Justine Baird | L O V E C R A F T (nyarlathotep) wrote in thegalaxy, @ 2016-07-01 13:41:00 |
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Entry tags: | !locale: coruscant, cassandra hack, liriael d'lander |
and now i lay me down to sleep
Who: Liri & Cassie.
What: Liri puts her friend down for good.
When: Following this thread.
Where: Coruscant.
Rating: PG-13?
Notes: This signifies the end of the slasher!Cassie plot. Thanks to everyone who participated! I hope you had a good time and took away something for your characters to work with in future plots.
The woman standing before Liriael did not much resemble her former friend; Cassie's face was obscured by a gas mask, every breath that she drew dramatized to the greatest extent. Her clothes were ripped: stockings barely covered her legs, a short skirt teased more than it covered, and a tank top were the only armor that were offered to her. In her right hand was a bat embedded with nails, sticky with the blood of her victims. Her short, black hair stuck up everywhere beneath the straps of the gas mask.
The wide goggles that covered her eyes stared straight at the blond, and upon reaching out to sense her thoughts, she found nothing but a static, white noise. Whatever had been there before, that had enabled Liri to sense her coming, the rage and the despair, was all swallowed away now.
Before now, Liriael might have hesitated. She had come into this hoping that Cassie could be reached peacefully, or even to prove that it wasn’t Cassie at all. But now, Hannah and Sinjir were behind her, in pain from wounds that the slasher had inflicted. Phibrizzo, Xellos, Jaina….all drawn into a battle that wasn’t theirs. Selene, fighting because it was the right thing to do.
Liriael had let it go on too long, instead of taking decisive action. She had listened to the Force, knew that Cassie’s death lay at the end of this path, but still she had resisted. It cost her allies in blood, and she would remember that the next time she let her own fears and worries hold sway. With a flick of her hand, the Force responded, removing the gas mask forcibly, whether or not the slasher resisted. For this, Liri would see her friend’s face.
The gas mask flew into a nearby wall, striking it with a metallic chord. A mess of black hair fell over Cassie's face, but not enough to hide what lay therein. Red and blue veins pressed visibly to the white of her skin, the muted lights of the interior level they were on playing across the clean canvas. Blood vessels in her eyes popped, turning the whites there red and black, one pupil dilated larger than the other. Cassandra moved the bat from one hand to the other, her back straightening.
"Scared?" The voice that spoke was raspy and unforgiving, taunting in its own way.
“No,” Liriael replied, her voice almost gentle. “I’m not scared of you, Cassie. I know what has to happen, and I’m sorry.” Her hand was still outstretched, towards what was left of her friend, and the other reached behind her, pulling a short metallic rod. As she pressed the release on the side of the weapon, it telescoped into a curved tapered blade of a burnished metal. “I failed you. I will not do so again.”
What had been Cassie flicked its eyes down to the blade in Liri's hand. Its brows rose in consideration, gaze removing itself back to Liriael. A smirk colored its lips.
"Are you sure you're so capable?" The face changed its expression, fright and worry covering it. Her eyes seemed filled with a new realization. "Liri? Liri, what are you doing? It's me, Cassie." A hand rose in defense, her whole form stepping a pace back. "Liri, you're scaring me."
“I know.” Liriael advanced on her, not menacing but with purpose. She still reached out to Cassie’s mind, feeling the blank, swirling emptiness. It made it difficult to predict her moves but it told Liri all she needed to know. Cassie was long gone, and this was just a shell, animated by something evil. “If I could choose another path, I would. But I can’t. It’s time for Cassie to rest.”
The blade extended further, and now it was as tall as Liri was. The weapon was clearly old, with long-worn grips, with divots and chips missing from the original handle. She did not wait or hesitate, just swung it in a mighty arc towards the slasher.
Cassie lifted her arm higher as though to fend off the blade, but instead lost the limb at the elbow. Blood spattered the ground, and the creature that wore Cassandra's face sneered. "I'll just come back. Don't you know anything about slashers? You can do your worst, Liriael D'lander, but there'll never be any peace. Cutting me into little pieces doesn't help anyone, except you. This is your fault, but you know that -- doing this changes nothing." The stunted limb pressed to Cassie's chest, and then she surged forward, lifting her bat in a last ditch attempt to prevent what was coming.
The words seemed to mean little to Liriael; she didn’t respond and her eyes seemed unfocused. But her movements with the long weapon were fluid, using her back and her arms to turn it in different directions. The blade sheared along the bat, shaving off a piece of the wood as it was blocked, and then she was turning again, bringing it up from under the grip to sever Cassie’s grip on it. The reach kept Cassie from getting too close, at first; but then it swung wide and left an opening for the slasher to jump towards the blonde woman.
The slasher took the opportunity as it was presented; tactical thinking of any sort was alien to her, and so she brought the bat down hard toward her opponent. In a blue of movement, Liri reversed the weapon, the curved blade behind her, and drove the other end into Cassie’s chest. The point had covered a sharpened blade that now pierced her heart, extending through her back, gleaming red as it emerged out the other side.
The much-abused slasher paused in mid swing, her body locked as her eyes went wide. She continued to push forward, seemingly relentless even in the throes of death. Liri twisted the blade, the handle smoothly turning in her hand as it rotated, and it shredded the flesh in its wake as she pulled it free. The heft of the weapon slid along her arm as she stepped back, out of Cassie’s range, and then curved blade of the other end, not yet stained with blood, descended on the slasher, cleaving through her chest to meet the wound from before.
Cassie made a strange sound, guttural and deep, as she struggled to move forward; but the only thing moving forward was her torso, sliding free of the moorings that the blade had cut. She fell forward, held aloft only by Liri's grasp on the blade. The bat fell from her remaining hand, and that too descended to wrap around the blade that was embedded in her chest.
"Does that...make you feel better?" She snarled, gasping out the words as her legs finally gave way from the damage that had been inflicted there earlier.
“No,” Liriael said, softly, a counterpoint to her action as she pulled the blade free just as she caught Cassie with her other arm, lowering her down and kneeling beside her at the same time. “Nothing is better, or worse. It just is, Cas.” Liriael’s voice broke on her friend’s name, even though her grip was tight as she held the dying woman. “It’s time to let go.”
The woman that had been Cassandra Hack trembled, though whether out of anger or fear of death was uncertain. Her hate-filled gaze never left Liriael's face. Over the course of a minute, it seemed to soften.
"Thank...you." And then it went blank once more, her empty eyes staring upward. Liriael did not release her, setting the weapon behind her on the ground so she had both arms free to hold her friend. She carefully reached up a hand to close Cassie’s eyes, smoothing her palm over the chalky cheek gently. If she said anything else, it was not audible, but one tear escaped her eye and slid down her face, joined by a second. When they fell, they disappeared into the black strands of Cassie’s hair. After a moment, Liri lifted Cassie’s head so that she could press a kiss to her forehead.
“Let’s go home,” she said, her voice kind, as she slid her arms under her friend’s form and lifted her up as she stood. She trusted the others to fetch the weapons and Cassie’s other hand where they fell, as they headed to the ship.