Evergloam
New Member
Dunno if it's plot since it's Ren coming back from what happened during. If not, that's cool. If so, that's cool.
A deep inhale through the mask allowed her a polluted breath which sent her coughing. That’s right, the air was filthy. As it was the day she was brought in. Spit clung to the cloth from her vicious coughing, joining the moisture that already accumulated there from her sweat and blood. Perhaps even tears.
She tried to speak, to call out for the umpteenth time. But nothing. Her throat was beyond dry, to where only a ragged whimper came out in place of a ‘hello?!’
Kyuketsuki? ... Are you there, Kyuketsuki?
Nothing. Silence. There was her only hope of keeping calm.
Just like you to leave me... The vampire queen slowly closed her eyes behind the blindfold, scarlet orbs dimming to nothingness right before she fell asleep.
Days probably passed. Days in that cold, dark room. No one to come in and give her food. They kept her that way so she could be at her weakest. They might have given her a piece of bread fed to her, but the bread was always stale and hardly filling. Sanitary was another thing it wasn’t. They wouldn’t give her water. Instead, she was drinking her spit and sweat. And god, that was terrible.
When she finally woke up from another week-long sleep, she woke up out of the bare room. Out of the darkness. Around her wrists were cuffs, but they were loosened considerably. She could see the red marks the cuffs previously left.
Wait.
She could see! Scarlet eyes rapidly moved around, quickly analyzing her situation. She was outside. In a bed of grass and dirt, but outside nonetheless. Free? Perhaps. Maybe this was some cynical illusion. Or a taunting thing. They’d take her outside and let her free only to drag her back to the dark.
She looked around and saw no one. There was nothing but peaceful nature surrounding her. Perfect.
With a lick of her lips, she swallowed and tried to call out as best as she could. No whimper, but a word. “Hello?!” she cried out, so loud that it pained her, though it came out as nothing more than a dull yell.
A ripple in the air in front of Ren began to show. Then, a ripple began a tear. A tear began to shape into a humanoid figure. Ren weakly drew her arm up, her left arm following it as she began to prepare. If this was one of those bastards, it’d have to take back a corpse. She would die here instead of go back to that room.
“Ren?” a familiar voice broke out from the shape, a hand reaching out shakily to the ragged woman. “Ren? Are you okay?!”
Adele... she let her mind answer when her mouth couldn’t, letting her smile as she was grabbed by her close friend. The nekogami emerged from her Koutaizumai illusion, embracing Ren carefully as she fell to her arms. The older woman was tired, kept on a perpetual thread of life and now she was free. She didn’t know how, but she was happy she was now.
In an instant, the two were bathed in a white light. The senkaimon, opened by the Pierce matriarch herself. Like Adele, she called out to Ren in an almost motherly way, immediately grabbing the woman and gently lifting her onto her shoulder. The older sister called out to Adele, asking her to follow her to the Fourth. Those were the last words Ren heard before slumber took her over. Once again, it was a delicate transition from being awake in pain to being safe in sleep.
===
The world inside of her mind was the same, at least. The same could be said for Kyuketsuki, she supposed. The talkative vampiric spirit wasn’t so talkative though. She sat in the house on the hill and just stood there in a chamber of organs and bones. When Ren walked to her, she said nothing. She stared at Ren with a far away gaze, but nothing more and nothing less.
“Kyuketsuki... Are you okay?” Ren asked with worry in her voice. “I said things back there... I was alone and I know you could hear me. But I didn’t know you could back then. I thought you left me. I’m sorry...”
“It’s not that, Ren. Not at all,” the vampire finally spoke up, a heavy weight on her voice. She even carried it poorly on her shoulders as she stood up, her shoulders and body slumping together to make a sort of shambling motion. “I’m going to have to leave you though.”
Ren’s eyes moved to track Kyuketsuki. The vampire queen raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“You’re just going to have to trust me. You won’t see me ever again. After the last fight, I don’t know if I can stay with you any longer. I’m too weak for you. I couldn’t protect you before or do anything. The man who kidnapped you? He shut me down so quickly. Not even Satoru could’ve shut me down that quickly before. He crushed your strongest attack but he used his strongest defense. That man? He destroyed us almost with his cancelling. How can I be a good weapon for you if I can’t even take your enemies apart?”
Crimson tears streamed down Kyuketsuki’s face mid-way through her words, some sounding choked up as they left the vampire’s lips. “I’m fucking worthless. You don’t deserve me. You deserve better.”
The rain outside ceased as Kyuketsuki turned to Ren. The vampire queen reached out to Kyuketsuki, to comfort the vampire woman, but nothing came from it. Kyuketsuki let her cold skin be warmed slightly by Ren’s own hand, but nothing more. No happiness. “Please... leave. I’m sorry, Ren...”
The world crumbled immediately, leaving Ren to wake up in the Fourth’s hospital, bandaged with a healer tending to her. The vampire queen sighed, looking to her left at the wakizashi, rowning visibly. The medic tried prying briefly to make sure nothing was upsetting the Ninth Seat, but all Ren could say was...
“I’m not sure.”
The Vampire Returns
- 1,092 -
The ground was bare... cold, even. It felt like concrete. Was it concrete? Yeah. She could drag her calloused feet across the ground and feel that at least. With how long she was in there, she was surprised she could move her feet. What about her hands? Casting a phantom stare at her left hand, she could feel it loosely clinging to the steel chair. Then the right, gripping tighter. All was as it should’ve. Her right was stronger as her more dominant hand.- 1,092 -
A deep inhale through the mask allowed her a polluted breath which sent her coughing. That’s right, the air was filthy. As it was the day she was brought in. Spit clung to the cloth from her vicious coughing, joining the moisture that already accumulated there from her sweat and blood. Perhaps even tears.
She tried to speak, to call out for the umpteenth time. But nothing. Her throat was beyond dry, to where only a ragged whimper came out in place of a ‘hello?!’
Kyuketsuki? ... Are you there, Kyuketsuki?
Nothing. Silence. There was her only hope of keeping calm.
Just like you to leave me... The vampire queen slowly closed her eyes behind the blindfold, scarlet orbs dimming to nothingness right before she fell asleep.
Days probably passed. Days in that cold, dark room. No one to come in and give her food. They kept her that way so she could be at her weakest. They might have given her a piece of bread fed to her, but the bread was always stale and hardly filling. Sanitary was another thing it wasn’t. They wouldn’t give her water. Instead, she was drinking her spit and sweat. And god, that was terrible.
When she finally woke up from another week-long sleep, she woke up out of the bare room. Out of the darkness. Around her wrists were cuffs, but they were loosened considerably. She could see the red marks the cuffs previously left.
Wait.
She could see! Scarlet eyes rapidly moved around, quickly analyzing her situation. She was outside. In a bed of grass and dirt, but outside nonetheless. Free? Perhaps. Maybe this was some cynical illusion. Or a taunting thing. They’d take her outside and let her free only to drag her back to the dark.
She looked around and saw no one. There was nothing but peaceful nature surrounding her. Perfect.
With a lick of her lips, she swallowed and tried to call out as best as she could. No whimper, but a word. “Hello?!” she cried out, so loud that it pained her, though it came out as nothing more than a dull yell.
A ripple in the air in front of Ren began to show. Then, a ripple began a tear. A tear began to shape into a humanoid figure. Ren weakly drew her arm up, her left arm following it as she began to prepare. If this was one of those bastards, it’d have to take back a corpse. She would die here instead of go back to that room.
“Ren?” a familiar voice broke out from the shape, a hand reaching out shakily to the ragged woman. “Ren? Are you okay?!”
Adele... she let her mind answer when her mouth couldn’t, letting her smile as she was grabbed by her close friend. The nekogami emerged from her Koutaizumai illusion, embracing Ren carefully as she fell to her arms. The older woman was tired, kept on a perpetual thread of life and now she was free. She didn’t know how, but she was happy she was now.
In an instant, the two were bathed in a white light. The senkaimon, opened by the Pierce matriarch herself. Like Adele, she called out to Ren in an almost motherly way, immediately grabbing the woman and gently lifting her onto her shoulder. The older sister called out to Adele, asking her to follow her to the Fourth. Those were the last words Ren heard before slumber took her over. Once again, it was a delicate transition from being awake in pain to being safe in sleep.
===
The world inside of her mind was the same, at least. The same could be said for Kyuketsuki, she supposed. The talkative vampiric spirit wasn’t so talkative though. She sat in the house on the hill and just stood there in a chamber of organs and bones. When Ren walked to her, she said nothing. She stared at Ren with a far away gaze, but nothing more and nothing less.
“Kyuketsuki... Are you okay?” Ren asked with worry in her voice. “I said things back there... I was alone and I know you could hear me. But I didn’t know you could back then. I thought you left me. I’m sorry...”
“It’s not that, Ren. Not at all,” the vampire finally spoke up, a heavy weight on her voice. She even carried it poorly on her shoulders as she stood up, her shoulders and body slumping together to make a sort of shambling motion. “I’m going to have to leave you though.”
“You’re just going to have to trust me. You won’t see me ever again. After the last fight, I don’t know if I can stay with you any longer. I’m too weak for you. I couldn’t protect you before or do anything. The man who kidnapped you? He shut me down so quickly. Not even Satoru could’ve shut me down that quickly before. He crushed your strongest attack but he used his strongest defense. That man? He destroyed us almost with his cancelling. How can I be a good weapon for you if I can’t even take your enemies apart?”
Crimson tears streamed down Kyuketsuki’s face mid-way through her words, some sounding choked up as they left the vampire’s lips. “I’m fucking worthless. You don’t deserve me. You deserve better.”
The rain outside ceased as Kyuketsuki turned to Ren. The vampire queen reached out to Kyuketsuki, to comfort the vampire woman, but nothing came from it. Kyuketsuki let her cold skin be warmed slightly by Ren’s own hand, but nothing more. No happiness. “Please... leave. I’m sorry, Ren...”
The world crumbled immediately, leaving Ren to wake up in the Fourth’s hospital, bandaged with a healer tending to her. The vampire queen sighed, looking to her left at the wakizashi, rowning visibly. The medic tried prying briefly to make sure nothing was upsetting the Ninth Seat, but all Ren could say was...
“I’m not sure.”