damned_institute | Night 37: Main Hall 2-West

The angle the head twisted was what caught him off-guard. He hadn't expected it, and so found himself scrambling to dodge to the side, just barely moving out of the way of the flame but colliding with the swipe attack from the claw. He rolled with the blow as best he could, landing up against the wall. The swipe had caught the side of his face, rending the flesh and promising him that he wouldn't be able to hear out of that ear anytime soon.

As quickly as he could he got back to his feet. The monster had pivoted to block the hallway completely. Just great. It didn't look like it was going to be letting him through this time.

He moved forward again, aiming an upward slice with his lower blade, hoping to catch the mouth that had breathed fire on him. A solid quick blow similar to the kind he would use to take out hollows back home. Cut the head, continue on to Artemis...

Edited 2008-12-17 09:17 (UTC)

Blood was enough to encourage the leftover to attack again. Blood meant pain and pain meant death and death meant it could eat. Then, suddenly, a flash and the shiny sword was coming toward it. So pretty and yet, so very, very bad. Rearing back, the monster flailed and tried to knock the sword away, throwing its head back and narrowly avoiding being completely beheaded.

It couldn't get completely away though and the sword cut through its mouth, splitting its lower jaw and causing the creature to howl in pain. Shaking its head, acidic blood began to spray over the hallway, burning whatever it touched. Angered, the leftover charged forward, swinging both arms wildly at Hitsugaya.

The small splattering of blood burned as it hit him, but thankfully he was able to avoid the worst of it. Some nasty scars would come from the acid, he was sure of it, but they weren't fatal wounds. He backpeddled to get out of range of the spit, but then the beast charged forward again. No time to cast a binding kidou, and rolling underneath the beast's charge was right out with the acid spray. Slicing at the legs wouldn't work as well, as he'd put himself too close to the spray.

There wasn't time to think further as the beast was upon him. Thankfully the swings were wild and without solid control. It was relying on wild strength over any technique to defeat the young captain, which gave him an advantage.

He parried the first blow, making sure to parry with the flat of his blade to not make a bad situation worse by adding more of the acidic blood to the mix, then ducked under the second arm. The dripping acid was sure to make contact with his flesh no matter what blow he made, so he was going to have to make this one count. He brought the blade up and aimed it directly at the creature's "armpit," hoping to pierce the soft flesh of the arm and avoid the thickened scorpion carapace altogether.

When the blade struck the arm, it cut - spilling blood that burned holes into the floor. But when it hit the body, the blade glanced off with a metallic tang and the flesh glowed angrily from within. The blow was felt though, and the pain of having its arm cut was enough to drive the leftover into a rage. Taking aim at Hitsugaya's already injured face, the leftover punched hard, using the brute strength of the lurcher and the shredding power of the necrits claws. Meanwhile, the scorpion's tail bobbed anxiously behind, waiting for an opening.

Rage was good. He'd made it angry, and therefore careless. He quickly withdrew the blade and ducked to the side, taking advantage of his smaller size to narrowly avoid the beast's attack. The clanging of his blade told him one thing: this creature was nearly impervious on its core, like the golden puppets. He wouldn't dare fight this thing alone any longer.

Keeping on the defensive and on the alert for another furious swing, he began backing off, heading back towards the stairs. I'm sorry, Fowl, he thought to himself. Maybe it's some small comfort that I've distracted this beast long enough that others can get through.

Running away? No! That wasn't any good! No good at all! The leftover lurched forward, running after Hitsugaya as he headed for the stairs. Even in pain and bleeding, the monster still wanted to eat and it still wanted that shiny object Hitsugaya held. Even though its mouth was split, and it was in pain, it released another fireball at him, trying to slow him down. If only it could get a little closer - just a little bit - then it could use its tail! Paralyze and eat! That would work nicely.

He tried to dodge again, but the fire was too wild, too unpredictable. He barely raised an arm up to deflect some of the crackling flame in time, feeling it scorch his uniform and singe his hair and chin. He almost screamed out at the pain of it. Damnit, he thought. No running away from this one...

So he changed tactics. As the flame cleared he charged forward again with a scream, weilding his sword with the unburnt arm, swinging with all his might at the creature's head one more time. The body of the beast was impervious, but if he could just remove its head from its body, it would be fine. It would all be fine.

The fire burned it as much as it burned Hitsugaya and the creature squealed, grasping its head in its hands. The pain was intense, but luckily, it wasn't enough to kill it. Or maybe it was unlucky. The monster didn't much appreciate pain.

As if to make up for that though, Hitsugaya was coming back! He was coming back with the shiny thing to play and die - dying would be nice. Thankfully, the spider's legs were quick enough to help the leftover avoid getting beheaded, but it wasn't quick enough to prevent it from getting its throat cut. Blood spilled out, burning like before, but the wound wasn't fatal, just painful as all hell. Grunting and crying in pain, the leftover pivoted suddenly and lashed out, not with its arms, but with the poisonous scorpion tail, aiming for whatever part of Hitsugaya it could manage to hit.

The last blast of fire had dulled his senses more than he realized, and with one side of his face already injured he couldn't hear it coming. The tail lashed out, striking him on his now blind side, injecting the deadly poison directly into his gut just as he followed up the initial slash with another strike in the opposite direction, trying to press his advantage and lop off the beast's head for good.

The poison burned as it entered his gut and he fell to his knees almost instantly after his last swing. The blade slipped from his fingers as he dropped to the floor.

Poison, he thought in a panic. I've been poisoned. And like a fool he'd gone off alone, with no one close enough to stop the poison. No one close enough to save him...

The first wound hadn't been fatal, but the second? That one cut hard and deep and the leftover hissed when it should have screamed. It couldn't though - not with it's throat slashed through. It was bleeding and the neck was cut. It had gotten a hit in, but it wouldn't live to reap the fruits of its labors. Taking a few heavy steps back as burning blood bubbled out of its neck, searing its own skin as well, the leftover dropped to one side and fell heavily to the floor. Unable to eat its prey, the creature heaved a few labored breaths and then...stopped breathing altogether.

Hitsugaya was left on the floor for the time being, but from down the hall, drawn by the sounds of the battle and the smell of blood, something was coming - something that chattered.

As the paralyzing effect of the poison kicked in, he collapsed to the ground next to the monstrosity he had just defeated. Still alive, he thought to himself, relieved that the poison didn't seem to be fatal. He wasn't dying, he just...couldn't move.

And then he heard the chattering sound. For now, at least.

There wasn't much time, and there wasn't anything he could do. There wasn't anyone passing his little corner of the hall, and the paralysis had affected his whole body so signaling for help from the lights in the distance wouldn't do much good either. The only option was a slim shot, but it was one that seemed to work more often than not for Fowl. Artemis was connected to Schuldig somehow...probably the same way Schuldig was connected to everyone with his damn telepathy. He probably filtered out or at least ignored the majority of people's thoughts, but if he could come up with a few thoughts that might draw the man's attention...

But then again, he'd never be able to live it down. To have been saved by Schuldig would be the ultimate insult. The bastard would like that, too, wouldn't he? He'd lord it over the young captain until one of them either died or got the hell out of here. If he had any other choice that had even remotely the same chance for success, he would have gone with that; however, his choices were few. He tried to think of Schuldig, to focus on him in hopes that it might draw the egomaniac's attention.

Schuldig, he thought, focusing on the man's name as best he could. Schuldig, if you can hear me. This is an ally of Artemis Fowl. You know me, you hate me, that doesn't matter. I'm outside the patient experimentation corridor. I can't move and something's coming for me. I hate to even ~think~ this, but if you could help...

Not likely. The telepath and he were never on close terms. The only slim chance he had that the man would even give him the time of day was that if he died, Fowl wouldn't be able to handle it...and for whatever reason Schuldig seemed protective of the boy.

Probably the same reason he was. Some unexplainable pull towards the bratty little genius. For all his quirks and mistakes and messups, Artemis Fowl was likeable. Likeable enough for Hitsugaya to be dumb enough to go after him himself.

And if Schuldig didn't come, if someone didn't come before the skittering in the dark, he'd have been dumb enough to die for Artemis. And although he did not fear death, nor did he fear sacrificing his life for the boy or anyone else, he did fear the one thing he now faced: dying alone and defenseless, without even the slightest chance to save himself. He was completely at the mercy of whatever lurked in the shadows, and that complete defenselessness terrified him.

Blood and death and the smell of prey. These things were a siren call to them and they had to heed it. They had to come running even when they knew it would likely end with them crashing on the rocks and sinking into the sea. Not that necrits knew anything about the great Homeric epics or the stories of old, but that hardly mattered the moment the trio came into the hall.

Glorious! A giant dead thing with blood that burned and a little...live thing? A human! A prey animal they could tear into and eat! They chattered to themselves for a moment and then rushed forward, surprised to see that the human wasn't fighting back. Normally they fought back if they were alive. Well, no matter. The first necrit jumped onto Hitsugaya's chest, claws digging into him, as the others moved to surround him. Instinct told them surrounding their prey would be better, but it seemed that the Captain still refused to move.

Another round of chattering the necrits gave up attacking and just started tearing into him with teeth and claws. For once they'd win and they'd get to feast. For once, there were no flashlights and there was no pain. Scavenging wasn't beneath them and when it came to a free meal? They'd take what they could get. Teeth ripped into his arms and his torso, claws ripped at his skin and muscle, digging in until they hit the bone. They'd eat until they had their fill. They'd eat until there was nothing left but shreds of cloth and that blood-stained sword.

By the time he saw them, he knew it was too late. Even if Schuldig had heard his last ditch efforts to save himself, even if someone heard the sounds of the monster and went to investigate, it would be too late. If he were able, he might have even cracked a smile at the situation. The leader of Arts and Crafts, one of the more competent fighters in the institute, killed by some of the weakest creatures at landel's.

Sorry, Momo, he thought to himself. Looks like I have to break my promise.

And then they tore into him. The paralysis at least saved him some dignity by not allowing him to scream. He tried to think of something else, anything else to pass on to Schuldig in case he were tuning in, but all he could focus on was the pain.

And then there was nothing.

[from here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/514976.html?thread=43291040)

Skidding to a stop, Momo's eyes went wide in horror at the sight she saw. Hitsugaya was lying on the ground, bloody and burnt, the body of some creature laying near by and three lizard-like creatures ripping pieces of flesh off like the captain was some bloated carcass found on a forest floor. Any hope that Momo had, any doubt she'd had in her senses, disappeared then. There was no way Hitsugaya was alive. Momo stood there, staring at the sight for a few heartbeats, before her world fully shattered.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

The scream tore from her throat, raw and filled with the pain and anguish that seeing the man she loved being disemboweled and fed upon, and echoed through the corridor. She took a few unstable steps closer before another scream, this one of anger, came from the small shinigami. She was not going to let those creatures feast upon the body of her beloved a second longer.

Grasping what was left of her reiatsu, Momo drew an equilateral triangle in the air, the lines glowing a subtle pink, as she recited the incantation in a voice she wouldn't have recognized had she been paying attention to herself. Once the lines were finished, she spoke the spell's command.

"Bakudo #30: Shitotsu Sansen."

From the points of the triangle, what appeared to be three talens shot forth at the necrits, one for each monster in an attempt to pin them to the wall. Dropping to her knees, coughing up more blood as she blinked away the white spots from the spiritual backlash, Momo drew her sword. If the kidou worked and it held, Momo was going to kill all of the bastards that thought they had the right to touch Hitsugaya's body.

Eating their fill was a first for them. Usually they had to pick up scraps or worse, didn't get to eat at all. Sometimes they had to eat the remains of their own kind that had been smashed by the humans. Tonight, they got revenge and a full belly. It was a wonderful feeling.

Or it was until a scream ripped through the air. The necrits whipped their heads up and shrieked as talons shot forward at them. They scattered into the dark and chittered, wondering if it was worth going back to fight or better just to run away.

When Momo drew her sword, the necrits turned tail and fled, disappearing off down the hall they'd come from. They were content with having eaten their fill of the little one and they didn't need to risk their lives anymore tonight.

No. This wasn't fair. No. They got away. No. They needed to die. Momo coughed up another gout of blood as she watched the fading figures of the necrits as they disappeared into the darkness, unable to chase after them. With the creatures out of sight, all the hatred and anger left her deflated and she dropped her sword. She now felt the full drain on her kidou and the damage the spell and her shunpou had done.

The vice captain crawled, undignified, to the body of her beloved. Her hand shook as she reached out to touch the one patch of unsoiled white hair she could see. Feeling something so familiar against her hand coupled with the sight of what happened to Hitsugaya, between the creature that killed him and the scavengers, brought the tears.

This was worse than when she'd thought Aizen was dead. This wasn't a body of someone she loved tacked up high against a wall. No, this was a body of someone she loved more than anyone else being pulled into her arms. It didn't matter that Hitsugaya's blood was soaking through her uniform. It didn't matter that she could feel the rapidly cooling flesh as she cradled the captain's body. It didn't matter.

Momo's world had ended and, in the dark, blood filled hallway of a place she suddenly hated more than Aizen's betrayal, she held onto Hitsugaya's body as if someone would try to take it from her. Everything that was left of the small vice captain was focused on the captain in her arms. If something came by to kill her, so be it. She had nothing left.

[from here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/524456.html?thread=43385256#t43385256)

As Senna stepped off the stairs, and fully saw what awaited her, the question repeated in her head: Why had she come here?

She stopped, shock-still, staring. Her mind had divided again. The part that hurt, the part that felt, was currently being bombarded by memories. Memories of death and dying, each more horrible than the last. That self couldn't move, couldn't do more than raise her hand, horrified, to her mouth, and say, "Oh."

The other part was analyzing this detachedly. That was a body. One that looked nothing like what it had been before. It looked more like....

That part of her collapsed under the strain of what she was seeing combined with the lash of memories, stuck against her again and again. Senna crumpled to the floor, hand still to her face, and just repeated, "Oh."

Hokuto's heart nearly stopped, and her stomach lurched strongly enough so she had to take a step back. She saw Senna fall, but she was frozen to the spot. Finally, she managed to say, just loud enough to be heard, "Momo-chan..."

She wanted to go forward and hug her, but seeing Hitsugaya's torn body in Momo's arms made her--hesitant. She looked at him briefly, and then quickly away; she felt sick enough as it was.

If either girl was expecting a response from the small shinigami, they would be disappointed. Momo did not hear them as she held the burnt and chewed up body to her. The tears still fell, but the loud sobbing had gone away as she was simply too exhausted to cry that hard anymore. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she vaguely noted the presence of the shinigami she did not know, the one she wasn't familiar with.

She didn't care. She didn't respond. She simply sat there, covered in blood that was not her own, with her face buried in that one unsoiled patch of hair.

Some kind of sanity pushed at Senna, the same kind of mantra that told her that staying stagnant was wrong, and if she keep moving, if movement would keep occuring, things could somehow become better.

...She wasn't stupid. Things wouldn't magically be okay. But things could try to heal, if they moved from this place.

Senna crawled forward a few feet, slowly, like she was approaching an animal. One of her hands slid in something, and she ignored it entirely as her stomach lurched violently. She was resolutely not looking at one place, not accepting that that was once a person, once someone she knew. She would concentrate on those who were alive. What had Hokuto called the Shinigami? "Momo-san..." she tried weakly, and went to put her other hand on the Shinigami's shoulder. "Momo-san... maybe you should... come away a little...."

Edited 2008-12-30 02:59 (UTC)

Hokuto swallowed hard; this was not the time. She felt awful in every sense, but Momo had to be feeling a million times worse. Taking a breath, she came forward and walked quietly to Momo's side, sitting down slightly behind her. Having her view of Hitsugaya's body blocked helped, at least a little.

"Momo-chan..." she said softly, leaning forward. She was close enough for Momo to feel her breath on her neck, but she didn't want to startle her. "We're here." She glanced at Senna and shook her head slightly; unless something attacked them, Momo didn't want to go, and she wouldn't react well if they tried to make her.

Physically, Momo noticed the hand on her shoulder and the breath on the back of her neck. Mentally, though, the vice captain was still lost. She was still reeling in emotion, floundering for something that might make sense. First they'd brought Aizen to her. Then they'd taken Renji from her. Now... now they'd taken Hitsugaya from her, right after the two had finally gotten their feelings out to each other.

What else were they going to take from her?

In the end, it was only the feeling of a shinigami's reiatsu right next to her that brought about any sort of response. Slowly, Momo reached her left hand up to clasp around Senna's wrist. There wasn't much of a grip given the cast on that particular wrist, but it clearly showed the firebird drawing the vice captain had done on it. Sadly, the beautiful image of the bird was marred by Hitsugaya's blood.

She still did not say anything.

Senna nodded at Hokuto, the emotions mixed on her face. She would defer to Hokuto in this--she had said Momo and her were close, and Senna had no idea how to go about any of this.

Then the Shinigami reached up and grabbed her wrist.

Senna was edgy enough tonight; Orihime's touched had startled her. And she wasn't sure if the Shinigami's touch was for comfort or a warning. But Senna stayed still, much like one who was in front of a poisonous snake. If you didn't move, or moved very slowly, they might not strike.

She hesitated, then gently tightened her grip on Momo's shoulder. Senna might not know her, but Momo didn't deserve this. "We're here," she said softly. "You're not alone."

Hokuto put a hand on Momo's other shoulder, trying to ignore the blood; she was already sitting on her heels in it anyway. (If she slipped, which was fairly likely--well, she felt sick enough even without thinking about that.) "Yeah," she said softly.

She knew they wouldn't have much luck pulling Momo away from Hitsugaya's body and thus probably shouldn't try, but... willpower only got her so far. Ugh. Hokuto was starting to keep her head down in case she threw up.

Still not a hardened warrior. Maybe I should... give them some privacy... She knew she was doing pretty well considering... still, she could hold on for a little while. Momo might need her.

Hokuto was there, Momo finally noticed. The vice captain wished she wasn't. Hokuto was human and this much blood... Hokuto shouldn't be there. Momo knew this, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything. To the two with her, it appeared as if Momo was ignoring Hokuto. That wasn't true, but at that moment, she was only capable of focusing on one thing at a time. At the moment, it was the hand on her shoulder, the wrist she was touching, and the shinigami it was attached to. Just as slowly as when she first moved, Momo took her hand off of Senna's wrist.

"Shinigami," she said in a quiet voice that not even Hokuto would recognize, a voice full of nothing but an echoing void, and pointed down the hallway where the necrits had run off. Should either girl look down that way, the three points where her binding spell had hit the walls still smoldered a little. Momo didn't have the energy to pursue them, but she had only one thing right then that she wanted almost as much as having Hitsugaya alive in her arms.

"Kill them."

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