The Tangled Web We Weave

[Megami*]

(OOC: In case you're wondering, I have permission from Dodd to do this. I apologize for the delay. Cody continued from: The Brink of Insanity. Clemence continued from: Hurts Like a Bitch.)

Since leaving Jeremy Torres to die what she could only assume to be a slow and painful death back at the hospital, Clemence de Rousseau had half-ran, half-dragged herself away from the building and had never looked back. If the wound from the shotgun hadn't done the boy in, the fact that the area had already become a danger zone surely had. Smiling in satisfaction to herself as she hobbled through the woods, Clemence couldn't help but feel a strange emotion on the brim of her conscience: remorse. It wasn't a feeling that Clemence was used to, but she honestly felt a tinge of guilt at her actions toward Jeremy. At this point though, his life was evanescent compared to her own. At this point, Clemence could only register one thing. Survival.

The gaunt ballerina had no idea how long she'd been walking for now, or even where she was. When Danya had made his announcement in the early morning hours, she had high-tailed it away from the makeshift hospital in a hurry. She didn't know where she was going, and at this point, destinations were irrelevant anyway. Now, the likelihood that she might not make it to her next destination was quite high, and Clemence preferred not to think about it. She had never doubted her abilities, but ten grueling days on an already malnutritioned body had taken its toll on the young girl.

A faint sigh escaped the blonde's pale lips, indicating the fatigue and weariness that had finally started to have an effect on her. Continuing to shuffle through the dense forest in which she had been wandering at a slow, meandering pace, Clemence pressed onward, every once in a while having to stop and nurse her badly wounded leg. As she pulled back the greenery surrounding her in order to continue on, Clemence was surprised to see an abrupt end to the treeline and the large crack in the earth which lie beyond the small clearing. She had been in this place once before, what seemed like a long, long time ago. This was the place she had first encountered Rice.

Clemence's thoughts were halted abruptly as gunfire rang throughout the silence of the ravine and the bullet lodged itself in the ground next to her. Instantaneously the shotgun was raised and pointed in the direction from which the bullet had came. Instead of pulling the trigger and wasting still more ammunition on the coward who had shot at her, Clemence approached slowly, the shotgun ready to be fired at any moment. The light radiating through the dense forestry surrounding the ravine illuminated the figure who had fired, his gun still pointing directly at Clemence.

"Stay back," the voice whispered in a hoarse, almost raspy tone, "I won't let you hurt her."

Completely awe-struck by the boy who had just fired at her, Clemence stopped in her tracks, looking on in mild curiosity at the boy with the small gun who had just fired at her. One pull of the trigger of her gun and this boy's life would be wasted, along with the rest. Was he insane? This was it, this was the end, and this fool was so hellbent on protecting his beloved that he was willing to put his life on the line and fight a shotgun wielding opponent with a dismal little handgun. Scoffing at the thought, Clemence continued to look on curiously at her opponent, finally deciding to reply to the boy's foolishness.

"You imbecile," Clemence cooed, taking another slow and meaningful stride toward the armed boy, "You would sacrifice your life... go against the odds... and for what? For some wretched--"

Suddenly catching a glimpse of Cody's "beloved", Clemence was understandably confused. The boy was serving himself up on a silver platter to protect a... motorcycle? Of all the psychotic, ignorant things Clemence Ceillet de Rousseau had seen on this island, this one might just have taken the cake. Finding the situation somewhat humorous, a laugh escaped from the girl's colorless lips as she overlooked her counterpart.

"You don't know!" Cody retorted, his voice raising an octave as he did so, "You don't know anything you anorexic bitch! Don't talk about her like that, I'll kill you!"

Upon reflex, Cody fired off another round in the girl's direction, and once again, the dirt near Clemence's feet flew up into the air, causing the girl to flinch a bit. Regardless of who had the bigger gun, bullets still hurt. A cold and callous expression formed on the girl's face as she looked on at her attacker, she still seeming the slightest bit amused at his plight.

"So then," Clemence mused, as if honestly trying to comprehend the boy, "She is what you fight for? She is what motivates you to continue?"

Cocking his head to the side somewhat, Cody gazed at the tall and slender girl standing before him. At this point in the game, he had to kill her. He knew that much. She was another opponent, another obstacle to stop him from fulfilling his quest and conquering the island and the game of Survival of the Fittest. However, he smiled to himself, and decided to entertain her question.

"She's one of the reasons... not the only reason, though," the boy mused, grinning wildly, "I've got a lot left to do on this island before I die. That's why... that's why I can't let you walk away from here, you see? Somebody isn't going to leave this place alive, and it can't be me. I'm not finished yet."

"You aren't finished?" Clemence repeated almost mockingly, "And you think that that puts your life over mine? You are sadly mistaken, my dear boy. What makes you think that your goals outweigh mine? At least my aspirations continue on outside of this game. The way you talk, you've no intention of living past the end anyway."

Shrugging his shoulders somewhat, the hockey player raised an eyebrow toward the girl as if deeply contemplating her words. In reality, he didn't care what she had to say. Her hopes, dreams, and aspirations. They meant nothing to Cody. In fact, he was quite tired of entertaining her thoughts already. What did she think this was, anyway? A daytime soap opera? Nobody cared anymore. This girl, she seemed to long for the days outside of the island. What she didn't seem to understand was that there was no outside any longer. All that mattered was the here and now, in this place.

"If you really think you deserve to walk away from this place more than I do, hun, then by all means, prove it to me."

Clemence's eyebrows raised in slight irritation as the boy attempted to provoke her, and the blonde pulled the trigger of the shotgun, sending a hail of bullets in Cody's direction. Cody, however, had anticipated the move and had rolled into the foliage nearby, avoiding the barrage of bullets completely. Clemence was taken aback by the quick maneuver and was even more startled by the rustling in the nearby bushes. Swinging the shotgun around with her as she scowered the bushes, she watched the leaves rustling and twigs snapping here and there. Cautiously, she continued to watch the bushes as she began drawing closer to Loretta and the unzipped pack Cody had left there.

As she bent down to pick up the pack, however, the muscular boy darted out from the bushes, now wielding the hand axe he had managed to grab before the assault by Clemence. Caught completely offguard by the maneuver, Clemence reflexively pulled the trigger on the gun, though stumbled back onto her injured leg at that precise moment and fell to the ground with the help of Cody's tackle, effectively ejecting the shotgun from her hands and sending the barrage of bullets flying over Cody's head. The blade of the axe slammed into the ground only inches away from Clemence's head. The blonde caught a fleeting glimpse of the sharp blade as Cody began to remove it from the ground. However, with her now free arms, she reached up in a quick maneuver, jamming her fingers into the boy's eyes.

Cody reeled back at the assault, holding his hand over his eyes in pain. In one swift move, Clemence's uninjured leg flew up, slamming hard into the boy's testicles and sending him completely up onto his feet and stumbling backward in pain. Grabbing the hand axe, Clemence sprung back to her feet and swung the blade with rapid precision toward the boy who was still writhing in pain. All at once, Cody sidestepped, sending Clemence sprawling onto the ground, axe still grasped tightly in hand.

Cody smirked as the girl toppled over and ambled over to where she lay sprawled out on the ground. A maniacal grin appeared across the boy's features as he approached and slammed his foot down on Clemence's fragile hand, effectively releasing the axe from her grasp and quite possibly breaking the girl's hand in the same motion. Leaning down to pick up the axe, Cody ran his finger across the tip of the blade and looked down to the fallen girl, just in time to see that she had used her undamaged hand to withdraw a dagger from underneath her pleated skirt. In that instant, Cody let out a shriek of pain as the blonde girl embedded the dagger within the boy's thigh, mere inches away from his most prized possession.

Clemence's face remained emotionless as she twisted the dagger, finally pulling it from the boy's thigh in one fluid movement. Emitting a loud yelp, Cody backed away from the girl as blood began spilling from his thigh, staining his jeans a deep crimson in color. Looking down at the spray of crimson that had doused his leg, then toward the blonde in sheer horror, Cody took off in a hobbling run toward her, axe held high. Clemence also took off in as much of a sprint as she could muster, leaping high into the air and connecting with a vicious kick to Cody's chest before he could manage to drop the axe.

The kick to his chest knocked the air out of Cody and sent him sprawling out onto the ground. Meanwhile, the blonde stalked toward her victim, a coy smile forming on her lips. As she approached the downed boy, Clemence straddled him, placing one foot on each side of his downed body, and looked down on him. She had expected more of a challenge, somehow. As she raised her foot in the air to once again slam it down on Cody's testicles, she was caught offguard, however, as the boy grabbed her foot with both hands and twisted with all of his might. With a sickening pop, Clemence's foot twisted around and the girl let out an agonizing scream of pain.

Giving her leg a hard pull, Clemence immediately landed on the ground near Cody. His hand absent-mindedly reached backward, once again grabbing the bloody handaxe that lay behind him. Meanwhile, Clemence looked down at her now broken foot in horror. This boy, this island, Mr. Danya... they had all worked together to shatter her dreams. Now, even if she made it out of this hell alive, Clemence could never be the dancer she once was. She could never be famous. They'd all ruined it, they'd ruined her legs. They'd ruined her life.

The girls thoughts rushed back to reality as the blade of Cody's axe pierced her skin near her throat, blood pooling up into the shallow cut almost as soon as it was made. This time, though, Clemence didn't scream. She wouldn't give this boy the satisfaction of hearing her scream. This was a joke... just some bad nightmare. After all she'd accomplished, she couldn't go out like this. It was ludicrous. Struggle though she might, Clemence did nothing except succeed in running the blade deeper into her skin. In one fluid movement, Cody jerked the axe away from the girl's throat and slammed it down, severing her pinned down hand that held the dagger from the rest of her body.

Clemence once again screamed out in anguish, and Cody simply smiled his maniacal smile as he looked down at the girl. Not even bothering to pry the girl's severed hand from the dagger he picked it up and rammed it deep into the girl's stomach. Letting out a gasp of pain as he did so, Clemence was in no position to retaliate. Out of anger, Cody rammed the object into the blonde's gut, again and again, and Clemence couldn't help but be reminded of how she'd murdered one of her first victims in a very similar manner. Karma's a real bitch, isn't it?

Finally, after inflicting multiple stab wounds to the young blonde, Cody seemed to have tired of the game, and Clemence's life was ended rather quickly as the boy ran the dagger deeply along the length of her throat. A few loud gasps for air escaped the girl's lungs and her body twitched convulsively a few times, and then she was dead. The legacy that Clemence had left behind, the people she had maliciously tortured and killed, in some sick way they were all redeemed at that moment, because now, the girl Mr. Danya referred to as "everyone's favorite psycho ballerina" was dead.

Pulling the knife from her throat with a bit of force, Cody pried the cold, dead fingers from the handle and allowed the lifeless hand to drop down on the body. Limping back to where she had dropped her pack and where the shotgun had been thrown, he carefully gathered up all the weaponry that had been scattered about the area, minding his newly acquired stab wound. Finally satisfied with himself, Cody flopped down in front of Loretta once again, a contented sigh escaping the boy's lips. Yawning a bit from the exhaustion that had sat in, Cody propped his body against Loretta and closed his eyes, cradling the pack that now contained most of his weaponry, as well as the shotgun he'd just acquired from the blonde tightly in his arms.

That girl was simply another obstacle sent onto the island to confuse Cody and lead him astray from his objectives on the island. She was a test, and Cody had passed with flying colors. Not only had he not fallen for her lies about her quest being more important than his, but he had exposed her for the villain she was and slayed the evil temptress. All in all, Cody was quite proud of himself. Now, all he had to do was wait. Wait here, with Loretta, and surely now they would come to him. It was just a matter of time now. And time... time was on his side.

CLEMENCE CEILLET DE ROUSSEAU - DECEASED
6 STUDENTS REMAINING

((Continued in: Preparing for War))