[EVENT] LUCERNE ATTACK

[soul_mods]

Characters: OPEN to Lucerne agents and the agents coming in from Liechtenstein
Location: Lucerne, Switzerland
Rating: PG
Time: December 20
Description: Shibusen Lucerne gets attacked and its agents attempt to defend it. Event Summary Here

Comments

Closed | Underground base

[mumyo_ken]

The call had come in just before dawn. There hadn't been time for much planning or preparation, the agents in Lichtenstein had simply been roughly broken up into two groups and sent through the mirror.

Okita and his partner had been one of the first pairs through, and the two had been fighting since. They were underground now, in the twisting halls of the Lucerne base, taking down the kishin eggs as they found them.

The madness was potent here, and Souji had given up trying to fight it off himself, allowing the resonance with Takasugi to keep him from sliding over the edge. He needed to put all of his concentration into fighting. If they failed here, they would give their enemy a foothold. He couldn't allow that. So he pushed past his fatigue and attacked the next enemy that came into view.

[mumyo_ken]

Theoretically, they could have gotten away now without bothering with the last of the kishin in that section of the base. Souji's single-minded focus would not allow for such thoughts, however.

They were the enemy, and he would cut them down. Every last one.

If his movements were not as swift as before, he made no note of it as he chased the last few kishin through the tunnels. And if his breathing had turned loud and ragged at some point, he seemed not to care. The shadows still advanced, and the blade still hummed, so he kept moving, taking off a limb here, cutting through a torso there, until one by one the last of the threat was eliminated.

As the last head rolled off across the stone floor, the shadows finally dropped. And so did Souji.

[alastinglight]

Of course, in the wake of expending way too much energy and feeling the last of the power bleed off into the night air, there was very little to protect him against the sudden surge of madness and the exhaustion.

Before he could contend with that, though, Takasugi had to deal with the fact that he had been rather unceremoniously dropped to the ground, and the bond between him and his Meister slipped away. He shifted out immediately, and found himself crouched at Okita's side, staring down at the latter's prone form.

For a second, between the skittering voices pounding against his skull and the sight of the Okita, Takasugi forgot how to breathe. He grit his teeth against the former, though, and focused his energies on moving, reaching out for his Meister, helping.

"Okita-san!"

[mumyo_ken]

He wasn't sure what had happened. He'd been fighting, and then...

Nothing. Just the darkness, skittering around inside his mind, playing havoc, trying to...

He heard his name, and tried to remember how to breathe. The first inhalation was like fire, tearing through his abused lungs, forcing its way back out as a barking cough that caused him to double-up, trying to steal a breath between them. He'd used up all the energy he had and more, left himself defenseless and shaking on the floor when he needed to get to his feet and fight again. There were more kishin out there. He was supposed to kill them. That's all there was to it. He forced himself to uncurl, trying to stagger to his feet again.

[alastinglight]

There it was again, that pesky cough, and it sounded far worse than it used to. Takasugi fought off that sharp spike of panic that he felt at the sound of it' and reached out to support Okita with his own body.

"It's over for the moment. You should rest."

They both needed to, actually. That attack had taken a lot out of him.

[mumyo_ken]

"No, we need to--" A pause, a gasp for breath. "keep going, Takasugi-san. There are still more. We need to--"

He'd given up some part of himself when he'd made their risky gamble, and now, without his partner to help combat the Madness wavelength, he couldn't get it back. Not that he cared, or was even aware of it, anymore. All he knew was that there were more kishin somewhere that he had to get.

"Transform. We need to--" He needed to find them and kill them, the moment he managed to stop coughing.

[alastinglight]

That made Takasugi frown. Okita was acting strangely, and it was probably because of the madness wavelength.

Not a good thing at all, this.

"I don't think it's a good idea. Not with you like this."

[mumyo_ken]

He ignored the refusal, instead trying to force himself to his feet again. It took three tries, but he made it, swaying slightly on his feet.

"Takasugi-san. There are more of them. We have to fight."

Until this base was empty of threat. Until they'd defeated them all. He coughed again, staggering a little, tasting blood in the back of his throat.

"Transform. We have to go."

It was so simple. Why wouldn't his partner understand?

[alastinglight]

And Takasugi stood up right along with Okita, hovering close, worried that his Meister would keel over at any given moment. It DID appear to be a valid concern.

"There are others. Let them handle it first."

He was already charting out a good path to the infirmary from where they were. He still had his bearings.

[mumyo_ken]

"Takasugi-san. You're not listening. We have to go." His voice was hoarse now, and empty, devoid of any of the distress one might have expected in his situation.

He wasn't going to give up now. He couldn't do that. He would be weak if he did that, and he didn't want to be weak anymore. He wanted to be strong--the Madness would make him strong, not weak. He'd been doing the wrong thing all along, hadn't he? Fighting it. Embracing it would solve everything.

He took a few lurching steps forward. It was so dirty here, and they needed to be somewhere else now. Somewhere the kishin were. "You are my weapon. We're supposed to fight together." He coughed again, catching himself with one hand against the wall. "You wanted to be stronger. Come fight. We'll be strong together."

[alastinglight]

And now it started to make sense: Okita's persistence, the things he was saying, the look in his eyes. Something, somewhere, started laughing. Takasugi pointedly ignored it.

He set his jaw, and moved to stand in front of the other, folding his arms across his chest, digging his heels in.

"No."

He was still thinking clearly, by some miracle, and while he could, he wanted to make sure that he'd pull them both of out this mess properly.

[mumyo_ken]

Okita stopped and stared at the younger man for a moment, and then moved to push past him. He'd recovered a little of his strength--enough to walk on his own power--though he was still struggling to catch his breath properly.

"I'll go by myself."

He didn't have a weapon. But he couldn't force Takasugi to transform. If he wasn't going to see what they had to do, then he had no choice but to leave him behind. He'd find something or someone else to use. He was wasting time here, waiting for his partner to understand. Time he couldn't waste.

[alastinglight]

That was something he wasn't going to stand for. Takasugi moved again, firmly blocking Okita's path.

"You can't fight anymore. Going out there is just going to get you killed, and I'm not going to allow it."

[mumyo_ken]

He ignored Takasugi blocking his path, trying to shove past the younger man.

"I can fight." It was all he could do. All he'd ever been able to do. "You can come with me or get out of my way." He'd dropped all pretense of politeness now. He didn't have time for it.

[alastinglight]

"If we're going anywhere, it's to the infirmary."

Nope, not moving an inch.

[mumyo_ken]

"No."

He couldn't. He had to keep going. That's all there was to it. If he let Takasugi stop him that would be the end of it. He would be useless, and he couldn't let that happen. He had time, still. He wouldn't let it end like that.

"You have to let me go. We're wasting time."

He would force him to, if necessary.