Overshadowed [Semi-open, see note]

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

He had never trusted Stacy. He couldn't quite remember why, but since the meet and greet he had felt even a sense of hatred towards her.

This time though, she took away someone he held very dear to him. Luna Lovegood. Lovely Luna.

He had posted on the comms, hoping that someone would know where she was, but he was almost wishing he hadn't. Not with the response he got, and how much more that hurt than not knowing at all. As he read Katara's response, his hands shook, and the comm fell from his hands. He stormed out his room door, leaving Alice behind without his sweatshirt for the first time in her whole life. He wasn't sure where his feet were carrying him, but he didn't care. He just needed to move. It couldn't be true. He finally met someone who really understood him, who could really accept him, who was okay with him, however broken he was. And Stacy took that away from him,

He eventually found himself in front of the entrance to the pod caverns. Luna was in there.

He began banging on the door, which quickly escalated into him using his powers. His fists were cloaked in shadows; a power Alex had not known he could use, but he was too upset to even register this. All he knew was that he had to get in there. He had to get Luna back.

And then he no longer could control his body, even though tears continued to stream down his cheeks. He turns and heads back into the ship, the shadow visibly looming around him to everyone, and it has one goal; to cause as many shadows as it can.

[IM me or post on the plotting post to join in. He can be attacking you, or you could be trying to stop him. People close to him getting hurt can cause him to snap out of it, though someone who has emotion-related powers can probably be more effective.]

Comments

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara knew it would probably have been a good idea to stay out of it: between what had happened with Renne and The Outsiders and Matt, she was having way too much on her plate: she knew it was likely she was going to exhaust herself. But what could she do? She knew what Alex was going through, even if she hadn't had a person she could accurately remember after Stacy podded them again. For her she figured that might be a good thing, if only to spare her the pain that she might not see them again. That Luna would be the first she remembered weighed hard, but right now she needed to find Alex.

So she cleared her mind and walked to his quarters, only to find Alice squeaking around, looking more than a little agitated which further worried her. Where would he go? She cuddled Alice a moment, then decided she had to take action. She took the rat in her arms and walked down to hydroponics bay, where Zhin was resting with her paws around her head. When she saw Katara with Alice she snapped to attention.

Katara took the alien dog's head in her hands. I have to look after Alice's owner, but I don't know what kind of state he'll be in. Will you please look after his rat Alice?

Zhin blinked, and slowly allowed Alice to crawl on top of her before tuning and heading deeper into Hydroponics with a rat between her shoulder blades. Katara nodded and was now headed to the Sensoriums to check there when she figured that Alex would likely be exactly where she mentioned Luna would be: the pods. She ran towards that direction and practi9cally ran into Alex, who was leaving the place.

"Alex!" She exclaimed, then paused when she saw the shadows looming around him. She swallowed nervously. "Can I talk to you?"

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex looked to her, tears still streaming from his eyes, but they didn't hold any of the light they normally did.

Rather than saying anything, shadows formed around his fist and he swung at Katara with more speed than he normally could, as if the shadow was leading his fist, rather than his fist the shadow. If it were to connect, it would feel more like Alex was swinging with a rock rather than his own fist.

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

Tavros returns to the room he and Alex share, moving fast, grinning a little.

"Hey, you'll never, uh, guess what I--"

He stops as one of his wheels strikes something on the floor. For a horrible moment he worries it was Alice, but when he finally works up the nerve to back up, he's relieved to see it's just Alex's omnicomm.

Wait.

Alex's omnicomm? He's never seen the guy without it.

"Uh... Alex?"

No answer from the bathrooms, either. Tavros leans down and carefully retrieves the device. It's an impressive little balancing act with his horns making him top-heavy, but he manages to snag it. And after reading Alex's most recent posted messages, he speeds off toward the pods. He's not sure who Luna is, but he knows Alex's opinion of Stacy and can guess how well he took the news.

Even with this in mind, he's still stunned to see Alex taking a swing at Katara.

"K-Katara! Alex, what... what the hell's going on?"

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Normally Katara would have expected a swing: she was an accomplished martila artist and a master waterbender, not to mention a starting novice as a Bene Gesserit. Considering it was Alex though, Katara was completely caught off guard and took the swing to the shoulder. The blow connected and Katara recoiled immediately, then heard the exclamation from Tavros.

"Alex, its me!" Katara said, trying to appeal to his good senes, and turned to Tavros. "Get back, I'm not sure he's in his best state!"

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex turned to Tavros, ignoring Katara's pleas. The shadow caused him to smile, contrasting the tears still falling from his eyes. He ran forward, throwing another swing at Tarvos this time, smiling. The shadow around him wasn't as dense as the one he had around him when he had shared his vision, but it was visible even though he wasn't sharing his vision with them. As were the shadows around his lower arms and fists.

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

Tavros stares, frozen, at this completely bizarre spectacle. Alex, shrouded in shadows again, smiling and crying those strange clear tears. Something's wrong, but Tavros doesn't fully understand what or how he should stop it.

He snaps out of it with a muffled egh after Alex swings and punches him in the face. Reeling, he fumbles for the wheels and tries to get away from his suddenly insane friend.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"Alex, NO!" Katara said, and took a breath before freezing the ground between Tavros and Alex, hoping to give them room. She rushed toward teh two and knocked tavros out of the way, her heart beating fast. She was going to have to be quick about this.

"Tavros, get help!" She said, bringing water from her pouch in hopes of quelling any of Alex's attacks. "I'll hold him off. He's not in his rght mind!"

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex was watching from inside his own body, unable to do anything as he attacked his friends. He wanted to stop. He was desperate to stop, but the shadow refused to let him have control, feeding off his desperation and his fear. It was only making it easier for the shadow to remain in control.

The shadows around his hands disappeared, to be replaced by several tendrils from behind his back. They shot out towards Katara, attempting to restrain her as he scowled in irritation.

[dhianeila.livejournal.com]

Dhianeila had felt it before she was even alerted on the omnicomm. A sudden shift in emotion-- a shift to something anguished, enraged. Something she hadn't felt before from a boy like Alex.

Thankfully, she had the ability to send her projection anywhere on the ship she knew well enough. Appearing in the caverns, she let out a small gasp at the scene. She was worried, and more than anything, eager to help - if there was any way to ease these emotions and stop him from resorting to violence, she'd do whatever she could to help.

"Alex!" she called out to him.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex didn't outwardly acknowledge Dhianeila's presence, though inside Alex wanted to call out for her to run, to leave. Please, don't see him like this. At least kill me, kill me so I can stop. I can't stop. It won't let me stop. I want to stop. He was fighting, but his distress was only making it harder for him to regain control. He continued to attack Katara. At least he wasn't very strong. Maybe someone could restrain him, hold him back.

This was nothing like when he dissociated. When he dissociated, he didn't care. He was just observing while not in control of his body. Disconnected. And he ran on autopilot. He didn't go around hurting people.

If he could just sit back, if he could just escape...

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara couldn't seem to stop him, but she knew she could hold him back: she was just trying to wear him down. The pain was still ringing all over her body, since Alex kept punching and the tendrils of shadow kept her, but that didn't mean she couldn't manipulate water still. She decided the easiest thing to do, what she could manage, was to keep Alex's concentration on her.

So she brought her hand up feebly and a dome of water surrounded them, making it harder for Alex to see, and throwing a sharp blow by a water tentacle near his way.

This might get that woman, whoever she was, to reach him.

[dhianeila.livejournal.com]

She shut her eyes briefly, concentrating. Dhianeila felt the waves of violence to strongly, but somewhere, wrapped up deep inside of them she could feel the desperate will to stop, to cease. And the feeling of helpless sorrow over being unable to control it.

Still, though, perhaps there was some way to snap him out of it. Some way without violence. Dhianeila had another idea, but...

For now, she moved closer, raising her voice to a desperate plea. "Alex! Alex! Please stop this!"

((If we bring in Shiki he can actually get rid of the shadow controlling Alex))

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

The desperation and anguish surged, but the shadow was unmoved by Alex. The water tentacle, however, knocked Alex off-balance. He managed to hold onto Katara still, though the attacks stopped for the time being.

I don't want to do this. I don't want to be here. I want to get away. I want to stop. His shadow controlled body stopped moving, leaving Alex staring forward. It was waiting, confused as to what had just attacked it. It was trying to make sense of the odd dome around it. Meanwhile, the intensity of Alex's feeling of despair rose.

Re: ((If we bring in Shiki he can actually get rid of the shadow controlling Alex))

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara couldn't let this stand by itself: Alex was hurting, the shadows were taking him over and making him seem violent and uncontrollable! What if security got wind of him?

She could not let that happen.

Then don't. Katara opened her mind. Leave, Steady yourself Alex. I know it hurts...I've lost teachers and friends this way, it all hurt. I'm sorry. I cared a lot about her too, and to take her...

Despite the pain, she sent a feeling of understanding to Alex. She would miss her too.

Re: ((If we bring in Shiki he can actually get rid of the shadow controlling Alex))

[dhianeila.livejournal.com]

Dhianeila, where she physically sat in her room, felt a shudder run through her body. The intensity of the shadow was something else, and it was clear that it wasn't planning to let Alex go. There had to be a way to drive it away-- or at the very least weaken it.

Her projection had a moment of unmove, as she weighed her options. Perhaps she could, but she wondered if she'd wind up hurting Alex in the process ... that was one thing she didn't want to do. But considering the power of the shadow, the fact that Katara was in danger, and if Alex left this area...

She quickly moved forward, arms outstretched to reach for Alex. Be it Alex or the shadow itself, there was the feeling of something ghostly brushing up against him as her hands closed in on his face. There was a surge of feeling, of emotion-- her own, as well as Katara's and Tavros', so intensified and focused on the shadow itself. The want for it to leave, the hope for Alex to please calm down in a mix of feelings of concern and care for him.

At the very least, it could weaken the shadow enough to let somebody else finish it off, maybe even allow Alex to resume control.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

The surge was too much for Alex. His mind did what it knew it could do when things were to much to handle, allowing Alex to retreat and become a dispassionate observer.

But the surge was enough to eclipse the shadow completely, breaking it's connection with Alex's mind. The tendrils dissipated, and the cloud around him faded, sending Alex to his knees.

[dhianeila.livejournal.com]

And just as that happened, Dhianeila's projection simply blinked away.

This is for you Zetta <3

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Nothing more could really be done than have Alex sleep and rest. His sleep was fitful, and only a few hours later he woke up, his mind back in his own body.

He opened his eyes to the familiar ceiling of the medbay. At first he was not sure of why he was there, but then the recent events came rushing back. He groaned and rolled over, pulling his pillow over his head. How could he have done that? Any of that?

Poor Alex. :D

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Man," said a familiar voice. "You have rough days that make me feel like I got off light just losing my body."

You seem too happy about that! XD

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex groaned again and pulled the pillow tighter over his head, feeling even worse, "I kn-know... I-I'm p-pathetic..."

Hyaa ha ha ha ha!

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Pathetic? Yeah," Zetta agreed. "But only because you're hiding. You screwed up, right? THAT isn't pathetic. Everyone screws up.

"Even Overlords," Zetta said quickly and kinda quietly.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex ignored Zetta, pulling his knees up to his chest with his back to Zetta.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"I don't know why you think that will work," the Overlord said. "I'm Zetta. I talk loud, long, and awesome. So, you can listen to the Overlord who you said, not long ago, already helped you out once, or I can just keep talking anyway... But hey, only you can really say if you feel right about trying to ignore someone who came to help you out."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

His voice was weak, "J-jus' leave m-me alone..."

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Why? So you can beat yourself up in peace? Heh heh..." The Overlord seemed amused, but at the same time, deadly serious. "No, Alez. That would be too easy. I'm gonna ask something much, much harder of you."