The Brink of Insanity (Zorolo)

OoC: ... Yay. *dances around* Time for another one of Cio's incredibly short and lame posts, eh? =P

BiC:

"I swear. I'm not insane!" came a high pitched voice, clearly coming from a female.

"If I had a penny for every time I heard that... I wouldn't need to work..." Another gruff voice could be heard.

"ARGH! I SWEAR!"

"Swearing isn't nice lady..."

Meghana watched, observing silently as a lady was dragged off, literally kicking and screaming. "Hm... This shall be an interesting chapter in my life..."

~ Earlier that day ~

"Ah... What joy illusions are..." the illusionist thought, messing around with the many fanciful images in her head. She walked along the streets of the town, which seemed quite desolate at the moment, all the while humming to herself. Eventually, the soft hums turned into her talking to herself, ever so quietly.

A worried citizen turned to her, speaking, "Ma'am?"

Not noticing his presence, she continued. "Lalala... Then as she turned right, preparing to face the rest of the civilization-"

"Ma'am!"

"Hmm?" Finally, Meghana looked at the person approaching her. "Oh, hello."

"Ma'am, are you alright?"

"I wouldn't know... What do you think is the definition of alright?"

He gave her a crossed looked and said, "Huh? Ma'am... would you mind following me?"

"Certainly civilian. I would enjoy following quite a lot... This place was starting to disappoint me..."

"Yeah... Well, this way."

The illusionist was lead through the city streets, ever winding. Her mind kept formulating a plot about where she was, who she was with and how they all intertwined. But with every thing she said, the man taking her off to wherever they were to go.

"Here we are."

"What is this place?" She read the sign at the entrance and all it said was, 'Welcome... Tell the voices their time has come.'

"I think it may be what you need."

"What I need?"

"Yes..."

They entered the building, all the while the boy sending the purple haired woman worried glances. Inside, the large, plain structure only got stranger. It was entirely white and solemn, only a reception desk was visible as everything else was blocked off by a white wall. The roof was absurdly high and every sound that was made echoed through the building.

"I think she qualifies to be a part of your little group..." said the man who'd brought her here to the woman at the desk.

"Hm... Alright. I'll see what I can do." She stood up, having a perfect posture and a plain white jumpsuit. She had straight black hair, reaching her shoulders. A pair of thin black glasses rested on her nose loosely. "Follow me please."

"Um..." Meghana turned to look at the man, who was now looking the floor, hesitant to look her in the eyes. She gave up trying to see his reaction and said, "Okay..."

After the wall sealing off the rest of the building was lifted, more of the same ensued. There was the same white color and same high ceiling, giving the place a creepy feel. The only difference were rooms with high doors and bars plastered on them. They were placed randomly across each hallway.

Once they'd passed through a couple turns without any words, the woman before her abruptly stopped before an open door. "Here we are."

"Oh, um, what is-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the woman pushed Meghana into the room. "Good bye. We'll talk to you later."

"What?"

She turned to get out of the room, but the door shut. "Is this all in my mind?"

Meghana went to the bars to see what was occurring outside, creating noise.

~ Now ~

It had all happened so quickly. She turned to look around the room, only to see it was more of the same. Except for one thing. There was a person, of male persuasion, looking to be a human with vibrant red hair. "A character in this chapter? The plot unfolds ever so slightly..."

OoC: Alrighty... Um... Yeah... Come up with some reason to be there, I guess...

The red haired boy had entered the city earlier that day, walking around in silence, passing through as he normally did. The young boy trudged through the streets, but he was not without a purpose in this town; he followed closely behind a blonde haired man who wore blue armor with a decorative sword at his side. The young swordsman was sure that this guy was a demon, and the youth kept himself hidden, attempting to find a place to strike at the armored man. The youth slowly placed his right hand upon the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it as he neared the man he was looking for.

Despite the fact the boy didn't know, the blue armored man knew all to well that he was being followed. This man had developed a sixth sense, and could feel the demonic energy that pulsed through the young man's sheathed sword. Four soldiers remained close to this blue armored warrior, and were watching him as well; the intentions of the four were unknown to all, except, of course, the man in the blue armor. A smile crept over his face as he moved out of the center street and into the alley nearby.

The boy had not been following the blond haired man because he, himself, believed that this man was evil, but it was more a sort of suggestion from an outside source. The being that had given the rune crested blade to the youth had sensed the man had a special power, and wanted him dead, as the demon had wanted so many before. I think that man has been killing people. He must pay! The demon told the boy, the whispers of what he said passing up the sword into the warrior's mind.

"I have to stop him from hurting more people!" The boy told himself quietly as he unsheathed his sword and stepped into the alley, pointing his sword, who's runes glowed brightly, at the man "I will stop you from causing more pain," the boy told the man as he charged, holding his rune blade tightly.

The blue armored man turned and quickly unsheathed his sword and blocked the overhead arc thrown by the boy. The man smiled as he blocked the youth's sword. "Nice try, but I could sense you following me, you demon," the blue haired man said with a smile. Quickly, he pushed his silver sword forwards and threw the boy back into the guards.

Quickly disarming the boy and knocking him out, the guards carried him away to the nearby insane asylum. That is where we pick up our story.

***o=)---------- ----------(=o***

The boy woke up as they entered and struggled to break free with everything he had. "Let me GO!" He barked, fighting against those that were holding him as best they could. The two armored guards didn't flinch as he resisted, while a third gave the receptionist a report. "DID YOU HEAR ME!" The boy got louder, trying desperately to escape.

"This boy tried to kill the mayor. He apparently thought that our mayor had some connections to demons. The mayor thought it best to keep him here."

"Tell the mayor he made a good choice, we shall give this boy all the care he needs to get better," the woman said, smiling at the man.

The man turned to his soldiers and signed to them. They released the young red haired boy, who was quickly snatched up by the physicians that worked in this institution. "There is just one last thing," the man said as the fourth soldier walked over, holding the youth's rune blade. "We need you to hold onto his sword, seeing as it is the only thing he has," the man stated, smiling.

"Of course," the receptionist stated as one of the white clad men grabbed the sword and took it away.

One of the people trying to restrain Leos injected him with something, and his body went limp, but he was still very awake. They carried him up the stairs, drawing him slowly towards his new residence. They threw him in a room, and he skidded on the ground as he entered.

"Ow..." the boy mumbled, still hardly able to move. Suddenly, the door opened, and a young woman with purple hair entered. Who is she? Zachary asked himself as he looked upon her with bewilderment. I guess I'll learn so enough, the numbed warrior said as feeling began to return to his body.

OoC: :O Look! *points at book again* That still has a hell of a lot of words. :)

BiC:

"Hmph... An Asylum, is it? These white walls could never hold me…” Ignoring her inmate, she walked to the wall farthest from the door, observing her surroundings. The illusionist’s thin hands ran over the white surface, feeling it as though she wasn’t entire it was actually there. With a sigh of exasperation, she walked along the side of the room, making sure to take in every aspect of it, trying to find some underlying exit. “Maybe this won’t be quite that simple…”

Meghana decided that waiting for it to come to her would be pointless. Therefore, her first resort was magic. Having no material in the small room, she decided to finally pay some mind to the red haired male sitting limply on the ground. Her tone was rushed, getting tired of being in the room reeking of insanity.

“Hello, character. I’m Meghana. Knowing your real name doesn’t really matter at this point so I won’t bother asking. I have but one favor I need to ask of you, character,” the dragon tamer stood over him, inching closer to his head. Once she’d gotten close enough, she plucked several strands of hair, “Thank you. That’s exactly what I needed.”

“Ow!”

“Shh… We wouldn’t want them coming while I’m trying to break us out... Though originally I only intended myself to escape… You seem too important though, character.”

She got a puzzled look and the question, “Character?”

“Once again, I say SHH… Yes, character. That is what you are, even if you don’t realize it at the moment… You’ll be an interesting character in one of my tales…” Her whispering faded away as Meghana focused her attention on the strand of hair in her fist.

Within moments, she’d thought of the perfect rhyme to accompany what she had planned. In the air in front of her head, milky words, a gentle shade of lilac, appeared, forming the rhyme that was currently running through her head.

“Using these strands of rich red hair
Provide me a means to escape this lair
To get away from these insane walls
To never again see these hallowed halls.”

Once the words in the air stopped forming, they seemed as though to melt away, and the hair in Meghana’s hand was no longer hair. Instead, it was now a spoon.

Her ‘character’ said, with a disappointed look, “A spoon…”

“… Yes. I see it now… We dig our way out…” the illusionist threw the eating utensil at the boy, “Alright… Get to work.”

“Huh?”

Her back was now to him, walking toward the other end of the room. “What? I’m no good when it comes to physical labor and I must say that this escapade has given me many ideas for a good story…”

Before the boy could oppose this, the door was thrown open; tranquilizer guns were reared, ready to shoot, and, just as Meghana turned to see this, did indeed shoot. Both hitting each of their targets directly.

Muttering voices entered the woman’s ears.

“Hmph… Why’d we have to take them out again?”

“Bosses orders, you idiot. What better reason do you need?”

As the world seemed to fade away, the faerie saw the spoon fall to the floor, an empty thud echoing through the room.

OoC: This crappy post was brought to you by Cio and some FF/KH/DMC/LoZ music...

OoC: Time to set the stage for the battle.

BiC: As the two men lugged the young swordsman and the plainly insane woman, they were talking about something, not that the unconscious two would know what was going on. The two laborers bared the weight of the captives on their shoulders with relative ease, but the occasionally twitch by the unmoving was slightly unnerving.

"So why do you think the boss wants these two?" The man holding Zachary asked.

"Don't know, but we'll find out soon I guess," the second man muttered as they stopped in front of a massive, blue door.

The door opened slowly, the man lugging the red haired boy poked his head in. "You said you wanted these two?" He asked, slightly shaking as the man waved him and his cohort into his office.

"Quite," the blue haired man stated. This man, the head of this institution, wore an all blue suit. His hair was slicked back, and as he turned, the men looking saw his golden colored eyes that seemed to pierce their souls. "You can place them down, I'll take care of it from here," the boss commanded.

The laborers laid down the illusionist and the swordsman and closed the door behind them as several screens appeared from the ceiling. They all suddenly turned on, but it mattered not, seeing as none of the faces of the men that were on the screens could be seen.

"Hello, my friends," the blue haired man stated with an evil grin as he looked over the screens. "I've brought you top of the line entertainment this time. My boys captured this young boy who has power over ice, and this girl who seems to have illusion related magic. I was wondering if you wanted to bet on the two of them while watching good sport?" The business man asked.

"Hmm..." One man, the one on the center screen, stated as he looked over the warriors. "This sounds like it could be a most interesting battle, so I think we should do it," the mysterious man stated.

The others all talked, but quickly the agreement was to have this battle and see if this battle was truly worth the time of the mysterious men. Quickly, they had all said yes, and two guards walked in and picked up the warriors and carried them away.

"Good, we just need some time to prep this battle and it shall be presented. For now my friends, get your money, and place your bets, for this shall be a very interesting battle.

***o=)---------- ----------(=o***

All of the preparation had taken about an hour, setting up the room for combat, getting everything ready, and finally, bringing in the still sleeping warriors.

Two guards entered from two entrances to the fighting pit and threw in the two warriors. the two had been placed into a massive room under the center for the clinically insane with a ceiling that stood at about thirty feet high. From the room the business man had, he stood at the top, with about a ten foot mirror that looked out on the battle, as the screens pointed in the same direction.

On the walls behind the fighters, there existed the weapons, or in Meghana's case, her accessories, hung from coat hooks. Each of the fighters had a brown bracelet on their right wrists with a small golden orb on each. The blue haired man held a controller in his hand and a demonic smile on his face. He readied to press the button, but didn't, moving his thumb over it in a relaxed state.

The walls of the room were all white and padded like the room, as were the wall and ceiling of this odd room. The only difference in the room was the lights hanging from the ceiling that shined their dull yellow lights upon the room. The window that looked down on the fighters, and was not one sided, meaning the two fighters could see who was using them for a spectacle.

Zachary slowly stirred, opening his eyes which were beginning to focus in on what was happening around him. The flash of white and yellow that entered his eyes called him to blink several times until he could finally see properly. He stood up, but his body had become slightly wobbly, but the feeling was returning. His eyes peered upon his forced foe, who was already looking up at the window. The fighter looked up at the window and saw the man clad all in white.

"Hello, my stooges," the man in blue stated, holding a microphone to his mouth as he looked upon the fighters. "You two are going to fight for the betting peoples watching you," he said, indicating the mysterious peoples. "Also, if you try not to fight," the man said as he pushed a button on his controller.

Zach suddenly felt a powerful pain throughout his body coming from the strange bracelet the swordsman wore. He couldn't move, and began to feel like he was going to pass out again, but the pain suddenly stopped.

"I'll make you feel more pain. The pain isn't he only power the controller has, but I'll save that for later. Now then, behind the two of you are your weapons, and now, take them and use them to fight until I tell you to stop," the man stated.

Leos looked at the man angrily, but turned and grasped his sword by its hilt and raised it, holding it tightly. Okay, I guess I'll have to defeat her, but then I'll make that guy suffer, the youth told himself as he tightened his grip on his sword and turned to face Meghana, grasping the handle of his blade in both hands, ready to strike her with it. "I am sorry miss, but I must defeat you!" He stated as his sword's power was released and an ice spike was formed. "Forgive me!" He told her as he noticed what she was doing.

OoC: Sorry for the wait. And crappiness. Being sick makes everything worse.

BiC:

“Oh, well... I knew this wouldn't be a peaceful chapter, but it'll be okay. I'm confident in my winning of this battle... even if I don't particularly want to fight this young man.” Meghana had quickly picked up her accessories along with the spoon from earlier, “Convenient.”

The illusionist turned her attention to her opponent. He sounded rather righteous with his forgiving words, but she paid him no mind. This was nothing compared to some of her stories... stories of wonderment and contests very much unlike this one. Still, even if she didn't care she was being against this boy, the dragon tamer wouldn't mind administering some pay back to the people who'd forced her in such a situation.

Snapping back to reality as a sharp spike of ice was pointed toward her wouldn't leave her with the best counterattack possibilities, but Meghana made do with what she had. In this case, that was a spoon.

She planted herself on the floor, paying absolutely no mind to her opponent, he didn't matter for the time being. Her mind was racing, thinking up an idea, a scheme if you will. It had to be excellent, brilliant, unlike anything she'd done before. Then, as though a light bulb had been turned on, making those obscure thoughts visible, the idea hit her, quite literally.

In her state of thinking, the man in charge of this event found this to be some sort of protest. A button was pressed, her lungs constricted, and her eyes grew wide with pain. As rapidly as it had been induced, the pain resided. Once her breath had returned, the illusionist couldn't help but bark out at them, “Hey, give me time to think, will you?”

But this temporary feeling of suffering had brought about a revelation. She placed the spoon on the floor, readying herself for another simple transformation.

The words appeared in front of her, before she could even begin to speak them. This time, she strayed away from poetry.

“The pain of a thousand ages... What would the world do with this? Lock it up, through away the key, and never speak of it again? My magic, this spoon, the pain...”

As the words stopped forming, they became solid and crumbled away, letter by letter. They fell on the spoon, battering it, shattering it. The small fragments lay there, untouched. A few seconds passed, and finally a reaction came.

A bright light escaped them, emanating, wave after wave of color. The warriors were reduced to shielding their eyes from the blast. The light dissipated. All that was left in the light's stead were several, foot long, thin spikes.

Puzzled, Meghana looked upon the shards of metal, “Huh? This isn't what I wanted. Since when have I been good with ninja weapons?”

Still, now was a good time to learn.

Zachary looked, in awe, as the illusionist transformed the spoon into a series of ninja weaponry. On the ground lay shuriken, kunai, a ninja katana, and lastly, and most odd of all, was a fold up shuriken; all of the weapons had a shine to them, and the female illusionist looked at them blankly. Did she just turn that spoon... Into all of those strange weapons? The young swordsman asked himself as the ice dagger he created floated into his hand. I think this could prove a fun game then, the young warrior told himself as he flung the ice dagger at the strange woman.

The dragon tamer looked at the fighter, almost taking no note of the ice weapon that had been hurled at her; she placed her hand on a shuriken and threw it at the dagger, causing the two weapons to bounce off of each other and went in different directions. Her hand moved onto a kunai next as she stood and examined it. "Most intersteing, aren't they, character?" She asked him, looking up at him slightly.

"Um... Sure. Also, my name is Zachary," the ice warrior told the odd woman, drawing ice from his blade and creating two ice daggers that floated to the sides of the warrior. "I can't believe we have to fight, but our choices aren't vast, so let us get this over with," he told her, flinging his two ice blades at her and followed after, brandishing his rune blade, readying to strike this girl, but not kill her, before she knew what to do.

"What was that character, I could barely hear you," he stated, placing down the kunai and looking at the katana. "Most interesting indeed," she stated as she tried to draw the weapon, but it seemed to be stuck in its sheath. She pulled the blade with all of her might, trying hard as she may to draw it as the ice daggers flew towards her. When the two frozen blades fell into range to strike her, she made a hard tug and drew the blade, knocking the ice daggers away, and causing the youth to slide to a stop.

What is she? She doesn't seem to be paying me any mind, yet she is fighting me with the greatest of ease. Also, I must keep in mind her strange power, which seems to allow her to manipulate matter and change it. He pondered about her powers silently to himself as he began to draw more ice energy from his sword and created another ice shard and shaped it into just a sharpened ice rock. This will be a good chance to test out some of my powers, and also to perhaps develop new skills, he told himself as he threw the ice shard at her with a quick flick of his wrist. "Miss, look out!" He called out to her, jumping back as his blade sped towards her.

OoC: *cough* ... Remember, I have a lot of battles to reply to. PLEASE, take your time with this. >> I'm actually only replying to this right now because of inspiration! Not saying it will be good. Just saying that I wanted to reply to this. Yeah. Oh, and I didn't notice until I read this, but I really liked how you portrayed Meghana. It was excellent. :3

BiC:

“Character, how many times have I told you, I'm not paying attention or caring in the least?” the illusionist said, growing impatient with this boy's desire to be done with it while Meghana so strenuously attempted to learn how to use these new devices. “I'm not done figuring out how to work these things... so primitive.”

Even her confusion wouldn't stop the ice spiraling toward her. Still fingering the katana, weighing it, all around taking it in, she swung it around awkwardly, obviously not skilled with blades. It came down upon the ice shard while it was within a few inches from her face. She didn't bring it down with her own force, but rather with the force of gravity. The tamer had no force with this weapon, as with most weapons.

They clanked against each other and the woman recoiled, not able to withstand the sheer power behind both objects. Her hand snapped open, releasing the ninja blade off to the side. “Ow, ow, ow... Be careful with that thing! You almost hit me...”

“Erm, isn't that the point of fighting?”

“In most cases, but right now, I need to know what to do with these things...” Still not looking at her opponent, Meghana picked up another oddity. “What's this?”

“Um...”

“That wasn't directed toward you,” Meghana said, shooting him a glance as she picked up the next ninjitsu tool. The illusionist lifted it, observing it and incidentally, dropping it. Yet, as it fell down, it undid itself. Quite literally. “It unfolds? What IS this?”

“Are you talking to me now?”

“No. Character, you can speak when the plot tells you to.”

Not making any sense, it was only natural that Zachary, much like everyone else she faced, was left stumped.

“Aha!” came the tamer's exclamation as soon as she'd completely unfurled the shuriken. It's size was more than she could handle. With a disappointed sigh, Meghana absentmindedly threw the weapon. “That will never do.”

Of course, somehow, someway, the woman was just playing into the fight scene more, for the rapidly spinning blades closed in on her red haired opponent.

The swordsman had sat down and was watching the odd woman as she played around with her new weapons, trying to figure out how they worked and what they did. The ice innate was resting, still fighting off the sleeping effects of the tranquilizer, but watching the girl play around with the foreign weapons became slightly worrying, especially after she opened the blades to the large shuriken. Zachary sighed as he looked at the ground, wondering when this woman would want to fight, or if she ever would. The boy put his sword at his side as he watched the woman examine the weapon's weight, handling and anything else she could think of. Suddenly, the unfolded weapon came flying at the ice innate, who stood silently, watching it.

The hell is wrong with her?! She just nonchalantly whipped that shuriken at me, and not even noticed she attacked... Unless... Suddenly, the blade was very close, and the boy laid down, evading the sharpened blades of the giant throwing star. The swordsman grabbed his sword and stood up, watching the shuriken with a large smile on its face, but that smile quickly washed away the blade spun around and came after the swordsman, who quickly jumped over it, barely evading the sharpened edges of the very dangerous weapon. That was dangerously close, he thought as he watched the blade fly towards Meghana. I should warn her, but she just whipped that blade at me... What should I do? he asked himself as he watched the weapon fly at her. Damn conscience. "Meghana, look out!" He cried to her, but she just seemed to ignore his cry, still looking at her weapons.

The multibladed weapon flew at the dragon tamer, who didn't notice it in the least. When the blade was about to make its final swoop and strike the insane woman, she bent down, looking more closely at one of the weapons as the Demon Wind Shuriken made its swoop past and missed, swooping just over her head and continuing to spin towards the wall, but stopping again and turning back towards the young swordsman. The blade didn't seem to lose any speed behind it, even after a round trip, and it seemed like nothing could stop this blade as it moved at the ice innate.

Come on! the boy roared to himself, how the hell can that blade just keep coming back in round trips at us. Well, I guess I'm going to need to find a way to stop it then, he thought silently with a smile as he watched the strange blade come back towards him, readying his sword to strike back. Anyway, it could be worse. That blade could be set on fire, the boy told himself smugly as he watched the giant shuriken as suddenly the blade moved towards the young ice warrior, readying to strike him down. This time I'll stop it... That or I'll die, Zachary told himself as he watched the four bladed weapon come in towards him, almost in slow motion.

The blade swooped down, readying to cut down the boy, but he was ready this time, it had only took dodging it twice. The ice warrior stabbed his sword into the ground, and readied to make his attack against the four bladed weapon, undeterred by the threat of possible death. The blade moved in, and the ice swordsman made his move, pushing his hand upon the pommel of his sword and propelling himself forwards, pushing a kick at the fold up shuriken. By an amazing feat of luck, the swordsman's foot struck the handle of the weapon and stopped the rotation, throwing it backwards towards his foe, the weapon folding up as it did so, stopping in front of Meghana. "That was close... and stupid," he told himself, astounded that he had survived. "Well, time to continue," he noted, pulling his sword from the ground and readying himself to attack.

OoC: Sorry for the wait... ^^;;;;;

BiC:

Meghana, having ignored the entire folding shuriken escapade, continued on, observing the tools. She was nearly done going through all of them, save for a few smaller ones here and there. Yet, before her inspection could be completed, footsteps sounded behind her, starting off quietly and picking up speed. She rolled her eyes, knowingly, Character...

Not even bothering to turn around, she rose her hand into the air, a kunai squeezed between her forefinger and middle finger. The illusionist threw it blindly, hoping that she might hit her target, though not expecting to. She spoke after she'd released it, rather calmly, “Bad, character. What did I say about the will of the plot?”

His eyes widened as the knife flew inches from his face. Had he taken another step, it would have easily penetrated his face. The red haired boy took a step back, staring at her incredulously.

“What's the matter?” she asked, finally turning to see his face pale and his mouth gaping. She said it innocently enough, but with this superiority.

After a few seconds of processing her question, he replied with a quick, “Nothing.”

“Very well... I guess we can begin fighting, but this shall never do,” Meghana stared down, seeing that there were far too many kunai for her to be willing to use. Something practical, quick... hm...

The words formed around her feet, encircling her. Their milkiness calming and with this sophisticated air about it. It began...

Turn these excess weapons into something useful.
So that I may extinguish my foes.
My characters which do not follow the plot.

Zach saw this text, raising an eyebrow. Having seen this, the tamer said, plainly, “As far as I'm concerned, a character which does not follow the plot is better off dead.”

And, as she finished that sentence, the kunai melted into the ground. Out popped a pistol: Small, efficient, and most definitely loaded.

Meghana looked at the results of her magic, dumbfounded, “A gun? What the... what am I supposed to do with a gun?” Though, the answer was rather obvious.

The ice innate looked at the weapon blankly, holding his sword in front of himself. I get a bad feeling about that thing, the youth thought silently, forming an ice knife in front of himself, readying to put it to good use. I have a strange, "she's going to use that weapon and nearly cause me some kind of bodily harm without trying," feeling. I'd better be- the boy was cut off as a bullet whizzed past his face into a nearby wall.

The woman recoiled slightly, looking at the weapon oddly. "What a strange occurrence," the woman stated, looking closely at the weapon. "This weapon is very unique, and I must examine it further," the illusionist muttered, pressing a button and causing the clip to release.

As the woman preceded to examine her weapon, the swordsman was still frozen, utterly amazed at what had just happened. That thing... what the hell is that thing? It seemed to fire something, but I wonder what? the ice warrior asked himself as he moved over to the wall and grabbed his ice dagger, using it to pick out the bullet, and then dropping the ice blade and looking at the compressed metal.

A weapon that fires small, metal objects. These aren't arrow heads, but they are something that can pierce through metals, the boy thought silently, still dumbfounded by the strange weapon. These small metal things must be what it fires. If one of these hits me, it will be rather painful. Must be careful, the red haired youth told himself as he walked back towards the woman, who had just finished inspecting the weapon.

The woman slowly pushed back the hammer of the gun and and pointed it at the swordsman. "I wonder what this will do if one of these projectiles hits you, character?" the dragon tamer asked, pulling the trigger.

A sudden burst of gun powder and a spark, and a bullet had left the chamber of the weapon and sped towards the brown eyed warrior.

The youth moved quickly, holding the broad side of his sword out. The bullet struck the swords, pushing the boy back slightly, but he quickly recovered, the metal projectile falling to the ground. "That was close," Zachary muttered as he looked at the weapon. Another one, I need to be careful, the warrior thought, keeping a close eye on the woman.

OoC: There was a wait and what not... well, I AM Cio. Not much more to expect... and, for some reason, I always forget about this battle... ;;>.> Sorreh. I'd just like to point out, yet again, I AM Cio. It's in Cio's nature to forget.

BiC:

With a sigh, Meghana twirled the gun around using her forefingers. She stared down at the strange device, having seen it's power, and still not being all too impressed. "Am I supposed to know how to use this properly? And, what is today? Confuse Meghana with several weapons she's never even seen before day? I wouldn't be surprised if it was..."

Zach could hear her complaints, and started to reply with, "Well-"

The illusionist was quick to interrupt, "Rhetorical question, character. Now, if you had just done as the plot willed it, I could have easily broken us out of this place. What with the spoon and all. I guess pitting us against each other was too tempting. I know my magic is impressive and all, but really."

She started pacing the room, pointing the gun to random places. The tamer turned the gun to the man in blue, which had orchestrated this whole event. He stared at her, his eyes narrowing as though saying, 'you wouldn't dare'. Though, Meghana would dare, just, not quite yet. She took the gun off of him and turned back to her character.

"Though, not all hope is lost. If you cooperate with the plot, and follow directions, perhaps I won't have to kill you before escaping. Sound good?" she asked, barely looking at him.

"Um..." he began.

"Good," it seemed by now that Meghana would interpret everything he said however she wanted. And her next action only proved it, "that 'um' means a lot you know. Like, 'um when do we begin'. The answer to that would be..." She paused, mainly for dramatic effect, but quickly glared at the red haired boy, "once I take you out."

It was obvious that the next word would have been 'now', but the illusionist knew that the plot did not want it so. The plot wanted something more exciting. What kind of story would it be had she stopped here?

With that, she shot at the boy again, missing due to the recoil of the shot. "Dammit. While I hate to admit it, this gun does throw me around a little.." Still, she aimed once more, square in his head. I'm aiming to kill? Perhaps not yet... She quickly lowered it to his shoulder. Better.

She fired, knowing it would miss, but that didn't matter to her, for she'd taken up one of the last remaining kunai and flung it at him. Meghana smirked at the expression on her opponent's face.

"If you didn't like me when I fought nonchalantly, I'm sure you'll grow to hate me when I'm focused."

Interesting fighting style, the ice innate thought to himself as he watched the kunai move towards him. The ice warrior gripped the handle of his sword and turned it so the blade was horizontal and held his hand over the runes, creating and ice shard and throwing it in opposition to the illusionist's kunai. As the two blades clashed, they flung in different directions, both landing on the ground in the no mans land between the warriors. "You aren't half bad," the swordsman told the odd woman as she stared at him.

The woman just glared at him. "If you won't die like a good character, then perhaps I shall just have to speed up your demise then," she muttered, firing off two bullets, one aimed for the ice warrior's arm, the other for his head.

"Don't think so," he stated as he pushed off to the side, evading both, and charging at the woman.

In a brink of what could be considered either madness or genius, the woman moved her hand quickly and grasped the katana that lay at her feet and blocked the rune sword that moved towards her head as the swordsman struck. She held him back fairly well with one arm, but she was quickly pushed to her knees, but it was she who had the advantage.

"Character, its time you feel the sting of this strange contraption," she muttered, firing off a shot.

Had the boy not seen it coming, he probably wouldn't have dodged it, but luck was on his side as he rolled, but the bullet still hit him, passing through his lower abdomen, hitting no organs luckily, and going completely through him. He coughed up blood and moved back, dropping his sword as he did so.

Damn, that hurt, he thought to himself, holding his side as blood rolled down his shirt and pants. using his energy, he moved some of his ice into the wound and closed it up, but the freezing cold of the ice made him wince in astounding pain. At least I won't bleed to death, he told himself as his eye twitched a few times. Now, its time to kill this mad woman, he told himself as he rolled and recovered his sword, quickly thrusting the tip at the gun.

The illusionist stepped back as his attack came towards her and swung her sword in reflex, which cut a small amount of the ice innate's hair off, but it didn't hurt him. He was ready this time, and as he pointed the gun, he swung down, cutting through the gun and destroying the barrel effectively. In an instant, he created an ice shard and flung it, lodging it into the woman's lower abdomen.

The ice warrior stepped back, still in great pain from the bullet, but with a smile of satisfaction over his face. "Now you know my pain that you've given me. So, who is the character now?!" he asked her angrily, his eyes filled with hatred and desire.

OoC: Posty.

BiC:

Meghana staggered back, not accustomed to this pain which so fervently flowed through her system. She could feel her body screaming in pain, but her mouth refused to comply with its wishes for release. No... she thought emptily. No. Came the thought, stronger. “No!” She yelled, facing him as blood dripped out from between the fingers that so desperately clutched at her side. The Faerie glared at his mocking smile, not even a trace of kindness lingering in the air any longer. Even the playful nature that came with the battle was now gone. When her breaths calmed from the roaring they felt like seconds before, she whispered, tone harsh, “You'll forever be the character. Nothing will change that. But, you may choose what kind of character you want to be. It's obvious you've chosen to be the dead kind.”

With those words, she hung her head, gaze fixed away from him and on to her wound where the ice shard was still implanted. It was dyed red from the blood which thickly coated it. Her fingers gingerly touched it, watching her character out of the corner of her eye all the while. And, while her mind was focused on Zach, her hand impulsively gripped around the shard, and jerked it out in a swift and singular motion. Realizing vaguely what she'd done, her teeth gritted and her breaths shortened. Her hand, gripping the shard so tightly it drew blood itself. And, with an echoing 'clank', the ice fell to the ground. The illusionist's hands trembled and her body shook in response to the pain that had only grown in magnitude. But, this had been enough to fuel her fire. Sadly, it had been all the wrong fuel.

Her blue eyes looked up at her opponent, lively with madness. Smiling, her mouth opened a crack and her teeth shown in a full-fledged smile. “Why, I think they submitted me here just in time, don't you think?” It had been so long since she'd felt such a stabbing pain. It had been so long since it had been so concentrated and deep. And, ignoring the tears that welled up in her eyes, and her knees that wanted to give in so badly, she lunged out at her opponent, wildly wielding the katana in her hand while the other hung limply at her side, dripping blood. He dodged easily, not losing his angry stare. “You know, character, maybe we are insane. I've been considering that possibility ever since we entered this loony facility. It only makes so much sense. You, having your outrageous hair style, are obviously insane. Me, while I look more normal, my mind is riddled with thoughts of oddness and insanity. Heh, heh... Oh, the first step is to admit you have a problem, go ahead and do it character... it's all the BETTER FOR YOU!”

On the last three words, she dove forward again. Slashing out at him with pathetic aim and a weak guard. But, with her random lashes, she was capable of cutting anything, even herself. Still, she trusted her self to stop before she would do something like that. With her sudden breaks of madness, anything was possible though. Pausing, Meghana took two steps to her left, closing in on Zach all the while and smiling once more.

Looking around, she spotted something that complicated things. Blood was scattered all across the floor, causing a potential slipping hazard. Cackling slightly, she made eye contact with him once more, “Be careful where you step, young character. For it may be your last.”

The red haired youth stared at the woman oddly and stabbed his sword into the ground, smiling as she warned him. She had become savage and wild in her attacks, no longer as calculating as she had once been. Perhaps the loss of her sanity, or what little of it remained, had triggered this response. The ice innate didn't care, no matter what it was, he would walk away the victor in this fight. All it would take is some planning.

The padded room, now littered with blood across the floor and walls, had become truly what this asylum was meant for: two people who were both, undoubtedly, mad. To the ice innate, enjoying the thrill of battle against a strong foe was all he needed, and even at this stage, where others questioned his sanity, he still held strong beliefs he was sane. The perpetual challenging of Leos' sanity began to make him more and more angry. He would win this battle and get out of this hell hole if it was the last thing he ever did.

As the youth thought about his current situation, the crazy woman across from him, and what had lead up to this battle, he began to get annoyed, angry even, and began gathering up his energies to finish this battle. The swordsman looked down for a moment, his eyes blank, nearly glazed over. It seemed as if the ice warrior had passed out or had merely zoned out. Whatever it was, the illusionist in front of him didn't care; she merely waited for him to continue their fight. He'd pay for harming her.

A small bit of laughter erupted from the red haired boy. At first, it was nearly silent from the youth, but after a few moments, the swordsman seemed to be laughing uncontrollably at something. His head flew up, looking at the ceiling, although his eyes were closed, and laughing hard at absolutely nothing that seemed apparent. His laughter erupted with nearly earthshaking levels, but finally quieted down a bit and the boy spoke up for the first time in a while.

"That has to be the funniest thing I've ever heard. You are the insane person referring to me as a character in your story. I'm a person, not some piece of a story that can be cast off as nothing. I will never let myself be degraded in such a way!" the ice innate stated, stabbing his sword into the ground. "If you are so worried about a misstep, we should at least make it a bit more slippery," the ice warrior stated, freezing all of the blood on the ground and looking at the woman that he knew was insane intently. "Now then, I'll show you the power of fate! Something stronger then the story of any one person," the ice innate stated, channeling his magic into the runes of his sword and creating Ice Shards en masse. With a quick flick of his finger, he fired three ice shards at without so much as a slight blink on his part.

All she could do in reply to this was deliver a well executed smirk and say, “Why, character, what is the difference between this 'fate' you profess yourself to, and my 'plot'?” And, watching the countless ice shards being launched at her, she smiled. “I trust the plot to turn things in my favor, no matter what your fate indicates.”

The faerie stood in the icy sea of scattered blood, arms hanging limply at her sides and sword clutched in her left hand fervently. She looked like an open target, but, in reality, all she was was a blank canvas for whatever Zachery wanted to do to her. Whether it was to mutilate with sharp shards of ice or simply to devastate with magical prowess, her smug smile seemed ready for it all.

Each piece clear as day, the ice approached, and Meghana's senses were aroused. Her eyes gently shut, but her arm flung in quick motions, lashing out at the projectiles, almost expertly. Out of the horde of shards, only two actually hit their mark. One struck her shoulder, sending a shock of pain down her arm and the other dug itself into her thigh. The only kind of pained expression she allowed herself was a quick grimace, but reverted again to her confident air. “Is that the best you can do? I never knew my characters to be so... weak.”

Her speech was lathered with a thick coat of ego. Enough ego to spur her opponent into action once again, his smile almost completely dissipated from his face. The woman was now ready, her milky magic words inching away from the soles of her feet, melting into the ground and being absorbed by the ice. As this phenomenon occurred, she could feel her magic peak, turning the ice into liquid. A murky, lilac substance that began to slither its way toward her red haired foe.

“Welcome to a true Sorceress' Cascade,” she walked, half limping from the wounds which so generously continued to outpour a steady flow of blood. Her eyes, glossed with a madness only known to her, stared him down, watching intently as the liquid enveloped him. She bent down, touching it, almost gingerly and breaking into a wide grin upon doing so. “Well, it looks like it's your lucky day, character! It's not often when my flow of magic goes so unchecked that my illusions become reality. Your fate either really has it in for you, or just isn't in your favor.” She stood back again, gazing upon the sparkling substance coat him from head to toe and smiling a wicked smile, one that did not match well with her normal, more serene one.

Again, a smile cracked over his face, and if he could, he would have laughed right there. Liquid was a pathetic attempt to defeat him, especially seeing what his sword could do. The ice innate just needed to focus, so as his foe monologued, slowly ice energy moved around her liquid. It wasn't to be long now before the swordsman was free to shut this woman up, and all it would take is time.

Suddenly, he began to speak, despite the strange liquid that coated him. He didn't care, he'd be free soon enough anyway. "You are mistaken..." he told her, the ice slowly covering his feet and beginning its ascent upwards. "Fate has been cruel to you, making me your foe," he said, his voice slightly distorted, albeit not much. "I've already won," the red haired warrior said with a grin as the ice covered up to his calves. All he had to do is continue to stall his foe, preventing her from noticing his actions.

"And what..." she asked as she limped over, pointing her sword at him, "makes you say... that?" Her wounds had obviously begun to take a toll upon her body, mostly in terms of blood lost. The illusionist placed her blade against the swordsman's neck, smiling in a more then crazy manner. "Well... character? Are you... going... to tell me?" she asked, growing annoyed with him.

At about this time, the ice had began to cover his stomach, his eyes staring her down as he did. Before long, his hands, wrists, forearms and lower chest were all covered in ice. The ice slowly crept up his chest and nearer to his shoulders, where all of the ice began to converge, forming and almost ice armor around him.

With a sudden jerk, she pulled her arm back and swung, aiming the blade for his neck, but only finding her weapon lodged into his ice armor that now covered him in a strange color ice from head to toe.

Zachary's eyes closed, he would need to concentrate in order to defeat this foe. Suddenly, the ice began to shake, and then crack, and finally, it began to chip off. Slowly, the ice innate was freeing himself, but at this rate, he'd die from being frozen rather then escape. He had to speed this up. He focused all of his magic into the armor, trying to break it, and suddenly, it obliged.

With an ear shattering sound, the ice cracked and shattered, shooting in every direction. Meghana had almost no time to think of what she would do, and wound up with several small pieces of ice lodged about her body, whereas Zachary's body stood, save for his wounds, completely indifferent, although that was a lie. He had used all of his magic energy and was exhausted.

With a great heave, he tried to lift his sword, but it would simply not listen to him, forcing him to drop the powerful blade. Its runes were now very lightly glowing, representing how little energy the ice innate had left. He'd need to end this battle with his dagger, and that was it. The swordsman unsheathed his secondary weapon and moved slowly towards his foe, intent on finally ending this mage battle.

"Good fight, but it looks like you came up short," he told her, barely conscious himself.

OoC: Time for me to end this. >:3

BiC:

She lay slumped on the floor, her breathing irregular and her body shaking from the pain. It was just like the end of every other fight she had been in. One would think she would be used to the kind of emotional and physical tortures the faerie had endured, but, with each new opponent, came new ways for her to grit her teeth and slam her fists against the floor in angst.

With every fiber of her being, an old realization haunted her. She'd been aware of this everyday of her life, but it angered her so much she constantly tried to forget it: she was weak. It had driven her to insanity. It had made her want to lash out at someone for no real reason. But, despite knowing that it was behind it all, she never once gave into it. In the corner of her mind, Meghana considered this to be a strength in itself.

And, that corner grew, ever so slowly. It began to spread into her conscious, making her confident. While she was nothing more than a pile of bloodied mass, her hand trembled, recognizing the weak signals from her brain. It inched closer to the sword which had been thrown out of her hands upon the shattering of the ice. Out of the corner of her glazed eye, she could see the figure of her opponent near. The faerie needed to determine the precise moment at which she would have to flung the sword up in order to not face an early demise here and now. Her mouth dared not move to speak, and her nostrils refrained from flaring.

His dagger hung limply at his side, twitching and irking for the moment it would strike her. The illusionist saw him take a longer stride, and took this as the perfect moment. In her last ounce of energy, she lurched at the sword, and, once it had been firmly gripped in her palm, she swung it up to meet his dagger. “N-not so fast...” her voice shook, dry and cracking. A weak grin was on her face, showing her pleasure at fending him off, even if only for a moment.

He smirked, taking his dagger off her blade and preparing to swing at her from the side. Both of their movements were so slow, yet each one decided on the fate of the battle more than the last. And, when it looked like they would both collapse from exhaustion, a call came from the familiar window from before. “Well done, my stooges, but you've both extinguished the entertainment factor. They've stopped bidding and betting. You're obsolete. After all, we've already gotten the money.” The blue haired man from before smiled down at them, full of a wicked enjoyment. “I think it's time these puppies are put to sleep, don't you think?”

“W-wait,” Meghana called out, voice barely audible, “what shall you do with us?”

A malevolent chuckle escaped his lips, “What we do with all of our worthless fighters, let them out of the institution. Nothing like a good profiting battle to take away some insanity, eh?” He smoothed his hair back from its already slicked position. “Unless you've found that you've come out more insane than when you've entered. We'd gladly readmit you. But, for now, it's time to take out the trash.”

With that one sentence, the lights went out, but not a single thought of panic roamed through the faerie's mind. What else can they do to me at this point? She could sense someone enter, boots pounding on the floor. In front of her a thud was heard, obviously Zachery. And, within seconds, she followed him, body falling to the ground after a needle had been driven into her neck. The dark world around her slowly became blurrier to the point where nothing could be seen and she'd drifted away to some odd dream land.

When she would awake, she'd be on the streets of the city once more, the institution's gates locked and Zach no where to be found. But, the memories of the battle would be etched into her memory. Along with the recollections of her moments on the brink of insanity.

OoC: Woo, and we're done. That was fun, no? X3