There was nothing she could do. Luther- the guard- would never interfere in the Lords' affairs. The other attendants had already shuffled out and away, quick to avoid the incoming wrath. And so it left herself and the guard, the Lords- Lord- and the two outsiders.
No matter how gruesome the sight, she still couldn't accustom herself to it. Still, she didn't shake or waver. She steeled herself, gazing at the nasty set of bone-like wings. Cliche. Every holy text she'd ever set her eyes on during her time of Lalonia mentioned them to be much grander, magnificent. But to gaze upon them...
Disappointing.
Much like the spectacle playing out before her.
As the blood reached her position, she lifted a foot and stepped back, flicking the liquid off of her shoe.
Luther held a hand to his lips, stifling a chuckle. Unlike Rose, a mere servant maid, he found the scene to be more than entertaining. Not for what it was, but what it could possibly be. He knew she wasn't looking at the greater picture. And finally, finally it was his time to intervene. The dream had caused enough annoyance, and so the guard moved in, tearing the man away from the dreamer as another third party, his magic on display. An electric pulse, one to shock and disarm the other.
"That's enough of you." He huffed, hoisting the dream away. But where he'd grabbed him, there was another in his place.
"Huh."
Luther squinted, hoisting the one dream over his shoulder and reaching to shock the other.
The dream jumps to his feet, grabbing into Luther's hand to feel the force of his shock. With an excited shriek, the Nightmare leans into the electric pulse and convulses shortly before falling to the ground below.
"Ehehe, yes! What a SHOCKING turn of events! Ahahaha! How electric! How...ehh..." his laugh comes to an end when he realizes his body was nothing short of paralyzed. He could do nothing but watch as Leviath and Lilith -
Wait, what the hell? Who was that above Yuuka then? And where was his master? Not to mention, Akurai felt lighter somehow. What was going on? His body felt...strange? Unimpeded. Could it be?
Even just the thought filled the room with the maniacal laughter of the dream. "I am free! Free! Free! Ahahahaha! You fucking idiot! You fucking idiots! Ahahahaha!" He sniffles as he makes a futile effort to force up his shaking body back to his feet again. "Master Leviath! What a gracious father you are. How nice. How beautiful! Of course you would. I knew you would help me and I KNEW it was right to be loyal to you. I knew it! You killed him, didn't you? That annoying, vile dream? He is dead? He is gone? I am free?" Somehow, he looked around the room to see the mangled, bloody dream still on the ground beside him.
It would be the very first time seeing Yukai. What a pitiful perversion of himself. Seeing the body filled him with enough energy to crawl over to his other laughing more and more through his panting breaths. He holds himself just above Yukai's face. Was it still alive? The marks ran over his body and the blood seemed to flow endlessly into a pool there. The nightmare spat on his face before yelling as loud as he could,
"STUPID! STUPID! STUPID DREAM!"
Another spit for good measure, and a finger driven into the viscera of the dream's stomach.
It was a necessary pain to deal with the Nightmare's outbursts. There was little time left. Leviath knew not how much longer it would be before she came. Yuuka's body would endure as soon as the marks were placed on her body. With these marks, her status as an angel would be solidified and in doing so, her soul would become eternal transcending her mortality. They gently hold her body and begin the marking. First, the brand of hell would be placed on her collar. And in doing so they'd --------
Rei placed his hand against his eyes as the first rays of sunlight penetrated towards his bed and infiltrated his poor, weary eyes. "...Fuck," he groggily murmurs as he turns around in his bed with a grumble and a pout. "Not again." How many hours had it been since he fell asleep? Three? It was hard to tell and, frankly, he didn't really care. He would get five more minutes if it was the very last thing he ever did. Even with such a distressing dream, the call to rest was too great and he decided to just drift off to sleep again...
...But that incessant tapping did not stop just outside.
tap, tap, tap. tap, tap, tap.
It was rhythmic. It was curious enough to get him to turn back toward the light where he locked eyes with a single crow staring at him. He raised a brow at the creature uncertain what it wanted from him.
"...What?" he mumbled. "Did you, uh, want something?" No response. "Huh," he frowned. "Then let me sleep. I got a lot to do today." As he shut his eyes, the crow began to tap again. "Bruhhhhh...please stop," he places a pillow over his head to stop the annoyance, but to no avail. It wouldn't be much longer until she showed up anyways; he probably got an extra two minutes of sleep in the end.
The pounding on the door grew louder and louder. He was supposed to be at the lab more than an hour ago. Elizabeth sighed in frustration as she continued to stir the sleeping beauty.
"Rei, don't make me come in there." She screamed at the door in another frustrated sigh. "Rei!"
It had already been hassle enough going halfway across the clan in search for his lazy ass. If she had to go pull the blankets off his body again, it would probably be the last time they ever spoke to each other.
As the aggravated warrior was considering all of the horrible things she could about him, the door swung open and as he yawned, "Mornnninnn, Midnight." A crow could be seen flying away from behind him.
"Save the pleasantries," she interrupted. "There isn't any time. We need to head to Solarisclan immediately."
His eyes widened at her words. "A-amy? Is she there?" Desperation was in his pleading face as looked at her.
"No," she was voice was dismissive as she was irritated by his pitiable face. "Nothing on her. Still gone. It's another issue."
Elizabeth looked up. "It's probably better if I let her explain. She knows the full situation. Get ready to go."
She descended slowly from above. Like a spider, she was swinging upside-down on a thread slowly descending down until she was in his vision. "As graceful as a cat... As elusive as the night! As cool as ice, and as cute as a button... (drumroll please!) It is me! The great ninja, Arisa!"
She lands on her feet and throws her hands up into the air. With a goofy smile, Rei embraces her while shouting her name. "Arisa! The Great Ninja! Damn, I missed you."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, but there isn't really the time for that right now," she lets him go and smiles back at him. "Did you ever meet Yuuka Kokoro?" He placed a thumb on his chin trying to remember the name as the trio began to walk. "Small girl? Long, black hair? Verryy pinchable cheeks?"
He scratched his head. "Not ringing a bell. Might've seen her around or something."
"Eh... well, it doesn't matter. She's been in a...coma? I think? We think?" she paused. "None of the menders in Solarisclan could really figure it out. Something is going on, and she isn't waking up. She's been like this for a long time now, and I- well, really Pops was the one who thought of it- you guys have a consciousness lab, right? So, if anyone could figure out what is going on, it would be you two. If you could wake her up, that would be amazing. We have been feeding her a little bit, but she isn't chewing or keeping anything down and we are kinda worried, you know? I think- no, I know you guys could help. So? Pretty please?"
It was a lot for Rei to take in and, to be honest, it was a bit difficult to keep up with the neurotic speed Arisa was apt to speak in. But he thought he got the gist. There was some patient that had exhausted traditional medication methods, so their more experimental cognition lab was the last resort for the poor girl. He didn't want to say anything, but he wasn't really confident he or Elizabeth could do anything. She would've been better off asking Ethan Winters, but Rei assumed that that the two of them already had without any luck.
"Yeah, yeah. I will help. Could I at least pack or something first?"
"No need," Elizabeth finally interjects. "There is little time left. Unless you want her blood on your hands." After making an alarmist comment, she added under her breath, "and I packed your essentials this morning too. Let's just get moving already.
"Yeah, yeah! Come on! Every second matters." Arisa agrees as a consensus is met. The three would figure out a way to help Yuuka before it was too late.
-------finally claim the sword that would let them travel freely between the worlds. Finally, an eternity could be built to their design. They hold the mixture of viscera and sword in their hands as they bring it to Yuuka's own body. The sword begins to penetrate the skin of her collarbone and true art was to be sketched on her body. A circle would be placed around her ribcage - a brutal reminder of the importance of her heart.
Groggy, Takuto swiped at his eyes as he held back a yawn. In and out of dreamscapes he forced himself from, harshly against his own erratic schedule of sleep. His search was desperate, stress clear by the bags under his eyes and the lack of clean clothing. While he might've shared the burden of watching over the sleeping princess, he still felt completely responsible for her. If he took rest, it was somewhere close by.
He'd already exhausted other options. It'd been about a month: a significant amount of time in the hellish realms. Finally, help was on the way. A suggestion from Arisa-- a bright kid to an even brighter crafter. He knew, however, that there was no way the issue was being stuck in a dream... If it was, he would've consumed it already.
"Kid." He sighed, lurching forward in his chair to rest the back of his hand on Yuuka's forehead. Like every other time he checked, she wasn't burning of a fever. But such rest wasn't peaceful, either, as she began to thrash around.
"Goddamn, shit-" Takuto cursed, quick to restrain her as to not hurt herself further. These fits weren't too often, but they became more and more violent, causing her to need to be constantly monitored from the first time they'd caught the reaction. He loathed his own helplessness at the situation, lowering his head as she finished out the spasms.
All was quiet again.
He leaned back, casting a glance to the doorway. He expected a visit from Denji, sharing his usual duties while Takuto remained preoccupied with the girl. When the door hadn't stirred, he closed his eyes. Off to drift. Sifting.
He couldn't get there, but if he could linger on the border. If she could just reach out far enough...
The bone came to a halt, as did their carving. Something was bubbling up from their throat, burning, crawling its way up their trachea. A fate that should've been decided upon already, sealed for their usage. Their free hand moved to their neck, testing if such a feeling was trickery or reality. Small prodding through skin was felt at their fingertips, dragging itself upwards. Although precision was a must, they resumed at a quickened pace, scratching and digging at the girl rather than carving. Golden irises focused, even as the sharpened pricks moved further up, nearing their mouth.
Yuuka's body began to sink into herself, purging content with each butterfly which exited her. Out from her mouth, her ears, even her eye sockets, wounds. Blood-soaked but blue butterflies crept out of her, crawling where they could not fly. Dropping to the ground, writhing a moment before they escaped elsewhere. A desperate attempt to flee from her tormentor, perhaps unaware of the sacrifices such a last resort could cost her.
When eventually they noticed a lifelessness within her, too many butterflies had fled. Her skin broke through easily, taking carvings as cuts and tares without power. Irritation rose up within them, smashing a butterfly as they grabbed at another, trapping the insects. They tried to gather at those they coughed and choked upon, but more would exit their mouth in succession. Each creature was a part of her, small strings that would connect them to the Soul of Fate if they could catch them.
Torn wings floated down the river, washing up at the prior dream's bankside.
