Still reminiscing the day when
you left me all on my own, then
I walked away from any daylight, instead of dawn it was twilight
Underneath the disco ball breaks the spell that holds you in my mind
Though I used to dance with you, now we’re through,
I’m sorry!
A strong word, isn’t it? A word so bold and so bitterly cold that when used it can shift cities and move mountains if one dared to wield it so strongly. It’s also a word to describe how it has been… locked away in a cell. For days upon end and visitations so sparse that they seemed like the heavens’ light when someone walked through iron cast doors to stand before the reinforced glass.
While a deal had been made between a Scholar and a Demon to free the beast of a Woman and bring her back to them… there was no guarantee that the process would be quick, there was no guarantee that the process would be easy… Yet with all things that our daring Ranger had gone through… this seemed to be the most cruel.
Trapped in a body that was no longer hers, unable to speak words without a snarl and hiss that felt like the feeling and pain of running water through her vocal chords. Her voice was hushed and rasped, garbled and wavy all the while painfully hushed behind her metal skin. Her mind split between her own and that of the Monster’s skin she wore. Blood red claws running their sharpened points along aetherically treated glass again and again before crashing onto the scarred metal floor. Cold sweat trickled down the beaten glass as blazing steam billowed out from iron scales along its body.
The light above in the room flickered, sparking on occasion as claws, like daggers stabbed their way into the fixture to eliminate it. The only light now was from the far side of the glass, where the safety of viewing lingered, and the green ghastly glow of the metal eyes as the beast shifted in the room.
Day after day, sunup to sundown the guards beyond the metal door could hear the scratching, the screeching and screams of the iron beast that the Glass Network’s several parties worked so feverishly to capture and subdue. It was constant, it was painful… The Scholar had guaranteed the eventual return, but had no say on when it would be… And even now, a fortnight later since their Deal had been struck there has been only a little progress.
The regression of her mind, of Bella’s mind had begun. Little things, icons, symbols… and even pictures, she could recognize and even speak their names if but only rarely. A plush doll of a wyvern and bear were laid out by the base of the glass wall to operate as small constant reminders of her beloved pets at the Farm. It worked for a time, but.. even stagnant things such as these could only do so much.
And the Scholar could not stay in the room with the monster forever. The days she spent away or the times she looked elsewhere, the progress seemed to revert in a painful manner. White eyes of recognition flickered to the monstrous green and the woman inside would be lost to the cold loneliness yet again.
Then… One day, the door opened and out from the outside came a familiar yet brief woman. Raven black tresses wrapped in an intricate bun, silvery steel wrapped around her body in woven armor in the style of the ancient Hingashi samurai. She came to stand firmly by the window, the look of regret flashing deeply in her eyes as the soft colors of reflection came to her from the monster behind the thick glass.
Steam permeated the air behind it, seemingly suffocating the containment cell, hiding away the scars of the days gone by, the scratches and scrapes of rage and agony that had built over time. The carvings of small seemingly insignificant hieroglyphs, and intricate circles hidden away behind the veil of wispy white. The green and white glow of eyes drifted quietly through the choking fog before coming to rise and stand before the woman.
“Bella.” The hingan’s voice came up, breaking even now with the mid-age falling before the emotions she carried with her.
“It’s Setsu…”
The monster behind the glass held silent, painfully so as the white turned into tints of green before the clarity fought back in an attempt from within to speak. Yet as it warred only the sounds of rasped growls could come up as metal claws rose to press palms flatly against the wall towards the woman. In her eyes, her sight became far too filled with sadness to stare clearly forward. Bittersweet tears brimmed over the woman’s remaining eye as she resisted the urge to do the same.
“I’m… I-i’m sorry.” Was all Setsuko could say as she quietly lifted her other hand to place a written note to the glass before her. Each letter in Eorzean was made to be large, so that the beast could see it, so that the beast could understand it… Yet
after everything, Belladonna could not. Her metal maw pressed against the glass gently before moving to rub her forehead against the cold beaten glass.
Each word seemed painfully foreign, the lines jumbling yet remaining clear in sight, her mind failed again and again to read the bitter passage. Each word wrought with sadness and teary eyed farewells and ‘I love you’s.
Both beings stood in silence, staring at the written note before Setsuko finally let it go. The paper slipping from the wall to flutter and bitterly float to the cold floor below. As it fell, the Hingan turned away from the monster. Belladonna quick to cry out with a whine as the thumps of her metal being came while she crashed herself against the wall to try and reach for the woman who walked away.
Bella couldn’t understand what happened, or what was going on, but deep down her heart, how so very little and frail felt as if it tore apart just a little more. It send the monster into a frenzy as the whines and screeches of the metal beast came louder and louder, only muffled by the secure glass. Mayhaps it was the fact she were walking away without saying another word… mayhaps it wasn’t.
As the note settled on the floor, the monster could see the largest of the words written laid on the bottom of the page in bitter sadness…
Goodbye.
The lonely word sat on its own at the bottom of the page itself… and for that briefest of moments, Bella understood what it meant. And from then on… she felt nothing…
Nothing but… painful… loneliness.
It had been sometime since then. The guards could hear her continued screeches and lashing outs when unattended. They seemed endless… more desperate… more pained. There has been rumor, floating among the small group tasked with maintaining the room’s security. The rumor of that they could hear, along with the thrashings and screams…. that they could hear…. sobs..
And since then… No one dared touch the note.
Because… after all..
Commission for @its-morphin-time-xiv of Bella! I really enjoyed this! Thank you for commissioning me ❤
There she is! Absolutely fantastic work! Thank you so much!
I love it to bits!
– It’s Morphin’ Time!
Belladonna’s sort of voice claim, I suppose is very.. gruff yet feminine. She’s very tough. Serious but also very charismatic in that vein. Rich with life but teeming with seriousness and the like. If that makes anysense? I have never been able to quite properly figure out a way to describe it the way
Laura Bailey portrays it as Kaine in NieR.
This clip as Kaine can essentially give you the best example of Belladonna’s voice. While, she is currently (cursed) to be an elezen, her voice is a bit more.. lofty and and low, she can still give the fire.
Tagged by: @isuke-ejinn ❤
Tagging: @enambris @lydia-ffxiv @lilyverlial @thegildenheart (one of your characters!) @bride-and-bride @ahlis-xiv @polymorphologist @the-wayward-wayman @moonstruck-ffxiv
“Nothing’ll keep us apart.”
“This I promise you.”
“Forever.”
aaaaAAAAAAAAAAH still screaming about this. Thank you so very much to the lovely artist @beansnake. They were an absolute treat to work with!
[Guess I can say SURPRISE! @motherlymedic / @isuke-ejinn !]
I’m smiling ear to ear. I know it doesn’t make up for the lateness, but Happy (late) Birthday, dear! Happy anniversary too ❤
Either or it’s the same woman.
Oh, are you ready girls?
Oh, are you ready now?
Ooh, yeah
Kick start my heart, Give it a start
—————————————————
Tagging for their participation:
|| @isuke-ejinn @enambris @lilyverlial @nenet-ffxiv @bride-and-bride @glowinggunmetal @polymorphologist @rukaelf ||
|| Thank you very much for playing! ||
[[Warning! The following section of the event contains graphical violence, dismemberment and other mature themes not suited for young or unprepared audiences. You may want to skip this part if you find yourself possibly uneasy. Thank you for reading! ]]
Bits from both Luke and Reina quietly made their way through the denser parts of the fog, disappearing into the mists to spread out further than footfalls could and scout the terrain in hopes of finding their target in far more clarity. The bits themselves shot through tangles of vines silently as something pinged along their sensory arrays.
By some miracle, or perhaps by luck it was in fact; the source of the mist. The fog shifting through the deep jungle here surrounded their target, exuding from it like a never ending well. Of course.. it had been like this for a while, especially without how much of a rain forest this was, steam supported and no doubt fed the continuous swell.
But… just as the bits pinged their organic target…they pinged several others as well.. These were small, cast out, tossed aside, strewn through every part of the immediate area. Along tree branches, hanging from the canopy like supposed vines. Several pings if not many were along the ground, right beneath the party’s very feet.
Through Enambris now, the temperature skyrocketed even further. The heat broiling, pushing away the red tinted mist like a wave of clarity. Pockets of sunshine from the skies above began to thrust themselves down and illuminate the darker jungle they stood in.
Unfortunately though… With Clarity.. came regret. In the flashes of coming sun, the raw nature of this area came to light. The sweat along the trees gleamed red, pools of what was assumed water from the rains that had come and gone and condensation passing through were pools of red and crimson. Muscle and sinew hung from the branches like vines
Patches and chunks of people’s bodies were cast and strewn about, red and pink stained bones and carcasses were laid about, almost as if they were made right where they stood.
While this wasn’t a clearing, it was a thicket, one could still see pockets and places where violence had occurred. Ahead of them were still warm bodies, expressions of fear and agony were forever etched onto their red splattered faces. Two bodies, specifically were beside each other, one having fell right after the other. Their clothes matching that of a lingering pirate band that were noted to hang around more of the mainland rather than the coastline.
A third body was just a few more fulms away… twitching. As eyes were laid upon the young hyurian woman, it was clear she moved not by her own doing. Black and red claws were gripped onto her person, the body of a Red armored beast with green eyes was hunched over it. Partially holding the woman up into its arms while its metal maw was open and around the woman’s bloodied shoulder and neck.. ripping and tearing away flesh.
Audible sounds of the beast gulping and drinking of its food came to light after the silence of shock had settled in…
There it was.
[[At the beginning of the week, I held an event where Belladonna’s comrades moved to capture a rather… Feral Bella! This was one of the bigger reveals of the event and I pleased with the response.]]
[Reader Warning:]
|| Themes of character mental instability and nightmares are involved ||
[Hence title]
———-
Chittering.
Infestations..
The swarming stings..
The hallowed horrid buzzing, the chomping of maws, the irritable hum of fluttering wings.. the wrapping of tentacles, slinking of flesh and crack of bones as they twisted beyond bend. Sounds of rancor filled her ears as her mind was assaulted with the twisted thoughts and black water. A chiding of voices not belonging to her own in restless slumber caused the woman to toss and turn beneath silken sheets. Slowly her eye pried itself open, her body pulling itself up out of the warmth of the bed to sit on the edge of it.
It was quiet, and yet, her mind in a clamor of disarray, the only other sound in the darkened bed room were the gentle purrs of her partner. Their prosthetic metal tail wrapping around her arm in the gentle silence. A silent calm help for the weary and restless. Bella lay still for but a moment before shifting again, trying to push her thoughts away, to try and fall back asleep.
The cold unpolished wood floor could be felt along the soles of her feet as she pulled away from the safety to linger on into the darkness. Shifting through the shadows, her hand slowly found a door knob. It’s idle kiss of cold metal found itself pressed against her fingertips as she turned it, the lock knocking back as the door were pulled open to an even darker hallway.
Voices echoed through Haven’s halls, unintelligible whispers just out of range. The warmth of their words lingering just behind her ears. Their waves of breath puffing against nervous skin. As the wayward woman seemingly aimlessly crept through the dark hallway, shadows gave way to a bitterly dim silver glow that weaved its way through white drapes behind glass windows.
The further she moved, the longer the hallway seemed to stretch. The windows lining every other space yet still leaving the dim light in their places. Whispers turned to growls, the growls to snarls as puffs of breath at her ears turned to heavy pants that trailed down the back of her neck. Voices every manner of them echoed in different volumes, all a cacophony and ill-boding symphony of one singular word…
“̀R̡un. ͘R͢U̸N.͏ ̸RUN͟ MO̸ŖE͠! Run f͏a͡s͞t̨er͜! I̸t’̡s beh̴in͞d͘ y͜ou.҉ It’s aĺm̀os͝t her̛e͞! It̸’s ́here̴! Įt’̴s ͝h̷er̵e. ͘I’m͏ ̀he͞ré! RUN͡ ̵F͏AST̀ȨR̶.̸ ̀WE’ŖE ͟RIGH͜T ҉BE͘HÌND̶ YOU̕~"͠
The voices were yelling, screeching, cascading behind her as she raced down the hall. Beads of sweat rolling down her face as her heart thundered in her chest. The heat of their breath was ever relentless as it brushed down her back. Claws and fleshy tendrils thumped and chased after her, scratching and thudding just only moments behind. Hurried footsteps clamored down the elongating hallway as the elezen finally let out a panicked cry.
With every blink of her eye, wipe of sweat from her brow, things around her changed. The wood and stone walls turned to metal sheets. The silver ghost lights from the windows turned to hues of red and blue as the bubbling of the ocean floor surrounded her. Haven… safe and warm was now Whisper Ridge… cold and dark… alone. The only thing left were the door at the far end of the hall.
As she reached out with a leap ahead her fingertips just out of reach of the door knob to her home, the black claws and flesh of death wrapped around her sight, holding her there as it started to eat away, to cover her body up and pull her into the open dark that lingered behind her.
Bella could only muster up a choked up scream as her hand frantically reached out for the low iridescent light. The echoing laughter and whispered rushing… assaulting her mind as the colors of this dim existence grew black and dark till suddenly a breath of air hits her lungs. Her eye shoots open as she sits up in a panic, heart racing at breakneck pace.
There was a cold sweat along her body, silken bed sheets covering up her and her partner still some. Trembling and on the brink of weeping, she sat there, a face in hand, trying to force herself quiet again. It wasn’t working. Slowly now, her partner reached over, it were different, a hingan’s hand placing it atop of Bella’s and squeezing firmly.
The elezen turned some to see her, the woman of raven black and snow white locks laying in the bed next to her. An ageless smile coming to the sleepy hyur’s lips as she whispered something in her foreign tongue.
"Another one?”
With a saddened gulp, Bella sniffled before gently lowering herself back down, the warmth of her partner reaching her against the cold mattress and sheets in the late, late evening. This wasn’t the first, nor would it be the last. Nightmares… whispers… horrid thoughts plagued her every night, endlessly, and relentlessly, yet no one knew save for those who shared her bed. From one heart to the next, one lost, another found, they would know she suffered but never knew the cause.
Slowly she drifted back to sleep. Another long set of nights pass, and through it all, the nightmares never ceased. The weeks go by, and then night terrors continue, the whispers getting louder, the thoughts getting worse… fear of loss turned to outrage and possession… The dream whispers get harder to differentiate from reality as the days change…
————————————–
One night, and with a low growl, the elezen huffed in her sleep.
“̨Th͢ey̵ ̨çan͢’̡t͡ h͠av͜e i̧t͝. ̵The͟y͡ w͢o̧n’t̶ ͟h̨a͝ve it. Ǹo ͏on̶e̴ wil̴l h̸av͘e ̕it͠.́ It’s ͝m̀in̵e͝.͘ ̴I͝t̢’̷s mi͡n͢e̡..͟. It̸’s͠ MI̢NE҉,̷ ͟it̴’s ͘ALW̡A͢YS̕ b͜ee̕n͘ ̀miǹe.̵ Not͢hinģ w̢ill ̧b̵e ̵t͡ak̨en͢.͢ T̕hey҉ w̶on’́t ͜t҉a̢ke it.͢ ͞T̀hey ́CAN̸’T take̛ ̧i͡t.҉.͡. ̷"̸ Whispers in the dark turned to yells as they cascaded across the dreamscape.
Their voices raising higher and higher as her heart raced again. The elezen’s eye shooting open once again, just as the nights before now. She were in bed with her partner again, her face buried in raven and snow white locks. It was quiet again, the idle crackle of a hearth filling the air solely. Bella moved to press a soft kiss to the woman’s head beside her before pulling away gently. Slowly she scooted herself to the edge of the bed, sitting up right.
The cold unpolished wood floor could be felt along the soles of her feet as she pulled away from the safety to linger on into the darkness. Shifting through the shadows, her hand slowly found a door knob. It’s idle kiss of cold metal found itself pressed against her fingertips as she turned it, the lock knocking back as the door were pulled open to an even darker hallway.
Voices echoed through Haven’s halls, unintelligible whispers just out of range. The warmth of their words lingering just behind her ears. Their waves of breath puffing against nervous skin. As the wayward woman seemingly aimlessly crept through the dark hallway, shadows gave way to a bitterly dim silver glow that weaved its way through white drapes behind glass windows.
”Mine.. Run… It’s mine. RUN FASTER..! It’s always been mine. Run away with it… Hide it! They can’t take it. No. NO. They won’t take it… We can become whole with it…“
As she reached the door at the end of the hall, her hand pressed against it’s knob before reaching for a secondary panel on the side. Red numbers and sigils glowing on the combination dial as she turned it quietly to the left, the right, and left again. Those symbols pulsing blue as she moved to the knob and pushed.
Walking through the dark entry way, she found herself no longer in the safety of Haven, but out at sea now. The washing of The Bounty’s waves below echoed out against the large metal foundation of the platform she stood upon. It was dark out, the sky filled with millions upon billions of twinkling lights that reflected on the shimmering ocean.
This was her lab, a place just for herself. Few knew of it, fewer knew how to reach it. Through metal door after metal door, she walked through the empty facility, going lower and lower till she reached a small lift. The elevator lowering itself past the deepest point of the facility to go even further below… The Ocean floor.
Blips of light dotted the sandy sea bed, indicating where small buildings were, connected by hallway tubes. The trip itself was quick, even for such a long distance between the surface and here. The lift stopped at a welcoming station, the facility still ever empty. Empty… save for one voice.
"Greetings User Belladonna! It is I, S-1-E-R-A, Siera. It has been approximately four days, twelve bells and thirty-two ticks since you last visited this outpost. Would you like an status update on containment?”
The elezen stepped forward with a small frown, her head giving a firm nod.
“Very well. Your ‘gift’ is still in containment. All systems nominal. Would you like to see it?”
As the Allagan node poised its question, the door leading onward into the rest of her facility opened up to reveal the singular hallway that connected to containment. Without hesitation, Bella raced through the entryway. The voices still lingering in her mind and in the hallway now too… Her voice coarse and growling.
“They won’t take it. They can’t have it. It’s mine. Run… Running.. It’s MINE. My tek… my home.. mine. ALL OF IT…. Mine.”
Slowly her voice went silent as she reached the next room. It was a medium sized metal room, spotlights gently washing over a center table, and on the table sat a small opened parcel, it’s wrappings of black still housing the box.
There, on satin cushions sat a small glass bottle. Within the box itself, in crisp and perfect detail, sits a little scene. Wide expanses of rolling farmlands nestle a house, and around it the tiny movements of magicked farm animals grazing and running and playing can be seen all frolicking around a picturesque little farm, a home Bella knew ever so intimately that the details within it were impossibly accurate.
Belladonna’s voice was nothing now, her hurried and panicked expressions from before were muted to a smile as she rested against a railing that overlooked the table and bottle.
“…No one will take it..”
|| Don’t forget… She was a devil with a polearm before she lost her eye…||
||Losing her eye’s only made her learn to be even more precise…||
It's Morphin' Time - XIV 