CLOSED

[Rarek]

Andromeda's expressions seemed to mirror those of Cassandra's as the young girl was slowly consumed. All she could do was watch in shock, mouth open in a soundless scream. She had shrunk into her chair, pressing into it as though the poison was contagious, despite the obvious reality that it wasn't. By the time Cassandra had finished her metamorphosis, she remained staring at Andromeda, a plea locked forever in stone.

 

She couldn't move or tear her eyes from Cassandra's, even as Neut demanded her words of explanation. Andromeda had grown quite fond of her cell mate, and had promised to keep her safe, much like she'd just done for Neut. Clearly, that wasn't in her control as a decision she could make.

 

It wasn't until August made a reappearance that she tore her gaze from the girl. Her features changed from sad to angry. Her fists clenched and she spat at the vampire's messenger.

 

"She was only a teenager, you heartless wretches. I don't even know that she knew what she did wrong, she was still new here!" Despite her weakened state, she was ready to jump up and throttle the man.

[Fortune86]

"She refused to fight" said August sounding bored. "We have no use for anyone who will not fight."

 

Another couple of men entered through the door and approached Cassandra. They took hold of her and carried her back out of the room, struggling slighty due to the heaviness of the stone. August turned to follow them, but he paused at the doorway.

 

"Whether or not you chose to pass on the rules to anyone who arrives after you is up to you. Ignorance of how things work here is no defence. Break the rules, willingly or not, and you will be punished."

 

With that August walked out of the common room, locking the door behind him.

 

Eli stared after them. They had been very quick to retrieve Cassandra. He would have thought they would leave her on display. Did they have plans for her, even in this state?

 

Turning to Andromeda, Cassandra's room, mate he bowed his head.

 

"I'm sorry."

Edited September 20, 2013 by Fortune86

[Rarek]

Andromeda's weariness seemed all but evaporated now. She was ready to beat the living hell out of both August and the men who retrieved the stone figure. But now she felt powerless to do even that, the threat of the bracelets becoming even more real. All she could do was watch in fury as the door closed behind them, locking with a click.

 

It wasn't until they had left that Andromeda noticed a dull piece of metal on the floor. She recognized it as Cassandra's bracelet, having fallen off after it had served its purpose. There were no discernible marks or points that indicated where the bracelet had injected into her bloodstream. The number 7 was still visible on the outside of the cold metal, a ring of blood stained on the inside.

 

With a wipe, Andromeda cleaned the blood from the bracelet. Then, she placed the thin band around her own wrist, on the same side as her existing piece. It immediately clamped down and sealed to her wrist, just like the other. She gently whispered to herself.

 

"I will always remember you Cassandra, you won't be forgotten, and that I can promise you."

[Chicogal]

Alia dashed out after her, staring in horror. "No," she whispered hoarsely. Not sweet little Cassandra. But there was nothing she could do, and you couldn't afford to be selfless here. She was taken away quite quickly, and her jaw locked together as she went. She wanted to scream and yell, but didn't want to be a statue as well.

 

 

[Fortune86]

It seemed Andromeda was too caught up in her grief to notice that Eli had spoken to her. Wondering if trying to comfort her would be a bad move anyway Eli stepped back a few paces. He didn't really know what to do.

 

He looked back at Alia, who was standing a few feet away.

 

"August said Cassandra refused to fight" he asked softly. "Is this true?"

[Chicogal]

Alia paused for a moment before bowing her head and signing heavily. Regretfully. "Yup," she muttered. "She... Wanted to get the fight over and done with. So she let me blast her. She just opened her arms, and I blasted her..." Her voice was low and flat, her heart heavy from the thought of what she'd done. But it had been her idea, she told herself. And yet, she couldn't help but shoulder some of the blame.

[Fortune86]

Eli thought for a moment and then nodded.

 

"You probably did the right thing. If you had refused to attack her, then your bracelet may have been activated as well."

 

He looked over at the distraught Andromeda. She looked tired, probably a result of grief and exhaustion.

 

"We can't play by the normal rules here" said Eli to Alia. "Worrying about right and wrong could get us all killed, or worse. We can be as friendly as we like in the safety of our cells, but in the arena all bets are off. Each of us must fight for our own surivial, not matter the cost to the others."

 

Eli looked saddened by what he was saying, but he knew it to be true. If everyone let whatever friendships they had managed to build get the better of them, they were all doomed.

 

He shook his head and sighed.

 

"I'm going to go to bed. I suggest you get some rest too."

 

With one more final glance at Andromeda Eli head back towards his cell. Closing the door behind him he laid on the bed and waited for sleep to take him.

 

((Can everyone wrap up for the night? I want to get the next day started so I can DM all the inactive characters.))

[Rarek]

Andromeda listened as Eli spoke, but it was already things she knew. Still, she gave a saddened nod at what he had to say. A tear ran down her cheek, thinking about all the people in the future she would have no choice but to kill. This isn't right. We can't go on like this.

 

Slowly, she made her way to the door of the common room. She spoke half-heartedly. "I suppose I'm going to have to do the same. See you all tomorrow."

 

She barely noticed as her feet found her cell, still thinking of her roommate. She laid down and stared at the second bracelet on her arm. Then with a sigh, she closed her eyes and nearly instantly fell into sleep, exhaustion too much to take.

[DragonSpirit009]

Kayna stood and shivered in the hallway as August came and took Cassandra away. She was so afraid that she almost lost life in her legs. So that is why he wanted me to give it all I got she thought to herself remember when they battled. Could he know something more she wondered even further more as she listened to them talking.

 

Eventually everyone started to go back to their cells. Kanya figured it might be the best thing to do now. Luckily the life in her legs came back and the young girl went back to her cell. For the first time Kanya felt the need to fight not because she liked it but she didn’t want to die.

 

Curled up in a ball on her bed she tried to think of ways how to battle from the books she read when she finally fallen asleep.

[Fortune86]

Eli woke with a start when he heard the arena doors grinding. In desperation not to be left behind he fell out of bed and quickly clawed his way out of his cell. How could he have slept for so long? His father had warned him against sleeping in and now it was going to cost him.

 

Stumbling out into the corridor he almost knocked over someone passing by. Apologising Eli stepped back and looked at the grey face of Isamu. Several other people were walking past, not one of them looking at anyone else.

 

"Um. Am I fighting?" Eli asked Isamu.

 

The younger boy shook his head and handed Eli a piece of paper before moving on. Eli instantly realised it was the listings for the match and quickly read it. His heart sank as he saw it was another Death Match, and that several names were written.

 

Evangelina, Isamu, Vex, Samael and Ethril. Five people. Eli looked up as the arena doors swung shut after the last combatant entered. Looking down at he list again he thought about the rules. Only half of the people entered into a Death Match were allowed to leave again, but an odd number of people were fighting. That probably meant only two would walk away, if that.

[DragonSpirit009]

Kanya slept solidly through the night. She barely moved only to wake up in the same position she fell asleep in. Rubbing her eyes and slowly sitting up right she could hear doors being shut. She blinked a few time trying to figure out what could that sound be.

 

With a sudden Kanya remembered where she was and what the sound was. She quickly jumped out of bed and hurried to her door. Opening it she noticed someone in the hallway, someone she didn’t want to talk to but he might be only one who knew what was going on.

 

“W-whats happening?” she spoke softly.

[Fortune86]

Eli turned around when he heard someone behind him. It was Kanya, and she didn't look too happy to see him. For a moment he wondered if he should just slide back into his cell room and wait for the match to end, but then Kanya spoke, wanting to know what was happening.

 

"It's a Death Match" he told her, doing his best to speak in a tone of voice that wouldn't upset her further. "It's just started."

[DragonSpirit009]

Kanya’s face went suddenly pale when Eli told her about the death match. Only being in one herself cause her heart to ache. Some would have to die in order for others to live. She felt sick to her stomach once again. It turned and twisted with every thought.

 

“I... I...” she tried to speak. She wanted to talk to him, tell him how scared she was but because what happened she just couldn’t.

 

Suddenly a loud growl echoed in the hallway. Even with her stomach twisting and turning her hunger couldn’t escape her. After all she barely had any food yesterday.

[Fortune86]

Kanya looked like she was going to cry and Eli could only stand there and watch helplessly. Suddenly the silence was broken by a loud rumbling and Eli fought back the impulse to laugh. It all seemed so surreal. Just a few feet away people were fighting to the death and right now the problem in front of him was a hungry stomach.

 

Realisng that he hadn't eaten for a while wither Eli gestured down the corridor towards the common room, where he hoped breakfast was still being served.

 

"Come on" he said. "We had better get something to eat. If we are called on to fight later we had best not do so on emtpy stomachs."

[Chicogal]

Alia had laid awake that night, staring at the ceiling. She'd had a couple of hours altogether of restless sleep, but it had only left her feeling drained. She was up when the slip of paper came through, had watched the people trundle out to their deaths. Her green eyes were wide and haunted by the events of yesterday, and her legs were folded to the side of her on the chair she was sitting on. Her purple dress was torn, dirty, and so were her arms and legs. A smudge of dirt ran along her cheek. But she didn't really care anymore. What was the point, when she was just going to die?

 

Maria was still fast asleep, one leg and arm draped off the side of the bed. She was sleeping quite deeply. She opened her eyes, blinking a bit, as there were grinding noises. People heading off to their deaths. She was not happy, and yet she was not emotional either. Some people took in these things easily, and kept a calm head. She was one of them. Deciding she may as well relax, she turned over and fell back into slumber once more.

[DragonSpirit009]

Kanya stayed by her door looking at Eli. Could she trust him outside the arena really or his he playing mind games with everyone. All these questions buzzed in her mind when her stomach called out again.

 

“Okey.” she finally said giving in to her hunger. She walked down the corridor but not to close to Eli, she was still afraid of him.

[Fortune86]

Eli started to walk down the corridor alongside Kanya, but he couldn't help but notice that she was keeping her distance. She didn't trust him, even in here where he couldn't use his powers. His father's warnings came back to him, how people hated and mistrusted his kind. Eli couldn't pretend that it didn't hurt, but he decided to try and not let it get to him. It wasn't like they had been actual friends after all, no matter how much he had hoped that he would one day have a proper one.

 

When they reached the common room Eli saw that Alia was already awake. She was sitting in a chair, not really looking at anything. Eli wondered if she was still suffering from the day before.

 

Approaching the hatch in the wall he took the bowl of porridge when it arrived and went to sit down.

[Chicogal]

Alia jerked to attention as the room was entered by Eli and Kanya. Those two could be her murderers, or she could be theirs. Unwilling in her case. Perhaps not so in theirs. Her green eyes surveyed them carefully, unsure of what to do. Ah, she may as well be civil. "Hello," she greeted them finally.

[Fortune86]

As Eli took a seat Alia spoke up. She was watching both him and Kanya carefully and her voice sounded wary. Eli balanced his bowl on his lap and looked over at her.

 

"I know I can't make you believe me, but we're not going to hurt you. At least not in here."

 

He looked down at his porridge.

 

"If we kill each other where Zygard can't see us, then they'll probably punish the survivors."

[Chicogal]

Alia sighed, looking away. "I don't get the point in trying to be friendly. Then I'll might get to know the people here, maybe make a friend of sorts. And then I have to kill them, or hurt them. Or they have to hurt me, kill me." It was the truth of their existence here. Zygard wasn't just torturing them physically. He was going to destroy them mentally too.

[DragonSpirit009]

Kanya stopped when she saw Alia. She wondered how she was doing but for some reason Kanya couldn’t ask. Eventually the young girl nodded in greetings before she went to the hatch to get her food. Once she got her bowl Kanya went to take seat away from both of Alia and Eli. Slowly she began to eat listening to them speaking while she was still struggling within herself.

[Fortune86]

Eli nodded.

 

"You're right. There is little point in trying to make friends" he agreed, thinking how quickly Kanya was to turn on him once he had revealed his powers. "But at the same time, I think we should agree against making things difficult for each other. It's bad enough as it is."

 

Picking up his spoon he ate some of the porridge. It tasted just as bad as the day before. He found himself missing the specially cooked breakfats he used to get. He wouldn't be getting them in here though.

[Rarek]

Andromeda finally gave up on sleep. Despite her tired state, she was haunted by nightmares for the whole night, waking up in a cold sweat many times that night. It took hours to fall asleep again, only to wake up violently twenty minutes later. Her eyes were stained with enough red to believe her eyes themselves had bled during the night.

 

Even awake, she stared sadly and angrily at the empty bed in her cell, grief across her face. The intricate hairstyle she'd entered the common room with had finally become ruined, and she cursed as she let it loose, falling around her shoulders. With no brush, it was still tangled.

 

Finally, it was no longer an option to stay in the cell. Food was necessary. With her mixture of grief and anger splashed across her face, Andromeda made her way into the common room. She did not speak, she simply took her food and sat in the deepest corner of the room, partially obscured by shadows where even light could not reach.

[Fortune86]

Even when Andromeda entered the commom room it seemed no one had anything else left to say. People sat in silence and ate quietly. After finishing his breakfast Eli got up and placed the bowl on the shelf and saw it get whisked away.

 

He turned to look at the room behind him, but didn't really know what to do. He didn't really feel like shutting himself up in his room again, but the atmosphere in here was just as depressing. Taking a seat he pulled the piece of paper Isamu had given him earlier out of his pocket and started to fold it over and over. After several minutes he opened his hands to reveal a duckling, slightly misshapen due to the shape of the paper he had used. Eli stared down at it, not really taking notice of anything else, but the grinding of the arena doors caught his attention.

 

Eli jumped to his feet and half ran to the mouth of the corridor. A lone figure stumbled through the doors at the far end, gasping and wheezing. As Eli started to race towards them they fell over and crashed into the floor. Reaching the figure's side Eli realised it was Vex, but he was so soaked in blood it had been hard to tell from a distance. Eli reached down to help them and saw how the blood was pooling on the floor, which meant he didn't have much time.

 

Grabbing Vex's shirt Eli hauled him up as best he could and started to drag him towards the fifth cell, but as he neared the door he felt Vex slump in his arms. Looking down Eli felt somethign cold trickle past his fingers and saw the shard of ice protuding from Vex's chest. He had been stabbed with his own ice spear.

 

Pushing the door open Eli dropped Vex inside cell five, but he knew it was too late. The healing stones did not start to glow. There was nothign they could do.

 

Gasping slightly from the exertion of trying to help Vex Eli glanced back towards the arena doors, but they were already closing again. No one else was coming through. No one else had made it. The death match had claimed all five lives.

 

Eli put his back against the wall and slid down it to sit on the corridor floor. he didn't take any notice of the blood that now covered his own clothes, or that he was now sitting in Vex's blood. None of it seemed to matter, he just stared down the corridor at the doors.

[DragonSpirit009]

With an uneasy swallow Kanya finally finished her food. She knew the monasteries food was bad but this was taking the price. Eventually she got up after Eli sat back down. She didn’t really want to be all that close to him.

 

Just as she place her bowl by the hatch she heard the arena doors opening and someone running down the corridor. Wondering who had made it she went to look herself only to find herself gasping at the sight. Eli was trying his best to help Vex but he was struggling badly. Snapping out of her terrified state Kanya ran to help as well but it was to late.

 

Watching the doors closed she wondered how could it have happened. The five that entered had all lost their lives and there was nothing that could have been done about it. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Eli sitting against the wall, looking very miserable. He had tried to help Vex and even thou she was trying to stay her distance away from him Kanya found herself kneeling next to Eli.

 

“E-Eli?” she spoke softly touching his shoulder. “I’m sorry he didn’t make it. You really tried your best to help.”