Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

Alice faints, but she's well enough to use telepathy.
"Damnit, my queen!" She groans, laughing.

 

Shadow Stephanie laughs, trying to hold back an outburst.

"Sorry, you look so funny when you faint like that. But, heh, you really don't want to be doing that in front of everyone. Ruins your public appearance." Shadow Stephanie says, picking Alice's body up.

 

"Actually... I wanna be honest with you. My public appearance never really was good... I originally barely scraped by from being a neutral cross-gang messenger. I hated it more the darker the secrets they gave me. However, we were at a stalemate; I could bust them all, but they could kill me at a whim. My filing cabinets? Centuries of tracking them in order to find out when I had an opening to run here." Alice admits. "I really am not that much of a hero... I'm just glad I didn't become one of them, or, worse yet, a corpse..."

 

Shadow Stephanie contemplates for a bit, one of her hands turning into a slight claw around Alice's body.

"So...you were part of our problem? Linking gangs like you linked us to them?" Shadow Stephanie asks, serious.

 

"I-if you mean in the sense of coordination, n-no... I was a mail carrier, more specifically. T-they just got looser about what they talked about around me... I wasn't allowed to read a single word and I was monitored to make sure I never did... there were no other jobs; there aren't out there... honest - my first year of work here would cover a little more than my rent..." Alice pleads.

 

"Yet you carried mail between them, you still kept them linked via mail, did you not?" Shadow Stephanie asks, her voice turning darker as she puts her claw-hand around Alice's head.

 

Alice pauses.
"Y-you're right... guess this is what I get for waiting for a way out of it..." She sighs. "Just... make it quick. Please, your highness..."

 

"Stephanie!" I call, impatient, breaking Shadow Stephanie's focus; her claw hand returning to normal and eyes losing a majority of their glow.

"Huh?" Shadow Stephanie asks.

"What are you doing...?" I ask, noticing Alice.

"Oh, uh, Alice fainted again, heh. I didn't want her getting stepped on." Shadow Stephanie says, trying to regain her focus.

"Well the head detectives here. At least come and say hello." I say, gesturing for Shadow Stephanie to walk over to me.

Shadow Stephanie puts Alice back down in her soft chair, heading over to me and greeting Yxun.

Alice feels a splash of cold water on her face, hoperully shocking her back to consciousness.

"Sorry!" Katie apologises, icy water in a bubble above her hand.

 

"SWEET TENEBRAE WHAT THE-" Alice shouts, springing up at once.
Once she finds her balance, she points challengingly at Shadow Stephanie.
"If I can get the c-courage to tell others about w-what happened, you can too. Say it or d-do it, or I will." Alice utters, trembling.

 

I smile at the strike, knowing that he/she will be alright in the end.

 

Seems someone is behind you.
"The ends don't justify the means. You eventually fight like you don't fear death in here." A feminine voice mumbles.

 

"It's also up to debate whether that trait is useful in battle."
I say, not bothering to turn around.
"It's a training area, though, and it has its uses with that property."

 

Elyra gets visibly tense, death glare appearing for a split second, yet then relaxes. "Erm..?"

 

"Everything is debatable. The only certainties are birth and demise." They respond, blunt.

"I'm sorry, but that paste will speed up the healing of the... deeper wounds. The only problem is, nature didn't care where it wounded you." The man says, clearly a bit sick.
"If I could have done so without risking your life, I wouldn't have..."

 

Katie jumps back, caught off guard by Alice's sudden reaction.

"What do you mean? About your secret?" Katie asks.

 

"Not really, but it's not in my interest to start an argument about every little thing in the universe. So, will you be watching the match?"
I ask, inviting, and drawing my attention back to the battle.

 

"Y-yes... my queen was going to kill me because I worked as a mail carrier in the past..." Alice utters. "I-it took a l-lot to confess t-that I wanted t-to make things right... if I-I deserve to die for it, she can kill me now."

"You intend to get into one?" She asks, seeming to ignore your previous response.

 

"What!? You mean Shadow Stephanie!?" Katie exclaims, shocked.

 

"Y-yes... she is my queen, a-and if she deems I s-should be killed for my actions, t-then I t-trust her judgement."

 

Katie looks concerned and surprised, walking over to Shadow Stephanie and getting her attention. The pair converse, Shadow Stephanie looking directly at Alice at one point, before Katie returns.

"She says she's sorry, and she didn't know what came over her." Katie relays.