| We're Not Done Yet | ||
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Johnny decides not to follow and turns around to find himself standing in the center of the UR. Another Johnny jumps to his feet as a young girl takes his dagger away and vanishes. The other Johnny jumps up and starts pushing over tables, yelling and screaming at the air around him. The real Johnny growls and screams "IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE SOME KIND OF FUCKING JOKE???" Another change, another new location, Johnny finds himself in the center of the Neo Tokyo Arena as he watches himself charge after Terry and get knocked out in a massive counter attack. Instinctivly flinching at the rememberance he walks out of the main doors and into the street, finding instead, blackness again. "Alright, this is my life... ok... joke over... how long is this gonna go on?" Again the scene changes, now it's the too familar street in Gotham and Johnny stands over Samantha ready to give judgement over her. The real Johnny closes his eyes as they begin to water. "Shut if off... just shut it off... I don't wanna see this..." Johnny's eyes continue to tear up as he stands with his eyes closed a few minutes longer, feeling the air around him change with each scene. Finaly he screams, "ENOUGH! PLEASE!!! WHY CAN'T I JUST DIE IN PEACE!!!!!!!!!" Then, silence. No more changes. Johnny opens his eyes to discover he's again alone save for the lone form of Nailbunny's head. The head looks at him and emotionlessly states, "No. It's not done yet." Johnny screams at his friend, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN??? I'M SUPPOSED TO STAY DEAD THIS TIME!!!!!!!! NO MORE!!!!!! ...I want to sleep..." Nailbunny changes into a new form, now it is the form of Squee, his old neighbor. "You can't be allowed to die yet... too much is left undone... don't you care?" "Your little friend is right, demon child... you don't die yet... somebody has seen to that." There's that voice so familiar as having come from the lips of Samantha only recently, and a voice that has constantly mocked and opposed Johnny during his tenure with demonhood. This time, though, it is soft.. soothing and caring.. perhaps even carrying a hint of the compassion within the voice of one Diaduin Emepherea, another who has fought for Johnny during one of his lives so far. Johnny wipes his eyes as he looks around him in confusion for the source of the voice. "Just what the fuck is that supposed to mean? I DON'T CARE!!! What do I gotta do? KILL SOMEONE TO GET SOME FUCKING PEACE??? Why does this shit keeping going on like this??? WHY CAN'T I JUST DIE??????" Through the shadows slips a figure clad in a clinging white dress, seemingly made of silk by the way it shimmers and shines. The woman wearing it is an attractive petite blonde, her platinum locks hanging down all around her, to her waist on every side. Her face is.. quite disarmingly like Samantha's, though clearly not the same they have a lot in common. "Because..." she says softly, coming to a halt in the darkness a few feet from you, "Because there are those who do not want you to die... for differing reasons." She smiles and lifts a hand, brushing back one side of her hair to get a few stray strands from her face. "Tonight was.. for a good reason, I suppose." She leans forward, giving a single nod of her head as she stares into your eyes, hers bright blue and shining from within her pale-skinned face. "There's one person who has brought you back here, this time, and.. rest assured it was nothing to do with me." Johnny growls at the figure but finds it rather hard to stay angrey at the woman. "DAMNIT! ...Damnit... it's just not... it's not fair... What BASTARD would want me to keep going on? People like me should be put to sleep... All I do is add to the misery of the world, and yet people keep me around. I'm like some kinda man made plague that gets kept around incase someone decides to be an asshole and kill everyone. WHY THE FUCK DO I HAVE TO BE USED LIKE THIS???" Breaking down into tears once more he drops to his knees, "Who the hell would do this to me? Why the fuck do I have to suffer? It's not like anyone even realises I'm gone... no one cares about me. I'm just some kinda sick joke for the world... I'm just a fucking wounded animal who needs to be put to sleep..." Cassandra drops to a crouch, her fingers lacing together between her legs. "Nobody realises you're gone? Strange that you don't pause to consider the very girl who saved you, and the very girl who spent hours staring at your body before they took it away." She smirks and stands up, her manner less soothing and more derisive now, the woman half-turning away with a hmph. "She won't forget you, but.. if all you can do is forget her then there's little I can do to help you." She pauses then adds, in a low voice, "She'll be going after him, you know..." Johnny looks up with at Cassandra as she steps away, his eyes lost between the emotions of depression, confusion, and anger. "Who the hell gives a damn about me, and what the fuck do you mean by him? Him who? The only bastards who gave a shit about me turned there backs on me long ago... and the only HIM I know of is probably dead, killed by his own flesh and blood..." Cassandra raises an eyebrow and glances sidelong at Johnny, her hair billowing slightly in an invisible wind.. a wind unfelt by you that makes no other indication of its prescence. "Oh? You do not think of 'him'.. meaning Benedict.. the very reason for all that occurred here tonight?" She turns around fully and lifts a hand, palm upwards and fingers lightly curled. An orb of bright white-gold flickers to life, "And as for who gives a damn about you..." she brings her hand around and bends down to display the orb, once you concentrate upon it the images flickering inside become apparent... a series of still pictures, of Samantha. Her with SilverFrost raised over her shoulder, screaming defiance long before the goddess took her body, her lit up by her own ki-energies as she destroys Eff and his counterpart with a burst of power, her lying on the floor.. soaked in her own blood and staring up at Johnny. Now.. another image... her now, sitting in the street nearby where you fell broken at last, staring at the daggers in her hands, despite her tiredness, the light of cold steel burning in her gaze. Johnny swallows hard looking into the orb of energy displayed before him. Stammering for words he mutters, "But.... she... they... I... how could she... " Shaking his head he pushes himself away and jumps to his feet, his hands instinctivly going to his weapons, but finding nothing. With a growl he spits out, "No... she.... she.... she wanted me locked away. If she did this, she must be..." His train of thought leaves him as he glances down into that sphere once more and sees the sadness on Sammy's face. Wiping away fresh tears he demands, "Well-wha-what the hell do you mean he's still alive? I HEARD him... I FELT him... he's gone..." Cassandra suddenly closes her hand, the orb vanishing in a puff of gold smoke. "No." The woman says blankly, and straightens up, turning away fully. Suddenly the blackness is filled in... and you are on the clifftop where Seraph met his demise, looking across the twisted canyons to that distance mountain, smoke curling up from its peak. "He lives, demon child.. he lives well enough. But..." a smile touches her lips, unseen since she has turned her back on you. A wind starts up, howling across the clifftop past the tree line, and this time it is a wind you too can feel. A real wind, and a chill one also. "Samantha's task is done.. she is the first of my Blessed to do so well, taking so little damage in her fight. At least... physically." She looks back over her shoulder past a sweep of platinum, "Benedict's power is broken, he is not what he was.. the blow struck tonight would even have proved deadly has I been in control. Johnny.." she says this harshly, the first time she has spoken that name, her voice ringing out ominously. "Had I not allowed her the final blow you would be dead now, I would have seen to that.. by -my- hand, you'd have fallen. But I gave Samantha the choice.... and she made what she felt was the correct decision." Johnny glares hatefully beneath his tear stained eyes, for the first time he makes a connection between THIS voice and the one that he heard come from Samantha's lips the night that Cale nearly killed him. "YOU!!! What the FUCK is your problem with ME? What the HELL did I EVER do to YOU?" Cassandra hmphs and turns around, bracing her hands to her slender hips. "You made a pact with one it took me my mortal life to defeat... I was Samantha's age...." she sighs and turns away. Now the facade melts somewhat and it becomes apparent this woman really is just a girl, little more than a teenager matured beyond her years... perhaps the alleged similarity between her and Johnny's faithful friend become rather clearer. "How much do you wish to know? Should I explain or can we simply leave it that you.. by allying with Benedict... performed the greatest sin possible for one of my world, and in my eyes the greatest sin one person could -ever- commit, given infinite time and infinite worlds in which to commit an infinite number of atrocities...?" Johnny stares at the woman as his blood boils at unheard of level. However, no change occurs to his body, "OH WELL THAT'S JUST GREAT... FUCK YOU! FUCK YOUR WORLD! FUCK YOUR UNIVERSE!! I don't fucking give a damn about your fucking infinite worlds. You want to know what the greatest sin is to ME? HUH? LET ME FUCKING TELL YOU BITCH! It's people like you that make it your goddamned life mission to judge the world with your perfect goggles. So FUCKING WHAT if you FUCKED UP YOUR LIFE trying to stop the fucker. OBVIOUSLY YOU DIDN'T DO A VERY FUCKING GOOD JOB IF HE FOUND A BASTARD LIKE ME!!!!!!!!!" Getting too carried away with his rage he actualy spits with his words, something he'd normaly cringe at. "With all the fucking SHIT I've had to endure from people like you is it any FUCKING WONDER I'm so FUCKED UP??? People like me shouldn't even exist! Had you SPENT a fucking MINUTE trying to stop BASTARDS like me from hurting and FUCKING up the people that JUST DESERVED TO BE LET ALONE then stupid mother fuckers like your Benedict wouldn't FUCKING get a chance to GET POWERS LIKE THAT!!!!!!!!!! People create bastards like me! If you wanna hold some fucking GRUDGE against me for making a fucking deal with your devil, then maybe you should take a moment to fucking look at yourself! It was YOUR VOICE IN SAMMY THAT NIGHT!!!!!!!!! YOU FUCKING MADE ME THINK SHE BETRAYED ME AND DIDN'T DO A DAMN THING TO FIX IT!!!! WHY THE FUCK DID YOU THINK I MADE THAT PACT?????? I did it because the only friend I had left FUCKING STABED ME IN THE BACK! YOU FUCKING MADE ME, BITCH!!!!!!! HOW DO YOU LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT????/" Cassandra closes her eyes a short way into your tirade, letting her hair cover her face as the winds buffet the platinum strands. When you finish, she takes in a long, deep breath.. promptly releasing it and turning around. "Well." She looks down towards the floor, placing her hands in the lap of her dress. "You're right..." she nods slowly, not looking up at you. "I.. never claimed to be perfect, and I was never given a chance to find out about... Samantha, and about you. I assumed her judgement was misplaced and so I decided you had to be destroyed." Only now does she look up, giving another slow nod. "After being given a clearer look.. tonight before I finally played my hand... I realised my mistake. As I have come to realise all the others I have made.... -including-," her eyes flash momentarily, "The first big choice I ever made.. to fight Benedict. Had I not opposed him, the world... -my- world... would have been shaped to his will. I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't have allowed that to happen..." Johnny blinks. He wasn't expecting this... "Yeah... well.... you... fuck..." Turning away from her he lets out a sigh of his own and stares upwards as he thinks. Finaly he turns back around and says, much calmer this time, "Alright. So we both fucked up. So why am I here? What the hell can I do?" Cassandra smiles slightly and shifts her shoulders in a shrug, "You can do one of two things, Johnny..." she turns and starts to stroll along the cliff's edge, slowly, her gaze turned out over the landscape. "You may live, or.. you may die. I could take you to my afterlife, in my world... the place I dwell." She stops walking, a short distance away and turns around. Oddly the volume of her voice has not dimmed over the greatened distance. "I think.. it is enough like living that you would never discern the difference, and your demons might leave you in peace. Your alternative is to return to the mortal world... I have found a suitable world, and need only make.. arrangements.. with the deities there." Johnny shakes his head, "Wait wait wait... what about Sammy? What about Benedict? Shouldn't I be staying HERE? To help???" Cassandra laughs softly, looking out over the canyons again. "Oh, on that you have no real choice... it will take time for me to make these arrangements, and.. until then you will remain attached to your world. After all..." she looks back at you and suddenly seems to be within an inch of your face, her eyes staring deep into your immortal soul. "She has part of you with her, she carries your very essence." Johnny blinks? "Um... wait... so what the hell happens to me? Do I just get fucking forced to float around again? WHAT THE FUCK? You said I was being kept ALIVE!! I'm fucking dead. AGAIN. How the fuck am I supposed to be 'attached to this world'? What the hell are you expecting of me? To be some fucking silent spectator as I'm forced to watch the fucker try to kill her???" Cassandra raises an eyebrow.. she now appears to be standing right where she was, and where she -is- standing... the momentary illusion passing in just that amount of time. "You don't understand.. the power Samantha used today would have utterly destroyed you... there would be nothing left. Your soul is immortal, but not totally indestructible. The power that girl contained today should by rights have torn -her- apart, let alone her opponents. It was only her willpower that has kept you as alive as you are." She suddenly takes a seat on the dusty ground, legs out in front of her and leaning back on her hands. "What you can do, Johnny... may be a great deal. She carries part of you, and part of your -power-.. all you must do is become one with those fragments. You can fight alongside her as she battles my eternal foe." She looks away with a soft smile, "You will be every bit as 'real' as I am..." Johnny stares silently as his mind tries to form words, this was something that he'd completly never even contimplated. Finding nothing to say, his jaw mearly drops open. Wobbling a bit he drops to his knees and curses as he hits the ground and bites his tounge. "Uh... I? What? Y-you want me to...? But...?" Cassandra tilts her head to one side, the softest whisper sounding as her hair brushes against the silk of her dress. "You don't like the idea? Johnny... Benedict contained himself within those daggers. He is still in there, to an extent.. if Samantha plans to attack using -those- weapons. If she plans on poetic justice, then she may have difficulty. With you turning that power against him....." she tails off with a shrug and looks away again. Johnny stares up at the sky. His mind filling in the words that Cassandra failed to say. Thinking of the girl's face and the debt he feels he owes her father he lets out a sigh and looks down at Cassandra again. "Alright. I'll do whatever I can..." Cassandra nods her head slightly. "Good..." she whispers, then pushes herself to her feet. "For now.. I must leave. Treat this place as your home... shape it with your will and it may become whatever you wish it to." She smirks at that, "I trust Benedict's 'training' showed you how best to exercise your willpower? It is the same here, but try to focus on your positive feelings, or you may end up with something.. wholly unwanted." A faint flinch crosses her expression, but it's quickly suppressed by the woman as she raises her hand, a white-gold glow burning there which slowly spreads across her whole body. Johnny C, the former homacidal maniac, the former angel of death, looks around confused and lets out a sigh. oO(Great... this is just gonna be loads of fun...) Cassandra laughs softly and smiles over at you as she starts to fade, swallowed up by her divine energies. "Anything you wish, NNY... welcome to your own private afterlife." She seems to wink, though that could be a trick of the light as she disappears completely from view, nothing remaining of the young deity.... | |