Something Wicked This Way Comes

[oleaeuropaea]

Who: Vash the Stampede, Kiera, Passenger, Wolfwood, and Zahilya. Plus some others if they want
What: It's time for a homecoming. Too bad the greetings won't be so warm.
When: End of September
Where: Around the Grove
Warnings: Gore. Character Death. Possession. References to holy imagery.

[As September draws to a close, the woods seem eerily silent. It seems almost as if the birds have stopped singing. They hold their breath, fearful of a predator stalking amidst the woods. Through the brush, maybe you’ll see it — feathers that stick up like blades. Once bright white plumage has been tarnished with dirt, debris, and perhaps even blood.

But you’ll have only a second to see it. For just as soon as contact is made at the edge of the woods, the creature bursts out.

Vash the Stampede has returned to Aldric’s Grove.]

Comments

Sesa

[oleaeuropaea]

[Needless to say, Vash is under heavy observation for several days. Outside, the world continues one. Strange things begin to happen around town, but Vash hears only snippets. By some miracle, the curses at least seemingly avoid their cabin.

Eventually, though, Vash finds the time to sneak away. He’ll surely be scolded later, but he has to do the right thing. He has to apologize. The odds of Passenger being back yet are slim, yet he nevertheless checks outside the cafe. He doesn’t dare step inside, for fear of intruding on a space he no longer belongs to. Still, whether or not the employees of the cafe have kept up on its hours in Passenger’s absence, it’s clear that the proprietor is nowhere near.

If he’s noticed, Vash doesn’t seem to pick up on it. Instead, he turns away and begins to make back toward the cabin. Wolfwood would notice his absence before long, after all. Better to not continue making messes.

Too bad it’s a little too late for all of that!]

[sesa]

[Haha...unfortunately, Vash is going to be noticed, actually. Because where else would Sesa be right now, if not tending to his late-partner's pride-and-joy in his absence? He isn't much of a baker, nor does he know the first thing about properly attending to a cafe or serving people, but alongside the Grove residents under Elliot's employ, Sesa is trying. He'd much rather be laying in a ditch somewhere, instead of Elliot, but he is trying.

He isn't back yet. But the fact he comes around regardless is what coerces Sesa to leave the building just as Vash is trying to sneak away without being noticed. Vash may pick up on the sound of a gun's hammer being pulled back, even if it's a grenade launcher and not the type of pistol he's used to.

If he looks back, he'll see Sesa standing some distance from the building, his gun held up and pointed at Vash.]

Stop where you are.

You do not get to just walk away.

cw: suicidal ideation, vague self-harm

[oleaeuropaea]

[Vash doesn't need to be told to stop. He knows the sound of a gun being readied, and doesn't dare try to take another step. Though Vash believes anyone in the Grove had a right to aim their guns at him, he doesn't need to turn to know who this particular person is. This close to the Cafe, it can be only one person.

His hand lifts, revealing their partially befeathered appearance. He hasn't had much luck in removing them himself, though he still tries more out of habit than anything. He spreads his fingers wide, showing that there's nothing hidden.

But he doesn't turn.]

I don't. You're right, Sesa.

[Whatever Sesa wants to do, Vash will not fight. If it means a bullet to his head? Well, no one would ever claim that he didn't deserve it.]

[sesa]

[He wants to. Oh, does he want to. But it would be less of a bullet to his head and more just...blowing him up where he stood, period. It would be no less than what Elliot suffered, his body collapsing in on itself as he died, the Oripathy using his corpse as a new vector to spread infection.

He can already feel his fingers trembling on his gun's handle as he holds it tight, tight enough that it makes his knuckles ache. And when Sesa does finally speak again, his voice is laced with a growling sound that only Vouivre can make, his tail lashing behind him.]

Why him. Tell me.

[oleaeuropaea]

I -

[He bites his tongue. He can't imagine the answer would help Sesa. It probably was also just as likely to get Vash blown to pieces. But of course, that doesn't discourage him. Why would it, when he's always been self-destructive.]

I just. Saw him. I couldn't catch Kiera, so... I went for the next closest person. [His hands clench into fists. He wishes he didn't remember the logic. He wishes he hadn't felt that visceral, bloodthirsty part of his corruption.]

He was just... convenient.

[sesa]

So it mattered that little to you.

[Sesa hisses, taking a step forward that's loud enough to be heard as his boots crunch dead leaves underfoot.]

He mattered that little! He was convenient! He was...there!!

[He throws his shoulder in a way that causes the clip to rattle, and it's a damn miracle the launcher doesn't go off right then. But for all his claims at pacifism, Sesa knows this weapon better than his own hand. He could use it with his eyes closed, if he needed to.]

You murdered the one I love! And that is ALL you can say!?

cw: suicidal ideation

[oleaeuropaea]

[Finally, finally Vash turns. The grief is obvious in his eyes. He opens his mouth, ready to protest, but can't seem to find the words. If anything, there's a self-destructive desire there to goad him further, in the hopes that maybe he would be taken out.

It's why he doesn't flinch when he hears Sesa move. He waits to be blown to pieces, for pain to come with surrender. Instead, he remains intact. It only makes sense, in his head. To die would be too much kindness, too much mercy for him. He has to live, if only to continue to bear the weight of his sins.

Not that he says any of this to Sesa. Instead:]

If I could have traded places, I would have. Passenger was, is a good man. He didn't deserve what happened.

[sesa]

[HAHA WEEELL...Elliot has committed atrocities so that's like. EHHHHH, but Sesa isn't going to be the one to be like "well maybe in some karmic way he did" because he has long since gone off the deep end of being completely entrenched in this man, atrocities or no.

Suffice it to say, it doesn't matter in Sesa's mind. He was killed completely senselessly in broad daylight, but at least Vash is agreeing with him on that.

Nobody- NOBODY- deserves the kind of death he suffered. That is an opinion Sesa will hold until his own dying breath.

And yet. While he could have blown Vash's head off by now...he has yet to do so. He is still very much pointing a loaded weapon at him, but he hasn't made a move to fire. It's hard to say whether he won't...or can't.

Even for all of his time here, for all of his admissions to Elliot, for all of his anger and upset...he has yet to lift a claw against a living being, good or evil. Yet here, he has that opportunity.

He has a choice to make.]

So why did you come back here, then? Knowing what you'd done?

[oleaeuropaea]

[Vash's hands finally lower, if only to tuck into his pockets. He's obviously not armed, though it hardly says much that it isn't. His teeth and claws could do far more damage than a gun ever could, and likely much faster too. Still, he hopes the gesture means something. That he has no intention of causing harm, or fighting back.]

If I had a choice, I would have left again. [It's honest, at least. If there weren't so many people forcing him to stay, he would have taken off for the lighthouse several days ago.]

At the very least, they told me Zahliya burned the corruption out. I... know it doesn't mean much. But... it won't happen again. I won't let it.

[sesa]

You're right. It doesn't.

[There's a cruel, ugly part of him that wants to tell Vash that he could have left. Nothing was stopping him from staying his ass in the Forest and not leaving, barring people coming to try and find him. If nothing else, Adrian would have accepted him. Vash is probably the only person he would have trusted to come near, to be honest. Corrupted folk have to stick together, and all that.

But Sesa...Sesa isn't thinking rationally right now. He's moving even closer, despite the way Vash has moved to try to appear less threatening, gesturing at him with his gun even though the tip of it sways with how hard he's shaking.]

It won't happen again. But that still doesn't change the fact that I carried Elliot's dying body into the Forest, and I had to watch as his body crumbled into Originium dust. Can you even...comprehend what that's like?

Have you heard what it sounds like, when an Oripathy patient dies?

[Sesa...very abruptly- dangerously- throws his gun aside, suddenly. It bounces off the ground and rolls several yards away, but by some miracle doesn't actually go off or blow up. It just lays there, never to be actually used, as Sesa suddenly surges forwards and grabs Vash by the front of his thermal with enough strength to nearly lift him clear off the floor.]

It's heartbreaking. It's horrific. It is the sound of a never ending, merciless, constant cycle of death and destruction that cannot be stopped, one that he knew he would someday suffer regardless because he had no choice. And because of you, he was forced to live it.

He will be forced to return, and remember it!

[Sesa...has tears rolling down his face, now, his fists so tight in Vash's shirt that it's riding up on him. He wants, so badly, to hurt him. He wants to make him suffer.

...but he can't. All he can do is be miserable, because this never should have happened, yet it did. He knows deep down it's not Vash's fault directly- it's the Forest- but he's hurt, and heartbroken, and keeps wishing over and over that it had been him instead.

At least he could have maybe survived it.]

[oleaeuropaea]

[There's no attempt to defend himself. His body is yanked forward almost limply. For a long moment, he stares into Sesa's eyes, willing him to act. Any ounce of pain would surely be better than the grief roiling through his chest.]

I heard it. I felt it!

[Vash isn't sure what prompts him to snap as he does. The words spill out forcefully, before he winces and turns his head away. It's shameful that he cannot even manage to control himself, control his emotions, even in moments like this. he doesn't deserve to feel the grief that surges through him, not when Sesa was suffering right in front of him.]

I'm sorry. I thought I was cured. The corruption had diminished. I thought everyone was safe. If I knew -

[If he knew, he would have kept himself holed away. He had been so careful for so long, only to let his guard down.]

No one should have to die by someone else's hand. Especially not like that.

[sesa]

[Sesa continues to grip Vash tight, feeling much like the coward he knows he is for being unable to really do anything but shake him angrily. He could have blown him up, or shot him to death, or even just punched him to let off some steam, but...he feels like Elliot wouldn't have wanted that. Even knowing the guy's penchant for vengeance, and desire to see him actually seek such out...

This feels different than that. Especially knowing that Vash, ultimately, hadn't done this purposefully. If it had been, well. Sesa might be a different beast altogether right now.

He feels his energy wane, his arms trembling as he drops Vash back to the ground. There is no gentle lowering, he just drops him like a sack of potatoes to either stumble upright or don't.

no one should have to die by someone else's hand.]

Truer words have never been spoken.

[He takes a step back, his tail still lashing. Still fuming, still hurt and upset, but there's no desire to hurt Vash physically. At least, not more than he has.]

I do not wish to tell you to stay away from us, as I am not going to be the one to dictate that in Elliot's stead. So I will tell you this instead.

If you hurt him...ever again, I will not hesitate to pull the trigger. Do I make myself clear?