Fifty-Two Coins--[Accidental/nocurr Video]

[u_n_asplode]

[The device seems to have been dropped or stepped on or otherwise unintentionally tripped over. The usual. But it’s been playing the very same recording for some time now.

Flandre, curled small and barely in the frame; just part of a wing, her back, and her voice.They keep coming back. Why won’t they leave? They’ll get better, if they leave…be

Comments

[Action]

[loyal_cube]

[You know that not!dad has been looking for you forever, Flandre, but he hadn't really expected this. He tries to keep his face cold, despite his hands are shaking. When Flandre returns to the bodies once more, Cube kneels to touch her, shake her likes it's all a bad nightmare. He avoids looking at the bodies as much as possible.]

Flandre-chan, Flandre-chan...

[Action]

[u_n_asplode]

[At the shake, Flandre reacts only sluggishly. She turns to look up at Cube with a dull, anguished expression; her eyes red all over from crying.]

They won't move, Cube. They won't go away.

[Despite this, she kneels to pick Cirno's body up again anyway.]

[Action]

[loyal_cube]

[He kneels and hugs her before she can scoop Cirno's body back up]

It'll be alright, Flandre-chan. Cirno-san is still alive. This isn't really her. That's why she won't move.

[Cube continues to hug his not!daughter tightly as if she had lost Cirno and the others, though.]

[Action]

[u_n_asplode]

[She stops, as soon as Cube is there--initially only because she can't move forward anymore. Her arms start to reach out a bit before what's left of her mind catches up. Cube will feel her trembling, with her wings clamped so tightly to her back they don't even rattle.]

...what about Meiling? And...Marisa, and Sakuya, and...Patchouli?

[They're there, too; mostly hidden under the bodies of strangers. After the first time they disappeared, the vampire couldn't bring herself to uncover them again. Meiling is an exception; out in front of the others, as if trying to protect them--even in death. Cirno was crumpled out a little beyond her.]

action.

[ethericbit]

[ It's too foggy out to see much, so Jack's also just wandering around. Maybe he'll smash some more of those dumb robots.

But he's run into Flandre instead. ]

...Oh, hey. It's you.

action.

[u_n_asplode]

[She takes her time, looking up. When she does, there's only a very faint flicker of recognition in her eyes. And she sniffles first.]

...hello.

[The vampire didn't move very much from where she was crouched in the road, only aimlessly stoking Cirno's hair and whimpering softly.]

action.

[ethericbit]

They're not...[ he pauses for a second, before suddenly getting louder ] none of them are real! They can't be. They're just...illusions! O-or something!

action.

[u_n_asplode]

[Flandre flinches, a little bit. She curls her wings around the little corpse in her arms once more, as if she could keep everything away from Cirno now. Everything that would hurt. Too late now. Always too late.]

...they won't go away.

action

[baoziaru]

[When he first hears that crying, he thinks it's another one of those strange women dressed in rags, but as he gets closer, he sees that is not the case. Bayonet rifle still in his hands, he approaches cautiously, but he lowers his weapon so it doesn't look like he's planning to attack.]

You are the one who had that red-eyed rabbit, aru. [He didn't know her name yet.]

action

[u_n_asplode]

[There was a man there. Flandre knew this, because she might have blundered into him. Eventually.

She looked up at him and sniffled, wetly; her own eyes were looking quite red all over now. She had been crying for a very long time now, and her mind was practically numb.]

Hello.

[The little vampire has a fairy cradled in her arms.]

action

[gochuugoku]

[China squats down so he's at the same eye-level as her. He only gives her a sad expression, since he is not really sure what to say. He looks down at the fairy.]

This is beyond cruel, isn't it?

action

[u_n_asplode]

[The little vampire whimpers in response, and drops her gaze down to the corpse in her arms.]

Cirno wasn't supposed to be here.

...why is everyone back now?

[video]

[battledancing]

Miss Flandre...?

[video]

[u_n_asplode]

[It's a long moment before she shuffles back into view, and even longer before she starts to look around for the source of the voice that called her name.]

Who's there?

[video]

[battledancing]

Ah, this is Cynthia-- over here, on the communicator. [She adds after realizing Flandre was likely too preoccupied to notice the feed had been on.]

[video]

[u_n_asplode]

...oh.

[Though, Flandre seems rather less bothered than usual. She's too distressed to feel anywhere near normal.

She stumbles forwards again, not really intent on finding the thing. But she was paying attention now.]

Hello.