Devil In A Midnight Mass [CLOSED]

[pharaohking]

Characters: Shinji Hirako, Anthy Himemiya, Muguruma Kensei, and later Penelo
Content: Someone comes out to play, and it wants blood.
Setting: Initially, Shinji's quarters
Time: Following the string of "oshit!" posts. Evening-ish?
Warnings: Creepiness, violence, angst. Oh, and a Hollow.

Comments

[anthypants]

Anthy wasn’t sure what else she should do besides call Kensei. Instinctively, she wanted to keep the matter private. The thought of having one’s secrecy stripped away at a vulnerable time horrified her. When she imagined what she would do if people knew the truth about her, about everything that had happened with her brother, swan diving over the edge of the ship was a reoccurring theme. There were still many things she wanted to keep secret from Shinji, and so she felt protective of his secrets as well. It was what she would want him to do for her

[pharaohking]

Her presence had been felt before she'd even spoken. There was something about Anthy's arrival in a room that cleared up the air, like the quiet calm after a storm. It might've been Shinji's imagination, and his mind could've been playing tricks all those times, but now it was real. He felt her come through the door, heard her kneel at his side.

"Anthy," he exhaled, swallowing a shudder as the pain spiked with every shallow breath. "You shouldn't be." Even like this, the boy couldn't send her away so easily. It was with every fibre of his being that he wished she was not here, because she'd promised him she'd leave if she thought she was in danger, and those kinds of promises were supposed to be kept. Was that what she'd wait for? For her safety for be at risk? Breaking the promise was the least of his worries; it was what happened after she broke it.

Silently, he prayed that she would get the message, and get out before it was too late.

Because if Shinji was forced to take her life because of this, he would never forgive himself.

[anthypants]

Anthy’s face was gentle. She would not have thought it pitying, but she hated to see him like that. "It’s okay," she said, still speaking very softly, just above a whisper. "I called Kensei. He’ll be here soon, and I’ll wait with you until he gets here. Everything’s going to be fine

[pharaohking]

His breath hitched lightly at her touch, as though the brush startled him more than it should've. She was too close. She was way too close. The logical part of the blond's brain kicked in as he trembled under her fingers, and gripped the sheets even tighter.

"Not safe," he whispered in warning, finding that he was losing the ability to form complete sentences. Not exactly a good sign. As Shinji panted against the comforter, he could feel a cold darkness begin to creep into his left eye like an all-consuming plague. It felt strange, and almost foreign, though he knew it was a part of him. But it'd been so long that he nearly forgot what it was like to be taken over.

Now was not the time for her to make more promises. Now was the time for her to go.

[anthypants]

"Poor sweetheart," she murmured tenderly, too engrossed by the way he seemed to shiver under her fingers to notice what she was saying or feel self-conscious about it. Her thumb stroked him in light feather touches. "You’re really worried, aren’t you? If it makes you feel better I’ll go wait outside the door until Kensei gets here. I guess he’s a lot bigger than me, isn’t he?"

She tried to sound pleasant and light. She wanted to kiss him goodbye, but she knew he would not be receptive in the state he was in.

"I’ll wait until he tells me you’re ready to see me again, okay?" she told him. She was phrasing things as questions, but was not really expecting an answer. Besides which, her chest was aching dully again for some reason, threatening to become truly debilitating, and perhaps it would be better to get herself out of the way she he didn’t have to be worried about her.

The discomfort made her somewhat slow, but she adjusted herself and prepared to rise to her feet and leave.

[pharaohking]

The bony fragments of something indistuinguishable began to rapidly crystallize above Shinji's brow, spreading across one half of his face. And heaving a deep breath, the thin boy shifted against the mattress as she moved.

And then the ice cold came.

"Hey..." His voice had gained some of its usual liveliness back, but only a slight fraction of it. "Come a l'il closer for a sec." Cold. "I gotta tell you a secret."

[anthypants]

Anthy was not entirely stupid. She had seen the mask before and although she could not see his face, she knew what the light indicated, the mask was slowly forming. But this time, he had wanted her away, which meant he felt uncertain he could control it. And his voice...there was something strange about it

sobbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb

[pharaohking]

He laughed. It was the kind of laugh that wasn't out of amusement, but rather something like triumph. A happy one. And slowly, Shinji -- was it even really him anymore? -- pushed away from the bed sluggishly, like a drunk man trying to gain his balance after a stumble.

The mask closed over his mouth in a toothy grin.

"You're such a stupid girl."

But it wasn't his voice anymore.

In a flash that was almost too fast to be seen, the possessed boy advanced on her, a quick hand flying at her exposed throat and wrapping around the vulnerable flesh to slam her down against the floor. Whoever -- whatever -- this was, it wasn't Shinji. It was a carnal, dangerous being that growled behind the boning of the mask like a wild beast as it leaned in close, crouched down beside her now.

"He told you to run, and you didn't run. Now you're going to die..." Those cruel fingers tightened slightly. "For your stupidity."

/sobs back

[anthypants]

Anthy’s limp body offered no resistance. She had been here before, it was all familiar, electrifying, and she knew what she would feel, the breathless slam, too fast to anticipate, the impact of the floor. It wasn’t fear she felt but dark elation. She should feel guilty, but she didn’t yet, because this was her world, so familiar. Re-emerging into it was ecstatic. At last, at last things were finally stripped to the bone. There would be no more hiding. She no longer felt strange to herself, she felt alive, and very, very real

a;sdghfdks

[pharaohking]

Ebony eyes scoured her face, taking in the details like a predator admiring its fascinating catch. Unblinkingly, it watched her inquisitively, the prior violence inflicted on her long forgotten. Her gaze was confidently met, those honey eyes mixing in with the green and forcing them onto another plane of intimacy unknown to the Hollow. For all technicalities, it was still Shinji's body. Still his eyes -- however darkened now, as though someone had dripped black ink into them -- and still his hair and lanky frame. That hand curled around her neck was his

[anthypants]

Anthy could feel the trembling in his body as she breathed shallowly, not fighting but taking in air as the hand allowed. It was his hands, his fingers, and she accepted what they might do to her. The look he gave her felt electrifying, almost as if another pressure pushing down on her body, a current she couldn’t, didn’t want to break away from. They were his eyes, set in the inky blackness of night. They were his eyes, and she was glad they were his, because in a moment like that, it was comforting to look at them. Her air was getting short, and the world was starting to dim around the edges. His eyes were the only thing she focused on, everything else was disappearing. Her own blazed defiant adoration and possession, even as his grip tightened further

[pharaohking]

It watched her in quiet contemplation. As she struggled for air -- if you could really call it struggling, when it seemed like she was only just managing -- there was a sort of odd obsession reflecting in those irises. But at the same time, it was indifferent. Nonchalant, almost. The Hollow was a little unimpressed with how she failed to resist, and without a sound, it tightened its hold as it pushed up from its crouch.

"You really are stupid," the masked creature remarked in disappointment as it unleashed the massive wave of reiatsu it'd been keeping locked away. The pure intensity of its power shook the room, pervading the air with a very dull ring as it knocked items to the floor and forced the bed to shudder in its place. Outside in the hallway, the lights flickered out of control.

The door slammed shut violently from the force, rattling in the doorframe, and the Hollow stood with Anthy's throat caught in its unforgiving fingers.

"Stupid, just like him."

[anthypants]

Anthy was not really aware of what the hollow was saying to her, and was only peripherally aware of being lifted off the ground. She was still ignoring the things happening around her, letting her mind be blank when a wash of magical energy rolled over her like a crushing tidal wave.

Her own magic reacted, and though very dimly conscious she could feel that strange joining place in her chest that had been the seal of the Sword of Dios, if that artifact even existed anymore. It was the first time she had felt it clearly since the night the curse had been broken, not just the pain, but all the little lines and places it connected to rest of her magical energies. Still intact. The magic inside her seemed to grow and grow, until it was a net of magic that she fell into as her consciousness slipped.

[pharaohking]

And had the Hollow really cared about whether or not the girl had a magical abilities, he might've flung her onto the bed to rid of whatever that flickering image was, but it didn't. Instead, it only tightened its grip marginally on Anthy's throat.

Somewhere to their left, the lamp shook off the nightstand and crashed loudly to the trembling floor.

and here comes Kensei ):

[kirekaze]

And just at that same moment, a familiar voice roared from outside the room.

"Blow, Tachikaze!"

The closed door burst open right after that shout, the force of the thrown hadouken sending splinters and sawdust flying into Shinji's room. Kensei wasted no time for such things like melodramatic entries; immediately he launched himself into the offence the moment he broke the door down, lunging forth for an attack as he brought up his elbow and jabbed him hard right on his (it's) bone-covered face, attempting to knock his now Hollowfied friend's grip off from the woman.

/cries harder

[pharaohking]

If the Hollow was startled by the sudden entry, or even by the yell, the body language wasn't there. Still it held onto Anthy, seemingly unphased even as the shattered wood from the door rained down. There shouldn't have been time to react with how quickly Kensei had issued an attack, but somehow, in that split second between when his elbow should've connected with the boning of the mask, Shinji completely vanished from sight.

And not only him, but Anthy as well.

The next they appeared, they were next to what used to be the door, the girl now tucked underneath his arm, and sword, which had been propped against the wall, clutched in the opposite hand.

It tilted its head, as if tempting Kensei to try again.