Elfen High 2: Gotterdammerung

[Nightkill the Emperor]

Daniel dropped to one knee in front of the dwarf and caught his wrist in a firm but gentle grip. "Easy, now," he said softly. As he processed the dwarf's words, the priest absentmindedly studied the church around him. In an abstract sense, of course, Daniel knew that "God" meant something very different to the angels from what it meant to Daniel and his ilk; that this church, therefore, was not really a "Christian" church at all, in any sense that Daniel would accept. But it seemed like a church anyway, and Daniel Andreas had lived his life in and around churches. The setting was familiar, comforting. Daniel found that he always thought more clearly, and felt more generously, within the cool and peaceful space of an old church.

"All right," Daniel said. "I'm not saying that I don't believe you. But I am saying that there's no way for me to prove that those injectors are filled with vaccines rather than poison." The priest sighed. "Your biology looks humanoid. Why don't you take another sample, and then we will. If it doesn't kill you - even double-strength, if you're telling the truth - then it probably won't kill us." Daniel smiled tightly and shrugged. "Precautions. I'm sure you understand." The priest leaned forward. "While you're deciding, I have a few questions. First, your name." Daniel shrugged again. "I like to know to whom I'm talking. Second: what does this fae virus do, exactly? And do you at least have any theories about how it got on your ship? Third: do you have any idea what happened to Aaron? Fourth: what is the status of the angels underground, and how do we get down where they are?"

"My name is Orv." the dwarf replied. "And I understand your concerns, so..." he injected the vaccine into his arm, followed by another dosage to reassure the priest. "Now, let's begin. The virus will transform those it infects into mindless, shambling husks, minions of the Fae's commands. That horrific sound you hear is not only a way to weaken us, but also a way for it to give commands to its minions. I assume Aaron is hopefully fine- he seemed to be a powerful angel and reassured me by saying he would leave more audiotapes- he left one with me now, in fact." Orv said, pulling out a cross-like disk, which Horn took. Horn also took some of the vaccinations, injecting his team now and the Elfen Highers.

"As for what the status of the angels is, I cannot tell you for sure, but I do know they were building something down there. I heard the noise of infected dwarfs and angels working together and using construction tools or magic to build something. And as for how we get down there...well, that may be the easiest bit." the dwarf grinned. "There are several normal and orthodox means of entry, but I'm certain that those are quite well guarded. So we'll just blow a new hole in the ground, in an area I doubt they would have guards in."

[Condunum]

Caspian actually looked around and saw that he was in Jacob's room. He said, clutching his stomach, "Ah, so we are. Could I get some... is there anything you're supposed to do when you feel like you're about to vomit that helps stop that from happening? I could use some of that right now, because I'm having some... trouble holding things down."

The teleportation had not been kind to him at all; it was often a cruel mistress to first timers.

Jacob saw Caspian was turning a strange shade of pale, and his eyes grew wide. "Noooonononono, not in my room! Not on my floor!" He ran to the closet and swung it open, pulling out a metal waste tin, and pushing it in front of Caspain.

"There." He stood next to Caspian, although a step behind, and rubbed his back softly.

[Astrolinium]

Fortunately for Jacob's floor, Caspian managed to hold things in just long enough. The tin had barely been pushed in front of him before he made an awful noise and it all just came streaming out. He grabbed the sides of the can, and then he heaved, emptying his stomach. When he'd finished, he gasped as if coming up from underwater. He lifted his head, a look of total relief on his face, as well as a little bit of vomit around his mouth and just under his nose. His nostrils and throat were burning, and he glanced at the contents of the waste tin, which elicited a slightly disgusted frown.

"Oh, dear."

[Condunum]

Jacob sighed, and picked up a rag to wipe Caspian's face clean. He hated vomit, but he wanted Caspian to be clean. Tilting the boy's head towards him, Jacob said, "Hold still for a moment, dear," And softly wiped the contents of his stomach off of his face. He was surprised Caspian didn't throw up more, but it was too early to tell. Nevertheless, he felt the urge to care for him. I wonder if our date will be delayed...

[Astrolinium]

Caspian took a deep breath after he'd been cleaned off, sitting on his rearend. He thought for a minute and said, "I think that's all. I hope that's all."

Then he realized what had just happened and turned bright red again, eyes wide, looking at Jacob. "Oh my god, I can't believe I just... oh god, I'm really sorry." He looked at the waste tin again and said, "I'll, uh, let me clean that out for you, please. I'm really sorry."

He hadn't really thrown up much in the past and was rather embarrassed by this whole thing.

[Condunum]

Jacob waived the offer away, and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. It's not your fault, teleportation is hard for new people." Jacob shrugged, and picked up the waste tin.

He smiled at Caspian, an overly gleeful smile, "Besides, I don't mind taking care of you!"

[Astrolinium]

Caspian smiled. It was a little, quiet kind of smile, the sort that makes your eyes twinkle. He stood up - slowly - and leaned in as if about to kiss Jacob. But then he leaned back and said, "Oh, wow, I should probably wash out my mouth. Ummm... do you know which way the nearest water fountain is from your room?"

[Condunum]

Jacob thought for a moment. These were the moments when he wished his dorm had it's own bathroom, but nooooo, he had to have one of his spartan moments, and decide it was too much to clean. Well, he was right. Bathrooms are impossible to completely keep clean, there's always some corner that grows mold. Always.

"There's a bathroom down the hall... Here, I'll walk you there," he said, and took Caspian's hand, walking him through the door.

He stopped, looked back and said, "Ah, Sir Nilark, I'd rather you not keep that Christmas Tree in my room. They're a nightmare to maintain cleanliness with."

[Astrolinium]

Caspian blushed anew when Jacob grabbed his hand, allowing himself to be led out. He scrunched up his nose a bit at the taste of the vomit in his mouth as he licked his lips. After a moment of silence, he said, "So I take it you like to keep a tight ship, things nice and clean."

[Condunum]

Jacob nodded, "Oh god yes. I can't have a dirty room. The only mess I like is nature... I grew up in the wild, actually. Nature seems so perfect to me. Everything is nice, except the things that aren't." Jacob giggled as he spoke. He must sound insane. And he had inadvertently told Caspian he grew up away from society. That was another conversation entirely. "I have uhm... I have a very bad problem with dirty environments."

[Astrolinium]

Caspian made a note to clean his room before Jacob ever had a chance to see it. He said, "Umm, I'm not quite so persnickety, myself, though I am capable of keeping a space clean. I just sort of... don't mind it one way or the other."

He shrugged and said, "You grew up in the wild, though? That must have been a shock coming into society."

[Nude East Ireland]

"MOTHERFUCKERS!" Crowley swore, teleporting the Elfen High group out before considering saving the technology. The group (now dropped off next to Daisuke, Moriarity and Savatar) came first, the technology later. But it was far too late when he teleported back to Dover- the city was ruins.

Eraldo sighed.

"Well, shit," he mumbled. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a small object that resembled a cell-phone. He entered a code into the object, and suddenly teleported away. He'd be back, but now he had things to do.

[Condunum]

"Well... From birth until... Two weeks after my 7th birthday, I lived with my family. Then I was picked up by Master, and we lived in the wild, save for a few trips into town.. Speaking of, I never actually learned his real name..."

Jacob suddenly realized that him talking about his master the way he does must make him sound like a pedophile. He shook his head, and quickly added, "It's not the way it sounds... He was a nice man who was also skilled in Alchemy. He took me into his care so he could teach me how to use Alchemy without killing people in freak accidents."

[Astrolinium]

Caspian frowned slightly, but nodded. He said, "Alchemy... that's like what you did with that thing you gave me that you turned into a figurine, and like what you did on the train when you made that sword, isn't it?"

It was a good thing that Caspian had had several months to adjust to the idea of magic before coming to Elfen High, or he would have had significant trouble believing Jacob.

[Condunum]

Caspian frowned slightly, but nodded. He said, "Alchemy... that's like what you did with that thing you gave me that you turned into a figurine, and like what you did on the train when you made that sword, isn't it?"

It was a good thing that Caspian had had several months to adjust to the idea of magic before coming to Elfen High, or he would have had significant trouble believing Jacob.

"Yes, that's exactly what it's like! Only I can do it with really big things, too. I can rip off the side of a skyscraper, given enough time and the right resources. Although, the biggest things I can reshape are the size of double-decker busses," He produced a slightly glowing piece of chalk from his pants, "this is what Alchemists call their Author's Note. It's an enchanted piece of chalk, really. But with this, I can form an alchemist circle, and do what I want with the inside of the circle, depending on how I arrange symbols and such."

[Astrolinium]

Caspian mouthed 'wow'. He said, "That's incredible. All I've ever done is show up in the future, and I'm not even sure that wasn't a one time trick. So I'm not really magic at all."

He laughed. "Really, rip the side of a skyscraper? You aren't joking, you can really do that?"

[Condunum]

"Well, theoretically... Yeah... The most I've ever done is cause a really, really big landslide down the side of a mountain in the Rockies," Jacob said with a slight chuckle. He conveniently left out the fact that the landslide crushed an entire herd of cattle who were, for whatever reason, at the base of the mountain.

[Astrolinium]

Caspian's eyes went wide. "Really? Wow, that's amazing!"

He grinned excitedly and looked into Jacob's eyes. "You're pretty amazing," he said softly. He squeezed the other boy's hand.

[Condunum]

Jacob looked back into Caspian's eyes, and blushed brightly at his words. In his head, he was freaking out because Caspian actually liked him back, but he didn't want to scare him off, so he just looked down and smiled, uttering only a "Thanks," to him.

They reached the bathroom at this point, and Jacob stopped at the door, "Well, you go ahead and clean yourself off in there... I won't follow you in, someone might get ideas about what we're doing, heh."

[Astrolinium]

Caspian laughed and went into the bathroom, where he stared at himself in the mirror. Quietly, he whispered, "What the fuck are you doing? What would Donaldson and Richards and Davies say if they could see that?"

He shook his head and continued, "Probably Richards and Davies are dead, and I guess if Donaldson isn't he's living in this world just like me, if a bit older."

He sighed and turned on the cold water, splashing it onto his face. He watched it come from the faucet, felt drops running down his cheeks, and then he put his hands to his temples, rubbing them slowly. It felt right while he was in the heat of it, but as soon as he stepped back, away from all the feelings, hot shame surged up underneath his skin.

Caspian punched at the wall, which hurt a lot. "Fuck," he said, grabbing his fist with the other hand, holding it. Fortunately, he wasn't one of the world's great punchers, so he hadn't broken anything and he wasn't bleeding. Still, it hurt like a motherfucker.

After a moment to let the pain subside to a dull throb, Caspian dipped his head under the faucet, taking in a big mouthful of the water and getting his face wetter still in the process. He pulled away and threw his head back, gargling, before spitting it out into the sink. Then he repeated the process, swallowing this time. His mouth felt much cleaner.

As he walked out, he grabbed a paper towel and dried his face, throwing it away as he went out the door to rejoin Jacob.

[Condunum]

Jacob, oblivious to the concerns Caspian had flowing through his mind at the moment, was simply waiting for Caspian as he was washing himself up. In the time he was in there, the only thing Jacob could think of was his mother. Again.

I thought I was over this, he thought to himself, I thought I got past this part of my life. He suppressed the thoughts anyway, because he just didn't want to deal with it again. He spent enough time grieving and hating himself for what he'd done. It didn't help that his mother died hating him.

When Caspian came out of the bathroom, Jacob looked up and gave him a warm smile. "Hey sweety. When do you want to go out for dinner?"

[Astrolinium]

Caspian grinned as Jacob smiled at him, pushing all the negative thoughts away. He frowned, though, at the question, eyes looking upward and vaguely to the left. His left. He hmmed and asked, "What time is it now?"

[Nationstatelandsville]

Eric shouted. "Parnell!"

Parnell shouted back. "Eric!"

Their voices strained as they struggled to keep above the boiling waters. They clung to one another with the tightness of a death grip - and it very well might have been about to be a death grip.

Suddenly, Eric had a better idea. Which was, really, not terribly hard - most ideas were better than 'let's boil away the river that we're currently in'. In fairness to Eric, this was something of a stressful situation. But he thought he had a solution - one very true to form to his character. He shouted, "Parnell, do you still know all the songs from Mary Poppins by heart!?"

Parnell nodded, trembling. "Of course!"

Eric said, "If this doesn't work, we're probably screwed, but it's the best thing I can think of! Try to think light thoughts!"

Suddenly, Eric began to sing. He sang loud and clear, thinking hard of the scene from Mary Poppins in which laughter causes people to literally rise up from the ground. He sang, "I love to laugh! Loud and long and clear! I love to laugh! It's getting worse every year! The more I laugh, the more I fill with glee! And the more the glee, the more I'm a merrier me!"

Beseechingly, he looked at Parnell, who joined in. His voice was not as strong as Eric's, but it joined with Eric's in a way that made them both much stronger. Really, they were something between singing and shouting, desperately trying to get this bit of magic to work.

"We love to laugh! Loud and long and clear!
We love to laugh, so everybody can hear!
The more you laugh, the more you fill with glee!
The more the glee, the more we're a merrier we!"

They started to float upwards, but it wasn't so simple.

The water bulged up with them, the very fabric of the Fields sticking to their boots like tar, stretching out but before throwing back into the ground with force enough to rattle their bones.

What, think no one ever thought of that before? The Fields were a Venus flytrap. Once you land, you'll never escape. Few know that they're actually a massive organism all to itself, feasting on memories and using the souls of its prey as extensions of itself. It was inescapable.

Unless you receive a nigh literal deus ex machina, that is.

Which is to say that three soldiers, clad in all black, fell from a helicopter with an oomph. They raised their guns at the spirits and fired, their bullets glowing blue as they shredded their spirits into nothing. One soldier rushed up to the trio and rann over them with a brilliant red light that left them sunburned, even through the armor.

A ladder into the helicopter tumbled before them.

"Scalam ascendete!" the soldier demanded.

D blinked, "Sorry, I don't speak pretentious asshole."

"JUST GET ON THE FUCKING LADDER!" the soldier snapped in accented English.

"Thanks, bud," D replied, grabbing onto it and climbing.

[Condunum]

Jacob looked at his wrist, which had no watch on it, "Well, according to this, I have no freaking idea."

He popped open the door to a random room, and looked inside for a clock. Sure enough, there was one, and it said 5 p.m., because I don't give a shit for 24-hour time.

"Well, it's 5 in the afternoon now. Shall we go?"

[Astrolinium]

Fortunately, Parnell had majored in Classical Studies. So he shouted back, "Quis estis? Quare nos iuvatis?" as he grabbed onto the ladder and began to scramble upward, followed closely by Eric.

Jacob looked at his wrist, which had no watch on it, "Well, according to this, I have no freaking idea."

He popped open the door to a random room, and looked inside for a clock. Sure enough, there was one, and it said 5 p.m., because I don't give a shit for 24-hour time.

"Well, it's 5 in the afternoon now. Shall we go?"

Caspian laughed and said, "Yes, I think that'd be lovely." He smiled at Jacob and blushed.