#aspho open

                 ☛‹ Bullshit. Complete bullshit.

                Rage conquered the quincy’s expression as he glared at a bleak, foreign landscape. The putrid stench of rotting stench was nearly enough to overpower all other senses, yet this would be the last of his worries. Clenched fist and jaw, he attempted to make sense of the situation. 

                He was fighting- fighting with that damned Jugo last. Momentary blackness covered all else before he found himself here in this hellhole. There wasn’t time for this; he had to kill that bastard Yhwach, but this setback would place him back in square one. The score hadn’t been settled yet. 

                       ❝ Fuck this- I’m gettin’ the hell out of this dump.❞

                Words served as self assurance despite falling on the presumably deaf ears of decaying corpses. The male dashed forward, immediately taking notice of his speed- or lack thereof. Hirenyaku became a sudden impossibility as he failed to use reishi to teleport forward. Running appeared to be the only means to escaping the place.

                  Onward and onward he traveled until reaching an archaic sign indicating that he was leaving the confines of the bizarre city. Internally celebrating the insignificant victory, once a single foot reached the other side of the sign, he suddenly found himself transported further within the city once more. 

                     What the hell?

                  Hazel eyes widened as he was now surrounded by fallen corpses and rustic building with weakened foundations. How was this possible? The apparent exit had been a mere illusion- a trap of sorts. His sudden appearance appeared to attract the freakish locals, now dragging themselves toward him, uttering pure cacophony. He remained still, hues now on the street covered in rubble; they were the least of his worries, quite frankly.

                       ❝ So it’s gonna be like that...❞

                 He swung his head upwards, a menacing appearance eliminating his previous one. Logic and tranquility were long forgotten as he lifted his arm in the air, index finger pointed towards the small mass of wobbling beings. Bazz-B’s resolve was perhaps not where he needed to be, but he found his new direction for the next few minutes. 

                      ❝ I’LL JUST BURN THIS WHOLE FUCKIN’ PLACE TO THE GROUND THEN!❞

Small streaks of light managed to disturb Orihime, which awoke her from the deep slumber she was in. Her eyelids opened lazily as she turned her head to the right, gazing at her hand. Ontop of her palm laid her two flowerclips, she struggled to close her palm - pain ringing throughout her arm. “Nn...”Quietly whimpering to herself, Hime gently managed to get back onto her two feet. The female blinked a couple times and stared upward at the night sky. Above her were millions of bright stars that managed to end up lighting the area. She knew something was not right, and not being alive anymore was one of them. Inoue had no idea how she knew, but it was just a weird feeling she was completely sure of.

Yet what was this? This was no heaven obviously? So many questions, yet no one to talk to--- Crack! . . .What was that? She had heard something, which sounded like a branch snapping. Orihime swallowed a lump in her throat and held her breath. It was quiet again, but only for a second. Suddenly, loud footsteps could be heard and a deep groan. Hime immediately ran, it was the only thing she could do. Why would she stay to find out what was after her? She didn’t want to fight, getting away was her only option. Running became harder, less light made it more difficult for Inoue to see what was ahead of her. She quickly rand through what appeared to be an alley, just as she swiftly turned to go around the corner- - “...Ee-ek!” Orihime let out a loud cry as she felt herself run straight into something. The silhouette seemed to be of a person, but she was completely panicked that she ended up hitting the person on accident in the process of trying to get back up.

This place reeks, Gaige thought to herself grimly, just like home. 

She was stuck in some kind of purgatory in the New-U system, waiting to be redigistructed, which of course was probably what was true right? She was just waiting for her bits and pieces to be put together like always, and then a hop, skip, and jump right back to Pandora, right? Any minute now, right? Right??

The girl nudged what appeared to be a decaying body with her foot nervously. Where she was standing seemed to look like an abandoned main street; there wasn’t a soul near her. It was freaking her out, which was fine. She was only going to be here for a just a hot minute.

The minutes stretched into what felt like an hour, with no sudden bright blue tunnel leading her back to her friends; Gaige swallowed down her rising panic.

Oh God, she was really dead. She finally went the way of the Crawmerax!! A sob escaped, she bit her fist to stifle it. What would everyone think of her? She was a woman of science and badassery damnit! Not some weeping willow. 

Gaige drew in a shaky breath. No, she would figure this out! She would be okay! Carefully wiping the tears from her eyes, Gaige put on her war face. Yes, she would be just fine without the rest of the Vault Hunters or Crimson Raiders to back her up, Gaige would not be afraid--

A loud crashing noise came from one of the abandoned buildings. Gaige shrieked like a pack of flaming varkids and threw her claw hammer at the noise.

“H-HEY! WHOEVER IS IN THERE!! I’M NOT AFRAID OF YOU!!”

she was dead.

she, who could survive nearly any injury and come back from the clutches of death within seconds...was dead?

      “ haa....-ah. ”

staring down at her hands, Giselle tried to wrap her mind around it. if she was dead, then why was she still so...alive? in the flesh? it was that fact she had a hard time understanding. death was always something so intriguing to her. she loved it, craved it, always wanted to see it claim other people. the look in their eyes when they realized they were going to die...

the thought sent a shiver down her spine. not of the bad variety, but the good, the pleasurable. warmth swept through her body and heat crept under her cheeks, pale skin there tinged with pink.

a sound in the under brush behind her had her standing, wobbling slightly as she did so, and turning to face the sound. there was no fear, only a small smile on her face as she twirled her hair absentmindedly around her finger.

    ▣ ✘✍ ▣        Thirty years he’s had to deal with the worst that the universe could throw in his direction. Monsters, demons, romance ; you name it, he’s fought tooth and nail against it. Every single time he’s come out on top, unscathed and otherwise, but the researcher was all but completely invincible. A tough cookie for sure, but death would’ve caught up to him eventually. With the way he stands there, gritting his teeth before kicking the nearest bit of debris at his feet --- it’s more than likely he’s assumed his end wouldn’t be coming anytime soon. 

        Guess we all can’t get what we want now, can we?

        Ford’ll push aside his annoyance eventually, some composure ( but not all ) setting itself in areas previously occupied just moments ago by a welling rage that he is determined to quell once more. One can’t get very far on blind fury alone, the sort of tactic better suited to be put to use by his twin brother more than anything. No, he’ll have to think on all of this: his surroundings, his equipment ( and boy, does he feel a lot less weighty this time around ), anything that might need to be looked at before he really starts to make his first moves.

          Though, it’s the area that really gets under Ford’s skin more than anything at this moment. Its bleakness, devoid of any life sans his own --- and even the legitimacy of that was up for debate --- was unnerving, and only gave Ford a reason to get moving in order to find any other sign of a living, preferably-breathing being. 

        Thirty years surviving on his own made Ford wary, however, and the subtle crackle of electricity running through thick, lit gloves every so often was a tell-tale sign that anyone and anything that even looked at him the wrong way was going to end up cooked from the inside out faster than one could say Area 51. Who would’ve that thought the opportunity would come so quickly.

Sure, a part of God wasn't too hard to take down with him and his party. But 8 million myriad gods was a bit too much, even for this former tyrant prinny instructor. His last sights were of the rest of his party trying their hardest to fight them all off. What he hadn't expected was to wake up again, in a place very much unfamiliar to him. It looked similar to the human world...but it felt like Hades in the way that death loomed in the air. Valvatorez stood up from his prone position on the floor, taking in his surroundings. Is this the limbo where souls are sent for defying God? No matter that, what was truly important is that he had died. Dying broke all of his promises, something that he had vowed to never let happen. It also meant abandoning all of his comrades and friends he had made in his journey. That's what happened when you defied God. Feeling rage build up within him for having died at such a crucial moment, Valvatorez reached into his cloak and pulled out one of the many sardines he had and threw it to the ground.

"Damn it, sardines! I thought you had given me enough power to not let this happen, to let me never break a promise again! How could you betray me like this?!" After going off on his small tangent and staying silent for a few seconds, he picked the sardine back up and started eating it. It's bad to let freshly caught sardines go to waste. Eating the sardine helped him calm down some, but rage still boiled within him. He decided to walk about this deserted place, this limbo. If he were trapped here forever he might as well find something to do in the meantime. Walking the desolated streets, this town seemed much less advanced than the human world was when he last visited it. So caught up in checking his surroundings he did not notice the zombies in front of him. That's strange. He thought this a limbo where only he was trapped, not other demons. Approaching them calmly and at a normal pace, Valvatorez began to speak.

"Hello fellow demons. What are you doing here? How did you get here, in this limbo? Did you also get obliterated by God?" Waiting for an answer, Valvatorez realized he would not get one as the zombies instantly started to rush at him in a frenzy. Really now, demons could be aggressive but they usually never attacked him without even saying anything first. He didn't even have a bounty on his head this time! But alas, it looked like nothing was going to stop them as they continued to mindlessly charge at him. Drawing Yoshitsuna, Valvatorez adopted his fighting stance, ready to take on the zombies. 

"Very well then, if you just want to fight right off the bat then I shall indulge you. I'll show you the power of sardines!!" With that being said, Valvatorez covered himself with his cape and then shot his arms outward, extending his cape. The cape then turned into bats as well as the rest of Valvatorez's body. The bats flew straight into the zombies and battered them before turning into a giant set of teeth and crushing the zombies in between them. The bats then flew back to where Valvatorez was originally standing and transformed back into the prinny instructor's normal form. Number popped up above the zombies. About 500k damage each, more than enough to kill them. With the battle over, Valvatorez stored Yoshitsuna and was about to continue on his way...until he remembered something. It was time for the after-meal sardine! Happily pulling out a sardine he began to devour it from the head first. Since he was in the midst of his meal, he did not even notice the person who had approached him. Finishing up his sardine, he turned to whomever had snuk up on him and drew....yet another sardine.

Humans are truly weak beings. Despite the efforts to rule, to convince themselves that they, as a species, have might, humanity is fragile. Such a reality is ever present in Gensokyo. It is only until humanity is faced with beings of the supernatural that they truly realize how weak they really are. Still, humans try to fight back. 

Reimu Hakurei was the poster child for human resilience. Despite fighting youkai and gods much stronger than her, she was always on top.

"Was", of course, being the key word here. Because now, Reimu Hakurei is dead.

Dying was an inevitability. That which is alive must die, and the shrine maiden understood that. But the fact that it happened so early in her life... Perhaps she wasn't as good of a shrine maiden as most people thought. However, the dread of death wasn't the pressing issue at the moment.

"...This isn't the Netherworld. Or Sanzu." The miko thought aloud. Even in death, familiar areas and faces would appear before her, in the princes of the Netherworld or the Sanzu River shinigami, depending on her fate. But here... It was unfamiliar, desolate, hostile, and dead. Even the afterlife in Gensokyo was more lively than this.

The shrine maiden suddenly turned, as the sound of dragging footsteps behind her reached her ears. An enemy?

"But it was not your fault but mine And it was your heart on the line I really fucked it up this time Didn't I?"

Bleak, desolate. This place, it's covered in despair. It's not even something to speculate, what with the collapsed buildings and all. Not to mention that the atmosphere is carrying a stench of death.

From what Noire's eyes could see as far as her eyes could take her, every building she walked past were deserted. No traces of life, no noise, no voices... And it was all underneath a depressing sky that looked from above. But to her, it was nothing new. She knew very well that her own future world was also full of this, except back then, Risen were scattered everywhere. The fear they instilled was eventually one of the factors that counted for mankind's downfall.

But this town, this so-called Asphodel Valley... This was not the world Noire knew. The ones who joined her to the past Ylisse were nowhere to be found, the ones they had attempted to save had no sign of existence. It was just her, clutching the bow and arrows she had for defending herself. It was just Noire. And yet, something, just something, sprung up into her head as a memory long forgotten.

A forest with a dangerously orange tint. Risen scattered, as if  they were sent to end her life. But Noire didn't care, and even if she did, all she could do was run. Run, run, run, until her legs couldn't take her anymore and when her wounded body's agonizing screams became too much. So in the end, the poor girl gave up and collapsed near an intact tree. She had no weapons, no shields to protect her. And she knew that neither her mother nor father would come for her too. So all she could do was wait until the bitter end, reaching out her hand to the sky as if they would take her to a better place.

Snap out of it.

No, that couldn't have been it. Maybe it was just something else? Yes, she would have run away in such a situation, but... this was too bizarre. She couldn't have, but at the same time, it was plausible. Perhaps even completely true.