[color=red]Yeah, yeah. Find the doors, go through hell, come out the other side we know the drill."[/color] Maeve grumbled, walking past Angel and the rest of the group. She was tense, fists clenching and relaxing. This wasn't what she liked dealing with. She hated all of this mind crap. What was dead and gone should stay dead and gone, but the Void always found a way to resurrect it to haunt you. Nothing stayed dead in the shadows of your mind. At least in the real world the monsters died and stayed dead when you killed them. Kiara sighed and followed Maeve, pausing briefly next to Lawrence and Olivia. [color=darkgreen]"He's right, if an ass about it. Kill yourself before letting yourself get trapped here for eternity."[/color] She looked more relaxed than her partner did, but infinitely more weary. She wasn't gearing up for a fight, she was preparing to weather another storm. She caught up to Maeve quickly, bumping her hip reassuringly into her partner. [color=darkgreen]"Nothing we haven't done before, eh?"[/color] Maeve only grunted in response, clenching and relaxing her fists. The two of them walked through the Void a few feet, before their respective Red Doors appeared in front of them. Stopping, they looked at each other. Maeve was breathing rapidly, her teeth gritted and eyes wide. To anyone else, it looked like she was prepared for a fight, maybe even suppressing excitement. After all, Maeve loved a good battle. Kiara knew her as well as she knew herself though, and saw the truth. Maeve was scared. Terrified, even. [color=darkgreen]"Hey. We've done this before, and came out alive. We'll do it again."[/color] Maeve looked at her distractedly. [color=red]Y-yeah. Yeah. We have."[/color] She took a deep breath and forced a smile at Kiara. [color=red]"See you on the other side."[/color] She grasped the handle on her Red Door, and walked through. Kiara threw a quick smile over her shoulder at SenDep and the Ante Mortem. [color=darkgreen]"Be back in a jif."[/color] She opened and walked through her own door. The smell of blood and old books wafted back to the four as the doors slammed shut. [hr] Maeve was in a dark room, the light from the open door spilling in behind her. From what she could see it was a fairly normal family living room. A brown leather couch in front of a white coffee table, facing a medium sized TV. Family pictures on the wall, a family of fiery red heads with emerald eyes. A brown carpet, stained from years of clumsiness and accidents. Maeve took a shuddering breath as memories began to come back. Laughter in the kitchen. Outrage directed at the TV. Sleepy goodnights. This had been a good place. A place of love and happiness. A place she had buried deep within her, in an attempt to forget. Somewhere warm and safe. She squeezed her eyes shut as tears attempted to escape. It wasn't now. The stench of blood hit Maeve like a physical force and she took a step back, her shoulders hitting the wall behind her. Her eyes popped open to find the quaint living room torn apart. The pictures had been knocked off their walls, shattered and torn. The couch was cut in half, and stained crimson. A body lay broken through the white coffee table, mutilated. Another thrown against the far wall, partially through it. Their blood soaked into the carpet below, staining it a dark crimson. Maeve her bile rise and she turned and vomited, shaking. [color=red][i]No. No. THey can't be dead. Not like this, no, no please god no.[/i][/color] Her thoughts ran wild in a mantra, drowning the part of her that knew what was coming next and screaming for her to focus. She wasn't in control anymore. [color=red]"Mom. Dad."[/color] Her voice lacked the brash confidence she had adopted years ago. It was back to what she had been taught in the years after this, that scared and hesitant caution. She hurried to the body broken through the table, shaking it. The blood stained her simple green dress as she knelt in it. [color=red]"Múscail, le do thoil."[/color] "My, my Rachael." She flinched at the sound of her name, a mocking female one. "What are you doing out of uniform? And speaking that disgusting pig language too. You know there are punishments for it." Another voice entered, this time a male. "I think she wants another punishment, don't you dearest?" She scrambled backwards, away from the voices. Hyperventilating, Rachael tried to make herself small as she crashed against the wall again. No where to run. Two shadowed figures walked towards her, their eyes glowing, the pupils only small black dots. Their blindingly white, toothy, smiles unnaturally long. That's what she always remembered from them. That unholy malice in their eyes, that eager sadism in their smiles. She curled into a ball away from them, squeezing her eyes shut again. [color=red]"No. Please. I'm sorry. No. Please."[/color] [hr] Kiara found herself in a dusty library, books on shelves extending as far as the eye could see in either direction. In front of her, a small lounge. Everything was white. The shelves, the floor, the chairs and couches in the lounge, everything. Kiara's face scrunched up in disgust, and cursed. She hated the color white. She sighed, making her way towards it. There was no use fighting against the inevitable. She was going to be found regardless of if she put up a chase or not. Sitting in a chair, she relaxed backwards and waited. Minutes passed in dead silence as she sat there, biding her time. She amused herself by creating minor shadows to play with. A shadow ball to toss in the air. A shadow dart to throw into the darkness. A shadow chess board to play against herself. Finally, as the boredom finally got to her, Kiara stood. [color=darkgreen]"You might as well come out!"[/color] She called into the darkness, glaring down an aisle of shelves impatiently. [color=darkgreen]"We both know how this is going to end!"[/color] A cackle echoed all around her, the voice of an elderly woman mocking her. [b]"We know how this'll end, yes, but we also know that this will affect how it will ALL end."[/b] Kiara crossed her arms and tapped her foot. This song and dance was old, and never changed. [color=darkgreen]"Then why don't you come down here so we can get to that? Angel might get bored and kill me just to free himself of obligations any minute now, and then [i]you'll[/i] die."[/color] A shrieking echoed from the darkness around her, and a white spot appeared at the end of the aisle she was looking at. In moments a woman in a white dress was in front of Kiara, a blade pressed against the AMRO Asylum's neck. She looked exactly like Kiara did, except for her eyes were a dark red rather than a light blue. Those same eyes boiled with repressed anger, boring into Kiara's own. [b]"Don't you threaten me with death, [i]girl[/i]. I've survived far worse than you and your psychotic handlers."[/b] Kiara rolled her eyes. [color=darkgreen]"Please. You don't have the guts to kill me. I'm the only thing keeping your miserable and wretched hide in this world. If I go, you go. And you know it. Now sit down so we can do whatever it is we do until Maeve escapes."[/color] The woman's face twisted with fury and hatred, and she slashed Kiara across the face. The blade flashed before the Asylum could react, tearing through the skin on her face, down to the bone. Kiara stumbled back, a hand going to the wound. She didn't make a sound. She wouldn't give the bitch that pleasure. In the same motion she healed it, but some blood none the less ended up on her hand. She looked at the blood on her hand, and then back at the woman in white. [color=darkgreen]"Are you done? We both know that if you do anything more than that you'll die with me. So stop your antics. I have the advantage here, over everyone else. I know you're real. And I know you won't kill me. You're posturing, same as you always do."[/color] The Kiara look alike snarled, but went and sat down anyway. [color=darkgreen]"Now, why do you insist upon copying me. The color white is terrible and you hate me."[/color] Kiara asked, taking a seat across from her look alike. [b]"It's not by choice. I've been trapped in your body for too long, and have taken on your form. Or rather had it pressed upon me by your mind. And white is the color of purity and justice. Leashed monsters like you would never understand."[/b] [color=darkgreen]"So you'll be absorbed and dead in a few years by my mind?"[/color] Kiara asked, ignoring the last part. It wasn't a barb she hadn't heard before, and it was likely something she'd hear again. Her look alike laughed, mockingly again. [b]You wish, insolent girl. I'm far stronger than you are. Without the prison put in by the Usurpers, you wouldn't even have lasted a day against me. But they prefer control over power, and as such you're leashed to them and I am trapped within you.[/b] Kiara sighed. [color=darkgreen]"A girl could hope. Wha-"[/color] Her look alike interrupted her. [b]"She's going to die, you know."[/b] Kiara looked at her in confusion, before realizing who she meant. [color=darkgreen]"Oh, Maeve? No, she's much stronger than that. Revisiting her past as Rachael always hurts her, true, but she always survives. She seems to always forget one key thing about the Void."[/color] Kiara smiled, looking at the woman in white. [color=darkgreen]"Where there are monsters, there are gods."[/color] [hr] Rachael felt hands close around her arms and she screamed in terror. Their laughter mocked her as they dragged her back, back to the horror and the pain. And there was nothing she could do, because she was weak. Weak and pathetic and she was trapped and doomed. Doomed doomed doomed doomed do- [b][color=red]"ENOUGH!"[/color][/b] The room exploded with fiery light, Rachael hitting the ground as her captors drew back and hissed at the light. She looked up, shaking, at the light and the person who had spoken. It was a celtic woman, clad in armor. She bore a striking resemblance to Rachael herself. A sword in hand, the woman was clad in armor and her emerald eyes burned with fury. The goddess's, for surely this was a god descended from the heaven's in divine fury, gaze settled on Rachael. She shrank away from the wrath in them, but there was no where to run. Her captors were behind her, hissing at the light, and this goddess was in front of her, ready to pronounce her judgement. [b][color=red]"On your feet."[/color][/b] The goddess commanded and Rachael obeyed, shakily climbing to her feet. She kept her eyes on the ground, lest she anger the goddess further. [b][color=red]"Look at me."[/color][/b] Reluctantly, Rachael met the eyes of the goddess and found no pity there. [b][color=red]"You bear my name. You have [i]chosen[/i] to represent me in this world, and you will [i]not[/i] hold yourself disgracefully like this. I will not allow it. You have killed these wraiths before, and you will do it again. You are a daughter of Celtic people, and you have claimed my name as your own. Remember who you are, remember your strength, and [i]end this[/i].[/color][/b] Rachael looked at fear giving way to confusion. She could sense that the goddess spoke the truth, but the realizations were hazy. On the edge of her grasp. The goddess stepped forward, flipping her sword around and thrusting the hilt at Rachael. [b][color=red]"Who are you."[/color][/b] Rachael tentatively reached forward and grasped the hilt, the memories becoming clearer. [color=red]"I....I am Maeve."[/color] [b][color=red]"What are you."[/color][/b] [color=red]"A weapon of AMRO."[/color] Maeve's shoulders straightened, and she tightened her grip on the sword. [color=red]"[b]What are you made for.[/b]"[/color] [color=red]"Killing monsters, and standing against the darkness."[/color] The brash smile returned to her lips, and her eyes lit up. [color=red]"And I [i]love it.[/i]"[/color] [b][color=red]"Then do what were made for.[/color]"[/b] Maeve turned, the goddess's light disappearing behind her. She leveled her sword at the shadowy figures, crouched away from her. [color=red]"Is é mo ainm Maeve."[/color] She strode forward, her sword flashing with brutal vengeance as she cut down the shadowy nightmares of her past. Their screams brought a vicious smile to her face. [color=red]"And the dead have no power over me."[/color] [hr] Kiara looked over as the Red Door reappeared on her left. [color=darkgreen]"See? She never fails to kill the monsters of her dreams. She's stronger than she knows."[/color] She got up, heading to the door. [color=darkgreen]"As much as I love these chats, I hope I never see you again."[/color] A hand grasped her shoulder and whirled her around, pinning her against the door before she could open it. [b]"I didn't mean she'd die in this world."[/b] The woman in white's eyes bored into Kiara's own. [b]"You will kill her. The book will be rediscovered, and you will be unable to resist its power. And as before, with [i]him[/i] your hubris and greed will result in her dying. And there will be no one in the world to blame but yourself."[/b] For once, Kiara had no reply, her eyes merely wide and staring at the woman in white. Her lookalike smiled and pushed her through the door. [hr] Kiara stumbled through, eyes still wide in shock and her heart pounding with fear, as Maeve strolled out of her own door, covered in blood. [color=red]"Another successful purging."[/color] She grinned crimson at Kiara, before seeing the state of her partner and frowning. [color=red]"Hey, don't listen to that bitch. You know everything she says is a lie to set you off your game and confuse you."[/color] Kiara nodded, slowly. [color=darkgreen]Yeah. Yeah. You're right.[/color] Still, she was silent and contemplative as she followed Maeve back to Angel. Maeve strolled up to Angel in his throne and punched him in the shoulder. [color=red]"You still alive? We need you to get out of here, so don't go collapsing on us yet."[/color]