CoLC crossover RP, main thread

"It always hurts!" Cole looked at Ben, eyes wide and almost wild. "Every moment hurts, every pain, every ache, every anger and hatred and despair of everyone in this place, in every world, they always hurt! They...they always hurt...but..."

Cole gently, almost overly cautious, touched Ben's shoulder, as though trying to be reassuring but also afraid of hurting the boy. "It doesn't hurt...it...doesn't hurt as much as everything else..." Cole pulled back from him, turning to slide down and sit on the ground, holding his head, still looking rather in pain despite what he said. "...it's so quiet...I can't hear anyone's pain, I can't hear them outside dying, I can't...I can't feel the stabbing wounds, the burning, the...but it's so alone. It's like the world outside of me has gone away..."

He hunched forward a little more, pulling his knees up to put his face against them. "...it's going to hurt no matter what I do. At least this way it will only hurt me."

While leaning against the desk, Sans was hearing the entire discussion between Cole and Ben, making him wonder just what had happened between those two that led them to have that kind of talk. Eventually Cole decided to talk one of the amulets off and it seemed to have an effect on him, those were supposed to prevent the effect of demonic possession but from the sounds of it they were also capable of negating Cole's powers and was actually hurting him, prompting Ben to tell to him to take it away. Sounds like things were getting messy.

"hey you two," he called out as he walked over to them, "i have no idea what happened between the two of you and frankly i have enough problems as is but anyway..." He turned to Cole with a mix of curiosity and concern "you sure you want to keep that thing with you?"

Plague Knight's bomb managed to mdo the job without destroying what remained of the library. Things were looking up for once.

"Well, I hope we all learned a lesson about how xenos and humans can put their differences aside to fight zombies. Or something. I don't know, I'm going to take a nap"

Rex went inside the library to look for a couch or a chair to sit on and sleep for a while. This day had taken a toll on him.

Unfortunately, the beauty sleep had to wait because now Cole (who was back to being a normal, mostly normal, guy) and Ben were arguing about something.

"Guys, what are you doing?"

edited 10th Jul '16 11:06:04 AM by DeisTheAlcano

Ben knelt beside the spirit. "Dude. Cole. You're gonna end up driving yourself nuts if you do this. And I'd never be able to live with myself if I let you drive yourself nuts trying not to hurt other people. You have to be happy. If you're happier basically cutting out your hearing... I'm not gonna try and stop you, but consider this. You've done so much good from your hearing. You heard my pain and reached out and helped me, and I bet in your world you helped out tons of people like that. You're being a hero in your own way. You've gotta do the right thing, even if it hurts."

He sat beside Cole. "You have a great power. Don't think that it's some kinda curse, cause it's not. If I could feel when people were in danger I would do everything in my power to help them. You're a spirit of Compassion, right? I think compassion means... it means to help people and ease their pain. By knowing about their pain you can know how to help fix it. That's what a hero does." At that moment, Sans and Rex approached.

"Hey Sans, Rex. Uh, I'm trying to help Cole. He's in a lot of pain and I don't like seeing him like this." He sighed. "I don't like seeing anyone like that."

Cole flinched, looking up as Sans and Rex both approached, before hunkering down a little more, curling up as though to try and hide himself behind his own knees and folded arms. "I...I haven't helped anyone...you've all fought and stopped people and...and stopped me when it made me a monster. I haven't done that. I...I yelled at Mary, I said awful things to her, I was angry at everyone, I wanted to leave and not come back so...so I wouldn't..."

There might have been the slightest bit of a whimper, before Cole's breath hitched, and the spirit started to cry, looking almost embarrassed as he curled up more. "I fought with Miss Tairee over Mary...a-and she...and Sawyer...she hurt her b-because of what I said, she...I know I don't know...I know I'm s-simple but I...I don't even understand what I did, how I made her so angry...I can't help people when I don't...d-don't even know how I make people so angry..."

"uh, cole, i'm pretty sure that the librarian was angry at me, not you. i mean, i was the one who insisted on killing that girl and got her all fuming, i even made her drop a couple dozen of pizzas on top of my head yesterday and she even cursed at me so loudly the devil himself must've cringed," said Sans, he then folds his arms again as his minds starts going off somewhere else "and caro was right there too, now that i think about it she kicking out that guy for cursing in front of children was pretty dang hypocritical"

It took him a moment but he soon realized that now was probably not the time to be thinking about that kind of thing.

"aaaanyway..." he said, trailing off because he wasn't quite sure of what to say just yet.

Ben was stunned silent when Cole started crying. He wanted to say something, anything to make Cole feel better but he didn't know what. "Cole..." he simply told the spirit. "I... I'm sorry...." He looked upset. "Cole. When you were a monster, I saved you. Y'know why? I saved you because I knew you were a good person underneath that. You care so much about all of us...."

At that moment he looked at Sans, raising his eyebrow. "Wait, Miss Tairee got upset at you guys?" he asked, confused.

Cole was putting himself down for insulting Mary and fighting with Tairee over what they should do with her. he also regretted having turned into a monster and wanting to hurt his friends.

"Well, it's not like Mary didn't deserve getting called out on killing you. And that thing about being a monster was the demon controlling you"

Cole also commented how pissed Tairee was and that she had hurt Sawyer. Rex wasn't there when it happened so he was as lost as Ben.

"What happened with Sawyer?"

Cole wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand, making a face at accidentally rubbing some of the dirt on his face into his eyes. "Tairee...t-turned her into a child, and...and put her into a bubble up in the air, b-because I asked her to keep Sawyer safe from the demon...but she was angry. I never meant for it to happen that way..."

He huddled down a little more, keeping his eyes down. "None of you need to be here. You should go, I can't...I can't do anything for you now..."

"i haven't seen sawyer in a while and i think she would have shown up by now so i'm guessing she was sent back home, which is what everybody here wants so i guess that's good news." Sans shrugged. "either way, that's all in the past and it doesn't matter anymore."

He then looked over at Cole and sighed, it was enough that he had made Caro get into that state just some minutes ago, now he had to get Cole out of that and he knew it would be a lot harder to do since he was a much more problematic guy.

"you don't get it, do you? i'm not here because i need your help with something, i'm here because i saw you were having issues and i thought i could maybe say something."

edited 10th Jul '16 3:26:19 PM by FullMoon

Welp, time for a new plan. If there aren't any ice packs, it was time to improvise one! If only Caro knew any ice spells on hand. It's too bad that Negi mysteriously disappeared today. Maybe the zombies got to him before the group got to rescue him.

"...Well, I was going to suggest that you create ice, but that would just drain your stamina. Also, I'm not sure if you know any ice spells."

As Lune replied with Caro, Sans left and is now busy talking to the others. Although she would love to join them, she wanted to keep an eye on Caro and Fried because they were injured during the fight with the zombie horde. Although the horde had lessened for now, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

"I...I'm not, I...I'm not important. I'll be all right, I will, I will, I just don't want to hurt anyone anymore, I don't, I can't, please, just...just let me not have to hurt anyone, I can...I can be all right, I can, please..."

Cole looked up at Sans, just for a moment, looking more upset, before he was suddenly all but lunging, just onto his knees, and abruptly the spirit was hugging the skeleton tightly, breath hitching as he did.

"I was listening in when...when you went after the demon, I heard it, I felt what it wanted to do, what it tried to do to you...y-you can't do that again, Sans, you can't...I was so afraid, I was screaming to try and warn you away, trying to learn how to reach you and you couldn't...I-I couldn't...it almost...p-please don't do that ever again, please, please don't go near it whenever it comes back, please..."

Well, this time it wasn't him who initiated the hug for once. It wasn't entirely unexpected that Cole would do that but it was so sudden it took a moment for Sans to realize what had happened.

"what, you can go on suicide missions but i can't? that's kinda unfair don't you think?" he asked, trying to make light of the whole thing, "and don't you say you can because you don't matter or i'm gonna do it again just to spite you. you're just as important as anyone else here."

All that said, Sans soon hugged Cole back and gave him a pat on the back.

"but hey, the demon is dead for now, at least something good came out of it, right? all the people he had possessed must be free of it now"

edited 10th Jul '16 4:09:08 PM by FullMoon

Cole explained that Tairee had turned Sawyer into a kid and Sans theorized that she had gotten back to her world. Add that to the long list of questionable things she had done.

"Well, looks I'll have to talk with the librarian about that"

Things got weirder when Cole started talking about the demon and hugged Sans because he was afraid of losing him to the bird. In turn, the skeleton explained that the bird was done and that everyone he had possessed was going to be okay for now.

"Ok, time out. Can anyone explain to me what's going on? And what do you want to do that's so dangerous, Cole?"

Library - Improvising

Caro gave a sad little shake of her head at Lune's sort of suggestion, "N-no, sorry, but even if I wasn't drained like this, that's just something I can do. Magic back home is sorta complicated. Each spell is like an equation, basically. That's people like Nanoha and Fate are so good at it, because they are basically math geniuses. So to cast an ice spell, I would have to have had learnt it well beforehand ..." She explained, "That's why nearly every mage has a Device: To make the process easier. Most help with the calculations themselves, though mine doesn't."

The mentioning of ice magic got thinking about something, or rather someone else though. " I suppose Jack could help with making ice ... He was the one freezing the outside when the sandstorm was still happening to help keep it out. I don't suppose you have seen him around recently? A boy with white hair and carrying a staff?"

Meanwhile, she watched as a commotion started to happen and Sans went over there. Normally, she would have promptly and see if she could help, but she was hurt, tired and emotionally drained, so she supposed she wouldn't be of much help right now ...

There was also Fried, who still hurt and she didn't want to impose on anyone by leaving him alone in that state. As her summon and friend, he was responsability.

Wincing and groaning in pain a bit, she leaned against the desk for support and turned to the dragon, laying a soothing hand on his long neck. "Don't worry. I'll find a way to get us fixed soon ..."

Then remembering something else Lune had commented, she turned again to the other girl and asked, "You said you guys went out for food, right? Is there anything that could help me regain energy fairly quickly? That would help a bit, I guess ..."

edited 10th Jul '16 4:44:12 PM by JamesShields

Juri, East Side Library

Satisfied that the zombies could be handled by the militia, Juri rolled into an opening of the barricade and soon got her own chair and sat down beside Sophie. She was glad that the biggest threats among the zombies were dead or incapacitated by now.

"That was some intense fighting, kid," Juri said to Sophie, knowing an powerful fighter when she saw it... And then Juri's own stomach growled. Like the majority of the people stuck in the library, she had nothing to eat all day.

Ben stood quietly, not sure what to say to calm Cole down. He opened his mouth to speak several times but each time, he went quiet again. At least until Sans mentioned...

"Wait, Old Feather Beak is dead?!" he asked, sounding relieved, but also a little annoyed. "C'mon! I wanted to get back at him for messing with me and everyone else!" he stated.

Sans glanced over at Ben. "sorry kid, me and caro beat you to it, sorta." He shrugged, before looking back at Rex. "to keep it short, the bird showed up and started attacking the barricade so me and caro went to fight it, started well enough, right from the start we blew one of his arms off, but then he started possessing me and because of that he almost killed us, then something happened and i passed out, when i woke up he was just smoke."

Despite the mostly good news, Sans couldn't help but sigh a little.

"it doesn't really do much in the long run though, he probably reappeared somewhere else, ready to cause trouble, but at least he'll have to start his whole gang from scratch."

"No..."

Cole pulled back to sit back down, rubbing at his eyes again. "I heard...when he died, something...a cry out in the distance, the sound of such a sudden confusion, fear, pain...I think it was the ones he took. ...he is still...out there, but not. I...I don't know. It's all so quiet now...how...how can you stand it being so quiet...?" There was a hesitation before he spoke again. "...y-you shouldn't do any suicide m-missions. You already d-died to him once before..."

edited 10th Jul '16 7:33:46 PM by ColeMinor

Sophie glanced at the woman now seated beside her. "...It was," she replied, almost immediately returning to her wall-gazing, not catching on that the woman was complementing her.

Library - Night of the Ninth Day - Who Knows How Much of This Remains?

Zelda had been hiding on the higher floors of the library alongside all the others who were not participating in the fight. In fact, she just so happened to have returned to the very floor she'd started the day on, just a lot more crowded than before.

She couldn't do much else but wait it all out and hope for the best. However, she did spend a lot of time playing her harp to try to keep the spirits of her fellow refugees high. Whether or not it worked for them was a matter of debate, but it certainly did a lot to help her own mood. If nothing else, at least it felt like she was contributing something worthwhile to the effort. The big explosion certainly caught her attention, but she didn't see what it was or what caused it. Given the parties involved, perhaps it was for the best. And shortly after that, it seemed the worst was over.

She sat down and let out a loud sigh. For having spent the entire day in the library and not having seen any of the "zombies" apart from that insect creature, it really had been quite the day. Finding out you might be your world's guardian deity could take a lot out of a person. It certainly took a lot out of her, especially after everything else. But in the end, she made it out alive. Definitely hungry and thirsty from not consuming anything all day, but alive.

She decided that her needs could wait until the next day. For now, she just sat there, eventually dozing off. Hopefully the next day wouldn't be anything like this one. It would be nice if it didn't transform everyone too, but compared to today, and considering she'd already gone through that thrice already, she could probably manage.

Up in the second floor, Kelsey managed to fully get her footing, and took a few steps away from Sadness. "Just- just leave me alone. I need some time alone" Kelsey said, moving to one of the staircases to head further upstairs and get lost among the maze of bookshelves.

Downstairs, Plague Knight wouldn't find the seedling or baby hornet, or the honey flower. If he went to the second floor and asked around though, he'd find out that some of the civilians had moved them up there so they wouldn't be in the way of the fighting, and would give them back with no issue.

The militia and anti-human group were both too busy still making sure the zombies would stay at bay, so the people talking in the center of the library were left uninterrupted.

And so things continued like that for the next hour or so, until midnight finally struck and everything stopped and blurred for a moment...

Miss Tairee stood there in silence, waiting. She knew some kind of punishment must be coming... So why had nothing happened for over five minutes now?! Finally she couldn't take it anymore. "Come on, what are you waiting for?" Miss Tairee asked. The sound of a pen writing on paper sounded out.

"I'm waiting for you to explain your reasoning."

Miss Tairee blinked a couple times, then looked frustrated. "Boss you're omnipotent. You already know what my reasoning is" Miss Tairee grumbled. The writing sound came back.

"I want you to say it."

Miss Tairee sighed, and pushed the fake glasses up on her nose, then began. "Well, I knew that a certain person was hoping to look for certain kinds of books from the library, but for some reason was unwilling to actually come into the library as long as he thought I was there. So... I decided to deliver one of the books to him. I made it an express delivery to make sure he wouldn't be waiting; several times the speed of sound seemed sufficient... And of course I was concerned the book might be damaged in transit so I kind of... Made it invincible. Just a little bit." The scratching of a pen on paper returned.

"Well, it was very amusing, and your timing was excellent. Good work."

"... You're... Not going to punish me for directly interfering?" Miss Tairee muttered, confused. The scribbling sounded again.

"No. But don't do it again."

"Oh, um... Thank you sir" Miss Tairee said, still looking confused but also a bit relieved as she then asked, "so, the next day then?" As usual, the sound of a pen writing on paper came to her ears.

"Before that, there's something I thought you might want to know about. I learned of someone in the city who has murdered three innocent children. But, someone is prepared to stop the murderer, at any means necessary."

"What!?" Miss Tairee exclaimed, her anger quickly surfacing. "Who's the sona'bitch going around targeting kids?!" The writing sound returned once more.

"Well the good news is I lied. It was actually a child who murdered three innocent adults, named Mary."

Miss Tairee went silent, her mouth opening and then closing a couple times as she realized just what her boss was getting at. She turned and walked a few steps, then turned around and walked back, pacing back and forth a few times. Her expression went through a mixture of conflicting emotions, finally settling on a distraught but angry expression with a few tears starting to roll down her cheeks. "I won't take back what I gave her!" Miss Tairee stated defiantly. As usual, the sound of a pen on paper came once more.

"I didn't ask or tell you to do that."

"Then what do you want me to do!?" Miss Tairee yelled, still crying. There was a pause, as she kept crying, until she had quieted a bit; then there was the sound of writing again.

"I want you to admit that you can be wrong."

Miss Tairee stood in thought, heavily breathing and sniffling a couple times, before nodding. "Alright sir. I get what you mean" Miss Tairee nearly whispered, hanging her head low. The scribbling was quick to come back, as a piece of paper floated over for Miss Tairee to look at.

"Good. Then let us proceed to the next day. This should be a very nice one."

"Oh... That actually does seem very nice" Miss Tairee admitted, taking off her glasses so she could wipe her face.

Day ten, the obligatory filler

Everyone who went through the transition would not find themselves still where they were standing. Instead they'd find themselves waking up in a bed in one of the resort hotels now dotted throughout the city, feeling as if they'd just gotten a full night's rest. The light from the sky that had no sun was already on, but it was not bearing down and hot like the previous day; in fact, the temperature seemed perfect indoors, outdoors, in the shade or in the light. The endless desert around the city from the previous day was gone, and in its place was a shallow ocean that stretched out just as endlessly.

Since everyone was just as equally waking up in bed now, nobody was really out and about yet. But that was quick to change as various people started to emerge from their rooms and start to wander and explore how the city was now different. Plenty were still on edge and paranoid, given how the previous day had been, but just as many were quickly realizing how nice the day was and rushing to take advantage of it.

edited 10th Jul '16 7:50:30 PM by FirockFinion

   A Nightmare   

Like the past few nights, Zelda again was visited by her version of the Lord of Change. It again came up walking to her as she herself walked through nothing but blackness. This time, it simply crossed its arms and fixed her with a judgmental gaze.

"So you finally get it. What I've been trying to tell you this whole time," it said, "I simply cannot believe you have been missing all the hints I've been dropping; no, telling you outright. Were you truly so blind?" It then stretched its neck towards her, tilting its head to the side. "Or was it denial? That you shoved it all away attempting to distance yourself from your actions? You know you can't hide from the truth...."

This time, Zelda had it in her to come up with a reply. "...Maybe I was denying it all. But that doesn't mean I'm running away from myself." She curled her hands into fists and returned the daemon's gaze with her own. "...What good is it going to do just shoving it all away? That never was my intention. And even if it was...what good will joining up with you do me? I don't want to hurt anyone else more than I already have."

The Lord of Change snorted. "What a brave thing to say, coming from someone like you. You know you're useless. Have you done a single thing to help the overall well being?"

"Maybe I am. But I'm not going to turn my back on my beliefs because of it. I don't need a daemon controlling me to make it better."

"Me? A daemon?" the Lord of Change asked, "I'm but a figment of your imagination, here to torment you in your dreams and make you question yourself. It looks like I have been doing my job." It then pointed its staff at her. "Whatever it is you plan on doing, you best make good on it...."

When Zelda awoke, she found herself feeling completely refreshed. Hadn't she gone to sleep hungry and thirsty? And wasn't she on the upper floors of the library? Last she remembered there weren't any soft beds there. She opened her eyes and sat up. This certainly wasn't the library. If anything, it looked like a much more fancy and...modern? version of the rooms at the Lumpy Pumpkin.

She seemed to be completely normal for this day, which was a fortunate thing. Her harp was lying right next to the bed, leaning up against one of the legs, and appeared to be completely unchanged as well. With those out of the way, she looked out the window on the other side of the bed to see that the city was not in the miserable state it had been yesterday. No monsters running about, and everything looked nice and fixed. And the temperature was just nice.

She got out of the bed entirely, before noticing a one-piece outfit hanging on a post next to the bed. Having never seen a swimsuit before she didn't recognize it for what it was, but given that it was in the same colors as her normal outfit she guessed it was meant for her. She wasn't sure what good it was going to do her, but she might as well take it with her.

At least it wasn't looking like survival was going to be an issue today. However, her other problems weren't going to fix themselves. If her dream just now was any indication, it was time to stop moping and actually do something about them. She wasn't sure how she was going to fix them, but she needed to if she wanted any peace of mind.

First order of business was to try and find Sans and Caro. She never got the chance to talk with them at length about her issues for one reason or the other, and she wanted to make sure they were all right after the previous day. With that thought in mind, and harp and swimsuit in hand, she made her way out of the building and towards the library.

edited 10th Jul '16 8:17:15 PM by Yomegami

Ben nodded, frowning. "If you insist... I'm not gonna hurt you anymore if you're not up for it, Cole. Just... take care of yourself, okay? I care a lot about how you feel, even though it doesn't seem like it." He blinked, wiping his eyes and moving to go curl up on the couch (the one he had tossed over at the Chryssalid earlier today even). He needed some well-earned rest....

Ben awoke, feeling incredibly refreshed. And he felt great. He stretched, sitting up and looking around. Another fancy hotel? He got excited. He rushed up towards one of the mirrors. Darn. He was still his normal age. Guess the aging up thing was a one-off deal. He looked outside, eyes widening when he saw how much of a tropical wonderland it seemed outside. "Whoa! Awesome! The boss actually did something cool for once!" Ben exclaimed. He noticed a navy blue pair of swimtrunks sitting on a chair nearby his bed. He grinned, going to change into them, and then running outside, fully intending to enjoy the sunlit beachside town.

Everything shook and rumbled as Curly looked down the pit, sounds of rock crashing in the caverns in all directions served as an urgent reminder that time was running out. She took one last moment for a deep breath, gripped the grey gun in her hand, and jumped out into the empty space, letting gravity carry her down towards the sharp spikes lining the cavern floor until she activated her Booster, darting forward through a new opening and up to land safely on a wall just in time for the booster to run out of steam, a brief moment of dashing down the tunnel was enough to recharge before she jumped down another pit, making a few small adjustments to avoid shredding herself on the spikes lining the walls until finally landing a short distance away from a doorway.

Ah?

Curly stopped and holstered her gun as she crouched to examine the prone figure in a red hat laying face down on the cavern floor next to the door. Phew, at least you're alive... No time for questions though!

More rocks crashed somewhere above where Curly recently came from, the sound echoing around the pair as Curly pulled out a tow cable. Then,everything seemed to slow and stutter just as the fallen boy turned his head to look at Curly. Then everything stopped and went black.

What magic is this...?

With the sudden rush of sensation, Curly realized she could move again and quickly grabbed a gun, pointing it ahead of her intending to face off against whatever magician had attacked. But as her vision readjusted, she realized she was most definitely not in the cave she expected, or any cave for that matter. But some sort of sort of set of platforms and roads separating a city larger than any she could remember seeing from a beach and ocean surrounding it.