Coping. (Post Prophecy)

- =w= -
Dominique landed on the earth quite badly, as she wasn't prepared to be let go. She then quickly stood up, noticing Shadow and Bart. She quickly paced to them, looking at Bart. He was still breathing heavily. Dominique recognized the pupil state. She remembered the Kraferrs of the Ku' Rutiek. She started to panic, but then she got the control of herself. He isn't dead yet. I can still use the few shaman spells I've learnt from my father.
Dominique laid one palm of her hand on Bart's chest, who twinged in pain. She felt the panicked heartbeat, then she decided the spell to use. Hecto. It was a spell known by the Kraferrs able to diminuish the body reflexes, but it was quite dangerous, as if the Kraferr was in a bad state, the Kraferr wouldn't be able to use their body reflexes to help them survive.
"Hecto!" Dominique yelled out. A pulse of red magic shot out of her hand, seeping into Bart's chest. Bart arched his back, like if he was getting shot by electricity, then he slumped on the earth. Dominique laid a hand on his chest. The heart was beating correctly. Good. Now, since the blood regulation has been checked, I need to speed it up again, so that the blood will react like a tazer of some sort. Dominique laid a palm of her hand on Bart's chest.

--Ohohoho, I got an idear...--

Shadow's hand was still open on Bart's forehead, transfering her life energy into him. She could feel herself weakening, her heart beating irregularly. However, she refused to withdraw her hand. She had to help him as he had helped her, and she cared about him as a good friend, almost like the family she had just lost and yearned to have again.

Dominique put one hand on Bart's chest, but she felt a strange force making her retract her hand. She tried again, but in vain. It was as if she hadn't noticed the tall, dark figure looming upon her, scythe in hand. The figure wore a hood, hiding all physical facial features. The entity also wore complete black clothing, hiding every part of his body, except his left hand, which was grasping the scythe, and his right hand, which was pulling Dominique's hand away. Dominique looked in his direction, but saw only void, even though he was standing right in front of her.
"Don't try to help him," William began, "He's going to die anyways."
Not like she can hear me, he thought.

Shadow looked up, hearing a very distant voice. She shook her head, thinking she was just hearing things until she saw a very blurred figure. SHadow tried to ignore it, but what she had heard kept going round in her head.
He's going to die...
"Not on my watch," Shadow mrumured determindly to herself. It hadn't occured to her that the only reason she could even barely see this figure was because of her 'connection' with the Prince of Darkness.

William lifted one eyebrow at Shadow's words, his skeletical fingers coiling upon his scythe.
"Who're you talking to?" Dominique asked, surprised.
William lowered his head, then looked at Shadow. He could identify the girl. He had seen her so many times before, unnoticed by herself. He sighed quietly. "He'll only be able to survive with my help, dear Shadow Roth. You, whom hath not as of yet totally controlled your magic given to you after your short... 'Event', have no power to bring life back to this Kraferr, and if you continue doing so, you'll die, the Kraferr with you, along with dear Dominique, if I don't miscontrue," he answered quietly, having a supposition that Shadow could actually hear him.
For once, he thought.

Shadow ignored Dominique's remark, listening to what she considered a shade speak. She narrowed her eyes, keeping her hand on Bart's forehead. The fractured ribs had become broken ribs, making each breath more painful than the last. The burn sores had started to weep a silvery pus. She looked directly at the shade, her violet eyes burning with fear, pain and defiance.
"You say you can help him? Then why are you standing there like a statue?! He's done nothing to deserve his death!" Shadow's voice ordered obedience, turning into the warrior princess she had tried hard not to be. Her voice then dropped, softening, sounding like the frightened child she had never been able to be. "Please, help him... I can't lose someone else..."

"Dear Shadow Roth," William continued, having listened carefully to Shadow's answer, "Your magical body transfer made you lose your ranking of Princess of Darkness. So don't get that tone with me."
William looked down upon Shadow, enjoying this moment, finally having someone to talk to. He hadn't been able for years. "I could help him, yes, but, the service of the Gods are not without pay," William explained, "Unless..." he looked back at Shadow. The dark form that Shadow could perceive then gained two yellow, glistening eyes. "Unless we can have a little arrangement."

"Just help him!" Shadow said, her back arched. She refused to end the energy flow, and she could feel the demonic side in her mind start to stir from its deep slumber as her human side started to weaken. At that moment in time, she didn't care what happened to her, she didn't even wonder how the shade knew her name, all she wanted was for Bart to be able to live his life.

"Well then," William answered, stretching out one finger to the string that stuck between Shadow's and Bart's body, coiling his finger around the string, then, abruptly pulling, snapping the string in two, "First of all, don't lose the life you're going to have to give to me, as a trade for the Kraferr's life."
William sneered at Shadow.
"Unless you don't want this fair trade, thus letting this person in my grasp. Even though he doesn't have much to live right now. Barely... 10 minutes. That won't serve the Gods at all."
William then turned back to Shadow.
"Anyways, give me half of your resting life, and I'll gladly give life to this Kraferr. No one has to know."

Shadow looked at the shade, removing her shaking hand from Bart's forehead. She slowly stood up, moving a pace back from Bart's body.
"Just help him live. He deserves to live." She murmured.

"I take that as a yes," William answered, sneering. Eh, what a deal. All this extra life, for me alone. And at the price of what? A mere, pesky boy! People are getting more naive by the day.
William's hand strayed from his scythe, caressing it slightly. He then posed it on Shadow's forehead, while he murmured magical sentences. They were so quiet, it was impossible to hear. Soon enough, a red foam appeared from Shadow's forehead, and started to float by itself, to William, his fingers coiled over it like if a sphere was blocking his hand from getting any closer to it. He pressed it against his chest, while he sighed, as if in bliss. He then looked up, grinning. "I keep my word," he said, crouching down to Bart.

Shadow fell to the ground as half her life left her. She watched the shade carefully, even thought she knew now that she was in no state what so ever to battle him. Not without unleashing her demonic side, and that was not something she wanted to do at that present moment in time. She had one arm over her ribs, barely able to breathe. She struggled to hold on to her consciousness, needing to see that Bart was going to be ok.

William laid a hand on Bart's chest. He held his scythe high up, pointing directly to the sky. The scythe glinted in the sunlight, but nothing showed in the dark mass that Shadow was watching. William murmured a few words. Suddenly, a light beam, coming from the sky hit his scythe, then fell to the ground through the stick of his scythe, propaging under it. It then moved onwards to Bart, who wasn't breathing anymore. It went up his arm, then disappeared. William stood up. "I did what I had to do. Consider yourself lucky, that he was just on the border of death, and had not fallen past this border. He onyl survive thanks to his kraferric body."

"Thank you," Shadow murmured, her eyes drifting closed as she lost consciousness. She had seen what she was waiting to see, and all she could do now was hope that he'd pull through.

William lifted one eyebrow at Shadow, as she fell to the ground. He then sighed. Well, kids these days. Can't even get a hold of themselves. William took his scythe tightly in his hand, turned around, and started walking away. I had come to take life. I did what I needed, even with a small bonus. He started walking away, soon fading in thin air.
Dominique opened her eyes wide as she felt Bart breathe again, but even more when she saw Shadow drop to the ground. She scurried over to Shadow, having double checked that Bart was okay. She's only lost consciousness. Why was she talking like that? Spontaneous deliria?

Shadow didn't wake, her black hair spilling out over the ground. Her tail lay still, curled tightly around her leg. She didn't know if she had only given up her immortality to age, or what she had given up on the life scale.

Dominique looked back at Shadow. Dominique then looked back at Bart. Great, I'm stuck with two people that can't even take care of themselves, nor each other. God, whadoo I do? She turned back to the demoness, and frowned slightly. There are two ways to get someone out of unconsciousness. Time, and violence. I don't have time. Dominique lifted her hand slightly in the air. I hope you'll forgive me for this, but it's for your own good. Dominique whapped Shadow on the cheek with one mighty slap. She stayed stuck, hand in air, for a few seconds. She then looked at her hand. Wait... Hey, that actually felt good.

Shadow coughed hard, her violet eyes flying open, turning red. She put one hand to her head, struggling to get a grip on her other side. After a few moment's battle, she looked at Dominique with flickering red eyes.
"Did the shade do it? Did he heal Bart?" She asked quietly.

Dominique put her hands up in front of her face. "Whoa- Keep calm! Don't go all evil on me! I just did what I thought would've been the most ideal thing to do, in this current situation!"
Dominique, listening to what Shadow just said, then lowered her hands. "What shade? Bart just began breathing normally, just like that. I still wonder how it happened. I didn't have time to fully use my spell to recirculate the blood, but it seemed to do it all by itself."

Shadow looked confused.
"The shade, the dark figure with the scythe! He was there!" Shadow said, her voice starting to get slightly hysterical before the pain in her ribs from the breaks reminded her of their prescence, half suffocating the demoness.

Spontaneous deliria. Or else, hallucinations. I didn't see anything.
Dominique put a hand on Shadow's shoulder, helping her to get concentrated. "Look, Shadow-" she began, tightening the grip on her shoulder, "What you saw was probably just something that was intefering with your brain, from the battle with Bart. Did Bart hit you on the-"
She was interrupted.
"Which battle with me?" Bart asked. He looked slightly confused. He had looked around, wondering where the hell they were, what the hell had happened, and, in the first place, how the hell did he get from where he was before to here. He was in his completely human form, and he was pushing against his arms, to keep his chest from touching the ground. He waited a bit, then noticed the looks from the two. He felt slightly uneasy. "Why y'all lookin' at me like that?" he asked, leaning backwards, kinda disturbed.

Shadow's hand scratched lightly against the ground, but she had no energy to get up.
"You're back," She murmured, giving a very faint smile. "You went demonic..."

"Did I, now?" Bart asked, one eyrbow raised, "Well, that doesn't really explain what we are doing in the middle of some weird badland. Explain to me very briefly but still in detail what happened, before I get even more confused." he asked.
"Well, I couldn't see anything from the black shield that surrounded me, willingly casted by Shadow to supposedly 'protect me'," Dominique answered.
"Before I get even more confused," Bart elaborated, "But, if I actually think about what you just said, maybe I shouldn't like where this is going..."

Shadow took as deep a breath as she could before starting to answer.
"You fell asleep back at the flat, so Shiraku put you in your room. THe next thing I knew, Dominique was going nuts because you were battleing with your other side in your sleep. The demon won, and transported us here to fight. You nearly died, and that's when a shade turned up, taking part of my life in return for you living."

Bart's eyes widened. "Basically what I said," he asnwered simply, "I whouldn't like where this would have been going."
Bart thought a bit. "But... Normally, I should've felt my transformation into demonic. I don't transform like that, in my sleep. Especially that, this had never happened before, did it? Unless you didn't tell me, but I think you would've. So, basically, I was sleeping, then, I was, well, er, demonic, in my sleep, then teleported us here, and fought, almost died, and got revived for what? A half... Of your life? And what shade was this?"
"Shadow's been hallucinating," Dominique answered, "I didn't see no shade, and I was closer to you than she was."
"Sorry," Bart answered, quietly, "I can't hear you over what Shadow is answering me." Bart looked up at Shadow, waiting for an answer.