Homecomings [Archive]

[DragonSong]

She whirled, eyes flaring amethyst rather than the soft purple of the flower she was named for. "Don't. Call. Me. That," she hissed, baring her teeth in an instinctive threat display.

"I want it gone. Take it back!"

[DragonSong]

[Sorry! Laptop is being dumb :/]

[Marakai Trin]

Kranath stepped forward, a thin smile curling his lips as the dark marks on his face twisted and writhed. "Why would you want it gone? Look at you - where once there was fear, there is nothing but strength. I can feel it within you, like a separate heartbeat."

In a flash, he was directly behind her, and his whispered voice would haunt her once more.

"Deal with it."

[DragonSong]

Something about what he said rang scarily true and she whirled, grabbing for the front of his shirt with a snarl still on her lips.

"I never asked for this!" Ice gathered at her fingertips, her breath so cold it fogged the air.

[Marakai Trin]

Kranath stared at her as she snarled into his face, red eyes flat and staring. They narrowed almost imperceptibly, and suddenly he shoved her away from him with a strength unbecoming a thin man of his size.

Though he'd put distance between them, he took small steps forward. "You did ask for it. You didn't want to die, so you made your choice." His steps slowed, and when he smiled, his eyes swirled again with a familiar darkness.

As they did, Azalea would feel something within her pulling, physically moving inside her body. What she didn't know was that Kranath could feel it, too.

"...you live, yet you haven't accepted it. Why do you still live, half-breed?"

[DragonSong]

Azalea's eyes widened, then she gave a sharp cry, bending forward and pressing her hands against her middle as though that could stop the power moving inside her.

"I don't know," she gasped. "I just want it to stop! Please!"

[Marakai Trin]

Kranath continued walking towards her, stopping only when he was no more than a foot away.

He grabbed her by the hair, and pulled her up to be face to face with him. When she would see him, she'd see a different face than what she recognized, this one twisted and hard, teeth like needles inside his mouth with his lips pulled inti a snarl.

The soulless black eyes, though, were the same, staring into her violet ones, as if peering into her very soul.

"Then give in," he hissed.

[DragonSong]

"No." She struggled weakly, slamming her eyes shut. "No no no no! Just let me go, please, let me go!"

[Marakai Trin]

But he wouldn't. He continued speaking, and as he did so the darkness in her would writhe, twisting her insides.

"Do you know why I can do this to you? I can manipulate the darkness inside you because it's mine. If you want it to stop, then make it yours!"

He tossed her lightly to the ground, and turned away. "It doesn't come out. You let it in - it stays until it kills you, or something else does."

[DragonSong]

Azalea cried out, curling in on herself.

"How?" she screamed, unable to stand it anymore. "I don't know how!"

[Marakai Trin]

"Use it! Welcome it, and stop hating it!" He whirled on her with glowing eyes, the darkness having gone away and his face normal again.

"Accept it as a part of yourself! Let it be a part of you. You'll be so much stronger...to have survived these last few weeks despite fighting it tells of your strength. That strength will only multiply."

He walked to stand over her, looking down at her with bis eyes alight. "I was the same way, and look at my strength now. You could be just as powerful..."

[DragonSong]

Panting, she glared up at him.

"Alright," she rasped out. "Alright! But I won't be like you. This doesn't own me!"

She stopped fighting, allowing the power to wash through her body. A sharp cry tore out of her and she pressed her hands to her temples.

She wouldn't let this own her, she controlled it, not the other way around!

[Marakai Trin]

I am not anIT.And no one controls me, Azalea.

The voice echoing within her mind was as soft as silk, very feminine, and yet very commanding. The writhing in Azalea's body would cease, and she would instead feel a sudden pressure in her extremities as it spread throughout, perhaps painful for a single second before the feeling disappeared.

You have but to further my goals, and you will never feel that pain, that sickness, ever again. I will not make you my slave....but you will not fight me. Give me souls, half-dragon, and I will give you power beyond what you could imagine.

As the voice was echoing within Azalea's head, Kranath listened with a smile.

It was about damn time.

Kranath. Test her. Make her use the strength I have given her...but do not kill her, or I will return you to the void that I pulled you from.

Kranath's smile disappeared, and his gaze flicked to the woman in front of him.

Calmly, he reached over his shoulder, and unsheathed the unusually long daikatana from his back, the light playing across the black, crystalline blade.

"Your will be done, my Lady...."

[DragonSong]

Azalea's eyes widened. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" She glared at him, but imagined she was glaring at the voice in her head.

She growled, teeth bared as she sank back into a defensive crouch on bare feet. "Your time is over, lady. I'm not giving you anything."

[Marakai Trin]

Kranath sighed, and lowered his sword. "That's a mistake. Are you incapable of listening? To insult a Goddess with a piece of herself inside you.... That's true stupidity."

Indeed. Do you need a reminder of the agony I just gave you relief from, half-dragon?

[DragonSong]

Her teeth felt together as she growled softly. "You haven't killed me yet, which makes me think I'm more use to you alive than dead. You can hurt, but you don't want to kill me."