If Rain Is What You Want (Invite)

[Lucius Kilvayne]

The only thing deeper than my last breath
The only thing darker than my last death
Is the panic - the static
I've come back from the dead
But my cities will never sleep again

Lucius Kilvayne's Hospital Suite
Manhattan, New York, USA
August 2, 2015 2:00 AM

His world had disappeared months ago, in the aftermath of an inexplicable earthquake. It had been replaced by a Hell-scape world of his own creation. Fire and ash, and stinking corpses filled the air. Gehenna. He was Lucifer, so he had every right to rule in Hell, but he wanted to rule on Earth more. He had wandered in this wasteland of a near death experience for what seemed like eternity, but in truth it was a time measured in months and weeks. He was powerless to protect his family and friend, had been powerless even to save himself. Now he nothing of what transpired as he lay there dead to the world.

Demons lurked in the shadows, but they shrunk at the sight of him in this world, one he created subconsciously. He was Lord and Master in this place, he was God. They were just projections of his subconscious mind. He had to get out. His will was how he had survived in the past. If he was still alive, still thinking...there was a way to see his family and friends again, to see her again. They were nothing next to her. It was how he felt now. The time had gone when he owed his greatest loyalty to the Kilvayne family and its legacy. His greatest loyalty, his greatest devotion was given over to none but Dakari Johessman, soon to be his wife, but already his Queen and Empress. He had to get out of his own mind to see her.

Outside of his mental world, he was laying in a bed strapped to machines. They were monitoring his vital signs, giving him nutrients, keeping him hydrated. He was also sapping some electricity slowly healing the neural pathways that had been damaged leading to his condition. He was stronger, inside and out, than he had been when he was taken off the city's streets by EMTs and rushed to the Emergency Room, from where he was placed into his family's suite at the hospital. Those who had the time and privilege to keep vigil over him all through the nights since he was injured would be observing this moment, perhaps resigned to the idea he wasn't going to make it. Perhaps still keeping faith, knowing that Lucius would defeat death as stubbornly as he had conquered his personal, political and business enemies and rivals in the past. This was the man he was.

He approached an iron gate. It was guarded by a three headed hound. Cerberus, if his memory served correctly. It was his mind, so of course it was not really a question who it served. He chuckled at his own humorous take on the situation.

"Step aside," Lucius commanded the Beast. It obeyed, but soon a hooded figure intervened.

"You will not escape this place," The Reaper hissed. It reached its bony hand out to Lucius, but Lucius was not going to be deterred by even the specter of Death Itself at this triumphant moment.

"I disagree," Lucius said, blasting the wraith with electrical energy. It recoiled, and Lucius rushed past it to open the gate...

And he opened his eyes in the hospital and smiled at the person he loved the most- Dakari Johessman. His demeanor was casual, as if he had just woken up from an unplanned nap.


"What did I miss, my love?"



Tags- Dakari, Gabe, Christian, Helena, Alexandria. Maurelle.

[Dakari Johessman]

Five months. Five months. That was how she counted it. Five months Dakari Johessman had spent in this hospital suite. Her absence from the business and political scene was more easily explained - Americans assumed she was in the Dominion, and everyone in the Dominion assumed she was in the States. There was no reason to really look into it. She was the almost-FLOTUS, so making arrangements and such would have been fully natural.

But no. Dakari seldom left the suite. She had a small trunk packed with clothes when she felt the need to shower. The hospital aides brought her small meals, and when she needed something else, one of her siblings brought it for her. She saw Ana rarely, as Ana did spend some time playing the role of Dakari to the public, but all of her other siblings - and even her parents, when they could - joined her and looked after her. Raymond never failed to bring a fresh cache of guavas whenever he dropped by; in fact, all of them tried to bring her favorite comfort foods.

Sometimes they got her to smile, a little. This was not the same woman who would not smile for anything when in the heat of a business transaction, who would not let anyone within any reach of her unless they were on her very short list, or family. This was a woman who had carefully, so carefully given her heart to another, and was now watching the man who held it float between life and death.

He would pull through. He would. Nothing had ever defeated Lucius Kilvayne and nothing ever could. That was part of what had made him stand out. His spirit, his refusal to settle for just anything. Their families may have been hoping for the match for political power and gain, but they had actually won much more than that. And like hell was Dakari going to let that go.

Like hell. Like hell.

Dakari was not powerful enough to destroy the world, but she was strong enough to tear it down. And she would, gladly, if she lost this man.

No second chances for this world.

And then… there was the contingency plan. She was dearly hoping things would not come to that. The decision was essentially in her hands. And… five months. How long was too long?

As she usually was, she was sitting in a chair at his bedside, even though there was a much more comfortable chair not too far away. Instinctively, she leaned in again, as she had so many times, and brushed a hand over his head and hair.

And his eyes opened.

He had the nerve to look so casual and relaxed, as though those five months had been nothing but a long, refreshing sleep. She had to take a moment to marvel at that. What did he miss? Quite a bit, in fairness, but that could wait. Instead she clasped her hands around his face and kissed him, then just looked at him with a smile. “My love.”

It occurred to her that the doctors should see to him, but Dakari wanted privacy, for now, as long as Lucius was not in any further danger. A quick moment to send a quick text, and shortly one of the Johessmans’ teleporters brought Andrea into the room and disappeared.

“Lucius!” Drea was “the eternal student.” If it could be studied, she had studied it or was planning to. Instantly she pulled an array of instruments from their drawers and tables like she knew the place and moved forward to look over the man, checking all possible signs of recovery. With a stethoscope hung round her neck, she almost passed for an actual doctor. In casual streetwear. “How you feeling?”

[Lucius Kilvayne]

I am watching resurrection start to crawl
Is there any chance in hell? Any chance at all?
Do we need it? Do we see it? Is it really there?
If rain is what you want, then take your seats,
Enjoy the fall

“My love."

Her lips touched his, and his world was made real. Dakari was his reason to survive, where once he only lived for his ambitions. They still mattered, but he would burn the world if he lost her. He would sacrifice his empire if that's what it took to hold her in his arms. As, she sent word of the awakening, Lucius sighed.

" I thought I would never see you again," Lucius intoned with a smile of relief on his face. That he might have died in the midst of their triumph and the realization of their dreams was not a comforting thought, not least when he knew that Dakari's reaction would be much like what he would do in the same circumstances. He had just enough compassion to hope it never came to that...but not enough to say he would stay his hand.


“Lucius!” He turned his attention to Drea. While she was the first to arrive, he suspected she would not be the last. His family would arrive before long, and his friends. Very few people outside of his inner circle would know what happened. Maybe some of the bystanders but they might have been informed that he made a recovery and wasn't severely injured. That was the protocol, after all. He couldn't be perceived as weak.

“How you feeling?”

"I'm feeling like I just conquered Death," Lucius said with a wry peal of laughter.

Tags- Same as OP

[Dakari Johessman]

Watching Lucius return to the world of the living was a miracle of emotions. Nervousness, relief, exhaustion… but most of all, happiness. Dakari usually prided herself on feeling nothing, but she had to admit that the happiness thing was not at all terrible. It was like a high, almost: intoxicating, heady, exhilarating. And unlike past times in her life when she had let herself be happy only to have her world pulled out from under her, she had no fear of being let down by Lucius.

She had almost lost him, indeed, but he was back and apparently very little the worse for wear. Now, finally, she did not have to worry about what she would do if she lost him. The possibilities that had flashed through her mind had not been pretty. But that was past, and in that moment she could only smile as he spoke to her.

“No. You’ll always have me, Lucius.” Dakari leaned in and kissed him, then gave him a smile. Whatever the proper procedure for waking coma patients was, she did not care. Lucius was no ordinary patient, just as he was no ordinary man.

That was when Andrea came in, appearing to take little heed of the couple, although she actually did. Her response to their personal time was to walk slightly slower than she normally would have. She grinned at Lucy’s comment about conquering Death, while Dakari looked a little nervous again at the reminder.

“Well, then, boss of Death, let’s check your vitals real quick and see how much of an ass-kicking you gave that ol’ Grim Reaper.” Drea laughed a bit as she picked up Lucius’ charts, which had been at the foot of his bed, and read from the monitors recording his current condition.

Dakari sighed a little and brushed her hand through Lucius’ hair. “I missed you,” she confessed in a whisper. She could still see him falling out of the air… a memory she still had to fight out of her mind.

“Oh, jeez, you guys,” Drea said, breaking the moment with her bubbly cheerfulness. “Get a room!” She looked around. “Oh, wait.”