Fancy Meeting You Here [Castle]

[Oathkeeper Emi]

August 12, 2011
--

Emi had been in jail once before. Okay, twice. Okay, three times. But those times, she admitted she actually deserved to be there. This time, she hadn't done anything wrong... okay, tackling the baker probably wasn't the best idea but she argued self-defense.

She had tried to defend herself against all the legal type people who came in, but Middle Ages law was loads different than the kind she was used to. She had no argument, and thus she had been sitting in her little jail cell for four days. She hated it. She hated feeling trapped, and it was making her stir crazy. She kept her eyes open for chances to escape, but none happened. They watched her at all times. All times.

From what she could tell, they thought she was gypsy. They had a bad reputation around Paris for being thieves, murderers and kidnappers. Since she couldn't prove she wasn't and looked like one, they insisted she was lying. That's what they kept saying: she was a liar, and a witch.

And they still hadn't given her cloak, leather jacket, and shoes back. She was dirty, hungry and incredibly irritated.

She was resting her head against the wall when a guard came up to the bars. "Your trial is today."

"I get a trial? Goodie. Whoop-de-damn-doo,[/color]" she muttered, but tried to find the silver lining. Maybe she could escape there...

[Castle]

He'd finally come to a conclusion.

It didn't matter if he was able to help her or not. It didn't matter if he couldn't put up a fight. All that mattered was that he find her, that he knew where she was and if she was okay.

Zexion said Notre Dame. He didn't know if they would still be there, but it was the only lead he had.

He kept to the sides of the bustling streets, out of the way and trying not to draw attention to himself. There was a possibility that he was unsafe here, and not just because Jericho might be present. He hadn't really given the people of this city a good first impression the last time he was on this world. Luckily, the hood of the lightweight black coat he was wearing seemed to hide his face well enough.

The coat was from his mom's shop. He'd stolen it right before he left Traverse Town, though he intended to bring it back at some point. He just needed something to conceal his appearance while he searched for Emi. It was a simple design; plain black, no excess zippers or straps, and it covered him down to his knees.

So far, he'd seen nothing out of the ordinary, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to comb every inch of this place. Judging from the view he got of it from the gummi ship, however, it was probably going to take him a while.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

This isn't what it was like on TV!
--

[/right][/size]
They didn't bother to untie Emi's hands when they manhandled h
her out of the cell. In fact, they tied up her feet, too, since she had kicked them the last time. She didn't even struggle, knowing it would just tire her out. They tossed her into the back of a cart or something (she didn't really know what it was) and closed the door on her. She froze for a moment after the door slammed shut, and then went right to work trying to undo the rope around her ankles, which was already beginning to rub the skin raw. Her wrists her bloodied from the rope, too.

She managed to work the ropes around her feet off by the time they arrived. Oh, the advantages of having bony feet and strong legs. It hurt like hell though, and a few times she was sure she was going to dislocate something as she writhed around on the floor of the carriage.

The guards saw her unbound feet and she tried to look relaxed. "Look, just trying to do you guys a favor. Seems like you're in a hurry, so I'm saving you the trouble of having to carry me. I'll walk on my own two feet and I promise I won't kick you.[/color]"

She never promised she wouldn't try to escape. At any rate, they let her walk. It was tiring trying to carry her and they had an appointment to make. They lead her into a building, down some steps, down more steps, through a door, and into a basement type room with a few candles.

"State your name."
"Who me? Oh. Emi... do you want my whole name or just--[/color]"
"You have been accused of attempted murder, witchcraft and stealing. Do you have a defense?"
"Well, I didn't do it. That baker is a little bit dramatic, I think, because I was going to pay for that bread and I didn't try to kill him. And the witchcraft thing... it's not magic, it's just a Keybla--[/color]"
"Silence! That's enough."

Emi snorted. That wasn't much of a defense. She pursed her lips and stared into the darkness, listening to the men decide her fate. They finally finished up and spoke to her directly instead of whispers they thought she couldn't hear.

"You have been found guilty of all charges, on good word by witnesses and the evidence."
"Evidence? What fucking evidence?![/color]"

Beside her, somebody held out her cloak, jacket and shoes. Emi twitched. "That's some pretty shitty evidence. What is that supposed to prove...[/color]"

She was silenced again.

"You have been found guilt of all charges and for your crime, you will be burned at the stake at nightfall."

Emi choked. "What!? I picked up a loaf of bread, tackled a baker and wore clothes and you're going to excute me?! What kind of shit punishment is that?![/color]"

But for all her arguing, fighting, and screaming they dragged her away.

"Give me community service! I want an appeal, you jackasses![/color]"

[Castle]

The day worn on with Castle wandering the winding roads. So far, his search yielded no results. He'd even tried to ask around for a girl of Emi's description, but that attempt ended in someone laughing at him and saying something crude about gypsies. Now, he was walking around with his hands in his coat pockets, wondering if there was a better way to do this.

A girl's scream caught his attention. The sound came from a stone bridge that reached over some sort of waterway. A young woman with a sandy blonde braid was backed against the railing by a large man, who had a hand on her wrist.

Disgust turned to anger in a split second. Castle glanced around, but although a few civilians were observing, nobody did anything. Meanwhile, the girl was shouting at the guy, but that ended with her getting slapped, and then grabbed by the braid and yanked around. That was about where Castle drew the line.

"Hey!" he shouted, walking onto the bridge.

Both the guy and the girl looked over at him. There were tears in the girl's eyes, and haughtiness in the guy's.

"This is none of your business, little boy. Go home," the man growled.

Soon, the girl was screaming again, but only because Castle had just punched the man three times in the face and stomach. Once he was on the ground, Castle dropped down and pulled him up by the shirt collar.

"Why don't you go home and think about how not to treat a woman, huh? Or do you just want to get your ass kicked some more?"

A hand closed roughly on his shoulder. Without thinking, Castle jumped up, whipped around, and punched someone else in the face.

It was a guard. He was staggering backward, blood streaming onto his gloved hand. Castle froze for a second. He'd been unaware of the darkness rising again, and now...

The guard recovered quickly and charged him. Castle reacted on impulse and ended up breaking the man's arm and throwing him into the water. His own arms stung, and he winced, glancing at his still bandaged hands. His gloves had been pretty much destroyed the day before, and the remains were back in the ship somewhere.

The girl was gone now, and the tramping footsteps of more guards quickly reached the bridge. Castle should have run. Heck, maybe he should have surrendered. But no. Something in him, perhaps the darkness, was still out for blood, so he stood and fought. Another guard ended up in the water, and two more hit the dirt before a rope fell squarely around his middle and pulled taut. He could have gotten out of that if they hadn't swarmed him at the same time and wrestled him to the ground.

One of them pulled his hood back, and then grabbed his ponytail and forced him to look up at their leader, a man who stood before him with calm certainty. However, Castle still saw the look of surprise that flashed across the man's dark eyes, and he heard some of the other guards grunt in alarm.

The calm certainty soon returned.
"Well, men, it seems we've caught a demon. Tie it up."

Castle struggled violently, but his wrists and ankles were soon tightly bound, and then a bag went over his head.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Please stop knocking me out.
--

Emi found herself forced back into the carriage. This time around she didn't bother going quietly. She slammed her fists into the door of the cart, screamed, carried on. She was reacting out of fear. Those four words kept repeating themselves over and over in her head.

Burned at the stake, burned at the stake, burned at the stake...

Finally, she collapsed in the corner of the cart and stared dumbly into the dark interior. It was late afternoon now. The sun would be setting soon, and then... she closed her eyes. And then opened them. She could still escape. It was just a matter of deciding it was worth the risk.

Plus, she really didn't want to leave without her stuff.

Before she got a chance to make a decision about it, she was being dragged out into the open again. She dug her heels in, threw her whole weight against the back wall, and tried her very hardest to stay inside. Eventually, she flopped onto the dirt and rolled around a bit before they started taking her away again.

They sat her down on a bench to await her death. She glared at them, clenching her jaw. "Can I at least have my stuff back?[/color]" she asked. The guard laughed at her. "You won't need it where you're going. I'll keep it right here with me?" "Well, what do you need it for?[/color]" "Oh, I don't know. A trophy, or perhaps I will sell your strange clothing and drink myself into a stupor with the money. Who knows?"

Oh, hell no. It's on now, tubby. No way are you hocking that leather jacket for booze money.

The other guard noticed her arms, and grabbed one of her wrists, stretching her tied arms out for his comrade to see. "Look at this! All cut up, just like a prophet of Baal. You really are a witch, aren't you?"

Emi just stared at him with a look that said "What the hell are you going on about?" and jerked her wrists out of his grip. They laughed at her and went back to talking amongst themselves.

She closed her eyes again, exhaling with a bit of a shudder. She cracked one eye open. The guards were about to start a card came. While they were distracted, she struck. The plan was to kick them both in the head, get her stuff from them and then run through a corridor all the way back to Radiant Garden.

She got one kick in but then the uninjured of the pair got smart and whacked her in the back of the head with the flat edge of his sword. She blacked out, collapsing onto the ground.

She woke up a little while later and tried to get up, but the guard just hit her again before she could. They had no sedatives, and restraining her wasn't really working so. She remembered being slightly worried about a concussion, but there were other things to worry about when she woke up the second time.

That's because she woke up tied to a wooden pole, and there were people setting kindling and firewood at her feet.

Too late to escape on her own now.

[Castle]

It was hard to breathe with the bag over his head, especially since they added a manacle around his neck after he almost escaped once. Now, whenever he tried anything, one of the guards would yank him hard enough to make him stop or hit him with the dull end of a spear. Between those two things, and the fact that he was strangely drowsy (either from lack of sleep or oxygen), Castle decided to bide his time.

"What should we do with it, sir? Take it to the Palace of Justice?" a guard asked.

"There is no justice for a demon," another voice, which Castle recognized as their leader, "Surely you recall what happened at the cathedral four days ago?"

A small pause followed. Apparently, at least some of them remembered.

"Shall we behead it on the spot?" someone asked.

"No. There is a certain way to go about this. There is a witch-burning this evening that should be starting soon. We can kill two birds with one stone."

"I'm not..." Castle began, but that earned him another yank.

He didn't bother to say anything else as they led him behind a horse to the site of the burning. His ankles were manacled now, allowing him to walk, but not without difficulty. As he felt them draw closer to their destination, the seeds of panic began to take root. He needed a plan, and he needed it now. Maybe as they were transferring him to the stake or whatever...

A thrum of activity became audible. A guard for the witch-burning hurried to meet the ones who held Castle captive.

"What is this? We are about to burn a witch here," he said gruffly.

Two guards pulled Castle off to the side, probably within sight of the guy. Their leader spoke next;

"This is an unholy demon. We're sending it back to Hell where it belongs."

On that note, the manacle on his neck was removed and the bag was tugged roughly from his head. Castle found his gaze on the face of the other guard, exposing his red eyes to him fully. The way his lip was curled at the moment probably didn't help his case much, either. Once the look of surprise passed, the other guard nodded.

"Very well. Tie him up behind her. There's no point in wasting kindling."

A dagger was drawn and used to cut the coat off of him. So much for returning it. With the garment removed, the bandages that started at his hands were shown to be wrapped all the way up to his elbows, with a separate one around one of his biceps. A light red blotch signaled that one of the cuts had opened in the struggle.

The guards decided to wrestle him up to the stake backwards, so that he couldn't see the witch or what exactly lay in store for them. Unfortunately, as soon as he tried to break free, a number of other guards helped restrain him. Soon, his back hit the wooden pole, and it wasn't until they'd tied him to it that he decided to start shouting again,

"You bastards!" he yelled furiously, "I'm not a demon! I just came here looking for someone! I was going to leave right afterward, damn it!"

The only answers he got were disgusted looks. If he felt alone before, it was nothing compared to this. There was no one who would come for him, no one on his side, and nobody who would even know what happened to him.

And he would never know what happened to Emi, either.

"I just need to find her! I just need to know if she's okay!" he cried out, mostly for himself, since nobody was going to listen, anyway.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Impending Conspiracy
--

Emi was trying to stay calm and figure out a way out of this. At this point, the risk of using a Corridor was way better than the alternative. But it was too late for that because they had her tied up so tightly to the stake. She could barely move, and she didn't have near the concentration she needed to open one.

She had to admit, she was pretty fucking scared. After everything, she was going to die as a witch, a thief and an attempted murderer. She survived everything else, but couldn't overcome this? It was pathetic, and she hated herself for being so stupid and weak.

Thankfully, she had some company. She wouldn't be dying alone, which made her feel a little better. Just a little, though. Whoever it was, they were screaming and carrying on about looking for someone and Emi couldn't help but laugh a little. She looked up at the sky. It was almost completely dark now, and stars were beginning to come out.

"It must suck,[/color]" she suddenly said, talking to whoever was tied up behind her. "To not know what happened to them. I know what that feels like...[/color]"

Don't cry. Don't you dare cry.

[Castle]

The laughter and accompanying voice stopped him dead. For a moment, he just stared straight ahead, his eyes wide and his lips parted slightly. Finally, he turned his head to look over his shoulder, but unfortunately, he couldn't turn far enough to actually see anything.

"Emi?" he breathed. Then, louder, "Emi, is that you?!"

There was a note of desperation in his voice that he didn't bother trying to cover up. His mind had sort of gone blank, and the dull roar of the excited crowd was drowned out by the rapid thud of his own heartbeat in his ears.

[Lagunamov]

How disappointing.

The curiosity to explore this world was running dry, the Sentiment having taken in enough of its population and surroundings to keep it from coming back any time soon. It was a disgusting place, filled with humans terrified of things they couldn’t understand, nor did they bother to try to understand them. Unlike Animositas, who was learning to understand humans to a certain degree, if only for the purpose of blending in better among them.

Having decided to keep a lower profile, the armor had long abandoned the shape of the Princess of Heart, or rather, it had [/i]changed it.[/i] After testing its illusion ability for a couple of days, it found that it could mix and match appearances from people, so long as their physical properties allowed it to. This way, Kairi’s outfit had been changed from the pink dress with zippers –something that had caught the eye of more than one person- into a simple more simple dark brown garb, with a piece of beige cloth around her shoulders. An outfit Animositas had spotted on another passing teenager while exploring.

Hearing comments from people passing by about some sort of public execution, the Sentiment decided to follow those going towards it. It appeared they were about to burn a witch and a demon alive. “I doubt any real creature of such properties could be simply burnt by you monkeys that easily,” Animositas thought as it moved with the gathering people, considering the spectacle of humans killing each other fitting for what it planned to be its last night on the world. Of course, it also presented a chance to get information from the fallen humans. Something useful could be gained.

Upon reaching the cathedral and taking its place among the crowd, Animositas watched as they prepared the witch and demon to be burnt alive. The mass of people were being kept away from the platforms where they would be burnt by a barrier of guards, many yelling curses at the creatures that awaited judgment. One of which the sentient armor recognized immediately. “So this is what you do with your freedom?"

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Yes, I copied that line straight out of the movie.
--

Her stake buddy was squirming around and making things more uncomfortable than they already were. Irritated, she snapped back. "Yes, it's me. God, Castle, could you settle down, I'm trying to die with some dignity here.[/color]"

Then it hit her. "...the fuck!? Castle! What are you doing here? ...wait.... what?[/color]"

She remembered him! Nadia had screwed around inside her head, suppressed the memories of what he looked and sounded like but all it took was him saying her name to click everything back into place. Take that, crazy bitch! Your little memory trick didn't work on me. Time for a happy reunion later. Hugs and all that. Now, there were more important things to be dealt with.

"Hey, so I'd love to catch up but we're about to die. Any ideas on how to escape? Any at all?[/color]"

And, here came the guy with the fire. The crowd cheered. Emi morbidly observed that witch burnings were probably the most exciting thing that happened to these people. Nice to know that she was at least being entertaining.

"For justice, for Paris and for their own salvation, it is my sacred duty to send this demons back where they belong!"

He lowered the torch, and the wood and kindling around their feet
began to burn, and it was spreading quickly.

[Castle]

Castle wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry, so he did neither. He was completely unprepared for what a relief it would be to hear her talk like that, or to hear her talk at all. Though his reaction didn't reach to either extreme, his lips did twitch up at the corners, and his eyes did water a little.

Of course, both of those went away when he remembered that he and Emi were about to be burned alive.

"Uh... no. None," he answered lamely.

Suddenly, it started. Words were said, and the kindling was lit on fire. The smell of smoke reached him instantly. On reflex, he tried to slide his hands free of their bonds, which hurt like hell and failed to free him anyway.

"Emi," he said quickly, but stopped. He started again on a different note, "I don't suppose you can still summon those portals?"

Guilt crashed into him again. First he'd let her get taken away, and now he was about to let her die...

No! Stop thinking like that! Just come up with something, anything, to get her out of here!

But with the fire already licking his shoes and the smoke stinging his eyes, escape plans were becoming harder to find.

[Lagunamov]

I have always enjoyed fireworks.

The show was starting to get interesting. Emi had started to talk to whoever was tied up behind her as a man lowered a torch to the wood, its fire slowly spreading and creeping towards the soon to be executed pair. People were cheering as the ‘demons’ that haunted them were about to be eradicated, most still throwing insults and a minority throwing rotten fruits towards them, most of them falling to the flames.

Animositas wasn’t sure why, but it decided to act. Maybe it was the lack of a partner to interact with, something it had grown accustomed to these passing weeks, or maybe it was some level of sympathy towards the girl for having had her memories tampered with – it certainly didn’t sympathize thanks to whatever stupid move she may have done to get herself into that situation. The armor started to push people around as it moved forward, several screaming in fear from its fingertips accidentally cutting their skin open.

“How cute, the little girl wanted the first row seat,” one of the guards holding the line expressed upon seeing Kairi shove a man to the side. Animositas ignored him, instead looking straight at the dark skinned girl, the fire about to reach both hers and her companion’s feet. Standing where the girl would be more than able to see her, Kairi’s image grinned with a strange sadistic satisfaction and waved at her. “Seems you’ve wasted that one chance at freedom of yours,” the Sentiment projected the thought into the girl’s mind, coming across in an almost dull tone, completely contrasting with the façade it was projecting in the real world.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

What, seriously, more of the telepathy thing?
--

"Well, yeah, I can but I'm not sure how much good it's...it's going to do us,[/color]" she tried to explain, but was interrupted several times by coughing fits.

There was something in her head. Again. She panicked for a moment, fearing the worst, but then she looked up and out into the crowd and saw the armor thing, the girl, whatever her name was. Well, good. At least it wasn't Jericho, or Nadia.

Trying to talk to her aloud wasn't going to do much good. Emi couldn't have been heard over the roar of the fire and crowd. She coughed again, and tried to catch her breath but it was hard with all of the smoke. Trying to speak loud enough for Animositas to hear was out of the question for sure.

What can I say? she thought, knowing the armor thing could hear it. I'm a magnet for trouble. I swear I was just trying to get some food before I left and things went crazy. Think you can lend us a hand? Please?

Damn, it was really getting hard to breathe. If Animositas didn't help them out, Emi didn't know what they were going to do.

[Castle]

The smoke was making the air thick, and everything was hot from the flames. His eyes, nose and throat stung from it, and he coughed, but that did him no good.

"Well..." he wheezed, trying to talk quickly while he still had time, "...even if it doesn't help 'us', if it helps you, please, just do it."

The flames were reaching him, and they were getting higher. He tried to kick them out, which was impossible the way his ankles were bound.

"If it's enough to get just you out of this, do it!" he repeated loudly, wanting to make sure she heard him.

In spite of his words, he was scared out of his mind. The way he was tied to the pole, he was in full view of the cathedral. He remembered seeing its statues the last time he was here, after he'd nearly killed a man. Castle looked up at those statues now and found that their blank eyes stared down at him exactly the same way they had before. It was almost as if they were judging him.

It was certainly enough to make his entire life flash before his eyes.
Maybe I really do deserve this, he thought confusedly.

[Lagunamov]

Try to burn this at the stake.

The red haired girl smirked as soon as the request for help came. It was certainly a nice change of pace, having someone almost beg for the Sentiment’s intervention. It was almost… gratifying. It meant Animositas had higher ground for negotiations and manipulations. A train of thought that would have never occurred to it, had it not spent several weeks studying humanity alongside one of the most cynical humans in existence.

“Very well,” the girl closed her eyes and reached beneath the cloth, moving quickly in a flash of light as it drew its blade from beneath it and decapitated the guard standing in front of it. Before the body could even tough the ground, the image of the girl could be seen jumping above it and sprinting to the burning platform. Guards started to frantically run towards her, but with a simple raised arm it summoned four crystal spheres and shot them all to the ground around them, blasting several away and encasing others inside the crystal structures.

As it reached the platform, Animositas adapted the image of the girl to have the cloth and dress starting to burn slowly as it jumped on the platform, slashing the stake in two as it landed on it, right in the middle of the fire. “What are you waiting for?” it spoke in a slightly annoyed tone, Kairi’s fake image starting to burn entirely in front of them, but standing there as if it were nothing. The living armor turned around, looking at the crowd in shock and panic at its image. Yells of people in panic could be heard, many proclaiming the girl they were seeing burn but still stand as a demon. “Certainly more of a demon than you’d ever meet,”[/color] it thought, the fake clothes already gone to ash, the girl's hair in fire and her body almost entirely unscratched.


[Crystal Stalagmites used entirely. Four post cooldown.]