I smell the blood of a petty little coward||Private|Izayuki|Ami|Elyx

I'M A CREATURE

of a culture that I create

It was no secret that Astrid had a rather close bond to Lucius, may it be because he was her brother, or something else. If asked she could not describe why she was so close to him or even how she had done it. Through a series of events in her childhood it just… happened, like any other friendship. She could not tell in detail how to befriend a killer, but well, she had done it. One way or another.

It seems he thought he was being sneaky, trying to leave their small apartment the way he did. But little did he know Astrid was a rather light sleeper. The quietest of movements managed to wake her up from her slumber, and him banging his head upon the top of the door frame like he always did had been loud enough to wake her on this night.
Though she loved him that boy was a nuisance. She would have normally let him go by himself. It was a free country after all, she shouldn’t have to tag along everywhere he went to keep an eye on him. But since it was so late at night, the moon raised high in the sky and casting a thick, creamy atmosphere upon the port town, she instantly had a bad feeling about it. No one normally wandered the streets at night after all. Mostly everything was closed give or take a few bars and the such, and she knew he wasn’t old enough to drink yet despite his tall stature and being mistaken as an adult usually.
Following on a whim to make sure he wasn’t up to his old tricks again the musician had gotten dressed and followed him, some of her movements falling under dazed as she had to shake her sleepiness off. This had caused her to lose him quite a few times. Some times because she found herself falling asleep as she spied on him from a distance, and others because of her naturally spacey nature. For a long while it had been him just talking, gazing at the lined stores and houses, to the point where Astrid had somewhat convinced herself he was maybe just looking for a bigger house for them and wanted to go out at night because there were less people.
It was wishful thinking though. She would come up with any excuse for him not to be going back to killing. Not after all the time she’s spent trying to get him away from that type of lifestyle.

At one point she had lost him completely, having been distracted by a flickering neon light on a store sign. She contemplated leaving a note for the manager so he knew to fix it, and when she looked back up, he was gone.
She cursed her easily distracted nature.
After wondering about the dimly-lit streets for maybe a few minutes Astrid had only been able to guess where he went to by the screams and shouts echoing across the town just east of her position. Oh no.
As she followed the sharp shrills only the worst came to her mind. He was killing someone again, wasn’t he? He really was going back to his old ways, the ways she tried so desperately to help him get rid of. On top of that all those smiles he offered around these days were now confirmed to be false. She knew it. There was an aura mixed in with those smiles, an unsettling one. Why did she not point it out to him? Why did she not work harder with him to fix this?
Why couldn’t he be a normal, happy boy who didn’t need murder to function?

Coming to a stop near one of the many alleyways close to the sea the silver haired girl peaked inside, locating one of the screams coming from within the tight space.
Though squinting at first to see what was going on inside the dark alleyway blue optics widened as her vision finally got use to the low light.
Blood. Though she could smell the blood from down the street actually seeing it was another thing. The metallic-smelling substance caused her to gag, swallowing air back down with it as she covered her hands over her face to try and block it out. She had never been good with blood for whatever reason, to the point where it normally made her light headed. And with so much of it upon the ground right now, she almost felt like passing out.
Though wobbling Astrid took a few steps forward, using one hand to continue covering her face as the other one reached out next to her, patting around for the wall until it came into contact with one. Using the wall as a balance for her unsteadiness she moved forward at a slow pace, each step carefully being place on the ground due to her mind and vision becoming hazy.
A few steps into the alleyway, she finally stopped, seeing a blob near the end of the path.
… Or was that two blobs?
Squinting once again to get a better look her jaw dropped open, finally now defining the outline of the two people there.
It was a girl… And Lucius… With blood.
The blood covered a lot of his skin, and his eyes looked dull, almost unlife-like. He was bleeding heavily.
Red.
The girl was holding him up by his throat. A lot of the blood was on her too.
Red.
Reacting quickly to hide her presence she clasped her hands over her mouth, vibrations tugging at the back of her throat like she wanted to scream, but nothing came out. It was all jumbled into a ball in her chest. Though this should have been obvious with the amount of blood she had seen thus far… This was not what she was expecting to find. If anything she was thinking the positions would be switched with the girl begging for her life while Lucius strangled her against the wall. But it wasn’t. It was even more horrifying than that.
Tears filled the corners of her eyes, stinging them, her foot took a step back, her body being unable to decide on what she was doing anymore. Sweet heavens above what was she suppose to do? Cry out for help? Attack?... What? She had never been in this situation before. She had always arrived after the scene if anything, never during one. Was her brother even still alive? She hoped… She prayed….
Acting on pure adrenaline alone many ideas popped into her head at once, but only one managed to make it to the surface of her mind.
Protect.


“Get away from him!” A scream tore from her throat as she attempted to push the youkai tanuki away from her sibling, using her somewhat heightened speed and strength to do so.
If the push was successful the teen would stand in front of the boy, a golden light covering her right hand for a heartbeat before the light formed a crescent moon shaped sword, tightening her grip around the handle before grabbing it with her other hand too, standing in a normal defensive pose.
She had left her violin at home, so hopefully her actual light power would do as a substitute.

“P-Please, don’t fight! Surely there’s some way to solve this! L-Lulu didn’t mean it! I swear!” She cried, hands shaking slightly, causing the sword in her hands to clatter against its metal sides.
She was scared. God, she was scared. What had Lucius gotten himself into? He was almost dead, and this girl looked like she was some sort of demon with her glowing red eyes. But the adrenaline had kicked in, it was too late to back out now. If she didn’t defend him, Lu would die! And she couldn’t let that happen. No. No him. He wasn’t fixed yet. She couldn’t let him die. He had so much good to offer the world, it wouldn’t be right for anyone to snuff out his light yet.
… But what about her?
Astrid gulped to wet her dry throat, blue eyes not leaving the pink haired girl in front of her.
She couldn’t think about it right now. Whatever happened, happened.
She wouldn’t let her brother die. That was the duty of the older sibling, to protect the younger one. It was time to return all the times he protected her and for her to finally act her role instead of being the crybaby hiding behind her brother’s protection.

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I'M A CREATURE

of a culture that I create

Though usually her senses heightened during the nighttime, the smell of the blood managed to outdo it easily, hazing her mind over with the sickly scent.
Having hoped for a peaceful solution to this fight the musician was caught off guard when the youkai instead swiped her elongated nails across her pale arm, causing her to drop the golden sword and watch helplessly as it skidded across the rocky path to a darkened corner of the alleyway. As a natural instinct to the force alone Astrid snatched her arm up in her other hand, holding it close to her chest as she clenched her teeth together, closing her eyes in preparation for the pain. However, the pain never came in the few seconds she did this. It was weirdly just… Warm… Nothing like the stinging sensation she got when she scratched herself on something sharp. It just… Tingled, a warm aura waving about it.
Wanting to examine the wound she began to look down to her chest, lifting her hand off of the scratch only slightly before she started to feel more pressure around her body.
This time it hurt. Some were on her legs, some were on her arms, one or two were on her face, and then one big one on her stomach. She felt them all. First a weird kind of pressure, then a small sting before the sting turned to true pain.
She cried out, feeling the roaring pain shoot through her system. It was awful, like a wildfire burning up her whole body. Even the places that weren’t hit began to ache, like the wounds were sending pain to other parts of her body on purpose to ease it in the spots hit.
Astrid’s body shook, mouth gaped open as her breaths became slower, letting out a whimper from her small lips before she painfully landed on her side, losing the feeling in her legs to the point where her muscles finally gave in.
Her shoulder hit the street first. Though it wasn’t a part scratched with the sharp nails when it landed upon the hard, stone street it made her open wounds sting even more so, as if someone poured acid upon them. Feeling the pain flare up again she choked on a combination of blood, spit, and sounds bubbling up to her mouth, making her entire throat sore and blocked.
She managed to hack out some of the blood caught in her throat, coughing it up upon the pavement, making it turn darker in color from the night air.
She watched with tear-filled eyes, her gaze focusing and unfocusing as the blood traveled down the cracks in the pavement, filling them up with the crimson liquid. Was her blood really that red? She had never noticed before. Well, when it’s inside you it’s not really easy to look at it. But even with small cuts and scratches she had never noticed it was such a pretty hue of red. If this were any other situation, she would be entranced by it. But the pain throbbing throughout her body didn’t let her fade out of the situation like normally.
Just when she was starting to fade, the pain becoming numbing and warm again, a hand clasping around her throat jolted her back to reality. Letting out a dry gasp she choked as her oxygen supply was weakened and her deep wounds burned once again as her back was slammed against the brick wall, forcing even more air out of her lungs.
The bottom of her chest feeling as though it were just a simple paper bag being popped she wriggled in the tanuki’s grasp, hands holding onto the pink haired woman’s arms as a sign of protest, legs dangling and flailing beneath her.

Even more wounds were made. Though by now they simply melted in with the others, creating a sense of burning fire throughout her entire being. The red blood dripped down, wet and sticky to the floor as it painted her pale skin a sickly color. Her pure blue eyes were now hazed over and clouded, blurring over with tears. She wanted to scream, but with no air, nothing came out. Only deep breaths and what would be words.
She choked, and choked. She bled, and bled. One pain mixed in with another, causing a greater pain. Her protest faded as she was hung against the wall by her dainty wrist, almost lifeless in a way. She had given up. Everything was sore… And wet… It stung.
Only her eyes and lips gave any sign she was still holding on. Her pale lips trembled as she tried to regain her lost breath and eyes shook, unfocused as they fell upon the ground duly.

Everything was blurry and gray, like a unproduced camera image. Her wounds were now warm and tingly again. But… She couldn’t move. No matter how much she willed her body to, she couldn’t bring herself to do it, as if they were weighed down.
She was forced to dangle there, only moving slightly as her body shook again with another wave of sudden fiery pain.
But other than that she felt… Nothing.

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I'M A CREATURE

of a culture that I create

Everything up until this point had passed by so quickly in blurry, colorful flashes. A bit of green, some blue, and a lot of red. Each color splattered upon her eyes, not going away even when she closed them, only turning a darker color. The sounds had been muffled too, echoing and distant as if the fighting was taking place in a completely different room from her.
However, the few times she was able to foacus her eyes upon what was happening in front of her, she could quite easily identify both the girl who had injured her, and Elyx.
Yes. That's right... Her mentor had saved her from the demon girl. His tight grip upon her body and the pain he had caused by doing so made her body shiver in pain once more just by remembering it.
Though the wet and sticky blood was no longer oozing from her body she could still feel the burning pain from her wounds sting from time to time before fading to a warm tingle once again.

But she was safe. She knew it. As long as Elyx was here, she knew he would protect her. Even if she bled and bled Astrid knew Elyx wouldn't let her die. She just had to hold on to the little bit of life had been clasping onto for the past couple of minutes.
...However.... Something was missing. Something important. She couldn't shake off the feeling something was wrong.
Since her eyes were the only part of her body that could move at the moment they flickered around the blurry scenery of the rooftop. Lucius. Where was he? She couldn't see him in her limited vision... But at the same time his aura was not on the rooftop with them.
Was he still in the alleyway? Bleeding?
Her heart sank, causing a weird wave and flutter in her chest. No. No no no. They had left him down there! Bleeding and dying by the second!

Spotting the faint outline of Elyx's shoes close to her face the musician mustered all her strength to her arm. Though stinging at first from the wounds, causing her to falter and shake as the cool night air entered her wounds, she gritted her teeth and reached out to him, trying to ignore the pain and grasping her small hand around his ankle to get his attention.

"Please... H-Help... M-My brother..." She cried in a weak voice, tears leaking out the corners of her eyes, expression desperate.
She wanted him to be safe, she could never live with herself if he died like that, alone in and alleyway, left to bleed out. What kind of sister would allow that to happen to her younger siblings?
She had tried so hard to protect him.... But failed so easily. It made her frustrated with herself.
Why was she so weak that she couldn't even protect the thing most precious to her?

Even if it would give the demon tanuki a chance to finish her off, even if there was a slight chance she'd die....
Maybe this was the youkai's plan in the first place, intentional or not. One or the other.
It was cruel.
But she would play her game.

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