[06] Pre-Finale - City Sector

[DA 2009]

CITY SECTOR

Time Of Day: Dawn

Starting Players: Alexander Trafford, Ashe, Sage, Sophia

All remaining players are teleported into the City Sector bunker, and detonation charges have been officially deactivated. You may role-play your post-fight reactions here until the finale begins, should you be so inclined. You may not leave the City Sector, as the barrier walls have solidified and will not allow you to enter any other Sector.

[Ashe]

"So there's four of us left?"

Who exactly asked the question was something that no one could quite remember later, but everyone had likely been thinking it. The group of four contestants had been teleported together into the city square, eyeing one another from four joined corners of a street intersection. By now, no one really knew who to trust, but it was clear that three of them were far more comfortable with one another than the fourth.

Breaking the silence, Ashe ran into the center of the intersection and looked around at the others in the group, smiling at Sage and Sophia. "I'm glad you guys are ok," she began, waving energetically for them to approach, "but who's..."

The unknown man in the expensive looking suit rose to his full height and looked at each of them sourly before mumbling something under his breath. The teenager took a deep breath and decided to approach the man that she assumed was another hired contract killer, but stopped as he coolly pushed his tuxedo jacket to the side to reveal a shining firearm holstered at his belt. His hand nonchalantly reached into his pocket and withdrew a small package of cigarettes while his eyes never left her.

Without a word, he placed the item into his mouth and lit it seemingly from thin air before putting the container back into his pocket, inhaling deeply as his gaze studied her. Ashe turned and looked to Sage and Sophia for information but Sage seemed lost in her own thoughts while Sophia warily approached the pink haired girl, motioning for her to come to her quickly. When the girl's eyes turned back towards the man, she could only see the back of his shining orange hair as it hung over the collar of his fine clothes, both of his hands resting in his pockets as he walked away from the trio.

"Alexander Trafford," Sophia explained after a moment, watching him leave.

"Doesn't seem very friendly," Ashe replied. She turned and looked up at Sophia curiously. "Is he one of those guys that was hired to 'eliminate' us?" she asked, thinking of Vincent and Kristanna.

The priestess slowly shook her head. "I'm not really sure. Could be, but that'd be just a guess, wouldn't it?"

The girl nodded before noticing that Sage, too, appeared to be walking away from them. "What's up with her-" she began before breaking into a run towards her. The calls from Sophia fell unheard.

By the time Ashe rounded the corner to catch up to her, Sage was entering into a brickyard garden within the central city square. If she hadn't been in such a hurry, Ashe would have taken a moment to enjoy the elegant brickwork or the delicate vines that had been strung into interesting shapes, but her only goal was the girl lost in her own thoughts. "Sage!," she screamed, finally throwing out her arm and grabbing the doctor by her shoulder.

The response that the heavy breathing girl recieved was simply "What do you want, Ashe?"

"Why... what's wrong with you?" the girl exploded, rounding in front of her and staring her down. "You've been overly distant during this entire ordeal and you don't seem at all interested in talking to any of us."

"I... I'm sorry..." the other girl stuttered, looking at the ground next to Ashe's feet. "I just don't want you involved..."

"Well, sorry, but we are involved," Ashe snapped a bit harsher than she intended to. "Whatever it is, Sage, we are your friends and you really need to stop being so goddamn emo and wandering around. If we are going to get anywhere, we have to do it together."

Silence lingered a moment, prompting Ashe to lean down so that her face directly positioned itself in the other girl's line of sight. "Seriously!" she pleaded. "You remember the last time I was with you guys? With that creep Mr. Rogers or whatever his name was?"

Sage's gaze slowly pulled up to meet Ashe's own. "Do you?"

She wasn't sure how to respond, pausing a moment before Sage attempted to suddenly continue walking past her. "I remember that we all stood together at the end. Its the only way that we'd have successfully beaten whatever that guy threw at us!"

An icy glaze had fallen over the doctor's eyes by the time they connected with her own again. "Do... do you even know what he 'threw at us', Ashe, or are you just... just assuming that you, or I, or Piper, or the group, or whoever, had anything to do with it? D-Do you even know think that has anything to do with what I'm here for?" she added.

"Yes..."

Sage shook her head almost angrily before her hand reached out, a very cold touch almost burning the girl's shoulder. "I'm sorry... but you are wrong. I have to do this," she stressed before attempting to turn away once more.

"Do what?"

Getting no response, Ashe growled, turning around and screaming as she threw an imaginary ball at the brickwork nearby. "Ugh!" she spat, not even realizing until the explosion of energy happened that she had once more unconciously thrown a ball of ki without actually trying to.

Sage turned around quietly, looking at her for a moment. The bubblegum blonde was staring in surprise at the wall, unsure of what had quite happened. Stop trying to hit me and hit me, the girl thought, reflecting on Kristanna's words. As everyone had told her, she clearly had natural talent with using this power. Her downfall was that she was approaching it from the direction of someone who was having to strain and put effort into it to compensate for lack of natural ability. She was beginning to understand now.

Her hand rose up slowly before her, a fant trickle of energy dancing in a path around her fingers like a laughing fae. When she turned her head towards Sage once more, she found the the doctor was no longer within sight, having disappeared through a gathering fog in the distance. "Sage..." she whispered to herself before taking a deep breath. "Sage, I swear to you. I'm your friend. I won't let you do this alone. Whatever it is, you can count on me."