chizuru "would you jerks stop leaving me" yukimura (
derepressed) wrote in
recountal2014-05-14 10:43 pm
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falling;;
Three months later.
??? Catacombs, whatever the fuck this country is called.
??? Catacombs, whatever the fuck this country is called.

It is so dark that Chizuru feels almost like the darkness is real, tangible, sentient and capable of exerting its pressure and it's a struggle for her to keep walking. She can't see a thing. The only indication she has that she isn't completely and utterly alone is the sound of Saitou's footsteps, the rustling of his clothing, and the soft sound of his breathing, and though she's sorely tempted to reach out and take his hand or hold onto the back of his jacket she can't bring herself to do it because that's too childish. They're here for a very specific reason and they don't have time to waste with her being frightened.
It's been three months since that fateful day at their headquarters, when they had lost nearly everything. It's been a few weeks since Souji's coughing had worsened, and four days since he had collapsed; they'd managed to find him shelter and a good doctor to watch over him, but it's clear that something is horribly, terribly wrong. Frantic research, hour after hour hunched over old medical texts had told them that what Souji suffered from was incurable.
But the doctor, also a student of old legends and myths, had said that there were tales of similar ailments being cured in the ancient past, but the knowledge of how to do so was... gone. Locked away. Buried forever with those who had known it.
...and so they had to try. The catacombs of this civilization lie deep underground and Chizuru doesn't know what they'll find here, but it's the best (the only) lead they've got and Souji's body isn't healing itself the way it should be, as a knight...
The knowledge that he is depend on them to figure this out spurs her onward even in the face of her anxiety. It seems so petty, to be afraid of the dark when Souji has so much more to fear.
Somewhere far ahead of them, there is the flickering of candlelighht. Chizuru sucks in a sharp breath and can't keep herself from reaching out to take Saitou's arm, her clutching his sleeve like he's all that's keeping her from breaking down. She wishes she were stronger, but it's hard. It's been hard ever since that day three months ago, and she is sure the cracks are starting to show.
Assuming he doesn't stop walking when she grabs onto him for comfort, they draw closer to that flickering candlelight and emerge in an underground chamber with a high, vaulted ceiling - the architecture seems so advanced that if not for the fact that it was all buried underground she never would have believed this was a place people lived in the past. At their feet is some kind of track - the tunnel leading in here from the surface had, at one point, merged with a tunnel belowground that some sort of vehicle must have traveled on in ancient times.
There are two winged statues at the center of the chamber, and the only light in the room comes from the flickering candles at their bases, flames burning bright despite the fact that there doesn't seem to be any living soul around to tend to them. The lights cast long shadows on the statues, which face each other and hold a sword and a scythe made of marble, the blades coated with what looks, to Chizuru's eyes, to be dried blood. She hopes she's seeing things.
Then there is a rustle of... something. Chizuru can't pinpoint where it comes from, but a flame flickers into existence at their immediate right and it's as though it set off chain reaction, braziers set into the walls lighting themselves of their own accord. As her eyes adjust to the light, she bites her lip and takes a look at their surroundings.
There are two levels, though there are no stairs; the balcony above them is, for the moment, out of their reach, as are all the openings above them leading out onto it. Across from them is another dark tunnel that the track at their feet runs into; she can't see very far into it. There are other passageways set into three of the four walls - one at the wall their backs are to, two at the wall on their right-hand side, and one at the wall they are facing. None of them are barred by doors, but peering more than a few feet into them from this location is impossible.
She surveys the room with unease, her gaze lingering on the statues and noting that there seem to be inscriptions of some kind at their bases, before she looks to Saitou as though he can tell them what they ought to do. It's so quiet they could hear a pin drop - which is unnerving, considering the way their surroundings had lit up of their own accord. She has the awful feeling that they're getting in over their heads.
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His comments are murmured to her hair, although whether or not his declaration of being unable to harm something that looks like Chizuru is up in the air on being true or not. He never speaks of his capabilities nor his limitations and that includes the two very precious weapons from Belin.
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"I don't know... where they went... they vanished. Please..."
There are still no tears. "You killed the other... with your face... when it looked like you. Please, kill that one... I don't want to die here..." Her gaze flicks down, then up at him again; when she looks at him, it's through her lashes, from half-lidded eyes.
"I'll do anything... if you just kill it, please..."
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Saitou continues, though, attempting to explain. "My blades are permanently enchanted to be unable to harm the Grand Master of the Order as well as those taken directly underneath him to ensure they are not stolen or taken if one turns traitor.
"And I won't let you die here."
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Her expression contorts into one of despair when he explains his swords' enchantments, though; and still, no tears fall. She looks from Saitou to the body on the altar, then to Saitou again. There is no recognition in her eyes when he speaks of the Order's Grand Master, no true realization that she is being discussed there.
"Please... that thing needs to die." The woman on the altar makes a soft noise and her hand twitches, but other than that she doesn't move, and the woman on the ground cleaves to Saitou and buries her face in his shoulder. "Please! Before we die... enchantment or no, you have... to kill it..."
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"You... Do not sound like her," Saitou finally says, flat and emotionally void but his body language is not tense with the anticipation or realization that he's made such.a gave mistake he understands now. It's impossible to tell, variations are so different. He's missing something and not just he suddenly strongly feels this is not the woman he came here with and he's rapidly shaking his brain for something previously occurred beyond the inscription to understand the sacrifice ( the woman, the altar ) and its meaning. "I... won't kill her," he sighs. They kill enough that he does it only when absolutely necessary. In truth, he feels he will have to in one form another but that is not this instant where he is not past any reason of doubt he knows which to point his sword at.
"The creature may be the only thing left that can give is hope to escape by locating the exit. We can't risk losing that."
Chizuru also would have such a hard time demanding he kill something or someone when it's not even being aggressive or able to defend itself. Life was too important for such flippant accusations and wishes.
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In spite of the sadness etched into every inch of her face - there are still no tears. Her hands tremble, however, and she looks uneasily from him to the woman on the altar. Her eyes are on "the creature" when he refuses to kill her, and it's a good thing too, because her expression contorts with rage when he says it - but that rage vanishes by the time she looks back.
"That... may be so, but, Sai--..."
"...nngh..."
The woman on the altar stirs, cutting the woman close to Saitou off - and it's funny, but it really doesn't sound as though she was interrupted; it sounds as though there wasn't anything more to the name she was about to speak. The woman on the altar sits up slowly, then, blinking and bringing a hand up to her head. "What... what happened..."
Then she sees Saitou, and sees the woman who looks so much like her, and her eyes go wide. Her jaw drops; she's left speechless.
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"...Yukimura?" he questions out her name skeptically—it's impossible for him to address either one of them differently in his head. he is not sure what go so next but he has the feeling now that the other woman is awake that one way or another things are going to rapidly deteriorate into ruin.
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The Chizuru on the altar keeps her eyes on him for a moment or two longer before they flick to the Chizuru by his side, and she swallows hard. She looks like she wants to say something, to warn him, but - her mind is hazy and it's hard to formulate the words. Before she can get anything out, though, the Chizuru closer to Saitou tugs on his arm.
"That... isn't me. It's the monster..."
Tears well up in the Chizuru on the altar's eyes and she shakes her head. "No, I--! I'm not a--..." Arguing isn't going to get them anywhere. If they're to survive, they need to keep moving, but how... The door behind the altar is locked tight. "We can figure that out later. For now, we need to... um, we need to keep going!"
She casts her gaze about the room, frantically trying to figure out if there's anything that can be used - and then she catches sight of some of her own skin and she looks down before yelping, bringing her hands around herself to cover herself. She'd known the other Chizuru had been naked, but she hadn't been expecting it of herself.
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But, it's the tears in her eyes that really catch his attention before that reaction to her bare skin. Looking back the woman clinging to him, he slowly goes to rise to his feet and pull the other with him the same.is he really going to have to continue on with the both of them? The door is locked. Saitou has ended up looking away from both of them in their bare states, swallowing back questions of what exactly is happening here with this altar.
"What is going on...?" Does the other woman have any ability to make better explanation.
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"I don't understand any of this," the Chizuru that had been on the altar says softly. "But if there's a lock... doesn't that mean there has to be a key?"
The Chizuru clinging to Saitou's arm wrinkles her nose a little and draws herself closer to him. "You... look for one. But if... you try and run without... taking us with you..."
The woman looks decidedly uncomfortable and drops down to poke around near the altar. She doesn't find a key - but she does find something etched into the side. "...u-um." Her voice is shaky. "Saitou, could you come take a look at this, please?"
It's some kind of an engraving, crude and simple - but it depicts a figure on an altar with its throat and belly being sliced open while a winged creature holding a scythe looks on. The doors in the etching are wide open.
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When he's addressed, however, he does go to step forward, to look at the engraving, his expression growing somewhat critical as he takes it in. It's not something he's unused to because as part of the Order, demonic cults are just as dangerous as the monsters and demons the Order hunts, but this just... it makes him feel uneasy. As far as he can see, it doesn't give too much of an explanation. He is unable to see what the reasoning is behind the ritual, but the doors being marked does signify something.
"...Ah." His fingers reach out to run across the engraving a moment. That, he can safely assume is the reaper. He briefly wonders if a sacrifice is required to open the doors... or if opening the doors leads to the sacrifice. Without a key, they won't know if it's the latter, but the former possibility is bothersome, too. It's obvious they're both halfway to being this individual on the altar with their throats slit, but...
"Why the belly?" he murmurs—one of them knows. If not both, perhaps, and he's the one at the disadvantage so there's no point holding back any questions he's asking himself in case he can get answers other than in his own mind's inner workings.
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"Because it is where... new life comes from."
Both women speak at the exact same time. The Chizuru kneeling in front of the altar stares at the Chizuru on Saitou's arm, who stares right back at her, unblinking, and then both are silent.
Saitou may have noticed that the Chizuru clinging to him was the one who spoke of "new life" - because, being closer, her voice would have been just a little louder.
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"Are they taking it or are they eradicating the possibility..." he asks, still staring at it. Don't take more than you are willing to give. Don't take more—
That scythe, it had blood coating it—
"The winged creature with the scythe that is overseeing the sacrifice: Is that the Reaper?"
He doesn't think he needs any confirmation, his body tensing slightly before he glances up into the darkness as the ceiling seems to climb forever.
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The other Chizuru looks at the two of them and shivers. She wants to say something, and it's quite clear on her face - but every time she opens her mouth to do so, the words just won't come. Instead, she'll continue poking around to see if she can find a key of some kind... but comes up empty-handed.
From the entranceway comes a terrible, ominous scraping sound, like stone on stone.
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The sound grows louder as whatever is making it draws near - there are no footsteps, however, just the terrible, unrelenting scrape. The Chizuru that isn't clinging to Saitou flinches and covers her ears, but the other seems mostly unaffected.
Saitou will note, however, that the scraping sound is almost painful to listen to - it shouldn't be, but somehow, it is.
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But... He can't risk it. He's an illusionist so he knows better than anyone it's not always safe to do the obvious. But, all he can assume is that...
"If I killed one of you, that would solve the problem? It'd allow us—what, to leave? What rage is it suffering from that it wouldn't take more?"
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While that Chizuru is speaking, the other Chizuru is still frantically searching around for some kind of key, or another weapon, or - anything, really. But she's still coming up empty-handed and her head is pounding. She has to stop her search to move her hand to her temple.
"Saitou...?" She sounds frightened. "Please don't get hurt..."
It isn't quite there yet, but looking at the entrance, Saitou will see a shadowed figure slowly approaching as the scraping noise grows louder still.
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"You both leave." He goes to try and shake the Chizuru holding onto him off now even as he tries to put out his sword. "It can have mine since I'm the one who came here looking to take something from this place."
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"No..! We came in here together. We both came here to--..." She's got tears in her eyes and she shakes her head vehemently. "I'm not letting you face that alone..!"
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It had been obvious, after all. Perhaps he's become too paranoid from Belin and is overestimating his remaining enemies and they capabilities to deceive. Enough of this, then. Choice made.
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The scraping sound has halted. The entranceway is blocked by the towering, imposing figure of a winged marble statue, holding a blood-stained scythe, but it keeps its gaze on the body on the altar and doesn't even look at Saitou and Chizuru.
Chizuru is trembling, half wanting to cling to Saitou for protection and half frightened to because what if the action is too much like the demon's, and it makes him suspicious, and he cuts her down? She looks over her shoulder and yelps when she sees the statue in the doorway, scuttling forward a few steps toward the now-open doors.
She wants her clothes and her weapon. But she has no idea where they are... the only way they can go is forward, and so she glances at Saitou uncertainly before heading into the next room.
If the rest of the catacombs were dark and oppressive, this room is light and airy. It is large - much larger than Chizuru ever expected - and the walls seem to be made of marble, not simple stone. At the far end is another altar, but this is larger and more comfortable; not a stone slab, but rather a raised platform which is coated with swaths of silk and a pair of pillows, conceivably to kneel on. This platform is in front of a statue holding a sword, which looks down on the silks benevolently. At either side is a fountain, somehow trickling with the clearest, purest water Chizuru has ever seen.
Once they both take a few steps into the room, the doors slowly close behind them, and this time Chizuru can't help but draw herself close to Saitou, frightened more of being apart than of making him think she's an impostor. "Um..."
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It's only when Chizuru is frightened enough to get closer to him once again that he pulls his attention from the statue and down to the woman. He'd put his sword away before following after her from the last room but he makes no move to touch her even though he does close the distance between them to make them even closer. "I didn't intend to frighten you back there. But, why was it you didn't insist she was the imposter?" It's a concern to be noted, he feels, just in case something was done to her and it's still affecting her. He makes sure, at least, to dutifully stare only at her face and not have them stray.
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"I... I tried to, but whenever I did... I couldn't get the words out." And that frightens Chizuru, too, because while she's seemingly able to talk freely now - not being able to say exactly what she wanted was concerning. If they could stop her from saying things, why not make her say things...?
Slowly, her gaze moves from their surroundings to his face.
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Instead, he just turns away from her and makes his way across the room to this new alter and statue, looking to see if this one holds any hints as to what they should do next. Whatever it is he doesn't think it's about to get any safer.
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so it took less time to do my makeup for work than i thought it would
Yay small surprise victories c:
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