Our planet found peace through death

[drinkandforget]

The desert is hot, a dry heat begging for relief, at least a drink. The world is turned to sand and dust, broken only by the dim, hazy horizon. Dust even coats the objects carefully uncovered and laid out, almost as quickly as they're brushed off. Even this deep pit, dug too well to be natural, provides scant shelter.

Lethe's scarves and veils keep her from breathing dust, even if they result in the eerie impression of a shroud. She works carefully at one corner of the dig, where she's patiently unearthing a small object. When it's free, she meticulously brushes away the dust and dirt.

"Come closer," she invites, "And see something from a place that was lost."

(ooc: not quite evented, though bad luck may show as things go wrong at the dig. feel free to find artifacts not just from her world, but from the other character's world as well.)

Comments

[waterfell]

It's quickly apparent that despite her abilities, she's losing ground now that the fight is in this close, letting the Master Chief bring his size into play. Though she tries to maneuver herself into a better position, he gives no ground and she finds herself caught instead.

This time, the blow strikes the Mercury puppet in the shoulder, numbing her arm. A dark stain shows against the white body suit of the senshi uniform, and the wound bleeds freely down her arm.

[one_one_se7en]

The Spartan's arm whirls to lock on his opponent's able arm, set a foot to break her stance -- and direct a knife to the center of her chest.

The motions are cold, machine-like, and done against dozens of alien enemies, meant to cut through the windpipe and the heart. His entire body stays locked to stare at her and wait for reactions, too still as he waits. To see if the movement was enough to bring her down.

To see if Ami was in there. If she remained.

[waterfell]

Though she'd have said she was a reborn Mercury, she is so alien to Ami that she doesn't even use the name to plead with him; there are no tricks or appeals as a comrade. Ami would not have made any, either; but in her, it would have been from pride and doubt. Here, the idea is simply foreign.

The knife cuts her, and like any human body, hers starts to shut down. She can't get breath, the blood can't move through her. She makes a sickening gurgle as she tries for a breath, and she crumples.

As her motionless body sinks towards the ground, a shimmering crystal with a blue aura, a twin of the one taken from Lethe, rises into the air above it.

[one_one_se7en]

The Spartan stay still. He looks at the body of the senshi he had just killed, seeing no vital signs within his HUD. He had neutralized her. Right now, only a bloodied body remained... Of the friend whose life he had taken.

He feels sick. Knowing he had free her does little to calm him. His sight does not leave her.

It is then when he spots it. A crystal.

The Master Chief kneels, slowly venturing his fingers to reach out for the object... Feeling the original Mercury's presence within it, just as well as Lethe's in the other one. His helmet notes the radiation... And at first, he doesn't believe he could have ever found it as easily. The crystals remind him of the Forerunner Crystal his team found in CASTLE Base back at Reach.

Star seeds?

He bolts to his side when he overhears a whirring, hiding the crystals in the ammo slots of his armor. The machines reactivate. Then another. And another. Even more rise from the sands. The Master Chief shoots a pair bolts of light and plasma against the rising ones, before running towards the cryptum, while the mass of alien enemies follow him.

Holographic controls appear -- the same ones which he always knew somehow how they worked. He hears the creatures trying to cut their way into the sphere. He works around the controls, trying to find a way to escape. See what he could do against the horde.

After activating the main mechanism, a blue glow surrounds him. The last thing he sees is the same symbol.


John jerks himself awake. His HUD warns him of an accelerated heartbeat... but other than that, everything was in order.

He turns up to look at the window, and the massive city below him. For how long had he gone on traveling from world to world? It had been five years since he had seen his world. But now... Galaxia had taken his closest friend.

Something told him to keep the crystals. He only knew that Galaxia wanted them. If it meant there was a way to save Ami, he had to take it.

The Spartan walks downstairs, and seeks for the portals that may be open. He had to find her.