Topic: Warping Reality (Open)

[~Harry Potter~]

Rhyme’s eyes flamed when he heard Jonathan speak.  His eyes were not a deep red and his aura checked to an orange.  He was letting his anger get a hold of him and with this the degrading of the area sped up.  The small rips started earlier were being pushed open from the waves of energy rolling off of Rhyme.  From the edges of the area real light started to flood in with piercing beams.  Artemis just smirked at this enjoying the show.

When Rhyme rose his arm though to fire a beam of energy at the mist where he heard Jonathans voice come from he found his arm tied in place with a black ribbon.  He glared daggers at Artemis who just held his hands up in an act of submission. 

“Do it if you want but I doubt you want to risk hitting Cindy.”

The energy drained from Rhyme’s frame as he fell to his knees wishing he could do something to help. 

[potter_fan122]

((Sorry. I guess I didn`t leave much room for you to do anything there.))

Jonathan laughed and ran his fingers down Stacey`s arm. She shivered, suddenly able to move. She jerked away to face her uncle, but all she saw was the dense grey fog. She looked around wildly, trying to see anything besides the grey. Getting nervous she started circling around, twirling and twirling.

*Where is he?* The thought echoed around her mind, frantic. A cold breeze pushed through the fog and Stacey shivered. Her whole body jerked when she did, and her eyes flashed lime green.

*He`s gone.* She started shaking, her hands trembling, and turned on her heel. "Rhyme?" She called. Without waiting for a respone she started running. She had to get away from the mist. It was like staring at a perfect white wall with no bumps and no visible paint lines; it was maddeningly the same.

"Get out, get out, get out." She chanted under her breath. The bodiless voices were closing in around her. She could feel them getting closer and closer, moving in. The temperature dropped rapidly and her breath formed large clouds in front of her face. It was just maddening, and when she felt something graze her arm she screamed-- not just any scream, but high-pitched and at the top of her lungs-- and fell to the ground, wrapping her arms around her head to cover her ears.

[~Harry Potter~]

((Sailor Moon—Carry On))

When Rhyme saw Stacey run toward him randomly as if she couldn’t see him he latched on and knelt trying to bring her down with him.  He wrapped his arms around her protectively as he flinched from having her screaming right in his ears.  He couldn’t really talk but he began to hum a simple tune he remembered to be very relaxing.  (The Sailor Moon locket song)

He rocked himself and her back and forth trying to calm her down wishing in all his heart he could dispel illusions as easily as his old boyfriend could.  He rested his head near hers and unknown to him though a small sphere surrounding them, protecting them.  If he knew later he would probably say it was caused by his heart wanting to keep her safe above all else. 

Artemis’ eyes widened when he saw a semi transparent women approach out of nowhere and lightly touch Rhyme on the shoulder before vanishing form sight.  It was one of the muses, giving someone who worked hard in their name some much needed inspiration. 

A small tear left Rhyme’s eye as he let the music take over him hoping this sound would bring Stacey back.  It reminded him so much of her and hopefully it would bring her back to herself. 

Here I'm standing in the night
My crescent wand the only light
Alone against my darkest fear
But I sense my friends are near
I'll draw from each the power I need
The evil queen, we will defeat

Give me the strength to carry on
With all our love, we can't go wrong
Only together we face the fight
Nothing can stand against our might

Give me the strength to carry on
With all our love, we can't go wrong
Only together we face the fight
Nothing can stand against our might
With all our strength, the battle's won
With all our love, we can't go wrong
We have the strength to carry on

[potter_fan122]

((James in blue.))

Stacey stopped screaming when she realized it was Rhyme. She wrapped her arms around him, so glad that he wasn`t some monstrous creature, and let him rock her back and forth. Her whole body was shaking violently, and her eyes were an unnatural green, staring off into nothing.

She didn`t see the clearing any more. She didn`t see Rhyme or even the mist. All there was was blackness, completely surrounding her. She was floating in an endless void.

She`s sucked into a black hole, limbs flailing, unable to stop or slow down. Freefalling into the darkness, her horrible high-pitched scream the only sound. And just as she`s sure that this fall has no end-- it stops. The scream, the fall, all of it. Everything. Leaving her to hand there. Untethered. Suspended. Completely alone in this solitary place with no beginning or end. Lost in this dark and dismal abyss with no trace of light coming in. Abandoned in this infinite void, a lost and lonely world of permanent midnight. The horrible realization slowly dawning on me-- This was where she lived now. A hell with no escape.

She tries to run, scream, cry for help-- but it`s no use. She`s frozen, paralyzed, unable to speak-- completely alone for all eternity. Purposely held apart from everything she knows and loves-- cut off from everything that exists. Knowing I`ve no choice but to surrender as her mind goes blank and my body limp. There`s no use in fighting when no one can save here.

She remains like that`s solitary, eternal, a shadowy awareness creeping upon her, tugging from a place just outside of her reach--

"GET OUT OF MY DAUGHTER`S HEAD!" The word was a pure command. No room for negotiation or questions. Jonathan was out of line, and James was in Stacey`s mind.

Stacey, herself, jerked into awareness in Rhyme`s arms. She pulled out their protectiveness and stood up. Her head swiveled around, looking for any sign of James or Jonathan. The thick fog was gone, along with the voices. It made her angry that her father had been listening in on her mind all this time, but she was gratefull for his interference. She shuddered at the thought of that blackness. There had been nothing there. No air, no heat, no cold. Nothing.

Then her eyes landed on something that made her freeze with... well, fear. As much as she hated to admit it-- even to herself-- she really was scared. She knew it wasn`t real, but that made it all the worse.

Jonathan stood on the other side of the large clearing, holding a person in front of him. The thin, rather gangly torso and strong arms, soft black hair. Aiden.

*No! It`s not real! He`s just in my mind, d@mmit! Just like in the chamber with the mirror!* She stumbled back, almost running into Rhyme. Her hands stretched out behind her, but her eyes locked on her uncle. The figure he had conjured looked so much like Aiden. The image struggled against Jonathan, pulling against the strong arm the pinned him to the man`s chest.

"Rh--Rhyme, please tell me now how to make that go away." She stuttered it out, not once looking at her friend. Without really thinking about it-- pushed by her extremely strong instincts to fight back-- her hands and forearms glowed with a blue energy that sparked every now and then.

((Quotation from Alyson Noèl`s Shadowland but changed from first person into third person.))

[~Harry Potter~]

Rhyme went to say that he didn’t know how to end the zone but when he tried to speak he remembered how wrecked his vocal chords were at the moment.  He grimaced and clutched at his throat as the burning pain filled his throat and mind. 

Before Stacey could even ask Artemis appeared beside then and gave an explanation.  “The vocal chords are like any other muscle, they can be stretched and strained, Rhyme strained his vocal chords by hitting notes that are even high for him at a loud volume.  If it was a normal singer their vocal chords would have been snapped in half from the strain.”

Artemis sighed as he knew he was about to go back into that dark place called a mind but it wasn’t as painful as before, it was still dark, but oddly it was softly light by a light of hope and love.  Maybe this wasn’t all bad for him. 

”The song is done from start to finish, all the bars were sung. 
The sharps were sharp, the flats were flat, and nothing can be argued. 
By this spell reality is ever shifted.
I wait again, till we have another dance through time and space.”Artemis said simply though his words held a strange power. 

The silence that followed was all encompassing becoming solid until suddenly with a crack the weakened zone shattered like a glass dome letting the light of the sun flooded the clearing once more, the normal sound of the forest returning.  Their watches probably said much longer, though everyone else barely an hour has passed. 

As the one vanished so did Artemis, no longer having the energy to manifest.  Rhyme gave Stacey a soft smile then flinched at the pain but still with happiness in his eyes. 

[potter_fan122]

Stacey looked around as she felt the energy shattered. She blinked a few times, her irises slowly turning to a warm brown color. Her gaze raked across the clearing and back over to where the image of Aiden and Jonathan had been. It was all gone. Her forehead wrinkled in her confusion.

"It... it shouldn`t have gone. He should still be here." She said softly, turning to Rhyme. All of a sudden she felt so tired, like something had been dropped over her. The physical effort of the past hour or so was heavy on her, and she slouched forward and rubbed her fingers to her temple. "He should still be here. There`s nothing to block him out." Her voice lifted in tone, all of her frustration and worry running to the surface. It felt like her whole body was full of so much pressure, and she was getting a terrible headache.

"I don`t understand." She moved toward the coolness under the trees and sat down. Without really thinking about it she was rebuilding her mental shields up. She didn`t know why Jonathan had disappeared; logically, he should still be there. He was part of Stacey`s own mind, nothing else physical that was there. Through his niece`s mind he could have a body and substance, but he wouldn`t truly be there. The fact that he had just disappeared didn`t make any sense.

[~Harry Potter~]

Rhyme got himself to his feet and sat beside Stacey.  He wouldn’t have said anything if he could have.  He was beyond worn out and he would have a fun time trying to go to class tomorrow.  He tried to think of his schedule and decided on just skipping his courses for the next day.  He would be mute for the next two days and horse for about a week. 

He just sat there next to her keeping her company.