[RP] Children of Aether

Jennyver had always known that strange things happened in the areas near her home. However, recently, she's began to see an unusual pattern of supernatural occurrences, ones that nature itself couldn't instantly make happen on its own. She's heard the news, her neighbors had read the paper and discussed it during their morning routines with their kin or companions, it was becoming increasingly obvious that this city wasn't as tranquil as it used to be in terms of events. If mother were out here right now, actually getting fresh air for once and hearing what was happening, what would she think? There had to be a good reason she was in the asylum in the first place. That was the only thing Jennyver didn't know; why and how she was taken there.

She leaned on the railing of the bridge she stood on with her elbow so that her head rested on her hand. The humidity could have easily been cut in half with the way Jennyver felt it against her skin. It wasn't the most comfortable feeling, yet it had a good sign. A rain shower would start soon in this area, and it had been . . . quite a while since she had seen any good amounts of rain. She hated having to force the natural process of precipitation to come down unless absolutely necessary, and that was the way it was supposed to be.

There were a lot more people out today than there was usually, mainly adults or couples - seeing that the kids were at school right now. Jennyver had taken some time off from her tour guiding mainly to experiment with the powers she had gained, since it wasn't too often that she used them. The feeling was very inhumane, to say the least, to control the assigned element and use it in any way she desired. Even if it wasn't possible, she did have a fear of abusing her power. There had been plenty of stories about people who have gone insane because of misuse of some sort of unique abilities. It wasn't crazy to think that a few of them could have been witches . . . like herself.

 After several moments of watching the water beneath her, Jennyver could smell something contrary to everything else in the air, coming from the main town. Turning her head towards the direction the stench came from, she noticed - was that a wall of fire up ahead? Jennyver's whole body turned then to she was she was witnessing, and it looked like the people around her had spotted the incident as well. It wasn't too long before she could hear firetruck sirens and screaming from far ahead. One of her eyebrows arched at this sudden occurrence, but instead of just thinking about it, she decided to take action herself.

Making sure that she didn't look suspicious, she turned back to the original position she was in so it looked like she was still examining the river. In reality, her hands were clasped and her eyes were closed in deep concentration as she put all of her focus in the cloudy sky, quickening the process of creating precipitation. The air around her cooled just a touch as she set her mind on rain, excluding everything else in the surroundings. Within a minute or so, she felt a few drops touch her hands, and then her leg - which meant that she was doing it right. But she didn't stop there. She wanted enough rain so that it could put out the flames afar from where she stood.

Finally, after several more moments, a somwhat past moderate rain began to hit the area, sending some people running off to find nearby shelter if they didn't have an umbrella. Jennyver, however, had brought her own in case she ever had to do something like this, and she opened it up so that the black material of it would keep her from getting soaked. Looking back where the fire was formed, it was still active, but it looked like it was gradually weakening, and that was all that mattered to the white haired girl.

But she wanted to see this situation up close. Holding the handle of her umbrella firmly, she walked towards the area which had the most activity going on. She didn't doubt that there were witches or knights there. More than likely there were with what had been happening lately. Although, there had only been one witch she had met in person before, yet chances were very slim that she caused the fire. This woman was different, that was for sure, but she had earned Jennyver's respects. Who knew if she were to show up again? It couldn't be completely guaranteed, but Jennyver knew that she was going to expect some surprises today.
​
 
"I have an appointment to keep." Eliza replied shortly, quickening her pace. This girl was getting on her nerves. Did she not know the value of patience? No, it was unlikely that she even knew the meaning of the word. Her plans depended solely upon her meeting with the girl she was on her way to see, and what she would say to Eliza's proposal. A frown of annoyance creased her face. The younger generation were so damned indecisive. Opportunities like this were not to be considered, they were to be accepted or rejected. This business of tracking people down was beneath her...

---

"'No more'? Don't you want to play anymore, pretty thing?" her eyes widened slightly, "But...this is what you wanted to play with me, isn't it? You lost, which means that you have to be 'it'. Fair is fair." she shrugged. "Poppy played your game. Why shouldn't you play hers? Fair is fair."

Silly girl. She had exactly the same thing planned for Poppy, if she had been able to overpower her, and that was alright. The winner got to pick the game. That was how it worked. She must know this, so why was she asking for Poppy to stop, when she had no right to? She didn't make a lot of sense. She studied the girl's limp, broken, motionless form. She wasn't quite finished yet; there was still one thing she needed to do, before she cut her up into tiny pieces and used her as fertilizer. She raised a new vine from the ground, curling it loosely around the girl, moved forward, and wrapped her hand around it, altering it. Several thick, large thorns sprang up from it, lightly touching the edges of the girl's skin around her arms, legs, and chest, not yet piercing her.

Poison, yes, poison! Poppy wanted her alive for a while yet, and this would do the job nicely. It would all-but stop the flow of blood from her wounds, whilst simultaneously preventing them from closing. It would race through her system, clotting her blood, burning through her veins like fire...until it burned itself out. Then she would die, in extreme agony that was nothing like what she thought she was experiencing now. The entire process would take around six hours. Poppy could just keep dosing her with the poison until she got bored...that was what the vines were for. She wouldn't even have the strength to use her other powers with this in her system...meaning Poppy could take a nap if she wanted to.

Although...she had never tried this before. It should work the way she planned, but the initial blood loss could kill her...oh well. If that happened, she would know not to try this on her next playmate. Accidents happened sometimes. Poppy had already been punished by the girl, so it didn't matter if she punished her too much in return, did it? After all, she had started it!

She smiled, leaning forward and licking some of the blood off her cheek as she whispered in her ear, "Can you guess what this does? Shall we find out?"

Without waiting for an answer, she wrapped the new vine around the girl, thorns puncturing skin and injecting her with their venom...it worked! Asides from the extreme pain, open wounds and broken bones, she may as well not be injured...as long as she was tied to that vine, she wouldn't bleed to death. Oh, this was so much fun! She was very glad she had let the girl in to play. Poppy didn't even care about getting her name from her anymore; she had found the perfect playmate, and she was going to keep her. Of course, she couldn't let her down...not yet. Maybe after about a week of endless agony that would never become any easier to bear, she could be trusted to behave herself...assuming Poppy didn't get bored by that point, or accidently forgot to refill her with venom after six hours. So many things could go wrong...oh well.

---

Lily re-appeared on the outskirts of the forest, studying the barrier of vines before her. How was she supposed to get past this? She could try going through it, but she could end up in the middle of it...that wouldn't be pleasant. In fact, it would probably kill her. She paced restlessly for a moment, racking her brains, until a loud, piercing scream suddenly cut through the air, causing several birds to take flight alarm. Lily flinched, for she knew that voice. She had come here! That stupid, stupid, STUPID idiot! She'd tried to take on Poppy, and now she was torturing her...again.

Shadows swirled around her again as Lily made her decision. She needed to try to get in there, at least. Maybe if she was lucky, she could get in and out with Alyss before Poppy had her strung up next to her. She wouldn't be expecting Lily to show up...would she? If she was, then she was just walking right into a trap. But she had to do something.

Alyss. Take me to Alyss.

The shadows...recoiled, around her. Lily frowned. Resistance? Why? From what? What was putting them off? Her frown turned into a grimace. No. These were her powers, and she was going to use them! Take me to her, NOW.

Darkness swallowed her once more, as Lily vanished, pushing through...something. What could be giving her shadows so much trouble? There were shadows everywhere, it should be easy to push through. Yet resistance was growing, and her strength was failing...could she do this? She'd find out, if she could just keep pushing through...
 
One minute she was there, and the next she was gone. Hale looked frantically around for Alyss, but she was nowhere to be found. Damnit. Where was he going to go now. It would be stupid to look for her in the forest. From the look of things, he'd be signing his own death warrant by setting one foot in there.

What was he supposed to do now?
___________________________________

Tristana sighed as she looked at Heath, her face softening for once. "I know what you're thinking, Heath." Her hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, knuckles turning white as a sigh escaped her parted lips.

"I...refuse to let you go it alone." She turned her head to one side with an irritated expression on her face. "Poppy will kill you if you go in there without me." She relaxed into a more casual position. "I won't let that happen. If it's her or you, then she'll have to die."

Her face contorted as she glared at Heath. "Now look what you made me say!" she snapped, putting her foot down on the accelerator and zooming towards the park.

As they arrived, Tristana narrowed her eyes at the place that was now more forest than park. "Oh what did that little bitch do?" she whispered to herself, shaking her head as she stopped the car and unbuckled her seatbelt, getting out.

She touched her hand to Heath's shoulder, feeling uncomfortable around all the Knights. "Shall I go look for an entrance?" she murmured softly into his ear, eyes furtively darting to make sure no Knights were in earshot. Of course, she doubted Poppy would leave anywhere unchecked, but unless Heath had plans for her, that was all she could do.
________________________________
It was so cold.

Freya touched her hands to her shoulders, looking nervously about. Had she wandered into a more heavily forested area of the park. Her face blanched and she shrieked as she ran into a shadow...that turned out to be a clump of low hanging lichen.

Sighing in relief, she moved on, wiping sweat off her brow. Where was the exit to this place? She felt so claustrophobic, something she had never felt in this park before.
 
Alyss’ fingers (the ones that were broken, anyway) were starting to turn black due to the fact that the bones within them were broken. They were twisted and mangled. Next to her fingers that Poppy hadn’t yet broken, they looked even worse. Her fingers and her ribs pulsated together in pain and ever second it would continue in rhythm getting worse and worse. Poppy had explained to a “half there” Alyss that it wasn’t “fair” that she ask her to stop.

While Alyss may have been a fairly tough individual, even she had her breaking point, and it wouldn’t be long now before she was pushed passed it. She was close enough as it was. Alyss wanted desperately to pass out, just so she wouldn’t have to feel anything for a while… but Poppy had done something to her. While she should have been out long ago, she obviously wasn’t now. It was almost as if she was being forced to stay awake, forced to endure this punishment that Poppy was handing her in Alyss’ own mirrored form.

A new vine had appeared from the ground, and curled itself around Alyss. What was she going to do, crush her with it? After a few seconds, she had realized that Poppy had something much worse in mind as large, thick, sharp vines sprung up around it. They touched her arms, her legs, her chest, her back but they had not pierced her. Normally, she would have struggled. However, normally she would have had the energy, the will and drive to want to escape. But not this time… Alyss was broken, and she feared it was only going to get worse from there.

Poppy smiled at her again, looking at Alyss with her own face. The feeling was as sickening as the concept was mocking. She licked some of the blood off of Alyss’ face but Alyss was too broken to even flinch. She just hung there, motionless as Poppy whispered in her ear, “Can you guess what this does? Shall we find out?”

In a flash the vine tore and punctured her skin like a razor blade. Once again Alyss screamed as her pain was amplified tenfold. The vines punctured her legs, back, arms, and chest effortlessly. All the while, Alyss screamed and screamed and her efforts to pull against the vines were pitiful as she no longer had the energy to even make half the effort. As she stopped screaming, her body just hung there, completely motionless. With her eyes filled with tears, her eye patch completely drenched with them, she tried to remain strong. “I-I-“, Alyss attempted to speak, but words were barely coming out. It came out as a broken, hardly audible whisper. “wi-ll… k-ki-ll yo-u.”

Her body was on fire. Even the blood in her veins seemed to be filled with gasoline. Breathing was painful, speaking was painful, crying was painful, everything hurt… This was so much worse than last time, and there still wasn’t any sign of her stopping. Alyss wanted to get out of here… she didn’t care how. Someone, anyone had to be around… surely someone could stop this… Or was she really all alone, destined to be tortured by Poppy until the day she died?
 
[OOC: This won't be permanent, I'm just...improvising a bit. xD]

Poppy frowned. She was such a naughty little girl. She tugged on her ear, giving her one more flash of agony to contend with. She'd scream her lungs raw at this point...was that even possible? Maybe Poppy would cut her open when she was finished, to find out. "You're silly. Dead people don't make other people dead, except in those scary movies." she shuddered, unabling to stop herself giggling. Of course, she wouldn't know that she should be dead by now, that she was only alive through Poppy's grace. She'd probably realise that just before Poppy's grace ran out.

She had been beating feebly on the vines with her free hand. If she kept doing that, she'd dislodge something and probably kill herself. She wasn't spoiling Poppy's fun. She took the girl's other arm in both hands, breaking it with a savage wrench. No more struggling.

Alarm bells suddenly started going off in Poppy's head then, quite suddenly. Someone else was here. In her forest. How? How had they breached her defenses? Anyone trying to break through the outer perimeter would have been suffocated by her plants, and she would have seen anyone who tried to fly in...fly in. Wasn't that a silly idea? Mysteries within mysteries. She needed to get some answers straight from the source. If it was a Knight, he'd be plant food. If it was a witch, she'd probably find herself strung up alongside her other pet...they were all so nasty. Poppy hadn't done anything to them. Why were they always attacking her? They couldn't even win...it was boring. Didn't they ever get bored? Why couldn't they try to kill each other instead, for a change?

Maybe she should go on the offensive. See how they liked it. Maybe later. First, she needed to make sure her other pet didn't go anywhere with that silly little teleportation trick of hers. No real way to do that...unless...

"You like darkness, don't you, pretty girl?" Poppy said then, thoughtfully. Of course, if this didn't work, she'd burn the girl's eyes out...but, well, life was full of these little moments of danger. She'd understand. Quite gently, she took her eyepatch off, looking thoughtfully at her eye. She quite liked her eyes. Maybe she'd alter her own to be like that - one pink, one green. There must be some combination of plants that would do that...

Placing her hand over both the girl's eyes, she drew upon the power of Light, refracting the light around her eyes, blocking it off. Vision was just a product of refracted light after all, and if Poppy rearranged her eyes a little bit, she shouldn't be able to see at all...or her vision might go upside-down, or in a pretty colour. She'd just have to turn it inwards, shutting all those funny mirrors in the eye (she didn't really know the specifics) off. Since she wasn't smoking, at least her eyes weren't burning out. This was awkward, but she didn't want to permanently damage her eyes. She needed to see again later on...this was just to stop her from doing anything stupid whilst Poppy went to see just who was brazen enough to walk around her garden. Whoever it was, they were going to pay.

Finally, she removed her hand, content with her handiwork. With the girl's vision, her other senses would only grow stronger...like her sense of pain.

"Don't go anywhere, pretty thing. I'll be back in a minute." she whispered in her ear - although to her, it must have sounded as though she shouted it...assuming she could even hear Poppy through the pain - and set off in the direction of the presence she had felt, the forest parting before her. She allowed the barrier of light she had set up to fade; after all, the girl couldn't teleport if she couldn't see. Maybe once Poppy came back, she'd have learned some manners.

---

Lily tumbled forward onto the grass, the impact unusually hard on her. She'd done it! All resistance had simply...vanished. That was odd. It was like the presence had vanished...she pulled herself to her feet, wincing - she hadn't fallen that hard, what was going on? - and took in the scene around her.

A gasp of horror escaped her mouth, hands swiftly covering it. In front of her was Alyss, bound and bloodied, her arm broken, her side a bloody mess, vines embedded into her skin and...pulsating, like something alive. She had to be dead...there was no way she could still be alive. Lily tentatively approached, footsteps muffled by the plants beneath her feet...she still ached. It had to have something to do with those plants. Still, she couldn't do anything about them with alerting Poppy...

...where was Poppy, anyway? She must have noticed Lily's arrival...was she lying in wait? Was this all a trap, designed to lure her in? Lily almost bolted there and then, when she saw the sudden rise and fall of Alyss' chest...she was still breathing. She must be in agony...how was Lily going to get her down. She let out a small sob, unable to help herself.

This is all my fault.

---

If I go in there with you, she'll kill us both. She's more than a match for you, my love. Heath thought it, but didn't say it...she had obviously made up her mind. If they were to die together, so be it...but then, if one died, a part of the other would die. Heath wouldn't wish that on Tristana. She had made her decision...he would just have to accept it.

"Go around the back, please. I need to see Garth, and see what is going on. Maybe if we co-ordinate the Knights, we'll be able to break through this...I'll join you as soon as I can. Be careful." Heath replied, getting out of the car. It was absolute pandemonium down there and, judging from the ambulance, the forest had decided to fight back when attacked. Still, Tristana was a witch, and she'd be sufficiently careful. Although Heath doubted she'd find a way in, or be able to make one...
 
[OOC: Oh, this should be good. :gasp:]

Even something a slight as Poppy tugging on her ear hurt more than it should. Though it was just a simple tug, it felt as if Poppy was attempting to rip her ear off. She had said something about Alyss being dead… what did she mean by that? She had little time to think about it as Poppy grabbed Alyss’ right arm with both her hands, and with another snap that seemed to echo almost as loudly as her screams did off the trees in Poppy’s makeshift forest.

This scream, however, was different. From her previous ones, her high pitched screams had made her throat sore. The sound of the scream from her broken arm sounded worse than those before it. It was almost as if it belonged to someone else as it sounded nothing like Alyss at all. As Alyss’ screams once again calmed (if one could call it that), Poppy reached up and took off her eye patch. It shouldn’t have been surprising at all as Alyss sobbed in fear. She couldn’t stand not having the patch over her eye. It bothered her terribly, and she was fragile enough at the moment as it was.

As soon as her patch was discarded, she placed a hand over her eyes. There was a slight light… and then there was nothing. She felt the hand being removed from her eyes, but she saw nothing when it was removed. Poppy had blinded her, the mere shutting off of her sight allowed her to hear much better… but feel so much worse. There wasn’t much of a scream at this point… Alyss was running out of those. She had successfully been broken, and there wasn’t very many pieces left to pick up.

Poppy said something in her ear, but Alyss couldn’t understand what was going on. She then walked away, leaving her prize there, broken, beaten, and battered. In just a few moments, Alyss had gone from fighting and winning, to complete and utter defeat. Strung up by vines with broken bones and pierced and flayed flesh, she had become a living monument to Poppy’s strength. Others would look upon Alyss strung up like a trophy and unable to see. And there she hanged, Alyss; Queen of the Headstrong Failures… a living monument, an example of what happened when you fought Poppy and lost.

Much like her bones, her spirit was broken. It was then she heard footsteps coming back up to her. It was probably Poppy out to continue Alyss’ punishment. Alyss tried to speak again, and every word not only hurt her physically, it damaged her tenfold mentally. “P-please,” she started, her voice shattered. “I gi…ive up… you w-win… kil-l me n-now. I… be-beg of you… j-just kill m-me now…”
 
[OOC: Poor Lily is going to have to deal with this, as well :rofl:
Poppy is going to be VERY angry when she finds her toy gone...]

“I gi…ive up… you w-win… kil-l me n-now. I… be-beg of you… j-just kill m-me now…”

Lily flinched, shocked that she would ask such a thing of her. How could she? It would be as though Lily were killing herself...she would be killing herself. She took another tentative step forward, yet this elicited no reaction, no recognition. It stung. Had Alyss forgotten about her already? Or had...had Poppy driven her insane? Tortured beyond all human endurance, she must have snapped entirely...tears streaked down her face. She took another step, then another, expecting her to start howling at any moment...yet, nothing.

Wait...she couldn't see her? But...how could that be? She was staring right at her...unseeing. Poppy had blinded her. How had she managed that? Had she used her powers to mess with Alyss' head, convincing her she couldn't see? Or was it something deeper than that? What had she done?! Alyss' face was stained with tears and dried blood, which had begun to run again, mixing together, dribbling down her cheek and onto her chest. Three of her fingers were twisted lumps, blackened like burned flesh; her other arm hanging at an odd angle...how was she even still alive?

Lily finally mustered up enough courage to step up in front of her, reaching up to lay a hand on her cheek. Alyss flinched away from her touch, and Lily recoiled in horror, her hand slick with tears and blood, her spirit a mirror to Alyss' broken image. All her fault, this was all her fault! She shouldn't have let her go off on her own! She should have stayed with her, kept her safe, away from everyone else. Yet Alyss had betrayed her...why did this always happen?

Lily touched the throbbing vine embedded in Alyss, immediately regretting it as something sharp pierced her skin, pumping something hot, like acid, into her hand. Shaking her hand to clear the stinging - without much success, as it spread quickly up her arm, leaving a horrible ache in her arm, Lily summoned forth her shadows, destroying the vine. Blood gushed forth from the wounds, pouring over Lily's skirt, white hot and...oddly discoloured, not as thick as it should have been. She winced as Alyss screamed in response, and quickly sent shadows pouring into the wounds much as she had done before, sealing them over, large black bubbles forming over her skin. For the fingers and arm, she could do nothing...not when she couldn't see what she was doing. Sending shadows running up through Alyss' body would probably kill her...she needed time to rest, time to heal. She could do nothing for her broken ribs without cutting her open, either...what was she going to do? Did it matter? Could anyone come back from this? It seemed impossible...no, Alyss was going to die, right in front of her, and there wasn't a thing she could do about it.

"You stupid, stupid idiot!" she bawled then, hands curling into fists, her feet giving out from under her, flower petals scattering in all directions as she collapsed to the ground. "You knew you were no match for her. You knew it. Yet still you came here. You let her do this to you. Why? Tell me why?!"
 
[OOC: She’ll be even more pissed now that she’s been robbed of her prize a second time. :wacky:]

More steps toward her… slow moving steps. Poppy must have been thinking of her next move. What was taking her so long? Why did she not answer Alyss with a taunt like she normally would? Poppy was in front of her now. She had reached up to touch Alyss’ face, but Alyss flinched away; a desperate attempt to get away, even though escape was impossible. Yet, she still said nothing; she didn’t even do anything… what was going on? Was Poppy attempting to toy with her in a different way?

The vine that was currently piercing Alyss’ flesh had moved. It was light; too light… something wasn’t right. Her shattered thought process was interrupted as the vine was destroyed, the thorns ripped from her flesh causing her to scream out again. Then, her wounds started to close up… much like before at Lily’s house. Wait… it was exactly like what had happened at Lily’s house.

Then as if to confirm her suspicions, she heard Lily’s voice screaming. It really was her. If she hadn’t have used her powers to heal the wounds, she would have assumed it to be another trick… but it had to have been Lily, there was no other explanation. Poppy couldn’t use those powers, Lily had come back! There was a slight smile; a broken smile that appeared on Alyss’ face. “V-ve-e-ery so-sor-ry, Lily. I-I ha-had to st-st-sto-st-op her.” She wanted to say more, but speaking was hurting her too much.

There was a lot she wanted to say to her, actually. Most she couldn’t remember, but none she could currently say. “S-so tired… it h-hurts, Li-Lily… so m-much.”
 
[OOC: In a way, she's suffering more than anyone else, from all this frustration. xD
...or not :tehe:]

"Sorry? You just entered a battle you knew you'd never win, got tortured, and you say you're sorry?!" Lily half-gasped, half-shrieked the words, not even caring if Poppy found her. She might as well tie her up next to Alyss; she couldn't possibly feel any more hopeless, any more wretched, than she did right now. It was as though her heart had been ripped from her chest...the pain, seeing Alyss here like this, it went beyond the physical. It cut her to her very soul, leaving her bereft, stripped of what pitiful defences she had and left her a complete wreck, "You have no idea...no idea..."

She couldn't finish. Words failed her. Alyss had always been so calculated, so logical. What was she doing?! This had to be Lily's fault...she had driven her to this. Infected her, with her presence, with her corrupted soul. She had warned Alyss that this would happen. She hadn't paid her the slightest bit of attention...and now look where she was. Tied up, bleeding out, so close to death as to be little more than a corpse with a heartbeat.

...yet, there was something else. Anger. So alien that Lily didn't even recognise it until just then. She was furious. At Poppy, for doing this to Alyss, at Alyss, for being so utterly STUPID, and at herself, for causing all of this. She was so angry that she could almost taste it, bitter and metallic on her tongue. It was foul. She wanted to spit, to cut out her own tongue, just to get rid of it. It was too much to take...

The throbbing in her arm was getting worse, spreading up to her shoulder. Whatever that plant had put into her, it was spreading...and Lily could guess what the end result would be. She needed to get out of here, and fast. Get out of here, and figure out what to do next...but, what about Alyss? In her anger, she had forgotten the whole reason she had come here in the first place.

"I should leave you here." she shocked herself with her words, yet at this point, she was beyond caring at what Alyss thought about her...or perhaps, she needed to get her to realise, needed her to see that Lily, that all of this, wasn't worth it. The only way for her to see that was for Lily to say exactly what she was thinking. "I can't believe you'd do this. Why? Why do you keep doing this to yourself? To me?" she gasped, losing her composure again. Shadows swarmed around her wildly, urgently...Poppy would be coming back any second, surely, and then she'd kill them both.

But, no. She would have an answer. She couldn't take any more of this...she needed to know why.
 
Alyss panicked at the threat that Lily made to leave her there. That was the last thing in the world that she wanted. To be left there for Poppy right after she assumed that Lily was going to set her free scared her more than anything in the world right now. “N-no… Please, d-do not lea-ve m-me here,” a fresh tear just appeared in her eye. She was scared enough as it was, and now that salvation was so close… but so angry and now threatening to leave her, coupled on with the pain of speaking… she was sure she was going to die of a panic attack.

“I-I truly tho-thought I could… win th-this time. I w-was so an-angry, Lily… I wan-wanted her dead s-so badly… ne-never been s-so angry in my li-life.” It was the truth. Her logic took a backseat to just how angry she was before. All she could think about was killing Poppy and getting her revenge. She had even been silly enough to take Poppy on inside of a forest. Alyss, by all means, had been careless… and for the first time since she killed her Mother, she let maliciousness get the best of her.

The whole situation was unlike her. She mocked and laughed at Poppy when she had hit her earlier, like a cat would play with its food. A bloodlust came over her like never before. If she had approached the situation with even a little bit of tact, she could have done something about it. Yet, she let anger get the best of her… and look where it got her.

That added on with the fact that she felt as if Poppy really needed to be stopped. When she turned on that television and saw no one was trying to stop Poppy, she felt obligated to try. Then when she saw the bodies… she felt even more so. “H-had to st-stop her, L-Lily. Wa-was not strong enou-enough…”, every word was cutting into her. It was getting really painful to keep going. Alyss coughed for a brief few seconds, causing blood to come back up on her lips. “I-I am sorry t-that I hurt you… I on-only wanted to he-help.”
 
"Help? How could your death possibly help anything?!" Lily shrieked, losing her patience entirely. She had been so blind with rage that she had almost gotten herself killed! This was not the rational Alyss that she knew; no, in her place was...what? A creature of pure instinct, letting one emotion rule her life...like me. She's just like me.

"What...what do you think I'd do, if I lost you? Did you even stop to consider that? Of course not. You were in such a hurry to die and get rid of me!" Lily was crying now, out of the pain in her arm as much as the hurt she was feeling inside.

She was being very, very hypocritical. She knew this, and Alyss probably knew that as well, that her words were aimed as much at herself as they were at Alyss. But...that wasn't the point. If Alyss knew her - really knew her - then she wouldn't have run off, have put them both in this situation. Because, whether they liked it or not, they were bound together. They may have been apart, but...they were never truly apart. What one did affected the other in ways neither of them could really comprehend. How could she not have realised this? Lily couldn't share Alyss' physical pain...but Alyss couldn't share her spiritual pain, either. But it was a perfect mirror image...much like their lives, and the thoughts and feelings that drove them. Thoughts and feelings that were inexplicably wound together...and right now, Lily was hurting more than she thought possible. She couldn't be blind to that...

"You made me a promise. Remember? Never to betray me, never to hurt me...why were you in such a hurry to break it? To break me?" she choked, wiping at her eyes with her good hand. Her other arm was going numb...
 
She was right… completely right. What had Alyss thought she was doing? Yes, Alyss thought that she could take down Poppy. But in the middle of a forest, surely she knew better than that? But the thing was, she didn’t. She did nothing but put herself in danger. What happened to her? The whole situation wasn’t like her. What part of fighting the Nature Witch in the middle of a forest was logical? No part of it, that’s what. Now to make matters even worse, Lily was upset, and it was Alyss’ fault.

Alyss had to set things right… she couldn’t keep attempting to justify her actions. But one part of Lily’s words stung… because Alyss believed the opposite. “I wa-was not tr-trying to g-get rid o-of you,” Alyss yelled. Or, it would have been a yell if she was capable of doing so. “Y-you left m-me… ‘ju-just like ev-every-o-one else’, w-was that it? I d-did not thin-“, there was a gasp for air as Alyss continued trying to speak. “I did n-not think you wa-wanted to se… see me again… B-but you a-are ri-right… I was foo-foolish.”

She really hated having to hear Lily like this… but it was all her fault anyway. Even though Alyss couldn’t see, her eyes were wide open as she spoke. “I w-will not hu-hurt you again, and I-I will ne-never betray you…”, she said as directly as she could. There was another cough of blood as she continued. “I pr-promise… Now ple-please, we mu-must get out of he-here before s-she comes back… or we c…can stay here… and you ca-can die along wi-with me… ta-take your p-pick…” Alyss wasn’t trying to be mean to her, but they couldn’t have too much time left before Poppy came back.

“I-I am sorry… I w-will not bre-break my pro-promise again… be-been a fool, I-I have. I am s-so sorry, Ner-“, she tried to say Lily’s name… but couldn’t. She was done… Alyss took a deep breath as her head slumped back down towards the ground. She wasn’t unconscious… yet, but she was getting there. Her body jerked out in pain on its own. There were more coughs, bloodier than those before. After her body quit moving, she just hung there, limp and motionless, looking at the ground. “T-thank you… fo-for not leaving m-me…I on-only wish I cou-could say the same for my-myself..."
 
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"What did you expect me to do?! Sit there and let your Knight friend cut me in half?" Lily shrieked again, shocked that she'd actually accuse Lily of abandoning her. Lily had run away, but at least she hadn't run straight into the arms of a murderous psychopath and gotten herself mutilated. "I can't take this! No more Knights! No more Witches! All I wanted was-" she cut herself off, turning away. Why should she explain herself?

Oh, and now she was worried about Lily dying! "I-I don't care about d-dying anymore. I-It'd be b-better than l-living with...this." she sobbed, inwardly startled by how true that was. Death would have been preferable to this...death was preferable to this. Perhaps she should have granted Alyss' wish, and put her out of her misery...it wasn't like what Lily wanted mattered to anyone. She'd just go on, whilst Alyss left her behind. Just like everyone else left her behind. It appeared that, for Alyss as well, words were just words. Easily spoken, seductive, but ultimately worthless. It wasn't the connection they shared that hurt Lily, it was how callously Alyss had ignored it...ignored her. She was trying, she really was. It just wasn't good enough. Nothing she did was ever good enough.

She had even sided with Knights over Lily...why had she even come back? Things had been so much simpler when she was by herself. But, could she really say that? At least now she knew who was out to kill, and wasn't jumping at every shadow that existed. Her control was still fragile, and limited to wishing and praying the shadows responded, but they seemed to, if she wanted something badly enough. But then, it was starting to get darker...what would happen when it was dark? She shuddered, suddenly freezing.

Alyss looked to be falling unconscious (finally, she shouldn't even have been conscious when Lily had arrived) yet she should have been getting stronger...what was going on? Maybe it had something to do with these flowers...Lily needed to get her out of here, so she could heal. There must be something in the air amplifying pain; it was certainly doing so for Lily, but there was nothing she could do about that at the moment. She sighed, moving closer to Alyss, but not touching her. She had made it perfectly clear how she felt about that. "Fine. I'll help you...but then I'm gone. For good. I...I can't do this anymore. I just can't."

So said, Lily called upon the shadows, which were flickering in alarm around her. There wasn't even a sign of Poppy...what had she been doing? Was Lily really going to get away with this? It seemed improbable...but she wouldn't know until she tried. Time to ask. Or, rather, beg, because if this didn't work, she was out of options.

Get us out of here. Please. Take us home.

Shadows swarmed over them both and, moments later, the clearing stood empty.
 
Alyss really had gone and done it now, Lily hated her… she had to. Lily was under the assumption that Alyss was out to get her; that she was lying and wanted to harm her. Alyss kept trying to explain that it wasn’t like that at all. She would never wish any harm on Lily, yet Lily wasn’t having any of it, not for a second. Why was this so damned difficult? Alyss had explained herself the best she could! She was pouring her heart out and trying ever so hard and Lily just wouldn’t listen. Lily had even said she was going to go away… and she really would be leaving Alyss alone after that…

It was then that Alyss felt the shadows again. It was a very familiar feeling, much like when she was teleported to Lily’s home the first time. She could very much feel something was different… her pain felt normal, as if it was just normal pain that wasn’t amplified in the slightest. It all still hurt, of course, but it wasn’t as bad as before… and that meant a lot. Lying on the ground, Alyss still couldn’t see anything, but she felt… rain? It must have been raining on the outside; it never showed inside of Poppy’s forest.

The rain felt so refreshing, so good. Even though it felt so good, Alyss still felt her consciousness slipping away from her. But… she had so much more to say, and yet her mind was becoming more clouded. Alyss tried to speak, but only small broken sounds escaped from her lips. She was attempting to clear her mind, but she was far past her breaking point. It wouldn’t be long before she felt into unconsciousness now. Still fighting it, Alyss said something… but it was so quiet that one wouldn’t be surprised if Lily couldn’t make it out. “S-so… so-sorry, L-Lily… fo…rgiv…e m-me... pl-plea…se? Did n-not mean t-to… I-I-I shoul…d not ha-have don-done that…”

She didn’t know what she was saying. Even though she meant the words she said, she couldn’t make out what it was that she said. She was going through shock… her body was shaking and her heart was beating at a million beats a second. With her good arm with bad fingers, she reached out to touch Lily, to see if she was still there, but she couldn’t see her… couldn’t find her. Alyss’ mental process was long gone as she simply assumed that Lily had left her. She had grown tired of Alyss’ coldness, her need to keep people away… “Ple-please, co-come back…”, Alyss said, now in tears again. “I-I am sorry… s-so sorry… p-please… do not le-leave… co-come ba-back… Please… come back…” Alyss' voice had become even quieter than before as she begged and pleaded for Lily not to leave.
 
[OOC: Might need to wait for DeeArr, Meddy and Squid to catch up with us soon. xD]

This wasn't home. Lily landed hard again, head colliding with a brick wall, lights exploding behind her eyes. Wincing, she opened her eyes, to find herself in a disused, thoroughly grungy alleyway between two apartment complexes. It was raining, a soft, steady drizzle, the kind that somehow managed to seep through to your skin whilst leaving the rest of you relatively dry. Lily shuddered, looking around frantically for Alyss - where was she? Why hadn't they been transported to her home? Even her own powers were betraying her. She breathed a small sigh of relief as she spotted Alyss, little more than a lump on the ground, lying a few feet away. At least, they hadn't catapulted her off somewhere else...

Pulling herself up off the ground was more difficult than it should have been - the pain was gone, yet her left arm was hanging at her side, useless. There seemed to be no outward signs of injury...other than the gash on her finger where the vine had pricked her. Alyss had had that vine inside her. If such a brief contact could make Lily's arm useless, what was it doing to her? What happened...when whatever it was started to spread? Was it just meant to cause paralysis? Would it wear off in time? Or...was it something more sinister, something infinitely more lethal? Lily was willing to bet it was the latter, which meant that she might join Alyss in her state of near-death sooner than she had anticipated...did she have minutes, or hours? There was no way to tell. In the meantime, she needed to figure out how to get Alyss home...she didn't dare try calling upon her shadows again. They had failed her, and left her stranded...here. Where was here, anyway--

Terror, the likes of which she had never felt before, washed over Lily then, chilling her to the bone far more effectively than the rain ever could, as she realised exactly where she was. It had been here. Here that Lily had lost her mother, had her life ruined forever, had gone through what no person could endure without permanent scarring, and Alyss - oh, Alyss - she was lying in exactly the same spot Lily had, all those years ago. Battered, broken, and mere inches from death. Why? Why had she been deposited here, of all places? She never wanted to come back here!

Lily almost bolted, there and then. She couldn't go through this again. She couldn't lose the one person most important, most precious to her, like this. Not again. She was calling for her, mumbling something incoherent, mangled hand reaching out...just as Lily had for her mother, who had abandoned her when she needed her the most. Lily's anger evaporated. She was calling...for her. She needed her. She couldn't run away from this. She couldn't desert Alyss when she needed her the most...she couldn't let her go through what she had. Nobody deserved that, least of all Alyss. No matter how Lily felt about, she wouldn't let this happen again.

She knelt down beside her, looking into those sightless eyes. The rain was turning into a downpour, soaking through her clothing to her skin, leaving her clammy and ice cold as death itself. Woodenly, each movement a struggle against the paralysis of fear, Lily took her arm by the wrist, gripping it for a moment, before grabbing her own other, now useless arm and placing it into her sleeve, underneath her arm. It would probably tear through her sleeve eventually, but Lily needed that extra purchase, or this would never work. With her good arm, she took a firm hold on her useless arm, interlacing the fingers, giving her a firm grip on Alyss' arm, just above the elbow.

"This is going to hurt." she said between gritted teeth. Bracing herself for the screams to come, Lily began dragging Alyss out of the alleyway by her good arm, trying to keep her broken fingers up, yet unable to do anything for her broken arm or ribs. Progress was torturously slow; Alyss was almost foot taller than she was, and much heavier as a result. She couldn't stand, and Lily definetely couldn't try forcing her up...she was just too heavy for her. Dragging her was the only way to move her, and Lily wasn't physically strong to begin with. If there was any mercy left, Alyss would pass out, but Lily doubted that would happen...surely she would have already, if she could. But hopefully, this was pain she could endure, now that they were out of range of Poppy's flowers...her house wasn't far from here, and at this time of day, there shouldn't be too many people around. But, come rush-hour, when people started leaving for work...Lily needed to get her inside, as quickly as she could.

Lily kept her eyes fixed firmly in front of her, trying as hard as she could not to give into the sudden claustrophobia she was experiencing. That had been years ago. She was past it now. She had changed. She had changed. She wasn't going to let it control her anymore, not with Alyss in much the same position she had been in. No, things were going to be different this time. They had to be different...
 
Tristana paced around the forest. The vines didn't lash at her...yet. Did Poppy know she was there? Could she tell? It wouldn't surprise her in the slightest.That girl had always been resourceful, even as a child.

"Ugh." There was no entry. It was as she'd predicted. The little bitch had blocked off every entrance. Nobody was getting in or out without Poppy's express allowance or a power that bypassed her own magical barriers.

And they were trying to send knights in there? Shaking her head in frustration, she looked at all the Knights, news reporters, and observers nearby. No doubt the attempt to get in were out of sight at the back entrance of the park, away from the prying cameras and reporters.

Well, she had to inform them of the danger of their attempts to get in, and there was only one way to do that. To contact Heath, who was lost amidst the crowd of other people.

Well, that was easily rectified.

A deep inhalation of breath as she wiped her lips, mouth opening as she put all that air to good use.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEATH!"
 
[OOC: Damn... I kind of got a tear in my eye when I wrote this... Wait, no I didn't, it was the rain. IT WAS THE RAIN, DAMN IT. :rage:]



Someone was there… it was Lily. Was it Lily? It had to have been. Who else could it have been? Lily was doing something, but Alyss could make out what. She was folding Alyss’ arms. While it wouldn’t have been so bad if it were just her good arm, she was moving her bad one as well. It hurt, of course… all of it did. Lily even mentioned something about it hurting… but Alyss was in too much pain and too tired to make out what she had just said.

Alyss wanted to see Lily… to see if she was alright, but she couldn’t. She was still blinded, and for all anyone knew it would be permanently. It wasn’t fair… her eyes were what her Father loved most about her. He would always complement them, and tell her how special she was for having them. Even though her Mother would tear her down because of them… she held her Father’s opinion in a higher light… and still she covered them. And now they were useless; good for nothing… Just as Alyss had been when she fought against Poppy.

Even her name, the one that the Horned King made her true name was given to her by her Father. He had come home late one evening and he smelled of beer. He kept attempting to speak to her, but he couldn’t form words properly… Instead of saying her name he said “Natulcien” in response. The next morning, she had made fun of him for that, and he made it her nickname. It stuck… for years it stuck, and she had enjoyed it. Even on his deathbed he called her that… It meant everything to her, and it was yet another thing her Mother was never able to grasp about their relationship… And Alyss gave it to Lily… but Lily didn’t know what all it meant to her. If she lived through this, she would let her know… she really had given Lily everything she held dear.

There was another scream as Lily began dragging her across the ground. Every inch of it caused Alyss to scream out in pain. Her broken ribs slid across the ground, erupting in more pain. However, her screams didn’t last too long, for that was finally it for Alyss. Her screams stopped just as quickly as they had begun as she passed out. It was over; that was it; Alyss was done. Before Alyss’ body gave out, she tried to say something, but whatever it was got lost. The last sounds that came out of Alyss’ mouth were her screaming and a pathetic moan as unconsciousness finally overtook her.
 
[OOC: Nobody gets a break in this Ar Pee, do they? xD]

Heath arrived just in time to see a group of Fire Knights attack the barrier. Combining their powers in quite an impressive display of strength, they managed to cut a path through. Triumphant, one rushed through the opening...and was promptly cut apart by vines, which shot out from all sides and into him, punching through his armour like paper and raising his corpse into the air, before tossing it aside, closing up the gap. Heath yelped and ducked as the unfortunate man's remains torso were catapulted backwards, showering those nearby with gore and nearly knocking him to the ground as it landed next to him. Garth strode up to the shocked group then, absolutely furious;

"I said to stay away from the barrier, you fucking idiots!" he shouted, his voice carrying even over the noise. Heath flinched. He hadn't heard his friend swear like that for years. Garth didn't get angry very often, but when he did...

"We have no idea of what we're dealing with here! We've already lost seven of the best Fire Knights we had, and you morons just lost a member of your own fucking team! Damned rookies! You do what I say, when I say it, and anything else and that barrier will be the last thing on your mind! Do we understand one another?!"

Seven? Heath blanched. This was bad...the Fire Knights he knew of could easily best him in a swordfight, and with their powers combined, they'd be able to create a small supernova that would probably put even Crimson to shame. He moved to stand beside Garth after he had dismissed the Fire Knights, waiting for a few seconds before speaking;

"How bad is it, really?"

Garth whirled, anger on every line of his face, anger that didn't diminish when he saw it was Heath talking to him, "Where the hell have you been? We need every able-bodied Knight we can get out here. This is getting out of control. The media are asking far too many questions and I'm running out of plausible excuses, our casualties are racking up every time we try and break in, and there were at least three-hundred people in that park, of whom are unaccounted for. This is an absolute fucking disaster, Heath!"

"Calm down, please. We can work this out together, just like we always have-"

"You don't understand!" Garth said then, and Heath was shocked to hear the despair in his voice, "I'm unofficially leading the operation, since I'm the senior Nature Knight here, but this...this goes beyond anything I could have dreamed of. This entire forest is alive, Heath. Bugger the bloody Nature Witch, we've got Nature itself to contend with here! I tell you this now, every Nature Knight in the Order, even working together, wouldn't be able to duplicate this. And all I have to work with are a bunch of rookies!"

Heath thought for a moment, "We can't assault this...it'll be a war of attrition, and Poppy has infinite resources to call upon here. We need to draw her out somehow. This is obviously a trap...she's just waiting for someone to spring it. Probably another Witch." Hopefully me or Tristana, because if that's the case, we can all work together...but that seems unlikely, because if she knew her big sister was here, she wouldn't have laid that trail of breadcrumbs for her to follow...

"Another Witch? How many of them are in this damned city? What do you know about this, Heath? You need to tell me, now." Garth was instantly on the offensive, and Heath flinched back from his friend. That wasn't smart. If Garth found out that he had been working with Witches...well, how would his old friend take it? Not very well at all. Heath would be lucky to keep his head. No, he needed to keep his involvement as quiet as possible...

"There are other Witches in the city, besides the Nature Witch. That I know of, three. I think there is some kind of...convergence going on. Evidently their God is tired of waiting for them to do whatever it is they have to do." he said carefully, watching his friend for a reaction.

Garth stared at him a moment, wide-eyed. "Fucking hell. You have got to be kidding me...and they've put me in charge of this operation? A Witch battle? We need the entire bloody Order for this, Heath. If this is just the beginning, there won't be much of London - or even England - left when its done."

"I know." Heath replied quietly, his friend's unease rubbing off on him more than he'd care to admit, "But I think that-"

At that precise moment, coming somewhere from amongst the crowd of media officials, policemen, curious civilians and frantic Knights trying to keep them all away from the scene: "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEATH!"

Tristana, your timing could not possibly be any worse...

---

Ah, there she was. A young girl - perhaps a few years younger than Poppy herself -lost, clearly afraid, but...not entirely there. That was Poppy's first thought, as she watched her stumble along the overgrown path. What was with this girl? Was she on a picnic? A picnic, and Poppy hadn't been invited. That wasn't very nice.

Poppy felt her toy's disappearance then. One moment, she was there...the next, gone. Meaning she was either dead, or had been taken away. Poppy hadn't miscalculated at all. That vine she had stuck in the girl would have kept her alive even after all the blood left her body, which wouldn't have happened for days, since she had all but stopped the flow. Meaning someone had somehow snuck in and taken her away. The thought annoyed her. My toy. They've stolen my toy. Again.

It had to have been Lily, but...how was that possible? She had been killed. Her powers had been stolen. She had left her pretty thing blinded and crippled. Anyone other than Poppy removing that vine would result in her entire body slowly shutting down, and she couldn't have done it by herself...she was far too weak, and blind besides. What was going on?!

So, this had been a distraction. Throw this one to the wolves, whilst her toy escaped. Well, the wolves were angry. VERY angry. But a meal was a meal, and if they thought a single Witch could overcome Poppy, regardless of how powerful she was, they were in for a very nasty surprise. Entering the woods alone was dangerous. Especially when those woods didn't belong to you.

"This is my garden. You weren't invited." she said coldly, stepping out from the shadows and in front of the intruder. If she tried to attack - because she had to be a Witch, after all, how else would she have gotten in here? - then Poppy would eviscerate her on the spot. Her fun had been spoiled one too many times today. This was her garden, and they followed her rules. Or they paid for it. Black flowers bloomed as she spoke, grasses rustling with the movement of roots. Unless she gave Poppy a very, very good reason not to, her life was ending right here and now.

---

As Lily had predicted, the screams were awful. With each scream, a flash of memory: her mother, lying battered and broken on the ground. Weight, impossibly heavy, atop her, crushing her. Burning between her thighs, as though the very core of her being was being infected. Laughter. Male. Giggling. Poppy. The acid taste in her mouth...the memory of how angry her mother would be, when she saw the state of Lily's clothes...she was always annoyed when she got them dirty, although it was a gentle kind of irritation. After all, wear-and-tear was unavoidable, and it was a mother's duty to take care of every need of her daughter, she had always said...

She had held her mother's hand unusually tightly that day. The game hadn't gone well, and Lily was feeling badly about it...it was her fault. She had let the entire team down. Yet holding her mother's hand, all that unhappiness had gone away...she felt bad about it, as though she was transferring all her misery to her mother, but somehow, she made it alright. She would take it in and make it go away, filling Lily with warmth and happiness instead. It was what mother's did, she would say, flashing her a wink and gripping her hand all the tighter, as if to re-confirm that it was, indeed, within her power to do so.

She had never had that feeling again, not since her mother died. She knew that it was gone, and that she would forever feel as though her very existence was a waste of space, a failure. All her love, all her warmth and happiness...it had died in this alleyway, first with her mother, and now possibly again, with Alyss. She was worthless. Yet even worthless people like Lily...even they had to stand up some time, and try to move on with their lives as best they could. Trying was what mattered. So she would try now. Try and give that feeling her mother gave her to someone else, even if it left her empty, a broken, miserable, pathetic thing. She would do it even if it killed her.

Out of the alley. The shadows were still covering Alyss' open wounds, yet they didn't seem to be healing at all...was it too late? Alyss was still breathing, yet it was shallow, barely detectable as Lily dragged her across the road, praying that no cars would come. She was covered in grime, blood, and chilling rainwater. She'd be so angry that her clothing was ruined...

Up the stairs leading to the front door - bang - bang - bang - each collision a jolt to Lily's own ribs, which ached in sympathy, although Alyss had since passed out from the pain. Good. At least she, unlike Lily, wouldn't wake up in the hospital with a man who would be forever closed to her. She fumbled with the pocket of her shirt for the key she always kept in there, letting go of Alyss for the moment, her limp arm hanging uselessly from her side, her other hand bitter cold and stinging. Finally, she managed to get the key in the door, pushing it weakly open, dragging Alyss through the doorway by the neck of her shirt. Lily herself was close to passing out now...but no, she couldn't afford to. She needed to get Alyss inside, to stabilise her somehow. She didn't have a lot of time left and, now that she had passed out, Lily could try healing her broken bones...if the shadows even responded to her.
 
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Tristana stormed up to Heath, completely ignoring Garth and every other Knight in the vicinity, before glaring at him and speaking.

"Look here Knight Boy. You have to call off the assault on that forest. Poppy has full control of that thing. It's alive. It's sentient. It's hers. If you push too hard, she'll punish you, and you know what her punishment is."

Only now did she turn her attention to Garth. "Didn't you hear me, you strange little man?! Call off the siege before you're sending home your men in caskets!" she hissed aggressively.

"Also." She clicked her fingers in Garth's face. "I need a place where I can work. I'll be treating the wounded and afflicted while this operation continues. Your objections are unwanted. I don't care what you have to say. Now find me a place to work."

"And you!" Tristana returned her attention to Heath again. "Get me a first aid kit, some swabs, and as much water as you can hold with those scrawny arms."

OOC: Only had the energy to do one character, and I figured Trist needed it more than Freya. Just continue as normal and a Freya post will be out after I sleep.
 
Alyss was in her old house back before she burned it down. How was that possible? How had she even gotten here, and why was she able to walk… and see? She was sitting on her Father’s old recliner that he would often fall asleep in when he got back home from work. None of this was possible in the slightest. She shouldn’t have been there. She should have been back with Lily… who now had to deal with Alyss’ mangled form for the second time. Alyss smiled for a brief few seconds. She owed Lily a lot. In all reality, she was probably putting more of a strain on her than she had done to herself.

If she had just waited at the café, she could have just explained everything to Lily and ran off with her. But instead, she went off to fight Poppy again out of spite. She could attempt to justify how it was for “the greater good” all she wanted, but Alyss knew better. Fighting Poppy had come out of nothing but anger, malice, and spite. Alyss sighed as she placed her hand on her head. Her fingers weren’t broken anymore, nor was her arm. In fact, she had her typical clothes on as well; a formal black suit with the jacket and everything.

Even though she couldn’t make out what was going on, she really didn’t care. It was better than the alternative of being in extraordinary amounts of pain. “How could have I been so stupid?” She hated herself for that. It bothered her almost as much as the pain had. “That is because you are stupid,” a voice had said. It was a familiar voice, and it caused Alyss to jump out of her Father’s chair and look behind it. Just as she suspected, her Father was standing behind the chair.

Her Father was a tall man, and he held himself rather highly. From his stance, to his clothing, he just… seemed to be always so formal. He wore suits all the time, which is where Alyss got it from. She altered so much of herself to be more like him... he was the only decent human being that she had ever really known. At least, that was the case until she met Lily. “F-Father… is that really you?” She couldn’t believe her eyes… How was it that her Father came to be standing there?

“What is my daughter doing with an eye patch? Where did her logic go? This is not the daughter I raised.” His words stung, and they stung harshly. Her Father had never spoken to her like that before. “I-I am sorry, Father… I lost track of myself.”She hung her head low as Nathanial walked over to his chair and sat in it, looking up at her. “Clearly,” was his only reply. This had to have been some kind of sick joke. Her Father was dead, this house was burned to the ground, and… none of it made any sense anymore. “Am I… am I dead,” Alyss asked.

There was a cold mocking laughter coming from her Father as she asked it. “Do not be so stupid. Are you really my daughter? I do not remember you being so… dull.” Why was he speaking to her like this? This wasn’t like him at all. “Father, you have never been harsh with me a day in your life… why are you being so cruel now?” He stood up from his chair and walked directly in front of her. She had forgotten just how tall he was… He practically towered over her. “Perhaps I should have been cruel, Alyss. Perhaps then, I could have raised a daughter with some backbone, a daughter that didn’t get angry and storm off towards certain death because of the simple fact that she lost a scuffle with another girl!” The back of his hand came out of nowhere as he slapped Alyss across the face.

She fell to the ground and clutched her face as she started crying. This wasn’t like him at all… this was not her Father… it couldn’t have been. “F-father, you have no idea what I endured after you died. Years of… that woman I was forced to call Mother doing awful things to me. I fixed that problem… and I lived on my own ever since. I do have ba-“ Wait… something really wasn’t right here… not at all. “You said ‘didn’t’.”

He scoffed at her, “The point of that being?” Alyss got to her feet and looked the imposter in the eye. “My Father never once used a shortened word in his life! He would never say ‘didn’t’, and you clearly just said ‘didn’t’! He loved the English language and he considered words like ‘didn’t’ to be almost evil. He would go on and on for ages about how I should not use those words because they were improper. My Father was a hardcore grammar fiend and he would never, ever, say ‘didn’t’!”

Just as soon as she finished her sentence the man in front of her wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. It wasn’t a bear hug, or anything else that was meant to be harmful… it was a hug… just a hug. “I am so sorry, Natulcien.” It had come so suddenly that she didn’t quite know what to make of it. “Even though I hate those words, dear… I had to swallow my pride and use one just so I could make you see that throwing out deductive reasoning because you are angry is not the way to go about doing anything. I raised you better than that… you are better than that.”

She barely heard a word he had said. It was her Father… it was Nathaniel. “Did you have to slap me and call me names too?” There was a slight laugh as her head rested on his chest. “Well… I had to be dramatic and all. Hurting you hurt almost as much as saying ‘didn’t’.” There was a slight pause as he released her… and then they both burst out laughing until they fell into tears. “Almost?!” Alyss couldn’t stop laughing, she had forgotten about how much he joked around. Shortly afterwards, Alyss couldn’t help but ask. “I am dead… right? I must have bled to death… or something.”

Her Father placed his hand on her head. “No, you are not dead, Alyss. You are simply dreaming… you will wake up soon, and I will warn you now; it is going to hurt.” Alyss shivered at the thought of it. She knew it was too good to be true. “I have missed you, you know,” said Alyss, a slight smile on her face as she looked up at him. “I have missed you too… I am sorry that I left you so soon. Leaving you alone with your Mother was never what I had planned. You were supposed to go off and live in one of those castles we spoke about when you were little. You remember, in those stories I used to tell you as a kid when I put you to bed?”

Alyss remembered, she remembered all too well. When she would go to bed at night, he would come in and read her stories. Sometimes out of books… sometimes he would simply make them up as he went along. Though, it was always a sight when she would see him getting annoyed at the use of words such as “couldn’t” in a book. You could always tell when he stumbled over one because of the look on his face. It was usually as entertaining as the book itself.

“I never did get that chance though… so sorry, Alyss. But look at you now… so tough, so strong, so… eye patch-y.” They both laughed at that. “It became somewhat of a habit, Father. Mother made me start covering it up, she said she could not stand the look of it.” He smiled at her, “are you going to let me see those eyes one last time?” One last time… that hurt to hear. She didn’t speak as she did so, but she slowly took her eye patch off, exposing her eyes to her Father. “I do not know where you got those eyes… if I did not know any better, I would swear your Mother cheated on me,” he laughed.

Alyss laughed along with him. “And what is this with this Lily person? She seems nice.” Alyss frowned for a bit. “She is nice, Father. I kind of see a lot of me in her. But, I think she hates me,” she said. “I would not say that she hates you… angry, perhaps… but not hateful. I mean, after all, you did almost get yourself killed two times in a row. I would imagine most people would be somewhat angry when you foolhardily jump into a situation like that without a doubt in your mind.”

“Well, I also keep trying to be so nice… but I do not think my efforts are noticed. She is so… distant. And I know it is silly of me to complain about that because I am also distant, but I am not used to being the one making the effort.”

He laughed again, “now you know how everyone else feels when they try to speak to you, my dear. Perhaps… you should not try so hard. She sees that, you know? She sees it and she begins to think that she is a burden. You cannot force being nice, you have to let it come naturally. Though, you always had problems being nice to other people, from what I remember…”

Now it was Alyss that laughed. “Quit picking on me, Father.” She couldn’t quit saying “Father”… it felt so good to finally say… even if it were just a dream. “I will try…”, there was a pause as her Father looked at her sternly. “No, I will… let it come naturally. I cannot force it.” Suddenly, the room seemed to slowly start to vanish. “We do not have much time left, Natulcien. So, before we go, allow me to give you some words of wisdom… like in those books I used to read to you. Do not wash red clothes with white… trust me, just do not do it. Never drink and drive, and lastly: Always remember… that you are my daughter, and I will always love you, even when you do make mistakes. I am proud of you, and the woman that you have become.”

Alyss was in tears, and the walls of the house started to vanish, as did the man in front of her… her Father. “I love you too…” And with that, he was gone, and Alyss started waking up. The pain in her arm came back, followed by the pain in her fingers, and the pain in her ribs. She didn’t want to wake up, but it was unable to be helped.

In a flash, she screamed. It was nowhere near as bad as her last one… but it hurt all the same. She was laying still, but she still couldn’t see… and she could still barely speak. “L-L-Li-L”, she was getting annoyed with herself. Just saying Lily’s name was taking much more effort than it should have. “L-Lily? Ar-are you st-still the-there?”
 
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