Belaire

"Grant?" Belaire's voice wavered with tears as she raised a shaking claw to the Imperial's face, heart beating faster along with her firefly's flickering lights. "Grant, please say something. I've been so worried." With a single tear slipping down her cheek as she gently reached up to touch the mask he was wearing.

His face was greatly obscured by the unnatural plastic, and the closer she looked at it, the more it almost seemed as if he had no features beneath it at all. Empty black greeted her where she should have been able to see his eyes, a great contrast to the bright and joyful light that she had grown so fond of.

Despite her pleas, the Imperial didn't respond. In fact, he didn't move a muscle at all. It was as if he were a statue frozen in time, nothing more than an empty husk of the dragon she had once known.

Almost as if she were following instinct, Belaire tugged gently at the mask with her talon, surprised to find that it would not budge. Placing her claws on both sides, she pulled harder, only to recoil in horror at what she caused.

The mask did tear away, but she did not find the dragon she loved beneath it. Where the mask once laid was a festering wound- was it a wound? It did not bleed once reopened...at least, she didn't think that was blood. It was almost as if he had ink streaming down from where she had disturbed the mask, thick black goo falling onto the ground and echoing its splashing throughout the chamber loudly.

"No, no, Grant..."

Nausea flooded through the pearlcatcher's stomach as she stumbled back, moving to cover her mouth only to scream when she found that her hand was covered in the same substance. She shook it wildly, desperately trying to get it off, yet no matter how hard she fought it still cling to her skin. The back of the mask was covered in the sludge as well, slowly trudging up her arm even as she flung the source away from her.

"Please stop, please," Belaire begged as she backed away, her voice breaking as more tears began to fall. Her eyes were fixated on the fast spreading infection as the sound of the liquid hitting the floor grew louder. It was now streaming onto the floor as if it were a waterfall, spilling out towards her.

"What is this? Someone help me! Please!"

No one responded, though it wasn't as though she was truly expecting anyone to. She was going to die down here, and she knew it. She was going to meet the same fate as Grant, alone in the dark stone walls of this prison, with no one to help her.

She had always thought she'd die serving the alliance. Never in her worst nightmares did she imagine facing it alone.

The substance was to her chest now, spreading up her neck and down her legs. It numbed every part of her body that it came in contact with, almost as if they were no longer there at all. Her screams for help nearly drowning out the sound of the door lock clicking open.

"Oh, my, I thought I had felt something!"

At the sound of the sudden voice, Belaire let out a sob of relief. "Oh thank the Light! Please, help me!"

There was a moment of silence followed by footsteps, growing closer and closer before pausing a few feet away, just out of sight.

"Goodness me, you sure made quite the mess. It would have been so much easier if you had just left the mask on. Clean-up for this is gonna be hell."

"What-" Belaire began to speak again only to be shushed, confusion muddling her brain as she obediently clamped her mouth shut to listen.

"I had a feeling you would show up soon. Grant won't shut up about you whenever I decide to take him out for a hunt. It can get quite annoying at times."

"Who are you?" Belaire asked after a moment of struggle, the heavy feeling around her throat making it hard to breath. The goo had immobilized her so badly that she couldn't even turn her head, entire body rigid, like a...statue.

"Oh? You haven't pieced that together already?" The footsteps started again, and Belaire's eyes darted toward the side she could hear them approaching from. A skydancer- is that truly a skydancer? she has no face, only red and white writhing...goo- came into view, the same blank eyes as the mask Grant wore causing her heart to drop.

"My name is Noel. I'm quite sure you've heard of me."

She didn't even get a chance to respond before the substance covered her eyes, and the world faded into black.