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Shattered Soul (kuro_bara x Alenaeon)

Elizabeth was oblivious to his thoughts about their time together, sensing only that he was enjoying himself. For her it was more an enjoyment of company and intelligent company at that, she didn't often meet people that could teach her things and except her eccentric ways of thinking. She smiled as they walked pointing out some of the landmarks around the city, she was quite knowledgeable about the city and the various levels of society there.

Eventually they reached the restaurant and were sighted at a nice table near the windows. She choose one of her favourites of the menu and a glass of wine, her mind still wandering about the man at the clothing shop. Rem's words broke into her reverie. "I am surprised about their nature, Dirigible has never indicated anything of the sort. Souls are not typically used as energy, souls aren't really something anyone in this place would think about beyond religion." She frowned thoughtfully, sipping the wine the server set in front of her. "My question...is where are these souls coming from? I cannot imagine people of my time volunteering to hand over their very essence for power." She fell silent, mulling over things in her mind. "It greatly worries me."
 
He nodded towards her as she spoke. He had already deciphered that part of the puzzle. Or at least that is what he thought. "Why, it's simple. They have found a way to tap into that power and have spent their time stealing souls and claiming they are normal sources of energy. Most people will not question it, nor have the ability to properly question it. The real question is how are they obtaining said souls, and how did they learn to do such an action."
 
Elizabeth sat back in her seat and crossed one leg over the other. "This is a very serious issue." She said slowly. "But I think I know where we need to - -" She stopped abruptly in the middle of her sentence. "That man!" She stated sitting up straight. "I finally remembered where I've seen him. He works at the college." Elizabeth didn't stop to explain what she meant. "I think we need to start our search at the University, my lab and many of Dirigible's other research facilities are there. They fund a great deal of the research of the students and professors in their quest for 'clean' energy." Her lips twisted distastefully. "I am beginning to suspect this energy is not so clean after all."

After draining her class she bounced to her feet, her meal forgotten. Beth pulled Rem out of his seat and hurried to pay the bill before rushing back to her lab. "I'm sorry I didn't mention it but while you were changing...a man threatened me. He told me to stay away from you. I thought it must have been a mistake as who in this world could possibly know of you let alone any danger you may pose." She gave him an apologetic smile and a tiny shrug as they hurried along.
 
Remwald huffed slightly at being pulled away from a good meal. While he certainly didn't enjoy or dislike eating, he did dislike being rudely interrupted in the middle of a meal. Still, he found it easy enough to forgive her as he was lead through the streets towards her lab. He tried to take a bit of a lead early on but realize he still hadn't much of a clue of the overall layout of the city, letting her guide him to the lab.

When they got to the lab, he attempted to enter first. He used the logic that he was immortal and she was not so he would shoulder the risks. He went into the building, attempting to pretend like he was some high class citizen with Elizabeth leading him around the place. He wasn't sure where to start the research so he let her lead him through a few of the labs, where they searched through the notes trying to find more pieces of the puzzle.
 
Elizabeth smiled at his back when he stepped protectively in front of her. It sent a pleasant tingle through her to think he wanted to keep her safe. Moving past him into the labyrinth network of halls, offices and workshops, she proceeded to the library first. After pawing through several books and not finding what she was looking for she moved onto the labs. In the third one she slammed a box of folders onto the desk angrily. "There isn't a trace of information on where these blasted stones came from." She gave a frustrated sigh and started pacing around the room. "I am beginning to wonder how deeply this conspiracy goes."

As she walked she went over the current information she had. The stones gave off energy that powered much of the technology or could be retrofitted to work with it. The energy was the essence of a human soul. There were thousands of stones scattered around the city though Dirigible was still working to sell their energy to the general public. She stopped walking the same nagging question sticking in her mind. "Thousands of stones...thousands of souls..." She muttered mostly to herself. "Thousands...oh." Her mind rolled to a stop and without a word she marched out of the room and went straight back to the library, leaving Remwald to continue searching through the laboratory.

Rummaging through a stack of film she pulled out a series of dates and fed them onto a machine that displayed archived newspapers. Quickly scanning through them she found three that stuck out in her mind. Three years ago a school, burned to the ground. No survivors, no bodies. Nearly a year later, a manufacturing plant, chemical explosion. Burned to the ground, no survivors, no bodies. Lastly and only six months ago, an airship carrying over 1000 passengers crashed and burned. No survivors, no bodies. The total body count of the three incidents was well over 3000 people. Her brain raced to make connections. Dirigible had showed up three years ago with a small supply of the stones and began recruiting researchers from a variety of fields.

Elizabeth sat heavily in a chair, dread making her feel cold. It was because of her distraction that she did not immediately sense the man behind her. The figure grabbed her and covered her mouth, the pungent smell of chloroform choking her. Moments later she passed out and was carried away by the figure. Anyone who might have been watching would think they had simply vanished, but the figure had simply utilized a network of hallways beneath the building connected to a whole other set of labs that even the university was unaware of.
 
He was scanning through the files when she left. He figured that she would be safe enough that he didn't half to worry and he had picked up bits and pieces that even the most determined investigator would have missed because he had years upon years of organizing conspiracies and he knew their methodology. Still, they were very very efficient and very hard to track.

"I think I have enough that we can look into the 'production facility on Chester Street' to get a bit more info. Eli-." He stopped as a sudden feeling of dread overwhelmed him. She was in danger because he knew she did not have a natural tendency towards random daily naps. He bolted out of the room, heading for the direction he had last felt her from.

He looked around the library, pulling on random books, searching for secret doors or something that would give him an impression of where she was. He searched for minutes, but if he didn't find something, he knew that he wouldn't have enough time to do it. He hoped beyond hope that she would make it out of this ok or that he would find something to guide him towards that direction.
 
Elizabeth opened her eyes and was immediately rewarded with a wave of dizziness and mounting panic. The panic was twice as strong because she did not only feel her own panic but she could feel a pulsing surge of panic from Remwald. She tried to sit up and realized with a jolt she already was but was unable to move because she was strapped into what looked like the dentist chair from hell. Her fear forced her into full alertness, her eyes wide with shock. Beth wasn't entirely sure how she had come to be in this situation but she knew it was not a good one. Given the nature of Rem's protectiveness earlier she was a little surprised he hadn't turn the place apart yet...looking around at her unfamiliar surrounding she thought to herself, 'Unless he can't find me...'

The room she was in looked like most of the labs in the University but it had an odd feel to it she couldn't place. It made her skin crawl and it wasn't just the bizarre instruments all over the place. As she pulled at the restraints, testing to see if how tight they were, the scarred man appeared. He stood a few feet away watching her with a frown. "I told you to leave the Lich alone." He said shaking his head sadly. "You did not listen and now it is your own fault your fate has come to this."

Beth licked her lips nervously, trying to play for time until Rem could find her. She sent a strong urgency of need at him and hoped he would be able to find her through the link. "What is a Lich?" She asked sounding suitably confused. "Are you talking about the nice man that took me out for dinner and shopping?" She said acting dumb. "Oh he's such a handsome man, whatever a Lich is sounds awful. I do hope he will take me out again." She gave a wistful sigh.

The man strode forward and gave her a stinging slap across the cheek. "Stop you lies woman. We heard all your conversation at your lab and he was spotted living an abandoned building before that. Our boss is very interested in meeting your friend."

She glared venomously at him. "Well I am not telling you where he is." She stated icily.

The smile the man gave her pulled his scar into a gruesome expression. "You won't need to, when I am done with you he will readily come to us." Pulling one of the tools off the table he advanced on her with a far to gleeful expression.
 
He had half expected something of an interrogation, but he knew the dread that he presently felt. It wasn't his, but he was damned sure that someone else was going to experience something much, much worse. He headed in the direction he felt her, he now no longer cared about collateral damage or evidence. Where there was a wall in his way, he merely punched through it. Using his sharpened finger bones to dig through the material. It had been so long, so very long since he had let it all go like this. It felt nice, even if he knew he would need to contain himself once again after this. He let his skin fall away as he dug and dug, his face being the last to disappear although by the time it did he had a maniacal grin on his face with an evil glint in his eye. After the face disappeared, the lights of his eyes showed pure, malicious intent, burning with a deep rage.

He clenched his fists as he finally found the tunnels. There was quite a bit of the building material lying around him, he wouldn't have much time but he didn't need it. He dashed as fast as he physically could down the halls, using his connection to her as a guiding light in this maze. He went over the ways he would punish this fool. He would ensure that the torment was long lasting, even into the afterlife.

When he found the room, he found Elizabeth badly cut and beaten, the tools having been obviously been used to torture her. While he had felt the emotions that she had gone through, seeing her only made it worse. He leaped at the man and tackled him to the ground, his fists connecting to the mans face repeatedly. He ensured that the man was unconscious before he went over to Elizabeth, he helped her out of the chair, and hugged her before laying her on the ground. She needed rest presumably, and he didn't need her to see this.

He strapped the man to the table and waited for him to regain consciousness. He placed one of his fingers under his chin, drawing a bit of blood. "You have made a dire, dire mistake. You will wish for death, you will crave it by the time I am done with you. But no, you will be an example to whatever pathetic beings you work for that I am not a man to be trifled with."

((As a warning to any readers of this thread, the rest of this is going to be as graphic as I can make it. You have been warned.))

He pulled up his sleeves, not wanting them to get dirty as he thought of how he would go about this. Oh, that sounded nice. He peeled the skin of the man's finger and watched as it bled. Then he peeled back the muscles, repeating in turn for each of the fingers on his left hand. Using a bit of necromancy, he quickly bound the man's soul to remain here for the moment so the torture itself wouldn't allow him to die, then he grabbed the man's middle finger of his left hand, and yanked it off before digging it into his palm. Whether or not the man screamed was irrelevant, he was going to find a way to cause this individual dire pain.

He plunges his hand into the man's body, right below the rib cage. He rolled his hand around for a few moments, mostly to salt the wound before he removed it. He placed the removed index finger into the newly created hole. "Oh, good, you come with a built in storage container!" His voice had become slightly higher pitched, and more manic.

He gently laid his hand on the man's leg, before he slid his finger down it, splitting it open down to the bone, all the way down to his foot. "You know, you don't really need genitals do you? I mean, your life expectancy has hit the rate of, oh, two days at most?" With a quick slashing motion, he removed the man's penis and testicles, he placed the penis in the hole of his leg and the testicles in his mouth. "See, now you have a good dinner before you go off and tell the piggies your little story!"

He used his mana to make his finger more saw like, and he slowly sawed off the other leg. It was amazing how much blood this man had, but he worked diligently, soon getting all the way through it, leaving the man with barely a stump under his pelvis. "I am even kind enough to make you a crutch!"

Using bits of skin from the man, he sewed up his open wounds and clapped his hands together. "Perfect! Now, when I release you, you ARE going to go to your boss and tell him what happened to you and THEN you will be allowed to die. If you don't, well I'll just have to play with your soul next! I do so love playing with my toys, so don't tell them if you want!" He giggled madly, then stopped. "Oh, wait. An eye for an eye!" He reached into the man's eye socket and pulled out the eyeball, he juggled it a bit before he placed it into the man's hand. "A going away present."

He cast a final spell on the man, he had around two days of artificial life. Remwald also did a bit of fake magic afterwards, "And if you don't tell, well I'll know and I just cast a spell to be able to retrieve your soul in a moments notice. So don't think you can get away and not tell me!" He unstrapped the man and handed him his leg. "Might wanna hurry! Your on the final leg of the race!"

The man hobbled off, crying to himself as now he wanted to get away from here. Far, far away from here. Remwald would figure out later whether or not he had followed the instructions.

Remwald calmed himself and wiped the blood off of his hand calmly before he went over to Elizabeth, hoping that she saw absolutely none of that. Who knows what she would think of him then?
 
Elizabeth whimpered as the man stepped away from her and dropped one of the tools with a metallic clang. She was covered with dozens of shallow, slowly bleeding cuts and many more bruises. As a matter of convenience he had cut away her outer clothing and tossed them aside like so much garbage. She vaguely recognized that her body was going into shock when she started to shiver violently and feel less pain. As the man turned to pick up another of the horrendous devices he came face to face with the terrifying visage of Remwald in his true form.

Beth hadn’t felt him coming, her body felt and mind both felt numb. She saw the flash of movement as Rem tackled the man and could hear the thud and crack of him beating the man senseless. She didn’t feel one iota of pity for that man; he had wanted to call Rem here and had achieved that end. When Remwald left him there unconscious and gently picked her up out of the chair she cried out in pain and bit back a sob. She didn’t know it was possible to hurt so much in so many places. While laying still it wasn’t nearly as apparent but even the slight pressure of being picked up cause her agony.

As he laid her the floor she made a feeble attempt to grab his hand but her arm fell weakly to the floor. Whatever he was going to do to that man wasn’t good; in the long run would probably hurt him almost as bad as the man. She didn’t want to be the cause of emotional pain that Rem would have to deal with later. Tears leaked from the corner of her eyes as she fought to remain conscious. As darkness slipped over her she heard Rem’s voice rumbling ominously and a high pitched screech of pain that couldn’t possibly have been human. A moment later her world dissolved into blackness so complete that even dreams did not penetrate it.
 
He picked her up in his arms, one hand underneath her knees with the other underneath her neck. He started to walk out of the tunnels. He intentionally avoided the path he came in, no need to try and explain why he was carrying an unconscious, beaten and half naked woman. He drained his life energy into her, ignoring the true pain it caused him, he wanted her to be physically better at any cost. It wasn't her fault that he had many, many enemies.

He managed to find an exit near the opposite end of the university, he dashed from sidestreet to sidestreet with her in his arms, being careful to do his best to avoid attention. He would have loved to use the rooftops, but climbing with a body was awkward at best. He managed to get her home and set her on her bed while he sat on the floor where the blood had been, although the magic had seeped almost almost all of it away after the ritual. He meditated and tried to calm himself even further as she slept.
 
For the second time Beth forced her eyes open very slowly. Her relief at seeing her own familiar walls around her almost brought back her tears. When she attempted to move however, her eyes did well up with tears. Pushing herself into a sitting position and leaning against the headboard was about all she could muster at this point. She could feel Rem's presence nearby and smiled. Leaning her head back against the board she forced her sore body to relax. With him around she knew she was safe...though...she had the nagging feeling he had done something gruesome. A fragmented memory of a man screaming drifted through her mind and she frowned. It had probably been for the best that she passed out when she did.

Looking down at herself and expecting to see dozens of wounds; she let out a soft gasp of surprise. The worst of the injuries were gone, some of the bruising was still there but faded as if they were days old. Her body ached all over but in general she was in much better condition then when she had passed out. Beth slowly slid out of the bed, pulling the comforter off and wrapping it around her. She needed a bath desperately and fresh clothing obviously but she had something she wanted to do first.

Staggering slightly she walked out to the livingroom and leaned on the door frame. Rem was sitting in the centre of the circle meditating but he probably sense her up and about. Walking forward and sliding onto her knees behind him, she braced her forehead against his back. "Thank you..." She murmured wearily. "I...would have died without you..."
 
He nodded. "Without me, you would not have been in that situation. You wouldn't have dug into the affairs of Dirigible, or associated with me. They would have had no reason to try to kill you. I only hope that you didn't see what I did. It was needed, a point must be made. If you decide that you want me gone after that, I shall accept it. If not, well I shall be here, protecting you."

He turned around and hugged her for a few moments. "Regardless, they shall be brought down. None shall harm my friends. No one." He said solemnly, he breathing was a bit heavy but he let her go and closed his eyes again, he wasn't sure when he had opened them only that they were now and they were pointed at her. "Now, judging from what I can tell, you probably need a bath. So go, I'll stay here."
 
Beth was a little surprised when Rem turned around and embraced her. At first she tried to pull away but she rather liked the feel of someone hugging her so she leaned into him and closed her eyes for a moment. "You can't leave now." She said softly, pulling away to look at him. "You are literally a part of me, I am just starting to get used to having your feelings in my head all the time." She gave him a tired smile. "Sorry, but your stuck with me."

When he pinned her with his intense gave she gave a small shrug and tiny smile. "Yes a bath does sound nice." She tried to push herself up and groaned softly. "In a few minutes." She said with an apologetic smile. "Once I can stand up again."
 
He nodded in response to her. "I figured you may want a hug after what you had went through." He stood up and extended his hand to her. "Would you like me to help you there, I did carry you here, helping you to the bathroom shant be a problem." She would notice that he was in his natural form, and that his bones were cracked and broken.

"Torture is rarely pleasant, except in a few cases were it is..." He drifts off for a moment and stops himself. He nods to her again, "If you need something, you only need to ask and I shall do my best to support it, whether that be as a savior or just a friend to carry you to the bath."
 
She looked over his battered form. "What did you do? Did you use too much magic?" Beth asked, her eyes narrowed as she stared at him. She refused to budge until something was done about this. "Tell me what I can do to help replenish your energy." She stated. There was a stubborn set to her a posture and a look on her face that said she wouldn't be moved on the topic. "Do you need energy, magic...blood?" She pulled her blanket tighter around her and stared at him.
 
"Have patience, wait it out is the only realistic option unless you want me eating more souls. Your blood is worthless to me, I could use you to get mana, but that would just undo what I just did. I heal at a faster rate then you so you don't need to worry." He stares back at her, equally stubborn as her, although he wondered why she was clutching the blanket, probably out of fear of needing blood.

He sighed. "You don't need to worry about me. I have suffered far worse in my time, a few cracks from mana loss is nothing for me. Now, would you like me to assist you in going to the bathroom or shall I remain here while you go bath?"
 
Grumbling to herself she held out an arm for assistance. She muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "Boneheaded skeleton..." as he gently helped to her to her feet. Beth was able to shamble her way to the bathroom by holding onto his arm. Her legs were still a bit shaky but she was already feeling the strength return to them. At the door to the bathroom she grinned at him and gave him a gentle push back to the living room. "Unless you want to watch." She teased rather boldly with an impish smile.

Without waiting for a response to her brazen statement she vanished into the room and closed the door behind her. Beth tossed the blanket into the basket of laundry and stripped off the ruined undergarments, those promptly went into the trash. Turning the water on as hot as she could reasonably stand and adding in some scented soaps, she turned to exam herself in the mirror. Whatever Rem had done had certainly worked wonders. At least physically, she didn't think it would possibly to ever forget what the scarred man had done to her. With the bath filled with soapy bubbles and steaming water, she turned off the taps and carefully lowered herself into the water with a sigh or pleasure.

The hot water immediately started to make the ache ease up and the relaxing scents in the soap made her mind wander. She thought about what they had uncovered today. It was obviously far larger then she had ever imagined...as she drifted she tried to make a mental note to tell Rem about the disasters. She stayed submerged in the water until it was too cool to remain. After quickly washing her hair and drying off, she wrapped a towel around herself and padded barefoot out of the room and towards her own. She felt pleasantly sleepy and much more relaxed now and her skin glowed pink from the heat of the water.
 
He was half tempted to take her up on her offer as she asked if he wanted to watch, but he was merely friends with her and that would be improper so he didn't even dare encroach said subject, even if it had left him a bit embarrassed. When she shut the door, he headed for the kitchen, digging through whatever food sources she had. Apparently it wasn't as much as he liked, but he would find a way to make due with it.

He started to cook a meal, roasted chicken complimented with a few seasonings, and a side of brocoli as that was all he could come up with given her supplies and the limited amount of time he had. He did it, mostly to keep his thoughts off of her and the days events. Mostly it was Elizabeth, because dealing with conspiracies and people getting tortured was a daily event for him. She intrigued him, she tempted him. He didn't understand her, he wanted too, but he knew that he never truly would at least as it was. He waited for the door to open to take the food out and plate it on the table for her, while it was late, he assumed she could at least enjoy a home cooked meal.
 
The smell of food made her mouth water and her stomach rumble. She hadn't eaten at the restaurant being too insistent on getting to the university. She ducked into her room and slipped on a light robe, as well as quickly brushing and braiding her hair. Wandering back out to the small kitchen she sat at the table and grinned at Rem. "Who knew a skeleton could cook?" She quipped smiling playfully.

She picked up the fork and took a bit of the chicken and made a pleased sound. "Wow this is good." She murmured. She rarely ate meals at home. Beth found it kind of depressing to eat alone so she usually ate at the University lounge. Because of this tendency her cupboards were pathetically bare and she was impressed he scrounged enough for even this. It was the best meal that she hadn't paid for in a long while. As she finished off the plate of food in record time she told Rem about her findings over the major disasters.

"They are sporadic but the death tolls were in thousands for all three. Isn't it odd that not a single body was recovered from any of them." She frowned her stomach twisting at the thought. "One of those disasters was a school full of children..." She said softly. "If Dirigible is behind any of these they need to be stopped." She fixed her emerald eyes on him, a look of determination hidden there. "Scientist need to have morals, otherwise we quickly become monsters."
 
"Well of course they are behind it. It is a matter of how you get to them at this point. Exposing it would certainly cripple their efforts but you would need to prove the theory of them being soul stones." He poked at the food idly, eating a bit, mostly for show. "As for my cooking skill, well when you only have days as a human on average. You learn to prepare excellent cuisine with whatever is on hand, so that way you can enjoy the flavors. Imagine going oh, 100 years without knowing the taste of anything. I had to deal with that frequently."

He sat staring at her, listening to her observations about Dirigible and what she thought they were behind. Right now, he was just happy that she was safe and hopefully wasn't too emotionally scarred. "We should probably hurry though, so get your sleep. I'll remain out here, would you like breakfast? I can go out shopping during the middle of the night if you like."
 
His offhand talk of his ability to cook made her a little sad. Sometimes it was hard to remember that he wasn't human, she didn't even really notice his strange appearance anymore. A thought bloomed in her mind pushing aside her concerns about Dirigible momentarily. "Rem you said what you did with my soul is permanent. What about your? You removed the whole thing and sealed it away? Is there away to reverse it?" She gazed him while he pushed the food around. That made her wonder about other things. He would presumably live indefinitely...but what about her. She still had most of her own soul, would she live long like him or die like a mortal. What would happen when she died...her eyes widened slightly. "What happens if I die?" She asked abruptly. These were all things he must have known but had failed to tell her.
 
Remwald shrugged. "I have reversed it before. Temporarily, mortality simply is not for me. It feels unnatural after a while. If you die? Well, I honestly have no clue. You might be stuck here, or I may lose part of my soul or some other catastrophe. It's hard to say, the ritual has never been done before." He wished he had answers for her, but he simply didn't at the moment. He nodded in her direction as he collected his plate and silverware and took them over to the sink to start cleaning them.
 
Beth yawned loudly, his suggestion that she sleep sounding better by the minute. "Thank you for the meal..." She said rising to her feet and stretching. She decided upon hearing his words to keep her thought to herself, she had been thinking about a couple of theories about their ritual but she needed to learn more before she voiced them. As for his comment about mortality...well if he had been in this state for so long she supposed that the relatively short life of a mortal would be pretty unsavory.

On a whim she walked over and kissed him lightly on the cheek with another whispered thanks before disappearing to her room. Rolling into her blankets Beth fell asleep within minutes. The day had been emotionally and physically exhausting and most women would have collapsed in a corner blubbering by now. Elizabeth had often come across as cold when dealing with trying times or strong emotion. It wasn't that she didn't care she simply dealt with things differently then everyone else. Curled up on the bed, fast asleep her dreams quickly turned to nightmares of a man that changed into a monster and chased her through a stone maze. She had no idea she was actually whimpering in her sleep.

The next day she awoke feeling groggy, the nightmares had made her rest slightly less restful then it could have been but overall she was much improved. She tossed on a skirt, blouse and corset and made herself presentable for the public before strolling out to the livingroom. Rem, as he had promised, was still there. "Morning." She said as brightly as she could manage.
 
He smiled at her. He wanted to help her with her nightmares, but he only had so much influence over her mind, which was to say almost none. He waved back at her, he had spent the past night wondering why on earth she showed him that affection, but he came to the determination that it merely needed to be placed to the back of his mind. "Shall we head out and look for clues?"

Assuming she said yes, Remwald lead her out into the city. He had a few ideas, but he wasn't sure where to start. Almost all of them had been factories.
 
Elizabeth followed Remwald through the city, making notes in her little book as they went. After visiting several factories she frowned, deep in thought. "I think we should visit the site of one of the disasters." She stated, chewing absently on the end of her pen. "We need to make some connections with all the information we have." She hoped by visiting one of the sites they would find some evidence of Dirigibles involvement but they seemed to be very good at hiding their tracks. She was already feeling frustrated that they were losing the window to hunt these people down. She felt like it was her mission to put an end to them and their twisted fuel source.
 
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