[indent][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/CY84i9T.png[/img]
[hider=Mood Music][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwS3-bHwdH0&pp=ygUaZGFyayBjaGlsZCBtYXJsb24gd2lsbGlhbXM%3D[/youtube][/hider][/center][right][h1][color=7B81B3]Kenshiro[/color][/h1][/right][right][sub][hr][color=7B81B3]Mentions: [color=ffffff]Kari Wilson, Maya Choi,[/color] [color=#E77FBF]A[/color][color=#E571AE]g[/color][color=#E4649E]e[/color][color=#E2568D]n[/color][color=#E1497D]t[/color][color=#E03C6D]s[/color] [color=#DD214C]o[/color][color=#DC143C]f[/color] [color=#C22135]D[/color][color=#B52731]e[/color][color=#A92E2E]a[/color][color=#9C342A]t[/color][color=#8F3B27]h[/color][color=#824123],[/color] [color=6644ff]Jack Hawthorne,[/color] [color=3874f4]Drake Blackmore,[/color] [color=CCCCFF]Hannako and Kenichi Murakin[/color] |[/color] [color=7B81B3]Direct Dialogue: [color=F08080]Evelynn Serenelight/[@NoriWasHere][/color] |[/color] [color=7B81B3]Location: [color=ffffff]Kari's House > Another Time, Another Place, Another World > The Aftermath[/color][/color] [/sub][/right][hr]
[/indent] The hourglass shattered in Ken's hand, its light wood frame snapping in half alongside. Due to a quirk of his "armor", air was taken in through a complicated pump system that invariably left him vulnerable to gasses and airborne toxins while it was running. With the siphon of air being so strong, the pink gas was dragged directly into his lungs. He only made it a few more feet before he wasn't really there anymore. Taking a whiff of it was like being too easy around Greyson, one slip and you're in a whole new world. His eyes blinked rapidly, the last step he took in reality translating into another stride. More. He was running. The ground was muddy, it was warm, the jungle around him buzzed with insects and other things. He felt the weight of his first companion on his shoulder, a toad the size of a cat making gentle gurgling noises as its soft underside bounced into the boney outcropping on which it sat. 
The pond was dead ahead; he could make out dozens of figures, like the whole village had come out that day for a swim. Kaiko, Sochi, Iida Tenpo, Junichi, Jack, Drake, Saskia and the girls, Kari and Hannako a-

Something compelled him to stop. Like this wasn't normal. Like they hadn't all been through a hellish week after the Provings, and were finally able to cut loose for a day. They were adults now, all of them! Sixteen! Soon they'd all be assigned duties, and they'd live in the working dormatories until they were promoted, or they made their Golden Band. Either way, things were going to be amazing! 

Reactively, the airways shut tight. The body, and the Lux within, knew there was a pathogen as the channeled spells Ken held tightest became loose and unwilling to go on. Still, he pressed toward Kari and Hannako. He'd been trying to decide for the longest which he'd really persue, because both were awesome in his mind. They had fantastic qualities, and they really didn't even have to do with the physical. Kari was so adventurous, so much fun to be around. And she came with her own friends, a whole group, and he liked them too! He imagined a world where they'd all live in a big clan-house, that the Murakin Estate would wind up his through virtue of merit.
But Hannako was strong! Better than him, he felt. Like there was a rival he could really push himself to be the absolute best alongside, and that even if she overshadowed him they'd still have a personal relationship that was stronger than any outward perception. She was due soon, so... 

Wait, no... That hadn't happened yet, right? They weren't married. He hadn't even met...

There was fire. Black and blue, Corpsefire ravaging the village center and the buildings therein. There weren't even enemies to fight. He was screaming, sprinting, the doors to the temple flew open and revealed the Fiend. The Stygian Snake, enscrolled in dark black and bronze robes. Hannako-No, no, Kari... No.
[color=7B81B3]"KENICHI!?"[/color]
Bodies were everywhere, burning in the Corpseflame forever caught in that moment of pain and agony. A baby boy laid bare upon the floor, his mother curled around him to protect the infant. Dozens had died for this. For Kenshiro to come and rescue his only Son. He wrapped the boy in a cloth, still screaming in pain as the flames licked at his back. It was a mad dash to the Pond... To Tennogama. To the only creature that could still save his baby from his own fate...

[color=7B81B3][h1]"TAKE HIM... PLEASE!"[/h1][/color]
And then there was nothingness. His body finally gave out from lack of oxygen. Even in that moment, he hit the ground with the equivalent force of a six ton statue being toppled. The ground beneath him buckled, the dirt swallowing him until the last bit of unconscious Lux faded from him. Oxygen free of the mist hit his mouth and lungs, and he gasped in mud and water as consciousness rushed back. He was in a wet hole. Buried alive. Dying. As best he could he cupped his mouth and pushed outward. Lux filled his hands and burst the dirt away, physical body crawling from the hole in regaining consciousness. 
He felt roots or something similar dragging against him, holding onto him, keeping him in the wet mud. As he crawled out, it was another gasp of the mist. When he turned and sat, legs still in the hole as he tried to process what the hell was going on, it hit him again.

[color=CCCCFF]"They buried us together, Kenshiro. And it was beautiful."[/color]
[color=7B81B3]"I didn't see, Hanna... I was... Occupied."[/color]
[color=CCCCFF]"We never could've known, could we? But I'm glad you saved him. I'm ecstatic, actually. Because of you, he lived to avenge us. To set things right."[/color]
[color=7B81B3]"Did he?"[/color] Ken's face twisted into a grief filled smile. [color=7B81B3]"Not something I ever could've done. It makes me so proud. It was worth it... I made the right choice."[/color]
[color=CCCCFF]"I... I think if you had to, you could've. But its much nicer that he gets to rebuild. That's how things should be."[/color]

Ken looked down into the hole. His bare feet splashed in the pond. Across from him, Hannako smiled. But it wasn't Hannako... It was Kari. It was the pond outside St. Portwell. His home now. He was sitting on the dock, and she was in the water in front of him.
[color=#eac6ae]"What're you thinking about?"[/color]
[color=7B81B3]"Shit I can't change."[/color]

And then it was all gone. Kenshiro looked around, covered in mud and zombie parts as he'd fallen atop a few of them and re-entombed them. Though he wasn't sure as to why he was no longer hallucinating, he was one hundred percent sure that Kari couldn't swim, which he assumed was a dream. 8th Street was gone, and now he had to deal with the aftermath. There was a great pain in his chest from the fact that it'd all been nothing, since it really was better. But they had to wait again. If Lynn was right, he'd have a chance to tell Kari how he really felt. Maybe... But he had to get there.
He rose to his feet, shaking things off and making sure his equipment hadn't come loose. He checked the loose pocket, finding a number that hadn't been there. 
[color=7B81B3]"Real funny..."[/color]
He shook his head, once again looking for Lynn. He found her not far off, probably feeling the exact same way he was.
[color=7B81B3]"Lynn! Lynn!?"[/color]

Making it to her side, he grabbed her by the shoulders to try and get her out of the mud.
[color=7B81B3]"Lynn!? It's Ken! I'm real, it's... It's all an illusion, come on! We've gotta get the others and get out of here before something worse happens!"[/color]