{Inhale My Soul* [MS - Day 4]

[arx!!]

۵ ۵ ۵ ۵ ۵

The world's aglow as more storms bloom
Sometimes rain is all I need
Heavy falling water with a light breeze
To blow away my troubles

”I think the greatest mercy we’ll have now is being killed.”

I startle awake when my dreams are nothing but nightmares. I don't even know why I bothered to try and sleep. I knew I would hear nothing but voices - screams. I knew I would only see their eyes. I knew I would only feel his skin under my fingertips. I knew I would only be able to taste his blood on my lips. I stare into the sky, stroking the dear angel at my side, his spiny texture comforting me. I didn't mean to hurt him. But the dead, angelic figure at my side can't hear me. And the voice in my head keeps taunting me. How could you kill an angel? Theseus' angel? Did you enjoy it? I know you did, don't even have to ask. I didn't mean to hurt him.

The sound of other humans is all around me. I can hear them breathing in the same sticky air as me. I can hear their hearts beating like the boom of the bass drum back home when I'm on stage. I can even see their blood coursing through their bodies, keeping them alive, keeping them breathing. But the queen has already ordered their beheading. It is only a matter of time now. I stand and walk away from the group. I'm not them. I would never side with them. I would never side with your killer Guy, I swear. I walk along the edge of the sea, my feet making imprints in the sand, and then wash away when a wave rolls up the shoreline. Why can't my memories be washed away that easily? I guess it's my punishment - not being able to forget a single thing. Not being able to get rid of the touch of rough hands on unscathed skin. Not being able to forget death in the eyes of three. No being able to forget that I left a boy to die alone. Feeling guilty for all of it. All of it was my fault

The anthem booms in my ears, the sky lights up, but no faces show. No deaths today. Good. Damn.

I hold Theseus closer to me, cradling him in my arms as I continue you to walk further and further away from those three beasts. None of them are beasts compared to me. You are the Beast, Naveen. I look down upon Theseus' limp form to find he is not dead; He is talking to me. I yelp in surprise and cover my mouth in horror. "Shut up, you little bitch!" I look down to see Theseus' mouth opening and shutting, words trying to escape. I'm hallucinating. This isn't real. Come on, Navy, why don't you use that girl in the interview? Or the one in your private training station? That girl might have saved me - "No! That girl killed you!" My head is throbbing and all my previous wounds feel like they have been lit on fire. I ball my fist and shove it in my mouth to keep from screaming. What's the matter? Do you need some help? The Beast would certainly be able to take away the pain. I watch as Theseus stands, walking towards me at an punishingly slow pace. Tears start to stream down my face so I clamp down harder on my fist. I start to taste blood again. Come on, what are you afraid of Navy? It's me, Theo. Let me help you - let that girl help you. Don't you care abo- "No!! Shut up, shut the fuck up!!"

My dad is screaming in my ears to shut up but I ignore him. My skin tingles and previous wounds seem to bite into my very soul, but I don't care. I taste my blood from my fist and swallow it down as I pick up my weapon and aim for Theseus. But he easily dodges all of my attacks - the tails of my weapon seem to go straight through him. I trip backwards over a log, landing in the spray of water. I try to stand but my legs won't move. Theseus' claws press against my skin as he crawls up my body. I try to scream but my vocal cords won't work. Well, if you won't give me your soul, I guess I will just have to take it by force won't I? His claws twist into my chest, digging for my heart. All my body will let me do is scream in agony.

And then my eyes fly open to a different kind of darkness.

I am sticky with sweat, and my throat feels like I decided to eat glass in the middle of the night. I swallow down blood - I guess I bit my tongue open again in the middle of the night - and I look to my at my supplies, Theseus laying dead at my side. I grab a hold of his head and whip him into the ocean, gasping and trying to make sense of everything. Screw this place ... Take me home. I start to pick up all my stuff, trying to keep control of my breathing, which is still coming in gasps. My body is shaking from the effort of moving. And then I start to run. Sprinting full speed. I find myself back in the lotus fields in just the blink of an eye.

What is happening to me?

And then I see Theseus appear, smiling at me. His teeth are red with blood and the slash in his throat bubbles with blood which drips down his body. "It's time Naveen. Time for me to feast upon your heart."

Attacks Demonic Theseus the human with Cat o' Nine Tails (flail)
[dice=200+12000]
{Block -- 0.0 damage}

[dice=4]
{Phyllis Roman}

For a minute, or a year
And instead I can imagine
The good things that are true
And as I'm dancing there alone
I dream that I'm with you

۵ ۵ ۵ ۵ ۵

[rand=9603254320950434859245577254808854581739690634763435782198004532]

[SinInChaos]

I am your Demon
Hear me Roar

[/color][/size][/font]

Flames know that we cannot escape them, and thus burn toward the destruction of everything. It has been my only fear in life, to see a spreading fire and never be able to stop it. I like to have control. I want to create the chaos, and maybe be a part of it as well, but I also desire to control it. If I lose sight of what is mine and what the plan is, then I lose sight of my game. And this little demon cannot take any chances I have to grow into the hell that I'm building slowly and surely. And soon everyone will join me there. In those inferno's that I can make. In those flames I control. No chaos is too grand for me. I don't want this anymore though. Do I?

You will be the death of me
Yeah you will be the death of me...

I wake from a strange dream. Remie was there, telling me a story over and over and over... no the story just wouldn't end. It kept going and going and the pages in her book seemed so endless. And I told her, I wished for her, to please stop the insanity but all she would do is tell me to hush while she read me a story. The story has to end somewhere, doesn't it? I lick my lips and look around our camp, which seems oddly emptier than I remember. What is going on? Where are the others? Am I still dreaming? No, I remember waking and feeling the sweat on my body. It felt so real... I had to hope the world would stop spinning and that the lights would finally end. Spinning... I'm spinning... I don't remember spinning. No the world is still but throwing me around. I have to be dreaming, I have to still be dreaming.

I'm small again, a little boy in my bedroom tucked in some covers. They're tight, holding me down and pinning me there. No, the bed is in camp. I'm still small. Remie's in a chair with her story book. Her eyes... they're as black as coal. They're empty, soulless, something I've never known her to be. Why can't I get out of these damn sheets!? I struggle against the thread, feeling some tears well in my eyes. I'm a boy again, of course I would cry at a time like this. I'm scared, terrified. I was never in the games. It was all just a dream and now I'm back in reality. With the real demon. My sister... And she opens the book. She smiles. Her teeth... they're so sharp...

“Would you like to hear a story Damion?”

Bury it, I won't let you bury it
I won't let you smother it
I won't let you murder it
Our time is running out

I scream. As loud as I can. She's not my sister, no where near being her. Her voice is in three different pitches, as though someone were messing with those vocals of hers. Her hair is moving on its own, as though reaching out toward me. And those eyes, those coal eyes, don't reflect any emotion. I can't understand her. I want to. No, this can't be happening! It's not happening! I cry out for help from Remie, for Remie, I want her to save me from herself. And all she does is keep reading and reading, more and more, those words are getting scarier by the moment.

“Remie, please, help me! I can hear my own voice, still an teenager. Not a child. I've grown. This isn't real, it can't be real.

I break from my bindings and give out a loud yell, feeling my regular form come back to me. Whatever this nightmare is, I need to kill it before it does anything else to me. And I'll be damned if it does something. I feel the spear tight in my hand, Dory still waiting to be quenched. Don't worry little weapon of mind, we'll rid of these nightmares so they won't be bothering us anymore. And then we'll be back with Remie, back with the real sister. I raise the spear and lunge out.

[dice=4]
[Phyllis Roman]

[Damion lashes out with Dory]
[dice=200+3000]
[Shallow Cut in Neck - 4.0]

I hit her, I hit the demon that has been following me! Won't you forgive me Remie, won't you just let me live this once? Stop the nightmare, please? I don't want to have to fight you Remie, I just want your story to end. Won't you stop reading your story Remie?

won't you?
Won't You?
WoN't YoU?
WON'T YOU!?

[/blockquote][/justify][/size][rand=756100714326908322081032758736918557307880904852504809572740679102]

[mcmarti99]

Bad dreams, bad dreams... the hand has found me. I have to protect myself, and my child, and Riker. I can't let him lay a finger on anyone I cherish now. I'll never fear him again, not after all of this. I'll just have to kill him!

[dice=4]
[Phyllis Roman]

[Attacks the Hand]
[dice=200+3000]
[Stabbed in Calf - 8.5]

[/justify][/blockquote][rand=6761475848034024462202080758288588569858367554849426229896489531]

[aquatic mammalian wh0re]

No, they're all here, looking at me and wanting revenge for what I'd done to them. All the passed mistakes, all the problems I made. I have to defend Phyllis from them, and save myself. None of this can be real... can it?

[dice=4]
[Riker Mills]

[Attacks at visions]
[dice=200+2000]
[Shallow Cut on Chest - 4.0]

[/justify][/blockquote][rand=91214188322911449730929068085821074685907306593525781000181688563]

[arx!!]

۵ ۵ ۵ ۵ ۵

The world's aglow as more storms bloom
Sometimes rain is all I need
Heavy falling water with a light breeze
To blow away my troubles

I swing and miss miserably. But instead of not hearing anything but whooshing air, I hear a wretched screech ring in my ears. I fall to the ground, mud squelching beneath me. Except, I can't even feel the mud - I can't feel my entire lefty side. I collapse in the mud, trying to figure out why all the lotus flowers are dancing around me. I missed the memo that I was invited to a dance party. But the music around me isn't very good. An ensemble of screeching and laughter isn't really my thing. Somehow I manage to get to my feet, grumbling. I blink, and blink, and blink some more, but the flowers keep dancing and the music keeps playing and the colors that I see keep tasting like jello. Damn, is this party tasty or what?

A pair of claws digs deep into my shoulder and I scream. It's Theseus again. I try to get away but the sting of the claws forces me to my knees. I paw at his hand but only waves of glitter explode from his knuckles when I touch him. What is happening to me? He forces me to the ground, pushing my cheek into the mud which tickles me so much that I almost laugh. The lotus flowers keep dancing around me, twirling and jumping to some unheard rhythm. I scream again when I still can't get up. The blood from Theseus' bloody throat is dripping onto my back. Tears stream down my face - what? Why am I crying when all the colors taste like jello? I feel myself roll over, pinned down - really for no reason because I don't think I could move anyways - blood dripping onto my face and throat. The sky above hurts to look at. But Theseus is even creepier so I force myself to look into the sky. I can taste the ashes that falls from the sky - where the angels are burning.

"Ever wonder if a sweet, caring, generous guy like me could be like your father?" All my senses struggle back in that very instant when he whispers in my ear. "Stop! No, no, please! No!!" I'm sobbing now, and my voice sounds like it did when I was 5 years old. The mixture of blood on my face and ashes falling from the sky and flowers dancing around me and everything tasting like jello is too overwhelming. "Answer me!" His voice booms and more blood spatters away from the slash in his throat. Where his hands hold me down and his legs touch mine I see glitter falling. Yes, I've wondered."No."

Liesss." His voice hisses in my ear, like the wind on a cold night that rattles your window, or a snake that decides he would really like another mouse to eat. "And I'm pleased to inform you, that the answer to your question - is yes." I feel myself start to shake and I feel the tip of his tongue creeping it's way up my throat, leaving a trail of agonizing pain that makes me screech.

I don't know where it came from but suddenly a weapon is in my hand and I'm hitting Theseus so hard that I nearly hit myself in the process. Tears are pouring down my face and sobs are coming out of me when I finally manage to scramble free. I still sound like I did when I was only 5. Theseus stands back up after a bout of laughter on the ground and smiles.

"Like it rough, don't you? Can't take love any other way. That why you don't love Rio? Cause he's not like your father?"

Stop, stop, stop.

Attacks Evil Theseus with Cat o' Nine Tails (flail)
[dice=200+12000]
{Broken Right Hand -- 6.0 damage}

[dice=4]
{Phyllis Roman}

For a minute, or a year
And instead I can imagine
The good things that are true
And as I'm dancing there alone
I dream that I'm with you

۵ ۵ ۵ ۵ ۵

[rand=4697296241201579557368932979725260378667999027654824328628781923783]

[SinInChaos]

I am your Demon
Hear me Roar

[/color][/size][/font]

Remie had stumbled back after I attacked her, and her eyes were changing back from that bad coal color to a new one. She was silent again, mute, as though she were looking for something out in the wilds. She was pointing, I didn't understand at what, because there was nothing there. There was nobody there. What the hell are you pointing at Remie!? My head tilts to the right and my hair falls over my face. The id is speaking once again. He wishes for me to just abandon her and does as I please, especially since the nightmare is over. Maybe I'll hunt them down, those who left me out here alone. I told them they would get no where without me. And they knew that. So why would they not be here anymore. It made no sense!

“You best start making sense Remie...” I shake my head, motioning toward the spear while looking at her. “I don't want to have to hurt you again.”

My head centers, the ego tries to hear both sides of the mind. What will we do with her? Why is she so scared? What could be scaring Remie so bad? She wasn't wrong in finding this new girl for us, and she wasn't wrong in guiding me this far. Why was she being so frightening? Something was wrong. This was a nightmare but worse. What was going on? Remie can't say a thing though, without her voice But the world is dark. Maybe there is something out there that I can't see. Something that is still haunting me in this nightmare. And it's still affecting my behavior, making me look mad. No, I am mad. I'm the maddest of them all. My head falls back to the id, and I let it command my every action from here on out.

Id pulls the tip of the spear to his mouth and licks it, tasting the fresh blood on the blade now. I can tell it gives me fury, and more will to drive against the forces around me. Id knows what he can do as well, and how to get the enemies to fear him. How to make the masses bow at his feet in fear. Yes, Id knew it all He was the chaos within me. And id could see what I could not, for off in the distance, where Remie was pointing, three boys were heading our way. Not just any boys either. I can remember them like it was yesterday. Yes, just from the movie. Id reminds me. It's the boy from District Ten. This is the one who killed Remie, and now he was coming for her again.

Why were there three?
Does it really matter?

Our time is running out
Our time is running out
You can't push it underground
You can't stop it screaming out

I raise my weapon in offense to him, look at each of them as they slowly head to Remie, each with different weapons. A flail. A knife. A spear. He always had a spear. He had that the day he attacked Remie. He would be the one that would strike her down. How smart id was. So then, if I got rid of him, I would be rid of the problems that were happenings with Remie. She wouldn't have to be afraid anymore. I would just take her worry and end it. That's what she wants anyways. For all of this to end for you little Damion. Id knows what Remie wants.

[dice=4]
[Phyllis Roman]

[Damion lashes out with Dory]
[dice=200+3000]
[Deep Gash on Right Arm - 8.0]

The Dory hits him in the arm, and I know it's enough for he's stopped moving. But then again, the boy from District Ten seems to be changing. His features are becoming something else. I can actually recognize him as someone else. Someone I know from here, in the arena. Here and now. My head lifts up and toward the left, the childish tears of superego welling up. No, I didn't... It wasn't me... I'm a good boy! Remie has grabbed my arm and is trying to pull me away, pull away this mass of hysteria and balling, childish being. I have just killed Phyllis Roman. Phyllis... who would follow me to the ends of the earth. Phyllis who was so sure that I would protect her. Only I have ended her life here. With my own hands. These stupid hands I let id use. Superego can't handle this. This isn't what he wanted. He was hoping for something bigger and better. For them to make it farther. They were better than the career's... weren't they?

I grab her, looking into those empty eyes. “Phyllis... Phyllis please say something... sister says something is wrong with you...”

I know what's wrong
The ego just won't allow it

And I know who will suffer the most from this... Riker. Riker was the one who was supposed to love her and care for her. The whole ploy for the television. But no one would tune away from this. They would watch it over and over again. The id is whispering sweet tidings in my ear. They'll have it on record. So that you can watch Phyllis die again and again and again... No! This isn't what I wanted at all. The glory of the games, the pain of everyone else. Superego's tears are too hard to contain. The world was going to remember me for doing what I wanted when I wanted. Now the Gamemarkers were just toying with us, I was sure, and somehow orchestrated all of this. All of this horrible... horrible downfall. Our friendship, our role in the world, it was slowly fading.

I tried to give you up
But I'm addicted

Remie would have stopped me.
She was trying to stop me.

Now that you know I'm trapped

I remember her tugging on me to let go, but I'm not done yet, no. She deserves more than what has happened to her, despite those weak emotions of hers. Phyllis was the better of us, the one who fought for her child and could control that rage. I could just imagine her now after all of this, instead I'm the one who was slain by her spear, and she would still smile. For she was much stronger than me. I depended on others. Like Remie. Like id. Like superego. They were the ones I needed but instead she was dead when she could depend on herself. I have to make it look real though, don't I? They have to see me as the monster I am. The world has to understand me. I have to show that I am still me and not these other people.

I bend down to Phyllis, picking up three things that I will not be keeping for they are not mine to keep. I don't wish for a remembrance of this moment. I grab her water bottle, something simple and plain. I grab her laurel, those stupid things that the Navy girl has on her. And I finish with her token, her district's token. These are all the things that represent Phyllis and who she was, right? That's right, so says superego. and the person who needs them is Riker. I walk to him, show no emotion. This isn't the time or place. I can let these things ride on in District Ten. Back where I may be human.

“You... need these,” I say, keeping my voice as steady as possible. “I-I don't know how close you two got, and I don't gi-gi-give a horse's ass, but these should be yours.

I break away from him. In a few hours, I will be strong again. I'm sure. And I walk away to leave him with her. He will understand, right? I wasn't the only one in a nightmare, was I? This only means that things are getting worse by the minute. These emotions, the ones that Lydie gave me. They're evolving. Where are they coming from?

I turn to see Remie and Phyllis standing together, smiling toward me. She will haunt me from this day on, won't she?

[Puts on magical sandals]
[Takes Phyllis' Water Bottle]
[Gives Bottle to Riker]
[Will edit to make it rather dramatic]

[/blockquote][/justify][/size][rand=59988921116778686706382011280269488048026939120302792740071069788]

[aquatic mammalian wh0re]

D26234
7C5421
B77F6E
ACAB64
DCC73D

Why are they here? How did all these people end up in the arena? I thought all I had to fear was crazy tributes and the occasional bloodthirsty mutt, but this is unheard of. All the people I’ve hurt in my life – the girls, my family, even old friends – they haunt me. I thought I awoke from my nightmare… Why do they continue to attack me, hurt me, seek revenge? I thought being reaped was my punishment. Isn’t it a punishment enough? Maybe I deserve it. Maybe I’m going crazy. I shut my eyes and try to make it go away. This isn’t what I was expecting. I couldn’t have come this far to be driven crazy by a bunch of people who shouldn’t even be here.

I’m pulled away from my thoughts by a scream, muffled by the words of the hauntings. My eyes fly open and I look around frantically for the source of the scream. Wait, there’s another one – it can’t be her. Please don’t let it be her. My eyes fall on Phyllis. Poor, helpless Phyllis, covered head to toe in dark, thick blood. I stare in disbelief as she falls to her knees, crumples onto the ground, surely being consumed by darkness. It’s a dream, Riker. It has to be. My brain can’t tell though – I can’t distinguish reality from fantasy. My breath comes in shaky, shuddering sobs as I look to the people of my past. Their eyes drill holes in my skull, bringing up memories I can’t handle. Most prominent is the memory of the girl I raped. She stares at me vengefully, as if laughing at my pain. What was I thinking? I didn’t deserve Phyllis. Not after what I’ve done. This was Fate’s cruel way of returning the pain I’ve inflicted. I fall for Phyllis, and one of us has to die.

Suddenly, the only person I see is the girl, my victim, and she fades from view, the image of her smirk engraved into my eyes. I know that this is real now. My brain wasn’t deceiving me, or else I wouldn’t be staring at Phyllis right now.

I hear myself scream her name, as if I’m listening to myself from a distance. The tiny glowing lights of the nymphs that have clouded her since Day 2 have begun to fade, die with her. I force myself to crawl to her limp form. There is no containing the tears that pour from my eyes. I find myself lifting her head and placing it in my lap. I taste salt, but whether it’s tears or blood, I don’t know. Sobs continue to rack my body, and all I wish is to be dead, instead of Phyllis. I deserve to die, not her.

My mind brings me back to a memory that, although distant, I will never forget.

“Dad, dad!” I cried, my young voice high and playful. “I found a mouse, look!” Even then, my love of animals was alive. I showed my father the small field mouse, cooped up nicely in my hands. I looked up at him and smiled, but all I received in return was a disgusted frown, one that I didn’t understand. “What’s wrong? Don’t you like him? He doesn’t bite, I promise.”

“Don’t make a promise you can’t keep, son,” he told me in a gruff voice. I didn’t understand. My mouse didn’t bite, really. He was nice and small and warm and he fit perfectly into my pocket. “Come outside,” my father told me.

Outside the house circled a hawk, strong and mighty, and my eyes lit up at my first sight of it. As if sensing my amazement, it flew down and landed on the roof of our house. “Wow, it’s so--”

“Riker, stay focused. Forget about animals for once. Now, put the mouse down and let it go back home. And don’t even think about talking back.” Silently, I placed the little animal on the porch, and it scurried off towards the woods. I wondered why it left me. I thought the little guy liked being my pet. Before I had a chance to ask my dad about it, a blur of reddish feathers darted from above me and scooped up the mouse.

“My mouse!” I cried in horror. “Why did that dumb bird eat it?” Tears had begun to well up behind my eyes.

My father looked at me disapprovingly. “Everything dies sometime, Riker. It’s the natural way of things.”

I stroke Phyllis’s hair gently. “It’ll be okay, dear. I’ll join you soon, I promise,” I whisper to her. This promise, I will keep. There’s no point in breaking it. “I can die too, you know. You’ll see. Then we can be together forever.” I lean down and gently kiss her forehead, and stand up. Turning my back, I let one more tear fall, and I wipe my eyes. I know that this is the only other option. Either one of us lives, or we both die, together. And even though I’m still alive now, soon we’ll be in each other’s arms once more. Surely I must deserve at least that. I’ve had enough pain for one lifetime.

Slowly, I turn to Damion. I know what he did, and somehow I don’t hate him for it. He gives me her items – her token, a water bottle, and her laurel. It takes everything I have not to sob even more. Removing my laurel, I place hers gently on my head, and hold her token close to my heart. I’ll remember you, Phyllis. And I’ll see you soon. The Games have already done enough, and death is the only escape. I’m happy for her, then. She escaped. It wasn’t a painless escape, but now it’s over, and she didn’t get the worst of it. I did. But my time will come, like my father insists, and I will make it back to her. “I promise.”

And this is a promise I plan on keeping.

[flees]
[uses first aid on self]

[arx!!]

۵ ۵ ۵ ۵ ۵

The world's aglow as more storms bloom
Sometimes rain is all I need
Heavy falling water with a light breeze
To blow away my troubles

All I have to do is blink again and everything goes away. No more raining ashes, no more dancing flowers, no more tasty jello, no more tickly mud. And no more Theseus - just a mangled and dying Phyllis. I rub my eyes, trying to rid my eyes of the blurry figures in front of me. But everything in my line of vision is shifting and blurring into one giant mass of red and white and pink and blue. I stumble over my own feet and fall to the ground, cradling my head in my arms and clutching my knees tight to my body. I feel tears on my cheeks. What the hell is going on? I squeeze my eyes shut, thinking maybe the darkness will help me concentrate, but I am greeted only by horrors - my father sneers at me, Theseus laughs at me - I open my eyes and stare at my palms instead. But I can still see blood in the creases of my hand, somehow it has soaked deep into my flesh, stained my hands forever. Everything reminds me of death and blood and horrible things I have done. Is nowhere safe from this hell?

I stare off into the distance, my gaze bouncing from one flower to the next. Then my eyes catch on something. Something small, running alongside the ponds that hold the flowers. Curly brown fronds roll down her back, a tiny yellow bow holding her bangs out of her eyes. Her dress is a buttercup yellow, dotted with pink flowers, and tied in the back with a giant white bow. I smile. Her outfit says she picked it out - not her mother. She is running away from me, but I can still hear her giggling. She glances over her shoulder, smiling, her lips stained with the remains of a popsicle. I watch as she glances over her shoulder, watching, looking for someone. Looking right at me. She turns and stops, her head cocked at an angle, a question written on her face. Aren't you coming? I slowly get to my feet, the tight ball I have made myself into unfurling. The smile returns to her face and she runs towards me, reaching for my hand. She slips her hand into mine looking up at me with big brown eyes. Then she tugs at my hand and I have no choice but to follow her.

We walk for awhile, 3 of her steps adding up to about one of mine, until she stops and stoops in front of a a pond and reaches for a flower. It's blue and when she hands it to me I remember the meaning of the blue. Rebirth. She looks up at me, her brown eyes waiting. "It's beautiful. I love it." She smiles and nods at me, then goes back to sticking her hands in the muddy water, swirling the pond until it glitters. I hold the flower to my face, the blue petals rubbing against my nose. It could smell like a rose if I wanted it too. I smell home in this flower. The queen smells her lost kingdom. I feel a small hand curl onto part of my dress, pulling on it. I pull the flower away from my face, looking down on the little girl. She motions for me to come closer, so I get on my knees. Her lips move, but I don't hear her, so I lean closer. Then she plants a tiny kiss on my cheek and blinks at me. I smile at her, brushing a piece of hair out of her face and behind her ear. I sit back on my heels while she continues to blink big, brown orbs at me her hands behind her back, swaying her hips back and forth. "What's your name?"

"Naveen."

I blink again and see it. I know that dress, that bow, that love for popsicles, the giggling, that curly brown hair, the eyes. They're mine.

"Pretty name." Then she leans in, her hand pulling on my shoulder, and whispers in my ear. "I love you." And suddenly her arms are curled around my neck, her hair in my face. She smells like home. I smell like home. I set the blue flower on the ground and let my arms find their way around her frail body and I hold her just as tightly as she holds me. "I love you, too." A few tears roll down my cheeks and she pulls away from me, wiping away the tears. "Sometimes I cry, too. But you know what I do when I'm sad?" I smile at her, letting a chuckle escape me. Then I nod.

"I do. You dream of flying to away to heaven."

I hear voices over my shoulder and turn away for just a moment to look, and when I turn back only the blue flower lays at my knees. I pick it up, twirling it's stem between my fingers. How can something so sweet and innocent turn into such a monster? I put the stem into behind my ear, the flower bursting at the side of my face. Then I stand, look into the sky, spread my arms out, and pretend to fly.

If she can fly, why can't I?

[Flees]
[Collects 3 bundles of medicinal herbs]
[Flys away to heaven <3 but not really </3]

For a minute, or a year
And instead I can imagine
The good things that are true
And as I'm dancing there alone
I dream that I'm with you

۵ ۵ ۵ ۵ ۵

[SinInChaos]

Blah blah blah,
Gotta flee before the days done!
Damion has run off now!

[Uses first aid on Riker]
[Gathers 3 bundles of Medicinal herbs]
[Uses one on Damion for -1 damage]
[Damion flees]

[/blockquote][/justify][/color]