The door creaked open, a slow, mournful groan of hinges cutting through the stillness. A figure emerged—black hair framing a deceptively cute face, her eyes wide with innocent surprise. The woman's voice trembled with warmth as she spoke, a sound that stabbed into David's chest like a rusted blade.
"Oh, David, it's you! What brings you here? Did Jack and Linda come with you?"
David stood frozen, a statue carved from anguish, his breath hitching as his gaze locked onto her. Tears welled in his eyes, spilling over like a dam shattered by a storm. This was Daisy—his Daisy. In his old world, she had been everything: sister, mother, protector. A fragile light snuffed out too soon when their father, a monster cloaked in human skin, had raped her and left her broken body to rot. David had been a child then, helpless, watching as Daisy's life bled away. But here, in this timeline, she stood alive, radiant, untouched by that nightmare—or so it seemed.
Suddenly, he lunged forward, wrapping his arms around her in a desperate, suffocating embrace. His sobs erupted, raw and guttural, echoing into the night like the wail of a wounded beast. Tears streamed down his face, hot and unrelenting, soaking into her shoulder as his knees buckled beneath the weight of his grief.
"Daisy…" he choked out, voice cracking like brittle glass.
She pulled back slightly, her hands hovering over him, confusion etching lines into her gentle features. "What happened, David? Speak!"
He staggered back, wiping at his face with trembling hands, his chest heaving. "Oh, it's nothing… I had a bad dream," he lied, the words tasting like ash on his tongue.
"Well, come inside," Daisy said softly, her voice a balm he didn't deserve. She reached for him again, and he collapsed into her arms once more, sinking to his knees as tears flowed anew, a river of torment carving paths down his cheeks.
"Daisy… it was just a dream. Calm down. I'm here," she whispered, her hands stroking his hair as he knelt before her, a broken man unraveling at her feet.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" David's voice was a shattered whimper, each word laced with a sorrow so deep it seemed to claw its way out of his soul. "I was scared. I couldn't protect you that time…"
"It's okay, David," she murmured, her tone steady, soothing. "You were just a kid back then."
His tears fell faster, a flood of guilt and rage pooling at his feet. He looked up at her, eyes wide and glistening, his breath catching as she continued, her voice eerily calm. "What could a six-year-old boy do when I was getting raped by my own father?"
The words hit him like a sledgehammer, splintering his fragile hope. His vision blurred, and he stumbled to his feet, staring at her in disbelief. "What?"
Before he could process her words, a sharp, searing pain exploded in his chest. He looked down, eyes widening in horror as a sword protruded from his ribcage, blood blooming like a crimson flower across his shirt. His mouth filled with the metallic tang of his own life spilling out, choking him as he gagged. Daisy stood there, unmoving, her face blank, a hollow shell of the sister he'd clung to moments ago.
A figure stepped forward from the shadows, and David's blood ran cold. It was him—another David, this timeline's David, his cold black eyes glinting with malicious delight as he twisted the blade deeper. Blood poured from the wound, staining the floor in a grotesque pool.
"Well, well, well," this timeline's David sneered, his voice dripping with venomous glee. "What a pleasant surprise, isn't it, Original Timeline David?"
David's knees buckled again, but he remained silent, his cold, tear-streaked eyes fixed on his doppelgänger as blood dribbled from his lips.
"I know, Original David," the other continued, circling him like a predator savoring its prey. "Every David would be in shock to see this world, wouldn't they? This peace, this happiness—it's all my work, my creation. I didn't reincarnate like you. I seized power before death claimed me, kept my memories, and bent this world to my will. I mind-controlled them all."
Original David's breath hitched, his mind reeling as he listened, the sword still lodged in his chest, pinning him to his despair.
"Look at Daisy clearly, David," the other David commanded, his voice a sinister hiss.
David's gaze shifted, and the illusion shattered. Where Daisy had stood was no living woman—just a skeleton, a frail, twelve-year-old frame draped in tattered remnants of flesh. His heart stopped, a scream trapped in his throat as the truth sank in.
"Yes, she's dead," this timeline's David said with a twisted grin. "Everything you saw—Daisy alive, grown—it was fake. I crafted that scene to break you. She's been dead all along."
David collapsed fully now, his hands clawing at the blood-soaked floor, a guttural wail tearing from his chest as the weight of betrayal crushed him. Daisy—his Daisy—was gone. Again.
"I have no grudge against you," the other David said, stepping closer, his tone mockingly casual. "I haven't reincarnated. I don't know about Ruby or the others. But this world is mine, this timeline is mine, and I need to protect it. I need your power, David—the Creator's power. Look how peaceful it is! I'm happy with Linda. I have a kid now. Give up your life. Give me what I need."
David's head bowed, blood dripping from his mouth, pooling beneath him. Then, a low, chilling chuckle rumbled from his throat. His eyes flared crimson, glowing with a madness that swallowed the last vestiges of his humanity. "Ha… ha ha ha ha!" His laughter grew, a deranged symphony of rage and sorrow as he gripped the sword in his chest and yanked it free. The wound sealed instantly, flesh knitting together in a grotesque miracle.
This timeline's David staggered back, shock etching his face as Original David rose, his smirk widening into something feral. "For a moment, I felt pity for you and this timeline. I thought I could change. But you've shown me—every David is the same. You really got me with the Daisy but. I should thank you. Seeing her as an adult… it almost broke me. But I can't be good, can I? Ha ha ha haaaaa!"
His laughter echoed, a sound so unhinged it seemed to fracture the air itself. "Wow, what a twist! I'm shocked—wow, wow, wow! Fuck it—I'm done trying to be good. I'll be the worst being this multiverse has ever seen. I'll kill everyone, slow and steady, showing them what fear truly means, what it is to dread death itself. I'll be the chaos, the destruction, the hell these timelines deserve!"
He tilted his head back, staring at the moon—a cold, beautiful witness to his descent. "What a marvelous creation, isn't it, David? This peace, this happiness—so nice."
In an instant, Jack—Linda's son, this timeline's David's child—materialized in Original David's grasp, teleported by some dark force. The boy, barely five, whimpered, his wide eyes pleading.
"Jack," Original David purred, his voice a mockery of tenderness. "A kid of mine and Linda's… or maybe Linda and James?"
"Leave Jack alone!" this timeline's David roared, lunging forward, only to be ensnared by steel chains glowing with a sickly purple aura. They wrapped around him, pinning him in place as he thrashed helplessly.
"You showed me something," Original David snarled, his grin widening into a nightmare. "Now I'll show you what it means to fear, you motherfucker."
With a sickening crunch, he crushed Jack's head in his hands. Blood and bone sprayed across his fingers, the boy's lifeless body crumpling to the ground. Original David licked the gore from his hand, savoring it as this timeline's David's scream tore through the night.
"Nooooooooo! You motherfucker! My son—Jack—nooooooo! You monster!"
"Ahhhhh," Original David sighed, his voice a twisted hymn of delight. "What a marvelous scene. Who's next? Linda? No, no, no—I won't kill her yet. I've destroyed my old world, but for this timeline, I'll savor it. I won't kill them with my own hands. You'll watch, chained, as this world ends—slow and steady."
The air thickened with horror, a palpable shroud of dread settling over the scene. A monster who'd tried to change stood unrepentant, his soul blackened beyond redemption. Evil could seek good, but when the world refused to let it, that evil would rise—unleashed, unrelenting, eternal