It was late. Very late, or maybe it was very early - it all really depended on how a person looked at it. Jo closed her eyes, leaning against the partly destroyed house with her M-14 hugged close to her body. It was quiet, almost eerily so, but that's what happened sometimes. The quiet never lasted more than a short time and then they'd be dealing with insurgents.
Hearing a soft shuffling next to her, Jo opened an eye and half glanced atone of the guys who'd plopped down next to her. He just grinned at her before leaning his head against the wall and proceeded to close his eyes. She shook her head, re-closing her eye. Now was the time to rest, rest when it was quiet.
It wasn't more than a few seconds later when a loud crack sounded through the night. Automatically, Jo was up, her rifle held at the ready. "Jameson," she hissed and moved to nudge him. Her eyes widened though seeing the hole in the center of his forehead. "Shit. Jameson!" He hadn't even had a chance and she'd done nothing to keep him out of harms way.
She moved slowly toward the rest of her squad, her eyes scanning the shadows - looking for anything out of the ordinary. Several more cracks echoed through the night followed by a series of thumps. Suddenly Jo's stomach felt as though she'd swallowed a ton of rocks and she was running.
She came to a halt, her mouth dropping open as she looked at the carnage which surrounded her. All dead. All eight of them. Her squad was gone. She was alone. Completely alone in the middle of the fucking desert. She dropped to her knees, her head hanging. All dead.
Another crack and then a searing pain in her arm. Cursing loudly, she scrambled for cover and pressed her back against the partly destroyed wall. Still cursing under her breath, she pressed her fingers against the wound on her upper arm as she peeked around the side of the wall. Where the hell were they?! And how had they managed to ambush them so completely?
"It's your fault, Lupo."
Her eyes widened and her head slowly turned in the opposite direction. Adams, her NCO, was slowly pushing to his feet. The right side of his face was missing, and bits and pieces of flesh, bone and gore were dripping onto his uniform and sand as he unsteadily stood before her.
"Your fault. We're dead because of you."
Jo recoiled in horror, shaking her head. It wasn't her fault. She hadn't been on watch. It wasn't.
"You should have done something! It's ALL YOUR FAULT." he screamed at her, raising his gun and aimed it at her.
Fuck! He's not real! He's not real! He's dead! He can't be real! Jo thought over and over to herself as she squeezed her eyes shut.
And realization suddenly flooded in on her. Adams wasn't dead! He'd made it back! And so had Jameson! They'd ALL made it back! This was NOT real.
Eyes snapping open, Jo pushed to her feet, anger evident with every move she made. "Fuck you," she snapped, raising her own gun and fired at whatever the hell it was that looked like Adam. With a sort of smile on her lips, she watched as the thing slumped to the ground.
Slowly the scene began to waver before her. Here and there she could see green flickering ever so lightly behind the taupe color of the sand. Stacy. She remembered then. She wasn't even on Earth. She was on a ship.
"Fuck you!" she yelled again, and the scene wavered even more. Jo strode forward, kicking the corpse that looked like Adams, and the scene wavered once again and then it vanished completely, leaving her standing in one of the Stacy's corridors.
"Holy shit," she whispered hoarsely, and leaned back against the spongy wall.
Gunshots. An actual gun, not a magical one. Someone was nearby - she'd missed somebody, evidently. Nanoha turned slowly to see the figure down the hall... it was fuzzy and hard to make out, but it was clearly a person.
The girl was very dimly aware that she was moving, leveling her staff down the hall at whoever--whatever--it was.
No, wait... why am I...?
It felt like she wasn't in control of her own actions; the power and white-hot rage surging through her moved her arms of their own accord. Nanoha felt like she was viewing the scene through a tank of water, the sound muted and the vision blurry.
Stop. Please, stop. I wouldn't want to...!
Magic energy flared up around her as light slowly gathered at the crown of her staff, casting a dark red hue down the corridor instead of its usual magenta. She couldn't reclaim control of her own body, no matter how much she willed it so.
When Arha turned, she could already see this was not a good thing, this energy. She didn't think. She moved, using The Weirding Way along with Jed-Eye reflexes to slam the staff down and away. It was obvious the girl wasn't in control.
"I will make this better...later," she hissed, and promptly launched a punch towards Nanoha's jaw. "You will regain control of yourself."
Through the fog, Nanoha was aware of the punch as it connected with her jaw, throwing her backwards - though the wings on her heels kept her upright - and knew it should have hurt. But it didn't; it felt muted. Everything felt quiet, as though the her that was experiencing things was not the her in the flesh of her body. Was this how she dissociated herself from the grief of losing her world? Was the energy surging through her, the desire to fight - was it now in control instead of the other way around?
She righted herself as she hit the ground, and a dark red shield interposed itself between her and the newcomer. And then, Nanoha squeezed her fist shut.
"Barrier Burst."
The shield exploded outward in a blast of energy directed toward her attacker.
Arha was flung backward and skidded hard into the wall with a breathless grunt. She wasted no time getting back up again, using the Force to steady her. They didn't need to be fighting each other, not now. But that was what the King of Nightmares wished. Confusion. Disarray.
"You must reassert control," she snapped and moved forward once again, her hand on Nanoha's staff and her feet planted. She was dimly aware that she ached, but it didn't matter. "You have the strength in you to do so." Arha was sure of that, as sure as she could be and she leaned forward, locking her eyes with Nanoha's.
"Find it," she said, her blue-within-blue eyes intense.
This wasn't right. None of this was right. Who was this person? Why were they talking to her like this? This - it wasn't the TSAB building, was it? Was any of this real, or just a vivid, horrible nightmare?
Her body still moved.
"Flash Move."
In the blink of an eye, Nanoha had closed the gap between the two of them, swinging Raising Heart around in a sideways blow - and a gout of violet flame burst from its side.
"Reassert yourself," Arha hissed as the flame bit into her upraised arm and promptly slammed her sideways. She gritted her teeth as pain exploded through the right side of her body and kept talking even as black spots danced in front of her eyes. "Whatever you saw. It was not real, but I am. You must focus. Focus on my voice. Wherever you were, such was not a real thing. You know this."
She didn't look away from Nanoha's eyes, but kept her own locked on hers. Arha pushed herself up stubbornly. She would not stay down.
"Look around you! Look at this place. Do you not see what is happening? You are not stupid. See such with your own eyes, see the truth before the lies, the nightmares, destroy you."
That rang a bell in Nanoha's mind. Nightmares.... nightmares... this - this is a nightmare. It can't be real!
Even as her body moved, leveling the staff at Arha and gathering more blood-red magic at its tip, Nanoha's mind raced. This wasn't real. Fate, Vivio - they weren't dead. Nightmare King. The name rang out clear in her head like a church bell, striking her deep to the core.
None of this is real. I need to stop! Everyone is counting on me!
And then, suddenly, the muted world snapped back into reality with all the shock of a cold flood of water, the energy gathered at the tip of Raising Heart vanished, and Nanoha's knees buckled beneath her.
Arha caught her awkwardly, and braced them both up against wall with a soft sigh as she gathered her strength and wits. That was better. For the moment.
"Much better," she murmured, as the rush of adrenaline began to ebb and various injures made themselves known. She hurt, but it was nothing vital and anything bloodied had begun to heal. "Knew you could do it."
Nanoha immediately started to push away once she'd regained some strength in her legs - not because she found the contact repelling, but because she had somewhere she needed to be.
"I... t-thank you," she mumbled, still trying to push to her feet. "Where are we? I need to get to the cathedral."
"Glad to see you're still alive." Given the size of the pack strapped to Gauron's back, the fact that the pockets on the field jacket and cargo pants he's thrown over his plantsuit are all bulging, and he has an AK-47 and an M32 grenade launcher hanging from his shoulder, the phrase "the cavalry has arrived" might well apply.
It looks like he tried to bring half of Weapons and Possessions with him, though in actuality, most of the stuff is from his personal caches - he moved a fair amount of it up from the city, in case the Nightmare King's spreading magic made it impossible to get to. Both of his visible weapons are modified with thaumaturgical batteries, courtesy of Isaac - whom he definitely owes a favor, if they both survive this. "I've got a couple extra weapons if you need any help staying that way."
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Hearing a soft shuffling next to her, Jo opened an eye and half glanced atone of the guys who'd plopped down next to her. He just grinned at her before leaning his head against the wall and proceeded to close his eyes. She shook her head, re-closing her eye. Now was the time to rest, rest when it was quiet.
It wasn't more than a few seconds later when a loud crack sounded through the night. Automatically, Jo was up, her rifle held at the ready. "Jameson," she hissed and moved to nudge him. Her eyes widened though seeing the hole in the center of his forehead. "Shit. Jameson!" He hadn't even had a chance and she'd done nothing to keep him out of harms way.
She moved slowly toward the rest of her squad, her eyes scanning the shadows - looking for anything out of the ordinary. Several more cracks echoed through the night followed by a series of thumps. Suddenly Jo's stomach felt as though she'd swallowed a ton of rocks and she was running.
She came to a halt, her mouth dropping open as she looked at the carnage which surrounded her. All dead. All eight of them. Her squad was gone. She was alone. Completely alone in the middle of the fucking desert. She dropped to her knees, her head hanging. All dead.
Another crack and then a searing pain in her arm. Cursing loudly, she scrambled for cover and pressed her back against the partly destroyed wall. Still cursing under her breath, she pressed her fingers against the wound on her upper arm as she peeked around the side of the wall. Where the hell were they?! And how had they managed to ambush them so completely?
"It's your fault, Lupo."
Her eyes widened and her head slowly turned in the opposite direction. Adams, her NCO, was slowly pushing to his feet. The right side of his face was missing, and bits and pieces of flesh, bone and gore were dripping onto his uniform and sand as he unsteadily stood before her.
"Your fault. We're dead because of you."
Jo recoiled in horror, shaking her head. It wasn't her fault. She hadn't been on watch. It wasn't.
"You should have done something! It's ALL YOUR FAULT." he screamed at her, raising his gun and aimed it at her.
Fuck! He's not real! He's not real! He's dead! He can't be real! Jo thought over and over to herself as she squeezed her eyes shut.
And realization suddenly flooded in on her. Adams wasn't dead! He'd made it back! And so had Jameson! They'd ALL made it back! This was NOT real.
Eyes snapping open, Jo pushed to her feet, anger evident with every move she made. "Fuck you," she snapped, raising her own gun and fired at whatever the hell it was that looked like Adam. With a sort of smile on her lips, she watched as the thing slumped to the ground.
Slowly the scene began to waver before her. Here and there she could see green flickering ever so lightly behind the taupe color of the sand. Stacy. She remembered then. She wasn't even on Earth. She was on a ship.
"Fuck you!" she yelled again, and the scene wavered even more. Jo strode forward, kicking the corpse that looked like Adams, and the scene wavered once again and then it vanished completely, leaving her standing in one of the Stacy's corridors.
"Holy shit," she whispered hoarsely, and leaned back against the spongy wall.
no subject
The girl was very dimly aware that she was moving, leveling her staff down the hall at whoever--whatever--it was.
No, wait... why am I...?
It felt like she wasn't in control of her own actions; the power and white-hot rage surging through her moved her arms of their own accord. Nanoha felt like she was viewing the scene through a tank of water, the sound muted and the vision blurry.
Stop. Please, stop. I wouldn't want to...!
Magic energy flared up around her as light slowly gathered at the crown of her staff, casting a dark red hue down the corridor instead of its usual magenta. She couldn't reclaim control of her own body, no matter how much she willed it so.
no subject
"I will make this better...later," she hissed, and promptly launched a punch towards Nanoha's jaw. "You will regain control of yourself."
no subject
She righted herself as she hit the ground, and a dark red shield interposed itself between her and the newcomer. And then, Nanoha squeezed her fist shut.
"Barrier Burst."
The shield exploded outward in a blast of energy directed toward her attacker.
no subject
"You must reassert control," she snapped and moved forward once again, her hand on Nanoha's staff and her feet planted. She was dimly aware that she ached, but it didn't matter. "You have the strength in you to do so." Arha was sure of that, as sure as she could be and she leaned forward, locking her eyes with Nanoha's.
"Find it," she said, her blue-within-blue eyes intense.
no subject
This wasn't right. None of this was right. Who was this person? Why were they talking to her like this? This - it wasn't the TSAB building, was it? Was any of this real, or just a vivid, horrible nightmare?
Her body still moved.
"Flash Move."
In the blink of an eye, Nanoha had closed the gap between the two of them, swinging Raising Heart around in a sideways blow - and a gout of violet flame burst from its side.
"Strike Flame: Armageddon Shift."
no subject
She didn't look away from Nanoha's eyes, but kept her own locked on hers. Arha pushed herself up stubbornly. She would not stay down.
"Look around you! Look at this place. Do you not see what is happening? You are not stupid. See such with your own eyes, see the truth before the lies, the nightmares, destroy you."
no subject
That rang a bell in Nanoha's mind. Nightmares.... nightmares... this - this is a nightmare. It can't be real!
Even as her body moved, leveling the staff at Arha and gathering more blood-red magic at its tip, Nanoha's mind raced. This wasn't real. Fate, Vivio - they weren't dead. Nightmare King. The name rang out clear in her head like a church bell, striking her deep to the core.
None of this is real. I need to stop! Everyone is counting on me!
And then, suddenly, the muted world snapped back into reality with all the shock of a cold flood of water, the energy gathered at the tip of Raising Heart vanished, and Nanoha's knees buckled beneath her.
no subject
"Much better," she murmured, as the rush of adrenaline began to ebb and various injures made themselves known. She hurt, but it was nothing vital and anything bloodied had begun to heal. "Knew you could do it."
no subject
"I... t-thank you," she mumbled, still trying to push to her feet. "Where are we? I need to get to the cathedral."
no subject
It looks like he tried to bring half of Weapons and Possessions with him, though in actuality, most of the stuff is from his personal caches - he moved a fair amount of it up from the city, in case the Nightmare King's spreading magic made it impossible to get to. Both of his visible weapons are modified with thaumaturgical batteries, courtesy of Isaac - whom he definitely owes a favor, if they both survive this. "I've got a couple extra weapons if you need any help staying that way."