(no subject)
Joris had no idea who it was standing at the entrance to the Real Place who shouted out the rule about each Homeward Bounder only killing one of Them- but given Adam's theories before it seemed to make some sort of sense-
And They seemed to love imposing rules on everyone else, so why not do the same for Themselves?
He did catch Konstam's added shout about killing each one of Them twice since They were demons, and Joris hoped everyone else managed to hear that important bit. Very few other Homeward Bounders seemed to be armed, so after-
-A quick block up and slide the blade of the wicked-looking demon knife into one of Their chests before pulling it out and driving the point into the throat and upwards with a twist-
-dispatching his one target, Joris handed off the demon knife to the first person passing by and pulled out the coil of gold wire. Compared to most other demons, They are almost easy to trap with the wire and hold for another Bounder to kill by whatever means they can manage.
This only works for so long.
Not everyone keeps in mind the rule of only killing one of Them. Some of them have been on the Bounds too long, and their vengeance will not keep to any sort of rule. The moment a Homeward Bounder kills a second one of Them-
-slamming the iron nallete right into one of Their sides before it can finish slitting the throat of a woman laying on the floor then ducking and twisting to block the sudden attack from behind and looping the gold demon wire around one of Their throats and twisting the ends-
-a Homeward Bounder is fair game for Them to try to kill. But most of Them start fleeing, breaking off pieces of the Real Place and disappearing elsewhere. Joris can hear shouting and see some people organizing a barrier to keep anymore of Them from doing that, trapping Them in what is left of the Real Place with everyone else.
But there is only one outcome anyone can expect from all of this.
And when a ship shows up with a fresh crew of Homeward Bounders-
It is all over soon after that.
Ahasuerus has been Bound longer than some worlds have existed. He knows of Their rules, and the penalties they exact when they are broken. And so he tries to keep the rule, to kill only one, for as long as he can.
Which is not long, when he sees one of Them going for one of the children - those new to the Bounds, the ones who still Hoped, and so brought all this about. He cannot let the child die here. There is nothing to do but kill that one, too. And then -
He has broken the rule. Perhaps They will kill him now that he has broken it. Perhaps he will go Home in that way.
Does it matter?
Ahasuerus hears noise in the air, all around him, and is vaguely aware that it is his own voice shouting as he runs through the battle, stabbing out at any of Them who pass. What else is there to do?
The Real Place is strange, and if X had never been ripped from the mansion and flung into Limbo, or run through a door and found Milliways, she would be considerably more confused than she is at this moment.
As it is, she's taking this still moment to slip through the crowd, moving toward Helen and the shriveled, cracking opening that is being made in the surface of the Real Place. When the crowd of Homeward Bounders surges through, X is near the front of the wave, dodging Them and doing her best work to trip Them up, providing opportunities for the people behind her to kill their single allotted target.
And, of course, when the cheating starts?
snikt
All bets are off.
X-23 brings both sets of claws to bear, dodging Homeward Bounders and slicing through Them, moving ever closer to the edge of the Real Place. The edge that so many of Them seem keen to vanish over. It takes a scant few moments for X to realize that They are using this as a means to preserve Themselves. That, she is sure, cannot be allowed.
Preventing Their escape moves up the list of mission priorities very quickly, after that. She ducks under a blow from one of Them, embedding her claws in a leg and using her other hand to finish the demon off. Machinery crashes down around her, and she dodges falling debris, leaping up and using one large gear-shaped piece as a pivot point, dropping down on two more of Them for quick, efficient disposal.
A ship arrives at some point, sending more bodies flooding into the fray. X notes their position and moves on. Her work lies elsewhere, and she is very good at what she does.
There are moments where she catches glimpses of Jamie, of Joris, of Helen. They never last very long, but they seem to be holding their own.
X did not really expect otherwise.
As for the rest?
The rest can wait until the battle is over. She hopes.
Adam's spent quite a lot of time over the past few days imagining the moment when he would get to kill one of Them.
And in fact, he's spent quite a lot of his life imagining battles. Tabletop battles, true, but what tabletop gameplayer hasn't closed his eyes and imagined the thrilling scene in front of him as his troops roll over enemy territory? Adam would be willing to wager, none.
He thinks he's quite prepared.
So he's really startled, actually, to find himself huddled behind a machine, chest tightened up, hardly able to breathe. There's a dead body quite near him. And one of Them with a knife is trying to kill him, and then the one of Them is dead, and Adam can't see, there's no strategy to it, how on earth is he supposed to know what to do if he can't see the board?
Everyone's just running amok. That's all he can tell. There's no strategy to it at all.
The rules are on our side. There will be enough left of us -
The rule is one Homeward Bounder gets to kill one of Them - except for Jamie. Jamie's the odd one out, the one who's free of Hope, which means that he can't kill any of Them. It would be cheating.
(They cheat all the time. That's the worst of it. But Jamie can't. If he does, They'll take advantage, and take the game back again, and it will all be for nothing.)
So Jamie has to content himself with running about waving his arms and shouting and swearing bloody murder, trying to remind everyone of the rules and herd Them away from the edge of the Place and stop Them from escaping over the edge as they keep trying to do. Several of them manage it, despite Jamie's best efforts.
And whenever he stops running for a moment, all around him he can see Them cheating merrily away in a hundred different ways - pushing machines on the Homeward Bounders and squashing them, attacking people who are trying to keep the one-to-one rule, coming at people in a body. They do that to Jamie once, trying to push him over the edge, and the Flying Dutchman and his monkeys have to come with their ship and rescue him. After that he runs about less and watches the battle more, as the ground of the Place Between becomes littered with more and more humped shapes, Homeward Bounders and Them alike. But he thinks there are more Homeward Bounders.
(Jamie's seen battles before. This is far from the worst. It may be the most significant for his life, but in terms of blood and death, it's not nearly the worst. He does spare a moment to think of Adam and Vanessa, who won't have been in anything like this before and may not be used to it - but more than a moment he can't spare.
And at several points he thinks he sees someone who looks quite a bit like Laura . . . but that must be his mind playing tricks on him.)
In the end, there is a ring of Homeward Bounders on the outside, and a small huddle of Them in the middle. The Homeward Bounders have all killed their share. There's nothing to do with the rest of Them but send them over the edge like all the others Jamie tried so hard to keep from escaping.
Which means that it's not over.
That's - not all right, exactly, but it doesn't hit Jamie like a blow or anything either. He had never really thought it would be.