A Light at the End of the Tunnel? (Shi and Sai)

They say that as you die, a light appears in the hazy remnants of your vision. It's faint, like a pinhole through the blackness. But its calming and inviting and as your body fails you the light invites you in. Now, there are those who debate the existence of the light, its origin. Some say its the synapses of your brain misfiring as it shuts down, others that it is the first sight you see as you are reborn while others still call it the light of Heaven itself. What a beautiful notion...too bad I never saw it. As my lungs finally failed me and the life was strangled from my body I knew it was my end. And as I sat helpless to save myself from the ailment I had only myself to blame for I prayed for the light. I prayed to see some hope for my soul, knew it wouldn't come but hoped none the less. But there was no light, only choking blackness as Sai faded from my vision. What must she think of this pitiful display? What of OCEAN? I was Second in Command of OCEAN, I was destined clean this world. But the evil of my past saw different and suffocated my mortal body.

And that was it, no light, no thought, no sensation. My life was over in a moment of weakness and I was left with only darkness. That was when the fear set in. In my life I had experienced fear before but not like this. My eternal judgment, I always knew it would come, but it was so far away! I had time to suffer in this world for a purpose! I could deal with it, I knew I could, had I only been permitted a life. It had been purposeless. So much wasted time before Redline and now my punishment was inevitable. In deafening silence a wafted through the inky black. Any second now, I told myself, the demons will come to drag claw this sinner away. The walls of my overwhelming end seemed to close in and my soul drowned. In that moment and in the crushing panic I screamed out to the someone that surprised me. Shi. Had a spoken the name with words? with my mind? It was unclear, I wasn't even sure in what manner I still existed. But Shi, if anyone knew it was him. Death itself right? The incarnate of my fear and peril. For the first time I could not deal with my situation alone. Life was chaotic, painful, but certain. I could expect pain, evil and hatred but here I was not only dead but lost. My body was gone and my spirit drifted aimless through the tar of unlife. I needed help I needed a way out. Alone was not an option here, as a child terrified of the dark, my essence wailed out to the one who could help me. I was desperate.

(OOC: I will be playing the part of Shi Ryurou, however it is simply as a plot point, I gain no exp yada yada yada...)
     Poor Redline was terrified, Shi could feel it as he began to walk towards the dying man. With each step, the faint sound of dirge music played, as if it were his feet that plucked the strings and pressing the keys. Darkness eternal...in every direction. Shi was also at Death's door, or rather his own door, as he had just been ended by the child he once called a student. Shi accepted that it may be his time, and in fact embraced the concept, as now he would have a warriors death, and not need to carry on in the living world as a broken man. However to see Redline here was something else entierly, and it made Shi curious. He began to approach Redline, feeling his fears and concerns practically radiating warmth from his breathless, noiseless image. Shi removed his mask, allowing Redline to see his face, as his read eyes bore into the speedsters, giving Shi exactly the answer he wanted.
     Redline had much to fear. Shi had not known that the Second-in-Command of OCEAN had been a ruthles crime lord, a slum-dog with a broken and tainted soul. Had he known, the likely hood of Redline surviving their first meeting would have been quite poor. Shi could only imagine what was running through the mind of the man on his death-bed, to look into the eyes of Shi and witness the great Spirit of Death itself, gazing into his soul, and knowing all of his transgressions. Shi gave him a stone cold glare, it did not chan, not even a micrometer.  The Samurai sighed, shaking his head at Redline and seeming disappointed in the speedster. However, the speedster did not know the reasons of Shi's disappointed headshake. Shi saw the pain and the grief the broken man was putting himself through, and that while he deserved it, he also had to take the biggest step towards redemption...a step that Redline would not take. A path he likely did not believe he could take.
     "Scott Sliver..." Shi said, his voice clear and echoing throughout the void of death where they resided. "You are guilty of crimes far greater than any simple man, your soul is blackened and coated in the filth of the evil that has rooted itself into your very core. I can offer you no promise of respite, nor the promises of a great beyond...and while I wish I could, I can make no promises of a second chance. But I can promise you this..." Shi said he walked forward just a step more, bringing the distence between them to that of normal interacting people. Shi's eyes narrowed, his eyes focused, almost as if he had a righteous fire that was burning to destroy Redline. Shi would put Redline to the test, see what he was truly about, and test the strength of his soul. I moments the lack abyss around them would form into a situation of Redlines past, the first truly terrible crime he had comitted...he would be forced to decide his own outcome, and then he would be forced to see what he did. Selecting the correct choice is never east in life. For ever choice Redline made that did not match up with the events of his past...then he would suffer, pain unearable...to test and see his commital to his just cause. Shi now only now culd woder...which wevent would they be brought to first.
                             Finally, his red eyes faintly began to glow...
     "You will be judged." Shi's voice was the source of his words...but his mouth did not move.

My name! The name my parents gave their wretch of a child echoed in the hollow abyss. Unaware of any form of locomotion I "turned" to face the booming voice. Behind me, bold against the nothingness was fear itself, the just and yet torturous being I had called to, Shi. Death had come when I called, how fitting. It's tattered form waved as though whipped by some unseen breeze. Hollow eyes sunk deep into a skull grinning frozen at me. And yet as much terror that grasped me I called out to it. "SHI!" this time it came with voice, I think, and arms stretched from me to reach that eternal equalizing force. It however seemed to have other plans. My plea was cut off before it could even begin as the being became the face of my fellow operative Shi. His voice was firm, a twing of disdain forcing itself into my brain as his words cut to my core. He had heard my call but it was not received. Shi offered no words of kindness, no helpful wisdom, not even a promise of an afterlife. And as his eyes burned holes right through me he gave his only promise...my judgment.

Instantly his form morphed horribly before me, contorting to a face which had been chemically burned into my brain. My dealer, the man to supply me with drugs when I was young and fresh from the schoolyard. He was no longer looking at me but instead past me to left. I knew the scene, knew its meaning and impact on my life. By the end of this night, I would have directly taken my first life. Instinctively I turned and looked into the face of a fun house mirror. I had never seen this face before but I knew it well. It was my face, the face of the young and frightened Scott Silver. His eyes bulged with fear and ecstasy, veins pumped blue as they ached against the flesh. Fresh vomit stains smeared the front of soiled wife beater and his knees quiver to support him. This had been me, I had lived it, had been here and yet I never knew the extent of my shame. This boy was sick, lost in a world he was yet to understand. But this night, this cursed night would be the first to teach him the filth this world is capable of and he'd be learning first hand. With purpose he marched to the man in the jacket, craving the fix he would kill to have. And I felt it, staring into the pain of my past I felt that addiction, that aching need threatening to burn me from the inside, devour me alive. The dealer he would have it, he could stop the ache. Clouded, I marched in tandem, zombie-like to my fate. "C-c'mon man I need a little more, just a little!" I heard the lips of my former self leak out like a begging child. The same poison flowed in my veins and my lips began to echo the words. But I knew this night, and two more faces flashed before my eyes, the two innocents who's lives I would also take this night. I choked on the thought and pulled from the man about to die by my hand. Once more I turned to myself, fighting the ache in my core which pulled like a magnet towards the poisonous substances I knew lay in the dealers jacket. "Scott" I called out to the boy reaching out a...clawed hand? looking down I evaluated my form and found that I was wearing my skin. Redline enveloped me somehow I had my suit and without another thought I bolted at the drug addled boy. "Scott...you can't do this...I know it hurts...but you have to stop!" I may have had the costume but my speed was gone. Luckily I wasn't far away and was able to tackle the boy. No longer had I been in contact with my past than did I feel a pain rip through my back. It was a gun shot, I've had enough in my life to know what one feels like, and it was a serious one too. The blood pooled at my back as I looked to the boy beneath me and heard the footsteps behind me. The poor boy, I knew his pain, knew his fears his desires. And another shot from the dealer rang in my back, this time piercing right to the heart of the adolescent Scott. "Who are you?" he managed to quiver out as his eyes glazed over. I felt him die, I felt a part of me...die. "Shi! I screamed out again. Is this Hell? Why...how... tears from the pain and the sorrow welled in my eyes. "What...could I do...

      "Hell? No...you're not there....yet." Shi's voice echoed as he manifested in front of the dying man. Shi had his arms crossed as if he were watching, and as he was required to, he showed no emotion. All that Redline could do is ask what he could do. To which Shi could not answer. Shi did as he had to. Death was an impartial judge, it did not favor the strong, nor the weak, it could not be bribed nor would it be deterred from a man whom owned nothing. Death came to all eventually, it was truly Shi's hope for his brother-in-arms to succeed here, as Shi was almost relcant to take the speedster to the other side...The simple thought sent a ripple in his soul, a roar of defiance. The thought of Redline dying here caused a disturbance within the abyss...Death did not want this.

     "This is not about what you could do!" Shi snapped, his voice harsh. It were as if a tacher were instructing a pupil, it was good intended, but harsh and seemingly malicious. Shi closed his eyes and shook his head, obviously disappointed in Redline. "This is about what you have done!" Shi corrected him. Shi's eyes opened and this time the area would fade away, and Shi appeared to be as dust to the wind, and simply be whisped away. The area began to reform, and as it did, it began spinning at rates that even the super-powered Redline would have found fast. Eventually the area stopped spinning, and there would be nothing less than the most traumatic event in Scott's life...before he donned the name Redline.


     "Tell me...Scott...What could possible have been so traumatic that began your slow descent into villiany? Tell me...do you rememer what it's like...to be the victim?" Shi asked him , in refference to the current location. He was intrigued to see how the speedster would react to this event. Would he be sad? Would he feel anger? Despair? What will he say to the victim inside him? What would he say or do to the offending party.

     I wonder.... Shi mused quietly to himself, careful that Redline could not hear.

The scene around me dissolved like snow in the spring, dripping and drooling into nothingness. My eyes fixed on the lifeless face of his younger self as it too twisted and distorted into unrecognizable blackness. But the pain, the pain and the blood from the encounter remained when all else faded. A large red blob stained the front of my otherwise white outfit and the agony of the shot to the back seared throughout my body. And it seemed Shi had no intentions of guiding me out of this. His little allusion was more than clear. This was not Hell no, but it was certainly the path there. Hopelessness filled my soul as I stared at the stern figure of my friend who once again stood before me. Before he spoke, an echo rippled through the choking darkness that surrounded them. It seemed unnatural, even in this place, its origin seeming to be Shi himself. What had he just done? What damning force was this that shook my very core? Thoughts could not reach me fast enough as Shi boomed out again in response to my last question. What I have done? I knew what I had done, had known it full well fro my entire life.

"Shi...you know me...you know the guilt that haunts me...why force me to live it again!" No response escaped the stoic samurai. Then another barrage of his ever commanding words. One in particular, Scott, echoed sour throughout this hall of emptiness and seemed to pull away at the outfit I had come to call my skin. It did not rip but a tug, a separation of some kind could be felt. What was he trying to do? Would Redline be taken from me? That identity was the only thing I had come close to doing right in my miserable existence and now I feared it would be stripped from my identity before I burned eternally. Somewhere in me screamed out, terrified. The victim, I was the victim at his hands yes that must be what he meant. A mix of desperate despair and anger filled my rasped voice as it burst out at Shi.

"Take what you will...from me before...you commit me to damnation...but don't take Redline! I can't let you take Redline!" Nothing, Shi's form dissipated like dust in the breeze, swirling about me at a maddening pace. By the time it had slowed down I was staring straight into an oncoming fist. It made contact hard and sent me on my ass. Still disoriented I tired to assess my surrounding but was met with another blow, this time a swift kick to the ribs. With the gun shot wound still fresh on my flesh each blow from my unknown attackers shot agonizing waves throughout me. But through the pain another feeling washed through my gut. Shame, dejection, what were these thoughts? Why was I feeling them so strong? Whatever the reason my attackers obviously didn't care as i was beat senseless for what seemed like hours. Then finally I caught a breath of air as the attack ceased and I felt my assailants back away from my bruised and bloodied form. Slowly my eyes raised to one of them and my heart dropped into my stomach. My eyes met with a face I could never forget, Franco, the first head of the Hellhounds. Where I was at and what was happening around me. This was my first attempt at joining the Hellhounds. The day I dropped out of school I headed over to one of their local hangouts and demanded to see Franco, the Cerberus Head. At that Time I thought I was king, no one could touch me and everyone would respect me. Instead I was a foolish kid about to receive the most brutal thrashing of his life. I knew what happened next and yet I still winced, drew away in fear. "You think you can come into my house and act like you own the place puta? I'm gonna make you wish you aint never heard of us kid. Jesus, bring it here." "It" was an aluminum bat with a weight welded around it. And with his weapon of choice now in hand he swung with reckless abandon and my youthful face. A sickening crack rung out in my skull. I don't remember what broke, I only remember the pain, the sheer unfiltered unadulterated pain as a hollow ring reverberated in my ears. It didn't stop there, in my haze I felt hands on both my arms as my limp body was lifted off the cold cement so that my toes just slightly drug on the ground. My neck fell limp over my chest and my shoulders sunk towards the small of my back. There was no fighting this, nothing I could do, but in my delirious state it seemed suddenly as though I were watching my own beating from somewhere else. Franco knelt down and lifted my chin, Scott's chin up so that our face met his. As he did so, I felt the pain receding, my thoughts clearing. Once more I looked down to myself and realized I was still clad in my suit, Scott still suspended my his limp apendages in front of the cruel and unusual Franco. And for moment I was okay with this, fuck Scott, I would run from my past and from the pain, forget it all. But something stopped me, it was as though Scott, I was just another poor victim. I remembered in that moment how utterly hopeless it had been. Wishing for someone to help, wishing for a savior of some kind. They never came and instead what came next was far worse even than the beating I had just received. Franco would produce a mask from a nearby pack. This single moment, would begin my inhalant addiction, one which would eventually cause my lung problems and bring dependence from me to the Hellhounds. I knew I couldn't abandon Scott, my past. This was gonna hurt.

"Stop!" I felt myself scream at Franco and the crowd in general. All eyes fell on me. I knew what would happen, without my powers I'd be no match for these brutes. But before they converged on me, I watched in horror as Franco strapped the mask on Scott and turned on the burners running to the two glass tubes on either end. Unintelligible screams from me and my past ripped through the room as I thrashed about trying to reach him. But the crowd was too great as they swarmed me, crushing me under of wave of bodies. But I could still see, still peer at my juvenile form struggling panicked on the floor across from me. And as my own body was crushed and battered I could feel the younger Scott's lungs giving out. It was too much, in my past Franco had taken the mask off in time, and would simply complete the process until my addiction was solidified but now his attention was focused solely on me. Scott began to release a sickening gurgle from somewhere deep in his throat as his eyes roled to the back of his head and his body convulsed uncontrollably. No words could escape me as once again I witnessed a body that had once been mine perish. With that death came also the ache somewhere deep in me, as though something of me had been lost or killed. If this surely was only the road to Hell, then I was confident that I would never be able to endure its tortures. "What is the point of this Shi? What pleasure do you gain from offering me my past, only to watch my adolescence die before my eyes? Can I not save myself!"

      Shi watched, and through his own eyes, Death itself observed the events that haunted Redline. The first time that he had ever felt helpless, the first time he was truly the victim was when he was a man who held influence over others. Shi smiled to himself, but not for why one might think. He smiled because for a moment...he sympathized with Redline. Not as in “Oh I feel so bad for him, poor guy” or whatever else. He TRULY sympathized, as from the greek origin...meaning Shi truly “suffered with” Redline.



       Shi himself recalled his training. Despite he was Kage’s favored student, and despite his station he was relentlessly beaten, day in and day out. His training was a beating, it was true, however there were always those whom allowed jealousy to rule them...and people like Shi and Redline were the unfortunate recipients of the consequences. Shi’s heart sunk as he watched Redline run from conflict, unwilling to save himself simply because he was unwilling to try. To Shi it seemed as if he would run forever, but while to Redline it likely seemed as if he were running away, Shi knew him to simply be running in place. The dynamics of the soul truly function with rules of their own. However Redline would turn again, and this time he did exactly what Shi had hoped he would...



                                                 .....He fought back.



        Redline ran as fast as he, now humanly, could back towards the victim Scott and doing what he could, he attempted to confront them. Shi’s heart went from inside his stomach to soaring on cloud nine. This was such a critical moment, it was a moment of such significance that all else Redline had ever done, good or bad, was rendered trivial. Shi began to laugh, a great relief for the stress of the situation. He was able to laugh though, because he knew the end of this play. To Redline, the play seemed to be nothing less than the tragedy of Scott Silver. Watching every moment, both harrowing and torturous...and Redline was forced to watch his life before him, a masquerade of murder, a sonnet of substance abuse....a dirge of his dignity. But Shi...Shi knew, but he must be as Death...impartial and stoic. But that did not stop him from hoping for Redline’s success. Before he would appear to Redline again, Shi whispered to himself, the words were words he wished he could say.,..but ones he never could.



       ”Be your convictions steady, and be you not afraid Redline. Do not let your mind waver, and above all else trust in me. For to you what appears as the greatest tragedy of all...is truly the most empowering comedy I’ve ever penned.” Shi sighed. The screams of Redline echoed through out the darkening area. He cried out as he saw the adolescent Scott Silver die. He was slowly killing himself, but he did not understand yet. He could never truly understand. But yet he cried out to Shi, asking what pleasure he took in Scott’s torment. Shi appeared to him, reaching out and wrapping his hands around Scott’s throat with enough of a grip to lift him from the ground.



      ”What do I gain? Nothing, to gain something implies that you, Scott Silver, have something to offer me. There is absolutely nothing I have to gain from you.” Shi said callously, slowly clenching down on Redlines throat, feeling his Trachea closing underneath his grasp. Shi then addressed the question after, as the cold sting of Death leaked from Shi’s fingertips and began to lul Redline towards his eternal sleep. ”Can you save yourself? What you ask for is mercy. You ask for Mercy, but tell me this... Did you show any to THEM?”

In this moment, Redline would likely fall into a deep dark sleep. When he opened his eyes, to him it would be as if his life...and this encounter were nothing but a bad dream. Now was the hardest test of all. Redline would see his life had he never gotten involved with the Hellhounds. He would perhaps have a family. Despite everything, Redline would have a good life, and he would be a good person. But then he would be forced to watch as the Hellhound’s took everything from him. He would watch as everything in his good new life...everything he loved...and he would personally destroy it with his own hands. He would be forced to look at all he’d done, and feel the urges of addiction yet again, and then...only then would he be given the option to save himself. With his entire life in ruins he would then see two things. He would see Mask of Redline and he would see the opportunity to save the life of a child, a child whose life he had destroyed.



          He could take the Mask and become Redline once more...or save the child...