[img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/dHRmLjExNi5hY2FjZWYuUTJ4aGJtTjVJRkJoZEhKcFkycy4x/burn-out-fade-away.regular.webp[/img]
Britney [@Shin Ghost Note] Ken[@AtomicEmperor] Linqian, Luca[@FernStone] Spooky!Alizee[@Estylwen]
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Clancy's initial instinct with Kenshiro had been to [i]expect[/i] another verbal beating after reinserting himself into the situation - distracting him from the fact that Layla had been wholly ushered away at this stage. The man had seemed exacerbated at the [i]stupidity[/i] of the group and their apparently failure to appreciate what they'd lost. Instead?

He caught a flash of teeth. [i]A warning?[/i]

No, a [i]grin.[/i]

[quote=Kenshiro]
[color=7B81B3]"High sentiment for a ghost wearing a corpse."[/color]
[/quote]

The blunt comment was refreshing, if nothing else.

If it was functionally possible, he'd have loosed an amused snort of his own. Instead, he repaid the gesture by not immediately recoiling at the unprompted physical contact. Sully's elixir had sufficienty [i]muted[/i] some of his worse instincts for a period, even if it hadn't done anything to accelerate the reformation of his body.

The swordsman [i]might[/i] have felt the boy bristle at his touch, his shoulder icy-cool to the touch.

[quote=Kenshiro]
[color=7B81B3]"If I remember correctly, there are assholes with my Girlfriend's notes out there. Important fucking notes. Important fucking assholes. If it makes you Greenwood people feel safe? I'll gladly lend myself to hunting for some other artifacts associated with you... Murakin Kenshiro; you call me Ken. I'm sorry for... Well, assuming you had shot our friend here."[/color][/quote]

Clancy again found himself surprised a moment later by that final comment, adding a [b]"[i]Definitely[/i] wasn't her."[/b]

To be called a [i]friend[/i] had higher meaning for him than Kenshiro probably could've known

There wasn't much time to ruminate on it, however. A tear opened up before them, behind the disappearing man, and then an  [i]atrophied[/i] hand reached out to grab his collar.

Then, the rest of her emerged.

The girl was in chains, spectral, [i]fractured.[/i] She wasn't [i]whole[/i] much as in the same way he understood [i]he[/i] wasn't whole. But what more, he [i]recognised[/i] her within a matter of seconds, and realised he wasn't the only [i]ghost[/i] in the room anymore.

There was no mistaking it.

When he'd last seen her, [i]in the flesh[/i] with the [i]parasite[/i], the presence had stood out to him apart from the rest. After all, predators usually [i]could[/i] recognise one another when skulking in the same woods.

Except there was no parasite this time.

[i]Just the French Girl.[/i]

And this time, she'd became a monster herself, or something close to it. The chains, which seemed to act as extensions of her as they snaked out towards the others, all but confirmed it to him.

[i]No.[/i] It was not a fate he'd have chosen, to come back [i]like this[/i] with all that he'd known now.

The others hadn't recognised it, or [i]refused[/i] to. But it was [i]definitely[/i] her, [i]reeked[/i] just the same they had the night outside the strip club.

[i]Things moved fast.[/i] 

The [i]blinding light[/i] erupting from some of the others wasn't much incentive to throw in, but he took a step forward, positioning himself somewhere between Kenshiro, Luca and the [i]new[/i] Alizee, but not making a move further. His singular eye - the other barely yet to reform - remained fixed on the chains, wary they might close on the others. 

Thanks to Sloane and Linquian, that never happened, and she [i]surrendered[/i] of all things, withdrawing her appendages to her person. 

If he had a heart, it would've quickly sunk. She explained herself to Jack - in a language he couldn't follow - and then he realised that it was the [i]parasite[/i] she was looking for. That her sense of identity had been so fractured that she had the name, the face, but not much else.

[i]Shades[/i] of everything else.

[quote=Britney]
[color=f4eb93]”... You are Alizee, but at the same time, you're [i]not[/i] Alizee. You're not [i]our[/i] Alizee. Alizee Alteri was shot to death by the Wolfpack, then the Hound took what he needed, and the leftover consciousness, psyche, and memories, formed an entirely new being and, well... [i]became you[/i].”[/color]
[/quote]

Britney's rationalisation had perhaps made the most sense to him, in a way that cut [i]almost[/i] as much as the hitwoman's shells had taken chunks out of him.

He vaguely remember waking up to [i]this.[/i] But unlike her, he remembered [i]almost[/i] everything. A childhood. Friends, [i]family.[/i] Barbecues with Dad and Uncle Gerry. Nearly falling into a ditch when Frank took them racing down the trail on his Indian Scout. Judy and her bird feathers.

And the absence of it all, which hurt in a way that couldn't be described in words.

[quote=Luca][color=6B8E23]”You’re not a person.”[/color][/quote]

Luca's comment had caught him the most off-guard, although he understood it. The skinny boy had been more victim than predator in the relationship with [i]his[/i] parasite,

Clancy wondered if that description could've been ascribed to him. He wasn't [i]human[/i] anymore, that much was clear.

At this point, was he Clancy anymore?

Or was he just the [i]memories[/i] he retained, wrapped up in the facade of the boy that had been. 

Like the hitwoman had said, he was functionally a [i]corpse[/i] in either case, and regardless he had no intention of letting her follow the same path he'd been dragged down. Maybe there was [i]some[/i] sense.

[b]"Trust me. You don't [i]want[/i] this, whatever you're looking for in that [i]parasite[/i] isn't worth it."[/b] If he'd had a chance to get her alone, [i]before[/i] she died, he'd have told her as much then. Now? [b]"You'll never stop [i]wanting[/i] and you'll [i]hate[/i] every moment you continue existing. You want purpose? Don't make this [i]harder.[/i] Put the chains away. [I]You don't have time for this.[/i]"[/b]