-x-Shaman King RP-x- Continued

"You brought it up, dearest. Glad I could humor you." Sydra stated, with a smile.

"Oh ho, my God..." Eioku exhaled, standing up. "Jesus, you're a case." She brought a hand up to her face, pressing it against her forehead and sighing. I can't even place words on how amazing that just was. In that weird kind of way.

"Which is why I'm a valuable asset. I can win no matter what." Sydra smirked. "Nice to have you with us."

Eioku pressed her elboes against the bed, her cheeks in her palms. She mirrored Sydra's facial expression. "Good to be back," she said. Her efforts to make her voice sound playful were clearly strained, but she felt that it only added to the wonderful tension.
I get this bleak feeling that you and I are gonna get along just fine.

ooc/ Okay, so now is when we decided to rip out the timeskip. I'll start up my next post with Ei's vision.

White noise... A low hum in the dark; one that pierced through Eioku's mind with a massive intensity. It quickly broke off into a high pitched static.

"Ah!" She gasped out, grabbing at the side of her head. The noise was so loud that it stung the inside of her temples, forcing her eyes to open. What happened? All around her was black, just pitch black. Her hands slowly lowered, the static completely cut off. While her eyes tried to adjust, she blinked once or twice. It didn't help. Looking around frantically, she was afraid to take a step. There was no telling where the floor began and where this area ended.

"Guys?!" She called out. Her voice echoed, eerily, bouncing off of nothing and coming back to her, a little softer with each layer of sound. This made her shiver. With a heavy pang in her chest, she looked down to her own body. It was bright and vibrant, just as it would have been in the light, but there was nothing to give off a light in this area. "You guys, this isn't funny!"

The katana was still strapped to her belt. That was a relief... Although, she couldn't feel the prescence of her otherworldly ally. What the hell was going on? Did they find Patch? Did she get knocked out? Eioku took in a deep breath, throwing her arms back.

"YOU GUYS!!" She shouted. Still nothing.

She stared off into nothing, drawing back a few feet. Her knees collapsed and she tumbled down to the ground, her arms catching her on whatever surface was there. Her breath quickened as her fingers felt around for... anything. "It's not dark..." She whispered. "It's not dark..." Suddenly, her fingertips touched something cold. Cold and wet, but solid. Her momentary smile of relief quickly faded as she brought her hand back up to her face. Where she thought she had grabbed something was only ink. Black, wet ink, dripping from her palm.

Panicking now, she stood, turning quickly. "Hello?!" She called. "Anybody?!"

That same damn echo...

"Yoh?! Kaze?!"

Her body spun, frantically.

"Leo! Aya!"

When there was still no reply, she broke into a sprint.

"Sydra?! Ren! God damn it..."

Eioku's head was spinning, her heart ready to burst by the time she stopped running. She crouched down, her forehead pressed against her knees. "Yoh... Kaze... Leo, Aya... Sydra, Ren..." She whispered. "And..."

Wait... What? She could see his face, but his name was gone. "H-Huh?" Eioku blinked. "Why can't... I remember your name? Wh-... Who are you?"

"Psst."

Eioku jumped, turning her torso to look behind her. There was nobody there. Instead, there hung one remaining object; an object that made her eyes widen, full of tears. A long, brown rope, thousands of miles long it seemed. It went up and up and up, disappearing past her vision. The end of the rope... knotted into a circle.

A noose.

Eioku sat still for many, many moments. Once her body finally began to twitch, she stood, slowly moving towards it. The portal; the way out. Both of her hands reached up, clasping it tightly between her fingers. The rope was smooth and soft, not intimidating at all. Almost inviting.

"Is this... what I've been reduced to?" She whispered.

"Nobody would hate you, you know." A voice rang out. His voice. The voice of the man whose name she couldn't place. "In fact, God knows. We'd probably all be better off without you there. All you do is whine and beg for our favor... but what have you done for us?"

Frozen in place, she felt him lean on the crown of her head with his arm, as he used to months before. She could feel him there, warm and familiar... but she dared not look.

"You never fight. You're always on the sidelines, pretending to do something. You can't fight. I know you can't. That's why you always clung to me so hard, isn't it? Because you knew you couldn't do it." There was a smile in his tone. "You're just a kid. You're of no use to us, you're of no use to them... to me. So do it."

Eioku watched his hand reach up and pull the noose downward to her level.

"I know that you can do at least this, kid."

She swallowed hard, her eyes slowly closing. "You're wrong," she said, softly. "That girl that you speak of... that's not me. I'm not like that. At least... not anymore. I'm not going to let myself be her." A soft smile grew on her pursed lips, and her fingers let go of the knotted rope, resting themselves on the handle of her sword. "Sorry... Houka..."

Her elbOW {'cuz shamanstick is an asshat} flew up into his chest, pushing him back. She spun on her heel, swinging the katana out of its sheathe. "But not even you can bend me on this one! I WILL become the Shaman King! And no one, not even you, is gonna stop me!" With that, her hand flew above her head, beckonging her spirit. "NIKKI! OVERSOUL!"

The green blaze shot out of her hand, forming into small orbs of light at the ankle of her shoes. Her body hovered a few feet above the ground, riding on a stream of furyoku in the air. She drew her legs in, shooting herself out at him with a drawn back sword. "CHIIRKA LEVI!"

She blinked, and was suddenly staring up at a long line of what looked like stone. A dream? No... a vision...

Aya stared into blank space with her eyes, emotionless. She narrowed her eyes and raised her hand. She couldn't control the air around her and she looked up. She saw stars shining through the emptiness and looked at them as they all pulled together. They shined and disappeared.

"Yoh? Sydra... Kaze... Are you guys here?" Aya called. "Ren, Leo, Eioku?! Someone!"

Aya began to panic and she turned around. The stars were exploding and she saw a planet. It was Earth and she watched it carefully as things started dying out from pollution. She narrowed her eyes and reached for it when it died.

"The planet is all your fault. It died because of you." A voice whispered.

Aya turned around and shook her head.

"This isn't my fault." Aya whispered.

"Yes it is. The world died because you didn't join Hao." The voice continued.

"What does this have to do with him." Aya snapped as she turned around to see who was behind her. Nothing. Where was this voice coming from?

"You are a worthless little girl put on this earth to serve him. Be a good shadow and return to the main body." The voice shouted.

"Worthless? I am not worthless." Aya whispered.

"Do not lie. You serve that idiot of a brother, you don't have the confidence to purse any of you love interests, you won't even kill anyone and you don't even have a dream. Worthless human-"

Aya looked around and narrowed her eyes. "I am not a human. I am a shaman and I do have dreams but they were taken away."

"Who can take away your dreams if not yourself?"

Aya stopped and looked down. This person was right. How did they know so much from nothing? Aya reached to Leo's necklace and closed her eyes.

"I don't know." Aya whispered.

"Wrong. No one. You are a coward with fear of facing your own destiny." The voice shouted as water started to surround Aya.

Aya panicked and desperately tried to keep her head above the water but her feet remained rooted. She was submerged and tried to move. She began to lose air when she thought about it.

'I am the one who can change my destiny. If I live for myself, I will change it and I will be Shaman King. I will not die now or anytime soon and have my dreams ripped from me.' Aya thought as her eyes flashed and Leo's necklace shined.

Tori engaged and a large flame burst enough to evaporate the water.

"I will be the Shaman King and no one will stop me. I will change my future." Aya shouted at the figure.

Aya woke up and smiled, holding her necklace. "Thanks Grandfather. You trained a strong girl."

Eioku sat up, her breath heavy. Her forehead was drenched with sweat as she looked around, frantic. She had been lain upon a musky, gray mat on a dirty, stone floor. The room had a wood door and one window cut out of the wall of rock behind her. There were various Native American trinkets hung all around.
"Aya..." She whispered. "A-Aya... Aya..."

Kaze heard nothing around him. He was in the middle of a street and it was deserted. Getting up from the ground, he put his hand on a building, trying to catch his breath. "What's going on?" He said to himself as he started to walk. There was no one in buildings, no one in the city center, no one anywhere. "Where is everybody? Yoh? Aya? Ren? Hell, I'll even go to see Sydra right now! Eioku? That one chick who was dying?" No answer came from anywhere and Kaze went up to the fountain in the city center. It turned red.

"The hell?!" He said, shaking and falling to the ground on his ass. "What kind of ass-backwards place is this?!" He looked into the fountain and saw his skeleton and his eyes went wide. Am I... Dead? Kaze thought as he stared into the red. He could see the skeletons of others. Of every one of his friends. Every one of his enemies. "You're not dead Kaze." A voice said and Kaze looked backwards so fast that his necklace hit him in the face. There was no one there.

"If I'm not dead how come there's nobody around here?" Kaze said standing up.
"It's because they're dead."
"...Wh-What?"
"Yup. Every last one of them."

Kaze trembled and went down to his knees, gripping the dirt. It couldn't be. It just could not. His eyes were flashing with the series of memories he had with every single person he had ran into. With this, black furyoku started to emit from his hand as he drew his sword. Armor went around and Kaze looked up with a cold stare. Every single skeleton was now standing, including the one of himself. "How could you?!" He yelled, running at the skeletons, the black furyoku getting stronger. He cut down his skeleton counterpart and a bright light appeared.

Kaze woke up on a slab of rock, in front of one familiar face that carried a gun that did not need to be reloaded. "Houka?"
"What are you doing on this slab?!" Houka had grabbed Kaze by the shirt, holding him up in his bed. "Hao is supposed to be on this slab!" Houka threw down Kaze on the slab and turned away. "GET OUT!" Without hesitation, Kaze took the hint and ran out of the room and went outside. There was people. Lots of people.

Aya looked around. She was in the room alone and she stood up looking around. Her friends weren't there and she walked through the halls and saw another room. She walked in and saw Eioku. "Hey. Are you alright?" Aya asked.

Eioku sprung off of the ground and threw her arms around Aya's neck.
"Aya...!!" She gasped out. "Oh my God...! Aya...!"

Aya looked at Eioku in shock and hugged her. "What's wrong?" Aya asked.

Eioku looked up, her face tear-stained. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words formed on her tongue. Instead, she just sighed softly, pressed her forehead against Aya's shoulder, and sobbed, quietly. Her grip on the girl tightened as the moments passed by.
"We're here..." She whispered. "We're here..."

Aya smiled and hugged Eioku. She narrowed her eyes and looked at her hands. 'A shadow and Hao? What's the connection and since when could I do that with fire?' Aya thought a little wrapped in her vision. She looked at Eioku and wondered. "Ei-cha-- I mean Eioku. I have a question to ask you." Aya asked.

Eioku sniffled. She reached up with both sets of fingers and wiped the watery trails off on to the back of her hands. Whatever it was she'd just seen, she was still shaken by it. "What is it...?" She murmured.

Aya sighed and reached up to her hair to remove the hair tie. "Do I-" Aya stopped and removed the ponytail. She thought about what Leo had said. "Eioku, do I look like Hao?" Aya asked, as her hair fell down her back.

Eioku blinked. "Uh... not really..." She moved forward, pushing her face up into Aya's. "Your eyes aren't the same general shape. Your bangs aren't shaped the same... His hair is a lighter shade of brown, your face shape is different..." She pulled back and brought a finger up to her lips. "You are the same general height, though. I guess from a far someone might mistake you for Hao, but up close, it's pretty obvious..."

Aya smiled and was relieved. "I kept getting the feeling that Hao was my brother like Yoh. Yoh looks like him alot." Aya whispered.

Eioku reached up, flicking Aya on the nose. "You mean, 'he looks a lot like him.' You're older than me, use proper grammar," she said, winking. Suddenly, her eyes widened. "Do you think Houka's here?" She asked, her voice suddenly quick and excited. "God, I'm so nervous! What would I say to him? Ahh! Aya, I'm freaking out!"
Her hands flew up to her face, cheeks red and flustered.

"I can go look for the fre- I mean Houka." Aya stated, "Or we can go look together."

Eioku blinked, eyes wide. "What were you going to say?"

OOC/ FUCKING A SOMETHING NEEDS TO HAPPEN SO WE CAN END THE ONE LINERS. I'VE GOT NOTHING TO WORK WITH HERE.
Lawl caps.

Aya smiled and looked a little upset. "I um... Last time I saw the guy, you threatened to kill me and I called him a freak. I can't help it." Aya blushed.

Eioku felt a sudden lump in her throat. The memories of that day flooded back to her, as did a brand new form of guilt. She twisted her hands up into the fabric of her shirt, her eyes darting across the floor. "I'm sorry." She said, quickly. With that, she practically sprinted across the room to the door. When she let it open, the light poured in from the hot, Colorado sun, as did the hustle and bustle of the many other contestants. "Shet..."
So many people... Only one she was looking for.
Well, God damn it.

Aya sighed and sat down. She didn't mean to bring back Eioku's memories.

Eioku practically sprinted out into the city, looking around for any sign of him. She was walking with a mission... for once. Damn... there were too many shaman all at once for her to be able to pick up his one aura. "Crap... Come on, where are you, Houka...?"