The Sprawl [Active]

[graviga]

Character(s): Emizel, Xemnas, Xigbar
Content: Emizel awakens to find himself in the midst of bad company.
Setting: ???
Time: ???
Warnings: Unknown at this time

To say things could have gone smoother was an understatement. Xigbar may have anticipated a fight but certainly not one with the outcome he had faced. His coat was beyond repair, sleeves consumed completely by flames while his eye still stung from the dirt that had been thrown in it. The Nobody grunted and rubbed it irritably at the thought. Had he his say in the matter Xigbar would have left the boy in a far worse state.

“You gotta lot of nerve,” he spoke up and adjusted the unconscious demon he’d chosen to carry over his shoulder. “Yeah know that? This was a nice coat up until you came around. You outta consider yourself lucky, what with him having these here plans for you and all. If it were up to me, well, let’s just say you wouldn’t be here right now.”

Xigbar reduced his steps as a familiar set of doors came into view, his grip on Emizel suddenly tight.”This looks like our stop.” He said, all too eager to abandon the boy. “Just in time too. Talkin’ to you is no better than Lexaeus.” With that, he pushed the long since used doors open. Xemnas was expecting him – though with the common method of travel through Corridors of Darkness, he hoped to catch the superior off guard with by his use of the doors.

“Knock, knock!” he called out as he entered the room, smile plastered across his face. “Heard you were collecting a few strays... You think this one’ll do?”

Comments

[paixaosuperior]

So, the boy was not easily led by mere words. He was either strong, or plain stubborn, foolish. But they've had a demon come through their labs before, Larxene's pet project, so it isn't as though this boy was out of the ordinary.

That was fine. Xemnas had methods of persuasion. Just enough... to send Emizel's mind down that corridor that he didn't wish to acknowledge. Just enough that perhaps he would believe that Xemnas wasn't lying to him.

"You will see."

He's left Emizel, working with his back to the boy, almost as if an insult that he didn't believe him to be a threat. But Xemnas was keeping an ear out for anything that may signal an attack, ready to raise up a shield if there was a need.

[trademark_skull]

Yeah right. This demon wasn't sticking around to find out how he was planning to make him see that.

Emizel watched closely as Xemnas had apparently turned his back on him.... Interesting decision. Totally not suspicious at all. He had to be planning something if he was going to just easily 'let him go' like this. But there was no way the demon was going to lay there and wait for who knows what sort of things were waiting for him.

He inched a little to side just to test the waters first, Xemnas didn't seem like he noticed, which means...

.... Yep, he's dashing out of there now.

[paixaosuperior]

As if the boy had anywhere to go. The last escape they had from a lab was due to outside help, exploding their way through. There was no real exit; what need did the Organization have for such, when they could travel with other means?

Xemnas took his time with the syringe, even after knowing the boy had taken off. It was a small dosage of darkness, nothing near the usual size for experimental subjects. Hopefully it would do what Xemnas needed; something to spread a little doubt in the demon's heart.

Doubt was easy to grasp a hold of and tear apart one's mind. Make them mailable.

Finally, he turned away, slipping the syringe out of sight, and started to head out after the runaway. He was not about to chase the boy down though; no, he had other methods of recapturing him. Herding, for example.

The walls themselves almost come alive around where Emizel had ran off to, pools of black rippling along them, white light spattering the edges. From their centers crawled out the twitching, slender forms of the Dusks, swimming through the air - many of them filling the hall - and moving straight for Emizel.

[trademark_skull]

Emizel ran even faster when the Dusks showed up. Their appearance only managed to terrify him more. 'Cause no really, what were those things? Why were there so many? And why did they have to case him? And speaking of chasing they were doing a terrific job at that. It wasn't long at all that the demon was pounced by a number of them, pinning him to floor and keeping him there.

He was trapped good this time. Kind of stupid to think he would actually make it out of here alive, wasn't it? He made a sad helpless whimper at this.


The Dusks on top of Emizel all of the sudden got blasted away in a fiery explosion and smacked into the walls, including a couple that were just too close when it happened. The boy was able to get back on his feet then and worked on fighting off the rest with everything he had, the first time he ever recalled using his scythe so relentlessly before.

"Get away... Get away, GET AWAY!" it was still an loosing battle though, each time Emizel defeated one Dusk another would appear out of a portal again. The amount he actually did manage to knock out didn't really seem to matter at all. "Get..."

Every move was getting sloppy again. So tired, so dizzy, really just wanted to quit all this and go home, or someplace safe at least. Their numbers eventually got too big and were able to restrain him again. There would be no resistance this time, he was already fighting enough trying to stay awake.

[paixaosuperior]

When the Dusks finally restrained him, they kept him nearly pinned to the floor, even after Xemnas had caught up and approached. It was useful that Xigbar, and the Dusks, too, had worn the boy out. It made it easy for Xemnas to loom over him, reach around, and inject him with the syringe.

The Dusks scattered, weaving back into portals, one after the next.

Xemnas stepped back and grinned.

"Did you honestly think you would be able to escape?"

[trademark_skull]

Whenever or not Emizel could actually feel or notice the needle probably didn't matter, there was nothing he could do to fight it anyway. Even after the Dusks left he only moved, slightly.

"Hnn..." the demon groaned softly did eventually attempt to sit up but sort of slipped and flopped again. He was kinda feeling a little bit funny now too, but not so sure why. Sort of jittery, despite his obvious condition, and at the time almost like he wasn't quite himself.

[paixaosuperior]

This was simply pathetic.

One nudge, and the boy would surely fall over. Xemnas could just leave him here, and the boy would likely fall asleep!

Xemnas' idea of a "nudge" however was shocking chains of nothingness out at him.

"Yes, I can see now why no one would save you. It isn't just because of what you've done to the city, but the kind of creature you are. How weak."

[trademark_skull]

Emizel winced and made an unfamiliar kind of sound, almost like a light hiss. Strange.

"... Why does it matter to you?" something about the tone seemed a lot different than before. More cynical. Less caring about anything. The flame's glow had also been steadying ever since the injection, but... even that was acting a little unusual now too. That thin, purple edge was never around it earlier.

[paixaosuperior]

Mental notes, tucked away for later...

"Why? Because you are the culprit that brought down the whole of Paixao; I know this, they know this - it's something you need to see. It cannot be brushed aside by deceiving platitudes. All the homes of the natives, all the memories of the outsiders... crushed by your own act, or lack there of."

This was no longer Xemnas allowing some of the blame to go to Nemo, this was all on Emizel now.

"You allowed it to be taken away from them."

[trademark_skull]

Slowly but surely, he was slipping into a blank understanding. A mixture of fatigue and whatever it was that got sneaked into him.

"This is... my fault?"

[paixaosuperior]

There it was...

Xemnas kept his expression neutral.

"They've tried to tell you otherwise, haven't they?" He paced a circle around Emizel. "Your... 'friends'? Yes... wrapping you around them, using you, even as they... cannot stand the sight of you." He hmmed softly.

[trademark_skull]

".... But what should I do about it? ... Nothing has ever worked before."

[paixaosuperior]

Perfect.

Xemnas didn't hide his grin now.

"You have not been trying the proper method," he told Emizel. "You must sever your ties with them, before they make further use of you."

[trademark_skull]

For a moment Emizel looked somewhat surprised. Like he had never though of it.

"Sever my ties with..." a pause, perhaps maybe he was struggling to fight to the darkness some. "... All of them?

[paixaosuperior]

Dear boy...

"What other choice is there? Do you appreciate being taken advantage of by them all?"

[trademark_skull]

"N.. no..."

Odd, was that directed to the question, or was it because he was resisting? Signs might be indicating to the latter since the flame was getting some vigor back and temporarily loosing that dark edge.

"They have... never used me."

[paixaosuperior]

Xemnas paced around the boy again, head canting upwards slightly.

"And how can you be so certain that they haven't? Well, you did not deny being naïve..." he mused, recalling his earlier comment to Emizel.

[trademark_skull]

"If they did... whatever it was, it couldn't have been that harmful."

He stopped again, and then added. ".... Unlike you."

[paixaosuperior]

He hmmmed softly, then tsked, shaking his head.

"Foolish boy. To think you could have been worth something. To think you could have found power, but you're too caught up in your weaknesses. They, your friends, will be the end of you."

Unsurprisingly he ignored the comment about the harm he could be doing.

[trademark_skull]

Weakness? His 'friends'? Emizel appeared to have choked, as if that darkness around the flame had actually strangled him. It had returned, but more importantly, it looked a little darker.

He wanted to say something. How he was worth something, how he could be strong. But when and really, had any of those done something for him all this time? Hadn't he always had to still rely on someone else without really noticing it? Wasn't he stuck and needed help even right now?

"St.. stop it..." there was too many things being juggled around at once, something was going to have to give in.

blaaaaarg

[paixaosuperior]

"Stop?" Xemnas asked. "Can you not handle it? You admit defeat?"

*nuzzles*

[trademark_skull]

".... S-shut up! I'm not giving up!"

Though he was weakening, that may have just been a helpless attempt to keep going a little further.

[paixaosuperior]

In response Xemnas said nothing, but he raised up an arm, gloved hand opening to summon a beam of red nothingness that he promptly used to smack across at Emizel.

[trademark_skull]

Though he may have tried to dodge that it wasn't going to do any good. One whack was just enough to plant the demon down face first and this time he wasn't getting back up so quickly. Perhaps not even at all.

[paixaosuperior]

"I see. So this is what 'not giving up' looks like." The beam faded with crackles of power. He turned away, like he was intending to simply leave the boy in the hall, like the boy wasn't even worth the time of Organization XIII's Superior. Perhaps send someone else to clean up the smear.

He paused, glancing back down at Emizel's unmoving form, thoughtful.

There was one thing that he couldn't simply leave...

He faced the boy again, crouching by him, and not for the first time, touched the flame, wrapping his hand fully around it.