TW: Hallucinations, implication of imp@l!ng oneself(not fatal, done in the context of transforming, non-graphic) ___ Characters: Steph, hallucination of Mela/Rae, Dolia, Ophelia Where: Steph's office When: Slightly in future, around present ___ Steph’s breath came in short inhales and forced exhales, her knees were curled up to her chest and she tried to keep her gaze away from the walls. The room felt darker than it usually was, and the walls seemed to be dripping with some strange liquid. The figures in the corners, made of shadows and teeth, laughed at her. She whimpered slightly, curling her knees even closer to her chest, eyes wide, “It’s not real… it’s not real… it’s not real…” She murmured, attempting to reason with herself, but it didn’t help much– her repetition of those same words getting more desperate as the figures laughed louder, and the room seemed to close in around her. As tears brimmed her eyes, she heard a familiar voice, “Steph?” She looked up, and what looked to be either Raemus or Melanthos stood in front of her– she couldn’t tell at the moment, everything was too overwhelming to observe anything like body language or behavior, and his face seemed too off to discern properly. The figure that looked like Melanthos or Raemus approached her, “...Oh, Steph…” He murmured, “Why are you still fighting this?” Steph kept her eyes focused on him, too scared to look at anything else, “I– I– I…” She stammered, but he shook his head, “Shh… it’s okay, everything will be okay as long as you…” He trailed off, touching her shoulder. Something inside Steph told her that this was off, something inside Steph knew this wasn’t actually Melanthos /or/ Raemus, but the voice inside her was too muffled, and she currently was struggling to tell anything apart from reality. “They won’t hurt you if you give in… they’ll go away…” He said to her gently. Steph looked around the room, noticing the figures again, which caused her to panic once more and very quickly look back at him. His gaze seemed to soften, and he slowly beckoned her to sit up, “Everything’s okay…” He murmured to her again. Steph did as he urged her to, trusting him as she usually would. He then seemed to help her stand, then stood in front of her– blocking her view of at least part of the rest of the room. He then smiled and stepped forward, hugging her. Her breath hitched as he did so, and he seemed to guide her hand towards the thing resting at the side of her bed in which she had just been laying in– her sword. Steph looked towards the sword, then back towards him as he murmured once more, “It’s okay… it’ll all be over if you just…” He then stepped back from the hug, letting go of her and nodding towards her. ‘It’ll all stop… it’ll all stop…’ Her mind seemed to chant as she averted her gaze back towards the sword and slowly picked it up. She hesitated for a moment, pointing the tip of the sword at her own torso, then– She staggered, coughing, grip tightening around the hilt. Her vision blurred for a moment as she yanked it out of her, she barely could stay standing– pressing her sword into the ground in an attempt to stabilize herself. The ribbons ripped out of her back within seconds, wrapping around her mid-section, and she yanked off her cloak, though something felt… different this time. Her hands flew to her face, immediately covering it. Laughter rose in her throat, escaping her in small, gradually building snickers, until it eventually just turned hysterical. The eye on her chest slammed shut, and as she took her hands away from her face, there was nothing but a pitch black, void-ish space where her face once was, with nothing but an outline of her own mouth. An eye formed behind her head like a halo, and she was still laughing, weaker now. The hallucinations had faded, but her knees looked halfway to giving out, and her ribbons seemed much longer than usual. She smiled, forcing herself to stand straight. Her ribbons swayed behind her, twitching like snakes and she reached her hand out. Reality seemed to bend under her touch, and she tore it open easily with her claw– creating an opening to her sector of the fourth dimension. She stepped in, then looked behind her, closing the opening behind her, and grinned. __ Ophelia looked up at the sky, sensing something off, then slowly smiled, “...Finally.” Dolia looked over at her, “Has something occurred?” Ophelia glanced over at her, then nodded, grinning, beckoning Dolia over with her finger.
