Hey everyone, how are you all? Don't mind me, just doing a small OC story idea I had. I had this very fun RP group that has been dead for mostly a year now with no idea if it will be kickstarted or be done in a new form.

However! I thought it would be perfect to use the setting of that RP and characters made from it as a basis for an OC story set in FT. Whenever or not you like it or not is entirely up to you, but I hope you enjoy the Fanfic nonetheless.

I would appreciate feedback on first chapter or so, in any case lets get on with the story!

Tale of Ether

Awakening Arc

Chapter 1

Reawaken

"Dad…? What happened to…" A little girl asks staring at a table in the middle of a room too dark to make out any notable features from it. The only source f light was pointed right atop the table where the body of a young woman laid her eyes closed.

"It's alright sweetie, it's alright…Mommy is just sleeping right now, in a very… Deep sleep is all." A rather older adult male states trying to reassure his daughter kneeling hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Will… She wake up?" The girl questioned looking to her dad for advice who just stared somberly back with a frown.

"No… No, she will not sweetie." The man stated before closing in to hug his daughter as tightly as a bear would. The little girl tried to process it as she looked at the table for a second before hugging her dad back softly tears coming from her eyes yet showed no emotion.

"Why… Why won't she wake up dad?" The girl questioned just as a few men in lab coats came in one holding a clipboard observing it just as a nurse came in after the men just standing there.

The father of the child looked up narrowing his eyes but focused on his conversation with his daughter. "Something happened to your mother sweetie. The doctors did their best to help her, but they just can't… You are a big girl though, you understand what I am trying to say, right?"

The child was silent, she was just 12 years old… But the current world she and her father lived in made it impossible to avoid the knowledge of what her father meant. She still lacked any form of emotion, aside from the tears that is, but that was a guise her body always put up. She had emotions, feelings, thoughts of such. Yet, her body showed no such emotions. She simply gave a nod to answer her father in the end as the one with the clipboard intervened respectfully.

"We… Are ready to perform the tests Kira. Will you allow us to have your daughter for a bit?" The man questioned the girl's father, now named Kira. At first there was silence as Kira hugged her daughter tightly before pulling away with a nod then turning back to his daughter.

"The doctors are going to do a check up on your sweetie. They want to make sure you are fine, I need you to be a strong girl okay?" Kira assured his daughter while also making her understand what is going on. The nurse from before moved over and kneeled slowly to offer their hand to the girl.

'No… Don't let go.' A silent voice is heard as the little girl stepped away from Kira and then eyed the nurse. 'Don't grab that hand!' The girl stared at the offered hand then slowly nods to the inaudible words coming from the nurse before taking the offered hand. The doctors step away from the light one staying behind to talk to Kira who was crying as the little girl was dragged away out of the room, the little girl stared at her father not knowing what would transpire in the years after she left the room completely.

Test, after test, after test. No matter how many were done the results always came back the same, she wasn't human but that was common in Taikoku City. Humans were not exactly normal in the city, they were a rare minority to the amount of people in this one confined place. Sadly, the little girl became the even rarer minority, she was special, beyond special. It wasn't her skin, which has always been pale, she always had white hair, and she always had red blood eyes. In a place where special people are the majority, she was even rarer, rarer in the fact that her body and what she was made up, could potentially be used for endless energy.

'Stop.'

That desire for endless energy drew in more tests, more experiments, more isolation for the young girl but with no way of harnessing that energy the experiments eventually went away, then Kira passed away shortly after. The little girl spent much of her high school life being tested on; too weak to do anything physical, she was forced to focus on knowledge and education. All that time being tested on, and none of it was focused on being with her father or having the freedom to choose.

'Stop!'

Cast away once a goal was reached, forced to fend for herself in a world trapped within a wall. A wall that does nothing but prevent the outside world from killing everyone in Taikoku. Too bad that wall didn't prevent-

"STOP IT!" Shouted the girl who opened her eyes with a hasty pant as she laid on the wet cold ground surrounded by broken glass and the loud sound of an alarm going off. She calmed herself down, the now 20-year-old girl looked around with her eyes trying to get her bearings ignoring the loud sound blaring in her ears. Her white hair dripped from she hopefully assumed was water but didn't count on it.

The girl tried to move but her body was too weak as she carefully weaved her hand up to her face avoiding the glass and saw blue lines coating the skin of her arm. Calling them lines is wrong, they were her veins working overtime to transfer the energy within her across her body so she can function again. Her body was weird like that, it had a high amount of energy but once it gets used up bodily functions turn off. Not to the point of killing her, at least no yet. So long as she still had her heart intact, she will be fine, in fact the lack of energy will make her have even more to use once she is back to full strength.

For now, though, she couldn't stay like this, but at the same time knowing how her own body works the most, she wouldn't have the ability to move for a little bit longer. Since she is stuck on the ground like this, she decided to figure out more on where she is, her eyes trailing to the areas above her right now moving her head carefully to get her bearings.

It was to no surprise, another lab, a small one but still a lab. Baring the possibility that the facility was larger than it seems currently, the lab itself was rather complex but also seemed outdated. There were ancient runes and symbols that she somewhat recognized but were unreadable to her… No, that isn't quite true, after a bit the letters were translated to the point, she could read them. Was it a runic language? It had to be if it translated for her.

"Etherano of subject K cannot be read… Subject has left containment, unable to perform further tests…" Kumie softly said to herself as she read the words then softly sighed. "Etherano… Maybe its just another name for Ether. Considering they are measuring it, I guess they have a good understanding of Ether... Which would be weird, I'm in…" She stopped herself and narrowed her eyes remembering the key detail she needed to realize.

Taikoku… Was gone, so it didn't make sense why she was here or why Ether was something of note in this lab. She should be dead! Yet, she wasn't, whether that is a blessing, or a curse was something to be seen in her eyes. She closed her hand and opened it testing it then noticed the blue lines on her arm starting to slowly fade in and out making her smile. "Still function like normal… Although it seems like you are recovering faster than normal Kumie…" She said to herself.

Kumie used her hands to slowly get up her eyes trailing down noticing that she was in some sort of white garb that covered her up. It was the only thing she had on, for now at the very least, she will fix that when she gets the chance. She gets onto her knees carefully then stretches her arms carefully before drying out her hair a bit then took in her surroundings more.

"Yeah… I can sense a lot of Ether here for some reason… I'm not in Taikoku that's for sure, for the energy of life it wasn't that present in that city…" She muses to herself, she could feel the ether in her body starting to increase the functions in her body and slowly gave back her ability to move. That is what her body was made up, Ether the source of all life, at least that's what the texts in some books she read stated. It was honestly the only clue she had as to figuring out why her body was made of the stuff, it's still a question she asks to this day.

She narrowed her eyes and slowly got up to her feet wobbling a bit as it felt like she hasn't used her legs in forever but eventually got her balance again. "Good…" She eyed her arms and saw the blues lines had disappeared before she looked up again and was a bit shocked.

In front of her was a broken containment unit with the glass completely broken on one side and water leaking out from the same side. She had zero recollection of every being in the said containment unit, yet it would seem like she was… She didn't understand why but then clued it in based on the screen behind her making her sigh.

"Great… Another group of guys wanting infinite energy… Wonder if they were successful." She wondered to herself as she continued to squeeze her hand close and then opens it to repeat the exercise. "So many questions… But I don't got time to be standing around here, I got out of that thing somehow, and I doubt they will let me waltz out of here." She slowly moved to the table where the screen that had her vitals on it and began to fiddle with the various consoles seeing if there was a map of the facility anywhere.

She was lucky in finding a map, but unlucky that she appeared to be in a tower of some kind, a tower that was 6 stories tall and she was on the 5th floor. She took a mental note of the tower's layout: 5th was Containment Floor, 6th was the Roof and Lookout Floor which meant there was security here, 4th was the Staff Floor, 3rd was the Archives, 2nd was for Research, and 1st was the Lobby and Core Floor which she didn't dare question what that was. Either way there was a stair system which was the important part, she would have to traverse each floor and down each set of stairs in order to get out of here.

With the map memorized she began to type away into the console to see what research data they had on her but all she found was results on Etherano levels and what that Etherano was being used for. It seems her Ether was being used up to the max to power the Core on the 1st Floor... Okay that's enough snooping around for her!

She looked down for a second checking her body for any injuries, even if she has a body made of Ether, she can still get injured, so it was essential to make note of what she can and can't do. No injuries luckily enough, she used the darkness of a nearby window to check the garb she was wearing and breathed in a bit closing her eyes as she lets the Ether in her body flow outward. A light blue light covers her exposed arms and thighs briefly before darkening with a black color to make a set of clothing to cover herself up with for now. She even got herself a pair of boots, so she doesn't get her feet hurt with all the glass around.

She goes to the door and opens it seeing the alarm blaring out in the hallway too making her get annoyed as she was about to step out and paused looking back at the containment unit wondering if it was just her trapped here. She frowned for a moment, whenever or not it had real emotion behind it was still unknown to even herself, but she couldn't delay any longer. So, she took her first steps outside of the lab, and into the new world she found herself in.

The Containment Floor was rather loud but empty of any people, no one was running around screaming, or trying to figure out what was going on. It surprised Kumie as she walked down the stairs already reaching the 4th Floor, she couldn't go upstairs as much as she wanted to… If it was a Lookout Floor, then she would be just running right into the people she was trying to get away from.

She quickly stopped hearing footsteps moving around in the 4th Floor making her slide back onto the steps to use the railing as cover. "Subjects K through B have been compromised! We need to secure the facility and make sure they don't get out!" She heard people shouting, judging from things, she can't help but assume that the other "subjects" were not as kind as her judging from the urgency in the man's voice. That and, no one was on the darn floor to begin with when she escaped.

Still she couldn't stay on the stairs like this, instead of peeking her head out to survey the status of the floor She focused her Ether into her hand and light blue dots forms before forming into the shape of small light blue colored beetles, beetles that act as scouts and relay anything they see back to her She sends out the beetles who fly around using the lightning of the facility as cover before stationing themselves into various corners and locations on the floor getting a feel of what is going on.

There were various scientists running around holding various pieces of paper in their hands. She saw… Security forces running around? They looked more like old-fashioned knights really which was a sharp contrast to the tech in here. But she didn't question it much, at the very least she isn't dealing with Fenrir Soldiers, they would take out people in a hard beat… Plus they had pretty good armor suits.

The constant running around and panic by the staff was making her concerned though, she wouldn't be able to get through the floor without being spotted. She couldn't change her appearance on the fly either… What to do…

Then there was a growl making the security forces perk up and run off away from the scientists who freeze up and gather around into some form of room with a lock on it. She only knew of the lock cause one of her beetles got locked in forcing her to dismiss the beetle. "At least it didn't take too much Ether to create the little guys..."

It was the one fear she had, she was using her own source of energy to move to perform these actions, but luckily it felt like the capacity she has in terms of Ether is larger than it was back in Taikoku. It gave her quite the advantage, especially when her creation's Ether returns to her once they are dismissed… At least within reason or exceptions.

As for the growl, which kind of made her sweat a bit, not because she was afraid of monsters oh no, it was because of the fact it reminded her of a certain monster she had to fight back in Taikoku. Before someone asks, yes there are monsters in Taikoku.

There was a sudden crash as a security member was crushed under the large foot covered in green scales with the grow growing stronger within the dust cloud that formed. The other security members held their spears with a few people behind the spearmen… Creating magic circles. Now it wasn't the first time she saw magic, but magic circles were not part of any magic she has seen up to now.

"Cold Magic: Cold Breeze!" A breeze of cold air and snow particles is fires into the dust cloud, which made sense if the scales were any indicators. But there was a sudden roar as a rock was chucked at one of the spearmen forcing the guy back into the floor. The dust cloud was pushed away from the force of the throw revealing a giant green humanoid lizard roaring at the security before charging them as it is pelted with "Snow Magic" as the security forces called.

Either way, this was her chance. She quickly got out of the area where the stairs were and began to run off down the hallway toward the next set of stairs to the 3rd Floor using the security forces as a form of distraction.

One of the spearmen focused on stabbing their polearm into the side of the Lizard and quickly tried to cast magic but was swatted away by the back of the Human Lizard's hand then focused some form of energy within itself. "Lizard Magic: Bellow Breath!" The Lizard fired a green colored breath of fire at mages who were burned and were forced to run due to the toxic fire. The Lizard growled looking at its side then pulled out the spear in his side and allowed her body to regenerate the damage that was dealt as the rest of the security forces were now fearful.

"Oh, come on! You lock us up like that and you can't even put up a fight once we rebel?! Hmph, for the people that turned me into this goddam freak you sure… Are…" The Lizard spoke but trailed off at the end before sniffing the air. "Its that scent from before… Subject K is running around now?"

"Subject K?!" One of the guards shouted as Kumie was forced to stop at the stairs before getting spotted by the Lizard which in turn made the security team focus in on her.

Since when could lizards known the difference between scents?! How did he know my scent anyways to begin with?! Kumie shouted in her mind as it didn't make much sense to her as she looked back at the crowd on the floor with a small sweat before the Lizard grinned at her. Nope! Not staying here!

Kumie didn't waste time dismissing her beetles and quickly running down the stairs making the Lizard shocked. "H-Hey! Subject K get back here!" The Lizard growled as the girl was already gone then glared at the security forces. "I'll deal with you idiots later!" The Lizard shouted before quickly rushing past the guards to follow the girl.

The security forces just stood there shaking in their boots looking at each other and just agreed to stay there and find someplace to hide just in case.

"SUBJECT K!" The security forces heard and sweat before running off into a room to lock and hide behind.

Right below that floor Kumie was running through the archives noticing the various shelves of files and books but she didn't have time to stop and read any of them sadly! She had a giant lizard behind her, and she wasn't stopping to chat with him either!

"Sorry Lizard, but I do not have time to be someone's dinner!" Kumie shouted back but stopped suddenly as she felt something coming, and it wasn't the Lizard. Where? She couldn't tell as she looked around quickly just as the Lizard caught up to her making her freeze and sweat before turning around.

The Lizard glared at Kumie menacingly, ignoring height (Cause Kumie is actually only around 5'4.) the glare the Lizard had could make anyone freeze up. The Lizard huffed and puffed before calming down shaking his head. "I'm not trying to eat you! I'm trying to get us out of this place!"

There was silence as Kumie only asked: "What?"

"I was… Trying… To get us… Out of here!" The Lizard huffed out slowly for Kumie to register getting a kick from Kumie into his scaly leg, which somehow hurt. "OW! What was that for?! That actually hurt!" The Lizard screamed holding his shin.

"That's for leaving me on the floor like that if you were the one that got me out of my containment!" Kumie stated back before stepping back to clam down breathing in and out. "So… Where are we?"

Lizard pouts with teary eyes waiting for something from Kumie, who just stared back at the Lizard with her red eyes. "What?"

"Apologize!" He demanded.

Kumie's eye twitched before sighing again. "Fine, I'm sorry for kicking you… Now do you mind explaining things for me?"

The Lizard nodded then looked around the floor seeing no one around. "Guess they all hightailed it upstairs so we should be fine for a bit." The Lizard moved over to one of the shelves and began to search them for a second and then pulled out a map and sprawled it out on the floor for her to see.

She was, surprised to say the least as the tower was marked on a country… That didn't or shouldn't exist. The Kingdom of Fiore was the name of the country with the Tower marked near a city known as Magnolia with a symbol on it for some reason. The Lizard points to the tower.

"It seems, we are in the Kingdom of Fiore which is my home… Hey we are near Magnolia which is even better! A Mage's Guild is there if that symbol is any indicator!" The Lizard stated.

"A… Mage's Guild?" Kumie questioned as she eyed the map then narrowed her eyes a bit.

"Yeah… You know, a place where powerful mages go to do missions and all that jazz!" Lizard stated with a smile but there was just dead silence as the Lizard sweats. "W-Wait you don't know?!"

"No, I don't know, do you know?" Kumie stated simply seeing Lizard somehow get wounded.

"Y-Yes I do know! I am part of a Guild myself, Lamia Scale to be precise!" He points to a symbol with a Lamia on it., Kumie assumes it's a Lamia due to the name.

"Oh cool, cause I'm not." Kumie simply comments making the Lizard feel even worse. "Either way… I'm… Far away from home to say the least… But if there is help, we can get nearby that's good right?"

"Yep! That guild in Magnolia is notorious! It shouldn't be hard finding help from them!" Lizard stated then rolled up the map. "Either way! My name is Sanit, I use Take-Over Magic, and you are?"

Kumie hesitated for a second thinking about it crossing her arms. "Kumie… Take-Over Magic?" She quickly questioned.

Sanit tilted her his then facepalmed. "Don't tell me you don't know anything about magic either!"

Kumie shook her head. "No, I know what magic is… Just not well versed in the various types I suppose?" She lied, but it wasn't a total lie.

Sanit stared at Kumie and points at her. "I can't tell if you are lying or not, but do you know any magic?"

"Nope." Kumie stated turning toward the stairs that would lead down to the next floor stretching her arms.

"What? Why are you here then?!" Sanit shouted in a question but Kumie held her hand out silencing him for a moment. "W-What? If you plan to kick me ag-"

"No… We have company." Kumie noted simply narrowing her eyes as a blue haired girl walked up gingerly from the steps with a smile making Sanit scream in what sounded like horror.

"T-Tear?! Why are you here?!" Sanit questioned as the slightly taller but clearly young girl now named Tear grinned pointing at Sanit.

"Aww… Lizzy you can't be breaking out of your cage like that! We have important work to do you know right?!" The girl told Sanit. Tear herself had blue eyes to go with her hair with a blue and white blouse and skirt under the lab coat she had on her with a symbol on the side of it, was she part of a guild too? Kumie couldn't tell at all as Tear looked at her then was shocked.

"S-Subject K?! Why are you out of your containment! That is no good! You have to stay in there to power the Core!" Tear stated with a pout crossing her arms. "No good at all you two! I bet you colluded with each other on this!"

Sanit sweats. "Huh?! You keep her knocked out in that containment Tear! How can I collude with her?!"

Tear freezes up and then turns around to write down something. "Subject B2 is showing signs of intelligence after becoming one with his Take-Over Magic! We need to study more of thi-" Tear stopped and quickly sides steps to avoid something light blue fly by her. "E-Eh?" She eyed what was on the front in front of her, only to find a light blue colored sword embedded into the ground.

Kumie glares at Tear not a single part of her body moved surprising Sanit as her perked up. "H-Hey! Kumie! How did you create that sword without a spell?!"

Kumie rose an eyebrow at Sanit, "I can control the Ether in my body in whatever way I want." She stated then eyed the sword making it dismiss instantly the particles flowing back into her body making Tear distracted in awe.

"A-Amazing! Subject K's ability to use Ether is extraordinary! Primitive, but still extraordinary!" Tear stated aloud writing down more notes into her notebook unphased by the sudden sword before pause and then closing the notebook with a smile.

Kumie just stared at the strange girl for a moment closing and opening her hand to test to see how well things were with her body before relaxing herself. "You only care about your research huh?"

"Yep, Yep! I must perform results to show to the others after all! Oh… I can't wait to tell the others about these developments!" Tear smiled before glaring at Kumie and Sanit. "However, what would not be good, is if I let you two escape from this facility."

Sanit sweats and slowly got up putting the map safely away into his clothes then focused on Tear. "Kumie we can't fight her. We need to focus on escaping."

Kumie eyed Sanit. "Huh? But you looked pretty strong back there."

Sanit sweats as she was right. "Yeah, but Tear is another story. In fact, she was the one that kidnapped me and brought me here. She is a powerful mage… An considering your lack of magic…"

Tear grinned a bit. "Oh, you want to run Sanit? Oh, too bad… Liquid Magic: Tar Pit!" Tear points to the stairs and a black liquid substance began to fill the floor below surprising Sanit. To make matters worse, it was liquid tar, so getting through it would be impossible.

"Did you really have to do that?! What if you had… Oh right they are all upstairs." Sanit was shocked but then quickly dejected as their escape was lost to them. "We are doomed!"

Kumie was silent staring at Tear trying to register what kind of magic that was., Sanit said he had Take-Over magic, the guards from before had Cold Magic, oh right! Sanit also had that Lizard Magic thing.

"Hey Sanit, how many types of magics do people usually have?" Kumie questioned not registering the threat quite yet clearly.

"You are asking me this now?!" Sanit questioned making Tear laugh.

"How naïve Subject K is, oh well as a fellow girl wanting knowledge, I can at least inform you instead of dumb Lizzy there!" Tear stated making Sanit just sit on the floor crying, Kumie just pats Sanit's back softly. "I'll only say it once: Mages usually are only able to learn one type of magic! Rarely do they learn more than one, after all quality is better than quantity."

Kumie stared at Tear for a moment then smiled crossing her arms. "Oh, so you are saying your Liquid Magic is all you got?"

Tear blinked a bit tilting her head thinking. "Yes…" She grins happily. "But not like it matters! My magic, Liquid Magic, just as the name suggests allows me to use any form of liquid to my advantage!" There was a giggle from Kumie a bit making Tear blink in confusion.

"Thank you for the information Tear. Now I know how your magic works! I appreciate the information!" Kumie stated with a smile.

Tear just blinks again then glared. "H-Hey! That's cheating! No tricking Tear! Subject K needs to learn a lesson! Liquid Magic: Spiral Helix!" A magic circle appears in front of Tear before two sprouts of high-powered liquid is fired in a spiral motion like a helix toward Sanit and Kumie.

"W-Why did you have to make her an-GRY?!" Sanit was suddenly pushed out of the way by a light blue colored wolf that came from Kumie's arm getting him out of the way of the attack. "W-Where did the darn dog come from?!"

As for Kumie herself she altered her boots to add wings to make her jump quickly out of the way and then lands on top of one of the shelves seeing the liquid hit the wall behind her before turning her attention back to Tear. "What was that about teaching me a lesson?" She questioned Tear as the Ether Wolf, Kumie at least calls it that, growled at the researcher.

Tear's eyes were focused on the wolf and at the alterations Kumie made smiling. "Interesting~. Your manipulation of your own Etherano is quite advanced compared to just using magic."

Kumie's eyes narrow. "Its not Etherano, its Ether." She simply stated to Tear not up for the fun Tear is having.

Tear pouts again. "Such a meanie! Liquid Magic: Melt!" Tear focused on the shelf Kumie is standing on and it begins to turn into a liquid making Kumie hop up into the air quickly. "Liquid Magic: Acid Rain!" As Kumie was in the air Tear quickly cast her next spell that created a magic circle above Kumie and rains down acid on her from above.

Kumie was only able to slide out of the way barely her arm getting acid on it feeling it get burned before she quickly used her Ether to remove the remaining acid on her arm as she lands back on the ground. She took a moment to examine the damage on her arm before focusing back on Tear. "Acid now huh?

Tear grins a bit. "Big bullies deserve to be punished!" The proud girl stated as Kumie's eyes shifted to the side.

"Oh, really now? I'm pretty sure kidnapping people is considered bullying." Kumie taunts Tear but didn't really put too much emotion into it. Which for Tear, pissed her off a bit.

"Why you! Let's see how you handle another dose of it! Liquid Ma-" Tear was about to cast another spell before sudden her arm gets bitten by Kumie's Ether Wolf. "OW! Bad doggy get off!" Tear yelled punching the Ether Wolf, but it wouldn't let go.

With Tear focused on the Ether Wolf Kumie quickly puts her hand at her side creating a ball of Ether in her hand then grinned. "Hey Tear, you should know better than to boss around another person's pets!"

Tear got angry again flailing about. "Shut up K! I'm too busy with this dog right no-"

"Lizard Magic!"

Tear blinked a bit then looked to her right just as the Ether Wolf lets go. Sanit was coming around with his clawed arm that was expanding out and growing in strength. "Crushing Slam!" He was preparing to swing it down on Tear who was smacked aside against a few of the bookshelves. "That's for calling me Lizzy!"

Kumie observed Sanit for a moment, something was wrong a bit, not that the attack going through was wrong, but something was growing around Sanit suddenly. It concerned her but then she heard Tear's voice.

"Now, now Lizzy." Tear stated brushing herself off as she got herself out of the rubble. "I think you had enough fun and games… Why don't you make yourself useful and help me round up K over there?" Tear questioned as a magic circle was encasing her left wrist with a grin.

Kumie noticed it right away, some form of energy pricking itself into Sanit's body before he screamed out and held his head. "Sanit!" Kumie shouted but knew her words wouldn't reach or help Sanit, she had to cut off the link of whatever is pricking Sanit's body.

"M-My b-body! I-I can't…!" Sanit suddenly launched himself at Kumie his empowered claw still strong as ever. "K-Kumie dodge!" He shouted as Kumie stood there for a moment thinking then jumps forward under Sanit surprising him and Tear. "That works too!" Sanit shouts as he crashes into the floor and slowly gets back up.

Kumie then closes her hand and swing her hand sending out small waves of Ether toward Sanit who turns and is shocked. "W-Wait! K-Kumie I'm sorry-!" Sanit closed his eyes hearing something get cut before nothing happened. There was silence as Sanit opened his left eye looking around then blinked jumping up and glaring at Kumie. "H-Hey what is the big idea?!- Wait…" Sanit patted himself up and down. "I can move again!" Sanit cheered.

Tear was shocked. "What?! But how?!"

Kumie looked to Tear. "I can sense the Ether you are using for your spells, your spell, it injected your power over Liquids into Sanit so that his blood can be within your range of control. Controlling his blood essentially gives you control over him."

Tear stared at Kumie for a moment then thought to herself for a moment before sighing seemingly becoming bored. "Darn, and I thought we were going to have one of those comic book moments. Where two allies must fight each other in order to stop the villain."

Kumie's eye twitched a bit. "Why did you reference a comic book all of a sudden, second thing you just called yourself the villain."

Tear was shocked and in sudden despair. "I-I did?!" She felt her world shatter as she spun around before shaking her head. "Whatever! I don't care anymore!" Tear huffed and points to the ground. "Liquid Magic: Fantasia!"

Kumie's eye rose a bit confused before noticing geysers of water sprouting around her, it was easy to tell it was water from the look of them but was wondering what the purpose of this spell was. It was then that she noticed that the geysers formed a perfect wall around her and formed a dome before sprouts of high-power water jettisoned out from the "walls" of the spell striking her into the geysers making her take even more damage.

Tear grins as she hops up and sits on top of an unscathed bookshelf. "Oh dear, oh my. K is having a swimmingly well time in my lovely Fantasia. You can't leave or run from this spell!" Tear said confidently as Kumie is knocked around within the spell.

"Kumie!" Sanit shouted then glared at Tear rushing at the mage. "Your little brat! Lizard Magic:-"

Tear held out a hand toward Sanit. "Liquid Magic: Artic Catastrophe!" A magic circle appears in front of the hand and a series of water blasts hit Sanit pushing him back. He crashes into a wall in the tower creating a dent as his body falls limp on the floor shivering due to the cold temperatures the water was in. "Too bad Lizzy, your body can't handle the cold at all! That is what happens I suppose when we make you become stuck in your curse of a magic!" Tear giggled out having fun with toying with the lizard who growled but was unable to move due to the cold.

Kumie was still stuck in the jets of water getting knocked back by a jet into the wall which makes her bounced forward again and get hit by another jet. She quickly tried to come up with a plan to escape this prison as Tear sat back gingerly then thought for a moment observing Sanit who was a shivering mess. Kumie gets hit by another jet forcing her down to the ground with a hard thud. She quickly puts her hand down focuses her Ether and creates a shield around herself moving outward to form a safe dome with the jets of water just splashing into the shield not able to crack or push through.

"Oh K… That pesky little shield isn't going to protect you forever!" Tear says to Kumie as the shield continued to shield Kumie as she relaxed and devised a plan.

"Liquid Magic, liquid is still liquid… Would it vaporize? No, it probably isn't that easy…" She turned to focus on the spell that was hitting her itself. "Its focused on me, so no matter where I go it will follow me… She believes I can't do anything from in here too…" Kumie thought to herself looking up at the jets of water. "Either way… I'm stuck in here unless I do something about this spell… If that's the case… Hey, Wolf ready for an upgrade?"

Tear sat there for several minutes just observing Kumie, the shield wasn't coming down still which surprised her despite the high-pressure output of the jets of water. But she was confident the shield will fall eventually. With Lizzy out of the picture there was no need to do anything else but wait while also regaining any energy she lost. "Only a matter of time K!"

There was just silence which made Tear yawn a bit who rubbed her eye for a second then felt something quickly jump on her the moment she let her guard down. She looked behind herself to see a giant werewolf made of Ether coming at her, she didn't have time to dodge! The claws of the Ether Werewolf slash into Tear's side and push her against the ground as the Werewolf focuses on Tear who was slowly getting up.

"Where did you come from? She is stuck in there…" Tear trailed off and pouts. "Darn it doggy! Why do you got to interfere all of the time?!" Tear began to prepare another spell, but the Werewolf wasn't letting up as it charged Tear who jumped on top of another shelf then directs her hand creating a magic circle toward the Werewolf. "Liquid Magic: Spiral Helix!"

The spell from before was cast sending out a double helix jet of water moving in a spiral knocking the werewolf back as it defends itself being pushed back and back before just stopping outright as it is hit with the high-power water but not moving one bit.

"Huh? Why did you stop getting pushed back?" Tear questioned just as the Werewolf howls.

"Thanks Wolf!" Kumie stated from within the shield bubble and places a hand on the shield closing her eyes. "Her water is always a certain consistency and frequency when it comes to power. I just got to refine my Ether to that point… And!" Her body glows as from the shield bubble, a series of solid balls made of ether fire out at a fast speed pushing through the jets of water and explode within the jets of water breaking up the flow of the spell.

Shortly after the explosions the water from Fantasia begins to crystalize into a form of ice stopping the Fantasia Spell completely as Kumie becomes walled in by ice instead of water now. "I-Impossible! The water turned into ice?! How?!" Tear questioned but she heard another howl as the Werewolf charges through the jets of water from Tear's spell to slash and strike at her yet again this time sending her flying into the shelves.

Tear slowly gets up from the wreckage just as Kumie flies out of the wall of ice standing next to her werewolf observing Tear silently. "Had enough yet Tear?"

Tear glared at Kumie with a huff. "Stupid… K… You think leaving here will give you any freedom? You think you can just escape from us?!"

Kumie eyes the Werewolf who runs off to help Sanit get warmed up as Kumie's eyes focus back on Tear. "You act like I wanted to be locked up in here, trapped in a containment unit, and forced to be part of whatever experiments you want to do." She slowly points up above her. "I rather be out there than trapped in a tube dreaming all day about the past."

There was a moment of silence from both Tear and Kumie before it was Tear who sighed first looking down at the floor then up at Kumie. "I really hate people like you. Talking all high and mighty… When people should know where their place in a world! If you are weak you should be used in a way that benefits everyone!"

Kumie looked down looking at her hand then looked up staring at Tear. "That isn't the world I live in, nor am I some weak kid Tear, neither is Sanit who has a guild out there who probably misses him." Tear was ticked off by this then huffed out.

"I really don't care for any of that. After all, we aren't an official guild. We are a Dark Guild. Those rules or ideals don't apply to us." Tear stated with a shake of her head. "None of your preaching will do you any good… "Kid" fits you quite well in that regard."

Tear quickly puts her hand out. "Liquid Spell: Cocytus of the Deep!"

Sanit's eyes open hearing that then stared. "T-Tear what are you doing?! You are going to kill her!"

Kumie eyed Sanit questionably then noticed the air growing cold and then quickly having to jump out of the way as a giant scythe ripped through the floor with a ripple before a giant reaper-like figure appeared water flowing from its body… No that wasn't water. "Poison?!"

Tear grinned at Kumie. "Meet Cocytus, the reaper of the deep ocean, careful of his poisonous water. Though at this point, I don't care if I break you a bit, I just need to make sure you can produce Etherano after all~."

There was silence from Kumie as she felt the poisonous water burn against her skin as the water filled up the room closing her eyes as she transforms her Werewolf into a shield around Sanit. "H-Hey! Kumie what are you doing?! You can't be out there like that!"

Kumie was silent then stretches her arms acting carefree a bit as she lifts one leg and then the other out of the water. She felt slow in the water but that was fine… She wasn't truly fine, her legs burned with whatever poison was running through that water. Plus, the Cocytus itself was still around. This was a problem, a big problem.

Tear smiled. "If you surrender now, I'll be sure to make your punishment a light one K!"

Kumie observed Tear for a moment thinking about something in the back of her mind. "You are the strongest person I know." She isn't that strong. "You defeated number 2, Good job." No, he- "Not one to give up are ya?" No… She isn't really. "I wonder why that is… Breaking yourself in the process, just to save all those people. I envy your strength Kumie."

Kumie smiled a bit. "… Yeah, I envy our friendship too… Vaughn…" She said softly to herself then eyed Cocytus focusing on the task at hand. "So, is that all you got Tear?!"

Tear rose an eyebrow. "You act like you can beat Cocytus." She shrugged a bit then simply smiled. "Though I am tired of the games!" She then focused on Kumie. "Liquid Magic: Cocytus's Crew!" From around Kumie in poison filled waters humanoid figures and creatures began to rise from the water but not taking a solid form as Kumie looked left and then right. "This is the end K!" The creatures charge the majority launching into the air while the rest following the water toward Kumie.

A couple of balls of ether appear in Kumie's hands sending one up above her and then throwing the other into the water. The one in the air shines and fires out pellets of ether everywhere that striking the creatures in the air their forms disappearing on contact, the other created a wave the push the water out from around Kumie forcing the crew members in the water away. Tear hopped up to another shelve to avoid the incoming wave.

"Liquid Magic: Aqueous Slicer!" Tear shouted as scythe blades made of the water surrounding Kumie still shoot up and quickly begin to run toward Kumie who dodge out of the way but felt several of the blades slash into her body.

"Gah!" She makes sure not to fall into the water keeping her legs up as her Ether works to close the wounds. "Should I use it? No… If I use it, I won't be able to survive the trip afterwards. I can do this." Kumie stared at Tear then reaches out her hands creating two swords surprising Tear before she was displeased with the action overall.

"Hmph… Still fighting?!" Tear huffed then eyed Cocytus. "Cocytus! She is all yours! Leave her alive!" The aquatic reaper moved to the left making the water splash upward before launching itself toward Kumie! "You will lose K! You only have two puny swords! Cocytus rends anything in half! You are finished!"

Cocytus prepared to slash with its Scythe as it closes in on Kumie but as it is about to Kumie launched at Cocytus surprising it and Tear. "Kumie are you crazy?! You have a death wish!" Sanit shout but Kumie ignored it, in her head there was a ticking clock and an overload of thoughts. Cocytus began to readjust his aim to use his Scythe which was just the opportunity she needed. "For a undead reaper of the sea… You sure forgot some of your edge." Kumie commented as she gripped one of her swords tightly.

The reaper hesitates confused as Kumie points out the right sword and launches it at the hands of Cocytus. The reaper stared at the puny sword ignoring it to prepare for its swing but stopped noticing tis fatal mistake. The sword glowed and branched out into various pillars making the sword contain many branching sword tips that hoped around the arms of Cocytus and then extend out to lodged into the wall to block him from swinging his Scythe.

Cocytus's eyes focus on Kumie who had on last blade and wasted no time slicing through the head of Cocytus making it come right off before the rest of its body begins to fade away. Kumie's swords shatter right after as Kumie's mid-air adventure wasn't over as she was still moving right toward-

"Liquid Magic: Last Encore!" Tear shouted surprising Kumie and surprised the defeated Cocytus as it disappeared. The remains of Cocytus gather up into various small swords that are then launched at Kumie from behind as she is in the air still. She tried as hard as she could to avoid the incoming blade is, but they lodged themselves into her torso shocking Kumie as Tear grinned at the results of her spell.

"Checkmate K." Tear said with a smile but then blinked as there was silence. No scream of pain, no nothing… What gives? Tear stared up at Kumie who was still moving toward her! The swords lodged into Kumie were gone, there were various holes in Kumie's body and… There was Cocytus's scythe in Kumie's hands ready to swipe. "A scythe that can rend anything in half huh?!"

Tear's eyes go wide in fear as Kumie was prepared to swipe and was moving the Scythe to kill Tear, the light in those eyes disappearing I n second before on the last second the Scythe disappears confusing Tear further. "Too bad I'm not one for killing!" In place of the didn't disappear, it was broken down into various Ether particles that fired themselves into Tear knocking the girl back into a nearby wall with a scream as the blasts repeatedly hit Tear before finally there was silence.

Kumie fell into the disappearing water as a sign that Tear had been defeated, the shield protecting Sanit disappearing as Kumie felt slightly numb feeling the effects of Cocytus's poison along with borrowing his Scythe. "Thanks Cocytus…" She focused her thoughts on thanking the thing that was trying to kill her a second ago. She lifted her hand to see a marking symbolizing Cocytus receding into her skin. "Kind of creepy to know that magic has a mind of its own."

Sanit ran over to Kumie and kneeled to pick her up out of the water. "W-What happened there?"

Kumie shrugged a bit. "Apparently… Cocytus grants his power to those that beat him or his owner. I don't get it either, but at the last second when Tear was trying to use Last Encore, Cocytus was giving me his curse."

Sanit stared at Kumie then thought for a minute. "The Curse of Cocytus… I know Cocytus is a spirit of some kind that transfers to other people in order to evolve, it adapts itself to whatever you focus your magic on. But I didn't know it transferred itself on certain conditions."

Kumie just sighed and tried to get up but was stopped by Sanit. "Oh no you don't! You just beat Tear, you deserve a break."

"But we need to get out of here." Kumie stated making Sanit shake his head.

"Such a silly kid. Come on" Sanit slowly picked up Kumie using the strength he has in his Lizard form. "I'll just carry you out of here. Maybe all the way to Magnolia." He stated putting her on his back and then starting to move.

"You don't have to do that really." Kumie quickly tried to state to Sanit.

"Hmph. You really don't know when you relax do you?" Sanit sighed then eyed Tear's unconscious self before carrying Kumie along. "Regardless of your opinion I'm taking you to Magnolia like this!"

There was silence as Kumie simply stared at Sanit from his back, the same silence followed at least until they were finally outside of the tower and on their way to Magnolia. Once the Tower was in the distance, Kumie began to talk again. "Thank you."

Sanit was surprised but shrugged. "No kid… Thank you." Sanit stated softly. "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be out here in the real world." Sanit eyes trail to Kumie's arms seeing them glow blue before focusing forward. "Either way… You should rest up kid, seems your body is calling for it."

"How do you…" Kumie began to question.

"I broke you out remember? Now rest will ya?" Sanit commented before getting a small nod from Kumie who couldn't help but close her eyes as her body's Ether began to replenish itself yet again. As for her mind… It begins to wander yet again.

Right then… That's a good stopping point… I'm kind of sweating in fear of putting this first chapter up. I am happy to do a fighting sequence, but I just hope it wasn't too short in length or too short in detail.

Either way hope anyone who reads this enjoys the chapter!