DOOMSDAY, DOOMSDAY, GETTIN' DEAD ON DOOMSDAY
Who: oneofsaya and you!
What: The big battle.
When: June 18th, afternoon.
Where: Anywhere.
Summary: Kusanagi has decided to go on a freaking rampage and will KILL YOU ALL. So, uh. I think it's a good time to make like Ike and fight for your friends.
Rating: M (for death and violence!)
( dead, dead, dead, dead )
What: The big battle.
When: June 18th, afternoon.
Where: Anywhere.
Summary: Kusanagi has decided to go on a freaking rampage and will KILL YOU ALL. So, uh. I think it's a good time to make like Ike and fight for your friends.
Rating: M (for death and violence!)
( dead, dead, dead, dead )
Still, he's sure that he's not so insane that what he's hearing and seeing in Luceti when he finally emerges from his building again isn't some kind of horrible nightmare.
... It looks like war.
Terror spikes through him, making him shake uncontrollably as he beholds the violence - fighting everywhere, and blood and panicked cries and the acrid stench of burning flesh - and in the middle of it all, some blonde figure clad in metal.
... What is going on...?
Against his better judgment, Robert wanders closer to the pandemonium, trembling all the while. Are his friends out there? Is this some kind of Third Party warrior breaching the barrier? He has no way to tell, and that's the worst part.]
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When he looks up, his gaze is drawn as though on a winch to the figure tentatively making its way from the safety of the nearest Community Building. And even through the smoke and screams, he knows that figure.]
Robert!
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The scientist is no exception. Kusanagi doesn't hide and wait; she lets her presence known within seconds of her discovery.]
...new threat located. Gauging risk level. Scanning...
[Hi.]
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...
Doesn't he recognize this person?
He does, vaguely. A... Ms. Noel Vermillion.
And she is coated in blood. Even Robert is able to deduce what that means - this, plus her words, mean she probably caused this destruction.
He trembles; he can't help himself, can't help the terror of being stared down by this robotic harbinger of death - but he also can't help the words that escape him, incredulously.]
W-why are you... doing this...?
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...he runs, before he can stop himself, before he can even entirely consider what he's doing. Giles begins running to cover the distance between himself, the scientist, and the monster. He's still just out of effective crossbow range, but give him a few seconds...]
Run, you idiot!
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...why?
Why is she doing this, he asked?
Well, shouldn't it be obvious? Doesn't he know? This world... no, he wouldn't know, would he? He couldn't understand.]
...destruction.
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That is my reason. This meaningless world, riddled with false truths... I am the blade that shall destroy it!
[The swords flip around, now staring down Robert.] Now... perish.
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Robert is so bewildered by this that for a second he says nothing. And that's when Giles' yell actually registers - but then those blades - "swords", that's what they're called, right? - swivel to face him, and he's powerless to do anything but back away a little... and stare.
This sapient is going to kill him.]
We have d-done nothing to you...
Ms. V-Vermillion, please...
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The inevitable is upon him here and now. It means another announcement, another week of waiting, more misery and guilt and isolation and shame, more people he won't be able to look in the eye because he couldn't save this life.
No. No more. Not again. Giles knows that whatever happens next in these next few seconds, he's going to break and shatter and hurt, but that doesn't mean there isn't a choice.]
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Even if that leaves him, however briefly, in Robert's place.]
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In a sad twist of fate, Kusanagi had time to stop the blades from puncturing Giles. She just chose to do it anyway--you're all targets.
So here they are; three swords lodged in his arm, chest, and stomach.
And she doesn't say a word.]
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He goes flying a few feet from Giles at the blow - enough to knock him clear from Kusanagi's range, because of how small and frail he is - and slams hard into the ground. The impact knocks the wind out of him, and a small note of pain escapes, but he pulls himself up in time to look up - just at the right moment to watch Giles be impaled mercilessly.
... There's nothing he can do. Nothing he could stop this with. No way to heal that kind of horrific damage. That attack had been intended for him and Giles took it. Why? Why would he...?
Robert had been prepared to die at the blades of Kusanagi. Better to die than fight. Then you're not on the same level as the barbarian who kills you.
But because of him... Giles was... was going to die instead.]
... N-No...!
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But then the blades slid home, with such finality and surety that it took Giles another second to realize that he was dead.]
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...dying.]
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Trapped in an interminable, agonizing in between, Giles has never been more aware of the difference. "Dead" is very different from "dying", and it's the former state that he wants very much to reach right now.
But he can't. He can't just...let another god killing abomination end him like this. Not without a fight. And maybe he's not strong enough to fight back, but maybe he can keep the body count down. That was why he came out in the first place, after all...]
R-Robert...
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Still, he planted his feet against the ground, reached up, and took hold of the blade in his chest, hoping against hope that this might delay the girl for even a second even as his consciousness fades and his heart slows and his vision begins to go black around the edges.]
R-Run...
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