deercountry | return those voices echoing in the sea (closed)

[ It's not the first time Ange is seeing this memory, she realises.

After all, she instantly knows which one this is, the moment she finds herself once more in that round room. The table standing in the middle of the parlor-like room again, the seats all around it.

Ange looks out over the people present in it. First the ones that don't seem to notice her. Like the woman in an ornate dress, her blonde hair done up and held up there with a big rose. Like the two seemingly younger girls standing there - who look like they can't be much older than maybe twelve years old, yet the look in their eyes doesn't suit their physical age. One is dressed entirely in pink, with candy-like decorations lining her dress, and the other has long blue hair and seems to have.. a cat tail?

Something about both the girls and the woman doesn't feel right. They seem very supernatural. (Ange knows why, of course. Knows that they're witches.)

The only two people who seem normal are on the other side of the room. There's Ange standing there - or rather, a version of her looking just slightly younger than the actual Ange standing here witnessing the memory - and on the seat she's standing next to is a young man, with hair and eyes the exact same shade as her.

.. there's one more person though, isn't there? Ange knows these memories by now. She is not witnessing it alone.

Perhaps that's why it's so unsurprising to find Willow next to her. ]

So you got drawn into my memory this time, huh..?

[Willow looks around the parlor room. The girls look young, but there's clearly power there, and what feels like an agelessness in their eyes she can't quite place. And... is that a cat tail? That's a new one to her, but there's enough strange about this scene that cat tail feels pretty low on the list.

She takes a moment to study Ange-The-Younger, and the young man who looks like he's probably related to her somehow, then turns her attention to Actual Ange who is apparently witnessing this memory right along side her.]

I guess so? What are we seeing here?

Well..

[ Ange's voice trails off, and she glances back at the scene around them, as if she has to consider that answer for a moment. Not because Ange doesn't want to tell Willow, though it would have been more convenient if the other wouldn't see this.

No, it's more just that it's hard to know where to even start explaining. ]

A lot. [ -- is therefore her entire first answer, for the lack of a better one. What they're seeing right now, is a lot. ]

This is the place in my world where witches play games. [ Perhaps it's the easiest to start there, considering the concept of witches is one of the things about her world she did tell Willow about. And a concept Willow understands well, even if she may find these perhaps different from the ones in her world. ]

That witch with the blonde hair.. The one that doesn't look as young. [ She points at the seated one with the elaborate dress, rather than the two younger-looking ones. ] She is playing a game with my brother, with the lives of our family at stake. She keeps murdering our family over and over, and she claims to have done it with her magic. If my brother could disprove that it was magic, then he'd win, and our family would get to return home. If he'd give in to the witch instead, she would win, and our family would be lost forever.

[ It's not hard to tell then that the guy who looks so much like Ange has to be said brother. They just look too much alike for it to not be the case. ]

That's some game...

[Willow thinks she vaguely remembers Ange telling her about that before - witches tormenting her family, and killing them over and over again just for fun. It's horrifying, and disgusting, and it's no wonder Ange had such a dim view of witches when they first met nearly a year ago.]

What are you two doing here now?

[ Ange's gaze flickers over to the other her and her brother. ]

A witch made me an offer. I could go back in time, join this game, and help save my family. So.. I did. That's why I'm right there, next to my brother. And I-- I get why I was needed. The witch showed my brother that his mother wasn't actually his mother at all, and it made him completely shut down.

[ That's visible as well, if Willow really looks over at the guy. There's something odd about his eyes - like all life inside of him is gone. Like his soul has totally left his body over this realisation.

And the Ange in the memory.. she seems to be trying to shake him out of it. Quite literally, too, since she's tightly clenching the fabric of the guy's suit in her fists as she speaks to him. The voice of the Ange in the memory is so much more emotional than Ange's usual tone - it's so desperate.

"For your mother's sake as well, don't lose your love over a foolish witch's rant like this! Your little sister is waiting at home for you to come back. If even you don't come back, she'll be all alone forever...! For your little sister's sake, please, win this witch's game...!"

The tone of the actual Ange though, when she speaks up right after the Ange in the memory stops talking for a moment, is much closer to her flat tone. Though she might be trying to suppress a bit more here in this moment. ]

.. When I joined the witch's game.. there was one condition. I couldn't tell him who I really was. That's why I told him to do it for his sister's sake, as if that wasn't me, right there next to him.

[This is hard to watch, and Willow can't help but look entirely sympathetic with the pair. Poor Ange, and her poor family too. They deserved so much better than this.]

And these witches, they did this... just for fun?

[It's horrifying and infuriating at the same time. She shakes her head, and looks to actual Ange. She has to turn away from the desperation in the memory's tone. There's not much to be done for it except let it play out.]

Did they mess with his memory or something to keep him from recognizing you?

No. It's just.. I went back in time by quite some years. [ Ange glances over at Willow as she speaks. It feels weirdly easier, looking at the other rather than at what's around them - mostly since it makes her forget what she is - not entirely voluntarily - sharing with the other through the memory that's playing out. ] Twelve years, to be exact. My big brother.. He just knew me as a little six year old girl, you know? There was no way he was just going to assume some practically adult girl suddenly joining a witch's game was his sister.

[ And it's true. The young man sitting there doesn't seem to recognize Ange in the slightest. Even when she's desperately protesting to him like that, he just shakes his head, seeming to nearly sob as he replies, "...That's right... I want to go home... I want to go home to Dad and Mom... and Ange... I've had enough... enough of this place... I've had enough of witches, I've had enough of games and murders... enough, enough..."

The real Ange's fist clenches at her side, but she tries to ignore the voice, tries to ignore the emotional pain it is in. It's still painful to hear, even now. Even though it's been years since this moment at this point. ]

But.. yeah. The witches in my world.. they think this is fun. Starting games with people's lives on the line. Making people miserable. They just want to stave off their boredom, without thinking about how it might hurt people.

That's, um. Probably a pretty reasonable assumption - I don't think I'd jump to that conclusion either. I'd probably go with it being some kind of trick.

[It's heartbreaking to hear the emotion in the poor young man's voice, and Willow sets a comforting hand on Ange's shoulder, and takes a deep breath.]

I'm sorry they put your family through this. This is really awful.

[ It is awful. It's why Ange doesn't say anything at first - because she agrees. Because there's really nothing else to be said about it.

It's just really awful. ]

I joined the game because I thought I could change things. I thought that if I'd just join in, if I'd just give my brother that extra little push.. he'd be able to win. He'd be able to bring our family home.

[ In front of them, the two people in the memory continue. That Ange speaking up to her brother, pleading, "You've had enough, right?! Then fight so that you can return to your family!! Destroy Beatrice and go home!!"

The man starts to shake his head, looking more agitated and upset with each passing moment, basically shouting when he says: "No, I've had enough of witches...! Enough of Beato, enough of everything, and even you're probably just another one of the witch's allies... I could be betrayed again at any time...!! I can't trust anything! Leave me alone, leave me alooone!" He raises his arms, pushing the Ange in the memory away.

But that Ange doesn't seem to give up. Instead she moves around him, so she's behind her brother, and then wraps her arms around him, clinging to him from behind like that.

The younger Ange in the memory starts to cry.

"Hurry and come home, big brother..! Don't leave me all alone! It's me, it's Ange...!! Dad and Mom and Onii-chan...no one came home!! I'm so lonely!! I beg you, come home quickly!"

The actual Ange manages to tear her gaze away from it all, looking over at Willow. ]

.. I was naive though. Of course my family couldn't come back to me. Even if my brother would win this game.. my family would return to me on that day. That day, that was already twelve years ago for me at that point. Without realising it.. I had already become the Ange from a world where no one comes home. [ She shakes her head. ] Even if they'd come home, they would come home to the Ange of a different timeline. One that was still six years old.

Edited 2021-12-23 22:30 (UTC)

[Time travel is tricky, and Ange's confusion makes perfect sense to Willow. She's had minimal experience with different timelines, and her experience has been the same as Ange's - it's like a different world all together as opposed to just altering a single universe. But it's not hard to see where the assumption would come from that it would be the latter.

She winces as the younger Ange in the memory reveals her identity to her brother - wasn't that a condition of the witches' game? That she not do exactly that?

Her tone is gentle as she speaks.]

I think I'd still want to help anyway - even if it doesn't change things for me, it might change them for someone else from another time and place.

.. yeah.

[ Ange nods as she takes in Willow's words. It's unsurprising to hear that the other would choose that, really. Willow has always been kind to her, and there's no doubt that Willow would be nice enough to want to help all the same, even if it wouldn't make this specific version of her happier.

The Ange in the memory keeps speaking, too. Still clinging to her older brother.

"That's right, I'm Ange!! The Ushiromiya Ange of a world where no one comes home...!! My entire family... never came home from Rokkenjima that day...!! The witch before your eyes stole away my whole family, even you, Onii-chan...!" ]

I thought so too. If I could at least make things better for another Ange, then.. that was fine with me.

[ Something shifts in the room though. As Ange's brother mumbles, "Beato did..?", someone else finally speaks up.

Not the two younger-looking girls, but the one that looks older, perhaps a little older than Ange or her brother look. The witch with the blonde hair sitting on the opposite end of the room, casually waving around a pipe.

"...Hmph, as she says. I will not run away or hide from it. I stole Ushiromiya Ange's family away from her." At first her tone is casual, but then a sneer appears on the witch's face as she cackles, speaking on. "Battler is my toy! His father and mother too, all of them are my toys.. I won't give them back to you. You may continue to wander alone forever, awaiting the return of your family that is never to be..!" ]

Sometimes it's hard not to want to help. Especially when the stakes are really personal.

[It's painful to watch, poor Ange, and her poor brother trying to cope with what these witches have done to their family, and how clear it is that they really don't care, or even give it a second thought.

She's seen a lot of terrible things in Sunnydale, but never anything like this. She's itching to intervene, but it's just a memory. There's nothing really that can be done here.]

What made them target your family?

That witch had a grudge against my brother. [ Honestly, Ange isn't sure if 'grudge' is the right word to use there, especially when she considers how things ended up later.. But it feels like the best word to use for now, without making things way too complicated. Maybe 'obsession' would've been the one alternative.. ]

The rest of my family was just collateral damage.

[ It feels cruel to say that.

But it's just the truth. And the truth is cruel, Ange thinks, as she watches the sight in front of them. She misses her family, but she's at least happy she could escape her world, if not just for that reason alone. ]

Oh...

[She wince in sympathy. A grudge can be a powerful motivator, she knows this from her own experiences. That the rest of her family got tangled up in it too just goes to show how serious a grudge it was.]

I'm sorry these witches are so terrible.

[ Honestly, even Willow just saying this much is a lot in its own way. After all, no one ever acknowledged as much in her world. It was just the way things were. These witches were so strong - it's not like any of them were able to do anything about it.

.. case in point. Willow might see something appearing behind the Ange in the memory, as that Ange is still clinging to her other brother. Various instruments are starting to hang in the air behind Ange, in all shapes and sizes. One reaches out, clamps down on Ange, and rips a piece of flesh, roughly the size of a thumb, right off her.

And then another does the same. And then another. And it just keeps going, slowly ripping bit by bit off Ange. ]

This.. was the punishment those witches gave me for revealing who I was to my brother, even though I wasn't allowed to. [ But she had no other choice. If she hadn't revealed it, she never would have been able to convince her brother to keep on going.

Even if it was at the cost of her own life. ]

I couldn't do a thing about it. I wasn't strong enough. .. None of us were.

Watch out!

[It's instinct to try to call a warning to the younger Ange, but of course, a useless gesture. She has to turn away as the instruments begin to attack - she can't watch her friend torn apart.]

You sacrificed yourself to try to help him...

[She frowns, she's fairly sure she would have done the same thing in Ange's shoes for someone she loved.]

If there's something I could have done - if I was there - I would have helped you. And him. For what it's worth.

I know.

[ It's said softly. What else can she say? She knows. Of course she knows. Everything she's seen from Willow, all the help the other has offered her, the concern Willow shows for other people.. It all makes it very clear that Willow isn't anything like the witches from Ange's world.

She's kind. She thinks of others, tries to help them. Willow isn't the sort of witch who would tear apart a young girl just because they think it's funny.

Glancing away from the horrible sight of what's happening to the memory's version of her, Ange gives Willow a very faint and wry smile. ]

But.. now you get it, right? Why I was so wary of witches at first.. Why I still am, in a way. [ Ange may trust the witches she's gotten to know so far, but.. new ones? She isn't so sure about that idea. ]

They only hurt people where I come from. They ruin lives for their own amusement. They killed my family.. and then they killed me.

[Willow nods. Of course she gets it, especially witnessing it first hand.]

Yeah, it's... not like this in my world. I mean, sure, there are some awful witches out there, but in my world, they're just... you know. People. People who happen to be able to do magic.

[She takes a deep breath.]

I know you said it was bad... I just didn't realize how bad. You, uh, came to Deerington after this, I'm guessing?

[ People who happen to be able to do magic sums up Willow perfectly in Ange's mind. The other really does seem like any normal person - just someone who also happens to be able to do magic at the same time. ]

No, not right after this. [ Though it hasn't been too long after this either.

But she knows that's not what Willow means. As Ange glances back at the way her other self is being torn apart over there, she knows Willow is assuming she died and then woke up in Deerington. ]

Another witch grabbed my consciousness and transfered it over to an alternate version of me.

[ .. Ange is well aware that a statement like that sounds Super Wild, but it's just the truth. ]

Those witches wouldn't let me go so easily, after all. Just dying once isn't good enough for them. They intend to wring every single drop of amusement they can get out of me.

Another witch? Like, not one of these three?

[Just how many witches kept harassing this poor family?

But yes, her assumption is that Ange wouldn't be able to survive being torn apart like this.]

How many times did they... you know?

[ She shakes her head. ]

This is the only time I remember incredibly clearly. [ Maybe because it had been the worst of all, maybe because of something to do with the witches, or just because it's memories of all these different timelines clashing inside of her head - Ange doesn't know why, she just knows this much. ] The other times are more.. vague.

[ Ange looks over at her other self in the memory.

There is now no longer anything left of her, other than a pile of mincemeat on the ground, half-buried underneath Ange's clothes. ]

.. it's fine though. I'm gone from it all now. Trench.. is my escape from this fate.

[Willow can't even bear to look at what remains of Ange in the memory on the ground, instead choosing to put her focus on the girl here with her. She reaches out to put a hand on Ange's shoulder.]

Look, I know Trench kind of sucks sometimes, but I'm glad you're here. With all of us. Instead of... Well, you know.

...

[ Ange pauses, and then she sucks in a breath. Something about it is a little shakey, and the fact that Willow can feel Ange is lightly trembling thanks to the contact with that hand on her shoulder only adds to it.

This isn't as easy for her to process as she might be trying to make it seem.

But it's not really the death in the memory she's processing. No, it's more just.. what Willow is telling her. ]

Thanks, Willow. I.. um.

[ Ange pauses, having to gather herself for a moment - if not just to prevent her from emotionally crumbling on the spot. ]

I really appreciate you going out of your way to say that. It's.. not exactly something people told me back home. [ Ever. ]

[She can't help but wonder how Ange was treated at home by the other people around her if she was never made to feel like she deserved a lot better than being tortured to death by witches. More than once. But she's not going to push too hard. This has been upsetting enough. So instead, she just smiles a little.]

Well, I mean it. Let's get out of here, huh? Paleblood, so I think if I focus right, I can get us back out of this?

Sure. That's probably for the best.

[ After all, there's nothing left in this memory. It's not even moving any longer, considering it's where Ange's memory ends - the moment she died.

Now there's nothing left but this frozen scene in front of them, with what's left of Ange spread out on the floor.

So the actual Ange slowly nods. ]

.. thanks. I'll be relying on you. [ To get them out of here. ]

End tag?

frogfear - 2022-01-13 05:43 (UTC) - Expand

return those voices echoing in the sea (closed)

willow;

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cw: gore

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