[Terence just stands slightly behind Dion and lets him take the lead like the big bottom he looks like he is. He's silent, glancing nervously between a confident bluffing white man and a wholeass army of white men with weapons. Surely this will end well.
The guard leaves his weapon drawn, approaching with the intent to surround Dion and Terence.]
Don't try to play coy! Prisoners are loose in this wing, and who else is here?
[Speaking of, he might hear loud door creak from just around the corner! The cloaked figure darts off in that direction like a flash.
YOU REALLY SAID FUCK THEM PEASANTS HUH.
Well, Scien is making quick work of these prisoners who are just like "what the fck is happening" as they get their asses beat by a Royal. Aren't Royals supposed to be useless?? Don't they just run whenever direct conflict happens?? HELLO!!
Yuri, Diluc and Kaeya are left largely alone for the time being, if only because Scien is doing a great job at keeping these peasants at bay. Diluc's able to bash the handle out of its handle socket! Yay! It clatters uselessly to the floor and the door creaks open. Yuri moves first, pushing it further open with the intent to escaping, run through it as soon as it's open--
And in the next blink, her body is flying through the air like a ragdoll, blasting past Scien and crashing into the opposite wall with such force that the brick cracks beneath her. She doesn't collapse to the ground, though; her torso is pinned to the wall by a halberd, which flew through the open door at mach fuck. Through said door, they'll see the single silhouette of a cloaked person. The alarm continues to blare.]
Do you truly think me a prisoner, when I am dressed in this fashion?
[ Hello? He's wearing Versace?
But he definitely thought that cloaked figure was part of the guard, and when he sees them dart away - ] That cloaked individual is clearly whom you should be questioning! [ - he's going to forget about negotiations and chase after them, sconce still in hand.
the moment happens too quickly before any of them can react, but the sight of the girl suddenly and violently impaled against the wall triggers a distant memory. (a terrible one—filled with maggots and glimpses of a golden bough.)
he's mindful that scien and kaeya are still with him. that there's danger ahead, and a door now open to it. if he doesn't do anything, any of them could be next.
so he lunges at the cloaked silhouette to strike them down. ]
[you know that one asw that's just 'sometimes i think of the people i love dying and all the new things i'd get to feel'
yea
scien's heart isn't busted here. he is a normal man with a slightly below normal range of emotions, but his memories are a jumble. they bend and break and in the crevices there's only a sudden surge of shock and grief. he's never felt those things before, not in such close conjunction.
I want to live. More than anything, that's what I want to do.
forget the peasants, forget the cloaked fucker, he's walking back to yuri to pry the halberd from her. she probably didn't make it, he knows, that, but what if she did—
a keen reminder: he is no longer a god that grants salvation.]
If not a prisoner, than clearly the one who aids in their escape!
[AND LOOK, they're being proven correct?! THE BITCH IS RUNNING?? Dion really left Terence to die, huh. He shouts a simple: wait a moment—!, but that's about all he can get out before the other Royal Guards are on him to arrest him for his traitorous acts.
Other guards follow after Dion as he runs, and he'll run right into sweet Diluc and Scien's group! Which is to say, he comes across the open prison door and the cloaked figure, who's now engaged in battle with Diluc.
Unfortunately for Diluc, the figure he faces possesses a truly monstrous, unimaginable strength. Even without their halberd, they move with a fluid grace that implies years of training. They have enough power behind their kicks and punches to break even brick with blinding ease, let alone bone, and they aim to incapacitate. Quick strikes toward Diluc's dominant hand and both of his legs.
Back with Scien, he'll have to work to pry that halberd from Yuri's body. It's embedded freakishly deep into the wall, somehow, despite being thrown from such a distance. If he puts his back into it, though, he can eventually wiggle it free. Yuri's body collapses forward. She's breathing, but just barely, and her mouth moves but it's hard to hear what she's saying.
While he's busy with that, the tattered and beaten prisoners are busy setting the rest of their comrades free. There are now about fifty or so people in all, most trying to rush the door, many stopping to strip the weapons from the torture room's wall. This is truly pandemonium.
Also, the guards who were following Dion are coming! Yippee!]
[ Terence will be okay. He's his second-in-command for a reason. Or something. Not that Dion would know.
This is clearly not going to go well for any of them, but it's too late now. At least if he gets arrested, he'll get arrested in Versace.
He is a little startled to see Yuri skewered against the wall, but his ire quickly turns back on the cloaked figure. He'll take advantage of their preoccupation with Diluc to come at them from behind, reaching out with one hand to grab their cloak, and the swinging the sconce at their head with the other. ]
[ i guess JUST his dominant hand is broken. his legs are FINE because he moves out of the way in time, i was really going to let that nat 20 wipe him out but this is only part 1 i suppose.
he ducks to retrieve his dropped weapon with his other hand—he can still fight through the pain, and as this newcomer in versace swings the sconce, diluc will aim his blade low, driving it towards the cloaked figure's gut, or thigh, or frankly whatever he can manage to strike. ]
[just like in canon, scien lets the bigger jocks do all the hard work for him EVEN THOUGH ONE OF THEM IS ALREADY ALMOST FALLING APART OH NO. he's distantly aware of the other prisoners looking to set their comrades free and the torture weapons getting ripped from the walls. that'll suck to deal with when he decides to deal with it.
but for right now there is a darling girl and she is dying. and scien's struggling in his mess of memories, somewhere between prisoner and new hire and one girl that he wanted to live—
he'll lift her just so that someone can hear her last words if she still wants them to be heard, evaluating the distance between himself and the closest door. yes he got in this mess but no he didn't do this crazy shit with a cloaked figure and a jailbreak so he's doing the mental math of just peacing out]
[Will Terence be okay in all of this mess? Hard to tell! An all-out brawl is unfolding around them, after all, and people do get lost quickly in the mayhem.
Anyway, Dion gets the jump on this cloaked figure, yanking them back and whacking them soundly across the head with the sconce. At the same time, Diluc drives a weapon through their gut, and the figure staggers back but doesn't collapse. Unfortunately, Diluc and Dion have unlocked a Terminator boss, who aims a sweeping kick behind themself in an attempt to knock Dion over.
Several guards also jump into the fray, though Kaeya - looking a bit surprised at even his own choice - darts in to parry a blade crashing toward Diluc. In the chaos, the two of them will see other familiarfaces in the guards, and some among theprisoners as well.
The words that Yuri whispers, when Scien lifts her to hear them, are a simple and shaky:]
Why... weren't you enough...?
[He'd promised her freedom and gotten her so, so very close to it, but in the end, she'd slipped through the moment he turned his back. Life is pretty unfair, huh? Her body stills after that, and it's easy to tell through her unseeing eyes that she's now dead.
The door closest to Scien is the one the first came through, that leads back into the open room and the library. Most of the fighting has spilled out into the hall Dion and Diluc are in, but there's still a fair amount of flailing and stabbing happening in here, too. There are even a few stray arrows being fired, so that's fun.]
[ Okay, well. It was very satisfying to hit this figure in the head because they are now Dion's mortal enemy for getting him into this mess, but unfortunately the sight of Sylvestre among the guards immediately kills that rush.
(Also, the thought of Sylvestre doing literally any labour is hilarious.)
He stops immediately in his tracks, this particular figure halting him better than any of the others, and ] Father—?
[ Before he totally wipes when the cloaked figure kicks him, sending him crashing to the ground. He will aim a kick of his own at the Terminator's ankles however, once he's down. ]
[ NOT THIS TERMINATOR BOSS. diluc wastes no time trying to strike at tendon next, like trying to cut a puppet from its strings. unfortunately he can't really split his attention well, though he is alarmed (and yet not entirely surprised?) to see kaeya leap into the fray. (increasingly alarmed to see more familiar faces among the guards and prisoners.)
—but no, he has to focus on the fight, and dodging stray arrows, the fuck.
with these increasing numbers, he's forced to consider a retreat. is it possible to incapacitate this terminator binch enough to break away safely? ]
[why wasn't he enough? something about this is entirely at odds with scien's worldview. like something about this place is meant to be his domain—but why? is it his royal blood making him so arrogant?
and yet he is so powerless. yuri slips away, and he knows he will never see her again—why did he expect to? he raises a hand to slip her eyes shut, making a brief detour to place her body slightly out of the way where it won't be trampled in the chaos, taking an arrow or two in the arm and leg for his distraction.
he thought about just leaving, but that was more for the sake of getting yuri help. she's gone, and now he's just pissed. what was the point of opening that door. diluc and scien are now switching tactics.
it's fine, he probably has a backup. he doesn't need these memories or emotions—he can just answer this feeling of rage on someone else's behalf. he'll kick his way through the dungeon, heading toward the hallway with a dagger in hand. what a mess! fuck emotions!]
[Sylvestre is leaving his king days behind... He's tired of being lazy fatcat royalty, now he wants power of a different sort.
Dion's kick can land and the Terminator falls and will stay fallen for at least a little while, as Diluc severs a tendon. Can't do much about basic biology 101, even as a Terminator.
That said, as Diluc is considering his escape, Shouxue is cornered by Gregor, and he doesn't look like he's here to take prisoners alive. Her eyes catch Diluc's, and the look in them is desperately afraid of the death right before her. At the same time, he'll hear Kaeya cry out from behind him, squaring off against a much stronger guard. But Diluc only has so many arms, huh?
Sylvestre moves forward toward the fallen Dion at the same time.]
You're under arrest for treason against the Crown!
[Is he under arrest, though?? Because all Sylvestre does is move to swing his sword down toward him in an executionary arc.
As Scien marinates in the horrors of having a heart and mows his way through the dungeon and into the hall, he'll catch sight of Shoma pinned to the ground by a guard who's currently in the process of twisting his arms behind his back at a horrible angle, trying to cuff him. He cries out in pain. Want to try saving someone again?]
[ This really does not feel like an arrest at all. Dion really isn't in a state of mind where he's prepared to fight Sylvestre, letting out a futile, ] Stop!
[ But the sword comes down, and the only thing that he can think of doing in this moment is grabbing the Terminator and yanking him on top of him to act as a meat shield against Sylvestre's blade. ]
[ he's going to deal as much damage to the terminator as he can while it's down, targeting tendons and joints to incapacitate its movements—until two distinct cries distract him. he'll have to trust dion and kaeya to fend for themselves (and he instinctively does, even if he shouldn't in this scenario).
so, he races for shouxue, and attempts to tackle gregor out of the way. ]
[you fucking bitch! no he doesn't want to try saving someone again! he's a █████████ and he doesn't form attachments to saving individuals because it's █████████—
well that's not this life, is it. because there's something in scien's brain that itches and then burns at seeing shoma pinned like that, disrespected. what the actual fuck. so even though he's already beaten to hell and back he's fully intending on kicking this guard in the face with his steel-plated boots.
just you wait terminator he's after your ass next if you don't get kebabed by a shitty king]
[Yall are really pincushioning this terminator, huh. Diluc's attempts at incapacitation make it easier for Dion to pull their body over his own as a shield, though Sylvestre's blade is quick enough that it still carves deeply into Dion's shoulder.
The majority cleaves through the hooded figure's corpse in a single killing blow, and yet... they still seem to cling to life. They grab hold of the blade sinking into them, using it to yank Sylvestre in. They reach out toward his face, grab hold of it. Unfortunately with that 3, Dion will just have to watch - Sylvestre makes eye contact, and there's a brief flash of recognition, of some sort of horror at the realization of what he'd almost done, a soft Dion, I- - as the figure crushes his head like a grape. Blood and brain viscera shower down on them both.
It's nice that Diluc trusts Dion and Kaeya to be able to fend for themselves, though! They're both capable, probably! In fact, Kaeya even manages to fight off the guard slashing at him - but there are a lot of guards and only one Kaeya, you know? It's really just a numbers game in the end, and it's one Kaeya's about to lose as a polearm pierces through his chest from behind.
Diluc may hear his choked yell in the seconds before he tackles Gregor over. Gregor hits the ground and Shouxue attempts to scurry away, but with that sadge roll, a fallen guard grabs at her ankle. She's sent stumbling and crashing into the floor, twisting her foot with a cry. Looks like she's not going to be able to get far like that, huh? Gregor, in the meanwhile, gives Diluc a concerned and confused look as he moves to try grappling him into place since he's clearly unwell.]
Your Majesty, what are you doing—!?
[Scien gets the jump on this guard bullying Shoma, and he falls to the side spitting out blood and probably a few teeth. Gaross. Shoma looks up at Scien with wariness, panic and confusion, immediately moving to grab a fallen knife on the floor. It's kill or be killed here, isn't it? He's ready to kill, but he seems to hesitate. Maybe because Scien has like 3 feet on him, damn.
Scien won't have much time to consider his next move, though, since an archer is taking aim at Shoma in eyesight and letting the arrow fly.]
Dion definitely goes absolutely still for a moment, hardly registering the pain in his shoulder from where the blade had dug in. His heart is working overtime in his chest, struggling to grasp what he'd just seen, and what had just happened. It hurts, he thinks. It hurts, and it hurts an ache beyond just this night, and yet it also doesn't feel real.
Like it's not really happening to him.
As if in a daze, he's going to put his prosthetic hand around the Terminator's neck and squeeze, with the other hand going to yank that cloak back so that the can look THIS ASSHOLE IN THE EYE!! ]
[ he doesn't really bother answering gregor, though he does try to knock him unconscious as gently as possible (not that gentle).
kaeya's scream is still ringing through his ears though he doesn't dare look back, focus honed with fierce desperation on shouxue, whom he might still be able to save.
if he's able it disengage from gregor, he'll go for the fallen guard next, kicking him away from the girl.
(he can't look back. he can't look back. kaeya—) ]
[it's kill or be killed, and scien expects to be killed. he has no surprise or wariness when shoma reaches for the knife and he thinks immediately about how to disarm him and then get him out of here. maybe just one more person that he's trying to get out of the line of fire—
but the arrow flies. scien darts forward. he'll seek to take shoma down and away from the range of disaster but!!! it's all chaos here!!!]
[Sylvestre's body collapses onto both of them, and while the Terminator is trying to shove it off and away, Dion successfully wraps his hand around their neck. They don't make a sound, not even as he moves to yank the hood of their cloak down. He'll see a blond head of hair, though the face seems to glitch in and out of hazy reality. In the next moment, he's looking at his own face on this figure, completely devoid of emotion. Maybe the serial killers you were chasing down were actually the you you met along the way? The face glitches between Dion's own and a pixelated nothingness.
Anyway, even with the life being choked out of them, they don't seem to react. But they do pull back their fist and reel it toward the side of Dion's temple.
Diluc manages to knock Gregor out pretty quickly since he is without his bug arm here. He collapses to the ground, unresponsive. Diluc can run after the guard, kicking him over and away from Shouxue, who reaches up toward him with a frantic desperation.
But before he can so much as move toward her, he'll hear the sound of something enormous being flung at him from behind. It's an axe set to bury itself in his back if he isn't careful.
Scien moves to knock Shoma over, but it sure is all chaos here!! All that chaos is enough to slow him down so that the arrow hits him instead, rather than both of them being out of its path. It pierces through his side and into his chest, lodging between his ribs. Shoma, now free from danger, gives this strange man who saved his life a last hesitant look before he turns and tries to flee once more, but he's so small and there are so many weapons sailing through the air with full lethality and desperation. Could he really make it?
More guards are pouring into the area now, and your loved ones lie dead and dying and trapped in an impossible situation that's becoming more impossible still. Do you struggle to your last breath to fight, to survive? What thoughts run through your heads as the blood runs from your bodies? Surely this country isn't worth fighting through the misery of clinging to life for, is it? Or maybe that's exactly why you hold on so tightly.]
[ Well, Dion doesn't care at all about escaping anymore, with the blood and brain matter of his father still hot against his face. It doesn't even matter him that the Terminator's face alternates between his own and nothingness.
They can land the hit against Dion's temple, and he momentarily sees stars from the force of it, but he doesn't let go. If anything he holds on tighter, with both hands this time, squeezing tight and eager to feel the crush of muscle and bone beneath his hands, their blood to replace his father's.
He's just going to stay right here until Terminator dies or he does. ]
[ diluc can hear the axe spinning towards him, and tries to sidestep it, or at least deflect its trajectory with the blade in his hand. (i rolled SO badly, i doubt this goes well.)
however he will not stop fighting, regardless of whatever injuries he accrues. he too is an object set in motion, a flame only to stop when it fully burns out. ]
[do you know how hard this is to tag after feet kisses and love potions are flying around my head hurts
but scien is getting impaled and stabbed and destroyed and—he gets up. he gets up and lumbers after shoma to try to keep him safe. blood pours from him and he has some distant recognition of diluc and dion in the periphery but all he sees are people that he can't save.
even if he'll keep trying until his last breath leaves him]
[Dion's grip tightens, and he crushes the life out of this figure breath by stilted breath. Here they are, the one that had snatched his father's life away from him (but isn't his father safe at home, waiting for his precious son to return with a fresh set of baked goods? and isn't his father already gone far away, guts spilling out instead of brain?). The figure will take a few more swings at Dion, but their movements slow and slow and eventually slow to a stop, their body stilling in contrast with the carnage they'd wrought.
Dion's body is also heavy now, blood pouring from the wound carved deep, head ringing from blow after blow. His vision begins to blacken at the edges, though the chaos rages on around him. Has anyone he cares for escaped? Are his hands the ones that have helped lead people to their ends? What does he consider in these last fleeting moments before unconsciousness sweeps him into near-death?
Diluc tries to sidestep the axe, but it whacks into his shoulder, cleaving a bleeding gash. He can fight and fight, but at the end of this battle, the numbers game just isn't in his favor. The ground is strewn with bodies, body parts, viscera, red iron. Guards and prisoners lay side by side, and yet, there doesn't seem to be an end to the enemies Diluc has to cut down. Due to his own stubborn nature, he pushes forward, pushes forward, until his limbs leaden down from the combination of his injuries and a loss of blood.
As he starts to slow, maybe he'll catch sight of Kaeya's lifeless corpse, the light gone from his eyes in a very literal sense. Maybe he'll see Shouxue, captured by some tattered-looking Royal Guards and hauled away from the carnage kicking and screaming. But what can he do? Try as he might to save those around him, life just slips between his fingers. Even his own. What confronts him as darkness sinks in?
Scien, too, is a person who won't lay down and die for nothing, even if his efforts prove to be in vain again and again and again. Try as he might to keep Shoma safe, his body is failing him, failing them both. The toll of his injuries weigh him down, his life hanging on the edge of a needle. As he starts to fade out, he'll catch sight of Shoma just barely making it to the exit-- before a jealous, dying prisoner grabs at his ankle and sends him crashing into the ground, his head cracking hard against the brick.
Yuri's corpse cools in the dungeon. Shoma's may join her not fifty feet away. Not a single life that stands out to him is one that he's led safely from this situation. In this last, lonely moment, what runs through his mind?]
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The guard leaves his weapon drawn, approaching with the intent to surround Dion and Terence.]
Don't try to play coy! Prisoners are loose in this wing, and who else is here?
[Speaking of, he might hear loud door creak from just around the corner! The cloaked figure darts off in that direction like a flash.
YOU REALLY SAID FUCK THEM PEASANTS HUH.
Well, Scien is making quick work of these prisoners who are just like "what the fck is happening" as they get their asses beat by a Royal. Aren't Royals supposed to be useless?? Don't they just run whenever direct conflict happens?? HELLO!!
Yuri, Diluc and Kaeya are left largely alone for the time being, if only because Scien is doing a great job at keeping these peasants at bay. Diluc's able to bash the handle out of its handle socket! Yay! It clatters uselessly to the floor and the door creaks open. Yuri moves first, pushing it further open with the intent to escaping, run through it as soon as it's open--
And in the next blink, her body is flying through the air like a ragdoll, blasting past Scien and crashing into the opposite wall with such force that the brick cracks beneath her. She doesn't collapse to the ground, though; her torso is pinned to the wall by a halberd, which flew through the open door at mach fuck. Through said door, they'll see the single silhouette of a cloaked person. The alarm continues to blare.]
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[ Hello? He's wearing Versace?
But he definitely thought that cloaked figure was part of the guard, and when he sees them dart away - ] That cloaked individual is clearly whom you should be questioning! [ - he's going to forget about negotiations and chase after them, sconce still in hand.
Good luck, Terence. ]
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the moment happens too quickly before any of them can react, but the sight of the girl suddenly and violently impaled against the wall triggers a distant memory. (a terrible one—filled with maggots and glimpses of a golden bough.)
he's mindful that scien and kaeya are still with him. that there's danger ahead, and a door now open to it. if he doesn't do anything, any of them could be next.
so he lunges at the cloaked silhouette to strike them down. ]
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yea
scien's heart isn't busted here. he is a normal man with a slightly below normal range of emotions, but his memories are a jumble. they bend and break and in the crevices there's only a sudden surge of shock and grief. he's never felt those things before, not in such close conjunction.
I want to live. More than anything, that's what I want to do.
forget the peasants, forget the cloaked fucker, he's walking back to yuri to pry the halberd from her. she probably didn't make it, he knows, that, but what if she did—
a keen reminder: he is no longer a god that grants salvation.]
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If not a prisoner, than clearly the one who aids in their escape!
[AND LOOK, they're being proven correct?! THE BITCH IS RUNNING?? Dion really left Terence to die, huh. He shouts a simple: wait a moment—!, but that's about all he can get out before the other Royal Guards are on him to arrest him for his traitorous acts.
Other guards follow after Dion as he runs, and he'll run right into sweet Diluc and Scien's group! Which is to say, he comes across the open prison door and the cloaked figure, who's now engaged in battle with Diluc.
Unfortunately for Diluc, the figure he faces possesses a truly monstrous, unimaginable strength. Even without their halberd, they move with a fluid grace that implies years of training. They have enough power behind their kicks and punches to break even brick with blinding ease, let alone bone, and they aim to incapacitate. Quick strikes toward Diluc's dominant hand and both of his legs.
Back with Scien, he'll have to work to pry that halberd from Yuri's body. It's embedded freakishly deep into the wall, somehow, despite being thrown from such a distance. If he puts his back into it, though, he can eventually wiggle it free. Yuri's body collapses forward. She's breathing, but just barely, and her mouth moves but it's hard to hear what she's saying.
While he's busy with that, the tattered and beaten prisoners are busy setting the rest of their comrades free. There are now about fifty or so people in all, most trying to rush the door, many stopping to strip the weapons from the torture room's wall. This is truly pandemonium.
Also, the guards who were following Dion are coming! Yippee!]
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This is clearly not going to go well for any of them, but it's too late now. At least if he gets arrested, he'll get arrested in Versace.
He is a little startled to see Yuri skewered against the wall, but his ire quickly turns back on the cloaked figure. He'll take advantage of their preoccupation with Diluc to come at them from behind, reaching out with one hand to grab their cloak, and the swinging the sconce at their head with the other. ]
just kidding hehe?
he ducks to retrieve his dropped weapon with his other hand—he can still fight through the pain, and as this newcomer in versace swings the sconce, diluc will aim his blade low, driving it towards the cloaked figure's gut, or thigh, or frankly whatever he can manage to strike. ]
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but for right now there is a darling girl and she is dying. and scien's struggling in his mess of memories, somewhere between prisoner and new hire and one girl that he wanted to live—
he'll lift her just so that someone can hear her last words if she still wants them to be heard, evaluating the distance between himself and the closest door. yes he got in this mess but no he didn't do this crazy shit with a cloaked figure and a jailbreak so he's doing the mental math of just peacing out]
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Anyway, Dion gets the jump on this cloaked figure, yanking them back and whacking them soundly across the head with the sconce. At the same time, Diluc drives a weapon through their gut, and the figure staggers back but doesn't collapse. Unfortunately, Diluc and Dion have unlocked a Terminator boss, who aims a sweeping kick behind themself in an attempt to knock Dion over.
Several guards also jump into the fray, though Kaeya - looking a bit surprised at even his own choice - darts in to parry a blade crashing toward Diluc. In the chaos, the two of them will see other familiar faces in the guards, and some among the prisoners as well.
The words that Yuri whispers, when Scien lifts her to hear them, are a simple and shaky:]
Why... weren't you enough...?
[He'd promised her freedom and gotten her so, so very close to it, but in the end, she'd slipped through the moment he turned his back. Life is pretty unfair, huh? Her body stills after that, and it's easy to tell through her unseeing eyes that she's now dead.
The door closest to Scien is the one the first came through, that leads back into the open room and the library. Most of the fighting has spilled out into the hall Dion and Diluc are in, but there's still a fair amount of flailing and stabbing happening in here, too. There are even a few stray arrows being fired, so that's fun.]
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(Also, the thought of Sylvestre doing literally any labour is hilarious.)
He stops immediately in his tracks, this particular figure halting him better than any of the others, and ] Father—?
[ Before he totally wipes when the cloaked figure kicks him, sending him crashing to the ground. He will aim a kick of his own at the Terminator's ankles however, once he's down. ]
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—but no, he has to focus on the fight, and dodging stray arrows, the fuck.
with these increasing numbers, he's forced to consider a retreat. is it possible to incapacitate this terminator binch enough to break away safely? ]
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and yet he is so powerless. yuri slips away, and he knows he will never see her again—why did he expect to? he raises a hand to slip her eyes shut, making a brief detour to place her body slightly out of the way where it won't be trampled in the chaos, taking an arrow or two in the arm and leg for his distraction.
he thought about just leaving, but that was more for the sake of getting yuri help. she's gone, and now he's just pissed. what was the point of opening that door. diluc and scien are now switching tactics.
it's fine, he probably has a backup. he doesn't need these memories or emotions—he can just answer this feeling of rage on someone else's behalf. he'll kick his way through the dungeon, heading toward the hallway with a dagger in hand. what a mess! fuck emotions!]
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Dion's kick can land and the Terminator falls and will stay fallen for at least a little while, as Diluc severs a tendon. Can't do much about basic biology 101, even as a Terminator.
That said, as Diluc is considering his escape, Shouxue is cornered by Gregor, and he doesn't look like he's here to take prisoners alive. Her eyes catch Diluc's, and the look in them is desperately afraid of the death right before her. At the same time, he'll hear Kaeya cry out from behind him, squaring off against a much stronger guard. But Diluc only has so many arms, huh?
Sylvestre moves forward toward the fallen Dion at the same time.]
You're under arrest for treason against the Crown!
[Is he under arrest, though?? Because all Sylvestre does is move to swing his sword down toward him in an executionary arc.
As Scien marinates in the horrors of having a heart and mows his way through the dungeon and into the hall, he'll catch sight of Shoma pinned to the ground by a guard who's currently in the process of twisting his arms behind his back at a horrible angle, trying to cuff him. He cries out in pain. Want to try saving someone again?]
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[ But the sword comes down, and the only thing that he can think of doing in this moment is grabbing the Terminator and yanking him on top of him to act as a meat shield against Sylvestre's blade. ]
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so, he races for shouxue, and attempts to tackle gregor out of the way. ]
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well that's not this life, is it. because there's something in scien's brain that itches and then burns at seeing shoma pinned like that, disrespected. what the actual fuck. so even though he's already beaten to hell and back he's fully intending on kicking this guard in the face with his steel-plated boots.
just you wait terminator he's after your ass next if you don't get kebabed by a shitty king]
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The majority cleaves through the hooded figure's corpse in a single killing blow, and yet... they still seem to cling to life. They grab hold of the blade sinking into them, using it to yank Sylvestre in. They reach out toward his face, grab hold of it. Unfortunately with that 3, Dion will just have to watch - Sylvestre makes eye contact, and there's a brief flash of recognition, of some sort of horror at the realization of what he'd almost done, a soft Dion, I- - as the figure crushes his head like a grape. Blood and brain viscera shower down on them both.
It's nice that Diluc trusts Dion and Kaeya to be able to fend for themselves, though! They're both capable, probably! In fact, Kaeya even manages to fight off the guard slashing at him - but there are a lot of guards and only one Kaeya, you know? It's really just a numbers game in the end, and it's one Kaeya's about to lose as a polearm pierces through his chest from behind.
Diluc may hear his choked yell in the seconds before he tackles Gregor over. Gregor hits the ground and Shouxue attempts to scurry away, but with that sadge roll, a fallen guard grabs at her ankle. She's sent stumbling and crashing into the floor, twisting her foot with a cry. Looks like she's not going to be able to get far like that, huh? Gregor, in the meanwhile, gives Diluc a concerned and confused look as he moves to try grappling him into place since he's clearly unwell.]
Your Majesty, what are you doing—!?
[Scien gets the jump on this guard bullying Shoma, and he falls to the side spitting out blood and probably a few teeth. Gaross. Shoma looks up at Scien with wariness, panic and confusion, immediately moving to grab a fallen knife on the floor. It's kill or be killed here, isn't it? He's ready to kill, but he seems to hesitate. Maybe because Scien has like 3 feet on him, damn.
Scien won't have much time to consider his next move, though, since an archer is taking aim at Shoma in eyesight and letting the arrow fly.]
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KAY
WELL
Dion definitely goes absolutely still for a moment, hardly registering the pain in his shoulder from where the blade had dug in. His heart is working overtime in his chest, struggling to grasp what he'd just seen, and what had just happened. It hurts, he thinks. It hurts, and it hurts an ache beyond just this night, and yet it also doesn't feel real.
Like it's not really happening to him.
As if in a daze, he's going to put his prosthetic hand around the Terminator's neck and squeeze, with the other hand going to yank that cloak back so that the can look THIS ASSHOLE IN THE EYE!! ]
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kaeya's scream is still ringing through his ears though he doesn't dare look back, focus honed with fierce desperation on shouxue, whom he might still be able to save.
if he's able it disengage from gregor, he'll go for the fallen guard next, kicking him away from the girl.
(he can't look back. he can't look back. kaeya—) ]
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but the arrow flies. scien darts forward. he'll seek to take shoma down and away from the range of disaster but!!! it's all chaos here!!!]
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Anyway, even with the life being choked out of them, they don't seem to react. But they do pull back their fist and reel it toward the side of Dion's temple.
Diluc manages to knock Gregor out pretty quickly since he is without his bug arm here. He collapses to the ground, unresponsive. Diluc can run after the guard, kicking him over and away from Shouxue, who reaches up toward him with a frantic desperation.
But before he can so much as move toward her, he'll hear the sound of something enormous being flung at him from behind. It's an axe set to bury itself in his back if he isn't careful.
Scien moves to knock Shoma over, but it sure is all chaos here!! All that chaos is enough to slow him down so that the arrow hits him instead, rather than both of them being out of its path. It pierces through his side and into his chest, lodging between his ribs. Shoma, now free from danger, gives this strange man who saved his life a last hesitant look before he turns and tries to flee once more, but he's so small and there are so many weapons sailing through the air with full lethality and desperation. Could he really make it?
More guards are pouring into the area now, and your loved ones lie dead and dying and trapped in an impossible situation that's becoming more impossible still. Do you struggle to your last breath to fight, to survive? What thoughts run through your heads as the blood runs from your bodies? Surely this country isn't worth fighting through the misery of clinging to life for, is it? Or maybe that's exactly why you hold on so tightly.]
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They can land the hit against Dion's temple, and he momentarily sees stars from the force of it, but he doesn't let go. If anything he holds on tighter, with both hands this time, squeezing tight and eager to feel the crush of muscle and bone beneath his hands, their blood to replace his father's.
He's just going to stay right here until Terminator dies or he does. ]
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however he will not stop fighting, regardless of whatever injuries he accrues. he too is an object set in motion, a flame only to stop when it fully burns out. ]
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but scien is getting impaled and stabbed and destroyed and—he gets up. he gets up and lumbers after shoma to try to keep him safe. blood pours from him and he has some distant recognition of diluc and dion in the periphery but all he sees are people that he can't save.
even if he'll keep trying until his last breath leaves him]
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Dion's body is also heavy now, blood pouring from the wound carved deep, head ringing from blow after blow. His vision begins to blacken at the edges, though the chaos rages on around him. Has anyone he cares for escaped? Are his hands the ones that have helped lead people to their ends? What does he consider in these last fleeting moments before unconsciousness sweeps him into near-death?
Diluc tries to sidestep the axe, but it whacks into his shoulder, cleaving a bleeding gash. He can fight and fight, but at the end of this battle, the numbers game just isn't in his favor. The ground is strewn with bodies, body parts, viscera, red iron. Guards and prisoners lay side by side, and yet, there doesn't seem to be an end to the enemies Diluc has to cut down. Due to his own stubborn nature, he pushes forward, pushes forward, until his limbs leaden down from the combination of his injuries and a loss of blood.
As he starts to slow, maybe he'll catch sight of Kaeya's lifeless corpse, the light gone from his eyes in a very literal sense. Maybe he'll see Shouxue, captured by some tattered-looking Royal Guards and hauled away from the carnage kicking and screaming. But what can he do? Try as he might to save those around him, life just slips between his fingers. Even his own. What confronts him as darkness sinks in?
Scien, too, is a person who won't lay down and die for nothing, even if his efforts prove to be in vain again and again and again. Try as he might to keep Shoma safe, his body is failing him, failing them both. The toll of his injuries weigh him down, his life hanging on the edge of a needle. As he starts to fade out, he'll catch sight of Shoma just barely making it to the exit-- before a jealous, dying prisoner grabs at his ankle and sends him crashing into the ground, his head cracking hard against the brick.
Yuri's corpse cools in the dungeon. Shoma's may join her not fifty feet away. Not a single life that stands out to him is one that he's led safely from this situation. In this last, lonely moment, what runs through his mind?]
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