Some things should remain locked within yourself

[ibreakrules]

Who: Frau, Hitsugaya, and Hinamori
When: Starts the night of the 18th, may also include blurbs from days after until Sins plot is over
Where:  Around Sector Four, then Hitsugaya's place?
Summary: Frau's been fighting off the rather large combination of deadly sins that lead to the scythe gaining control
Warnings: Violence, almost soul consuming, maniacal laughter, simply out of your mind behavior

At first Frau had been able to control it.  The thoughts pulsing from the scythe were always there and always would be.  Usually it was easy enough to ignore them, shove them back down.  Sometimes they were stronger and required a little more force to fix, like his arm being slammed into the wall.  That had always shown the scythe who was boss once again.  While the scythe continued to eat at him from the inside and pulled on his desires to consume souls, good souls and not that disgusting ones he allowed himself, Frau rarely had an issue controlling it.  The only times it flared so much stronger was when a specifically good soul was around or right after he'd fed and allowed himself to slip up a little.

The last few days had been different though.  The urges to ignore the corrupted souls and focus only on the pure ones had grown to the point that Frau could barely control them. 

Why would you want to control them?

Because it wasn't who he was.  He hadn't lost his human soul yet.  He would not become him.

It's who you are.

No.  He isn't.

You were made from a piece of him.  You can't avoid what you are.  Forget your human soul.  You know you will never be able to hold on forever.  There is nothing wrong with this.  It's who you are.

The laughter that had echoed in Frau's head after that also slipped from his lips, filling the night sky.  A dark, maniacal laughter that was far from sane.  Frau's brilliant blue eyes now flickered with a gleaming red light and a lust that shone clearly within them.  Nails black and lengthened, teeth viciously pointed in a wide, dangerous smile proved something was off.  This wasn't Frau.  The scythe was in control, Frau's consciousness pushed so far down that he had no idea what was going on anymore. 

One quick bound and Frau had pounced onto an unsuspecting passerby.  His gloves were off in a second, Zehel's tattoo on the back of his hand looking corrupted by thick veins that nearly obscured it and trailed under Frau's sleeve where they spiraled unseen up his arm.  Without hesitation, Frau caught the man by the neck and slammed his teeth closed over his shoulder.  When the dark smoke that had erupted from the man's body cleared, he was gone.  Frau was once again standing at his full height, blood running in a single line down his chin.

"Ahhhh~  Disgusting.  Alwaysss disgusting.  They taste the way they are.  Corrupted.  Vile.  I want a more delicious soul.  A purer soul.  Yessss.  Kehehehe.  Hahahahahha!"
 

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[icy_heavens]

As for Hitsugaya, he'd settled himself onto the couch. He needed to be able to sleep, after all. But lightly, mindful of the possible danger. It wasn't that he didn't trust Hinamori's kidou. It was that he didn't fully understand what kind of power Frau held when the scythe was in control.

He was awake as soon as he heard Hinamori talk, and he sat up. She'd . . . stayed awake this whole time, hadn't she? Well. He couldn't exactly fault her for that, and at least one of them should always be awake to keep watch over the seals.

But it seemed that Frau had come around a bit. And from what he could tell, the man appeared to be in charge of his body for the moment. "Is it feeling any better?"

[ibreakrules]

"For a little while."

He managed to ground the words out while he continued to fight for control. Every second that went by seemed to increase the scythe's pull on him, and Frau didn't like it. His arm felt like it was scorched with an inextinguishable fire. Never before had it felt this bad, even when he'd slept in the same room as Teito.

"You're sure this will hold?"

[plum_that_snaps]

"It should. W-we can't be sure, since your power... isn't from our world, but I think so. It feels like it will." She could feel the scythe struggling, feel its power trying to escape, overwhem Frau and the barriers around him, but she hoped—prayed—it would hold. For his sake. Because the alternative if they couldn't hold him... was his death. Although the alternative to death here was his pain. So there really was no good choice, from Hinamori's point of view.

[icy_heavens]

"It hasn't shown any signs of weaking so far."

There was a reason he'd told Hinamori to perform the seals. As much as his kidou exceeded hers in raw strength, she was better able to form intricate combinations. Several interlocking kidou were a better solution than just one trying to hold everything in by force. Even if one of them failed, another could compensate for the weakness enough that there would be time to take appropriate action.

"So you've been like that before."

It wasn't a question. Hitsugaya had seen him fight down the scythe several months ago, and Frau seemed to have at least a vague timeline for how long this should take if it were going to work.

[ibreakrules]

"You remember those stupid sakura trees? I lost it then because of them, it was just much faster."

He was pretty sure this time was similar. While he hadn't been too concerned about the scythe's increased agitation over the past few days, he knew it meant something now that he looked back on it. Something must be going on to draw it out. Hopefully whatever it was would be pulled back under control soon. If not, Frau could only hope that Hitsugaya had the power to destroy Frau.

Frau knew who the scythed belonged to. They'd been trying to destroy that person for centuries. Reincarnation after reincarnation had failed. The seven together. Frau was created from a piece of that person, and the scythe belonged to him. With the scythe in control, that piece would be the only thing that was important. Just a piece or not, Frau wasn't sure one person could take him on if he fell to it.

[plum_that_snaps]

Hinamori just listened. She hadn't realized the scythe had been Frau's—had been a part of him, and who knew for how long. To bear that kind of burden, to have to fight off something burbling up from inside one's own body—that was unimaginable. A little wonder and a touch of respect came into her gaze, because it did take real strength to carry something like that around. She was curious, how it had come about, but it seemed that he would tell her—them—when he was ready.

[icy_heavens]

"Something's definitely affecting people again. Unfortunately, whatever it is isn't as obvious as those sakura petals."

He'd mercifully managed to avoid the effects of those, but he'd run into a few afflicted people. Everyone had been crazier than usual over those couple of days. And considering the low sanity levels in general of a lot of people he knew, that was saying something.

[ibreakrules]

"Hopefully whatever it is will be found and fixed before..."

Frau trailed off, unable to say what he was thinking. Before he did something that destroyed him. Before he ate a pure soul. Now, even if he lost himself to the scythe, he still had the chance to be pulled back. It wouldn't be easy, but it was possible.

[plum_that_snaps]

"What sakura petals." She had to ask. Whatever they were talking about, they weren't normal sakura petals. Obviously. And if there was something in common with whatever was going on now, she should know about it. She felt like a student again, having to learn the basics of fighting things she didn't understand once more. This place, this island, was like a whole different world, with its own rules and laws...and its own set of threats, new and unexpected.

[icy_heavens]

"Some months ago, sakura trees sprung up out of season. Anyone touched by the petals started acting in various strange ways."

There was still so much about this place that was strange. One would think that, over the course of more than a year, you would get used to such things. And on some level, Hitsugaya had. But some oddities would always be disturbing just by their very nature.

Whatever was doing this, it had to be stopped.

[ibreakrules]

Frau simply let Hitsugaya explain, instead spending the time to work a little bit harder at fighting down the scythe. He was starting to lose to it again even though he hadn't consumed any souls in the last few minutes. The power was simply getting stronger, and Frau was exhausted.

[plum_that_snaps]

"Strange ways..." Hinamori repeated. As usual. It was almost starting to seem like the norm around here—not normal, that is. Hitsugaya's memories, Captain Kuchiki's sudden mood change, magical sakura trees... it was all part of the same thing. This place. This place was wrong.

She noticed Frau struggling, and closed her eyes, sending more spiritual power into the seals. "Walls of iron sand, a priestly pagoda..." She recited the incantations again, under her breath, like almost a prayer.

Damn it, she wished she were stronger. Wished she knew what to do. How to help. How to stop this.

[icy_heavens]

Damn it, they were not going to let that thing get out of control. Just because he didn't like Frau much didn't mean he wanted to have to kill him.

He went through the incantations in tandem with Hinamori, pushing his own reiatsu through any cracks and reinforcing some of the weaker areas in Hinamori's seals. This was a slow, conscious, careful threading; precision was a strong point of his, and he was able to push it through without disrupting the barriers themselves. Had he been unsure of his ability to do this, he wouldn't have even tried.

But the seals would hold this way. They were stronger now.

[ibreakrules]

"That's not going to do much good right now you know."

Frau meant it too. The seals were keeping him from moving, but they didn't affect the scythe. Hitsugaya and Hinamori could make the seals as strong as they wanted, but it wouldn't matter until Frau lost control of the scythe. Only then would they be important.

[plum_that_snaps]

"Huh?" Hinamori looked up in surprise. "Oh." She looked down thoughtfully. "Sorry," she said to no one in particular.

She looked back up at Frau. "Isn't there anything we can do to help you? Does talking help—the distraction? O-or... I could put you to sleep again..." Her face was full of sympathy, but underneath it all she was frustrated. She didn't like seeing people hurt, seeing them have to fight. She wanted to leave, turn away, distract herself, forget about this, but she couldn't. Her sense of duty was too strong.

Hinamori got up out of her chair and stood behind it, hands fidgeting over the back of it. "What- what is this thing anyway? If you don't mind me asking."

[icy_heavens]

Whether it helped or not, it certainly couldn't hurt.

Hinamori had asked the important question, so he didn't have anything relevant to add at this point. He'd have a better idea of things after Frau answered this. For now, he just kept watch for any further signs of struggle against the scythe.

For all that he'd seen it before, he didn't really know that much about it.

[ibreakrules]

"Only thing that helps is ramming my arm into something."

Or his head. He didn't need to use that method all that often, but sometimes it was necessary. Frau would do what he had to to keep the scythe in check. The only other thing he usually did was end up on his own, usually up somewhere high. That didn't have much to do with the scythe though. It was just how he coped with things.

"It's a mostly sentient weapon striving to get back to it's real owner."

It was all the answer Frau was willing to give for now. While it was incredibly vague and barely even the tip of the iceberg, it wasn't a lie. He hoped that Hinamori would simply accept it and not need to ask more questions. Explaining more than that would take awhile, since it was complicated and involved more than just what the scythe was. It involved the entirety of the Barsburg religion and who Frau was.

[plum_that_snaps]

Hinamori was silent. Ramming his arm into something wasn't something he was really in a position to do, and she of all people wasn't about to start hitting him.

A breeze came out of nowhere, rustling the curtains in the already too-still room. Waiting wasn't one of Hinamori's strong points. Watching, worrying, yes; but not waiting. Her hands fiddled nervously with the back of the chair; she wasn't even aware that they were there. She was distracted by the wind, by the silence, by the smells of must and mildew wandering up from who knows where.

It would be too long to wait for a weapon stuck inside Frau to get back to its real owner. Not that that was Frau wanted anyway, she imagined. If he were carrying this burden with him, it must mean he was trying to protect it from someone, from something or a group of people intent on using it. It was only the right thing to do, after all; she would have done the same thing. But nowhere in Hinamori's mind did it occur that leaving it within him was an acceptable choice. There would be steps taken, if it were possible, to remove the thing and destroy it. Barring that, she would watch over him even once the scythe was back under control. It was not the sort of responsibility one should have to handle on one's own.