March 5, 2022

The TV switches to static abruptly, slowly turning more green in coloration.

ℕ𝕆𝕎 ℙ𝕃𝔸𝕐𝕀ℕ𝔾: 𝘌𝘈𝘛𝘌𝘙 𝘖𝘍 𝘞𝘖𝘙𝘓𝘋𝘚 - 𝘌𝘝𝘌𝘙𝘠𝘖𝘕𝘌 𝘓𝘖𝘝𝘌𝘚 𝘈 𝘝𝘐𝘓𝘓𝘈𝘐𝘕

Harmonia sighs. "Here we go."

"Oooooo that’s a good song." Cole comments.

"Oh brother. What a showoff." Luna sighs.

Apollo manifests in front of the TV, the music stopping. "Felt like being dramatic this lovely morning."

"Morning? It's 1:30 pm." Luna comments.

"Certainly dramatic." Harmonia sighs, laying on the couch.

"Sup you fuckin murderer,” Cole says.

"Didn't you rip out like 4 people's ribcages?" Apollo comments.

"It was more than 4 thank you very much. And it was a compliment, bitch.”

Apollo looked at Luna. "First off, uh, fuck you, second off, would you rather me say 'this lovely afternoon?'"

"Fuck you too buddy," Luna says with a sly grin.

"It's actually 1:34 pm.” Cole corrects. Harmonia facepalms.

"This lovely 1:34 PM. Happy?"

Cole chuckles. “Yeah.”

"Hey, Genesone. You wanna see something funny?"

"Sure.”

This image shows up on the TV.

"I did that," Apollo admits.

“That is fucking funny" Cole starts laughing.

"Oh my god, you were the pepper man,” Harmonia says.

"And they never caught me," Apollo says. "Well, except for that picture."

"That is too fuckin funny!” Cole exclaims.

"Wild.” Harmonia laughs.

"He do a little trolling." Luna comments.

"I think my favorite part is where it says 'I HAVE A ONE OF A KIND RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST, HE HAS HARMED PEOPLE FOR ME, HE CAN FIND YOU IN ANY TOWN AND I SUGGEST YOU END YOUR CAMPAIGN." Apollo says. With that, Luna returns to the top bunk and continues her work

"Did Jesus find you?" Harmonia asks.

"Heheheheh like god would stop the bell pepper thrower.” Cole laughs.

"Not yet. The bell pepper marauder is unstoppable." Apollo grins.

"Lord.” Harmonia sighs, just hanging out.

"Yes?" Cole responds

"Shut up, you're not God.”

“If I’m not God then how can I do this?” Cole snaps and a glass of water appears. He snaps again and the glass disappears and reappears, now filled with wine. “Boom.”

"You're not God.” Harmonia counters.

"Water into wine proves otherwise.”

"What was the point of snapping a glass of water? If you have apportation, just snap a glass of wine ya dork." Luna says.

"Cause it's fun to change the properties of things.” Cole responds.

Apollo sat down on the couch next to Harmonia. "What next? You gonna walk on that lake behind the house?"

Harmonia rolls her eyes as Cole sips his wine with a smug look.

"I can snap things too. Watch." Luna concentrates on a can of monster in the fridge and closes her eyes. With a snap... it doesn't come out and instead she passes out on the spot.

"Pfft-" Cole bursts out laughing.

"Shit- Luna?" Harmonia sits up and goes to her, concerned about her.

Meanwhile Apollo starts fucking losing it. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Harmonia shakes Luna, nervous before Luna quickly wakes up.

"Are you okay???" Harmonia asks.

"imfine just fuckd up. needl sleep." Cole laughs harder, enjoying this.

"OH, THAT JUST MADE THE TRIP OVER HERE SO WORTH IT!" Apollo exclaims, laughing his ass off.

"hate m-life." Luna says. Harmonia throws something at Apollo to try and shut him up. Cole laughs even harder and starts rolling on the floor. It hits Apollo, but he just keeps laughing through it. Harmonia sighs and gets up, tempted to just thwack Apollo over the head. Cole holds his sides and keeps laughing.

"im ok. just need nap..." And with that Luna is conked out. Harmonia hits Apollo upside the head with her hand. Apollo lets it hit him, his head slowly turning back to look at Harmonia. He stands up, towering over her.

"Uh oh.” Harmonia smiles anxiously as Cole stops laughing and sits up.

"Ow God my sides- That was so fuckin funny.” Apollo looks like he's about to thwack the shit out of Harmonia, but stops right before impacting her face and gently slaps her. "You thought."

"Meow.” Harmonia lays down.

"Awwww it would have been funny-“ Cole protests.

"Shut up.” Harmonia responds.

"Make me bitch.”

"Too much work so no.”

"Fuckin knew it.”

Harmonia gets up. "You wanna fight?"

Cole stands up. “You know how this is gonna end so I’ll let you get one hit in."

Harmonia growls. "Outside."

“Alright," Cole walks out to the front yard smiling as Harmonia follows. Apollo follows so he can watch.

Cole waits for Harmonia with his arms crossed as Harmonia gets into a fighting position. Apollo sits down on the ground, snapping a bucket of popcorn in his hand.

Cole rolls his eyes and gets into a fighting stance as well before Harmonia approaches and attempts to slash his face with her claws.

Cole grabs Harmonias wrist. "I have enough scars, thank you very much.” Cole lightly knees Harmonia in the stomach. She takes it and grabs the wrist holding hers, swinging her legs to kick him in the chest and hopefully knock him down. Cole gets kicked in the chest and stumbles back slightly, letting go of her wrist. Harmonia steps back and cracks her knuckles before going again, attempting to deck him in the face. Cole dodges and tries to punch Harmonia in the chest. Harmonia blocks and tries to kick him in the stomach but Cole catches her foot and spins it, trying to make her fall over. It works and she yelps before trying to get back up. Cole lets go of Harmonias foot and chuckles.

"Come on, it didn't hurt that much.” Harmonia growls and gets up, aiming a punch for Cole's liver. Cole doesn’t expect it and gets hit and groans in pain.

"That’s fair for last time.”

"Yeah you know it.”

"HARMONIA!" Apollo yells, standing up.

Harmonia turns to look at him. "What?" Cole also looks over at Apollo.

Apollo smirks, his eyes glowing green as Harmonia's do as well.

"OH YOU C-" Apollo disappears as he enters Harmonia's body, looking at Cole.

Cole looks at Apollo. "Ohh this is gonna be fun.”

Harmonia sighs and just watches. “You better not do anything....”

Apollo runs up to Cole so fast it's almost inhuman as he tries to kick him in the stomach. There's so much force in this kick that, if it lands, it'll send Cole flying backwards a good 4 feet or so. Cole dodges to the side and aims a punch at Harmonia/Apollo’s throat.

It hits, causing Apollo to cough a few times before doing a leg sweep, trying to knock Cole over. Cole jumps and dodges it and aims a punch at Harmonias ribs. Apollo catches Cole's hand, squeezing it tightly as he uppercuts him. Cole smiles as he twists his hand that is in Harmonias hand.

Apollo seems unphased by this, letting go of his hand and kicking Cole in the stomach very roughly.

Cole grabs Harmonias leg and twists it, chuckling.

Apollo laughs a bit too, yanking his leg back and jumping to Cole's left side to catch him off-guard. He then quickly slashes his side with Harmonia's claws. Cole quickly stands up.

"Hey now I don't need more scars.”

"You sure, Heath Ledger?" Apollo runs up to Cole, jabbing him in the side of his face and then in the stomach. He has a plan, and he wants to see if he can get it to work on Cole.

Cole rolls out of the way. “Hey fucking stop it prick.”

"Let me try something first, then I will." Apollo growls, rolling over to Cole and grabbing onto his throat. He lifts Cole up into the air before chokeslamming him into the ground.

"...God damn, that was badass." Apollo then offers a hand out to Cole to help him up. Cole groans and a slight crunch is heard as he hits the ground, "Ow you ass-“ Cole grabs Harmonias hand and stands up.

"Before you go calling me an ass, let me give Harmonia her keys back to her car." Apollo chuckles before exiting her body. Harmonia collapses, groaning.

"Fuck now I'm sore.” She gets back up.

"Ha sore.” Cole comments.

"Shut up.”

"Didn't I hear a crunching sound when I chokeslammed you, Cole? Pretty sure you're sore too." Apollo responds.

"No, that was my connector getting closer to breaking.”

Harmonia heads back towards the house with a yawn. "I’m tired now.”

"Alright bye bitch.” Cole says. Harmonia flips him off and Cole flips her off back as she heads back into the house.

Apollo chuckles, putting a hand on Cole's shoulder. "You did a lot better than most! You should feel accomplished."

Cole smiles. "Well I did kinda fight in every war humanity has ever made so I’m pretty good at fighting.”

"Impressive! Tell you what, you keep training, I've got a little Missus to go catch up to." Apollo let go of his shoulder, heading back inside.

"I’m....alright?" Cole follows him with a confused look.

Harmonia lays down on the couch with a yawn before Apollo waltzes in, whistling as he picks up Harmonia and slings her over his shoulder. "Alli-oop!" He starts carrying her out of the house.

"Hey!" She kicks him in protest. "What the fuck??" Cole walks back in and groans and follows Apollo.

Apollo takes her to the forest, a bit of thick rope in his back pocket. "Aw, shush, this won't take long, I just need to talk to you." He sits Harmonia down in front of a tree, using the rope to tie her hands to it. "Annnd... There!" He steps away from her, admiring his work. "I don't think you'll be runnin' off on me now."

Harmonia looks annoyed. "What's that for?? What do you want to talk about??" Cole watches from far away, always watching.

"Well, good question, I thought you'd never ask!" Apollo sits down in front of Harmonia, pulling out an axe. "I only wanna make sure you're not gonna fuck this up for me." Apollo grazes the axe's blade on the hairs of her arm, "I got a plan. A big plan. Bigger than you think. I'm not gonna tell you everything, but just know it requires you.”

Harmonias breathing picks up and she grits her teeth as she watches the blade. "How so?"

"You see, you're gonna be my little... deus ex machina. My little ace in the hole. You're gonna help me get my full power, and in return, I'll let you live. Understand?"

"You already tried to kill me and failed. How do I know you can actually kill me?"

"Oh, you'll find out once I become perfect. I'll be as powerful as a God! Maybe even enough to take down that wretched prince..." Apollo gets caught up in his daydreaming for a few seconds before shaking his head, shaving the individual hairs on her arm with the axe. "All you need to do is be a vessel for me. I'll continue my slaughter spree, and in return, I'll pamper you with anything you want. Fame? Riches? You can have it. As long as you give me a couple hours each day to rack up a few kills."

Harmonia clenches her fists. "What I want is my friends to be safe. For November back. Can you do that? And if I say no you just kill me?"

"Oh, I can do that. That and much more. And if you say no... I wouldn't kill you, Harmonia! I'm your friend, remember?" He chuckled.

"How do I know you won't betray me when you get your power or whatever? Won't just kill me and my friends?"

"Have I ever lied to you, Harmonia?"

"I've only known you for 2 days."

"And sometimes that's all that's needed. I have no reason to lie to you after I become perfect."

"Okay. So what do you need me for? Why are you asking? You clearly don't need my permission to possess me.”

"You're right. But I need your permission to siphon the energy from your kills. You see..." He gently cuts into her skin with the axe. "Life essence is dispensed into the soul of the killer. I need to siphon that essence to become more.... Greater.... More powerful… And I need you to do it. You need to help direct that essence to me. Understand?"

Harmonia watches, not flinching at the cut. "...fine. Fine. I'll do it..." Harmonia bites her cheek, nervous she made the wrong decision.

Apollo chuckles, bringing the axe away from her. He cuts her free, hugging her. "Oh, thank you, thank you! You're going to make a grown demon cry!" Apollo fake cries into her shoulder.

Harmonia freezes when she’s touched. "Jesus."

Apollo laughs, letting her go. "I do apologize if that seemed a bit... unprofessional. I only needed to make sure you wouldn't try anything."

A red flare wizzes past Apollo’s head. He jolts back, looking in the direction the flare came from.

Harmonia jumps. "Okay..." She looks in the direction of the flare.

Cole walks out from behind a tree. “Sup gayass.”

Apollo sighed. "What do you want, Genesone?" Harmonia just looks exhausted and lays against the tree.

"I want you to kill me instead of Harmonia.” Cole steps closer to Apollo.

"...What? I wasn't even going to kill her!"

Harmonia relaxes and watches.

"You know I heard everything, right?"

"He wasn't gonna kill me.”

"Well now he wasn't but still my point still stands.”

"And who said any of this was your business?" Apollo sneers.

"It’s my business if your hurting my fucking friends” Cole says.

"Im fine-" Harmonia responds.

"No you’re not you’re fucking tied to a tree!”

"Not anymore-"

"I barely even nicked her with the blade!" Apollo stepped in between Harmonia and Cole. "You can fuck right off if you think I'd hurt such a prestine vessel."

"Mhm sure. Just know I’ll have your head on a stick.” Cole responds.

"Cole I’m fine-" Harmonia gets up, using the tree as a support.

"Then why are you using the tree as support?"

"Because I’m tired from our match-"

"Mhm sure.”

"He didn't hurt me!"

"Uh huh sure.”

"Tell me why I would hurt the vessel I need in order to reach my full potential."

"Mmmm how about you explain that to yourself.” Cole pushes Apollo out of the way and tries to grab Harmonia.

Harmonia freezes. "Cole I’m fine-"

Apollo pushes Cole up against the tree, pressing the axe to his neck. "How about you fuck off and we all go our seperate ways? Does that sound nice, Genesone? Or are you too pent up about your kid you can't afford to lose anyone else?"

Cole stares Apollo directly in the eyes as they begin to glow a purple. “Yeah I am actually so how about you let me go before I fucking lose it.”

Apollo shoved himself away from Cole, putting the axe away and spitting in his direction. Apollo disappeared, going back to his house.

"That’s what I fucking thought.” Cole said.

Harmonia just sits down, exhausted. "Sorry..."

"It’s not your fault. Now let’s get you out of here.” Cole extends his hand to Harmonia and she takes it, the two disappearing.