save_the_souls | driftfleet ♪ IC Contact: Year Two

[hi allen hope you were having a nice day because someone's here to RUIN IT]

Allen. Are you there? Please be there.

[His voice is rushed, half-panicked, and he sounds out of breath.]

[DAMMIT MIKLEO. Things have been pretty going well for Allen so it's not like he suspected anything when he first saw a message. But hearing Mikleo's voice sounding panic was enough to cause worry]

Mikleo? What's wrong?

[s....orry?]

If hellions and your world's monsters were to share enough characteristics for it to work, do you have the power to purify them here?

Um- hypothetically?

[Normally he'd love to talk about the possibilities of Innocence and Shepherd pacts. But Mikleo really doesn't sound like he's hoping for a casual chat of theoretical.]

Why? What's going on?

[Hypothetically. That's... that's good. Well, okay. It's at least not bad. He will latch on to any optimism he can get right now.]

Sorey's corrupted. If we can't quell the malevolence in him, we'll need outside help.

What...!? How-

[He stops himself. The how doesn't exactly matter]

Dammit. How are you going to quell the malevolence?

...I...

[That is a very good question, Allen.]

I'm still... working on that. But I need to talk to him.

But-

But he's your vessel, right? What could happen if you're exposed to too much malevolence when he's corrupted?

No. I can't let myself think about that. It'll just make it worse.

[He's already scared shitless and trying desperately not to be.]

And you already know the answer.

[There's a heavy pause on Allen's end. He remembers that conversation alright, it was hard to forget when they had told him something so worrying about what could happen if things went wrong. They had insisted they wouldn't, Allen had decided to trust them, but-]

[Did he make the wrong call? Was this going to be Alma all over again?]

Mikleo-

I don't think I have the power to purify a dragon.

...I know.

Back home, everyone told us it was impossible. Even a pure Shepherd can't do it.

[He's fighting to keep the fear from entering his voice, to hold back the tremor as he dances around the subject, refusing to say it. Refusing to acknowledge what is, essentially, his own death sentence.

It's hard, though. Even he's not that strong.]

I'm not asking you to deal with dragons. If it becomes necessary, it'll be Sorey who needs your power.

I-

[No, no this can't be happening. This wasn't supposed to happen. Was Mikleo really asking him to forgo saving Dezel and Mikleo if talking to Sorey didn't work? Dezel, who would watch his street performances and cook food at Malum even though most of the customers couldn't see them? Mikleo, who he spent so much time talking to? Who he had been considering a friend? ]

[Allen doesn't have any other suggestions on hand, he isn't sure what to do. He wishes Komui or even Cross were here to say what should be done. But they aren't, it was just him. And true to his own nature, he immediately tries to fight this.]

No! There must be some other way- some other safer way we can quell the malevolence without risking you and Dezel!

I can't just treat you two like you're people who can be sacrificed!

You think I want that!? I'm not asking you to just let us die!

[Dammit, goddammit, and now he's said it, and- goddammit.

staycalmstaycalmstaycalmstaycalm]

It... it isn't guaranteed that we'd become dragons immediately. Dezel has the power to break the pact, and if we can keep the corruption from overwhelming us, we could start out as lesser hellions at worst. Maybe we could even stop that much, if we're careful. That's why I'm telling you this.

Sorey is the source of the malevolence, and our fates are tied to his. If he changes, and he's purified before we become dragons, it'll prevent anything worse from happening. We need you because if he becomes a hellion, our powers of purification won't work anymore.

[Okay that...that sounds a bit better. Not by a lot, but- he takes a moment to take a breath. ]

Sorry, I'm just-

[Well, upset about all this, obviously. Who wouldn't be?]

Where is Sorey?

I don't know yet. He won't answer his comm, and he won't tell us where he is. I'm trying to track him using the pact, but I've never actually done this before. Not at this kind of range...

[He's frustrated, but at least it seems to be working, albeit slowly. He can feel himself getting closer.]

I'll tell you when I find him.

[So Sorey was trying to avoid them...that must mean he knows himself how bad it is. Allen's sure he'll be trying to avoid people as well, trying to seclude himself to try to protect everyone. Sorey was so gentle, he'd never want to risk getting anyone hurt. He remembered all those times Sorey had fretted over people, those times he'd get disturbed by the nature of other worlds. How many times Allen observed just how nice and pure he seemed.]

[...Like Alma.]

[Shit. Why didn't he see it before? ]

Yes, let me know. I'll try searching as well! Clay's been surveying the system, so between his data and Timcanpy's tracker, I might get some ideas of where he could be!

[He should have seen the warning signs earlier. He had been caught up on just making the fleet safe from the hells he's lived through, he neglected to see the hell that Sorey must've been seeing. The malevolence on the different planets, the states of different fleetmembers, the inability to solve things how he would back home, the trouble from home that must still persist. Where Allen had saw peace, Sorey must have seen horrors.]

[And sure, every demon fighter had their troubles adjusting to places like this. Some more than others, but it was something all of them experienced and had to find ways to adapt. But...almost every other demon fighter had something that made it possible. Something that let them survive through fight after fight, that let them defy the odds stacked against them. Something that allowed them to keep walking, even when there was nothing else.]

[Something that Sorey couldn't have, if he were to stay as pure as a Shepherd needed to be. And Allen has failed to see that until now.]

And Mikleo?

Edited 2016-09-04 17:07 (UTC)

What?

[There's impatience in his voice, now; he's delivered the warning, he has his back-up plan, and he needs to focus on the job to be done- finding Sorey, fixing this. He has no time for small talk or niceties.]

[There's a pause of hesistation. There are several things he could say here. He could apologize for not seeing the warning signs sooner, for not doing something sooner. He could confess that he wasn't sure how well his own purification powers worked, that it's been years since he's been able to use his non-lethal exorcism skills. That the years of living peacefully has possibly made him a weaker Exorcist. That there was a good chance Sorey might be unable to heed Mikleo's words-]

[Don't Stop. Keep Walking.]

[Allen that's right. That's right. He couldn't get stuck on those thoughts. Even if something went wrong, he couldn't stop. He couldn't break his promise. He'd just have to trying until he could find something that did work. This wasn't the time to let doubts get in the way.]

...We'll save him. No matter what...we'll save Sorey.

I promise.

[The Seraphim will find a way to quell his Malevolence before he becomes a Hellion, or Allen will give his all to purify Sorey if that failed. One of those choices had to succeed. There was no other option. ]

[....Ah.

Mikleo's breath catches slightly as he inhales in response, relieved, alarmed, and right back to terrified all at once. Right... right. At least Allen didn't phrase it in a way that put the pressure on. He's not sure his heart can take another one of those.]

Yeah. As long as Sorey's safe at the end of all this, I...

[Sorey's his priority here, what he's worried about. He doesn't care what else happens.]

Thank you.

[And he's gone. Time to do his part.]

driftfleet ♪ IC Contact: Year Two

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