One of the Many Prison Rooms

[Shego]

[glow=green,2,800]** From Chamber of the Dark Queen **

Shego pushed through with the "new prisoner," having corridor-ed the two of them into a damp, cold dungeon with only few flames a lit. She cackled a little, grabbing the General by the blue and black vest of hers, and throwing her into the hard, stone walls. She rushed forward, her fingers flexed to seem like claws, and she would swing her hand down to scratch at several places of Beatrix's body. The thief wasn't going to kill her, it was not her style... Her thing was pain. She was BOUND to make it look good, "Sorry hun." she spoke sweetly, "This is hurting me a LOT more than its hurting you."

When the woman was down on the ground, unable to stand, she would push her further, until she would be able to saddle her, and brutally and repeatedly clawed at her shoulders, neck and cheeks; she would punch every now and then to form some bruises on that soft, normal skin of the General. After a while, she would stand, and kick her at her ribs, and legs.

Taking a small breath, she would reach down and by the collars of the woman's vest, she would pick her up again, against the wall, proceeding to chain her up. She couldn't let the General's pleas, if she had any, to form doubt-- She knew it was painful, and it would remain so... until Shego thought it was enough.[/glow]

[General Beatrix]

***From the Chamber of the Black Queen***

[glow=red,2,300]Beatrix tried to keep quiet through most of her torture, only letting out squeaks and yelps of pain here and there. At a young age, when training for the Alexandrian Knights, back when things were different, superiors would beat their underlings to near-death daily during training, just to make them stronger fighters. The weak died, the strong survived.

Beatrix was a survivor.

She stared Shego in the eyes at every opportunity, her teeth clenched to ensure that everything was all right; she only shielded herself at intervals when Shego's claw-like fingers neared her face. When all was said and done, she was chained to the wall, her body bloodied and bruised. For some reason she was basking in the pain somehow, instead of writhing. However, no matter how much she enjoyed it, a tear came trickling down her cheek nonetheless, and she lowered her gaze to the stone floor.

"Withdraw," she said, out of breath, coughing up a small trace of blood, which stayed on her lips, painting them a darker red.[/glow]

[Shego]

[glow=green,2,800]Shego stood in front of her beaten companion, starring down at that tears of hers a moment. She was about to reach up, but pulled her hand back- come to think of it... a tear was good on that strong face.

"Withdraw..." the General spoke- and even though Shego wanted to continue the thrashing.... She indeed stopped. It wasn't certain why she did, but she ceased her advance. The thief rested her bloody gloves behind her head, and clasped them together in thought, turning to face the door.

"...Well Bea Bea, you hang around here for a while..." Shego spoke, seeming deep in thought, "... I'll take care of the --" she paused, "-- the rest, but i'll be back real soon."

The thief made her way to the door, reaching her chest. She opened the chamber, and stepped out, closing it shut behind her. She traveled a few doorways down, until she came up to a particular door, hearing some struggling through it, and a few whimpers. Shego rested her head against the door to listen in, since this particular chamber was sealed so as to not enter.

'Princess...' she whispered, stepping away and shaking her head disapprovingly at her own actions, '... I'll take you home when I'm done with what I have to do. We'll settle our differences there.' she then turned to walk a few distances away, feeling the headache getting stronger... Spikey had to be nearby...

... NOW, she was interested in him.

**LEAVES TO SOS **[/glow]

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]Beatrix, chained to the wall, thought about nothing except concentrating on each and every ounce of pain, attempting to understand and grow familiar with it, so that overtime she'd gain some resistance.

Then the alarms went off. Having a splitting headache already from her beating, she groaned in frustration and agony, her head spinning; she looked like a wreck, and she was growing angrier. She could hear the thousand voices of the dark, and each fallen Heartless caused her chest to lunge forward, her heart pulsing fast and hard, dealing near equal emotional and mental damage as when Shego gave her the physical lashing.

"I just...get rid of this...this heart, this black thing...is of no use if it makes me weak...Ga...I can't...aghk!"

She slowly lost sight of the room around her, and she soon felt as if she was falling, and she couldn't tell why.[/glow]

[Shego]

[glow=green,2,800]A few hours later, the thief would return in a horrible condition. A Large Body would be helping her move closer to the General, and she would be leaving a blood trail with every step, "tch.." she would grunt in agonizing pain. She reached up to the chains that held Beatrix in place, and broke them-- noticing the woman had good prisoner marks. She looked to the General, "We... have an...escapee.." she tried calling out before looking at the girl deeply in the eye, "... make it count.." she mumbled before going to the wall and sliding down on it in a sitting position, hacking up a bit more blood.

She watched the Large Body, and nodded to him to try and stop her, or at least fake it well. She then held herself there, closing her eyes-- expecting to be left alone, to see if she would regenerate a bit faster... though it seemed futile. [/glow]

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]When Shego and the Large Body made their appearance, Beatrix gazed up, coming somewhat out of her haze. She stared tiredly, her eye dark, the bags deep.

"Sh-Shego?" she said, and almost forgot she wasn't falling anymore when the chains broke, and she went crashing to the floor. But then there was an end to the feeling. She picked herself up and looked over to Shego once again, and frowned.

"Could I...help you any?"

She reached into her pouch at the side and pulled out a restorative and put it into Shego's blood-soaked open palm.

"Be well, Miss Shego, and rest. You shall live to fight another day."

And with that she ran, or she tried, off to the hangars of the Castle of Naught. Cloud escaped, and worse! Look at what he'd done to her ally!

It was now time for him to die, and for her to maintain her place on Shego's stage. Her friends were coming, she saw through her iPod/mirror, and she needed to be the one to look like she sent out the distress signal.

***Off to SOS***[/glow]

[Atticus the Fallen]

The Large Body bounded after Beatrix, but not before sparing a quick, worried glance backward to the bleeding woman. It looked... conflicted. However, it had its orders and knew it couldn't help her, so it set about the business of making it look good.

A moment or two would pass with no sound but Shego's pained breathing... Then the pitter-patter of panicked feet would echo, followed by much calmer strides. The little heartless known as Cuddles would pitter up to Shego's side and place his hands on her, antennae flailing about in a frightened manner. It looked up at her with those big, yellow eyes, so fearful and worried.

But Atticus was much smoother... He walked over and knealt opposite Cuddles, on Shego's left. Slowly, he slipped one hand behind her head to support it gently, clawed fingers trailing in her hair as his other hand scooped up her own, with the healing item still in place. Obviously... it wasn't going to do her much good.

"Miss Go..." he whispered to her, his voice soft and soothing. He sounded like a nurse, not a demon for once. His hand tightened around hers softly, letting her know he was there. "You are dying..." he continued, not sugar-coating it one bit. "Your body has lost too much blood and your healing powers are slowing. I can hear your heart rate lowering as every second ticks by. Left as you are... you'll be gone in another ten minutes..."

He let her think about this a second, enough for the words to sink in. "However... It doesn't have to be thus..." he pulled her close, until her head rested against the heartless emblem on his chest, allowing her to hear the freakish tha-thump of a heart deep within the darkness. His arm held her in place around the shoulders, even if he was getting crimson all over his clean clothes. Blood trickled over the symbol of their kind as he spoke softly to her.

"It's not too late... You can escape death here and now..." he held her tighter, sharing what little warmth he could offer, knowing that with blood loss came the cold. "You need only pledge your heart to darkness... and I can save you. I'll take your heart and give you a new form... a strong one worthy of your talents... Your old body will dissolve into nothing, then reform somewhere in between... healed, but empty." He tilted her head back to look into her eyes here.

"Only you can make the decision, Miss Go... Live as a Heartless... or die as a memory..."

[Shego]

[glow=green,2,800]Shego would cough a bit more blood, shivering in place. She heard the General speak, but it was inaudible. Her sight was slowly leaving as well... she felt soft vibrations under her skin, and felt Cuddles' presence next...then she felt held, and she couldn't help but Blush.

"A-tk-.s." she choked, cringing in place.

The thief's eyes opened, a soft, weak look about her as she looked up to meet with Atticus' glowing yellow orbs. She would wheeze a little, a few tears streaming from her eyes when she heard she was dying. She was having troubles breathing, her chest would rise awkwardly at some points and lower at strange, incomplete intervals. Her vest had not a single trace of green, as the blood turned it a brown color.

I can't....stop here....

The woman looked down upon their hands from her angle, and with a shaky grip, she herself rested his hand upon her chest. When she was done, she looked up, her eyes closing slowly, and whispered her last sentence as a human, "T-...take.... good care...of... me" she paused, "Highest.... bidder..."[/glow]

[Atticus the Fallen]

"Darkness be praised..." Atticus whispered to the woman, the symbol of the heartless glowing red on the back of his hand as it hovered over Shego's heart. Slowly, his claws would sink into her chest, an odd sensation creeping over her as he did. Because she had given herself willingly, it would not hurt at all. Instead, she'd find herself caught in an almost soothing sensation like being dipped in a warm bath with those little fizzy bathbeads.

"Another comes home to her family..." he finished, and slowly lifted the woman's heart from her, allowing darkness to rush around him to gather around it, intertwining like a rapidly growing vine around the heart until it slowly became sinewy and strong. The form below her, battered and abandoned, would glow a golden light before shattering into hundreds of little embers and disappearing completely to reform... who knows where. As if he even cared. He had what he sought right here...

As the darkness formed around the heart in his hand, he brought it close to his face and whispered quietly to it, his eyes focusing through darkness to another in the castle who needed healing... "Go make friends..." he told the still half-formed Heartless, then released his grip to allow it to find its way to the Audience Chamber.

Maleficent was about to see firsthand what a heartless upgrade looked like.

*done here*

[Shego]

[glow=green,2,300]

** Leaving to Dark Alliance.... **

[/glow]