CHAPTER TWO ♔ a sigh escapes from heaven and worlds end

[savemyself]

♬ The Dream Within - Lara Fabian

WHO || Rafael Giovanni, Burt Becksworth, Isabella Alessandro, Finnick Odair, Myrilandel de Tanos, Buffy Summers, Spike, Elena Gilbert, Dawn Summers, Desmond Descant, Jeanne Gar, Kat Samcelot, Mark Sandazhard, Violet Fiore, Sterling Archer
WHAT || CHAPTER TWO: Following the traumatic and tragic events of Finnick and Rafael's concert, our heroes are taken to be interrogated at the police station
WHERE || Concert Hall > Chicago Police Department, Chicago, IL
WHEN || July 3rd, 2013 [ forward dated]
HOW || Actionspam

Nothing is okay.

What was meant to be the Knights' triumphant collaborative effort to cut off Chad Becksworth's bid for total control of NOVA Records, allowing them to follow the trail elsewhere, has descended into chaos. Rafael's songs triggered some kind of reaction in Jade that allowed her to regain her lost memories, only to have their reunion cut tragically short by the actions of a hitman who took her hostage on stage, demanding her necklace. While Myri and Violet attempted to convince him that the necklace did not lie with her, Jade signaled to Rafael that she meant to utilize the distraction to break free - but things went out of control and Rafael's bullets struck Jade instead. The Knights felled the hitman, as the world watched, and Rafael begged a distraught and enraged Des to end his life. Meanwhile, a mysterious figure that only Buffy & Spike could see assisted Myrilandel in healing Jade enough to hang on for a little time more...

Time for people to say goodbye.

In the meantime, the police have arrived, arresting Rafael, Archer, and Des (or attempting to), and preparing Jade to be taken to the hospital. Everyone else is being ordered to head outside to be taken down to the station for questioning. It's a hectic scene, but people can finally snatch a few moments amid the chaos to try to make sense of what just happened...

Comments

[nothingsodivine]

And maybe pigs will-

[He stops, pulls a face around his alcohol, and changes tactics.]

He had that planned since the day they got Jade in the line-up. He had plenty of time to talk himself out of it.

[slay]

I can't believe that. I won't.

[ if she believes that, it means he used them. and it taints what he was thanking her for when he bought her that dress, when he thanked her, when she thought maybe they had a chance. ]

[nothingsodivine]

You really think he just bullshitted that right there?

[slay]

Des, I don't - [ she gets uncomfortable, straightening up and hunching her shoulders. it's not that she thinks that. it's that she can't come up with a good justification for how it wasn't premeditated, for how he might not have been using them, and that crushes her. ]

[nothingsodivine]

Hey- [He reaches over and squeezes her shoulder.] I get it, okay? I don't care what you think of it not being her choice to lose those memories and how it meant shit since she couldn't remember me anyway- seeing her with him, after everything? Damn near killed me.

[slay]

Wasn't exactly my idea of a fun time, either.

[rationalizes]

[ ♬ fuck was i - jenny owen youngs ]

[nothingsodivine]

This is why I stopped doing this.

[slay]

Don't.

[ buffy sits up suddenly, her gaze intense. the distress drains out of it, replaced with desperate seriousness. ]

Don't talk like that.

[ talk like that leads to stopping again, and she can't do this by herself. ]

[nothingsodivine]

I've been talking like that a hell of a long time before I met you. [he's more bewildered by her sudden ~intensity~ than he is anything.]

[slay]

Yeah, and then you met me. [ yes buffy demands that desmond change his entire lifeview and way of thinking for her that's what family does. ] And the rest of us, and you stayed with us, and you worked with us - through all of this. And if you stop, what am I supposed to do? Do you honestly think anybody else here understands? [ she lets emotions leak into her words as she says it, taking on a watery tone that she fights back. she just lost jade, and she feels as though she's lost rafael. she's not losing des too. ]

[nothingsodivine]

Understands what? Murder or caring about the wrong person? [He's not being a dick- he doubts anyone else is going to give her the "do what feels right" talk when it comes to her instinct to kill, kill, kill.]

[slay]

Both!

[ she'd thought she could connect to rafael like that. she'd thought he understood, thought they were the same, but all she can think of him now is how badly her heart ached that he'd taken advantage of her feelings to get what he wanted and deal with his own issues - the same way she'd done to spike. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des stares at her.] Remind me to punch Rafael twice when he gets in.

[slay]

Good. You can give him one for me.

[ because she's too strong to deck anyone for being an idiot unless it's spike or des, probably. she glances away, bitter and trying to disguise her emotions all at once. she takes a deep breath, downs another gulp of des' mystery alcohol that the bartender is filling them up on yay. ]

[nothingsodivine]

I can, I will. [He holds up his drink.] Cheers, Blondie.

[slay]

Cheers.

[ she holds up her glass and finishes it off, pulling a face and gagging once she slams the glass down. ]

God, that is foul.

[nothingsodivine]

[JUST CASUALLY SWIGGING. NO BIG DEAL.] You think that's bad? There's a cajun place in New Orleans that serves Bloody Marys so strong, they'll give you a mustache.

[slay]

You might have better luck making that sell with Spike.

[ get it blood marys wow she's hilarious lAUGH DAMMIT. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Des laughs, but it's not because it was funny.] You don't have to try so hard.

[slay]

Yeah, I do.

[ she gives him a warm look, but in front of des it's obvious it's fraying at the edges, which for the most part she doesn't dare show around the rest of the team. she feels compelled to be strong for them, because as much as this aches, she knows it's going to get better. it can't get worse. she needs to be strong because right now she knows that nobody else is, and she needs to tough it out and be that for them.

somehow, she just intuitively adopts that as her responsibility. ]

[nothingsodivine]

No, you don't. I'm doing it because that's what I do. You're doing it because you think if you lose it, all those people upstairs are going to think you can't hack it. It's a good way to go crazy.

[slay]

I'm not trying to prove anything about myself, Des. I'm doing this because if I lose it, then who's gonna be there for all those people upstairs? Who's gonna be there for any of us?

[ myri, admittedly, has been surprisingly strong through all of this, but here's the thing; buffy has an ingrained need to protect her. myri shouldn't have to be the strong one. she shouldn't have to carry all of these people while feeling all of their pain as if it's her own. ]

[nothingsodivine]

Maybe nobody really needs to be strong for anyone else. It's a hell of a lot of pressure to put on a person. [He shakes his head and goes back to his drink.] After awhile, they start thinking you're something you can't be all the time. And you get to a point where all you have is being that.

[He thinks about his conversation with Jade on the balcony all that time ago.] She must have gotten tired of it, too.

[slay]

How else are we supposed to protect the people we love from this?

[ love. the words tastes strange in her mouth. she swallows. talking about love and death in the same breath. maybe she wasn't wrong about the similarities between herself and rafael. ]