Round 2 Team 4

[Alyssa Snow]

Alyssa turned to the door and instead found it missing. Where the entrance they walked through minutes ago now stood jagged, cavern stone. Alyssa pressed herself against it. It had to be there! Instead, she fumbled over solid rock, and dread settled in the pit of her stomach.

“Where do you think you’re going?” She felt his breath hot on her neck. Alyssa turned, back pressed to the wall.

“You’re not Vince!” she shouted as she lashed out for his face. He nimbly avoided the wild blow and put space between them, laughing.

“Why? Because I trapped you in here? Because you thought we were friends? Because I acted scared to lower your guard?”

Alyssa opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t find the words. Maybe it was all a rouse? Was he really capable of this?

“You should know deception when you see it, Alyssa,” Vincent began as he paced the water’s edge. “You’ve been lying to us since day one. Did you really think by escaping that lab, you would be able to run away from what you are?”

Alyssa felt her heart quicken. She searched the dimly lit cavern for any sign of an exit. Even the gap between the men and women’s side was replaced with stone. Could Vincent truly be this powerful?l?

“It’s not what you… That’s not why I ran! I’m not… I won’t --”

“Kill indiscriminately like you were designed? Oh, you will. Look what you did to Bertha!”

“But you told me t--”

“You could have just sealed the doors, left her behind. She wouldn’t have gotten through. You knew that.” Vincent fiddled with his cane, spinning it in his fingers before taking a seat atop one of many stone decorations.

Alyssa’s stomach churned. It had to be done, right? If Bertha told him to, then… or did he make that up too? Was that also part of the plan? Alyssa’s knees felt weak.This couldn’t be real. This wasn’t Vincent. Pode tried this once before, maybe she was doing it again? The blonde shook off her spiraling thoughts and reached for her pistol.

“You’re not Vince!” she repeated, this time louder as if trying to convince herself too. She rose her magnum toward him, but its muzzle trembled to stay on aim.

“Really? Me too, Alyssa? Are you going to shoot me like you shot Bertha? Who else is next? Stella? Rayleigh? You’re very existence with us is a dangerous line I’m tired of walking.” He threw his hands in the air and rolled his eyes. “Fucking unbelievable! Should’ve listened to Leona when she told me to take you out sooner...but no! She knew this would happen…” he muttered running a hand through his hair.

“L-Leona?!” Her gun lowered slightly.

“Yeah, but don’t just take my word for it…” Vincent shook his head and snapped his fingers. The sound echoed in the humid cavern before silence took over. Alyssa brought her gun up and looked around.

Nothing.

Then, from behind a large boulder to Vincent’s left, a tall, dark figure strode into view. Alyssa’s heart stopped. Her hands shook so violently, the magnum clattered to the floor.

“...T-Tobias?!”

[Cards of Fate]

Vincent found himself standing in a dimly lit hallway, floor lined with pseudo wood paneling, walls covered in a pale wallpaper cluttered with wooden frames bearing portraits. Shocked, the scholar dropped his orb after hearing it clank to his right. He stepped closer to the wall and picked one of the photos off it He glared at it and the bad feelings it embodied. A man and a woman smiled back with perfect white teeth as they both clutched a tiny bundle. Their very faces seemed to mock him with their perfect olive skin,blonde hair, and sapphire eyes slicing through his very core. They seemed so happy to have brought that little bundle of joy into the world, but the sounds of familiar screaming in the background seemed to betray the peace in the picture.

Vince spat as he threw the painting to the ground.

“Of FUCKING course she would...” he muttered between clenched teeth as the glass shattered upon contact with the ground. He stomped on the frame as he turned to his right to see the door at the end of the hall crack open. A young child, no older than six, poked his crying visage through the dimly lit portal.

“Who are you?” he squeaked nervously as he stared at the scholar.

“My name is Vincent…” the scholar replied scowling, every fiber of his being was telling him that this was all an illusion. That was his power, but how on earth had Pode managed to replicate all of this?

“Really mister? You look too strong to be a Vincent…” the child muttered back. Vincent cringed for a moment, tensing up.

“Why is that?” he asked cocking his head to the side.

“The doctors say theres something wrong with me…” the boy began. “That I’ll never be like the other boys my age…”

He looked down as he clutched a stuffed otter tightly to his chest.

“Mommy wants to send me to grandma’s...Daddy wants to take care of me…” The youth noticed the orb on the ground and scooped it up. “You should take better care of your things mister…” he said waddling over to hand it to Vincent.

The scholar gritted his teeth as the memories flooded back. The doctors had said his heart was too weak to do much of anything. Long walks could make him faint, getting too excited even could lead to a trip to the hospital. His childhood had been miserable. He wasn’t allowed to drink soda or eat sweets, his mother and father would scream at each other behind closed doors where they thought he couldn’t hear. Tears began to stream down his face.

“Hey now…” his voice faltered as he took a step towards the child. Kneeling to his level he put on his best smile. “Listen Vinnie, I'm gonna tell you a secret ok?”

The child nodded and looked at him.

“You’re...” he paused. “You’re going to be ok alright? No matter what happens, no matter how much it hurts you will roll with the punches and you will get better and…”

His voice trembled for a moment.

“The doctors are gonna get you a new heart and you’ll be able to go play with the other kids…” he trailed off.

The poor pain this child would go through. Losing his father would only be the start, the abusive stepfather to come, the years of surgery and therapy to make him a functioning human being, the ridicule from his peers, the names he would be called; all of these things would tear the poor child down. Sticks and stones would break his bones and words would shatter his spirit.

“You’ll turn twenty and dad will give you the greatest gift ever…” memories of his journey to Althanas flooded his thoughts. How he had met Leona, his first missions. All of the triumphs and defeats he had endured. “You just need to hold on ok?”

“No Vincent…” a voice called from behind him. The scholar turned to find a figure shrouded in crimson fog at the other end of the hall. “It will not be ok, it will never be ok…”

[Alyssa Snow]

Tobias Stalt strode next to Vincent with his sword, “Blackheart”, perched upon his shoulder. After all the things they had been through together, seeing him as a part of this drove a dagger into her back.

“Tobias, what’re you doing here?!” Alyssa stammered.

“Hunting witches,” he said in a flat, cold tone. His dead eyes locked on her with a void of emotion behind them.

Those two words drove a stake so deep into her core, Alyssa’s bones began to ache.

“Everyone is here to kill Pode and get rid of her curse. They don’t know what we know: That her bastard daughter is right here, waiting to take over when ‘mommy’ passes on,” Vincent chided in a sing-song voice. “You won’t be escaping this time. We’re not letting you kill us off one by one… Tobias, she’s all yours.”

Vincent waved his hand and Tobias stepped forward. Alyssa tried to back up but only pushed her weight into the stonework at her back. Vincent folded his arms over one another and remained seated, watching… smiling...

“You know, I’m not one for words, but I have to say I knew this was coming.” Tobias rocked Blackheart’s hilt against his shoulder as he drew near.

“Tobias, please. Let me explain. I don’t want anything to do with her. Please, you have to believe me…” Alyssa begged. She slid along the wall, desperately trying to keep her distance from his stoic gaze.

“Bullshit,” Vincent spat in the distance. “Stop lying, Alyssa. Hierophant, remember?”

“I’m not lying! Tobias, you have to believe me!”

The Witch Hunter’s lips did not move, his expression did not change, and his pace did not slow.

“Tobias, stop…”

Alyssa’s boot caught the edge of one of the soaking pools and caused her to tumble to her knees with a splash. She scrambled to right herself but failed to get her footing. Red water stained her porcelain skin and light blonde hair. She finally managed to face him. The Witch Hunter stepped into the pool and continued to draw near, his blade now at his side.

Alyssa patted her thighs in a panic and found her second revolver. Fear drove its muzzled to aim for Tobias’s heart. He stopped.

“Go ahead. You know it won’t work.” Tobias stood like a demonic monolith, expressionless like stone.

“Please don’t make me,” Alyssa sobbed. “Just let me go. Just let me disappear.”

“You know we can’t do that.” He took a step forward.

“I’ll do it!” she threatened with a waver.

He raised his blade and took another step.

“I’m sorry!” Alyssa pulled the trigger. The ice shot fired, followed by a splash. Vincent grinned.

[Cards of Fate]

“You know? You pick very terrible puppets Pode…” Vince growled as he rose to his feet and wiped the tears from his eyes. Before him stood his mother, a tall woman with brilliantly bright blonde hair and sapphire eyes. Her usually tanned skin however, was gaunt and pale like that of a corpse. Young Vincent opted to cower behind his future counterpart’s leg from the unfamiliar person.

“This means nothing coming from the lips of a failure…” she spat, her words leaving her mouth in a trail of crimson fog. “You will never mean anything to anyone…”.

“You’re barking up the wrong tree…” Vincent grinned, tapping his head. “The Hierophant knows when he’s being lied to…” Pulling his cane out from his belt, he shrugged. “Now, I’m pretty sure I need to find the young woman I was with. So unless you’ve got something true to say, we’re done.”

“Leaving so soon?” The woman cooed, “I’ve missed my bab-”

Her words were cut off as Vincent drove the owl shaped handle of his cane into her nose, sending her stumbling back.

“I said.” he seethed. “We’re done here.” He twirled his cane in his fingers as he watched his mother regain her balance. “Now get the FUCK out of my way before I get to show mini me some of our sick future moves.”

The spectre of his mother simply laughed and cracked her neck to either side. “You’ve got some nerve talking to a goddess like that…”

“You’ve got some nerve calling yourself a goddess when you’re nothing more than a pretender, clinging to life desperately…” Vincent retorted.

“Perhaps you need to be taught a lesson…” she growled.

“Maybe I do, but not from a washed up hag like you…” Vincent spun the glass orb on his fingers and felt energy boiling up inside of him. Bright blue sparks danced along his skin ,and his eyes began to glow. “Now then, I need to be going…”

“You’re not going any-”

The illusion was cut off by Vincent roaring.

“ILLUMINATE!”

His voice shook with raw energy.The orb shone a brilliant teal, slicing through the fog and the illusion as the walls began to crack.

“How…” The illusion began but could not finish.

“You wasted your time showing me this place, Althanas is my home, not this hellhole!” Vincent spat as the walls tumbled down.

“Remember this, Pode, I WILL KILL YOU.”

[Alyssa Snow]

Alyssa clutched her throbbing hand. Tobias stood above her, unharmed. Blackheart’s tip hummed threateningly close to her neck, and its edge glistened with crystalline powder from her shattered spell shot. The terrified blonde sat speechless. Before she knew what had happened, he managed to deflect a projectile from five feet away, swat her magnum from her hands, and return his sword for a killing blow.

Yet, he did not take the advantage to kill her swiftly. Instead, he held it hauntingly still.

“Any final words?” he seethed with a venom that chilled her very core.

Tears began to stream down Alyssa’s face.

"Tobias...?" she whimpered, "Please..."

Alyssa saw him looming over her, but a different man stood in his place. He was not the man she shared shade with under Fallien’s scorching sun, or the friend who comforted her in Bienost. He was not the Tobias she first met. Alyssa knew Leona’s missions had changed him, but she never imagined this. The man who gazed down upon her with empty eyes betrayed all the emotions she had for him.

Then, Blackheart's tip fell to his side. Tobias's face remained as unchanged as a corpse: cold, stoic, lifeless.

"You're right..." he said softly.

Alyssa let out a sigh of relief between sobs, and her lips curled into a weak smile.

"I should take my time saying farewell."

Before Alyssa could react to his words, his boot slammed into her and whipped her head against the stone at her back. Spots crawled inward from the edge of her vision. A high pitched ringing drowned out all ambient noise. Through her daze she felt a pressure at her throat, tightening more and more until she could no longer breathe.

As her senses returned, she saw Tobias atop her with teeth clenched, hands violently clamped around her windpipe in an attempt to crush the life out of her. She clawed at his hands, but his strength far surpassed her. Panic forced her knee into his gut and his hands instinctively released her to grip at his stomach. Alyssa gasped for air and thrashed through the shallow water to escape.

"Help!" she hoarsely choked to no avail.

"You're letting her get away!" Vincent roared, but Tobias paid no heed to the scholar. He already closed the gap with ease.

He lunged for Alyssa and gripped her around the waist. His weight forced her under water while knocking the air from her lungs from hitting the bottom of the pool. She kicked violently to shake him free, but only purchased enough time to surface for a brief moment. The Witch Hunter scrambled to regain his advantage, intent on wringing the life out of her with his bare hands. Alyssa felt him grip her shoulder and flip her to her back with his monolithic might. Then, his calloused hands resumed their deadly clasp around her neck and forced her back under the heated crimson waters.

As she struggled, lashing for anything that may give her freedom, he stared at her through the surface. His lips, eyes, and brows showed no sign of remorse, no anger, no conflict.

"What a perfect way to put down Pode’s abomination!" Vincent laughed. “Drown the bitch in her ‘mother’s’ own cursed waters!”

"Silence Vince," Tobias calmly replied. “This is personal.”

Alyssa felt her chest heave to pull air, but what little reprieve she made through his iron grasp only let her inhale more of the murky water. It felt like daggers in her lungs and though she tried to cough, his numbing grip denied her. She struggled to knee him like before, but his straddled position rendered it useless and creeping black began to encroach on her vision.

"Pode can't save you here, Alyssa." Tobias stated, his muscles tense and unflinching to her blows. "You should have died on Forral's Fortress..."

His words failed to meet her ears through the thrashing sounds of water and stifled screams.

"At least I get the pleasure of snuffing you out. All those long nagging arguments about how you cared... Disgusting."

Alyssa shook violently, her muscles ached from effort, and skin burned from the heat of the springs. Her mind raced with whatever she could use to escape. She felt along the pool's bottom but did not find her salvation along the jagged floor. No loose stones, no missing revolver, and her knife remained pinned behind her back. Time began to trickle away with her consciousness in tow. Her flailing slowed and weaked.

"Goodbye, Alyssa..."

As the darkness threatened to squeeze the last of the light from her vision, Alyssa reached out. Both her hands found his face and while her touch was gentle, he continued to apply all the pressure and weight he could muster upon her. One of her hands slipped from his cheek and disappeared under the scarlet water. Her kicking stopped; both legs slid limp. Her chest's attempts to inhale anything, water or air, slowed and stopped.

Alyssa's remaining hand slid slowly down his stoic face.

Tobias... I'm... sorry...

"Aww, the show is over already?," Vincent whined as he hopped from his perch.

Tobias turned to face him but before Alyssa's hand slipped off his cheek, it locked firmly against his skull.

Shards of ice, frost, and hail ruptured explosively from her hand, dismembering Tobias's head from its shoulders. Crimson water, blood, and meat misted into the air. Amidst the chaos, Alyssa surged from below and involuntarily gasped a mixture of three. She choked, sputtered, and spewed bile. Tobias's headless corpse slumped into the pool and vanished from sight.

"Holy fucking shit! You killed Tobias!" Vincent shouted in shock. "You bitch!"

While Alyssa struggled to regain herself from the precipice of death, Vincent stepped into the pool with cane and sword poised for blood.

[Cards of Fate]

The wall behind the false Vincent crumbled as the mighty oak doors to the springs swung open.The true scholar stepped inside, cloaked in a brilliant aura of teal. Crimson clouds, the remains of his crumbling illusory trap, flooded the springs and blocked out all vision except where the orb’s shine burned it away. The convictions of the Hierophant and his search for truth acted as a righteous beacon of hope.

The scholar's luminescent pupils scanned the room, vision unaffected by fog or shadow. A pretender stood between him and Alyssa, and Vincent’s entire body tensed up.

“Out of my way!” Vincent spat, voice layered with equal parts magic and determination. His anger against Pode had changed him, and immense power coursed through his body like a mighty river. The air hissed and smelled of burning ozone as he stepped towards his double.

“Why? So you can help Pode’s little bitch?” the false Vincent howled. The haze separating the two from Alyssa absorbed all sound as they spoke and left them isolated.

“Pode’s little bitch?” Vincent asked scowling. His innate sense for the truth picked up a small fragment of accuracy in the pretender’s words. “Elaborate, the only little bitch I see is you...”

His false reflection grinned sickly.

“You mean you didn’t know?” it cackled maliciously while it rubbed its hands together. “Alyssa Snow is an abomination created by Alearian foolishness! She’s clone of the very woman you’re trying to-”

Vincent flashed forward in a burst of blue sparks and slid his sword through its throat.

“Here I thought you had something important to say…” Vince muttered through a scowl.

’You would go to her even though she is my daughter?’ a sick, grotesque voice boomed in his head.

“She’s family, and that’s all that matters to me...” Vincent spat as he began to charge forward. The storm of red mist surged towards him. In one last desperate attempt to quell the light, the scholar’s orb flashed a blinding blue. Red clashed against blue and ignited into flames. Pode’s vile screams echoed in Vincent’s mind as he plunged himself headfirst into the inferno.

“Alyssa!” Vincent roared as he pushed onward, sword still in hand. “Are you Ok-”

The young blonde emerged through the chaos, rushing toward him. She pressed herself against him sobbing, and Vincent felt a sharp bolt of pain in his abdomen.

“Leave me alone!” she shouted hysterically.

The remaining fog burnt away, and the orb in Vincent’s hand slipped from his grasp into the knee deep waters. Behind him, the last of Pode’s grinning imposter burnt away into mist.

“V-Vincent?!” Alyssa stammered as looked from Vince to Vince. “No… Oh, please no...”

Vincent let out a light cough as blood trickled down his lips.

“Is that a knife in your hands...or are you just happy to see me…?” he grunted, looking down at the dagger buried in his chest.

“Fuck, that’s deep…” he muttered, then his legs crumbled beneath him.

“Vince?!”

[Alyssa Snow]

Alyssa dropped to her knees where Vincent began to slip beneath the surface. She reached for him and pulled his head into her lap to save him from drowning. Alyssa’s bloodshot eyes streamed tears, her body shook in hysteria, and her sobbing quickened.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t -- There was another you! I didn’t mean to--” she babbled frantically. Her hand instinctively reached for the blade buried in his chest.

Vincent reached up and grabbed her before she could remove the knife.

“Leave it in,” he managed through wet coughs. “I’ll bleed out quicker if you take it out.”

He let her quivering arm free and jolted in pain. The gunner looked down in fear, sadness, confusion, and a continued myriad of horrible emotions. Was this really Vincent? Was this another trick? Did she actually kill someone else? What was real anymore?

Alyssa rocked, sobbed, and carefully brushed his wet hair from his face. With the hot spring’s still tainted a deep crimson from Pode’s magics, she couldn’t tell what was blood or water.

“I didn’t -- You were going to -- I killed Tobias…” Alyssa stammered in tears.

“Stop talking,” Vincent calmly commanded.

He grabbed her hand and held it still over his heart. She could feel each rapid beat as if it were her own. In the madness of the past few moments, it somehow managed to slow her panicked breaths. This was real.

“You… you called me an abomination. You said Leona and Tobias were--” Alyssa rambled despite his dying request.

“Alyssa.”

“They all wanted me dead. I didn’t choose to be like this! I don’t want to be a monster!”

“Alyssa.” Vincent sputtered a globule of red and clutch her hand tightly in his pain.

“I’m not a monster! I just want to be--”

“Alyssa! Fuck!” Vincent spat, wincing with pain..

The irrational blonde snapped from her trance. Her rambling stopped and she matched her bloodshot gaze to his. He had her utmost attention.

“You’re not a monster.” The words stung her but this time, it felt right. “You’re our family. My family. That wasn’t me. That wasn’t Tobias.”

Vincent tensed again, his eyes shut, and his hand involuntarily gripped at the handle protruding from his ribs.

“Fuck, that hurts like a... Did you have to go so deep!” His muscles relaxed again and he let out a faint laugh. “Heh, that’s what she said…”

“I’m so sorry,” Alyssa pleaded as her tears continued to well from her eyes. “I didn’t mean to --”

“I know, I know,” Vincent assured her with another grip of his hand. “I would have stabbed him too. Listen Alyssa, we won’t blame you for what you had to do. The Tarot won’t judge you like that. It’s not what you’re made of that matters. It’s what you make of yourself.”

Vincent may as well have plunged her knife back into Alyssa’s own chest with those final words. The image of her former companion, Illara, flashed through the chaos of her thoughts. Pode’s words tried to rip her apart before and those words fell on deaf ears. Now, they drove home and calmed the storm. Perhaps others didn’t see her as a monster? Perhaps she could make her own life?

Alyssa forced a weak smile on her face.

“There we go,” Vincent commented.

Then, he tensed again but this time, it would not relent. His crushing grip pressed her hand against his heart, and Alyssa felt its message. Vincent was about to die.

“Vincent, hang in there! I… I can fix this! I… I have to fix this!” Alyssa stammered.

If she could just close the wound, or cauterize it.... That’s it! Alyssa remembered that her knife could melt through any steel. If only she could use that to…

“Vincent, hang on. This is going to hurt!”

While he continued to seize, Alyssa gripped the knife in his chest and began to pull. His thrashing became worse, but she tried to keep him stable regardless. Finally, she removed the blade, but the cost sent her into shock.

Vincent stopped moving.

[Cards of Fate]

The scholar’s heart stopped after moments of agony as his last breath left his body. His entire body relaxed, his head rolled back, and his blank gaze affixing itself on Alyssa. She’s too pretty to be a monster… he thought to himself, then everything faded to black.

Alyssa’s hands trembled violently as she dropped her knife. She stared numbly at the corpse of her partner. Her friend, was gone...

“Oh god…” Alyssa stammered staring at his dull, sapphire eyes. “Vincent...VINCENT!” her hands found his shoulders as she shook him. “Vincent wake up! Come on! Please…”

Her body shook violently with each sob.

“Vincent…” the words left her lips in a whimper. “Why…?”

A soft scraping permeated the air, alerting the gunner to another's presence. She tensed and fished through the water frantically for her blade.

“Don’t come any closer!” she screamed as she brandished her blood stained knife.

“Goodness me…” a familiar voice called out. “Your friend banished Pode from the base, yet he meets such a tragic fate…”

Alyssa faltered for a moment as shrouded figure came into view. The familiar robes of the Ai’brone fluttered in a non existent wind while the large statue of a man strode forward.

“Young Alyssa…” The first Ai’brone muttered offering open hands. “I am unarmed, and your friend there has about five minutes for me to save him…”

“Ai’brone!” Alyssa yelped with a step backward. It took her a moment to process his presence but when it settled, her face lit up.

“Please!” she begged throwing herself prone. “It was an accident I didn-”

His stone fingers shushed her.

“Quiet child…” the monk chided before he took a kneel.

“Tsk tsk, you pierced his lung…” The stone monk began as his hands deftly undid his robes enough to bare his chest. Blood seeped lazily from a gnarled gash in his granite chest, “Yet he talked to you the entire time...that must have been excruciating…”

“He said it wasn’t my fault…” Alyssa trembled, “...said I was part of the family…” tears trickled down her fair face.


“Well you can thank him here in a moment…” the monk rose his right hand and snapped his fingers. His stone gaze lifted to the heavens, beyond the limit of what any could see as he muttered ancient words long forgotten by history.

“Found you…” he whispered as he snatched thin air, pulling a spectral stream of quicksilver from nothing. “Oooohooo” he whistled slightly, “A Locus...just like his father.”

“Locus?” Alyssa asked, her gaze locked on the ethereal essence floating in the monks stoney clutch. It was beautiful beyond words and cast a glimmer on the two of them with its faint shimmer.

“He’s...hrmm.” Ai’brone paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. “To put it in Khal’Jaren’s words, he is a mortal tap spring. When the Forgotten shattered the Eternal tap, the world still needed tap energy to survive. So, it created Tap Springs. Normally this would be enough, however, in some cases it would manifest itself in a chosen few who would need it’s power to do great things…”

He clenched his fist around the mercurial substance and slammed it into the scholar’s chest. Meanwhile, his other hand ran over Vincent’s wound, and he mouthed another chant. The gash began to glow and sealed itself whilst bright blue sparks ran across the scholar’s body.

“Was that...Vincent’s soul?” Alyssa asked, peering over the giant monk’s shoulder.

“Yes, almost slipped away from me too.” The monk muttered, his mystic gaze never leaving the scholar. The monk raised his right hand and with a stony smirk, snapped his fingers.

Vincent’s entire body convulsed violently as he snapped upwards, gasping for his first breath of rebirth. Alyssa rushed past the monk and cradled the scholar in her arms while sputtered and thrashed - remnants of his death throes.

“Shh…” she whispered into his ear while stroking his damp hair. “It’s okay…”

The youth trembled one last time and let out a loud cough.

“Holy fuck, dying sucks ass!” he stammered glancing around. His youthful eyes met Alyssa’s, and he let out a faint smile.

“Hey... smile…” he said flicking her forehead. “Im not dead anymore…”

Alyssa stared at him incredulously.

“YOU DIED VINCENT!” she growled. “I’m not going to just turn around and laugh it off! I KILLED you!”

Vincent chuckled softly.

“I got better,” he nodded. “All thanks to…”

Vincent turned to where Ai’brone had been standing only to find...nothing.

"He was just…how does he do that? He’s like a stone solid snake…”

“Excuse me?” Alyssa asked. “Solid...snake? What does that have to do with --”

Vincent chuckled once more.

“I love it when I confuse you guys,” he muttered, hugging her.

“But now that I’m not coming down with a serious case of the deads, are you ok?” Vincent asked, looking at her slightly concerned. “Do you want to talk about it at all?”

“Maybe...later?” Alyssa avoided his gaze as his arms pulled her closer to him. She could hear his heartbeat, slow and rhythmic at the same pace as her own. “It’s just...a lot to handle right now…”

“You know what would help with that?” Vincent asked as he let go of her and leaned back into the water. “Ice cream.”

“Ice cream?” Alyssa asked cocking her head to one side. “Is it like your ‘pizza’?”

“Sorta, it’s another thing from Earth. It’s often used to help deal with stress, though.” Vincent nodded. “Especially chocolate…”

“Like from Dheathain?” Alyssa asked. “...Cocoa?”

“Yup,” Vincent nodded with a smirk, “And I figured out how to make it”

His smirk grew into a Cheshire grin from ear to ear.

“I also happen to have a test batch upstairs in the ice box…”

Alyssa laughed softly, “I will never understand how you can go from killing zombies on the surface, to scared of the dark, then become calm and collected with a knife in your chest. Now you’ve just come back from death, and you want to eat what I assume is a dessert.”

Vincent stood up and shrugged off his bloodstained shirt and robes, leaving his tanned torso exposed. A light scar had formed right over his heart, above an incredibly faint mark forming a small “X”.

“Don’t dwell on it too long, you’ll hurt yourself if you think about it too hard…” He offered a hand to Alyssa, who took it and rose to her feet. Neither of them had noticed the card tattoo on the scholar’s chest had changed from a “V” to “IV.”

The bearers of The Hierophant and Justice had entered the base but together, they would emerge Emperor and Empress.

Done! I would like to request a spoil of adding an additional enchant to Vincent's orb purchased in the link below to add that it can light up an additional two times a day and once per day it's light can be channeled to burn away any illusion.


http://www.althanas.com/world/showth...0-Price-Check!

[Max Dirks]

You two put together the best story of the second round with one exception. Your conclusion was far too convenient and anticlimatic. Otherwise setting and pacing were excellent. The thread was suspenseful and I felt the peril your characters felt. What prevented this from being of JC calibre was your mechanics and clarity, Cards. The thread was difficult to read. There were multiple spelling errors, omitted words, prepositional phrases and changes from passive (had) to active writing (was). I realize that you're here to RP for fun, but tournaments are where you have to show off your writing prowess. Realistically, a quick read of your threads outloud before you post will shore up most of your mistakes. Alyssa, I have very few comments for you. For the most part your writing was on point.

Team 4 Judgment

Story: 7
Setting: 7
Pacing: 7
Action: 7
Communication: 5
Persona: 6
Mechanics: 5
Technique: 5
Clarity: 5
Wildcard: 5

Total: 59/100

Alyssa Snow receives 818 EXP and 94 GP
Cards of Fate receives 920 EXP and 106 GP

You both advance to the finals!

[Lye]

EXP & GP Added.