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superhell2023-02-18 06:20 pm
hellscapes) wrote in superhell2023-02-18 06:20 pm
Entry tags:
WEEK ONE: EXECUTION
Hello, deadlings.
Ha. Ha ha.
Yesterday was a wild chain of events, wasn't it? Nine hours is a long time to work, but you solved the case and voted for the correct culprit. Lucky you. But the weekend "fun" isn't over just yet.
On Sunday morning, you'll soon hear a sound coming from the dock. There's a large ferry waiting for you, and even if you resist you'll eventually find yourself compelled to climb aboard and set off on a short voyage. The islands around you look fairly blurry, but you don't go very far before you stop at a slab of land with two large buildings stationed. You won't be able to look at the one on the right now, the one you've come to know as the trial bar. Instead, your feet navigate you to the building on the left as the door creaks open. On your way in, you notice some posters hung beside the door, advertising today's event.
Inside is a bar. It's pretty swanky in comparison to the others you've seen, tables and chairs arranged comfortably for everyone to have a seat and spread out however they'd like. The bar is fully stocked with all kinds of alcohol along with an arrangement of bar food for anyone who's feeling a bit peckish. At the head of the room, there appears to be a stage washed in red lights with a wide area for performances.
At a table in the corner all six demons are gathered around.
-Bloody Mary and Midori are seated together, staring intensely at the stage.
-Blue Hawaiian and Malibu Sunset are draped over each other, phones in hand and slightly covered by Cosmopolitan.
-Rosé is seated nearby, looking impatient.
As you find your seats and get yourself something to drink, darkness begins to fill the bar and a banner unfurls over the stage.
FOUR
10AM
Enjoy the show
No matter where you look, you will find that Four is not amongst you. But there isn't time to look further before the lights dim and the curtains draw.
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it's the eighth galaxy and the milky way city again. it's the way the hands that grab onto his shirt and pull him down start sloughing off, shadow melting into shadow into shadow, melting into hands that look like bones. a smell starts to leak into the air - the smell of rot and sickness, the smell of death.
another voice, on top of them all - almost monotone. it sounds like someone reading from a textbook, boring.
The 'Rainbow Virus' is a self-replicating, highly contagious virus that destroys the structure of the body from its cellular base. Side effects include episodes of mania and high fever, violent outbursts, the rotting of the flesh and musculature system...In the Eighth Galaxy, the virus ran rampant as treatment on vaccuocereberals was difficult... 3.8 billion people passed away...eradicated...
but lu bixing is not rotting. the voice of lin jingheng is correct.
distantly, he hears it - he hears gideon, kon, he hears them all screaming for him to get up. he has to get up. he has to get up he has to get up. lu bixing pushes himself to his feet as the hands claw at him, puts his own hand on his shoulder, and with a herculean force of effort, starts trying to break through the sea of the shadowy hands to get up and across the stage.
four's voice echoes in reverberation, above it all. again, like she screamed again, as the flesh rends away and rots, stop it! please stop it! and the textbook voice continues,
But from the ashes of humanity, can come life. From the wreckage of the Eighth, vaccinations were finally made, and burning the body down to its core means just that you can rebuild it again. Stronger and better. Faster. Invincible.
he takes a dragging step forward, dropping blood, trying to get to four. amidst the chaos, something sounds like music, the faintest tings of bells, as the cacophony of voices gets louder, and louder. he's almost there, pulling on the hands like a conductor, grabbing one that clutches over his shirt and pulling it off of himself, trying to take the shadow in his hands. ]
Work with me. [ he hisses, as the hands shiver and melt apart and come back together, still grabbing at anything they can reach - dispersing away from zero's ankles and trying to find four, instead, specifically, ] Work with me. I need a syringe. Come on.
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she can't let it end like this. how could this happen to her? lu bixing is coming over to help her, the textbook a narration of his intent, but all she can think is, he's coming to kill me. he's going to kill me. he never meant anything he said to me. he could never love me. he would never love me. no one would!
through the pain, she stands up. her resentment seethes and empowers her. her shadow writhes and grows with every ting of a bell. with every beat, it grows and grows and grows. amidst this desolate city scene, the shadow blooms before it swathes the entire stage in darkness.
nothing can be seen, but bells can still be heard.
let's sing to the world's end. ]
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The stage goes pitch black.
it doesn't go silent, though. the voices of the people of the eighth drop down to a low hum in the background, whispered cacophony that's overlaid by the desolation. the hands start to melt into shadows and nothingness, grasping at the edges of broken cities, and then four's shadow takes over the stage.
it's eerie, for a moment. the bells are dissonant - the chords aren't quite right, the hum of the miserable crying and screaming of the eighth galaxy going silent as the music starts to play. there's the sound of shuffling feet and the bells, the neverending bells, the soft hum of singing voices, tolling and then
a brighter burst of bells - a major key note. a flash of light that illuminates the stage. one - it shows a figure. it shows lu bixing's back, as he shrugs off the last of the hands that claw onto him, bursting free from the bloom of four's shadow and melding together - blackness, again. another bell burst, major key, brightening, another light shows him five steps to the right, catching lu bixing moving out of the way of a shadowy hand that grasps for him, this one sharp like it's grown claws, his expression burnt into determination, cast into stark relief by the there and gone light. blackness. another flash of light. major key bells. blood on the floor of the stage, lu bixing, moving, out of the way of something, the shadows wrapping around his hand.
(he can't see. he has no control. it feels like back then - like the way his body betrayed him, over and over and over, the stage he had to make it through.)
a bright hit of the bells and a voice that says, How many times are you going to fall?, a flash of light that illuminates four, briefly. the music swells. a voice that says, The Eighth Galaxy doesn't need the Union., a bright flash of light, a hit of the bells. lu bixing jerking to the side, four visible in the next flash, again, blackness, darkness, a stage of nothing -
A dissonant chord, this time.
A flash of light.
The beat just a little off.] Four!
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she laughs even as the light shines how she fails to dodge and is hit by her shadow, driven out of her own mind by the song. a voice echoes from the shadow, the flower has taken her over.
she tries to direct her shadow towards lu bixing, to harm him, to grab at any part of his body, his limbs, his face, anything—to hold him down and die with her. he calls her name, and she runs at him the next time the light flashes, intent on ending it, readying to wring his neck.
the stage lights up. she sprints.
it's dark again. so dark. a bell chimes. ]
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you know how the space is an infinite, empty void of blackness? how between seas of stars, there's nothing - no oxygen, no light? that's what the stage feels like. the sound, though - the sound booms, loud and clear through the execution bar. the music starts to speed up. faster, faster, faster, the major key bells bringing light. it moves in flashes, faster and faster and faster, makes the coordination of four and lu bixing both look like it's in stop motion frames. as he ducks out of the way, as she sprints at him -
four's high pitched laughter rings, brightly, and hits with a dissonant note. off-beat.
the light flashes and illuminates the entire stage, blooming outwards into the shape of a flower, and everyone will see the way the shadows grab onto lu bixing's head. how four sprints at him with every moment of killing intent, with every desperate strike of someone unloved.
the lights go dark.
there's a splat.
the music slows to almost nothing.
silence, like the void of space. ]
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the lights come back. the stage is illuminated, and four is still and on her knees, shadows hands up and holding her down.
she hates all of this, but all she can do is stay still because when was the last time she had this?
when was the last time she had peace?
when was the last time she was embraced? (akira hugged her yesterday, but he left!!!) when was the last time she was embraced? ]
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they start to melt backwards, slowly, and standing just in front of four is lu bixing.
he's alive. there is blood absolutely gushing down the left side of his face, from the hollow where something used to be, but he's alive, breathing heavily, but standing. the shadow hands pull back from him like a curtain.
You have to live.
(because he wants to. lu bixing wants to live. he wants to live, he has to, because once, he didn't.)
the voices of the people even out to a hum, and it's replaced with that of a single child. a voice that sounds like lu bixing, as he takes the steps forward to close the distance. one, two. three.
he drops to his knees in front of four. ]
I'm so sorry for how cruel the world has been to you, Four.
[ the shadowy hands holding four in place shiver. they're warm, now, a little feverishly so, but they're warm. welcoming. holding. the shadow vibrates against lu bixing's will, but it doesn't tighten or harm. and when lu bixing leans forward, staggering, he wraps his arms around four, tightly, pulling her into his shoulder in an embrace.
he remembers, how monoeye hawk held him when he hated the world. how monoeye hawk helped him stand. he remembers every awkward gesture, every way he tried. he desperately, desperately, desperately - desperately wants to give it back.
his voice softens. ]
All that I want for you is a chance to rest in peace.
[ and when the shadows finally pull away from his hand, they recoalesce into the shape of a syringe, and lu bixing doesn't hesitate.
he injects the syringe into the side of four's neck with a soft click.
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she's splattered in blood, but that's how an intoner should be. she is weak in his arms, and she shuts her eyes and wants to shut her eyes to the shadow's words. she wanted to hear those words from someone so much, and it causes what's left of her heart to crumble.
lu bixing's words are sweet in her ears and they're sweet enough for her to want them to stick and cling to her, but it's hard when he's about to kill her. he's going to kill her like everyone else she thought was supposed to care about her. ]
It'll never happen.
[ her last words are quiet and forced out in gasps. she's limp even as she feels the sting in her neck.
her hand moves one last time, almost on instinct, almost as a wish, fingers curling around the hem of lu bixing's shirt, as if to delude herself into believing his words.
as if she could believe someone could ever love her more than themself.
as if a father could love her at all. ]
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the applause tapers off and the shadows stand upright, fluid movements enhanced under the lights. four's shadow scoops up her body, and without another word steps back into the darkness to take her away.
lu bixing's shadow, meanwhile, begins to shrink little by little, returning to its original size and settling behind him once more. it looks like it's back to normal…but who's to say?
the lights are raised in the bar and the door swings open. the table of demons seem to be watching before they all begin to move once more. all six of them seem to gather themselves, taking their leave without another word. this is your time now.
as last week, the last ferry of the day leaves at 5pm. everyone is free to linger around the island for the rest of the afternoon if they'd like. there's alcohol and food available all day, and while the trial bar isn't open the island has space for anyone who wants to find a quiet place to relax a little. you've all lived to see another day…enjoy it, for now. ]
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