A Journey Through Fate

OOC THREAD​

Welcome to the in-between, a world where the dead whom aren't ready to die belong. Anything can happen to them here-- it's just like the world of the living, but with a twist. Those that die in this world don't stay dead. They "return to life" after a brief period of unconsciousness. It's filled with people and things referred to as: NPC's, that are generated by this world. They don't actually feel, they don't actually exist. They are just nameless, faceless, robot-like beings present to help the departed reach their final destination--wherever that may be.
The "monsters" of this world try a little harder than the humans. They are supposed to be a way of scaring the dead into wanting to move on. If you get captured by them, you become an NPC yourself. Never moving on, never looking forward. You enter the mundane routine of living a hallow life, going through the motions. Those that refuse to move on are aware of this danger, but risk it anyway. They want to continue living happy lives, even if it's not with the ones they loved most.
New relationships are developed in this world, and are a necessity to both survive and be obliterated. Which will you choose??

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Liv moved silently through the quiet hallway of the school. There had been a few new recruits as of late. It was sad actually. If only they could have all just moved on to begin with. Nobody should have all these things holding them back. She didn't want to have more recruits, but she did what she could with them. Liv and the others that had been there for quite some time introduced them to the school, gave them a room to stay in, and prepared them for the inevitable. Eventually they would all move on and leave her, or be consumed. With the increase in recruits, there had also been an increase in hostile NPC's. They want them gone. Of course they do.​

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Liv caught sight of an NPC out in the courtyard. It was coming for her, but it wasn't like she could actually move on even if she wanted to. Her hand reached to the side of her skirt and pulled out a silencer pistol. With the the facility, they could create almost anything. She used the railing to aim and took sight of the ghost. with one quick squeeze of the trigger, its form disappeared in a matter of seconds. Why had there been so many sightings recently?​

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The recruits just seemed to keep coming as well. What was life like back in the real world? It had been so long. Surviving. That's what she had been doing for the last two and a half years. The only true company she had at her side was aura. Aura had been here so long she stopped keeping track. The others usually didn't last too long. A couple months tops. They would make their piece and get obliterated or become cocky and get consumed. It was a vicious cycle. A few had lasted a long time, but still not nearly as long. They came into the picture after everything happened. They only knew what little aura told them.​

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Liv liked keeping to herself. She may be the leader, but she likes my privacy. She's cold to them for good reason, and they should really try to move on because some of them will never never able too.​

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She checked the watch on her wrist and sighed. Time to head back to the club house.​

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Yuki was having another street performance for the NPC's, each one seemed happy to listen and they kept on cheering his name as he sang.

"YUKI! YUKI! YUKI" They all sang.

"I can hear the stars sing Hallelujah
Come on, Come on
It's time too run!
And I watch
As My dream Comes within my reach
Can you hea-" Yuki sang before a teacher shouted. "There he is!" And ran at him

"Sorry folks, but the show's over!" He mused as he ran, with his guitar in hand. Finally losing the teacher at the Gym.
He sighed and said. "That's the 3rd time today, man, when will those guys get that I refuse to be silent and give up." Yuki that sat against the wall and pulled a rag out of his pocket before rubbing down his guitar with it. "Thanks." He said to it. "None of this would be possible without you."

 

Which NPCs were there from the start, and which were once people struggling like she now was? It was a bothersome thought, one that plagued her every time one would pass. It was even worse when an old ally would come into view, on their way to class or something of the sort. Oh how she failed them. That...that was a fate worse than death.

Shivering she perished the thought, turning from the passing group. Where to now... Well, given the time it seemed like a new mission could be present at the clubhouse. Or at least others would be there, she hoped.

So there she went.

 

A slice through a black spirit could be seen. The shine of a well kept blade within the hand of a swordsman. Aura swayed her hair back as she turned to another one of those black spirits haunting the school. All she was doing was napping on the rooftop of the school. It is one of the most quiet places after all. No one could bug her. She continued to slice through the beings while one appeared near the door stopping her from escaping. She threw her sword at its head and pulled it back out. The creature vanished. With that she sighed in relief. "Liv will probably have us meet at the base soon. The attacks are getting much more frequent. Cant let the new guys fall to the same fate as so many others."

Aura openned the door and as soon as she did, a gunshot came from it cutting her cheek as well as killing one of the beings behind her. "Sorry about that Aura. Orders from Liv, we are to meet back at the base."

Aura put her hand to the bloody wound. "That hurt like hell, Ceril. You are lucky I am in a good mood today. Lets go." The two girls walked down the flight of stairs. "You think Liv is going to try and recruit Makeo again today? I doubt he will accept. Boy like that is too stubborn."

"Who knows really. She probably will mention it though."

 

After he finished polishing his guitar, Yuki started to play it a little. He had to hide out a little while so he thought he would try and come up with a new song while he was at it. "~Come on and sing with me!~" He sang. "~Sing along, and you'll be free! The song, my heart can't refute
The pai-" He stopped singing with an "Oh." As he saw an NPC walk into the gym

"Do you want an autograph?" He jokingly asked the NPC. The NPC didn't say anything, it's facial expression was blank, and it simply stared at Yuki.

Before his very eyes, the NPC turned into one of the shadow like the monsters that attacked him earlier. "Oh Crap!" He shouted as he pulled the Revolver out it's holster. It lunged at, him but he managed to keep it at bay with several gun shots that rang through out the nearby area.

 

As Teito watched the shadowy NPC's on the courtyard, he felt better about being up here instead of down there with them. He knew that couldn't avoid them forever, but he'd manage to get by for a whole here with little interaction with them unless it was necessary. "Maybe I should head back to the back." He didn't have anything else to do at the moment so that's what he did.

 

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Liv heard another couple gunshots ring out. One closer than the other. The gym! She holstered her gun and began running. Blood pumped quickly through her veins as she rounded a corner of the courtyard and caught sight of the gym. The large building came into clear view and she sprinted for the door. They had been losing too many new recruits lately. Some were even getting consumed before she had a chance to learn of their existence in this world. Her hands found the cool metal of the door handles and she quickly pulled the large wooden doors apart.

Liv's eyes scanned the large gym for but a moment as she saw one of the NPC's vanish. "Yuki! This is dangerous being on your own! How many more times do you have to get attacked before you join us? At this rate, you're guaranteed to get consumed by them." She was almost like a mother hen, just trying to look out for their best interests-- and their best interests were with her. There had been a few new rebellious ones. Yuki and Makeo were two she knew of for sure. How many others were here in limbo that she had no clue about?

Those two boys refused to join the team. It was absurd really. Did they want to get consumed? She marched over to the guitar-wielding youth and bopped him on the back of the head with her knuckles. Maybe it would knock some sense into him. There was nothing heroic about dying. Going all rogue, Mission Impossible, wasn't going to keep them alive or get them obliterated-- just consumed. She shook her head in disdain and rested her hands on her hips. When are you going to learn?

 

"Sorry." Yuki replied to Liv. "But a lot of your battlefront members don't really approve of my performing to NPC's, you know." Yuki then let out a sigh. "These attacks are getting more frequent, I might have to join you guys. Just don't be expecting a valuble asset. I'm not the best shot, but if you need something music related, I'll help out. But let me clear, I'm only joining you guys for my own preservation. I refuse to be another face of this world.... And I can't just fade away... Not after what happened."

 

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A smug grin spread across Liv's face and she patted him lightly on the cheek. "Good boy." She spread her arms out dramatically and took a bow. "Welcome, to the Battlefront." When she re-straightened her body, the smile was still there. One saved. Next, was Makeo. She had been working on him for months. The poor loner. He wouldn't even get close to anyone. If he saw them, he would turn the other way running. Liv took one quick nod and then linked arms with boy.

"Let's go. There's a meeting in roughly five minutes. We don't have time to waste." She lead him in the direction of the clubhouse. The campus was huge, but in her time there, Liv had managed to procure a few secret passageways. They helped when escaping a flux in NPC's. Sometimes there would just be ghostly hordes of them out of the blue. Even when the Battlefront was down to it's last four members-- Aura, Liv, Eva, and Teito-- there would be flare ups in the NPC's.

She turned down a corner, Yuki in arm, and entered the staff hallway. Their clubhouse room was in the principal's office. There was a sign relabeling the door as the Battlefront headquarters that liked to consistently fall down. It was just a sheet of paper taped to the door. The really needed to invest in a better sign. Liv pulled a small metal key out of her pocket and put it in the lock. There shouldn't have been any members in the room, so the door would be locked. On a normal day, there would always be at least one squad member in the room keeping watch, so everyone would just do their coded knock.

"Well, here we are. What do you think?" Liv looked at Yuki with general curiosity. The room had a banner hanging from the west wall reading: Welcome Yuki. There was a celebratory cake sitting on a coffee table in the center of the wall and a recording of one of his songs seemed to be playing over the speakers.

She had been hoping today would finally be the day she could rope him in. It was almost too perfect. The smile on Liv's face grew wide as she took a seat in the large leather office chair located behind an over-sized mahogany desk.

 

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Making to the staff hallway right behind Liv, Eva saw her with someone who seemed familiar. But as she only saw his back before the two entered their little clubhouse she hardly had the time to figure out who it was. What a bummer. Well...on the plus side she was able to get inside without having to knock, sliding in just before the door was even able to close. ​

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Oh. This is unexpected.​

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Not the decorations or cake, no it was hardly the first time the team set up a party hoping for a new person to join their ranks.​

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No, the fact that Yuki was actually there was what surprised her. Here she was thinking that they set up the banner and made the cake for nothing when, somehow, Liv finally pulled it off. That brought a smile to her face as she looped around the pair to sit on one of the couches, putting her feet up on the table.​

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"About time you joined the party," she finally said, waiting for the boy to say something.​

 

"Oh thanks you guys..." Yuki said with tears starting to form.

This is really nice... But nothing can fill the void in my heart. The fact that when I was alive, people would either make fun of me or ignore me... God was so cruel... He gave me a life in which no one wanted or cared for me... And the one happiness I found... Was taken away from me... I could I ever pass on... Knowing that people can be so cruel... How can I pass on when the only thing awaiting me is nothing but heartbreak... It'll be like the pain i went through... Didn't mean anything...

Quickly pulling himself together he put on a cheerful face and said. "Well, how about we dig into that cake."

 

Teito on the other hand wasn't as lucky since by the time he'd arrive it was closed. He knocked on the door and waited for someone to let him in.

 

Aura and Ceril walked over to the principals office and noticed Teito sitting there at the door. "Seriously, Teito. Did you forget the new password already." She walked up to him and punched him in the arm. "Knocking on Heavens Door" The door opened.

As she and Ceril walked in and noticed Liv had finally got Yuki to join the cause. "Nice work Liv, Now we just need to get Makeo and we can have everyone we know about fight off those things." She walked up to the cake and slid her finger through the frosting. She licked her finger. A delighted smile rose upon her face.

 

"Yeah, sorta." Teito replied. Once inside, he notice that Yuki had finally join. That and the cake. "So, how're we going to get Makeo to join?" Moving towards the cake, he awaited an answer.

 

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Liv nodded at the cake for them all to start on it. Although, Aura apparently already put her finger through the frosting. She rolled her eyes and kicked her feet up onto the desk. She contemplated the question. How would she get Makeo to join? That was the question. She sighed and rubbed her temples briefly before looking back at the rest of them with a smile. "I think our first priority is just to get close enough to him to even talk. He manages to evade us at every turn. It's a wonder he has even lasted this long."

Her eyes moved over to the projection screen hanging from the south wall. "Ceril. Status report." She watched the frail pink-haired girl click a button on a remote and the screen light up with light.

"I'm pretty sure there's been at least one or two new spottings. Not to mention the flux in NPC activity. Something definitely seems out of the ordinary. Not the usual pick up to get us obliterated, but...something different." She took a seat on the couch next to Eva and a couple images came across the screen. First of the Ghost NPC's, then quick glimpses of potential new recruits.

Were there already new people in limbo without her knowledge? She needed to find them immediately. It wasn't safe for them or anyone else. Live had gotten better at tuning out the faces of those that had been consumed, but they still haunted her at night. She had failed them. How many more had become NPC's before she and Aura arrived. Before he was here. Olivia sighed and swung her feet off the desk.

She moved over to a closet door and pulled out a special uniform, handing it to Yuki. "Here you go. With this, you are officially a new member. It distinguishes us from the NPC's. Make sure you wear it." She turned away, resting both hands on her hips, and stared out the large window overlooking the courtyard. How much longer would it take for this new batch of recruits to move on? Teito and Eva had already been here quite some time. Would the others be here just as long?

 

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Eva gave Ceril a quick glance as she sat beside her, though quickly looked back to the cake. Could she even eat? Sure this was limbo, but they still 'died.' And dying from starvation was not a fun matter, this she knew from experience. It was...a test. But still, she did not wish to indulge in it, even if her stomach was feeling rather empty.

Health hardly mattered. But sometimes, she was just wary of it.

"If I see him around I'll give it another go," sigh, "but I don't have any new ideas with how to go about it."

Swinging her foot along to the beat from the background music Eva considered a few plans. None felt as if they would actually work though, so in the end she only had random thoughts escape her. "If only we knew his interests... Or could rope him into a bet of some sort..."

 

Yuki thought a little about the situation after getting changed into the uniform, but throwing away the tie. "I'm not sure if this is my place or not.... But maybe I can talk to him... It took me awhile to join you guys, so maybe if he sees i joined out the the need to stay here longer, maybe he'll realize that it would be foolish to be alone?" Yuki suggested.

It would be be painful to watch one of my kind become another face in this world. There has to be something I can do, right? Yuki thought to himself.

 

Esme Richards ​

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On usual days, Esme would go out and sketch something. Anything. But today, she had no inspiration. So instead she decided to take a walk around the street and find some. ​

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While walking, however, she remembered: I cannot erase from exsistence, I must live on. And pulled out a notebook to write that down.​

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Liv spun around on her heel, facing the rest of with a smug grin on her face. "Eva, i think you should take yuki out on a practice run. Show him the ropes." She glanced around the room and smacked her palm down onto the surface of the desk, leaning forwards. "I like your idea yuki, but," she paused and glanced around the room to each of them, "we should start with someone a little less...challenging." she straightened and pointed out the window. Esme. She could see her from the headquarters. They needed to rescue them all as quickly as possible. Honestly, Liv didn't understand why any of them refused in the first place. This was safety. No one had to sleep with one eye open here.

There was a knock at the door and a young copper-haired boy came scurrying in. "Oh good. Jeremiah you're here." He beamed up at her and took a piece of cake. The boy couldn't have been older than twelve, but he never did say. She watched as he took a seat on ceril's lap and ate his cake quietly. There was a lot they needed to do, and little time to get it done. "We need to get all these people out there by themselves to join as quickly as possible."

Liv moved around the desk and put a hand on yuki's shoulder. "The more recruits you get, the bigger the prize. Remember that." She waved her hands theatrically and took a seat once again in the chair. "Everyone is dismissed. If you need me, I'll be here." Liv spun the chair around so she was facing the window again. They better not need her. They were trained well enough. They would be fine without her for an afternoon. She needed some time to herself.

 

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Aura walked over to Liv as everyone began to walk out. "Olivia, I have been thinking. I would like to find Makeo and talk to him myself. You have denied me from fear that I may be too strict. That I may hurt him." Aura dropped her Katana on the table behind Liv's char. She was serious. Aura was the one of the only ones that never actually attempted to recruit Makeo. Now might be a good time while everyone else was out helping others. "I know where he currently is living as well. The other day I wondered around the school and noticed a trapdoor in the gym. It lead to a group of tunnels. People were here before us. There were traps. I noticed his belongings were there however."