Crossfire (1x1 w/ Cloudsong)

[Cloudsong]

Nerea sensed his discomfort, and that only made the humiliation multiply. He was revolted by the fact that this girl might feel any attachment towards him. He loathed the very concept of becoming friends with her. It made her feel vulnerable, to have expressed any emotion at all about her hopes to actually become friends with him. In this world, why would she have ever expected anything more than neutrality? Archer had so plainly laid out his cards: he only wanted to see the last of her, and would only be happy when she was gone. So why had she been so keen to try and get to know him at all? Because I'm a fool. She answered the question herself scornfully, and felt her cheeks burn red for a moment in frustration. Luckily the man still had his eyes averted to the ground, probably not wanting to even look at her any longer. He didn't get to see her pain, and it took the girl a moment to put it at ease.

She wordlessly dropped the chains that she held in her hands, hearing the satisfying crash as they hit the pavement below them. The idea of holding something that was connected to Archer was not something Nerea even wanted to consider, and so she stepped away from the betrayed bindings as if she were recoiling. It was enough to cause her pain to know that her cover had been blown, and in that moment she wanted nothing to do with him, even if he had promised to help her out.

"Fine, then," she hissed suddenly, leaning in closer so that he alone would hear her words. "You want to see the last of me? I'll do you a favor - this is the end. I'll give you the option of getting out of this entire mess with your hands clean. So that you can go back to your life as trash - I wouldn't want to jeopardize that." Her eyes were burning now, either with frustration or actual tears, she didn't know. Either way, she didn't really expect him to look up at all. "I'll get out of here on my own - I don't need your help. I don't need you at all." She choked out the last words, because she could feel the curse beginning to grow through her. It was like electricity, sparking and burning her. The pain that was now visible in her eyes was no longer from what he had said - it was obvious there was something very wrong as she stiffened up, a tremble beginning to go through her. It was no longer pain from his words, but rather from something within.

When it passed, just seconds later, Nerea was still trembling in the aftershock of her curse. She turned away abruptly however, not wanting to give Archer a chance to ask what the hell had just happened to her. Instead, she took off at a fast pace, ducking behind tents as she ran so that he would not be able to follow.

[R0be0]

Archer could understand why she was angry with him, and honestly she had all rights to be. He knew that she was much more susceptable to emotions and their vice affects than he was. (Whether or not this was something to do with him being Flawed, or if it was just some kind of personality trait remained unknown to him.) As she continued to rant on he remained quiet knowing full well that trying to argue in his points would be useless. She had gone off on a bad fit, and he could sense that she was indeed quite angry. Though there was something more as well.. something that was strange and unknown to him.

That made him narrow his eyes a bit, and he realized for the first time that she had been hiding something inside of her. A darkness, like he, though it wasn't the same thing. No, this was different, much different. But whether or not this was better or worse than his own condition was unknown by him. He was just surprised that she had kept something from him (not that he had been totally revealing and honest with her since her arrival). But she had spoken to him on a fair few things, outside of someone she never named, and whatever this was. He wasn't sure why but this angered the man, and he could feel some fusteration that she had been hiding something this big from him. Still, he did not speak, knowing that his question would only make her worse, and that she would never admit to whatever it was now.

When she finally seemed to get it into her mind that she was going to leave, he stood up, dragged down by the chains only slightly. His eyes blazing with anger that she was just going to try and up and leave, he quickly began to try and trail after her. (Which proved easier said than done considering that he was dragging heavy metal behind him.) She was a clever one and made sure that she was dogging through the tents so that he would not be able to follow her. However what she didn't realize was that people were looking up with start when they saw a girl charge by them, let alone a chained Flawed quickly following behind with his head held up, the utter disgrace. But right now he didn't really care about what they thought about him, he just wanted to try and convince Nerea that she had to stay, and to go outside rather than follow through with their plan would be suicide. God only knew if the demons had gone away or not, and if they hadn't... well, there would be a good chance that they would swarm the camp and kill everyone.

However even with his attempts it seemed like he was too far behind her, and by the time that he got to the stairs leading out to the surface she had already gone up them. People were chasing after him, trying to see what was going on. He saw Jacques, with his bloodied face leading them, something more than rage locked in his foggy eyes. Dammit! He thought, before continuing to make his way after Nerea. "Nerea!" He shouted, his voice a bit raspy. "You don't understand what will happen if you just charge out like this!" He called, though he figured that he might be too late.

[Cloudsong]

The sight of the explosion still burned behind her closed eyelids, tormenting her mind constantly in a never-ending loop that seemed to never cease. It was all a blurr to Nerea for a moment.  For a moment she allowed herself to dwell on the unknowing, content to not register the guilt that would no doubt overcome her with grief, and instead focus on the mower real pain from the injuries she had obtained.  It had only been moments ago that she had awoken from the unsettled unconscious state in which she had entered since the demons had destroyed the hideout, and momentarily she allowed herself oblivion.  And while she didn't really want to, it was impossible to ignore the memories that were slowly beginning to overcome her pain-stricken mindset. 

The first thing that came to her mind was remembering Archer, racing after her, calling her name... He had been trying to stop her from opening the portal, and obviously he had not been successful. In that moment of grief, when she had realized the truth of their relationship and had wanted nothing but to escape, the repercussions of her actions had not dawned in her mind. In that moment, it had not matter to her that she would be a truly destroying the few humans remain on this earth - the humans that had taken her in, however much she disliked them.  It was only now beginning to register how much damage she had actually done, and still she had not fully awoken.

There was a large gash above her left eyebrow, which stung immensely.  She was unsure of how she had managed to survive the demon attack, but her life alone was something that she did not think she deserved.  Who else had survived?  Was Archer alive?  Had he been taken by the demons?  All of these questions tortured her and she slowly pulled herself up, wincing as pain flooded her mind as a result of her bruised body.  

The first bit of sunlight that she saw with her brown eyes was agonizing.  I used to brightness, she reached out in an attempt to shield her gaze, only to bring her hand back in pain. Her fingers dripped with scarlet blood, the result from the gash on her for head. Hastily, Nerea wiped the thick liquid on her pants, uncaring of her own damage, but intent to see what she had inflicted on the others.

(short, sorreh! XD)