Colin's posts

"Yeah, I can tell." Ryker responded.

But he could also see that there was more to this than Eke was letting on.

The kid looked exhausted... mentally, emotionally, physically, the works.

"Look, just... do whatever you gotta do." he said.

"We got this place for a couple of nights, at least." he told him.

"So it's not like we gotta clear out ASAP."

"Well, having my newly appointed Head of the Order suddenly be unable to do her job would look bad for me." Chronos responded.

"So I made it you could do your job." he told her.

"Without killing you." he then added.

He was the silent for a moment, and then sighed.

"You're the same as that Fenretti kid, is what I'm saying." he summarized.

"Just make sure you have people you can trust with your sleeping body."

"What's going to happen?" he asked as he stepped into her view.

"What's going to happen is that I'm going to FIX this." he said ominously.

He then pointed at her, and immediately Syraene felt... strange. She couldn't explain it, but she felt like her insides were being stretched all over time.

And then, for a brief moment, she felt like her soul was torn from her body, but it was returned to her, though it seemed like just something in a container... but then she felt like herself again.

"There." he said.

"....I dare say there are some people that might agree with your assessment." Lindsay mumbled.

"Indeed." Vincent said plainly.

Meanwhile, outside, Syraene was still recovering from what she'd been through, when she suddenly felt a presence behind her. The appearance of the individual was quiet and had NO flourish at all... but it was clear he was there.

"So." he said.

"It seems you're here." he commented.

"That's a problem, you know." he told her.

"Eh?" Ash muttered.

"Wait, where did she go?" he asked.

"Why did she leave?" he asked further.

"That WAS very odd..." Lindsay admitted. "I did find myself wondering what had happened." he said further.

"Hm." Vincent mumbled.

"You say she's back, but where IS she?" he asked Ashley.

Chris just sighed again, as he leaned up against a wall, and slid down into a sitting position.

"And so... it ends." he said, letting the sai drop from his hand.

"Make sure Ashley gets that back, ok?" he asked Syraene, looking at the weapon.

"And tell her thank you." he said further.

"What I did here was... well, mostly for me. But it was partially because Ashley treated me with more respect than I deserve." he told her further.

"Well.... guess it's time." he then finished, before he closed his eyes, and let the darkness overtake him.

"All right then." Ryker replied.

"Hm." he mumbled.

"Well, that makes sense, I suppose." he said.

"There's a place to get clothes closeby if you like." he told him.

".....you SURE you're ok?" he then asked.

Chris started to chuckle lightly when Syraene mentioned the mist wouldn't kill a drow.

He looked downwards and continued to chuckle some more, before he stopped.

"I know." he replied. "I know." he repeated.

He then looked back at her, as she saw tears streaming down his cheeks.

"I may be an evil wretch, but I at least lived for someone... genuinely lived for someone." he told her. "But I guess this was my ultimate punishment." he then said further.

"And only one person knows what my punishment will be in the afterlife." he mumbled.

"If you make it peaceful, that's up to you and how generous you feel." he told her. "I think we both know it's more than I deserve."

Ryker's smile faded when Eke said that.

"You don't?" he asked.

"Hm." he said.

"I suppose we ought to find a doctor. Or get one here." he reasoned. "You should get looked at properly." he went on, thinking some.

"I'll check the phone book here in the room, see if I can't find one that'll come here."

Chris, still holding the blood-soaked sai, looked at Syraene as she appeared and said what she did.

"...." he was silent, before sighing.

"I accepted that a while ago." he replied.

"If I turn myself in, I'll be put to death anyway." he said. "Doesn't matter what I just did, I was complicit in a long of bad things in the past." he went on.

"Besides... I have no reason left to live, anyway." he then said.

"Vanessa was my life. And I've learned that it was all a lie. So what do I have to live for?" he asked her.

"Nothing." he then answered.

"It's why I've just stayed here in this cloud of death." he finished.

"What do we do now?" Ash asked, the entirety of the group having gathered at Vincent's manor to discuss what had just occurred. "We need to get to them before something more happens." he said.

"Them?" Jaden asked.

"Vanessa." Ash responded. "You know the little weasel of a lickboot probably went back to her to beg her to take him back." he said further.

"We don't know that for SURE." Lindsay countered.

"And even if he did, she'd probably just kill him there, right? I mean, given what happened before..." he said further, trailing off some.

"What if that was an act?" Rene asked. "We can't deny that there's a chance this was all some elaborate ruse." he said.

"...that's true." Lindsay admitted with a sigh. "We have to-" he started to say further, before he suddenly paused, seemingly short of breath... and then let out a heavy exhale.

"What's wrong?" Ash asked him.

"That was weird..." Lindsay said. "I wasn't feeling particularly stressed or anything... but I suddenly felt like there's been a burden relieved from me." he muttered.

Ryker was silent for a moment.

"That's another long explanation in and of itself." he said.

"And I've dumped enough emotional and philosophical verbal dumpage on you already." he told him.

"I'll explain it fully later, but to make a long story short?" he went on, placing a hand atop Eke's head.

"I like ya." he said, a sincere and light smile on his face.

"....." Chris was silent for a moment, before sighing. He then looked at her, a sense of resignation, and relief in his expression.

And that was when Vanessa felt something very sharp pierce right through her chest... her very heart.

When she looked down, she saw that a sai had gone through her... but it was laced with the crimson red mana of a drow.

"Then I guess this decision was the right one." Chris said from behind her, the body in front of her collapsing in a heap, the mana being used to disguise it as Chris dissipating.

"I was nothing but a pawn to you." he said.

"But even a pawn can take down the Queen."

Chris reeled from the orb of mana as it hit him, and shakily clutched at his chest.

"...wh... why...?" he asked.

"Vanessa... why?" he asked her.

"I... I dedicated my life to you." he said. "I did all you ever wanted. I WILLINGLY did it." he continued. "I even volunteered to be the guinea pig for your drow transforming procedure, so we could be together..." he went on.

"Is... all that... is it nothing?" he asked further, as he started to fall to the floor, but leaned against a nearby wall to keep himself standing.

"Was... I really... nothing more to you than a lackey... like all the others?"