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Post by Miss Jack on Oct 8, 2008 22:29:11 GMT -5
Armand crouched and launched himself at Iker, who met him head-on, and the two grappled for awhile, swinging blows and skidding into the ground hard enough to created small ruts.
Iker switched through several bodies, trying to ward Armand off with fire and shadows and bandages, but Armand kept so close to him, so intimately aware of every body motion, such attacks proved virtually useless. And so, Iker morphed into the strongest body he had in his arsenal that didn't rely on powers at all: Armand's. For a few moments of fighting, Armand had the disorienting experience of facing off against himself, his movements matched identically.
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Post by Jules on Oct 8, 2008 22:35:57 GMT -5
Zizzy wanted so badly to intervene, but they were so closely knit that it would be impossible to hurt one and not hurt the other. The matter was thrown into greater confusion when Iker changed to Armand. In this heated fight the Night Terror was not, however, concerned with mimicking the Prince's mannerisms and she found she could tell the difference just by looking at their faces.
She stood, looking for an opening, any flicker in the one she was nearly certain was Iker, while all the while storm clouds gathered overhead.
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Post by Miss Jack on Oct 9, 2008 0:01:14 GMT -5
Iker needed a new strategy. Eventually one of them would tire, but (irritating as it was) he couldn’t be certain it wouldn’t be him. He needed something-- anything to distract Armand just long enough for him to gain some ground.
The solution was obviously Zizzy, Armand’s certified weakness, but how to get to her without Armand stopping him first? And then it hit him: the attacks of Armand’s family may be useless at this close distance, but they would be perfect for an unexpected long shot.
Armand retreated for another attack as Iker (or himself) deflected his punch, and then Alexander grinned devilishly at him, his eyes on fire. Hadn’t they danced this dance? What was Iker hoping to accomplish--- and then, he saw Iker’s intention, half a second too late and foolishly turned his attention from Iker, watching, panicked, as the line of flame shot straight at Zizzy.
One moment was all he needed. He blindsided the distracted Armand, slamming his back into the ground.
Winded, Armand hissed and tried to regain oxygen in his longs, only to find Iker’s hands pressing down on his windpipe.
“I could have stabbed you, shot you, anything while you turned, but this way you’ll know I don’t regret, that I won’t change my mind,” Iker said, tightening his grip around Armand’s throat.
Armand grasped one of Iker’s wrist in one hand, and with the other, scrambled for a loose dagger he could use to get Iker off him. Realizing his intent, Iker found the hidden blade before Armand could reach it and pulled it out, throwing it several feet away into the dirt.
Spots danced in front of Armand’s eyes. Iker bent over him, whispering in his ear the last image he wanted his former body to take with him to the grave, of the night Iker took the woman he loved. Armand’s hand shot up, seizing Iker’s collar with surprising force, though he couldn’t shake Iker’s grip. Caught unaware, Iker jerked forward and down with Armand’s tug, a snarl escaping his lips.
Armand’s fingers sought out Iker’s neck, but when their skin made contact, the physical pressure he applied seemed to sink past Iker’s skin, plunging down, almost into his soul, a place Armand had no desire to be. He tried to pull back, to stop whatever he had started, but it was too late. Unbidden, a rush of memories and thoughts and emotions hit him like a tidal wave, filling his very being until nothing was left inside him but Iker.
He felt his own hatred for Iker, but simultaneously, knew a hatred for himself, deeper and blacker than anything his own heart had been capable of before. He tried to force it out-- these thoughts, the voice in his head that should have been his own, that no longer sounded like him.
The violation struck Iker like cold water, penetrating inside him and leaving with something, something that was his. He gasped, a silent, open-mouthed reaction, and let go of Armand’s throat.
“What did you do to me?” he hissed.
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Post by Jules on Oct 9, 2008 0:24:05 GMT -5
It had been so completely unexpected that even when she saw it coming straight for her, she hadn't thought to try and duck. It wasn't because she thought Iker was above playing dirty, but because the fight had been so intense, so intimate she'd assumed they'd forgotten her presence.
It hit her full force, sending her sprawling. Several minutes past in which she remained still, dazed from conking her head on the ground. When she came to, she pushed herself up by bloodied palms, realizing the pain in her midsection came from the fact that it was were the fire had struck; the stomach of her shirt had been singed off, the revealed skin was mostly burned away, leaving a sickly combination of charred flesh and raw, harsh third degree burns.
Wincing, she got to her feet slowly. Iker was hissing, Armand looked....Armand looked like Iker did when he was imitating him, to be honest. It frightened her a little. For some reason, the fight seemed to have come to a halt.
Now that she was up, she fully intended to take matters into her own hands. Or at least try. Taking the dagger that had been flung onto the ground she moved forward to crash to her knees beside Armand. The dagger she pointed right at Iker's eye and glared. Something bad had happened to Armand and it was Iker's fault. Trying hard to ignore the pain of the burns she rumbled at the Night Terror. There hadn't been a failure to notice the angry marks around Armand's neck. Zizzy touched them gingerly, while giving the sense she was still completely aware of Iker---she held the dagger in place. When she turned her full attention back to him, she looked furious. It was more then not glowing, it was unglowing, the opposite of glow, like a massive storm cloud was sliding beneath her skin.
"You promised." But the words didn't seem to come from her mouth alone, but the lightning tickling the bellies of the very sudden, monstrous thunderheads, from the fierce wind, and from the first few drops of what promised to be a monsoon.
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Post by Miss Jack on Oct 10, 2008 23:14:56 GMT -5
Both Iker and Armand turned a sharp gaze to Zizzy as she approached, the expression almost identical.
Initially, Armand felt the tender connection he always felt when he saw Zizzy, as well as worry, wishing she would get away, not be so close. But almost immediately, underlining his own feelings, were these new unwanted ones, a combination of fascination, lust and hatred that made him a little sick.
Even as she ran light fingers over his neck, he felt both: love and possession.
Iker was torn between glaring at Armand, still seething over whatever it was he had done to him, and keeping an eye on the dagger aimed at him and the increasingly furious Zizzy.
"Zizzy," Armand said, at once surprised and disgusted at the wintery chill lacing his voice, too much like Iker's.
He saw the dagger and he thought, Do it now, while his guard is down. And even though deep down he didn't believe in fighting so dishonorably, his true self agreed. Do it now, so Zizzy won't have to. So she won't have it on her head.
Like a flash, Armand lurched upright, grabbing the dagger from Zizzy's hand, plunging it deep into Iker's chest. Higher than the heart, just below his collarbone. Iker's face contorted first with shock, then pain; a dizzy, wobbling pain that flickered in and out over his features like Christmas lights.
"Go," Armand said, using the Night Terror language for the word, it's meaning simple and dangerous. "Or I will kill you."
How he knew the words, he didn't know. Iker didn't know either, and that was what scared him into submission. He gave one final hiss of rage, but there was defeat in the sound, and before even removing the dagger, Iker shifted into Armand's father and fled from them in a blur of shadow.
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Post by Jules on Oct 10, 2008 23:34:00 GMT -5
Zizzy let out a cry of frustration that was again echoed by the gathering storm, how could he have let Iker get away? How dare he rob her of the chance to see that pig stuck like he deserved to be? She glared at Armand, not allowing the storm to dissipate and the rain began to fall with almost stinging force. Wind howled, approaching gale force and a bolt of lightning send a large oak crashing to the ground nearby, blocking off the path back home.
None of the lightning came close to Armand, even in her enraged state she didn't want to hurt him.
"Why didn't you kill him?" The storm asked, "Why didn't you let me?" She stood and was almost knocked off her feet by her own wind. Zizzy seemed to have forgotten her various injuries, the pain swallowed by the depth of the rage that was so clearly consuming her.
Even her edges started to lose definition, giving way to a wispy cloudiness that gave her a frighteningly ethereal look. "Do you not understand what he's done to me?" Again her voice was eaten up by the storm and magnified by it, coming from the claps of thunder and the whine of wind.
Some part of her recognized the danger she was in of being completely eatten up. It was the risk of having one's powers so closely linked to one's emotions. The same, small rational sliver had heard the wintry chill in Armand's voice, had caught that look in his eye and wondered if he wouldn't just sit then and let her be devoured.
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Post by Miss Jack on Oct 10, 2008 23:54:26 GMT -5
"Zizzy, stop it!" Armand said, panicked, rising to his feet against the battering wind and gripping her shoulders, or what was solid anyway. He flinched as the rain pelted into his face; in mere seconds they were both soaked through.
"I know what he's done," he said, helpless. And he knew it now, more clearly than he ever had, and it made him feel like his insides had turned to self-destructive poison. "But I couldn't let you kill him." He almost had to shout to be heard now.
Concern for Zizzy let his true feelings dominate, but still Iker pulsed within him, just beneath the surface.
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Post by Jules on Oct 11, 2008 0:06:48 GMT -5
There was no sensation left, she couldn't feel his hands gripping her, only see them. "Why not?" She roared, still furious. "I want to. I will hunt him." She pulled away from him, as if she meant to go do it now.
And indeed, she did. "He almost killed you." A piece of her own voice finally floated back as she said this, "If he had---if I had lost you..." The idea took it away again and she appeared less human than ever. It wasn't the same as Iker, it wasn't animalistic, it was naturalistic.
"Even now," howled the wind, "he held me against him. He touched me and I was too weak to stop him. That ends now." Zizzy, or what was left of her, began to walk away, the storm stalking after her on legs of lightning.
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Post by Miss Jack on Oct 11, 2008 0:29:18 GMT -5
"Zizzy--" Armand ran after her, placing himself as a block in front of her. He knew he couldn't physically stop her, especially as she was now, but if she could just see him, see how much he didn't want her to do this.
"Zizzy, you don't know what it means to take someone else's life. You're so good, so naturally good, and killing him would be with you forever."
He paused, water streaming down his face. He was pleading, he knew, however pathetic it may be. He would drop to his knees any moment, in the mud, and not even care.
"I'll do it," he said finally. Killing bothered him. Stealing life bothered him. Who was he to decide who should live and die? But Zizzy was right--- Iker had done too much, and it wouldn't end just because he had been defeated.
He didn't say why it had been especially hard to kill him before, when he essentially was him, but perhaps now, with it more diluted, he could.
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Post by Jules on Oct 11, 2008 0:47:33 GMT -5
Zizzy paused, studying him, the storm halted behind her like a large cat deciding whether or not to pounce. The first sign she might be bending to his will---she solidified. But her eyes slid past him to the path behind him and she frowned.
"But---" She could see it on his face, how desperate he was and it hurt but----Iker. "I can't let him get away with...everything. But with solidification came the the pain of the burns, the cuts on her palms, and the sheer energy it had taken to form the storm behind her. It didn't fade, however---it was mostly out of her control now. It's own entity, simply following her because it was bound to her.
Zizzy felt the pelting rain, painful against her raw stomach, the wind whipping at her, the chill that was settling deep in her bones, and then looked back at Armand. "No."
Thunder clapped loudly to underscore her protest.
"I want, so badly...you don't understand. How can I be safe?" She demanded, anger returning, "I was walking home, I'm not taking the pills anymore, he could probably come to me in my dreams. I don't know why he won't leave me alone, but can't you see that he won't? Never? I have to. Not you." She placed a hand on his chest, feeling his frantic heartbeat, "You have enough scars on that."
Some of them because of her. The hand turned forceful, pushing him aside with the sudden aide of wind and she stepped forward again.
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Post by Miss Jack on Oct 11, 2008 1:24:58 GMT -5
Not expecting the push, Armand flew easily to the side, landing in the mud. He watched her retreating form for a few moments, baffled, confused, hurt, and then scrambled after her.
If nothing else, he had to make sure Iker didn't kill her. Hadn't she just said he had held her against him and she couldn't do anything? But then, Iker was seriously wounded now.
"You don't know where he is," he said, a last ditch effort to persuade her, this time with logic.
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Post by Jules on Oct 11, 2008 1:50:15 GMT -5
Zizzy hesistated again, she hadn't meant to push him. She looked down the path and knew he was right. Iker could be anywhere by now. And she herself wasn't in the best shape. The anger seemed to flee her all of the sudden and the storm began to dull, finally, without her rage to anchor it.
The rain turned into a softer downpour, the lightning quelled and the wind died down. She stared at him, muddy, hurt, and she sighed. Letting go of the rage was letting go of the energy that kept her driven. Without it, she was staggered. In the rain, her palms hand been washed clean, but it had only further ravaged her stomach.
Zizzy swayed a little, "But he..." She started weakly, altough she clearly hadn't a chance of even scratching Iker. Her eyes flicked back to him and she wiped the mud off his face.
"Are you okay?" She asked finally, focusing some of the last energy she had on pulling the downpour off him. Unfortunately, it still soaked her through again and again, since the cloud above her own head would last as long as the storm did. "What happened back there, I could've sworn...you sounded like him."
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Post by Miss Jack on Oct 12, 2008 22:15:05 GMT -5
He tried not to show his relief too obviously, stepping closer and wiping the mud off her own face in return. He drew his hand around the back of her neck and guided her head to his chest, kissing her wet hair, being careful to mind her wounded stomach.
"I'm fine," he said, dismissing her concern almost instantly. His face clouded at the memory her words provoked. "I don't know," he admitted, and it annoyed him to say so. "I felt.... like him, for a moment."
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Post by Jules on Oct 12, 2008 22:26:53 GMT -5
There was something instantly soothing about him. She rested against him readily, not sure how much longer she could've remained standing without help anyways. "And now?" She asked warily---they had gone through enough to get Iker out, the very last thing she could bear at the moment were signs that he was getting back in.
Although Iker had seem more angry over whatever had happened then even Armand. Finally the rain faded to a mere mist and the clouds lightened to a more slate grey then ominous black. Zizzy wrapped her arms around his waist to anchor her. The rage she'd felt had calmed, but had not fully gone away. She didn't think it ever would, not until Iker was dead. Something Armand had said struck her then.
"He told you about it, didn't he? Armand, I'm sorry, you shouldn't have had to hear that. You know I thought he was you, right?" She looked up, chin propped against his chest still, obviously unwilling to distance herself from him. Zizzy could only imagine what Iker had said to him...
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Post by Miss Jack on Oct 12, 2008 22:45:28 GMT -5
"I know," he said quietly, stroking her cheek. She seemed back to her usual self; the storm had ebbed.
"It's gone now, mostly. I don't know what happened, I just touched him and it was like taking a thorough plunge through his mind." He sighed, already ready to forget it. "It doesn't matter now though. Someday, I'll kill him." He bent down to kiss her. "But for now let's be somewhere else," he said and closed the distance between their lips.
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