TIME: 11:56 AM - ETA 4 minutes DATE: August 18th SEASON: Summer - Holidays in effect
Okay, so maybe he was just a little lost. Walking for well over half an hour should've eventually produced a sort of department store or mall complex. He wanted the drinks for later, sure, but underneath he just wanted to get out of the house a bit and not have to answer the phone, sweltering heat be damned. Xander sipped his water again, down to just a spit left. It had served its purpose well, refreshing and cooling him from all the sweating he was doing earlier (and proceeding to do now).
The tough-built man glanced up at the huge skyline around him, taking care to shield his eyes from the glaring light of the day star. His attention was at last caught by one of the tallest towers apparent nearby- that was Chromatus Tower-! Which meant he was in the city center, and so there had to be a store he was looking for around.
Xander checked his watch, revealing the current time. Well, better late than never. Maybe this way he could at least listen to the noon chime of Chromatus Tower from closer up - already, there was a vague crowd of commotion around the base of the clock tower, from what he could see. He'd have to take an internal tour later, whenever he decided he had free time to kill. Hell, he could do it right now, if he managed to shove through the crowd at all.
"Maybe some day I'll figure this out," Xander silently reproached. To say he was lacking some sense of purpose right now wasn't entirely untrue, loathing as he was to admit it. It always seemed the first new step was the hardest...
...but very soon, he wasn't going to have much choice.
A thin smile laid on Wrights face whilst his eyes stared longingly down at the cities inhabitance, as he himself was positioned directly on the edge of the tower, one small step forward, and the man would fall no doubt to his death. Wright slowly got himself into a more comfortable pose, he bent his spine back ever so slightly, and gently slid his left hand onto the left side of his hip, grasping onto his white belt. His right hand then slowly raised from his side, upwards, as if his hand was clasping over the entire city, using his own perspective, he poked at the air, at individuals on the street which he could see despite being so far up in the tower.
Wright sighed, with the arrow in his right hand, pointed out toward the city, his hand twitched at every tick the clock made, it was almost noon... Almost time... Then, as if he could do nothing else, the man started to giggle...
With every little movement of the clock, the pink turtleneck wearing, tall caucasian male individual giggled even more, his left hand gripped onto his chest, it was painful, he wheezed in agony, anxiousness filled him, until eventually, the clock neared it's final toll...
11:59:55....
11:59:56....
11:59:57....
11:59:58....
11:59:59....
Wrights face instantaneously twisted into an expression of a mixed arrange of madness, smug joy and overwhelming pleasure, before howling at the top of his voice, as loud as his vocal chords could manage, a laugh so twisted, a mix of screaming and unimaginable happiness was the only way to describe it, his voice rebounded off the steel pipes and gears of the tower, causing it to vibrate and echo, and soon enough, by the sheer force of such a booming maniacal screech, the maddening voice echoed through the whole tower, which Xander could clearly hear, but after that...
Wright pushed both hands into the air, as the chromatus tower rung is ear piercing chime on cue with the time of noon. It had finally come, and from behind wright, exposed a creature only he could see, spreading out from behind his person was a figure... A stand. It appeared as an humanoid looking individual with many clocks attached to its body, constantly ticking away. The stand had a slender body, with long arms and legs, its face being human shaped, but possessing clockwork and gears along it, which continuously grind away inside its large, chrome coloured metallic body, it's gears grinding away on cue with the clocktowers, as the chimes of the tower blocked out the words coming out of his mouth, although, he could hear himself quite clearly... And the rest... was silence...
"TIME!"
The sound of a deafening, more ominous clocktower bell echoed throughout the entire city as the whole city was engulfed instantaneously by a chrome aura like barrier. The heroes continued to move at their normal pace, until eventually they quickly began to slow down... slower... and slower, and then... everyone stopped. To the normal world, everyone felt like the world around them had simply stopped moving, they could still look around with their eyes, but as for anything else, it was futile to try. Nobody could speak, nobody could move, nor blink... frozen solid entirely... From Wrights perspective however...
The entire city was entirely crafted into clocks and gears, the buildings were made out of clockwork mechanical tools and cogs, as was every single not living object, the people however were covered with gears over their bodies, at their joints and limbs, slowing them down as they ground to a halt, drenching the whole city from his perspective in a chrome clockwork world, it's gears rattled and churned endlessly, until they began to slow down, on cue with the halting citizens and vehicles of the city, as it all stopped... filling the clockwork world in a chilling silence...
"In the distance.. across the streets, Tolling of the bell, it's chimes shalt cause the faithful to collapse upon their knees... To hear the softly spoken magic spell... Time."
Wright grinned and slowly licked the arrows base to the tip, without cutting himself however, and as his saliva dripped off the top he snickered, flicking the arrow along his fingertips, and unlike the rest of the world, it was not subjected to the chrome gears of his STAND. Wright then gripped the shaft of the arrow and held it over the edge lazily, speaking ominously to himself...
"Chrome Wright will now judge if some of the faithful to my desires remain in this city... to see them gazing around so helplessly, they need a shepherd to guide them... I am that shepherd... And I will shepherd... the true reality... Heh.
Chrome licked his lips disturbingly, before gnawing down on his wooly turtleneck, biting onto it carnivorously as he slowly let the arrow in his grip drop, causing it to descend from the top of the tower, from this moment, the lives of eight people would be sealed forever.
The arrow took on a mind of its own in a way once it was dropped, firing down toward the ground floor of the tower, Xander would notice the golden arrow fire downward, as it shot through a child's, soft, weak, fleshy face directly in front of him, obliterating anything that could be recognised, but however was unable to comprehend the event before he too was stabbed, but instead through the chest with the Arrow. On connection A wave of energy filled his person, filling him with a strange yet unimaginably painful aura, but unable to cope with the intense pain, his mind went blank, as did his world, sinking him into an immediate comatose slumber.
Soon enough the arrow zipped through the entire city at mach speed, stabbing, slicing, cutting and chopping down civilians left and right, but was too fast to even be recognisable, it merely looking like the people were just dying out of thin air. Our other heroes would find themselves also in the path of the carnage, as it quickly pierced through the chests of every single individual, granting them the same feeling of power and agonising pain as Xander, following the same comatose as he did. The heroes did not even have time to understand what became of them, why it happened, why they felt so much pain, why people were just suddenly dying... They would have to wait... Until they reawoke...
As the carnage graced the entire city, Chrome laughed sadistically on top of the tower, before he turned away and fell backwards, Chrome suddenly falling from the towers edge, howling in glee, with each breath, another victim of the Arrow was claimed, and as it appeared as if he would become paste on the cities floor, the man suddenly vanished into thin air, without a trace... And the Stands power... deactivated... The arrow... nowhere in sight.
Izayoi Grand Hospital - Gibson Ves Hawkin
Gibson felt his chest cave in, the force of his chest being slammed by a car "graced" him as he awoke from his slumber, instinctually gasping for air, he sat up from a pure white hospital bed and coughed, clutching his chest in agony only to find the pain instantly subsiding. A cold sweat drenched his entire being, and his heard pumped faster and faster from both sheer confusion and utter fear. Gibson's eyes started to water, it was too much for him to handle, and the teenager began to cry silently, clutching his mouth with his left hand, which shook violently. What happened? What hit him? Why did he feel so much pain? Why was he in a hospital and... Why was he with... everyone else?
Gibson stared around his hospital bed to see many other beds in the large room, each individuals who must have been struck with the arrow.
(the only people in this room are just our heroes, nobody else, you won't know you have a stand until later on, I'l mention when it shows, don't worry, but it won't be for a while yet.
"H- hello?" Gibson whimpered frightfully toward the person sleeping in the bed to his right, which happened to be Yosuke. "Are... You still alive...?"
Lets have some nice posts people! Remember, that pain is fucking brutal XD
That was the first thing Yosuke heard groggily opened his eyes to the bright white sterile lights of a hospital. He could tell. Because his chest fucking hurt. He wheezed and coughed a little as he slowly rubbed his chest to relieve the pain. "H-hot damn. What the hell happened?" Yosuke mumbled to himself. The pain stopped quickly after he started rubbing, thankfully. He wondered what the hell he was doing that ended with him in the hospital in substantial pain. Last thing he remembered was going to Chau's with those two new people, and Yukari. He got up, with way to much effort, and stared at the dude who questioned his status. It was that goth person from before.
"Of co-" Yosuke was interrupted by his own coughing fit, before returning to his sentence. "-urse I am, ya big lug." Yosuke said to the teary-eyed man(?), trying to calm him down with a goofy grin and reassurance. Yosuke was a bit confused as to why... what was his name? Gabeson? Gi-Gibson! That was it! The guy who offered him that drink. His voice did sound a little familiar, was freaking out. The horror of the situation only hit him after he realized someone else was freaking out. He was in an unknown hospital, along with some others. What the fuck?!? Were they attacked? Was everyone else here still alive? Where were they?
Despite all of his questions and slight paranoia over the situation, Yosuke remained calm and scanned the room for others. Mostly people he had met today, along with someone he had never seen before, some angry looking dude. Their attacker? Possibly, but not likely. Yukari also wasn't in the room, a horrifying revelation. What if she had died? Yosuke violently rejected the idea -in his mind, on the outside his eyes just widened significantly- and pushed it out of his head. He needed to either distract himself, or make sure she was safe. Even though she was obviously safe.
"Gibson, was it? I'm, uh, Yosuke, also know as... YoYo." Yosuke explained. He hated to introduce himself like this, but he felt like he had to. Most of the other people in this room knew him as YoYo anyways. Sides, Yukari would call him that so much after she met up with the lot of them that he might as well give him the cutesy nickname now. Plus, it just kinda felt a little reassuring. "You know anything about this?" He asked, motioning to the room around him. "I know you don't know much, but anything'll help. You seen a black-haired girl, about this high, teal t-shirt and a black skirt? She doesn't seem to be in this room..."
And then everything creaked to a stop. His words, his break, his surprised movements. But he could still see, still precept the frozen world around him, with his head pointed to the top of Chromatus tower. There was someone there.
The figure dropped something. In the unmoving light, it briefly shined with golden reflection. As it fell, it adjusted itself, guided by some unknown power. It plowed right through a child's face. He couldn't react. Alongside his own pain of being stabbed through the heart, came something else. A feeling in his soul, of incredible power within.
Then, darkness.
Izayoi Grand Hospital - Xander Johannes
TIME: Unknown DATE: Unknown
Xander gasped out, and immediately regret it. The great pain searing through his heart throbbed with every beat, only worsening as he tried to reclaim breath. Where was he? What was going on? Who - or what - was that figure?
The muscled man was rather surprised to realize he was still alive, given what had happened- that poor child didn't stand a chance. A heavy hand flung to his chest, further astounded to barely feel any sort of wound (and the fact that he was still wearing his clothes from that fateful moment). With bated breath, and still wearing a far more shocked expression, Xander struggled to pull himself up to a leaning position, with his back on the pillow. The pain was only barely starting to subside, still tearing up his chest but at least giving him a bit more leeway to breathe properly. Still grunting and heaving from the pain, Xander tried to look around the room he was currently in.
He was in a typical hospital, it seemed, with the bright lights, linoleum tiling and the pristine beds. The next thing of notice was that he was not alone; there was about... five others, each in their own beds. Two of them had already awakened, trying to recover their bearing and eying each other with fear and confusion. Were these also people harmed by that strange incident, that golden object? What was that strange figure trying to accomplish with this? Were they... the only survivors?
"Alright..." Xander choked out, his confusion and unknowing turning to aggravation. He turned to the awakened individuals on his right, which happened to be the goth man he saw earlier and a kid who looked to be in high school. "I'm going... to ask you... a question," he painfully spat out between struggling breaths. "I doubt you'll know... but I'm asking anyway...What- the hell- happened?"
"You know anything about this?" He asked, motioning to the room around him. "I know you don't know much, but anything'll help. You seen a black-haired girl, about this high, teal t-shirt and a black skirt? She doesn't seem to be in this room..."
Gibson shook his head left and right to the persons question, he remembered him being with a girl when the others had all met, but the events after it were a total blur. Gibson wiped his eyes with his shaking hands, breathing slowly and deeply to compose himself, his eyes shut, attempting to concentrate before he opened them as slow as he could to gather his thoughts and keep himself sane.
"I'm sorry... I only just woke up, I... don't know if she's in this room, m- maybe in another ward? I apologise, that's all I know right now, last thing I remembered was... something in my chest... a wave of... cold? Followed by pain... Does that sound familiar?"
Gibson suddenly turned his head to the other bed and saw Xander reawaken, hearing him gasp in a similar manner like he did, he knew that it couldn't have been a coincidence that all three of them would awaken so violently, he then began to speak, seeming to be in pain, Gibson frowned in concern.
"Alright... I'm going... to ask you... a question, I doubt you'll know... but I'm asking anyway...What- the hell- happened?"
Hawkin slowly rubbed his forehead with his left hand, the tall, gothic looking individual looking around the room and back toward Xander with a speechless expression, stuttering the next few words.
"I- i- I... I d- d- don't k- k- know... Everything s- stopped moving... I saw people.. excreting blood from their bodies and... black, like a bullet magnetised to a person... and I was in its range... But... that's impossible...! Things like that don't exist...!"
Gibson stopped talking and tried to calm himself down as he gazed along the walls, until he noticed a wall clock on the opposite end of the room. Oddly enough, it read 6:05 am... It appears they've been out for quite a while.
"6 am...! We were out for... 18 hours...? Is... that normal for being... shot?" He asked Xander curiously, with him looking so tough, it wouldn't surprise him if he'd been shot before...!
"That also begs me to ask... You felt the chest pains too, right? A feeling of... some sort of cold revitalisation, followed by... agony...? Like me? Me and Yosuke woke up with the same pain, i'm starting to think it's not a coincidence..."
Tommy had been awake for a few minutes now, just lying on the bed trying not to scream. The pain was far worse than the time he was hit by a bus, which says a lot. The current brand of pain felt like Tommy’s every nerve was on fire. Tommy tried moving his right hand, but the mere brushing of his hand on the bed renewed the pain he felt.
As the pain shot up his arm, Tommy screwed up his face and bit his lip hard enough to draw a little blood. Finally after a minute of agonising pain Tommy finally responded. Eyes shooting open and tears streaking down his face he made a kind of gurgling coughing noise that rattled in the back of his head.
“Ggggghuulgnk...”
Having spent some time in a hospital Tommy knew that he really did need to get upright or regret it later when he lost whatever were the contents of his stomach due to the sudden change in how his blood flowed. Sitting up brought with is a whole new dimension of pain to his comparatively small body.
It felt like his mind was maybe a second behind his actions and when it caught up Tommy lost any semblance of balance and fell to his left and out of bed. Tommy hit the ground, hard, and a feeling like a dam breaking caused him more pain to rush through him in a tidal wave. This caused Tommy’s vision to fade momentarily. The new sensation of pain soon faded and Tommy just rested. The floor felt rather nice and cool and gave Tommy enough strength to sob out.
“Why does everything hurt so much?... I think I want to go home now.”
With that said Tommy grabbed the bed railing and pulled himself to his feet, feeling more than a little bit sick by doing so. Once on his feet Tommy stumbled forward and crashed into another bed. Managing to not fall over again Tommy leaned on the foot of the bed before collapsing into a nearby wheelchair. Gasping for breath Tommy sat in the chair rasped,
”I think I’ve made good progress so far... I’ll just rest here for a sec, Tommy's eyes then had a vacant look to them as he tried to gather his strength for the next leg of his journey; to the door.
Ram Jam didn't up all at once. Her return to consciousness was more of an in-and-out deal, brief moments of lucidity before drifting back to sleep. Each time these moments lasted a little longer, parts of her brain reawakening before others. Perhaps that was why it wasn't immediately worrying that she was in a hospital, or why she couldn't feel the pain until the very last time she woke upz
"Hhhhhhhhhh!" she wheezed, waking up in extreme pain with nothing else to vocalize. Air. She felt like she was being crushed. She needed air!
Each wheezy breath was a test of incredible endurance, the mere act of inflating her lungs taxing to the point of unreasonable difficulty. What happened to her?!
Ram Jam fought through the pain, and eventually it became manageable, not much worse than that one time she'd been hit in the chest by the baseball cannon in the batting cage. Before long she'd gotten the hang of breathing and dealing with the pain. She tried sitting up.
"What," she wheezed. "The hell happened? Are you okay, guys?"
Breath deeply. In and out, in and out. No matter what, keep breathing. In and out, in and out. No matter the pain, keep breathing. In and out, in and out. Relax your body, and with every breath form a buffer between you and the pain.
There were certain Holy Men in the world that were able to walk on hot coals, pound spikes through their bodies, and even immolate themselves without letting out even one whimper of pain. They took that pain a boxed it away, separating it from themselves, putting it elsewhere. James had once contacted one such man, a monk from one of the highest temples in Tibet, and through almost a years correspondence convinced him to come on the show and share his wisdom and perspective. A technique for dulling pain wasn't featured in that episode (there was no telling what children would do while trying to replicate it) but James had housed the man personally during his stay and they'd talked long into the night about Tibet, a monks life, and the finer points of meditation.
Besides listening to his fellows converse James had spent the past few minutes, eyes clenched shut and sweating bullets from the agony, attempting to put what he'd learned to practical use. He was not, however, a Holy Man and this pain was like a ocean. He doubted even a master could put it all away and he was a rank amateur. But then someone bumped his bed and he diced that he simply must start to move. In all of his life he had never been the last one to wake up and greet the sun and he certainly wasn't going to let a lifelong streak be broken here.
Slowly sitting up into a seated position he looked around the room and nodded at each of them. "Fine, young lady. Everyone." He said shakily, before sliding his legs out of bed and letting them rest on the floor. "I'm afraid I remember only as much as Mr. Ves Hawkins. One, two, three, Uggghhher." He groaned, pushing himself out of bed and standing up. Looking around, he reached over and found his hat from the nightstand. It felt like lead, but he laboriously lifted it up and placed it back on his head. The added weight seemed to be enough to collapse his back to sitting, but at least he'd made progress.
Then he looked down to the side of the hospital bed and smiled weakly. "This will help explain things." He said, reaching down and pressing the Nurse call button on the beds remote control. "If nothing else a staff member will help us find the other young lady." He said, then looked over at the new face in the room. "I'm sorry." He said to Xander. "We were all within sight of one another during the event. There was someone else, a young lady as described by Mr. Yoyo. I'm afraid you're the odd man out, Mr...?"
Gibson, still nervous and hazy presumably, tried to remember for Yosuke. Yosuke smiled encouragingly as his comrade gathered himself and pulled all the details he could out of the mental fog.
"I'm sorry... I only just woke up, I... don't know if she's in this room, m- maybe in another ward? I apologize, that's all I know right now, last thing I remembered was... something in my chest... a wave of... cold? Followed by pain... Does that sound familiar?" Gibson explained. Yeah, yeah that did sound at least little reminiscent. Did they all get shot? A drive-by? They had recently assaulted someone, so it made sense. The only odd man out was the angry man, he wasn't there. Had both Yosuke and Gibson just forgotten about him?
The angry man got up, struggling even to speak. He must have gotten hit with a big brunt of the damage. He also asked about what the hell had happened, apparently everyone thought everyone else had all the answers. Or maybe it was that they hoped, that everyone else had all the answers. Gibson stuttered out an another answer, but this one was a bit more interesting. He described a black bullet, apparently magnetized to people. Yosuke found that a bit strange, but didn't question it. Maybe Gibson was hallucinating, or misremembering events. But whatever. Apparently they had been out for 18 hours, so Yosuke's parent's would be pissed, so that was another layer on top of the unfortunate events.
"That also begs me to ask... You felt the chest pains too, right? A feeling of... some sort of cold revitalisation, followed by... agony...? Like me? Me and Yosuke woke up with the same pain, i'm starting to think it's not a coincidence..." Gibson asked, trying to find out more about the situation. Yosuke thought that all this being related was pretty obvious, what with all of them except the angry man being in the same place, at the same time. He was really the linchpin, wasn't he? There were more important things to ask him, surely.
Yosuke opened up his mouth to intercept the question and ask the more important question of where he was and what he was doing before all this, but as soon as a syllable left his mouth, Yosuke heard the sound of a body slamming onto a hard tile floor. Tommy had fallen on the floor and mumbled something, probably cursing the pain or questioning his current situation, or both. He then got up, slowly, and made his way over to a wheelchair. The girl he had just met, Ram something-or-other, got up too, questioning everyone's health. Yosuke rubbed his chest a little. Still hurt, but whatever, he was tough, he could take it. "I'm, uh, I'm fine."
James McAfee, that guy Yukari had told him about, was also here. He too, confirmed he was well enough, minus the crippling chest pain. He seemed to have woken up earlier, having heard Gibson's recount of the tales, and confirming their accuracy, albeit while having nothing to contribute of his own. He did, however, remember that there was a "Nurse Call" button in hospitals, and gladly pressed it for them. Yosuke tuned everyone else out as he waited for the nurse. As soon as he heard the door click open, he attempted to bound to his feet. He grossly overestimated his current strength, however, and almost fell, grabbing the night stand at the last second. He shakily stood up, put on his glasses, and looked to the nurse. "Hey, Sir, do you know where Yukari Taiyo is? She's a little shorter than me, black skirt teal top, black hair, ringing any bells? Please?" Yosuke asked desperately. The man simply sighed and looked down. "I'm probably not supposed to tell you this, but you seem like a close friend, so... I'm sorry to inform you she passed away."
YoYo's eyes widened, and tears started forming. "W-what?" He asked, with a shaky voice. He must've misheard the man or... or something. "I'm sorry for your loss..." Was everything else the nurse said on the matter. YoYo blinked back tears and bit his lip. He refused to accept. Surely she had gotten out of the way, the nurse was... was lying. He shakily sighed and sat back on his bed, before lifting his glasses and wiping the spare tears that managed to slip past him. He quickly cleared his throat, and decided to focus on other things. "S-so, uh... what's up? How Ya'll- How you guys holdin' up?" YoYo asked with a silent sniffle and a smile even he could tell was faked. He just wanted someone or something to just... distract him. He didn't want to think. Not about her, about yet another person ripped from his grasp.
Someone... had died? Yosuke's friend died? The news somehow hit Ramika even harder than the bullet did. She got up, shakily hobbling towards Yosuke.
"Oh Yoyo..." she said, doing her best to comfort him by wrapping him in a warm hug.
It was an odd feeling when someone like Yukari passed away. You didn't know them. You could never pretend to. They were someone who'd only been in your life for a few seconds at most, but when they left... somehow, in its own way, it was even more devastating than losing a close relative. When the victim is someone you know, it's easy to rationalize their death away as having meaning or purpose, some sort of role to play in the story of your life, where you're the protagonist. When your uncle or your father dies, it feels like Luke losing Obi-wan. It's crippling and tragic, but also empowering in the things they'd left you in your passing. Experience, determination, humility. Things like that.
But when someone you barely know dies, the death feels somehow senseless. They weren't detached enough from you to feel like another nameless victim, but not close enough that you'd know anything about them. You had no relationship to them. All that left was a feeling of emptiness and recognition of how cruel the world could be. Someone else, maybe someone you do know well, just lost their Obi-wan, and all you could do for them as you watched them suffer through the loss was grieve with them. It made Ramika feel so powerless.
Goichi's voice boomed across the hospital room and his lungs punished him for the effort. He blinked carefully in the harsh lights and tried to catch his breath from the exertion of his waking shout. He was rewarded for his efforts with a hammer blow on his chest that refused to go away. Every breath hurt, his ribs were probably cracked. He tried to remember what had caused this, but his memory didn't make any sense. He remembered something piercing The other people in the impromptu little group he was in, a flashing thing that could change direction in the air and pierced them through the hearts. Must have been a dream hallucination or something.
He pushed the thoughts from his head, instead focusing on his immediate surroundings. The strangers he had "met" earlier were here with him, but he could have sworn there was somebody missing. A girl maybe? He could have sworn there were at least two girls there, and the one he had nearly decked was accounted for. Several of them were standing now and a nurse was in the room. Time to get some answers,he thought. With a struggling wheeze he pushed himself off the bed and swung himself onto the ground, landing on his feet uneasily. He grabbed his jacket off of a hook near the bed and began to walk over to the others, the first steps unsure but slowly getting more sure as he went. He slipped the jacket onto his soldiers but decided against buttoning it up while his torso was still stuck in the industrial press. He got up to the small group clustered near the nurse and cleared his throat to speak "What the hell happened to uh..."the sentence trailing off into the ether as realization hit him.
"Oh Yoyo..."
Goichi looked at him then. He saw that there were tears in his eyes and his mouth was twisted into the kind of false, saccharine-laced, smile that only comes with bad news. He knew then, where the other girl had gone. And a rage began to build in his chest, burning him worse than the pain that already dwelt there. He knew that he had no reason to be so upset, he hardly knew the girl, didn't even know what got her let alone everyone who was still standing here. It could have been an auto accident, a truck whose breaks failed or something. There was no reason to think it was premeditated or that there was even a person to hold accountable. All he had was a gut feeling and he'd acted on less than that in the past. It was enough for Goichi to be sure that when he found whoever it was that did this to them he was going to tear them limb from limb. Enough to know that there was not a single force in the goddamned world that would get between him and whoever it was that was responsible.
"My god."In the end, for all his bravado and righteous fury, they were the only words that would come out of his mouth. There would be time for talk of revenge and justice and all kinds of theatrical crap like them later. For now they just needed to know what happened. "Does anybody know how we even got here? I remember getting stabbed by a flying...thing but it all seems so weird and nothing makes sense."
"I- I- I... I d- d- don't k- k- know... Everything s- stopped moving... I saw people... excreting blood from their bodies and... black, like a bullet magnetized to a person... and I was in its range..."
“Why does everything hurt so much?... I think I want to go home now.”
"What... the hell happened? Are you okay, guys?"
"...But... that's impossible...! Things like that don't exist...!"
Good lord. This business with the odd projectile seemed to have no rhyme or reason to it. At least, having experienced brutal damage before, Xander was able to cope with his own physical harm. These other folks probably had never felt a worse pain in their life, and they were suffering because of this. Was it just by chance that he, and all these others, were the only ones not brutally slain? Xander wasn't sure he wanted to know for certain.
"I'm sorry. We were all within sight of one another during the event. There was someone else, a young lady as described by Mr. Yoyo. I'm afraid you're the odd man out, Mr...?"
That man... not somebody Xander immediately recognized, but it invoked a feeling of somebody of high status. Maybe an philosopher of some renown? That was the feeling he got from the stranger. This assumed attack really didn't have any sort of trend to its victims. Sneering through the pain pressing on his torso, Xander sat up fully, intending to get out of bed in due time.
"Just call me Xander. I was heading by Chromatus Tower, when- well, whatever this was, happened."
Against the complaints of his burning chest, Xander stretched out a bit in his sitting position. At least he wasn't hurting quite as bad, anymore - it was more of a dull, roaring sting in his chest to remind him of this incident. There was something bigger at work here, Xander felt, and he wanted some idea of what it was, no matter how poor of judgement it was to pursue it. There was no way a tough man like him was going to be held down by some supernatural attack when he came out of it technically unscathed.
Someone had called for the nurse, as she came walking through the door as Xander was about to throw his legs over the side of the bed. 'YoYo' was quick to ask about someone - a sister, or something like that. The nurse had little else to offer but the cold, hard truth: she was dead. Died, of course, from that arrow plowing right through her... YoYo couldn't take it. He broke down crying, the others at his side consoling him for his sudden loss. Xander could only grit his teeth and his fists in anger. For them being the only ones to survive being struck, many more must've died.
His thoughts flashed back to that split-second glimpse of that hapless child, killed instantly when the projectile made a tunnel though his skull. These were innocent people, going about their day as any normal person would, only to be instantly destroyed without precedence. Someone, whoever it was that unleashed that golden arrow, was going to pay very dearly for this-!!
"Wait, sir, you must lay down and rest, you were-"
"Eighteen hours is plenty of sleep," Xander deadpanned seriously, continuing his small ordeal of standing up out of bed. With a final groan, he fixed his posture upright, stretching himself out a bit more. He was stiff and aching for having been unconscious for a while - maybe he'd actually have to go home first and get himself into shape again. And he never really had gotten those drinks...
"If you'd like to help, you could point me to the exit. I have a mission to go through with."
The news stunned James, who brought his hand up to his face and lightly clasped it over his eyes. "Poor girl," he said. A life brimming with potential cut short randomly and violently. Who was she? What sort of woman would she have become? Why had she died when the rest of them had not? For a man who sought meaning in everything it was an agony far worse than what burned in his nerves right now. It cut him to his core.
Wait, what had Mr. Xander just said? He was headed to the tower when he was injured? That was a fair distance from where they'd been struck by an...he hadn't actually gotten a good look at it. A flying 「Thing」, yes, that was a good description of it. Had what had occurred occurred everywhere? His thoughts went to his crew. They'd split up to scout locations for the show. Surely a few of them had gone to the tower, it was the greatest landmark in town. He's specifically said they should go out and discover local flavor. Depending on far reaching the event was even those not at the tower would be in danger.
This was no time to dally about in bed. He pushed himself up onto his feet. "Mr. Xander, a moment please. My name is Jame Maury, some of my people may have been at the tower. Please, could you describe exactly what you saw there?"
Gibson looked at Yosuke with an expression that could only be described as shock and sorrow, to hear from the nurse that his friend had been killed, Gibson struggled to get on his feet, just so he could walk over to yosuke and put an arm around him, he didn't know what to do and instead of saying anything, Gibson simply hugged him. It was all Gibson could think about doing, and he knew that loss was something nobody could handle well. There is no right or wrong way to handle loss, and Gibson took the risk of trying to comfort Yosuke in any way he could, even if he would get beaten up over it, he wouldn't blame Yosuke if violence overtook him.
Gibson spoke up loud enough so the others, and Yosuke could clearly hear Gibson speak. Gibsons voice was both aggressive and demanding, and the words coming out of his mouth, he hoped would help Yosuke, at least for now and give him the strength to keep moving, so his will wouldn't be shattered.
"We're not going anywhere... Not... Not until we avenge Yosukes friend...!"
Gibson pulled away from the hug and stood back, looking at everyone in the room and back to Yosuke.
"What happened yesterday couldn't have been normal! Like hell it was normal! We all wake up in the hospital alive, with the same pain. Everything that happened yesterday couldn't have been something natural! And for fuck sake! Yosukes friend died! I don't know him, I don't know any of you, that's true... But I don't feel like I can just walk away from this like its just a natural event! ... I know what it's like to lose someone, and even though Yosukes a stranger to me... I want to find out why someone like me lived... While someone like yosukes friend Yukari had to die...!"
Gibson choked his last few words, his fists clenched and tears sweltered in his eyes, it was clear his words held true to his own feelings.
"If i could change it... I'd die instead... I'm sorry I can't do that... But i'll do the only thing I can... And find out whatever the fuck happened...! So please... Everyone... Help me find out... If not for the peace of Yosukes friend, but for your own safety! We weren't the only people hit by that thing! Other people could be alive! Maybe someone seen something before it happened! And if someone or somethings responsible, i'd like to protect other people... from the same fate..."
Gibson turned toward Xander and frowned with a serious expression to his face, the tears still streaming from his eyes, as he spoke to him, his lips quivering from his emotions overflowing, even if he did not know Yosukes friend, a person was a person, he'd feel upset all the same.
"You were at Chromatus tower, everyone else wasn't... Did you see anything at all? Anywhere we could look to find out what happened...? Please... I know you don't owe us anything, and I don't know if you care... But please... Tell us anything..."
YoYo glared angrily and frowned at Ram for a second as she hugged him, but his expression quickly softened into sadness, and he shut his eyes tight. He hated being babied, but her hug was nice, and warm, and as much as he loved to leap into action, he was sensitive. He tuned everyone out, as he simply sobbed silently, not struggling against Ram, but not reciprocating either. He sniffled and sobbed a little silently, as he heard someone speak, but didn't bother to even listen to them.
Gibson too, hugged him. YoYo sighed angrily, as he started to try and separate himself from the two. Now everyone surely though this child, this wilting flower who had lost his friend, was useless. But Gibson pulled away before YoYo slipped from his grasp intentionally, and started a rousing speech. Like a commander, sending his soldiers to a mission that may just end in their deaths. He was moving, and emotional. YoYo looked at him and he could tell, Gibson cared about YoYo, and Yukari too. All of them did, he could see it one their faces, even the stranger, he knew, deep down, that he cared. With a small smile, one he knew was real this time, he got up, slipping from Ram's grasp.
"T-thanks, Gibson." YoYo said with a sniffle. "But, could, uh, could you please call me, YoYo? I just... it just reminds me of, of... yaknow." He said, tears threatening to form, but being suppressed. "And thanks, all of you, really. I'm not gonna say it much later, so savor this, but, I appreciate the support." He told the rest of them, rubbing his arm shyly. It was weird, being this honest with his feelings. He felt so... open. But this was what you were supposed to do, he thought. Then, with steps much too hurried he rushed up to the stranger, a determined look on his face to hide the pain from walking way to fast when he had just been shot or whatever less than a day ago. "Now, you're gonna tell us all you know about what happened, and we're gonna kick the ass of every single one responsible!" YoYo said, a fire in his eyes and a grin on his face. He definitely wanted to cry a little more. Maybe a lot more. But he didn't have time for that. Whoever killed Her, they had to be dead. Then YoYo could cry.
Tommy was in a dazed half-awake state only vaguely aware of his surroundings. Wha… what’s happening? They’re talking about a friend. The… friend… is one of mine? No… no, not mine, the YoYo’s. His friend isn’t here… where is she? Wait… wait. screwing up his face and trying to focus beyond his pain he looked around. A few more people had regained consciousness and were consoling YoYo. Oh… oh God no.
Readjusting himself in the wheelchair, Tommy decided that it was probably for the best if he didn’t do the comforting thing. Tommy’s older brother hated that when Tommy tried. Reaching out with his left leg Tommy started pushing himself backwards to see if he could find a bathroom.
“Hello? Nurse? Someone?” waiting for a reply and finding none Tommy wheeled himself down to the end of the corridor and found a bathroom. When he entered he saw his reflection and was shocked. Tommy could hardly recognise himself, he looked as if he hadn’t eaten for a week and his hair was a mess. Checking his pockets Tommy found a small wad of rubber bands and wrapped one around his wrist. Getting up on unsteady feet and approaching the sink Tommy filled it with water, cleaned himself up as best he could with wet paper towels.
Dunking his head in the sink Tommy opened his eyes under water in the hopes of getting rid of his lingering tiredness. Resurfacing, Tommy bumped his head on the faucet causing his to curse. Rubbing the back of his head Tommy grabbed the rubber band from his wrist and used it to tie back his hair. Now feeling rather refreshed, stable on his feet and not in constant pain Tommy started wheeling back the wheelchair to his shared room. As he walked back Tommy felt a little mischievous. No one’s looking… I have a wheelchair and an empty corridor… why not? I’m not going to have an opportunity like this again! Turning the chair so that it was facing him, Tommy backed up for a running start and charged at the chair. Leaping just in time to land knees first in the chair Tommy rocketed down the corridor shooting past empty rooms, his own occupied one, some more empty rooms and the nurse’s station before hopping off before the wheelchair his the wall.
A nurse looked over the desk with a shocked look on her face and Tommy walked back with an innocent ‘can I help you?’ look on his face that could melt the heart of Jack Frost himself. Once past the desk Tommy took a deep breath and walked back to his room. On his way back Tommy looked in at the other rooms noticing that every room he had passed were empty.
Once back at the room he asked “Were we in particularly bad shape? All the other rooms are empty.”
Ram Jam smiled, sniffing. It was good to see Yoyo bouncing back so quickly, but as much as she wanted to pretend that a hug and a kiss could solve all the world's problems, there was still a lot to be done before Yoyo's broken heart could truly be put at ease and they could all rest. In fact, there were still lingering questions she wanted answered as well.
Who was it that attacked us and why did they do it? Why did they have to kill so many innocent people if they were just after us? Are they going after our families and friends too? Is Dad going to be okay?
These questions scratched at the back of Ramika's head, demanding answers when she had none. Not knowing was almost unbearable. But there was one question on her mind that she might be able to answer, and it could lead them all to the answers to all the other questions they were all asking. Or at least it could be a start.
Why don't I feel injured?
Unbuttoning the first few buttons of her hospital gown so she could see down her chest and look at her stomach, Ramika looked for a bruise or an entry wound where she felt the pain. She saw nothing. Not even gauze or a bandaid.
"Guys..." she said, growing a little paler. "Is anyone else injured? Do you see any blood?"
“Were we in particularly bad shape? All the other rooms are empty.”
"What?!" Ram Jam exclaimed. "No, that can't be right. There has to be-"
But when she walked outside, she saw that Tommy was telling the truth. The only other people she could see were nurses. All the other rooms were empty.
"We're the only ones here..."
Something wasn't right about this situation. No, nothing was right about this situation. Something was very, very wrong.
"If i could change it... I'd die instead... I'm sorry I can't do that... But i'll do the only thing I can... And find out whatever the fuck happened...! So please... Everyone... Help me find out... If not for the peace of Yosukes friend, but for your own safety! We weren't the only people hit by that thing! Other people could be alive! Maybe someone seen something before it happened! And if someone or somethings responsible, i'd like to protect other people... from the same fate..."
Goichi grinned like a madman despite the strange happenings and tragedy of recent events. This Gibson guy talked a big game and if he was willing to back it up with action then he could see them becoming fast friends. He reached out his hand to shake and said,"Gibson you can bet your ass I'm with you. I'm not just gonna stand around and let some asshole kill a young girl and get away with it. As long as we're in this consider me joined at the hip brother. I'm sure as shit not going anywhere until this bastard pays."
The entire situation still stank of something not quite right. Nothing made sense, but it felt good knowing that whoever was responsible was going to get a boot so far up his ass he'd be vomiting leather even if at the moment it was all just words. And he had to admit that Yoyo was taking it better than he had expected as well. Still the question once again came back to what the hell happened to them?
"Guys..." she said, growing a little paler. "Is anyone else injured? Do you see any blood?"
Goichi looked down at his chest and realized that he too was totally unharmed. No bumps, scrapes, bruises, or cuts. But they were stabbed. All of them. Through the heart no less. So much for finding answers.
“Were we in particularly bad shape? All the other rooms are empty.”
And just like that, any remaining good vibes from Gibson's proclamation were sucked out of him. "What do you mean empty? There's no way we'd be the only ones here. That doesn't make any sense,"he sighed, "then again its not like anything else about today has. Does anybody have an idea about our next move? I'm all for getting to the bottom of this but without any leads we're just stuck looking dumbfounded at each other. And I don't know about the rest of you but that's starting to get old for me."
The goth individual only held a slight delay between Xander attempting his leave and himself attempting to shut it down. With a subtle roll of the eyes and a quiet exhale of a sigh, Xander turned back to humor the man's desperate chant. As much as he didn't want to be crass about this, Xander saw no reason to involve these other folks in what he was attempting to look for. While they certainly couldn't give up any search for answers any more than him, Xander was one of about two of them that actually looked to stand a literal fighting chance, when this greater conflict came to blows (and it had to, at some point).
By the time Gibson was finished, one of the folks who had fallen into the wheelchair was about to return from the bathroom. And, of course, the rest of the group who was supporting YoYo also took the same stand. It seemed that one of the ultimate decisions among them was to probe Xander of anything he knew that could help their efforts, with Gibson, James, and YoYo collectively half-asking, half-demanding he share whatever he witnessed. So much for not getting them involved.
The situation seemed to take a gruesome and worrying tone again when the lady and the wheelchair guy suddenly reported their own shocking discoveries. Xander wasn't very surprised; he had already discovered that his own wound seemed non-apparent (as he neither felt an actual mark, nor saw that his clothes were torn) and one of his assumptions was that they were the only ones to survive this attack. It only served to underline the supernatural nature of this case, just as Xander himself was about to do for the brutality of it.
"Alright, look," he began, folding his arms low at his torso. "Your enthusiasm to fight back against whoever did this is admirable, maybe. It shouldn't change the fact that the responsible person, in order to pull off something like this, has to be very powerful- and very dangerous." Xander's tone started to rise, putting further emphasis on his statements. "For us to have survived, many more people had to have died, not just Yukari. Dozens of people killed, in just a split-second. Does that sound like something you want to make an enemy out of?"
Pausing, Xander backed down a bit, seeing a couple of the people gain a furious fire in their eyes. "It's clear I'm not going to change your mind like this; I'm simply warning you. You've already lost so much, do you dare risk any more to even try and put down this foe?" Everyone here wanted answers and retribution, but they would put a lot on the line by doing so. Lives, families, careers, everything truly valuable to them. The last thing anyone needed was another death to witness. After a moment, he added, "And before you make me eat my own words, realize that I've far less to lose than you do."
After a bit of time, Xander turned again, as if to leave, but stopped halfway to speak again. "...Just before this happened, I saw someone at the top of Chromatus Tower. I'm certain that man was behind this." He finished his turn away, calling back to the others, "I'm going to go home and recuperate, then return to Chromatus Tower at 8 AM. Maybe you'll be there." Before any further words or arguments could stop him, Xander was out the door on the way to the exit.
"Jerk..." Ramika muttered as Xander walked out on the rest of them.
Looking around, Ramika noticed that, aside from Yoyo and Tommy, she didn't know most of these people. Odd, because after what they'd gone through together already, she felt like they were already friends. Or something like that at least. There was a bond they shared, the bond between survivors. And maybe, depending on how these next 24 hours passed, comrades.
Ramika couldn't help but smile. They were just like the Magnificent Seven! Except, you know... there were only six of them. Yeah, just like the Magnificent Seven.
The shooter girl got up off the floor, buttoning up her hospital gown again to preserve her modesty. Once she'd dusted herself off, she offered a hand to everyone.
"Well I think some introductions are in order. My name is Ramika Jamison. My interests include old Westerns and first-person shooters. I'm Okinawa born 'n raised, and I've lived in Izayoi City all my life. My dad's name is Wild Bill Jamison. It's a pleasure to meet y'all," she said, going for a deliberate twang but stopping just short of sprinkling her sentences with "giddyup" and "howdy pardner".
