[As Redd orders his crew to throw themselves to whatever fate awaits them in that evil red fog, he holds his breath, eyes bright and wide
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*Marco doesn't hesitate, even as the Thing changes shape. It is NOT who it appears...right? He scowls, and fires right at it's head, at Anna's, ignoring the nagging doubt.*
[Vincent blinks and it's Lucrecia. He blinks and it's Veld. Lucrecia, Veld, Lucrecia, Veld. Something in him is screaming no, no, don't, not this time--you killed them both once already you can't do it again!
And yet it takes all of a half second for him to raise his gun, take aim, clench his eyes shut and fire.
He barely even notices the way his body changes and warps over the keening in his head.]
[Her father, so recently dead before her arrival. Just. Just standing there. Looking at her in his shabby coat and tattered cardigan as if he didn't own half the planet. As if he were sorry for abandoning her.
As ....as if he...
Vincent's gun goes off beside her and it shocks Kim out of her stupefied horror and she remembers; this isn't real.]
Right.
[And she raises her little laser gun and fires, ignoring the way his shadow looms over her. Vincent's killed her before, and Kim holds no fear of Chaos. They are as kindred spirits, she and he, and some intuition knows that he won't hurt her, not now.]
[For a moment the WEAPON turns, tenses, levels Death Penalty on Kimiko--then something in him whispers "MEDIATOR" and he stops. Slowly, the oversized gun, an extension of Chaos itself, drops, and he surveys the little cyborg with cold, distant indifference.
WEAPONS don't destroy each other. They fight--and he and her have fought before--but it's never permanent. Petty squabbles among children in a family too close-knit to ever escape.
He turns away, and focuses his attention elsewhere.]
[Severing a tentacle and spinning to evade a second were child's play to the SOLDIER. Somehow, either due to the rapid breakdown of the vessel, or some other means, his speed had returned to him, and with it, the restrictions on his materia had been lifted. He was taking full advantage of the situation.
Something within him found an odd poetry at the thought: the destroyer of Gaia fighting the end of all things, but he didn't focus too much on the dramatics.
His father's transformation, closer to him than he'd thought, grabbed his attention from the thrill of battle. He turned...
...and faced the Beast. Behold Mighty Chaos... The inscription echoed through his mind. He didn't know what the Harbinger of the End of capable of, but he'd witnessed the power it bestowed upon Vincent, and that was enough to divert his course. The other passengers aboard this Damned ship had enough to contend with. It was only fitting the spawn of the Calamity would face the Squire of Oblivion. He readied his weapon, and squared off with the God.]
[Van inhales. He can't help the hesitation. Oh the red can mimic her appearance so well, but nothing could ever replace that bond from his Ladylove, Yfandes. He remembers this gambit; it's an old trick, the same that was tried the first time. Time and time and time again, they try this, bloodmages as much agents of this red hatred as any. To tempt him with Tylendel brought back to life, or Stefan, or Savil, and now his Companion?
Unforgivable.
Vanyel doesn't even lift a hand, just snarls and lashes out, a bright bolt of lighting crackling along the deck between himself and the End. Die you son of a bitch, die!]
[Her breath hitches, eyes widening in skin gone pale from fear. That's... Jacob. And the sight makes her heart twist in her chest more than should be possible, after all this time spent knowing he was already dead. She holds a hand out towards him, it's shaking, skin slick with sweat from the fight.
He's here - it's going to be okay now. He came back --
And then someone's shot rings through the air, slicing through the image, cutting down the last person she had ever cared for. The one who promised he would never run from her, leave her. Fire leaps across her skin, wrapping her body in a cocoon of flames while a shriek of rage escapes her.
She's leaping for the shooter - be they using a gun, or using whatever else is at their disposal, steam leaking from the place her eyes once were. Kara is crying, somehow, as she goes. A fist wreathed in white-hot fire swings for whoever dared shoot at the image.]
[Aoife sees Aodhan, tall and lean with his hair tousled the way it had been for oh, the past hundred years or so. She smiles. Really, as much as she had loved - still loves? - him, she'd known it would come to this eventually.]
Sorry love.
[But she isn't, really. It takes very little effort to raise her right pistol and shoot him between the eyes. It won't kill him any more than it would kill her, but it's a start.
But before she can fire again, there is heat, a shriek. Aoife glances aside and starts for a moment; there is a woman covered in flames.
Aoife turns, but not nearly fast enough to avoid the blow. Pain blossoms in her already-injured arm before she shunts it aside. The arm hangs nerveless; the pistol clatters to the floor. She is not nearly so good a shot with her left, but without thought she raises that gun instead and points it at the woman. She can smell her own burnt flesh, her singed hair. Is she still alight?!]
[Heat rolls off the other woman. Aoife can feel her eyebrows crisp away. The dancing light of the flames distracts her for a moment and a moment is all it takes. The blow hits her solidly in the jaw, snapping her head around. She hears and snap of cartilage. There's no pain, there never is, but the scent of burning flesh still snakes through crushed nasal passages.
She's on fire.
Aoife hits the deck and rolls, trying to smother the flames. Her skin is burned red-raw all down on side of her face. She can't open her eye. Tufts of her hair fall away into ash, but the roll has done the trick. She's no longer burning.
She hardly waits. She pushes herself into a crouch. The human torch is not hard to find.]
[Cou stands there, uncertain and his jaw a gape as he sees Ren before him. He indigo hair swirling around her black dress in this nightmarish scene before him. She was at the center of this monster... it was impossible and yet there she was.
The chaos of the world around him shifted dully into the background as he remembered her last words from that strange dream he had before waking aboard the Elegante.
His grip tightens around the .45 USP in his hand as he levels the gun at the face of his beloved. The pirate's heart was trembling in terror that this visage before him was indeed the Ren he knew and wanted to tell that he loved. But the ship and this thing that had been ravaging the ship had well demonstrated to deceive him in every way imaginable.]
I'll see you in the next life, Ren.
[Bracing his aim with both hands, he steadies his aim at Reverie Metherlence's face and pulls the trigger.]
[Ren? Who's Ren? There is no Ren. Xanth just watched Cou shoot Kairi right between the eyes. He watched Kairi's brain matter hit the deck. For two seconds, he stares numbly at the scene before him. Then, he looks toward the shooter.
Cou.
At first Xanth moves with a stalk, but that turns to a run and Xanth goes to tackle Cou. How dare he how dare he that was Kairi Cou has to pay!]
[It's not a difficult job to tackle the pirate to the ground. Already the color had bled from his face as he saw every visceral detail, from the shattering of the emerald-like gem set just above her forehead to seeing the large-caliber munition render her face almost unrecognizable. He'd been telling himself that it was just a trick, that it wasn't her. Not more than a moment before he saw her, he'd seen a heavily compressed version of the End where she'd appeared. It could only be another trick.
Right?
He didn't have long to contemplate this before Xanth has him on the ruined deck, his gun going clattering off to the side. Cou's act of violence seems to have drained much, if not all of the fight out of him. The expression on his face speaks as if he'd seen a ghost of someone dear and then been forced to banish them to the world beyond.
His mind is still reeling to the point where he can do little more than grunt with his landing.]
[Xanth doesn't know if it was a trick. He's too tired, too scared, too grieved to realize the difference.
They land roughly on the deck, but Xanth couldn't care less; he's got the pirate pinned. Cou's inaction spurs no mercy from Xanth. He dropped his sword upon impact, but he still has his fists. He throws a punch, wild but strong, straight at Cou's face.]
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[Herz is too late--he can't get to whoever fast enough to stop that first shot. In that next instant, though, he can see who it came from.
Marco.
He can't fucking believe it was Marco.
Herz bum rushes the man, jumping to tackle him from the side.
No one head-shots Leo and keeps their ability to breath properly.]
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You idiot! Its a trick!
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Shhh-shh--Shuddup!
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And yet it takes all of a half second for him to raise his gun, take aim, clench his eyes shut and fire.
He barely even notices the way his body changes and warps over the keening in his head.]
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As ....as if he...
Vincent's gun goes off beside her and it shocks Kim out of her stupefied horror and she remembers; this isn't real.]
Right.
[And she raises her little laser gun and fires, ignoring the way his shadow looms over her. Vincent's killed her before, and Kim holds no fear of Chaos. They are as kindred spirits, she and he, and some intuition knows that he won't hurt her, not now.]
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WEAPONS don't destroy each other. They fight--and he and her have fought before--but it's never permanent. Petty squabbles among children in a family too close-knit to ever escape.
He turns away, and focuses his attention elsewhere.]
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Something within him found an odd poetry at the thought: the destroyer of Gaia fighting the end of all things, but he didn't focus too much on the dramatics.
His father's transformation, closer to him than he'd thought, grabbed his attention from the thrill of battle. He turned...
...and faced the Beast. Behold Mighty Chaos... The inscription echoed through his mind. He didn't know what the Harbinger of the End of capable of, but he'd witnessed the power it bestowed upon Vincent, and that was enough to divert his course. The other passengers aboard this Damned ship had enough to contend with. It was only fitting the spawn of the Calamity would face the Squire of Oblivion. He readied his weapon, and squared off with the God.]
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[Van inhales. He can't help the hesitation. Oh the red can mimic her appearance so well, but nothing could ever replace that bond from his Ladylove, Yfandes. He remembers this gambit; it's an old trick, the same that was tried the first time. Time and time and time again, they try this, bloodmages as much agents of this red hatred as any. To tempt him with Tylendel brought back to life, or Stefan, or Savil, and now his Companion?
Unforgivable.
Vanyel doesn't even lift a hand, just snarls and lashes out, a bright bolt of lighting crackling along the deck between himself and the End. Die you son of a bitch, die!]
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He's here - it's going to be okay now. He came back --
And then someone's shot rings through the air, slicing through the image, cutting down the last person she had ever cared for. The one who promised he would never run from her, leave her. Fire leaps across her skin, wrapping her body in a cocoon of flames while a shriek of rage escapes her.
She's leaping for the shooter - be they using a gun, or using whatever else is at their disposal, steam leaking from the place her eyes once were. Kara is crying, somehow, as she goes. A fist wreathed in white-hot fire swings for whoever dared shoot at the image.]
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Sorry love.
[But she isn't, really. It takes very little effort to raise her right pistol and shoot him between the eyes. It won't kill him any more than it would kill her, but it's a start.
But before she can fire again, there is heat, a shriek. Aoife glances aside and starts for a moment; there is a woman covered in flames.
Aoife turns, but not nearly fast enough to avoid the blow. Pain blossoms in her already-injured arm before she shunts it aside. The arm hangs nerveless; the pistol clatters to the floor. She is not nearly so good a shot with her left, but without thought she raises that gun instead and points it at the woman. She can smell her own burnt flesh, her singed hair. Is she still alight?!]
Bitch!
[She fires.]
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You killed him! You took him away--! You bitch!
[The bullet plows into Kara's shoulder. She shrieks again, swinging her fists in for another strike. Something has clearly unhinged in the woman.]
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She's on fire.
Aoife hits the deck and rolls, trying to smother the flames. Her skin is burned red-raw all down on side of her face. She can't open her eye. Tufts of her hair fall away into ash, but the roll has done the trick. She's no longer burning.
She hardly waits. She pushes herself into a crouch. The human torch is not hard to find.]
Yes, I did. What's it matter to you?
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The chaos of the world around him shifted dully into the background as he remembered her last words from that strange dream he had before waking aboard the Elegante.
His grip tightens around the .45 USP in his hand as he levels the gun at the face of his beloved. The pirate's heart was trembling in terror that this visage before him was indeed the Ren he knew and wanted to tell that he loved. But the ship and this thing that had been ravaging the ship had well demonstrated to deceive him in every way imaginable.]
I'll see you in the next life, Ren.
[Bracing his aim with both hands, he steadies his aim at Reverie Metherlence's face and pulls the trigger.]
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Cou.
At first Xanth moves with a stalk, but that turns to a run and Xanth goes to tackle Cou. How dare he how dare he that was Kairi Cou has to pay!]
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Right?
He didn't have long to contemplate this before Xanth has him on the ruined deck, his gun going clattering off to the side. Cou's act of violence seems to have drained much, if not all of the fight out of him. The expression on his face speaks as if he'd seen a ghost of someone dear and then been forced to banish them to the world beyond.
His mind is still reeling to the point where he can do little more than grunt with his landing.]
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They land roughly on the deck, but Xanth couldn't care less; he's got the pirate pinned. Cou's inaction spurs no mercy from Xanth. He dropped his sword upon impact, but he still has his fists. He throws a punch, wild but strong, straight at Cou's face.]
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