[hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/XiUHyUc.png[/img]     [img]https://i.imgur.com/K7gWNb1.png[/img] [/center]
[right]Interactions: Sully [@Atrophy]
[code]A Minor Moral Dilemma[/code][/right][hr]
It was so nice to be at the top of the world. Everyone bowed at her feet as they should. They followed her rule without questions and allowed her to do anything she wanted. Every powerful man- now, person, that had ever been in her life. All beneath her feet, with Sloane the only one by her side.

Ah. Did she really care enough about Sloane to keep her around like this?

The thought jolted her out of what she’d realised was a hallucination, the prostrate body of Ezra Vanburen sadly disappearing and being replaced by a disappointingly boring fallen tree trunk. Anya frowned, one hand raising to the bridge of her nose and pinching it.

At least no one had been around to see that… And she hadn’t said anything to give away what she’d seen. 

Some parts of it had surprised her. The power, not so much… but how it had manifested? Unusual. She hadn’t expected to enjoy something like that so much.

And Sloane’s involvement in something so tempting for her? Something so irresistible?

That was what she found strangest of all. When had she stopped thinking of her future as solely her own, without the need for anyone else? When had she decided, somewhere deep down, that Sloane would always be there? That she, perhaps, [i]needed[/i] her only friend to remain.

She wasn’t sure, and that made her uncomfortable. 

Anya turned around towards what had been a battlefield, and turned to a chaotic mess of hallucinating Sycamore members and jiving zombies. It wasn’t dangerous anymore. The largest undead creature had been taken care of… or at least, lay fallen on the ground. With a slight sigh of relief, Anya put her Channeller back in her pocket and made her way out of the tree she’d been sheltering behind.

Her head snapped around as she tried to account for everyone [i]useful[/i] in the group. Greyson, finally there but trapped in a hallucination of his own. Jack… where was Jack? She couldn’t see him anywhere. Likely hiding in the shadows. Stormy’s glowing shield gave him away. Britney, safe beside people Anya had no interest in going near. 

Sloane, where was Sloane-

Anya stopped, breath catching in her throat. It was the closest she’d felt to panic since fighting the Stygian Snake. Sloane’s body- what was left of it- held limp in the strange child’s arms. It was rotting away, and Anya couldn’t tell if she was still breathing. Was she gone? No, she had to still be alive.

They only had one healer.

Anya spun on her heel, storming up to Sully. He was caught in the illusion, doing god knows what. She didn’t care. She snatched the Chalice from his hands, fingers curling around it as she made to go towards Sloane and Clancy.

She wouldn’t be able to use it. To use it, she’d have to sever herself from her lux. Her lux, that was everything to her. As important as her own life. More important than Sloane’s? She may be too far gone to save. Without her lux, Anya had no future. No job, no money, no security team from Ezra. It would be a fate worse than death. 

Anya should, and could. It would [i]possibly[/i] save Sloane’s life. A sacrifice many would make, she was sure.

But not Anya. Sloane was important to her, but not more important than herself or her magic. 

[color=9966CC]”Sully- [b]Sullivan![/b]”[/color] Anya snapped explosively. She shifted the Chalice so she could clap her hands together right in front of his face, hoping to drag him out of it with sound alone. [color=9966CC]”Sullivan McPherson, [i][b]snap out of it[/b][/i]. Do something useful with your useless life!”[/color]

It wasn’t working. Her magic was useless in this situation. She didn’t have the pink lux spells to breach a waking mind. She’d tried to develop them, tried to learn from Greyson, but it had never succeeded. 

Anya gritted her teeth, closing her eyes for a moment. This wasn’t something she wanted to do. It would look bad. But it was for Sloane. To get the one person that could save her - the absolute imbecile that couldn’t even do his own job - back from his likely unachievable fantasies. 

She raised the Chalice, and tried to smash it over Sully’s head. At the same time, an elbow went for his gut. If he snapped out of it in time to avoid it… fine. If not, hopefully it would drag him out.
[hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/QIUSezo.png[/img]     [img]https://i.imgur.com/ycOCuCr.png[/img][/center]
 [right][b]Interactions:[/b] Clancy [@Zombiedude101], Sloane [@Atrophy]
[code]Luca's Nightmares Becoming Reality[/code][/right][hr]
[center][hider=”Why did this have to be?”][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRWRPy92y5Y&ab_channel=Leprous-Topic[/youtube] [/hider][/center]
Sloane didn’t let go. The pain didn’t pull her out of the hallucination. It only pushed her forward as Luca desperately tried to get away, heavy sickness clawing at his throat as Sloane stroked his cheek. The smell of rotting flesh filled his senses, the sights that normally filled his nightmares becoming a reality. Skin peeling off and dissolving, muscle melting away to reveal the bone. A horrible, dark rot setting across a still living body. A familiar sight on his own, a horrifying one on another.

Dark blood splattered across his dirty face. It oxidised and rusted immediately, brown specks flaking off his face and scattering to the ground as Sloane slumped towards it. He went to catch her, then stopped. It would be worse. Touching her more would be worse. Falling to the ground was less deadly. He was the real danger. 

He was killing her. He was- he was doing the one thing he’d never wanted to do. It didn’t matter that it was the exact same process happening to him, that it was a cruel burden for him to bear- it was his to bear alone, to die alone, to suffer through the pain while protecting everyone else but… he’d failed at that. And now Sloane was dying. Her blood was on his hands.

He was a [color=c6e100]killer, a glorious bringer of rot and decay.[/color] 

Luca didn’t resist as the kid- [color=c6e100][i]not a child[/i][/color]- pulled Sloane off him and pushed Luca away. The constant rotting across his skin ate away at Clancy’s flesh, revealing the dark shadows within. The Rot inside Luca physically recoiled with a distasteful tut. It wasn’t appealing, or something he could easily destroy - even as the touch would subtly weaken Clancy’s abstraction.

Clancy’s look, the feral glare that seemed filled with loathing towards [i]him[/i], had Luca backing away. He stumbled, slumping down onto the ground. He kicked his legs out to continue to push himself back while sitting. Far enough away there was no risk of even his aura touching Sloane. So he couldn’t hurt her again. Far enough away from everyone else, so he couldn’t hurt them either. He’d been too complacent.

[color=6B8E23]”I didn’t mean to,”[/color] he choked out. To who, he didn’t know. Clancy, Sloane, himself? [color=6B8E23]”I can’t help… I’ll only make it worse…”[/color]

The flesh of fallen zombies sizzled around him, Sloane’s blood staining his worn, green pants a darker brown. Festering wounds spread across his arms, skin darkening as sickly purple spread through his veins. It matched the decay of Sloane’s body. The rot that was slowly eating away at him was devouring [i]her[/i]. It was horrible- [color=c6e100]it was beautiful.[/color] 

They needed to get her to a healer. Miranda- Miranda could heal her, if he phoned her… no, he’d destroy his phone, and it would kill her instead. Shit. A teleporter- Jack, where was Jack?! But where would he take her? Shit, what about the 317 healer- what was their name? It didn’t matter! Just someone, anyone, to help her. He couldn’t. He couldn’t do anything. He only hurt everyone.

Why was he even here? Why was he holding on, when it brought nothing but pain?

[color=c6e100][i]Just give in.[/i][/color] [color=6B8E23]I want to give up.[/color]

Luca backed away further, putrid green flickering across the edges of his eyes and creeping inwards towards his pupil. It was difficult to breathe. Why? Why could it not just kill him, why did he have to suffer this slow decay as everything he touched turned to dust?

Why, why, why-

[color=6B8E23]”I’m so sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to,”[/color] Luca gasped, hands digging into the corpse covered ground beside him. He stared at Sloane’s limp body, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. Dirty water turned to a horrible yellow pus that wept from wounds forming around his lashes. Everything hurt, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t care. The pain was what he deserved. [color=6B8E23]”She needs- she needs a healer… someone… I can’t… I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”[/color] 

Panic filled his chest, static filled his mind, but Luca was still in control. The Rot was content within him, fueled by the flesh it had eaten and the chaos it was sowing. It was all Luca.

If Sloane died, he would be the one that killed her.