soul_logs | [OPEN] Mission 157

Entry tags:

[OPEN] Mission 157

Characters: Open to participants who signed up here.
Location: Nocturne Bazaar
Rating: Gen.
Time: April 5th.
Description: The battle to destroy the last of the three Madness Emitters is upon us.

It happens early in the morning: a strange and lingering air of disquiet, almost imperceptible even to those trained to recognize it for what it is, quickly rising to a mind-shattering crescendo. On the floating island above the city, black liquid bubbles up from the cracks in the cobblestone streets and materializes into tall, thin, clown-shaped creatures. Oversized carrion birds take wing from the rafters of buildings, trailing dust from their dirty wings. The screams of civilians are clearly heard even from Death City so far down below, waking its citizens up from fitful, nightmare-filled slumbers.

The Witches are here!

It doesn't take long for the defenders to rally: Kid sends out the call to arms and, after admonishing all but the most skilled pairs to stay off the island, instructs those attending Mission 157 to prepare to get on the gondolas which still remain the only way to and from the Bazaar.

The streets are not as packed as they were the past two days, but there is no less commotion. The carnival workers and residents, fleeing from the marauding monsters, clearly have no hand in this deception. In between trying to save their lives, striking down the Black Blood-formed clowns and avoiding the talons of swooping bird familiars, the pairs certainly have their hands full.

At the epicenter of the battle is the yellow-bricked fortune-telling building. Waves of Madness emanate from it with an almost physical force. If you aren't careful, you may run into the black-feathered Witch guarding it…

By the end of the conflict, the island is incapable of supporting its own weight. With the help of volunteers shuttling civilians and fighters alike from the Bazaar to the ground, everyone must race back to the gondolas before the entire rock crashes in the sands.

OOC NOTES.
- The event summary post containing all relevant links is located here.
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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

For a split-second the strangeness of the situation paired with the madness wavelength he had been exposed to for so log was too much for him. For a second he tried to stop and pull away, free himself and flee in the other direction just because.

His pale eyes darted back and forth like that of a trapped animal before they settled on his host who was screaming senseless words at him. The spirit reacted on instinct.

Grabbing Ryou's hand in return, his soul curled along the others without respect or the tiniest attempt of going easy in him. Bakura was sinking quickly in a vortex of confusion and displacement and like an insect that had started tumbling down an antlion's trap he instinctively started to desperately claw at anything that could provide him with that ONE secure foothold he needed to get out of that terrible mess before he hit the bottom and got swallowed up. Ryou's soul was such a foothold and he all but catapulted himself back into sanity and working as he tore trough it, using it as a gate like he had so many times before.

"FUCK!!"

Having regained his balance, he started running as fast as he could - in the same direction as his host this time.

Ohgodfuckingdammitandwhatelsetheyweren'tgoingtomakeitatthatspeed!!

Bakura stumbled at the intrusive clawing at his very being, pushing back on reflex for one moment before yielding. His fingers dug into his double's hands as he winced, the sensation of the spirit stabilizing himself in his former host hurting much like a wound being ripped fresh open for a split section before it equalized and they were resonating, forming a solid barrier against the pressure of the Madness around them, enabling Bakura to focus on his running, the cracking creaking and groaning of the building behind them caving in still sounding far too loud in his ears as he pushed, still half dragging his double, going just that bit faster.

"Faster!" he shouted, as if somehow that would help.

He mobilized every ounce of energy that his body had, but it was painfully obvious that they still wouldn't make it. No. Forcing himself not to look back as he heard bursting wood and material behind him, Bakura corrected himself.

It was obvious that he wouldn't make it.

Unlike his host he didn't have that certain extra that could have given him that extra spurt of speed or strength that you gained when you feared for your life. Because living didn't mean anything to him anymore. If he died here it would he just another time, another failed part that would be extinguished while the rest woke up somewhere else and continued on with his business as usual. It was frustrating-! Gritting his teeth, he pushed forward, forcing his body to run.

He had trained it for greater agility and stamina, short break-neck runs hadn't been a priority of his.

-and the house was still coming down on them

Spying what could be a chance, he jerked is host back and hauled them both in the opposite direction, praying that his timing would be right. "NO! This way! JUMP!!"

"Eh? EEEEEEEEEEH?!" Bakura exclaimed as his arm was suddenly wrenched another direction, feet stumbling as he tried to follow his double's pull. What was--?!

At the yell he closed his eyes, obeying without thought--

transforming mid air to be clinging to his double's palm as the building gave way with a deafening roar.

Bakura raced towards a very specific spot on the ground, gripping the die that tightly in his hand that he wouldn't been surprised if it ended up drawing blood.

The building was coming down and there was no way that they could dodge it - which meant that they had to do the next best thing and make sure that they got hit and buried by as little as possible!

"This is one of the times-" he huffed as he skid-jumped to the place where the window of an outer room of the attic was going to land within seconds. Curling himself up in a fetal position, he threw a protecting arm over his neck and head and cradled the Weapon next to his chest with the other as he counted the time they still had before the impact down. Two seconds too soon or late and they'd be both mush. "when I really miss Diabound! SHIELD!!"

At the command he reached out with his soul as well, pushing his own wavelength in a desperate attempt to increase the strength and durability of Ryou's shield.

'Crazy idiot!'

But the exclamation was almost an afterthought as Bakura leaned hard on the offered energy, shield materializing seconds before the building smashed down on top of them.

It was almost horrifying to watch as the wood and glass shattered against the barrier, pushed aside by that which was following after it.

Seconds later, the rumble had stilled, broken wood leaning against the small bubble around them.

He crouched down tighter as the house literally came down on them, feeling the bits of debris rain against the shield and a few of them also past it.

At some point a short stinging pain embedded itself into his side, but he made no noise in reaction to it. Doing all this and maintaining their parody of a resonance in such a high madness contaminated area was getting even to him. For a moment old memories of similar instances were dragged up as he took up part of Ryou's poisoning in through their resonance as well.

There was sand and noise everywhere. Screams and shrieks of metal hitting metal as he stumbled after his mother, his short children's legs having trouble catching up as she dragged him to the hiding place his family had maintained just in case. All he could see was the darkness of the night and the dark stains in her simple robes that shouldn't be there because they looked like blood. They were outside, but the air smelled wrong, all smoky and somehow metallic and there was dust filling his lungs. He screamed as he stumbled over something but her strong arms caught him as she stopped to pick him up. Even though he should he couldn't see her face. Something else rolled off the shield with a grating noise and the scene changed. He was inside a royal tomb, his back pressed flat against a wall. He was older now, but not anywhere near mature and this was only his second time entering one. The big cut on his cheek still hurt and he was biting his lips to keep himself from making any noise. He also didn't blink because there were tears in his eyes but screaming or crying wouldn't help him anymore. Dammit, they had said they knew a safe way in and back out! Why were they all dead now and why would he have to go through the passage that had killed them if he didn't want to get killed in an even worse manner?! Feeling a rumble that announced his incoming doom through the floor he was standing on, he sobbed and started shoving himself forward.

No!!

Muttering a curse, the thief closed his eyes and counted to ten. This was only an illusion. Those things were long past, they had no meaning anymore- He was back in the underground chamber, coughing and cursing as his body grew increasingly numb and his vision started blacking out. Beneath him was that tablet, the cursed tabled and the sennen items. His blood should have trenched them red but he could practically feel how they sucked it up, just as they had done with the rest of Kul Elna's souls. No! He didn't want to end like that! Not when he had fought so hard to become the King of Thieves, suffered and sacrificed so much, all just to fail and become another slave to the items while the Pharaoh and his family stroked their egos as they kept using them to parade as gods?!?! He hadn't even been one step away from ending it and lifting that curse!! He could have freed them and let those who were responsible for all the suffering taste the desperation that they had so casually shoved upon others to pay for them!!! Behind him the priest raised his arms for the final blow.

"ENOUGH!!!" The scream tore out of his lungs as he arched back and lashed out with all the dark power his soul still possessed, tearing the madness that wanted to weight him down and crush him like the house that had fallen on them tp pieces. From one moment to the other the flashbacks stopped and turned into the stray meaningless tatters of memories that they were. Looking around him as his chest rose and fell in sharp bouts, Bakura forced himself to calm down. Keeping a cool head and not panicking was the most important thing right now.

Right. Ignore emotions when they aren't going to be useful to you.

He wasn't that person anymore. He was the Spirit of the Ring. As he was now he had all the power his body had never had when he had still been human. There was nothing he couldn't do because he was a part of the darkness and the darkness was a part of him. Death didn't matter anymore. Taking a look around, he exhaled. Somehow they had ended up in a small niche that seemed somewhat stable for now.

"Well, fuck."

The assault of memories that weren't his was overwhelming and Bakura fought to keep from being swept up in them and keep the shield up as long as he could, but when his double screamed and pushed it all fell apart. The shield gave way and the resonance severed, leaving Bakura tumbling from his double's hand and human on the ground at his feet, haphazardly curled up against the rubble of the fallen building, dazed by both memories and the suddenly broken resonance.

Shaking his head and sighing, Bakura gave the other boy a careless light prod with his leg. He was going to hate his body the days after this, he could already feel the aches coming now.

"Hey. You still alive?"

"I think so..." Bakura nodded, awkwardly pushing himself to his feet, head still reeling. He shifted to sit back on his legs, rubbing his temple. "Are you...?"

"Sure." He gave him a flat look. "It needs more than that to throw me off for longer than a moment."

"Thank goodness for that..."

Bakura looked up at the awkwardly constructed inverse nest around them, doing his best to keep calm and collected. At least there was a spot directly above that the light was coming through...

"Think you can climb out? If you toss me ahead, I can try pulling away some of the wreck so you can get out easier..."

The faster they got out, the faster he could get back to Takuto and Yuugi and away from the heavy feeling of enclosed space that was being made worse by the pressing Madness.

"Up there?" He smirked wryily.

"No chance. See that part that's jutting out over there? Pull that a little out of it's place and this 'hole' is history and we with it."

He pulled his communicator out of his pocket and tossed it towards his host. "Here, call one of your friends to come and get us out of here."

"Eh?" Bakura startled, reflexively catching it. "Yuugi-kun and Takuto-kun are the only ones up here... and if there's no way I could fix from outside, what could they do...?"

Really, what could three people do that one alone from inside couldn't? "Well, then we're screwed."

Bakura scowled. "We're not!" he half snapped. At the very least he wasn't.

"Besides. I can't use your mirror," he pointed out, holding it out to return it.

... "Takuto-kun doesn't know that you're not me, does he?" he asked almost idly, looking up at the hole again, trying to figure out what to do.

"Takuto?" He gave him a bored who-the-hell-is-that look as he took the mirror back.

"I can't say if I ever met that guy or not, so who knows." He shrugged his shoulders.

"He has hair similar to Yuugi-kun's... and he asked Yuugi-kun that he and I were fighting because of something 'I' told him..."

Bakura wasn't really focusing on the conversation, analyzing the chaotic structure of the debris around him.

"...That spot there. If we go up that way, we should be able to get up high enough to avoid being hurt when it falls in..." he pointed.

"Ah. In that case, yeah, I've met him once or twice. He talked as if he knew who I was, so I didn't think anything about it."

He looked at the spot his host had meant, frowning lightly. That was going to be a high risk gamble at best.

"That could work.." The way he said could showed exactly what he thought of their chances for it. "But I'm going to have to put you in my mouth for that."

"...why on Earth would you have to do something like that for? Just don't push me away and I can cling to your hand or be in your pocket or something..." Bakura pointed out, making a bit of a face.

"Because I am going to need all of my hands free and to move without restrictions or distractions. Holding the loot in my mouth is the easiest solution for that."

Trying to stand up, he winced lightly as the pain in his side announced itself once more.

"Pocket, then..." Bakura requested before looking to see what was causing his double to wince. "...got hit when it fell...?" Had his shield missed something?

He quickly pulled the side of his jacket over his injury and gave his double an impatient look.

"Look, I'm the thief here. Do you really want to argue with me about how to get in and out of something I shouldn't be able to?" The question about his injury was intentionally ignored.

"If you accidentally swallow me you're good as dead," Bakura pointed out.

That and... well... gross. So very gross.

"You have that thread, don't you? This is your body, so there's no reason to be queasy about it."

Not giving him a chance to answer, he started to look for a good foothold from which he would be able to start climbing. Hopefully that hole up there would still be big enough when he reached it. "Why did you run to me, anyway? I thought you'd be happy if I get swallowed up by the earth."

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