If I die young, bury me in satin (event post)

[thesamurai]

Who: Michonne; open + closed
Where: Tartarus
When: Over three days of the event
Rating: PG-13 to R, with character death
Summary: Michonne fights, and she loses, and then she dies.
The Story:

Waking up to a disaster - OTA

[ When the mansion changes into whatever the hell this is now, Michonne's in the halls, just keeping an eye on things, katana strapped to her back. It's a quiet patrol similar to keeping watch in Alexandria, not that it does much good this time. She's immediately somewhere else and her entire body stiffens as she takes in her new surroundings.

The first thing she encounters is a fucking thing trying to eat her and hey, she has some experience with that. So out comes the katana. When she accidentally steps through an access point and the area she's in seems to be safe, she realizes what's happening so now, now she's going to bring as many people in this tower to an access point as she can and get them safe.

She moves as stealthily as possible, jumping into fights where needed, guiding people to safety where she can. ]

Comments

SAFE ZONE - OTA

[thesamurai]

[ She has to take breaks as much as she wishes she didn't have to. She's no a superhuman, and she's been fighting and rescuing for a while. Sitting with the others, Michonne allows herself to close her eyes for a second and take a few deep breaths. She could use some water but she doesn't even know what their supply situation is.

Inspecting her katana, she wipes the blade with some discarded fabric, maybe a hurt person's cut away shirt, and the grossness is wiped away until she's satisfied. Just a few more minutes and she'll go back out to see who needs help. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha has been spending more time in the safe zone than not, though she's not beneath venturing out to bring people in if there's signs of distress or providing support for people better suited to fighting monsters. She's lucky enough to have come through wearing most of her clothes and carrying at least a few of her weapons, but those weapons don't do much more than slow down most of these monsters.

She doesn't care much for sitting still though; she finds things to do between forays up the tower, keeping an eye on people here.

She crouches down next to Michonne while she's resting, giving her a quick once over. Seems okay, but only way to find out for sure.]

Status? [She asks it, ready to clear out if she's not welcome, but considering what's out there... just because Natasha can't see any external wounds doesn't mean there couldn't be something unseen. Then, softer, she ask:] You okay?

[thesamurai]

[ Michonne looks up, meeting her eyes and her own are just tired. But that's the thing about needing to be sure you save as many as possible. You don't get to be tired, not in the thick of it. ]

There are people higher up that can't get down.

[ Then, she nods a little. ]

So far. [ She pauses for a beat, and then: ]

A lot of people are dying.

[outstandingbalance]

You know that for a fact? [It's not skepticism that leads her to ask. If she's seen people dying, that's another sort of trauma. Something else worth knowing.

There's also the possibility she'll find out where people are dying and get there in time to save someone, but Natasha isn't exactly an optimist at the best of times.] If you know where people are holding out still, we could get some one up there.

[thesamurai]

[ Michonne closes her eyes for a second, swallowing and running a hand down her face. ]

Yeah. I know it for a fact. There's some kind of animal up there. Invisible. Just tearin' people apart on account of not being able to see it comin.'

[outstandingbalance]

They don't make things easy, do they.

[It's not a question. She considers for a brief moment, the seconds seeming longer when there are lives on the line.]

And you know there are still people alive up there? I could see who's up for a run, but if we're not sure...

[thesamurai]

I know those things are killing people.

[ RIP Joel. ]

I went up, brought someone down who didn't...

[ She swallows, shaking her head. ]

My guess is just that there are more. One person braves it and gets torn apart, you don't move again.

[ Michonne looks up at Natasha, shaking her head slowly. ]

But I don't know for sure.

after joel's death

[backpacking]

[ Ellie is brought back to the safe zone by a stranger, but she throws off Jesse's trying to calm her and runs like a wild animal to try and get back to where she'd started. To where Joel is, now alone. Nobody lets the crazed kid throw herself, suicidal, toward the dangerous, monster-infested floors, so Ellie has to find other ways to get herself back up there.

She has to. She has to. She has to. ]

I need your help. [ Comes the half-broken voice of a desperate Ellie, digging her fingers into Michonne's arm. ] Please.

[thesamurai]

[ She's about to head out again, to try and go high to the people holed up when Ellie is in front of her, clinging to her, hard, and Michonne's forehead knits together gravely.

Somehow, she knows. Before Ellie can even say what she needs help with. ]

Whatever you need. I got you.

[backpacking]

I need to get back up to the top floors. [ Ellie isn't exactly thinking straight, or she'd never put Michonne in danger. ] I - I have to get back to Joel.

[ To his body, anyway. She shivers at the memory, face flush with recent tears. ]

I can't... I can't do it on my own.

[thesamurai]

[ That's all Michonne needs to hear and she's up, katana in hand. ]

I'll go.

[ There's a silent 'you stay.' She'll go up until she gets to Joel, get to an access point, get him to the safe zone. ]

[backpacking]

[ Ellie does not release Michonne's hand. She doesn't want to tell the truth, because Michonne might not let her go, then... but, she can't lie, either. Not about this. ]

He - [ She's pale, sick with the memory, and a discerning eye might notice the flecks of blood mixed into the fabric of her clothes. ] I-I don't know if-...

[ She's clearly struggling to say something, and urgently, but the words aren't piecing together properly. ]

[thesamurai]

[ Michonne kneels in front of her to better see Ellie's eyes, to not talk down at her. She just looks at her for a few seconds, reaching up with her free hand to cradle Ellie's cheek. ]

Listen to me. Whatever shape he's in, I'll take care of him. Do you hear me? I'll be with Joel and I will bring him back here.

[ Whatever needs to happen, if he needs triage, if he's dead, if he's turned, if he's infected - she'll take care of it. ]

SAFE ZONE - CLOSED

[thesamurai]

[ She needs to go back out, she needs to help people, try and get as many as she can here. And she hasn't seen Clementine yet, hasn't seen Henry, so she needs to go back out.

But all of that stops as soon as the next person comes through the safe zone.

Carrying Clementine's body. ]

[deadshapes]

[It took too damn long to find one of those stupid portals. Why are they spaced so far apart? Why the hell would they design this stupid, goddamn hellhole like that?]

[Her arms are shaking, and she's not even sure if Clementine is alive anymore. She must be. She has to be. She just passed out, and Mae just needs to get to help in time, and now she's at the safe zone, and it's fine, it's going to be fine.]

Help, someone--

[There's people here, someone must be a healer or a doctor or a wizard or something.]

There were these, they were like people but with these markings, and their hands glowed, and Clem got--someone needs to help her, right now.

[thesamurai]

[ Michonne wants to throw up, wants to push this away, walk away from it, erase it from her mind. But she can't. She can't ever unsee a girl who might as well be a daughter to her dead and limp. She knows it, she can see it in the way her arm hangs loosely.

There's no time to throw up, she just walks forward and takes Clementine into her own arms, pressing her cheek up against one that's gone cold. The danger, of her coming back, of Clementine taking a bite out of her throat right there isn't lost on Michonne.

She doesn't care.

This is the moment she stopped caring. She couldn't save someone she cared about, someone who'd saved her in ways she was too young to understand. She failed her, and now nothing else matters. ]

I have her.

[ Her voice cracks and breaks as she looks up again and for all of this, her eyes are dry. ]

You don't want to be here for what's next. Trust me. You need to go.

[deadshapes]

[Someone comes forward, takes Clementine into their arms. It takes Mae several seconds to even realize the person is Michonne. Michonne looks strange, sketchy around the edges, like she's quite real. Everyone down here looks that way.]

[Mae's arms fall to her sides and she follows Michonne. Maybe Michonne knows first aid.]

I don't even know what happened. Those things with the, the hands, I didn't even--Clem just kept getting weaker, they must have--I dunno, like a curse or a disease or something, I...

[She blinks, squinting up at Michonne. What comes next? She needs to go?]

What? No, listen, someone needs to help her. She's not dead. She's not. She's not.

[She thinks she sees Clementine twitch, or maybe it's just the world glitching out.]

See, she's still alive, we can save her. Someone has to save her, okay? Okay?

[thesamurai]

Your name is Mae, right? Clementine's friend. You have a destruction room?

[ Michonne has walked by now to a more secluded corner of the room, and she's gently, slowly, laying Clementine on the ground, trying to focus on words even though she wants to scream. ]

Clem and I, we're from the same world.

[ Just to be sure, her fingers rest against Clementine's neck, looking for a pulse, but there is none. ]

Mae, she's gone. And I have to...I have to make sure she doesn't come back as a walker. A zombie.

[ Michonne feels like she's being ripped apart, but her tone is calm, even if her stomach is about to exit through her throat. ]

[deadshapes]

Y-Yeah. Yeah, she's my friend.

[Michonne is just laying Clementine down, and she's not moving fast enough, and she's not getting help, and is Michonne a doctor? Did Mae miss that part?]

The same--yeah, I know, I heard.

[Mae watches as she checks for a pulse, wrapping her arms around her middle. It feels like she's going to start throwing up.]

No, no. You have to check again. She's not--if she's not dead then she can't be a zombie. She's not--we just, we need one of those, heart things, that zap people's chests, or someone with like lightning magic or something, why isn't anyone helping her?

A changeling - CLOSED (last day of the event)

[thesamurai]

[ Michonne tried so hard to save people. To bring the people she cares about to safety.

It wasn't enough, and now Clementine is dead, her small body covered, the blood on the sheet ensuring she won't come back as a walker. Having to make sure Herschel wouldn't turn, doing the same for Andrea and Tyreese, all of those moments gutted her. They were times she hadn't done enough. Should have killed the Governor when she had the chance, didn't get to Tyreese in time for cutting off his arm to work. She could save a hundred people, but she's failed, over and over again, the people she loves.

It's no wonder then, that a changeling could destroy her so easily. Especially when that changeling is her son. Her heart feels like it's stuck mid-beat in her chest and she feels the fight leave her. ]

Andre?

[ It can't be him. Her logical, rational mind knows it isn't. But that's her baby. Her baby that was torn apart by walkers while she thought he was safe. He was just starting to really talk when he died, to say 'No' with gusto and say almost every word he knew at the top of his lungs. She'd do anything to take back the heavy sighs and wishing he'd just be quiet for five minutes. And now, here he is, in front of her. It's not him, anyone in their right mind knows it's a trap, but she steps forward anyway. ]

[madehervows]

[The advantage to being one of the most powerful witches in her world is that Regina doesn't have to run around in her nightclothes. Neither did Henry, fortunately, who she made sure was rooted in the safe zone when she realised Michonne wasn't around. The event has dragged on for what seems like forever now, and she knows Michonne is doing her best to keep people safe.

But who's keeping her safe?

A quick locator spell on a torn piece of fabric brings her to Michonne and it's all she can do to stop from screaming.]

Michonne. Stop.

[thesamurai]

[ The sound of Regina's voice registers just as Michonne's kneeling in front of Andre.

Clementine is dead. She didn't get to her in time, she couldn't save her. And now that little girl is dead. Michonne put her katana through the back of her head, but she never had to do that to her son. Luckily. But now he's here, right in front of her with his wide eyes and nose shaped like hers, and she's blind to anything else. ]

This is my son.

[madehervows]

[Regina's heels click against the floor as she races to get there before Michonne does something irreparably stupid. She could poof the creature away, but who knows how Michonne would react to the sudden disappearance?]

No, it isn't. That... thing is part of the event, you need to get away from it. Now.

[thesamurai]

[ Michonne hears her, but she doesn't hear her. She failed Clementine today, didn't get to her in time and had to put her sword through her skull.

So, she keeps going before lifting the changeling version of her son up into her arms. Suddenly, she's holding her boy again, and for the few seconds nothing happens her forehead presses to his and she speaks. ]

What would you do if you lost Henry?

[ It's not a question born out of ill-intent. Any mother who has their child ripped away from them likely would have the same answer. And there's no time for Regina to answer before the changeling makes its attack, driving Michonne to her knees. ]

[madehervows]

[What would you do if you lost Henry? From the minute Emma Swan showed up at her door, that was the question she asked herself every single day. It haunted her thoughts for days, weeks, drove her to do anything and everything she could to keep Henry.

It's not the same. It'll never be the same, because she has Henry. And there's not a person or force on Earth who could ever tear them apart again.]

-- No!

[It happens so quickly that she has no time to stop it. Regina rushes forward, throwing her hand out and throwing the changeling back; the creature slams into the wall. Fire pours from both of her hands until there's nothing left of the changeling but ash and the sound of her screams.]

Nonono, Michonne --

[Regina drops to her knees, cradling Michonne carefully.]

You're. You're gonna be okay, I promise.