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Post by Miss Jack on Jul 31, 2008 0:23:34 GMT -5
They weren't used as prison cells anymore, but everyone still called them The Dungeons. The cells were, frankly, barbaric, making even the Rissa Grande seem like a suite hotel.
Luckily, Alexander knew his way around, and with minimal threatening and bribing, they got to where they needed to be.
"Dude, I don't know why you want to go in there. Place gives me the f---ing creeps," the last Nightmare to direct them had said.
Alexander's expression had shifted only minimally, but it was enough to shut the Nightmare up. Alexander was not in the best of moods. First of all, hunting down a device that could potentially kill your only brother wasn't a hayride to begin with, but the entire trek had been so painfully uncomfortable. Armand was as silent as a rock, and the tension surrounding him seemed to roll off in waves. He hadn't mentioned what Hina wanted from him. He hadn't mentioned anything, actually.
Once in the room, it took a bit of searching to find the device. It was dark and damp, and clearly neglected. Together, Alexander and Armand hunted around, pushed a few odds and ends aside, and found what they were looking for. They pushed it upright and Armand stared at the constraints meant to hold his arms, legs and torso.
"This is it," Alexander said.
A flicker of something passed through Armand's eyes, and maybe it was fear, but Alexander could not bear the thought of Armand being scared right now. He couldn't do it if Armand was scared.
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Post by Jules on Jul 31, 2008 0:34:06 GMT -5
Zizzy had not spoken either. She had slunk at the back like a misbehaved child and made sure to keep her eyes on the scenery lest she accidentally get caught staring like a dolefull rabbit.
The trapising through the black market, the bribery, and the warnings didn't illicit a reaction from her. In fact, it was only when she saw the device that she broke her self-imposed silence.
"No." And then to her intense horror she began to cry. Not noisily (thank God for small fortunes) but still. The stress of the last few hours finally got to her, culminated in this horrific looking thing. The risks, the anger she'd felt (people in their beds several hundred miles away had probably felt) rolling off Armand, the deep sense that she'd done something incorrectably wrong.
All for this torture device.
"No."
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Post by Miss Jack on Jul 31, 2008 0:44:52 GMT -5
Both Alexander and Armand turned at the sound of Zizzy's voice. Silence, and then Alexander repeated, a little dumbfounded, "No?"
Armand visibly stiffened at the sight of Zizzy's tears. "Zizzy..." he said, softly. "Please stop crying." It drove him crazy when she cried. Not in the irritated, disgusted way, but in that it literally got all worked up in his insides and made a mess of everything until her eyes were dry.
Alexander raised an eyebrow in a questioning manner. "We're doing it," Armand said shortly.
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Post by Jules on Jul 31, 2008 1:26:32 GMT -5
Zizzy wiped clumsily at her cheeks and then dried her hands on her pant leg. "Sorry." She murmured and shivered. She didn't like this, not at all and it would be all her fault if something went wrong and with a machine like that how could it possibly not? But it was Iker who was at the risk of dying, not Armand. Although the thing hardly looked like it was going to be a walk in the park for him either.
"Armand, if you get hurt..."
If he got hurt she didn't think she'd be able to cope. "Let's just, please, be very, very careful." She sniffled because she couldn't really help it and this was what she got for getting so worked up.
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Post by Miss Jack on Jul 31, 2008 1:52:56 GMT -5
He almost gave in to the urge to kiss her. But he looked down, mouth tightening reflexively. "Come on," he muttered to Alexander, drawing his attention back to the device.
"It'll be fine," Alexander said, to both of them. When did he become the team cheerleader?
Alexander looked at Armand, who took one of the knives from his side and extended it to a reluctant Alexander, who in turn, hesitantly took the blade. "Wouldn't you rather be...." He trailed off.
"No," Armand said.
Right. Alexander drew in a steadying breath that shook more than it steadied. He clenched and unclenched his grip on the hilt of the knife. "Ready?"
"Don't tell me."
He didn't tell him. He kept both eyes open and in a carefully measured slash, took out a chunk of Armand's shoulder. Armand squeezed his eyes shut, flinching, but other than that, didn't make a sound. "Oh shit," Alexander said as a blood blossomed into the upper portion of Armand's shirt.
"It's fine. You didn't---" Armand hissed. "Hit a vein."
Alexander nearly threw up as Armand grabbed the loose piece of flesh and threw it onto the ground. "Help me," Armand murmured. His fingers shook.
With Alexander's help, Armand hoisted himself up into the device, and Alexander quickly secured the torso belt to keep him upright. Next the arms; Armand gave a soft sound of pain as Alexander tightened the one near his wounded shoulder.
After both legs were latched in, Alexander began scanning the device for the adjustments. If he didn't get it right, they'd kill Iker, and Iker would take Armand with him, just for spite. "Hey," Armand said quietly, a hint of laughter curving his lips. Alexander look up at him, glaring. "Lighten up, bro."
"It's not funny," Alexander said, his face crumpling a little.
Armand's eyes pitched a shade of deep navy. "I know."
Alexander turned to Zizzy. "Are you ready?" he asked.
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Post by Jules on Jul 31, 2008 2:14:43 GMT -5
She'd watched, pale-faced and drawn. There had been a few moments, especially watched Armand get cut when she'd wanted to take it all back and not have any of this happen. She came up to the machine, reminded of the time they were on the mountain and took off her sweater, using it as a makeshift bandage for his shoulder.
Zizzy looked at him, meeting his gaze for just a moment before facing Alexander. She took a deep breath, her insides felt so weak that she was afraid it would rattle her ribs apart. "I--I guess."
She looked over the dsvice with Alex, searching for what it was that would kill Iker as he was removed. There were, thankfully, not that many dials and or buttons and it didn't take much deducing to figure out turning down the one marked 'Power' would probably have the desired effect. But that was the thing----probably.
Zizzy felt a little like igor and denied herself the urge to break the tension with a accented 'Yess master.' Sometimes a sense of humor was better left at the door. "Okay. You---You pull the switch and I'll...." Her eyes trailed down to the piece of flesh on the floor.
"And you." She said a moment later, a little louder then she'd intended, almost-glaring at Armand except she had a very tiny smile. "Survive. Or else."
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Post by Miss Jack on Jul 31, 2008 2:30:55 GMT -5
One side of Armand's mouth hitched up. "Sure."
Alexander nodded. "Right, but remember to wait until we know he's out." He looked at the dial and blew out a breath. "Here we go." Please let it be painless. Then he remembered Hina had created it specifically for Jack, and he doubted it.
It will pull us apart, and then attack you. You have to leave as soon as you're separate enough to, Armand told Iker in his head.
Don't patronize me, Ira.
Armand nodded at Alexander, who threw a worried glance at Zizzy, and then pulled the switch.
It felt like being torn in half, in the most painful way possible. He didn't scream, he didn't want to scream, but after a few seconds, he wasn't even coherent enough to realize where he was. He only had traces of Dream in his body, but it was making fast work of everything else. Iker, being the highest concentration of Nightmare aura, was taking the brunt of the blow, but it was still Armand's body.
And then, it abated, just for a moment. Iker had escaped, jettisoned from Armand's body like a rocket, seeking desperately the bit of flesh that could save him. Alexander saw the change, watched Armand's eyes flutter open, and turned off the switch.
Armand couldn't stop trembling. His cheeks felt a little damp, and his throat raspy; maybe he had screamed after all. "The lightning..." he croaked.
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Post by Jules on Jul 31, 2008 2:45:36 GMT -5
Zizzy, who was yet again blinking back tears had already been preparing for this moment. Slowly, she'd picked up energy until the whole room cackled with almost painful static. Zizzy could feel the rush of pure electricity and raw power consume her and she knew one too many seconds spent like this and she'd be a charbroiled corpse. But she had to be careful, she couldn't just let it loose, she had to direct it. So slowly, she fed the lightning into the piece of flesh.
For a moment, all it did was absorb impossible amounts without a single thing happening, but as more coursed into it, it began to grow, twitch and malform. It was almost sickening to watch the lump of flesh slither about like a snake trying to break free from an egg of skin.
Finally, she had to let go of the lightning or be cooked and just hoped it was enough. She staggered a little, regained her balance and then promptly crashed to floor because she was utterly exhausted.
But it didn't stop her from awkwardly scampering/crab walking again from the writhing flesh when she realized how close she'd fallen to it. When her back pressed against the wall, she used that to help her up and then tottered somewhat precariously towards the slate on which Armand rested. Pissed at her or not, her eyes flittered nervously over him, checking for any sign of permanent damage.
"Are....are you...?"
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Post by Miss Jack on Jul 31, 2008 2:53:47 GMT -5
"Fine," he managed. His eyes flicked back to the squirming flesh. He swallowed the bile and glanced at Zizzy. "You... did good." He winced. "Get me out of this thing."
Alexander kept his eyes trained on the growing thing of flesh, supposedly Iker. Iker had promised not to kill any of them, but Alexander had a nuclear bombs worth of fire power broiling inside him and if Iker even wiggled wrong, he was barbequing him.
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Post by Jules on Jul 31, 2008 3:26:09 GMT -5
She nodded and hurriedly fumble with the straps. It took her a few tries because her arms felt like noodles and she was pretty sure she'd singed something. Once all the straps were undone she checked her sweater around his wound. Anything, really, to avoid looking at Iker's 'Birth'. To say she had a hand in that would probably bother her the rest of her life.
But looking at Armand now, she couldn't help but smile. Things probably weren't the best between them at the moment but still.
"You're free." She murmured and almost almost touched his cheek, but jerked her hand away before contact, as though she hadn't been fully conscious of the movement until she'd seen her hand so close to his face. Despite everything, she could feel a sense of happiness in her. She'd actually done it. They'd actually done it.
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Post by Miss Jack on Jul 31, 2008 3:40:15 GMT -5
It was one of those conflicting emotions where you want to entirely embrace someone because you're both safe, and you love them, but your head gets in the way and backs off. "Yeah," he said, smiling slightly.
He felt somewhat better being out of the restraints, though it was still a wobbly process. He was thankful Alexander was there, because Zizzy didn't look all that much better off. He didn't mind avoiding Iker either, for now. "Are you okay?" he asked.
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Post by Jules on Jul 31, 2008 4:01:00 GMT -5
Zizzy shrugged. It probably wasn't good that the room was spinning or that there were two of him (well, there being two of him wouldn't be that bad, actually) but she nodded just the same.
"Fine." But of course, of course, her cheeks blushed blue. For not only was the room spinning and Armand multiplying but she could feel the barrier between them like something solid and it hurt. Only when the blue faded did she raise her eyes from where she'd focused them on the floor. Zizzy had promised herself she'd do this, no matter what.
She wasn't selfish.
"I'm sorry I broke your trust." She began slowly. "But I'm not sorry I did this."
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Post by Miss Jack on Jul 31, 2008 4:12:53 GMT -5
She wasn't okay. It didn't matter that her cheeks sparked, she was swaying like a branch in the wind. They were quite the pair. He could barely feel his right arm anymore, both of their bodies were zapped and shaking.
His brow furrowed into a frown. He opened his mouth to answer her, but then the blob of flesh gave a crack. Alexander raised a hand, and Armand stepped in front of Zizzy, his arm pushing her behind him, but he was gone.
Where the blob of flesh had sat, there was now an already fading scorch mark on the floor. Alexander and Armand exchanged looks. He'd kept his word, but he was still out there.
"Let's get out of here," Armand said and Alexander nodded, relieved. A graceful little skirt around the other matter at hand.
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Post by Jules on Jul 31, 2008 4:20:18 GMT -5
Zizzy watched them move towards the exit but stayed were she was. She didn't know what to do. Where she should go. They needed to talk, Armand and her, if he would even let her. But at the moment she was so tired it probably wasn't good to engage in any conversation she should be coherent for.
"I--I'm going to go home." Zizzy followed after them and wrapped her arms around herself in attempt to keep herself together. Hopefully they'd just let her go on her own. She saw no reason why they shouldn't, not anymore. "I can barely see straight, I'm so tired."
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Post by Miss Jack on Jul 31, 2008 23:08:45 GMT -5
Armand's thoughts ran along a simliar vein. His body could barely hold itself together in the aftermath of the penetrating pain. And he felt empty --weaker, somehow-- without Iker inside him.
He cradled his shoulder in one hand. "Take her home," he told Alexander curtly.
Alexander glared. "Why don't you---" He stopped at the chilling look on Armand's face. He sighed as Armand walked past him, out of the prison cell. Alexander approached Zizzy and touched her arm as if she would break at any heavier contact. "C'mon, Zippity doo-dah, I'm taking you home."
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