Sacrificing yourself never matters in the end.

[secretcharm]

Characters: Yuka and you!
Setting: All around the tower; Floor 45
Format: I'll follow you!
Summary: Event catch-all
Warnings: Mentions of incest, crying little girls.
A August 13; Around the tower

"Y-Yuka's sorry...Yuka's sorry..." This is something a lot of people will probably hear today. The little girl who keeps almost chanting it wanders the tower, looking for some reprieve from the shadow on her tail that's just as tall as she is. She hides in corners and small rooms, ducks into the elevator (though regrets that long ride of angry whispers just minutes after it starts), goes wherever she can that may help drown it out. Beyond her quiet, pleading words, a bell can be heard from the little girl. This is because she's clutching one in her hands, letting it hang from a string so it can ring freely as she moves.

It seems as though she's already cried herself dry, eyes pink and cheeks stained with dry tears. No surprised from this little girl, but when someone you love dearly is whispering angrily into your ears, you probably can't help it...

B August 15; Floor 45

By now the whispering's worse, turned into loud barking almost. And while before it was just talking about leaving them all, well...what the shadow is saying is worse too. She's found a wall to curl up against halfway or so through the tower, and the creatures crawling on the windows she's long since learned can't come in. They make better company than her shadow brother at this point.

I thought you loved me! I thought you cared about me! You said you loved me, Yuka! Liar!

"Y-Yuka's not a liar," comes a hiccup'd response, but the shadow continues. You're just a liar. You never loved me. You wouldn't have let them save you if you did. You wouldn't have left your brother behind if you did. You left us all behind! Mom, dad, me, our friends...

"Yuka didn't mean to!" It didn't matter what she said though. The accusations continued. She died because she knew she'd be saved, didn't she? If she hadn't gotten in the way, it could have been him that was alive still. Their friends that died are there, aren't they? He could have been with them!

But you had to 'save' me. You don't love me. You hate me, don't you? Well I hate you too!

"N-niisaaan..." Despite being out of tears, despite being so, so tired, she wails anyway and the color in her collar drains a little more.

Comments

[sacrament_of_blood]

It was the sound of a little girl crying that had drawn Merciless here. Now she watches the scene, feeling clueless about how to proceed. Was this her world, she would consider slaying her to send her to the comforting arms of her family and the gods. But her teachings tell her life serves a purpose even if death is a mercy, and this tower, she had heard, is not a place where death will bring release.

Her usual procedure had been to bring children to someone who could better help them. But she did not know anyone to bring this one to.

In the end, overcoming her feeling of awkwardness, she says, "Those things are deceptions. They say only what will hurt you most."

Indeed, she had been experiencing this heself. Her collar had lightened a little.

[secretcharm]

With a few hiccups, Yuka rubs at her eyes before looking at the woman who had walked in. They were just...deceptions? But he sounded so much like her brother. How could he just be fake?

"Wh-why are they doing that?" Why would they pretend to be him and say those awful things? "Yuka doesn't un-understand."

[sacrament_of_blood]

"Their purpose I do not know. But would those you know speak in such a manner?"

Even now, Merciless was resolutely ignoring the voice of her goddess saying that she had failed Her, no matter how much it was putting her visibly on edge.

[secretcharm]

"Mmm...no...I don't think niisan w-would say that...but." But what if it was true? What if they really were nothing but shadow things now? What if it really was her fault?

"A-are they really shadows now? Because we...because we left them? A-aren't our worlds gone now?"

[sacrament_of_blood]

Answers. This child was looking to her for answers she did not have. She had always had answers, so this was a most unwelcome experience.

Merciless stares off for a while before saying, "In this tower I have already seen insidious deceptions." The 100th floor alone was evidence of that. "Regardless, was it your choice to come here? It most assuredly was not for me. If they can accuse you of abandoning them, they are either lying or twisted in their perceptions."

[secretcharm]

"...no, I didn't." She hadn't asked to come here, though it was nice to be alive again. But it wasn't her fault...so the shadow is lying. He's not really her brother at all, because she didn't choose to come here, and her brother wouldn't say things like that. She wiped at her nose and got up, brushing her smock off before looking at Merciless again.

"Um. Thank you. Yuka feels a little better now..."

[sacrament_of_blood]

"You are welcome." Mistrustfully, she stared at the creatures clinging to the windows like she expected them to break in at any time.

[secretcharm]

And after a moment, Yuka followed her gaze, curious as to what she was staring at. Oh hey...

"They won't come in! They just...kind of crawl around and try and scare you." The girl presses a hand against the glass, making faces at one of the creatures as it bangs on the glass a little before crawling off.

"See?"

[sacrament_of_blood]

"This tower is truly full of irritating trickery," Merciless gave something like a sigh. If only those were problems she could simply rend apart with her hands.

A

[bowandblade]

[The sound of a little girl crying is both similar and dissimilar to what Archer has been hearing from his trailing shadows. The ringing of the bell is what anchors the crying in reality, gives it clarity, and that is what Archer follows to a corner of one of the lounge floors.

He eyes the girl and the shadow child with her, then turns his head to glance at the mass of shadows behind him.]

Little girl. Stop crying.

[It's almost an order, with how terse Archer is at the moment. His mood could definitely be better, and his collar could definitely be darker.]

[secretcharm]

[[Well, she's not sure if there are any other little girls here, so she automatically assumes he's talking to her and immediately quiets. Looking up at him, she whimpers a little.]]

S-sorry...Y-Yuka wasn't meaning to be annoying...

[[She clutches the bell tighter to her chest, not yet turning her eyes away from him in case he was still upset with her.]]

[bowandblade]

[He tilts his head at the apology, his expression almost dispassionate in his annoyance. But he huffs and looks away, reaching down to put his hand on her head even as he crouches by her.]

You are not being annoying. [Archer's voice is firm, even as he ignores the shadows around him to focus on her.] You have no reason to apologize.

[He looks now to the shadow that had been with the girl when he arrived, as if silently connecting his words to the shadow's presence.]

[secretcharm]

[[Lips quivering a little, she seems unsure as to whether or not that's true. But she's not arguing at least. If he says she's not annoying, then she'll believe him. This man is older than her so...

Rubbing at her eyes a little, Yuka glances back over her shoulder a little at the shadow too, and it hisses a few accusations. Why are you taking comfort from him? You don't really deserve comfort. It's all your fault Yuka.

She just turns back to Archer.]]

M-mkay. Thank you...

[bowandblade]

[It takes a moment to push away his annoyance, but he flashes the little girl a smile.]

I do not just mean you have no reason to apologize to me, little girl. You have no reason to apologize to these shadows, either.

[secretcharm]

Oh but...he keeps telling me that...that it's his fault he's like that... [[Don't you apologize for things that are your fault? Especially if it's someone important you're upsetting...]]

[bowandblade]

What could a little girl like you have possibly done? [It's meant to be somewhat reassuring, but the wording itself could be taken as condescending. He flicks his fingers at the shadow dismissively.]

It is not worth crying about. Come, there are better places to be than this corner.

[secretcharm]

[[...well. She has to agree. She's not really sure what she's done. She just knows that it's 'her fault'. Looking back at the shadow one more time, she nods at Archer.]]

Okay...

[[He's right. There have to be better places. And having company wouldn't be so bad either...]]

[bowandblade]

[With that, he rises, a sense of satisfaction ebbing in that battles with the weariness that the shadows brought with them. He drops his hand from the girl's head, stepping in the way of the shadow child so that they can leave the lounge floor.]

Now then! With that out of the way... Your name, little girl.

Floor 45

[lightofhumanity]

Normally, chaos didn't come here, as the higher observatory was much better, but right now..he was just wandering, trying his best to deal with his six shadows as they insulted and spoke to him. While he felt quite tired, he couldn't help but pause and sigh inwardly when he saw and heard a little girl crying and screaming, probably because of the shadow near her.

Quickly, chaos walked over to her and knelt down so that they could see each other better. "Little one, why are you crying? What is your friend saying to you?"

As he spoke to the girl, the shadows that stood for Shion and Allen spoke to him. "You really shouldn't be getting in her business, chaos. After all, you just bring suffering wherever you go!" "Exactly! After all..if you hadn't existed, we might have had a chance at being saved! I might have been able to speak my mind without fear!"

[secretcharm]

Sniffling and hiccuping a little, Yuka looks up at him...and recognizes him. He's the same person who helped her before. She moves forward onto her knees, quickly hugging onto chaos.

"H-he's saying Yuka's a l-liar and that Yuka doesn't l-love him and that he h-hates Yuka." And this is very distressing for her, especially when the shadow begins judging her for hugging other people. For looking to others for help.

[lightofhumanity]

chaos returned the hug and patted her on the back as she spoke, but as he did so, Shadow Jr. decided to speak up. "Planning on saving another person, chaos? I hope you don't screw up this time. After all, you saved me, and you've seen the results of that."

"Now, I'm sure that he doesn't hate you, Yuka. If it's your brother, he might be just scared and upset and saying things as a result. People, on occasion, can do that."

[secretcharm]

She...she hadn't thought of that possibility. But then when she's scared, she just looks for her brother. So of course it never really crossed her mind. Still though, with that idea in her head, she starts calming down a little, glancing back at the shadow once or twice.

"....r-really? B-because. Yuka's not a liar. Yuka loves him very, very much! A-and. And she tried to save him...I tried to save him and I thought I did but..." But she apparently couldn't, according to the tower.

"Wh-why didn't the tower take him too?"

[lightofhumanity]

chaos knew about that possibility, since he had encountered quite a few different types of people, due to his long life. However, he wasn't sure if it was true or not..but it was a possibility. Or that the shadows were just illusions.

"Really. I know you love your brother quite a bit, Yuka, and I am sure you did all that you could to save him. What happened to your universe was not your fault. However, it seems that Zo can only take one soul from any given universe. He could only save one person, and he saved you."

[secretcharm]

"..." At that, Yuka looks down. He saved her...

"I don't want to be here. Zo should have saved Yuka's brother." With a hiccup, she starts crying again, because she just...she shouldn't be here. Zo shouldn't have saved her!

[lightofhumanity]

"See? Even a little kid knows that it would have been better for her friends and family to be saved. However, I don't recall you ever saying something like that, chaos." As the shadow of Shion spoke, chaos sighed inwardly and tried to pat Yuka on the head.

"I don't imagine that many people do want to be here..but Yuka, think about how your brother might feel, if he was saved and you were not? Perhaps, instead of wishing to trade places, you should keep on surviving so that you can both be together again someday."