Humanum Familiares [Best Rookie/Most Original Aug/Sep '11]

Primeria stood outside of the Headmaster's Chambers with Cody after they were beckoned out. That was the first time she had seen the headmaster so furious... and at HER above all else, even if he was discontent with Cody. She began worrying over many of the things the headmaster had spoken of, his broken vase, the partially destroyed textbooks, and many other minor things that Cody had done. She wasn't sure how to explain the order of hierarchy to Cody and she was much too worried to do so at the moment. It was true she had no control over Cody and his actions could say he wasn't the type to BE controlled, which troubled Primeria greatly.

'Jeez, what got into that old man. He's your principal? Makes me happy I don't go to school anymore. So, what are we doing about this showcase thing? Flier makes it sound you have to participate.' Cody commented and asked. Primeria looked at him with a weak smile on her face despite her trying to put up a brave front.

"... W-Well... it is mandatory... for us summoners...," Primeria paused. The show was important to a mage in displaying their control over their familiar, however, to control a person was much too different, and Primeria had no clue how she was going to pull off such a feat. "...It basically... is a competition of sorts... to see who has the best control... and bond... with their familiars... *cough*" Primeria finished. Her worries were steadily increasing with each moment and she was clearly behind two days of training as compared to her fellow classmates. With nothing in mind, Primeria decided to retreat back to her quarters where she did her thinking best.

"...L-Let us return to my quarters..." Primeria stated and made her way towards the staircase. The day would be a long day, of that Primeria would be sure.
 
Josh returned to see that thegroup had rounded themselves up Emil sat on a horse with Kenna sitting in front of him.

He had scratches and wounds on his body and he looked a wreck. The group now consisted of Benjamin, Josh, Kenna, Emil, Kiroku, Miharu, Leonda, Miku, Andre and Adria.

Emil noticed Joshs poor condition and was about to make a snide comment when he stopped himself. How could he even begin to say anything at a time like this. He decided that snide or not he had to at least attempt to make conversation as the group proceeded down the road through the dead of night.

"So... ummm Josh..." Emil said.

Josh grunted in response.

"Wheres your Dad?" Emil asked.

Joshs heartstrings pulled. His father had started talking nonsense about plans and other things, he had then attacked him and Adriel had aswell.

Why? Why would they do such a thing? and where did they go afterwards. Josh didn't want to tell the others what had happened.

"I... He said he couldn't come." Josh lied.

"Why?... Did he..." Emil began.

"I don't know..." Josh interupted.

"Now shut up."

"Oh... Ok." Emil finished.

Josh met eyes with Kenna for a moment but turned away as soon as he did.

***

"Whats wrong with Mr.Josh?" Benjamin asked. He was walking beside the horse Kenna and Emil were riding and tugged on Kennas dress as he did.

"He was really nice before but now something seems different."

***

Joshs head was full of anger and bad thoughts, he couldn't see a silver lining in this cloud, no moral of hope in this story. No spark of life in this barren landscape. His life seemed to have turned to crap. He had found his father, to be attacked by him. He had found a friend only to seperate from her to protect her. He had had a life, only for it to be ripped away.

He trudged silently in the orange glow of the sunrise, as Tristein academys flags flowed in the distance. Thanks to Leondas third tier earth magic they had made it their in less than a quarter of the original time.
 
Kenna looked down at Ben and smiled. He was too young to understand all of this. He looked up at her with a look of curisitcy and that made her happy. She hoped of the horse and gestured for Emil to carry on with out her for a while.

"Josh is going through a hard time right now." Kenna explained as she walked side by side with him.

"Is he going to be nice again?" Ben asked.

"I hope so." Kenna sighed. "I really hope so."

Kenna looked up to see Josh meet her eyes briefly before he turned away. She did not know what had happened to him but it did not look good. He was beat and looked a mess. Kenna wanted to know what had happened back there but she choose not to ask, she was not ready to speak with Josh yet.

Her wounds had healed and for that she was glad. As they kept walking, the Tristein academys flags flowed in the distance. The showcase was not far away now. Kenna was not sure how she could do the showcase without Tristan, but she was going to have to. Things were going to get harder before they got easier.
 
Josh sighed as the group finnaly stepped through the gates of Tristein academy, worn, beaten and exhausted.

No sooner had they stepped through the front door then the headmaster came bursting out into the main courtyard, his long hair and beard flowing behind him. He was gasping for air by the time he reached them. His face lit up as he saw the princess, he jogged over to her and grasped her hands.

"Oh your highness thank goodness your safe! I thought for sure that due to my ineptitude and ill-preperation you would have died!" Prof.Awenston grumbled.

"Please on behalf of Tristeins academy please accept our humblest apologies." The headmaster said falling to his knees.

"Oh Patrick stand yourself up will you... It was no trouble, my band of merry rescuers swiftly took me from that horrible place so you needn't worry." Leonda said, helping the frail old man upwards.

"My dear Leonda, it seems your recent captivity has not changed your humble attitude, at any rate the familiar showcase is about to begin and you're needed in the..."

"If I may Patrick..." Leonda interupted.

"Despite the early hour myself and my rescuers are quite exhausted, so if I may make the request to postpone the showcase until tommorow." Leonda finished.

"But your highness... the guests are already..." Prof. Awenston began.

Again Leonda interupted.

"They may stay here at the academy as our honoured guests. I should hope that acceptable." Leonda finished.

The headmaster sighed.

"Of course Princess Hyacenth. I will inform the audience and participants at once." and that is exactly what he did, it was met by a few grumbles and groans but otherwise was accepted by the crowd, who would be staying in the East tower, otherwise known as the guest rooms.

***

Josh sighed when he heard that they had a day of rest and quickly marched towards Kenna and grabbed her by the arm dragging her towards the central tower and student rooms.

"C'mon, we need to get back to the room and sort out this familiar showcase thing so it's over and done with and that requires rest... I hope to God you still have the key." He said grumpily, he didn't want to get to close to Kenna... but he had no choice considering the showcase was so soon and considering how tired he was, he wanted to get some rest, he didn't care what Kenna thought.

When they got to the room Josh took the keys off Kenna and opened the door he walked in and flopped unto the pile of straw he had for a bed and groaned.

"sigh... what are we going to do about this showcase thing tommorow?" He asked.

(OOC: After the familiar showcase we'll be returning to normal school life for a while, this whole Germania story arc has tired me out :3)
 
(OOC: Not deleting this; this'll be before the second to last post Aura made XD)


"I suppose I don't have to worry because there isn't anything stopping me now," Kiroku said, a knowing smile on his face as he turned his head back to Josh, "Back on Earth, there was never a choice. I've learned rather recently that losing control isn't weakness. The real weakness is running away. It'll eat at you until it's strong enough." The boy was obviously being ambiguous. As for the details, there wasn't anything else to say. Josh would probably understand what his side of the ambiguity was supposed to mean.


Kiroku sighed as he looked up into a tree. His naginata had coiled around a branch and hung out of his reach. There wasn't any branches close enough to the ground to hop up on, either, so he had to actually climb the trunk of the tree. Inching his way up, Kiroku thought about everything that had happened. With the king slain, perhaps Germania would slowly rebound and become more friendly neighbors. Kiroku was sure that this was going to be a different place the next time he visited. He also felt like he himself grew through the entire ordeal. Sure, he was now a king-slayer, but he grew in power in the final moments to win the day. Maybe it wasn't needed, but Aqua Reaper form felt right. He wasn't entirely sure why he thought of a scythe of pure ice, nor the Volo boost, so why did it happen? Perhaps the second tier of power was, to a point, as powerful as the mind of the familiar? Or was eating the Volo Fruit influential to the core inside of him? Whatever the case, maybe it wasn't set in stone. Maybe if he tried the second tier at some other point in time he'd be able to alter his form and become something even deadlier. Of course, this was all speculation.

Reaching the first branch, Kiroku sighed with relief as he climbed higher and made his way closer to the weapon. When he was close enough, he carefully laced his fingers through the holes in the chain links and unraveled the coiled chains from the tree branch. Slowly everything came loose, and Kiroku pressed the button to let the chains pull the bladed end back in and snap it to the handle pole. With the weapon fully reclaimed, the boy carefully turned around and scooted himself back to the trunk to climb down. Miharu must still be looking for Lenora, and hopefully Miku and Benjamin will still be around. I don't know if they'll still be able to hang around-- Kiroku thought to himself before being suddenly cut off. Before the boy knew what was going on, a set of lips could be felt on his own and his upper body was pulled in close to another person. Feeling his face get red, Kiroku focused his vision to see Miku with her eyes gently closed. The kiss lasted for a considerable length of time, and it felt like minutes went by until she finally freed him of her embrace. "Miku? Wh-what was that?" the boy asked defensively, a little bit in shock. Miku smiled as she tapped him on his forehead.

"A little something for my champion," Miku said simply, a sly smile on her face as she looked over to the side. Curious to know what she was looking at, Kiroku turned his head and went dumbstruck. Both Miharu and Lenora were standing on a smaller levitating disk of Earth. By their own smiles, they saw everything. Kiroku could almost feel his face turning entirely red.

"Looks like our friend here has got a girlfriend," Miharu teased, pretending to press the button on an imaginary camera, "They look so cute together, do they not?"

"I can make it official; I know quite a few people that can help spread word of this," Lenora said, giggling to herself as she looked at the boy's face, "Too bad, I could see him as my king~!"

"You know Your Majesty, at first I thought that, considering the instability of your rescue team, it would have been more merciful to let you stay in your captivity," Kiroku explained, irritation in his face as his ears reacted with slight twitches, "but now I think I have a more personal reason to throw you in there again..."

"Oh, Kiroku, don't be like that!" Lenora laughed, Miharu also throwing in her own slight giggling from behind her hand, "I was impressed to hear that you managed to reach the second tier of your core on the first ever time of its activation. Not just anyone would be able to survive that kind of feat."

"So, what? want my autograph or something?" Kiroku asked, pouting slightly.

"Nope, I suppose you could say I'm giving you a "wish!" If you want something, I'll do what I can to my power o realize that wish," the princess explained, though not getting a very enthusiastic response from Kiroku.

"Give it to Miku-- I don't want it," Kiroku stated before swinging off the tree and landing nimbly on his feet. He began walking away.

"Kiroku! Be a good sport!!" Miharu called out, almost shouting at her familiar.
 
Leaving the room, it didn't take long for Primeria to respond to Cody's remark of rather brutal honesty.

"... W-Well... it is mandatory... for us summoners...," Primeria paused, clearly in thought. Cody had noticed it up till now but she seemed a bit rattled. Was Cody that out of line? Was this society completely different than his own? "...It basically... is a competition of sorts... to see who has the best control... and bond... with their familiars... *cough*"

"Ah I see. I am pretty good at competitions. We should do fine," Cody replied nudging Primeria on the shoulder.

"...L-Let us return to my quarters..." Primeria stated and made her way towards the staircase. Cody shrugged and followed her, placing his hands on the back of his head. The corridors were more familiar on this path, with Cody naming most of the landmarks aloud and praising himself on his memory. Overall, he would give himself a B though. He was tripped up a bit near the middle, almost getting lost in the maze of hallways. Cody was beginning to feel guilty however. Primeria wasn't particularly talkative and perhaps he damaged her reputation a bit with the headmaster. He didn't regret his actions though. The headmaster was that kind of a teacher. In fact, Cody's disregard for his authority hopefully knocked him down a peg. Bring him down to everyone else's level for a moment or two.

"Normally I don't apologize for my actions, but eh..sorry. I guess I didn't anticipate the headmaster being a total…errm you get the idea. So, yeah. Sorry," Cody began. His speech was bit off compared to his normal flowing, intelligent rambling. Perhaps it was the fact apologizing was a totally foreign notion. It was this point they reached the door. Cody fumbled with it for a second before forcing the door open. He didn't break it but for a moment he thought he did. "Home, sweet home. Eh? Never really slept on straw though. I'll adjust," Cody said, slipping an indirect complaint.

Cody read through the flier again, remembering Primeria's earlier exposition on the subject. "So we have to show our bond and abilities, right? Kind of unfair I suppose. We have a fair amount behind. I bet the others have superpowers or something. We'll have to think outside the box and make do with what we got. Any ideas?" Cody suddenly had a strong desire to make up for his earlier actions.

Also, he really wanted to win.
 
The headmaster sat at his desk thinking when a knock on the door snapped him to attention.

"Whos there?" He asked.


"It's us Patrick, may we come in." Princess Leonda spoke from the other side of the door.

"Of course Leonda. Please enter."

Leonda Hyacenth and Emil Landcroff stepped into the room.

"Did you recieve the necesary information?" Prof. Aenston asked.

"Yes sir." Emil murmured.

"We have been succesful."

"And?"

"It seems your suspicions were correct, they are truly Gandalfr, I've seen them activate Gandalfr cores final tier with my own eyes." Leonda said.

"They used magic?" The proffesor asked.

"Yes two of them did... however something very troubling has occured." Emil muttered.

"Kennas familiar... Joshua David Mist... was almost consumed by the void when he used his own magic, and he bears the hearts gear under his ruins. The ruins aswell as his gunblade seem to be restraining the hearts gear from transforming him into an uncontrollable font of chaos, however he came quite close when his own father pushed him.... His father, in the forest I went looking for my pistol ehich had been taken by said man. I found Josh being gorced to fight his father, the man called Gregory, who is a familiar himself...... and I don't know if this is posible or not... but can a familiar, if they have magic, have their own familiar? What I'm asking is can a familiar summon a familiar?" Emil finished.

"Yes... if the summoned had enough magic given by their master... it's possible... I know where this is going, you believe that Adriel was Joshs fathers familiar, while Gregory himself is the familiar and previous lover of...." The headmaster tailed off.

"Yes Patrick, we believe that Gregory is the familiar and lover who died in the legend... the legend of the chaos heart, th final wielder of the void." Leonda finished with a slight grimace.

***

Gregory stood at the top of the wide staircase leading to the void clock. He smirked with glee at its bright red glow.

Adriel knelt at the bottom of the staircase and watched her masters evil grin spread.

A single tear trickled down her face.

(OOC: C'mon guys thats three days and noone posted, don't let this die!)
 
It came as great news to hear that the showcase was being postponed until tomorrow. After all that walking he had to do after fighting that King of Germania, Kiroku was really, really, really tired. The small ambush the princess, his mage, and the village girl executed in the forest was probably a factor in it, too, but they hadn't spoke work of it since. They must have taken pitty on him and decided to keep it a secret to themselves... if just for now. In fact, he hadn't done a lot of talking on the way back. And even on the way up to Miharu's room he hadn't spoken a word, either. It had been a long series of events.

"Well, this is my room," Miharu said, opening the door to her room as Kiroku let out a huge yawn, "... It's a relatively large room; I can get another bed ordered and it should be here by tomorrow at the latest."

"What's with the pile of hay over there?" Miku asked, looking at it with a perplexed look.

"That's my bed. It's actually just as good as an actual bed, so I don't really need a new one," Kiroku spoke up, walking into the room and leaning his weapon against the dresser, "Why are you talking about it again? I thought I said it wasn't necessary."

"Before we left that was true, but now Miku-san is going to live with us," Miharu explained.

"Eh?! When was that established?!" Kiroku asked in shock, turning abruptly to stare at the two.

"Back in the forest of Germania. You gave Miku your wish that the princess bestowed upon you, and Miku wished to come back with us and become a resident of the school," Miharu said simply, and then added, "She is going to be working as the school's herbalist, but in return she can live here and hang out with us. I thought you would like that idea."

"And you have no problem with that?" Kiroku asked, obviously more concerned than the other two, "I mean, in the forest--"

"As long as you behave yourself it shouldn't be a problem," Miku said giggling. An open sign of discontent with that statement was on the boy's face.

"Me?! I wasn't the one who did the ambushing!!" Kiroku said indignantly, baring his teeth in annoyance.

"Well, she is eighteen and not my familiar; even if I have a problem with her I cannot get rid of her because it would interfere with her wish. She specifically wanted to move in with us," Miharu added, then with a sly smirk, "I can, however, discipline you without a problem."

"The news gets better and better," Kiroku groaned, slumping down onto his pile of hay as the two girls laughed.

"Don't worry, Kiroku, it'll be fine," Miku said, smiling as she played with her hair a little bit, "You can come with me to gather herbs while Miharu-sama is busy with her schoolwork. We'll have plenty of time to get used to things... huh?" By the time the boy hit the hay, he did so figuratively and literally. He was already sound asleep, and had a peaceful look on his face. He seemed content.

"Huh, I guess he is not a troubled sleeper," Miharu commented with an analytical look towards the boy.

"What?" Miku asked.

"Oh, nothing," Miharu said, walking over to the boy's weapon and picking it up. She was going to move it to a better location for him. "How about we just let him finally sleep, alright? After all the craziness of that last mission, he deserves a full duration of sleep."

"Sounds like a good idea," Miku said, walking over to Kiroku's sleeping body. She knelt down and planted one more kiss for the day on the top of his forehead. Seeming to react to it, he smiled slightly as he let out a longer exhale. "Pleasant dreams, our little Kingslayer."

Miharu thought to herself as the other girl wished Kiroku pleasant dreams. She hadn't thought about it much, but the boy was rather aware of himself when he was asleep. Waking up almost immediately when she found him in the hallway, the same when they poured the Revitalization Potion in his mouth, Miharu stroking the hairs on his head when she patched him up, and now Miku kissing his forehead. What was also odd, like Josh, was that the boy didn't seem to feel the aftereffects of achieving the final tier. There was no way that Kiroku had any magic in him, though, so it made things even stranger. What could explain this...

(OOC: There I posted :p)
 
Leonda sat on her bed in the guest towers main suite.

"Oh its good to be safe again...." Leonda sighed.

"It is indeed majesty." Emil said.

"Anyways I'd best find myself some place to sleep... considering I'm no longer noble..." Emil sighed.

"Oh yes... I noticed from your lack of armour. Of all the people to give up there status... I would have never expected it from you Emil... though I suppos you had your reasons... at any rate wether or not you're my royal gaurd you still fought to defend me and for that I am grateful." Leonda smiled.

"Though I worry Emil where are you going to sleep? Where are you going to live?" Leonda asked concern across her face.

"The headmaster accepted me as a combat tutour to the school... as for living quarters... I'll sort something out." Emil smirked.

***

Benjamin sat in the headmasters office. Leonda had left his fate in the hands of professor Patrick Awenston.

"Well young man, despite your previous status as nothus, we here in Tristein would never treat a child so horribly, so before you get worried I will tell you this. You will no longer be called Nothus." The headmaster said with a smile.

"Now tell me... how are you with organising files?" The headmaster said with a grin.

***

Josh lay on the bed and listened for Kennas answer when the door burst open to reveal a man with long blonde hair at its entrance.

"So!" Emil said.

"Where do I sleep!"

Josh stood up.

"I suggest you leave ponce, nobles sleep in the guests quarters. Even I know that."

"Ah you silly brute have you already forgotten?" Emil smiled.

"I am no longer a noble. Thus I must sleep here! After all we're all friends here, right?"

"Wrong."

"Friends!"

"Enemies."

"Pals!"

"Rivals."

"Partners!"

"Nemesis."

"Family!"

"In-Laws."

"Geez are you still in a bad mood, lighten up a little." Emil muttered

"You seem to have already forgotten the last days events, I knew you were stupid but thats just pitiful. You're not staying here, thats final." Josh stated.

"Ahhhh but Josh you've become like my brother these past few days! When we work together we always win!" Emil pumped his fist in the air and put on a cheesy grin.

"I barely know you Emil and from what I've seen you're not the person i'd want to live with. Plus theres no more beds." Josh had an answer for everything it seemed.

Emil wrapped his arm around Joshs shoulder.

"Now you know thats true though it doesn't mean I can't stay here... I mean after all, this rooms bed is a king-sized, perhaps Kenna wouldn't mind if I... *Gasp*" Josh thrust his knee into Emils crotch as hard as he could.

"*Gasp* *Heave* ... th...that wasn't very brotherly..." Emil spluttered.

"Shut your trap, you perverted dog." Josh hissed.

"Oh come on! I have no where to sleep! Besides it's not your room so I say we let the rightful owner decide if I stay here or not!" Emil cried.

"Fine! But you sleep on the floor, no matter her decision!" Josh shouted.

"Oh afraid she'll with me Mr. Angry!? Thought you didn't care anymore!" Emil shouted back.

"I don't!" Josh retorted.

The two men turned to Kenna.

"Alright then whats your choice?!" They asked simoultaneously.
 
Primeria sat upon her bed when they finally returned to her quarters. In front of the headmaster, she felt weak and helpless but then there was Cody, who seemed to mock the headmaster out of curiosity if not stupidity despite not knowing the older man's magical capabilities. In front of such an unknown force, could she really do such a thing? Primeria pondered long and hard on the subject before Cody began talking about something, causing her to turn her attention back to her rather rowdy familiar. His apology he had given to Primeria before they came in had yet to receive a reply from her and Primeria finally started to pull herself together.

"No... Don't apologize... It was my fault... for not explaining things through. *cough* You only did what was natural to you (or what she assumes was natural from how he did everything so smoothly)... as did I... which was cowering in fear..." Primeria turned her face away and fell silent for a brief moment of the truth. She was always weak, easily frightened, naive and gullible, something Cody clearly wasn't and she felt jealous of him for that. If only she wasn't so weak... if only she could be stronger for once, then maybe she could start to change her life around.

Primeria let herself collapse onto her bed as she began staring up at the dark ceiling above her with a blank mind. The sounds of small crumpling could be heard as Cody moved the flyer around his hand before he asked, 'So we have to show our bond and abilities, right? Kind of unfair I suppose. We have a fair amount behind. I bet the others have superpowers or something. We'll have to think outside the box and make do with what we got. Any ideas?' Primeria honestly wasn't sure of what Cody meant by "outside of the box". Maybe it was a different type of speech they used where he came from as Primeria looked at him confusingly before she asked, "... O-Outside of the box? ...What does that mean?" Her thoughts were clearly conflicting amongst themselves as she tried to analyze the meaning but then the earlier confrontation of the headmaster gave her some ideas... of Cody. He was nimble, a bit witty, but skillful at whatever he was doing. Maybe... just maybe...

"... C-Can I ask," Primeria started, almost completely putting aside her thoughts regarding her earlier question, "... what are your skills?"
 
"What are my skills? That's….that's…..that's a good question,"Cody said scratching his head. He sat on his bale of hay, cross legged, with a thumb is in his mouth as he attempted to think. The reality of the matter was that he never really thought about his skill set. That is usually a tradition reserved for resumes and seeing how Cody never held a steady job, he never completed one. The fact of the matter was Cody…well…Cody was a bum. He hung around with gangs for years, tumbling through his day to day matters without a care. He spent a fair amount of time on various hobbies, developing skills he was interested in mastering as well as anything useful in surviving in the New York City criminal underworld. As such, listing his skills was a good question, because there was quite a bit he could. Mostly useless things, but it was a start.

"Well, let' see. I can kill people pretty well. Oops, did I say that aloud?" Cody covered his mouth before laughing. "Ah, I am joking. Just joking. I guess that could count as a skill. But anyway, I am decent fighter. I can virtually escape any sort of imprisonment, like handcuffs. Stealth and pickpocketing were big hobbies of mine. I can juggle pretty well. I even juggled knives before and threw them at my bodies, narrowly missing their faces. Haha, you should have seen the looks on their faces. Priceless!" Cody broke into slight laughter at the memory of his friend Todd with a large switchblade barely missing his left check when Cody tossed the blade at him with his eyes closed.

Cody went back to thinking about his nonviolent skills. There weren't too many he could think offhand, but he made a conscious effort. After much deliberation with his inner voice, Cody snapped his fingers in victory. "I can play the violin and guitar. I stole both instruments from some rich snobby kid when I was 13 and taught myself using Youtube as my teacher. Fun stuff. And I am a fair public speaker. I aced most of those classes. I fail at math though. I could do like basic addition and subtraction problems, but anything more complicated than that makes my thinker box hurt. Oh, I love telling stories. It is one of my favorite pastimes. Nothing's better than a good story." Cody took a slight pause to recollect his thoughts and think of an apt summary of the rather random train of thought that started running. My best friend said I should run a circus since I can do a little bit of everything. A Renaissance man is what he called me. So I can usually pick up new tricks pretty easily, once I get the hang of it." Cody reflected on what he listed. None of them seemed all that useful for the task at hand. Unless they were going to put on a circus show for the crowd. Then again, it wouldn't be the first time he made a poor assumption today. Instead, he wanted to be forward thinking like he normally was.

"I am not sure how this works, but maybe we could put some sort of show. What skills do you have?" Cody asked playing with a piece of hay innocently. He could make a stab she was pretty adept with magic and perhaps a solid grasp on how to plan things. In that regard, she was his polar opposite. If she was his opposite, he made him more confident. He had a silver of an idea how to make her the winner.
 
Kenna sat on her bed and stared at the two of them. They were just arguing away like normal, actually, scratch that. Josh was doing most of the arguing. They both turned their attention to her and Kenna sighed.

"Alright then what's your choice?!" Emil and Josh asked Kenna.

She looked at both of them with wide eyes but did not say a word. She didn't know what to say. Having Emil around would not be so bad. Josh would cause a war over it though. This was going to be a hard choice. She could not turn Emil down after all he had done for her.

As much as it sickened Kenna to admit it, she was actually really scared of Josh. She was scared to even talk to him and she wanted to stay away from him for a while. Well, he had just nearly killed her, so who would not be scared of him? Having Emil here would make things a lot safer for her, but she would never get a moments peace with these two.

Kenna quickly took a look at the photo on her bedside table and that made her smile. She turned back to the two lads. They both looked annoyed and irritated. Kenna opened her mouth but closed it again. She wanted Emil to stay but she was scared of what Josh would think or do.

She looked at Emil and pleaded him to save from this. His face softened but he still looked like he wanted an answer. Kenna sighed and stood up. She walked passed Emil, carefully staying as far away from Josh as she could. She grabbed the door handle and opened it.

"I am going to find beds for both of you." Kenna said as she slammed the door behind her.
 
Josh winced as Kenna slammed the door behind her. Emil simply sighed.

"Is this really what you wanted you stupid slave?" He asked.

"I know that you of all people would never want to hurt Kenna... so I understand you did what you did for her sake. But aren#t you doing exactly what you said was selfish? You're sacrificing her feelings for the sake of not feeling the pain of loss and now she's afraid of you..." Emil finished.

Josh said nothing for a moment.

"I never said.... I never said I wasn't a selfish person... I know what Im doing is wrong... but... I just can't lose her... can't you think of what it would feel like... if you killed her, if you killed Kenna?" Josh asked.

"The moment my sword was brought down across her I snapped out of it, I realised then that I may have just killed her, I didn't feel any loss in my soul so I knew I hadn't but with the uncontrolability of my power... I just can't... So I continued, I let my anger out and blamed her so she would stay away from me... I'm being selfish, but I never said I wasn't a selfish person to begin with." Josh finished.

"Liar." Emil said.

Josh turned to him with a look of confusion.

"You said you weren't like us selfish nobles, you said you were different, so say you never said you were one." Emil stated.

Josh looked at his ruins toughtfully. Then winced tears in his eyes.

"WHAT WOULD YOU DO?!" He cried.

Emil took a step back as Josh roared out, however the man in the black trench coat simply fell to his knees.

"What would you do... if you were me? I know you feel for her too, so if you were such a danger to her, what would you do?! You'd do the same thing! You'd want to protect her no matter what! Even if that means I have to lose her! Don't you see, either way I lose her... Out of all my options this is the least selfish... this way she won't die..." Josh sobbed.

Emil watched Josh break down in front of him. He no longer seemed like a pathetic slave, a terrifying monster, or even an enemy. He just wanted to protect Kenna, he would do anything to protect Kenna.

Emil knelt down and put his hand on Joshs shoulder.

"You remind me of my best friend Josh... he was a man of great virtue and morals, he also wanted nothing morthan to protect Kenna. His name was Tristan, he was Kennas brother." Emil sighed.

"Y...you... called me Josh, not a slave or a brute or anything." Josh muttered.

"Its obvious now that you dont deserve any of those titles. Im sorry." Emil said.

"Wow... I never expected anything like that from you Emil." Josh said.

Emil stood up.

"You need to talk to Kenna, explain to her why you did what you did and why you need to stay away from her, she deserves that." Emil muttered.

"You're... you're right..." Josh said.

Emil rushed out the door and caught up to Kenna.

"Kenna... you need to talk to Josh." He said grabbing her arm.
 
Kenna stormed down the hall, she needed to blow of some anger. She stopped in the middle of the corridor and leaned against the wall behind me. Why was she so scared of Josh? She kept asking herself the same question.

A couple of student girls walked by her, they were all smiling and laughing with each other. Kenna knew all of them by face but not by name. One of the saw her watching then and she just smiled and waved. Kenna lifted her arm slightly but let it fall again. She was not good with socializing anymore. She was lucky to have Josh around, she could talk to him with out feeling embarrassed, she just hoped that this whole situation would die down soon.

The girl shrugged her shoulders and turned to walk with her friends. Kenna leaned back and banged her head on the wall. She looked around, no one was in sight. She opened up her hand and a fire ball appeared. She studied it for a long time before she let it fade.
When she looked up again, Emil was running towards her.

"Kenna... you need to talk to Josh." He said grabbing her arm.

Kenna stared at him and then sighed. She was going to ask Emil to go with her but then she realized that she could not rely on him forever. She thanked him with a quick shrug of her shoulders and then headed down the hall. She got to her door and gave one last deep sigh before she stepped inside. She moved straight to her bed and sat down. She had not realized how tired and hungry she was until now. She sighed again and she stared at Josh, waiting for him to say something.
 
Josh stood on the balcony of the room. His coat flowed behind him in the wind. He ran his hand across the scar on his left eye.

"Y'know Kenna... I never did tell you how I got this..." Josh sighed.

"When I was younger I was picked on a little for being different. I had barely any friends, but those I had were very good and close ones. One day I turned a corner to see my best friend being picked on, I heard them throwing insults at him for hanging out with "The local freak" as they called me..." Josh winced.

"I didn't care about them mocking me... It didn't bother me... but if I was somehow causing my friends pain, I wouldn't take it anymore. I ran at the boys who were insulting my friend in anger. I attacked them and one of them threw a stone at me in defense. It sliced across my eye and scarred me. I beat all of them up, the bullies. My friend approached me to make sure I was alright but I pushed him back and ran away. I decided that if he was getting bullied because he was with me... then it wasn't worth it to be my friend. I stopped calling him, aswell as my other friends and became distant... I was on the verge of total solitude... when I was called here to be your familiar. But it seems that even here Im a danger to you and everyone else... I tried to scare you away but that only led you to be further hurt and angry... I can't let myself get close to you Kenna... I... I don't want to hurt you... I couldn't live with myself if I did..." Josh stopped.

"Kenna, is it possible for you to resummon another familiar, and break our contract?" Josh asked, if thats what it took... then Josh was more than willing to do just that.
 
(OOC: I thought it'd be interesting to include a dream sequence in this post so Kiroku wouldn't just be involved in this post by sleeping through the noise. Enjoy ;p)

Miku flinched as she heard a door slam somewhere close by, and looked out the door to see Kenna walk by. She seemed... hesitant? Maybe a little fearful? Miku wasn't sure, but the disruption caused Kiroku to flinch in his own sleep. And then there came some yelling; no doubt Emil and Josh. By that time, Kiroku was looking a little disturbed, and the village girl glared out into the hall. She took a few step out and saw that Emil was racing by. Perfect timing.

"Keep it down, would you?!" Miku hissed, trying to be as quiet as possible, "Kiroku-kun is trying to sleep!" She was kind of surprised that Josh hadn't been tired, too, but she figured that the magic in him warded off the fatigue. Either way, she returned inside the room without a word more.


As for Kiroku, the boy had been dreaming the whole time. At first it was a simple beach setting; every one was there (even Adriel and Gregory, but they were a lot less hostile) and having fun. Clearly this had to be a dream, Kiroku thought, because there was no way there could be a fun day with everyone getting along. With that, he was able to change the dream to evict everyone except for Miku and Miharu. Now things were a bit more accurate. The three were lounging this time, but the boy was in the middle chair. Maybe it was symbolic, or maybe he was acting as a divider, but he didn't think too much of it.

And then Emil and Josh returned and were yelling at each other like usual. He tried to evict them again, but try as he might it wasn't possible. It wasn't until Miku (the dream Miku; the one right next to him) suddenly said that he was trying to sleep that Kiroku was able to blast the two into the water with the sheer force of his mind. At the same time, some kind of water monster broke through the surface of the ocean and ate both of them at once before returning to the water. Everything went quiet after that; as if none of it happened in the first place.

"Was that really necessary?" dream Miku asked, looking over at him. In the dream her eyes were very specifically detailed.

"Bah, this is my dream, right?" Kiroku asked, reclining back down on the chair, "It doesn't matter what I do to them here; they'll be alive in the physical world and possibly come back the next time I dream if I have another dream of everyone together."

"And I assume you let us stay because you care about us most?" dream Miharu asked, reading a book as she sat there next to the boy. For her, it was her hair that was more detailed. Kiroku guessed he kinda liked the look of it. The same with Miku's eyes...

"Well, yeah," Kiroku said nonchalantly, "I like you both." He felt kind of odd saying it, since he just said it about the two of them. It was possible someone in the outside world would think he wanted to date them both or something, but he really didn't have any regrets to say it in his own mind. After all, the two were both figments of his own imagination. They would understand that he meant that he felt close to both of them. But then, which one did he like more? Miharu, or Miku? It was a really difficult question to answer. Miku was a nice girl and rather fun to socialize with, but he was bonded to Miharu and she had more of a good balance of authority and kindness that put him at ease. There were other reasons to say why he liked them both, but what he didn't know was how Miharu thought of him in the real world. It was easy to guess how Miku felt, but what if Miharu had the same feelings? He didn' want to pick one and break the other one's heart. It sounded much more merciful if he really could pick both without judgement from the outside world. On the other hand, maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought it was. Technically it didn't matter if he had both on the inside. He could--

"I know what you are thinking, and if you dare think it I am going to kill you," dream Miharu said, still reading her book as she directed the naginata Kiroku's way. Kiroku laughed awkwardly as the blade was just inches from his nose. Even in his own dreams Miharu was rather no-nonsense.

"H-hey, no fair. That's my weapon," Kiroku said, dream Miku laughing to herself, "You could at least threaten my life with real Miharu-chan's weapons."

"..." Miharu said nothing as she kept the weapon poised in the same place.

"Fine, fine!! At least let me finish the main point I was trying to make to myself before I feel awkward about it!!" Kiroku pleaded, though that withing itself made his brain hurt a little.

"Fine, go ahead," dream Miharu said as she withdrew the weapon and threw it behind her.

"As I was thinking, it doesn't really matter if I have to be with only one of you out in the real world. Even if I do, I can still love the other in a different way, right?" Kiroku asked turning to each of them individually. Dream Miku and Miharu both answered him when he turned to them.

"Of course," dream Miharu said, smiling as she turned away from her book to actually look at the boy.

"It would be sad to not be the one that you love romantically, but even if that were to happen I would be happy knowing that you love me as a close friend," dream Miku said, also smiling. Both their smiles seemed to put the boy at ease.

"That's good to know," Kiroku said as he sighed heavily, "You both know that had a lot of weight on my mind."

"Ask me when you wake up, Kiroku," dream Miharu said, returning to her book, "Even if I do not feel that way with you, we will still be friends."

"I know," Kiroku said as he closed his eyes, and turned his head to face the sky, "I guess I'm growing up a little; one day at a time. Earth may yet be behind me... some day."
 
Miharu smiled slightly at Miku's hissing, before sidestepping around her.

"I shall go order a bed now," Miharu stated. "I guess Kiroku does not need one, but I think you would rather not sleep on the floor."

Miku nodded, smiling. "That'll be nice." She paused slightly. "Are you sure that you're okay with...y'know..."

Miharu rolled her eyes. "If I was not pleased with it, I would not have told you to go for it."

"I would," Miku said softly. "Even if it would break my heart, I would."

Miharu shrugged. "This is why we are different people, Miku-chan."

Miharu opened the door softly and exited, closing the door behind her softly. As she closed the door and turned around, she bumped into someone. She blushed, tilting her head down. It wasn't like her to miss someone behind her.

"Oh, I am sorry-"

"You are a mage, aren't you?"

Miharu frozed for a split second, before going back to the same posture. "Yes, sir."

"What is your family name?" sneered her father.

"Mizushima, sir."

Her father scoffed. "Trash, then. If you ever soil my clothes again, your family will become bankrupt."

Miharu bowed her head lower. Please do not recognize me, please do not recognize me... "Yes, sir."

Her father stalked off, his yukata billowing behind him as he clunked away. Miharu shivered slightly. Thank Kami-sama.

"****," she muttered in Japanese, before she walked away to order the bed.
 
Adria sighed having gotten back to the castle with the others she had told Andre to go ahead to their room and that she would be back later needing to take a walk to clear her head. The day's events where confusing and exhausting but she couldn't rest yet she had to much to think about. She knew the nobles were staying and that meant her father was here. This is not going to turn out well she thought already picturing her fathers reaction to her familiar was not going to be a good one.

Letting out a sigh Adria closed her eyes as she walked now back in her school uniform when she felt herself bump into someone. Her eyes shot open and she was staring straight up at a man with the same platinum blonde hair color as her. "F-Father I-I'm sorry" she whispered looking down only to be surprised when the man hugged her.

"It's fine, how's school been going learn any new spells to show your old man?" Gregor Penrose said chuckling a bit "How about your Familiar?"

Adria looked down knowing better than to lie to her father "I h-haven't cast any spells" she whispered eyes filling with tears as she felt his tight bruising grip on her arm "Y-You'll see my familiar tomorrow father. I-it's late I should be heading back to my room" she whimpered out right before he let her go and stalked off towards were he was staying.

Adria was still for a moment before she ran back towards her room stopping in the hallway near the door and sitting down crying quietly. She lifted her sleeve and saw the dark bruise on her arm and promptly buried her face in her knees quickly and silently crying herself to sleep outside her room.

(Sorry this took so long, for the past month I've been pretty ill)
 
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"Kenna, is it possible for you to resummon another familiar, and break our contract?" Josh asked.

"No." Kenna said simply.

She listened to his story and understood why he wanted to leave. But she was not going to let him go that easily. He had become an important piece of her life even if he did scare her a little bit. She knew he would call her selfish but she did not care.

"No. I understand why you feel like you do. But I am not going to lose you like this, you have become to important to me just to watch you leave. I can protect myself from you if worse comes to worse, but avoiding me and trying to kill me because you are scared of hurting me, that is just not going to work Josh. You can call me selfish all you like but I am not going to let you go." Kenna told him.
 
"...but I am not going to let you go." Kenna said.

"Kenna... I don't know what to say..." Josh murmured.

"I can't... I don't know how... I've been used to hurt others before and this time... I know exactly whos using me." Josh turned to face Kenna.

"My father... he knew I would become that thing... he's... a mage, which means that I'm a mage too... but my Dad, he's not the same as me. He can't use my magic, at least not to the extent I can, if thats true and what I used was really void magic... then my Mother was... My mother was the last denizen of the void heritage. That means the woman who raised me isn't my mother and it also means... this is not my first time in this world and if THATS true, than there must be a way for me to go back... if I was gone, then you'd be safe, but.... I... I don't want that... I know I want to keep you safe but I don't want to leave you..." Josh frowned with indecision.

"I didn't expect it to turn out like this, I thought we'd begin to seperate and that would be that, but Emil convinced me that wasn't good enough and I think he may have been right... Kenna I.... I think... I think I love you... how it's possible for me to feel so strongly after such a short ammount of time is beyond me, but I'm almost sure of it... I'm in love with you Kenna... and thats why... thats why I can't bear to hurt you." Josh could feel himself tearing up.
 
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