Eviscerate - III | The Endless Forest

"To put it simply, it involves us killing this forest's Jergens"

The almost giddy smile on Friend's face enough to make the man want to retch, especially coupled with such a disgusting sentence. Jergens didn't frown or smile, nor did he register surprise or fear. He simply scoffed and waved a hand in an annoyed dismissal.

That had to be joke. Where was the logic in Friend's words to begin with? None of it made sense, that killing.... himself... would lead to a separation between the two personalities.

And besides; Friend himself wasn't even a real 'personality' to begin with. He was just a small fraction of Jergens' soul as a whole. Or, in a less spiritual sense, a delusion conjured up to repress a traumatizing past. There was no way he could function on his own, was there?

The boy watched as Jergens seemed to mull this over, his own smile fading back to its same, unreadable expression. "Think of it as 'vessel' we need to gain for myself. Biologically, everyone in this forest is the absolute same, down to the very core of their genetic patterns." he ignored his other self's puzzled look. "The body we're in now, and the body that's here are the absolute same... In other words, somewhere I can go inhabit once the 'motherboard' is shut down... so to speak."

Jergens slowly began to realize that Friend wasn't just pulling his leg... that he'd have to actually 'murder' himself for the sake of not only giving Friend somewhere else to go, but giving him absolute control over that body as well.

Even so...

(iftheyrethesamethenwouldnttherebeoneofyewwithhimtoo?) The man asked, propping up his head with a bare elbow rested on his desk.

"Not necessarily." Friend replied. He practically ran back up to his chalkboard, his bare feet loudly slapping against the linoleum. "I'm a result of your experiences in the forest... the not so good ones. Your other self probably had a cake walk compared to you if he managed to find Bartleby." he grabbed a piece of chalk and scratched in a few bullet points, neatly spaced.

Okay, that made sense, Jergens had to admit. But even so, Friend was still an integral part of his mentality. How could you get rid of something that was, quite literally, a part of yourself? Be it good or bad?

Friend seemed to catch onto Jergens' confusion, and he drew a few simplistic doodles next to each bullet point. "There are numerous side effects for something like this I should probably tell you about..." he mumbled, taking care to add in a few details to his drawings here and there.

Next to the first point was the crude representation of a person.

Next to the second point was a barely recognizable butterfly mask

Next to the third was nothing more than a cloud of jagged lines.

"I'd write them down but I thought I'd be nice and cater to your illiteracy." Friend smiled sweetly, the yellow tint of his crooked teeth on full display. It only made him look creepier.

(thatdoesnthelpmeadamnbit) Jergens snapped, stiffly crossing his arms in front of his chest. Usually he would have just shrugged off the subtle insult with a shrug of the shoulders. Not now, though. Friend was just eating up every moment of dominance that he could possibly gobble up.

The boy placed the chalk back in its trivet and crossed his hands behind his back, only to unclasp them to point up at the human stick figure he had drawn. "Jergens. I won't explain the technicality of how this might work. One, you wouldn't get it. Two, you probably don't care because you know that I wouldn't lie to you about this sort of thing." he sped through his preamble, to which Jergens merely nodded in response. Nothing to really argue against there.

"Now, what you'll lose first I think may go without saying..." Friend murmured, pausing to pick up his chalk and draw a small face on his messy stick figure. "If I leave, most of the memories of your human life will go with me... I am them after all, or at least most of them." he explained, placing a little check mark neck to the dot. "You'll just go on life thinking that you were a deer all along. Not bad, right?"

No, that wasn't bad at all actually.

He had barely lived in the forest over a year, and already Jergens had begun to forget small fragments of his human life, from minute details to fairly monumental aspects. The forest had a side-effect of making deer lose their memories, at whatever pace the Gods wanted. Some deer were lucky and had all their memories erased upon entering, but some were unlucky like Jergens. They had to go through most of their lives slowly forgetting their once glamorous (or pathetic) existences.

So in the end, what was worse? Having your past life slowly ripped away, or having it torn off on the spot?

To Jergens, the decision was a painful one. It had taken him almost a year to fully assimilate himself to forest life. He had only started using the term 'mate' but a few months before, and he had stopped forcing himself to sit in a human-like pose when he talked to others.

(itdoesntmattertome)

The thoughts were firm, and Jergens moved up to stand side by side with Friend, his fists clenched at his sides. For once, Friend didn't object. Rather, he simply nodded and moved on, evidently pleased.

"Glad to see that you're not as stupid as I thought." he praised, moving onto the second bullet point, the one with the badly drawn mask. "Now this is where things get a bit more complicated..." he muttered, pausing slightly to gather his thoughts.

"You're still going to need to wear your mask, even if I'm no longer around. It's more of a stability thing than anything else. Its purpose was so engraved into your psyche that by removing it, and not having me around to take the helm, you'll go into a comatose state. Of course, it can easily be fixed by having someone put your mask back on, but until then you'd be completely defenseless." he spoke slowly, and only placed a check mark next the bullet when he had finished.

Jergens simply regarded him with an apathetic stare. (so?) he asked, shifting his weight from foot to foot. (illbefineaslongasidontgetittornoffsoireallydontcare) he reasoned.

Impatiently, he pointed to the last sketch, the superfluous ball of squiggles. (thatfuckisthatsupposedtobe?) he asked. It had been the only one that he was really interested in. The first two had seemed obvious enough, and understandable, but the last was a complete mystery to him

"Oh, that represents the nightmares you're going to have." Friend shrugged his shoulders, putting a check next to the dot. "Without me to oversee your unconsciousness mind, your brain is going to have a hard time adjusting to a life without my help. So for several months, you probably won't be sleeping much... if at all." he admitted. "I regulate your dreams now, but without my control you're basically going to get nothing but countless horrific visions and terrors. The only upside is that it's temporary." he reassured him, smiling brightly.

(iftheyretemporarythenidontcare) Jergens brushed it aside, his mind hard set.

"Good boy." his other self smiled, putting his chalk away. "A hefty price, but they seem rather petty once you look at the big picture."

---

They had reached the ruins.

Like their own forest, it was virtually an exact replica. Of course, there were some minor differences. While Jergens himself wouldn't necessarily notice, some of the names engraved on the graves were different than their own. Their shapes and layout were the same despite this, even down to the finest portion of lichen and moss that each rock so carried.

At first glance, there was no one around. The absolute isolation of the area was unnerving, but from the way Sect seemed to prance around, such a lack of activity must have been natural. Was everyone just all huddled in the same place then? At this point, anything seemed likely.

Cautiously, Peony raised her head as if it were a muzzle and snuffed the air. Dust, pollen, damp stone... She sighed in relief when the cloying odor of Jack was nowhere to be traced.

However, there was still a faint underlying scent of cherry and almonds. Jergens' trademark scent (literally). So at least there was that one comfort. Even so...

"Well we're here!" Sect pranced onwards a way to face the three nameless deer, his bushed tail wagging in approval. "Kay. Look, I'd like to stay... but Uncle Crybaby said he was gonna teach me some sparring techniques." he grinned, shifting his weight from hoof to hoof. "He says I need to learn self-defense so's that I protect myself, right?" he twirled around in a showy little circle and regarded them with a final smile. "So I'm going to leave you here, okay? I'm sure Other Jergens has this." he looked up at the nameless placed in the middle of the trio.

Friend blinked in faux surprise, and then smiled.

He's a smart kid.

(...cantletyoudothis)

You have no choice.

"Ya've been a good help Secter~" Friend sweetly cooed, earning himself a small murmur of agreement from Peony and Christof. "Don't worry about it. Guess the name is just common, right?" he chuckled.

Sect just shrugged and whipped his head about, obviously impatient. How had he been able to live so recklessly without hurting himself? He was a hemophiliac, after all...

"Rightright. Common. I dunno, I guess..." the small buck awkwardly shuffled from hoof to hoof and pranced away a few steps, only to turn back and offer a comical wave with one of his floppy ears. "You guys... you're really weird... But bye anyway." he tipped his head politely and trotted away.

None of the nameless deer spoke until he was gone. Catching Jergens' scent, Friend stepped forward and glanced over at Peony. "He's probably on the other side... Ya wanna come with me?" he asked, tail wagging.

"Of course!" Peony smiled sweetly and cantered up to her father's side. "Why wouldn't I?"

Christof was less than amused. "...Yer tryin' to make me just stay here, aren't ya?" he grumbled, pausing once to whip his neck around and chew on his neck fur.

Friend just smiled. "The Jergens here doesn't know ya Chrissy, and if ya say somethin' he might freak out and recognize yer voice and then we'd have to go on a long-ass tangent that nobody here wants to listen to." he motioned Peony over. "So just sit tight, okay?"

He could just feel Jergens seething at him, practically pressing himself against the mental barrier. It was a wonderful feeling, soon to be gone, but wonderful all the same.

Nose to the ground, Friend closed his eyes and followed a rather simple trail. As he walked, he could pick up the faintest tinge of Jack's musky odor, as well as some hints of other deer as well.

Eventually the tips of his hooves met air rather than solid ground, and soon Friend found himself looking down in the massive pit that the Ruins so proudly sported.

Curled up in the middle was a perfect replica of himself...

...minus the scars, the newly formed wrinkles, and the bitter expression.

(please...)

Now you're begging me? You really have gotten pathetic

(icanmakeyastop)

I can kill your daughter

(...)

Who matters more in the end, Jergens? A brat you've barely met, or the flesh and blood of your dead mate?

(...alrightthen)

Hm?

(killhim)

A wide grin.

"I knew you'd understand in the end..." the stag muttered aloud.

And before Peony could question him, Friend jumped into the pit.

Thrashing. Struggling. Muffled screams.

Silence.

---

As much as it throws off my standard 4-part act balance, this is the last part.

Yup.

That's right.

You heard me.

There is an epilogue coming your way. However, you'll never know what happened right after the last line... You'll probably get a vague idea with the end though...

Also; a bit of explanation for the whole 'nightmares' part of the price. If the muse ever strikes me, I may post a few that Jergens has that reveal a bit more about his childhood or time with Pert. Yes, that's what it is... a lame excuse for me to post origin snippets without feeling guilty for them being quasi-forest related. For the most part, he'll just be bloody miserable for a while~ (And you may even get a retelling of what happens after this... if I feel up to it.)

Of course, by losing *most* memories of his human life, Jergs'll certainly be a lot less bitter. I don't want to think of it as a 'refresh' of the character, because it isn't. There will be a slight change in his personality and how he interacts with other deer, but it'll be pretty subtle. He'll also more than likely participate in the rut next year as well