genessia | "We opened the door to the shadows...

"We opened the door to the shadows...

The man sat alone, back slumped against a wall as he stared down at the pistol in his hand, unloading and reloading it in silence. Over and over again. How long had he been here, ignoring the sounds of life around him and the chatter and racket from the communication device on the ground along with the discarded necklace? Days? Weeks? Months?

It didn't really matter. None of it did anymore.

Load. Unload. Reload.

"You look like crap."

The man looked up, staring upwards at his only companion for what felt like an eternity. Himself... only different, like seeing a photo negative version. The colors were all wrong and there were a few things off.

It had no eyes. He'd found that strange once before the feeling had been bled out of him.

Load. Unload.

It was this thing that had shown him the truth. It had started with whispers in his mind when he was alone and had grown from there, appearing in shadows, taking the place of his reflection and finally standing right there beside him exposing the plain, hopeless reality of where he'd found himself.

An ugly grin split the negative version's face.

"So, what's the hold up, jackass? You know what you have to do now."

Load.

Yeah, he did.

-------------------

In the early morning, it happened without warning. A shudder ran through the entire city and for just a moment it was almost as if reality itself... bent for a moment, warping out of shape before snapping out of place and one of the buildings of Genessia's skyline vanished into a rising cloud of smoke and dust.

The thing rose up out of the cloud, standing over the buildings around it. Misshapen, grotesque, it could only be called humanoid in the most generous of terms. Its body was colored in splotches of red and black, its limbs twisted with the right arm many times larger than the spindly left and it stood on legs that should have been bent and twisted too awkwardly to support it at all.

The head swiveled from side to side on a too-long twiglike neck, wide, blanket white eyes that seemed painted on searched the city and a toothless mouth opened wide in a low, groaning howl that rumbled over the city.

The creature’s body convulsed and with a chorus of sickening splits and cracks its body bristled with weapons, and they all fired as one, shearing the top floors off of the next several blocks and covering the rest of the town in burning debris.

Through the city, every communicator screamed out a deafening alert, which was followed by the voice of the AI.

“CORRUPTED ELEMENTS DETECTED. PLEASE ASSIST IN PURGING IN ORDER TO ENSURE THE CONTINUED SURVIVAL OF THE CITY AND ITS INHABITANTS”

[OOC: Subthreads are up. Post in them for combat, or go nuts with planning/reactions through the rest of the comments.]

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He joined, sitting cross legged opposite of her. A cheeky grin stretched at his lips when she confirmed his claim. He didn't see the allure of subtlety. Since when had beating around the bush helped anyone? Oh the hypocrisy of that stance.

"Well you recovered pretty quick from Urano Metria. And you're still a human like all of us. I don't think it'll be a week if she's really God."

Beating around the bush never helped anyone. It only caused awkwardness and misunderstandings - and that's something they were masters of. "That's true.." She wasn't sure where Urano Metria stood in terms of power scale compared to restoring all those buildings, but comparing her power level to that of a God was kind of ridiculous to even consider.

She found herself grinning at the sight of his grin, shaking her head idly. If she ever told him how much she loved that troublemaking grin he'd use it to get out of trouble all the time. Granted she didn't scold him nearly so much anymore. "It still seems strange to me, to think of her as ...well.. God."

So much denial and awkwardness. Still they would overcome it. If anything they were making some progress already. Even if the circumstances of that progress weren't the happiest.

"Hmmm. Maybe she's like Virgo and she can transform into other forms?" He immediately pictured the fat maid Virgo had been when they met at Everlue's mansion.

... that's a terrifying thought. Lucy stared at Natsu for a second. "No way, that's crazy..!" Never speak of Fat!Virgo again. That was a monstrosity that would give anyone nightmares for weeks.

"I think it's more like what you said - the way she seems so much like the First." She shifted, resting her chin on her hand. "It'd be nice if all Gods - real or otherwise - were cute like her." And not psychopaths like the self proclaimed god of magic. Jerk that he was.

How rude. She was still Lucy's spirit. SHe looked crazy strong too!

"Heh yeah. Though maybe she's just one of the good ones." After all there had to be plenty of bad gods too. They weren't completely different from people. Just REALLY REALLY powerful

Ah yes him. Natsu was going to remember that paint faced bastard alright. He had his scent so if he came anywhere near him or Lucy or anyone they knew, he would find out right away.

"Still things got really crazy. Not just with that big guy stomping around."

Crazy strong, but also freakish! Lucy loved her spirit dearly but she also prayed never to see that form ever ever again. "She seems to be, and I hope that's right." A bad God just shouldn't be so adorable.

Mention of things getting crazy got a slight frown, uneasy. "Yeah. Things wouldn't have turned out the way they did, if Kefka hadn't gotten involved." Taurus wouldn't have had his leg torn off. She absently touched the Golden Bull's key, frowning further. OF course he'd be fine, but she always felt it when any of her spirits were hurt that badly. Just like when Loke was injured way back during her battle with Angel.

And then that moment of panic when that strange girl just took her keys, thinking she could use them!

Well Natsu was never one for such superficial things. Hell he found the demon tribe on Galuna to be the coolest guys he'd ever come across.

Kefka. That guy had caused so much trouble. Natsu still regretted not kicking his ass harder. Speeding up the monsters, putting Lucy in danger. That guy had made himself an irredeemable enemy to Natsu and everyone he knew.

"Where the hell did that nutjob come from?"

Well... okay, there was that. Though Lucy still found them strange. And if Virgo had been unable to change her appearance, she would have accepted her just as she was before. She just liked her better with the change in form.

Lucy shook her head slightly, "I don't know - he was the first person I ran into when I arrived here, looking for everyone. He wasn't so unhinged then -- or no, I should actually say he didn't seem to be quite as unhinged. Not until we started talking about the magic from our worlds. It makes me a little glad that there isn't a Gateway open to Fiore."

Outside didn't matter to Natsu. It's who the person was. And those were good people. As was Virgo really. She had just been employed to a bad man.

"I'll say. The last thing we need is another nutjob who thinks he's a god or something like that running around. Tartaros is bad enough." Natsu growled.

"Well I have his scent now. I'll see him coming if he tries anything else any time soon."

And now she was employed by someone who could appreciate her more. "It's not just him," Lucy said slowly, thoughtful. "One of the girls I met, Ruby - she mentioned some other people that have cause trouble around here. But Kefka wasn't one of them, oddly enough ...maybe he's new here too."

Well that was neither here nor there. "He'd better not even so much as think of trying anything." Picking a fight with a fairy was a really bad idea. Especially when one of those fairies was a dragon.

"Other people? Great. Who else should I look out for then?" After all she had more answers and the sooner he knew names the better. Then he could get scents and know what to expect and who to keep as far away as possible.

"He didn't look all that bright to me. Seen his type before. Reminded me of Zancrow really. Head too big for his own shoulders."

Lucy watched Natsu thoughtfully for a moment, "She said there was a skeleton guy named Skeletor.. a muscly guy named Bison, and some jerk that texts people, who goes by the alias 'M'. There's also a mad scientist, apparently, but she didn't say what his name was. just that she hadn't seen him around. That 'M' guy did contact me when I arrived, now that I think about it, but he was pretty evasive." It bugged her.

He raised an eyebrow hearing about those other guys.

"Skeleton by the name of Skeletor. I guess that fits." He would crack a joke if this wasn't a dangerous guy apparently. However he frowned hearing she'd spoken to this mysterious M.

"You did? And what did that guy say?"

Lucy flashes a brief, wry grin at that. Yeah it was a pretty fitting name. MOre importantly she thought back on the conversation with the man. "Not much. He saw my request for someone to let me know if they saw anyone else from the guild. He said I should beware of strangers," which is obvious enough. "And he tried asking about who else might show up - that he liked to 'plan ahead'. I asked what he meant, but..I never found out, since we lost connection."

Natsu listened to what she knew about this M fellow and a very unpleasant feeling settled in his gut when Lucy mentioned that part about who would show up and planning ahead.

"Shady bastards all around huh. Dammit and this guy's scent I don't have." Natsu all but growled to himself thinking on how to deal with this new information.

"Yeah." Lucy sighed faintly. "Ruby said that he was probably the most dangerous of all the people she mention, that 'M' guy."

A shake of her head followed, "Don't worry. If that guy tries something, we'll deal with him, same as we deal with anyone else."

Natsu nodded, his own determination strong to keep everyone safe from whatever weirdoes this place could throw at them.

"Yeah you're right. We always come out on top in the end."

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"We opened the door to the shadows...

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