[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]there's no answer.

and she hates the way her face falls at the realization. despises it, even.

whatever small hope she had been sheltering is dissipating with each ebb and flow of mist swirls.

she doesn't bother to ask again.

the ground begins to tremble. she stumbles forward with the unsteady force. and it's familiar in the same way it's not.

a gargantuan golurk parts through the mist as it rumbles its way forward. the stench of blood is unmistakable, pungent and heavy with iron. her nose wrinkles as a gag follows, as if choking on the smell.

and when it sees her, it stills. mechanisms cease for a moment. they pick up again as it shifts, turning toward her. the ground rumbles more when it begins to walk toward her. she stares, eyes wide.

"what is that?"

she whispers to no one in particular. herself, perhaps.

a hand fumbles for her belt, for a pokeball... as if she knows she's not getting out of here without a fight. her own golurk rises next to her in a flash. with the comparison of size now in front of her, she begins to pale.

ALEXANDER STONE

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]there's little time for her or her golurk to formulate a plan.

the giant golurk with -- blood, the source of the blood -- spikes protruding from its back takes immediate notice of her own automaton. she shrinks, taking a few steps back.

and when the shadow ball comes, she gasps.

"fuck."

quick thinking. she needs quick fucking thinking right now.

"phantom force."

her golurk disappears into the stretches of shadows at their feet before the shadow ball can collide with them. and once her golurk is gone, she lunges out of the way. the ghastly orb barely misses her.

and yet, her golurk doesn't reappear by the massive automaton. no, it stays close to her, dragging itself out of shadows to stand in front of her as a makeshift shield.

she's in over her head.

it's too obvious now: this was a terrible idea.

ALEXANDER STONE

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]it’s funny, in hindsight, how two words can reduce her to tears.

well, she doesn’t believe it’s the words. no, it’s the voice… like something out of a dream — or a nightmare.

she’s faintly aware of tears streaking her cheeks. even less aware of how he still seems translucent. barely there.

”alex.”

the giant automaton turns toward him, then, and she moves on autopilot.

her mind screams to move faster, to get to him, to save him in the way she should have during the war.

her golurk is quicker. her automaton slips into the shadows and appears beside alex. with a soft, wistful sort of coo, her golurk intervenes to strike thr giant golurk away from alex with the ending of phantom force. it gives illeana enough time to reach him, to claw at his arm in an attempt to drag him away.

she only barely registers how her hands don’t quite slip through.

”we have to go. now!”

ALEXANDER STONE

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]she's missed this, his hand in hers, in ways she can't even fully comprehend.

and when he tugs her along, she follows blindly. the tether between them doesn't register as real. she's certain this has to be a dream... or her own version of her afterlife. perhaps in the end, the gargantuan golurk had speared her with a spike and she's now stuck within the borders.

her own automaton abandons their assailant in favor of following its trainer. it slips into shadows and stretches the distance until it is safely tucked within her own.

spiritual bridges come into view and her movements slow, as if she's going to drag him back. she looks panicked, anxious, a shell of her old self.

"can we get out this way?"

is this even the way she had come in? it's hard to tell within the mist.

ALEXANDER STONE

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]"i don't know."

it sounds small, easy to swallow up should the mist want to taste her voice.

she doesn't know left from right, up from down in here. it's foreign in a way she detests.

a soft sigh escapes.

"best guess would be back the way we came..."

where the giant golurk is waiting. she can still taste the blood caked onto it, heavy on her tongue.

ALEXANDER STONE

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]there is only one way to find out if she is, in fact, correct...

for now, he turns toward her and she allows herself to simply stare. he looks different. not in the way death should, perhaps, but a familiar gut-wrenching sort of way.

and perhaps she looks different to him too.

"i --"

there's no use in lying.

"i was looking for you."

to see him again. to know he's still in some form of existence.

and now that she has, the wound he left behind has opened and it'll bleed her dry.

ALEXANDER STONE