Castle Hydra: Next Generation

[frostmourne]

"It must have slipped his mind." Kerria said dismissively, not bothering to question it. "I'm not sure I'm anywhere near ready to be a parent though. Oh well. I'll learn." She looked up when Adele sighed. "Well, what does Death want? Last time it seemed to just try to kill anything that was close enough. I suppose that's what its suppose to do but..." Adrian watched the exchange with concern. It was obvious that Kerria's personality was still jarringly different from Aza's and although they looked similar physically, there were still small differences upon close examination. The shadow hadn't been able to cover up Kerria completely. He wondered who she had been before she had her mind wiped and was forced into her new role as a replacement. He turned his attention away from her when he noticed an overwhelming sense of grief. The sadness hung in the air like stuffy air, so strong that it made him want to crawl into a hole and never come back out. Kerria shifted uneasily, as if she knew something was off too.

[lycrawaterz14]

"What's happened?" Adele asked, the baby beginning to cry. Adele looked like she might cry too, and instead handed the baby off to Kerria. "Feed it this." She handed her what appeared to be a bottle filled with smoke.

[frostmourne]

Kerria cradled the child and took the bottle. She sang softly as she fed the baby the bottle. "Golden slumbers kiss your eyes, smiles awake you when you rise." Adrian watched the two with concern, but turned to answer Adele's question. "She got kidnapped and the shadow decided to get rid of Aza to escape. It essentially killed her and was moved to Kerria, who is now the new container and has no memory of anything after the kidnapping. There are other holes in her memory too," Adrian began, his voice low so Kerria wouldn't hear. "Sleep, little bird and fold your wings. Little blue bird with velvet eyes," Kerria continued to croon. "Sleep to the singing of mother bird swinging. Swinging to the nest where her little one lies." "Shadow realized it needed to placate Death a little, so it picked a replacement. She isn't Aza, but she has Aza's memories and bits of her personality. She looks nearly identical too," Adrian sighed. "Away in the sky I see a star. Silvery star with a tinkling song. To the soft dew falling I hear it calling. Calling and tinkling the night along." Kerria looked away from the baby so her tears wouldn't fall on the child. Adrian noticed the singing had stopped. "Kerria? Kerria, what's wrong?" he asked, walking towards her hesitantly. "I-I don't know. It's just so sad. Who is it, Adrian? Who is so very sad? So lonely and sad," she whispered, still crying quietly.

[lycrawaterz14]

The child had finally stopped crying, and Adele seemed to visibly relax. "Well... this is bad. I was going to lure Kenan back with Az-... Kerria, but I guess that's not possible... he will most likely reject her in this vulnerable sta-"

 

"Aza?!" A child's voice called. There was dragging sounds from the hallway. "Aaaaah zahhhhh!!!" It yelled, and there was an 'oof' like the child had tripped. "Come find me! I'm lost! Where's Daddy? He left! He left me here all alone and I'm lost! Ahhhh zahhh!" The child yelled and Adele paled. "That's his personality! Oh... without Death to keep him grounded who knows how long it will be before we lose him... we have to bring him and Death back together!" Adele hissed.

[frostmourne]

"Is that the one who is sad? No, that's a different sad. Kenan?" Kerria said hopefully. She walked towards the source of the voice. "Who's Aza? Should I be jealous?" she said lightly, smiling. She continued in the direction of the voice. She should be getting quiet close now. Within sight at least. She winced as the sadness increased again. It was getting worse and worse with every passing moment. Who was it? "Kenan's personality is a little kid calling for Aza when normal kids call for mommy? Why am I not surprised?" Adrian said, sounding...slightly irritated. "Should I go stop her? She'll be rather...upset if he didn't like her. How in the world are we going to explain Aza away? The shadow will kill Kerria if she found out the secret like Aza did. And how do you expect we get Death to show up?" He looked very, very frustrated. It had been a trying week struggling to keep up with Aza's insane melodramas. Organizing the engagement party and the wedding was an absolute disaster for him. Now he had to keep going with no time for grief or mourning.

[lycrawaterz14]

"Kenan can sense her even stronger this way. He needs to be kept away from her, or he will be repelled when he is brought back." She mused. "With all if these melodramatic waves Jared is putting off, Death will be drawn back here in no time. Then again, if we killed someone he would show up even faster... But Keenan's personality has to be both and where he can't see the murder.

 

There was a little blonde haired preteen wandering about. When he heard Kerria's voice he stopped and listened. "You aren't Aza." It said clearly. "I need my Aza!" It toddled towards her voice blindly, running into everything. When it reached her it laid a hand on her face and its hands moved backwards as if it burned. "WHO ARE YOU?" He cried out.

[frostmourne]

Adrian frowned and dashed after Kerria. She was going to be very, very unahppy about this. Kerria tipped her head to the side, puzzled. "I'm Kerria, sweetie. Don't you know me? Who is Aza?" she said quietly, concerned. A sharp pain shot through her head. It felt like something inside her was splintering. Adrian grabbed her and dragged her away from the boy. "I'm Kerria. I-I'm Kerria. I-I-I...Who am I? Who am I? I don't know who I am. I don't know. I-I don't-" she muttered, sounding half hysterical. "Hey! Kerria. Calm down. I know you're confused. You're Kerria. You're my brilliant, insane cousin. He probably doesn't know you yet. Aza's probably his nanny of something," Adrian said soothingly. His lies were disturbingly convincing. Kerria blinked and the headache faded like a nightmare in the light of day. "Oh. That was silly of me, wasn't it?" she mumbled. Adrian laughed quietly and kissed her forehead. "Yes, you wonderful idiot. That was silly. Don't do it again." Adrian relaxed slightly, feeling like he had just dodged a bullet. "Stay here and stay away from Kenan. I'll be back in a moment." He stood and looked around for Adele and someone to murder. He didn't mind killing an innocent bystander. Professional killer was part of the job description of the job he never signed up for, yet loved and hated.

[lycrawaterz14]

Kenan seemed incredibly confused now, and just sat down to cry.

 

Adele was attempting to have reapers locate death, but it was hard. He moved around much too quickly without a body to slow him down. "Adrian! We need the actual body too! Death has to make eye contact with the personality, and to escape killing itself they have to enter the body." She instructed, keeping a reaper waiting while she talked.

[frostmourne]

Adrian wordlessly went back to the great hall and used a few shadows to carry the body. He stopped by Adele and gestured vaguely to the body. "Where does that go? Should I take it to the personality?" he asked, constantly glancing in the direction of Kerria. She was still and silent, holding the baby. She was staring at the wall, puzzled. She placed a hand against the wall and sighed a little. "Oh, you poor thing. Can I help?" she mumbled, concern and pity in her voice. "Of course." She looked back to the child, but didn't take her hand off the wall. "Do you have a name?" she asked the baby, smiling at it. "I'm not very good at names. I'm also not very good at being your mummy. I think we can manage though. What do you think, sweetie?" The sense of sorrow lessened slightly, and Adrian relaxed a bit. She looked happier with the baby than Adrian had ever seen Aza with the child. Aza had only seen it as another unwelcome complication. Perhaps Kerria was an improvement in some ways. He had to make himself believe that. He couldn't keep functioning if he accepted that he had lost something he could never get back.

[lycrawaterz14]

The child just stared at her, gasping as it tried to make noises.

 

Keenan's body stirred, and he moaned slightly. Adele smiled, and rushed over to his side. "He's coming to. The personality is omnipotent to this area. Death just had to be close to the body, you can thank the reapers for that..." Kenan's eyelids fluttered, but they didn't move to open. He curled his fingers, as if his body was trying to take inventory. "Don't move too much, lay still. You haven't realigned."

[frostmourne]

Kerria frowned, concerned about the gasping. "Oh dear. You sound wheezy. Are you suppose to sound wheezy? It isn't from the smoke is it? You aren't getting sick are you? Sweetie, I've not a clue how to handle sick. I've never been sick." She stopped talking when she noticed Kenan was back, more or less. She looked like she was about to rush over, but suddenly paused. Adrian had told her to keep away. Why did she have to keep away? She winced and took her hand off the wall and put it against her head. It felt like her head was splitting open when she looked at him. She whimpered and shook her head violently. "Sosadwhysosad? Whoisshewhoarethey? Idon'tknowwhoIam. Idon'tknowwhoIam." she whispered rapidly, her words blurring together. "Sweetie? Sweetie? Can't you tell she isn't breathing? The silver swan who living had no note, when Death approached-Sulfur? Oh, darling. I love you. No mercy. No heart. Father? What are you-help me. What kind of roses? Don't cry, love." Her head snapped up and she looked at Adrian, half mad with pain. "She hurts! Make her go away! Who is she? Who is...Kerria? Oh, she's an absolute airhead. Good with kids though. Oh, there's Kenan. He's coming around? Good, good. Can't stay long without burning her mind. Sorry." Kerria blinked rapidly, feeling like she just had bashed her head repeatedly against a wall. There was a second voice that came in after the pause. A different voice. "Aza?" Kerria tipped her head to the side. "Who? What was I saying? Oh, right. You aren't getting sick are you? Sw-" Adrian abruptly went over and touched her head, taking the baby out of her arms. She collapsed to the ground, sleeping. "That was Aza. Just for a moment," he whispered disbelievingly. He looked happier than he had been in a while.

Edited May 25, 2013 by frostmourne

[lycrawaterz14]

The baby seemed appeased at what little attention it had gotten, if only briefly. Kenan's head turned a bit. "Whur... Muaza? Eyeneeder..." He mumbled, attempting to talk. "Hush... Just relax Death. You will see her."

[frostmourne]

"Umm...Well, I suppose I shouldn't have done that then," Adrian muttered, glancing at the unconscious figure in the ground. He prodded her slightly, hoping she would get up without further provocation. She didn't stir in the least. "Oh, plug your ears you two. She quite the screamer. Aza was at least," Adrian called. Kerria began to shift uneasily in her sleep. Her eyes shot open and she grabbed Adrian's arm to pull herself up. She immediately took the child from him and cradled it protectively. She didn't seem to remember anything that had happened. "You had a bad dream about that thing? That's a first," Adrian snorted. "Don't listen to him, sweetie. His moron circuit is permanently switched on," Kerria cooed. She hesitated a little before going over to Kenan and peering at him. "Are you alright?"

[lycrawaterz14]

Kenan attempted to open his eyes but didn't have the strength. "Don't. Jut relax and try to find all of you. She's not going anywhere." Adele scolded. The baby was upset at being shuffled, and started to fuss.

Edited May 26, 2013 by lycrawaterz14

[frostmourne]

Kerria turned attention back to the child, rocking it in her arms soothingly. "I hope I'm doing this right," she muttered.

"Why don't you just give it too one of the staff? Oh, right. You killed them all. Oops."

Kerria didn't look away from the baby, but rolled her eyes a little. She paused and wondered why she had killed the servants. She remembered, but it wasn't the kind of decision she would make now. It didn't feel like it was even her doing it. She stopped that train of thought when the headache came back. She noticed that Adrian was watching her more closely than usual. Was something wrong with her? She had been getting headaches, but that was probably just the stress. She couldn't get sick and she wasn't hurt, so why was he looking at her like he expected her to collapse any second?

Edited May 27, 2013 by frostmourne

[lycrawaterz14]

The baby seemed surprised when she tried to soothe it. That had never been done before...

 

Kenan looked back up to Adele anyway, a lot of pain shown. "I loved her." He growled, a bit less of a slur than before. Adele looked like it was her fault, and she hung her head.

[frostmourne]

Kerria's continued to concentrate on coddling the baby until she heard Kenan speak. "What do you mean, 'loved'? I'm still here," she said lightly, trying to take his mind off the pain. She seemed confused by Adele's reaction. Adrian was twitching a little watching her. She sat down beside Kenan and reached for his hand. "Can I help?" Kerria asked softly, still cradling the baby with one arm. She was concerned for him, but she seemed strangely nervous, as if she suspected that something else wasn't right. The headache simply refused to go away. Adrian suddenly seemed to remember something and walked off. He needed to go find Skulni. It would be a problem if he decided his contract was no longer valid.

Edited June 1, 2013 by frostmourne

[lycrawaterz14]

Kenan flinched his hand. "He needs time to readjust." Adele pat Kerria's shoulder. Kenan still tried to figure out where he was, his name, how old he was... Anything. His dad was death, yes, but... Aside from that... His m-... Mom? Mom was a... What?

[frostmourne]

Kerria immediately drew back and sat a distance away, not hurt but concerned. She looked worried about him, and unsure how to deal with it. She flicked her wrist, and a dark cradle rose out of the ground, seeming to absorb all the light that hit it. The surface was smooth, but gave off no shine. The blankets inside looked more or less normal though. Kerria gently set the child in the cradle, her arms beginning to get tired. She winced and another sharp pain shot through her arm. She rolled up her sleeve to examine it. The mark of the silver snake had turned a blood red against her pale skin. She rubbed it, and it gradually returned to its original color. She wondered what it meant.

[lycrawaterz14]

Kenan's eyes fully opened, and he began breathing once again. "Wh-..." He swallowed. "Is she?" Adele looked over. "She's right here. If you can sit up, she can come closer." She cooed. Kenan fought and struggled to sit up. "Kerria...? Come here and him get used to you."

[frostmourne]

Kerria knelt again next to Kenan, looking very worried. She shyly edged a little closer, scanning him up and down with concern. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do and shifted her weight a little uncertainly. She settled for touching his shoulder lightly. "I'm here," she said softly.

 

Skulni stared at the scene through a mirror, gauging how different Kerria was and what he would have to change in order to adapt to her. She looked physically healthier and less corpse like, but from how she had been behaving so far, he didn't think she could kill someone if her life depended on it. She wasn't nearly as ruthless or sadistic as Aza sometimes was, and far more carefree and scatterbrained. He snorted softly. He would have never agreed to continue his contract if Adrian hadn't all but skinned him alive to get him to keep babysitting her. What a thankless job. He glanced up at a hidden camera. Jared wasn't holding up well. Skulni could tell that he was semi-comatose at the moment and unlikely to ever emerge from that state until something drastic happened.

[lycrawaterz14]

Kenyan twitched until he had his hand around hers. He wanted to lay his head on her, to even see if her heart sounded like Aza's. This definitely wasn't Aza's hand. It fit differently. Curved in different place, softer... Not his. He let go, and muttered something incomprehensible. Adele sighed. "I don't think he's identified you yet."

Edited June 10, 2013 by lycrawaterz14

[frostmourne]

"There's no rush," Kerria mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut. It felt like someone was intent on cracking open her skull. "See, I told you she was an idiot. By the by, I'm fragmenting right now. There are six of me right now. One is a cold-hearted , Two is a psychotic little girl, Three is dreamy, Four is a charming sociopath, Five is the damsel in distress, and Six is...well, just pray she doesn't wake up. I'm not telling you which one I am. I really shouldn't stay, I'll drive Kerria insane. It would be a problem if he doesn't like Kerria though." Aza, or one of her anyway, leaned closer to Kenan. The mildly crazed smile on her face softened into genuine care. "Rise and shine, love. I'm here. I don't look like myself anymore, but I'm always here." She kissed his forehead gently, and suddenly jerked back. Kerria rubbed her head, groaning slightly. "Two. Two. Two what? I think someone was saying two," she mumbled.

[lycrawaterz14]

Kenan took her hand and touched her cheek to distract her. "I love you..." He said very clearly, concentrating on control. "All of you. Especially four." He mumbled quieter. Adele sighed with relief. "He's accepted you again. We should probably reacquaint him with the child... You really should name him. Both of you. It's unacceptable to wait this long with the poor baby..."

Edited June 13, 2013 by lycrawaterz14

[frostmourne]

Kerria smiled, and let her hands drop. She held his hand tightly, as if she were afraid he might drift off again if she didn't. She glanced over at the cradle an thought. Skulni stepped into view in the mirror, gave Kerria a cheerful wave, and pushed a notepad and a pen through the mirror before stepping back out of view again. Kerria picked up the notepad and began reading off a long, long list of names, all sorted by category and alphabetically. "When did you even do this? And why is this paper so old? It's at least a couple centur-You don't have children do you?" Kerria called after him. He stepped back into view just long enough to give her a look that suggested he wondered where she had even come up with the idea. "Okay, okay. But isn't 'Jeffery Dahmer' a serial killer? Hang on a minute, 'Charles Manson'? 'Ted Bundy'? A-are these all a list of murderers?" Kerria squeaked, throwing the notepad away from her like it was going to bite her. "No. Okay, any suggestions from you?" she asked, her smile returning when she looked to Kenan.