Subversion Ch1

"Not every story ever written can be a happy one. Some are comedies, fraught with perils which it's heroes must overcome and grow stronger for their efforts. Unfortunately for those to exist there must also be tragedies, stories where the perils the heroes face are far greater than themselves, and to which the heroes will fall. In this way, the world is cruel but fair for every happy ending there is ostensibly a grim fate to balance it out. Should one carefully examine the reality of the matter however they will find the exchange isn't quite so exact, nor so simple, even for just one world. As the greater success one has the more tragedies which feed into it. When you look at more than one world, you will see that stars go out so that others may be born and worlds are broken down to make new ones. Looking further, one could argue the same could be said of universes, as oftentimes a universe will end so that another may begin. The greatest tragedy however is not that all things end, it is that there will always be those who fight against the inevitable, the tragic heroes who fight for a happy ending only to realize all too late that they are doomed."

Subversion Chapter 1

"Two hundred years… Two hundred years wasted running from the end of the world, wasted… mourning… Where did everything go wrong? We had our mission, It was simple, unambiguous, and flexible. All we had to do is stop the cascade… and we couldn't even figure out what it was… Tiarik, Tiarika, Zorin, or Zaiden could have figured it out if they had more time. The moon drop on Biaphasia took care of that possibility though, the empress couldn't regenerate after that… Hell she couldn't even fly anymore. Glitch had warned us the negatives were homing in on us before then, why weren't we more careful, why weren't we on guard…"

Waking from his trance Arro looked out at the terrain below him. He had completely forgotten that he had perched himself on a rock outcropping and disguised himself as a human monk to meditate. Still sitting cross legged he felt the late midday sun shining down on him and the rocky steppe. Aside from the occasional birdsong from the woodlands further down the mountain and the quiet crackling of stone flowing downhill everything was quiet. He shook his head and strained his hearing, chuckling softly to himself when he picked out the sound of one of his less evolved kin hunting in the thicket far below mumbling more to himself than to anyone else " good luck buddy, I already looked there." Things were quiet, then again they always have seemed that way since Quetza died. Guess having a giant fire breathing dragon on your team does make everything seem more lively.

Standing up Arro checked the sky for some sign of the Empress, perhaps a shimmer of refracted light, or the dull glow of the weaponized time-locks powering up, only to find the skies are clear. Just as they had been for the past hundred and fifty years. For being the last of her kind, and a time traveling warship to boot, it seems the empress is gone for good.

Jumping down from his perch Arro started wandering down the steppe. He was never known for thinking but he has done quite a bit of it since he traveled here, and it nags his conscience even as he wanders the worn path down the mountain. He never could figure out why everyone died, almost like some unseen force lined up the shots that took them down, a dozen unfortunate events which Tiarik couldn't reverse. Fixed points in time that even a temporal mastermind couldn't unstick or rewind. Losing The empress, Courier, Andros, Dad, Alena, and Garan on Biaphasia made sense, the Wanderer homed in on the empress and dropped a planetoid on her, the temporal wake of losing the old girl alone would explain why Tiarik couldn't reverse it. Losing, Tiarika on Nagaroa to the Watcher on the other hand… We had just teleported in, why couldn't Tiarik reverse his personal timeline and stop the attack? Spacetime was relatively fluid…

A faceful of leafy branch snaps Arro from his contemplation as his illusionary body reacts much less like a monk and more like a poorly disciplined teenager who's walked into a spidersweb. Taking the reins back from his subconscious Arro pauses a moment before gently lifting the branch over his head so that he can step past it without having to break it. mumbling to himself as he does "Every fucking time…" a few more steps gets him clear of the thicket and into the clearing of the village he's been staying in.

Double-checking his illusion to ensure it is viable Arro follows his daily path down to the village, contemplating it's dirty stone structures and unmaintained cobble roads. The village was once a thriving agricultural town full of people, but that was a long time ago, and the people have long since moved on to greener pastures. He could call up faint echoes of them sometimes, reading the memories stored in what remains of the village, Kyo had taught him how to do that… problem is these echoes were fleeting, meaning he had to search for them. Stopping at the window of a partially collapsed house Arro concentrated and touched the leaded glass.

Although it was something he had done a thousand times before the rush of information, stored and forgotten lifetimes ago caught Arro off guard. The world around him felt like it stood still for a moment as the roof of the house rose from the floor and reverted to how it had been ages prior, the matted floor regenerated, and the occupants returned in a flickering blur… Just as it had done a thousand times before, it was a happy family composed of a mother, a father, their children, and their grandparents talking and laughing with guests. He could feel the echoes of their joy tingle across his actual skin, and only after watching for a moment more he let the illusion fade.

Turning his attention to the house across the way Arro focused, slowing the world around him again as the memories of the street flooded his mind. the moss between the cobbles dissolving away as people populate the street again, some tidying up their homes, others wandering to other parts unknown, greeting their neighbors in passing. Children playing in the streets. A tangle of emotion, and muffled voices reaching Arro from the past. It's no replacement for human contact but it’s better than nothing.

Wandering down the street he could feel the dormant ripples of memory, and let his mind tug at them as he passed, making them real for an instant before fading in passing. People going about their daily lives, Peasant, merchant, lord, and slave alike. He couldn't help but wonder who these people were, where they went, and whether they would accept him or cast him out as others of their kind have before. They probably never knew of his kind, let alone of him… even if they did, would they believe the accusations? Would they believe he could destroy reality at it's foundations?

A sudden jolt staggers him in his illusionary shell, breaking his chain of thought. It takes a moment to realize he ran into someone. Panic floods his mind as he quickly attempts apologizing to the young woman he knocked over. Reaching down for her, he can't shake how worried she looks, how confused… As his illusionary hand touches her shoulder the girl and the street illusion flickers and pauses. Noticing this Arro growls at himself before reaching up and flicking the girl's forehead, causing her to disappear in a puff of golden dust and sparks. "Did you seriously Fool yourself with your own illusions? C'mon stupid." looking around he sighed to himself as the crushing reality sank in, nobody was here and no one was coming, he was alone… letting the other illusions fade, including his disguise. He just sat there a moment vulpine ears plastered back as his tails lay lifeless behind him, he could feel the sting of tears forming in his eyes but he didn't care at this point.

He's spent two hundred years on this rock subsisting on vermin and psychic residue… hoping for rescue… or insight… or even some guidance... and it's not coming. The last chance for any of those was long ago. Memories flooded his mind, every time he failed, every misstep, every screw up. He tried to staunch the flow and think of something else but he couldn't, he couldn't help but think about killing his adoptive parents and trashing Manhattan as a pup, how he incinerated Tairik once costing him valuable time, how he nearly lobotomized Kyo when he was explaining how to use an energy blade, and how for years he would play dumb to try and escape. The stinging tears burn, and he can feel the liquid heat running down his cheek, but the best he can do is hold it together to keep from bawling.

Draining the happiness from all of London at Christmas time to evade the CCW, dismantling the shock drive on the Pranksters Gambit to build a gun that would never be used, wasting resources training with weapons he’d never use again, not finding a way to save Quetza in Pompeii, listening to Kyo in those tombs in Faraway and letting him lose his head, watching from the shadows as the last of Tiarik’s nine lives got burned away by the Warden...

He nearly jumped out of his skin when a shutter clapped shut behind him, he scrambled to his feet and twitched his tails reflexively, golden foxfire springing to life near the tips as he blinked away the tears and focused his hearing to try and find some reason for it’s closing readying himself for a fight. Standing stock still for several seconds, his heart pounding in his ears, and his tails still flicking leaving crackling golven tendrils of flame in their wake. A gentle gust of wind rustling the leaves on the pavement opened and shut the shutter again, no sounds of life, no elemental “itch” of magic besides what he himself was using.

He felt something twinge in his neck, causing him to compulsively twitch. Without thinking he locked his watery eyes on the shutter, the current source of his aggravation, and loosed a blast of foxfire and sound powerful enough to shatter the remaining stones of the wall and flash burn the long-rotted timbers of the roof. The momentary gleeful satisfaction at the destruction he had wrought was cut short however as his legs gave out from under him. Cursing at himself for wasting that much energy for nothing as he lay there and watched the house, then the one adjacent to it, and the one after that burn in golden flames. Having wasted that day's energy he lay there watching the mayhem he had wrought, felt the supernatural heat of the magic flames as they broke apart wood and tile alike, and heard the squeals of unseen things in the woodwork as they burned alive. Twinges of pain assaulted his tired and aggravated mind as whatever they were died, but he shut them out as he let himself drift off to sleep. He didn't have the strength to offer them a kindness or reprieve now, and it wouldn't help them to stop the flames before they've run their course.

When Arro woke it was dark, only the light of the moon and the still smoldering embers of the fire illuminated anything in the villiage. The dull cracking and popping of charred wood filled the air even as the remaining wisps of acrid smoke tried to strangle it. Slowly he got his paws back under himself, and stood to survey the damage. Judging by the smoke rising far beyond the house he torched more of the city was burned by his hatred than he would have preferred, some of the memories weren't entirely played out yet and could have been harvested still. But that hardly matters now, he was still tired, he had wasted too much energy compared to the mere trickle he could harvest from the environment and memories here. He needed to eat to regain his physical strength, and hope he could find some psychic energy later to replenish everything else.

As some of his faculties slowly came back to him an unusual unease fell over him. He felt nauseous, afraid, and his eyes watered for a moment before the pain flooded his mind, a searing hot, shooting pain unlike any he had felt before. Reeling he couldn't make sense of it until he heard the pained gasp of something small mere feet away, a survivor. The foreign fear in his head was replaced by his own, and upon sighting the creature so too was the nausea. Even with his keen senses he couldn't identify the thing in front of him, it was roughly the size of a rat or squirrel but as it lay there wheezing its charred flesh cracked, the scent of burnt fur and charred flesh the only scent it had left. His heart beat quickly and his mind raced in terror, nothing had ever survived his flame and usually what he killed he killed quickly, this was a horrible first in both regards. Carefully Creeping closer, he could feel it's terror intensify, he could almost smell it over its burnt body, he couldn't help but feel it's pain. Limited in strength as he was, there wasn't much he could do but he had to try.

Connecting to others was a trick he had learned as a kit, forcing a thought through that connection was mere child's play, but forcing something to accept that thought as their own took focus. Locking eyes with the creature he whispered a single word "Sleep" and drilled that concept into the creature's head with his telepathy. It took every bit of focus he had to force a single simple thought to this creature in the state they're both in but as the thing's eyes drifted closed and it's breathing slowed he knew it worked and set about locking it in so that it will never wake again.

The pain and fear was gone, but Arro's heart sank. Because of him this creature could never experience the waking world again without horrible wracking pain, the only kindness it can receive now is to die in its sleep. A fact made worse by the prickling feeling of hunger, he was weak and starving and this creature that he had burned nearly to death could solve one of those problems, his body knew this but he hated it even more for the suggestion, almost as if it would be adding insult to injury. Instead he sat there watching the creature sleep for a while before laying down himself. listening to the popping and cracking of the dying fires, he could swear he heard voices in the background, they were faint, too faint to be real but the more he tried to tune them out the louder they got. A singsong tone spiked the voice of a child who had bullied him as a kit as he heard the words "Poor Arooo, lost and alone." The sharp voice of lieutenant Korigan, the man who led his troops in capturing Arro in Manhattan cut through "Give up Monster, you are outgunned and surrounded." A young woman's voice, strained by fear echoed through his mind "Well, what are you waiting for? DO IT!" Though he knew it wouldn't help Arro tried hiding from the voices, tears burning his eyes, even as those last two words seemed to echo for an eternity. As they died down they seemed to be silenced by something else, a warmer presence.

He could almost feel it beside him, heat and pressure like someone was laying there beside him on the cold stone. He chalked it up to another failure, first he couldn't keep his temper and now he's losing the last of his sanity. He couldn't bear to look, he knew it couldn't be real.

Then whatever it was spoke "Hello me, It's me again. It's time we had a talk." That was Kyo's joke… it spoke in Kyo's voice! Turning to look at the figment he swore he was looking at his reflection as a white furred kitsune smiled back at him, until a crackle of blue psychic energy drew his attention to the stranger's eyes… navy blue. This was Kyo!

Waves of emotion crashed through Arro, confusion, joy, and relief competed with depression, fear, and guilt for dominance. This couldn't be real, he knew it, but he wished it was. He was fumbling for words looking at the figment of his other self, his "Older Brother" from another dimension, and couldn't find any. He wanted to ask how he is here, why he was here but couldn't help but break start crying.

The wraith chuckled at Arro's outburst before laying across him in the closest approximation of a hug they could manage and spoke "You've been through a lot since we last spoke haven't you?"

Arro Sniffled, this hallucination felt real. And he knew he didn't have the strength to be the one causing it. Knowing full well he couldn't do anything about it he decided to roll with it, so after taking a deep breath to try and keep from blubbering he answered "Y-Yea… Y-You've b-been gone for a-a long time"

Arro could feel the figment searching through his memories, and the faintest glimmer of sorrow in the back of his mind before He heard the other sigh "Yea… I know…"

"Where…" no, he knew the answer to that. "Why… Why did you do it?"

There was an unusual stillness at that question as it seemed like the wraith was thinking it over "I thought I had a chance…"
A chance? A chance to what? Die a horrible death? Even as Arro thought this the prickling in his mind pulled at him, dredging up memories of the dark and terrible things he's done and seen before stopping with the memory of the Prophet, the memory of the creature's oozing black liquid body and glowing white eyes started a shiver that remembering the hollow whisper of its voice would intensify as kyo mimicked it before continuing "I thought I would be able to kill it once and for all"

Arro froze, his sorrow momentarily forgotten as he didn't know what to think. Kyo thought he could take down the Prophet of Blood? Something that Absorbs people, and steals what makes them unique to make itself stronger. Something specifically designed to hunt them down and wipe them from the face of existence? He could feel his memories being tugged at again, rearranging, almost like this figment was rummaging through his head like it was a box of old photos. He was uncertain as to what to think about that as memories of the Empress and her crew were pulled to the surface, regardless Arro had to know what Kyo meant "How? That's impossible."

He was caught off guard by a snort and sniggering from the spectre above him as the memory of tricking Terek into thinking that he had gotten plastered and laid an egg after a one night stand with a centaur was pulled to the surface. The faintest of emotional charge, joy, played at his empathy and he couldn't help but chuckle at the trick too… the joy faded somewhat as the realization the egg never hatched dawned on him, it was a common chicken egg, from an inordinately large chicken but Terek had tried so hard to get it to hatch. "It doesn't matter… what's important now is that you need to live."

Slowly the sorrow started flowing again, with an equal measure of anger. He couldn't believe this figment would say that. Of all the things to say, THAT was not one that Arro wanted to hear, and certainly not one that he'd just accept, He'd wondered why his supposedly smarter alternate would throw away his life and leave him ALONE for all this time. He felt himself choke slightly as he nearly barked at Kyo's shade and tried to get on his paws again. "You're DEAD because of what you did and you expect me to keep living without knowing WHY?" his weakened form tried to refuse the command to stand, especially with a ghost's weight laying on his back but he managed so he could spin to face this "Kyo" eye to eye.

Whatever it was, it was a perfect copy of Kyo. Everything from the spectral scent it threw off to the way it moved its tails and kept its head ever so slightly tilted to the right. It even wore that inscrutable look Kyo had whenever he was trying to hide his emotions. All of it was just a painful reminder that it couldn't be real, and he hated it. Even as the faint wisps of its emotions soured from the joy they had experienced moments before to worry and sadness. Arro tried to conjure his flame and burn this impostor but only managed a slight incandescent crackle, hardly enough to damage anything, before he felt the strain.

His legs turned to jelly but the shade, or whatever it was, caught him by the scruff of the neck before they could collapse from under him and held him there, half standing for a moment until the strength in his legs returned. Furious as he is Arro sensed something odd. he sensed its worry increase as he weakened... this thing, was worried about him… After setting him back down Whatever it was spoke in Kyo's voice but it wavered slightly "Arro… Please listen to me, I made a mistake… I think we all did… We thought the stories about the Prophet, the Warden, the Wanderer, all of them, were true."

He hadn't expected a straightforward answer, even if this thing was Kyo it would've danced around the topic, he enjoyed doing that. The only time he didn't was when he was pressed for time. Still it being somewhat forthcoming was enough to make him want to burn it less. But it's answer left him with more questions. And even though he was tired of charades he had to keep it playing to get the answers he wanted. "They weren't?"

"No, at least, not entirely. They lied about where they're from, and they lied about how to kill them." Arro could sense a pang of pain, and see it cross the wraith's face as he spoke those final words. And then it hit him, the stories, the scenarios. The tombs on Faraway was one of the scenarios they won easily in simulation, even with diminished numbers and equipment… the stories were a trap.
He knew the stories, little snippets they gathered from across the multiverse, some carved in stone, some hidden in the holy texts of ancient civilizations. They all pointed to the empress and her crew as being the cause, having made them at some point in the future to send back and destroy the past… something which had never made sense to anyone. Learning this now though, he couldn't help but feel apathetic, their trap worked, they won. Soon they won't even have any loose ends to tidy up. Looking over at the wraith of Kyo, he wondered over a million questions, half of them he gave up on, but one stood out and needed asked and he asked it before Kyo could preempt him. "Why?"

The wraith sighed and sat down beside Arro "I think they are afraid of us, what we could do." Arro heard him take a breath to continue before seeing a look of confusion pass over his face, Arro knew they were afraid, everyone was, and the prickling in his head let him know this ghost just caught on. Locking eyes with the specter he could feel the sting of tears he had forgotten starting to well up again "Why do I have to live?"

Holding his gaze he waited for the figment to respond as he picked up a deluge of emotion boiling beneath the surface of the other's mind, indignation, worry, fear, sorrow, and… hope? All blended together in a confusing morass that he couldn't quite sort through. "Because you can succeed where we failed. You can complete the mission and go home."

That last word cut deeper than any knife, his home was gone, every home he had known is gone. The stinging in his eyes got worse, the other must have seen it or felt his psyche tear because he added an alternative which Arro, tired, depressed, and apathetic as he may be could agree with. "You can make whoever's responsible for this pay for what they've done."

Tears still stung his eyes as Arro paused at those words and held up a paw to silence the other. His mind was still reeling, depression warring with righteous indignation as the words comingled with his thoughts. He wanted revenge, unlike any other, he wanted to avenge his friends and family. The moment passed and the warring emotions blended together forming a burning rage in the back of his mind. He felt a little stronger, but for how long, he didn't know. Taking a breath and trying to blink away the tears he addressed his alternate, "I'm in. Where do I start?"

He heard Kyo chuckle and although his eyes were sill bleary, he could see him walk over to his side and felt him prod him in the shoulder "Remember that part about living? Start by eating something. You're getting to be too weak to stand and look like you haven’t eaten in days." Arro flinched slightly as Kyo prodded him again, this time in the ribs "and it looks like you've seen some lean times prior." He recognized the tone of voice even before the memories were called to the front of his mind, hypnotic recall, and a slight numbness right between his eyes let him know Kyo saw every one of them. The shade seemed to have a concerned look as He wandered off, leaving Arro there trying to figure out what game he's playing at.

He watched as the wraith seemed to look around, swiveling his ears to try and find something, Arro held his breath as he heard the burnt thing wheeze in its sleep and saw Kyo's ears swivel at the sound. He hoped Kyo would ignore it, find something else, anything else. But then the numbness between his eyes returned and the memory of the creature flashed through his head, still fresh from mere minutes ago. Followed shortly by Kyo's voice reaching his ears, "You did a real number on the ecosystem here Arro. Besides us, that’s the only thing I can sense for miles."

A soft noise, almost like someone lifting a cloth from the ground accompanied by the dull, almost imperceivably quiet hum of telekinetic force drew Arro's attention from the specter back to the creature he had mutilated earlier. Fear was real it seemed, as the creature drifted upwards from the scorched ground under the power of some unseen force and whole new sights and scents he was entirely unprepared for unfolded before his eyes. He knew Kyo's telekinesis, he had been subject to it more than once himself, it was a gentle force almost as if gravity took time off at his command, but seeing this creature hang limply from it, skin peeling back and cracking, he was hard pressed to remember that fact.

He couldn't take his eyes off the creature, even as it drifted listlessly through the air towards him and the wraith. Watching a small drip of melted fat and blood drip from the thing he couldn't help but back away. The numb spot behind his eyes throbbed as he tried to find a compelling argument, some excuse to dissuade his overly logical counterpart. "W-Wait, Kyo there has to be other things out there. Things you can't sense?"

The creature rolled in the air almost as if Kyo's shade was inspecting it. "Possibly, but they'd be small. Just bugs and worms which take a lot of searching to hunt down." Arro barely heard the wraith's words as he watched the mangled creature roll back into a dangling position, bits of grit and soot flaking off of it as it did. His body was still at war with his mind as the prickling of hunger hadn't faded, and he unconsciously drooled in spite of the sickening scent of burnt fur and flesh. The numbing feeling in his mind hardly helped matters as he had to fight hard just to think, let alone keep his body in check. He was searching for a rebuttal, some reason why that creature should be set down and left to die in peace. He couldn't formulate a response that could dissuade Kyo, let alone whatever this thing was, but he had to try. "Please Kyo, Its been through enough. Just set it down."

Arro felt the air rumble as the wraith growled at him, the numbness didn't fade from his mind but he could still feel a certain clarity as he saw the other walk past him with glowing blue eyes to sit in front of him just adjacent to the still levitating creature. "That it has Arro, this poor rabbit has known enough horror in the course of one night to last it a lifetime." Arro couldn't believe his ears as he heard this, that thing was a rabbit? It looked too small and frail to be anything but a large squirrel. He didn't have long to contemplate this as Kyo continued talking "You know it will not survive, even putting it to sleep will give it only so long. So now, please just eat it. kill it first if you're afraid it might still feel through the command."

He spoke through clenched teeth desperately looking for an escape route as the specter leaned in and hovered the rabbit closer, it was taking the moral high ground so he may be able to use that "Why don't you kill it? you've already got it." to his surprise the ploy seemed to work as Kyo froze, and looked at him dumbfounded. Its voice was slightly softer than it had been on its tirade before "You don't remember? The dead can't harm the living." Even with the numbness between his eyes Arro felt the bolt of recognition, he had heard that before but he couldn't quite remember the specifics. Could this thing really be a ghost? If so why did he never show up before? The Shade sighing caught his attention and he swore he saw the wraith glance to the east before speaking again "We really don't have the time for this Arro, cut the existential crisis and open your mouth or I'm gonna have to spin you around and send it on a long unpleasant trip for everyone involved."

The tone that carried those words Frightened Arro causing him to tuck his tails and wrap them tightly around his hindlegs. He knew Kyo, he knew he was just cruel and unusual enough to back up that threat. The numbness between his eyes didn't do him any favors in wrestling with that fear, and after a moment of discordant thoughts cycling through his mind he couldn't help but feel the fear turn to indignation and then anger. He snapped when he felt the humming pressure of telekinetic force wrap around his waist, Shouting at his alternate "YOU WOULDN'T DARE!"

To Arro's surprise his last syllable was punctuated by bands of kinetic force thrumming to life in between his teeth locking his mouth open. His eyes shot wide as he caught sight of kyo, who's look of urgency was replaced with one of relief with a sigh "I was starting to get worried there." He realized his mistake all to clearly when the touch of something searing hot ran across his tongue, followed closely by the sound of charred skin scraping across his teeth and the taste of hot fat and soot. Panic overtaking his mind briefly as his mind and body warred over what to do, he struggled in the bonds that held him and found that they might as well have been adamantine for all they gave before the numbness between his eyes overtook his mind and a sense of calm settled over him. He heard the wraith's… Kyo's voice whisper softly in his mind even as it spoke to him "Quit fighting me Arro, I'm not your enemy, Just Relax." He tried to resist but the voice in his head echoed what his ears heard, and the fight left his limbs.

Somewhere in his dampened mind he registered what was happening but couldn't quite stop it even as the next hypnotic command crackled through his mind like a lightning strike. "I am going to release my hold on your teeth and you will not spit out or drop this rabbit." As the dull hum of kinetic force disappeared from his teeth Arro's jaw reflexively closed, pinning the rabbit and causing an uncomfortable scraping sound to conduct up his jawline to his ears as additional teeth came in contact with the burnt bunny. Even numbed as he was Arro couldn't help but gag as the taste of ash and molten fat mingled ever so slightly with blood and dust, the previous command echoed through his mind and he fought back the urge to puke. The Wraith must have sensed the struggle or seen him gag as the next command came quickly "Arro, you don't have a gag reflex. You cannot feel nausea from this." The more logical part of Arro's mind wanted to argue but the words echoed through his mind anyway, he quit gagging and the nausea disappeared just as abruptly as it had arrived.

For Arro this was a temporary reprieve, his dampened mind could still fight his body's urges but just barely, and Kyo's commands were making this task harder. Being forced in close proximity… forced to taste… the rabbit was making instinct take over and removing his gag reflex just made it hard for him to avoid just doing what the Wraith wants. He focused his eyes on Kyo and noticed the Wraith watching expectantly, only averting his eyes to look towards the east before returning his gaze to Arro. His numbed mind tried to piece together what he was up to before he saw and heard the specter sigh, "Arro, stop torturing yourself and bite the bunny."
Kyo's voice carried the hypnotic tone and the echoes started in his head but they faded quickly and Arro felt no compulsion to bite down, not even the slightest. The faintest traces of confusion trickled through his mind, it took a moment but he realized that not all of it was from him. Looking at his counterpart he saw Kyo tip his head in confusion before a memory bubbled to the surface. Kyo's words, "The Dead cannot harm the living." But fainter still another voice, Tereka's, finished the lesson they had learned ages prior "Nor can they force them to consciously harm each other." Comprehension Flashed across the specter's face shortly before aggravation. "Figures, The rules of the afterlife come back to bite me in the ass… you're not going to willingly eat this bunny are you Arro?" The hypnotic tone was gone from Kyo's voice for now, but the numbness remained. In his groggy numbed state Arro shook his head side to side gently, wobbling the rabbit as well, a gentle motion which still inadvertently caused more oily blood to trickle across his tongue. Kyo is not his enemy but he will not bite this rabbit, a concept he could just barely convey in his mind but it seemed the shade of Kyo caught on.

Watching the wraith for a moment he saw him pace back and forth a few steps, obviously thinking, before stopping mid stride and looking straight at him. Addled as his mind was he could see Kyo putting pieces together in his head. The unusually compelling hypnotic tone returned to Kyo's voice as he spoke his next command "Arro, Grow a little larger, About the size of a two-door sedan." The numbness in Arro's mind resonated with this command, unusual as it is, and set to work relaxing the magic that keeps him at a manageable size. He felt the paving stones roll under him as his body expanded, forcing him to stand and adjust his balance to keep from falling over. The rabbit felt like a mere toy at this size, able to rest in its entirety on his tongue even splayed out, forcing him to close his teeth to keep from violating a command by dropping it. Somewhere underneath the surface of his mind he marveled at the fact that even drenched in drool the rabbit was still burning hot, almost as if it was still burning from the inside.
Looking down at Kyo, Arro felt the rabbit shift on his tongue before he saw Kyo's eyes crackle with Psychic energy. Without warning kinetic force flooded his mouth, forcing his teeth apart painfully and blasting the rabbit to the back of his throat. The logical part of Arro's mind writhed underneath the surface as it pieced together what was happening even before the calm tones of Kyo's voice carried the next command "Swallow." He tried to fight the command even as it rebounded in his numbed mind but his body obeyed, and he felt the searing lump of the rabbit sliding down his throat. Wrestling with the numbness, he felt it start to subside subside just as the bunny settled in his stomach and the next command came. "Return to the smallest size you can safely." Partly numbed his mind echoed the command, tightening up the magic that controls his size before he could blink leaving him sprawled on the pavement roughly three times larger than normal and feeling excessively full.

As the final wisps left his mind he panicked, a million thoughts that had been suppressed now flooded back to life inside his head. Kyo was a real bastard but this is a new low. Was he even remotely concerned for his safety? How did he know That he wouldn't choke? How did he even do that, ghosts cannot cause the living to harm one another. Why was the Rabbit searing hot? … The rabbit! Arro's thoughts polarized as he thought of the rabbit, he could still feel it, a searing hot ball stretching his gut. Conflicting signals crossed his mind as almost sickening satiation and disgust registered from his body and ego simultaneously. He thought to grow and hack it back up but Kyo's voice cut it short, "Try it and you're going to sleep. The window of opportunity closes and mission failed. Understood?"

No, he didn't understand. Any of it, why did Kyo come back after so long? Why did he have to force feed him a rabbit before explaining anything? Looking up at kyo, about to field these questions and more he noticed the shade staring off to the east. What is so important about the EAST? Looking to where the specter keeps glancing off to he noticed the faintest traces of white edging the adjacent range of the valley displacing the deep purple of the night sky… dawn was coming. Looking back to Kyo he noticed the shade was becoming more insubstantial. His anger was quickly replaced with fear and sorrow, the constant glances, the urgency, his fading… Kyo was going to leave him alone again. The wraith must've still been reading his mind because he saw Kyo turn to him and smile, "Only temporarily Arro, we'll meet again after your journey. I can promise you that."

Arro couldn't help but feel worse for that comment, laying down he winced slightly as he put too much weight on his belly and buried his face in his paws. He barely registered as Kyo continued talking "And to answer your questions, I was concerned but I knew if I didn't try something you'd be dead by tomorrow night, I guessed that the limitation was on direct harm and got it right, and foxfire burns both body and soul… you couldn't see it but that rabbit was still burning on the inside." He felt a little better at hearing this, but not much, looking back to Kyo he noticed he could see straight through him and the dull orange of morning was starting to peek over the valley. There wasn't much time but there was one question he wanted… needed… to ask. looking Kyo in the eye he asked, "We'll meet again after I complete my mission?".

The dimming specter chuckled at the question, "Yes we will." at those words Arro felt an unusual sense of ease, he just wanted to know he won't be alone for much longer. With that out of the way he only had one question left, "Where Do I begin?"
He heard the words of the fading shade even after he could no longer see him, but their strength was fading fast as well "Return to the Empress. She'll tell you everything you will need… See… you… soon." He couldn't feel the wraith's presence as the sun finished rising, and a newfound weariness overtook him... whispering "See you soon Kyo.", he wandered off in search for a safe place to rest.