There was just something about the forest that called to him tonight.

It wasn't the trees, the wildlife, or the stillness that can be tranquil sometimes.

It was in fact, the poor unsuspecting man that was unfortunate enough for Villon to choose for a nice starseed napping tonight.

The corrupt senshi tilted his head to the side while the man screamed as loud as he could, the hand currently in his chest slowly squeezing around the starseed that he would be ripping from the poor thing soon.

“You know….No one can hear you right now. Scream all you like.” He gave his victim a maniacal grin and held his hand in his chest for a bit longer before pulling his hand out, prize in hand. The starseed looked like any other one he would normally rip out, so off to subspace and then he can move on to the next one…

If he didn't sense the order signature coming his way.

---

It came at speed - sudden, silent, until it was close enough for an ear-splitting noise to break through the screams.

Joy had not forgotten what it had been last time, but last time had seemed so dreamlike - so surreal - that by contrast, the concrete reality of the screams had her feeling sick. Last time she had been bolstered by a sense of resignation: she might die, but it would be in doing the right thing.

The resignation was nowhere to be found, this time. She had just narrowly dodged the end of the goddamned world: she did not ever again want to be responsible for helping someone else dodge the end of theirs. But here she was, the cessation of hostilities removed exactly as she'd expected it to be, and she'd barely had the sense to put the whistle to her lips. It was already falling away, her whip tight in her hand as she circled nearer, trying to stay as far away as she could until she couldn't avoid doing otherwise.

"Let him go," she said, not even sure if she could be heard through any ringing ears.

---

That <********> sound!

Villon snapped his teeth together at the splitting headache he was now receiving because of the whistle sound that came from that order trash he was going to take care of. Too bad his little bug wasn't here otherwise he would have gotten healed by now. He heard her command and sneered, fighting the nausea that was trying to take over. She wanted him to let the man go? Sure, why not? He already had the starseed anyway so it was a matter of time before the body started to rot.

Good thing they were in the middle of the forest.

Still, now he felt like s**t, which wouldn't do his opponent any favors.

“Stupid b***h.”

His fists were clenched as he started towards the woman, that sneer still apparent on his face, except black ink began to drip from it instead. As soon as he was close enough, he would show this wannabe hero why she should’ve kept it pushing.

---

She had, for a moment, been bravely attempting to conceal her rising and unnecessary terror - had not, in fact, even connected it to the idea that it might in fact be some power of the man before her at all, assuming it had simply been a consequence of the screams lingering in her ears.

But the facade was short-lived, crumbling nearly immediately at the first horrible lash of power. All that could be said of her was that she was a creature whose pride was not superficial, but rooted in a sincere belief of her own superiority to - well, to nearly everyone - and so it carried her, barely.

But not until she lost several precious seconds to fumbling backwards, clawing at herself, at the air, at something that was not there.

It was as well that she was also a creature whose fight-or-flight was firmly wired for fight: that, after some agonizingly long period of time that might have been five seconds or fifty for all she knew, she did what instinct bid her to do: use her weapon. She lashed out at him, doing the only thing she knew how to get distance, to get away from the horrible inky things.

"Put it back," she said, and it was somewhat remarkable that while she didn't manage to say it in a tone of command, she didn't sound like she was pleading, either.


---

Damn he loved his power!

Villon watched while the order servant thrashed around at something that wasn't there, head tilted while he got ever so closer. Truth be told, he's always wanted to take the starseed of someone powered, add it to his collection that he kept in subspace. Would they be different compared to a normal civilian’s starseed? Oh he was very curious…

But then that was short lived since he had waited too long to put his theory to the test. His body slid back a couple of paces and ******** did that hurt. [

The corrupt let out a wheezing laugh, coughing and holding his chest for the moment. “Got some bite, yeah?” Well, he would just have to close the distance then wouldn't he? Crouching just slightly, hands spread out a bit, Villon charged towards the woman, laughing all the same. Should she try to use that whip again, he was more than prepared to dodge.

---

The whip did, in fact, crack, but it was not accompanied by another burst of painful light, and had barely even been aimed in his direction. The ground erupted, instead.

Her hands were visibly trembling; it was as well for her that she was still relying on magic rather than physical force. She was trying to keep the distance, trying to measure it: close enough to keep him in the influence of her own magic; far enough to avoid being in his. It would have been difficult at any time, but under the current circumstances it may as well have been impossible. All she could do was back away, and try not to back away too far.

I should work on this, she thought, a dim moment of calm, rational logic somewhere in her panicked turmoil. And then: If I don't die.

But she mustered, as best she could, a voice of command: not to beckon him back, nor to try and save herself. The thought that she might do that, rather than try to save a man who was probably already unsaveable, did not even occur to her.

"Put it back," she repeated, more firmly. She had the practice, at least, to issue a command in a queenly tone even when she wasn't exactly feeling up to it. "And I'll let you go try your luck somewhere else."

---

The vines that erupted from the ground were a nice, but frustrating touch. They did in fact slow him down, kept him from his prize and that in and out of itself was...Not ideal. He decided to work on breaking the vines, but then there was a scent coming from them, which he mistakenly inhaled. The sudden need and want to please the woman in front of him was strong, her queenly command resonating throughout his whole being.

He wanted to kneel.

But, she was not his Queen, his wife, his everything.

This was an imposter, and she dared to give HIM a command?

The look in his blue eyes was one of intent and a promise.

“Give me your pretty seed in exchange and I'll think about putting it back.”

Of course he knew she was going to deny him, but that would give him time to get over whatever this magic was.

—

"Do you know this?" she said, pointing to the medallion on her shoulder. "Earth. It means honor and truth. Put his back," she said, "and I'll let you have mine."

She spoke as quickly as she could, trying to hold the flowers, trying to get through to him before the power could wear off, and it helped, a little, that her eyes filled with almost immediate tears as she said the words.

---

Honor and truth? Did she not know order didn't belong? That the negaverse was trying to protect Earth from them? But then she started crying the prettiest tears, which then begged the question: Would those tears still be pretty when he managed to ruin that face?

Probably not.

Her words did compel him further and he grit his teeth, trying to fight it. His hand reached up into subspace to pull out the seed, the look in his eyes slowly turning murderous the more his body moved. Eventually, he did put the starseed back into the civilian, which was when the magic started to wear off. His head bent backwards at an awkward angle to look at the woman, that black ink slowly dripping out of his mouth once more. He wasted no time, his throat bulging before he spat out another tentacle. “Give me what I want you little order b***h.”

—

"You're scaring me," she said, and if she'd had the wherewithal she would have hated herself for how weak and pathetic it sounded: a strangled cry from somewhere in the back of her throat. But it wasn't even a conscious tactic. There was no strategy in it. She was, quite simply, giving him the honest reason that she backed away from him again, pleading. And what could be more nightmarish to her, after all, than being at someone else's entire mercy, and having to beg?

It kept her stumbling backwards, not running - not fleeing - but merely trying to fend off the attacks of that thing that she was clawing at that was not there, her silent weeping growing into an audible, frantic whimpering.

---

Villon almost had the thought to just take her starseed and be done with it. However, he settled for leaving her with that reminder instead, leaving the civilian with his starseed. There were plenty of options out there in Destiny City so you win some you lose some. Before he left, he squatted before the order, and made her a promise: “If I see you again…I won't hesitate to add you to my collection.” He chuckled and took off, looking for someone else to substitute for the starseed he lost.

---

For a moment she could only watch, stunned, as she found herself no longer needing to enact that insane, half-formed plan of luring him away and then into a chase. It made no sense to her - and more than that, left her with a terrible feeling that she'd written a check she'd have to cash one day, in one form or another - but after a moment, it was irrelevant.

Dragging herself to her shaky feet and wobbling towards the corrupt's victim, she did what had compelled her in the first place: helped.

wc: 940 me/814 vivi