1st Sand Coffin [Video/Action]

[fifth_kazekage]

[Gaara has read the letters, and thinks this is just another sadistic experiment at the facility. He gets up out of bed and curiously looks around the room, making a mental note of the trunk. Where is the communication device? It might have been misplaced during the transfer. He needs to find a way to access the public network.

He leaves the room and walks swiftly through the hallways in a brief exploration. Eventually, he wanders into the library and finds a computer, recognizing the electronic device from the facility. With some experience, he navigates the functions and figures out how to post a video.

He stares impassively at the screen for a few seconds.] Doctors, Consortium, Val. [Addressing all three to see which one, if any, would actually respond to his call.] This is an amateur tactic. Rather disappointing.

[Now, to figure out what is this week’s experiment. They’re not on schedule for an F3 expedition. Strange.]

Sai. [Brief pause.] Kankuro, Temari. Report in.

Comments

[video] I'll tell you when I'm done >>

[xroyal_bratx]

[ Why the hell did that voice sound familiar and they said Kankuro and Temari. She knew those names from a couple of years ago. She also knew that Temari was still at Facility.

The mention of Sai definitely confirmed to her who it was that she was staring at, and he wasn't a different one. In fact, he was the one she knew. The one she knew from years ago. He was one of the few that had the biggest impact on her. ]

[video]

[xroyal_bratx]

[ This wasn't something she was expecting, but it was a possibility.

A possibility that she hoped for.

Maybe it was time that it was answer...maybe, but why?! ]

[video]

[xroyal_bratx]

[ it shocked her to no end that she was seeing someone she missed for so long. ]

[video]

[xroyal_bratx]

[ Words couldn't be expressed right now. She just had a moment to calm down. ]

[video]

[xroyal_bratx]

[ Then the emotions kind of just came.

She closed her eyes. God, all of this was taking a toll on her right now. ]

[video]

[xroyal_bratx]

[ She just teared up. ]

G-Gaara.

[video] I think I'm done

[xroyal_bratx]

[ There's a few short sobs from her as she tried to calm to calm herself down, not even aware that it was still recording. ]

[video] 1/2 Good fucking God, Ishtar O_O Actually, that wasn’t so bad XD

[fifth_kazekage]

[His stern expression eases a little at the sight of a familiar face.]

Ishtar.

[video] 2/2

[fifth_kazekage]

[Then, the sight of her tears make him tense up immediately. He frowns, fixing her with a very serious look.]

Are you injured? Where are you?

[video] It could have been worse >> 1/2

[xroyal_bratx]

[ She took a moment to calm her nerves, and the sobbing would quickly cease as she wiped the tears from her face.

Hei was right, she couldn't be depressed forever. She had her moment, now it was time to move one.

She wasn't the same anymore. At least, not like how she was in the past. ]

[video]

[xroyal_bratx]

Gaara...no...I'm fine..Where are you?

[video] but it wasn't =P nyah nyah

[fifth_kazekage]

[He knows Ishtar better than that. He has seen her happy, angry, distressed – a number of moods. People don’t cry unless they are sad or in pain. He wants to know who the hell is doing this to Ishtar. She does seem to be prone to getting into trouble a lot…

Gaara snaps out in his sharp cutting-through-bullshit tone.]

Don’t lie to me, Ishtar. You are crying. What happened to you?

[After a brief pause.] I am in the library.

[video] ahahahahahah yeah good for you isn't it?XD

[xroyal_bratx]

[ No, but she didn't feel comfortable talking about personal stuff over a computer. She wiped the remaining tears off of her face as she spoke again, her tone strangely calm, and worried. ]

There's a lot I need to talk to you about, but not over these things. I don't think it's safe enough to. Where are you in the library? I am here as well.

[ She mused looking around. ]

[video] your spamming skills are weak~ how disappointing~

[fifth_kazekage]

[Agreed. Gaara never did like divulging anything personal over the network, even if the privacy filters were on.]

Really. [He stands up and does a quick visual sweep of the room. No one else is in there right now, but he had done that intentionally.

He turns his attention back to the computer screen.] …My sand can lead you to my location. We are not very far apart. [He can’t sense her, but he does command his sand to move, which causes the anklet to shift.]

[video] can't spam your character can't spam a lot anymore.

[xroyal_bratx]

[ Ishtar learned for the better, so she didn't feel like saying anymore than that to him. ]

Yes, really. You know I don't lie to you about anything.

[ She replied with a small reassuring smile. ] I'm glad to see you again Gaara. I'll find you soon.

[ With that she turned off the computer and followed what he had advised her to do. She followed the sand, in hoping that it would be able to lead her to him. It was strange. She had forgotten that her anklet still carried his sand for a moment until it activated. She was content that she didn't put it somewhere and kept it on. ]

[video] well, maybe I can spam you :O

[fifth_kazekage]

[She was talking like they had been separated for a long time… How strange. Maybe she had been worried after his capture in the Abyss? He vaguely remembered hearing her voice over the device at the time…]

......

[After having several more confusing conversations, Gaara felt his patience wearing thin, and shut off the computer as well. His muscles ached from the forcibly-induced sleeping state. He stood up from the chair and walked over to the far side of the wall, leaning against it with his arms crossed over his chest.

He could feel her coming closer and closer with each step, his sand sensing her obvious movement. When the princess entered the room, he looked over at her and quietly called her attention.] Ishtar.

[ action ] hahaah sure go all the way bb XD

[xroyal_bratx]

[ It was a long time. Two years was a long time for anyone who had been stuck in a place like Facility. Though, she was already certain that he was unaware of what happened, that he didn't know the things that came after his termination. He probably didn't even know he was terminated. He didn't sound like he did.

It took her a good few minutes, but she found him and when he greeted her, she nodded her head, and walking up to him calmly. She knew what his sand could do, so she didn't want to do anything that could possibly trigger it. She stopped in front of him, a sad smile played on her lips. He didn't look a day older, and was still the same old boy she had seen.

For Gaara, however, there had been small changes about his friend. She was a little taller, and her hair much longer. She held herself higher than she used to, and her body might have shaped into more of and adult than a teenager at this point. ]

I'm glad that you're alright, as always.

[ action ] he has to be shocked first :3

[fifth_kazekage]

[No clue whatsoever. As far as Gaara was concerned, this was an F3 location, and people were either trying to mislead him intentionally, or their minds had been altered by the Doctors. It wouldn’t be the first time that had happened.

He was 16 now, a little taller and physically stronger, but he didn’t change much from whenever she had last seen him. Ishtar, on the other hand, her appearance baffled him. She looked like she had changed. Had the experiment at the Abyss done this to her? Visibly age the princess with whatever torture she might have been subjected to?

She must have been through hell… She had so many more scars than he last remembered. What did those damn bastards do to her??

His fists suddenly clenched in growing anger. Unbidden came the accusation that Shikamaru threw at him, right after their return to the F1 location. Gaara knew where his loyalties lied, and had helped the one person he knew would have nobody. But Ishtar… if he had tried to save her, would she have been spared from all these wounds?]

The forced sleep… I’m still not used to it.

[With pain flickering across his expression, he tentatively took one step forward.]

Ishtar… Your scars… [He could feel the urge to incite violence slowly coming to life.] The Abyss?

[ action ] have Ishtar hugs!

[xroyal_bratx]

[ Ishtar would believe the same thing it if weren't for Yusuke, and Hei confirming it. She even met a girl from there that she never talked to before. There was no way they were all lying, even if it was an experiment. It had been over a week and they surely haven't changed their mindset.

He didn't look all that different to her. He seemed the same, but of course, people like him could also change as well. Ishtar looked at him with a small frown when he said that. He didn't sleep, as she recalled. He only rested. It was a state where his mind was still conscious regardless of where he was.

Yes, it had been two years. Things have died down, but there were things she, herself could not heal due to being out of commission. Healing only did so much to a person. ]

...I see. It probably wasn't pleasant. I felt terrible when I woke up.

[ Her smile remained. She forgot that she was wearing clothes where her scars were visible. She covered one of her hand with the other. ]

No, they're from a long series of things that you have missed for the past two years.

[ She mused hiding her pained expression. She leaned forward to hug him tightly. ]

[ action ] Ishtar gets away with it. no sandy slap in the face for her :3

[fifth_kazekage]

[He hadn't quite reached that stage yet. Even though people had claimed they were in a new place that didn't have ties to the facility, he didn't believe them. Unlike Ishtar, he didn't have the benefit of knowing those other people. There was still the mind-altering capability of the Doctors that he wouldn't forget about.]

No. [A short answer, because he felt more worried about her condition than his own. He was used to being in discomfort one way or the other; it was common for shinobi.] Are you all right?

[Since she was deliberately hiding from him, he could only assume that she had even more scars under those clothes. He did not feel the least bit happy right now, despite seeing her.]

Two years? [Gaara blinked in clear bewilderment.] Ishtar, what are you-

[She surprised him with a hug, and his initial instinct was to freeze. Once he got over that, he lifted his own arms and wrapped them around her, frowning as he realized how frail her body felt. Just what else was she hiding from him...?]

[ action ] good cuz she wasn't trying anything too dangerous XDDD

[xroyal_bratx]

[ It was fine. She didn't expect him to believe strangers, where she knew who Yusuke and Hei were. It wasn't hard to believe them. ]

You're not injured or anything either, right?

[ Ishtar mused, not letting it go. She nodded her head. ] Yeah, I'm fine. I was just happy to see you is all.

[ She closed her eyes. She didn't really want to explain it all to him in one go. She'll have to start from the beginning as always. ]

Yeah, Two years. I know it sounds crazy, but it's been at least two years since I last saw you, since you were....terminated

[ She mused quietly. She tightened her grip on him. She didn't know how to explain it all to him. There were so many things that she had gone through that he didn't know. It would hurt him if she told him all of it right now. ]

[ action ] 1/2 okay things are going to get really angsty in 3... 2... 1...

[fifth_kazekage]

I don't... think I am. [He honestly couldn't tell, because he didn't know what his body went through whenever the Doctors put him into the forced sleep state. He felt fatigued, but he hadn't exactly looked at himself to see if there were injuries anywhere. His muscles did feel like they were in pain, though; at the very least, they ached. He just endured that for the time being.]

The feeling is mutual. [Gaara replied in a soft tone. He wasn't as tense as usual around her. He knew that he didn't need to be on-guard. He wasn't going to treat her like an enemy, or someone that he couldn't trust.

And it's all right. He wasn't used to physical contact, but he didn't mind being hugged by her. Ishtar had helped him through some very difficult times. He owed her that much.]

[ action ] 2/3 i lied

[fifth_kazekage]

[Gaara still felt very confused about her claim of having acquired so many new scars in the past two years. He would have noticed them much earlier than now, damn it. He might have gotten tortured before, and his mindset altered, but he wasn't blind.

A jolt of shock visibly ran through him when he heard the last word.]

Terminated...?

[ action ] 3/3 DONE for now

[fifth_kazekage]

[Now, he was trying to get out of her tight grip and push himself back so he could look at her directly. Her hold was firm, and he eventually decided to stop struggling, staying frozen in her arms even as the word echoed inside his mind.

Terminated... for two years?]

What do you mean? I am... here. I still exist.

[ action ] all the angst >>!!

[xroyal_bratx]

[ Ishtar nodded her head slowly when he said that, not sure if she fully believed him. He probably didn't remember much, being knocked out and all, and she couldn't really tell under all his layers if he was injured or not. It was the same with her. He saw the small extent of her scars, but he never saw the ones that were under her clothes. Not that there were many. She didn't want to look at that small scar on her chest sometimes. ]

I'm glad that you're you and not some other you...which would be confusing wouldn't it?

[ She replied with a small smile. She was glad that he wasn't tense around her and that he trusted her to some extent. She wasn't expecting him to be completely trusting with her, but even if there was a little trust, she still would treasure it. She missed him a lot and she was expressing it through her actions, rather than being depressed about it. She was trying her best to take the advice Hei had given her, and not be depressed, because it wouldn't do anyone good if she was going to curl up in a ball and cry about everything that went wrong. ]

[ No, those were scars that even the best illusionist could not make. Those scars ran deep in her arms and they wouldn't go away for a long time. They might fade, wouldn't disappear. ]

I'm sorry to say this to you, but yes...terminated. You were gone...two years ago, and now you're...here.

[ She mused, closing her eyes. Her grip tightened even more at the mention of that word. That terrible word.

[ She wasn't going to let him go that easily. He wasn't going to try to get away from her right now. She didn't feel like letting him go, and she was going to do what she could to prove to him, how much she was worried about him. ]

It sounds stupid, but it's true. You were terminated two years ago. I know, it sounds really bizarre, but I can't really explain it myself how it's possible. Maybe someone else will have a better answer, but there's also more. I don't know if I should tell you right now.

[ She wasn't sure how he would take it to be honest. She was worried he might do something dangerous, being Gaara and all. ]