When it Rains, it pours...

[VeilofRain]

A place for my random AUs, and little stories. Moody requested this so she could...show it off.

 

[VeilofRain]

[fieldbox="From which all this began, red, solid"]
I wrote all these and put them in a test thread. It's why they are cluttered together for the first post.

I will go on

[fieldbox="I will go on..., red, dashed, 10"]
He looked at her with that same stony gaze, with the same greys in those dark locks. The same thin face, and impossible to decipher depth to the way he looked at you. It was strange to think of who he was, not that it was possible at this point. He could see it in her eyes. All of it had come back to her. Every little secret, every breath he had taken. How so long ago everything had changed because of him. So much loss, with so much gain. Her pupil pulsed like a subwoofer on full blast. Of course she was stunned, that was to be expected. One did not receive that much information and memories and simply move on. If anything, her psyche would implode from the revelations. That was the beauty of ignorance, of having the option to keep it all taken away. She was forced to lose it all once, but this close, standing at the edge of the boundary, it might just be the only thing that would save them. That would save everyone.
Everything stopped, not just her breath, but her molecules and atoms. For a moment he felt as if she had faded from everything, but he could still see her. As suddenly as it had gone, it was back, she was back. Her eyes were on him, but they were solid, as solid as she was. He could read understanding, recognition, and curiosity. He imagined she thought how such a being could exist in the form of scraggly old man. Maybe she hated him for what he had done. He couldn't help it that one side of his lips rose up and for once the tired smile touched his eyes. They wrinkled the flesh, and where a smile made most look younger, it added age to the weathered being. She now understood, if he wanted, he could less than blink and they would all be gone. Everyone, everything, not in this universe, but all of them. It would cease to expand, to create more. He could literally stop everything. Even Felicie. Even the Cradle.

"I figured, with all that knowledge, you would be the best for this, Rare." Sinclair riffled through his pocket and withdrew a single long spike. It glistened, completely white, yet a strange black outline coated it, as if it drew from the very existence immediately around it. Normally, he knew she would be curious, but one look and he knew her mind would access what it was, how it was made, what it could do, and just how to do it. He admired those deep brown eyes. He hoped, somehow, he could have an afterlife of his own just to remember them. His kin, they went to a place he did not, he assumed anyway. Even if he had sworn they reached out to him, he had never confirmed it. Besides, the thing he gave her, it was an absolute certainty. There was no returning. If there was an after, it would have to go on endless.

If she wanted everything else to continue to be endless, then she would have to find the strength to do what needed to be done. Jade was right to want him gone. Ozymandias, that strange girl, should have figured it out and done it herself.

Before he knew it, a force slammed into him. Arms locked tight around him, and he felt nails digging in despite his coat. Something warm soaked into his shirt as a warmth washed over him. For the first time, he was surprised. Truly surprised. His eyes wide, were locked on the dark head of the woman. Taller than when she had been a girl. Neck free of that damnable thing again. He didn't know what to do, she just squeezed him tighter. He didn't want to do it himself, it was too terrifying a thought. He'd left too many things undone, there was no way he had that kind of strength.

Still, instinct, a rare desire caused his arms to wrap around her as well. His smile was gone, but his embrace was tender. She began to shake, trembling. Was it the reality of what had to happen? Maybe he was being selfish asking her to do this. It was too many minutes for them, years for others in this place, before he finally tried to free himself. With a gentle grip on her shoulders he tried to push her off but she wouldn't. Her head shook viciously, though she more just smeared her tears into his shirt as her nose ground against his chest.
"Rare." He said. It was so soft, barely a whisper that she had to look up to confirm he'd said anything. "I love you. More than anything inside of everything. It is the most unfair thing I have ever done. Yet, it is without my volition. Therefore, it is selfish of me to ask this of you, but for that same reason, no one is better suited."
Sinclair leaned down, and to his pleasant surprise she eagerly reciprocated. Pushing onto her toes, their teeth clacked together, but that didn't stop the fervent kiss. The first time their lips would embrace in this place. The last time they ever would again. There was a rush of desire which pooled into heat between their legs. Emotion, which surged from the heart like an overcharged battery ready to summon lightning from the heavens. A flaring of the soul, as if a wildfire erupted through every single universe. As their kiss went on, her tears became an ocean, and his whiskers made the land. Their breath created oxygen. When their kiss ended, a little sun watched over their creation. The little galaxy, forged from just a kiss, a sign of the truth of his being, of what she knew.

"When it's done, all the unnecessary things will leave your mind. Only to be summoned…" Her fingers touched his lips. He did have a knack for talking too much. So instead he kissed the digit. She nodded and smiled, then stepped back, taking the brand he had forged for his own end. Slowly, she raised it, and pushed it to the soft spot just above his clavicle, aiming down into his torso. Their eyes met for what felt an eternity as she took one slow breath, and he took what she feared would truly be his last.
[/fieldbox]

I will go on for the sake of her

Sin sighed, watching her slip away little by little. Of course, it was too much. It always was. How many young things would he have to watch slip away. Were his Sin's really so terrible that so many others had to suffer because of him. Well, the deed was done, she had done exactly what she wanted, but the left would be left to him.
"I would apologize but... if I did, then we'd both be wrong." Sinclair said and held out his hand. The sigils she had seen so many times crawled along his flesh and manifested as a dark light. They stretched and grew, as more appeared until markings expansive enough to cover a quarter of a planet clung to him like a bracelet over the girl. There was a sacrifice needed, but he didn't have enough bodies for her. In the next moment, the world began to crumble around her, and lines of himself began to peel away. Crawling into her, a price to be paid.
It was just like Elli, all over again. She would have a gift he hadn't given the boy. She was wrapped up in reality, as fibers of the world coiled around her, swaddling her like an infant before a sound like everything shattering ruptured the silence. He took the thing left behind, and wondered if Six would have been angry if she knew about this. Well, it didn't matter, cradled the remnants, and with one step he stood before he red haired immortal. How long had she been like this? Bear must have been suffering so much. He sighed and took the 'sphere' left behind and gently placed it against her stomach. Little my little, it sank into her, into a body that could survive anything. If not for this, all would be lost.
The seconds ticked by, and he watched Felicie's sleeping body expand to feed the life inside of her. His eyes roamed to the woman with he had met so long ago in this very lab.
"Watch them both. It's going to hurt when Feli gives birth to that. If Bear is around, tell him to raise her with love. Vargo will be confused for a bit, but he'll be a good friend to her."
Sinclair frowned at the swollen stomach that held the demon he had a strange affection for.
"Crow made her forget once, and I resented him. Were he still alive, I might apologize. He was right." Sinclair took a step back.
"I'm going to commit some very grave sins now. Do not let my burden stretch to this place." Sinclair's final words before he allowed himself to slip off into the next page.

I will go on until the end

'They're coming.'
With their guns and machines, with their monsters and malice. None would have ever expected that those that stood across the valleys from one another, each seeking a separate goal, each out for the others blood, would finally come together. Still, it was not as if it had required some grand scheme. A simple bit of logic.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

So, what better way to unite to factions that waged war across various universe than to give them one single opponent they had to work together to defeat. Sitting here in his throne of stardust, and black hole remnants was that enemy. Sinclair. The ultimate sinner. The Last Firstborn. Whatever he was known as it didn't matter. He hadn't shared a word with anyone in his last hundred thousand years. There was no friend to confide in, no body for consolation. Not even the Pleiades would be here for this. They would be the greatest witnesses though. The only ones that stood apart from the tsunami that was him. Devastation incarnate. He could not blame them for this. Even though one little creature had fought so valiantly to prevent this.

That was so long ago. How big had she grown? Was she loved inside the body of his former lover, Felicie? Did she grow with the enthusiastic zealous of Bear? Did Vargo tend to her like a baby sister? For all he was, he had never strived for omniscience. He had been there before, witnessing everything at once. It was amazing, in that he missed nothing, and yet it was terrible, in that he had no mysteries to uncover. Now, he sat in his lonely throne at the edge of a dead starfield, waiting for them to come. The vessels of the unifiers, housing the destructive flesh of the hunters while their own weaponry was primed for Sinclair's end. All together, while he sat here, void of even the smallest grain of warmth.

What could he do? She had failed to kill him when given the chance. Like Elli, it had been too much for her to know what he had given her. Perhaps this life was something you truly had to be born into, and he had selfishly ensured he was the only one left. Well, he may as well give them a show. With a flick of his hand several ships rumbled and inside the lights flashed as passengers grew weary. A preliminary warhead was launched, and with just a blink he watched it ignite like a newborn sun before fading into nothing. A ship had been lost, three hundred souls just a bit too close for him to notice enough to prevent their deaths. Well, that would give the others something to fight for.

As they surged, he witnessed them landing at the very edges, eager to escape the sardine confinement of the metal flying machines. Despite the dead and stony crags, he had created a sort of paradise, a place where each species could breathe. The perfect construction of molecules and atoms, somewhat like stem cells, they instantly adapted to whatever inhaled them. Most intelligent than a brain, faster than light, even a water creature could 'breathe' this air. Yet, he had to meet his demise. Maybe this was the reason he had avoided ever returning to his Firstborn state. Perhaps he had been greedy in wanting power. All those universe, consumed. Well, the lives in them. This was bound to happen.

A single shot rang out, a powerful sniper round. It came right for him, yet despite his wish for death, it vibrated in the air no more than an inch from his eye. It shuddered before falling to dust at his feet. With a sigh he stood up, witnessing the thousands of unifiers and hunters congregating at the base of his cathedral.
He actually would miss this. The angry throngs of them charging for his demise. Did the little demon miss him still, despite their harsh ending? When had he become so sentimental? They were halfway up the steps, when he simply snapped and the surface became so smooth that they slid back down, piling over one another. Some broke backs and necks as larger beings collapsed over them. Next came the ballistic weapons, so many that when they hit his arcane wall he could not see them but through pin prick gaps in the collection of artillery that had been fired.

'I thought you wanted this to end? So why keep stopping them?'

He knew the answer. He was selfish. Sinclair didn't want to die? Who would want to die? He raised his hands and clamped them together, turning everything into a tightly woven sphere the size of a softball. It could implode into a star sized eruption, but he rendered it useless and simply dropped it upon the smooth slide. Next came the cries of terror, fearing he was about to annihilate them all. Some ran, some charged forward, some covered others. The large ball hit someone - and did nothing. It simply rested there after the sturdy thunk. Sinclair pocketed his hands and admired at the horde recovered, until a leader stepped forward. A strong looking woman, he might have even recognized her.

"Firstborn Sinclair. We have come to put an end to your crimes. Surrender, and your death will be a swift one."
Did she really think he would come with them. Her voice was colder than the dead space just beyond the atmosphere. She was calm, he sensed no fear from her. With the power to destroy so many of their weapons, what did they expect to do? Sinclair did nothing, he just stared at her, a tall head through the crowd.

"I see, then so be it. I must warn you." She pulled out a firearm no larger than a toy water gun. It reminded him of that weapon he had been in the middle of trying to design around the time he had met Ozymandias. She pointed it right at him, and took a deep breath. He could see her hoping that it worked through her stoic gaze. Still, there was no hesitance when she pulled the trigger. A ring of light erupted outward, more visible than the rings of Saturn to the distant worlds as a tiny shot no larger than a dime surged towards him. It vibrated with such power he could hear the universe ripping. Then came the impact. His expression didn't change, he just gazed at her, and ever so slowly a smile came upon his lips.

"We opened the Cradle. This is the only successful thing we could produce. You can thank Ozymandias and Six." There was pride in her words. She was pleased to see the hole so clear through him, his spine had clearly been severed. His eyes, stony and grey just gazed forward as blood soaked into his pants and lower shirt while the rest spilled from his varied orifices. Sinclair didn't know if this is really what dying felt like. There was no pain, no sense of peace of dread. Strength left his legs and he crumbled to his knees. His body flopped where their was no spine, and his torso seemed half a foot too short. His arms fell from his pockets and pushed into the floor, supporting him like some awful macabre statue as his gaze fell to the heavens, unblinking. Lifeless.

"You, go check if he is dead." The woman with the gun said. The soldier looked wearily at her, before clear reluctance could not stop him from rising on his jetpack, and landing where Sinclair kneeled. Panic nearly took the poor soldier, slowly reaching out to touch the place where he knew his pulse rested. Carefully, pushed two digits to the jugular, waiting for a pulse. Instead, he heard a crack and jumped back as the body before him began to crumble, falling into dust. The soldier turned and slid from the perch, too afraid to see what came next. With a few minutes, everyone climbed, working together until they stood around the pile of ash that was Sinner.

"Hm, peculiar death. Sadly, we didn't know enough to know what to expect… this will have to do. Take records." She ordered, and turned. A unifier leader was commanding their own troops, ordering them to explore the surrounding area. As a hunter, she knew what that meant. They were seeking this man's secrets.

Perhaps, he really had been the only thing keeping their collaboration sincere.

I will go on beyond this end

"Of course we can go." Came Felicie's words. It was difficult to say no to such a sincere request. Though, she knew deep down inside there would be an answer Rare would not appreciate.

"Of course I can't go." Sinclair said, as simply as if the mere thought otherwise made this creature an idiot. He glanced at Ozy, Bio, whatever she went by now and held that stoic gaze. "You can take it. Contracts, multiverse, this system, even death has fine print."

Sinclair sighed and looked at the beaked woman. "Death is irrelevant without life. Life is a clause of Existence. Without life there is no death, but without death life is just existence. You're too young for whatever you think will happen if I reincarnate in this fashion. Especially with the if any such thing still holds any semblance of a pleiade in me."
Sinclair was irritated. He was not with the other Firstborn, nor had he ceased to exist. He had someone telling him that he could restart, and while that seemed like a wonderful precedent, he could learn everything again, that was not how studying and learning worked. That was too artistic, even for Sinclair. For once, there was a shred of pride in him. This place, this factory of soul renewal, it disgusted him. Judgement was not something he waited for. Judgement was his decision to 'let himself be killed' for the sake of everything.

"You'll always be a prick, won't you." A voice, far too familiar. It resonated with such perfection that he had hardly been able to tell that it was not one, but seven of them. He turned, staring at the image of Six, well, not just Six. They smiled at the look of surprise. Surprising Sinclair was nigh impossible.

"Every bit of existence, remember. Even here, even…"
"The others?"
"We never spoke to you of it because in this one matter, you have always remained a child. Though we respect you in all others." There was a round of giggles. Ozy had met Six once, and though One was not the same, perhaps she remembered her, not that anyone could really tell the difference by looking. Someone with Ozy's eyes likely could. Seeing seven figures standing in the same place somehow.

"We figured you would be troublesome. We apologize." Six looked to the beaked figure and gave a little bow of her head. "Sin here is not accustomed to emotions, including anger. Last time, well… you said yourself he didn't deserve to move on. Alas, if we let him have his way, this reincarnation business will be thoroughly unpleasant. So we planned ahead."

Six smiled at the beaker woman, then looked to Ozy. "Pleasure to see you again. I would love to help you, but I have my limits. Even this has taken much forethought and such strenuous work, besides, it is only possible thanks to Sinclair's manifestation of the Cradle."
Six's "smile" faded. It was hard to determine a smile on a figure whose face looked as if it were wrapped up and made of burlap rope with silk woven in. Eyes like pearls, while parts of her glowed like mini-stars behind a mesh tinted screen - it kept the rays from glaring, but the glowing part was still fucking bright. She felt sincerely apologetic to Ozy, they all did, but there was nothing they could do about it.

"We figured you would refuse when you arrived here. So adamant on being done. Are you sad because you can't make anyone happy? It was not the burden of power, no one saw what was coming. They don't know what we did together Sin. Why you did what you did. They just saw the big bad Sinner, and not the thing he kept at bay. Sadly, we've seen another, and though no one wants you, they need you."
Her words held a tinge of something that was likely longing. Sinclair quirked his brow at her, unsure if what she was saying was worth listening to. He was gone, that was supposed to be the end of it. Yet this place decided they wanted to reincarnate him, interfering with the path his 'soul' should have taken.

"Give it to Ozy." Sinclair said. Six's eyes widened for but a moment, then hardened as they looked to the seated woman.

"Why?"
"She needs it. I don't. The advantage to being a cranky old man is lots of time to tinker. Besides, after what happened with the Cradle, what they think they found, it was just what I needed them to have." Sinclair sighed and placed a hand over his own stomach.

"They never knew the truth did they? That you used them, every single one." Six's face tilted, her whole head, as if a ball on a sconce.

"No. They all think I grew tired. That Death is really all I wanted. Even Lynue doesn't know. She just thought my path was to regain what was lost. She tried to kill me, but, she wasn't strong enough alone. So I lead them to the cradle. Sorry Ozy."
Sinclair turned to her, smiling thoughtfully. An apology and a smile were both rare from him. Both at once was unheard of.

"Consider this my gift to you." Sin said, and suddenly the room filled with a palpable tension.
"You… you planned this as well?" One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, and Seven all snapped at him. Sinclair turned to them, stoic stare before he nodded. The entire place shook, though it was not physical. They were angry. Sinclair had played the entirety of existence for fools.

"Ozy." Six snapped. "We're reincarnating you. We'll explain how and why once we're done. We need to be quick. Sinclair is not doubt making new enemies by pissing off even those that govern death. So, does this mean you already have a back up? Is it… Sin… you didn't." Six cocked her head again, frowning.

"Is there anything you do that does not have far reaching consequences and plans?" Six asked. It was painful, being able to be where she was and yet not see as far as he could. It drove her, it drove them all insane. Yet, it made her love him all the more.

"I couldn't save him, but I can recycle him. It's the best I can do. Sorry death tender." Sinclair turned back to the beaked creature. "This is a sort of jailbreak. I suppose I'll never deserve to go to that place."

Sinclair smiled and stepped forward. Six reached for Ozy, and everything folded, and shifted. Reality itself, whatever this was, seemed to groan in opposition, but tendrils of something grim coiled around them and tugged them through the boundaries. Not dimensions, but places beyond the limits.

When Ozy awoke, she would be sitting upon the throne of the Cradle. A massive sphere that rippled like liquid, full of secrets and gates. Born in the place where a Pleiade had broken the rules to begin with. Created when a sinner defied the rules. Six stood before her.

"You're body is new, in prime condition, and thanks to us being what we are." It appeared all the sisters surrounded Ozy. "We are quite adept at putting ALL the pieces back together. You are as you were. Sinner, he is... frustrating. I suppose you're curious what is happening. Allow us to explain if you wish."

Cruelest of Sins AU

"STOP IT SINCLAIR!" Her voice struggled to shatter the fortress that had erected itself around his mind. Sinclair couldn't focus on any one thing as a sky once blue turned red and pink. The cries of the young to the old filled his senses. It was so overwhelming he could not hear the cries of the young woman violently shaking him. Felicie's nails dug into his arms as she quite literally shrieked at him. Tears streaming down her face, body coated in crimson.
Every inch of him felt soaked in lead. He was too heavy to respond, to even lift his head. Breathing seemed so insignificant, he thought he should just stop. Then, he hiccuped. A terrible cry summoned him to the real world as he watched Felicie turn into a cloud of pink mist. Even her bones disintegrated before his very eyes. The air was heavy with the scent of iron. His mouth was saturated with the flavor or pennies.

"What… is this?" In the distance he could see the silhouette of mountains. Piles of corpses, all of them taken by his hand. None that mattered as much as the one in front of him. Slowly, with trembling fingers he reached down to where his knees rested .He could not see the floor, only the crimson ocean that surrounded him and a body. Rare's body arched too much, her eyes held no sign of life. One of her horns was broken off with the other chipped. Rare, her limbs demonic, her features inhuman. She was naked, her body impaled on his manhood. He looked down and noticed something long and dark with spines had penetrated his gut. Her tail, and his flesh felt raw. He touched the side of his neck and face where strawberry gashes reminded him of where she had fought and carved him up. The skin was raised, and just air moving it brought sharp shocks of pain. What had he done?


After a few moments, Felicie's body manifested in front of him again. This time, there was no shriek, only the powerful jerking of her body. Her fist collided with the side of Sinclair's face, making his upper half jerk violently, but he did not fall back. Felicie hit him again, and again, yelling words he could no decipher.
"Stop it!" Sinclair snapped and once more Felicie cried out. This time she imploded, leaving only her skeletal remains while he was left caked in chunks of flesh and globs of blood. Even the body of Rare which he must have been fucking or raping was coated in it. Sinclair sighed and scraped a chunk of jaw with teeth still attached away from Rare's cheek. Her hair, soaked in blood was brushed aside and tucked where it could, though it stuck to much of her doll like features as if it had been glued.

"I…" Sinclair didn't know what to say. He had done this hadn't he? Everything was gone because of him. Even Rare. After a moment, he felt something strange, hot around his cock. He groaned, and gripped the demon's hips, shifting to remove her from him. Sinclair did not get the chance, for when his palms made contact her skin bubbled, and Rare began to melt away. Fading into the ocean of spilled blood he had made until only powder chunks of bone and strands of hair remained. Sinclair gaped, for he had never had someone melt around his cock, not in this fashion. For the first time, he actually felt the urge to vomit.

"You killed them all!" Felicie had reformed without him noticing. Sinclair looked up, eyes wide, but no tears would spill. "You could have just let it go. Now… now they're all gone and it's just us!" Felicie grabbed Sinclair by his hair and slammed her knee into his face. Blood spurt like a squeezed too hard ketchup bottle. He repeated this attack until once more she was blown away. Sinclair slumped into the ocean, grateful that it was only a few inches deep, even if it looked to be as wide as a continent. It stretched beyond the length of his optical receptors ability. The bodies of the dead piled up made it difficult to assess certain areas.

He did not lift his head from the blood, for here is where Rare had melted. He could just let himself drown. His lips parted, and the taste filled his mouth. His tongue lapped at the concrete below where he lied. He pushed his tongue so fervently against it he rubbed it raw, and soon the taste of iron was coming from himself. A painful shock to the back of his skull told him Felicie had grabbed him by his hair. She yanked him from his strange suicide, but did not bother to admire his devil red painted body.

"Why Sin? Why couldn't you leave it be?"
Sinclair silently met her gaze, letting his memory rush back to him. He remembered standing in some kind of tower, with a massive door. It was at least a half mile tall and behind it were supposed to be terrible things. Terrible things and an answer.

"There was no monster behind it. The only monster here is you. It's just us now. Is that what you wanted?" Felicie finally let his hair go and he dropped to his knees. Her arm had become sore, and striking him was doing no good at this point.

"Fix it!" Felicie ordered. Sinclair still did not respond. Felicie roundhoused Sinclair, admiring the splash as he rolled a couple of feet. "Fix it all Sin!"

Sinclair struggled to his hands and knees, coughing up blood and a few teeth. A sickening pain ignited between his legs. Once, then twice, and three times as Felicie planted her toes against his genitals over and over. Her fourth kick never landed, for a massive claw climbed from the blood and snatched her up, raising her into the air. Sinclair was facing her, hand raised, fist clenched as if it were his hand crushing her.

"I did not come this far to walk away from my goal for them!" Sinclair barked. "Not Rare, not Poppy, Penelope, nor Valiant, Liz, Falren, none of them!"
Sinclair had come so far. Too far, and what he sought was behind the door he had opened. No one was meant to die, but them having a risk of dying did not mean he should have given in.

"But you killed them! Not what was behind the door Sin!" Felicie called from above him. His fist clenched and she groaned as her insides were crushed under the pressure. Sinclair did not let her speak again, he clenched so hard her innard poured out of her mouth, as blood shot from her orifices and her eyes popped out, dangling by their retina.
He sighed and let her go. Felicie looked like an overly squeezed tube of toothpaste as she hit the blood ocean again. Sinclair sighed and pressed his palm to his own skull. Everything was gone.

"You still didn't get what you wanted." Felicie was up again, looking down at Sinclair with pity and fury. Most intense was her sorrow.
"It will always just be us Sinclair. You have to accept that." Felicie said. "I have." She reached into her jacket and pulled out a wallet. From inside she pulled two scraps of paper she chucked at Sinclair without much effort. They landed atop the blood, floating for a few seconds. It was the same photo, torn in two. To one side was Felicie, smiling eagerly. To the other was Bear. They were torn apart where the photo split.

"I can't start again." Sinclair said. Felicie sighed and took a knee before him. Her fingers gently trailed his cheek, forcing him to look at her when she raised his chin.
"You're right. Like usual, we'll just continue." Felicie smiled and leaned in, putting her arms around him, she guided him to rest his face against her breast. Felicie remembered holding a young Elli like this.

"Feel better?"
"No." Sinclair said honestly. Felicie smirked and closed her eyes.
"Good."

Children of Sin

"I didn't call you all those years ago and tell you that you had a family that needed you, children that needed you, FOR THIS!" Elizabeth pointed out at the open space beyond them. Literally, open outer space beyond a translucent shield which kept them all from being sucked into the vacuum. Upon the craft which held them, a giant beast with more limbs than could count, and eyes which witnessed every direction while it's slimy pulsing glistened in the sun while it produced enough heat to warm a planet around them, clung to their craft. It was not the problem. Elizabeth's golden gaze, burning into Sinclair like two fresh stars told him that he was the problem.

"Penelope needs you. Valiant needs you. Penny is losing it out there and you know Valiant will die to protect her. Those are your children Sinclair. BOTH of them!" Elizabeth gazed out into the beyond and clutched Sinclair's face, pinching his cheeks forward as she guided him to look beyond. Within the span of fifteen seconds they witnessed ten stars suddenly blink out and three explosions big enough to possibly be big bangs go off in the horizons.

"Penny will suffer Elli's fate, and Valiant will go with her. I will only ask you this once. Will you be the firstborn Sinner, and see what Penny is capable of, or will you be their father, Sinclair?"
Elizabeth looked at him with such power, he almost believed she was a firstborn reincarnate. Somehow, he felt if he did not do as she wished, as she hoped; Elizabeth herself would bring down a wrath worse than the entire Council, Unifiers, and Nargul Horde, put together. Sinclair looked out at the vast openness where galaxies were being born and shattered too fast to be of itself.

Penelope and Valiant were out there, waiting for him. Caught up in something they weren't prepared for. Elli hadn't been prepared either, and Sinclair had not been there to help him along. Meanwhile, he had put so much time and effort into raising these two children. They loved one another, protecting each others in ways beyond the physical. They loved him, clung to him, much like Rare. Much like Poppy had learned to, eventually. Sinclair, for all he wished to assume himself a creature that loved everything, there were things he loved more than others. Whatever the circumstances, a demon, a cat, and his children had wormed their ways up to the forefront of his heart.

"Go to our place and wait for me Elizabeth. Put out pure cream mixed with a cocoa for Penny. For Valiant…"
"Hot earl grey tea with rose petals and a third of a cup of black coffee. She's technically my niece."

For the first time Sinclair and Elizabeth shared a smile. It was not meant to be a gesture of affection, but a moment solidifying that they understood. They were in this together.
"Perhaps it is time I give up trying to regain what was lost. I should avoid losing what I've gained."
A small snort escaped Elizabeth before she turned away. "Leave heroic lines to Falren."
She began to walk away, activating a path that would walk her through several voids just in case someone followed, before she dropped off at "home."
Elizabeth stopped before she entered. "But as far as fatherly lines go. That's a good one." Elizabeth vanished, and for the first time knew she not only had to, but that she could entirely trust Sinclair to do exactly what everyone else needed him to do.

Sinclair gazed into the void, ignoring the iridescent tendrils which blocked part of his view. Out there were two souls who truly loved him, and no doubt wished nothing more than to have their father kiss away their hurt.

Soon, everyone would know why you did not harm the Children of Sin.

Birth by Death Pt.1

"Daddy, you can't-!" Penny's little hands clung to his pants, tugging on them with a force more powerful than a giant's grip.
"Need." Valiant said as she took his other pant leg and looked up at him with those big eyes the color of burnt stone. Penny's were a rich golden hue. Both his girls, his sweet loving daughters.

"Sin. It's too late." Valiant's mother's voice was soft, and sweet like cream. It had been a long time since her incarnation that could not speak. A long time since he had given her a second chance. Her hair was short now, and but her horns were on full display. Beside her, another woman who still somehow looked like a tight younger version of Elizabeth gave him a reassuring smile.

"Poppy, Rare. I have to." Sinclair said as he crouched down and placed a hand on the heads of his daughters. Elizabeth stood behind Rare and Poppy with Falren at her side. This was their last safe haven. Of all the universe, this was the only place left. It had started with losing the council. The Unifiers had tried to take on this threat and had been wiped out. Gamelon had been destroyed in a surprisingly heroic effort. Once more, it was all because of this man. Beyond this place they saw only only a single beacon of light surrounded by pure darkness. The universes, all of them were being consumed in one moment.

"We're yer wives and them little spriggs is yer kids! Ya can't just go off and die!" Poppy may not have been the fondest of him at first. Elli was lost because of him, but in time, she had seen that Elli was a part of him, a part of him she had grown fond of. If Elli could exist, surely Sinclair was not so terrible. He had proven to be a good father, at least until their latest disaster.

"If I don't go, they will take you all too." Sinclair said.
"What?" Elizabeth was no longer going to sit quiet. She had decided to let her daughters handle this, but this news was new to her.
"They said they would leave us, the girls at least damn it. Why must…"

"All of you, everything left behind by the firstborn must be taken for their goal to be accomplished." Sinclair could see the hope leave the eyes of his family. Penelope and Valiant clung to him even harder, beginning to tremble.

"But… then we can protect you!?" Penelope said, puffing up her chest and putting her hands on her hips. Valiant saw this and imitated her older sister, nodding to reaffirm this. Though she puffed her cheeks, holding her breath until she turned red.

"Sin. Why are you doing this? This is what you always wanted. The firstborn… they'll be-" Rare was clutching herself, uncertain she wanted to tell Sinclair that it was okay for them all to die. She loved her daughter. Both of them. She didn't want to see them vanish. Sinclair sighed and scooped up his daughters, giving each of them a kiss.

"Sin's a good dad. And husband." Felicie said. She was immortal, so much so even the firstborn could not kill her, not permanently. Still, she didn't want to see this world wiped away. She'd already lost Bear to them. They'd lost a lot to those bastard already. Sinclair didn't acknowledge Felicie's words, instead, he looked at both his daughters, then his wives.

"It was the one thing I could never understand about the firstborn. We could make life, universes, even… souls. They gave a part of themselves to make new life and watch it flourish, and I never had. Not until now." Sinclair said.

It was true. He had always explored what his siblings had created. He had never gone out and made anything of his own. So he had torn them apart. Now, because of him, they were back, exactly what he had wanted. Well, almost. They had to do one more thing to gain their full essence. The one thing Sinclair could not let them do.

"Wait for me." Sinclair said and set the girls down. Poppy couldn't stand to just watch him run off and die. She darted for him, throwing her arms around him and the girls, pulling him into a firm kiss. "Come back for us!"

"Sin!" Rare called. Her arms had unfolded, and instead she clenched her fists at her side. "Don't disappoint us. ANY, of us." Rare said, unsure what else she could say. Sinclair smirked and stood up before he turned and looked to the edge of the little haven he had created for them. It was time to say hello to his siblings.

[/fieldbox]

 

[VeilofRain]

[fieldbox="Birth by Death Pt.2., lightblue, solid"]

Spoiler

CH.2.

"So, you've come."
"Abigail." Sinclair greeted his oldest friend. She took on the form of a woman with hair so long it flowed like tendrils of some grand beast. Her gaze was crimson.

"It's time Sinclair, give us the last of it." Abigail's command was met with silence. Sinclair looked around at all the firstborn. A thousand of them. All of them bound to the bodies of species and creatures Sinclair had taken up over his lifetime.

"Sinclair. Give them to us. We can do nothing with the immortal but the rest. We need every piece left." Abigail began to hover towards him. Their only light in this darkness was a sphere they maintained as a source. In truth, it was another system, much like the cradle, except the cradle was a limiter, this would allow the Firstborn their true forms again. No longer would they be bound to these shapes.

"I'm sorry." Sinclair knew he couldn't do what he had promised. Looking upon his first family, he considered what had caused this. The moment he meant the host. The source for the council. He had touched her with a stream of his true power. As if he had uncaged some beast, the firstborn had erupted from her, consumed the council and then one by one began to consume all the other universe. They devoured the Unifiers, even the place Six had kept as her own little world away from worlds. They even ate the realms of death, destroy the rules, did things only Firstborn could do. Things no one, not even them should ever do. All that was left was the little home Sinclair kept for his family.

"Sin. We can make them again. You can have a new family, just like them." Abigail could read the distress in his gaze. She did not wish to fight him. No, she wanted Sinclair on her side. In the end, she did love him.
"It won't be them. Not even if you remake your own reincarnation system." Sinclair said. Abigail's lips parted to protest. Surely she could get through to him. The whispers of the others carried through the horde. However, Abigail did not speak up. No, she knew Sinclair. She knew of his conviction, his obsession, his endless love. If he chose them, there was nothing that she could do to change his mind.

"I'm sorry. We have to consume you then Sinclair. And them." Abigail's words were met with immediate reaction. An iridescent aura surrounded Sinclair. He stood calm as it burned around him, igniting like a star that even his family could see.
"You're going to fight us? Sin, dear, you should be making amends for what you've done to us. Not fighting your family."
"You are no longer my family." Sinclair through his head back and his power erupted. A wave which crashed through the hordes, destroying a little over one hundred of them. Their power did not vanish, or fade to the wind. Instead it was absorbed by the others, making them all a little stronger. This was what Sinclair had created. The sorrow and rage of his lost kin had festered inside the host that now that they were reborn, they were hungry monsters, worse than the Nargul. Well, that was one thing Sinclair could thank them for getting rid of.

"What was that!? You killed the weakest? Is that all you have?" Sinclair watched Abigail, but it was not her making the first move. He was surrounded by chunks of ice and earth. It enveloped him, until more and more grew and the Reborns hovered around a moon sized prison. Abigail smirked as she glided down onto it, tapping the floor with her foot.

"Apply pressure. Crush him. We are bound in these bodies as he is." Abigail smirked as the world began to tremble from compression. Sinclair would become nothing but pulp, hell, they would apply so much pressure he might rapidly become fossil fuel. At least, Abigail had hoped. The planted began to trickle, as if made of water, pulling into itself as if it were going to implode. The Reborns watched in awe as it all gathered in one place until it swirled like a drape torn from the rail. Sinclair stood there, a black hole in his hand.

"Sinclair!" Abigail barked. In the emptiness of cold space, no sounds would have existed, none of this would be possible if not for their very beings. "Good trick!" Abigail launched herself at him. Sinclair couldn't move fast enough. She moved at lightspeed, crashing into him with enough force that had he been anything but a firstborn he would have been vaporized. Other Reborns joined in, grabbing at his limbs as they carried him through vast nothingness. Several others arrived creating pointed machinations they launched at him. Sinclair clicked his tongue, and created more force, launching them with such speed he exceeded light. He broke the physics of reality and in the distance his real family would see the fabric of space time ripple from the cruel shift.

"Daddy." Val said. Penny put her arms around her little sister and looked on.
"He's so cool right." She chimed in.
"Girls, stay away from the window." Rare approached them, gazing up at the distant battle. Her eyes widened as she watched stars come into beings, and burn out. Streams of ice and light rippled and broke apart. Cosmos came into being and dyed in an instant.

"By the time we see those…" Elizabeth said. "From what I can assume, they have been fighting for a few thousand years. Feels like only a few minutes to us."
"Pretty fireworks though." Falren said as he sipped on some scotch.

[/fieldbox]

 

[VeilofRain]

[fieldbox="Birth by Death Pt.3., lightblue, solid"]

Spoiler

CH.3.

"Outta mah way!"
There wasn't much time to heed Ozy's words as she launched into the room carrying a massive contraption. It looked like a gatling-gun mixed with a rail gun, and she pointed up at the edge of their home where a Reborn shaped like a massive squid like entity was attached to the edges, it's tentacles had ripped into their home and it was trying to absorb them. To add them to the essence that the Reborn needed to become firstborn again.
The Reborn didn't have time to acknowledge the weapon either before Ozy hauled her aim towards it and pulled the trigger. Within the span of a second it lit up and a massive stream of energy shot towards the Reborn. It pierced their protective barrier and hit the creature dead on, sending it flying through the cosmos as it turned into particles.

"Aunti Ozy, you did it!" Penelope ran towards Ozy and hugged her leg. "We're okay!" Penelope turned to her family. Rare and Poppy were around Valiant. A sense of dread washed over Penelope and she hurried over to her sister. Valiant was tucked in her mother's arm, her demon arm at full flare. She was missing one of her legs up to mid-thigh.

"Oh no, Vali! What happened!? Nana! Vali is hurt!" Penelope was panicking. Her sister was hurt. Hell, she was missing a part of her body.

"Penelope, calm down." Rare said as she reached over and pulled the girl beside her. "Your sister sliced off some of that Reborn's limbs and it caught her. She was just being strong, like you."
"What? But. Imma protect her!" Penelope pulled away from Rare, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"I'll fix it. I'll make a leg!" Penelope glared at Valiant's missing limb. She tried to remember her sister's leg. Every little scar, the dimples in her knee. Penelope had EA like Sinclair, but she could only create. Create a means to fight the Reborns even, if only she was older, stronger. Valiant had the other side, cosmic destruction. She could hurt the Reborn by her own EA, but she lacked the ability to apply it as Sinclair.

"Penny." Poppy put her arms around her daughter and pulled her in. Penelope was trying to fix Valiant, she was trying with all her might but she couldn't concentrate. She couldn't think how to make a living leg. Sinclair studied with them all the time, but right now she just couldn't pull out a single damn thought.

"Only got so much in this thing." Ozy said as she walked towards them. Elizabeth arrived from the next room, Falren in tow.

"I tried sending a signal to Sinclair. I don't know when or if he'll get it." Elizabeth noticed Valiant, and she wanted to do something, but she couldn't. Not like this. They needed to keep their heads clear. "What is that Ozy?"

Ozy triumphantly tilted the barrel of the weapon upwards. A wicked grin cut her features.
"EA-blastin' piece uh beauty. Sin helped me make it fer just this sorta thing. Problem is, Sin ain't able t'make somethin' 'at can produce EA, so he jus' left some. Ah can git the one, mebbie a few more, but Ah won't have enough if th'rest find us. Blast's pretty bright."

Ozy's words took away any comfort Liz felt from them having a weapon against the Reborn. Taking out one had prolonged their life, but it just meant that more would probably be coming.

"Penny." Elizabeth snapped. "Can you make ammo for Ozy?"
"Ammuh?" Penelope wiped her eyes as she looked to her grandmother. "I dunno how." Her head fell, but Ozy grinned and crouched beside the girl.

"Listen, sprat. Yer sis tried really hard t'give me a chance to git this thing ready. She's hurt an' needs ya. Yer dad's a smart man. Ya don't need t'know how ta make it, just think real hard on puttin' that juice into my gun. Ah'll do the rest. Mmkay?"
Ozy's smile lingered as the girl's head filled with thoughts of what she could do. She looked back to Valiant who instead of crying was now trying to force herself to stand on one leg. She held her mother's hand as her demon arm radiated with power.

"I can do it." Penelope smiled up at Ozy.

They watched the sparks of combat for quite some time. It had been several hours for them before they spotted something getting close. Hope that it was Sinclair faded as massive creatures launched themselves at the barrier.

"Fuckin...! No matter how many Ah blow, they keep comin'!" Ozy cried out as she filled the air with blast after blast. Penelope was already getting dizzy trying to put her power into the weapon. She kept thinking of Valiant and how hard she was fighting.

Across the room a Reborn had jumped in. Lithe and tall, like a fae, Rare slashed at him with a blade Sin had made for them. He reminded her of Loki, and despite the memories that flooded her, she attacked with as much viciousness as she could. Valiant moved like an animal in a corner, as fluid as her mother she lunged and sliced clean through the Reborn with her EA infused demonic limb. Poppy was doing her best to keep Penelope awake, but no matter how many they terminated, more continued to arrive.

Penelope was the first to fall. Her energy had been exhausted with shot after shot.
"Penny!" Poppy cried and hugged her daughter to her chest. Ozy cursed as she checked her reserves.

"Tain't much left. Last ditch effort!" She tapped some buttons on it and set the weapon down. It changed shape, parts shifting and flipping until it looked like a small rocket.

"Keep 'em offa me!" Ozy shouted as several more willowy limbs like angry tree vines lashed at them. Ozy ducked by the machine as Rare and Valiant sliced through as many tentacles as they could. More and more continued to pour in, so much so that Valiant was caught by her other leg. She was being yanked towards the barrier as Rare tried to chase her.

"Enough!" Elizabeth cried out and threw her arms out. It was her last ditch effort as a powerful shield surged from her, pushing the Reborn which had entered back. The way protected them, though the Reborn bashed away at it, knowing it could not last long. "Sin showed me a trick too but… we don't have a lot of time. Ozy, finish what you're doing then join us. Rare, we'll need your help."

Elizabeth gathered everyone as Ozy activated her machine. After another couple of minutes she armed and launched it. It erupted with the last of the power, blowing away the nearby Reborn. Those that escaped were already returning. They all gathered as Rare cut open her own arm. Elizabeth nodded and every dipped their fingers into the blood.
Rare smiled as her daughters dipped their hands in her blood together. She wanted them to have happy full lives. She knew loving Sin would put them at risk of never having this, but at the same time, of anyone she was forced to have the most faith. He was strange, confusing, but in the end he had only done what he thought was best for those he cared about. He gave her a second chance when she had gone to kill him. She had witnessed many things from the man, though she had never seen him cry, she had seen him love her. Love their daughters. Maybe it wasn't the same as she had with Brock, but it was deeper. Rare looked to her own arm and dipped her fingers inside.

[/fieldbox]

 

[VeilofRain]

[fieldbox="Birth by Death Pt.4., lightblue, solid"]

Spoiler

Ch.4.

"Love, don't go gettin' old on me. Make the new place worth exploring."

"Obnoxious fool."

"Very grateful(and impressed) you chose to be a father."

"Even I learned to love a man as wild as a flopping crocodile."

"Daddy. We miss you. Miss us okay!"

Sinclair stood in the empty home where his family had been kept as a haven. It looked pristine, as if no one had lived here. Well, almost. Written on the floor in blood were the last words of his family. Sinclair had promised to protect them, to defeat the Reborn, to take back this universe.

"I figured I would let you read their final sentiments." Abigail stood at the edge of the haven, arms crossed. She was a bit worn from fighting Sinclair, but with the power of the Reborn spreading through those that remained she proved to be more of a task than Sinclair had anticipated. Every one his family had killed had prolonged their lives a little longer, but only strengthened his enemies. Sinclair made his way deeper in trying to find one that was missing. He more or less could tell who was who by the handwriting and sentence left behind, but Rare's was missing.

"I'll give you a few moments. Then, we must begin the rebirth." Abigail said, and hovered up and out of the haven. This would need to be consumed as well, but she would allow Sinclair his chance to have his closure. Sinclair walked carefully around each line, he crouched by the one from his daughters and traced the words with his fingers. An ache filled his chest, the likes of which he had never known. Sinclair thought it was loneliness, but it wasn't that. It was something new. It was loss. He had never really known loss before, always believing he could have back what he wanted.

His gaze rose to the corner where Felicie stood - sort of. She was bound in some kind of casing the Reborn had made. It didn't allow her to so much as move her eyes. She wasn't dead, but unable to move, she may as well have been. A prison with only her thoughts. Sinclair actually cringed at the idea of. Still, he knew Rare would leave him a message. She had to. Slowly, he strolled through the home. He came upon a family photo by the coast where Falren liked to fish. They had all eventually gone there. It was where Liz and Falren had reunited. Sinclair sighed and opened the frame, only to fold the photo and tuck it into his shirt pocket.

He went to the kitchen. Inside the fridge were various meats, and fruits. He grabbed a box of juice and freed the straw from the wrapper before plunging it into the box. It was apple juice. Sinclair took note of everything in the home. Nothing looked out of place. Everything appeared in perfect order, from photos to the toys for the girls. The only change were the messages on the floor. Sinclair sucked on the straw until the box shriveled and slurped. With a sigh he tossed it towards the blood messages. Sinclair noticed a strange flicker. His brows furrowed as he approached. Rare's blood was used to write the message. Rare's blood knew magic. Sinclair kicked the box aside and looked at all the notes.

Something stuck out to him. There was magic, but only in a few of the letters.Sinclair squinted as hard as he could, trying to decipher the code. Rare must have left him a code if she wrote nothing else. The seconds turned into minutes before his lips parted and a single whisper escaped him.

"L.O.V.E.D. Loved." The first letter of each line came to spell a word. Loved. Sinclair was loved. The blood came to life then, shifting and changing. First it moved to a scene where Sin stood in some kind of box and a girl emerged. A girl with horns. Rare. Sinclair couldn't help as a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
The images continued to play, various stick figures, quickly put together showing their victory over Cork City. Sinclair watched as they met Ozy, and something hit the floor. It shimmered wet, and made the dark rustic red brown of the blood creep into an orange. Sinclair watched the scenes, confused at first by this change. Then he felt it, warm and slow on his cheeks. Tears. Tears were falling. Sinclair wiped at them as if bugs crawled on his face, but he stopped to watch the rest of the scenes.

Their adventures played out, and eventually his daughters were born. Before Sinclair knew it, his lip was trembling and his vision blurred. It felt as if something reached into his chest and was pulling his ribcage open. His heart must have been on fire. His body shook with seizure like tremors. Sinclair tried to speak, but only a hoarse shrill noise came out.

"Sinclair, what is it!?" Abigail landed behind him. He was heaving, and wiping viciously at his face. "Was it a trap!?" Abigail spun him by the shoulder and jerked back. Sinclair's face was red, his eyes swollen, snot dripped from his nose as he let out a wail of such sorrow she was not sure she had ever felt, or wanted to feel it again.

"What is this? What's wrong?" Abigail had never seen someone cry. Especially not a firstborn. She shook him, but Sinclair just pushed her off, flopping to the ground, slamming his fist against it.

"Are you…" Abigail had to consider it. She had seen this before. Especially among those last to be consumed. "Are you crying?" Abigail asked. She sighed and moved towards him.

Abigail dropped to her knees and wrapped him in her embrace. She felt his arms latch onto her as his sobs broke into full childish bawling. She cooed and stroked his hair. "It's alright. We can make them all again. You'll see."

Suddenly, a light poured behind Sinclair. He turned, as the blood formed together and spread. In varying shades of red there was a moving image that looked like a portrait. Inside his family smiled at him. Rare, Ozy, Falren, Elizabeth, Poppy, Penny, Val, even Felicie.

"You are loved Sinclair. Don't forget that." Rare's voice poured from the image. Words from a girl who had once been unable to speak. "Now…" There was more.

"Close your eyes." Elizabeth said.
"Precious one." Ozy.
"And you will see." Falren.
"Your life has only just begun!" His daughters cheered together before a ghost of their giggle reached him.
"Never more be afraid!" Poppy shouted.
"We embrace you my love." Rare finished.

Sinclair's eyes widened, and suddenly he felt a pain in his left arm. His heart did not just ache, his hurt. Sinclair cried out, arching his head back as he clutched at his chest. Abigail watched helpless as Sinclair's body began to spit up ashes. Little flecks of his life falling into the air.


"Sinclair. What is this?" Abigail was angry this time. She had enough of this confusion. "Reborn, come." Her command beckoned several of them, hovering in a ring around the haven.
"He is becoming unstable. Help me." Abigail and the others imposed their forced upon Sinclair, trying to keep him intact.

Abigail could see the flecks were not just skin, but his actual essence. Hair fell away, chunks of him with no blood like dust in the wind. Their power slowed the process, but Sinclair wasn't moving. Abigail had never seen him cry. She was sure no one had. But here he was, falling apart. Their power slowed it, and eventually it halted altogether.

"We've done it. Now… Sinclair. It seems it would be best to put you in-"

"YAAAAAAH!" A shriek ripped through the ring of Reborn. Abigail jerked with a start and glared at whoever it was. One of them, shaped like a strange water creature trembled as he began to fleck away as well. Then another. They were all coming apart.

"What is- Sin!?" Abigail looked to Sinclair. He had to be the one doing this. Angrily she kicked at him. She felt contact, but it was not solid. Her foot burst through him as if he had been made of nothing more than a pile of ashes. Terror caused her to quickly beat the remnants off of herself.

Abigail had no time to question it as something soared overhead. It was massive, and took a shape she had never seen. Abigail watched it soar, going beyond them. It took but a moment to realize its path.

"It's going towards the catalyst! Everyone, stop him!" Abigail sent out the alarm before taking off herself.

[/fieldbox]

 

[VeilofRain]

[fieldbox="Birth by Death Pt.5., lightblue, solid"]

Spoiler

Ch.5.

Ch.5

The creature that soared through the blackness of the heavens was unlike anything she had seen. In a way, it bore Sin's face, with a beard forged as smooth and hard as bone as if it had a massive jutting jaw. Strange horns protruded from its brows and its strangely shaped head which was held up by a pair of muscular human like arms colored a glistening silver. The body was some kind of strange bug like exoskeleton with a fleshy phallus appendage with a hooked end. Around it were two long legs, with sharp hoof like feet with hard spiked heels like that of a stiletto shoe. This strange thing even had two pairs of wings, looking to be forged of scale like feathers. It was a strange mishmash of limbs and flesh of varying make-ups that Abigail wasn't sure what to call it.

Not that it mattered. So far countless Reborn had thrown themselves at it, only to be instantly consumed. They were nothing more than bugs on a windshield. Abigail had no idea how to stop it. Every attack, physical, magical, energy based, it didn't matter what it was. The creature born of Sinclair was untouchable. Abigail couldn't even feel her allies coming into her anymore, they were being stolen, so she had but one choice. She had to activate the catalyst, to create a new existence and wipe Sinclair away.

Abigail hovered before it, keeping the thing in her hand. It looked like a small star the colors of a flaring nebula. Inside it was everything needed to create their new world. A world Abigail had intended to make with her family. One she had wanted. The chance that had been stolen from them by the monster that was coming for her.
"I am sorry my family." She closed her hands over the catalyst and drew it towards her. It felt as if she were being filled like a balloon. Abigail feared she would pop, but she had to draw it into her so that she could unleash it in the fashion they desired.

Abigail focused as hard as she could, but it was too late. No amount of focus would let her achieve her goal before Sinclair arrived. She turned in time to see the figure which dwarfed her coming right for her. Against her better instincts she closed her eyes and tensed. The crash never came. There was no impact or painful death. In fact, Abigail felt nothing. Slowly, her eyes fluttered open. The blackness was gone. Replaced by a void of pure white. Abigail felt something at her feet, but it was neither cold, nor hot. It wasn't warm either. The feeling was strange. She looked down to see the 'ground' gently rippling beneath her bare feet. When she looked up she saw him. Sinclair stood across from her. He was dressed in his simply shirt, and pants.

"Sinclair. What is this?"
"The catalyst. At least, the moment before it goes off." Sinclair stepped towards Abigail. Instinct drove her to take a step back. His gaze didn't falter.

"Sinclair, why are you doing this?" Abigail asked. His face gave no indication, but she knew what it was. She had never seen him cry before, but something in that room had done it. Those powerful words left by his family. He was still coming towards her.

"Sinclair, I did what I had to do. You were going native. They needed to be wi-" Before she could finish Sinclair's fist slammed right into her face. Abigail hadn't expected a physical blow from him, but she felt it. It rattled her being as blood spurt from her nose and she went tumbling back. Abigail was thrown with such force she bounced on the rippling white of the ground until she eventually slammed into something which stopped her. Abigail rolled onto her back and looked up to see Sinclair was the one she had run into.

"Why?" Abigail asked. Sinclair grabbed her by her arms and lifted her to stand with him.

"You took my family." Sinclair said as if it were a simple thing. He did not sound vengeful, or enraged, but she knew he had to be. He persisted in being the worst at displaying emotions.

"You took OUR family!" Abigail broke free of him and slammed her fist into his face. Then again, and again. Abigail smacked every part of him she could. His blood spurted into the air, landing on the floor and fading as she struck him again and again. Twenty three strikes later his hand caught hers. His arm trembled where he held her.

"Are our lives not equal? Is that not your creed! Why can't we get a chance to live when you took it away!" Abigail had tears running down her cheeks now. She saw it then, sincere remorse from Sinclair. A sorrow filled his eyes and he pulled her towards him. Abigail let herself fall into his embrace. Enemies or no, he had been her best friend since the beginning of time. Her love. The one she had thought could do anything. Sadly, he didn't seem to be able to let his own kin co-exist in this world. Even if it had been her kind which had led the assault, she had promised him a return to his loved ones.

"You are equal. Every life matters.But… yours does not matter to me as much as theirs." Sinclair's hand entered her back. Abigail grunted and arched, her body going painfully rigid.
"I'm sorry, I know this isn't fair. After all this time of trying to save you. I can't sacrifice what I gained. But… you won't be alone." With one arm around her waist, he arched Abigail as he looked into her eyes. Sinclair closed his eyes, and let out a breath. In an instant his ears were filled with sounds. His body was on fire, torn apart, and perfect all at once. So many sensations rippled through him he could barely stand.

Then came the cool droplets. Sinclair stood alone atop a cliff. Below he could see the world, and above he could see the universe. The rain soaked into him, cool against his hot skin. It seemed small to those unable to fathom what he had done. You needed to feel it. Inside Abigail was not just the catalyst, but all the pieces of the existence he had come from. It was a major event, but no one would know what had happened. Well, almost no one. A loud giggling alerted Sinclair to a wondrous sound. He turned to see Penny and Valiant running towards the cliff. Poppy, Rare, Elizabeth, Falren, and Bio were all behind them.

The two girls giggled and rushed towards him. Sinclair smiled and crouched down with arms stretched wide for them. His daughters were so beautiful. He was eager to hold them. They crashed into him, and went right through. Sinclair didn't look surprised, no, he just remained in that position as he heard his girls eagerly shouting to their mothers about the beautiful view.

"Girls, we need to find cover. I can't have you getting colds." Elizabeth, always worrying. She would take care of the girls.
"Mom, let 'em have fun. They been through 'ell right! Bout time they had some fun!" Poppy chastised her mother and hurried after the girls, eager to play along. Sinclair felt her pass through as well. Then came Elizabeth and Falren. Even Bio didn't seem to notice him. Her special eyes would not see something that wasn't there. Sinclair sighed and stood up, watching all of them. His family, the real them, alive and happy. Though it had cost him his kin. It had cost him everything. It was about time though.

One more, he felt Rare pass through him. She took a few steps and paused, then turned and looked right at him. Sinclair's gaze softened as he watched her. Rare blinked several times before shaking the feeling off as if she had just imagined it. Rare turned from him and joined the others. Sinclair watched them, smiling, happy, even as he felt pieces of him giving way. The catalyst had needed something to ignite it. The reborn were not enough. He had at least ensured these last few moments. Sinclair's lips parted for one last promise.

"You will always be loved."

[/fieldbox]

 

[VeilofRain]

Continued from Moody'sEnd of an Empire
[fieldbox="Sinclair Watches"]

Spoiler

Sinclair watched the world come unraveled. He sighed as he watched the chaos of everyone coming apart. Of everything coming apart, due to one fool. A crystalline creature, sorrow, spirits, and all those who were lost thanks to an account Sinclair would never had condoned if he had actually been there. He could do nothing though, and would instead watch as 'existence' as it were, cease. At least it should have. It sort of restarted, and Sinclair paused what he saw to examine the firstborn. The life that played out as they were taken apart by him. The him there. Sinclair, though he could have stopped everything then and there, decided to grasp at the firstborn, including himself and took them into himself as he had. Ripping them apart, examining them, and failing all over to find an answer before the world progressed.
Sinclair never liked the cycle, of course, he was apart from it. He considered the Pleiades, who once more expanded as suddenly as the universe. It was strange watching everything from here. From this… place. Throne. Whatever it was called when the Firstborn were forced to sit apart from the rest of everything. It was sad, how everything just seemed to fall apart. Sinclair tended to obliterate, but in the place of the lost he tended to leave a chance for new. This though, this was mindless. Pointless.

"So… this too?" A familiar voice said from behind him. Sinclair felt arms wrap around him as lips pressed to his neck. At least, whatever form of physicality they manifested in this boundary place. Sinclair didn't need to look up as Felicie pressed her bare, half ethereal, half physical form against his back.
"Yes. The elixir made you apart as well." Sinclair confessed. He hadn't known Felicie would be so absolutely taken from the cycle, from existence, but she was the only one here with him. Felicie frowned as she watched everything happening as well. Though she lacked the same grasp on it as Sinclair had.

"They all died then… will these souls be the same?" Felicie's concern wasn't surprising. Jumping to meet the others, but have them not be quite the same would be unpleasant. At least for her. Sinclair wasn't sure how he felt about it. Since he had felt the end coming, there had been a tightness in his chest. In the end, everyone had been lost, every last one. Sinclair was reminded that most did not deserve power. They could not wield it correctly. They were children, fools, in the end, weaklings. Sinclair at least moved with purpose, and now, he was staring at the dead form of the last keeper of his gift. Beryl, the holder of the multiverse.

"Man… I can't believe Liz slept with that guy." Felicie scowled. Though, memories of how Bear had looked at her when he realized she had not only slept with Sin again, but left for him, summoned an empathy which made it easy to forgive Elizabeth. Well hated the thought, but Bear had always been meant to be temporary. Elizabeth had invited Falren into her life, pulled him in, then hurt him. He was human, and humans, some anyway, were clingy, loving creatures. Adaptive, but they wanted comfort.
They wanted solidarity in their heart. Felicie buried her face in Sinclair's neck and clung to him. It was horrifying watching the history of everything playing out all over again. His children, his two daughters, they had not made it to this place either, and watching them have to come around again was heartbreaking. Would they be his?

"This," Sinclair began, "is not a true rebirth. It is a replay in the time cycle." Sinclair gazed at Elizabeth, near the quivering young man. A woman had died, Beryl. Sinclair had thought she might have been the one to end him when he had sacrificed himself to save everything from the Narguls.

Sinclair stared down at the Tyrog, and the little creature which may have very well been the new Beryl. He considered her, then Beryl. The portal the little girl stared through connected to… something. Sinclair reached out, imposing himself into it in threads, expanding.

"What's up?" Felicie asked. Sinclair looked back at her. "Are you… fixing it?"


"No." Sinclair said. "There is nothing to fix. They... " Sinclair wouldn't call it failure. It wasn't really rebirth. He couldn't even say if the souls were all the same. For all he knew, it was like someone had created an excellent replica, but it wouldn't be the same. Sinclair paused, and withdrew himself, unsure.

"So… what do we do?" Felicie asked. They hadn't invested themselves in the lives of the others in some time. In the end, it had cost the multiverse. Perhaps Sinclair wasn't such a bad thing. She gazed at him, considering how many times he had nearly cost everything, but he always seemed in control. Cork City. The synthesizer, somehow, he always seemed to have an intent, and everyone fell for it. If Sinclair tried to wipe out everything, really tried, she wondered what the result would be.

Sinclair contemplated everything before him. Everything going right back to this spot, this place where everything had fallen apart seemed so… not right. Lives were not meant to be so carelessly toyed with. He scratched his beard, and considered it. He considered destroying it. Bringing back Beryl, reaching through to change everything. To give them chances to alter their paths. It was a shame to be forced down the same path.

"We're going right?" Felicie muttered.

Sinclair nodded, though he wasn't sure what they were going to.

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