When one Path Crosses Another......

First topic message reminder :

(I generally specify an age when these start, so Imma say this happened about a year ago; when Fox was 15.)

Kitsuné Fira, commonly known as "Fox" by practically all who met her, was making her way down some random road outside her hometown one sunny day. She wasn't looking for anything in particular as she walked, just something to do. She had noticed that things typically came along when she was just randomly out and about. Zepher was off flying somewhere, so Fox was totally on her own at that point in time.

Fox screamed. She screamed and hollered bloody murder until she was literally choking on her own blood, and even after that she still screamed. She wanted to just drift away, to get away from everything and find peace..... No. No, that was NOT what she wanted. She WANTED to feel the agony as each needle got ripped out of her like an oversized bee stinger. She wanted it because.... it ment she was alive. It ment she could fight on; that she could achieve her aspirations and she could live to see her friends again. So instead of trying to escape the pain, she focused on it. Intensified it. She used her alchemy to make her nerves even more raw, making the pain so intense she couldn't do anything but scream and bite her hand so hard she broke the skin and touched raw bone with her teeth..... Wait. What was she doing again...?

Fox's eyes got even wider then they already were. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" She screeched out around the eighth needle, and suddenly she flew into a primative fight for survival. "NO! I WILL NOT HAVE AN EPISODE NOW!!!!" she protested in her mind. With her weak, bloodied hand, she withdrew a series of photographs from her pockets and forced herself to look at them through teary, blurred-up eyes. She managed to fight back the episode as the tenth needle was pulled, but she knew it couldn't be for long.

"....Auuugh. Tch. This has GOT to stop." Fox groaned to herself. She clapped her hands and touched the alchehestry circle, not letting herself pass out or fall asleep or anything to that effect. As the gentle electricity flowed from the circle to her side and she managed to at least basically repair herself and stop most of the critical internal bleeding. She stood; ears ringing and body numb from utter shock.

"Hey. You. Giggles." Fox addressed Pika. She sounded completely different now; her voice hoarse with tired and frustrated undertones. "I don't care if you find blood funny or if you have some sort of blood and/or pain fetish or what. I'm not gonna be around much longer to go through this stupid place. It's critical we get to that chamber now; I can sense the Spacial Rifts expanding. We've got a limited amount of time and I'm positive I'm not gonna make it much longer with my current mental state, not to mention the neurotoxin..." Fox's voice drifted away, as if she had forgotten what she wanted to say. Her grip on the photographs tightened.

"...Arceus damn it all, I thought I had longer!! This can't be it, I'm not ready...!" she cursed, followed by a long string of more heavy cursing. "...Listen pal. I really need you right now, okay? You gotta listen... In a few minutes, I'm not gonna remember a damned thing. I might even start to wander if my Fugue gets serious, which it very well might considering that, this is a pretty place! How did I get here?..." Fox shook her head violently, trying to delay her episode for even a second longer. She ran to Pika and violently gripped the collar of his sweatshirt, yanking him down harshly and connecting her sharp, violent, yet desperate state with his eyes. It was intense enough of a stare to even shatter 24-karat diamonds. "...YOU GOTTA MAKE ME LOOK WITHOUT MY EYES. YOU GOTTA MAKE ME LOOK WITHOUT... My...!" she screeched at him, but before she could finish her eyes plastered over and she exhaled all her breath. Her arms drooped Dow to her sides, and she suddenly took on the air and the mentality of a sweet five-year-old girl.

"Heya mister! What's your name, guy?" she asked with a sweet little grin.

Pika simply looked up at Fox with a blank stare as she started to tell him what he needed to do. For some reason, he was finding it hard to focus on that, and suddenly realized what was happening. No, not now, I don't need the both of us flipping out. It's not exactly a matter of need so much as want. No, I don't want this. I don't want any of it, just stop-But why stop? We're on a roll here, there's so much more to accomplish. Because you're wrong, I don't want you hurting her when it's not necessary. Should have thought of that before, but now it's my turn. Look, just hold up and we can work something out here, I'll let you-What was that? I can't hear you over the sound of you going to sleep. About now. With that, Pika's consciousness faded away, and instead something else took over just as Fox grabbed the collar of his sweatshirt, staring at him and telling him to make her see without her eyes.
"Hmm...without your eyes you say? That can be accomplished." He muttered, hosting a wide smile on his face as he stood up.
"My name? Why, it's Pika."No it's not. "Now, tell me, are you interested in exploring a very special place? We can both go into that place over there, there's plenty of cool things in there." He spoke in a very light voice, almost as if he really was talking to a five-year old girl and indicating the entrance to the ruins as the place.

Fox's eyes lit up as she heard the word "adventure". It was such a fascinating and exciting word; she couldn't help but dash and peer over the edge of the roof of the ruins. She blinked, and suddenly her enthusiasm melted away into a small frown. She blinked again; held her eyes shut for a few minutes, then continued looking at the entrance to the ruins.

"Mister...." she commented. "That's an awful long way down... And besides, there's a big pink circle in the way." She stated, even though (to the naked eye) there was clearly nothing in front of the Ruin's entrance.

Pink circle? Must be one of those rifts she talked about. "Pika" decided, looking down over the edge of the ruins. He placed a hand on Fox's shoulder, as if to comfort her. Oh how easy it would have been to just place a bit more force and push her off.
"Oh don't worry, we can take another way down. If you follow me I can bring you down safely." He said, before heading over to the other edge of the ruins, looking for a better way down other then the splat drop.

JUMP DAMN YOU!!!!

Fox blinked as a desperate and angry voice screamed at her to jump. She obeyed without a second thought, springing into the air and plummeting to the ground below. Blue electrical sparks erupted from the ground directly below her, creating a patch of bushes that broke her fall and caught her.

-Elsewhere, in ???-

A pure white female figure with long hair of no distinguishable color taps it's foot impatiently and watches as things from the ruins play out in front of her. So naive. What are you waiting for? Escape already!; the figure growls. JUMP DAMN YOU!!! I DONT WANT TO DIE!!!

The figure blinks as the firey-style-haired girl does just that. Using what precious little energy she has, the white figure creates a patch of bushes to catch the falling girl. Interesting.... If I can effect my surroundings like that, I wonder.....

Fox! Damn, she's crazy. Might as well have pushed her. "Pika" thought to himself as he watched the girl land. He took a few steps back from the ledge before getting an idea and moving back to the edge. He hopped off, and half way down stabbed a katana into the stone, slowing his fall. He kicked off the wall, pulling the bladed weapon out and rolling to minimize damage on the ground.
"Hey now, where do you think you're going? I thought we were friends." He said in near mock tone to Fox, walking towards her. Look, please don't kill her. I can't do that. But, I can indirectly, and that figure you two ran into earlier... What about it? Let's just say they're connected.

"There... There was a voice in my head..." The girl commented, shaken. "A girl's voice... She said she didn't want to die and then she screamed at me to jump." 'Fox' commented, wringing her friends. "She was really adamant about me jumping, so I did." she finished with wide eyes. A little orb of light had appeared over her head earlier (the source of the blue electricity), and was now floating lazily there over her head.

"You know that saying? The one about if your friend jumps off a bridge would you do it too? I think that's kind of applicable here." 'Pika' commented, rolling his eyes slightly and looking at Fox for a moment before noticing the ball of light over head.
"Hey, you're not the one who told her to jump are you? That's sort of my job." He asked, sheathing his blade and crossing his arms. Funny, if it's your job how come you never tell me to? Because you may be stupid enough to actually take the advice. You know the deal, you die and I get who knows how long of a time of nothing but torment. That's just a bit too hinky for me. Hinky? Shut up. My term.

The blue orb matrixed angrily at "Pika"; however, no voices were heard by anyone. The orb appeared to have used up most of its energy now and was mostly dormant save for it's physical manifestation and seemingly instinctual emotional reactions.

"Uh.... Are you talking to me?" "Fox" asked confusedly.

The boy sighed, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.
"No, I'm not talking to the only human in the area, I'm talking to the bubbly ball of blue light with her that can't respond." He scoffed, shaking his head. "Whatever, it doesn't matter. I believe the reason you were here was to explore the cave, before you went all child on me. Seems like you've got a problem to fix up in there too." He continued to say, pointing at the entrance to the ruins and making a mental note to remember the problem with the rifts.

"Fox" frowned slightly. Something about this guy was giving her a funny feeling now... But she was quick to ignore it and return to her chipper demeanor. "Oh yeah! That place!" she smiled excitedly. She began to move quickly towards the front enterence (despite the void that was blocking it.

AND THEN SUDDENLY A GIANT GAPING HOLE OPENED UP UNDER HER FEET OMFG THE DRAMA.

Fox didn't even have a chance to scream before the ground crumbled out from under her and she was swallowed by a huge, dark, gaping hole... That somehow led into the mountain? Like, what? Mountains are solid rock.

Strange how it crumbled apart like that.

"Yes, yes, that place. Just hurry up will you, I don't have all day." He muttered, watching Fox walk off. I'm guessing that void is keeping us from getting back in. Well it's a good thing we're testing it on here then. Pika thought as he followed behind her, waiting to see what happened. Being so preoccupied with that, he blinked as the ground beneath them gave out and reached for something to grab onto, but couldn't grab anything as he fell down as well.

With a surprisingly gentle "thud", 'Fox' landed on the floor of a rather shallow room that seemed to exist under the temple's staircase. In all reality, 'Pika' and 'Fox' had only really fallen about 3 feet. The orb above 'Fox's' head jumped around excitedly, as if to say there was something important about the room. If the orb could talk, it probably would have said something along the lines of "Hey, listen!" The jumpy orb went completely unnoticed by 'Fox', however. She was preoccupied with staring at the wall just in front of her.

"Hey mister! I see light!" 'Fox' commented, pointing towards the wall. Sure enough, there was a small hole in the wall that looked just big enough for 'Fox' to squeeze through. It was defined amongst the rubble by the faint glowing of some form of neon green-blue bioluminescent light that was gently spilling out of whatever lay beyond the whole into the shallow room.