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Post by Harper Benedict on Jul 10, 2009 0:57:01 GMT -4
Harper couldn't explain what happened to him even if he wanted to. One moment he had been in hell with Liana; she had come for him and he didn't know how or why and he wasn't willing to question it but she had pulled him off of the rack and in the very next moment she was gone...it was all gone and there was just a grinding sense of pain as if his body was being forced back together and through a brick wall just the same. The darkness was consuming and so was the pain and then it all just stopped.
The world around him wa ssilent and Harper blinked several times but the darkness around him did not yield. If he couldn't feel himself blink he would have never known his eyes were open. Attempting to sit up Harper slammed his head hard against soemthing and then it all came back to him.
"You are going to wake up in a pine box. Stay relaxed or you'll run out of air. It should be relatively easy to break out of, pine's not that strong, and once you've done that, you'll have to dig your way out of your grave. You're not buried that deep so it shouldn't be too difficult. Just push all the dirt to the bottom of your coffin."
...He was buried alive!
Holy fuck!
Telling him not to panic was soemthing entirely different them him actually not panicking. He could feel his heart pounding a mile a minute and his breathing coming out in short frantic gasps as his hands tore and beat against the pine lid keeping him captured. He could feel the flesh on his finger stearing away and his nails cracking as he tore and pounded desperately against the coffin lid till he felt the wood splinter and crack beneath his assult.
The victory was short lived though as it sent dirt pouring into the coffin and immediately began to choke him. Harper's hands dug frantically at the dirt shoving and pushing it out of his way as it rained down on him filling the coffin around him and then he felt what he was pretty sure was the most welcoming sensation in his life...his hand pushing through dirt and reaching open air. A few moments later Harper hauled himself from the grave and on to solid ground his chest wracked with coughs as he gasped for breath and rolled onto his side attempting to hack the dirt from his lungs and process the fact that he had just crawled out of his grave like some "Night of the Living Dead" zombie!
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Post by Liana on Jul 10, 2009 2:10:38 GMT -4
Liana regained her body with a loud gasp, sitting forward suddenly in her seat, almost knocking herself out on the windshield of the car. Right, so, step one: get into hell. Check. Step two: kill demon that was torturing Harper. Check. Step three: Get Harper out of hell. Also Check. That only left step four: Get Harper out of grave... crap.
She threw open the car door grabbed a bottle of water that was sitting in the seat next to her and all but fell out of the car, tripping over herself in her hurry to reach where she'd buried Harper. She jumped slightly in fright as Harper's hand burst through the ground and he hauled himself out of his grave. She could honestly say she'd never seen that happen before.
She fell to her knees beside him as he coughed up the dirt that he had no doubt breathed in while climbing out of his hole in the ground. She sat him up so that he wouldn't choke further and held the bottle to his lips, tipping the bottle slightly so the water went into his mouth slowly. She would have been extremely frustrated if she accidentally killing him after going to all that effort to get him back.
Eventually, Liana put the bottle down and took Harper's face in her hands, looking at him closely. Despite what she'd told Harper about the likelyhood of him being a zombie, she actually had no idea how Lilith would choose to hold up her end of the bargain. If at all.
"Harper?" she asked tentatively. She didn't know what she'd do if what she'd brought back was some kind of golem Harper of zombie Harper. Besides be incredibly angry.
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Post by Harper Benedict on Jul 10, 2009 2:58:14 GMT -4
Harper would have inhaled the water as it passed through his lips if it had been at all possible but it was taken away before he could. He coughed again slightly his throat feeling raw and clogged with dirt. He blink several times up at the face which held his own face in its hands.
Liana.
It was actually her, she had actually pulled him from hell. He wasn;t sure he wanted to know how she had done it but she had and that was good enough for him...it was beyond good enough!
"Harper?"
Harper stared back at her for sevral moments his eyes searching hers and his body slightly trembeling as the shock of the entire situation continued to rain down on him.
"Where you expecting somebody else? Cause I'm not climbing back down there," Harper explained before breaking into a fit of coughs. He grabbed for the bottle Liana had set aside and tipped the water into his mouth greedly the cool liquid soothing his raw throat.
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Post by Liana on Jul 10, 2009 3:16:47 GMT -4
"Where you expecting somebody else? Cause I'm not climbing back down there,"
As Harper drank deeply from the bottle of water, Liana stared at him. It was really him. He was back. So overwhelmed by so many different emotions, Liana began to laugh. Lightly at first then harder, causing her to fall backwards until she was rolling in dust, clutching her abdomen in laughter.
It took her a while to calm down, and she knew Harper must have thought she was completely insane... and she probably was... but that didn't matter. Because he was back. And there was no way in hell or otherwise, that she was letting him go again.
When she had finally stopped laughing she sat up and hugged Harper tightly, resting her head on his shoulder and squeezing her eyes shut as she felt tears welling up behind her eyes. Damn the human form and it's stupid tears.
"I missed you," she said quietly.
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Post by Harper Benedict on Jul 11, 2009 3:39:40 GMT -4
Harper dropped drinking from the bottle of water as Liana started laughing...and continued to do so...........ok she must have lost her mind somewhere along the line and that was neevr good.
Harper continued to stare at Liana a look of confusion etched across his face until Liana finally went silent.
"You're not insane right?...Cause that would truley suck," Harper muttered as his hands wrapped around Liana as she pulled him into a hug. He rested his head against the top of her head for several moments as he allowed his eyes to scan the area around them.
"I missed you."
"I noticed," Harper whispered as he gently kissed the top of Liana's head inhaling the scent of her hair and praying to God or anyone that this was not all part of some sick plot.
"...This is real right?" Harper whispered his eyes slipping shut for amoment as he refused to release her from his grasp.
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Post by Liana on Jul 11, 2009 23:54:46 GMT -4
"Insane?" Liana repeated as she felt Harper's arms wrap around her. "Honey, I skated well beyond insane about three seconds after I met you."
"...This is real right?"
Liana turned her head and nestled herself in the crook of his neck. Was it real? She could have been dreaming... it could all be some weirdly vivid dream that her brain cooked up to torture her. But he was probably referring to the fact that it could be some new Hell torture, make him think he's free and then drag him back...
But she was still hurting from her fight with Milton, even in this human body, her demon form felt bruised. And hell didn't usually go to this much trouble to torture someone. Not this early in the game at least.
"Very," she said finally, her voice muffled by the fact that she was no speaking into his neck.
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Post by Harper Benedict on Jul 12, 2009 0:23:31 GMT -4
"Good...." Harper whispered as he pulled Liana away from him and held her at arms length as he allowed his eyes to simply stare back at her.
He had waited hours, days, months...years to see her face again to stare into her eyes again and now she was here; really here. She wasn't going to simply fade away into nothingness; she wouldn't be torn savagely from his grasp and that was almost more then he could handle.
"Because...because I couldn't take if it wasn't...not again...Time and time...I saw you...they brought you to me...over and over...they..." Harper's words trailed off as his eyes shifted downward for a moment his tongue brushing across the cracks in his lips. He grimaced slightly as he tasted dirt along with dried blood from his split lips.
"They tore you apart...tortured you...your screams..." Harper's words trailed off and his eyes became vacant for a moment as he stared back at Liana his mouth parted slightly open as he was lost in the memory of the events which he had seen in hell.
"I can't ever hear them again...I..."
The time the demons had dragged her before him had been ten times worse then when they had ripped into him themselves with the blades and knives and anything else they could get their hands on.
A single tear snaked itself from his crystal eyes and streaked through his dirt covered cheek as he stared back at her and without waiting for another moment he pulled her closer to him and pressed his lips against hers tenderly yet passionately.
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Post by Liana on Jul 12, 2009 2:32:17 GMT -4
Liana stared back at Harper as spoke about how exactly she'd been used against him while he was in hell. They'd tortured her... or rather, something that looked like her... in order to torture him?... That had Milton written all over it. He always did enjoy destroying people emotionally while he destroyed their bodies.
She held a hand to his face as he seemed to be lost in some nightmarish memory and she could feel those tears she thought she'd fought back threatening to come through.
"Harper..."
"I can't ever hear them again...I..."
She swallowed hard as she saw a single tear streak down his face. There was far too much emotion around for her to handle. She wasn't use to feeling like a human. Emotions weren't really her thing... not these ones at least. And then he kissed her and she felt a tear of her own mirror his. Her hand slid around to the back of his head, pulling him closer. So maybe emotions weren't her thing, but this was definitely something she could get used to.
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Post by Harper Benedict on Jul 12, 2009 3:56:38 GMT -4
Harper couldn't help but flinch as he felt Liana's hand snake against the back of his head...they had done this stance before; it was what had landed him in hell in the first place. But just the same he couldn't pull away from her and only held her tighter not wanting to let go of this or of anything else ever again.
After several moments though Harper had to pull away as breathing was a necessity up here in teh real world but his hands didn't move from Liana's arms as he slumped back down to the ground. His body shivered slightly and it wasn't the weather since it was the summer but even 90 degree weather felt cold when you had been subjected to the heat and fires of hell for 5 years.
5 years...
"What did you do for 5 years?...And why aren;t I more...rotten?" Harper asked staring down at himself for a moment realizing he was utterly whole even better then when he died. It was all becoming rather much and he was still trying to grasp it was real at all.
"Thank you...thank you for coming back for me..." Harper whispered as his eyes returned to Liana's and he reached out allowing his fingers to run through her hair.
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Post by Liana on Jul 12, 2009 5:16:36 GMT -4
"Five years..." Liana said slowly, slightly confused. Then she remembered. Harper had no idea how things worked in Hell as opposed to up here on earth.
"Two weeks," she corrected him. "Not five years... I only waited two weeks. If I'd waited five years you would have been down there for about six hundred years... time's different down there." She looked him over. "As for why you're not bones and rotting flesh, it wouldn't matter how long I'd waited, bringing you back fixes you... other wise there'd be no point in bringing you back..."
"Thank you...thank you for coming back for me..."
Liana gave him a small smile, her eyes slipping closed as his fingers raked her hair. "I couldn't leave you down there..." she whispered. "Not there..."
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Post by Harper Benedict on Jul 12, 2009 10:58:23 GMT -4
"Two weeks..."
He had only been down there 2 weeks? But it had felt like...it had been 5 years he had kept count...had tracked it; he had needed to know for some reason even with the knowledge that somebody simply didn't just walk out of hell. So time in retrospect was pretty pointless.
"Not five years... I only waited two weeks. If I'd waited five years you would have been down there for about six hundred years..."
Harper felt all of the color drain from his face as she explained it. He would have never lasted 600 years...never would have come close. The world around him spun slightly but he closed his eyes in an attempt to calm his creeping panic. There was no use getting freaked out now; he was out and that was all that mattered.
"I couldn't leave you down there..." she whispered. "Not there..."
Harper's eyes darkened for a moment.
"The angel lied...it told me...he said I wouldn't go to hell...when he was going to kill me..." Harper's words died down though and he felt his anxiety about climb through the roof as his eyes focused on Liana once more his hazel orbs about the size of dinner plates.
"You broke me out though...they can find me again...drag me back..."
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Post by Liana on Jul 12, 2009 19:26:35 GMT -4
"The angel lied...
Liana tilted her head to the side as Harper explained what the angel had told him. Angels didn't lie so much as omit the truth. Lying is a sin after all. The unfortunate truth was that if he'd simply let the angel kill him, he probably wouldn't have gone to Hell.
"I don't think he lied, Harper," she said slowly. "But there's a big difference between being killed by an angel, for whatever reason, and asking a demon to kill you... the main difference being that the first is murder, the second is suicide..."
She could see the panic rising on his face, to the point where, when he looked at her, eyes wide with fear, she thought he might have a panic attack.
"You broke me out though...they can find me again...drag me back..."
Liana took his face in her hands so he couldn't look away, and leant close to him so he couldn't miss how serious she was. "No," she said firmly. "I won't let them... I won't lose you again." She kissed him lightly on the forehead and let go of him, adjusting his hair slightly.
"Besides, I made a deal to get you out, so the demons are off your back... it's only the angels we have to worry about... and they're taken care of easily enough..."
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Post by Harper Benedict on Jul 13, 2009 0:55:27 GMT -4
Harper's eyes focused on Liana as she held his face still and he had no other choice but to look at her; not that he wouldn;t willingly wanted to stare into her eyes for as long as he could but the rising panic was beginning to take its toll on him.
"Besides, I made a deal to get you out, so the demons are off your back... it's only the angels we have to worry about... and they're taken care of easily enough..."
Liana had calmed his fears and brought about an entirely new one...what had she done in order to free him? He had heard so much in hell and he kenw there were hundreds...thousands of osuls burning in hell because of a deal they had made with a demon.
"What...did you do?...What was your deal?!" Harper asked his voice bordering on panic. He wasn't about to lose Liana after he had only just gotten her back.
"What was it?!" Harper asked his hands gripping Liana tightly as he stared back at her his hands trembeling as the world around him came crashing down and he felt as if he was being crushed and the air was all but forced out of his lung as he struggeled to pull in air; his panic getting the best of him. This was all too much...hell...being dead...not being dead...CRAWLING OUT OF A GRAVE...Liana there...and now some sort of deal she had made. Harper felt as if he was on the verge of splitting in half.
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Post by Liana on Jul 13, 2009 1:10:42 GMT -4
"What...did you do?...What was your deal?!"
Okay, so she hadn't managed to calm Harper down at all. At first she was confused as to what he was worried about... but of course, he would know that a lot of the souls in hell were there for making deals. That had been why she'd been sent there in the first place... sort of... but the point was, he didn't know she wasn't suddenly going to drop dead and disappear.
"What was it?!"
And now he really was having a full on panic attack. She gently removed herself from his grasp and rubbed at his back comfortingly. "Relax, Harper," she said softly. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise."
Poor Harper, she'd put him through so much... it really wasn't fair on him.
"If you must know, Lilith was in a particularly good mood when I met with her," Liana explained. "The price was only that I had to go and get you myself... and if I failed I would have to join you... that's it. It's over now, 'cause I didn't fail."
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Post by Harper Benedict on Jul 13, 2009 2:00:51 GMT -4
"If you must know, Lilith was in a particularly good mood when I met with her. The price was only that I had to go and get you myself... and if I failed I would have to join you... that's it. It's over now, 'cause I didn't fail."
She had gone to Lilith...Jesus Christ she had gone down there full well knowing that she could have been thrown right back on the rack and she had done it...she had done it for him.
It was then that Haroer realized he should have known that...he should have heard it or felt it or whatever it is you could have classified his telepathy as but he couldn't hear anything. For the first time in as long as Harper could remember his world was silent save for his own thoughts that were screaming in his head.
"Think of something...anything," Harper whispered once his breathing had slowed down.
This was wrong; something was wrong but just the same if this was how it was it would make life a whole lot easier and he would be the first one to welcome it with open arms.
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