sun_showers | Appointments

With a nod, Saori lets go and steps back, her weapon resting in front of her. Her fingers snap, and six cultists appear this time. After a moment's pause, they ready their weapons and charge.

But not at Yuuna this time, this time they make for Saori!

Oh no, they are not going to hurt Saori if she can help it.

The first two are met with a quick slash, coming in from their side and throwing them off guard. She's only fast enough to catch the two though, a third turning to deal with her and the other three will reach Saori before Yuuna can get to them. Her own cultist, now taking stabs at her, is giving her some problems. His attacks come in quickly and with frightening accuracy, and she's got to stay on her toes just to make sure she doesn't get stabbed by his spear.

At the same time, she sees the three gang up on her friend, clearly going for blood. She's sure Saori can handle herself, but still- she wants to be there to help.

Saori doesn't move, she doesn't even flinch as the spears come charging towards her. The point of this exercise is just to show Yuuna that she can defend herself...but sometimes even she needs help. The spears come for her, and the goddess bats them aside with a spinning strike of her foot. She whirls and her fists pound a cultist, breaking his neck and sending him down in a shower of still more sparks.

The remaining others drop their spears and lunge with bare hands. One goes high, one low, and Saori tumbles under their combined weight. The lower starts swinging fists at her legs, and draws a ragged groan of pain while the other goes for her throat in a furious rage.

She could really use help...

Yuuna is still dealing with her own cultist when she spots Saori go down underneath the two remaining.

"No! Saori no!" Anger swells and she quickly dispatches of her opponent, knocking the spear clear out of his hands and going in with a series of slashes that would of left anything of the real realm in pieces on the ground. Rushing over, her sword finds the neck of the one on her legs, and in that same motion, her sword spins and halves the one after her lover's throat in half, until they both shatter and become nothing but pixels.

"Are you okay? They didn't hurt you badly did they?" She bends down, sheathing her sword and going to hold Saori up in her arms.

Saori bucked and struggled half-heartedly, giving Yuuna a chance. It was all really an act, but Yuuna needs to pass the test to learn that. Sometimes, in battle, even Saori needs help. The blood and pixels wash over her and she smiles gratefully as Yuuna holds her up, wrapping arms around her in gratitude. There was a bit of bruising on her legs and throat already fading, but she smiled weakly.

"I'm fine. I'm fine. You did perfectly. Sometimes, even I will need help. And sometimes you'll have to react like that. Swiftly and decisively."

"You didn't let yourself get tackled by them, did you?" The worry in her eyes couldn't of been more evident, especially as she's looking over the bruises they'd inflicted. It could have been worse, what if they'd done more? She did not want to see Saori like this, lying on the ground and hurt.

"I know I have to but...you didn't have to let them do that to you, you should of fought back until I could come help..."

"No, I didn't. Even I can get dogpiled, Yuuna. If I'm denied my power as I so often am in this place, I am as human as anyone here. I didn't struggle as much as I would have because I needed to see you do what was necessary. I don't want this any more than you, darling...but I'm being as practical as I can be."

She reaches up, gently stroking her partner's cheek and nodding. "I'm fine. You did good. You'd have saved me, if this were a battle."

She doesn't want to think about it that way. She really doesn't. It's awful, the image of Saori being ganged up on like that, fresh in her mind.

"I really hate this already, Saori. I really do. I can't stand the thought of it."

"Yuuna..." her voice grows soft and she leans her head against the other's shoulder. "I swear to you, on my mirror, that there are no grunts here that can match me. I allowed that to happen. If you want, I can demonstrate a fight against a dozen at once. Being human doesn't take away reflexes and centuries of training. I can't lose. And I want make it so you can't either."

She kisses Yuuna's cheek softly, lingering a moment. "Uncle isn't here. But he told me that I'd have to teach you one day. You don't have to enjoy this, you know. I don't enjoy it either but I'd like it even less if you were hurt. I just...I need you to understand. Showing you always worked better before."

"I know." She responds softly, still a little shaken from seeing Saori go down just now. "I knew from that day when we fought together as they were trying to kill us. I just didn't want to accept it. Like that was a fluke, and that we'd be alright. That man said they'd made the barrier even stronger, to keep that from happening again. I just...didn't want to think we'd have to fight like that again."

Sighing heavily, she leans onto the goddess, looking down at the ground. This really, really isn't going to be enjoyable, and she knows it- but there's not much she can do otherwise, besides maybe let herself and the one she really loved be killed. She'd rather put up with this then let that happen.

"I know what I have to do, but it'll take time. I know you know that. Is...is there more you had in mind for today?"

"Darling. Can you take more today? I...had one thing I could show you. A memory. But it's not pleasant. And it's from Halloween last year." She's really, really reticent to show it to Yuuna right now, given how shaken that she sounds after just that one thing.

"It can wait...if you're not sure you can handle it."

"No, you can. I have to see it sometime, don't I?" It's important to Saori and she can tell. She doesn't want to keep her from sharing something like this with her just because she got a little shaken at a fact of life that comes with living in Luceti.

"It's bad. Are you sure, love?" She want's to be absolutely certain.

"I'm sure. Go ahead."

She mentally braces herself. If Saori said it was bad, it probably was. Hopefully it wasn't so bad that it would make her sick to her stomach, but one never knew. Still, she's going to do this for her lover no matter what. She owes her at least that much.

The image shimmers at a snap of Saori's fingers, and changes to a ruined city street. Strange cars, some on fire, and others burned out wrecks litter the street. Crumbling buildings spring up around them. And there are corpses. Lots of them. Not dead bodies. Animated ones. Shambling, bloodied, and hideously malformed shapes. Men, women, and one child.

"Yuuna. This is something that's happened before. These..." she gestures, "are the result of an attack by the Third Party. They let loose some sort of blood plague and it killed many from Luceti. A friend of mine found the cure...but not before I was forced to kill some to prevent others from being infected."

Her head hangs, sadly. "Including Loki. The child. My...friend."

The sight of the demonic creatures startle her. Zombies. She hates them, more than anything. She can't help but shriek and hide behind Saori at the sight. Awful. She listens, horrified expression only growing worse. They'd turned Lucetians into zombies? And the child...she's met the child before.

"That's...Loki? How, no, no no, Saori please no...this can't be real, it just can't." What a terrible sight. How many of these were friends? Did it matter?

Saori turns to look at Yuuna, one arm reaching behind her to stroke her partner's hair. It is horrible, but it's something that's happened. Something that's entirely possible. Other faces take shape, friends of Saori's, and people she's met in passing.

"It is, dear. And it's what happened last Halloween. I know you may not want to believe it. But it's possible it could happen again. This is what I lived with for a year. I...had to fight on this draft. I killed the child to protect someone else from the infection." She slashes her hand in the air, and all the creatures fall over in showers of sparks and the simulation ends. Turning, she fully faces her lover.

"It's...something I've had to live with for a while. And it's awful...and..." She breaks off, her voice breaking into a choking gasp. Her eyes fill with sudden hot tears, welling up from deep inside at the memory. She doesn't even want to think it, but if something happens to Yuuna...

"It's why I need you...I need you to be strong..."

There are tears streaming down her face, shaken down to the core at the sight. She'd recognized a few of those faces too, but the horror of knowing they'd been infected, walking abominations. The shell of the people left behind. How could they, how. She can't even wrap her mind around it, it was too much.

Yuuna looks to Saori. All she can do is suddenly find herself hugging the goddess, trembling in her arms. "Saori, I'm so sorry, I am..." Her own words are barely choking out, sniffling in between gasps of breath.

They were in hell. They had to be.

"I won't sniff let that happen, I swear it, sniff no matter what, I promise I won't."

Hell would be an apt description, really. A place where they were confined, where their pacts and powers meant little. Where they could be prodded, poked, restrained and murdered on a whim only to return and have it happen all over again. Denied the sky, any semblance of comfort, and subjected to periodically devastating displays like these zombies. The little boy's face as he'd died, the moment of perfect, horrifying clarity between thought and action as she'd defended the older Loki...it was something burned into her mind, so deep she wasn't sure she could remove it.

Choking, she leans into the hug. "I...I know you won't. I couldn't...I don't know what I'd do...if...if..." If that happened to you... "You can't...you aren't allowed to die. Y-you aren't allowed to get s-s-sick."

Wiping her eyes, she pulls back only slightly so she can look at Saori. "I won't, I swear. Please don't worry, I can take care of myself, I'll do what it takes so this doesn't happen."

But she knows she can't really make that promise. Here, it seemed like sometimes you didn't have a choice. That anything could happen, and there was almost nothing one could do to prevent it. But she would sure as hell try, try to be strong enough that something awful like this didn't happen to her or her lover. It was all she could do. What else was there.

She still shakes, but Yuuna is trying to calm herself- because if she doesn't she can't calm Saori. She makes a conscious effort to regulate her breathing a little better, slowing it down and letting her body fall back into a tight hug with the woman she loved so dearly. She'd protect her, no matter the cost.

For a long moment, Saori is silent, visibly shaken by the memory she'd called up. It had been worse than she'd expected, seeing Yuuna's reaction, and seeing the boy like that again...and she feels more than a little foolish.

And she's thinking too. It's not an empty promise, not entirely. The whole point of waking her lover up early today was to show her just how necessary training was. Growth, and becoming a more capable fighter were important. Yuuna saw that now, hopefully.

Still trembling herself, Saori shuts her eyes and leans into the hug, exhaling long, slow breaths. This is the woman she's chosen to spend her life with. The woman she loved, the woman she'd willingly die to save. It was upsetting, being in this place...but up till now she hadn't thought how upsetting it was to have Yuuna here. And equally upsetting was the knowledge that she couldn't have made it much longer on her own. She needed Yuuna to help protect her in heart and mind as much as Yuuna might need her.

"This is going to be...daily. We'll have to work at this. Become harder...be-become stronger. The Third Party...the Dream Shifters...t-they've done awful t-things and they have such t-terrible power."

"Okay. We'll train daily. I'm alright with that." She gives her a squeeze, standing back and doing her absolute best to smile, though it's hard. It's hard to try to be happy about any of this. Being bright and cheerful just seemed a little out of place, as much as she wants to bring comfort.

"Are you going to be okay, dear?"

Are you going to be okay?

That question is like a thunderbolt going through her. It's a hard question to answer. In truth, she has no idea. Not anymore. Fear, worry, anger, all of it just piling up like it has the last few months...since July. And mixing with joy and love...it's made for a volatile combination.

But for now...she nods.

"I...think I will, for now. I think I'd like to sit and rest. I don't think I can stomach any more training today. Mental conditioning or physical training. Do you?"

"Resting. Yes, I'd like that. I don't think I'm really up to doing any more training today either." What she'd seen thus far had been mentally wracking enough. It was something she'd have to contemplate before she could muster the focus to do any sort of training again, because there'd come a time where she'd have to view those horrors and keep herself from screaming in fear.

She takes Saori's hand, and begins to lead her out. "Let's go home, all I want to do is lie down for a while. I think you should too."

Nodding, Saori lets herself be led, leaning heavily against Yuuna. It was going to be a long, long road for sure but they had to do it. For each other and the people here...they just needed to be able to fight. There would be happy times, too, but they'd relaxed far too much.

"I agree. Maybe...ice cream and a movie. That might be good."

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sun_showers - 2013-10-23 01:12 (UTC) - Expand

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windandrain - 2013-10-23 01:27 (UTC) - Expand

Appointments

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