pre-dated [Week 32 | Day 6 | Dream] Beauty in the Breaking
Warning for mass murder, character death, and slightly disturbing imagery...
Faintly, faintly, you can hear the metallic turn of the musicbox, the metallic chimes lilting and oh so very sweet, perfect for the girlish voice humming along with the tune softly. The floor, checkered red and black, is a stark contrast to the white and lavender dress fanned out over it and for a long moment, slender little hands twist together on the folds of the fine material as if excited, impatient.
“Where is he? Will he be here soon? What’s he bringing? Can’t you tell me?”
“Soon, Alice. Please be patient for a little longer.”
“But how much longer is--”
“--Did you miss me, little Alice? I promised I’d come today and here - I’ve gotten you a special gift, for when we can’t be here.”
A new voice, this one gently chiding and teasing all at once as the man in green kneels before her. And it doesn’t matter that all she can see is his verdant breeches and shoes and the matching green of his sleeves, or the long blond braid curling over his forearms, because all of her attention is on one thing:
Meoow
“Oh!”
“His name’s Cheshire, Alice. And see? He wants to be your friend.”
“Cheshire. Hello Cheshire! I’m glad to meet you!”
The smile that touches her lips then is bright, full of light and the simplicity of a child’s love as she cradles the ebony cat to her gently, so gently, utterly forgetting the two men standing before her, the blacks and greens of their clothes lost to this new friend.
He’s sleek and perfect and beautiful and her friend...
Only not her friend.
The subtle, gentle warmth of the moment suffers a discordant note - nothing more than a shift, a sharpening of her smile before the cat hisses a warning, sharp nails lashing out as he leaps from her arms. She watches for a moment, then pushes to her feet, tears wetting her cheeks as she flings herself into the arms of the man in green.
She can feel the safety and strength in his embrace, and just knows that everything will be alright, he will make it alright, despite the cat’s sudden rejection.
But when he curls around her, and whispers by her ear, the pressure of his embrace unchanging, she knows it’s all a lie. “...who are you? You’re not the Alice I know.”
“She’s not, J***? No... I don’t suppose she is. Pity.”
She twists in the man’s hold, flings a hand out to point at him, only to watch as a chain impales the man right through the heart.
Except the man is no longer a man, but a boy.
Leo.
Hair cut and eyes sparkling with the Lights of the Abyss, he smiles at her even as he coughs up blood, then points to the man holding her still.
“You can’t protect him any more than I could Elliot, you know. I’ll kill him myself and break this world.”
“I won’t let you, you idiot! And besides, Elliot’s still here! You’re the one that left him! You’re the one that hurt him, not me! Not Alice!”
“Aren’t you hurting me now, Alice? Do you think this is what I want?”
Elliot. Blue eyes somber as he reaches out a free hand and touches his fingertips to the bloodied chain still taunt between Leo’s chest and her. He, too, smiles... and then lifts that black sword and thrust it with one sure stroke right towards her own chest.
A stroke that never makes it, blocked by another.
Break.
Break is what stands between her and Elliot’s intent to kill and she doesn’t understand it, not one bit, but she wants to tell him to stop. Tell them both to stop. Stopping, however is not in the cards, not when the chain completes it’s task and rips through Leo, rains his blood on them all.
All she can do is watch with a slow-dawning horror as Break’s sword find it’s mark, as the blood begins to bloom across her friend’s chest, and the clown’s chain manifests to finish the youngest Nightray in a glittering crimson rain.
Blood drips from smiling lips as the damned clown falls to his knees and she screams, loud and shrill, “I told you not to, didn’t I? I told you no!”
Her cries, however are cut off with a sharp, manic burst of laughter, enough to have her turn wide, disbelieving eyes on her one true friend.
Oz.
Laughing and laughing as his eyes glow a brilliant red, the scythe there in his hand once more. “Are they hurting you again, Alice? I’ll destroy it all for you. I’ll kill it all and stop your pain. All of it!”
She can only sit there, in a muted, frozen horror, as she watches Oz work a steady path, spinning and spinning, cutting down Break, Vincent, his Uncle, his sister...until he’s facing Gilbert, scythe to gun.
“No. NO, Oz stop!”
“This is what you wanted, isn’t it Alice? He wants to protect you.” That gentle, teasing voice again, whispering poison in her ear, causes her to snap a hand out without thinking, sending countless chains behind her as she whips around...
But it’s not Jack, or the faint faded memory of Jack that stands before her, the plethora of chains dripping from each wound where they remain impaled in his body.
It’s Oz.
And as the scythe falls from his fingertips and his eyes fade to brilliant green, he smiles and reaches out to touch her cheek with the tenderest caress.
“Don’t cry, Alice. I like your smiles much better, so don’t cry.”
And as he falls, her legs give way, and all she can do is stare at the familiar faces all around her, covered in blood, all dead because of her, until the slow approach of footsteps has her glancing up into unforgiving golden eyes.
“...You promised me, Gilbert. You promised.”
“Yeah... I guess I did.”
A single click, the chink of chains. A bullet to the brain and a chain through the heart.
As as the edges of the white dress stop beside the two, blood tinging the ends of snow-white locks, the messy haired man and the little girl in the long red cloak, golden and violet eyes staring up at the white-haired girl unseeing, a tail swishes into view as an overlarge paw rests on her shoulders.
“This is what you wanted, right? Did I do good for you, Alice? Cheshire did it all for you...”
[For once, she doesn't wake immediately, just rolls onto her side, broken arm still cradled gently against her chest as tears track slowly down her face. But as she lays there, a simple, black mark blooms over her cheek, impossible to miss.]
(OOC Color coding note: Jack, Glen, Will of the Abyss, Alice, Leo, Elliot, Oz, Gilbert, and Cheshire.)
*Mayuri dream serum plot
Faintly, faintly, you can hear the metallic turn of the musicbox, the metallic chimes lilting and oh so very sweet, perfect for the girlish voice humming along with the tune softly. The floor, checkered red and black, is a stark contrast to the white and lavender dress fanned out over it and for a long moment, slender little hands twist together on the folds of the fine material as if excited, impatient.
“Where is he? Will he be here soon? What’s he bringing? Can’t you tell me?”
“Soon, Alice. Please be patient for a little longer.”
“But how much longer is--”
“--Did you miss me, little Alice? I promised I’d come today and here - I’ve gotten you a special gift, for when we can’t be here.”
A new voice, this one gently chiding and teasing all at once as the man in green kneels before her. And it doesn’t matter that all she can see is his verdant breeches and shoes and the matching green of his sleeves, or the long blond braid curling over his forearms, because all of her attention is on one thing:
Meoow
“Oh!”
“His name’s Cheshire, Alice. And see? He wants to be your friend.”
“Cheshire. Hello Cheshire! I’m glad to meet you!”
The smile that touches her lips then is bright, full of light and the simplicity of a child’s love as she cradles the ebony cat to her gently, so gently, utterly forgetting the two men standing before her, the blacks and greens of their clothes lost to this new friend.
He’s sleek and perfect and beautiful and her friend...
Only not her friend.
The subtle, gentle warmth of the moment suffers a discordant note - nothing more than a shift, a sharpening of her smile before the cat hisses a warning, sharp nails lashing out as he leaps from her arms. She watches for a moment, then pushes to her feet, tears wetting her cheeks as she flings herself into the arms of the man in green.
She can feel the safety and strength in his embrace, and just knows that everything will be alright, he will make it alright, despite the cat’s sudden rejection.
But when he curls around her, and whispers by her ear, the pressure of his embrace unchanging, she knows it’s all a lie. “...who are you? You’re not the Alice I know.”
“She’s not, J***? No... I don’t suppose she is. Pity.”
She twists in the man’s hold, flings a hand out to point at him, only to watch as a chain impales the man right through the heart.
Except the man is no longer a man, but a boy.
Leo.
Hair cut and eyes sparkling with the Lights of the Abyss, he smiles at her even as he coughs up blood, then points to the man holding her still.
“You can’t protect him any more than I could Elliot, you know. I’ll kill him myself and break this world.”
“I won’t let you, you idiot! And besides, Elliot’s still here! You’re the one that left him! You’re the one that hurt him, not me! Not Alice!”
“Aren’t you hurting me now, Alice? Do you think this is what I want?”
Elliot. Blue eyes somber as he reaches out a free hand and touches his fingertips to the bloodied chain still taunt between Leo’s chest and her. He, too, smiles... and then lifts that black sword and thrust it with one sure stroke right towards her own chest.
A stroke that never makes it, blocked by another.
Break.
Break is what stands between her and Elliot’s intent to kill and she doesn’t understand it, not one bit, but she wants to tell him to stop. Tell them both to stop. Stopping, however is not in the cards, not when the chain completes it’s task and rips through Leo, rains his blood on them all.
All she can do is watch with a slow-dawning horror as Break’s sword find it’s mark, as the blood begins to bloom across her friend’s chest, and the clown’s chain manifests to finish the youngest Nightray in a glittering crimson rain.
Blood drips from smiling lips as the damned clown falls to his knees and she screams, loud and shrill, “I told you not to, didn’t I? I told you no!”
Her cries, however are cut off with a sharp, manic burst of laughter, enough to have her turn wide, disbelieving eyes on her one true friend.
Oz.
Laughing and laughing as his eyes glow a brilliant red, the scythe there in his hand once more. “Are they hurting you again, Alice? I’ll destroy it all for you. I’ll kill it all and stop your pain. All of it!”
She can only sit there, in a muted, frozen horror, as she watches Oz work a steady path, spinning and spinning, cutting down Break, Vincent, his Uncle, his sister...until he’s facing Gilbert, scythe to gun.
“No. NO, Oz stop!”
“This is what you wanted, isn’t it Alice? He wants to protect you.” That gentle, teasing voice again, whispering poison in her ear, causes her to snap a hand out without thinking, sending countless chains behind her as she whips around...
But it’s not Jack, or the faint faded memory of Jack that stands before her, the plethora of chains dripping from each wound where they remain impaled in his body.
It’s Oz.
And as the scythe falls from his fingertips and his eyes fade to brilliant green, he smiles and reaches out to touch her cheek with the tenderest caress.
“Don’t cry, Alice. I like your smiles much better, so don’t cry.”
And as he falls, her legs give way, and all she can do is stare at the familiar faces all around her, covered in blood, all dead because of her, until the slow approach of footsteps has her glancing up into unforgiving golden eyes.
“...You promised me, Gilbert. You promised.”
“Yeah... I guess I did.”
A single click, the chink of chains. A bullet to the brain and a chain through the heart.
As as the edges of the white dress stop beside the two, blood tinging the ends of snow-white locks, the messy haired man and the little girl in the long red cloak, golden and violet eyes staring up at the white-haired girl unseeing, a tail swishes into view as an overlarge paw rests on her shoulders.
“This is what you wanted, right? Did I do good for you, Alice? Cheshire did it all for you...”
[For once, she doesn't wake immediately, just rolls onto her side, broken arm still cradled gently against her chest as tears track slowly down her face. But as she lays there, a simple, black mark blooms over her cheek, impossible to miss.]
(OOC Color coding note: Jack, Glen, Will of the Abyss, Alice, Leo, Elliot, Oz, Gilbert, and Cheshire.)
*Mayuri dream serum plot