The Challenge From Beyond - Group 9
Nightmare becomes reality....
[roster: leader - Zuko, Matt Olsen, Kate Beckett, Billy Kaplan, Jono Starsmore, Link]
[roster: leader - Zuko, Matt Olsen, Kate Beckett, Billy Kaplan, Jono Starsmore, Link]
Her father was still around, and she made it her goal to never, ever disappoint him. This made her an easy target for the nightmares; Beckett was aware of that, and was attempting to bolster her mental defenses in the event of another nightmare.
But what she saw was nothing that she was prepared for. The hall lurched and changed before her, and she found herself back in her father's house. She was a few years younger from the looks of things, and he was very drunk.
Beckett thought back to that time, when her only thought was to help her father recover from his alcoholism. She had done everything she could think of, from talking him into going to therapy, to begging him to stop drinking. That part was more from sheer desperation than anything. It had been months, but it seemed that he was finally getting a handle on his habits.
But then, as was to be expected when going through the process of detox and recovery, Beckett's father regressed and got drunk once again. Beckett couldn't help but feel guilty that it happened, and the disappointment she felt after seeing how far he'd come was unbearable. So she went to him, meaning to talk with him to try and convince him to put down the alcohol again.
Except it didn't go as planned. He'd gotten angry, angrier than she'd ever seen him, and slapped her full across the face. She cried out in spite of herself, and fell back against the wall behind her.
"Dad, you have to stop!" Beckett held her face where she'd been hit, knowing a bruise was already beginning to form. But from the way her father looked at her, she knew he wasn't going to stop, and she cowered as far against the wall as it would allow, in fearful anticipation of what he'd do to her next.
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Fortunately, the fireblast is just enough to scare the man off the cowering woman, not to completely set him on fire. Even Zuko knows that would hardly be helpful in a nightmare environment.
The man is off-balance, and the boy's kick to his gut sends him sprawling. Zuko takes the girl by the arm, hauling her up. There's no time for sympathy, though, truth be told, he feels it.
"Get up."
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She just sat there unmoving and momentarily stunned by the sudden intervention. But then the person who'd intervened grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to her feet.
"Who are you?" She couldn't help but sound dazed, her eyes still on her father. Except then, the scene shifted and changed, and suddenly her father was no longer there... meaning the entire thing was a nightmare.
Beckett clenched her fists together, angered by the realization that she'd been toyed with a second time. But it didn't seem like now was the best time to be angry, so Beckett simply crossed her arms (which were still shaking a bit from the frightening experience of being attacked by her own father), and asked, "So what are we supposed to be doing?" A simple question, perhaps, but she wanted an answer.
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The boy looks at her as the illusion of the child disappears. He's calm. Simple questions are all right by him. He's got some simple answers to give.
"You coming?"
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If it was important, then she'd help him look, but other than that, her opinion was strictly neutral. "Yeah, I'm coming. And thanks for your help."
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From the sound of his voice, he means it. Zuko is not the talk-things-out type.
"What's your name?"
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