wound, making him clench his teeth.
He didn’t know what it was like to lose a hand, it felt insane and he was left a panting, energyless mess for the time being, before he would slowly drag himself to the officer, using his remaining hand to feel for a pulse before breathing a sigh of relief to feel the man’s pulse. Bernael would just look up towards the destroyed dolls, seeing that while their outer layer was made from a leathery substance, they were androids in nature on the inside.
“Who the hell makes a doll like that... I knew this place was trouble” he’d mutter as he’d just slowly stand, taking off the officer's coat and using it to wrap around his own hand, just in case the cauterizing of the wound didn’t help all the way, using the remainder of the jacket to make a makeshift harness to let his arm hang in a relaxing way.
The tune from before was still going on, however, the sound of long nails suddenly reaching the door, before it’d stop, a knocking coming from the door that they used to enter the Doll room, a distorted male voice coming from the other side.
“Is this where you are hiding, little crows? You pecked out my eyes, so I peck out yours.” it would call from the other side of the door, but Bernael wouldn’t give it a chance to find them, as he’d just grab the officer with his remaining arm and burst out of the opposite door from whatever was coming into the room, breaking into a sprint down the hallway and not looking back as best as he could.
“RUN ALL YOU WANT LITTLE CROWS, I’LL CATCH YOU EVENTUALLY” the distorted voice would call out behind them, as Bernael would just turn his head to look back, seeing this massive amalgamate of brown decaying roots, with a jack-o-lantern for a head that was just constantly in a screaming face. Suddenly, the phrase ‘pecked out my eyes’ seemed more fair, due to the horrid face carved into the pumpkin that made it seem to be eyeless and blind.
Bernael would wince seeing its determination to move forward, but then suddenly realized that he was taking this all about the wrong way. It gave away it’s only weakness from the very start and he played on its strengths almost thoughtlessly. Focusing on pumping ki into his body, the young man would begin to try and fly, levitating himself quietly off of the ground and maneuvering himself just enough to float above the beast as it stampeded passed him. He’d begin to float backward as he saw it moving on, and on, and on. It gave away that it was blind and had no true eyes, it was going off of the sound that the two boys were making fighting the robots and then running away.
He’d keep levitating, not wanting to risk stepping down just in case the beast was still in the hearing range of the two, trying to keep as quiet as he could as he floated down the hallways, looking for some sort of important day. It felt like hours that he was traveling this way, but he eventually found a large stairwell that seemed to lead upwards into a tower, it was the only real way to go so he just ascended it as best as he could, reaching the top which just seemed to have a long room with a throne at the end. Whoever owned this place was quite full of themselves to own a throne… but the entire place was quite insane so whoever owned it must have been quite deranged.
The demon boy would stop moving forward, however, as his eyes narrowed before he’d turn to look behind himself, a small figure floating behind him with small beating wings and deep red and black eyes.
“My my, no human has made it this far in my castle of horrors. But, you’re not human, are you..?” the small feminine figure would muse with a chuckle.
“I was born and raised a human. I don’t know what you are talking about…” he’d look off to the side, obviously trying to push his demonic heritage off to the side and lead a normal life.
“Well, that doesn’t matter! I can tell that there is something inside of you.” she’d muse, smiling.
“Something that wants to be let out from the shell that you placed on yourself.”
“But that is just from what I can see. I am sure you KNOW that it is true, you’re just running and hiding” the girl would smile more to herself before grinning at the boy.
“Not that it matters… nobody has gotten this far, and now I have to turn you into a monstrosity, just like those little girls who were woven into the bodies of dolls, or that man who was carved like a pumpkin and turned into one. Unless… you want to let your inner beast out and join me…?” she’d question a little bit after the fact, curious to see if the boy would take her desires to heart.
"What insane thought process did you go through to think I'd ever, EVER decide to join you after you confessed to those horrible acts? If anything, that just makes me want to kick your ass!" Bernael would stare directly into her eyes with a look of anger, he was missing a hand but he knew that he could at least fight back. But he didn't expect such a response from the woman next. She would dash forward, snatching the young officer from Bernael's hands and just pummel the young man into the ground. Bernael would hardly be able to turn and stare as she crushed his head into the floors of the room, immediately killing the young man.
"Now look what you made me do, you made me ruin my floors, shame on you, and now his body will be here forever, stuck in this castle no matter what you do. Will you rethink it now...?" the girl would cock her head to the side with a little smile, while the young officer's blood would cover the side of her body that was most facing towards the recently deceased young man.
This did the opposite of what she probably wanted, however, as the Demon Boy would just immediately snap, his hands clenched together as his aura exploding into a blaze of white and his hair flowed upwards.
"YOU KILLED HIM, I WON'T FORGIVE YOU. I, I'LL KILL YOU!" He would immediately lunge himself at the woman, a ki blade in his hand as his body suddenly burst with black wings, his blade growing three times its own size, launching directly at the woman with immense force. She just stood there and smiled, watching as it got closer, however, the instant it connected, it'd all go black, and when Bernael opened his eyes once more, it was daytime, and he was back in the forest with a Police Officer in front of him.
"Oh thank goodness, you passed out and nothing could wake you all night. You looked like you were having a bad dream though. We went on ahead, turned out the 'blood' trail just looped around back to near the edge of the forest, got a call from those who remained at the crime scene, it was propped blood, so we all came back to get you. Some pranksters must have had too much time on their hands and did this to lead us on this goose chase. But you know kids around this time, they always love to make little mysteries that aren't actually real, to our detriment." the Police Officer would smile and help Bernael up, the demon boy noticing that his hand that was torn off was back, well and fine. It seemed that it really didn't happen.
"Just a dream... right" Bernael would stand and rub the back of his head, his clothes a lot dirtier from sleeping around in the forest all night, he would then start to look around, getting a head count of all of the Police Officers.
He'd notice, one person was gone from the crowd.
"Where's that one really young, skittish officer? Did he come back with you guys?" he'd ask curiously, remembering the one that he was with him in his dream, Bernael knew that he was real, but he didn't seem to be around at the moment.
"Oh uh... hmm. He fell asleep around the exact same time as you, was quite weird actually, both of you were practically comatose because neither of you would wake up. Guess he woke up first though, we couldn't find him anymore, he practically up and vanished. Probably went back to the police station once he saw he was alone out here, I suspect he'll be safe and sound back at the station." the Officer would shrug at the question and then smile at Bernael, who would just nod. Bernael would stand pondering for a moment, remembering what happened in his dream, before shaking his head
"Yeah... right, that must be it"
