There was no rattle of thoughts, no going back down the path that had gotten her to this destination. No, all there was, a need to end it, to swallow down the bile was drowning her heart and soul. She had stopped along the way, wasn't like you couldn't get anything wanted in this part of town. A gun, a knife, pills, you name it. Not that Billie was in need of a gun or anything, but she had heard several of the women about camp talking. A few Zanex washed down with some alcohol seemed to numb things pretty good, and right now, Billie simply wanted to be numb.
Try as she might not to think about Levi it all came flooding back like a tidal wave. Sinking with her back against some old, unknown grave, the cold nibbling at her fingers as she lifted the bottle to her lips. How had everything gone so horribly wrong? Now had the love turned onto something so callus. Was Levi really like that? Could she have been such a misjudge of character that he was so blatantly hurtful of her to stand and watch her crawl as he had... and laugh. He had laughed at her pain. Something in Billie had died then, the light that had been behind those blue eyes flickered out. Another lift of the bottle to her lips, the heated burn a pain she welcomed. So lost within her own thoughts, that she didn't even notice Reiko until the woman actually spoke.
The woman had followed Billie all the way to the Cemetery. Oh Fate, she hoped this wasn't going to spell out what she thought it might be. Bad things usually happened here. Any sign of good deeds were typically limited to maintenance of the grounds. "Billie?" Reiko called. She stepped further in after power-walking this entire time. "Hey Billie, talk to me! What's happening? I'm here to listen!" Why else would she have followed her?
Billie was a typical coward. Pills and a bottle of Molly's sweetwater. "Hey..." up into the sky her eyes went. " do you believe in aliens..?" very odd question for that was going on. Perhaps aliens had come down, snatched up Levi and put a replica in his place. It was the only thing that mad any sense to her given how he had changed so suddenly.
It wasn't too long before the woman's keen ears soon picked up on a response of sorts. Slowing her pace, Reiko followed the voice to its owner. Billie was there, sitting and already looking worse for wear. If she wasn't mistaken, then like an empty shell of what once housed a soul as well. "Aliens..? I've seen some funky stuff during my time in the service, but sadly aliens weren't among them." Reiko kneeled a couple of feet in front of Billie, ready to snatch the bottle from her. "What've you got on you tonight?" the woman asked. Her mind, meanwhile, screamed prayers to Fate that she wasn't about to witness something irreversible.
She fished about in her pocket and it took awhile, fingers felt funny, like jelly. Eventually she found her phone. Long moments looking at the screen. She had to close one eye to even make it out. Pulling the bottle close, she pushed her phone towards Reiko. "Text.... Levi... tell him I'm sorry."
"...tell Mark... I love him and.... I'm ssssssorry..." the bottle to her lips, it took both hands this time to lift it. Much of which she spilled down herself as if she had missed her mouth completely. She was thinking about running, far, far away. How could she go back to camp, how could she face anyone there, let alone have to see Levi walking about all content with himself as if nothing had happened. No, she could never go back. More tears fell, silent rivers down her rounded cheeks.
So far, there was a bottle and now her cellphone. That was somewhat of an answer, but bottles and phones in a cemetery couldn't be the entire inventory. "Sorry...for what? You're not making much sense, Billie." Reiko was going to take the phone, but it soon dropped to her right as the liquid from the bottle spilt down on her. "Oh no...hey!" She rushed forward in a quick movement, her left hand attempting to snatch the bottle from Billie's hands whilst her right hand tried to catch the back of her head. "Billie...Billie! Hey! Come on, you don't have to do this! We can talk!" Which wasn't looking like an option right now.
The strange fluttering in her chest. "Tell.... Mark...." Billie had never taken a Zanex before, the effects of one would have been sufficient to knock her out, and she'd taken four. Since they were so small, and she was so fat. She was floating and heavy all at the same time, arms seemed to have no muscles, even breathing seemed to be lazy.
Tell him what? Reiko's right hand was now gently cradling the back of Billie's head. "What is it, Billie..?" Was her voice getting weaker, or was Reiko starting to be affected already? Was that a dragon in the sky..? or was she dreaming again?
Icer had been flying as fast as she could, following the trail Reiko had left. Nostrils flaring, and a blink as it brought her to the cemetery.
She tried to lift the bottle to her lips, but it was too heavy and simple slipped from her grasp to fall, rolling away from her. Billie took a breathe, one she seemed to hold...
The last time Icer had been here.. it hadn't ended so well. Wing beats slowing, though she glided over the stones. There was Pirate Jean, but the visit would have to wait. " Reiko?!"
Reiko's left hand had managed to pull the bottle away and toss it behind her, out of Billie's reach. The other was trying to kill herself! She's seen this before: drinking heavily, which usually came along after popping a bunch of sedatives to help with the numbness and dulling, holding her breath...no! "Come on...this isn't over yet! You've got more to look forward to, one douchebag isn't worth ending yourself over!" Reiko's left hand now tried to force Billie's mouth open so that she could breathe.
She could hear music, oddly it made her think of Mark. Perhaps really the only person that ever loved her. She really should have listened to Mark, seems he was right all along about Levi. And then the breath was let out, eyes rolled back into her head as she sank into a pill-popping, alcohol endorsed state of oblivion. Her breathing so shallow and slow, she did appear for all purposes to have stopped all together.
No music was being heard for Reiko. This couldn't be! "Billie...Billie..!" No, no, no..! She moved her left hand down to the other's neck, feeling for a pulse on the carotid artery. "No...no no no no...this isn't happening...no..!"
" Billie! " Wings still beating, carrying her deeper within. Clair Poe was there too.
The pink-haired woman froze. Suddenly, it was starting to rain, and hard. The last expiration of breath, failure to detect a pulse...deep pink hues widened as she moved that same left hand over Billie's chest where her heart was. No way was this really happening. Certainly, this was a nightmare that she would soon wake up from. "Billie...
<I>BILLIE!!!!!!"</I> Reiko shouted at the top of her lungs, loud enough to be heard for several feet.
A twitch of an ear, speeding up her search. Soon landing beside Reiko in the rain.
It was absolutely pointless to try any longer. The woman was clearly dead. Billie had died in Reiko's arms, which one made the mistake of assuming that soldiers and veterans got used to. No, they didn't. There was no getting used to watching someone die or commit suicide, especially in their arms. Reiko shifted so that she was sitting where Billie had sat in her last moments of life, cradling the dead woman in her arms. Billie's cellphone was a metre away from Reiko's left foot as the rain poured down, drenching them both.
A blink, moving forewards. Frowning as she spotted Reiko holding a still Billie.
A wing soon unfurling, to shield them both.
Footsteps were soon heard. Who was here, and how had they found her? Reiko looked up numbly, unable to move from where she sat and not ready to let go of the woman just yet. "I...Icer..." The woman sounded as drained as she was mentally, if there was anything left to drain at this point. "...Billie..." Reiko looked back down at the too-still and obviously very dead Billie. What was she going to tell Mark...and how?
A gentle nuzzle to Reiko. Billie though, was even beyond her magical capabilities.
The nuzzle wasn't going to illicit much of a reaction, although an S.O.S. signal was sent out to Andu's command by Gaia upon detecting Reiko's state of mind. Maybe she missed something? Reiko tried to check Billie's vitals again. Maybe her pulse was just really weak is all, and she had pronounced her too soon. "...she...I don't..." Reiko looked up again, tears silently streaking down her already-drenched face. It was hard to tell that she was crying with this rain, though.
Andu does arrive, moving silently as he listens to a report from Gaia using sensors more sensitive than even his own that had been bound into the comband on Reiko's wrist.
Andu just spends some time watching the trio.:: It is rather wet out here.
Trying to think rationally was a bit difficult to do at the moment, but not impossible. She blinked slowly, trying to make sense of what was happening right now. Drinking, handing her phone over, trying to hold her breath until Reiko forced her mouth open...maybe Billie still had some life left in her after all. It certainly was hard to tell. "...aliens...why them, Billie?" Reiko asked very quietly, finally feeling a faint heartbeat. It was there, but very...faint. Like it wouldn't be long now.
Reiko couldn't look too pale. She was already the palest creature alive, as far as she was aware. She was looking ahead at Icer very blankly, her voice void of emotion. "You know the first thing she said when I called out for her..? She asked if I believe in aliens..." Reiko said. Her hands started to shake. "I could tell that she'd taken a bunch of sedatives to try rushing things along...drinking heavily. Then she said to tell them...that she was sorry...sorry...for nothing she'd done wrong..." Reiko's vision started to become blurred by her tears as heavy sobs soon overcame her.
Icer soon lowering herself to her knees beside Reiko, her wing curling around the woman. Ice blue eyes soon moving to Andu.
The woman had to get out of here. Now. Billie had to get to the hospital, now...their travels in reverse order? Reiko appreciated Icer's wing curling around her as it was sort of shielding her from a world of embarrassment.
" Icer, why don't you take Reiko to the lair. I'll... Do what needs to be done here." Andu's voice broke the dullness of rain.
"Billie...can't leave her..." But, Reiko had to. Sitting here and holding her like this would just rush her death quicker. Reiko didn't want to, but that was selfish. She had to let Andu take her. "...Andu...I..." Clearly torn, it showed on her face.
" I'll take care of her, Reiko. Go with Icer. Now."
Once Icer and Reiko are out of sight, Andu would have Gaia transport Billie
She had no choice but to let go. "Billie..." was said last just as she heard the order from Andu. No longer holding Billie, Reiko didn't have anymore of a choice but to go with Icer to the Lair. "...save her, Andu..." Reiko pleaded, picking up Billie's cellphone. Nobody was touching that but Reiko...and Billie, provided the woman made it out of the hospital in her shoes and not in a body-bag.
Try as she might not to think about Levi it all came flooding back like a tidal wave. Sinking with her back against some old, unknown grave, the cold nibbling at her fingers as she lifted the bottle to her lips. How had everything gone so horribly wrong? Now had the love turned onto something so callus. Was Levi really like that? Could she have been such a misjudge of character that he was so blatantly hurtful of her to stand and watch her crawl as he had... and laugh. He had laughed at her pain. Something in Billie had died then, the light that had been behind those blue eyes flickered out. Another lift of the bottle to her lips, the heated burn a pain she welcomed. So lost within her own thoughts, that she didn't even notice Reiko until the woman actually spoke.
The woman had followed Billie all the way to the Cemetery. Oh Fate, she hoped this wasn't going to spell out what she thought it might be. Bad things usually happened here. Any sign of good deeds were typically limited to maintenance of the grounds. "Billie?" Reiko called. She stepped further in after power-walking this entire time. "Hey Billie, talk to me! What's happening? I'm here to listen!" Why else would she have followed her?
Billie was a typical coward. Pills and a bottle of Molly's sweetwater. "Hey..." up into the sky her eyes went. " do you believe in aliens..?" very odd question for that was going on. Perhaps aliens had come down, snatched up Levi and put a replica in his place. It was the only thing that mad any sense to her given how he had changed so suddenly.
It wasn't too long before the woman's keen ears soon picked up on a response of sorts. Slowing her pace, Reiko followed the voice to its owner. Billie was there, sitting and already looking worse for wear. If she wasn't mistaken, then like an empty shell of what once housed a soul as well. "Aliens..? I've seen some funky stuff during my time in the service, but sadly aliens weren't among them." Reiko kneeled a couple of feet in front of Billie, ready to snatch the bottle from her. "What've you got on you tonight?" the woman asked. Her mind, meanwhile, screamed prayers to Fate that she wasn't about to witness something irreversible.
She fished about in her pocket and it took awhile, fingers felt funny, like jelly. Eventually she found her phone. Long moments looking at the screen. She had to close one eye to even make it out. Pulling the bottle close, she pushed her phone towards Reiko. "Text.... Levi... tell him I'm sorry."
"...tell Mark... I love him and.... I'm ssssssorry..." the bottle to her lips, it took both hands this time to lift it. Much of which she spilled down herself as if she had missed her mouth completely. She was thinking about running, far, far away. How could she go back to camp, how could she face anyone there, let alone have to see Levi walking about all content with himself as if nothing had happened. No, she could never go back. More tears fell, silent rivers down her rounded cheeks.
So far, there was a bottle and now her cellphone. That was somewhat of an answer, but bottles and phones in a cemetery couldn't be the entire inventory. "Sorry...for what? You're not making much sense, Billie." Reiko was going to take the phone, but it soon dropped to her right as the liquid from the bottle spilt down on her. "Oh no...hey!" She rushed forward in a quick movement, her left hand attempting to snatch the bottle from Billie's hands whilst her right hand tried to catch the back of her head. "Billie...Billie! Hey! Come on, you don't have to do this! We can talk!" Which wasn't looking like an option right now.
The strange fluttering in her chest. "Tell.... Mark...." Billie had never taken a Zanex before, the effects of one would have been sufficient to knock her out, and she'd taken four. Since they were so small, and she was so fat. She was floating and heavy all at the same time, arms seemed to have no muscles, even breathing seemed to be lazy.
Tell him what? Reiko's right hand was now gently cradling the back of Billie's head. "What is it, Billie..?" Was her voice getting weaker, or was Reiko starting to be affected already? Was that a dragon in the sky..? or was she dreaming again?
Icer had been flying as fast as she could, following the trail Reiko had left. Nostrils flaring, and a blink as it brought her to the cemetery.
She tried to lift the bottle to her lips, but it was too heavy and simple slipped from her grasp to fall, rolling away from her. Billie took a breathe, one she seemed to hold...
The last time Icer had been here.. it hadn't ended so well. Wing beats slowing, though she glided over the stones. There was Pirate Jean, but the visit would have to wait. " Reiko?!"
Reiko's left hand had managed to pull the bottle away and toss it behind her, out of Billie's reach. The other was trying to kill herself! She's seen this before: drinking heavily, which usually came along after popping a bunch of sedatives to help with the numbness and dulling, holding her breath...no! "Come on...this isn't over yet! You've got more to look forward to, one douchebag isn't worth ending yourself over!" Reiko's left hand now tried to force Billie's mouth open so that she could breathe.
She could hear music, oddly it made her think of Mark. Perhaps really the only person that ever loved her. She really should have listened to Mark, seems he was right all along about Levi. And then the breath was let out, eyes rolled back into her head as she sank into a pill-popping, alcohol endorsed state of oblivion. Her breathing so shallow and slow, she did appear for all purposes to have stopped all together.
No music was being heard for Reiko. This couldn't be! "Billie...Billie..!" No, no, no..! She moved her left hand down to the other's neck, feeling for a pulse on the carotid artery. "No...no no no no...this isn't happening...no..!"
" Billie! " Wings still beating, carrying her deeper within. Clair Poe was there too.
The pink-haired woman froze. Suddenly, it was starting to rain, and hard. The last expiration of breath, failure to detect a pulse...deep pink hues widened as she moved that same left hand over Billie's chest where her heart was. No way was this really happening. Certainly, this was a nightmare that she would soon wake up from. "Billie...
<I>BILLIE!!!!!!"</I> Reiko shouted at the top of her lungs, loud enough to be heard for several feet.
A twitch of an ear, speeding up her search. Soon landing beside Reiko in the rain.
It was absolutely pointless to try any longer. The woman was clearly dead. Billie had died in Reiko's arms, which one made the mistake of assuming that soldiers and veterans got used to. No, they didn't. There was no getting used to watching someone die or commit suicide, especially in their arms. Reiko shifted so that she was sitting where Billie had sat in her last moments of life, cradling the dead woman in her arms. Billie's cellphone was a metre away from Reiko's left foot as the rain poured down, drenching them both.
A blink, moving forewards. Frowning as she spotted Reiko holding a still Billie.
A wing soon unfurling, to shield them both.
Footsteps were soon heard. Who was here, and how had they found her? Reiko looked up numbly, unable to move from where she sat and not ready to let go of the woman just yet. "I...Icer..." The woman sounded as drained as she was mentally, if there was anything left to drain at this point. "...Billie..." Reiko looked back down at the too-still and obviously very dead Billie. What was she going to tell Mark...and how?
A gentle nuzzle to Reiko. Billie though, was even beyond her magical capabilities.
The nuzzle wasn't going to illicit much of a reaction, although an S.O.S. signal was sent out to Andu's command by Gaia upon detecting Reiko's state of mind. Maybe she missed something? Reiko tried to check Billie's vitals again. Maybe her pulse was just really weak is all, and she had pronounced her too soon. "...she...I don't..." Reiko looked up again, tears silently streaking down her already-drenched face. It was hard to tell that she was crying with this rain, though.
Andu does arrive, moving silently as he listens to a report from Gaia using sensors more sensitive than even his own that had been bound into the comband on Reiko's wrist.
Andu just spends some time watching the trio.:: It is rather wet out here.
Trying to think rationally was a bit difficult to do at the moment, but not impossible. She blinked slowly, trying to make sense of what was happening right now. Drinking, handing her phone over, trying to hold her breath until Reiko forced her mouth open...maybe Billie still had some life left in her after all. It certainly was hard to tell. "...aliens...why them, Billie?" Reiko asked very quietly, finally feeling a faint heartbeat. It was there, but very...faint. Like it wouldn't be long now.
Reiko couldn't look too pale. She was already the palest creature alive, as far as she was aware. She was looking ahead at Icer very blankly, her voice void of emotion. "You know the first thing she said when I called out for her..? She asked if I believe in aliens..." Reiko said. Her hands started to shake. "I could tell that she'd taken a bunch of sedatives to try rushing things along...drinking heavily. Then she said to tell them...that she was sorry...sorry...for nothing she'd done wrong..." Reiko's vision started to become blurred by her tears as heavy sobs soon overcame her.
Icer soon lowering herself to her knees beside Reiko, her wing curling around the woman. Ice blue eyes soon moving to Andu.
The woman had to get out of here. Now. Billie had to get to the hospital, now...their travels in reverse order? Reiko appreciated Icer's wing curling around her as it was sort of shielding her from a world of embarrassment.
" Icer, why don't you take Reiko to the lair. I'll... Do what needs to be done here." Andu's voice broke the dullness of rain.
"Billie...can't leave her..." But, Reiko had to. Sitting here and holding her like this would just rush her death quicker. Reiko didn't want to, but that was selfish. She had to let Andu take her. "...Andu...I..." Clearly torn, it showed on her face.
" I'll take care of her, Reiko. Go with Icer. Now."
Once Icer and Reiko are out of sight, Andu would have Gaia transport Billie
She had no choice but to let go. "Billie..." was said last just as she heard the order from Andu. No longer holding Billie, Reiko didn't have anymore of a choice but to go with Icer to the Lair. "...save her, Andu..." Reiko pleaded, picking up Billie's cellphone. Nobody was touching that but Reiko...and Billie, provided the woman made it out of the hospital in her shoes and not in a body-bag.