Mortalities I: When Fires Go Out

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

Title: Mortalities I: When Fires Go Out
Location: Stacy; The Sensoriums
Warnings: This can and may well get a little graphic and appears to the untrained eye as "suicide". Please, do not read any further if you are younger and/or sensitive audience.





He was restless.

It was a familiar restlessness combined with a fear that had, at least once, proven as a rational and well-based fear. The secret had been kept ever since and for those Times after, he'd completed this alone in the best environment he could find for survival.

Still, it was a hard struggle -- tell someone and risk getting another internal organ taken out, or not to tell someone and hope to hell he could make it through this time. And for this struggle, Renne had retreated to a Sensorium in the fervent hope he might not be caught. Which in itself was likely a vain hope but for what he knew to be needed....he knew not where else to go.

And he felt Time was not on his side.

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[morphitudinous]

For his part, Billy had a lot weighing on his heart.

Five unused morphers in his pack. One empty Engineering position and a pile of inherited paperwork. No hope of finding his friends again in sight---feeling as overwhelmed as he did, what was a guy to do?

His heart gave the answer as he poked his nose into a Sensorium: he was to help. The most important bond in his heart was urging him forward, toward his brother.

"Renne?"

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

Walls. He'd not had such walls in many, many years against another life-form but these aren't the walls of anger or disapproval, no. They're walls of protection, protecting others against oneself.

In the Sensorium chamber, image-sensations fly about -- Fires, the sound of crystalline blades clanging against one another, an instinct pervading it all. Survival. It's an instinct inherent in all living things but this kind of driving thing isn't the passive way of trees or the very simple need for a predator to hunt prey. It's far more complex than that and his fears colour it all.
The Laws had forbidden speaking of it. He'd frightened and angered other beings for speaking, in a try to have them understand.

Thus, like a caged animal, he paces with his skin flashing in wild, uncertain patterns of light. At the sound of the call however, his head upturns; useless eyes nearly aglow with a slowly but steadily rising panic.

"Shoo-d noh be hee-rrrre."

[morphitudinous]

To Billy, that meant that he needed to be here.

"Why not? Why can't I help you?" He forces down the fear rising in his heart, forcing himself to remain calm and determined.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

"Yeu....Noh. Is too old. Noh un-derrr-stahnd."

His voice tries to remain curt and even clipped. The walls around him struggle to remain intact. This isn't something he'd desire anyone to see again but...

[morphitudinous]

It will take more than that to get Billy to back away. Where was Katara, anyway? He hoped she'd come soon---if not, he'd try to call her. Maybe the voice of a newer bond-sibling would be needed to get through to him.

"What's too old? Please listen---if you're in pain, then I want to be there with you more than anything. I won't turn and run."

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

"De-mon ta-ke it aowt."

Strange words but the restlessness never ceases and neither does the Sensorium atmosphere. Rather, he seems to become slowly but surely like he'll be violent at any given moment. The Sensorium atmosphere reddens like a room coated in fresh sacrifical blood. As morbidly alarming as that is, the red, gold and pinkish crystals beginning to grow are perhaps....simply additions to the darkening environs.

These crystals grow fast enough to be observed by a Human eye and from everywhere -- the floor, the ceiling, the walls...like the room builds an arena.

[morphitudinous]

"What is the demon taking? I don't understand."

Billy's mind is racing through possibilities, trying in vain to figure out just what is wrong. The threatening atmosphere definitely worries him, but the threat to his brother is his greatest concern.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

"Sihl-berrr. Yeu is noh Sihl-berrr."

It's almost like a mantra, as if he's trying to remind himself and keep cognizant of that fact. Turning to face toward Billy, he straightens up to let him really see that scar on his chest.

For a split second, the pale face of a silver-haired demon flashes across the room.

[morphitudinous]

"Silver---who ripped your heart."

Reliving the images of that terrifying memory for Billy is nothing compared to what Renne felt, but the human definitely doesn't like it.

"I'm not him, Renne. It's me, remember? What's wrong?"

Mortalities II:

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

Time. Fires. Burn, burn, dance. Dance and go, burn. Time is now, time is now, fire burn...

The words rush through his Self like a roaring inferno. Like a predator goading prey, Renne moves in his primeval crawl. Occasionally, he hisses as if he could intimidate somehow, or simply goad them on. While his beloved Swiss blade may be drawn, he's simply brandishing the thing, not intending to draw blood.
As it is, his movements may look hypnotically, eerily pretty but they're hardly practical in defending oneself.

[morphitudinous]

It was eerie, undeniably so. But this was their task and they would complete it for their brother.

Billy slipped into stalking mode, his knife brandished as he started to weave closer. At all times he was aware of the other two---this, if it was to be done at all, would be done together.

We'll free you, brother. As he worked toward the blow, he hoped the fever pitch would bring forth the courage to do it.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara could see what Billy was doing,. Yes, he moved slower, but that was all right: he was simply setting the pace for this ritual. She moved in tandem with billy, but added quick flips, moving steadily to where Renne was crawling. She felt the world stop somehow, seeing only two bright lights: one that danced with her and one that danced against her.

And she could feel the mustiness of the desert air, the cry of the Freman people in her ears. She may not have been Bene Gesserit taught anymore, but she had seen their world, had felt their warrior blood in her, and now they mingled with her true self, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe.

And she felt that steadiness take her to the purpose, her blade out, to meet with Billy and then end with Renne.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

And he lets it come.

Trusting them as he had trusted none before, and likely never will since, he releases the final cry. His back arches; his head is thrown backward, very literally surrendering everything he is to their hands. Songs rush by his head and as his last call dies off, those songs echo faintly out, coming only just shy of worshipping a pair of Humans as he so passionately worships a ten thousand year old sage.

[morphitudinous]

Had he really moved here so quickly?

Billy came out of a flip of his own the moment before crossing blades with his sister, hardly aware that it was happening at all. Instinct had seized full control of his mind.

Awareness rushed back the second they performed the deed, blades moving in a perfect cross. Renne's howl pierced his heart, bringing him down to his knees. That was it. The rebirth they so fervently wished for was entirely in Renne's paws now.

But this ritual required peace and love, didn't it? That he could provide, suppressing the tears until the moment Renne awakened again.

For now, he'd begin the long nights of guarding.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara could have hugged Billy, he moved faster than she'd expected. She supposed that was because he'd understood what had to happen better than she did, and it mattered so much because he'd known Renne longer. She had seen Billy turn his passion to certain things and knew that this matter was very close to his heart. She could see once again, how strong Billy was, the resolve that made him a power ranger.

The two met their blades into the creature, and at Renne's howl Katara tensed slightly but met her weapon intact, hoping to end it quickly. She had saw those glimpses, seen what would happen to Renne if he didn't have this happen. On a logical level, this made sense, and she felt no remorse if it was something to save his life.

The tears streaming down her cheeks however, say otherwise. These tears were for Renne, for what she's discovered about the Blue imp so far and the love he'd help inspire in her and in Billy. The tears were that pain at taking the life even if she had to, because the act was something she'd never hope she had to do despite knowing the inevitable. She looked over at Billy, who seemed lost in thought, and help his hand, tears still falling unchecked. She knew in most instances she had words to inspire and give strength, but right now she just felt like crying, and needed a little reassurance here.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

He never felt anything hit him, not now or in any past times when this was done. Now is no exception -- feeling utterly numb physically, the emotional tsunami hits like that proverbial ton-of-bricks.

And when it does, he quietly weeps; tears falling in that minute or so that his Solidity remains upright. When he begins to sink to the floor though, there's a faint smile on his face as he tries to send back assurance.
He'd trusted the right people this time. He trusts them now.

And with their names as his last whisper, his eyes close to sleep.

[morphitudinous]

With the emotional wave's onslaught, Billy felt everything in an instant. Pain, pain released, and the hope that all would be well again in a few days.

He reverently lowered the knife and reached for Katara with one hand, using the other to trace Renne's face in that last moment.

"We'll see you soon," Billy whispered, trembling with the effort to rein himself in.

Mortalities III: Yn Ddau Adenedd

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

The fire begins slowly.

As an ember, it starts in the heart of a pile of dust, slowly igniting from within. Like a candle, it flickers at first, battling to really get started but there's a feeling surrounding this flame: That of building anticipation, as if the flame itself is eager to turn into an inferno.
The temperature in the room rises a few degrees and the crystalline arena begins to reflect like a brilliant Swarovski crystal. Blues, indigo, silver and amber join the blood-red hues in here, shining and reflecting off of individual shards. The flame flickers, sending a whisper of that sound fire makes when it first ignites.

[morphitudinous]

Two days of guard duty. Billy had remained there the entire time, pausing only when he felt on the verge of collapse. Even then, he never let the ashes out of his sight. Nor did he let Renne out of his thoughts.

He was just on the verge of drifting out when the first wave of heat washes over him. Life's beginning.

Billy's full attention and support are focused on that flame now.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

Flickers. Sparks.

It's at first a slow, perhaps feeble process. However, within perhaps half-an-hour, the sparks produce more flames. The tiny embers multiply and grow, soon reaching the size of a typical campfire. Whispers begin at this point, like hundreds of voices whispering to each other in the same room.

[morphitudinous]

And Billy's listening, always listening, trying to distinguish the words on the wind. What's being said? Does he need to answer?

His presence will have to be enough of an answer for all of them. He waits, alone but not quite alone.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

It grows steadily now. The flames produce sparks which only add to the strengthening fire. It burns in a rainbow of colours soon enough -- the fire growing higher and hotter. Its roar joins with the many-whispers, producing a wind of its own and the cooling, smokeless air above condenses.

Fire, Wind and Water work in a strange harmony, feeding off of one another. By now, the many-whispers become steadily clearer.

Ahi, Miti, Mata'i. Fire, Water, Wind. Where is, who is, what is, why? Where? How? Who? How long?

[morphitudinous]

Radiant. Something within that fire dismissed his discomfort, replacing it with awe and a little fear.

Do you remember?

He'd never thought to ask if Renne would still remember them after the rebirth. The thought of losing everything they had was terrifying, but the alternative of having no chance of recovery was worse.

Renne. My brother. You're within this flame, aren't you? It's me, Billy---I promised to watch over you until you were solid again, and after. It's been two days, and it's been hard not to be impatient.

Especially with his other friends and their sister in danger, but he couldn't dwell on that now.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

Ahi...Miti? Mata'i. ...Instinct. Instinct.

The flames give a roar then, a roar that might make a dragon jealous as they leap upward and outward. Wings take shape in the burning light, first one, then two and three. They grow, multiply until nine wings shine forth, crystalline in the fire.

Bonded...

The many-voices focus on the Human (Human? That does not fear?) speaking. Calling. They listen as the nine winged aquatic-yet-avian firebeast grows in size. It had begun at about the size of a California condor. It expands to that which matches the measurements of a Roc hatchling.

[morphitudinous]

Yes.

That's encouraging, to say the least. That bond had never died during the process, but now he feels it warming and strengthening like never before.

But I can wait a while longer. They had time.