Y.Z.: Act II (PG16)

Silence had fallen when Alicel nodded off again, stretched out on the couch, while Aertan slept sitting upright in the kitchen, his arms folded and brow furrowed, as if he was having difficulty staying asleep. Which he was. He'd always been a light sleeper, but the quick pricks of pain that shot up and down his arm were keeping him wide awake. When the first light hit his closed eyelids, he noticed it lasted for only a split second before Haeon't kindly -and forcefully- moved his left wing to block out the light entirely. The pain in his arm stopped, and he was able to get some regular, much needed shut eye. But this wasn't to last very long, as a boom, an explosion, something of that sort shook him out of his sleep again. He slapped the heel of his palm into his temple, to knock out the exhaustion of being woken up without warning and looked around, just to find his gaze resting on someone he recognized.

"Don't you ever give it a rest?" Aertan inquired, irritation finding itself into his voice as he stared with dislike at Arturo. He blinked though. If Arturo was here, then was Alicel not in the living room? Surely he would've detoured to blow her away? It wouldn't take long, Aertan thought, not even noticing that his train of thought was crueller than cruel. He blinked though, remembering the boom, and smelling something that he could never mistake. Fire.



Meanwhile, Adela was sitting straight up in the guest bed, staring around herself and stepping softly out from underneath the covers. Her wide lavender eyes scanned the guest bedroom and found nothing presenting imminent danger. Satisfied with this, she reached out to open the door, but the distinct smell of smoke reached her nostrils, and she spun around again to grab her messenger bag. She was halfway through opening the bag to grab the gun that amplified her poor mahstion in comparison to the apostle's before she hesitated. If she depended on this gun forever, what would she do without it? She could never rise in the ranks of the Tealian Army if she relied on a gun that wasn't supposed to exist. Her gaze slid over to the white creamy bow and then darted back to the handle of the gun. Whipping the strap of her bag over her head, Adela snatched up the bow and opened the door.

Upon opening the door, Adela froze. She'd suspected it. That was why she'd chosen between her bow and gun. But the feeling of that mixed mahstion made her sick to her stomach. And the signature was exactly the same as last time. She glanced down at her bow, which was quivering along with her hand, which grasped it tighter than ever. Adela tried to take a deep breath. It had always helped during training sessions. Faced with the real thing though, Adela felt trapped, closed in on all sides. Reid had been by her side last time. Adela blinked and used her free hand to reach into her coat pocket. Her fingertips felt the gold butterfly and she relaxed before extracting her hand again and fashioning an arrow out of Dation, while letting her usual precaution Dation leek from her feet, in case she needed a fast shield.

Smoke was probably coming from one of the Fionus users. She notched the arrow in it's place and pulled back on the string of the bow, pressed against the wall as she waited to see Kyra arrive on the staircase. Adela's grip loosened for a split second though, when she felt not Wation and Fionus mahstion, but Lionus and Eation. It was a familiar Lionus, sweet yet cold. But the person who showed up on top of the stairs was not Kyra, nor the person she associated the Lionus with.

"Who are you?" Adela demanded, preparing to release the arrow the minute the platinum haired woman moved. She was slender, and her long sleeves seemed to only accentuate this fact. Her eyes bore into Adela for a moment before she mouthed something, as though she were trying to say it, but sound refused to come out. But the movements of her lips were something that Adela was accustomed to seeing, and Adela narrowed an eye.

"How do you know my name." Adela asked for yet another answer, though this time it was more of a statement than a question, since Adela wasn't really interested in the answer. She was more interested in the woman's bladed wings that seemed to require constant movement. They looked incredibly malicious.

"I'm sorry," The woman finally said, in a voice that was warmer than her pale skin and metal wings, "But you're not my target."

She swept past Adela, who automatically released the Dation arrow when the apostle stepped forward. The arrow wasn't even halfway to it's target before it was crushed into nothing by a sphere of Eation that created a crater in the wall it had collided with. She touched her hand to the door that Adela recognized as Faewyn's room, and the sphere of earth that was still solidified securely against what was once Adela's Dation arrow flew just stray of Adela's face to launch itself at the door. But instead of a loud 'bang' of a door being opened forcefully, she heard only a 'thump', the sound of the sand loosening from it's tight sphere upon impact and crawling into the crevices to open the door for the apostle.

Villa left Adela behind in the hallway, knowing that the girl wouldn't pursue her. She would probably react more to Kyra's mahstion then her own. She stepped softly into Faewyn's room and was surprised to see that the girl was bruised and battered, as if she'd already been in a fight. She curtsied and looked up again, introducing herself with a diminishing voice.

"You may call me Villa. I am the Sixth Apostle. It's a pleasure to make your accquaintence again. May I ask what became of my mahstion bag that I left behind for that Wation user, and whether you would like me to heal you before we engage in battle?"

That morning was not particularly kind to Faewyn. The noises stirred her from her restless slumber, but her thoughts were still hazy as she came to, experiencing the various aches on her body far more vividly than before as the events of the night before raced back to her. She and Isaire had fought the negafael...Ifalna, was it? Twice during that battle, she had been sure that it would all end right there and then. Still, she had pulled through somehow, thanks to both Adela and Typhoeus, but...her heart sank as the bottom line of the situation occurred to her, Reece was gone. She had survived, but failed.

"Reece..."

"You really do have a kind heart, always thinking of others."

Isaire's voice startled the girl for a moment, but her mind soon caught up. Of course, Typhoeus' attack had broken the healing technique too, hadn't it? That meant that the plufael had gotten to recover. She couldn't help a small smile. Typhoeus...could it be that even the negafael had something good in him? Her mood soon descended to gloomy again, however.

"I have no such thing." she muttered to the darkness, glaring at the roof, "Didn't you hear what she said? If it wasn't for me Reece wouldn't-"

"She's a negafael." Isaire interrupted sternly, "She only said those things to create doubt within you."

"Well it's still true, isn't it?!" Faewyn protested, "I did push him away. Reece was just trying to protect me and I threw it all in his face, I-" Faewyn made an attempt to get up into a sitting position, but her abdomen immediately protested with a throb that forced her to double over and clutch it with both hands.

"Faewyn!" had he possessed a body of his own, Isaire would surely have rushed over to steady the girl, but as it was he had to resign himself to words, "You're still injured. Please don't push yourself."

"But Reece will..."

"Both Ifalna and your friend's body are already miles away." Isaire said, guessing her trail of thought and forestalling it, "Setting off after them would accomplish nothing, especially now that Ifalna will undoubtedly still be on alert. Besides, in your current condition there is nothing you could do for your friend even if you did catch up."

"But-"

Isaire sighed, "Look, Faewyn, I know it's hard but you will just have to look after yourself for now and trust that Ifalna will look after your friend's body. She wouldn't do anything too reckless with it, negafaels may be malicious but they are not so stupid as to gamble their own existence. Once you've recovered, we'll organize a search party and set out after him. Alright?"

Faewyn was on the verge of interjecting, but decided against it, giving a subdued little nod instead, "Alright..." she replied, "And Isaire, thank you for-"

It was at this point that the door to her room was blown off its hinges. Despite the pain, the girl managed to fumble her way to her weapon, though if her encounter with the earlier apostle was anything to go by, that probably wouldn't go far in protecting her. Having braced herself for the sight of the ominous man with the black, feathered wings and lifeless blue eyes announcing that he had come to finish the job, Faewyn was quite surprised by the person who came in through the doorway. First of all, it was a girl, a fairly pretty one save for the ghoulish wings and the tattoos, but to compound the surprise,she was very polite -- despite having just blasted in her door -- and even offered to...heal her?

"Erm...I'm Faewyn. Nice to...meet you, I suppose." Faewyn replied, a bit unsure of what to make of the situation, "I-I didn't see any bag...maybe Aertan would know something about that?" she frowned, shaking her head, "And umm...healing would be nice, but..." she knew that she probably shouldn't push her luck, but the girl's inquisitive manner wouldn't give her rest, "Why are you doing this? I mean, all of this. Why did you leave that bag with Alicel? Why do you want to heal me if you've been sent to kill me? Why...why are you apostle people doing this? I know about the graft project, but why would you work for someone who did horrible things like that to you?" her abdomen gave another protest at all the speaking, causing her to wince again, "Not...to say that I mind being healed." Faewyn finished weakly, "But do we really have to fight?" the girl stared at her feet at the end of the statement. She really had no idea why she was saying these things to someone who had identified themselves as an enemy, but there was just something about Villa's manner that made her seem...likable, "I've never really liked fighting."


All was dark and silent.

That was the way things were in containment cell 765. Complete deprivation of external stimuli had always been the watchword. The square-shaped room was completely bare save for a single mattress in one corner and a facility for handling...certain other needs in the other, all designed to be as non-conductive for both self-inflicted harm and escape as possible, a heavy anti-mahstion field securing the deal. It was intended as a hyper-secure containment facility for the most volatile of criminals, deranged mahstion users whose powers were as much a danger to themselves as the environment.

Velin found it quite peaceful.

The first apostle's eyes were shut in concentration, his mind meticulously recounting the information it had gained. The familiar features of that Ayre girl, the precious documents he had pilfered from the archives and memorized, the padre's obsession with eliminating the group before they reached Beta.

Beta, that was a country devoted to science, wasn't it?

Then there was the little girl and her quest to find her parents. He thought he had been truthful when he knew nothing of this, but Verdance and Lin...something about those names struck a chord. He just didn't know which one.

Verdance and Lin. What was his mind trying to tell him?

All the pieces of the puzzle were right there in front of him, he could feel it, all but one. If he could only had that, he could put the rest together. It was dangling right in front of him, but he just couldn't reach it. The damnable haze that was his long-term memory was in his way.

Why couldn't he remember?

The apostle shut his eyes tighter. It was a funny thing, really; you couldn't see in the Dation-enhanced darkness without additional effort, yet sheer habit made him shut his eyes all the same. Apparently there were some things you never forgot.

Velin paused in mid-thought, his mouth repeating the words his mind had just applied as a realization dawned to him.

"Never forget."

The first apostle extended his right index finger to its full length, creating a small cut on his cheek and dipping the nail in the crimson liquid that poured out from the gash as he turned to the floor in front of him. He had never been made to sign any paperwork, apostles never were; they were just tools whose actions the priests documented. But could there have been more to it than that?

He might not have remembered what he needed to know, but did he remember how to write it?

Erasing all thought from his mind, the first apostle reached out his bloodied finger until he felt it come into contact with the mattress-covered floor. That had been his big mistake all along: he had tried to think and grasp with his mind what he should sought with his instincts, with his heart. Emotion and instinct...how ironic that he had discarded the key to solving the mystery right at the start.

The nail criss-crossed over the floor in a series of swift, fluid motions and then rose up, its task duly finished. By the slight luminosity of his eyes, first apostle Velin Dahn saw the answer to the question he struggled with for so long, perfectly condensed in a bloody signature on the cell floor:

"Verdance Ayre."


OOC: HOMG! Plot twist! =O Well, sort of. xD The memory thing here has been proven with actual amnesia patients: people who don't remember their names may still remember how to write their signature because motoric memory (memorized movements) is usually not erased by trauma like semantic or historic memory (memorized meanings or events respectively). Since you mentioned that something would happen with the apostles, I figured that I'd better get this sneaky subplot played out while I still had the chance. x3

Incidentally, Velin's name was an ever-so-subtle hint to it. (Verdance + Lin = Velin) xD *Shot for lifelessness*

It had been bugging him. Who's mahstion was that? It felt like Rosaline's, but it was dramatically different at the same time... Reid eyed his opponent suspiciously. Something wasn't right here. For the whole few moments that had been engaged in combat, Cress had done nothing but throw poorly aimed blasts of dation which Reid had easily dodged by floating side to side on his board. Was he stalling? If so, why? Reid grit his teeth, still in Mistral's body. He could have switched back at any time, but with the speed Cress had exhibited during their first encounter, he decided speed would be a more vital trait than power until he could find a way to slow him down. "You can stop toying with me now. If you're going to play games, I'll just kill you now." Reid attempted to sound menacing, but he was taken by surprise by how unintimidating it sounded coming from Mistral's voice.

"Are you insinuating that I would hold back?" Cress replied, lying through his teeth. He'd have to fight seriously now, but as long as everyone else stuck to the plan, they'd only have to stall a little longer. "Very well. I suppose I can put a little more effort into it, but only for you, little girl." Reid sweatdropped. He was personally shocked the jokes didn't start sooner, but whatever. There was very little time to react before Cress was on top of him, claws digging into his flesh, his body quickly plummetting towards the paved roads below...

----

"Two men. One uses fionus, one uses wation, two opposing elements. I could give it a rest, but an epic showdown such as this is somewhat epic, would you not say?" Arturo replied to Aertan, his accent as thick and dislikeable as before. Little motion was shown in regards to Arturo as six knives came flying at Aertan out of the darkness, lined with dation. "Too bad there will only be one survivor."

----

"Adela Ciaccio. I'm your opponent." A cold voice beckoned to Adela from the darkness. It was familiar, and while previously very cold, seemed even emptier than it had during their previous encounter. "I, Kyra, submit myself as a prisoner, I have no need to fight anymore, not after my sister was decapitated so that I could live."

Off far in the distance, the padre was well aware of these events. He uttered nothing but the word "Kill her." To Cressida, who shot a long distance blast of lionus at an incredible velocity towards Kyra's location. If it hit her, she'd be dead for sure...

Villa smiled and bowed, rather than curtsying this time, and whispered in a cheerful way, "A pleasure. I was not created for the purpose of fighting. I am merely an experimental apostle, and I'm used as a test subject of sorts." She paused for a moment, thinking about why she was following the orders of the people who made her into such a useless ragdoll, "Miss Faewyn," Villa continued in her hoarse whisper, "If I chose not to stay with these people, then it wouldn't be difficult to force upon two other humans my fate. And if I chose not to stay..." Villa shook away her sleeves and revealed her angular and waxy fingers, long enough to drag just slightly on the floor, "Where could I go?"

She was a monster. She knew it. Anyone who looked at her would know it. Her wings were menacing enough.

"I'm not a fighter." Villa repeated, her long forefinger twitching slightly as Lionus patched up the bruises upon Faewyn, "I am a healer. And so I heal the wounded. Even if I was the one who injured them. Even if I plan on inflicting pain upon them in the future." Villa glanced down at her feet for a split second, towards the first floor, "Aertan uses Fionus, does he not? I remember his signature." She closed her eyes, remembering the small warmth in the corner of the cold prison hall, "His opponent is the Fifth who uses Wation. I'm sure he'll not live long. I hope you'll help me retrieve my mahstion bag when it's through."

She lifted her face toward the ceiling and was silent for a moment before opening her eyes, blank and listless.

"Two people in one." She uttered finally in a normal volume, letting her head hang while an ear-splitting scream rang through her ears, "It's easy to create apostles. So kill the useless ones. Make better ones."

Villa lowered her gaze to Faewyn again as she frowned, changing the subject yet again and asking another question.

"Miss Faewyn. Did you know that Adela is weak against Lionus?"

------------

"Sister..." Adela repeated, a surprised look crossing her face as she remembered the apostle who incited her jealousy earlier on, "Wait a second," Adela stormed forward and grabbed Kyra's shoulders, "The other apostle is-"

Lionus.

Such a familiar feeling.

A pair of eyes turned to look at the wall where the guest bedroom once stood, and in it's place was a whirling blast of Lionus. Just one glance was all the time Adela had before she instinctively pushed Kyra out of the way, the tips of her hair turning white as Xaviae shoved the apostle out of the way. She didn't even have time to say the name that bubbled up her throat as Xaviae threw a blast of Dation at the Lionus. It was instantly engulfed.

Searing pain. Instead of a name the sound was replaced with a scream as Adela felt the burn of Lionus. It could be both cold and warm. She hated it more than anything else, because it stung like a lie. The force sent the young girl flying into the opposite wall, and when the flash of Lionus was gone, Adela fell from yet another crater created in the wall with a resonating thud against the ground. Any trace of white in her hair was gone.

"I wonder what it's like. Faewyn, Reid, and Kyra too. What is it like, to lose someone you care for?"

--------------------

"That's why we call it an 'EPIC' showdown. It's supposed to be-" Aertan winced as he pulled out one of the knives he'd failed to dodge, though the sting was only a small throb, thanks to the black mask that was forming around his head.

Geote's voice came when the last piece of the mask was put in place, his voice noticeably deeper than Aertan's finishing the sentence, "Epic."

Throwing his head back, one could see the lower half of the face, normally hidden by the nose of the skull, revealing a distorted and elongated jaw with razor sharp teeth lining Aertan's gums. Plunging his hand into his mouth, Geote pulled out a black sword, before hiding his face behind the mask again, grasping the handle of the sword and setting it ablaze with Fionus, slashing at Arturo, who was standing annoyingly still.

"I-" Faewyn wanted to object to Villa's statement, to say that she was just being pessimistic and that there certainly would be somewhere for her to go, but reality caught up to her. The girl herself was not so horrified by the freakishly elongated arms, but she also had the sense to realize that this was because she had grown so accustomed to Aertan. After Haeon't and Geote, there were very few limbs that could provoke revulsion in her anymore, but the average man on the street...Faewyn bit her lip. Sympathy was about the last thing she had ever expected to feel for an apostle, yet that was precisely what she was feeling right now.

"Villa.." the girl mumbled, instinct compelling her to reach out a hand and place it on the apostle's free one, gently stroking its waxy surface with her finger. She might not have been able to put her sentiments into words, but she hoped that this gesture -- clumsy though it was -- would get her message across; that not everyone thought like she thought they did. Upon hearing the shriek, however, Faewyn's mind was finally snapped back to the situation at hand. Her friends were in trouble, and no matter how much he wished that she could help this apostle, her friends needed help too. Far more urgently, by the sound of it.

"Look." she turned to address Villa, locking eyes with her as far as the other's listless eyes would allow, "Villa, I can't honestly say that I know what it feels like to suffer all the things you have, and with my home in shambles like this I can't offer you a place to go anymore, even though I'd want to, but I do know one thing..." she sighed, "What you're doing...if you just go on like this, it will never end. It doesn't matter how many wounds you heal, as long as this project is going on more people will get captured and more people will get hurt; live or die, these people will make a replacement for you. If something is wrong, you have to oppose it, even-even if you don't know where to go after that. Aertan -- you remember him, right? -- he's got arms growing out his wings, everyone except the priests of his own church treated him like a freak yet he still went against them because he saw that what they're doing was wrong. My mother, Verdance, left everything behind to stop this, knowing that she would probably never return. She DIED trying to stop this." a single tear ran down Faewyn's cheek, but she pressed on, "You're not a bad person, Villa. I know you could have a better life than this, but no-one is going to hand it to you. You'll need to have the courage to go out and find it yourself. Trust me, even though a lot of people may shun you, finding just one...just one person who really, truly cares for you will make it all seem worth it."

Faewyn sighed, releasing the apostle's hand from her own, focusing on drawing out the power from within her soul. Contrary to Isaire's soothing aura, the mahstion presence that enveloped her was far more sinister, however, the girl's skin shriveling and yellowing until it clung to muscle and bone, even translucent at parts, diminishing her already thin frame to an almost skeletal appearance while her fingernails grew out into curved claws. Even the teal color ran out of her hair as it dissolved from ponytail into a disordered mess of greyish white, while her dragonfly wings withered down to two blackened stumps at her back, but the girl's eyes retained their black color. This time, Faewyn was the one controlling the fael, not the other way around.

"I'm leaving." the words sounded foreign coming from high-pitched rasp that was Typhoeus' voice, but the negafael's consciousness remained firmly caged by both Faewyn's resolve and Isaire's powers, so he had no chance to protest, "I've never immersed myself in this power before, and I have no idea what it will do to me, so please...step aside." perfectly order Wionus coiled around her right hand, preparing an attack for the upcoming battle, "We can battle later if it will help you, but right now, when I'm still in control, I need to go help my friends. Please don't interfere...I don't want to hurt you."

OOC: As a warning, this post is going to jump views a lot, and a lot will be going on, so you might need to pay a bit more attention than usual. XD

While Adela had inexplicably made an attempt to save Kyra's life from the powerful blast of lionus by putting her own life at risk, it was not enough to completely protect the apostle girl. The blast, which had not hit it's target, had created a powerful enough shockwave in it's wake to send the lighter girl flying. Her head met a heavy impact with a nearby section of drywall, and she landed upright on her back on the floor. While she was only unconscious, and her two eyes were closed, her third eye glared up at the ceiling as if it was searching for a reason to actually keep the body alive. What was left for a girl with nothing?


Arturo put on his best 'surprised' face when Geote took control of Aertan and came at him with his sword ablaze. The entire pull-your-sword-out-of-your-mouth trick was pretty impressive, he had to admit, but it was nothing he was unprepared for. As the sword made contact with Arturo's figure, the body disappeared out of sight. An illusion? No, it was Arturo's raw speed. In those entire two seconds, he had moved from the spot of impact to having his arm twisted around Geote's neck with a knife held sharply to his throat. "Last I checked," he said coldly, "faels bleed too. Game over."


CRASH.

A blast of dation rose from the ground into a dome-like shape as Reid hit the hard pavement with Cress still on top of him. To add further pain to the feeling of near-broken bones and flesh wounds from Cress' claws, the apostle had released an unbelievable amount of dation into the air just before the impact. While it had burned Reid's skin in multiple locations, it was also the upwards force of the dation that kept every bone in his body from shattering when they hit the ground. Mistral cried out in pain inside of Reid's head, the cry Reid couldn't bring himself to do himself in fear of showing weakness. He was using her form, after all, and a large bulk of the pain was being sent her way. When the dust cleared, the quickly dulling eyes of Mistral set themselves on the monster looking down at Reid with bloodthirst eyes. His claws were still deep in their flesh, sending constant waves of pain to the boy and his fael.


"You sense it too, huh? Well, I guess you would. You can see the future after all..." The red haired girl glanced over at the silver haired one, who had her hand together as if she were in prayer. "There's a storm coming. So let's see if the kid can take the rain." Flaire was, of course, referencing Reid as 'kid', despite the fact that they were the same age. The silver haired girl's eyes shot open wide as she regained her composure, before quickly running up to Flaire and grabbing her arm. "What's up?" Ellianne's one eye glistened with worry as she glanced back up at Flaire's eyes. Flaire knew what that meant. Something was going to happen back at the camp... "We're going back for now. We'll come back for him provided he doesn't die first..."


The sad thing was that Cress didn't know what he was stalling for. They had received a private message from Azyla the night before about his location, and he wanted the other apostles to stall while he made his way to their location. They weren't sure of when that was even to occur, and he was taking much longer than they originally assumed. At this rate, the padre was surely to order Cressida to move in, and then it would all be over.

Cress got up, removing his claws from Mistral's flesh, before beginning to form a ball of dation in his right hand. He was going to intentionally miss, but he still had to keep the act up. And then it happened, a sharp prick in his neck before the presence of another dation user became apparent behind him. He wanted to spin around, or to move at all, but he could not. He just began to fall. As he fell, his mind began to feel foggier and foggier, leaving him to deperately hold onto his mind. He eventually lost the battle, and his identity slipped away into the darkness as the naked bodies of a boy and a girl hit the ground where Cress was supposed to.


"Game over indeed." A young woman's voice spoke as Arturo felt something sharp dig into the shoulder of the arm he had wrapped around Geote. The woman, who was about 20 with violet hair and eyes entered the room via the window before stabbing the apostle with a strange needle. "This concotion, which we formulated thanks to your friend Azyla, or should I say your friends Azaern and Lilliana. This will leave you immobile as the rest of the drug kicks in, separating you back into the two people you once were." Arturo then fell backwards as he arm slid free of Geote's neck, his identity slowly fading before two male bodies hit the ground. One looked around 19, while the other looked to be around 15, and they both had raven black hair. The woman draped a blanket over the two unconscious, naked bodies before turning a shortsword on Geote's back. "Now, who the hell are you and why are you here? I am Natalia Destato of the Tealian Special Forces, serving under Commander Milo." It was true, she bore a badge much like Reid, although she was dressed in a cloak.


"Adela, ma'am! Are you alright!?" The voice of lieutenant Zeibel Syray was filled with worry as he approached the daughter of his commander, who was lying on the ground. It was obvious by the hole in the wall that some sort of energy had forced it's way through the wall, and it was no difficulty for Zeibel to sense what mahstion it was. He was a lionus user himself after all. He proceeded to crouch down next to Adela, channeling healing lionus into her body while one of his subordinates went over to the unconscious Kyra and injected her with the syrum. The young girl's body quickly split back into the form of two young girls, and the man draped a blanket over them before calling for the medical unit to come and place them on stretchers. "It'll be okay now." Zeibel spoke. "Your mother has ordered us to come and rescue you guys. One of those apostle guys, I believe Azyla was his name, came to us looking for help, so thanks to him we were able to devise a remedy for the apostles." His voice went quiet. "But, there is some more alarming information... Your friend, Rosaline Dian, has been turned into one herself."


"Bastards, leave her the hell alone!" A ball of fionus flew at the body of a Tealian soldier, which sent him flying back into one of the camp's tents. Flaire spat on the body of the man before grabbing the hand of Ellianne, who had just taken a powerful blow to her head by the man's hand. The entire camp was in chaos. Tealian soldiers, who were in Beta for god knows what reason, had stumbled upon the refugee camp and were capturing as many of them as they could. To make things worse, the Beta militia had also become involved, putting aside the fact that Tealia was in their country just so that they could scoop up whomever Tealia missed! "How the hell can they do this!?" Flaire cried as she pulled Ellianne into a nearby alleyway. All they could do was watch as their friends and family were killed and captured. Ellianne began to cry, but made no sound.

"What the hell are you two still doing here!? Get away dammit!" The voice of the man Flaire affectionately called 'boss' shouted as he noticed their presence. "We'll handle things from here, you just need to get the boy and go!"

"BUT-"

"GO! That boy is your only hope. You'll understand why later, but just go for now!"

Flaire looked away as she took Ellianne and walked, before taking to the air.


Reid paniced as the naked body of a beautiful 18 year old girl fell on top of him. He could barely, and he struggled to push her off of him. Her hair, black as night, tickled his face, which was turning bright red. It was safe to assume that the apostles were composed of two people, and that somehow Cress had reverted, judging by the young, white haired boy who lay beside him. Eventually, someone removed the girl from on top of him, scooping her up in a blanket and placing her in a stretcher. His eyes shut temporarily, and the warm feeling of lionus flowed through his body, allowing for movement. Without opening his eyes, he could tell a medic was performing on him, and he could tell who had saved in from Cress. "Sven, you idiot. You could have come a bit sooner."

"Well sorry. I could have just let the thing kill you." Reid opened his eyes to meet the eyes of a long blue haired boy about his age, clad in a white robe with a scythe in his right hand. To make his holy appearance seem even holier, his wings were large and as white as snow. "You're lucky I even bothered with saving my sworn rival." Sven looked up at the sky as it was quickly clouding over. "Looks like it's about to rain..."


The padre paniced. Right in front of his very eyes, his whole plot was falling to pieces. His precious apostles were being reverted by Tealian scum, until the only one left was his dear Cressida. Well, he wasn't going to go out without a fight. "Cressida. I want you to go high in the sky and destroy this useless town with all of your power, and the Tealian forces along with it."

It began to rain.


"Heh, what did I tell you? Rain is a bit rare in a snowy place like this, though, is it not?" Sven laughed a little as he helped Reid, still in Mistral's form, up to his feet. "We found their base in Alta. any minute now our forces should be arriving there and siezing it. If there any further apostles there, they will be reverted as well. By the way, could you change back to your normal form. As much as I like scantily clad woman, a young girl with burnt and torn clothing doesn't really appeal to me that much." Reid glanced down, realizing how badly his outfit had been torn. the sleeves of his coat had been burned off, as well as the left leg of his jeans, and random holes and torn areas from Cress' claws were apparently.

"Er... right." Mistral's voice turned to Reid's as he transformed back, still a little shocked. "But, how did you know who I was like that?"

"Simple, I met my fael recently as well. Introduce yourself, Sae." A girl entered Reid's mind, with hair the same colour as Sven which fell down to her feet, and a look on her face that made it seem like she was shy, modest, which was quite the opposite of Sven. She was dressed in nothing but a pair of white pajamas, which was quite unusual.

"H-hello. I'm Sae." The girl struggled to smile, before burying her face in her hands. Mistral giggled a little before approaching the girl and taking her hands away. "S-sorry. I'm a little bit s-shy around new people."

"That's okay!" Mistral exclaimed enthusiastically as she put on a big grin. "I'm Mistral!"

Sven laughed. "I guess I'll get along quite well with your fael!"

Lightning shot across the sky, thunder booming shortly after as the rain intensified. Reid felt a familiar presence shoot into the sky. A combination of lionus and dation. "Sven, give me a vial of that syrum." Sven nodded and went over to one of the medical staff for the requested item as Reid found his board nearby, making sure it was still in an okay condition to fly. The scythe-wielding boy handed him a needle, wished him luck, and Reid took off. The higher Reid went in the cold, rainy, and windy sky, the more obvious it became as to what was going on. It was an apostle at work, and it was planning on releasing an insane amount of energy down on the town below.

Reid eventually pierced the barrier of clouds that covered the town below, and gasped for breath. The altitude was unsuitable for a person to stay in for too long, and the bitter cold nipped at Reid like a fire nipping on a piece of paper. The apostle was not visible, for it was engulfed in a ball of spinning dation and lionus. It was perfect, Reid thought, as he knocked an arrow onto his bow, replacing the arrowhead with the vial he had previously been given. He took careful aim, aware that an impressive amount of mahstion would have to be exerted in order to pierce the barrier. The wionus began to bind itself around the arrow, until the arrow itself was glowing a radiant green, and then he let go.

The arrow flew at an impressive speed towards the ball of energy, and upon impact it paused for a moment as the wionus took effect, forcing it through the ball. A girl's scream echoed for miles as the ball shattered. Reid noticed a blur shoot out of the ball as it shattered, and he attempted to revert to Mistral's form, but was too slow. The girl had her clawed hands around his neck in an instant, the needle stickin out of her neck. He did not notice this until after he saw the familiarity of the girl's emotionless face however. He struggled to shout, as his neck was constricted. "Rosaline! What the hell is wrong with you!?"

"I am Cressida, composed of Rosaline and Juliet Dian. The Rosaline you speak of is no more." This was bad. The medication wasn't taking an immediate effect, although there was a glint in the apostle's eye that insured Reid he was going to be okay. The girl suddenly let go, and backed off as she held her hand out to fire a blast of lionus. "You will not get in my way!" He didn't have much time to react, and so he quickly fired an arrow at the energy ball, parting and redirecting it into two separate parts which shot off in different directions. The arrow, unfortunely, made contact with something on the other side.

The bodies of Juliet and Rosaline began to plummet to the ground, an arrow extended out of Juliet's heart. Reid paniced again and grabbed on to Rosline, although the force pulled him off of his board. He pulled off what was left of his coat and wrapped it around her body, pulling her close as they began to spiral downwards. "Reid... It's okay... Juliet isn't your fault... I'm sorry..." Rosaline spoke as she grabbed onto his hand, her eyes opening meekly.

"No... I should be sorry, I said I'd protect you. Looks like I can't even protect myself." He managed a smile, and Rosaline smiled back. Suddenly, after they had fallen back through the rainy clouds, something grabbed the back of his shirt and threatened to tear him away from the girl. It reached the point where they were only holding on by their hands, but that was eventually broken as well. "Rosaline!"

"Reid!" The girl was left to fall alone as a girl with flaming red hair took him away. Luckily for Rosaline though, she fell into a pile of snow nearby the home, Juliet's dead body landing in a tree...

OOC: Well, that was rushed, so some parts may seem a bit 'EEH?" I need you two to deal with Villa.

Villa hesitated, listening to Faewyn's reassuring words. They were filled with hope, and it was all Villa could do, not to rudely recoil when Faewyn touched her hand. Nobody had ever touched her hands voluntarily after she'd become this… thing. She didn't look around herself when Faewyn rushed to Adela's aid. To live normally. Villa wrenched her head down to glare at her mutated hands. She didn't want that, if she was a monster. She didn't want to feel normal and different at the same time. It sounded excruciating. Standing alone, Villa listened, hearing blood everywhere. Her own blood boiled in her veins, and she clasped her throat, falling to her knees as she let out pathetic rasping noises, the boiling blood streaming down her chin as it gurgled up her throat. This wasn't what happened last time. Last time this iridescent potion had been injected into her, she'd felt warmth. She'd felt her fingers shrinking to a normal, but rather lanky length. This time…

She heard.

Heard the familiar and un-familiar voices of Tealian soldiers.

Felt the disappearance of Cress' mahstion signature. The Fifth's signature. Then Kyra's.

She heard the steps on the threshold of Faewyn's room, and she spun around, wild terror in her eyes as she shrieked, pleading as blood spurted from her mouth, "PLEASE!!! STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

Kallen held a purple syringe, looking intrigued that the apostle before her was so bloodied up compared to the rest. Villa's pupils dilated at the sight of the needle, her screams growing in volume as she scrambled away from the solider, begging for no more experiments, no more tests. Salty tears mixed with the blood as she felt her head ripping itself apart from the strange side-effect of the liquid from earlier.

Kallen punctured Villa's arm with the purple liquid, saying with her usual wry and friendly smile, "This is the last one, promise."

"That's…" Villa whispered in fear, "The wrong arm…"

Everything grew dark and it was Kallen's turn to be surprised and horrified when Villa split. She mouthed the name of the woman who'd been labeled MIA long ago, but only the other solider standing by her side could speak it.

"Healer Shiraume!" He cried at the sight of the blonde woman with blood trailing from her chin and lifeless eyes. Her skin was even paler than it usually was. Kallen threw a blanket across the exposed skin and turned a furious gaze upon the other soldier.

"Go get a healer. Immediately!"

He scrambled out of the room while Kallen turned her gaze back to Shiraume, who's head and body were covered with the blanket. Her legs were still exposed, from the knees down, as Kallen had simply reacted to covering Shiraume to decency before anyone else happened to stumble inside. She let her gaze trail over to the other body, which lay facedown with arms spread across the floor. From here, Kallen could clearly see a prominent mark on the other woman's left hand. The unmistakeable mark of a black rose tattoo. The hand looked entirely unharmed, as though the tattoo had never burned before. In fact, she looked completely untouched, unlike Shiraume who bled and looked as though all the blood in her face had been drained away.

"Carn." Kallen threw a blanket across the chocolate-haired woman's body, hissing through grit teeth, "Even the innocent."



~



"Rosaline..." Adela murmured, still feeling the effects of being healed by her most hated mahstion, "She's…"

But Adela couldn't bring herself to say it. It was true. Rosaline and herself had never really had the chance to connect. Never really had the chance to talk, or become acquainted with one another. Adela was just another one of the many who'd ended up attacking Rosaline and capturing her. They weren't really friends.

"Nevermind." Adela finished, turning her gaze to look at the hole blasted in the wall. Her eyes widened and she sat up abruptly, pushing herself off the ground with her elbow. She looked considerably more lively than before as she grabbed a handful of Zeibel's hair, a vein twitching in her forehead as she murmured threateningly, (though it was far from being able to be taken seriously, as she was considerably far from the age of being able to do anything 'threateningly',) "How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling her 'My Mother'?? It's disgusting!"

She started again, and spun around. The second sudden movement however, sent her wobbling back onto the ground. She could feel the metal of the mahstion gun in her bag as she rummaged about, still lying invalid on the floor.

"It's still here." She sighed in relief.



~



"You could think of a more graceful way to ask who I am." Geote snapped, rubbing his throat where Arturo's knife had been held against it, and turning around without much care to face Natalia's short sword, "And I have no reason to tell you who I am."

He glanced at the unconscious, technically, defeated… Arturos and sighed, lifting up his mask a bit in politeness (He seemed to consider this similar to taking off a hat of some sort,) only to reveal a fanged and sadistic smile that seemed to be permanently painted on his face, "My name is Geote. I'm this reila's negafael. Now, if you'll wait just a moment…" He sighed and swallowed the sword again, pushing it down his esophagus before bowing, the tip of his mask just millimeters away from the blade of the sword, "And that's all for today, ladies and gentleman."

The mask disappeared and Aertan straightened.

"He's flashy." Aertan sheepishly half-smiled at Natalia and said, "Aertan Svartel, Ex-Priest of Carn." His eyes darted to the sword however and he quickly stated, "B-But I'm a traitor, so I'm technically on your side! Er, I am on your side." He corrected himself.

He felt a mahstion signature disappear. Someone was dead. Aertan's eyes darted around.

Who was it?

Not with a bang, but he'd be damned before he went out with a whimper.

First apostle Velin Dahn maintained his calm composure, betraying no sign of these thoughts to the Tealian strike squad that had fanned out around him. They had numbers, but the stench of fear still clung around them, all but one...

"Is that all?"

Like he had done for the entirety of this conversation, Velin addressed his remark to the oldest member of the group. He looked like he was approaching his late fifties, his black hair already grayed in parts and his back with the dark, raven wings stooping ever so sightly, but unlike with the others, there was no fear around him, and his deep blue eyes met Velin's without the slightest flinch.

"It is." the man replied, nodding, "Those were the exact words my sister said to me before she left."

"I see..."

The apostle retained his silence for a moment, shifting his weight just a bit, an action which caused the unfortunate soldier he had pinned between the ground and his taloned foot to wince. Though his right hand was not at the man's throat, he had duly demonstrated that this state of affairs could be remedied at a moment's notice. No-one had decided to push their luck, and the old man had been forthcoming with information. For the past hour, they had probed through the pasts of both Verdance and Lin Ayre as well as the healer's memory could afford, but now...it seemed like his questions on the subject had been exhausted. This didn't mean that he was ready to leave just yet, however.

"This...concoction of yours..." he nodded towards the syringe in the healer's hand, "You say that it shall return everyone to their former selves? No more, no less?"

"On my oath as a healer." the man with the grayed hair replied, "The antidote is being administered to your fellow apostles as we speak. They should be back to normal before long, all six."

"Seven."

"Excuse me?"

Velin's talons drew closer together, his monotone gaining a dangerous edge the likes of which it had never held before, "There are seven apostles besides me: Cressida, Cress, Villa, Ayzla, Arturo, Kyra, and Kira. What of Kira?"

The healer frowned, "Do you mean the deceased girl?"

The pinned soldier yelped as the talons on Velin's feet curled together even tighter, grazing the skin around his throat, "Kira." he corrected in a low hiss, "She has a name."

"There...is nothing we can do for her." the man conceded, "She is dead, first apostle, separating her body into its original components will not change this. Now for goodness' sake, let there be no more bloodshed over this! I have told you what you wanted to know, so let that man go!"

A low, growl-like sound escaped Velin's throat, his hair flashing crimson, but he relaxed the grip his talons held on the man. He still didn't relinquish him completely, however.

"The padre. The one responsible for this. Is he dead?"

"That has yet to be determined." the healer conceded, "But if he is the one who did this to my sister, you have my word that I will do my best to make it so."

"Your sister...you care for her a lot, do you not?"

"I do."

"And you would kill any who would harm her?"

"If that is what it takes to keep her safe."

"And this, too, is love?"

"It is."

For a moment, both men stared at each other. A tiny tinge of teal ran down Velin's hair...and then, without warning, the first apostle grasped the man beneath him with his taloned foot and hurled him forward at his comrades, seizing the opportunity to wrench the syringe out of the healer's hand, his Wionus-powered movement carrying him a fair distance away from the soldiers surrounding him. Several weapons were raised, but Velin lifted his free hand to silence them. Strangely enough, they followed suit, all save for the healer who rushed over to inspect the wounded soldier.

"How ironic..." Velin murmured, his hair now teal all the way to the tips, an occasion thus far unheard of, "...all this time, I was the failure...two failures, to be precise..."

With a deft hand movement the first apostle plunged the syringe in his hand into his vein, not even giving a flinch as the purple substance entered his system. Soon after memories and sensations began flooding his consciousness, emotions the likes of which he never knew he had welling up inside him. Still clinging to his identity for the last few moments, Velin turned to look the healer straight into the eye one last time, "When you see that little girl...give-give her my thanks for a most interesting conversation, and tell her..." the first apostle staggered, clutching his abdomen as he felt like a pair of giant hands was tearing him apart. Despite the pain, an eerie little smile graced his features, the memory of Kira lunging at his back and Kyra rushing over to scold her sibling playing out in front of his mind's eye, "...tell her...I was mistaken on the second question..."

With that, first apostle Velin Dahn finally allowed his eyes to slide shut, his body tumbling forward.

Soon thereafter, the bodies of Verdance and Lin Ayre approached the floor, only to be caught by a number of voluntary hands.


Faewyn dashed rapidly down the hallway. She was honestly surprised how fast Typhoeus' body was compared to her own. Despite looking like a rotting carcass, and appearing about as mobile, the long, gangly limbs were extremely flexible and lent themselves to a kind of four-legged shuffle. They could also pull leverage from all kinds of objects in their vicinity, allowing for fast turns and changes of position. It was a rather unseemly mode of transportation, but it was very effective, and right now, that was all that mattered for Faewyn. Just as she was zoning in on the mahstion presence in the guest room, however, she suddenly felt something odd. The presence...well, disappearing wasn't the right word, it was more like it had been...split up, the singular wall of indomitable mahstion replaced by a pair of regular signatures, the others in its vicinity soon following suit. With the background noise of the large presences, for lack of a better word, the smaller ones became more clearly noticeable. One presence, two, three, four, five...there-there were so many. Glancing around the corner, Faewyn noticed that Adela wasn't alone: there were four other people in the room, two of them naked girls, covered by a blanket and apparently unconscious, and the two others...

Newfound hope ignited in the girl's heart at the sight of the Tealian uniforms. Had they been sent...reinforcements? Though part of her wanted to lunge in and see what was going on, the girl contented herself with the eavesdropped news: and what news those were; they had found a method to split up apostles into the people they were made of! But that meant...a smile spread across her face, though the fact that she was still in Typhoeus' body made it look more like a malicious smirk, that meant that the battle was over. The graft project was over. It was all over...

Just then, however, one of the fresh presences disappeared. This could mean only one thing: someone had died.

But who? Alicel? Aertan? Reid? Villa's blood-curling scream snapped Faewyn out of her musings, and even though she should have guessed what it was about, she didn't feel any less at ease. The longer the time she spent in Typhoeus' body, the closer to feral her thought process was becoming. Thinking rationally was becoming harder, all she could feel was the scream, the steady absence of a mahstion presence, the feeling of the wooden floor as her clawed limbs scraped across it. She wanted it to stop, all of it! It should have stopped now! The good people were here, that meant that it should have been over! That meant that no-one, no-one should have been screaming like that!

Without offering a word of explanation, the girl -- still in her negafael's body -- shoved both Kallen and the soldier accompanying him aside. Once again, Faewyn had come too late to the scene, the two unconscious women on the floor confirmed that.

"Villa..." a tear ran down her cheek without the girl even fully knowing why, "...it's over, then." she, or he as one might have perceived it, heaved a heavy sigh. She should have felt relief over the fact that the poor apostle's torment was over, that this was nearing conclusion, but the feral instinct wouldn't give her a moment's rest, compelling her to take another action: grasping Kallen by the shoulder with a firm grip of her clawed hand and glaring her straight into the eye, "You, take care of her. Both of her. She, they, have been through a lot, so if you cause any trouble I swear I'll find out where you live."

Faewyn had no idea why she was feeling so hostile, or why she had felt the need to bark an order for something that Kallen would probably have done anyway. It felt so...justified, even as she felt revulsion over the act. Suddenly, the girl shook her head, as if trying to dislodge the strange thoughts swimming around her mind. This was fael possession; she was becoming more Typhoeus-like by the minute and she needed to get out before it was too late.

"S-sorry..." Faewyn mumbled in a flustered tone, confusion and doubt evident in her eyes as she relinquished her grip which, she noticed, had left a set of scratches where she had held her hand, "I don't know what came over me, it's all just so confusing-I-" she grasped her head as what felt like a dagger piercing her forehead overcame it, "Shut up, you!" she wailed, "It's a good thing that it's over! Good! I-" she turned to look at the now probably very much confused Tealian, "I've got to go! Excuse me!"

Without any more attempts at explanation, Faewyn lunged out of the room, once again adopting the quadrupedal shuffle as she darted past the soldier and the healer he had managed to summon and down the stairs, not stopping long enough for either to overcome the sheer shock.

"His opponent is the Fifth who uses Wation. I'm sure he'll not live long. I hope you'll help me retrieve my mahstion bag when it's through."

The fading signature...right before it, hadn't there been another negafael signature around?

She didn't think, she didn't walk down the stairs, she just leapt, effectively ceasing her slide across the living room floor by means of the claws, which were starting to feel more and more convenient by the minute, as she performed a neat 180-degree turn to get a clear view of the room.

"Aertan! Alicel! Are you-"

Then she saw it all. She saw the two unconscious bodies on the floor, she saw Aertan -- still very much alive -- she saw Natalie, but above all, she saw the sword in her hand...and where it was pointed.

"You..." a low, warning hiss escaped Faewyn's throat, mahstion gathering around her clawed hands, the girl gnashing her fanglike teeth threateningly at the officer, "I won't...I won't let you hurt..." this person...this insufferable person. She was supposed to be on their side! How dare she? How dare she do this? Point a weapon at Aertan! Aertan out of all people! The one who had never displayed disloyalty of any kind! A bright yellow spawned in the middle of Faewyn's black eyes as she crouched backwards, preparing to lunge, how dare that woman?! She would get what was coming to her...she'd be dead before she even had time to blink.

"Faewyn, don't!"

Isaire's voice rang loud and clear through the haze in her mind, causing the girl to halt. Briefly, she stared at her mahstion-drenched hand, as if seeing it for the same time.

"What you're trying to do...it will only get Aertan into trouble."

"But she's threatening...she's threatening him!"

"And if you go through with this, she will do more than that!"

"But it's unfair! Aertan...he's only trying to help someone he cares about. To pick on him of all people it's-it's not fair! I'll-"

"Give them reason to do it?"

Faewyn hesitated, the yellow slowly retreating from her eyes, "I..."

"Because that's what you'll do if you go through with this. You'll confirm, in everyone's mind, that he's a monster. It doesn't matter whether or not he's the one who has hurt this officer, if she's found dead after pointing a sword at him the rest will be assumed."

"I..." Faewyn's pose relaxed slightly. All of this made sense, but just thinking about it...it made her head ache somehow, "I...just don't know..."

"Yes you do." Isaire retorted sternly, "These are not your thoughts, Faewyn. This is what Typhoeus would do. What would Faewyn do in a situation like this? Think!"

"I..." the mahstion around the girls hands dissolved, both clutching her head instead. The throb of the headache was now all consuming, she couldn't see, she couldn't hear, she could barely think...only one thing, only one thought cut through.

"Stop it!"

With that single shriek, the haze around Faewyn's mind lifted, the sound of countless heavy chains constricting around something echoing around her mind as Typhoeus' ghoulish body shedding off like the skin of a snake and the dragonfly wings grew back to their former state. For a few moments, the girl simply lay on the floor, panting from the exhaustion before she finally realized the situation and got up to her feet, giving Natalia an apologetic glance, "Terribly...sorry...about that." Faewyn managed, "I'm...not used to...handling my negafael." she reached into the pocket of her cargo pants and pulled out a small badge which she displayed to the woman, "Faewyn Ayre, temporary recruit of the Tealian special forces. Aertan has been helping in this mission as penitence for crimes committed in the service of Carn. He fought the apostles just like the rest of us, and I can say with absolute confidence that there's no question of his loyalty. I'm sure Reid would do the same if he was here, so please...could you please put that sword down, m'am?" her hand gave an involuntary twitch, forcing her to grasp it with the other, "Weapons...excite my negafael just a bit."

Sven's ice blue eyes surveyed the skies, ignoring the whole issue of the two girls that had fallen from the sky. Something had plucked Reid out of the sky, and from the colouring of the wings it seemed a lot like a phoenix girl than anything. But what amazing strength for a young girl to possess in order to carry a boy away. But where were they going? The direction was indeed in the direct trail towards Carn, but why? He had an important decision to make now. Would he continue to attend to his duties and write Reid off as a deserter, or would he abandon his duties as a SPEF agent and pursue his friend, rival, and fellow SPEF agent? Speaking of soldiers, where the hell was the other half of the batallion? Had they got lost downtown or something? What became of the Commander?

"Sven, have your men lock this felon up. It seems he was the one in charge of the apostle operations behind the King's back." A woman's voice sounded from Sven, which in response he spun around to face Commander Milo. "Also, you have two days to find Reid Davies, I have much to discuss with him. You leave now, understood?"

"Yes ma'am!" Sven agreed forcefully. He waved his hand towards the padre, and two Tealian soldiers took him off the commander's hands. "Lieutenant Zeibel recently sent me a message about locating your daughter, ma'am! Now I beg your leave." Sven left with a big grin on his face. The decision had been made for him, apparently.


"Oww! Oww! Miss Adela! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Zeibel shouted as Adela took hold of his hair which in turn made him lose his composure. As the sound of highheels clinking quickly approached, the lieutenant regained his composure. "Commander!"

"Glad to see you're well, Adela." The girl's mother spoke. She would have attempted to hug her, but an unconscious Rosaline, bundled tightly in a thick white blanket, was thrown over her back, the girl's navy hair drooping over and covering her face. "Thanks to the efforts of you and your group, we were able to successfully lure the thread out into the open and trap them. However, it seems Carn's princess wound up dead in the process. We've sent for Carn's royal envoy to pick up this one, who will hopefully act as their new princess. What disturbs me most, though, is that the entire apostle fiasco was executed by a small rebel group. The king knew nothing of it." It was the truth, Carn and Tealia had worked together in order to create a fitting strategy for the apostles' defeat. "Also, Reid is gone. I sent Sven to trail him, however."


Natalia raised an eyebrow at everything that was taking place. Transformations, increased powers, it seemed everything they had been briefed about faels was true. It was very... bizarre. The woman lowered her weapon. "Very well. I have other duties to attend to anyways." She picked up the two boys that were originally elements of Arturo, and left.


"Put these on, kid. You look like a mess dressed like that." The phoenix girl giggled as she threw a bag of clothes. Ellianne, who was watching the two from the other side of the small wooden room could not help but agree, most of his clothing was tattered and torn, and it was hard to convince the ship's captain that he wasn't a bum. She couldn't wait to see his reaction when he took them out of the bag. It wasn't fair though, that Reid could wear normal clother while they had to travel in cloaks so that their wings were hidden. But, Ellianne figured that was just the way the world worked.

"What the hell! No way!" Reid barked in Mistral's voice, which was a sign that Mistral approved. In the bag was a pair of tight jeans and a white blouse that was designed for a girl, along with a few other needed items such as undergarments and hairties. "I am NOT dressing up like a girl!"

"But your fael seems to disagree, considering I'm assuming you didn't willingly change your form. Besides, it's only for a couple of days until we reach our destination." Flaire's voice was inflicted with humor as she spoke, jumping back onto one of the three cushy beds in the small room, her hair bouncing with it. "Don't forget you're wanted in Carn for kidnapping Rosaline, and now Tealia will be after you for deserting. You'll need an alias while in public, at least for a little while."

Reid had to agree, and he hated himself for having to agree. In the end, he was forced to change in front of the two girls in Mistral's body, as they gave him a makeover. When it was all done, Reid was rendered a 15 year old girl with green, wavy hair, decorated with two white bows, green eyes, and she was dressed in the outfit previously mentioned. Her fingernails had been done in red nailpolish, and she was wearing a pair of white flipflops.

"Oh my god Reid you look so funny. This must be so humiliating for you! Don't you look all cute and dolled up?" Mistral laughed continuously for the following three hours.

"SHUT UP." He rebuttled, his face quite read and fists clenched.

OOC: Wanted to end this post on a funny note with all the serious stuff we've had going on. XD

Adela let go of Zeibel's hair the minute she heard those stupid heels clacking on the floor. Her face wore a look of annoyance, exhasperation, but when she turned around to face Commander Milo, her face was all innocence. She only half listened to her mother's words, thoughts riddling her mind with each syllable that was spoken.

Her mind patched up the holes that her mother left, deciding that Juliet was dead, since her mother implied that the limp and unconscious Rosaline was alive. Adela let her eyes trail to the ground, knowing that Aertan was probably downstairs. She remembered hearing about his initial goal, the whole reason he was with them. She wondered if he'd go back to Carn, now that Juliet was dead. No, he couldn't. He was a traitor now, or at least, he'd called himself one. She didn't really care about the King. He was a stick in the mud anyway, and all the better if he was shown that his control over his own country was incredibly flimsy, whether he had that stupid tattoo branded on everyone or not. But the last thing was what interested her the most.

"Reid is gone?" Adela repeated, looking dumbfounded. She nearly moved to make sure that the necklace was still safe in her pocket, but she resisted. Her mother didn't know anything about it, and with so many uncertainties rushing through her, she felt as if touching the cold necklace would do little to ease her. Sven was going after him. She barely knew Sven, to be truthful. He'd never done anything that might make her feel as if she needed to play a prank on him, or investigate his background.

"I see." Adela replied finally, standing up and brushing herself off, blinking and shaking the dizziness from her head. She bent down and heaved her bag onto her shoulder, "That's rather rude of him, to just up and leave like that."

"I'm going back, if there's nothing else." She added, before grasping the railing of the staircase to support herself. She wanted to personally deliver the news to Aertan, because she knew that nobody else really knew why someone from Carn descent was helping out with this cause. But she had to find out the story herself first.

---------------------------------

Aertan watched Natalia leave. He sighed half in relief, half in annoyance towards the departure of the woman, and her stubborn personality respectively. Stepping past Faewyn, Aertan pulled one of the kitchen chairs that had been overturned in his and Arturo's short battle back into an upright position.

"Thanks for that." Aertan stated, turning to face Faewyn, "Are you-"

"Aertan," Adela's voice came. She stood next to the doorway, leaving the threshold empty, "I thought you might want to know that we found Juliet."

He started, about to ask where he could find her now, but he showed only an expression of surprise on his face. It was all Aertan could do, not to let his gaze turn back to Faewyn. But Aertan was crushed by his next thought. He'd vouched that he was a devout believer of Tylonstus to the King. And to Juliet. Here he was, without a left hand and both tattoo's branded on Geote and Haeon't gone. So he was a liar.

"That's…" Aertan began awkwardly, "Good."

"No," Adela replied, "You'll find it far from good."

Aertan immediately thought of the mahstion that disappeared. He made to move through the door to confirm his suspicions, but he was stopped again. He closed his eyes, avoiding looking anywhere near Faewyn as he spoke quietly.

"I'm going to go see her." He didn't wait for anyone's answer as he moved into the living room, moving quickly but smoothly. Aertan's strange calmness was betrayed though, as anyone who saw his shaking hand as he steadied himself on the wall could tell that he was far from calm. He stared blankly through the front door, and nothing obscured his view from the body he recognized immediately. Silence overcame him, though he suddenly slapped his hand over his mouth and shrank away from the door, turning so that the wall hid Juliet's body from view. Soldiers had retrieved the body from the tree, and Aertan was sick to his stomach.

Geote replaced Aertan's steadying hand on the wall, and Haeon't was still twisted around, looking through the door and watching the soldiers cover Juliet's entire body with a white sheet.

He felt nauseous, but frozen like stone. Aertan slid down the wall, into a sitting position his hand still firmly clamped over his mouth as he stared at the floor as though it were some sort of terrible monster. Everything seemed like a terrible monster.

Aertan couldn't even go back to Carn anymore.

-------------------------

"I didn't manage to say goodbye." Alicel sighed, sitting in one of the smaller airships that was heading back to Tealia with the bodies of random apostles. She tried her best to ignore them, as seeing two humans who were once one made her uneasy. And what made it even worse was that Alicel was headed back for Alta, without a word. She'd just up and vanished, and she felt bad for that. But one of the soldiers had told her some unsettling news, and she knew that everyone would understand… mostly everyone anyway.

"Well, they'll know where you've gone, a soldier should inform Commander Milo anytime now." Replied one of the healers tending to Shiraume, the only woman Alicel recognized amongst the others.

"What's wrong with her?" Alicel asked after a pause.

The healer sat back and watched Shiraume's uneven breath, "I'm not sure. We'll have to wait for a more experienced healer to come take a look at her, but she reminds me of someone who's taken too many different medications all at once. The body goes into shock, you see… I can keep her system going until we get to Tealia though."

Alicel nodded and turned back to staring out through the window. The short conversation between herself and the healer had distracted her from the never-ending replay of that soldier's words in her mind.

" Apparently, the mailman couldn't find your location. Thankfully, I remembered that you were with that group that had gone off to look for Carn Royalty, and so I asked the mailman to delegate the task to myself. We were off to search for your location anyway, since that apostle showed up."

Alicel crushed the ripped envelope in her hand and furrowed her brow, turning away from the healer so that she wouldn't see her face.

"It's wonderful to hear you're alright, Alicel. Things aren't doing so well over here, y'see, Reks has been a bit ill. I don't know what's wrong with him yet, and the doctor doesn't know what it is either. He says that there might not be a cure for whatever Reks has, but don't worry yourself, I'm sure the regular doses of rest and chicken soup should set him straight. Come back when you get the chance, but don't rush yourself. I'm sure he'll hold out until you return!

Much love,
Ella"

"Oh, you're welcome." Faewyn replied, relief evident in her features now that the conflict seemed completely and utterly resolved, "I'm just glad it's all...over."

Her optimistic proclamation was cut short by Adela's arrival and her message, and when she caught a glimpse of Aertan's devastated expression, Faewyn thought she had a pretty good idea of what had happened...and the identity of the faded signature. She remembered just how devastating her mother's final message had been, but compared to seeing someone you cared about dead...the girl shuddered. No-one should have to go through something like that alone, no-one.

A few weeks earlier, it wouldn't even have crossed her mind, but now it was the most natural thing in the world. Without a single word, Faewyn walked over to her friend, taking a seat on the floor next to him and, still not offering any form of explanation, giving the ex-priest a hug.

It didn't matter what kind of person you were, at some points of your life you just needed a hug.

"Aertan..." she mumbled, "I'm sorry...that you had to see that..."

She could have elaborated, but right now she felt like saying anything else would just be needless detail that he didn't need to be burdened with. She had wanted to say that it would all be alright, but right now that seemed like a big, fat lie if ever there was one, so she contented herself with expressing her support the one way she knew how.

It was not until a commotion broke out outside that she finally looked up.

"Look, m'am, you shouldn't be here in your condition! This is still an unstable area and protocol decrees-"

"Good sir." announced an authoritative female voice that made Faewyn doubt her ears, "I have spent the past year in the body of a man and two more under interrogation by radical extremists. This is my home, and if what I gather is correct, you have unlawfully incarcerated and force-drafted a girl who not only happens to be below legal drafting age but is also my daughter whom I would very much like to see. Now. What does protocol have to say about that?!"

"M'am, please calm-"

"I assure you, sir, I am pointing this mahstion at you in complete calmness and composure. Step ASIDE!"

Faewyn was dumbstruck, staring in disbelief at the figure marching across the street, straight past the equally dumbstruck soldiers who were quite positive that while apostles may have been part of the job description, they had certainly not signed up to deal with hysteric mothers. Despite being clad in nothing but one of those paper-like, white outfits that they gave hospital overnighters, an ill-fitting grey overcoat, and a pair of slippers, she held a certain air of dignity about her as she strode across the snow-covered streets and towards the door, her mid-back length, teal hair flowing out behind her. Though they looked somewhat shriveled from misuse, even the near-translucent dragonfly wings at her back maintained a regal air to them.

"M-mama!"

Faewyn just couldn't help it, upon seeing the mother she had taken for dead and gone stand there, alive and indignant as ever, she couldn't help charging towards her, nearly toppling the woman over in her enthusiastic hug as tears streamed out of her eyes. From up close, the slight extra paleness in her already light pigment was a clear indication that she was indeed still recovering, but she returned the embrace nonetheless.

"Faewyn! Thank Ophelia you're alright." a slight grin appeared on her face, "From what I gather, that's quite an appropriate expression in this case..."

"Mama..." the girl sobbed, "I-I thought you were dead. The journal-it said-"

"Shh...I know." Verdance replied, stroking her daughter's head, "It looks like...sometimes...probabilities are just probabilities."

"Mama...is papa..?"

"Still resting." the woman replied, chuckling slightly as she added, "You know what a sound sleeper your father is. Don't worry, he's alright."

Faewyn couldn't help a small chuckle at the remark, even as she still had a few sobs to quench, "So...it's really over, then? The graft project?"

Verdance nodded, "It's all over." she replied, "We can all get back to normal in a few days. Well..." she cast a meaningful glance at the ruined house, "...after we've done something about that, anyway. Let me tell you, Faewyn, I'm really looking forward to reading that journal of yours."

Back to normal...a blissful smile spread across the girl's face. After three years...three long years, she had finally gotten to hear those words. Everything had turned out alright in the end, after all.

Faewyn paused in mid-thought, her thoughts returning to Aertan, still hunched over at the doorstep. No, everything hadn't turned out alright, not for everyone, "Mama..." she mumbled, turning to whisper something into her mother's ear. The whispered conversation continued for a few more minutes, punctuated by the occasional "I see." and nod, but eventually, mother and daughter disentangled, the former walking over to Aertan with the latter trailing her in a slightly sheepish manner.

"Excuse me." the woman said, "I know that this is not a good time for introductions, but I'm Verdance Ayre. Faewyn's mother." she reached out a hand in introduction, not seeming to care whether the gesture was returned, "I...am sorry for your loss. I never had the pleasure of getting acquainted with princess Juliet, but I hear that she was a good person, especially for one of her position. Now, I gather from the absence of a tattoo that returning to Carn would not be a prudent option for you, and judging by the manner of these soldiers it would seem that Tealia would not be much kinder in this respect. I can understand if this feels too sudden, but I'm sure I could find an apartment for you here if you wish. It's a harsh climate, but we don't care much about people's pasts around here and we're used to most kinds of people. As long as you do nothing to threaten the order, it's live and let live, and I'm sure that Faewyn..." the girl peered shyly from behind her mother's shoulder, like most children did when their parents were arranging something for them, she had no idea what the ex-priest would make of her gesture, but she just knew that she had to do what she could for him, "...would appreciate your company. You needn't worry about paying; this is the least I can do in return for you looking after my daughter. Besides, I am -- in a way -- responsible for the graft project escalating to this point, so it's only fair that I face up to the consequences. What you make of this offer is up to you, but if there's something we can do for you then don't be afraid to-"

The woman's words were cut short by a violent coughing fit which caused her to double over, both Kain and Faewyn rushing over to her.

"Mama!"

"Verdance!" exclaimed the healer with the graying hair, who had been observing the situation from afar up to this point, "I know I promised not to interrupt, but if you stay in this frigid air any longer in your current condition-"

Verdance sighed "I know." she interrupted, turning to Faewyn while Kain motioned in one of the soldiers for carrying help, "I know. Fay, it's alright. It's just a cold...and some small side-effects of the antidote. I'll have to get inside for check-up, but I'll be back soon, alright?"

The girl gave her a sceptical glance, "Promise?"

The woman chuckled in response, offering her a weak smile and a pat on the head, "Promise." she replied, "And Faewyn, I'm...proud of you, I really am. Take care of yourself for a while longer, alright?"

Faewyn nodded, "Alright." she replied, nodding in response to the departing figure. Right now, at this particular moment, there were very few things that could have dampened her mood. Mama and papa were back and the apostle trouble was over. The thought of Reece still bothered her, but right now Faewyn retained an optimistic attitude. Reece was strong, he'd hold out, and she'd get to him as soon as possible. Now that mama was here, there wasn't really any task that the girl could deem impossible anymore.

Sitting back down next to Aertan, Faewyn remained speechless for a while, casually placing a hand on the other's back to remind him that he still wasn't alone. Eventually, the need to say something to her friend overcame her, however, "Aertan?" the girl asked cautiously, tilting her head towards the ex-priest, "What...are you going to do now?"

The hug that Faewyn had given him had eased his spinning head, but he still stubbornly refused to remove his hand from his mouth. He knew it was rude, to not reply to the words of comfort that Faewyn was speaking, but Aertan felt as if the minute he removed his hand, he might not be able to hold in a pathetic sob. He lessened the pressure on his mouth when Verdance appeared though, as his relief for Faewyn was almost- almost overcoming the memory of the dead body. So, all was well for Faewyn. That was more than enough. He lifted his gaze when Verdance addressed him, and let Haeon't recieve the handshake enthusiastically.

He let his hand drop to his side as he listened to her proposition, surprised to say the least. Such a simplistic solution. And yet, still no words came to him. He gave little to no reaction when Verdance began to cough- though he was worried that even through all this, with Faewyn's mother back and everything, that it wouldn't last. He was somehow reassured by how calm Faewyn herself was though, and he thought. Just let thoughts run through his head. Faewyn's question of what he was going to do was certainly the number one thing that he tried to sort out first. What, indeed? All of his belongings were back at the church. He could ask Jetane to get them for him. No, Jetane would just send some soldiers after Aertan's butt to get the reward money.

"I'll stay here." Aertan finally replied with a smile, "I won't ask you to pay any rent though. I couldn't, since you've done more than enough for me just by letting me hang around. I can pay. I've got old wages from helping out with funeral services and weddings, so until I can find a job here, I'll use that. So that's my plan."

Aertan paused, thinking of Jetane and wondering how long it'd take the hunter to track down the ex-priest, "I'll stay with you as long as I can."

2 years later...

"Dear friends,
How are you all faring? I know it's been two years since we last crossed paths when my sister died, but that's the reason I decided I should attempt to come into contact with you all. It may or may not satisfy you to know that I am well. When my father originally attempted to instate me as the new princess, there was much uncertainty from the people, although that has seemed to pass. I spend most of my time out in the garden playing my flute, which seems to get me strange looks from the aristocrats, but that's fine. I'm not quite used to the red carpet yet, and personally I'm not that fond of it. The big flowery dresses that I am forced to wear are my least favorite part of the role.

Aertan, you owe me big time. I was able to aquire a pardon from my father in regards to your offences. If you see it fit, you can return to the country at any time. Also, as he told me when I last met him two months ago, Reid has neglected to keep any contact with anyone other than myself in regards to his location. As you all should be aware, a country known as Flazure was recently established. He's found a role there, although I can not disclose as to what for security reasons.

With the formation of that country, many things have begun to go wrong. There is civil unrest amoungst Carn's citizens in regards to both that country and Tealia, and I fear it may escalate into a civil war. Though through my attempts along with Prince Ryan, I hope to achieve some form of peace. Now, I really must go. I need to attend a meeting with my father...

Best regards,
Rosaline Zeli Dian"

"Feh. Just because we ran into her a few months ago doesn't mean she can just go ahead and mouth of our location whenever she pleases." Flaire paced back and forth before her two friends, who were positioned rather uncomfortably on a steel bench within her office. She was dressed in a pink dress, and her flaming red hair was down in a wavy fashion "The nerve!"

Reid stood, his height now significantly greater than it once was. Dressed in nothing but a white cloak, the boy took the phoenix girl's hand with his own. "Oh, don't be like this! As the future empress of this country, you shouldn't be acting so immaturely. Not to mention we have a date tonight and it won't be very fun if something this small stresses you out!"

"I know! I know! It's just, she's one of the people who isn't trying to help our cause. People in her country still enslave our kind!" She threw her hands to her sides, and Ellianne sweatdropped from the sidelines. This was nothing new for the two. They had been squabbling since day one, but lately it had seemed a little less hostile. Things had been bad for a while after Flaire found out she was the only heir to the phoenix royal family, but the three had managed to push through. Things would turn out fine, and there were many more adventures for the trio to overcome in the future. She didn't need to be a fortune teller to see that much...

Fin.