trans_9 | Purifying a Miasma... Maybe.

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Purifying a Miasma... Maybe.

It was a long, thoughtful walk to the Shrine. The odd, high-pitched whine of something Wrong had faded just as soon as she'd entered Religion Row, and Miku spent the rest of her time rubbing her ears to remove the tickle. It was hard to explain to other people the exact feelings that came with her ability.

But Cargn... understood. To a point, she supposed (considering, of course, that he didn't have eyes and hers were still very much attached). But even that point was much more than someone who had never experienced that plummet of heart and stomach, the loss of color from the world, or the shrill, lingering whine of getting closer and closer to something that shouldn't have been there in the first place. Miku sighed as she entered the Shrine of the Aquila and started looking for her sensei, and his little, strange helper.

"Viginti-san? Cargn-sensei? I'm here," Miku called, and her voice echoed oddly in the Shrine. No, she was never going to get used to how creepy that was.

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Miku hesitated before the ghost of the woman. She was beat and bruised, the coloration of her flesh in the monochrome world was bluish white in some places, and worrying dark grey in others.

Worse, she could smell old blood, thick and coppery. "Show... show me."

Big Zero reached and her fingers touched, then went through Miku's forehead.

There were flashes of images, fast and hazy at first but they then slowed and came into focus. A woman, Big Zero, being beaten. Stepped on. Punched. The chair she was tied to thrown to the ground. But all that could be seen of the person responsible was the blurred form of a young man.

Miku was hardly prepared for the invasion of her senses, never mind the awful rip and tear sensation of her warm soul being taken away bit by ~~blue lifebar~~ bit.

So, she did what any poor soul would do in the same situation; Her hands found BZ's shoulders, scrambled there for a minute to find purchase on her ghostly form. Miku screamed (http://community.livejournal.com/trans_channel/270573.html) high and sharply in incredible pain, and pushed BZ back with all her might.

It was now time to run.

"You're not getting away." Big Zero was dead. She didn't need to run. Which was why, if Miku happened to look behind, she would see Big Zero hovering over the floor, rushing at her.

"YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY!"

Why were the dead always faster than she was? Why?

Hurt and reeling from the speed of BZ's attack, Miku was much slower than she wanted to be. Her bare feet felt bruised as she kept running. Was Big Zero still behind her? Had she managed to escape for the moment from the angry dead?

"Run, run, I have to... I have to run. Oh god, oh god... I don't want to die...!"

"HE KILLED ME!"

Sorry, Miku.

Not really.

Miku screamed again and took off for the Hub. There were voices coming over the comm ring, and while Miku ran, she tried to give them answers, she really, really did.

"C-camera! I need my camera! Get it... the... the box, the box in my room, open it, don't look in the viewfinder, just... just bring it to the Hub...!"

Meanwhile, she hoped she could just keep running.

"I'M GOING TO SUCK OUT YOUR SOUL!" The voice echoed all around. She was close.

Miku made a noise somewhere between a whimper and a sob. There was no time to catch her breath; eventually, there would be no place to safely run and hide. People would have heard her scream, and Steve was on his way now. It was time to give into ~~dis pear~~ despair.

"I'm going to die this time, I'm really going to die. Oh god, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry." Her lungs burned with effort, and a stitch had formed in her side, rendering it even harder to get away. But the Hub... the Hub wasn't too far from here. If she could just make it...

Big Zero screamed. She was so close. She reached out to try and touch Miku.

It was warm, so warm when BZ touched Miku. Not BZ, of course. BZ felt more like ten thousand icicles being dug into her back where the nightgown doesn't cover, and more of Miku's soul was drawn away from the her, into BZ. Miku cried out again and pitched herself forward, out of the ghost's grasp.

Despite Steve's pleas to hang on it was getting harder and harder. "Stay... stay away..!"

When he'd been woken by the screams from his comm-ring, he hadn't hesitated. In fact, he hadn't even wasted time putting on anything more than his pants. After leaving his room, he hadn't heard anything else from the Living Area level, so that meant the City was the most likely bet, and that's where he zipped as fast as he could, floating in the air only briefly after exiting the tubes of the Hub.

"Stay...stay away...!" came to his ears, far and faint, and that was enough to get him flying in the right direction, until he found the source of the screams.

She was...fighting nothing.

Okay, so this was either all in her head, or--geez, crazy thought--something he couldn't see. Given he'd once been possessed by Deadman, he was willing to give that whole "Something he couldn't see" thing the benefit of a doubt.

Without a second thought, he swooped in and scooped Miku up into the air, assuming that it'd put some distance between her and her possibly-existent attacker.

"What's going on? What's wrong?"

Edited 2010-12-04 07:41 (UTC)

At first, Miku went as still as the grave in Kon's arms. Did ghosts fly? Could they? ...Had one just picked her up? She tried to wriggle out of Kon's grasp, until she realized that he wasn't pulling her soul from her skin, and she could catch her breath.

Which she did before she replied, "Dead... there's a dead woman and she... is coming after me." The stitch in her side eased. "We need to get to the Hub, Steve has my camera."

Yes, Kon, the little Japanese girl said camera not weapon.

You know what? Whatever floats your boat, tiny girl.

"I'm not really sure right now's a time to take some snapshots, but if you think that'll help..."

To the Hub they go!

She said she'd be in the Hub. She said she'd be in the Hub. She said she'd be in the Hub.

SHE SAID SHE'D BE IN THE HUB.

Steve was already in the Hub by the time they even got close, holding Miku's ornate old camera (what the hell did she want the camera for, anyway? It didn't sound like she was in any kind of state for photo opportunities!) There was no sign of her. Steve was having a mild heart attack.

"Miku! Miku, where are you?" he was yelling into his commring. "Come on, Miku, please be okay!"

"It's for the ghost!" Miku said and pushed her hair out of her face.

She couldn't stop trembling, though. Her head felt like it was going to float off her body, and where Big Zero had touched hurt so much. The sooner they got to the Hub, she thought the better.

So one could imagine her relief when she saw Steve waiting for them, with the Camera Obscura in hand. "...Oh, thank goodness, there's Steve."

"I didn't know you can take down ghosts with a touching Kodak moment."

Superboy swooped in for a landing and gently placed her on the ground.

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's that really buff Kon guy, shirtless and carrying Miku around!

What?

Steve rushed up to them as soon as they'd landed, still breathless from running with his face turning red. "What's going on? Are you okay?" he instantly asked Miku, shoving the camera into her hands. And why is that Junior Bodybuilder Guy not wearing a shirt? went unspoken.

"I'll... be okay." She thought. She wasn't really sure and her expression reflected that. "It's more important the the both of you go now. I... don't want you to get hurt." Because really, how were they going to fight something they couldn't see?

"You didn't look in the viewfinder, did you?" Miku asked as her fingers flew over the little clips on the old camera, opening it up and adjusting the lenses.

"Yeah, sure, we'll just leave you here to face whatever ghosty thing it is, by yourself, with no backup."

Eyeroll.

"I'll stay back, but I'm not just ditching you here with...whatever."

Some kind of ghost that could hurt people? Could it suck out their life force or something? Was it a ghost-pire?

Edited 2010-12-04 08:43 (UTC)

"I didn't look in the viewfinder," Steve replied. Now he'd answered her question while she conveniently avoided answering most of his. Kon helped him on one count, though. "You're telling me it's a ghost? A ghost is attacking you?"

That pissed him off more than some half naked guy carrying her around.

"I'm not going anywhere until I know you're safe!"

Girls were tricky like that, Steve.

"Well, it... I..." Miku looked down at the filament on the camera to make sure it wasn't a soft, dim red yet. "It's a ghost, yes. Of that woman. The one that was Punished. Since I have the Camera, I'll be just fine but you won't be. How are you supposed to keep me safe from something you can't see?" She looked between the two men, with a worried frown.

Well, gentlemen?

"If you're in trouble, I can fly you out. Either way, I can spot protective boyfriend vibes from a mild away, so I can tell he's not going anywhere until it's done and you're safe, and I'm not going anywhere until you're both safe."

So there. Do your thing, but he ain't leaving.

Yeah, damn skippy "protective boyfriend vibes," Mister Six Pack. Once the camera was out of his hands, Steve reached down to his hip and pulled out one of his machineguns.

Yeah, they probably didn't work on ghosts, but it was better than standing there like an idiot. "I'll get out of the way and let you do your thing but I'm not going anywhere!" he argued. Especially not if so and so here was going to save the day.

So... stubborn! You are going to get an earful about this later, Steve, but now isn't the time. Miku sighed and looked through the viewfinder of her camera.

"Fine then, but if I tell you to move, please do so." Polite to the end, even in her nightie. "And do it quickly. Ghosts don't get tired."

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