The Festival

"Hm. Pity," Hel replied, though her tone screamed, 'I really don't care'. "If you can't even catch your breath after a simple ride, then perhaps you should never have been released. What do you think Yoko?"

'I think that you're a whore,' Yoko thought to himself. "Nothing at all," he ended up replying, knowing that that would be the answer Hel wanted to hear. Sure enough, the slightest smile wormed its way onto the goddess's features. She loved it when people submitted to her.

"Do you see that town down there?" she asked pointing downward. "I'm not doubting your ability to see, it's a retorical question. I want it gone. You don't have to worry about killing everyone, but if you do I won't complain." Yokos eyes widened slightly and he felt Hels tight grip on his forearm. "You're going to stay here with me for just a little bit before I let you loose," she cooed, reaching across to stroke the white arabian based horse.

Krigon grinned, and nonchalantly pushed his heels into his horses side. The red mare's eyes burned as the made their way down the cliff, and almost hesitantly stepped through the fields surrounding the town. As he walked down the main street, the people stared at his presences, obviously sensing danger. He studiously ignored them as he looked around haughtily for something to quench his hunger. He spied a few leftover turkey legs laying forgotten on an alley window ledge, obviously the remnants of some kind of celebration. He grabbed three of them and hastily devoured as his horse leisurely strolled down the almost empty street.

He tossed the bones left over from his meal to a few stray dogs looking at him in apprehension. A broken barrel half-filled with wine was next on his menu, and as he downed it in one gulp, he took out his flint stone and set it on fire, throwing it with all his might at the nearest window.

"IT'S ABOUT F&%KING TIME!!!" he called out in his booming voice, triumphant at finally unleashing his bloodlust, and with an over-zealous flourish, pulled out his greatsword and decimated the front wall of the house he just set aflame. He grabbed a broken duster that had caught the fire and quickly went about setting every roof he saw ablaze, the fire reflecting the long-missed mania in his eyes. Screams rose up like demons and the rest of the citizens ran out into the street like ants to see what had caused it.

With glee, he began slicing them down, sometimes three in one swing, not feeling the need to unleash his ultimate power on a bunch of villagers. He killed everyone that came into view, and smashed the walls and doors at the fires roared. In a matter of minutes, the chaos he had caused was unstoppable.


((haha, I didn't have to rewrite it!!! Go me!!!))

Birch heard the commotion and opened the door to look out. It wasn't so rare for the occasional drunken fight to break out, but it usually didn't take long for one of the Rebellion's leaders to put an end to it. But this was definitely no bar fight; he could see blood and bodies, and one giant of a man seemed to be the cause of it. Birch shut the door, his breath short with apprehension, and went back to Runi and the two girls. "There's trouble," he said, keeping it simple. "Runi, take the kids and get out of here. See if you can't find your brother and sister too, and stay inconspicuous. I'm going to go out to do what I can." He grabbed his sword and a hook from the wall by the door and ran out into the streets. It was most likely just some raid by poorly-informed bandits, but it still was better to keep Runi's existence a secret.

"That does not sound good." Kitai said, stopping her chat with Ares. "I have to go!" But just as she was about to jump off the roof, she realized that she could see her breath. Kitai slowly turned her head to look behind her and saw one of the things that she feared visiting the Rebellion's village. The form of the thing was not any species identifiable from this world, but had a look similar to a human's in parts. Jetta! Kitai realized. Oh God, this is not the time for an Aravos hungry for human flesh to show up

Yokos eyes widened slightly and his mouth turned to cotton as he watched Krigon destroying the place he still called home. "You see?" he managed to get out with a sideways glance to Hel. "He's having a great time. Why don't we just leave him to it." Hel giggled and patted her rider on the head like a puppy. "Oh I would. That's the reason he's here. You're here mostly for the emotional trauma of all your loved ones seeing you against them. ...Well...not exactly you, if you find my amble."

"Catch my drift," Yoko corrected subconciously. He then froze, understanding the meaning behind her words. "You couldn't," he almost shouted. "There's no wa--" He stopped suddenly as Hel fisted her hand in his hair, her smile wide as a black dahlia.

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"Son of a bitch," Akaelin swore to himself as Krigon began his senseless destruction. Ever since Nathifas old sword had been destroyed, he hadn't gotten around to getting another one. All he had were his cousins old sai. He really hated them, they made him feel like a ninja turtle, but it was all he had at the moment. And great, the fucking roof was on fucking fire. "Vane!" he barked loudly, searching for the cheetah. He found him already beginning to round up those who wouldn't be able to fight. Akaelin himself had been about to do that, but if Vane wanted to take on the responsibility, more power to him. "Get them out of here and far away."

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"Lauf, kind, lauf, so schnell du kannst."

A new figure stood at the enterance of the village atop the beastly looking white horse. Shades of red and orange from the fire flickered across his features and a manic light shone in his light brown eyes. From a hidden pocket, he drew not a sword, not a dagger, but a fan. An uchiwa fighting fan to be precise. It was about eleven inches long and made of some kind of metal. He had a sword on him, and while the fan itself could be used as a weapon that wasn't its real intent. Flicking it open, he threw it at the nearest building. Instead of burying itself into the side, it flew through it, around the side, and back into his hand. The building began to crumble from the inside out. Rumbling, the wood began to rot as if infested with termites, then collasped completely.

Unlike Krigon, this new figure approached the town in a much more calm manner, though his demeanor was no less eager. He looked down at a familiar face, a person with dark brown hair and amber eyes, rounding up those who wouldn't be able to fight. Vane looked up at him, mouth agape. He mouthed the word 'Yoko' but didn't seem to be able to find his voice.

(Lauf, kind, lauf, so schnell du kannst is german for Run child run as fast as you can.)

((Hey Kitai, did I tell you that I had a dream the other night that you figured out the password to my deviant art account and started posting porn on it? X3))

((XD nice. If I ever did figure out your password, I would probably just post a journal being like "hey y'all!" Not that I ever could or would figure it out))

Runi nodded and grabbed the two girls and Aodan. In a flash of warm light, all three of them were inside the oasis and safe from any of the effects of the attack. "I'm going back to get Rukia and Mshai!" He was about to transport back when there was another flash of light and a teary-eyed Mshai stood there.

"Everything was burning and now I dunno where I am!" He bawled at his half-brother.

"You're safe. Instinct brought you here." Runi replied, glad that his brother had been able to make it. "I'm going back to get Rukia, do you know where she is?" Mshai shook his head so Runi muttered a few words, changing his appearence so he looked older and his skin was a few shades lighter. If someone saw him now it wouldn't matter. He jumped into the oasis and appeared back into the town, immediately starting to call for Rukia. He hoped that she was okay and would be able to hear him.

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Kitai whirled around to face the incoming Aravos, whipping out her swords and standing steady. Jetta had been a hard opponent to face sparring even when she didn't use any of her Society powers, so it was unfathomable how tough she would be to fight now. And to top it off, she had no idea how long the building she was standing on would survive before it mate the same fate as the other building that got the fan thrown through it. Kitai's whole body screamed out in protest at the cold when the creature was just an arm's length away. She was just about to lunge forward at the creature formerly known as Jetta when something unexpected happened; instead of going for her, Jetta folded her wings and went into a steep dive toward the new rider that had appeared.

Rabbit looked up as an opponent flew towards him in a rapid dive. Seraching Yokos memories, he recognized her as Jetta, rank three of the Society. He wore a dazed expression on his face as he dismounted the horse. He really couldn't care less about Jetta. She was a bug on his window that wouldn't take long wipe out. It was her he was interested in. Red hair and wolf ears helped him define her as Kitai. Or rather...the fucking cunt who had pissed him off to no end. He drew his sword to defend himself against the avaros. He didn't see her as a threat, but stupidity got even the greatest warriors killed.

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"Pwetty horrrseeyy!" Rukia cooed, her dark blue eyes sparkling with glee as she watched the white horse toss its head in excitement. She peered out from behind a still standing building, almost as if she was used to the kind of crazyness that was going on around her. She ran up behind the horse and stuck her fingers in its tail. Much to her dismay, she was suddenly lifted up into the air. She whimpered loudly, and looked back over her shoulder at her father. "God you're as retarded as your mother," he mumbled quickly. In his rush to get Rukia away from the horse, he hadn't noticed the figure standing by it.

Runi saw Akaelin with Rukia carrying her to safety. He ran up to them, reaching his arms out for Rukia and modifying the spell quickly so his mother's mate would be able to see that it was him. "Here!" he called out. "I can take her to the oasis! Mshai's already there, he figured it out on his own."

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Instead of going for the white horseman head-on, Jetta veered to the side and touched down on the ground. As she had gotten close she had gotten a feeling that it would be suicidal to attack this person head on, seeing what he had done to that building. But now she realized that she recognized the attacker's face. Her form shifted to look a little more human in form and she spoke. "Yoko?" she asked in disbelief.

"Watch her carefully," Akaelin said quickly, setting Rukia on her feet. The girl always needed someone to keep a close eye on her, she attracted danger like a magnet. She was a lot more fragile than Mshai, and if a single hair on her head was harmed, he would have Sets hide. Yeah, the logic was a bit twisted, but it worked for the wolf.

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Rabbit gave Jetta a kind, Yoko-like smile. "Hello Jetta," he said calmly, his voice tinted with happiness. "It's been a couple years hasn't it? You look different. Did you dye your hair? Lose some weight?" Rabbit held no grudge against Jetta, but he would've been tickled pink if the avaros had mistaken him for Yoko. Though he watched Jetta carefully, he kept himself completely aware of Kitais presence. He could not lose her. For years he had been waiting for this kind of opportunity to arrive.

Runi nodded and disappeared with Rukia in his arms. There was no way that she could get hurt in the oasis; it wasn't even possible for a mortal to drown in the pool of water.

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Jetta leveled a harsh gaze at the person that looked like Yoko, her eyes flooding with gold. It looked like Yoko, sounded like Yoko, and definitely had his memories, but this wasn't the fox. "I thought I got rid of all the voices back then," she said to him. There was no mistaking that the slight difference in his voice was one she recognized when she had been inside of Yoko's head.

"Yoko!" Kitai called happily from the roof, only hearing that it was him. She was overjoyed to find out that her friend had somehow come back to life.

Rabbit gave Jetta a puzzled look, wanting to play his game for just a little bit longer. "Yeah...you did," he replied curiously. "Why are you looking at me like that?" He pretended to be offended, tilting his head slightly. "I know we weren't exactly friends, but I don't think I've done anything to warrant that kind of look." He looked up as Kitai called Yokos name, making a self concious effort not to flinch. Rather than hearing her voice, he heard nails on a chalkboard. He didn't want to see a smile on that dumb bitches face. He wanted to see it twisted in shame, remorse, and hopelessness.

Jetta spread her wings out and shot a number of razor-edged crystal feathers at the fake Yoko, even though she knew he would probably be able to dodge them. "Yeah," she said. "Because I'm sure you wouldn't look ecstatic to see Kitai after two years."

"Jetta, stop!" Kitai shouted down at her as she shot the feathers off. "It's Yoko, you'll kill him!" She was starting to doubt whether the Society's former Rank 3 really did somehow manage to keep her sanity through becoming an Aravos.

Okay, pretending to be Yoko was getting kind of boring. It wasn't like the guy was interesting. The gullible fool on the roof had obviously been tricked, but Jetta didn't seem to be. He swung his sword in a wide arc, smiling slightly as the feathers bounced off. "I'm sorry...have I offended you Jetta? You seem angry with me," he cooed.

"I think Kitai might be a little upset if you were to kill me. Frankly, I'd be a little upset if you killed me."

Jetta assessed her situation before speaking again. Without help, she calculated that she didn't have much of a chance of beating the voice that was pretending to be Yoko. However, if she could keep him either talking to her or facing her in combat, it would slow down the destruction of the village. "Yes, I'm sure that Kitai would be very upset if I killed Yoko." Jetta said. "But if I don't fight you - some voice that's taken over his body - with the intent to kill, then you'll surely kill me."

Kitai couldn't hear what they were saying over the noise that the big one was making, so she jumped off the roof with both of her swords ready to defend against Jetta. Couldn't she see that the one they needed to be fighting was the one with black horse? Yoko had obviously come to help them.

"Is that all I am to you?" Rabbit asked. "A voice? I think you're a bit confused. Perhaps you should step back and cross blades with the big guy over there," he added, guesturing to Krigon. He could practicly feel a little piece of Yoko dying inside, tormented beyond belief that there was nothing he could do to help. "Then maybe you can come back later and we can have a nice peaceful talk." He saw Kitai jumping off the roof and faked a smile. He silently thanked the fact that although he and Yoko were complete opposites, faking smiles was something that they were both good at. 'But if the bitch touches me I'm going to rip out her asophagus and feed it to her,' he thought angrily.

"Step back, Kitai," Jetta said with a glance at the werewolf. "You don't want to get caught in this crossfire." While the fake-Yoko had been talking, she had hooked one of the claw-like appendages that emerged out of her back under the handle of a pail of water. She flung the bucket towards the fake-Yoko and directed a powerful blast of her energy at him and the bucket. The air around her naturally got a lot chillier if she was in her Aravos form, but she could also create near-absolute zero temperatures in a limited area. She would love to see the impostor dodge this one.

((Could you explain that in a little more detail OCCly? Just so I know exactly what Jetta did.))

All semblance of control was lost on Krigon as he cut off heads and severed limbs, the very innards of the people he sliced through the middle splashing out of them in an undignified slump. The screaming wouldn't cease as more and more blood spattered him and his horse, who was quickly loosing what little momentum it had gained after the long journey they had just finished. In size, he surpassed everyone surrounding him, but in sanity, he was all but lost.

'Control yourself.' a voice told him, but he pushed it to the back of his mind as he decided to leave his horse to pursue a more personal attack. Surrounding him at the moment were nothing but piles of bodies and houses nearly destroyed by the fires he started, but he noticed Yoko in his peripheral vision, participating in the destruction. He grinned in amusement.

'Wouldn't have thought he had it in him!' he thought to himself in a rare moment of silence.

Oh, this was it! The greatest part of any battle...the part when the flames quiet themselves in his own head and the fleeing opponents seem to freeze...the undeniable peace of the moment as he watched the world around him collapse into nothing but a barren wasteland that would take a thousand years to re-grow, and a hundred generations to replace...

Of course, he only allowed himself to indulge in such musing for a moment.

He treaded towards his fellow horseman, grabbing his horse as an afterthought. He stepped on bodies, immune to the squishing of heads underneath his great boots, although with a ghost of disgust he realized that he would have to bathe once he got away. Even the likes of him couldn't handle being completely covered in blood and bits of flesh as he was right now.


((haha, gory enough for ya? how am I doing so far?))

((whoops, that did look kinda confusing. Guess jet lag's messing with my brain again. She threw a bucket of water at him and is essentially making the area around him into a super-freezer))

((Oh, and Kriggy, yes, I used your 'dickmuncher' thing in my post. ^o^))

As the water from the bucket froze due to the cold temperatures around him, Rabbit raised his sword as if pointing it at Jetta. The ice hit it right on the tip, and the solidified water was cleaved in two. Frankly, the cold was pissing him off a bit, and now that Krigon was trudging towards him, it only succeeded in fanning the flames. "Hey dickmuncher!" he called to War, his voice laced with anger. "I'm a little busy here fatass. So how about turning yourself around and going about your merry way before you and your lumbering hulk body fuck something else up hm?"

He paused for a moment, as if thinking to himself. "Hm... Guess Yoko doesn't swear all that much. Aw hell, I was going to give up soon anyways. Not like pretending to be that little fucktard is any fun."

Rabbit turned his attention back to Jetta, lowering his sword to his side. "Soooo... how about we wrap this up pretty quick eh? If you could just lay down for a second, that'd be great. I mean, I'm sure you're not going to but I figured I'd ask just incase. I'd like to get out of this poorly crafted little hick town. Got other places to be you know."

((Ugh. Finally finished Rabbits profile. Now I just need to finish Sakari and Wrens. TT_TT Gotta go for tonight.))

Jetta lowered her sword point to level with the fake-Yoko's chest and shifted back into her full Aravos form. Every part of her body was geared for battle and she was analyzing possible ways to take down the person standing in front of her. She would prefer to take his head, but even though he was standing in a fairly casual way it was apparent that it was well guarded. The heart would have to do instead. But Jetta figured that she would let him make the first move since she didn't know his fighting abilities yet beyond how he had reacted to the water.

"Yoko...?" Kitai asked, starting to get confused. This person looked like Yoko, talked like Yoko, and had the memories of Yoko, but she had never once heard Yoko say more than one swear word in a sentence. And now he was calling over to the other rider who had laid waste to tens of Rebellion lives already. There was also the fact that he had used his fan to destroy the building, using strength and powers that Yoko didn't have.

"Wow," Rabbit whistled, raising an eyebrow at Kitai. "Either you're retarded...like diagnosably retarded, or you don't know Yoko at all. Personally I think it's a bit of both, but mostly that you're retarded. I mean really, even that fucked up version of an owl over there guessed correctly before you did. Oh, and by the way, fucked up version of an owl... In response to your earlier comment about you getting rid of all those 'nasty little voices' you can blame Hel for it."

"And while I can say that I'm honestly not tired of all the talking, I am getting rather bored. So could we please get this over with? I don't like being bored. It's really annoying."

((My muse for fight scenes is a bit dead. Do you think you could go first please? I probably won't be on at all tomorrow.))

Kitai blinked a couple of times in a shocked manner. Even though he said he wasn't Yoko and didn't act like him, he looked exactly the same and moved in a similar way. She just didn't realize exactly what was going on yet because brain was screaming out in denial.

"As you wish," Jetta said. She lowered herself into a crouch and pointed the sword at Rabbit's chest. She was about to lunge forward in a phantom jump towards him, but instead used the jump to grab Kitai and carry them both backwards a second before the ground all around in that area blew up. Jetta looked up, searching for the source of the blast. On top of the roof on the other side of the street a figure was silhouetted against the sun. The person was sitting on some sort of creature that was feline in nature, but had at least three tails and two pairs of horns. The rider sitting on top of the creature was wearing some sort of billowing cloak so it was impossible to even discern their gender.

Rabbit had gotten a couple limbs blown off in the explosion, but reattatched them without a moments hesitation. He peered up at the figure with a dissatisfied expression. "Wow," he whistled, clearly unimpressed. "A figure in a black cloak silloutted against the sun. If that isn't terribly cliche, I don't know what is."

He turned his attention back to the fucked up version of an owl and sighed. "Great. Now I'm going to have to worry about two people at once. Three if that cunt finally snaps out of her little daze." When he spoke again, he addressed Kitai directly. "I'm sure by now you've realized I'm not Yoko. Took you awhile though. Guess you really don't know him that much. Come to think of it, you don't know him at all." And in a sense, it was true. Kitai knew the schizophrenic version of Yoko. Once he had gotten better, she had gone off to the war, and only talked to him once or twice through Quills body. And then he had died the day that Kitai had come home.

"Okay, I think I'm done talking now," Rabbit concluded simply, raising his sword at Jetta again. His every nerve was a livewire, and he kept a portion of his attention on the black cloaked rider. He started out simple, merely aiming a direct hit at the Avaros's left leg. However, he feigned the move and changed direction to her right at the last second. As he got a better feel for her fighting style, he would move into more complex attacks.

Jetta moved forward past Rabbit with another phantom jump and stopped to look up at the roof again. She was trying to discern if the new arrival was fighting with them or against them. It was true that the rider wasn't mounted on a horse, but the thing that it was on looked twice as sinister.

"I don't give a flying fuck if I look cliche or not, you're a tried and true plot device of a schizophrenic's voice taking over his mind." The rider said, giving its mount a nudge. The feline jumped off their perch and landed off the ground after rebounding off the building on the other side of the street and landing on the tiled stone.

Krigon rolled his eyes at the slur Yoko sent him and continued on his small trek, blinking the sweat out of his eyes. He stretched out his senses as far as he could, try to discern if any had survived.

'Couple children probably managed to escape, lots burned alive...a few adversaries are still around...' he gaged as he took off his long cloak and tossed it over his horse.

There was a small fight going on between Yoko and a few others, but it was a far stretch to say that Krigon didn't think Yoko could handle it himself. He didn't know him very well, but one didn't become a horseman and not gain a few gifts useful for situation like the one before him.

"I'll assume by your demeanor that you can handle the leftovers, seeing as I took care of most of the town?" Krigon shouted over the bray, not bothering to stop and make sure the man heard him. At least four days and nights of non-stop riding, and then he had to lay waste to a whole village? This body was strong, but he needed a bath and some rest. Maybe get drunk, while he was at it...