When that kid had come up to her and given her the envelope, Cordelia hadn’t thought much of it. The kid had been cute, and she had thought he might have tampered with the envelope and its contents since it had been ripped, since children were known to be curious, but after reading the whole thing through, she doubted that was the reason. She had been so infuriated by Manic’s little threat that she had better show up or he would seek her out that she had almost shredded the paper and challenged him to come right to her doorstep, but upon seeing a different handwriting, she had stopped. Perhaps it was foolish of her to believe whoever this ‘Unknown’ was when he or she encouraged her, of all people, but that was the whole reason she was going – to find out who this person was and find out whatever it was they had to give her.

Abandoning her red clothing and for once clad entirely in black, Cordelia had walked silently through the back streets of Taras as she had been directed. She had left Kaiden to do as he pleased; she trusted him not to set her home on fire or do anything else that could be considered reckless. He was a responsible child, and she firmly believed that she had no reason to fear. At least, she had no reason to fear for him; her own well being was going to be an entirely different story.

The woman bit the inside of her lip, slowing her pace. Though the entire city was probably asleep, she didn’t want to take the risk. If she walked too fast, it would make it look like she had somewhere to go, and she of all people knew how nosy people could be. Followers were hardly what she wanted or needed right now. She looked down, feeling like a lost child. She went between walking terribly fast, to walking extremely slow, to now taking long strides and looking down at the ground. Cordelia lifted her right hand and swiped it through her hair, groaning inwardly. Really, what was she so afraid of? She had no reason to fear Manic, and she had no reason to fear this Unknown, either. Manic wasn’t as powerful as he thought he was, and she couldn’t logically be nervous about something she knew nothing about. This Unknown may end up helping her greatly, and whatever their reason was for it wouldn’t matter. If it was a trap, though, then both of them would regret it with every last fiber of their beings.

Her feet hit softly against the paved road and she pulled her cloak closer to her body. She glanced up at the moon’s position in the sky, knowing she still had time before Manic would throw a little temper tantrum if she didn’t show up. If she was correct, she hadn’t passed the city square. She wasn’t going to try and find out if she was mistaken or not, just in case Manic had decided to show up around an hour early because he couldn’t tell time. She glanced in each alleyway as she passed, hoping she might see whoever this Unknown person was and wouldn’t have to be the first one there. It would be much easier to approach them and demand information than for them to come up to her. If she could have, she would have tried to find that person… but she couldn’t because he was unknown.

That actually really frustrated her. If that person had the guts to tamper with a letter from Manic and say he had something that could help her, then why didn’t he have the guts to sign with his own name, or at least let her know if she knew him or not? There was no point in remaining anonymous… after all, she would find out who he was eventually, and then he wouldn’t be quite so Unknown. Sighing to dismiss the thought, Cordelia soon found herself at the assigned meeting place. She glanced around the area, only to find that she was completely alone. Oh, this had better not have been a trap. If it was, Manic wouldn’t be the only one to have a temper tantrum, and her tantrums didn’t usually get resolved with calming words. Violence was much easier to resort to, and all in all, was simply more fun and relaxing.

She had lifted her hands to crack her knuckles, but decided against it. Slowly, she slithered into the alleyway, still looking around in a bout of paranoia. It wasn’t often that she got so worked up, but this was a bit of a big deal. After all Manic had done to her – belittling her, mocking her, bossing her around, and forcing her into a contract – she needed something that might give her the upper hand on him. She just hoped that it was going to be something good. If it was something like a shoe she was going to have to slap this person. Personal information, though, would be wonderful. But that would lead her right back to the question she had had since the beginning: who was Unknown…?

Growling quietly to herself, Cordelia walked deeper into the alleyway, leaning against one of the two buildings and folding her right ankle over her left. Trying to keep herself calm, as she had been doing for so long now, she started to examine her nails. She glanced up at the sky again; not much time had passed. She had just less than an hour to meet up with Manic, and that would be plenty of time.

But dammit, when was he going to show up?!

“You’re free for an hour; do as you please, kill who you want. Just stay out of my hair…Oh and if you see that woman, bring her to me.” A dismissive wave of the hand issued forth from Manic to the large man standing behind him; clearly not interesting with him at the moment, but instead on waiting for Cordelia. Granted he had been a couple hours ahead of schedule, but it wasn’t his style to simply sit around and attempt to be punctual with his arrival times. So instead, he simply waited for his guests to make their appearances while he waited. It would give him all the more reason to hunt them down when they decided not to show up.

Gharik growled beneath the veil of his black armored helm, not liking one bit the way that Manic was treating him. Dismissing him as if he were some sort of child incapable of handling himself, no less anything else, but when things became too tough then it was him that he called upon. It made absolutely no sense to him, but then again anything Manic did didn’t entirely make much sense, kind of like calling out Cordelia. As if such a stubborn woman would decide to follow such a crooked and broken man…

Deciding to create some distance between him and the maniac, Gharik proceeded to walk off to one of the neighboring streets to meet up with Cordelia. Faltering briefly in his steps, his soft red glowing eyes would shift from left to right, peering through the slits of the helm. After a moment of studying his surroundings, they would land upon a low roofed building with crates stacked next to it. Deciding to take a more secretive approach to this whole thing, Gharik would proceed over to the crates, stepping up each of them with great ease until reaching the rooftop. From there, another pause would come to shoot a brief glance over to the backside of Manic.

Shaking his head slowly, Gharik began in a slow methodical manner across the rooftops, going from one to the other until he reached their meeting place a good piece of distance from where Manic was located. Lowering down into a crouch upon the edge of the opposing rooftop of the building that Cordelia was propped up against, each of his hands would proceed to grip and grind themselves across the thin shaft of the scythe. Blood red eyes leered through the slits of his helm upon the woman bellow, eager to get this confrontation done and over with and perhaps put Manic in his place within due time.

Wasting no further time and any chance to have Cordelia discover his position beforehand, Gharik would leap forth from the ledge, bringing the scythe immediately above his right shoulder. Only to then proceed to bring it off to his flank and send it careening forward towards the left side of Cordelia. The second that it progressed forward, each of his feet would land with a loud clink of metal. Should Cordelia move, the action would be all for naught, but should she remain then the blade of the scythe would sink within the side of the building with incredible ease, deep enough to bring the shaft of the scythe settling across her midsection to pin her at her current position. It would be possible to break the scythe from its current position, but it would require quite a bit of effort. Regardless of the result, the man’s dark demonic voice would pick up as each of his hands relinquished themselves from the shaft of the scythe and took a step back from the woman, “I’m surprised you showed up, but I can’t have you running off. You’re the last chance I have.”

The man’s massive armor covered arms folded haphazardly across his chest, while he contemplated his thoughts for a moment, “Manic’s at the square as we speak, we don’t have a lot of time, before he becomes impatient and starts to look for me. So I’ll get on with this…” One of the man’s arms lifted from the other, only to then dip his hand within the armor to pull out a small folded piece of paper. Holding it up in front of him between his index and middle finger, the soft tone of his voice would follow, “This….This is Manic’s secret weakness and now it’s in your hands.” Adjusting the papers positioning in his hand so it would just come to a rest within the upturned palm of his hand, offering it out for the woman to grab.

“One night, I overheard him speaking…” The words would falter momentarily, awaiting the woman to open the paper to gaze at its contents, before continuing, “That it was his fault. I’m not too certain on what he meant, but my guess it has something to do with this…” Again his attention drifted to the paper, but this time falling silent long enough to allow her a chance to ask or speak her mind.

The clock was only ticking. Cordelia was becoming anxious; if this had been some prank, she wasn’t finding it funny at all. This person had five more minutes to show up, and if they didn’t, she was out of there and would simply meet up with Manic. Though she would love to know whatever this secret weapon was, she didn’t plan on being anymore than a minute late to the meeting. A minute would annoy him enough, but wouldn’t warrant any violence; it was only fair, after all he had done to her, wasn’t it?

She was still examining her nails by the time Gharik was on the rooftop, and since she hadn’t bothered to look up from her hands, she hadn’t noticed his presence. Just as she decided that she was going to leave and had been about to take a step to do so, the scythe came right to her side and pinned her to the wall. She hadn’t even had time to react or duck out of the way; it came too quickly and it was too strong for her to have done anything anyway. She looked down at where it had sunk into the building, gulping, her eyes wide and her face seeming to pale. What in the world?!

The shock hadn’t yet worn off by the time she looked back to the one that had thrown that at her. The surprise only seemed to increase when she realized that she had seen those red eyes before, that huge armor… and within moments she knew exactly where she had seen it before. “YOU!” she accused, grabbing the handle of the scythe and trying to break it so she could be free and get out of there, only to fail. She tried again and again, only to fail each time. It seemed now that she wasn’t so shocked anymore, but was much angrier than anything else. “YOU…!” She didn’t even have any words to describe him! Her eyes narrowed, her jaw clenched, and she hissed, clearly not enjoying the state she was currently in or the person she was with. She should have known this was going to be a trap. No one started off a friendly meeting by bringing a scythe down on someone, especially not someone who worked for Manic! The little liar! He said he was going to help her and then he tries to chop her body into two! It was sick!

“I’m surprised you showed up, but I can’t have you running off. You’re the last chance I have.”

“What the hell are you ramblin’ on about?!” she yelled, the anger evident in her voice. She had come and wanted to know what he had, and for those reasons, she hadn’t planned on leaving – at least, she hadn’t until he had brought that weapon down upon her. Her fingernails began to dig into her palms and she breathed deeply, staring him right in the eye. “You have some huge trust issues! I showed up, and that was nice enough! I never would have if I knew it was you! By the way, the first way to make someone want to run away and-or hate you is by attacking them you IDIOT!” Cordelia was still extremely angry, and if she thought she was strong enough to do so, she would have broken that scythe in two and pushed him right over and kicked him. That armor presented a problem though, of course; if she even tried to hurt him physically she would probably only wind up hurting herself.

He proceeded to pull a paper out of his armor. Cordelia had to wonder what else was beneath that mass. He could probably hide a few squirrels in there too, but maybe that was just an exaggeration. She wasn’t quite sure how useful a paper would prove to be, and she was incredibly skeptical when he held it out for her to take, saying it was Manic’s weakness. She had never trusted or liked him to begin with, but now that he had doen that he might have very well ruined whatever chance he had. Besides… it was a paper. Oh boy. His weakness was paper. She hadn’t seen that one coming. The great and mighty Manic was afraid of something made out of trees, who would have guessed?!

Lifting a single hand, Cordelia decided she might as well see if this was worth it, and snatched the paper out of his hands and looked at it, her eyebrows rising and her lips pursing. Perhaps this wasn’t as worthless as she thought. The drawing didn’t give her much insight, but it gave her a few ideas, and oh was she going to have fun with them. It didn’t matter if her ideas were right or not – if this was his weakness then she was going to use it to the best of her ability! A smirk tugged at her lips and she began laughing, biting her lower lip to try and suppress the deep, triumphant sound. She was going to win. She could control Manic now. For once, she would be the one in control of him, not the other way around. Her knees started shaking at the idea and just how simply thrilling this all was.

“That it was his fault. I’m not too certain on what he meant, but my guess it has something to do with this…”

She was doing her best not to cackle, really she was – but she wasn’t doing too good of a job. In one single action, this man had just redeemed himself. “All his fault, eh? Oh, oh I could kiss you for this, you know! Oh his little reign ends tonight! That high horse he’s on is gonna get shot down in a burst of bloody flames!” Cordelia stared crazily at the drawing before looking at the armored man again, still laughing. Her breathing was shaky as she tried to calm herself down, but in all honesty, she didn’t want to calm down. She was too ecstatic about finally, at long last, having something that she could use to her advantage that she didn’t want to allow the feeling to go away.

Slowly, her laughter became quieter and quieter and she folded the paper up neatly before tucking it safely into her pants’ pocket. For those few moments after she had seen the paper, he had had Cordelia’s trust and appreciation. Now that she was calm, though, she began to remember just who this was, and that wasn’t something she could easily forget. Complete serious overtook her features and she looked the armored man up and down again, remembering what he had done to her. It had been under Manic’s orders, of course, but she still remembered; he could have told Manic that he wouldn’t do it. “But there’s still a question I have…” she began, suspicion holding in her voice now instead of anger or absolute joy. “Why should I trust you, and why would you even want me to have this? You work for him, don’t you? I’m not dumb enough to fall into a little trap so please, don’t underestimate me.” Her eyes narrowed as she tried to give him the most piercing glare she could muster, hoping that might scare him into telling her the truth if he didn’t plan on doing so already.

All patience Manic held stored within the very fiber of his being was quickly beginning to dry up, leaving him with a somewhat annoyed feeling. Granted…The arrival was a bit premature, but there was no use sitting around waiting to arrive only to find out her own impatience sent her away without an ushered word to do so. Sucking in a deep breath, each of his arms would lift to cross over his chest as he sat down upon the ledge of the fountain behind him. She would only be allowed another ten minutes, which would set her about 5 minutes beyond their scheduled time. Any later than that and he would simply have to flush and hunt her out, even if it meant sending each city down into flames. No one belittled, mocked, or even besmirched his name, not even a cold bitter and hopeless woman like Cordelia…

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No emotion belied Gharik’s face at the woman’s filthy spew of words; instead his frame would shift in its positioning to lean all of his weight back upon his right leg. But once she finally finished her little rant, all attention seemed to fall upon the picture in her hands, only to be soon followed by her annoying laughter. The kiss you statement bugged him slightly, but it would be quickly swept away by her rant on how she was going to swipe away Manic’s pride and stomp him to the ground, or some junk like that anyway. The interest in what she had to say faded somewhere from the moment she began to speak to the point in which she ended.

The laughter continued, leaving a brow to quirk itself in question, but deciding not to do so for fear of the answer. The last thing he needed was to get tied into this future confrontation. And then she asked it…The question he expected all along, the same and very one that brought a wide spanning grin to his face at the sheer thought of answering it.

“Are you that naive…?” The voice was smooth and delicate in its tone, but yet vicious and demonic in its meaning, “Trust me if you want, or don’t. The way I see it, you don’t have much of an option. You face Manic as you are and you’re a dead woman. The energies that fume from that man are violent and instable; do you really want to take a chance with him? If you do, return the paper and be on your way, otherwise don’t question my intentions.” Each of his eyes twitched into narrowness all the while they observed her, knowing full well that she wouldn’t take well to such a tone. But it was true; if she didn’t accept his help then there really would be no hope for her to face such a violent man.

Shifting the weight to be evenly distributed to each of his legs, Gharik would begin forward in a soft and subtle push of effort towards the helplessly stranded Cordelia. Taking each of his armored hands, they would move out to the shaft of the scythe, gripping it tightly when contact was made. In a soft near inaudible grunt, the behemoth of a man pulled the scythe effortlessly from the wall, only to bring it swinging back onto his right shoulder, where it would remain supported with one hand in its positioning there. Taking a couple steps backwards, the free hand would drift off to his flank in fluid motion, “If you don’t want this all to bring suspicion to Manic when you make your arrival…Then it’d be best if I led you by weapon to him, so he would think I was simply following orders. If you don’t, then you best be good at remaining out of sight and try to get around to the other portion of the city to make your appearance, because if you come into view from the same place I came from, then I’m sure he’d know something was going on, understand?”

Patiently he awaited her response, unsure what she would rather do, but prepared with any choice that she picked. If she chose to be escorted, he would simply wait for her to lead the way…That proved to be troublesome though, because if this act were to go as planned, she would need to be resistant. Manic would be too wise to fall for a simple, “Okay, I surrender” routine from Cordelia, considering her past outbursts again him. But then again, if she didn’t play the part then it was her own head, because it was highly unlikely that Manic would raise hand against him without proof. At least, that was what he had hoped for anyway.

“Are you that naive…?”

Throughout her whole rant, he had nothing to say until now, and when he did have something to say, it was insulting? Maybe he didn’t need her help as much as he had said he did. If he was going to talk to her like that, then he could go ahead and pretend he had never even asked for her help. Her lower lip jutted out and began to twitch in anger, her jaw clenched tightly as she tried to contain herself. She had let all the anger out and now he was trying to provoke her again… this man was so dumb! He was almost as thick as Manic!

“You tell me not to ask questions, but look at the man you obey constantly, and look at what you’ve already done to me! Then put yourself in my position and not ask questions!” Cordelia’s voice was a low, sharp, chastising tone. She had no problem putting him in his place. He thought he was so high and mighty and expected her to just go along and try to weaken Manic while he did nothing, didn’t he? She was excited to have something to use against him, but it would be nice if she wasn’t the only one who would probably get hurt if Manic ever decided to get revenge. One little drawing couldn’t have that much effect, could it? Fine, then, if she was going to do all the hard – albeit extremely satisfying – work, then she would just tell Manic just who had given her that paper if anything bad happened. If she wound up going down, she wasn’t going to go down alone, and she would make sure of that.

As he came closer to her, Cordelia tried to back up even further against the wall, though it of course was to no avail. She didn’t like having her personal space bubble popped, and especially not by someone like him. She grimaced, closed her eyes, sucked her stomach in, and turned her head into the wall to try and stay as far away from him as she could within such close range. The weight in front of her was taken away, and slowly, a single eye popped open to inspect what had just happened. Seeing that the scythe was no longer there but instead over his shoulder, a sigh of relief escaped her and she placed her hand over her still heart for a bit of dramatization. “About time,” she said, placing an angry hand on her hip and allowing the other one to simply hang limp at her side.

“If you don’t want this all to bring suspicion to Manic when you make your arrival…Then it’d be best if I led you by weapon to him, so he would think I was simply following orders…”

None of the options she was given sounded appealing. Cordelia took a few steps away from the wall, tucking her hands into her pockets and biting her lips. Her fingers played with the corner of the paper a little bit as she contemplated what to do. It would seem a bit strange for her to appear with him, but she was good at lying; she could make it seem believable. It wasn’t like it would be fake, anyway; she didn’t exactly enjoy being pulled around Imythess by being threatened with a weapon. She wasn’t sure she would have time to go around Taras and then approach in the other direction, so she supposed that left her with only one choice. Besides, if Gharik was near, then she would have someone to blame if she was late or if something went wrong.

She stepped out of the alley and took a few steps away before looking back at the armored man, clearing her throat obnoxiously as a signal for him to start following. “Go ahead and keep me at weapon point. It’ll just be easier. Manic won’t suspect a thing.” She was so serious that she wasn’t even smirking or grinning maliciously. Her eyebrows were furrowed slightly, but other than that her face was completely emotionless. She didn’t wait for Gharik before she started walking in the direction of the city square. It wasn’t too far, but she at least still had time before she actually had to start putting up a fight and start acting.

(( OOC: Monkey wrenches rule! Bet you didn't expect this, did you? =P ))

All patience left in a hum of annoyance at the prolonged and delayed arrival of Cordelia, along with the sluggish return of Gharik. Never before had such a trivial thing bothered him, but she had an answer he needed to know. Perhaps it was a foolish one, but there was something about her that screamed for him to ask such a thing.

Thoughts of searching proceeded through his mind, but with those came thoughts of staying where he was. After a moment of thought Manic finally decided upon searching a few nearby streets to see if he couldn’t at least speed up this encounter, so he wasn’t simply sitting there waiting for a person who didn’t seem like they were going to show.

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A simple smile danced across his shrouded visage at the woman’s outburst. What could she possibly believe that she could do to him, let alone Manic all by herself? Nothing that’s what, so he simply let it go in one ear and out the other, before she finally conceded to his ideas. Issuing a slight nod, Gharik would ensue in her wake, the scythe shifting to the grip of both of his hands in the process. They wouldn’t make it very far; however, since Manic had only been standing a few feet down the street adjacent to the alleyway, arms crossed over his chest.

Faltering dead in his tracks, a sheet of pale white seemed to cross his face, and his entire body grew stiff. How…? Did he know…? What would he do…? Those were the thoughts and questions that ran through his mind at the sheer sight of the man. What worried him more than that, was what this woman would do, since she seemed more akin to saving her own skin as opposed to anyone else’s Drawing in a deep breath of air, his mouth would move to talk, but it would be silenced by the oncoming and annoyed voice of Manic.

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“Won’t suspect a thing…Keep me at weapon point? How uncharacteristic of you two.” There was a deep set scowl which seemed almost chiseled into his very countenance, but the sound of his voice would contradict the expression, “Cordelia, move another step and you’ll make things a LOT worse for yourself. Heed my warning or challenge it, just keep in mind that your track record against me isn’t very good to take such a chance.” Moving past the woman, shoulders brushing, Manic would take a few steps to the slow backing form of Gharik. Malignant were the actions that swept through Manic’s body, starting with the slow jeering and challenging walk, only to then move to the tensed forearm of his right side, that would come sweeping up to Gharik’s neck. Each digit curled in dangerously around the now exposed neck of Gharik as the hand slid through the gap of the helm and armor. Taking the massive form of Gharik, Manic proceeded to push the man backwards until there was a clang of the armor coming in contact with the stone wall of the nearby bulding.

Ragged with his voice, Manic spewed a few hissing and venomous words, “You dare challenge me…!? How foolish are you…!? I am your superior, your Lord, and your King! I should crush your neck and release your worthless soul to the pits of the abyss. Oh the tortures you would endure, but for now…You’re safe.” In a spat of breath, Manic’s hand would release and draw from the neck of Gharik, before turning all of his attention to that of Cordelia. “What exactly did the both of you believe to accomplish with this little act…? Do I have to pry the answer from you Cordelia, or are you going to openly talk about it?”

Moving from the gasping and now hunched over form of Gharik, he would proceed to move towards Cordelia in order to close the distance between them. Standing a couple of inches over her, the darkly narrowed eyes would focus their onyx orbs upon hers in a mock stare. This was truly irritating at the least, and at this point nothing the woman would say could change it. For one, there was no explanation for such a thing, second of all, he wasn’t gullible. Should this woman wish to regain his less harsh side, she would either have to do some smooth talking or simply grovel upon the ground before him. Neither was likely to happen, so each his arms twitched in a spasmodic fashion should the need for them to arise.

Such a thing probably wouldn’t have irritated him so badly, if it weren’t for the thing he was planning to ask of her and no less offer. It wasn’t something that could be simply disregarded as nothing special, because it was probably the most important thing anyone could have asked a person, other than marriage…In silence Manic bided, patiently awaiting her response or reaction to his question. All the while each muscle in his jaw would clench and unclench themselves in sheer irritation, the force becoming more apparent and noticeable the longer it took her to say something.

Gharik wasn’t the only one who went pale upon seeing Manic. Cordelia was already extremely pale, but when she saw Manic she felt her body grow even colder to the point where she thought all of her blood was gone. She prayed to whatever god was suitable for this moment that he hadn’t heard anything. The moment he opened his mouth and repeated what she said, Cordelia felt a huge ball forming in her throat and her stomach twist into more knots than she could count. He knew. He knew. Knowing him, this wasn’t something he was going to take lightly.

He knew.

“Cordelia, move another step and you’ll make things a LOT worse for yourself. Heed my warning or challenge it, just keep in mind that your track record against me isn’t very good to take such a chance.”

Too scared of all the possible, violent outcomes, Cordelia did what he told her to do. It wasn’t like she could have moved anyway. She was so nervous that her entire body had gone stiff; all she could do was obey and still hope that he wouldn’t get too angry. She didn’t speak, she didn’t move, and she didn’t even react when his shoulder bumped against hers. She didn’t even turn to look to see what was happening to Gharik; it didn’t concern her, really. As long as Manic didn’t plan on hurting her, everything would be fine. Manic was a logical man; if she explained and fully blamed it on Gharik, then there wouldn’t be a problem.

Ha, Manic, logical. That was funny. Cordelia bit the inside of her lip and listened as the armor hit against the wall and Manic began the temper tantrum. Her eyes drifted down to her pockets, and she took in a slow, shaky breath. She had no reason to be afraid. So what if he had heard the last couple things she said? He deserved everything that was going to happen to him. Calling himself Gharik’s lord, king, and superior and threatening to kill him was the last straw. He didn’t have the right to act so superior… no one who was a rat deserved to be better than anyone.

“What exactly did the both of you believe to accomplish with this little act…? Do I have to pry the answer from you Cordelia, or are you going to openly talk about it?”

By now, her fear was disappearing and the little color she had was returning to her skin. Cordelia turned to look at Manic now, holding her head high and straightening her shoulders. She knew he wasn’t happy, but she didn’t care. He didn’t deserve to be happy. People like him didn’t deserve to have anything good; people like Manic deserved as much pain and suffering as they could get. She still had the paper, and if he tried anything, she was still going to use it. Things weren’t going according to plan, but that didn’t mean that every aspect of the plan had to be forgotten.

She stared right into his eyes, a look of defiance etching across her features. She had to think about whether she wanted to answer his question or not, and if she did decide to answer, how she would do so. She had no problem pinning this on Gharik; after all, it had been his idea to meet here, and he had said she was his last hope. It was only a sign of weakness that he couldn’t rebel on his own, and only the strong survived in a world such as this. It would be his own fault if anything happened to him.

For a moment her eyes flicked over to glance at the hunched over form of the armored man before turning right back to Manic. “You’re not as great of a person as you think you are,” she said lowly. “You think everyone belongs to you, that you’re so superior – and for what reason? You’re nothing, Manic, absolutely nothing. I don’t think very highly of the gods, but I’m not ignorant enough to think that they wouldn’t be able to crush your sorry excuse for a life; there will always be people better than you and I don’t care what you think about that because you know I’m right. You’re a waste of space… a waste of life… a waste of a mind… and the person you think you own but really don’t and I were simply planning your downfall, which was going to occur tonight.” Her lips curled up in a snarl. If her heart was capable of beating, it would have been doing so at the speed of light right now. It felt so good to be saying this right to his face, without any fear. What did she have to worry about? He had the spells and the skills, but she had his weakness tucked safely within the confines of her pocket.

“His idea was to simply bring you down, but because you had to be yourself and not trust that I would show up, you went ahead and ruined that. Who knows, maybe it would have been fun to watch your agony.” Her eyebrows went up and she tried to grin, but she found that she wasn’t able to do so. “Then again, you were right to think that I wouldn’t show up. I have nothing to say to a bastard like you anyway.”

And with that, Cordelia started taking a few strides backwards, never taking her eyes off of Manic’s form. “And, for that reason, I’ll be leaving now.” Well, maybe not right now. She knew she probably wouldn’t get far if she tried to leave, and besides, she wanted to see Manic’s reaction.

(( OOC: Sorry, crappy post. ))

Distaste littered his features, twisting and contorting them into a deep set frown. Cordelia was the one with nothing, the only that appeared as nothing. What could she accomplish in the useless existence that she clung to so desperately? Then…Then she mentioned the Gods and a thick, heavy, and demented laughter suffocated the silence around them both. The God’s would crush him…? The God’s were nothing and would prove to be that only when he would attain the information and the position he stove to achieve. There was only one person that could allow him the information to wipe these useless God’s from the face of these lands.

Manic would be untouchable, nothing would be able to stop him in his rule over these lands, not even the Gods. Those that thought they could would simply begin to learn the foolishness of their own beliefs, starting first with Cordelia. The second she began to step backwards, Manic’s eyes would slide shut only to send him in a blink of an eye a good distance behind the retreating frame of Cordelia. Dipping a hand within the confines of his jacket, the soft thin digits of his hand would clasp down upon the card, only to pull it out and have it scatter into bright shimmering pieces. Those pieces would spin and rotate for a moment, before steadily collecting into his hand where it would begin to form a sword.

When the last piece landed upon the blade, Manic would take a couple of steps forward. Once at the desired position all movement would halt and the sword arm would lift upwards to bring the blade out to a parallel position to come to a threatening point just at Cordelia’s face if she chose to turn around. “I’m done fooling around. You’ve sealed your fate Cordelia, you no longer get the chance to hear my proposition and have proved to be nothing more than an enemy. This enemy is one that I will crush…I will show you the pain and torture of life by ripping each chunk of flesh from your skeleton body. Your choice was not the wisest…” The voice poured from his larynx like venom from the fangs of a snake, leaving a bitter sound to it.

All the while Gharik regained his composure, gently massaging his neck so he could speak again, “Cordelia, one chance…You allow him a chance, there won’t be a hope to even use what I have given you!” Straightening up his frame while he spoke, the scythe would grip itself tightly within the bind of his digits. Rushing forward from the wall, the massive man would pick up speed, before cutting off to their flanks. Moving past Cordelia, Gharik’s left foot would slide to the side and skid across the ground, as both of his arms drew back the scythe only to throw it point first at Manic. It really wasn’t meant to accomplish a lot other than to simply prolong Manic from starting in on Cordelia.

When Gharik began his movements, all eyes fell upon him in mock stare, preparing for anything that the man could possibly do to even hurt him. And within a couple of moments the action would begin itself, an action that was easily detected and avoided. In what appeared to be a matter of a second or two the entirety of Manic’s form took up an insubstantial appearance, misty to the eyes. The scythe passed through his body with incredible ease only to wedge itself within the wall of the nearby building. Shortly after Manic’s body took up a realistic appearance once again, leaving him with a scowl set upon his face. Keeping the sword pointed at that of Cordelia, the other arm would lift to point itself at that of Gharik. Flicking the hand so it faced palm out to the man, a soft glowing red light would form into a swirling ball that would shortly after launch at that of Gharik. It would catch him just in the chest and throw him to his back, where he would lay for the time being.

Lowering his hand back to the side, all attention would settle upon Cordelia, curious as to what she intended to do exactly. There was no hope of her escaping, that much was certain so it was left to her to use whatever the two of them had planned the entire time….

((OoC: oh please, none of your posts are crappy. I had lots of fun replying to it. =P))

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His laughter was annoying. He just thought he was so good, didn’t he? One day, she would make him incapable of laughing. One of these days he was just going to wish he had never crossed her. He so had it coming. She had the paper, but she wanted physical revenge, where she would simply just rip him apart. Maybe she wouldn’t be able to get that sort of revenge by tomorrow, or even in a week; but shewould have her revenge and would enjoy every moment of it.

Then he disappeared. The action only irritated Cordelia and an angry frown pulled at her mouth. She stopped moving, hearing him walking toward her. She knew some of his little tricks; she knew probably better than anyone, considering she had been the victim of them for so long. She didn’t turn around, though, knowing that he was behind her. She didn’t have a problem with facing him; she just wanted to hear his annoying ramble before she did anything.

“I’m done fooling around. You’ve sealed your fate Cordelia, you no longer get the chance to hear my proposition and have proved to be nothing more than an enemy. This enemy is one that I will crush…I will show you the pain and torture of life by ripping each chunk of flesh from your skeleton body. Your choice was not the wisest…”

She didn’t even wait for him to finish before she started laughing. “You think I even want to hear what you have to offer me?!” That was probably the funniest part – no, no, the funniest part was that he actually trusted her enough to offer her something! Manic was truly crazy. She had only ever seen the angry, scheming part of the man, but now that she had seen his naïveté he was so much more amusing and quite possibly easier to take advantage of. What sort of idiot trusted a woman like her? A few had made that mistake in the past… it seemed that Manic was no different than any of them. As powerful as he thought he was, he still had weaknesses, and Cordelia planned on using them to make her the powerful one there.

And what was he even talking about, showing her ‘pain and torture’? He should have known that she didn’t die easily. She hadn’t died from Fehade, she hadn’t died when he tried to attack her with Gharik, and she definitely wasn’t going to die right here. He only thought he would rip the flesh from her body. He wouldn’t even get the chance… the words and their tone held no meaning to her. She had no reason to feel threatened while in the presence of such a sham of a man. She might have been his enemy, and an ‘enemy that he would crush’ for that matter, but she didn’t care. She wanted to be his enemy; he thought they were so similar, but they weren’t, and she would prove that in time.

“Cordelia, one chance…You allow him a chance, there won’t be a hope to even use what I have given you!”

Oh, right, that. Cordelia had been so involved in laughing at Manic that she had been beginning to forget about the paper in her pocket. Gharik was right – she had to use it. Right now was probably the best time. Right when he was highest on his horse and had no idea what she had to use against him. The pride is present right before the fall… that saying couldn’t have been truer right now. When Gharik rushed forward, Cordelia ducked away, even if she wasn’t really in the way to being with. She finally turned to face Manic once she was a few paces away, and simply raised an eyebrow when she finally saw the sword that had been pointed at her the whole time. If that had been her holding the sword at such an opportune area, she wouldn’t have been rambling about how she was going to crush someone – she just would have done it. Clearly, she was the smarter one of the two.

Her hands fell to her pockets and she fiddled with the paper, waiting for Gharik to get out of the way before she brought it out. She watched as he was blown back, shaking her head. It was nice of him to delay Manic’s attack so that she would have a chance to use the paper, but it was just as foolish. Now he had been blasted away and was lying on the ground. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Once the attention had been returned to her, a sadistic hum of a chuckle emitted from her throat. One hand came to rest on her hip while the other slowly came out of her pocket, holding up the folded piece of paper between her index, middle, and thumb fingers. “And to think that I’m the one who has sealed my fate, to think that I’m the one who didn’t make a wise decision. But, no matter, let’s move on to a lighter subject, shall we? Like this picture here.” She offered a sickeningly sweet smile, and then opened the folded paper with deliberate slowness so that she was looking at the picture. Her eyes fell to the three figures and she lifted the hand that had been on her hip, tapping her chin as if she still cared about trying to figure out what it meant. “It’s a very cute drawing. Obviously drawn by a child, what with the stick figures… it seems like a family to me – there’s a mommy, and a daddy, and little kid. But awww, what’s this? ‘I love you Daddy’… that just makes it even cuter! Manic, would you happen to know who drew this lovely, affectionate little thing?”

She still hadn’t exactly figured it out, but as long as this brought him to his knees then it didn’t matter. She was going to be angry if Gharik wound up being wrong… but for now, she would have to put her trust in him. She finally turned the paper around so that Manic could see the picture for himself, and a smirk tugged at her lips as she waited.

The entire length of time that came delayed from the point their confrontation was reached and now, Manic had simply been biding for time. If he had wiped her away from existence now, then it would be impossible to see what kind of secret or plan they had in mind to vanquish him. All words, all noises, and all taunts held no effect on him; instead his eyes flittered from hers and down to the paper that resided in her hands. Bit by bit the woman explained what was on the paper and instantly he knew…He knew…The thought made his flesh grow cold, heart stop, and body stiffen.

Out of all the things open to her arsenal those were one of them…The family he once loved and cared for, the very same that were killed at his own hands by his own rage. How…How the hell could Gharik betray him like that!? The thought angered and sickened him, but the deeper that it worked into his mind, the more anger and despair bubbled to the surface. Features devoid of all expression, Manic’s body begin to limpen, starting with the dropping of the blade that would come to a clatter upon the ground. That same arm would swing lifelessly to his side where it would remain for the time being.

Thoughts rushed through his head, flashes of images, waves of voices, and scenes of his child in his arm. It all was quickly becoming too much and the chaos of his mind caused him to send out an agonizing groan as both of his hands lurched to his head, where they would slide portions of his hair between the digits. Before long the once high and mighty King dropped to his knees effortlessly, head bowed towards the ground as another groan of agony ripped forth from his larynx. Repeatedly a couple of words would escape his lips, but to no avail…Since it was indeed his entire fault, there was no denying it. The blood, it was on HIS hands, no one else’s….

What added to that torment were the voices of his daughter and loving wife. The sheer thought drove his body further as a hand clenched itself and lifted from his head, before pounding itself knuckles first a few times against the ground. With the aid of the already activated Draconic Might, the fist easily penetrated and crumbled the ground beneath him with ease. Striking the ground a couple more times, all actions would halt and his entire torso grew limp as if devoid from all signs of life. Like an empty vessel Manic sat in sheer silence, hunched over fist in the ground.

Gharik took this time to rise back to his feet, simply dusting himself off due to the little effectiveness of the spell. The armor played a large role in reducing the damage, but it was still apparent upon the armor in the appearance of temporary warping. Taking what Cordelia put in play, Gharik’s voice chimed up over the silence, “What a sham you’ve become, and a worthless existence of a man. You’ve let them all down and you’re letting everyone else down again. Why carry on and live if all you can do is cause yourself torment? Don’t you think it’d be better if you were dead, then nothing would be your fault. But would they forgive you, even in death? What kind of terrible Father hurts their own kid, let alone his own wife..?”

That was all it took to spark life in the form of Manic. Almost within an instant, Manic’s slumped form rose to its feet, blood pouring from the knuckles of the assaulting hand. With dark hidden eyes, Manic peered through the slits of view that his hair would provide, first looking from Cordelia and then centrally focusing upon Gharik. No action would follow, other than the deathly looking stare in Gharik’s direction.

Gharik paused momentarily, before grinning to himself. What could this man do to him now..? In the current state that Manic was, there was no hope of him even lifting a finger. Because if he could, then by certain he would have done something by now. The grin only expanded at the sight of Manic’s eyes peering at him. “What’s wrong? Not so fun being on the receiving end is it? Don’t worry, I’ll make sure this is over quick, I will send you to your family.” Arrogance was by far prominent upon Garik’s voice with each word that slithered from his lips. Even without a weapon in hand the large man began at a rapid pace towards the unmoving form of Manic. Slinging an arm off to his flank, each of his armored digits curled into a tightly woven fist, only to bring it out to the face of Manic upon nearing him. With a loud solid slap of metal to flesh, the form of Manic would rock backwards only to be sent through the neighboring wall of a building. Following through with the blow, Gharik’s hand dropped off to the opposing flank as his body rocked forward into a bent of stance. With blood red glowing eyes he studied the entry of Manic’s body and the crumbling brick that fell in its wake.

Thoroughly satisfied with himself, Gharik arose to an erect stance, “Oh, I can’t tell you how well that felt! Manic, the great Lord brought down to his knees and beaten all in a mere matter of minutes…” A sadistic laughter rose forth from his larynx, “There’s no way a person would be able to walk away from something like that. It’s over.” Turning from the rubble, Gharik proceeded towards that of Cordelia, only to pause a distance from her so there was only a matter of arms length of distance between them. Issuing a hand out to the woman, his head would bow itself in respects, “Thank you for coming. I’m a free man now…”

Cordelia bit back laughter when she saw Manic drop his sword. It had really worked, hadn’t it? The great and mighty Manic didn’t know how to react. His arm swung back to his side and as the seconds passed he only seemed to be in more and more pain. Cordelia folded the paper right back up and put it safely in her pocket. If he ever tried to wrong her again, all she would have to do was take that baby out and use it again. It was no longer Manic who was on top, who was in control; no, no, this time it was her turn and she was enjoying this with every fiber of her being. She would never be less than Manic ever again and had finally proved it. He was nothing… and would remain that way forevermore.

Hearing him groan in pain brought a twisted smile to her face and a look of utter delight to her eyes. Her eyebrows rose and a thick, deep laughter sprang forth from the very depths of her diaphragm. This was great. Watching him fall to his knees and off of his horse was, perhaps, the best moment of her life! The man who thought he had everything, the man who thought he was everything; the man who he thought he could control people so easily had finally gotten what he deserved. Cordelia wasn’t one for justice, but tonight, justice and vengeance had been brought together to form this beautiful display of the perfect fall from grace. That look on his face, the sound of his pain, and every movement that occurred would forever be etched into her mind, preserved for whenever she was in doubt or needed to put the man in his place. If she could defeat Manic, then she could defeat anyone; she never had to worry ever again.

He started pounding the ground like a child and Cordelia put her hands on her hips, satisfied completely with her work. She had done it. She had done exactly what was necessary and it had all been her! Maybe Gharik helped a little bit, but she had been the one to present the paper and to taunt him with it. Her laughing only strengthened when he went silent and stopped moving. This was what he had become. All it had taken was a simple picture and he was done for! Cordelia never would have thought such a simple thing would bring about his downfall.

Gharik stood up and Cordelia turned momentarily to look at him before returning to looking at Manic. She didn’t want to miss a thing when it came to this; not a single, solitary moment. It would be an absolute shame if she did. He started speaking and Cordelia nodded her head in agreement, even though she was completely oblivious as to what he was talking about. However, one thing was mentioned that brought about a sudden change in her.

“…What kind of terrible Father hurts their own kid, let alone his own wife..?”

Her laughing dwindled down until finally, she fell silent. She looked at Gharik and still said nothing, but from the pleading look in her eyes she was quite clearly begging to be told that wasn’t so. She was just waiting for Gharik to whisper that it was fake, that he was saying it to manipulate Manic’s memory and thoughts while he was in his fragile state to make him hurt even more, but such a thing never happened. Time continued to pass, but Gharik never said a word about it being untrue. Then, Manic rose to his feet, as if just that one question had brought him back from wherever he had just been. That reaction wasn’t the kind of reaction a person had when they were being misled, either. It was completely genuine.

It was true. Gharik wasn’t lying. Gharik wasn’t manipulating him. Gharik… was telling the truth…

All the sadistic joy in her eyes melted and her breathing became heavier. Her chest heaved and she simply stared at Manic, unable to believe that. She knew that he was low, that he would stop at nothing; but she hadn’t expected to hear that. How could anyone kill their wife, or even their child?! Those people were the most important people a person could ever have! They were supposed to mean more than the world; they were supposed to be the world. Manic had killed something so sacred that she didn’t even want Gharik to hurt him; she wanted to hurt him herself. She wanted to mutilate him, rip him apart, and let him die from the pain and blood loss. Heck, maybe she shouldn’t even let him die! Live forever without some important limbs, knowing that Cordelia Brooks had beaten him mentally and physically, and then let him die alone and rot in the afterlife.

How could he have done that? How?! It didn’t make sense! He was sick, he was twisted! She should have known he was capable of that. People like him weren’t capable of love. People like him didn’t know what it meant to cherish, adore, or admire; people like him could only feel hate and a desire for bloodshed. He didn’t deserve to be sent to his family… he didn’t deserve to be returned to their love and forgiveness… it wasn’t his wife’s fault or his child’s fault. They must have been really good people, to love a dog like that unconditionally. Naïve and clearly stupid… but good, nonetheless.

She only watched as Manic was thrown through the building. Death seemed like the only way out for him. She stood solemnly, her fists clenched and trembling slightly from the amount of strength and pressure she had put into her hands. Gharik returned and Cordelia merely gave him a fleeting glance before her attention returned to the broken wall where Manic was laying.

“Thank you for coming. I’m a free man now…”

“You’re welcome,” Cordelia said, her voice grinding due to rage. She grabbed the picture out of her pocket and slapped it into Gharik’s hand. She wasn’t sure if that was what he wanted, or what he was even doing with that action, but that paper was what he was getting. “Take it. I don’t want it. You keep it as something to remember this by. Take the paper, take your freedom, and leave. I need to go tell our beloved Manic something.” She was shaking by now and she stepped past Gharik, her breathing only getting heavier as she tried to contain herself. “By the way? You owe me.” She didn’t even look over her shoulder as she said that, and before long she had reached the building Manic had been thrown through. She didn’t bother looking for him, since she didn’t want to see him, but she did stand in the large hole on a piece of rubble that had fallen.

She knew he was dead, but she didn’t care. This had to be said. Even if he didn’t have a soul, maybe, just maybe, he would hear her. “You…” she said, her voice ragged and spewing acid. “You killed your WIFE! Your CHILD! They loved you, you sick cur! You’re not even a man! You don’t have a soul and don’t even deserve to be dead! You’ll be going to them and you’ll get to see them again… they don’t deserve someone like you! They trusted you, loved you! And that was how you repaid them?! Married… you told me I was the one who could never be married! You told me I was the one who was uncaring, who was a fake, a fraud and a sham! At least I didn’t kill my husband and I wasn’t the reason my son died! At least I don’t have that blood on my hands! You tried to act like we were the same! Yeah, we’re both ageless, have fangs, a desire for blood – but we will never be the same! I will always be better than you for actually having a heart, even if it doesn’t beat – for always having a soul, even if it doesn’t show! I will always be better than you because I know right from wrong and I have morals! I say good riddance…Manic, you deserved everything you got tonight. It’s too bad you didn’t live to learn your friggin’ lesson!”

She was still angry, but so much pressure had been taken off her chest from saying that. Cordelia stepped away from the wall and punched the opposite side, ignoring the pain that shot up from her knuckles to her shoulder. She started walking, about as angry as she had ever been in her life.

Gharik watched in mock amusement when the woman placed the paper in his hand and moved to where the body of Manic would lay. Taking the paper, Gharik would simply place it within the confines of his armor for safe keeping, just in case. The sudden outburst that would follow from just behind him came as to no surprise, but it really didn’t concern him. If the crazy lady wanted to talk to the dead so bad then that was her own issue and not his; all he really cared about was getting the hell out of here while he still could. There was no definite guarantee that Manic was indeed finished and it wasn’t a chance he was willing to take.

Placing one foot in front of the other, the large form of Gharik began its wayward way down the city street, only to stop dead once her voice came to a rest. Suddenly there was an uneasy feeling welling deep within him, causing the hair at the back of his neck to stand on end. Was it possible…? No, no it couldn’t be. Simply dismissing the thought with a laugh and shake of the head, Gharik began once again this time less certain of himself than ever before…

Black in nature, a hand would snake out from the darkness of the hole to grasp onto the corner of one of the blocks. Another would join the action upon the opposing side, only to then use the both of them to pull him through the hole and out into the dim light of the lanterns. Bit by bit each of his features revealed themselves as the light strokes its way, highlighting certain parts more than others. Upon his face a series of cracks could be seen, splintering in haphazard manner across the entirety of his countenance. Under further observation those very cracks weren’t through flesh, but of a yellowish rock like structure that encased his entire body. Several chunks of the rock began splitting from his face and tumbling to the ground with a clatter only to then reveal the soft smooth white skin of his visage beneath.

Eyes aglow in a sea of fire, they would settle themselves upon the form of Cordelia while he moved out from the rubble and out into the street. Once at the desired position in the street, Manic would turn to face Cordelia, eyes never parting from hers. He would then lift both of his arms slightly off to his flanks and a thick black energy would rush out from the surface of his flesh in a burst, casting the cracked stone like skin off in an array of rubble. While the energy continued to course, it steadily began to slow its rapid pace to a slow moving mass of black tendrils which orbited his body.

The darkness that swathed his body only amplified his appearance, starting with his countenance. Three thick red markings on each side, arced across from a point at his nose and across his cheeks, stretching back to his ears where they would taper off. From there the eyes lit alight in a storm of fire and teeth as sharp as razorblades finished off the visage. Bellow, a small form fitting black jacket bound to his torso, lightly kissed in streaks of flames with the outer appearance. Muscles defined the entirety of his body, but what set him off more different than what Cordelia would recognize was the tail that swished back and forth behind him. It truly was the tail of the devil and unlike most others it was a name that Manic really lived up to.

Graceful fluid movements took upon his hands in methodical pace up to his face, where they would then part in their expansion outwards off to his flanks. Each digit spread itself outwards and a deep black light formed at each tip, which would then chain off into the center of his palm. Just when a small black orb began to fill into the palm of his hand, a brilliant light swept through the entirety of the hand and an image began to take shape just in front each of his hands, starting at the ground and working up. That image would soon solidify into something more substantial, but once it had, the hands would jolt back in front of his face where they would clasp in a clap. Focusing in more of his energy to the palm of his hands, Manic would then push them out to face that of Cordelia. Again the same process took place, but this time instead of doing it to each hand separately, the digits would formulate the energy at the separation point of each hand before another image would appear in front of him. Only that one became substantial, each of his hands would motion forward and drop to his sides.

The beings held no hesitation in their movements forward and past that of Cordelia, their target none other than that of Gharik. Each of them rushed forward in a formation, setting up a mental attack upon the large behemoth, intending to bring him down in a matter of minutes. Manic’s focus; however, remained on that of Cordelia, each eye narrowing in cruel intent upon the woman. Activating the following spells mentally: Haste, Blur, Ghastly armor, Cloak of Darkness, and Draconic Might. Manic would not only be too fast for the woman, but each blow would be amplified as though someone were trying to knock the soul right out of her. In a sadistic sneer the lips would twist the voice to follow thick and heavy, “Don’t worry my sweet, I will devour your flesh like candy, drink your blood like nectar, and use your organs as carrying bags. Say goodbye to the life you fruitlessly cling to, Manic is here to put the little girl to bed. Accept your fate and lay to rest within the bed of the abyss.” The sneer would not disappear even after the words left his lips, but instead strengthened in its appearance.

Issuing a blink in the wake of his speech, Manic appeared a mere foot to the right and in front of Cordelia. Locking his stance, his right leg jolted up with a massive force, aiming to slam itself within her mid-drift. Should it connect and if the woman would double over from the blow, both of his hands would move to clasp and lock themselves together, before lifting and slamming themselves down towards the back of the woman’s head.

Although she had turned away and had been walking, Cordelia soon slowed down. She was angry and all she wanted to do was get out of there, but she still felt incredibly uneasy. It was a sudden, odd feeling that she didn’t think she should have had. He was dead; what was there to feel uneasy about? Still, that pit only deepened in her stomach to the point where she had to turn around to make sure that he was really done with. There was no doubt in her mind that he was… after all, he had been punched so hard that he had been forced through a wall! The action was really just to reassure herself. When she turned, she saw nothing, and was officially fine.

But that had only been for a second. A black hand began to come out of the rubble and her eyes became wide, her eyebrows lifting and her pupils contracting. No… that wasn’t possible! He should have died upon impact! His bones should have all been crushed! Why wasn’t that what had happened?! If anything, he should have been at the least extremely delirious to the point where he couldn’t move! She wanted to try and convince herself that he was just having after-twitches, like spiders did, but it was so unlikely that it didn’t even take her a second to dismiss such a thought. With any luck he would have amnesia… then he wouldn’t remember any of this!

Any trace of optimism was vanishing, though, when she saw him beginning to rise. His face appeared to be cracked, and from her position, she couldn’t tell it wasn’t his skin. She felt just as trapped as she had before, except now she didn’t have anything to fight back with. Before, she had the picture and Gharik was there to postpone Manic from attacking her. This time, though, she didn’t have anything! There was no picture, there was no armored henchman, all there was was her weak spells against him – and she had a feeling he wasn’t going to be very forgiving.

Once his eyes settled on her, her own eyes narrowed as she tried to cover up the chaotic mess she had become on the inside. She wasn’t going to show any sign of weakness! If anything, he was going to be the weak one. She wasn’t the one who had just been blasted to supposed smithereens. “So you’re alive huh?” she said, forcing her voice to be a bit lower so that it wouldn’t shake as much. Well, it seemed that she had gotten what she wanted and he had gotten what he deserved. Just as she had said, he didn’t deserve to die… and there he was, with his beady little eyes, staring at her. Maybe she should have mentioned that he didn’t deserve to be alive either; maybe then he would have gotten the hint.

“Kind of surprising, I mean, after that beating you just…” She trailed off and blinked when the stone was blasted off of him and the blackness began to swirl around him. She’d been right; he didn’t look very happy and he didn’t seem to have amnesia. “… took,” she finished off quietly, trying not to sound as intimidated as she actually was. She managed slightly, but it was so slight a margin that it hardly made the difference to anyone but herself. Why had Gharik left, anyway?! He should have stayed to make sure that Manic was actually, really done for! He seemed to know that she couldn’t defeat him on her own – so why had he left her?! He had been the one to punch Manic through the wall; he should have known whether or not he was actually dead. Cordelia returned to her original thought; this just had to be a conspiracy. There was no other logical explanation.

Cordelia took a few steps back when the beings made their way toward her, her hand grasping the hilt of her sword, only to find that they went right on past her. She whirled her head around to watch them as they ran off. It didn’t take a genius to figure off that they were probably heading to Gharik. Although she wasn’t too sure that they wouldn’t come back for her, she turned to look at Manic again. Right now, he was her main concern.

“Don’t worry my sweet, I will devour your flesh like candy, drink your blood like nectar, and use your organs as carrying bags. Say goodbye to the life you fruitlessly cling to, Manic is here to put the little girl to bed. Accept your fate and lay to rest within the bed of the abyss.”

His appearance might have been intimidating… but the words were always the same and held no more meaning to her. Time after time, he said things that he never went through with. It was all cliché, really; all bark and no bite. “Nothing interesting or new anymore? What a shame…” He tried to live up to what he said, but it just never worked. When he came at her, Cordelia was actually expecting it; she had had a feeling he was going to attack, and she had actually come across that sort of attack before. She barely got out of the way due to his magic, but it was enough to throw his attack off. She got hit in the ribs, and while she did fall back as he had anticipated, his hands wound up hitting her left shoulder instead.

She wound up falling forward, almost as if she was being tossed around like a rag doll. Cordelia turned around and looked at Manic, pushing herself up with her weaker right arm because her left was completely numb and throbbing in pain. Her ribs weren’t feeling that great either, but she couldn’t just fall down and let him have his little victory. She wasn’t going to be able to fight back physically now, but she could still use her words and try to dodge whatever attacks he tried on her. The words would probably only make him angrier, but at least it was still some way of fighting. “And you’re still as arrogant as you’ve always been…” she hissed, gripping her shoulder and hunched over a bit so that locks of black hair falling into her face. “I won’t go on that list. I mean, didn’t you do that to your family already? Wasn’t that enough? Didn’t it give you enough pleasure?” She tried to stand up a bit straighter so that she would appear as if she was less injured. “I would have thought you would have learned something… but I guess you never have and never will. How disappointing… but I’m not really surprised.” She rolled her eyes before focusing on him completely again.

The words that spewed forth from her vile mouth were enough to send the rage growing within him, but despite that fact a cool and calm demeanor presented itself upon his face for the time being. While she regained her composure, Manic would lift a hand out, pointing it palm out to the right flank of Cordelia. It’s target a wooden stand that someone must use during the day to sell their goods. A crackle of blue light erupted through his hand in snaking fashion, before launching forth in a streak of crackling energy. In a loud bang the card would pick up in a flash and soon catch fire, that fire would quickly spread to the building alongside of it. Without much delay Manic would lower that arm and lift the other, pointing it just off to the other flank of Cordelia. Instead of using the same technique, the hand would simply lift long enough to snap his fingers. At the issuance of the action, a streak of red shot forth from his fingers and ignited the building just beyond Cordelia in an explosion of flames.

Even if the woman wanted to leave now, she would have to contest the flames with her flesh. From his knowledge the flames would most definitely win, even mortals had a higher fire resistance than the flesh of a Vampire. Oh what fun this would be, not only would Cordelia be put in her place, but he would methodically dissect her and enjoy every second of it. Instead of dropping his dominant arm back to his side, there would be a sudden updraft of crimson energy that would quickly seep forth from his chest and spread out across his appendage. Once it reached his hand, the energy would drive into the palm of his hand and each of his digits would snap tightly into an enclosed fist as if he were grasping onto something. From there a bright red light shot forth from the opening of his hand and spewed in a mesh of flaming rope across the ground.

Lifting the arm sharply, the flaming rope jolted to life as it rose in wavering fashion through the air only to come to a rest again upon the ground. All expression on his once calm and collective countenance came in a wave of maliciousness. Flicking his tongue out past his parted lips, the tip would run its way methodically across their rough and rigged exterior, dampening them as well as adding to the intimidating factor. As the suspense built between the two of them, the devilish tail that waved aimlessly behind him would lift to poise itself just off to his right flank so it would present itself. “Living in your lovely world of misconception must be great. Totally oblivious to the fact that you’re utterly screwed…You just better hope Manic wishes to keep you alive yet, otherwise you’ll die tonight. Unlike Manic, I intend to rip the flesh from your bone….orrr perhaps burn it from the bone would be the better synopsis.” A malignant grin took upon his features, but before she could even think to respond to his comments, a blink of the eye would send him on his way. This time appearing behind her, before bringing his right arm snapping upwards in a sudden upswing of power. The lash would pick up a whistling sound as it sliced through the air, it’s target straight for the torso of the woman, intent upon binding her with the searing flamed exterior and cause her the torment he so richly yearned for….

Cordelia’s eyes went wide when he opened his palm up in her direction. She knew that he had tricks up his sleeves, but that didn’t necessarily mean that she knew everything he could do. The crackling blue energy went off to a stand near her, but she got out of the way just to be safe. She wasn’t about to take chances. As soon as it caught fire, along with the building, a much more than frightened look shone in her eyes. He knew what fire did to her… he had healed her of her burnt flesh on the first day they met. Was what she said really so terrible that it warranted this?! She had only called him out on the truth!

Though she tried to back away from the blaze, the other side of her soon went up in flames as well. Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. She swallowed nervously, even though her mouth was so dry that there was hardly anything to swallow. What was she supposed to do?! She was trapped between two fires and she was not going to run through them to try and get away. No matter what she did, she knew she couldn’t escape. And, even in knowing that, she still knew that she was going to live. It was either desperation or arrogance… but it was most likely a combination of both.

She whirled her head around to look for any sort of way out. She couldn’t go up, couldn’t go down, and everything to her sides was licked by flames. The fire was causing her pale skin to begin turning to a darkening pink, both from the heat and from irritation. She hugged herself and started thinking as fast as she could. Either she could stay here and burn to death, or try and run through the fire to where it was safer. The latter was quite obviously the better option, but when she tried to move her foot to attempt it, she simply couldn’t do it. What if he only set more and more objects on fire? She would be running through a maze that had no way out and might get hurt even worse than she would if she didn’t move. So, then, the better choice was to stay put. But those flames were beginning to get awfully close…

Her decision was made for her when he lit the whole ground with the cursed fire. She lifted her right arm over her eyes to make it a bit darker, since the intensity of not only the heat but the light now was bothering her eyes. All she could do was stay there and hope that Manic was only playing a game. It was beginning to look like he had actually been serious this time about hurting her. She hoped Gharik was getting the same treatment… it was his entire fault for getting her into this mess! He had been the one to tell her to do this!

“Living in your lovely world of misconception must be great. Totally oblivious to the fact that you’re utterly screwed…You just better hope Manic wishes to keep you alive yet, otherwise you’ll die tonight. Unlike Manic, I intend to rip the flesh from your bone….orrr perhaps burn it from the bone would be the better synopsis.”

He couldn’t be serious! He was schizophrenic now?! It was either that or he enjoyed referring to himself by name when he got crazy! But she couldn’t believe he was going to burn her bit by bit. If that was the choice then she didn’t stand a chance, and for once, she wasn’t arrogant enough to deny that. Her skin was already irritated from the fire and it hadn’t even gotten close enough to touch her yet! Cordelia didn’t even have the chance to take in a breath before Manic was behind her, and just as she turned to look, the rope was swinging down to take her.

A shrill, piercing scream of agony resounded through the area once the fire collided with her skin so closely. Immediately the area where the fire had touched and the areas around it began to darken to the point where it was black and was almost flaking off. Her eyes were red from tears and she tried to struggle against the rope, but that only burned her more severely. “So this is what you do when someone tells you the truth?!” Cordelia was surprised she was even talking, but the words were screamed and still filled with the pain that this torture was causing her. The blackened skin was beginning to peel off and fall on the ground below her, which was quite frankly not a pretty sight. She wanted so desperately to start begging for her life, but her pride wouldn’t allow her to… if she was going to die, she wasn’t going to die without holding on to what little she had. “Let me GO, MANIC! This isn’t FUNNY ANYMORE! I didn’t do anything wrong!” Again she tried to struggle against the rope, her chest heaving and her knees finally buckling. Cordelia fell to the ground and whimpered, unable to hold back another scream and the deep, heavy breaths that were becoming harder and harder to take from both the pain and the large amount of smoke.

“Let me GO, MANIC! This isn’t FUNNY ANYMORE! I didn’t do anything wrong!”

The screams, the tears, and the scent of burning flesh sent his laughter into overdrive. The sickening nasally tone of his laugh echoed out throughout the empty flame scorched roadway. “OH NOW YOU THINK IT’S A GAME!? Like I’m a child and you’re the game piece only to be toyed with. Are you truly so absurd, innocence is not your card! You know nothing of the truth, you know nothing of pain, you know nothing of suffering, but I will teach you this very night. I will make you feel my pain, my torment, and my corruption!” The voice came in a deep domineering tone, the features of his face contorting and twisting into sick satisfaction as well as displaying hints of anger.

Tensing up his dominant arm, Manic would proceed to wrap some of the slack length of the lash around his wrist to bring it to a taught tension. From there he would move around to the front of Cordelia, absorbing her anguish with his blood thirsty eyes. Once at her front, a slow lackadaisical movement would bring his left hand up to flick itself palm out to her face. A mere matter of feet separated the hand and Cordelia’s face; if she wanted to survive…She would need to think of something fast. Peering over the tips of his digits, Manic’s eyes would draw to a focus upon Cordelia’s briefly, “You chose to defy me, to stand against me like some stubborn old mule and now this is the fate you face…Obliteration. Manic would have given you everything, despite being the bitter uncaring louse you are. Before I finish you and end your life, be aware that Gharik will be joining you very soon in the abyss. You will not be the last to face my judgment…But for now Cordelia, good riddens…”

With that said, his eyes would slide shut to focus his energy and push it out to his left hand. In a torrent of crimson light, the entirety of his arm would engulf itself in the mock flames of energy, before gathering at the palm of his hand. The energy would gather in a swirling torrent, only to then gather into a ball which would gradually expand to fill the expanse of his curled digits. Holding the fire ball in hand, Manic’s eyes would slide open gracefully to take one final look at the helpless form of Cordelia, “Manic suggests that you should duck…” Before putting the movement of the fire ball into action, all energy would severe itself from his right arm, causing the lash to dissipate into nothingness, like it had never even existed to begin with. Just as the lash faded away, another burst of energy took upon his right arm, this time a much different one. Without much delay his right arm would lift out to the chest of Cordelia, digits expanding to send a rush of air out to her chest. Hopefully it would be enough to push her body back first to the ground bellow, because only a second later the fire ball would let itself loose from the palm of his left hand to send itself careening towards the face of Cordelia.

If everything fell into play, Cordelia’s body would be pushed backwards to her back in time to barely escape the oncoming rush of the fire ball, but not without harm. Should it fail to do so due to resistance from the woman, then she would be facing her final fleeting moments left upon these planes.

Laughter… that should have been her laughing… that should have been her, reveling in his pain, instead of the other way around. Taunting her, tormenting her; he was taking this too far. They both knew she was the game piece and that she was innocent. Not once had she been the one to start their fights! She had never been the violent one! He always got too angry; he should have known, especially by now, that she could do no harm to him. Why did he insist on this?!

She wanted to call him out and argue, but she was in far too much pain to even think about opening her mouth. For probably the first time, she thought that it wouldn’t be a good idea. Manic had already gone over the edge to the point where her life was actually in his hands. She wasn’t in control and she knew that he was serious this time about letting her know what it was like to suffer, to feel pain. It angered her that he seemed to think she didn’t have her fair share of it, which caused her breathing to become more ragged, hoarse, and uneven than it already was. Cordelia wanted so badly to just grit her teeth and spit at him! As long as she got the chance to do that, she wouldn’t have cared if she died or not.

Manic proceeded to make the rope even tighter, causing Cordelia’s back and head to bend forward so that her chin was at her collar bone. Another scream came out of her without her even trying to hold it back. Her body tensed, only to start shaking involuntarily, which only made her left shoulder feel like it was going to either explode or tear right off of her body. Blood was already leaking out of where the rope of fire had gotten through her skin and began to do so more fervently, seeming to pour over the blisters that formed only to pop and ooze moments later on what little skin was left only red. The blood ran down her once again blackened arms and began to wet the shirt and coat that were so tattered, torn, and burnt that they could hardly be called clothing now. Tears streamed out of her closed eyelids violently, falling on her legs and on the ground below her.

She didn’t try to turn her head upward when she sensed Manic looking at her. She merely opened her eyelids halfway, turned her eyes and tried to look at him through the sweat soaked hair that had fallen in clumps in front of her face. The sight of his palm caused her stomach to turn so violently that she gagged and thought she was going to vomit. He was going to finish her off; there was no doubt in her mind that he was going to finally do that. Manic wouldn’t waste time to finally be rid of a person like her.

“You chose to defy me, to stand against me like some stubborn old mule and now this is the fate you face…Obliteration. Manic would have given you everything, despite being the bitter uncaring louse you are. Before I finish you and end your life, be aware that Gharik will be joining you very soon in the abyss. You will not be the last to face my judgment…But for now Cordelia, good riddens…”

She didn’t regret defying and disobeying him – he deserved it. He was nothing special and she was only trying to make him aware of that. The only thing she regretted was that Kaiden would have to get dragged into this, since he would be without a mother. She had broken her promise to be there, hadn’t she? She began to shake even worse at the thought; she always stuck to her promises and the thought of Kaiden going back to the life he had before sickened her. It was hard to think about it, though, and Manic’s words were getting tiresome. She didn’t need to ask why he was wasting time; he wanted her to suffer and to pay for her ‘wrongdoings’. Cordelia must have heard him wrong when he said that he would have given her everything; it made no sense, unless everything meant this sort of pain and torment. She didn’t care if she lived or died… dying might even be better; at least then she wouldn’t have to live with these burns and endure the pain for as long as this would last. Still, the guilt that gripped at her when she thought about Kaiden was enough to make her doubt that dying would be better.

“Manic suggests that you should duck…”

Cordelia only whimpered and waited, not doing what she had been told, focused completely on the energy swirling about in his hand. She braced herself and closed her eyes tightly, only to not have the fireball hit her when she expected it to. The woman didn’t open her eyes, however, and remained as patient. She didn’t want to see the satisfied smile on Manic’s face. Just then, energy hit her in the chest, too strong for her to remain as she was upon impact. Cordelia started backward, her back arching and neck snapping backward as if she was still that helpless rag doll. The fireball went only about an inch over her face as she fell, and it was too painful for her to even scream. There was a nauseating sizzling sound and her head hit the ground, a crack sounding as well when that happened. There was searing pain in her face as the skin there joined the rest of her body in turning black and peeling. Her eyes began to bleed and blister, even though the lids were closed shut. Her eyes were burning to the point where she thought the fire had been sent back right into her brain and throughout the inside of her body, trying to get at whatever else it could find. Her back was still arched and her chest rose and fell sporadically, rising to the point where her whole chest was filled with air and falling until her ribs could be seen through the rips in her clothing. Cordelia opened her eyes, only to find that the hot air only hurt them more. All she could see was blackness, if that even counted as something to see. After some time her back went straight and she simply lay on the ground, her blood pouring around her along with skin that had never stopped flaking off. From the pain, exhaustion, and extreme damage done to her both mentally and physically, Cordelia stopped breathing and she finally slipped into unconsciousness.

Streaks of red spread across the building walls as the ball of energy screamed down the roadway only to eventually crash into a distant building. It would be of no concern for his eyes drifted down to the writhing form of Cordelia, soaking up every bit of her torment before grinning malevolently to himself. The woman was broken and battered, but no matter how much he convinced himself that it was required, there was no sense of satisfaction in his actions. Instead a sense of regret lingered, but only momentarily. For a long while Manic stood over the follow form of the woman, arguing mentally between one side to the other on what action he should take from here. Finally reaching a conclusion, a deep rueful sigh would part betwixt his lips in a huff. There just didn’t seem to be any other option, even if it meant that he would end up looking like a hypocrite.

Moving over to the side of the woman’s body, the man would drop to a single knee only to then proceed to place both of his hands palm flat upon her torso. Channeling a deep black energy out to each of his hands, it would quickly spread out across the woman’s body, gently mending each of her wounds slightly. It would just be enough to cease the bleeding and hinder any other further damage from occurring, but the ugly markings would remain upon her body until it would finally mend itself. Lifting his hands from her chest and midriff, they would quickly slip beneath her, the right moving to support her shoulder blades, while the other slipped in behind her knees. Heaving a slight grunt, Manic would rise to an erect stance before moving off to a place where he could keep her for the night.

Putting the fires to his back, he would proceed down the road only to find a run down building tucked off in the corner of the city all by itself. Deciding it would be better than nothing, Manic would bring his boot out to slam into the door. With a loud crack and a clatter the door came to a rest against the inner wall of the structure. A thin film of dust littered the air of the room and judging by the condition of the building it more the less hadn’t seen a visitor in over a years time. Of course that was mere assumption…Dwelling on the thought no further, Manic would move through the room and towards the stairs that led to the upper floor. Once at the top of the staircase, there would be a large open area with nothing but a dresser and a bed off in one of the corners. At least it was better than nothing, right…? It wasn’t like he could ask her and it really wouldn’t matter if she approved or not.

Moving over to the bed, Manic would gently lay Cordelia down upon it before stepping back a couple of feet. A few words escaped his lips in muffled tone, “You’re the one that asked for this…If you’d have listened…” Now what Manic…? There was no easy answer that would come to mind, nothing other than at least making sure that she was fine, even if he would come to regret it later on. Glancing around the room briefly, there would be no sign of any other form of seating other than the bed. Issuing a sigh of annoyance, his eyes would dance back to the still form of Cordelia. It would most likely be a long while before she would finally awaken again and there was no sense of being uncomfortable until that time came. Moving over to the bed, Manic would turn to a take a seat down upon the edge of the bed along side of her. Turning his attention upon her face, the soft red glow of his eyes would rapidly alleviate itself from their appearance, only to be replaced by the same onyx orbs that were originally there. No other changes seemed to occur with his body other than the reversion of his eye color.

Sucking in a deep breath, it would soon issue itself in a wayward sigh while he patiently observed her waiting for the first sign of her body taking to life again. Moments would trail into minutes, minutes into hours, and finally her body began to stir and it was at that moment Manic took the time to stand back to his feet, back to her as he gazed off towards the distant window absentmindedly. Once it seemed like she was finally getting things straight, a finger would issue itself up into the air as if to tell her not to say a word, “Let me talk…” The voice was smooth and calm in its tone, “Manic and I are two separate beings…That’s all you need to know. If it weren’t for Manic, I would have killed you right then and there. I respect the word of my host, at least for the time being. Once his body serves me no further purpose, then I will simply move on and never listen to a word this man would have to say. Of course that would mean he would die…” In one fluid and smooth motion, the blackened forearm and hand of his right arm would lift upwards off to his flank to show the woman what he meant, “Each time Manic regresses and I am pushed to the surface, I feast and his body suffers…That’s unimportant though.”

Dropping the arm back to his side in a lifeless manner, he would then precede a couple steps away from her bed, “What occurred tonight was your own doing. If you wish to believe otherwise then so be it, but you can ask Manic himself at a later date. Ahh…Which reminds me…Gharik said Manic killed his family…No such thing occurred. I was the one that took his place when that entire thing went down. They just made it appear as though he killed them. It’s a long story really, one you don’t deserve to know. The way you carry yourself, I’m surprised someone hasn’t killed you. You’re just lucky that Manic holds a care about you…Don’t ask my why, I couldn’t possibly fathom what he sees in a wretch like you.” Choosing not to waste any more of his time on this woman, Manic would proceed towards the stairway only to pause briefly, “Now, before I part my way, I will issue you one final warning. You even think about harming Manic, or even try to cross our paths. I will personally destroy you and nothing Manic says will stop me. On top of that, the little kid that is currently in your care…He will become a victim of your foolishness should you decide to challenge my warning. That’s all I have to say to you…” With that Manic would begin in a slow methodical descent down the stairway.

Just like the night of their first meeting, Manic had hurt her and was healing her and had made the decision to bring her to safety. The skin that had broken and bled was healed up, becoming spotted patches of white and dark red among the black. The peeling had stopped for now, although the black and gray color would need to fix itself in time. Had she been awake she would have protested every single action he took with the last bits of her strength, from coming near her and healing her to picking her up. In the back of her mind she was screaming in pain because of how she was being held, both from the burns and from her shoulders. Her head rolled and fell against his collar bone once she had been lifted and he was walking, one arm hanging down while the other laid against her stomach.

She was placed upon the bed, her head tilting a bit to the left while the rest of her body, except for her arms, lay completely still and straight on the bed. The words he spoke went unnoticed by her, and she simply lay as still as if he had never said them to begin with. It was probably a good thing that she wasn’t awake; if she had been she only would have been causing more and more problems for herself. All her complaining and arguing wouldn’t have set well with him, and she had finally learned that there was a line she was not supposed to cross.

Hours passed until finally, consciousness began to return to her in a thick fog. At last her breath returned to her, albeit in shallow and irregular manner, and a soft groan came from her, an uncomfortable look on her face to match it. Her eyebrows furrowed and her eyelids shut tightly, a frown pulling at her mouth. The pain returned to her after a few moments of staying in that fog, causing her to inhale sharply and bite the inside of her lower lip. Her eyes finally opened, but that didn’t help her any. She hissed and closed her now completely black and bloodied eyes just as soon as she had opened them, gripping the sheets in pain only to have the action of curling her fingers and bending her wrist shoot more pain up her arms. Her shoulder started throbbing again and she opened her eyes slowly, recalling details bit by bit as they returned to her. The fog that kept her pain at bay had cleared, but it still clouded her mind.

The only thing that she could remember right now was Manic. Her eyes searched the room, only to find nothing but darkness. She had no idea where she was, but she could at least tell that she was on a bed. Where the bed was located, though, remained completely unknown to her and she actually thought she was alone until she heard his poisonous voice.

“Let me talk…”

Her attention shot over to his spot in the room, yet she still couldn’t see him. What the hell was going on? He was there, but he wasn’t there. She almost thought she was hallucinating… that wasn’t too farfetched. After everything she had been through tonight, nothing like that would be too farfetched. But if she was hallucinating… then why was she feeling some very real pain?

“Manic and I are two separate beings…That’s all you need to know. If it weren’t for Manic, I would have killed you right then and there. I respect the word of my host, at least for the time being. Once his body serves me no further purpose, then I will simply move on and never listen to a word this man would have to say. Of course that would mean he would die…”

What was he even talking about? All right, so now he had split personalities. Before it had been extreme mood swings and schizophrenia; now there was another one on the very long list of what was wrong with him. Sighing, Cordelia simply shook her head and returned her attention to Manic – or was that really Manic? They were ‘two separate beings’ after all. This was so confusing! How did he expect her to believe or understand something so insane, especially after the beating she had just taken? She knew that there was something that wasn’t right with Manic; it didn’t take a genius to figure that one out. He was so crazy that at times it was amusing, if not tiring. “I don’t get it…” she mumbled, her words slurring together slightly and her eyes closing once again. She took a deep breath, pretending that that would fix the ache and liquid-like feeling in her head. Her brain felt like it had just turned to mush after this whole ordeal and was going to leak out her ears.

“Each time Manic regresses and I am pushed to the surface, I feast and his body suffers…That’s unimportant though.”

“Well, he deserves it, good for you…” By now, she just wanted ‘both’ of them out – she would say anything if it would speed this along. She was too exhausted to be angry, too agonized to be rude. She didn’t see his arm as he showed it to her; the darkness still remained. She was going to be incredibly mortified if she found out later that she had just been talking to herself. Then again, she wasn’t that creative; she wouldn’t have been able to come up with a story like this on her own.

“What occurred tonight was your own doing. If you wish to believe otherwise then so be it, but you can ask Manic himself at a later date. Ahh…Which reminds me…Gharik said Manic killed his family…No such thing occurred. I was the one that took his place when that entire thing went down. They just made it appear as though he killed them. It’s a long story really, one you don’t deserve to know. The way you carry yourself, I’m surprised someone hasn’t killed you. You’re just lucky that Manic holds a care about you…Don’t ask my why, I couldn’t possibly fathom what he sees in a wretch like you.”

Talk, talk, talk, explanation, talk… could he do nothing else? Could he not ask how she was feeling? Ugh, of course not. This was Manic. He wasn’t kind enough to care about her state, yet he was kind enough to bring her elsewhere and put her on a bed. His actions made no sense, but that was something that she had become accustomed to by now. When he said that he was the one that killed Manic’s family, not Manic, she wanted to scream. Who was she supposed to hate more now?! “While you’re at it, care to explain just who you are? And where I am? That would help me a lot more.” She’d already gotten the parasite and the feeding part, but it still didn’t add up to her. So he had some disease. What was that supposed to do to him besides make him sick? Well, sicker than he already was, at least. Her eyebrows went up just barely when he said that Manic cared about her. Yeah, he cared all right. That was why he was always mean to her, trying to intimidate her, trying to start fights with her – she couldn’t have ever known a better definition of the word ‘care’. “You’re not the only one who can’t fathom it… but that’s because he doesn’t care.” She sighed, and then whimpered at how deeply she had breathed. Her ribs and stomach still hurt from where she had been punched and burned. Even if it had healed a bit, that didn’t mean the damage wasn’t done.

“… On top of that, the little kid that is currently in your care…He will become a victim of your foolishness should you decide to challenge my warning. That’s all I have to say to you…”

The only thing she cared about was what he had just said. She didn’t care what he said or did to her, but Kaiden was a whole different story. He hadn’t done anything! He had never hurt Manic or this other side to Manic! Kaiden had even defended the man when she had written badly about him in his book. How could he even think about betraying him like that? Oh, no, no, that couldn’t happen! She usually wouldn’t comply, usually she would argue, but she couldn’t do that this time. She knew the threat was real, that he was serious; and she wouldn’t put Kaiden at risk just because she had to be stubborn and have the last word. She would not allow her son to be put at risk…

“Of course…” she said softly. For Kaiden, she would sacrifice her dignity; it was all right if it was for Kaiden. “Won’t do anything to upset Manic or you, or think about hurting you. Just don’t hurt him… please…” Her voice trembled as she spoke and she waited in fear, unaware that he was already going downstairs.

All further movement fell to stillness just at the point where only his upper body would be visible from her point on the bed. Considering she couldn’t see, it really didn’t even matter where he stood. All that mattered was that she could still hear him… Pondering over her words for a moment, the upper portion of his torso would twist to allow his head to turn enough in order to gaze upon her from the corner of his eyes. “I am known as Andros Viktameir…And you are Cordelia, the child in your care goes by the name of Kaiden. You currently stay in the slum looking town of Balefire. I’ve also been told the child left your house not long after you…Rumor has it the child went off into the forest, now as for you. You are in a bed of an abandoned home in the city of Taras. I’m sure you’ll make a smart remark about repeating common knowledge, but….” Manic’s voice trailed off briefly while he turned on the stairs and began his way back up the couple he previously descended down.

Once at the top, his eyes would settle fully upon the form of Cordelia, studying her behaviors with grave intent, “You’ve been out for more than a couple of hours…” The statement really didn’t need to be made, but it was something that just kind of left his mouth. Shifting his eyes from the woman, they would move towards the window at the far end of the room. Slipping both of his hands within the confines of his jacket pockets, the man would move over to the window, pausing just shy of it, only to then gaze out through its slightly foggy exterior. “You’re a blind woman…Both mentally and now physically. If Manic didn’t care, you’d be dead as simple as that. I have been within the man’s company long enough…200 years to give an estimate and there hasn’t been a person he cared about enough to let live. Other than his wife...It’s quite ironic really. Although, I’m sure you didn’t care to know, so I’ll just stop rambling there.”

Withdrawing a hand from within the pocket, it would lift to place itself across the coarse wood grain of the window frame. Heaving an annoyed sigh, the man’s voice would pick up in a rigid tone, “It would have been a lot easier to kill you than to be nice to you. Manic’s too soft…That will change very soon.” Slowly the hand would slip from its placement upon the window frame, only to then drop lifelessly to his side, before turning around to face the stairs yet again. Making his way towards them once more, a hand would move to grasp the railing, and again his movements would falter, “Because of Manic you have been granted more time with the child known as Kaiden. Relish it while lasts, as for the blindness you’re on your own. If you wish to seek assistance, there may be a person who could help you. She goes by the name of Alaina Kiety and she’s most oftenly found in Norwood Forest. Just remember Cordelia, you’ve been warned.” Taking a couple steps down the stairs, the sound of his voice would usher forth again while he gradually retreated from sight, “You have a chance to change an impending fate…”

“I am known as Andros Viktameir…And you are Cordelia, the child in your care goes by the name of Kaiden. You currently stay in the slum looking town of Balefire. I’ve also been told the child left your house not long after you…Rumor has it the child went off into the forest, now as for you. You are in a bed of an abandoned home in the city of Taras. I’m sure you’ll make a smart remark about repeating common knowledge, but….”

She expected him to know her name, but not Kaiden’s or where she lived. In fact, how did he even know that Kaiden was within her care? That should have been the first thing she thought about when he had mentioned that. It wasn’t like she had screamed to the world that she was taking care of the boy. Knowing where she lived only made this worse; he knew where she lived, which meant he knew where Kaiden lived, which meant if she did something he didn’t approve of her could easily find him. She swallowed and tried not to be too intimidated. If anything, he could have been really good at guessing. When he mentioned that the child had left after she did, her features took on a look of worry. “Dammit… now why would he go and do that?” she asked, though it was more to herself than to him. She had trusted him not to do anything stupid – didn’t he know that going into the forest all by himself was stupid?!

Cordelia really didn’t care that he had told her where she was now, since all she could do was think about Kaiden. It was good that she was in Taras, since she knew the city, and that wherever she was was abandoned, but Kaiden was out in the forest alone. Then again, maybe he was just lying. She wouldn’t put it past Manic, or Andros rather, to try and torment her by lying about her son’s health and whereabouts. The both of them had already done plenty of damage to her – there was nothing stopping them from hurting her even more.

“You’re a blind woman…Both mentally and now physically. If Manic didn’t care, you’d be dead as simple as that. I have been within the man’s company long enough…200 years to give an estimate and there hasn’t been a person he cared about enough to let live. Other than his wife...It’s quite ironic really. Although, I’m sure you didn’t care to know, so I’ll just stop rambling there.”

Blind? So that was why she couldn’t see anything… The word struck a chord and she turned her head away. She should have realized that a while ago; could she be any more of an idiot for not knowing? The only optimistic thing about it was that it would, in time, eventually heal, whether she had help or simply let her body take care of it. Even though he reassured her that Manic cared, she didn’t believe it. It was nothing more than a lie and Cordelia simply wouldn’t take it. He just wanted her to suffer more and more; that was the bottom line and she understood that, even if she hadn’t done anything to warrant such violent treatment. It didn’t matter if he had been with Manic for so long; people always made mistakes and he wasn’t exempt from that.

“I’m pretty sure you’re wrong…” she mumbled, her words still sticking together and becoming weaker. She just wanted him out now, really; she didn’t have the strength to put up with his rambles, his explanations, saying that it was her fault, that he would bring Kaiden into this, and quite frankly she didn’t want to keep on arguing. He had his opinion and she had hers, and while she knew she was right and that he was wrong, she wasn’t in the mood to put him in his place. Manic and Andros, regardless of whether they were one person or not, were both incredibly sick minded. Cordelia might have been just as low and violent at times, but at least she would never hurt a child. For having been a father, he certainly was a terrible one who had no conscience.

“It would have been a lot easier to kill you than to be nice to you. Manic’s too soft…That will change very soon.”

Well, no one had told him he had to stay and try and talk to her. In fact, she would be perfectly fine if he just decided to leave. She didn’t need or want him around. If he so desperately wanted nothing to do with her, then there was absolutely nothing stopping him from walking out that door. He didn’t have to stay and try to explain things to her; what he did was of his own accord and she should have had no influence over that.

“You have a chance to change an impending fate…”

Cordelia had no idea what that was supposed to mean, and honestly, wasn’t even sure that she wanted to. Whoever Alaina was, she most certainly wouldn’t try to find her for help. Cordelia would fix her blindness on her own without anybody’s help, no matter what happened to her. She had lost her sight and a part of her dignity; she wouldn’t give up what remained of it. From his footsteps she could tell he was walking away, and she wasn’t going to make any move to stop him. She was actually quite relieved that he had finally left.

There was only one problem that remained, and that was how she was going to find Kaiden while in this condition. She was in an abandoned building where no one would find her, burned, battered, and blind, and Kaiden was in the forest in an unknown condition. There was no way she was going to be able to find him… this was great, this was just great. Manic had probably planned it out that way, too, the little rat. She sighed and closed her eyes, her worries biting at the back of her mind until she finally drifted off into a not-so-peaceful sleep.