His breath withdrew inward with a sharp hiss. How could this thing know? What the hell was going on? An inexplicable feeling of insecurity had taken over him, he felt threatened almost. It shouldn’t have known about that. He hadn’t told anyone, hadn’t let it sneak out somewhere. He had tried to keep it under wraps but . . . How? What was going on? The harder he tried to wrap his head around the subject the harder it became to understand. He wasn’t even familiar with the extent of what he could do yet, how could this thing know? They came, unbidden, swirling around him executing their mission to protect him. The threatening feeling and confusion must have called them to his side, swirling around his body.To: Raquar
From: Marionette
RE: (none)
youR patH seemS cleareR thaN eveR beforE, buT youR poweR comeS witH A pricE. wilL thosE nearesT tO yoU shY away
They, were wisps. Small little clouds almost, except these were definitely not white or fluffy. His allegiance had been pledged, and these that protected him were made of congealed darkness. They coursed around him, born probably of the shadows in the corners of the room. He could feel them, there was a connection; it was like a humming in his brain. He knew where each one was rotating, its exact path or orbit around his body. He shook for a moment, taking a moment to let the feel of the darkness comfort him and calm him down before he terminated his feeling of it. The wisps died away at his command, fading away into the very air. He looked around suddenly, realizing exactly where he was, and that there were people around. Hopefully nobody would have seen that. He didn’t want to show something off that he couldn’t fully comprehend himself. Hopefully everybody else was busy with something else, or paying attention. He didn’t want any stares or unwanted attention. His eyes scanned the room, noting that not many people seemed to take his entrance into the room into account, something that probably meant he was still unnoticed. That was, until his eyes fell onto a small person situated in a chair in a position fairly out of the way. Shit.
Her eyes had widened in terror, only just woken from her uneasy, nightmare strewn sleep by the more than disturbing flashmail sent by their enemy... or whoever this Marionette was, at the sight of the black... something around Raquar's body. Face white and eyes big as dinner plates, she tried to speak and only managed a choked sound as she shut her eyes tightly, the delicate white wings opening and closing to hide her, as if that alone could save her from her fears and render her invisible from whatever it was she saw there.
Damn it all. It wasn’t that he had done anything intentional this time, just happened to be in the wrong place in the wrong time. He watched the wings come out, sheltering her, cutting her off from the world. And he swore. This was not the easiest way to do things. He approached her slowly, hesitantly, taking a seat across from her.
”Sekai. There’s nothing there anymore. Nothing’s going to hurt you, I promise.”
She was shuddering, arms wrapped around her knees and her head buried between them as she barely managed to hear the words spoken. What had happened? Why had things gotten badly? Hadn't he defeated that influence... or had it come back when she hadn't been looking? What would it take to make him leave those around her alone?!
“W-why did he come back?”
He sighed. Of course that’s what the first sight of it brought up. Curse it all, if that damn thing could just be deleted, it would make all their lives a lot easier. Anyway, the boy realized now that this is what Marionette meant. This is the price he would have to pay.
”It’s not him. He’s gone; I swear on my life that that bastard is gone. This. . . This is different. This is me.” The last few words were spoken with sadness, it was as if he already knew what sacrifice was going to have to be made. And he was not looking forward to it.
“H-he's in Ani th-though, I-I s-saw and th-then h-he was g-gone.”
The wings moved a bit, the sight of teary tawny eyes faintly visible through the feathers and the fringe of her long white bangs. Her voice still trembled and shook, the lingering bit of fear in her tone still showing her shaken state as she ever so slightly let her hunched shoulders start to roll back into a more relaxed position. After a few more moments, the wings flattened back and away, lying limply against her back and on the chair's arms as she stared at the floor between them with a crestfallen look on her face and rested her chin on her knees. It happened again; she'd freaked out and let the fear overtake her... but... but why did it look like he was there whenever she saw something in that element used.
“....I'm sorry... I did it again, didn't I?"
He was quite surprised at this. She seemed to be regaining her composure. That, was definitely a new turn of events. He nodded.
”You did, but its okay. Listen, Sekai, Trent is gone from me. The lightning Tak used managed to purge the rest of it out of me. It’s just me and good ole Torv in there now. And this . . . This Ani is not going to harm anybody. It’s me, under my control. Watch.” He was taking a risk here and he could only hope it paid off. He moved his hand in front of her, hoping that she was watching and wouldn’t be alarmed. He concentrated, seeking out the shadows with his mind. The corners, any spare aspect of darkness he could find. He pulled it all toward him. There was something swirling in the cup of his hand, it stirred sluggishly at first, gradually rotating around. It was the shadows, they swirled around, slowly, carefully, compacting into a small ball of Ani energy. ”This is mine. No hostility. No evil. Just a friend, one stuck in the same predicament as you. It will not hurt you. Ever.”
"I just-"
She froze again, entire body tensing up and eyes locked on to the thing swirling within his hand, slowly, the color in her face began to drain and she subconsciously started moving herself back away from the growing shadows in his palm. Her breathing became quicker before turning shallow and almost as if she were trying to stop herself from making any sort of movement or noise at all. The tension and posture was like that of a rabbit sensing danger from somewhere close, tensed and ready to run if she needed to. Something in her eyes changed, pupils rapidly shrinking to pinpoints from terror and her entire body as still as she could make herself be. There! Her eyes widened, demeanor changing as the instinct to fight or fly started to set in, back firmly pressed as far as it would go against the chair's back as she tried her hardest to keep her eyes from leaving the shadows swirling around and glowing within her friend's palm. Wait- her... friend? Terror suddenly became mixed with confusion and confusion mixed with something approaching frustration as she managed to tear her eyes away from the sphere to the face of the one holding it. Something close to desperation rose in her eyes as she tried to speak and choked instead, still trembling as she shook her head twice to each side, as if trying to send some sort of message she couldn't verbally give.
He watched as she huddled away, trying to put as much distance between her and the sphere in his hand. She seemed absolutely terrified and trembled constantly frozen in that chair. He hated it, hated himself for it. Pain, all he seemed to be good for was causing her pain. The sphere in his hand dissipated, the darkness retreating back into the shadows from whence they came. He looked at her and hung his head, ashamed at what he had done.
”I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
"She recognized you."
Sekai's eyes closed, her face hidden in her hands as she tried to hide her shame at what had happened for the second time in less than six minutes, and her form flickered, Kira emerging to stand behind the chair, somewhat hanging on it casually as the taller AI regarded the boy somewhat solemnly, speaking to him quietly, matter of factly even as she watched.
"Seeing your face started to throw her out of it. Interesting. "
”That’s a start I guess. But you see my point? It’s me. Trent has nothing to do with it, between you and the lightning, he’s gone. This is just something I can do. Courtesy of Ciar I suppose.”
"Trent caused that fear and it's the part of her he has a hold of that causes her to react that way... though I hate to say it but, it's not all that asshole's fault that she hates the dark. "
The AI moved, walking closer and keeping an eye on her little one, as was to be expected of someone who was so... well, attached was the only way to put it for the time being, until she knelt beside the boy.
"Unspeakable things happen when you're the most vulnerable at night; do you know what I mean?"
His hands clenched suddenly the urge to drown out everything suddenly overwhelming. The darkness started to crawl toward him again but he forced it away, he forced himself into a state of clam. Calm. Calm. He dropped his head into his hands quietly wondering exactly what it was that had brought about this twisted chain of events.
”Please tell me that that’s not insinuating what I think it is.”
Her eyes turned cold, distant even a little angry as she looked at her little one, there was a heavy sense of irritation... and of failure and frustration in the AI's stance and body language now. Kira's voice was sharp but somehow quiet, as she directed her question towards Raquar.
"Depends on what you believe I'm insinuating." She turned her head slightly, expression blank and waiting.
He gave her a pointed look before dropping it abashedly.
”No-nothing. I’m sure everything’s fine.”
"Please don't tell me you're an idiot and actually believe that." Kira replied softly, eyes on the girl trying to compose herself in the chair before shaking her head, frustrated sigh escaping as one hand landed on her hip and the other massaged the back of her neck.
"...should have killed him when I had the chance. " She sighed again and headed for the chair, reaching out and touching the girl on the shoulder before whispering something in the girl's ear and vanishing once more, presumably into the girl's body and taking her place once more, repeating something she'd said before.
"She recognized you; remember that for this quest."
He grunted. Of course he didn’t believe it, he’d have to be a total fucking moron to do so, and yet it was still what he said. He wasn’t sure why exactly he was avoiding confrontation, but nonetheless, he was doing it anyway. The boy stood up feeling rather disgusted with himself. He spoke softly, any eavesdropper would have to strain quite intently to catch the words being spoken.
”Of course I don’t believe it. But I don’t know exactly what I can do at this point. I suppose it’s a good first step but . . . Bah. I just don’t know anymore.”
Whatever Kira had said seemed to have made some kind of sense to the rather upset young woman, because she removed her hands from her face, though flushed and still teary eyed, had a rather puzzled but thoughtful look on her face.
“...what does... what is that supposed to mean?” She frowned a little, shaking her head to clear her mind and looked up, biting her lip and feeling an awkward blush stain her cheeks as a few... more than recent memories came rushing back unbidden, or rather, forced back by a wickedly grinning Kira within her mind. Hands folded in her lap and sitting properly in the chair, as she'd been taught by her... well, as she'd been taught growing up, she tried to clear her throat and start what she hoped wasn't too awkward of a conversation.
“I... apologize for making you feel badly.... y...you were only trying to help."
He turned around back to face her. She was at least looking at him at this point, which was an improvement. He waved his hand at her comment, attempting to dismiss her concerns.
”Don’t worry about it. I should’ve realized what would happen, especially after his little escapade.” Although the Long Arm had attempted to ignore the color rising in her face it seemed the Blademaster had other ideas. Whether he and Kira were on the same page about that he did not know, but he did know that the man forced him back through both of situations, very slowly, as if it were some sort of film to be dissected. His own cheeks began to flush.
”Umm . . . About that . . . I’m . . . I’m sorry . . . I just . . . I just thought it unfair for you . . . to not know.”
“B-better to know now than t-to find out in a precarious s-situation, right?” She fell silent in order to restrain the sudden urge to start giggling nervously; bad enough that she had a wicked and a half stutter when she was nervous or embarrassed... she didn't need to start giggling like some stupid, randomly dim witted little... little....
School girl?
There was a rather wicked grin in addition to the 'helpful' word supplication that had Sekai turning a brighter red than she believed was appropriate for the current situation. Hastily scrambling for a subject, any subject... except that one... and that one... and most definitely that one... for heavens' sake most certainly not that subject either, to distract herself and hopefully Kira.
“S-So um... h-how did your training go? Y-you were gone for q-quite some time. I-I assume that's w-where you learned how to... to..." Ignoring Kira's comment of how she could quite easily turn that comment into something horrible to make her turn the color of a carp, Sekai finished her sentence with the same kind of motion he'd used to start gathering the shadows into the palm of his hand.
She had a point. He didn’t acknowledge the fact but she did have a point.
”It went alright. Met a lot of her,” implicating Kira, ”Friends. Got accustomed to dealing with the pain that went with fighting in this situation. Being able to feel your ribs shatter and lungs punctured is not a pleasant experience. And yes, its where I learned to play in the shadows.” He had held something back, something he really didn’t feel it was necessary to talk about.
Go on, tell her you missed her.
Raq choked, spluttering at the man’s probing.
Kira was alert at the mentioning of 'friends' with the nod in her general vicinity, slightly worried and amusing Sekai at the notion of Raquar having run into someone who knew her in her... ahh, less than notable time as she was now. Though, Sekai did wince in sympathy at the punctured lungs and shattered ribs mentioning. The choking had her concerned too, immediate thoughts of him still suffering some sort of injury from the training or possibly the other two... events that had gone on and-ack! She'd thought of it again! Face darkening a bit in color, she hastily threw the memory aside in favor of trying to figure out if he was still injured or not.
“A-Are you still injured from before?" Genuinely concerned, she reached into her inventory and prepared to remove a Health Drink or two from where she stored her HP recovery items and looked like she was about ready to use them.
He shook his head at the girl softly. ”I’m fine. Might have a small scar or two but that’s to be expected I suppose comes with the price.” Much to his chagrin Torvald was still muttering incessantly.
You still didn’t do it. Don’t tell me I’m going to have to do it for you.
You wouldn’t . . .
His response was simply to materialize next to the boy and open his, in this case, abnormally large mouth.
”What he’s not telling you is that he missed you terribly whilst he was away. What?” The latter was in response to the I’m going to kill you glare that he was now receiving from the younger one.
The reaction was likely an expected one from those who knew the girl rather well; her face went about as red as one could get without exploding a few blood vessels and major arteries in the brain and became suddenly quite interested in something on the back of her glove. Kira, on the other hand was quite entertained at that aspect and emerged herself to cause some more trouble.
"'Whilst' Torvald? My, my, have we been spending time with Cassiel and picking up some fancy new words? Do recite us a ditty... or perhaps a sonnet?" She grinned at Raquar, giving the clearly flustered and irritated boy a wink and gestured to the girl currently a particularly fascinating shade of red in the face.
"She worried the living hell out of thinking about your well being and if you were alright. Couldn't sit still either until you showed back up."
Torv chuckled at the entirety of it as the Long Arm wilted under the slightly overbearing one’s attention.
”Rea . . . Really?” It was spoken softly, attempting to be directed at Kira and Kira alone, but as in most cases, that doesn’t mean that the intention would match the end result. And of course, the Blademaster took this opportunity to further embarrass the boy farther.
”Speaking of Cass, she reve-“ he was cut off by a strangled yelp from the boy and the frantic shaking of his head. ”Oh come on they deserve to know. She revealed that certain . . . feelings dare I say have harbored themselves in this one’s being.”
His mouth was gaping. Why did he have to go and say that now? He sunk into a chair, head buried in his hands once again.
Kira's grin widened, tone overly teasing and probably somewhat overly cheerful at that as she poked the girl beside her in the ribs, causing the girl to jerk with a muffled protest and squeal of what was likely laughter caused by being poked in a particularly ticklish place and responded for the protesting girl.
"...Ooh well look at that! Our little Long Arm is becomin' a man and lookin' for his woman! Never thought I'd see this day come to light. Well- hey lookitthat! They have matching faces!"
Sekai let out a small moan of embarrassment, face buried in her hands as well as she tried to think of something other than how much of a deal... and how horribly awful both Torvald and Kira were being about the entire thing. Silently, she wished for some kind of sign that would completely take this subject to the side and replace it with something a little more... well... pressing and urgent and something that needed to be done right now. Kira snickered, still highly amused by it and sent a rather wide grin over in Torvald's direction before speaking up, starting to float back towards Sekai, as if she were slowly edging back and ready to vanish at any point.
"Let's leave the lovebirds here-
“Kira!"
Kira continued regardless of the sharp protest made.
"Let's leave the lovebirds here and give 'em the privacy eh? After all, gotta plan for the next hacker beating we're gonna be doing; better not be a bitch like the last one dammit!"
With a small pop, the oddly behaving Long Arm female vanished from sight and it didn't look like she'd gone back to where she usually was either due to the somewhat humiliated but puzzled look on Sekai's face.
Torvald complied wordlessly, mimicking his counterpart’s actions. And he was alone. Well, not alone but this was the first time that Torvald had actually left him in quite some time. Although at the moment, that feeling was being shoved aside by awkwardness and complete and total embarrassment. The boy looked up from his hands once only to immediately bury them right back in.
"I-I-I'm so sorry; s-she's never acted like this before."
Sekai managed to get the words to stumble out of her lips, some sort of desperate apology with a hidden plea not to get into the subject right then and there of... well, what the two AI had instigated and double teamed on the two of them about and looked down at the floor, still humiliated by the absolutely outrageous behavior.
God came in many forms it seemed, even the small ding of a flashmail. He opened it quickly, noting the beckons to the Chaos Gate. He stood up, much faster than he should have sending the chair clattering to the floor.
”Go . . . Chaos Gate . . . Mission . . .” Fragments of sentences were all he could manage at this point, and he turned out of the common room, striding as fast as he could with his head down. Getting to the Chaos Gate was suddenly a very important task.
...if there were ever a time where Sekai needed to be thankful that she was never sure if God or the Gods existed, it was right then and there. Thanking the heavens for the explanation, as short and direct as it was, she nodded quickly and almost stumbled in her haste to get to her feet.
"L-Left s-something in my r-room. W-Will be there in a few, g-go on a-ahead. I-I'll c-catch up. "
She turned on her heel and dashed off towards the room, clearly grateful for whatever Gods were watching out for her... and apparently had gotten their fill of the awkward situation and granted the both of them a reprieve... for now anyways.
It was either looking up, or keeping his head down, but today was the day that he ran into people. He had turned the corner from the common room and had run into another member running around the Hideout. This one wasn’t short by any means, still shorter than him granted, but there was a semblance of height above the slightly chiseled golden tunic. A purple bandana rested above midnight blue eyes framing dark hair that hung down to his back.
”Erm, sorry bout that. Excuse me.’
The Twin Blade smiled, looking slightly upwards at this apparent new arrival. ”It's no problem. Hey, I don't think I've seen you around. What's your name?”
The statement was mentally concurred with; he didn’t think he had seen this fellow anywhere. ”Name’s Raquar. You?”
Always delighted to meet new people, the boy's smile broadened into a wide grin. "Full name's Zhao Xun, but feel free to call me Zhao. How'd you become so unfortunate as to fall in with our bunch?" The question was asked jokingly as he tried to keep the mood light, but it was indeed a serious thing to speak of.
The boy grunted. Twice. He wasn’t sure exactly why he was talking about what had happened, but this guy seemed to literally exude trustworthiness. He found it a lot easier to talk about now then it had been before. “A couple others and myself had been recruited by a group called the Eventide Crescendo. I had assumed they were doing freelance work against hackers but apparently they were a fairly known group. Anyway, the first time we met up with them we were taken to a Rue field. There were a bunch of us to start off, but in the end, it was only a Blademaster named Raven and myself, along with the two leaders that finished the thing off and escaped the collapsing field. In our second little adventure, we were joined by a couple new people, one of whom was Sekai. Well, towards the end things went wrong. Long story short, we lost the Incarnation Crystal from the first, and the second field, trapped one of the leaders in the visage of a gigantic flaming behemoth, and the field itself sorta exploded. We got hit by something called the Dread Code, mean, orange, just an overall pain in the ass. Next thing I knew, I woke up here in the barracks, a flashmail telling me I was stuck here. Found out I couldn’t log and out and well, just kinda goin along since.” He had spoken quickly, and was now rather out of breath.
The weaker player was no longer smiling. "At least you weren't conned into it.... His eyes darkened for a second, going purely black, and wrath seemed to pour out of him in nearly tangible quantities. That feeling, however, quickly evaporated as his eyes returned to their normal navy blue and he smiled again. "Always nice to have another ally in here. So, you know Sekai, right? Anyone else?"
The kid’s eyes went black, jet black, reminding him of the time he had had a run-in with Trent. He shook his head, clearing the thought, and by that time, the eyes had reverted back to normal. He nodded at the first part of the question and struck up a dialogue with the second. ”Know her, know Dien, very recently acquainted with Zan, seen him around the mansion a bit. Other than that, I don’t think I know anybody else. But then, I haven’t seen everybody else so I’m not entirely sure.”
Zhao smiled at the mention of Dien, but it was a sad smile, suggesting that the Twin Blade was worried about his friend. "Well, aside from those three, we have Reinier, Rayo, Senna, Hacorie, Phoenix, Nighthand, Canti, and Silk. You'll get to know them all in time, I'm sure, and don't worry; everyone's got everyone's back." Zhao wasn't completely sure that statement still held, but he said it anyway, if only out of wishful thinking.
”That’s good to know. Nice to meet ya, but we should probably start heading out soon, don’t want to be late” He was smiling as he walked toward the gate room, he had just made a new friend, and that was always nice.
"Yeah, you're probably right. Don't want to keep everyone waiting on our account."
The group had been all gathered at the Gate, and they were whisked away with briskness by the ever familiar triad of golden rings. The rings deposited them in a clearing. It was one of those small forest clearings, where you stand in a small open area completely surrounded by forest. Around them were three anciently collapsed trees essentially barring any progress in those directions. The only way they could proceed was to crest a small hill and see what lay on the other side. And so, since that was the only thing the group could do, it’s what they did. At the top of the hill, stood what some would call a mansion. If it was a mansion, it was the most lavish and extravagant mansion that he had ever seen. He could tell form a glance that it was already more of a mansion than the AoD headquarters. They had stopped at a gate, momentarily, and he sat their staring at it. Wondering who it was could have amassed such a wealth as to create something like this. He gave a start as the other began to walk forward, apparently the gate had been opened. He hastened forward, not to be left behind, until they stood outside the front door of the place, something that unlocked and slid open rather easily. They journeyed forth into the foray of the mansion, and emerged in what would almost appear to be a holding room.
The room entered was covered in ancient livery, paintings, ancient works of art; he wouldn’t have been surprised if he had found a tapestry or two either. The room was also bright, the immense chandelier hanging from the ceiling casting a bright glow over the room, one that contrasted severely with the dark colors. The blacks and the reds were definitely the dominant theme in the room, and it was all expensive, from the marble of the floor to the very upholstery of the couches; from the rugs to the oaken table sitting in the corner. It almost all screamed “Lookit me I’m filthily rich!” The table was what drew his eye, it was polished extremely well, almost seeming to give off a dull glow of its own. Situated at the head, or the foot of the table depending on how you looked at it, was presumably the owner of the mansion.
She was female, dressed in blacks and whites, garments looking to be expensive. The colors were in each part of her outfit, her boots, her gloves, her dress, her scarf, hell, even her hat was black. The only thing that didn’t fit the stereotype were the sunglasses she had perched on her face. Teal-colored eyes peeked at the group over the yellow lenses, almost as if she was studying them. It wasn’t long before she began to speak. And she spoke some more. And then Zan opened up his mouth and began to speak. And so the banter went, back and forth, back and forth. Until finally, it seemed that the questions had been answered and Zan left to do his own exploring. He listened idly to the ping after ping of flashmail as the lycanthrope alerted them all to his progress.
His fingers itched. He wanted to do something, but the question was what? And did he really want to do it alone?