trans_9 | Are you afraid of the Darksoul? [Part 2]

Eva's off-guard, wandering around the Great Wall of China and letting her mind roam. She's thinking back to when she and Peter, pretending they had the finances for it and the patience for such a flight, considered China as a honeymoon destination. Thinking back to when Edriss had pointed it out to her as the Pool Ship invisibly circled Earth.

Malevolence seizes her mind and instantly, she knows she's being invaded again, and by nothing good. The terror she feels gives her just enough time to fight back and grab the revolver from her hip and fling it over the wall, but before she can act on the impulse to tie her own hands or find some way to incapacitate herself, it's taken full control.

And besides, who needs a gun when you have a trident and can shoot soulfire? Filled to the brim with the violence of the Darksoul, Eva storms off in search of Iniss, or anyone else unfortunate enough to try and get in the way of years of pent-up rage and frustration.

Katara had read the message, and had rushed to see what she could do to help. She wasn't insane enough to go and fight anyone, not after the Steve mess, but they would likely need a healer after all of this, and one as soon as possible. This was, actually, a lot like what happened with Steve: who knew how many more people would get hurt when this demon stuff got out of control? She had to do something.

And that was when she spotted Eva with a trident. It struck her as odd: since when did she have anything like that? In fact, hadn't she seen that before?

"Um, Eva? Are you ok? What are you doing with that?"

Eva keeps walking straight past Katara, her face set into a hideous glare and her jaw clenched. "Out of my way, pathetic child. I've come to dispose of that worthless slug and rid the ship of that vermin once and for all."

NOW she knew where she'd seen the trident before: the voice, in fact, was something of away that this was definitely not Eva. No, this was that demonic whatever thing that was loose on the ship.

She was being possessed, AGAIN, just like with the Yeerk. she couldn't let that happen to her.

So Katara took a long breath, pulling out her water from the bottle and bending it to wrap around Eva tightly.

"I can't let you do that."

"What are you going to do, deliver another sanctimonious speech about unity and trust until you bore me to death? Rain some earnest tears on me?" The sarcasm is all Eva, but under her own will Eva would never speak to Katara like that. The vindictiveness is entirely Darksoul.

She struggles against the water, working the trident out to point it at Katara. "I will not be contained! I've spent seven years restricted by others and it will never, never happen again! Now get out of my way or suffer my wrath, child!"

With that, she fires a burst of soulfire at Katara.

Katara gritted her teeth. That hurt a little, but she knew that real Eva wouldn't have said it. This thing, whatever it was, was making her say it, and now it was making her do something that would get her hurt or even imprisoned.

"No thank you," she said. "I'd save them for my friend. You're possessing her, and I'm not going to stand for it. You get out of her now. I won't have her being made to do things again! The Yeerks were enough!"

She moved out of the way, but had the water trip the woman nonetheless: she was thankfully quick enough to be multi-tasking. She'd need to think fast, though, to keep Eva contained.

That hits a nerve, deep down, somewhere."Do you think I came here looking for your pity, girl? Did you expect me to come crawling and begging for whatever scraps of sympathy you were going to toss my way? I have power now! Ancient force courses through me! I won't be a victim anymore, not to Yeerks or to self-righteous teenagers and their parlor tricks!"

She trips on the water, but before she hits the ground she's levitating, pulling herself back into a standing position and firing more soulfire at Katara.

Katara narrowed her eyes. "I'm talking to HER, not you! Even if you have powers and she really wants to take down that Yeerk, it won't make a difference if she knows something made her do it. I'm the one that cares about her being a victim, you just want to carry out her vengeance. It's not going to happen!"

Uh oh, she could fly. She was also shooting some kind of fire at her too. She was lucky enough to dodge it, and now she decide to do something she KNEW would make Eva mad.

That water Eva slipped on? Turned into something like a whip and hit her, hard, right in the back of her neck.

Ooh, if only Master Pakku could see her now, he'd wince, remembering when she did the same to him.

Eva shrieks in rage, pain and panic. There are still old scars there, from the restraints on the portable Kandrona. Like her ears, it took her more than a year to control her recoil response to being touched consensually there, much less attacked. For a moment she cringes, before baring the trident again. "I've had enough of you. I've had enough of your insistence that I'd be better a passive wreck than the mighty being I am now. You'll regret impeding me, brat! You'll regret the day that bleeding heart of yours decided to play hero!"

More soulfire, and Eva keeps a few inches off the ground to avoid slipping on any ice Katara might put down. Now's she's aiming for Katara's hands, figuring that would be the best way to harness Katara's bending.

"You aren't mighty, you're targeting someone for the fun of it. And as far as being a hero, I'll tell you what I've told everyone else a thousand times: I'm NOT a hero, I'm just doing what I think is right!"

Which is why Katara is not going to be standing still, not for a moment. She has every intention of making sure that Eva is going to be contained, and though she has no idea how the others are being taken care of, she had no intention of having them do it to Eva. When she has the right moment, she blows out, and the water in the city starts to wrap around Eva, clinging to her like tentacles and starting to harden. she made doubly sure that the trident was frozen with her.

"Sorry Eva," she said, "but I don't want you to get hurt."

For all her frantic thrashing, Eva's trapped. The most she can do is continue to scream and rage at Katara, anger and fear building with every minute she can't move her body.

Why the Light could not bestow upon Its paladins that were not human something other than a horse, Nehaalista didn't know. Still, the creature tore through the city towards the Wall at a pace Nehaalista appreciated. She fairly crackled with holy energy, and - considering it was a demon running around - hadn't skimped on not wearing her armor.

She might look like a demon incarnate, but she was certainly there to help. [I've come to exorcise her,] Nehaalista signed as the necklace translated.

katara was not going to make any quick judgements about Nehaa: the moment she saw her approaching, she motioned for her to come toward them. She had bound Eva's hands and feet so she wouldn't move, though the Trident was still frozen in the ice. THAT object Katara didn't trust.

"Here she is," she said. "Please hurry-I don't know how long until she wakes up!"

She'd worry about why the necklace was translating her words later.

Nehaalista nodded. With the woman knocked out, it made it easier, but only just. A demon was a demon. It could easily be playing dead. She knelt beside Eva and lowered her head, placing a hand across Eva's brow.

No words were spoken, but the wash of holy power flowing from Nehaalista simply meant that perhaps she didn't need such loud recitations (not that she could say them anyway). May the Light take you, creature, for this woman's body is not yours, and your foul presence is unwelcome. The Light compels you out. Be gone. Be gone, creature. Nehaalista prayed. The holy power shot into Eva's body, to injure the Darksoul within.

Daimon arrived in time to not so much see but feel Nehaa's attack. He had to stop walking for a moment and simply stare.

It seemed that Damon Halestrom's choice in women was to be commended.

Recognizing (temporary) defeat, the darksoul left Eva. She breathed out a black cloud that dissipated though the feeling of foreboding did not.

I like this one, Daimon. The darksoul spoke voicelessly. Even Nehaa would hear him. She has such spark. A much better choice than Patsy. Imagine putting those horns to good use.

Before anyone could respond the heavy weight that had been in the air was gone. The darksoul had moved on.

It doesn't feel anything like a Yeerk detaching. That's Eva's first thought as the exorcism jolts her back into consciousness. It doesn't feel so much like a separate consciousness being removed as it feels like being drained of all this power and rage. The magic compels her to exhale and it rushes from her lungs in that black cloud. What floods in to fill that void isn't relief, but fear, exhaustion and shame.

And there's that familiar emptiness, the reminder that there is some space, physical or not, that is once again unoccupied in her. That can easily be occupied again.

Bound as she is, she can't use her hands to cover her face or negotiate with her feet enough to stand, so she curls into the fetal position, breathing hard. "…going to take you all out for dinner," she mumbles once the Darksoul's left.

Katara had several reactions to all of this. Nehaa had her mouth agape for a few minutes. When Daimon arrived, it suddenly became clear why the demon's ranting sounded so familiar. At the closing remark though, Katara made a noise of disgust. Honestly, was everyone on this ship perverted in some way?

In any case, now that the possession was over, she had her water already working on trying to get Eva healed up, undoing the binds. She looked up at Daimon and Nehaa first.

Thank you, she mouthed to the two of them, thenshe slowly helped Eva at least sit up. "I think I'll wait until you're feeling better," she said, laughing in spite of herself.

Marco hadn't wasted any time getting there - he'd morphed osprey, and flown straight to the Great Wall.

Which meant he'd arrived just in time to see Katara with her water all over Eva, laughing.

Fuming, Marco dived down behind one of the nearby buildings, demorphing as fast as he could. He headed straight for Eva, stopping just a metre away. "Mom?" he said, voice wavering. Was it her? Or was it that...thing?

He turned his head to glare at Katara. "Do you think this is funny?" he hissed. "Are you planning to freeze her again and laugh you stupid little..."

"Marco, stop!" Eva interrupts loudly, before dropping her voice back to a normal tone. "My blood pressure's high enough today without misunderstandings. This isn't a sitcom and my head hurts."

She takes a deep breath and runs a trembling hand through her hair. She feels a bit too disoriented to play mediator. "They magicked it out of me. I'm not sure how, but you can thank Katara for that instead of yelling at her. I'm not full of evil anymore, don't worry. I'm glad you're here."

That's partially true. As much as his presence is a comfort, she doesn't like him seeing her vulnerable and damaged, thinking that somehow she can still keep up an infallible mother image that hasn't been true for years.

She turns to Katara, pausing a second to marvel at the healing capabilities of the water. "I'm sorry. For what I said, too. And my son has perfectly legitimate reasons to feel protective." She covers her neck. "You can leave my neck. I'd rather you left that one alone. Thank you for everything."

She looks between the two of them and forces a very weak smile. "I'm alright now. I just...do you think this grass would make a good bed? Because I'm very tired."

Katara couldn't help feeling a little hurt at Marco's outburst they seemed to get along all right before this, and she had to keep in mind all his mother had gone through. It had been why she hadn't started yelling back at him when he was swearing at her on the comm (although she had, just a little).

Still, Eva was all right, and that was what mattered. "Nehaa was the one that got the demon part out, I just subdued you, that's all. And you don't have to apologize for what you said: I could tell it wasn't you, and I wasn't about to let it control you for long."

Although she did look down a little guiltily. "I did kind of hit you in the neck before though, just so the demon guy would focus on me. It worked on my former teacher once, so I thought I'd get his attention."

She got up and looked up at Marco. "I'm sorry I worried you. She is your mother."

Her head felt a little spinny. Never mind the fact that the demonic spirit had to get one good rub in, it had been a very long time since she'd put exorcism training to work. She gave a slight salute to Eva and the others as she stood and turned to Daimon, towering over the group of humans.

They were so tiny; how was it they managed to consistently get themselves into trouble? She would never know. [Shall we give chase, Daimon?]

"Go. I will be there in a moment." Daimon's face was blank and unreadable. He turned to Eva. "Are you hurt? I can heal you."

She shakes her head. "I'm fine. A dose of aspirin covers demonic possession, doesn't it? I just need to rest a bit, I think." Sleep would be nice. It would be a welcome alternative to trying to sort through all the emotions this has brought up. "Thank you for the exorcism," she says to Nehaa and Daimon.

Marco shot Katara one quick glare, before ignoring her completely to sit down cross-legged on the grass in front of his mother, reaching out to grasp her shoulder.

"Thanks," he said quietly to Nehaa and Daimon, not really looking at them.

Are you afraid of the Darksoul? [Part 2]

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