towerofanimus | 5th Recipe - Feeding Time [Closed]

Characters: Kazumi, Saki and Alter Saber
Setting: The meadow, Floor 25
When: October 25th
Summary: Kazumi finds out what happened to Saki, and what the tower did to her... the hard way.
Warnings: Gore, death, etc

Kazumi was worried. She'd started worrying when she had gone a day without seeing Saki; they had been helping each other with the candy, and with Saber's help as well she thought they'd been doing alright, but things had been chaotic. After not seeing her friend for one day, she got worried and had started using her Soul Gem to try to find Saki. There had been no response until today.

Dressed in her own cat costume, protectively cradling her bucket of candy, Kazumi had followed the signal down to the 25th floor, the meadow where she'd often relaxed before this event. She sighed a bit in relief, glad to know her friend wasn't on one of the more dangerous floors. Stepping away from the stairs, she started looking, and it wasn't long before she saw the familiar bunny costume.

"Ah, Saki! There you are!" she cried out gratefully, too glad and too far away to notice anything amiss as she approached.

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"Kazumi..."

Saki's voice was quieter than usual. On the one hand? She had this primal need to kill. The blood leaking through the fuzzy bunny outfit would be visible as soon as she got close, and only seeing someone else die would stop the bleeding, stop the pain for a bit.

On the other? Better her than her friend.

"You shouldn't be here. It's dangerous."

"I've been looking all over for you... where were you the past few days?" Kazumi's concerned expression only grew more so as she drew closer and saw her friend's condition. The outfit that had been so cute before was now bloodstained and lumpy, the smell tainting the clean air of the meadow. "Y, you're injured! What happened to you?"

"You don't need to worry about me. I'll be fine."

If she looked around her, Kazumi would see that she was being watched. The number of monsters was steadily growing. It wasn't conscious, per se, but she was calling them nonetheless.

"But I think you should -- you should go, Kazumi. Being out here is making me feel a lot better than I did when I was inside. You don't need to check on me. I don't need to get candy or anything. You should worry about yourself."

"But, you're not fine at all! Saki, there's blood!" said Kazumi, frowning and trying not to grimace as she came up to her. It really did smell bloody... "Can I heal you? How's your Soul Gem?"

She shook her head at the urgings to go; she couldn't just leave her best friend here in this condition.

"I can't just leave you alone out here, Saki," she said. "Please tell me what happened..."

"It's the fault of this place. There's nothing you can do." Saki shook her head, trying to move away. Kazumi didn't need to see the blood inside the costume. Nobody needed to see the blood inside the costume, nor did they need to see what else was inside it.

"Please. The best thing you can do for me is to leave. If anyone gets too close, they'll - they'll - "

Saki could hear the low growl in the background, and she froze.

"Go. Stay close to Saber-sama. Keep safe; keep your candy bucket full. Don't stay too close to me. I don't want the same thing to happen to you that happened to me. They'll change your costume, and it won't be pleasant.

You need to leave. You need to leave soon, before the monsters come."

"They did something to you? Did you end up not getting enough candy?" Kazumi felt horrible... it'd been a bit chaotic, but she really should have helped Saki out! Even if she'd just barely made it herself. For Saki to be in such a condition...

"Well, you should come back with us to the dormitories then! It'll be safer, and maybe we can do something to patch you up if magic won't work," suggested Kazumi, taking Saki's hand and lightly tugging her back towards the stairs. She looked out around the meadow at that sound, but for now the low rolling plane kept whatever it was out of sight. "I can take a monster or two, but let's both leave."

"They did something to a lot of people. But I'm not the one who's in trouble right now. They can't hurt me more than they already have."

Saki shook her head no, pulling her hand away from Kazumi's and moving back a few steps. "It's not safe for me inside. I - "

Her words were interrupted by another growling noise, and the sound of feet moving closer. " - it won't just be a few monsters. I'll only make it worse, if they get too close. I'm safer here. You're safer inside with someone to keep you safe. Trust me."

"Saki, don't say that! I don't want you getting any more hurt than this," said Kazumi worriedly. "Even if it's dangerous... I don't want to leave any of my friends behind!"

Saki pulling away only meant Kazumi following her, not willing to leave her behind when she could hear monsters approaching. Growling, armor, other sounds... was it more than just one or two?

"The monsters won't hurt me! But they'll think you're trying to hurt me by dragging me inside. They're on the way and you need to leave. I won't be able to stop them if they start. If anything, I'll become one of them.

If you make me do that, if you make me go so far as to hurt you, I won't be able to forgive myself. You need to go before it's too late. Just go!"

Saki's cry was desperate this time, as she ducked to the ground, covering her head.

"Saki..." She heard those words, but it was so hard to accept them. Had the tower really done something so horrible to her friend? This was just... too cruel...

"I, I'll be back with something for those wounds!" she said, finally letting go and starting to turn away. Still, seeing her friend like that, bleeding, in pain, and thinking of leaving her alone...

Kazumi let out a cry as she was suddenly hit, a black ball of shadows appearing and running into her from behind her, knocking her to her knees. Several others appeared, and as evening approached, other shadows were pooling around them. Coming over the swells of the meadow were other, shambling figures, and among them one taller, armor crimson in the dying light.

"Don't. Just run -- Kazumi!"

That cry made Saki get to her feet, but her initial reaction - pick her friend up, get her out of there, then run, hide deep in the forest, something - wasn't going to be so easy. Not when she could smell blood. Not when she could hear the monsters coming.

She tried to shake it off, but something picked her up by the hood of her costume and pulled her back. Like she'd done her job, like she was done now.

"No. No, no, no, no. No. I'll - I'll -"

But she wouldn't. Her Soul Gem was with her, and she should have been able to use it, but it didn't seem to work, and she couldn't break through that wall.

Struggling to her feet, Kazumi leapt out of the way as another of those darkballs charged at her. Throwing back the hood of her costume, she flicked her earring, invoking her soul gem.

A flash of light momentarily drove those floating creatures and the gathering shadows away. When it was gone, Kazumi was... still wearing her pajamas, but at least now she had her hat and, more importantly, her staff. Using it to drive back some of the monsters, she turned just in time to see that figure in crimson armor grab Saki and pull her away.

"No, Saki!" the magical girl cried out. To her, it looked like her friend was being kidnapped, not drawn out of the fray. "You let go of her!"

Leaping up into the air, Kazumi aimed her staff at the towering figure before unleashing a huge beam of light from it.

"Limiti Esterni!"

5th Recipe - Feeding Time [Closed]

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