Descent of Nightmare (Chapter Twenty)
Dec. 22nd, 2016 01:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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saladloveChapter list: https://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/650.html
Map of Kaldriel: https://i.gyazo.com/332b0c0172dcc60acb46
Rough map of Hatu: https://i.gyazo.com/ea4f9f51b9dc7b9d8b86
Chapter Twenty
Unmasked
Akrar, Kaldriel. November 10, 2277. Time instance 842N.
Geluu sighed and shut the door behind him. “I’m not getting anything out of him,” he grumbled, “and unless we’re gonna start bringing out knives I’m out of ideas.”
Emma looked startled and a bit worried as she looked up at him. “Geluu!”
“I wouldn’t really! Calm down!” He crossed his arms and sat down at the table. “Although this place certainly has no shortage of tools for that. Was that set up by the Mainframe, or…?”
“This prison was in place before the Mainframe came along, they just expanded it,” Dare told him. “I guess they didn’t touch much in here, though.”
“Well…” Nine drummed his fingers on the table. “You could send in Cataclysm, maybe.” He looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. “I noticed that all of the angels seemed to be avoiding you like the plague or stopping to stare like you were the strangest and most terrifying thing they’d ever seen. Think that would work on him?”
“Probably.” Cataclysm crossed his arms. “Angels don’t have black wings. They know damn well that demons don’t have feathered wings. I’m pretty obviously a demon, one with black feathered angel wings. I definitely scare the shit out of most angels, because they’re weird about wings, specifically their color.”
Emma leaned against him. “I like your wings,” she mumbled.
He smiled. “I know you do. I think I’m the only being in existence with these kinds of wings.”
“Except your kids,” Dare quipped, and both he and Emma looked up, confused.
“Well, yeah, Annihilation, but… I don’t have multiple kids.”
“Yes you do.” Dare motioned at Emma with a mischievous grin on her face. Emma blushed furiously and Cataclysm groaned, burying his face in his hands.
“I think I’d know!” Emma squeaked indignantly, crossing her arms and trying to keep her face from turning bright red.
Dare shrugged, winked, and leaned against the wall. “If you say so.”
Cataclysm groaned and got to his feet. “I’m going to go have a talk with our angel prisoner. Beats talking to Dare.”
“You love me.”
“He better not, or Emma will kill you both,” Geluu said dryly. Nine snorted in laughter and Cataclysm just shook his head, leaving the room.
Dare kept grinning at her so Emma put a hand on Nightbane. “Don’t make me come over there.”
Dare shrugged and was silent, but Emma kept looking at her suspiciously.
~~~
“I’m glad that’s over,” Tanadin mumbled, falling into a chair and not bothering to actually sit in it until Jimmy almost tripped over her feet on the way to her own chair. She sat down and Gali just lay down on the floor on her back, looking at the ceiling quietly. She was often quiet after long battles and Jimmy dangled a hand down for her to grab to anchor herself. M and Q ghosted quietly into the room, followed by Neves’ loud footsteps. It seemed odd to see him without Fall, but she’d vanished shortly after the battle and he’d quietly informed them that she wasn’t feeling well. They’d accepted it without question and made their way into the city to sit down in Tanadin’s house to unwind after the battle.
“I’d forgotten how annoying fighting is,” Neves grumbled. “It was especially bad with all the flying targets.”
“You have shitty prediction software,” Q informed him.
“And you!” He pointed at her, turning to glare. “Who is this...sassy lizard?”
“This is Q,” Tanadin mumbled. “M’s...girlfriend, I guess.”
“I don’t have a girlfriend,” M protested. “The Mystrex aren’t permitted-”
“Yeah, yeah.” Q waved it off. “We’re lovers that sneak away together in the dead of night to-”
“Q!”
Q burst into hysterical laughter, a strange shrieking and clicking sound that left her short of breath. “You should have seen your face!”
M groaned. “You’re an embarrassment.”
“I’ve changed my mind. I like her immensely,” Neves announced.
Tanadin rolled her eyes. “I keep meeting strange people.”
“Am I a strange person?” Jimmy asked.
“You’re absolutely a strange person.”
“Well...you’re an elemental! There’s not so many of you, so you’re strange!”
“Elementals are more common than humans! Just...not on Kaldriel!”
“I don’t know if that’s true. I haven’t seen very many elementals.” Jimmy crossed her arms. “Only one or two of most of the elements, and none of a few.”
“Well, that’s because it’s uncomfortable on Kaldriel for a lot of elementals. Most of them lose too much energy to stay here feasibly or comfortably, the lesser elementals can’t take a humanoid form at all, and for some it’s just uncomfortable.” Tanadin raised an eyebrow. “Some specific elements handle Kaldriel better than others.”
“Oh.” Jimmy blinked. “Is that why I’ve never seen a full shadow elemental?”
Gali sat up, almost smacking her head against Jimmy’s armrest. “Excuse me?”
Jimmy turned and frowned at her. “What?”
“Have you never seen me?!” Gali’s voice rose in a confused pitch.
“What are you talking about?!”
“What are you talking about?!”
Tanadin’s eyes widened. “Gali, are you-”
“I’m a nevtir! A shadow elemental?!”
“You are?” Jimmy demanded, sitting up straight and staring at her.
“You didn’t notice?!”
“I didn’t notice!” Tanadin’s voice rose in indignation. “And I’m an elemental!”
“You didn’t know?” Neves demanded.
“Show of hands! Who knows?!” Tanadin looked around wildly. Neves raised both hands, Q raised an eyeridge, and M buried his face in his hands.
“Pretty much every cyborg except for Fall knows,” Neves informed them.
“You’re all stupid,” M mumbled. “So, so stupid.”
“How did you not know I was a shadow elemental?!” Gali jumped to her feet. “How did you think I could move so fast and so quietly, do things without people noticing, steal elemental essences, and survive so well in battle?! You didn’t see any of that?!”
“No! I didn’t!” Jimmy stood up at well, staring at her in confusion and indignation. “Why didn’t you tell me?!”
“I thought you knew!”
“What the fuck!” Jimmy demanded, throwing her hands up. “How...how…”
“How did you not see me?” Gali looked just as baffled as Jimmy.
“See what, exactly?”
“This!” Gali’s eyes flashed brightly for a moment before dimming entirely, the darkness spreading in a wave of black over her entire body, consuming everything on her except for her mask and leaving what looked eerily like a three-dimensional shadow wearing Gali’s purple mask.
Jimmy’s eyes widened as Gali’s form dissolved into a more liquified mass, sinking to the ground and slipping under the chair to the other side before reforming. Jimmy yelped in surprise and Gali’s color returned, ending with her eyes which brightened to purple before flickering to their usual brown.
“Well,” Tanadin said slowly, “that would explain a lot.”
“So, so stupid,” M continued to mumble. Q patted his shoulder reassuringly.
“So, wait! I’ve been dating you for five years and you didn’t know I was an elemental?”
“No! Why didn’t you say something?”
“You didn’t ever ask if I was a human or not!”
“I kinda figured you were!”
“I kinda figured I wasn’t!” Gali made a distressed hand motion. “What the fuck!”
“So you’re immortal?”
“Yes!”
“And I didn’t know?”
“Yes!”
“Well,” Jimmy sighed, “I guess I need to go find Scott. I am not letting you outlive me.” Her tone was joking, but Tanadin raised an eyebrow.
Gali threw her hands up and Tanadin snorted, rolling her eyes. “You have options other than letting Scott or Xela get kinky with your neck.”
“Gross. And what options?”
“You could become a demon. It’s a weird and painful process, I’ve heard, but neat as fuck. You could ask Geek, I guess.”
Jimmy made a face. “I don’t want to be turned into a demon by Geek. It would probably involve too many tentacles.”
Tanadin mirrored her expression. “Yeah. She has a problem.”
Gali cleared her throat quietly. “Jimmy, do you think that… we should maybe talk about this? If you didn’t know that I was… then you… don’t know a lot about me.” She wouldn’t meet anyone’s gaze, looking down at the floor and shuffling her feet.
Jimmy nodded and stepped over to her, hugging her. She mumbled something that Tanadin didn’t catch, earning a smile, before they both left.
“How did you not know?” M demanded quietly as soon as they were gone.
Tanadin shrugged. “I’ve been a bit busy these past twenty-five years. Sue me, I guess.”
~~~
Cap sat down on the couch, thoughtfully watching Lucy and Kallen sip their hot chocolate. The early November air was cold and the chills of the battle’s aftermath still sank its claws into their bones. Lucy in particular was jumpy, jerking at any slight sound and looking around as if she expected more ghostly fragments to come out of the woodworks and scream at her. Only Sheva remained with her, as far as Cap could see, and she seemed to be stubbornly keeping her silence as long as Cap was around.
She sighed quietly. Stupid Allvaer stubbornness.
Kallen kept glancing at Lucy with a concerned look in his eyes, knowing that she saw the dead but having no idea what it was like. He sat to her right, so he could set down his hot chocolate and rub circles on her leg or hand occasionally to try to calm her down. His pincer hand whirled and clicked more than normal and Cap couldn’t help but feel like its anxiety-inducing sounds weren’t helping Lucy any.
Once they had all finished their hot chocolate, Cap set down her mug and leaned forward, drawing their attention. She looked into Lucy’s blue eyes with her own burning with determination before speaking.
“You’re Deathsworn.”
Lucy’s eyes widened but she quickly tried to cover it up. Kallen tilted his head in confusion and Cap crossed her arms.
“There’s no point try to be evasive about it. I know.”
“Are you?” Lucy’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“No. I’m not.” Cap sighed. “I could have been, though. Ujhinduru came to me, too- back before the revolution, before I joined the Black Market, even- but I turned him down. I knew what happens to spirits who can’t pass on.”
“I had to protect them,” Lucy said immediately. “I didn’t do it for myself. I did it to protect Kallen and the others.”
“Did what?” Kallen demanded.
Both pairs of eyes turned to him.
“Became Deathsworn,” Lucy admitted quietly, her shoulders slumping.
“Deathsworn?”
“Anyone born with the ability to see the dead is eventually approached by Ujhinduru, the reaper of souls. He comes to them with an offer to become Deathsworn. If you accept, you gain powers over darkness and the undead, and become immortal and nearly impossible to kill. In return, you have to do occasional errands for him and bind your soul to his. When you die, you can’t pass on to the afterlife. You are his, forever.” Cap crossed her arms. “I don’t think he’s malicious, though. Just sad. He didn’t seem angry or upset when I turned him down. He just nodded and left, like that was to be expected.”
Kallen paled. “Oh.” He glanced at Lucy. “You-”
“Yes. I did.”
“Why?”
“I needed to be able to protect you! All of you! That was the only reason I could kill that sandwyrm. If it hadn’t been for Ujhinduru, most of us would be dead! And where would the survivors be now? Still in the desert? Dead? Who knows!”
Kallen frowned and put his left arm around her, pulling her into a hug. “You didn’t have to do that,” he whispered.
“I did.”
“You’re not the only Deathsworn I’ve encountered,” Cap informed her, uncrossing her arms and leaning further forward. “At least, I don’t think so. I can’t really ask, as she’s lost her memory of her previous life and anything that goes along with it. I know you barely know how to use your powers, but I have a feeling she can use hers, if she remembered how.”
“Stop playing the pronoun game,” Lucy snapped. “Sheva does it to be dramatic and now you’re doing it too.”
Cap grinned sheepishly. “Sorry. I get dramatic when talking about dead people and binding yourself to the reaper of souls. Right. Who I’m talking about is Akiko Casper, otherwise known as Fall.”
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Date: 2016-12-22 07:54 pm (UTC)He smiled. “I know you do. I think I’m the only being in existence with these kinds of wings.”
“Except your kids,” Dare quipped, and both he and Emma looked up, confused.
“Well, yeah, Annihilation, but… I don’t have multiple kids.”
“Yes you do.” Dare motioned at Emma with a mischievous grin on her face. Emma blushed furiously and Cataclysm groaned, burying his face in his hands.
“I think I’d know!” Emma squeaked indignantly, crossing her arms and trying to keep her face from turning bright red.
Dare shrugged, winked, and leaned against the wall. “If you say so.”
*squees at idea of tiny babby Cata* XD
M and Q ghosted quietly into the room, followed by Neves’ loud footsteps. It seemed odd to see him without Fall, but she’d vanished shortly after the battle and he’d quietly informed them that she wasn’t feeling well.
Fall's hiding from the fragments.
“I’d forgotten how annoying fighting is,” Neves grumbled. “It was especially bad with all the flying targets.”
“You have shitty prediction software,” Q informed him.
“And you!” He pointed at her, turning to glare. “Who is this...sassy lizard?”
“This is Q,” Tanadin mumbled. “M’s...girlfriend, I guess.”
“I don’t have a girlfriend,” M protested. “The Mystrex aren’t permitted-”
“Yeah, yeah.” Q waved it off. “We’re lovers that sneak away together in the dead of night to-”
“Q!”
Q burst into hysterical laughter, a strange shrieking and clicking sound that left her short of breath. “You should have seen your face!”
M groaned. “You’re an embarrassment.”
I love Q XD
“Oh.” Jimmy blinked. “Is that why I’ve never seen a full shadow elemental?”
Gali sat up, almost smacking her head against Jimmy’s armrest. “Excuse me?”
Jimmy turned and frowned at her. “What?”
“Have you never seen me?!” Gali’s voice rose in a confused pitch.
“What are you talking about?!”
“What are you talking about?!”
Tanadin’s eyes widened. “Gali, are you-”
“I’m a nevtir! A shadow elemental?!”
“You are?” Jimmy demanded, sitting up straight and staring at her.
“You didn’t notice?!”
“I didn’t notice!” Tanadin’s voice rose in indignation. “And I’m an elemental!”
How long has eveyone known Gali now? And nobody knew this about her? Not even Jimmy.
“You didn’t know?” Neves demanded.
“Show of hands! Who knows?!” Tanadin looked around wildly. Neves raised both hands, Q raised an eyeridge, and M buried his face in his hands.
“Pretty much every cyborg except for Fall knows,” Neves informed them.
“You’re all stupid,” M mumbled. “So, so stupid.”
Ok so only all of the cyborgs and M knew that Gali was a shadow elemental.
I can understand now Tana why you wanted to release this chapter a day early, this is a massive character revelation.
“You didn’t ever ask if I was a human or not!”
“I kinda figured you were!”
“I kinda figured I wasn’t!” Gali made a distressed hand motion. “What the fuck!”
“So you’re immortal?”
“Yes!”
“And I didn’t know?”
“Yes!”
“Well,” Jimmy sighed, “I guess I need to go find Scott. I am not letting you outlive me.” Her tone was joking, but Tanadin raised an eyebrow.
So now Jimli faces the same dilemma as Sclash did, a human and an immortal.
Gali threw her hands up and Tanadin snorted, rolling her eyes. “You have options other than letting Scott or Xela get kinky with your neck.”
“Gross. And what options?”
“You could become a demon. It’s a weird and painful process, I’ve heard, but neat as fuck. You could ask Geek, I guess.”
Jimmy made a face. “I don’t want to be turned into a demon by Geek. It would probably involve too many tentacles.”
Tanadin mirrored her expression. “Yeah. She has a problem.”
I certainly don't see Jimmy as a vampire, as a demon maybe but yeah Geek needs to go to tentacles annoymous or something lol
“Anyone born with the ability to see the dead is eventually approached by Ujhinduru, the reaper of souls. He comes to them with an offer to become Deathsworn. If you accept, you gain powers over darkness and the undead, and become immortal and nearly impossible to kill. In return, you have to do occasional errands for him and bind your soul to his. When you die, you can’t pass on to the afterlife. You are his, forever.” Cap crossed her arms. “I don’t think he’s malicious, though. Just sad. He didn’t seem angry or upset when I turned him down. He just nodded and left, like that was to be expected.”
Intriguing. Kinda sad that Deathsworn's souls can never pass over though.
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Date: 2016-12-22 08:02 pm (UTC)NO ONE EVEN ASKED HOW OLD SHE IS SHES LIKE...SIXTY
no subject
Date: 2016-12-22 08:30 pm (UTC)XP