M O O N L I G H T [SLAUGHTER]

[Echo Faust]

The other's sudden realization of what Echo truly is brought our ghastly girl to a halt just about an inch away from the other's face, her body pulling back and floating in the air just a foot or so in front of the other female. The laughing, the belittling, it is almost as if all the fear that the other had for Echo simply vanished out the window! The look on Echo's face is a placid and empty one, a confused tilt of her head is given as she studies the other. She didn't honestly believe that Echo couldn't really harm her, did she? Oh well, her funeral.

Suddenly, underneath the other's feet, the grass she is standing on suddenly becomes set ablaze. The fire quickly spread around all the greenery on the floor, crawling up the nearby trees; before the other would know it, the entire area had been lit ablaze, enclosing the two of them within a ball of fire. Echo sure didn't mind the heat, but she is positive Augusta wouldn't be so indifferent about it. Echo only hopes that the other would be too distracted by the imagery of this catastrophe and the overwhelming heat sensation lapping at her skin for her to realize it is all but an illusion!

[Slaughter]

Slaughter didn't move an inch as the sudden flames engulfed and encircled the two women. She didn't believe in ghosts up until now, and even then, she doubted their ability to interact in a world in which they were no longer a part of.

Without hesitation, Slaughter took a step back until she could see the flames lapping at her legs and eventually spreading all across her body. Just as she thought, however, she could feel nothing.

"Well, it appears we have a stalemate." There was nothing this girl could do that would cause her harm, no illusion or trickery that would do anything more than startle her. It appeared she didn't have much of a grasp on her own fighting abilities, much like Slaughter herself. There was no way Slaughter could hurt this transparent creature either, at least not until she got a better handle on her non-human powers. "We're not going to get anywhere by bickering like this, so just give it a rest. I've got to get out of this forest, are you familiar with the terrain?" she asked, making motions to put her sword back in its sheath.

[Echo Faust]

The disgusted look on Echo's face is something else, oh how displeased she is with the results of this outcome! If only she really could grasp a hold of this (lack of a) body and understand how to manipulate it's seemingly impossible existence to do seemingly impossible things! Oh well, maybe one day soon; for now, the flames vanish as quickly as they were conjured up.

With a heavy sigh and a lazy arm that raises itself up to point in a direction, her head slowly swoons in that direction before falling limp. "This way..." she mutters in a bitter taste, much like the defeat she feels! Poor Echo, she will never seem to be good at this sort of thing as far as she can tell! Being dead is really the pits!!!

[Slaughter]

Alittle smirk spread across Slaughter's face, however with the shadows cast on her countenance by the darkness of the night it came off as something just a tad more sinister. There was nothing like the sweet taste of getting what you wanted, or perhaps that was just an addiction only children felt as a result of habituation.

"So what is it that you're still doing here?" the girl asked as she began to follow, making no efforts to conceal the fact that she was indeed prying. She was especially curious as to how the girl died, but even Slaughter had enough tact to refrain from that one.

Slaughter scanned her surroundings as she waited for the other girl to respond, and wondered just how long it was until the two of them would be out of the forest. She had absolutely no clue if it would take hours or perhaps even days! She shuddered at the thought. The grim realization also set in that this girl could just be trying to trick her once more out of spite, and perhaps she was planning on depositing her somewhere deeper in the forest to make her even more lost! But there wasn't much Slaughter could do, she would just have to trust her.

[Echo Faust]

Echo didn't respond to the other's question at first, she simply floats forward as she leads the other wherever it is she decides to take them. Not even bothering to maneuver around trees, and simply phasing through them, her upper body is lurched forward as she lazily continues onward against her own will! She couldn't help herself, she just didn't feel well at all; not to mention that something inside of her felt as if it were going to rip through her existence and tear her from this life for good! A scary thought that is, one Echo immediately tries to forget!

Her hands hang limp at her sides as her form floats forward, rotating around an invisible axis as she is seemingly pulled forward by an invisible rope. "Nothing," she replies in a dreary manner, "enjoying the wonderful sights and the like" she adds with a blatant course of sarcasm.

[Slaughter]

"You're boring," Slaughter said simply as she continued to follow the purple haired apparition. She was tempted for just a second to ask, 'Are we there yet???', but refrained from this as well. She shrugged her shoulders and didn't open her mouth again, figuring all she would get out of the girl would be some sarcastic remark or something along those lines. Funny how words always seemed to get in the way and do more harm than good at times. That did not, however, keep her from continuing to wonder. She wondered about the girl and what she was doing here and if she was sad, but mostly she just kept wondering what had caused her demise.

Her concentration was easily broken by all the little squeaks and crunching of leaves and twigs and other minor noise she heard in the backdrop of the forest. She just wanted to be out of here, she just wanted to find whatever it is that she was looking for and feel some inkling of stability in her life again. It would of course help if she knew what that was first . . .

[Echo Faust]

It would seem as if they were endlessly traversing through this forest, as if there were simply no way out of it at this rate; it isn't the easiest thing in the world to be patient or sane when you're trapped in something endless, Echo knows this all too well. She herself, of course, could simply be out of here within a blink of an eye but she didn't want to leave the other female behind. Who could say for sure why? Perhaps it is so the other could live to see another day, so that Echo could get her revenge in due time!

Finally, almost at the end of time, they found their way to the border of the forest. The sights of open field and small villages in the distance could be seen in the trees; the moonlight shined brightly here, free of the occlusion of the overhanging trees. It would appear that Echo truly did keep her word, that she really did show the other female the way out!

[Slaughter]

"oh muh gawd," Slaughter mumbled breathlessly. It was as if she had just been relieved of a huge weight on her shoulders; she felt free in every sense of the word. She had made it! She could finally continue her journey to the grand town her father had told her so many tales about. Each time a new hurdle was overcome, Slaughter felt as if she were being regenerated into an entirely new person. All the bad feelings dissipated and she swelled with hope on the inside. She didn't know what she was looking for, but she wasn't useless, she wasn't lost, and she would find it no matter what. However, one question remained . . .

"Are you going to stay? " What she really wanted to ask was, 'Why did you help me?' and 'Did I deserve it?'. She tried to bury those thoughts in the back of her mind, knowing that kind of self-doubt would only hinder her ability to push forward. She looked over at the exit of the forest via her peripheral vision, unmistakable by it thinning of trees which eventually gave way to what looked like large patches of clear grass. Her heart felt as if it were bouncing inside of her chest; she just wanted to bound right out of the forest and into the arms of what was surely to be her destiny!

[Echo Faust]

Slowly her speed decreases until she stops just a few feet in front of the female - just before the end of the forest itself. Her form untangles and sets itself down on the ground, her toes first meeting the floor before the rest of her foot forms to it. With her head tilted to the side, she runs a hand through her hair before a sigh passes her lips. Her finger twirls within those purple locks of hair, one eye shut tight behind its lid as her feet adjust themselves in place.

The other's question took her off guard, she could almost feel as if the other cared about her to some extent. It felt weird, very weird, but she wouldn't make any mention of that or what it is that she is feeling. "Does it matter?" she asks in a dry voice, a hopeless voice, as if it really didn't matter in the end if she left this forest or if she remained here eternally.

[Slaughter]

"Well, it's just . . . If you have nowhere else to go, you can come with me." Slaughter didn't know why it was she was inviting the girl to come along, her offer would most likely just be shot down on the spot. She didn't understand where this sudden tidal wave of empathy was coming from. Most likely it came from a place deep within Slaughter herself. She knew what it was like to wander what felt like endlessly now, and it wasn't something she particularly enjoyed. This girl seemed trapped in her own right, maybe she didn't know what bound her to this world at all, maybe Slaughter really was just making assumptions based off of nothing.

It surely would be nice to have a companion on this long road to seemingly nowhere! Slaughter felt a tinge of red surfacing on her cheeks as her mind began to get ahead of itself. She entertained thoughts of the two girls helping each other, healing each other. The girl could help Slaughter find her end destination, and Slaughter might be able to help her find peace at last. They were silly thoughts, and most probably nothing more than the desperate affections gone wild of one who has not had a real friend in a very long time.

[Echo Faust]

Did Augusta really just invite Echo to go along side her on whatever quest it is that she is on? Echo wasn't sure if she had heard the other right at first, she wasn't sure if it was her own disillusioned mind playing tricks on her or if the other had really been so kind as to invite her onward with the other by her side. It didn't matter, in Echo's head she had already made the decision!

Before Augusta would be able to think twice as to why Echo is so close in front of her, the purple-haired apparition 'grabs' hold of the other female's shoulders with a twisted grin pasted on her face once more. Her lips part, and mouth something off, but it isn't clear underneath the darkness of her hair and the night sky. Then, soon enough, she moves forward into Augusta like smoke; she doesn't appear behind her, out the other side.

Nothing but silence remains, no sound, no existence; Augusta wouldn't know the difference if Echo had done something to her or if she simply vanished without a trace! Echo's evanescence could possibly hold some ground, and perhaps the other would think for simply just a moment that Echo is all around her, but that could just be her own mind playing tricks on her; it could be her body trying to tell her that Echo's inside of her. Regardless, now, Echo is gone from Augusta's sight.

[Slaughter]

Slaughter was too exhausted to gather any sort of peculiarity from what just happened; instead she simply felt hurt and admittedly disappointed. Nothing was ever as easy as it was when you were little, she supposed this included making friends. But these times are hard, and she wouldn't give up trying to find somebody to cling to and somebody who could similarly cling onto her. She looked around the now abandoned area, and then up into the trees one last time just to make sure her new acquaintance was not playing yet another trick on her.

She felt even more disappointed when she finally accepted that she wasn't, that she had gone.

It was sudden, and something felt slightly off. Slaughter couldn't help but let feelings of doubt crawl their way into her head. Perhaps it was she who was at fault, perhaps she was not a likeable person at all, perhaps everybody would eventually leave her--
She immediately willed herself to cease those poisonous thoughts once more. Slaughter couldn't let anything bring her down at a moment like this. She knew that a child such as herself, tainted by misfortune, yet somehow coming out with shreds of grace, would most find many hardships along the way. She was going to push on, and try to not let the wear and tear of this new life get her too down. She felt a sudden inspiration bubble up inside of her and burst out from her in the form of a laugh. "I'll find you!" She said, talking about someone or something that for now would remain unknown. With that, the little blonde haired belle eagerly took off towards the exit of the forest and into the next stage of her adventure.