Death Comes As the End

[inthebones]

[action, all around town]
[She stands atop Makeout Point and looks down at the town, cloak rippling in the breeze as she hefts her sword behind her.  ...Mostly for dramatic effect.  There was something strange happening, as there always was.  Souls were vanishing at an increasing rate, people were dying in droves.  And yet... reappearing.  Sometimes intact.  Sometimes not.  Flickering in and out.  Sluggish.  What in the world did this all mean?

Edward was dead.  Luke was gone.  There was a ticking timer on her own head, she knew, but so long as she was alive, there were things to be done.

A snap of the fingers and she is in the hospital, watching the doctors and nurses, drone and townsperson alike, rushing about treating the steady influx of the injured and the dying.  She broadens her mind and notes the presence of a few patients with some regret.  Perhaps she would drop by to speak with them.

Another snap and she is at the front gates, at the point where the souls reappeared most often.  This was where those who returned from surgery were brought.  ...There was nothing to mark how they managed to get here, and no one could positively identify the location of this 'factory' which Dr. Johnson operated from.

A third snap and she is by the dairy.  ...The door is locked, once again.  She doubted very much if there was anyone inside working on this fabled revival machine.

A snap and she is in Ukraine's house.  Nina's house.  Caesar's house.  Lyon's house.  Ai's house.  Annie's house.  Mart's house.  All those whom she would defend.  She takes stock of those who are missing, those who are dead.  She lingers beside those who still remain alive, wondering if she ought to make herself known.  ...Perhaps she does.  For Susan is certain, as she is certain of all things, that she is making her final rounds.  Remembering the future was a handy trick to have... And there was no future for her past tonight.

A last snap and she is in her Grandfather's house.  She doesn't bother making herself unseen.  Perhaps they are at home.  Perhaps not.]

[action, Makeout Point]
[She is atop Makeout Point again.  The moon is high in the sky and from here, she can see everything.  Every aspect of the world that she has dedicated herself to defending.  She has certainly faced Death before, many times, in more ways than one could possibly imagine.  ...In a jolly red Hogfather suit, for example.  But the thought of finality... Did it really change things all that much?

Death was death.  She had never taken it less than completely seriously.  All the risks she had taken in the past - They were not because she knew death was not the end, but because it was exactly what she would have done even had death been the end.  Susan did not do anything by halves.

She turns away, takes a few steps towards the path back home.

And finds herself abruptly on the ground.

She faces a scraggly weed, her body wracked with so much pain that it is unimaginable.  She had forgotten how it felt.  Not the pain... The humiliation.  The torture of being completely helpless, lying like a worm that could hardly even squirm.  She is grateful only that she cannot actually see her detached limbs.  Her legs, she felt, were almost certainly several feet behind her.  From the moment the injuries had begun recurring on the townspeople, she had expected this to happen.  But it didn't lessen the excruciation any.

She gasps as a fish would gasp for air.  She shudders, shoulders heaving, for she can move nothing else.  Exhale.  Inhale.  Every motion intensified the pain one hundred fold.  What was it he had said?  You have to want release...]   

Slugger... 

[Quickly.  Before anyone else can see.  I'm so sorry to ask this of you...
Slugger...]

Comments

[likescats]

SUSAN?

[inthebones]

Hello, Grandfather.

[She removes her cloak and settles herself into a chair as if she were dropping by for a planned visit.]

I thought I'd see how you were getting on.

[bread_goes_bip]

[Death has been in and out a lot since all of this started. But right now she's in.]

Susan. It's... good to see you.

[She frowns. She would have preferred to see her in decidedly better condition. But it is what it is.]

[likescats]

AND HOW ARE YOU?

[The real question.]

[inthebones]

[She glances down at her blouse and frowns. Drat. The blood from the bullet was beginning to soak through the bandages. There was certainly something that was unmistakably a blood stain. Perhaps she shouldn't have taken the cloak off after all.]

Hello, Didi.

I'm fine. This only killed me last time because we were out investigating the dairy - which reminds me, the next time anyone ever suggests investigating the dairy again, I suggest a strong firm veto. I've been much more sensible about it this go.

[Susan is taking a bit... more than she normally would. Excitement or anxiety, probably. Nothing to worry about.]

Makeout Point

[strike_you_out]

[She will live long enough to sense the sudden arrival of a familiar presence but that is all. The pain ends, then and there. She won't even feel his bat strike her head, just an abrupt cessation of all feeling.

Once again, he meets the sight of his mother dead and bleeding, surrounded by her own severed limbs on the ground. It's like a recurring nightmare, one he'll never be entirely rid of. Rather than succumb to a horrified trance at the sight, Slugger begins to act in accordance to a plan he'd formed in his mind long in advance. A sheet is unfurled on the ground beside her and he quietly sets to work gathering her upon it in order to take her back home. He's too numb to cry or display any emotion. He's just doing what he has to do.

It's okay, Miss Susan. I forgive you. It was my fault anyway.]

[inthebones]

[Cessation of feeling had never been more wonderful.

It was a shame he couldn't see souls, even with his line of work. Susan lingers to give him a soft kiss on the forehead and to whisper a few words in his ear before she begins to turn away. ...With any luck, Grandfather wouldn't catch this before it was all cleaned up.]

[likescats]

[And there is a familiar hand on her shoulder]

THIS IS STARTING TO BECOME A BAD HABIT OF YOURS.

[Who else would it be.]

[strike_you_out]

[Sensing a presence, Slugger turns to find, with some horror, that Death has arrived. Quickly, he covers what he has in the sheet and tries to block Death's view of the corpse. Susan didn't want anyone seeing her like this, her grandfather in particular. He can't let him see!]

Wait! Don't look!

[thegirltwin]

[Nina is laying in bed, trying to stave off the worst effects of the nausea. Her poisoning symptoms seem to have returned with a vengeance today.]

Wha...? Susan?

[She almost feels silly speaking the other woman's name out aloud when Susan suddenly appears in her room, thinking that maybe it's a fever-induced hallucination.]

[inthebones]

Hello, Nina.

[Nina, at least, looked relatively normal, though there was nothing to say she wasn't dying from internal bleeding. Susan seats herself, uninvited, in a nearby chair.]

I thought I'd come by to see how you were getting along.

[thegirltwin]

[Nina does have some nasty scars hidden under her clothes, but fortunately, they're neither painful nor fatal. Just scary-looking.

She sits up in bed and tries to smile for Susan. She's done enough moping, after all. It's time to try to be happy for her friends.]

Oh. I'm doing alright! I got off easy. You don't need to worry about me. I helped a few people get home from the hospital. [It seems like so little when she says it out loud, but it's all she feels like she can do right now.]

A bunch of them were just left out there. It's not where they're doing the experiments, but it seems like where they're leaving them after. You... you might want to go and check it out. You're good at handling things like that.

...You are doing alright, too, aren't you?

[inthebones]

They're doing the experiments in that dilapidated old building on the edge of town, actually, if my senses are working correctly. They just... appear there when they're done.

You know, most people who feel the need to say 'don't worry about me' are the ones who actually need attention.

[Susan ignores the question about her own well-being.]

[sparkling_eyes]

[Lyon's fine so far. She's not going to feel the effects of the event until the day after Susan checks up on her, because her mun is lazy and didn't get around to it. So for the moment, she's totally okay, and looking more than a little surprised to see her English lit teacher suddenly standing in her living room.]

...Ms. Sto Helit? What are you doing here?

[inthebones]

Bringing you your homework, of course. You don't think all of this nonsense means your essays will be extended, do you?

[Susan is joking.
Probably.]

[sparkling_eyes]

[Grrk.]

N-no, of course not!

[inthebones]

...Please tell me you didn't actually believe me and agree.

[motheringnation]

[Ukraine is re-bandaging some nasty burns on her arms.]

....Susan?

[inthebones]

Ukraine.

...Are those new or have you died in a fire before?

[motheringnation]

Oh, I died in a fire when those hazmats were coming around to houses last year.

It's only that though. Well that and a scar from one of the times I've been stabbed to death here.

[Ukraine...has died...quite a few times here.]

[inthebones]

You know I'm going to ask you for a full list, so you might as well continue to add to those 'ands'.

[shallbeavenged]

[Ai is sitting against a wall in her room, legs pulled up against her. Blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Ema is dead. Scout is dead. And she doesn't feel very well. She coughs a bit and wonders if she's going to die again.]

[inthebones]

[Well, this certainly wasn't a good sign. Susan walks out of the shadows and settles herself on Ai's neglected bed.]

You really shouldn't be alone.

[shallbeavenged]

[Ai doesn't look over.]

Everyone else is dead or a drone.

[inthebones]

Dear me.

I suppose I missed the memo on that one. I'll have to start saying things like Oh Ai tell me the truth. Does this dress make me look fat?