Through the night Joelyn winced... flinched and growled in her dreams... she clenched her fists so tightly, her nails were literally going through her palms, but it had calmed down, and all the wounds all over her simply healed. All of them... in moments. After a couple of minutes, her bright red eyes opened slowly... she just stared up for a moment.. just staring... she was too tired... too weak, to do anything else. It was like everything she had was drained from her. She could barely keep her eyes open... and she had just awoken. "...Master..." She whispered... barely audible... but she couldn't talk any louder.
He looked up to her now that she had awoken. He had been considering what to do; to be honest his answers ranged from the ritual to binding her, to helping her avoid it by shooting her and ending her pain. That thought pleased him least of all, and now Integra would have it no other than these three ways, and she might even insist upon her binding afterwards. He put a packet of blood to her lips since he would not untie her hands, "drink this, you will feel better."
She turned her head at first.. but everything inside of her told her to take it... the carvings on the bonds glowed and she turned her head back, slowly, and drank at the blood. She closed her eyes and after the blood packet was finished and let out a deep breath. "...I killed him... Master." She whispered, a small smile pulling up her lips. She was still very tired... it seemed like the blood did nothing. "...I killed him..." She repeated, her voice still low and tired.
"I know, I know." He said his voice low. "Joeyln, I care for you as my child, and I fear I may have done something horrible when I turned you. Normally there is a law in vampire society that no one may have two fledglings. Often times, the second one would die or they both would die or have some sort of disorder. I, in my arrogance, thought I could merely, circumvent that law. It appears I wasn't strong enough… I gave you the worst parts of my nature as well as some of the worst of my memories. Those nightmares, do you remember them? They are of my past before I found the path, before I became grey. I was a horrible person and did many evil things at my masters will, and now you are seeing my shame, and it is invariably corrupting you just as it would corrupt anyone... I am afraid for you." His words just ran out as he hugged her not wanting this to be so but it was.
She flinched... yes, she remembered the dreams... and the memories. "I'm sorry... master... I...failed... again.. didn't I?" She opened her eyes slowly...they were a soft shade of pink. She felt the hunger... the... pain... and that's all she felt. She didn't feel him hugging her... she barely felt the bindings around her wrists. "...I'm sorry... master." That pain was held in her voice. She was afraid too, but... along with everything else, it just all compounded into an uncomfortable numbness... She closed her eyes again.
"It's my fault, I should have been stronger. We will attempt a ceremony I preformed for the nine to help bring balance to the nine. It will be hard but I believe we can help you to attain balance. However I must go and tell Integra of what has transpired." Oh, he didn't look forward to this. He stood and spoke to Seras. Seras, get a large room ready. Do you remember the truliminary? Display its likeness on the floor. We must save Joeyln from herself with the ceremony I once told you of. With that, he entered Integra's office. He didn't know how to say it so he just did, "Anderson is dead, by Joelyn's hands. I have her restrained and as soon as I am able, I will perform the ceremony."
Joelyn whimpered softly and fell back into her nightmarish sleep just as Oni left.Integra turned around from looking out the window and her eyes widened. "W...what?" She said. "...How did she--?" She stood. "When did she--? Ugh," she dropped back to her chair. "This is going to blow up in our faces..." She looked up to him. "You need to do this quick... I have to go to the Queen tomorrow night, and I am sure she has already heard of this. I will need to take Joelyn to her and ask her what she would like to do about this." She looked into his eyes and looked down... rubbing her temples. "God help us." She said. "Do the ceremony as soon as possible, and you need to tell if something goes wrong.. if it doesn't work, everything about what happens... You need to tell me if you still believe she is dangerous, if so... I am sorry, but now I really have no other choice."
"I know." He said softly. He fell to his knees, a tear tracing down his face. "I failed her, Integra. I passed on the most darkest part of myself that is held in check daily but she doesn't have the ability and... she has my memories, of the worst times in my life when I did, things unspeakable."
Integra walked over to him and kneeled, pulling his head up to look into his eyes. "...Oni." She said. "This isn't your fault... like you said, you had no other choice but to change her. She didn't deserve to die..." She said. "You're the strongest person I've ever known, don't ever say you weren't strong enough. You did what you could... and, it doesn't matter what you did in the passed... that's exactly what it is... the passed. You didn't have anyone there to help you," she said. "You didn't have anyone telling you the right path to go on... the right things to do.. how to fight this... You didn't have this ritual you are about to do... you fought through it." She said. "But she has you... she has this ritual... She may be not as strong as you, but, I am sure, she could have done a hell of a lot worse..." She said. She reached up and wiped the tear from his cheeks. "You can help her... and you will. Don't second guess yourself..." She kissed his forehead and then kissed his lips. "...You might be afraid, she is afraid... all of us are... but we do what we have to do." She said. "Do you remember what you told me after my father died?" She looked into his eyes. "...Don't second guess what you can do. You are strong enough to do whatever you put your mind to. If you tell yourself you are weak... then you are weak... but if you tell yourself you are strong..." She lifted his head up again. "...then you are strong."
He nodded he could be absolutely stupid at points but she was always there to guide him in those moments. "You're right, thank you. You're always here for me when I have my weak moments. Alright, lets do this thing, just keep your fingers crossed." he stood and turned to walk out, "this will work."
he disaPpeared and aPpeared in the room Seras was preparing, "Good job, Seras." He set standing candles at all 3 points, "what we will do here, is try to balance ourselves as one in our culture. 3 is sacred and 3 stand as one, just as in the council. 3 worker, 3 warrior, and 3 religious, and they stand as one so we will stand as one and help correct what I have done. I will go get her as well as the other tool for this ceremony." He walked into her room and unlocked her shackles. "Come, it is time to fix this and make right all that is wrong." He picked up the truliminary before. He returned to the room and set the truliminary in the center. He pointed to the positions, "Seras that is for you, and Joeyln, that is for you," he scrolled something in front of each position. In front of Seras he wrote light, in front of Joeyln, he wrote dark and in front of his position, he wrote grey, "are you ready to begin?"
Seras looked over to Joelyn, which was still slowly, slipping in and out of consciousness. Seras looked back to Oni. "I am, but do you think she is?" She asked, looking at her. Things had happened, bad things... but she could smell Anderson's blood on her breath... and it made the side of her want a piece as well. She bit her lip.
Oni looked to her, "We have no choice." He set the truliminary down in the center of the drawn preliminary. He wrote something in an ancient language down at each of their places, he then sat down at his place and held his hand up towards the preliminary. "We are become grey, we stand between the darkness and the light, the candle and the star…" As he spoke those words, beams of blue-white light flowed from the truliminary as it rose into the air and lines formed from each person to make a triangle matching the one on the floor. Then lines of blue-white energy projected from the floor to above their heads and formed a third triangle. "We are become grey, steel tempered by flame, darkness tempered by light." With that they fell unconscious and appeared in the stars. Standing in space below, there was a round glass walkway in the center there were two beams intersecting each other; one black as night one white as pure snow. "We are one." He said as he turned to them. "This is where we will find balance."
Seras and Joelyn both opened their eyes, and looked to Oni. Seras looked completely normal, but Joelyn looked different. Her eyes were a hungry red as she looked at Oni, and just the... atmosphere around her, seemed different, but... she was still herself, sort of. She blinked. "Yes, Master." She said softly. She stepped towards him... she didn't know what exactly to do, but... she hoped this would work. She wanted to be normal again, be... herself again, not this thing that yearned to control her.
"Come with me, both of you." He floated to the walkway and suddenly the waves shifted so that you could walk through the darkness and the light evenly. "When you enter here, you will face that which is your most primal side. The thing that craves for blood and death, you must win here and you will attain balance. I can only be an anchor for you and when you emerge, we will know what has happened. Only one person may enter at a time, Seras, please go first."
Seras looked at him, and then back to Joelyn... She took a breath, and nodded. "Yes, Master." She bit her lip and started to walk through. Something changed as she did so... the area around her grew dark and she paused, seeing red hungry eyes in front of her. It slowly stepped from the darkness and tackled her to the ground, roaring in her ear. Seras growled back and tossed it off her. She looked at the... being... the creature... and she clenched her fists. It was her. More demonic, more... evil... and hungry. It stood slowly. "You're pathetic." It said, it's voice angry. "You try to hide what you are and--""You are not what I am." Seras said, interrupting it. It just smiled and attacked her again. Seras roared and ripped at its hair and threw it, throwing it back towards the darkness, but it somehow recovered and slammed her down to the floor. "Oh, come on... can't you smell it.. you want to taste it.. I know your dreams.. you dare call them nightmares..." The creature laughed. "I call them fantasies..."Seras kicked the creature off and stood up slowly. "I will never be like you...""Oh, but you are already." Seras rushed for the creature and punched it across the face, sending it flying, before pulling it back up and throwing it into the darkness. It roared, screamed, and festered on, until the darkness ate it whole. She paused... now what? She looked around... was that it?She turned just as the creature tackled her again. Seras roared and shoved her hand through the creatures chest, ripping it apart from the inside out... quite literally... and it just faded away.
Seras stood, panting a bit... and she looked around... what now? A couple of seconds went by... and there was nothing. She gave a breath and continued.
Oni could feel her fighting with it and then she emerged out the other side; she had been successful. He nodded approvingly, then turned to Joelyn. "Now, its your turn… You can do it, I have faith in you."
Joelyn looked over to him. She was scared.. she... was very scared. She looked back to him. It was a good thing he had faith in her, because she sure as hell didn't. She looked away. "I... I'm... I don't know if I can do this..." She hesitated.
He turned to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "You've received the worst parts of myself when you were transformed. This will give you some of the best. For some, they face their worst sides of their nature. For people like you, you will face the purer side of you. The challenge for you is to break away from that which you are, to become that which you will be. Believe in yourself."
She looked into his eyes... "W-what will happen?" She asked. "The... purest side of me?"
"We each have 2 sides when we become a vampire. Our self and that which craves for blood and death, but that side also gives us power and abilities beyond imagine. Some face their darker sides as a test, but because of what you received in the embrace, you are that darker side. That's what's been controlling you, that and my memories which would surely corrupt anyone. I don't know what you'll face in there, but I know you can do it."
Joelyn gave a breath and looked back to him, truly scared... She bit her lip and stepped in... She bit her lip and paused, everything seemed different. She paused, seeing her, before... all of this happened, and then her father, her mother... She blinked. It was their village, before the vampire came and destroyed it. She suddenly had the urge to kill something... to drink... to destroy... to kill. She took a couple of steps towards the village, and suddenly, herself... as a human, turned to face her. Her bright green eyes bright and beautiful... her skin was beautiful, her hair blowing on the wind... and when she looked down at herself, all she saw was pale... angry... dispicable, ugliness.She looked up at herself again... and just stood there. She was looking at her, puzzled, confused, and somewhat scared. The human took a step back, her eyes suddenly filled with nothing but fear, and Joelyn felt herself step forward... she felt her eyes fade to black... it was like... something was overcoming her. She took another step forward, lunging for the human as her father stepped in, kicking her in the face, sending her to the ground."RUN, JOELYN!" He screamed, yelling at her. The human looked at her father. "B-but Daddy! I...""RUN!" He said again, grabbing a pitch fork.. the closest weapon he had. He stabbed it at her... the vampire... "Get away you demon!" He screamed.Something in her roared and she tackled him, feeling the pitchfork go into her stomach. But her lips fell to his throat, and he screamed, struggling to get away from her... but nothing worked. She laughed wickedly, draining him... loving the taste... loving the feeling of taking someone's life, but she paused... and so did the something... inside of her.She dropped the body and took a couple of steps back, everything fading away from her... and there stood the human side of her, looking at her... just staring at her.
She realized something. This... this was what happened that night. The vampire attacked her village... and... She closed her eyes. No, she told herself... she could taste the blood in her mouth. Was it real? Was it fake? She looked at the child... and she just stood there... still... looking at her, like she knew what was going to happen."You have to fight it." The human girl told her. "You have to... look inside yourself. You can find me." She said with a soft smile. "Wouldn't your parents want you to fight this? They wouldn't want you to become the very thing they tried to save you from..."Joelyn dropped to her knees... and she closed her eyes.. her insides were fighting... and it made her want to puke. She tightened her eyes shut and she screamed, everything around her fading in and out of darkness, in and out of light, in and out of the human Joelyn standing in front of her. She roared... the insides of her.. the memories... the... lust... trying to take hold of her again, but the child slowly walked over and pulled her head up, looking dead into her eyes. "...I forgive you." She whispered, leaning down and kissing her on the forehead... and the girl disappeared. She blinked... and something inside of her... slowly calmed down... it faded away almost... She took a deep breath and she pulled herself from her knees, looking around.She was in the field near her village... the one she used to run to... when everything got a little hectic. She blinked, hearing it again... I forgive you. She bit her lip...was it over? Was it done?She bit her lip and turned... everything telling her to continue.
Oni caught her on the other side of the field. He could tell that it had worked, "Congratulations."
She looked up at him, her eyes barely open.. She could still taste the blood in her mouth. "I... I..." She closed her eyes... She could still feel that part of her, trying to win... but it was slowly being pushed back. She looked back up at him. Her body shook a little bit, but she looked into his eyes. "I... did it?" She gave a slow... soft smile and fell limp into his arms.
He caught her again and they disappeared, waking up. She would have to have several sessions with him to make sure everything was alright, but she had won the day. The truliminary set back down and suddenly, 2 new ones appeared. "These are for you. They mark your successful completion of the ceremony." He said to Seras and he picked both hers and his up and then picked up the unconscious Joelyn and carried her to her bedroom to rest and set the truliminary on the table. He took the shackles off and left her there to sleep. He then appeared in Integra's office, "it is done."
Integra looked up at him. "Did it work?" She said. She had been worried that it wouldn't work, but... she looked to him. "...Are you sure?" She asked. "And of Seras?" She asked. She tossed the pen to the table and sat back.
"Yes, on all counts. She will require several more sessions with me to make sure it is complete but yes it was successful." He sat down and leaned back very tired.
Integra gave a breath of relief. "Thank God.. I really did not want to... bound her, as I'm sure you wouldn't want me to either." She looked into his eyes and stood, slowly walking over. She stood in front of him. "...are you alright?" She asked. She let out a breath... she was glad everything would be... okay? She sighed. "...I... have to go to the Queen tomorrow." She looked back up to him.
"I will be, being the anchor is very, difficult. Combine that with the fact their both my fledglings and well, I'm just tired, I'll be fine though, do you want me to come with? I would gladly stand by your side in this if you wish it." He was truly nervous about this, he had no idea how the queen would respond. Chances were, not good.
Integra looked to him. "I'm glad it worked, and..." She looked back up to him. "I'm not sure if that's such a good idea." She said. "The Queen wanted Joelyn to come with me, but I see she's not so much as a little bit ready yet." She said. "We will go again, and all three of you will have to come with me." She said.
"As you wish, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed." He phased through the wall and within seconds, was in his coffin asleep.