Mizuno Ami☿Mercury (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
waterfell) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
onepassingnight2013-03-10 12:33 pm
waterfell) wrote in onepassingnight2013-03-10 12:33 pm
Entry tags:
Adventure Classic: Dungeon Crawling
From her vantage point, the entire countryside opened up before the priestess Mercury. Mountainous terrain spread from there to the horizon, dotted by caves and carpeted with forest. The broad vista took in a pristine landscape.
The beauty of the scene was marred only by the keening and noising of what might be animals, They sounded thick, and primal, and not as distant as a traveler might have preferred. Mercury faced in the direction of the noise anyway, noting it carefully, before she turned to return to her camp. More distant still, too distant to be seen, was her destination.
There was a long way to go yet, and there were many obstacles between her and her goal. Yet she had taken on this journey and quest willingly. The sign that her plans were favored were her healing powers. She was confident, in this bright morning, of her path.
The beauty of the scene was marred only by the keening and noising of what might be animals, They sounded thick, and primal, and not as distant as a traveler might have preferred. Mercury faced in the direction of the noise anyway, noting it carefully, before she turned to return to her camp. More distant still, too distant to be seen, was her destination.
There was a long way to go yet, and there were many obstacles between her and her goal. Yet she had taken on this journey and quest willingly. The sign that her plans were favored were her healing powers. She was confident, in this bright morning, of her path.
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Take, not kill. She wanted him held while she finished deciding her next move. She would leave him alive; she had a use for him now. At the very least, he knew things they would need in order to find Cortana, if any of his story was true - and his betrayal, at least, was certainly true.
The rest couldn't be. Metalia existed, yes, but Metalia was simply the source and fount of their power. That Metalia needed energy was, of course, true; but to find it this way? (Yet, a cautious inner voice prompts her, a mage like Cortana, and a priestess, would certainly provide great quantities.)
She thought quickly.
"Undo what you've done," she decided. Her eyes flickered to John, who was the most interested in this, then back to Kanda. "Our first concern is this: Return the mage Cortana."
She has an idea about this already. "Go to them," she said. "Tell them you couldn't stay with us now that your intentions were revealed. However, you were able to find out our plans for freeing her." The rest was obvious: He would give them false information, driving them to exactly where she would be making her move. And at the proper time, he would help them, his traveling companions. (And at the proper time, a voice she shouldn't listen to reminded her, she would see for herself what the truth was about Metalia.)
Her orders to the knight were next. She did not bother keeping them secret; let Kanda know the consequences he faces. Perhaps fear would keep him loyal where so-called love did not. "From now on, if he makes one misstep," she told John as she deliberately shut her mind to any softness, "Kill him."
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And when Mercury tells him their first concern, he lowers his head. Even if she hadn't given the order, he would have come for her.
When Ami gives him the following orders, of killing Kanda the second he so much as hinted about betraying their group yet again, he slowly nods. He is only to let him go if Mercury orders him so. Committing unnecessary cruelty was unbecoming, fitting more of barbarians than of knights.
And yet, this threat hurt Cortana.
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"You won't be disappointed. After all, Metalia is planning on destroying the world. That wouldn't be good for anyone now would it?'
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"Your blasphemy is foul."
She squared her shoulders. This must be done. Mercury stepped around behind Kanda, and her dagger glinted as she drew it again. She nodded to John, a signal to hold their prisoner tightly indeed for what she was about to do to him. She was glad she was behind him; if he could have seen her eyes in that moment- They narrowed, and hardened.
"This will give your story credibility." Without further warning, crimson streaked his back as the dagger lashed it. The wounds were shallow enough not be dangerous, deep enough to plausible.
She had no idea if she'd done it as punishment for his remarks about Metalia, for the sake of her current plan, or because of the sudden driving need to hurt him, to show she could, to show that she wasn't hurt because she would deal the hurt instead and substitute vengeance for regret and pain.
Unbidden, she remembered the scrape of her fingernails against that same skin, a memory as hated now as it had been enjoyed then. She struck once more to strike it from her mind.
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And watches dispassionately the injury inflicted over the traitor.
It would not be mortal. At most, some thoracic muscles could have been damaged, but they would be enough to keep the guise high. Turning again to see Mercury, however, made him wonder if there was a lot more in her actions than a tactical need.
Only by her order would she release Kanda.
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"Now that's a different side of you I never thought I would see, priestess." He panted. Shit, his back was sore.
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"Before you are released," she shouldn't ask this, it shouldn't matter, it can change nothing and in a matter of minutes he will be riding either to betray her again or to clear himself but it can't be like before, "I want to know: Why did you betray us?"
She says 'us' when she really means 'me', but the cover is good enough to get her answer without complete exposing herself, she thinks.
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This was much more personal. His helm slightly moves in turn to see Ami, but he tightens his hold over Kanda as a warning.
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"Metalia found me. Years ago. The life of a rogue is simple: take odd job to eat and keep moving. When I met her, I shared the same vision, I wanted the world to burn. She promised me if I helped her that she would make it real, that's exactly what she wanted to do: consume the world in darkness and death."
He wasn't going to explain the why's behind his hatred of the world, that was none of their business. His gaze eventually moved back to the ground.
"It's taken Metalia a long time to get as much energy as she has now and she believes that the priestess will provide the last bit of energy to consume the world. You three were just a job for me. You weren't the first I deceived, the first I led to their deaths, and I thought this would be a job like the others.... but it's not. I don't want the world to burn anymore, the only way to stop her is by killing her."
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She had hated her enemies. She had turned quickly from love to hate; they were so close anyway, in her. But she'd never hated the world she lived in or wanted its end. She didn't even understand the depth of that anger, whatever she might claim and whatever she might do to try to prove what she called strength.
He had changed his mind about that, too, he claimed. It all sounded sincere. It even sounded plausible. But she'd been fooled once. She let the words hang in the air, she gave no indication of whether they were believed, but they were an answer. And if there was any sincerity in those words, he would soon prove it by his actions. She would be watching to see what he did. She wasn't fooling herself into believing he wouldn't have a chance of escape instead.
There might be no one else in the world she'd have given even that much opportunity to.
"Release him," she told John. They were losing valuable time - her own fault, and she inwardly berated herself for the indulgence. "Let him go."
"Rogue. We'll meet as planned." She didn't even speak his name, now. She barely looked at him, as if they were already finished with each other. Her expression was distant, cold.
As soon as he left, she would be making her plans with the knight. They would be prepared for the possibility of the rogue's next betrayal. And one way or another, they would regain Cortana and complete their goals. That was what she should think about now.
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... And turns to Ami with the order to release him. After a second, he obeys, almost pushing him, showing his back to tell him he is not afraid of him. If he is waiting to trap them, he will destroy everything in their path. That is the fate of his enemies.
As Ami and John walk together, the focus on Cortana continues to linger on his mind. The thought that she is in danger - and that freeing their prisoner could increase it.
"Why did you let him go?"
/COUGH COUGH NO THERE IS NO HUGE GAP HERE...
He'd go to Metalia, he'd give her the sob story Ami expected, and he would play his role perfectly. He only hoped the other two didn't screw up. Metalia wasn't exactly some normal woman, they had to be very careful.
I see no gap 8D /john yer up
It was him. Something in her just hadn't been able to seek the worst punishment after all, if it was to Kanda. And she knows that was ridiculous. It was not merciful, or kind; it was soft and foolish and dangerous.
"He knows more about what's coming next. He's the best information to still find the mage." She doesn't call Cortana by name. "And..."
If John thinks an admission of her feelings will come next, he's about to be disappointed. "I just want to see what he'll do."
It's not as simple as that, of course. She's watching to see what he betrayed - and stayed loyal to.
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"You just let a traitor go."
It's a warning. Traitors were the lowest of the low. Even knightly law was hardly merciful upon them. Someone that was willing to sell out their own side...