09-29-2017, 12:49 AM
<link href='https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=times rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><style>#ledgeruno{background:url('https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ed/db/dc/eddbdc6ac0a42a30a251f206db390ebc.jpg') top left no-repeat;background-size:600px;border:2px #efeff7 solid;box-shadow:0px 0px 15px #efeff7;width:600px;border-radius:200px 200px 0px 0px;}#ledgerunobg{background:-webkit-linear-gradient(top, rgba(6,10,21,0), rgba(6,10,21,1)150px);background:-o-linear-gradient(bottom, rgba(6,10,21,0), rgba(6,10,21,1)120px);background:-moz-linear-gradient(bottom, rgba(6,10,21,0), rgba(6,10,21,1)120px);background:-linear-gradient(to bottom, rgba(6,10,21,0), rgba(6,10,21,1)120px);background:-ms-linear-gradient(top, rgba(6,10,21,0), rgba(6,10,21,1)120px);margin-top:300px;margin-bottom:0px;padding-bottom:20px;padding-top:100px;}#ledgerunobox{width:520px;background:black;border:1px #17302c solid;box-shadow:0px 0px 10px #86b9b0;opacity:0.8;border:0px;padding:20px;}#ledgerunotext{color:#ffffff;font-size:12px;font-family: ‘Times New Roman', sans-serif;margin-top:15px;margin-bottom:0px;}#ledgerunoname{color:CCFFFF;font-size:40px;font-family: 'Times', cursive;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;}#ledgerunoquote{color:CCFFFF;font-size:14px;font-family: 'Nixie One', cursive;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:0px;font-weight:bold;}</style><center><div id="ledgeruno"><div id="ledgerunobg"><div id="ledgerunobox"><p id="ledgerunoquote"><font color="lightblue">Bound for trouble from the start<br>I've been walking through this old world in the dark</font></p><p align="justify" id="ledgerunotext"> One by one, the other’s arrive at the oasis. He has been bracing himself for this, figuring Carnage would take every opportunity to rub salt into his gaping bleeding heart. The x over the left side of his breast burns with a tight stinging sensation but it’s nothing compared to the aching turmoil of his wounded pride. It’s easy to block them out as they settle towards the right, where the empty socket resides. For once blessing the lack of eyesight so he doesn’t have to be faced with them. The lovers. The betrayers. Oh Dahmer, that slithering snake, he had always figured he would make a move. Had pretty much admitted as much. If he makes it out of here, he will make good on that promise. Let the bear wring his fucking neck.
What kills him is her. He expected it from Dahmer, not from her.
There is bile in the back of his hardened throat, constricted with the straining of veins bursting against his skin. Grinding his teeth in frustration. Looking only at the pool of water with a vengeance, at his wounded reflection. The anger within him rages to new heights, the largest storm he’s ever faced. Twisting and coiling around his insides, his body practically trembling with the need to explode. Still he looks to the water, only at himself.
That’s all he could ever count on anyways.
Carnage’s words split through the air, his ears swivel in his direction but he does not look. Knowing this was only the beginning. His body shakes, the rage growing and expanding with the utter bullshit of the whole situation. A sudden burst of sand finally makes him look up. He can see the equine form of one of the contenders only for a moment before the wind carries away each particle of dust away. One down, the rest of them to go.
He tries to look back down quickly but it’s too late. He’s seen her and it makes his tattered heart combust into a million pieces. The unreadable expression of her face, the heaviness in her stance. But most of all, the dripping claw mark across her eye. The guilt swallows him completely, dismay written all over his facial features. Had he done that? The memory of the bear destroying her comes back and he groans softly, closing his good eye painfully. Blocking them all out.
No matter if she deserved his anger, if she deserved to feel the stabbing betrayal like a knife in the back, she didn’t deserve that. He opens his eye just in time to catch the way she tugs at Dahmer’s wing. How she doesn’t bother to look at him at all, not once. In that moment he hardens himself from her. From them all. His fury bringing hot tears and it takes everything in him to rip his hateful gaze away. She cared nothing for him, she obviously never had. Even when his chest is broken and bleeding openly for her, marked by her betrayal, she still reaches for Dahmer.
What had he become? <i>They will all pay.</i> I am not a monster. <i>I fucking hope they burn.”</i>
With a shuddering convulsion he morphs into bear, giving himself completely to the beast. Locking himself within it’s snowy fur, blocking himself from the miserable world he has been trapped into. He barely listens to Carnage’s words, no longer caring. As the Dark God speaks, images begin to form on the now rippling surface of the pool. The shapes he can’t make out, not realizing that they all appear different to whoever looks at it. But it’s clear to him what he sees. The twins. Twisting and fighting against the pull of the water. Drowning.
There is no hesitation. The polar bear takes the plunge and dives into the endless black waters. Carnage, in his dark humor, takes from him something that would hurt him most in the long run. A single testicle, why not lower that chance of family even more?
The water bubbles and swirls around him as his gold flecked eye searches for the children, swimming frantically as his paws part the darkness in front of him. They are gone, nowhere to be found. He bursts through the surface with an agonizing cry, fearing he has lost them forever. But he is no longer in the desert oasis. He is on the shore of the beach, it’s black sands gritty beneath his clawed toes. He blinks, warily looking around him. Coming to a stop on a familiar scene before him. No… This can’t be possible?
There before him is Raaquel, his mother. She is whole though exhausted, her gray barrel heaving with exertion. A small newborn colt, flaxen chestnut, is curled by her side. And through the bones and ashes, a madman is waltzing. Coming towards them. A whisper floats by his ear… <i>”Make it right.”</i> It coaxes, his good eye mesmerized on the scene before him. He could fix this. He could make it better.
There is no hesitation as the bear roars angrily and charges at Chernobyl, barreling down on him like a freight train. The stallion doesn’t even know what hit him as his teeth find the supple skin of his throat and throw’s him facedown into the ground. The murderous man shrieks but the bear is on top of him, turning him over and ripping at the tender flesh of his belly. He is splattered with blood, crimson clinging to the snowy fur. And soon the bear has faded and it’s only the one eyed stallion remaining, his hooves trampling the stallion’s skull just as he had once done to his mother. Panting, relieved, exalted.
He was a bloody mess but still he turns and goes to the mother and child who had watched, scared and with wide eyes. <b>”Don’t be afraid.”</b> He says softly, pleadingly. Raaquel, with a strange look in her eye, pivots her ears in his direction as she pulls the foal closer to her. <b>”That man was going to hurt you. But he will never hurt you again. I promise.”</b> His voice cracks with emotion, his gold flecked eye linger on little Ledger that peeks out from his mother’s embrace. Raaquel only nods slowly but eventually the little boy chirps, <i>”Thank you mister!”</i> Nervously before hiding into his mother’s shoulder. He can smell the salt and driftwood of the sea as he closes his eye. He can smell the delicious scent of woods and moss against his mother’s skin.
Startled, he opens his eyes. Eyes, both. He can see again. He looks up, for he is curled next to his dam’s side and she nuzzles him lovingly despite the trembling that racks through her body. <i>”My darling boy, my love, my Ledger.”</i> She coos at him. He is the colt again. He has gotten his second chance. The mare eventually urges him to his feet and the life he had lived quickly fades away. Ellyse, the twins, all of it. Forgotten.
The years pass. He returns to the Falls and is the apple of his father’s eye. Joelle is forgotten and Raaquel takes the place in Magnus’s heart that she had always deserved. They retire from kingdom life, into a private herd filled with family. Soliel is no longer his only sibling, there are many and they grow up happily together. His mother and father watch over them lovingly. Magnus consults for kingdoms now and again but mostly he is home, with his love, with his children. Their bond is absolute. Nothing could severe it.
As he grows, he explores and has wonderful adventures. He spends time in the Gates and masters the arts of a warrior, rising until he becomes a General. His parents are exceedingly proud. With time, Raaquel dies but it is peaceful. She is surrounded by them all and she gives her last breath while Magnus curls up beside her, embracing her, spilling his grief over her stormy coat. She becomes one with the tree she died beneath. Remembered by all.
In time he meets a girl. She is beautiful and made of glass. His mother had taught him well, to see the beauty within. She is fragile, he is careful. Adaline. He loves her, for everything she is and unconditionally. He brings her back to his homeland, retires from kingdom life, and remains with his family. They have beautiful children, some of glass like her and some without. It is a precarious but wonderful life. He is joyful, he can’t remember ever being unhappy.
They lay beneath his mother’s tree. She is curled beside him and he is gently brushing the clear crystal of her neck, lipping softly at the silver strands of her mane. Adaline is dozing softly as their little ones, newborn twins Joplin and Joaquin, play in the distance. Magnus, older now, is watching them and his laughter fills the dusky air. Ledger is thoughtful even as he warmly smiles at the scene, even though he feels complete. A nightmare has slowly crept into his dreams. Of a dark stallion with stars in his eyes. He laughs but it’s cold and sends shivers down his spine. He shows him awful things. Of his mother dying on the beach. Of the Gate’s tree burning. Of being locked in a cage in a dank cavern. The nightmares were becoming more vibrant and vivid. They seemed almost real. Of course he keeps them to himself, not wanting to spoil the happy utopia they all lived in. Still, they linger. A dark shadow that seems to follow him wherever he goes. <i>”What’s wrong?”</i> Addie’s soft voice breaks the silence, having opened her eyes and seeing the dark worried look on his face. <b>”Nothing my love, go back to sleep.”</b> He kisses her softly on the top of her head, the blackness easily fading when he's brought back to her.
A week later, she is kidnapped by a white wraith named Gryffen. His gleaming cruel red eyes are filled with delight when he pushes her off a mountain in the Chamber (just to see what could happen for science) and she shatters to a million pieces. Ledger’s name on her dying lips. The chestnut stallion falls apart. He had tried to save her but had been too late. Magnus consoles his son the best he can but he is weak in his old age. A few days later, he too passes.
Their remaining children, his brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, all do the best they can to cheer him up. To retrieve the old Ledger. But he recoils into himself and into his guilt. He should have saved her. The nightmares are endless, he loses his appetite. The lines of his face hollow and the fat around his body melts away. A startling skeletal image of what he once was.
One night, a figure appears to him. His family has started leaving him alone, afraid of his madness. He recognizes the man instantly, the dark stallion with stars in his eyes. His face is unreadable as he looks down at the hollow man that lays curled before him. Trembling, frothing at the mouth. Trapped in his own memories. Is that pity or disdain that curls at the stranger’s lips? Sadness even? The shadows cover his face, it’s hard to see. <i>”I think it’s time to come home Ledger.”</i> It finally says, soft and quiet. <b>”But… I am home.”</b> He finally says through chattering teeth.
The dark god gives a shake of his head and Ledger blinks.
When they open, he is sprawled back in the cell.
He is disoriented with the suddenness of losing his vision in one eye again. With realizing the extensiveness of the cruelty he had undergone. It hadn’t been real. None of it had ever happened. The raw truth of his life (death, misery, pain, sorrow) that was his reality. The grief of losing not just Ellyse, but the perfect life he had always dreamed of.
The rage can’t be contained any longer. He shifts between bear and stallion, throwing himself against the bars of his cage. His screams are raw and filled with terrifying anger. Claws rake against steel, hooves clang against iron. He is a tornado of destruction, fueled on by the burning sensation of the cauterized wound where one testicle use to be. Whatever food and water is left in his cell are thrown about in his spiraling fit, bowls flying and hitting the ceiling. No matter where they are placed in their cells, they can hear his tantrum. They can hear his loss. They can hear a man break.
<br></p><p id="ledgerunoname"><font color=lightblue><i>Ledger</i></font></font></font></p></div></div></div></center>
Defect: He lost one testicle
Other damage: He also may be a bit mad at this point
What kills him is her. He expected it from Dahmer, not from her.
There is bile in the back of his hardened throat, constricted with the straining of veins bursting against his skin. Grinding his teeth in frustration. Looking only at the pool of water with a vengeance, at his wounded reflection. The anger within him rages to new heights, the largest storm he’s ever faced. Twisting and coiling around his insides, his body practically trembling with the need to explode. Still he looks to the water, only at himself.
That’s all he could ever count on anyways.
Carnage’s words split through the air, his ears swivel in his direction but he does not look. Knowing this was only the beginning. His body shakes, the rage growing and expanding with the utter bullshit of the whole situation. A sudden burst of sand finally makes him look up. He can see the equine form of one of the contenders only for a moment before the wind carries away each particle of dust away. One down, the rest of them to go.
He tries to look back down quickly but it’s too late. He’s seen her and it makes his tattered heart combust into a million pieces. The unreadable expression of her face, the heaviness in her stance. But most of all, the dripping claw mark across her eye. The guilt swallows him completely, dismay written all over his facial features. Had he done that? The memory of the bear destroying her comes back and he groans softly, closing his good eye painfully. Blocking them all out.
No matter if she deserved his anger, if she deserved to feel the stabbing betrayal like a knife in the back, she didn’t deserve that. He opens his eye just in time to catch the way she tugs at Dahmer’s wing. How she doesn’t bother to look at him at all, not once. In that moment he hardens himself from her. From them all. His fury bringing hot tears and it takes everything in him to rip his hateful gaze away. She cared nothing for him, she obviously never had. Even when his chest is broken and bleeding openly for her, marked by her betrayal, she still reaches for Dahmer.
What had he become? <i>They will all pay.</i> I am not a monster. <i>I fucking hope they burn.”</i>
With a shuddering convulsion he morphs into bear, giving himself completely to the beast. Locking himself within it’s snowy fur, blocking himself from the miserable world he has been trapped into. He barely listens to Carnage’s words, no longer caring. As the Dark God speaks, images begin to form on the now rippling surface of the pool. The shapes he can’t make out, not realizing that they all appear different to whoever looks at it. But it’s clear to him what he sees. The twins. Twisting and fighting against the pull of the water. Drowning.
There is no hesitation. The polar bear takes the plunge and dives into the endless black waters. Carnage, in his dark humor, takes from him something that would hurt him most in the long run. A single testicle, why not lower that chance of family even more?
The water bubbles and swirls around him as his gold flecked eye searches for the children, swimming frantically as his paws part the darkness in front of him. They are gone, nowhere to be found. He bursts through the surface with an agonizing cry, fearing he has lost them forever. But he is no longer in the desert oasis. He is on the shore of the beach, it’s black sands gritty beneath his clawed toes. He blinks, warily looking around him. Coming to a stop on a familiar scene before him. No… This can’t be possible?
There before him is Raaquel, his mother. She is whole though exhausted, her gray barrel heaving with exertion. A small newborn colt, flaxen chestnut, is curled by her side. And through the bones and ashes, a madman is waltzing. Coming towards them. A whisper floats by his ear… <i>”Make it right.”</i> It coaxes, his good eye mesmerized on the scene before him. He could fix this. He could make it better.
There is no hesitation as the bear roars angrily and charges at Chernobyl, barreling down on him like a freight train. The stallion doesn’t even know what hit him as his teeth find the supple skin of his throat and throw’s him facedown into the ground. The murderous man shrieks but the bear is on top of him, turning him over and ripping at the tender flesh of his belly. He is splattered with blood, crimson clinging to the snowy fur. And soon the bear has faded and it’s only the one eyed stallion remaining, his hooves trampling the stallion’s skull just as he had once done to his mother. Panting, relieved, exalted.
He was a bloody mess but still he turns and goes to the mother and child who had watched, scared and with wide eyes. <b>”Don’t be afraid.”</b> He says softly, pleadingly. Raaquel, with a strange look in her eye, pivots her ears in his direction as she pulls the foal closer to her. <b>”That man was going to hurt you. But he will never hurt you again. I promise.”</b> His voice cracks with emotion, his gold flecked eye linger on little Ledger that peeks out from his mother’s embrace. Raaquel only nods slowly but eventually the little boy chirps, <i>”Thank you mister!”</i> Nervously before hiding into his mother’s shoulder. He can smell the salt and driftwood of the sea as he closes his eye. He can smell the delicious scent of woods and moss against his mother’s skin.
Startled, he opens his eyes. Eyes, both. He can see again. He looks up, for he is curled next to his dam’s side and she nuzzles him lovingly despite the trembling that racks through her body. <i>”My darling boy, my love, my Ledger.”</i> She coos at him. He is the colt again. He has gotten his second chance. The mare eventually urges him to his feet and the life he had lived quickly fades away. Ellyse, the twins, all of it. Forgotten.
The years pass. He returns to the Falls and is the apple of his father’s eye. Joelle is forgotten and Raaquel takes the place in Magnus’s heart that she had always deserved. They retire from kingdom life, into a private herd filled with family. Soliel is no longer his only sibling, there are many and they grow up happily together. His mother and father watch over them lovingly. Magnus consults for kingdoms now and again but mostly he is home, with his love, with his children. Their bond is absolute. Nothing could severe it.
As he grows, he explores and has wonderful adventures. He spends time in the Gates and masters the arts of a warrior, rising until he becomes a General. His parents are exceedingly proud. With time, Raaquel dies but it is peaceful. She is surrounded by them all and she gives her last breath while Magnus curls up beside her, embracing her, spilling his grief over her stormy coat. She becomes one with the tree she died beneath. Remembered by all.
In time he meets a girl. She is beautiful and made of glass. His mother had taught him well, to see the beauty within. She is fragile, he is careful. Adaline. He loves her, for everything she is and unconditionally. He brings her back to his homeland, retires from kingdom life, and remains with his family. They have beautiful children, some of glass like her and some without. It is a precarious but wonderful life. He is joyful, he can’t remember ever being unhappy.
They lay beneath his mother’s tree. She is curled beside him and he is gently brushing the clear crystal of her neck, lipping softly at the silver strands of her mane. Adaline is dozing softly as their little ones, newborn twins Joplin and Joaquin, play in the distance. Magnus, older now, is watching them and his laughter fills the dusky air. Ledger is thoughtful even as he warmly smiles at the scene, even though he feels complete. A nightmare has slowly crept into his dreams. Of a dark stallion with stars in his eyes. He laughs but it’s cold and sends shivers down his spine. He shows him awful things. Of his mother dying on the beach. Of the Gate’s tree burning. Of being locked in a cage in a dank cavern. The nightmares were becoming more vibrant and vivid. They seemed almost real. Of course he keeps them to himself, not wanting to spoil the happy utopia they all lived in. Still, they linger. A dark shadow that seems to follow him wherever he goes. <i>”What’s wrong?”</i> Addie’s soft voice breaks the silence, having opened her eyes and seeing the dark worried look on his face. <b>”Nothing my love, go back to sleep.”</b> He kisses her softly on the top of her head, the blackness easily fading when he's brought back to her.
A week later, she is kidnapped by a white wraith named Gryffen. His gleaming cruel red eyes are filled with delight when he pushes her off a mountain in the Chamber (just to see what could happen for science) and she shatters to a million pieces. Ledger’s name on her dying lips. The chestnut stallion falls apart. He had tried to save her but had been too late. Magnus consoles his son the best he can but he is weak in his old age. A few days later, he too passes.
Their remaining children, his brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, all do the best they can to cheer him up. To retrieve the old Ledger. But he recoils into himself and into his guilt. He should have saved her. The nightmares are endless, he loses his appetite. The lines of his face hollow and the fat around his body melts away. A startling skeletal image of what he once was.
One night, a figure appears to him. His family has started leaving him alone, afraid of his madness. He recognizes the man instantly, the dark stallion with stars in his eyes. His face is unreadable as he looks down at the hollow man that lays curled before him. Trembling, frothing at the mouth. Trapped in his own memories. Is that pity or disdain that curls at the stranger’s lips? Sadness even? The shadows cover his face, it’s hard to see. <i>”I think it’s time to come home Ledger.”</i> It finally says, soft and quiet. <b>”But… I am home.”</b> He finally says through chattering teeth.
The dark god gives a shake of his head and Ledger blinks.
When they open, he is sprawled back in the cell.
He is disoriented with the suddenness of losing his vision in one eye again. With realizing the extensiveness of the cruelty he had undergone. It hadn’t been real. None of it had ever happened. The raw truth of his life (death, misery, pain, sorrow) that was his reality. The grief of losing not just Ellyse, but the perfect life he had always dreamed of.
The rage can’t be contained any longer. He shifts between bear and stallion, throwing himself against the bars of his cage. His screams are raw and filled with terrifying anger. Claws rake against steel, hooves clang against iron. He is a tornado of destruction, fueled on by the burning sensation of the cauterized wound where one testicle use to be. Whatever food and water is left in his cell are thrown about in his spiraling fit, bowls flying and hitting the ceiling. No matter where they are placed in their cells, they can hear his tantrum. They can hear his loss. They can hear a man break.
<br></p><p id="ledgerunoname"><font color=lightblue><i>Ledger</i></font></font></font></p></div></div></div></center>
Defect: He lost one testicle
Other damage: He also may be a bit mad at this point