(closed) we will be as one. you will rise again...

[ofthesword]

Who: Nero, Steve, Lorelai
When: Mid-March
Where: Forests outside the Solvunn settlements and the resting place of Josselyn's bones
What: A god-hating Summoned finally sees the good side of the divine... to his detriment.
Warnings: Expect some blood, gore, and character death!


[You are awaited.

Cool. Ominous.

The forest is the same as ever, but even Nero can admit this ongoing storm is enough to feel like an omen. Yeah, if he believed in that shit. If anything, he's startin' to think leaving those daggers alone might've brought something worse into the world. Something that's about to fuck with it.

And he'll be here when it does.

But considering the storm, he's more than ready to offer Lorelai his help after she requests it on a trip. Sure, he can't exactly fight a tornado, but he can get her away from it fast enough that she doesn't get carried the hell off. Same with Steve -- he can just scruff him if he's gotta.

Sure, he could do this himself, but if Steve's gonna be a Certified Badass one day, he needs more experience. Nero's even shown up to give him a real sword, with his own Red Queen strapped to his back. Nero offers his spectral steed to Lorelai, in case she doesn't feel like walking. Otherwise, the stag doesn't give him the time of day.

Typical.

Nero's still lookin' up at the sky when they arrive at the remains of that chick that got eaten alive by vultures. Something inside him crawls under his skin, cold. He was on the island. He helped burn it down. But it didn't burn what rotted inside him.] All right, 'Lai. Do whatever it is you, uh, need to do.

[He didn't really ask too many questions. And if Steve asked what the whole trip's about, he just says "a favour to a friend." Sure, she's got a mushroom for a head, but she's chill otherwise.]

Comments

[ofthesword]

[If Nero had time, he'd congratulate the kid. It doesn't matter this is probably one of the most dangerous moments of his life, and he's not even been fully trained, not by him or Geralt. He hesitates, but he doesn't freeze.

That's the difference between being alive and being dead.

It's the thing that Nero doesn't quite remember, because the god's words throw him off so bad he does freeze. Gave it to her? What the fuck Kool Aid is she drinking? Not to mention... when the fuck could he do that?

His wing hands grip the legs hard enough to crush, but he doesn't move. Doesn't dodge. Because dodging gives her even more of an opening, and he's had worse --]

I didn't give you shit. [His voice, demonic now, is an echo that snarls with every syllable.] If you want it, then you'll have to take every damn piece!

[One arm down, hesitating too long -- and she's got too many damn legs. Several of them impale straight through him, blood spraying out his back. He grabs one with his remaining arm, gripping to crush it. And with her legs in his body, in his wings' grip, in his arm, he starts pulling her back -- away from the trader.

But one leg shifts inside him. He didn't move enough. And having felt this before, he knows what this is.

His heart. She managed to do what even that shit Agnus failed to do. She got his heart. He coughs, and blood dribbles out of his mouth.] Go to hell.

[He uses what dwindling strength he can feel -- his body alternating keeping him alive and trying desperately to heal the wounds her legs are still embedded in -- to punch his clawed hand into what he hopes is a softer underbelly.

But the damage is already done. Shit. Even Dante wouldn't have been so fucking stupid.]

[abraxasnpcs]

[ Lorelai stumbles to the ground, instinctively grabbing the sword and holds it uneasily close to her breast. She calls out again to the Trader who stumbles himself as the insectoid-like leg is ripped free from his own. With Nero and Steve taking the Guardian's attention, he pulls himself next to Lorelai and places a protective hand at her shoulder. ]

Araneadis! [ The Trader calls out. ] Please put a stop to this!

[ She does not stop. She tries to push her size and weight advantage only for her legs to be pulled to their limit as Nero holds the pair upwards. She sneers an angry, toothy grin as she feels the serrated edge of her claw tear into his flesh and bone. ]

Yes, Nero. I'll take it all! Bleed for me one last time!

[ Her last word is cut short as she's ripped backwards and off balance by the human she had underestimated. It pulls the legs she has dug into Nero free, leaving his wounds open to the air. The Guardian whips her head around and hisses at Steve. ]

You little...!

[ Just as it snaps. A black ichor shoots explosively from the stump of her leg and she reels and screams, damning them all several times over. She tries to pull her legs free from all their holds, waving them wildly around to slash at anyone or anything that she can reach.

The Lorelai hugs the sword by the hilt as the Trader leans down to cover her from harm. ]

[hairington]

[ arandeadis. some part of steve is going to remember that, when all of his focus isn't otherwise occupied. but it's fine- it's okay. lorelai has his sword and his hand is on the monster's leg and nero's got a hold of her front ones and maybe- god, shit, this has to work. ]

Run! [ steve yells over his shoulder, back to the trader, to lorelai. there's a kind of desperate anger to his voice, because they have a chance now to get away, and that would mean that nero's attention wouldn't be split, that steve also wouldn't be worried about keeping the guardian contained, keeping her away from them. ] Get out of here!

[ that's when steve throws his weight into it, twisting and wrenching the segment of the leg he has a hold of. it feels like it takes ages, hours, but it does give with a horrible, sickening kind of ripping sound. he doesn't catch whatever it is that she and nero says to each other, and instead covers his eyes as the ichor sprays out, covering him in the process.

that's when the guardian finally turns on him, hisses, and steve spits some of the ichor back in her face. which may or may not be the right decision, but it feels appropriate, somehow. that's when she screams, waves her arms wildly, and steve manages to duck out of the way of one and dodge another, it's the third and fourth that he isn't able to get fully out of the way of, feeling the slash across one shoulder and then across his chest. with a yell of equal amounts of frustration as it is pain, steve dives off to the side and - watching out of the corner of his eyes as nero's clawed hand drives up into what steve also hopes is a soft underbelly.

his eyes flash back to the still-flailing guardian, trying to find some other gap, something else he can go after, and in a last-ditch effort, drives the piece of her leg he's still holding in nero's armored...arm. thing. through what he hopes is a chink in her outer sorta insect body. he yells as he does it, throwing everything he's got into the strike, the plunge, praying that it finds purchase anywhere. ]

Die already!

[ofthesword]

[Like, he always figured he'd go down fighting -- he wouldn't want it any other fuckin' way -- but to a giant spider? Protecting gods? Who the fuck would believe that was how it'd be?

And Dante --

Shit.

Maybe if he'd heard the name before, he could've asked Himeka. It's not a god he's heard of. Not a demon's. Not that their names have ever mattered before, but he would've gone in here swinging more than just his sword if she'd had other, easy weaknesses. Right now, her best skills are having nasty legs and screaming.

Maybe he's lucky, and it's just a soft, squishy, toothless tummy.

He digs his claws deep into her body, but it embeds him against her, cutting out any area for Nero to dodge. Her legs cut against him, spilling more and more blood beyond where the clear holes in his body already are. He feels his heart fluttering like he's holding it in his palm, squeezing it. The pain makes him see double -- and the blood makes him see red.

But he holds onto her. Digging with his claws, tearing at her with his wings, yelling a curse... until the blood loss makes his vision blur harder, his ears ringing, and he rips his claws out of her body and falls to the ground with a groan.

A fuckin' spider. Nico would never let him hear the end of it.]

[abraxasnpcs]

[ Lorelai doesn't want to run with both Nero and Steve in harm's way, but the Trader can see where the fight is going and urges her onward. Though she resists at first, Lorelai eventually yields to be ushered back under the boughs of the trees. The Son hurries along after them, shaking and barely containing his sobs.

The Guardian continues her onslaught as she shrieks, accusing Nero of betrayal and Steve of being a nuisance. The audacity of their resistance to her judgment is enough to make her laugh, cruel and ragged. But her carapace is not invincible and just as much as she makes them bleed for her, it's the combination of one of Nero's winged hands tearing into her torso and Steve driving one of her own severed limbs into the vulnerable flesh around her joint that does her in. ]

You!

[ The Guardian cries out and stumbles, her entire body quivering. What had been hardened exoskeleton starts to shake and bubble like a thin membrane that is ready to burst. She sneers at her lost follower and the human who dared to defy her. She can hear the erratic beating of Nero's failing heart, so she turns her attention on Steve for a final declaration: ]

This... is not the end of me! We will meet again Steve Harrington!

[ With one final shout of anger, the Guardian erupts, skeleton bursting open. Ichor spreads into the air and across the entire clearing, staining the sides of trees in every direction. The bulk of her body still stands, her attached and severed limbs still whole. Whatever remains will need to be removed by hand but the Guardian is no more. For now. ]

[hairington]

[ a nuisance is hardly the worst thing steve’s been called. hardly the worst thing he’s been called while fighting something he shouldn’t, being somewhere he wasn’t supposed to, etc. etc. etc. the point is, it doesn’t bother him now. especially not when he can tell it’s working.

it’s working! nero’s claws in her underbelly and steve’s use of her other limb. she screams, something curling and off and shrieking. steve winces at the sound, and then pulls the limb away, the squelching of tissue and ichor schlepping to the ground under it the wound. she stumbles away, and steve follows her, eyes on her every move. he has a feeling that’s it, and the relief may be a little early as it floods him, but god- god. her body quivers, her exoskeleton starts to bubble, and as the god’s attention turns on him - steve is sneering back, the adrenaline giving him a kind of confidence he very rarely, truly feels. ]

Fuck you! [ he spats, watching her body swell, and then burst, ichor exploding outward in every direction.

it’s honestly…..disgusting. like. truly awful. steve’s heightened sense of smell has his stomach turning, threatening to hurl, but he swallows it back once, then twice, before he can’t hold it back anymore. just like the great heroes of old, steve turns to the side and feels his stomach revolt, puking out anything and everything he had left in him.

it takes a moment- actually, one or two. he breathes, heavy, feeling the exhaustion and the pain of the cuts and everything, all at once. his hands are on his knees, but he’s still upright when he huffs out a laugh. ] If we can- not mention the barfing, that’d be. Awesome. [ the words come without steve really thinking about it. assuming nero will be standing there, that he’ll be walking up any moment and holding out a hand to help steve stand back up. he’s never gonna hear the end of this, he knows, but even that embarrassment can’t cut through the thought, the reality-

they did it.

but the hand never comes, neither does the comment. one second passes, then another, and steve suddenly feels a kind of chill. ] Nero? [ he blinks, straightens, and then- ] Nero?

[ he bolts, lunging around the carcass of the old god and sliding to his knees where nero still lays, hot panic and a cold, hard, overwhelming fear replacing any relief he might have had.

steve falls to his knees at nero’s side, eyes darting between open wounds, at the blood, at what is the black goo of the monster and what isn’t. he’s trying to see what he needs to do, what’s even going on, but it’s starting to be hard to breathe.

his hands go to nero’s chest, trying to stop the bleeding. shouldn’t he be healing? why isn’t he healing? ]

Shit, shit- Nero. What’s- hey, hey man, you’re okay. Yeah? Hey, c’mon, you gotta get up. C’mon-

[ofthesword]

[Things swim in and out of his mind -- or is it his vision? He can't tell if he's got his eyes open or not. Of course there's Kyrie: the same way he left her, still dressed in some cozy sweater he traded for a day's worth of labour for back when he didn't have two dollars to rub together. And she'd loved it, even though it had a hole in the collar and yarn unravelling at the ends of the sleeves.

This is it, huh?

Just like that fuckin' statue of Sparda. He'd seen her there, too. He'd been so close to letting go.

His eyes open, and he tastes ichor mixed with his own blood. Ugh. His nose wrinkles and he tries to sit up, almost knocking his head into Steve's. He's back to human now, even his wings gone. His arm gone. He can't get a grip to sit up.] Fuck, that stinks. [His heart twists, a new bolt of pain through his body. When he reaches down, he's pretty sure he's touching organs. Her legs went straight through him.

There's no Yamato here. And even then... he can only heal so much.] She dead? [He spits blood.] Everyone okay?

[hairington]

[ part of steve feels like he should be better at this. better than this. it's hardly the first time his hands have been covered in blood, hardly the first time he's been exhausted from a fight and trying to get someone to wake up. but no matter how much experience he feels he should have where these moments are concerned, instead he feels lost. scared. young.

there's just so much blood, so much blood, and some of it is ichor- he knows some of it is ichor. but nero's eyes are closed and-

no, they're open now, and steve feels like someone's kicked him in the chest, air rushing out of him in partial relief, partial attempt to sound like he's more together than he is. nero tries to sit up and steve doesn't move back, which might be why they nearly collide, but it's fine. it's fine. nero's talking. ] Hey, hey- you're okay, man. Here- [ steve tries to put a hand behind nero's back, tries to help him sit up, or lay down, he doesn't even know.

nero twitched- or is he wincing? he's probably in a lot of pain, fuck. steve feels lost, overwhelmed, his eyes going from nero's face to the open hole in his chest to nero's hands as they press against it and- shit. shit shit shit. ]

What? Yeah- yeah, man. She's dead. She's- [ he glances over his shoulder at the husk, quiet and still, and the spot where the traveler and lorelai have disappeared off to. there's a quiet voice in the back of steve's head that wonders if that was the right move, if he shouldn't have kept lorelai here, but- no. no he has to focus. ] -gone. Everyone's fine, good even. Shit- we've gotta- we've gotta get you back to the settlement. Or get someone here. Or something.