Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/1968501. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Underage Fandom: Team_Fortress_2 Relationship: No_Romantic_Relationship(s) Character: Medic_(Team_Fortress_2) Additional Tags: Past_Sexual_Abuse, Child_Abuse, Gore, Blood_and_Gore, Revenge, Medic_was terrifying_as_a_child, this_is_not_a_nice_story, No_Romance, Implied Childhood_Sexual_Abuse, Bullying, Mental_Instability, Mental_Health Issues, Dissociative_Identity_Disorder, Horror, Slurs, Attempted_Murder Series: Part 1 of Night_of_the_Living_Prompt Stats: Published: 2014-07-16 Words: 1054 ****** Bitter Cruelty ****** by PriestGuts Summary Prompt: Child!Medic gets revenge on someone who has bullied him. ALTERNATE TITLE: "The First Time Medic got Blood on his Hands" (this one has TWO pieces of artwork~) Notes I apologize in advance for this. I tend to go overboard when writing horror and this isn't really a very nice concept to begin with. See the end of the work for more notes      Medic sighed as he sat, along, on a swing, young legs not being quite long enough to allow his feet to touch the ground. He’d been there for nearly two hours at this point, having run away from his house to avoid his father’s drunken rage. He was used to having to escape at this point, but that didn’t make it any easier for the elven year old child.   It was really starting to put a strain on his young mind.        Being deep in through, mind racing over all the possible outcomes of what would happen when he went home, Medic didn’t notice the approaching footsteps and whispers until it was too late. He found himself on the ground, too big glasses becoming slightly askew across his slim face.        “Hey freak!” a child, who was probably three or four years older than himself, and twice the size, goaded. “Where’s your mommy today? Oh wait…I forgot. She’s dead, isn’t she?” the teen laughed, seeming far too pleased with himself. Medic, being all too familiar with situations like this, simply sat up and fixed his glasses so that he could see properly again, not saying anything as to not encourage the older boy. “Hey retard! I’m talking to you!” the teen yelled, punching Medic in his shoulder.        Medic hissed, but kept ignoring him, brushing the dirt off of his socks and shorts until there was suddenly a searing pain in his jaw when the other boy punched him again. This time Medic glared up at the boy as he rubbed his jaw, never having taken well to being hit, especially when the hitting involved his face.        “Stay down, freak, if you know what’s good for you! Maybe when you go home, your faggot father will make everything okay!” the boy yelled before spitting at Medic’s feet.      Medic didn’t even register the spitting though. His ears were ringing and his head was pounding. There were whispers in the back of his skull and he suddenly felt compelled to followed their every suggestion.        ‘Kill him…’ one voiced cooed. ‘Make him hurt! Make him bleed! He knows everything and he’s going to tell everyone. You have to stop him…’        At the voices’ command, Medic found himself standing against his own accord, no longer feeling as though he had control of his own body. He felt angry, scared and exhilarated all at the same time. He felt as though he were only watching himself follow the older boy instead of actually doing it; didn’t feel as though he was the one pulling out his pocket knife as he followed the boy into the woods and away from the town.        He felt as though his mind and body have completely separate entities at this point. But, he could still feel the pounding in his jaw and head; still hear the voices encouraging him as he walked along the grassy path.        The throbbing in his skull got worse and worse until he suddenly could not stand it any more. As quickly and quietly as he could, he approached the elder boy and tapped his shoulder. The second that the teenage turned around, Medic slashed the blade in his left hand across his face, a spray of blood hitting his jacket as the boy screamed in pain.        “You…know too much,” Medic found himself saying, though he could hardly recognize the voice as his own. “And now…I have to kill you.”        “No! Please, I-“ the boy cried out again when Medic swung the blade again, this time across the boy’s shoulder, tearing through fabric and flesh alike. “Please stop! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” he screamed, trying to get away from the blood splattered eleven year old.        ‘No, he’s not…’ purred the voices in his head.        “No, you’re not,” Medic parroted vocally. “If I let you go, you’d go tell everyone my secret. You’d do this again. Maybe not to me, but to someone that you think is defenseless. No…I’m afraid…that you’re just going to have to die,” he rasped, finding it hard to keep talking.        “No! I’ll do anything! I’ll do anything you want!” the larger boy sobbed, tears running down his pudgy face as the unmistakable smell of urine pierced through the air.        Medic wrinkled his nose at the smell, lips curling back over his tidy teeth into a condescending sneer. “Disgusting…” he mumbled as he stepped closer.        Blinking through the blood and the tears, the boy finally got a good look at Medic’s face and felt a cold wave of sheer terror pass through him. There was absolutely nothing in the child’s eyes. The seafoam orbs were blank, staring endlessly right through whatever they gazed at. “You’re not even human!” the boy screamed, eyes widening when he saw Medic raise the hand wielding the blade again, clearly meaning to strike him down for good this time.        But suddenly, his hand stilled when he heard a rustling in the woods. As quick as lightning, Medic had his hand wrapped around the boy’s throat and leaned in close to whisper. “You’re not going to say a word of this to anyone. Ever. If you do…I will know and I will come back to finish what I started today. Do you understand? Just nod.” When the boy nodded, Medic released his throat. “Good. Now, don’t move or make a sound until I am gone…”        The boy only whimpered in response as Medic fled through the trees, slipping off his jacket, which had thankfully kept the rest of his clothing from getting bloody and used it to wipe most of the blood off of his face. When he entered his home, he let loose a sigh of relief to find his jacket into a load of clothes to be washed, hoping that the blood wouldn’t stain the thick, dark wool.        Looking himself over in the mirror to make sure that he had gotten all of the blood off, Medic noticed that the searing headache was gone and that his ears were no longer ringing. He sighed quietly again as he thought to himself. He had just almost killed that boy. Shouldn’t he feel guilty? The crooning voices in the back of his head said that he shouldn’t. He figured he should believe them; they sounded so nice after all. End Notes First drawing of Child!Medic is by http://www.Alphametics.tumblr.com~ Second Picture of Child!Medic is my own~ Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!