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 Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 7:50 pm
(O.o! Scary...)
The laugh that issued from Ami's lips made Ash's blood run cold. Horror registered in her eyes as Ami went through a grotesque transformation. It was still her lover's form, but she'd become as pale as a corpse, eyes black, voice oily and slick, reminding Ash of oiled glass. It put her in mind of something wet and decaying, making her stomach turn. Whatever this creature was, it seemed only to be wearing Ami's skin. On some selfish level, Ash was relieved, but the much greater part of her was filled with dread. If this was an impostor, where was the real Ami?
Ash's stomach gave another flip, making her feel as though she was about to vomit. Her face betrayed her utter surprise and revulsion, but it quickly changed to anger. "Then where--" Her voice shook, but she steeled herself and tried again. "Where's Ami? What've y' done with her?"
To add to her fury, the creature ignored her and vanished from the area. "Come on back, y' coward!" She shouted to the empty training grounds. "Where's Ami?! You bring her back t' me!"
Unable to contain herself, Ash phased into her Lycan form, guttural snarl turning into a lonely, angry howl before she loped off towards the Rukongai, seeking the refuge of Werewolf Woods where she might sort herself out in some fashion.
[Just kidding ^^]
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Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 7:25 am
As she phased and began to leap off she was cut off as two black form came blurring from the shadows and two small children, yet shinigami held swords outward to her head, their eyes where black yet there where mixed messages because sharp toothy grins revealed demonic aura's yet they held friendly smiles and wore shinigami attire. Then the blackness faded from their eyes and the teeth shaped back to a normal shape. Yet their smiles faded and went void of all emotion. A flicker of light recognizable to Ash was seen in their eyes, they had the same eyes as Ami and that burning desire that always lingered within. Glaring at her their swords lifted up slightly at her eyes, "Mommy is angry." Numia and Eclipsia took a step forward and there was the sound of breaking bones and tearing cloth as their forms changed shape, and then... both of them stood doing exactly the same as the other, looking exactly like Ami, but it looked as though she was just barely surviving in a forest recently, clothes torn and hair frayed. Two perfectly replicated forms of Ami stood before Ash.
The sound of bone breaking could be heard again as the two forms snapped and looked down to Ash. "How could you do this?" a very angry and desperate sounding Ami could be heard screaming from some distant place, "How can you betray Soul Society, how could you betray me?" The forms cracked again in unison and fell to the ground on their knees, rocking back and forth crying as if it where a movie stuck on glitch, "You are letting Jes control you?" the form was in front of the wolf in a blink of an eye and nose to nose with her, "I LOVE YOU!" the words echoed in Ash's head, "How could you say those things? How can anybody be so cruel?" the forms fell back and continued to cry holding their faces, "I feel so alone out here, I can hear them all the time." the form snapped and looked off to some distant place, "These hollows in this forest are mindless, they only wish to devour me." Looking back to her the forms makeup was smeared and there was blood revealed all over her body from countless near death fights, "The only reason I'm still alive today is because of my love for you." The forms snapped and looked down, "And now you tell me you don't love me?" the forms simply froze and an image of Ami charging Ash surfaced in her mind as if Aislinn was torn away into another world standing in an empty forest with Ami sprinting at her with her sword drawn and held out ready to cleave Ash in half, "When I get free from this place, I'm going to ******** kill Jes, and then I'm coming after you next!"
The image snapped away just as Ami's sword was about to cut Ash in half and the two girls stood in their original cute forms, yet slightly eerie. Holding hands they simply smiled at her and did a curtsey, then bowed turned half way then stopped, Eclipsia looked back without emotion, "Mommy still loves you." Numia looked back at her then and finished before they skipped away like nothing happened, "And because she loves you, you have to die."
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Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 5:25 pm
Ash ground to a halt as two small forms appeared directly in her path. She was surprised to see Ami's twins before her. Usually they stuck to the healing room or orbited Ami like a pair of satellites. That last thought elicited a pang of hurt. It was sad to think that the little twins had lost Ami and were now orbiting empty space like a pair of lost moons. Although Ash had never warmed to the two girls-- they more or less gave her the creeps-- she felt guilty of depriving them of their "mother." Though, perhaps she needn’t be quite so sentimental. After all, Numia and Eclipsia had both leveled their blades at her face—not exactly a welcoming gesture. The light in their eyes was hard and angry, though somehow reminiscent of Ami herself. On any normal day, the twins gave Aislinn the creeps. Now, however, it was a near physical pain to see Ami reflected in their eyes.
As if the uncanny nature of their eyes was not enough, a symphony of popping, crunching bone heralded a shapeshift that shocked Ash out of her lycan form. It left her bare save for her sheathed zanpaku-to on the ground beside her, kneeling before two perfect copies of Ami herself. Ash’s eyes were wide and hectic, quite unable to process what she was seeing for a moment or so. She flinched visibly as the Amis spoke, hunching her shoulders like an animal waiting for a blow from its master.
“Ami, I—“ Ash tried to reason with the Ami clones, working to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat. The Amis’ voices overrode her own, each accusation striking home. Ash’s eyes filled with tears, and it was only through sheer force of will that she prevented them from spilling down her cheeks. She didn’t trust herself to speak again, certain that if she tried she would break down altogether. More than anything, she wanted to find some way to explain, find some way to make Ami understand her reason for saying such awful things, but the words wouldn’t come.
Perhaps it was better this way. Ash’s brain scrambled, trying to come up with some contingency plan. It came to her slowly, but through roundabout reasoning, she could guess that neither Bikou nor Jes knew Ami’s whereabouts. Somehow, Ami had been able to escape Bikou. Her escape had forced Jes and Bikou to come up with some way of keeping Ash in line that didn’t concern Ami’s safety. Although Ash ached to see Ami in such a dire predicament, she recognized the silver lining. Despite her relative danger, Ami was free of Jes’s influence. The Espada queen couldn’t touch her, and that was something at least. Ash could only hope that Ami stayed away from Jes.
For a brief instant, she and Ami seemed to stand together in an odd-looking forest. Ami charged at Aislinn, shouting at her, clearly ready to strike her down. Ash didn’t move a muscle, didn’t so much as blink as Ami’s blade cleaved through the air towards her. Some morbid part of her very much wished that this vision was real and that Ami would kill her. I wish you would save me.
To Ash’s chagrin, the image faded as quickly as it had appeared, Ami’s warnings echoing in her head. Ash blinked, shedding a single tear that tracked down her cheek. Ami was planning to kill Jes. Ash’s heart clenched, a vivid picture of Jes sliding her dagger into Ami’s heart playing in her mind’s eye. No. No no no. Not Ami. Not like that.
Aislinn took a breath, knuckling the tears out of her eyes. She returned the twins’ gazes. Her eyes were red-rimmed but dull and flat, almost lifeless.
“That was really her, wasn’t it?” She asked of the twins, though the question was rhetorical. She got to her feet. But for her various piercings, anklet, and the sheathed blade in her hand, she wore nothing else, but she didn’t care. She wrapped her sword hand around the hilt, freeing an inch of the bright metal. “Somehow the pair of you share a connection…” Her tone was almost without inflection, only vaguely thoughtful. Then it turned hard and antagonistic. “Then I hope she can hear this: Ami, stay away from me and stay away from the Dark Court. If you attack my queen, I will defend her. I will kill you," Everything I've ever done... I've done it out of love for you. She couldn't say it, no matter how much she wanted to. "I don't love you, Ami,"
[... -tears up-]
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Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 7:46 pm
((OOC: Stupid plot that makes me almost cry...))
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Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 8:13 pm
When dark reflections dance... ((Quick little introjection by Bikou to get things moving on this end.)) A slender form moved out from the shadows directly to Aislinn's left, walking with inhuman grace and speed to slip a warm robe around her shoulders. Bikou's eyes were weary, as if he had just gone through a battle the likes of which would have shaken the foundations of Las Noches. Dark rings settled beneath the once sparkling orbs, and his face sighed heavily. Once the robe had been deposited, he took a quick step backwards, bowing slightly at the waist and speaking in a smooth, albeit somewhat tired voice.
"Aislinn" he whispered, his voice barely audible, "Why do you lie to your lover?" His face turned truly quizzical for a moment, and he cocked his head to the side. "Is it because of the shadows within you?" He pointed a pale finger at her chest, indicating her heart, "Or the light that still struggles from within?" His eyes closed slowly, as a child slips into rest after a full night of standing, "I know the toll, Aislinn. The cold pallor that creeps into your skin from those shadows." His eyes opened again, and he turned them to meet Ash's. "I know the pain, the suffering." He placed his hand on his own chest, "I myself am plagued by shadows darker than even Jes could supply. Shadows that drive me to do terrible things, violent things." He sank to one knee, resting his arm on the higher leg and lowering his head. "Those same shadows drove me by incessant whispers to harm your Ami, to drive you and her apart and to drag out to this place. It was the shadows that have called me, the shadows that call me still." He raised his eyes, and a single tear rolled down his cheek. "I am holding them back, for now. But to fight against the rolling chaos within my soul is as futile as an ant trying to fight back the raging storms of the high seas. It is inevitable, I will fall." He stifled a cough. "Even now, they press at my mind, insisting that I continue my task." He lifted his head to meet Ash's eyes again, and a near-pleading look could be seen in his pale irises. "There is only one way for me to be rid of these demons, Aislinn O'shea. You know this as well as I, for they plague you too. I must answer their call, and heed the path they have laid out at my feet. Please, forgive me. Forgive the reckless pain and hate I have caused, forgive the suffering and the chaos." He rose, clutching a small black book to his chest, which he then quickly tucked out of sight. "The final piece of my quest has been obtained. The lost Tome of Nguleft. It is a dark manuscript, detailing the conquest of Hueco Mundo by an Arrancar lord sometime in the third Dynasty. More importantly, it contains a dark text, an incantation of sorts." He moved close to her, and placed a cold hand on her sword arm. "For the moment, I am holding the demons at bay, and want no part in this plan. However, it will not be long before the seize me again, and I will have no choice. Help me, Aislinn. Help me fight back the shadows." He took several steps back, moving beneath the shade of a nearby tree, and leaned against the trunk, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "You are the only hope I have left, Ash."...Beneath a silvery moon
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:23 pm
Aislinn shrugged angrily out of Bikou's robe, much preferring to remain bare rather than wear any article of clothing that belonged to him. She had born wearing Jes's kimono top silently. Luckily the hateful thing had been torn to shreds after she'd phased. The very idea of wearing any arrancar's token made her skin crawl.
Ash rose and stepped away from Bikou, putting distance between them and drawing her sword in one smooth motion. She leveled the bright blade at Bikou's throat. "Don't," She spoke over him, furious that he would dare show his face after how he'd deceived her. Her tone was a bit incredulous, as though she couldn't believe his gall. "Don't y' be thinking you're understanding me. You've no notion of me and mine, so don't be pretending y' do,"
She took another step back. The tip of her blade was shaking at the effort it took to keep her emotions from surfacing. Bikou's words had obviously struck home, but she wasn't about to admit to it. "I meant every word I ever said. I don't love Ami, and I never have. I only needed Jes t' show me that. I serve her, I'm loyal to her, and that don't include bein' loyal to you, Bikou, 'less she conjures it does. The way you're speaking, I'm thinking she doesn't know 'bout this line a' thinking, and I won't be the one to tell 'er.
"Get your 'ead back in th' game. I'll not save you from these shadows a' yours. I am of the Shadows," Contrary to her words, she'd begun to glow with the intensity of the emotions she was desperately keeping at bay. "Finish your quest and come back t' Jes-sama when you're finished. I don't want t' stay here another minute. I want t' get back t' Court to serve my queen. If y' can't come through with your part a' this, then I'll have no trouble getting those shadows out a' you. I'll give you a taste a' how hot the sun can burn," The light emanating form her skin flared menacingly, blasting a wave of heat in Bikou's direction as if to prove her point.
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Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:52 pm
When dark reflections dance... The emotion vanished from Bikou's face, and he rose slowly, standing tall and pointing a pale finger at Aislinn.
"You presume much, whelp." His voice was growing colder by the moment, and rose in volume so that it bore with it a certain degree of severity. "I do not follow Jes's orders anymore than I would follow yours, she holds no sway over me. The shadows that consume my soul are of my own volition, and are not of the same nature as those that try to eat away at your burning heart." He laughed non-chalantly, "I suppose I should take offense at your rejection of me when I have exposed myself to you so fully, but I do not." He was suddenly within a centimeter of Ash's face, his cold, now-black eyes boring into her own, and his hand firmly grasping the wrist that held her sword. "You may think you can lie to me, child." His voice had taken on a smooth quality, like the sound of oil running slowly over a stone, "But you are mistaken. Jes is no more your queen than Captain Bullene is my lover." His eyes grew colder, and his breath began to take on a sickly smell, as if the scent of death itself was creeping from his mouth. The sky darkened, and the entire training grounds was cast into shadow. "Your lies are like a poison for that precious heart of yours, Aislinn O'shea." He whispered, his voice taking on the grinding-glass tone it had in Las Noches. "The more you push the ones you love away, the darker you become. You will eventually lose youself to that darkness, and slip into a madness like you have never known." He laughed, his voice slipping further into the madness that was becoming so dominant. "I see you, Ash." Suddenly, his voice was Ami's, sweet, and lulling, floating across the wind in a manner that Ash would no doubt hear as loving. "I see the pain in your heart and soul, and how this is tearing you up inside. You can lie to yourself, but you can't lie to me, not fully." It shifted back to Bikou's cold, dark voice, and a blackness began to seep from the corners of his mouth. "Do not lose sight of who you are inside, Aislinn. The moment you do, you are truly lost, and I will feel no remorse in destroying you completely." Bikou's position changed abruptly, and he stood by the tree once more, back turned to Aislinn. For a moment, he seemed to calm, and his voice returned to normal. "When it happens, do not be afraid, Ash." He whispered, withdrawing a knife from his robe and scrawling something on the tree, "Remember these words, and come back to this tree should you forget.
Four times the clock shall turn, and on the fourth turn, one.
Four times the mark shall make, until the deed is done.
Thirteen shall rise, thirteen shall fall, with one above the rest.
The shadows come, the shadows crawl, with the howls of those in distress.
Should you see them, and feel their stare, remember these words well,
Not light, nor sound, nor force alone, will these shadows fell.
Only by heart, and union of those who's hearts are pure,
Can thirteen hope to stop the threat, and find the sovereign cure."
His head turned slowly to face Aislinn's again, and his eyes faded back into darkness. "The meaning you give to the words is your own, as is your decision on what to do with them, but know this. Ignore my warning and your world shall burn. Not just here, but in every corner of your existence. What then will your dear Ami do, when she finds her way out of the darkness, only to discover that it concealed the fires? Think long and hard, pup. Your decision will shape the fate of this wretched place."
As he finished speaking, the darkness that covered the sky receded, and his form faded like that of an illusion or shadow, slipping out of focus until all that remained to prove he had once stood beneath the tree, was a snow-white dagger, and a cryptic riddle scratched into the bark.[EXIT] ...Beneath a silvery moon
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