WWisssh-WHOOOSH!
The scythe's formidable blade tore through stone floor in a blaze of white-hot sparks.

Unstable walls shook. Vibrations caused a familiar froggy clock's dramatic crash to solid ground - a mechanical clatter, a chime of glass, and a humble little ribbit.

Smiley knew that he'd been heard out, but he bowed like a prisoner at their site of execution nevertheless, his face hidden behind his sleeve.

Smirky stood in front of him, casting a sullen shadow over his shivering brother. He held the redirected scythe with an arm outstretched, fingers curled around its sleek metallic hold.

A permanent semicircle was engraved on the floor, swiping centimetres shy of Smiley's knees; the illusionist had deflected his own attack at the final second.

Perfect stillness. Unbreakable silence.

"I'm sorry." The not-so-good doctor repeated hoarsely.

Smirky's eyes widened. Those inky rings drained away as if dissolved, uncovering the untouched scarlet underneath them.

"Wh-What...?"

A swoosh of spiralling smoke obstructed his sight.

The smokey curtain was being emitted from Mr. Froggy Clock. Or rather, the mangled remains that used to be Mr. Froggy Clock.

Why it did that? Certainly mysterious. Perhaps a hidden security camera lurked within it. Word count, word count, boosty, boost, boost. ;)

Smiley mustered the courage to lower his arm a little, stopping at the bridge of his nose. His sorrowful eyes shone, glimmered with unspilt tears.

"I know what I d-did." His pained voice tried to steady itself, and failed. "A-And I... I..."

He became unintelligible, his words trailing off in an anguished cry.

Smiley threw himself down at Smirky's feet, racked with strangled sobs that were too heavy for him to bear. He could barely breathe. He couldn't talk.

He was u n d o n e.

The smoke danced.

It swirled in the carefree air.

And then it dissipated.

Smiley snapped his head up, tears streaking on his face; he sensed a sudden movement.

His shoulders subtly dropped - Smirky had slowly opened his hand and let the scythe fall. It clattered peacefully to the side. Blade dull and chipped, hold cracked.

Another one broken.

The not-so-good doctor sucked in a shuddering breath; relief. He had a tight knot in his stomach, and an even tighter one around his chest.

He swiped at his eyes with a sleeve. A few stray droplets splashed on the floor, blood from the burning cut on his heart.

"I wish I could take it back. All. Of. It."

A final bout of whirling smoke drifted around them, mimicking a perfect hourglass shape as it weaved laxly from Mr. Froggy's mechanical corpse.

If you listened hard, you'd be able to hear three heartbeats in the acheronian dungeon.

Nothing more.

And nothing less.

One pumping wildly. One slowing down. And one elevated out of annoyance.

Smiley cast his gaze downwards. Another wave washed over him; guilt's regretful thorns, and a light brush of fear.

His mirror twin stiffly reached forward – the veins in his hands became prominent due to a slight rotation of his wrist. Were they slightly blackened?

Smiley's head jerked back a little, as Smirky forcefully tilted his chin up. Throat exposed to cool air, he swallowed dryly.

Identical eyes. Different owners.

Opposites.

"Say that again."

Smiley didn't falter, as he thought he might be inclined to do. His brother wasn't being cruel – in fact, he sounded quite taken aback.

"I'm sorry." He repeated for a third and last time, keeping his eye-contact steady. "On our birthday, I did fool you twice... So, shame on me."

He held himself straight-backed. The tears were dry.

A lot of rubble was digging uncomfortably into his skin. He shifted on the wrecked floor, shaking some off from his black jeans, beginning to rise back to his feet.

Smirky simply let go of his chin, and made the movement to take a step back. He didn't follow through, frozen with one leg behind the other.

"You..."

The not-so-good doctor neatly dusted down his (viciously ripped) coat, disregarding a butterfly-like red stain on the pristine fabric that ended in a splay of macabre flecks.

"My actions drove you to insanity – true."

"Why..." Smirky took the full step back this time.

"-But your craziness could never compare to mine. I was crazier- I am crazier. "Helping" is such a beautiful lie to hide behind; it's just like the masks I wear to cover my teeth during surgery."

Smiley's tone saw an abrupt switch to a different, darker one, at the drop of a pebble. "That's my reason for what I did to you. I. Am. Crazy."

"C-Cr-Crazy? That's your excuse for-"

"That's my reason. Not my excuse. Don't play daft; I know you're a good listener when you want to be."

He reached out, but Smirky flinched away. "You think... You think... Just like that? A- A few nice words, and a happy face bandaid will fix the blood between us?"

"Well then. Let's see, shall we?"

Smiley moved at incomprehensible speed, clamping a hand firmly on his twin's shoulder to stop him from backing away any more.

The illusionist was shaking, periodically shuddering. But he was listening,

"You've tortured me, beaten me to my knees, made me scream and plead for mercy. And then you were given an opportunity to do it again – but you didn't."

"........"

"During our battle /just now/, you intentionally avoided dealing any serious blows, unless you knew I could evade them. Not quite what someone with an intent to kill would do."

"........."

"So yes, I believe you're terrible at trying to finish me off. And that a few words absolutely can fix everything. Because all you've ever wanted was for me to say sorry. Am I right this time?"

He expected a fierce response. Or perhaps a venomous remark about getting too cocky. But none came.

"... Smirky?"

Feeling uneasy at this unusually long silence, Smiley gave him a gentle shake. Shock was an expected symptom – but this was nothing of the sort.

The shivering had suddenly ceased, as if his muscles had simply tensed to the point of locking up entirely.

This paralysis extended everywhere. Smirky was holding his breath, or he couldn't breathe at all. What was going wrong?

      Smiley waved his free hand in front of his face.
"Hey! Can you hear me? Say something. You're going to suffocate!"

The illusionist's eyes flashed back to life, darting back and forth in panic. His intercostal muscles burst back into action, allowing him to suck in a sharp breath. "Behi... Behind..."

Have you ever been struck with the startling feeling of being watched?

At that moment, Smiley certainly had.

He felt someone glaring scorching daggers into his back.

Malice pulsating from someone nearby, so intense that it was detectable.

Dread began welling up inside him, slithering around his beating heart like a devilish serpent. Somehow, it made him slowly turn around...

-And he found himself freezing up too. Shudders rippled over his shocked body. "U-Um..."

"Having fun, kiddies?"

Zalgo was standing right behind him, arms crossed, looking down through disdainful narrowed eyes. His reptilian tail swished dangerously.

The two minions from earlier, jolly faced even more, flanked either side of their master – looking very proud of themselves.

Of course they'd gone noperunning to report the entire incident, in the hopes of getting some kind of promotion. (They didn't).

Of course Zalgo hadn't taken their excited blabbering seriously - until he heard a rumble, followed by the froggy camera's feed cutting to static.

Of course the prince of darkness had stealthily flown straight to the scene; standing unnoticed behind Smiley for Phantom-knows-how-long.

And of course, the not-so-good doctor and his order-defying twin were both in bigger trouble now than ever before.

_____________
A/N: More cliffhangers! Muwahahaha!
-And so ends this epic, three-part showdown. Zalgo looks royally ticked off. I'd hate to know what he's thinking at the moment.

Question Of Le Day: At the moment, how would you react if you were Smiley, or standing somewhere near him? And, did the music seem to sound a helluvalot like Smirky's frame of mind?

[Nightcore - Misery (Hypnogaja)]

Stay tuned and turn the page! :)

Final Total Word Count: 3407.