towerofanimus | I was the more deceiv'd

Characters: France [AU2] open to all
Setting: Floor Eleven, night time
Format: Either is fine
Summary: Francisca's just returned from being 'home' for about a month, straight after her shaky recovery from the teddy bear event. Needless to say, she's lost it.
Warnings: potential violence, potential suicide, language.

She felt cold.

On her abrupt return to the tower after weeks of wandering the decimated streets of France alone, after weeks of feeling as if someone had cut her heart out with a rusty knife, after week of nothingness, she broke down. She'd barely had enough time to get to a bathroom to vomit whatever little her stomach had held and proceeded to fall into a state of hysterics, screaming and clawing at her skin in the empty cubicle, her nightgown soaked with sweat and bare feet kicking at the walls.

Now that she'd 'calmed' somewhat, she'd come out of the bathroom and found it was night, the tower lights dimmed and no one in the hallways. Restless, she'd made her way to the eleventh floor, needing the comfort of life after so long without that when she reached it tears had started streaming down her cheeks as she got trembling handfuls of flowers, holding the delicate blossoms to her face and inhaling the scent.

Following the sounds of running water, she stumbled to the lake, mutely staring at the phantoms that seemed to dance under the reversed rainbows in the darkened sky. Strange that she found the sight of such apparitions more comforting that frightening - her people had been dead and not even their ghosts had left whispers behind. The phantoms let her be as she stumbled into the lake, dropping several flowers in the process and letting the little blossoms float around her in the rippling water. Soon the water was to her knees and she felt some relief in the cold she could feel seeping up her legs, contrasting with the warm air around her, but it wasn't enough. She felt numb and soon she was crushing the flowers in her hands, nails digging into her palms as she began to have another panic attack, breath coming faster and louder.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There's another bout of quiet - this was something he was afraid would happen. He draws a breath, then sighs. "I won't pretend to understand it, myself, but I'm here, flesh and blood." He has an air of weariness to him, though - one that wasn't there when he was in the tower before.

Francisca shook her head frantically, tears springing to her eyes. "No, no that's not possible because no one comes back-! Not after so long!" she bit out harshly, trembling all over.

With a choked sob her voice dropped into a plaintive whisper, "Why are you doing this to me?"

Tears.

He had thought showing up would be painful and awkward, but he didn't think it'd go like this. The last thing he'd wanted to do was make anyone cry.

He swallows, and reaches up to adjust his hat, and covers his eyes in the process. "I didn't intend to be gone so long, if at all. I... I got cocky. I got stupid. I thought that since Philip had shown up then, that we could do something, that we could fix all this..."

"We always managed to fix things somehow, but this time..."

_{"...I'm sorry..."}

She continued to shake her head through his explanation, closing her eyes stubbornly. She refused to listen to this phantom pretending to be Shoutarou. Her mind was breaking already and she was sick of it.

"No you're not," she muttered, turning away from him and splashing into the water, scrabbling to get to her feet again so she could get deeper into the lake.

Had he known the problems his presence was causing, he probably would have backed off - however, her words put salt into the wound that's been sitting for months since he initially disappeared. He looks quite gobsmacked, to say the least.

"What? How can you just throw that back in my face?!"

Francisca turned to glare at him, up to her hips in water. "Because you're not him!" she screamed. "You're not him and it's not your place to make his apologies!"

For several moments, he stares in shocked disbelief at the words coming out of her mouth. He's not sure how to go about this, really. "I... I am me - Hidari Shoutarou! I don't know what's happened since I've been gone to make you think I'm not me... And to tell the truth, I don't know how I can prove it."

"There's no point," she responded, suddenly listless, eyes losing the brief flash of fire and dropping to the rippling water. "Everything in this Tower... it's not real."

Tucking her hair behind an ear, she turned away from him again, calmly stepping deeper into the lake.

"There is a point! Getting out of here is the point!" He steps forward a few steps, half-starting to reach for her, but stopping.

"I'm real - you're real, and the regret I've got over failing you and everyone is very, very real," he adds, letting his hand fall.

She was deaf to him as she waded deeper and deeper until she couldn't touch the bottom with her feet. Steeling herself, she resisted the urge to look back at the Shoutarou doppelgänger and plunged into the water.

"Francisca..! FRANCISCA!" Shoutarou jerks his hat off, and throws it aside, and takes a running dive after the woman - he has a moment of pause, as his body is shocked by the cold of the water.

Now...where'd she go?!

She'd always been a powerful swimmer, allowing her to cut through the murky depths swiftly, a pale flicker in the darkness before vanishing completely.

On the surface of the lake a few last bubbles appeared, along with a single red rose, the only remaining signs that she'd ever been there.

I was the more deceiv'd

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject