|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 10:55 pm
Subway Station Underground: 11:05 pm((Continued from here )) "Enough." The pointed noise of precise footsteps as the shadows pulled away from a single figure.
Unlike the shadows, this presence did not shift and fade, it simply stood, jet black clothes darker than even the dank subway tunnel. "I do apologize for my... pets, we had an agreement you see, the other clans and I."
"Death." The word escaped from the Division Leader's mouth even faster than he could think.
Death was a gaunt, pale figure, dressed in his Sunday finest. He pulled open an old-fashioned watch, letting a couple of seconds tick by. "I also apologize for being so late." It twisted its thin lips into a wry sort of smile. "I was busy working my other job shift, though you probably know which one I speak of."
Now that the adrenaline had died down, Liam could clearly see the damage from the mobs of Fear-infested creatures that had all but rained down on the scant remainders of his group. His free hand was still clutched against his side as if glued on, it was getting cold, and his leg would not move no matter how hard he forced it. Maybe somewhere around here, Ferdinand would make a stab about his age - Goddamnit Ferdinand, goddamnit all. "So this is how it ends then." The pain was blinding now, but he refused to drop the grip on his weapon. "You finish your job."
"Your ending, perhaps." Death agreed rather amicably, for some reason, not hostile at all as he seated himself next to the dying Hunter. "Or perhaps, something else."
Even Liam noticed this. He grit his teeth, trying to buy himself a few more seconds of consciousness. "What are you playing at?"
"Do you know why I am the horsemen of Death? What is Death exactly, is it for those to die all at once, and thus, lose my element, or is it to let those lives so that they, may, inevitably die? My other three cohorts might have the interests of their clans set out for them, but I am more interested in my own clan's personal investment." His eyes glittered pure white, pupiless. "Which is our survival."
"Then you will-"
"I do not do requests," Death interrupted, "Or rather, the other three clans forbid me from doing so. Thus I cannot help you one way or the other, I am simply here to prolong the end." The Horsemen paused for a second, leaning over, before pulling Liam up, one bony hand gripping their shoulders tightly as they forced the Hunter off the ground.
The train lights flickered against as another subway passed by them, the two of them locked in a strange sort of embrace as Death leaned over, voice just a bare whisper. "However, if you can find my cohort Famine and give her my regards, I will give you this artifact out of my own free will."
Liam fell to the ground, barely conscious seconds later, mind reeling, the presence of the Horsemen of Death waiting. He could have it, he could take it, and then-
- he coughed, staring at his hand, both hands covered in his own blood, as everything faded to black.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 10:58 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 11:00 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 11:01 pm
Subway Station Underground: 11:15 pm
Breathe. Simple deep breaths. Focus. All of Liam's information was there, what needed to be done was to simply tie in the loose ends. Caelius shifted to unwind his headset, flicking it back on. Liam wasn't here any more. Noone from his team was. All he had was Circe's information.
"Requesting status update from division leader Velda and the barrier construct team." Silence. He tried again. "Requesting status update from division leader Velda and the barrier construct team."
A few moments more of silence, and as he took out his cell phone and stared. Eleven-fifteen. Everything seem to blur again, blacks more a saturated grey. Fourty-five minutes to keep on trying.
The air itself seemed to grow colder as he retraced Liam's steps. His flashlight glanced over a sunken face, a Hunter he did not even recognize. 'You think you are better than us,' its lifeless eyes seem to say to him, 'You think you can just walk in there, and save the day, but you will die- you will die like us and-'
"SHUT UP!" The outburst was accompanied by an angry kick towards the limp body, the lump of flesh sliding downwards from its propped position with a small thud. Everything was loud again, a shrill buzzing, whining noise everything was grey, flat, greygreyGREYGREY-
- He forced himself to take a deep breath and continue walking. White and black. The grey did not matter.
And at the very end of the tunnel, there was someone already waiting. Just a single figure standing there, spindly hands cradling a small glowing object. Circe whispered to him at the same time his suspicions rang clear. This was the horsemen of Death. Without another word Death reached over towards the Hunter-
- Caelius went for his runic weapons, taking an offensive as they moved-
- Yet the skeletal white hand simply offered the object palm up. Both figures did not move.
The Sun Hunter hesitated. Everything was buzzing, still blurring in and out of focus, surreal. Was that actually the horsemen of Death or simply another apparition? "Why... are you doing this?"
"There are two others. A comrade of yours has one, already on the path to destruction, the third is with Famine, my cohort, who is at this very moment wandering aimlessly around Times Square." Death shifted his head slightly as he watched the young human skeptically look at his hand, just for another second, before the item was taken. "I am not helping you simply-"
-"Preserving your own clan." Caelius finished, turning the glowing piece of artifact over, as though even its tangibility could not confirm that it was real.
A skeletal smile. "I am glad we understand each other. Until another time then." It was hard to tell if they still lingered or were truly gone. The humming noise quieted, slightly.
'We should go' Circe pressed, 'He did say there was one other here, there is still a job to finish.'
For a moment, he did really turn around, he did still in that ingrained part of him still have that sense of duty as a Hunter. To save people who lived shades of grey, no, no no, it was more than that. He had a purpose, he could see the blacks and whites, he had the ability to make others see. Yes, it was clear now. Black and white. White and black. He took two steps-
- and tripped over something solid.
Its body was mangled, its clothes torn. It smelled, a sickly, disgusting, ripe sort of smell, and most of all, it was still dribbling something. Cold, damp, clammy. Grey. One hand of its body clutched at its side but the worst part-
- was its face. Its pale grey face, paler mimicries of white staring out even beyond the glow of the flashlight, beyond the luminous aura of Circe hovering nearby. Blank glossy eyes stared back at him, wide open. Dank wet hair. Blood.
It was marred, it was disgusting, it was ugly. Everything was buzzing again, loud, shrill, white, white, just like those eyes. Those eyes, those goddamn ******** eyes, every single time they looked at him and reminded him of what he wasn't
'Wait, don't-'
- But he simply laughed as he forced Circe to reality for the very first time, the sheer euphoria of her power overwhelming. The humming was loud, so loud, but she was beautiful, she was his - not the body's ever again - her motion flawless as she swung down, one stroke after another in dull, syncopated thunks. He was the white now, he had a purpose, he had power. White, white white white-
- and then grey. The humming stopped.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 3:32 am
Rooftop of the Marriott Marquis : 11:15 pm((Continued from here ))
"Requesting status update from division leader Velda and the barrier construct team."
Whatever strength remained to Velda fled her body as the arrows took flight, whatever hope had lingered faded from her eyes. It hadn't been enough. Contact with the other two groups had long since dropped. None of it had been enough. Every connection she felt with this world was being severed, singly and in groups.
Was it so terrible then...that she was beginning to hope...that it did all end? Here and now? An end to everything in a world that would only contain pain and failure otherwise?
A pale, strong hand lifted her chin, and Conquest looked down into her eyes, savoring not just the defeat, but the acceptance of it. The guilty submissive yearning that shamed her even as it took root in her heart. His expression shifted, lips forming a small, satisfied smile. He held up a hand, and two more arrows formed, "Do you understand?"
She didn't bother to nod, it was all there, laid bare before him.
The smile broadened and one of the arrows shot toward her and stilled only inches from her face, a muttered exclamation from Henry indicated a similar fate. The very last thread, the single, final reason to hold on. She closed her eyes, accepting this. Wanting this. So the broadening of the Horseman's smile was lost to her as he continued, "No, I don't think you do."
The sound of something clattering to the ground.
Her eyes snapped open and before her lay an arrow of purest white as well as...an orb.
No...not this...not now...no please no...
"But you will."
He let go of her chin and stood to look out over the city, "Your every breath is at my whim, your every heartbeat my toy until they still in the hands of Death. Go back to your little castles, gather your pawns once more, and War will most assuredly ride both with and against you. Perhaps you can fight the wasting of Famine and your own terrible hungers and we will play this game again. But in all these things and more, your every success will be my victory and your every defeat my success."
He turned back to look at her, face once again impassive, and then vanished on a chilling breeze, leaving the artifact behind.
The quiet on the rooftop was eventually broken as Henry carefully closed the gap between them. Her pale blue eyes never leaving the orb, she didn't want him to see her like this. Never like this. Broken, defeated...conquered.
Looking down at her kneeling form, face obscured by a tangled curtain of hair, the man sighed and crouched down. Placing a hand on her head he began to speak softly, "You don't have to hide. There's nothing to hide from me, my dear...I was here too, you know. Thrown about like a rag doll, rendered entirely useless, and then tossed a tidy helping of humiliation on top of it all." He paused, considering, "And there's the losses...but some may have made it through."
She glanced up into his eyes, her own empty, no longer willing to risk the pain of hope.
His hand slid down to cup her face, and he continued, "There's still more to do, so much more, but first...I need to explain something to you." This time he was the one to glance down and away, before returning to her face. "You're...an utter brat. A terrible leader. A silly fairy ******** princess who half the time can't even stand to pay attention to the reality before her. You're...you're..." for a moment words failed him, where they had always slipped through so quickly before. Another sigh, "You're an impossible, impractical creature, and you're clever when it counts. I am at turns amazed and dismayed at your very existence. You are quite possibly the loveliest thing I have ever beheld, and while I don't doubt your strength, you always seem so goddamn fragile I'm often afraid that if I should so much as look at you for too long you'll shatter into a thousand little pieces leaving me wounded and bleeding."
He looked at her, silently pleading for her to just please understand, "What I'm trying to say, is that I love you. And for quite some time. Even now, as you've met the depths of your very lowest...I love you."
The emptiness of defeat gave way to shock and confusion as she stared up at him, head slowly shaking. He let her slip away from him, his voice sadly resigned as he continued, "So it's not because I don't care for you..."
Her eyes were focused, disbelieving, on his other hand, gripping Conquest's arrow, it's pristine white now streaked with bright, startling red.
"...and it's not because I know you'll never be able to return this feeling, this kind of love," another sigh, "...it's simply because you're so very much in my way."
He watched her sink to the ground, the blood swiftly staining the front of her dress in a sight that was so very, terribly, nostalgic. Her mouth tried to the form words but only soft, hiccuping gasps emerged. Gently, he pushed a piece of hair out of her face, "Shhh...I won't say that it's better this way, or claim to be doing you any great favours...just that for what it's worth..." he trailed off and simply looked at her. Taking in the sight of this strange girl-woman-child-leader that had captured him in such ways as she took her last shuddering breath and ceased to be. One last sigh, and then he slipped off his coat to cover the body. Tossing the arrow aside, he paused to consider the orb.
It hummed with FEAR, and he could taste the power it held. The sheer ******** potential.
...your every success will be my victory...
Quiet rage flickered in his eyes, and Marie was summoned and striking it in the time between one thought and the next. He didn't need anybody's <******** handouts. He gave the rooftop one last passing glance and then walked toward the elevator. As the scene disappeared in one smooth motion, so too did one Henry, last name as yet to be decided.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
