Final days of Charlie Tiberius

[Guest Charlie]

Early evening Kodoz and Charlie had sat together on the bed,Charlie looked onto Kodoz with concern as he still coughed up blood,she saw in his eyes how ill he was. She coughed then gave him a hug and a cheek.

"m'love ,i worry about you so...are you sure theres nothing to do for you?''

''i've spoken with many and it cant be found how to cure this. Even Kitty isnt familiar with this illness.''

charlie looked down then hugged him.

''i love you kodoz..''

''i love you too''

He held her close to him for many minutes then looked into her eyes

''dont worry ill never leave you.ill be here for you''

She began to tear up, hearing those words come from his lips. They have had many years together,4 children they had birthed together, and she was happy that kodoz had taken Kitnboo so well even though it wasnt his child from birth.She thought back on the years they had been together, his proposal to her, their wedding and the many happy days they had spent with each other.

Kodoz looked to her and noticed how his illness had also effected her. She too had been coughing up blood and just looked ill.He wrapped his arms around her again and held her tight for a long time and there they sat.Sometime later they laid in the bed by each other having their meal in bed,some water and some broth made up by Danielle earlier that day. Once finished their meal they sat the bowls and glasses on the tables by the bed and pulled the blankets up to their shoulders looking into each others copperish red eyes ,Kodoz stroked Charlies cheek gently and smiled to her and she smiled back.Kodoz turned and blew out the candle behind him and began coughing violently,blood splattered on the floor and he grabbed a rag and wiped his mouth a bit then climbed back into bed with her. She looked to him and kissed his lips.

''i love you, never forget that..'' She cuddled up next to him,Kodoz smiled again and they fell asleep embraced in each others arms.

The next morning Kodoz awoke,stretching out his arms and turned to Charlie seeing her still under the blankets he smiled to her.

''sleeping late today?'' he chuckled and went to wash off his face and hands a bit.

Upon returning he saw she was still laying there in bed.

''you ever going to awake today love?'' he joked to her and nudged her just a bit.She didnt stir at all and he sat by her on the bed turning her to him, he touched her face and it was cold,then touched her hands they also were cold.

''Charlie?.....''

Worried he pulled her out from the blankets and held her in his arms.

''Charlie... CHARLIE!!....wake up love... please wake up!! CHARLIE!!'' He felt her neck and there was no pulse and he clutched her hard to him and began crying.He rocked her in his arms, tears running down his face,he stroked her hair gently and looked to her face, his tears ran down his face and dripped to hers gliding down her cheek.

''I love you too Charlie.. never forget that...'' He said between his choking on his tears,clutching her once more then laying her gently on the bed.He slid off the bed his face burried into the blankets he screamed loudly as he wept and held her hand tightly.

Charlie Tiberius & Kodoz Tiberius June 25th and forever on..even in death shall they love one another.

Charlie Tiberius: Oct 14th-Jan 30th.

*edit* we will set a funeral date soon. IC Kodoz and Kitty are preserving Charlies body hidden on the Ice Isle.

Edited February 14, 2008 by Charlie

[kodoz]

It had already been several days since they'd taken her body to Ice Island.

"So what now?"? the soft voice asked. There was no response from the motionless figure. "You've got to do something." Still no response, as the motionless figure was slowly covered in the falling snow, his black cloak and red hair peppered in white. The arctic waves lapped gently against the ice, and every now and then a large one would send a freezing spray at the man. And still there was no reaction. "Snap out of it, you fool!"? She seized her staff and went to hit him and she connected. His head snapped sharply to one side, and he returned to his original stance without a single other reaction. Kitty didn't know what to do. Nothing she said would get through to him. Something inside him had simply broken. She'd tried everything she could think of, and nothing could break his stoic silence. His mind was even blank, a clean slate almost.

To Kodoz, it was anything but. A million doubts filled his head, but only one constantly sprang to mind. The second time it's happened. Two women, the only two he loved without condition, both fallen unfairly. Both dying when all logic would've taken him first. Was it some sort of cruel joke that the Gods were playing on him? Or perhaps it was Jantzor taunting him from the past. Whatever it was, it wasn't right. But the universe didn't care much about right, did it? He'd seen so much suffering, so much injustice, and so many times that all the force of all the right and all the just could muster were quashed under the weight of evil. He wondered if the Virtues really did matter, and really were the answer. Or if the Gods really mattered, or really were the answer. And he wondered if maybe it had all been about Ronjaz and Jantzor to start with. Or if it was nothing at all, and he was just looking for a meaning where one didn't exist. All he knew was he didn't feel anything; nothing but empty.

"Stupid fool"? She muttered as she threw a heavy blanket over the former Emperor. She built a fire there in the snow, and warmed herself. She may have been many things, but she wasn't the type to abandon one of the few she called a friend to his torment alone. Especially not where he was going to die of exposure. She tried again to read his mind, but it was fruitless again. He was entirely in his own subconscious, and had no conscious thought.

He sought solace. He sought answers, meaning, and most of all he sought her voice. But it wouldn't come to him. The silence was overwhelming, and oppressive. Her voice was gone from him. Just like her life. She'd been the longest constant he'd had; Good one, that is. But it seemed that all that had come to an end. What would happen now? Nothing. There was nothing more to do, he told himself. The mantle had been passed on. And now the owner had as well. But he was still alive. So what now? He had no idea. And then a soft, calm voice interrupted him. "Still trying to take it all on yourself, Red?"?

Suddenly and with no warning he was in motion, he whirled about searching, looking, glancing around; trying to find something. And then just as quickly he stopped, looked straight ahead at nothing in particular, and fell to his armored knees in the snow. Kitty rushed to his side and put her hands to his face, but his vacant stare had now been replaced by a glassy eyed one, and he coughed violently several times, hacking blood onto the pristine white snow, and onto Kitty's skirt. He started to fall to his hands and knees but Kitty supported him and held him as the unknown disease wracked his body with the cough. Kitty did know something about the disease, but she hadn't wanted to tell him. She knew that the pain he was going through and the coughing fits would get worse, but he was still probably a long ways off from dying.

He leapt up from his reverie and looked around for the source of the voice, one that had been lost to him a long time ago, and one he hadn't heard in so long, and he couldn't find the one he sought. He saw a fuzzy, unshaped image form where the voice seemed to originate. He saw a large gap between them, and he fell to his knees as weakness set in. He stared unblinkingly towards her. "You never will change, will you Red. You're thinking of giving up, and letting it all fall apart. You just want to run away and take the easy way out. Is that it?"? He started to retort but instead coughed violently, blood spattering the ground, and then suddenly he felt her hands supporting him as he fell forward.

Kitty had no idea what was going on, but she could hear him trying to form words, but he couldn't give voice to them. She knew that something was happening, something deep within. She knew that there weren't a lot of people that could deal with something like this, and as much as she preferred the former Emperor's company over many others, she also knew one fact with undeniable clarity; he was still a child in many ways. She was unsure if he could even deal with this kind of thing.

"It...was supposed...to be me...just like with you..."? he got out as he remained on his knees, held up by the vision in his head. "Two times...both times the one I loved...died when I should have...why..."? he asked hoarsely as his voice gave out. The glowing silhouette shimmered from where she was supporting him, and her voice came out once again. "It's not fair, Red, is it? The things you can't change. The things you can't fight. It's what life is, though, and you need to get on with it. You almost let it break you when I died. That was when Lora found you and saved you by giving you a purpose. Remember?"? Kodoz tried hard, remembering the first entry into this world of Brittania, and how Lora had unwittingly given him something to do, thinking he had to rescue her, when in actuality she was just waiting on her allies. He looked to Niharika's shimmering specter expectantly. "Red...I'm sorry, I don't have that purpose for you. You have to find it on your own."? With that, his head sagged, and he finally let all the energy pour out of him.

Kitty felt him go limp, and she grunted a bit as the full weight of his body and his armor leaned into her. It was difficult, but with a bit of leverage she got him on a small makeshift sled and started dragging him to shelter. She had felt that last bit, and had felt his mind simply break. He was in the absolute depth of despair, and there wasn't anything she could do about it other than be waiting. She knew that she didn't have the answer this time. As she dragged the sled towards the shelter, she saw a tiny glow near the building. As they neared, it was the lit end of a hand rolled plant being burned and smoked. She scanned for a mind, but didn't sense anything other than an absence. They approached and she made the woman out clearly for the first time.

Clad in a loose fitting chainmail tunic covering a tight, formfitting onepiece snowsuit, and with a quiver full of arrows and a bow slung across her, and a rapier at her side, the woman looked every bit the outcast she seemed to be. She had two daggers that Kitty could see, and knew she had more. The woman's hooded head was adorned by something that didn't match the rest of her equipment and looked oddly out of place. And for some reason, Kitty couldn't read her mind. She'd been trying since she sized up the woman, and she felt very uneasy. She wouldn't have the edge she normally had, and the woman was obviously an experienced fighter. She let the lead line of the sled drop from her hand and she held the staff at a three quarters angle in front of herself in a defensive stance. "Why are you here?" Kitty asked in her normal harsh tone.

The woman took a long drag on her handrolled cigarette, and then she put it out with her gloved fingers and tucked it into a breast pocket. "Well, Whaddyaknow, finally found a reliable source. Whaddya say we get right to this? He's coming with me."

Kitty changed her defensive stance to an aggressive one. "And just what makes you think I will let you?"

The woman chuckled good naturedly as the shamaness got into a combat stance. "Didn't expect one of Shaska's to go without a fight. I noticed ya seem mighty uneasy. Ya been trying to get a read on me, haven't ya? Sorry, but we learned 'bout ya tricks. Got us protection."? She tapped the hard circlet of some odd material around her forehead. "Oh, and just so ya know...the second I hear ya doin' any of those chants fer ya spells, I'm going fer tha kill."? She drew her rapier in a long deliberate motion, watching Kitty's reactions carefully.

"I do not know whom this Shaska is other than from the memories of the Emperor. Nor can I allow you to have this one."

"Then I reckon we got what ya might call a problem here." With that, the woman quickly leapt at her, slowed somewhat by her heavy clothing and the snow, while Kitty was hindered by neither. She quickly blocked the rapier's first few strikes but was forced back. The woman was good, almost...no, just as good as Kodoz had been in the few times she'd fought him. And with the loss of precognition, it was even harder. She was tagged on her loose clothes several times as the snow fell around them, helping to cause them both to slow their movements. Kitty was able to knock the womans hood aside so that the falling snow obscured her vision more so than Kitty's, and they were again on almost equal footing.

"Ya fight pretty well, fer one a yer kind...mages, ya call 'em? Well, I may have ta take back what I said 'bout not killin' ya. After all, Gale ain' the type ta stay down long less ya done sumthin' ta him. Let's finish this, eh?"?

Kitty gritted her teeth as the woman suddenly turned on her heel and ran, back to Kodoz on the sled. Kitty kicked off with superior footing and was closing the distance as she drew back and went for a killing blow with her staff to the woman's neck, while the woman grinned and turned with the rapier for a disemboweling attack. Time seemed to slow as both women's weapons inched towards the others.

The rapier and the staff both stopped their trajectories. Not intentionally, of course. At least, not by the women's intentions.

Covered in snow and with his hair dripping down his face, his damp cloak dragging heavily in the snow, Kodoz had one weapon held fast in each hand, with the rapier digging into his hand and fresh drops of crimson red blood dripping down it, while the quarterstaff favored by the shamaness had been stopped with a bone cracking suddenness. The eyes of the former Emperor seemed dark and clouded to the shamaness, while the eyes of the former mercenary were a somewhat familiar sight to the woman with the rapier.

"What in the name of Hades and Jantzor are you two fools fighting over. If you want to fight, I'll kill you both. If not, then stop this idiocy."? His voice harsh and guttural, as if it had been put through a meat grinder before issuing forth from his mouth, was enough to widen both their eyes. He ripped the weapons from them both and threw them to the snow before glaring at each of them once in turn, and then stalking towards the shelter that Kitty had been dragging him towards. Kitty and the stranger glanced with distrust at the other before following Kodoz inside, where he promptly collapsed once more.

Edited February 23, 2008 by kodoz