Put the Fire Out | [closed]

[William Talbot]

Will walked along side Violet and after a few moments she spoke, and he simply nodded, not really looking any place other than where he was placing his own feet, until he cut a glance over at her and spoke softly; "I understand..."

He felt as if he should ask her if there was anything he needed to know, but for some strange reason, he couldn't make himself speak, not that it mattered, since a few moments later, they, or rather she, where attacked by an older woman, how looked like the one from one of the earlier dreams, only dressed in grays and blacks and dark blues, still when she spoke it sent chills down Will's spine, but it didn't stop his instinctive movement to place himself between the two, his eyes glowing brightly as his own mind raced for an answer as to what he could really do, other than maybe block the next attack.

"Vi... what's she talking about?" Will asked softly as he stood there, ready to shift and block in an instant...

[Violet Schultz]

Violet couldn't answer. All she could do was stare in horror as her mother bore down upon her, seeking to avenge her death, and that of her husband. Both deaths at Violet's hands. It wasn't something she could avoid anymore. Everywhere she went, it dogged her steps, tainting her thoughts, weighing on her mind. Twelve years had done nothing to dampen the strength of the guilt she felt, even after telling herself many times that it was an accident. She would never be able to forgive herself for that day, and if she couldn't overcome guilt in the emotional sense, there was little chance that she could overcome it here in the literal sense.

"Will, this is my mother," she said, not attempting to get up. "Twelve years ago, she and my father died in an explosion. An explosion that I made."

Her voice was barely audible, only intelligible because of the quietness of the dreamscape, along with the link. Her eyes were filled with a sadness unbefitting a person her age. It was the reason that one of her former masters had called her the young girl with old eyes. This was the thing that separated her from the rest of the world, made her keep people at arms length. It was the thing she could never fully recover from. The apparition stepped through Will as if he wasn't even there, seeking Violet to the exclusion of any others.

"Murdering child," her mother hissed, pulling Violet up by the throat.

"It was an accident," Violet rasped, struggling to breathe.

"

You are the reason that your family is dead,"[/color] the woman spat. "You are the reason. It's all [/i]your fault!"[/color]

[/i]I know...[/blockquote]

[William Talbot]

William looked back at Violet and his eyes held equal parts understanding, sadness, and empathy; while the details where still shady in his mind, he blamed himself for his own family's death, as well as the death of his first girlfriend, because in his mind, had he not had his power, and been a target, then Slade would have never go after him, and they would still be alive today...

But as much as Will blamed himself, he knew in his heart, that Violet was right when she had told him that the best thing to do was to honor them, by going on, and living the best he could, and by helping others...

Of course that thought stuck in his mind somewhere between his head and his lips when the woman walked thought him as if he was smoke, which was like a slap across the face to remind him that he really couldn't do that much in Violet's mind, it being an intangible place, after a fashion...


"NO!" he yelled as he wisped through the woman, a few times, flailing at her back to no avail, then he moved in close to Violet and spoke to her; "Violet... You where barely six years old! You had just started to discover your powers, and you couldn't have known! I know what it must have been like, having this burning inside, this deep well of heat and energy, this fire that burned and you didn't understand it all, I know, your parents loved you, otherwise they would have sent you away!" He pleaded with her as things seemed to grow both noisy and quiet all at once, the sky turning a dark blue then slowly bleeding into a red, the air around them suddenly cold, as the only sounds where his own and Violet's heartbeats, and the soft seething hiss of the emotion that now gripped her without mercy...

"Violet, you told me that the only way I could move on and live my life was if I honored my family with my life, that I lived the best way I could, that I had to make up for it in my own way, and do the right thing, well now I'm telling you to fight this, there are going to be people out there that need you, remember the Mall? You saved life's that day, countless life's, mine included, and while that might not bring your parents back, it will honor them and your memory of them..."

He had to get through to her, to get her to shake this loose, she had too much to live for now, she had a chance, and it would be a crime of the highest order for him to give up on her now, of all times...

[Violet Schultz]

Violet's hands grasped her mother's wrist, but she wasn't really putting forward any effort to free herself. Part of her couldn't help but think that she deserved it. But to survive on the streets for as long as she had, one must have a core of steel. Her head was starting to spin, but her jaw was steadily clenching, and her grip was tightening.

This woman! This was the reason that she was always feeling so terrible, and the reason why she had suffered so much self-doubt. She was fed up with it. Her eyes lit up with lavender flames, and her eyebrows fell to a hard, angry slant.

"That temper of yours, Violet," her mother tsked. "That temper is the reason that we are dead. And it's the reason that you will die."[/color]

A solid blast of white energy blasted her away from Violet, who dropped to her knees for a moment, massaging her throat. Looking up with the same conviction in her eyes, she stood. When she spoke her next words, her voice was rougher, but it showed an absolute self-control that she often practiced. Her mother stood, the same accusing glare on her face.

"He's right," she said, advancing on Guilt. "And I'm done letting you rule my life."

Guilt advanced again, but another flare of white energy burst forward from Violet, flinging her away again. Guilt's form shrunk, fading to reveal an identical copy of Violet herself, only with colors the blue-gray of a rain cloud. Violet knelt at her side. Touching her temple with her fingertips, she communicated silently with the incarnation, knowing that this was the one way to make it private, within only her own mind. She hoped that Will would sense that she wanted this to be private.

[/i]I've carried you around for 12 years. Now, I have to let you go. Please. Go, and don't come back.

"You really are like Mom, you know," Guilt chuckled. Her body turned to sand and blew away, from foot to the top of her head. In the wall behind them, a door materialized.[/blockquote][/i]

[William Talbot]

Will held his ground As Violet fought back, and when he felt her urge him to not pry, he obliged, pulling his senses back, as much as he could, all things considered, until the emotion faded away like a pile of dust in a strong wind...


When the door appeared however, Will reached for Violet's hand and dashed for it, more on instinct than out of fear or relief, however as he felt the door touch his hand he stopped and took a breath, before he looked back at her and smiled, "Well, this has been quite the adventure huh?" then he looked into her eyes and grew somber, his head bowing slightly and his eyes soft and gentle, his voice lowering to match; "It's all safe with me Violet, I won't tell anyone else any of the details... I know you and your stance on privacy, and I totally agree... And, if it means anything to you, I think I now understand you more, and I can only hope that as time goes on, you'll understand me as well a--"


Suddenly the door jerked open, the knob flying right out of Will's hand, the opening suddenly caving in on it's self falling into another void, which had a distinct blue hue to it as well as the scent of burning wood...

"Violet!" Will called out as suddenly they where thrown into a swirling tornado like mass of heat and light, their hands still connected for the moment, but that moment didn't last long as a flash of light later found Will on his knees in the middle of a meadow, tall, massive trees, covered on moss, and thick lush green leaves, all about, the place looking not unlike the forests in the foot hills north of Jump, not far from the mountains north-west of the city, only with a kind of warm misty haze that made the sun a simple bright blur in the sky, and the horizon a smudge between the misting cloud filled sky and the seemingly fertile green rolling land about him, but what worried William was that Violet was nowhere to be seen around him...


~~~~~~~~~~

A few hills and valleys away...


A trio of boys, all fairly tall, dark haired, rugged looking, and shirtless, dashed about, in a game of chase that had neither rules nor objective, outside of go as fast as you could, and don't stop, the jocular banter and laughter that they shared was almost comforting, the noise pure and wild, free and good, the laughter and shouts echoing softly across the hills and through the trees, that is until there was a shout and then suddenly, the three boys where stock still, each with his own reaction at the sight of a sleek, and athletic girl with black hair and dark blue eyes standing in a clearing...

The tallest or at least the oldest of the three, wearing dark green cargo shorts, tilted his head in a way that clearly gave away the Lycan and Canine bits that littered his DNA, his steely blue eyes extra large and framed with thin wire framed glasses that he pushed up his wideish round nose with two fingers and his thumb as the inquisitive orbs they helped scanned her for a moment before they grew even wider to the point of being ridiculous, a soft gasp previewing his exclamation to the other boys; "WHOA! Guys! She's HERE NOW!!!"

The other two, one in a faded dark red cargo shorts, the other in a bright sky blue pair looked first at each other, then at the other boy who stood between them and the girl, then they dashed up and looked at her almost in shock, the one on blue blushing and smiling at her before he slowly raised his hand and waved at her shyly and almost squeaked out; "Hi Violet... I'm glad we could help you... It's nice to see here here--"

"Although rather unexpected, and puzzling as to how this happened, it is nice to see that you are unharmed... I guess turnabout is fair play, although it's kinda inconvenient huh?" the Will with glasses said as he again adjusted them on his face and looked at her like some boy's might look at a grasshopper, studying it and observing it with rapt interest, the Green shorts wearing emotion being Will's curiosity, and she was about to discover the identities of the other two.

"This is SOO COOL! You're the best EVER Vi!" The second smallest of the three said as he pulled his hands from his sky blue shorts and then glomped her, planting a big wet kiss on her lips before he melted into a puddle of gooey happy emotion that ran down her front and pooled at her feet...

Yes indeedy, it was Will's Love for her in corporeal form...


The faded red dressed Will however, had kept fairly quiet and just looked at her with probing, knowing eyes and when Love had gushed himself all over the place into a puddle, he saw his opening and sidled up to Violet and slid his arm around her middle and pulled her close to himself, an almost lecherous smirk on his face as he looked at her and then whispered; "Hmm, good to have you here, it's a really sweet surprise... Hey listen, I know a great little spot not far from here we can be alone at..." he trailed off his eyebrows arching at her sugestively...

While he was barely an few inches taller than her, he looked to be the most mature of the bunch, the faintest hints of a goat-tee and mustache showing on his face, as if he was growing facial hair suddenly for some kind of retro sex appeal...

This was of course, Will's "brand new" emotion, or at least the youngest of them all, his Lust, which while the youngest of the trio, was also growing by leaps and bounds, thanks to his powerfully mixing Lycan hormones, which where amplified by his Angelic DNA... Of course...


"Lust... Keep your paws off of Violet!"[/color] Curiosity snapped at the shorter yet older looking boy, his steely blue eyes sparking with light, over the top of his glasses, his head having snapped back to them from looking off over a hill in the distance.

"What?" The other emotional feeling asked innocently, holding his now furry paw like hand away from her, the rest of him still looking human, his other hand slipping down to grope Violet's nicely shaped backside and then give it a little pat, even as he acted as if he was behaving himself, his smile a carbon copy of Will's friendliest, and goofiest happy go lucky smile, the only give away the fleshly hunger that sizzled in his eyes, and seemed to hook Curiosity into a brain loop as he looked at Violet's hip where Lust's hand was slowly rubbing up and down...

The area suddenly lit up with an almost lavender warmth that WASN'T from Violet as all three emotions seemed to be linked, Curiosity and Love melding into a kind of single being, wearing dark green shorts and a sky blue shirt, his/its head tilted over sightly, and eyes glowing as Lust waved him/it/them over and whispered; "C'mon... ya' know you wanna [/i]find out right? And why not? She IS a stunningly attractive, smart, and witty girl is she not?"[/color]

"Yeah... uhhmmm... and uhh... maybe? Uhh... Yeah uhh...


[/i]"Awkward..."
Will himself said as he looked from the top of a ridge down at the scene, himself dressed in slightly faded cowboy jeans, boots and a white teeshirt, the sight below him causing him to feel both relieved, nervous, embarrassed non-plussed and... well, too many combinations of feelings and emotions for him to label now, and anyway, he feared that trying to quantify all of that might just inadvertently spawn MORE little copy of himself dressed in all colors of the rainbow, and causing himself and Violet any and all kinds of discomfort and other awkwardness...

Oh well, time to get down there and reign in his suddenly wild emotions and try to find the way outta his own mind now...



Geez, all of THIS over a glass of Orange Juice?

[Violet Schultz]

So one minute she was looking into his eyes, and the next second, they were falling through another door. She blinked in surprise as she found herself in a meadow. She had not spent time in a place like this for many years. Open fields were places where anyone could see you, and she felt exposed without the cover of buildings blocking out most of the sky. Besides, the mountains she could see in the distance were nothing like those in the Gascogne region of France. This wasn't that part of the world. So, if they weren't in a memory of France, where were they?

She realized as she looked around that the inner flame she felt near by wasn't one, but three. And there was another that was pretty close by. A frown touched her face as she figured it out. Three Will's? They had to be in his mind. It would definitely explain the setting, as well as these three. They looked like Will, but there were obvious differences, not the least of which being the attitude. The one in the green seemed like a studious and curious individual, and she couldn't help but be surprised. She hadn't seen much of this facet of his personality. The others were fairly familiar to her.

She drew back a smidge out of surprise as he kissed her, but true to her usual nature, she didn't say anything, prefering to watch until she had a more firm grasp on what was going on. Still, even she couldn't keep silent when Lechery starting in. It was really a good thing that Will kept this facet under control, or he would be in for a world of hurt. Her hand was small compared to his, so the force with which he grabbed his fingers was probably mildly surprising.

With a swift and smooth motion, she twisted under his arm and pulled his hand with her, pinning his hand behind his back in a very uncomfortable position. Her face was still mostly bemused, but she wasn't the kind of girl who responded positively to something like that.

"You're not allowed to pick

any more doors,"[/color] she said to the real Will as he walked up.

A teasing smile was on her face, but she didn't relinquish her grip.[/blockquote][/i]

[William Talbot]

Lust's eyes widened as she twisted his arm about and held his hand behind him, but he just laughed as he look back at her with the same grin; "Hmm... I should have known you liked to be rough..."


But then he faded into a mist that melded with Curiosity/Love, the clothing now a faded burgundy tee-shirt under a sky blue button down, and dark green cargo's, and this will looked to be the REAL Will's twin, as they now stood next to each other, the real William face-palming at her greeting comment; "Thanks bunches mom..."[/color]

"But she's not mom, She's Violet..." the triad emotion said with a mixture of confusion, and adoration, his steely blue eyes sparkling at her behind the rounded lenses of his glasses.


Will looked to the emotional mix mash then back to Violet before he pivoted on his heel and slugged the internal dopleganger square in the jaw, causing the other "boy" to stumble back and fall flat on his back, out cold.
Then with a glow and a soft swooshing sound, the emotions flowed like a translucent river of light into Will's chest. A few moments later William started to rub his jaw and wince; "Ouch... Didn't know THAT would happen..." he jaw hurt about as much as he would expect it to after getting slugged in the face.


Still, they where in a place they had not expected to be, and it was starting to wear on him that they had no clue how much time was passing outside their now interwoven minds, as it felt like hours, but it could have been only moments, or days...


That string of thought of course was stopped when Will felt something that he was all too familiar with, so he turned to Violet and spoke softly as the sky darkened around them; "Violet, whatever happens next, I want you to stay out of it... Like yourself, and most people, I have a few... [/i]Issues..."[/color]

The fact that the stand of trees directly behind them burst into flames and that a piercing howl ripped across the airwaves should not have been lost on either of them, indeed least of all the boy who's mind they where now inside.

Add to that the fact that two more emotions where now tearing the landscape apart while chasing two others in a running fight, when Will stepped in front of Violet, he held a hand back at to remind her of his words.

Of course seeing what looked to be a pissed off Angel and a blood thirsty werewolf chasing an golden armored wolf themed person and a smallish looking Will in the same cargo shorts, this time in a dreary shade of gray could only drive home the point that Will did have his own set of troubles, emotionally speaking of course...[/i]

[Violet Schultz]

"Well, take it from me," she said with a sigh. "These dreams are a hell of a therapy session."

And a

group therapy session, unfortunately. Still, he had respected her wishes when they were in her mind, so she would respect his, and stay out of it, if that was possible. So far, it didn't seem likely that his other selves would ignore her presence. In fact, she seemed to be a focal point. Ignoring (for now) the implications of that, it would be a challenge to stay out of this. She could only wonder if it would be the same here as it was in her dream, where she had no real substance, but given the fact that she could interact with these other selves, she doubted it. There could be very real danger to herself in this dream.

"This is one of the strangest days I've ever had," she commented, shifting subtlely into a battle stance. She didn't know if she would need to run, fight, or neither, but she wasn't one to be caught unprepared. Will might now have a whole lot of control over what happened here, just as she didn't have a lot of control over what had happened in her own dream.

Looking down, she realized that she had been given another costume change. Thankfully, it wasn't anything that she wouldn't have picked for herself, even if it was a lot less ragged than what she wore most of the time. It was the usual black cargo pants, but the shirt was white rather than its usual black. There were no sleeves on the shirt, so her lightly scarred arms were visible. She could feel the weight of her switchblade in her pocket, which kind of surprised her, given the fact that she'd never used it in front of Will before. How did he even know that she carried it? It was even in the correct pocket.

She drew it and noticed that the weight was a little off. It wasn't quite as well balanced as hers, and it didn't really look like hers. Interesting. So, he knew that she had one, but since he had never seen it, his imagination couldn't accurately fabricate it. Good to know.[/blockquote][/i]

[William Talbot]

"No kidding..." William replied to her simply as the massive Werewolf charged after the smallest emotion to date, a rather young looking Will, aged about ten or maybe twelve, his steely blue eyes pale, wide and wet with huge scared tears as he tripped and fell, crying loudly, like a little boy in the face of the almost demonic hound that pounced down upon him, and then snapped closed its jaws down at the boy, but had his bite deflected by the golden knight who's arm was now in the way...

Howling out in rage, the Werewolf tackled the golden champion and they began tussling violently as the blond haired Angel descended upon the scene, angry tears like diamonds falling from her sky blue eyes before she shouted at the trio; "STOP IT! You're always causing trouble! Always in trouble! why can't you just be a good boy?!? Why Will? Why must you always get into fights? Can't you just leave the humans alone? Leave them! Please!"

She cried and cried, pulling at the Lycan and the Knight, the two of them reacting very differently to her, the Lycan slapped her across the face before taking advantage of the fact that the Knight lowered his arms and tentatively reached for her to console her, which earned him a blow to the face.

The small boy however simply cowered and cried as well, his sobs at last sounding like words; "But I... I try so hard! Why is all of this happening to me?!? I didn't ask for this! I don't want this power! I don't want to save the world! I just want to be loved! Why are they all after me?!? Momma? Momma! Why?!? Dad! Where are you?!? I need you!"[/color]


The Lycan of course tired quickly of fighting the swift golden knight, and he turned his blood red filled gaze at the small boy, Will's inner despair and fear, and he howled once more before he sprung at him, snarling savagely; "Weak! Pointless! ALL OF YOU ARE WEAK AND POINTLESS! YOUR BLOOD IS MINE!" and with that he pinned the small shirtless boy, tears streaming down his face, to the grassy ground and sunk his long jagged teeth into his arm, which drew no blood, but caused an sorrow filled wail from the boy, the Angel crying even more now as she pounded her small fists upon the beasts back and sobbed loudly; "You're always mad at everything! Why can't you just be calm? Why are you so impulsive? Why? Why? Why can't you??? Alway's getting hurt! Always scaring me!" for a split second, as she wailed at them, her face, eyes, hair and voice shifted, and for barely two rapid heartbeats, it was Violet, as an angel, crying, and not his mother, but the emotion changed back before Will could fully regester that, although it did catch his attenion and haunt the faintest thoughts in the back of his mind...


William himself however just slowly walked around the scene his eyes glowing as he sized everything up and the stood stock still and glared at the emotions.

"Enough!" The knight said as he stood and removed himself from the fracas, and then stood at attention, awaiting what would happen next...

Walking up William grabbed the Werewolf by the scruff of the neck like it was an overly large puppy, the emotion it stood for, being rage, and as soon as it had been removed from the situation, it shrunk down in size and simply hung there glaring at everyone else there with pure malice in its dark red eyes, up until Will suddenly and violently buried it into the ground with a single blow.

The Angel, an almost perfect copy of his mother, other than the wings, stood there looking disappointedly at him and shook her head until William shook his head at her, then turned his back, a pained expression on his face as he looked at the small boy who slowly melded with the ground, the Angel's golden hair still flowing with a nonexistent wind, her image fading to a ghost like state as Will walked up to the tall, golden armored knight, his wolf head shaped helmet looking down at him with and slight nod before he faded away and drifted into a smoke like state, onto William and then faded away into nothing.


Standing there, and sighing, Will let the faded image of his mother whisper softly until he just walked away, moving closer to Violet, which seemed to keep the guilt spewing aberration at bay...

"Let's go, I think I know a way out of here..." he said softly to Violet as he looked off into the still gray horizon...[/i]

[Violet Schultz]

Violet didn't comment, knowing that Will probably hadn't wanted her to see that. As much as she wanted to respect his privacy, her analytical mind was reading into what she had seen. He hadn't exactly spelled out his bloodlines to her, but she could feel conflicting things in his inner flame, pretty much all of the time. There was that pure, clean feeling, and then there was that truly feral feeling there as well. This only confirmed her suspicions that both were at odds with each other. The wolfish part, she understood. She had seen him transform before. The other part, she didn't. What was that "pure" feeling? Did it have something to do with the knight? No, the purity felt the strongest in the weeping angel, just as the feral edge was the strongest in the wolf.

It was enough to make one's head explode, but she didn't dwell on it. She looked at Will and nodded. Suddenly, a sound echoed over the endless plains. It was a thump....no, two thumps. A rhythmic heartbeat. As night visibly darkened the sky, blackness came swiftly. Before she knew what was happening, she couldn't see a foot in front of her face.

She could still feel Will's presence beside her, but the rest of her senses dulled, only to return with a sharp pain in all of her muscles. She blinked her eyes open and realized that they were back in the Titans' safehouse, and she was staring at the ceiling.

She could feel her muscles pulsing with each heartbeat, and her heart was moving abnormally quickly. She tried to sit up, but her body refused to allow it and she could only just lay there, panting. She became vaguely aware of Will's presence at her side, but she couldn't summon the willpower to say anything. She'd been asleep for the last couple of hours, hadn't she? So why was she so sore and tired? She felt like she had been exercising beyond her limits the entire time, and her inner flame was flickering doggedly to the pulse of her heart. She sighed and closed her eyes again. This was not the most pleasant day she'd ever spent.

"Are you okay, Will?" she breathed, her voice ragged from exhaustion.[/blockquote]

[William Talbot]

Feeling the pull of the physical world on his person, William closed his eyes as darkness settled over his mindscape, and he let the sound of Violet's heartbeat guide them from this world of dreams and emotion, back out, a kind of doorway opening and setting them back where they had been all along, into the living room of the safe-house...


Cracking his eyes open, Will looked to Violet, a slight lavender glow fading from her skin as she opened her eyes and took a few measured breaths, the discomfort clear in her aura and her face as he held her hand and then smiled softly at her; "I'm okay..." he said, although the side of his head hurt like he'd been smacked with a brick, but other than that he felt fine, so he reached his other hand out and closed his eyes, a soft pale blue glow emanating from his fingertips as he reached up and touched her head and whispered a small mantra his mother had taught him, and had used on him, that had been passed down from his grandmother for many years; "Et mee-mal Sha-lom, ma-la-chay y'va-reh-ch' Adonai v'yessh pa'nahv ay'-leh-cha Ka-leeb vee-choo-neh-ka l'cha Shalom..."

The glow reached out and eased the pain in her mind and body, a tiny part of William's own spirit reaching into Violet's body to take away the pain, and pour a part of his own strength into her.

Smiling at her as he took his hand away, Will then bent down and kissed her forehead before speaking softly; "It's okay now, and you should be soon..." he looked into her eyes, and felt over the link, now stronger, and deeper than ever, that there was a better understanding, but also some more questions that warranted answers.

But that was for another time, and they both knew it, so with one more kiss in the forehead, Will slowly let go of Violet's hand and smiled at her, knowing that she'd likely want to get up and move some, but that her sore muscles and tired lungs, even with his help, would need a little while to recover; "Take it slow Vi... We'll talk more later. And of course, welcome back..."


{END}

~TRANSLATION~

"May a sweet peace and calm fill you, may the King bless you with strength and heal your body, his ease and strength rest upon you, may he reward your pure brave heart with courage and strength anew, and may you have peace in all things..."