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Ember

"I'll take your breath away if you're not careful."

0 · 2,610 views · located in Sam's Puzzle

a character in “The Human Puzzle”, as played by Shané

Description

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BASICS


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{ AGE }
19 years

{ GENDER }
Female

{ PARTNER }
Damion



ABILITY:


{ Air Manipulation }
She uses the air around her in a variety of ways. Perhaps the most infamous use she has for it comes from her deadly ability to remove the air from a person's lungs. Essentially she has the power to steal someone's breath away effectively killing them swiftly and silently. A much rarer and more complicated use for this ability is the resuscitation of the dead. While a powerful ability the many restrictions on it and the lack of use for it in the facility means Ember has rarely had the opportunity to use it. Her particular air manipulation has also been used to ensure accuracy for thrown items. Using varying currents of air around an object allows her to find her target every time whether it be a knife, arrow or some other form of projectile. Lastly she can project herself a lot faster than usually is humanly possible. In theory she could possibly assist another to move faster as well, though this has not been attempted.

{ Weaknesses }
Ember's seemingly all powerful abilities have many limitations and restrictions. In order to be able to kill someone through her unique form of suffocation she must be very close to the person's head, about 30cm away ideally. This is particularly important when it comes to concentrating on the completion of the act. If she is distracted by something such as pain either her ability fails her completely or simply renders the person temporarily unconscious for around five or so minutes. This being said through the continuous use of this particular ability Ember is struggling to keep it under control at times as it has become a reflex- anyone comes to close and automatically she starts to draw out the air in their lungs.
Her resuscitation is far more limited. It requires her to have recently taken the air from another. Her ability is also not an overly miraculous one as it follows similar patterns to CPR and can only bring someone back from specific deaths such as shock, heart attack, drowning and electrocution. Stab someone and it is well beyond her ability to bring them back for you. For both murder and lifesaving Ember's mouth must be unobstructed.
As for projecting objects and herself, many of its original obstacles have been overcome through training. For example both require a lot of skill and practice, both that have been acquired through repetitious trials in the facility. They also take up a lot more energy than a regular throw or run. Again training has built up her stamina and endurance, though not supernaturally. The final limitation of self-propelling is the reflexes. Narrow corners will quite effectively slow her down lest she wants to run into them.


{ Containment }
Ember has had a metal contraption forced upon her mouth in order to prevent her killing one of the staff. It is only removed once all staff are out of reach in order for her to complete whatever task they want from her. It covers her entire mouth and ends under her lower jaw. It fastens at the back of her neck with a key being the only way to remove it successfully wiring her mouth shut until the guards are safely away. As for her other abilities, obviously she never has access to weaponry unless closely monitored nor does she ever really have the freedom to move and allow her to speed herself away. Lastly, and perhaps the most effective, the promise of torture or death for her partner ensures she remains obedient.



PERSONALITY:



{ Past Personality }
Ember was once a sweet and gentle spirit. She was always considered quiet by most, preferring non-verbal communication to the spoken word. As such she often found it difficult to truly get to know another person. Most know her more by a quiet smile that lights up her eyes than actual knowledge about her personality. She always valued quiet companionship and silent presence rather than intricate conversations. This being said once she began to get to know a person she slowly began to reveal a little more about herself. It was often in small, simple sentences expressing a feeling or thought on various things that she believed warranted being bought up. She was a deep thinker, loving nothing better to sit quietly and ponder random aspects of life that were bought to her attention. Music was one of her most influential passions as she found that it spoke more to the soul than the verbal language people had come up with. It was a philosophy she often followed in her character; preferring to show her affection through action and practical help rather than words.

{ Present Personality }
Ember barely has anything left from what she used to be. Now she's cold and uncaring. From the reflective girl she once was now she tries to think only objectively focusing on the now and what is physically present. Her expressions are always harsh and rigid, matching her icy personality. To those around her she appears to have stone-like quality as though she was carved from marble. Unfeeling and detached. The facility workers are always treated with cold disdain, though never disobeyed nor questioned. Aside from the staff, anyone else will be subject to her dry humour and blunt criticism. She no longer shirks from speaking her mind and when everyone fears you or hates you, you might as well express your opinions as it won't hurt your reputation. Aside from her partner, she has no one left she cares about so there is no longer any need for mercy and kindness.
Sam is one of the rare few that have seen the other side of her. How broken and fragile she really is under her jagged exterior. For all the walls she builds up around herself, she can't run from who she really is. Her true self can't cope with the crimes that she commits so it's locked away inside of her. Occasionally it can no longer be contained and for a while no one will hear of the murderess until Sam's forced her to compose herself. But in those times she sinks into deep depression and loneliness, no longer managing to eat or sleep. She becomes merely a wraith and shadow of her former self, a wisp of the gentle girl she once was before her stronger, ruthless self comes to protect her once again.


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{ Passions }
~Classical Music~
She particularly loves Stravinsky's Firebird, Petruschka and The Rite of Spring. She also loves Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet. She finds classical music expresses what words cannot.
~Playing the Piano~
She learnt from a young age how to play the piano. Though she hasn't touched those ivory keys for many years now, she has been seen to mime out the playing of various pieces in her cell when she thinks she is alone.
~Thunderstorms~
She finds the energy within the air at this time electrifying. Somehow storms make it so much easier to manipulate the air around her. The raw power of thunderstorms are both terrifying and exciting.
~Novels~
While spoken words have little interest for Ember, written literature takes on a new form. Books are a form of escape, intrigue and a well of knowledge.
~Edgar Allan Poe's Poetry~
Poetry has never really been of interest to her, however Edgar Allan Poe is an idol of hers from his various quotes to his gothic poetry.



{ Dislikes }
~Noise~
She doesn't cope with noisy, disruptive environments. They are far too distracting and overbearing for her taste
~Recklessness~
She doesn't deal well with people who rush into things without thinking. For her life is no game to be charging on from one thing to the other without carefully considering consequences.
~Science~
It is far too objective for her taste. It tries to explain things which she deems are unexplainable and in the process destroys whatever it touches. How can science possibly explain the intricacies of the way music touches a soul?
~Physical Activity~
Despite her ability, running has no appeal to her. She was never strong, and while her endurance has been forced to improve, the process has not been pleasant and comes across as pointless to Ember.
~People in General~
Aside from her partner, she now only sees the negatives of other human beings. All they seem bent on doing is hurting, hating or using her. So what use are they?


{ Weaknesses }
Firstly physically she's as weak as you can get. Beside her genetics never lending themselves for strength, the lack of food, sunlight and healthy mental capacity has always left Ember at a distinct disadvantage. On a more personal level Ember has never been able to trust people well, and since the facility this has only grown. She will never trust another, aside from perhaps her partner, to do something she can do herself. Her distrust has grown into paranoia always believing that everyone is out to personally attack her.

{ Fears }
Physical Touch
The only people that touch her within the facility are those that are going to hurt her or drag her off to do some detestable task. As such, anyone that reaches out to her is seen as a threat making her either panic and withdraw into herself or she will immediately lash out and attack her perceived enemies.

Mental Abilities
Ember is frightened of anything or anyone that can tamper with her mind. For her it has been her only solace; the only place where she will ever be in complete control. To have someone enter that private fortress has to be one of the worst fates she can think of. To be utterly at the mercy of another is to be to be defenceless to a sadist as she can think of no other reason for someone entering another's sanctuary.

Sam
While it seems fairly obvious, and almost all Anomalies fear him with intensity, Ember's fear of him has escalated to the extreme. She is terrified of him like nothing else and through her terror has mentally endowed him with the power of a god. In her mind there is no foreseeable way to evade him nor hide anything from him. He knows her far too well for her to have any defence against his sudden vehemence.





APPEARANCE:



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Ember has always come across as very fragile and innocent in appearance, no matter what her reputation has put upon her. Despite the adjustment in personality, she still has soft facial features that give the overall impression of being delicate. Her eyes are perhaps the most mesmerising part about Ember. The irises change and adjust to her mental and emotional state. Most of the time her eyes are such a dark brown they appear black. However when sparked with anger they quickly flash red. The other main colour they have changed during the facility time is when they melt away to a light grey whenever she becomes fearful. For the last two years those are the only two that have appeared, though they do adjust to other strong emotions. Mostly Ember's mouth is kept in a hard line, devoid of any kind of emotion. However in better days the tips curled up in a small smile that extended into a warm-green coloured iris.
Her face is framed by her long, black hair. It reaches just under her ribcage and is dead straight. Due to the thickness near the roots it has a bit of volume at the top of her head but thins out as it reaches the ends. She has black bangs covering her forehead which are starting to reach her eyes.
Ember's complexion is white. An unnatural pallor that has been bought about by a mixture of pale skin genes and lack of sunlight. Once she would have been considered quite beautiful, however now she is painfully thin. Her collar bones stick out like knives and her ribs are very prominent. This hasn't been helped by her depressive periods where she refuses to eat. Her scarring is hidden at all times. For his own amusement Sam decided a Gothic feel would further enhance his twisted plans for her as an executioner. As such she is always dressed in black with high neck lined tops hiding the scars on her throat. Full black skirts are also common in the facilities wardrobe for her and she is never seen without gloves covering her wrists. She always goes around barefoot. Ember's posture only adds to her formidable reputation and dark clothing as she carries herself very upright, with a stiff upper back. This is due to deep tissue scarring restricting her movement.


{ Defining Features }
Her wrists are scarred from being put in restraints. From metal cuffs to rope, her attempts to get out of them only resulted in them cutting into her skin serving as a permanent reminder of various punishments. She also has a few very thin scars across her throat.
Far more prominent are the numerous deep scarring on her back. It's laced with criss-crossed patterned whip marks and a few burn scarring. The most obvious is the thick, pink puckered one that stretches from her left shoulder to her right hip. Needless to say her back is a mess. The deeper scarring that can't be seen has also restricted her movement causing her to be stiff-backed and have trouble twisting around.


{ Weight }
35kg

{ Build }
Very slight.




THOUGHTS ON OTHERS:



{ The Rebels }
Ember's first opinion of the two rebels are on their stupidity. She cannot understand their mentality of understanding all too well the consequences of their actions and yet still running headlong into them. She herself has actually had to assist in teaching the pair a lesson. It was not one to be taken lightly. However from the rumours going around it appears that it hasn't fazed them. Beside the fact of what she considers their reckless foolishness, Ember secretly admires them. After all they have done what she and her partner have not- been able refuse the staff. She also knows deep down both are far stronger of will and mind then herself, as she was broken from one session with Sam and they have endured many. They have not allowed their link to one another to become a weakness. Lastly she fears being put with them. They have both the motivation and strength to hurt both herself and her partner. After having a personal hand in reprimanding them for an escape as well as having the blood of many of their kind on their hands, she fears that she and her partner may end up having to defend themselves.

{ The Compliant Ones }
She has a deep-seated hatred for the pair. It's all rooted from jealousy that she won't admit. How can those two have managed to stay together and escape from Sam's continuous punishments while she has had to she has had to give up everything to appease Sam and has ended up with nothing. She can't understand how they can so easily enjoy eachothers company without realising how much pain those surrounding them are in. Even though she has never met them she already fears that they hate and judge her and partner, despite the fact that really they are only doing the same as the other pair; submitting for the sake of the other. Only the cost of her and her partners obedience costs so much more than the compliant ones.




HISTORY:



{ Ability }
Ember was born with her air manipulation, however it remained dormant for many years. When she turned thirteen the air was suddenly a force that could be wielded. Her sudden feeling of a 6th sense scared her and her newly matured irises quickly faded to a light grey. After that the facility forced her to find out about the more specific parts of her ability.

{ Free Life }
Ember was raised by a single mother after her father died when she was very young from untreated throat cancer. Life was relatively normal for her and she was very close to her mother. When her ability final showed itself and her irises faded to grey, it caused her mother to panic. She immediately took Ember to the local GP to investigate the cause. Unfortunately many first Anomaly cases are first found through the health systems with any abnormalities reported to higher levels. Ember's strange irises was immediately reported as per policy to government through documentation. The Genetic Modification Facility was notified and it took only a few weeks for them to fully assess the situation from observing Ember at a distance.
Suddenly a mystery complaint was filed against Ember's mother for child abuse. Ember was taken from her abruptly and forced into the facility. To silence the mother she was taken to an interstate mental health ward. Ember is entirely unaware of what happened to her mother.


{ Facility Life }
Her first day in the facility was filled with basic medical testing, rough handling and overall a nightmare quality that at first seemed like it should vanish like the fog of a dream in the morning. Needless to say it did not. The next morning only came with another day in a barred prison-like cell. Sam visited her that day. He came in the form of a friend- a psychologist required to be there for her by law despite the horrible conditions. Terrified and having not yet heard a friendly word from a soul at the facility Ember slowly began to trust him. He spent many sessions with her counselling and supposedly helping her through the extreme testing routine they began developing for her.
This went on for about four years. During this time she met her partner (?). {Am thinking about having him as her neighbour in the facility so that's how they gradually go to know one another, but depends on person who plays him}
Then everything took another drastic turn for the worst. Up until this point Ember's literal breathtaking abilities had not yet been realised. One of the guards however had become drunk and decided to clock himself in for work. Not entirely in his right mind, against orders, he turned against her and started a beating. In absolute panic she had tried to flee from him, instead causing him to draw her close. It all happened extremely quickly; his head was suddenly too close to her own and then he was lifeless in front of her. It took her a few moments to realise what she had done. She spent the next few hours trembling in the corner of her cell waiting for them to find his body. It didn't take too long and as soon as Sam found out his friendly countenance dropped. He became malicious and sadistic dragging her up to the floor where the most deadly Anomalies were found.
He set up opportunities for her to 'escape' twice, only allowing her to get a few corridors before finding her. This quickly deterred her from attempting again. He used her partner to force her to kill more Anomalies and eventually taught her to torture them as well. There was one incident in what a young girl had begged her to kill her in Sam's absence in order to avoid his torture. After at first refusing, something snapped in Ember and in an instant the girl was lifeless before her. Since the girl had had information on a rebellion in a different facility, Sam was furious.
In response Sam punished her so severely he permanently damaged her back and left her scarred. Not liking the rest of the Anomalies to be able to see the marks of her disobedience and hint that she was not altogether as submissive as he liked to make out, he ensured they were always hidden by her attire. This way no one is aware that her obedience to Sam is forced. In their eyes both her partner and Ember are acting from self-directed obedience and perhaps inherent sadistic personality traits.





OTHER




{ COLOR }
#6A0888

{ THEME SONGS }
Run by Amanda Tenfjord
https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Amanda-Tenfjord-2/Run

Jungle by Emma Louise
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/emmalouise/jungle.html

So begins...

Ember's Story

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Lydia Character Portrait: Katherine Delirium Character Portrait: Ember Character Portrait: Rezia Character Portrait: Whispers Character Portrait: Damion
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#, as written by Haas33
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Shocking Rezia was not an enjoyable event. It was too real. Delirium was so used to making people feel pain or experience things that weren’t actually there that physically hurting Rezia made her feel sick. On the final shock, Rezia completely collapsed, and Delirium quickly grabbed him to keep him from hitting his head on the floor. She slowly sank with him down to the ground and placed her head to his chest. She could still hear his heart beating, which was all she needed.

Suddenly, a humming drone sounded, signaling night. Delirium’s immediate reaction was to question if it was really was night or if Sam was just trying to mess with them. Either way, it likely meant the lights would go off soon, so she would have to hurry up and get Rezia somewhere safe. As she was about to pick up the unconscious figure, Lydia came in and looked at her warily before dragging Rezia into their room. Lydia seemed both angry at her for hurting Rezia but scared of her for what Lydia had done to her.

Either way, Delirium made no move towards the frail girl, except to cast the brief message in the form of an illusion: “I’m sorry.” The lights went out, and everything was pitch black with the exception of a few blinking red lights from cameras in the corner of rooms, but they did not illuminate anything. Delirium wondered if she would get in trouble for being out of her room. She decided talking was likely out of the question since it was usually not allowed at night in the facility. Not wanting to take any chances she quickly entered her room. She felt her way over to a bed, but found it was occupied by the sleeping form of Stephen. She was glad he was able to sleep after the day they had. She gently brushed his hair out of his face, battled the urge to curl up next to him, and then finally made it over to her own bed.

At least her task was over. At least the task against her was over. However, a selfish thought flashed through her mind- what if Stephen didn’t complete his task? What would happen to her? She would gladly help him, but for now, she needed to sleep. However, a weird feeling creeped into her, she felt strange, slow, tingly. All of a sudden a bright light appeared in her room, and it was Ember, holding a candle and a knife.

Delirium shuffled back quickly and stifled a scream. How did she even get in here? Where did she get a candle? Ember smiled to show a row of razor sharp teeth. Damion stepped out from behind her and morphed into a large wolf like half man half animal thing. Delirium couldn’t help but whimper. She was going to die. The image went fuzzy for a second though and Delirium realized with horror that the serum she had been injected with hadn’t completely left her body, and Rezia had only subdued it for a while. Delirium curled up in a ball and cried silently as all her happy memories were torn to shreds and her nightmares came to life.

She didn’t sleep at all.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Lydia Character Portrait: Katherine Delirium Character Portrait: Ember Character Portrait: Rezia Character Portrait: Whispers Character Portrait: Damion
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Seeing her smile was a wondrous thing, he was glad when she accepted his hand. Once she was up he was following behind her towards the piano, he gave a brisk nod at the notion of cutting up Lydia. Dirty business of course, but necessary to stay with her.. He took a quick glance back at the shelf and the book with which held so much of their history. It was a blatant risk leaving them there, but Sam was undoubtedly watching, and monitoring everything. The chance of angering Sam by destroying or removing the books from the room was one Damion was not willing to take. Perhaps he could hide them somewhere? He would have to visit this room again, and find a decent place to put them. One where they would not be found, hopefully before the others could find them.

It was regrettable when Ember let go of his hand, but he allowed her the chance to steady herself for what was to come. While she was steadying herself he looked over at the tempting food the table. His stomach was growling, he had been hungry for some time now. However he knew that Lydia had to be dealt with first. Hopefully there would be other chances to satisfy his hunger. Though knowing Sam, Damion wasn't as confident as he'd like to be.

As he stood there he was aware of some kind of commotion happening outside the room. He wasn't really sure what was going on out there, though he couldn't really be bothered to care. With any luck maybe they all killed each other, forever to be out of his hair.

When they let the room behind Damion was more than a little surprised to find Lydia sitting there waiting for them. Seems she was as eager to get this done as Ember, and Damion himself. It was a good thing to, this would be over quickly he thought to himself. He walked closer to Lydia, ready to assist Ember in her task. Before they could get started however a familiar humming sound made itself apparent. He gave a small sigh, how he hated that sound.

Ember spoke some venomous words towards Lydia, and then took his hand in her's once more, leading them towards their room. She muttered in exhaustion at the timing, Damion gave an agreement. He supposed that this shouldn't be too surprising, it was just like Sam to do inconvenience them like this.

Despite everything however he went towards the bed with relief. The day was tiresome, and he was of course starving, some sleep would be an immense relief. However once the lights finally went out he found himself unable to slip into slumber just as he did so many times back in the facility. In the darkness he looked in Ember's direction. It was good to be with her again. He had tried so hard to find his way back to her, and now that they have finally been reunited he would never let them be torn apart.

In the absence of sleep Damion moved his hand towards the wound he had sustained earlier. He gave a small almost silent sigh. He was careless. Far to emotional. Then again how couldn't he be? Despite all his efforts toward building his emotional wall Ember's presence and of course Reiza who so enraged him, had managed to easily bring that wall crashing down in less than a day. He made to many emotional mistakes, something which he would make sure to avoid in the morning. After seemingly an eternity of tossing and turning Damion somehow managed to slip into a light sleep.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Ember
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#, as written by Shané
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Ember felt herself roughly dragged from her bed. Startled she started to cry out for Damion, when she realised in the dim light his bed was empty. Without warning the figure thrust her into the ground. Her hands flew out to protect her head from colliding with the floor. From the corner of her eye she could see the feet of three other people lining the wall before a firm grip on her shoulder spun her around. From the flat of her back she recognised her attacker. Whispers.

"What are you doing!?" her panicked cry came out weak and desperate.

"Time to make you pay for your actions."

Instantaneously she tried to slide away from him only to find herself hauled to her feet by a blank faced Rezia. She attempted to struggle however his grip only tightened and his frame never faltered as though he was made of iron.

"It wasn't my fault." she pleaded. "Rezia!"

His expression didn't change, leaving him staring unblinking ahead. Looking around in desperation she found Lydia and Delirium similarly expressionless at the side.

"Times up Ember." Whispers hissed, a large handled knife now in his grip. His face had a ghostly quality to it as light from an unknown source lit it from below.

Frantic Ember twisted her head around to face Rezia, opening up her mouth to grasp at the tendrils of his life. Her breath hitched as there was nothing to latch on to and instead the side of her face exploded with pain as Whispers struck her. Almost immediately the tip of the knife was pressed to her throat. Instinctively Ember froze her white rimmed eyes inexplicably drawn to Whispers which appeared to be black pits.

The iron fisted Rezia harshly forced her to her knees causing her to cry out in panic.

"Please! I'm begging you-"

"No one's listening Ember." Whispers growled. "You didn't hear our screams, and we certainly won't hear yours."

Her head was tilted the side, black hair yanked out of the way to reveal her bear neck. Without hesitation Whispers raised the knife and Ember let out a terrified scream.

"Enough!"

Instantly the horrifying figures dissolved and she collapsed onto the floor shaking violently from the ordeal. When she finally had the strength to look up, she saw Sam striding towards her. Frightened she recoiled but he only knelt in front of her a worried expression crossing his face.

"It's okay." He crooned. "Everything can go back to the way it was. We'll go back to the start and I'll protect you as I did before."

Completely broken she found herself back in his arms as she had the first day in the facility. And from her view of his shoulder she never saw him raise the knife until it was plunged deep into her back-


She woke with a startled gasp, sitting bolt upright in the bed. Gulping gratefully at the air she promised herself repetitively that is was just a dream. Shaking still from the adrenaline of the vision, she forced her feet over the side of the bed and brushed away the sweat that had gathered on her brow. Taking in a last panicked breath she forced herself to calm down, before looking over at Damion's bed. It was with a sigh of relief that she saw him still sleeping on the other side of the room.

All at once stabbing pains of hunger wracked her body. Fighting back a groan Ember quickly decided she needed to act. As quietly as she could she left the room, padding silently in the empty chamber towards the strange novelty filled room. There was instant relief when she saw the food still there untouched. Without hesitation she began tearing at some of the brown bread closest to her, collapsing in a nearby chair. She didn't dare eat too much of the richer food despite its tantalising smell. After so long, she doubted she'd be able to keep it down.

Gradually as her hunger began to abate she started to slow down, thankful for the solitude that for now seemed to be because everyone else was sleeping.

Setting

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Character Portrait: Ember Character Portrait: Whispers
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Stephen Winters | The Rebel | Neural Disruption | #F70D1A

Sleep claimed Stephen that night, but so did the nightmares.

Unlike those lucky enough to shroud themselves in darkness he tossed and turned in his bed, wondering if Sam was secretly punishing him for having such a comfortable sleeping space.

"Sarah why are you here?"

"Don't you remember?" the young girl tilted her head, "you still have a job to do don't you?"

She hopped off of her ledge and approached a standing Stephen, dressed in what appeared to be outsider clothing. She pulled a knife from seemingly nowhere before shoving it (handle side) into Stephen's hands.

"Job what job are you talking about? I know I'm still not done with things but I'm working on it. Just let me-"

Not letting go, Sarah pulled the knife into her chest.

"Let you what? Kill me again? You've always been good at doing that haven't you?"

Stephen jerked back, causing his sister to fall to the floor, blood pooling around her.

"Sarah NO!"

Except something changed.

When he ran to catch her she morphed. What should have been his sister started fizzling until he met Katherine's pained face.

"Whispers..."

He held her hand, shaking his head as he cried into her shoulder.

The words rang out, almost haunting him as he felt one dream fade into the next.

"Why can't we be weak for a while?


He couldn't say that the rest of the night was any better but at least he didn't have any other iterations of that death (instead, the others were replaced with his own death) until his hunger finally forced him out of bed. His room no longer felt safe and he didn't want to wake anyone else with his stupid noises so he exited to the main hall where he saw the bread intact sans for his enemy feasting. Well, he wasn't sure that enemy was the right word anymore, but they certainly weren't on neutral terms.

Because of that he grabbed a small portion of the loaf and walked back to his door frame, preferring to keep his distance while (though it was begrudging) giving her some respect. No one wanted to be here, less so with each other and yesterday they'd shown each other that if push came to shove either wouldn't hesitate to kill the other...or show some decency. He almost forgot the part where they'd allowed him to destroy the accursed device (although he was sure that Sam had seven hundred more). He felt for the scab on his neck, pressing his lips together at the precision of the cut.

As his eyes panned over to the elevator he sighed. If he wanted to complete his task this would be an opportune time, but a certain feeling clawed at the back of his throat. Anger? Certainly not? Fear? Another no. He didn't fear death as much as potential loss. Inspiration? He hesitated to use that word since the area itself was hardly inspiring. It sucked the life away as much as any other area in the facility, yet an idea arose. It compelled him to, for once, be vulnerable.

"By now you know my task involves you and you know I'm shit at negotiations," he wanted to say suddenly, turning his head toward Ember, "but I'm asking you because I want to escape and I care about Katherine. I need you in the elevator, alive."

"...because Sam wants to see you."

Even in his head he would have left out the last part because he knew how cruel the man could be and how no one would truly agree to such a task. Instead he swallowed what little food he had left before speaking neutrally.

"Don't expect yesterday to be an indication of what's to come. Even if we complete one of his tasks, Sam's just going to keep sending more for his amusement."

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Character Portrait: Lydia Character Portrait: Katherine Delirium Character Portrait: Ember Character Portrait: Rezia Character Portrait: Whispers Character Portrait: Damion
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Unlike his sister, Rezia did dream. He always dreamt after a healing considering his patient's sorrow and emotions needed some sort of outlet to cycle through. Tonight, Rezia's dreams were filled with fear and anger. He clutched his pillow close trying to gain some sort of comfort. The shock induced seizure were also making his dreams rather vivid. His brain was way too active. At least he had gained some rest when his brain had 'shut down' earlier before leading into this uncomfortable sleep. Just as Delirum's dreams were filled with hellish illusions, so to was Rezia's.

Rezia was sitting in his chair in their original shared room with his headphones and he had his eyes closed. He was humming a song when the headphones were ripped off his head, cutting off a particularly heart felt verse. Rezia looked up to see Ember above him.

"Ember?" What was she doing here?

"Your task is against Damion, isn't it? Well, I am here to stop you before you do anything to him. We haven't been acquainted before, but I am going to make you scream." she laughed before she lunged forward and wrapped her hands around his throat.

The two collapsed to the ground and the two struggled,rolling over each other in their fight as Rezia tried to get her hands away from his throat. Within moments, Ember morphed to Damion himself with poison dripping from his finger tips ad he was intent on finishing the job he started earlier.

And then it was Delirium above him and she was grinning wickedly. "Thanks for cooperating with my task but you are weak. I don't need you hindering me and Whispers," she answered him and lifted a dagger before she thrust it deep into Rezia's chest earning a cry from him.


Rezia woke with a gasp and sat up as he clutched his chest, thinking Delirium had stabbed him as she had in his dreams. Rezia immediately regretted the sudden elevation and clung to his throbbing head. He hated headaches with a passion. Medication didn't often help so he had to tough it out. He forced his eyes open to look to his side when he heard movement and saw Lydia beside his bed. Oh. So he had been brought to their bedroom. He thought Whispers and Delirium would drag him into the safety of their room instead. This was good though. Lydia wasn't alone all night then. At least he assumed it was morning now. He groaned as he slowly lay back down to try and ease the ache.

"Good morning Lydia," he mumbled and draped an arm over his eyes to block the light. He still felt grouchy but his left over anger from taking Delirium's emotions wasn't as bad as it had been yesterday. He knew he was still going to have a relatively short fuse today though. "If I say anything rude or stupid, it is not you," he clarified just so his sister didn't think he hated her or was angry with her for some reason. "Are you all right? And how long was I out? Did anything happen that I need to be aware of?"

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Delirium awoke with a groan, her aching body curled on the hard floor. At some point in the night, she must have fallen asleep, or the serum had at least worn off enough for her brain to shut down properly. She felt considerably better though, despite her lack of sleep. Her headache was gone, and despite a few aches here and there from sleeping on the ground, nothing else was ailing her. She just crossed her fingers and hoped she was done with those dreadful hallucinations.

She rose up from the ground slowly, and contemplated flopping down on the bed for a bit more sleep, but a gnawing hunger drew her towards the door. Before making her way outside, she went into the bathroom and splashed some water on her face to wake herself up.

She opened the door a crack to find Stephen and Ember in the room with all the food, not the best pairing, but at least not as volatile as herself and Ember. However, she was much to tired for an argument, and certainly didn't care enough to continue one if Ember picked a fight. Instead, she merely shuffled into the room, avoiding eye contact with Ember, and picked up some food and began to eat, slowly at first so as not to make herself sick. She inched further into the room and eyed the wall of books.

There were so many books. Curious, she started taking some out at random that looked interesting. Her eyes skimmed along the shelves before they landed on a rather odd looking book that stood out from the others. Naturally, she pulled it out slowly, only to find the name Ember written on it. Shock registered on her face briefly before she tucked it into her stack between two other books. Sure it could be coincidence, but a book about Ember? She'd want to read that. She peeked around her shoulder to find Stephen talking to Ember, which was perfect timing.

A though occurred to her though, what if there was a book about herself? Her eyes flitted along the bookcase before falling on another obviously different book. SHe pulled it out only to find that it was Stephen's. She tucked that into her stack and kept looking. She pulled out another strange book and filled with relief as she spotted her own name on it. She added couple more books plus her own to the pile, and then quickly made her way towards the exit, calmly and quietly skirting around ember. Now would be a terrible time for Ember to get too curious about the amount of books she was taking back to her room.

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When Rezia bolted upwards suddenly, Lydia started, looking quickly up at her brother. He was sitting stark straight, clutching his chest. Was he having chest pains? Had the shocks given him arrhythmia or something? Lydia chewed her lip and rose back up on her knees to see if there was anything she could do to help, but then he grabbed his head and sank back down. Had it just been a nightmare, then? Rezia opened his eyes after a beat and looked at her, which made her sigh with relief. He was at least somewhat okay.

"Rezia," She tried to keep her voice soft so it wouldn't hurt his head even more, but she couldn't help the relief that coloured it. She edged closer to the side of his bed again, peering down at his face, covered by his arm. "You're fine, Rezia, I understand." She was very tempted to reach out and heal what she could, some of his current troubles had to be from the shocks, but last night he'd been so vehement, and she didn't want to do something without his permission. After all, she still had Ember to look forward to, and she didn't know how much healing she'd need for that.

"I'm fine, everything is okay." She said her voice still soft. "The lights went out for quiet hours like usual, so it must be morning now. Everyone else retreated to their rooms too, so I pulled you back here." She knotted her fingers together. "But since we're awake now, the others probably are too... and Damion..." Her voice hung in her throat for a second. She didn't mean for it to sound so selfish. " I mean, we should probably see if the food is still out there, We didn't eat at all yesterday and we need to keep our strength up." She backpedaled a bit, but it was still true, her stomach was growling now just at the thought of eating, and she had to press her hand against her abdomen to quiet it.

She hovered around as Rezia got up, ready to help him at any moment, remembering the state he'd been in last night, chewing on her lip anxiously. As they exited the room, she noticed that everyone was already out. Well, almost everyone, as Delirium seemed to be scurrying back to her room with a stack of books in her arms. Thankfully. Lydia didn't know how well she could handle being near the red-head after what she'd done to her. Revulsion at her own actions rose in her gut for a moment but it was quickly quelled at the thought of food.

Though...if she was wise, she'd wait until after Ember finished her task to eat, so she didn't risk vomiting or anything if the pain became too bad. She didn't need that on top of everything else. Then, her eyes located Damion, who was in the room that had just opened last night, presumably heading to eat. She turned to her brother, her mouth a small o, but there were no words in her mouth to speak.

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[justify]Rezia smiled for his sister though he didn't really feel like smiling. The nightmare wasn't truly over after all. The two of them were stuck here with four other individuals that would easily overwhelm them. The cards were stacked against them and always had been. He was in such a state that moment that he... he just wanted to give up. He wanted to curl up on the bed and forget the world, Sam, this whole hell hole, and everyone in it. But then there was Lydia. He couldn't give up. He needed to keep her safe. If it weren't for her, he wouldn't have cared about anything. He would have been a lifeless doll for Sam who couldn't even spare his own emotions. There was work to be done however.

"No. Don't heal me. You have enough to worry about. And food... yeah we need food," he mused softly. He was drained and they both needed some type of nourishment. And of course there was Damion to worry about. He couldn't let Damion eat no mater what happened. Even if Delirium didn't help him, Rezia would do whatever it took. His sympathy and empathy for Damion couldn't get in the way of protecting his sister from Sam and the atrocities he would do to her should he fail his task. Rezia slowly got to his feet than so his head wouldn't make him topple over and followed his sister out of the room.

Rezia noticed Delirium first and watched as she hurried back to her room with the books. He hadn't realized how much she liked reading apparently. He turned his gaze and noted that Ember was talking to Whispers but that wasn't what caught his attention. Damion was there. Damion was reaching for the glorious feast that lay before him. Rezia felt like his heart was about to stop. He was going to fail. He was going to fail and Delirium and Whispers were both there. They could have stopped him and they hadn't. So much for teamwork. Without thinking, Rezia rushed forward, his own pain far from his mind. Before Damion could lift the food he had picked up to his lips, Rezia had tackled him to the ground and the food had fallen to the ground.

"No! Don't!" he cried, his eyes wide in panic. "Damion! You can't eat! Please! That is my task and if you eat, Lydia suffers! She won't be able to heal you or Ember and so you will also loose an ally!" he begged, hoping to reason with the man. Rezia had never realized how physical he could be. It had never come up before and though Damion was much stronger and experienced in fighting, Rezia still had attacked. Maybe he was more violent than he gave himself credit for. "Please don't eat." Yup. More violent but obviously still pretty pathetic.

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Ember's peace did not last very long. And naturally it had to be broken by the man from the group she least wanted here. As soon as he entered she stiffened in a mixture of wariness and fear. The fear was a lot stronger as the residue of her nightmare hadn't entirely worn off. She could still see him preparing to slit her throat open. Despite her concerns, he simply picked up a portion of the meal for himself and headed back to the doorway.

Her posture did not relax, and she eyed him warily trying to figure out his game. He seemed to be giving her space, but she didn't trust it and the way he leaned against the doorway was causing her to panic a little. How was she supposed to leave? Fearing he had trapped her in here for some sadistic purpose she decided to remain unmoving and pray that Damion would awake soon.

"Don't expect yesterday to be an indication of what's to come. Even if we complete one of his tasks, Sam's just going to keep sending more for his amusement."

Ember raised her eyebrows slightly in surprise. There was no malice behind the words, and she could not read the meaning behind them.

"I'm quite aware of that." She replied curtly. Did he believe her to be stupid? Or was he playing at something here. She still had her task to do, but it was against Lydia not him. Why would he care about her task?

Delirium also appeared at the door and went behind her. This only escalated Ember's discomfort. She glanced briefly at the girl, but seeing she was not interested in herself Ember returned to fix her gaze on her main concern; Whispers.

"What do you want with me?" she said stiffly.

There was no reason she could see for him remaining unless he had some sort of plan for her. As far as she was concerned the tasks were almost complete. Damion had beaten Whispers, Whispers had done something to Rezia last night that had made the boy scream, though she wasn't sure what Rezia had to do. Hopefully he was too injured to be a threat to Dameon. Then Lydia had stabbed Delirium with the needle, Delirium had forced herself into a terrifying illusion and all she had to do was carve Lydia up. Inwardly she frowned, how was she supposed to do her task with Lydia if Whispers was blocking her path? She cursed herself for leaving her weapon in the bedroom.

She didn't have much time to fret however as Damion walked in. The relief was plain to see on her face as he reached for the food. That was as much relief as Ember was going to see. In a few seconds the siblings had appeared and without warning Rezia had tackled Dameon to the ground. She rose up with a wordless cry as Rezia shouted out a desperate explanation. Ember was in no mood to think through his words, and only considered that Damion had been attacked. She flew forward gripping the back of Rezia's collar and yanking it backwards as hard as she could.

"Don't you dare!" she shrieked. "Get off him now!"

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Delirium was halfway to her room when suddenly everyone and anyone came pouring out of their rooms. Shit, shit, shit, shit. Delirium thought, turning around to se Damion making his way towards the room filled with food. She debating dropping the precious books and stopping him or continuing to her room to see what secrets were hidden in the books and letting someone else handle it. Rezia and Lydia saw the present danger so surely someone would be able to handle it. But Derlium stopped. Surely Rezia could not possibly-

Her thought was cut short as the man literally pounced at Damion, flattening him to the ground and very comically stopped Damion from taking a bite of food. The whole action very much startled Delirium, and to her dismay the tower of books toppled to the ground, pictures flying everywhere.

Delrium gasped with horror at the pictures she saw. Some were of herself, her eyes red in the middle of creating an illusion. Some were of Stephen victims before him covering their ears. The worst, however, were Ember’s pictures. People holding their throats as if they could breathe no air, bleeding from various locations on their body. So many people she had killed. So many people she had tortured.

One picture stuck out amongst the rest. It was of herself, on the day Ember gave her the many scars that now riddled Delirium’s body. Delirium’s face became stone, and she grabbed a handful of Ember’s pictures before whirling around to face the conflict. Damion was trying to show Rezia that he didn’t care if Rezia failed his task, that he didn’t care if it would hurt Lydia. Damion showed that he did not even care about killing Rezia himself. Yet Delirium understood.

With a set jaw and a determined scowl, she sauntered up to Damion, not even sparing a glance in Embers direction. She did not flinch as she became so close to Damion that if he so decided, he could kill her.

”Is this what you want?” Delirium asked, holding the pictures to his face, the terrible ones of dying victims and herself. She pushed them into his chest and let go. ”To kill the rest of us so you and Ember can have romantic fun time for yourselves? Will that solve any problems? You may think so, but that is just what Sam wants. He put us in here so he could see how long it took to tear each other apart. What good would killing him do, Damion? Do you think that will protect Ember? I may not agree with how you handled yourselves in the facilities, but I’m not going to try and kill you over that. No one wants to kill anyone here, we just want to save our own butts and the people we love. Hell, maybe you just have to go five more minutes without eating and Lydia will not have to be tortured by a psychopath!”

”I know we all hate each other, but if you do this, that’s like letting Sam win. We finally have a shot here, if we just work together, and you are willing to throw that away just so Rezia knows how big and scary you are? Making enemies will only make things worse for you and Ember. I’ve made my peace with the shit we went through in that place. We aren’t in the facilities anymore. Are we still going to do exactly what Sam wants?”

Delirum pushed Rezia aside and stood in his place. She raised her arms in the air in surrender and looked Damion dead in the eye.

”Go ahead Damion. Kill me. Kill me and see how that helps you at all.”

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Rezia gasped as Ember yanked him back by the color, effectively cutting off his breath until he moved backwards. Before he had a chance to recover from her tug, Damion was upon him and he found their roles had reversed. Now he was the one on his back with a livid man atop him. He diverted his gaze to Damion's lips or to the side to avoid catching his eyes or Ember's eyes. He wasn't strong enough this morning to do his healing and he didn't want to accidentally start one. The intense emotions around him were already bombarding him mercilessly and making his already aching head feel like Damion and Ember were driving a sledge hammer into his skull. Tears leaked from the corner of his eyes from the pain but also his panic for Lydia. He didn't want any more harm to come to his sister. He couldn't fail when it was his turn to protect her. She had done what she needed to do to save him from Sam. He had to do at least that in return.

Rezia's eyes widened as Ember brought his hand close to his face, immediately drawing his attention there. He knew what the man's power was now after all and he didn't want another encounter with that acid.

"What good did you think that would do you? Did you think you would try to appeal to my conscience? My humanity? Or my kindness? Well here's something you may not have realized. I don't have any of that. It's all gone. Has been for years," Damion spat at him.

Rezia's jaw set and his eyes narrowed. Maybe Delirium's residual anger would help here. He was already irritated and tired of all of this. Without her anger he wouldn't have had the strength and confidence to talk back to Damion the way he did. "Liar. It is all there, Damion. It always has been. You say you don't have humanity of conscience? I know exactly how much it pains you every time you think about what you've done. You've done it all for Ember and no one understands that better than I do. You are hiding behind a mask but your pain and humanity is always there at your core."

Damion brought his hand closer as he began another tirade to try and shake him but that wasn't going to work this time. He didn't care what he or Ember did to him so long as he completed his damn task and Lydia was safe. This is what Sam wanted wasn't it? He had wanted Rezia to get physical and pit a healer against a man who could kill and had killed. It was like pitting a butterfly against a spider.

"Get this through your head. I'm a bloodthirsty killer. I'm cold, and I don't care. About anything. Not about you. Not about your sister. Only about Ember, and myself. If I don't keep my strength up I won't be able to survive in this place. I won't be able to protect Ember. Now perhaps you should give me a good reason not to kill you. Because I'm drawing a blank."

"You aren't a bloodthirsty killer. You aren't cold and you do care about many things you don't let on. You can't hide from someone who can see the emotions that lurk behind your visage. I don't care if you kill me or not. Life is void of joy and you know it. If you really want to kill me, get on with it. I know you hate me though I hold no hate for you or for what you've done. I only care about Lydia and if you kill me, she won't help you so you'll loose two healers that can aid you. You think she'll help you if you kill me? This twisted game isn't over yet and you need the allies you have because otherwise you'll loose Ember or she will loose you. You are already injured and Ember hasn't finished her task against Lydia has she? We really aren't that different at the core, are we, Damion?"

And then Delirium came to his rescue. He was actually surprised she had come to his aid as she thrust pictures at Damion and started to lecture him much the same way he had. She even got in front of him to protect him. Maybe in the end, he could rely on her to help him. It did make him feel a little better.

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Stephen Winters | The Rebel | Neural Disruption | #F70D1A

"What do you want with me?"

Ah what did he want from Ember? The obvious answer was for her to fulfill his task but on a deeper level, a level of mutual understanding. Would she understand enough to walk into that elevator and see Sam? Stephen knew enough about her (and facility members in general) to know that none of them ever wanted to see Sam for any occasion and he would have to either trick her or force her. That would certainly be how it went for him. Hell, he'd already lost his advantage by giving his knife up and destroying the muzzle. Even if it was only meant for him he could have forced onto Damion or something.

You were always such a short-term thinker, Sarah seemed to whisper in his head.

Incidentally, Reiza didn't have the same line of thought seeing as he tackled Damion to the ground. He begged and pleaded for the black-haired boy not to eat any bread which wouldn't have bothered him save for the fact that Katherine intervened. She couldn't stand to let Reiza die which was enough to make Whispers follow after. She stood in his place, face to face with Damion and Ember while Reiza was pushed to the side. Honestly, he didn't know if she was an angel or a demon for tempting him to become mediator but he followed nonetheless. She had a talent for diving headfirst into situations and while she could handle herself he didn't want to freeze up while she put herself in harm's way. It would have made all her efforts useless.

"All of you stop!" he yelled, "Kathrine's right. I hate all of you, but it's useless trying to kill each other when we're still stuck here. This is what he wants. He wants us arguing and provoking each other. You already know this Ember so why the fuck are you playing along?"

The look in his eyes was pained, pleading almost for Ember to say something as much as it was for everyone to give up their arms and figure something out. Reiza, harmless as he was, had already figured out that much about the supposed Dark One and had it been Stephen, it would only give him more reason to kill the mental healer but it wasn't him. It was Damion and Stephen had no clue how the black-haired male would react when there were so many people against him.

He was never as smart or as eloquent as Sarah or even Reiza but once he had their attention he needed to keep speaking.

"I don't have my mask anymore, but in case you forgot you don't have my muzzle either. I can scream until we're all too weak to hurt each other or we can just stop."

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Rezia was gone before she could even register it, tackling Damion, and then Ember was on him, pulling him away. Lydia felt her throat constrict. She had to do something, she had to save her brother somehow, tell them that it had been a misunderstanding, that it was fine if he ate, everything would be fine, anything to save Rezia, even at the cost of her own life. Damion was talking, and Rezia was talking back, but she couldn't hear anything but the sound of her blood rushing in her ears. She forced herself to move forward, she wanted to push in between Rezia and Damion, shield him with her body, but she didn't want to make things worse, and her limbs felt like lead. Was this a panic attack? A sob boiled at the back of her throat, threatening to tear out.

God, what if he hurt Rezia, and then she was taken away from him? She wouldn't be able to heal him like last time, everything was going wrong, this wasn't what she'd wanted to happen. Her fingers went to her scalp, raking through her hair anxiously, pulling out long golden strands in their furtive combing. She was almost to the entrance to the room, but she wasn't any closer to thinking of the magical solution that would fix everything and save her brother. Her body was shaking, her thin limbs quivering violently, like paper in front of a vent. She looked like a little paper doll, with her white dress smudged with the brownish blood that Rezia had coughed up the day before.

And then Delirium flew back into the room like an avenging angel, pushing between Rezia and Damion, her voice sharp and clear. Lydia could have fainted from relief. Delirium, oh, sweet Delirium, god she could really cry now at the terrible thing she'd done to the girl. Lydia's mouth opened and she emitted a small shriek as she darted across the room in a sudden fit of speed, into her brother's chest, wrapping her arms around his neck and hiding her face in his chest for a moment. It served a dual purpose. It calmed her down, her body was still shaking, but she also had her back to Damion, which mean that she'd joined Delirium in shielding her brother from the black haired male.

"Rezia, Rezia, it's fine, let him have the food, I'm not worth you getting hurt," she pulled back to stare him in the eye for a moment, her thin hands still clutching his shoulders. "Sam won't get more than an hour or two out of me anyway, I won't suffer." Her voice cracked, she was lying, lying, he could keep her alive for weeks if he wanted to, slowly cutting away at her. She had to turn her eyes away, so her body twisted as she looked towards Damion. "He'll take what he wants anyway, and if he hurts you I wo- I won't be there to heal you." She was still talking to Rezia, her fingers tightening over his shoulders as her eyes wandered. The expression in her eyes was that of a wild animal, vacantly frightened, but therein simmered hatred, the fearful rage of a cornered animal. If only she had the power to protect her brother. But she was the compliant one. Compliant, complicit in everything, down to her own death.

If souls truly did exist, was there anything left in hers?

If she'd been able to, would she have killed Damion for threatening her brother? For threatening her? She hadn't known what the serum would do to Delirium when she stabbed it into her neck, it could have killed her, and while she felt bad for doing such a terrible thing, wouldn't she just do it again the same way if she was given the choice? Anything for Rezia, anything for Rezia. Was she insane? Was she a monster too? For wanting to hurt Delirium to keep her brother safe. No it wasn't even that it was Delirium, would she have done that to anyone to keep her brother safe? Others were just faceless pawns, stairs to step on as she struggled to keep her grasp on the one thing in her whole life that had ever been there for her, the one person she could always trust. And these weren't scientists anymore, these were just kids. They couldn't take Rezia away from her to force her compliance.

Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, and she quickly turned her head back to Rezia, her face near his ear and horror in her voice. "I'm a monster too." She whispered in revelation on shaky, half-formed breaths. "I want to kill him so badly right now that it hurts."

A single choked sob. Or was it a chuckle? Hard to tell.

She could feel it now, it was so easy that it momentarily stole her breath away. If she ran, right now, and hid in her room, Ember wouldn't be able to finish her task, and she could take Damion down with her. And then Ember would be all alone against Whispers and Delirium, and since they seemed to have accepted Rezia into their little pack, he'd be safe. And the smile, oh the smile that curled up on the pale little girl's face as she stared vacantly over Rezia's shoulder as her body curled, ready to run, ready to fight with the only tool left to her.

She was a healer. But she could kill, oh, she could kill too. She had the power to stop death, but what if she chose not to? What if she just sat back and watched him die? Watched them all die? Kill them all. Then it would just be Rezia, and Rezia would be safe and it would all be good, he'd be safe, that was all that was important.

She really was a monster, wasn't she?

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One instant Damion was on the floor with Rezia with the upper hand, and the next she had yanked Rezia away and now he had to face Damion's gloveless pale hand. The hatred pouring out of Damion's mouth frightened her. This was the Damion Sam had created, she knew, and he terrified her. Without her will her eyes lightened, though she forced her expression to remain unreadable.

Rezia was instantly attacking Damion back verbally. At the truth of his words Ember's mouth went dry, however she tried rather pointlessly to convince herself it wasn't true. She and Damion were different from the others. They didn't know the half of what she and Damion had been through despite what Rezia said.

"Damion…" she found herself half whimpering his name as she felt all the others in the room grow hostile.

Delirium pushed Rezia aside and now stood between herself and him. That's when Ember noticed the pictures. She looked down in horror at her past. For a moment Delirium was busy confronting Damion, and all Ember could do was stare in expressionless shock at all the images. Some were not her own, but hers were by far the worst. The sudden confrontation of a history she had always shoved into the back of her mind awoke a deep anger tainted by her fear and pain.

"You made peace with you past!"she suddenly spoke up shrilly staring at Delirium. "How dare you dig up mine."

Her voice immediately lowered dangerously. To her right Lydia had curled herself around Rezia, but he was no longer Ember's concern. Whispers stopped her before her emotional tirade continued.

"All of you stop!...This is what he wants. He wants us arguing and provoking each other.You already know this Ember so why the fuck are you playing along?"

Feeling threatened and memories of the past threatening to engulf her, Ember was in no mood to respond kindly to Whispers pleading. She could tell he was trying to engage what was left of her humanity, but if he wanted her to listen he should have stopped Deliriums hateful theft.

"Playing along!" Her voice was scream of anger and frustration. "You think I'm stupid? I'm not you and Delirium! I don't rebel- not anymore. You are the one that should know. I do what Sam wants- understand? Because I'm never facing his anger again."

Her anger was starting to melt into despair and her whole frame was shaking.

"You make peace, and go against the grain if you want. But I will not. I'm not strong enough to face him."

Unbidden hot angry tears started to gather and fall. Furiously she brushed them way, her small hands fists.

"I don't have my mask anymore, but in case you forgot you don't have my muzzle either. I can scream until we're all too weak to hurt each other or we can just stop."

Fearfully she glanced over to Damion. He knew. He had to. He had no choice but to back down. But if he did what would the others do to them? Now they had even lost Lydia. Ember couldn't help remembering the nights terror of her fate being in the hands of Whispers and with all of the others now in power they could do what they liked with both herself and Damion. Her fingers curled and uncurled wishing she had the knife. If she had she was certain Whispers would have the hilt protruding from his chest.

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Character Portrait: Lydia Character Portrait: Katherine Delirium Character Portrait: Ember Character Portrait: Rezia Character Portrait: Whispers Character Portrait: Damion
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Things were getting rather fiery in the room. His head hadn't recovered from his ordeal and any protection he could have put up was immediately shredded as he was bombarded with everyones' hyped up emotions. The worst was when Lydia rushed to him. Her physical contact and her immediately terror sent a searing knife through his skull and Rezia stumbled, nearly falling to the ground with his sister. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth. He gripped his sister tightly and realized that it probably hurt his sister. He forced his hands to relax on her shoulders and avoided looking down at her. He hated that his anger boiled and he wanted to shove her back. Didn't she understand? He was doing this for her! It was all pointless if she died or hurt herself in the process! Rezia was sure he'd kill himself if Lydia was murdered because of him. She was his little sister. He was the one that needed to protect her, not the other way around! Every time he tried to protect her, she stood in the way and put herself in harms way all over again. It frustrated him to no end and she didn't seem to understand it all all.

He sighed and ran his shaky fingers through Lydia's hair. Monster? She wasn't a monster. She was just terrified. Her sorrow hurt him more deeply than anything else in the room. "Lydia you aren't a monster. You think I don't have the same sentiment? Especially towards Sam? It is just emotions. You and I are doing what we can to keep each other safe and survive. That doesn't make you a monster or any one of us evil. You need to calm down. I am sorry but we have to talk about this later, alone." It was getting harder to think clearly. He looked up at Delirium and even Whispers that had come to their aid. He couldn't believe they were actually there to help him and Lydia. Maybe there was hope after all. Both of them were actually making sense for once. And even more shocking was the fact that Damion had actually stopped. He was listening to reason and he wasn't going to eat. And dare he admit he heard Damion's whispered apology? No, he didn't hear it, he felt it. That alone made his muscles relax. Maybe from here on out everyone could just communicate with each other. Things had to get better if they all cooperated. He even smiled when Delirum offered to make this sentence easier for Damion so he didn't have to suffer from his hunger. Even Ember seemed to be backing down.

"Damion... look, I know that there is something about me that you despise. I am sorry I tackled you but that was the only thing I could do to get you to stop. I don't hate you and I don't wish you or Ember any sort of harm. I can't hurt you anyway. You are both stronger than I am and my power is far from destructive. Like Delirium said, I understand your pain and understand that you were protecting each other in your way just as we try and protect those we love and live for in ours. I am a healer just like Lydia but I don't heal the physical, I heal the mental aches," he reminded. "I would be more than happy to extend my hand to you both and help you heal that pain you horde in your heart. I can only offer that if we all agree to actually help each other. I didn't mean to scare you when I first saw your pain. I am not actively seeking anything out. I can't turn it off no matter how much I wish I could and I don't want to flaunt your pain. I know it is personal and private."

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose again to relieve some of the pressure in his head. "And Delirium is right. Not all of us have finished our tasks. I think it would be best to state what they are now and figure out how to progress from here. This constant attacking each other is going to get us nowhere except an early grave" not that that was a bad idea where Rezia was standing.

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Perhaps it was a crisis of identity, or perhaps she'd just lost her naive notion that they could somehow make it out of this place, but either way, Lydia was having a panic attack. Her stomach was twisted into knots, she felt like she was going to vomit, she would have already if there was anything in her stomach, and she could barely breathe. Rezia was running his hands through her hair, a gesture that usually calmed her, but she just clenched her fingers in his shirt and shivered as the collective words of everyone in the room hit her, and she made a new realization. This was it. This was the end of the line, the garbage heap, they were no longer useful, so they were placed here to kill each other for Sam's amusement. Before she'd only half acknowledged it, thinking that if they did well enough they'd be able to keep living, everything would be okay.

But really, what was the point? What even was this life? Not dying? And she'd done everything right she'd been good, she'd healed people, and all for what? To be discarded. Even if this wasn't the end, there would always be another, another, another. Everything was just about as useless as her power, clinging to life for a moment more, a moment more just to be hurt again. She was powerless to stop it. Nothing she did to protect Rezia, nothing he did to protect her, was effectual, just prolonged this strange purgatorial state. She was nothing but a power, a number, a test subject. Trash, now.

How was everyone so calm about this?

She needed to leave, she needed to get away from the normalcy of this whole situation, everyone talking about their own mortality like it was nothing, She was most certainly hyperventilating, because her head was spinning now. Lydia let go of Rezia's shirt front, her expression vacant as her mind spiraled, and started to stumble towards the door, away from everyone. "I'm sorry," She began to say, but didn't finish the sentence as her shoulder hit the door frame. She didn't flinch, just repositioned herself and continued shambling through the door.

Once she made it back into the main room, she leaned against the wall and all but slid to the ground until she was on her palms and knees, retching, shaking, her dry heaving thankfully bringing up nothing. Death had never been real until this moment. Just a card to be played at the right time, she was a healer, she could stave of death, right? The inevitability of it all had never struck her. But what Delirium had said was true, there wasn't anything they could do to stop Sam from killing them. They could do everything right but he could get bored with them and kill them anyway. Or they could tear each other limb from limb and do the job for him.

After her stomach stopped writhing, Lydia lay her face on the cool floor and shut her eyes. She was still pale, but a bit calmer. Maybe letting Ember cut her up would ground her again, get rid of this spinning in her head. Or maybe she could just let herself bleed out and be done with everything. Finally have some peace. That would be fine too.

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Character Portrait: Lydia Character Portrait: Katherine Delirium Character Portrait: Ember Character Portrait: Rezia Character Portrait: Whispers Character Portrait: Damion
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Stephen Winters | The Rebel | Neural Disruption | #F70D1A

"Playing along! You think I'm stupid? I'm not you and Delirium! I don't rebel- not anymore. You are the one that should know. I do what Sam wants- understand? Because I'm never facing his anger again. You make peace, and go against the grain if you want. But I will not. I'm not strong enough to face him."

For the first time in many years, Stephen actually felt pity for Ember.

It wasn't enough to erase their bad blood, but he saw pain in her eyes. It wasn't pain in the traditional sense of hurting however. It was the dulled pain that came from years of being worn by Sam mixed with the fear of further trauma. The numbness was all too familiar to Whispers who had long stopped caring about the sort of pain dolled out on himself. Though most of his nerve endings were fine according to the facility's doctors he'd steeled himself against the man's torture devices and techniques. The singular traumas...not so much. Sam had this great way of digging into someone's heart, finding the most beloved part of their lives, and then crushing it into tiny pieces. He did it with Katherine, Whispers, and presumably Damion and Ember.

He didn't respond to anything else she said as Reiza interjected with his own words about the situation as well as agreeing with Katherine that their tasks needed to be shared in order to have everything out in the open. Rationally this made sense, but rationally he could easily drive everyone away. He didn't want to share his task if he didn't want to, but knew that either way Ember wouldn't agree to it. Whatever Sam subjected her to would come back to haunt her and any progress they'd made would be lost. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if Sam planted her as some sort of sleeper agent to stymie everyone's development into a team.

Then again if that were the case Damion was doing a much better job.

He glanced toward Ember before deciding that he would be the first to step up.

"I have to make Ember go into the elevator and down the floors," he started, unsure how to phrase his task, "he didn't specify condition but I can't kill you and..."

He trailed off and pressed his lips together to figure out how to best phrase the part of the task most important to her.

You have to see Sam.

He wants to see Ember.

Sam needs to see you.


Nothing sounded right in his head because everything involving Sam always felt predatory. Even so he would honor his word.

"he wants to see you Ember," he turned to the black-haired girl, "he didn't say why but I guess he was expecting a bigger fight between the two of us."

His eyes met Damion's for a brief moment, wondering how angry the other executioner was before stopping back at Ember. He expected her task to be equally difficult, but like all things this was left up to chance (and chance never quite liked him).

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Character Portrait: Lydia Character Portrait: Katherine Delirium Character Portrait: Ember Character Portrait: Rezia Character Portrait: Whispers Character Portrait: Damion
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Since they'd gotten here, Ember had not seen Damion even slightly remorseful in front of the others. The sight of the old gentle Damion simultaneously relieved and frightened her. He was still the same person inside, but the others had gotten to him and the only way she could think of to survive this ordeal was to remain strong and distant from the rest. She had little time to muse over Damion's reaction and even less time to go over to him with Delirium suddenly addressing her.

”Don’t you understand Ember? This is the end. He doesn’t need us anymore…"

Ember's eyes widened in fear, her mouth hanging open in shock. Delirium was still talking, but her words fell on deaf ears. Distantly she was aware the Delirium was apologising and trying to bridge to canyon between their understanding, however all she could think about were the girl's first sentences.

He does. She told herself fervently. He still wants us. He would have killed us otherwise.. The voice in her head wasn't convincing herself. He was still toying with them, like a cat with a mouse between his paws, and Ember was far too aware of it to deceive herself. Her thoughts were making her feel sick, and she was almost considering squeezing her eyes shut to attempt to prevent herself from imagining all the horrible ways Sam was no doubt devising to finish her off when she caught sight of her pictures again.

Her stomach twisted violently at the hideous array and as eyes are want to do they became fixated on the most horrifying secret of her past. A small handful of the pictures depicted happy scenes of two friends laughing, sharing various conversations and one with a mans arms around her. Ember wanted to be sick. How well Sam had played her. What on earth would the others think if they ever imagined she had trusted the bastard. His lies had seemed so honest and well meaning at the time. Memories of her first meetings with him flooded her mind causing her to feel ill.

Rezia's voice piped up and Ember was only too happy to have herself distracted from the twisted contractions of her nervous stomach. The little speech Rezia had come up with sounded pretty typical of him. Apparently he understood, despite him never having to deal with Sam to the extent both she and Damion had, he was harmless (which she had figured out pretty quickly) and he had no will against either of them. None of what he had to say interested Ember until he offered to try and heal them both. Ember was still not very taken with the idea. On one hand it sounded perfect, magically remove all the emotional trauma of the last two years. However she had had to grow into the person she was because of circumstances, and as far as she was concerned, the circumstances hadn't improved. She needed to be the deadly, strong Ember, she couldn't afford to return to the person she was. Not now. Sam would only take pleasure in breaking her from the beginning. The thought made her flinch.

She returned her attention to Rezia who had, for a reason unknown to her, begun to pinch his nose. A weird quirk to be sure, Ember thought to herself before her mind processed the question. It no longer bothered her to announce her task. Lydia had already agreed to it anyway….

Speaking of the blonde. Ember's dark eyes sought her out before catching the girl crawling out of the room. It appeared Delirium's previous words had affected Lydia far worse than Ember. She made no move to follow her as her place was here until Damion was no longer vulnerable.

Whispers voice caught her off guard. She turned to him puzzled, hadn't he completed his task with Rezia? His words made her pale. Somehow she had dangerously mixed up the task. Pushing her previous error to the side she frowned at his mention of the elevator. That wasn't going to be hard and he wasn't able to kill her. That was nice.

Abruptly the meaning began to be clear as her mind pieced it together. The elevator was how they had entered it….before Sam-

Her thoughts cut off as Whispers confirmed what her mind had just caught onto.

He wants to see me.

Involuntarily she drew in a sharp breath as her face whitened further. Her vision dipped crazily and she stumbled back a few paces, wildly flinging out her arms to catch her balance. Her back felt as though it was on fire again and for a horrifying moment she could feel each incision and the bite of the whip followed by the taste and smell of blood. Unbidden her hands flew to her mouth as she struggled to bite back another gasp.

"You won't….you won't do it?" What had meant to come out as a demand, came out as a terrified plea.

Wildly she looked over at Damion before protectively raising her arms in front of her backing away from Whispers. Fearfully her gaze tore away from Damion to rest on Whispers, her dark irises lightened almost to white in her terror. She held his gaze staring him down trying to read his intentions.

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Character Portrait: Lydia Character Portrait: Katherine Delirium Character Portrait: Ember Character Portrait: Rezia Character Portrait: Whispers Character Portrait: Damion
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As things winded down, and the dust began to settle Damion was still rather noticeably shaken up from the whole ordeal. The words spoken to him, and the lengths the Rebels went to protect Rezia had left Damion unable to hide behind his normal mask of stoicism and calm. Where once stood a killer, cold, and monstrous now for the moment stood a vulnerable man frightened out of his mind. He hoped it would pass, he hoped he could go back to his mask, go back to being strong. Even if the others no longer posed a threat danger was ever present, and being vulnerable as he was would be a death sentence, he was sure of it.

As Delirium came, offering to use her powers to make his impending, potentially never ending starvation somewhat manageable, he gave her a confused, vulnerable look. He never expected anyone down here save for Ember to try and make things easier on him. Maybe the others weren't another obstacle to be beaten away, maybe he and Ember really could work with them. Form some kind of manageable peace. The offer alone was a kindness the likes of which Damion had long thought extinct in this world. He couldn't say anything in response, he wasn't really sure what to say. In the end all he could do was give Delirium a brisk, though thankful nod.

As Rezia spoke Damion stayed silent, though he kept his gaze on the boy. Damion still hated him. He didn't want to, but the hate came all the same, even as the boy extended his services to Ember and himself. Though now this hatred towards Reiza was just another reason to hate himself. The boy didn't deserve this hatred, and Damion felt disgusted with himself. As for the offer itself, Damion thought it simply sounded to good to be true. Even if Rezia could help them both would it really matter? Sam would just break them all over again. Hell maybe that was the whole reason he trapped Rezia down here, with the rest.

He wasn't expecting Whispers to be teh irst to reveal his task. When he heard it, he was for but a moment relieved. It seemed easy, and likely wouldn't harm Ember in any lasting way. However once Whispers revealed the true scope of his task Damion was horrified. Whispers for but a moment locked eyes with him, and he couldn't help but show a hint of fear in them. Sam wanted to see Ember. That could only be bad news. Just thinking of the things Sam might do to her put his stomach in a knot. Nothing could be worse.

With this information now out in the open he gave a worried gaze at Ember. She was terrified, the mere idea of a private audience with Sam had her backing away in fear. If that was Whispers' task he would certainly try to complete it, no matter what, even if it destroyed the idea of them all working together. In an instant it became clear to him. They would remain divided, because that's what Sam wanted. He was pulling the strings every step of the way and there was nothing any of them could do about it.

Damion protectively stepped in front of Ember. "No. No! Absolutely not!"Damion locked eyes with Whispers once more, though he looked far more fragile than he meant too. "She is not seeing Sam. It's out of the question!" In the terror of the moment Damion's whole countenance was one of total desperation. His body was shaking from the weight of everything, it seemed everything he had so bravely held above his head came crashing down at once. He was hurt, tired, the pains of hunger was tearing through his body. Above all he the effects of the previous confrontation were clearly still with him.

It would be obvious to all that he wasn't up for this. He wouldn't be able to fight off Whispers if he felt the need to attack. He wouldn't be able to keep Ember safe in the heat of the moment, and he certainly couldn't continue acting like he could handle everything currently facing him. That would not stop him from trying.

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Character Portrait: Lydia Character Portrait: Katherine Delirium Character Portrait: Ember Character Portrait: Rezia Character Portrait: Whispers Character Portrait: Damion
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Delirium was a bit relieved that Damion nodded to her offer. It was a small sign that maybe they wouldn't have to tear each others throats out. Simply, and quickly, she looked him in the eye so she could focus best, and then nudged the illusion at him gently. A feeling of fullness, a lessened weight on his stomach. He did not feel hungry, the food didn't look as beautiful and tasty as it did, instead it looked plain and boring, not very appetizing. She spent some of her energy forcing the feeling of fullness, which was much harder than a simple visual illusion. Finally she pulled her gaze away and hoped that his mind would hold that illusion for a bit. Then she turned back to the present conflict.

A lump formed in her throat when she realized it was her that had thought telling each other their tasks would be the best course of action. But when she heard Stephen's task, she realized this was way worse than she thought. All other tasks were mostly harmless and not very long, not the gut wrenching feeling that you'll go downstairs to pain and sorrow that you never know will end. No one wants to see Sam. She would take three more of those syringes full of god knows what than a trip down that elevator.

When Delirium turned to Ember, something shattered inside herself. Such outward fear and panic. It reminded her of herself. How she always felt every day of her life yet pretended she was ok and that she still had hope, even though she had broken down a long time ago. Sam might have picked up on it, but Delirium was a pretty good actress when it came to how she felt. A realization also hit Delirium. It was Ember or Delirium. If Ember didn't agree to Stephen's task, one way or another Delirium herself would get set downstairs for something probably even worse than what Ember had coming.... But if Ember agreed, who knows what state she would be in when she came back up. If she came back up. So who would it be? What if they both went down and attacked Sam. What if they all went down? What would Sam do?

Delirium looked at Ember again. What would Sam do to her? Why would he want to see her? If Stephen said no to the task, would Sam kill Delirium? Delirium shifted her eyes to Ember's and silently relayed a message to her in the form of an illusion. Ember I don't know what he will do to me. If it's Whisper's task to send you down there its probably very unlikely he will kill you, because he expects Whispers to do his task. I don't know what he will do to me Ember. She pleaded silently to the dark haired girl. If it came down to it, Delirium wasn't sure Stephen and herself would be able to take down Ember and Damion. And she also didn't want to have to fight. This was truly Ember's decision. Delirium would face whatever happened.

For all she knew these might be her last days alive.