Y.Z. Act III [PG-16]

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Ellianne watched in a manner of confusion at Tilde's panic at the loss of her arm. For once, the girl seemed very human, much more so than she had previously. Had the severing of those wires effected her more than physically? The girl looked about ready to cry, but it wasn't from physical pain. She probably felt exposed. The girl finally took hold of her arm with the attatched one, and held the severed area up to her shoulder. The wires snapped together, and pulled the arm off, which oozed blood before the joint sealed itself closed with flesh once more. Tilde's eyes once again glazed over with lifelessness, and the ground around her began to erupt in pillar of light as her eyes glowed a violent orange. "Continue." The energy, Reid could tell, was the same she used to make her arrows. However, there was no way it was mahstion. She had too much control over it. He looked up as the energy fell down from the pillars like snowflakes, eroding anything it touched, including his own flesh.

He panicked as he fell to his knees. The others were already in deep trouble thanks to the barrage of arrows from earlier. There's no way they'd live at this rate. Not to mention he could barely move, as whatever the hell this girl was producing was painfully eating away at his flesh and clothes. He threw up his hood in a desperate attempt to keep his head safer a little while longer. It'd be all over if it ate away to his brain, after all. But what was his next move? Whatever the hell that Evaline girl was doing off in the distance, she was still doing it, but it wasn't enough for him to overcome the pain long enough to move...

Suddenly, the hellish snow stopped, and the Tilde fell to the ground, a gaping hole in her chest where her heart should have been. She was still alive though. She was breathing. She didn't need her heart to live? "I really hate violence. I really hate saving people who almost killed me. But hey, this is all in good fun. After all, I have a death to avenge." The young man standing behind Tilde's fallen body murmured off to nobody in particular as he pulled his white and black bangs out of his eyes. His hair, long and straight, was cut symmetrically in half. the left side was white, while the right side was white. A pair of black horns erupted from his head, reaching down to the back of his head and curving outwards. He watched on with red eyes, with pupils similar to those of a cat, before stretching his tall but scrawny body, which was covered by a black cloak. "I didn't even have to put enough effort in to remove this rag though... that sucks." It had been a while since Cress had gotten any excersise.

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"Too easy to read. You have a weak spot on your back, right about here." The fifteen year old girl's voice said in a matter-of-fact manner as she spun around, her red, demonic wings shuffling wildly along with her elongated, purple tail as she spun. She pointed to the location on her back. "You're thinking 'there's no way you'll cut it though' right? I don't have to. It'll happen without me moving in thirty seconds." Kyra's dark, almost black-purple, shoulder length hair blew in the breeze as three eyes - two a pastel purple colour, and the third a blood red colour in the center of her forehead - stared Audi down. She glanced back to Adela for a moment. "You've grown substancially." Kyra was younger than Adela, only at the age of fifteen physically.

As if on queue, Melody erupted from the catacombs, Saral flying out afterwards, waving her hands wildly as she attempted to strike down her opponent. Melody noticed Kyra below, and nodded as she communicated with Kyra telepathically. Technically, she was part apostle herself, which granted her the ability to do such a thing with another. She dove, her large wings finally falling victim to Saral's inhuman ability. She kept herself at a high enough altitude to fly over Audi from behind, which left Saral's next blow free to hit Audi as Melody barely pulled up in time.

"Uh... oops... sorry Audi~~~~! Ha.... ha.... ah.... crap."
 
Adela flinched while Levi shivered from head to toe at the shriek emitted from Audi's general direction. White strips of cloth seemed to appear out of nowhere, torn and tattered as they evaporated into the air, "SARAL!!!" A furious voice screamed shrilly before Audi's body fell limply to the floor, years of rotting that had been stopped by Audi's powers catching up with it as it turned into a mere skeleton wrapped in colorful clothes. Adela looked around as the skeletons began to clatter to the ground, falling apart without Audi's powers. The corpse however, still stood tall, looking around quietly before it also fell with a heavy thud, the sword clanging against another sword as it skid across the ground.

The Lieutenant whipped her head around when she heard the dull sound of a knife falling through flesh, and she couldn't even spit out the word she wanted to say when she saw a butcher knife sticking out of an astonished Levi's left arm, gripping an unconscious Lazarus by the collar with his good arm. A skeleton behind them waved at her, a slit across Lazarus' throat spurting more blood onto the ground as his face took on a terrible color. How much blood Lazarus had lost at this point, Adela wouldn't even want to know. When the skeleton dropped to the floor, something caught her eye and she turned yet again. The pink stuffed animal twitched to life and stood, bleeding profusely now as it left behind a trail of blood. A recording played as it skipped away, "Bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye," it said over and over again, the sound of something pressing the buttons of the tape recorder inside it sounding between each farewell. It disappeared entirely from view after its third step, though it shouldn't have been out of Adela's range of sight.

"You guys-" The same white light from earlier healed Lazarus' cut, but he was horribly pallid, and white light did nothing for Levi, who still had the knife lodged into his arm.

"Ahh," Levi trembled as he slowly pulled out the knife, which fit snugly in his arm, "Hoooly- crap!" Levi took a sharp breath when he swept it out of his arm, and sighed in relief when the wound closed up almost immediately.

"Never want something stuck in me ever again." He shivered, before noticing Lazarus on the ground, who was now working very hard to get full breaths into his lungs, sweating as his face drained of color, "O-Oi, y'don't suppose this white light replaces blood, does it?!"

Adela looked over at Saral with a glare before glancing at Kyra with almost more contempt than she'd held for Saral, "I see you haven't grown at all, whichever twin you are."


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Dieter was dragging his fingernails down his own face in torturous agony as he paced about the blimp. It wasn't fair, that they could subject him to the smell of this much blood and expect him to sit quietly. The 12-year-old Rasch who was gripping the hem of Dieter's vest, trying to calm him down, was wholly ignored, dragged around behind Dieter as he fruitlessly dug the heels of his feet into the ground, "Calm down!" was the only two words that managed to escape his mouth. Dieter parted his lips and let out a frustrated cry, grabbing Rasch's wrists and flinging him off, having lost all reason as blood leaked out from under his eyepatch. He collapsed, curling up on the ground and gripping his hair in his fists as he yelled merely for the sake of letting off steam.

Pounding his fist onto the floor, Dieter fought to keep his breath steady, ignoring everything and anything else as he was swallowed up by the desire to kill someone.

Rasch sat quietly where he'd landed after being tossed away, watching Dieter uneasily.

"TAPPEN, LET ME GO!!" Dieter yelled, wrenching at the collar around his neck without much care for the fact that he would most definitely end up with a bruised neck from tugging, "LET M-e goooo~…" Dieter's voice lost its volume as he shuddered, his fingers gripping his throat as he gagged from choking himself. His shoulders heaved from the effort of breathing between his fingers, and somehow, suffocating himself was Dieter's barbaric solution to satiating his desire to kill someone, while at the same time blocking out the scent of blood. Dieter let go as soon as he lost the last of his breath, just before he passed out and resumed his screaming when the smell reached him once more.

"Whyyyy did you bring me heeere?!" Dieter moaned, covering his face as he shook violently, "I hate thiiis! Let me out. LET ME OUT!!"

He was halfway through pushing himself up onto all fours before a sharp blow to his head sent a splash of blood being held back by his eyepatch to escape the edges, sending Dieter back to the floor, unconscious.
 
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Saral hovered there, sweatdropping. Crap, they had lost? It wasn't a big deal, really. This was in theory, a test mission. They would be outfitted appropriately for the next mission. She was going to get it from Audi later on, though. "Eh... Apostles, huh? Weren't you supposed to have disappeared after Cloaks and his friends over there kicked your butts five years ago?" Reid sweatdropped. 'Cloaks?' And besides, they didn't come close to beating the Apostles. They were only victorious because Tealia showed up at the last minute. Not to mention Juliet's death... He mentally kicked himself for bringing that back up. Some thoughts were better left buried until the right moment. This was not that moment. "Well, this sucks~~ I can't do anymore cutting today. Ah~ Oh well~" She brought her small hands up to her face, blushing like an embarassed little girl. It wasn't hard to see through the guise after all that had happened, however. Dation engulfed the body of the fallen Tilde, and soon absorbed Saral as well. They didn't use mahstion... so they had an accomplice? Come to think of it, Kayle used Dation.

"Don't... relax yet. We need... to reach the rendevous first." Melody's broken sentences were enough to indicate that she needed help. She walked with her arm covering the wounds she had sustained on her stomach, fresh blood still leaking overtop of the limb and dripping to the ground. It was a true wonder she hadn't passed out from blood loss yet, not with her smaller body anyways. Tre moved towards her in an attempt to heal her, but she crept away. "Don't... you can't... No time... We need to meet with Carn's resistance force to... deliver them."

"Them?" Bianca asked, and mostly everyone sweatdropped. She apparently wasn't the brightest. Tre walked over to her, closed his book angrily, and smacked her across the back of the head with the hard covered novel. "Ow! I get it! I get it! The heirs! The heirs!"

Kyra eyed Adela with all three of her eyeballs. "You have a dark aura, Ms. Ciaccio. Something is troubling your heart? Nevermind. You have changed, however, and from what I can see, not for the best. You'd best clear up that aura sooner than later..." Cress raised an eyebrow as he watched Kyra work her magic. He had told her not to say anything stupid, but it seemed like she wasn't paying attention. That girl always zoned out at the worst times. Even now, she was still shaken by the death of Kira. Kyra and Kira were originally two sets of twins that had been mashed together. When Kira died, the twins that made Kyra, Gillian and Fresia, lost their sisters. It was a memory they never let go of, and probably never would. Cress could sympathize. He was there when Kira was killed. Had her head cut off. It was horrible. He turned his gaze to Reid, who said nothing, but gave him a 'we need to talk later' kind of glare. He assumed he knew about what. Rosaline's death.

Reid was nearly knocked off his feet as a tiny blur jumped into his arms. When he regained his senses, he found the Evaline girl staring up at him, her big blue eyes all teary. She had probably been scared out of her mind. "I'm so happy! You guys didn't die! I don't want anyone else to die because of what I did!" Reid sighed. This was all to familiar. Why? Of course, because he had thought the same thing only a couple of days before. No, he needed to distract himself. He couldn't look at the past, not until this was all over. This mission, anyways.

"Listen, this isn't your fault. You and your brother didn't do anything wrong. It's just this stupid Prince trying to take over. We're going to take you somewhere safe." He couldn't help but wonder if that was true. If they were taking them to Carn's rebellion troops, wouldn't Piper and Evaline just be used as figureheads for the campaign?

Ellianne approached Lazarus, a pouch of ice in her hand. "Here... it's an icepack. I didn't know if you'd need it for anything. I'm not a healer, so it's about all I can do... I can make more if we need them for anyone else. So... uh..." Her eyes hit the ground. Once again, she had been useless in a battle. Maybe she should have done the smart thing and just gone back to being a priestess...

"You okay? I guess my plan didn't go completely as planned..." Reid asked Adela, offering a smile and a wet cloth for wiping herself free of any undesired dirt, sweat, or blood. "But... you're safe, so I'm happy." There was an awkward pause for a moment, and he broke it after panicking. Crap, too obvious, too obvious! "Er... I mean, everyone! It's good that everyone is safe!" He brought his hand up to his forehead and wiped away a bit of blood. Odd. When had he taken a head wound? It continued to bleed.
 
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" A blonde woman screeched, pouches of cigrattes bursting and flying across the room as she threw an uncontrollable temper tantrum. Stuffed animals all across the room twitched in fear as she grabbed the nearest teddy bear and immediately ripped it apart into little shreds of fabric and cotton puff. She shrieked again, grabbing more stuffed animals and digging her long yellow nails into the limbs and tearing them apart, throwing them around as she stumbled around the room. "I HATE THIS BODY!!" She screamed, smashing one of the skulls laying about into her reflection that revealed a huge patch of off-color skin that had been sewn onto her right chest. It was obvious that when this body had died, it hadn't died intact. Audi picked up the pink stuffed bunny that bled all over the place, ripping it apart in her fury and dumping out a saw, butcher knife still covered in Lazarus' blood, mahstion gun, daggers, knives, shuriken, needles, everything jam packed into the animal fell out across the floor as she flung open a closet. Her teeth still grit with anger, she could hardly notice her somewhat disheveled appearance of smeared bright red lipstick or her long bangs hanging in her seething blue eyes. Her hand reached into the depths of the closet and pulled out another stuffed animal, completely identical to Alice's stuffed animal that she'd just pulled to pieces save for the color of the plush fur.

"HERE!" Audi barked irritable, throwing the black bunny at the ruined remains of the pink one. She stormed around, crushing skeletons that hung around her room as she brought her purple heels down on them, throwing stuffed animals back and forth before stopping in the middle of the ruins to scream yet again; "AUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

She pulled a pillow off of the bed buried in stuffed animals, stuffed her face, yelling random curse words as skeletons all around her burst into piles of dust and stuffed animals fell limp as she incinerated their souls. Audi didn't care. She could collect more souls later, get more skeletons later. Alice sat in the corner of the room now, watching with plain black button eyes as Audi threw open another closet, a sudden silence showing that she was examining all of the blank expressions on the dead bodies in this particular closet.

"ALL OF THEM ARE MISSING A PIECE SARAL!! IF YOU WOULD JUST KILL SOMEONE WITHOUT SLICING THEM TO BITS, I WOULD HAVE A NORMAL LOOKING BODY!!" Audi shrieked slamming the door shut and continuing her tirade about the room, "BUT NO, YOU HAVE TO GO AND SLICE UP CAROL'S BODY!" Audi slammed her forehead into a wall, pounding her fists against it like a spoiled child, she pulled away with a huff and looked down at her current body, dressed in all bright colors, "Damn murderer sliced up Haley's body before I could stop him. Would've trashed this body if she wasn't so pretty. But it's useless since I can't go outside in this body. A dead celebrity isn't exactly the most useful body." Audi sighed, tapping her- or rather, Haley's, chin.

"Ah, screw it!" Audi snapped as Haley's body slumped to the floor and the body of a 14-year-old girl extracted herself off the hanger that kept her feet off the floor of the closet, "It looks more normal for me to be carrying Alice in this body anyway, even though the arm isn't from the same person."

Indeed, the girl's arms were of two completely different shades, one a dark chocolate, and the other a sun kissed tan. The majority of her skin was of the latter color, and her jet black hair was pulled up into a bun that had wild curls jutting out from all directions. Ironically, out of all of Audi's female bodies, the youngest one was the least wacky in style, dressed in a black and green striped tube-top mini-dress with black 4" pumps. Leather bracelets wrapped around her bony wrist and tapered eyes lined in heavy black eyeliner and gray eyeshadow. As much as this look didn't suit a girl her age, she strut about without a care as she pulled the black bunny up from it's place in the corner, "I have to go find someone pretty again," She sighed, picking up an unlit cigarette from the floor and fishing around the pocket of a dead body's pants, the name tag hanging over the empty bag of flesh reading 'Seyren'. Audi had plenty of bodies, but never a body whose original name was the same as another body's. She wanted the entire alphabet before going back around. The body of the little girl was originally Bianchi, but it wasn't anymore. It had been 'Audi' for nearly ten years now, after the real Audi, the same age as Bianchi at the time of her death, hacked off her classmate's arm because she was 'being annoying'.

Pulling a lighter out of Seyren's back pocket, Audi lit her cigarette and sat down on her bed, perching her arms on the piles of stuffed animals around her as she snapped her fingers, sighing, "Ah, what a great rampage." Skeletons pieced themselves back together at the sound of her snap, particles of dust rearranging to become their original form as they marched around the room, putting things back in place as Audi inhaled a mouthful of smoke. She gagged and coughed hard, before throwing the half used smoke at a skeleton in irritation, "Tastes horrible in this body." She spat into a wastebin ungracefully and crossed her legs.

"I'm done now, you guys can come in if you're still out there." Audi called to her door, a nonchalant look on her face as she propped her head up against her hand, pushing her chin into her line of view.

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"Shut up, nobody asked you to give me a personality test." Adela barked at the female apostle, turning her face away in frustration, "I've heard that tirade enough times, and I don't need to hear it from you."

Levi rolled his eyes as Lazarus lifted his head to manage a meek smile for Ellianne as he took the ice pack, "Thank you." He said breathlessly between one of his gasps for air. Levi was tempted to drop Lazarus right then and there, but simply roughly pulled Lazarus higher into the air as the latter grimaced when his arm was being pulled without warning. He slumped against Levi again when the thief loosened his grip, and Lazarus issued an irritated and exhausted glare at the person who was supposed to be helping him, but was really only making things worse. He didn't have any right to judge Ellianne- who was doing a whole lot more helping than he was, even if ice would only cause his lungs to feel as if they'd deflated even more. "Would you-" Lazarus' head spun and he paused to breathe, deciding that wasting his breath on Levi was not worth it at all. He looked down, catching his breath before turning his eyes up to Ellianne, pausing to take a breath between each little phrase, "Sorry- to bother- you."

Adela wiped off her own forehead and then glanced down at her shoulder which was dripping the last remnants of blood, though there was no gash left. Wiping it off, Adela refolded the cloth to the clean side and shook her head at Reid. She let a half-smile reach her face as she rearranged the folds of the cloth, saying lightly, "I'm fine, just lost a little blood. Not much, compared to everyone else though. Your plan would've worked, if it weren't for those three girls, so it's not your fault anyway. It turned out okay in the end." Adela turned and grabbed Reid's wrist, pulling it away as she pressed the clean side of her cloth against the injury on his head, "I'm glad you're safe too, Mr. Hero. Your opponent didn't look like she was planning on dying anytime soon."

A droplet of water danced across Piper's fingertips as he stared down at them darkly, turned away from everyone else as he entertained himself quietly. He'd never worn this expression before- not even to the fake Prince, and he hid it as desperately as a coveted secret. An irritated, jealous, and frustrated face hinted with a sense of melancholy graced his young features that glared at his fingertips. The droplet hopped into his palm and clenching his hand into a fist, the water was crushed from it's original form as he turned with his usual placid expression on his face at the sound of Levi's voice calling, "Oi, Princey!"

"Sorry," Piper smiled, laughing embarrassedly, "I spaced off."

"Eh." Levi moved his head, unable to shrug because of Lazarus' weight, "Just wonderin' if you were in one piece is all.

"I'm fine," Piper replied quickly, "Thank you though."

Levi made a face that showed he hadn't really cared in the first place, looking back at Lazarus and Ellianne, saying bluntly to Ellianne, "Y'know, I'm thinking that half-dead girl over there needs a little more help than Lazus here, but if you want to take over lugging his 165 lbs ass around, be my guest and I'll go help the girl!"

"I don't weigh-!" A short gasp for air interrupted his indignant exclamation before he gave up, wishing dearly that he hadn't been stuck being lugged about by Levi.

Piper turned around again, keeping his light-hearted expression on. These were special circumstances, Piper reminded himself, taking a deep breath. It's not like Evaline would pay more attention to them forever. It was a good chance, to start trying to live separately! Piper smiled at this 'chance', resisting the urge to laugh at its sheer absurdity. What was he supposed to do, living without Evaline? Read all day? No thanks. He sighed and wondered where they would be burying father. They would bury him, wouldn't he? But wait. If he was Rosaline's real sibling, not just a cousin, didn't that mean Uncle- no, His Majesty, was his real father? Or was it the queen, or was it both? He felt anxious to meet up with the Carn Resistance now. He wanted to know everything… about himself?

How strange, Piper glanced over his shoulder, sweeping a glance around at everyone. It was like everyone knew who he was; everyone but himself. He swallowed a lump in his throat, the lump pushing down more questions than he could count, more questions than he wanted answers for before turning around, confident that his expression was firmly affixed.

"They know where we are now so... should we..." Piper jabbed the air with his finger as he pointed down the path, his voice trailing off as he lost his courage to speak in a group full of strangers. Especially since they'd all been hurt; technically on his account. Maybe he shouldn't rush them? "Oh- sorry, forget that..."
 
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"Pfft, she would have succumbed to my awesomeness eventually." Reid joked. A bad, arrogant joke that was fueled by what they could basically call their victory, even though they were bailed out in the end, AGAIN. "But, Mr. Hero? You make it sound like I actually win things. I don't. People help, and then get discredited. Though, from what I heard, you got quite a bit of credit from the Apostle incident, despite it being the military that solved it and not you~ Ahh, I'm joking. Don't kill me!" He smiled like the fool he sounded like. he hadn't been in a mood this good in days... even if he hurt all over and he was being smothered my a twelve year old girl.

"I'm not half dead! I'm fine!" Melody barked, gasping for breath between sentences. Reid responded with a sweatdrop. Oh, yeah, when my stomach is oozing blood and I can barely breathe, I'm fine too.

"You're never fine." Mistral's voice echoed in his head. "You're probably more high mainanence than most girls~." Reid sweatdropped further. Nobody asked her! Besides, he wasn't that high maintanence... at least, as long as he wasn't Sanako "Oi, idiot. I know what you're thinking, remember? You're pretty high maintanence in general, it's just more obvious when you're Sanako. I mean, how often have we had lengthy discussions about decisions in your life? I'm pretty sure we spent an hour one day when you went about debating whether or not you wanted pizza or a burger!" Time to play the 'ignore the fael game'. "I know what you're doing! Cheater~"

Cress rubbed the back of his head with his right hand, as he sifted through his pant pockets with his left. A look of realization glanced over his face before his attention turned to Kyra, who waved a piece of paper in the air before dropping it on Reid's face, who was still on the ground, Evaline still all teary eyed and on top of him. He didn't want to seem rude and push her off, though he wondered why she wasn't clinging to her brother. He reached up for the paper, and brought it before his eyes, scanning it quickly. "Looks like we don't need to deliver them. We already have."

"Eh?" Ellianne cocked her head to the side. She had been busy preparing bread and water to serve as food while everything else had been taking place. Luckily they had brought this extra bag of goodies like Melody had suggested. "But... I don't see them... Anywhere. What about you, Lazus? Flaire?" Flaire shook her head.

"And we just got back from scouting." Bianca added, twirling her hoop around her left arm out of boredom. 'We' obviously referred to her and Tre, who was idly flipping through his lovely little novel. Reid couldn't help but think Tre, Lazarus and Rasch should start a book club. "Didn't see 'nothing."

Reid held the letter up, although since he was still pinned to the ground, it looked kind of funny. "It's from Ailia. Apparently she and Sven aiding the Rebellion force. Cress and Kyra are serving as their envoys. So basically we just need to hand them over." There was more on the piece of paper than just that revalation, but it was for his eyes only until he could decide what to make of it. To put things simply, he wouldn't need that discussion with Cress now.

"Fine... We need to get back anyways. Only a few weeks left of your training." Melody added her two cents. It was true. Once their time limit ran out, Flazure's citizens were dead. Not to mention Melody had said something about mounting an attack on the enemy's main base. "Evaline, Piper, you need to go with these two."

"But... why can't I stay with you guys!?" Evaline retorted. The question wasn't directed at Melody, but rather, Reid. The demon girl was quite offended.

Reid sweatdropped. Why him? "You'll see us again, but we're heading off somewhere dangerous, and we can't bring you guys..."
 
Adela raised an eyebrow at Reid, smirking as she checked the bleeding, "Nice save." Ignoring Melody as she looked around for a clean spot on the cloth she'd been given, Adela glanced over at Piper, who had fallen into silence as he continued to half-heartedly bounce a water droplet across his finger tips. Weird guy. She looked down at his sister holding Reid in a vice grip. Even weirder little sister. Resisting the urge to pry her off, Adela folded her arms, tightly pressing her hands under them to make sure she didn't shoo the princess away. Adela hated her affinity for royalty, but she couldn't help it. Authority was authority, even if they weren't in their proper seat yet. And even though the brat wouldn't be the actual ruler. She doubted the prince's ability though, he seemed more interested in himself and his sister, more then the country of Carn.

Lazarus shook his head silently, slumping when he became even dizzier from the action. Had Levi not been preoccupied with the 'Lazus' instead of 'Lazarus', he probably would've voiced a complaint about the sudden increase in weight. Damn that Lazarus, saying he didn't have any interest in girls. Nickname status was like, huge! (In Levi's terms of success.) He seethed with false jealousy; honestly, he wasn't interested in a girl who was half blind, practically mute, and had an important holy status as priestess. (He wasn't one for 'holy' things.) But man was Lazus makin' progress!


Piper silently rubbed his left arm with his other hand after having discarded the drop of wation, listening patiently. He was okay with leaving, but then again, he wasn't sure because Evaline seemed so disappointed. What a conflict. Piper pressed his lips together. Words of both agreement and protest to Melody's command were bubbling up, and Piper decided that between the chances of saying either, he'd rather just keep quiet. But he was definitely freaked out. Those people were… scary, to say the least. His stomach suddenly growled, having not eaten anything for nearly a day now, and running on very little stamina from being rail thin to begin with. He blushed hard, and covered his stomach with his arms, still silencing himself and thus having a soundless fit of embarrassment.

"We should head back soon though," Levi agreed, "Or at least tell the other Lieutenant that we're all okay and none of the skill have to come and bail us out- cause we already got bailed!" Levi laughed, seemingly not caring at all that he'd completely failed. He gagged soon after though, making a face at the bitter taste of bandages on his tongue. He'd gotten so used to it already that this particular swipe of god-knows-what was very… nasty.

"Come on, kid!" Adela barked at Piper who looked up in surprise, jerking her thumb at Cress and Kyra, "The apostles're gonna take you to the resistance." Adela paused and glanced at the two beings she still considered monsters, "By the way, since you guys are all mashed together again, I'm curious as to why you're back in one piece. And did Shiraume and Kirden turn back into an apostle too?"
 
"..." Neither Cress nor Kyra seemed willing to reply, and an awkward silence temporarily cast itself over the group. The moon shone radiantly above, casting its rays over the rolling fields of Carn, making them shine as the water reflected off the damp plantlife. Melody's golden eyes reflected it as well as she looked down at Reid. Had his grip on the paper tightened? The answer to Adela's questions were probably on it. He'd probably tell them in time, but she was in no mood for having secrets witheld from her. She'd have to pay him back in kind or... Or maybe Sanako. It'd depend on her mood, it seemed. Eventually, Kyra wandered over to pry Evaline from Reid, and Cress grabbed Piper from the back of his shirt, without giving a word. Evaline wasn't exactly crying, but she was obviously upset. Though, it was understandable. After all that had happened to her in the past three days, the reaction she was an exhibiting for a young girl was quite natural. "Have any of the dation users here seen Zeftra Park in the city of Selda?" Cress finally spoke. It was obvious why he wanted to know. Transporting them there via dation would be much easier and safer than flying there.

Bianca was the one to respond. "The next town over, right? We passed through on the way here. I should be able to do it as long as you all go at once." Ellianne was curious about the two. Bianca and Tre, that is. It was weird, but she could easily pick out priests and priestesses from a crowd. Tre was most certainly a priest, though he was from the church of Ophelia, while Ellianne had been trained in the church of Tylonstus. The orange haired girl, Bianca, was certainly strong. Somehow she possessed an impossible amount of physical strength. Tre had called her a Sister at one point. That girl, a sister? ...It seemed improbable.

"Send Dellan my regards." Melody murmured to the two Apostles, her wounds seemingly healed to a tolerable state. Cress cocked an eyebrow, wondering how she knew that name, before he was engulfed with darkness along with Kyra and the two heirs. "Now then, while we're waiting for Ashton to bring the blimp around, should I give you your default training forms, or would you prefer I have your partners dream up replacement forms for you to use for a while? Of course, they'd still be the opposite gender, but hey, its fun to mix things up."

Reid sweatdropped. Already she was cutting to her sick little idea of funny? He still doubted that the forms held any relevance to the training. He glanced over at Adela, deathly afraid of what kind of girl she'd have him changed into. It'd probably be ten times worse than anything Mistral could dream up. Come to think of it... she'd probably make him a clone of herself with an even worse bust si- Mistral smacked him mentally. Right, right, no deterring to that area of thoughts...

---

As soon as Tilde entered the room she was to be sharing with her comrades, she collapsed onto the ground, bleeding dangerous amounts from multiple locations including her head, arms, and legs. She was bruised up, and looked like she had taken a severe beating. Saral ran over, worried. She knew what had happened. Failure was not something He accepted easily. They had to pay some sort of price when they angered Him. Apparently Tilde took the punishment for all three girls. She was in bad shape, that much was obvious. She'd live though. "Stupid girl. Just because you aren't completely human you think you can take all of the punishment? I'm the only one of our little group that can be considered human. I mean, you could have at least taken Audi too..." That wouldn't score her Audi points, but hey, the truth needed to be pointed out. Saral pitied Tilde. After all, she had her humanity ripped from her against her will...
 
Audi's new face had an irritated frown plastered across her features as she looked down at Tilde. She'd never liked the girl- at all. But sisters were sisters, right? Audi stuck her nose in the air, contemptously watching Tilde as skeletons and stuffed animals continued to clean up the mess Audi had made earlier, making more space for Tilde to breathe. "Saral's right y'know," Audi spoke in an exhasperated voice, leaning back into the belly of a giant bunny, pieced together with the remains of other stuffed animals. It highly resembled a zombie- definitely the last thing any normal person would want to sleep with. "Punishment is always a good way to dispose of one of my ugly bodies, it wouldn't have been a problem at all, for me to take my share that is. Then we could've split Saral's share and it wouldn't have been that bad. I really wonder who's the most human person out of all of us; you have so much compassion for other people, it's weird!" Audi shook her head and sighed, "Well, since it's a little too late for anything, thanks for taking the heat. I don't think I could've kept a straight face anyway."

She ruefully glanced at the pile of bones scattered across her bedsheets. And she'd liked that body, too.

Audi examined her black fingernails for chips before uncrossing her legs. Walking over and squatting down beside Saral and Tilde, Audi puckered her lips in thought, "They just got a lucky break is all. Next time we run into them, we just gotta get rid of the mini-princess and the apostle people and we're set to pick off the small fry at our leisure- We won't fail next time, so don't get all depressed like you did last time, okay Tilde?"

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

Adela folded her arms, looking at Reid out of the corner of her eye suspiciously. Now what? Just in a few days from being gone, were Shiraume and Kirden in some sort of dilemma again? Actually, she didn't really care about Kirden all that much, just Shiraume. She was keen on gleaning this information out of Reid, and therefore, smiled with false enthusiasm at Melody's suggestion to change into their forms and agreed, "I think this would be an excellent chance to change into Armon. I'm against your second idea though, because I'm sure neither me nor Reid would like to see what the other will fabricate. Why don't we just stick with our usual forms?"

"I support the second idea!" Levi interrupted, "Flaire would do me a favor and make me into a girl with bigger boobs, right?" He grinned, giving Flaire a thumbs up as Lazarus rolled his eyes, though privately hoping that Ellianne would do him the favor of making him into a girl with smaller breasts. Nonexistant actually would be most preferable...
 
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"Couldn't we wait a little while longer..." Reid put in his two cents. There was no way Adela would freely say she wanted to be changed back unless she had a solid reason, and he had an idea. He was Sanako, so he knew that while she acted violent sometimes, she held her heart on her sleeve, especially when it came to Armon. Basically, Adela knew she'd be more successful prying the information out of Sanako as opposed to Reid. At least, that was his theory. It was probably true, too, knowing that woman. "I mean, wouldn't it be best to get some rest before thrusting us back in chaos?" He sweatdropped, after getting an unimpressed glare from Melody.

Bianca glanced back and forth, not exactly sure what the heck they were talking about. "Well... I think we're going to part ways for a while. Tre and I from you guys, I mean. I'm kinda interested in researchin' a bunch of stuff." A bunch of stuff? Vague as always. Reid was shocked, though, that neither Tre nor Bianca had questioned him about his wings or his elongated ears. Perhaps things had been too chaotic for them to have a chance? Without another word, they disappeared into a dation portal. Very like her, leaving abruptly. At least it wasn't like those times when they were kids, and would steal from shops. She'd disappear using dation, leaving him to take all the blame. The thoughts were nostalgic, but unpleasant all the same.

A loud noise suddenly shook the hills as the moon became eclipsed by the balloon of the blimp. It hovered there for a moment, before a step ladder fell from about thirty feet in the air. That was a pretty long climb... Reid sighed as he took hold of the rope climbing device, and began his ascent. He found that about halfway up the ladder, the height in which he could reach the next step became smaller and smaller, and he needed more strength to pull himself up. It didn't take long to click in as to why. "Crap..." Sanako muttered. She was wearing the outfit Violette had dressed her in the day before, and as she recalled, she was wearing a dress... who the hell was climbing underneath her? She didn't have the opportunity to check before her entire body cramped up, painfully. She couldn't move, and she had been in the process of reaching for the neck step! Not to mention it was windy! As her excellent luck would have it, she fell back, and suddenly began plummeting towards the ground. Why was she experiencing her paralysis? Why the hell did it hurt so much!? It had never hurt before! She knew the answer. Despite Melody's attempts at helping, the disease was still getting worse. Though, she was more concerned about having her head splat against the ground at this point...

OOC: Shortness. But I have to work, so... XD
 
"Wah!" Gil ducked and leaned into the ladder when Sanako fell to avoid a face-first collision, when she opened her eyes, she let out another startled cry, looking down at Sanako who was falling before realizing that Lazarus- or, Violette by now, was slipping off of her shoulder from the sudden movement. Catching Violette by the collar of her sleeveless turtleneck. What scrimpy fabric! Scrambling to pull her back up before the silk ripped, Gil sent a series of vibrations down the rope ladder, which unhinged Armon's footing and left him hanging off by an arm. He didn't look particularly concerned about his own predicament- sure he never used them, but he still had wings. And, dation. He looked up at Sanako, and scrambled to get one foot on one of the rungs.

"Stop shaking the ladder!" Armon yelled up at Gil, who was struggling to keep Violette from falling as well. Tuning out of the snippy response that Gil shot back at him, Armon held out his free arm, a thick cord of dation shooting out and catching Sanako around the waist and rolling her back towards the ladder. "What happened?" He asked, before feeling the lack of any movement or resistance. Sanako didn't even lift her head. So that's what happened. Armon thought to himself with a frown before leaning back to look past Gil and Violette.

"Hold on," Armon said, tighteningly his grip before letting go of the ladder.

"OI!!" Gil yelled, but blinked when both Armon and Sanako suddenly disappeared in the darkness, "...They fallin' faster than I think they are?"

"Dork." Armon barked down at Gil, his hand reaching out of a dation portal and clutching tightly onto the top rung of the ladder. Gil's face registered irritation.

"YOU COULDA WARPED US AND YET YER MAKIN' ME CLIMB A LADDER WITH MISS BOOBS-?!!"

Stepping onto the floor of the blimp, Armon made a face at the blood scattered across the left side, Dieter slumped against the wall. His sunglasses were split in two beside him, and Armon turned his eyes away. He could guess what had happened.

Rasch stood up, marking his place before closing the book and pointing to where he'd been sitting. Armon nodded and walked over to set Sanako down. The skill took a glance at Sanako and blinked. Well, this was an injury that had been different from what he'd been expecting when they got back. And Armon looked wholly unharmed.

"Isn't there-"

Rasch, back in his usual form, stared evenly at Armon with criticizing eyes. The latter chewed silently on his words before turning back to look at Sanako. He knew it was the old man's way of saying that he could do nothing against paralysis. Especially not when it was caused by the plague. Rasch watched silently as Armon fretted over what to do. Hopefully the paralysis wouldn't last long, he thought to himself as he swirled his fingers through the air, lionus sucking up Dieter's blood spattered on the floor in front of him. They had enough troubles as it was, and adding two star-crossed lovers into the mix was not Rasch's idea of a good play.

-----------------
 
"Dammit! She's running a fever too!" Stahn shouted as he threw his arms in the air after using his hand to feel the girl's temperature. He felt horrible. Once again, he had made a miscalculation. Sanako's body must not be capable of holding back the medication Melody had given her like Reid's form could. Meaning her life was quite possibly at risk right now. Think of it like a dam. The plague was placed behind the dam ala the medication. When Reid was reverted to Sanako, the dam broke, and everything that had accumulated behind the dam was released at once. Turning her back into Reid now wouldn't even help... "Christian! Ice pack!" The blonde boy fumbled in panic as he filled a pouch with wation and it froze over. He didn't know what to make of what was going on. Nobody really did. Particularly Deon, who had been away for the entire revalation days before.

---

"...I have... four weeks?" Reid repeated the comment Ophelia had just moments before stated. She had drawn him back into his soul again, like she had only the day before. Mistral, once again, was with him, only she refrained from commenting. She was irritated with him. The idiot. They had four weeks. She'd be just as dead as him. Yet he had never acknowledged the fact. Stupid, insensitive jerk. Though, she supposed he had a lot on his mind. "But, I need more time than that!"

Ophelia shook her head, her words dripped with regret. "If I could give you time, I would. But as it stands, your body isn't physically capable of taking the stress. Perhaps if you could find a way to surpress the stress effectively, but... Well... you could..."

"I could...?"

"Er... nevermind. It wouldn't work." She was obviously lying. She had thought of something. Some Goddess, can't even bring herself to save a follower. "Now... I must break my link with you again. I'll contact you at a later time." Her presence faded, her body breaking down into lionus before scattering itself in the air like snow.

"You don't plan on telling anyone, do you?" Mistral spoke up after a long moment of silence. She didn't have to ask. She knew the answer. While it was true that it'd save their friends from worry if they didn't know, it was also true that they'd probably hate him in the end of it all that he said nothing. Maybe that was how he wanted it...

---

When Sanako awoke, she found herself hot and sweaty amidst a sea of sheets and towels. The room was unfamiliar. The floors, old and made of wooden boards, seemed like the kind that would creak under every step, and the cieling and walls seemed to made similarly. Various medical instruments were scattered across the room, including the wet towel resting on her forehead. From what she could tell, she still had a slight fever, but she had regained the feeling in her body. She tested moving her hand. It hurt, but she could move it. The sunlight drifted in from an open window along with a much welcomed breeze, the sounds of a small village drifting in as well, along with the sound of waves splashing up against the- Wait, waves? Sanako struggled to sit up, as painful as it was, just enough for her to glance out the window. So, she had been right. They had stopped at the port village of Tempest. One of the very few villages that actually rested on the miniscule oceans.

She got out of bed, only to fall to the ground with a loud thud and a cry as she tried. Okay, very little feeling in the legs. Probably not good. Her already aching body ached a little more now. But... where were her clothes? From what she could tell, she was wearing a white gown meant for a doctor's patient. That note was in her other clothes... Did that mean someone else had it?
 
Rasch's reaction was delayed by a full two minutes, and only as he turned the page to begin the next chapter of the murder mystery he was reading did Rasch look up at Sanako. Standing up and putting aside the bound pages of suspense, the old man adjusted his monocle and pulled Sanako up off the floor, sitting her down on the bed and propping up pillows behind her before gathering up an armful of towels. He pulled out a new one out of nowhere, setting the neatly folded cloth on Sanako's lap before sitting back down in his seat across the room, folding the towels even though they'd end up being mussed again when they were thrown into the wash. It was a bad habit, to fold everything that wasn't being used or worn.

Rasch paused midway through the second towel and looked up at Sanako again, his indifferent gaze looking as though he'd just remembered something. He turned his eyes to the door.

"Lieutenant." Rasch's hoarse voice came and the sound of two people scrambling to get up onto their feet was heard from behind the door, a 'Move it!' and 'like hell!' penetrating through the wood. Rasch shook his head at the excellent display of immaturity and continued his folding. The door burst open, Armon hanging off the doorknob and Gil shoving his face into the door with the heel of her palm digging into his cheek.

"Get-off-me!" Armon scowled as he tried to throw the girl off of him. Gil fully ignored him, trampling all over him without a care as she rushed to Sanako's side, "You freaking bitc-!!"

"Sanako!" Gil gushed dramatically, pointedly trying to irritate Armon by interrupting him, grabbing Sanako's hands in hers, "We were so worried about you! Are you okay?? Are you in pain anywhere?! Eeek!! Don't touch me you- you-!"

"GET OUT!" Armon yelled, kicking Gil out of the room and slamming the door shut behind her, breathing hard as he tried to keep calm. This was supposed to be a touching scene; With him, and Sanako only. Damn that ugly witch for ruining everything. And she'd even recited half of everything he'd wanted to say! Now what?! Look stupid and repeat what she said. Armon swallowed a lump in his throat and brought himself to look at Sanako, putting his hands in his pockets as he slowly shifted his weight to one foot, "Umm…" He began stupidly and Rasch turned around in his chair so that he faced the other direction.

Way to make things awkward, old man. Armon grumbled to himself before walking over to Sanako. He dragged his feet and took a deep breath.

"I didn't look at the note." He began, scratching the back of his head and looking out of the window, "Because you… didn't seem like you wanted me to. So you can tell me-... whenever you want." Armon let his hand fall, quickly adding, "Oh and, sorry I wasn't in here when you woke up. Is the paralysis gone?"
 
Was the paralysis gone? She could move her upper body, but why was standing so difficult? "It... hurts to move. A lot." It was no surprise. Looking around at her sheets after she had woken, she must have been having spasm or something in her sleep. Another sign her disease was getting worse. Before long, she's start forgetting people and places she'd met, and eventually she'd kick the bucket. That'd be it. No more chances. She'd just... die. Mistral wondered if Xavaie, wherever he had disappeared to, realized that she'd be gone with Sanako. Probably. He wasn't stupid after all. But... was Ophelia right when she named the limit as four weeks? The operation Melody had presented them with took place in three weeks, so that wasn't a problem. But, what about after? Would everything just be okay if she up and left after that? Despite what Reid and Sanako had both stated, were they really okay with dying? Sanako had stated she wanted to find a cure, but it was impossible. Scientists had been searching for years. They weren't going to find one in the next four weeks!

She dodged the comment about the note. She wouldn't acknowledge it. He didn't need to know. "Stop holding the burden yourself. Idiot. If you need to cry and tell him, do it. Remember what you promised Ophelia!?" Mistral was right, but Sanako ignored her. No... at this point, the burden was hers. Pushing it on someone else wouldn't help at all. But, to keep Armon from questioning further, she revealed one fact. "Kirden is dead." There were other notable deaths, but she wasn't going to mention them, let alone think about them. Her eyes met her sheets. It didn't matter if she looked at him or not, he could probably tell she was hiding information.

Stahn listened from outside the door, Auricia and Rita with him. Maybe... just maybe there was a way to save her. He'd have to talk with Armon about the reprecussions later, however. Today... they should just relax. In the Underneath or not, being by the ocean was something most winged people experienced only once in their life. "Oi! You two! We're going to the beach today! I need you out, Armon, I'm going to have the girls help her change!" By girls, he meant Rita, Auricia, Gil, AND Violette. That was going to be a messy session. Maybe getting Sanako outside would be good for helping her to recover. It was a nice day, so why not?
 
Armon's blinked slowly, trying to keep his smile up on his face as he tried to process was Sanako had just said. He opted for at least keeping the shocked expression off his features and opened his mouth, taking a few minutes to push out what he was trying to say. "...What?" He didn't really want to hear it again, but he didn't believe it, either. He barely glanced at Rasch when the old man pushed him out of the room to make room for Gil, who stuck her tongue out at him when she waltzed back in. Her tongue went limp at the sight of his expression though, staring after him with a confused look that still showed that she was completely free of her worries.

Armon looked up at the old man when he patted the younger boy on the head, nodding as to say that everything would be fine. The geezer didn't know anything, Armon reasoned with himself, but he felt a little better. It was a bad thought, but Armon couldn't help but be relieved that it was Kirden, and not Shiraume. But Kirden's headstrong personality that bit the butt off of anyone that pointed out her mangled face, her stupid stories about Aertan being an unruly and ungrateful brat, the church she'd once been apart of, and all those little mannerisms about Carn that had helped Adela keep face with that country. Armon sorely wondered what had happened. Shiraume was okay, Kallen's letter had said so. It was why he hadn't been with Sanako earlier. Kallen hadn't known Kirden very well at all; it was no wonder to Adela or Armon that she hadn't mentioned her.

Rasch looked over his shoulder and gave the approaching Dieter a stern stare that told the latter that now wasn't a good time to throw a temper tantrum over getting knocked out. Dieter's orange eyes glared at Armon for a minute before he held up the broken pieces of his sunglasses with an irritable look. As far as Rasch could understand of Dieter's hand movements, he was fine with being knocked out, but his broken sunglasses were unforgivable. Rasch shrugged, not about to rat out another skill. Particularly not the one who had actually knocked Dieter out, because Dieter hating Tsukasa without a reason was a completely different story when compared to Dieter hating Tsukasa with one.

Spinning around, Dieter continued to march about for the perpetrator who had broken his sunglasses that normally shielded him from the sight of dirty humans. Rasch raised an eyebrow at the retreating skill. He had obviously only dropped the subject as much as he had because he was looking forward to going to the beach; The great detective could only count the fact that Dieter was already in a pair of yellow and orange swimming trunks as a clue, but it was more than enough. Rasch stroked his beard silently.

Now.

How to face this new dilemma. He couldn't exactly show up at the beach in a suit, as he'd like very much. But he wasn't about to wear a swimsuit as an old man, as fit as he was for someone his age. Rasch shook his head in exhasperation. Well. It looked like he would be stuck with randomly changing forms again, after keeping his normal age.

"Thanks." Armon said blankly, nodding at Rasch, who wasn't paying any attention to the boy. He had pressing matters on his hands right now.

Armon, however, had set aside Kirden for the time being. He wasn't in the mood to go to the beach- at all. In fact, Adela hated the beach; therefore, he did as well. But it was a good chance for things to lighten up a bit. Make some good memories...

...Or whatever.
 
Sanako wasn't in the mood for this. She wasn't in the mood as Auricia stripped her down in front of the other girls and dressed her in a black two piece in which the bottom was in a style similar to shorts. Her body still ached. Even if she went into the water, all she'd be able to do is bob up and down, really. But she might have to. She needed to avoid him today... She didn't want to be near him. She knew, she couldn't lie to him for very long. She was an idiot, saying she'd be stronger when she really couldn't be. After all that had happened in the last week, it was impossible now. And the bad news just kept piling up. She already had a bad feeling about the coming night, let alone the next four weeks. Anyways, she did NOT want to go to the beach.

Yet here she was now, laying on a towel, amidst a sea of sand, burning like a chestnut on an open fire. Where had everyone disappeared to? The water, probably. Now, she wanted to be in there too. It was far too hot! She struggled to get to her feetl and eventually succeeded. The pain was beginning to subside. Thank god. She could now walk far enough so that she could wade into the water, but suddenly fell with a splash as a wave crashed against her already wobbly legs. She tasted salt, and got back to her feet, spitting out the water that had gotten caught in her mouth. The water was cool, comforting, and washed away the sweat that had accumulated from the night and from baking in the sun's rays. It was soothing, to say the least. How long until this moment was ruin- "Sana-chan?" Sana-chan? Must be Auricia. "Shouldn't you be lying down?" Sanako tilted her head back so she could stare at the girl, who was dressed in a two piece that was the same colour as her violet hair and eyes. She shook her head at the sight of Sanako. Pity? "You really should be, if you want to-"

"I'm fine." Sanako stated quite matter-of-factly as she got to her feet. Auricia was a little shocked. The usually polite girl - at least to her - had taken a 'go away' tone. Depressed, Auricia wandered off back to where their group had spread out their towels. Why was she being so mean? She was alive, she should be happy.

"That's not like you-"

"It's not like you either. You feel the same way I do, so just be quiet for a while."

"..."
 
"WA-HOOOOOOOO!!!" Dieter's face was spread into a genuine grin as he splashed water over at Rasch, who was dressed in a light linen button up shirt and a pair of black shorts. He ignored Dieter, reading while he sat on a foldable chair under the shade of a beach umbrella. The water that Dieter was scooping up towards him always fell just short of his flip-flop clad feet, and any stray drops of water that dared to try and land on Rasch was obliterated with a whip of Lionus. Dieter laughed and splashed into the water, submerging underneath for a very short period of time. He stood for a moment and observed Gil, trying to time how long regular humans could stay underwater before someone was under the impression that he'd drowned.

Gil however, was not interested in swimming. She was sure to flaunt her green and yellow plaid bikini before stepping gracefully into the water, floating on her back until she was as far out to sea as she'd been aiming for before getting to her feet again. Scooping up armfuls of soaked sand, she peered around at the water and spotted only Dieter, throwing the sand at him and splashing water up after the lumps of earth. He was seemingly the only other person in sight that was actually here to have fun. She grinned and stuck out her tongue, only to get a face-full of wet sand as Dieter clapped his hands together in satisfaction.

It was a sand fight in no time, and as Gil and Dieter threw globs of sand at each other, using skill-enhanced strength and wionus to splash huge waves at their opponents, Violette sighed. She, and Lazarus, were both not the type who were interested in wearing swimsuits, and as such, she was dressed in a yellow babydoll sundress with a cropped denim vest, her hair pulled up into a curly ponytail as she watched on.

Violette placed a glass of orange soda from the tray in her hands on the arm rest of Rasch's chair, smiling when he looked up at her. She sweatdropped when he looked back down at his book without a word. Maybe a 'thank you' was pushing it. She turned around to look for Christian, but stopped in her tracks, glancing over at Sanako. Deciding against looking for him, Violette set the tray down on the small table that was laden with three of Rasch's mystery books. "Can I look at this?" Violette pointed to the first book in the trilogy, and Rasch shrugged, irritably pushing his long black bangs out of his hair. Young people hairstyles were so inconvenient, he decided. Picking it up, Violette turned it over in her hands, reading the summary on the inside cover.

"Agh, it itches!" Dieter yelled in frustration as he pulled at his collar, "Stupid sand!" He disappeared under the water and showed up at a safe distance away from Gil, rubbing his neck and glaring over his shoulder at the girl who stuck her tongue out and waved innocently.

Armon watched Sanako and Auricia with a bored expression. He hated the beach. And no less, Dieter had managed to shove him into a pair of teal boardshorts, lined with black on the pockets and sides. Rasch could've been thoughtful enough to bring him a shirt or something. It was weird, being shirtless at a beach. He glanced over at the two fools who had since resumed their war, ignoring everyone else around them as huge waves propelled by wionus crashed into Dieter, who of course, emerged completely unharmed, and as Gil dodged by submerging herself under the water. Idiots.

'The beach, huh? Haven't been here for awhile.'

"Feeling better?" Armon asked sarcastically.

'Shut up.' Jeckt snapped, 'Where'd Xaviae go? Shouldn't he be having a grand time with Mistral?'

"Nope." Armon's vague answer came, and that was the end of their conversation.

"Sanako, do you want something to drink?" Armon called out to her, planning on going to get something cold to battle this stupid heat. Stupid beach. Stupid Stahn. Stupid Melody. Why the heck did they have to come here anyway? The two most unimportant people he'd ever met were the only people who'd actually wanted to come, and they were an eyesore to begin with. Especially Gil, who didn't seem to have any qualms with not wearing her bandages into the water.

Speaking of her bandages...

"Dieter, I thought you always..." Violette paused and moved her hand from her mouth in an arc to indicate Dieter's habit of throwing up every time he saw Levi or Gil's burned skin, "... whenever you saw Gil."

Dieter stared at Violette blankly before shrugging, "I guess I'm used to it!" He called back, the slight deviation in his focus causing him to get washed away by a column of water encircled by wionus.

"HA!" Gil shouted triumphantly, "THE VICTOR IS GIIIIILLL!!!"
 
Sanako shook her head at Armon's question, and began to wander farther down the beach, far away from the group. She could... she could always just leave now. It'd be easier for them if she disappeared indefinately. Then they'd never know if she died. It'd be better that way... maybe. That's when she saw it. Something was coming at her. It was fast alright. "SANAKOOOOOOOOOO!" It was shouting. She sweatdropped. That voice was undeniable. It was Rod, and... he was wearing a black speedo? Further sweatdropping occurred as she shuffled to the side and stuck her foot out. The skill tripped and slid quite a ways, perhaps almost to the main group. Ouch, that was going to leave a burn. Irritated, Sanako stormed off. She was definately NOT in the mood for them today.

This was troublesome. Something had happened. Everyone could sense it, though they probably assumed it was because of whatever was on that note. Reid had kept a straight face about it earlier, but this girl wasn't Reid. Her habits and personality traits were different. Stahn looked around. Where was Deon? He had been troubled since Flaire had turned up the day before. Something just didn't... feel right. Not at all. And then there was the issue of training. There were only 3 weeks left. How much could they accomplish in that time, with all the emotional strain on some of the students? Sanako especially. The last thing they needed was her in a state like she had been after Rosaline's dea- That was it. Someone must have died other than Kirden! The problem was... who? "Armon, Christian, Violette, go talk some sense into her."

"Eh?" Christian, who was fiddling with the white string on his blue swim trunks, seemed a little bit surprised. "Why Violette and me? Armon is really the only one-"

"You've been with her the past five years, and Violette is probably the most down to earth member of our group... though that isn't a difficult role to obtain with this group..." Christian sweatdropped, knowing full well that his statement was true. "Besides, I figured I needed to send a girl, and I'd send her over Gil in a delicate situation like this anyways." Christian sweatdropped again, picturing how Gil would handle the role. Probably loudly... probably enough to irritate Sanako more. "Armon's inclusion is obvious. But I want you three to keep this in mind: Don't say anything that may seem like you're forcing her to talk. The last thing we want is for her to think you're pressuring her."

"Right, right." Christian sighed. This was going to be difficult. Why did Reid make such an emotionally fragile girl! "You ready then?" Christian asked Violette, extending his hand to her.

---

Sanako sat alone atop a group of large rocks farther down the beach, her arms wrapped around her knees as she rocked back and forth, staring out at the horizon, where the ocean met the sky. She was barefoot, and high enough up that she would die if she fell. She wasn't stupid though. She didn't want to end it any earlier than she had to. "Do you have something against us?" She clearly heard Christian's voice behind her. She didn't respond. "Geez... Okay, you two are up." He whined, knowing when he was beat. Who was he talking to?
 
OoC: Wow, I really had no idea what to say. xD; It might be a little cheesy since I've been watching Drama's lately, so... *SHOT*

iC:
"You gave up rather fast." Armon commented to Christian under his breath, questioning his lack of persistence. He straightened and opened his mouth, taking a step forward to go and comfort Sanako. However, Violette stopped him, holding up her index finger and smiling before taking slow and even steps towards the other girl. She sat down beside Sanako, watching her for a moment before breaking the silence.

"Sanako," Violette began tentatively, thinking about her words, "I'm not sure what happened… and I'm not going to make you tell me. But we're all really worried about you. Me, Christian, Deon, Auricia, and Armon. I know you wanted us to leave you alone for awhile, but you look so sad…"

"It's not like we can just stand around and watch." Armon interrupted, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Violette nodded in agreement as Armon spoke, "And ignoring us isn't going to help! We're not so spineless as to just turn around and walk away when you tell us to Sanako, that's not what someone in their right mind would do. If there's something bothering you, can't you tell us? Can't you stop hiding things from us?" Armon glanced at the ground, shifting his weight uncomfortably as he said desperately, "You always say you're fine but you're not! You said you looked up to me and wanted to be strong like me, but the one who's stronger should be the one who's doing the protecting, right? So why are you protecting me from whatever is bothering you? I thought we were in this together, but you're doing everything by yourself." He scratched the back of his head after extracting a hand from his trunks, "Am I really that useless?"

Violette watched the reflecting water in a moment of awkward silence before picking up Sanako's hands in hers, "Armon is right you know. We're always here, so you can always depend on us. That's why we're here, isn't it?"
 
"You're here because you're annoying." Sanako didn't make eye contact, and she bit her own tongue. But, there was no other way... to... for their sake. At this point, despite Mistral's opinion, pushing them away was the best thing. It had to be because... she couldn't think of anything else. She pulled her hand away from Violette's and stood abruptly, making sure to keep her back turned to the group. That way, they wouldn't be able to see the pain she was hiding. Not about her secret, but about behaving that way to her friends. She didn't doubt at least one of them saw through the trick, but... it was all she could do. However, the words and actions that followed, they were not hers. Another power possessed her guarded form, and spun her around. She became horrified as her mouth moved on her own. "If I want to mope about having 4 weeks to live, along with the fact that Sven and my brother were killed, then I will!" Inside Sanako's mind, Mistral was taking a beating for taking control long enough to do that. Sanako, flustered and on the verge of tears, brough her right hand up to her face, before turning and darting down the rocks. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! That didn't just happen! The truth...! She eventually slipped, and her knee went down hard on the rock, a loud crack being heard before she rolled off a multitude of more rocks, eventually landing, bruised and bashed, on the sand below. She was the unluckiest person alive. She had to be. That, along with clumsiest. She held her knee like a kid, praying for the pain to miraculous go away.

Stahn stood with the group above, sweatdropping. "So that's what it was..." Christian jumped at the voice. When the hell had Stahn snuck up on them? Sanako's behaviour was now understandable. Christian wanted to put himself in a similar mood now. Sven was... dead? And Reid only had 4 weeks? ...It wasn't fair. Everyone was going to leave him sooner or later. If something happened to Deon, then he'd be left all alone. He fell to his knees, his eyes wide with shock. His breathing intensified. No, there was no way he wanted to be alone! "Before going to save Ms. Keeps-Important-Details, I have something to say. I can save her."

"But?" Auricia's voice chimed, almost giving Christian a second heart attack. Where the hell were these people coming from!?

"But... either way is problematic. If I could find someone willing, we could transfer the plague to a new host. Of course, it's not really curing it, it's just throwing the burden on someone else. A burden nobody wants, since death accompanies it." He raised his head thoughtfully at the sky, before bringing it back down to look at Armon. "There... is one kind of other operation I can perform. I could extract it manually. Only the extremely wealthy can afford it, and a great risk accompanies it, so that's why it isn't publicly known as a cure."

Auricia looked at Armon like Stahn was, just so she could fit in. "Great risk?"

Stahn grinned as if he was glad she asked. "First of all, those pills I had you injest, it involves those. The patient must be reverted to a form that isn't their own. In Reid's case, that's already been done. It's just... there is a high chance of severe memory loss. Basically, Sanako could wake up not knowing who she is, or who anyone is. Plus the patient has to reside in that other form for quite the time afterwards in case the infection somehow manages to stick. Because of that..."

"It'd be easier to raise her thinking she's Sanako. In other words, we'd have to treat Reid as if he were dead?" Auricia spoke, something intelligent coming off of her lips for once.

Stahn nodded, before sticking his hands in his pockets. "But... I'm not in any position to make that decision, nor is Sanako herself. The person Reid values most should probably take the reign here." His glare intensified on Armon. "You can tell me your answer later, but you have basically three choices, Adela Ciaccio. Reid can live at the cost of the life of another, Reid can die, or Sanako can live on in his place with no recollection of her earlier life. Technically, you have 4 weeks to decide, I suppose. and one more thing, don't mention this to her. If you make a decision, she doesn't need to know about it. ...You should probably go help her now." Christian grit his teeth from his position on the ground below. What kind of decision was that to throw on someone so suddenly!? And how he'd never mentioned these options before!? What the hell went through his head!? And why wasn't she allowed to kno- Oh, right, she'd get all emo again.
 
Brother. Prince Ryan?

Armon's mouth gaped, an expression of complete shock on his face. He looked around hopelessly, trying to find anything that might deny the fact. What now? He had to go back. He had to figure out what was going on! Violette watched as Armon took a few steps back before changing his mind. He was in turmoil. What should he tell the people, when he had to face the fact that they would never seen his Highness again? No, would he have to continue playing this game of secrets over the fact that they hadn't seen Prince Ryan for many many years now? Just some stand-in? And Sven… couldn't possibly be dead! Armon held a hand over his eyes, gritting his teeth. It wasn't fair. Not that they were gone. That Sanako had kept quiet about this for so long. He'd been living so carefree, while they were already gone?? He hated it. Everything. That Sanako had been so stupid as to keep quiet. That everyone had to die for the stupidest reasons. That he- Adela, was never there.

Good news hit him like a frying pan, waking him up and chasing away a small fraction of Armon's frustration. A cure. Maybe not the kind of cure that Armon had been hoping for, but one nonetheless. Still, with something like this being told to him just after the death of one of the most important people in his life, he couldn't bring himself to smile for Sanako, or Reid. He understood now, just a little, how Reid felt when Rosaline died. It wasn't as though Adela had been as close with Ryan as Reid had been with Rosaline. But the idea of never being able to scowl at him again, never being able to fold her arms and ask "What?!" when he gave her the whackiest orders again, was on an entirely different level from before. Alicel had never affected her life. Rosaline hadn't either.

"I'll… think about it." Armon mumbled, swallowing the lump in his throat as he looked down at Sanako, "I… I can't face her right now… I…"

Violette stared at the ground. Annoying. She was being too nosy, she knew, but how else… could she help?

"Stop being such a… coward." Violette stammered, lacing her fingers together anxiously while squeezing her eyes shut, "…Aren't you in love with her? … Didn't you just say that we're here to help her? If she's so special, why don't you-!" She pressed her lips together, chewing on her words before desperately looking for an escape. "I'm… leaving now. I shouldn't be here." She set the back of her hand against her nose and mouth before taking a few slow steps backwards. Her eyes darted across the ground before she spun around, walking quickly back towards the beach where everyone else was. Enough was enough.

Armon didn't concern himself with Violette's words. He stared down at where Sanako was. He wanted to tell her that if she wanted to be depressed for the rest of her remaining life, he wasn't going to stop her, but he wasn't going to waste his time either. If she was just going to forget everything, he didn't want to stick around. It was wrong of him, but he hated that she was so wrapped up in everyone else, that she was ready to ignore him for the rest of what she thought was four weeks of her life. He took a deep breath and hopped down to where Sanako was, making sure his landings were light with his wings and finally folding his arms.

"You know," He sighed, gingerly lifting Sanako into the air, thinking about the first time she ran away and ended up being carried back exactly the same as now, "We really have to stop doing this over and over again." He paused and looked up at where he'd started, "I don't understand you sometimes. I don't see how not telling me that they were dead could've helped anything. If anything, it made it worse." He opened a portal, "I want you to be honest with me. Even if it's bad timing. So I'll do the same for you, following the golden rule." He looked down at Sanako with a frustrated frown while he opened a portal, "I'm really mad at you right now. So if you want me to leave you alone, that's fine. I don't really care anymore, since you obviously don't want me to."

As soon as he stepped out of the portal back where he'd started, he handed Sanako over to Stahn, "It wasn't that hard to make a decision." He said, "I'll tell you what it is later. I have to talk to Gil."






"Hey!" Gil shouted, putting her hands on her hips, "Pay attention! What's with you?!"

Dieter stood idly, staring off at the place where Sanako and the others were. He glanced at Rasch, noticing that the teen's eyes were affixed on his book, but weren't moving across the page. Dieter was very good at ignoring the things he overheard, but the heavy feelings that were weighing down reached even him, at the distance they were.

"Ahh, I don't feel like playing anymore." Dieter dropped a handful of sand, swirling his hand around in the saltwater to get the last grains of sand off of himself before sloshing out of the water, "Besides, I think one of your friends has something important to say to you, so I'm going to go hang out with Rasch. Laters!" Dieter saluted as he headed over to Rasch, who looked up at the dripping wet Dieter with distaste, pointing to the towel stacked on the other end of the table laden with books.

"Yeah yeah!" Dieter waved his hand at Rasch while Gil stared after him in confusion, "I know, I know, I'll dry off before getting anywhere near you."
 
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