[The End 7/13] Fractured
[L] || Tick Tock. This was what he had told Chava nearly a month ago. Tick Tock. Her time was running out. Every second, every day, every week. Each moment counted down to this moment. The moment he'd kill Damien's wife. It was only stage one of his plans, but it would be a very /satisfying/ first stage. And oh, Lucedio had plans. It was with a very sadistic smile that he left his house that day. He could have used his ability to travel, but he relished the walk. The path to the final stage of this war. He was an odd sight for the various people he passed. Granted, he looked ordinary enough. Plain robes and all. What was very odd, however, was that he was using magic to levitate a very large clock in front of him. And it was ticking loudly. He arrived at the manor within less than a half hour. He wasn't going to move in just yet, first he had to set something up. He levitated the clock up towards one of the windows of the manor, out of reach, but well within sight if they happened to see out of that window. And then he cast a spell to make the ticking louder. He wanted the ticking of the clock to resonate through every single room of the Manor. Tick Tock. Chava's time had come, and she should recognize the ticking of this clock as what it was. The last moments of her life. He sat there letting the clock tick for a few minutes before pointing his wand at himself "Sonorus." With that, he smirked and spoke out, "Your time is up." With that, he ended the spell making his own voice louder, before using his ability to get into the Manor's living room.
|| For once... for god damned once, Chava was trying to sleep. The first time in months and she had wanted to sleep voluntarily. She lay in bed, her eyes barely open, unable to reach the sleep she had fought off for so long. Her mind wouldn't turn off. Damien... Maybe she could have slept better if Damien was there, and it was her own fault he wasn't in the room then, she had chosen to be alone. It was her own fault she had distanced herself to the point of handing over her wedding ring waiting for the divorce papers from him. It hadn't been very long since her distance started, maybe two weeks? So Chava was able to do it well enough. But she missed him. She loved him. She didn't know how to say she was sorry while also... /not/ supposed to be feeling guilty. Yet, if there was any time she would drop anything to climb back into Damien's arms, it would be then. At first, she thought it was part of her dream, another nightmare creeping to the surface of her brain to wake her up with a start. So she covered her ears, tugging the blanket further over her form. It only got louder. And louder. And /louder/. Tick tock. Tick tock. Lucedio's words to her, tick tock, her time was almost out. Each tick began to line up with her increasingly speeding heartbeat until the woman was hyperventilating. The sound was everywhere, so loud she could feel it reverberating in her chest. Was it real? Yes. It was. There was Lucedio's voice himself, with his promising words of her doom. Immediately, foolishly, Chava screams in blind panic, unable to stop. Maybe, maybe if she screamed loud enough, the ticking would stop and Lucedio would leave, right? She scrambles out of bed, screaming at the top of her lungs, perhaps running into every wall in her path. "DAMIEN!" she shrieks, not stopping to run until she would collide with her husband, clinging onto him as if her life depended on it. And it did. There was Lucedio. Right there.
|| Chava was trying to sleep, and he was brewing potions. He didn't often go up to the bedroom whenever Chava was sleeping. He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable or anything since she seemed to expect him to divorce her. That would never happen, she would have to divorce him for him to leave her. The way things were going he wouldn't be surprised if she did divorce him. After all, what use was he, really? He brought her into a situation where death was a very real option, cost her an arm, and now Lucedio seemed to be focusing on her. He wouldn't fault her if she packed her bags and got as far away as possible. His fingers gripped the armrest of his Throne, irritation at himself creeping through his mind. The throne no longer felt comforting, not since he'd started to spend most nights sleeping in it. The only nights he slept in a bed were the ones Chava didn't spend in the bedroom. Which he could count on one hand, even if he cut some of his fingers off. They hadn't kissed since that night after trying to kill Aeron, and the guilt at what he said plagued him more than ever. There were days where he was willing to just give up. To find Lucedio and just accept death. Perhaps even kill Lucedio in the process. Tick Tock. That's what Lucedio had said. That Chava's time would soon be up. Tick Tock. She would suffer at his hands. Tick Tock. He could almost hear the ticking of a clock in his mind, counting down the amount of time until Lucedio would strike. Tick Tock. When would he strike? A week? Tick Tock. A month? Tick Tock. "WOULD YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He shouted at his mind. Tick Tock. "She will live. She must live." Tick Tock. The noise no longer sounded in his mind like he had thought. No, it was /real/. A loud ticking noise at each second. It had to be him. Who else would it be? Lucedio. Chava ran into him, clutching at him, but his mind was elsewhere. Before long, Lucedio appeared out of the shadows facing them down once more. This time, Lucedio would be gunning for Chava's death. He wouldn't leave once he had them down. He'd be going for the kill. Tick Tock. Time was running out.
[L] || One look at the cunt's frightful expression was enough to cause Lucedio to start laughing. Oh, he had a plan. And it was working brilliantly. He flicked his wand, sending several wards over the Manor. He had broken through the Manor's wards once before, and it was far too easy a second time. There would be no escape this time. For any of them. Anti-apparation, anti-portkey. Everything. If anyone wanted to get away, it would have to be through the door. He wouldn't waste his time speaking. No, now was the time for action. He flicked his wand again, at Damien, flinging the man towards the far wall. As soon as the man would hit the wall, he waved his wand again, transfiguring the wall to surround everything except his head. The only thing he wanted Damien to do was to watch. He turned his gaze toward Chava, smirking slightly. "I gave you plenty of warning, and you're still here? This will be /far/ too easy." He flicked his wand again, sending a confringo her way. "Not even a proper fight or a chase."
|| There was no escape, but there /had/ to be an escape somewhere. And right as she had started to hold Damien tighter to her in an effort to apparate away, Lucedio had stopped even that. There was the door but... Her children were upstairs, and Lucedio had aimed at Damien only to keep him back from the scene, only his head out. But Chava... she had a little bit more freedom. And once the initial shock passed and wasn't controlling her mind, Chava knew she had to act. She had to act, or she would be dead by the end of the night. Damien could not help her here. With a start, she ducks quickly from his spell, grabbing a small knife nearby that could easily be hidden in her sleeve. She didn't know if it was the greatest idea, but with a scream, she flings herself towards Lucedio, knife sliding out in aim to jab right above his kneecap. She would not hesitate, her fist flying for his head and her feet kicking at anywhere that would hurt most. "I'll die before I leave him," she cries, trying to keep herself under control. She couldn't let her emotions control her, she couldn't... She had to keep her fear away, for Damien and the kids if nothing else.
| Lucedio stepped to the side, aiming a kick at Chava's side. One person was so much easier to manage. Especially one person who had only one arm. He knew exactly which direction to move in to avoid her strike because her reach on once side had been completely cut. While Chava wouldn't survive the night, he would make her death slow and painful. And that didn't mean he wouldn't have some fun first. She'd die before she left Damien? "Now you're getting it." Death was her only option now. It was far too late for anything else. He waves his wand and the ticking gets louder. He hoped it would be a good distraction. He pointed his wand towards Chava and a stream of fire shot out of his wand, shooting across towards Chava. Not fiendfyre, that was too difficult to but still a searing hot flame.
|| She had thought in the back of her head that perhaps that strike would have worked, would have done Lucedio some damage. But it didn't. He expertly blocked any move she made, merely kicking her to the side. She grunts, falling back slightly, trying not to stumble again. Her wand. Her wand was... upstairs. In the bedroom. Just when she needed it. She had grown too careless in the last few days. She needed to get to her wand, but how? There was no way Lucedio would allow her to get up even one step from this room. Still, she would try. Wrapped up in plans to get her wand back so she could have any better chance at all, she was taken back by the first real spell he threw at her. With a scream, she stumbles back, arm raising as if to protect herself from the flame that started straight for her. So of course, her arm burnt, and she could swear she was already growing hoarse from screaming. The good news? The fire was easily put out by running straight into the wall, but her arm was already developing what had to be serious burns, peeling at her skin as if trying to reach the bone. No, Chava wouldn't wait. There was no time for plans. With hardly any hesitation she threw herself forwards towards the stairs, running at top speed to try and get out of that room.
|| Lucedio was here, and his fight was over far before it even began. One moment, he was standing next to Chava, ready to fight to keep her alive. The next he was flung back, slamming against a wall. He leaned forward as if readying himself to move forward and strike out against Lucedio. When he didn't move, he realized exactly what Lucedio had done. He was trapped, unable to move or even fight. In one swift move, Lucedio had won. He didn't even have his dagger on him so he couldn't slowly cut his way out. His magic probably wouldn't be strong enough to do anything either. He just had to hope Chava could win. Her words shocked him, as he had expected Chava to start hating him or something. To hear she would rather die than leave him it filled him with hope, but at the same time, his heart was filled with dread. "YOU'RE NOT KILLING HER!" He shouted out, though he lacked the ability to back that promise up.
[L] || This was getting annoying. He preferred when she was fighting back, but now it seemed she was running away. Did she not understand there was no escape? He flicked his wand at Chava's feet, casting a stickfast hex. "That should hold you in place." He chuckled darkly, before waving his wand again, and the lip of the stairs continued to move further and further up, blocking her way of getting upstairs. Of course, there was still the balcony that seemed to hang abo the room below, but he doubted Chava was spry enough to get up that way. He started thinking of ways to cause her pain. Removing her other hand, sending a bit of the ceiling careening down upon her, but he figured it best to start with an old spell. He pointed his wand at Chava, before saying "Crucio." With his wand kept aimed at Chava, he turned his head towards Damien before saying, "I'd like to see you stop me."
|| Chava had barely gotten a few steps when she was sent flying forward and down to her knees, her feet stuck to the floor by Lucedio's hex. Of course, this wouldn't stop her from trying, pathetically so, clawing at the ground with her fingers, trying to inch forward either way. How the hell was she supposed to get to her wand? This was her mistake, her mistake, it was all her mistake. How could she even blame Lucedio for doing this to her if she had just brought it upon herself? It was her doing. Damien's shot was in the back of her mind, and she opened her mouth to say something, anything to him, but the only sound that came out was another ear piercing scream as her body met one of Lucedio's classic spells- the torture curse. And every bit of it was torture. She completely collapsed down to the floor on her back, her back arching, body trembling until it was over. Get over it, she had to get over it. God damn it, she could /not/ give up so soon. "Dami!" she screams through the curse, her hand reaching out to him. She wanted nothing more than to rip Lucedio's heart out while he was still alive... And then run back to her husband, take back her ring, and apologize for everything. Maybe that night Damien would actually want to sleep next to her again. When the curse stopped, she moved as if to try and crawl closer to Lucedio, fire in her eyes. "fuck you," she spits at him, growling lowly. "Get out, get out, before I kill you."
|| Damien couldn't see any escape. Not for him not for Chava. Maybe if they had been able to work together, but separated like this... they had no hope. He could not offer to sacrifice himself for Chava because Lucedio would just kill them both. He would do that regardless. There was no escape, no hope, and for the first time in a long time, Damien felt completely broken. Everything was his fault, and now he can't even save Chava. Was this the end? If Chava was to die, at least he could die soon after. "You will die. Maybe I won't kill you. Maybe Chava won't kill you, but someday you will die, and I hope you suffer."
[L] || He didn't like Chava's pain. He didn't even enjoy her pain. He /relished/ it. Every scream in pain, every word uttered towards him was like music to his ears. He waved his wand and ceased the unforgivable hesitantly. He knew he would hear her scream plenty throughout this day, but he didn't want to break her /too/ quickly. The best kills fought for their lives, and this one was beginning to be disappointing. "You wouldn't be able to kill me if you tried. You're far too weak." He flicked his wand at her casting a few cutting curses in her direction, followed up by a confringo aimed in her general direction. He turned his gaze towards Damien, walking towards his trapped twin. "You will be dead long before then." He pressed his wand up towards Damien's fake eye, casting another cutting curse. "And before even then, Chava will be dead."
|| The first thing that entered Chava's mind was that perhaps she could take advantage of Lucedio's small change in direction towards Damien. As he turned to face him, his back was to her. He was confident in his ability to keep her under wraps. He had made that mistake before and Chava had gotten them out of this, so she could do that again, right? The spells sent in her direction were with enough pressure to send her flying backward a few feet, no longer quite as stuck to the floor as she once was. She takes another small knife, and without hesitation, hopefully without much noise, Chava flew towards Lucedio's back, the point of the blade aimed straight for his neck. No, Chava wasn't playing around anymore, wasn't just trying to ward him off or get him to leave. Every move Chava could make would be with the aim to kill Lucedio. Now, whether or not the knife hit him was another thing, but she pulled back immediately after, aiming to stab again, and again, and again, in blind fury. "FUCKING TOUCH HIM ONE MORE MOTHERFUCKING TIME!" she snarls. Hurting her was one thing, hurting Damien was another.
|| He'd lost his eye again, though thankfully it was his fake one. He would have been absolutely no hope had Lucedio choose to strike out against his good eye. It didn't stop the pain he felt as shards of the fake eye dug themselves into his skin. He couldn't even take them out since he was trapped. "I'm not letting her die." He spoke defiantly, even though he was unable to back that up. "Because I love her more than anything. And that's something you clearly don't understand." He saw Chava creeping up behind Lucedio, smiling internally, though keeping a carefully constructed face to make sure Lucedio didn't suspect anything. As far as he probably knew Chava was still stuck under his charm. "I will do whatever it takes to make sure she lives."
[L] || it was amusing how Damien seemed to think he had any say in what would happen today. Lucedio had already won, and nothing Damien could do would stop that. "As if you can do anything to stop me." He pulled his wand back before readying to turn back and deal with Chava, who he figured was still stuck, or trying to get upstairs for whatever reason. What he hadn't expected was that she was right behind him, and he felt a blade pierce his flesh. He had underestimated Chava, and that stopped /now/. He snarled out, waving his wand at the blade, aiming to transfigure it into a harmless feather. "I'LL DO WHATEVER I WANT YOU WORTHLESS BITCH" He waved his wand towards Chava's torso casting a confringo at her, before following it up with an Avis Oppungo, making the birds attack her torso, where the spell would have struck.
|| At first, Chava had only felt a small, sheer amount of joy. She had hit him. She had actually hit him. Maybe... Just maybe, if she could do it again, and hit a more vital spot... She could win this, right? She didn't know. She didn't know. It was getting harder and harder to keep control of herself the longer it went on. Every part of her screamed to hide, to freak out, to give up, even. That maybe if she begged Lucedio to die, he would get it over with quicker and she wouldn't have to suffer through it all. But of course... She knew there would be no such luck. And did she even really want to die..? Was she even okay with dying anymore..? Who had she become? Her moment of joy was destroyed as soon as it had come about, as Lucedio began to wail at her like a madman. She stumbles backward away from him with every step he came closer, fear etched into her face, and she couldn't avoid the next spells he shot at her. She was, perhaps, already still lucky to be alive, and that the confringo had not completely split her in half at the torso. She fell back to her knees as the birds began to attack her already destroyed torso, blood leaking through her clothes and onto the ground next to her. Yes, she had forgotten the horror of that spell. She swats at every damn bird with her hand, crushing one in her palm and throwing it back, practically lifeless, at Lucedio. "YOU CANT KILL ME!"
[L] || Anger. That was all Lucedio could feel at this woman who dared believe she could stand up to him. Apparently, he would have to prove that she had no hope. He walked closer to her, until he hovered over her, waving his hand to bat aside the thrown bird. In a move that surprised even him, he brought his wand up in front of him, and snapped it in two, tossing the pieces aside. It would certainly make him harder to fight, make it harder to anticipate what he might do, and harder to stop him from using magic. He waved his hand over Chava and levitated her up towards him. "You can't stop me." He waved his hand, sending a confringo towards Chava's hand. It would make this much easier if she couldn't even fight back. "Damien can't stop me." He waved his hand again, sending Chava flying towards a wall. "You will die, AND NO ONE CAN FUCKING STOP ME!" He walked over to a chair seemingly made of bones, before snapping off the sharpest bone he could find. He waved his hand, sending ropes to bind Chava to where she was. Before moving over towards her. He drove the bone in between her ribs, before casting a spell to cause the bone to keep through her. "This is your last day, and the minutes are counting down." He waved his hand around and various objects around the room transfigured into small sharp, razor-blade-like objects before they all flung themselves at Chava.
|| Lucedio was angry, and Chava was slowly losing her shit all over again. Even his wand... Snapped, and that was perhaps the most surprising part. A wand snapped, he must really have confidence. Did Chava have any? No. She didn't think so. Maybe an inkling. Maybe Damien could find a way to escape and help her... The first shock came with the next explosion, aimed for the only hand she had. Her only chance at even a little magic... An explosion of flesh and bone, and a sickening splatter of blood later, and the only sign of her hand was the singed skin at the wrist, pieces of flesh hanging on by nothing, her forearm coated in her blood. Chava had no more hands. She was fucking... useless. Couldn't even so much as pull a fist to defend herself. And it /hurt/, like hell. It hurt more than losing her first hand had, as that was a much cleaner cut than this. But she didn't even have the time to react to it before she flew across the room to collide with the opposite wall, she swore with enough force to dent the wall itself. Her blood would be a nice decoration to the Dagger Manor after she died. She would have tried to get up, if the worst pain that day hadn't startled her into a heartbreaking scream to her husband, her entire body twitching with the pain that coursed through her. It was far too different, being stabbed with a dry bone used for a chair- Damien's chair. A dagger was slicker, made to pierce and slide through, made to destroy and cut. Bone was not. Bone required more effort to sink into the skin, more force to do its job, and it was not easy on her by any means. The dry bone sunk into her ribs and after the initial scream, she couldn't scream at full volume again, a mere gurgling, whimper of pain as if she were choking, her body unable to stop shaking. And he wasn't done yet, /no/, he wasn't done yet. Of course, he wasn't. Every little razor blade cut at her skin, bleeding from her cheeks, her collarbone, her arms, and dangerously close to the eye itself, across her eyelid, beads of blood dripping down her skin. When she found the strength to speak, she took every opportunity. "Please..." she cries, a raspy, desperate sound. "Don't kill me... Don't kill me..." For once in her entire life, and perhaps for the last time, Chava didn't beg for her life to be taken, for the suffering to be over... But rather for her life to be spared. "I don't want to die..."
|| Lucedio snapped his wand. He just... snapped his wand. As if his wand meant /nothing to him. Was his magic that strong that he didn't need a wand? Had they underestimated Lucedio all those years? Was he always just /toying/ with them? He didn't know, and he wasn't sure he /wanted/ to know. Lucedio was right. He couldn't stop Lucedio, but he had to hope Chava had a chance. Yet with how things were going, Damien was starting to panic. Then his world went numb. He saw Lucedio raise Chava up, before casting a spell at Chava. A spell Damien knew all too well. the spell hit, and Chava's final hand was no more. There was no hope. Chava would die because neither of them could fight back. "NOOO!" He shouted out, struggling against the bind that held him in place. The wood fractured as his mind anguished, before shattering. Damien didn't question what happened and instead took advantage of it, by grabbing a knife from one of the displays, before Charging forward, aiming to drive the blade into Lucedio's back. "YOU'RE NOT KILLING HER!"
[L] || For the second time that day, he felt a blade piercing his flesh, but this time from behind him. And since Chava was in front of him, that only meant one thing: Damien was free. How he couldn't say. The man had the same magic levels of a squirrel. The intelligence of one too, thinking he could win, thinking he could stop his wife's death. He picked up Damien by the scruff of the neck and throwing him across the room. "Sit," he spoke as if talking to a dog. He flicked his wand sending some ropes flying towards Damien, before turning back towards Chava, not bothering to see whether the ropes did what they were supposed to. "Now, where was I?"
|| [D]Why was this much harder than it used to be? They were able to fight him before, what changed? He couldn't tell. When the ropes shot towards him, he scrambled to the side, trying to make sure he wasn't trapped again. Chava wouldn't live if that happened. What could he do? His mind filtered through several possible solutions before coming up with one. They needed time... Chava needed to be able to fight... they needed... an hour. Would it work though? She had been stabbed with a piece of his throne. /HIS/ throne. And, then she was pelted by small blades. Would polyjuice even work with that much damage? He had to hope. He could heal her after the hour was up. They just needed to /survive/ first. He rushed off heading towards his potions cabinet, hoping he wasn't too late. "Hold on, Chava. Just a little longer." He spoke, louder than he had intended.
|| [L] Damien was turning into far more of a nuisance than he was willing to let go on. Breaking free of his bonds. Dodging the ropes sent at him, and now heading off, presumably for some sort of weapon or something Damien could use against him. And Lucedio was not willing to let that happen. He waved his hand sending Damien flying back against a wall "You clearly underestimate me. YOU CAN'T STOP ME!" With that he waved his wand transfiguring the wall back around Damien, this time turning the wood into steel. He wasn't having Damien breaking free. He turned towards Chava, crouching down staring coldly into her eyes. "And he can't save you. No one will save you. The best thing about you already being 'dead'. No one will bat an eye."
|| Chava had given up. There was nothing left. For a moment there, a small... brief, moment, she had thought Damien would miraculously come through. She had even managed to smile, and try to sit up through her own ropes to try and get closer to him. And she still wanted to apologize... Wanted to kiss him again... "Dami," she had mumbled softly in response to his words of hope, but it all crashed down in moments when Lucedio was back on his feet, and Damien was trapped once more. "Dami," she repeated, but this time she was crying, the pain catching up to her. She couldn't even face Lucedio, didn't look him in the eye when he spoke to her. She was only looked at Damien, her sweet Dami... How could she possibly tell him she had given up? Well, there were two simple words that would send the message. "I'm sorry..." She said it loud enough for him to hear, and she knew he would /know/. The moment Damien had been trapped once more Chava knew she was dead. There was no more pretending otherwise, no more fighting back. Should she start telling Damien everything now? Maybe get a last word out there? No.. Not yet. Not everything. "Sleep next to me tonight, Dami?" she mumbles in delirium, waiting for Lucedio's next strike. She would not look.
|| No! "NO!" He could /not/ be taken out of this fight again! He had to save Chava! Had to stop Lucedio! They had to live! But what could he do trapped behind solid steel? It was worse than before since whatever method he used to escape wouldn't work now. "I WILL KILL YOU!" He shouted and screamed, scratching at his voice, but deep within he knew that there was nothing he could do. What hope did they have? "Chava!" He had to get through to her. She still had legs, perhaps she could run? Lock herself in the basement? But she had no arms, that wouldn't work! A window maybe? But if she got outside then what then? "Don't!" He struggled against the steel, yet nothing budged. Don't apologize. It wasn't her fault. It was his. "As long as there's a tomorrow, I will spend every night next to you. So do whatever it takes to survive!"
[L] || "There's no survival for her." Lucedio stepped over Chava, moving towards where Damien was trying to get to. If there was hope for Chava's survival, he wanted it gone. "But there will be a short reprieve." Damien and Chava were bound so they weren't going anywhere. He walked over towards the room it seemed Damien was trying to get to before stepping inside, to see potions on potions. Most of them seemed freshly brewed as well. "Clever." He spoke, before waving his hand around sending several curses breaking the bottles, making sure there wasn't a single potion left. With that done he walked back out to the living room, before levitating Chava up in front of him. "Now there isn't anything that can save you." He was sure they had heard what was done in that room. Glass shattering wasn't exactly a subtle sound. "So where was I? Right. Making you suffer." He waved both of his hands and a searing hot jet of water show out aiming to scald her skin. It was a trick he'd developed himself. Where post used water and fire spells separately he thought to combine then. Then again, most didn't use spells to cause pain. He waved his hand again, and a wall of arrows shot out towards Chava. He wasn't far enough away for them to build up momentum and do more damage, but they would hurt just the same.
|| The pain was hard enough to bear, but perhaps nothing in the world was harder than hearing Damien's screaming for her, not wanting her to give up, begging for her to live. And she so wished that this could be her decision, that this could be one of those times where she could choose to give in and sink into his arms, and he would kiss her temple and run his fingers through her hair and everything would be alright, everything would be fine. And then they'd go to bed and she'd curl around him for the first time in too long, and she'd take the nightmares of Lucedio for the rest of her life over this reality. Her own pain was somethings, Damien's screams tore at her heart. And the shattering of every potion that might have saved her only served to affirm her destiny, and she couldn't even react. There was nothing else for her to do but lay there and take everything coming to her... Maybe try to calm down Damien... Jets of scalding hot water coat her skin, and only then did Chava release her last, and perhaps, definitely, her most painful scream of agony. She screamed for Damien as she could feel the boiling water tearing away layers of her skin, making it bubble and pieces of it sink down to her bone. She didn't want to die. But there was nothing else she could do. The arrows were every bit as painful as the water, as the bone still stabbed through her rib cage, as her blown up torso- but for a different reason. Arrows, they didn't hurt as much physically, but more hurt for what it represented. Her daughter... Aveline... Her daughter who didn't even know right now her only remaining birth parent was minutes from death. Her sweet daughter with her sass, too afraid to ask Damien for money for school... Speaking of, she had to keep talking to Damien. "Dami," she whispers, just loud enough for him to hear. Only her eyes moved to look at him. He had to calm down just long enough to listen... "Take care of them, please. They need you..." She was crying, the tears streaming down her face. She could still feel the burning- how much longer would this go on for? "I love you... I- I should have said that before, I-" She wanted to ramble, she could go on forever, but the pain made it harder. What seemed like forever ago, Chava had made a promise to Damien that she would never leave him. An Unbreakable vow that she would not let herself die, never seek death, that he would never have to worry about this exact moment. "Never forgive me for breaking my promise." Just a few more things, she had to hold on... She was dizzy... "Don't follow me." Don't follow her. Do not follow her. Do not follow her in death. Her last instructions, that she needed him to follow... Don't follow her.
|| His potions were gone. He was trapped behind a sheet of solid steel. Chava was bound and had no arms. Lucedio was stronger than they had ever thought. There was no hope. Tears fall down his cheeks, as he watches on, hoping beyond hell that Chava could be saved. That some fucking miracle would happen and that she'd survive. "No..." He chokes out, shaking his head adamantly, "No. You can't die!" He wriggles an arm free of the metal, though he wasn't able to get anything else free. He reached out for her for a good few minute before frantically pounding at the metal to no avail. "Help me take care of them! They need you too... I need you." His arm fell limp against the metal, having given up. There was nothing he could do. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. "I forgive you... I love you." He didn't say anything to her demand of him not following her. He would make no such promises. There was nothing he could do. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Tick Tock. Tick Tock. The seconds were counting down. And he could only watch in anguish.
[L] || Their pathetic last goodbyes were only serving to annoy him. Why couldn't they just shut up, and die? Or rather, let Chava die. He growled out, and waved his hand towards Damien, causing the metal to rise up and cover his mouth. He didn't want any more interruptions. No, it was time for the cunt to die. He walked over to the dagger that lay on the ground from when Damien tried to attack him. What better way to kill Chava than to use Damien's own weapon. He grinned sadistically, moving towards Chava slowly and deliberately. "I would ask if you had any last words, but I don't want to hear anything more from you." He waved his hand as a small stream of fire shot out towards Chava's mouth, each flame serving to singe and seal her lips together. It wouldn't damage anything else, but he wanted Damien to see Chava's cold dead body once she was dead. And she needed to be recognizable for that to be effective. He crouched down a sneer curling upon his lips. "I hope it was worth it. Because it was worth the wait for me to kill you." With that, he plunged the blade into her heart. "I wonder if you're blaming Damien now that you're about to die. It doesn't matter. But realize this. With you dying here and now. I can kill Damien /very/ easily."
|| Murder wasn't pretty. Murder was not something that happened quickly and too easily and causes death with little to no pain. Murder was not a quick stab wound, eyes immediately rolling back in your head and falling unconscious. And once upon a time, Chava had been repulsed by murder. When she murdered her younger sibling by accident, it had created a tear in her soul that had only deepened and deepened. It wasn't until her second kill that she felt it was something she could handle, and it wasn't until the murder of Damien's parents that she found it was something that she could enjoy. There were no more words for Chava or Damien, no more sounds. No more begging and pleading. The stab to her heart wasn't a pretty little quick stab that would kill her immediate and that would be that. No, she felt every inch of the blade slide through the already bloodied flesh of her chest, piercing her heart, the bone below working at her lungs. Every inch hurt, and death wasn't instantaneous. Maybe then it would have been easier. Death, also, wasn't pretty. Maybe it was pretty on your worst enemy, to see the light leave their eyes, but it wasn't pretty on the one you loved most. It wasn't peaceful and something to clap over when it was someone who had promised would never leave; she was supposed to love him forever! She had promised over and over they would both live, they would kill Lucedio, they would live happily ever god damned ever after. Yet here she was, the blood filling her lungs, rising to the surface, couldn't get out through her sealed up mouth. It was a horror scene, and there was nothing peaceful about it. There was no !#@%$!#@ of your life flashing before your eyes, because they only damned thing Chava could see out of her eyes was the blood in her lungs trying to seep out, the only sounds she could hear were a faint ringing and an eerily creepy heartbeat, slowly, and of course that god awful clock. Tick tock, tick tock, aligned with her heartbeat as it was earlier. In death, there was no time to think about lost loved ones. There was just pain, and... And- DAMIEN! Damien! No! He was here somewhere, he was! He was watching all of this, he was forced to watch, nothing he could do... Would be live? Would he make it through this? Would he kill Lucedio? Had Chava done enough for him in their short time together? It was far too short, much too short. Death was not feeling peaceful and at ease about all you did in life. Death was pure regret, in its finest form. Would Damien move on? He had her ring... She had never taken it back... Hadn't gotten to properly kiss him one last time... She hadn't gotten to see her children grow up as she promised them she would, and she knew they at least would never forgive her for dying when they needed her most. She would leave Damien with so much weight on his shoulders, to deal with alone... So maybe your life did flash before your eyes, just a little bit, even when murdered. Yet the only memory that would keep itself in her brain was her leaving him, of her own volition, leaving two rings, his wand, and that gem behind, her last two words as Goodbye, Damien. If she could say anything else to him then... she would have. She lost consciousness only seconds after the stab to the heart, though it felt like much longer. A minute after and the blood would fill her lungs and drown her in her own blood, around the same time her heart finally stopped beating, the ticking finally stopped, and the pain finally ceased. Brown eyes were left wide open and unseeing, cold and dead staring up at the ceiling, and there was nothing. Nothing. Damien had said he would finally sleep next to her again that night. She already couldn't wait to see him again.
|| Lucedio waved a hand and the clock stopped ticking, yet Damien could still hear it plaguing his mind. Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Chava was gone. She wasn't coming back. He felt like he'd been kicked in the balls. He didn't feel anger, just a sadness that he'd never felt before. "NO! NONONO!" Lucedio waved his hand again and the metal holding Damien in place disappeared. Damien scrabbled forward propping up Chava's lifeless body in his arms. "Please no!" He pressed his lips against her forehead, tears running in full force down his cheeks. "Come back. I need you. Please!" He didn't know how long he sat there, Chava's body in his arms, staring into her cold eyes, hoping she would come back. That this was a dream. That he would wake up any moment in bed next to her. But with every second it hit more and more home. Tick Tock. Chava was dead. Tick Tock. He was next. Tick... He carefully lay Chava back down on the ground before turning to Lucedio. There was no anger in his eyes. No hatred. He didn't want to kill Lucedio, he only wanted to bring Chava back to life if he could, even if that was impossible... or... "Kill me." He demanded. No longer caring whether he lived or died. What did it matter? The person he loved the most was dead. "Let me join her. /KILL ME/!" He could accept dying if he could join her wherever she was. He only wanted to be beside her for eternity. "/END IT/!" Lucedio only smirked at him and said, "No." With that, he waved his hand lowering the wards he'd put up, and disappeared into the shadows. There was nothing left. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Tick. Tock. He returned back to Chava's body rocking back and forth with her in his arms, crying. He didn't know how long he sat there, but by the time he'd cried every last tear night had turned to day. With a numbness inside that topped any other experience he'd ever felt, he picked up Chava's body, before apparating to a far-off spot, stopping only to grab a shovel along the way. For another several hours, he dug, each motion taking more and more out of him than he could bear, as he dug not one grave but two. One grave was for Chava to be lowered into now. But the other was a promise. A promise that he'd join her at the end of his life. And from then on, they would spend eternity together.
|| For once... for god damned once, Chava was trying to sleep. The first time in months and she had wanted to sleep voluntarily. She lay in bed, her eyes barely open, unable to reach the sleep she had fought off for so long. Her mind wouldn't turn off. Damien... Maybe she could have slept better if Damien was there, and it was her own fault he wasn't in the room then, she had chosen to be alone. It was her own fault she had distanced herself to the point of handing over her wedding ring waiting for the divorce papers from him. It hadn't been very long since her distance started, maybe two weeks? So Chava was able to do it well enough. But she missed him. She loved him. She didn't know how to say she was sorry while also... /not/ supposed to be feeling guilty. Yet, if there was any time she would drop anything to climb back into Damien's arms, it would be then. At first, she thought it was part of her dream, another nightmare creeping to the surface of her brain to wake her up with a start. So she covered her ears, tugging the blanket further over her form. It only got louder. And louder. And /louder/. Tick tock. Tick tock. Lucedio's words to her, tick tock, her time was almost out. Each tick began to line up with her increasingly speeding heartbeat until the woman was hyperventilating. The sound was everywhere, so loud she could feel it reverberating in her chest. Was it real? Yes. It was. There was Lucedio's voice himself, with his promising words of her doom. Immediately, foolishly, Chava screams in blind panic, unable to stop. Maybe, maybe if she screamed loud enough, the ticking would stop and Lucedio would leave, right? She scrambles out of bed, screaming at the top of her lungs, perhaps running into every wall in her path. "DAMIEN!" she shrieks, not stopping to run until she would collide with her husband, clinging onto him as if her life depended on it. And it did. There was Lucedio. Right there.
|| Chava was trying to sleep, and he was brewing potions. He didn't often go up to the bedroom whenever Chava was sleeping. He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable or anything since she seemed to expect him to divorce her. That would never happen, she would have to divorce him for him to leave her. The way things were going he wouldn't be surprised if she did divorce him. After all, what use was he, really? He brought her into a situation where death was a very real option, cost her an arm, and now Lucedio seemed to be focusing on her. He wouldn't fault her if she packed her bags and got as far away as possible. His fingers gripped the armrest of his Throne, irritation at himself creeping through his mind. The throne no longer felt comforting, not since he'd started to spend most nights sleeping in it. The only nights he slept in a bed were the ones Chava didn't spend in the bedroom. Which he could count on one hand, even if he cut some of his fingers off. They hadn't kissed since that night after trying to kill Aeron, and the guilt at what he said plagued him more than ever. There were days where he was willing to just give up. To find Lucedio and just accept death. Perhaps even kill Lucedio in the process. Tick Tock. That's what Lucedio had said. That Chava's time would soon be up. Tick Tock. She would suffer at his hands. Tick Tock. He could almost hear the ticking of a clock in his mind, counting down the amount of time until Lucedio would strike. Tick Tock. When would he strike? A week? Tick Tock. A month? Tick Tock. "WOULD YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He shouted at his mind. Tick Tock. "She will live. She must live." Tick Tock. The noise no longer sounded in his mind like he had thought. No, it was /real/. A loud ticking noise at each second. It had to be him. Who else would it be? Lucedio. Chava ran into him, clutching at him, but his mind was elsewhere. Before long, Lucedio appeared out of the shadows facing them down once more. This time, Lucedio would be gunning for Chava's death. He wouldn't leave once he had them down. He'd be going for the kill. Tick Tock. Time was running out.
[L] || One look at the cunt's frightful expression was enough to cause Lucedio to start laughing. Oh, he had a plan. And it was working brilliantly. He flicked his wand, sending several wards over the Manor. He had broken through the Manor's wards once before, and it was far too easy a second time. There would be no escape this time. For any of them. Anti-apparation, anti-portkey. Everything. If anyone wanted to get away, it would have to be through the door. He wouldn't waste his time speaking. No, now was the time for action. He flicked his wand again, at Damien, flinging the man towards the far wall. As soon as the man would hit the wall, he waved his wand again, transfiguring the wall to surround everything except his head. The only thing he wanted Damien to do was to watch. He turned his gaze toward Chava, smirking slightly. "I gave you plenty of warning, and you're still here? This will be /far/ too easy." He flicked his wand again, sending a confringo her way. "Not even a proper fight or a chase."
|| There was no escape, but there /had/ to be an escape somewhere. And right as she had started to hold Damien tighter to her in an effort to apparate away, Lucedio had stopped even that. There was the door but... Her children were upstairs, and Lucedio had aimed at Damien only to keep him back from the scene, only his head out. But Chava... she had a little bit more freedom. And once the initial shock passed and wasn't controlling her mind, Chava knew she had to act. She had to act, or she would be dead by the end of the night. Damien could not help her here. With a start, she ducks quickly from his spell, grabbing a small knife nearby that could easily be hidden in her sleeve. She didn't know if it was the greatest idea, but with a scream, she flings herself towards Lucedio, knife sliding out in aim to jab right above his kneecap. She would not hesitate, her fist flying for his head and her feet kicking at anywhere that would hurt most. "I'll die before I leave him," she cries, trying to keep herself under control. She couldn't let her emotions control her, she couldn't... She had to keep her fear away, for Damien and the kids if nothing else.
| Lucedio stepped to the side, aiming a kick at Chava's side. One person was so much easier to manage. Especially one person who had only one arm. He knew exactly which direction to move in to avoid her strike because her reach on once side had been completely cut. While Chava wouldn't survive the night, he would make her death slow and painful. And that didn't mean he wouldn't have some fun first. She'd die before she left Damien? "Now you're getting it." Death was her only option now. It was far too late for anything else. He waves his wand and the ticking gets louder. He hoped it would be a good distraction. He pointed his wand towards Chava and a stream of fire shot out of his wand, shooting across towards Chava. Not fiendfyre, that was too difficult to but still a searing hot flame.
|| She had thought in the back of her head that perhaps that strike would have worked, would have done Lucedio some damage. But it didn't. He expertly blocked any move she made, merely kicking her to the side. She grunts, falling back slightly, trying not to stumble again. Her wand. Her wand was... upstairs. In the bedroom. Just when she needed it. She had grown too careless in the last few days. She needed to get to her wand, but how? There was no way Lucedio would allow her to get up even one step from this room. Still, she would try. Wrapped up in plans to get her wand back so she could have any better chance at all, she was taken back by the first real spell he threw at her. With a scream, she stumbles back, arm raising as if to protect herself from the flame that started straight for her. So of course, her arm burnt, and she could swear she was already growing hoarse from screaming. The good news? The fire was easily put out by running straight into the wall, but her arm was already developing what had to be serious burns, peeling at her skin as if trying to reach the bone. No, Chava wouldn't wait. There was no time for plans. With hardly any hesitation she threw herself forwards towards the stairs, running at top speed to try and get out of that room.
|| Lucedio was here, and his fight was over far before it even began. One moment, he was standing next to Chava, ready to fight to keep her alive. The next he was flung back, slamming against a wall. He leaned forward as if readying himself to move forward and strike out against Lucedio. When he didn't move, he realized exactly what Lucedio had done. He was trapped, unable to move or even fight. In one swift move, Lucedio had won. He didn't even have his dagger on him so he couldn't slowly cut his way out. His magic probably wouldn't be strong enough to do anything either. He just had to hope Chava could win. Her words shocked him, as he had expected Chava to start hating him or something. To hear she would rather die than leave him it filled him with hope, but at the same time, his heart was filled with dread. "YOU'RE NOT KILLING HER!" He shouted out, though he lacked the ability to back that promise up.
[L] || This was getting annoying. He preferred when she was fighting back, but now it seemed she was running away. Did she not understand there was no escape? He flicked his wand at Chava's feet, casting a stickfast hex. "That should hold you in place." He chuckled darkly, before waving his wand again, and the lip of the stairs continued to move further and further up, blocking her way of getting upstairs. Of course, there was still the balcony that seemed to hang abo the room below, but he doubted Chava was spry enough to get up that way. He started thinking of ways to cause her pain. Removing her other hand, sending a bit of the ceiling careening down upon her, but he figured it best to start with an old spell. He pointed his wand at Chava, before saying "Crucio." With his wand kept aimed at Chava, he turned his head towards Damien before saying, "I'd like to see you stop me."
|| Chava had barely gotten a few steps when she was sent flying forward and down to her knees, her feet stuck to the floor by Lucedio's hex. Of course, this wouldn't stop her from trying, pathetically so, clawing at the ground with her fingers, trying to inch forward either way. How the hell was she supposed to get to her wand? This was her mistake, her mistake, it was all her mistake. How could she even blame Lucedio for doing this to her if she had just brought it upon herself? It was her doing. Damien's shot was in the back of her mind, and she opened her mouth to say something, anything to him, but the only sound that came out was another ear piercing scream as her body met one of Lucedio's classic spells- the torture curse. And every bit of it was torture. She completely collapsed down to the floor on her back, her back arching, body trembling until it was over. Get over it, she had to get over it. God damn it, she could /not/ give up so soon. "Dami!" she screams through the curse, her hand reaching out to him. She wanted nothing more than to rip Lucedio's heart out while he was still alive... And then run back to her husband, take back her ring, and apologize for everything. Maybe that night Damien would actually want to sleep next to her again. When the curse stopped, she moved as if to try and crawl closer to Lucedio, fire in her eyes. "fuck you," she spits at him, growling lowly. "Get out, get out, before I kill you."
|| Damien couldn't see any escape. Not for him not for Chava. Maybe if they had been able to work together, but separated like this... they had no hope. He could not offer to sacrifice himself for Chava because Lucedio would just kill them both. He would do that regardless. There was no escape, no hope, and for the first time in a long time, Damien felt completely broken. Everything was his fault, and now he can't even save Chava. Was this the end? If Chava was to die, at least he could die soon after. "You will die. Maybe I won't kill you. Maybe Chava won't kill you, but someday you will die, and I hope you suffer."
[L] || He didn't like Chava's pain. He didn't even enjoy her pain. He /relished/ it. Every scream in pain, every word uttered towards him was like music to his ears. He waved his wand and ceased the unforgivable hesitantly. He knew he would hear her scream plenty throughout this day, but he didn't want to break her /too/ quickly. The best kills fought for their lives, and this one was beginning to be disappointing. "You wouldn't be able to kill me if you tried. You're far too weak." He flicked his wand at her casting a few cutting curses in her direction, followed up by a confringo aimed in her general direction. He turned his gaze towards Damien, walking towards his trapped twin. "You will be dead long before then." He pressed his wand up towards Damien's fake eye, casting another cutting curse. "And before even then, Chava will be dead."
|| The first thing that entered Chava's mind was that perhaps she could take advantage of Lucedio's small change in direction towards Damien. As he turned to face him, his back was to her. He was confident in his ability to keep her under wraps. He had made that mistake before and Chava had gotten them out of this, so she could do that again, right? The spells sent in her direction were with enough pressure to send her flying backward a few feet, no longer quite as stuck to the floor as she once was. She takes another small knife, and without hesitation, hopefully without much noise, Chava flew towards Lucedio's back, the point of the blade aimed straight for his neck. No, Chava wasn't playing around anymore, wasn't just trying to ward him off or get him to leave. Every move Chava could make would be with the aim to kill Lucedio. Now, whether or not the knife hit him was another thing, but she pulled back immediately after, aiming to stab again, and again, and again, in blind fury. "FUCKING TOUCH HIM ONE MORE MOTHERFUCKING TIME!" she snarls. Hurting her was one thing, hurting Damien was another.
|| He'd lost his eye again, though thankfully it was his fake one. He would have been absolutely no hope had Lucedio choose to strike out against his good eye. It didn't stop the pain he felt as shards of the fake eye dug themselves into his skin. He couldn't even take them out since he was trapped. "I'm not letting her die." He spoke defiantly, even though he was unable to back that up. "Because I love her more than anything. And that's something you clearly don't understand." He saw Chava creeping up behind Lucedio, smiling internally, though keeping a carefully constructed face to make sure Lucedio didn't suspect anything. As far as he probably knew Chava was still stuck under his charm. "I will do whatever it takes to make sure she lives."
[L] || it was amusing how Damien seemed to think he had any say in what would happen today. Lucedio had already won, and nothing Damien could do would stop that. "As if you can do anything to stop me." He pulled his wand back before readying to turn back and deal with Chava, who he figured was still stuck, or trying to get upstairs for whatever reason. What he hadn't expected was that she was right behind him, and he felt a blade pierce his flesh. He had underestimated Chava, and that stopped /now/. He snarled out, waving his wand at the blade, aiming to transfigure it into a harmless feather. "I'LL DO WHATEVER I WANT YOU WORTHLESS BITCH" He waved his wand towards Chava's torso casting a confringo at her, before following it up with an Avis Oppungo, making the birds attack her torso, where the spell would have struck.
|| At first, Chava had only felt a small, sheer amount of joy. She had hit him. She had actually hit him. Maybe... Just maybe, if she could do it again, and hit a more vital spot... She could win this, right? She didn't know. She didn't know. It was getting harder and harder to keep control of herself the longer it went on. Every part of her screamed to hide, to freak out, to give up, even. That maybe if she begged Lucedio to die, he would get it over with quicker and she wouldn't have to suffer through it all. But of course... She knew there would be no such luck. And did she even really want to die..? Was she even okay with dying anymore..? Who had she become? Her moment of joy was destroyed as soon as it had come about, as Lucedio began to wail at her like a madman. She stumbles backward away from him with every step he came closer, fear etched into her face, and she couldn't avoid the next spells he shot at her. She was, perhaps, already still lucky to be alive, and that the confringo had not completely split her in half at the torso. She fell back to her knees as the birds began to attack her already destroyed torso, blood leaking through her clothes and onto the ground next to her. Yes, she had forgotten the horror of that spell. She swats at every damn bird with her hand, crushing one in her palm and throwing it back, practically lifeless, at Lucedio. "YOU CANT KILL ME!"
[L] || Anger. That was all Lucedio could feel at this woman who dared believe she could stand up to him. Apparently, he would have to prove that she had no hope. He walked closer to her, until he hovered over her, waving his hand to bat aside the thrown bird. In a move that surprised even him, he brought his wand up in front of him, and snapped it in two, tossing the pieces aside. It would certainly make him harder to fight, make it harder to anticipate what he might do, and harder to stop him from using magic. He waved his hand over Chava and levitated her up towards him. "You can't stop me." He waved his hand, sending a confringo towards Chava's hand. It would make this much easier if she couldn't even fight back. "Damien can't stop me." He waved his hand again, sending Chava flying towards a wall. "You will die, AND NO ONE CAN FUCKING STOP ME!" He walked over to a chair seemingly made of bones, before snapping off the sharpest bone he could find. He waved his hand, sending ropes to bind Chava to where she was. Before moving over towards her. He drove the bone in between her ribs, before casting a spell to cause the bone to keep through her. "This is your last day, and the minutes are counting down." He waved his hand around and various objects around the room transfigured into small sharp, razor-blade-like objects before they all flung themselves at Chava.
|| Lucedio was angry, and Chava was slowly losing her shit all over again. Even his wand... Snapped, and that was perhaps the most surprising part. A wand snapped, he must really have confidence. Did Chava have any? No. She didn't think so. Maybe an inkling. Maybe Damien could find a way to escape and help her... The first shock came with the next explosion, aimed for the only hand she had. Her only chance at even a little magic... An explosion of flesh and bone, and a sickening splatter of blood later, and the only sign of her hand was the singed skin at the wrist, pieces of flesh hanging on by nothing, her forearm coated in her blood. Chava had no more hands. She was fucking... useless. Couldn't even so much as pull a fist to defend herself. And it /hurt/, like hell. It hurt more than losing her first hand had, as that was a much cleaner cut than this. But she didn't even have the time to react to it before she flew across the room to collide with the opposite wall, she swore with enough force to dent the wall itself. Her blood would be a nice decoration to the Dagger Manor after she died. She would have tried to get up, if the worst pain that day hadn't startled her into a heartbreaking scream to her husband, her entire body twitching with the pain that coursed through her. It was far too different, being stabbed with a dry bone used for a chair- Damien's chair. A dagger was slicker, made to pierce and slide through, made to destroy and cut. Bone was not. Bone required more effort to sink into the skin, more force to do its job, and it was not easy on her by any means. The dry bone sunk into her ribs and after the initial scream, she couldn't scream at full volume again, a mere gurgling, whimper of pain as if she were choking, her body unable to stop shaking. And he wasn't done yet, /no/, he wasn't done yet. Of course, he wasn't. Every little razor blade cut at her skin, bleeding from her cheeks, her collarbone, her arms, and dangerously close to the eye itself, across her eyelid, beads of blood dripping down her skin. When she found the strength to speak, she took every opportunity. "Please..." she cries, a raspy, desperate sound. "Don't kill me... Don't kill me..." For once in her entire life, and perhaps for the last time, Chava didn't beg for her life to be taken, for the suffering to be over... But rather for her life to be spared. "I don't want to die..."
|| Lucedio snapped his wand. He just... snapped his wand. As if his wand meant /nothing to him. Was his magic that strong that he didn't need a wand? Had they underestimated Lucedio all those years? Was he always just /toying/ with them? He didn't know, and he wasn't sure he /wanted/ to know. Lucedio was right. He couldn't stop Lucedio, but he had to hope Chava had a chance. Yet with how things were going, Damien was starting to panic. Then his world went numb. He saw Lucedio raise Chava up, before casting a spell at Chava. A spell Damien knew all too well. the spell hit, and Chava's final hand was no more. There was no hope. Chava would die because neither of them could fight back. "NOOO!" He shouted out, struggling against the bind that held him in place. The wood fractured as his mind anguished, before shattering. Damien didn't question what happened and instead took advantage of it, by grabbing a knife from one of the displays, before Charging forward, aiming to drive the blade into Lucedio's back. "YOU'RE NOT KILLING HER!"
[L] || For the second time that day, he felt a blade piercing his flesh, but this time from behind him. And since Chava was in front of him, that only meant one thing: Damien was free. How he couldn't say. The man had the same magic levels of a squirrel. The intelligence of one too, thinking he could win, thinking he could stop his wife's death. He picked up Damien by the scruff of the neck and throwing him across the room. "Sit," he spoke as if talking to a dog. He flicked his wand sending some ropes flying towards Damien, before turning back towards Chava, not bothering to see whether the ropes did what they were supposed to. "Now, where was I?"
|| [D]Why was this much harder than it used to be? They were able to fight him before, what changed? He couldn't tell. When the ropes shot towards him, he scrambled to the side, trying to make sure he wasn't trapped again. Chava wouldn't live if that happened. What could he do? His mind filtered through several possible solutions before coming up with one. They needed time... Chava needed to be able to fight... they needed... an hour. Would it work though? She had been stabbed with a piece of his throne. /HIS/ throne. And, then she was pelted by small blades. Would polyjuice even work with that much damage? He had to hope. He could heal her after the hour was up. They just needed to /survive/ first. He rushed off heading towards his potions cabinet, hoping he wasn't too late. "Hold on, Chava. Just a little longer." He spoke, louder than he had intended.
|| [L] Damien was turning into far more of a nuisance than he was willing to let go on. Breaking free of his bonds. Dodging the ropes sent at him, and now heading off, presumably for some sort of weapon or something Damien could use against him. And Lucedio was not willing to let that happen. He waved his hand sending Damien flying back against a wall "You clearly underestimate me. YOU CAN'T STOP ME!" With that he waved his wand transfiguring the wall back around Damien, this time turning the wood into steel. He wasn't having Damien breaking free. He turned towards Chava, crouching down staring coldly into her eyes. "And he can't save you. No one will save you. The best thing about you already being 'dead'. No one will bat an eye."
|| Chava had given up. There was nothing left. For a moment there, a small... brief, moment, she had thought Damien would miraculously come through. She had even managed to smile, and try to sit up through her own ropes to try and get closer to him. And she still wanted to apologize... Wanted to kiss him again... "Dami," she had mumbled softly in response to his words of hope, but it all crashed down in moments when Lucedio was back on his feet, and Damien was trapped once more. "Dami," she repeated, but this time she was crying, the pain catching up to her. She couldn't even face Lucedio, didn't look him in the eye when he spoke to her. She was only looked at Damien, her sweet Dami... How could she possibly tell him she had given up? Well, there were two simple words that would send the message. "I'm sorry..." She said it loud enough for him to hear, and she knew he would /know/. The moment Damien had been trapped once more Chava knew she was dead. There was no more pretending otherwise, no more fighting back. Should she start telling Damien everything now? Maybe get a last word out there? No.. Not yet. Not everything. "Sleep next to me tonight, Dami?" she mumbles in delirium, waiting for Lucedio's next strike. She would not look.
|| No! "NO!" He could /not/ be taken out of this fight again! He had to save Chava! Had to stop Lucedio! They had to live! But what could he do trapped behind solid steel? It was worse than before since whatever method he used to escape wouldn't work now. "I WILL KILL YOU!" He shouted and screamed, scratching at his voice, but deep within he knew that there was nothing he could do. What hope did they have? "Chava!" He had to get through to her. She still had legs, perhaps she could run? Lock herself in the basement? But she had no arms, that wouldn't work! A window maybe? But if she got outside then what then? "Don't!" He struggled against the steel, yet nothing budged. Don't apologize. It wasn't her fault. It was his. "As long as there's a tomorrow, I will spend every night next to you. So do whatever it takes to survive!"
[L] || "There's no survival for her." Lucedio stepped over Chava, moving towards where Damien was trying to get to. If there was hope for Chava's survival, he wanted it gone. "But there will be a short reprieve." Damien and Chava were bound so they weren't going anywhere. He walked over towards the room it seemed Damien was trying to get to before stepping inside, to see potions on potions. Most of them seemed freshly brewed as well. "Clever." He spoke, before waving his hand around sending several curses breaking the bottles, making sure there wasn't a single potion left. With that done he walked back out to the living room, before levitating Chava up in front of him. "Now there isn't anything that can save you." He was sure they had heard what was done in that room. Glass shattering wasn't exactly a subtle sound. "So where was I? Right. Making you suffer." He waved both of his hands and a searing hot jet of water show out aiming to scald her skin. It was a trick he'd developed himself. Where post used water and fire spells separately he thought to combine then. Then again, most didn't use spells to cause pain. He waved his hand again, and a wall of arrows shot out towards Chava. He wasn't far enough away for them to build up momentum and do more damage, but they would hurt just the same.
|| The pain was hard enough to bear, but perhaps nothing in the world was harder than hearing Damien's screaming for her, not wanting her to give up, begging for her to live. And she so wished that this could be her decision, that this could be one of those times where she could choose to give in and sink into his arms, and he would kiss her temple and run his fingers through her hair and everything would be alright, everything would be fine. And then they'd go to bed and she'd curl around him for the first time in too long, and she'd take the nightmares of Lucedio for the rest of her life over this reality. Her own pain was somethings, Damien's screams tore at her heart. And the shattering of every potion that might have saved her only served to affirm her destiny, and she couldn't even react. There was nothing else for her to do but lay there and take everything coming to her... Maybe try to calm down Damien... Jets of scalding hot water coat her skin, and only then did Chava release her last, and perhaps, definitely, her most painful scream of agony. She screamed for Damien as she could feel the boiling water tearing away layers of her skin, making it bubble and pieces of it sink down to her bone. She didn't want to die. But there was nothing else she could do. The arrows were every bit as painful as the water, as the bone still stabbed through her rib cage, as her blown up torso- but for a different reason. Arrows, they didn't hurt as much physically, but more hurt for what it represented. Her daughter... Aveline... Her daughter who didn't even know right now her only remaining birth parent was minutes from death. Her sweet daughter with her sass, too afraid to ask Damien for money for school... Speaking of, she had to keep talking to Damien. "Dami," she whispers, just loud enough for him to hear. Only her eyes moved to look at him. He had to calm down just long enough to listen... "Take care of them, please. They need you..." She was crying, the tears streaming down her face. She could still feel the burning- how much longer would this go on for? "I love you... I- I should have said that before, I-" She wanted to ramble, she could go on forever, but the pain made it harder. What seemed like forever ago, Chava had made a promise to Damien that she would never leave him. An Unbreakable vow that she would not let herself die, never seek death, that he would never have to worry about this exact moment. "Never forgive me for breaking my promise." Just a few more things, she had to hold on... She was dizzy... "Don't follow me." Don't follow her. Do not follow her. Do not follow her in death. Her last instructions, that she needed him to follow... Don't follow her.
|| His potions were gone. He was trapped behind a sheet of solid steel. Chava was bound and had no arms. Lucedio was stronger than they had ever thought. There was no hope. Tears fall down his cheeks, as he watches on, hoping beyond hell that Chava could be saved. That some fucking miracle would happen and that she'd survive. "No..." He chokes out, shaking his head adamantly, "No. You can't die!" He wriggles an arm free of the metal, though he wasn't able to get anything else free. He reached out for her for a good few minute before frantically pounding at the metal to no avail. "Help me take care of them! They need you too... I need you." His arm fell limp against the metal, having given up. There was nothing he could do. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. "I forgive you... I love you." He didn't say anything to her demand of him not following her. He would make no such promises. There was nothing he could do. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Tick Tock. Tick Tock. The seconds were counting down. And he could only watch in anguish.
[L] || Their pathetic last goodbyes were only serving to annoy him. Why couldn't they just shut up, and die? Or rather, let Chava die. He growled out, and waved his hand towards Damien, causing the metal to rise up and cover his mouth. He didn't want any more interruptions. No, it was time for the cunt to die. He walked over to the dagger that lay on the ground from when Damien tried to attack him. What better way to kill Chava than to use Damien's own weapon. He grinned sadistically, moving towards Chava slowly and deliberately. "I would ask if you had any last words, but I don't want to hear anything more from you." He waved his hand as a small stream of fire shot out towards Chava's mouth, each flame serving to singe and seal her lips together. It wouldn't damage anything else, but he wanted Damien to see Chava's cold dead body once she was dead. And she needed to be recognizable for that to be effective. He crouched down a sneer curling upon his lips. "I hope it was worth it. Because it was worth the wait for me to kill you." With that, he plunged the blade into her heart. "I wonder if you're blaming Damien now that you're about to die. It doesn't matter. But realize this. With you dying here and now. I can kill Damien /very/ easily."
|| Murder wasn't pretty. Murder was not something that happened quickly and too easily and causes death with little to no pain. Murder was not a quick stab wound, eyes immediately rolling back in your head and falling unconscious. And once upon a time, Chava had been repulsed by murder. When she murdered her younger sibling by accident, it had created a tear in her soul that had only deepened and deepened. It wasn't until her second kill that she felt it was something she could handle, and it wasn't until the murder of Damien's parents that she found it was something that she could enjoy. There were no more words for Chava or Damien, no more sounds. No more begging and pleading. The stab to her heart wasn't a pretty little quick stab that would kill her immediate and that would be that. No, she felt every inch of the blade slide through the already bloodied flesh of her chest, piercing her heart, the bone below working at her lungs. Every inch hurt, and death wasn't instantaneous. Maybe then it would have been easier. Death, also, wasn't pretty. Maybe it was pretty on your worst enemy, to see the light leave their eyes, but it wasn't pretty on the one you loved most. It wasn't peaceful and something to clap over when it was someone who had promised would never leave; she was supposed to love him forever! She had promised over and over they would both live, they would kill Lucedio, they would live happily ever god damned ever after. Yet here she was, the blood filling her lungs, rising to the surface, couldn't get out through her sealed up mouth. It was a horror scene, and there was nothing peaceful about it. There was no !#@%$!#@ of your life flashing before your eyes, because they only damned thing Chava could see out of her eyes was the blood in her lungs trying to seep out, the only sounds she could hear were a faint ringing and an eerily creepy heartbeat, slowly, and of course that god awful clock. Tick tock, tick tock, aligned with her heartbeat as it was earlier. In death, there was no time to think about lost loved ones. There was just pain, and... And- DAMIEN! Damien! No! He was here somewhere, he was! He was watching all of this, he was forced to watch, nothing he could do... Would be live? Would he make it through this? Would he kill Lucedio? Had Chava done enough for him in their short time together? It was far too short, much too short. Death was not feeling peaceful and at ease about all you did in life. Death was pure regret, in its finest form. Would Damien move on? He had her ring... She had never taken it back... Hadn't gotten to properly kiss him one last time... She hadn't gotten to see her children grow up as she promised them she would, and she knew they at least would never forgive her for dying when they needed her most. She would leave Damien with so much weight on his shoulders, to deal with alone... So maybe your life did flash before your eyes, just a little bit, even when murdered. Yet the only memory that would keep itself in her brain was her leaving him, of her own volition, leaving two rings, his wand, and that gem behind, her last two words as Goodbye, Damien. If she could say anything else to him then... she would have. She lost consciousness only seconds after the stab to the heart, though it felt like much longer. A minute after and the blood would fill her lungs and drown her in her own blood, around the same time her heart finally stopped beating, the ticking finally stopped, and the pain finally ceased. Brown eyes were left wide open and unseeing, cold and dead staring up at the ceiling, and there was nothing. Nothing. Damien had said he would finally sleep next to her again that night. She already couldn't wait to see him again.
|| Lucedio waved a hand and the clock stopped ticking, yet Damien could still hear it plaguing his mind. Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Chava was gone. She wasn't coming back. He felt like he'd been kicked in the balls. He didn't feel anger, just a sadness that he'd never felt before. "NO! NONONO!" Lucedio waved his hand again and the metal holding Damien in place disappeared. Damien scrabbled forward propping up Chava's lifeless body in his arms. "Please no!" He pressed his lips against her forehead, tears running in full force down his cheeks. "Come back. I need you. Please!" He didn't know how long he sat there, Chava's body in his arms, staring into her cold eyes, hoping she would come back. That this was a dream. That he would wake up any moment in bed next to her. But with every second it hit more and more home. Tick Tock. Chava was dead. Tick Tock. He was next. Tick... He carefully lay Chava back down on the ground before turning to Lucedio. There was no anger in his eyes. No hatred. He didn't want to kill Lucedio, he only wanted to bring Chava back to life if he could, even if that was impossible... or... "Kill me." He demanded. No longer caring whether he lived or died. What did it matter? The person he loved the most was dead. "Let me join her. /KILL ME/!" He could accept dying if he could join her wherever she was. He only wanted to be beside her for eternity. "/END IT/!" Lucedio only smirked at him and said, "No." With that, he waved his hand lowering the wards he'd put up, and disappeared into the shadows. There was nothing left. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Tick. Tock. He returned back to Chava's body rocking back and forth with her in his arms, crying. He didn't know how long he sat there, but by the time he'd cried every last tear night had turned to day. With a numbness inside that topped any other experience he'd ever felt, he picked up Chava's body, before apparating to a far-off spot, stopping only to grab a shovel along the way. For another several hours, he dug, each motion taking more and more out of him than he could bear, as he dug not one grave but two. One grave was for Chava to be lowered into now. But the other was a promise. A promise that he'd join her at the end of his life. And from then on, they would spend eternity together.
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