Cloudsea - The Chronicle of Alice Van Vaugen

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"You are an idiot, Fenrose."

Qhen and Free often talked, in Qhen's mind. They had gotten better and better at it- to the point where, to this conversation, the world was moving in slow motion. It was fascinating, watching that creature move ever so closer, massive claws outstretched. . .

It was all part of the training, of course. Qhen and Free needed to be of one mind if they were going to fully explore the extend of their powers. Mind you, this didn't expect the two of them to see eye to eye. Qhen thought being 'of one mind' was more about being able to understand each other without words. Being in agreement did not necessarily mean you shared the same mind. Two creatures can share the same general idea and see it from completely different viewpoints. . .

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"Only a fool would follow an idiot."

"I never claimed to be wise. After all, I am a part of you."

"HA! You're getting better at this. I'm going to be real disappointed if this kills me before we get a chance to explore that sense of humor you're developing."

"Then why are you doing this? Your cloak is running quite threadbare. Even if you survive the attack, you will be defenseless."

"I don't know. Because. . ."

". . ."

"Because Alice is a very good friend to me, and this is the only way I know how to repay her. Just like with Viss."

"Hmm. Not exactly the truth- not exactly a lie. Interesting. Brace for impact."

CRACK. The claw smashed into them- quite heavily. Their exposed skeleton strained and fractured under the force of the blow, as threads of blood wove themselves into the wounds, mending them quickly. . . Which is why Qhen had not bothered wasting any energy on defending themselves. The rest of this would go towards getting some sort of counter attack in, while they were at the perfect range.

. . .Point blank. The perfect range for Qhen is point blank.

. . .Qhen knows what they're about!

Free-Qhen uses Freeform- Hah? Wah-GAH!

Someone grabbed them and HAULED backwards, pulling them down to the ground. Gunfire- That was Alice's gun! It barked loudly- almost as loudly at the wolf-beast did when it roared in response to the explosive shell crushing against it's chest moments before detonating. A pop- the sound of an empty shell hitting the ground, and another shot.

Which means that was not Alice pinning Qhen down against the ground.

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"And which one of you do I thank for foolishly trying to save my life? I HAD them-"

"Who do you think it is, you idiot?! The only thing you had was a stupid plan to STUPIDLY use the last of your energy. I doubt you had any idea if it was going to actually work."

". . . Viss. . .?"

"WHO ELSE would waste their whole life taking care of you!? Who else would risk everything just to keep you alive, you- STUPID is not a good enough word for you! Alice! Words!"

"A-Ah.. Uh- - .. Um. . .dull, dumb, foolish, irrelevant. . . ludicrous. . . naive, senseless... shortsighted, simple-"

"Thank you, Alice. Those words, Qhen! Those words! Alice, it's getting up again! Keep it down while I lecture this- shortsighted, naive simpleton!"

POP-POOM! The beast roared again. It was further away.

Qhen flexed their hands and feet. They could still move. . . They had energy left. Not a lot, but some. Probably could just get up and push Viss off- But Qhen was not THAT stupid. Viss would not forgive an insult like that. . .

Oh well. The longer they laid here, the more minute fragments of energy they were slowly regaining.

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"And where is everybody else? Is it just you two...?"

"Extenuating Circumstances. Sebastian has gone missing, and Judith was keeping an eye on Earl. He was having some sort of religious breakdown. And don't change the subject. What would I do if you did something dumb like injure yourself, or worse? Hm? What THEN?"

"That actually kind of hurts- could you not dig your elbow directly into my shoulder blade like that- and besides. . . You told me after our argument that maybe I should just stop being so close. . ."

"I-DIDN'T-EXPECT-YOU-TO-AGREE!"

"Really, I didn't- but you were really mad at me at the time-"

"I WAS MAD BECAUSE YOU WEREN'T MAD! I've essentially been leading you around on a leash, and I've killed people that have gotten too close to you for my own comfort! I was using you to make myself happy by giving myself purpose! And you acted like it was all in the past!"

"It >IS< in the past. Unless you planned on killing Alice or something if I expressed interest in her, or something like that."

"Uh- What was that?"

"DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT. JUST KEEP THAT THING AWAY FROM US. QHEN. FENROSE."

"Ooh. Are you mad at me again? I already told you, Viss. Being sorry isn't going to fix those things you did, or bring back Mister Fenrose. I appreciate that you told me the truth, but I don't want you to be sorry. I just want you to move on. We'll never find what we're looking for if we just live in the past forever."

". . . Well, I'm- -HSTTTtt- SORRY if I'm just not that kind of girl, Qhen! I'm a terrible little monster who gets her kicks out of being a sensual tease and making people bleed for stepping out of line- especially when it pertains to threatening the people I want to learn how to love! I live in the past! It shaped me! It made me what I am today! I cannot just ignore it because it's inconvenient!"

"I didn't tell you to forget it- I just-. . .Apology accepted. Now what did you just do?"

"Do you. . . feel better?"

". . .VISS. . .?"

"Oh shut up. It's just a little blood. I wasn't sure if this would work. Hmm. It's kinda pretty. It's mingling with the fibers of your cloak and growing out a bit. . . So I'm PRESUMING it's working. . . Is that enough?"

"Viss please stop bleeding on me, this is weird, and also why would you even think to do that."

"I mean- You're POWERED BY BLOOD. It's pretty obvious, and actually, This cut's a little deeper than I intended, So I don't think I can just- Ahh- HEY-"

Qhen rolled out from under Viss, knocking her over, while bringing an arm up to catch her. Alice loaded another shell, a little absent-mindlessly, as she watched Qhen pull Viss closer.

Viss stared at Qhen, who grabbed her bleeding hand, and pulled it up to their face. Okay. Good. This was happening. Alice was watching this and it was happening. She fired again, and checked her pouch. Using just the weak exploding shot. . . She had 4 more left. Okay. Oh wow. That is an interesting use of that power. That probably feels weird. Viss doesn't look unhappy with- Oh DAMN-

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"GUYS? I HAVE FOUR-" *pop-BOOM!* "THREE more shells left! If you're done cleaning each other's wounds, could you please HELP?"

". . .There. It stopped bleeding. We'll talk later."

"Uh- Yeah- Yeah. Later. We can talk later. Um- That was kinda cool. I didn't know you could do that."

"To be fair, Viss, you know a lot about me, in reference to our time in the Pit. You haven't spent much time trying to get to know me recently."

". . .Well- I didn't know you'd gone and reinvented yourself or-"

"TWO LEFT!"

". . .Captain is gonna be mad if we don't do our job, Qhen."

"Mm. You're the one holding onto me, still."

"Shut up. Don't get punched by a terrifying canine-beast again."

"If I don't, then one of you two will, and that is just something I can't allow. You're both-. . . Special to me."

"I'll take that. Okay- Alice! Let it get back up! Qhen, can you pin it without getting killed?"

"Probably."

"Good. Do that. Especially the not dying part. Or Alice and I will die of grief."

Free-Qhen got up and sprinted right at the monster. They channeled some of their energy into their hands- creating sheathes of energy around their claws. . .Hm. It really was pretty. This swirling mixture of rich, red blood and bright, almost luminescent light-blue blood. . . It solidified, and instantly, their arms caught fire.

The beast got up, looking almost no worse for wear, despite the number of explosive shells it had taken to the face and torso. There were some marks that resembled burns, and the air was start to smell like burning. . . Fur? Fur and something rotten, and it's eyes were glowing a furious red. . . Some of the pipes sticking out of it's flesh were cracked, leaking fluid of- various types on the ground. This was actually kinda gross.

The impact was solid, and Free-Qhen grabbed the beast's claws, and essentially just tried to push back against their overwhelming force, the two of them being locked in a violent shoving contest and- Oh.

Qhen actually sorta forgot that this thing had a face with a mouth full of razor sharp metallic teeth. It's head swung down and began to chew on Qhen's right shoulder- the sound of grinding bone and metal was also kind of horrible.

Alice was at a loss for words.

First, Qhen was currently locked in combat with this monster straight out of her nightmares. When it had first come barreling at her, she had frozen- and if not for Qhen and Viss' intervention. . . She put a hand over her chest, and her torso began to ache. . . She heard a dull dump in her ears that almost sounded like a heartbeat, and for a brief second- she could almost taste blood. . .

Second, despite all of what was going on- when Qhen left to get into a fight with that- thing. . . Viss fell to the ground! She was bent over, kneeling, propping herself up with a single claw, the other gripping her dagger, which she had plunged into the weird ground underneath her. She wasn't sure if they were all seeing the same thing- but to Alice, it looked like she was fighting in-

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A graveyard, Hm? Interesting, and appropriate. I will enjoy burying you- Meddler.

Alice whipped around, and came face to face with- someone she did not recognize. She wanted to scream, but couldn't. The clawed hand at her throat helped repress that urge. Their other hand wrapped around her back, and held her in place. They were a little shorter than her, but were leaning up, staring into her eyes with a truly terrifying visage on their face. It wasn't just that they were smiling. It wasn't just the terrible ill-fitting suit that smelled like someone had died in it. It wasn't even just that they were clearly in a position to kill her.

It was those eyes. They were beautiful, almost alluring. . . but behind them, she saw. She understood that kind of flowery prose now, where someone looked into someone's eyes in a story- and saw something. Some saw love. Some saw fear. Some saw insanity.

Alice saw nothing. It was like she was staring into the voidspace.

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Hello, Alice van Vaugen, I am- *quiet cough* "Sorry. I'm sure it was hard for you to understand me like that. Hello. You are Alice van Vaugen, yes? The girl who died one day. One night I had a dream, where if I killed you, I would finally understand why the universe was so unfair. So here we are. Of course, I get your situation- you have many allies. As do I. So- I wanted to leave it up to a game. We're going to very quietly walk this way, while your friend desperately tries to fight her darkest natures. . . "

"And we're going to watch them futilely fight against my Volf. If they win, I'll let you go. If I win, I'll squeeze a little harder. Of course, I haven't exactly disabled your ability to fight back- so if you'd like to reach for that gun, we can see if you're even half as good to deserve those that serve you. . . Oh! If it helps sweeten the pot, we can talk while we watch them fight. I'm sure you have some questions. I also have some caramels, if those literally sweeten the pot for you at all. How about it?"

. . . Alice would actually really like it if maybe she could get a message out to Viss or Qhen, but they're both- busy. Breaking their concentration could be really bad. Mm. Uh- Don't suppose the ghosts care to weigh in on this decision?

( ) Go with [Suit].
( ) Go for the gun.