Answers and Blank Spaces

[Little Rose]

Darkness has never been a problem for Rose. As a cave-dwelling scorpion, she was accustomed to the blackness. As a member of the Takusen, she was beyond used to being in pure silence as a much stronger personality is speaking.

The endless abyss started before the pure white being appeared…

It began far long ago with Akumu when he silenced Lilith and dominated Evan. Akumu's blankets of charm and praise served to consume her will with his own. The day he succeeded was the day this all began. It happened wahen he cut her individuality and personal thoughts strait out of her head. She, of course, didn’t fight him, but Lilith did. And for her struggles, she found nothing but pain.

Pain.

That’s right, she was fighting with Dellindis. He’d been much faster than her, everyone was. What she had was… What did she have?

“Friends.” Evan appeared beside her. He had light sandy-brown hair, always styled fashionably up in short spikes. His high collar leather vest was decorative in rune-like swirls, over his crisp white shirt with poofy sleeves. The same sleeves that billowed as he took one hand from behind his back and pointed a bejeweled hand towards the creature in the center of the area. “He is talking to you, Rose. Best to listen.” He had a bitterness to his smile, but as if he knew his place he remained polite, only it was forced.

“My name is Omni. This is not the world you know. This is the Omniverse. You interest me, so I have made you part of it. The Omniverse is a place that reflects the wishes of those who are part of it. But! There are rules. I will explain them only once, so listen carefully.”

Omni hands you a glimmering orb in which all the colors of the rainbow coalesce. “This is Omnilium. It’s what ties the Omniverse together. Without it, you are nothing. With it, anything you desire can be yours. But you will need more than this. If you desire it enough, you will find it. You will find that using it comes naturally. Just think of what you desire most.'

Rose looked from the rainbow’s worth of lights to her own hand. She only had one desire, that was to please her master and his boss.

“You will not be alone in the Omniverse. There are others. Of course, they, too desire Omnilium. Do not fear death. For as long as you interest me, you will be reborn.'

‘Other’s?’ A soft-spoken part of her inner-self asked, looking back at the child-like figure as ‘his’ grin beamed at her. Try as she may, though not a foreign sensation at all, she was unable to speak. It did not matter, because very quickly the surface thoughts of her broken past-self vanished with the shiny omnilium in Omni’s hand.

“That’s all you need to know right now. You’ll figure out the rest soon enough. I’ll be watching … and waiting.”

In a snap, the darkness bursts away and Rose was inside a glass cage. At her feet a growing amount of sand pooled, it was warm as if the sun has soaked it in its rays for several hours. It came from above, and when the blond-haired hollow looked up she saw it raining down from a small tunnel. The shape of the hourglass warped a little, but she could see the sand on the other side.

“ROSE!” another girl’s voice shrieked harshly from the other side of the glass.

The act of turning her head took way too long for the alarmed tone of Lilith.

Lilith has light strawberry-pink colored hair that she often tied in twin-tails on either side of her head. She was in a gown that was best described simply as victorian-ball. It was a flounced bodice with puffy shoulders which then straighten out close to her slender arms until belling out once more at the wrist. Her skirt was the typical Cinderella-style bell shape, stopping a few inches above the ankle in layers of lace and thinner fabrics. The dress itself had a grey base and a baby-doll pink pinstripe pattern. Compete with matching pink ribbons at her high collar, around her wrist, decorating the ends of her skirt, and pinning up her hair

Her pretty face glared at the slow hollow. “Stop messing around and get out of there." Lilith demanded, opening up a pink parasol and swinging it over her shoulder giving the incased arachnid a stern and impatient look. "If you don't escape quickly, you will be buried. Alive." She spat out the last few words, emphasizing the very last one even more.

"Again." Evan clarified.

From inside the hourglass, the mostly naked woman just blinked at their advice. As if it did not register to her through the cage. Then with very little enthusiasm she walked calmly to the edge and placed her hand on the inside of the wall. It was cold to her flattened palm. The woman stroked the inner glass making it squeak as she seemed to be inspecting it.

Without any warning after that, she balled up her other hand into a fist, reeled it back, and in one solid punch shattered her prison.

Glass and sand rained down on her and the pure white floor of the Nexus, the sound of crystal skittering and skipping along the tile could be heard among the gasps of the people around her.

Her dead eyes look through her brilliant blond hair - what's left of it - as she brought them to meet the rose-colored judgment stare of Lilith. In their silence was a challenge that wouldn't be met by either side of the battlefield. Lilith's confidence and will too wounded after Akumu tore her asunder, and Rose too unaware for the posh woman's liking. The stare down ended with Lilith grunting her displeasure and turning her back to the Imperfect Arrancar. She was hidden behind the pink fabric and that was good enough for now.

Rose looked in Evan's direction, but all he had to offer was a shrug of his shoulders as he held up his hands in surrender and a nervous chuckle.

The hollow's bare feet crush against the sand and glass as she turns her body to look at her surroundings. Her opinion of it was simple, as she was simple-minded. It was endless and white. She turned again, a quarter to the left, finding more blank space with dots that lined the horizon, even space between them. As she turned, her blood smeared across the tile and sand, glass digging deep into the soles of her feet without much of any response from the girl herself.

Evan, however, cringed.

"Rose? Might I suggest being a bit more careful? That must hurt." He said, but new better.

Before this point, only the most extremes of pain have ever brought any response to the hollow. He had the displeasure of even watching her cut her own hand off without flinching. Of course, that's the benefit of using Toxico's poison-covered blade. If her master had not stopped the fight, the masculine ghost of intelligence wagered an educated guess that she would have bled to death before tending to it.

She was lucky that Keyno had the ability he did, or Rose would have been physically disabled as well as mentally so...

Rose looked down at the bloody glass-laced sand. She wordlessly stared at her own feet for several long awkward moments before lifting one foot up. She twisted her leg inward and the ankle further to get a better look at the bottoms. She was able to see several sand-packed cuts before her balance gave out and the hollow fell backward.

Her impact on the bed of splintered glass and spilled sand was hard enough to be heard by any of the secondaries nearby, causing her some curious and strange looks. Rose's golden locks fall around her head and some against her nearly-nude chest. Creating a sunshine-colored halo to form around her fallen head. She was not the most graceful, hardly ever was. The Arrancar could feel just the barest discomfort as thicker pieces of broken hourglass piercd her back, shoulders, hips, and legs. Some grazed her arms, but for the most part, they go unscathed.


Rose blinked her vacant eyes.


Lilith sucked at her teeth in displeasure.


Evan let out a controlled sigh.

[Kopaka]

After having sated her appetite and summoned herself a new outfit, Hecate and Kopaka had briskly made their way out of the Tangle Green, leaving a trail of frost and crushed foliage in their wake. The Darkness in Hecate had been somewhat hesitant to replace her sweaty and effluent rags. Sweet memories of pain lingered within the shredded fabrics that were nothing if not tantalizing to the bloodthirsty mage. On the other hand, the Makuta's soliloquy about clean snow and fresh blood had reminded her that half the fun of spilling blood was getting it on one's self.

...and if your clothes were already a gory mess, it hardly had the same effect. And so, with fresh adornments, the mage and the elemental journeyed out once again in the blinding void of the Nexus. Hecate did not necessarily ask why they were going this way, or what their long-term plans were. She hadn't even necessarily cared that she was leaving her fortress behind in such penetrable vacancy. There was nothing there of value, at least, nothing that any sane person would want to take with them.

For his part, Kopaka had every intention of spilling the blood of more of the Empire's bounty targets. If nothing else, his track record indicated that there was a high chance of Imperial hits lingering around the Fountain of Infinity at any given time; usually with a small mound of smoldering Stormtrooper carcasses strewn about them. Though he may have seemed aloof, the biomech was secretly examining every one of Hecate's mannerisms and inflections, at least though what few words were shared. She did not complain that they had no mounts. She did not complain that to be near the Makuta was like hugging a glacier. This, however, needed to be taken with a grain of salt. After all, Dawnika Snow had portrayed every semblance of restraint and quiescence before abruptly losing her composure against the demonic clown.

At least in Hecate's case, Kopaka was well informed of her mental instabilities ahead of time. He could plan for them. Arrange contingencies. Above all else, it was the raw enthusiasm for violence that the Makuta admired in the human. Dawnika had also been fond of violence, but moreso as an expedient route to glory and victory. Hecate Rothchild, on the other hand, reveled in blood for blood's sake.

In other words, she was an artist. Like him.

As they approached the Fountain, the rusty optics on the Kanohi Akaku clicked and whirred as he magnified the scene. The fount had taken on the form of an immense hourglass of sand, breached already by whatever Prime had resided within. The bionicle studied the scene carefully. Where was the chick which had sprung from this sandy egg? Next to him, Hecate chuckled softly.

"Thoughts?" Kopaka intoned, looking down at her. She kept her gaze fixed at the Fountain.

"Smells like blood."

"Hm." the biomech responded. The sensory abilities of olfactory receptors had consistently fascinated him since he had come to the Omniverse. Certainly, there was a great swath of sensory abilities he possessed that the average mammalian troglodyte could only dream of...but scent and taste seemed to hold such a sentimental place in the hearts of these curious, bipedal rahi. Still, the time for rumination had passed. As the Prime Pair approached the scattered sand and glass, smears of darkened blood all led their eyes to the supine figure of what was, presumably, a nascent Prime.

"Hmph." Hecate snorted as she knelt down and ran a finger through the sandy blood, "...her getup doesn't leave much to imagine. I wonder that was her idea."

Kopaka, however, did not possess any inhibitions or shyness in the presence of nearly naked women. The towering elemental loomed over Rose like a frigid tower, leering down at he with his sickly, yellow eyes.

"Identify thyself."

[Lucas Kellan]

The Shadow Marshall’s own device had gone off, saying that regardless of experience at home, he’d need some empire work “under his belt.” Shadow 1-8 frowned and closed the feed, walking back toward the local “elevators.” Several of the others he had met had already left and the other spy- type had disappeared into the night.

He’d figure out where Echo was later, that is if she was here.

He couldn’t be picky in this world on what jobs he took for OM. If he even needed the OM here.

Here he could summon anything he wanted.

He disappeared into the night and worked his way up to the Tier 4 elevators and back to Tier 1. Lucas found himself tapping on his arms, impatient as the elevators took their sweet time back up.

He made his way, or in his case, he pushed aside some of the citizens in his way, a bit annoyed.

He was silent, putting on his poker face as he stopped at the military scanners, making sure his “info” was up before being waved through the military scanners.

“Shadow 1-8, you are cleared”. Move through.

The man disappeared into thin air as he moved toward three strangers, M23 combat knife close by, in hand.

He reappeared as soon as he stopped, slipping the combat knife away.

He stood there, his eyes looking over at the three voices talking, a woman with blonde hair, a woman with longer dark hair and a living, talking robot. Wait, a living talking robot? That… was unusual even for him, everything he’d seen in terms of robots were droids, giant ones that killed but none other robots this advanced…

Lucas eyed the three of them talking and stepped to the side, eyeing every detail.

[Little Rose]

Rose looked up at the not normal voice, between Evan and Lilith stood something strange. It looked like some things in the laboratory she’d been shown through on her first day of Takusen. Smooth white metallic elements peeking out of his filthy cloak. Her gold eyes caught his three dim sons in a blank stare which lasted so long the one asking the questions might consider her stupid, or ignorant to his language.

“It’s rude to ignore a direct question.” Rose’s eyes drift over to the right where Evan stood hoving over her like the man in the cloak. “You do remember your name, right?”

“Rose.” her voice was as flat as her expression.

“Correct.” Evan praised with a smile.

The electronic voice of her interrogator repeated it. “Rose..” he attempted to recollect any memory of a Rose on the Empire’s list of damned primes. However, there was none such on his list, nor any other list.

“By any other name…” Evan said thoughtfully.

Lilith grew impatient, she stood straight and stared down at Rose from behind her perky nose. “For God’s sake… Get up Rose, we should get going.”

“Where do you intend to go, Lilith?” Evan questioned, Rose’s eyes drifted to the left now where she could see her pink friend.

“I don’t really care!” Lilith threw her hand in Rose’s direction. “Are you saying you’d rather her just lay there on her back like a fish?”

“I mean… Fish tend to flop on their side.” Even smirked.

Lilith's face burned. “The point is we’re wasting time!”

“We have nothing but time.” Evan argued, gently.

“Doesn’t mean we have to waste it.” Lilith declared, stomping her foot. She then turned to their host. “Rose. Get up!”

Rose’s eyes blinked slowly. She considered her options. After all, it wasn’t very comfortable laying there on the ground and she had every means to do as she was told. However, Lilith was being particularly pushy, and part of the teenager didn’t want to give her her way. She turned her eyes on Evan.

“I must confess, getting up would probably be a step in a good direction. You are in pain, right? They may be able to help you.” he explained gestured to the lab-man.

Rose’s eyes follow back to the three suns. “Help?” she repeated, thoughtfully.

This must have been enough of a question directed at him that the lab-man nodded and encircled the girl to offer a hand. Rose took it, as she didn’t have any reason not to.

As her back rolled up, it is revealed to have on it several large purple chitin spikes along her spine. Though questionable, they were meant to be sticking out of her back. What stood out as something that didn’t be the large pieces of the hourglass impaled in various parts of her backside. Blood oozed out of a couple while the sand bath seems to have temporarily stopped the bleeding in others.
His companion couldn’t help herself and reach out for one of them. One of the larger pieces was ripped out of the younger female’s back. The spray of crimson followed the harsh trajectory of the blade in a beautiful aerial arc, but the cry of pain did not follow and the woman blinked in her surprise. Even when you pull porcupine needles out of a dog they cry…

“Gross!” Lilith shuddered.

“Rose, you should ask for their names.” Evan instructed a gentle but forced smile.

Instead, Rose just looked up at the three suns. “What do we call you?”

[Hecate Rothchild]

The woman was strange, no strange may not have been the word. [i]"off"[\i] Hecate thought to herself, discarding the bloodsoaked blade of broken hourglass. her golden eyes flickered from one side to the other almost like she was twitching, it was truly strange. Still the girl had not even flinched when the shard was withdrawn from her back, albeit forcefully. The girl seemed so truly off.

"Hecate Rothchild, Witch of Vestura." The silver haired maiden replied, not one to miss out on protocol. Her uniform brand new and clean was a mild inconvenience to her new found awakening. Her red tinted eyes tracked each deliberate shift of Rose's gaze, every time it shifted from one side of Kopaka to the other.

Losing interest in watching just the girls eyes she turned her attention back to the shard of glass in her hands, a copious amount of blood still clung to the shimmery surface. Running her thumb along the edge collecting the fluid on it she quickly tasted it. The sweet metallic flavour lingered on her tongue dancing across her taste buds, unfortunately it was over all too soon. as he deliberations on the ichor was interrupted by Kopaka

[Lucas Kellan]

Before the others noticed the man, he slipped out via cloak and was gone from sight within a few seconds.