started as a flicker meant to be a flame

[hematophagus]

Who:Havoc and Raiden
Where: Somewhere in Abyss
When: ...n-now?
Summary: The city erupts with the crazies, as usual, but unable to get a hold of his not!bffl, Raiden heads down to Abyss.
Rating: R, I guess? Just in case?

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[hematophagus]

It didn’t properly register at first that she’d fallen, just that she was a bit lower to the ground than she’d been previously, that she had a better way of not looking at this- person- and a potentially better chance at actually sorting things out in her head. So when she went down she just sat there, tugging the tattered blankets around her shoulders closer to her thin frame and staring at the dirt beneath her. This man didn’t make any sense, not even close to it, just a fraction of something completely off-base in the Abyss, but she hadn’t killed him yet, hadn’t even made a proper attempt even though he looked so ready for her to attack him. But why? From the corner of her eye Havoc peered up at him-sprinting over, now, like an idiot, like she wouldn’t kill him-and then immediately looked back down at her own hands.

Everything in the world was a slowly fading crimson, even her own skin, but Raiden was in color and contractor or not she felt no urge or reason to kill him. Did that mean what everyone had ever told her about a contractor was a lie?

She closed one of her hands into a loose fist, raised the other to press the palm of it against her face. All Havoc could see on her hands was blood, and Raiden was an idiot for not wanting to leave her alone. But she didn’t stop him from trying to help her up, instead standing again with some degree of assistance... and when she was finally standing again, she found she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. “...You really are an idiot, Raiden.”

[rainreborn]

Raiden was the one who wanted to sit down. Sheesh. Even if he kept reassuring himself that she wouldn't kill him, there was a tiny part that said that she might. Isn't that why he was so scared a few seconds ago? Why was it that he was more than a little relieved to hear his own name. It released the knot that he felt in his chest. One that he didn't even realize was there, but now could find that he was breathing easier. Was that really all it took to ease his nerves? Maybe. Everything just felt like most of the storm had past. If he was allowed one more idiom.

"Yeah, yeah. You can tell me all about it in Terra." He waved his free hand a little, brushing off her insults. Yes, he was aware that they would blame him if she was found. A lot of things could come down on his head about it. But, he weighed what else could happen -- most of the population of the Abyss could end up with just Havoc. Not much of a place to hide if that happened. It would put his mind at ease to know that she was safe, at the very least. Listen to him. If she was safe. She could easily take care of herself. Even if her arm felt like it could use a little bit more meat.

A sigh.

"Anyway, let's get going. With all the chaos that's going on, I doubt they'd notice us slipping up to the higher levels now." Now really might have been the only time that would be good. Besides, they could be hermits together. Not like he ever left his room safe to go yell at people on the Network or tell children to get off his lawn. Wait, ah, he was turning more into an old man than a hermit. Or were they the same? Nice to know that his thoughts could return to something a little more humorous than worry. Another little coping mechanism so that he wouldn't start wondering what triggered Havoc in the first place. Did he even want to know?

[hematophagus]

Terra-- did he genuinely think anything like that could ever work? If anything it'd just be a way to buy time, a way to keep her out of the view of the public for awhile. Because as dangerous as she might really be (and even she wondered, sometimes, but didn't linger on the thoughts, because her mind was still not fully there and if she thought on anything but the current matter she worried the both of them would end up dead for it) Havoc knew that she didn't look it. This was a perfect opportunity to escape to an upper level.

...she would have just been kidding herself if she thought she could stay in Abyss after this, though. Someone was bound to catch on to what had happened down there, even if only half of the chaos was caused by her. And then they'd come after her, and it'd be five years ago all over again, dragged into battlefields and wars for a city that she honestly didn't care about. "--It'd be easier if you just killed me and turned me in. You'd probably get a promotion. They might even start telling you things for once." She moved her free hand, covered her eyes and let out a breath the just barely shuddered out of her lungs and reverberated through her bones, made her entire body shake for a few seconds. She didn't make any attempt at pulling away from him, though. "Don't you have any kind of survival instinct?" He was an idiot. He was such an idiot.

Havoc couldn't understand why he was basically willing to be up against the entire city for someone that was just about to kill him.  

[rainreborn]

"If you keep talking like that, I might just shoot you out of spite." He wasn't even quite sure what it was he was saying. Yet again. Shooting her out of spite. What was he gonna do? Keep her body so that no one else could mess around with it. Raiden did warn her that if she died before him, he was going to dirty up her corpse. Something that he heard a long time ago. A promise that he heard a long time ago. He took it on as his own, even if he couldn't quite remember who it was that said it. "I don't need things told to me if it means that I have to give up a friend for it."

His shoulders gave a shrug as he started to head back toward the transporters. Things still felt rather chaotic down in the Abyss, even if it seemed like Havoc was back to herself. An eerie sort of calm or slowly rising noise in the background that he couldn't hear. At least, he was knew that the people would be staying away from where they currently were. "Anyway," he turned back to look over his shoulder, "you need just some medical attention. I got some bandages that you can use." Nanomachines meant that he would eventually heal if held himself up somewhere, but it was nice to have means to cure himself sometimes, too. The waiting game just plain sucked.

"And you should really speak for yourself when it comes to survival instincts!"

[hematophagus]

Five years ago when Havoc had left the Abyss for the first time, dragged away by the NeoGenesis military for their pointless wars and bloodbaths, she had made a decision; and that was to keep herself (and the boy she was looking after at the time) alive: Refusal to cooperate was a death sentence, and maybe if it had just been herself she would’ve been fine with that, but he’d still been very young then. Young and a good kid, and she hadn’t wanted him to die, couldn’t see a point in it. Even back then her will to survive had been circumvented by how much of a shithole the city was, and if it was just her she was fine with dying. But that boy could get out some day if he wanted to. She couldn’t see any point in Raiden dying, either.

Havoc shakes her head at first, considers turning around and just leaving right there before Raiden could stop her, but... but Raiden was such an idiot. At least if they found him while she was around, she could take a few of them down before they got to him. “I never said I had them, did I.”

And, pulling the blanket a little closer to herself-it really was very cold in Abyss-she followed along after the man, for one reason or another. It didn’t just matter in the long run, she figured.

[rainreborn]

"Obviously, you don't." A side-glance as he shook his head in his sighing. He supposed that he could have just let everything be. There probably wasn't even a need to have come down, but he wanted to do so. That really was the main difference, wasn't it? Raiden allowed a bemused expression to grace his face as he just wasn't sure what to make of his own line of thinking. He wanted to save her 'cause she was one of his few friends. There was a wonder if they could change her hair, maybe actually put meat on her bones. Would she even look the same? Could she walk under the same sun as him?

He scratched the inside of his ear as he just wasn't sure if he could let those thoughts out. She'd probably make fun of him some more of his childish thinking. Lifting his arm, he slung it over her shoulder like he was trying to give her some support just from his presence alone. It was more that he was afraid if he didn't keep an eye on her that she'd just disappear. "What do you want for dinner? It seems like you could use a good meal." Already he was returning to the usual manner which he spoke to her; turning into regular conversations that he was sure that other people had with their friends.

Uncertain if it was something he saw on television or not, but if it was done enough, it'd become reality. Right? The certain boring normalcy that they both needed.