The ghosts come calling... [Action/Closed]

[fanged_wings]

Who: Akito/Agito and the Crawling Boy, later Team Tim.
Where: Maid Hallway
When: Shortly after the start of Night 3
What: Akgi run into the Crawling Boy. Shortly after an escape attempt is made.
Warnings: Akgi will be getting hurt in some way. Generic swearing warning that Agito comes with.

Comments

[allthekeys]

Its--his legs were shattered beyond all recognition, twisted into grotesque, impossible angles, dragging uselessly behind him. His nails were short and sharp, jagged and broken, caked with filth and blood, catching and clawing at the floor. They pulled him along faster than many people could run, even hauling the entirety of his weight like that--but it was the eyes that were the worst. Wide, murky dark brown eyes sunk into a face that looked significantly younger than even Akito's in spite of how viciously it had been torn at, blazing fever-bright with agony and desperation and raw hunger.

He burned with little beyond an obsessive, driven need as his eyes locked onto Akito, overwhelming even his initial fear of emerging into the hallway. Now that he had his goal, there was no stopping him, and Akito's back hitting the wall was the perfect chance. A broken, guttural moan dragged itself from the boy's throat, and he lunged, throwing himself and his full weight at Akito to knock him fully to the ground. If he wasn't stopped, he would end up slamming into the boy and at least partially on top of him, hands clutching at any hold they could find to keep Akito from escaping--and possibly to help him climb higher still.

[fanged_wings]

It was wrong, he was wrong. Akito was paralysed by fear and the fact that the kid seemed to be younger than him. Or had been, assuming that he was dead now. For the only thing was ghosts and monsters, though which the kid was, Akito didn't know.

The light shrieked as the boy lunged, finally knocked back to his senses as he was thrown to the ground. No, no, he needed to get away, now! "Get off!" he yelled, trying to hit the boy, knock him back, anything so he could try and get to his feet, switch over and let Agito get them out of there. "Let me go!"

[allthekeys]

His fists would slip straight through the boy, blows raining down into thin air where his head and shoulders seemed to be; the contact left behind a tingling, almost numbing icy sensation, as though Akito had been briefly plunged into a bath of ice water. And yet--and yet, intangible though the child was, his hands were quite solid. The small, calloused hands that should have been so soft were real and brutally cold and impossibly strong, leaving behind icy, ghostly burns the longer the touched bare skin.

They hauled him up and forward, and there was awareness there in his eyes--awareness and even possibly some glimmer of intelligence, completely overshadowed though it was by feral need. The boy moaned again and ducked his head, the motion almost like a striking snake as he leaned in to bite at Akito's neck. He seemed to care nothing for how much Akito was struggling, or whether or not he missed--throat, neck, shoulder, chest, arm..... it didn't matter to him. He would rip and tear regardless, absolutely fixated on trying to tear away chunks of flesh and devour Akito whole, even if he couldn't kill him neatly in the process.

[fanged_wings]

No, no, he wasn't dying again! But he couldn't hit this thing, how could he get away without hitting it? It hurt, the touch was burning him, and it was so cold...

The thing attacked and only his other forcing him to move stopped him dying again, something Akito was forever thankful for. He still screamed though when the creature hit his shoulder, crying out as his skin was torn away. Was...was it trying to eat him? He screamed again, hoping, wishing anyone was within hearing range. It hurt, it hurt! "Stop! Someone please!" He was crying, struggling to get loose. Please, please don't let him die again...he didn't want to die, please...

[comeswithpants]

Once night had fallen, Tim was quick to rally the troops (so to speak), but he grew concerned when he discovered that more than one member of his team was nowhere to be found. He could only hope that they were okay. He'd certainly keep an eye out for them while he patrolled with who he could find.

With a makeshift staff, they made their way to the maid hallway quietly. And the second Tim heard a scream from that direction-- he shouted to them to hurry, and broke into a sprint himself. Damnit--!

"Ryuho, grab Akito," Tim shouted the second they arrived. He hesitated a moment when he saw how human the creature looked. But it was a monster. It was attacking Akito and that was what he had to focus on.

Tim moved in to strike it with his staff, hoping for a disabling blow.

((ooc: Crappy tag go go))

[calculatedfire]

An end table in the hallways, and the plant on top of it abruptly dissolved into mist, reforming as the crystaline alter. Ryuho knew Zetsuei could move faster than him, and that it could not be harmed was another reason.

Zetsuei's ribbons reached out to form a protective barrier around Akito if they could, and to pull him away from the ghost.

[bunny_is_better]

"Jikai seyo, rondaniini no kuro inu! Ichidoku shi, yaki harai, mizukara nodo o kaki kiru ga ii! Bakudo 9: Geki!!"

[Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat!]

Scarlet light enveloped Rukia's body as she completed the incantation and its corresponding glyph, rising in wisplike fumes from her shoulders and arms as she held her arm outstretched and braced. If this worked, Tim and Ryuho would have a little while to extricated Akgi; if not, she would have to try something more risky and attention-grabbing.

Ping me if I need to edit anything? It looked like the ribbons were physical, on the app.

[allthekeys]

The mangled boy bit down again and again, ripping out mouthfuls of flesh and muscle to gulp down whole, not even bothering to chew as he worked at devouring Akito alive. He hardly even looked up as Tim's platoon raced onto the scene, eyes shrewd and almost feral, face smeared liberally with blood. But their efforts were almost entirely frustrated by his ghostly nature--Tim's staff cracked down in a vicious blow that should have by all rights snapped his neck, only to pass straight through, threatening even to slam down onto Akito's chest instead unless Tim could stop it in time.

Ryuho, too, would find his alter stymied. While the ribbons could easily wrap around and lift Akito, they passed harmlessly straight through the ghost as well, whose hands were locked tight onto Akito to provide a steady grip. Only Rukia's assault would prove very effective--and even then, not in the way she hoped. The red light of her Geki bathed the ghost in a bloody glow as well, and his head jerked back in a violent, pained spasm, eyes closed and chunk of muscle ripped out from the gesture in a loud, wet tearing noise. But the rest of his body--as the paralysis took hold, his muscles locked rigidly into place, attaching him to his victim more tightly than ever.

[fanged_wings]

It was all Akito could do, and that he did. The boy screamed as pain overloaded his system, jerking and trying to stop the boy hitting anything that would kill him. But at this rate, even he knew he was beginning to lose far too much blood.

He didn't even notice the others, eye closed tight from the pain and unable to hear properly over the sounds only he could hear in his mind. The water that was once the floor of their shared space had flared up again, waves crashing angrily and serving to keep them apart. The dark was desperate to fight them though. He needed to get in control, needed to take over. His pain tolerance was much higher than Akito's, and the light wouldn't feel it once he was out of control. Agito couldn't let his other die again.

As the boy stopped, dragging another scream from the light as muscle tore from him, making moving most of his upper body excruciatingly painful, the light gave up fighting, unwilling to move anymore. But the dark forced him to, right arm lifting painfully to hit the eyepatch and getting it across. Akito was knocked out of control, letting himself be swept into a corner of their mind where the pain couldn't reach him. Agito growled low, right eye opening and glaring at the monster on him. Now he noticed the others, who must've been the reason the creature was no longer attacking. "Get this thing the fuck off me," he snarled, voice not quite as controlled as he'd like. Exhaustion was setting in, which was more dangerous than anything. He couldn't fall asleep, the chance of him waking up again were too low.

Let them get out of this alive...

Oh sorry, yes the ribbons are physical

[calculatedfire]

Ruyuho was stymied by the fact that Zetsuei seemed to pass right through the ghost and failed to protect the boy at all. He couldn't move him, since the creature was hanging on tight and would simply move with him.

He waited a moment while the others acted, and then tried to pull the boy away when the red light seemed to disorient the ghost.

[comeswithpants]

Tim swore pretty openly at this. This was not working. Getting physical was not working.

But like hell was he willing to let anything happen to Akito (or Agito).

Tim halted his momentum rather abruptly and harshly, barely avoiding hurting himself and he dropped the staff to the side. It wasn't doing anything to help him, at the moment.

"Rukia, you seem to be the only one having any luck with distracting it-- keep your distance, but keep doing whatever you can! Ryuho, keep trying to get him away." Tim pulled back, and moved in to grab Agito. He tried to avoid the more obvious injuries, but there was only so much he could do as far as being gentle went. "Agito, hold on!" Don't die.

[bunny_is_better]

The whole problem at this point, as Rukia saw it, was that the monster - she couldn't call it human - was incorporeal, and therefor Tim and Ryuho could not touch it. Given that it was apparently capable of making enough of itself solid to continue clinging to Agito, however, she rather doubted that the others' efforts to extricate the injured young man were going to amount to much. Not without something that could make contact with incorporeal matter.

That left her two options. She could try another spell, with the knowledge that the apparition -might- be strong enough to break Geki's hold before she could finish, or she could provide one of the others with a means of prying Akito loose. The only thing she had that could do that was her sword; not an ideal prybar, to say the least.

"I'm going to try to get it to release him. Be ready to get him away from there!"

She didn't wait for acknowledgement, launching into the incantation after taking only a quick breath. Thankfully, though it was a high-level spell, it was very short.

"Raimei no basha, itoguruma no kangeki, hikari mote kore o mutsu ni wakatsu! Bakudo 61, Rikujōkōrō!"

[Carriage of Thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six!]

As she released Geki and invoked the Six Light Rod Prison, six wide, flat beams of light would slam into the crawling boy's midsection.

[allthekeys]

The brilliant rods slammed down around the ghost like prison bars, and he jerked violently once more--freshly escaped from the Geki--before falling ragdoll limp, suspended helplessly in midair.

Powerful though the spell was, however, it was pitted against a strong will as well: the bars' glow was dimming from the moment they pinned him, fading faster and faster by the moment; the group would have only seconds to retrieve Agito before Rukia's spell wore off.

[comeswithpants]

"Now!" Tim shouted, the second the opportunity presented itself-- and, with as much force as was necessary to get Agito out of there with Ryuho's help. Fortunately Agito was small, and the two of them were strong. "Agito hold on!" The little bit of extra help could help while he and Ryuho pulled. "Rukia, hold him can, but don't get any closer."

Right now, it was a matter of timing.

[calculatedfire]

Ryuho had Zetsuei haul the boy back, for an alter that could lift and throw a jeep, his weight was barely an encumbrance.

He retreated as well, seeing that the ghost would not be held for long.

[fanged_wings]

With how light the boy was, moving him was hardly an issue. Agito wasn't sure what exactly was going on, too busy keeping his mind together and fighting the waves that threatened to swamp him and drag him under to where only death waited. He would not die again. He refused to let himself or Akito fall to it. The cage in their mind kept the light safe for now; it was up to the dark to stop the body succumbing.

He took a second to take stock of his injuries. Blood was soaking his clothes, the team jacket sorely tattered but still hanging on to his frame somehow. The bites had left holes across his chest and shoulders which bled freely, causing constant pain. Muscle was torn and missing in many places. Moving was going to be a bitch of a thing. He hissed slightly, not at all pleased. This was going to take forever to heal.