View source for Eye for an Eye: The Trap

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2013/02/25
|Location=Elsewhere
|Synopsis=A mysterious letter from her missing mentor sends her out to his rescue, but what she faces is something far, far worse.
|Cast of Characters=Hati, Katyna Redsvaren
|pretty=yes
}}
:'''[[Katyna]] has posed''':<br />Although Traverse Town is perpetually shrouded in an eerie dusklike atmosphere, it seems this cozy little town is never truly asleep. The Traverse Hotel is perhaps one of the busiest places in the city, especially with the constant influx of displaced and lost travelers who pass here on their way to other worlds, or simply claim this as their new home, no matter how temporary that may be.<br><br>It's no surprise then, that Traverse Town would receive an unusually large amount of mail on a daily basis compared to some other cities. It keeps moogle mail service pretty busy from 'day' to 'night'. On this particular 'day', a newbie moogle mail carrier wanders down the hallways of the hotel, searching for a particular guest who is supposedly staying at the 'Red Room' for an extended period of time.<br><br>After much ambling around and asking for directions, he finally finds his way to the room, knocking three times politely on the door.<br><br>"KUPO! Moogle mail for miss Hati!" He exclaims vibrantly.

:'''[[Hati]] has posed''':<br />The knocking is enough to rouse Hati from her sleep, causing a wolfish stretch of her arms and a wide-mouthed yawn that doesn't look quite right on her human features. Lifting a hand, she scratches behind her ear, then seems to realize that something had woken her. Ears swivel, and then with a tired groan, the wolf drags herself out of bed, reaching for a set of templar robes which she still hasn't given back to their true owner. Wrapping them around herself, she heads for the door, unlatching it and then giving the moogle a curious look. <br><br>"Mail?" Who would send her mail? Almost everyone she actually knew or talked to tended to use those damnable cellular phones. Rubbing at her eye, she extends her other hand to take it, "I'm Hati." Once her vision clears, the girl fishes into a pocket and pulls out a couple of stray balls of munny, offering them out as a tip. "You have my thanks." What she really needs right now is coffee, some pain killers, and a shower. Hangovers. Ugh.  

:'''[[Katyna]] has posed''':<br />"KUPO!" The moogle squeaks excitedly, when the girl gives him a tip. Ooh, this is almost worth the trouble it caused him to travel through the world of darkness to pick up this letter in the first place! Perhaps it was the great distance over worlds that made the sender use moogle mail rather than contact her through cellphone. Whatever the case, the moogle is too enthralled with his juicy tip to pay anymore attention to the strange wolf girl. He simply bows and waves to her before dashing off to his next client.<br> <br>The letter..Is a strange one. It's a bit water damaged on one end as if it's been through its own share of wear and tear. And the seal on it is also strange: A black heart, symbol of the heartless..<br> <br>The letter is not typed, but written in elaborate script, in a style that is elegant and perhaps dated. But the handwriting seems very familiar and genuine enough - urgent almost. It says the following:<br> <br>"My dear pupil, Lady Hati. I apologize for disappearing so suddenly, but given the urgent nature of my situation, it was imperative that I find her as soon as possible. I had discovered rumours that there was a way to bring the dead back to life, using the Legendary Vita Uis. However, discovering the location of this elixir of life was a long and dangerous journey. I also had to secure it before it was lost forever. Mine and Lord Fessner's journeys led us to the brink of the Farplane where we sought to use it upon those we loved and lost..However, it was here that we were captured by agents of the dead, determined to drain our power and use it for themselves. We are now prisoners of these shadowy fiends, themselves caught between life and death. For now, I have kept the Vita Uis' location a secret, but it will not be long before we are overpowered and defeated. I managed to write this letter and send it to a helpful moogle before they bound us and will soon torture us. Please, you must find and free us! There is no time to lose, our lives are in your hands.."<br> <br>-Lord Serrak<br> <br>Below is drawn a rough sketch of their location, along with coordinates to get there.

:'''[[Hati]] has posed''':<br />The symbol of the Heartless would be enough on it's own to give the wolf-girl pause. In general, she hadn't made much fanfare of her departure from the Shadow Lords' service. She had never really been a member of the organization. Her service had only ever been on the sidelines, under Serrak's direct guidance. In Manhattan, she had chosen to help LEXUS since he had garnered some measure of her respect, but she had no true stake in the fall of the worlds. Could this be some death threat? <br><br>No, the moment she opens it, it is clear who's script is written there. She had looked at it time and time again over the past few months, reading it in journals and notes. Hati stands there in the doorway for what seems like forever. Long enough that a passing server stops to ask if she's alright. The werewolf doesn't respond, frozen by the letter in her hands.<br><br>Serrak. After all this time... Just when she had started to get her memories back. Just when she actually might have wanted to keep them - to face the good with the bad. Just when she had started to take those first steps to making her own decisions, rather than following like a child in her father's footsteps. Yet, she couldn't just abandon him. In her mind's eye, the moment that he came out of the woods plays in her mind. He had reached out and touched her unwounded cheek. He had made her change back from wolf to girl, and gathered her in his arms. Safe. Warm. He made the bad things go away.<br><br>Hati whimpers. Then, she turns back into the room, walking with the letter in her hand. Her eyes glance over the cell-phone, and there is a fleeting moment where she has a choice. She could go to Skoll, to Faruja, to Evja, to Avira, to any of the people who she had placed some small measure of trust into. She could ask them to come with her, to help her. But no, this is Serrak. He is her escape from all of this confusion. He could set things back to the way they were. Did she really want that? Her mind rages, and her hand hesitates over the phone for a split second.<br><br>Wrong choice. <br><br>The wolf goes to gather her things. She would save Serrak on her own, then try to figure out where to go from there. The last thing she she would want is to those white-knighters in to save a Shadow Lord. They would likely let him die. For the first time since that night where she'd rested at Faruja's side, his words come back to haunt her again. All of the Shadow Lords deserved to die. <br><br>Hati growls, gathers her things, takes the letter, calls Katyna, and heads out. Werewolf to the rescue.

:'''[[Katyna]] has posed''':<br />"Hi! I'm not here right now, probably out kickin' butt and makin' lots of money or pretty shinies!" Chirps Katyna's usual cheerful voice on the voice-mail, should Hati call her up. "Please leave a message after the beep!" *BEEEEEP!*<br><br>Alas, it seems Hati's on her own..For now, at least.<br><br>Should the wolf girl follow the directions in the letter, they will take her to the outskirts of the Farplane, a beautiful and yet eerie place that is both alluring and yet dangerous for those who do not know their way around well. However, the coordinates do take her to the beginning of a long and winding path, that travels through flower fields and over gently rolling hills. Out into the distance, Hati may notice what appears to be some sort of stone tower up ahead, a good 30 minutes walk from where she is.<br><br>Other than that, the place is glittering with pyreflies everywhere, swirling and floating all around her, singing their sad and haunting melody as they buzz curiously around the live werewolf who treads upon the sacred ground of the dead.<br><br>They do not attack, but do seem to flutter and buzz around her curiously. If there were any true threats to be seen, it is perhaps the strange ability for the landscape to change and shift; The very path at her feet seeming to vanish behind her. Will she find her way back once she sets down the winding path?

:'''[[Hati]] has posed''':<br />"Yeah. Kat. It's Hati." The wolf pauses a moment, as if trying to think as her feet take the stairs of the hotel at speed. "I've got a lead on Fessner and Serrak. I'm heading to this place near the Farplane." She quickly rattles off a series of directions which are close enough to the map without being exact. She's barely out the door by the time she finishes, heading down into one of the darker allys so she can open a portal without being seen. "Come as soon as you can. I'll probably need some backup." Clicking the phone closed, Hati draws a rune with the tip of her finger, opening a portal, and then stepping through.<br><br>The Farplane is not an unfamiliar place. She would often come here in search of those parts of herself she thought long lost, but her parents were never here among the pyreflies. If that meant they still lived, or that creatures of her world did not end up here, who knows. At this moment, as she passes by, there is only a shimmer. Someone, or something trying to warn her, but she's too intent on the task to notice.<br><br>Once in a while, she moves her hands to nudge a pyrefly out of the way. She doesn't swat them like some would expect, treating them with some care. Nevertheless, she isn't taking heed to where her feet travel, or the fact that she might not be able to find her way back. All she can see is the tower. "Serrak... please be okay." For all she'd felt jealous, and maybe even angry at the Shadow Lord, it is a cold feeling in her stomach that worries for his fate.

:'''[[Katyna]] has posed''':<br />Unfortunately, Katyna does not answer the phone, but it goes dead after the message is left, as if the battery just died. Darnit! She's probably goofing off at some random party or something...<br><br>The pyreflies continues to dart around her, but none of them form into the people she knew or people who recently died. Did that mean..Serrak is still alive? Only one way to find out!<br><br>Hati continues along the trail at a swift pace, but what does time mean, in a place like this, a place of dreams, of fantasy and imagination? Did it matter how far she traveled, how fast she ran? It seems this place reacts more to the spirit, than to the body or mind. Logical thinking has little place here.<br><br>The tower looms suddenly above her, as if it was closer than it first appeared. And then..The whimper of a voice is heard, the appearance of a woman who stumbles out of the tower, reaching out an arm towards Hati before she stumbles again to her knees.<br><br>"Hati..Please..Help me!" Her one blue eye flashes under the eerie dawn light of the farplane. Her other eye is missing.<br><br>Lillian..

:'''[[Hati]] has posed''':<br />For all that her master had been a Shadow Lord, he had never been an expert on matters of life and death. The Farplane is something that people have studied, and even then have little understanding of. Hati has never given it much thought - not to the dead who might be seen amongst the pyreflies, or to the reasons why. She had always come to see if maybe someone among the dead knew her. Without her memories, it had seemed as if she belonged to no one at all. <br><br>She had come here in those younger years, when she still had only the one eye and she would stand at Serrak's side while he spoke to his daughter's image in the mist. She never spoke back, the dead rarely do. It left her to wonder if she were actually there, or if everything he saw was simply what he wished to see. <br><br>Now, the way that space seems to fold in, making the trip that much shorter isn't something that Hati questions. This place has too many mysteries and she cares about only one. One that stops her in her tracks at the sound of that whimper, and the sight of the one eyed girl on her knees.<br><br>Hati had never seen Lillian alive. There was only those pictures, and the vision of her on the Farplane. When Serrak had given her the girl's eye to make her whole, In that moment, the vision of herself looking into the mirror for the first time, seeing two mismatched eyes looking back at her... it draws a shiver.<br><br>"Lillian." Some part of her doesn't question how the girl would know her name. Her heartbeat thunders in her ears. Normally, the wolf would be the one to sit back and think about all this, but where Serrak is concerned, she acts more like a worried daughter than her usual cautious self. So, Hati moves forward on quick feet, couching to reach for the girl. "Are you alright? What he found worked? Where's Serrak?" The questions are fired off in rapid succession, perhaps channeling a bit of Katyna in that moment as she looks around, trying to find any sign of her father.

:'''[[Katyna]] has posed''':<br />Lillian smiles up at Hati, peering back at her other eye - her missing eye. Lillian for the most part, doesnt look too freakish without her other eye, the empty socket having been covered by a simple black eye patch, hidden further beneath deeply swooping bangs.<br><br>"Thank you..I am alright now." She murmurs as she climbs unsteadily to her feet with Hati's help. "You..Really DO look like me. I suppose, that is why father was reminded of me.." Her gaze lingers a little too longingly upon Hati's other eye, although she turns quickly and walks towards the tower, beckoning for Hati to follow.<br><br>"Yes! The elixir worked. I am..Alive again, but father's in trouble. The woman who supplied the elixir, she captured him right after he revived me. She's torturing him! Please, you have to help me save him!"<br><br>And with that, Lillian rushes towards the tower, but she does not go in through the front door; Instead, she moves around the back, taking a small trap door like entrance through the back. "In here..Quickly!" 

:'''[[Hati]] has posed''':<br />Guilt is a new feeling for Hati, who had never had real remorse for her past actions. Even the crimes some might hate her for, she accepts her circumstances at the time rather then feeling bad about it. In this moment, looking at the one-eyed girl, she has a cold feeling of regret in her stomach. Why? It's illogical. She had never asked for the eye. Serrak had just done it. <br><br>There are some similarities between the two girls, and many differences. Where Hati has shorter, darker hair, Lillian has pale blonde. Otherwise, they're about the same size, and their features are similar enough that someone might mistake them for sisters. <br><br>Every instinct she has should be warning her of trouble, but for once, she is ignoring that. Loyalty is one thing ingrained in wolf culture, and Serrak was her alpha, her father, her teacher and savior. Even that creeping feeling at the back of her neck gets shoved to the side. Even if this is a trap, the letter from Serrak had been real enough, she's convinced of that. <br><br>"Show me the way." Hati is on her feet and following the other girl. "What of Fessner, do you know if he's here, too?" It's almost too perfect, as the wolf simply takes the girl at her word, slipping down into the trap door without needing any sort of convincing. Too easy.

:'''[[Katyna]] has posed''':<br />Guilt? But of course she should feel guilty! The wretched fool not only took her other eye, but took her place as Lord Serrak's beautiful new daughter after Lillian had been killed. Were she human still, and not a mere fiend, pulled back into human form with human memories - but still a fiend! - She might have felt compassion to this other woman, might have even understood her father's reasons for doing what he did, his love for his own daughter and the lengths he went to to get her back. But as it is, Lillian's fiendish mind is full only of bitterness and hatred for the woman who walks beside her.<br> <br>Still, she had been promised her revenge...<br> <br>She smiles sweetly at Hati and nods. "Oh yes, they're both in the tower. Being held by 'her.'" She frowns as she glances around however, pausing only briefly at the entrance. "Where is the other one..Katyna? I thought she'd be with you. But..I guess this'll have to do. Come on, we don't have much time!"<br> <br>And with that, Lillian disappears through the trap door. Should Hati follow, she will find herself in a large cold room that is so pitch dark that it's near impossible to see anything. How very strange. There is definitely something off here, something that might send her instincts firing..<br> <br>The trapdoor slams shut behind them, blocking an exit path..

:'''[[Hati]] has posed''':<br />"I'm not sure." Why hadn't Katyna come? It's a question she'll have to worry about later, if there is a later. It had been her choice not to involve the others, and it had been a bad one. Perhaps if she had put a little more trust in them, she wouldn't be standing there in the dark with a cold feeling climbing up her spine. <br><br>"Lillian?" Her voice calls, and the wolf crouches then, depending on her other senses to make up for the lack of sight. Ears listen, nose twitches. Everything in her wolf brain screams: Trap. Fight. Run. Escape. <br><br>Taking a breath, she hears Serrak's words in her ears. He had trained her to control those instincts, not to fight like a wild beast, but to think. In those early years, he had been more of a father to her than the one who's blood flows in her veins. His obsession with resurrecting Lillian only came later. Maybe... maybe he realized that by taking Hati's memories, he took a part of the girl he had grown to love along with it. <br><br>"Which way?" She already expects the trap to be sprung on her, but right now, this is her only option. Maybe there is a chance that Serrak is alive, especially if this girl is here. In the dark, she reaches for her phone, holding a button on the side that is set to send an SOS to the last called number. She'd at least learned one thing from Skoll's mistake. "Lilly, I can't see. I need you to help me find Serrak."

:'''[[Katyna]] has posed''':<br />Where indeed is Katyna? She's not the type to leave someone high and dry, especially not someone she once swore to protect like a sister..But still she has not arrived, not yet at any rate. Perhaps something came up? Perhaps she is already on her way..Who really knows?<br><br>Lillian continues on for several minutes in tense silence, not answering Hati's questions except to lead her further and further into her trap. Eventually, she leads her into a large circular room with narrow walls and a high ceiling. There is a bit more light here, cast from a few sconces with torches. The flame however, only helps to cast an ever eerier light upon the dank dark dungeon that Hati finds herself in.<br><br>And then suddenly, Lillian bursts into laughter. "You..Really are a fool, you know that? Your blind ambition and desire to be reunited..With my father! Don't you realize that he no longer needs you in his life anymore, now that he has his REAL daughter back? You're useless to him now. Not that it matters anymore..Now that he's dead..The blind fool...!"<br><br>Even as she speaks, dark tendrils erupt from the cold stone walls surrounding Hati, shooting out suddenly, grabbing her roughly, entangling her and pulling her taut in their grasp. They start to sap her energy, sharp thorns digging into her skin.<br><br>"And now..To reclaim what is rightfully mine! But first, I will make you suffer!" Stepping back, she sprinkles a strange powder that smells like salt and brimstone upon Hati: "Ex vestri nex novus vita ver , ex vestri infirmitas , novus vires. An oculus pro an oculus a dentis parumper dentis!"<br><br>And pulling out a strange silver glowing gem from around her neck, she plunges it into her eye, which will send wracking pain through Hati's matching eye, along with a painful electric shock streaking  throughout her body.

:'''[[Hati]] has posed''':<br />The silence from Lillian is enough to confirm her suspicions that this is a trap. There's nothing to be done about it, now. Though she is a wolf in a cage, all she can hope is that perhaps Serrak is somewhere in this dark place and she might have some sliver of a chance of finding him. Katyna had once told her how stupid it was to sacrifice yourself for someone you care about, and Hati had told her how she would, for a rare few. Now, she's proving that point by following deeper into the darkness.<br><br>As the eerie light shows around her, lead into that larger, circular room, she can almost feel the moment when the trap is going to be sprung. It would be a lie to say that there isn't some fear going through her, but it isn't for her sake. The laugh proves her thoughts, and her ears fold back. "He's my father, too." She replies, but her voice is quiet, especially as the next words that assault them are harsh. First the claim that he doesn't need her, which she might have refuted if what she says next hadn't taken the words from her lips. <br><br>"No..." Is all that she manages, claws tensing. Anger sparks the darkness within her, causing little flames of it to flicker around her fingers. Hati closes her eyes, growling, willing it not to be true. "You lie..." She snarls, lifting her head, then opening those eyes again to look right at Lillian. <br><br>When those dark tendrils come from the walls, Hati is quick to react. She slices at them, batting away the first barrage, leaping towards the dead girl with the ferocity of a wild animal. That's when they catch her, the thorns piercing into her skin and drawing out a roar of pain. Where the vines wrap around her arms, thin lines of blood trickle down across her skin, but the wolf still fights. She has no words now, only rage.<br><br>She barely smells the powder, barely registers the Latin words. The wolf doesn't stop in her struggles until that crystal is plunged into the dead girl's eye, and Hati freezes. The pain rips through her like nothing she's ever felt before. Her body just goes rigid, as if every nerve were set alight. Then, the wolf's head tilts back, and she lets out a cross between a howl, and a  blood-curdling scream. 

:'''[[Katyna]] has posed''':<br />Her own blue eye turns dark, crackling with tainted energy as she tightens her grip around the other woman, focusing upon her eye. It seems that the unsent Lillian is only a shell of her former self as pyreflies begin to billow around her, and her form seems to take on a shadowy, inhuman look about it.<br><br>"You really are a fool. I expected more of you, but then you were so blinded by your love of him. Well then, allow me to show you what happens to those who try to replace me. When I'm done torturing you and killing you, I will take that eye for myself!"<br><br>She presses the silver stone against her eye once more, sending more excruciating pain throughout Hati's eye in turn, laughing at her screams of pain.<br><br>"You fool, no one can stop you now..Mistress Felicia was right, that Serrak was a fool and he was punished for his betrayal of me. Now....To FINISH YOU OFF! Haaai!!!!"<br><br>She opens her mouth to utter another evil spell, the tendrils of darkness seeming to erupt in full force from her body like hundreds of little arms that only tighten further around her...<br><br>And then, from the shadows, another voice is heard; A familiar, friendly voice as she utters her own fiercely courageous battle cry as she slams her flaming sword into the ground, catching onto the tendrils of energy and momentarily shredding them to bits as they burn up in flames and ashes. Burning ember eyes narrow in anger at what Lillian has done to her beloved sister, but Katyna is more focused upon saving Hati than battling the one-eyed woman..For now.<br><br>"Hey sis, miss me?" She grins as she scoops her up in her arms once the tendrils release their grip on her. When she sees the pain she is in, Kat bites her lip, holding back her tears. NO, they have to get out of here, now!<br><br>"C'mon, let's skeddadle!" And she makes a dash for the still glimmering corridor of darkness behind her, even as Lillian hurls a bolt of dark energy after them.<br><br>Can they make it..? This woman is so strong...

:'''[[Hati]] has posed''':<br />As Lillian's eye begins to change color, growing steadily darker with that tainted energy, so too does the one that Hati carries with her. The roar dulls off as she runs out of breath, fading to a whimper as her real eye rolls back into her head from the pain. Her hands tense, the tight grip causing her to loose feeling in her fingers. The blood trailing from those wounds turns a sickly black. The wolf's breaths are ragged, and her eye doesn't focus until that moment when Lillian speaks again.<br><br>"Never... wanted to replace you. Just wanted to live." Hati growls out these words between clenched teeth, but she is not fool enough to think that this creature can be reasoned with. The pyreflies are sign enough that this is no living girl, but something far darker. <br><br>The pain comes a second time, and as Hati's head tips back again with another of those gutteral cries, her mind goes back to another time entirely. There she was, crouched in wolf form, her shoulder ripped and blood covering her fur. Above her, the great wolf Odin loomed, snarling with one claw tucked against him, mangled from her bite. The other strikes at her, sending her to the ground. Why does she have to remember this? Why now? His claws tearing, his jaws snapping at her exposed belly, the feeling of pain in her eye...<br><br>Her eye... Back in the present, her scream chokes off, voice hoarse. "You're... the fool." Hati croaks out. While she might not be able to keep herself from expressing pain, the wolf at least can make sure this witch doesn't get the satisfaction of breaking her. Even as she moves to cast the killing spell, Hati grits her teeth, growling her defiance.<br><br>There is that flash, the familiar voice and the energy that comes along with it. When the tendrils are shredded, they release the wolf, who falls into a limp pile of limbs on the ground. It's some small miracle that Hati isn't just small, but also relatively light, making it easier for her to be scooped up. It wouldn't take more than a glance to see just how bad things are. Her wrists and ankles are shredded by the thorns, and even as Hati looks up, her once blue eye has darkened to a sickly black with a demonic red slit in the center. Extending out from it, lines of black seem to weave into the wolf-girl's veins.<br><br>"Kat..." She whispers, her voice sounding like sandpaper. There's no time to try to fill her in on the bigger picture. Instead, for probably the first time since she was a pup, lying at Serrak's feet, bleeding in the snow, Hati just depends on someone else to save her. <br><br>It is some stroke of luck that the pyreflies seem to turn against Lillian in that moment. They mass together, almost forming something familiar out of the mist between them, she might just catch a face before they are scattered by the unsent's magic. Even so, it's enough to buy them time. 

:'''[[Katyna]] has posed''':<br />Katyna flinches visibly at that heart-wrenching cry. What on earth happened to her..? But now is certainly not time for questions or contemplations. That crazy one-eyed girl seems intent on killing them, and the more she tries to peer at the face, the less it looks like a human face and more like some shadowy, multi-tentacled creature. Even Lillian's voice comes out now more as a distorted screeching roar, than a human voice as she yells at the pair of girls, launching herself at them only to come to a sudden stop when the pyreflies block her path. <br><br>"OUT OF MY WAAAAY!!! SCATT!!" She snarls, slashing at the pyreflies with her long claws. And yet they are tenacious, stubbornly clinging to her like a mini hurricane of lights and memories..She just stands there, stunned for several minutes, buying the two girls time to flee through the portal.<br><br>Once they're on the other side, Katyna grits her teeth, using her free hand and all her strength of will to slam the portal shut before anyone can follow after her.<br><br>"Ugh...I think we're safe..For now.."<br><br>She breathes a sigh of relief as she finds herself in Traverse Town, just outside the hotel. Oh yeah, doesn't Hati hang out in this hotel on occasion? Still holding the girl close to her chest, gently stroking her hair and hugging her warmly in her arms as she whimpers from the pain of that eye, Kat wastes no time in bursting into the hotel and tracking down her room number, running down the hall to her room and not stopping until she has her safe in her bed.<br><br>Still breathing heavily, Katyna pulls out a little pouch tied to her belt, spilling Potions, Ethers and other useful items at the foot of the bed. Quickly, she sorts out a HiPotion or two, feeding them desperately to Hati before tending to her more obvious wounds, wrapping anything that is bleeding tightly in bandages. She's really unsure of what to do about that eye though and so she just frowns, peering at it as she gently strokes the girl's hair again, trying to soothe her and calm her and make her forget all of that pain.<br><br>"Hati..You okay now? You still in pain?" Her voice comes out hi-pitched, shaking with concern and overwhelming worry. Kat's never had someone she cared this much so close to death; Not since she joined the Shadow Lords. How ironic that things should come full-circle..

:'''[[Hati]] has posed''':<br />Darkness. Movement. Hati has the briefest image of the pyreflies before the familiar swirling vortex of darkness closes in around them, dropping both girls out on the other side. The moment the light hits her eyes, the wolf closes them. Maybe it's foolish, but she doesn't want to risk any chance of Lillian using her eye as a form of remote sight and following them. So it falls to her other senses to figure out where she's been taken, the scent of Traverse Town all too familiar to her nose. <br><br>As much as she might be conscious, the wolf-girl barely stirs, although sometimes movement might draw a whimper from her lips. Her ears remain folded back, skin pale, and perhaps for the first time that Katyna has known her, Hati looks... vulnerable. "The eye." She croaks, her voice still sounding as if she'd torn her throat with those screams. While the wolf might drink down the potions offered to her, she is quite insistent upon the eye being wrapped off, not wanting to take that risk.<br><br>Even in the matter of time it has taken to get here, those dark lines on her cheek have spread slightly, one reaching so far as her forehead. Only once the eye is completely covered does she open the green one beside it, her expression hard to read. The worst of her wounds are those on her wrists and legs, showing deep gouges where the thorns had pierced her skin. More troubling is the fact that they seem to be oozing some dark liquid rather than blood. <br><br>Sitting up against the pillows, the wolf tries to calm her own breathing, but it's impossible not to see how bad off things are. These are no ordinary wounds, and the magic that had hurt her so badly seems to be still spreading. "I'm..." She wants to say 'I'm fine', but somehow she can't manage to lie to Katyna, not about this. "Not sure. A little." <br><br>As strange as it is, the wolf can't help but be concerned not for herself, but for her friend in that moment. Sure, Katyna might be whole, but Hati had news that might break her as much as it threatens to break the wolf from the inside out. "It's... that priestess. The one from the catacombs." She struggles a bit to speak, shifting herself with some effort. "Brought Lillian back. I think... she..." It takes just that much more effort to get the words out, because saying them would make them true. Her living eye is glassy, filled with emotion that spills over as a single line of tears drips down her cheek. <br><br>"Kat... they're gone. She... she killed them. Serrak... and Fessner." It is simply ironic timing, but as she says this, there is another stab of pain from her eye. This is Lillian's revenge for them escaping. Hati grits her teeth. "I think, we pissed her off..." She manages to say with some dark humor, followed by another of those whimpers.

:'''[[Katyna]] has posed''':<br />Katyna frowns as she continues to dress Hati's wounds, but noticing the black ichor has her pretty freaked out! She's not much of a healer herself, although she did learn basic first aid from Sir Kasrillen, back when he hoped to mold her into a paladin like himself.<br><br>Quickly, she opens an antidote, pouring the liquid directly to the wounds and gently wiping away the mess as best as she can. Dammit, this will likely require the touch of a proper healer. Briefly she considers calling upon Faruja, but knowing what a Zealot he is, if he got too close to the truth of the matter, it might place Hati in greater danger.<br><br>As for VALKYRIE, they were completely out of the question, knowing that Avira had actively chosen to oppose the Shadow Lords. No, she couldn't trust any of them with the truth either.<br><br>What about Seith? Would he be willing to help her to save Hati's life? Did he really give a damn about anything other than himself, really? There was only one way to find out. But Kat still needed to find someone to watch over Hati in the mean time.<br><br>When Hati mentions the eye, Katyna glances at it with a deepened frown, and quickly pulls out an eye patch from the room's first aid kit, wrapping it over the blackened eye. <br><br>"I...I dont understand this..It's all black. And the wounds too. What on earth did she do to you? I thought I heard her utter some sort of magic spell..And this strange gritty stuff all over you. Hati, do you remember anything? It'll help when I go to Seith for help...I..."<br><br>And then she mentions Felicia and Serrak...And..Fessner. Kat's eyes widen, dropping the bandages, staring back at her in disbelief. "Wuh...What? What the hey are you saying? No way!! She's just lying to you, Hati! Dont believe her! Of course they're alive! They're strong...They'd never...Never..." <br><br>She just turns away, shaking her head in disbelief. No, she doesn't want to believe that! No, not another person she cared about! No!!!

:'''[[Hati]] has posed''':<br />While the antidote does seem to clean some of the black ichor away from the wolf's skin, more seems to well beneath the surface. This is a dark sort of magic, indeed. Worst of all, those deep cuts are not what seems to hurt her most, if she even notices them at all. Instead, she just winces now and again, lifting one hand to her head as if it ached bitterly. Her movements are slow, weak. Whatever this is, it seems to be draining her almost from the inside out.<br><br>"Some kind of spell... She blew this dust at me. It smelled terrible." The wolf wrinkles her nose, then sneezes suddenly. "Urg." She groans, and then leans back, not seeming to have the strength to hold herself upright. "She was talking in Latin..."<br><br>It's funny how Katyna's train of thought is so similar to her own when it comes to who she could call upon. Then again, Faruja knew about her former allegiances, as does her brother. Hati had never made a point of misleading anyone who had asked her directly. Right now, it's hard to think about anything. Her head pounds bitterly and the wolf lets her head come to rest on the pillows, closing her good eye.<br><br>Surely, Lillian would find some sick pleasure in the pain she has caused both of these girls. "The pyreflies..." Is all she says in response, and somewhere within Hati's heart, she knows that the words were true. Whatever remained of the real Lillian, the creature that resides in her body now has no remorse and only the most dark of emotions. Once, she had been close to becoming something like that, and she had been drawn back. The unsent isn't a creature that can be saved, though.<br><br>The wolf doesn't have the heart or the strength to say more. It's hard to tell if she actually falls asleep then, or if she's just quiet and still to keep the pain from lashing through her body. Either way, Hati barely moves, lost somewhere between sleep and awake, someplace where the dark magic infecting her body can lash at her very soul.

:'''[[Katyna]] has posed''':<br />"Ugh, what is this?" What did she DO to her?! What is she still doing to Hati!? Dammit! Kat..Is at a total loss as to what to do. "Ugh...I need a healer..Maybe I can call Faru. He's a paladin, right? Except..If he knew your secret..Guh, I dunno~! But..Maybe Skoll can help you. At least he knows your secret."<br><br>Besides, he's her brother, if he knew what she was, he wouldn't hurt her. And so Kat quickly searches Hati's pocket for her cellphone and sends a quick text to Skoll with trembling fingers. "Ugh, I cant believe I'm asking him for help, but I cant just leave you here..Still, I need to find Seith!!"<br><br>She continues to wrap the girl in bandages, applying more antidote wherever she can and trying her best to clean up the black stuff that pools out of her.<br><br>"Huh, I came in at the tail end, but I did catch some of that Latin.." Kat also scoops up some of the brimstone powder and collects it in a little vial, putting it away for future reference. Then quickly, she scribbles down what little she caught from the spell.<br><br>With that, Kat climbs to her feet, but hesitates as Hati mentions pyreflies. "What? No.." They protected them, Kat saw that too. She also knew that pyreflies were the remnants of souls of the dead .Or something, but...Was it Serrak? Or Fessner? Or..Both?<br><br>"No...I wont believe they are dead until I see with my own eyes! We've gotta have hope! So please...." Clenching and unclenching her fists, Kat tries to calm down before leaning over Hati, kissing her gently on the forehead.<br><br>"I'll be back soon, I promise! In the mean time, you just rest!"<br><br>Now, she just has to wait for Skoll to arrive so she can slip off and ask Seith about this..In the meantime, exhausted, Kat lays next to Hati on the bed, wrapping her arms protectively around her, falling asleep exhausted.<br><br>Of course by tomorrow, she will have left and Skoll will hopefully be here to watch over Hati instead..