FIRST EXECUTION

[faentasy]

Execution

Regardless of how you spent the day after trial, time ticks forward. Zola’s fate has been sealed, and all that awaits is the execution of her sentence. Come Sunday morning, the familiar sound of a flute reaches your ears, though this time you're not inclined to obey (although those who resist will have a feeling of dread they just can't shake until the end of the day), unless you're one particular blonde. Today the notes of music bring you inside the palace and into the stairwell leading to the upper floors, bars completely gone as if they were never there to begin with. What awaits at the end of the ascent is a white, completely featureless corridor with a single, plain black door at the end. As soon as it's opened, you find yourself in a completely different space.

All you can see around you is yourself and those came to bear witness you, reflections flooding your peripheral vision. This entire space is one giant mirror, from the floors, to the walls, to the ceilings. In the middle of the room stand Zola, no longer confined with vines or any restraints, and Junko with Hamelin directly in between them.

"Welcome, welcome! Now that our audience is here, let's get started shall we? Today's performance has Junko starring as the heroine and Zola as the villain! Put on a proper show for us, will you ladies?"

With a theatrical bow, Hamelin steps out from between them, a shimmer visible as he does, a large magic barrier shining into place. The stage has been set, and now all that remains is to enjoy the play.

Comments

[purefuries]

[ She looks at the dagger she was given and surveys it for a moment. Good, it'll get the job done. ]

I will end this swiftly. You did not give Samidare Asahina this short mercy, but I will extend it to you nonetheless.

[ from her tone it's difficult to tell if she's mocking Zola or just making a badly-timed comment, but she moves immediately, and she moves fast. Junko attempts to grab her by the shoulder, pull her around, and slit her throat as quickly as possible.

Attempts. ]

[dezolation]

[Once Junko says that Zola's expression curls into anger. Oh, she tried. She was going to kill her swiftly, perhaps even cleanly! But then--one misstep. That was all. Everything was done for because of one misstep! Now at death's door, to know she got herself into this mess makes Zola quite upset.

And now here she is. She can't fail. Launching herself forward, she's grabbed and turned around, dagger moving to her throat. Zola doesn't hesitate to put a hand to the blade, pushing back, while the other moves to her hair, grabbing one of the hairclips on it.

With one swift move it comes off her hair and as soon as it does, a blade shaped like a hook pops from it, trying to stab Junko with it, and pushing towards her with her entire body. As soon as she slips free she takes her other hairclip. Once without a weapon, now with two. To hell with the cautious move of trying to take the dagger, she's going to obliterate this woman!]

I'll live...even if it's only for a while longer. I'll live no matter how much blood I have to spill to achieve it!

1/2

[purefuries]

[ The sudden retaliation catches Junko off-guard, and she doesn't move out of the way fast enough to not get scratched pretty hard by the hair clip. The hook catches into the fabric of her sleeve, digging into her upper arm.

Junko's grip on her dagger loosens, for a moment. ]

[purefuries]

[ Fine. If she wants to make her end messy and ignoble, they can do it this way. She flips the dagger over in her hand and tries to use it to rip the hair clip out of Zola's hand. ]

Then meet your end, undignified and disgraceful.

[dezolation]

[Undignified. Disgraceful. Oh, for some reason they actually hurt a little, which Zola didn't expect. She knew she was getting into some really ugly stuff when she got drafted into the Storm King conspiracy, and everything they taught her helped turn her into the ruthless woman they needed. Yet to hear herself be called undignified and disgraceful bothers her.

Still, handling two weapons against someone who also knows how to fight is hard, especially now that Zola has left aside any pretense of trying to be careful. The dagger does hit her wrist, even though she manages to turn it to try to block it with her bones. The hairclip in that hand slips to her fingertips, but she takes the chance to aim with the other. Come on!

Time to stab it into Junko's arm, while the other hairclip falls to the floor. This injury, even if it's superficial, should make her lose the dagger, she thinks! That will work! Hopefully]

[purefuries]

[ She'll be honest, she didn't expect someone like Zola to put up this good of a fight. But hey, she was wrong. She's matching her pretty evenly.

In the clash of blades against wrists and painful slicing of metal against metal, Zola is perfectly silhouetted inside of a mirror, and it gives her an idea as she tries to block out the sharp stabbing of the hook in her arm.

She lets the hair clip come for her--and grabs onto it with her free hand, ignoring the damage it's doing, focusing on shoving all of her weight onto Zola to push her back into the mirror. ]

[dezolation]

[The push makes Zola let go of her other hairclip, leaving it either embedded into Junko or hanging from her clothes. The impostor collides against the mirror, making it shake and tremble. There's Junko, right in front of her. Once again she doesn't have a weapon, but at least...at least this time they're on more even ground!]

You're going down!

[With a satisfied grin, she turns and gives a strong kick to the mirror, shattering it. Mirror shards fall all over and around her, but she doesn't care, the adrenaline and excitement of a fight starting to invade her. Oh, this is a good one! She's not going down, not to this woman, she thinks! Taking shards from the ground, she throws them at Junko, aiming for the neck and chest. Her practiced aim and wrists, even though one is injured, make her able to use them as effective throwing weapons. This definitely is aimed to kill!

While those shards go, Zola takes the largest one she can find, stepping away from the rest, inadvertently giving Junko the chance to go for them as well]

[purefuries]

[ She's not dying without a fight, huh. Junko takes a second to remove the hair clip from her sleeve and chuck it behind her, far beyond where Zola can go immediately grab it. Not that it matters now, though, because there's a dozen weapons at their feet and a dozen more are zipping through the air at her. There's no worry on her face, though, dodging deadly projectiles is the favored sport of Junko's world and she ducks around them with practiced ease.

She stays low to the ground and snaps up a shorter shard of the mirror that has a crooked edge. When she manages to get as close as she can, she aims for Zola's ankles. Can't run if your heels are slashed. ]

[dezolation]

[Seeing Junko dodge that easily makes Zola grit her teeth. Damn it! And getting her heels slashed is even worse]

Merde...

[This is it. Now that she can't run, either she kills Junko here and now, or she's done for. Trying to grab Junko by the clothes to throw her to the floor, Zola raises her own glass shard, slashing at her. To those in the audience it may seem like Zola has it all in her favor despite her slashed heels -- but unfortunately for her, Junko, being in front of her, definitely would be able to see an opening!]

[purefuries]

[ Gods above, what is it going to take to kill this woman? It's making the slight cracks in Junko's face show, the desperate twitches in her eyelids as she slams the jagged shard down on whatever part of Zola is in front of her, just to try to fling her off of her. She has to be losing a lot of blood at this point. Maybe if she just keeps stabbing Zola will pass out.

Zola manages to get a fist hooked on Junko's shirt and slam her back onto the ground, but she isn't giving up.

Skills: unwavering tenacity. ]

1/2

[dezolation]

[The stabbing is really quite effective. The shard goes in, making Zola look down at it. Oh, she was going to feel that one in the morning, that's for sure. That moment is enough for Junko to stab her again, and again, if she so wanted. It's so ugly, seeing someone stab somebody else with a shard of glass, spilling blood. Zola is bleeding quite heavily, both from her chest and her ankles, but she doesn't let go of Junko.

Instead, with a roar of pure anger, she manages to push Junko to the floor. Her own ankles stop being able to support her, moment of weakness Zola tries to transform into strength by pushing her weight onto Junko, a knee over her -- not even enough to bruise, but enough to hold her.

With a victorious laugh, she places the glass shard right beside Junko's neck]

A...ahahaha...ahahaha! Hah! Aha!

I...I win! I w...I...I win...!

2/2

[dezolation]

[Her hand trembles. She's going to slit Junko's throat, she's going to! Everyone can see that. Still, before she can do it she just...reaches her limit and can't move anymore. Even someone as incredibly tenacious as Zola has her limits, especially if she's facing someone who probably has just as much tenacity as her, or perhaps even more. The glass shard slips between Zola's fingers.

Slowly, she just...collapses, being no more than literal deadweight. Despite everything she did, Junko managed to stay largely unscathed, Zola having received most of the wounds. Did that make things better or worse? To have seen Zola go on despite all that? Who knows.

But she just drops on Junko. Somehow, Zola seems to have a satisfied grin on her face, even when she closes her eyes. Uf, she...really is going to feel...this one...in the morning...she thinks again.

It seems blood loss has caught to her. Zola Malfeazium is dead]

[purefuries]

[ There are a lot of things running through Junko's head right now, but Zola suddenly dying and collapsing on top of her manages to wipe them all from thought.

For a second, she doesn't move. She supposes Zola did 'pass out' in a sense.

But then Junko turns Zola's body on her side and gets to her feet, silently surveying herself. She's covered in blood, most of it not hers, but there is still a huge hook wound in her upper arm, and the palm of her hand is torn to shreds.

Junko closes her eyes and sighs, looking all the more like Carrie at prom, before walking out. ]