Adventures Aboard the Fortuna Prime (closed for guardianjohran)

[MissMonster]

Fear.

It spread like a wildfire in her heart, threatening to burst with constant weight. Ghost was terrified, almost rooted in place by her horror and unease. This plan was suppose to be foolproof, this plan was suppose to get them home. The consequences of their recklessness had never dawned on them until now. Youth had a funny way of making you feel invincible, as if the prospect of death was nothing but a cruel joke to jeer at and ignore. How often had she and Reaper cheated death in their young lives? How often had they crawled from beneath rubble and fallout with their lives still in tact? Ghost could only gawk in fear now, as if those moments of invincibility were meaninglessly swept away.

They were outnumbered. Outmatched.

The captain had shifted into something monstrous. A fiery intensity only palpable to the cousin who wasn't blinded by rage.

This wasn't new to Ghost. There was something strangely reminiscent in the captain's deadly aura...

Something she only felt when she and Reaper were at their most downtrodden--when Reaper vowed to protect them both by "any means necessary".

"You see it too, don't you?"

Ghost's lavender eyes went to the burly, darker skinned male beside her. Her breath was near caught in her throat as the growing worry increased. If even he was trying to stop his captain from continuing further, her suspicions had proven correct.

He was going to kill her cousin.

"P-Please I...we need to..." Her voice was so small, she was sure they'd have to strain to hear it. She wasn't even sure of herself. Was she begging for help like a lost lamb to the slaughter? Was she attempting an apology? Whatever Ghost's intention, it was drowned out by Lucas' scalding words. She nibbled her lip apprehensively as he spoke venom that proved an unfortunate truth. They didn't see this coming, they didn't see it firsthand.

The captain, like his crew, was just like them. A mirror to a reality where their lives had transformed them into a perfect caricature of pernicious perseverance.

And that would only occur if they even survived as long as the rest of these men and women had.

Ghost whimpered by the end of Lucas' tirade, slinking closer to the wall of the ship. She didn't even hear Brock's scolding of his companion, nor did she continue to absorb their conversation. Instead, she fell to her knees, sleeve covered hands going to her head in a look of raw panic.

For once in her sixteen years of life, Ghost felt confronted by the thought of dying.

Dead before she could live, she thought bitterly, tears stinging the corners of her eyes. Reaper had always said she was the softer of the two, a danger if she didn't keep her calm. Had she doomed them both?

Before they could see their family again?

Reaper was in her own state of wild unrest, though her mind had been set on survival. She would fight to her death, which in her mind, would never happen. She was powerful in her own right, she'd survive like she'd been doing for so long. And she'd protect Ghost in the process, as she had always been. The combat had become far more tense than before, but Reaper ignored the change, focusing on blocking the sudden force threatening to toss her backwards. Her face was flustered, pugnacious hot tears threatening to fall as she made another wild scream of pure rage. She hurt, but she wouldn't stop.

She couldn't stop.

The captain was a ferocious opponent, far more practiced than that of a seventeen year old girl, no matter her proficiency in street battles. The purple haired teen quickly lost her balance, knocked to the floor.

Ghost was stricken with muted dread. It finally became all too real. She had to get up, she had to do something, even if it killed her at this very moment! The pink haired girl stood on wobbly legs, only stopped from her intervention when Brock pushed her aside. It wasn't so much to harm her, but to finally get through to the captain. And she thanked him for it mentally--for perhaps she would have only worsened the situation again. The lizard like woman had piped up to respond to her earlier outburst, and Ghost felt near dizzy with conflicted emotions.

"--You got yourselves into this. If you want to blame someone, find a fucking mirror."

"...." It was an uncomfortable, inconvenient truth that the lavender eyed teen wanted to refuse to believe.

But, looking at them now, Reaper on the floor narrowly escaping death, their backs against the wall with little reprieve..

Jayson had apparently come to. Ghost was relieved, but she knew her cousin would see this as a crushing defeat. Her ego would shatter.

Reaper panted, cursed in a native Wuvaran slang, and slammed her fist against the floor. "You bastards..." She growled, low and threatening as she attempted to stand. Ghost could bear it no longer. She finally went to Reaper, running over to her cousin and clinging onto her like what she use to do when they were young. For the first time, Reaper could see her terror as tears cascaded down her cheeks.

"Stop crying, we have to...to fight--"

"No, no I've had enough, okay? We can't. We can't win this!"

Reaper fixed her a dangerous glare. "Get out of my way."

"Reaper, we'll die!"

For a second, the blue haired teen hesitated. But the moment of pause would only last briefly. The girl none-too-gently pushed aside her cousin. "Then you go. I'd rather die than cower."

Ghost was dumbfounded. Her cousin's pride, her devil's pride, would be their undoing! She shook her head in disbelief. She knew her cousin all too well, Reaper was petrified, but her ego was vast.

The blue haired teen glared at every one of the members of this room; murderers, criminals, scourge of the underbelly...

And her eyes went to Jayson.

"You hear that cap? I guess you'll just have to kill me! Because yielding to you is not how a warrior lives. I don't care what you do. At least I'll die with fucking honor."

"You're talking like a psycho!"

"Just promise me...you'll let my cousin go."

Ghost stood beside Reaper, her mouth agape. "You're insane!"

"At least one of us can finish what we started Ghost! I don't care what happens to me. Just...tell my parents I.." Her voice trailed off as she fought away the tightness of her throat. She was bound by a wave of emotion, but she refused to let it show. At least, not without a fight.