End of the Line [NR. Open]

Heat... acid... energies boiling away at his flesh...

Like home.. what was left; when he woke up, before he forced himself to move away; find something less lethal. He could survive this; for a while; but the pain... glorious pain. The pain he deserved. No one would find him here; not without trying. Not many could come here; he was sure of that. Those damn angelic super-beings could find him there; that was a given. Maybe they'd be fucking satisfied by this?

Why did he even care?

You brought it on yourself. You gave in.

What else was there? His fight... it was long gone by even then. He couldn't fight; he couldn't ignore the facts. It was his fault she was injured. His fault he wasn't there. He'd failed; again.

He'd failed.

Failed.

FAILED.

Again...

Again...

Why did it happen again...?

Everything he'd ever loved. Everything he'd ever cared about... by his hand, it was lost. His sire and grandsire had been right... it was not his place in the world to have. It was his place to go without; so that those who deserved could. He'd been deluded; he'd stepped outside his stature. He would not do so again.

I just wanted... to be happy with them... was that too much to ask...?

Then why didn't you fight?

Fight... so tired... no fight left...

You fight for what you want. You fight for what is yours. This is the truth of the world. You know this.

Fight... why does it always have to be a fight... why can I not find peace...

Soldiers do not find peace. A soldier fights!

Grandsire I... my time has ended... long ago did it end... I am no soldier anymore.

You will always be a soldier, boy. That can never change.

I refuse...

Then you deserve to die.

As it is wished... as I deserve.

You are a coward, boy. You where always a coward. No wonder you always fail. Only a coward would turn on their own family like that.

I cannot... not against that... they are better off without me.

So long as you believe that; then it is true.

A roar; lost in the hellish air; the earth itself cried louder then he. It didn't matter; he didn't care. He was going to die here. He was going to end it. Without her; he couldn't function; he would be nothing but a burden, a liability. He was nothing but trash. They deserved better; they always had.

A red blur sped through the black burnt skies above Ground Zero, formerly known as New Vegas. This harsh, unforgiving wasteland was brought about from a blast of that cannon always carried around by Alec, called the "Devil Gun." Someone really had to piss Alec off to make him used such a devastating device. Ghost tried at all times to stay on his good side.

That's why when Alec asked Ghost to come find Flynn and try talking to him before he did something insane, he jumped up and set about the request immediately. Flynn took a while of flying around and scanning everything and everywhere in this molten hell to find, but eventually, Ghost did find him.

Ghost wondered if Flynn had even noticed the black haired man with the large red cape approaching him, wondered if he noticed him hovering there with his arms folded several feet above as he roared.

"So hmm," Ghost said, one of the few beings in existence that could survive such a nasty place as this. "You... really gonna go find a hole to go crawl in and just die, man? Or like, cannon ball into one of these magma pools or something? You don't really wanna go out like this do you man?"

A thud; the large form of the tiger falling onto a searing hot pile of barely cooled volcanic rock. It was soft under him; almost like thick mud a day after a summer storm. Hot enough to burn the fur right off his body.

Eyes flicked around wildly; his body was barely functioning; his mind locked within itself. A wheeze; a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth; frothy and blackened from the damage of the area itself; his own body falling apart.

Noise? A voice, maybe? Familiar... or not... no. He didn't know it.

He didn't know himself; anymore.

Was it real... was it a trick... the area was so warped... his mind so broken... real... what was real...?

Words now; his own; hissed and thick and growled. Tones; words buried in coughs. In this form; it was pointless to speak. Pointless to respond; no one but her spoke his language anymore; his mind was unreadable in the best of times.

Was it worth it...?

Why not humor the madness...

To his feet he tried; failed; and tried again; finally settling with just rolling over and searing more of his fur and flesh. Glorious pain... sweet pain... repentance...

To shift; he forced himself; tiger and man and all that he was and was not. His illusion of civility. His illusion of being more then a beast.


"Why not... I cannot protect anymore... out of time; beyond my place..."

More blood; coughed into the air and back onto his face.

"Your people; you have no knowledge. You do not understand; anything. My kind; we are not of your world; not of your understanding. I have been a dead man walking for longer then most of human civilization. Who are you; who are ANY of you to claim to understand why!?"

"I am a murderer. I am genocide! My hand, my obedience; my very existence... I ended them. I ended them because I was too weak to stop it."

"She died because I was too old. Too weak. So very tired..."

His arm was peeled away from the rock; flesh sticking and torn from bone; only a thin layer of flesh left when it was tossed over his eyes; a human gesture he'd picked up fairly recently.

"I cannot claim to protect my kin; not in the face of the super powered being they call family. I am not of yours. I am mortal; I am old. My skills? My skill are useful; yes. How can I use them if I cannot even know they are needed!? I am weak; I am handicapped in this world of psychics and monsters."

And then, a spark of rage; the insanity's whims ever changing.

"Must I stand by their side at all moment of the day and night!? Is Demi not fully grown, an accomplished warrior in her own right!? If I had known.... if I had a WAY to know... Of course I would have been there... an arrow.. a blade... my own FANGS... something. Anything..."

Blood red eye; blood tears... all he could do; he was blinded by heat; the radiation; his own death approaching and failing to claim him; his eyeballs might as well have been cooked jell-o for all they worked anymore; his sonar useless static here.

"How can I compete? How can I protect? How can I do anything; compared to them. To any of you. I am just an old tiger that wanted more then he was allowed. I wanted to live out the rest of my life in peace. What more must I do to be allowed peace? What more must I do to earn a family; to earn anything worth keeping? Better to die far away from the eyes of my child then die at the hands of her family because I was too incompetent in my old age to do... anything."

"And really... what would it matter. I was dying already. Mad, already. We do not survive the loss of mates. We die with them; it is the curse of our bonding. If not for Nanalie; I would have ceased to live the moment Demi did. Nanalie was enough to keep me... functioning; on some level; for a short time. I am already dead. She cannot remember me; without those memories; the bond cannot reform; and I will die the painful death I should have all those ages ago; the death I should have shared with my people."

More blood; more screams. The pain, so much pain...

"If I could protect them, I would return. I would return and die by the damned powers your friends and allies posses while fighting for them back. What good... what good is it to die in front of them. To scar my daughter with the death of BOTH parents like that!?"

Ghost floated there, listening to him, watching him attempt to cook himself alive. Flynn was mad, that was good. That anger could be turned into energy, into motivation. Ghost didn't want to float here and watch Flynn barbecue himself, torturing himself, killing himself, despite what Alec had told him back in that office. He wasn't going to just watch this.

Flynn would suddenly find himself levitating up away from the ground, and the hotness underneath him. if he looked, he would notice that all of the damage being caused to him would begin to reverse. His wounds would start healing and closing themselves just the same as someone pressing a rewind button.

Telekinesis:

Biological Manipulation:

"Flynn, listen... I don't think i've ever seen someone give up as fast as you did," said Ghost, the process of using his mind to lift Flynn into the air and repair his body a very easy task for one such as he. "But I didn't come here to rag on you. All of us have made mistakes and done things in the past that we regret. All of us fucked up one way or another, but that's part of being alive. We make mistakes, we learn from them."

Ghost adjusted his goggles. "You say you're too old to do anything anymore... but really Flynn, that's all in your mind. Darkman, Alec's father... Have you ever met him before? Alec told me that guy is older than all of us put together, almost as old as time itself. He built that big city with his bare hands from the ground up, and he's still around here, today, right now. If you ever saw him? You'd have no idea he was so old..."

Ghost even caused Flynn's clothes to repair itself. "Alec was only trying to get a rise out of you, Flynn," Ghost said, moving a little closer. "He wasn't going to shoot you, and he never intended on taking your family away from you. He wanted to see if you cared, to see if you would stand against him for your family. Come on man, you can't tell me somewhere deep down you wanted to kick Alec in his mouth and go FUCK YOU, THAT'S MY FAMILY!...That's what he wanted. Maxi? He didn't leave like you, it's what he did, he stood up to Alec. Because he did, Demi remembered who he was."

"Remember what I told you? The chances of Demi's memory coming back are little to none. I never said Demi would NEVER get her memory back. As long as there's a LITTLE chance that she'll remember you, that should be enough, right? And what about little Nanalie? Have you thought about what she must be going through? Stuff like this happening to kids her age, this is the kinda stuff that creates super villains and whatnot. Think about it, what if she goes off someday and comes back as our greatest enemy? What if we can't stop her?... You know full well the things that girl can do, she might come back one day and kill us all, and it could all stem from you walking out like you did without a fight."

Ghost sighed. He was starting to talk too much, something he tried to avoid. Ghost could only hope that his words were getting through to Flynn. There was still a chance for him to be one with his family again. It was a small chance, but small was better than no chance. "Flynn, listen to me bro... Alec, the way he was acting, it was all part of a plan he made... he has a bad temper, but in the long run he meant well. What he did, it worked on Maxi, and it caused a reaction in Demi. Had you stuck around, i'm not sure but i'm at least 90% positive that Demi would have remembered you too. There's still a chance man, don't go out like this, here, in this oven."

Ghost looked up a while, thinking. "...Alec once fought a monster that called itself Lord Kinoki for 5 years. Alec was totally outmatched every time he went against that thing, and got his ass kicked every time. Many times, Alec got beaten within an inch of his life, and was once pulverized so severely that one of his arms and legs fell off.

"But Alec got up and kept fighting every time he was knocked down. And you know what happened at the end of those 5 years? He finally kicked Kinoki's ass and killed him with one attack. (True Story) ...He was able to do this because he NEVER. GAVE. UP. When shit looked the worse and everyone threw in the towel, Kane stayed in the ring. Took out entire armies by himself... We could all learn from his example. Don't go out like this, Flynn... You're not as old as you're making yourself out to be."

Air... the pain was fading... why? He'd retreated into his own mind again; backed away from what he didn't want to face anymore. More words... talk of battles and ages and people he'd never met. Useless words; they met nothing without context; without experience and knowledge. Words could be faked; stories expanded and broken and meanings warped.

Old as time? Another slap.

5 years... one monster... a single attack? More proof.

Armies decimated... that he understood. In his prime; he was a decimater of armies; a single arrow and a single rune was the death of hundreds... thousands. Now... he was nothing.

"You speak of glory and power. You speak of things I cannot have; things I cannot begin to compare to."

Why must I never be good enough!?

"You want a; how was it said... a 'rise?' out of me? You expect anger; you expect fight out of a dying creature half mad with grief and already dead inside?"

You expect me to win against my own nature!?

"I left to save her... because I knew... I knew that I cannot hope to win in those fights. For me to know, how? I know them not; only through stories and tales; short meetings with little said. I ran because my instincts screamed flee; flee and live long enough to regret that was all I could do. No weapons. No armor. No powers."

"I. Am. Nothing."

"I was always nothing."

A new cry; this one stronger for the healing he didn't want; couldn't stop; the healing that outpaced his own destruction. A new roar; anger and pain and eons of guilt laid to bare.

"Do I want to die!? I am too cowardly to die! If I was not; we would not be here; none of this would have happened because there would have been no way. Nanalie wouldn't be suffering because she wouldn't exist. I wouldn't still exist. I would be a memory in the winds of a forgotten race that lost itself in it's own history."

Rest... why can't I rest...? So tired... so very tired...

"I thought I had earned my peace. I thought I was finally... FINALLY... deserving of something... anything... a measure of happiness."

"My weakness proves otherwise."

"You say his plans? He just wanted to see? So when I raise a blade to his throat!? When I snarl and leap and he snaps my neck without even trying!? What angel would waste power on a lowly tiger?!"

"I am not of your people. I am not.... anything. Not anymore."

"Do you wish to see the failure of an old beast? The weakness brought to bare?"

In his hand now; a rune flashed; the last of his energy; a single blade summoned. The dark glass resonated with this place; it sensed a place so much like the home it was forged from. It was happy; here.

"Once... I could end a civilization with nothing more then this single blade. Once, I was strong. Once, I was feared. The curse of the warrior; to outlive his prime and fall into uselessness."

The blade flashed from existence; returned to where his gear was stored, the hidden rune burned so deeply into his body it could never be removed; the source of what little power he'd ever had. "My runes; my skills as an archer, a sniper; the blades I carry. What good. What use. I cannot sense danger. I cannot protect them. He wishes to see me fight!? Then he wishes to see me dead. I will fall to nothing but a sneeze from being as powerful as your people; your family and your friends. All of them. He wished me to fight, to show anger... a challenge issued is my only choice. To face him in a fight. A fight I will lose without question; because I cannot end it without winning or forfeiting my life. The laws of my kind; built into my very biology. I will die no matter what. It is destined. It is unavoidable. Here. In that damn tower. In a few years when my heart finally gives out. What does it matter, truly?"

Ghost moved his goggles to rub his eyes. He didn't really feel like getting into a long lecture with Flynn. Ghost wished he could just show Flynn what happened in his mind, but there was something that didn't let him do this.

"You want a; how was it said... a 'rise?' out of me? You expect anger; you expect fight out of a dying creature half mad with grief and already dead inside?"

"Yeah... because a fight from those people are usually the worst fights a person can get into."

"I left to save her... because I knew... I knew that I cannot hope to win in those fights. For me to know, how? I know them not; only through stories and tales; short meetings with little said. I ran because my instincts screamed flee; flee and live long enough to regret that was all I could do. No weapons. No armor. No powers."

"I. Am. Nothing."

"I was always nothing."

"You say his plans? He just wanted to see? So when I raise a blade to his throat!? When I snarl and leap and he snaps my neck without even trying!? What angel would waste power on a lowly tiger?!"

Ghost just closed his eyes. The sound of the man admitting his defeat, admitting his weakness, it was starting to make Ghost mad. He wanted to grab Flynn and shake him out of that funk he was in. "Even knowing you'd lose, knowing all of the odds are against you, knowing you'd stand no chance, sometimes you have to stand up anyway. But had you attacked, nothing would have happened. Alec just wanted to GET you that mad, to see if he could cause that from you. I'd rather die standing up facing it head on than on my knees or my face, while running away. If Kane pointed a shotgun at me and said he was taking MY daughter? Then fuck him and that gun, he'd have to shoot me."

"If you were really nothing Flynn, do you really think Demi would have wasted the time with you? You think she woulda gave birth to your kid? If you really want to die, that's your own personal choice, but before you do, at the very least, try to make your family right again. You can stay here and keep calling yourself a failure and beating yourself down, or you can stop thinking about yourself and focus on your little girl. She's all that matters right now, all that should matter. Tell me Flynn... Would you rather die, here, burning to death in this shit hole of a place... or at home, warm in your bed, surrounded by your loved ones? Before you start beating on yourself again, think about it."

Ghost wasn't going to drag this out much farther. He no longer wanted to be here in this place; this was the end of the world now.

Why did it have to be so damn impossible to make these creatures understand? In that moment; for just an instant; he missed his people with all he had left to give; the ache he'd felt every moment of his life since that day it all ended reaching a supreme level and then shattering... breaking into shards of glass that rained death upon the last of his mind. There was nothing left; in those moments; an empty shell, and empty carcass of a beast with nothing left.

And finally... A spark.

The last tiny spark.

The spark that kept him from dying once already. Twice; already. Two sparks now; he could see it finally. One... ancient and familiar in ways to painful for his mind to begin to grasp. The other; his flesh, his blood; all he had left until if she remembered.

Why where there two?

How could there be two?

Was this the end... was that spark; that light... the gates to the Forever Planes... to the final rest and to the place his people found redemption?

Then why did he still hurt?

He still burned... he still bled. He wasn't dead... still... not dead; still alive... still something.

He would leave the hell zones... but not go back. Not just yet. He... he had to know what was going on.

"Leave me be..." Soft words; whispered, hoarse from screams and pain. "I will find my own way back. I cannot... not yet. Something lost... something found... must be found..."

The second spark... the ancient light... he had to know...

"I cannot face them before this... do you understand that. Can you even understand that. I must... I must find it again... what was lost. Until then.. I am not fit to see them. Not fit to fix anything. Tell your friend; your master in his tower or whatever he is to you... I have something I must do... if I return to the city but not approach the tower; that is why. If I can do this... he will get his anger. He will see the fury of the tiger. But not before; not until then."

It must be done...

"Leave me!"

He'd began to feel like his words were being wasted in this super hot air. There was no getting through to Flynn, and he was lost... Lost forever within this hellish place, in which he would most likely cook himself in one of the many endless pools of lava...

But then there was...something. Ghost couldn't read his mind to see exactly what it was, but something must have penetrated Flynn's wall. Ghost didn't want to leave here with no progress, so to see that maybe he'd finally made some, and possibly caused Flynn to snap back to normal, this caused him to grin. He said there was something else he had to do before he came back... There was the chance that it was bullshit, and he was trying to get Ghost to leave so he could finish offing himself. But, he'd do as he asked, and hope that Flynn didn't just dive into one of these magma pools once he was gone.

Ghost caused a section of the Earth to rise up beneath Flynn, and he'd place him atop of it so that he didn't go back to being burned. Before he'd fly off and head back to the comfort of Edge City and Darkman Tower, Ghost said one final thing to Flynn. He didn't know if it would do anything, change anything, or if he was just wasting his breath, but it was something he saw in a movie once, and figured Flynn had to hear it.

Earth Manipulation:

"Old tigers, sensing the end, are usually at their most fierce."

And then he was gone..

[Exit]

"Old tigers, sensing the end, are usually at their most fierce."

There was something to that; maybe. For some, anyway. Whether he had enough left to find his power again... only time would tell. Time he wasn't even sure he had. Whether his age, or his body falling apart... either could claim him first.

But for now... to focus. His mind was... mostly clear; the madness was at bay for now; somehow. His body felt less destroyed, the breakdown held off and slowed. Something had bought him some kind of time; even if just a few hours or so.

He needed to get out of this hell zone. Even if his body wasn't falling apart as badly... he couldn't handle this level of lethal for very long; not without having set up preparations before entering. A sign of how far gone he had been... to willingly walk into a place like this without even his armors on; no rune active. Pathetic.

Back to tiger... more protection; more resistances; and his paw pads could handle the heat of the semi-molten earth. A walk; labored and slow; damage was reversed, but he could barely breath this air; he'd need to take it slow at first. Move out of the worst zones; move until he could breath and then run, run for safety and towards the spark of life that confused him so.

-exit-