closed starter for shang qinghua!! ( @irresistiibles )
the irritation that he'd felt the night before hasn't faded as he heads downstairs, already tensed and waiting for another argument even when the two of them had very solidly agreed to stay away from each other as much as possible. not that that really felt like a solution, considering he still had no answers as to what the hell was going on or who any of these people actually are. the house feels eerily quiet, though he can't place why it's so unsettling to hear no noise coming from the other man's room or office, even so early, when peace and quiet is all he'd wanted for weeks. eventually, he spots a sheet of paper sitting on the table, only a few words scrawled over it, and though they shouldn't, they tie a knot in his stomach as he drops it back to the table. "qinghua." mobei-jun calls, easily loud enough to be heard from anywhere in the house, but there's no reply, and he's already moving back up the stairs, opening the door to qinghua's bedroom a bit more quickly than he'd ever admit, only to find all of his things cleared out. he'd left? after all that, he'd left?
he'd left.
it hits him then, like a ton of bricks, why everything has been so odd the last few weeks. he was going to throttle sha hualing for playing dress up with his corpse. his corpse, because he had died, and lost his memories as a result. and... fuck, what a mess he'd ended up in, he'd once again managed to fuck things up with his human. and now he was gone. again. and mobei-jun had no idea where he was. again. he's trying not to panic, but considering what had happened the last time he'd vanished... it's not going well. there were plenty of texts and calls to qinghua's phone, attempting to explain, as well as to luo binghe, sha hualing, and shen qingqiu, though with the early hour, it's some time before he gets a response, shen qingqiu confirming that qinghua is with him and the emperor. before the other even hangs up, he's stepping through the shadows into the spare room in the emperor's home. he can relax just a bit as he confirms the other is unhurt, speaking up after a moment. "qinghua."
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basic information:
name: anais klein (neé voland)
age: 33
birthday: june 21st
blood type: A
magic type: skin
current location: spade kingdom
occupation: healer (pre-zogratis), royal scientist (post-zogratis), spade resistance
background:
anais had the reputation as a child of the sibling that was 'most like' masha, her mother. she's a calculated, clever, and pragmatic woman, but unlike her mother, anais is less likely to sacrifice herself for the benefit of others. her interest has always been science, the functions and forms of a human body. masha scolded her a few times for ruining the meat by dissecting whatever she could get her hands on, but the warning never stuck. when her siblings left to seek their fortune or find ciel, anais followed, and joined the mage defense force's healing division. there, she used her skin magic and knowledge of anatomy to develop new healing techniques with her fellows - even if she couldn't do most the healing, she could help, but it didn't satisfy her.
she met fedir klein while repairing some burns from a diamond soldier, and he piqued her interest due to his inability to feel pain at all. he was a medical mystery, and the two began to date. anais was able to continue her work with help from fedir and his money - he was a spade nobleman, and his money gave her access to better studies. anais managed to get education after she and fedir were married, but didn't complete it due to the fall of house grinberryall. fedir and anais met up with her siblings and the rest of the resistance.
during the qliploth advent ritual, anais helped healers with the clover attacking force, and then later, poked around among the wreckage to find corpses. it's a habit. after ciel and artemy ascended the throne, anais was able to complete her education and become one of spade's royal scientists. she is. better than morris.
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Sequel to A Dangerous Thing
Trigger Warnings: death mention, corpse mention, spirits, blood, survival guilt and post trauma mention
The young lancer could only stare up toward the cliffside at Carlisle’s head turned toward his group. She is too shocked to scream. The sharp winds were already slicing at her leather armor and the skin on her exposed face. If Artemis wanted to survive, she knew that she needed to act quick within the next few seconds and so she did; with a flick of her wrist, a Corridor to Darkness opens underneath her. She falls in and the door closes.
The next moments felt agonizingly slow. Artemis would have betted that she had been falling for at least half a bell, perhaps more than one. She closes her eyes and breathes for one long minute that feels like an eternity. When the lancer reopens her eyes again, she twists her body around to flick her wrist one more and opens another Corridor.
Just to fall face first into the snow below.
Groaning, she manages to flop herself so that she could see the cliffsides and skies above and sit up slowly. Artemis shakes the snow off her head and quietly observes her surroundings.
Am I on another world? Did I make it to Hope Village? She wonders with a wince as she looks down at her armor and inspecting the severe damage it took, Ow, least I landed okay. I don’t quite recall my Star having a canyon and I don’t see a way up either…
Grabbing her lance, Artemis stands up unsteadily and slowly staggers towards the only opening ahead of her in the west. Only a few moments later, she trips over the obstacle buried in the snow and falls face first once again. She screams into the snow in frustration.
Standing up once more, the young lancer wipes the ice from her face then roughly kicks the obstacle only to wince and grits her teeth as a sharp pain shoots up her own leg. Her own curiosity getting the better of her; she kneels down to wipe the snow off and finds an armored corpse underneath.
The lancer removes the corpse’s helmet to find an Elezen’s face underneath. She pauses to inspect their armor then her own and frowns, shakes her head. Other than their limbs being twisted in the wrong direction like a fragile doll dropped from a height, their armor is in much better shape than her own and they appear to be of similar height to her. She concludes combination of the cold and the injuries must have killed them.
Forgive me, you have no need of it now that you are dead and I won’t survive another blow with mine as is. Artemis whispers to herself. She trades her armor for theirs and lastly, puts their helmet on. The gloves seem to fit loosely on her own hands. She notes how sleek and heavy it is compared to the leather, almost like a dragon’s scales.
A glint catches her eye and she inspects the area around them once again, finding a sapphire blue stone fitting into the palm of her hand. Her brows furrow as it faintly shines with an otherworldly glow and her fingers trace over the draconic symbol etched into it. Artemis puts the stone into a pouch just to find two worn envelopes already occupying the space; the ink on the addressees having begun to fade.
These are Eorzean letters… Am I still in Eorzea? She wonders as she examines the handwriting on the envelopes, recognizing the letters, I’ll make sure that these reach home…It’s the least I could do.
Hoping to find a way up, Artemis staggers west. With each heavy step, she could hear intelligible whispers in the cold winds when no one else should be around. From the corner of her eye, the lancer thought she had seen someone, or perhaps something, but to find no one there when she turns her head in that direction. A trick of the wind?
The canyon grows darker the further she delved and Selena grips her lance tight.
“Selena.”
Pivoting on her right foot, she swiftly turns around to point the tip of her lance at a young girl’s throat staring up at her. She appeared of no more than eight summers yet the pallid skin of face and body are covered in a monster’s claw marks, no longer bleeding, more akin to rotting, and bone peeking through the wounds.
The phantom girl blinks with silver eyes, clouded by death. A trait shared by the young lancer in front of her and their mother.
“Solaria...?”
Artemis finds herself having trouble to breath, feeling like suffocating, and all color draining from her face.
“...What reason do you have left to fight for, Selena...?” asks the phantom sister as she takes a step toward her. Selena steps back. Her grip on her lance shakes.
“Everyone’s dead. Except for you. You survived against all odds.” Hints of anger, envy in the phantom’s voice begin to grow from the smallest of embers.
“Leaping from Star to Star, new world from new world. Having adventures while the rest of us rot on our own Star’s corpse.” She steps forward and Selena steps back, “Searching for a world already dead. How stupid are you? It took you FOREVER to realize we’re all gone.”
Multiple pairs of golden eyes began to glow in the dark surrounding them. The lancer whips her head and her lance around rapidly. She doesn’t get a chance to respond.
“Why are YOU alive? Why are YOU fighting to be alive?” The phantom sister screams at Selena, clouded silver eyes now shining a bright gold, “YOU PROMISED THAT WE’D LEAVE TOGETHER! THAT WE’D HAVE ADVENTURES TOGETHER!”
Selena covers her ears, but they are still ringing and her heart is beating loud and rapidly.
The phantom girl’s body twists, bones breaking, flesh reinventing itself from the younger sister to a much larger shadow with long claws and antennae-like horns. It disappears, hiding in the darkness, in front of her eyes.
A moment later, Selena finds herself slammed face-first into the snow from behind, landing on her lance, breaking it into two pieces in each hand. Her back hurts, claw marks scarring the stolen armor. With fear in her eyes, she kicks the shadow off, tosses away the broken weapon, and scrambles to get up.
The darkness becomes a horde on the chase, with the shadow that used to be her sister leading them.
She runs east, back to the beginning where she’d become trapped once more by the canyon’s walls. Selena swiftly turns around and unconsciously flicks her wrist, the Heartsickness keyblade faithfully returning to her hand. Feeling the keyblade’s hilt twist beneath her grip, the keybearer looks down to find that the weapon has transformed into a lance resembling its previous form.
“I could work with this...” Selena whispers to herself and adjusts her position, pointing the key-lance at the shadow horde. She charges then starts with a huge leap, silver flames enveloping her and her weapon. The little blue stone shining inside her pouch. She performs a dragonfire dive, taking out a noticeable number of shadows.
Taking out shadow after shadow, the keybearer has found her song, her rotation, as a lancer, perhaps even something more. It does not take long for them to regroup, becoming a monstrous tornado reaching above the canyon walls.
Her key-lance transforms back to the keyblade and she raises it up high, casting Dark Blizzaza upon the horde to freeze it in its place. Hearing the ice crack, she stares up anxiously, unsure how to finish them off before they break through the ice.
“Take a breath, Ar-tee-mas.”
The environment surround her melts into an unfamiliar-yet-familiar setting; an arena set under a scarlet sky and red Star staring down on her. Glancing down, Selena takes a startled step back as she finds herself knee deep in blood. Screens framed by fragile gold hold shifting images of another lifetime from six to seven summers past.
She fails to notice the bleeding corpses sitting on the arena stands, skinless and staring with empty eyes.
A seemingly harmless elderly man standing in front of her with a staff in hand. She finds herself scared and trembling at the sight of him.
“Don’t look at me like so, girl. According to your memory, I’m very much gone. Left for dead on a dying world.” He chides her with a sinister chuckle, “You need my memory for a spell you’ve forgotten and we don’t have much time so listen well.”
“Raise your blade high. Do you feel that current?”
Closing her eyes, Selena raises her keyblade high, feeling an electrical energy flowing through her blood. Dark clouds begin to form and rumble above her.
“Remember to breath. In...Out. Good.”
She could feel her blood screaming and heart thundering. Taking a breath, Selena briefly opens her eyes, silver glowing bright with an aetheric glow.
“Now...Cast!”
“Thundaza!” The keybearer screams, as the vision is shattered when the singular lightning strike snakes down to contact with the frozen shadow horde tornado. The force of the spell knocks her back. Her head hurts, ringing a shrill sound.
“Ow...” She groans, sitting up and catches her breath. A quick scan over the area tells her that she did it; the shadows are gone. Her keyblade had stuck the ground several feet away from her right hand.
Believing to be hearing voices from nearby, the panicking Selena straightens up and scrambles to stand up, not quite regaining her balance. With shaking hands, she swiftly dismisses her keyblade and struggles to open a Corridor of Darkness.
When the Corridor opens in front of her, the keybearer quickly steps in. The Corridor closes just before the bewildered group of Temple Knights arrive to find the scorched aftermath of the battle.
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