As some of you may know, Peanut and I are crazy about Roleplaying, and it's clear, since this is the second one on this site that belongs to us. And we aren't even done with the first one! Regardless, that won't stop us from starting this new roleplay, Rude Awakening!

 

Kinda dark and mysterious title, eh?

 

As stated in the title, this RP is one on one, no exceptions. Please refrain from posting in the RP. Instead, follow us on this new journey!

 

Peanut, my amazing friend, let's begin!

No! Riku wanted to cry, but all he could manage was a grunt in disgust. He fought the paralysis the best he could, but the least amount of time that it would take for him to overcome it was a half hour. That wasn't good enough. Cedric could do a lot in that time. Riku would have to push himself, because Jihl was right. Every minute he laid here was another minute that Cedric had to torture Lightning.

Several hours later...

 

Lightning bit back a groan, her head lying on the hard kitchen floor along with the rest of her body. Cedric abandoned the chair and the bonds long ago, when she was unable to run away anymore because of the damage to her legs. The initial shots were healed by Cedric himself. He wanted to teach her through fear and pain, and there was only so much pain she could take. When she reacted well to him, he would reward her by healing her. If she did something wrong, he inflicted the injuries all over again. That was why she was on the ground now, bruised, battered, tired and scared. The potion hadn't begun to wear off at all, so her terror remained throughout the whole experience. 

"Get up," Cedric ordered, standing on the other side of the room. "Get up and fight me." Aside from running, Cedric had Lightning training under him as well. She had to fight through the pain in order to get stronger, in his eyes, even if he inflicted the pain himself. Whenever she cooperated and did well, he healed her, but when she failed, he shot her again. His gun was hot from firing off a bullet seconds ago, though it was his own gun; Lightning had the gunblade to fight. The house was trashed, and Lightning's blood mixed with her mother's on the floor. Cedric was far from finished with her just yet.

Lightning set a hand on the floor, trembling as she tried to push herself up. It had been half a day since she came here with her father. The sky outside was pure black except for the stars. She had to buy twelve more hours for Riku to save Serah. Despite the terror she felt because of the present situation, she was more terrified at the idea of Serah dying than experiencing more pain herself. She rose to her feet, setting a hand on the table to keep balance. Focus. Focus! No tears. No screams. No stupid moves. Just do what he wants and the pain will go away... It was a sick game that she was forced to play. 

"That's it," Cedric said in approval, gun at his side. Lightning was proving her strength, but he would make her stronger as time went on. After all, he had all the time in the world; Serah wasn't kidnapped, so the Master would be on a wild goose chase while Cedric spent time with Lightning. She was far from finished with this training. He would push her to her limits.

Lightning fought off the pain, leaning heavily on the table. Too heavily. With all the abuse that happened in this room throughout the day, Light wasn't the only one battered. The table had damage of its own. One of the legs snapped under the pressure of Lightning's arm and forced both of them to collapse onto the floor once more. She did cry out--this time in fear because of the surprise collapse. It was so hard to fight your own body when it was telling you to panic at every little thing. 

"So weak!" Cedric hollered, stomping over to Lightning. He knelt down next to her and turned her onto her back, holding her down by her shoulder as he pointed his gun at her head. "The smallest amount of pain and you crumble. This is not the daughter I raised all these years. She would not let a gunshot wound slow her down." He ground his teeth together. "That pathetic Keyblade wielder is probably searching the worlds because of you, to find a girl who was never in danger in the first place. Serah was gone before we could grab her. Your precious Keyblade Master can't save you this time, Claire."

Lightning squeezed her eyes shut at every screamed word, finally snapping under the pressure. Serah wasn't in danger. Riku wasn't going to be able to find Lightning before Cedric squeezed every bit of Light out of her. He was manipulating her, making her darker and darker. The darker she was, the more hopeless she felt. She was unable to stop herself from silently sobbing, though the tears still didn't flow. I just want it to end. I can't do this anymore. But she was helpless. She had a reason to fight back now that Serah wasn't in danger, but she couldn't because she was too wounded. Too weak. 

"You would have been a great vessel," Cedric snarled, his eyes darting over his daughter's face. "You were on the right track until you met that godforsaken Riku." The older man spat the boy's name, disgusted by what he had done to Lightning. "He made you soft. He made you weak. Even if you can't become a vessel, this is all to show you just what you're capable of. The Darkness grasps for you, Claire, but you fend it off because you're part of the 'Light.'" Cedric scoffed. "Your place among them is pointless."

"Shut up," Claire groaned. Riku didn't make her weak. If it wasn't for him, she would have already given up by now. He began to teach her that she had value for more than her actions. She fought to hard to stay alive after her mother was murdered for Serah's sake, and the past twelve hours had also been for her sake. But now...Now it was for her own sake. She couldn't die yet; she couldn't let Riku cry over her death today. Even if the Darkness and fear threatened to suffocate her, she had enough Light in her to care about him.

Cedric moved his grasp from Lightning's shoulder to her throat, squeezing it. "Do not test me, Claire," he hissed. He pulled his hand with the gun away from her head so he could see her face more clearly. "I've shown you no mercy so far. I can do far worse, that I can assure you. Now stop being weak. You're laughable in this state." He shook his head at her. "To think I helped bring a weakling such as you into this world... I'm ashamed of myself."

Edited February 15, 201411 yr by Forever Love

Lightning opened her eyes when she couldn't breath, automatically gaping and trying to get her breath back. Her father was so ashamed of her that he might actually kill her now. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm... Lightning glanced out of the corner of her eye for something--anything she could use to force her father off of her. Then she saw it. A large kitchen knife. It had previously been resting on the table as a reminder of Cedric's threat: If she didn't cooperate, he would do permanent damage and start cutting off her fingers, one at a time. She groped for it, managing to wrap her fingers around the handle after a few agonizing seconds. And then she attacked. She swung her arm fully around, slashing at Cedric's throat with the massive knife.  

Cedric's eyes widened when he felt the knife slit his throat, his ability to talk disappearing. He had a hard time breathing suddenly as well. He released Lightning and the gun, grasping at his throat as he fought to keep the blood from pouring. He grunted and managed a shout of pain. His daughter had overcome him.

Lightning wasn't thinking logically. The same train of thought ran through her head over and over. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. She was going to die unless she killed him. She shoved him over onto his back and moved herself to sit on his chest, the massive blade still in her hand. She grasped it with both hands as she thrust it into his chest, then out, then in, then out... He's going to kill me. I have to kill him.. And so she did, though she finally began to shed tears as she stabbed him. 

Riku had run into the house upon sensing Darkness, cries of pain reaching him but stopping suddenly. He approached the kitchen and saw what was happening, his eyes widening. "Lightning!" he cried, dashing forward and wrapping his arms around her waist. She killed Cedric; he was dead! She had to stop!

Lightning cried out in both pain and fear, though that didn't stop her from struggling. She lost her grip of the knife as it remained embedded in Cedric's chest, the young woman struggling to grasp it again and rip the hands away from her stomach. "Get away from me!" she screamed. She didn't know who was with her or why they were grabbing her, but they had to let her go! Cedric was going to kill her!

"Stop! Stop!" Riku said over Lightning's screaming. The blood didn't go unnoticed; there was tons of it, and Riku wasn't sure whose was whose. He started to pull Lightning away from Cedric's body and the knife. She would only be a danger to herself if she kept this up.

Edited February 15, 201411 yr by Forever Love

Lightning lost her grip on the knife for a second time, setting her hands on the arms that were a vice around her. She cried out when her legs scraped against the floor, the wounds from the last bullets not healed. Even so, she still tried to tear the arms away from her. Fear was greater than pain.

"Lightning!" Riku cried in urgency, alarmed at her squirming. He turned her in his hold, lifting his hands to her head. "It's me!" What happened? What was going on? Her fear scared him, and that was a hard thing to do. Lightning needed to calm down or she would hurt herself!

The hands that held her face were strong and firm, unlike other times when they held her. In the back of her mind, they were familiar. Lightning new these hands and the face that was right in front of her. But she was having a hard time placing the voice; everything was still distorted by the stupid potion. He'll kill me, she thought of Cedric. He still... She turned her head, seeing the body on the floor and the knife in his chest. And then it finally clicked. He's dead. 

"Lightning," Riku called softly, calmer than before. "Look at me...right at me." She didn't need to see that. She didn't need to see the damage she'd done. He encouraged her to look at him with his hands, which still rested on the side of her face. She needed to calm down. Everything was okay.

I heard that before, Lightning thought. "Keep those pretty eyes on me." That was what this voice said to her before. And now she knew who this was. "Riku," she said hoarsely, meeting his eyes with her blue ones that were still overflowing with tears. Riku was here...

"It's okay," Riku whispered, his thumb running over Lightning's dirty cheek. "It's me... It's okay." She looked horrible, and she surely went through hell. But it was over. Riku may have gotten here too late, but what mattered was that he was with her now. She was safe.

Lightning leaned forward, practically collapsing into Riku's body. She was trembling so much--it was even worse than the shakes she used to get when thinking about how the Guardian possessed her. She didn't know which was causing this fit: the horror of murdering her own father, what she went through in the past few hours or that poison that still didn't wear off.

Riku held Lightning securely, his arms winding around her and one hand holding the back of her head. "You're alright," he told her gently, his eyes leaving her to find the body not too far off. It belonged to Cedric, who was undoubtedly dead. Lightning killed him... Riku closed his eyes and held Lightning closer. What did she go through while he was gone?