the cost.

[daisy]

I sat amid the dust, clutching a cold hand. Mitzy had brought you to me. She was doing her job, but i could've struck her down where she stood when i saw you. Brought me what i'd wished for, all these years. I couldn't even cry. After all this time... I didn't know how i felt. Why were you here, Kain? My foolish decisions, Iwagakure, none of it mattered to you. You were free... Why did you come? Why... did you die? There was activity all around me. Shinobi escorting the wounded, or carrying corpses or loot. And in the middle of it all, i was on my knees, unable to let go of your hand.

Your clothing was singed, but i think perhaps it had been the fall that had killed you. The account was of a massive snake. You'd grown stronger, hadn't you? You'd always been strong. But where was your strength now? I rummaged in my bag, producing a machete. Your machete. I'd carried it with me all these years. What was it i'd planned? To strike you down with it, vengeance for you abandoning me?

Oh gods Kain, i'd have you abandon me a hundred times over if it meant you could breathe again. What prize was Sunagakure when it had meant your downfall? What cared i of the Kazekage, of Kouketsu, of any of it, when you were dead? I stared at your face with listless eyes. The life that used to live in your good eye... I think it left mine too. I ran my finger along the length of your machete. It had grown blunt over the years, but it drew blood still.

My blood for yours, Kain. I'd have given every drop. I leaned over you, my flushed face hovering above your cold, dead one. I placed the gentlest of kisses upon your forehead, before closing your eyes. You would be furious with me, i thought. Silk lifted your body from the ground, suspending you in midair. The others would be arriving soon, with whatever they could find. Nobody needed to see you. I trussed you up in thread, safe in my silken embrace, then lowered you gently to my feet.


I had to act the part now, dear.

[daisy]

I stood impassive as they presented the bodies. But each had a place. Kouhei... so young. So fresh. Just a genin, so eager to prove himself. And i'd brought him to war. Gungnir, i felt rather less grief for. He didn't have to die. I had expected more. I wondered who granted him that Jounin title after all. And Jin, of course. My dear Jin. Always there to support me. Not anymore, mm? There were plenty others. Names i knew instantly, and names i hadn't heard in a long time.

As more and more bodies were laid before me, neatly, in rows, the more disfigured or mutilated covered with cloth, i felt my hands begin to shake. It wasn't me. I hadn't killed them. Sunagakure had killed them.

'And who brought them to Sunagakure..?'

The elders had agreed. It had to be war. As if this was a baseless assault? Did they forget the atrocities of years passed? The attempted infiltration? Nagato Uchiha, was he to be ignored? Did none of the other kages care to step up and mete out justice on such a foul character?

'And in the end, he lives, and your people are dead?'

No! No...

'You won a village. You won a frightened and resentful people to replace your own.'

I shut it away. Shut everything away. I was okay.

[DEVIL—]

They all looked so different.

Though Bass had seen the majority of the bodies strewn before him no more than a handful of hours ago, alive and well, they were... so very different now. Some wrapped in bandages, others charred from the flames that had ravaged the night sky; and then there were simply the pieces (or what could be found) of a handful of others.

One by one, he gazed at them.

Regret stabbed into his heart like a refined dagger, causing his face to scrunch and twist in agony. Bass had loss more than this in the previous wars - so why, then, did this hurt so bad? Was this the true price for one's vengeance? The Tsuchikage had her victory, but it was all but fulfilling; it was a hollow, burned out husk of what it should have been. No about of Sunagakure's blood could bring back his kin -- his friends.

"..." He tried to speak, but no words came out. So, instead, he remained silent, fighting back the tears threatening to burst from his eyes. He stood tall and proud, a pillar for his Tsuchikage.

Why? Because Stones didn't cry, no matter how harsh the world around them was.

[Leonov]

"We are in mourning."

The blonde male, Maximilian, stood over the deceased bodies of his comrades. He knew them. So many of them. So fucking many of them, he had befriended. Spent hours of his time conversing with, sparring with, and training with. To see their cold, lifeless bodies laid out in silent rows hit something in Maximilian's heart. Sadness, perhaps. But it was something deeper.

His pacing made him pass by the familiar faces of his old comrades. He walked by Gungnir, a senior Jounin who had accompanied with before. He remembered bitter memories in a library, and proud memories on the battlefields. It wasn't a pleasant thought, knowing that a man of such power and prestige in the village had went and gotten killed. This was a man that Max, at one point, felt like was in a position the blonde craved.

But not at this point. He couldn't feel the need anymore. With the death of this man, it seemed like a position like his was forbidden for a man like him. A survivor. A mere Genin, in the midst of dead Chuunin and Jounin. He felt insignificant. But not as insignificant upon walking by the face of another friend. Jin. Maximilian coughed, choking a little on a gag that almost became a cry when he realized that this was his old, most trusted, and best sparring partner he had.

Seeing his corpse set the blonde off though. His walk of the rows led him to the body of Kouhei. His teammate on the Sunagakure battlefields, a man who Max felt could have been saved if it wasn't for the faults that he had. The fellow Genin, body wrapped all over as his death blow had ripped him to shreds, looked calm and at peace, in contrast to the torn face of Max. A single teardrop slid down his cheek, before dropping down into the sand, and disappearing within its grainy texture. Max stopped before his friend's body, and did the only thing his mind would will him to do.

Silently, lips moving but making no sounds, the man began to pray.

[daisy]

I glanced at both men. My leading operatives, we'd left Iwagakure so boldly. And these two were all that remained. I wrapped my arms around myself to stop my hands shaking. Did my shinobi think me callous? I couldn't even shed a tear as i looked out over the multitude of bodies. Every one had died because of my actions. Because of my choices. And what had we to show for it? A dusty village, full of people who either despised me, or were terrified of me. Yet what how had i imagined it turning out? Sunagakure welcoming me with open arms, to oust the tyrannical Nagato? These were his people. To them, he wasn't scum, i supposed. He was their leader.

Well, i thought, they can't be too angry with me. I failed to kill him, after all. Their dear Kazekage is lurking somewhere, sure to return with his torches and pitchforks. That's if the fools of Sunagakure didn't attempt to rise up before then. I placed a hand briefly on Bass's shoulder. He was so young, to be so strong. Then i turned and walked after Max, stopping beside him, looking over the cloth that i knew symbolized Kouhei.
"Stay strong, dear." I murmured, my usual flair for words rather failing me.

I returned to the forefront of the assembled corpses, and raised one graceful arm.
"Every one of them gave their lives for our cause. It is thanks to their sacrifice that the rest of us live, that we succeeded in our mission." I began, doing all i could not to falter.
"We were all raised thusly. The mission before all. And to die to ensure its success is what every shinobi prepares him or herself for." I stopped, looking out at the survivors, gathered quietly around the dead.
"But, i don't want you to think like that. I can't bear to lose any of you. I can't bear that we stand here because they lay there. No prize is worth losing all this." I didn't know where i was going with this. The words just spilled out of me.

"So please, just... stay with me, until the end. All of you." Hardly a fitting victory speech, i mused, as i walked away. I took your body with me, a hovering silken cocoon trailing behind me. I couldn't bear to stay. This desert was stained with blood. The sands should be red. Nagato's black flames still burned, i could see them across the streets. Perhaps they would burn for all time, to commemorate the loss we'd all suffered.

And just like that, i walked out on the prize i'd given so much to take.

/exit

[DEVIL—]

Though he wished he could stay there a little longer, mourning over the loss of so many promising shinobi, he couldn't. There was still things that needed to be done -- Coco had left Bass in charge of Sunagakure during her absence(s), and he intended to make each and every sacrifice mean something; he was going to make her proud.

"Lets get deeze souljas buried," he called out to those nearby. "And ya best be makin' sure da families knowin' they don' lost a love one, ya 'ear me?!"

A booming "hai!" resounded throughout the desert as the remainder of their forces carefully shuttled the bodies into their own coffins (forged of the strongest stone), which were then lifted onto summons of various sorts. They would be returned to their home -- to the earth, where they rightfully belonged.

As for the sand?

Sunagakure was their's, and Bass intended on keeping it that way.

[ Exit ]

[Leonov]

"I don't know..."

Maximilian snapped out of his silent prayers to see Lady Tsuchikage walk by him, and his eyes locked themselves onto her form, not leaving her for some very long seconds, his mind reeling at the proximity of such an individual right there before him. He was one of the few survivors of such a fight, so it was interesting to see her right there, but also comforting. He wanted a hug.

Maximilian stood tall, facing the Kage as she spoke to the congregation of Iwagakure invaders, clean-up crews and others who were trying to get organized and prepare the bodies for whatever had to be done with them. This was the aftermath of the battle, so things were a bit solemn, but still thankfully organized.

"Leave..." He listened to his Lady speak her words. He was half-in reality, and half-out; his senses were dulled despite the sun rising overhead. Things would get hot quickly in the desert, and these corpses will probably not enjoy that. He realized the amount of work this whole operation had taken, and how many lives were taken away from the world because of it. Was it worth it? This village was going to be taken over by them, but was it worth the results?

"Or stay..." The words echoed in his mind as he turned from the Lady herself after her speech, the color and vibrancy that was in her voice before the invasion now gone, replaced with a more solid, stoic sound. They were all shooken by the results of this battle. Things definitely weren't pretty, and as he thought about it, Maximilian realized his will for anything, at that point, was very little. He had to occupy himself.

He walked off. He had thinking to do. More praying.

[Exit]

[Naitome]

Daisy: +26
Bass: +11
Leonov: +15