Goodbye and Then Some

Who: Hannah and Seph
Where: Texts, then the woods
When: After dark

Two down, one to go. The biggest one to go. Hannah had thought long and hard about Seph before she'd made the decision she'd made. It would benefit everyone around, she thought. So sat in the Bronco outside Park Cemetery and sent him a text.

Yo. Can I pick you up somewhere? Wanna show you something.

Seph only knew he had a text because the phone happened to be in his pocket, and he always had it set to vibrate. His music was too loud to hear it. He pulled it out and skimmed the message. Tossing a glance up to the shadowy figure on the wall, he thumbed in a response. Sure. Where? Everything ok?

everything sucks, Hannah texted back sourly, going quickly and skipping capitalization this time. im at the park cem again, but can pick you up wherever. talk about when I see you k?

Well that was ... worrisome. It wasn't like he was super-best-friends with Hannah or anything yet, but she seemed to be a cool girl, and he had a feeling that her version of 'things suck' was just as bad as his. Which was to say, apocalyptic suck. Stay there, on my way, he texted back, already stuffing his feet into sneakers. He thought he could take a brisk walk today.

Hannah didn't bother texting back, she just got out of the Bronco and leaned against the front, like she had the day before, arms folded across her chest and mood really rather more resigned than before. At least she could do a little good before she had to leave.

It didn't take Seph too long to get there. The park wasn't terribly far, and at a light jog mixed with walking, he made it. He'd forgotten the scarf, but that was okay. What he hadn't forgotten was his pistol, strapped to his side under a light jacket. He walked up to her, slightly out of breath, and looked questioning.

Pushing off from the Bronco, Hannah jerked a thumb at the Bronco. "Get in, it's unlocked. Showing comes before telling." She even grinned wryly, because even if the rest of this sucked, she wanted to at least start it off well. Like she'd planned to before the fucking letter that afternoon.

Seph arched an eyebrow and smirked a bit, as if to say 'well, all right ...' He went around to the side of the Bronco and pulled the door open, crawling in. It was comfortable enough, and he settled and looked expectantly at her side of the car. Apparently there was no immediate danger, so that relaxed him some. There was just ... something to show and tell.

She hauled herself in, slamming the door behind her. "I'm okay, and all. Just some bad news in general. But I spent a lot of time on the show part, so I'll be fucked before I let the bad news ruin it completely." And with that, she started the engine, some old Michael Jackson coming on the stereo when it did. So sue her, she liked some of the old shit, too.... "And no laughing at my music," she added, just in case, as she pulled the Bronco away from the curb. "You're in cutting range this time."

His blue gaze had flickered to the stereo controls when Michael Jackson started playing, but Seph didn't say anything. Even made a lip-zipping motion and held his hands up submissively, though he couldn't help but smirk a little bit. He settled back in the seat for the ride, not overly concerned about where she might be taking him. Following without too many questions was one thing he was good at, when it came to certain people.

Where Hannah took him might have wound up raising brows eventually, because she took him straight out of town, not bothering with conversation. Conversations she'd already had that day, and the one she was going to have to have shortly, were buzzing in her head already, and she didn't need to clutter the air up with less important words when there were very important ones just waiting to spit themselves out. So she just turned the music up and drove them out into the woods, well out of town, before she pulled the Bronco over and cut the engine.

Seph watched the scenery go by with a passing interest. Until they got farther out. Then a little flicker of disquiet started to work through him. Mentally, he alerted his sister to what was going on, and told her what roads they'd taken, but not to do anything yet. But forewarned was forearmed, and this was ... yeah, a bit out of pocket. When they stopped, he calmly took up his notebook again and started writing. If you're going to try and kill me, you'll have a fight on your hands, and not much luck, he wrote, and showed it to her. Just in case.

Hannah read it and made a face of mild disgust. "Ugh. No. You're one of the only people out there who could hurt me, permanently. I'm not that stupid. Besides, I like you. C'mon." She got out of the Bronco and motioned for him to come. The "showing" was a little further off into the trees, from even this dirt road.

He thought that was probably true, given the way she looked to his eyes. Not that he had any intent to suck her dry, but Seph thought it was maybe possible. He tucked the notebook away and got out of the truck, giving a glance around before he started to follow her. It wasn't like he was worried, really, caution had just been instilled in him at a very young age. But he went along with her, looking around at the trees as they entered the forest proper. After a short while of walking, that feeling under his skin that came with a concentration of negative energy started to come on.

Hannah resisted the urge to tug him along by the arm like an excited little kid wanting to show off a finger-painting to an adult. But the urge was there, and she acknowledged it. It'd been a long time since she'd gotten to do something for a friend, like this. Or, sort of friend. Unexpected and pointless but something they'd like. It made her feel surprisingly good. "It isn't too far-- aha, right here." And she held up her hands to indicate what she'd done as they came out into a little tiny quarry of rocks: negative energy had been spun around, anchored at each of the little boulders scattered around the clearing, like so much yarn strung along in a little spiderweb pattern. It wasn't very complicated, or really all that impressive, but it was the extent of her channel-and-release ability.

"Tada," she said with a slightly self-mocking little grin. She'd spent most of the morning on that.

Seph looked down into the little pool of swirly blackness and just stood transfixed for a moment. He could move the stuff, sure, but he hadn't ever collected it like that. Not just in a ... a whirlpool. It looked gorgeous to his eyes, the dark moving and shifting, but still anchored down. His jaw dropped a touch, and he looked over at her again, eyes questioning. Was that for him? To absorb? Where in the hell did she get it all? How did she carry it with her? There was a lot to ask, but he was mostly too flattered to really bother writing it down.

Looking a little bit bashful, which probably a little out of character for her, Hannah shrugged a bit. "I had a bunch extra from a place I cleaned out yesterday... had to do somethin' with it, you know? And I figured you'd like it...." It sure seemed like he did. Either that or he was just really fucking shocked and was preparing to beat on her for the presumption. But she kinda doubted that one.

A grin crossed his face slowly. It was for him. She looked like she had enough, really. Without any sort of communication attempt, Seph turned and headed into the clearing with a little bounce in his step. The energy immediately swirled and gathered around his legs as he went, clinging to him. He walked to the middle and plunked down into indian style, holding his hands out palms up and starting to draw it in. Eyes closed and grinning.

Yep, he liked it. Good. Hannah plopped herself down just at the edge of the blackness, to watch. She wouldn't bother him while he was playing, or feeding, or whatever he was doing exactly, but she still had things to talk about once he was done. For now... she was content to watch. It reacted differently to him than it did to her, and she wanted to learn how that was, even if she was leaving and it would do her no good until she got back. And it was really kind of pretty, to be honest.

It was delicious. He liked it like this, all concentrated and mixed together. It hadn't come from that spot, so it was lacking a lot of the echoes and ties into what had made it in the first place. It felt awesome all around him, and he let it seep into him through every exposed bit of skin that was there. He toyed with it like a kid would play with bath-bubbles: gathering it up into his scooped hands and blowing bits of it away ... sucking it in between his lips like he had an invisible straw ... hell, he even gave himself a mohawk with it before it all sank in through his hair. Seph flopped backwards into the leaf-litter and dirt for a bit, disappearing under the cloud of it and letting it absorb. After a while he sat up again and looked over at her, grinning.

It was really fucking hard not to laugh at him. The negative energy mohawk was just awesome, and she quite happily caught a few of those little bubbles for him, half the time tossing them back and half the time drawing them in, herself-- she wasn't quite as "full" now as she had been the night before, thank god. That had been almost uncomfortable. When he finally started paying attention to her again, she was grinning about as broadly as he was. "The mohawk thing? Totally awesome. Just thought you ought to know."

He gave another one of those grating-sounding laughs, feeling pretty goddamn good, seeing as how he was practically bathing in negative energy. His stitches had even stopped itching for the time being. He got up halfway and moved over to her, sitting down again, he in what was left of the energy, she just out of it. Seph pulled out his book again. Thank you. For real, this = great. Thanks thanks, he wrote and showed it to her, smiling warmly. He'd never gotten bad vibes as a present before.

Smiling, back, Hannah shrugged as if it were no big deal. She wasn't good at taking compliments or thanks, really. "Like I said. I like you, dude. And you're one of the few people who'd appreciate it. Ergo, for you. I'm gladja like it." And she could start getting down to the nitty-gritty-serious stuff any time now. Really. Maybe she'd let him be happy a minute or two longer.

Seph could relate. He didn't take squishiness well from anyone but his sister, either. So he let it drop at that, just settling the notebook and marker in his lap. He leaned back on one hand and ran the other through his hair to get it out of his face, eyes moving up to drift around the woods around them. His shadow-companion was even gone, for the moment. Nice.

After the silence settled, Hannah finally decided she probably ought to get around to the bad news. She watched him a moment, wondering what he'd think-- if he'd care. Probably would, at least a little, since she'd just apparently made him very happy. "So," she said with a little huff of air. "I'm kind of leaving town... don't know for how long."

That got his eyes to return to her, accompanied with a frown. Though honestly? He halfway wondered why anybody was still around at all. Seph sat up straighter and scribbled a short and to the point note. Why?

Hannah hardly had to read it, because she knew what it'd say. "My family called me. I need to help out with some shit somebody's in-- they think it might be demons. And when my family calls me to help out, I have to go and fucking help out. That's just the way it is. It looks like it's going to be at least a couple weeks to track the things down and get rid of them." She made a face. "I'm planning on coming back after, but it could take longer than I'm guessing." And the town could be completely empty by the time she got back, the way things were going here.

Well that made perfect sense to Seph. If anybody knew about dropping everything for family, it was him. He nodded in an understanding sort of way, waving a hand in a 'gotta do what you gotta do' sort of gesture. At least that was what it was in his head. Be careful, he wrote down. And bring me back a souvenir. He showed her the book with a little grin, hoping to maybe make her feel a little less like shit about it.

She had to laugh a little. "I'll find something you'll like, I'm sure. Maybe a demon claw or something." She could imagine him getting a kick out of that, really. "But hey-- there's something else, too, before I have to go." She pointed at his throat. "I want to do something about that shit, for you."

He was pretty sure he would like a demon claw, but before he could say so, she'd said the other thing, and it was slightly derailing. He frowned slightly and looked questioning. Do something about his neck? What could she do about that?

The questioning look made her grin a little, since she'd expected it, too. "See, there's something else I can do, too, besides the whole negative energy thing, and the mirror-walking thing. I can take people's wounds away. And, fuck, you really shouldn't have to be walking around with that thing when I can get rid of it for you." She smirked a bit. "The only catch is then I get it, and it'll probably kill me-- but," she added before he could freak out on her, "death doesn't stick with me."

Seph just stared at her with his eyebrows drawn together, in a silent expectation for more explanation. Because unless she could make that make sense to him, no way in hell was she was touching it.

Rolling her eyes lightly, Hannah obliged. "You see, when I die, I come back the next day. It's a Fade thing. I'll die, my body will turn into ashes at dawn, and when we hit the twenty-four-hour mark, I'll come back, all healed up and with a few interesting new scars. And you won't look like you ever got hurt to begin with. No scars or anything." Which was the point. It'd take him weeks to heal up-- and, on a more selfish note, it'd take her weeks to heal up, too-- and this way, they'd both be good as new.

He considered that. She could come back from the dead? That sounded handy. Kind of like his own situation handy. Seph's eyes drifted down to her legs and kind of unfocused as he thought about it. Really, he knew the wound would heal eventually, and he knew that he wouldn't mind the scar it would leave. What really concerned him was his ability to talk. He really missed that. And if it wasn't going to fuck her over, and he'd for sure get his voice back ... He picked up the sharpie and wrote one more short thing. You sure? He met her gaze again and raised an eyebrow.

"Wouldn't of offered if I wasn't pretty fuckin' sure, dude," Hannah said with a little grin. "I almost wanted to take it yesterday when I saw it, but I figured it'd freak you out." And yesterday she hadn't known she would need to be in good condition to help out one of the however-many-times-removed cousins.

Seph shifted a little uncomfortably. Was she going to like ... bleed out? Yes, that definitely would've freaked him out. She'd said her body would turn to ash at dawn, and that was kind of a ways away. Should i do anything? like ... with your body? he jotted down and showed to her, still looking kind of concerned.

Thinking on that a minute, Hannah shrugged. "I suppose you could put me in the Bronco, so no animals can get at me, but you don't have to." She cocked her head at him. "You don't even have to watch, if you don't want to." She'd understand if he didn't. Though, Death Elemental, maybe he would want to. "But if you really wanna help," she added, "you can share that neat little band-aid of yours, once I take it. Then it won't even hurt."

Watching wasn't really going to be an issue. It wasn't like he'd never seen anyone die before. He'd killed people. Just never a friend, however voluntary this was going to be. He nodded and peeled the bandaid immediately off of his forehead. He leaned forward and stuck it to her hand, ignoring the wash of Ow from his neck. He would definitely be putting her in the Bronco.

"You didn't have to do it yet," Hannah laughed, and wow that was weird. Every ache and twinge and little burn of pain was just... gone. She could still feel where she was injured, but it just didn't hurt. "This thing could be fuckin' dangerous," she muttered incredulously. Addictive, even. She shook her head, and twisted a little to pull her smallest, sharpest knife out of the little sheath in her boot. "Let me get the stitches out for you, then I'll take it. I'll be careful."

He smiled back at her and shrugged. He hadn't had it for a long time, and his tolerance for pain had really gotten higher. He didn't mind going without it for a bit. Seph nodded and watched where she pulled the knife out of. He sat forward a little more, tilting his chin up to give her room. The wound itself had scabbed over with the stitching in place, but he could still feel how deep and messy it was. This was going to be ... something. At least it wouldn't take long, he didn't think; after all, he'd nearly bled out in a matter of seconds. Hopefully it'd be fast for her.

Hannah shifted onto her knees for better leverage, and leaned up, one hand on the side of his neck for balance and contact. It was the work of a couple seconds to flick the very tip of the knife through each little stitch, deftly slicing through the surgical thread, and a few more to gently pull each one out. The wound didn't come spilling open, though it did break and seep in a few places. She'd have to probably yank it to get it to open and really kill her....

... and it wouldn't hurt. Which would be a really novel experience. Smiling a little bit, and sheathing the knife, she asked, "Ready?"

There were little pinpricks of pain, but not anything that he couldn't handle. He watched her face as she worked and was focused elsewhere, wondering in a vague way if she did this kind of thing a lot. Taking people's wounds. The stitches felt weird coming out, and his eye twitched a little, but he didn't move or protest. He swallowed a bit as she tucked the knife away again, and felt the wound seep a little more solidly. Seph looked at her for a moment and thought about hugging her. In the end, he didn't, and just nodded slightly, still watching her face.

Hannah actually considered kissing him, herself, but like him, wound up not doing so. That would just be too dramatic, and she thought it might leave him feeling weird. Instead, she nodded, too, and focused her eyes back on his neck. All it took was a brush of her fingertips to the bleeding, scabbed over wound, and it practically jumped from him, to her-- everything from the skin to the muscles inside to the damage to his windpipe and esophagus. Wow, that shit went deep. She turned her head sharply, ripping the scabs open viciously and starting a good bleed.

And it didn't hurt.

Though it did feel a bit like she was drowning. If she knew what drowning felt like. She swallowed, and it felt so strange, because the liquid that went down didn't come from her mouth-- and the motion made more. Her breath gurgled a little as she tried to draw it in, settling back-- or more like falling back-- onto her heels again. She was going to sit up as long as possible, fuck it.

He winced as she twisted her head around, and he saw the red arterial blood start to rapidly leak out of her. Awash in a strong pull of empathy and dumb gratitude, Seph rocked up to his knees and shuffled around until he was beside and slightly behind her. She was going to start to choke pretty soon, he had a feeling. "C'mere," he said, and hardly even noticed that he'd managed to say it out loud. His voice was rough around the edges with disuse, but definitely his. He put an arm around her and urged her to lean on him, tilted a bit to the side. It would maybe make less blood slide down her throat, and he would keep her upright.

For a beat, Hannah started to resist, but really-- she was dying, and she was doing it for him as much as for her. So why bother to fight much of anything? It just sucked that she had to do it when she was leaving as soon as she came back around, because fuck, if they weren't friends now, they never would be. So she went with it, settling back and over against his chest with the vague thought, Hope I don't get him too bloody.

And hey, that-- kind of helped with the drowning feeling. A little. She coughed weakly, but it didn't do much good, and managed to get a hand up onto his arm around her, trying to turn her head enough to look at him. The muscles didn't want to work properly. "Say something else," she tried to say, but it came out more like a gurgle with only the vaguest sense of what it was supposed to mean.

Seph knew she didn't have a lot of time, and he felt his clothes getting warmer and soaked with her blood. Not like that bothered him. The death energy coming off of her was strengthened a lot, but he didn't take any of it. He was full up, and he didn't want to hurt her, seeing as how she was kind of made of the stuff. He shifted his position a bit, cradling her head with one arm and encircling her with the other, to keep her well-supported. He didn't know what she said, but it didn't really matter. "Thank you," he said, leaning in close to murmur near her ear. "You'd better have a good trip, be safe, and bring me back that demon-claw." He moved some hair away out of her face and smiled faintly. She also had better be right about coming back the next day. "I'll put you back in the Bronco, don't worry." She was at least having a much quieter time of it than he had.

She smiled back despite the full, watery feeling in her chest, the world starting to gray around the edges now. She recognized death coming, and after so many times now, she wasn't afraid. It didn't hurt. "You're welcome," she mouthed as clearly as she could, her breathing labored and heartbeat faltering, with less and less blood to try and pump with each passing second. Maybe she should have kissed him. Who knew if he'd still be here when she got back? All she managed now, though, was to pat his arm lightly before she lost even that ability, and everything was just fading into blackness.

At least it was a halfway-worthy final thought. Much better than, Aw, shit, not again.

He sat there with her in his arms until he was completely sure she was gone. Then sat there for a while longer. There was an odd mix of emotions going on, not least of which was a sense of loss. She'd (maybe) be back, but then she'd be gone again for who knew how long. And might die in the process. But wasn't that what their lives were all about, when it came down to it? Shifting her weight a little, he peeled the bandaid off of her, and stuck it back on his own forehead. Not that he had much pain to block at the moment, it was just a convenient place to put it. Seph rubbed his once-again-flawless neck briefly, eyes down on her profile.

... maybe that was just how things were going to go for him with everyone who wasn't family. Fleeting. But she'd done him a real solid, and he genuinely wished her the best. Seph bent slightly and pressed a kiss to her cooling temple. He brushed her eyes closed, then shifted his grip on her. He stood up, settled her weight, and started through the woods back toward her Bronco.