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 Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 9:15 pm
It was the first night since Iris tortured his starseed that Captain Labyrinthite found the energy, and drive, to power up and move through the city. He moved without purpose though, didn't head immediately for the weaker energy pulses he felt around him like he would normally. Something was off.
He was off.
While his time at the gym had helped clear the fog in his head, it had been temporary and shortly after his work out ended the fog returned, thicker than before. He hadn't felt this confused in a long time and it was her fault. The stupid senshi was constantly on his mind, which made his stomach churn for a separate reason all together, and perhaps that was the reason he ended up where he did.
The building where he had his first, proper, victory. The building where he had suffered his greatest loss. The site where he had broken Eternal Sailor Iris and the same site where she had broken him in return.
Things often came full circle, he had come to realize, and he wondered if things would come full circle that night.
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Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 10:21 pm
She wasn't supposed to patrol on her own. It was the rule that Sailor Iris had enforced upon her team. It might have seemed contradictory for her to be out by herself, but it wasn't 100% contradictory. She was going to meet up with Irene later, but she had just found herself in her fuku a bit early.
And if one knew the blonde eternal senshi, it was that she didn't like having idle feet.
She had no intention of pursuing the Negaverse aura she sensed, but her feet didn't seem to care what her mind had to say. She had eventually found herself in a relatively familiar area of town.
Perhaps the memories weren't as vivid from the streets if only because of how fast the fight had started, and the next time she was at the street level, she was on the verge of passing out.
...Why am I here...?
She barely had enough time to process that thought before her feet had already pushed her off the ground, bounding up to the shortest building, then hopping different buildings until she was at a very familiar height.
The pieces clicked together as she saw the figure looming at the edge of the building.
"...Come 'ere often?"
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Posted: Mon May 05, 2014 7:53 am
He felt her before he saw her and he was certain that he knew who it was before she even spoke. Part of it was because he had spent so long tracking her that he swore he could recognize her energy signal specifically, the other part knew because it was always her. She was the only one that ever found him here.
Divine justice he supposed.
"Often enough," he replied, turning slowly on his heel to face her. "You seem to find me every time I do though," he told her. His posture was relaxed, hand loose at his sides as he looked at her, searching her face as if it would give him the answers her dream-version demanded from him. "Do you?"
For the first time, in a long time, Labyrinthite did not seek to fight his greatest rival.
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Posted: Mon May 05, 2014 8:46 pm
It hadn't worked...
It was something on her mind, but she tried to not allow her face betray the concern in the back of her mind. Her face was serious as she kept an eye upon this Captain.
Her history with him, rooftops, and teleporting had left her a bit wary if anything. His posture wasn't fooling anybody, he clearly had something up his sleeve.
His tone was oddly conversational, and at first, she didn't even reply, seeming more focused on locating the trick to this encounter. When nothing seemed to be revealing itself, she opened her mouth briefly before closing it, realizing she wasn't certain what to say.
"I don't go out of my way to run around on rooftops" was probably the sort of answer that would get her thrown off the roof again. She might have been able to summon a pair of wings when she dawned her dress, but that didn't guarantee her safety.
"...not as often as I should..." was the answer that ended up falling out of her mouth. Were she more comfortable, she would have turned to look out to the city and the street she had fallen to once upon a time. However, her hard gaze didn't even drift from the Negaverse agent's form.
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 6:45 pm
It hadn't worked and they both knew it, but neither were ready to say it aloud so it remained unspoken. She said it with the way she looked at him and he said it back with the way he returned her gaze, unwavering. He didn't blame her for refusing to look away, because of the history between them.
Were he in a different state of mind, or if he felt more like himself he would take advantage of this meeting. He'd attack her, like he should have, but for now he was weary.
For the first time, he just wanted to talk.
"If it's any consolation, any time I do come this way I find you," he told her, then laughed. "Or rather, you find me." He shook his head, opening his arms out towards her, gesturing at the deserted street around them. "Funny how this seems to work. We circle each other." He laughed again, though it sounded bitter this go around. "Or so it seems don't you think?"
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 7:27 pm
Though his arms invited her eyes to move towards the streets, she didn't allow her gaze to falter. Something was off and she didn't like it.
"It ain't any consolation... and yer soundin' too philosophical." They encountered each other often enough, but they both patrolled the city, and usually Order would chase Chaos, or vice versa. It was coincidence, perhaps, or just a sort of duty both upheld.
"...so what's up with...this...?" She grudgingly gestured towards him, as if she was trying to call out what she assumed to be a false front.
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 7:42 pm
"What? Don't fancy a little chat fairy?" He asked, arching a brow and cocking his head at her. He dropped his hands to his sides when she didn't look away and shrugged. "Things change." A vague answer was all he could give her, because he didn't have anything else.
"You did something," he stated, slowly as if he was chewing on his words. "It didn't work, I don't know exactly what you tried to do but I have an idea," he told her, moving toward her with careful steps. He doesn't get too close, worried that she would flee before he could properly voice his thoughts.
He wants to know what she'll say, if she'll ask him the same questions the version in his dreams does. "What did you do?" His voice is quiet, quieter than he's ever spoken to her. "Do you know what you've done to me? How you've made me question everything I am, everything I stand for?" He started to shout, fingers curling into fists. Teeth gritting tightly together.
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 7:58 pm
If he was expecting to get closer without her getting defensive, he had another thing coming. Her body not only tensed, but she lifted up both fists, showing if he were to do anything questionable, a fist would be unleashed in his direction.
His questions are difficult. Then again, why would she think his questions would be easy?
Direct answers would probably be stupid. Outright dodging the questions would be just as stupid though.
A compromise had to be made.
"...you f*cked up my teammate, so I f*cked you up... simple as that..." He could shout, but she attempted to remain deadpan about the subject, only to hide the ways her own failure had made her doubt herself.
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 5:24 pm
"But this time was different," he accused, glaring before he did something unexpected. He turned his back on her, stomping back the way he had come. He didn't look back a t her, instead he focused on the ground and concentrated on his breathing.
On calming down.
"If you simply wanted to ******** me up, you would have beaten me into the ground like last time." His hands curled in and out of fists. He wasn't shouting right now, instead doing everything he could to keep his tone level. "You tried to change me," he accused, lifting his head and looking at the building. His hands found their way into his hair and he tugged at it like it might release the confusion creating a war within him.
"Why didn't it work? Why couldn't you force me to change. We can force your kind."
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 5:36 pm
The tension needed a steak knife to cut through it at that moment. He was calling out her semi-bluff, and even Iris knew it was stupid to think he wouldn't notice.
She might not have liked this Labyrinthite, but at the same time she knew him well enough to vaguely predict some of his actions.
Some, not all, as he clearly seemed to be distancing himself from her as she stood there. She didn't rush into an answer, and just offering another partial truth might get called out just as fast.
The blonde let a minute go past without speaking. It wasn't quiet, seeing as the world was still spinning and moving about the two of them, but they were at a standstill.
Eventually, a voice found itself within her throat, but it wasn't the voice that she was used to using. It was her voice, interjecting at a clearly inopportune moment.
"I was seeking a more permanent solution..." Her voice didn't attempt to answer his questions on mechanics, for even such things were beyond her grasp. All the Asteroids had at that time were theories.
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 6:17 pm
He waited for what felt like an eternity for her response and when she finally spoke he turned back to her. "Ah," he began, a grin spreading across his lips, "so you were doing what I thought you were." He looked a bit like a madman, but not the usual psychopathic madman Iris was used to, but one who had been worn weary by time. "You tried to corrupt me, or," he paused, tilting his head back to laugh, "I suppose by your definition, and the sugary sweetness that pours off of you in waves, purify me."
Chaos corrupted, chaos was viewed a cruel. The darker of the two magics and perhaps that was why they could force that power on the unwilling.
"I didn't want it you know," he told her, moving in a circle still tugging on his hair. Slowly his hands traveled to his neck and he stopped his pacing to stare at her. "But what you did, or tried to do, hasn't set very well with me you see." He gestured to himself, settling last on the dark bags under his eyes and the gauntness of his face.
"I haven't been like this since you put me in the hospital months ago," he sighed, shaking his head. "You cannot force me to change Iris. Chaos runs deep within me, built in my foundations. How do you expect to uproot that?"
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 6:36 pm
There was something less stern about Iris' gaze, something a bit more regal as she watched this misguided soul attempt to justify everything he understood. Though many might have balked at his movements, been put on edge by his odd agitated state. Yet the eternal senshi seemed to be completely at ease for the moment, just watching over him with an odd calmness.
In a balanced tone, she gave him an explanation that he seemed so desperate for. "I do not aim to change you. I aim to return your starseed to status quo."
The chaos that flowed within any Negaverse agent's starseed was an alteration to the natural state of a starseed. It was the alteration she aimed to remove. This Captain before her was so fargone that he could not even recognize the fact that the chaos within him was not always a part of him.
His words only confirmed the theories formed by her Mauvian guardian, though her expression did not betray such a notion.
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 7:12 pm
He hated the way she looked at him, the way she kept her emotions masked. Hated his inability to read her when he could read others so well. She was a perpetual roadblock and he was growing quite sick of it.
"My starseed is fine," he growled, his expression shifting and falling stony. "I chose this life Iris," he told her, swallowing and taking a step back. He pulled his hands from his neck and pointed at her, biting down on his lip before speaking. "You can't make me change what I've chosen. I picked chaos." He snarled, jabbing his finger in her direction with every word. "I chose this path and I have no regrets."
That was a lie, but he said it with such conviction he almost convinced himself it was true. Labyrinthite had always been a good liar, especially when it came to lying to himself. "If you think yourself moral good, then why dare try and force someone one way. Doesn't that go against what you stand for?"
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 8:23 pm
With all of his thrashing about and loud convictions, Iris seemed rather subdued in comparison. His denial was apparent, though there seemed to be an odd hint of naivety to his choice in words.
She lifted a hand, and with a subtle motion of her wrist, Labyrinthite soon enough found a finger pointed towards his chest.
"You would never comprehend what I stand for, Captain Labyrinthite." His life was only his own, he didn't have to share it with another life from another time.
I do not want... it to happen again...
With a rather firm blink, her eyes seemed to resume the hard glare she had prior to his mild breakdown. "If I were moral good... I wouldn't have smashed yer face so hard into the ground..."
A grin seemed to finally seemed to crack out of the corner of her mouth.
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 8:51 pm
The threads that were holding the captain together were unraveling, splitting apart and breaking at the seams. He had never viewed himself as crazy but even he could tell that his sanity was being pulled too thin. He had never felt this way before, never questioned himself like this. Never wondered about the choices he made, not really. Not even when his father had been making his choices for him.
"Of course not, how could I even begin?" He asked, far too sarcastic. He threw his head back and laughed, his whole body shaking with his laughter. It was loud, bitter and sad. "Is neutral good better then princess? Because you're certainly not chaotic good."
He was chaotic good, chaotic evil, chaotic everything.
"You should just kill me," he told her, moving forward again. He stayed far enough away that he didn't pose much of a threat. "Wouldn't it be better than this stupid game we play?"
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