Week 245: Writing On the Wall

[Time Lady Katie]

The white-hot flame seared away all that remained of Adelaide, and for that matter all that remained of everyone else in the room not protected by the defiance of the Gardener. When the flames died, all that remained was ashes. Remains in the air of a woman who was well beyond her abilities, who was impulsive and self-doubting. A woman who was really in the wrong line of work. But the ashes weren’t the only trace left of Adelaide Pierce.

You know, the words rang in Haresuno’s head, a voice delivered by telepathic connection, I did say that the room you’re in is about to crash to a sudden halt. It isn’t like I gave you no context. We just don’t have the kind of time for me to explain literally every nuance of the situation to you. But here we go anyway: Adelaide’s Guided Tour to the Universe. If nothing else, the snark was unmistakable.

We all knew that Faust wasn’t real, neither were the locations or most of the enemies. We presumed that we were real, absent evidence to the contrary. And then we got that evidence. First, your phone that was destroyed rang. And no one but you could hear it. Then my phone rang, and I’m guessing the same deal – only I could hear it. But I couldn’t answer it. Why? Because the phones aren’t real. The phone you heard is a real phone, in the world outside the white room. With me so far? Adelaide left a pause and added, Yeah, I can’t hear you, but I don’t have time to assume you’re not following, so I’m just gonna keep talking.

Thing is this: we’ve got at best a handful of minutes left to live. And by live, I mean in the actual, real-world, death is at your doorstep sense. And in order to run for our lives from a coming catastrophe, I’m thinking toxic tsunami of terror, you need to, once again, wake the fuck up! Adelaide screamed that in Hare’s head as she had done earlier, And by wake up, I mean, you gotta die. In order to live in the real world, you have to die in the dream world. In the white room. And if you have any doubt that what I’m saying isn’t Sappho’s own goddamn truth, bear in mind you just watched me incinerate myself, and I’m still talking to you.

So, you need to turn around, behead a couple of nice ladies, and then fall on your sword and you need to do it now.

425 Words
2575 Total​

 

[Apeiron]

“Idiot woman,” Haresuno scoffed, his expression sour from the yelling. “I wanted the bottom line, not the whole damn tour.” Turning around to Hotate, Haresuno sighed and lightened his dreary attitude, “It looks like Adelaide just confirmed my own thoughts. I just wish she hadn’t tried to take us all with her hoping it’d all be a-okay with us.” Striding back around Amaya, looking at her crippled form, Haresuno let out another tired sigh.

“Sorry, Hotate-san, but it looks like all your hard work is about to be for nothing.” Looking up at her, he explained, while kneeling, “We are currently in a state of false-reality, by which the only method of escaping is to die.” He paused and hoped his next bit was going to be clear, “It’s like a video game. Here, when we died, we’d just start over with full health and a penalty to our reiatsu. Now that I think about it, though, this might have only been with NPCs... it appears that death by other players lead to dead characters being ejected from the game - as Miss Pierce has just confirmed for me.”

Seven gods he hoped it wasn’t a trick.

“So, you need to make a choice of either dying or staying alive. By the sounds of it, that isn’t the greatest choice.” Sheathing his sword, Haresuno flipped his knife from one hand to the other. “If you choose death, I can make it quick and painless - like falling asleep.” His eyes then dropped to Amaya, and so too did his knife, “But you have to make your choice now. We haven’t got much time.”

[2335]

 

[Redfin]

"If you're thinking about hurting a patient under my care, I'm afraid I can't allow that." Hotate stood up and faced the captain. She lowered the hand that was blocking her face from the searing immolation. An angry expression was set on her face.

"Nah, I'm just kidding." The girl's expression softened. "Makes sense. Or about as much sense as stuff does make in this place. I highly doubt whatever you're planning works as well as you think it does though. I'm certain if I examined some bodies from your supposed painless kill, I'd find some traces of pain and fear."

Hotate stepped back. "I'll handle myself just fine. Please, handle her though. I think she's had enough of me trying to kill her for the day." Hotate was about to scratch her head but stopped upon remembering that her hand was covered in blood.

[1034]

 

[switch5]

As the red started to fade away the first thing Amaya understood was the copper taste of blood in her mouth. For a half second she moved her tongue in her mouth, gathering the liquid before spitting it on the ground. For a moment she kept her eyes closed focused on the spasms of pain that rolled through her body. Despite the fact that she could still barely move and her breathing was still labored she still found the waves of pain something to ground her to the world.

For a moment Amaya silently reasoned with the basics of what the man above her was saying. She had witnessed a lot in these rooms, but nothing to convince her that they needed to die. For a moment she tried to reach her arms to her swords, but all she could manage to do was get them to tremble for a few seconds. The Templar knew she had lost too much blood to move.

As she started to understand more and more of what the two people above her said, her heart started to beat faster and faster. She couldn't move, and they were all going to kill themselves, and certainly she woud be first.

Amaya's body strained and struggled as they spoke, she tried desperately to move her limbs, or do anything to preserve her life. Just as she thought she was managing to move her arm, a glimpse of Masato pierced her closed eyes. His cold brow was lowered in a disapproval, and she shuddered at the scowl on his face.

“Just the way I pictured it. Squirming pathetically until the end. It's a pity really...”

Amaya eyes snapped open, and with an bout of energy she thought incapable of her current condition, she grabbed the Captain by the robes.

“If you kill me,” she took a heaving breath before continuing, “it will not be painless.”

It was all the officer could muster. She wanted to die fighting, but instead she would lie here pathetically, waiting for it, just like Masato would have wanted.

[398/642]

 

[Apeiron]

Picking out another knife from the few remaining ones he had, Haresuno held each out to the side so Amaya could see them. “In one, Lazarus. The other, Threshold. Used in tandem your body will go numb to pain, and then you will drift off as if to sleep.” His words were dry, measured, each one chosen so that the Templar would understand what he meant to do, and that he would take no amount of satisfaction. He did not like what he was about to do, but there was a need to do it.

“You are a member of Tsubaki’s division,” he said softer, “I do not imagine this is something many of the Templars would embrace. This is not something very many people would embrace.” Lowering his daggers, so that the tips hovered over her heart, he concluded, “But this is not death. This is not defeat. This is the rising sun on a new day, with a new fight just over the dawn hill. You will sleep, and then wake, and go to the next fight. Remember that.”

He hoped that his words were something of a comfort to the young woman, but he doubted as much. Taking in a deep breath, Haresuno’s voice pierced the world with its solemn enchanting tone. He cast, “Kill the senses, deaden this body. Restrain any pain that could be inflicted. Bakudou Number Twenty-Nine, Threshold.”

Haresuno’s power flooded his own body. It sought to force the spell on himself, but then Haresuno guided the spell. He funnelled it down his left arm and into the knife. All that was left to do was give it a condition. “When the tip of this knife makes contact with something, the spell inside will be released.” The inflections of his voice were specific, fueling the power of his division technique which guided the spell and anchored it to the knife. Only spellcasters would be able to catch what he was doing, and only if they were versed in enchantments.

When the condition was set, he continued as if he had been talking to Amaya. Explaining to her what was going to happen, “That means if I somehow miss you, and it hits the floor, the spell will be wasted.” His eyes rolled over to the other knife, and his lips became a fine line. “My only concern in all of this is how long Lazarus may last on you. The moment you feel as if you’re back into the real world, you should be able to overpower the spell and break free. If you don’t you could be out as long as fifteen minutes to half an hour.”

He was also worried about casting lazarus. The spell itself was one he had studied and used during training sessions, but in order to properly cast the spell he had to impart the knowledge onto his book - the very same book which had been destroyed during his fight with Samael.

If none of this is real, though, then my book should be fine and tucked away where I left it. The reasoning seemed solid enough, the only thing he was missing was proof. For higher spells such as Gun no Kyousei, Haresuno was required to re-read the spell’s basics such as the incantation and its effect. Lazarus, however, wasn’t high-end, but it wasn’t exactly low-end either. I’m familiar enough with the spell though, I shouldn’t have a terrible time with it. That didn’t mean he was going to have an easy time with it, though.

Well, when everything else had been accounted for and it appeared as if there was no safe course of action, the best thing to do was act any way.

“Shepherd me where they cannot venture,” he began. “Take me beyond the gates of death and leave open the door so that I may rise again. Bakudou Number Forty-Seven, Lazarus.” What might have appeared as a simple phrase to some, was a hurricane of cosmic forces to another.

Folks who did not dabble in the magical forces couldn’t appreciate what was happening, as their senses were dull to the intricate manipulations which happened. Oh they could tell when someone was casting, but that might have been about all they could do. The actual manipulation, the delicate or forceful touch needed to make certain weaves go this way or that, were much more subtle.

Haresuno’s mind grappled with the spell. The captain’s will versus the spells own nature were two separate mountains vying for dominance under a single sky. If the spell won, Haresuno would fall over asleep. His heart beat faint, and breathing all but nonexistent. It would mean he wasted time, precious time they didn’t have.

He struggled. Although the spell was a mountain, it’s slopes were slick with nothing to grab hold of and it constantly evaded his strong-arm attempts to make it hold on to the dagger. The spell, on the other hand, had no problems trying to latch on to Haresuno. He was full of small niches and cubbies, handholds and steps that it could use to latch on and cling. Lazarus’ power started to overtake him, ebbing away into his brain, soothing him, telling him that it was alright to lay down and sleep. Slip into blissful unconscious where nothing would matter for a time.

His eyes drooped. Catching the pained expression on Amaya’s face. If he failed now, if he let the spell win, not only would he lose but so too would Amaya and maybe Hotate. He hadn’t paid attention to the unusual woman, so he didn’t know if she was gone or not. He certainly didn’t expect Hotate to stick around. Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea to just lay down though. His body was starting to relax, and the ground looked more comfortable to him. If only he didn’t have to struggle with the spell... then, then, he could rest.

If only he just let it win....

Something in his mind clicked. It was like a twig snapping in the middle of a quiet forest, and it brought a wave of clarity back to the founder long enough for him to realize Lazarus was winning. Gritting his teeth, Haresuno threw the full weight of his will against the spell, knocking it off of him. Before he could let it regain its ground, he threw his will against it again, funnelling it down the length of his right arm.

“When the tip of this knife,” he said, his inflections once again enchanting, “comes into contact with something, it will release the spell stored within.” Releasing a shuddering breath, Haresuno felt as though he had just spent an entire week fighting with that spell. In reality, it couldn’t have been longer than half a minute. It had been worse than splitting his reiatsu into three weaves during bankai. Once again he continued on as if he were explaining to Amaya what was happening, “So, much like the other knife, if I miss you somehow, the spell is wasted.

“Let’s try to not let that happen.”

He smiled, and without any sort of dramatic flare, Haresuno thrust down with his knives and buried them in Amaya’s chest - into her heart. Twin daggers, their hilt and handle the only thing marking them.

[3550]

 

[Redfin]

Watching with a dark fascination, Hotate stood off at the side. Death was the only way to get out of this place. One shinigami just tried to burn everyone in the room and Captain Haresuno just killed another division's subordinate. He has have been pretty certain to kill someone under Captain Tsubaki.

Hotate took several deep breaths. They started out shaky but smoothed out into a nice rhythm. She pointed a two fingers at her own body and inserted it through the chest. "Sprinkled on the bones of the beast. Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and becomethe wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle. Hadou number sixty three, Raikouhou."

A massive flash of energy ripped through the girl's body. She fell forward onto the ground with her entire back missing. There were pieces of her spine and ribs everywhere, stuck to gloopy red or pink splotches on the ground. They were going to be cleaning that one up for a while, if anyone actually bothered to cleaned this place up.

[1214] Final

 

[Apeiron]

A gentle rest for the Templar, a violent end for the mysterious rogue, but what would the Captain of the Fifth use to take his own life?

With no one to witness his end, Haresuno slowly faded from the white world around him. Blood staining his singed haori, the Gardener stepped quietly from one world to the next.

[3600]

 

[switch5]

PS this goes before those 2 turns

As she lay beneath the Captain watching him struggle with the new spell, Amaya put every ounce of effort she had into trying to draw one of the blades from her back. She managed to arch her body just long enough to fell a glimmer of hope, which was immediately crushed as she dropped back to the floor, her body too weak from blood loss to support her weight.

The Templar opened her mouth the yell at the Captain, to cut him short, and force him to kill her painfully so she didn’t have to worry about Masato’s eyes boring into her. But the words stuck like cotton in her throat. He hadn’t listened, the Captain had simply ignored her request, and now she would die in dishonor, with Masato watching in disgust.

In the end, she could only watch helplessly as swells of rage built inside of her. The dark brown eyes of her former Captain stayed in her vision, and her breaths became shallow gasps as the dagger lowered toward her.

For a second there was a bright flash of the agony she longed for, and just as her body started to embrace its warmth it was gone, it was replaced by numbness. For a minute she simply lay still in the man’s lap. Her eyes were full of the fury that seethed inside, and as she felt the black creeping in, a few blistering tears of anger dripped down her cheek.

Then she was gone.

[251/893]

 

[Time Lady Katie]

Confused as she possibly could be, there was no voice on her phone. There was no roar of water. There were no walls and no floor. Adelaide had burst out of her container, she had slain her other self, and was right, exactly, where she started.

She wasn’t sure if she should laugh or cry, and truth be told she was probably doing both. She was going to die. She was as good as ded. Why was she as good as dead? Because she couldn’t die. It was so hopeless and ironic and absolutely absurd that she had only to give up and accept the fate that befell her. What a terrible, worthless way to die.

She took Lashiel and slit her wrist, a long and terrible mark down her arm. She found herself in the coffin again, smashed the coffin again, and found herself again in the white room. She decapitated herself. Again, the coffin, again the white room. By this point the dull ache she felt had evolved into sheer agony. Again she killed herself, again she was in the coffin, again the white room met her.

She wasn’t sure how many times she tried, but she just sat down on the ground, folded her legs and closed her eyes. Hisoka says the cavern is filling with water, that I’ve only got moments left to live if I can’t get out of this wretched maze, Adelaide addressed Lilith in her mind, and I can’t get out. I’m stuck. Some divine joke, I am certain. But please, find a doctor in the Fourth named Brooke Ainsley and let her know that... she felt the déjÁ  vu of her sense of oblivion she felt fighting Pale Horse, tell her I’m sorry. Given the conversation she had had fairly recently with herself, Adelaide figured this was the most appropriate last thing to say.

“Well,” she announced, to no one in particular, “two hundred years is a pretty good run, I suppose.”

330 Words
2905 Total​

 

[mitsuhito]

Grml

Soooo, with the midterm exam finally out of the way, i can write again^^'. I know I stumbled into this after it already had ended, but with Addie still around, maybe Mitsu finally understands what is going up here^^.

Mitsuhito slowly woke up. The last time before he had closed his eyes, he watched at the scenery in the forest, fighting against Sin Eater. However, now that he had opened his eyes he only saw white.

Blinking with his eyes, he made sure that he really was awake. The next thing he tried to do was to move his muscles. Slowly, his legs began to move and he sat up, trying to get a grasp of the room. The first thing he saw was Adelaide sitting in the middle only after that, he had noticed all the corpses.

He himself lay in a corner of the room, probably out of direct sight to be noticed until now. With his bones still heavy from laying around the whole time in the forest and until now, he was not able to fully stand up yet. Instead, he looked at the back of Adelaide’s head and said, “Long time no see, Miss Pierce.”

He was not sure if she was still crazy, or even if she killed all these people, he just wanted to talk with someone.

[185/185]

 

[Time Lady Katie]

A part of Adelaide didn’t want to respond to the message she had received from Yuurei, but she really did need to say her goodbyes. Through a series of really quite unlikely events, I remain alive, which is what will save you and kill me. That remark was going to need context. Hisoka tells me that the cavern our physical bodies reside in is slowly flooding with water that, put quite plainly, ought not be consumed. I cannot eject myself from this reality in the obvious manner, and Hisoka tells me I cannot be disconnected from the outside. Which means that my survival, improbable as it was, has directly caused my death.

All things considered, she was fine with that. She wanted to go home to Brooke, but honestly she likely didn’t deserve to, not after how this had played out. Captain Maikeru and Sekka should be out there somewhere, and I know Hisoka is. You’re ordered to find them and get the hell out of Duran. If there’s a way to save us, do it, but don’t waste a second looking for it, because you don’t have seconds to waste. Get them, get out. Untill Lilith says otherwise, my order to survive at all costs stands. She was going to cut her message off, but added, Goodbye, Yuu.

She heard Mitsuhito approach during her message to Yuurei, but ignored him for a moment or two before responding; “The universe’s sense of humor certainly is macabre.” He didn’t understand the situation. If the same thing that happened to her happened to the others, though, they would be back soon enough to explain to him just how doomed they all were.

280 Words
3185 Total​

 

[Nutella]

Hello~ Posting this thought-message to Addie because, well...

DARN IT, ADELAIDE PIERCE! Yuurei shouted frantically through Taidan, at the loudest thought-voice she could probably ever muster. Inasmuch as she was delighted with the woman's survival, she was quite pissed off that she was going through this 'I'm going to die' message... again. I am possibly nearer to you than I am to them. There are several glass cases here where I am. There's black water rushing in, and I'm afraid I can't run. You are much safer there than here. Just do your best there, but I need you to tell me something. How do seated people open those portal doors to Seireitei?
​

 

[Apeiron]

The white ground suddenly upended itself at one particular spot, a single hand bursting out from the ground. Black straps criss-crossed from the wrist and down along its length until it couldn’t be seen any more. Slowly more of the white earth began to turn, revealing even more of the arm until Haresuno’s head poked out of the ground gasping for air. “Well!” he said through his coughing fit, “that was most certainly not fun.” Blinking, the buried captain looked around and was surprised to find the white room greet him. “Oh, no,” he muttered quietly.

His cyan eyes fell on Adelaide, and a dark glower settled on his face for only a second. But only for that second before it was gone. Sucking in a deep, calming, breath he then began to dig himself out. “I have to say that that particular trip down agony avenue wasn’t one I’m quite willing to do again- nor should I have been so readily to accept. It looks like we were tricked.” The better part of his shoulders were now free, but his left arm was still pinned to his side - along with the rest of his body still underground. He then quoted, “‘When you’ve eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.’

“Killing one another won’t work to free us,” he stated as he ran through his thoughts out loud, “as I demonstrated with the Templar - where is she?” Pausing long enough to look around the room, Haresuno’s brow furrowed and then relaxed. He continued rambling, “As I demonstrated with the Templar, will not work. Killing ourselves will not work. We cannot do anything here as there is no enemy to defeat nor is there any door to escape through. Simply put: we’re stuck. And to top it off outside of this is a wall of crashing water, am I right, Miss Pierce?”

He didn’t wait for an answer. “Cannot fight, cannot run, cannot hide, cannot die. I’m willing to bet that our only course of action, at this point, is no ation.”

[3950]

 

[switch5]

For an instant she was gone, but just an instant. Not long enough to contemplate the black, or where exactly she was, but just long enough to be gone.

Then Amaya was aware again. Her body moved for an instant, groping its way through the blackness around her, groping until she found the sensation of air. As she pulled herself from the wall of the room she couldn’t help at marvel at the skills of whoever had reattached the remains of her leg. All she could think in the haze of the agony moments before was that she’d never walk again... or breathe again for that matter.

And now, even though the Third Seat felt weak she could breathe and walk. As she stepped into the room she forgot about the agony for a second, she forgot about her rage, and felt a flash of pure relief and joy.

Then she realized where she was...

The same ceiling hung over her, and her eyes fell on the bloodied haori of the Captain who had just tried to kill her. He was in a group of people standing adjacent to her old pool of blood. Among them Amaya instantly recognized the woman who had healed her after her first fight, and she instantly realized who must have saved her life not moments ago.

Still a rage rekindled inside of her. Limping to the best of her ability, the Templar made her way to the group. In a sluggish flourish Amaya ripped the gren blade of Envy from its sheath on her back. Pointing direcly at the Captain as she approached she did her best to keep from toppling over.

“You had no right!”

Amaya’s voice was barely audible and raspy, and each syllable housed a tiny tremble. Still, determination and force of will carried her slowly toward the Captain.

“There was no way you could have known what would happen! We’re in a maze of illusions and lies, and you decide to trust your gut and kill me? There was as much a chance that you would simply murder me as we would wake up somewhere else.”

As Amaya finally made her way to the Captain her body shuddered as she felt her strength starting to fail, but still her extended her arm and pointed the emerald blade at the man’s throat.

“I should kill you right now.”

[400/1042]

 

[mitsuhito]

“It surely is, Miss Pierce.” Mitsuhito said to Adelaide, before looking at a hummock starting to form itself inside of the room.

Doing his best, he managed to slowly stand up again. His reiatsu was still pretty low, but at least he was unharmed, except for the laziness that gradually faded out of his body.

Ready to attack whatever came out of this hole, he saw with relief that it was the captain of the Fifth Division crawling out of this gap. While easing his grip he saw another movement out of the corner of his eyes. Turning around, he saw that Amaya was also alive, though still hurt.

Opening his mouth, he wanted to answer Haresuno but was interrupted by an angry Amaya threatening the captain.

“Please guys, could we stop all those hostile acts already? I don’t know what happened here, let alone what is happening around us. So instead of trying to kill each other, could you please fill me in with details?”

He spoke as calmly as he was able to and tried to soothe the aggressive atmosphere somehow. For one thing, he wanted to know what the heck was going on and for another thing he hated to see friends fighting each other.

[208/393]

 

[Time Lady Katie]

Adelaide laughed, outright laughed, at the Templar as she threatened the Gardener. “No, really though, you should. So infinitely much will be accomplished, as demonstrated by all of us here.” She fell backward, closed her eyes, and let the finality of it all sink over her.

It’s simple really, Adelaide responded to Yuurei, her tone reverberating with defeat; She continue on to explain what mae the ability function, how it worked, and the physical and willpower-based actions require.. She didn’t sound particularly hopeful, however, Of course, we did need to use special abilities to get here. There’s no telling if just trying to open a portal home will work whatsoever, much less if my crash-course will help you. The wisest choice would be to find Lilith and that also allows you to see to it that she gets to safety.

She didn’t bother responding to Haresuno, nor to Mitsuhito, but Amaya’s absurd desire to try to kill Haresuno just kept bringing a smile to her face; “We’re all about to die, and of course it would be a Templar who was too impatient. Try to kill him while he’s immortal instead of just waiting five minutes for us all to expire?” It was just too much for her. In a situation where even the poster-boy of noble self-sacrifice couldn’t come up with a way to make this downfall seem self-righteous, they really were on their way out.

She did deserve this. All the things she had done in this maze, made no more moral by the fact that none of it mattered. Adelaide was left cetain that this was a death richly deserved. And she was sure Amaya earned this end as well: the Templars really did leave nothing Adelaide considered redeeming. But Vincent? Mitsuhito? They were sad casualties in all this. They didn’t deserve this fate. Still, Adelaide had gotten the answer Fukushin had promised her, about the nature of God: he clearly was an asshole.

327 Words
3512 Total​

 

[Redfin]

"Did you all just go through the five stages or what? Though the order was all out of wack," Hotate said. She was standing awkwardly in the middle of the white room, wishing there was some kind of furnishing around.

At least her hands were clean again and all the random guts and bones on the ground had disappeared when she respawned. Not very comforting but it was something at least. The girl crossed her arms and closed her eyes. Her head was tilted up and her breathing was slow. It was the waiting that really sucked.

[1311] Final 2

 

[Apeiron]

“We seem to be missing denial,” Haresuno remarked without breaking eye contact from the angry Templar. He was near completely free, by now, with his legs dangling over the pit which once held his whole body. And while the blade hovered a hair’s breadth away from his throat, he was smirking.

Nothing demeaning, or cocky, but rather a purely playful smirk devoid of any spite or ire. “Killing me would prove fruitless,” he told her. “Oh, it might make you feel better, but in the end we’ll be right back where we started. Besides, in your state it would be better to reserve your strength. You barely look like you can stand, let alone hold that blade steady for much longer.” His eyes turned sharp, burning azure - a far cry from the easy-going cyan that they had been moments ago. “If you really want to take this up with me later, come and find me in the Fifth.

“As for my actions I had every right. Possibilities are endless, especially when you don’t know the boundaries, all we did now was set the parameters.” He flicked a finger towards Adelaide, “Adelaide supplied information to me, though she too was deceived. As the captain for a division of trappers, liars, and their ilk, the only way to know the truth is to jump head first and accept the outcome. It’s the same thinking that made me agree with the Soutaichou back in Seireitei. A trap is a trap. If you can’t figure it out, you have to set it off.”

Breaking his sight from Amaya, Haresuno looked down at her unsteady blade. Calmly, without much hurry or a hint of hesitation, the captain brushed the blade aside from its spot. In the same motion, he flipped backwards onto his feet and stood at his full towering six foot five. Looking down at Amaya, his azure eyes augers in their own right, and his grin still on his face, he folded his arms and stuffed his hands up the opposite sleeve.

“You missed me saying it,” he said, looking between Amaya and the new-comer, “but I’ll happily say it again: If we cannot fight, cannot run, nor can we hide as a means of escaping this room, then we must simply wait.

“Although,” he added with a chuckle, “if you want to spend time sparing I don’t have a problem with that. Again, though, I caution you for your own health. I’m sure Kyuketsu wouldn’t enjoy hearing I trounced one of his members over a trial and error exercise.”

Blinking, as though forgetting something, Haresuno turned to the new arrival. “Ah, yes, let me explain. Currently we are still apart of the maze - the competition Fukushin set up - only we are unable to escape, whereas I believe it is safe to say others have escaped.” Brow furrowing, the captain’s head bowed slightly. “I almost want to say that makes us losers, but then what of the people outside of the game? Unintended consequences? What ofthe winners?”

[4470]

 

[Time Lady Katie]

“I wasn’t misled.”

Though her tone was drifting farther and farther from what sanity the circumstances had cobbled together for her, it now was as serious as it ever was. She continued to lay on what loosely passed for ground beneath her, and didn’t look at anyone around her, simply staring into the white abyss above them. “I still am in contact with two members of my division. Tragically, I haven’t been able to confirm Captain Maikeru is still alive, but I hold out hope, since the others appear to be.” She didn’t sound particularly emotional about this matter, though she really was “But the real world versions of us truly are about to die. We can wait all we want for rescue, but there simply is no way to remove us from the pods we’re in.” And from there, Adelaide drew her sense of fate about the only outcome of this matter.

Simply put, they were going to die. More intricately, however; “Since we cannot be removed and cannot remove ourselves via methods our companions have, the only thing left is for us to wait here to die. Much like the Gardner suggests: elimination of the impossible leaves the only option.” She felt a need to add, however, the logic behind ordering Yuurei to get out of the cave. She wasn’t going to pass that on to Hisoka’s team, it wasn’t her right, but the others needed to know the price f their survival. “Every minute those people devote to finding a way to save us is one less minute spent getting out of Duran. If they try to help us, as I suppose they will, odds are pretty good that we all die.”

She didn’t know what the water was, but it had been descried to her as ‘black water’, which sounded a lot like water contaminated with the toxin of Fukushin’s weapon. If it was destroyed, at least their deaths would have meaning. Countless lives could be saved. That didn’t make dying any more appealing, really, but with death being simply unavoidable; it did bring a measure of comfort.

352 Words
3864 Total
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[switch5]

For an instant Amaya let her emotions bubble inside of her, churning over and over what the Captain had done to her. She wasn't like the rest of them, she couldn't move past this and focus on the bigger picture, and luckily it seemed as though there was no reason to.

She opened her mouth to respond, to argue with the group, but her weakness pulled her to the ground, where she could only sit and try to catch her breath for a moment. As dizziness overtook her, Amaya could only lay on her back, and wait for her energy to be restored. All she could do was remind herself repeatedly that one day, the Captain would taste her blade... one day he would pay for his sins.

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