Without A Trace (Open to 3)

Kai was muttering to himself he finally got out of the hospital and was making his way downtown when a strange feeling settled over him.

"Oh, the fuck now?!"

As if the strange lack of people wasn't off-putting enough, the sudden abundance of nature was sure to put a knot in Vesper's stomach. Flowers and foliage tearing through the asphalt, shrubs and vines climbing up and hanging off of structures, and even small trees scattered about. As he continued, he would eventually pick up the discordance of a woman's weep, somewhere in the distance. With all the new surfaces to bounce and drown sound, it was difficult to tell exactly where it was coming from.

As the strange feeling settled over Kai, a foreign voice invaded his head, so quiet it was incoherent, but eerie enough to be spine-chilling. Any attempt to drown it out would simply result in it multiplying, each louder than the first, and all corrupting his thoughts. No matter how loud they got, though, he would be unable to decipher them.

As Jasper pulled away from his latest masterpiece, he would suddenly find a gloved hand clamped around his neck, and before he knew it, he was pinned against the wall. The woman before him tilted her head to one side, as if contemplating. Her red, rage-filled gaze would chill his soul, and the longer he stared, the more the red seemed to corrupt his sight, until it would be the only thing he could see.

Vesper watched as an entire garden seemed to flourish around him suddenly. "What..the hell??" he muttered under his breath as he moved around the plants that sprung from beneath him.

The feminine whimpering made its way to his ears, prompting a "Hello??" from him.

As Kai attempted to activate his Nen...he would feel nothing! Instead, the voices ceased, and in a brief moment of lucidity, the vision of a figure filled his gaze, blinding and deafening him almost like a flashbang. He would feel his heart racing, and his mind blanking, regardless of whether he actually felt fear or not. When his vision returned, he would see the figure again, standing in an alleyway between two buildings, cackling.



As Vesper called out to the woman, the weeping seemed to grow even louder, which at the very least confirmed the direction she was in. Between her sobs, she managed to called out a barely coherent: "Stay away! I don't want to hurt anyone else!"

Jasper's assaulter stared on, observing his body language, and paying no mind to his Nen. It was clear in her eyes that she either knew what he was attempting, or simply didn't care. In response to his question, she spat a single word, "Power,", before slinging him into the wall behind her, by his neck.   

Jasper would choke a bit as he was flung into the wall. He would quickly activate his Nen, letting him move up the wall with waves of paint like energy. Once he deemed himself up a safe distance and was done coughing he would say.

"Well how unfortunate I have nothing for you. Nothing good."

He would say before letting a lot of this paint like liquid ooze off the walls and gather on the ground. A position where it would then begin to crawl up the woman's legs.

"I don't have the paitence for this so elaborate. Who sent you."

He would ask distinctly aggresively this time. The chills down his spine causing an unusual rage from him.

The figure seemed to only laugh even more at Kai's response. As he prepared his fists, it simply taunted him, performing some sort of idle dance and throwing its arms about wildly, as if challenging him. Whatever it was, it had a very childlike demeanor, and seemed to have no intention to attack him directly. 

As Jasper retreated to what he believed to be a safe distance, the woman simply stared on, her gaze becoming colder with each passing second. It seemed that he was unable to look at her directly without red filling his gaze, and when it did, uncontrollable anger steadily filled his mass. "Why are you running away from your fate," she spat, "I'm doing you a favor." she said, completely ignoring his demand, as well as his Nen, though she remained in that spot, simply staring at him, as it crawled up her legs.

As Vesper reached out for the plant... It pricked him, and it stung. Dumbass. In that moment, the atmosphere seemed to change completely, a thick, toxic smog filling the air, making it difficult to see. It sat heavy on his lungs, but didn't seem to affect his breathing too much. "Everyone! They're dead because of me! I don't want to do this anymore!" she wailed, her sobs becoming louder and louder with each step he took.

Jasper would keep her in his perepheral, making sure not to make direct eye contact with her. Whatever this was, she wanted him angry, and that was a bad thing. He had a way of expressing his rage though. His words conveyed an intense amount of venom. Even in a calm, reserved tone.

"Fate? Fate is not something set in stone. Fate is not something you get to control. Fate is in the hands of whatever is above you. If someone strong enough to kill you on a whim appears, then you're fate is whatever they decide."

The liquid rising up her feet would surround her, solidifying itself once it covered everything but the breathing holes of her gas mask in a skin tight seal.

"Right now, you stood still and submitted your fate to me. I decided the only things I'll allow you to do is breathe and talk. So get to talking if you want to be free. I want to know who sent you, why, and how you intend on helping me."

He would say before dropping down to the ground, making sure he was still a safe distance away and focused on the solid mass before him. Seeing if he was allowed to look at her yet.

Kai swung...and he missed...? Just as the blow seemed to connect, the figure faded into translucency, his hook collecting nothing but air! This would cause the figure to shudder, and a brief chill to fall over Kai. "Yowch!!" It cried out, though it was difficult to tell whether it was just another taunt or if it was actually hurt. "Why so angry, Mr. AngryMan? I just want to play!"


The woman continued to stare at Jasper, allowing him his monologue. At his demands, she laughed, almost manically, filling the air with an unsettling tension. "Your ignorance is amusing, boy. If fate is in the hands of whoever is above... Then I am nothing short of a God.". With that, her body began to melt into the pavement, and in an instant, she was gone. Colorful liquid began oozing through the cracks of Jasper's makeshift prison, and as quickly as she had vanished, she appeared in front of him again, but this time, he was face-to-face with himself.


The smog continued to fill the air around Vesper, and the woman seemed to fall completely silent, cries and all, as he pressed on. That was until he mentioned his Nen. "P...Powers? What kind of powers?" She asked, sounding a bit more coherent than before. The plants seemed to grow more and more abundant, and they almost seemed... alive. Though, as long as he paid them no mind, they seemed return the favor. This, whatever it was, he was definitely getting closer to her...

"Yeah?! Well I don't feel like fuckin' round!"

He roared as his body was surrounded by Deaths Aura!