[align=center]?? Folklore ??

One wouldn't believe that they had ended up in a fairy tale.

Once upon a time, you have.

 

There are those in the Netherworld that want to uprise and take over the land of the dead and the land of the living. Led by those from the Overworld, they have grown stronger and stronger.

There are still Messengers and others that can travel to the Netherworld that want to prevent this overrule and restore the balance.

Will both worlds live happily ever after?, or....

 

Rules:

Please, don't:

(( Before I forget, I just wanted to say that I'm digging your icon and sig. ))

 

It had been awhile, but Eliza had guessed that she was on the nineteenth floor. Or was it the twentieth floor? She couldn't remember. Not that it had mattered to her, though. All she had to focus on was to keep on going up the stairs, all the way to the top. Even though she didn't have to count, she went ahead, anyways, and counted from where she was last at.

One...

Two...

Three...

Four....

By the time that she passed five or so floors, Eliza had begun to grow weary, due to her recent battle. She looked up. "There's not that much floors," she reassured herself, even though she counted at least ten more floors. As she continued moving, she paused as she saw someone laying down. Who is that? she thought. Ev? Will?

 

Just as Evany grew pissed off at the sword, something suddenly touched him. He jumped, wondering whether s'Arina already resurrected or not. However, it had turned out to be Scarecrow, and his soul was being sucked out.

"W-what are you doing?!" he demanded hesitantly.

"Uweehee," Scarecrow said, even though he sounded melancholic, "dead or no, you still wear a cloak. Since I can't touch the sword myself, I'll give my spirit to you so you can gain more power. This is my grand finale, after all." Evany wanted to object, but knowing Scarecrow, it didn't matter one bit. He wasn't going to change his mind.

".... Alright," Evany finally said, "you arrogant bastard." Closing his hands into his fist, he tugged Scarecrow's id, absorbing it into himself. The visual body of the demented creature had faded into what it came from, nothingness. Looking back at the sword, he muttered, "Okay, let's try this one more time...."

(( :'D Thank youuuuu~ ))

 

Tessa raised her arm to strike, but paused, seeing her brothers lips move, trying to force out another word. He didn't make any sound, save for a weak groan out of the back of his throat, but her eyes narrowed.

"What?! Trying to summon something, Will? Can you even bear to do it, after-"

"Didn't... want... you to suffer either," he mumbled, voice weak, like he was already drifting in and out of consciousness.

Staring down at Will, a small, sad smile stole onto her face.

 

Raiden knew he should at least try, try to crawl a little while further- but, why bother? He just slumped there, eyes closed, so he didn't have to look at the blood. He didn't need any kind of grisly reminder as to what had happened with his father, not if the man was going to kill him again, like he expected. And after all, who would bother to stop him? He was already dead, what did one more death for him matter?

As she took a couple of more steps, Eliza peered deeply at the figure. At last, she was able to identify him. "R-Raiden!" she called. Using the little strength in her tired muscles, Eliza ran up to him. "Raiden, are you okay?!"

 

Gripping the hilt of the sword, Evany tugged with all of his might. Despite this, it wasn't enough. Even though he had more energy, it wasn't equal to that of the sword.

Suddenly, Evany heard a gargled cough. If it was as he feared, s'Arina was already awake, and she would do whatever she could to get him away from the Tree.

Dazed, everything slow and sluggish, to Will, everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. He knew, but almost in a passive way, that his twin was preparing to stab him; but he felt disconnected, as though this was a dream he could easily wake up out of. Tessie's face above him blurred hopelessly in and out of focus, and even when he tried to blink, it felt like torture just to force his eyes to drift open again.

 

She didn't swing back or stab down hard, and that surprised him. The blade pricked almost hesitantly at his chest. His sister's hand was shaking. He tried to force her name out of his throat one more time.

 

Just once more.

 

 

Raiden didn't move at first, only tensing on the floor, squeezing his eyes shut more tightly. His first instinct was to assume it was his father, ready to kill him all over again. He was so highly strung, it took a very long moment for him to even process that the voice calling his name was far too high to belong to his father. It was a girl's voice, he could tell- one that was strangely familiar.

 

"Eliza...?" he groaned, rolling awkwardly onto his side with a wince, trying to sit up. He wasn't really succeeding, but he tried to bear the pain that lanced across his body as he managed to look up at her, eyes squinting as he tried to focus.

As Eliza approached Raiden, she sat next to him. "What happened...?" The mere sight of the state that he was in pained her, especially considering how over-cautious he was. Looking down, she continued, mostly to herself, "I didn't want my friends to leave me, so this mishap began. This is my fault..." After a moment, she shook her head, trying to stay positive. "Sorry," she stated, attempting a grin, "I don't have any more healing orbs this time."

 

"So, you really think pulling that sword will change anything?"

Evany glanced back. Sure enough, a scorched s'Arina stood. She kept one eye shut closed, unable to open it. Despite her condition, she smirked. "I wonder what happens when you take away the cat's favorite toy?" Turning, she added, "This is all thanks to that girl, anyway. She deserves this award." Almost instantly, she dashed off. Evany knew that she was going after Eliza, but he couldn't stop. If he immediately broke the contact between him and the sword, it could leave him dazed for a long while...

Shaking his head weakly, Raiden found the shrug he wanted to make was impossible- not only was it a completely ridiculous concept, since he wasn't exactly up yet and his arms were supporting him the best they could, but he very much doubted he could manage it- his right shoulder was dislocated, he could feel it. It had happened before, several times, when he was a child, so he knew how it felt. At least those times it had just been general rough and tumble. It was strange for it to have been deliberate, even if the idea of his father hurting him by that point should have been far from an alien concept.

 

"My father happened," he tried to reply, voice strained, dry and cracked. When he so much as opened his mouth to speak, his lip split, more blood flowing into his mouth. He swallowed, with some difficulty, hoping he could keep it down somehow.

"But don't blame yourself. Everyone makes stupid mistakes," he added, shaking shaggy black hair out of his eyes, mouth twitching in a half-conscious attempt to return the smile.

 

Blood blossomed where the blade broke skin, staining Will's shirt, ebbing out slowly across the material. He didn't see it, though- he could barely keep his eyes open, let alone lift his head enough to see what was happening. The pain was dull, unfocused, just like everything for him.

But he still heard, as though from underwater, the sound of Tessie apologising, over and over, as though it were a prayer, as she gently pushed the knife in, two more inches.

 

How much further, before it was over? Two more inches? Four more?

He wasn't sure.

By this point, Eliza's grin faded. Suddenly, she noticed someone coming down the stairs. Examining closely, she realized that it was a furious, deformed s'Arina stomping down the steps. As a thought came to her, Eliza took a deep breath. "In the end, everyone makes up for their mistakes."

Standing up, she summoned a shield folk, which sheltered Raiden. Standing in front of the shield, Eliza prepared for what's to come...

 

"Come on," Evany grunted, still trying to pull out the sword out of the Tree. Focus, he thought. Deep inside, there is still energy left to use from Mother... Scarecrow... Everyone.... Closing his eyes, Evany focused on the strength within him....

Behind the shield, Raiden groaned out her name, though it wasn't clear if it was a protest or a warning. With a lot of difficulty, he struggled up halfway into a sitting position, leaning only on his uninjured arm. His eyes widened when he realised why she'd summoned it, when he caught a glimpse of s'Arina.

 

Despite his drugged, sleepy state, Will's breath caught and broke off with an ugly, gargling choke, his face paling. He managed to stare up at Tessie for a few more precious seconds. He could have sworn... wait, was she crying? He could barely see her, not clearly, but he felt them plopping gently against his face. Will tried to speak, gagging on blood, but managed just to force out one last weak tease.

"Tears for me, huh...?"

I never believed in violence...

As she approached, s'Arina's fist turned to a fierce red color, just as a stove would if you leave it on long enough.

It only brought me pain.

s'Arina continued walking, picking up her pace.

I was never strong.

.... But, for my friends...

With one swing, s'Arina punched directly at Eliza's stomach. She kept her defense up, still standing her ground, yet a small wince did escape from her. The burning fist pained her so much, it was hard to keep strong.

Laughing maniacally, s'Arina said, "What's wrong with you, taking a punch like that?! You're such an idiotic girl!"

Suddenly, despite the pain, Eliza smirked. "Yeah... I get told that a lot." She looked up at her. The look in her eyes had greatly confused s'Arina. "I never believed in killing another living being. Ever. However..." Suddenly, sharp pain shot through s'Arina's body. It wasn't the daily pain that she normally had. Looking down, she realized that Eliza had stabbed her with one of Raiden's daggers. "But technically, you're already dead, aren't you?"

 

The conflict between Evany's energy and the sword's intensified. However, he refused to back down. This was it. He had to go for it, once and for all.

With a final jerk, the sword came out...

"You okay-?!" Raiden tried to shout to Eliza, but only just managed to get the two simple words out before he doubled up, coughing- retching, in fact. He knew the fact he was coughing up blood and various other unidentifiable gunk wasn't a good sign- it probably meant a punctured lung, but, then again, what were a few minutes less when you were already dead? He squeezed his eyes shut, doing his best to will the pain away.

 

A sob, raw and wretched, ripped out of Tessa, as she tore the knife out of her brother, flinging it away as though she could undo the act by throwing it hard enough. He was still slumped against her, but was almost spasming, his eyes rolling back into his head, breathing rattling.

"Will, I'm sorry. Will, I'm so, so sorry, Will..." she continued to mumble under her breath, finding herself unable to stop, even as with a jerk he went still. She simply leant forwards, hugging at him, sobbing loudly by that point. Was it really the only way she'd get out? She couldn't help but wonder.

A sudden weight came onto s'Arina's shoulders. "The pain...." she mouthed. Sure enough, the pain intensified, from the dagger in her to her third degree burns. She looked down at her fist. It was no longer channeling a hot temperature. As she feared, she was alive again. Due to this fact, and the sudden human pain, she screamed like a mad woman. She backed away from Eliza to sprawl on the ground.

Seeing s'Arina's behavior, Eliza realized that Evany had did it. Everything was back to normal. Of course, her attention went back to Raiden, who was in a critical condition. "Raiden, are you alr--" She stopped mid-sentence as her injury finally got the best of her. As the shield folk vanished, due to its summoner being weak, Eliza crouched down, lightly hugging her stomach.

 

Evany tossed the sword aside. It skidded across the floor before laying still. At first, he questioned whether it really worked or not, until the pain that he didn't pay attention to doubled as proof. Suddenly, a bright light appeared. Turning around, Evany saw as the Tree began to heal its wound. The light was from a white stag, which represented the spirit of the Tree.

"Thank you for setting things right," it said in a deep tone. "Now, I can repay you and all of the other beings that assisted." The light that it radiated intensified. As it did, Evany suddenly felt... calm. He closed his eyes as the light consumed everything.

 

Still holding her stomach, Eliza looked up as a bright approached them. There was something about the light that seemed rejuvenating. She winced in pain once more as the light consumed them.

If Raiden had thought, even for a moment, that things could hurt more, he couldn't have been more wrong. The pain was so intense, it was nearly numbing- and, trying to hold back a cry, he managed to force his eyes to flicker open. The light stung at first, but he didn't have much time to think about that before it reached them.

 

Tessa didn't move, didn't even try and look up, burying her face against Will's shoulder. The stench of blood was everwhere, sweet and cloying- but she did her best not to gag. It was, after all, her fault. But Will didn't look like he blamed her, not from his expression. He might have been only half-conscious when she'd stabbed him, but he'd seemed... accepting. That was a strange concept, especially coming from her brother- he'd never accepted anything. Stubborn as a mule, as ever. That was her Will.

When he came to, Evany became confused as to where he was. However, if anything, the first thing that he realized was that his senses weren't as sharp as they used to be. He was alive again. As he adjusted his eyes to the dim-lighted night, he realized that he was back outside, laying on the grass, under a tree. He sat up before noticing how easy it was to do that, despite being greatly injured before. He assumed that the light from the Tree had healed up all of his injuries. Standing up, he realized that everyone else was sprawled out, laying on the ground, as well. There was no sight of s'Arina anywhere. The Tree did say that he would help anyone that assisted him. s'Arina and any of her pawns were the exceptions.

Stirring, Raiden groaned loudly and rolled over. He braced himself, expecting pain from at the very least his shoulder- but there wasn't any. It wasn't broken. Moving gingerly, as though he expected to literally fall apart at any moment, he crawled into a kneeling position, rubbing at his eyes with the back of his fists.

 

Breath rushed in, a little too fast, and Will nearly choked on it as it went down the wrong way. The faint, distant agony was gone, and he subconsciously pressed a hand against his chest, where he knew the wound had been. His head felt clear again, the lightness in his body feeling a little strange after the drugged state he'd been in had left it such dead weight.

One corner of his mouth flickered upwards at the thought of that. Dead weight.

As she came to, Eliza instantly sat up, gasping as she grasped her stomach. However, that pain was completely gone. There was no sight of it. She looked down, feeling confused. She raised her shirt up a little so she could view her stomach. The burn mark was no longer there. She lightly smiled, feeling relieved.

Evany finally noticed that everyone that was there had come to. "So, everyone's awake now," he stated.

Swallowing hard at the lump in his throat, Raiden felt the need to actually reach and pinch, hard, at his own side. Because he honestly thought he had to be dreaming. And it hurt, but pain was good in this situation, right?

"...I'm not dead," he stated, cringing a little at how not only did it sound incredibly stupid, even as it left his mouth, but how his voice cracked halfway through. He cleared his throat, half expecting when he brought his hand away from his mouth for there to be blood, or bile, or something.

 

It was going to take some getting used to. Everything seemed duller, more blurry, the smells and sounds fainter, softer. To think, he'd almost forgotten what it was like being human. Those little bits of his life, the things he couldn't remember... he was fairly sure they were gone for good, faded with time. But maybe he didn't need them. Why would Raiden have to cling to a human past, when he had a future again?

 

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Will drawled, sarcasm back with a vengeance. Sitting up, and barely realising what he was doing, he reached up, pads of his fingers brushing at one of the tear stains still tracking a path through the dirt on his cheeks. He pulled his hand away, staring down, bemused, at the tiny droplet of his sister's tear, balancing on his fingertip.

"Good to see you too, Will," Evany replied, playing the same game, adding a glare. Despite Will and his attitude, Evany was at least glad that even he was alright. ... Well, maybe not glad, but something along that line.

"So, is everything back to normal?" Eliza asked, placing her shirt back down. "Did we do it?"

Looking her, Evany answered, "Yeah, it sure looks that way." Suddenly, a meow lightly startled him. He looked down to see that it was Ruru, rubbing her head against his foot. He faintly smiled, picking up the feline and petting her. "Hey, Ruru..." he murmured.

Eliza grinned, but then she paused. "Now what?"

 

(( .... This RP's coming to the end... ;^; ))

As Evany threw a glare his way, Will grinned briefly, the genuine smile flitting across his face for only a moment before he realised, and quickly scowled back. "Urgh, I hate cats," he complained, crinkling his nose as though he expected Ruru to suddenly start smelling bad. Then again, maybe he was just being antagonistic, snapping the first thing that came to mind. It felt natural to him, not caring what he said. Not really caring at all. With a sigh, he lay back again, threading his fingers together and resting them behind his head.

 

"I don't have anywhere to go," he stated. Rolling his eyes, he paused for a moment, before adding, "Maybe I'll just lie here till I rot. That sounds fun."

 

Even though he wasn't sure whether Will was truly being serious, Raiden shrugged at the statement, mentally adding a "Me too". He didn't really feel like moaning about it, though, so he didn't, instead starting to get to his feet.

 

"'Ruru'? So that's her name. You never actuLly told me," he pointed out, glancing to Eliza. "She didn't respond too well to being called "kitty". She blanked me whenever I did it."

"Really?" Eliza asked, scratching her head. "I thought I may have mentioned it once. My bad."

Still holding the cat, which was enthralled to see her master again, Evany sat back down. He figured that it must have been two or three in the morning. Four at the latest. "The pub is still probably open," he stated. "We could all probably visit the spirits once more."

Eliza was about to nod, but she paused. "Once more...?" she repeated silently. Of course, there was no more duty to fulfill in the Netherworld. Everyone would want to resume their life elsewhere. Yet, Eliza wasn't sure if she was ready to face the world. After all, it washed her up on shore once...

Raiden pulled a face. "Um. Well. That could be interesting. I don't think I can see them. I never saw anything when I was alive before, that's for sure. Think I could still see stuff like that, even when I'm not...?"

 

"Ah, the spirits," Will grinned, sitting up again. "How I won't miss their eternal storytelling."

 

(( Short post is short. ._______. ))

"To be honest," Evany began to answer him, "I don't think that you'll be able to. You'd probably feel their presence, but that's about it."

"Well, I guess I'll see you all some other time then," Eliza said, attempting a smile. "I'm going to bed, so I can go visit the pub tomorrow night, as well as every other night." Pausing for a moment, she explained, "I'm staying."

 

(( You and me, both. ._.' ))

"Why would you want to stay here?" Will asked, voice turning scathing. "There's nothing on this stupid island besides the spirits. You can't honestly be that dumb. There's not even any reason for us to be here anymore, so why stick around this dump?"

 

"Don't call it a dump," Raiden nearly interrupted him. Even though his voice was quiet, there was an edge to it. "It's the closest thing to the real world I've had in years."

Keeping a faint smile on her face, Eliza explained, "I don't have anything to look forward to back on the mainland. This "dump" is the best place that I can call home."

Still petting the cat in his arms, Evany finally spoke up, "Hiding forever isn't always going to be the best choice for you." He looked back up at the tree. "You have to go out there and give it a shot. If it doesn't work out for you, you can come back here, I guess."

Eliza thought for a moment. She looked at Raiden before looking back at Evany, asking, "But where are we supposed to go?"

Evany paused, which irritated Ruru that she wasn't being paying attention to. As the cat jumped out of his arms, Evany muttered, "I guess I could let you two stay in my house for awhile..."

Raiden looked to him in surprise, for a moment left speechless. Obviously, that was somewhat embarrassing for him when he recovered, but he hid it by dropping to his knees and reaching for Ruru. He didn't grab at her, just awkwardly attempted to get her attention, keeping his head low.

"Um... thanks," he mumbled.

 

Will rolled to his feet, picking himself up neatly off the floor and, with a sigh, brushing dirt off his clothes the best he could. "Explaining to my family about this will be an interesting experience," he grumbled.

Ruru sniffed Raiden's fingers for a moment. After briefly pausing, she walked past him, rubbing her fur against his leg before going to do the same thing to Eliza.

"I guess I'll go call for a ferry then," Evany stated. Looking at the lighthouse for a quick second, he walked in the opposite direction, towards the village. Following the dirt path, he looked at his house as he passed by. Great, now I have to pack, he thought. What did I bring here...? Some clothes... Ruru's cage.... I guess that's it. Finally, he reached the phone booth. Entering, he grabbed the phone, setting it next to his ear. He thought for a moment, trying to remember the number. As it came to him, he entered the numbers on the keypad. "... Hello? ... Yes. One ferry, please, for pick-up. ... We're at a remote seaside village, located off the west coast. ... Yes. Thank you." With that, he hung up the phone.

As he did, a bright light pierced his eyes. He looked over at the horizon, seeing that the sun had risen. Looking the other way, Evany saw the lights in the pub go out. Giving a light smirk, he muttered, "I guess it would be fun to come back here sometime...."

 

[align=right]{ The End }

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;~;