Board Thread:Role Plays/@comment-5999656-20190205035159/@comment-5999656-20190928013217

The serrated edge of Ordinator missed Hazel's face by a hair's width, instead continuing along its trajectory to bury itself in the heavy desk of controls at her side with an earsplitting shriek of metal, sparks, and smoke. As thick grey tendrils began to billow out, Alyxia stared straight into Hazel's eyes, now finally uncovered and framed by a crown of jagged black glass, all that remained of her ominous mask.

Alyxia's chest was heaving, and every cell in her body screamed at her to pull her bat out of the wreckage it was embedded in and strike again at the damned snake of a woman standing right in front of her. But even amidst the pounding wind and rapidly dissipating shouts abovedeck, Hazel's calm words cut through the din. Trembling uncontrollably, face pale, Alyxia turned to look back at the corpse of her cousin.

There it was. Still wearing the tattered uniform of the Daybreak Syndicate like an absurd burial shroud, his body below the neck was freakishly intact, and his hands were still half-clenched from the last signals his brain had sent out before being severed from his spine. Bits of pink flesh intermixed with bone fragments and shards of black glass were sprayed on the window directly adjacent, leaving smeared vertical trails as they blended and sunk under the weight of the rainwater. On the window opposite, cold wind cut through a gaping hole in the frame, larger than anything that could have been made by a conventional gun. And as Alyxia paused to take the scene in properly, a cold weight sunk in her stomach as the reality of the situation dawned on her.

Hazel was right.

As though she needed more confirmation of the ugly truth, skimmed on the jagged edges of the hole in the window were bits of black flesh, already evaporating in the gale. It was as though a large creature had punched its way through the glass, through the person standing directly opposite, and then cut itself pulling its appendage back out.

A choked gasp stole itself from Alyxia's throat, so tight that she couldn't tell whether she was trying to let a breath out or take a breath in. She swung back to look at Hazel again, her red eyes burning as the anger subsided for a second and despair took hold.

Sorrel was killed not twenty feet from her, and she hadn't noticed a thing. The squid had died at the hands of others on the boat, robbing her of the opportunity to serve vengeance personally. So here she stood, hand wrapped around her weapon, just feet from the headless remains of her cousin, and there was nothing she could do.

Alyxia wanted to fight, or run away. She wanted to do both at the same time, and scream at the sky in the hopes that time would miraculously reverse itself to give her a chance to save Sorrel. But there was no god listening, no guilty party to fight, and nowhere to run to as long as they were trapped on this detestable vessel together. Her hand tightened around the bat, and she wrenched it loose along with bits of metal and wire. She raised a trembling hand, pointing directly at Hazel as her heart threatened to jump out of her chest. There was nothing else she could ask for but this, a wish that changed nothing and yet was the barest solace she could think of grasping in this hopeless moment. She couldn't do this anymore, and the tears spilled out underneath her visor, turning the scene before her into a distorted mess of blurred colors.

"Get out," she said shakily, her throat choked by the sobs. An instant later, her rage flared with a vengeance, the only emotional shield she had to keep her heart from shattering into a million little pieces. She raised Ordinator again.

"Get the FUCK OUT OR I'LL KILL YOU!!"

____________________________

Again.

Lustra had blacked out again. The last thing she remembered was the sea rushing up to meet her as she pulled her arm free of the innards of the giant squid, skin still dripping with its hot secretions and fingers coated by bits of ice from the Dust she had released to shred its tiny brain. She was treading water, or so she thought, but it was hard to tell through the blunt impact of the fall and the fact that she could no longer feel her limbs. In the distance, warped by the pelting thunderstorm, she could see the outline of the yacht moving away, but it was hard enough to keep her head above water, let alone cry out for help.

A wave crashed over her, sending her tumbling back into the depths again. Seawater rushed into her lungs and she began to choke even as she fought to return to the surface. One second later, her head broke out of the water, but the yacht had only drifted further away. Lustra couldn't muster the strength to swim after it, or scream, or do anything except cough and wait for the ocean to take her into its icy embrace. Her body had never felt so heavy before.

Just as she closed her eyes and began to give up, she felt something wrap around her torso. The thought vaguely crossed her mind that the squid hadn't yet been defeated, and was reaching up to drag her down with it. In her numbness, on the verge of unconsciousness, she accepted this outcome without resisting. So it was to her surprise when the grip dragged her not down, but up, out of the sea which seemed to tug back on her body. But it was in vain as Black Magic raised her limp body up above the reach of the waves, and slowly brought it back to the boat.

Lustra's eyes remained closed, her muscles unmoving even as she was deposited on the slick deck of the yacht. There, she slumped to the floor, lying on her stomach with her arms above her head. Her left forearm was pink and shiny and raw, and the red lines where Jett's harpoon had cut her were like veiny cracks in the charred skin. Her gold bangle, once a pretty imitation of a piece of jewelry, had been eaten away by the acids inside the squid, exposing its rows of circuitry to the world.

Lustra was still for a few seconds. Then suddenly, she broke into a violent coughing fit as her lungs forcibly ejected the water from inside her body onto the deck of the boat. She stayed like this for a good half minute, before the spasms receded from her body, leaving her trembling in the large puddle that had pooled out around her.

A moment later, and she pulled her arms close in a weak attempt to lift her head. She cracked her eyes open, trying to see through the mess of rainwater spattering her face. She was alive, after all. But still so cold. She could make out the dark silhouette of her rescuer before her, the swan-masked feminine adversary who she'd come so close to killing back in the facility.

It was someone she knew after all. Not only that, but it was someone who she'd seen as a friend, someone she'd been fully ready to put her own commitments aside in order to help. The realization of who Lustra had just fought washed over her, violently reorienting her position in the complicated world as the sides they had chosen to fight on finally became clear.

"... Hilda... why?" she choked out weakly. She didn't wait for a response, though, instead pulling both arms close to bury her face against them as the tears spilled out, the only meager source of warmth in her entire body.

And she cried silently.