We are all pawns of fate [closed/narrative]
Characters: Axel and Elaine
Time: shortly after this
Location: Out in the streets of Chicago
Content: The laughter of the gods of fate
Format: Prose
Warnings: None
So it had come down to this again. Another day, another fight with his friends. It was almost surprising how often that seemed to happen. But right now Axel didn't much care about that. He'd been asked to do the impossible. Couldn't Isa have known that he couldn't go back to the way he was? He'd explained everything fine. And yet here he was, fuming and ready to do anything to get out of the place.
About the only thing he hadn't done was portal straight out of the hotel, although really, it would have served Isa right, he mused to himself as he stalked down the streets in the darkening gloom. Let him think he'd been swallowed up by eldritch forces. It wasn't like Isa actually wanted him after all. Not if what he'd said had been any indication.
The night was quickly falling into every nook of Chicago, seeping into even the most hidden of corners and alleyways. The sky overhead was stormy, as it had been for the past couple of days, distant thunder booming off Lake Michigan. It was perhaps not the best idea to be walking about in the monster- and demon-infested streets, but the night also seemed suspiciously quiet, as even they too had scurried for cover under duress. Or perhaps there was another reason why there was utter and complete silence in the street surrounding Axel as he continued on his way.
A woman was following him, silent as a ghost and nearly as invisible, wrapped in the very darkness that was cloaking Chicago's night. It was darker than the wings that enshrouded Nicodemus, more ancient than the kind that followed the vampires - it was a darkness that lingered. That knew. And she was following him and watching him and there was no smile on her face as she read him, too deeply, too well.
"Do you know," she whispered in an unrecognizable voice, as cold and unrelenting as the ocean itself, "about that old curse?"
Dark magic twisted around him now, waiting for him, welcoming him with a promise of relief...
"May you live in interesting times..."
Seeping through cloth, skin, and bones, wrapping around the very fabric of time itself...
"...and may you find what you're looking for."
Sinking deeper and deeper, uncaring about his missing heart, changing him with such efficient grace and speed that it would take one's breath away. This was blood magic, older than time itself, and it was very cold. She approached him then, features unrecognizable under the mask of enchantment and she smiled.
"May you find that you're looking for, Axel."
Then she kissed him and darkness engulfed him.
Axel wasn't too terribly worried about the monsters in the streets, all things considered. He had his weapons and the last couple of times he'd tried they'd ended up surprisingly weak to fire. The fact that he was almost too wrapped up in his thoughts to even notice something approaching didn't even cross his mind until a voice spoke to him out of the darkness. By itself it wouldn't have been anything out of the ordinary. The Dusks 'spoke' through the darkness more often then not, as did his own Assassins. Neither of them, however, was anything quite like this, and Axel opened his mouth to answer that he'd heard a lot of curses when he felt the familiar prickle of darkness rise up.
Given the last woman he'd known who could command the darkness, it wasn't very comforting. It did add a new chill to the darkness, yes, but that wasn't really the most comfortable feeling in the world. Nor was the kiss that followed, and the last thoughts to cross his mind before the darkness swallowed him up were 'Not this again' and a vague wonder about what, exactly, she'd meant by finding what he'd been looking for.
Time: shortly after this
Location: Out in the streets of Chicago
Content: The laughter of the gods of fate
Format: Prose
Warnings: None
So it had come down to this again. Another day, another fight with his friends. It was almost surprising how often that seemed to happen. But right now Axel didn't much care about that. He'd been asked to do the impossible. Couldn't Isa have known that he couldn't go back to the way he was? He'd explained everything fine. And yet here he was, fuming and ready to do anything to get out of the place.
About the only thing he hadn't done was portal straight out of the hotel, although really, it would have served Isa right, he mused to himself as he stalked down the streets in the darkening gloom. Let him think he'd been swallowed up by eldritch forces. It wasn't like Isa actually wanted him after all. Not if what he'd said had been any indication.
The night was quickly falling into every nook of Chicago, seeping into even the most hidden of corners and alleyways. The sky overhead was stormy, as it had been for the past couple of days, distant thunder booming off Lake Michigan. It was perhaps not the best idea to be walking about in the monster- and demon-infested streets, but the night also seemed suspiciously quiet, as even they too had scurried for cover under duress. Or perhaps there was another reason why there was utter and complete silence in the street surrounding Axel as he continued on his way.
A woman was following him, silent as a ghost and nearly as invisible, wrapped in the very darkness that was cloaking Chicago's night. It was darker than the wings that enshrouded Nicodemus, more ancient than the kind that followed the vampires - it was a darkness that lingered. That knew. And she was following him and watching him and there was no smile on her face as she read him, too deeply, too well.
"Do you know," she whispered in an unrecognizable voice, as cold and unrelenting as the ocean itself, "about that old curse?"
Dark magic twisted around him now, waiting for him, welcoming him with a promise of relief...
"May you live in interesting times..."
Seeping through cloth, skin, and bones, wrapping around the very fabric of time itself...
"...and may you find what you're looking for."
Sinking deeper and deeper, uncaring about his missing heart, changing him with such efficient grace and speed that it would take one's breath away. This was blood magic, older than time itself, and it was very cold. She approached him then, features unrecognizable under the mask of enchantment and she smiled.
"May you find that you're looking for, Axel."
Then she kissed him and darkness engulfed him.
Axel wasn't too terribly worried about the monsters in the streets, all things considered. He had his weapons and the last couple of times he'd tried they'd ended up surprisingly weak to fire. The fact that he was almost too wrapped up in his thoughts to even notice something approaching didn't even cross his mind until a voice spoke to him out of the darkness. By itself it wouldn't have been anything out of the ordinary. The Dusks 'spoke' through the darkness more often then not, as did his own Assassins. Neither of them, however, was anything quite like this, and Axel opened his mouth to answer that he'd heard a lot of curses when he felt the familiar prickle of darkness rise up.
Given the last woman he'd known who could command the darkness, it wasn't very comforting. It did add a new chill to the darkness, yes, but that wasn't really the most comfortable feeling in the world. Nor was the kiss that followed, and the last thoughts to cross his mind before the darkness swallowed him up were 'Not this again' and a vague wonder about what, exactly, she'd meant by finding what he'd been looking for.