A/N: hiya. word of warning. 7300 something words. none of it proofread by an outside party. all of it is my judgement. parts 3 and 4 were rushed. Im sorry.
this is a test, really.
0
Cassie didn't immerse herself in Greek mythology. Despite the vast amount of knowledge and stories the library in the mansion had to offer her, Cassie had kept herself to research and novels. Never had she had any interest in myths, much less the fables of worlds that didn't even exist.
And yet, as she stood up on the cliff and looked down at the tragedy before her, all the girl could think of was Ragnarok.
The destruction of the gods.
But there was no such thing as god. The only people that came close were greedy, ridiculous, good-for-nothing humans who, ultimately, proved themselves to be a farce. Incompetent, laughable.
Those people weren't the ones laying dead in this fallout. The people here weren't dictators or scientists or kings. No, each person who lay bloody, torn and ripped apart, scratched, eaten, was an everyman. Normal, plain, boring. All of them, victims to the virus that had infected this world so long ago.
(Just like her so-called friends.)
But that's what it was, all she could think that this world was. Ragnarok. There wasn't anything she could do about that, even if it didn't make sense.
To be fair, it made just about as much sense as her standing here in the first place.
So we have that.
1
Considering her history, death was nothing knew to Cassie. She'd died multiple times, in more ways than one. The tingling pain that came with respawning, the remnants of her fatal wounds, she'd largely gotten used to at this point.
Still, the phrase "you learn something new everyday" had never rang more true for her until today.
She wondered how death by Endermites wasn't a thing in the games yet.
A loud scream woke Cassie from her slumber. Bleary eyes tried to blink sleep away as a strong current of air passed through, chilling the girl. Annoyed by the wake up call, Cassie got up with a grunt, then a gasp as everything she moved stung and blazed like a flare too close for comfort. Her legs, hands, head; her entire body hurt, and it hurt like hell. Several sensations flooded through her all at once: The brief feeling of wind flying by her as she fell, the harsh landing into gravel and obsidian, endermites crawling all over, millions upon millions of claws prickling at every part of her while teeth bit into her skin-
A wasteland came to mind like a godsend, distracting her. Breathing in through clenched teeth to relieve the pain, Cassie desperately clung to the thought, the picture, whatever it was. She took hold of whatever she could find- the disastrous state of all the towns and cities that once stood tall and proud, the bodies strewn about every place one could look, all battered and torn and decorated with blood: the carnage committed by betrayed youth.
Horrific images, but for whatever reason, the apocalyptic world that she saw before her was welcome.
The overgrown forest which had monsters lurking in it was a particularly pleasant sight.
As her limbs began to feel like they were being swallowed in an eternal, paradoxical loop, Cassie wondered if she should laugh or be worried about her comfort in the macabre. And like every other event in which this had happened, she decided to take a third option; namely to let it go and move on.
With the pain now numb and hazy, Cassie stood. She still shook slightly (relentlessly) as she familiarized herself with her surroundings. Her surroundings which she found rather suspiciously matched what she'd seen in her distraction.
Perhaps she'd simply seen it in her peripheral?
Regardless, the girl continued forward, passing under an arch on a cobblestone pathway that lead to demolished town, almost exactly like how she'd seen it in her 'vision' (for lack of a better word). A copper scent emanated from the place and it grew stronger as she got closer. In the abnormal moonlight, Cassie could see bodies and blood all over the place. Some of them were still in one piece, others have been torn apart or decapitated, and it only added to the atmosphere of a place a monster or two had passed through.
Cassie walked through town without any heed to what exactly she was walking on, making wet squishes and crunched noises every other step she took. Aside from that, everything was silent.
"Hh…"
Until she heard that.
It was faint, incredibly faint, and Cassie had to have been straining her ears to even hear it over the loud sound of leaves, bodies and rotten food she'd been walking over just earlier. She paused, listened.
Bushes in the forest far away rustled before something flew straight out of the trees. The flapping of its wings was loud enough to be heard all the way from town, and Cassie could see the figure flying against the moon's light before diving for somewhere further off.
Another whimper.
Cassie could hear it a little clearly now. The whimpers turned into sobs, getting progressively louder within seconds. And from what she could hear, it seemed to have been coming from the plaza, straight ahead. So she continued forward, her pace slowed and steps careful to not make noise. The wet cobblestone slowly became muddy tiles, and Cassie took even lighter steps than earlier. All around the plaza were, aside from the ubiquitous corpses, abandoned and pushed over benches and market stalls and, at the center, a fountain. Sitting on the fountain bench was a girl, shaking with sobs.
"Hh.. hh… hh…"
The crying girl didn't seem to notice Cassie coming.
Taking this opportunity to get a better look, the redhead stepped closer and scrutinized the girl. Despite the dirt smeared all over her, her skin was noticeably pale and her wavy, dark hair, impossibly silky and reaching the floor, gleamed in the moonlight.
Another oddity in this apocalypse, Cassie had to assume.
"Hello? Are you okay?" she called from a few feet away, "Can I help you?"
Another oddity, but someone familiar in this hellscape, at least.
The girl stiffened, her sobs still audible and her shoulders still shaking. Cassie watched as the girl slowly lowered her bare legs to the floor, arms going to her sides and head still hung low. Her white dress is oddly clean and her green eyes are wide with fear.
"It's alright, I'm not gonna hurt you."
Both girls stared at each other, eyes fixed and anticipating.
Then she ran.
"Hey!"
The girl sprinted straight for the forest, leaving behind a trail of dust and leaves and a startled Cassie chasing right after her.
"Hey, come back!" She yelled through the massive amount of fauna the forest held between its trees. "I just want to talk!"
Leaves were crushed and vines were swayed and ran through as the redhead chased after the girl. Passing sounds of cicadas and fleeing creatures went by Cassie while she ran, her continuous and short breaths accompanying the rushing wind, all of these sounds filling her ears at once. The runaway meanwhile seemed to be without dilemma, her long hair not at all getting caught in the numerous trees and plants that abound the path. She ran with ease, her pace getting faster and faster as she tried to evade the murderer far behind her. The latter herself wasn't very appreciative of this.
"Come on! I won't hurt you, I promise!"
But Cassie's assurances were ignored and the sounds went back to the cicadas, the wind and the leaves. Both girls continued to run; one fleeing, the other chasing. It was almost endless, with everything Cassie heard and saw being the same everywhere she looked. All except for the girl who'd begun crossing between trees and leaving the moonlit path. The black and white image of the girl flickered, smearing against the darker hues of the forest.
The girl ran faster.
Cassie followed suit.
Eventually, the trees began to spread out, the forest feeling less and less cluttered and crowded. As the forest began to clear, the girl did too. She tried as best as she could to follow wherever the ghost of the girl went, and she did, following flying leaves and swaying vines.
Then all of a sudden, everything was white.
2
Cassie bolted out of the forest and landed on dirt with a scream.
"God fucking dammit!"
Blonde blades of grass and straw flew around the redhead, dust spreading from where she landed. She coughed and swore and cursed at herself but for what, she didn't know.
When the dust settled, she lay still, her ears ringing and breathing slowing. Faint thumps sounded from far away, the sound of footsteps or hooves, claws or stumps, she couldn't tell which was which.
But they were running, running through the ground, roots and grass and the numbness through her, going straight and loud in her ear.
And they rung.
"Okay, this might hurt. If it's too much, just tell me."
It hurt.
"I don't want to hurt you, but we have to do this alright? ...You see that poster over there? Focus on that. Distractions can help with the pain."
She focused on something else.
Green eyes gazed at the blurry image of the forest she'd just run from. She couldn't see the girl nor could she remember hearing her.
So she'd lost her.
Just like how she'd lost her friends and her way home.
What a long list of failures.
Having successfully distracted herself from what was bothering her just moments earlier, Cassie got up with a groan, brushing grass and dust off her clothes. She looked around the clearing, expecting and finding no sight of the girl. All there was was just her, the clearing, and the surrounding forest.
And of course, the moonlight.
She looked up at the moon, squinting and blinking her eyes upon seeing the bright light. It stared back at her, the thing twitching in blues and reds as it tried to move from its position, stuck.
The redhead breathed a laugh at the moon's pitiful state, "Loser."
She looked back down to ground level, taking a gander at the trees lined up around her. Nothing but forest ambience emanated from the place, and truth be told it seemed like there never was a chase at all. An odd sight, but it wasn't the strangest thing Cassie's seen today so far.
Suddenly, hysterical laughter rang through the air. Cassie whipped her head in the sound's direction, hearing it just beyond the other edge of the forest. It was swiftly accompanied by inhuman screams, then, literally seconds later, a large explosion and something shattering to pieces. Cassie jumped and blinked rapidly at the surprising turn of events she'd just heard; and if her posture hadn't straightened then, it did right that moment when she was able to see the mushroom cloud from where she stood.
...
"'Guess I'll die."
Cassie let out an exasperated sigh, now resigning herself to going along with whatever happened in this strange world.
So she followed the source of the explosion and trudged through the forest, this time with the pleasure of not having to chase anything, taking her time in getting to the other side. While this was, on one part, because of her not wanting to run again, it was also because she'd heard the battle get increasingly heated on the other side (she was sure it was a battle at this point). Judging by the same hysterical laughter repeating over and over and the different kind of inhuman sounds, it must've been one monster against a number of others, none of them alike. So really, biding her time in getting there wasn't that bad of an idea, and even if there was something there waiting for her, it's not like running to get there would change anything. The numerous explosions must have already made it sure that whatever was on the other side, it's already long gone. Cassie could get by simply seeing the remnants.
It was when the chaos came to a stop that Cassie finally made it to the source. That source being another city, one in just as much disrepair as the one from before. Though unlike the first one, which was humble and otherwise normal, this one was built on expensive material. Cassie herself was surprised to see all the polished diorite and quartz still surviving all the blasts she heard before and roofs that looked to be made of diamonds and gold, of all things, still floated in midair. Even with the city in a state of a warzone, traces of its immense wealth (and waste of said wealth, in Cassie's opinion) still remained.
"Show-off," was all the girl could say to verbalize what she thought. Though as much as she was perplexed by the utter waste of resources, she found herself even more confused by how large portions of the buildings survived the battle.
One particularly egregious example was a very modern, just as extravagant and showy house sitting to the side and completely and utterly untouched.
Somehow.
With suspicion high, Cassie crept into the city, her eyes darting around every corner for anything that could charge at and attack her. She walked over anything that could make noise and kept switching between looking around and down at the ground. Once she finally made it to the house itself, she kept away from the grass, which was covered in soot and and odd liquid she didn't want to know about, and walked on the cobblestone path to the stairs. Nothing made itself known while Cassie went up the stairs and made it to the house.
Seeing that she was in the clear, she peeked in through the window before opening the door and hurriedly making it inside.
The door closed with a soft click and Cassie turned around; the first thing she found was quiet.
Everything was in order, too much order. Not the appearance of the house itself, no, it was abandoned and dusty and some things were falling apart, but it was quiet.
"Hello?"
Nothing answered.
"Is someone there?"
Is someone waiting for me?
There was nothing.
Cassie took in a deep breath while glancing around, before finally letting go of the tension and actually taking in her surroundings. The room she'd just entered, the living room, gave off a stuffy, arrogant air. Moonlight streaming in through the windows showed lush couches and extravagant decor. The decoration of the room seemed pretentious, even more than the town had. It was as if the owner wanted to impress. Walking through the place itself furthered this point as rooms and halls were decorated with modern furniture and expensive paintings. (But even then, she had to admit that at the very least, the place looked nice, disregarding the effects of the apocalypse on it.)
Seeing all the unnecessary arrangements, Cassie bit her lip and wondered if she'd rather spend her life in here or the more cabin-like and cozy mansion back in the other world.
'Neither' was the option she chose. (As comfortable as the mansion was built to be, she'd seen enough of it for one lifetime.)
One of the rooms she came across was small, but there were so many things packed inside it. She came in, curious to see what was there, finding half an armory, half a gallery (sort of). Measly things like chain armor and golden apples were hovering on pedestals while weapons and tools were left untouched. She frowned as she stepped closer, taking an iron sword off of its display hooks. The sword felt firm in her hands, like any normal - and good - sword. It didn't seem to be used at all, and even with all the dust coating it and the age, it was perfectly fine.
Meaning it could come in handy.
She brushed dust off and kept it along with her diamond axe, which was still in pretty good condition, considering. On that note, she looked at the the rest of her inventory and was struck by how empty it was. In her battle against Jesse, she'd completely forgotten how she let go of most of her things when she faked her death. All that was left with her were ender pearls, which she used up in vain, and...
I had salmon with me, didn't I?
No, she fed it to…
To…
Cassie grabbed the bows and arrows from the wall and fled the room, stuffing them into her pocket. The colors of orange, black and white, she pushed out of her mind.
"Distractions can help with the pain."
Coming up to a crevice in the hall, at the very back of the house, was a door to the backyard. She opened it carefully, making as little noise as possible, then walked down the steps to the rather clean and well kept backyard. On one end was an entrance shack to, presumably, the basement; on the other end, a mound of dirt. It looked like a grave, but whose?
She ignored it and headed straight for the basement entrance. She hefted the door open, not anticipating the hinges giving way and giving out a groan. Cassie winced, 'Hopefully, no one heard that.'
Oh, who was she kidding?
She hurried in as quietly as she could and closed the door shut.
Cassie Rose gave herself away.
3
The basement turned out to be a workshop, as Cassie found when she flipped the lever next to the stairs. There was dust all around and the lights flickered constantly, no doubt the result of long term abandonment; it even showed in the cracked sand block walls. Cabinets and wooden tables lined the room. There were blueprints and notes scattered all over work benches and some of them were even on the floor. Scraps of mechanical parts and wires were left on the tables, all of them unfinished, save for one.
Curious to what it was, Cassie stepped closer. (Was the ceiling giving way? She could've sworn she heard sand fall somewhere.)
It was a small, black thing on a pile of tissue; next to the thing was a note with presumably a name, but whatever was written was smudged. She took the strange object, raising a brow at its weird shape. Most of it was made of a combination of materials (It's called plastic, isn't it?), and the two ends of the looped thing were made of some cloth-like material (Fuzz. It's called fuzz, right? They're used for jukeboxes). Oddly enough, part of the bigger shape of the object reminded her of an ear; protruding from the bottom part was an L-shaped stick. There were a couple of buttons on the thing, too.
Cassie looked at the odd object with a look, but then shrugged. What's the harm? She died once before, she didn't think trying an alien object out would do much damage to her. (And even if it did, she didn't particularly care.) Considering the shape it reminded her off, she tried to put it in her ear, struggling when she realized she didn't know how it was supposed to be placed. The fact that there was a long stick thing attached to it didn't help.
After a while of figuring it out (and looking stupid while doing it, no doubt), Cassie successfully put it on. Her face contorted into confusion when nothing happened. She poked it repeatedly and fiddled with the thing, an awkward silence taking everything over.
...Wow, I like this turn of-
"AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The ground shook and sand from the ceiling began to leak and break away from the sand blocks, and Cassie could have been able to hear something heavy upstairs walking around, right outside the freaking basement and causing the ground to shake, if it weren't for the sudden ringing attacking her left ear.
"HOLY FUCKING SHIT."
"WHAT THE-"
Someone else is here?!
"Who are you?!"
"Who am I?! Who are you?!"
"I asked first!"
So many things were going on at once and Cassie had never missed silence before now. The loud thumping upstairs, which she now realised sounded or had something mechanical to it, relented and interrupted both her and the other voice.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Came the voice of, she presumed, the monster. It sounded like it was coming out of a speaker. "I know you're here somewhere!"
The other voice panicked. "What the hell is that?!"
Cassie herself was no different, although she was less scared; more confused, really. "Don't ask me!"
*THUMP!*
That was right above the room.
Cassie and the boy, the second voice, waited in tense silence. Then the monster said in a singsong, "You're hiding in the basement, aren't you?"
The redhead swore loudly.
"Well shit, she got you."
She yelled and turned for the basement door, "No fucking shit!"
The monster above continued its taunts. Cassie gave the ceiling a glare and grumbled, "Okay, fuck that, monster first."
"You're in a basement?"
He seemed to take on a more serious stance at her change of subject.
"Yeah, why?" She looked around briefly for anything that could possibly help her, but found nothing. All she could use were the weapons she grabbed from the armory and what she had from the mansion; and she didn't even know what she was up against, so just going upstairs without a plan wouldn't do her any good.
The monster upstairs seemed to stop moving, but Cassie could swear she heard something hiss. She gave everything in the room a cautious look; the boy on the other side of the earpiece didn't have much of the same paranoia, asking, "I've- It'll take too long to explain, but I think I can help you if I know exactly where you are."
Cassie didn't know what to make of her luck right now. "Wh- I-" She looked everywhere.
What the hell was that hissing?
She grumbled. Anything that could possibly help her right now was more than welcome. "Alright, fine! I'm in a basement, in the backyard of a house in some super pretentious, super modern town." The girl wished she could be as calm as the boy was in the moment. "It's also out in the middle of effin' nowhere and near a forest." She looked back at the basement door and- was it being pulled out?!
Her eyes widened, "And just an FYI, the monster's literally right outside, she knows I'm here. Pulling the door out right now, as we speak."
Then a new sound came through, was it paper? "Okay wait," The boy said, "I think I know where you are."
Note to self, ask more about this guy later.
"Champion City, right? Then- oh shit."
Cassie swore under her breath. The door was so close to giving way. "What? What is it?!"
The monster was about to come in, so there wasn't anything wrong with her hiding. Perhaps in the cabinet in the corner?
Screw it, she's gonna hide.
"Okay, I think I know the monster now."
Right at that moment, the doors gave way, and splinters and pieces of the door flew into the room. Cassie flinched violently and hit the back of the closet with a loud 'thud!' Though it must've been covered up by the loud sound of the doors. She hoped they did.
"KYAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I've found you, darling~ There's nowhere for you to run and nowhere to hide…"
'Eat shit, asshole.' The redhead thought to herself.
"...She's in the room with you right now, isn't she?"
"I'm hiding, it's fine." She whispered, "Just tell me more about this stupid monster, I can't see her from here."
"Her name's Lunacy." The boy's voice was loud in her ear, and Cassie was grateful for being able to hear him over the monster's- Lunacy's - mad laughter, "She was originally this woman named Stella before she got infected by the virus."
"Virus? What virus?"
"I don't know, okay?! Anyway, she was kind of the leader of this place? And I guess that's the reason she's the only monster there or something."
Outside, Cassie could hear Lunacy moving the furniture while crawling around the room.
"You mean you're not sure?"
"Look it- it's pretty dark in here, okay? I can't see much."
Cassie closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. "Alright, nevermind that, how can I fight her?"
"Well, she's usually in a reasonably humanoid form…"
"Usu-"
"She can-"
"There you are~"
Cassie jumped with a scream, accidentally throwing herself out of the closet and knocking it down. She landed at the opposite side of the room with a loud thud, quickly putting her hair away from her face and giving the closet a confused and terrified look. "What the hell?!"
"Why? What's wrong?"
The girl got up within seconds and scrambled for a weapon, head whipping around in every direction for any sign of a monster, but found nothing. The room was utterly empty, though moonlight now swept into the basement thanks to the door now being in pieces.
What? But…
She looked back up at the closet, empty and now with both doors hanging off of loose hinges.
"I-" Cassie could barely get the words out, "I could've sworn I heard her in there. I swear she was in the closet with me, I heard her!"
"That- that- oh." She turned to the stairs and listened for anything that might clue her in to Lunacy's location, but all she heard was humming, and it was coming from all sides of the room. "What do you mean 'oh?'" She asked, irritated.
"Ok-okay, full list of Lunacy's abilities here: she can throw her voice, mimic other people's voices, and manipulate any kind of machinery to do anything, including changing her appearance."
Well that explains it.
Cassie screwed her eyes shut, "Of course."
She climbed up the stairs as the boy continued, "You can use her limbs against her, though; she'll be weakened significantly if you cut her connection to her machines."
Making it to the basement entrance, Cassie peeked outside. As far as she was concerned, Lunacy wasn't anywhere right next to the basement. The loud sounds of grinding and groans of large, rusted objects being dragged together coming from the inside of the city clued her in pretty well. "What 'machines' exactly? And what do you mean limbs?"
"Uh.." The flipping of pages, "Er.. Anything that has wires."
If only Cassie could see the boy face to face, maybe he'd be affected by her deadpan expression. To be fair to him, though, he caught on within seconds and rectified his statement with, "Her arms are made up of extendable wires and she uses those to keep her machines together."
Knowing that the coast was clear, Cassie left the basement and crept her way around the house. "So all the machines are kind of like extended limbs for her?"
Peeking around the house confirmed this suspicion for Cassie, as she saw a blonde figure in the distance with her arms spread to her sides. Wires coiled and snaked around her arms, hands, and multiple pieces of rubble and redstone machines, tying them together. It looked almost like a painting Cassie would have seen in the mansion, a display of power; her cape blowing in the oncoming breeze and the woman's hysterical laughter completed the picture. "Yeah, pretty much."
Hiding back behind the wall, Cassie replied, "So I basically cut her arms off."
"That would only weaken her, though."
She took out her axe and tossed it low in the air, testing it. "Anything on how to take her out completely?"
"Uh… No, it's all smudged."
She had to roll her eyes. "How convenient."
"You can just wing it, though, right?"
For a moment, Cassie thought to protest with common sense, but her mind brought her back to arenas, laboratories, and an endermite pit, and suddenly she conceded the boy's point. "Yeah, sure."
"Oh- then, uh, great." He said in response, though he sounded more surprised than Cassie thought he should. Regardless, she peeked back onto the road, where Lunacy was still dragging machinery to her form. Hearing a noise nearby, the girl looked down to see pieces of rubble from the other building being dragged along by wires, redstone machines joining them. She looked around with a higher sense of alert and saw that Lunacy's web of wires extended throughout the whole city.
So land isn't an option for me.
She scanned the rest of the landscape, at all the buildings and houses. Most were in pieces, either stuck to the ground or staying put in midair, but the sizes of the different buildings' remnants varied.
One such remnant was high enough above Lunacy's current spot.
Cassie remembered the bows and arrows she snatched from the armory.
Something began to form and a grin grew on her face as she looked around her; in front, at the house, below, at the weapons, and at the back, the forest. Specifically, the trees.
"Bingo."
"Huh? What do you-?"
Ignoring the boy, Cassie went for the trees and began to climb its branches, making her way to the top. Steadying herself on two different branches, she glanced down several feet below at the spot where she once was, then up, the roof of the intact house not too high. After quick glance at her inventory, she took out the iron sword and her diamond axe, her eyes on the large distance between the tree and the diorite (and rather bland) walls of the house.
Nothing like a good challenge.
She stepped back slightly, hearing the bark crack under her sneakers, then ran, launching herself toward the wall. The sound of her weapons piercing the wall was lost to Lunacy's transformation, which Cassie now dismissed as background noise; for now, her attention was focused on climbing up the wall. After a small struggle she was able to tug her sword out of the hole it had made and stabbed the space above her, then did the same with the axe, removing it from the crack it left on the house; she pulled on the sword's handle and raised herself up, then struck the higher wall. She repeated this process a little more, climbing higher and higher until she made it to the roof.
With a grunt she lifted herself onto the sandblock surface, taking her weapons from where they were lodged when she was done. Tucking the axe away, she looked down at the town, eyes widening upon seeing that Lunacy now not only had extended, larger, mecha-arms, but also had cranes and scaffolding attached or protruding from her back. They were formed like an octopus' tentacles, but they seemed like a spider's while stabbing and piercing the ground below her as the woman moved, no longer relying on her own humanoid legs.
"Well," Cassie muttered between breaths, "This is peachy."
"What is peachy?"
She'd almost forgotten about the boy on the other side. "Lunacy's...upgraded herself."
"Oh, Jesus." He facepalmed, or at least, Cassie heard him do so.
"But don't worry," She walked over to the other edge, looking over the neighbouring building, or the floating pieces of what was left of it, "I've got a plan."
"Really."
The girl felt cheeky and mischievous when she heard his deadpan response, running for and jumping onto the floating platform with ease as she did so. "Yeah, definitely." There was a platform below hers, low enough to get a good look at the street but still high enough so she could still jump from platform to platform. She dropped down to the rubble. "Right."
Lunacy was currently looking away from her with only one of her spider legs north east of where she stood, but a safe distance away from her house. Speakers that Cassie only now noticed were stuck to poles blared with the mad woman's voice, saying, "I know you're here somewhere, love~"
Cassie focused more on the monster's arms, trying to discern the wires from the rusted parts.
"I heard you talking just now."
Suddenly, the earpiece gave a click, and there was nothing but dead silence in Cassie's ear. "What-?"
Lunacy snapped in her direction with a crack, catching the redhead off guard with a laugh that somehow wasn't muffled by her clown mask. She swung her arm right under Cassie's feet and in a panic she leapt for another platform, just as the monster raised her arm and destroyed the building entirely.
Wait!
She looked down at Lunacy's incoming arm, literally a split second away from destroying the platform she stood on.
Shouldn't cutting her arms weaken her?
With milliseconds to go, Cassie kept the sword and switched from the platform to the amalgamation of an arm, latching onto rusty pieces sticking out of the bulk.
The monster let out a yell of surprise when she saw her target not on lying dead in rubble, but clinging to her arm. Enraged, she screamed and swung her arm further forward, Cassie holding on for dear life and hair flying in the wind.
Though she wasn't swayed by the movement, the chaos was distracting, and Cassie had to wonder what happened to the boy while she regained her bearings. She hadn't heard him say anything since Lunacy spotted her.
No; she shook her head, she shouldn't allow herself to get distracted. She tightened her grip on a handlebar with one hand as she let go of a window pane, moving her hair out of her face and trying to see what was going on around her. Lunacy, from behind her mask, glared at the girl, and her snarls were amplified by the speakers all around town as she tried to get the intruder off her arm. Cassie looked up just in time to avoid one of her 'tentacles,' accidentally letting go of the handlebar in the process. She grabbed another object sticking out as Lunacy let out a scream from her self-inflicted injury.
Idiot, Cassie thought.
From the ends of the now partly-amputated arm, the wires spazzed and writhed around, sending sparks flying from their tips. The same could be said for the part that landed on the ground with a loud THUD! The rubble and machinery that had previously been tied together were now scattered on the ground.
"Get off me!" Lunacy screamed from the speakers, her voice only slightly worse for wear from the injury.
Deciding not to respond, the girl traced the ends of the cut wires, now able to discern cord from rubble. Hearing a metallic groan behind her, she turned her head with wide eyes, then dodged again, this time grabbing the first wire she saw in front of her. She dropped right below the spiked leg, the loose wire giving way to her weight. Another one of Lunacy's screams sounded through.
She climbed up the wire, this time grabbing and hanging from the leg now impaling Lunacy's arms. From there she pulled at the wire, tugging it hard from its place and causing even more pain for the monster as she did so.
"Stop…! Stop it!"
Cassie didn't know if she was hearing things, or if Lunacy was actually begging. Nevertheless, she moved on to the rest of the cords, pulling them away from the monster. As she did so, the arm began to lower, Lunacy's balance, along with her composure, faltering as well.
Lunacy sent another one of her scaffold-made tentacles after Cassie, this time carefully avoiding her arm. Out of instinct, she grabbed the tentacle right in front of her to keep her balance, her right hand still holding on to the wire.
"Let go of me!"
Suddenly, the familiar hissing from earlier returned, followed immediately by the wire flying out of her hands. Then the arm began to lower, the groan of metal grinding together, and then the sounds of rubble falling to the ground below.
She was letting go of her arm.
Cursing under her breath, Cassie took hold of the tentacle with her other hand and climbed, just as Lunacy began to retract it from its spot.
"Goddammit goddammit goddammit goddammit-"
The climb continued anyhow, not without Cassie feeling a bit dizzy and nauseous, but it continued, even when she saw Lunacy letting go of her other limbs. She continued climbing until she was high enough and looked down at the monster.
Was that a box on her back?
Her head snapped in Cassie's direction, and in that same moment, something slithered beneath her fingers. Wide eyed, she looked down and saw the wires move forward. Rapidly.
Fuck.
Lifting her head slowly, green eyes followed the direction, seeing the red, blue and black move like snakes right to Lunacy, to the box on her back.
A sense of triumph that she so dearly missed returned to Cassie, and she had to remind herself to not celebrate early.
The scaffolding connected to the pole she held onto now groaned, then joined all the other rubble. The pole was following soon after.
"Oh, that bitch."
Quickly, she climbed up the descending pole and, right when it was about to fall, latched onto the next thing, a crane. Her legs swung in the air, very, very, high above the road, but not so much the box on Lunacy's back. Bracing herself, the girl started to swing her body, forward then back, forward then back. The groans of metal were loud in her ear and the boy was absent still.
Then, when the crane gave way, she swung forward and jumped, and it felt like time slowed. She took out her axe, which wasn't anywhere near breaking point, and swung it at the metal box.
Lunacy screamed.
4
Sparks. She heard them first, along with the cackle of fire, before her eyes opened to a blurry world. Far away, she could see a pile of something brown with yellow things bursting out and orange dancing.
She closed her eyes and let out a mix of a groan and an exasperated sigh.
Her back stung.
Again.
What a joy.
"Hello?" The radio cackled, like fire. "Hello? Is anyone there?"
Heaving herself up from dirt and rubble, her breathing was fast and unsteady and gravel and soil stuck to her palms. Up ahead, in the middle of the city's road, lay the remnants of the entire town, scaffolding and rubble piled on top of each other, rusty and abandoned, grime, soot and dirt covering every inch of them. The smoke from the fire rose to the sky and the smell reached all the way to the edge of the forest, where Cassie currently stood.
It feels as though she just woke up.
"Hey, are you there? Are you okay?"
She coughed into her sleeve before answering the boy, "I'm fine."
"Oh, thank god." He breathed a sigh of relief, "Hey uh, sorry for bailing on you earlier. I remembered that Lunacy could control any machine, so I thought she might have heard us talking, and if you told me your plan…"
Her inventory had the notable absence of an axe. Cassie hummed as she looked back up at the city.
"Yeah, no, it's fine. I ended up scrapping that plan anyway."
"Oh."
The road was now clear, mostly, and she was able to walk to the battle spot with ease. She climbed the rubble, lazy and groggy, like a zombie, not minding at all the hazards coming from literally everything around her. All she needed to find right now was Lunacy's corpse.
"So she's dead, she's gone? You defeated her?"
It was right in the center of the mound.
"Yeah, I did."
"Awesome."
She landed in the small clearing with a huff and grabbed hold her axe from the broken fuse box, sparks flying out of it. A burst of them came out when she removed the weapon.
Lunacy didn't seem to notice.
The monster herself lay still, face first into the dirt, right on top of a pool of her own blood. Sparks continued to fly out.
Then she began to fade.
Cassie did nothing but watch with narrowed, confused eyes as her body turned translucent. She could see something glow yellow in the blonde's bosom, right underneath the fuse box, and it got brighter and brighter as more of Lunacy disappeared until finally, she was gone, leaving behind only the glowing ball.
"What the hell…?"
"Why? What's wrong?"
Curious, Cassie crouched down, holding her hand out at the floating object. When she got close enough, it moved to her, finally making it to and laying in her hands.
It felt… familiar?
"What's this?"
Like it should fit in her hand, and it did, but it felt like it belonged to her.
"What's what?"
She played around with the thing, and it followed. "Lunacy's body faded and stuff, but she left behind this… thing. Some sort of glowing ball."
"Maybe it's her inventory?"
The glow faltered for a second.
"No, it doesn't look like it. She didn't, y'know…"
Her brows furrowed, right hand moving around to try and find the right word.
Go up in a cloud of smoke?
"Poof?"
"You call it poof?"
"Is there any other way to describe it?"
Cassie thought with a frown.
"Okay fine. Anyway, she didn't poof, and no inventory appeared after she faded away."
"Huh. Weird."
Cassie moved to keep it in her inventory along with her weapons. It stayed put.
"Well, whatever it means, it's in my inventory for now. FYI."
"Alright."
The sound of papers rustling reminded her.
"Hey," she began as she turned and climbed out of the garbage heap, "so since I'm not in the middle of a battle anymore, would you mind telling me how you knew all about Lunacy?"
"Huh-? Oh! Yeah." Cassie squinted at the land beyond the rest of the city. It was still pretty far (just like how the boy's voice sounded at the moment), she'd have to go through the rest of town to get there. "I'm in some sort of office? There are papers and files everywhere, it's really cluttered."
There only seemed to be forest beyond the border, though.
"We were lucky the file for Lunacy was right on the desk."
Her axe safe in her inventory, she walked, surveying the ruins around her. "Desk?"
"Yeah. There's a bunch of weird machines and a mic in this, which I guess is how I'm talking to you."
"Oh, neat."
"I guess."
There was silence between them for a brief moment, when all Cassie heard were her footsteps.
Wait a minute.
Her brows furrowed and she frowned.
I don't know this guy's name.
"Hey, we haven't introduced ourselves yet, have we?"
"Hah," the boy chuckled, "I guess not."
"My name's-" she paused, hesitating for a moment, but it only lasted a second, "my name's Cassie Rose."
"That's a nice name. It's nice to meet you, Cassie Rose."
Her head tilted at the compliment, a brow raised. "Thanks." She continued her pace. "And you are?"
"Aiden. My name's Aiden."
A faint smile on her lips. Her features softened.
He has a nice name, too.
"Well, it's nice to meet you too, Aiden."