[1 v 1] Nesting Grounds (Xavier & Evan) (fin)

[kuropeco]

The fact that he was here, in this house, where he'd been stuck before in the most unpleasant fashion made Xavier very very nervous.

He was standing in a dark, dusty hallway that was lined with doors; some open, some closed, all of them not particularly appealing with their rotted wood frames and cobwebbed doorknobs, the white strands stretching this way and that in a terribly intimidating sort of way.

Xavier wilted, shuffled his feet a bit, and tried to figure out where the exit was.

Twenty minutes later, he still hadn't found it, and had somehow wound up in the exact same hallway he'd just been in, full of doors and hollowed out boards and shadows and creepy crawly things that were probably waiting to eat him or something.

Xavier crouched down, wondering if it was possible to just disappear into the floorboards and somehow magically be sent back to Amityville.

inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

Haunted House duty was Evan's favorite to the point that he volunteered for it as often as he could. Killing monsters was therapeutic, and if he had been a little more vicious, a little more ruthless lately, well--events had conspired, and it was better to take it out on these freaks than it would have been to take it out on actual people.

He liked to hunt without Gir summoned, just because some of the things he ran across had never seen a Hunter before and he relished the look of fear in their eyes when they realized they could cross that off their bucket list. Gir claimed it made them taste better, too; really, it was enjoyable for both of them. They got to bond to the tune of someone else's screams.

Pickings seemed to be slim today, though--almost an hour and nothing but empty rooms and the voice in his head for company. Evan had been about ready to call it a day, but Gir begged him to keep going, whining incessantly until Evan gave in.

/I told you so!/ Gir yipped as they stepped from a room into a long corridor full of doors--and prey. Evan tempered his baring of teeth into something resembling a smile and casually strolled towards the monster.

"You look lost," he said to it.

kuroopu

 

[kuropeco]

He heard the steps, and then the voice, and it was not a nice, curious voice like that one human's had been. This was a flat, cold sort of voice, devoid of any of the warmth that Solia had produced, in spite of Xavier's lack of trust towards her as well (humans in general were frightening things; he couldn't possibly expect her to always be nice to him).

Xavier gave a startled, strangled cry and shot to his feet, stumbling back several steps. Feathers fell from his hair and flurried to the splintered floorboards beneath his feet, and he pulled his coat more tightly around him, looking desperately around for some sort of exit.

There was, of course, none, because the House was neither welcoming nor convenient.

"S-stay back!" Xavier said quickly, stretching out a hand in front of him. "Don't - don't come near me, I'm n-not lost!"


HP: 30
DMG: 0

inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

Oh, it wanted to run. It was smart enough to keep them in its sight, to not turn its back on them and flee, because that would only make them want to give chase. This would turn this from a routine extermination into an all-out hunt, and this small, trembling thing didn't look like it would give them any kind of struggle. It was almost a shame, but a dead monster was a dead monster no matter how it got that way.

"A shame," Evan said, pitiless, merciless. "For you." As the monster stretched its hand out, so too did Evan--only Gir materialized as he did so, and he thrust the parted maw of the blade to catch the creature's outstretched limb with the enhanced strength of something just a little more than human.

Gir growled, satisfied, and shot Evan an idea. His smile widened as he wrenched the sword--with the monster's arm still trapped between its teeth--back and forth, seeking to rend flesh and snap bones.

HP: 50/50
Damage: 14 all righty then
Charge: 1/3; 1/1, 1/1

kuroopu

 

[kuropeco]

He didn't like this. He didn't like the look in the human's eyes, the cold tone of his voice, the way he advanced towards him without any hesitation or caution. Xavier shrank back against the wall, his chest feeling tight as his breath hitched in his throat, because as he'd pushed out his hand, so had the other hunter.

The weapon caught him around his wrist, sinking teeth into his arm, and Xavier let out a shriek of pain that was partially a gasp, his eyes widening in a stunned sort of horror. He tried to wrench himself free, tried to free himself from its grasp, but the more he struggled, the more it hurt.

"Let me go!" he shouted, panic beginning to rise in his throat. Xavier skidded forward a few steps, his hair falling into his face. "L-leave me alone!"


HP: 16
DMG: 0

inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

The sound of the monster's distress was music to their ears, though instead of soothing them, it inflamed them further. Evan ripped the blade free from its arm, but didn't retreat--instead, he aimed higher, seeking to pin the creature between the teeth of the blade and the wall behind it. "Beg us," Evan ground out mockingly, "and maybe we'll consider it."

HP: 50/50
Damage: 12
Charge: 2/3; 1/1, 1/1

kuroopu

 

[kuropeco]

He didn't want to beg, he didn't want to fight, he just wanted to leave, to get away from this - this human in front of him who was using a biting, tearing weapon to eat away at his arm like it was nothing but a chew toy. This wasn't the playful sniping of Helmut, this was much worse, this was pain, a terrible pain that zinged up and down Xavier's arm until it had spread throughout his entire body.

He gave a wordless gasp as the weapon ripped away, a half strangled sob; and then he was pinned against the wall, his feet not moving fast enough to carry himself away to a safe distance, Xavier slammed back against the decrepit boards.

It was hard to breathe. He felt dizzy and lightheaded, his vision wavering in and out.

"L-let me go!" he choked out, tears stinging at the corners of his eyes as Xavier's hands grappled with the weapon, desperate to free himself, to get himself out and away from this terrible, terrible thing that was in front of him. He twisted his entire body, legs kicking out frantically, and he thought he felt one of them connect with the hunter, or maybe it was just his imagination. "Let me GO!"


HP: 4
DMG: 2

inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

It wasn't the begging Evan had demanded, but the monster's impotent demands were sweet all the same. For all that their intent fell on deaf ears, their tone, their desperation made Evan want to drag this out and see what other noises he could wring out of the creature.

He wasn't done playing yet. Gir's teeth dripped red with Fear as the charge began to take form and they looked at home there around the freak's throat. They belonged there, ready to rend and crush and destroy.

"Wrong answer," Evan growled, pushing the teeth harder against the monster's flesh.

HP: 48/50
Damage:
Charge: 2/3; 1/1, 1/1

kuroopu

 

[kuropeco]

He couldn't get out of it. He couldn't move, except to try and twist the lower half of his body, his legs still kicking frantically outwards because maybe he could wriggle out from behind the weapon's grasp, shift so that he could have just enough space to free himself.

But there was nothing. Nothing except his flailing legs and his grappling hands, and his wide eyes and terrified face, and the horrible, twisted face of the hunter in front of him.

Xavier's scream of pain and fear was half muffled as the sword pressed harder into him, and tears were now freely streaming down his face, tracking dirt and dust down his cheeks. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision, and slowly the fight ebbed out of him, the desperate desire to escape overriding any sense of self-respect he might have had.

"P-please," he whispered in a small voice, because it was the very last option on the table. "P-please let me g-go."


HP: 2
DMG: 0

inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

Their prey flailed helplessly, trapped in the jaws of a superior predator. This was right; this was where all of the monsters belonged. Evan took note of the terror in the creature's face and reveled in it. This was what he was still on Earth to do, and he took great pleasure in doing it.

He paused for a moment as it begged, not at all intending to relent. He just wanted to remember this moment. Runt hadn't begged as he'd been torn apart by savage, unseen enemies; he hadn't cried. He'd fought until he could fight no more and hoped Evan would save him in the end. Evan hadn't. He'd failed and it had cost people their lives. To take the dignity from the monsters, to make them feel the horror that his friends--his brothers--must have felt in their final moments--this was what vengeance was all about.

Evan's lips stretched into a wide, feral smile. "Done," he rumbled, then shoved the blade forward. Gir howled as the Fear coating his teeth exploded into smaller shards designed specifically to rend and tear and do as much harm as possible, regardless of the fact that they hurt Evan, too. It didn't matter. A little bit of pain was well worth the price of retribution.

HP: 25/50
Damage: 25
Charge: 0/3; 0/1, 1/1

kuroopu

 

[kuropeco]

For a moment, he thought maybe, just maybe, the hunter would let him go.

He was very, very wrong.

There was an explosion that rang inside of Xavier's ears, the sudden influx of pain decimating all other senses, all other thoughts as it overtook him, drowned him in it. Every part of him felt as though it were on fire, and if he was screaming, he couldn't hear himself anymore; he couldn't hear anything anymore except a sort of high pitched keening wail that echoed in his ears.

I don't want to die, he thought, grasping onto the only stray fragment of a thought that he had left other than the terrible, intense, sweeping agony. I don't even have any friends that will remember me -

Xavier's black eyes were frozen open, his mouth agape, and with a last, soundless shriek, he dissipated into nothingness.


HP: Ded and gone

inle-roo