Completed [Common Labs] Fetch, Girl, Fetch! (Annalisa)

[Fubuki Kouri]

Only darkness filled her vision once the fragile flicker of orange light dimmed down, succumbing to the Void. Kouri's crimson eyes still darted left and right in panic nonetheless, that unknown creature resembled a Yukman, but with far more grotesque teeth and claws, also muscles that could literally rip her apart if she was a normal human girl. The ghost girl screamed silent pleas to Anna, not caring whether Anna could hear it or not, she vigorously pulled at the chain, risking pulling Anna into the void instead of warning her, but of course, she couldn't notice. She was scared, utterly scared, mainly because of her very location, absolute darkness and silence. If she met the monster in the real world, her reactions wouldn't be as drastic. In this particular case, she was completely taken by surprise and like a true little girl, she hated nasty surprises.

"M-MOMMY!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Her form quaked as she curled herself up, her tendril kept on pulling the chain while her other one gripping the staff hard. White mists started to chaotically spin around her form, Black swirls rapidly formed all around her body then they launched serrated tendrils in random directions around her, blindly attacking anything unfortunate enough to be in her area. "Hi?!" She felt one of her tendrils pierced something... hard in exterior, but fleshy on the inside. Her mind immediately assumed she hit the monster, but the thought didn't relief her, not when she felt that particular tendril being gripped like a vice despite the tendril's serrated surface, "A-aaaaaagh!" The monster was latching onto her, she knew it.

The ghost girl kept screaming as she felt her soulmist body being pulled backwards to the portal, Kouri closed her eyes as she gripped the chain hard, like exiting a pitch-black tunnel, light enveloped her as the ghost girl literally launched out from nothingness. Kouri was thrown back from the portal, tendrils following closely akin to long spider legs, along with her end of the chain, the staff, and... the monster gripping one of her tendrils. The being roared as it landed on the floor, it was a large Yukman-like monster, almost seven feet in height, long thick claws of bone and disoriented sharp teeth, its skin was deep brown in color, with coal-black eyes. It had a pierce wound on its right shoulder and right palm from the phantom girl's tendrils, bleeding dirty red blood.

The ghost girl was too disoriented and frightened to assist at the moment as her materialized form crashed onto the lab's wall. The monster though, looked perfectly fine as it roared at its nearest target, the sorceress. The fact that it could survive in the Void gave the assumption of its nature being an undead of some sort.

OOCFeel free to play the monster as well!

[Annalisa Marin]

As Anna pulled Kouri from the Void, gritting her teeth from the waves of euphoria washing over her mind, she strained her eyes to see beyond the Portal and into the Void. Kouri’s jerking at been frantic all things considered; the sorceress had to wonder if the Void had so frightened her to such a degree or if something else had been seen. The tall woman continued to hold her light Pull upon the Portal until she felt Kouri was likely close enough to dismiss it from the construct. The merciless drain upon her Djed was lessened greatly by the action, though she still needed to concentrate on keeping it open for Kouri to return through and to pull physically upon the chain.

When Kouri returned to This Side she sped past Anna, at such a speed that the tall woman had not possessed a chance to release her end of the chain and ended up being tug off her feet and dragged backwards a little. The chain unraveled, but her arm certain felt more than a little sore from that however she was quick to gather her bearings when she watch something land upon the floor of this section of the Common Labs. She was on her back looking up at it, the Portal to the Void shifting violently as it was not being fed currently. It would stay open for a bit no doubt, but it would not be long before it started to shrink.

It was a grotesque looking creature, possessing a massive body, brown flesh, long claws that looked fit to rip her flesh from her bones. It rose from the ground and fixed dark, dead looking eyes upon her as its mouth split into a roar directed towards her. Anna blinked several times, almost not comprehending exactly what was happening. She had just freed something from the Void, and from the looks of it that something was a kind of undead judging from the sluggish ruddy looking blood and failure to breathe. It also did not appear overly grateful to its savior, which was rather unnerving.

Anna did return to reality however when the create poised itself to pounce upon her, all seven feet of powerful dead flesh and bone being directed square at her prone form. The tall woman quickly rolled to the right as it pounced, its claws aiming square for her head and instead cleanly slicing a few strands of hair and tearing into the floor. Adrenaline was pumping through her body as she attempted to get to her feet, only to have to give a clumsy backwards leap as its claws swung at her again. Anna landed unevenly on her heel, stumbling backwards before bumping into a workstation.

Those Apprentices that had been present around their area had long since departed the immediate vicinity of the labs before she had even opened her Portal. Meaning that there was no chance of getting any help at this junction at the moment, it was just her and Kouri against this freed monster from the Void. The creature lunged at her again, and Anna lunged to the right to avoid getting sliced by those claws. It snarled as it smashed the workstation, sending parchment, ink, and various other things flying about.

The tall sorceress’ mind was in purely instinctual running mode, no thoughts were given to attempt to produce res or take control of the Portal once more to try and drag it back into the Void. She simply knew she needed to put as much distance between this thing and herself as she possibly could, though she was finding herself quickly running out of room. Her clumsy dodging around was simply resulting in her getting bruises and eliminating space to run.

“Kouri! I need some help over here! Now!” Anna said, shakily getting to her feet and backing into another workstation as the thing moved closer and closer towards her, favoring her with what looked like a cruel grin.

This was getting bad, she needed to do something otherwise she would be very, very petched. It certainly didn’t help that she had used a good bit of her energy keeping that Portal open, the very same portal that was slowly beginning to shrink. This was very, very bad and they needed to push this thing back to The Other Side or Anna at the very least would be finding herself dead no doubt. She drew purple translucent liquid into her hand, the res forming quickly but already the beast was arching back its claws to tear into her. It was too little, too late at this range.

[Fubuki Kouri]

For a moment, Kouri's world literally turned upside down as she lay inverted on the lab's walls. Her blurred vision was filled with black spots, the force of her crash reverberating through her soulmist body, "M-mommy..." She called out for Anna, her right hand shakily extended forward as six black tendrils lay splayed outwards from her body. The ghost girl wasn't exactly in excruciating pain, she was simply shocked to the point that her body made exaggerated responses.

The ghost girl shook her head, focusing her senses, she heard a blood-curling roar echoing followed by heavy footsteps then a cacophony of furnitures and apparatuses broken to million pieces. The sight before her made her crimson eyes widened in shock, the giant monster actually escaped from the Void and to make matters worse, it was attacking her beloved mother! Kouri felt her fears being replaced with protective anger, the Grand Oath silently commanding her to prevent her mother from getting hurt whether directly or indirectly through actions or inactions. In this particular case, she would cause Anna to get hurt if she didn't act.

"MOMMY!" With an eerie high-pitched wail that was perhaps a tad bit too unhealthy for human ears, Kouri's form vanished from spot, appearing right beside Anna, her pupils already narrowed to reptilian slits and six raven serrated tendrils lashing the air around her. The ghost girl hunched down her back as three tendrils, launched from her form, one tendril going straight while two tendrils made an arcing slashing motion from the creature's right side. The monster was fast for its side, instinctively dodging the first tendril, but it didn't expect the rest to arc, the two arcing tendrils managed to cut through its waist, causing it to buckle down and roared in pain.

The phantom girl didn't stop there, another trio of serrated tendrils launched, this time aiming for the creature's chest, due to it being in pain, all three managed to impale it on its heart... or at least where the heart was supposed to be located. The monster roared in pain, but wasn't defeated yet. It grabbed all three tendrils on its chest with both of its hands, then mightily lifted it, causing the weightless ghost girl to be launched into the air, crashing onto the ceiling. "Aaagh!" Her scream echoed in the laboratory walls. Kouri could only hope she managed to buy Anna some time to unleash her spells. Her soulmist body was screaming in pain as white mists oozed from her form, she was a powerful ghost, but nowhere near invincible, enough physical blows and she would be forced to rest.

[Annalisa Marin]

A high pitched cry came from Kouri’s direction, slightly hurting Anna’s ears from the volume however she would gladly deal with that kind of damage considering the ghostly child’s actions next. Her adoptive daughter blinked beside Anna and let loose a savage assault upon the creature, hacking and slashing at it with her ghostly tendrils. The tall woman used the opportunity to move herself well away from the beast, concentrating on pulling at the tapestry of her being and generating res as she back pedaled from the Void creature. She needed to get some distance between her and it for her magic to be remotely useful, as well as to avoid dying rather horrifically.

As she sheathed her arms and legs in translucent purple res the euphoria of casting mixed with the sheer adrenaline rush of the situation, the urge calling to her to destroy this creature with the full brunt of reimantic power. For once Anna was willing to lose herself in this urge, knowing that she needed to attempt to wound this beast very quickly lest it gain too much momentum. Luckily, while her Voiding abilities were not exactly the greatest in existence, this was not true for her reimantic abilities. While the drain of maintaining the now waning Void Portal was going to limit her somewhat, Anna was confident in her comfort with reimancy.

Kouri had stabbed at its heart, and Anna watched in horror as this creature merely shrugged it off as a minor blow, tossing the child towards the ceiling. The tall sorceress willed her gathered res outwards from her body, forming it into eight smaller gathering in the air before her. The creature had returned its attention to her, snarling as it started to attempt to close the distance between the two of them however now that Anna had some range she was able to get some momentum against this thing. Thanks to Kouri’s onslaught she was also able to identify that attacking its organs would be futile, so instead Anna opted for a different tactic.

The eight formations of purple res started to thin out and became disk like in shape, sharpening to a fine edge. From here Anna made certainly to split the res into an outer layer and an inner layer to ensure she kept control of the disks when she transmuted them. The powerful reimancer willed the outer layer to begin to form into liquid water, quickly cooling it to a freezing temperature with the air. Eight sharp disks of ice formed in the air before her and with a pushing gesture from her hand they were sent spinning towards the creature.

The beast jumped to the side, landing on top of a nearby workstation however the ice disks nearest to it merely redirected towards the beast. Three scored hits, two slicing clean into its side for minor damage but one managed to cut clean through its right wrist and sever its hand from its arm. This elicited a shriek of pain from the beast, and sent it tumbling from the workstation from the loss of balance. A savage grin split on Anna’s face as she realized that they could still win this, a poor start perhaps but they just needed to force it back towards the slowly shrinking portal.

A glance to the bridge between This Side and The Other Side showed that it was about the size of the average man’s torso, which most certainly would not be enough to fit the beast within it. She needed to make it bigger once more, which was a simple matter of feeding it Djed again however they first needed to force it back towards to Portal. Anna glanced towards the ceiling to find Kouri, her grey eyes blazing as she shouted up to the ghostly child. The playing field had become more even, now they needed to move it further into their favor.

“Kouri! Force it back towards the Portal! We need to force it back to The Other Side! Hurry, we don’t have much time before I’m at risk of pushing too far! Once I get it to the size it had been previously, move out of the way!” Anna called up to the girl, turning her attention to the snarling creature that was quickly recovering.

The tall woman tugged again at her Djed, the urge roaring in her skull by this point as she willed gaseous res to push outwards from her body. Anna moaned in pleasure of the highest degree, almost completely losing herself in the heat of casting euphoria but managing to keep control by sheer strength of will. She needed to last a little longer, and really this amount of res was normally nothing to her. Not even worthy of being called a workout; however she was hardly at her peak at the moment.

The res split into two clouds, one smaller and the other moderately sized. The creature was moving in on her again, it’s remaining clawed arm out before it as it prepared to charge. The tall sorceress moved the smaller cloud towards it, the air arcing as she willed it to ignite. Purple sparks crackled malevolently as a small bolt of purple lightning slammed into the creature’s chest, knocking it back from its charge and a bit closer to the dwindling portal. A blackened hole was burned in its chest, but still it remained standing.

Anna left her other cloud of res for now and reestablished control with her shrinking Portal, attempting to stabilize it first by feeding it a steady flow of Djed. Waves of pleasure rocked her core, her mind burning with visions of untold destruction the Void could cause if unleashed upon her enemies. They told her to make the Portal massive, to consume the whole of this lab in her fury and power. Honestly, Anna was close to just losing herself in its promises, however she reined it in and instead slowly willed the Portal to start to expand again as her incantations were veritably shouted to the air to be heard over the roaring in her head. She hoped Kouri could move it just a bit closer, just a little more…

[Fubuki Kouri]

"A-aaah..." The ghost girl couldn't take much more, her soulmist body was screaming in pain, her mind was numbing, the urge to rest rising within her, but she fought it back. She couldn't sleep now, mother was in danger, her Oath-bound soul forced herself to move. Kouri's crimson eyes slowly opened as she watched the battle below, Anna was working with her magic, creating spinning disks of ice. "Woah..." She was fascinated, Anna's magic was powerful and deadly, yet beautiful at the same time. The spinning ice chakrams launched towards their target, slashing the creature with extreme prejudice, even severing one of its arm. To her shock, the creature didn't seem affected by much, still roaring and alive, What kind of monster is it?! Kouri had no time to ponder, the ghost girl's tendrils sprung up to life once more as she stood upside-down from the ceiling like a resting bat, "Mommy!" She shouted after Anna.

Her mother gave a command, a command she would enact with great pleasure. The ghost girl prepared herself as all six of her tendrils launched downwards, right after Anna launched her lightning. These six tendrils all stabbed into the creature's body, its chest and shoulders. The monster roared it pain at the combined assault, desperately trying to get fight back.

It saw the cursed black tendrils latching themselves into its body, the creature knew what to do, it grabbed the tendrils with its hands then pulled the ghost girl down, aiming to slam her, finishing her once and for all. However, Kouri actually wanted for the creature to pull her down, as she fell, the ghost girl clenched her right fist, fully focusing her soulmist energy on it, she positioned herself like a diagonally falling arrowhead then... *BLAM!!* She slammed her right fist into the creature's chest with all her might, white mist oozing out from the contact as the ghost girl damaged herself with it, the wounded monster staggered back due to the force and Kouri's freezing touch. It stumbled backwards, into the portal's gaping maw then with a silent scream, the creature was pulled back into the Void. Kouri turned her head back to Anna, her face wincing in pain, "M-mommy! Close it! Close it!" She couldn't stress this enough.

After the portal closed, Kouri would sigh in relief as she fell down to her knees, looking at the ground as she heaved unneeded breaths out of fear, the ghost girl's tendrils retracted back into her body and she unmaterialized, she was almost spent, her form gaining transparency and soulmist aura visibly dimming down. "Ha... ha... m-mommy..." Kouri raised her head to look at Anna then to the mysterious staff, this had better be worth it. She couldn't take it anymore, the ghost girl felt her consciousness fading, she closed her eyes as her body dissolved into an ethereal white cloud.

OOCCan we skip for about 6 bells until Kouri wake up? We will continue with the blue screen scene.

[Annalisa Marin]

The dark haired woman could feel herself unraveling as she maintained the Portal, the emptiness threatening to overwhelm everything that she was and everything that she would ever be in the darkness. The petched up thing was that it felt so very good, to create and hold this Portal and feed it with her vital essence to bridge two different dimensions. Anna could feel the urge attempting to overwhelm her mind and force her into continuing well past her limit, the sorceress nearly submitted as well. It was only her heroic mental fortitude built up over a long experience of using reimancy that was enabling her to resist the alluring draw of the inky black vortex.

Kouri had descended from above and was savaging this undead creature, forcing it back towards the Portal with a relentless onslaught of sheer ghostly power. Anna held the Portal open, feeding it more and more of her Djed as her legs started to wobble and her strength began to fade. Her adoptive daughter staggered the creature backwards, which was all the tall woman needed to handle this situation. She clenched a fist, signaling the Portal to gain a Pull and force the creature the rest of the way back into the Void.

The roar of despair was cut off abruptly as the beast fell backwards into the inky vortex, its grasp to This Side lost as it vanished back into the Void. Kouri screamed at Anna to sever the connection to the Void… but Anna didn’t want to just cut off the Void and kill her Portal. Visions of unparalleled destruction and devastation flashing through her mind, buildings torn from the ground and sent into the darkness within to drift in eternal nothingness. With this power she felt like a goddess in a way that not even reimancy could match.

No, she couldn’t give in and let herself to be ruled by her own magic, if she did then she would be no better than that mad man Maelstrom. She was better than him, better than every other sad Nuit that walked the halls of the Citadel. She controlled her magic and not the other way around, that dark haired woman gritted her teeth as she willed the core of the Portal to fill with a bit of matter. The next instant the Portal vanished from the world as the bridge between This Side and The Other Side was severed by sheer bloody minded will power. The air where it had once occupied rippled slightly as it returned to normal, the only sign that a Portal had occupied the space.

Immediately Anna fell to her knees, sweat pouring from every inch of her body and her breath coming out in long painful gasps. Her arms and legs quivered like jelly as the muscles spasms affected them, a common symptom of nearly pushing herself to the limit. A splitting headache was searing most coherent thoughts from her mind; Anna knew she had pushed herself to her complete limits with that little exertion. Her abilities regarding Voiding had been put to the complete test today, and she had also learned a rather potent lesson regarding the dangers of what existed beyond her Portals.

Grey eyes flicked to the side as she remembered the larger purple res cloud she had gathered as a precaution, a good thought on her part. The tall woman slowly drew the purple res into her body once more, the substance flowing in through her mouth, nose, and pores to return energy to her. Anna could feel the tremors in her limbs growing just a little less crippling, which meant she’d hopefully be able to stand without actually falling over herself. She still felt horrible in every sense of the word, but it was lessened by the addition of the small amount of energy.

The tall sorceress cast her eyes to Kouri, noting that her form had lost much substance and she appeared unresponsive much like their first possession session. Anna suspected she’d need a bit of time before she would be in any state to be moving again, much like the sorceress herself. Honestly all the tall woman wanted to do was pass out in one of the chairs nearby, just to rest a little after the horrible exertion. Her grey eyes noted with some amusement that despite all the chaos of the fight, their labspace was still empty. Then again it was likely that hazardous casting was indeed a commonality of Sahova, such was the way of things.

Slowly, very slowly Anna stood on wobbling legs and attempted to stabilize herself enough to head over to a nearby chair. The immediate area where her Portal had existed was a complete mess, with one workstation completely broken and various utensils scattered all around. Her eyes fell upon the item Kouri had brought back from the Void, a staff of some sort apparently. Anna halted in her path to the chair and instead opted to head over to this item, bending down and picking it up. It was cold to the touch, but its shaft was smooth if rather common all things considered. She didn’t feel anything special about the staff but at the very least it made a good thing to use to keep her balance to the chair.

The tall woman fell back in the wooden chair, setting the wooden staff down off to the side and slumping back in her seat. The sorceress could no longer fight off the creeping black embrace of sleep, though honestly the tall woman doubted anyone could fault her for wanting to rest. Her eyelids drooped, filling her vision with darkness. A chime later her sleep, mercifully blank and dreamless fell upon her.

OOCSure, go ahead and timeskip in your next post. Anna's pretty much dead weight from the casting. So Kouri will have a grumpy sorceress once she wakes her up.

[Fubuki Kouri]

In Kouri's mind...

It was nothing, she could sense nothing at all as if her consciousness was drifting in the very Void she just narrowly escaped. The ghost girl was floating in utter darkness, hugging her knees and burying her face in them, long alabaster locks acting as a blanket wrapped around her small form. The ghost girl was silent as if she was simply a lifeless ethereal doll, but then... after a moment, she stirred, moaning in discomfort as her eyelids fluttered open, revealing her large crimson eyes. "Uhn?" Kouri looked to her left and right, what was this place? She didn't know, yet she found herself unable to care. She might be trapped in the Void, pulled along with the monster, now she would live the rest of her immortal unlife in literal nothingness.

This fate didn't look so bad, she had nothing to worry about here, no Anna, no Rena, no Kriemhild, no Wanda, nothing, she could just close her eyes and forget everything, let her be dissolved with Void around her. "Hey." but a sudden voice, eerily similar to her own, woke her up, Kouri jolted awake as she raised her head, now she was face-to-face with a reflection of herself, they were completely alike except for the clear childishly malevolent look on her mirror-self. "What are you doing, little princess?" She recognized this girl, she was the one who woke up within her due to the deeds of a hypnotist named Maduro back in Syliras. She was supposed to be dead, but... apparently, it wasn't the case, both Mia and Anna had nurtured her back. Kouri kept silent, refusing to acknowledge this monster's presence.

"Cat got your tongue? Ahaha!" The other self giggled sinisterly, fully knowing Kouri's doomed fate at the hands of a tiger, "Oh, sorry, that cat really got your tongue, didn't i-" She was about to continue, but Kouri suddenly interrupted her. "What do you want?" Kouri had enough, anger creased in her face as the ghost girl shifted into a standing position, now standing before her mirror.

"What do I want? Oh, little princess, I want you to wake up, wake up and continue the fun games we've been doing!" The mirror sing-song voice echoed in the darkness, strangely even without any light, she was the only thing visible in Kouri's eyes. The ghost girl broke eye contact, she hated this girl, the girl who played around with dark deeds, taking pleasure in inflicting suffering upon others, yet... this girl was herself, a manifestation of her frustration, anger, and rage on the petching cruel world, "See? I know you like it, so..." The mirror self suddenly hugged Kouri then leaned in to lightly peck herself on the cheek, "Waaaake up~" Kouri's vision was then filled with white light, gradually getting brighter and brighter until...

Back to the Common Labs...

"Ha?!" A haunting gasp echoed in the messy lab as the white soulmist cloud reformed into the ethereal Vantha ghost. Kouri's mind was in shock for a couple of ticks, looking all around her in an attempt to recollect her memories. The broken furniture, destroyed apparatuses, and... her mother's sleeping figure made her mind clicked. They just sent a monster back into where it came from, she had just woken up from a dream, but it felt so real. "Ugh..." Groaning in pain due to her soulmist body still slowly recovering herself, Kouri shifted to a standing position,

"Mommy?" She truly hoped Anna was alright. By the looks of it, she was, but she wanted to make sure. The ghost girl slowly floated closer to the sleeping woman, a concerned smile on her face. Truly, Anna looked so peaceful in her sleep, different from the authoritative and proud sorceress, Kouri felt herself endeared by her mother's sleeping form. Ehehe, my mother, my very own mother, who would always love me and never let myself be hur- "..." Her mind stopped itself as an increasingly foreboding realization crept in. The Oath stated that they both wouldn't let each other come to harm, whether by actions or inactions, directly or indirectly, yet... what Anna just did, sending her into the Void, resulted in her being hurt. "B-but... impossible..." She thought out loud, she saw it with her own eyes, Anna signing an Oath which magically disappeared into thin air, this wasn't supposed to happen.

"No," Kouri shook her head, how could she think of her mother that way? Anna wouldn't lie to her, not after she threatened her with serrated tendrils and freezing touch, this human loved her like a daughter, a good mother wouldn't hurt her child. There must be something she didn't know, it would be best to directly ask her mother, Kouri's right hand focused its soulmist as she gently shook Anna's body, "Mommy, mommy, wake up..." She would continue to do so until the sorceress stirred, then the ghost girl would clasped her hands behind her back as she looked at the ground, stuttering with her words, "Mommy, I want to uhm... a-ask something, you said you wouldn't let me be hurt, r-right? B-but..." She closed her eyes to calm herself, she must know, "W-why did you send me into that place? I... I was hurt, that monster hurt me..."

[Annalisa Marin]

It was a rare thing when Anna’s sleep was not plagued by nightmares however she claimed this blissful rarity for everything it was worth. The exhaustion induced slumber was beautiful, just a long grey cloud of nothing that stretched on and on and Anna never wanted it to end. She wanted to sleep forever and ever, to just forget about everything and just exist in this moment and in this place. There was no politics, no enemies, and no obligations to anything other than herself and her needs and desires. Annalisa Marin was for once at peace with everything, and it felt good.

Naturally this couldn’t last for long and soon enough the sorceress found herself ripped from her peaceful slumber as something shook her physical body. She groaned slightly as she became aware of how very tired and exhausted she still was, pushing away the annoying thing that was nudging her futilely. Grey eyes opened slightly to the sight of her adoptive daughter standing before her, looking a little uneasy for some reason. The tall woman yawned slightly as she felt her senses returning to her slowly now that she was awake. As such it took her a chime to properly process Kouri’s question.

Anna froze her motions, staring at her daughter for a good long chime as she pondered her options here now that the girl knew about this little slip up. It was bound to become known to her sooner or later that her end of the Grand Oath had been a complete lie. She briefly pondered attempting to try and pass it off as a loophole in the Oath but she doubted Kouri was that stupid. Besides, the reveal was something that a part of her had very much been looking forward to as repayment for the girl’s violence against her person.

“I did say that I suppose. Also you were hurt. Therefore there is one logical conclusion one can reach, my daughter. What is that conclusion?” Anna said, reclining easily back in her chair.

“You did not honestly think that after you abused me I would so easily turn myself over to you, did you Kouri? No, you belong to me now my child, body, mind, and soul. Everything you are belongs to me and everything you become will be because I allow it to be so. You are mine, my daughter; I suggest you get used to the idea.” She finished, that trademark arrogant smirk returning to her face.

It was perhaps needlessly cruel for her to rub it in that Kouri could not escape the fate she had trapped herself in, however Anna felt some sense of vindication in it. The ghostly child had proven difficult to tame, however now that she was the sorceress felt in her heart there would be no escape for her. This was a chain that bound the child to her, one enforced by the gods themselves. She wondered if Rhysol approved of this deed she had committed, this betrayal of the child’s trust.

Now that she had made Kouri aware of the situation, it was best to play the part of the mother again. She didn’t need the child to be happy, only obedient however Kouri happy would be far more useful and easy to control than if she was not. Manipulation worked best on those that harbored more positive feelings towards one than negative, and while the Oath ensured the child’s slavish obedience there were other ways the girl could make things difficult.

“However Kouri, you have options here. This is your life now, it shall always be and there is no escaping it. You can hate me and live in misery, or you can accept what you cannot change and make the best of this situation. You are my daughter now; I’d prefer you be happy.” Anna stated.

[Fubuki Kouri]

Her mother finally recovered from her deep slumber, though it looked like her mind haven't fully went in motion yet. The ghost girl patiently waited as she stood still in front of Anna, but her mind was similar to a blizzard, filled with a cacophony of emotions, with anxiety being the eye of the storm. The one chime Anna took to fully comprehend what she said, the woman's body suddenly stiffened, which prompted a confused look from the phantom girl's crimson eyes. Why was it so hard to explain about this? Kouri didn't know why, she stared back into Anna's gray eyes, her lips trembled to produce a word or two, but in the end, only silence took place. She was already making assumptions, one being Anna was too shocked about it and she didn't expect Kouri to be hurt at all, if that was the case, she would be relieved, Anna only wanted the best for her.

"W-what?" The sorceress' cryptic words caused the tiny sliver of relief to be crushed under overpowering anxiety mixed with curiosity, the human spoke of one logical conclusion, what was the conclusion? She wanted to know, Kouri's materialized small hands reached out to gently place themselves on top of Anna's lap, she slightly leaned forward, "I... I don't know, Mommy, please tell me." She was practically begging, perhaps now that the danger had passed, Kouri thought Anna took her time to tease her, similar to a parent who wanted to give her daughter a pleasant surprise.

The aforementioned surprise however, was not a pleasant one, far from it, it was like her soulmist body being stabbed by hundreds and hundreds of souldarts filled with a master spiritist's soulmist, the despair that quickly took over was similar to how a ghost would feel if she was dusted, put into a jar, then thrown into the Void, drifting for eternity, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to reincarnate, an endless torment. "No... no..." The ghost girl became frantic, she took a few steps back from Anna as if the woman in front of her was replaced by a monster, the ghost girl's crimson eyes opened wide in horror as blood tears flowed from her ethereal eye sockets, her hands grasping each side of her head, "No no no!!!" She hitched a breath, then screeched with all her might, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" The ghost girl would continue wailing and screaming as her whole being came under excruciatingly unbearable mental shock. The soulmist around her form swirled violently as the temperature around her dropped down, representing her despair.

Anna lied to her, again! And this time, Kouri had nobody else to blame, it was her own foolishness that got her into this. With arrogance, she thought she had the human within the grasp of her tendrils, thinking that even for just a tick, Anna was terrified by her power and willing to bind herself. It was such a good plan... for them to be mother and daughter, for Kouri to have a parental figure that would absolutely love her without exception. No, of course, fate couldn't be so kind, she was betrayed. By this point, Kouri wasn't surprised anymore, everybody around her just loved to betray her, Everyone! "A... AAAAAAAAAAAGH!!" The ghost girl's screeching wail echoed in the common labs, some fragile glass apparatuses began cracking then shattering under her voice's screeching volume. No matter how much she screamed, her very own being wouldn't let her launch her tendrils, or control her touch's power, no, she took a sworn promise to never hurt Anna.

The ghost girl fell to her knees, tears of blood still streaming down like open faucets, then she dropped further, now holding her torso up with her hands as she went to all fours. Anna literally owned her now, not just her body, but her mind and very soul, including her freewill and to her utmost horror, there was nothing, absolutely nothing she could do about it. "Ma... Mama... NO! Mama!" In this case the 'mother' she was calling out in Vani was not Anna, but Sora Snowsong, her true mother, the one who held her in her womb for three seasons and gave birth to her in early Winter more than twelve winters ago. The ghost girl couldn't even think to harm Anna, no, her very own soul and existence refused to do so.

After so much screaming and pitiful struggling, Kouri seemed to just... shut down, her eyes went empty and her body lay still, like her soul was suddenly sucked out from her body. The ghost girl's mouth went slightly ajar and her wide-opened unblinking eyes still streaming crimson tears, she fell unceremoniously to the right, now her form was curled up on the ground, like an abandoned newborn baby, but with eerie haunting echoing sobs. Options, Anna gave her choice... a simple decision that her child-like mind could simplify, the were basically two decisions, she was bound to the human, it was only a matter of how she would serve her new fate, with hatred and useless defiance, or... she could just blissfully ignore about Anna's betrayal, continuing their mother-daughter relationship as if nothing happened. Her sobbing slowly died down, evidence of her mind giving in to desperation, the latter choice seemed logical and preferable now, but... her pride still prevented her from outright draping herself onto Anna like a slave-daughter, "Mommy," She looked up at Anna from the ground with her crimson pupils, "W-will... will you still love me?" It was a simple question, yet it held so much.

[Annalisa Marin]

It was always hard to describe that feeling Anna got when she witnessed the fruits of betraying someone, it was a mixture of indescribable rushing bliss and crushing self-loathing. She both hated it and loved it, knowing that it brought her closer to Rhysol and made her that much more loyal in his eyes. It was that slavish devotion that bordered on utter fanaticism that urged her onwards, to crush her humanity and offer Rhysol the suffering of another living being as her prayer to him. In this instance, the one on the receiving end of the suffering was her adoptive daughter and that mix of emotions assaulted her mind like water against rock.

The girl hadn’t wanted to believe it of course, then again Anna could imagine that there were few fates so awful to imagine as being made a slave though a contract witnessed by all the gods. There was no escaping from it as far as Anna knew, other than permanent death which Kouri seemed to deny rather forcefully. The sorceress didn’t really blame her as the idea of death was rather frightening, however that was really going to be her only escape from this life of slavery she had brought upon herself. Her grey eyes glanced skyward, a silent prayer to the Defiler being given for his influence in her life.

The girl shrieked and broke down, the air around her cooling dramatically and the sorceress having to cover her ears from the loud noise causing some discomfort. It would, naturally, be impossible for the shriek to reach the level that would damage her ears as that would violate the terms of the Oath but by the Defiler it was still petching annoying. An apprentice, as apparently this floor of the Common Labs had repopulated somewhat, stuck his head in and glared at the two for the disruption. A quick glare in turn from Annalisa, followed by a subtle movement of her hand to reveal her silver wizard ring prompted him to make a hasty retreat.

Finally the girl just appeared to shut down and curled up on the floor, wracked by pitiful sobs and looking all around pathetic in Anna’s eyes. Then she asked a rather simple question, though it was certainly a product of a mind broken by revelation. Kouri was searching for acceptance and comfort from the source of her pain, she needed some form of affection. It was enough to stab at even Anna’s black heart, pitiful enough that she felt a bit of sympathy for the powerful child. Not enough to take back her binding her to an Oath, but enough to grant her some tiny mercy.

The tall woman slowly got to her feet, and knelt beside Kouri with her expression having softened considerably. She moved to attempt to draw Kouri into another embrace, soft shushing noises escaping her lips as she did. Anna would once again attempt to ignore the chill that coursed down her spine at the contact. At the end of the day the ghostly girl was still only a child, a young one at that who looked for guidance even from those who had betrayed her. At this point Anna was her mother for all intents and purposes, her other mother being dead and gone forever. The tall sorceress could serve as a replacement for that affection, though she had no doubt this would be a lesson hard remembered by her new daughter.

“Shhh, my daughter, of course I’ll love you. I’ll care for you, spoil you with affection, and hold you close to my breast when you are frightened. You need to do something for me though, love me back as you would a mother. We both need each other, Kouri.” Anna whispered to the ghostly child softly.

They were not so much lies as they were a hedging of the truth; she felt that she might indeed be able to feel something like love for Kouri. However her first love and loyalty was always to Rhysol, his needs and wants were more important than her own in this world. If that meant she had to put Kouri into situations where she ended up getting hurt then that was what she would have to do. The Defiler demanded sacrifice of his followers after all.