[ BOSS ORP ] From The Ashes (THE FINALE P.76)

[its me debz]

Aleria had looked upon oblivion. They had let themselves be taken along like a lamb to the slaughter, self-aware but not truly prepared for the fate that would befall them.

The demon had thought that they were, in fact, prepared to face whatever it was the little guide had in store for them.

They thought wrong. Even as the phoenix lifted and started flying towards the portals, Aleria felt clammy and unsettled. While the demon's body temperature was almost always below freezing, it was rare that they felt the cold.

Shakily, the demon wondered which portal it would go through, and they felt as though their legs were made of stone, rooted to the ground.

"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you."

There were voices gnawing at Aleria's mind, hissing and quiet and indistinct.

"Have I fallen into the abyss?" they whispered, afraid for the first time.  

[Baneful]

He didn't want to leave.

He was home, he was on the island. He was with his friends.



The insistent complaining in his head. He wasn't even sure who it was, they felt very far away, it annoyed him, like an out of place buzzing.



Go away. He wished it would go away.

But it would not. The voice sounded tired and weary, but it was persistent. It didn't let up.

Finally there was no way to simply ignore it any longer, he was forced to deal with it, to allow himself to realise that this wasn't real. No matter how much he wanted it to be. He wasn't home yet.

Slowly, very slowly he dragged himself back to wakeness as if through a haze, realising he wasn't home at all. He was still on this ******** island. And that ******** phoenix was here too. He shook his head. He felt ******** strange. It was unsettling. He'd been with his friends in the "dream". Out here it didn't feel right at all, as if this was the false world and what he'd left behind was the real.

But, there were more important things to do right? Fake or ******** not. That thing wasn't getting to the Deus portal.

Quote:

- 61- 90: You struggle to pull out of the Insanity's whispers, it feels calm, alright, as if you could stay here forever. That would be okay....right? The effects of the Insanity on you is weaker, thankfully. You are inflicted with the INSANITY STATUS EFFECT for ONE IC WEEK: please note if your student is a guest student, it only carries over till the end of the meta. This is NOT a permanent status effect, this is only temporary. It does carry over till after meta for that IC week.
(( Insanity Status Effect: You start to hear voices, but are not able to really -understand- what they're saying, your insecurities are suddenly like gaping wounds, sensitive to the least amount of friction or suspicion, paranoia ))

 

[demon_pachabel]

Two ravens in the old oak tree

one for you and one for me.

The image was gone as quickly as it had washed through his mind, causing Invictus to pull away and frown, his hand still squeezing Cymbeline's. She was right there and after a moment he had to draw his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to him before he looked up at the Phoenix that still moved above head.

The edges of his mind hummed familiarly, a sensation that had tried to burn itself out long before - and would never burn out ever again. It sizzled through his synapses, all of the voices humming in unison, saying different things to him. Different things he couldn't understand.

But he never had. The only real insanity he understood belonged to the heir he drew to his side before moving to go to Aisa - to check after her. Only when the three heirs were together again did he look back towards the sky, and the bird flying through it.

"Shall we send them off?" he suggested lightly, strain pushing itself out of his voice - it had been hard to leave that place. That memory with his mother from so long ago.

Grey Dragon

Random Artist

 

[bipolar bee]

The mist slowly seemed to give way; it saddened Sasha to see it go, though it did not diminish completely. There was a burning, cold ache deep in Sasha's heart. Things had been… almost peaceful. And yet here she was again with nothing but her failures to back her.

You'll never leave.

A shaky sense of anxiety clawed at the back of her throat. They were supposed to be going home! They were all going home! They weren't supposed to be fighting anymore.

You'll never leave.

A low, keening cry broke free from the young woman as she forced herself to focus. Focus. She could do this. She could.. she could hear the voices of other hunters around her calling out, coming to, wrenching free.

You can't go.

"I will!" She sounded desperate, unconvinced.

Suddenly the fog broke. A moment of clarity. They were going home. They simply hadn't finished their task here. So close. The portals were there and ready to go; all they had to do was make sure that the bird did not follow?

Just as soon as that moment had come it was gone, and Sasha watched the pale, foggy form of the ashen phoenix circle around, hesitating between the portals. Why couldn't they go home? Why were they being kept here?

We've already told you. You can never leave.

Like clouds passing by on a lazy spring day, the fog broke. A bit of lucidity. The burn of determination. No, she could do this. She was a hunter. Sasha was not going to give up so easily. There were still so many things that she yearned to do, things far too precious to give up on just yet.

"I am leaving," Sasha brushed her hair back from her face as she rose to stand on trembling legs. She was leaving. She was going home, and she would do whatever it took to make it back to the island.  

[Pales]

{Thisss isssn't what either of them would want,} Yom's voice suddenly broke in.

What? He didn't understand what the voice was trying to say. It felt wonderful here, he was happy here. Wouldn't Susannah and Mother want him to be happy like he used to be all the time when the world was still fresh and new to him. Like before he began to realize and notice all the ugliness that stagnated around him like a festering sore with shadows hovering around it like hungry horrors.

{You are to fight thisss,} Yom said more firmly trying to yank him harder into fighting.

Jude began to awaken once more to notice things around him. Fight? That is why he joined the Hunters after all. Too Fight and yet also to escape...

Escape...

...He had to escape this. This wasn't right. This wasn't going to be home anymore. Just barely he started to wrest himself out of the waking dream though with only a bit of sadness and regret and possibly even feeling a little violated.

It dragged the memories out of him. It dragged them out and it probably saw them he felt angry as he tried to ignore the whispers that still floated around him. The allure to listen to them was strong but he needed to focus.

{There you are,} Yom said sounding almost relieved.  

[MoonKitsune]

He wanted to stay. He wanted to keep walking alongside the small figure, quietly with the others, to some destination he knew would be safe. Where he was sure would never have him come to harm, and where he could continue in that happy, warm, overwhelming moment and yet still feel at piece. Where things felt comfortable, secure, and all other worries and troubles were distant - better yet, were being taken care of by others. They were not his problem, these other thoughts.

Home. Such a simple word. Acceptance. Security. Familiarity. Safety. Comfort. A wave of memories and feelings connected to a place you always wanted to return to. The place you could settle.

No wonder they always strove to find that one place, and what greater tragedy was it to never find it.

When the gray disappeared, Calder was at a loss, feeling torn as he looked up and nearly cried at seeing the world he was walking in disappear back to a harsher reality. The escape was gone, and he was crushed at the alternative.

But he had a home to protect, and the Phoenix, despite bringing a moment of comfort, was not something he wanted near that home.  

[demon_pachabel]

Cass was pulled from the memory in a way similar to an appendix bursting - it had a numb pain at first, uncomfortable as she tried to realize what was happening, and then a seering pain as they were suddenly pulled apart. NO! She'd grabbed out at Marcus's arm even as he continued to walk away before she suddenly found herself on her back, panting, staring up at the sky.

It was...

it was over. She..... her heart hurt, even as the fog pulled away from her, her body seeming to burn, yet she couldn't hear Nicodemus in her head. No, it was just silence. For a moment, she almost moved to return back into that shadow of a memory, her heart aching for it. She wanted that moment so much.

That moment in which Marcus had wanted her to be his. She wanted it to come back. That moment of security. But it was gone. It had pulled away from her, leaving her out there, longing, gasping for air.

Cass?

Cass, what have you been doing for the last ten minutes? I've been trying to-

<>

She'd never shrieked at Nicodemus mentally like that before and it caused the Tonberry to reel away, surprised as the hunter dragged herself up to her feet, moving to look for Marcus. He was around there somewhere, but what if? and then.. but then - no!

She couldn't focus on anything for too long and she was starting to look completely out of her element - crazed and paranoid.Every voice in her head was screaming at max volume and all Nicodemus could think of was when Cass had been called to by that woman.  

[Enoh Love]

It would be okay, she thought. To stay here forever. In this calm she didn't know she could ever feel. Sure there were voices, constant whispers; but that was still okay. It was better than silence, which could get so awkward so fast. For now the voices were calming, comforting, and she wanted to give herself to it entirely...

The clicking came. Annoying and unrelenting it shattered through the serene bubble that had become her little world. Click, click, click, click over and over and over again. Click, click, click, click. It kept going, and after a while she began to twitch in unison with it, nothing more than a little eye movement, but enough to be vaguely noticible.

It wouldn't stop. It wasn't going to stop. Why wasn't it stopping?!.

Recognition crawled back into Amrita's dark eye, peering through the thin haze of voices to see that they weren't out of the water yet. She couldn't crawl into her little safe spot, not with so many still trapped here, so many people still not home.

She had to help them get back home, and once that was done, she'd go as well, back home where everything was...

Amrita's gaze zeroed in on the phoenix that was trying to get through the portal. It was blocking their way; if it was there, nobody could go back. She couldn't get back. Her pupils shrunk to pinholes the moment she heard a horsemen's voice.

"Stop it." She repeated the voice as if agreeing. "We have to stop it." The Vetala said aloud.
 

[demon_pachabel]

Fog had never tasted 'bad' to her, persay, but it had never been addictive either. Not like this. It had twisted into her senses even as she moved past the memory of that apartment and then off to follow after the back of a vampire, into the fog of a forest she hadn't seen in nearly a year by then. It had been so far away. Close, still, and yet she longed for it.

She reached out, grabbing for Decebal's sleeve, but the vampire looked at her, giving her a sad look before pushing her away from him. 'The train is that way' his mouth moved. No! She didn't want to get on the train! There was nobody back at Amityville waiting for her! She wanted to stay out there!

Out in the trees.

She wanted...

she wanted........

She felt her hand wrap around something and when she seemed to suddenly knock herself to her senses, it was Riley's arm. The statue. She was flooded with a sudden desperate feeling looking between it, then at the bird that flew freely in the sky. Then at the hunters. She moved, wrapping her arms around Riley and Malodore as she began to move.

"I have...I have to take you home. We can't stay here. Home. Home. Home. Home. Home..." she wasn't sure why she started repeating that word so much - in fact, she'd heard it many a time over the last couple of months, but home.

She needed to go home.

And she needed to keep the thing from her home. Horsemen or not, home. Home.

But first, she needed the arm strength to actually be able to move Riley. As stone she was rather heavy.  

[Molten Tigrex]

(( COME ON DICE DON'T FAIL ME NOW ))  

[Saliru]

Rin struggled feebly with the thoughts, the memories. She didn't want to leave. She felt loved and accepted here. Here among these smiles. She was cared about, that was all she really wanted.

But, why... why weren't they talking to her? They were quiet, still smiling as their faces slowly began to fade away. She turned, desperately reaching out for her best and only friend. He was gone now too. Their faces... no one was smiling at her anymore.

No one was there. They left her. Why did they leave her? Did she just not do enough?...

I didn't do enough.

Byr was silent, he.. didn't know what to do. His hunter was still full of plant, he only just managed getting her pink again and now her heart felt as though it was breaking and there was just... nothing he could say, nothing he could do.

Rin was freed from the creature now. But it wasn't something she wanted, not now. Not yet. She fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands and just began sobbing uncontrollably.
 

[Syusaki]

Home. This was home and it felt so comforting and nostalgic. It felt right to tug Em along toward the table and seat himself in front of his parents and aunt. Wilson gripped his girlfriend’s hand tighter as the smell of food continued to waft into his nostrils. He smiled, but the corner of his lips twitched. Almost everything felt right, almost. There was a teeny, tiny thing off about the situation. His free hand drummed against the table. They drummed and tapped like a voice ringing in the back of his head. His mother leaned forward to ask him a question above the hiss of steam. “Wilson?”

[Will…Willie…Wilber…Wilson!] There was a raspy voice in his mind and the wheezy twang sounded familiar. Wilson cocked his head as he strained to grasp onto a name. A name...Dabir. Gramps? His eyes snapped open and he stood up suddenly, moments rapidly flashing by in a single second as the recent memories came rushing in. “Wil?” He heard Em’s voice now, but this time he knew it was only mimicry of her actual voice. She was still here somewhere, as a hunter and not a fledgling college graduate.

“Gramps?” Wilson called out. He let go of Em’s hand and strolled out of the kitchen so he could search for his partner’s voice. “Gramps?”

[Youngin’! For the love of Jack wake up, already. Wake up…] The catoblepas’ voice began to drift away, but Wilson had already found it. He burst through the front door and began running, abandoning the life he had already given up. There was still the savory taste of dumplings in his mouth and he felt a twinge of regret, but he kept running. Snowy Wisconsin wasn’t his reality.

He sucked in a breath of air, hands grasping the mask still strapped to his face.

This was.  

[Bilious]

Jerry gasped, his legs giving out as he hit the ground, curling into a tight ball. He didn't want to wake up. He wanted to curl up on those graves, he wanted to just stay, he wanted to crawl in after them. He couldn't move.

The world slowly dragged itself into focus, the fog lifting, more pressing matters at hand, but the hunter couldn't think, there were whispers, voices, crawling in the back of his head and he couldn't shake them. With all his problems, hearing voices (besides Roar's) had never been an issue. His fragile psyche wasn't sure what to make of it.

And so he lay, concentrating on breathing, waiting for his brain to clear.







91- 100: You feel sad, disjointed, lonely when the Insanity itself pulls away, as you were caught entirely in its grasp. The effects of the Insanity on you is weaker, thankfully. You are inflicted with the INSANITY STATUS EFFECT for TWO IC WEEKS: please note if your student is a guest student, it only carries over till the end of the meta. This is NOT a permanent status effect, this is only temporary. It does carry over till after meta for that IC week.
(( Insanity Status Effect: You start to hear voices, but are not able to really -understand- what they're saying, your insecurities are suddenly like gaping wounds, sensitive to the least amount of friction or suspicion, paranoia ))  

[Toshihiko Two]

Harrison had never been a nostalgic person, and the feelings of regret and home and lonely were having trouble getting a foothold.

B0nez was impatient to have Harrison back.

And by the time they had both kicked it, all the warm walk into the light stuff was replaced by something meaner.

(( 1 Day! ))