~°~
Bans watched as Sarah vanished in a puff of smoke, expelled from the {Mausoleum} she'd made in the girl's mind. She knew Sarah would have a few hours of restless sleep and then awaken with a small ball of hope and belief in her heart thinking the Wardens would help her.
Too bad it was a lie.
Bans wasn't sure, but from the fact that Iazel had found them so soon, meant the Chancellor would and had found them already. Knowing the ruthless apathy and nature of Wardens towards uncontrollable variables, their chances of being ignored and left alone were unlikely.
They'd be hunted, branded to be killed and any Warden within the area would cut them down without hesitation.
In other words, tommorow Sarah would be going to the slaughterhouse.
Unlike last time when her life was to be snuffed out, Bans could not help her. Last time had been a strain, drawing on her own weakened powers, without Iazel's connection at its strongest too.
Her body in New York was the fumes of bleeding star, hollow power at best.
On the positive side, the connection she had with Iazel was stronger now, since she'd freed him from being a Pariah, but her own might?
She was now almost crippled and lame. This {Mausoleum} was her drawing on her nearly empty tank, but it was not without good reason. Yes, insuring Sarah did hear her was important, but she need not have forced herself to use the {Mausoleum}, calming a teenage girl wasn't impossible.
No, she created the {Mausoleum} for another purpose.
She floated towards the empty throne and rested on the seat, and waited patiently.
"You knew I was here." A male voice spoke up as a figure walked out from the shadows behind a pillar.
"Of course I did. This is a {Mausoleum}, and unlike last time our connection is not weak enough for me to prevent you from entering." She said nonchalantly," I knew you would not resist a chance to see me, placate me and so."
Iazel narrowed his eyes at the mask on the throne," You seem... weakened."
"Yes, I do, do I not?"
Bans ego demanded a bit of a stretch and she reached deeper into her power and in a waft of grey smoke and mist, she took on the same appearance as the one she'd had in New York. The grey banshee of deafening screams and ruthless cold slaughter.
Her clawed fingers tapped on the throne armrest and she raised her head and smiled coldly.
"This is better no?" She asked him rhetorically.
"No. I prefer what you were before-"
"Silence!" She screeched and the room quaked as the light dimmed even more. Now the chamber had the illumination quality as if from a dying flashlight.
"You have no right to speak of your actions. None." She hissed at him," I'd as soon destroy this {Mausoleum} to be rid of you and return to my fate."
"I am sorry." Iazel walked up to the throne and stood facing his Companion.
"Apologies mean nothing at this point. " She indicated his cloak," That, is sign enough that no apology will ever be enough. However that is neither here nor there, for you must have been listening to the heart to heart I had with dear Sarah."
"Who is that girl and why does she need to find that boy?" Iazel asked her with a scowl.
She restrained herself from smashing him into the ground just for daring to scowl at her.
"You sound bitter. Is it because of the vow you made?"
"So it was you who made her ask me to vow with my name?"
"Your wording and tone makes it seem as though you were forced. If I remember correctly and I do, for I was there, you chose to save her and help her." She continued with a cold smile, remembering the events that had transpired earlier.
|•|
[3 hours ago, School Restroom, Sarah's POV]
Slowly my arms dropped down to my sides and I turned to him, blood dripping from my mouth. I got up very slowly and walked to him, my steps unhurried and a bit unsteady.
"Kill me." I said softly.
"What?" He frowned at me.
"Kill me, do it. Just kill me." I raised my hand and grabbed his collar hard," You fucking cold bastard, I said do it! Kill me! Do it!"
My eyes were empty and dry, hollow vacant pupils that reflected nothing but the world and him.
"I can't kill you, you are my Vessel, Bans, trapped in this mortal- what are you doing?" He asked me but I didn't reply to him.
My legs carried me to the mirror, yet my reflection wasn't something I could see right then.
I'm going to die.
Die.
Like Dad.
He died, I'll die. I should die. I'll die too. Dad I'll die too. I'll die. I have to die. Die. Die. Die.
"Die." I said numbly and bashed my head into the glass.
Smash! Crack!
"What are you doing?" He appeared behind me but I didn't hear him anymore.
Die. Die. Die.
Smash! Smash! Smash! Smash!
Shatter!
The mirror shattered to pieces and shards fell all over the floor, right when my legs gave out from the unquestionable pain I was now in. I could almost hear someone speaking but I didn't hear them clearly, my mind couldn't process the words. They sounded so far away, yet I was there, feeling everything, breathing still.
Die. Die. Die.
My fingers clawed the floor, looking for something, to finish it.
I was still awake.
I had to die.
Die like dad.
Die.
Slice!
A piece of sharp glass cut my hand, drawing blood, but instead of pulling away I reached for it again and brought it to my face. However my eyes were slathered in blood from my split skull and I could not see it right.
So much blood.
Why wasn't I dead?
Die.
This cut my hand, I thought sluggisly, it can cut.
My wrist lifted it to my neck, ready to slice my artery and veins, finally letting me die.
"Die." I muttered softly.
"Stop."
Something grabbed my hand and I felt a heavy presence around me, seemingly thickening the air like a mud pool. What little my brain could handle from the fear, the pain and the horror reached it's limit, and it all crumbled at that point, as my eyes rolled in their sockets and I had a seizure.
The irony would have been hilarious, if I was in my right mind and not about to die from a blood clot in my brain or choke on my tongue.
"Bans, are you okay?"
That voice again.
To kill me.
Kill me please.
"Hades damn it, do not succumb to the lull of the dark."
Kill me. You will.
"I said I won't! I can't! You're my Vessel Bans!"
Bans. Who is she? Why aren't I dead?
"I'm stopping you from dying, but you are resisting. Pull away from the darkness, don't succumb or I will... Bans please. Remember who you are."
I'm Sarah. I want to die like Dad.
"Sarah, fine then, resist the pull of death. Stop willing yourself to die."
No. Let me die.
"Why do you want to die? I have encountered those choosing death as a means to end pain but this... you are not seeking a comfort but the end of yourself. Stop it."
Dad. Died.
"Your father? Mortal fathers pass over, it is a part of your nature. To be born, to live and to die. Your time is not now and you are more than a mortal."
Dad. Died. I want my dad. Want to die.
"This is no solution! Wait for your time and then you might rejoin in what life you may find in the Here after. This path may lead to damnation if you are not careful. Now stop reaching for the dark. Do you have not more to live for? What of your companion, Lucas? Live for his sake then."
Lucas?
I remembered a glimpse of him falling into the fiery red chasm.
"He was sentenced to the Pit? Why would you be with a Damned? This means he's already passed over, your companion is dead."
No. Lucas is alive.
The image of Lucas in the hospital appeared and faded away.
"He's alive? Yet his soul was... what mystery have I returned to? Hey, stop reaching for the darkness! Your soul will cleave itself from your body."
Just let me die. Be with Dad. Or Lucas.
"I won't let you die, you die and Bans dies along with you. Listen, Sarah, I... can assist you, help him, your companion. But only if you choose to live."
Liar. You killed me. Kill me.
"If your death was my design I would have struck when I first saw you in the morning hour, but I held myself in check. I don't want you dead. I will help you find your... friend, if you choose to live."
"Make him vow it." A voice whispered so quietly I barely heard it, and didn't register as anything but my mind thinking.
Vow. Vow it.
"A vow... that's too much. I can't vow upon a mortal, it is not acceptable to myself."
Then let me die, my will reached out towards the dark, almost touching the finality of mortality.
"No. Stop... Do not make the voyage into the dark."
Just let me go. Let me die.
"What of your mother? You must have one correct? Her grief should hinder you from this action."
Mom. She'll die too. Then we'll be together.
"Your thoughts almost align with a Vessel. I said stop!"
My mind started to slip into the darkness, death grasping me at last.
"Alright! I vow it, on my name Iazel and on the Codex of Death itself."
The darkness seemed to quiver at his words and a tiny strand of it seperated from void and seeped into me. A tingling sensation shot out across my nerves like a static charge and I was thrust away from the dark.
Gasp!
I awoke before the mirror, my mind fuzzy as everything seemed to fade away and I was left confused.
|•|