middaeg | [closed] and should the sky be filled with fire and smoke

[Some merriment can be a little too much merriment for Lightning, but she's trying! Her attempts to acclimate to this world and her fellow Mirrorbound is met with minor success – she made it out here with a homemade cake and has had conversations with both familiar and nonfamiliar faces, which is all a start for her. And while she's tired, she wasn't ready to go home just yet, and was in the middle of searching for others she might already know to offer them some of her cake when she felt it.

The very same surge of sharp pain coursing through her arms that she felt on the day she and Zack dealt with the cwyld. It's been coming and going since then, occasionally interrupting her in the middle of a run, or even in her sleep, making her tense up and try to fight back against it. It used to be easy. It wouldn't last more than a few seconds, but those seconds became minutes, and those minutes became hours.

Now, she can feel the onset of it coming before it even hits. It feels like tiny pinpricks under her skin, only this time, it's started to spread up from her fingertips all the way to her shoulders.

She pushes her way through the crowds, excusing herself along the way and even ordering others to move, as she tries to find a quiet, secluded spot for her to deal with it in the only way that she can. It's between two buildings where she stumbles and rests herself against the wall, eyes shutting tight and her quickening breaths turning to smoke in the cold air.

And as she rolls up her sleeves, she can see her veins lighting up once more, looking like thin lines of electricity that she wishes she could rip out from under her skin.]

... Damn it.

[The weather outside is cold and snowy but it doesn't seem to stop many people from going about their days even on the less blistery ones. There's a gift-giving festival of some sort coming up that Zack doesn't know much about but it's sort of entertaining to see all the crowds in the streets. He's pretty much here for all the holiday food that seems to be cropping up because of it.

He's not that bothered by the cold, himself. His wings quiver slightly in the nipping icy wind but he's barely in a warmer coat thanks to what he assumed to be his chimera blood. But what does bother him is the sudden sharp scent of magic that smells awfully familiar. Like burning roses-

Zack turns and his body moves almost automatically as he searches it out. He flinches when he finds the pink haired woman escaping down a quiet backway and he comes to follow her. Hell or high water...]

Lightning.

[He sees her just as she's pulling her sleeve up and a stone drops in his stomach.]

[His voice is an echo in her head for a moment. The pain and fear are too much for her to be able to process more than that, but as soon as she realizes that he's there, Lightning quickly folds her sleeve back over her arm, brushing a hand over it to straighten it before her fingers wrap around her wrist.

Of course it had to be Zack who found her.

She straightens her expression into an angry one, almost like she's trying to scare him off.]

What do you want?

[Except Lightning doesn't sound as angry as she could have. The pain she's in cracks her voice, and it's more of an exhausted sigh than her snapping at him, which she definitely would have done any other time.]

[It's too late and Zack gets a glimpse of her skin before she pulls her sleeve down over the marks. Even if he hadn't he can still smell the subtle change in her. Something's wrong-]

It's not me you should be worrying about.

[He comes closer, concern clear in his bright blue eyes.]

Are you alright...?

[And don't try to hide it or be tsundere about it Zack can detect the burning magic like smoke!]

[The moment he takes a step closer, Lightning is on her guard—well, as much as anyone can be in her condition. She can hardly get away from using the wall as a means of keeping herself upright, and small cracks form under her boots whenever she shifts her feet. She isn't sure how long she can go like this, but she's lasted just fine so far...]

I'm fi— [But she's cut off by the searing pain in her arm again. She bows her head, using her hair to hide the clenching of her jaw and her rapid breathing, but it persists even when she tries to talk through it again. There's really no use in trying to hide it, is there?] I... don't know.

[She sounds angry about it, and rightfully so. Just... give her a few more seconds to compose herself again, as she flexes her fingers to try and get the feeling to return to them again.]

Everything hurts.

[But the thing that hurts more than any of the pain flowing through her is having to admit that out loud to someone.]

[She's like an injured cat ready to fight and flee at any second. That makes Zack feel cautious as he attempts to come close enough to look at her properly. His wings tighten against his back as he tries to pick his words. For once he doesn't feel like being a total smart ass. No snarky comments about magic this time. After their last encounter out in the wild together he feels like he needs to keep that part of him in-check.]

How long have you been here in this world, again?

[He asks carefully as it's relevant to what he's wondering. Counting the months... She should be fairly decent at casting magic by now.]

Edited 2019-12-21 02:01 (UTC)

[She'll appreciate the decision to keep the smartass comments to himself later. For now, she's going to not appreciate feeling like she's being interrogated like this, especially when she thinks she knows what's coming next.]

Coming on three months.

[Lightning shoots him That Look.]

And I know. You don't have to tell me the rest of it.

[Zack holds out his hand.]

Your wrist.

[He frowns and skips over the explanation but it's still vital information. He has a feeling he already knows the answers to his next questions so he keeps them to himself for now.]

Let me see the damage.

[For a while, Lightning stares at him as if he'd just asked her the most personal question ever. She hid for a reason, not wanting to bring attention to herself or her condition, and so him blatantly asking to see it does feel a little like he's overstepping some boundaries.

But... she has a feeling that he'll find a way to look anyway, so it's with a huff that she rolls up her sleeve again, only slightly – just enough to reveal the glowing veins in her wrist – but doesn't place it in his outstretched hand.]

It isn't that bad.

[It's pretty bad.]

[Woman, it's pretty bad???

Zack stares and frowns. It looks worse than what his shoulder must look like right now. Where he was pierced through with a cwyld beast's tentacle that left him with black spots on his skin. He's heard that magic can hurt even more than a minor cwyld infection.

He reaches out for her hand when she doesn't offer it but his touch is surprisingly careful. He tugs the fabric up to see the burn of the magic under her skin. His thumb brushes over a part of her skin.]

I don't know why you're so stubborn about your magic. You're only going to get yourself hurt. Even more than just this if you keep leaving it be.

[He lets go for the moment.]

[Her breath hitches when his finger runs over her skin, and it feels like he's taken a searing hot torch to it to brand her with. It leaves no mark behind, besides the glow of magic that follows, almost like it's chasing him, before it dulls again.

Rather than look at her arm, Lightning watches his face and there's a small twitch in her expression as he draws a scowl out of her.]

Yeah, I got that.

[She might be stubborn, but she's far from stupid.]

Not like I asked for this to happen.

Yeah, I know.

[He tries to give her a sympathetic look for that comment. It's true, it's not like any of them really asked to be changed or infused with foreign magic. Here Zack is-- Once a man and now a monster. Handling it as best he can.]

But since we're here we've got to do what we can to deal.

[He looks off for a moment. There's this hollow feeling in his chest that feels so much wider every time he considers Lightning's magic. When he can smell the scent of it burning his nose or how his thumb tingles from where he touched her.]

If you ... bond with me. It'll be one less problem for you to think about.

[He's still looking away.]

[She half scoffs, half laughs at the suggestion.]

That's rich.

[Though, there's something sad in the way she says it, too. Hollow, just like him. It's the first time she's realized that she doesn't know much about anyone here. Fang, even, is hardly as common a presence as she had grown used to in her own world, but Lightning was always a lone wolf. That is, until wasn't given a choice. She couldn't work alone. Not anymore.

But this... this is different. This isn't trying to save her sister or taking down the fal'Cie. How much does she even care about this place, or the people in it? Does she care enough to learn about who people are, where they're from, what they like and don't like?]

I barely know you.

[Zack looks back at her and for a moment he feels something sad too. They're far away from home and there's nothing any of them can do about it. If he hadn't come to know some of the people he knows now it would be even harder to deal with being so far away.]

You know me enough to have trusted me back in the wilde that one day. If it hadn't been for your magic we might have both ended up dead.

[He crosses his arms.]

Bonds don't need to be with familiar people. They don't even need to be with friends if you don't want that. [Although, he obviously wants to be friends with her. He's just pointing this out.] I figured it would be better for the both of us if we do it. What do you have to lose besides the pain from all that.

[He points at her arm.]

Edited 2020-01-04 22:39 (UTC)

[She didn't have a choice but to trust him, but she doesn't say as much. Neither of them had a choice. Their lives were on the line, and if they hadn't, they wouldn't be standing here to have this argument right now. That doesn't make her any more inclined to call them friends. Maybe allies, because screw the cwyld.

And she'd barely been able to handle the whole magic thing.]

It's thanks to the magic that I'm having this problem.

[Shoutout to the bond mechanic for making her suffer even more!]

So why even call them bonds if it can be with just about anyone?

[Zack lets out a breath and shrugs his shoulders, his wings flapping with the motion fluidly.]

Hell, you're a hard sell. Aren't you.

[He really should have been expecting this.]

Bonding with someone you care about will make it stronger. And your magic stronger. Make the monster feel secure. It's different than with someone you don't care about or a temporary bond that's easily broken.

[A short pause.]

I just want to help you.

[A tough nut to crack, for sure. Lightning still isn't buying into the whole "bond" thing, or the magic and the Coven in general, but here she is, being lectured about the three things she doesn't trust at all while all of that magic is pulsing and burning under her skin.

But then he says that, and it sparks something in her. She's not sure whether it's the pain she's under of if it really is as simple as he pisses her off, but she spits back, withdrawing her arms away from him but taking a commanding step forward.]

I didn't ask for anyone's help.

[She didn't ask to be brought here, either. She didn't ask for a lot of things and they were still thrown in her face anyway. This, the fal'Cie, Serah...]

I don't care about my magic. I don't even want it.

[Sorry she's so stubborn, bud]

I wasn't offering it because you were asking for it.

[Zack frowns and reaches out for her hand, taking it before she can protest.]

The more you don't want your magic the worse this is going to get.

[The scars and marks starting to burn her skin? It's only going to get worse.]

You'll end up getting sick. Or worse you'll die. Then what good are you to anyone here or back in your own world.

And so they just hand it to us by force?

[She snaps back almost immediately, her voice rising and echoing off of the walls of the buildings surrounding them.]

And you're okay with that?

[These "people" – whoever it is that runs this place – are no better than the fal'Cie. So why should she sit and keep her head down for them?]

Yeah, we had no choice but now we're living with it! All of us are!

[Zack lets her go, his wings opening up wide.]

If I had a choice I'd rip these damn things off. But they're a part of me now. And for now, it's better than being dead. This might be the only world some of us get.

[Lightning backs off the moment his wings open up, her nose wrinkling. If it were her, she might have already torn them from her back; the antlers she grew two months ago were a nuisance, and she's seen first-hand what extra limbs are capable of ruining. She isn't thankful for what she does have, though, and although she'd much rather be alive, she isn't dead yet, and she isn't going to die before she finishes what she started, if she has anything to say about it. She has a sister to bring back.

But... Zack's words give Lightning pause, and the wrinkle in her nose lessens. Something about how he words it makes her stomach turn.]

Is this the only world you get?

[Maybe that's why this is all such a sore spot for Zack. Seeing Lightning fight against the flow of these things gets under his skin so much and that's probably because she does have a world to go back to. The entirety of this world could be a joke to her, actually. Why else would she resist this much.]

Yeah. Back home I'm a dead man.

[Wow, that's blunt. He folds his wings back against his back and turns away.]

So some things about this world aren't so bad.

[closed] and should the sky be filled with fire and smoke

bursts through the wall

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