((Tak and Talal will get this; 9 PAGES; I CALLED IT!))
In retrospect, Sekai was going to start taking the 'imminent bad things happening' feeling quite a bit more seriously than she had before.
So much darkness energy and malice filling the area had the young teenager on the razor's edge of a freak out, there was only a little bit of 'something' needed in order to truly set her off and she had that paranoid feeling like she'd had back in the Eventide Crescendo that something, she didn't know what though, was about to happen and it was going to drastically affect everything in ways she couldn't even begin to understand or fathom.
It didn't help that she had so much to lose either.
This is almost as bad as the Juka field. Sekai thought to herself, swallowing the growing lump in her throat that threatened to choke her. So much to lose, so many people she was responsible for... and had failed so badly to protect that first time. Zan, Nemera, Sidhe, Gil, Talal, Takua, Baron, Tiral and Raquar.
She hadn't been able to protect them. Hadn't been able to keep them safe or out of harm's way, and it killed her every time she watched them risk their lives in battle. Killed them when she thought of them and the last time she had seen some of them... and how the rest were no longer able to be contacted. Strength wasn't in levels, she understood that a little better now. She was getting high up there in the numbers, but she was as pathetically weak, unable to do anything, as she had been before she'd even fallen into the coma.
Out of all of them, Raquar, Baron, Talal and Takua were left. The others gone, unheard from and were no longer able to be contacted, though she had tried desperately to do so time and time again.
Keep up the guilt trip and I'll give you something to be sorry about, little one. Kira remarked suddenly, breaking through the downward spiral of the girl's thoughts. She was being careful to repress any feedback from her end of things, especially since she didn't need Sekai feeling worse or any more guilty than she already thought she had reason to be.
You did what you could at the time with what you were given; focus on now instead of the past. She too, felt she'd failed in so many things since she'd attached herself to the girl's character data... and slowly regained not only herself back, but a sense of purpose and pride brought about by a genuine love of her personal duty to protect and guard her little Archer from as much harm as she could.
Difficult when said Archer was about the biggest trouble magnet ever to grace 'The World' and had the tendency to jump into a situation without thinking.
Arrows shot forth from the girl's golden bow, the tawny eyes narrowing and her expression was a cross between tense, scared and stubborn.
”Why won't they just leave?!” She asked no one in particular, frustrated as another Ani soldier ghosted with an Elemental Critical flashing in red above his writhing character. This was so wrong on so many levels for her, a lot of them were weaker than she was, and yet they still tried to throw themselves at her. Sponges for her arrows and magic spells as they fought for a person who'd lost their humanity.
Someone who didn't give a damn if they all died.
Sekai didn't want anymore blood on her hands; she'd already gotten more than her fill of that as it was and had a hard time sleeping as a result of it.
But, as Raikiri and Garaa's eyes landed in Takua's direction, Sekai understood in that one despair filled instant that, before her time in 'The World' was done, she would have the burden of plenty of lives on her shoulders to carry for the rest of her life.
I don't have a choice. Her heart wept at the thought and actual tears sprung to her eyes at the thought. But the decision had been made already; and she couldn't... couldn't even bear thinking of the alternative.
If she did, she'd be no better than the Elites.
It was when she'd come to that conclusion that the whole damn world suddenly vanished from beneath her, swallowed up in a darkness thicker than any Trent had ever manifested and the girl felt her knees threaten to give out on her. A ghostly touch against her cheek, sliding down her neck and shoulder to center at her hand startled her along with the sudden flood of grim concern and care from Kira. It was her silent way of communicating that she was by her side; whether she could feel or sense her or not.
A soft slide of chilled air and light, misty-feeling pressure against her knuckles and palm; the silent promise the fiery tempered AI had given her from the beginning.
And all of Hell broke loose the moment that beach ball sized orb of shimmering, twisting power and light manifested.
**
Her eyes stared at the pure, untainted mass of Twilight. Denial had her shaking her head; she
knew what this was going to mean, had
heard of what happened to those who had gotten hit with an attack from an Elite, remembered Tiral's screams and cries of agony, remembered Tritoch's twisted, corrupted form and a sob escaped her as she prayed desperately for her friends to be spared, prayed for
some way for all of them to escape this seemingly inevitable fate without permanent harm.
As it twisted and formed into the stuff of nightmares- a Grim Reaper in the Western style with a double ended scythe with four wicked blades- Sekai edged closer to Takua, her expression drawn, ashen and the young girl already on the verge of collapse as it was from the strain and fear plaguing her in the unforgiving night and presence of the Elite of Ani and this new being of Twilight.
Raikiri went down first, screaming as he was stricken down, and Sekai tried to close that foot long gap between herself and Takua, determined to knock him down, catch him off guard and send him crashing before that scythe had a chance to get to him as well.
It was as the blades lowered with unnerving precision that Sekai realized something belatedly; her eyes locking automatically with a helmeted Anid soldier who'd frozen, a slender form about six inches taller than she was with an oddly pretty black and silver sword, with said blade poised to stab through Takua's back.
The instinctive flash of fear and understanding hit as the blades trapping them quivered just a moment, a split second warning of what was about to happen as Sekai squeezed her eyes shut and tensed, bracing for the worst.
“I'm sorry.” Her voice was broken, pleading for forgiveness as the blades ripped straight through her body, that of the guard's and Takua's own.
**
Kira watched in horror as the weapon delicately imprisoned Sekai and that stupid, moody little Wavemaster whose ass was going to get kicked the instant they managed to get back to a safe place... and they were all rested and recovered long enough for her not to feel
too bad that she was going to unleash holy hell on him. No,
no! This wasn't going to happen again; that should be
her trapped in that stupid circle of blades, not Sekai.
She didn't like this, not when that fucking thing took down a gods damned Elite and
that guy was able to fight somewhat on par with this Garaa asshole. The Long Arm didn't like the look of terror and understanding that dawned on her little one's face, didn't care at all for the acceptance that, once again, there was nothing the girl could do and she was about to accept her fate.
And she
really didn't like the look she was exchanging with that damn sneaky Ani Guard who'd been about to backstab Takua.
"Sekai!" Kira shouted, unable to do anything as the girl flinched and ducked her head with eyes squeezed tightly shut- and the blades swept right through her. It was as she dove within herself, looking to take the brunt of the pain for the small Archer as the only thing she was able to do for her- that she found herself suddenly cut off, lost entirely.
Just like before.
Everything in her seized and she was at Sekai's side in seconds, ghostly hands passing through the girl as she tried to reach her time and time again without any form of success. For a brief instant, she had
felt it, felt what the girl was going through- and it was enough to drive a stronger person than this small archer insane. Damn her inability to do as much as pick the young girl up and carry her the hell away from the fucking disaster zone.
There has to be something better we can come up with, to modify the bond so that more than one of us is able to be solid at one fucking time. Kira couldn't stand being helpless; and that was exactly what she was. Her eyes landed on the girl's form, tracing to see if she could find a center point for where the pain may have been centered in the brief flare she'd gotten on her end, and frowned. No damn marks. It was like the thing hadn't even touched her to begin with.
...but the hell was with the odd shackle-thing on her wrist?
**
December froze at the sight of the Reaper, unable to comprehend the sheer amount of power flowing through the thing. Warnings blared in her mind and she whirled, the sheer pink fabric of one of her sashes trailing delicately behind her, and looked towards the little girl she'd been hired to protect. Too late; even if she raced for her now, she'd never get there and time, and Kira wasn't able to physically grab her at the moment.
I should have let Kira have the first combat run. The rose haired woman thought with a sudden, unfamiliar tightening in her chest and twist in her gut. If she'd allowed the often exasperatingly bold former princess have her way and be first in combat, maybe, just maybe, Sekai wouldn't be in that situation.
There would have been a chance to save her before those blades ripped through.
Despite not knowing the girl for very long, it was startling to suddenly realize that there was a very large part of her that was empty- a part of her she hadn't realized was there, or even really noticed until the small Archer went down without a sound. Her hand reached up automatically to her aching chest, looking down at herself in confusion, not understanding why she'd done that and why the ache, the sense of loss was so keen and so... painful.
The aggrieved shout from Kira's end, the cry that filled the smaller link between herself and the icy princess was heartbreaking and did nothing but agitate that feeling of loss and guilt within her. Through it all, she managed to hear the words 'not again' from the other woman and wondered just how many times something like this had happened.
It hurt, that was for sure, but the look on Kira's face as the long haired Long Arm knelt beside the downed girl was enough to quietly reprimand the former assassin, to make her realize that her own pain was very likely nothing in comparison to what panic the other woman was very likely experiencing. She'd come to be amused by the young girl's naïve nature, and often nonsensical ways she went about her business and wound up in trouble as a result, but had become... fond of her in her own way. Enough so that she had come to want to protect the girl in slightly more than a business-like agreement and manner like they'd agreed upon.
Enough to be concerned with the unnatural strength of the bond that human girl and another AI had between each other, with something that wound them together that she could not name.
But now was not the time for words, for panicking or focusing on her first rather major failure in a brand new job. Reason and rationality suddenly reared its head within her and the jade green eyes narrowed angrily at the Reaper. Her hands were immediately on her blades, unsheathing them as she prepared to launch what was probably a foolish attack against an enemy that could probably destroy everything in the area before the echoes of the flashmails sent caught her attention.
Curious, she read the contents, hoping they would have something useful in them, some
good news that would help steady her foolish resolution for revenge of some sort.
A retreat order, very wise of them to send out. They needed to regroup, plan things out before launching yet another assault of this chaotic magnitude against an enemy who seemed too easily able to adapt to their haphazard assault. The logical side of her was pleased about this, making her more readily available to concentrate and plan out the next step like it was just another assassination job for her.
Which, when put in
that perspective[/i], was much less startling and overwhelming than the confusion she'd had before.
But the counter order came in and was a little more to her own personal liking.
Alright, it's as she would want. December decided after a long moment of consideration. Since she had failed to keep her mistress out of harm's way, and the other, albeit less competent guardian was at her side at the moment, she could redeem herself in some form by helping the companions that the snowy haired girl with a sweet nature wanted to protect so desperately.
Now, she thought to herself and took a look about the field. Who was going to help this new 'Sheena' person in the battle- and what was her own role in this little chaotic skirmish?
**
She was dying the fourth death in her life.
Her hands had twisted, curled into white knuckled parodies of themselves as blood seeped from the crescents her nails bit into her skin. It had been a pass of air, a slight chill before something had poured a cross of liquid nitrogen and liquid flame through every pore of her body, flaying her raw before dumping her poor form into an unholy mixture of salt and lemon juice.
Even that wasn't enough to describe the agony she was in at that moment.
The first death had been the car accident at seven years old. A screech of brakes, screams of terror from herself and her friend in the car, the sound of crumpling metal, shattering glass and screech of things bending, twisting in the frame that wasn't natural right before something slammed directly into her side, pinning her between the front seat, the crumpled in trunk and side door and her friend's crumpled, bleeding body. She didn't know too much of the incident, only that the strong smell of gasoline, oil, hot metal and blood had filled the air along with the sound of weeping, faint and distant and not her own. Remembered vaguely the life seeping out of the eyes of Hanako as the two waited for rescue, of the blood trickling into open, unseeing eyes to mingle and become pinkish with the tears that slowly dried.
She had flatlined twice in the ambulance once she had been freed, and had done so again during the emergency surgery.
Her second death had come from her body getting ready to reject her kidney back when she'd discovered what her father and his friends had done to her. Discovery of the repeated drugging and rape had been too much for her already delicate mental state at the time and had sent her into a self-destructive spiral that only Kira's intervention had managed to save her from. She'd flatlined once when they'd operated, went into a coma for three days before waking up thanks to the mysterious, unexplainable miracle that had allowed the AI to help her despite the boundaries between their worlds.
The third was self-explained; it was why she was here to begin with. And that pain was almost,
almost comparable to what she was experiencing now. That fateful journey that had kicked her fully into 'The World'... and had left her with the very, very bitter taste of failure and what the ultimate price of someone's sacrifice happened to be. It was still a powerful and frequent source of nightmares for her, along with everything else she'd gone through, often times all of it blending together in some maelstrom of disaster, pain and chaos. Twilight's infection method, combined with the fact that the life on the transplanted kidney had finally gone out, had been the single most painful thing she thought she'd ever experienced in her life.
But all of that combined had no comparison to what was going on now.
This was the sort of pain she'd never been able to fathom even in the worst of her nightmares.
Agony was not a strong enough word, and pain was a
laughable way to put it as her body quivered, trying to writhe but too locked up, too tense and wound tighter than a bow string to more than a little at a time. Her eyes were wrenched shut, tears streaming down her face, damning her hair as only by pure luck did her teeth not manage to seek and find her tongue. Occasionally a small, nonsensical sound managed to escape, nothing like a sob, a cry or any kind of pained noise one could possibly use; it was like the assault from the scythe had left her dumb as a result. Incoherant, her thoughts unable to be conveyed, she wasn't even able to feel anything but the twisted pain and the endless spiral it put her in.
One moment it was almost taunting her, like it was going to release her from its hold, the next, a stream of agony unlike the one before it managed to leave her once again senseless, unable to feel anything but what was currently tearing her apart bit by tiny little bit. Tiny little microscopic tweezers, red hot and lined with acid nipping at every nerve, every cell of her body and tearing those tiny pieces into impossibly smaller ones. Again, and again, and again, without mercy, without
end or relief.
Even silently begging for death in the scant seconds of coherency she managed to have went unheard. No one's voice was there, no one was able to hear the screams that went on tirelessly within her mind as her body once again became her greatest, uncontrollable enemy. Once again, her body became the instrument to destroy her, to weaken and defeat her like it had so many times before.
Once again, she could do nothing but
weep and pray she would die, or the pain would just stop; whichever would come first.
**
I always knew Fist Fighters were rather scary individuals, but that woman is rather impressive. The jade eyed assassin thought with a light frown, watching as the smug Elite, as they called them, went soaring into a building with a thunderous sound. Not even a few seconds after her arrival, the woman dove back into the building, another earth shattering sound echoing as pieces of rubble fell and crumbled from the impact.
Definitely did not want to be on the wrong side of that woman when she woke up in the morning.
As for slaying that other one... lovingly tended to steel flashed as she turned, preparing to be the one to slay their fallen opponent- and watched a rather grand spectacle of one of the other Twin Blades as he tried to show off, or something, and wound up making quite a fool out of himself trying to 'finish him off', as she thought the saying went. She cocked her head slightly, blinking in amusement as he seemed frustrated and tried the old, normal method.
A nice blade across the throat worked
wonders for ending a life, she was rather the expert on that front. Though she highly approved of the second stroke; she'd often used that herself to ensure there would
be no recovery.
Of course, her way of assuring that often meant the head was removed entirely... but that seemed a little barbaric and excessive for this merry band of humans and ragtag... AI and assorted other individuals.
I wonder who trains these young men and women? Her carmine lips pursed into a mou at the thought and turned back to where the battle was raging, light green eyes narrowing at the sight of two Twin Blades- goodness, but this group had quite the arsenal of them- and the large... hellhound? that accompanied them, sticking closer to the man than the woman.
The former appeared more used to this kind of thing, the latter... not so much, looking about as lost and out of it, dazed was an appropriate word, as one could be but still have their truest wits about them in such a time. If she were a woman who enjoyed gambling, she would wager the three were making plans to go in and assist in the assault against the one that rather powerful fighter was currently going toe to toe with.
And if that were the case...
She would simply offer whatever help she could give.
And she listened to the plan, not making comments on whether or not it was a good, bad or brilliant plan, or one doomed to fail and get them injured, and offered to watch their backs when it came to that bastard of a... whatever he was, that was still waiting for its next target to be pointed out.
Not if I have much to say about it; even a warning would be better than nothing. Worse comes to worse; I have a writhing form to haul back to wherever the other two who were struck down were taken. Kira will direct me there....for someone who disliked the temperamental, highly inappropriately acting woman, December had a surprising amount of confidence when it came to this group of people. After all, if her suspicion was right, Kira would easily be swayed into doing whatever was asked of her at this point if she happened to mention that this would be what Sekai wanted.
My, but she was becoming a rather despicably manipulative person, the former assassin thought with another frown at nothing in particular. That was becoming quite the habit, and it was going to be a necessary effort to stop it before it became a problem. She was jerked out of her thoughts by the gift given to her- two thunder based scrolls that made her smile at the less experienced girl in thanks. Now she wouldn't feel as annoyingly useless without something to sink her blades into.
And she began firing off openings that she saw on Garaa as the monsterous former human, as she understood it anyways, traded blows with Sheena and had Canti flying in from above to attack and distract him while Talal- that was the lovely little fighter's name- assaulted the legs.
...and because the instructor in her couldn't help it, she began sending tips to the girl, watching as the young Twin Blade began clumsily trying to angle her blades and land the blows as instructed. Not bad, she caught on pretty quick, that was for sure.
Although, December cringed as the girl earned herself a hearty smack from that club of his and went flying, clipping the corner of a bunch of rubble and debris before lying still for a little while.
My sympathies, it's never easy to be put down like that. She thought at the girl as she picked herself up and shook herself, trying to clear the headache that she likely felt building up. Helpful as always, she sent another tip and chuckled at the response she received in return.
Poor dear, she really did need someone to help her train what should have come naturally to her by now.
Her sense of humor quickly died as she watched Doomkeeper shift and move. Damn, and here she thought they'd have just a little more time. Cursing softly under her breath, December put on a burst of speed and headed right for them, calling out as she raced to the other three she was on support duty for.
”Doomkeeper approaching!”Too late. Dammit all.
The man and his hound went down, though something seemed... off, different than before. Nonetheless, he went down and she watched Talal immediately abandon the assault and head for her ally. Part of her was annoyed, wanted to tell the little chit to keep fighting while
she assisted the other two in getting away from the battlefield. Shrugging it off, she'd have time for lectures later, December bolted as Talal requested her help, nodding absently to the girl before gently patting the hound's head, scratching him briefly behind the ears as she quietly informed him she was a friend, not an enemy.
And picked the heavy canine up with a little less effort than she'd initially expected it to take.
”At least you don't need a diet.” She informed the dog, she thought his name may have been Shadow, but she wasn't certain enough to say it aloud and followed after Talal. Setting him down gently once she deemed it safe enough, she looked back to find the Elite enraged and cringed. Bad sign, that was all she was going to say about
that.
”Good work, you did well.” December murmured to the pained canine and began to head back.
Someone needed to- damn, he caused the blackout again.
A long suffering sigh escaped her as she tapped her foot irritably against the broken pieces of cobblestone and earth. Humans; so emotional and unreasonable, especially when things didn't go according to plan or go the way they wanted it to. Temper tantrums, all the time; even Kira wasn't
this difficult when she went into one of her own little uncalled for, unladylike hissy fits.
I heard that, you prissy bitch. Kira's voice came in suddenly, sounding annoyed and much more like herself than it had when she'd practically screamed the little mistress' name.
Good, December thought privately to herself, it was unsettling when people didn't act the way they were supposed to- and the cocky little princess with an attitude bigger than it had any right to be had no business, in her opinion, suddenly sounding like the very girl who'd fallen in battle.
If you have time to sit there and work out some absolutely fascinating commentary on my personality, then get your little ladylike ass out there and go kill something like you're supposed to be good at doing. Scathing little wench, the Twin Blade thought with an amused chuckle, feeling a bit better herself now that the other, lesser guardian was getting back into her normal spirits and headed for a secure enough hiding spot that wouldn't leave her wide open.
Unfortunately, using the scroll did
not work in her favor. Damn it all. She heard Kira laughing at her through the link and shook her head. Perhaps she was inclined to be ridiculed, just a little bit, after several of her comments as of late. Perhaps, but highly unlikely- and definitely not what she would admit to the younger woman anyways.
Getting out of the darkness was a good idea, and she slowly backed out, feeling her way daintly with her feet as well as her hands as she sought the end of the shadows- finding it a few moments later and blinked several times against the suddenly flare of light where there had been none before. And, as all things tended to go, the dome almost immediately vanished after. December crouched, her breathing light and near-silent as she spied on Doomkeeper and Garaa from her vantage point. Unless he captured her in some way, and she was
not going to assume he couldn't, not when it might mean separating permanently from her newly acquired mistress and being held as a hostage against the small girl and her party, she wondered if being killed in combat, thus reverting to what Kira affectionately referred to as 'ghost form', would be preferable to just running around and wasting valuable energy that might be preventing the small Archer from recovery.
Quote:
To: Demorian, Sheena, Nighthand
From: December
Subject: Retreat
If we need someone to stay behind and provide a distraction, I am more than willing to offer myself as that person. I have... about five minutes before my 'timer' expires and would prefer spending that time giving you all as much of a headstart as I can. A few scrolls, does not matter what the level is, would be helpful if you have them to spare, as I can use them as strategically as possible to distract him during your escape.
It's a bit of a gamble, but it would be what my mistress would if she were in my position.
She had one left, after all, from the two that Talal had given her and her jade colored eyes narrowed as she began to plan out her rather suicidal game of cat and mouse with a figure who could more than easily crush her without effort once she was caught. All that she needed was that simple five minutes before she could just up and disappear in a ghost-like form anyways.
...but would the three 'in charge' go for it?