Curiosity Killed The Cat [Esra/Pendleton Awakening]

Despite the previous turbulent evenings under the public's noses, life was going on. The city was rife with activity as usual. For many Cadets, this meant another boring evening. Perhaps it was a good respite from the earlier events. But what lurked in the midst of Endymion's streets and alleys refused to rest as each person continued to meet what was once an unlikely reality to a surreal actuality.

The alleyways were empty. But not for long...

Panicking was starting to seem like a better and better option. Pendleton really wasn't sure why he had agreed to be out after dark- all the information on demons he had found had made it quite clear they were a nocturnal sort of thing. "This is a bad idea...couldn't this have waited for tomorrow? Maybe in the middle of the day sometime? I don't feel like this'll end well." Pendleton checked his watch quickly, and bit his lip. He knew that this girl was going to get him killed...though attacked by demons wasn't quite what he was expecting. No, he had imagined her going through with her initial threat, but this...was somehow worse. "...I don't think we came prepared for this...it was a dumb idea to try and track down a Psyche Terrorist..."

He rubbed his arm, seeming a bit uncomfortable. The nerd ALWAYS died first in horror stories. All things considered, his chances of survival were slim.

Esra was holding the torch as they walked down the unlit alleyway, abruptly turning to face Pendleton while falling dead in her tracks. Taking a breath she affixed him with eyes that in this light seemed more black than red, "That your friend seems to think he has something to do with this. That you agreed with, that only comes out at night and you said we have to find." Flicking the only light up under her chin, casting shadows across her face, "If you want to go home, do it. I can find this weirdo on my own if I have to."

Turning back to the brick wall Esra started to walk past the leaking steam condensers from either side, deeper into the darkness and towards small pin pricks of light from a distant building. If they walked around the streets at this time of night they would certainly be noticed right away. That would only raise questions and get them sent on. Pendleton was a useful alibi but only if he cooperated, otherwise he was dead weight.

It felt like something was watching her, though she'd felt that all afternoon. The darkness at least didn't scare her, she couldn't see things out of the corner of her eye in the darkness.

Two young teenagers in a dark alleyway. Perhaps it could be the start of a very risque situation. But the young students were clearly not here for such things as they scoured the area for anything that seemed to be quite out-of-place. Yet all they would find was the usual metal trashcans steadily set about against walls and building exits that adorn the alleyway.

A sudden crash of resounding metal echoed throughout the alleyway. If they were to suddenly turn to its direction, a young man. But what was strange was the appearance of something otherworldly behind him.


Before either one could say or do anything, both man and ghostly being began to scurry away in the other direction...

Pendleton stopped in his tracks at her remark, and turned to look at Esra, eyes narrowed. Did she JUST have the nerve to blame HIM for this? HE was just trying to help HER. A task that was becoming more and more difficult as the investigation went on. "Are you trying to blame this on me? I've been working to try and get a lead, and this is wh-" He was cut off when he heard a loud noise. Turning on his heel, he managed to only catch a quick glance of whoever it was who made it...and something that was very much NOT human. "...that...wasn't a knight." He finally commented, after a moment of staring in it's direction, even after the person had left. The ridiculous getup was enough to tell him exactly who that was. "But...seems like it was...one of those Terrorists."

This was now seeming like an even worse idea.

(Lui is joining the scene with Batilde. Let's catch us a masked man!)

"It's fairly quiet tonight. You remember your lines, correct? You only need to answer what you remember. Let me handle the rest."
Lui walked alongside Batilde down the sidewalks of Vista Square in the search for Pendleton and Esra. Sure, it was a dangerous idea to be looking for a terrorist in the dead of night, but it would be even worse if Lui wasn't there to protect the two. The city of Endymion was riddled with side alleys and several blind spots to slip in and out of his knight mask without detection. He could likely keep Pendleton in the dark on his identity, but he figured Esra would be harder to mislead should she get a clue in to his secret.

"No, it'll be fine. Just keep an eye open for any suspicious individuals. With any luck, they should be investigating to see if there's any evi- what the?!"

As Lui was thinking, the loud crash in the alleyway they were passing disrupted his concentration. Pulling Bat by her arm, Lui ran to the alley to find a masked figure with a lingering figure leaving the scene. Lui pushed Esra and Pen aside as he ran after the suspected terrorist.

"You two, move! After him!"

Esra would have said something catty and scathing that would have rendered flesh from bone at the accusation but the situation was unfolding rapidly. She was placing no such blame beyond that his bitching was at himself and she didn't need to hear it. Instead she was reacting to the white blur that was shadowed by a dark spector, threatening to envelop him.

He was not a golden knight, nor was the creature what she had felt watching her for the last few days. Still he was running around the street at night, dressed like he escaped a gangland disco with something wrong following him, or with him? On reflex the girl twisted, picking up one of the trash can lids and threw it as hard as she can after the man, spinning through the air with a whoosh. A second later Lui barged into her, earning him an elbow towards his ribs, again on reflex.

Without a word and distracted from if her improvised attack worked Esra did exactly what was bellowed at her. Lots of things scared her, she was still a fearless idiot when it came to danger and fight won over flight almost every time. At a run she was after the man and spector and leaving anyone not doing the same behind.

The projectile the girl threw at only hit against the corner of the brick wall, completely missing him. But they could hear his footsteps resounding against the asphalt as the chase was on. His running shadow was plastered against the alleyway walls, leading them on through the meandering maze of the streets. But after a while, that black retreating figure disappeared at the next sharp right of a corner... leading them into an alleyway without anyone. It was empty in its totality.

But a thump could be felt behind them. The air changed, as if heralding someone's arrival. The shadow was large, but it certainly wasn't in the same shape of the person they were chasing after. No. A roar escaped its lips while barely fitting through the walls.


It was obvious to what this thing was. It was completely inhuman. Soon whispers began to emanate through Pendleton's and Esra's skulls. Each word tried to convince the other to join as the government's lapdogs, but it had an opposite effect. The seeds of mania inside their brains finally sprouted, they would face their alter egos and be clad in an unusual attire and mask much like Batilde and Lui's.

"Catch," a voice can be heard from the rooftops.

Guns with their bullets would be thrown towards Pendleton and Esra. But also a pill bottle would also be included, and it was of some tough plastic that wouldn't break on the asphalt should Pendleton drop it. It was obviously for him. But the person who threw these thing at him, he disappeared. However, they have much more pressing matters to address...

"...What the hell?" Pendleton whispered, confused. Following the figure had only led to an empty alley...and then a strange sound. Pendleton whirled around...and what he saw only cemented this was a horrible idea. That was...a demon. It HAD to be one, there was no way that thing was human! "..." He let out a strange sound, taking a half step back, seemingly unsure of what to actually do. They couldn't fight a demon! That was impossible, wasn't it? "...I-I don't want to die like this..." He whispered, eyes widening as he took another step back. Something in his head told him this could have been avoided, if he had just reported the information to the cadets, let them catch the night, let them deal with it...become a pawn for the government. That train of thought was interrupted by a separate voice in his head.

"How pathetic...no...how shameful. You wasted so much time throwing your life away for nothing..." There was a surge of pain through Pen's head, and his eyes seemed to turn yellow, as he rose a hand to clutch his forehead. "She strung you along down this path, as you refused to simply deny her, and leave her to die. Now you would share her same fate. Such a cliche ending...one that I will not allow to stand." Pendleton was vaguely aware of flickering blue flames covering his face, and taking a vague shape. "A script half written is hardly worth writing at all...so I will take over. The missing pages are mine alone to fill. And then the flames solidified. A creepy mask, with a wicked smile covered Pendleton's face were the flames had once been. "Perform for me puppet,
put on the best show you can with such a feeble existence! Of course, this power will not simply be free. It could never truly be yours...if you fail me..." Similar blue flames covered the rest of his body for a brief moment, before forming a new outfit. As a newly formed lab coat flowed behind him. "Your strings will be mine to cut if you disappoint. Though, if I must be honest, I will probably cut them anyway."

The pain mostly faded, as Pendleton became re-aware of his surroundings, and what had changed. Most importantly, the fact that a colorful gun and a bottle of pills now sat on the ground in front of him. He opened his mouth, but then closed it. "Go on,
call my name. You already know it."

"...Show yourself...Boogeyman."



"Good...at least you can follow orders."

Stats:

He was gone, how? How had he been so fast, no they must have turned wrong, they must have. The sound made Esra twist on the spot, looking into the shadows that had a glow that was impossible. Calling at the deep and acient part of her brain, telling her now was the time to run. Her breathing was shallow, sweat starting to bead at the edge of her hair, ice cold chills filled her as she watched the creature approach.

It was not the shadow from her mind to be certain, no it was different from that, solid, muscle. It could snap a person in half without trying and running did not seem like an option. Her legs wouldn't work, her knees tight together as if she couldn't hold her weight while looking at it, into it. Then, the voices came. Voices familiar yet distant, the words she knew at first, they were her words. Ones she spoke in her head, ones she had buried time and again in the pit of her soul and tried to forget, all the while punishing herself for them. Hands reaching to her head she tried to force them out, they would not.

“You know what you did,”

“You don’t deserve to do what you want, you can’t be trusted, you can’t even trust yourself,”
“Your grandparents were right about you, both of you.”


She wanted to go, oh so much. Would they really welcome her, would it really be okay? Everything would be fixed, forgiven, would they love her, knowing her? That would be, all she wanted. Right in front of her, she started to reach for it, tears in her eyes when her own voice echoed from deep inside.



"Like you deserve it. All this shit you want so much, you think you have earned it? What sort of cookie cutter dreck is this?"
"This isn't over, remember you have to atone for what you've done until there is nothing left of you. That means you can't die and you can't take the easy way out, don't you remember why you are even here?"


"I'm your Muse Esra, now take the stage and show me Misery!"


Tears in her eyes, Esra stood up looking and now seeing the chains at her wrist, her torso, right into the ground itself. It felt like an hour had passed, emotions that she'd wished destroyed welling inside that for a moment had overcome her. She wasn't a weak little girl, she wasn't a mewling child that wanted someone to kiss it better. The world wasn't like that, there was only one person she could count on. Herself. She had done things she regretted, things she had to make up for by being everything. If she died, if she became someone else's creature then what was the point?

Ripping her wrists apart, tearing up at the tied that bound her, the chain's shattered, "Melphomene!" Blue flame shot up from the ground, enveloping her in its mad embrace, burning away her clothes, her tears. It felt like it burned away everything, leaving only her soul behind. There she stood in a black trench coat, burnished golden eyes looking out in every direction. An ankle skirt and long blouse under it, hair tied up and a medical mask covering her face. A shadow of the old days, the ones she had left behind? Why now? It was strange but in that very second there seemed nothing more natural in the world. She felt powerful, she felt strong.

The cry came from above and she couldn't help but reach out for the heavy metal object that thumped into her palms. As long as a baseball bat but, someone more aggressive. Like her form, this seemed part of her, more than anything else. Armed, empowered, guilty, Esra took a step forwards, placing herself between Pendleton and the creature, not yet noticing that anything at all was happening to him. Only that she wouldn't let anything happen.

While Lui was in hot pursuit of the masked mystery figure, he began to notice a larger figure emerging in the alleyway. Even from here, Lui could tell that was a demon. Hoping to catch Batilde's attention, Lui decelerated to allow Pendleton and Esra to pass them as he grabbed Bat's shoulder and moved her into a side alley. With courage welling up inside of him, Lui would don the golden mask, the armor sliding from behind the visor and encompassing his body.

As soon as Batilde transformed, he would break back into his sprint to see Pendleton and Esra awakening to their powers. While he silently cursed that they were now involved in this debacle, Lui would make a most dashing appearance. From between Pendleton and Esra, the masked knight would draw his rapier and leap onto the battlefield in a combat stance towards the large, red monster. The voice behind the masked seemed distorted, as if speaking through a plastic tube, so it wouldn't be recognized by the two.




From around the knight, a chilly fog appears to drift around him as a metal knight enters the scene. From the body armor, one would believe it were a human knight, garbed in frostbitten, scratched armor wielding two blood-red swords. From the armor down, however, the body became serpentine, the scales an icy blue, with a spiked ball at the end of its tail. It spoke firmly, without fear or concern.

"Allow me to take the first strike! Watch closely, you two. Shirokishi, Mabufu!"

With one swift motion, the frosted knight plunged his blades into the ground, causing a cluster of ice crystals to jut up from below the red demon.

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