Francis would have said something back to Hitan, but he paused, frozen in place. Francis became suddenly aware of everything.  The corpses, the blood, the smell of burning flesh, the pain everyone felt. It was overwhelming, it was...

Francis quickly covered his own drooling, grinning mouth in shame, but not fast enough that Faust didn't see. Faust obnoixiously laughed loudly, "So much like me! He might even need a muzzle~"

Francis didn't say anything in retaliation, he instead turned away and looked around, keeping his shaking hands over his mouth. For Francis, death had a smell, and so many corpses around... the whole area reeked. Francis must have been so focused on finding the group that he didn't notice it before. Francis felt lightheaded from all of this and the growing smoke from the fire.

Echo hugged Germaine back, sobbing. This was scary, everything was scary. And it was stressful. Echo wasn't sure if she was even helping.

There are no more hitmen.

Malaika muttered to Phantom, "...Everything is really-" She was cut off by her own coughing, blood spurting from her mouth and drenching the front of her. There... there was an unnatural amount of blood that kept flowing and flowing.

"My, my, it would be bad if she bled out," Favian commented, staring at Phantom. "Or if she suffocated. Say, would you like to see that? Wouldn't it be interesting? I'm actually getting very tired of her. She's so weak, such a boring character."

Malaika grabbed at her throat and mouth, slowly starting to crumple down. She couldn't talk, all that came out was gurgling. The flames around the three of them worsened.

Favian asked Phantom, "How long do you think it would take for her to suffocate? I'll stop if you answer correctly." Favian smiled sweetly, so sweetly as if he wasn't a pure monster.

Perhaps Phantom can feel someone trying to connect with him telepathically?


Smoke was filling the whole area around everyone, thick and dark. The smoke was the worse around Malaika, Favian, and Phantom. For Alma and Lumi, it was making it hard to see everyone else, especially due to the burning corpses. The smoke was starting to effect Lumi, while it had no effect on Alma due to that he doesn't need to breathe.

The mall sprinklers went off, but they have no effect on Malaika's hellfire and smoke.

Silence is hard to see, but they almost can fully move again. They're still on the ground, frantically wiggling around.

Francis understands and gets closer to Germaine and Echo, hesitating a bit in front of the barrier.

Meanwhile, Hitan fades back into the smoke, starting for Silence's direction. He keeps his attention on the surroundings, though, specifically for any particular danger.

It was a strange sensation, a sensation almost like muffling, and Germaine could perhaps feel it. If it was to be described, it could be like thick like cotton and as impenetrable as perhaps steel, maybe even more. It was strange because it wasn't aimed towards Germaine, it was aimed towards something, someone else. Someone dying, Malaika, it was aimed at Malaika, it was blocking Germaine's healing. This "sensation", this feeling was blocking, cancelling out Germaine's healing magic specifically for Malaika. No one else has this effect, strangely, but isn't it terrible?

"It's so terrible," Faust mumbled out, bored looking and slurring. "But this pain is so much like alcohol~!" Faust laughed, delusional and intoxicated.



Silence was desperately trying to stand up, falling back down on their knees as their feet and toes weren't working, and their knees were still effected. They noticed Hitan, but they didn't say anything, still attempting to move on their own. They're swearing under their breath, rubbing at their skin to try to get rid of the blackened bruises that signified their temporary paralysis from poison. Blood was dripping from their eyes like tears, staining their cheeks.



The voice replied to Phantom in flashes.

Malaika will- die in sixteen- minutes from- suffocation-

The voice cut out. The voice itself was scratchy.




Silence coughed up some blood, swearing even louder.

"(Censor) these (censor)ing (censor)-(censor), (CENSOR), (CENSOR), (CENSOR)! THIS IS (CENSOR)-"

A frown appeared on Germaine's face. She tried to pinpoint the source of the healing block. Right now it was directed at Malaika, but who knows if in some moments it would also affect the others around?

Silence looked up at Hitan, stopping their profanities. Now looking closer at them, their features are much easier to see. Their lips definitely were waxy and chapped. Sweat was beading down their face, definitely due to the heat of the flames around the area. Their eyes are still bloodshot, but... Their eyes seem to now be a strange lime green; the roots of their hair has turned into a dark brownish colour.

Silence said, "Yeah, like, that would be super helpful, bro." They give a thumbs up.



Favian grinned back, humming a bit. He thought for a second before giving a reply.

"Correct."

Malaika gasped in air, the blood stopping. Her throat and chest cleared up instantly. 

Germaine could perhaps feel the sensation disappear from Malaika, and now she is able to heal Malaika.


Favian suddenly disappeared, reappearing in front of Phantom midair, his hand outstretched towards the boy.

What stopped Favian from reaching Phantom were thick, thorny vines. The vines kept Favian suspended in the air.

Rose petals fell to the ground, being licked up and withering in blue hell flames. In the parts of Favian's skin that the thorns cut into, small rose buds bloomed.

"I don't know who the hell you are, I don't know who the hell you think you are, and I don't particularly care either," Alma said, covered in his own blood. Through the cuts and blood, one could see Alma's skin across his cheeks were tinted dark green, and from his fingers to a few inches away from his elbows matched in shade.

Alma's eyes pierced through the smoke and flames, a beautiful yet angry shade of hot pink. He looked beyond irritated, although unfortunately unable to feel hatred. Yet still, he could feel emotions close to it.

The vines tightened around Favian, the large thorns dragging across and into Favian's skin even more.

"I'm really tired of you terrorizing us. I'm especially tired of you terrorizing my kids."

Favian's lips turned into a smirk as he made no attempt to escape from the vines. Favian said, "You don't even know who Nivia was."

"Her name is Echo."

"So I've heard."

A sort of violent and painful healing hit Malaika once the barrier dissipated, as the energy for that had accumulated very quickly before being used. Germaine would have apologized right then if she could. But the result did more good than harm anyways.
Hitan's request was heard. This time, Germaine tried to make the heal gradual and quick, like she had been doing a while ago. It worked. However, her control over the healing's effects was vanishing. She regretted not mastering that type of magic.

Silence stood near the barrier, clapping their hands together a little impatiently. They wanted to be over near where Favian was so they could... Ah, well, in less profane words: "beat him up".

When Germaine started healing Silence, Silence's eyes turned back into their usual light blue. As well, the roots of their hair turned back into pure black.

Silence eyed Faust, then suddenly growled, "Ah hell nah! THIS bastard again?! Dude, why can't you learn to (censor) off?!"

Faust said to Francis, "Nice to see you're still friends with the little delinquent."

Francis blankly stared down at the ground as Silence flipped Faust off.

There was a pause, Silence remembering what Hitan said about oxygen. They're still having trouble standing stably due to paralysis, but it's getting better quite quickly die to Hitan getting rid of the poison and Germaine healing them.

Faust giggled, wanting more attention, "Oh Francis~ Don't you know you look so much like Emil?"

Francis' head snapped up. Very quietly, a faint whisper came past his lips.

"Emil?"

Silence warned, reaching out to touch Francis' shoulder, "Francis, don't listen to him, he's tr-" For the first time, Francis slapped Silence's hand away. Silence cringed back, confused and a bit hurt by their best friend's behavior.

Francis' eyes were fixated on the face of someone who knew more than him, wide yet blank. He wanted to know more... no, he needed to know more.

Faust added on, latching his prey in a web of thoughts, "You want to know how he died, don't you? You've wondered about it for years, right? Isn't that why you visited his grave so often?"

Echo called out from inside the barrier, "Francis?" Echo was starting to shake, fear welling up inside her.




Favian giggled, and slowly that giggle built up into a loud, maniacal laughter.

"All of this for a little girl?!"

Alma tightened the vines, causing Faust to cough. Blood hit the ground in small waterfalls.



Malaika was watching, still breathing hard. There was a lot going on, and Malaika was recovering from both Favian's torture and Germain's sudden healing.

Francis hesitated, his head going back down so he can stare at the ground again. He looked back at Hitan, his eyes squinting as he tried to focus. His eyes looked back and forth, unable to keep still as he tried to stare. His pupils were dilated, taking up all the space in his irises. His face was flushed as if he had a fever. Something was obviously wrong. His words slurred when he spoke, and Francis had a terrible time trying to stand, his body jolting from imbalance.

"I feel sick," Francis said, blinking rapidly.

Everything to Francis was shaking, as if in an earthquake. Colours bounced off everything unnaturally, and Francis felt like his head was under water as everyone was muffled.

Francis shook his head, trying to clear his brain. What was he doing? Where was he again?

When he stopped his head shake, Francis opened his eyes to no one around him. Where was he? Francis rubbed his eyes, and there beside him he could see Hitan and Silence. Who were these people? Oh, right, but...

Why did Francis feel so happy? The smell in the room was retched, so why did he feel happy? The smell made him feel light headed, and Francis realized how hungry he felt. Why was he hungry? Gods, what was he doing again?

"Francis~ Did you already forget about Emil?"

Francis looked back up at Faust, nearly stumbling due to how hard and fast he moved his head up. Emil... Right, right, Francis wanted to know about Emil. Maybe it was just a small pinpoint of hope that made Francis want to know more. Maybe it was curiosity.

Faust enjoyed how drunken Francis was. It was a bit boring, as Francis was very quiet, but his stumbling was amusing.

He chuckled as Francis stammered out, "I-I... I..."

Last edited by Echo (September 7, 2021 09:09:00)

"Get me- closer- to Francis- behind- him-" Came the static reply. "Then attack- Faust- after- I- Knock- out Francis- He'll- be- fine-"


"He died so suddenly, didn't he?' Faust continued. Francis opened and closed his mouth, trying to find words to reply with.

"Do you know how he died?"

Francis looked back at the ground.

Once close enough, Silence pulled out a small capsule from under their crop top, opening it to reveal a small cushion pin in one section and dark, thick liquid in the other.

Francis looked up, back up at Faust, and mumbled, "I... I don't know..."

Faust would have opened his mouth if Echo hadn't frozen it. He started scratching at his face to get rid of the sudden ice, small chunks of skin peeling off along with blood.

Silence pulled the needle out and dipped it in the liquid. In one clean move, they swept their arm and stuck across the back of Francis' neck, revealing for a moment a tattoo of some sort on Francis' neck. A thin line of red appeared where Silence sliced, shallow and not even bleeding.

Francis' eyes went wide, his mouth agape as shock filled in. His vision turned fuzzy as he felt a terrible pain on the back of his neck. Francis' eyes rolled back, and the boy passed out, Silence catching him by the back of his shirt before he could hit the ground.

Phantom saw Francis teleported next to Silence. "What happened to him?" he asked.

He, uh, meant what they should do about Francis, but it's okay. 
"Emotional manipulation," he specifies partially for Silence before lapsing right back into the private telepathic conversation because,,, why not. Two aspects. One, any information about how to kill him without breaking the ice? Two, shall I transport your friend to a safer place?

Silence actually was saying they had no idea what to do with Francis, but because of the Narrator's poor RPing skills, the reply read wrong lmao.

"Shoot him in the head," Silence said.

Faust hummed, "Oh, but don't you want me to die painfully~? For revenge~?"

Germaine couldn't contribute much to the events outside the defensive barrier. It was stronger if the source came from the inside (where she was), and, even though she could still keep it active from outside, there was no telling what could happen in the second she'd open the protection. 
So she watched the events unfold. She checked Francis's status to make sure he wasn't badly hurt from whatever Silence did to him.