8.7
Miss Militia
Militia ran with all the speed she could muster, her feet carrying her across the barren ground of the cave, following after the sliver of light that seemed to inexplicably manage to stay just ahead of her.
It seemed like she was just beginning to close the distance when her feet sloshed into ankle deep water. Finding herself at the edge of some underground lake that was only getting deeper.
"Taylor!" She called at the glimmering white soul that was now growing smaller by the second, hovering over the water while she was forced to remain ashore.
She'd have to turn back. Help Legend, Alexandria, and Eidolon so they could fly her over this lake. She'd be willing to swim if she had any inkling as to how far the other side was, but to undress and throw herself into the water without knowing distance, temperature, or, now that she thought of it, predators that might be lurking within, was unbelievably stupid by any measure of the word.
She pivoted, rounding on her heel. She wouldn't need to work hard to navigate back considering that she could see the explosions and hear the cracks and booms off in the distance from the fight that was still going on.
She took a single step out of the water when she felt the hairs raise themselves along the back of her neck.
Something was here… with her.
The green energy she'd held as a knife, sheathed at her waist, shifted into a flare gun before she fired off rounds into the dark around her, illuminating her immediate vicinity to try and not be caught completely off guard.
She shifted the flare gun into a gun that most would consider a personal hand cannon, enough to put a hole in anything that wasn't a mid level Brute or a tank.
She waited, eyes perusing the darkness around her, searching for movement.
She whirled to her right.
The woman smiled…
She knew this woman. She knew her face, had seen it on a picture out of the corner of her eye.
"Hebert." She breathed.
Her recent… development… her power… wasn't activating. The power to physically see and exploit weaknesses in the structure, the composition of things living or otherwise, that she'd been unable to turn off for the last day and a half, what she used to feed intel to the capes against Leviathan, showed her nothing now… That could only mean one of two things.
Either this woman wasn't really here… or she had no weaknesses to exploit.
(X)
Legend
Legend fired two beams of golden light at the angel creature, only to see him vanish into thin air. Teleportation? Illusion? Stranger effect?
It appeared again to his right, with three fiery orbs hovering over the top of his head and shoulders before they launched
He dropped straight down, his feet nearly touching a pool of water on the floor before he shot forward, beneath the thing, and fired off a freeze ray to try and trap it.
The monster raised its hand a swirl of non-light appeared from its palm like a miniature black hole before the beams were absorbed straight into it. It fired back, the same dark substance that had eaten his attack coming back around to an offensive role. He swerved to the side, deftly avoiding the blast, watching as the darkness did nothing to the rock it touched. But he was hardly taking any chances.
The blast of darkness vanished, only to be replaced by multiple bright orbs that appeared at the monster's wings and rushed forward.
When they went off, it was like anti-air fire. Multiple tiny explosions of lightning bolts bloomed from each individual orb only to splinter and fork again and again and again, trying to strike him. If not for his speed, and temporary invulnerability whenever struck, he had no doubt he'd be quite dead, or at the very least incapacitated.
Legend came to a stop, charging up a blast of energy in both hands before he fired at the angel, something strong enough to require him to actually brace himself.
It hit it, dead center… and the thing just vanished into dark mist.
"Legend! Move!"
He didn't hesitate, didn't even bother looking, he bolted immediately to his right, his speed narrowly allowing him to avoid the bright beam of corruscating energy that was being emmited from the monster's hand, something strong enough to cleave the stone at their feet. It was bright. A torch of lavender light in the dark.
The thing was hit from its side, pure kinetic energy going off like a crack as it was sent tumbling through the air only to recover before it ever touched the ground, hovering over the rock and water with a single flap of its four wings.
Eidolon had just finished charging his choice of powers it seemed.
His emerald dressed friend flew up to his side, both of them ignoring the sounds of combat just a ways behind them where Alexandria was fighting Surtr, trusting the woman to be able to hold that monster off while they dealt with this one.
"What're you thinking?" He asked.
"Glaistig, same one from ninety-three." His friend suggested.
"Didn't work on Glaistig-" He laughed.
The angel was then surrounded by numerous dark orbs… ones that had… eyes?
The orbs rushed forward, three towards him, three towards Eidolon.
He flew up, Eidolon diving down, only for the both of them to see the projectiles turn and follow them. Tracking attacks!?
Two can play that game!
He made his own attack, an exact replica of what he'd seen the angel use, save that his were pink in color and fired them off, six for six and six more rushing straight towards the angel.
The bright pink energy beams collided with the non-light blobs. There was no explosion. No detonation. Just… vanishing, the quietest destruction he'd ever seen.
Eidolon moved between the angels attacks and up towards Legend's, drawing the blasts of energy into each other with ease, allowing Legend to turn his gaze towards the monster and the attacks he'd sent his way.
It seemed to turn intangible for a moment, all six energy darts rushing straight through him without causing any noticeable damage. Then both its hands were alight in bright energy swords before it rushed towards him with a single beat of those powerful wings. Legend dove down, straight towards Eidolon, only to feel the pulse of kinetic energy as an unseen attack brushed past him and slammed into the monster in pursuit.
He pivoted in mid air curving around Eidolon before, firing off as many beams as he could, curving them around his teammate and into the monster as it staggered under his teammates' previous kinetic assault.
The angel… evaporated.
His eyes widened a second later as it appeared again… right in front of him! Between him and Eidolon, its blade plunging downward to skewer him through the gut.
He moved fast even for him, his upper cognitive functions diminishing for a split second as he rushed away, feeling a sharp, stinging pain over his leg that came to full bore the moment he came to a stop.
He bit down on a scream, looking at his leg, finding a massive … trench would be the only word he could think of to adequately describe this. A great hole that had been carved at least six inches deep and straight down the length of his shin bone from just a few inches below his knee to rip out of his inner ankle…
He concentrated quickly, ignoring the way blood sprayed from the wound and fired two beams at it. A coagulant to stop the blood flow, and an anesthetic to deaden the pain.
He looked up, finding Eidolon fighting the monster. An aerial duel in which Eidolon was blasting away at it from behind a massively powerful hardlight shield that he was using to keep it at bay.
He rushed right back, firing off any combination of blasts he could think of as he rushed headlong into the fray, watching as the monster dodged and weaved, trying to escape before his attacks whirled around to strike him.
As he came in close Eidolon dropped the hardlight barrier for a moment, allowing him to slip into its envelope where he began firing off attacks from relative safety between the seconds that Eidolon allowed the shield to fall.
"Your leg?" David asked.
"I'll live!" He aimed both of his hands and released a green blast that would disintegrate most forms of matter. He saw Eidolon fire off some new power that he must have just charged up. He was using two powers for defense, the hardlight barrier and flight, while cycling through an offense to try and find a weakness.
The angel raised his arms again and his blast was rebuffed by a shimmering field of white energy that appeared around him while Eidolon's attack was dodged. Apparently the monster had learned that he couldn't just dodge Legend's attacks, but he could dodge Eidolon's.
Luckily, Legend wasn't an idiot either. If he was rebuffing his attacks specifically, and trying to simply dodge Eidolon's that meant it had limits to how many times it could pull off those kind of defenses. Maybe they could win by attrition?
Still… his ability to avoid damage so far was proving irritating… like the Simurgh… At least they don't have a seventeen minute time limit before they were enthralled and turned into monsters like Sphere and Manton.
The monster lit up its energy blades again… and lunged.
Eidolon pressed both arms straight out, placing all his concentration on holding the hardlight barrier as the monster crashed into it. Hardlight and corruscating energy sending forks of discharge everywhere like a static storm before Eidolon's barrier shattered.
"Move!" Eidolon shouted as the monster lunged for them.
He went right. Eidolon went left, forced to dodge and weave as a beam of bright light speared out of the monsters hands to follow after him, tracking him as the monster dragged it this way and that way to try and hit the world's most powerful hero.
Legend charged up his own attack as the beast was distracted, once again trying the disintegration beam, and fired at its exposed back.
It… hit! It actually hit, making the monster lurch forward before it vanished once again.
He rushed forward, more than experienced enough to expect an attack from behind.
He turned, firing off the equivalent of a shotgun blast at the monster that had appeared at his back, only to see his attacks get swallowed up by the same black vortex from before.
Son of a-
There was a flash of light in front of his eyes. A moment of blindness that stung his retinas before pain shot up the whole length of his outstretched limb and his whole arm went completely limp at his side, red blood blooming from a new wound.
His previous momentum kept him rushing back regardless, allowing him to see… a second angel. Its arm pulling back from where it had sliced at his outstretched arm with its energy blade.
It was shock before pain, and when the pain did hit him, it hit him like a freight train. Hissing and cursing as he grasped at the bloody gash in his arm clear across the bicep. All the way down to the bone. If he were anyone else he would have had his arm cleaved clean off. It had been a long time since he'd been subjected to this level of pain, and as much as he tried to keep his focus the lack of practice made it such as for him to begin lurching back down to the ground in dips and falls.
He felt someone grab him. Keeping him aloft, allowing him to focus entirely on creating a blast to stop the bleeding. The weapon had cut deep enough to slice the brachial artery… he'd be dead in another ninety seconds at best.
David was holding him aloft, once more surrounded by a hardlight barrier, now reinforcing it several times over with other supplementary powers to make it all but impregnable, as evidenced by the crackles of energy and patterns that were visible to the naked eye.
"I got ya." David was saying. "Shit… this is bad."
He shook his head. "I… I'll live…" He said, instantly breathing easier as the pain vanished. He was light-headed. Lost too much blood even in those brief seconds.
His arm was useless, half the fingers in his hand weren't responding and he wasn't even going to dream of lifting it in any meaningful way.
"We need to find some weakness, something that can hurt it. It's not Behemoth for God's sake."
Their earpieces crackled.
"It's weak to fire."
Insight.
"Every attack Legend has thrown at it that's been heat based, it uses a power to avoid. And it's barely even taken any damage from the non heat based attacks from either of you. It's not conserving energy. It's just not giving many fucks about anything that isn't dealing with fire."
"You're sure?" Eidolon asked.
"You could always go and ask it real nice if you'd like a clarification. Be my guest."
David probably wasn't pleased with her smart mouth but…
"We've got something now." He said, pulling himself free of David's grip. "I need you to hold him… both of him off... can you do that?"
He could tell David was smirking behind his mask. "Who do you think you're talking to?" He snarked before turning serious. "We'll have to be careful now. We've seen that he can make doubles, but there's nothing saying he's limited to just two, or if it's even the same monster. There could be more."
"Lets hope not." He thought, wincing as he looked to his arm again.
The angel, one angel floated there, arms crossed as three dark orbs appeared over it's head before they were fired. The two heroes separated and flew to the side. Legend looked down at his one good hand… So fire based lasers huh?
"Well. I can do that!" Legend fired a series of rapid fire crimson beams at the monster, watching as it again used an ability to escape damege "Eidolon!"
Eidolon's hands were burning with flames as he aimed at the monster, and out came a blazing firestorm that would have swallowed up a city block.
The dark swirl that had consumed the monster before appeared in front of it, again, trying to consume the blast, but the flames spread everywhere, going up and around the dark barrier to hit the monster itself.
The fires licked at its wings and robes, catching there and beginning to burn. David fired off again, joined by Legend who fired another dozen blasts, crisscrossing them this way and that way to form a net around the thing to try and prevent its escape.
It vanished, teleporting away as each of Legend's attacks turned in mid air and shot up after it only to see it teleport again, and once more Legend's attacks turned to follow while he conjured more blasts, focusing on all forms of fire from the flash burn to the slower controlled ones.
David was the one to catch it, using one power or other that had the beast smash into some invisible barrier that dazed it just enough to have Legend's blasts strike it.
It was like watching a movie of a man under automatic rifle fire, watching as the damage was done, the holes appear in its body, its limbs and torso jerking with impact…
Then it was gone.
Legend cursed, looking around. Until he saw a corpse he wasn't gonna believe tha-
He stopped, eyes going wide.
More angels… not even damaged. Four of them. Looks like Eidolon was right. This thing had friends.
He raised his one good arm, charging up a blast, only to see the angels each brandish their own attacks, the dark orbs, the ones with eyes, fire, lightning, and even blindingly white energy…
Shit.
The angels fired, a multitude of dark orbs, lavender beams, fireballs, lightning bolts, and light blue arrow-like attacks; a volley capable of lighting up this place like the Fourth of goddamn July.
He saw a flash of green and heard Eidolon's roar as the man interposed himself between the attacks and Legend, that hardlight barrier appearing and enveloping them again.
The blasts hit, exploding against the barrier like tank rounds, holding firm.
Then… there were more of them. The four transforming to eight. Then from eight to sixteen. To thirty-two.
Then they fired again.
Shit!
(X)
Alexandria
Alexandria was currently holding the massive volcanic slab of rock over her head, her feet dug into the stone floor as she pushed against the incredible weight and strength of the armored berserker.
With a grunt she threw Surtr's sword to the side and tackled the knight in the chest, shoulder rushing him and using both arms to pull one leg off balance, knocking him flat onto his back.
She stomped on his chest, using the brute force power of her leg to keep him pinned before punching down at his helmet and face as fast and as brutally as she could.
He recovered, grasping at her arm as she punched down and twisting with harsh, brute force that would have broken her arm entirely if she couldn't fly to twist with the motion.
Her lack of bracing power with her feet off the ground though, just provided an entirely different opening.
With a swing of her twisted limb he tossed her aside, making her hit the ground with her shoulder, rolling twice before recovering.
She looked up, infinitely surprised to find the monster already bearing down on her, his foot lashing out to catch her full in the face, cracking her helmet wide open as she was sent crashing back into the rocky spires of the cave.
She crunched her feet and hands into the rock, stopping her momentum before taking off at a dead-sprint to attack.
She rushed through the dust and debris, finding Surtr and punching at his exposed knee with all the force and power she could put behind one of her fists, watching as the monster was made to pivot almost ninety degrees as he knelt, his knee giving out, bringing his head to her eye level enough for her to leap and deliver a brutal drop kick to the back of his head.
It lurched forward, its arm crunching into the bedrock to keep it from face planting entirely as her back was exposed to it for a second that it took full advantage of as it recovered faster than it had any right to, grasping onto her cape and yanking her back, pulling and slamming her into the floor before dragging her and smashing her into another rock formation, feeling the crunch of granite against her body before she got her bearings enough to pull away from him, hearing and feeling her cape rip like cheap paper.
She lunged, both fists slamming into the monster's chest. This time it kept its footing, punching at the top of her head with enough speed and precision to clip what was left of her helmet with the back of his knuckles, shattering what little remained of it, sending the shattered pieces onto the cave rock at their feet.
She reeled, pulling away and leaving him enough room to actually swing that monstrous slab of a sword at her.
She braced herself, both arms absorbing the blow before she grasped the weapon to try and yank it out of his grip.
She pulled, and he was yanked forward, off his footing, she tried to pull again before he grasped the hilt of the weapon with both arms. Swinging the blade with her and slamming her into the ground.
She twisted with her flight skills, keeping her hold on the weapon and managing to bring her feet towards his arms and kicking with all her strength.
He lost his grip and with a roar she threw the damn thing as far as she could.
The brute didn't even seem phased, taking up a fighting stance with his bare fists.
Surtr was for all accounts and purposes a Brute, just like her. But the best, and in this case the worst, kind of Brute. A Brute who has technique. Skill. And the know how to use it.
Charging in at blinding speed won't help her. He seems to have learned from her and from Glory Girl since their last encounter. She needed to finish this quickly. Alexandria's headache from earlier proved that whatever this place was, it was messing with their heads. She didn't want to stay here any longer than she had to.
That, and the last thing she wants is to fight a war of attrition on Surtr and that angel's home turf.
She looks behind him. Seeing a pool of water there at the edge of the rock.
Deep enough? Maybe. She couldn't see enough to determine whether or not he could sink into it. Maybe she could drown him.
And if it came to getting away, she could fly out and he couldn't...
Worth a shot at any rate. She had to finish this now in order to go and help Eidolon and Legend.
She bull rushed him.
A deadhead charge that saw him slamming his elbow onto the top of her head hard enough to even make her feel a stab of pain through her skull. She kept going, brute forcing her way past his guard and lifting him off his feet, eliminating any resistance before she dove straight downward.
She sucked down a breath, filling her lungs a split second before she hit the water, the black abyss swallowing them whole before they hit the bottom. Thirty feet if she were any judge, double his height if he managed to stand. Not that she had any intention of letting that happen. She punched into his stomach and diaphragm over and over and over again, trying to make him lose whatever breath he had.
He fought back, raw brute force that couldn't deliver blows sufficiently strong enough to even phase her; being slowed and weighed down as he was under water.
So he used different techniques.
Grapples and twists, bending her limbs and trying to crush her throat and smash her head against the stone.
She held her breath. He couldn't hurt her.
She just had to outlast him.
He had to breathe! He wasn't ash here! He was flesh and blood.
He went still, his struggles ceasing and she had to wonder what he was playing at.
Then. His hands surged up, gripping her by her head and hair.
Not crushing….
He.. he was holding her!
She began to move, trying to escape his grasp, her lip curling in anger as the monster tried to turn the tables on her.
She punched, kicked and stomped at his chest, trying to expel the air from his lungs as her fists cracked against his forearms, elbows and wrists
Soon enough though… her lungs burned in her chest, liquid fire spreading across her chest and throat.
And he just wouldn't let go!
With a roar she flew straight up, dragging the armored monster with her and tossing him away with a howl of frustrated fury.
He hit the ground with a crash, smashing into rock before rolling in recovery, picking himself up with a languid despicable ease.
He reached down to the ground, a swirl of off color flames converging where his hand was to form his massive black sword again. No smaller crossguard sword this time. Surtr hoisted it onto his shoulder and growled at her then raised a hand up and gestured for her to come at him again.
She looked to the side, where Legend and Eidolon were currently behind a hard light barrier that was being attacked from all sides by at least a two doze of those angels.
She could only hope Hannah found Hebert soon… at this rate they weren't going to last for much longer.
(X)
The fire crackled merrily. Little snaps and pops even though I can't really see any kindling.
Just bone.
"How're you here?" I blurted out suddenly. "You… I remember that you..."
"Died." She said with a strange mixture of laughter and sadness in her voice. "Yeah… yeah that happened."
"... I'm sorry." I said, meaning it more than anything I'd said in months. "I'm… I'm so sorry Vicky."
"Hey… you tried Tay." She smiled again. I could almost see it. "I know you tried… I… I think that's why I'm here at all actually." She said, then, scooted closer. "And yeah, it sucks that I'm dead but that's not on you Tay."
"Why'd you even do it?" I said, and was ashamed to recognize anger in my voice.
"Do what? Toss a car at Leviathan's face? To hear the alarm go off of course, wouldn't have been nearly as funny with a dumpster or a mailbox."
She laughed. I didn't. I needed to know. Why would she, would anyone do something so stupid.
You don't intentionally piss off an Endbringer unless you're Eidolon.
"Why the hell would you do something so stupid?" I asked, turning away to look into the fires.
"You're my friend Tay. Friends take care of each other."
"You fucking died!" I shouted! Anger blazing across my eyes as my gaze snapped to her. "You fucking died and now that's on me! YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO FUCKING DIE VICKY! NOT FOR ME!"
I was standing over her, I wasn't sure when I'd reached my feet. But I had, feeling the anger literally burn somewhere inside me.
Vicky… Vicky just looked up. "But we're friends Tay."
And just like that… the anger bled out of me, red hot fire replaced by a sadness that left me cold.
I cried again.
Just as I cried over her body… here I was crying again.
"You don't have to carry it… It wasn't your fault. I chose to do what I did Tay. And… I'd probably do it again I think."
I shook my head. "You're really telling me you're not even a little upset that you're dead?"
"Oh. Fuck no. I'm pissed and this sucks to put it really mildly. But you're my friend. And if I had to pick between saving you and dying… or you dying because I let it happen and just hung back. I'll go with my first choice every time."
"But why?" I demanded again. "You have other friends. Other people, a sister, parents, a boyfriend. What the hell do you see that makes me so much more valuable than you!? My dad barely talks to me most days, I don't even trust my own friends, people think of me as a monster, and-"
"What makes you think you're any less valuable than me? Don't you have a dad that loves you? Don't you have friends in the Wards? You don't got a boyfriend, but you'll work on that!"
I could feel her smile, almost see it in her transparent face.
I shook my head.
There was silence between us. Broken only by the crackling of flame beside me.
"Don't get mad at him Tay… But Dean… kinda told me about that whole thing. With the Emma girl."
…
God… damnit… Gallant.
"I… What I'm saying is… I don't know what ideas you got from that bitch but friendship doesn't work that way. It doesn't work by putting some bullshit value on the people with you. Saying this friend's better and this one isn't so good, throw her away. Whatever happened with that Emma girl wasn't on you, it was her bullshit and her fuckup. A friend is a friend and they look out for each other. And all I saw of you was you giving it your all… ya know? You gave yourself to the PRT, and Halbeard and Piggot screwed you over. You put all your energy into making friends in the Wards only to have Surtr nearly wreck that completely. You were trying to recover and pick up the pieces of your life only for more crap to be piled on you every step to make that harder by the higher ups because they were scared shitless of you. You gave it your all against Leviathan and he was gonna kill you. What kind of friend could I call myself if I just said 'Whelp let Taylor handle that shit too. That's not on me, that was all her fault for pissing him off like that'."
"A smart one." I said… sniffing as I tried to hold back the tears.
"A shitty one." She snarked back, before using her hand to toss her hair behind her shoulder. "And you know I can't stand to be anything but fabulous at everything."
I snorted out a laugh, chortling once before I quickly swallowed it down.
Vicky smiled again. "And she smiles! I knew I would get to see it before too long."
There was silence then. I… I wasn't sure what to say.
So I sat down again, listening to the snap-cracks of the flames.
"Not sure how this is supposed to work." She said. "But how long are we supposed to be here?"
It made me smile, even pried another small laugh out of me before it vanished as well, remembering what the woman in green had said. "I'm supposed to see a way home from here… but I… don't want to go back, Vicky."
"Why not?" She asked.
I didn't speak. What could I say. To her of all people.
That it was difficult? That I was tired? I didn't want to go on with this bullshit?
That after she'd given up her life for mine I didn't want to keep going anyway?
The hell kinda friend would that make me?
I lowered my head, and what I said to her next felt like an excuse… "You're not there. Not sure how many others Leviathan killed… I'm not even sure the Bay's still standing at this point." I shrugged. "Why go back to that? To just find everyone dead…"
"They're not." She said with another easy smile before she stood up, sitting in front of me, just a hair or two shorter than I was. "I know it's not easy. Especially for you and everything you have to deal with. But you can't give up. Not now Tay. Things will get better. I know they will… but if you give up now… things will just… end."
"You're still here." I pointed out. "You haven't ended."
"Not sure how long that'll last to be honest." She admitted. "It gets… a little harder to stay here every second."
My emotions must have been worn on my face because Vicky continued.
"Hey. Don't be sad. Who knows how this 'dead' thing works. Sitting by a fire is hardly what I thought this was gonna look like. I thought I would be dancing and making cloud-angels or trying to punch out Satan like Alexandria vs. Savage. Who knows what'll happen after this."
"That's not exactly reassuring," I said honestly with a smile.
"Personally. I'm thinking reincarnation. Maybe this time I'll be a Tinker, rock some power armor and bullshit weapons. Or maybe a Stranger. Be all sneaky like."
"You could always be born without the potential to get powers…" I said and winced as soon as the words left my mouth.
"Way to pick up and carry my hopes and dreams Tay." She laughed.
"Sorry."
She shook her head. "Tay. You're one of the strongest people I know. If you say you don't wanna go back… I'll get it. Really. God knows I never handled myself even half as well as you did under a third of the pressure… But I just don't see it. You're not a quitter. You get back up after you've been knocked down."
"I'm tired of getting knocked down Vicky."
"Then I feel sorry for the next person that tries." She laughed.
I felt like… such a stupid kid but…
"You're not gonna be there."
"No." She said. "But like I said… who knows what'll happen with this whole 'dead' thing. Maybe we'll see each other again and this doesn't necessarily have to be a goodbye. Just a 'see you later' is all."
"... I hope you're right."
In the end… she was right
… I had to go home.
I had to… continue go on. If not for my sake, then at least for what she did...
I felt my eyes well up with tears. "I… I can't hug you…"
"I know… being a ghost sucks right now! This is totally a hug moment!"
I laughed…
I looked down towards the fire, and what my other friend had given me as a gift to see me home.
I reached down, picking it up with both hands… it was heavy…
I wiped at my eyes, sniffing once before reaching my feet again, looking to Vicky who stood there still, smiling at me.
It was time for me to go.
(X)
Miss Militia
The thing wearing Annette Hebert's face smiled at her.
The smile was… wrong. She'd seen many smiles in her life and could remember each with perfect clarity. She'd seen everything, from the genuine to the false, to the insane.
This one was… wrong… off. It was as if the thing behind it was merely mimicking what it had seen, as if it had forgotten how to even begin to make the expression and was unable to emulate what it had seen enough to overcome what it was trying to hide.
'She…' Hannah thought. 'Taylor always described her power as a 'she'
Was this her?
Was this the sentience that was hiding within Taylor's abilities?
She felt something… the tickle at the back of her thoughts that was rapidly growing into a migraine that was becoming unbearable.
She raised her gun on limbs that were already beginning to shake, straining to aim through eyes that blurred with the pain.
She fired five times before the pain made her vision go stark white and strength abandoned her limbs. She fell to her side, not even having the presence of mind to break her fall, cracking her cheek against the hard stone ground.
Her body went numb, a cold feeling of death rising up her limbs as she lost all sensation
She focused inward… on her thoughts, her memories… and there she realized is where this thing was attacking her from.
It was trying to erase her memories.
Not all of them… some. Selecting the ones she wanted to tear away. She remembers forgetting them. Remembers the memories that she couldn't remember anymore…
Taylor…
All her memories of Taylor.
"SHe iS miNe. YoU won'T Get to bE heR MotHeR!"
The thought was insidious… not even given in words. It was a string of other memories strung together in a bastardization of a message.
She managed to open her eyes. Forcing her limbs to obey her and pick themselves up to try and shoot this bitch in the face.
Even as she felt the equivalent of a drill boring straight through her skull, she snarled and took aim as best she could, shooting at this thing again and again… and again, for the sake of sheer defiance on Taylor's behalf if nothing else.
Then… as if it never existed… the pain vanished, evaporating like a morning dew.
She breathed, sucking down a breath of pure relief as she blinked up at where the spectre of Annette Hebert stood barely a second ago.
She heard a ripple at the water, and whirled, gun at the ready when she froze.
"Taylor?!"
She was there. Long hair hanging down in strings, her glasses missing and clothes in disrepair, carrying a sword that seemed much too large for her but… there she was.
"We have to go home now…" she said, turning her eyes to Militia who began to gingerly pick herself off the ground. She can barely see her eyes thanks to her hair draped over her face.
She stepped forward, looking the young woman over before kneeling in front of her. "Are… Are you okay?" She asked, even as she tried to take stock and see if she were sporting any injuries of her own. "Do you remember anything?"
Taylor shook her head, closing her eyes before she sucked down a deep breath through her nostrils "Militia… let's just go… let's get out of here before I change my mind."
Hannah didn't know what she meant, but she was more than willing to follow her wishes on this. She'd had more than enough of this place herself.
She heard the explosions off in the distance fade away, turning to look, only to see nothing but Dark.
She prayed that meant good news…
(X)
Victoria Dallon
"... I can see it Vicky." Taylor said.
Instantly… she felt a wave of relief wash over her.
"I can see the way home…"
She'd be okay. She had to be.
With or without her… Taylor would be okay.
"Goodbye…"
"Later girl…"
Taylor looked at her smiling that small smile of hers.
And then… she was gone and Vicky was left alone with the crackling, soothing flame…
She sat back on her hands, looking up at the darkness above her. "Well… guess this is the afterlife…" She looked down at the bonfire, frowning. "Shame I didn't bring marshmallows… and graham crackers… Hmm… could I eat those?" Victoria sighed as she laid on her side, being kept warm by the side. "I guess… this isn't so bad. Kinda boring though…"
She stared into the fires, curious as to what fueled it with no wood or charcoal in sight.
"What do you see in the flames?"
She jerked up, bolt upright as she twisted and turned her head this way and that way. "What the-"
When she looked behind her- She saw him.
He was… old. With a beard you'd only see in some cheap fantasy books or movies that reached all the way down to his waist. Dressed in black with a crown of silver on his head.
He… seemed sad...
Past him, around him… she could see statues… hundreds of them, ghoulish looking and gothic, that vanished along the periphery of her vision whenever she tried to focus on them, disappearing entirely the closer to the flame her vision came to.
"With fire… they say a true King can harness the curse." The old man continued, breaking her out of her examination, only to confuse her with his words. The hell was he on about with fire?
"A lie. But I knew no better..."
There was silence between them then, with him thinking of something as he stared at the ground and her trying to think of what the hell she could say or what was up with this afterlife. The religions got it all wrong.
"Uhh… were you a King?" She decided to ask, trying to place his accent. He didn't sound english. But he certainly didn't sound like any of the other european countries that had kings before. Was he from a different earth?
He chuckled, a sound somewhere in his chest that fought its way up to his lips. "I am no King… I am more fit to be a jester."
He turned his eyes upwards to her.
He had brown eyes… strange… he seemed so extraordinary in everything else. His voice, his height, his beard. She imagined his eyes would be blue or green. Not brown…
"It has been many years since I've seen a friendship such as that. Longer still since it survived hardship. To go beyond the very reach of death itself… Hrnmm hmm… A commendable feat. One worthy of song."
Victoria shrugged. "I wouldn't say I'm the best person ever. But… I like to think I'm a good friend at least. Ya know?"
He laughed again, smiling thinly. "Foolish girl… you know not the depths of dark within that one. A dark that grows deeper still, the greater she becomes. For the brighter the flame, the darker its shadow."
She bristled. "Hey, I'm glad to have someone to talk to, but if you're gonna bitch on Taylor without her being here to tell you to fuck off then I'm gonna have to do it for her, okay?"
Again, he laughed.
"I wonder… can your bond prove more enduring than the last? I watched it crumble from the deepest brotherhood to the brightest of hatreds and did nothing to abate it. Nothing to aid it. Perhaps… perhaps this time I should act differently…"
He waved his hand. And she was wondering if maybe this afterlife thing would be screwing with her sanity after so long before she felt… a tug… an insistent pulling that turned into a yank, one that she was powerless to resist before she was pulled so far and so fast the bonfire was a mere glimmer in the dark before she could even blink, the whole world going dark before she knew no more.
(X)
Vendrick
She vanished into the void of the dark, taken from his sight and he from hers.
He looked back down onto the cold hard ground of the Undead Crypt. To the tiny, feeble fragment of a glimmering soul at his feet.
There is nothing that he can do to aid this one. Nothing to make the path she will have to walk easier.
All he had were words. Ones that might aid her, more than they aided him in times long past.
He reached down… plucking the shard from its place on the cold granite. Warming it, comforting it as best he could.
He whispered his words to it, and with a gesture he cast it through the energies of time… returning it to its rightful whole.
"I say this unto you… you who are half formed yet whole… who would be the Conqueror of Dark…
"Seek strength…
"The rest… will follow."
And King Vendrick was left to his solitude, in this place that would one day become his tomb.