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Britney [@Shin Ghost Note] Ken, Leon[@AtomicEmperor] Linqian, Luca[@FernStone] Layla, Spooky!Alizee[@Estylwen] Lila[@NoriWasHere]
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[quote=Alizee][color=916BB4][b]“Brother, he is my source, my strength. I have to maintain my good word. Surely he isn't the villain you make him out to be?” [/b][/color][/quote]

[i]Brother.[/i] The word agitated him, and not just because he saw no familial connection between them. He [i]had[/i] been a brother, but those days were done. Seeing the phrase come from her was salt in a wound that was unlikely to heal in his case.

[b]"I'm not-.."[/b] [i]-your brother,[/i] Clancy almost snapped, [b]"Anything like [i]it[/i] is playing with you. It doesn't [i]think[/i] on human terms. It doesn't care. It can't care. It just [i]takes[/i] what it [i]wants.[/i]"[/b] There was conviction in every word when it came to the 'Void Heart'. He [i]understood[/i] the kind of horror and pain [i]entities[/i] like that inflicted.

The implication was that they ere two sides of the same coin.

[i]Were they?[/i] Maybe.

She was a representation of everything he had come to [i]loathe[/i] in himself. No rules. No self-control. Following whatever [i]instinct[/i] came to her without questioning it. 

Once, he'd felt [i]bad[/i] for her. Now, there was a part of him coming to hate what he saw. It didn't help that she readily dove back into pleading for the Void Heart the moment the prospect of his return came up, breaking the very terms she'd agreed to.

[i]We can't be trusted,[/i] he understood, because by nature they were driven by impulses that weren't rational to the human mind.

Outside his periphery, the larger man, Leon, had begun speaking in tongues with a discordant voice not unlike when Clancy's own voice was overlapped by the guttural [i]feral[/I] presence pressing at the edge of his mind. But while he still spoke with his [i]own[/i] consciousness, Leon spoke with a woman's voice. Vague phrases in French that he barely understood - he'd only barely followed his old man trading war stories over a few beers, and joking about each other's failed attempts at seducing the local [i]mademoiselles[/i].

He understood the phrase 'sister' and recognised Layla's name being called out. That was it. Moreso, he recognised that Leon had shifted into an equally inhuman guise, not unlike that of a movie monster. [i]Wolfman?[/i] At this stage, it was far from the strangest thing he'd seen today. And far from the [i]worst[/i] he'd experienced, in light of being the closest he'd felt to a living death less than an hour ago.

He observed Kenshiro giving him the side-eye, as though he was looking for help. [i]Advice?[/i] 

From his own experience, this situation, being [i]altered[/i] made one forget who they were, and [i]other[/i] instincts took control of the driver's seat. 

[b]"Remind him who he is,"[/b] Clancy spoke back with a hushed tone, [b]"You know him, right?"[/b] He might not have known Leon, but the others had. Maybe they could put sense in, if they stopped fighting and shouting. The lack of [i]focus[/i] on the important things was gnawing at the bar set for how agitated he could get.

Except things got worse, and the [i]lady[/i] immersed the three of them - her host, Layla and the spectral Alizee - in a thick, almost blinding fog.

[quote=Leon/Lelou][color=C67C12][b]"If anyone dares lay a finger upon this Soul, or the Body meant for her; I will be their retribution."[/b][/color][/quote]

[b]"Body [i]meant[/i] for her?!"[/b] Clancy growled, incensed at this [i]thing[/i] trying to steer the girl [b]"It's [i]not happening.[/i] There's enough [i]monsters[/i] here."[/b] He looked at Britney, and some of the others, [b]"You might not trust me, but you [i]know[/i] I'm right, here."[/b]

Even if they [i]were[/i] idiots.

[I]Some[/i] of them, anyway.

[b]"Listen!"[/b] Clancy shouted back, marching towards the fog. By this stage, his body had almost wholly reformed. The only thing [i]left[/i] was the singular, empty eyesocket that had yet to reform its icy orb. 

With the tattered clothes that exposed most of his [i]pale, icy[/i] body, save for his intimate components, he looked the part of someone had had been through the grinder.

[b]"Look at the others here. This isn't what you want. [i]Emily Reed[/I], that Prom Queen and her pets [i]all[/i] started from being [i]sold[/i] to or [i]made[/i] into monsters by [i]assholes[/i] who thought they knew better."[/b] For a moment, Britney would've caught his cold gaze seething at her, but he continued, [b]"And bird lady,"[/b] gesturing towards Lila, [b]"Luca, and the French Gir-.. [i]Alizee[/I], before she turned into [i]that![/i]"[/b]

The silence didn't seem to be making headway. He pushed forward. [b]"Look at [i]me.[/i] I never wanted this, can't die, just [i]starving[/i], [i]tearing[/i] and I've outlived everything that mattered and I have [i]nothing[/I] left. Being like this is [i]pain.[/i] You'll lose yourself, and there won't be anything left. Like I said before, you still [i]have[/i] a life."[/b] It was almost [i]pleading[/i], and the truth was he was projecting the thoughts he wished he could've projected onto himself, for making the mistake of taking a wrong turn all that time ago.

[b]"We don't have time for this while you're being [i]stabbed[/i] in the back by the serial killer, so [i]stop[/i] wasting time. If there's anything left of you, [i]Alizee[/i], don't do this to her. Your... friends, said you were suffering. End it. [i]Control[/i] yourself. Be [i]better.[/i]"[/b] 

Clancy stepped forward, into the fog.