SRMVR

Post by **Tree** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 7:55 pm

" Of course.. I was not judging your care or lack thereof for the child, but me.. but that doesn't matter either."

She shifted and pulled out a ring and plopped it in opal's arms and would walk bellow deck.

Post by **Sushi** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:03 pm

Drandar took the ring, looking at it for a moment before closing it tightly in his fist.

"You're the one that literally threw me away... twice. What made you think that I didn't care about you?"

He had maintained his cool so far, but he was starting to crack under the constant, severe pressure she was exerting on him.

Post by **Tree** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:05 pm

" engrained reflexes aren't the easiest to break. Forgive me."

Zandra replied, glaring at him.

" Is there anything else you want, or is this just a gloating party?"

Zandra would lay Ariel down and cover the child. Slowly she would right herself and stare down Drandar.

" there was no doubt when hurtful words are dealt, and then anger at something involuntary. "

Post by **Sushi** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:14 pm

"I didn't purposefully say anything hurtful!"

Drandar straightened his spine, not letting her intimidate him.

"I wasn't angry, either. I was just tired of letting you try to beat at me - you have your reflexes, and we both know they extend beyond just physical things. Did you think you were the only one?"

He shook his head.

"I wasn't angry until you did something voluntary."

He could feel the ring piercing his flesh from how hard he was squeezing, but he wasn't fuming or anything. Just upset.

Post by **Tree** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:15 pm

" Tired and broken"

Zandra offered back, eyes falling from him.

" I am so tired and broken"

Post by **Sushi** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:30 pm

"And you chose to take it out me?"

Drandar shook his head some.

"Do you think that this was easy for me either? It's not, but I realize that one of us has to hold it together. That's almost impossible with you ragging at me relentlessly. I'm not even sure whether you're in my corner anymore or if you've decided to be my enemy."

After Death had been wandering around for a while, Kiaati would eventually sit up. She opened that book again, just propping it up on her bare knees. She was cold. On top of all of her miseries, it had occurred to her that she was freezing with her lack of clothes. However, she just kept looking at the pages about Gabriel. The images of helpless deaths of her followers kept playing through her head. It didn't matter if there were words on the pages or not. She was lost.

Post by **Tree** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:32 pm

Zandra looked over him.

" what do you want me to do?"

Post by **Sushi** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:37 pm

"What do I want you to do? Since when have I been the one to give you orders?"

Drandar's expression changed. it was softer and more temperate. However, there was something wearied and sorrowful too.

"I don't know how to lead or where to go. I just want you to keep doing what you've always done: try until you can't anymore. There's still hope. For now. We just have to get her back."

Post by **Tree** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:38 pm

" How? I am too tired to even attempt magic."

Post by **Sushi** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:49 pm

"I don't know. There has to be an answer, even without magic. It'll come to us, if we look for it."

Drandar slowly moved to sit down, far too tired. He knew what they needed - it was written on both of their faces.

"We'll just rest for a bit, think this through, and come up with a plan... If you're in?"

Post by **Tree** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:51 pm

" .... If you decide to kill me in my sleep, do it quickly, please."

And she'd crash on the ground, curled up tight next to ariel.

Post by **Sushi** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:58 pm

Drandar slowly reached over after a long moment, but not to pet her hand or brush her hand or even to kiss her. The man instead had produced her particular pendant, looping it around her neck. It pulsed more insistently than it had before, as did his own, but right now he couldn't think so. After a moment longer, the man also slid her ring back upon her finger, though now stained with his blood. He did not kill her, but he did not move to coddle her either. He went to go lay down on deck beneath only the stars.

Aries woke before Zandra, and she woke with screams. She scrambled away, terrified and sobbing again.

Post by **Tree** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 9:03 pm

I am sure aries would be terrified....

Zandra looked up at Ariel, sighing.

" Calm down, sweetie."

she urged, looking over the small child.

" I will do whatever you wish, but calm down, please?"

Post by **Sushi** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 9:09 pm

((My bad. The names are close and my fingers are more used to typing Aries than Ariel. XD ))

Ariel had already run into the corner of the boat, crouched down behind a shipping crate. The little girl now was just in a ball, crying miserably. Her little hands gnarled into her hair, dirty tears streaking down her cheeks. She was a little calmer, but she was not happy or whole.

Drandar eventually was roused by the screams, though he did not go down to check on her. Obviously the child was alright down there with Zandra. Nothing could happen to her down there, and Drandar wanted desperately to avoid the blood-soaked air in the hold that was only lightened by the smell of death. His eyes were drawn to the fallen Obscarian that lay nearby, awash in an eerie light.

Drandar wasn't curious, exactly, but he did move over to see what it was. His gem heated against his flesh, casting off its own hue over the man. Unknowingly, there were two of three. If the third came close, it would be enough to finish what the first was trying to do. Being so tied and close to death, it was no surprise that Gabriel had known Kiaati's presence. The only question was... once he was strengthened enough to move, what would he do under the weight of a direct order from his chosen, even if given by her spirit without her realizing it?

After a while of just staring at the page s and seeing nothing but the images of her fallen comrades, Kiaati shifted with sudden desperation, another book or two sliding into the floor as she scrambled to grab the first one about herself. She opened it up fiercely, her eyes all but ripping the words there from the pages. This was similar but still entirely different than looking in the Trusish. This was specific and detailed. Everything washed across her in a tidal wave, her own life surrounding her.

Kiaati wasn't sure when she had stopped, or when things had changed, but eventually her moaning sobs reverberated from the whole of the library. It was a terrible sound, she realized, but she could stop with how it fell from her body. She couldn't stop it any more than she had been able to stop what had happened before. Right now, the woman was starting to accept something, something far more legitimate and basic than anything Death had tried to force on her.

Kiaati was starting to accept the life she had lived, her fingers now tightly gripping the book as she bent over, crying hopelessly. It wasn't self-pity. She never really engaged in that, neither before nor after death. She was just examining feelings that she had always pushed away while living. Kiaati was grieving. She wept for everything she had endured. She wept for everything and everyone she lost. She even wept a little for herself. Kiaati was still so lost - she didn't know what to do or think or feel right now. For the first time in a long time, she was the one that needed support and guidance. She needed these things, but she was all alone.

Post by **Tree** » Wed Sep 11, 2013 6:10 pm

Zandra slowly scooped up Ariel into her chest and brushed at the cihld's tears.

" I am sorry."

she offered the little girl.

Post by **Tree** » Wed Sep 11, 2013 6:30 pm

Ariel continued to sniffle, more tears welling up. She didn't say anything to Zandra, but she didn't start screaming either. The problem was that miracles couldn't be expected from a small child. Whereas an adult could accept an apology and move on with life, a child just knew what they have just experienced, knew the pain. Perhaps this small bit would just have to be good enough for now.

Post by **Tree** » Thu Sep 12, 2013 9:30 pm

Zandra would remain there with the child, no inclination at all to move with the little girl.She would just sit in the darkness, ignoring the smells, loving and kissing on the distraught child.

Post by **Sushi** » Tue Oct 01, 2013 10:08 pm

Eventually, Ariel would cry herself to sleep, but even as she rested in Zandra's arms, the child did not relax or warm up to the woman. She whimpered in her sleep, plagued by nightmares. She was just a little girl. Forgiveness had to be earned, not because she was callous or cruel but simply because her faith was so fragile. A single moment of rage and hurt hand done damage that would take Zandra much longer to soothe away.

It took Kiaati a very long time before she could do anything else. There was much that she had to do before she could even begin to move on from her tears. It could have been phrased beautifully, like some lost piece of herself had to fall into place. However, what she did was anything but beautiful. She stained the pages with tears until her face was ruddy and she was just generally disheveled. It was ugly and weak, but it was also a beginning. Kiaati would never be able to heal if she didn't accept who she had been.

This soul had an innate strength, a resilence and stubborn will that all of the Terrachronans had admired at some point or another. Life had done a wonderful job in creating her. There was a certain point where that strength allowed her to pick herself up and begin to piece things together. There was no mistaking when she was ready to move forwards, when (at least for now) she could not bear to look backwards anymore. It began with silence and the absence of tears.

As Death was making his way down the hall to go tend to his particular brand of business, he would find himself with an odd stalking set of footprints echoing in the hallway behind him. When he reached the door was when Kiaati's voice pressed on the air with tones of calm rather than distress.

"I'll help you." The woman didn't mean this in any other way that exactly what she said. This time there was no subtle implication, no hidden agenda. As she moved the last few paces to catch up to him, all of the clothes and adornments given to her - everything from the overshirt to the rose in her hair - burned away to make room for the clothes to replace the ones she had been wearing before. As he had promised, it would happen when she was ready. This set was different than before. It was sleeveless tunic with a high collar, made of black cotton. One side folded over the other a little so that the seam was offset a bit to her left, the thin red trim looping over shiny black toggles spaced periodically down the front of her tunic. Underneath were a plain pair of loose black pants that ended just a little below her knees.

Looking at her, it was plain to see that she had pulled herself together quiet a bit. She stood straight and fearless, her red hair billowing about her face like a swathe of flame. Kiaati was going to go help Death collect his souls, and from judging her she would be strong enough to handle it just fine as opposed to how much of a torture it would seem to others. There wasn't much else that could be done with her. Things were changing both within and around the woman. A glance outside would prove that Kiaati's heaven had literally disappeared. For the time being, there was no peace out there for her to have. She had lost faith in that.

Post by **Tree** » Tue Oct 15, 2013 9:21 pm

Death raised an eyebrow, offer his hand to her ; and a rose.

" This is not such a hard thing."

He offered, seeming to push through this door and onto the plane inbetween life and death, walking upon the earth it's self to the child laying on the ground. He seemed to scoop the soul from the infant's body, the spirit taking on a real form in his hold. There was no question as the infant body laid lifeless, the soul was already crawling about his knees as he moved to the mother and would pry her hold free so she could enter into this world and tend her son's soul for eternity. Death would then glance over Kiaati .

" Her son ."

He motioned to the four or five year old human body mangled and torn to shreds, blood soaking the muddied ground. It was a devastating sight, a lone house in the woods torn asunder with bodies laying everywhere for the hunting father to return and find. There was no question as to the demon hands who likely dealt such heartlessly cruel pain to this small family.

Post by **Sushi** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 4:37 pm

Kiaati had seen this kind of thing plenty of times before. After all, it was what she had been fighting to change. Demons shouldn't have the right to hunt and kill humans for sport, shouldn't have the right to enslave them or toy with them as they saw fit. Still, as her eyes brushed across the scene, it jarred free a memory in her head. She knew. Even as she moved without hesitation to follow Death's instruction, the blinding pain seared again in her chest, as excruciatingly clear as the moment that it happenened, the moment that had torn her away from life. She had been in the place these people had just arrived at.

Ignoring her own radiating pain, the woman leaned down, reaching her hands into the child. It was more difficult for her than it seemed to be for Death. It wasn't that she could feel the body, per se, but it did form a sort of resistance against her as she reached for the soul. It took her a moment, but her fingers did wrap around the warm, quivering thing inside of the little boy. Kiaati swept him up into her arms, cradling him there. She remembered when Death had done that for her, when she had been too weak to stand. She had felt so good and warm and comfortable; for once, she had languished in security and peace. Now, she couldn't even remember how that felt, yet she hoped the boy would have the same feeling as she carried him over to Death and the others. She hoped he would forget his pain, and that it would never come back to him like it had to her.

"I had a little boy like you," Kiaati breathed, regardless of whether or not the child could hear. After all, the comment was more for herself than for him. As she thought about it, Kiaati realized that she missed Xamein, agonized over what he must have felt at her failure. He deserved a better life than the one she had been giving him. He deserved soft beds and warm breakfasts with all of the love the world could muster. He deserved to be happy, as did this little one that she now held out towards the mother.

Post by **Tree** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:06 pm

As the souls reunited in Death, Death nodded and looked over Kiaati. He knew too much in this situation, but he held his tongue as he watched the woman. Slowly he would guide her back down the dark tunnel and through another door to another scene. This one was a demon dying with her elven lover dead beside her. Odd pair? Yes, but this was just another pair of women in the whole grand scheme of things. Guiding them off was barely any different from the first experience, just as the next four he would take her to.

Then he would guide her down a different hall, one that would leave her staring at her own body on the ground.

" I can completely separate you, or you can go back. But your body won't take you before long. They are fully capable of rejecting the soul after a certain point. If you miss your son, you miss your hard life and constant demands, then return."

Post by **Sushi** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 10:00 pm

It was a dirty move that Death pulled. At first Kiaati scrambled back, pressed against the wall, yet she couldn't tear her eyes away from the body submerged in that shallow pool of translucent quicksilver. It was like she couldn't breathe all of the sudden for all of the different kinds of pain pressing in on her - wounds, hunger, mental, emotional. Still, after a long moment, she slowly stepped forwards. Kiaati was not ready, but she knew what she had to do. She didn't have a choice. With this in mind, she slowly moved forward, wading into the pool, disappearing under the surface and into her body once they touched.

Nothing whatsoever changed, the body still resting there even after the ripples stilled. However, Kiaati's soul was inside, thrashing and screaming in agony. It would remain there, trapped in that moment with no reprieve until either Death pulled her back out or until Life restored her body.

"That was uncharacteristically cruel of you," pointed out the airy voice of the ebony-skinned Terrachronan. Life looked at him with pursed lips as she shifted across the hardwood floors of her little corner of the universe. "What? Are you testing her, or are you just taking it out on her because you can't fully have her quite yet? She looked ready to be your little lap dog and deny going back if you hadn't pushed her."

What he had said was absolutely true. There was a point rapidly approaching where she would not be able to go back in, but Time had outlined that himself. It was in the deal that was still in progress, the one that would determine whether or not Life intervened. Everything that Death had just done was nothing more than premature.

Aries did not sleep well. In fact, she would wet herself as she slept, which caused her to wake up. The girl panicked and sobbed uncontrollably as her head whipped about in the death-soaked darkness. She gasped and cried out as she realized what else she had been hearing, what else that had not been dream. There was fighting going on above deck. See, things like a blue signal flare did not go unnoticed. It had just taken others longer to get to the boat, others that were not so keen on what they found. Drandar was alone, but he fought anyhow.

Post by **Tree** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 10:15 pm

Death looked up, shaking his head.

" No. I don't want to permit my soul back into your plane if it's not strong enough to handle it. As much as this is cruel it is proving her strength. "

He had to see she was capable, because right now she was one of his. One of the creatures he needed to protect just like any other, and as much as this looked heartless it wasn't. Death was there for peace and ease after the torments of life. He was not doing this lightly or willfully. He did it to satisfy some part of him that needed to know she could handle it.

" If she is strong enough all will be well."

Break free and finish healing, take control of the situation and deal, or even remain trapped, not strong enough, and return to him .

Zandra roused, looking over Ariel and pressing a hand over the child's mouth.

" quiet.Hide."

She urged, tucking the child sans the soaked clothing, slipping her in a nearby shirt and hidden in a draw as she would surface about into the mess above deck. It was not the most appealing mayhem to find one's self in, but given Zandra's feelings, joining the disaster of blood and bodies was something very much appealing to the demon right now.

Post by **Sushi** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 7:10 pm

Drandar knew when Zandra was above deck and fighting. Apparently, the change was enough to call something back to her and the pendant in his pocket heated enough to sear straight through the fabric as it flew back to her, falling around the woman's neck. Between the three pendants, there was a pulse, knocking the last few of those standing overboard. Drandar looked at her, reaching out a battered and bloodied hand towards her, though he stopped as movement caught his eye. A blue glow emanated from Kiaati's crystal, and he could have sworn that Gabriel just moved a little... So, about that order?

"That's not very sporting. I mean, you kinda have to if they follow through with the deal... It's a very generous deal, I thought, and you agreed."

The problem was that sometimes Life and Death made mistakes. Sometimes Death took someone too early or left someone behind, which caused plenty of turmoil for a mass of people. Sometimes Life put people in situations that they could not endure, and they would take it in their own free-willing hands to move to Death's side. This was perhaps one of those times that Death made a mistake.

The timing was wrong, and Kiaati had endured more than her fair share both before and after her death. He had completely broken the way she saw the world and the things that she believed. She had all comfort ripped from her as she lost faith in happiness or peace, her heaven dissolving into nothing. Now, Kiaati would lay trapped in her body, caught in the agonizing sensations of her death for days on end, though it seemed much longer. The woman roiled and howled inside, though completely frozen and unaffected on the outside. As it continued, little bits of her soul began to fracture. It wasn't until something essential shattered that there was any real difference.

It didn't seem any different than any other moment that had come before, but several days into it, suddenly there were ripples in the water. The ordeal had done what would likely prove to be irreparable damage to her both her body and soul in the process, but now she dragged herself out of that pool, streaming blood through the mercury like substance. To call it a being, though, was almost a travesty. What emerged was barely a being at all. It was entirely faithless and in incaluable amounts of perpetual agony. The bitter spirit wind whipped against her, as she belonged to neither Life nor Death. This happened every once in a while. They were called Chaotic Chis or Lost Souls, as they tended to do nothing but play to Chaos's whims. As it was, Life recoiled from the dark thing that crawled across the floor, wounded and terrible.

Kiaati clawed her way to stand, using the wall for support as she moved past the two as they did not exist. She had something to do and she was going to do it. In many ways, the soul had proven her strength to Death but it had come at a terrible price.

Somewhere, Harmony was all but having a panic attack on Fate, freaking out over all that was happening. She could practically hear Chaos's menacing cackle in her ears.

"HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?!"

Post by **Tree** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 8:17 pm

Fate's chin dropped slightly, eyes running over Harmony.

" Take her the child."

she instructed simply without a single blink. Not a surprised bone in her body. Why was this? who knew. Fate could be as unreadable as anyone else.

Death swallowed slightly, eyes wondering the creature that moved passed him. He would watch the woman, shaking his head. The soul was strong, but this wasn't what was needed. There was a system of checks and balances that wouldn't let this remain so forever. At this point in time, there was nothing Life or Death could do.

Zandra looked at the man on the deck, alive but only just. She considered the other two beings flying nearby, barely muffling an internal sigh.

" Who knows what the fates have ruled for us now."

Post by **Sushi** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 11:58 pm

Drandar just shook his head.

"I don't know. I cant even figure out where to go from here."

Except here was still one frightened little girl that they needed to look after.

"Lets go get Ariel."

The man guided Zandra down into the hold so that she could help with the little sobbing child Ariel screamed as if the devil himself had found her went her hiding place was opened. There was no questioning her current state of trauma. She sobbed incoherent words and trembled, shrinking away from the two demons.

"Do you really think its a good idea letting him see her like that?"

Harmony worried about the child.

"What if she hurts him?" She asked in a lower voice.

It wasn't what was needed, but Kiaati just couldn't manage anything else. It had been beaten out of her - when she had lain broken and grasping for any help.at all, they had shoved her into the lions den with no way to defend herself. It should not have been surprising that what crawled its way out was only the mauled remnants of what once was.

Kiaati stopped at the threshold, turning back to glance across life and death for a moment. She was horrible to look upon. Her tunic was ripped wide with the bloodstained slash across the front. It hung low, one half at the edge of her shoulder and the other flapping uselessly at her elbow. She seemed to have lost the ability to care about how her torso was borne in near entirety, the ugly gaping gash acroos her chest exposing severed ribs with glimpses of the ruined organs beneath. In this state one could.see exactly how emaciated she had become, covered in bruises and scrapes. From the elbow down she was still raw from the seeping rash and flesh stripped away by friction. Her jaggedly slashed hair was plastered ti her face, dripping with both blood and that mercurylike liquid. One pantleg hung limply, having been torn almost completely away in an injury that rendered her thigh in sore need of stitches.

The most terrible part ti see, however, was her eyes. They echoed of her pain and hunger and misery, but worst as they settled on the two terrachronans they screamed the betrayal she felt, laced with hollow faithlessness and contempt. How could they have done this to her? Why didn't she deserve what everyone else had?

Still, she turned away from them. She didn't ask questions about the portal before her. It could.have been sent by chaos himself and she wouldn't have cared. She had nothing to lose and she stepped through. The chaotic Chi stumbled on the rocky shore, but as she looked up, Kiaati recognized the ship. she wwasn't exactly on their plane, but she was close enough to affect Nd be affected by it. After a moment, she clambered her way up the ladder on the side of the ship. She no longer moved gracefully, everything about her unnatural. The woman looked about to the new bodies littering the deck. Someone had been here since she last saw it. After a moment of consideration, she knelt beside Gabriel, rolling him onto his back so she could examine his state of being.

"Gabriel..."

Even her voice was damaged, coarse and whispy as though gasping for breath. She frowned a little and reached out to take his weapon. She didn't want it. It just occurred to her that being in between was a terrible place. He had been kind to her and helped her in ways that put her forever in his debt. If he couldn't move on in either life or death, she would return the kindness and help him.

Post by **Tree** » Fri Apr 25, 2014 7:22 am

Perhaps it was best that Gabriel was completely out of it or he'd likely have taken the largest offense ever to what Kiaati was intending, whether it was meant as mercy and kindness or not. He would remain completely unmoving as she grew closer and closer to ending the last bit of life he held.

No, it would be Angelica who would step forward, Thad who caught the blade. Both stared down at Kiaati, holding their tongues for a few moments as the pair tried to judge the situation.

" We follow our Chosen. Our Chosen want you to live, that means your guardian must remain alive."

Angelica imparted as she took the blade from Thad and headed bellow to check on her own chosen.; More like spy really as she intentionally kept her presence from being discovered.

Either way, as Kiaati remained on the deck, Xamien would show with Harmony by his side, standing there, lost and confused as he stared at his mother. He had no idea what to make of everything about him, considering the blood pooling on the ground and the bloated bodies decaying.... The mess was absolutely disgusting and made him wonder what was going here. Just because the mice had been away helping Kiaati didn't mean that others hadn't come. If not for Angelica and Thad, Gabriel would have died as well as any chance Kiaati had.

Either way the child slowly shuffled from Harmony's side, looking up at his mother.

" Mama?"

He asked timidly, uncertain if this person before him was really her.

Zandra sighed, following her love down and to their little one. She heard the child scream and cry, shaking her head some as she moved to the little one, reaching to lightly brush the child's hair. She forced nothing else at this point, merely offering reassurance.

Death watched, looking up at Life as she appeared. He merely handed her a rose and looked on. It was in the human's own hands now. She could chose to rest in peace, and she would be granted it, or she could chose to live for revenge and righteousness.

Post by **Sushi** » Fri Apr 25, 2014 9:00 am

Unseen, Life took the rose as her eyes turned between Death and the living. However, she was visibly distraught. She could barely stomach her repulsion towards the creature, but at the same time it made her agonizingly sorrowful. It wasn't supposed to be this way. She felt so bad for the poor, tortured soul.

"This is your fault," she accused her counterpart tearfully.

"I worked so hard on her, but it didn't matter how strong I made her, did it? You had to go and break her."

"You are fools. Cruel and blinded by what you believe."

Kiaati's words were harsh as the other Obscarians thwarted her task. She didn't fight them, letting them have their way aside from those two little remarks. However, as she heard a voice that twisted her heart, any scrap of restraint or calm disappated. Her bloodshot eyes turned to the child so close to her now, and one arc of pain soared higher than all of the other agony constantly ripping away at her insides.

"Xamien..."

It was only a whisper in her coarse voice. She stared at the little boy for only a matter of seconds before dropping her head into her hands, pulling at her blood-soaked hair with broken fingers. After a moment, she couldn't stop the cry that ripped its way free of her throat. It was a horrible, heart-wrenching howl, something that came from the animal part that existed inside of everyone. It spoke of pain and horror and sorrow and anger - so much bitter and hateful fury. Kiaati staggered to her feet, but when her head lifted there was not an ounce of gentleness or even sensibility in her awful eyes. Everything that was in them before - the pain, the betrayal - had been nearly blotted out by the pure rage.

"HOW COULD YOU?!"

Her broken voice curved the words into a screech like nails on a chalkboard. As she moved swiftly across the boat, Harmony took a few wide-eyed steps backwards. She had just been doing what Fate had suggested. She had tried to warn her.

"WAS IT NOT ENOUGH? YOU COULDN'T SETTLE FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME? NOT MY LIFE OR MY BODY OR EVEN WHAT YOU DID AFTER YOU TOOK BOTH OF THEM? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO HIM?! HE IS A CHILD! A CHILD AND YOU JUST RUINED EVERYTHING! HE IS GOING TO HAVE TO CARRY THIS WITH HIM HIS ENTIRE LIFE!"

And with one swift movement she shoved Harmony over the edge of the boat, swirling around to glower at Life and Death. Sure, they were hiding their presence from all of those living, but she wasn't living nor dead. They couldn't hide themselves from her. She pointed one bloody finger at them damningly.

"Because of you, this is going to live in every moment of fear, in every nightmare. You say that you want to keep things in balance or working or whatever, but I don't believe you anymore. You made me into this, and now you are using it to destroy innocent people. You have no idea what you just made him into."

Kiaati turned slowly, looking back at her little boy. Tears, awful, blood-tainted tears began to leak from the eyes of her ruined body.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... You deserved so much better."

Love and friends and toys and a home... Kiaati's knees hit the deck of the ship as she crumpled over her knees. The woman wrapped an arm around her torso, having to work on battling back the pain and everything else. This wasn't natural, and it wasn't easy. It was tearing her apart.

Drandar gently lay a hand on her back, but then tensed, looking upwards. He was unnerved by what he heard all of the sudden, his hairs standing on end.

"Zandra..."

Post by **Tree** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 4:30 pm

Death watched with little care on his features for the time being. Slowly he'd shift though and shake his head to Life.

" Placing blame will not fix a single thing."

He offered, neither accepting it nor refuting it.

The man even met Kiaati's gaze without a single flinch. There was little that could really rattle a creature of his sorts. This said Death would take a few strides across the deck and look over the small child.

" Xamien, what do you see?"

He looked about, shaking his head.

" Hurt."

He offered in a single word answer as he let his eyes wonder over his mother crying on the ground, wanting to help her. He was most definitely afraid of losing another parent, but even more frightened of all these people about him insistent on changing things.

Death smiled a genuine smile, even Death was a fan of small children and the life they held. He was never happy to welcome small ones into his realm, but when it had to happen he was ever kind. Lightly the man would lace his fingers and guide the child to his mother.

" You world's hurts are easily erased. I erase them by bringing her to my world. It ends more then the physical pains, it's a place to heal the soul. Life can easily ease her hurts here, though. The issue is, your mother needs to make a choice. She's being given the choice of Life or Death. That's not something many people are given."

Xamien nodded slightly.

" My mama didn't get to choose... she just died.... "

This mother got to pick? Would she stay with him?

Zandra glanced up as she now held Ariel, rubbing the crying child's back. She kissed over the little one's head.

" I think we are safer down here. Those fools messing with time, life, death... I want nothing of it. We should hide here, forever."

She offered, clearly uninterested in joining the chaos of the above deck happenings.

Post by **Sushi** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 3:47 pm

Drandar looked back at her.

"You... changed your mind?'

If there was a chance of making this easier...

Kiaati looked up, the expression nearly demented as she glowered at Death.

"Stay away from me," she growled in her broken voice through gritted teeth.

Her bloody eyes looked over at the child then, and she uncurled her fingers from her wounds. The woman almost reached for him, but then her hand just fell away to the ground and she lay her forehead on her bony knee.

"Both of you. Life. Death. Just... leave me be," her voice oozed with contempt.

There was a tiny voice in her even as she spoke, something that she had stopped hearing a long time ago. It begged - why wouldn't someone help her?

Post by **Tree** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 4:00 pm

" She's dying. If she's dead there is no point in anything on our parts anymore. I vote we marry and run away from all this crazy.... "

Zandra offered of the cuff as she held her little one closer.

" Somewhere far away where, somewhere none of this can touch us anymore."

Death sighed.

" heal her. The child needs a mother."

The weary man explained to life, twirling his rose as he walked off.

Post by **Sushi** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 4:44 pm

"She's beyond me. He's got friends under his feet."

Life walked off with him.

"There are rules. I can't do that even more than you can," she muttered with displeasure.

"We're not going to fight over this world too, are we?"

Because there were plenty of other worlds were one of the two of them had pressed or even broken those rules. Those worlds were not in the best state anymore, and the creatures and fates born from such mistakes.

At those words, Kiaati slowly rose unfolded her limbs, getting up. Grime and blood dripped off of her as she slowly reached a hand out to the child. Her fingers were literally as cold as death as she took Xamein's hand. The woman no longer believed in either of them, but that didn't mean that she didn't believe everything was a lie. There was probably a friend to Xamein down there if they said so.

She opened the door and walked down the steps, pulling the child with her. Every step left a bloody print under her bare feet. Drandar wouldn't get to respond, and Zandra wouldn't get to avoid her. It's was Kiaati's ruined voice that responded to her off-the-cuff remark.

"Then you should at least take him with you too."

There was no hatred tugging at her lifeless blue lips, but there was no relief or mirth either.

Post by **Tree** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 7:46 pm

Zandra shook her head as she considered kiaati.

" He's your son. You take care of him. "

She would stand now, holding her girl tight to her chest.

" I have my family."

Post by **Sushi** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 8:22 pm

The woman's expression darkened and she released Xamein's hand.

"Sorry," she murmured to the child.

So that was it. After everything... That was it. She stumbled up the stairs. Tears poured down her face, unbidden. It was everything she could do to manage not to scream.

Post by **Tree** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 4:08 pm

Xamien looked so terrified and lost as he watched his mother go and Zandra loomed over him. The trembling child would take a few steps back as he watched the demon pair.

Zandra sighed as the little girl was passed to Drandar.

" If we still manage to pull this off I'll be impressed."

The defeated demon would walk after kiaati and stop the woman.

" Sit."

Post by **Sushi** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:41 pm

Drandar just sighed as he took Ariel, looking down at Xamien.

"You wanna go see what's going on, or do you think we should just wait until they are done?"

There was something in his face that hinted that perhaps he wasn't quite as carefree as he seemed - not this time.

Kiaati felt the firm hand slip on the murk dripping off of her shoulder, was aware of the fingers that slid into the gash, knocking up against the bone of her clavicle. Yet, she didn't respond in any way that she would have in life. She didn't strike back at Zandra to keep from being touched. She didn't draw away from the pain. At this point, it was barely a ripple in the ocean of agony she was enduring right now. Instead, Kiaati just turned, her dead, colorless eyes settling on the demon, and at this moment, the DEMON part of her was all that Kiaati could see.

"Go away," was all she said now, her voice flat and empty.

"You can make whoever else your dog, but you won't have me."

She could have whatever human she wanted to command to sit or play dead or else. The faithlessness in Kiaati was quickly consuming everything, including what had once been hard-earned friendships.

Post by **Tree** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:47 pm

Zandra's chin tilted downward as her curls started to tumble about her face. Her eyes were stone as she took a small breath in.

" You are not dead yet. We went through hell following you for a cause we believed in, we aren't just stopping now. Sit. Down."

Little boy or not, he was happy to sit right here with Drandar and not go up with the scary lady.

Post by **Sushi** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:58 pm

Kiaati pulled away now, shaking her head with a dark look in her eyes.

"Yes, I am, and no, I'm not."

She went through hell?! Some part of Kiaati's screaming mind flared with anger, though it was too lost with the rest of the parts to come to the surface. It was too dampened by raw truths to matter.

"And you are stopping. I saw what you did. I heard what you said. Give it a rest. I don't care. It's not like what you are has any affect on me."

The words were terrible in her raspy voice, tainted by pain in a way that made the tone almost indifferent.

Post by **Tree** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 6:04 pm

Zandra shook her head.

" Just another pathetic human willing to stop, I see. Think i foolishly considered you a friend."

Zandra was done, in that moment Kiaati stopped mattering to her as she'd turn to head down the stairs and take her love's hand.

" Let's go find a home."

She wasn't stable, the anger and betrayal were just as raw and real for her as they were for Kiaati. There were no more super human efforts to put forth anymore on anyone's parts. She was finished. She was fine with letting the bad man win and own his lands. She was demon, she'd go hide somewhere with her child and lover and never look back.

Post by **Sushi** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 6:22 pm

Drandar just took Xamien by the hand, quietly leading the child with him. he didn't think this was right. He didn't like it. Still, he didn't say anything, just staring at the moving corpse huddled on the deck beside the fallen Obscarian.

Kiaati had slowly melted to her knees, so perhaps Zandra got her way - she was sitting. The woman just coiled her arms around her torso as she slumped over.

"I didn't choose to die," she whispered as the woman passed by.

Her knee popped out of place and she fell over onto Gabriel. She didn't bother to get up, though. She just lay, broken and bleeding. Her eyes closed, her lips mouthing a word she couldn't speak, a question not really aimed at anyone.

Why?