FelisNoctu

((Can't believe I missed the hands... then again I thought Shoshemi had dealt with it o.o; Not that it matters now. As soon as I read that "everything it SEES it judges" thing, I knew it was a mirror too XD *stupid* As for the muscle mass... well... "don't you wish your girlfriend was hot...like...me?" :P))



Alex didn't seem to notice. She was still counting oddly, eyes closed, holding her arms close to her chest. She seemed to be fully involved in it now, and had almost completely blocked out the rest of the world.



((After all, the timeline of it still exists, she wouldn't really notice until she hit the present o.o))

((I haven't posted because life tends to creep up on me a lot lately -.- For instance, I'm working the midnight release of the Burning Crusade on Monday night...))

Alex was still counting, but the counting was odd. She was skipping numbers, a lot of them, and seemingly jumping around randomly. She was actually counting sectors of the timeline, where this Avatar existed or had been created, and there was a lot to count. The numbers meant something to her, probably a lot more than they did to the others, and worked into the calculations she was doing at great speed in her head. What were the calculations? How many sections of time she'd have to annihilate if worse came to worst to make it so this thing would have never existed, and the damage that it would create throughout the timestream. What would be reparable and irreparable? If it was irreparable, could she work around it? She was considering something that hadn't been done for many millennia, and for good reason.

((Kinda hoped that self sacrifice would make it see itself as the evil one, seeing as she had literally thrown herself in front of Shoshemi to defend her, and taken the full force of it o.o; ))

Alex didn't move as the hands came at her. She seemed a bit drained, looking pretty out of it. She just held her arms close to her chest, counting to herself in a quiet voice. She was well into the hundreds by now.

((Now, call me crazy, but he's about justice, right? I mean, saying "God Bless You" in a way is being good. God, if this is the same God most people mean, is the ultimate good. Which means that to say "God Bless You" is calling upon an ultimate good, since words are a powerful thing <.<;; Then again, I'm just picky like that. And the advantage of it being multidimensional is that if one of us gets rid of it, it'll go away in both.))

There was no hesitation. Alex phased in and leapt in front of the blow from the avatar, taking the hit for Shoshemi. She dropped to her knees from the strike, yelling out as they cracked against the hard floor. She wasn't wearing her armor, she had no reinforcement, she just took the blow without thinking. For one of her ability to form things on a whim, not protecting herself was almost an impossibility of a chance. In a way, she was just doing her job, protecting was what she did, but after the blow she dropped to her side, holding her arms together. She was still human after all, they probably were broken from that.

She turned her head to Shoshemi with a bit of a smile. "You have no idea how much that hurt..."

"How well does your force field work?" She said simply.

Alex's body shimmered, turning transparent. She had turned incorporeal, no longer a physical body. Of course, that meant she couldn't fight back, physically anyway, which really was her forte.

"There are no physical weaknesses. Its as solid as they come, and besides the fact that Diov would interfere, I don't think time tampering would affect it. Neither would dimensional pockets, it doesn't exist exclusively in one dimension, it stretches over them all. Its the physical embodiment of law and order. Anything it deems unworthy it will dispense justice upon."

She looked intensely serious, watching it continue to spin its staff-like weapon.

"As far as I can tell, there's only one way to beat it, and it doesn't involve fighting it...with fists anyway. Psychological warfare. It stops at nothing, dispensing justice on those it sees fit to judge. From what I can tell, its an extreme. If it falls on you, it wont stop until it either kills you or finds a more deserving target. Solution?"

Alex's armor faded away, though she was still transparent.

"Turn it on itself. Somehow get it to see itself as deserving of justice, more immediately than us. Any bright ideas?"

((I apologize for not being here, I spaced o.o; Hell, I was spacing the entire time I wrote that. If anything's seriously wrong, feel free to tell me.))

((I'm back, but preoccupied by crap going down with the whole divorce thing -.- dunno if I mentioned that, but yeah, my ex-step-father is being a total [censored]. He just rocked the boat again, I spent New Year's Day until now with her, trying to cheer her up -.-

EDIT: Everyone gone? What's up? It got awfully silent.))

((Unless someone says otherwise, I think its safe to say lets just hold this off until New Years Day, then start again? I'll probably be busy tomorrow as well.))

((Got that right. Alex is total chaos, which is pretty much the opposite of Syne :P))

Alex stood firm, watching the new opponent with a bit of awe, but much more with calculation. She watched its every move, looking for any sort of opening at all.

((Right when it gets good, I have to take off for a bit <.<;; Figures))

((That might work against him. With none of those things, he'd be considered an unfeeling being. Even the smallest insects can feel things like fear or hunger. That being said, it would make him a prime target for removal, and the Council would have no problems with Alex doing just that o.o

Bah, what I mean is basically, Alex has to respect the living. Since this being doesn't actually show any real signs of being alive, it doesn't get any respect either <.< >.&gt)

((She actually thanked them all, not just him. And yes, she was evil, that's the point. She's been hard on herself since day one :P Since they were a part of her, she was hard on them too.))

"Well, that's that, isn't it?" In a flash, Alex's helm appeared on her head. Another flash, and holes in her armor filled out, going from ceremonial looking to more battle ready.

"I get the feeling that you may want to leave, Shoshemi. This could be bad."

Alex unraveled the scroll as soon as Shoshemi brought her attention to it. She wasn't sure what to expect, and was left in a bit of a bad mood after that last encounter.

Alex stopped, not phased so much by the two adults as the copy of herself.

"Your life huh? Your life? What life? You don't have a life. I'm the life now. You're nothing. You're just a pile of trash left to rot on the side of the road. No, I don't care. You aren't who I am anymore. You can rot."

A turn.

"As for you "mother," what did YOU do to protect me in any way? Did you try and stop him? I remember. You just watched in shock when he came through the door, you didn't even try to run. Neither did you jump in front of me. You just sat there. Calling me a freak... you're no better than her!" She indicated her old self.

"And you father. I still have to thank you. What you did made me who I am now. And you may think that I am just a silly little girl, but you'd be wrong. I'm stronger than you're aware of, than Diov is aware of. For all he thinks he knows, there are some things he's just plain wrong with. Same goes for you. You were wrong, totally and completely wrong. And yet you made me. Strange, isn't it?"

Alex sighed.

"All three of you are wrong. Completely, utterly, totally wrong. You're all trash, just scraps to be blown away. And yet you're all a part of me. Looks like I have to fix some things about myself, don't I?"

"You can't hurt me now -father-." She spit that last word, and even against the reduction from Diov, the pressure started again. "You were strong, and I was weak. I'm the strong one now!"

She turned to the ghost. "YOU! You. You aren't my mother. No matter what I did, my mother would always try to make the best of things. No matter what happened, my mother tried to make everything better. If you were my mother, you wouldn't say anything like that. You're a fake."

Her gaze passed to the copy of her, and the glare narrowed. "And YOU! You were a shell. You were there to protect ME from the beatings of the world. I'm the real Alex. You were just a shield. It was you that was weak. You let this happen, not me. And it was necessary for it to happen. So that I would end up on the street. So that I would try and take that package. So that I would be attacked and end up where I was. So that I could be this!"

The energy around her flared. "You all were part of this! You were necessary to free who I really am, what I really am!"

And the energy died almost immediately, Alex suddenly looking a lot calmer. "Thank you for that."

And Alex wasn't moving. She had a look of absolute shock on her face. The whispering that came from before started up again, louder and clearer. While still not quite understandable to others around her, some words could be picked out here and there, and they were all words of encouragement. Whatever was there with her was trying to calm her.

Not that it mattered. Her eyes wide in shock, she dropped to her knees, looking completely helpless. Her armor clanked loudly with the sudden movement, and with her stunned look she glanced down. A moment there, then looking back up at the old her, and she started mumbling.

"That isn't me anymore. This is me. He can't hurt me anymore. Mom's safe. I saw here again, I know where she is. He can't hurt her anymore either..."

She started to push up off the floor, still mumbling, and straightened once she stood.

"He can't hurt either of us. He was removed. He isn't part of me anymore."

She started to glare at her old self, speaking louder. "That isn't me anymore. That's someone else!" She moved her gaze to her mother. "You wouldn't be here! You're safe now!" Lastly she turned to her father, taking a step forward. "YOU AREN'T PART OF MY LIFE ANYMORE! YOU'RE A SON OF A [censored] WHO RUINED MY LIFE AND SCARED ME TO THE STREETS JUST TO STAY AWAY FROM YOU! YOU...YOU WERE REMOVED! YOU DON'T EXIST ANYMORE!"

There was a blast of energy that seemed to come from behind her, blowing her hair forward. By now her eyes had turned white, and while the building around her may not have been warping, those around her would feel a sort of pressure. She was channeling so much energy that she was bending reality around her uncontrolled, and while her words had stopped, the force of power around her suggested she wasn't quite done yet, and ultimately posed a serious threat to those around her.

She ignored the cheers from Krystell, eyes narrowed as she looked into the passages. She didn't trust this at all, which was apparently as her clothing melted back into her pitch black armor, her ponytail held up by a black tie falling out back into its loose waist length.

((XD Psycho dimension of giant pig faces spider people with hamburgers for eyes? o.o Wait... huh?))

((Is the right person one of us? I'm putting my money down that its not XD

Ahh screw it!))

After a long moment of just staring, Alex stepped forward and took the scroll before anyone else could. If it was something EXTREMELY dangerous, something so bad that it could destroy even her, the Council could find another Keeper. Better her than someone irreplaceable.

Besides, she had done her share of bad things. Sure, she's good now, but look at her only a day ago. Stealing some unknown device from a group of soldiers, who knows why they had it, just so she could sell it to the highest bidder. She'd stolen purses from old ladies; bumped into people in the street to take their wallets. They might not be the biggest crimes, but she wasn't above doing it. Free money, right? Even now her stand-in was probably doing the same.

((Our skin? You're going to take our skin? Ow x.x

As for your theory, I think its all bunk. It may say its for someone above all that BUT this is Diov's place. It doesn't matter who takes it, it'll punish us anyway :P))

((not really XD Its a riddle, and its hard o.o We're gonna be stuck here for a while unless one of us just grabs the darn thing.))

((FAIL! <.< >.> This is a tough one

I'm almost thinking Sho, just because she's "pure." She's above good or evil, she's more truth. Bleh, I dunno x.x))

((we're missing the third person. You anxious? :P))

((Well.. Alex is inherently good I suppose, being that she's a Keeper. I dunno about the other two... I suppose Alex IS above that whole thing, she more does what's good for the universe, not necessarily what's people think is "good"))

((Let me guess <.< that's for Alex?))

Alex stood still, fixing her gaze on the pedestal and parchment.

"I don't like that. I don't like that at all."

((And sorry for the short posts...for the moment I'm kinda limited :P))

Alex's look turned serious at the voice, and she spoke out loud.

"No. I just don't want clones of me doing YOUR job. You destroy at will, I try to stop you. I'd ask if you can imagine the damage I could do, but then again, you probably already know. There are much worse things than destroying something outright."

Alex backs off during this.

"Ohkay...I'm not going to touch those keys, I'm sorry. That could be...very bad."