Yo! As promised, I'm still here!

Now... On with the story!

The villain is the people's greatest fear. They unleash their wrath upon the weak and are never satisfied. They strive for more power and are willing to do whatever it takes to win. The hero beats the villain and the villain silently plots their revenge in return.

Warlord Tennyson was one of these people. He was the villain that built a throne for himself on a mountain of corpses. Without hesitation or mercy, he enslaved hundreds and slaughtered plenty more.

If you asked him, he would say he did what he did because he had no choice... But no one ever asked him...

"Wake up!" A harsh voice snapped as the former warlord felt a hard blow to the side of his head that pulled him from his dreamless sleep. It was either that or nightmares that plagued the teen. He would much rather have the dreamless sleep, though that wasn't what he usually got.

Slowly, orange eyes blinked open to stare up at the person that had pulled him from his sleep.

It had been over a year since he had been dethroned and his life had only gone downhill since. The days became one as he had no way of telling time, nor would he really care to. When the suffering first began he tried to, but eventually he found that to be pointless. No matter how much time had passed, his life didn't change.

There was a time that Mad, as he was nicknamed by Eon, tried to fight back. He used to kick and scream in rage. He'd curse the people that hurt him and swear that they would pay. He'd plot escape plans that always failed and he planned his revenge on the person that put him there.

But as the weeks drew on, he lost that drive. With each beating, he lost a little more of himself. Any strength he had left to fight was gone. The once-powerful warlord was now just a shell of his former self.

Mad hardly even registered his arms being freed as they fell limp against the floor. Normally, he was chained to the cold stone wall as his arms were spread apart and held in place by heavy iron chains. Even when his arms were free, it didn't matter. The metal clasp over his wrist prevented him from touching the device that people feared so much.

Mad had actually even come to hate the watch embedded into his very DNA. Things he shouldn't have been able to survive, he could. His body healed faster than a human should heal. These used to be gifts, now they were curses that his enemies used to torture him more.

The former warlord was forced to his feet as he was forced to walk to a place he knew all too well. Various loud voices reached the teen's ears as he was dragged along the underground tunnels.

At the beginning of his rule, Mad created an underground city with various connecting tunnels. It was safer underground as they were protected from the harsh glares of the sun and the flesh-tearing sandstorms. It was also harder for people to try and raid his underground fortress and it was harder to spot as well. Though his underground empire had now become his prison.

The people they passed would curse and spit at him as he paid them no heed. It was not as bad as the suffering he knew he was about to endure.

The voices grew louder as he was dragged into a large arena. Metal beams adorned in spikes that kept the combatants in.

There was a time when Mad loved this arena. He used to love everything about it. The battles fought, the screaming voices, the blood flying. Now, he hated it. Almost every day he was dragged into the arena, at least he thought it was almost every day.

Hundreds of voices yelled at him as he entered the arena. Many of them mocked him, cursed him, told him he finally was getting what he deserved. Mad ignored them. They just screamed the same thing over and over again.

The escorts left the teen in the middle of the arena as he knew what was happening next as a large man entered the room. A crooked smile was on his lips as he knew he would enjoy every second of this.

Mad didn't bother fighting back or running, it didn't do him much good. He just let the man have his pleasure using him as a punching bag. And when the man ran out of time and left, another person took his place. Sometimes he would weakly try to pull himself away from the attacker, not like it stopped the attacks or anything like that.

Some days were better than others. Sometimes it was just beatings. Other times it was torture sessions. Mad had a hunch people paid for certain events with food or something, though he didn't care. He didn't get whatever they paid after all. He mainly got rotten or stale food, when people bothered to feed him.

Over and over he was beaten. He no longer held back his screams as none of it mattered anymore. They escaped his lips as people cheered for more.

Finally, the last person of the night entered the arena. Every night ten people got the 'honor' of beating him senseless. This was the tenth person.

The man spoke to him as Mad didn't bother trying to focus on what he said. His head hurt too much for that and it was always the same things said.

After the man was done saying whatever he had to say, he did like all the rest before him had done.

By this point, his body was so beaten and bruised. The blood stained his skin and clothes as everything screamed in pain. Instinctively he tried to drag himself away from the man as he didn't make it far.

"Hey! Where ya runnin' off to now?" His attacker asked as the man slammed his foot down on the former warlords back hard.

Mad just let his body relax as he knew he didn't have the strength to escape the man.

"Not so high and mighty now!" The man taunted as he kicked Mad harshly in the side to knock him onto his back. The orange-eyed teen weakly held onto his injured side as the impact had opened an old wound.

"This is a pitiful sight indeed! The Great Warlord Tennyson, beaten down by the people he once crushed beneath his feet like worms!" The man laughed at him as he received a harsh blow to the side of his head.

Mad made no effort to move his head back and look the man in the eyes. Instead, he slowly looked over the crowd. The people he once ruled over now screamed for his blood. The fear they once held in their eyes was gone, excitement and joy had taken its place.

Though one person caught his attention. Two emerald green eyes stared at him as Mad's vision slowly focused on the person.

He knew he had to be hallucinating again as his gaze settled on the person that dethroned him. The person that subjected him to this life of torment stared back at him in shock. Amongst the crowd stood Ben Prime.

Mad should have felt some kind of rage towards the other, he should have resented him with everything he had left. But instead, he found himself reaching out towards the other. For some strange reason, Mad felt like he could place his hope in the other.

"H-Help me..." Mad rasped out as his voice burned when he spoke. He hadn't spoken in a long time and his voice was hoarse from the screaming. But he put everything into those two words, even if it was just a hallucination.

"No one's coming to help you." The man said to Mad as he slammed his foot down hard on the former warlord's arm.

Mad stared back at where Ben was but was disappointed as the hallucination was gone. He should have known better. Not even his own mind would give him a happy moment like that, it was just taunting him.

The man left the arena as Mad was dragged back to his cell and chained up, same as always. Mad just closed his eyes to get maybe a few hours of sleep before it all began again.

Blinking a few times, Mad was surprised to find himself in a perfectly, not destroyed, city. The skyscrapers actually lived up to their namesake and cars drove calmly down the roads. People walked about the streets and wore normal attire, not something Mad was used to seeing.

The orange-eyed teen then noted his surroundings as he seemed to be outside at a fast-food restaurant.

Though he found the strangest part was that he was perfectly at ease. Something he hadn't felt in years, not since the beginning of the end of the world at least.

"... I mean seriously! I've had three people this week after me for the watch! You'd think they'd learn." A voice captured the former warlord's attention as he turned to face the voice.

Needless to say, he was surprised to find Ben Prime to be the one ranting about his most recent fights.

"You ok? You look like you've seen a ghost or something." Ben said to him casually as if the two had been friends for years.

Mad noted the other's posture as being completely relaxed as he casually sipped on the drink in hand.

"Um... Yeah. I'm fine." Mad awkwardly replied to the other as Ben once more continued on with whatever story he was telling.

Mad was confused by what was happening, but strangely enough, it felt normal. Like this was just his daily life.

How he wished he could have a normal life like this... Though he would have more luck finding a unicorn than getting a normal life. But maybe here, in this dream, he could have that.

Just for a moment, he could pretend to be normal. And thus he would do just that.

Mad listened to the random stories the green-eyed teen shared as he didn't want it to end. It was nice and peaceful, two things he wasn't used to.

Some people just weren't meant to have nice things. Mad was one of these people as he was pulled back into the waking world.

Nothing particular awoke him, though it was most likely his body just always being in fight or flight mode that he was robbed of the dream. The first dream in months actually.

"Why the fuck was he there?" Mad wondered as he stared at the ceiling of his cell.

He didn't understand why he hallucinated and dreamed about the person that threw him from his throne. Prime had ruined his life. But in his dream, the green-eyed teen treated him like a friend and Mad couldn't understand why for the life of him.

And the strangest part about it all... He felt a strange trust and hope about seeing the other.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Stay safe and wash your hands!