Jack Noir ♠ the Sanguinary Sentry (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
barkstabbark) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
mutantsgohome2011-12-27 04:38 am
barkstabbark) wrote in mutantsgohome2011-12-27 04:38 am
Entry tags:
Pyrocumulus
More green static-- yup, Jack sure likes leaving his ring on. And yes, he's still watching all of you. He just can't help it. The sleep-space-spying continues for several minutes before the actual dream begins.
Jack is flying, his broad black wings contrasting against the blue skies and clouds that surround the Skaian battlefield. His prototypings are back down to three: his dog features are missing, and instead he has a pair of long tentacles and a ridiculous jester's hat. The ground below is checkered-- like a chess board-- and dotted with specs of green trees as well as the black and white bodies of dersite and prospitian soldiers. For some reason, the fighting seems to have stopped. The assorted pawns are just standing there, staring up at the Slayer above them.
Jack flicks his wrist, red light suddenly bursting from the ring's three orbs and firing down to the battlefield below. The beams grow into thick lasers, wide enough to engulf a car, and pierce through the ground. The chessboard cracks like an egg and soon everything is covered in bright red flames. The pawns below scream, their bodies ripped apart and charred by his Red Miles, and soon ash and smoke fills the air. Jack just beats his wings harder. The smoke parts around him, carrying up the cries of pain and anguish from below. Rivers of blood begin to flow up out of the fissures, washing away the flames until all that's left are the broken and burnt bodies, and everything is covered in blood. The smoke clears, but the sky is already black with the soot and the red meteors of the Reckoning loom in the distance. Jack glides down, landing on a small outcropping. The bodies below are piled up in huge mounds. I guess you could say they're black and white and red all over.
The Slayer grins, surveying his work.
He looks up for a moment, watching the meteors as they come closer to their mark. When he looks back down, something's changed. The bodies aren't just black and white anymore, but mixed with all kinds of colours. Puzzled, he dives off the cliff and swoops over the scene.
Mixed in with the pawns are the bodies of people-- people from the facility, and most notably, the people he actually likes. His eyes widen against his will, and Jack lands between the piles (then hastily steps off Patchouli's head). Sure enough, stuffed between the hundreds of pawns are the mangled corpses of his friends, their bodies burnt and lacerated and a few of them missing vital parts. Not just facility people, either. Among the black masses he spots Droll and Dignitary as well, along with Hegemonic Brute's decapitated body. Jack stares. Fuck. This shouldn't be happening. Why were they here?!
But as he stares he begins to notice movement. They're not dead. They're still alive, if just barely. Jack finally snaps out of shock and dives into the nearest corpsemound, slicing apart the bodies and trying to pull out the nearest living person-- it's Dave, his arms shattered and his legs so badly mangled they fall apart when he's lifted out. His shades are broken and askew, and behind them are empty eye sockets, gouged messily and running with blood. Jack has him with both tentacles, trying to be gentle but his grip keeps tightening anyway.
"Fuck-- kid, talk to me, please just fucking say something--" Jack's voice is already showing his panic. He's trying to hide it but he can't, just like how he can't stop squeezing the kid's fucking body until it starts gushing blood. Dave wheezes, coughing painfully as more blood starts pouring from the sides of his mouth.
"Sh-should've known," Dave gasps, each tortured breath only bringing up more blood, "'S all you're good at, i-isn't it?"
"No no no, fuck, this wasn't supposed to happen!" His tentacles squeeze tighter. He can feel the Knight's ribs starting to snap under the pressure. "I didn't mean to, why the fuck would I want this?!"
"D-doesn't change anything... 's how you are, Noir." He chokes on another mouthful of blood, trying to swallow it down this time. His eyeless sockets are locked on Jack, still slowly oozing blood. It almost makes it look like he's crying. "I trusted you. I helped you. This is how you repay me?"
"Damnit, Dave, I'm--"
"You're not. Liar. You know you're not."
Dave's ribs finally snap under the pressure and his whole torso crumbles, his body cleaved in two by Jack's tentacles. The Ace fumbles, and Dave's upper half falls back onto the mound. His blood is everywhere. It's pooling around Jack's ankles, and after a moment he realizes it's not just Dave, the ocean of blood is steadily rising up again to wash everything away.
Jack hisses out another stream of swears, scrambling up the mountain of bodies, desperately hacking into it to try and save them-- someone-- anyone. But the blood is rising quickly and everyone is too far or too deep. He sees his Crew in another distant mound, still half-living and trying to dig themselves free as they're swept away by the tide. Ramona, her hair now stained a deep red, clings to a headless body as the blood rises over her, not even trying to escape her demise.
Jack throws open his wings, launching himself to the highest point he can find. All he can do is watch as everything around him is taken by the sea of red.
"Is it lonely on my throne, Jack?"
He stiffens, whirling around. Sure enough, there stands the Black Queen, her body covered in so many wounds and cracks she shouldn't be able to. But there she is, a sly smile on her face.
He can't speak. He wants to scream, to hiss and screech and howl until his throat is raw, but Jack finds himself unable to. He can't move, either. He just stands there, looking at her, his body limp as the blood rises to their feet and the sky lights up with the flames of hundreds of meteors.
"Well, what did you expect?"
She chuckles, taking a step forward on shattered ankles to put a cold hand on his cheek, smearing it with blood. Not that it mattered; his body was already caked with it. His prototypings are gone now, and the ring is resting in his open palm. Green light is flickering all around it, scorching a circular scar into his palm. The Queen rests her free hand over his, her broken fingers curling gently around it. She plucks the ring from his hand, then gently slips it onto his finger. Green light and flames erupt around him, transforming him back into his fully prototyped body. Without another word she walks around him, still smiling, and when he turns around she's already wading into the rising sea of blood, the tip of her crown disappearing under the waves.
Jack turns around again and the mountain of corpses is now a winding path, stretching off into the distance. The meteors in the sky are getting dangerously close, tinting everything a fiery red and filling the air with unbearable heat. Jack spreads his wings and flies up, gliding above the road of corpses. He's in a hurry now, and his body flashes with green energy and he jumps himself forward-- there are many corpse roads, converging on a high platform with a river of blood streaming into the sea. There's a figure down below, standing beside something blood-spattered and speckled with orange. Jack lands on the nearest path.
It's Dave, his back to Jack. The ground is black as oil and as soon as his feet touch it all of the blood erupts into bright green flames, reaching high above their heads. There's something in front of Dave-- a body? Whatever it is, it's lying on the ground in a pool of blood, buried in orange crow feathers. It's hard to tell who it is, but it almost looks like--
With a loud crash and the meteors finally begin to hit, smashing into the sea of burning blood and sending great waves of green and red over them. The surge hits the platform, flooding over the scene and washing them both away. It obscures the feed and turns into familiar green static.
The flashing scenes of the facility are far more precise this time, lingering long enough to get a good look at who he's spying on-- Jack is checking on everyone he knows, including the Midnight Crew (except Slick, fuck that guy), and Jade about three times. He lingers on Dave for a particularly long moment, then settles on an image of himself. Jack is passed out at his desk, half-buried under a toppled stack of citations. He has a snapped pen in his clenched fist. He's knocked over a bottle of ink, which is slowly making a tiny pool on the floor now. His wings are sparking with green light and quivering slightly. He looks anything but peaceful.
The video cuts into loud static one more time, then ends.
Jack is flying, his broad black wings contrasting against the blue skies and clouds that surround the Skaian battlefield. His prototypings are back down to three: his dog features are missing, and instead he has a pair of long tentacles and a ridiculous jester's hat. The ground below is checkered-- like a chess board-- and dotted with specs of green trees as well as the black and white bodies of dersite and prospitian soldiers. For some reason, the fighting seems to have stopped. The assorted pawns are just standing there, staring up at the Slayer above them.
Jack flicks his wrist, red light suddenly bursting from the ring's three orbs and firing down to the battlefield below. The beams grow into thick lasers, wide enough to engulf a car, and pierce through the ground. The chessboard cracks like an egg and soon everything is covered in bright red flames. The pawns below scream, their bodies ripped apart and charred by his Red Miles, and soon ash and smoke fills the air. Jack just beats his wings harder. The smoke parts around him, carrying up the cries of pain and anguish from below. Rivers of blood begin to flow up out of the fissures, washing away the flames until all that's left are the broken and burnt bodies, and everything is covered in blood. The smoke clears, but the sky is already black with the soot and the red meteors of the Reckoning loom in the distance. Jack glides down, landing on a small outcropping. The bodies below are piled up in huge mounds. I guess you could say they're black and white and red all over.
The Slayer grins, surveying his work.
He looks up for a moment, watching the meteors as they come closer to their mark. When he looks back down, something's changed. The bodies aren't just black and white anymore, but mixed with all kinds of colours. Puzzled, he dives off the cliff and swoops over the scene.
Mixed in with the pawns are the bodies of people-- people from the facility, and most notably, the people he actually likes. His eyes widen against his will, and Jack lands between the piles (then hastily steps off Patchouli's head). Sure enough, stuffed between the hundreds of pawns are the mangled corpses of his friends, their bodies burnt and lacerated and a few of them missing vital parts. Not just facility people, either. Among the black masses he spots Droll and Dignitary as well, along with Hegemonic Brute's decapitated body. Jack stares. Fuck. This shouldn't be happening. Why were they here?!
But as he stares he begins to notice movement. They're not dead. They're still alive, if just barely. Jack finally snaps out of shock and dives into the nearest corpsemound, slicing apart the bodies and trying to pull out the nearest living person-- it's Dave, his arms shattered and his legs so badly mangled they fall apart when he's lifted out. His shades are broken and askew, and behind them are empty eye sockets, gouged messily and running with blood. Jack has him with both tentacles, trying to be gentle but his grip keeps tightening anyway.
"Fuck-- kid, talk to me, please just fucking say something--" Jack's voice is already showing his panic. He's trying to hide it but he can't, just like how he can't stop squeezing the kid's fucking body until it starts gushing blood. Dave wheezes, coughing painfully as more blood starts pouring from the sides of his mouth.
"Sh-should've known," Dave gasps, each tortured breath only bringing up more blood, "'S all you're good at, i-isn't it?"
"No no no, fuck, this wasn't supposed to happen!" His tentacles squeeze tighter. He can feel the Knight's ribs starting to snap under the pressure. "I didn't mean to, why the fuck would I want this?!"
"D-doesn't change anything... 's how you are, Noir." He chokes on another mouthful of blood, trying to swallow it down this time. His eyeless sockets are locked on Jack, still slowly oozing blood. It almost makes it look like he's crying. "I trusted you. I helped you. This is how you repay me?"
"Damnit, Dave, I'm--"
"You're not. Liar. You know you're not."
Dave's ribs finally snap under the pressure and his whole torso crumbles, his body cleaved in two by Jack's tentacles. The Ace fumbles, and Dave's upper half falls back onto the mound. His blood is everywhere. It's pooling around Jack's ankles, and after a moment he realizes it's not just Dave, the ocean of blood is steadily rising up again to wash everything away.
Jack hisses out another stream of swears, scrambling up the mountain of bodies, desperately hacking into it to try and save them-- someone-- anyone. But the blood is rising quickly and everyone is too far or too deep. He sees his Crew in another distant mound, still half-living and trying to dig themselves free as they're swept away by the tide. Ramona, her hair now stained a deep red, clings to a headless body as the blood rises over her, not even trying to escape her demise.
Jack throws open his wings, launching himself to the highest point he can find. All he can do is watch as everything around him is taken by the sea of red.
"Is it lonely on my throne, Jack?"
He stiffens, whirling around. Sure enough, there stands the Black Queen, her body covered in so many wounds and cracks she shouldn't be able to. But there she is, a sly smile on her face.
He can't speak. He wants to scream, to hiss and screech and howl until his throat is raw, but Jack finds himself unable to. He can't move, either. He just stands there, looking at her, his body limp as the blood rises to their feet and the sky lights up with the flames of hundreds of meteors.
"Well, what did you expect?"
She chuckles, taking a step forward on shattered ankles to put a cold hand on his cheek, smearing it with blood. Not that it mattered; his body was already caked with it. His prototypings are gone now, and the ring is resting in his open palm. Green light is flickering all around it, scorching a circular scar into his palm. The Queen rests her free hand over his, her broken fingers curling gently around it. She plucks the ring from his hand, then gently slips it onto his finger. Green light and flames erupt around him, transforming him back into his fully prototyped body. Without another word she walks around him, still smiling, and when he turns around she's already wading into the rising sea of blood, the tip of her crown disappearing under the waves.
Jack turns around again and the mountain of corpses is now a winding path, stretching off into the distance. The meteors in the sky are getting dangerously close, tinting everything a fiery red and filling the air with unbearable heat. Jack spreads his wings and flies up, gliding above the road of corpses. He's in a hurry now, and his body flashes with green energy and he jumps himself forward-- there are many corpse roads, converging on a high platform with a river of blood streaming into the sea. There's a figure down below, standing beside something blood-spattered and speckled with orange. Jack lands on the nearest path.
It's Dave, his back to Jack. The ground is black as oil and as soon as his feet touch it all of the blood erupts into bright green flames, reaching high above their heads. There's something in front of Dave-- a body? Whatever it is, it's lying on the ground in a pool of blood, buried in orange crow feathers. It's hard to tell who it is, but it almost looks like--
With a loud crash and the meteors finally begin to hit, smashing into the sea of burning blood and sending great waves of green and red over them. The surge hits the platform, flooding over the scene and washing them both away. It obscures the feed and turns into familiar green static.
The flashing scenes of the facility are far more precise this time, lingering long enough to get a good look at who he's spying on-- Jack is checking on everyone he knows, including the Midnight Crew (except Slick, fuck that guy), and Jade about three times. He lingers on Dave for a particularly long moment, then settles on an image of himself. Jack is passed out at his desk, half-buried under a toppled stack of citations. He has a snapped pen in his clenched fist. He's knocked over a bottle of ink, which is slowly making a tiny pool on the floor now. His wings are sparking with green light and quivering slightly. He looks anything but peaceful.
The video cuts into loud static one more time, then ends.