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Author Topic: Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down  (Read 582 times)

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Offline Draconian

Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down
« on: January 01, 2018, 01:07:01 am »
The day was uneventful. Brunch with Sev had been nice and as he had promised the bubbly woman in the Pilot Chat he'd milled around Adstreia, finding it easier to stay and meander around the shops and find various gifts for his new friends. Iridescent wasnt really sure what everyone liked yet, but everyone liked presents. A good way to start the new year, gifts from a new... Friend.

Were they friends? Iri wasnt sure. They felt like friends. The day dragged until the evening and he spotted Mia instantly and turned his head every which way to catch the light in his iridescent hair and scales. Pulled it out of the braid it was in so it fell over his shoulders like a waterfall much to the little Pilot's delight. It was odd to be in a crowd of people on purpose

Felt like he was wearing a costume. The suit of someone people trusted.  Everyone was so at ease and he let himself be pulled around and introduced as the shiny guy. Iri accepted it and with Mia as his guide, he spent the evening quietly observing. Iri didn't know how to do anything else.

It was just after midnight, various faces were being smooshed together and with no where else to look because it was rude and awkward to watch people kiss he quickly glanced aside. There was a loose box of what looked like fireworks. Unattended. If he'd been looking anywhere else he wouldn't have noticed the spark of light arc into from an unknown hand.

High alert, Iri jerked towards it, rushing. Moving as quickly as he could towards it. "A bomb!" He shouted -- But that was all the warning he could manage before the sounds of explotions -fireworks and who knows what other noises - were too loud to take.

Offline Blink

Re: Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down
« Reply #1 on: January 01, 2018, 10:23:05 am »
It was a flash, a blinding light that could only be explained as one of the most beautiful things Mia had ever seen. Even after, even with eyes closed and that feeling of weightlessness she could still see it. This flash that had appeared before Mia once before, and instantly she remembered how blindingly awful a sign it was. It was thirteen years prior, yet seeing it now refreshed every memory embedded deep in her mind.

"Get medical..." a silent message sent through the link that bound her to her squad. They needed to know something was about to happen, they needed to know people were about to be hurt.

Opening her eyes again didn't help, the light was still there engulfing herself and whoever else decided to jump in with it. She had heard her name just before, and felt someone grab her only a few moments too late. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, she still would have pushed forwards,  she still would have wrapped her hand around the firework trying to stop it. It didn't require any thought when it came to saving the people she loved. Even the pain ripping through her shoulder now wasn't enough to convince her it was the wrong move. Always save those you love over yourself... always.

It hurt, the feeling of old scars tearing and flesh scorching at the hands of a flame. She could feel her muscles protesting and her bones bending at the will of the blast as every ounce of breath left her lungs. There was the impact of something behind her, the sudden hault in projecting backwards followed by sliding down to the pavement. Someone was behind her? There was no time to process it as her body had already begun shutting down as adrenaline and shock took over.

All logic went out the window as Mia pushed herself away, realizing it was Blu who had grabbed her only after the fact. She needed to get up, she needed to move and to make sure everyone else was okay. Blu was muttering something, but beyond the ringing in her ears it was impossible to make out.

"Don't worry Blu, I'll go get us help..." And then there it was, Mia's posterchild smile of reassurance that she flashed even now.

Deep down she knew she was hurt, she knew she probably shouldn't be moving, she knew that right now she was probably doing more harm than good to herself. None of it mattered, it never mattered when it meant helping someone else. Even if it meant just drawing attention to herself then maybe someone would see Blu first. Maybe it meant she would find Iri, the last sight of him being just before the blast.

"Blu... Iri..." another attempt at reaching out to anyone listening but Mia's own thoughts were failing. No matter how hard she tried the unspoken link she carried with her comrades was suddenly too complicated to use.

She tried to stand, tried to crawl, tried to move more than just the few feet she had managed. Yet with only one arm even dragging herself had proved itself almost impossible. She could feel herself slowly fading, the will to keep moving draining with each labored breath that left her lips. A few more attempts, a few more fails as Mia lay stretched out. Her legs were still there, yet no matter how hard she tried they wouldn't move anymore. Everything was growing colder, her tears feeling like a thousand degrees against her soot and burn covered cheeks. The scene around her falling in and out of focus, twisting and bending in a way that made her sick to her stomach.

One last attempt, one last fail as Mia stretched her left arm in front of her as far as it would go before digging her fingers into the concrete. More tears, more frustrations as Mia's smile faltered.

"Yav-" she choked, trying to cry out one more time as the darkness clawed its way over her eyes. "... H... Happy New Year."

Offline GoblinFae

Re: Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down
« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2018, 02:05:40 pm »
You could take the soldier out of the war, but you could never take the war out of the soldier. As that first spark ignited the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. There was no way to explain it but Blu was never one to deny her instincts. She was no precognitive yet every part of her screamed that something was not right. Her gaze slid from her dearest friend and his lover playing tonsil-hockey to the light show currently welcoming in the New Year.

Then, there it was. One of the fireworks in a dazzling display of color spewed sparks outward instead of racing towards the heavens as it was meant to. Many of the couples had not yet noticed in those crucial seconds as they were too wrapped in each other's embraces. But, it quickly became apparent that Blu was not the only one who had seen it. There was the pearly-scaled bastard Tamia had been following around most of the night, suddenly barking "bomb" and running towards the impending disaster, Tamia hot on his heels to help.

"Tamia no!" Blu howled, the bottle in her hand crashing to the floor as battle-trained muscles leaped into action and launched her towards the younger Pilot. Moving forward felt like trying to claw your way through a pool filled with jelly and yet Blu pushed onward. In the space of seconds that felt like centuries, she was at Tamia's side and wrapping her right arm about the Pilot, trying to drag her away when it happened.

Blu felt fire race up her right side as she tried to shield the redhead in her arms. The explosion was deafening and blinding as the force of the blast knocked the Pilots clear off their feet. The Angel Commander's mind though was transported several years into the past even as her body impacted a support column and slid to the floor like a ragdoll. Her mind was far from Adstreia, still trapped on Edanith where soldiers begged and screamed in pain as metal and fire rained from the sky. War had waged above and below back then with ships crashing into the atmosphere as often as mines destroyed those on the ground.

She remembered running onto that gods-forsaken planet, heart thundering in her ears and desperate to pull out as many as she could to get them to safety. How strange that time moved on and yet people didn't change. She was still that young soldier intent on defying the odds and getting those men and women home.

There was Jonsey, blonde-haired and blue-eyed staring up at her from a field cot and cracking jokes about their youth. His leg had been shot, a through-and-through that had been easy enough to patch back up. A week later, he was dead, those blue eyes turned milky white as he had laid there, half his torso missing and his chest cavity blown open so that his once beating heart had been perfectly visible. Gone like the light of a candle in a harsh wind.

Koba and Worf had died on the same day and Blu had been there to see them both go one after the other. Their handsome faces covered in grime and gore, pale as death begged her wordlessly to make it all end. She had not been enough to save them. At least then she had had Darry to hold tight to and cry against.

He would follow not long after. That bright, beaming face, always quick to smile to her through it all, there one second and gone the next. Darry had called out her name seconds before she lost sight of him forever. Shrapnel had embedded in her leg and it was weeks before she was officially allowed on her feet again though she broke those orders as often as she could manage. Blu had nearly sacrificed her own leg for those she loved and she would gladly do it again and again if meant keeping them alive one more day. She just had to keep fighting one more day. This war would end, just one more day.

Then there was Tamia. Sweet, perfect, little, butterfly angel Tamia, long red hair in pigtails, bouncing along after every little many-legged critter she could find. Poor girl so filled with innocence and light despite the accident. It was one thing to be a soldier and have yourself physically being blown to smithereens, to be a child was an entirely different thing though.

Their reunion had been so precious. It was like seeing the daughter you never had again. Blu's heart had pounded as she had dragged that little girl all grow'd up back into her arms. Precious, lively, innocent, Tamia, a Pilot at last. What a pity the past liked to repeat itself. Fortune was such a bitch.

TAMIA!

Blu came harshly back to the world of the living and conscious as pain lanced through her and her lungs begged for breath. Her vision swam as muffled sounds whispered about her. The pounding drum of her heart and a choked wheezing sound were the only clear things she could hear. Already she could feel her body shaking and Blu knew shock was starting to set in. She was determined to fight it as long as she could though.

'Keep alert Blu baby. Not th' end yet. Come on, girl. What happened? Th' blast. What’s going t' kill ya first?' She groaned, fighting to keep her eyes open even as she mentally berated herself. 'Keeping head and neck still, assess fer spinal injury. Wiggle toes. Gods both it fucking hurts!' With a grunt she tried and succeeded, relieved if for only a moment that she wasn't paralyzed yet. 'Okay good, Blu. Good! Remain still in case o' internal decapitation though until medical arrives. What next? Fuck! Air! Breathin' labored. Pressure on th' chest and side. Cause?'

Blu hissed, feeling her body fight harder to breathe as her mind raced. She was desperate to remember the chain of events, to stay calm and conscious until help came. A dizzy glance down at herself revealed a shock of red hair still tucked under her now blistered and burnt arm. Tamia was still there though Blu had no way of knowing how the girl fared. It was all she could do to keep herself going.

'An impact. Likely broken ribs. Flail chest! What does that mean? Impact woulda crushed ribs into collapsing chest wall putting pressure on lungs. Pressure needs relief before lungs can be assessed. No fluids in lungs, possibly safe from puncturing. General assessment by palpation commencing.'

An attempt to move her left arm stole what little breath she had completely away. With tears streaming down her berry-colored cheeks, Blu looked down at her arm to see unnaturally pale, white fingers covered in blood and then higher up at the elbow sharpened bone protruding from where her elbow should have been.

Her stomach roiled at the sight. Combat medic and battle-hardened she may have been, but it was one thing to see one's own bones broken and shattered outside of where they belonged in comparison to someone else's. She did cry then though she was in too much numbing pain to realize how she whimpered and trembled. Had she the ability to scream, she would have. However, every breath counted and so the only sounds she could make were pathetic moans and cries. Broken words fumbling to fall from her cracked lips as she begged for someone to hear her.

"Aidez-moi, sitoplé. Sitoplé, sitoplé, sitoplé. Gods both, please," she cried, her vision rapidly becoming black and fuzzy around the edges as each breath hiccuped and stuttered to bring precious oxygen to her desperate lungs. Her body convulsed once, twice before it finally gave in and Blu Moon, Commander of the Amristah Angels at last passed out from her injuries.

Cheesigator

  • Guest
Re: Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2018, 07:47:11 am »
Seth really hadn't been sure what to expect.

This had been his second time visiting Adstreia for the sake of Kielen, although this adventure adventure had not been nearly as fun or light-spirited as the first, and that was Seth's damn fault, really. He'd just dragged Ki into it.

He'd showed up extremely late on the train the night previous, after working a ten hour work shift and having been up for somewhere around 14 hours straight. Richard had been getting restless lately and kept waking Seth up by knocking shit over like a volatile child. He didn't like that Seth had slept with two of these new "friends" and he didn't like where things were going. Wanted it to stop.

So maybe that had been part of the reason why, when he realized Ki was out there by herself, drunk as a skunk and in bars with all the fucked up people this planet had to offer, he jumped to say that he would keep an eye on her, since apparently nobody else fucking would, which made him burn a little bit. Sev, Quill, and Iri--she wasn't their responsibility, and sure she could handle herself, but for fuck's sake she was their friend, on thenight before New Year's Eve no less.

Regardless he'd dragged himself onto that train still stuck in his work clothes, hair pulled in distress into a shitty ponytail, pens still tucked in his goddamn shirt pocket. Still let her put makeup on him so they could go back out, so she could enjoy herself. Still went home with her, exhausted, for the two of them to pass out in bed together.

And then when morning came he was putzing around in a chatroom while he waited for the urge to get out of bed to strike him, and he recognized him. By the way he spoke, and his slip up--his best friend. Brody. Who had been missing for weeks. He was alive and in that chatroom, under a different name.

None of it had added up when it happened, and when Lars had come knocking so hard on his door with this cold trembling in the undertones of his voice demanding if Seth knew where his boyfriend had gone, his gut twisted and told him something awful had happened. He still had no idea what happened, because Brody wouldn't tell him and Seth was never one to push. But the tears that had filled his eyes and the sobs that made his ribcage clench and hurt as they wracked his body were ones of joy, relief, and all the stress that had been steadily building up in his life over the course of the past year. Kielen had had to wake up to it, had held him and hadn't asked, and he didn't bother to elaborate. He'd already dragged her into his emotional stew pot enough, there was no need to pull her in any deeper.

Eventually they'd gotten ready together and that had been fun; parties would be happening all day and Seth was out of practice as fuck, he hadn't really gone out all that much after Richard died. So off they went; found their friends, found other Pilots, were laughing, enjoying themselves, had a good time. Ki stepped away to excuse herself for a moment, and then he'd glanced across the way and noticed him.

He could've swornhis heart stopped for a moment when he saw those finely chiseled features, the sweep of long, deep red hair that shifted to colors of teal and green and blue, the eyepatch which was definitely hot. Like he was staring at a fuckin god. It'd taken him a few moments to realize he was staring, spell only broke when the guy happened to look over and they made eye contact. He quickly looked away, blowing out air in an attempt to calm his rapidly beating heart and shake himself out of it. Pretty guy, that's all he was. A pretty guy enjoying the night like the rest of them. Him getting up where Seth caught him in his peripherals meant nothing, nor did him stepping over to the bar to order something to drink, nor did him coming over in Seth's direction with two glasses in his hands. Probably just saw someone else nearby and was coming to see them instead--

He'd stopped right next to Seth and asked him how he was doing, offering him the drink.

That? That that followed, dear friends, was the sound of Seth's jaw hitting the floor as his soul left his body to ascend to the heavens, let Aion take him away now hw would surrender peacefully.

Once he got over that initial shock the two of them started to talk and Seth started to enjoy himself even more; the more they went on the more he remembered how to function like a somewhat normal human being, and they were having a good laugh when the bells chimed for Midnight and a good portion of the crowd cheered while others ducked their heads and kissed.

Seth hadn't been expecting anything from anyone, these holidays he usually tried to avoid like the plague. He hadn't expected anything from Kielen, that was for damn sure, figuring she would flirt her way through a crowd of men and find one suitable to share her first kiss of the new year with, and he was mostly fine with that. He could clap for those who were fortunate enough or whatever, he didn't consider himself a sore loser.

And then suddenly warm lips were pressed to his and he blinked, the tingle undeniable as it washed over him and made his heart race. That hot guy who'd come over for drinks and chitchat? He was kissing him. Leaned right in when Seth wasn't looking, and once that moment of shock was over, his eyelids had started to fall so he could let himself be swept up in that moment, when a flash of light on iridescent scales caught his attention.

His heart lurched and he pulled away from the kiss to see Iri dashing, his eyes widening as he recognized the look of panic on his friend's face and immediately, forgetting for a moment the handsome hunk who'd just been kissing him, he jumped to his feet and took off after his friend, knowing something wasn't right, and then he heard the word "bomb."

He saw the sparks in the crate, everything feeling like it was happening so fast and yet so slow as his brain suddenly kicked into overdrive to take in every little detail of the crucial moment; he screamed, what he said he didn't know, wouldn't remember; just felt his voice ripping through his throat as loud as he could as he tried to reach forward to wrap his arms around Iri's body and pull him back. In the same instance, Iri had half turned and done the same for him, stepping in front of him, putting himself directly between Seth and those fireworks.

A loud cacophony of booms and shrieks of fireworks whizzing and spinning out of control errupted all at once and there was a blinding flash and a sudden force that shuddered throughout Seth's body; for a moment he realized he felt weightless, realized the ground was no longer underneath his feet, and then he hit it, hard. Smacked his head right into the concrete, the shock rattling through every bone, muscle, tendon, tissue, and organ like a rippling wave in a pond.

All he could hear after several moments was violent ringing, piercing his eardrums and threatening to make him go deaf it seemed, as he slowl opened his eyes, the world appearing as a blurry mess of color and light all around him. He saw movements but couldn't see them, and all he knew was that he had to get up for some reason. He didn't know why he was compelled to, he just did.

He rolled over onto his stomach, his body in so much shock the pain hadn't registered quite yet, and as he got his violently shaking hands underneath him and the world started to come into focus he saw something dark and wet on the ground underneath him, puddling, something was dripping into it. What was that?

His labored gasps to try and get air into panic-filled lungs turned into groans and then to yells as he realized the pain; it crept its way from throughout every corner of his body and he yelped as he tried to get up, was he screaming? He didn't know anymore he couldn't tell, until after several moments in he realized he was screaming a name.

"IRI? IRI! IRI!"

A slight glimmer caught his eyes and he bolted, or as well as he could on legs that wouldn't stop shaking, as he stumbled over rubble and debris and saw his friend, his leg... Fuck.

Fuck. His leg.

He fell to his knees on the ground by him and crawled up to him, saw he was awake, his own eyes wide with horror and worry as he sat next to him and wrapped an arm around him in a half hug, a dirt-covered hand finding the Kulshedra's own and carefully holding it.

He didn't know what to say, what could be said? All either of them could do was sit, sit and wait for medics, sit and try not to lose their minds, as one sat there with one less leg, the other with a fractured arm, a few broken ribs, and blood running down the side of his face.

Offline Lion

Re: Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down
« Reply #4 on: March 03, 2018, 02:01:01 am »
The rhythm of the new year had a different tone. This was the first new year in years that Grisham could legitimately say he was looking forward to. The whole schpiel of "New Year, New You" was all bull shit. He was still the same green-haired Mr. Dynamo. The same divorced rat rastard that remembered he didn't have a real arm and was chewing on a cigar when the countdown to midnight began. He still didn't have Isaak next to him. Still wouldn't see the boy graduate or become the pilot he wanted to be. Didn't have to be a Pilot-pilot. Not everyone was meant to fly dragons.

But boy he was gonna fly jets. And boy he was gonna burn across the sky like a fireball across the night. Like the fireworks that would display when the counter reached 0 and the next year came into play. Yeah, he'd still be the same Grisham Lewis Alberich and still be divorced, and Isaak would still be dead. On the inside, all that remained, remained.

But without a doubt things were different. He wasn't here alone. No, in Adstreia, he was never alone. The Hellions were with him in every step of the way; they were family. They were home. But they weren't what was different this time around. The soul beside him, the warm Yote nestled in at his side as the countdown went closer and closer to that fateful number, like the countdown to the very last image of your life flashing before your eyes.

Grisham came back to earth, from the distant recollection of Lisa that used to be underneath his arm, to how she'd pull away complaining she wasn't feeling well or she was going to put a sweater on instead. Grisham stirred and felt the shoulder his arm was on, and he took the stogie from his free hand long enough to lean down and heard the countdown, heard the boom, briefly, because when he leaned into Yavul all he felt was his lips on his own and the lightning jolts that that old coyote man sent racing down his spine.  And all thoughts on what he didn't have melted away.

Because what he did have. What he wanted, was right in front of him.

Grisham's heart had leapt into his throat, was rattling so hard in his ribcage until he heard the cacophony surrounding them. Heard it. Felt the heat, and in the brevity of the moment, part of him was still back there, arm wrapped around Yavul. And the other part, the only part that did not remain conscious of what was happening moved without prompting. He was outside himself, watching him leap forward despite the heat. Or perhaps because of it, running toward the fray as only a fool like him would, and wrapping arms around Blu, feeling lingering flames lick at the hair on his arm and wiping them out and singeing his flesh.

Fire, fire in the sky. Fire in the dome, and the screams around him were deafening. But Blu was not in pieces. Even as she pulled someone else out of the way. And a few others were reeling from the blast. Fire, fire in the sky. And he was damned if he was going to let Blu just lay there alone.

No one deserved to be alone. Not even when fire burned the sky.

 

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