knightsoflegend | CHAPTER TWO ♔ a sigh escapes from heaven and worlds end

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CHAPTER TWO ♔ a sigh escapes from heaven and worlds end

♬ 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...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Those people attacking his house in Venice ... those weren't enemies, were they? That was the Resistance, pissed off.

[ the worst part of all of this is that it's crushing buffy's soul to hear that the entire reason he wanted to call it quits was simply because of jade - because of someone he fought with as often as he loved, and had looked back on with rose-colored glasses and imagined as this perfect being. he'd put her on a pedestal and she'd died before she'd had a chance to prove him wrong and bring him back to reality. ]

[ she shakes his head ] You are both wrong.

You do not understand. What they wanted was to not lose Rafael. And they saw who was responsible for his decision.

[and from out of nowhere finnick speaks up again holy shit y'all.] So they made her pay the price. That's what they did, didn't they? They didn't think he valued his own life nearly as much as hers, so the Resistance turned on her. Do you think taking away her memories was something they were capable of? Or was it worse, before that.

[Vi shakes her head.] They didn't take her memories, though, she lost them when she came back from her mom. Is that... is that why she left? Her mom offered her a place, it was to protect her.

[ isabella stares at the floor, expression cold ]

It is. But there is more to it.

These others... people who had worked with us over the years, our only friends, wanted to both break the hold she had on him, and punish Jade for attempting to draw him away. They created a conspiracy among themselves, setting Eterna up to take the fall for Rafael's crimes, which were enough to lock her away for life, if not cause her to be executed. They worked a web of deceit and lies around us all, creating suspicion and doubt where there should have been none. Eterna was cornered, trapped, unable to remain above ground without being apprehended by Italian authorities. Others leaked poison into Rafael’s ears about her motives, but he never really believed them. She stayed with us through the worst of it, until... until there was almost no choice.

Apparently, around this time, her mother contacted her somehow. I do not know how. And it was then that Eterna revealed to us what she really was. The daughter of a Goddess... A true Celestial in the Shadowrealm. An Aasimar. Her mother offered her sanctuary, offered to take her back with her to the Celestial plane of the Shadowrealm, to escape the trouble she was in here on earth, never to return. It became a choice for her, of whether to go with her mother and leave us all forever, or to remain here and escape with Rafael somewhere, running forever from the law and from the past.

Goddess of visions... It seems like the common god mode of texting. [Distinct possibilty for parental contact, just saying. The long distance plan for the astral plane must be out of this world.

Oh. Oh then that could mean her dreams... No. Violet focus.]

She left. That was her choice, which I can see why. But he just let her? [That is what she can't figure out. He went through so much trouble to give her memory back, putting her in danger in the process -- putting Isabella in danger -- but he had just let her leave forever to be with her mother?]

Edited 2013-07-03 02:33 (UTC)

He thought she'd be safer. [Des still remembers the conversation with Rafael he had, even if it lacked a ton of context. This is where he gets conflicted about how he feels about this, because even if Rafael took her choice away- the only reason those memorie were gone was because she couldn't deal.] She would have run forever, so long as she was with him, but he sent her away. And she was so heartbroken that she had those memories locked up.

And he spent the next however many years regretting it. Gee. Glad we're all caught up. I don't see how any of this is gonna help us stop the Chicago PD from putting Rafael away for a very, very long time, which I think we can all agree is what we should be focusing on here, yeah?

[ isabella cuts buffy the most venomous look ever. ] If you do not want to know exactly who and what you're dealing with, and what the police might find, you are free to leave. I was not finished.

[Spike leans back, smirking a bit. Two hot ladies sassing at each other. It's like banter porn. Alas, not the time for it.]

Save the catfight for later, loves. Story's interesting enough without the added show.

[ wow excuse you spike, dirty look for you too. but she moves on anyway.

foolish games (reprise) - jewel ]

As I was saying. Eterna went to Rafael, and asked him his opinion on what she should do. You are right, in that he told her to leave, thinking that it was the only place she could be safe. That he had brought all this upon her life, and that he did not deserve to keep her at her own risk. That she would have a chance to be happy with her mother, something they could never have again here.

[ she shakes her head, lost in a particularly bitter memory ] He left, saying he had some errand to run, most likely to clear his head and stop himself from breaking his resolve and saying something else to change her mind. That is when she came to me, all tears, as she told me what he had said.

She was heartbroken.

All she had wanted was for Rafael to ask her to stay, she said, to fight for what they had, and be willing to do whatever it took to stay together. He had but to say the word and she would deny her mother, and live any kind of life they could have together. But she felt he had as much as dismissed her completely with his pronouncement.

[ she releases a long unsteady breath and says, as something of a sidebar: ] These are the kind of people they were, you see. There is such a thing as a love that burns too hot, so that instead of creating warmth, it consumes and devours everything around it. Instead of being honest with each other, they had to play their games, to see what they wanted to see. [ her tone is particularly crisp as she says: ] That is not love. It never was. It is a child's concept of the thing, and the closest Rafael had ever known to it.

[Des has finally managed to walk back to the rest of the group, standing with his arms crossed.] So the Jade who knew us, the one with no memory of Rafael- that was her ideal. That was her getting her happy ending. No games, no lies, nothing so intense, all it ever does is hurt her.

He killed her before his goddamn bullet ever hit her. And for what? His little manic pixie dream girl fantasy? His Dulcinea? His freakin' green light? [He laughs, bitterly.] She had something real with us, and he didn't even give a damn. If he didn't want her on that stage, then why did he paint a target on her back? That's the part of the story I wanna hear. Why the hell was one son of a bitch's failed love story worth more than the people he was supposed to care about. I might be the last person who oughta be judging anyone for being selfish, but at least I admit I'm a selfish prick. What's his excuse?

[ rain one - varekai

her forehead furrows as she stares at des, something slowly sinking in. she sounds angry as she retorts: ] I never said that was what she wanted. She was as much as fault as he was. They were both wrapped up in their dramatic ideal of love, and they both encouraged it in each other. She could have been honest with him about how she felt, what she wanted, but instead she wanted him to prove his love, could not just accept that he might be acting in her best interests. [ pointedly: ] You do not need to go idealizing her as well.

[ she reins herself in and takes a deep breath ] Instead, because she could not simply tell him what it was she wanted from him, it fell to me. She hugged and kissed me goodbye, as a sister would, and headed down to the back courtyard, to the garden. I ran to the front door, as Rafael was coming back inside, and as I regained my breath, he made some kind of comment about the strange weather for that time of year. It was raining then. It always rained when Eterna cried, something we never thought twice about before we knew what she was. And I blurted out everything she had said to me, that she was leaving, that she had wanted nothing but to stay with him, with us. I screamed at him about what fools they were, but he did not stay to hear me. He bolted for the garden, and I watched hopelessly from the back window.

Jade was standing in the center of the courtyard, the rain streaming over her upturned face. Rafael tore around the corner, shouting her name, and I remember, she dropped her eyes from the heavens and looked back at him, tears still streaking her cheeks, and I could see regret in her eyes. And then there was a flash enveloping her - so brilliant, I had to look away - just as Rafael caught up to her, followed by an overwhelming darkness that ate up the light just as quickly as it came. Rafael fell to his knees on the ground where Jade had stood moments before, and shouted her name over and over again until it tore at my brain like thunder... But, there was no calling her back. She was out of his reach, completely. He had been too late - by only a moment. A moment less from me and perhaps... [ she shakes her head woodenly ] Perhaps not. Perhaps there was no changing it. It is possible we can not know that. But Rafael- [ she seems overcome with a sort of horror at the memory, shuddering slightly. ] He sat there for I don’t know how long, tears running down his face, his eyes empty, as the tears of his angel fell upon him...

And I do not think that he ever really left that spot in the years that followed. In the end, I should never have told him. He should never have known.

What became of him -- [ and she has to stop again, but apparently this next part is the very worst of it all to her. ]

You did the right thing.

[ she says it reluctantly, because this is isabella we're talking about here, but she feels like she has to say it - isa deserves to know that, to stop wondering if she should have somehow spared rafael that pain. ]

What Rafael did, how he chose to deal or not deal, that was his choice. Keeping that kind of secret from someone you love, it would have eaten you away inside. He would have found out sooner or later, and it would have been worse for everyone.

[ and it's clear in the hardness of her voice that she has a wealth of problems with the choices he did make, but the fact is they're his - they aren't on isabella to prevent. ]

[Des just glares daggers at Isabella like he wants to leap over the couch and strangle her.] She was just a girl, princess.

[No idealizing about it.]

Sounds like they were both morons. [Spike's feeling less jealous of Rafael's life by the moment. Spike may not be darkly handsome and Italian with a voice like an angel, but he's also not... stupidly roundabout and dishonest about his feelings. Love doesn't exactly make him smart, but at least it doesn't make him this melodramatic.

He can entirely imagine loving to the degree Rafael and Jade presumably loved. But he can't ever imagine letting his lover believe he'd willingly go a day without her, let alone an eternity. It's too bloody stupid for words.]

Buffy's right, you did do the right thing. [Her agreement is soft, as she stands up. But then she looks to Des.] And Isabella's right. That girl, that we all knew? She was just a shadow of the woman she should have been.

[She holds up a hand to bar any protests.] I am not excusing what Rafael did, he shouldn't have done it without her permission and he sure as hell shouldn't have done it when he did. But it was killing her. She lived in a world that was grey because all the vibrancy was sucked out of it and she felt like she was lost. Rafael fucked up, he did, but Jade needed her memories back. Even if it was just for a couple minutes. The woman we saw on stage, that was who she was supposed to be.

[Archer actually suddenly gets a little choked up... though - that may just be because his Bloody Mary is empty.]

Look. Just because YOU didn't understand their brand of love doesn't mean they weren't in love, ok?! Who are you to judge them?

Sometimes, you just know, and that's it - and it's crazy and stupid and magical, like a goddamned unicorn on an acid trip in the Bahamas - And then some asshole named BARRY crashes your wedding, and murders her. And that's exactly what this faceless SONOFABITCH did! [Archer hurls his empty glass at this point and stands up.] WELL FUCK THAT! This time someone is going to pay!

[KATYA!!!!!!!!!! *projecting anger*]

[/Crickets chirping "Sound of Silence" in the background.]

[finnick is so astounded by archer's display of genuine human emotion that he drops his cup of coffee — and somehow manages to catch it with a 16 ref save.]

[ madness - muse

isabella chooses to ignore most of archer's ... whatever that was over there. ]

Rafael did what he did there and then because he knew it would be his only chance to have her listen. Do you think it would have been truly better for him to spend months or years pursuing a woman who, as Violet says, was nothing but a shadow, and who would be overwhelmed by his advances, or not want them in the first place? Who was not even the same woman? He was not so cruel as to subject her to that, and it would have felt like a betrayal to the Jade he did love. But you cannot believe for a moment, he thought giving her her memories back would mean replacing everything she had known since. Who could predict such a thing? [ she unbristles a bit, shifting in place ]

But it would not matter. Because Des was right about something. [ those words do not seem to come easy. ]

He changed after she left. Everything changed. The things he did in that time-- [ there's a clearly haunted look in her eyes, over things she does not care to discuss ] He threw himself back into the resistance movement, almost in defiance of what had happened. There were something so much darker to him, and it took some time for me to see how much his sanity had slipped. He began to mark his victims, to leave a sign for those who found them, and word spread to the people. They called him Il Flagello Nero after the weapon he would carry to leave his mark: the Black Scourge. His fame spread, now that his crimes were clearly the work of one man, and he became renowned as the most dangerous assassin in Italy.

He would no longer sing the songs he once sang- the songs he sang with Jade, or even before her. Instead he wrote new ones frantically, all of them calling out to her. He became desperate to regain what he felt he had lost. He blamed himself for “sending her away” but I felt as much at fault for not holding her back only seconds more.

Rafael did not see it that way of course. He could only hunt her, and hunt his prey. Hiro joined us eventually, and Rafael became an enigmatic threat to Italian Shadow-haters.

That was not all.

He also began bringing young women home on occasion, women that reminded him in some aspect of her. Physically sometimes, but on most occasions, girls who had the same spark of fire in them that she had. I tried to discourage this foolishness: for after dinner with them, he would send them home and sink into a depression that they were not a reincarnated version of his lost love. [ her eyes slide over to kat, gar, myri, and then settle on buffy ] Do not be surprised. You were hardly the first. But you were the first he-- [ and she stops herself, lips pressed together firmly for a moment as she looks away, obviously not wanting to open that can of worms, and frustrated by something about it. ] In short, he was losing his mind. And I understand him well enough to know why. He had banked everything on his vision of their great love, and to have his faith in that questioned, to be forced to confront the possibility that it was never meant to be, would force him to question everything else he had done. How far he had gone. The lives he had taken. Things he had once justified as being all in the name of their love.

The only recourse he saw was to take it to the very end. He could see nothing else, think of nothing else, because if he veered from that, he might lose what last threads of sanity he had.

[ and her final, bitter point as she looks down, exhausted. ] And I think he has. I think his illusions, his fantasy, have been shattered beyond repair. And I fear what it means for him. And if any of you care for him, as you have professed to do, you should too.

He does not know how to live without them. And he is a dangerous, reckless man on a good day, let alone when he may be broken possibly beyond mending.

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