Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » ~Paying The Price~

As the sun set and the stars would start filling the sky, Raven would slowly blink her eyes open as she stared at the camp site in front of her. She would slowly rub her eyes and yawn, stretching before her eyes adjusted to the darkness to see Will doing push-ups and Pentre writing out a message in the dirt. She sighs and shakes her head, standing up slowly to not wake Elesa or Lilim, though she didn't doubt they would be waking up on their own soon enough. She would wander away from the group long enough to find her other clothes, and changes out of the slave clothes, dressing herself in her witches outfit, hat and all. She nods in approval as her clothes were now dry, and walks back to the group, walking up behind Pentre and seeing the message he had written in the dirt. She shakes her head disapprovingly, before staring down at him from above him.

"If I had it my way, your tongue would be chopped out of that head of yours, preventing you from speaking at all. What was it you first said to me, when you had me ensnared in the net? Once this is on you, you cannot speak without permission, creature, if you try, your own magic will punish you in excruciating pain, it's designed to keep you... quiet and attentive, just like slaves ought to be? And you watched in the dungeons as I was forced to follow your commands, you guys dousing me in water in that frigid dungeon. Tell me, how does it feel knowing that you are on the other side of the food chain? Forced into servitude by those that you have forced to serve you? I'm curious."

She says to him, kneeling down in front of him to stare him in the eyes for a moment. After an intense minute of staring him with a look that would make it feel like she was staring into his soul, she would stand up and start packing some of their belongings up for the ride, strapping the humans belongings to their horses and wrapping one of the blankets around herself. She would then sit down and wait for the others to wake up so they could begin their departure for Mercia in an attempt to retrieve the prince.

Will looked up at Pentre and the vines he put on began to go away as he got up from his push up. "You may talk Pentre, but don't you dare say a word about your brother in arms, my family, or Crows husband in any way." Will told Pentre as he went over to Raven and put his hand on her shoulder and whispered into her ear. "I need to talk to you and Crow later on." He told her, knowing Crow would be listening.

Raven just scoffs as she watches Will move over to Pentre and give him permission to speak, sitting down and folding her arms. She was grateful, though, that Will had commanded him to not speak about anything that would surely hurt anybody else. She would sit there, pondering this for a moment before being snapped out of her thoughts as a hand went to touch her on her shoulder. She would shudder as she looked over to see Will standing there next to her, and whisper into her ear. She sighs and shakes her head, her eyes turning black so that Crow would be able to speak to him as well.

"We have time now...just get it out of the way..."

"What is this about? If this is about my husband-"

"Crow, not now. Don't just go jumping to conclusions..."

"What ELSE would it be about Raven?!"

"I don't know! But you don't know that it is about him! Do you?!"

Crow would go silent after a moment, knowing full well that Raven was right. Raven would be relieved that Crow was actually listening to her for a change, but would look up to stare at Will with her pitch black eyes, a seriousness in her voice that said she wasn't playing around. She would pat the spot next to her, urging Will to take a seat.

"Let's talk now so were not left in suspense and worry about what it is you want to talk about..."

Will nodded and walked over, grabbing his blade, which was next to the now dead fire, then walked back over to Raven and sat down next to her. "I know you're pissed at me Crow, I know the expression like the back of my hand. Before he head out, I need to shed the truth about what happened to William." Will told her in a sorry yet serious tone.

Raven would look at Will seriously for a moment, before closing her eyes and letting out a long breath. A black smoke would surround Raven, and when it dissipated Crow's form would be sitting down next to her. She had thought they could avoid the topic altogether when he ordered Pentre to never speak of it, but apparently he was able to sense that she was mad at him, and she looks away, unable to meet his gaze before she speaks to him, a sadness and rage in her voice.

"You want the truth? Because the truth of the matter is that after my husband went to war to fight for Camelot, he ended up dying, betrayed by his own soldiers and left for dead after being mauled by wolves. I found his body lying next to the river, and I gained the power to revive him in exchange for a life of helping people, while it slowly dwindled away at my own life. Then that...that...SNAKE....found out he was alive, and sent back to kill him a second time, shot by arrows and slaughtered like an animal. I gave up what was left of my life to revive him, and now I'm stuck in limbo, inside the body of another girl. What more truth do I possibly need to hear?!"

She says trying not to get upset, but obviously failing to maintain her composure.

Will sighed and unsheathed his sword, the blade ringing as it left the sheath. "This blade was forged by your husband Crow. It was his greatest creation and he named it after you, Crow's Talon. And there's something you need to see to believe, but first I need you and Raven to Clear your heads." Will told her, turning his body towards her.

With all the commotion, Lilim barely had to use her mother's song as an alarm, nor would Elesa, whom was a light sleeper as well and when she heard Crow's hostile growling tone, woke up quickly and moved out of the nest to hide. Lilim would wake up to hear this conversation in tune with her mother's concert, and thought the tone of it rather fitting, so she'd reach out her magic to both Will and Raven/Crow so they could both hear the music in their heads as well, the topic going hand in hand with the mood of the music as Lilim understood it. "Sorry to interrupt guys... Please, carry on. And if you don't like the song, please feel free to wave the share off... I'll take it back and listen to mom's singing myself. Hmm... Or maybe I'll share it with ol' wormy over there. He looks like he might enjoy opera." she says as she points to Pentre, honestly curious if he's ever heard Lilith's singing or not.

Crow would instinctively scoot away from him as he unsheathed his sword, immediately getting into a defensive position, but once the moment between them passed and his body language showed that he didn't mean her any harm, she relaxed a bit, but still would keep her guard up. She would eye him as he turned his body towards her, but then her eyes would travel the blade. She would examine it from where she sat, before Raven would speak up.

"Crow, maybe we should listen to him."

"Raven..."

"He named that sword after you. Aren't you curious as to what he wants to show us?? Show you? Because this is more about you than it is me...I'm just the host body..."

"Fine..."

Crow says before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, letting it out slowly. She would continue to breathe deeply to calm herself down and clear her head. After a little while, Crow's mind would be clear, and so would Raven's. She would open her eyes and look at will, skeptical but calm and clear minded. Though that wouldn't last long before her head was filled with an opera-like music, and she would quickly turn around to see Lilim staring at the both of them. If she was honest, she found this song to perfectly describe her mood, and Raven found it to be quite relaxing. Crow nodded her thanks to Lilim before turning back to face Will.

"What is it you're wanting to show me.."

Will took a deep breath and sigh, closing his eyes and putting a hand on the side of Crow's head. After a moment, Crow wouldn't see Will or the area they were in. All she would see was black, then she would hear the sounds of war before she would see a horrific scene.

As those she was looking through the eyes of this person, that being Will from the sound of his voice and grunts, she would see Will struggling as a pack of larger than average wolves, all with metal teeth, were mauling him. His right arm was bloodied and pieces of scale and muscles gone, revealing the bone. Also they chewed at his other arm and legs and chest, a few ribs showing and blood shooting from Will's mouth. She was watching a memory of Will's.

Then his head turned and between the wolves legs, a few feet away was Crow's husband, bravely fighting as more men began to surround him. Her ears would be filled with Will telling him to run and save himself, and him doing that as some Basalisk Soldiers came to stop most of the men, a few getting through. After that, everything went black for a few seconds before another scene showed, this one entirely different.

It show Will on his knees, sobbing as he held the bodies of a ginger woman and a small child resembling a younger Elesa with golden blonde hair. After a few seconds, everything disappeared and went back to the normal world.

What she would see, as well as Lilim, is Will with a very l
Pained expression on his face, his eyes watery and tears rolling down his cheeks. After a few seconds, Will quickly stood up and walked behind some bushes a bit away, crouching behind them so no one would see him as he silently cried.

Crow's eyes followed his hand as he placed it on the side of her head, and suddenly her vision became black before it disappeared and she was in a place she was unfamiliar with. She watched as the wage of war surrounded her, and watched as a man, Will Stone, was being torn to shreds by a pack of wolves. She stared in horror, unable to do anything to help, before she heard a voice almost seemingly long forgotten. She turns slowly to see her husband standing before her, fighting off a bunch of soldiers. He wouldn't be able to see her or hear her, but Crow's eyes instantly filled with tears as she was seeing her husbands face for the first time in decades. Her husband had been reduced to a mere memory at this point, so to be face to face with her husband was....something.

She would reach out to touch him, before her vision swirled and another scene played, as she watched Will holding onto a woman and a child, before the world would return to normal. Tears were streaming down her face, and she watched as Will went behind the bush to cry, before standing up and glaring at him from above, choking on her words as she spoke down to him.

"What the hell was that....what was the point in showing me that?!"

"Crow-"

"Don't you tell me to calm down Raven! I just watched my husband fight off the same men that would probably end up setting the wolves on him that killed him! DO NOT TELL ME TO BE CALM! WILL! What was the point in that?! ARE YOU TRYING TO UPSET ME?! To make me relive the pains of my past?! "

Maybe shouting at Will wasn't the best idea Crow could do at this time as Will's skin turned to scale and his eyes glowed crimson red as he stood and turned towards her.

"I thought maybe knowing what happened your husband would give you a bit of peace or at least somdthing like that. You seem to blame me for his death, but there was nothing I can do about it while dying. Hell, you even know the darkest secret I have and this is how Im repaid for showing you the truth!?" Will said before yelling and taking his anger out on a tree, swiping at it with his claws and taking four chucks of the tree with him from the swipe.

"CROW!!!"

Lilim shouts to get her attention, glaring at the ghost with her eyes burning red again. Lilim had moved to Elesa, and Crow would see that Elesa was literally digging her tiny fingers into Lilim's waist, shaking like a leaf and clinging to her tightly, crying her eyes out as Crow was crying and shouting and even Will had left because he had started to cry due to reliving what surely were pained memories of the past Will surely wished he too could put behind him.

Lilim was about to slap the dog shit out of Crow if she didn't calm down, because quite frankly, Crow was scaring Elesa and Lilim was not fond of Elesa's fear induced sobs. Lilim's glare would say everything Lilim wanted to say, Calm down and stop acting like Pentre. Apologize to Elesa and speak more forgivingly to Will because it's just as painful for him to remember those events as it is for you to see them, ya self centered ghost.

Crow stares on at Will, not having thought about it that way. She didn't really take a minute to register what it was that she was seeing, and seeing him swipe the tree she just sighs, sitting down and pulling her knees to her chest as she buries her head in them. She can't stop herself from crying. She didn't mean to upset Will, but seeing her husband after all this time came as quite a shock to her.

"I-I'm sorry...I didn't think of it that way...but that didn't give me peace...all it did was clear your name..."

She says crying even more as she keeps to a corner by herself, before looking up and glaring at Pentre. She blamed him for Williams death, and she just SO wanted to put her fist through his stomach, but she would refrain for now out of respect for Elesa, not wanting to scare her. She sighs as she sobs into her knees even more, hugging them closer to her.

"I-I'm sorry about your secret...and I'm sorry for scaring you Elesa..."

The black smoke envelops her once more, and Raven takes Crow's place. She sighs and scrunches her face in aggravation before standing up, looking between Lilim and Will. She had upset both of them enough, and figured that they needed their space. So without saying anything, she walks off back towards the river, sitting down at the rivers edge and placing her feet inside.

"Crow, what is your problem...he was just trying to help!! He feels bad about what happened!! When they both calm down, you need to apologize to both of them PROPERLY!! I know how you feel, I do! But your not alone in this! I would have thought 18 years of being stuck together would have taught you that!"