Y.Z. Act III [PG-16]

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Lazarus was too shocked for words. The sound of the slap had issued a flinch from him, and he was still halfway through recovering from the cringe when Ellianne stormed off with Reid.

"E-Ellianne…" He stammered wondering whether this would impact the visit. No, he knew it would. Glancing back and forth between the two girls, Lazarus made an uncomfortable face before turning to follow Ellianne and Reid into the house. He wasn't about to stay out there alone with a witch that was steadily growing angrier as she realized what was going on. As soon as the door closed behind Lazarus, Adela hands clenched themselves into tight fists, gritting her teeth to hold back her frustration. The sting on her cheek just made her angrier. Too much. Everything was just too much. Reid, and then that girl… The entire Archai Squad. Served every one of them right that… they'd lost people they cared about at every angle. It served them right. She squeezed her eyes shut. She was so over this. There was no way Adela was going to stay in her form. She'd go back and tell Stahn that she was through with this, that there was nobody- absolutely nobody that she wanted to prote-

Her eyes opened, and when her thoughts came reeling back to her, she was sitting on the stairs that led up to the porch. What the-? She peered down at her feet. Mind blank? Another one? She sighed irritably and leaned the side of her forehead on the white oak post. Never did she get a moment's peace around these people. It was always this and that, trouble here, trouble there.



"Hmm, wasn't there one more girl with you guys?" Ella asked as she set mugs of tea in front of everyone before fixing her own, with a dash of milk and two sugar cubes from the tray in the middle.

"She'll be fine, she's just cranky right now." Lazarus replied, adding nothing to his tea, "Ella, can we stay here for the night?"

"Ohh..." Ella peered over her shoulder at the hall that led to the front door before addressing Lazarus' question, "Of course you can! I only have three bedroom's though, Alicel and Reks' old bedrooms and the guest room… but if someone really wants to, there's the couch as well… I don't know if any of you guys have problems with sleeping in those rooms though, I haven't gone in either Reks or Alicel's rooms, so they're probably really dusty and messy. Or at least, Reks' room probably is. Oh!" Ella turned to Ellianne with a smile, "That aside, I don't believe I've met you before. My name is Ella," She held her hand out to offer a handshake, "It's nice to meet you…?"

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

"Oi, Live, over here. Why are you still wearing our threads y'ditcher?"

Levi stuffed his hands in his pockets, sitting down across a man dressed in the same button up shirt as him, except yellow in color and unbuttoned most of the way to show his bright baby blue T-shirt underneath. His hair was cornsilk blonde, deceivingly kind pale blue eyes examining the different levels of fruit and yogurt in the colorful parfait sitting between the two teens. Unlike Levi, his pants were pulled out over his boots instead of stuff in. They were made of heavy black denim, fitting loosely on his frame that showed he was strong enough to lift more than his share of weight, but thin enough to show that he was far from a muscle man. Three small stars were tattooed onto his upper left cheek, growing as they moved away from the bridge of his high set nose, the largest no bigger than a nickel. Absentmindedly, long spider-like fingers mixed up the parfait, destroying the perfect layers and turning it into a pot full of unpleasantly colored paste. He didn't hesitate to put a spoonful in his mouth, waiting patiently for Levi's answer.

"Here." He tossed the spoon up in the air and caught it again, holding the handle out to Levi who extracted a hand from his pocket to take it. He picked a raspberry out of the mixture, expertly working around the vanilla yogurt and scooping up only berries and chocolate syrup that hadn't been mashed together.

"Too lazy t'steal clothes. 'Sides, I like this shirt." Levi finally answered before using the same spoon that the criminal across him had. There wasn't a single criminal in the entire shop that cared about sharing spoons, because only two criminals were sitting at the table for two. Neither cared about the whispers inquiring whether they were gay by a girl who had been watching them, as the boy clad in bright yellow was very handsome in his own right. He didn't spend hours every morning fixing his bangs into the perfect sweep across his eyes for nothing. The criminal scoffed, grinning at Levi's response.

"It'll cause you more trouble than you'll be wanting, being pardoned and all."

Levi looked up from fishing around the parfait, "Where'd ya hear I got pardin'd?"

"I don't shut my ears when my clients are standing around gaping stupidly. I have no qualms with eavesdropping."

"Should've known you were listening in on the boss." Levi picked out three blueberries, only to get the spoonful stolen from him when the blonde across from him picked the spoon out of his hands.

"It wasn't the boss, it was some soldiers who came in to get their swords sharpened. Besides, you don't have the right to call him boss anymore. How's the knife I put through your stomach doing? You must've found some Lionus user, cause your eye looks whole. Didn't Buchos put a needle through it? Ah, no he put a needle through your-"

"I'm not here to talk about what y'all to me when I told you I wanted to leave. You still makin' bombs?" Levi said, supporting his chin with the heel of his palm, staring at the various stalls outside.

"Oh?" The same fingers that had mixed up the contents slid the parfait glass aside, tossing a pencil and notepad covered in grease and black fingerprints towards Levi, "That's what you're here for? I'm gonna charge you for bombs now that we're not buddies, just so you know. Can't believe you called me out here for a reason like that. I had to think up some BS excuse to get outta here to meet you y'know. Traitor that you are."

"You should leave too, Sol." Levi commented, listing the bombs he wanted.

"Tch." Solomon scraped the heel of his rubber soles down Levi's shins, leaning back in his seat with a bored expression. Killjoy didn't even flinch, even though Solomon had kicked him hard enough for his leg to bleed. "I'm thinkin' about it."

Levi looked up in surprise, "Why?"

"Tell me why you left, and I'll tell you why I'm thinkin' about it."

"Nevermind."

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Piper regarded his sister for a moment before putting his index finger to his mouth, smiling as he answered, "That's a secret."

ooc: Ugh my mom is having a cow. I'll finish later.
 
OOC: The... ungodly shortness... it burns. But seriously, I have nothing else to do. >.<

Ellianne took Ella's hand hesistantly and shook it, offering a kind smile. She frowned suddenly, remembering that the smile was all she could offer. She looked worriedly over at Reid, the one who always ended up explaining what was wrong. "Ah, Ella, don't be offended by Ellianne's silence. She's mute, so..." He dropped two sugar cubes into tea, and began to stir. He watched his hand carefully. He was shaking. "Er... sorry, but I should probably check on Adela, seeing as she's not here yet..." He knew what the shaking meant. It was almost time, almost time for his disease to become active again. He made it as far as the door, which he opened, before falling forward and smacking his chin on the wood. "...Crap."

Ellianne heard, and rushed to his side, panicking. What was wrong? What was she going to do?
 
Adela turned a furious gaze at the door when she heard it open. Whoever it was, she wasn't interested in seeing them. The look disappeared at once though, when she saw Reid crashing to the floor. She vaguely remembered Sanako telling her that paralysis came after the coughing. But... Sanako hadn't told Armon how to handle it! Adela was close to losing all sorts of coherant thought, but soon regained her calm for a second, remembering that Ellianne, who was already panicking, didn't know about why Reid was paralyzed. Eurgh... sliding around beside Reid on the opposite side of Ellianne, she frowned as she looked down at him. She was not about to break the news to everyone, like Sanako had told her she could. She didn't want to be held responsible later. She looked up at the door, which swung open on it's hinges.

"Ella, it's fine, we'll handle it, just go back inside..." Lazarus was saying gently, trying to push the woman back inside. Having seen it in two cases, Ella was absolutely beside herself, Lazarus glancing over his shoulder. Terrible timing, he thought, before reluctantly leaving Ella's side for a moment to hold a handful of flowers out to Ellianne.

"Hardly the time to be wooing her, don't you think Lazarus?!" Adela snapped, looking at the damage to Reid's chin before gently prying his lips apart to see if he was unlucky enough to be bleeding in his mouth as well. Gentle, she reminded herself, having earlier sorely wanted to smack him around the head. She would get the chance later.

"I'm not flirting with her," Lazarus retaliated, glaring at Adela who ignored the accusing gaze, "The flower petals should close up any wounds in his mouth if you put them in water and . It should help ease bruising and bleeding on his chin too, if you soak it." He instructed, pushing the flowers into Ellianne's hands, "I'm sorry I can't stay and heal it myself." He stood again, hurrying back to Ella and pulling out a dark navy handkerchief, mumbling something to her as he steered her to her room. He glanced over his shoulder one more time. Ella wasn't the only one who'd seen the paralysis before.

"Let's at least stop the bleeding in his mouth before we move him inside. You can use wation, right Ellianne?" Adela demanded, speaking the girl's name for the first time, "Then do what Lazarus told you to!"

She felt hopelessly useless, having no particular powers that would help at the moment. She couldn't even bring them inside with a Dation warp, because she'd never seen the inside of the Florinen house.

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"No, we're not gay." Sol addressed the waitress in a flat tone as he watched her freeze up, "That's rude."

"Wh-What?" The waitress who was taking away the empty parfait glass stammered, not remembering that she'd ever inquired about their sexual orientation.

"It was written all over your face." Levi explained, ripping his order out of Sol's notebook and putting it down between them, "So anyway, I want these," Levi circled the top half, "By next week."

"Ehhhh?" Sol whined, glancing down the list.

"Don't 'ehhh' me, I'm a paying customer this time." Levi replied, putting the pencil down and sitting back, "Speaking of paying, you ordered the food, you're paying for it, because it was gross."

"It was delicious." Sol replied snatching the paper off the desk and crumpling it into a ball, stuffing it into his pocket, "Thanks for eating it all if you didn't even like it, Live. Wait wait wait, what are you doing in Alta anyway? I thought you said you'd come visit me in Carn if you ever got free?"

"Um, babysitting." Levi replied, "I have the day off though, the kids kind of ditched me."

"Murderer to babysitter." Sol scoffed, "That's what I call a mid-life crisis."

Levi looked up from sifting through his bag of explosives, speaking coldly to one of his oldest friends, "Don't remind me of that."
 
Ellianne winced as Adela snapped at her to do as she was told. She knew she had to, she knew she had to hurry and help, but she was shocked. Those days Reid had locked himself away, not coming out for anything, is this what he was hiding? She wasn't an idiot. Being one who was cursed with a weak body, she was aware of the symptoms of most diseases just in case she was to contract them. A tear fell onto the flowers in her hands. He wasn't supposed to die before her! Even so, she did as she was told, placing the flowers in his mouth and channeling water from a nearby source into his mouth.

Reid knew the second he caught sight of Ellianne's tears that she knew. Dammit, she was the last person he wanted to hurt. But, he couldn't say anything, because unfortunately he had plants of all things in his mouth. Thankfully, the paralysis didn't last very long, only about five to ten minutes depending on his luck. If he didn't have Mistral, chances were his paralysis spells could have last an upwards of ten hours. He felt hot tears on his back as Ellianne fell on top of him. Dammit. "Reid... Don't... leave me too..." The words came muffled, as it was distorted by his clothes, but he had heard it, right? Ellianne... said something? Was she aware she had spoken? Probably not. But... a traumatic experience to snap her out of the aftereffects of another traumatic experience? It was a plausible explanation, but... It was his fault, right? The fact that he was on the verge of death was traumatic enough to cause this..?

"You really are pathetic, aren't you? I go away for five years and this is what you turn into? A worthless little boy who does nothing but blame himself? Though, I guess that's what I get for leaving you in my stupid sister's care." A voice sounded in Reid's mind. It sounded like Mistral, but the tone and the use of language was much more malificent.

"Oww..." Mistral's voice whined after the sound of her being slugged on the head was heard. "Hey, you left Maelstrom! Even though you're my twin, you left! I'm the plufael here! It's kind of hard to keep a balance between light and darkness when the negafael is MIA!" The source of the other voice finally stepped into view. Maelstrom, like always, looked essentially like a darker, mirror version of Mistral. He had been once told that faels that were twins were extremely rare. Unlike Mistral, however, there were a couple of differences. Maelstrom's hair was a much darker green than Mistral's, and she wore it in a long ponytail. Her eyes were also a darker green, and her sundress was pure black and torn in multiple places with holes.

"Whatever, don't talk like it's my fault. I'm under the impression that you two are too synched, so if you were to use Mistral's form you'd still suffer from the paralysis, right? I guess I'll do you a favor, just this once."

Reid was overcome by the familiar feeling of his body reshaping, until suddenly he regained control of his body. Dark green hair fell over his eyes has he stood up, gently pushing Ellianne aside. He looked down. Maelstrom was right, he could move like this. This would be perfect for use when his body was in the paralysis state. She clenched her fists. Why did Maelstrom's form feel so much more powerful than Mistral's? It was almost overwhelming. "Ellianne, you spoke!" Was the first thing she said, which startled Ellianne. This wasn't Reid or Mistral she was looking at, so naturally she was a bit shocked.

"I... oh god, I am speaking..." Her voice was melodic. Flaire had once told him Ellianne used to sing all of the time, but to think her voice was like this when she just spoke regularly. Her eyes watered as she held back her tears. "But... you're going to-"

"I know... I know..."

"Blech. You people are sappy."

"Good to have you back, sister." Mistral replied sarcastically.
 
"Is everything okay-" Lazarus hurried out onto the porch, sweatdropping at the sight of Reid. He wasn't accustomed to seeing him in Mistral's form, and upon seeing that Reid was back to being female, he automatically tensed, looking down to make sure he hadn't suddenly changed and neglected to notice. Whew. Lazarus relaxed. Still male, thank goodness. "I put Ella to sleep for awhile, so we should stay away from her room unless you want to fall asleep. The sleep fragrance should wear off in about an hour or so. Is your mouth okay?" Lazarus asked Reid, "Cause I have an actual paste that'll heal cuts all the way I left in the medicine cabinet, if you need it."

Sitting back, Adela folded her arms, glaring at Reid as though he'd made her worry over nothing, even though the disease that she should've been worrying over was still there.

'Go away already, you ugly hag.' Adela made a scandalized face, but Jeckt quickly explained, 'Not you Princess, this stupid negafael that keeps hanging out over here.' He said, 'Who's fael are you anyway? The diseased hero's negafael is right in front of us, you the mute or the dweebie's negafael?'

'Excuuuuse me,' Orcha flipped out of the tree she'd been sitting in, 'I'm not a mute or a dweebie's fael. My reila is ten times better than yours. He's handsome and he's easy to get along with, unlike your cranky 24/7 PMS'ing witch of a puffed up self-important witch. I'll rip your esophagus out next time you have anything less than praise to say about my Prince Charming.'

Adela's glare shifted from Reid to Lazarus who sweatdropped. He hadn't even noticed Orcha's absence. And the way she was talking about him wasn't exactly far from embarrassing.

'You? Rip out my esophagus? What are you going to use your feet? I'd blow your hands off before you even got within a foot-'

"Enough." Adela stood, demanding an answer from Lazarus, "Which room am I staying in?"

"Well, I was planning on sleeping in the attic, since there are only three rooms. This was a traveler's stop, so all the beds are twin sized. You can stay in the guest room, Alicel's, or Reks' old rooms. Although if you weren't throwing a temper tantrum earlier, you would already know since Ella told us where we could sleep just a few minutes ago..."

Ignoring his last jab, Adela stormed into the house, "I don't care which room I stay in, just tell me where to go."

"Er..." Lazarus turned to Reid and Ellianne, "Do you guys have any preferences? I know some people don't really like occupying rooms where people have... well..." He trailed off, before redirecting the subject, "I don't think it's a problem as long as Ella doesn't mind."
 
"Er, I'll sleep in Reks' room. We've slept in worst places before, trust me..." Reid replied, still a little weirded out that Maelstrom had leant him her form until the paralysis broke. Where had she been the past five years? Was she plotting something? Or was she genuinely concerned about him? It was hard to tell with negafaels. Too shifty. Even so, unless he'd rather be paralyzed, this would have to do for now. "Ellianne, you have no problem where you sleep either, right?"

"R-Right..." She answered quietly, still fascinated by the sound of her voice that she hadn't heard in years. "I... have no problems with where I sleep... But, Reid, can we talk later? I've wanted to talk to you for so long..."

Reid smiled. "Of course!" Ellianne smiled back and wandered inside, sitting herself down on the couch. Sure, she was still half blind, but she could talk! She could really talk! But, could she say the things she wanted to? Could she tell him... everything? And now that she could talk, would he treat her differently? She collapsed onto her back and closed her eyes to just rest them. She didn't want to think about that yet.

In the meantime, Reid had moved to go inside as well, but remembered Lazarus had probably never seen him in a different form. "Er... sorry about the shock. My life is a running gag like this, since my faels like to manipulate my form. But, it's thanks to that that I'm able to move right now. Thanks for the help though, and I'm sorry for not telling you about my... condition. Nobody was really aware of it until now."

He turned back to look at Adela, wanted to thank her as well, but his eyes suddenly glazed over as he lost control. "So, you're the witch who's been causing my reila so much grief." The voice was cold, evil, so unlike Reid. It was obviously his negafael. "I never thought I'd have to see your flat chest again after I helped 'motivate' him to leave you high and dry five years ago. I never did like your negafael. Jeckt, the bastard is too stupid for his own good. But looking at his reila, it's not hard to see why."
 
"I-I'm uh," Lazarus pointing inside, "Going to erm, go some more tea or... something."

Escaping before Orcha could join the fray, Adela swallowed her fury in exchange for an arrogant scoff, even though her insides were burning to pieces out of the desire to at least get one shot at Maelstrom. (Damn it all that she was using Reid's body.) Folding her arms, she opened her mouth to retort, "Excuse me, ugly old woman, do I know you? Actually no, I don't really want to get to know a nobody like you, since your presence is obviously unneeded, after being gone without anyone caring for five years. Nobody asked for your opinion. Actually, nobody who matters here really cares, but by all means, continue wasting your breath."

'Nice to see you again too.' Jeckt spat sarcastically at Maelstrom, curling his lip at the sound of her voice as he picked dried blood off of his skin, 'What happened to your red light? Your ugly dress would've looked great with it.' He looked up from his hands and peered over his shoulder, as he heard someone moving, forgetting about Maelstrom for a moment, 'Welcome back to you too.' Jeckt said, a frown on his face as Xaviae stirred.

'Forgetting the useless plufael strapped to the tree,' Jeckt continued, 'You're not doing a very good job of keeping your reila from crawling back to mine, now are you? All it took was for me to rearrange some of Adela's thought process' so she'd say a few things she wouldn't normally say and your reila comes back for- I think it's two kisses at this point. I agree, my reila's pretty dumb, but if I'm stupid, I wonder what the IQ of your reila is, playing right into my hands without a second thought.'

"The hell did you rearrange, you ass?!" Adela snarled, "And did you just call me-"

'Oh? You didn't notice? Changed my mind, if you didn't suspect me of putting words in your mouth, then I guess you would've said them by yourself. You just needed an extra push off the cliff, didn't you?' Jeckt replied, sending a shot of Dation through Xaviae's right pectoral absentmindedly, ignoring the plufael as he coughed up the blood accumulating in his lungs. 'I think your reila had something to say to mine, Maelstrom. It's rude to interrupt you know.'
 
"Xavaie!" Mistral shouted, appearing at the plufael's side, beside the tree. "Jeckt! Screw off! This is just like before, when you posed as Adela's plufael, deceiving us all that time!" A swift blow to the head sent Mistral's skull crashing into the tree, however, and she fell to the ground, somehow still conscious. She got to her feet, and squinted to see the negafael as her vision blurred, blood running down her face from the large wound on her head. "Maelstrom... Why? I thought you'd changed..." She suddenly felt her perspective change as she grew closer to the ground. She suddenly realized she had regained the same, much smaller form she had taken five years before. The towering form of Maelstrom glared down at Mistral as she pointed her right index finger at multiple points on Mistral's body, pinning her down to the floor of Adela's mind with arrows of wionus through the flesh on her arms and legs.

The negafael smirked a satanic smirk as her eyes lit up a devilish red colour. "You can only blame yourself. After all, it's thanks to you that I've been able to succeed this time. You've played nicely into my hand. With my absence, the boy has slowly become unbalanced. Without a balance between dark and light in one with faels, they tend to become too reliant on one side, and are thus easily manipulated by the other." The witch of a fael reached into a pool of darkness, reaching in and dragging out another body that looked exactly like the regressed Mistral. "See? Look what you've turned our precious reila into! You! You've made him just like you!" She threw the Reid-trapped-in-Mistral's-form beside Mistral, and pinned her to the ground in a similar fashion. "I'm going to take over like I tried to five years ago, but this time I'm not going to make the same mistakes I made back then." Her body disappeared, leaving the two pinned in Adela's consciousness. Her voice boomed still, however. "First of all, I'm not going to try a takeover with you two present in the consciousness, which is why I've conveniently placed you two in a seperate consciousness. I wouldn't of had to bother if Jeckt hadn't saved Mistral back then. I still question his reasoning behind that. A negafael, helping a plufael. Idiot."

In the meantime, the physical form of Mistral turned completely to face Adela. "Hey, witch. You still have that gun that won me my freedom five years ago, don't you? That weapon that gave me the motivation to possess Reid and tear the body of his closest friend to tiny little shreds. It was thanks to three key people in Reid's life that have kept my presence surpressed. Rosaline Dian, Flaire Teluia, and you. Now that he doesn't have any of those three people, I can finally make my move. I thank you for being such a witch." Her form suddenly melted away to Reid's form, although the eyes still had a red glow to them. 'Reid' reached into the pocket of his cloak, pulling out a mahstion gun, one that belonged to Ellianne. 'He' pointed it at Adela. "Once you're dead, I won't have to worry about you at all, will I? But of course, you still have a gun of your own. So, what're you going to do? Kill Reid, or be killed?" It spoke with Reid's voice, and smirked with Reid's smirk, but it was obviously Maelstrom. "You shouldn't have any problems shooting me, right? You hate me for leaving you, for not saying anything, for making you suffer, right? All of that pain I've caused you, it still hurts, doesn't it? Being alone. The truth is Reid never wanted to leave you, he tried to get away to say goodbye at least, but I took him away from you. But if you kill me, you kill Reid. If you don't kill me, I kill you. Choices, choices.
 
'Mi-...str....' Xaviae choked out, before Jeckt stood, with an ugly contorted expression on his face, a square of dation crushing Xaviae's head against the tree. His already sharp pupils contracted, the size of pinpricks as he crushed his crystal ball with his fist. As he disappeared he snarled, 'Shut up, and don't ever say her name in front of me again. Or else I'm going to shut you up in that tree until you die.'

'Jeckt!' The bloodied plufael yelled in a hoarse voice, trying to push the Dation off of him while still bound in chains. The negafael he'd just called out to was already half gone, but heard Xaviae's words as the Dation engulfed his head, the words ringing to be heard by no one but the owner of the black box that began to suffocate Xaviae, 'Don't you dare!!'

Adela clenched her fists. What the heck was she supposed to do? Lazarus... where the heck was he? And Ellianne! They were both absolutely useless! Maelstrom.... huh? She definitely like Jeckt a lot more than Maelstrom. He at least, was nice when he was chained up.

"Don't kid yourself." Adela spoke, trying to smooth out her voice, "." She reached to unbuckle her holster, glaring at Maelstrom as she did so. Too damn nice. She was too damn nice. Reid would die eventually anyway. It would've been fine to just end it earlier. Her trembling hands suddenly stilled though, her hair growing shorter and her body growing even flatter and slender than before as Jeckt pulled out the mahstion gun, appearing in front of Maelstrom with the barrel pressed under her jaw. His face was displeased and serious as he glared into the false Reid's eyes. His clothes were visibly different. Over a button up-shirt was an open sports jacket, a dark ashy gray in color, just one of the variations between his appearance inside Adela's mind. Jeckt's hands were covered in black cotton gloves, and two silver rings were upon his index and middle finger that held the mahstion gun up, and instead of flat slip-ons, he wore a pair of black belted boots.

"You don't deserve to know why I saved that plufael. With that in mind, your reila is going to die soon anyway, right?" Jeckt muttered, before moving his finger to pull the trigger, his left hand disappearing as he used up the energy to fire a shot. He stared at his finger, which had stopped just short of the click he wanted to hear. A trigger safety made of Dation had formed between his finger and the trigger, "… Kill or be killed, Princess." He pressed his finger against the safety, which didn't budge, "And I don't plan on dying anytime today."

His hand stiffened, the gun sliding out of his hand.

"You can't be serious." Jeckt murmured, his voice slowly revealing a sense of panic with each word as Rod's gun clattered to the floor, "You want me to die… For someone who freakin' hates you?!"

A dation warp enveloped the tip of Maelstrom's gun as Jeckt reached out and clutched her throat tightly, shoving Maelstrom against the white brick walls, digging his thumb into her windpipe. The same furious contorted expression he wore inside Adela's mind surfaced as he snarled loud enough to show his aggravation, but not loud enough to garner the attention from those indoors, not wanting anyone to intervene, "You want me to die for someone… who you freakin' hate?!?!"

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Dieter, being Dieter, had already long forgotten about the collar around his neck. Being his first time in a populated place, he'd reasoned that the measures were necessary to keep him from killing everyone who accidentally bumped into him or spoke to him. After all, if anyone had anything to say to him, it wouldn't be too hard as long as he didn't get their lungs or voice box or throat area. Attack first, ask later. However, even though the village wasn't very big, it was a whole new adventure to Dieter, who never remembered a populated place that wasn't up in flames from a pirate attack, or a place that wasn't filled with scantily clad women when his mother neglected to find a babysitter or couldn't afford one. Of course, this was just Dieter's excuse to enjoy his pathetic excuse for freedom. This village was peaceful, and like a child, Dieter had to peek into all the window displays.

"Rasch," Dieter said, pulling on the master of diguise's sleeve, "You think this place sells any cigarettes? I want a brand with more tar in it!"

So it would smell worse, Rasch reasoned, shrugging in response as he read down the list that Tappen had made. Groceries… huh…

A group of humans altered for war, grocery shopping. Rasch shook his head with a sigh. Only Lieutenant Tappen could think of such an outrageous use for them.

"WOAHHH!" Dieter's eyes had stars of awe in them as he hurried over to the butchers stall, "This guy is cutting up meat in broad daylight! Why aren't you wearing a collar like me?! Tappen! This isn't fair at all!"

Rasch sweatdropped. No, that kind of meat was different from the human flesh that Dieter had in mind.
 
"So, the witch does value his life." Maelstrom stated even as she was being strangled. She didn't care. Jeckt was only a minor setback. The wind suddenly picked up, and a blade of wionus swung across Jeckt's wrist, severing his hand from his arm. Maelstrom took the opportunity to kick Jeckt away, before ripping the severed hand from her throat and throwing it at him. "Don't screw with me, Jeckt. You're held down by your reila, I'm not. That alone creates a great enough power difference." She freed her gun from the dation, and pointed it at her - Reid's - foot, and fired a shot. She didn't feel a thing.

In the meanwhile, still secured to the floor of Adela's mind, Reid was, despite being in Mistral's younger form, feeling the pain. He screamed. He could do nothing but scream as the feeling of having a bullet pierce his foot shook his very being.

Maelstrom smirked as she pointed the gun to her other foot. "You're right. He is going to die soon, which is why I have no problem doing this. Part of the reason this whole plan has had any success is because he's been burdened with it for so long. This is all for my own amusement anyways, and if I die with him in the process, at least I'll die happy." She fired at the other foot. Reid screamed. She fired at both legs. Reid screamed louder. The stomach. Further screaming, and now crying. "It seems I'm running out of non-fatal places to shoot." She suddenly noticed another presence; another gun pointed at her.

"You wouldn't shoot at me, would you Ellianne? After all I've done for you, you wouldn't dare." Her red eye turned to look at the wyvern girl, who was shakily pointing a gun at who she thought was Reid, her eyes wide in shock. In a swift motion, Maelstrom swung the gun in Ellianne's direction and shot. The shot hit Ellianne in the right half of her chest, thankfully away from her heart, and her head shot back as she fell to her knees.

"...Reid...why?" She murmured as she fell onto her hands, tears flowing.

Reid, sweating and shaking violently from the pain he had received, persisted in trying to break free from the wionus that had him bound. He couldn't let this go on, or else he'd lose everything, everone! Ellianne, she got involved too. DAMMIT.

"After learning of the death of Princess Rosaline and the loss of his country, Reid Davies of Flazure's Archai Squad went berserk and killed one of his friends. He then proceeded to commit suicide after realizing what he had done. That's what the papers will read. What do you have to say to that, Adela Ciaccio?" Maelstrom brought the gun up and pointed it at Reid's head...

---

Auricia, Tsukasa and Ashton all joined Rasch in his sweatdropping in response to Dieter's comment. How could he be unaware of something so simple and commonplace? "That's animal meat, Die-chi." Auricia stated as she covered her nose and mouth with her hand. Human or animal, blood was blood, and there was a lot of it around. "He probably has a license, so that's why he's allowed..." She clung to Ashton's hand, and he blushed based on the suddeness of the action. "Right, Ashton?"

"Uh... yeah. While you're a Skill, Dieter, remember you're also a soldier. Soldiers don't just aimlessly kill the innocent like you seem to enjoy. We're not murderers." It was pointless preaching to Dieter, Ashton realized, but it didn't hurt to try. "But since you seem to keen on visiting the butcher, you can." He shoved a list into Dieter's hands. "There, get everything on that list. Maybe he'll even let you cut it if you ask nicely. But DON'T reveal your abilities. Rasch, go with him to watch him. We'll go off and get the vegetables and fruit."
 
Jeckt got to his feet as though losing a hand was nothing, black smoke floating from the mahstion gun and thickening as it swirled through the air, splitting in half as it formed new hands for the negafael. His expression had calmed, now only of light disgust as he watched Maelstrom break her own reila's body down. Damn her to pieces. Oh wait. Too late for that. He stared at Ellianne for a moment before brushing himself off.

"You're not a very good sadist, so don't even try." Jeckt snapped, looking at the ripped sleeve of his jacket, the edges having been cut off with his hand, "You're not even a good masochist, since you can't even feel the bullets. Man you just suck as a negafael in general, don't you? Tch."

'Big brother, you shouldn't antagonize her...' A boy about the age of 14 ripped the wionus arrows out of Reid's arms. He looked exactly like Jeckt had five years ago, but was a different existence entirely, his shoulders shrouded in a brown mantle rather than the mandarin collared silk shirt that Jeckt had always donned at the time. On the other side, a little girl who hadn't changed at all since she ran off to the forgetting island struggled with the arrow in his legs, 'Otherwise Princess is going to be mad at you.'

"Shut up Armon, I'll do what I want, the kid is half dead already." Jeckt snarled at the boy who held all of Adela's mechanical memories and skills, "I'm just going to rearrange my plans, Maelstrom annoys the crap outta me and I don't want to see her ever again. It'll be better if she does herself in. A fitting end to a worthless whore. Yeah kill yourself already girl. Do us all a favor and get it over with. It'll be a valiant way to go, rather than withering away like a weakling from some disease, yeah?"

'Hey!' The real Armon snapped at Reid as the little girl padded over to Mistral to free her, 'Wake up already!' He lifted his hand to his face and tore his right eyeball out, closing the eyelid to hide the gruesome sight as he crushed the eye in his hand, letting black goo blacken the punctures from the wionus arrows and close up the wounds. 'You said you didn't want to be a burden anymore right? You said you wanted to become stronger, didn't you?! Well now's a better time than any, isn't it?!?'

"If you want a reaction from my reila before you blow your head off though," Jeckt ran his hand over his sleeve, the cloth reappearing as it passed, "Let's see..."

The black blanket that had surrounded the second largest tree in the forest disappeared, and Adela, chained to it, struggling against them.

'Let me go Jeckt!' She yelled, gritting her teeth when the chains tightened, digging into her arms and legs.

"Hey hey, the hag is asking you a question Princess." Jeckt pointed out, and Adela stopped struggling for a moment, glaring at the roots and dirt at her feet.

"Not a chance." She muttered, squeezing her eyes shut and clenching her fists. Not a chance she would ever let those headlines hit papers, or even scripts. Everything here... She opened her eyes when Jeckt suddenly covered his nose and mouth with his gloved hand.

"I don't understand..." Lazarus stared at Reid in confusion, a pure white flower growing from the split seed on the floor, it's bud bending over to drip Lazarus' most potent healing liquid onto Ellianne's bullet shot, "But you... don't really seem like any Reid that I've met so far." A The color in his eyes drained to form a black tear drop tattoo that slid down his cheek. His other eye did the same, but the tear drop slid up to his forehead, the two tattoo marks suddenly expanding to imitate Orcha's facial tattoos. "It takes a long time to heal bullet wounds … so I'd appreciate it if you'd stop putting holes in him."

Vines shot up from the ground and grabbed Maelstrom's limbs, one with small thorns puncturing her wrist as it pulled the hand that held the mahstion gun away from her head. It didn't matter if the vines were cut.

"The entire garden is covered in seeds, and if I run out of vines I can just use roots." Lazarus stated, "Keep cutting them if you want, it'll never end until you're completely paralyzed."


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


Of course, he got stuck with Dieter. Why was Dieter so clingy towards him anyway? Rasch sighed at the crushed and pathetic expression on Dieter's face after learning it was animal meat.

"H-How…" Dieter stammered, looking at Rasch as though he were a cruel kitten-killer, "C-Could anyone eat an-an animal?! They're so cute!!"

Rasch sweatdropped, unable to respond in either words or Lionus. (Why was Dieter suddenly assuming that Rasch was some sort of meat-lover? The old man rarely ate more than half a regular sized steak in a day…) He was at a complete loss. Was this what happened when Dieter was exposed to the outside world? Dieter did seem like the type who would eat anything put in front of him as long as it was edible. No wait, that wasn't the problem. Why was Dieter reacting so strongly to killing animals when he didn't lose a wink of sleep over massacring an entire battalion of humans? Enigmatic… even more enigmatic than himself, Rasch admitted. The boy just needed a chance to show it. Embarrassed to be seen with him, Rasch shooed Dieter away from the stand, the crazy skill pulling his jaw open with his fingers as he let an even flow of tears fall as he stared at the meat he'd mistaken for human flesh earlier.

"C-Cut it…" He blubbered, remembering the Lieutenant's permission, "T-Tappen! I d-did-didn't know he w-wuh-wuhz such a crool p-p-perrrsssooon-"

Rasch mercilessly whacked Dieter about the head with his cane, sighing as he unfolded the grocery list and handed it to the butcher silently. The butcher took it, somewhat confused by the old man's companion. Probably one of those loonies he was reading about in the papers lately… Rasch and the butcher debated heatedly, one side completely silent, over the best cuts of meat while Dieter lamented over the idea of a cow being killed to be eaten. He was forbidden to use his powers, so when Rasch turned around, ready to go find the Lieutenant and the others, Dieter put his two index fingers up next to his head and gave Rasch huge puppy dog eyes.

"Mooo?" He moaned in a sad voice, trying to sound half dead.

Rasch peered down at Dieter, trying to comprehend what exactly the scientists had done wrong to make such a fine piece of work.
 
"Move over Armon." Mistral weakly said as she crawled over to Reid's side. It was weird looking at a mirror image of herself, especially since it wasn't her. Mistral knew one thing. Maelstrom was wrong. "He won't respond to anyone but me at this point..." She leaned over the Mistralfied Reid and pressed her body up against his, before leaning in for a kiss. Reid was engulfed by light, and when it cleared Sanako was lying in his place. She slowly opened her eyes. "You feel better now, right, Reid? You need to go back to try and subdue Maelstrom, and I'll stay here and work on dealing with Jeckt. Do NOT listen to what that witch says. She'll try and play mind games with you."

Sanako blinked. "You couldn't have given me MY form?"

"Er... well, Maelstrom has yours right now, and I couldn't really think of a better one..." Mistral watched as Sanako disappeared, before struggling to get to her feet, taking on her older form once again. She looked up at the black sky of Adela's mind, and held her arm out as a bow composed of wionus formed around her hand. She brought the bow up to point into the sky, and drew a wionus arrow back. "All I need to do is cause a distraction for now..." She let go, and the arrow pierced the sky. If her calculations were correct, it would hit Jeckt. "HEY BASTARD. LET ADELA GO." It was obvious Adela and Xavaie wouldn't be able to fight this battle themselves, so she'd have to do it for them, even though she was already bruised and beaten by Maelstrom.

Maelstrom let out a shriek as the vines took hold of her. Wionus spun around her, turning into razor sharp bladed that would constantly cut the growing vines as her form shrunk back down to that of her true self. She couldn't feel anything, but she had crippled Reid's body too much to use it for combat purposes any further. She was quick to point the gun at Lazarus, but wasn't presented with an opportunity to fire as another presence had decided to intervene. Her head jolted back in Jeckt's direction, to see a figure completely covered with a black cloak.

The figure bent over and picked up the mahstion gun that Jeckt had dropped, and pointed it at Maelstrom's head. "Hey, Adela, you can hear me right? I'm going to be taking this back, at least for now. As for you, ya witch. I have a debt to repay to you after cutting me up so bad. Though I guess it's thanks to you that I had my mind purged of that evil... Even so." The figure pulled the trigger, and a bullet of fionus pierced Maelstrom's right eye. "Give me my friend back, whore."

Maelstrom shrieked. How? He was supposed to be dead! In the end, Reid's body fell to the ground, as he had regained control, locking Maelstrom in a cell in his mind until they could figure out what to do with her. "You're... a skill... aren't you... Rod?" He managed to say with a quivering smile on his face.

"Hey, you're still sharp as ever." The cloaked figure chimed as he threw down his hood, revealing Rod's signature raven black hair and emerald green eyes. "It's been a while."
 
Adela suddenly reappeared, sprawled across the ground as she gasped for breath. The limited air in the enclosed space that Jeckt's Dation had created around her had almost run out. She clutched her head, a splitting pain overcoming her as Jeckt stared at Mistral like he'd never seen her before. Back in her mind, Jeckt's outfit had changed back to the original, but the right side of his face, undoubtedly mangled and destroyed, was covered in black goo and blood. He looked away from her, determined not to face her as he pulled an arrow of wionus out of his cheek, dissolving it as he glared at Xaviae. The flesh that should've been ripped out with the blunt angle Jeckt pulled at splurted onto the grass only as black liquid that quickly evaporated.

'Fine. Move over, you god damned bastard. You're lucky your girlfriend was here…' He spoke quietly to Xaviae, in a defeated sort of way, his body evaporating into the black smoke that had formed his hands earlier. He raised his voice and turned his head very slightly towards Mistral to show he was speaking to her, though kept his gaze fixedly away from her. ' So fine, I lied to you about being the plufael. Would you have even looked at me if I didn't? I know the answer to that already though. ... I don't need someone who can't see past that. If you had just died… then you would never be able to see that weakling again.'

Xavaie collapsed without the support of the tight chains, just barely catching his fall with weak arms. Jeckt wasn't on the tree. He must've retreated inside it, where they were properly supposed to be. What was that last line? Weakling was fine with Xaviae. He'd long gotten over Jeckt's opinion of his strength. He even believed in it a little, after being completely helpless against him.

'Big brother is such a sore loser.' Armon commented, standing up and holding his hand out to help the little girl up as well, 'Xaviae, you should take a break for awhile.'

Before anyone could speak to him, he disappeared as well, the little girl waving goodbye at Mistral with a smile and following his suit. The two appeared where they could always be found, on the open plains outside of the forest, where one could see the slowly rising sun. It stayed just barely peaked over the horizon as Xaviae clenched his fists, trying to speed up the regenerative process that the fael in control was granted. As his cuts and bruises mended, he remained on the ground, feeling no energy to hoist himself up. He'd been completely useless- again. Once he was completely whole again, Xavaie turned over onto his back to look up at the sky. The rays of light were just barely piercing through the purple darkness. 'I'm sorry I couldn't do anything Mistral.' He said as his bandages turned white again, the blood from earlier disappearing, 'You always have to help me out…'

Adela pushed herself into a sitting position, staring blankly at Rod. She thought immediately of the mangled corpse he was the last time she'd seen him and looked down at the bloodstained handkerchief. Rod had been ripped to pieces, and yet here he was. Just what were these skill people?

"… Reid-"

"Tell him later." Lazarus snapped, "Go inside Adela, Rek's bedroom is the third door on the right, don't go too far or else the sleep toxins in Ella's room is going to get to you. Once you see it, come back and warp Reid there, it'll be better if I don't move the flowers after I've grown them. You're in charge of moving everyone, make sure they're on the beds when they get in there. I don't want to accidentally bump anything if we try to move them manually."

Adela narrowed an eye at Lazarus, disliking being told what to do. How had she ended up nearly completely unscathed? She stood and stormed past Rod and Lazarus, turning when she reached the door to glare at Rod for a moment before hurrying inside to peer at Reks' room. Upon opening the door to his room however, she flinched at the sound of nuts and bolts hitting the metal scraps that tumbled out of the door. It was like… a sea of stuff. Messiest room she'd ever seen. She spotted the bed, thankfully free of any scrap metal, and a puddle of Dation appeared beneath Lazarus and Reid. Lazarus didn't seem to react too much to being transferred back and forth between Dation, sticking a hand into his pockets and picking out black seeds that grew the pure white flower at every puncture wound. "Ellianne's bullet wound should be mostly healed by now, you should bring her to Alicel's room after it's done. It's the next room down. Shoot, I don't have enough of the right seeds with me…" He picked out two gray seeds to make up for the missing black one.

She sat down beside Ellianne to wait for the droplets of sap to finish closing the wound, peering at Rod again.

"So whose side are you on? Still corrupted or not?" Adela asked suddenly, remembering the insistence of following Gregar's orders on Dieter's part.
 
"You pull crap like this and expect people to see past the fact that you're a negafael, Jeckt!? Grow up! If you don't want to be looked at in a negative light and have people actually trust you, then start doing things to gain that trust!" Mistral shouted at Jeckt. If she had the opportunity to slap him, she would have, right there and then. She finally decided there was no use in talking to him about it, and moved out to tend to Xavaie. Mistral waved back at the girl before she disappeared, managing a smile. "Don't be stupid, this is the first time I've helped you, Xavaie. Besides, it's natural to help those you care about, right? Oh- crap. I better go help Reid detain Maelstrom! Sorry! We'll finish this later!" She disappeared suddenly.

"Witch! Bastard! Let me go!" Maelstrom screamed as she pounded against the bars of the cell she had been imprisoned in. "I was going to win! I was going to win! And then that other bastard, the one I killed, he-"

"Shut up." Reid interrupted as a wionus arrow pierced Maelstrom's arm. "I won't forgive you for hurting Ellianne!" Mistral took that as a cue to silence her sister once and for all. She wasn't sure if it would work, but she had an idea inspired by Adela's mind as how to contain her. She appeared in the cage with Maelstrom and grabbed the negafael's hand. A sudden unfamiliar warmth flowed through her body as Reid's soul began to burn. They were suddenly engulfed with light, and as it cleared, only Mistral remained. She turned to face Reid, and smiled, revealing that one of her eyes - her left one - had taken on a much darker green, the same colour of green that Maelstrom's eyes were. In the physical world, Reid's eyes had undergone the same change. It had worked, she had successfully taken Maelstrom into her self, using her own body as a prison.

"Who's side am I on?" Rod repeated the question mockingly. "Isn't it obvious? I'm on yours. Well, I'm supposed to be on Gregar's, but after learning some things I decided to hit the road. Whatever corrupted my mind disappeared after I 'died', so I'm fine now. You guys, however, don't seem to be that fine." He cleared his throat. "Listen, I need to tell you something, but you need to promise me you won't tell Reid." He didn't bother waiting for a reply. "Apparently Rosaline's body just up and disappeared. There's a chance-"

"...That someone intends on turning her into a skill?" Ellianne weakly said, finally stirring from being unconscious. "Adela, that... wasn't Reid, right? He'd... never shoot me..."

"Ah, the cute girl is awake once more~" Rod chimed, before suddenly examining Adela more closely. "Come to think of it, you haven't done so bad yourself, Adela~ Wanna get a coffee some time, or are you still hitched to Reid?" Some habits died hard.
 
Adela stared down at Ellianne, before smiling, "Nah. That wasn't Reid at all." Her smile turned into an unimpressed look when she stood however, helping Ellianne to her feet as the white flower shriveled away, it's beauty becoming dry and brown. "And of course it's not obvious!" Adela barked at Rod, "I don't understand skills at all. And if Rosaline becomes a skill too, then I guess I should stop worrying about dying, since I'll probably be made into one too. Honestly, left and right...." She muttered irritably before turning to walk into the kitchen, revealing the stingy aspects of her personality when she replied to Rod, "If you're paying, I'll go. But you have to tell me how to kill people like you first. I shot one through the heart and he got up like it was nothing…." She clenched and unclenched her left hand, feeling the tingly sting from earlier, "And don't ask me about Reid again."

'Trust... huh?' Jeckt's voice echoed quietly, as Xaviae sat up, 'Who should grow up? She wants me to do things to gain trust? She wouldn't have said that to me if I were-'

'You're a negafael, no matter which way I look at it. Don't even try.' Xaviae replied coldly, standing up and moving away from the tree. The last place he wanted to be was anywhere near Jeckt. He walked out of the patch empty of trees due to the center, disappearing into the dark shadows of the thick forest. First time helping him out? No, there was the other time when he'd sent away that little girl. Then she was the motivation to free himself from the chains after thirteen years. And he hadn't done anything in return. Damn. Too weak. Still too weak. Though Jeckt had shut himself up already, the sky was still a grand mixture of colors, purples, pinks, and oranges. Not a single soul moved in the center of the forest, where it was normally so lively.

Adela walked back out of the kitchen with a mug of tea, blowing on it before speaking, "I won't tell Reid, but it'll be better if someone tells him soon. As ann-…." Adela gave Ellianne a wary look before re-wording herself, "I didn't particularly like Rosaline, but I don't think he'd really appreciate a surprise like seeing Rosaline all of a sudden in monster form. Oh," She looked up, "No offense. I guess the Skill I've run into the most is…"

"Not sane." Lazarus interjected, stepping over a pile of machinery, "The one who had poison in his weapons, right?"

Adela ignored Lazarus, continuing her sentence as though Lazarus never even spoke, "... definitely psycho. Anyone who would wipe out one of my squads for no god damn reason would be..."

"Hey, listen to me…" Lazarus sweatdropped, but in the end decided to ignore Adela as well, "Ellianne, are you feeling better? The shot was close to your heart though, so I'm sure that it's under some strain… It's better to get some rest, otherwise your body won't recover from the shock as quickly. And we only have one night here before... be-... fore...."

Lazarus hung his head. He hated Stahn's ways.
 
"Adela... you smiled!" Ellianne cried enthusiastically. Not once since meeting her had she witnessed the expression reach that girl's lips. She suddenly realized an error in the statement. "Ah! Sorry, that sounded rude! It's just nice to see you smile, that's all. You're pretty cute when you smile. Er, not that you aren't cute when you aren't smiling!" She proceeded to sweatdrop. Anyone could tell that the last line was a blatant lie. Scary Adela wasn't very cute at all. "Furthermore, your name is Rod, correct? My name is Ellianne. I hope you don't mind my wings..."

"Ah, no, I don't mind them at all. You're very polite, and your pretty voice compliments your appearance." Rod hadn't lost his way with words in five years, that was for sure, as Ellianne turned bright red. Though, there had to be at least a five year age difference between the two, so she didn't take it too seriously. "Anyways," His voice took a much more serious tone as he stared at Adela with the eyes of a man on a mission, "Judging by what you've said so far, you haven't pieced together the theory I have. You see- Reid, go back to bed. You sure as hell aren't in any condition to be up yet."

Reid popped his head in the doorway. "Damn, you heard me huh? Fine, I'll go lie down, but on the couch. Tell me your theory there." As Reid walked by towards the living room, Rod and Ellianne caught sight of his eyes, both different shades of green. Ellianne was going to say something, but Rod stopped her, before signaling the others to go to the living room, where Reid had crashed on his back on a couch. Rod leaned against the wall, his white wings folded inwards delicatly beneath the cloak he was wearing. Ellianne took a seat at the foot of the cough Reid was sitting on.

Rod took a moment to clear his throat, before stating his theory. "Don't you think the pieces fit together a little too well? After the apostle experiment was a failure, this plague surfaced, and the Skill development started shortly after that. With this plague, there are a lot of people dying, which provides Gregar with a lot of test subjects. Then, out of the blue, right after a group of Skills have been successfully created, a war breaks out, bringing the end of many more lives. More ended lives that leave a window open for the creation of more skills? Simply by looking at it this way, you could conclude that-"

"Someone intends on creating an army of Skills." Reid intervened. He spoke calmly, despite the pain he was dealing with.

"...Right. I've also come to assume that the plague is man-made. At least, based on rumors I've heard in the lab the past five years. Although, it's flawed. It doesn't effect users who possess faels unless it's injected directly into their bloodstream, and even then, it acts much slower. If this Skill army had a true enemy, it would be safe to assume that fael owners would fill that role, right? I've also heard rumors of the Gregar military killing innocents in search of something..."

Reid gulped. He knew what that was, but Ellianne answered for him. "Ophelian Core shards." So, this proved that Stahn hadn't been going on about nothing all of this time. But, did that mean that Kayle was somehow associated with Gregar? Was he responsible for this plague? Was he the reason Reid had contracted the plague himself?

Reid glanced over at Ellianne, before lifting his head. If he died, what would she do? She was obviously too reliant on him at this point. "Guys, can I talk to Adela alone for a minute? It's kind of important. You had something to say to me anyways, right?"
 
Almost right after hearing Ellianne try to cover up her pathetic attempt at a compliment, Adela's face deadpanned. Straight-line for a mouth, distant glare, raised eyebrows. "...Thanks." She said, without really meaning it. No more of that then. She looked away from Rod's gaze, not wanting to hear his opinion all too much, but turned it back the opposite way when Rod revealed that Reid was listening in.

Adela immediately moved towards the window upon entering the sitting room, wrapping her hands around her mug as she stared out. This felt just like five years ago in Faewyn's house, except, less sappiness, less hugging, less crying. Less Faewyn and Aertan. She listened intently, looking out across the plains that very quickly ended in a chain of mountains. Everything was too green. She took a sip of her tea, thinking to herself. 'An army of skill. Huh?' Adela leaned her shoulder on the window pane, watching the grass sway in the light breeze. 'So I wonder how many skill are already created.' She counted to herself, lifting a finger for every skill she'd encountered so far. The old man. The psycho one. The girl who had eavesdropped on her and…. And then the other one. Now rod. That made five in total. If one added Rosaline as a tentative variable, then that would make six. Right now, they had Reid, Ellianne, Lazarus, Levi, and herself. Five. But if Rod was really staying with them, then that meant that they had more people than skills. With the current knowledge of how many skills had already been made anyway.

"But we don't have enough people, if we're going to go up against an army of skill." Lazarus pointed out, examining one of the reddest roses he'd ever made. It smelled like nothing. "We have the Lieutenant, Reid, Ellianne, and Rod for sure." Lazarus stated, "Levi's attendance is tentative now that his proprietor, Rosaline, isn't around to give him the incentive."

"What about you?" Adela asked, swiveling around so that her back was to the window.

The rose in Lazarus' hand shriveled, a horrible gray. But even so, the sweet smell that was purer than anything filled the room. "I'm not sure yet. I'm still thinking."

She opened her mouth to speak, but Reid beat her to it.

"Guys, can I talk to Adela alone for a minute? It's kind of important. You had something to say to me anyways, right?"

Adela took another drink, waiting for the room to empty. Even when it was empty, she couldn't bring herself to say it. It was too embarrassing. Too sappy. Too….. she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear the answer. She wasn't even sure if it was a question. Her mind traced circles, going nowhere. "You don't…" She began, but no, that wasn't the right way to say it. "Maelstrom said… that I mattered… to you." She finally spoke, looking up at Reid with a wary gaze, "I don't understand why I do. I feel like I'm just your… plan B. Do you-..." Adela hesitated, sighed, and sat down on an arm chair, putting her mug on the coffee table.

"Forget it." She spoke with a clear and confident tone now, evenly and calmly, "It's not important. What were you going to say?"
 
Reid listened intentively to what Adela was saying. Well, he tried, but because she kept breaking up her sentence with hesitation, he had to piece together the final product her words were leading up to. Even after he had put it together, there was a moment of silence as he tried to piece together a proper response. When was the last time he really had to think about his feelings? This was the first time in a while. He never really had to think of a response with Flaire, he just kind of said it. Was that how unimportant their relationship had been, though? "I..." Now he was the one hesitating. He was way too close with far too many girls, he couldn't deny that. There were a million ways he could word this wrong. But, he couldn't deny the truth about they first three years after leaving. "Listen, I never stopped regretting leaving. To be more precise, I never stopped regretting leaving you. Maybe that's why I eventually decided to be with Flaire, because I finally needed to fill that hole. I don't hate you Adela, although you're justified in hating me. You're not my plan B, but it's just... since I came back you really haven't given me much of an opportunity to talk with you properly..."

He struggled to sit himself upright, and took careful care not to disturb the flowers implanted in his wounds - that was a really weird way to heal, by the way. "Anyways... I'm sorry to ask this of you after all you've had to deal with in regards to me, but I need a favor. You see, when I die, Ellianne won't have anywhere to go. She's kind of taken on the role of a younger sister to me, and I don't want her to be unhappy... So, could you make sure she finds somewhere welcoming to go after I pass away? Ailia too. She's really the only person I have, and I can't imagine what kind of condition she's in after hearing about Rosaline. I'm kind of pissed at Stahn for sending her to investigate." Happiness. That was a word he'd been playing around with in his mind for a while. "Happiness." He blurted it out. "That's what I've decided I'm going to go out fighting for, so all of my friends - so everyone, can be happy. Especially you, Adela, you deserve happiness after all I've done to you. You deserve to live in a happy world."
 
Adela peered at Reid, her legs crossed and arms folded like always. Almost like she was at a meeting or something. A happy world… huh? She couldn't bring herself to smile at these words. They were a sad sort of bittersweet. It didn't matter to her whether they were genuine. It wouldn't matter this time next year. Reid would be dead by then. Of course he wouldn't know. A happy world didn't exist for Adela. Happiness was fleeting moments that landed for a split second before flying off again. She smiled at the idea of a happy world. It was just like him to think like that. And just like him to bring up another girl right after he'd finished trying to convince her that she wasn't just the second-rate girl. She shifted, sitting up straighter in her seat. This long pause was probably getting to him. She mulled over her words. Honestly, she hadn't yet placed her trust in any of it. It was good that he'd realized that she'd suffered for all this time.

It was about time that she realized that she wasn't the only one. But there was only a very small slice of that revealed to her with the information that Reid was a walking dead man. There was only a very small piece of her that wanted to relate to that and ask her, 'how would you feel if it was you…?'

"I will." Adela assured Reid, "Unfortunately I can't take their financial support from the government treasury for a private request, but I'll slice a piece off of my own salary so that they can live comfortably even if their own occupations aren't the best. They'll be protected under the shelter of the Tealian Forces as long as I'm Lieutenant, that much I can do with my authority. I'll send the order tonight, so that even if something should happen to me, it won't affect them. I'm not sure how much protection I can spare for Ellianne if she chooses to return to Flazure, if the state in that country continues, considering it is a number one target for terrorism and Carn has already withdrawn."

"I'm glad that you care, Reid." Adela stood, picking up her mug of tea, "I really am, but now that I know, it's fine. I don't need to be looked after. Focus on ending what you've started. I'll stick around, but my determination for the people you care about isn't the same. So…"

She smiled, a melancholy sort of smile before she turned around to leave the sitting room, exhausted from the day's events just like every day since she'd run into Reid again, "It'll be for nothing, if you don't end this before the plague does."

Adela sighed when the door clicked shut behind her. There wasn't time for anything anymore.


"Tappen! Auri-chi!" Dieter called out to them, ignoring Tsukasa and waving Rasch's cane about in the air. His collar was caught by Rasch before he was able to run off towards them, the old man shaking his head in disapproval. Dieter had been trying to bolt left and right, excited by this and that. But Tappen had told Rasch to keep an eye on him. An eye on the boy who'd declared himself what the butcher called a 'vegetarian' without really knowing what it was. He was a ridiculous person, Rasch had decided.

He could hardly remember the time when he was like Dieter, though it wasn't long before he became a skill. Being the son of a wealthy man, and a complete recluse that had rarely spoken to anyone other than his brother, if even, Rasch had never been outside either. He very faintly remembered the sense of wonder at being in town. It was an overwhelming feeling that had sent him into a fit of tears. Yet Dieter was adapting like it was nothing. Rasch found a seed of curiousity in his mind as he stopped Dieter with a question.

'Have you really never been in a town before?' Rasch's lionus wrote in front of Dieter's face.

Dieter tilted his head and contorted his face, trying to remember. "Probably, but I always thought animal meat was brown even when it was raw. And then I grew up around a red light district in the Underground, so it was kind of different from this place."

Kind of? Rasch resisted the urge to puke. How old would that meat have to be?

"Why, do I really look that out of place?" Dieter asked, putting his hands behind his head. Rasch rubbed his temple.

'Nevermind.'
 
"Yeah... before the plague does..." Reid repeated to himself as he dropped his face into his hands. She was right. He was already aware of it, but he hated other people acknowledging it. Especially when he ended up thinking about the sadness his death would cause his friends and family. He fell back onto his back on the couch and closed his eyes. He really felt like going for a walk, but he wasn't stubborn enough to do that in the condition he was in. Dying before his predetermined time wasn't exactly his preferred idea. Adela was keeping things from him, even after he put himself out there. It irritated him a little, but he didn't care too much. He deserved it after all. Yeah, maybe he deserved to die...

When he opened his eyes, he realized a lot more time had passed than he originally intended. He must have fallen asleep. Of course, that much was obvious by the fact that moonlight was drifting through the open window along with a cool breeze. Someone had left a lamp on, but nobody was in the room with him. He sat up, and found himself covered with a red blanket. Who had..? Oh well, it didn't matter. He carefully checked all of the places that he had received bullet wounds, and found that they had all healed up properly. It was really interesting, using Eation for such a purpose. He stood up and stretched his arms and legs. Nope, no pain. It seemed the effects of the plague had completely passed, at least for the day. It would be a month at least before they hit again. But... if it was getting worse, they might become more frequent.

Reid slowly made his way to the kitchen, where he poured himself a glass of water. "Hey, sleeping beauty is up~" Rod chimed as he entered the kitchen as well. Reid raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, Sanako, or should I call you Ally, I've been hearing stories. Hey, if you're going to be a part time chick, you should date me some time." Reid sweatdropped the most he had ever sweatdropped in his life. "I'm JOKING."

"Sure... sure you are. Where is everyone? What time is it?" Reid asked. The house was pretty quiet. Though, it couldn't be that late...

"9pm. Ellianne fell asleep in Alicel's room shortly after you did, Lazarus went out somewhere, Ella is still out of it, and Adela is in the guest bedroom to my knowledge. You should go out and get some fresh air, maybe take her with you? It's pretty nice out here at night, away from the city. She might enjoy it."

"Her? Adela? She doesn't really seem to enjoy... anything."

"Yeah. You still have a thing for her, don't you? She probably has her reasons. She seems like she has pretty high standards, and you aren't exactly top of the food chain."

Reid sweatdropped. "What makes you think I still have a thing for her?"

"Just ask her!"

"Fine... fine..." Reid let out a sigh as he found his way to the guestroom. Good, the light was still on. He knocked twice, before pitching his proposal. "Hey... Adela? You probably have better things to do, but do you want to go for a walk? Rod says it's really nice outside... so... uh... I'll be out on the deck. You don't have to come if you don't want to." And off he ran.

ooc: Skill part coming soon.
 
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