Sage’s legs gave out underneath her, and just as they bucked, she was teleported away from the grisly scene before her, so it was an undefiled plot of snow that her knees fell on. No shattered ice or blood, or... corpses.
She sucked in a shaky breath. At least it must have been quick. She must have flash-frozen the poor namek - Sage hadn’t known she was even capable of such a thing. And, mercifully, she knew at the back of her mind, that somewhere, he would wake up, whole.
Still, she felt... empty. Not the angsty teenage empty, but like...
Like she was coming down, from some incredible high. Had she been high? No, her last blue had been taken too long ago, and she never crashed like this. She let loose a gurgling groan, a little embarrassed at how nasty she sounded, and let herself fall over onto her side. The cool snow felt good against her wounded cheek.
She had cuts all over her body from that wretched windstorm the namek had assailed her with, and she was definitely hurting all over. At the same time, she was grateful she was forced against someone she didn’t know. She hoped Damon would be merciful enough to keep it that way, though she had her doubts.
The girl felt absolutely drained, and wanted only to sleep. She had nearly drifted off, when she fought against herself to rise. She stirred for a moment, rolling onto her back to stare up at the night sky.
It was gorgeous. Hundreds of stars happily twinkled up on the pitch black velvet. There was no moon to muddy up the scene, no clouds, no nothing. Just a big ebony sky. She watched one of the brighter stars for a time, marveling at how the pinpricks of light that leapt from the central dot seemed to slowly rotate around it, sparkling all the while.
Bunker, she reminded herself. Can’t sleep here, or I’ll die.
She almost laughed at the thought. Other people would have been worried about the deadly cold, and she was worried about some stupid metal ring around her neck. She tugged at the garish jewelry again, and grimaced uncomfortably. Her neck had turned bright red, rubbed raw by the ill-fitting device.
Finally, Sage forced herself to her feet, and took a dizzy half-step backwards. Gingerly, the hybrid made to rub her forehead, but only wound up whacking herself in the face with the charred hand she had frozen to ease the pain. With a bit of a grumble, Sage switched hands, and gingerly rubbed her now sore forehead, and her eyes, before dropping her arm to take a look around.
Right away, the crystal haired cryomancer realized she had no frame of reference to go by. She had been teleported to some nondescript location, and, as much as she liked the arctic sector, it all looked exactly the same. She had no idea where she was, so she had no idea which way to go.
She considered her predicament for a moment, but her thoughts quickly drifted to her friends. She wondered if they had made it out alright, or if they had been beaten. Or, she frowned, if they had been forced to fight one another.
Sage’s eyes flickered in epiphany a heartbeat later. Ashe and Sophia both would have just picked a direction and gone, and, as crazy and impulsive as she knew such an idea was, but after she shouldered her pack, it was exactly what she did.
The trek was... stressful. The conditions were perfect, but the wind. The howling winds, they made her cringe every time they got loud. Sage would see movement out of her periphery, and at least a dozen times did she either stop or do an about-face to see who or what was out there.
She gritted her teeth. She told herself she was just tired, and that she wasn’t worried that a certain namek was shadowing her. She put a hand to her still-bleeding cheek. He was dead. There was simply no way he wasn’t. Sage immediately blocked out the ideas of zombie nameks that flooded into her mind next.
The girl soldiered on, through the snow and the sleet, and pretended to hug herself from the cold. It was something she picked up as a kid. She always thought it was funny when other people braved the cold, especially the hilarious ‘brr-rrr-rrr’ sound some people made. Of course, as she grew older, she eventually felt sorry for them, but it was still a pretty strange thing to say.
The quarter saiyan smiled, and even let out a giggle as she recalled her mother’s reaction when she had caught Sage in the throne room - after she was done freezing it. Ice clung to the walls, on the furniture, on the floor and ceiling. Mom was not happy.
The girl’s rose colored eyes flicked up to see a city scape abruptly superimposed upon the arctic horizon. She must have walked farther than she thought. She sighed. Sage didn’t like this city, but, at least now she would know where she was.
Sage crossed the threshold from tundra to downtown, frowning at the immediate spike in temperature. Shrugging off her bag, she let it drop to the asphalt and rubbed her shoulder, before taking a knee to root through the bag’s contents.
Withdrawing a map, the azure haired girl closed up the pack and hoisted it back up, and made her way toward the bunker, her eyes glued to the map.
Time seemed to be bizarrely fragmented within Dante’s Abyss. Strange that she walked from darkest night to sunset just by crossing some arbitrary threshold. Then again, the terrain shifted immediately, why shouldn’t the time?
It didn’t bother her. At least the disturbingly empty city wasn’t full of disembodied sounds, like it had been last time. The walk was much more uncomfortable than it had been when she was in the arctic, though.
Regardless of wether or not there was nobody in the city, it was a city after dark, and there was nobody around. Who knew who - or what - could be lurking in one of the myriad alleys and side streets, just... waiting.
Sage sped up, stiffly walking ahead as her eyes darted to and fro. Eventually, though, she burst into a full sprint, and raced down the street as fast as she could.
The girl came to the bunker, panting and wheezing, but didn’t stop until she was through the door, and it had been safely slammed shut behind her. She fell against the door and slid down onto the floor.
She closed her eyes and let her head loll back, until it was resting against the metal door she was propped up against. Sage drew her knees into her chest and wrapped her arms around them, before burying her face in her knees. She was safe in the bright lights of the bunker. A happy click indicated her collar had been reset, so that was another worry put off for the time being.
Her heart pounded in her chest, but she forced herself to her feet, and carefully picked her way through the bunker. She was alone. She managed a small smile at that, and her heavy eyelids closed for a moment while she swayed on her feet.
She should have treated her injuries; she hadn’t even treated the burns she’d gotten during her fight with Belle yet... but they could wait. Sage turned to the beds, and then paused, before moving to face the entrance. She didn’t want to be caught unaware in her sleep.
Thinking for a moment, Sage raised her good hand toward the door, and watched carefully, as frost collected and swirled about, forming a little ball of ice that quickly began to expand and take shape.
Soon, right in front of the entrance to the bunker, she had constructed a frozen simulacrum of one of the fearsome Mershikali - the man-sized lizard monsters she had fought on Mercy-Sei, its claws outstretched, and its fangs menacingly bared... It was the most frightening-looking thing she could think of right then, and she hoped it’s appearance would at least garner a yelp of surprise that would wake her, before whoever entered realized it was just a statue.
With her monstrous sentinel in place, Sage climbed into the bed in the far corner of the room, and wrapped the thin blanket around herself. If nothing else, it would cover the sorry state her clothes were in.
When she woke, she decided, she’d raid one of the clothing stores. It wasn’t like there was anyone around to wear the clothes, anyway, and she’d rather not have her top disintegrate in her next fight. With that decided, she closed her eyes, and waited for sleep to claim her.
She sucked in a shaky breath. At least it must have been quick. She must have flash-frozen the poor namek - Sage hadn’t known she was even capable of such a thing. And, mercifully, she knew at the back of her mind, that somewhere, he would wake up, whole.
Still, she felt... empty. Not the angsty teenage empty, but like...
Like she was coming down, from some incredible high. Had she been high? No, her last blue had been taken too long ago, and she never crashed like this. She let loose a gurgling groan, a little embarrassed at how nasty she sounded, and let herself fall over onto her side. The cool snow felt good against her wounded cheek.
She had cuts all over her body from that wretched windstorm the namek had assailed her with, and she was definitely hurting all over. At the same time, she was grateful she was forced against someone she didn’t know. She hoped Damon would be merciful enough to keep it that way, though she had her doubts.
The girl felt absolutely drained, and wanted only to sleep. She had nearly drifted off, when she fought against herself to rise. She stirred for a moment, rolling onto her back to stare up at the night sky.
It was gorgeous. Hundreds of stars happily twinkled up on the pitch black velvet. There was no moon to muddy up the scene, no clouds, no nothing. Just a big ebony sky. She watched one of the brighter stars for a time, marveling at how the pinpricks of light that leapt from the central dot seemed to slowly rotate around it, sparkling all the while.
Bunker, she reminded herself. Can’t sleep here, or I’ll die.
She almost laughed at the thought. Other people would have been worried about the deadly cold, and she was worried about some stupid metal ring around her neck. She tugged at the garish jewelry again, and grimaced uncomfortably. Her neck had turned bright red, rubbed raw by the ill-fitting device.
Finally, Sage forced herself to her feet, and took a dizzy half-step backwards. Gingerly, the hybrid made to rub her forehead, but only wound up whacking herself in the face with the charred hand she had frozen to ease the pain. With a bit of a grumble, Sage switched hands, and gingerly rubbed her now sore forehead, and her eyes, before dropping her arm to take a look around.
Right away, the crystal haired cryomancer realized she had no frame of reference to go by. She had been teleported to some nondescript location, and, as much as she liked the arctic sector, it all looked exactly the same. She had no idea where she was, so she had no idea which way to go.
She considered her predicament for a moment, but her thoughts quickly drifted to her friends. She wondered if they had made it out alright, or if they had been beaten. Or, she frowned, if they had been forced to fight one another.
Sage’s eyes flickered in epiphany a heartbeat later. Ashe and Sophia both would have just picked a direction and gone, and, as crazy and impulsive as she knew such an idea was, but after she shouldered her pack, it was exactly what she did.
The trek was... stressful. The conditions were perfect, but the wind. The howling winds, they made her cringe every time they got loud. Sage would see movement out of her periphery, and at least a dozen times did she either stop or do an about-face to see who or what was out there.
She gritted her teeth. She told herself she was just tired, and that she wasn’t worried that a certain namek was shadowing her. She put a hand to her still-bleeding cheek. He was dead. There was simply no way he wasn’t. Sage immediately blocked out the ideas of zombie nameks that flooded into her mind next.
The girl soldiered on, through the snow and the sleet, and pretended to hug herself from the cold. It was something she picked up as a kid. She always thought it was funny when other people braved the cold, especially the hilarious ‘brr-rrr-rrr’ sound some people made. Of course, as she grew older, she eventually felt sorry for them, but it was still a pretty strange thing to say.
The quarter saiyan smiled, and even let out a giggle as she recalled her mother’s reaction when she had caught Sage in the throne room - after she was done freezing it. Ice clung to the walls, on the furniture, on the floor and ceiling. Mom was not happy.
The girl’s rose colored eyes flicked up to see a city scape abruptly superimposed upon the arctic horizon. She must have walked farther than she thought. She sighed. Sage didn’t like this city, but, at least now she would know where she was.
Sage crossed the threshold from tundra to downtown, frowning at the immediate spike in temperature. Shrugging off her bag, she let it drop to the asphalt and rubbed her shoulder, before taking a knee to root through the bag’s contents.
Withdrawing a map, the azure haired girl closed up the pack and hoisted it back up, and made her way toward the bunker, her eyes glued to the map.
Time seemed to be bizarrely fragmented within Dante’s Abyss. Strange that she walked from darkest night to sunset just by crossing some arbitrary threshold. Then again, the terrain shifted immediately, why shouldn’t the time?
It didn’t bother her. At least the disturbingly empty city wasn’t full of disembodied sounds, like it had been last time. The walk was much more uncomfortable than it had been when she was in the arctic, though.
Regardless of wether or not there was nobody in the city, it was a city after dark, and there was nobody around. Who knew who - or what - could be lurking in one of the myriad alleys and side streets, just... waiting.
Sage sped up, stiffly walking ahead as her eyes darted to and fro. Eventually, though, she burst into a full sprint, and raced down the street as fast as she could.
The girl came to the bunker, panting and wheezing, but didn’t stop until she was through the door, and it had been safely slammed shut behind her. She fell against the door and slid down onto the floor.
She closed her eyes and let her head loll back, until it was resting against the metal door she was propped up against. Sage drew her knees into her chest and wrapped her arms around them, before burying her face in her knees. She was safe in the bright lights of the bunker. A happy click indicated her collar had been reset, so that was another worry put off for the time being.
Her heart pounded in her chest, but she forced herself to her feet, and carefully picked her way through the bunker. She was alone. She managed a small smile at that, and her heavy eyelids closed for a moment while she swayed on her feet.
She should have treated her injuries; she hadn’t even treated the burns she’d gotten during her fight with Belle yet... but they could wait. Sage turned to the beds, and then paused, before moving to face the entrance. She didn’t want to be caught unaware in her sleep.
Thinking for a moment, Sage raised her good hand toward the door, and watched carefully, as frost collected and swirled about, forming a little ball of ice that quickly began to expand and take shape.
Soon, right in front of the entrance to the bunker, she had constructed a frozen simulacrum of one of the fearsome Mershikali - the man-sized lizard monsters she had fought on Mercy-Sei, its claws outstretched, and its fangs menacingly bared... It was the most frightening-looking thing she could think of right then, and she hoped it’s appearance would at least garner a yelp of surprise that would wake her, before whoever entered realized it was just a statue.
With her monstrous sentinel in place, Sage climbed into the bed in the far corner of the room, and wrapped the thin blanket around herself. If nothing else, it would cover the sorry state her clothes were in.
When she woke, she decided, she’d raid one of the clothing stores. It wasn’t like there was anyone around to wear the clothes, anyway, and she’d rather not have her top disintegrate in her next fight. With that decided, she closed her eyes, and waited for sleep to claim her.
Quote:Sage moves from the Arctic Sector to the City Sector
Quote:Sage enters the City Sector bunker
![[Image: Sage.jpg]](http://rebecca.florizone.com/sig/miscsig/Sage.jpg)