"FAUST 1997" -- Ghosts of the Past 9808.2 by Nytshaed. ©1998 Chaotic Works Inc. No part of the manuscript may be published, posted or reposted without explicit written permission by the Author. This story is of an Adult nature and is intended for persons over the age of 18.
. WARNING: This scene contains explicit sexual material of a homo-erotic nature. If this offends you. Do not proceed. You have been warned.

"I gotta go AJ hon..." She whispered.

AJ turned his face to the side and placed a light kiss on her cheek before whispering his reply.
"Get him drunk, drop him in bed then slide in with me tonight... I'll give you a pelvic you won't ever forget."

Nyt chuckled, and slowly slid off of him.
"Ha! You wish." She said leaning over to collect Rik's SIN jacket which was now hers, and slipped it on while Rik have his hair a final tease in the mirror.

AJ leaned his head on one hand and watched him preen.

"Jesus, and people say I am a fucking peacock. You look and smell prettier than I do. If you don't get out of here quick I am gonna have to fuck the both of you." He growled rolling onto his back and stretching out.

Rik threw him a sidelong sneer, and after wrapping his arm around Nyt's waist, led her out of the bus to the car waiting outside.

AJ watched them go with a long glance, then sat up. Alone. Tonight was Jackie's night off, and he was out in town scoring up who knew what. He was glad to be rid of him for a while. He had gotten more sullen lately with the advance of Rik's friendship with him. Rik was just more fun to hang with these days, they shared a lot more that he and Jackie ever would. As he laid there, the bright interior lights of the bus began to annoy him, and he commanded them to fade down.

"Fuck levels" He yelled, and the lights dimmed to a nearly dark stage. The bright fluorescent lighting was replaced by recessed mood lighting in shades of deep indigo. Looking up at the ceiling, one hand slid under the back of his head to serve as a pillow while the other slid under the towel to nurse his nagging half hard-on. He closed his eyes, and sighed as his hand slowly glided up and down the silky column of hardening flesh. Quietly he purred in the back of his throat. This felt so good. The long hot shower, and deep tissue massage had put him in the perfect mood for an easy fuck. But he was too lazy to go find some local tart to fill. Suddenly feeling more inspired, he rolled off of the couch, the discarded towel falling to the floor as he slowly stood to stretch, cock standing out at it's full 9 inches. AJ gave it a few long loving strokes as he shuffled to the back of the bus to add a little something to the mix.

Moments later, he sat reclined in the dark privacy of his bedroom suite, propped up on the massive pile of pillows at the head of his bed sipping a freshly made Absinthe. The very hallucinogenic, very illegal drug was already beginning to slip into his blood stream. He drank a mixture far more potent than even Poe or Oscar Wilde would have attempted in their heyday. Setting the glass to rest on the stand beside the bed, again his hand wandered to caress his swollen cock. Up and down his hand glided, squeezing just the right amount of pressure at the top and bottom of the strokes. He moaned aloud, hips shifting on the bed lifting to pump against his expert strokes. Pausing to empty the rest of the cocktail down his throat, he set he glass aside for a final time, then reclined once again, never missing a delicious stroke. He close his eyes and began to pump himself just ever so much harder. He wanted to milk this one. The Absinthe would make for an incredible orgasm, and right now, he was enjoying the vision of Sophie sitting astride him, her milky white hips rocking back and forth as he buried his meat deep inside her.

"Sophie.." He moaned, visions of his lost love filling his head, and firing his loins. Inhaling deeper and deeper as the Absinthe worked it's magic, he slid farther down onto his back, fist pounding down harder and harder on the down strokes. He slid his hand over the slick head of his throbbing member to rub his palm over the cock ring embedded there. Hooking his index finger through the Prince Albert Piercing, he gave it a quick jerk, sending shock waves of sensation through his entire body. Eager drops of pre-cum oozed forth, running over his fingers as he jerked the ring again, this time issuing a cry of tortured ecstasy as his hips again bucked, so near to an orgasm, but topping himself painfully to keep it back. Too soon, it was too soon... As his hand again returned to palm the top of his slickened head his visions were of Sophie and that delicate scarlet mouth of hers wrapped around him, sliding up and down to taste his heat, his hot seed just a breath away from pumping down her throat.

"Sophie..." He moaned aloud, his hand again grasping his cock firmly as he pumped his hand up and down it's throbbing length, pushing himself closer to the edge again. Animal grunts rose from his throat as his hips rose to meet the pounding of his fist. His free hand clutched at the silk coverlet of the bed, fingers grasping for a hold that was not here. Why did she not bind him and them torment him so? He wanted to be held down and fucked for her pleasure, all for her. The pounding of his heart, echoed in his ears as he passed the point of no return, and furiously he pumped his hand up and down his length, the final needed times. His breath coming in ragged pants as he at last cried out with the release, his hips bucking wildly as his cum shot out in thick milky jets over his sweat glossed belly. Shivering in divine ecstasy, he writhed on the bed as the orgasm echoed on and on. Releasing his still erupting cock he rubbed his hands in the pearly pools on his belly and smeared it all over his chest, his belly then lifted his fingers to his mouth to lick the cream from his fingers, tasting his own empty seed. Hungrily licking the fruit of his labors from his fingers he slowly opened his eyes, and looked down at the face beaming at him.

"That is only the first in a long line of pleasures my friend..." Swan purred as his hand slid over AJ's slicked nubile body to caress his still trembling cock. Mouth parched and winded, AJ could only nod, and lift his hips in a silent plea for more. Swan smiled and keeping his hand tightly encircled around his protégé's sagging cock, he slowly slid up the bed to cover AJ's tanned body with his own pale one. Soon, laying cock to cock, Swan watched the visible shock on AJ's Face as he continued to masturbate him, then lower his face to his. AJ's eyes fluttered shut, and he reveled in the drugs coursing through his blood as Swan pumped his manhood back to attention, and slid his tongue in to his receptive mouth, mingling it with his own. When he was again hard, Swan slipped his hand out from between their moist bodies, and slid his hands up AJ's sides, finding his hands, and lifting them above his head. AJ opened his eyes only when he felt the cold steel of the handcuffs snap tightly around his wrists, binding him to the steel iron of Swan's bed. AJ looked questioningly at Swan, and Swan smiled as he again slow kissed AJ, then traced a trail of hot kissed down the center of his chest. AJ reclosed his eyes, and pumped his hips slowly, urging Swan to cover it with his mouth, and make him cum again. He shivered as he felt the hot moisture of Swan's mouth sliding down over him, gliding up and down his cock while his hand massaged his tightening balls.

"Yes, oh yes..." He moaned hips beginning to buck slowly as he pulled against the restraints.

Swan smiled around him, and sucked on the slick throbbing head of AJ's shaft, tonguing the slit at the tip, urging more of the slick pre cum forth. AJ writhed about on the bed, wanting more, there had to be more. As if his desires had been heard, he felt one of Swan's hands slide from his balls down between his legs to tease at his asshole. AJ clenched only initially, then lifted his knees and let them fall back as Swan slid a finger lubricated from his own oozing cock into AJ's ass. AJ let out a gasp and moaned as the finger bore into him probing his prostrate, and sending unknown sensations of pleasure rippling through out his fevered body.

"Oh! Oh yeah..." He panted, arms pulling on the cuffs so hard they cut into his delicate flesh. He shivered as Swan slid the first finger out, and added a second, again using his own fluids for lubrication. AJ sighed and pumped his hips begging for more. Swan obliged him by sucking hard on AJ's throbbing cock, pulling moans and breath from the young mans body.

"Suck it!! Oh god... suck me... Suck it..." He mumbled feverishly as he felt himself about to cum.

With his eyes closed, he didn't see Swan quickly pull his mouth from AJ's cock and shift himself to straddle his chest. When he opened his eyes and mouth to protest, Swan filled the latter with his own throbbing shaft. Grasping AJ by his long lovely locks, he guided his mouth up and down his length to his rhythm. AJ's eyes opened wide and for a second panic filled them. Seeing this, Swan let loose of AJ's hair with his right hand and leaning back returned to alternately caressing his cock, and slipping his fingers in and out of him. AJ's eyes slowly shut and he eased, allowing Swan to slide deeper down his throat. Swan's own eyes closed and as he pleasured his new toy, he thrust his cock eagerly into AJ's receptive, obedient mouth. For this being his first time with a man, AJ was a joy to fuck. The heroin in his veins was a big part of relaxing inhibitions. Suddenly as he neared his climax, Swan removed his hand from pumping AJ's seeping cock, and again framed the young mans face with his hands as he furiously pumped himself in and out. Then as he felt himself nearing the edge, he mumbled as he tangled his fingers in AJ's hair.

"Yes, oh yes... AJ. Who is your master now? Swallow me my dear... taste me... Suck me off my son... Suck me... Suck me..." He chanted as his hips bucked a few final times, and then, pulling AJ's face tight against the curly mat of his pubic hair, forcing him to deep throat him, he shivered as his hot load pumped down his throat in trembling waves. AJ's body rippled beneath him as he gagged.

"Swallow me you bastard... Submit to me!! I own you now... You will do what I tell you to do!" He hissed.

Tears streamed down AJ's cheeks as he swallowed, feeling Swan's hot load slip down his throat. Swan allowed him enough room to breathe, but held himself in deep until the shudders of orgasm ended. Slowly he pulled out then holding his cock up to AJ's lips, with one hand he shook his head by the hair.

"You're not finished... Suck me clean boy."

AJ took a deep heaving breath, then letting in out, parted his lips, and circled the head of Swan's cock slowly with his tongue before moving his head forward to take him fully into his mouth. Swan sighed and eased his grip on AJ's hair. Instead of using it for a grasp handle, he stroked the sides of his face purring compliments to him as he suckled Swan until he fell soft and flaccid from his mouth. His quiet sobs filled the dark and steamy room. The scent of Swan's cock and seed filling his sensitive nose. Suddenly the thoughts of shame and pain flew away as he once again felt Swan's hot mouth sucking on him urging him to hardness again. AJ moaned a futile protest, and shifted his position slightly, scooting up toward the head of the bed to ease the pressure on the steel cutting into his captured wrists. Swan ignored him, and continued to suckle and probe him until he again was pumping his hips eager for release.

Swan removed his fingers from AJ's ass long enough to grab a bottle of cinnamon oil from a nearby table, and coated his fingers with it before sliding three fingers deep into the young man's hole, twisting them around, probing him and setting his rectum afire with the oil. AJ cried out, and bucked his hips as Swan raked the sides of his throbbing cock with his teeth then alternated deep throating him with painfully hard sucks, teasing the slit as it seeped pre cum. Then with his cock buried in Swan's throat and as Swan's fingers fucking his burning asshole, AJ cried aloud, fighting the bonds that held him both physically and mentally as he shuddered down Swan's throat, his breaths coming hard in the seemingly airless room as he bucked his hips and Swan hungrily swallowed him down. AJ moaned as Swan forced another finger into AJ, stretching him painfully. Swan's mouth continued to move up and down his spurting length until AJ's entire body went limp, spent and nearing hysteria. Shuddering and weeping as AJ was, Swan reveled in the damage he had wrought on his pupil. But School wasn't out yet. While AJ was still incoherent and recovering from his climax, Swan gently caressed the hot sweaty body of the young man, rolling him over onto his belly, and tracing trails along his shoulder blades, and back with his fingernails. When AJ arched his back Swan knelt behind him and slid his knees between AJ's, spreading them with ease. Shoving the thumb of his left hand deep inside the youth, he used his right to squeeze a stream of the cinnamon oil onto his own hard cock, and then poured more over the thumb massaging AJ. When he felt the first hint of a struggle, he tossed the oil aside, then after a brief introduction of cock head to asshole, he grasped AJ's hips, and thrust forward violently burying his length into him. AJ let out a plaintive wail, making Swan wished he had gagged him. Oh well, next time. The spiced oil coating his cock set fire to AJ's violated shaft. He squirmed beneath Swan's thrusts, but he was chained and far too weakened to fight off the rape. Swan smiled and pumped in and out of him, enjoying each fiery stroke and the cries of the victim beneath him.

"Feel me in you AJ... Feel me take you... I am gonna fuck you all night..." He purred.

AJ pulled on the cuffs restraining him, this only succeeded in opening fresh wounds as blood streamed down his arms in copious flows. Weakened beyond struggle, AJ collapsed, only his ass supported by Swan's powerful thrusts. His breath caught in his throat with each thrust. Swan buried himself to the balls in the young man over and over, and upon feeling him break, reached down between AJ's thighs to begin jacking him off again. AJ responded with a tormented whimper.

"No more."

But he was powerless, and quickly learning he had no control over anything anymore. His cock responded almost immediately, already knowing who it now served.

"Yes AJ... Always more. The path of excess... leads to the palace of... wisdom..." Swan grunted between the thrusts he timed with the strokes on AJ's cock. Spurred quickly by the heat of the oil and AJ's complete submission, Swan moaned aloud as his hips spasmed and he thrust a final time deep into AJ. Causing him to scream in agony as his load pumped deep into him. Swan cruelly clenched down hard the fist jerking AJ off, and smiled as he felt AJ pump his load out over his hand and stomach. Swan collapsed, spent and sated on top of AJ, and pulling his sweaty and matted hair away from his ear, hissed into it.

"Don't ever forget who is on top here, and who's bitch you really are.. My son."

The high was gone, the sweet dreams of Sophie as well, and all that remained was the horror of his past long ago buried, or so he had thought. Trembling replaced the panicked heaving of his sides, and after brushing his long hair back out of his face, he wrapped his arms around his bent knees, resting his chin upon them. Closing his eyes only dulled the headache, but did not obscure the memories continuing to play over in his dark mind. He could only wonder how long he had been out and slowly opening one eye, glanced at the neon clock on the left wall of the bedroom. It read one thirty in the morning. The bus was silent except for the slow thumping of his heart in his ears. Nyt and Rik had to still be out. He would hear them if they were there fucking or even sleeping curled up as lovers do. Half an hour later, getting stiff from sitting still so long, the images still burned in his mind as rare tears streamed down his face. The physical pain of those days was long passed, only one of the many ownership piercings and markings from those dark days remained. Sitting there staring into the darkness, the parade of images replayed themselves as if he were watching one of Swan's millions of secret surveillance videos.

Closing his eyes, he slumped sideways onto the bed. Eventually he began to doze. AJ awoke when something cold and metallic touched his thigh. Opening his eyes he blinked in the flickering darkness. Candles now lit the room, and he shifted, feeling again the bonds that held his fast at wrist and ankle, holding him spread-eagled on the large bed. Black was the room, as were all the furnishings, no color to be seem save for his pale skin, and the amber flickering of the candles. Letting his head fall back against the pillow, he let out a long sigh.

"Impatient my friend? Patience is a virtue you will learn to master..." The silky male voice spoke from off to his right.

AJ bit back a reply, knowing now that smart ass replies only brought more punishments. He closed his eyes, and inhaled the smoke of the incense burning nearby. He felt it seep into his lungs and then spread that delicious buzzy high feeling all over him. Everything began to tingle, and he inhaled deeply again, filling his lungs to capacity with the smoke, and holding it in as long as he could before exhaling again. Swan called it incense, but AJ had smelled it, and smoked it before at Hippie orgies. Hash was a great aphrodisiac, and did a lot to loosen inhibitions. After ten years of being under Swan's control, and having to submit to his keeper's wishes, he welcomed the mind numbing effect of drugs before the acts of sadism and debauchery were unleashed upon him.

He remained still as he felt the cool silk cloth draped over his eyes, and pulled backwards. He leaned his head fore ward, and allowed the blindfold to be tied securely in place. Allowed was a generous term, he was strapped down like an animal ready for vivisection. He had no choice. Darkness would make it easier, easier to fall into blissful bottom space, or bypass that and imagine... What? It had been ten years since he had last pressed a warm body beneath his and sunk his cock in for his pleasure. He had almost forgotten what that was like. Satisfaction and body rocking orgasms were never denied, but they came from a solitary source and at that source's whim.

AJ sighed and smiled as he felt a cool, smooth hand wrap itself around his limp cock and begin moving up and down it's length, urging it to attention. Inhaling and holding in another lungful of smoke, he slowly pumped his hips to match the skillful strokes. Not so much eager to please, as eager to get to the pleasure zones he would not doubt be taken to. Once he was hard enough, he felt the hand move away from around him to slide down between his thighs. At the same moment, a warm, moist mouth slipped over the head of his cock while skillful fingers fingered his balls, and a thumb slipped inside of him. He moaned, surrendering himself, pulling momentarily against the bonds that held him, making sure he was in fact fully restrained. For a moment he wondered what lay in store that evening. Restrained as he was, denied access to his ass that Swan so loved to pump his load into. Perhaps a sixty nine scene, or even something new. AJ let the wondering slide away as he pumped his hips up and down, Swan urging him nearer to a climax. The skilled hand left his balls and ass long enough to add lubrication, then return to slide two long slender fingers inside to probe his prostrate.

AJ let out a gasp and fucked the mouth as hard as he could.

"Ahh... ahh... ahh... " He panted then bucked his hips a final time, spilling his hot load down Swan's throat. Swan swallowed him skillfully and continued to finger him deep, sending aftershocks of the orgasm through him.

AJ growled deep in his throat, and then opened his mouth to breath in the heavy air as Swan's mouth and hands left him. He laid there panting, reveling in the sensation until unexpectedly, a ball gag was shoved into his mouth. This time AJ fought, pushing the rubber ball out of his mouth with his tongue, but upon ejecting the ball, he was struck in the solar plexus with a leather gloved fist, knocking the wind from him. While he wheezed for air, the ball was shoved back into his mouth and tied behind his head. Forced to breathe through his nose when his body wanted to gasp heavily for air, made him light headed, and on the verge of a faint.

Soothing hands soon wrapped themselves around his softened cock and began to jerk him off again. One hand moved to stroke his smooth, muscular stomach, using a fingertip to follow the trail of coal black hair that made a trail from his navel to his crotch. The same hand then slid upward, over his belly to his chest, and to his left nipple, twisting the ring that pierced it. AJ moaned and felt his body again surrender to the cruel arousal, surrender to Swan. Pain and pleasure. Pleasure and pain. The two were becoming inexplicably joined in his mind, and imprinted on his psyche. He would not be able to have one without the other. Taking in gradually slower and deeper breath through his nose, his body again relaxed, and fell into Swan's slow hand job rhythm. He could tell this was just to get him hard, not get him off, not right away anyhow. He shifted his mouth around the ball gag, and slowly undulated his hips. The high was peaking, and as Swan continued to fondle him, he relaxed, and spaced out on the sensations.

Several minutes later, he felt Swan's hands leave his body, and his weight shift on the bed. Fully stoned, AJ laid there passively, waiting.

"I'm going to give you a present tonight AJ. Call it... an Anniversary gift." He said in a soft, soothing voice.

"Hmm...." AJ hummed from behind the gag. He liked presents, especially Swan's. They were always the best.

By listening he could not fully tell what Swan was doing, he heard the screw cap of a jar being opened, then seconds later, a thick gel being spread on the head of his cock. He moaned softly. Lube, on his cock. With his mouth and ass covered, perhaps he was going to fuck Swan. He smiled, and his cock twitched with horny anticipation. He had wanted for so long to make another moan under his thrusts. He would give him a hell of a ride. The jar was reclosed, and he felt Swan move about on the bed, then gently sit on top of him, with his back to him. AJ was sure he was going to get to fuck him, then on his skin he could feel that he was still wearing soft cotton pants of some sort. His puzzlement was nearly abated when he felt swan grasp his erection and resume jacking it slowly, then there was a strange sensation as he felt Swan grasp his cock tightly just below the head, and insert something cold and metallic into the slit at the end.

AJ tensed, but did not flinch as a sudden numbing fear washed over him, making him break out in a cold sweat.

"Swan?" He asked, muffled by the gag.

"Happy Anniversary AJ...." Swan purred just before shoving the sharp. pointed end of the piercing tube into the side of AJ's urethra, and as AJ screamed around the gag in agony, forced the point through until it punctured the skin to embed the end of the piercing shaft into a waiting cork on the underside of his cock.

AJ bucked his hips madly, fairly tossing Swan off of him and the bed. He fought furiously at the bonds holding him, mad with the sharp agony emanating from his now pierced cock. Swan watched him thrash himself to exhaustion with a smile so perverse. When AJ finally collapsed exhausted on the bed, tears streaming down his face and sobs muffled by the ball gag. Swan approached him, and stroked his wet belly softly.

"That's it my pet. You know how these things hurt at first... Remember your nipple? That hurt like a bitch but now you love it when I play with it... This will be so much better, now just let me put the ring in."

AJ whimpered behind the gag, he was too drained to fight, and he knew it would be futile, possibly only resulting in more injury to him. He nodded slowly, and let his body go limp. He felt Swan's gentle touch as he spread more of the gel on the tube, and slid it through the newly made hole. AJ's body tensed with the ripping pain, but he remained silent. When he reached the end of the curved tubes length, he inserted the end of the ring into other end of the hollow tube, and slipped it into the new hole, carefully twisting it shut and pressing the ball closure into the gap. AJ let out the long anguished cry he had been holding in during the whole agonizing process. His cry was greatly muffled by the gag, then he then fell limp on the bed, his sides heaving as he starved for air. Swan reached up to loosen the ball gag, and as soon as he had, leaned in to kiss his pet. AJ tore his mouth away, and continued to pant heavily.

"I know you are angry with me now. But you will thank me for this later..."

A sharp pain at the end of his cock startled AJ, and he thrashed about in his bed, waking from the tormented slumber. Rolling over he sat up, hands diving under the covers to investigate the pain that had awakened him. Wincing he slid his hand into the cutoffs he was wearing and freed his cock ring from the loose strand it had become entangled in, pulling on it when he had been erect in his sleep. Having done that, he ran his hands through his sweat soaked hair, and sighed. The nightmares were getting worse, and his despair was rising. He sat there for a long time, as the images still played over and over in his mind. Try as he might, he could not recall forth any happy memories. Even pinnacles of success seemed hollow and vapid. He had no successes, none he could call his own. Everything he had done or accomplished was a result of unholy interventions. He had no talent, no skills, everything about him was a façade, a front, a publicity stunt. Sophie had been right, he was a destroyer. A destroyer of life, and of light. He could create nothing, nothing that mattered anyway. Rising from his bed he walked to the front of the bus and looked out at the night sky. It was empty, star less and moon less, just like him. Turning, he walked to the bathroom, and opened the medicine cabinet. Looking inside, he found nothing that would do the intended job. Standing still and listening, he found he was still alone. Rik and Nyt were still out enjoying the simple pleasures of life, and even death, that only mortals could. His contract made him invulnerable to just about any form of injury or death. This is the reason the band traveled by land. Theoretically anyone could walk away with injuries from an armored bus accident an survive, but to walk away from a plane wreck was a bit much. Turning and leaving the bathroom he went to the closet where Rik kept his clothing and other personal items. He opened the door, and easily snapped off the paltry padlock guarding his jewelry box. Digging through the dozens of rings, necklaces, and other baubles found there, he at last held up a large sterling silver cross Rik often wore onstage. It was a lovely work of art, Celtic in design. AJ stared at it for a long moment as the cross twisted to and fro at the end of the chain, glinting in the pale light, the irony of the symbol and the use he would put it to not lost on him. Then clasping it tightly in his palm, he returned to the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Later as he reclined naked in the steaming bath water, having showered and shaved, with his long hair combed back, he picked up Rik's cross as it hung around his neck. Looking at it for a long time, he at last smiled, and holding the sharpest edge of the cross against his left arm, he drew the cross down the center of his arm over the large vein in the center of his arm. Pain, real pain this time made him wince and pause. His heart beat picked up at the trauma relayed a warning to his body. pressing harder, and biting down on his lip, he dragged the cross from elbow to his wrist, and gasped as the blood began to seep from the wound in pulsing waves. Falling back against the back of the tub, he tried catching his breath, panting with the agony, then sat up to repeat the process on his right arm. It was harder doing the second, the fiery pain ripping from his slashed left arm made precision cutting an effort. In the end, he stopped at halfway down his arm, the blood flowing out over the edge of the tub, as he let his arms fall slack. The left landed in the tub of warm water, which would expedite the flow, the other had landed outside of the tub, and poured gore into the black shag carpet. Between labored breaths and tears, real tears, he spoke.

"Stereo... Queen... Night at the Opera... Program AJ.." The voice activated system obeyed it's master and in seconds the album that paralleled so much of his own life's history played out over the bus speaker system playing the tracks previously programmed by him. Closing his eyes, he smiled through the pain as Freddie's angelic voice serenaded him. "Death on Two Legs". He laughed quietly as the lyrics played out. How many times had Sophie told him that is what he was? "I'm in Love With My Car" Ahh.. that brought back memories... The first of many Corvettes he would own. A 1969 Stingray, black, sleek and dangerous. He remembered driving it in the hills of Southern California top down, speeds pushing the limits of man and machine. "Love of my life" Sobs overcame him despite the growing dizziness. He saw Sophie before him again. There was pain and sorrow in her eyes. She would mourn for him when he was finally gone, when she heard he had done this all for her. For her. How would she know? He had left no note.

Opening his eyes took a massive effort at this point, and he tried lifting his arms to rise from the tub, but he was far too weak. His strength sapped from him, his limbs fell back into the tub, splashing blood filled water on the walls in a gory wave. "Sophie." he breathed as darkness closed in. "Bohemian Rhapsody" It was almost as if Freddie had written it about him, a soul damned. Too weak to sing, he hummed along with the first verse, then slipped away into darkness.