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 Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 11:19 pm
Corrupted Sherwood had not powered down for several days. She didn't remember who she was in the aftermath of her new awakening, as she now called it. She was free to move about the city again, her home, but that was the irony of it. To be free to be home she had to forget where home was. No longer Caydence Brendan. The name didn't mean anything anymore. Her green eyes were empty of her light. Her skin looked paler in the streams and mirrors she cared to look into. The flowers in her hair turned black.
Her uniform reflected the change, the stitching that used to show the proud symbols of earth were replaced with blood red spooling that meant nothing. Her pants changed from a neutral brown to black and her boots sported wicked heels and laced up to her knees. Her bow...that was the same, though metal and dangerous with an edged back to it to be able to cut like a scythe. She carried it slung over her shoulder most of the time with a quiver of arrows that she somehow knew how to shoot with accuracy.
General Sherwood.
The sounds of the city began to bother her, every sound crawling up her spine until it grated on her last nerve and she found herself running away from the traffic and the noise, the mindless cattle of the civilian population. She ran without knowing where she was going, letting her legs carry her without conscious thought until she found a stream to follow. This was too much to deal with!
She found herself in a clearing when she stopped, bending at the waist to take huge gulping breaths. Her lungs burned and there were tears in her eyes for no reason she could name. Someone said this was just a phase and it would pass. She hoped sooner than later. When she straightened Sherwood took a chance to look around, finding herself looking up at the stars that shone between the trees, something that felt significant to her though she didn't know why. Something...someone?
No, nothing...
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Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 11:41 pm
Arias still enjoyed his walks.
Things were different now, of course, and he couldn’t remember the last time he'd tried to take a late night walk and not run into some Negaverse Agent badgering him about his intents. It was just a walk—that was all he wanted. Some fresh air. To be away from work, from his worries.
Getting away from the bustle of the city was supposed to refresh him, but going to one of his usual spots had been bringing him less and less relief.
There was a clearing up ahead—one that he was fond of. One that he had spent so much time with a close friend.
Sherwood.
The name sent a wave of anxiety through him—a dull, pulsing fear.
Not so long ago, the rumors had started. That something had happened to her. He hadn't confirmed it—but just as bad, he hadn't been able to deny it either. He just couldn’t reach her.
And it scared him.
Perhaps he'd been coming out more because he was stressed? Or perhaps it was because he hoped that one of these nights he'd find her, in their area, safe and sound.
While walking, it seemed he had finally gotten away from the city; the little forest felt like the closest thing to safety as any place he'd been in some time. He had made his rounds around it and seen nothing, and once again disappointment crept through him.
She wasn't here.
Again.
But, there was a nagging, as he made his third lap around it. That maybe, maybe he should look a little deeper.
Sucking up the disappointment he was sure he was going to feel, Arias walked through the trees again—and this time, he saw movement. It was too dark to make anyone out, but a few more steps into the trees and he knew there was someone there.
And he knew it had to be here.
No one knew about this place but them, right? No one came here but them, right?
Excitedly, he hurried forward; in the last few seconds he was concealed by shadows, he powered up.
And then realized he had made a terrible mistake.
That was not the energy signature of the Knight he was expecting.
Whoever it was in front of him was a Negaverse Agent.
And a General.
And he had just walked right up to her.
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Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 12:10 am
She'd known a moment of peace while she watched the stars wondering about the people she heard came from them. Wondering how something so beautiful could bring people so dangerous to her world. But without any noise to distract her Sherwood had known a moment's peace and that was precious to her over the confusion of the preceding few days.
The moment she felt someone power up her bow was in hand, an arrow ready to fly at whatever came at her through the trees. The one thing she did know, the only thing she was told, was that the White Moon was dangerous. They were usurpers, taking Earth for their own desires and trying to rid it of those people meant to be there naturally. She held the bow up ready to shoot him if he even looked at her in a way she didn't like. No one would say anything about it. This sort of thing was encouraged and General-Queen Sakuradite would make good use of his body.
"You're not supposed to be here."
She probably wasn't immediately recognizable. Even her voice was lower pitched, a somber quality to it anything but usual for the formerly cheerful girl that was perhaps a bit too fanciful for her own good. Something stayed her hand, though, but only initially. Something about the Knight was strange. Not familiar but something just beyond, a day dream one couldn't quite remember or the feeling of deja vu that had no origin.
"You've made a terrible mistake coming here," she commented, stepping closer. "You shouldn't be here. Why would you do something so stupid?"
Her dearest friend and Caydence didn't know enough to run into his arms and hold him until this nightmare went away. Instead she was ready to kill him at a moment's notice.
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 9:36 am
Newgrange stiffened as he stared at the woman. The darkness was not so inhibiting that he could not trace the lines of her face, or see the outfit, but it did not immediately register that this was an outfit he had seen many times. It was just different, now. Adrenaline and a surge of fear was distracting him from piecing everything together.
"I could ask you the same," he said, though it was with false confidence.
She didn't have an arrow pointed at her face.
Suddenly, this was feeling like a terrible mistake, but he'd made enough during this war—what was one more?
There was no point in lying to her; he had nothing to lose. Well, except his life, but he'd deal with that when she let loose an arrow.
"I'm looking for someone," he replied, trying to stand tall. He didn't look particularly imposing, but he didn't want to look weak, either. "We used to meet around here. She was important to me, and I suppose…I thought you were her. I just wanted to see her."
To know that she was okay.
But if there was a Negaverse Agent here—here, where they had always avoided…
He wondered if he had her to thank for Sherwood's disappearance.
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 11:39 am
Something inside Sherwood ached. Something thrashed, trying desperately to tell her the truths that were scrubbed clean by Chaos. This was someone she knew and, what was more, someone that knew her! No matter what else was happening the one thing she wanted more than anything else was answers, a connection to the world. Right now she felt disassociated, her only real connection being the new family she was adopted into and completely loyal to, above all others.
Home! So bloody close to her! Family, the real one.
Oblivious to this subconscious plight the only thing Sherwood allowed herself to do was lower the bow slightly and ease the tension in the string. She could still manage a shot in a very short time but at least she was showing some measure of faith. Funny, she was looking for someone, too. Someone very close to home.
Unable to fully relax around a member of the White Moon at least there were no Chaos signatures nearby to notice her mercy.
"I should kill you where you stand." But her tone was unsure. For something that meant everything to her his appearance didn't spark anything. "I'm probably not her," at least not these days if ever.
Lots of people were dying, though, such was the nature of war. She accepted it as her corrupted self without question. Her former self would have perished the thought and made a very impassioned speech when she and Arias first met about how she was not going to let this war take her life and ruin her dreams. How very ironic if she could know enough to appreciate that.
"I'm looking for my home." she confessed, though God only knew why she cared to tell him any sort of truth about herself. Maybe because he displayed some vulnerability with her. "Not out here, just in general. Out here I was just looking at the stars."
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 1:20 pm
Newgrange's eyes narrowed a bit, not in hostility, but in an attempt to focus. To understand what she was saying.
The General had lowered her bow, and he released a steady breath.
She should have killed him, but she didn't. Or, at least, she hadn't tried to—yet.
He could still hold on to hope that he might make it out of this alive.
But something about the way she spoke made his heart race and his blood run cold.
Probably not her.
There was no certainty in the claim. And she was lost.
Dread flushed through him, and maybe a part of Newgrange already knew who he was looking at, and maybe was trying to save him the despair of finding out. Maybe he was really just oblivious.
But the tugging sensation was there, and his stomach felt heavy.
"You must be new to the Negaverse," he said, trying to sound sympathetic. He had spent many nights out here with Sherwood, looking up at the stars. But he knew where his wonder was—here, on Earth. A distance to travel, but not so great as the knights of any other planets. He was sympathetic when he asked, "What happened?"
His usual response to confrontation with the Negaverse was the same thing: Buy some time. Get some answers. Run.
But Newgrange did not want to run. Something was keeping him rooted to this spot.
Someone.
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 10:03 pm
"New, yes." She sounded distracted. "Very new."
She was only a week into this and knew that there was a chance memories would come back to her over time, memories of some part of her life. Maybe who she was and where her home was might come with it. Sherwood had no idea about her companion's dilemma. She remained oblivious to everyone's pain but her own for the moment.
"I don't really know what happened. General King Benitoite awakened me to my new family but I really don't remember much about it. My starseed...he held my starseed."
Mostly, she thought, because he didn't want to kill her. They'd had similar interests. They probably would have liked each other if they'd met as civilians. Perhaps...
"He said I was a Knight of Earth. That I belonged here, too, but on the right side."
The thought made her equally proud and sad. She couldn't remember what place she came from, who her family was before the Negaverse. She thought he'd been kidding at first when he reacquainted her with her own name; Sherwood. Like something out of a movie.
"Tell me who you're looking for. Maybe I've seen her around here."
Though truthfully this was her first time here so far as she knew.
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Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2014 10:14 am
The more she spoke, the worse he felt.
Benitoite was someone he had heard of, and someone who, in that moment, he immediately began to hate.
His blood was cold, and he couldn’t feel the tips of his fingers. His heart was pounding loudly in his ears, and yet it felt like it had stopped. He hadn't been able to breathe for a few seconds; his body had just frozen up.
Maybe it was her voice, or the way the light was hitting her face now, or that she had confessed to being an Earth Knight.
Or that the timeline was fitting up.
Or that Newgrange could no longer deny that there were great similarities between the outfit she wore now and the outfit she had worn the last time he had seen her.
"Sherwood," he whispered, ashamed that even when standing so tall, he could not manage a louder voice. It was hardly an answer to her question, and almost more of a painted greeting. His eyes were pleading, and hurt, and he hoped—prayed—that she would laugh at him, mock him for mixing her up. There were little things that Newgrange had ever truly wanted, and in that moment he wanted nothing more than to be wrong.
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Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2014 12:39 pm
"No!"
Sherwood raised up her bow as soon as he spoke that name, her name, the only one she knew she had left. She hadn't told him what it was and that he knew it any left her mind reeling, proof of a life before the Negaverse got hold of her heart stood right in front of her speaking to her without either knowing who the other was until now. Immediately she suspected a White Moon trick and held herself ready just in case. She did not like her emotions so inexplicably messed with when she was already so damaged and lost.
"You can't be looking for me. I don't know you."
For someone that looked so defeated just by looking at her it deflated her sense of disbelief as well. She didn't know him but he seemed to absolutely know who she used to be. Her bow sang as she loosed an arrow that intentionally whizzed past his head to the left to sink deep into a tree trunk behind him. She was reaching for another as she spoke, the wicked blade of her bow facing his way in case he decided to get brave.
"If this is a trick I swear to God I will end you."
Sherwood was not in the best state emotionally or mentally. The lack of sleep and confusion did not help. Threatening was the last thing she would have ever done a week ago...sadly, a week had really changed things. She wasn't sure she wanted to know but a desperate part inside of her clawed at her belly. She didn't want to but she needed to know.
"You need to explain, right now. How did you know my name?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2014 12:15 am
Newgrange did not flinch away from the arrow. When she let loose the arrow he had only held his head high, looking her in the eyes.
If she was going to kill him, he wasn't going to let her forget his face.
But…she hadn't killed him. Or even struck him.
His heart was pounding in his chest, but outwardly it wasn't showing so badly. Yet. His eyes flashed as he looked at her, but his gaze never left her face.
"I came here looking for Sherwood," he began, voice unwavering. "I would meet her here. This was our spot, our safe haven. Very recently I came to hear a rumor that she had been corrupted into the Negaverse. But I didn't believe it." His voice softened. "She never would have wanted that. But without her around, I could only expect the worse. And if her name is yours…"
Then, there was his Sherwood.
"Then I suppose I found her. You," he corrected. He wanted to take a step forward, to ask if she was okay, to ask what happened. To promise that he could help her make it right—that they could fix this.
But that bow was a bit more intimidating than he would have liked to admit, and he wasn't about to make any sudden moves before she lowered it.
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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 9:41 pm
"You knew me?"
That one thing started hitting home for her as he spoke about Sherwood, about her, but not a life she could remember. It brought tears to her eyes and she blinked hard to try and push them back. She hated herself for feeling weak around the enemy but she couldn't help it. No one seemed to know her now; he was the first. She needed that information.
"Tell me about her."
She wanted to be afraid of him and the danger he posed to her sense of self. Sherwood desperately wanted to make him go away but whenever she opened her mouth to say those exact words something seemed to silence her before they came out.
Slowly...painfully slowly she lowered her bow so that it was no longer a threat to her companion.
"You know me better than I do."
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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 10:22 pm
Sympathy throbbed through Newgrange, and he wanted nothing more than to step forward and comfort the girl. She might have lowered the bow, but Newgrange did not want to risk creating any more friction between the two of them. "…It doesn't mean you couldn't come back," he said hopefully, though there was a bit of doubt in his voice. Why should she believe him, now? If she couldn’t remember him, anything of him…How could he expect her to trust him on something like that? Or to think that this wasn't just some cruel joke?
He didn't know how badly the Negaverse had gotten to her, but he was afraid.
Not for himself. Just for her.
"Sherwood is my friend," he said, unable to use past tense. He was looking at her—some incarnation of her—right now, wasn't he? That meant she was still alive…right? At least a part of her? Maybe salvageable, even?
"She knows more about me than I probably know about myself. She's a strong girl. Passionate. Free. Who lives life to the fullest, and who could bring light even to the darkest of times. She has always been there for me, and I said I'd always be there for her. But I get the distinct impression," he faltered, and couldn't keep talking about her like she wasn't right in front of him. "That I've failed you."
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Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2014 12:15 am
She listened intently as he spoke about her, telling her things she should not have to be told. Even though she knew he was probably not lying there was no penetration of his words beneath the skin. Mentally she knew this had to be true, he was talking about her as a friend but that was as far as it went. Emotionally it never connected other than to stir up more confusion and resentment that she didn't feel anything. His words failed to rouse even a modicum of recognition inside her. Sherwood growled in frustration, feeling this emotional disconnect keenly.
Even his emotional confession of guilt failed to make an impression.
Part of her mind balked, trying to kick her back into her survivalist way of thinking. The Negaverse was her family now and to betray them was to ask for death. They had the city in a vice grip and for once she was on the winning side. Benitoite could have killed her. He didn't. She in turn could have killed this knight, but didn't.
"Why wouldn't I have wanted this?"
Since her conversion she hadn't hurt much of anyone, her pacifism traveling with her from one incarnation to the next.
The worst of it was that Sherwood didn't feel anything like how he described her. She felt lackluster and unfocused. She was listening, but that didn't necessarily mean she believed what she was hearing or that it would really mean anything in the end.
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Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2014 10:13 pm
"Because you know the Negaverse is bad!" he said desperately. "You are an Earth Knight—it's your duty to protect this planet, and you know that and I—I hope they haven't twisted things enough that you really think they're doing the right thing. Draining energy, kidnapping—killing—people. That's not you. Even in the darkest of times, that's not you."
He had to take a second to breathe, but there was desperation in his words, his eyes, his posture. Brows knit in frustration and lips pursed tightly, he wasn't giving in. He'd rather her shoot him than admit defeat.
But he had faith that she wouldn't.
She had to understand.
"The Negaverse isn't taking care of you. They stole you. Sherwood, they killed you. Caydence, you were Caydence, and they've taken her."
He swallowed, cold realization flushing through him.
Caydence…was dead?
There were no memories. No feelings. She was going to see him as nothing more than a stranger, and this empty, corrupted thing was wearing her skin.
It was a cruel joke. The Negaverse was just sick.
But Caydence wouldn't have wanted this…so he just wanted to save whatever was left.
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Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 8:47 pm
"I don't believe you!"
Though her very protest proved that she did, or was beginning to. It was just that the idea of it scared her and disrupted everything she was starting to believe about herself. The Negaverse had already made use of her unique skill set and had her spying and hunting prey in the forests, searching for straggling White Moon agents and civilians. She was good at that and delivered them to the Science department for experimentation or to one of the other departments for punishment.
Which was why he was supposed to be dead or subdued. Somehow she just didn't have the heart to put an arrow straight through him like she should have and that opened dangerous territory for her if she was discovered to be a sympathizer.
"No, they brought order to this city. If they ask for payment in return that's fair, no different from the police."
Their dogma coming from her lips. Now that was sick. KD had been the first to want to bend the rules, taking him to swim in the pool of a vacant house her father was selling or convincing him to go camping with her in the middle of no where knowing her parents didn't know. Or going to raves in town in disguise so her parents never found out. Never would anything like that have crossed her lips, not ever.
Then realization dawned on her. "You knew me as a civilian. And I knew you. I know your civilian identity." Or had...
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