Pain Has Never Been So Brilliant [Sephiroth/RGRC]

[Oathkeeper Emi]

"I can't meet, losing sleep over this, no, I can't, And now I cannot stop pacing.
Give me a few hours, I'll have this all sorted out.
If my mind would just stop racing..."
-from "Somewhere in Between" by Lifehouse
--

Sometimes, Emi just couldn't sleep. The ball started rolling inside her head, and a million things snowballed into one. With all those thoughts rushing around in her head, not to mention she was feeling the full effects of nicotine withdrawal after handing over her last pack of cigarettes to Zexion- stupid decision on her part, she thought- she decided it was time for some fresh air.

So much for that. It was so humid out here. The summer night was quiet except for the chirping of cicadas. Emi sat on a slab of stone and sighed heavily. Nights like this made her feel strange. Back in the day, she used to spend days at a time wide awake... so occasional insomnia sort of freaked her out.

She wasn't even sure why she couldn't sleep. The past four days had gone by smoothly, without any notable events. Sure, she hated her job but she had a little munny in her pocket. Perhaps that was it... she was bored. Four days of routine and she was already sick of it. Maybe it was time to go on an adventure. A plan started forming in her head, but before she had a chance to develop that thought, she noticed something on the ground. Her eye was drawn to it.

It was a feather. A black one.

[Administrator]

Dramatic appearance...kind of.

Where there was one feather, there was more than one feather not too far behind. Hovering above Emi, just out of sight, was Sephiroth, the One Winged Angel. Actually, he had been on a coffee run, ironically, but this was as good a time as any to torture some helpless young girl. Or so he thought.

Still holding the latté in his right hand, Sephiroth floated downward from the air, sipping his hot drink while lowering slowly. "What brings a little chit like you to this area at this time of night, eh?" Sephiroth never got much sleep, due to the whole 'people wanting to kill him' thing, so he ended up intaking a lot of caffeine. It made him a little loopy at times, too...but, that was a tale for another day.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

"Get out of here, you are cramping my style."
--

For some reason, the fact that this man was floating didn't bother her as much as the fact he had called her a 'little chit'.... whatever that meant.

She had walked over to the feather and picked it up before Sephiroth spoke to her. Now, she turned around, still holding the feather.

"What are you, a cop or something?[/color]" she said, gesturing with the feather. "Nah, you look too girly to be a cop. Anyway... I can do what I want, okay? If I want to sit out here in the middle of the night, I can. It's none of your business.[/color]"

She certainly didn't appreciate this weird guy with his fancy coffee (that wasn't even real coffee anyways) coming over here interrogating her and calling her names. The 'girly' comment was a sort of pay-back for the 'chit' comment.

She crossed her arms over her chest, as if daring him to try again. She could go at this all night. Sure, she was probably over reacting. For she knew, maybe he was just trying to help her.

Of course, friendly neighborhood weirdos don't usually call people names if they mean to help. This guy was definitely a trouble maker. She'd never seen him around town, but with all the rumors flying around she figured it would be smart to maybe calm down and leave quietly.

But when had she ever done the smart thing?

[Administrator]

Not impressed? Eh, I don't care. Too tired.

Sephiroth sipped his latté. "So, not impressed? Well, it isn't as if I care. You are, after all, too thin and frail to even put up a fight should I start something." He said it so unconcernedly, as if it was an offhand fact, and nothing to even stop and worry about for the smallest moment of time. "You are right. In most situations, it would be none of my business. But, you have stopped me from finding a place to rest, and therefore owe me information."

It was a fair trade--more than fair, even--in Sephiroth's mind. Of course, he didn't know that Emi would probably get angry at him for the comment about frail and thin...but that was not something that bothered him. Well, mostly didn't concern him. He did have a single, all consuming concern in concordance with a fight between he and the girl.

Sephiroth had no place to put the latté. So, he would have to fight her one handed and hope that she didn't spill it. Well, this night appears to be getting better and better every second, Sephiroth thought, sighing aloud.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

I would just go ahead and punch you, but you aren't supposed to hit ladies.
--

Frail?! Thin, yes, that much was obvious but thin did not automatically mean frail. Emi went rigid, jaw clenching. Sephiroth didn't know it, of course, but this meant Emi was about to explode.

"I didn't stop you from doing anything and I don't owe you anything,[/color]" she said. Her voice was shaking a little. She knew it was completely illogical to get so upset, but she couldn't help herself. She didn't even know what he was talking about, or why he felt he was entitled to waltz in here with his stupid fancy coffee, insult her and then make demands.

The wise thing to do would have been to just leave, but she wouldn't back down. She would stand her ground until either he backed down first or she was forced to. There was no way she would willingly lose this exchange that had apparently turned into some kind of competition for her.

"If you want to rest somewhere, maybe you should try the inn in town,[/color]" she said. It was obviously a very thinly veiled but roundabout way of telling him to leave.

[Administrator]

Emaciated youths with their obvious brain damage have no place to be thinking about me in such a context.
Let the Battles Begin!

"The inn may be suitable for types like you," Sephiroth pointed to her, pausing for a moment, before continuing, "but for me, I cannot stay there. You see, they don't let manifestations of darkness stay there, unfortunately for everyone involved." He sighed and shrugged his shoulders, taking another sip of the latté. There had to be some sort of drugs in that thing. There was no way Starbucks made it so well without them.

But that was just a distraction from his true cause at the moment. He needed to find some way to make this irritating gnat vamoose. However, this would be rather difficult as it were, as she seemed to be quite stubborn. "Now," he began, clearing his throat, "if you, miss androgynous youth, would go elsewhere, I shall be getting some sleep while there is still sleep to be received this night.

"If you do not retreat, I will be forced to act, unfortunately." The One Winged Angel sighed as he pointed to the sword sheathed at his side. The Masamune, a katana of epic size and scope, sat there, waiting to be used. It was a wondrous weapon to use, one, he found, balanced Cloud's out quite nicely. In fact, it served to make Cloud's additional length useless.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

D<
--

Emi had no more words. She just stood there trembling and glaring at the silver haired man, who was throwing around insults like nobody's business. He wanted her to leave so he could sleep. This wasn't his place! It didn't have his name on it!

The whole "manifestation of darkness" comment only served to make things worse. She was already going for her kali sticks by that point, and by the time he told her if she didn't leave he would have to act- unfortunately?- she'd had enough.

And she was not androgynous. Sure, she wasn't all that good looking. Sure she was stick thin and flat chested. But she was definitely a girl. He was the androgynous one, with his long hair and stupid pretty face.

Just add that to the list of things that pissed her off about this guy. He had pushed her over the limit. Emi was incredibly confident in her skills as a fighter- too confident. She thought this guy didn't know what he had gotten himself into, but truly it was the other way around.

She underestimated him and decided it was a fabulous idea to just charge him without even firing him her shields or any other of her abilities. That's what happened when she got like this. Total lack of self-control. Rushed into things without thinking about the consequences. The symptoms were all there: her chest was tight and her heart was pounding, and Sephiroth's voice sounded louder and more echo....y than before.

[Administrator]

>D

Sephiroth grinned and leapt into the air as the girl charged him. His single wing beating, the One Winged Angel moved himself slightly forward, and, turning around, he dropped, landing behind the little git. "Are you this eager to die, child?" he asked, quickly drinking the rest of his latté--and burning his tongue--and throwing the empty container to the side.

Drawing his seven foot long blade, he spun it around in his left hand. Sephiroth could afford a little flourishing, considering that this fight would not be so difficult for him. He slashed horizontally, the blade slashing at her from her right, his left. Of course, he knew she could easily block it, but he was toying with her at this point. If he unleashed the full of his ability, she would go down much too easily. And so, the toying began.

"Little girl, where are your parents? Shouldn't you be at home having them read you a story or some other such nonsense?" Not the most creative jab he had come up with, but a witty retort nonetheless. Likely, it would serve to deepen her anger and open her up to making even more mistakes than she already was, as unlikely as it sounded.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

One Winged Angel (Kingdom Hearts version)
--

[/i]
Momentum carried Emi forward, stumbling. The jerk had lifted up into the air with one wing. Normally, Emi would have tilted her head at that in confusion, but at the moment she cared about only one thing so the only thing that crossed her mind was How is he able to fly with one wing? Nevermind having a wing in the first place.

Are you this eager to die, child?
Come to think of it, the way she acted sometimes, you would think she did have a death wish. Maybe she did, somewhere deep down inside.

She whipped around with a growl. The man has asked about her parents, which did exactly what he thought it would. If was even possible, Emi's anger level went up a level or two. She wasn't exactly the kind of person who shared her life story with anyone who would listen, so she skipped the sob story. Rather than attack blindly like she had before (that jerk would probably just dodge it again and whack her with that huge sword), she decided to actually use some strategy. Strategy meaning she just called up her shields this time.

Somehow, Emi was beginning this wasn't going to be as easy of a fight as she had first though. Maybe it was the sword. But she hadn't lost a fight to date and she wasn't gonna start now. She would do her best and if she thought was in danger... well, she wasn't opposed to running away. It wasn't running away, really... it was retreating. Retreating is different.

The shields took less than a second to materialize around her hands, and she was attacking him again only a moment after he finished his last sentence. She lashed out with Daggerwing, hoping to actually make a connection this time.

--
Battle Report
Emi used [Broken Silverdrop]
3 posts until deactivation
3 uses remaining

[Administrator]

Well, well, well, looks like the weakling has some fight in her after all.

Sephiroth smirked. Her shield looked strong enough to likely block most of any attack he should send at her. And so, he backed up, reversing his blade and pointing it outwards, held back near his right shoulder. His special technique, Octoslash. The One Winged Angel proceeded to strike at her from eight different angles, his sword moving faster than Emi would be able to block all of his attacks.

And from the looks of it, his parent comment really sunk in. Sephiroth smirked. "What's the matter, little urchin? Did your parents abandon you as a child?" Join the club, he thought, referring to the countless others who had lost their parents at a young age, or had lived without them because of being abandoned. There were so many...of course, Sephiroth had added to that count himself, with a few parents he had turned into Heartless, but he didn't always spare the children from that fate.

Sephiroth, after his assault concluded, backed up, his blade held in a more defensive stance. His strikes before had been meant to harry, not to seriously injure. Even now, he was still only taunting her, toying with her, and wasn't truly putting the entirety of his effort into it. If he had, she would have lost earlier, and what would have been the fun in that?

[Oathkeeper Emi]

The Princess of Insomnia
--

What Emi didn't know is that if things had turned out differently, she probably wouldn't have been abandoned in the first place. Her mother had every intention of raising her child, but she died before she got the chance to. No one knew who her father was, not even her mother.

She was coming up with a witty response at the same time she was pulling back her arm for another attack- apparently her last one hadn't been as effective as she was hoping- but she was quite rudely interrupted. And she'd had SUCH a good comeback too. Yeah, my parents abandoned me. Apparently, yours dropped you on your head. She didn't get a chance to use it.

Sephiroth's Octoslash mostly had the affect of pushing her light frame around like a rag doll. Before she could regain her balance from one slash, another hit and threw her off her footing again. It didn't seriously injure her, but that's not to say it didn't hurt.

If it had been possible for her to get any angrier, she would have. However, since she was pretty much off the charts- pure homicidal rage- the attack just served as fuel to keep the fire burning.

She was actually getting a kick out of this. She liked the challenge. It wasn't often she had met someone that could even equal her. She was used to just beating the heck out of whoever she wanted. Of course, until now, she had never faced anything tougher than a large Heartless. She didn't know what she was in for.

Emi recovered from the flurry of attacks somewhat easily. She shook it off and blew the hair out of her eyes, a feral grin spreading across her face. She chuckled.

"I have to hand it to you, that kinda hurt,[/color]" she told him. She bounced on the balls of her feet and lifted her kali sticks. "Let's see what other tricks you have, pretty boy.[/color]"

During the time she was talking, she was subconsciously trying to decide her next attack. The banter was meant to stall. This guy was fast. She would have to be faster. As she wrapped up the repartee, a glowing purple fog began to lift off her kali sticks. Looked kind of silly next to the shimmering shields on her hands, but she didn't choose the way these things looked.

She drew both Daggerwing and Duskywing over her right shoulder. She was faster now than she had been before as she ran to close the distance between them. As she ran, she swung the sticks like a baseball bat, and with enough force to hit it over the fence. She just wanted to get a hit in at this point, she wasn't aiming anymore.

--
Battle Report
[Broken Silverdrop]
2 posts left until deactivation
3 uses remaining.

Emi used [Swift Blow]
1 use remaining
4 posts to next use.

[Administrator]

Toss in your flag, there is no way for you to win.

It seemed to the One Winged Angel that his threats were sinking in quite well. Unfortunately, as Sephiroth though may have happened, but had hoped wouldn't, the angrier she got, the stronger her resolve also became. Her words meant precious little to him, except to let him know that she was worried for her survival, and therefore felt the need to send a retort.

That was unfortunate. He would have preferred her to last quite a bit longer than this. But it could not be helped, in the end. Of course, there was always the chance she actually...yes, that made sense with this one. Sephiroth smirked, a smirk of one who firmly believes in his superiority. "You actually...are you joking with me, you prepubescent youth?" He laughed, harsh mocking laughter, deep and rich. "You are not, are you? Interesting, that you could actually think you had a chance of victory."

He didn't elaborate, didn't go anywhere else with it. Didn't insult her besides the first insult. No, it was better to let her see the truth of matters; he was superior to her in every way, and there was nothing she was going to be able to do to defeat him. Her shield was already starting to fail, so when it became slightly less in strength, the One Winged Angel planned to shatter it.

She struck with her blow of enhanced speed, and Sephiroth saw no reason to block it. Let her get a blow in and get cocky. Or, better yet, let her see the futility of this fight. As she attacked him, he stabbed at her right shoulder, planning to stab in a place nonlethal and show her exactly how useless she was. "Why continue to fight a fight in which you cannot be victorious?" It was a human reaction which made no sense to him. Why sacrifice your life for a pointless fight against an enemy clearly superior to yourself?

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Keep on keepin' on.
--

"Because--CRAP![/color]"

She had literally walked into that one. As she was moving in for an attack, he moved forward and stabbed her in the shoulder. It couldn't have been any easier. Unless of course, she were to take his sword and just stab herself. Besides the pain, she was embarrassed. More fuel for the anger, just kept it going longer. There was one more thing and for some reason, this was the concern she vocalized.

"This jacket is real leather! It was really expensive![/color]" she screamed at him. She grasped the blade and tried to pull it out but was met only by resistance and rewarded with deep cuts in her fingers. The shields around her hand didn't stop her from grabbing sharp things, apparently. Fabulous. Although, what was one more wound? What difference did a little more pain make?

She finally backed off the blade and it hurt a heck of a lot worse coming out than it did going in. She resisted the urge to scream and jump around like a little girl.

His last question, a jab really, had been left unanswered. Honestly, she didn't know the answer. Why did she keep fighting? She was finding out quickly that she didn't stand a chance but she couldn't back down, not now. That would be a major blow to her pride. And when you didn't have much left, you fought hard to protect what little you did. She was probably one of the most stubborn people Sephiroth would ever have the pleasure of meeting.

Even though she was bleeding, she shook it off- or at least tried to act like she was- and lifted her kali sticks into a battle stance once again. Her shields were quickly running out. In a few more minutes, her hands would be vulnerable and she would be able to deflect against effectively for a while. Not that it had been any help up until now. But she still wasn't going to give up.

"C'mon, pretty boy,[/color]" she muttered, with a chuckle. "Ready for round three when you are. And you SO owe me a new leather jacket when this is over.[/color]"

Rushing him obviously wasn't working. So she would wait for him to come to her and try to find an advantage...

--
Battle Report
[Broken Silverdrop]
1 post remaining until deactivation
3 uses remaining

[Swift Blow] deactivated.

[Administrator]

Do you understand now?

And it worked, too. She was impaled, and had to back off of the blade. Faltering for a moment, barely able to be seen, before heading right back into her headstrong, reckless attitude. Except...she learned. Interesting. The girl waited for another assault from himself. Sephiroth smirked, his self-assured facial expression showing he knew she couldn't do anything to stop him now. He had her right where he wanted her.

The One Winged Angel jumped backward. Raising his sword straight up in the air, he charged forward, sliding above the ground, his blade slashing through her defensive shields like they were butter. He kept going, his sword slashing through her defenses and cutting into her skin. He didn't know where, but that was for her to decide, really. It was aimed for her chest--and for the center chest, not designated to strike all too deeply--but it could hit anywhere.

"Now do you see the futility? Your defenses are useless against me." It was not stated with overconfidence, or with arrogance. It was not stated with a note of pride in his voice. Those words were stated coolly, a mere statement of fact, nothing more. There was a tone of finality about it, as though it were that way and would never change, but there was no more to it besides that. Calm, cool, collected...this was the way Sephiroth used to be. Of course, that was another life...

[Oathkeeper Emi]

*screams expletives*
--

The jacket was really the least of Emi's worries now.

Her plan to let him have the first strike backfired miserably. Her shields were triply useless. They only protected her hands, but not even that anymore. He had broken through them with ease and even if he had not they wouldn't have been much help anyway because their time had run out.

The slash went only a little off its intended target. He had been aiming for the middle of her chest but she had moved a little bit in a futile attempt to drive him off, putting him a little high and to the right. That didn't make the attack any less effective. Now in addition to the wound on her shoulder, she had a deep gash running diagonally down her chest.

She landed on her back. Her kali sticks fell from her hands with a metallic clanging sound and rolled away. The stone tiles did not feel so good when the back of her head slammed against them. I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna beat the hell out of him! she thought with a lot more strength than she had left. Getting up was proving harder than she thought, however.

But... but... she couldn't let him win! Impossible! Emi had never lost a fight. Ever. Before, she probably would have settled for retreat but she let her cockiness and big mouth get her in trouble. Big trouble.

She wondered for a moment if she was going to die.
Nah. Sephiroth couldn't get rid of her that easy. But she was definitely out for the count. She cursed herself, realizing she had no way to heal herself magically. Looked like it was going to have to be good old-fashioned medical care.

If she could even get up before she bled to death.

--
Battle Report

[Broken Silverdrop] deactivated.
Emi was defeated.