Log: Complete

[noh-dancer.livejournal.com]

When; Sunday night/ Early Monday morning.

Rating; PG-13 (For language)

Characters; alessalearnt Alessa Gillespie, noh_dancer Scarab

Summary; The instrument of your downfall....

Log;

The quiet of the blocks nearer to the Cathedral at this time of night suited her mood well, and as she walked, Scarab couldn't help but think about the past few days.

So much had happened.

Most of it was horrific...some cathartic...but wierdest of all: some was actually pleasent.

Part of her felt it supremly fucked up that the only moments of peace had been when she was caught in her dreams....
..But it had not been the hulking helmeted creature who had visited her then.

For days she had thought on the...comfort...for lack of a better word that her Shadow friend had given her.
She couldn't say how she knew, but she somehow did know that the shadow in her dreams was related to the Pyramid Head.
It was odd to think of them that way, so mentally she had christened her faceless, voiceless companion Kage.

Not the most creative of names, but it felt right...it made him ( for it was definitely a masculine presence) more familiar.

She sighed deeply, and looked up at the ornate building before her.

For months she had avoided this place.
Avoided the fear and the memories....now she felt little more than a numb sensation where terror had once been.

She hadn't even come armed..Instead she was dressed in a 'borrowed' shirt of John's, and the pants Faye had dropped off for her.

That same newly-formed instincts that told her where Kage was in the city, and what he was doing, now told her that Alessa, the bogeyman for Scarab for so long, was diminished.

....Where is your 'god' now, hmm?.

And so, with head held high, Scarab....no, Keico pushed open one of the grand front doors and entered the dragon's den.

Comments

[alessalearnt.livejournal.com]

Alessa's dreams had been filled with nothing. Her Red Angel and her God no longer walked beside her. She felt hurt, abandoned, but then, wasn't that how he had felt, so many times before? Either way, sleep avoided her, and so she sat in the chapel, head bent, the candles flickering off the walls, the scent of incense strong in the air. Christ's porcelain face contorted in agony was even more frightening with the shadows, but Alessa did not mind.

In darkness all things unite...in darkness there is everything and nothing...Darkness is my friend, my lover, my father. Isn't that what you said, Xulchibara? And if that is true, why was the darkness so lonely? Why is the light so terrible? Alessa thought, her pale hands clasped in her lap.

Silence. Xulchibara was too busy with her pet doing who knew what. It angered her, that Pyramid Head would keep something from her, that he would not heed her call. But it hurt her most of all. That in tasting heaven again she was losing her one companion and dearest guardian. Her hands clenched. WHY??

The fingernails bit into her skin as the doors creaked open. It was...her. The butterfly. Alessa wondered what she was doing there. She had insisted on Alessa keeping her distance, and she had. She had not talked to her, approached her, nothing. Not since that night. She had kept her word.

Then why is she here?


'....Come to take revenge, have you?' Alessa asked, her voice echoing along the chapel's walls. She braced herself for the initial assault. This woman was strong-willed and could be dangerous. Without Pyramid Head, Alessa would be an easier, more vulnerable, target. 'I warn you...my burns may be gone, but I can still kill you again if need be.'

[noh-dancer.livejournal.com]

Scarab narrowed her eyes, and unconsciously made a fist of her maimed right hand.

How dare you...

The anger was certainly still there...but it wasn't the killing rage now...no longer based in fear.

" I'm not hear to kill you."

She said. Her voice did not echo as the other woman's had, but then again, with the Red Gaurd's gift inside her, she could just as easily have not spoken at all.

It was a short walk to where Alessa sat, and all too soon Scarab was standing before her.

No weapons.
No fighter's stance.
But, nevertheless this was a battle. A battle of wills perhaps? Or maybe, just maybe, one of the oldest battles that women have been fighting for ages.

" I'm not big on secrets, or bullshit, so I'll ask you this once: What do you ..things...want from me?"

Her tone was cold, but not hostile.
She may be no longer frightened of Alessa, but had by no means forgiven her.

[alessalearnt.livejournal.com]

There was a heavy tension in the room of the chapel, almost smothering. Something wasn't right. If the Butterfly wasn't here to kill her, than she had no reason for being here, unless...

Alessa slowly rose her head to look up at the woman standing before her. Proud, strong, sure of herself and everything she is or ever was....which was exactly the opposite of what Alessa had been feeling for the past few days. She felt as if this woman was mocking her, showing her what she used to be, what she should be, but wasn't. There was something familiar in that stance, something she felt she should recognize.

Anger...you're angry at me, aren't you, Butterfly? Of course you are. Her dark eyes narrowed. Scarab didn't like Alessa any more than Alessa liked her. She had to admit that after killing her she had felt something akin to pity, but would never let the other woman know about it. She had felt betrayal. She knew what it was like. But did death - killing the ones you loved the most, even if they did betray you - solve anything? Alessa couldn't be sure, not anymore.

'...What are you talking about?' Alessa's tone was hard, but like Scarab's, not hostile. 'I have kept my word. I haven't approached you, talked to you...nothing. I've been leaving you alone.'

There was a beat, and then Alessa reached out and grasped onto the woman's wrist quickly, her grip tight and firm. 'Hold still and let me take a look. I'm not going to hurt you.'

[noh-dancer.livejournal.com]

Her initial reaction to having her maimed hand snatched was to pull away, but something...different...also rose up and rattled through her mind at the unwanted advance.

A sound, or rather a vibration of sound, that seemed niether animal or machine in origin but more something in between.

Whether the other woman felt it or not, she wasn't sure, but the surprise of something entirely foriegn reacting to her own thoughts and emotions was enough to ensure Alessa more than enough time to examine Scarab's hand.

[alessalearnt.livejournal.com]

Alessa smirked slightly in pride at the sight of those fingers missing still, but her hand wasn't what she was aiming for. Her keen ears picked up the sound emanating from Scarab's throat, and if she had been nine years younger, her hands would have flown to cover her ears to protect them from the awful sound. But age and experience had hardened her (as much as it had weakened her as well) and only made her suspicions grow.

What could possibly be going on...?

Taking a quick breath, Alessa gave a mental push - or shove, depending on how you looked at it - into Scarab's mind, not giving a damn about this sudden intrusion on her privacy. Alessa knew she was definitely pushing it, that the Butterfly would be pissed as all hell once she was finished, but she had to know.

Memories of a past, of a life, good and bad times, flashed through Alessa's mind as she dug deeper and deeper into the assassin's head. She wasn't sure what she was looking for. A trace of what she was missing perhaps? Or was it something else, something she couldn't identify?

There. Alessa had found it. A darkness, the darkness that resided in everyone and everything, a darkness that had once consumed Alessa completely. It was in the Butterfly, oh, yes it was. The young woman frowned, her brow knitting as she slowly realized just how familiar that shadowed darkness that moved and thrived, always living, always bleeding, always breathing and consuming, was.

No. It can't be, Alessa thought. She held on for a few seconds longer, pushing a bit harder against the walls of Scarab's mental guards, until the full truth hit her like a slap in the face. She released Scarab's wrist with an audible hiss, almost as if she had been burnt again, and stared at Scarab with something acute to horror, jealousy, and rage.

'He wouldn't...no, not you!' She whispered, her delicate frame beginning to tremble.

[noh-dancer.livejournal.com]

Caught off gaurd first by the foreign sound, then again by the other woman's mental intrusion, Scarab could only gasp at the forceful invasion.

All-too-familiar fingers riffled her memories, pushed at her mind, and for the second time in as many days she felt invaded.

Seico's laughter on a stolen bike, Yukio and the way his kisses had felt, Daniel's face as he slept next to her, Frederick with snow in his eyes, Faye tossing back shots, Cori holding her hand, John's dry jokes, Chrno's nervous laughter...

A thousand moments in time, every precious moment she used as a shield to hold back the pain was systematically riffled, examined, and discarded.

...Until the searching claws came across the deepest one.

.....The one Keico kept even from herself.....

A shadow pushing her hair away from her face, a felt smile, the sharing of silent secrets.

And something inside her broke.
A chained thing, a darkness that had been sitting quiet and dormant since she had awoken on the studio fire escape...

...awoke, and reacted...

The growl resonated again, and Alessa hissed, then dropped Scarab's wrist.

Scarab bared her teeth in a snarl at this...this...weak creature before her, and drew back her left hand into a fist, then stepped into the weight transfer and hit Alessa across the mouth.

Hard.

" You stay the Fuck out of my head!" she ground out, and reached down quickly to grab a handful of the other woman's hair, then haul her back up face-to-face.

Red-lensed eyes met blue and that same angry rage clouded her thoughts.

" You think you are powerful? The Jury? You think your 'god' loves you?"

An unsettling smile spread across Keico, Scarab, Keico The dragon's mouth.

" Well guess what, little Alessa. He isn't happy, and I am your reckoning. Run and hide, little girl."

The last statement was made in a voice most assuredly not Scarab's, or Keico's...but something else.

Something gravelled, and sharp.

A predator.

As suddenly as it came the clouding rage receded, and The dragon Keico released Alessa with a small shove, blinking and panting.

Unsettled, she started to back away with suspicion in her eyes.

" What have you done to me?..

[alessalearnt.livejournal.com]

The metallic salty taste of blood filled Alessa's mouth as Scarab's fist connected with her jaw, and the roots of her hair screamed in protest at the woman's tight grip. Alessa's blue eyes widened at the voice coming out of the Butterfly's mouth. That voice was nothing she had ever heard before, and for the first time in a very long time, Alessa was truly afraid. Those words were only confirming what she had suspected all along.

It was darker than she could ever have imagined, and yet, it reminded her of something....

"You were weak Dahlia. Always have been..."

Alessa spit the blood out of her mouth, and glared back up at the woman before her. 'No...No...I am NOT WEAK!' Alessa used her power to knock Scarab back a few feet towards the altar of the chapel, just hard enough to make her stumble.

'I have done NOTHING TO YOU, do you understand me???? I HAVE KEPT MY WORD!!! I ALWAYS keep my promises!!!!If there is one being I CANNOT control it is the Red God!! Pyramid Head is my servant, yes, but Xulchibara's word overrides mine, do you understand?!' She screamed at her, not caring if she woke the whole fucking City up.

'Whatever whims my god is carrying out is out of my control!!! I have left you alone. I had done my duty. I had played the role of the jury.' Alessa spit out more blood, her time spent with Henry and others helping her keep her rage in check. 'My interaction with you was finished.

'...I'm sorry for what he has done to you. If I could, I would stop it, but I can't. To do so would...' She trailed off, her jaw beginning to ache and swell with pain and bruising.

[noh-dancer.livejournal.com]

Scarab's head snapped to the side sharply as the mental shove hit her a bit harder than expected.

Slowly she turned back to regard Alessa, and as more an insult then anything else, spat a gob of blood onto the floor between the two.

" Fine. Lets just say I believe you, and you aren't fucking with me."

Her hands fisted at her sides...why was it growing more difficult to control her temper?

" I know you know more than your saying--"

She stopped mid sentence and frowned.

A sense...a niggling tingle of worry was whispering like white noise in the back of her mind.

Something is wrong...

Still perplexed, Scarab looked away toward the cathedral doors, but turned quickly back to Alessa.

Red-lensed eyes narrowed and regarded the other woman with unveiled loathing.

" ....No....I don't suppose you do know what's going on anymore, after all.."

Shaking her head, Scarab started backing away again, this time not out of fear, but simple caution.
No way she was turning her back on this bitch.

I'll just have to find him myself.

With that thought she looked Alessa over once more, then with another shake of her head in disgust, she was gone.

Dissapeared into the night.

[alessalearnt.livejournal.com]

Alessa collapsed to her knees and once she was sure Scarab was truly gone, let the tears flow as she punched the stone floor repeatedly till her knuckles were torn and bloody. She was confused, she was betrayed, she was hurt. They were trying to find another. They would replace her...her! And with that...that...

'Fuck...I'll be DAMNED if I let that bitch take my place,' she growled to no one in particular. 'You hear me, Xulchibara? No one can replace me, NO ONE!!!'

Slowly, after the echo of her voice had long since died and the candles were sputtering, wax dripping, she rose to her feet and traversed her way to her room. Everything was falling apart, but she refused to be weak. No. She wouldn't be like her mother. She would be strong....after all, that's what Daughters of Xulchibara were wont to do.