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 Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 9:02 pm
It was like a punch to the stomach when she heard it. Not even being able to see a body at first, the moments ticked by in slow motion as she watched, horrified, as Painite somehow ducked her defenses and went for the one thing she cherished above most everything else - her daughter - the one thing she'd been protecting fiercely since Chaonis' corruption. It was a sound that caught her attention at first, a small sort of sigh that escaped her daughter's lips before the tip of the Nega's spear protruded from her chest. A surprised look on her face, the daughter's eyes met her mother's, an identical violet, and knew the secret that had been kept from her for so long, revealed only a few days prior.
Once her baby girl, and she'd always be a baby to her mother, crumpled to the ground an inhuman sound escaped her mother's throat. All that blood, her blood, puddling on the cold asphalt. She forgot all about the General and the wicked looking spear that could have easily gutted her while she was indisposed. She ran to her child and knelt, cradling her in her lap as she died whispering soothing things and crying, holding back sobs for another time, a later time, when there was nothing else to think about.
Now she was pacing, needing a chance to get away, unaware of what to do, how to react. Nothing had really sunk in and she demanded to be brought to Camelot for safety before she could tell her husband what happened. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think. The only thing she saw were the last moments of her daughter's life replaying over and over again in her mind in agonizing slowness, taunting her as the last light dimmed in her eyes.
"Tony, please..." she begged softly, a tone he'd probably never heard from her before. "Please."
She couldn't be near anyone right now and what he needed to hear he needed to hear alone.
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Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 9:17 pm
Camelot met his wife at the Headquarters in the woods, knowing that when she summoned him like this, it was something serious. She rarely had a reason to beg him, and he would not hold it against her now. Times were difficult, and he was always on edge these days. He expected the worst at all times, but even with that thought, he could be unprepared. Perhaps he thought the worst had already happened.
He was very, very wrong.
"My darling..." he said, when she clung to him, hearing her tone and shaking his head in confusion. "Of course." He said gently, and he almost effortlessly took her away from those woods and the settlement they had built. They appeared instead in a field, and in the far distance, the great, however worn and crumbled by time it might be, castle of Camelot stood. Here at his Wonder, he felt safe. It was a place he came with those that needed to escape their fears for a small time. He had vowed to help others, and in such a small way as offering them some mental relief, he was doing just that.
Today, though, it was his wife asking for that safety, and he was scared by it. He felt his heart sinking as he stood with her in the grassy field, caressing her cheek as a soft breeze blew through her hair.
"What's the matter, my love? What happened?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 9:34 pm
She shied from his touch, further evidence that something was very, very wrong. She couldn't stand to be touched, the idea preemptively made her skin crawl and she shivered, wrapping her arms around her small frame. Even here she didn't feel safe though she knew she was. Shalott looked down at the blood on her skirt, not an uncommon thing these days but this blood was special. This blood was related to hers.
"She's gone." Saying it made it real and she hated to let the words leave her lips. If she could just keep quiet maybe she could pretend that all of this was a terrible nightmare she'd wake from at any moment. "Painite killed her. Harmony...she..."
Saying the name made her choke and she screamed, the anguished sound echoing across the field toward the crumbling ruins. She felt like that castle inside, breaking apart. A part of her soul died tonight, not just her daughter. She failed, was a failure. She couldn't protect her stepson. She couldn't save her daughter. She couldn't stop the pain that was trying to crush her beneath the weight of it. She wouldn't ever feel clean again, or whole.
That was all she managed, pain ripping through her preventing her from doing basically anything but stand there like a heartbroken fool, sobs finally overtaking her and shaking her whole body with the force of them. She still couldn't breathe but the real world was certainly crashing in all too quickly robbing her of any hope left.
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Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 10:11 pm
Camelot stared at her, looking down at the blood on her dress, which he had not seen before. He thought he was ready for what she was going to say, but now his heart was sinking into his feet and he felt a cold dread gripping him. He could almost guess what she was going to say, but not fast enough, and it was not enough to dampen the blow at all.
"Darling..."
He caught her as she crumbled against him, holding on to her tightly and supporting her as she sobbed. He shut his eyes tightly as a nauseating wave of misery crashed over him. First his son, and now his daughter. His step daughter, technically, but she had been nothing short of his real blood. He loved her as much as he could love a child, and now she was gone. Truly gone.
He helped her to the edge of the clearing, a longer walk than he would have liked, and eased her down to sit on a rock.
"I love you darling. I'm so sorry. I'm so... so sorry. I'm here. We'll stop her. We'll make her pay for everything." He spoke very quietly, but his voice shook with his anger and pain. He hated Painite, as truly as he ever hated anything, but even now the Knight in him told him that it was not that easy. Still, he could not let her get away with the pain she had caused his family.
"Please, just breathe. We have our daughter, I need you to be strong for her, okay? I know it's hard, I know it's painful... believe me, I know. It's so difficult, but we have to stay strong."
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Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 10:44 pm
"I can't. Tony, I can't! My little girl...that blood...Painite...she didn't touch me. The b***h didn't touch me, only smiled as my baby died. Oh, God, she enjoyed it."
Harmony was the main reason she'd done anything with her life, the reason she'd pulled herself out of her downward spiral after the loss of her family. It felt like it was all happening again. Even Dogby...
She couldn't stop herself from crying, pain giving way to something deeper, darker. The mother grit her teeth and pushed down her pain. This was not the time for tears as he said. She needed to be strong for her fallen child but more than that she needed to avenge her. Shalott's purpose was very clear now. Something inside her snapped and she looked up at her husband, wanting anything but pity.
"I want her dead," she growled, her voice something even she didn't recognize. "I want her to bleed. I want her broken and I want to smile, smile, as she lays bleeding."
It wasn't the peace her husband believed in but at the moment the promise of revenge was all she had to hold onto. She stepped back once to take care of Sarah and lost her other daughter in the process. Peace was not the answer anymore, not in this case.
"I want her to beg for her life. This will not go unanswered. She will pay a life for a life."
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 8:45 am
"I know, my love, I know."
Camelot felt the pain of it vividly, and remembered what it was like to see his son taken from him. Now they had lost their daughter, and he could only imagine how terrible it was for Shalott to have been there, unable to help her. Camelot held on to her, not willing to let her go, now or ever. She was more important to him than anything else in the world, rivaled only by their surviving daughter. He could not, would not, lose either of them now.
When she shifted, he started shaking his head slowly.
"No, darling, that's not the answer..."
He wanted it to be. The world would be just a little better without Painite in it. For them, particularly, but maybe for others. But attacking her came with such a terrible risk, and he did not want to take that chance right away, with both of them reacting on their emotions.
"We can take care of her, but not now. She has help, she has Chaonis. Together, we can defeat her, but I don't want you to make a choice right now. And I don't want you going out and trying anything against her. It is what she wants: she'll use it against you."
He shuddered, just thinking about it.
"Please, Shalott, don't do anything dangerous. We can't afford to lose any more right now. You need to mourn your daughter properly, she wouldn't want you risking your life.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 12:29 pm
She looked up at him in disbelief. How far did the Negaverse have to go before he'd get angry? Before he'd realize the only real cure was the eliminate them one by one? They killed their daughter and took away his son. They were taking everything from them and the couple had tried so hard to build a life around peace and happiness. It was wrong. It was all a lie...
"This is my answer, Camelot. You can either help me as my partner or not but I am going to do it."
There was still a chance for Nathan. He could be purified and redeemed. His father had that power. All he needed was a heart willing to come home again and be with the people that truly loved him. It had happened before to others. He wasn't dead. He had a chance, even if it was slim. Harmony wasn't so lucky as that. There was no chance Shalott would ever see her firstborn again.
"I'm going to kill her, Tony, or I'll die trying. If she wants to use Chaonis against me..."
She wouldn't want to but she'd hurt him, too, just to get to Painite.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 3:56 pm
"Shalott... please. Just take a walk with me, and we'll try to come up with a plan, alright? Something reasonable. We can't just charge into the city and hunt Painite down: we'll both be killed before we make it very far. We can't afford to do that. I love you. I just... want to keep you safe. We are important to the survival of those in the Resistance: if we throw our lives away in pursuit of our own revenge, we'll waste what we've been given."
He watched her, seeing the pain in her eyes, and knowing too well how badly it hurt. He had loved Harmony as much as he had loved Nathan, and to lose them both within a few months of each other was a difficult pill to swallow for him. He let her stew, remaining closer but not over bearing, an watched her carefully.
He winced when she threatened Chaonis. Too many people were doing that to him recently. He shook his head.
"Think about what you're saying. You would hurt our son, just to get to Painite? He's the only one we have a chance of getting back. He might not be the same, but he is still here. I... I'm sorry, darling, but killing Painite... as nice as it might seem like it would feel... it would never bring Harmony back. And I can't lose you."
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 4:17 pm
"Don't, Tony. I'm not just Shalott. I'm not just your partner."
Though in some ways it was easier to distance herself and just be the knight and not the wife and mother. But she wasn't just his partner. She was also his wife and mother to his children. And she was grieving as a mother now feeling hollow as she had when Harmony was lost to her in space for weeks back before she was a romantic inkling in his eye.
"You can't tell me that!" she burst out, feeling betrayed. "Do you have any idea how much this pains me?"
He'd been her son, too, by the end. He'd warmed to her and knew their secrets. She'd felt closer to him and really came to love him as her own. The idea of hurting him was nearly killing her almost as much as imagining him protecting the monster that stole her other child.
"If he would defend the monster, the demon, that killed his sister I can't...I can't protect him."
Though he was right about one thing. Marching into Destiny City powered up and intent on doing Painite harm would be the quickest way to get herself killed. It was unlikely that if Painite knew who she was enough to target her family she likely didn't keep that information to herself.
"You have lost me, Tony. I'm not the same. I won't ever be the same. The world has completely changed. This is Hell; look around! I want her dead and I won't stop until she is and I can know that my little girl, our little girl, didn't die in vain. If you ask me again not to do this..."
She didn't know what would happen but it wasn't likely to be good. She couldn't remain neutral anymore, that line was crossed. She couldn't forgive Painite and wouldn't offer her anything less than what she deserved in full. There was no longer a chance for peace, not for any of them. He needed to stand behind her and help her as her partner and best friend or he needed to make peace with the idea that she'd find a way on her own no matter the price.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 5:01 pm
Camelot stung from her words, but he knew she was just hurting. He could not blame her for it, no matter how she acted out. But he could not sit idly by and let her go and get herself hurt or worse, could he? He wanted to protect her. To help her.
He could not lose her. He kept telling himself that. It was the most important thing he had right now, and what he held on to, to keep him going each day. Protecting her. Keeping her alive. Seeing her every day.
"I do know how much it hurts," he said gently.
"But Nathan does not know what he's doing any more. He's not Nathan, not the one we know, but that does not mean we can just give up all hope for him. I'm not willing to, and I know you're not either. I know it's hard right now. It seems like it will never be easy again. I know how much it hurts! I know what it feels like to want to give in and fight like they do! I love you, Shalott. Kyndall. If you really want to face Painite, at least let me be there with you."
He might not agree with it, but if he couldn't stop her, he would at least make sure she did nothing they both would regret later. Or he alone would regret, when she failed to come home.
"But I wish you wouldn't do this."
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 6:15 pm
"I need you there with me."
He was her best friend and she always wanted him to be there with her no matter the undertaking. Even something as terrible as this she needed him there for support. She was not, after all, a murderer but in Painite's case she really felt that that might change. She'd never felt this kind of anger before and though it started with pain she didn't feel her judgement was clouded by it. The world would be better off without that particular woman in it.
Tonight, though, she would heed his advice and mourn properly before she started making plans. She needed to tell her remaining daughter that he big sister was gone. They needed to be a family tonight to take care of one another.
"I miss her already."
She crumpled against her husband and clung to him, grateful that he would support her even if he didn't agree with her choices. The blood wasn't even dry yet but Shalott was forever changed. One way or another either she or Painite would be dead very soon.
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