10980/Shait's Divergence

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Shait's Divergence
Date of Scene: 30 April 2022
Location: Brooklyn
Synopsis: Cael's past catches up with her when a member of the Alhambras tracks her down near her apartment. She gets shot, and dies long enough to visit Duat... but Sara gets there in time for Witchblade to save her.
Cast of Characters: Cael Becker, Marc Spector, Sara Pezzini, Jonathan Sims




Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael is contented and relaxed as she walks home along the Brooklyn streets - Bear in his colorful vest walking by her side, the pup's leash held loosely in one hand. She's dressed as she often is - jeans, a shirt, and boots with her black leather jacket over that, and the colorful cuff bracelet Jon had given her for Valentine's Day on her left wrist.
    "What do you think, Bear?" she asks casually as she walks down quiet streets, with the occasional car or pedestrian passing. "A little video games before bed? Hrm?"

Marc Spector has posed:
    It would make sense that Cael would notice the man stopped about 10 feet from her in her path. Even if she wouldn't the dog would. He's maybe in his mid-20s, in blue coveralls with a gray durag. A peppering of a goatee shades his face. He stands with his feet shoulder width apart. One hand rests at his side in a fist. The other is wrapped tightly around the grip of a small semi-automatic handgun.

    "Been a while Shel" he says, a latin accent lingering on the clipped words. "What... 'bout 10 years, yeah? Since you turned your back on us... on me?" he says, tightening his grip on the weapon. It's dark but the streetlights of the road give enough light to show his face clearly. And Cael knows him. Subtract that 10 years and its pretty clear.

    Javier Hernandez, Javi for short, was the younger brother of one of the higher ups in Alhambra. He was ten when Cael--no, when Shelley Mason helped put his brother away in prison for 25 to life. "Been searching for ya, Shel. I needed to give you a piece of my mind for what you did. To -mi hermano-, to -mi familia-... putting Juan away like that..." He licks his lips and shakes his head.

    "And there you were, on television... standing beside some -hombre- who saved New York City... So easy. All I had to do was get on a plane and get in contact with a few of the -Trinitarios-." He chuckles. "After a few days of tailing you..." he says. "Finding out where you live was pretty simple. All I had to is wait. And here you are."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Javi..." Cael greets the man quietly, her hand tightening on the leash as Bear can feel her anxiety begin to spike immediately, prompting Bear to lean in against her leg with a concerned whine - followed by a threatening growl directed towards the figure in their path. She'd been afraid something like this would happen - but she'd let herself think that she'd be safe. That even if they did see her - they wouldn't be //stupid// enough to go after her, with the company she tended to keep.
    The depths of her miscalculation was very quickly becoming evident.
    "Don't throw your life away," she says - without any real belief she'll be able to disuade this man from his chosen course of action. "Because I'm telling you... people will come after you, unless you walk away from this. You've seen the company I keep, yeah?"

Marc Spector has posed:
    The young man barks out a laugh. "You think I have a life, Shel?!" he says acidly. "My mother hung herself when the sentence came down on Juan. My father... he was already out the picture. And Juan... my brother... my best friend... he's dead. Shanked in prison by some -concha de tu madre- who had a beef with him over toothpaste." He shakes the pistol viciously. "Fucking toothpaste!"

    He's crying now, the tears gleaming off his cheeks. "And that's your fault. His blood is on your hands... so I don't have any fucking life to throw away, -tu perra.-" He gestures with the gun. "Just wrap this up and I can go join the rest of my family in heaven. I know I'm going one way or another. Either the cops will do it, your friends will do it, or one of the -gilipollas- in jail will do it."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Shit. "I didn't know," Cael admits quietly, standing stiffly as she stares at the man with the gun. She can feel the weight of her own pistol - hidden in a holster beneath her jacket, but there's no cover. No where she can dive, to give her enough cover to draw the weapon, and the moment her hands move- But what other choice does she have if she's going to survive this? If she's going to go to the alps with Jon? If she's going to stay with her friends?
    "I was alone too. My mother was dead. I lost Alis. This doesn't have to be the end for you, Javi. You can still choose to live." She shifts her weight, trying to take small steps closer to a car parked off to her right - hoping to get close enough to make a run for it feasible.
    "Bear... Shhh. It's okay, boy," she adds quietly, as the quiet growl escalates to one of his rare barks.

Marc Spector has posed:
    Perhaps the man wasn't as stable as a professional hit man. Perhaps the threat of the large canine was more than he anticipated. Perhaps he was just scared. Whatever it is, his finger twitches on the trigger at Bear's thunderous bark. There's a loud popping sound, a flash of light from the barrel of the gun, and a hot sharp impact at her neck before warm liquid starts spilling down over the front of Cael's shirt.

    The man's eyes widen and he takes a step back. "Oh shit..." he says softly, clearly not expecting such a messy shot. "Oh... shit..." He looks around. "-P-para el familia!-" he says hesitantly before he turns to run. His mission complete and whatever happens now... is up to chance and fate.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael's eyes widen at the sudden pain, and the splash of hot blood leaving her body. "Shit..." is all she murmurs as one hand goes to her throat, desperately trying to hold back the torrent of blood. She's not really conscious of letting go of Bear's leash, but the dog darts off after the man, barking angrily as Cael sinks to the floor reaching not into her jacket - but coming out with a cellphone, and not a gun. A trembling finger hastily unlocks the phone, and redails the last number called.
    "Jon," she manages to get out. She's leaning back against a car, seated on the pavement. She doesn't remember sitting down.
    Is it bad? How bad is it? Her hand is already warm and sticky as she continues to try to press it against her throat with as much strength as she can muster. "Jon, please..." Her voice sounds strange in her ears. Why? Damnit...

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Existing in two place, either near Witchblade or near Cael, Alis had actually been hanging out around the apartment building, watching neighbors living their lives, waiting for Cael to return. She wasn't always directly on top of Sara or Cael, sometimes she wandered in various directions to the furthest reaches of the tether.

She had just watched a man put a roast in the oven, taking note of the recipe he used for the rub on the meat, when a sensation ripped through her that she recognized as Cael in pain. It wasn't pain to her, only the acknowledgement through the link that something had happened to Cael.

Using the tether like a teleporter, she was out of the apartment and by Cael in the blink of an eye... and what she found actually made her scream before she appears in the world as a solid being.

"Cael! Shit, shit, shit..." She reaches to help put pressure on the wound, noting Cael has her phone out, that it is in fact on a call to Jon. "Jon! Help! Cael's been shot!"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    There's a swift reply on the other end of the line, and Jon's voice. "Hey. What is it? Miss me already, or did we forget something at the derby rink?"

    A pause, and Jon's tone grows concerned. "Cael?"

    Then Alis speaks. Moments later, a door opens in the wall of the alley, light flooding in from Jon's apartment back in the Triskelion. He looks like he hasn't even changed yet, which is true; he'd been settling Agnes in for the night and pondering a snack from the food court. One look at Cael, slumped against the car, and his eyes widen. He starts removing his cardigan as he dashes through the door, shouting behind him, "Anges! Call Martin! Cael's been shot!"

    The door shuts behind Jon as he rushes over to kneel down next to Cael, pulling off his prosthetic and dropping it on the ground. "Shit. Shit. Cael, honey, look at me, okay? Alis, here, help me get her to lie flat. Did you see what happened?" He conjures up his magical emerald arm, and moves to try to get Cael flat on her back on the ground.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Alis," Cael manages quietly. She lets her sister take over the job of applying pressure - catching out of the corner of her eyes the sight of her hand stained red, dropping down to her side.
    Breathe, she tells herself. Breathe. Jon will come. He can heal. It's going to be alright. It's going to be alright.
    The relief in her gaze when Jon rushes to her side is palpable - and she lifts a hand towards them, letting it brush against their arm before she lets it fall to her side again.
    She's maneuvered to lay flat, her gaze locking up onto Jon's face as she continues to concentrate on her breathing. It's going to be alright - as long as she keeps on breathing.
    From behind Alis and Jon come the sound of Bear's nails clicking on pavement, and a leash dragging over the ground - as well as Bear's worried whine as the pup returns - having chased off the danger.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Alis assists Jon, but tries to keep her hands on the wound, hard pressure without choking her. "I didn't see a damn thing," she almost whispers, tears falling from her eyes. Was this what Cael had felt when she'd been shot? This... helplessness?

Glancing to Bear for a moment she looks back to Cael's face. It had to be what Cael felt. "I was at the apartments," she then adds, trying to keep it together but not really doing that well at it. She was concentrating on keeping the pressure, that's her job right now, literally life or death. "I just felt... through the connection... appeared here and ...." leave it there, don't point out the obvious.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Fuck." Jon conjures up a globe of water and encases Alis' hand in it along with the neck wound. Magic healing water, more of an idea than true water, so it's not like it's going to drown Cael or anything. Cael doesn't speak to him, so that tells him she can't, so... shock, or else damage to her vocal chords, which implies she can't breathe, which implies...

    He takes his own deep breaths, trying to get ahold of himself. He locks eyes with Cael, and sends out a telepathic message. <<Hey... think at me loudly and I'll hear what you're saying. What happened, love? Who shot you? How long ago?>>

    Aloud, he says, "We need Sara. And an ambulance. But Sara's closer and... and..." Jon's hand shakes as he holds the water in place. "Can you alert Sara without moving?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    Flecks of blood are begining to appear at Cael's lips as she breathes - a task that, little by little, is becoming more difficult. There's no panic yet in her gaze - no fear - as she looks up into the faces of two people she trusts more than anyone in this world. They would solve this. They would find a way out of this. Jon could heal it. Couldn't he?
    Her eyes lock back onto Jon's gaze as she hears their voice in her mind. <<I love you.>> That's her first thought. Loud, and clear, and confident. <<Javi - from the Alhambras. I ruined his life. Poor kid...>> Kid? He was only a few years younger than her - but still. <<It just happened.>>
    Bear nuzzles at Cael's legs, and up her side, finally licking at her cheek as he tries, in his own way, to solve the problem.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Jon had no way of knowing that Sara was already alerted. The moment Alis knew what had actually happened, Witchblade knew through his connection to her. From him Sara knew that Cael had been shot, and was headed out the front door of their apartment at a run.

It was happening again, she was going to lose another partner and friend, that was the thought that played in the back of her mind as she went down the flights of stairs, two at a time, not really seeing who she was passing or even realizing if she had passed anyone.

Onto the street she let Witchblade's connection to Alis guide which direction she ran, it wasn't even a conscious thought it just happened, the two working in tandem in the new way that they could.

"She's coming," Alis says softly, seeming to get a little bit more control over herself. Her feeling, since dying, had always been a little less intense and controlling, but that didn't change that her sister was bleeding out and she could /feel/ it happening. "You just have to hang in there, both of you."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon nods to Alis. "Good. Good. Just... just hold it there, okay? Just... don't let her bleed out."

    He stares down at Cael, thinking fast, and unfortunately Cael can probably hear some of it. Blood on her lips means blood in her lungs. She's drowning. Can he remove the liquid? Does he dare try? Could he just... conjure a crystal around her, hold her in stasis until Sara gets there? He can't lose her, not /now/.

    Wings flare as Jon merges with Ma'at, strengthening the magic in the water they're holding. "We're going to hold you like this until Sara gets here, okay? Just... just keep breathing for me, alright, sweetie? Look at me and keep breathing. I love you too." But now, merged with the goddess, they /see/ the strands of fate and where they're leading. Trying to ignore that, they focus on Cael's face.

    "Just a little longer, alright, mariposa? Just hold on a little longer."

Cael Becker has posed:
    It's Jon's fears that cause Cael's first moments of doubt. That, and the struggle to keep breathing that she can't deny. It's hard to remain stoic and calm when you're drowning in your own blood. She tries again to say their names. Jon... Alis... But it's garbled, and unintelligable.
    She reaches up with her blood-covered hand - touching Jon's face and leaving a streak of her blood, and twining her fingers into his hair. Holding onto him. Desperately holding on.
    <<I love you. I won't leave. I won't leave you,>> she promises desperately.
    Those thoughts, however, are soon followed by more desperate thoughts - as a few silent tears streak down her cheeks. This wasn't fair. This wasn't fair. This isn't how it was supposed to be. <<I can't breathe. Jon... I want to go to Duat. Please. I don't want to leave you. I want to go to->>
    The hand gripping the back of Jon's head loosens - but lingers there for a moment, before falling at her side, as her consciousness fades.
    Her body continues to struggle - making a few more gurgling breaths, before her chest stills.

Marc Spector has posed:
    The world on the other side is not entirely unrecognizable to Cael. After all, she just recently spent a couple months fighting in the Astral Plane. But this land is... slightly different. The world in between is hazy and ephemeral as the Astral Plane is but there's a doubling of imagery as the material world is also visible from this place.

    She's not far from her body, in fact, she's right next to it. Jon is there. Holding her lifeless body. There is a flurry of colors around him. It doesn't take long for Cael to recognize the colors for what they are, physical representations of his emotions. His -aura-.

    Alis is there too. But Alis is also on this side of the Veil. Alis looks more -real- here. More alive than she usually does. More solid. In fact, she looks much like she would were she alive. Which makes sense, considering both of them are not.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
With her hands on Cael's wound, Alis could feel the beating of Cael's heart growing slower, and slower, and then stop. It just... stopped. Looking up from her sister, she wants to scream out but realizes that things are different. There are two realities happening at once. It was almost familiar in a way, like she had felt it once before when she died, but this wasn't quite the same.

Turning her head slowly she could see Cael standing there, and could still feel Cael's neck beneath her hands, that fact was what tripped her brain out the most. All the years she'd followed Cael around, she never actually looked beyond the real world. She hadn't known how, and with the link to Cael she wasn't even sure she could have if she wanted to. In this moment however, she felt she knew where she was without being told.

"Well shit..." she breaths out, looking to the standing form of Cael now.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Hold on, Cael... please... please, it's oka--" Jon chokes on the words. She's not going to be okay. She's dying, and he can't save her, and he /knows/ it. "Please," he repeats, whispering. A prayer, and not entirely to Cael. "Please, please..."

    He keeps the water in place even as Cael slips away, but he wraps his arms around her body and pulls her away from Alis, pulls her close, starting to sob. "Come back," he whispers. "Please, come back. Sara'll be here any minute, just... just /stay there/ and we can fix this, /please/. Please don't leave me, not now." He's crying, and his aura is deep blue and black and purple, like a bruise, all pain and despair, and a tiny thread of red anger pulsing through it all. Fury at the world for letting this happen, /now/ of all times.

    "Time to go." The voice is soft, and feminine, and only vaguely familiar to Cael. Alis wouldn't know her at all, the brown-skinned woman with curly auburn hair that cascades around her face, brown eyes bright, wearing a cermonial battle dress with the the latch at her breast in the shape of a stylized lioness' head. She's standing in front of an open door in the wall of the alley, just about where Jon's door had been. "The gods have granted your last wish, Shelley Harmony Mason. Or is it Cael Becker?" She tilts her head a bit. "Your name is a part of your soul, in our view of the world."

    She looks to Jon, expression unfathomably sad, before she looks back to Cael. "It is not right that you should die so soon after they returned for you. Not right at all. But the guides of the dead do not deal in right and wrong. We deal in facts--and the fact is that you are dead." Something flickers through that dark-eyed gaze, a brief frown. Contemplative. Her gaze shifts to Alis, and then to Cael.

    "I am Alya Montague. I am here to guide you to Duat, assuming you wish to come. You can stay. Some do. But this is a one-time offer. I expect the gods would not be best pleased if you refuse their invitation. Few who have never set foot on the soil of their homeland are given this opportunity." A glance toward Alis. "You could accompany her, if you wish. The way is long, but less lonely with company."

    She holds out a slim hand to Cael, expectantly.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "No... God, no..." Cael's gaze locks onto Jon, then shifts towards Alis, and back to Jon once more.
    Jon craddling her body. Jon sobbing. "This is wrong. This is wrong. This isn't- isn't how it's supposed to go." She reaches her hand out towards Jon - but doesn't quite touch him - afraid that she //can't//.
    At Alya's voice, she turns to look at her, pleading in her gaze. "It's Cael," she says flatly. Her name is Cael. Shelley brought her nothing but pain - and now... this. "I'm Cael."
    Her attention flicks to Jon again, then back to Alya to ask, "We can't stay... for a little while?" To what purpose? What good wound it do Cael? You're dead. This way at least... she'll see them again.
    If she can pass the weighing.
    Steeling herself, she makes her decision. "I'll come."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
No longer touching Cael, watching as Jon scoops her up, Alis chews at her bottom lip as she stands herself up. She wasn't entirely sure what was happening, or what this woman was actually offering. The one and only thing she did know, was certain of, is that where Cael went, she was going.

As she steps toward Cael in this realm, there is a flickering over her form and she is forced in midstep to stop. One small moment, her head lowers slightly as her eyes close and then it passes and she moves to stand by Cael.

"Where Cael goes," she says softly. "I go. Has always been that way, will always be that way." With one last glance toward Jon, toward the world of the living, then she takes Cael's other hand in her own. It would have been nice to say good-bye to Sara in person, but Witchblade had promised to tell her.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Alya nods, as if this were the only reasonable course of action, and turns to lead the two through the door in the wall. Beyond is a place Cael has seen before: the first stage of the road that commoners take through Duat. "Cael it is, then. You are a good friend, Alis Swain"

    A sigh. "Death is rarely fair, and while I am told there are those who come to their deaths without argument or pain, /I/ have certainly never met one." A pause, and a smirk. "Well, there is one, but he's a rather unique case. But, then, even taking on the guidance of all the souls who come to Duat, rather than just the kings, I have very few to guide these days. More people believe in the gods of Kemet, but still far fewer than when all this was put in place." She waves a hand at the Underworld through which they travel. "If Khonshu's avatar didn't come this way regularly I'd have hardly anything to do."

    She looks to Cael. "I was younger than you are now when I died. My predecessor escorted me, her last duty, but I tried to refuse, tried to bargain. I screamed and yelled, insisted she let me go back to my body. I'd just given birth, after all, and Jon was so terribly frightened, and I thought he'd be a bad father. I'm thankful I was wrong about that." She /does/ sound like Jon, though there are differences in their accents. Still, 'English' would be a good guess.

    "Do you have any questions? Either of you? This should be a fairly easy journey, comparatively. Your group already defeated the guardians the last time."

Marc Spector has posed:
    The Hall of Flame is not much different than it was the last time Cael traversed it. Except. Where is the salamander that guards the path and why was the gate opened to her? The flames licked the outer edges of the path befor them, climbing the walls and covering the ceiling.

    The previous time, when she was here with Lydia, and Phoebe, and Caitlin Fairchild, there was discomfort in the flames. But now, they're more like a warming hearth than a testament of agony.

    And the guardian of the Gate of flame is no where in sight until they reach the final steps toward the archway. It glows orange with the heat of the fire around but the portcullis itself is clear. A low hiss comes from nearby and there the 15 foot crocodile of fire stands, crouched and ready to attack any it has not truly tested.

    A sudden epiphany is made clear. Cael has already made this journey. Her spirit, even if encased in her body at the time, has passed this trial and others before. She is free to proceed to the final place of judgement without error. At least, as far as this gate (and its guardian) are concerned.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael embraces Alis tightly when the other girl joins her, tears streaking down her cheeks. This was wrong - but it had been wrong with Alis died, as well. So very wrong. "We're sisters," Cael says fiercely.
    Despite her decision to leave, her gaze turns to Jon one more time, with regret and desperate longing in her gaze. "I love you, Jonathan Sims. And I'll see you again. This isn't goodbye." Please don't let it be goodbye.
    She turns then, taking Alis's hand befoe the pair walk through the doorway together, following Alya's footsteps - into the hall of fire she remembers from her last journey through these lands. "I thought- well. I thought the King got a guide, and the common people did not?" she asks as they walk. "...or was it more that we weren't really meant to be here?" She eyes the great lizard with uncertainty for a moment - before walking past it, and towards the next challenge. Hadn't it been ice next?

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Alis accepts, it's that simple. None of this makes sense to her, and part of it are actually both terrifying and hysterically funny to her at the same time. She'd been dead a while now, so that part of it wasn't a shocker to her, and Cael had been here before so it made sense that she wasn't freaked out by the fifteen foot lizard... thing. This teen doesn't know a croc from an alligator from a Gila monster.

Clinging to Cael as they move through the fire and then onward, she stares around her in wonder. "If I didn't know I was dead, I'd say I was tripping balls on something," she mutters quietly toward Cael. "Is this how it's supposed to be? No, never mind... I don't need to know the answer to that."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Alya snaps and points at Cael, far too much like a modern woman than a psychopomp. "That's it exactly. You were /alive/. You were not astrally projecting, either. You came through the gates of Duat bodily, and that makes all the difference." She pauses, glancing between the two. "Every soul gets a guide. Every soul is equal, in that sense. Even you, Alis, must have had a guide appear when you died, though you may not remember."

    She strides confidently past the guardian and on through the gate. "The difference between the Road of Kings and the road the commoners take is that... well, for one, it used to be that the Avatar of Sekhmet guided the Kings and the commoners got someone else, not so important." She smirks. "But also... the King merges with Osiris, and takes his place until the next King comes along. He then continues to act as the Avatar of the Sun through the Underworld every day, ensuring that Duat sees the light it needs. The King puts off the joy of paradise in order to serve his people for a little while longer, until his successor comes to take the burden of the crown from him for good. Osiris was /quite/ put out when Jon didn't actually merge with him. The guy's been down here for a while. He'd really like to move onto the Field of Reeds for his promised reward before going back into the cycle."

    She looks to Alis, then, curiously. "Is it all that strange? I don't think so. To my ancestors, this was all to be expected. How much stranger I always found the idea of angels and demons. All those depictions of Hell like some kind of medieval torture porn, and 'Paradise' is... what, standing around strumming a harp all day?" She snorts. "No thanks. I have a job that I enjoy, I meet interesting people at a key point in their souls' journey, and when it's done I get to go be with my loved ones. And crocodiles, lions, hippos, those are /real/ creatures. Who ever saw a red-skinned man with horns and hooves? Why is /that/ so much less the product of 'tripping balls?'"

Marc Spector has posed:
    The path beyond the hall of fire is the same great expanse of sand that was traversed the last time. The Sahara times infintity. The great desert, with its winding path among the dunes of yore, leads to the great shimmering temple of ice. Before the ice and cold had been obdurate and uncomfortable. Now however, they are like a chill breeze on the hottest of days. A respite from the labors and hardship before.

    The great doors of the temple stand open before her. It's all as if nothing has changed since she was here last. The interior provides more evidence to this fact. The damage to the temple's guardian remains the same and the lion of ice still waits in bindings of golden light. Forever locked as it was when Cael faced it before even if the mage that placed that hex on it is no longer in attendance in the underworld.

    The gate of ice, like it's predecessor is not barred to her path. And just like the gate of flame, nothing moves to harass her as she passes into the next realm.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Egypt's a weird place. And hopefully we won't be seeing the lippodile on this trip..." They would pass. They would both pass the weighing. ...wouldn't they?
    As Alya speaks, and they walk over the sands, and towards the temple of ice, Cael feels a sharp pang of doubt in her chest. "When Jon finally dies- will he be expected to take Osiris' place?" she asks uncertainly. "If he's still considered a King then- he won't come to the Field of Reeds after all. Not for a long time." Please, don't let it be goodbye. She glances uncertainly back the way they came - but how could she possibly find her way back? Would Jon even want her to?
    She doubts that very much.
    Despite her briefly faltering steps, she continues forward - past the lion, and whispers a warning to her sister. "The next room is very bloody. Hopefully the fucking murderous water horse isn't there. Hippos are basically the worst."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Alis snerks out, "If I saw a red man with horns and hoofs, I'd think I was tripping balls with that too. None of this makes sense, and none of the whole heaven and hell thing makes sense, and this is coming from a been dead a while, seen a lot of things, teen."

It's only then that she looks toward Alya. "I don't remember a guide, or anything about the moment of my death. I remember the pain of being shot and then being a ghost linked to Cael. If there was something more," she shrugs and leaves it there.

In the years that she had followed Cael in silence, watching her sister move through life, never once has Alis bothered to think about the how or why if it all. It seemed like an incredible waste of time to linger on those questions when she had been convinced there were no answers to be found. Instead she'd devoted her time to exploring, watching people, and being with Cael.. even if she wasn't really with her until more recently. Honestly, she had no idea what came next. Did she cease to exit entirely? Was that what this trip was about?

As Cael whispers the warning she offers a nod and a quiet, "Blood isn't scary." She has no idea about the water horses, really it would just add one more mental giggle to the whole situation.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "The official line is that hippos are lovely creatures worthy of worship, but I agree--hippos are the /worst/." Alya rolls her eyes, clearly speaking on her own behalf for a moment and not as Sekhmet.

    Then, "No. If he had merged with Osiris when he first came, he would have had to do that work until another came along. That's what he was about to agree to when you arrived. He /might/ have to serve a stint judging souls as Ma'at, but it's a bit of an odd case. It used to be that the king was Ma'at's avatar in the world of the living--he decreed with his mouth the /ma'at/ that he conceived in his heart. But that is, obviously, no longer the case. Jon is no longer considered a King--he is something beyond that, now. He is the Avatar of Order itself. I actually find it more likely he will outlive most of those he knows and loves, besides Agnes, pass the Archive to her when Martin is gone, and focus the whole of his efforts on restoring balance in the wake of the changes you made. When that is done, he'll come down here for good."

    She shrugs. "Or maybe I'm wrong. Like I said, it's an odd case. But even if he did serve in the court, it'd be more like a job he goes to than what he does all day." She smiles at Cael. "You're worried about missing him. Don't be. The pain will fade, in time. I have never met my daughter, but the pain of missing her is a dull ache. I know she will join me some day, and there will be uncounted years to spend together before we both move on. Not much /happens/ to the dead, but we have eons in which to experience what does happen."

    She regards Alis thoughtfully for a moment. "You probably don't remember because you /are/ a ghost. You denied whoever came to you--Death Herself, probably, if you didn't believe in anything else. And that's pretty much that, until you move on. And all souls do. Even Her Son cannot hold the souls he's got locked up forever, even if it's only at the end of this universe."

Marc Spector has posed:
    The path of blood is as crimson soaked and iron scented as before. But the great hippo is nowhere to be seen. Lady Death's destruction of it seemed to be absolute for Cael, Alis, and their companion and guide. The oppressive nature of the realm seems to have been replaced with a calm sense of repose. A place of meditation on what was and what has been. A moment of self-reflection before facing the forty-two assessors of Ma'at.

    The gate itself drips blood in a continuous and steady pace but it is opened as the previous have been. All that is left are the great doors of the Hall of Judgement. They are closed for the moment, only opening to those who pass through the Gate of Blood and are deemed truly worthy to stand before the Eternal Pharoh and his subjects.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I want them to live a long, and happy life. Of course I do. And... I won't be alone." She looks aside at her sister with a small smile, still holding tightly to her hand. Alis' company made this more bearable, that was for certain.
    "Will they know I'm in Duat waiting for them? Is there a way to tell them that? I think they'll need to know that. I think it would help."
    Honestly - she's relieved the hippo is gone. She didn't like that creature. She stops, however, before the gates - looking at them and trying to let the calm fill her. "Jon thinks I've done enough to balance the scales. They think I'll pass. ...I hope their faith isn't misplaced."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Alis frowns, left eye twitching. "He doesn't have anyone locked up," she corrects. "Yee stays to help Sara, and me... he offered me a chance to be seen, to talk to Cael. I wasn't going to pass that up. He protected us, but... he let me go, and he'll let Yee go when he's ready. He's not keeping prisoners, in fact... we were the only two." She had to defend him, it felt right because he'd helped her and Cael when no one else could, and she knew him. Sharing your energy and existence with someone was rather intimate, you get to know the entity your doing it with.

"You said blood," she whispers as she looks around at the newest location. "You didn't lie."

===============================================================================

Just a few more blocks, Sara's heart pounding harder in her chest from panic than the exertion. The bracelet had already wrapped up and around into the gauntlet on her right hand, giving her the endurance and speed boost she required, but it still felt like her heart was in the throat.

She'd known Cael just over a year, had been her roommate for a little less then that, but she was family... she was a sister, even if Cael herself never once would admit it. After everything the woman had been through, to be shot on her way home, the thought enraged Witchblade, but Sara was caught in the pain, the horror if losing another partner. If it hadn't been for the fact she was basically letting Witchblade drive, she likely would have lost her shit all over the sidewalk.

In the distance she could see Jon and Cael's shapes, not clearly but it was enough to force her into an even faster run... just a little further.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Alya nods to Alis, relenting to her knowledge of Witchblade. Then she regards Cael quietly for a moment. "I can try to send a dream to Agnes," she says in her own voice, not resonating with the power of the goddess. "I can't promise she'll interpret it correctly, but she's a smart girl. I'll do what I can."

    She reaches over, then, to grasp Cael's arm lightly, reassuringly. "The worst that happens if your heart is too heavy, now, is that there's some pain and then you go back into the cycle. You will no longer be Cael Becker--but you will /be/. This is the thing I can only tell those who have walked this road as one dead--no soul is ever destroyed, and no soul is ever beyoned redemption. Even the worst can be scoured of their sins and sent back anew, though that might take a /long/ time, and they will no longer be the people they were." She smiles, a bit sadly. "If it is fated, you will meet those you love again, in another way, another life. The best advice that I can give is that you answer the Assessors of Ma'at truthfully--or rather, that you only speak to those things you are certain you haven't done. Thoth will guide you in what to say."

    Then, again in her own voice, "But between you and me--I wouldn't worry /too/ much. I doubt she'd have chosen an avatar who'd fall in love with someone totally unworthy." She winks at Cael.

    Then, once she's sure that Cael is ready, she steps on over the threshold and into the Hall of Judgement. As she steps in she calls out in a ringing voice, "Hail, Lord Osiris, ruler of the Underworld. Hail Anubis, who is Anpu, Lord of the Sacred Land. Hail Ma'at, Lady of Truth. Hail Thoth, Scribe and Advocate. I bring forth those who are to be weighed and judged."

---

    In the world of the living, where time moves at a different rate than for the dead, Jon is having trouble breathing, he's crying so hard. Alis disappearing tells him that she's /gone/. His wings reflexively fold around Cael, like he could somehow protect them both from what's happened with those wings. At the very least, it's going to keep Bear away. He whines irritably as he tries to reach his person's face, and settles for licking at her hand, fallen out of the protective circle of Jon's wings. Poor pup.

    "I'm sorry," they manage. "I'm sorry. I should've--I can't--" Sobs wrack them again. "I'm sorry. Come back. Please, come back." Some stubborn part of them still holds the water in place over Cael's neck, like that's going to help. There's no natural process to heal anymore. At least it's sealing the wound.

    ~Ay, mariposas, don't you hold on too tight...~ Jon can't get more than the one line out before breaking down in silent sobs, pressing his forehead to Cael's.

Marc Spector has posed:
    The Hall of Judgement is as it was before, with two exceptions. Before, there had been only three gods standing before the one being judged. Now, there are five. Osiris, the great Pharoh presides over all on his throne. His arms are crossed before his mummified form; one holds a crook, the other a flail. His kohl darkened eyes stare impassively over the proceedings of this hall.

    Before him stand to figures on a raised dias. Ma'at is one, the red sheathe dress is flawless on her form. The crown with the feather of her namesake looks incredibly like the one Jon wears in his full station (because it's the very same one) and her arms, adorned with wings with feathers a variety of colors, carry an ankh in one hand and a staff in the other. Next to her is the jackal headed god, Anubis. The judge of those who find themselves in this Hall. He carries one thing: a pair of scales.

    Behind him is the massive chimera Ammit. The Devourer. Should Cael and Alis fail... their souls will be given to the massive lippodile where they will be digested in agony before being spun out again into the cycle. Before the dias stands the Ibis headed god, Thoth. He too carries a staff and ankh, not unlike his wife before him.

    The woman, ibis, and jackal's eyes fall on the trio entering the hall and silence reigns. It is Anubis who breaks the silence. "What is -she- doing here?" he asks, his free hand directing a dark clawed finger at Alis. "The rule of this Hall is one Judgement for one Heart." He narrows his eyes at Alya. "This is most unusual, Sekhmet."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael steps into the hall, her gaze tracking over each of those present - lingering on Thoth, and traveling over to Ammit. "That's the, uhh... lippodile. She, I think? ...eats our hearts if we fail to prove ourselves worthy. We have to, uhh, testify to the sins we //haven't// committed in life to prove our worth," she explains in a soft voice. Cael is not an expert in these things - but she's heard and experienced enough of the Egyptian afterlife to know these things.
    At Alis's presence being questioned, she holds all the tighter to her sister's hand - her jaw tightening, and a determined expression on her features.
    "We go together," she explains flatly.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
A feeling of awe and terror washes over Alis. She's not the most educated, and had no idea about this setting, but something about those standing before them gives the long dead teen pause. All the joking slips slowly from her as she is called out by Anubis, that one she knew.

Stepping in closer to Cael, her own grip on her sister's hand tightening, she looks up at a God... a real, in the flesh God and repeats what Cael said, "We go together." then adds, "We always have."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Alya coughs. "It's, uhh, a bit of an unusual circumstance, Lord Anubis. The spirit was attached to her already and--"

    Ma'at cuts in, her voice firm, though kinder than Anubis' tone. "Do not dissemble, Guide of the Dead. You could have brought them both separately, one and then the other. You brought them here at the same time for a purpose. What purpose is that?"

    Alya glances over at Cael and Alis, then sighs and turns back, straightening her shoulders. "This fate is unkind," he says, speaking in her own voice. "No, it's... it's /wrong/. Cael Becker saved the universe, and she gets, what, a few weeks to enjoy that? She doesn't have to die. Five more minutes, and there will be someone there who can heal the wound. I couldn't just leave her up there to wait, because you'd already sent me to collect her, but maybe..."

    She turns and looks to Alis. "Maybe you can step in before she does, and give the holder of the Witchblade time enough to get there. Time enough to save her life. A chance to... to live. I'm sorry, and you don't have to. The choice is yours. If nothing else... you go together, and I figure then... at least I can tell Jon you /are/ together."

    She looks back to the gods, almost pleading. "I... I couldn't just... he's my /friend/. I couldn't stand to just watch his heart breaking and not do /something/!"

    Ma'at merely nods. "I suspected as much. I will admit, my avatar may not be... functional with this event. I was not best pleased myself, that the guide was sent so early." Her gaze slides over to Osiris, and a single eyebrow raises, an odd mirroring of an expression Jon makes regularly.

Marc Spector has posed:
    Osiris for his part meets Ma'at's gaze with a completely innocent look. This was not some test to see how his servants would adapt to unexpected changes to the natural order or anything; was it? He turns to look at the figures standing before him and waits.

    Thoth speaks up. His voice is a resonant and clear tenor in tone with diction that is crisp and unmarred despite his ibis face. "I will state that the position of The Archivist has been through enough trauma and inordinate pressure of late. To force more on them in such a way would be... ill advised and show a great deal of disrepect for the position in the eyes of the gods, I would think." He blinks at Anubis and Osiris. "They have not performed inadequately in your eyes Great Pharaoh and Judge... have they?" he asks.

    Anubis shakes with barely contained rage before Osiris speaks. The crook extends and he says in a deep and powerful voice. "I WILL ALLOW IT." His declaration shakes the foundation of the Hall and silence reigns after the pronouncment.

    Thoth nods and takes it in stride before turning to Alis, Cael, and Alya. "Wonderful. Now... you have been given a choice young, Miss Swain. The decision is on you. Will you stand in and face Judgement to buy time for your sister to perhaps have a chance to return to the world of the living?" A glance is given to Alya. "If Atum's charge can manage to get there in time, she may yet have more time to live the life intended."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael leans into her sister reassuringly, giving her a brief, small smile - that changes to surprise as her gaze fixes on Alya instead. "There's a chance I could-" She could go back? To Jon?
    Her gaze flicks between the various Gods - hope and anxiety warring on her features, as she holds Alis's hand in an almost painful grip. As the final decision is rendered, she turns to stand in front of her sister, watching her with uncertain eyes. "It's your call," she tells her. "Do we stay together? Or... will you wait for me here?"

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Alis listened as the conversation continued, her head turning to look at each god as they spoke, but really her mind was stuck on the one thing Alya said, 'give the holder of the Witchblade time enough to get there, time enough to save Cael.'s life.' Those words ran through her head over and over and over again like a broken record. There was a chance to save Cael., this didn't have to end with her sister dead, an unjustified death could be stopped.

It wasn't until Thoth stepped over that she looks up at his face, and her eyes finally focus on the here and now, on him. "Sara will get there in time," she says bluntly, then she turns to Cael. "Witchblade will make sure of it. They love Cael, they'll stop at nothing to make sure she's okay." Blind faith in Sara, and in Withcblade, but Alis had been a part of the artifact, she knew what he was capable of and she knew he would do everything in his power to save Cael.

"I've loved you as my sister for most of life Cael," she says first, a sad smile settling on her face. "And I kept right on loving you into death. Maybe it was me to who told my guide to fuck off, I don't remember doing it, but you and I both know it's something I'd do. I'd do anything for you."

Stepping in to wrap both arms around Cael and give her a close, firm hug, to just hold her one more time, her eyes begin to tear up. She'd already made her decision, the minute Alya said it, she knew what she had to do. It hurt, it was terrifying, but she knew it was the right thing to do. "I'm going to do this for you and Jon, alright? I don't want you to feel bad or guilty... /this/ is why I didn't go on when I died. This is the reason I've been with you, been linked to you, I can /feel/ it," she whispers to Cael, then steps back with a few tears rolling down her cheeks but a smile on her face.

Keeping hold of one of Cael's hands, the teen sniffles a little but continues speaking. "I will wait for you. Knowing that we'll be together again some day, that's... wonderful to me, didn't know that could happen. I'll miss you like hell, but I'll be here when your /real/ time comes when you're old and grey, okay? So don't worry about me."

"Promise me that you'll /really/ try to stop locking yourself away, and you'll try to find a little of that joy you used to have when we were kids. Promise you'll try to be more open, friendly and accepting Cael, you'll find the world still has good in it," she goes on, knowing full well it's a lot to ask but hoping it was something Cael could and would do. "I know you feel like the whole world is a hateful place, and everything is out to get you, but you have a /real/ family now. You have Jon and Sara, and they aren't going anywhere... so please, for me, just promise you'll try."

She finally releases Cael's hand, wipes away the tears on her cheeks and turns back to Thoth. She may have died a teenager, but she knew in her heart and soul that this was the reason she had died when she did, and the reason she was a ghost. "So... what happens next, Mr Thoth? I'm ready to do what it takes."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Some hidden tension runs out of Alya when Alis agrees, and her shoulders sag. She's going to have to pay for breaking the rules, and better that that payment is given when the meddling /worked/. She steps forward a little, to stand next to Alis more particularly, almost shielding Cael from the sight of the gods.

    Ma'at, for her part, swings that teal-eyed gaze toward Anubis, both eyebrow's raising this time, as if daring him to object. But she says nothing. Her duties here are clear.

Marc Spector has posed:
    Thoth moves to stand opposite of Alya, flanking Alis on either side. "Now you will progess into the Assessment of Truth, or -ma'at-. After displaying your honesty, your heart will be weighed against a feather of her plumage" the ibis-headed god replies.

    "Should it be lighter than her feather, you will pass into the next cycle without requiring absolution. But should it be heavier..." he glances to the massive lippodile-chimera seated next to Anubis. "Your sould will be fed to The Devourer and through that suffering you will be absolved of the transgressions against others you have made in life and then placed upon the cyle of renewal and rebirth."

    He places a gentle, if large, hand on the young woman's shoulder. "Do not worry." He looks to Alya, "Sekmet and I will both be here to help ensure your words stay true and you speak nothing in error. I am certain you will do fine."

    He stops Alis before a small dais and releases her before stepping before it. He clears his throat and addresses Anubis and Ma'at with a clear resonant call. "One comes forth to be Assessed by the forty-two. Will the great gods hear the confessions of Alis Swain?" He looks between the trio of gods and awaits their response.

    Anubis glowers at Ma'at and then at Thoth for a moment before he replies. "The assessors will hear the confessions of Alis Swain. Step forth and begin your confession so that you can be judged by what you have done against your fellows." It's clear the jackal headed god is more than mildly irritated by the disruption of proceedings but he is focused on keeping what decorum he can despite the unnatural nature of the current events.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Tears spring to Cael's eyes, as well, as she hugs her sister tightly, and fiercely to her. This was the last time she would hug her sister. Well... the last time for a long time. "I love you," she whispers back. "I love you, Alis."
    As Alis pulls away, she's reluctant to let her go, and clings tightly to her hand. "I know now... that I'm not alone. I do have a family. We'll look after each other, and I swear... I'm going to keep getting better. I'll miss you - of course I will - but... I won't be alone. I'll live my life, and I'll see you again, someday." Reaching up to wipe at her eyes she adds, "I'll tell Jon and Sara you said goodbye. Yeah? And I'll give Bear a few extra treats from you."
    As Alis steps away, Cael squeezes her hand more tightly - before slowly releasing it, letting her fingers brush over the skin of Alis's hand until contact was finally broken. She drops her hand to her side, slowly and reluctantly, watching helplessly as her sister faced judgement.
    Alis had broken laws in her young life... But she hadn't done anything //awful,// right? Her heart would pass. It had to.
    "The feather is heavy," she says abruptly, attempting to reassure her sister - as the thought of weighing something against a //feather// must be overwhelming to the unitiated - and it's impossible to say which if any of her discussions with Jon on the subject she might have overheard.
    After that, she falls silent - knowing she isn't meant to be drawing attention to herself in this moment.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Yes, Alis was scared. She wasn't certain of anything that would happen, but the idea of being eaten for sins and spit out later as not herself was the single most terrifying thing said. She stood tall at the small dias, watching gods. In any other situation she would question how they were gods, were they really gods, but in this situation... it was obvious they were gods and that was also scary. This whole thing... a test of bravery for a teenager whose life was cut short.

"Okay, uh..." she shifts slightly, chewing at her bottom lip. Some of the these sins were obvious in what they meant, and whether she'd done them or not. Some made her internally question how that was even important, but it was and she knew if she'd done them or not. One in particular made her start giggling, followed by a few more that made the giggling worse.

"Fornicated with a fornicator," she mutter-whisper-snerk-giggles, then the whole no intercourse with a married woman and wrongly copulating, the giggle fit is full on and very real. After all, at her heart she's still a kid, just a teenager, so to be standing in front of gods about to tell them whether or not she'd ever had sex... yeah, complete and total giggle fit.

"Uh, okay, here we go." She manages to get herself out of the giggling fit, but she's still grinning over it. "I've never robbed, or slain people. I've never destroyed food offerings or reduced measures. I've never stolen god's property, brought lawsuits, or disputed the king."

Really some of these just made her brain hurt. Where she grew up there was supposedly only one god, the christian god, and there certainly wasn't a king, that was England, so she decided these things had to have something to do with the past. Some old, old, really old rules and laws.

"I have not struck terror and I've never been violent. I've never cursed a god or harmed bread-rations of the gods. I have no idea what khenfu cakes are, but I haven't stolen them from anyone, not blessed or youth literally no one, nor have I uh... fettered the god of my town, or slain sacred cattle." A mental image of chasing cows around Phoenix passes through her head and she snerks again, clears her throat and prepares for the last part.

She'd made it this far and now the giggling threatens to strike again. The last sins to cover, coupled with chasing cows in Phoenix in her head, the threat is so real. She has no choice, she starts talking faster to get the last ones out. "I've never had intercourse of any kind, with one, ever, married or otherwise, which means I never fornicated with a fornicator or wrongly copulated." She had to say the words specifically but she made it through and she starts giggling again. Maybe the gods would be lenient on the poor kid.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    The Assessors of Ma'at to whom Alis presents her negative declarations don't really react to the giggling. Surely there have been children down here before, and surely there have been children old enough to know what these things are and young enough to find them funny. People are people, after all, even with millenia separating them. They merely record each answer, quietly, as Alis goes down the list. Ma'at, for her part, smiles ever-so-slightly as Alis starts to giggle. Not so much finding the statements funny as finding Alis' reactions funny.

    With Thoth standing beside Alis and Alya's role therefore mostly done--presuming Cael doesn't have to get judged--the auburn-haired woman falls back to stand beside the blonde and turns to her. The avatar of Sekhmet grasps the other woman's hands and looks at her sharply; she's tall for a woman, so she's looking down, but it's not looming so much as intense and direct. "You're good for Jon," she says. "I don't know if even Martin could've gotten him to break out of that foolish cycle of self-doubt that would have kept him down here. And I think he's good for you. Already you seem... lighter than when I saw you last." A bright smile, that might remind Cael of Agnes for a moment.

    Then it sobers, and she says, earnestly, "I need you to take a message to him. Tell Jon..." She hesitates, glancing around at the gods, busy with watching Alis' judgement. Then she lowers her voice to a whisper. "Tell Jon that there's something wrong with the sun. Tell him that it's trying to darken the light of the moon."

Marc Spector has posed:
    Anubis for his part continues to glower as the teenager falls into giggling. The jackal god of judgement is not amused by any of the natural reactions from teens or children through these proceedings. Still, he keeps his displeasure silent as the young woman finishes.

    When he speaks it is with authoritative command and the cadence of a rote. "It is concluded. Now we will weigh your heart and see whether your soul will find rest or require purification in the maw of Ammit." He holds out his free hand and a human heart materializes in his palm.

    The heart is placed on the right scale forcing the balance that had been to shift abjuptly to the right, drawing the tray down as it awaits the feather in its left tray. "Your heart is quite heavy, Alis Swain" he says forebodingly.

    Thoth places that same gentle large hand on the woman's shoulder and rebutes the jackal-head dog with his own comment, "No heavier than many who have passed through into gentle respite, Great Judge."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael tries to look calm and confident. She has to believe that Alis will pass - that Alis will succeed, and they will meet again. Believing anything else hurt too much. Her gaze remains so intently locked onto her sister, that she doesn't seem to register Alya moving away from the teen, and towards her own position a few steps away. A smile of her own crosses her lips at Alis' reaction to some of the sins - and she glances at her hand with some surprise as Alya grasps it, before looking towards the woman.
    "Darken the light of the moon?" she repeats quietly, trying to make sense of that statement. What was it Jon had told her recently? About another avatar? A 'something' //Ra//. "Is this about the man who drank Agnes blood? And his friend the Moo-"
    She cuts herself off as she sees Alis' heart being placed on the scale, and hears Anubis' foreboding words. Fear clutches at her chest, and she grips Alya's hand tightly as she stares at the proceedings.
    Oh please... Alis wasn't a //bad// person...

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Anubis was a scary bastard, that much Alis figured out. He likely wanted her to get eaten by that lapododdle, or whatever it was. She didn't know his purpose to the Egyptian pantheon, just knew he was scary, and mean... not that she'd say that. She stood there watching him, not flinching, even when a human heart appeared in his hand and is placed in the scale.

Of course it was heavy, it was by itself, that is the thought that crosses her mind. Then Thoth places a hand on her shoulder and she looks up at him. He seemed nice enough, definitely helpful, but was her short life so filled with things horrible enough that she needed to get eaten?

Sara Pezzini has posed:
It felt like it was taking forever, to get from the apartment to where Cael had been shot, but the reality was it was only a few minutes. By the time Sara could see Jon holding Cael, the pounding of her heart was the only sound she could hear. She couldn't lose another partner, it didn't matter if she had to burn through every ounce of her own and Witchblade's energy, she /would/ not lose Cael.

Sliding to a stop on the concrete, nearly slamming into Jon as she does, she reaches with her left to yank one of his wings out and away so she could get to Cael. The right gauntleted hand is already reaching toward her friend's chest, the red stone already a swirling and flaming of red, the eye open and powering.

"I got this Jon," she nearly yells, the panic starting to set in now that she was actually there and could see the damage done. Anger was the second emotion ripping through her, near blind rage that someone would do this to Cael, but she had to keep those things shoved down.

Cael was dead. Her heart had already stopped, Witchblade could sense this the second he was on her chest. He had no way of knowing how long it had been unbeating, and he didn't care, he would try.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
It felt like it was taking forever, to get from the apartment to where Cael had been shot, but the reality was it was only a few minutes. By the time Sara could see Jon holding Cael, the pounding of her heart was the only sound she could hear. She couldn't lose another partner, it didn't matter if she had to burn through every ounce of her own and Witchblade's energy, she /would/ not lose Cael.

Sliding to a stop on the concrete, nearly slamming into Jon as she does, she reaches with her left to yank one of his wings out and away so she could get to Cael. The right gauntleted hand is already reaching toward her friend's chest, the red stone already a swirling and flaming of red, the eye open and powering.

"I got this Jon," she nearly yells, the panic starting to set in now that she was actually there and could see the damage done. Anger was the second emotion ripping through her, near blind rage that someone would do this to Cael, but she had to keep those things shoved down.

Cael was dead. Her heart had already stopped, Witchblade could sense this the second he was on her chest. He had no way of knowing how long it had been unbeating, and he didn't care, he would try. He had been building up energy as Sara ran, calling up his own strength, preparing. The moment he was pressed against Cael's chest everything that he was, the natural energies of his very existence, and those that he had built up, were converted and released through the gauntlet as a soft glow that slowly, achingly so, began to spread across her body.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Ma'at gives Anubis a /look/. "Stop trying to scare the child. If she is judged worthy, then you have frightened a good person for nothing. If she is not, then your scorn is as nothing beside the pain she will shortly feel." She reaches over to her wing, plucking a feather from among the many there. Somehow, even with all the souls she's helped to weigh over the millenia, her wings never seem to become less full.

    Quite calmly, Ma'at holds out the feather to the jackal-headed god. "This petulant behavior you're exhibiting of late does not become you, Lord Anubis. I would remind you that it is no /mortal's/ fault that you no longer have primacy in this process." That has the tone of a sick burn, probably harsher if one had context.

    Alya squeezes Cael's hands. "I can say no more. I have faith in the living." A brief smile, and then she turns to regard the process of judgement. "Ma'at seems confident," she murmurs. "It'll be alright. I'm sure it will."

---

    Jon squawks in pain as his wing is yanked away, and looks up at Sara with a face already ravaged by grief, eyes reddened and cheeks covered by the tracks of tears. "It's too late," he says. "She's... she's..." He has to stop, choking on the sobs that well up. "She's /gone/," he manages.

    But he's still got the globe of magic water held over the wound as if it might help, and maybe if they're lucky it has. Maybe it's kept just enough energy and blood inside of Cael to give Witchblade what he needs to heal her. Jon doesn't get in Sara's way; he actually leans back a bit, to let the magic work, sniffling. He holds out no hope, because he cannot stand the idea of hoping and being disappointed. He hurts too much for that.

Marc Spector has posed:
    Anubis' dark fur obscured any sight of his skin but the expression he gives Ma'at is one that would accompany a blanching of facial color if he could do so. He swallows and seems to regain a moducum of composure as he takes the feather with stiff gestures. "We can agree at least in one respect..." he says as he places the feather on the left scale.

    The two trays tip back and forth, back and forth; the fate of Alis' soul hanging literally in the balance. Then slowly the left tray drops and stops, the feather drawing the weight of the scale to show it's mass is greater than the weight of the human's heart. "Your fate is decided" Anubis says, as the heart, feather, and scales all disppear. All signs of disdain and disrespect are gone in his tone and his expression. "Your passage into the afterlife will be peaceful and rest will be given before the cycle begins anew."

    He gives Cael and Alya a somewhat scathing look. "With King Osiris' leave we will permit a few moments for you to say your goodbyes before your sister joins you in the process." He looks back to the silent and impassive form of Osiris who gives a nod.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Relief floods Cael's face as the feather dips below Alis' heart, and she releases Alya's hand to throw herself towards the shorter girl, wrapping her in a tight hug. "I knew you'd be alright," she breathes - the relief in her tone demonstrating her words to be obviously false, as she clings tightly to her sister.
    "And I will be too. I will. I love you, Alis. Don't worry about me, okay? I'm going to be alright. Jon, and Sara, and me... We'll look after each other."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Alis turns just in time to sort of catch and hug Cael in return. She had just planned to look back with a victory smile, her heart was light enough after all, but there she was and Alis wasn't sorry. She had been just as worried about her fate as Cael has been, and though her sister almost made it believable that she was confident in Alis' heart weight, the teen was just as relieved as she was.

Hugging Cael close, she closes her eyes. She wasn't going to get eaten by a lippodile, she was going on in peace, and that meant Cael has a change to live. "I love you, Cael," she replies, the hug getting tighter before she kisses her sister on the cheek. "Live a long life, take care of Sara and Jon, and let them take care of you. You're strong, stronger than you think, but there's nothing wrong with being pampered by your family."

Another cheek kiss and she let's Cael go. "I'll be alright, you'll be alright, and I'll see you... just not too soon, got it?" She grins, though she does worry that she'll see Cael way too soon. She wants her sister to live a long, long life.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Alya steps back, smiling at the pair, folding her hands in front of her. She's done her job, and now it's up to other people.

    Ma'at steps forward, gesturing to a door that opens in the other side of the hall. "Beyond this door is the Field of Reeds. Each soul must continue alone, for there is a moment in which they must stand in isolation, alone with the universe." Alone with the entire universe? Odd statement, but there it is. "Whether or not Cael Becker is worthy to join you, you will know soon. Come."

    She glances up, and toward the doors behind Cael and Alya, where a brightness is growing, the light of the sun bringing life to this land of death. "Or perhaps," she murmurs, "we have bought you enough time." She focuses on Cael for a moment, eyes glittering. "Take good care of my avatar, hmm? And... thank you. Your actions have often surprised us, but you have changed the universe with sheer stubborn tenacity. Do not let them change you, up above. You have all the strength you need within yourself."

Marc Spector has posed:
    Anubis frowns at the growing light and sighs. "It would seem that your attempts at disruption of the normal process were successful, Sekmet" he says, his eyes narrowing on the red-haired woman. "Know that such actions do not come without punishment." He snaps his fingers and a pair of shackles lock over the woman's wrists.

    "Your position as Guide is too necessary for us to truly dismiss you, but we cannot allow transgressions against the laws to go without an example being made." He jerks his hand forward and the woman is dragged onto the dias that Alis just vacated.

    Cael, for her part can feel a tug in the middle of her chest. It's shallow at first, a quick prod. The next is stronger, a sharp deep thrumming in her center of mass. And then an even harder and more powerful jerk as her heart lurches into beating once more.

    Her form in the Hall starts to fade and the room inself grows dim as she starts to leave the realm of the Underworld.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Alis takes one last look toward Cael, then her attention goes to Ma'at as she speaks. What is meant to be alone with the universe she had no clue, but the idea of being alone at all was new. For as long as she could remember she has been with Cael, and even in death she had stayed and was never truly alone. It was frightening to think about, to be truly along, but perhaps the universe would talk to her and she wouldn't really be alone. After all, she was talking to gods, maybe the universe had a voice.

Stepping toward the door, she doesn't see the glow at first so much as feel it which causes her to stop and look back. The smile that spreads across her face is big, broad and beautiful. "YES! I knew he could do it!" she nearly screams, jumping once in that sort of victory move.

Knowing now that Cael would be alright, she just walks to the door and through it. Whatever would come next would come next... Cael was alive, that's all that mattered.

==============================================================================

Death. Some say it is the minute the heart stops, that blood stops being moved through the body and thus oxygen no longer gets to the muscles and organs. Others believe that death is better defined as the moment when the neurons in the brain stop firing, when the lack of oxygen is finally too much for the gray matter and it just stops.

Sara didn't really have time to consider either of those definitions. There was only one answer and that was that Cael was still alive, even if her heart had stopped. "It's never too late," she spits out, eyes focused on the red stone of the gauntlet. "Don't you dare give up, Jon."

Witchblade is a powerful artifact, born from the union of a god and goddess, he was filled with the power of the universe itself, but that did not mean he was the master of life and death. The dead he could call their spirits back, the living he could easily heal, but those in between like Cael was another matter entirely.

The glow continues to spread over Cael's body, starting out as a faint white and slowly shifting through the spectrum to a bright red, about the time her entire body is wrapped in the magical light. Sara's eyes close, her concentration given to Witchblade as he willing sacrificed waves and waves of his power, literally giving everything he has and is to heal Cael's broken body.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "That's the plan," Cael promises Alis. "Thank you... for everything. I'll be alright, I swear. We'll be alright." She clings tightly to her sister, not wanting to let go - but knowing that she must. She reluctantly loosens her grip as the teen starts to move away, a tear dripping down her cheek.
    Her attention splits briefly as Alya is shackled and pulled toward the dias, turning partially towards the woman. "Alya? Are you going to be alright?" she asks with concern - as something starts to tug at her chest.
    She doesn't understand it at first - and once she does, it's almost too late to say one last thing to her sister.
    "Alis, I lo-"
    She fades out of the realm of the dead, as she returns to her own body - her chest rising and falling without the labored struggle of moments before. With the exhale, comes a faint sound, as her eyes blink, and close. "-ove you."
    Her chest rises again - breathing easily, and evenly, as life returns to what had been an entirely still body.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon knows all too well that death is a continuum, that there are various definitions. Doctors have, in the past, called someone dead when they were merely unconscious. Not a terrible common thing anymore, but it happens. There's a reason people talk about someone dying as 'slipping away,' and in the very old and very sick it's a process that can actually take weeks. But at some point it becomes clear there's no way back, no way to reverse the process, save for divine intervention.

    Jon knows something about that 'point of no return.' He would probably argue, were he coherent and rational, that it really doesn't happen until the dead have both passed through the darkness and been judged. At that point--the point Alis has now reached--there is no turning back. Even Jon himself, brought back to life, left a piece of himself down in the Underworld. He is no longer the person he was; that man died, and was reborn as the avatar of Ma'at. It's why he takes issue, sometimes, with people making light of 'dying.' If they aren't leaving bits of themselves in the Underworld, were they truly dead?

    He doesn't know that Cael didn't go through the judgement; once he does he'll believe that she didn't /wholly/ die. Still, it's no mean feat to bring someone back from that point. Usually the intervention of gods is needed. Good thing they have one who cares enough about Cael and has the means and knowledge to heal her. He watches Witchblade healing Cael, knowing he shouldn't feel as much grief as he does. He /knows/ the afterlife exists, he knows where he's going--but, ahh, he doesn't know where /Cael's/ going. And even if he did, he doesn't know if Cael would pass the judgment. In spite of anything, it's possible that if she dies, then their time is over.

    Cael's eyes blink, and her chest starts to rise--and more importantly, to Jon's eyes, her aura flares back, even if it's weak. He gasps in joy and starts to sob again, with relief this time. He leans down and presses his lips to her forehead, kissing her, closing his eyes as his shoulders sag. She's alive.

    "Thank you," he says to Sara, and Witchblade. "And thank the gods she came back."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
The raise and fall of Cael's chest is felt by Sara and tears finally escape her eyes, rolling freely down her chest. Why Jon would thank her, she didn't know... she would have given herself over to keep Cael alive if she could. That should be common knowledge, but to his words she offers a nod.

Witchblade had pushed hard enough to exhaust himself, something Sara felt through her own body as a second breath is felt pulled into Cael's lungs. Only then, when that second breath occurs, does she lift the gauntlet off her friends chest and fall back into her ass beside her.

"Thank him," she breaths out, looking for all the world like she just ran some sort of marathon around the world... maybe twice. "He did the hard part."

Reaching over with her left hand, she brushes her fingers lightly over Cael's cheek, then takes the opportunity to do the one thing she never gets to do... she leans down and hugs her. Even though Cael is unconscious, the hug lasts only for a brief moment, a part of her brain screaming 'don't do that'.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Bear has been beside himself, licking desperately at Cael's hand - as worried by her strange stillness, as the obvious distress of Jon, and now Sara.
    As the mood shifts to relief, however, Bear's anxious whine dies out as he lets out a single bark, his entire body starting to wiggle with the strength of his wagging tail. He licks at Cael's hand again, and then at Sara, before going around Cael, to tuck himself under Jon's wing and arm. He licks Jon on the face, and then Cael gets the same treatment from the happy pooch.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "That's what I was... damn it, Bear!" Jon laughs shakily as the dog forces his way under arm and wing. "Stop, that's /gross/! Ugh, Cael's right, you're a /menace/."

    They sigh and lean away a bit to let Sara hug Cael, then say, "We need to get her to... the Trisk? She should be looked over medically, just to be sure she's... it's not that I don't trust Witchblade, because I do, but maybe she needs rest or... or something. I don't know." Look, they're a medical doctor, they're always more comfortable when medical professionals are involved.

    "I... I don't think... until we find the shooter, we should keep her somewhere safe." Anger flares in them suddenly, at the thought of /the shooter/. They can see, even now, the traces of the footsteps of the man, leading away from the place. That's a trail they can pick up later, however. This was a mortal; he can't leave Earth, so there's nowhere he can go that Ma'at can't track him down and bring him to justice.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
The mauling by Bear makes Sara laugh as she just accepts it, giving the big dog a pat on the back and a head scritch as he moves back to Cael.

"He knew where she lived," she breaths out, the rage starting to rise in her chest again. "I'm going to hunt the bastard down and..." follows that before she manages to bite back the anger. She was too tired, exhausted like Witchblade to think straight and threats meant nothing, they were words that shouldn't be said.

"If you want her to go to the Triskelion and get checked over, we'll take her there," she then says, certain she had her emotions back in check. She did want to hurt the man who shot Cael, but it needed to wait, and by the time it happened the rage would be down to anger and logic would return.

"I'm going to stay with here, where ever we take her," she adds, starting to make the attempt to pick herself up. "He'll be... asleep, that's the closest comparison I can think of, for a while."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    For a moment, Jon's eyes flare teal. "I will deal with him," they say, voice resonating in the alley with the fury of a goddess of justice. "I will track him down and take his statement and see to the disposition of his soul."

    Jon blinks, and shakes himself. Then he very deliberately pushes Ma'at away, wings disappearing and circlet fading. He pulls Cael close to his body and climbs to his feet. As he does so, something falls from around Cael's neck, a chain with a small gear on it, the chain now broken. Jon doesn't notice.

    "Can you grab my prosthetic? I had to drop it, to do the magic." He frowns. "I need to talk to Martin about..." A shake of the head. "Not important right now." Self-recrimination can come later.

    He swallows. "But... it'll be good for someone to be there while..." He glances off in the direction he can see the man's footsteps, glowing teal even now to his Sight. "Can't let him get on an airplane. I don't want to make a stink in Phoenix."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Checking her own steadiness, which seems good, Sara is caught off guard by the sudden change in Jon's voice. She could feel it, even with Witchblade in a haze, asleep as she put it, she could feel the power and anger. Her own matched it, Witchblade's matched it, she got it, and for the sake of love, she would step back and let Jon deal with it, if that's what he truly wanted.

"That feels a great deal like the rage inside of me," she offers quietly to Jon. "Just remember, you aren't alone."

Bending down she scoops up the arm, a small part of her brain actually considering using it to scratch her own back, but that was the loopey, the sensation of exhaustion from Witchblade. It would be funny, maybe save it for another time.

While bent over she spots something on the ground where Cael was, and her heart sinks. Reaching out she collects the gear necklace, choking back the need to start crying. She'd deal with that loss later, when she was alone. She may not have known Alis for long, but the ghost teen had been her student, an agent of SHIELD in training, and had been there when she was recovering from nearly dying. She was a friend, a sister, and now she was gone.

"Give me his name," she states as she steps closer to him. "The NYPD can put out a BOLO and he'll never make it out of the city. If I tag it 'Mystic Unit', they'll call me if they manage to catch him."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon frowns for a moment, looking down at Cael. Ever-so-gently, he skims her mind for the name of the killer, which he relays to Sara. "Javier Hernandez. One of the Alhambras. I don't... I don't have a visual or anything. But I'll find him." A pause. "I... I know I'm not alone, Sara. But what if there are others? And she shouldn't wake up alone. And..." And he isn't sure what he's going to do. Does he want someone else there, watching? Should he take someone with him, to be sure he doesn't go too far?

    A moment's focus, and then he opens a portal in the wall--which, wonder of wonders leads right to the Triskelion's Basement. He lets out a breath of relief. "Let's get her settled and then we can worry about... other things."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Staring at the necklace for a short time longer, Sara sighs and shoves it into her pants pockets. She's get the chain repaired and give it back to Cael when she could.

"Javier Hernandez," she repeats, slinging the extra arm onto her shoulder like an axe. To anyone watching it likely look ridiculous, but Sara was actually getting a slight giggle over it.

"Once we get Cael settled, I'll call it in," she then says, taking a quick look around before reaching down to grab Bear's leash to lead him through the portal as she goes.