The Story That Went On... (Formerly Death Cut. Completed.)

[GamingLord]

Going through Rosemary's inventory quickly, he found that she thankfully gathered plenty of the water. Jacob reached over and poured just a small amount on Harold, which instantly freed him of his disability. He then handed the water to Harold.

Jacob: "Take care of Abigail, I need to see to Rosemary."

Harold: "Son... she's... she's gone. She couldn't have survived that shot."

Jacob: "She'll be okay in a little moment, thanks to some potions and..."

Harold: "Necromancy isn't the answer to everything."

Jacob: "Harold, she's technically a type of undead... She's a bit harder to 'kill' than that."

Harold: "...See, now I have more questions, but I'll save them for later."  

[GamingLord]

The group seemed a bit surprised at being suddenly transported. Jacob just seemed to nod at what was done a little, as if he realized why he had done it all of a sudden while he tended to Rosemary. Harold seemed a bit surprised that Sephiroth had been doing a teleportation spell. He thought he was performing some sort of protective shield barrier of some sort at first. Abigail...

Well, Abigail was just glad that Harold finally let loose a few drops of the water so she could be free of that damned confining energy. Once restored to her ghostly form, she floated over to Rosemary.

Abigail: "Is there anything we can do to help?"

Jacob: "The spider summon... bring it here, it should help comfort her, since it's one of her familars. With it resting by her side, it may encourage her to heal a bit faster."  

[Rosemary Mori]

The first thing Rosemary noticed when she started to come around was the smell of blood. Her hand clinched a little with her nails scraping against whatever was under them. The next thing she noticed was a pain not only in her head, but in her neck area that Jacob quickly got rid by jerking her head when he realized that the impact had put it out of place a little. Then she felt the sensation of being stroked by a warm hand full of wonderful death magic that took away the pain in her head. She was vaguely aware of a rather large spider next to her.

When she finally opened her eyes, she stared at him for a while and tried to figure out why he was looking at her the way he was. She began to mindlessly stroke the spider as she tried to think on what happened. Her head had hurt earlier so she must have received a terrible blow to it. Then she remembered why it hurt and said, "I'm sorry master. I was careless. I should have been more aware of our surroundings."  

[GamingLord]

Harold simply raised an eyebrow at the usage of the world master, but said nothing. There was a curiosity as to why she called him master, he had to admit, but there was probably that same curiosity from others as to why Abigail called him that still when he really didn't treat her like a servant.

Harold: "So, where are we currently, Sephiroth? Other than a moist cavern*

Jacob continued to apply soothing necromatic energy to Rosemary's head as he stroked her hair. For someone as tough as Rosemary, the exit wound had been fairly large, and the impact the ricocheting bullet left on the ground was a fairly good indicator that it was a deadly and powerful round. There could still be some damage internally that was still healing up.

Jacob: "It's fine, everyone's alright Rosemary. Close as you may be dear, nobody can acheive perfection."

Jacob felt a slight twinge of red come onto his face, and he forced it down as those words sort of slipped out... it was probably not the most appropriate of places or times to say something like that, but they just sort of fell out of his mouth... Perhaps out of his anxiety and worry that had built up when she had gotten shot? He just shook his head a little and continued to stroke her hair until she was fully better.  

[GamingLord]

Jacob: "Probably a good idea..." Sephiroth and I made up for the lack of violence this time...

The necromancer couldn't help but think of the scenes that had played out before his eyes, particularly the ones that he was involved in. There was no doubt that he'd kill for the ones he loved, that much was certain. He'd proven it before when Veni was about to be backstabbed, and he'd proven it again today when he thought Rosemary had been sniped and murdered initially. I don't want to lose them.

Taking Sephiroth's advice, everyone drank a fair amount of the special water, hoping it's effects would be lasting enough to deflect those anti-magic orbs as well as do the job they were initially planned for.  

[Rosemary Mori]

Jacob received more apologies as if it was her fault that she was shot because she hadn't been more careful and alert to prevent such a grievous wound to herself. To be honest she had thought she was going to die at first. She didn't exactly want to leave him either, least not so soon. At least he hadn't done anything entirely rash in the matter of spells that damn a person from what she could tell. She'd worry about him falling that much.

The water made her stomach feel sour, but she didn't get sick from it either. She then heard a familiar whistling sort of cooing bird noise. "A...Roc?"

"Close enough to the creature."

"They still fast?"

"As fast as most cars....why don't us men disguise ourselves as such and run as close as we can get to our destination in that form? We might get by a few check points if we can get the rest of them to stampede with us."

He tried to think on how that would work and then looked at Rosemary. "You'll be invisible...couldn't you be an unseen fear to them?"  

[GamingLord]

Jacob tried to let Rosemary know that she didn't need to apologize so much. He thought for a moment as to how to get this idea across to her, that he was just happy that she was alright and everything was okay when it finally came to him. Mentally he focused his imagination on giving her the most passionate of embraces and kisses, holding her close to him, and telling her that everything was alright.

Jacob: "That sounds like a good plan to me, if only a little bit strange."

Harold: "Wait, wait. Here's my question. How are we going to disguise ourselves as those things? Pluck some feathers and use some glue? I could cast an illusion, but with it over all of us, I wouldn't be able to maintain it for long. And if it's as fast as you say, how are we going to keep up?"

Jacob just seemed to smile a little as he took out a disguise rune from his inventory and activated it. His body quickly shifted into that of a large, yellow bird creature. A moment of this, and he shifted back.

Harold: "Well, that answers my question. That's a handy bit of magical stone you have there."  

[GamingLord]

Harold also looked at himself and tried to talk, but only chirped and cooed. Oh... I guess the transformation is more complete than I realized. Well, I can honestly say I've never been a bird before.

Once all were ready, they set off, running at speeds that were rather quick. Rosemary and Abigail did what they could to spook them in the right direction, and all was going pretty well. At least until a few soldiers came up alongside the herd of birds on their hover boots.

Soldier: "This will be so much better than rations. One of them should be enough. Pick a nice, fat one."

Soldier 2: "Hope they taste like chicken..."

One of them suddenly raised a pistol and fired, missing completely due to how fast the birds were moving. The gunshot spooked the animals, causing them to run faster.

Jacob: Oh HELL, if they shoot one of us, we'll turn back to normal. Not to mention it'll be fatal to some of us...

Soldier: "That was pathetic. Here, let me show you how it's done."

Soldier 2: "Fine, mister Bullseye. Of course you'll do better, being a sniper and all."

The soldier took out his own side arm, aimed, and...

*BLAM!*

Sephiroth found himself having to jump over the corpse of a regular chocobo as it tumbled away underneath him, a clean shot to it's head causing it to fall instantly in mid-run.

Soldier: "HAH! Got it! Say, that silver gray one looks rare. Think we should bag it also as a trophy?"

Soldier 2: "Well, we have enough muscle enhancers, so..."

*Kssht* "Boys, where the hell is that bird you promised? The gang's getting hungry, hurry it up."

Soldier: "Right Boss, we're heading back with some food now. C'mon, let's go back and grab that bird. We can also go trophy hunting later."

- - - - -

GL: "Okay, one soda coming right up!... Uh... hey... uhm..."

Galantros noticed Black was still looking down and such, bright red and everything. Wondering if he did something wrong, he tried to remember if he said or did something out of place.

GL: "Did.... Did I embarrass you somehow, Black?"  

[GamingLord]

Harold: I had no idea they had such a thing...

Jacob examined the many groups of birds, all doing their own thing. Feeding, drinking, tending to their young. He'd seen rocs occasionaly back on Gaia, but he hadn't studied them to much. Just noticed that they were an interesting creature, along with something called a grunny that appeared to cause temporary zombification.

Jacob: This has to be the strangest way of stealth I've used... ever. And my wings itch. I never thought I'd experience THAT.

Eventually, they continued on their way, and soon they were almost at their goal.

- - - - -

GL: "Oh, heheh..."

GL smiled, his wing hugging Black towards himself a bit as he gave a quiet sigh. They got their soda, along with a little bit of candy that Galantros wanted, and went into the theater. The first thing Black noticed was a total lack of a projection screen. Another thing was that the seats were pretty spaced apart by a fair amount, and facing in random directions. Galantros found a nice cozy spot, and revealed that the chairs could be pushed around if groups of friends or couples came into the theater. Taking a seat in the awfully comfortable pieces of furnitures, the two snuggled up to each other, notcing that they were in an almost empty theater, save for a few others spaced out in other parts of the room.

GL: "Should be starting in just a few seconds. It'll be a little disorienting at first because of the magic used, but it's not uncomfortable. If it gets to be too much, just stand up out of the chair and the illusion is bro..."

Suddenly, it was a black void all around Black, except for GL in the seat next to her. White text scrolled up out of the ground ahead of her, accompanied by a matching voice over.

Announcer: "Our feature presentation will start in just a few moments, after these exciting trailers and sponser announcements. Please enjoy!"

Scenary then started to fade in around the two, as a commercial for food sauce began to play. Even Black's superior senses were fooled by the magic used. She could literally smell the cooked food and the tangy purple sauce being gently poured over it, and the person talking sounded like she was right next to her!

Actress: "Please, try a free sample, on Worthummer's bill!'

The actress was actually holding out a two plates of food to GL and Black, one of them a vegetarian dish obviously. GL just sort of grinned and took a piece of food and absorbed it.

GL: "Go ahead and try it. It's not really there, but you can still taste it."  

[GamingLord]

Jacob: I can probably summon up some help before we actually enact our little plan. We'll just have to be as prepared as possible and do what we can.

With the path clear, they moved on. For whatever reason though, Abigail seemed to be entranced or amused by Sephiroth's silver-grey bird form. Unseen and unheard by the others, she couldn't help but stroke his feathers and giggle quietly, commenting on how silky smooth they were

Soon enough, they were there, with no resistance. That just bothered Jacob because he just knew something would happen during their task. It couldn't be helped though.

We are so close, my child. I must admit, there is manner of excitement and yet, anxiety that runs through me. Please, be cautious, all of you.

Jacob: "Well.. is everyone ready?"

- - - - -

The taste of the food started out good enough, but suddenly...

Voice Over: "DIRTY! SMELLY! FITLHY SOCKS!"

Both gagged and scrambled for the soda as the taste quickly changed into something disgusting and foul in their mouths.

GL: "Blech! Yech! Ack! And that's why it's an OLD MI theater.... Oh gross... They must've cut off the food ad early."

Galantros smeared a chocolate mint candy over his face and absorbed it, offering one to Black after she cleansed her mouth with the soda.