Scylla and Charybdis

[Iƪƪia]

Life was so strange. At times it could seem like a blessing, while other times the hands she dealt seemed unmercifully cruel. The horrors of life were some things that he had to deal with multiple times in his long life. Death, destruction... At first having to watch someone die affected him greatly, He would wonder why they would die while he was still allowed to live. Was it simply that he was worth more? Was life really that simple? Perhaps, though as time passed he seemed to grow immune to such nonsense.

Yes, that's all it was. Nonsense. People died every day, sometimes by his hand. That was just what happened in life, and who was he to oppose it? If anything, he had helped it along. He had even grown to adopt the belief that his victims should be pleased that they get to die. Life was by no means easy and they got to check out of it early. Who wouldn't want that? If there was an afterlife then perhaps it would be easier, and if there wasn't one, then that was even better.

Yes, that was all he could hope for now.

Ivan stood at the open window, rolling a cigarette between his fingers. It was raining. He always did like the rain. It was calming. Just watching it for awhile put him at ease. With a contented sight, he took another drag from his cigarette.

He had just received the call and hey had been quite clear about their intentions. He was to eliminate everyone involved. A common enough occurrence and one that he should have seen coming. It would be foolish to let any of them live after they had learned so much about their organization. They needed to be silenced, and he would have no trouble doing that to them... However, the thought of harming her, Chaos, gave him pause.

Thinking back, he realized now that he had tried to save her, subconsciously though it may have been. He had told her nothing of them, barely anything about himself. She only knew her mission and that was enough. So he did try to argue for her safety, swearing that she wouldn't be any threat to them or their objective. In the end, however, they erred on the side of caution. Yes, that was the smart thing to do after all, and he would just have to accept it.

However, no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't. He couldn't allow any harm to befall her, much less by his own hand. It was his job. He had to, of course. Yet he couldn't. But why? He'd killed people that he liked before. This was no different.

No, that was a lie. This was different. Very different. She was much more than just a physical object of attraction to him. That was why he had decided - right from the beginning, now that he thought about it - that he wouldn't be able to bring himself to kill her.

Of course, that brought with it an entirely new set of problems. He was ordered to kill her. If he didn't the repercussions would be terrible. More than that, though, the very thought of disobeying them was enough to make him nauseous. He couldn't go against them.

So if he couldn't hurt her but he couldn't disobey them what other options did he have?

There was always one option left, of course.

Flicking the remains of his cigarette out the window he pulled it shut and drew the curtains. Without a second thought he walked back into the center of the room. He could barely feel anything, and his motions just seemed robotic. He glanced over toward one of the walls and walked over to it, sitting down with his back against it. There was a small table beside him, and he looked toward it and at the single item on top of it. At first, he had felt trapped, but now he knew of a way out.

He reached over and plucked the object off of the table, examining it as he held it for awhile. It was a gun. A simple revolver. Strange how so many lives could be ended by something so small. So many lives had he ended with this very gun. The gun that he now turned on himself.

Sighing, he placed the muzzle against his temple, finger already on the trigger. One quick pull and the nightmare would finally be over.

[Anzeh]

Chaos Queen

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Chaos was leaning out of the window of her hotel room as she watched clouds converge on the sky. Although for once she was not naked, instead she donned something thin and short, barely covering the curve of her rump. Thoughts raced around the succubus's head, thinking about the mission and the captives safe in storage under the Bite Cafe. Coyle should be guarding them, right?

A drop of rain fell on her face and she stuck out her tongue to the darkening sky, slamming the window shut and crawling into bed. She hadn't seen Ivan at all today, and that was beginning to worry her. After all, he had to have gotten back already, right? She rolled over and examined the time, nodded once her thoughts were confirmed: Ivan had to be back by now.

Was he avoiding her?

She hugged a pillow close, trying to find some comfort. She didn't want to be avoided. After all, Chaos was a 'social' creature by nature.

Her purple eyes widened in terror as lightning lit up her room, tossing drastic shadows everywhere. Before the light vanished altogether, the red head was on her feet, making for the door. In fact she somehow managed to be halfway to Ivan's room before a loud clap of thunder caused her to freeze and sniffle. She hated thunderstorms! Stupid weatherman! He said there shouldn't be any rain!

She'd made it to Ivan's room and turned the handle. It was obviously locked. From her bra she produced a copy of Ivan's hotel room key. He had to copy to hers too, of course. The door opened swiftly and she entered, scrambling for some kind of safety before her mind comprehended what her eyes had seen.

Chaos was silent for several moments, the next flash and clap not even fazing her compared to what she was looking at. A gun... Ivan had a gun... to his head?

"I-Ivan?"

She was too shocked to fully realize it until a few moments later.

"Ivan..."

Once her feet were under her she stood, but the next clap startled her to her knees and she merely pulled herself onto his bed, reaching out to him. He seemed so close but felt so distant, even when her fingers brushed his skin and her other hand attempted to move the gun from his temple.

[Iƪƪia]

The world was already growing dark. He felt nothing; heard nothing - even the sound of his breathing had been quieted. It was almost as if time had stopped. Perhaps this was one of those few times that life showed you mercy. She made it as peaceful as she could for you in your last few moments on earth. It was a small blessing, and one that he would not question.

Staring at the ground, though seeing nothing, he didn't even notice the clap of thunder in the distance. Didn't notice the door slowly creak open. Didn't notice her standing before him at all until she was almost on top of him, trying to pull the gun away.

Then, all of a sudden, time began to move again. The room was no longer shrouded in darkness. He could hear the rain beating on the window; could hear her terrified breathing. This had been... Very unexpected. So much so that he merely stared at her in confusion for several moments, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

It occurred to him that he may actually be dead already. However, that theory was soon discarded. She couldn't have died too. Not so quickly, anyway. Nevertheless, she seemed to be rather frightened about something. What that was, he couldn't even comprehend at the moment. Still, he had the sense to immediately remove his finger from the trigger, and he didn't resist as she pulled it away.

Watching her for awhile, he extended a trembling hand, tracing the side of her face. He was breathing heavily now, obviously apprehensive about something, though what that was was still a mystery to him. Nothing was making much sense at the moment, he just knew that this wasn't what was supposed to happen.

"No," He said softly, shaking his head, "You shouldn't be here."

She shouldn't... No, he should be dead by now. This- all of this should be over by now. Why wasn't she letting him end this? Was this fate's idea of a joke? To have the end be so tantalizingly close only to rip it away and force him to continue on in this hell?

Had it been anyone else to interrupt him he might have been able to ignore them, but not her. Not while she was staring at him like that. It was almost painful, though he found that it was impossible to look away.

[Anzeh]

Chaos Queen

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Chaos was looking at Ivan, and for a fleeting moment, a moment that she dared not breathe, it almost seemed like he didn't recognise her one bit. But the moment passed and he knew it was her, but this seemed to bother him. She shouldn't be here he said. It wasn't important what he thought the should-bes and should-not-bes were, all that was important was that thanks to her--no, thanks to her phobia of loud noises and lightning storms--he was still here.

Judging from what he had planned to do with the gun, this was the opposite of what he wanted.

His hand traced her face and her own went up to grasp the male's. Tendrils of red fell in front of her face as the succubus moved closer to him, bringing him into her arms and sighing softly. Ivan almost wasn't here anymore. Ivan was almost gone forever, and she would be all alone, something she had not experienced for so long... Chaos didn't want to go back to being lonely at all.

With his body pulled against hers she felt comfortable, safe and warm. The woman hoped that Ivan felt the same.

"Ivan... please don't. Stay with me... It'd be so frighteningly lonely without you here with me. I'd be so sad and afraid and hurt... Please don't leave me."

She let him go to look into her purple eyes and see the emotions there, how heartfelt everything she was saying was. After allowing him to look at how much meaning in her heart he held, the younger female leaned to him, moving to kiss him on the lips before nestling her head into the crook of his neck.

[Iƪƪia]

She didn't understand. She didn't understand why she shouldn't be here. She didn't understand why she just needed to leave him alone. Honestly, he didn't quite understand either, but he knew he had to do this, and he knew that if he didn't do this now, he would lose his opportunity, perhaps forever.

Before he was able to say anything else, he was pulled into an embrace as she spoke again, causing his breath to catch in his throat as he listened to her words. They seemed so... Genuine. It had been quite awhile since anyone had spoken to him like that.

Moving back, he looked into her eyes. People could disguise so many things about themselves. Their appearance, their voices... However, their eyes was something not so easily masked. The eyes always betrayed one's true emotions. This was precisely how he recognized that the emotions in her voice were very true. Just looking into those eyes he couldn't imagine who would ever want to hurt her. Who would ever want to leave her?

He didn't move as she leaned in to kiss him or as she laid across his chest. However, he was soon overcome by a strange, new mixture of feelings. Wrapping his arms around her, he buried his face in her long, crimson hair, inhaling the sweet scent.

He had never been more unsure of his feelings. Right now all he knew was that he didn't want this to end; to let her out of his arms. And he had to protect her. He knew that now. He wanted to protect her, to make sure that nothing bad would ever happen to her. She was too precious a creature to be forced to face any tragedy.

"No, no Chaos. Of course I won't leave you," He said quietly, "I will never leave you. How could I? I love you..."

Tightening his grip, he pulled her even closer to him. All the inner turmoil that he had previously felt was now gone, replaced by a new, simple goal: to keep Chaos safe. That's all he needed. And how could he accomplish that task if he wasn't here? No, he needed to stay here. He had said that he wasn't going to leave her, and he would honor that promise.

[Anzeh]

Chaos Queen

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For a moment when nothing happened, Chaos believed for one fleeting moment that her words hadn't gotten through to him. She feared that instead of understanding the turmoil and sheer imperfection she felt walking into this room and seeing him about to become nothing more than a cold lifeless corpse whose brain was nothing more than chunks and splatters of grey in a sea of scarlet, it was having the opposite effect. Somehow, maybe he believed that she was somehow egging him on, and had pushed her away not bodily, but emotionally and mentally.

Could that really be possible? Chaos didn't want to be pushed away. It was rare that she got so attached to another person, and even rarer that that person wasn't someone she fed from.

A long relaxed sigh fell from her lips when Ivan's arms found their way around her and his face moved so flose to hers. Succubi weren't mind readers. That was, in no way shape or form, one of their abilities. The closest thing they had was DreamWalking, which was only vaguely similar to mind reading.

A nice inhale from him was all she heard for a few moments before Ivan began to speak to her, and with every word she smiled, her hands reaching up to his face and kissing him again, only this one was wetter because apparently she was crying but wasn't sure why... perhaps they were those happy tears that she'd seen in movies, like when the girl's boyfriend is pronounced dead and he suddenly appears at the end of the movie and she runs towards him crying but with a big smile on her face? Yeah, those kinds of tears.

"I love you too..." She said softly, and another crack of lightning followed quickly by a clap of thunder caused a squeal to fall from the succubus's lips and for her to lean against Ivan for some sort of comfort and support.

[Iƪƪia]

In truth, he had only been speaking his mind, not bothering to censor any of it at all. Perhaps that was why he hadn't really noticed what he'd said at all. Perhaps that was why confessing his love to the girl hadn't brought about more of a reaction from him than it did. However, now that he had more time - time to think and analyze and realize what he'd said and done - he began to feel just the slightest twinge of apprehension.

The feeling was gone, however, as soon as she kissed him and admitted that she returned his feelings. He breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a smile spread across his face as he looked down at her. He cupped her chin in his hands, brushing her hair back and wiping away her tears. No matter how much time went by, he couldn't even imagine a time when she would appear any less beautiful to him.

As another clap of thunder drover her into his arms again, he pulled her close to him, smiling at how lucky he was that he was the one she ran to when she needed comfort. This was how things should be. Always. He didn't need anyone or anything else. He only needed her, and she would always be with him, forever.

... Oh dear. What about the mission? The students?

The thought pulled him roughly out of his fantasies. He'd done something rather foolish, hadn't he? He'd had a mission to keep to, but he ruined it. They still expected him to kill her, though that was out of the question now. However, on the other hand, the mere thought that he'd have to disobey them made him feel sick.

What did he do then? Who was he supposed to be loyal to?

Chaos. It wasn't even a question. She came before all else. And what about them? What more could he do but ask for forgiveness and hope for the best.

And the students?

"It's over. Just let them go," He mumbled in response to his own thoughts.

That was it. The mission was a failure. Although, as he held Chaos in his arms, this didn't feel like a failure to him at all.