Title: The Risks You
Take – alternatively, The Risks We Take.
Rating: PG-13 –
perhaps not for those who are squeamish / are fond of the
Hellion-lookalike.
Characters: Krasivyi, Kira 2 Dope.
Concept:
Just done for a plot.
Summary: Krasivyi finds out she's got a
Nictus. And thusly begins the first in what will likely be a long
chain of suicide attempts. And a LOL PLOT TWIST.
Setting: A rather
tall apartment building, Atlas Park, Paragon; date unknown, year
2008, 2:30 P.M.
Side notes: This is actually quite canon – not
alternate universe or a 'what if'. I just wrote it out and posted
it here to prevent an attempt to change how things unraveled, as I
already know what I intend to do with the characters involved –
well, one of them. And for those who are curious, there is a solution
to Krasi's problem that doesn't involve suicide: Quantum weaponry
would destroy the Nictus, but not the host.
It was never a good thing to hate the body you were in. Or, perhaps it wasn't so much the body, as what was in it, other than her consciousness. Krasivyi's blatant hatred for Nictus-kind had put a dent in her sanity as it was – and then she found out about Baal. She currently had the spawn of Scorpius, the Nictus she hated most of all, using her as a host. The thought made her feel physically ill, to say the least, and she was determined to get rid of the Nictus somehow – even if it meant taking her own life.
And that's where she was right now: Standing on the railing of the odd semblance of a balcony that had come with her meager space in the building. There was a moment of hesitation – and then she simply stepped off the edge. Before the wind whistling in her ears, she heard something else that shouldn't have been there. In fact, she had been praying she wouldn't hear it. A rather stunned girl in what almost resembled Hellion garb had opened the door at just the right moment to see the archer step off the edge and, with a scream of 'Krasivyi' and a brief dose of adrenaline, shot after her, right over the railing; taking the smaller, yet older, girl into her arms protectively. Unfortunately, she hadn't formed a plan as to what she would do after leaping over the rail and snatching up her little friend.
Kira was jumping off a cliff and trying to build her wings on the way down, almost literally. But at the moment, she seemed more interested in keeping herself curled and underneath the confused, upset archer, who proceeded to yell at her over the roaring winds. "What the hell are you doing!?" A moment's pause and Kira actually started to shout back. "I may be weak, but at least I can do this!"
Krasivyi felt awful, the sensation of her stomach having been left up toward the balcony growing much worse as she found that she had, again, hurt someone who cared about her. The twisting, unpleasant feeling grew worse when she managed to catch a glance over Kira's shoulder at the ground that grew ever-closer, and she turned her gaze up to the girl who'd dove off for her – and lost her bandanna in the process, the wind had torn it from her face. "… Don't look down, kid." Somehow, she heard it over the still-rushing winds, and managed a childish grin, though her eyes were tearing up and she could hardly bear to keep them open. Three words came before she hit the concrete, bones shattering like glass, but still miraculously keeping Krasivyi safe: "I'm not scared."
The words continued to ring in the small archer's ears as she managed to shakily stand, eyes wide and legs trembling. How fitting, that the bandanna that had been thought to be lost should flutter down to rest over Kira's face, reminding Krasi of a corpse – no. She wouldn't think like that. Any second now, the girl would stand up, laugh, and just shrug it all off. Any second now…
But even after a minute or two, there was absolutely no movement. Even as Krasivyi made a frantic dash to a pay-phone, even as she quickly dialed the numbers nine-one-one, even as the ambulance arrived and she was lifted into it, even as Krasi stood watching the flashing lights and loud siren fade, that stupid girl had not moved once; and all the girl she had possibly given her life to save – the real "hero", with a decent security level and many missions under her belt – could do was watch the ambulance go, the image slightly blurred by the tears in her eyes. And there she would still stand for a good hour, almost like she still expected the teen to come back, declaring it a joke or 'April Fool's', before she finally gave in and went inside with a heavy heart and a teary face. We all take risks from time to time, often assuming them to be harmless – and if they're not, that maybe only we will be hurt. As Krasivyi learned the hard way, that's not always true.