Diamond Dust (Kaien/Lyre)

[Leann Lacey]

"What?"

Kaien's request that she "stop deciding what he thought on her own" seemed to confuse her, though it manifested only as an expression on her face. One of her hands came loose from the bars of the cage, and Lee started to reach it down towards Kaien. It seemed as though the action of her body, and her words and expressions were disjointed - moving and changing independent to one another. When he said "I never said being stupid was a bad thing", her hand stopped its descent, and she turned a very sad frown on him. Her mouth went straight when he said that he didn't hate her, and then her whole face twisted up in anger when he told her that she hated herself.

"Nah uh! I love me! I have to love me! I'm the only one that does! No one else cares!"

She sprung up again as Kaien finished talking, back-spring off of his cage and landing lightly on the ground in front of it. She had twisted in the air, so that when she landed, her back was to him. When she spoke again, it was to answer his questions, but she didn't answer them in the order he presented them.

"I don't know anything!," she emphatically insisted. "I'm stupid, remember?! I just see what you show me! I just see what anyone shows me! Sometimes... sometimes... sometimes you show... hate. Sometimes not. How'm I s'posed ta know what's true?!" Suddenly she spun around, her hands clenching into fists at her side and she stomped once, like a kid having a temper tantrum. "And it always mattered! Always, always! Since that time!" Once again, her "color" changed, and her hands moved up to clasp together in front of her breasts. She even blushed, and cut her eyes away. "...When the nurse... caught us..." And then, with another abrupt change, her blood-stained hands were covering her face, and she turned completely away from him. "And I don't want you to hate me! I want... I want... I want... I want you... to love me... cuz if you do... if you love me, then maybe... maybe you won't..." Her voice dropped to a harsh whisper. "...maybe you won't kill me..."

And she let that hang in the air for a moment. In the silence, she sank back down to the ground, her hands sliding from her face to her hair. Her fingers entwined pink strands ferociously, but there was a pause before she tugged on them.

"But you left! You left me here! And didn't even let me help! And... and... and you replaced me! And brought her back!" Evidently, she had just targeted Lyre as a "rival" for affection. How, exactly, this came about was anyone's guess, but one had to wonder if it wasn't due to some form of "indoctrination" Vasquez had inflicted upon the pink-haired girl following Kaien's departure. She released her hair and shook her head wildly. "You love her instead of me, right? Cuz she's not... crazy... hahahahaha... not yet! Not yet! Ahhhhhh!"

And Leann pounced on the pipe she'd used to brain the guard, snatching it up with great gusto. She sprinted over to Lyre's cage, jerked the pipe into the air and smashed it into the gate.

"Wake up, wake up, li'l bird, wake up!"

CLANG![/b]

"Pretty, so pretty... not meant to be here..."

CLANG![/b]

"Not fair... not fair at all..."

CLANG![/i][/b]

Her frantic assault was breaking the hinges of the door of Lyre's cage.

"Ha... haha... so, we'll play... we'll play..."

CLANG![/i][/b]

The top hinge splintered off, the metal fragments shooting off into the darkness.

"I won't be replaced! I'll... I'll do the replacing!"

CLANG![/i][/u]

"We'll play real nice! Real sweet! Like... sugar..."

CLANG! CLUNK![/b][/i]

The lower hinge busted off and, as soon as it had, Leann dropped the pipe. With a delighted giggle, she grabbed the cage door and jerked it backwards, pulling it open and dropping it off to the side. Then, once again, she dropped down to all fours, and slowly crawled her way into Lyre's cage.

"C'mere, c'mere, li'l bird... c'mere, c'mere..." Lee's tone was sing-song-ish and happy. "I'll be him... and you... be me... She giggled. She had managed to get herself completely into the cage. "...And! And, I'll show you... I'll show you..."

And she pounced forward, abruptly, half-tackling Lyre. At the initial tackle, Lee made sure to grabs Lyre's wrist, so that she could hold the girl in place, in case she struggled. But instead of violence... she dipped her head down... and faintly kissed her. Then, she released Lyre's wrists and wrapped her arms and legs around the other girl in the tightest hug she could manage, nuzzling her face into Lyre's shoulder. Then, in another emotional swing, she burst into tears.

[Kaien Tsubakuro]

It was like watching a train wreck. Initially, Kaien had been tempted to reach a hand up and take the one she was extending towards him but half-way through the urge, it faded. The red-eyed male was suspicious by nature and Leann’s unstable presentation did not benefit from his trust. Whatever emotion she was conjuring from him was in scraps and pieces, not fully shaped in the first place. When it came to liking or loving people, Kaien wasn’t quick to give in to the emotion. The slightest attempt at ridiculing his feelings or taking advantage of them, if he had shown any in the first place, was grounds for complete severing of connection, with an added grudge in exchange. While he was quick to find people appealing physically or personality-wise, there were tests one had to pass before he would like the person emotionally and thus, start giving in return. In their interactions, he had felt interested to see if a potential connection could be established, but Leann had stepped on his toes, granted, due to the circumstances beyond their control.

The answer to her question would be that everything was true. Kaien loved and hated people who tried to get close to him, at least, in a way that asked for more than sympathy or friendship. He was eternally suspicious of their motives and they would have to prove to him that their intentions were genuine and not just some trick to get the upper hand. So if that troubled, well, better find someone less bothersome to deal with. For people who did manage to get his trust, they would become privy to true loyalty and his intensely passionate nature that left no room for doubting his own affection. However, they were far from any such circumstance when Lee spouted her dramatic confession, and while he did register her feelings, the motivation behind them... left him cold. Leann was the very image of pitiful in that moment – the child who clung to the first person on their way because they were lonely and suffering. In other words, she didn’t like him for him, she liked him because she felt alone and hated. Kaien peered. Was she anticipating a moment where they could be placed in the arena together and was hoping he would fall for her and spare her? The potential emotional manipulation attempt, confessed even, pierced him like many knives and he became dark and bitter indeed.

Such had the Scorp bubbling under the surface when she accused him of leaving and “replacing” her with Lyre. The accusations just grated him more, since she had been the one to snap at him and slap his apology aside, over and over again. There was a limit to his understanding and he wasn’t exactly in the best of physical and mental conditions either. The insinuation that he “loved” Lyre, just because they had come back together or because she “wasn’t crazy” would have made him scoff if Lee didn’t look so crazed and ready to take action against the grey-eyed girl. Right now, especially after this display, Lee was right about one thing – he did have greater consideration for Lyre than he had for her. The cards had been dealt and her theatrics were very far from endearing.

When Lee went to pick up the pipe and stared slamming it against Lyre’s cage, Kaien took hold of the bars of his. “Lee. What are you doing?” His question was lost in clangs of metal against metal and the sounds reverberated so powerfully he felt physically affected by them. Fuck. Kaien looked to the door of his own cage and considered the force he’d need to try to push-bend his way out. He didn’t have such strength, not even when he was in perfect condition. A wave of helplessness washed over him and he could do nothing but watch as Lee slipped into the other girl’s cage and... forced her to take part in her fantasy. When she wrapped herself around Lyre and burst into tears, Kaien didn’t think he could feel so much pity for one human being. The red eyed male didn’t like dramatic people and this was just... on a completely different level. Even if he did excuse her because of the traumatic experiences she’d had to bring her to this state, it didn’t make him any more interested in nursing a train wreck. All Kaien wanted in that one moment was to get the hell away from the arena, Leann and everyone else associated with it.

Kaien released the bars of his cage and slumped back against the ones behind him. His red eyes were on Lyre and although he felt tired and empty with a sprinkle of betrayed, there was firmness in his intense gaze. Don’t give up, it said. The pinkie promise was there too and he would try to get her out of here, but his consciousness was waning. The only thing that kept him awake was the thought that Lee would go electrical berserk if he did succumb to the utter exhaustion that racked his body.

Eventually, the guards would come with reinforcements, this time lasso-ended plastic sticks with them, the kind you would see PETA running after stray dogs and cats with. In their ranks were actually proficient fighters who wouldn’t be downed so easily by a gymnast teenager and they were determined to get Lee into her cage and Lyre into a new one.


((Hope you guys don’t mind the guards, ignore them if you wanted to continue with whatever we’re doing here but I didn’t really have anything to add and not sure what else Lee could do or say after that. Anyway, I was thinking it’s a good time to call it goodnight and move to the next day? In the arena. I’d like to set the stage for that one.))

[Lyre Maybridge]

[/color]

CLANG[/U][/B]

The loud sound of metal against metal verberating through the air and with a yelp drowned up by the loud clash, she jumped away from the front of her cage. All traces of fatigue flushed down and replaced with the thrumming beat of fear and adrenaline. Whirling around to face the maniac girl, feet dipping into the puddle of blood but the sensation was lost to the vibration making it's way through the metal as Leann continued to bash the pipe against the confines of her cage. She's going to kill me! The noise was overbearingly loud, Kaien's protest lost on her as she stared at the pink banshee, covering her ears when it only got more painful to listen too, but her hands barely blocked out the shattering noise if only dulled it just a bit.

A small bit of metal caught her eye as she watched it drop down near her foot, grey eyes darting up to the hinges on her cage door and blood nearly freezing in her veins. The cage that had effectively trapped her down here was now the only thing keeping her from a sudden death by this lunatics hand, and probably for the deluded thought process that Kaien loved Lyre and not Leann. Grey eyes glued to the hinges of the cage door, a part of her screaming to try and keep it in place and another more rational process telling her that if she were to put her hands anywhere near that gate right now they would be smashed to bits, and Lyre liked her fingers in tact.

The lower hinge finally just falling off and the noise suddenly stopped and the fear pounded through her like a substitute for blood as she slowly lowered her arms in front of her, backing away from the front of the cage and into the corner as much as she could get as Leann ripped the gate backwards, dropped it, and followed in suit crawling on all fours into her cage.

She's going to strangle me! Leann's lips were moving, forming words but the pounding of Lyre's heart drowned everything out as her hands stayed up in front of her attempting to keep the girl away. But proving little when the pink girl lunged on top of her, grabbing one wrist and holding it back while Lyre's other hand shot out to keep her upright, not wanting to fully fall beneath the girl. And then the unexpected happen, instead of wrapping one hand around her neck like Lyre had thought, she dipped her head down and..

kissed her?

Lyre froze up like a statue, eyes wide as her thought process struggled to grasp the situation and when it did a split second later she immediately cringed away from it. As soon as it had happened it was just as quick to end and the girl snaked her arms and legs around her effectively cutting most movement, burying her head into her shoulder and promptly bursting into tears much to Lyre's confusion. What in Gods name is happening? Her grey eyes cast a look of confusion and uncertainty with a splash of surprise about the entire situation before her. What sort of mental hospital have I gotten into? But as she dragged her wide grey eyes away from Kaien and falling onto the pipe Leann had dropped in favor of crawling into her cage. Slowly as if not to move the crying girl on top of her, she edge one leg outside the gate and attempted to kick the pipe toward Kaien, but she fell just a few inches short. Moving would potentially startle the girl on top of her, and like a ticking time bomb of emotions Lyre was uncertain if this little crying session would end in her death if she set her off again. Lifting one hand to awkwardly pat the crying girl, words lost to her because she didn't quite know what to say. This was like some foreign nightmare with an unusual twist, or maybe she was in a mental hospital rather than an arena full of death.

The sensation of cool liquid was not lost on Lyre though, her brain very well processing that it was indeed blood that coated the pink hair and was now on her. Body tense at the thought, but her rationality pounded in the back of her head. You've got a girl who could snap your neck, on top of you and you're worried about blood? With priorities straightened for the brief moment she continued to awkwardly pat Leann's head, words still a lost because saying it was okay when it wasn't would probably just end up with screaming in her face and that was one of the nicer options. Or maybe she'd just kiss her again. Lyre cringed a little bit at that thought, grey eyes on the pipe again as she slowly slid herself down the cage a bit, tip of her foot brushing against the cold metal.

The sound of pounding footsteps in the distance slowly made its way through Leann's cries and she glanced at the door, the guards were finally coming but she wasn't sure if she should be grateful that Leann would be taken care of - and off her! - or that she was about to be thrown into another cage. One small mercy in exchange for something else, was it? Lyre huffed out an exasperated sigh, all of this was just too much for her body to continue to react to. Allowing her leg to drop it's strained stretch as she looked at Kaien and just seeing how exhausted he was allowed her the faint amusement of just how bizarre this had turned out to be, even if it was extremely dangerous situation and in a small attempt to maybe make him feel better - she puffed up her cheeks in said exasperation a small smile making it's way to her face though. Despite the crazy girl on top of her - that she continued to try and comfort with a pat on her head and occasionally pet like an animal - she tried to give Kaien a little bit of comfort in a way to say I'm not gone yet.[/ul][/size]

[Leann Lacey]

Manic-depressive swings and fighting beyond one's true, normal ability were tiring things. Each wave, in each direction, had sapped her energy; each guard fallen, each swing of the pipe at Lyre's cage, drained her tank closer to empty. And in the end, she had nothing left but tears. Attached, like a leech, to Lyre, Lee cried herself into a death-like sleep. She was dead weight on Lyre until the guards came, and though they intended to be rough and went out of their way to strike her and toss her about like a ragdoll during the "move", she never woke up. Faced with a destroyed cage and lacking any true motivation to go "above and beyond", the ultimate result of the guard's arrival was little more than a relocation. Lee was tossed into her cage as if she were an unimportant toy, landing in the center and rolling until she struck the lining of lightning rods that decorated the cage. Lyre was shoved, pushed, and prodded into the very same cage, and sealed with the lightning lunatic behind the thick glass.

It would, however, prove an eventless night. The "dangerous" one never stirred, save to occasionally writhe and murmur, trapped in some nightmare created by a damaged mind. But things would not go undisturbed forever. Before the rising of the sun, a new set of guards came down, opened the cage and, after going out of their way to push Lyre around, collected the pink-haired girl, stealing her away to some other place of Vaquez's choosing. In a way, it was intended to try and create a kind of "separation anxiety", though, in practice, that probably only affected Lee. Over the course of the day, she would be "prepared" for the fateful final show, the underlying lesson being the same one that always was: she would kill or she would die, and if she did not cooperate, her contract would be severed. She would not be directly told of her opponent's identity; she would not be given any hints as to the nature of the arena for that battle. She would simply be made "clean and ready" for the end, her "cleansing" coming in the form of abuse and her "readiness" coming in the form of some new ridiculous uniform.

((There ya go. >_> Short. I leave the setting of the scene to you all. Mostly... cuz I'm rather brain dead, but don't wanna hold anything up.))

[Kaien Tsubakuro]

Kaien was coiled up within himself, bitter and dark, but watchful, like a cobra waiting to strike. While Leann’s insanity shouldn’t be taken with great seriousness, Kaien found it quite revelatory. It was when people cracked that thoughts, fears, desires, usually kept in check, came out in exaggerated torrents. Leann was no different. While he did pity her for her suffering and emotional loneliness, he couldn’t help but be miffed that those were the founding reasons for her interest in their connection. She could say she “cared” about his feelings all day, he wouldn’t believe it until he saw it, and actions spoke more than words. All that Kaien was seeing was a girl who reacted defensively and vengefully, to display a consideration for nothing else but herself. Kaien narrowed his eyes. He didn’t like liars. It was no excuse even if they believed their own words.

He watched her melt on Lyre, a pathetic little ball of sobs. Perhaps his thoughts would have been less harsh if he didn’t feel so horrible himself. She was just a teenager. The expression Lyre offered him came out of the blue and he locked his gaze on the fragile smile. What was that about? Was she trying to reassure him that she was okay? Kaien shook his head lightly in half-mock disapproval, but one corner of his lips curled up briefly as well. It seemed that Lyre was here to represent the opposite of Lee – someone who was too considerate of others and not looking after her interests enough. At least, that’s what he was gathering from all that he had seen and heard. Kaien sighed and looked away, his cheek brushing against the cold metal of cage bars, smile faded and expression turned wearily thoughtful. She was probably doing it because she hated being disliked. Regardless, he had a better feeling about her character than he did the pink-haired girl. Before her insanity spilled the beans he had been quite fooled by her behavior.

Kaien remained awake just long enough to watch the guards toss Lee and Lyre into the same cage together. His guilt at bringing Lyre into this mess slapped at him again, but its touch was soft rubber, slowly fading from notice. Kaien fell asleep. Sometime during the lights out, a mutant girl able of healing was brought to his cage, fished from her cell to perform healing on any salvageable guards and some captives who would serve as entertainment in the arena the next day. It wasn’t fun to watch if the combatants were moments away from dying of their wounds right at the beginning. Who in the world was still finding the whole deal fun, very few could say. Because of it, however, when he awoke, Kaien wasn’t that strained in movement from injuries anymore. His wounds, under wraps no one had touched, were all but completely healed and the sleep he managed to get made him feel distinctly clear-headed and rational alongside physically fit. The shower he had managed to take in Lyre’s apartment added to his general freshness and the grim, red gleam in his eyes said he was ready to face anything.

Kaien and Lyre were separated as well before the event, each being taken to be prepared for it. The arena itself had undergone a massive change from what they’d seen (and in Lee’s case, experienced) yesterday. The glass-filled sand had been replaced with mud, the kind you would expect to see in a pig sty designed for the pig's luxurious comfort or in preparation for a wrestling in the mud. It was deep enough to swallow a boot whole, passing above the ankle, and making movement potentially slippery and difficult. The mud was soft as melted chocolate and would otherwise be a delight to walk on barefoot for the sensation that provided. Throughout the muddy dome, there were various rocks and boulders scattered. The smaller rocks would be underneath the surface, detectable mostly by stepping on them and their shapes were sharp enough to cause injury, dull enough not to immediately cripple. The boulders were large and noticeable, the larger the boulder the bigger the blade it had stuck in it like a chorus parody of Excalibur.

Blades ranged from daggers and tiny kunai, to greatswords and scythes. The larger the blade was, the harder it was to “draw” from its stony perch. Clearly today was designed for extermination and Kaien was the expected executioner. The arena was split into two halves by a very thick, glass wall that was much too high to scale and everything going on could be heard and seen from the other side. The glass was solid enough to withstand considerable impact and only those with superhuman strength could hope to get a chance at cracking it. The participants in today’s arena would be lowered into it from cages that descended from above and Kaien’s cage was the first to come into view.

Slowly, he was lowered to approximately four feet from the muddy surface of today’s stage and that was when the bottom of his cage opened like a trap door and made him plummet the remaining distance. Somehow, the red-eyed male landed on his feet, in a crouch, and it would have been apparent for but a few moments that he was wearing boots before they were swallowed by the vast dark brown. The tall male was dressed like a likeness of Matrix’s Neo, the long dark coat already sinking into the mud and bearing stains for it. The moment he righted himself it started to “rain,” a steady, light, controlled downpour that affected only the arena where the fighting happened. MV was in his bubble, watching, unusually quiet.

Moments after Kaien’s cage was lowered into one side of the divided arena, another cage began its descent and it was Lyre’s. It was going to drop her on the other side, both of them coming to be very close to the glass wall. Kaien seemed disinterested in noticing the other cage, and he gave no mind to who was in it, the red eyed young man already treading through the mud with “morning” energy, and heading straight for a boulder that sported a shiny katana. His eyes gleamed mean and his fingers twitched as he extended them to grasp it by its hilt. While he fought to free it from the stone by placing one booted foot on the rocky surface and tugging at it with both hands, three other cages were being lowered into his portion of the arena. It couldn’t be more obvious that the survival of the coming opponents was largely discouraged.

As it stood, Lee was not MV’s only problem. Kaien’s first opponents were of the troublemakers. One of them was a mutant that resembled “The Thing” from Fantastic Four, but his rocky skin was not orange, but brown. As his cage was lowered and he started coming into Kaien’s area of influence, he shifted into a bulky kid that couldn’t be more than seventeen. The second was a telepath that had caused great grief when he had decided to try, and ended up failing, to escape. As anyone skilled at reading minds and looking into the very soul of others, he had sharp eyes filled with caution and arrogance. Despite his skinny build, he looked as if he didn’t expect to lose fights much. Surprise and confusion struck those clever eyes about the time the rocky one normalized. The third was a dead-stared skinny girl in her late teens that almost reminded of the brunette, but her hair was cropped shorter. She could read people’s feelings and inspire feelings into someone if she touched them directly.

With effort that made his muscles tense to the point of breaking, Kaien finally extracted the katana from its rocky prison, stumbling back when it finally came free and became his to hold. The three were released into the mud. The girl landed gracefully, the telepath was on all fours and the freshly human-like boy went in face first. They were all bare-footed. Kaien’s chest was heaving with deep breaths and he was slightly bent forward, katana grasped in both hands with its tip sunk in mud and eyes hidden by the hair in his face. Variously timed, the three others scattered and went for weapons. The girl worked to free some daggers from a small boulder to the side, her listless eyes never leaving Kaien, while the males each went for larger swords, the once-Hulk trying to muster the strength to rip out a greatsword from its huge boulder.

He was the first to fall, face-first, again, in the mud, cut dead. The slash from Kaien’s katana went down the length of his back, from left shoulder, severing across his spine, to his right knee-bend. He spasmed in his fall and tried to scream but that was when Kaien’s sword shot up again and sliced open his throat. The look in the young man’s red eyes was deserving of his “demon” title. Today’s rules had been clear. Kill or be killed. If you refused to be the last one standing and offered a mercy to anyone, you would be shot dead by strategically placed snipers. The look in MV’s eyes when he had informed them all behind-stage of it had been resolute. This time there would be no room for pardons in favor of torture. Kaien’s personal desire to escape the arena alive had somehow increased during the events of the previous night. Something in Leann’s confessions and words, as driven by insanity as they were, had touched a sensitive spot in him and reminded of past betrayals.

If at first on MV’s stage he had been a hesitant combatant, shy of taking life, and prone to crumping in disgust at what he did, the red eyed man on the stage now was as cold and merciless as a specter of cold fury. He slapped his blade through the air, to the side, sending drops of blood and rain flying from its red-stained edge and, his cutting gaze took in the remaining opponents in turn. The quick disposal of the once-rocky-one had sent the telepath fleeing in terror from the scythe he had unsuccessfully tried to draw from a great boulder. The girl was keeping to the sides, gathering knives. Kaien recognized her as the greater threat but his eyes shot up briefly, to look at MV’s bubble where he found what he was looking for – Leann. This time it was her turn to watch. At least for now. His eyes narrowed, though he didn’t suppose such subtlety could be noticed from the distance. He was going to show her what “bad” actually looked like.

- Kaien looked away and set his gaze on the telepath who was direly struggling to free a shortsword from a boulder -

He was doing it with no effect on his sanity.


((I left Lyre’s opponents and such up to Lyre! Laz, if you don’t want Lee to be watching from the bubble, ignore Kaien’s mention of a gaze that way. I’m going to finish Kaien’s battle with the three others in the next post and that’s when I was thinking Leann would be lowered into the arena with him. Let me know if you have some other idea to integrate.))

[Lyre Maybridge]

[/i] was as bad as the pink banshee. "You're putting me in her same cage?!" She practically hissed out, turning on her heel to argue with the men but only served to have the end of one of their poles slam into her stomach, knocking the breath away from her before being roughly shoved back. Nearly falling on to the slumbering girl had she not twisted herself mid-fall to land beside her. Glaring up at the guards as they slammed the gate shut before trotting out of the cell room, gripping the bars and barring her teeth at the men who paid her no attention as they left the room before exhaling a long slow breath.

Moving herself away from Leann and curling up in the furthest corner from her, Lyre pulled her knees to her chest and rested her head up against the metal bars. Grey eyes flicking to the now unconscious Kaien before letting out another drawn out sigh and closing her eyes. Body succumbing to sleep only minutes later. Images flickering beneath her eyelids as her passive ability which Kaien had kept from activating now rushing through images faster than she could keep up, body convulsing in shakes before she gasped awake. Grey eyes wide as her nails clutched into her skin, body rigid and eyes glazed over like lightning in a storm cloud. Lighting up and fading with each image flickering in her sight.

Guards. MV. A flash of pink and red. Distinct colors of brown and gray.

The tears dripped steadily down her face, mixing with the crimson that followed in suit before Lyre's body slumped up against the cage bars. Body thoroughly exhausted and with a head pounding, she simply passed out from the overload that Kaien kept from hitting her. Not even noticing when guards came in the middle of the night and took Leann from the cage, nor when the girl with healing capabilities came and healed Kaien, as well as the scratched and bruise forming on her stomach from the pole, blow. The darkness enveloped her, the clarity of her dreams warning her of the oncoming storm.

Crimson and pink. Kaien and Leann up against each other in the arena. Kaien's ruthless slaughters of those who entered with him.

Fire engulfing the area and being drowned by rain. Screams of agony. Lyre's lifeless form laying on a drenched rock, unmoving as the area around crumbled before her.

"JUST DIE ALREADY!"

The voice echoed, as Lyre bolted up from the slumber. Breathing heavy as she warily glanced around the dark room, they were underground so she doubted that she would see any sunlight. But the scream echoed in her head and she knew that sleep wasn't going to come again, so she curled up and rested her forehead on her forearms and calmed her breathing. A small part of her noting that Leann was gone for whatever reason and the distinct trot of guards that were coming closer. A part of her wanting to warn Kaien of his possibility of being in the arena with Leann but as she glanced over and catching his slumbering face, she sighed. If she woke him up she could warn him, but if she did he would potentially be exhausted after staying up so late and that could be the end of him in the arena, and while she felt the rippling guilt gnaw at her insides at her next thought, she couldn't help but feel it was true. After all, Lyre knew Kaien but couldn't say the same for the pink haired girl, so out of the two of them if she wanted anyone to come out alive it would have to be Kaien. His dislike toward her was made regardless of the impact, she wanted him to win so she kept her mouth sealed and allowed him to rest - the guilt eating at her.

Watching with red stained cheeks as the guards came in with two separate squads, one roughly grabbing Kaien from his cell and dragging him off before opening Lyre's cage and grabbing her roughly. Pushing her down the hall that sent shivers through her bare feet, eyes casting over everything in and trying to drink in the maze of twist and turns to where she was supposed to go but everything became lost after the second or third time they made their way down a similar looking hallway and a part of her wondered if they were just going in circles to prevent future escapes. Coming across a small open room that was questionable in sanitation, but the guards stated it was for her to wipe most the blood off her face and legs as best she could. So without wasting time, Lyre stumbled over to a sink and quickly dipped her hand in the water, washing her face off and taking discreet sips as they warily lounged around. Talking of the arena but she was too busy gulping down the water once she noticed they just didn't care, but then again the taste and quality of the water was piss poor and if anything she would probably get sick from it, but regardless she drank until the ache for thirst was quenched and the blood was washed cleaned as much as she could. The guards shouted that her time was up and she was once again brought through another maze of look-alike walls.

When the guards suddenly stopped after leading her to a dead end, she glanced back before one of them roughly shoved her forward onto a metal slab with a long line going down the center before the cage gate slammed close behind her and she whirled around. Dark hair whipping around in the movement as she clutched the bars before her, "What-" "Might want to move your fingers, girlie. If ya want to keep them, that is." Quickly, she pulled her hands back and held them to her chest about to question them when they all bellowed out in laughter before the cage gave a distinct screech and began to lower. The guards rising out of view as she lowered into the floor, metal scrapping against the before emerging into a large room. Encased with people who were screaming and cheering, and Lyre's grey eyes widened body convulsing as she fell to her knees. Clutching her ears tightly as she tried to drown out the images flickering through her vision. They all wanted her dead, each one more violent and different then the other as each vision overcame the next, leaving no room for anything. The pounding of her head increasing as tears formed in the corners of her eyes. To spectators it would simply look like she was scared senseless and in some ways it wasn't all that far from the truth.

The cage came to an abrupt stop before the latches released and Lyre plummeted down the rest of the way. Feet landing in slick mud that reached further up then it did on Kaien's legs. Swallowing the skin all the way up almost to her knee cap, more than likely in other areas it would sink further up. Landing on hands and knees, Lyre breathed in taking a shuddering breath as the arena suddenly began to rain. The sensation of the cool drops of water covering her was enough to bring some sense back to her, as she slowly got to her feet blindly. Concentrate! With grey eyes clutched closed and muddy hands brought up to cover her ears, the pounding in her head lessening as her ability was slowly cut off. I know I'm in danger! Concentrate! With another mental push, the blood forming in the corners of her eyes before fading away like tears as the images slowly fell away and the insane sounds from the arena came back.

The glass walls separated the two parts of the arena and Lyre cast a long gaze at it before slowly pulling herself upright and trudging through the mud. She caught sight of the weapons protruding from the rocks all around and a small part of her filled with doubt. There was no way she could wield most of the weapons without the probabilty of hurting herself in the process, so she continued to trudge before a small rock with a kunai made itself known and she quickly pulled it from the rock before making herself for a taller rock. It probably wasn't the best thing to go to, but the mud was effectively hindering most of her movement and she needed to scout potential rocks to move and hide if need be. Though she doubted the hiding would last for more then a few minutes, maybe to avoid an attack or something.

Lyre sighed, the thrumming of her heart pounding like a wild drum as she made her way up the rock. Pleased to note that as the water washed away the mud, it took the dry blood she missed along with it. The distinct screeching sound made her aware of the other 'players' entering the arena and her stomach dropped. The fear blossoming in her chest and spreading through and around her heart to constrict, and she clenched the fabric of her shirt, bottom lip trembling.

The cage opposite of the arena from Lyre held a pyrokinesis user, with an excited look gleaming in his eyes. Either he loved this or he willingly joined this place to simply kill, either way the rain evaporated off his body in a trail of steam before he was dropped into the mud. Another cage held a mutant with increased speed, but the slick mud and slippery terrain effectively cut his ability in half if his cursing was anything to go by. The third was a mutant with the ability to morph into animals, but required equal size in mass in order to properly change into the animal. It was a painful process if the snapping of bones was anything to go by, before the roar of a gorilla echoed off the thick glass walls.

Lyre felt her shoulders slump lightly, clutching the kunai point down to her chest as her fingers and hands trembled. The terrain did nothing to help either, the shivering of the cold water and cool mud would hurt her endurance and accuracy with the weapon if she threw it at anyone. Her fingers would go numb soon and so would her toes if they didn't end up bleeding and scratched if the dull rocks she had smashed her foot into, were anything to go by. With a small gulp, she made her way down the slope of the rock. Hands trembling and eyes frantically whipping around. A part of her could only hope the other three would kill themselves off, or at least give her an advantage if they wounded each other.[/ul]

[Leann Lacey]

As with the night before, Vasquez's bubble was once again without merriment. Pomp and circumstance remained only with the revelers in the crowd; inside the protective sphere there was numbness and fatigue. Though the girl had cracked internally, her antics had fractured the carefully built persona of her captor. But insanity, at this moment, was lacking. She was blank, numb, and empty. He was at the end of his endurance, but his persistence was emboldened by the events of the day. Today, he would play his final card and end the charade that had once been so lucrative and promising. Then, and only then, could he begin to "heal" all of the damage his "angel" had caused.

Sitting, silently, on his throne, Vasquez directed the action of the arena with minute gestures of his right hand. His left hand was preoccupied - already manipulating things by coded text, to void Lee's "contract", regardless of her forth-coming performance. The girl, currently dressed only in a plain white dress slip, (though, her hair had been extravagantly curled, in contrast to the plainness of her garb) was aware of the manipulations, though she had only been told it was a threat. It was this knowledge that had replaced all other emotions with cold slate numbness. She was pressed against the glass of the bubble because she had been told to do so, and though her gaze was locked onto Kaien below, she appeared no better a spectator than a cardboard cut out or mannequin. Still, he was the magnet her iron eyes followed. They traced his decent into the mud, sliding over the fluid movements of his coat. They followed him through his claiming of the katana, and not once did they jump to peer at his opponents or flit over to Lyre's side of the arena. His execution of his first enemy did not move her in the slightest, even as her mind replaced the form of the boy he'd cut down with her own. Only when he looked up at did she change, but the reaction was minor. Her head bowed very slightly, her eyes slipping instantly from his face to his blood-covered blade.

But she was not to be a spectator for long. Before Kaien looked away, an order was given to two of the guards inside the bubble. They came along side her, flanking her just as her head bowed, then they grabbed her arms and dragged her away. She offered no resistance. She had been brought to the bubble for two reasons - the spoken: her final "briefing" on what she was expected to do (which were actually all lies); the unspoken: to see what she had been anticipating for so long - the manifestation of death, with the reaper she already knew.

[Kaien Tsubakuro]

Ignoring the girl inside the arena with him for now, Kaien walked slowly through the mud towards the frantic telepath. The blonde boy’s loss of power had filled him with fear more than any display of carnage. For a moment, he tried hiding behind the largest boulder, one that sported a titan double-edged sword. When it was becoming increasingly obvious that his plan to run in circles around it with Kaien in pursuit wouldn’t be a productive solution, he dashed away from it, again trying to place distance between him and the red-eyed young man who seemed to ooze an aura of malcontent, red eyes shining with murderous intent. His hatred wasn’t for the unfortunate telepath, however. It wasn’t for MV, or Lee, or anyone presently in the arena. The only people Kaien saw in the enemies provided to him were the band of mutant thieves that led to his sister’s death.

The thin rain was beginning to drench them all. Everything was cold and brown and made you numb. When the telepath finally ran out of arena space, he grabbed a shortsword by the hilt and yanked it hard. With a cry of desperation, he freed it from the stone and held it up with shaking hands. Kaien was upon him then, muddy coat flaps fluttering through the air as he leaped onto his opponent, sword swinging down. The telepath screamed and tried to parry but his movements were clumsy with fear and he completely missed the change in Kaien’s aiming direction half-way through the motion. The katana came from the side, slashing his right arm, making him drop the small sword instantly. “P-please. Spare m-me!” Came his frantic cries but Kaien was moving again and this time he paced behind the telepath and the sword came down in a swiping side arc that beheaded him. The blond young man dropped down and sunk into the mud, dead.

Kaien paced around him. “No,” he told the corpse, eyes grim as death. Kaien didn’t want to die down here and he had no more interest to see who was innocent and who wasn’t. It wouldn’t matter. He had chosen his own life over his principles and he would bear the weight of that decision all the days of his life. A languid look around showed him no signs of the girl. It appeared as if the skinny female had vanished into thin air. Kaien’s eyes narrowed and he paced around carefully, but his attention was drawn to the other side of the arena. He recognized Lyre through the wet glass wall and paused briefly, his grip on the katana tightening. Kaien had expected them to be in the same arena and he had fashioned a plan for such a circumstance. His lips thinned into a straight line. The short girl was on her own.

Suddenly, a hand was on Kaien’s leg, fingers tightly gripping onto it. He spun around, pivoting on the respective leg and was met by the brown image of the girl, her lips split into a gruesome grin and eyes wide with something close to lunacy. What Kaien didn’t know was that she was expecting to have “caught him” with her power. The girl was trying to pass a strong sense of love through the contact and her other hand was preparing to use one of the daggers she had collected to imbed it into his heart. She had covered herself in mud and crawled around slowly for this purpose. It was a good strategy, and it would have worked, on anyone other than him. “Tell me how much you love me,” she urged in a tone sweet as honey that contrasted with the poison in her eyes. Kaien didn’t even pause long enough to be confused by her request, his sword coming up and sinking down into her chest. “This much,” he replied grimly and yanked his sword from her frame before her dying eyes.

She let go of his leg in her backward fall and her last expression was one of utter shock. To Kaien, it felt like it had been some form of gruesome reenactment of his last encounter with Lee.

As if on cue to his thought, another cage was being lowered into the muddy arena with him and this time it contained the pink-haired girl.

[Lyre Maybridge]

Lyre trudged through the mud, fingers turning numb as her long dark hair stuck to her face like tape. Outlining the curves of her face down to the dip to her neck and down her back, only furthering the cold as it soaked in a lot of the water. Afraid to let go of the small set of kunai she had assembled that currently sat through small made holes on the dark belt she sported. Her feet scratched and ached as she stumbled over another dull rock, a curse escaping her mouth as numb fingers clenched the kunai tighter. Lyre had honestly hoped to run across the speed user, while it was an unusual desire, she would much rather face someone who didn't support any other abilities other than speed, but lady luck had never favored her in particular as a loud roar of the recently shifted mutant-to-gorilla came careening from practically no where on a fast path straight toward her.

Lyre's grey eyes widened, the dull pounding in her head must have obviously been her ability trying to warn her of him. The small trickle of blood running from her nose only supported the theory that she was currently smothering as much of her ability as she could so she wouldn't be caught blinded by it and leave her in the path for the grim reaper to escort her life before she even saw the face of her assailant in the present.

With a small squeak of fear she turned on her heel, avoiding as many rocks beneath the mud as she possibly could as she struggled to make it to the high rock where her movement wouldn't be so hindered. The shape shifted mutant had better ground though as he ran with all fours before Lyre practically dove toward the rock, her ankle roughly grabbed and dragged through the mud before being lifted up and coming face to face with the shifted mutant. His blue eyes gleamed with the intent to kill as his monkey lips curled back in what she supposed was to be a sadistic smile. Her grey eyes wide, thoughts racing and heart drumming in fear. Hithimhithimhitithithit! Numb fingers stumbled to turn the kunai around, catching the other arm of the shifted mutant coming in her peripheral vision before lifting the now turned kunai to the face of her current captor and jamming it into his eyes with a small cry.

While the effect was immediate the wound wasn't deep, with no momentum from her dangling form to drive her attack any deeper, the wound wasn't fatal by itself but the blood oozing would serve a problem - especially impaired vision. Though the mutant quickly discarded her form, tossing it like a rag doll onto the large rock she had desperately tried to get to. His pained and angered roar filling the arena as she crash landed onto the rock with an agonizing groan, slowly lifting herself up from the rock and standing on slippery ground tripping over herself as she backed away from him - too afraid to turn her back to him. I-I actually hit him! He-He's bleeding and it's because of me and oh Gods I'm going to die here.

Lyre's entire body trembled from the rain that drenched her and from the fear of the mutant before her as he ripped the kunai from his eye with another painful roar. Her fingers fumbling to her back as she forcefully ripped another kunai from her belt and held it before her. Shaking feet stumbling backwards as small gasps came from her mouth, rain dripping off long lashes and onto drenched cheeks. "P-Please! Just go after someone else!" It was a futile effort and she knew it, after all she had just stabbed his eye and was now hoping he would leave her be? The notion was laughable really, and maybe she would have if her lips weren't already tinting blue and trembling from the cold. With another roar from the shifted mutant, she let out a scream abandoning rational thought as she turned on her heel and tried to make a run for it.

Halfway up the rock that she had been prepared to jump off and keep running, the mutants hand wrapped around her mid-section and lifted her up. Crushing her arms to her sides as his other hand wrapped around her as well and began to squeeze. The breath was taken from her and she attempted to wiggle herself free but his arms were too tight and her bones were being crushed from within as she cried out in pain, screaming for him to let her go. If he crushes me anymore- her thoughts were cut in half as orange flames danced behind the mutant crushing her, and effectively burning him through the rain. With another roar he tossed her to the ground, and with an effective thump she landed on her side, head smacking into the rock when black dots bloomed in her vision and swam as she tried to gather her surroundings and move her body.

He defiantly broke something. She gasped as she wretched her form into a sitting position, attempting to keep the screams of pain away but the small whimpers still tumbled past her lips as she slowly got to to her aching legs. Watching the battle as the dots slowly lessened and she stumbled away from the two of them. The pyro user had found a suitable one handed blade and had effectively lit it on fire and was currently slashing and hacking at the gorilla who either suffered slashes or burns. Turning away from the heated battle, she moved as quickly and quietly as she could to back-track across the arena. Hopefully one of them would kill each other and she would only be left with one, that was clinging to the hope that the speed user had already died.

The tears leaked from her the corner of her eyes as she trekked through the mud, scraping her feet and tripping several times in the process. Putting good distance between her and the ongoing battle when a distinct dying cry filled the arena. I don't want to die. I don't want to die! Oh Gods please give me the strength to survive! A sob escaped her mouth as she trudged forward, clutching her aching side and glancing back at the pyro user as he stood over the shifted mutants limp form. The neck had been severed and burned clotting any blood but severing his windpipe and effectively killing him off. The pyro users wild brown eyes swiftly crossed the arena and zeroed in on Lyre who nearly crumbled beneath the maddening gaze directed at her, turning back to continue her trek to the largest rock she had first come across, closest to the glassed wall. Well aware of the pyro user as he followed after her through the mud and rain. His body letting off a trail of steam as he continued to keep himself warm and the rain effectively off him. If it wasn't for the damp mud, he would probably still be completely dry.

Badumbadumbadumbadumbadumbadumbadumbadumbadum

[Leann Lacey]

They were not two sides of the same coin. They were not equivalent. Both, in essence, were dangerous - that much could not be denied. But one had become completely expendable, for the other could, theoretically, still be controlled. And control? Control meant money. Such was recognized by the master of ceremonies, and thus the equation, now computed, made plain the result of the unquestionable elimination of one. It was not a difficult decision for Vasquez and, in fact, if he had been able to provide an entertaining end to the pink-haired girl without Kaien, he would have already done so. In his mind, everything required some sort of profit to be put into action, despite a more reasonable approach - i.e., that of "cutting your losses" - and it was this thinking, this flaw in the boss's logic that had finally lead to this moment in time.

She was needed no longer. This was the truth that flavored her final entrance into the arena. It was why, as soon as she had been dragged away, her "contract" had been severed. Somewhere, on the other side of the city, sabotage had already been carried out - three specific infusions, hidden in improperly labeled vials, and a switch of the station monitors to hide the quick end. The White Serpent's guards would not be aware of the problem until it was unsolvable; the girl, herself, would continue to think that particular hope still remained until much later, even when its flame had been doused before her cage finished lowering.

She was needed no longer. This was the truth that crafted her final costume. The brief glimpse for the red-eyed one from the muddy arena floor had offered two hints: the slip and her styled hair. The final product, however, was as inappropriate for the venue as could be. Like her drugged appearance at Kaien's torture session, Lee's "coloring" was split. But unlike that event, she was not painted to be a clown. White and black were her colors; marriage and mourning were her themes. The dress itself was a stylized wedding gown, split down the middle by color and asymmetrical in shape and form. Her right was white, long-sleeved, long-skirted and proper, decorated with lace and pearls. Her left was black, short-sleeved, shoulder and neck bare, high-split skirted, and, by design, scandalous. Because of the cut, the left side allowed a view of the black half of the split-colored choker she'd been equipped with. Her left hand also sported an elbow-length black glove. Her legs were equipped with thigh-highs, frilled with lace, their colors mismatched on purpose - white on the left, black hidden beneath the white skirt on the right. A black garter clashed across the white on her thigh. Her heels, which were painfully tall, played the opposite - black on the left where it was meant to be, white on the right just the same. Her final clothing accessory was the veil. The long, flowing white half spilled down her left, black side, hiding the exceptionally heavy, sultry make-up that that half of her face had had applied. The right side, hovering over white, was a short, black, almost lolita-like piece, that covered only her eye and the bridge of her nose. The blush and lipstick revealed by this half was exceptionally light. Once she was released, and thus, made plain for all to see, her "accessories of fate" would be revealed. They came in the form of heavy crimson rope. One was a noose, around her neck and snaking down her back. The other was the heavy binding of her hands, out in front of her.

She was needed no longer. This truth, made plain by her appearance and, beneath the veil, even her demeanor, illustrated her purpose in this place - a sacrifice for the writhing masses, a "demonstration" of the boss's power, and an attempt at further psychological sabotage against her "reaper."

It was at this point in time that Vasquez's fatigue seemed to momentarily drain away and, finally, his interest in watching the spectacle below was piqued. As Leean's cage slowly lowered, he slowly stood and walked to the front of bubble. Hands in his pockets and dark sunglasses back in place, he managed a hateful smirk.

For the girl in the cage, all the world was trapped in a haze. She was only scarcely aware of the rumbling of the crowd, and her vision was blurry and seemed to be trapped in a mist of blue - perhaps simply a misinterpretation of the misting rain. The hysteria from the recent past had been subdued by freezing fear and rusted regret. It was nearly paralyzing. All she could do was breathe. Unlike Kaien and his previous enemies, Lee's cage did not abruptly drop her into the mud and, though she did not seem to be aware of it, she was not alone behind the bars. A singular guard, his gun pressed to her back, held her in place by the long end of the noose. When the cage settled in the mud, the door rose automatically, and the guard performed his final instructions. Reaching around, he pressed an ornate dagger into her bound hands, then pushed her out of the cage. The door slammed shut behind her, and the cage immediately began to rise.

And there she stood, her stance frozen in the stagger that she had, by instinct, used to keep her balance. Her white skirt and heels slowly sank into the mud, and one might have expected that her hopes sank as well, except... they were already at rock bottom. The dagger, held loosely because she knew not what to do with it, swayed with the movement of her heavy breathing, and if she was looking in Kaien's direction, it was unclear, as her eyes were hidden by the mismatched veil. Somewhere above them, the large LCD timer descended, displaying that she had 30 minutes to do whatever it was she was going to do. But as the timer began its final countdown, the only thing that changed was the pattern of her breathing. Ten seconds passed, and still she did not move and, as if to spark her into action, one of the snipers took a pot shot at her. The belching of the rifle crashed across the arena, and the bullet split the air and clipped off one of her pink curls. But Lee had no reaction to offer.

[Kaien Tsubakuro]

Delayed. That was the running theme in the arena after Lee’s appearance. Kaien had made short work of his previous opponents, but right now he appeared interested in just sitting there, katana dripping blood into the mud, blank red eyes staring at the pink-haired girl. This confrontation wasn’t unexpected. In his mind’s eye he had imagined it, but even there, he had kept delaying a killing blow. Kaien’s heartbeat was picking up speed. It would be the final line he needed to cross into becoming someone else. A person he had never wanted to be. The seconds seemed stretched. Fear of death and fear of irreversible change were battling inside him and his eyes remained fully on Leann and her swaying dagger.

A sniper shot severed one of Lee’s curls and Kaien knew he was going to be next and he didn’t have any extravagant hair they could aim for in warning. He took in a deep breath and charged, fighting autopilot assuming most control. The first thing he seemed to take offense over was her dress. Or part of it. Kaien was determined to sever the wedding-like part of her low-hanging dress in half. At least. So he swung for it, precisely avoiding inflicting any damage to her legs, and persisting even if she dodged, ready to sidestep or parry should she attack in exchange.

Once that task was accomplished, he would circle her and only the very attentive, binoculars-equipped spectators would see his lips moving minimally to tell her something. “Dodge in the direction I tell you to.” The circling continued until the crowd became restless for action and Kaien sprung at Lee again. “Left.” His sword would slice a gash across her left arm if she did not dodge as he told her. “Back.” The sword would cut above her knees if she didn’t retreat. “Right and left.” Two rapid blows would have inflicted cuts on her upper right arm and left thigh. If she did follow his instructions to the dot they would appear locked in a coordinated battle-dance. Kaien jumped back from her after that, apparently “reassessing” his opponent, his boots coming in and out of mud and preventing any movement from true elegance.

The rain would have been chilling if he didn’t move so much. Real fatigue wasn’t yet in sight. Kaien was stalling and trying to make an impossible decision. He needed to either kill Lee and move on to become the arena’s true grim reaper, or allow her to kill him and just fade to what’s next. If he wouldn’t be so utterly terrified of death the decision would have come much quicker. The seconds stretched again, time during which he would have focused solely on defense, should Lee choose to attack him. At one point, his foot slipped on a stone underneath mud and that could have allowed Leann to score a blow.

[Lyre Maybridge]

[/i] Her heart was pounding and her head ached badly, another stream of blood dripping down from her nose as she ran up to the rock and began to the slow decent up. I saw a fall at the top, it had some rather large rocks at the bottom. Dull as they are maybe they could.. Her chest clenched like a hand squeezing around her heart, lips pursing and tears threatening to spill over. Was she really starting to plan someone else's death for the sake of her own? Was her life really more important than someone else's? The loss of control on her somewhat brittle emotions and she could feel her body tense as her eyes grew wide. Pupils constricting and grey eyes lighting up like a lightning storm, her body failing to notice the touch of another as all her senses were drawn to the prediction of what she assumed would be led up to her death. Body convulsing and threatening to fall beneath its own weight. Was this mans voice the one I heard in my dream?

The tears spilled over her distant grey eyes before a burning in both arms pulled her straight back to reality with a loud scream of agony. "You little! I don't take to being ignored!" The man was only a few inches away, and the thumping of her heart increased like a fast paced drum, threatening to burst from her ribcage. "I-I didn't mean-" She began, voice quivering in fear as she gazed up at him. Brown shaggy hair and wild dark brown eyes that glinted with a type of madness she just didn't understand. "Shuttup!" His large hands moved down her arms leaving small burns in her wake that Lyre tried to move from but with each struggle the heat increased and left a harsher burn mark in its wake before reaching her wrists and allowing his hands to catch fire with hers still held. The pain took only seconds to register, her eyes going wide as she let out a blood curdling scream that drowned out his laughter. Pulling herself away from the madman in a futile effort to pull her wrists away, but his grip was stronger then her strength to pull her afflicted area away. With a thought process hazed by pain she reared her head back and slammed it into his face, head smashing into his nose with a sickening crack that had him reeling away from her. Covering the blood gushing from his now broken nose, and Lyre stumbled away and up against the slick glass wall and she gazed wearily at it, body no longer trembling from cold but from fear and pain. When did the wall get so close? "You little bitch!" Whipping her head toward him just in time for him to grab hold of her chin before pulling her away from the glass wall and rearing her head back into it.

THWACK![/u][/b]

Lyre's vision fell black as her head hit the wall with such sickening force, blood forming at the place of impact as her lifeless eyes gazed out into nothing. The only thing supporting her was the man who had inflicted it onto her.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. You went 'en broke my nose, I'm going to make sure to torture you and burn you alive just like that speed user."

It's warm.. everything else is so cold but my leg is nice and warm.. Her thoughts drifted in and out of consciousness, senses dulled to the things around her and the pain in her head was gone for a fleeting moment. It's hot. Why is it so hot!? With a sharp cry, she shoved the mans arm away from her leg, glancing down to see her thigh sporting a nice heavy burn and she wearily gazed up at him. Her legs buckling together to keep herself up, watching through glazed eyes as the man spoke to her but what she heard and what she saw were two different things. His lips moved and she could hear his words, but they just didn't match up and suddenly his hand alit with fire was in her line of sight and she flinched. With the flinch came everything slamming back when she blinked, he was talking again but hadn't she heard this little speech? Slowly pulling herself up against the glass wall, her burnt leg jut forward to have the least amount of weight.

His hand was back up in her line of sight, alit again with fire and without hesitating she rammed her knee up into his lower regions and watched the flame go out as his body crumbled to the ground. With shaky legs Lyre attempted to swerve herself away from him and down the rock to get some distance, but before she could make it his hand grabbed her ankle and yanked and she came crashing down onto the rock and gasped out in pain. Ugh, that gorilla-guy must have broken a rib. Or maybe a few.

"Don't you run from me, I'll make sure to cripple you!" True to his word, his hand blazed hot and she cried out and screamed when the fire trailed up her leg. The burning and stinging and she just wanted to stop, she just wanted everything to end. Reaching out and grabbing the kunai she had dropped when her ability override her senses, she hefted herself up ignoring the sharp pain in her side and slamming it into his arm to let go of her. He let out a cry and with her good leg she kicked him in the face as hard as she could as he sprawled out on his back. Arm bleeding profusely and before he could pull it out she was on top of him. Legs pressing down into his elbows to keep him from getting up, he spewed curses and struggled beneath her weight but the way she had angled herself made it difficult to get her off his upper half enough to throw her off.

I can't just stab him! The blood would probably shock her and if the cut wasn't deep enough he could easily turn the situations around on her. So with options running thin, she wrapped her slender hands around his throat as much as she could and began to squeeze his neck. Eyes clenched such to not see his face as she attempted to drown out his gurgled noises with her own frantic breathing. The more he struggled to breathe the more she gasped for breath as if she was trying to breathe for him, and in his last ditch effort to get her off of him, his hands clawed for exposed parts of her leg and his entire body heated up like a furnace. The exposed parts of his skin on hers had it lighting up and burning incredibly fast and she could feel her body wrack with sobs and squeeze tighter but the burning persisted and she opened her grey eyes to look down at his furious manic ones.

"JUST DIE ALREADY!"

The tears bubbled down her face and was drowned out by the rain in the arena as she squeezed as tight as she possibly could. Clenching her eyes tight shut as if that would will more strength to choke the man faster, and the burning pierced her legs and a part of her could smell her flesh burning and the seconds felt like agonizing hours before his eyes finally rolled to the back of his head and his body went limp beneath her, the harsh burning fading out to only the warmth of his form but the excruciating pain persisted and she squeezed harder and when she finally let go of him she waited a moment to see if he was still breathing, hand fumbling to the pulse on the side of his neck and finding none. Slowly pulling herself off of him, she attempted to stand but the pain was so bad in her legs especially her left that she crumbled and cried out when she fell on them. Slowly moving herself so her legs were stretched out in front, the water drops like little piece of heaven on her legs as she watched through dull eyes the blisters and blood that streamed and mixed with the water.

A sideways glance to her opponent had more tears bubbling into her eyes as she stared at his lifeless form. I killed someone. The voice in my dream was my own. A small whimper escaped her and it wasn't long until she was crying out, hands covering her face as she sobbed. Some may have thought he deserved it and he probably did in many ways - but taking a life was a burden she wasn't sure she could bear on her shoulders. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! But I don't want to die yet! I'm sorry! She cried into her hands, arms and legs blistering, bloody and peeling and she sat and cried out until her sobs were nothing more than hiccups.[/ul]

[Leann Lacey]

Cold.

In the moments of eternity that stretched across Kaien's approach, Lee was very cold. It had nothing to do with the rain that was soaking her or her costume. It was, instead, a psychological and symbolic sort of cold. It was the frigidness of failure upon which slid a glacier of death. All warmth faded under such a freight train, and if there was any warmth, it rested solely in the color of her approaching reaper's eyes. The fire of red had seemingly sucked all possible heat into itself and the shape of his eyes and the blank tone that they projected ran her through as strongly as she suspected his blade would do once he arrived.

As Kaien closed the distance, Lee remained largely how she had been since being pushed out of her cage. Her breathing was deep, measured, and accepting. She did manage to steady her stance slightly, though she in no way struck a fighting stance. The dagger remained held out in front of her, wicked, useless ornament that it was. The only thing that changed during his approach was the tilt of her head. Her gaze left her "dance partner" to rest on the hated timer up above. She did not look at Kaien again until his first attack.

The blade came down, slashing through the wet white fabric, allowing the first "blow" to result in happily crowd-accepted fan service. She did not move, other than to bring her veiled eyes down from the timer and onto the face of death. The visible corner of her mouth turned down in a frown. "Dodge", he said, but she offered no verbal response in turn. Instead, her frown simply became deeper. "Left" he said, and then his blade tore open her left arm. The attack, and the resulting pain, forced a reaction of sorts, causing her to stagger back almost in unison with his next command. The result of this was that she avoided his second strike by accident, but the surprise of this turn of events froze her at his next command, and as Kaien's katana coaxed crimson from her right arm and left thigh, she managed to add tears to her frown, though they mostly went unnoticed, due to veil and rain.

When Kaien retreated to "reassess", the height at which she held her dagger lowered. Her breath became heavier, and her frown was lost due to the need for an open mouth to facilitate her breathing. No matter how deep or how hard she tried, she felt as if she were suffocating. Warmth was gone, and so was oxygen. She wanted to say something, to tell him that "it was okay" or that it "didn't matter anymore." She wanted to say that she'd accepted her fate; accepted that her final card had been played and that it - that she - hadn't been strong enough to overcome the trials that would have allowed for survival. She wanted to tell him that she was already dead and, if anyone was to see her off, it was better that it was him.

But she couldn't speak, and when he slipped, some minor spark of "lost hope" flickered up in her, causing her to take a single step forward and raise her dagger. Instantly, the move disgusted her. She had intended to face her end as solidly, and as "normally" as she could. She'd wanted to try to make the end as "decently" as she could, but that single step had ruined it. She hesitated, her gaze shifting back up to the timer. Then it came back to Kaien, and she turned the dagger inward, aiming obviously at her own heart.

[Kaien Tsubakuro]

Leann didn’t listen to his words and Kaien’s eyes widened slightly as his blade left a bleeding gash on her arm. Underneath tense lips, his teeth were gritting out of frustration. There was no time to pause or hesitate, however. She missed the second attack, but it was obvious it had happened by mistake. Hesitation marked his last set of blows and the blade that struck her caused shallow cuts that reflected in his eyes like accusation. Kaien jumped from her then, maintaining the act. Just underneath the surface, the light behind his eyes was quivering slightly. Time felt impossibly slowed while he paced, watching her. Queerly, memories of childhood assaulted him. He remembered playing on the street with his first group of friends. His father was mostly busy and Kaien was always the last one left to leave home, because all the other parents came to pick up their kids first. It was a fortunate circumstance, he had always thought.
Being the last one standing, or present, would acquire an entirely different meaning here. In his circling, Kaien slipped and Lee paced forward, as if animated by the chance, but a blow never happened. Catching his balance long before diving into the mud, Kaien sat up straight again, his legs distanced to offer a supportive stance. The pink-haired girl’s attention was distracted, but the red-eyed male didn’t take his opportunity either, tip of his blade sunk in the mud again, blank expression observing her with a scream of frustration underneath. What was she thinking? If she wouldn’t collaborate to drag this fight on longer, he couldn’t stall forever. They’d both just get shot for disobedience.

Plop. Kaien’s blade was fully on the mud, released, sinking slowly into its depths. His hands were gripping onto Lee’s bound wrists, restraining her intent, eyes a mixture of surprised, frustrated and questioning. There was a rumble of confusion in the crowd and Kaien felt it mirrored in his own. Stopping Lee from sinking the dagger into her own chest had been a purely instinctive action and a shudder ran down his spine, making him doubly aware of the wetness and cold. A tremble flashed through his eyes as they sought hers. “What are you doing?” His tone was quiet but incredulous. Their last conversation was quite clear in his memory. The pink-haired girl had stated her desire to not be killed by him, her hopes clawing for that chance fully. Her actions right now were completely invalidating those words and making him rethink everything again. He forced her to drop the ornate dagger.

“Kill her already! Someone... someone KILL THEM BOTH!”

The confusion in the arena was building into anger. Kaien didn’t let go of Lee’s binds. He just kept staring until a rumble ran through the building’s structure, as if an earthquake was beginning. It stopped and the unease was starting to settle when actual explosions started blasting through the walls and making things crumble. Some of the audience’s stands were eaten by the earth, the ground buckling underneath them. A great chunk of ceiling came tumbling down, taking the LCD monitor with it, and falling hard on the glass wall, completely shattering its middle with the force of bulk and impact. Kaien had wrapped his arms around Lee and dragged her out of the way, hiding them both behind a large boulder near-by that sheltered them from the sharp, flying shards. Panic was beginning to spread through the dome.

Behind the boulder, momentarily frozen by this turn of events and thus the official “end” of their confrontation, Kaien just held Leann, the bloody gash on her arm staining his sleeve red. He was holding her so close he couldn’t look at her and his arms tightened around her. “I don’t understand you.” There was something desperate in his tone. Then, quite suddenly, he became aware of the chaos around them and started leaning away from Leann, slowly releasing her. His eyes darted about just in time to catch a rush of mutants, the ones usually caged, coming up from the holding pens and unleashing their powers on the running spectators.

Instantly, his thoughts changed and his eyes went to MV’s bubble, where a struggle between what looked like two sides was happening. MV’s remaining guards were pinned against dark-clad, masked men and MV himself was stepping back, finally at a complete loss for what to do.


((I'll write Eluard too next post, I'll just introduce him into Kaien posts to make it easier for me.))

[Lyre Maybridge]

There was a type of lifeless that swallowed everything up in Lyre's grey eyes, as she gazed up at the roaring crowd that continued to spout things centered around the fight in the other half of the closed off arena. She could barely hear herself think, and maybe that was a good thing for she wasn't so sure she wanted to think about what she had done, and what she may have to do again. As if the deity who seemed to despise her existence heard her thoughts, the creaking cage that had brought her into this pit began its decent to take her back up. A small feeling of hysteria lit inside of her, eyes focused intently on the lowering cage before the small candle of hysteria lit into a burning flame that coursed its way through her. I can't fight again! I can't kill another person! Her burned hands made their way to her ears as she pressed them firmly over to block out the screaming crowd and the slow creak of the cage as it came to fetch her. As if a life came back into her eyes pupils constricting and lighting up like a storm cloud, she gasped.

The screen collapsing. Mutants freeing and attacking guards and people in the crowd.

Everything flew to a startling halt as Lyre forced herself from her vision and glanced warily up at the large LCD screen. The only thing drawing her attention was the squeaking of the cage that had dropped her into the arena and when the cage stopped, swaying dangerously at the tremble that vibrated throughout the entire arena. Lyre slowly pulled herself to her feet, small whimpers making their way through pursed lips as she tried to be strong. The cheers for the battle soon became screams of the crowd as she looked up at them, only to watch half of them start getting up and running did she hear the loud noise that nearly stopped her heart.

CREAK[/b][/u]

A scream erupted from Lyre as the large LCD screen plummeted toward the glass wall that separated the two arenas from each other, the very same glass wall that was only a few feet away from her. Tossing the pain in her limbs to the wind, she jumped to her burnt feet ran as fast as she could make herself go before diving away from the shattering wall and covering her head as she landed in the mud. The shards bouncing off her while some stuck into her exposed legs, and she cut back a cry. Pulling herself up and looking at the area she bit the inside of her cheek, attempting to wipe some of the mud off her face as she watched some of the larger shards of glass sink beneath the mud. I can't keep walking barefoot, if I step on glass.. Swallowing her pride, she lifted her shirt over her head, exposing the black bra beneath as she ripped the shirt in two and wrapped the pieces around her wounded feet as she slowly stood up. The mud had felt cooling against her burned legs and especially her arms, but now they stung like hells wasps had personally come to sting along her arms. They were red, bleeding, blistering and peeling, and now there was glass beneath her feet which had the same treatment as her arms and she wadded through the mud.

Lyre stared up at the fleeing crowd as she slowly came to a halt, looking toward another exit - that had opened up for the guards to retrieve her - would probably lead into the hallways of this wretched place but she wondered if it was safe enough. If the ceiling above her was collapsing, how safe would the hallway be in close quarters? And so she stood there in the middle of the arena looking for an exit - any exit that wouldn't spell doom. The cage that had brought her into this place crashed into the ground, sending her shaking before flailing about and landing on her side with a sharp cry. Her ribs ached and she could feel a small piece of glass piercing her side as her breathing became ragged, eyes hazy as she glanced around the arena. Never feeling quite as helpless as she did at that moment. But where can I go?