Foreshadowing

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

Like many others--like all the others--Cybil Bennet slept.

Like many others, she dreamed, even if those dreams would be forgotten, cradled in Stacy's warm embrace.

Some dreams were just dreams, of brighter times, and happier places, of desert sands she'd never seen, strange and alien landscapes, of strange unearthly celebrations.

Some were nightmares, twisted malformed shapes staggering forward, of tentacles and spattered blood.

Sometimes she dreamed of fire.

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[shotinthe-dark.livejournal.com]

It was dangerous, always dangerous, when he left his invisible prison.

The places he went were sometimes more dangerous. It had taken practice. It had taken much practice to learn to do what he could do.

It had taken even longer to find them. The ones who were left.

In her dreams, Cybil saw a bright green light.

It was a genteel voice. "Hello, Cybil."

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

Cybil was tied down to the ladder, over the fire. She was burning.

"Who--the fuck--are you?"

[shotinthe-dark.livejournal.com]

The light disappointed into a figure there, floating in the shadows, his face obscured by darkness. He would not--could not--let his face be seen.

The crowd inside the church, spitting, screaming, calling for Cybil's death, disappeared. Christabelle was gone.

"An old friend. Although I suppose that when we meet again, I'll be a new enemy. We will be set against one another, after all. It's inevitable, and such a shame. I really don't want to be your enemy, I hope you understand."

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

"What--the hell--are you talking about?" Cybil panted, as her skin bubbled and crackled, as the skin of her wrists rubbed raw against the rope.

[shotinthe-dark.livejournal.com]

"You never did lose your edge. Even when the war wore you down. It was quite admirable."

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

"You're crazy. Everyone--everyone is crazy!"

[shotinthe-dark.livejournal.com]

"A rather apt assertion. We've been drawn into a world gone mad, right is wrong, allies are enemies--and, I must make note--the key to the future is the past. But listen to me go own while you writhe in agony in the throes of self-blame. I can free yo from this nightmare only temporarily, Cybil. Unfortunately, it will throw you into a much greater one, but I'm hoping the repetition will mean that you remember when you wake."

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

"Remember what? What the hell are you talking about?"

[shotinthe-dark.livejournal.com]

"This."

The figure snapped his figures and suddenly, she was free, falling through the fire, and into a nightmare.

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

Her vision was fuzzy. There were shapes, shapes moving. Figures, running, fighting, fire arcing, blasts of energy, lasers, bullets, zinging through the air.

When names were spoken they were distorted, to her hearing. The faces--they were all blurred.

And she was shouting orders.

"Give mwurmur covering fire! Fall back! Fall back! We're almost to the escape vessel!"

[shotinthe-dark.livejournal.com]

A girl in blue, her body making graceful fluid movements. The enemies around her fell, sliced open, swept off their feet. "Where's murmur? Where is he?"

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

Her heart was broken.

She lied. "He's in the vents. He'll catch up. He might've even beaten us there."

He'd died, in the explosion, died in a burst of fire, and taken out the traitorous bitch with him.

Another had been launched into the sun. Another had overloaded himself, exploded.

Another had...

No, she couldn't think about the casualties. Focus on saving the ones left.

[shotinthe-dark.livejournal.com]

He was falling apart, as they fought. After all he'd been through, it was a miracle he'd held together so long.



Her yellow cloat was nearly blinding, even with all the brights lights and lasers zinging around as it always was. "Oh right, like you think we'll let you go alone? We're totally coming with you."

"We are? Damn." But there was no doubt, even amongst the sarcasm, that he was. Grey eyes. "Listen, Cybs, you get everyone out of here. We'll hold them off."

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

"We are not leaving you behind!"

[shotinthe-dark.livejournal.com]

"Then you ain't leavin'. Look, you know me--" A bullet ziged right by his head. "I don't do the self-sacrificin' thing that often, but I do know it works by the rest of the group getting out, not staying and getting iced too. Now get going! We got this."

The girl in yellow. "This is, like, what we do, mortal peril and all."

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

"God damn you." They'd offered. For the sake of the rest, she couldn't deny them.

Even though she knew the chances of them getting out...

But time and again, they'd faced these odds. Maybe they'd luck out again? Maybe.

(She knew they wouldn't have that luck this time. She knew.)

"We'll wait as long as we can."

[shotinthe-dark.livejournal.com]

"Don't worry about us."

"S'been real...interestin', policia."

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

They lost sight of them as they moved through the corridor. But the explosion that rocked the ship not long after made it easy to guess what had happened.

They fell around her, faceless, like the monsters in Silent Hill, only these faceless things falling made her heart break.

Three of them fell together. His leg was broken again, the girl in blue fell, holding onto her brother.

One fought with the ferocity of a jungle cat, enraged over the loss of a friend, before he was smashed, but his chest was still sparking.

Electricity arced, there was a scream, and she fell into a pool of silver.

And the girls fought back to back until none of them were fighting anymore.

He was slammed into a wall, forced to stay solid, and the old man hovered over him, as he so often had.

"Is he still breathing?!" Most of them were. Most of them were, but they were all falling...

[shotinthe-dark.livejournal.com]

The old man--although he wasn't that old, not as old as the other old man--turned to her, eyes blazing.

"He's gone, Cybil. They're all gone. You're gone."

This wasn't right. This wasn't what really happened. But how could any of this have really happened if it had never happened--or not happened yet?

"Don't you understand? You must not listen to them."

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

"Who--who are you talking about--I don't understand! I don't understand any of this!"

[shotinthe-dark.livejournal.com]

"You have to wake up, Cybil. Not just awaken. You have to wake up."

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

They all fell.

They were all gone.

Dead or gone.

She fell again, into the dark, into a dreamless sleep, and when she did dream, she dreamed of fire.

Almost as if her subconscious was punishing her on purpose.

[shotinthe-dark.livejournal.com]

So close. So very close. But there's still time.

He was unseen, unheard, and it had to stay that way. He retreated to his prison.

I'll make you remember. I'll make you all remember, and when I do, they'll all be done for.