(Untitled)

[solo_insanity]

[One might be outside or catching a glimpse of the scenery through the window. But wait, Wasn't it bright and sunny just a moment before? The clouds have rolled in blocking out the golden rays, but they can't obscure them completely. The area is left in a haze of oranges and golds as if a fog had settled in. The door just passed by? Gone. The

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[fallforthesky]

[Sickly and beautiful as the haze is when it paints everything that muted gold colour, and innocuous as the leaves are, there's. Very little about this that seems safe. Up until the leaves begin rustling around her (bare) ankles, Lenalee really isn't paying much attention to where she's moving, because she's just moving, aimless, but she's very aware of what's around her. Soldier's instinct and all that jazz. The instant the chill hits her skin, she glances up- and... up... into the skeletal trees surrounding her and the hazy sky above.

Cue the initial spike in heartrate, though she does very well to keep her expression level. Even when her ears catch the pricking of voices- well, murmurs, really, but they're definitely voices. They send a bizarre shiver up her back, as opposed to down. She grits her teeth a little and keeps moving, a bit lighter on her feet.

She has the sudden, inexplicable fear that she might fall into an open grave otherwise. Just the sort of humour this place has.]

[solo_insanity]

[The voices get clearer and clearer as she goes. One word plays over and over again.

Fallen.

As she walks the leaves seem to part around her feet she can walk on the flat ground. Though, once she moves forward to the next step they fill in the gaps behind her as if they can't or won't touch her as she passes.

Up ahead she'll hear a voice she recognizes. One that she could never forgot.

Komui's.]

[fallforthesky]

['Fallen'. Fallen, Fallen. FallenFallenFallenFallen. Unconsciously, Lenalee curls her hands into fists, the corners of her mouth twitching as the word echoes through the trees. No one is Fallen, she tells herself. No one.

(But... maybe-)

So instead of the whispers, she focuses on the rustle of the leaves as they part around her feet- that's what starts the real unsteady beat of her heart in her chest. It isn't natural. It's a Bad Sign.

-Just like that voice. She knows it more completely than she knows her own. Her head snaps up.]

Br- ...other? [Halfway through, she feels her throat tighten, turning the call into a question. He can't... actually be here.] Who's there?

[solo_insanity]

[A pair of Order guards come out of now where holding out a hand to halt her. Behind them she can see Komui with a tight smile and a glowing piece of Innocence in his hand.

He nods at Lenalee as if saying goodbye before he goes further into the forest out of her line of sight.]

[fallforthesky]

[She stumbles to a halt as the sentrymen appear to bar the way, turning a brief and wide-eyed look on them. No, get out of the way. Komui's smile wrenches at her heart in the sort of way that makes her feel a little unsteady on her feet; it's been a very long time since she's seen an expression like that on his face, the one that almost says 'maybe, just maybe, this is the one'. But there's no Innocence-hunting here, and the word 'Fallen' is still ricocheting inside her head.] Wait-! Brother!

[Stepping abruptly to the side with the intent of ducking beneath the guards' arms and following after him.]

[solo_insanity]

[One tries to bar her way, but she is took quick. They shout at her as she runs passed them toward Komui. The path will turn to stone floors and walls and she'll recognize the room of the Order. Terrible things happened in this room. Gambles made. Most of them at a loss. All for the sake of winning.

Komui turns and looks at her with surprise as she catches up with him. He shakes her head. She shouldn't be here. He didn't want her to be here.]

[fallforthesky]

[Lenalee doesn't even bother to glance back at them. She keeps running after Komui, right up until the trees and leaves melt away into castle walls.

At first, the sight of such familiar surroundings stops her cold. For an instant it's as if she's back home- did she get sent back?- and she almost, almost relaxes. But... no. If she were back, she wouldn't have wondered it, and these walls... They aren't right. Not anymore, not with the new Headquarters. A tight, sour feeling goes through her chest (will she ever see those walls again?), and that's... when she realizes what room these walls make up.

-Children dying, vomiting up their broken stomachs; the sounds, the smell, the shards of not-dust coloured Innocence blue and hollow, dead eyes-

Oh, no.

She takes a step back; back from Komui. He's not... not hers. Probably isn't anyone's. But that doesn't stop a shard of guilt from wedging itself into her heart, which is suddenly... pounding.]

What's happening?

[solo_insanity]

[Has this place not become home to her? It is similar, isn't it? Walls that can't be escaped. Friends and family coming and going. The purpose might have faded over time and the cage changed, but in the end was is still just that

[fallforthesky]

Broth- [A too-slow grab for his sleeve, which falls dismally short as her gaze moves past him and to-] Hev...laska...

[Hers or not, real or not, the sight of the woman so emaciated- almost faded- makes her throat go tight. It's the sort of thing nightmares are made of. So at first, all she does is stand dumbly in place and run her eyes over the sight without really grasping what it is she's looking at.

Tyki's voice echoes just enough in the enormous chamber to make her jump when it cuts through the oppressive air. Her heels scrape loudly over the floor when she whirls to face him, face drawn.]

Time for what-? [And then she sees the clock, and it suddenly becomes far more important than Tyki being where he shouldn't be. Her stomach makes a fabulous attempt at a somersault. Speaking faster:] Tell me what it's for, Tyki. Tell me what the clock's for.

[solo_insanity]

[Komui stands in front of Hevlaska and hands her the Innocence. She tells him to close her eyes and then the orb glows brightly basking the room. But the color is all wrong. Instead of hope for the future, it looks sickly. Like the color of disease and plague.

Such an attempt would never be successful.]

This is your dark castle, Exorcist. Shouldn't I be asking you that question? [He holds up the hand that was behind his back. It is handcuffed to the wall. Did she really think he'd pick this spot for sightseeing if he had a choice?

The clock strikes the hour and the bell starts to chime.]

Fallen. Five seconds left. Go.

[Can she beat the toll of the bell?]

1/2

[fallforthesky]

[That's the problem; she isn't thinking. Not beyond the basics and the black-and-white view she always falls back on. Tyki has every chance to phase the handcuffs and move away if he wanted to- it doesn't occur to her that the Dressing Room doesn't always take things like that into consideration; it does what it wants. Negates phasing. Protects you from the permanence of death so you can keep dying. Plays your nightmares for you in moments of cold, crystal-clear reality. Things like that.

And then the hour hits, ringing in her ears like church bells (ironic, isn't it?) for Sunday mass, but harsher. It could almost drown out that damned word if she couldn't read it so clearly on his lips. Fallen. Too close to home. Ha ha.

So Lenalee's heart drops- (five seconds left) -and everything goes quiet.

She could beat the clock if she had her Boots. She'll beat it anyway.

Almost before Tyki finishes speaking, she's turning on a heel and then a toe-

throwing herself towards the bright glow

2/2 wow, this tag was hard. :|a

[fallforthesky]

[-not going to make it.]

But so well executed. Your grasp of Lenalee and your descriptive style never cease to amaze

[solo_insanity]

[The light is hot against her cheeks as if she had just open a room to a furnace, and it blasted in her face. She can't see in front of her as yellow, green and purple spots her vision from the glare of it

Thanks, Duet! And also, html fail!

[fallforthesky]

[For a split second, all she's consciously aware of is a tabletop beneath her fingers that's been worn smooth from use and a charred smell. Lenalee stops running, suddenly knock-kneed and wavering on her feet, her hands bracing at shoulder height as if to bodily push Komui from the glow. It could be skin singeing or dinner burning; it doesn't matter to her. Both are things that never should have come to pass. Her parents shouldn't have died. Her brother shouldn't-

Something she hadn't noticed when she and Allen tried to save Suman: the skin is cold. Cold and thrumming. Like they're already dead (because they are, aren't they?), but just haven't stopped moving yet. She wrenches her hands back, and as much as she wants to scream his name, she can't, because that makes it real.

It's not real. This isn't real.

There is no way to save someone once they've begun to Fall.

Not real, not real, not real...And while she doesn't need to look up to know she'll see a halo perfectly centred over a severed neck, that doesn't stop her. Of course

[solo_insanity]

[The last toll of the hour faded away as the light did. The sound echoes across the room as she slips to her knees losing the contents of her stomach. Kmoui no longer stood before her. Something else did

[1year_wakened]

[Standing uncertainly up ahead; he turns around when he hears her moving.]

...Fancy meeting you here. [Not happy about this either.]