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[img]http://i.imgur.com/OnTQBSu.jpg[/img][sup][sup][h2]a [i]l[/i] e x i a  f i t c h.[/h2][/sup][/sup][sup][color=000000]never really here. . . wasn't ever. like a thought brushing up against a sigh.[/color][/sup][/center][hr]

[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/LxjLmWs.png[/img][/center][indent][color=e5e5e5][i]S[/i]omewhere, within the gloom and haze, unbeknownst of the chaos stirring within the back stages, Alexia was contesting with her own disturbances.

Maybe it was the pills, maybe it was the music, maybe it was the ascending anticipation; the apprehensive initiative of seeing him again, the voice crawling over her skin and sliding in a slick path down her spine with a wicked tongue and molten stare. Her eyes kept glancing back to the stage, the shadows never parting, but the gloom seducing her every whim and thought, the reclining depths of the platform beckoning her to step yonder, answering to his call from the previous night. The lyrics were interchanging through her thoughts, languid and luxurious, as if he were repeating the very sonnet against the shell of her thrice pierced ear. The music now was only gradually registering, her body swaying, arms curled upwards, fingers sweeping into her tresses, raking them back with the sensation of Cadian murmuring song and smoke to her very soul.

But, every time she inclined towards the stage, arms were spinning her back, pinning her close, nails and arachnid gestures peeling through her euphoric quivers and anchoring her to the reality of the foyer. Danny brought her back, stole her from fantasy, and turned so that Alexia’s perspective was centred on the sensations and the corral of the crowd that pressed and jostled around them. A sharp elbow here, a shoulder nudge to follow, until Danny began forcing her down low, knees driving into her own and grinding against her calves until his grasp descended to her thighs and clamped onto her hips where she felt the strain of the muscles and bruises clamouring against one another in restless spite and reminder. Her winces were interpreted as breathless hisses of exhilaration, but to Danny’s laughter boiling over her shoulder, manic, if not terrifyingly demonic in intentions and hidden promises, they were spurts of excitement and enthrallment. He purred against her ear, and snarled his way across flesh bruised and smothered in cosmetics and Alexia spun away from him, betwixt strangers and slid between both men and women; boys and girls breathing in her anguish as they disturbed marks blossoming into violets and ebon-blue that struck with terrible soreness. 

[i]He doesn’t know, they don’t know. It’s okay, you’re cool. You’re okay. [u]Need to get away.[/u][/i]

The mantra slid through her consciousness whilst she wove her erratic path through the patrons and dancers, coming closer to the stage where salvation was advertised and the shadows beckoned. Danny was too much for her senses and something within the back of her mind was inclining higher, ascending into something she couldn’t comprehend, as if the haze of memory was gradually lifting and with it, came unwanted voices that fled just as quickly as they arrived, making her breath hitch and sputter. Where was the music? Where was the voice to temper and bring her back down? Wither was a name of erosion and wilting heart, the sort that perishes and fades, it chipped away... But, for Alexia she saw a waning hope that was given initially before dying away in some sort of blissful fate. The sort that she, shuddering within the shadows, hoped for.

	[color=#857D6E]“Alex!”[/color] Sharp fingers slid around her bicep, cinched tight and tugging her away from her station of momentary peace, eyes wide and staring deep into black pools of frightening desperation. She’d never seen such an expression crossing over his countenance before, the breadth of his stare was entirely swollen, and his face drew ever closer the longer she was withheld in that gaze.

	[color=#857D6E]“Don’t you dare run from me like that again!”[/color]
	[color=696969]“You said I could leave in an hour, Danny, I know it has been longer than that!”[/color]
	[color=#857D6E]“Why are you so desperate to leave, I gave you free shit, you owe me.”[/color]
	[color=696969]“I don’t owe you a fucking thing, Danny, that’s just pure bullshit.”[/color] Alexia snarled, wrenching free her arm, attempting to ignore the burning vice of the bruise throbbing there as her fingers clasped over it; her skin flush with heat. [color=696969]“I didn’t want to come here, I -”[/color]

But Danny was no longer listening, his eyes had fled upward, and suddenly she recognized the silence, the intense breadth of mute gloom that summoned both fear and elation within her breast. Alexia spun on her booted heel, gasping from the halo of spotlight cloaked over [i]him[/i]. This close, she could feel the power of his voice, amplified by the microphone as it was, and it made her stumble both in a drugged, lucid state and the thrumming effect Cadian had on her. This close, it was eerily daunting and made her come undone, and if Danny’s arms had not come to embrace her, she would have fallen.

[i]Fallen, falling. And she was rapidly descending...[/i]

	[color=696969]“Danny...”[/color] He was already drawing her back, the crowd parting momentarily before swallowing them whole, but her eyes never left the stage and glow of the overhead glimmer, and she stumbled backward all the more as Danny rapidly dragged her away from that man; hissing his vehemence.

Then he was talking and she could swear those molten pools were on hers, reaping through the steelish azure, fixating her into place despite the swarm of people between them, murmurs of protest and confusion carried through, slipping past, but nothing registered because Alexia could swear... He was talking to her. Danny’s prescense seemed to vanish as she simply gazed at him, his words and concerns registering as her brow lowered, confusion taking front. No performance? She felt the yawning disappointment taking hold through her heart, but yonder was an eclipsing worry, a concern and a notion that Cadian was hiding something. The conviction was only cemented further by the invitation of another band, and Alexia refused to acknowledge then, because Wither was...

[i]What were they?[/i]

She suddenly realizes that she knows nothing about him, about them. She didn’t know who his drummer and basist were, she had not known them until the previous night, and yet he undid her so well, so fluently, his effect so profound that it stole both breath, heart, and soul to the point of near desperation that almost felt dependent on his music and words. And then he was looking at her once again and he was speaking, and this time, it really was to her. Those words could not be mistaken, they were a whisper, a hopeful yearning and Alexia was left gazing, trying to sort him out through the band setting up and going through their checks, wanting to scream her inquiry aloud, if he really was looking at her, seeing her, speaking to her in every way. She wanted to know why his image was embossed perfectly within her memory, she wanted to know...

	[color=#857D6E]“Alex!”[/color] Danny’s voice tore through her stupor, her eyes flashing towards the grim slash of his mouth, angry and raging within silence where fear glimmered within those inky pits. [color=#857D6E]“Fuck, I lost you there. You good?”[/color]

Cadian was already gone, but, she could almost still feel him there. And it was terrifying to her.

	[color=696969]“Yeah, yeah. I’m good.”[/color] Alexia nodded, only able to confirm with jerky nods of her head that disturbed the chains and links around her throat that was accompanied by a disturbed ring of laughter that split off into a near hysteria. Of course, Danny would never recognize her fracturing sanity or her terror, his selfish qualms were overpowering enough to snuff out any recognition of darker emotes that came with his... [i]Possessions.[/i] 

	[color=#857D6E]“Sucks about Wither, huh, guess the guys need to watch -”[/color]

	[color=74abc1]“Danny Stonem?!”[/color] What could only be described as bubbly lunacy coated in sugar and dripping within saccharine sweetness, sliced through the universal ambiance that often surrounded Danny and Alexia. From the adjacent gloom blossomed lace and frills, combined with blonde tresses piled high in twined dreads and frayed threads. Standing on near height with Alexia, with the former suddenly gazing with wide eyes and mute shock, and slender to the point of adolescent assumption was a figure from the past - one of forsaken spires and bells.

	[color=857d6e]“Fucking hell, Baby Jinx.”[/color] Danny named, brow arched in speculation as he tallied her attire, from the chaos of her hair, to the platform of her shoes that made her taller than usual, inches towards his shoulder were he usually towered over both Alexia and many of his patrons. Her tastes had leaned towards a more fetish nature, the sort that attracted risque business and attention towards the Church when they were all forsaken orphans. [color=857d6e]“What’re you doing here? Passion only let’s in -”[/color]

	[color=74abc1]“My birthday was like a month ago, I’m of a [i]legal tenure[/i] now.”[/color] She quipped, lacing her mitts behind her back, swaying within her platform boots laced high over knee and caped by the lace of her skirts. [color=74abc1]“Saint Patricks put me up in a loft out in the Eastern ways - down the street from you guys actually, isn’t that super fun?!”[/color] Jinx laced her arms around Danny, squeezing him tight before her eyes of false baby blue fell onto Alexia, her smile suddenly carving into mocking cheer.

	[color=74abc1]“Oh god, Ally, you look so good! Haven't changed a bit!”[/color] The Lolita youth hopped over, nose to nose, smile to smile and played her fingers through Alexia’s hair, all playful gestures and laughter. [color=74abc1]“A bit worn down though- and oh my gosh, is that a bite mark?!”[/color] The latter’s face paled, all colour draining from her visage, her eyes haunting and surrendered to an inner despair. She jerked back, tearing herself away from Jinx’s proximity and slapped her palm against the burning mark of her nightly shame, trembling from the possibility of being seen.

	[color=857d6e]“The fuck you mean?”[/color] Danny lurched forward, grasping hold of her shadowing hand, yanking her fingers from the plank of her skin, eyes narrowing within the shadows in attempt to glimpse the potential offense. A hidden seed of rage began to crawl forth, the strength of his grasp causing Alexia to cry out and tear herself away from him once again.

	[color=696969]“It’s nothing!”[/color] She screeched, shrinking within herself, her steelish eyes flashing towards Jinx gazing at her with pure elation, as if discovering a secret lain within and forcing it affront. [color=696969]“She’s just fucking seeing shit, you know how deranged she is.”[/color] Alexia hissed, drawing Danny’s frowning ire, his gaze briefly flickering to the swaying Lolita who began humming and twining a thread of gold around her gloved finger. 

	[color=857d6e]“Why are you here, really, Jinx.”[/color] He accused quietly and severely, the music from the stand in band picking up onto another number, their set blending into the backdrop of emotions raging high like torrents of a terrible maelstrom. [color=857d6e]“Passion isn’t even your [i]type[/i] of place.”[/color] That remark was meant to impale into the blonde, causing a brief flicker of displeasure to crease her simper, only slight but enough to shatter the facade.

	[color=74abc1]“Fuck you, Danny, I know you run these districts usually. I just heard that you guys come here.”[/color] Jinx supplied, dismissive. [color=74abc1]“Someone just wanted me to see how you were doing, ya’ know. That’s all.”[/color]

	[color=696969]“Who?”[/color] Alexia inquired, voice trembling.

	[color=74abc1]“That I can’t say, not that it really matters anyways.”[/color] Jinx uttered, eyes suddenly wild and flashing, as if trying to peer through the shadows for something unseen; or rather, someone. It had not gone unnoticed, by the slow cant of Danny’s eyes around them, automatically drawing in closer, the edge of his teeth grinding down into the pout of flesh of his lip. [color=74abc1]“Just... Here. Take this, okay?”[/color] She shoved a thick sheaf of paper into Danny’s pocket, ignoring the snarl of the dark prince as she managed to grasp a couple of his pills, immediately shoving around Alexia with a slicing giggle piercing her, disturbing the emotions Cadian had stirred within her, and causing her spirit and heart to whirl into a erratic terror. 

	[color=857d6e]“Bitch!”[/color] Danny screeched, spinning around in an attempt to claw after her, but Baby Jinx was already gone, leaving the dealer to fish out whatever she had replaced within his pocket for a mere high. The paper was of a thick make, the sort that came from stationary with elaborated edges and ink that curled and dipped into impressive penmanship.

	[color=857d6e]“The fuck is this, an invite?”[/color] Danny’s brow lowered, confusion lacing tight in his voice and glare. Alexia inched closer, her palms scrubbing over her arms constantly, attempting to sire warmth within her flesh and bones that was robbed from both Cadian and Jinx and the discovery of her... Shame. 

	[color=696969]“Devin O’Shey... Do you know him?”[/color] She whispered. 
	[color=857d6e]“I’ve... Heard of the name. Up North.”[/color]
	[color=696969]“This says it’s for Halloween Masquerade...”[/color]
	[color=857d6e]“Weird shit. That’s with masks and all that?”[/color]
	[color=696969]“Yeah...”[/color]
	[color=857d6e]“Hmm, well I know the area... so what do you say Alex, wanna be my date again?”[/color] 

Her face was of hopeless dejection, the sort broken, helpless, and utterly incapable of fighting her fate. And Danny only smiled.

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The entire Badlands had been informed of the upcoming Masquerade, the Northern districts preparing entirely for the dawning approach of dejected souls and lost vagabonds. And whilst characters fled for wardrobe and others muttered about the rumours of the O’Shey residence, Alexia Fitch had vanished. When the night of Passion had come and gone, the woman had fled once again, not even retreating to home where clothes, ruined and stained, had remained within a crumbled pile. Where a man of ebon threads and hair lounged back on a desolate loveseat, floor scattered in empty bags and bottles, walls punctures with angry fists and nights filled with terrifying rage and moans of bestial desire that ran rampart through the entire loft. 

Days had gone by, and all with a wondering notion of where Alexia Fitch had gone. And, for some, it bade the question of whether she even lived.. [i]Or existed.[/i][/color][/indent][hr]
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[color=000000][sub]Slowly disappear. . .
No, no longer here.[/sub][/color][/center]