Put an End to This False World

[warriorscribe]

Characters: Enoch and wide open
Setting: Graveyard, morning, slightly forward-dated to when the drops in question are processed.
Format: I'm starting in prose but it doesn't matter.
Summary: A small handful of names show up in the graveyard, and they prove there just might be a right way to break.
Warnings: Hostility will be met with violence right now.

Enoch didn't know how he'd let the graveyard's significance die. He didn't know how the names on the headstones had become a blur. He didn't know how he'd become numb to this job that was once so painful. He even missed Yu's headstone until the moment it came into abrupt clarity for no apparent reason. While he wondered how he could have missed it, wished him and his guardian strength, another nearby caught his eye. He could swear his heart stopped for a moment.

He walked swiftly through the row of tombstones, turning for another pass, in disbelief.

Tohko Amano.
Raphael.
Yotsuba Koiwai.

Tohko. She'd been getting on his nerves and Lucifel's both lately, but she only ever meant the best. He'd never finished writing her his story. At least, books did not crumble on the destroyed worlds. She may not need to eat but she could take comfort in her stories.

Raphael. The first person he recognized from home. Someone he'd been able to confide his suspicion in. Trapped on a dead world with a dead God.

Yotsuba. Such a bright light in such a hostile place. Like so many children before her she'd endeared herself to him immediately. It was always easy to talk to her, even with Eleven's screaming in his mind. Having earned a place in Lucifel's heart and spending time with the both of them, it had begun to feel like a family.

He had promised her he would restore the worlds. Now she herself would fall victim to Ruana if he failed too. Someone so young...someone who had begun to feel like family.

For a moment, it seemed to nearly echo a moment from his near future on Earth, where he would encounter Belial. His fists clenched and his shoulders tightened. Anyone who could see the flaming aura at the back of his neck would see it was flaring out. Eleven screamed shrill in his mind, the only sound he could hear.

Until he screamed back.

His voice rose to drown out the one in his mind, a roar that echoed in the solemn floor. He drew another breath, and screamed again, not in fear but in anger. The third scream found words involved.

"RUANA! I WON'T LET YOU HAVE THEM!" Every word he spoke, he shouted over Eleven, his eyes alight with something dangerous. His Arch found itself in his hands, open and raised. It buzzed as he slashed at the air in front of him.

"YOU WON'T TAKE THEM, DO YOU HEAR ME?"

Comments

[scentofmakai]

A oddly hesitant, familiar voice rose from the stairway. There was no way to simply pass by and miss the pain of someone dear to him... so Zett tried to find the right thing to say.

Not finding it, he simply asked, "Who's gone?"

[warriorscribe]

Enoch is too angry for words after that, seething and already forming ideas in his mind, stupid, reckless ones that could cost him his life. He has a real weapon still...

"Raphael," he answers Zett curtly. "Yu. Tohko. Yotsuba..."

[blackestomen]

A morning walk to the cafeteria was better than a morning elevator ride to the cafeteria. Longer, perhaps, in the long run... but better for her mood and better for her generally strained patience. To take the stairs was to mostly avoid others, and she had already become skilled at avoiding all but the most unexpected trouble that the tower had to offer.

Which is how she found herself about to pass onto the graveyard floor, but hesitating because of the screaming. From a voice she was certain that she recognized... but had never been able to imagine screaming so.

She lifted the hem of her robe and hastened her steps, quickly descending the necessary stairs. And then she was picking her way across the graveyard, eyes wide and confused, heading Enoch's way.

"Enoch!" What was he...

...the dead. The missing. They were noted here, weren't they?

Oh.

She stopped short, no other words coming to her.

[warriorscribe]

After the last threat, Enoch spared a glance over his shoulder in the direction he'd heard a familiar voice call his name.

"Kasimira." It's spoken evenly, as if it's only an answer, but there's an undercurrent of powerful emotion, a tension that gives it a strange sort of strength.

[irreverence]

"Losing it, huh?"

Asagi should probably know better than to sound as heartless as she does, perched on the corner of an ornate, cross-shaped memorial, legs crossed at the ankles as they swing. There's a finger in front of her mouth, teeth working at a nail idly, sharpening, and she lets her head fall sideways. Her expression is impassive, eyelids low and red eyes somewhat judging. She doesn't move any closer, but the cloneblade on the wrist closest to him gleams ominously as there is suddenly a weapon in his hands.

"Cause that's gonna do a lot of good."

[warriorscribe]

Enoch glares at the source of the voice before he's actually focused on her and taken in that it's a complete stranger.

"It will."

He's not planning to just yell at the empty air, after all. Of course, his actual plans won't get him anywhere, but...

[puppy_lancer]

[Lancer, in the course of cleaning off Ayaka's tombstone, hears the scream. It makes him jump.]

E-enoch?

[He runs toward the source of the voice.]

Enoch! What happened?

[warriorscribe]

*Enoch doesn't say anything at first, his head bowed and his grip tight on his Arch.

Eventually, he puts his hand on the gravestone before him - Yotsuba's.*

[oathshackledbird]

Diarmuid has avoided the graveyard ever since so many people he cared about started showing up there. He just can't take it--seeing the new stones, knowing he will never see the faces attached to them again. Better to focus on fixing the worlds they had returned to than to linger over stones that only served to remind him that they were gone.

However, there is no way that is going to keep him from responding to such a pained and angry scream. Especially not when it's in a voice he recognizes.

"Enoch! What is..." His voice dies in his throat when his eyes fall on the nearby tombstones. As he reads the names, his face pales and his hands unconsciously curl into the sky blue cloak he's wearing around his shoulders, "No...not her..."

[warriorscribe]

"We must keep her from draining her soul."

He doesn't know if Diarmuid refers to Tohko or Yotsuba. But it doesn't matter. He would refuse to live in a tower powered by their souls.

[averytinyparticle]

"M...Mister Enoch...?"

When Quark heard the screaming, he approached with caution. He didn't know what the blond man was yelling about, or why he had his weapon brandished and swinging, but it felt kind of wrong to just ignore the shout and scamper off as if he had heard nothing. He looks a bit frightened as well as concerned, but he does his best to appear brave.

"What...what happened?"

He would have continued on, asked more questions, but his big, brown eyes landed on the gravestone marked Yotsuba Koiwai. Quark feels his breath catch. Y-Yotsuba? But...but he had just met her! He had just...just shared a root beer float with her. How could she be gone?

Despite himself and despite his attempt at being tough, he can feel his eyes sting with tears. Quark can't bring himself to look away from the tombstone even though he knows its rude not to look at Enoch when he had addressed the man. "No...s-she can't be...that isn't fair!"

[warriorscribe]

"No, it's not. Even less fair is that if we fail Ruana will drain her soul. A soul barely having lived!"

As he spoke, he swung the Arch again to punctuate, snarling. That she was trapped on her own world was tragic. That her soul would be used to power more torture was infuriating.

[notagiraffe]

Enoch! [Taiki looked up from where he was sat near Haldir's grave and ran to the man, in a straight line, phasing through gravestones like they weren't even there.] Calm down...

[warriorscribe]

A little girl has been returned to her world, Taiki.

*His voice is grave, angry.*

And if we fail, her soul will be used to ensure Ruana has her precious playthings.

[bashfulshifter]

[He hears it coming down the steps--the sounds of screaming, loud and angry and unpleasant.]

[Rick didn't frequent the third block until recently, after discovering the purpose of the graveyard (and the associated headstones of those he'd missed); now he makes a point of it to stop by at least once a week, keep up with the lost and be thankful for the company and well-being of those remaining. And so far, he's been surprised at how well the other Tower residents have coped with their losses.]

[He's about to have a rude awakening on that end. Rick takes the steps in double, too frantic to try and parse what's being yelled. It doesn't take him long to pinpoint where this is coming from. He leaps breathlessly into the graveyard landing--]

--E-Enoch!

[--and stops dead in his tracks while his face goes pale. Enoch has the Arch drawn; it sends a particularly poignant shiver of fear down his back. Something is very wrong here. He tenses and prepares his mind to shift, anticipating some kind of monster confrontation or violent argument.]

--What--W-W-What's--!

[warriorscribe]

"I let myself lose sight..."

Enoch trails off, lowering the Arch to his sides, his body tense. "It shouldn't have had to take them leaving to make me see. I can't let her take them, take anybody!"

[notsogrimreaper]

Ryoji hadn't expected to hear screaming as he walked past the graveyard floor, especially not from someone so familiar. He rushed in, weaving among the tombstones, focusing more on Enoch then his surroundings.

"Enoch-san! What's wrong? What do you mean, that you won't let Ruana take them?"

His final question causes him to halt in his tracks as his mind catches up to his words, and he glances over at some of the tombstones. Seeing Yu's name is painful enough, but...

"Tohko-chan...she's... she can't be..."

[warriorscribe]

"That's what I mean." His voice is level but barely so, restrained.

Sure, they were the ones that would have necessitated it, but there would be no end to this otherwise. And they never would have learned this was what Ruana was capable of.

[chainsawn]

[ The people who vanished are ones she doesn't know, so even if she knew what exactly Enoch was yelling for - or rather, who he was yelling for - she wouldn't care as much about that. But even as she's standing near the stairs of the floor, watching Enoch from a distance, she does know what's going on. After all, the emotion is very, very familiar to her as well.

With how many times she's lost Kidou, it's only natural she'd recognize it. That agony he actually saved her from last time.. one of her hands clings onto the goggles that hang off her neck. ]

.. Yeah, she won't get them. [ Her voice is so tiny though that maybe Enoch won't even be able to hear it in the middle of his rage. ] That's what we said..

[warriorscribe]

*He hears the last part. He lowers his Arch to his side and glances over at Urotsuki. It was hard to stay as angry with her around, knowing how she reacted.*

Right... I...she's too young for this.

[mostremaining]

It might have seemed weird to go to a place of death after being on his dead world for weeks, but Prussia was doing just that. He had a "friend" here he had to visit, anyway. He didn't know much about the people who had disappeared, but there was still the dead bird and crushed eggs he received in the mail to visit, along with that woman's child. (If he ever saw her again, he would have to tell her that he visited him, too.)

When he encountered Enoch in his rage, his heart nearly jumped out of his chest, and his bird was startled into flapping frantically. "Whoa! Hey, Enoch! What's all the noise for?!" Never mind that Prussia was far from the quietest person around.

[warriorscribe]

Enoch turned to face Prussia as he spoke. His face spoke of a tired sort of rage, like everything else in him was exhausted and anger was all that remained.

"Did you ever meet my friend Raphael? Tohko? Yotsuba? Yu?"

[brbtalkingtogod]

It certainly was a strange morning to Lucifel. He hadn't seen Enoch anywhere and most of the people familiar to him weren't anywhere in sight either. He had checked his room, the cafeteria, the infirmary, the library too until he eventually went to the graveyard.

It was when he heard the scribe scream that he rushed to his side, hearing Enoch scream in rage was something he hadn't expected to hear at the graveyard out of all places.

"Eno-!" In this moment he saw the names on the gravestones.

Raphael... While they weren't close he had been someone from their world.

Tohko... The last time they spoke she had dropped some bricks that made Lucifel turn heels on her, since she didn't seem to realize that she was offending him. But aside from that he used to get along with her.

And then... Yotsuba. Without noticing the little girl had managed to grow close to him, with little to no effort. She had died in his arms once. He had told her stories, tried to tell her that things would be fine and that she should try to support people by being herself, a cheerful little girl. She had managed to make him feel... like a big brother - or uncle, as Zett liked to put it - towards someone who wasn't Michael. He had made a promise that had to be put aside for later, due to the explosions of last month. Now he wouldn't be able to fulfill it.

The archangel simply stands behind Enoch, almost frozen, without noticing that he was on the verge of tears.

[warriorscribe]

Lucifel's voice was one that could always get his attention. It wouldn't stop him from doing whatever he was doing if his mind was set on it, but he couldn't simply ignore him.

He looked over his shoulder at the archangel behind him, and once again took in the sight of a normally piercing red gaze shining with tears that hadn't fallen yet. The anger drained from him, seeing his guardian in such a state, and he stowed his Arch away to approach and put a hand on his shoulder.

That's how he should be feeling right now, what he sees in Lucifel. He doesn't know why he isn't, but he doesn't really care to know.

[no_longer_a_king]

"Enoch?"

Arturia had been making her usual rounds. At this point she had mapped the residential areas of the Tower to the fullest. Going around doing it again and again were simply a routine; something to do to pass the time she had on her hands when there was nothing else she could do.

She dropped her notes to the ground when she heard Enoch scream and summoned Caliburn to her hand just in case. Enoch was normally a calm person, someone she had seen as dependable. Whatever was going on did not change this opinion, but it concerned her, even as he screamed again and he held a strange weapon in his hands, ready to destroy the graveyard around them.

"Enoch! Calm down!"

[warriorscribe]

Telling a person in a rage to calm down was probably one of the most futile things, but, somehow, Enoch did stop, the Arch lowering to his side as he looked over his shoulder at Arturia, both anger and sorrow in his eyes. He didn't speak, all that tension now pent up and tightening his shoulders and back.