Welcome to Gaia! ::

Aloysius heard the door open and for a terribly long moment, he worried that Melody had come back to twist in the knife some more. He was still sitting half crumpled with his back against the cabinets, the empty pack of cigarettes on the floor next to him filled with the crushed butts of the ones he had smoked. Pulling his knees up towards his chest he tried to hide his face, at least until he heard Liam’s voice. He called back out to them although it was more a croak than his usual tone of voice. “In here.”

He was so worn down that he didn’t really bother with smoothing down his hair or wiping the ash from his fingers. He just looked up towards where the other had called from with his reddened eyes, he knew he was a mess but Liam had seen him so much worse before. Things had been better but there were still times when the past came back and tried to shake him apart, he still hadn’t told Liam about a lot of the things that had happened because they hadn’t pressed him for it.

Reaching up, he held one of Liam’s hands to his cheek for a moment before speaking. The smoothing of his hair started to help ground him again. He just needed that additional reassurance that they were here before he could bring himself to talk about things. “Some information was leaked during an event and it was like blood in the water for Mel. Information about my past that she refused to let pass by without explanation.” Pausing for a moment, his eyes wandered to the small room he kept things hidden in. “It was about that man, the one I let die, and the things he did to me and many others.” His voice was barely a whisper as he eeked out the words. He was so very tired now, feeling beaten down by the questioning and by the past.

Another pause as he nodded to Liam and reached up to heave himself up from the floor, using the cabinet and counter to steady himself. He was a bit unsteady still as he got up and the unsteadiness carried over into his voice. “What I want, I cannot have. But tea if that is okay with you.” They both knew that all the alcohol in the house had been gone since that first morning that Liam had agreed to help him. There was a pained bit of a smile on his face for a moment as he made his way over to the small table where he had sat with Melody earlier in the evening. He sank into the chair, deflating again as he pressed his face into his hands. Feeling the sting of ashes and nicotine on his fingers, he decided against that position and used his palms to rub his cheeks. Anything to try and pull himself together a bit more to look like less of a mess.

It would be easier this time, maybe this would be the only time he could lay it all out to someone who hadn’t been there for the whole thing. Liam knew about half of his story, at least from his civilian life, and that was just as ugly in its own way. Liam had been nothing but understanding and supportive, which was more than he had felt he deserved. He shook for a moment as the flashes of the past played across his mind, always of the aftermath never of the instigating moment, followed by the feeling of guilt for not living up to the standards he was held to.

There was a sick taste in his mouth as he tried to focus on things, trying to keep himself from shaking to pieces. He had never been this bad before he stopped drinking, but then again he had been so weighed down by alcohol that everything had blended into a haze. He had never faced it, just shut it away, and it wouldn’t stay away anymore. So tonight, he would bear it all and hoped that that might help him move forward. He prayed that it would help, he was so very tired and didn’t know how much more he could bear of it. Even though he was scared of opening up just for someone else to die and disappear again.

Taking a deep shuddering breath, he exhaled and held the table’s edge. “I met him shortly after I joined the Negaverse, by reaching into his chest to practice grabbing starseeds. He was in plainclothes then and let it happen almost, before revealing himself as a General. It shocked Natron and me out of my training as I learned and heard their methods and view of things. I got pulled in by him and into things that were fast and harsh. I deluded myself thinking there was something more going on. I was told to be somewhere at a certain time as an escape route in case things went wrong, I was only a Captain… I was barely twenty. He turned into a monster and I got him out as the building went up in flames. He lashed out, screaming and wanting to die.” It was pouring out now as he kept his eyes shut, trying to wade through the flashes of the past. The usual formal and structured way he spoke was starting to fall to the side in an effort to get things out, to get the poison out.

“I failed, I couldn’t save him. I was scared of the thing I saw and I left him there, near the Rift where nobody from Order could get to him. He had clawed me with those talons, and tried to drag me down with him. I was lost for a while, I looked for ways to prevent it from happening to others and stayed away from people. I was scared to get close, in case I’d lose someone else. It happened again, years later. I got close to someone, they saw me after something had chased me through the graveyard. There was a ******** grave with my name on it and he helped me escape. He looked up to me and I got close and then… he too died. Others disappeared, purified maybe or died. My own general, Natron, disappeared and there was nobody left. That was it, I couldn’t not drink. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t do anything besides see their faces and think of how they were all gone and how I didn’t do anything to protect them.”

He was going so very quiet now as the tears started back up again. “I’m so scared to lose people again, Liam. Even Mel got burned by this war. It’s so hard… to go to work and see all those little faces full of joy to learn music and wonder if they too will be swept up into all this as collateral damage. I couldn’t do anything before when I was a captain but even now as a General, I couldn’t even do anything to protect my sister. I just had to help do damage control after it all. I don’t want to lose anyone else, Liam, I don’t want to lose anyone else.” He trailed off repeating that last bit quietly to himself as he let go of the table and sank down even more into his seat. “I’m sorry…” Repeating that softly as he sat there, he was worn out to the point he felt he might pass out. It took everything out of him to even get that truncated truth out.

[align=center]▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ [img]http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/ac64/Serenity_Howlett/Decorated images/colorsplashss2u2010.jpg[/img][img]http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/ac64/Serenity_Howlett/Decorated images/300px-Splash_2_color.jpg[/img][img]http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/ac64/Serenity_Howlett/Decorated images/Rain-1.jpg[/img][img]http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/ac64/Serenity_Howlett/Decorated images/citylights12-1.jpg[/img] ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬[/align] [size=9]▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬[/size] [color=violet]uoıʇɐɔol;;[/color] [color=indigo]hospital recovering[/color] [color=indigo]pooɯ;;[/color] [color=violet]indecisive[/color] [u][color=black][size=10]In a perfect world, This could never happen In a perfect world, You’d still be here And it makes no sense, I could just pick up the pieces But to you, This means nothing Nothing at all[/size][/color][/u] [size=9]▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬[/size] [imgleft]http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/ac64/Serenity_Howlett/5221.jpg[/imgleft][list][list][list][list][list][list][list][list][list][list][list][list][list][size=10]As the world seemed to spin so quickly while she had left New York a few weeks before, Chance found herself back in the city. As she looked from the ferry to the shores she sighed, wondering how bad things had gotten since she had left. She knew now that the villains had teamed up, and in response so did the heroes. A peace of mind seemed to come to her, as she realized that nothing seemed too bad at the moment. Her mind was elsewhere however, bringing up the thoughts of the one she was determined to take down herself. Over the past few weeks Chance had gone in search of knowledge to find more out about this Victor Moriarti character. In Ireland, she got the information she wanted to know, and was filled in on some extra information that would help New York. The man, who ran one of the mob scenes in New York, was also one of the villains who had done his best to stay under wraps and appear only when he needed something done. He was Drakon. As the sounds of the city spread across the ocean like the songs of sirens she knew what she had to do to get to this guy. He was always on a schedule, and from what she knew he was in a position that left him wide open. Victor knew she was coming for him, so while she was coming he was waiting. He was waiting in his cave, knowing that was where she was going. He would stop at nothing to survive, but this one was different. This Chance girl was a hero based on luck. That wasn’t going to stand in his way however, and for that reason he sat in his cave sharpening his claws as he waited for her. After landing on the piers of the harbor Chance took her backpack and began the long walk toward her apartment. Recently she had taken up a new outfit that adorned her nicely. It was nicely tucked into her backpack, along with her new weapon of choice. Now she favoured the use of swords over her old guns. They were handy at a distance, but she needed to be close to get the job done for Drakon. As she made her way into her apartment she could hear yelling in the apartment next to hers. She simply looked down the hall and shook her head. Chance entered her apartment and locked the eight lock door up again. She went into the bathroom and took a quick shower. She had been on the boat for almost two days and wanted a real shower. After getting completely clean, she hopped out and got went into her bedroom where her suitcase lay on the bed. She unzipped it and took the green leather thigh high split dress and the fishnet leggings and top. She got into the full fishnet first, and then put on the dress. It was roomy, and allowed for a lot of room. It was almost an off the shoulder dress, with only one shoulder and arm sleeve, while the other side was just barely a strap that hung over the shoulder. She slid on a green pair of leather boots and tied her hair up into a raggedy ponytail, leaving only her bangs down, blocking the upper half of her face. Over her hands she slid on a matching pair of green leather gloves and walked over to another bag that she had left on her sofa. She tilted her head as she opened the bag and quickly her hand disappeared into the bag. When it was removed, in the grasp of her hand was a sword made of bone. She held the black leather hilt of the sword and held it gingerly in her hand and began to swirl it around. When Chance brought it to a stop a light green glow went off of the sword. She had incorporated her luck into the sword in an attempt to make her chances of hitting a little better at the cost of some defensive measures. She smiled and took the sheath from the bag, putting the sword into the sheath and making her way to the window. Before leaping from the balcony to the next, she placed her mask onto her face. The only difference in her mask this time was the color, made to green. On the shoulder of her new dress was a signature C. With that, she was off for her destination. -Twenty Minutes Later- “I see you’ve decided to show up after all,” Victor said as he peered from the depths of his dark cave out toward the green coloured girl “It’s been a long time Chance.” Chance nodded her head. “Yea, Victor it has. I just wish we weren’t meeting again on these terms…” she said as she placed her hand on the hilt of her sword. Victor scoffed and looked back up at her, his yellow eyes glowing from the inside of the cave. “You know, the last time I saw you, we were nineteen. If you recall, you left me standing in the rain at the church with a bouquet of roses in my arms.” Victor said lowly as he stared at Chance. Chance sighed and nodded her head “You were nineteen, and I am sorry I did that Victor, not a day goes by when I don’t think about you and what I lost when I left you. I never should have left and if I could change time, I would. But I can’t, so this is what it has come down to. Me swallowing my pride, apologizing for the way I treated you, and for what it is that I am about to do.” With the end of her sentence Clover drew her sword from its sheath and readied herself for the fight. Victor sighed and stood up, walking out of the cave. A stray tear was rolling down his cheek. “I’m sorry it has to be this way.” He said as he took a lunge at Clover’s arm that held the sword, biting into it with a great amount of force. Clover screamed as she felt his teeth dig in and crush the bones in her forearm and lift her into the air, flinging her into a nearby tree snapping her back. He snapped back out of aggressiveness at the sound of her screaming and watched as she fell to the ground. Something in him made him stop. Clover rolled away, slowly getting closer to her sword and continued to weep as she gripped her arm. Slowly Victor looked around and began walking closer to Clover. He tilted his head as he grew closer and put his head down by hers, sniffing her hair. He smiled sweetly. “You still smell of coconuts. I’ve always loved the way you smell.” Victor got sat down beside her Indian style on the ground as she cried. “You know, you never where strong enough baby. It’s why you gave up on us. I never did want to give up on you though. But you didn’t exactly give me a chance to help you get over your fear of commitment…” Victor began, but Clover tuned him out as she focused her eyes on the sword once again as she continued to cry. “…you know, we should give us another shot.” Victor mentioned lastly as he lifted her frail and broken body from the ground and onto his lap. With a sudden movement, his head was on the ground, and in Clovers left arm she held the glowing green sword. The blade was completely covered in blood. Chance lay crying on Victors lap as she waited for her body to at least heal to the point where she could walk on her own. She looked toward his head and watched it slowly go from its dragon appearance back to his human appearance. Chance tried her best to stop crying and spoke one last time before she left the scene without another word. “Victor, I’ll always remember you. As both my hero, and one of the fiercest enemies I’ve ever had the privilege to fight. I’m sorry for doing all of this to you. But you made this last choice for yourself.” She said as she slowly sat up after her bones had healed. As she sat up, she coughed up a great deal of blood and collapsed back down onto the ground. As she looked around one last time before becoming unconscious, she saw a dark shadow, then nothing. As Clover lay unconscious in the forest, something had taken her uniform, replacing it with a blue tracksuit. Soon after the ordeal, Chance awoke in the hospital where she worked. She was completely hooked up to several machines. One appeared to be a machine used for dialysis patients. She rolled her eyes and simply lay down in the hospital bed as she waited till she felt up to leaving. For some reason, her healing was not working like it should have been, and her body was still in slight pain. That however was because of the Vicodin, Chance thought as she looked at the chart that was hanging beside her bed. She sighed as she lay in the bed and fulfilled one of her own wishes. Clover sat quietly in the bed for awhile, thinking of the kill she had just made. She felt nothing for Victor anymore and knew him only as Drakon. She wondered quietly how long it would take for word to get out that Drakon was dead. With luck, it wouldn’t take long and possibly some of the other heroes would make an attempt to meet with her. With nothing else to do, Chance picked up the remote for the tv and turned it on. To her surprise, the movie Big Fish would be starting in two minutes. She loved the movie, so with that she tuned into the channel it would be on. Just as the beginning credits started to come up, the doctor came into the room. “Hey doc, how is it…” Chance started but noticed he was slightly angry. “Don’t Chance. You know all too well that I can’t get any more involved. I’m taking enough chances right now just by not reporting you to the authorities.” Dr. Lee said as he looked over the chart and then back to Chance. She shrugged and stayed quiet until Dr. Lee finally broke the silence “So, who was it this time?” Chance looked over at him and shrugged “Aw, you know, just Drakon.” Dr. Lee looked at her and shook his head. “Well, that would explain why your healing isn’t going as fast as it usually would. Dragons are magic, you are magic, thus more damage was caused and being a magical attack it is not affected as greatly by your magic. Trust me on this one I’ve had my son go over those dragon legends for me a fair deal. You’d be surprised by how many of the legends are real.” He said as he began putting slight pressure on her legs checking where the bones had been broken. Chance rolled her eyes “You know, I’m surprised you haven’t made me do any wishes for you after helping me out like this so often.” Dr. Lee looked at her and shook his head. “I am a man of medicine, I took an oath and I need to follow it. Wish granting was not in the deal. That, is the nurses department.” He said with a wink. Chance smiled sweetly toward Lee. “So how long till I can get out of here?” she asked with a faint smile. Lee laughed “I’m keeping you hear for the night, then tomorrow you’re free to go.” Dr. Lee gave Chance another dose of Vicodin and was off. Chance enjoyed the medication and went to watching Big Fish again. Her mind was free of thought, and her body seemed to be floating on a cloud. ((OOC= well it isn’t brilliant, but it gets Chance back into the scene. Victor is no more, and now we wait. Free for dialogue between anyone right now, might give Chance some more info into the superheroes decision on joining together. She still hasn’t joined into it yet so we’ll see what happens from here.))[/size][/list][/list][/list][/list][/list][/list][/list][/list][/list][/list][/list][/list][/list] [align=center]▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ [size=11] -I remember when getting high meant swinging at the play grounds. The worst thing you could get from a boy was cooties. Race issues were who could run the fastest. The only thing you smoked was the tires on your bike. Life was so simple and free, but the thing I remember the most was wanting to grow up.- [/size] ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬[/align][/quote]

It felt like a gut punch at first hearing that people would miss him, it felt wrong but he made himself listen. He didn’t think he needed to ask if Liam would miss him as the other pulled his chair closer and squeezed his hand. It was so reassuring and he nodded as the next blow came. It felt almost… refreshing but extremely revealing in a way, to be seen and drawn attention to. “I.. yes.. the me behind what everyone else sees, behind the calm and collected agent.” It took him a moment as he looked at Liam trying to read his face for deception or something else. Scooting a bit closer, so he had his side pressed to the other for support, he leaned his head against them so he wouldn’t have to speak up as much. “Even when you first met me, those years ago, I still had that act I played.” It felt.. almost taboo to call attention to it, just as his family would say.

Everything he said made logical sense, the dark mirror court kept their heads down and he personally knew at least two of the royalty there and had seen the place they had made for themselves. Even if that place was a bit unpredictable, it still seemed a lot safer than the Rift was. As they continued reassuring and saying things that made sense, that he even knew made sense, he started to pull himself together more. He was still so very weary but he no longer felt his heart trying to crack its way through his ribs or his body trying to shake itself to pieces. He knew that things had to change even if the dead couldn’t absolve him.

By the time Liam took a breath to steady themselves, Aloysius noticed that something seemed different almost apprehensive in a way maybe? But nothing could have prepared him for what happened next. There was a lot to take in because when Liam had said he was an orphan Aloysius thought that meant that their parents were deceased. He was a bit confused about how his family name would be involved in anything for a moment but his attention was quickly focused on the reassurance to trust them and that they weren’t going to leave. It felt like a salve on his heart, on his soul, after this terrible night. He felt so very lucky that time and time again Liam accepted him. He just wanted to melt into their arms at that, where he felt whole and unbroken for a bit so he could heal the cracks. To be allowed to rely on someone, to be allowed to need help, it was all something he never was allowed to hear. Even Benitoite had swept the fraying edges away and told him to keep up the facade of strength. Liam saw him, for how he truly was and didn’t shy away from it. “Thank you.” He mumbled it as an interjection before Liam continued on.

It felt a bit foreign hearing about how Melody, who had just earlier this evening, had been twisting in the knife to get answers, had been helping Liam with an issue out of the kindness of her heart. But as they continued, he felt happy at the prospect that Liam had a living parent who may actually be coming around. There was so much that had happened behind his back that he would ask about later when things were a bit different. Family… that was something that he had remembered fondly when it came to his grandfather but everyone else had been circling like vultures. It sounded a lot like what Liam had dealt with partially with the family that abandoned him, even if he didn’t know all the details yet. Were they a family? He felt so estranged from Melody still but… he wanted that, wanted to be close to people and not hold them at arm’s length.

For a long moment, he stayed silent after Liam finished what they were saying, the cogs rotating in his head in an orderly fashion again. Working through the thoughts that were spat out at a more manageable pace, he nodded against Liam. “If you are with me, I.. think..” He was hesitant at first but then he reassured himself before continuing. ”No, I know that things will be better.” Even if Liam had spoken about how everyone had to look after themselves at first, the way he had focused on family and on how they would handle things together. It felt more reassuring to have someone there alongside him, helping him stand against the tide of the past. It would be better, he would be better one day. Never the same as before everything had happened but better. As he leaned against them even more from how exhausted he had been, he smiled a bit to himself. Deep down he knew one small fact that made him almost laugh because the thought scared him if he didn’t laugh at it. If someone took Liam, his world, away from him, there wouldn’t be anything left to fix or hold him back from burning the rest of the world down around him. So he shook the thought away again and focused on Liam.

“If we are family, does this mean that you might marry me one day? After I meet your father of course.” It had come out in a short blurt, half as a joke and half because his emotions were still so raw. Barely a whisper at this point regardless as some color finally came across his face. He buried his face into the other’s shoulder in embarrassment at how much was just slipping out. It was nice in a way though, being so run down that things poured out even if he knew that there would be hell to pay when he finally passed out. He wanted to say the words he always thought when he saw Liam but they caught in his throat for a moment before he willed them out. Again a whisper and probably out of place in the current moment but as he had Liam had successfully wrangled him back towards normal he felt it even stronger. “I love you, you know that right?” Even if love meant pain to him at times he could never get the words out quite that directly.

Closing his eyes as Liam ran their hand through his hair, he smiled a bit. It felt good, he felt lighter now that he’d let it all come spilling out. What broke through all the walls now was how Liam saw him, knew him for him, and still loved him and felt that he deserved it. He felt better than he had in a very long time even if he was covered in ash and exhausted. Riding that feeling, he kissed the other’s cheek softly. “I was very full of myself back then, quite the spotlight stealer on stage. But, I think I like this, being able to be me, the true me, with you. We will figure it out, and I think that your father would want to see someone so kind as you are. You deserve good things too Liam.”

Shuffling slightly, he wrapped an arm around Liam to hold him close. “I think I will find a middle ground one day, where I can stand between both sides of myself. I want to be better, for us. But first,” he joked, “I think we both need a shower.” Pulling the other up as he stood, he took another look at the little room where he hid when things got bad. “I also think… I need to clean that room up and throw out that cot one day. Maybe make it a study.” He couldn’t just hide away when things got bad anymore, Liam had seen him and he didn’t want to keep shutting himself away. But he also needed to keep those books hidden somehow, knowledge was dangerous and he knew that keeping all those years of secrets and notes here was risky.

He was leading now, pulling the other along carefully and firmly as he started up the stairs. He wanted to wash all this ash off as well as the events of the night. There were other things he wanted to do but he was so worn out, maybe in the morning. If the shower gave him enough of a reprieve from it all, maybe he might try some of those things he’d wanted to do.