Y.Z. Act III [PG-16]

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"Thank you." Lazarus looked up with a weak smile, taking the handkerchief a healer handed to him gratefully and wiping the blood he'd just coughed up off his chin and lip. The Skill had been kind enough to puncture one of his lungs, his stomach, and kidney. Lazarus was just glad that the Skill hadn't been able to puncture his heart, as he'd probably been aiming for with the second strike. Lionus enveloped him as a healer examined Lazarus from the top to the bottom, making sure that Flaire's healing flames had properly covered everything. Coughing into the handkerchief again, the healer was at a loss as to why Lazarus was still afflicted by this bloody cough. The patient was quickly handed a glass of water to rinse out the blood as they continued to try and figure out what was afflicting him. Spitting out the now pink water into a basin, Lazarus wiped his mouth off and glanced at Flaire. Or at least, what was left of her. Phoenix wings. Lazarus sighed and put the empty glass cup next to the basin on the floor. Somehow, his interest had deteriorated. They seemed to attract so much trouble. He'd probably get caught up in it all if he kept hanging around them. Rubbing the place where his lung and two ribs had been broken, the young scholar sighed. Another attack after that would be highly unlikely, and if there was another one, there were still seeds scattered all across the floor, seeds he'd eventually have to summon back to the half-empty pouch inside the pocket of his scrapped suit.

Unbuckling his arm guard, he picked up his beaten book and opened it, to reveal that the book was empty, only the margins of the pages left. Setting his weapon where the text should've been, Lazarus proceeded to close its pages and snap the clip that kept them shut in place. A cough interrupted him, and he spat the thick crimson into the basin quickly, disliking the taste. The healer had Lazarus' equal curiosity in what was ailing him.

'Master, it seems that there was poison in the blade of the man who assaulted you last.' Hyacinth's delicate voice echoed in Lazarus' mind. Well, that was an easy solution. Ask the faels. Why hadn't he thought of it before.

"Thanks." Lazarus said to no-one, before mixing his own antidote in the empty water glass by dropping a seed in the basin of water and blood, and crushing the petals into a paste in the cup with some rough eation. Another flower grew to add its healing dew to the paste, and the coughing slowly stopped after Lazarus had ingested the antidote. The lovely antidote to every poison that Lazarus had spent a good six months thinking up. The antidote was always made from the poison itself, of course.


While Lazarus was making his antidote, soldiers were digging up rubble on the other side of the dining hall, where Adela lay unconscious. The pressure of the rubble had cut off circulation to some of her limbs and such, and healers were using lionus to keep the blood flow pumping, regardless of the weight that was slowly being removed. By the time she was unearthed, between the efforts of the healers and Flaire's flames, Adela was out of immediate danger. Sitting her against the rubble, a group of soldiers watched on as a healer surrounded her limp hand that twitched involuntarily every other second with Lionus, beginning the long process of realigning her median nerve and trying her best to get rid of the long scar that ran from the punctured nerve to the place where her index finger curved to her middle- the place where Dieter had ripped her hand off the nail.


"Hey." Levi peered curiously at the Lieutenant as he dropped in from the hole in the ceiling, landing lightly as the wings on his feet shrunk to their usual size. The word was used both as a greeting to the Archai Squad, but also as an attention getter for his more dire question, "Does that mean I'm not getting pardoned today?"



ooc: According to Levi, we said that he'd get pardoned 'tomorrow'. Since it's already 'tomorrow', he's busted out of jail and is going to join the fray. |D
 
"WHY THE HELL DID YOU RETREAT!?" Was the first line Ashton heard as an abnormally large fist, about the size of Ashton's own head, plunged upwards into his gut, raising him into the air and in turn permitting him to cough out flemily in pain. Dazed, and still raised by the gigantic fist, the lieutenant attempted to straighten out his now dizzied senses while trying to be ignorant of the pain he was feeling. "BECAUSE A SCUMMY PHOENIX GIRL DID A MAGIC TRICK!? IS THAT WHY YOU DIDN'T KILL THEM ALL!?" Commander Retwan gazed angrily at the shaken up eyes of Ashton as he spewed his remarks, getting spit all over the boy. The Commander was inhumanly immense, and that was an understatement. He was ridiculously impatient, as well.

Ashton grunted, disconcerning himself with Retwan's remarks. After a moment, he spoke. "I retreated because the risk was too high. I did you a favor commander. Surely you're aware that if anything were to happen to any of the Skills on this vessel, that you'd lose more than your job." The words were lined with an undertone of arrogance. "Also, please don't step out of line and try to remember that while I may be below you in rank, Colonel Everett has appealed to the higher ups and given me jurisdiction over this mission and everyone participating in it." That was enough to send the large brute over the edge.

Ashton still caught by the stomach in Retwan's monstrous fist, found himself quickly being plowed towards the ground at an amazing speed. As suddenly as this began to occur, it ended just as suddenly and he fell to the ground as if the giant had dropped him. Blood plattered all over the boy's clothes as the large man toppled backwards, his hand apparently missing from his arm, as it appeared to have been cleanly cut off. Confused for a second, Ashton's mind was put at ease when the man's own hand came flying out of the shadows, smacking Retwan in the face and toppling over. Behind the hand, a small figure appeared from the shadows. It was a boy, no older than twelve. He had cold, purple eyes, long purple hair, and the only thing he was wearing was what appeared to be a long brown rag acting like a sort of poncho, black pants and shirt underneath it.

"It would be problematic if any harm were to come to the Lieutenant." The boy spoke in a voice just as cold as his emotionless eyes as he revealed the right arm he had hidden beneath his rag, in the shape of a hatchet. "Think yourself lucky. If one of the other two skills had found you, especially Auricia, you probably wouldn't be alive. You're lucky she's resting in her cabin." The boy's eyes met Retwan's, and the commander got to his feet and wandered away down the long metallic corridor in defeat, in pursuit of a lionus user that could reattach his hand for him.

The boy grabbed Ashton's hand and helped him to his feet, before shooting him an 'are you okay?' look. All the Lieutenant could do was sigh. "You didn't have to haunt him THAT bad, Tsukasa. Poor guy will be afraid of sharp objects for years."

"It was necessary." Tsukasa replied abruptly and 'matter-of-factly'. "Without you, miss Auricia would most likely become uncontrollable- Er... sir? What's the matter?" Ashton wobbled back and forth out of nausea. Seeing the innerds of someone's arm wasn't particularly thrilling.

---

"Well, this is an interesting turn of events~" A cheery female voice chimed as the Princess entered the room. Reid sweatdropped. That brat of a princess... she knew this would happen all along. Rosaline was dressed in casual clothing once again, and she wore a cheery look that was terribly inappropriate for the situation at hand. "Regeneration. A unique ability that only the phoenix possess. By shedding their former selves, they are capable of 'rising from the ashes' and repairing any wounds that are potentially dangerous. The process however, has some drawbacks. First of all, the process disperses all of the user's mahstion, which was the eruption of flame that occurred earlier. Secondly, the user is left in a childlike stage until their energy is fully restored. They will age as their power is restored, but how quickly this occurs is up to the willingness of the victim."

"WHAT THE HELL!? YOU HID SOMETHING LIKE THAT FROM US!?" Reid barked angrily as he grabbed Rosaline by the collar of her sundress. "AND WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!? WHERE IS YOUR FATHER? IS CARN AND TEALIA IN ON THE ATTACK!?" Sven placed his white gloved hand on Reid's shoulder, and the boy let go of the princess.

"Flaire was aware of it... I told her about it, so..." Rosaline's eyes hit the floor, and she abruptly changed the subject. She knew her actions were unfitting for the situation. Was she a bad Princess? "As for my father, I don't know where he is. Nobody does. Yet there is no proof to link his disappearance to the war, so as a country we can't take any action..."

Reid was knocked over as something small leapt and clung to his side. When he regained his senses, he found himself looking up into the childish eyes that now belonged to Flaire. He could tell from the eyes alone that she was scared and confused about what was going on. Had Rosaline actually told her? The girl's hair was shorter than it would of been had she still been nineteen, and it only reached her shoulders. Her body was much more petite, and wrapped in an old brown rag that was most likely placed on her due to a lack of proper clothing. The two stared at each other for a moment, before she broke down into childish tears and clung to his chest. After a moment, she brought herself back up and puffed her right cheek. "Well, you could at least say something!" She sat up, still atop Reid, and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"S-sorry... It's just... this is a little... sudden."

"Pedophile!" Sven disguised in a cough as a joke, which in turn got an angry glare from Reid.
 
Smoke veiled Dieter's view of his magazine. It was a wonder how he could see through the gray smelly substance, but after this many years, it was like a personal talent. Lounging on a couch beside an old man, his head was resting on the knee of the other skill, who wholly ignored the second-hand smoke wafting up into his face. His hair was a snowy white and upon his upper lip and chin was something reminiscent of a van dyck moustache and goatee, though considerably thinner. He was dressed in a black casual suit, a burnt orange turtleneck underneath the jacket, matching the exact shade of his eyes. Wrinkles were only just beginning to touch the corners of his eyes and around his mouth. Rasch by name, the old man coughed once, obviously fake and only for show before plucking Dieter's cigarette out of the younger skill's mouth, crushing the butt between his gloved index finger and thumb. With a flick of the wrist, the cigarette had flown across the lounge to the trash can on the other side, flying like a dart. Dieter's only visible eye surveyed Rasch with contempt, before ignoring the action, turning back to his magazine and turning the page. Silence had fallen over the two skill after Dieter had exhausted his supply of stories about his latest expedition. Being one of the few who could pass without a scuffle without responding to Dieter's questions and comments, Rasch had never taken the effort to speak a single word to Dieter. Indeed, he'd neglected to say anything to anyone ever since he was made into a Skill, but a mere three years in the past.

Regardless, Dieter had chosen Rasch as one of his favorite out of all the skill he'd met, along with a few others. For the very same reason that he did not dislike Auricia to the extent that one might expect. Rasch was the silent skill who preferred to stand to one side during battle, rather than actually participate, often requiring some kind of forceful motivation or blackmail to actually do anything other than defend himself from getting his clothes dirty.

"Think about it Rasch," Dieter had begun to babble once more, and Rasch gave the boy using his crossed legs as a pillow one ear of his attention, "Flazure. That's like a whole country of people, just waiting to be massacred. After all, they're all phoenix and wyvern, right? That's what we're trying to exterminate, right?" Dieter sighed, pleased with the thought, "Don't worry Rasch, you won't even have to get off the airship. I'll take care of 'em all. Except the ones attacking Ashton, Auricia and Tsukasa'll probably go for those ones."

Rasch tuned out. He wasn't interested in this endless talk of death and killing. Speaking of killing, Dieter had abruptly stopped talking. Rasch knew exactly why, because his eyes slid over to the door of the lounge, filled with indifference at the smell of blood.

"I smell the Lieutenant and the Commander's blood." Dieter commented, silence passing over the two skill before the junior bursting out into uncontrollable laughter, "What a joke! Ah, wish I'd been there to see it."
 
"With all of this stress I'm going to wrinkle before my time!" Kayle moaned after making his return from a meeting with one of the subordinates whom had managed to escape from the attack on Flazure. "Flazure has been occupied, our princess has been kidified, and other than Princess Rosaline, any trace of all royalty from Carn and Tealia is practically non-existant..." He was murmuring to himself, but due to how the sound carried itself in such a large room, the majority of the soldiers and medical staff in the room could overhear it. A Tealian soldier inquired into the status of Flazure's citizens, he simply replied with "Most of them escaped into the catacombs beyond Flazure and sealed the exit." Most of the people in the room were relieved by that statement. The catacombs had been prepared in case such a thing ever happened, and contained enough food to last an extended amount of time. They'd be safe as long as the enemy didn't find a way to break the mahstion barrier barring the only entrance and exit.

---

Useless. Useless. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't help him. I thought if it was him, I could protect him. But I was wrong... The girl sat in darkness, alone on the ground in the fetal position.

---

"So... what's our next move, anyways?" Reid inquired after returning from changing into his usual white robe outfit as opposed to the shredded tux he had woken up in. It was only one in the morning, but the castle was so busy with soldiers and medical staff coming in and out, that it would prove difficult for anyone to get any form of sleep, at least for a while. Reid glanced over at the unconscious Adela, and figured she was the only exception. Flaire had gone up to see if any of Kanna's clothing would fit her at her current size, and Ellianne had also gotten changed back into her usual travelling gown and now was at Reid's side.

Kayle cleared his throat for a moment, and then silence followed for about thirty seconds as he figured out what he was going to say. Finally, it came. "With our current circumstances, it would be stupid to attempt going back to Flazure in a rescue mission. We were so easily beaten by those strange soldiers, and I don't think we're particularly prepared to clash with them again..."

"It's because you're weak." Reid jumped back as the face of a young man was directly in his own. The man's blue eyes were blank, yet curious, and his red hair was in a long and messy fashion that was up in a variety of uncoordinated spikes. He was dressed in a white shirt that was way too large and baggy for his thin frame, paired with a pair of baggy jeans. His hands were in his pockets, and he was slouched over. Reid went to yell at the man, but he was cut off before he even began. "Hmm... I see. You and your fael are nowhere near synched..." Reid once again went to speak, to inquire about what the hell this guy was talking about, but the guy wandered off in a slouch over to Ellianne, before examining her thoroughly. She turned bright red and backed off. "You're mute... yes? You have no way of communicating properly with your fael, and you suffer from much more than your muteness and partial blindness... And that phoenix girl... yes... she requires a special approach..."

The young man was met with a foot to the head as Reid drop kicked him. "STOP TALKING LIKE WE AREN'T HERE!" However, the man was not pushed back. In fact, the kick had no effect at all. He turned to face Reid with an indifferent look on his face.

"You can't hurt me like that... Our levels in power are far too different, fallen." Just who was this guy? How the hell did he know Reid was a fallen? And what did he mean when he said Ellianne was 'suffering from much more than muteness and partial blindness'?

Flaire suddenly made her reappearance, dressed in a white blouse, green and red plaid skirt, and a pair of pennyloafers, her face bright red from having to wear such a thing. But it just looked so... natural on a girl her size. Reid had to use all of his willpower not to laugh or go 'awww' tauntingly. But as soon as she arrived, the man was crouched down in a bizarre fashion, looking at her curiously. "Yes... a different approach." The man stood up again, and then turned to face the entire group. "Okay. I'm going to take you on as my pupils!" Everyone sweatdropped.

"Whaaaat?" Flaire sighed in a childlike voice, completely confused as to what was going on.
 
Adela woke up when she felt something gurgling up her throat. She slapped her right hand over her mouth automatically coughing it out. She was no stranger to the feel of blood, but was completely startled when she moved her hand away just far enough to see the crimson liquid splattered over her hand. She was quickly handed a handkerchief, which she did not take the time to thank the soldier for, as she'd already begun to cough again. In almost no time, the handkerchief was dyed red, plucked out of her hand by a healer who handed her a new one. It didn't take long for them to figure out what was wrong with Adela, as a healer quickly dragged over the patient who'd displayed similar symptoms and was now completely fine- Lazarus, who peered curiously at the coughing Lieutenant. He sighed before putting his books down, opening the pages of it and extracting a small pouch from under his arm guard. Asking for a glass of water, Lazarus poured purple powder into the glass, before holding it out to Adela with the simple command, "Drink."

She took the liberty of eying his suspiciously, even though she cringed at the taste of blood. Taking the glass of water, she coughed into the once-white cloth one more time before taking a sip of the water. Adela coughed even harder at how bitter it was, spitting most of it out before ingesting any of it.

"Gross." Adela stuck out her tongue, making a face at the water before drinking the rest of it without complaint at the sound of her hoarse voice. She looked positively green by the end of it and seemed unable to open her mouth, shoving the empty glass into the hands of a healer and looking almost sicker than before.

"It'll wear off." Lazarus said plainly, enlisting the help of two soldiers to help him make more of the antidote. It would probably be extremely useful in the future. He'd have to compress the powder into tablets, for easier ingestion, when he found the time. His source of poison this time came from the two handkerchiefs soaked in Adela's blood. A quarter of his powder went to others who had also been attacked by the boy with the ruby hair, while the rest sat in the bottom of his book, along with various other powders and antidotes.

"Completely?" Adela repeated in awe as a soldier nodded solemnly. She made to stand up, but blood loss sent her whirling back to her feet. An entire squad, gone. "Not even a single survivor?" The soldier shook his head. Their adversary was amazing. The idea of apostles seemed so far away in the face of these new monsters. Adela was sure she'd shot that boy right through the heart- and yet he'd seemed wholly unaffected. Not even an apostle would've survived that. Immersed in thought, Adela ignored almost everything around her, interrupted every now and then by a searing pain up her arm, still enveloped in Lionus as a healer tried to piece together her nerves again. She swallowed the yelp that rose in her throat every time though, and allowed herself to be interrupted wholly only by casualty reports. The entire 7th squad, stationed at the west wing entrance had been massacred. By who, Adela was sure, but she was confident that it had to have been someone similar to the boy she'd fought herself.




"Princess Rosaline." Levi bowed courteously in greeting, a movement he certainly wouldn't have afforded her before yesterday. A movement that one might've wondered where he'd even learned; but it wasn't as though he'd forgotten all the manners that had been so diligently pounded into him years ago. His eyes peered curiously at Flaire for a moment, rather enjoying the fact that he was older than someone, but he immediately diverted his gaze with a look that was bordering disgust at the sight of her wings. No, that was no good. Levi wiped the look off his face. He'd have to get used to it, if he were to be stuck babysitting her for the rest of his pardoned life. His efforts at keeping an indifferent expression were quickly nullified however. He was wholly entertained by the arrival of the new man, deciding that seeing as he hadn't participated at all in the battle, he had not been included in the jab about being weak. Everyone here was so uptight and had all their panties in a twist. This man looked nothing like them. He looked like a guy who could really chill.

"Me too? Can y'train me too?" Levi pointed at himself eagerly when the man announced he would be taking everyone on as pupils. He wasn't really sure who 'everyone' encompassed. Besides, if he was going to hang out with the Archai Squad from now on, he needed some serious fighting skills, not just your everyday street fighting. This was a great chance. A good chance to scope out the abilities, styles, and tendencies of everyone else as well. If he was going to work with them, being thrown into a serious fight with them first thing wasn't exactly his idea of teamwork!
 
"Ah, let me all introduce you to Stahn Evalise, everyone." Sven introduced the strange man with an overly cheery tone as he planted the black end of his black scythe on the cracked floor below him. "He's an old acquaintance of my father, and he's been an invaluable contributor to the studies on fael over the past five years. I was asked to retrieve him to attend tonight's meeting, but it turned out he proved pretty useful in defending Rosaline as well."

In the mean time, Stahn had his face up close to Levi, examining his eyes closely. "Your eyes speak something cruel. If you want to train under me, you'll need to learn to control the cruelty."

"Wait a second! Who said we were going to train under you!?" Reid barked in obvious annoyance as he stomped as foot down and got into Stahn's face instead of the other way around. "Sure you can take a kick to the head, but what can you show us that would really prove you're capable of 'training' us? Besides! Isn't this all a little sudden!? You just show up, call us weak, and expect us to bow down to you and accept you as a trainer. We have better stuff to do!" It was pretty much safe to say that the stress from the last twenty four hours had finally gotten to him. You could practically see the sparks flying off of Reid's eyes and meeting Stahn's.

"When you can do this with your fael, then deem him unworthy~" A female voice chimed from Stahn's side. Everyone was shocked to see a girl standing beside him, with long red hair and bright blue eyes, dressed in a dark blue Chinese dress. Reid could tell, they all could tell, that girl was Stahn's plufael. In material form. "It isn't something that lasts for an incredibly long time, but thanks to Stahn's strong bond with me, I'm able to keep myself in a solid form separate from his body for a short time." She giggled as she faded away, most likely back into Stahn's subconsciousness.

Reid stepped back, and glanced over at Flaire, who was watching with wide eyes. "I trust him! He's got cool hair!" Reid, Ellianne and Sven sweatdropped. Had her mentality also regressed along with her physical form? After recovering from the shock of ever hearing something like that come out of Flaire's mouth, Reid exchanged glances with Ellianne. She seemed okay with it. "So are we going, are we going!?" The little girl called once more as she inched closer to Reid, before taking his hand and looking up at him with puppy eyes. All Reid could do was sigh.

"I think it's a good idea." Kayle said after seemingly appearing from absolutely nowhere. "It's obvious we can't beat those things at our current capacity, and we have about a month before rations run out in the catacombs. If you guys want to go ahead, I'll take a small squad and search for the King and Queen. Chances are Carn and Tealia won't last long without leadership." Reid sweatdropped again. He was trapped.

It was about this time that Reid actually noticed Levi's presence, just as Rosaline was giving him permission to go as long as Adela was there to watch over them. Reid would have made a big complaint about Levi coming along, but instead he had something better to say. He sucked in air and prepared himself to shout across the room. When he was prepared, he did as he planned. "HEY ADELA! GUESS WHAT!? YOU GET TO COME TRAIN WITH US AND BABYSIT LEVI!" He then prepared to have a chair hurled at him.

Stahn, completely uninterested in what was going on, scratched his nose before leaving them with a final few words before taking off. "Very well. Get some rest tonight, we'll depart for my home in Alta in the morni-"

"Wait, we're coming too." A serious voice belong to Blanc of all people erupted as Rosaline's guard stepped forward. He glanced back at Rosaline, who was behind them. "I'm sorry, your highness, but without your father, you aren't particularly safe back at the castle. We've decided we'll go train as well, so we can better protect you." Rosaline's eyes began to water, before she began to sob with happiness. "GAH. Princess, don't cry! Don't cry!" Almost everyone in the vicinity sweatdropped.

"Whatever..." Stahn sighed before exiting the dining hall sluggishly. Afterwards, everyone seemed to go their own way. Kayle left for the city on business, Rosaline had gone with her guard to pack, Ellianne had taken Flaire up to bed, since Kayle didn't want Reid sharing a room with a ten year old girl, and Reid himself did nothing but go to the courtyard at the back of the castle. It was quiet there, he could think. The rain had ceased, and the cool night air brushed against his face as he laid on his back on a white bench beneath a white arch amidst a field of roses. The sound of water trickling nearby could be heard as the fancy stone fountains sustained some sound as fireflies danced around like wishing stars. The many weaving walkways were dimly lit with lionus infused in the cobblestone. A nice place, a nice place indeed.
 
"Shut up!" Adela's voice was like a whiplash in response to Reid, a hoarse yet completely irritable voice ringing across the room. She fended off a healer that was trying shove lionus down her throat, getting to her feet in the process. The knees supported by less than sturdy heels almost giving out once or twice before she regained her sense of direction. Adela was not about to take off her heels surrounded by all this rubble on the ground- besides, that would be a ridiculous antic. She cursed this lightheaded feeling; It made her feel undignified. Composing herself she ordered a list of all the dead accounted for in the west wing, and a draft on every member of the 7th squad that had not been identified as one of the bodies. After finishing up with her commands regarding the massacre, she turned a wary eye on Stahn. She, a Lieutenant, train under that man who lacked every sense of grace on the planet? Training with the peevish Archai Squad? Certainly not her idea of a party worth attending. No, that wasn't important right now. What was important… Adela turned a severe gaze on Sven. He'd better have a good excuse waiting for her as to why he too left without a word. Actually, it was probably her mother who was more curious about the excuse, but having taken her place, Adela was ready to give Sven a strike out lecture. Then there was Flaire. Ugh. Now that she was a little girl, she would be all the more hassle, probably. What a nuisance. Ignoring her and Ellianne to the fullest as usual, Adela snatched her gun up from the healer who was trying to fix Adela's throat. It was like a congregation of people just trying to get to her. Without a word to Sven about his desertion, Adela turned her mahstion gun about in her right hand, stalked over, and whacked Levi across the back of the head with the handle.

"You, sir, are not pardoned yet. Come with me and we'll finish the paperwork." Adela turned her eyes on Rosaline with even more annoyance than she'd displayed towards Sven, but just the same, said nothing to her, instead turning on her heel and marching out of the dining hall. She hadn't had much contempt for the girl five years earlier. Who knew she was the selfish and bossy type. Adela, quite frankly, hated being bossed about. The Lieutenant? Deserting her forces to babysit one measly murderer? "Contact my mother." She barked to one soldier, and turning to another, snapped "Draw up an estimate for damages, if anyone has any issues with the subject of security, tell them to shut up and take it where someone cares. You there, organize an investigation, I want to know exactly where the Queen, King, and-" She paused, as though an adjective on the tip of her tongue before continuing as though nothing had happened, "that Prince were last seen, with who, why, where, how, everything. Get me that report on NEAR already, it's been more than enough time for that investigation to have wrapped up."

"Princess," Levi whined, rubbing the back of his head which was essentially unharmed by Adela's assault, "Does that cranky woman really have to come with us? It's not like I'm going to go off and kill everyone in sight- unless they're all enemies, that's a different story, right?" Sighing he neglected to wait for an answer, hanging his head and shaking it before giving a casual salute, "Tch, I'ma head off 'in get meself pardoned for gettin' rid of some people who were just livin' off government good will anyway. Catch ya'll later."





"I'll have you know I'm not willingly babysitting you." Adela said, adding the final flourish to her signature.

"I'll have you know that I'm not willingly babysitting them." Levi motioned with his arms as though her were moving the load of blame to the Archai Squad, "But it's that or the gallows, m'dear Lieutenant, and quite frankly, I'd rather be followin' around some girl who changes age and cuts off her wings than decaying in some pithole."

Adela folded the paper and held it out to Levi, who launched it into the air with a burst of wionus that seemed not to faze Adela in the least, though looking closely, her fingertips twitched towards her gun. Catching the paper, Levi read it over, incredibly silent for someone such as him before stuffing the paper in the pocket which he kept the card from his sister in. "You ran with a gang earlier, did you not?" Adela spoke plainly, "Surely they hear of things that we don't." Levi shrugged before Adela continued, "There were two particular soldiers in the attacking forces that were able to manipulate their bodies into weapons- swords, guns, whatever. I shot the one attacking me right through the heart and he got back up as though nothing had happened. I want you to-"

"I answer to the Princess." Levi replied coolly, saluting Adela mockingly, "Not you, Adela. Sure, I'll ask around. But that's to prepare myself for whatever crap we're heading into. I'm not going to do squat for you. So don't expect a report from me."
 
"Well, isn't this a nice surprise? The ever sociable Reid who never has time to talk with his own sister is all alone." Ailia teased her older brother after realizing that he too was out in the courtyard. She took a seat beside her brother, whom had risen to a sitting position upon hearing the only family he had left speak. "It's true you know. Especially since mom died, you've been avoiding me!" Reid knew the reasoning for that, he could see it even now. It had become increasingly obvious as she grew up, as well. Her mannerisms, the way she carried herself, her overall appearance - expecially in the white nightgown she now wore... and her blonde hair, blue eyes and wings - they all fueled his reasoning.

"I guess you just remind me too much of her..." He replied quietly as his eyes met with his sisters. Yep, just like his mother's eyes... "Besides, you know I've been busy-"

"Busy? With Flaire? With Ellianne? You left everything behind for those two. Family, friends, everything! I didn't know where you were until mom dies. That was three years, and you didn't even show up until the funeral which took place TWO MONTHS after. I was alone for TWO MONTHS and I didn't even have a shoulder to cry on!" She was sobbing now, her face buried in her hands. He was always around crying girls, it seemed. His life was becoming a running gag. "What makes them so special, anyways!? Why did you leave me again!?" She screamed through her hands in reference to Reid's travelling companions

Reid grabbed Ailia's arm and pulled them away from her face, showing the tears rolling down her face which was tinted red. "Nothing makes them special. It's what they stand for. You remember the night I lost my wings, right? You remember I almost died?"

"Yeah... but you didn't cry at all. Big brother just brought you back to the house all bloodied up. I cried myself to sleep that night..."

"Phoenix and wyvern people go through worse things than that every day. When I thought of it like that, I couldn't just ignore it anymore, so I decided I'd help them. For the first while, I wasn't permitted to establish contact with anyone. Not to mention I was undercover."

"Yes, we all remember Ally Penbur. I remember the first time I heard about it, I couldn't stop laughing!" A smile returned to the girl's face, and she suddenly broke out into laughter for reasons beyond Reid's present understanding. He understood, however, when he realized his cloak was completely hanging off of him. Mistral had played a prank on him, reverting him to her fifteen year old self. He sweatdropped. Why did it figure...? Ailia just seemed so... above him when he was like this. Probably because she was older. After a moment, Reid found himself back in his normal form. "It seems Mistral hasn't forgotten!"

"Apparently not... but that reminds me. Why are you coming with us? You don't even have a fael." He scratched the back of his head casually. It was true.

"To make sure you're okay... You've been through a lot lately and I hate just hearing about it. I want to make sure you stay safe, since you aren't exactly the most cautious person!" She smiled, and then he smiled back, and then the sister fell asleep on her brother's lap.

---

"If you answer to me, then do so now." Rosaline said coldly. Having overheard the conversation between Adela and Levi from the hall while walking with Sven, the Princess decided she had to intervene if all was to go smoothly. "We are NOT in a situation that requires that attitude. If you want your pardon, you will cooperate with Adela and ANYONE involved with Archai squad." This was a totally different Rosaline than before. Like most people, she had buckled under the stress of the situation at hand, especially with all the politic garbage that had been thrown at shortly before this encounter. "And Adela, I know we're from different countries, different governments, and I'm sorry to have to drag you into all this... I'll make sure you're properly compensated when it's all over, but for now I need you to bear with it. Since, well, I'm worried about the Archai Squad..." She might as well have said she was worried about Reid, since anyone could see through her cover. "Anyways, if you have something to say to me, I'd prefer you do it now..."

"Adela~" Sven, bored of waiting outside for Rosaline, chimed as he too entered the room. "What's it been? Five years?" If he only knew how much trouble he was asking for by entering...
 
Levi glanced over his shoulder at Rosaline. He was silent for a moment, chewing over his thoughts before stepping aside and shoving his hands in his pockets like a child.

"Sorry." He said in a begrudging way to Adela, who spared him only a sidelong look before giving her attention to Rosaline. Pft. Like she needed to be compensated. Her expression was bored as Rosaline preached to her, but her brow knit together at the mention of the Archai Squad. No, more accurately, Reid. She hated how Rosaline was constantly hanging over them. They weren't even from her country! She really had a way with meddling in other countries affairs. She was just piling onto her load of things to do, things to worry about. This was why Adela had not concerned herself with Flazure, unless directed to by Prince Ryan- Flazure was a seed that he'd adopted. Not her. Flazure was just a side project. Tealia took priority. And now, she was being forced to switch her priorities at the word of a foreign Princess? Just because Tealia's royalty was gone didn't mean that Rosaline could just pick up what they'd left behind. She couldn't seriously think that Carn was completely out of harm's way. She would be better off going back home and protecting her own country, like a proper princess. Adela's thoughts ran off in this manner, and she was almost surprised when Rosaline told her to say whatever Adela wished to say to her. It was all Adela could do not to burst out laughing. Her? Say all these irritable things to the Princess' face? Risk losing her post? Hm. Fat chance.

Leaning her chin into the palm of her hand, Adela opened her mouth with a criticizing yet somewhat bemused look written across her features, "Princess Dian, I am sure you are completely capable of comprehending as to why I am displeased. There is no need for you to ask me to say it aloud and risk losing my post, nor do I desire to say anything against the word of royalty. However, pardon me for stepping out of my bounds this once, but let me make clear that I may not have spent as much time with him as yourself, but I am quite sure that Mr. Davies is perfectly capable of handling himself, and there is no need for you worry about his safety. I've no doubts that if he were in any sort of danger, the others in the Archai Squad would certainly rush to his aid." Speaking of the Archai Squad…

"Good morning, Mr. Sarate, I do believe it's been five years." Adela's voice came as chilly as Rosaline's, refusing to address Sven on a first name basis as he'd done with her, "Unfortunately I am not compelled to converse with a-…" Adela stopped and let herself glance at the Princess.

"Forget it." Adela snapped, breaking her graceful speech. It wasn't worth saying if Rosaline was just going to flail her authority over Adela's head again. She determinedly averted her gaze from the infuriating duo, flipping through the papers on her desk with her still clumsy left hand, moving slower than usual so as not to scatter the pages across the floor on accident. She used her right hand to uncap her pen again making marks here and there. While Rosaline was in this self-important attitude, Adela wasn't about to take her chances by asking her to, quite frankly, get out.

"Princess," Levi cut through the silence that Adela had left hanging. Leaning his weight on one leg, and cracking his neck, Levi put his idea into words that sounded the most dignified to see if he could raise his chances of getting approval, "If you haven't already found out enough information on the cockroaches that never die, would it be troublesome for you if I called upon old friends for information, people that may not have the cleanest slate in regards to their criminal records? Or would it be better should I not contact them again?"
 
"I'm a horrible Princess. That's what you want to say, right? That's what you think, right?" Rosaline said melancholically as she stared blankly at a wall, completely ignoring everything Adela had said. She didn't need the speel about putting her own country before Flazure. She had gotten it before. She just wasn't"Sometimes it would be better if people would just come out and say these things. It would make me feel better than having everyone judge from afar..."

"Your Majesty... he DID say it was okay if you went ahead with it. You're in a delicate position after all." Sven butted in, not revealing the nature of the issue before Levi and Adela. That telegram Rosaline had received from Carn's council. Were it's contents to be believed? If so, she didn't really have much of a choice in the matter as to her next plan of action. What was even more troublesome was that if he spoke the contents to anyone, they would most likely be killed along with Sven. Great. Flazure had way too many enemies. Someone had to be pulling strings here for it all to fall together so perfectly... Without another word, especially to Levi, the two left for the night.

---

The rest of the night came and went, and eventually it was time for all those who were departing to depart. They were all routed down to Meredy's docks, where they boarded an airship destined for Alta. It wasn't to be a long flight - just a few hours actually - but the airship was surprisingly empty other than the group planning on training with Stahn. But, after coming back out onto the main deck after throwing his stuff in a room with Sven, Reid noticed something was amiss. "Oi, Sven! Where are Rosaline and them? I thought they were coming with us, but I don't see them..."

"Reid... Rosaline cut us off from Carn this morning..."

"What!?"

"She had to make a choice. Her country or Flazure. She's Carn's Princess, not Flazure's. This was bound to happen sooner or later with how things were going anyways..."

"...But..."

"But what? Stop clinging to Rosaline, Reid. You have Flaire now, and I've never seen you happier. Yet you're always doing things with other girls that sends them the wrong messages. Adela, and Ellianne in particular-"

"Wait, what about Ellianne!?"

"Are you really THAT blind? Then this conversation ends NOW." The worst part of it was, that this conversation was taking place where everyone could hear it.

"Would you two cut it out? You're ruining the scenery~" Stahn's melancholic voice rang through their ears. He looked up close at them blankly for a moment, which made them sweatdrop, before revealing a megaphone hidden behind his back. "EVERYONE MEET ON THE DECK NOW." It didn't take long for Ellianne, who was being forced to give Flaire a piggyback, arrived. Flaire, still in her scarily cute outfit from the night before, jumped off of Ellianne and ran over to Reid, before grabbing onto his hand with her own tiny one. Why? Was it for security reasons?
 
"Yeah. Say it aloud. You guessed it right anyway, so why do I have to look like I'm doubting royalty if you know what I'm thinking anyway?' Adela thought to herself bitterly as she paid one ear of attention to her mother's words. Though five years had passed, the woman still looked as young as she had back then, and was smiling sweetly at her daughter. Grumbling and complaining to herself, Adela drummed her fingers on the desk, feeling awkward that she was in front of her own desk, instead of behind it, where her mother was wearing the most irritatingly amused expression.

"I think this is the first time you've asked me for a favor in a long time Adela~" She chimed in a very pleased tone. Adela resisted the urge to roll her eyes. As capable a commander she was, her light-hearted ways were still too much for Adela to swallow, "In return, after you get back, we should go shopping togeth-"

"I have to go." Adela said quickly, standing up from her seat and buckling her gun holster around her waist, "Don't want to miss the ship." She explained, shrugging and quickly escaping before hearing any more 'mother-daughter-bonding' nonsense that had sprouted into her mother's mind after five years of watching her child's social skills deteriorate. Regardless of how recluse Adela had become, she still recognized some of the citizens who waved morning greetings to her as she passed them in the streets, letting herself exchange quick conversations with them. Most of them all commented on how she rarely came out to town anymore without some sort of urgent official business. Most all of them were just friends of her mother who knew the her from five years ago. The girl who was a prankster and always cheery. Thus, Adela at the very least, unknit her brow and kept a placid expression to pass under the radar. She was a cranky person, but the entire city of Meredy didn't need to know that firsthand. Besides, it wasn't as if these people were her soldiers, who she could order around, or Flazure, who had caused her so much grief and headache.

"Thank you, I'll try my best." Adela replied in a light voice to the mechanic from whom she'd always bought the ingredients to her pranks from as she hurried along. Ah, it was such a nice day. Thinking back, it was amazing to Adela how much more open she'd been back then. The type of girl who would burst into a shop and treat it as home, or call adults by their first name even when they told her it was rude. Was that really her? Adela was amused to notice that not a single person had brought up whether she had a boyfriend or not. Who in their right mind would, after reading those articles about the Commander's daughter and the Hero of Tealia's falling out? Adela's somewhat better mood was instantly ruined at the sight of the hero, however. Wondering how long Flaire would be in that form that was –almost- as repulsive as her usual, the Lieutenant stood to the side and listened to Sven and Reid's exchange. Ah, it was about time that someone let Reid realize how much he was sponging off of the other countries. However, the conversation took the wrong turn and Adela opened her mouth to snap at Sven that she didn't give a rat's ass about whatever Reid did anymore and that if he was going to pity her, at least not mention that he's having a swell time with his new girlfriend. She was interrupted by Stahn though, and almost as if nothing had changed over the years, Adela instantly slapped her hands over her ears with an annoyed look on her face when his voice burst through the megaphone.

"We're not deaf!" Adela barked back, grabbing her things and throwing them over her shoulder, marching onto deck before realizing where she was. She didn't mind airships, but the deck was the one place she avoided like the plague. Retreating to the side of the deck closest to the rest of the airship, Adela leaned against the wall. It was still the deck, technically, but it would have to do for now. She was interested to know why this Stahn guy was under the impression that he had any right to train the Lieutenant of the Tealian Forces.



"IN-COMIN'!!" Levi yelled, flipping over to add flair to his landing on the deck, the enormous metal wings on his feet shrinking away at once when he touched ground, "Man dude, yer no good at landin', are ya?"

"I… don't think I'm supposed to be here…" Lazarus replied as-a-matter-of-factly, rubbing the back of his head, having not expected Levi to let go of the collar of his shirt before landing. Ignoring his extra luggage that was presently collecting his books and grumbling under his breath about bent corners, Levi stretched his arms out to the sky and grinned, "Ahh, it feel's great ta start anew! S'like I'm a new man! Startin' fresh!" Airship were Levi's absolute favorite contraptions in the world. Being unable to do much more than jump higher than most people, actually being in the sky was like he wasn't handicapped at all. He'd only been on one once before this, and heck was he looking forward to it. In an endlessly good mood, he'd practically forgotten all the underground information he'd paid a pretty price to his old boss for about the secret experiments. Even though the price had been pretty much a third of everything Levi had ever stolen, the information was still incredibly vague- nothing about how to really get to them, just the gist of what they were supposed to be: The ideal experiment turn-out.

So what're we up to, good mentor uv ours that'll help me set Jazz and Pak in the real world?" Levi asked Stahn excitedly, thinking that having Jazrelli's company for awhile would be killer-fun. And much like Levi, he hardly cared how literal 'killer-fun' would end up turning out to be, with Jazrelli.
 
"Yes, you are deaf. You're all too deaf to truly listen to your faels, which is why you've yet to reach a higher level of ability." Stahn's voice continued to boom through the megaphone, which was now conveniently aimed in Adela's direction. Reid could tell already that he would never hear the end of this excursion from Adela down the line. "Your training begins this very moment. While I'm talking with you all, my plufael Ming will take her time to instruct your faels on a level of thought that you won't be able to hear. This is an advanced technique that you will learn during your training. For your training to be successful, however, you'll need to break down any barriers you have with your faels, and each other. It is for that purpose that my training methods are built the way they are."

"Okay, listen up faels!" Ming's voice rang on a frequency that only the faels, and not their reila, could hear. Her voice was strong, feminine, and much more serious sounding than the voice of Stahn. Of course, their personalities were supposed to contrast, so that wasn't unusual. "Shortly, Stahn," She said his name affectionately, "will give your reila each a pill to swallow. That pill was specially designed by Stahn himself to alter your reila's physical and mental forms into ones of your design for the purpose of the training term." This caused a lot of raised eyebrows, especially from Mistral and Sae. Though it was an intriguing thought to most. "This may sound strange, but it's necessary. It's also quite fun too, and I'm speaking from experience. Anyways, there are a couple of conditions you must first uphold! The new form must be the opposite gender, since it's drawing off your energy. You must also pick a form designed to humiliate them. I know it sounds cruel, but once again, if you wish to get stronger, it's necessary. You can give them any traits you want, permitted it doesn't defy biology. You also need to impair them somehow, just to give them an additional obstacle to overcome. You can also alter their personality to a small extent if you wish, just so long as it doesn't impair their thought processes too much. That is all. Oh, wait, don't forget to name them, because thats the name they'll register as their own until the training is over." Mistral sighed. This would probably end up tearing them apart from their reila more than the intended opposite. Though there must have been a method to the madness...

"Okay, so in order for this to work, I'll first be assigning you all partners in which you have to be with at all times. You'll eat together, sleep together, train together, and bathe together. Don't worry about any gender barriers, those will be overcome shortly." There was a long pause of silence. Reid's eyes twitched. What the hell did he mean? No, seriously, what the hell did he mean? And why the hell did everything this guys say sound like it was no big deal what so ever?! "After having a glance over your histories, I've decided that this will be the best set of matchups: Ellianne DuCharme and Lazarus Javor," Ellianne glanced over at Lazarus nervously. She had been certain he was watching her at some point... In the meantime, Reid was wondering why he was there in the first place, "Levi Pak-Jaquez and Flaire Teluia," Little Flaire sighed. She didn't trust Levi, not one bit, and she wanted to be with Reid. "Sven Sarate and Ailia Davies." Reid's head bounced up. Had she not stayed behind with Rosaline? He glanced over and saw her standing against the edge of the ship. The brat had stowed away! "And finally, Reid Davies and Adela Ciaccio." Reid's blood froze, on the spot.

But without giving anyone a chance to rebuttle quite yet, he began to distribute a small object to everyone. When Reid got his own, he realized it was a small white pill. "Wait a minute. You want us to take an unfamiliar drug from someone like you?" Reid glared at Stahn, who's facial expression didn't change at all. Stahn glanced over at Flaire instead, which redirected Reid's eyes to watch his little girlfriend take the pill without a second thought. Reid sighed, realizing if he had any hope of completing the training, he'd have to do it. So he took a breath and gulped it down, Ellianne followed soon after. When Stahn was sure everyone had injested the pill, he seemed to mutter something, and then there was silence.

Reid awoke with a start to find himself staring up at a sky coloured as if it were dawn. He couldn't help but wonder what had happened after taking that strange pill. Was it some sort of sedative? No. His rest had been far too painful and violent for that, he could tell by the amount of sweat he could feel he was covered with. But the cool morning air, it felt nice against his skin, even nicer than it would have normally for some reason. But why was he outside? What had Stahn done? He awkwardly shifted his weight in what he could tell now was a pretty large hammock hanging from two trees. Large enough to fit two people, as he could feel another presence in the hammock suffocating his own. His eyes glanced over to his right side, ignoring the fact that his hair was nearly covering his eyes, and they locked onto a large male beside him, probably in his late teens. Reid... hadn't been drinking... right? Shocked, he attempted to roll away, and ended up landing flat on his face on the grassy ground below. His hand felt around for a blunt object, and upon finding a stick, he rose again before delivering a blow to the young man irrationally. Ellianne, Flaire, Ailia, and Sven had yet to wake up, so nobody yet had noticed the large mansion that they were all camped around yet. The mansion that belonged to Stahn.
 
Upon hearing Stahn's response, Adela's face spelled out nothing less than "S-C-A-N-D-A-L-I-Z-E-D." She'd never been talked back to so bluntly before. At least, not in a very very long time. However, upon hearing that his fael would be exchanging a secret conversation with hers, she could see the excited look on Jeckt's face burned into the back of her eyelids every time she blinked. Dear god. This man wanted to kill her. That was the only ulterior motive anyone who would leave her in the hands of her faels could have. She glared death at Stahn as she listened to his partner assignments. Levi and Flaire? Well, that was certainly unexpected. Was Stahn unaware of the lovely couple's status as boyfriend and girlfriend? Adela scoffed and folded her arms, looking away determinedly before realizing that with all the partners that had been named, the only other person left was-

"Reid Davies and Adela Ciaccio."

Under 'Scandalized', "S-H-O-C-K" was written on Adela's face as her jaw dropped. It took her a moment to process that she was going to be stuck with Reid- and wait, had Stahn said 'bathe' together?! Woah, woah. In the time it took for Adela to come back to reality, everyone else had already taken their pills. The Lieutenant's brain reeled as her lip curled in disgust.

"WHAT?!" Came her shrill shriek that very closely resembled the ear-splitting sound of a banshee. Forgetting her paranoia about airships and storming over to Stahn to point at him accusingly, "ARE YOU TRYING TO MURDER ME?! THERE'S NO WAY-"

However, a white pill shot itself down Adela's throat, Stahn's excellent aim causing it to slide down her windpipe without much harm.

"THE HE-…hell.. are… you.... d-… doing…." And all went black.

Her uncomfortable nap was promptly interrupted by a blow to the head. Sitting up abruptly and grabbing for whatever had hit her to prevent another blow, Adela barked in her most disgruntled 'you-are-so-dead' voice:

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOIN-" No. That wasn't her most disgruntled 'you-are-so-dead' voice. That was… was…

"X-X-….XAVIAE?!?!" Adela's voice, or more like, Xaviae's voice, jumped an octave as Adela sat up in the hammock with incredible speed, turning it over and sending her face first into the ground.

'N-No…' Xaviae's real voice echoed to her, 'Er, th-that would be um…'

Jeckt's laughter interrupted his sentence. Though Jeckt had a way with laughter, by the sound of it, it seemed as though Jeckt would never breathe again, as he'd already laughed so hard that no sound was coming out anymore. "Oh- my stomach!" He mouthed to Xaviae who sweatdropped with an extremely guilty expression on his face as Jeckt managed to take a breath and continue laughing at Adela's misfortune. Looking down, Adela screamed again at the sight of tan skin, a white button-up shirt that was un-buttoned, and most of all- her sudden lack of womanly assets. If anyone had ever had a grudge against the Lieutenant, now was the moment to take a picture for endless blackmail. Grabbing the sides of her shirt and pulling it together over her chest, (even though there was nothing to cover up) Adela felt her face heat up as she proceeded to ignore everything else in the world.

"WHY DON'T YOU WEAR A SHIRT UNDERNEATH XAVIAE?!?!" Adela screamed, undoubtedly waking up anyone who'd had the luck to stay peacefully asleep.

'I'm sorry!!' Xaviae insisted in a half-wailing, half-desperate voice, 'It was better than Jeckt's idea!! And it's weird for me too! You don't know how weird it is to see… me… as… er… you-'

"I'd rather look like HIM than YOU!!" Adela retorted, gripping the messy locks of burnt orange hair in her bandaged fists, lamenting her new appearance.

'…WHAT?!' Xaviae slammed his fist down on the grassy floor of the forest, 'My fashion sense is TEN TIMES better than Jeckt's THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Are you implying that he's better looking than me?!'

Adela wailed shaking her head curling up and letting one hand go of her hair and pounding it on the ground, "Nooooooo! I can't beliiiieve this!! My hair! It's ORANGE."

'Your name is Bruno, by the way. Nice manly name. I picked it, you like?' Jeckt asked though fits of laughter.

She let out another shriek of frustration that easily bested all the rest in terms of pitch, quality, and fury, "JECKT!!!"

'I'm kidding! Jesus Christ.' Jeckt scoffed.

'Ming told us to pick a new name, so… that creepy freaky little boy that has all your mechanical memories told us to name you Armon. I think it's too similar to Adela, but I guess me and Jeckt couldn't think of a better name. It's better than Bruno, right? … Adela?'

If Adela had had any reason not to speak to her faels for the past five years, she now had the best one ever.

----

"Oh calm down!" A false feminine voice came and Adela lifted her head to look at a silver haired girl, who was looking down her cobalt blue tank top, "It's not so bad. But really Jazrelli, why didn't you give me a better set of boobs? Honestly, can these even be considered boobs? I'm like a washboard! This sucks! Man, you can barely see 'em! And this bra- it's not lacy at all. Is this what they call a sports bra? Man. This is pathetic. I might as well be a guy."

Indeed, the only feminine aspect to the girl balancing easily on the side of her hammock was her outfit, the tank top and an olive green cargo miniskirt. Upon her feet were a pair of black combat boots, her body contributing minimal curves, no butt and no chest. Her silver hair was short and choppy, just barely brushing her shoulders that deceived her flat build with their delicate appearance. Bright onyx eyes examining herself very carefully as she looped a strand of hair around her finger, girlishly kicking her legs and looking around at her surroundings as though nothing had happened. There was only one person who could be so content with become the opposite gender. Levi. No no, let's not call her Levi anymore. As per Devitell's suggestion, Levi's new name was Gina. Gil for short. It was only accepted by Jazrelli because it wasn't a "girly" name.

'I hate girls' Jazrelli snapped, in his silver haired teen persona one leg thrown over the back of his couch, surrounded by the usual endless white expanse, 'So why would I make you look like one if I had any choice? Why'd you swallow that stupid pill anyway? I don't want to be here. Let's go home.'

"No can do Jazz," Gil chirped with a smile, "I like it here actually. I guess the dude behind me is Flaire, right Jazz?"

'Tch.' Jazrelli stuck his nose up in the air, 'Like I care. As far as I'm concerned, I don't talk to girls. Consider me gone.'

"Awww!" Gil stucking out her lower lip in a pout, turning her usual voice into a nasally whine, "Jaaaazz! It's not like I'm going to be a girl forever! You could at least let me enjoy it!"


'I love dress-up games!' Hyacinth clapped her hands together, a smile coming to her usually blank face. The expression didn't reach her emotionless eyes however, making her look almost malicious. And for Lazarus' fate, it was most definitely malicious.

Long dark violet curls were spread around the young girl's thin shoulders, her bangs swept aside to elegantly cover part of her left eye. Her attire was entirely black save for the red rose on her black silk choker, and the white lace lining her outfit. She wore a knee-length skirt, complete with two petticoats underneath for volume, and a form fitting halter top that defined every detail of her perfect, curvy body- one that might've belonged to a doll, rather than a human girl. A pair of two inch high ankle boots of black suede covered her feet, the thin laces criss-crossing over each other. It was one of those shoes that, if not properly broken in, would chafe like a nightmare. Upon her right wrist was a ribbon and rose, matching exactly to the choker on her neck, and black ribbon tied into a neat bow with curled ends held her heavy hair away from her ears. Hyacinth had affectionately named her Violette, though she was still on ends about the name with Orcha, who wanted 'Viola'. Violette was 'stupid'.

Violette stirred in her sleep, "Mmm…"

Her voice was high and sweet, feminine and refined.

'Oh my god. What just happened?' Lazarus thought to himself, his eyes snapping open at once.

The first thing Lazarus noticed was that there was someone next to him, and he was pretty sure that he'd just been sleeping. The second thing he noticed was that his pants, were not on his legs. The third thing he noticed, he took note of with a flinch. Someone was screaming their head off- and by the sounds of it, was a guy. What the heck?

Trembling as he sat up he realized that he was in a hammock. Okay. Whew. It'd be harder for anything to happen in a hamm- NO, NOTHING HAPPENED. Lazarus's eyes practically fell out of his eyes at the sight of what was causing his legs so much itchiness and discomfort. Skirt? He looked a little higher up. Halter top?

…. W-WOAH. B-BREASTS?!?

He yelled in surprise but it came out more like a scream. He knew why the guy was screaming now. Because the guy was probably a girl. So-… So… The person beside him…

Violette shrieked again, falling right out of the hammock at the sight of wyvern wings. Woah. A little too close there. He didn't need to be THAT close to study the wings.

'My sweet Violette,' Hyacinth cooed from inside Lazarus' mind, 'Don't get your petticoats dirty!'

"HYACINTH, WHAT- WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

'I TOLD her that leaves would've been better. Stupid lace and frills.' Orcha scoffed.

'No,' Lazarus thought, 'I really prefer lace over leaves…'

Scrambling to his feet, Lazarus took a breath and looked down again. AGH!!! His face was beet red by now. This cup size… was probably similar to Orcha's…. ORCHA HAD THE BIGGEST BUST LAZARUS HAD EVER SEEN!! Perhaps a side effect of his new personality quirk, Lazarus was out like a light again, fainted upon the ground.
 
"Ngh... everyone quiet down... I want to finish my nap..." Flaire murmured from her hammock - which she now shared with 'Gina'. She wasn't awake enough to catch it yet, but her voice was much deeper than a female diaphram would ever permit. Realizing the rukus had yet to come to a hault, she finally sat herself up, rubbing her eyes, which were now emerald green, in a very feminine manner. When she was finished, she glanced blankly at the group standing in front of her. Who were they? She'd never seen the likes of any of them before... "Where... am I?" There was extra emphasis place on the 'am I' as she finally noticed what was wrong with her voice. "What the HELL!?" The eighteen year old male shouted after getting a look at his body. It really was a shock. He had gone through another age change, IN ADDITION to a gender change. That Stahn bastard... He brushed a piece of black hair out of his eyes, reuniting it with the rest of the shoulder length hair, before looking at his muscular body. His skin was slightly tan, and overall he would be the type of guy any girl would crush over. In fact, he would have gone out with himself if he wasn't a guy and going out with Reid anyways. He was wearing a white dress shirt that was unbuttoned, revealed a black t-shirt underneath, along with a simple pair of blue jeans and running shoes. "Okay, I demand an answer here!" She had already concluded that everyone else here had been aboard the ship... but which one was Reid? "Get used to it, Deon." Yule laughed from within Flaire's head. 'Deon' was about to rebuttle, but was interrupted.

"So I take it you're Flaire then?" An unconfident male voice spoke quietly from behind Deon, making his presence known to the whole group. The new guy was very feminine in appearance, definately moreso than 'Gil'. He had long, straight golden locks that fell halfway down his back, and big blue eyes that seemed like they belonged to a girl more than anyone. Even his skin had a girllike softness to it in appearance, and his body was a bid more curved than a normal guy, although it WAS a guy if you looked closely. He was dressed in a white shirt that was too small for him, showing off his smooth stomach, and a pair of tight black pants. "I WAS Ellianne, but I'm being told now my name is Christian."

"Wait, you can talk!? Ellianne! YOU CAN TALK!" Deon replied, completely shocked at what he was hearing. His long mute friend could talk again!

"Only because Alhouette chose for me to be able to speak. Without him..." He looked as if he was about to cry, adding to his overall feminine appearance.

"Don't cry, don't cry! My name is Deon, apparently, but I'm not exactly sure why I can accept it so easily..." He sweatdropped at this realization, before turning to laugh at Lazarus. "But DUDE, you are stacked! Oh my god, I couldn't stop laughing in my head at first glance. Judging by your reaction, you're that Lazarus guy, right? And you, little flat chest, you're Levi? And that leaves the other guy... the one who won't shut up, as Adela. Although the attitude gave it a way right a way." In away, he was insulting Adela. "But..." Her eyes wandered to glance at the final person who was awake. It was a girl, and to Deon she looked like she was straight out of one of those manga books Reid liked to read, "You're either Reid or Sven based on our circumstances, I suppose... But which one are you?"

Reid panicked, still completely lost as to what the heck was going on. This people... they claimed to be people he knew... but they were the wrong gender, and they didn't look anything like the people they claimed to be. "Wh... what are you-" He began to say, uncertain of how he was going to reply to such a question since he considered himself to be normal. But, he proved himself wrong when he got an earful of his own, high pitched female voice. This usually wouldn't be strange to him, but it was much different than the voice he heard when he used Mistral's form. This voice was different, this voice was his own, or rather her own. Not sure what to do next, Reid finally clued in on the problem with his hair. He pulled away some pale pink strands of hair out of his face. The rest of his hair was the same colour. It reached halfway down his back, and a portion in the back was separated by a navy blue butterfly clip so that a small layer in the center of the back overlapped the rest of the hair mass. He blinked, confused, his light blue eyes reflecting the dawn's light. She was pretty short, much shorter than she had been as a guy, and her body was thin and petite. In regards to curves, she didn't have a lot, but they were present, at least moreso than with Gil. She was only about an A-cup, as well. In regards to her outfit, whe wore a cute white blouse with an accompanying light, pale pink, pleated skirt. Around her neck was also tied a pale pink ribbon. She also wore white stockings that rose to just below her skirt, along with a pair of black penny loafers. "Mistral... you based my appearance off of something from a manga... didn't you?" Reid murmured irritably in his new voice after coming to terms with his situation. He looked like a preppy schoolgirl.

"I... uh... might have, Sanako... She replied nervously. Sanako? That's the name she gave him? Yup, definately inspired by a manga. Sanako spun around at the sound of laughing coming from behind him. He found himself looking at the two who had just woken, obviously Ailia and Sven. Ailia was laughing at Reid, and while Reid would usually yell, Sanako's brother was older than herself. It was true, Sanako appeared to only be about fifteen, while Ailia looked to be eighteen. She had kept her blonde hair that she inherited from her mother, but it was much shorter, revealing blue eyes that would have been green in her old form. The ex-girl was tall and lanky, towering over the timid looking girl who sat beside her. He didn't seem fit for fighting, however. But... Ailia didn't have faels, so how? Oh well, he'd ask her later. For some reason, she was dressed in the cloak Reid WOULD have been dressed in had he been in his old form.

"OH MY GOD! YOUR WINGS, SANAKO!" He continued to laugh, and point. It took words from the girl beside her to clarify what the boy meant.

"Reid... what Evan means... y-you have wings now. B-but... they aren't normal." She said shyly, and then tried to hide her face behind Ailia. Apparently, Sven was first to suffer the mental changes. Her hair was forest green, wavy, and fell down to her butt. Her bangs were long enough that they covered her eyes, which were brown underneath all of that hair. All she wore was a light green dress, that outlined her petite thirteen year old body. Even his wings had taken on a different form, turning brown in colour from their usual white.

"Darnit Ruri, you ruined my fun!" 'Evan' stepped in, his personality apparently yet to be unchanged by whatever the hell Stahn did.

Sanako blinked for a moment. Her wings? She didn't have wings... She struggled to glance back, and suddenly realized what was so funny about them. They weren't capable of flight, in fact they looked decorative. They were just... two tiny, black, bat like wings that gave her a devilish appearance. Mistral was going to pay someday. Sanako blushed as she jolther back away out of the view of most other people. That was just embarassing... "Don't worry, Sanako, I think you're cute!" Deon laughed, and Christian just observed.

"SO, HOW ARE YOU ALL LIKING YOUR NEW FORMS?! WAIT TILL YOUR PERSONALITIES KICK IN!" Stahn's voice boomed through a megaphone at the mansion before them. "I THINK YOU SHOULD ALL GET INVOLVED ROMANTICALLY WITH YOUR PARTNERS! IT'LL BE BETTER FOR YOUR TRAINING!" This was followed by a laugh.

"YOU SICK PERVERT, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO US?! AND I'D NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE LIKE HIM!" She shot her finger in Armon's direction, and jolted her face away from him, face reddening slightly. Of course, Stahn couldn't hear here.

"That type of reaction..." Deon began.
"Could it be?" Christian continued.
"Sanako is a tsunderekko?" Evan finished, before snorting. Of course, chances were only those three knew what that meant, because Sanako just acted like she didn't hear it, since she didn't know what it meant.
 
"DON'T CALL ME ARMON-" Armon screeched in fury, still stuck in his original personality before his expression completely blanked out, yellow eyes dulling over for a split second. His hands loosened their grip on his hair, revealing that they'd caused the messy hair to become even more ruffled. Blinking, he looked around himself. Woah. That was weird. Standing up, Armon looked himself over, almost as if newly realizing that he was the wrong gender. However, judging by his expression, it looked as if he could care less. Yawning, Armon stretched. It was almost as if he hadn't thrown a temper tantrum a few seconds earlier. He scratched his head, staring at Stahn out of the corner of his eye before turning to Sanako, hardly even noticing the totally shoujo look about her. He registered that this girl was once Reid.

"Sorry about that," Armon smiled serenely, "I guess I was kind of freaked out."

'There she goes!' Jeckt was having the time of his life, undoubtedly.

'You're terrible….' Xaviae sweatdropped, watching as the boy who was once Adela watched with light interest at Sanako freaking out over Stahn's preposterous suggestion. The cheery smile's quality changed instantly to a sly one, 'Adela is going to kill you…'

"Tch," Armon scoffed, "You're not going to fall in love with me? I thought Mistral liked Xaviae." He ran a hand through his hair as though to make his point, "Aren't you under Mistral's control right now?" He laughed, and in his mind, wholly ignored, Xaviae was practically chewing his fingers off in anxiety.

'Ican'tbelieveshejustdidthat Ican'tbelieveshejustdidthat Ican'tbelieveshejustdidthat Ican'tbelieveshejustdidthat…" Xaviae repeated to himself over and over again, unable to imagine himself doing such an arrogant and self-important motion. Yet, he'd just seen it with his own eyes. Xaviae would certainly not last the remainder of the day. He was already on the verge of tears, because Armon was ruining his personality. Jeckt had refused to tell Xaviae what kind of new personality he'd given Adela, and he should've known. He lamented over the fact that he couldn't think of a personality obstacle that was greater than her stubbornness towards being told what to do. As the mechanic she'd visited so frequently in her younger years would say, she was 'back to normal'. The mischevious prankster who always had a smile on to hide her malicious intent. And that personality was wearing his appearance.

"Hey old man," Armon looked over his shoulder with a smirk, jerking his thumb at Sanako, "Why'll falling in love with that bubble gum bimbo help our training? I'm up for it, if it'll really help all that much. I mean, might as well, right? It's not like it'll affect me any once this is over-"


"WOAH, VIOLETTE, YOU HAVE A KICK-ASS FIGURE. TRADE ME!"

Violette shrieked slapping Gil's unabashed hands away from her chest, "Don't touch me!" She cried shrilly, clapping her hands over her beet red cheeks, sparkling tears brimming in her purple eyes.

"Psh," Gil shrugged waving her hand as though swatting away an annoying fly, "At least you have something to be touched. Look at this! I can't even get a handful!" Gil frowned, trying it out.

"P-P-Pervert!! Lesbian!! Homosexual!!! Eeeekkkk!!!!" Violette slammed the heel of her palm into Gil's chin, hiding behind the hammocks a good five yards away from Gil. Had Levi's personality not kicked in yet? No. It had. Had it been Levi, he would've stared and drooled, not groped and examined. He at least had that much restrain. But being a girl as well, Gil could've cared less. Polar opposites, Gil was the type who would probably start changing in front of guy- she couldn't care less. Violette was the type who wouldn't even change in front of a girl. Tomboyish, stubborn, and spoiled, Gil immediately sat up and barked, "What was that for, you crazy witch!"

'I like this.' Jazrelli smiled, pleased with himself as he sank back in his seat. He'd modeled Levi's new personality around his own. The perfect personality, if he did say so himself. Ahh, he was such a nice person, giving his flawless personality to someone else without a second thought. How generous of him. Levi owed him one.

Violette's jaw dropped ever so slightly, her arms protectively defending herself from another attack, "Excuse me?!" Feminine to a fault, Violette was the epitome of lady-like manners and tendencies. She stuck her nose in the air, "I refuse to associate myself with someone as barbaric as you." Turning her back to Gil, she curtsied to everyone else, her expression changing instantly from insulted to sweet and cute, "I don't believe I'm supposed to be here, so my apologies if I'm a burden. I'm not sure how I ended up here myself, so please inform me of any way I can make it up to you for being as kind as to take me along."
 
"You're not going to fall in love with me? I thought Mistral liked Xaviae. Aren't you under Mistral's control right now?"

Twitch, twitch. "DON'T MAKE IT SOUND LIKE I BELONG TO HER, YOU IDIOT! I DON'T HAVE TO LIKE YOU JUST BECAUSE MY FAEL DOES!" Mistral retreated from Sanako's consciousness at this point, having migrated over to Armon's to hide with Xavaie. The moment the training was over, and they regaining their proper forms, the faels were going to be screwed.

"You know, if I knew you two were going to make Adela like that, I wouldn't have made Sanako a tsundere person... What in god's name is that Stahn person thinking, doing something like this, anyways?" Mistral leaned in up close to Xavaie's face. "So, what do you think?" They were close enough for a kiss, but she playfully leaned away from him. "This is serious though. Sanako is being combative with Armon, which means there is a high possibility she finds herself somewhat attracted to him. That's the way a tsundere type character works, anyways. If she starts to seem less combative towards him over time, we're in trouble. Flaire is here too, she'll remember everything after. And once they snap out of it, and Adela finds out she may have been participating romantically with Reid in some way, shape or form, well... you know..." She brought her fingers to her throat and mimiced a cutting. "We've truly created hell..."

"Hey old man," Armon looked over his shoulder with a smirk, jerking his thumb at Sanako, "Why'll falling in love with that bubble gum bimbo help our training? I'm up for it, if it'll really help all that much. I mean, might as well, right? It's not like it'll affect me any once this is over-"

Twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch. Mistral braced herself as Sanako began whipping anything she could find at Armon. Rocks, sticks, twigs... "BUBBLE GUM BIMBO!? YOU'RE MAKING FUN OF MY HAIR COLOUR NOW!? WHAT ARE YOU, FIVE YEARS OLD?! I LIKE MY HAIR THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" Mistral winced. She may have made Sanako out to be quite the feminine tsundere. Though... she hadn't touched her IQ at all, so why did she miss the bimbo insult? "AND DON'T SPEAK ABOUT LOVE SO CASUALLY! IT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU CAN JUST THROW AWAY!" When she was done with her outburst, she turned her back to the boy and stormed off over to Violette and Gil, her face bright red. She needed the company of other girls now. That guy was just so... infuriating! "Can you believe the nerve of that guy!? he's so arrogant!" She was later joined by the shy, young Ruri.

"M-M-Mistral, guys, I'm scared..." Sae stuttered as she entered the realm of Xavaie and Jecht as well. Unlike most of the faels, who had chosen to age along with their reila, Sae had not. She still kept the form of a fifteen year old girl with long, dark blue hair and matching eyes. She wore a pair of white pajamas, for no apparent reason, which hung loosely on her petite body type. She was actually curvier than the thirteen year old Ruri.

Mistral answered quickly and bluntly. "We're ALL scared."

"Okay, everyone." Stahn said as he approached the group, eyeing everyone, and taking note of the most obvious mental changes. Even he got a chill down his spine by how messed up this all seemed. "When I said you'd be doing everything with your partner, I wasn't joking. You see, there are four hotsprings out here in the mountains..." Another chill, this time it was because of the glare he was receiving from Sanako. Was that... killing intent? "Each pair will be going to one of these hotsprings to bathe. You WILL bathe together, at the same time. If I catch you not, you will be removed from my course, and the antidote to the pill I had you take will not be administered, meaning you will NOT return to normal." The pressure from the killing intent increased tenfold. He had to wrap things up fast and get out of there! There was nothing worse than a ticked off girl, no matter how cute she looked. "ArmonandSanakohavethenorth,EvanandRurihavethesouth,ChristianandViolettehavetheeast,andDeonandGilhavethewest. HavefunandI'llseeyouinalittlewhileforyournextexcersize!" He shouted it all out in one blurb before turning around to take off, only to have an extremely sharp stick whizz by the left side of his head. He sweatdropped, and then turned around.

"What the hell will bathing together prove?" Sanako said with an extremely angry tone. "I won't be going there, not even if someone drags me. I'll stay in this form for the rest of my life if I have to, I AM NOT BATHING WITH THAT PERVERT."

"Pleasegodmakehertakethatbathe, pleasegodmakehertakethatbathe, pleasegodmakehertakethatbathe, pleasegodmakehertakethatbathe!" Mistral murmured rapidly, still with the other faels. Sure, it was probably partially because Sanako didn't want to bathe with a guy for ethical reasons, but... there was probably a chance she didn't want to show off her lack of a definitive figure more than anything. Mistral would know, it was the way she made her. At this point, she felt like a mad scientist seeing her creation go horribly, horribly wrong.

"One of the requirements of this training regimine is that you come to understand every aspect of your teammates. You were once a guy, he was once a girl, I don't see why you need to hide your body."

"HOW DO YOU NOT SEE WHY!? It's a thing of ethics!"

"If I believed in ethics, would I have placed you in such forms?" Sanako stuttered as she tried to create a rebuttle. Ouch, defeated. "Now, go take your bathe or else you really won't be going back to your old form, understand?" And with that, he was gone.

Sanako stormed off towards the north after momentarily troubling herself with the ribbon tied at her neck, which was becoming undone. Reid had been a slacker with no cares for little imperfections! Mistral had wanted to fix that... As she walked past Armon, she murmured, "If you lay so much as a finger on me, I'll kill you, you jerk..." Her cute little demon wings trailed behind her as she started to climb the path, making sure not to dirty her cute uniform. Mistral knew she really was good natured. The fact that she had just been thrown into a new form had left her more stressed than she should have been. Hopefully she'd cool down a bit after a bath in a hotspring...

Christian, in all his feminine glory, cautiously approached Violette, before extending a hand out towards her. "Shall we go then, it'd be my honour to lead you to our destination, Miss Violette." Wow, smooth talker.

"So, Miss Gil, would you rather walk, or would you rather I carry you to the hotspring?" Deon asked his partner politely. He had to admit, she wasn't the most feminine looking girl in the group, but a girl was a girl, and they all required the same sort of respect. "And ignore what everyone else thinks, I believe you look quite stunning."

---

"Oh good god, what have I created?" Stahn murmured after confining himself to the safety of his home. "Their personalities are a lot different than I anticipated..."

"Says the one who I turned into an eight year old crybaby~" Ming laughed as she appeared at his side. "I think it'll be okay, you just worry too much. You know your methods work, they do every time!"

"Yeah, but I've never had a student try to impale me with a stick..."

"True, very true..."
 
Had it been the present-day Adela, the young woman would've already blown a million fuses, going off about how Sanako would have no right to lecture her about love in a shrill voice. However, Armon merely smiled at Sanako, dodging with reflexes that came with Xaviae's body, "Well, if anyone here is five-years-old, judging by your appearance, I'd say you're the closest bet really. And honestly, I'm the one who throws love away?" This was a great joke to Armon, who laughed, "Hahahaha! That's rich kid, that's rich. I'd say I have the right to talk about love any way I want, so don't criticize me. And if you really care all that much about bathing with me, then just close your eyes. No need to make such a big scene! I personally prefer to see where I'm going, and it's not like you've got much of anything to mention anyway. What are you so hyped up about?" He asked arrogantly, unraveling the bandages around his arms and bracing himself for more objects to be flung at him. Undoubtedly there would be another shower of nature's good earth to be forecasted in the near future.

'I think Stahn is just trying to fix the mess a lot of our reila are in... I think.' Xaviae shrugged and sighed, depression hanging over his head like a rain cloud, 'And I think Adela isn't going to talk to us for another ten years if she figures out that Reid or... er... Sanako... was interested in her. She's going to tear her hair out over it, I know it.'

Xaviae's mind was brooding over his missed chance to swipe a kiss from Mistral- especially since Jeckt was winning 1-0 so far while everyone else was discussing the situation at hand. He hardly cared about the consequences with Adela now- it wasn't as though she could do anything more than yell and ignore them. Wait, what was he doing?! Now was not the time to be obsessing over something trivial like that. He glanced at Mistral, 'I'm more worried about you though. Reid is really different. I mean, after all, Jeckt's just amplifying what he would've done to Adela anyway- but wow. A shoujo manga girl... Wait. Bathing?'

Jeckt was practically choking, 'Ahh, this day is too funny. I'm going to die, I know it.'

A horrible realization dawned on Xaviae as he spun around, revealing to Jeckt his desperate and flustered face, 'YOU'RE going to die?!' Xaviae suddenly burst out, 'I don't know why I still listen to you!! Argh! I forgot that there was the bathing element- EVERYONE IS GOING TO SEE.... see... y'know...... EVERYTHING!! IT'S MY BODY!! I knew you were up to something when you said it would help with the training if she looked more like what she was trying to materilize.'

'By everyone,' Jeckt smirked, pointing his index finger at one of the faels standing beside Xaviae, 'Don't you mean Mistral'?] Ah, he did enjoy antagonizing the sweet couple, 'And why is it all plufael's here? I'm going to faint from the sheer good feeling going around you know. Ah well, it's good that we're such great friends Xaviae.'

'Aggghhh!' Xaviae groaned, his orange hair turning pure white as he slapped his forehead, sinking down to a squat as though he was trying to fall through the ground. His face turning completely red as he imagined the worst case scenario- which was pretty much what things were en route to, 'I hate you Jeckttttt!'

'I'm sure,' Jeckt replied coolly, still smirking, 'I'm sure. Because that's what friends are for, right?' He snickered ignoring the fact that in Xaviae's grief, he could easily break free from the chains that bound him to the tree. If he switched places with Xaviae, his entertainment would be over. Had it been Jeckt who was the plufael, and Xaviae the negafael, he would've never dug himself into this grave so easily. Well, it was true, that was simply the nature that made Xaviae the plufael, rather than the negafael. Ah, sometimes things were more entertaining from behind the scenes.




Gil regarded Deon with a raised eyebrow, not criticizing, but as though contemplating whether he was serious or not. Finally she shrugged and answered, "No that's okay, I can walk. I'm not Violette."

A vein pop appeared on the back of Violette's head, her sweet expression that had been politely accepting Christian's hand turning irritated and dark, the corner of her mouth twitching as though she dearly wanted to say something. Taking a deep breath however, she rubbed the place between her eyebrows to rid herself of any possible chance for wrinkles, "Thank you so much… Christian is it? I'm so glad that someone here has a semblance of good manners." She didn't need to look at the person she was referring to before she nearly got a flying kick to the head, squealing and ducking behind Christian at once, grasping his arm tightly in her arms as she peaked out from behind him indignantly at Gil, who had landed, sliding gracefully before straightening and pointing an accusing finger at the girl hiding behind her partner.

"I'VE GOT BETTER MANNERS THAN YOU COULD EVER WISH FOR, YOU COWARDLY BI-" Gil spat on the ground with her last syllable, making a vulgar hand gesture at Violette and sticking her tongue out. Jazrelli burst out laughing, holding his thumb up in approval as Devitell peered at the scene from her black splotch in the corner of the room, sweatdropping. Female… huh…? She seemed more masculine in personality than Levi. Poor Master Jaquez… he'd be shamed even further. Jazrelli even kept his wings on his feet. Levi would be disappointed had he noticed that. He was probably too accustomed to them being there, and thus, had only first noticed that his figure wasn't much to mention, "Come on Deon, I need to wash off the girly germs that these two are practically oozing from their pores." She grumbled, stomping away.

Violette's jaw dropped open at Gil's attitude, forgetting all about how unladylike it was to do so. Not even the ladiest of ladies could prevent letting at least some piece of their aghast expression leak through. She pointed a trembling finger at Gil's figure that was slowly growing smaller along with Deon, whom Gil had effectively grabbed the sleeve of, barking in a frustrated voice, "I'D RATHER BE A GUY WITH NO BOOBS THAN A GIRL WITH NO BOOBS, SO LET'S GO."

A streak of red crossed the bridge of Violette's nose, signaling how insulted she was before she mumbled to Christian, "We shouldn't let Mr. Stahn think that we're not going to take this bath… I don't know how you can live with all this hair, it's really heavy."
 
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He's not worth it, he's not worth it, he's not worth it... Those were the only words going through Sanako's mind as she trekked up the dirt path that lead to the hot spring that they'd apparently be sharing. Her and HIM. Either way, she'd finally regained her calm after all of the shock from what was going on. It was weird, she knew she was Reid, but she couldn't act like him, and it didn't seem right to refer to herself by the name. She glanced over her shoulder casually from time to time, making sure there was enough distance between herself and Armon. Occassionally, when she found there was enough of a gap, she would stop to straighten her uniform. this included ironing out any wrinkles with her hands, or wiping off any specks of dirt that may have been present. Sometimes, she'd make eye contact with the boy while looking back, and reacted by sticking her nose up and looking ahead once more. But, she had hope. It was a hot spring, right? It was probably big, so she could get in before he saw anything, crouch down on the other side, turn her back to him, and wait for him to get out before sneaking out herself.

"If it makes you feel any better, Reid's body type is based off of my own from when I was that age-" Mistral stopped abruptly, before turning bright red. "CRAP! That means you'll basically be seeing my body too! No! No! She won't let him! That's right!" Now she was panicking much like Xaviae was. It was cute... in a way. "But wait a minute! That means Adela was making fun of my body type from back then! Is that what you thought, Xavaie!? Is it!?" Had Mistral finally cracked? Probably.

Eventually, after climbing numerous wooden steps, Sanako arrived at the top of a large hill that overlooked the mansion buried in the valley of trees below. There were four hills like this, and she could only imagine there was a hot spring on each one. Her focus returned to the one before her. So far, there was an open air hut leaning against some trees, with another pathway leading most likely towards the hotspring behind it. Sanako's eyes quickly locked onto something good. There were towels on a bench under the hut! Yes! She could just hide herself in that! As she ran nearer, her happy face turned to one close to tears. The towels were locked in glass container with a lock on it. A note was attached that read "The key is in the water. P.S. if you break this then you won't get changed back~" Sanako almost snapped. No, no. She had to keep calm... calm...

"Hey! Pervert! I'm going on ahead, okay!?" She called back, not particularly caring for his answer before she began to navigate the new dirt path behind the hut. After a short while, she finally came to the spring. "Wha... wha... WHAT IS THIS!?"

---

"So you did as I asked then, Mistro?" Stahn addressed his butler as he took a sip of tea.

"Yes sir, they should be finding out any moment now... but isn't this a little bit... rude?"

"Well, they have one month to accomplish something that would normally take up to a year to do. Some adjustments needed to be made."

---

The... the hot spring... nearly three quarters of it was sealed off by a fence, leaving only a small portion for actual use... "WHAT THE HELL!" No, no, calm. She only had a moment before Armon would catch up. She took a moment, struggling to get her clothes off before the male arrived. In the end, she ended up getting into the water with her white bra still on, only to take the wet object off and throw it with the rest of clothes on the side of the spring, which were neatly folded and arranged. She quickly made it to the farthest possible corner of the delightfully warm water basin - which was only like four metres from the edge. She cursed this water, it was far too clear. Even if she sat down normally, he'd be able to see everything. So, in the end, she decided to sit in the most shallow area possible so that she could lift her knees up, wrapping her hands around them. He'd see her naked from the back, but that was far better than from the front. Hopefully he'd be a quick bather, because she wanted to get out of there... Even so, she was shaking nervously, her wings in particular had a bad nervous twitch.

"We're all doooooomed." Mistral whined.

---

"Oi, Deon, keep your girl out of control!" Christian shouted as he threw out his hand in disgust.

Deon sweatdropped. His girl? It's not like they were dating. And... didn't Deon have someone else? Was it that Sanako girl? No... there was no chemistry there. Was he thinking of someone else maybe? Without getting a chance to dwell on it much longer, he suddenly found himself being dragged away by Gil, who seemed quite anxious to leave. Their journey wasn't particularly a long one. The spring was located much closer to the mansion than the one up north. Deon blankly looked at the glass case with the towels enclosed in it. "This guy... he's really persistant." It didn't take long after that for him to sweatdrop afterwards, as he got a good look at the enclosed hotspring. Did they really have share this tiny space? No, what if they broke the fence? He proceeded to do so, ever so slightly from outside of the water. As he peered in through the removed board. He sweatdropped again. The entire hotspring had been filled with rocks, other than the area meant for them. "Great, looks like we have to fit in that little space." He moaned, before turning to look at Gil.

---

"Shall we take flight, then?" Christian asked once more before shaking himself free of Violette's grasp. In another swift movement, he slipped his right hand into her left hand and locked it, before gracefully beginning to lead her away to their destination. "My hair?" Christian asked thoughtful. He supposed as a girl he had just been used to it, though it wasn't different enough now for him to make a good comparison. "I suppose when you live with it all your life, you just get used to it? You should take pride in your hair, it's a lovely shade. It compliments your eyes quite nicely." If Ellianne was still fully intact mentally she probably would have been saying all of these things to Sanako. She had ever so wanted to talk with Reid, to let him know about the real her. But, here she was, flirting with another girl. Well... I guess technically it isn't ANOTHER girl... you get the point. The two met the same shock the others did when the arrived. After breaking the fence slightly and realizing it was full of rocks behind it, Christian had no problem with removing his shirt, revealing his strangely feminine upper body. Of course, there was no bust, but he was just... well... slightly curved. "It appears we don't have much of a choice, Violette. Is there a way you'd prefer to do this? I don't want to offend you in any way."
 
"Well, I'm so flat and skinny I won't take up much space, so it shouldn't be a tight fit." Gil said, pulling her shirt over her head. She didn't care about many things, such as the fact that Deon's eyes were right on here, or that the hotspring was ridiculously small. She peeled her sports bra away from her chest to look down it, before giving a rueful sigh, "Man, this is so unfair!" She looked up at the hotspring for a moment before shrugging and tossing the garment away, undressing as she walked towards the water, "I don't know if you're the kind of person who really cares about this whole butt-naked thing, but I honestly don't have any problems with it." She dipped into the warm waters and stretched without a care in the world. If it counted, she was still wearing her dog tag…

'EW, GIRL PARTS, GIRL PARTS, GROSS!!!' Jazrelli yelped, rolling over and blindly crawling under his couch.

"Oh shut up Jazrelli, you're technically a girl anyway, what are you freaking out about? I bet your chest is bigger than mine even!" Gil snapped, sending spurts of water up into the air with bursts of Wionus every now and then to entertain herself, "Actually, I bet you don't even remember what size you are!"

'I haven't been a girl since you were THREE Levi. I don't know, but MOST three-year-olds don't really need bra's.' Jazrelli retorted irritably, picking at the dust bunnies that hung off the bottom of his couch. He hated this Stahn guy. What a useless training regimen. Jazrelli didn't feel any stronger than before- in fact, he felt weaker! How was he supposed to fight if he possessed a weak flimsy girl's body?! He couldn't do it. Devitell probably could, he was constantly wearing all that lacy frilly icky stuff. Jazrelli was extremely displeased. And nothing good came out of a disappointed, spoiled brat. Only time would tell how long it would take for the plufael to throw a temper tantrum. The last time he'd thrown a temper tantrum? Well… the Everard Family had suffered the consequences.

"Hmm, I wonder if I have to use conditioner." Gil wondered aloud, Levi being the type who merely washed his hair with some soap and was off on his way.

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

Head-over-heels, is what Violette would've been if she wasn't still clinging to the idea that she was male- goddamnit. As such, she simply replied with a half smile and a thank you while Hyacinth fanned her ego, pointing out why her idea had so obviously succeeded better than Orcha's would've. The two faels argued endlessly, both of them having too much affection for their Reila for their own good.

"Ahh…" Violette sweatdropped, glancing over the cramped hot springs with a wary gaze, "I don't know if there is 'another way'… Mr. Stahn is… really thorough. I just can't look down. As long as I don't look down, it'll be okay! … I'm so dead." She hung her head and consented with first figuring out how to remove a halter top. There was no tie in the back, nor the front. No, the problem wasn't getting the halter top off. It was… facing what was underneath. Unbearable. Unbearable. Violete dragged her fingers down her face in grief, "There's no way I can choose whether to take off the skirt or shirt first… they're equally horrible…."

'Oh come on Viola-my-sweet-Lazus-gone-wrong, it's not that bad!' Orcha smirked, pointing at her own chest, 'You see half of it every day, you're just getting 50% more of the show! Would it help if you thought of it as my body instead of yours?'

"NO!" Violette wailed in response, "THAT'S EVEN WORSE!"

Gathering herself, Violette straightened and took a deep breath. Okay. She just had to do it. Think of it as a new experience to add to the diary at home. Okay. Just don't think about it. Okay. It would be hard, just pull the hem up…

"I CAN'T DO IT!!!" Violette pounded her fist on one of the fences, biting her lip she mumbled through her clamped lips, "Mo, I mave moo oo eet." (No, I have to do it.)

"It's not that I care about you seeing… You've seen it all anyway but… ARGH it's bad enough being able to FEEL it but I don't want to SEE IT!!" Violette was truly in over her head. Lazarus being the respectable young man he was, would prefer to keep this view from himself until the proper time- and quite frankly, now was NOT the proper time. Orcha's earlier suggestion hadn't helped AT ALL. He did NOT want to see what was under the leaves that did a poor job of covering up the essentials anyway. Violette thumped her head against the wall before finally summoning up the last of her courage. Closing her eyes she made the world record of peeling off her clothes and sliding into the water.

"I can just… grow some lily pads in the water!" Violette brightened, reaching over to grab the packet of seeds. Wait.

Good god.

It was too far away! Violette's expression was crushed, as her hand, stretched out towards her discarded skirt fell limply on the ground. Was this punishment for something? Something in an earlier life, or something?

'Oh no!!' Hyacinth wailed.

"What?!" Violette instantly sat up straight, shivering at the sudden cold piercing her shoulders and immediately sinking back into the water, folding her arms over her chest so at the very least, she couldn't see much more than what Orcha usually offered anyway. Ugh. Very awkward feeling.

'YOU'RE CURLS ARE COMING UNDONE!!!' She cried.

"……."

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

Sitting down at the edge of the hotsprings, Armon sighed in annoyance as he pulled off his black overshirt- the one different she'd noticed in his appearance in reference to Xaviae, that his shirt was white. Dropping it carelessly on the floor without folding it, he folded his arms as though contemplating something serious. As promised, he glanced not even once at Sanako- like he'd said earlier, there was nothing to see.

"Why do you wear all these bandages Xaviae?" Armon asked looking very awkward as he tried to removed the bandages around his torso, "They're useless!"

No response, as Xaviae was too busy with his own affairs to care about Armon's critique of his fashion sense, 'No Mistral, that's not what I think! I think you're a very… At the risk of sounding like a pervert, I think your figure is perfect! Whatever Armon says is Jeckt's opinion! I only did the appearance! I swear, ask him yourself!'

'Is that true? That's your body from back then?' Jeckt asked Mistral with great interest, 'I remember you had more to your figure than THAT five years ago. You at least would've filled in the shirt, if anything. I couldn't really tell the lower half though, since you wore that sundress. Can't really see much under that thing, you know? Anyway, you're not giving yourself enough credit Mistral.'

'Okay I regret asking for your opinion, nobody wants to hear it anymore.' Xavaie said quickly, waving his arm at Jeckt to tell him to shut up.

"Finally, it's about time it came off." Armon sighed, tossing the bandages aside. Unlike Sanako, and very much like Gil, he didn't seem to care all that much about stripping for someone else. Strange, because even the old Adela's personality would've merited much resistance and temper tantrums. Perhaps it was her mischievous side taking over, preferring to torture and antagonize Sanako over modesty, "Your boxers are really boring Xaviae."

'PLEASE,' Xaviae cried, squeezing his eyes shut as Armon plopped into the water, 'DON'T. COMMENT ON MY UNDERWEAR.'

"It is~" Armon teased, sitting down and leaning his elbows up on the side of the pool, "You could at least have it be orange, like your hair… usually is. Gray makes it look like you've overwashed them or something."

'Trade me places Jeckt. Trade me places.' Xaviae moaned, refusing to open his eyes.

'No way!' Jeckt cackled with laughter, 'This is too funny! You can try to trade me places, but there's no way I'm going to let you escape this humiliation. I'm stronger, better, and faster than you- think you can get me off this tree if I don't want to leave it?' Jeckt scoffed, tapping the chains, 'Good luck.'

"So Sanako, what's your plan of action right now? You got in a lot faster than I thought you would, so you probably have an idea of how to get out unseen. Not that I can't see everything right now." Armon shrugged, completely uncaring, "I'm rather enjoying myself right now, it's been a long time since I've gotten the chance to really relax, so I'll probably be here for awhile, if that'll help you think ahead of how you're going to work around that. You're unlucky you don't use Dation like me, otherwise you could probably cover yourself up with Dation. I doubt Wionus'll do much for you. Wation would've been convenient for you. Too bad that's not your affinity." What a horrible way to strike up a conversation with Sanako's personality type.
 
"Why do you care so much about how you look? I mean, speaking from experience, sure it's good to look nice, but when I think of my appearance, the first aspect of my body that pops into my head isn't my chest." Deon replied knowledgably, not making any effort to look away as Gil changed. It wasn't anything he hadn't seen before, anyways, so why was it a problem as long as she didn't care. He proceeded to remove his own clothing, not particularly caring if Gil saw his male unmentionables, although he didn't look himself. Gil was once a guy, she wouldn't care. Following this, he had no problems slinking his way into the hotspring. He, however, made no effort to distance himself from Gil, and sat fairly close to her. Sure, she didn't have a stellar figure, but there was something about her personality... "So, what do you think about the others? It's not like we're in different boats. I mean, the only person who got the long end of the boob stick was Violette, really..." He let out a sigh afterwards. "Though, something doesn't feel right, y'know? I feel like... there's someone I should be concerned about..."

---

Christian sweatdropped. Violette's main issue wasn't that she didn't want him to see her body, it was that she didn't want to see her own body. That was... kind of sad within itself. What was even more shocking was that she managed to undress and slip into the water before he finished a blink. It was... impressive. Though, he couldn't help but eye her body, It was nice, much better than the one he had as Ellianne. Deep down, Ellianne was jealous that a guy had a better figure than her. After he removed his own clothes, he slipped into the water himself, hoping Violette had not seen. He had absolutely no problem wading over to Violette, where he sat down right beside her. Their legs were practically touching! "It's weird..." He began abruptly. "I haven't been able to talk for so long, but here I am. I still have these infernal wings that make people hate me though." He referenced the pair of white wyvern wings on his back. "Though, some people find them interesting, it seems~" He ended his sentence with a positive infliction as he gave Violette a wide grin. He knew he had seen Lazarus looking at his wings when they were in their old forms. "Seriously though, I'm surprised by all of this, and I'm surprised everyone is taking it so well. Adel- er, Armon in particular. And Reid..." His eyes hit the water, not having forgot the feels he had for Reid when he was Ellianne.

---

Sanako stuck her mouth into the water and began to cutely blow bubbles as Armon made his way into the water. When she was absolutely sure he was in, she took a quick glance back. He was in the way of the exit. She was trapped. She almost lost it after overhearing Jeckt's comment about her figure through. Thankfully, she deterred herself by blowing bubbles again. Things took a greater turn for the worse, however, as Armon began to question her escape route. What would she do? Would he stay there just to annoy her? Wait... "Wh-wh-what do you mean you can see everything!?" She cried without shouting, or throwing anything. Really, there was nothing she could do in fear of revealing herself. "And... stop making fun of me, you're really mean you know..." Why was she beginning to feel really tired for some reason. Why? What was going on? She had been in the hotspring for a while now, but would that do anything to her? This was bad though, he had yet to move, and quite a bit of time had past. Eventually, the comment about her wionus being useless was brought up, and she took it as a personal attack. Without thinking, perhaps because of being tired, she grabbed a rock off the bottom of the spring, stood up, and spun around, revealing that in fact she wasn't as flat as her blouse made her seem. But as she was about to throw it, she murmured something incomprehensible and her whole body just gave way and she fell face (her face already had a red line across it from being exposed to the heat for too long) first into the water with a splash. She'd likely drown at that rate.
 
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