Of the Beholder [Giselle Solo]

Are you Afraid?

It was gone.
The bodies.
The Field.
The Smell.
The Pain.
The broken battlefield that she remembered the last time that she was here... was almost completely gone. Only the faintest vestiges of that world still remained. Drowned under the torrent of blood. That red sea that covered it all. Ever rising.... thanks to that crimson rain. Crimson.....except where he stood. Where he stood, the rain was black as soot, and she couldn't help but wonder why that was, as she stared at him, as the rain slowly marked her crimson.
"Of what? You?" She asked with something of a sly smile in his direction, her hands hanging limp by her sides. She knew what this was about. She'd felt it slowly inside of herself.

Ever since she'd had that talk with Candice.

Ever since Liltotto had come back.

Since she'd seen how much she'd grown.

Seen the growth in herself.

That portrait she had of herself, the notion of what, who she was. It was ...muddying. More and more, she felt this notion of 'Her' twisting out of shape. A perfect, immortal doll. She had never once aged in the last 1800 odd years. What was the point? She was perfect after all. But ...didbit make sense that she wanted to be more than that? So....lo and behold. The big man himself had showed up.

Change.
Well at least she was getting better at this.

"And what, you're gonna help me? I got a lot goin on, been thinking some stuff over. But don't you think I'm better off doing all this...you know... myself?" She ventured, canting her head to the side and raising a hand in sweeping gesture. "I mean LOOK at all this change! Look at me tidying up the place. No more bodies. No more battleground. No more hell. Look at me being so SUper progressive! I don't NEED you butting in." She pointed out, marching toward him, but stopping a good distance away. Just short of that inky rain.

Is that why you've been thinking of the Words of the Sun for so long?

She almost snarled. Her face twisting in distaste as he managed to pull something she hadn't .....thought....that she'd been thinking about. "No. Can't say I have. Been thinking a LOT of stuff. About my Daughter finding out all the fucked up shit I've done. About Candice doing the same....and liking it. Of the stuff I gotta do for my job. About YOUR stupid fucking cryptic message." She rattled off, wondering.....why was she arguing with him? If he was just....HER. Then ...well there was still a debate on that. She didn't know if he was supposed to be her. Or if he was just straight up a piece of Yhwacht left over.

And how Mazda mentioned my remains. About just what sort of obstacle it would be to find me. Because in truth.... you really don't know what I am. But you know that you want answers, Giselle.

She narrowed her eyes hatefully. He could be lying. She.....she didn't know. She thought about a lot of things. Had that thought crossed her mind? It might have. But he could just be planting these things in her head. Slowly.....reishi snaked along her shoulders. Slowly spreading out into long, thin skeletal wings. As a halo formed above her head. A threat.

Ah. You're going to fight me?

She couldn't see it. But she sensed the smile in his voice when he noticed her activating Volstandig. He gently raised a hand of his, the blood swelling from the ground beneath him, until it consolidated into that familiar blade. The sword that sent a chill down her spine, almost making her take a step back as he gave a gentle smile.

She smiled right back, forming her own Katars from that very same blood, head canting playfully to the side as she took the opportunity to give him a bounce of her eyebrows. "Worked last time didn't it? Fight till it all makes sense."

In the very next instant she was behind him. She had improved since they had last fought. The streak of reishi between where she had once been and where she was now was just a thin crackling line as she brought her Katar down towards the man's head. Towards.....the blade that was in her way. That terrifying speed of his already made her wince. What a monster.... Their blades connected with a loud CRACK, but she pressed down, and she felt resistance, not the iron wall she had felt before, but she felt....something. The slightest bit of give. The slightest buckling beneath her strike, something that made her crack a smile. "HAH. You're getting weak old mh-...." Her taunt caught within her throat. Eyes widening as she found herself staring down at something that looked exactly like ....her. A manic grin staring up at her.

Somethin the matter?~

In an instant she kicked away, her foot slamming into the handle of the weapon that had blocked her own, shoving herself apart from them and skidding to a halt as she found herself staring at the doppleganger of herself. A ..... different self. She watched as ink slowly drenched over their body. Until only that big grin was spread across their face.
You know, you really are getting in your own way. Do you have any idea what you could be? What WE could have been? She rose herself up to her full height, just as this mirror did the same, it's twisted smile growing lopsided.

You were always afraid. You were content in playing 'Queen.'. But you only stopped there. You never thought to imagine something even better. To BE all we could ever be! That grin clenched, still showing teeth as those hands raised, and katars made of ink slowly bubbled and bulged, swelling out of shape before slowly spreading across this other version's skin, turning dark until her wings blakened as well, and eyes blinked open along their lengths. Staring straight through her.

Aren't you curious the future you could have had? If you just weren't so goddamn attached to these humans?~

It was so obviously a trick.
Something was happening she didn't understand, and she had to fight through the hot racing lances of blood that coursed across her body every time those wings tore into her. Gritting her teeth, as the wet splatter of her own blood mixing with the ocean of red below punctuated her thoughts again and again. As dark, inky wings lashed at her again and again. Her own Vollstandig faltering. Forcing her to drag in more and more Reishi from her surroundings as she was kept on the back foot. Trying to figure this out as she was carved open again and again. And then suddenly they were gone. Her eyes snapped open, opening her spiritual sense just in time for a wing to carve down her side from behind.

"Kghrrrhkh."
Blood in her lungs. She jolted as she dropped onto her belly in that massive pond of blood, gritting her teeth and spitting out that thick slime just as she watched a foot plant just beside her head.

Givin up already?

Was this him? Was he just stealing her form to try and make a point? She gave him an angry, sly smile and tilted her head. "Dunno. What's it like to have a big dick for once?" She snarked. But she didn't see the hesitation in that face. The smile didn't waver like she expected. Instead, she felt that foot slam into her face with a wet crunch, knocking her several feet away as she felt her nose cave in, clutching at her own face as pain.....PAIN.....lanced through her skull. SHIT! Why did this hurt?!

Aint ya ever wondered why he always talked with all that confidence?

She gritted her teeth, looking up through the blood at the vision of her darkest self, traipsing toward her with that smug.....alien look in her eyes. A look that made her shudder.

We coulda won you know? We coulda killed em all. But what do you think that woulda got us?

Those words made her .......question herself. Uncertainty suddenly hitting her. What the fuck was she talking about? She watched as those wings slowly filled in with ink. Those horrible staring eyes spreading and growing in size as this Dark Gewelle stopped right over her, as the shadows slowly bled over her body. Covering her until they were all that could be seen outside of her silhouette.
Until that voice bled over, and deepened. Until she once again saw him. Or ....what she thought was him.

You've no idea how terrible it is. Watching you fail again and again.
It was him this time, and that sword was pointed at the very center of her face. She found herself freezing, terror filling every fiber of her being. She was immortal.
And yet the sight of this blade terrified her. Instinctively. A fear she didn't remember the last time she'd fought him. Was she growing more and more afraid of him? Was she losing her nerve? And she still didn't understand what on earth he was talking about. Was she ....going to fail this time?

He grinned.

She was on her feet. The very look on his face was just terrifying enough to shock herself into action. In one fluid upward swipe of her Katar, she slashed him from hip to shoulder. Hitting nothing but Ink as her eyes widened. 'You're the one that failed us'. It swelled in her chest, but refused to pass her throat. She knew what she wanted to say to him, but it refused to surface. Even as that blade cleaved through her Katar and straight through her midriff, she could only think about how she couldn't retort. Something about the way he had said that wasn't right. As her mind clung to the notion of that .....weird version of herself. That smile that had made her sick. Eyes that didn't reflect the sight of a human. Just meat. And she couldn't help but wonder if her own eyes had had such a look before. And her words echoed in her mind. Was that what she might have turned out to be?

Every leader faces choices. Steers into a path that seems right. Do you think the Path Cyrus seeks is the right one? Does he?

She narrowed her eyes, and felt....conflicted. She had, at one point, had no real care about what Path Cyrus had. He was just the boss. She didn't give a shit what he wanted. What he was aiming for. everyone had stupid bigass goals before them, but that didn't mean they would succeed. She had never quite ....thought if she actually cared what he was trying to do.

But these last few months. Looking at everything she'd gained. She began to think that maybe she aught to care. Maybe she already did.

SHNK.

The sound of that grand sword, being buried in the swamp of blood and loose soil before her. Catching her off guard as she ....stared at the sword he seemed to almost be offering toward her. Was this a trap?

Have you not considered the future you want for yourself?

It seemed almost too easy. Staring at that sword. Hating that she could FEEL the metaphor in her gut. The question caught in her throat that she already knew the answer to. 'why would you just give me a way out'? But she could already tell what kind of bullshit he'd say to that. 'The way out has always been in front of you. You need only reach for it.' It was almost alarming how easily the thought came to mind, that for just a second, she thought he was speaking directly into her head.

She reached out, and grasped the weapon, and felt the dull pulse of her own blood responding to it. Her body starting to heal itself again. The slow ache of her bones creaking as she could feel it. That ....image of herself in her mind peeling away. And for the first time in over a thousand years.....


She allowed herself to change.

"Ghhhrghh!" The sensation was so very instantanious. The sensation of spirit energy she didn't quite feel familiar with rushing through her body as she suddenly DROPPED to her knees! And she FELT it. Icky. Thick. Sliding through her veins and up into her body as the blood she was kneeling in slowly turned black. That darkness drip-dropping onto the crimson surface....from...her?

She reached up....and touched her mouth... Black. The blood was black, and she could FEEL it coursing through her! That darkness slowly creeping through that pond of blood. Slowly forming a letter. Z.

The gifts I gave you so very long ago. You may not have done much with it. But that does not mean it has stayed the same.

She choked and gagged as she felt her flesh slithering along her body, and she began to feel....her mind,....memories racing. A sudden screaming flash of memories hitting her again and again.

How many do you think you've swallowed up? That this soul of yours would fill with nothing but blood?

She gritted her teeth and HISSED! Pain. Misery. Crushing through her like a deluge ramming through a pipe system it wasn't meant for. She ....could FEEL her wings as they slowly formed behind her. Her head slowly turned.... and she saw her wings staring back at her, with those bright white eyes. Her bones creaking, her joints popping and crackling. "Wh..what....-ghh....doesit matter?!" She croaked out, squinting through the pain. SO much pain.

I think, perhaps you've been too stuck in the past Giselle. Have you considered that your current abilities are held back by your body? Did you think such small, frail hands would grip a sword properly?

The sword. She dragged it out of the water, HISSING as she felt her body scream, the blade itself was almost completely black now, inky blood oozing down it's length. She had to huff and wince as she slowly raised it up, and shakily got to her feet. Eyes narrowing as she saw her fingers lengthen and thicken, followed by the rest of the limb. Those wings behind her ...flexed. Trying to ignore the crackle and snapping that sounded off in her back as her spine lengthened. And ENERGY poured through her. She'd never been very versed in Volstandig. She had the capability for it, but she had never actually put much thought into developing it. She so rarely used it, the sensation of it ....coursed through every fiber of her body. Control....she had to ....control it. Not the ....rampant...careless thing she had once known. Once let frenzy everywhere.

Candice...

Her grip tightened.

Liltotto...

She stood up straight, blinking rapidly as she kept in mind why she was doing this, staring straight at the man in shadows that so often towered over her. He still did. But it was ..... much less noticeable now. She glared daggers up at him. Pointing the very sword he'd stabbed her with so many times at his chest. Steadying herself as she found a comfortable grip on the weapon.

"Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnwhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." That slow, steady sigh escaping her, as that inky darkness slowly was pulled back. That dreary shape in the pond beneath her slowly getting sucked up and into her, crawling up her form until it hung like a cloak around her body, covering her almost completely in that ink as she stared straight ahead. It was .....not as hard as she'd expected to focus.

The fact that you've done nothing WITH it, does not diminish the talent you have. Don't look so surprised.

The voice was accompanied by a flash of reishi, and a clean, unblemished blade forming in his very own hand, one that made her entire spine tense in response to its presence. But not out of fear, but from the rush that coursed through her.

Faster. Harder. Brace. Attack.

It was so very different. The crackle and flick of her weapon against his own cleaner blade was something she could follow. React to. What had once simply seemed like teleportation became more and more a sharp and tactile exchange between the two of them. Her wings propelling her about. Making her wonder.... why had she never utilized this form before? She supposed she had only ever dirtied her own hands as a means of ....entertainment. The only time she had needed strength.... it had not been enough. Her fear against Yhwacht was not against him....specifically. But against who they reminded her of. The Kenpachi. The monster that had reduced her to almost nothing. Every flex of her wings. The steady drip of ink from them. With every exchange, black and red flayed about them, and she watched as that ink landed on him. Tried to eat at him. Tried to TAKE him.

She swung in and her blade SANK in against his own, the inky blade eating away at the sword he himself was holding, a mad grin spreading across her face as she watched his own face, not even caring that he was smiling as well. With a sudden blitz of speed she sped around him, that blade held aloft. Winding back and swinging with all of her might at the man from behind. She could see that motion of his body twisting around, catching her blade with his hand, and feeling satisfaction when it SANK in, barely stopped by his Blut before his own blade swept in her direction, her own hand rocking out. A dull SINK as his blade cut deep into her wrist, but her blut managed to stop it short of sliding into her forearm, her body straining as she struggled against his strength, trying to overcome him.

Those wings flexed, and slim needles of blood formed in the air around her, before promptly aiming to punch holes through him! He suddenly twisted, wrenching her to the side before a kick sent her flying! She skipped along the sea of blood before righting herself, skidding along the surface as she watched him speeding after her. She watched him raise his blade. A blade covered in red and Black.

She hardened it. Spreading it along his arms to lock him in place. And in that very same moment, she swung, a horizontal slash to strip across his chest. But nothing but shadows peeled free. And he smiled down at her. Seeming to suddenly go lax.


That's more like it.

The ocean beneath them slowly seemed to ...drain away. Until the grass beneath their feet was clearly visible, she didn't dare stray her eyes from him, but she could FEEL the swamp of blood vanishing from around her feet.

Waste nothing. Want for nothing.
I am never far away.
I have always been beside you.
Remember that.