✘ 29 ✘ switch

[notwhatiwas]

[There is a deep drawn in gasp and then...] OHMYGODIFORGOTTOBREATHEFORFIVEMINUTES.

[This, this is the sound Vincent would make if he ever panicked. There's a few thuds and what is probably someone falling over after standing up far faster than they're used to, head spinning. They seem to stumble in to another room before there's a hiss of pain.]

Comments

[commentlog] GET READY FOR SOME TL;DR.

[invincibleyknow]

[Asuka's -trying- to fight, but it's hard when your chest feels like it's breaking--and it -is- breaking; Chaos's clawed hand is just over the breastbone, pressure, it can't hold up and the clawed fingers go through flesh first and pull through ribs, breaking connections and breaking the sternum entirely. Through the haze of pain Asuka can barely realize that he's lost his own battle to keep from screaming; he's -been- screaming and it's when the bone finally goes crunch that he finally stops, but even then it's not because he wants to.

It's because he -can't-, any more.

The chest cavity collapses, his lungs struggling to draw air--probably punctured, by this point. There's a weight on his chest, Chaos's hand, a weight that he just can't move--is he even moving? He doesn't know. He can't feel his fingers any more.

His vision's gone, the sounds of his rasping attempts for breath loud and harsh in his ears. He can't tell any more what hurts and what doesn't, because everything is a losing battle to stay conscious, to stay--

To stay alive. Ohh, yes, it's hit him in one fell swoop that this isn't a dream and he's dying, and Asuka doesn't want to die yet. He's not ready...!

But his hearing's going out, and his struggles have already ceased. Asuka's staring upwards, forcing himself to look right into Chaos's eyes--to look his death straight in the face--

And they lose the life within as Asuka finally steps the boundary to death.]

[commentlog]

[notwhatiwas]

[Reno watched with mild interest as the life died in the pale thing's eyes, head slightly turning in fascination at the sounds of death. There was blood mixing with the water dribbling down the stairs now as he tossed the corpse aside like a rag doll. No interest now that it was a shell and couldn't hurt him again.

He would have to avoid the water on the stairs in his chase of the other two. The two who'd started all of this. The two who'd abandoned him to this.

He was banging down the stairs after them again, towel rod still in hand.]

[commentlog]

[consummateturk]

[Veld snarled as he heard the fight and the poor person die. Some people always ended up as casualties. Death had her own brand of humor and Veld didn't care to stick around to see why she kept letting him dodge her. He followed Vincent in Reno's body down the stairs without looking back. Veld had worked with Reno, he'd worked with Vincent and this was something they'd done before. Not running from a god, but he supposed hit-men from other companies would have to be sufficient training. He could feel his heart flutter in his chest, the skipped beat hit in his throat.

At least in Reno's body, Vincent couldn't tell.]

[commentlog]

[messyturk]

[Vincent ground his teeth and winced, but his step didn't falter. He'd done this before, and even if the training was more than thirty years removed, that wasn't something one simply forgot. He'd faced gods and run from men and monsters alike, he could handle this.

But that was his body. His punishment, his nightmare, with Reno spread out through it, feeling every pulse and shift in scent and sound and light. He hoped whoever had just died hadn't been too horribly tainted--the last thing anyone needed was to feel their mouth water, to feel some draw of need and hunger when something near to them died.

He glanced up and back at Veld.]

Just a minute ago--you said something.

[His voice was strained through the neutrality now, his breath coming heavier as they ran down and down and down. Ten decks between theirs and the caves, all these stairs--Vincent had no idea the kind of endurance Reno's body had, but he hoped it was enough.]

What's pyramid?

[commentlog]

[notwhatiwas]

[Reno is banging down the stairs, pushing off of the walls he hits to quicken his descent because he lost time dealing with that fire-spitting person and he was hungry.]

[commentlog]

[consummateturk]

[Veld's not slowing down either. Endurance is something he has truckloads of. Absently he brushes his pocket where he keeps his heart medication. Emergency pills that he never really used, but the damn bot gave him just in case. He'd put them in his pants because Vincent had insisted. Vincent was right about some things.]

Reno has a trick. He can trap someone in a pyramid.

[Veld jumps, skipping the last four steps before rounding the corner and using his other foot to push off against the wall. Nine more floors]

He learned it really quick. Body has an aptitude. You could try. But Chaos will have to hold still.

[If Veld could get it to talk to them, maybe? Distract something long enough for Vincent to hit it? They'd done that before. And there were so many floors to go]

[commentlog]

[messyturk]

[Vincent's brow furrows. That...sounds ever so vaguely familiar, like something he read about decades ago. But he seems to recall it being monster-related, not something a person could cast. Except in--

Why is he worrying about this? Reno's body has a trick that might help them out, he needs to figure out how to use it.]

Is it inherent? Something he knows instinctively, or did he pick it up somewhere?

[He grabs hold the railing and used it to help him turn without losing too much momentum, taking steps two at a time.]

[commentlog]

[consummateturk]

A little bit of both. For some reason he fucks up barrier spells. They fold in so we just adjusted it. Cast barrier at Chaos and see if it works.

[seven more]

[commentlog]

[messyturk]

[Vincent hopes "a bit of both" would be a enough. After this long the ex-Turk has a knack for tapping into inherent abilities in bodies he doesn't recognize as his, so hopefully they can manage this.]

I can try. Getting him to hold still will be the difficult part.

[Six.]

I'll run ahead when we get to deck fifteen--the water will make him hesitate, at least for a moment.

[And Vincent has never been anything if not a quick caster.]

[commentlog]

[consummateturk]

[Veld nods. He knows that Vincent will go and hide off to the right, so that means that he will lead Chaos to the left. He checks behind him once, out of habit and sees that Chaos was at least keeping up. He risked it, may as well. Sure, it was stupid, but then again, if Chaos paid attention to Veld, it would by Vincent time. He waved cheerily and then took off down.

When he got to the caves, the level ground was a welcome thing below his feet. ]

[commentlog]

[notwhatiwas]

[They were so close, just a few more moments and he would have them. They would be his again and would never leave. He watched them both through door, on to one of the decks. Good, he wouldn't be as cramped outside of the stairwell. Idiots, giving him the advantage like that.

He stopped as he thrashed his way through the too-small doors. There was water everywhere. The water had burned and itched and he hated it...

Didn't hate it enough to not keep going though.]

[commentlog]

[messyturk]

[Vincent breaks out onto the deck, feet pounding on the stone as his very human eyes adjust to the dim blue light of the caves. He gets to the edge of the water and then whips around toward the monster struggling through the doorway out into the dark, setting his feet and taking a deep breath.

There's that instant of hesitation.

Vincent throws up both hands, feels the materia fastened to the chain around his neck charge--and that feels wrong. It isn't enough to make him balk, but this, something about Reno's body makes casting different. There's supposed to be some strain, some pull in his chest and the back of his head; even before the experiments that had been there.

But this? This feels like electricity running up from his core, something inside him charging instead of straining, strengthening instead of drawing.

Minerva, Reno is special.

Vincent all but shouts a word in Cetrain, trigger for the spell charging around his neck, and hopes to all the gods he knows that this works.]

[commentlog]

[notwhatiwas]

[There are thick transparent yellow walls around him, trapping him and he howls at the annoyance. How dare Vincent use his own trick against him. Pyramid was his and his alone. Nobody else could use it and here was Vincent using it against him.

He threw himself against the barrier, even if somewhere in his lost mind he knew it wouldn't work. Pyramid couldn't be broken from the-- was that a crack? A tiny, hairline crack in the yellow expanse surrounding him?

He was... confused. That wasn't supposed to happen.]

[commentlog]

[consummateturk]

[Fuck. Of course, barely time. Veld had managed to get to a rock outcropping near a deeper patch of the water. It was too dark to see more than Chaos snarling against the prison. Veld thought, they had probably fifteen minutes still. He hoped Valentine wasn't going to do any insane heroics]

[commentlog]

[messyturk]

[Vincent lets out a heavy breath, something like relief, and lets his hands drop. Then...he lifts them again, looks down at them, eyes narrowing slightly in confusion.

What was that?

He'll have to ask Reno about it later. Definitely. Presently, he turns toward Veld, moving in closer, slanting glances toward the shimmering gold triangle encasing the monster Lucrecia planted in his body. He's breathing heavily, close to panting, strands of brilliant red plastered to his forehead by sweat.]

How long will that hold?

[commentlog]

[notwhatiwas]

[Reno throws himself against where the crack is. Making it minutely bigger, if he threw himself against it enough he'd break it. It was slowly, slowly cracking. He lashes at it with foot and claw, shoulder and wing as hard as he can.

It is taking far too long for his liking.]