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[Enter from the Base of the Tower]

Sacrifice all you hear.

It was indeed a great sacrifice. Throughout his life, his hearing had been the most valuable of his senses, even before sight. You could see less than 180 degrees in front of you, possibly the full 180 degrees, if you were lucky. But that left you blind to the 180 degrees behind you. His hearing had saved him many a time when his sight had failed him, the slightest sound of a scuff of a boot, a click of a gun reloading, or even as simple as an exhale that had been just a little too heavy in the silence tipping him off that he was not alone. And when seconds mattered, it had made all the difference in the world.

But it was a sacrifice he made whole-heartedly. The first step onto the first floor, and the world went quiet, not even the ringing of his ears to leave him with the memory that he had had the ability at all. Making a slightly distressed face, he tilted his head a little to one side, lifting a hand to snap his fingers by his ears, just in case it was faint. But the Voice hadn't lied. Not this time. It left him with a bitter twang in his mouth, and a heaviness in his gut. He'd wanted to believe that, with all the lies the Voice had told, it had not been true. The speech about being figments.

Stepping up to the stairs, he cocked his head at Jing, eyebrows furrowed in bewilderment as the man started pantomiming. He wasn't all that great at this game, but after a few minutes he realized the man had been trying to talk, and had been using his hands to ask if he could hear him.

Nuk shook his head, giving his hand a flick towards the stairs to gesture for him to go, he'd follow. For good measure, he put his hand on Jing's shoulder, reassuring him he was still behind him.

[Enter]

He stopped, lingering for a moment with his hand on the door, as if a last hint of doubt, of hesitation, remained in his mind. He read the words, eyes narrowed thoughtfully as his gaze moved over the inscription. Another moment, then with no further hesitation, he pushed through the door.

The silence that greeted him was absolute, cold, oppressive. There was no sound from his steps, no clink of talons on the floor, no swish from the flick of his tail, even his breath was silent. He tried to speak, but found he could not. In that silence he could have sworn he would hear the beat of a butterflies wings, but that too would have made no sound.

If that was as was, then so be it. There was no turning back now, no where to go but up, and so he began the climb.

(( steps: 15/100 ))

Betrayed.
He felt a little betrayed himself, in all of this, but still summoned onward. He remembered the looks of betrayal on the Violet King, on Remi, on the others... what good did promises of kingdoms do if you were just going to be tossed aside? If all they were was dolls, they weren't even the favorite dolls, they were the ones being tossed aside blindly by some vast unseen child looking for that one special toy, happy to trod on all the rest.

He felt some sorrow for The Voice, but only a little. He was sorry they had suffered loss, but he was not sorry that they had caused so much more.

No Harm, The voice Said?

It had a very strange idea of having caused no harm.

[/exit]

((Enter))

She glanced at the door before she passed, reading the words but thinking nothing of them. She had sacrificed much in her life. What was one more thing? She stepped beyond the doorway, and was plunged into silence.

It was an odd thing, to not be able to hear, to be well and truly deaf. She smirked to herself as she thought about how much Shik might enjoy the sensation, the man of solitude who often called her a harpy for the amount she screeched at him. She would finish up here, and she would return home, to a land where silence would never be allowed to her, not even in the loneliest, emptiest of places. Because back home there would always be the voices, no matter how far she went to try and escape them. Back home she would return to her tainted body, and whispers that never ceased.

For once, it wasn't such an awful thought.

The woman began to climb.

Up and up and up she rose, determination spurring her onward. She had lost her friends somewhere along the way, but she knew that what Lifen had said before they had begun was true. They would all meet up at the top.

She continued to climb with silent footfalls, resolutely ignoring those around her.

[ enter ]

Ying darted up the stairs. There were tons of people doing the same, and for a moment, she wondered if their reasons were like hers. The only real rendezvous point was the top of the tower- she hoped Jing had the same idea as her.

As she stepped in, it was quiet.

Nothing to do but climb.

[ steps: 25 ]

Soon the crowds began to thin. As she walked up, it felt more and more like she was alone in this crowd. Everyone looked different now, she couldn't tell who was Blue, who was Red, who was Black- none of the colors stood out.

A flash of seafoam and black hair.

"Jing?" she tried to speak, but only silence came out.

She darted up the stairs, trying to get his attention, waving and flopping her arms about. Ying was tired, both from the stair crawling and from the events of the day. She wanted a hug, and she wanted her brother. Even if she was a fake- even if this whole WORLD was fake, Jing was her brother.

It was a simple movement, a casual toss of the hand, the leading of his eyes, but the message was clear as water. 'go on, ill be behind.' it was strange how easily they could read one another when it came down to it. Whether it was from all the arguing or all the wrestling and fighting, but the lack of audible speech did nothing to impair their ability to understand one another.

The plain motion on meeting index finger to the pad of the thumb on the same hand in a circular figure was made, an affirmative nod and he was off and up the stairs, true to his name and former rank of Fox.

Sammy and G could not have been too far ahead.

He just didn't expect the rush of grey and silver moving from behind him. the feeling of dread creeping up on his shoulders. He never thought that the Voice would try and attack someone on their ascent up, the fact that there was no way to hear was just too perfect for sneaking up on.

He did not want to turn around, and face the assailant in the silence,but the motion was already in effect.

it wasn't the voice, as if he even knew who it was. It was a silly notion. Instead, the sight of a person closer to his heart than anyone else, someone that shared his own blood.

"..............." there was no sound, no confirmation that it was indeed her.
Nothing but silent staring that stretched in the tower as shades of black, white and everything in between passed in their pursuit upstairs.

seconds passed, but the male found himself in those moments, and in turn found what that little girl meant to him.

She was worth the wave of a hand and the mouthing of the word 'Hello" with arms outstretched wide.

She was always going to be a part of his family, the voice was never going to take that away.