[IC] ANKL. Part I: Awakening

[Shamitako]

Natalie

 

Though Natalie had stormed off at a rather fast pace she slowed significantly as her rage wore down, allowing Arya to catch up to her rather easily. "Leave me alone." She wasn't sure what Arya would say, and she didn't care. She was too mad at Naya, no, at herself. She was too mad at herself to listen to anyone right now. She picked up her pace towards the cabin, not that she really thought that would let her escape Arya.

 

Katherine

 

Katherine's gaze jolted towards Natalie and co. when the yelling started, but it all went by so fast that she didn't have a chance to try to stop it. At the end of it all she had two students, ones who were already in trouble, running off on their own and a third student crying her eyes out. If it weren't for Arturia saying something she might have remained stunned for some time. "Ah, right, sorry." She looked back to Arturia, "I'll handle things here, but could you try to catch the two that ran out before they get too far?"

 

Arturia

 

Arturia followed after Natalie and Arya, though they had a decent head start on her so catching up would take some effort. They hadn't gone in the direction of cabins 1-8, instead heading into the woods nearby. The main path, which Arturia was on, led to the staff cabins. There were a number of branching paths off of it leading to all sorts of places, including other student cabins, but it was doubtful they'd taken any of them. It wasn't likely that two girls from an entirely different cabin group would be placed with the girls from Cabin 2, and Natalie was the Mother's daughter after all.

 

Suddenly, a girl appeared from one of the offshoot paths, though Arturia hadn't seen anyone coming until the girl was literally right on top of her. The girl looked to be about 13 an had long, messy cheery red hair, much the same color as Natalie's. she was wearing a woven sun hat with a green, half-wilted chrysanthemum on it, a purple t-shirt that looked three sizes too big for her, black shorts, and worn-out looking black sandals. "Oh, hello again." She said, though Arturia had never seen her before in her life.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Platinum

 

Platinum didn't really react much to Esyllt's joke, mostly just shaking her head slightly, "Honestly, I have no idea. Nothing I've been able to makes any sense. I don't recognize her at all, and we're the first groups to be heading out on this hike today, which rules out her being part of another group that came back a while ago. That, and they didn't seem to have been passed out for long, considering their dress was still rather clean" she replied with a shrug, "Nothing I can think of really adds up" she added. Platinum had a feeling that they would figure out what exactly happened, but for now all they could really do was get to the cemetery and wait.

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia nearly jumped out of her skin at the girl's sudden appearance. "Uh, hi. . ." Did she know this girl? Arturia had this weird feeling that she'd met her before. . . but she was fairly certain she'd remember this rather odd style of dress. Thinking back, she couldn't recall a single meeting. "Again? I don't think we've met before, sorry." It wouldn't be the first time that someone apparently knew who she was without the reverse being true, so she wasn't particularly suspicious.

[Shamitako]

Trick

 

"Oh no, we haven't met, but we will." The strange girl said, "And then everything will be colorful. Lots and lots of colorful crimson." She did a little twirl and then held up her hand as if she were about to snap her fingers. But then her face fell and her arm dropped back to her side. "Oh dear, no time, none at all." She then immediately raised her hand again and snapped her fingers, though no snapping sound emerged. "Fingersnap~"

 

The world around Arturia completely vanished, replaced with pure blackness. Another girl inhabited this darkness, this time one Arturia recognized as Lilith Perdita, a Laylite known for her unsettling eyes. "What? Where am I? Who are you?" Lilith seemed to be as much at a loss for what was going on as Arturia.

[Sutoratosu]

There was a moment of silence, as Arya considered things. finally though, just as the other girl was heading further down the path, she called out

     "What's going on Natalie? Come on, talk to me..." it was a plea laced with genuine concern, more than a simple request "It doesn't matter what it is, I'll listen. Whatever's going on, it's obviously getting to you; I doubt you would've exploded on that girl just now if it wasn't. You don't have to deal with it alone."

 

Of course, knowing Natalie she half expected her to simply keep walking to the cabin, but at least she could hope that maybe, just maybe, she'd turn around. Or at the very least, if she didn't, the plea would still get her thinking later on. Or maybe the cynic in her was right (despite how much she told it to fuck off right now) and these hopes really were in vain...

[Shamitako]

Natalie

 

Natalie almost did keep walking, but some odd combination of courage, desperation, and guilt stopped her and she turned to face her troubles. "What's getting to me is you, Arya." She choked back tears, "I don't know when it started, but it hasn't stopped. Every time I see you sitting alone at school I want nothing more than to run over and tell you how I feel, but I just can't." Natalie couldn't hold back her tears anymore, they overflowed from her eyes and rolled down her face in a river of bottled emotion. "I'm such a horrible person, how could you ever accept me? So I wanted to change, but all I did was change someone else for the worse."

 

Hiking Group

 

One moment they had been hiking along as a group, the next they were alone. All but four had vanished, and the four that remained had no memory of where the rest went. Standing further up the trail from Alva, Essylt, Kaede, and Platinum was a young girl in a silver dress with dirty blonde hair and strange tattoos. Though none had any clue why, they all felt as though they'd seen her somewhere before. "I know Alexus unlocked one of your powers." The girl snarled, "But I also know that you didn't choose to be involved in this mess. So I have an offer for all of you: Join me in tearing down this society and its goddesses and I won't kill you."

 

Essylt is now a Hope Vine.

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia was about to offer a confused and quite concerned reply - decorating with colorful crimson? She'd read enough to recognize the turn of phrase as a psychopath's glee for a bloodbath - when the abrupt transition to complete darkness caused it to turn into a rather blunt (and loud) "What the fuck!?" 

 

Lilith's question prompted a harried reply of "I don't know, who are you?" The girl was halfway through the sentence when she realized her error. "Er, I mean, Arturia Eberhardt," she said, tone fading somewhat to embarrassment, "I know who I am, but not what's happening right now. . ." That was Lilith, right? She knew of the girl, but couldn't recall meeting her in more than passing.

[Sutoratosu]

"I...I....I..." Arya just stuttered while an increasing warmth rushed to her cheeks, as pale as she was, it would've been all to easy for Natalie to see the nice shade of  rosey red. There'd been a great many things she'd theorized would've been the cause for everything. This however... was most certain never one of them "I'm... the reason why? You... You really felt like that...? I... never had someone actually interested in...well..."

      For the first time in a very long time, she found herself verbally disarmed, sheepishly rubbing one arm as she looked away. The irony of just how this whole situation, from Mother Opium setting up the intervention, all the way to right now, was not lost on her. But it also didn't make the topic of conversation feel any less foreign and awkward. "I.... never knew.... never even guessed it. It all... makes sense though, now that I think about it. And... I know why you always stayed away, Natalie... and I didn't really blame you. It was just... how things were. How they'd always been for me...and I never expected any of that to change when your mother sponsored me, but... if this is how you really felt, you could've said something sooner... when there were times like now, where no one else was around and it was just us..."

 

Slowly, but surely, she could feel herself getting a reign over the awkward mix of emotion. Well, not so much get a reign over it, as much as she simply sorted through the thickest parts to regain a bit of clarity. And as she did, something else Natalie had said caught her attention. Something... strange 

 

"What do you mean 'you changed someone else for the worse' though?" she asked "What happened? Who are you talking about?"

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

 

"l don't know why you bother with the illusion of a choice. You know we have none. Strange, caring that we'd be involved in whatever... this is against our will and then force us yourself." Kaede said a strange feeling in her voice to the others. lt was some twinge of a half formed emotion but one couldn't tell what it was even Kaede herself. Her words did drip in sarcasm, but there was something lurking in those dark blue eyes. Darkness in those abyssal lakes.

"l don't mind helping you though. You don't have to threaten me with death to help you destroy the very thing that's decided l'm not good enough. l've little love for society... as it has little love for me. l do not know that of any powers though. So, that must be one of the others here. Apologies."

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Platinum

 

Platinum

And just after Platinum gave her thoughts on the manner, four of the other girls suddenly vanished, leaving her, Essylt, and two other girls were the only ones of the group, and in front of them was a girl in a silver dress with strange markings. It felt a bit like deja vu, to be honest. Didn't she see this girl before? No, she didn't, that was something Platinum was sure about. That was when the girl spoke, Platinum noted two things.

 

First was that the girl specifically stated that "Alexus unlocked one of their power", which... Sort of baffled Platinum. Mainly because goddesses were just religion, and if they did exist, they didn't interfere with them. So why would they unlock one of their powers, if they even had any? Didn't make much sense, but that wasn't the main thing that baffled Platinum. The thing that really baffled the small girl was the fact that they were flat out asking them to help her tear down the society she lived in and it's religion (with the added threat that if they didn't, they would die). Yeah, hah, hilarious. The first part of that problem was that they were simple girls in school, they didn't have yet say or ability to truly do anything with society as a whole (yet, anyway). There was also the question of what mess she was talking about, but Platinum didn't vocalize that question.

 

... What she did vocalize was what the girl next to her, one with deep cobalt hair, said, about agreeing to tear down the government,

 

"WHAT?!" Platinum yelled, turning to the girl, before sighing in frustration, bringing a hand to her head. She had quickly realized that, due to their clear uncare for simple appearance, that they were probably Alexian, which suddenly made a lot of sense, all things considered. Of course it would be an Alexian to go with the flow and agree to become a criminal... No, more like terrorist. God, why did she have to be the only person that had a brain.

 

... Though, while Platinum stood there frustrated, she did wonder: Who in the world did the girl mean by "unlocked"?

[Twinwolf]

"Wait, where are we? Who are you? What?" Alva was pretty quickly just asking questions. She felt like she recognized the girl but from where? Didn't matter. "Where is everyone? Did you hurt them?" she had no idea what was going on. "What? K-Kill us? That... tear down society? Why?" And the mental screaming continued. Calm calm calm... calm down. But how can you be calm in a situation like this? That said, she had no idea what the situation really was. ...Wait did Kaede just agree? That's... that's crazy. "This... this is craziness. Uh... people, do you think we're dreaming right now? That seems the only reasonable explanation for this."

[Shamitako]

Layla

 

"Nice to meet you, I guess. I'm Layla." Layla introduced herself. She sounded confident enough, but her eyes were constantly darting about, as though she expected something to jump out at her. "Do you know how you got here?"

 

Natalie

 

Natalie's took off her glasses and wiped her eyes. It served as a useful delay to let her gather her thoughts. Arya's reaction was not lost on her, they would have a lot to talk about later, but right now they both had a lot to sort out. To start, Natalie needed to explain how she'd screwed up with Naya.

 

"If you'd said something to Naya a month ago, she wouldn't have cared about who you were, just been ecstatic that someone was talking to her." Natalie explained, "I don't actually know why, but she was a target for some pretty severe bullying. Bullying that I participated in...

 

"When I started wanting to change, I stopped some girls who were harassing her. But I guess she misinterpreted my actions, because a couple days later she showed up at school dressing just like me and started following me and my group around. She's pretty smart, so it didn't take her long to pick up on the nuances of being a bitch to people."

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia tried to hide her doubtful expression and mostly succeeded. Layla? Sure. Though I guess I did just get sent to some featureless void by. . . whoever that was. "Some girl said 'fingersnap' and snapped her fingers, except instead of making a sound it sent me here. Apparently. Assuming this isn't some kind of overly elaborate prank." She wasn't sure who would want to mess with her; none of her friends were the practical joker type and she didn't have any particularly notable enemies that she knew of. Not that she would be likely to pick up on it if she did. "Really not the time, if it is."

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

 

"No, this isn't a dream. Unless we were all simultaneously experiencing the same dream at the same time. The most logical solution is that this is reality." and sure of it she was. lt was the simplest solution, the one that did not make any leaps or bounds in logic. Therefore, Kaede was sure it wasn't some dream or some falsehood. She saw the others reactions. She felt disappointed, but she understood. Not many had seen what she did, lived the life she had. "This society, this government, this church... they are broken. l've witnessed it with my own eyes. My family, my mothers both Stoles with the Kalliste Church. All my life... my only worth to them was that the Church took... interest in me. They did not love me. They despised my very existence. l'm sure you can feel the break in my soul... the tiredness that washs over you just being around me. No one's... ever looked past it and saw me as a person. Well, there was one but she's not here right now. But the others? They've only ever seen me as a broken doll. l've seen the eyes judging me... burning me from afar. Even from my own parents. The only thing l've ever been valued for is to be used as some sort of weapon for the church. l've never been a person to them and l never will be. And nor will so many others."

She turned back to the girl dressed in silver. "My goal is already the same as yours. l already aim to destroy the Church from within. There can be no peace for me... or anyone so long as it still stands."

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

 

Esyllt's eyes narrowed, as she felt her stomach clench with unease, and her expression turned grave. The cadence of the girl's voice made her believe that her words weren't just empty threats. The girl in the dress didn't look armed, but Esyllt wasn't planning on taking any chances, especially not with the other two girls with her. Kaede was a different story, having agreed to the whole scheme of tearing down a government, not even phased by the death threat. There was something about the girl in the dress, something dangerous, that made her want to run. To even be considering a coup d'état was insane. 

 

Being the oldest, she would take charge, and she would make sure the other two younger girls were going to be safe. In a hushed voice, hopefully quiet enough for the hostile girl to not hear, she carefully gave instructions to Alva and Platinum.

 

"...Calm down. Now listen to me carefully. What I want you to do, is to prepare to run. Back to the cabins, tell a teacher, and lock yourselves in the cabin. I don't think we should have anything to do with the girl in the silver dress. On my signal, I want you to run."

 

Studying the girl in the dress very carefully, as well as Kaede in the event that she decided to take the new girl's sidem, Esyllt planned staying behind should the girl give chase to Alva or Platinum. If the girl in the dress tried to hurt anyone, she would at least try to buy the other girls time to get away. With bated breath, she uttered one word.

 

"Run."

Edited December 2, 2017 by Stalkerkain

[Sutoratosu]

"Oooooh....shit. Thats... yeh, I see what you mean now" Arya sighed. It was one big surprise after another, it seemed. Still "Uh well... look, it's all out in the open now, and... that's what important. Hopefully we can fix the misunderstanding with Naya, and well.... um..." she was still blushing a little bit, as she kicked a few loose pebbles off the path

     "We can talk about the...other stuff later. We should... probably head back to the pavilion though, try to patch up everything... plus we probably got into even more trouble by running off. But... Natalie..."  She finally regained enough of her thoughts to look the other girl in the eye, slowly supressing the warmth that had spread throughout her face. She wasn't if she was right, but well, there had already been two surprises now, whos to say there wasn't a third waiting? Only one way to find out "is there... anything else I should know? Just out of curiosity. I figured if there is, it'd probably be easier to say it now, since we've already.... you know. If there isn't, we should really head back and try to fix this"

[Shamitako]

Eden

 

"Stay." Eden commanded. The ground opened up, roughly dropping the two who had been told to run into waist-height holes. The world then seemed to warp around her and she was suddenly immediately in front of Esyllt. Despite being a good bit smaller, her near presence was still very intimidating. "You're either stupid or braindead if you think I'm just going to let them leave." She looked to the one who had agreed to join her. "It's always nice to find like-minded individuals. You'll find I've unlocked your powers much as Alexus did for one of the others. All you need do is wish to use them and they will activate."

 

Kaede is now a Light Breaker

 

Layla/Trick

 

"Hmm." Layla's expression turned thoughtful, "That description suggests an illusory power. And since I'm dead, it makes sense for me to exist as a product of your mind." Again, Arturia could see a fearful demeanor despite Layla's calm voice. She didn't get much time to wonder at why this might be the case, however, as the world of darkness dissolved and she found herself back on the forest trail with the strange redhead.

 

Arturia immediately saw a significant change from when the darkness had engulfed her: The strange girl was rapidly burning, holes forming in her like she was made of paper. "You've seen the face of darkness, protect her." The girl said, "Don't trust the light. And above all, don't let your heart die." She giggled happily and silently snapped her fingers again. Before she could announce it verbally, she vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving Arturia to wonder if any of the insanity that had just happened was real.

 

Arturia is now a Thunder Blade

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

 

Powers? Kaede was too absorbed in thought about what this girl meant by powers to care about the plight of the others for now. What did that girl unlock? What was now present in within her? A power that had always been there... something new? She couldn't help but wonder. She couldn't help but think about it. lt was a strange feeling. She cared about something... is this what it felt like? Was this it? She wanted to know and just focused herself inward.

Suddenly, she was enveloped in a bright white ball of light. She didn't see this as her eyes were closed, however the others did. Kaede felt power wash over her body. She felt... bare as if she was exposed to the universe... or... maybe to her own soul? She just felt an energy she never had before crawl over her skin, and crystallize into place. She felt naked even still. Wondering why, but things were moving to fast to really perceive. But she was now certain even her clothes were changing. 

She opened her eyes and found herself... changed. Her boots made some sort of light metal clanked on the floor as her feet were grounded. She moved her hand in front of her face... realizing the back of it was covered in... a strange orange pattern, much like a tattoo. They were simple lines that ran up her knuckles to her forearm where they spread out into another web of lines that raced all the way up her arms into her shoulders. They didn't stop there though, the crawled over her exposed midriff and up as far as her chest. Most of her upper body was uncovered save for a band of orange cloth that covered her more sensitive parts, running underneath her arms and covering her some of her back as well. lt was the same brilliant orange as the markings on her body. Her lower half was covered by... a strange piece of clothing she was not sure how to describe. lt wasn't exactly a skirt, more like the bottom half of a long coat or jacket was attached to one. Her legs were covered by black leggings, fit snugly to her form. Her boots, a strange metal, once more that orange. A choker was around her neck, breaking off the pattern of clean weaving lines from reaching her face it seemed. The only feature of hers to change... was her eyes now gleamed a dull orange... rather than their usual colour of a stagnant lake. "This... is a bit revealing." she thought out loud. She kept touching her skin, seeing if those tattoos were real. They most certainly were.

Kaede looked to the girl, who was she? lt didn't matter however... something else did first. "What... is this? What is this power?" she directed her question towards the one who unlocked it.

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia looked around in confusion for several moments after being deposited back into normal space. "Nayru, please tell me I'm not starting to hallucinate." She wasn't a believer, but the verbal habit had crept into her brain at some point and refused to leave. She shook her head, trying to process what had just happened and consciously trying to avoid chewing on a long, silver strand of hair that had stayed behind after she did so. "Hell is that supposed to mean?" she whispered to herself. Face of darkness, illusory realm. . . sounded like something she'd hear in a dream after staying up too late reading. She trudged along the path, having difficulty focusing on her previous task of finding and calming the wayward Natalie and Arya. You'd better not be making out in the woods or some shit. . .

[Shamitako]

Natalie

 

"Nothing comes to mind." Natalie shook her head. It felt really good to get all that weight off her shoulders. There was still plenty to work through, not everything was going to be magically better right away, but she'd made the first step by opening up about it. "We've been out here a while, we should hurry back before we miss evening prayers, or worse: dinner."

 

Arya is now a Time Eye

 

As Arya and Natalie were walking back, they of course ran into Arturia. "I'm guessing you're the one sent to retrieve us?" Natalie asked rhetorically, "Sorry for the trouble, we were just on our way back."

 

Eden

 

"That is the power held within all daughters of this world." Eden answered, "A fragment of your godly ancestry, hidden behind a long-forgotten door. A door which I have just unlocked. What your power is, exactly, I can't say. But I'd guess from the color that you have domain over Kallisto's light."

 

Spoiler

So, uh, I was supposed to post this music back when Eden wiped your memories, pretend it's been your ambient music thing this whole time

 

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

 

Esyllt, having her sight trained on Eden, had thought her eyes had betrayed her. She turned her head for but a moment to see Alva and Platinum engulfed halfway into the ground, before Eden had alarmingly appeared in front of her. Too shocked by the sudden procession of events, Esyllt remained locked in place. A bead of sweat rolled down from her forehead, as Esyllt dared not take her eyes off of Eden, for fear of what she might do next. But what Eden had said next was enough to break her out of her stasis.

 

One of us had their powers unlocked? If Kaede didn't have her power before, that means I have a one in three chance of having something, anything, that would let us escape. 

 

And a one in three chance were gambling odds Esyllt would take. Thankfully, Eden had already told her how to activate her power. The question was, what then? Would she alone be enough to hold off Eden and Kaede? What about Alva and Platinum? Was it a reasonable choice for her to fight back in this situation? What if-

 

Too many trains of thought were racing across Esyllt's mind, and one of them, was the intention to transform. It only took no longer than half a second, before a flash of light blinded the vicinity. Before Esyllt knew it, her clothes had transformed into a halter neck dress which covered her chest and wrapped around her neck, with the rest of the fabric running down the length of body down to her ankles. There were slits on the side of the dress, starting from the thigh downwards. Her shoulders were laid bare, but white markings adorned her skin, originally tracing down to her fingertips, forming what appeared to be opera gloves. A translucent scarf seemed to float behind her, flowing in the non-existent wind. Her hair turned completely snow white, her irises taking on the former golden color of her hair. Tendrils lashed out wildly in all directions, undirected, uncontrolled. Her dress seemed to weigh nothing, her clothing seeming to allow her to move freely, almost as if matching her movements.

 

And thus Esyllt stood, transformed. She quickly regained her composure, and started calculating her next actions. She didn't know the basis for her powers, and Eden had hostages. Everything was a gamble from this point onwards. A risky gambit, but Esyllt decided she would bluff her way out. Esyllt breathed, mustering her courage, and composing her voice as much as possible.

 

"...Allow me some time to discuss with the other three girls in private. You wouldn't have approached us with your offer if you didn't require our help, correct? Then it would be a waste to kill invaluable allies," she said in her unwavering facade. If she were reading the situation incorrectly, this perhaps may very well cost her life. Realistically, she needed to buy at least one day. Enough time to discuss it over with Alva and Platinum, and to perhaps dissuade Kaede. All else fails, she would spend the time learning about her power. For who knows how indisposable it could be. "Three days. We'll have an answer for you then. I assume you'll be able to find us regardless of where we'll be, so that shouldn't pose a problem, would it."

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

 

"Ancestry? Even l am connected to the goddess's? Heh..." she laughed to herself, a barely audible chuckle. "Even a broken doll such as me? And l even have control of her light? What a world this is." Then another light... it was blinding for a second but she knew it was the one who had attained power as Eden had said. The girl not sunk low into the ground, of course she'd be the one to have them. Kaede should've known by her display of bravery earlier that it was her that had received them. Why else would would sacrifice themselves like so? ln retrospect it was such an obvious play... her new power was more intriguing at the time however so she missed something she felt should've been clears as day. Regardless, they were here now.

"Three days for you to try and ascertain your power, That's what you really want. l don't understand mine... and l doubt you do, whoever you are. Three days is not time one's needs to deliberate such. Maybe l'm wrong as it's not even a decision for me, my life's only purpose is the church's collapse, but l think not that you need Three days for anything other than to try and worm your way out of this. Make your choice... it's not hard. lt is however not my choice... it is the young lady's." she said, deferring to the girl in the silver dress, the one who had began this mess.

[Shamitako]

Eden

 

"Three days!" Eden laughed, "As if!" She shook her head while continuing to laugh. "I'm not letting you run back to Alexus and unlock the rest of your powers, not a chance. Speaking of powers, thanks for revealing yourself. Knowing which of you is unlocked means I'm free to kill the others without risk." Her laughter ceased abruptly, "However, you do raise a fair point, you have ten minutes to talk amongst yourselves." She looked to her new ally, "I'd like to have a short talk as well."

 

Eden led Kaede a few yards away, though still well within range to stop Esyllt and the others should they try anything. She stamped her foot into the ground and the world beyond the two of them seemed to freeze. "We can speak freely now, no matter how long we take only ten minutes will pass for them." She explained, "Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Eden Remille, I'm ten years old, and I like stuffed bears. I also recently awakened to the fact that I have the soul, memories, and powers of a forgotten god who wants revenge against the four goddesses and the world they've created."

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Platinum

 

Platinum, at first glance, didn't seem to react towards Esyllt's statement towards her and the other girl to prepare to run, as she was still face palming from Kaede's statement earlier. However, Platinum DID hear Esyllt, and while she would've preferred to stay and give the girl a piece of her mind, she felt a strong urge to get out of there ASAP. At least, that was what she wanted to do, as the second Esyllt told them to run, the ground suddenly opened up, leaving only empty air beneath her, leaving her to fall for roughly a second before it snapped shut around her waist (or rather, slightly above it), trapping her in the ground itself.

 

Honestly, Platinum actually made a small shout of surprise as she fell down, only to be suddenly stopped, stuck in the ground, with the girl speaking directly to the two that hadn't been sucked up into the ground. For a few seconds, Platinum tried to pull herself from out of the ground, pushing down on the earth... To no avail. Then, Kaede suddenly flashed with light, causing Platinum to cover her eyes at the sudden brightness, and when it was done, Kaede had... Well, completely switched outfits (which was, in Platinum's opinion, a tad bit revealing), along with gaining orange tattoos across her body. Before Platinum could react to that, Esyllt suddenly became enveloped in light herself, coming out of it with a new appearance and tattoos, like Kaede.

 

... And then the girl said that she would be free to kill the other two (read, Platinum and the other girl) without risk, before walking off with Kaede to have a little chat.

 

Shit

 

"Wonderful, knew coming here was a mistake..." Platinum muttered, getting back to work trying to push herself out of the ground, "Esyllt, mind giving me a hand here?" She asked, looking up at the transformed girl. This was getting weird, but she'd probably have to figure out everything that happened later... When she wasn't in danger of getting killed, that is.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede 

 

"Kaede... Astorlace. 16..." she slowly choked out. She was always reluctant to share her name. Most she shared it with, only wanted it for gain. At least within the church that was certainly true. There was only one who asked out of a place of friendship. So, it wasn't easy for her to give it away even still. "l was born with a broken soul. l cannot experience emotion like others. You perhaps feel the presence of the break. l'm told being around me makes others feel lethargic... you seem... different. Your energy has changed and your body language. lt's... softer. lt is not like it was when the others could hear us. ls this who you really are?"