screwthatnoise

♥ v2

A cold, delicate hand grabs yours and pulls. It pulls, and it pulls... there's a sense of urgency in this icy grasp, as well as a trace of reluctance. Abruptly the hand let's go, right as your vision fades to black, and for a brief moment, only a brief moment, your senses disappear. There's only the eerie sensation of weightlessness before your feet are settled back on solid ground again.

(please join #echolife! ♪)

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No, Hail-- don't. Don't sabotage yourself!

[what do I do... he's not letting her attack coping that's for sure, but he's tense now]

She doesn't point the knife at Coping.

She points it at you.

"Are you going to obstruct my path?"

Yes. I'm not going to let you hurt yourself anymore.

Be mad at me-- want to hurt me... That's fine, but not yourself.

She takes one step closer.

"But this is what I want."

It isn't! You don't control what all of Hail wants!

[CLEARLY COPING WANTS TO GROW FLOWERS, DUH]

"There's a reason Coping had to die. And I've found a reason to kill you, too."

The figure is still. All too still.

But that changes.

In a moment she's lurching towards you with her knife aimed at your chest.

[D-DODGING THAT, and his hand is on his sword-- Maybe he could get behind her and pin her back...]

Success—you manage to do so!

But unfortunately for you, physically touching her sends pain coursing through you, as if every nerve is revolting against you... unless you manage this with your sword, of course, which is different!

[oh, OW, OW. B-But not letting her go for now-- you underestimate how much I'm willing to go through for friends >(]

Y... You're the hurt part of Hail...!

She only grins. The pain is constant.

"I am the best part of her."

Why do you think that?

[W-WELL OKAY >(]

"Because I'm the only thing that's working out for her. Coping fails to do anything right. Nurse Hail is only useful when Hail is hurt or dying, so I am giving her that much. Happiness... doesn't even deserve to exist. Hail doesn't deserve to exist...!"

I-If Hail doesn't exist... then neither do you...! It's okay to be hurt, and to be sad-- but if you're the best thing this heart has to offer, why do you want it to not exist!

"You do not think I'd be okay with that? I would love for everything collapse. I want Hail's despair more than anything... my own as well."

Despair and happiness aren't the same thing...

[this... is really starting to hurt. H-HOW DOES JESUSING WORK..]

She continues speaking.

"They can be, if despair is what you enjoy."

Is that what you enjoy? Seeing just Hail in pain...?

"Absolutely."

Then she struggles to get free.

[NO, JE REFUSE.

He's going to keep hold of her!!!]

Why?!

She grits her teeth, damn you.

"She needs me. I did better than Coping, than the nurse, than that bear. When things were terrible, I soothed her. When dying was an option, I encouraged her. When happiness was accessible... I reminded her that it really wasn't."

[there's a horrifying realization, but--]

No, she doesn't.

"She needs me, Emil. Let me go."

No!

[WHAT IF I CHAINED YOU BACK]

Do you have anything to restrain her?!

[to coping or to the nurse]

Coping has been watching this whole time, unsure of her options, but now—

"Ah... um..." She looks at the nurse anxiously, expectantly.

Nurse Echo sighs from her seat at her desk. The girl is largely indifferent to this scene to be quite frank.

"No. But I can drug her."

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