Description: The SIN induced toxins may have granted Hotaru the ability to tap into the ability to push her strength beyond previous limits but the power is not without its price. Her body, unable to cope with the side effects, is begining to shut down. With no hope of a cure in sight, K' and Shurui are presented with an unexpected offer from a strange source. It seems the girl has quite the ominous 'Guardian Angel.'
It had been a long, wearying walk back to the estate. Hotaru's vicious attacks had taken their toll, K' showing the marks of her madness in the form of bruises, chi blasts, and oozing clawmarks left by her scoring nails. Carrying the girl herself was an added burden that slowed him down; had there been any hunters about, the wounded boy carrying an even more wounded girl along would have been easy prey.
For all the vigor she displayed in battle, K''s company was markedly quiet for the entire trip from where he encountered her. Perhaps it's for the best, given the nature of the territory K' must cross to get her back home that she was almost never awake during the trip.
Occasionally she stirred, eyes cracking open briefly to gaze blearily up at K' or to the side. But her visits to the conscious world were tenuous things lasting only seconds. She looks every bit as bad as when he found her. Tired, bruised, her right arm an ugly mess of damaged flesh caused by the excessive chi flowing through her body, and missing one of her shoes from her rampage across Southtown.
Her breathing is slow but seems almost a bit forced, as if she was fighting against a cold. Other than the occasional grunt or long sigh, she never seems to have the wherewithall to utter anything spoken. Good fortune seems to be a rare commodity in these times. But in this rare instance, it, combined with K''s remarkable skill in blending into the shadows and moving swiftly through the dark, see them safely to the estate grounds.
Familiar ground doesn't seem to do much for her condition, however, for even as K' enters the home itself, Hotaru doesn't stir in the slightest.
There's no need for locks. That's what the gate's for. .... And that's also why Shurui is right there. Sitting comfortably by a stray lamp with a book in one hand and a lens in another, the Gedo girl is there to greet any refugees who come through that door, quietly getting them situated without disturbing the sleep of those who came before. So it's not by mere luck that she's there when K' walks in through the door, a limp Hotaru in his cradled arms.
The book, the lens, and her glasses are set down on the endtable beside her as her ears pick up the subtle shuffles of someone nearing the door, the prickling of nearing auras catching her mind's eye. What enters through the door causes a sharp inhale of breath. ".... H.... Hotaru." Both their injuries concern her, but what becomes even more disconcerting is Hotaru's own mangled chi. This is bad. Really bad. And yet, without K', it could have gotten a lot worse before someone found her- someone who may not have had the same level of empathy with the emotional turmoil taking place in Hotaru's mind. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, her face directs itself to K''s own. Thanks must be said, before anything else. "Thank you. For finding her. She's got a chance now, because of you."
She looks to the side, quietly motioning to the side. "Let's get you both to a room."
Standing there in the foyer, still dripping blood from wounds that haven't had a proper chance to close and begin repair, K' turns an incongruously-calm gaze on Shurui when she hurries forward and thanks him. He doesn't react appreciably to her gratitude, not really seeing a reason for it. It's sort of like how he felt when Heidern thanked him for saving Whip. He did what he wanted to do... what he -had- to do. He doesn't need to be thanked for that, and the fact is clear in the way he just raises a brow.
"She's sick," is all he says in reply, glancing down at the girl in his arms that-- the entire walk over-- had never truly returned to consciousness. "Someone's gonna have to do something about that." He certainly doesn't know how to repair whatever it is that's ailing her. All he can do is bring her to her senses via force... and then, bring her to someone better able to discern what's wrong with her.
Someone like Shurui, in fact.
As Shurui indicates him to follow her, K' quietly falls into step behind her. "Found her beating the shit out of half the invasion force." A long pause, followed by an amused addendum which you can almost -hear- the smirk in: "Almost didn't want to stop her."
"Yeah, I know. Didn't do it for thanks." The side of Shurui's mouth turns upward in a little smirk, in spite of seriousness of the situation before her. It disappears quickly, however, the girl quickly getting down to business. K' and Hotaru need a room. They need their physical wounds taken care of, as well as...
God, why is it that she can see auras and the energy that makes them up, but have no way of doing anything about it? "... yeah," Shurui says, numbly, walking down the hallway, a hand occasionally touching the side for reference. "Her chi's all messed up. Ravaging her body." If Frei wasn't affected by the burning out of his chi, maybe he could have done something about Hotaru. Alma? No, his powers work with the psyche, just like hers. "She's gotten a lot worse since I last saw her; whatever Shadaloo did to her, if must've amped her chi or something. Probably is slowly wearing her body down to the point that she can't control it as well."
She can't hold back on what she sees; K' needs to know everything she can tell him. "Heh." Shurui laughs, hearing the dark humor in his voice. "Nothing wrong with wanting some payback," she says, opening a door to a plush room, empty of people. "That's natural. We're all mad about what happened." She steps back. "I'll get supplies for both of you. We'll get this to work."
If she's allowed, Shurui will depart, returning some time later with a dinner cart of supplies from the storage rooms- clothing for the both of them, bandages, creams, thread- whatever was at hand, easy to grab, and something she was sure was needed.
"So you can't do anything about it." As always, K' distills messages down into their most basic components, expressing in one blunt sentence all of what Shurui is telling him. Her energy is psychic... but what troubles Hotaru is related to chi, and thus out of her purview. A wry smirk briefly cuts across K''s face, though the expression is evanescent: K' is, ironically, excellent at chi manipulation... but all that skill is useless here. He only knows his own chi. He doesn't know anything about mending or manipulating the chi of other people.
"Probably can't do anything for her either," K' admits aloud. "Funny... because now, she's right where I used to be." Being a vessel for an uncontrollable power, that's slowly wearing her away from within... yeah, K' knows exactly how that is. "...can't help her unless she wakes up, anyway. Can't control her chi for her."
Briefly, K' thinks of one person who he knows could. But mentally, he shies slightly from the idea of trying to pull Ryouhara Seishirou into this.
Entering the indicated room, K' lays the girl down on the bed, straightening up and looking down at her with a deeply-graven frown. Uncharacteristically, he doesn't leap to agree with her that there is nothing wrong with wanting revenge. Natural to want payback? "...Not for her," is all K' replies, an oddly forceful note in his voice. "And not the way she was doing it."
He doesn't stop Shurui when she leaves. And by the time she gets back, K' has taken up roost in a chair off to one side, yellow eyes brooding over the slight figure in the bed.
"Haven't really tried," Shurui admits to K''s blunt assessment, pausing before she exits the door. "Don't really know what I'm capable of. But I'm not going to hinge my hopes on that when there's something else I can do in the meantime." She regards Hotaru's body, as well as K''s. "Your physical wounds are things I can handle. Having her body stablized is only going to help her condition. Yours too."
Her eyes lower at K''s words, taking them in. "... Yeah," she says with a sad smile, before disappearing out the door. "That was the problem, right there."
Without Shurui's busy, if intentionally quiet buzzing around the two, the room falls silent, save for the distant, barely heard snoring of a particularly loud sleeper. The house hums with the slow energy of refugees that have managed a schedule amid chaos; during the day, there's always someone working on some chore or another, contributing to keeping the mansion and tidy as one can. Some of the children had gathered spring flowers from the backyard, which allows for the appearance of a vase full of yellow dandelions next to the bed where Hotaru lays.
When the tray is wheeled in the silence is barely disturbed, despite Shurui's body shifting supplies around. "I'll tend to Hotaru's body first so we can get taken care of. Can you handle your wounds meanwhile? I'll get whatever you're having trouble with. There's clothes on the cart." She pauses. ".... You'll have to check if there's a bathroom over there; I can't see if there is." Uncharacteristic of Shurui to ever call attention to her sight's shortcomings, but time's of the essence. "Though I guess it's not like I can see if you decide to change right here."
.... She'll leave that issue to K'. Hotaru needs to be taken care of, even if that may be an issue of nudity in itself. While nudity didn't bother her for obvious reasons, would Hotaru mind? ..... Maybe it's best not to think about it.
With such heavy, dour thoughts dampening the spirits of the solemn room its easy to miss little details.
Details such as.. The sudden draft wafting through the room. Teasing hair and clothing alike with unseasonably chilly air.
The window is not closed.
Nor are the occupants alone.
A grim shadow looms before the open glass. As quiet as death. For her muted presence its hard to say how long the spectre has been present. Likely, not too long. While this may not be a highly secure instillation, those within are perceptive people. Lingering in such premises invites swift violence
The Devil is clearly not happy to be here. She has a good excuse for such deterrence, as this House is filled with her sworn enemies. The monster's violet lips pressed in a silent frown, hidden eyes betraying a measure of disquiet behind a veneer of stoicism. Arms hanging at her sides limply, like a dead willow.
By all rights, she should be laughing out loud. Seeing K' shredded, the toy saddened and the traitor apprentice in dwindling ruin. This is, ultimately, a triumph for the wicked thing to see her enemies brought low
"Hotaru has a handful of minutes left to live." Marise speaks quietly. Completely bereft of humor, more akin to... Tired annoyance.
At what precisely, its hard to say.
"Let me save her." A wearied, soft tone. Vaguely akin to a request.. From a voice more accustomed to imperious demand, but not this time.
Of the many things the duo have come to expect to hear from this vile creature, those words are among the least expected.
If it's unusual for Marise not to be reveling in triumph over the sight that greets her, K' certainly doesn't notice. All he notices is that the apparition of a particularly hated woman has appeared in the window... and almost instantly, something clicks in his mind, drawing him to leap towards an assumption. Last time, Hotaru said it was Marise who had taught her malevolence and maliciousness. And K' knows Marise has aligned herself with the invading forces.
K''s actual movement is only barely visible, it's that fast. But within instants he's out of his chair, and has turned to lift and -sling- the heavy bit of furniture. It splinters against the windowframe, inches from Marise; his breathing only slightly quickened, K' narrows eyes on the wraith. There's already heat coming off him.
"I'm waiting for you to give me a good reason not to regret missing on purpose," he starts, his voice flat. "And a good reason would include an explanation of why I should let you any closer when you're probably involved with what happened to her in the first place." A long pause unspools. K' hasn't walked forward, hasn't physically threatened Marise, but his demeanor connotes that just as well even in total stillness. "Or how you propose to 'save' her..."
A devil's bargain, right before the finish line.
"...." Shurui's face tightens rigidly, feeling Marise's presence even before she realizes that the window's opened. Fear spikes along her spine, barely kept under control by the fact that Marise's existence doesn't have the element of surprise it did before. Before, Shurui made no pains to deal with any sort of emotional scarring her captivity left behind. Marise is dead, her wounds were healed, something worse is following you, just move on. Shurui's control of the situation was based entirely on the demon woman's death. When this was discovered to be false, the old festering wounds reopened, and Shurui was afraid. Now she's had time to deal. Marise is alive, and she can only hold as much power over Shurui as Shurui will allow.
It helps that K' burned her face last time. Sort of broke the illusion of Marise's infalliability.
Further breaking that is Marise's presence here, that tone of voice. Shurui's breath comes out in a quiet sigh. "She may have only minutes to live, but that gives you a few seconds to explain. Remember- I can see her aura. I know what it was before. If you pull any shit tactics..." She trails off, her mouth a grim line.
The impact of the shattered furnishing punctuates K-dash's displeasure most profoundly. A few particles of sundered wood rebound from her bare cheek and shoulder, black tresses stirring from the chair's passage and earns not so much as a flinch.
No retaliation. No audacious statements of which she is most renown. The Devil continues her mirthless stare, tempered with that displeased frown.
The fact that it is this fiery Jinzoningen she is forced to confront, along with that misbegotten toy, only further drives away whatever pleasure she may have under the circumstances. The result of their last collective meeting is not lost on her.
Nor is the significance of that growing heat.
"I have..." The words tripping over the tip of her liar's tongue, unused to this measure of truth. Thinking twice about speaking it.
Then simply realizing she has not the time nor the patience for such things. The Devil's tone rises along with he warning hand, ".. There is no time for your quibbling, Ji.." The word dies before spoken, "... K-dash."
The monster then regards the former victim in brief. For once, it seems the little puppet is being useful. In that, the Devil takes a single, slow step forward while explaining, "The drugs Shadaloo administered are reacting with her bloodline. Advancing her condition ... Fatally. It was an.. unforeseen complication. I can remove the poisoned blood from her ... " Golden, inhuman eyes turning from the smaller girl to the Beast of Flame in full, "If you get out of my way."
K' pauses a full few seconds when Marise actually says what passes for his name. He straightens up-- his previous aggression actually rendering this movement a backwards lean-- and stares narrowly at Marise, before he barks a humorless laugh and bares teeth in a grin. "Fuck, somebody is twisting your arm about this. That, or you just want her alive to fuck with some more. Whatever. I guess I don't give a shit what your motive is. Just about what you do."
Slowly, hatefully, K' yields. He's not even certain Marise is telling the truth that Hotaru only has minutes... but he doesn't really want to be gambling about it. But even as he steps out of the way, he doesn't actually step /away/. He just circles, pacing warily around Marise, orbiting around to hover pointedly right at her back. His heat has not abated... if anything, it's strengthened, radiating palpably against the woman in quiet threat.
The message is plain. If she does even one thing untoward, K' won't hesitate to kill her. His fire is resting on a hairtrigger... and, the thought occurs to him, why not unleash it anyway once the Devil is done? It's certainly not as if Marise herself has never betrayed anyone before.
The contemplation of it might be visible in the way he pauses, blinking slightly before focusing with an even greater intensity on Marise's back. In that moment, K' visibly considered something... and it was something he was sorely tempted by.
".... Alright." Shurui looks at Marise warily, then to K'; if there's a decision to be made here, they'll both have to approve it.
When K' moves aside, Shurui does the same, moving to the other side of the bed to get a clearer view of both Marise and the prone Hotaru. It's worth the gamble in Shurui's mind, mostly due to her lack of knowledge on the demon woman's more intricite manipulation of words and emotions. While the brief standoff at Gedo was one insight, the ability for Marise to manipulate Hotaru previously into accepting forbidden power without forcing her is something Shurui has yet to understand or comprehend.
Even if Hotaru's minutes are limited, Shurui can at least make sure those last minutes aren't painful for the sake of Marise's own pleasure. For now, however, she gives Marise the benefit of silence with which to do her work, even as her eyes acutely study her interaction with Hotaru.
One mishap, and she'll let K' decide what to do.
The girl at the center of this heated (quite literally thanks to K') moment has been about as quiet as one might expect given the condition she arrived in. From the time K' left her to lie in the comfort of the bed, Hotaru hadn't moved in the slightest. Her symptoms are of one that is quite sick; fevered, rough, haggard breathing, and the occasional cough.
But as the Devil of Koga makes her unwelcome presence known, the deep sleep into which she had fallen seems to be broken as if a spell that had run its course. Tired eyes open slowly, fixing on nothing in particular until voices are heard coming from the others in the room. It takes her a while to even realize where she is. What should be the familiar sight of her home stirs up only meloncholy feelings as if she hadn't seen the place for years.
She feels terrible. Her body aches. Her head hurts. And right now there's voices buzzing around her that she can't place. A young man... immediately familiar. She struggles to move in order to see him, only to be made painfully aware of how bad it hurts her right arm to do so. A soft intake of breath is the only audible acknowledgement before she turns her head to the side and sees Shurui.
Shurui... the one she attacked directly. The memories are vivid, crystal clear. It made so much sense at the time - what has since become inexplicable. How can she explain it? How can she begin to apologize? What should she say? Hotaru opens her mouth, she has to say something - and that's when her eyes come to rest on Marise herself and her mouth closes immediately.
Is she dead? Is this some strange trinity from beyond the grave come to take her away? She tremles, opening her mouth again, "Y-you..." she stammers at Marise, the word utter softly but with a ton suggesting that she's mystified rather than angry or afraid, "I don't..." She closes her eyes, "...understand." Why is that fiend in the same room as K' and Shurui? Is this another Shadaloo experiment? Is she losing her mind? She hurts too much to be dead, she decides...
While K' has not yet uncovered the total truth it's close enough to be excessively uncomfortable to the ghost. At his boyish, sardonic grin the Devil's eyes slowly roll upwards with lashes fluttering in supreme irritation. Thankfully the laugh is humorless. For once the Devil is in no mood to entertain such exasperating foolery. The silent monster has no intention of eludicating either of them any more than she has to. Her motives are, indeed, her own and they're nothing she particularly desires to gloat over.
A glance is given to each of Hotaru's guardians in turn as they collectively give their assent. After all, what choice do they really have? Such stark logic being apparent even to schemeless dullards as these was the singular reason why she decided to even attempt this ... Whatever this is.
The ghost proceeds forth with a haste that belies her ethereal grace. Moving past the circling beast and pensive clone without regard.
Oh. The Devil expects K' to blast her the moment she's finished. The monster even suspects Shurui may be sorely tempted to do the same even if the elder jinzoningen fails to. Its a component of the greater malaise that is her mood at the moment. Here she is ... Salvaging a girl who swore to be her enemy for all time. Who betrayed her on every level. Exposing her back to a powerful enemy, who will kill her without a moment's notice, so she can save her treasonous apprentice.
"...Stupidity." Is all the Devil has to say for herself, the snarled word twisted inwards. The creature approaches the bed and the sprawled charge thereupon, serpentine eyes falling upon the girl in full as she looms over the edge.
The Devil's eyes remain fixed on Hotaru's own as the girl regains consciousness. Seeing the deteriorating girl as she is ... The Devil remains mute. Her head tilting back, staring down the length of her nose to her former student. The corners of her lips shift back and forth, caught in-between a shifting expression that cannot decide. For a moment her mouth opens ... Before closing in silence.
Marise hates her so much. Loathes her for being a traitor, for rebuking the demon so totally. For making all the choices she ...
And here is the moment where she dies. The affirmation the Devil lives for. For all of her mistakes, she dies here and now in agony and the monster gets to watch.
A memory. A young girl with dark hair, playing in the mountain snow. Giggling. Laughing. Looking back.
By inches, Marise's hand lifts. Every jerking movement an effort, as if fighting an inviolate dictum every second. Cool, painted fingertips brushing back Hotaru's bangs as the Devil has dones so many times before.
Why did that girl have to look just like her?
The Devil Ninja slowly slips her fingers about Hotaru's brow. Her opposite rising to touch the girl's collar, just beneath her neck. The hand above moving so index finger and thumb touch either temple, the other arranged over the imperceptible arteries and veins.
While her spectator's presence is keenly felt, Marise cannot mind them now. ... She honestly doesn't know if she can actually do this.
And in a final compounding of the Devil's self-proclaimed idiocy ... Marise may not survive it either.
Damn it all.
Without a word, serpentine eyes shutter closed in focus. At once, fevered flesh bonds to chilling flesh. The skin of the Devil's hands forms a seemless seal between them in whatever bizzare techniques this monster is capable of.
Upon a time, Leeches were used to heal. A suitably old-world solution for an ancient thing as she.
A blush of crimson rises to Hotaru's skin and moments later, lines of crimson - Like pulsing circuitry - run along the Devil's fingertips and hand. Flowing from Hotaru's head... Even as a wellspring of blood flows from Marise's hand at Hotaru's throat.. into her system. Replenishing what the monster takes in turn. The process begins ...
Marise is a good manipulator, it's true. But it's all talk as far as K' knows, not sorcery... and so, K' is confident his brute force will take care of that particular snag. Marise starts mouthing off to Hotaru... he'll throw her out.
When Shurui verbally expresses the consent both of them have given, K' shoots the small girl a look. It plainly demands her to tell him the instant she sees something untoward happen within either Marise or Hotaru's auras. But beyond that, K' does not speak or communicate with anyone else in the room further. He remains standing directly behind the Devil, perhaps uncomfortably close, his presence a grim and perpetual threat.
He only glances away when Hotaru stirs. Watching as she struggles to look at him, he's privately relieved when she stops hurting herself with the effort and glances to Shurui instead. Hotaru's confusion at seeing Marise, however, tightens the line of his jaw: her shaking seems to paint his acceptance of Marise's 'help' as a betrayal of her, and it's only by reminding himself of the lack of other options that he pushes away the unease.
For the time being, he consoles himself by thinking about how gruesomely he'll kill Marise should the Devil make one misstep. Perhaps even if she doesn't make a misstep. Should the courtesy of a clemency born of gratitude even be granted to such a heinous creature?
K' doesn't have to say anything; his emotions are felt keenly as if Shurui could plainly see them on his face. It earns him a knowing nod, lips pressed tightly in a nuetral line as she changes her gaze back to... a stirring Hotaru?
Indeed, if Hotaru's aura still gave room for doubt, the movement adds definent proof to the once unconscious girl's wakening. The words Hotaru speaks, however, are heart-breaking, causing Shurui to fight the pained urge to scream and bat Marise away. No. If Marise is the only one offering hope, then Shurui can't intervene, no matter what her personal feelings. Surely, Hotaru would understand later on... right? ".... Shh." A pale cool hand is offered, resting besides Hotaru's own. "You're gonna live. We're making sure of it."
It's more tempting to throw Marise aside as the process begins, but as Marise takes, she's giving in full. "She's using herself as a filter for Hotaru," Shurui says slowly and quietly to K', letting him in so he won't draw any negative conclusions, "She's taking in, but she's putting an equal amount back. She's doing what she said she would."
Almost.... like those leeches she read about, once. Didn't they use those to heal? Or maggots, eating dead flesh while leaving live tissue alone. Those were used too, weren't they? Shurui keeps her sight keenly attached to Marise's actions, just as curious as she is wary. Fascinated, even. But why is Marise deciding to do this? She seemed.... forced.
Nothing seems to make sense. Maybe she's dreaming - a fevered hallucination. Maybe she's gone mad, lost in a thunderstorm of guilt and confused feelings about actions that made sense only hours prior but seem like the result of insanity now. Marise standing at her bedside, K' and Shurui nearby, not fighting her. Did she hex them somehow? Are they acting as her puppets? Are they even really there? She recoils slightly; as much as her dwindling strength can even allow, as Marise gets even closer. azure eyes, now wide, stare up at the woman's yellow irises.
She can't see K' now, the young man positioned behind Marise. But she can see Shurui and it is to her that the girl looks next, panic settling in so deeply as to practically paralyze her if her condition wasn't half doing the job already. Her eyes dart to the girl from Gedo next, searching for signs of anger or hostility. Maybe she is doing this out of revenge for her hurting the girl outside the SIN facility? That doesn't seem like her kind of behavior. It doesn't make sense. But nothing does right now.
Shurui says that she's being helped and Hotaru looks away, her clamy hand gripping Shurui's own with sudden strength. "I am..." She closes her eyes, "... so sorry." A hand comes to rest atop her forehead. She knows that touch; the gentle parting of her bangs by taloned fingers. The next contact is at her neck. So the woman has decided to finish things once and for all, has she? Put an end to the painful fued the two have had since they first set eyes on each other?
She gets mad, her facial features reflecting the change in temperment even though her eyes remain closed. How dare the devil win here. She doesn't even get to go down fighting. She doesn't even get to understand the whys or the hows this came to be. Her lips curl into a weak scowl as she starts to open her mouth and voice her thoughts. All that escapes her lips is a gasp, however, her eyes opening as the woman begins what can only be described as a transfusion of energy and blood through skin contact. It hurts. For a moment, she assumes this is how she is meant to die. Drained of life in one fel moment.
Only to be confused as every bit that is taken is likewise returned in equal amount. The initial panic fades, her mouth closes, and her eyes shut as she seems to sink more restfully into the bed. A soft sigh is uttered and a tremble goes out of her right arm.
The Beast of Flame's presence is impossible to ignore, try as Marise might. The man's savage heat is balefully close, but the Ghost must focus if she is to succeed. No sweat rolls down her pale flesh, if the undying thing is even capable of such things any longer, but the effort is clear upon her face. Shurui's words are heard and the monster is sorily tempted at barking a retort about her grasp of the obvious, but such efforts die with a snapping click of the Devil's teeth.
Forced? Undoubtedly. The question is.. By what? The most likely answer must be that some powerful individual coerced the Devil into this act. Goodness knows Hotaru has many in the way of potent allies who could be capable of such things. According to Occam's Razor, it would be the most expedient answer. This monster is incapable of charity for virtually any reason.
Marise is, after all, pure evil.
But, as Marise herself sometimes attests ... No one is pure.
Between the two women, there is a history. A deeper history than either of them chooses to acknowledge to anyone. The feud between them is not as straightforward as others. The girl's fear is noted ... Unfortunate that Marise can't even manage a smug satisfaction at this.
In truth, though it may not be obvious to an agonized mind, it is Hotaru who won. Not through force of arms. Such bravado is never the source of strength.
It is will. Adherence to an ideal.
Endlessly Marise tried to convert the girl to her way. Her path. The true path.
Unfailingly Hotaru turned the Devil away. She had chosen weakness when she could have been mighty. According to Marise's own ideology, Hotaru should die. She had elected to become a dead end and she should be cast aside.
Why can't Marise just let her go?
The process is far more difficult than it looks.
A feat, considering it looks impossible.
The Devil's focus is absolute. Her eyes remain open, staring through the tortured girl before her. The Zansatsu technique is less a fine instrument and more of a weapon with which to destroy enemies. Using a chainsaw as a scalpel is delicate, harrowing work.
In this case precise and subtle efforts aren't fully required. The damage Hotaru's roiling, poisoned blood is doing to her is so widespread and absolute ... Nothing less than a complete transfusion will suffice. A matter of consistantly applying pressure and continuing this liquid circuit until the morbid transaction is complete.
The first hurdle? Marise's own blood is toxic. So suffused with negative life-force, so completely alien in composition, 'infecting' enemies with her necrotic anti-chi is one of her more lethal attacks. Converting her life's blood to a semblance of its old vitality before confering it upon the young, lively girl requires constant attention.
If not? Marise could kill her on accident.
How ironic would that be?
As it so happens, Marise's blood-type seems most compatible with Hotaru's own. What are the odds?
The other matter?
The BLECE infected blood is damaging Marise as readily as it was destroying Hotaru.
While crimson lines wind their way along Marise's pale forearm from Hotaru's temples ... The creature grimaces fiercely. Her fangs clenching as veins and arteries bulge with painful rejection. The ghost fights to keep her muscles from spasming out of control, fighting to continue her twisted sorceries without interruption.
Only when a gout of acrid flame bursts from a vein along Marise's wrist is she forced to utter a muffled grunt. Eyelids twitching.
Careful... Careful...
She could turn back. She could stop this... She can risk K's ire and just flee. A far less risky proposition than willing swallowing acid...
What was it that Seishirou offered her? To willingly burn and show the depth of her mettle?
Keh. Such foolishness. Stupidity! That's what this is ... Ridiculous.
Why can't she let herself stop?
K' has already long since assumed that someone forced Marise into this completely uncharacteristic act of charity. Especially since the process seems both dangerous and painful to Marise herself. He does not think about it any more than that; instead, he simply moves from Marise's back in a few abrupt steps, drawing abreast of the woman in order to get a closer look at what precisely she's doing to Hotaru.
If there's any negative emotion for Hotaru to see, it's the pain in Shurui's eyes. Pain at the inability to properly explain the situation to Hotaru. Pain that it had to come to this. Helplessness at the sight of Hotaru's confusion and fear. And really, Hotaru has every right to be confused. "... Just get better," she says, fingers wrapping around Hotaru's own. "We were limited in our choices, but we won't let you die."
Hotaru's aura emotionally reacts to Marise, causing Shurui to wince in empathy. "She won't be here long," she tries to offer sympathetically, the bed-ridden girl's anger and panic touching her at the core in a way few are able. Yet, it's become acutely clear that this isn't some horrible plot of Marise's to hurt Hotaru, K', or Shurui. The Gedo girl's eyes recongize that, especially in the wreckage now appearing in Marise's body both aurally and physically.
If Marise stopped at this point and fled, Shurui would have done nothing. It wouldn't be worth it to exact revenge on the Devil of Koga; Hotaru's indirectly done that already, whether she's aware of it or not. Either way, no signal's given to K' just yet, even when that gasp first left Hotaru's lips. There was only a shudder, her dark eyes not straying from the exchange of energy between the two.
The moment of defiance passes quickly as her body is immediately taxed with an influx of foreign yet compatible blood, transfused through a touch. Her eyes open after several seconds of the unholy yet critical exchange. She can feel the effect it's having on her body. No sudden surge of strength. No immediate cure to injuries wrough by exploding chi through every pore of her battered right arm are to be seen. But she can feel the difference within. The fever is dying down. The painful fog of confusion in her mind is withdrawing.
Her breathing stabilizes and her complexion takes on a strained but slightly more healthy color as the process continues. Little by little, the cocktail of aura rending and augmenting contanimants is leeched out of her, drawn straight into her reluctant savior.
Open eyes settle on Shurui again, then at last K'. She's putting some of the pieces together. Marise is saving her. Whether because K' would kill her or some other deal that was struck she can only begin to imagine. But she can imagine, on some level, how hard it would be for him to allow for this. It isn't plainly visible on his features like it is in the case of Shurui, but she can tell all the same. A quick glance is cast back toward the girl from Gedo as Hotaru musters the slightest nod of acknowledgement even as the process continues to make her well.
The Devil's prior interest in the Sacred Treasure Thief was not unfounded. A hateful and tortured existence breeds clarity of thought, in Marise's mind. Would she do anything different if the tables were turned and it was K-dash whom was weak and vulnerable?
Of course not. His predatory stalking, understood - Appreciated, even. He is proof positive that human beings are simply animals pretending to be something else. A drop of truth in an ocean of liars.
All of her rage, then, is directed inwards. At herself for this act. A thousand rationalizations are already forming in the back of her mind, excusing this. Maybe she is just saving Hotaru now so she can fall later? Maybe this is just bartering. A favor for a favor, so somewhere down the line they'll be inclined to spare her should one of her myriad schemes go sour? Of course ... Of course.
Those fabrications are the only things that could make sense.
The interaction of Shurui and Hotaru isn't missed. If anything, its Shurui's presence that grates at her. The blind seer's vision revealing to her the workings of this exchange, putting the Devil on edge.
Not because the monster is trying to hide something. More because, she prefers other people to think she always is.
Ultimately, such things Marise cannot mull over at length. Her entire consciousness is being slowly drowned in a sea of flame.
As Hotaru is nearly healed ... The Devil is almost engulfed. The monster's hands shake, criss-crossed with lines of boiling blood surging within. Her flesh igniting in lines of flame, spider-webbing across smoking skin.
The young girl may not look it, but she is a cauldron of powerful chi. The Shadaloo drugs mixed with the girl's unstable bloodline, burning the girl out from the inside. As atrophied as the Devil's aura is due to her unholy nature ... She may as well be circulating liquid fire through her heart.
The dark woman is on her knees now, elbows barely propped up at Hotaru's bedside.. Barely able to keep her head a few inches above the sheets. Her face, scorched and seared, twisted in furious effort. By will alone, the creature did not scream. Golden eyes staring through Hotaru's own.
A vision. A little girl with pigtails looks up to Marise. A chinese outfit stolen from a local school. A dazzling smile as she holds her mother's hand.
Marise's hand squeezes back gently.
The dark woman's scream heralds the end of the technique. Marise's hands snap away from Hotaru, the girl's brow and throat sealed without injury. The same could not be said of the Devil's hands, as their palms billow smoke and fire.
At once, The Devil collapses at the foot of her former apprentice's bed. Her face and knees pressed to the floor, hands clutching at her stomach as she convulses in utter agony. Burning alive from the inside out.. As the empowered blood ravages through her form.
One can even see evidence of this through the naked portion of her back, the muscles and flesh beneath her skin literally -crawling- and warping as gouts of burning chi and blood occasionally split from her.
The creature can only manage to slowly twist her head, just so. A single, golden eye glinting upwards dizzily at the Beast of Flame's dark form. She'd spit at him, if she could.
So this is how Marise dies? Hmph.
'Go on, boy' That wicked eye says to him. 'What are you waiting for?'
K' doesn't even spare Marise a glance when the woman shrieks in agony and finally crumples to the floor. Instead, he just leans over and inspects Hotaru, ascertaining her health as best as his limited senses can. His left hand moves, awkwardly and stiffly pushing a sweat-soaked lock of her hair aside so he can see her unusual blue eyes. His fingertips graze her skin, and momentarily linger: the gentleness of that gesture a stark contrast to how utterly indifferent he is to the suffering of the ruined woman at his feet.
That evanescent touch pulls away abruptly when K' leans back, seemingly satisfied with the results of Marise's arcane doctoring. He pauses a moment, his yellow eyes looking impassively down at Hotaru still... and then his gaze turns to the felled Devil staring balefully up at him. K' looks at the unspoken question in Marise's defiant, virulent eye, and for a moment he sincerely asks himself the same question.
What IS he waiting for?
K' stoops, his right hand abruptly hooking into Marise's collar and hauling her upright. No thought at all is given to her comfort, the woman given no warning by which she could brace herself against being so handled. He drags her straight up to his eye level, staring her full in the face, remaining expressionless even as his yellow eyes search hers. Perhaps he's wondering, just as much as she is, why she did this at all. Why she put herself in a position to be where she is now... in the grasp of an enemy. One who, unlike so many others with some concept of second chances or fairness, would not hesitate to kill her even after she saved Hotaru's life.
"Looks like you've expended your usefulness," K' notes, a sardonic note twisting his heavy voice. His grasp tightens, distinctive heat smoking about his knuckles... and yet, despite the clear temptation, he doesn't quite yet act.
The fact that Hotaru seems to understand eases the pressure set rigidly into Shurui's shoulders, even as Marise's chi-scorched body hangs at the other side. But, eventually it's that body that forcibly grabs at her attention, even as her hand refuses to stray from Hotaru's grip. She never expected the paidback to be this horrible; while Shurui does not feel sympathy, she doesn't feel in the mood for vengeance either. There's nothing left to to do- to go further would just be insulting to both parties. K', however, is a different story.
.... Yet even he seems to falter.
".... She's taken on the poison that was in Hotaru's body," Shurui says quietly, while Marise's fate literally hangs in K''s hands. "You probably can see it for yourself without me telling you. Probably a painful state." Why should K' care about this? "Kill her, and, in a sense, you'll free her from that pain." It's hard telling if Shurui what side she's trying to convince K' of immediately. A merciful death may seem a horrible spin on what could be a satisfying revenge, but yet, at the same time, it could also be a case why K' should do it, as wayward show of thanks. "On the other hand."
It wouldn't be Shurui unless she talked over the alternative. "Let her live, and she'll possibly go on to die a slow death." Again, perhaps a satisfying end as well. A painful, slow, agonizing fate. "But." She closes her eyes. "If she's got a strong enough hold on life, she could make it. Sure, she'll probably come back to terrorize us after that, but the path she'll take to get to that point isn't going to be all puppies and roses."
It's not about mercy, or kindness being paid with kindness. "I'm not going to demand either result." If anything, to Shurui, it would be kind to demand K' to kill Marise off quickly, rather to let her suffer. Burn every instance of that painful life force away as a tough thanks for her sacrifice. But...? "It's not about me anymore. She took this on her own shoulders, knowing the consequences, but I'm thankful Hotaru's now got a chance." She wants to say it's Hotaru's decision, but to bring something like that on the girl's shoulders? It's better that K' has his chance, having a few qualms to settle with the devil, but Hotaru...?
K' may be right; revenge isn't for Hotaru.
What becomes for Marise a burning nightmare is for Hotaru a release from agony. The last of the SIN experimental toxins are pulled from her blood and already her aura begins the delicate process of knitting and stitching the damage. It's nothing she can deal with consciously, for better or for worse. It will simply take care of itself. The injuries sustained from pushing her body way past what is healthy still ache. But the throb of tendons and muscles pale in comparison to the fever inducing poison that was once coursing through her system.
Tired eyes close for a moment, the girl seemingly oblivious to the pained shriek of the creature that has saved her life for reasons everyone is left to either guess at or simply not care about. Her eyes remain closed when a gentle touch brushes a lock of her hair out of her face but when those fingertips stray for a moment longer, she blinks. Then blinks again, her sharp blue eyes settling on K', taking a moment to focus as if trying to make sense of linking the gentle touch with the fire wielding young man.
She musters a half-smile of almost amusement. For a fleeting moment, she thinks about lifting her healthy left hand and taking hold of his extended hand before he can withdraw it away. But she can't help but think such a gesture would spook him into pulling away faster and she lets the moment pass in silent wistfullness as the amber eyed young man turns his attention instead to Marise, hefting her harshly from her fallen state with so strong a hold. The implications are clear and the increased temperature so nearby is easily felt. It would be hard to argue that this lone act of charity would mitigate the lifetime of horror the woman had inflicted. It would be difficult to make a case that the creature should be spared in the end...
Shurui speaks up, seeming to invite him to go through with it. Hotaru can't blame her, vaguely aware as she is of what the Devil of Koga put her through. Revenge would the natural choice. The rest of her words are a vague blur. Something about letting the fiend die slowly or not really wanting to be stuck having to take a stand one way or the other. Hotaru's hearing isn't the best; her ears are ringing, her head hurting. But she's not blind to the obvious implication. She should say something.
What should she say? To suggest mercy would be to ignore the atrocious things Marise had conducted or the pain she had caused all three of them in some form or another in the past. To exact vengeance at a time like this seemed likewise illtimed. A quiet breath is taken before she speaks up, seconds after Shurui falls quiet. "Wait..." Her tone lacks urgency, as if she isn't entirely sure K' is about to take immediate action anyway.
Hotaru rolls onto her side, propping herself up with her elbow a little with a soft grunt. "While I can't begin to imagine the justice she's due by now... if we take this moment to exact that judgement we send a message..." She glances ot the side, her thoughts gathering quickly as her mind tries to unravel the proper response. "That we would do the same to any of our enemies, even if, in a rare moment of decency, they might otherwise have come to our aid..." She releases her breath, leaing back against her pillow, her left hand resting against her head. "Might..." The girl is quiet, eyes gazing toward the ceiling above. "... hurt us later." She sounds resigned to the fact that there is no other wise choice to be made given these circumstances.
"Still." she continues, her tone becoming more stern, "If we meet again as enemies in the future, then no restraint on our part is to be expected." She falls quiet then herself, having declared the grim facts for what they are. This is brief clemency for the sake of possibly encouraging other opposition to do likewise someday. Perhaps it will pay off. Most likely it never will.
How long the Devil's plight goes ignored, she cannot say. Her shattered senses can only just manage to remain conscious, fighting to stay solvent. To endure what would be unimaginable suffering.
Marise has done it before. Pain and she are old acquaintances. However, such things stop being her chief concern as strong hands grip the front of her kimono and unceremoniously haul her up from the floor like a silken bag of trash.
The monster is a ruin. Her face a lattice-work of seared veins and arteries, pulsating with odd violet energies. Limbs dangling from her limply, her full weight on the prototype's grip as she is, at this moment, all but completely helpless.
The eyes that glare back at K-Dash do not plead. Even here and now, there is a vivid hate within those wicked orbs. A wanton, evil hate that disturbingly mirrors the Beast's own.
She would speak, if she could. For once, she cannot muster the energy or wherewithal for her malefic words.
For once in K's life, an assassin's mark for which not an iota of pity or regret would vex him. The death and suffering she inflicts upon the world is an enduring stain the likes of which generations of righteous warriors could not fully vanquish. Even criminal masterminds such as Geese have far more humanity than this wretched thing.
Beg for her life? Of course not.
K' is only fulfilling the duties of a true human being. Ironic that, considering he's a man crafted by men.
It is law. The rule of Beasts and Devils. For Marise's unforgivable crime of showing weakness to her enemies ... Even she admits she deserves to die.
All she can do is suffer with as much dignity as the ancient thing can manage. She does not scream, as tempting as the proposition is.
As the other toy girl adds in her grim assessment, Marise's agonized expression changes little. After what she did to Shurui ... She's actually pretty surprised the little girl isn't striking Marise down with or without K's approval. That she's actually willing to wait and discuss matters earns only the faintest of sneers from the Devil's lips.
Though, of those assembled, Shurui will notice something ... Strange is happening. Marise's body continues to react to the infused, chaotic power. The woman's form seemed seared through and through ... But there are ... things within her. Things that lied dormant that now begin to .. Shift. Its hard to say if this means she's moments from a horrifically gruesome death or ... Something else entirely.
That just leaves one vote as yet unaccounted.
Only when Hotaru begins to speak does Marise's gaze break from K's. Head tilting in jerking movements, just barely able to spy upon her from the corner of her vision.
Decency. Is that what this is? Feh! Marise didn't save that obnoxious, traitorous whelp out of decency! She did it because ...
Ever since the girl turned her back on Marise for the second time ... The Devil was ready to kill her. She was ready to watch her die like the rest of these fools. Even as the plan was concocted to use her as a weapon, even unto her death, Marise was ready to see it happen. ... Or so she had thought.
So she had thought ...
She had watched K' bring Hotaru back to the estate distantly. She knew, the Kinmagan showed her in clear detail what was happening. Hotaru was about to finally die. The axe was moments from falling. Finally, that girl would be out of her hair forever.
Marise followed them. She wanted to watch Hotaru die in slow agony in front of her friends. Of course... Of course..
Marise watched ... Until. She felt it again. That sensation. That...
Ever since the mountains of Koga. Since the bond between them ... Marise felt things from time to time. At first it was a terrible pain, but it had faded with time. She thought she was over it. She had never felt it since until ... Until the stark reality of watching Hotaru start to slip ... Compelled her. A voice deep within, long thought silenced, told her to save her. Emotions, severed and buried long ago, rose to the surface. Memories of ...
The monster could not let her die. The hateful thing can't even understand why.
A conscience long silent ... Is a terrible pain when it speaks once more.
And now here Marise is. Moments away from destruction for her one 'decent' action in a century of evil.
Is there a better way to prove that Marise was right all along about humanity?
That is ... Until Hotaru cobbles together a hasty bargain. Marise? Positive reinforcement? Used as a tool against the very ideals she strives to bring to the world? That kindness is rewarded?
Had the power ... She might force K's hand to incinerate her before such a thing can happen. As is.. Marise can only stare. Her voice strangled in meaningless mewls and choked sounds. But for all the rage the notion generates within her...
Marise can't help but stare at Hotaru. Growing healthy and alive. The Devil can only hate herself ... For Letting that warm yet atrophied feeling inside her be satisfied.
K' and Marise might as well be mirrors reflecting one another, for all the sameness of the virulent sentiment in their faces. Even as Shurui speaks up, eminently reasonable and coldly logical-- weighing both sides before coming to an inconclusive end-- K''s focus doesn't stir to look at the other clone. His yellow eyes, nearly the same color as Marise's own, stare the woman down with a profound and deep hatred that-- ironically-- must seem far more soothing and familiar to the Devil and her twisted worldviews than the girls' reluctant clemency.
The only reason K' ever paused was not out of mercy, but merely to allow the two most wronged by Marise some input on how best they might want her to die.
That neither of them seem ready to leap to vengeance simultaneously surprises and doesn't surprise K'. He had always known and expected them to be better creatures than he himself was. Hate and vengeance were not part of them, not the way they were parts of him. He doesn't even flinch when Hotaru finally tells him to wait. He had known, even if unconsciously, that she would.
Hotaru explains her position, outlining that hope and faith of hers that had always simultaneously infuriated and intrigued K' as a foolishness entirely contrary to his own stringent beliefs... and an unattainable grace, which only normal people, with normal notions of morality, could achieve. It makes sense in a clinical sort of way. To punish Marise now for her assumed 'good deed' would deter any others in the future. And yet...
Momentarily, the heat searing so close to Marise's throat strengthens to a clearly-longing intensity.
K' watches the way Marise writhes in impotent rage and revulsion at receiving Hotaru's mercy. Oddly-perceptive eyes take very close note of it, indeed. A humorless smile starts to coil along his expression at the sight, and abruptly K' knows just how he might still take some measure of revenge without physically hurting Marise in the slightest. He doesn't hesitate to do so. "Mercy for mercy," K' hisses mockingly, deriding Marise with implications of her softheartedness, and his grasp on her clothing shifts.
Though his grip doesn't release, his arm slackens: letting Marise drop to the floor on her knees. K''s closed hand pressures down against her throat, stranglingly rough, his dark frame oppressing hers as he leans down to get straight into her face. "Get out," he growls, point-blank, the hatred in his eyes unchanged despite Hotaru's insistences, before a sharp and dismissive movement of his arm seeks to discard Marise to one side.
Straightening up, K' turns his gaze back on Hotaru. His expression is blank, and neither displeasure nor acceptance of what she's just asked of him can be read in his face.
The tenderness in K''s subtle gesture makes Shurui smile slightly. Therein lies the secret to Hotaru's true power in Shurui's opinion, one blocked by the drugs fed to her by SIN: her heart. The girl connects, in a way that many feel safe in, without losing her grip on the reality of the situation. She could speak to Shurui, to K', establishing a subtle bond that grew as time passed. An ally, in the truest sense of the word.
That's why Shurui can't help but wear her emotions on her sleeve at this point at time, acting the gentle nurse where she'd usually be blunt and logical. "Hotaru..." Shurui quietly starts, worried at the girl's motion. However, as Hotaru gently insists Shurui relents, not eager to disallow Hotaru having her say, while at the same time curious. Hotaru needs to say something about this as well, having been allowed to live through that unlikely savior dangling from K''s hand. Shurui's eyes drift to Marise once more, a slight reaction moving over her face like a shadow as her sight registers the beginnings of a change in Marise's condition. "...." The demon woman just may survive. Maybe even become something worse. But that's something they can deal with, later, especially as Hotaru makes her thoughts on the matter clear. "... Hotaru's made a good point."
Shurui should indulge her thirst for revenge, see Marise burnt away to mere cinders until nothing could come back to harm any one of them. One less dangerous individual in the world. But why? There will always be someone else to replace Marise. A snake shall always take the place of a dead snake's territory. Kill them too? Would she risk losing a part of herself that separates her from being K', and to a further extent Marise herself, by knowingly asking for the demon's death? ... She could. ... So Shurui says nothing more, instead looking to Hotaru as K' speaks to Marise, roughly ushering her out. "..." That strange flickering of something more? The girl from Gedo is sure she'll find out what it was later.
Having had her say, Hotaru falls quiet. She isn't about to beg K' not to end the creature's existence. If he sees fit to do it in spite her argument, she wouldn't fault him for it. His history is different than hers. Enemies were dealt with far differently where he came from than what she's used to. She cannot say that it is wrong given these specific circumstances. Maybe there's some deep, subtle enjoyment of the frustration she reads in Marise's eyes. Maybe she had that in the back of her mind - that mercy here would pain the woman more...
She rests back on her pillow, tearing her eyes from Marise to rest on K' instead, simply waiting, watching. Listening as he taunts the captured Devil of Koga but not urging him one way or another afterward. She's quiet as he dismisses Marise to the side, provoking the dark monster further, and clearly enjoying the opportunity. By the time Marise looks back to the bedridden girl, she's set eyes firmly on K', meeting his gaze with an equally sober visage, as if she realizes the powerful forces at play, the opportunity costs weighed here, and perhaps the problems this expression of mercy might cause for her or others close to the trio down the line.
A quiet sigh is offered before she offers the young man a faint, quiet smile then a soft nod. She understands, but they'll simply have to get by. It's part of being better people than those who would oppress them. While she thought nothing of K' having killed Yamazaki in the heat of protecting her from the predator, cold blooded murder of a captured victim seems to be a threshold that even the survivalist in her can't quite bypass. Perhaps she's weaker for it. Or perhaps it's strength of a different sort - the sort that the Devil of Koga would never understand.
A fleeting glance is cast Marise's way, Hotaru's smile fading, her expression grim before she closes her eyes and sinks back down into her bed. "Thank you." she utters, plainly and clearly. Gratitude to her friends for saving her, gratitude to the wretch for cleansing her body. It's the last thought that crosses her mind before slipping into restful respite.
These are not 'better' creatures.
Perhaps the chief difference between the Beast and the Devil - the core difference - K' thinks his path lowly. Beneath simpering weaklings such as these. Marise is under no such illusion. K' is stronger without such pathetic notions of mercy. It corrupts him like an infection because its so easy ... So self-righteous.
And here Marise is ... Failed at the very thing she preaches.
That K-Dash is sorily tempted to finish the job anyway, the agonized ghost can only manage a shift of her lips in neutrality. The battle for Hotaru's spirt may be lost ... But the war will continue with this one. Maybe it will not be she that turns him back to the true path ... But it will happen. He lives for his hatred ... As she does. The path of vengeance will unerringly lead one to perdition. Sooner or later.
The torment of blood continues to render her silent, not dignifying her brief captors with more of her cries than agony demands. Only uttering one more yelp at the tall man's abrupt release. A sound that is quieted a half-moment after it was released as that burning hand clutches at her already savaged throat. Hands half-heartedly lift towards his wrist, unable to generate the power to grab the offending limb in turn. Serpentine eyes quivering in toothless rage at his final words.
And then.. She is discarded. Cast aside violently and sprawling onto the floor, half-way to the window itself. Burned shoulders heaving as the ghoul gasps for breath.
The Devil does not look back.
So. This is not to be the Devil of Koga's end, is it? Of the four ... She may well be the most surprised at this. Confused. Outraged. In terrible pain.
Let them savor their victory over her. Let them think themselves better ... Fine. The Devil is familiar with such humiliation. All it does is redouble her hate anew, stoking the flames of yet greater atrocities to come. The difference this time ...
... It was Marise herself that let this happen. She humiliated and defeated herself ... Because she dared to .... The monster can't even bring herself to think it.
All the creature can do is leave this place as fast as she is able. She did what she came to do. She has no further business here.
The dark thing crawls across the floor with disturbing haste. All but slithering away from the trio as they exchange thanks and comforting words. The dark shape pouring over the windowsill and slipping out to the world beyond. Leaving only the aroma of charred flesh and helter-skelter patterns of blackened blood in her wake.
Log created on 23:42:58 04/27/2009 by Hotaru, and last modified on 07:53:46 05/02/2009.