Galen's POV, the same day; 15.15; streets of Kuoh, Japan
"Please go out with me!"
Ok, now lets say it together:
Galen is an unlucky jerkass.
He trained his ass off trying to get the visions, being deadly useful, but even now after years and years he was only able to use them very proficiently in fight and to take the numbers for bingo.
Really.
The only times he got visions intentionally they were usually blurry and/or didn't give him so much informations at all.
But when they were clear they were always concerning.
From when that mob attacked ten years before, to the unfortunate incident seven years after, all those visions led to something unpleasant at least.
The worst...well, there is an entire extinct Pillar to describe it.
So, while that vision seemed less dangerous than the usual, he wanted to at least describe it to Mordred and start drawing a plan for when it happened and, if the worst came, prepare to use a teleportation array to one of their safe houses around the world, and finish there Mordred's training.
But now he had to improvise.
Again.
'Sith spit, what did I do today to make it so shitty?'
lets recap then, shall we?
Galen's POV; 12.55; Kuoh Academy
"Hello beatiful people!"
If you can't understand who he is, it's a satisfied Galen who, after knocking the door and starting to hear the 'please get inside', just barged inside the class 1-A.
His sister class, just to make things clear between us.
Luckily for him, the Wise Old Prof of English (or James Welligton, if you are not Galen) who was there was only amused at the scenes made by Galen, and he was one to not let himself be mislead by Galen's behavior from his sheer genious.
So the Wise Old Prof (or WOP for Galen) asked in an amicable tone, like Galen wasn't just bargin in his class:
"Hello, Marek-kun, how are you? Marek-chan said that you were in the infirmary, after all"
"I'm good, teach! I'm made from iron, after all!" said Galen, teleporting at his side and using one arm to manly hug him, action mirrored by the graying man, while both were grinning.
It was such a shining example of brotherhood that the students in the room couldn't take their eyes out of the scene.
Or maybe it was the sheer incredulity and horror which made them not steer their gazes.
Pick the one you want.
Oh, and a banging sound was coming from Mordred's seat, caused by the tiny blond hitting the desk with her head, while littl'Koneko was looking a bit concerned at her.
So when the teach whispered quietly, still grinning:
"I think that you should do what you came here for, Marek-kun. I don't think Marek-chan can take more hit on her head" he simply nodded and started walking towards his little sister, who was still banging her forehead, with a 'Why' every now and then.
When he was right beside her desk, she raised her head while her green eyes glared angrily at him and pouting (for her snarling) at him, which would have normally been pretty intimidating if her forehead wasn't bright red.
With it she seemed more an angry chipmunk than a Force Knight able to destroy an High class devil and his peerage alone and (maybe) defeat a lower Ultimate class while in Balance breaker.
It was quite an amusing sight for Galen.
Then he said smirking:
"Well, when I woke up I remembered that you still had my bag, where my lunch you two" he glanced at his left, where Koneko turned to the opposite direction, without letting emotions on her face.
Galen, after a little pause, continued:"unjustly took from me was. So do you have it?" he asked, while around him the kids were starting to gossip, thrilled.
Until one well placed look from Galen, who raised his eyes from his little sister, made them shut up, afraid.
Oh well, it seemed like his reputation would plummet again.
Good riddance, it would only be an hassle for him, and he really didn't need or want to have fans on his back.
The life of a wanted man was like this.
He was already hiding in plain sight, being the exact opposite of what one could expect, but he couldn't overdo it, it would only spell a disaster.
While he was thinking, Mordred bent her back forward and Galen saw behind it his poor, crushed bag.
His only reaction was a deadpan while he took it, his expression unreadable, until he closed his eyes and said drily:
"Please say that there isn't my box inside"
He felt a tug behind him and he saw the emotionless little Koneko handing the two boxes he had inside the bag for lunch.
Galen smiled and thanked the little girl, knowing perfectly well that there was not even crumb inside them anymore.
He wasn't that airhead, thank you, and he was the one who cleaned at home.
Besides being the one who cooked, the one who repaired at home and Mordred's master. Coupled with tens things which he didn't want to recall.
While he put the boxes inside the bag he said chuckling to WOP, his tone not changing in the slightest:
"Well, I have to go, teach. After all, we have some difficult trials before us, do we not?"
Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Mordred's back stiffen slightly, something which he would have to correct when he trained her at home, but, with him being the one in the center of attention, no-one noticed it.
Maybe Koneko noticed it, but it seemed that she just viewed it as a sign of annoyance, which Mordred was indeed feeling, much to Galen's satisfaction.
Then his smirk morphed into a smile while he rubbed the top of her head, without paying attention to the outraged cries of the green eyed girl, messing the already untidy blond hair of his little sister.
After a few moments the complaints from the girl died, replaced by a deep, vibrating sound which came from her throat, which is usually called 'purring'.
She was litterelly purring, like an overgrown cat. Or dragon, if you want to be accurate.
Galen was quite happy doing that, not noticing the forgettable fact that he was inside a class while there was a lesson ongoing, but then he felt a strange feeling coming from his left, a mixture of emotional pain, envy and... was that longing?
He turned his head to the left and he saw, alongside those kids who were whispering between them 'How does he do it' and other useless things, that little Koneko was staring a them with a worrying poker face, not letting her emotions known to the world.
Not that it was needed with two empaths inside the room, with one of them being a former assassin.
Galen understood what she was yearning about, so he tried to stop petting his sister to rub littl'Koneko's head, but there is a little problem.
The key word was the 'tried'.
When he raised his hand from Mordred's head, a growl was heard from the tiny girl while he was trying to rub the head of the tinier girl.
Not even a soft growl, which could be linked to Mordred, but a grave and loud one, more akin to a great beast than a little girl.
Galen looked around, searching someone who could help him, but he only found people who were filming the scene with their phones or searching for theirs, like WOP was doing with his old back pack.
So he sighed, continued to rub Mordred's head, much to her delight, and put down his bag to put his left hand on Koneko's head, making her straight her back slightly and stand stock still, just enough for Galen to notice and take note of it, along with her emotions.
Surprise, shame, alarm, fear, loneliness, pain...
Those were just some of them, and Galen didn't want to probe more, or to know in the first place if his connection with the Force wasn't so much deep.
Unfortunately it wasn't the first time he had before him an emotionally scarred girl, so he slowly rubbed her soft white hair, making his most assuring smile at her.
She looked at him, really looked at him with her amber eyes, and he felt like she was searching inside his very soul.
Then she closed her eyes and started to push unconsciously against the hand, all the while making the same, exact sound. So now Galen was pratically petting two cats, who would have probably mauled and/or guilt him in keeping doing it.
Tecnically he should be in his class now, and he was inside that classroom for five minutes, and it seemed that he would be in there for a long time.
But salvation came! And came in the form of a white light, source of hope, fortitude and strenght!
Its source was the flesh of a camera, a very expensive camera at the look of it, which was in the hands of WOP, and the flash was enough to make his little sister understand where they were.
Her next action would be source of jokes for many years to come.
*BITE!*
She moved her head to the side and, with a quick jerk of her head, she bit Galen's pinkie. Hard.
"AAH!"
Galen cried and used his left hand to save his right, making Koneko open her eyes abruptly and look at the scene with an almost invisible frown on her otherwise perfect poker face.
After some bits of sweat, tears and a little of blood, along with a lot of swearing in English (much to WOP delight and the students' confusion), Galen was able to free his pinkie, which now had the mark of the bite on it.
There was even some of blood coming from it, along with a lot of pain, so Galen made the first idea which came to his mind.
Which was to put the injured pinkie inside his mouth.
Action which made all the class gasp at him and look at him incredulous, and make Mordred blush like a red light, even lighting up the much wide eyed Koneko.
And reaction which made Galen stare bemused at the class, and made him turn toward the teach, who was merrily laughing at his expenses, now the only sound in the room, not making known to Galen the exact reason for it.
It's not like he made something completely out of this world, right?
Right?
He just sighed, took his bag with his left hand and, after taking out his hand, waved with his right with a light tone:
"Well, I have to go. Good lesson, teach!" then he turned towards Mordred, smirking evilly but talking in the same tone:"I will see you at home, little sis!"
He saw the paleness in crossing while he was going out, but it made it the more worth, and he could even hear a low whimpering while he exited the room.
When he closed the door he remained in front of it for a moment, then started cackling, then chuckling, then a full blown evil laugh came from his mouth, coupled by lightinings in the backgrounds which made sounds of thunder in the hallways of the school.
That was until a vice like grip was put in the form of a hand on his shoulder, and he heard a demonic voice beside his hear:
"Are you making so much noise during school hours, Marek-san? Then I should-"
"Hello, So-tan, how are you? Are you perheaps one your tip toes to try to scare the little old me?" said Galen, putting his right hand inside his pocket while he turned around, and he saw that she was indeed on her tiptoes.
It was a very amusing scene for Galen, seeing the young woman who was trying to intimidate him looking at him like a deer in front of the headlights.
The Student council president immedietly put her feet down, and coughed inside her closed fist, trying to not show her red cheeks.
It didn't work, and it was showed by Galen's smirk widening and his eyes gaining a particular amused look, but he didn't want to strike an already hurt prey, it would be too much simple.
And she had helped him, so he wouldn't be much of a jerk to her.
For an entire day!
He was such a selfless person, right, I know, I know.
So, after Sona regained her composture, she put her hand inside the pocket of her corset and took a note and passed it to Galen.
The nurse note which permitted him to return in class despite the delay.
And he forgot to ask for it.
Ah well, it's not like he forgot to give So-tan even the money for his launch, right?
Ah, yes, he forgot that too.
...
...
...
*Sigh* It's an unthankful job to be the narrator for such a character, you know? Lets just continue.
Galen (too) sighed, and then he started mumbling while he started searching inside his bag using his now completely healed left hand.
"Where is it, where is it? Ah, there it is! So-tan, take this!" and he handed her a five hundred yen bill, taking the note when a surprised Sona loosened her grip from it a bit, swapping them not unlike a card sharper while playing poker.
Then, after pocketing the note, he put his hand on her shoulder and, with his most serious face, he said sober:
"Keep the change youngster, and don't waste it on alcohl or drugs, okay?"
He patted her shoulder two times and then, with the serious facade still in place, he turned around and started walking away, all the while Souna was looking at him like he finally losed it.
Then he dashed in the hallway, grinning like the Joker.
Souna, after regaining enough mental power to say 'Wha-?', started the pursuit of the young mad man, ordering him to stop.
But Galen was enjoying this last moments of youthful rebellion too much to stop now.
After all, how much could it last?
Galen's POV; 15.16; Streets of Kuoh;
'I shot myself in the foot with the last thought, right?'
Galen, while externally seemed surprised, internally sighed, trying to come up with a viable strategy for this very delicate matter;
After all in front of him there was an admittedly skilled Fallen Angel, able to suppress her own power to levels that he had to know about her being a Fallen thanks to his vision a few hours before, and without it he could have chalked it up as simply one of the many millions blessed by that false god who desired a fling and that, thanks to being a third year, was able to have it with the usual bad boy, or she was simply raptured by the freedom he seemingly had, and he would have simply refused.
But now he knew that detail, and that made his viable ways a bit less.
He would have to talk to Azazel after he was at home.
"Hmm... well if you don't want to go out with me I can understand" said the Fallen with a soft voice, while twirling a thread of her hair with her finger, making it look like the facade of surprise worked, her cheeks becoming red.
'Damn, she is very good at this' thought Galen, who would have been impressed if he wasn't the one who had to deal with this shit.
He made a embarassed smile and started rubbing the back of his head, then he said, using his most charming (?) tone:
"Wellll... you forgot to say your name when you asked, so I really can't answer you, can I?"
No one said it was a good charming, no sirre!
But it was enough to make the young (maybe) girl (not so maybe) aware of the fact that she didn't say her name, at which she blushed a bit more and she introduced herself with the same soft, cute voice and bowing:
"My name is Amano Yuuma, Galen-kun, and I'm from the Homurahara academy, please treat me well!"
Well.
That's strange.
She used a Japanese name, but then she used his name with the suffix '-kun', too familiar for the Japanese culture, a glaring mistake almost for the character type she is using.
Inexperienced prodigy? Possible.
Galen continued to smile while he thought these things, and then he bowed himself, placing his right hand on his heart, while using his most charming (?) voice:
"I'm pleased to meet you, Amano-chan, my name is Marek Galen, but I think you already know it" he smiled at the end, projecting a sense of amusement with it.
The young Fallen who called herself Yuuma, which probably was a false name, turned her head to the side, pouting, and then asked:
"Well, would you like to go out with me, Galen-kun?"
'Lets make this trap snap' thought Galen, his smile becoming an inch more malancholic in nature, as if he was feeling like the worst scum in the galaxy, while he asked:
"Well, tomorrow I'm a bit busy, would it be okay for Sunday?"
The girl nodded earnestly, happy for getting her objective, and confirmed with an happy tone, pratically bouncing on the spot:
"Then we will see each other at the Verde shopping centre at 11 a.m., okay?"
"Yes, I'll be there" answered Galen, who waved at the Fallen when she began skipping down the road with a megawatt smile, while squealing like a young girl.
Galen continued to smile until she turned the corner, then, when she was no longer visible, it dropped , while his right hand came to the front of his shirt and gripped it to the point that his nails were dugging his palm through the fabric.
So he turned and started walking in the opposite direction.
His face emotionless, he put his hand inside his pocket and took a phone.
An old mobile phone, with fixed keypad and samll screen, and he dialed a number, while camouflaging himself with the Force.
He waited a bit until an irritated voice came through:
"Who wants to disturb the great me while he is spreading his love?!"
Galen didn't care about what the Fallen Governor was doing prior his call, and with a cold tone he asked:
"Why there are so much of your friends here in Kuoh, Chuck Austen?"
"..."
For a bit Azazel didn't answer and then, when his voice came through, his tone now was even more calm than the one Galen was using:
"What is happening there, Starkiller?"
Galen smiled coldly, and started talking.
Mordred's POV; 17.30; Mareks'home
"Big brother I'm home!"
No response to the voice of Mordred, who is now looking inside the home, while taking off her shoes.
[I would like to make you remember that he has just had a vision. Usually when it happens-]
"He is meditating down in the basement" she concluded her partner, starting to walk towards the stairs, much to Draig's chagrin:
[Oi, brat! You are ten thousands years too early to interrupt me, have respect for the one who-]
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Old lizard inside my left arm who has even dragonized my heart and is slave driving me along with my big brother"
[Oi, I've never heard you moan about your strenght!]
"A lucky side effect" she rebutted immedietly, having now reached the door of the basement, and with a wide gesture she opened it:
and there was the cellar with the long expiration date goods and earthquake reserves.
She closed it slowly and then, with the hand on the handle, she connected with the Force and started to channel it in the form of Prana inside the handle, and a red magic circle lit up on it and, after a few seconds it vanished and, after it was gone, Mordred opened the door again.
A circular white room greeted her, from fifty to sixty meters of radius, illuminated by bright runes on all the dome like roof and on the floor, like rune Hagalaz to let the air remain fresh, or the rune Kaunan to light up the room, to the most promiments being chains between, in order, Iwaz to absorb the excess of energy, Berkanan to recycle it to the other runes but above all them Thurisaz used as a protection for the walls and a way to restart this cycle.
The last one took a month to be polished and in that time he risked to explode more than ten times.
Plus there was that fucking Isaz. She hated that sludger.
The room itself, along with the house, was given by the big old crow himself as an apology for the actions done by his 'cute little troublemaker'.
And in the middle of the room there was her big brother, his back in her direction, dressed in his school uniform, so deeply absorbed in the meditation that he seemingly didn't even notice her enter.
Seemengly because one time she:
"Won't you try to attack me when my back is turned, Mordred?" asked an amused big brother, who talked when he noticed through the Force her wait on the door.
"No, master" she replied, her voice dripping with english sarcasm at the word 'master':"I don't want a repetition of what happened the last time I tried to do it; after all being german suplexed is a bit painful to my back, don't you think?"
A dry chuckle came from her big brother, with his shoulders shaking slightly.
Uh, that vision must have been worst than she thought, if he wasn't rolling on the floor laughing at her expenses.
With a grunt her big brother got up and turned towards her, his lips being dominated by a somber smile on his lips.
This time Mordred expressed her thoughts, a grimace making her way on her mouth:
"Shit, is the situation that bad?"
"In a scale from zero to 'Oh Sith spit we are fucked' I would give it a solid seven" explained Galen, rubbing his temple.
"Why so much? What vision did you have?" asked Mordred, more than a bit concerned for the situation.
"Well, the vision wasn't so much concerning per se, in which I am attacked by this female two winged fallen angel in the park near the church".
"So?" asked Mordred, confused at how much gravity her brother was giving to a lone common Fallen, even if it was in a non-discernible future and his vision have always warned them of a very big shitstorm coming for them.
"I met her two hours ago on the way home, and she asked me on a date as a way to get me to that place" he said seriously, his gaze becoming contemplative.
A bit of jealousy crept through Mordred, but she squashed it in front of the serious tone her master was using, but still she didn't understand the gravity of the situation:
"So the old pervert sent one of his little bitches to watch over us, it doesn't seem to be so troubling, after all he already knows that we are here, right?" okay, maybe she didn't squash the jealousy, but the message was clear.
Her master looked at her in a reprimanding manner but he continued:
"The problem is that Azazel doesn't know about a Fallen in Kuoh, and he esplicitely ordered that no-one of his people came here due the Devils' possession of this city".
"So a lone Fallen came here of her own decision even if her big boss said to not go here? Wow, she has guts!" exclaimed Mordred, grinning ear to ear at that.
Then her master fliked her forehead.
"Ahi!"
"You are forgetting to think of the bigger picture. The Fallen don't know about our true power, if so they wouldn't have sent only one to spy and/or assasinate me, but a much more powerful foe like our dear" he frowned even at his own sarcasm "friend who tried to kill us. But Azazel and the Fallen have ways to find Sacred Gears users much more reliable than the other two factions, thanks to the need of their faction of someone able to fight against the other two Force users, and they could have detected Draig through those means, but they tracked his power on me thanks to the amulets".
He sighed and restarted to massage his temple:
"The big issue is that Azazel didn't know about any of his Fallen inside the city, so it was done against his order. If it is only one or a bit more but less than a dozen two winged fallen, than there would be no problem, but if it was ordered, at the worst case, by one of the Cadre, which is possible given what Azazel has said to me, then we have in front of us a very possible civil war in the Fallen faction, or even the resparking of the Great War between the three biblical factions, which would be a disaster for both the Moonlit and the Mundane worlds".
He closed his eyes and remained there, trying to think a way to get out of this royal mess.
Mordred turned her head to the side, grimacing while her eyes glowed for a moment yellow, knowing the undertone of that conversation:
If it was a simple splinter group of Fallen, than it wouldn't be much of a problem and they could simply wipe them out without too much of a hussle, maybe even being able to remain there in Kuoh after all;
But if it was a Cadre, someone who was cited in the Bible, than things change, and a lot; she was very powerful and able to go toe to toe in the power side of the equation with one of those foes, but in experience she was much, much less prepared than those foes.
She knew it, she proved it on her skin three years before after all.
For the first time in that conversation the booming voice of Draig came out, summoned along of the thing form of the Boosted Gear on her left arm, his words separated by the green jewel on it lighting up at every word, which made both her and her brother turn towards it:
[Now, what shall we do against those crows, young king? Erase them and avoid the potential suffering of thousands upon thousands but reveal ourselves and our true power, or retreat to another place, waiting that the flame of war rise again and preparing for when they will come to your doors?]
Mordred looked at her brother and master, who was now looking at her lost, and she bent on her knee, with her head bowed forward and eyes closed, and she claimed strongly:
"This knight will follow you in every battlefield, like this apprentice will thrive under all your lessons, and like this family will help you against whoever will try to divide us, so I beg you, my King, please lets not abandon the others less powerful due my weakness!"
There was only silence, then Mordred heard soft steps coming towards her bowed form and when those stopped a pair of arms encircled her, pulling her close against his chest.
Her eyes snapped open and she looked up to her king dark eyes, which were looking at her wet, while their bonds let flew all the emotions he let see through that slight wetness.
Wetness which symbolezed the pride for her decision.
Wetness which displayed of pain for what could come after.
Wetness which shied off the fear of what could come from there.
Wetness which showed the pain he experienced at feeling as if he was using her to help what he thought was a feeble peace to remain standing, at the cost of her wellbeing.
Then, after only a moment, his smiling lips parted to say one word:
"Don't ever say that you are weak, foolish little sister"
Mordred stared at him for a second and then grinned ear to ear and hugged him herself and delighted she whispered:
"You don't have to thank me, stupid big brother".
They remained like this for what seemed a long time, basking in the other warmth both physical and ethereal.
Untill an old lizard made himself known again to her:
[Hatchling, now is the time! Leap on your prey and take it!]
'Draig, now is not the time! Let me be in my happy place!' she demanded annoyed, her only outer sign being a little twitch of her brow.
[At least request the avoidance of today's claws sharpening!]
'Draig...' she mentally huffed, even though she found the idea very much tempting.
[I humbly ask you to do it, my pride is terribly damaged now, I would prefer to still possess it at the end of the night, if possible] groumbled the old being.
'You do it.' she sniped back.
[You are the youngster, so it's your duty to sacriface yourself for the older, weaker beings!]
'You are Y Draig Goch, the Welsh Dragon, the Red Dragon of Domination, and you are afraid of big brother?' she asked bewildered, her continously twitching brows finally noticed by Galen.
[Do you recall what he did to me after our pact? I don't want it to happen again!]
'What... what did exactly happen? I don't remember'.
"Mordred, I think it would be good if tomorrow we didn't spar, we will have to prepare both for the day after and the aftermath" the voice of Galen made the young girl snap out of her musings, and look at the young man surprised with what she dared call hope.
Then she noticed the smirk.
[Maledition]
'Fuck'
"So go prepare, don't eat and I want you down here in ten minutes, right?" he said, his smirk widening at the abject horror the girl was feeling.
[Maledition!]
'Fuck!'
Galen's POV; ten minutes later
"Come on, little sis, this isn't the scaffold! Cheer up!"
Aahh, the look of utter loathing she shot at made his rotten soul sing delighted! While the effect was slightly worsened by her clothing, formed by a white lube top, a red biker jacket, a pair of shorts too much short, low boots and nothing else, which let show her six pack and toned legs, while her as much muscular arms were hidden by the rune protected jacked.
Well, he dressed an all black biker attire, similarly protected, so they didn't clash with each other at least.
Then she whined, and his spirit went even higher:
"Why can't we skip today match? We have already fought this morning!"
"Didn't you dragons like to roll on the battleground?" asked Galen, smirking at her annoyance.
A light enveloped her left arm, and the slick form of the Boosted Gear made itself known, and the Jewel at the centre illuminated itself at Draig's words:
[We dragons like to fight our foes, not to be annihilated by them]
"Come on, little lizard, it's not always like that" replied Galen jovially:
[... I shall find a way to get out of this prison and I shall hunt you, find your wretched self and then terminate you, young king!] the old, wise and pissed voice of an extremely powerful dragon roared at the young man, who didn't let it faze him.
It was training, after all.
"No, wait, your strenght is lazing around basking under the sun, right?" he continued to mock, trying to get a rise on his apprentice as a training for her.
Training that his apprentice was failing, if she was already irritated by this light banter:
"Oi, if you want to start fighting then lets start now!"
"Oh, right, littl'dragons prefer to gloat and pride themselves, I remember it better!"
[Clarent!]
A long sword appeared in Mordred's left hand in a red and silver light work when Draig's voice came out of the Gear, long at least four feet from the pomel to the point, with a red hilt, a guard which wasn't much wider than the blade itself and a lot of red details on it, the shape of the blade itself being very similar to a narrow leaf.
It was Clarent, the blade used by Mordred's homonymous ancestor, the knight of Treachery, to kill king Arthur.
Everytime Mordred took out that sword Galen felt conflicting fellings in him, but, like everytime it happened, he squashed them and, putting his right hand inside his jacket pocket and fingering a cold hilt, he said with a false concerned tone:
"Oooh, alredy with the big guns, little sis? Are you sure you are prepared for this?"
"Shut up, you idiot! You do this 'Doon mock' every time we spar, and I hate it!" replied angrily Mordred:
"Mmh, why do you hate it so much, little sis? Maybe you are still too much underveloped in that department, along with another?" he contnued Galen, making sure to look exactly at the small breasts of Mordred to make sure the taunting drove home.
'Hook'
[Boost!]
'Line'
"YOU! ARE! DEAD!" Mordred shouted when she charged at him, her sword high and her form blurred.
'Sinker' thought Galen with a sigh, his arm whipping out and an handle in his right hand, in which he made flow the Force freely.
A white light erupted from the top of the hilt without any sound, and he used prepared to parry an upward strike.
Which came a moment later and made him slide back a bit, alongside a little shockwave, brought by the form of a mildly enraged Mordred, a slit in place of her pupils in her eyes and her mouth set in a snarl.
Good, she is channeling her anger and not completely controlled by it, unlike when he first started to teach her Vaapad.
Now he had to see how much far she had gotten in controlling her fury:
"Come on, it's that all? I have fought toddlers with more bite than you!"
Jawas actually, but the point was made to her.
But this time she didn't bite at the bait completely, but her snarling became even more loud than before, and the kick which came next made him slide back several feet without showing any damage (but it hurt like hell), while he continued to retain his defensive Soresu stance.
It was training for her, it wouldn't do to destroy her now, even if the need to restrain himself was becoming less and less with every session.
The Force really blessed him with an extremelly skillful apprentice.
"STOP! FUCKING! STONEWALLING! ME!" shouted Mordred, coming in front of him with a savage grin on her face, with each word punctuated by a strike, while she tried to break his defenses, but he continued to deflect the blows made by her with perfect precision.
And the Force cursed him with a very handful apprentice.
Aahhh, now it should be the time.
[Reset!]
The blows became much more weaker and bearable, and Galen took this as the perfect time to counter her.
Now it was time to judge her defenses under stress, it would be important in the next new days to have revised datas about her strenghts ad weaknesses.
If she didn't snap open one pair of dragonic red wings and flew out of his range, that is.
Well, if she thought that she would be able to fend of him with that tactic she would be sorely mistaken.
His body's strenght augmented through the Force and his stance returned to his prefered Shien, he charged at his apprentice, who had just enough time to raise her sword and activate her Sacred Gear a second time before the blades made contact again.
While she was a fury of brutal strenght and overwhelming power, he was more of a scratch and go type, able to fight toe to toe with strenght opponents but prefering to fight using his speed, and it was seen.
While Mordred was having a lot of problems to deflect his strikes, and some of them were coming very near to hit her, she was able to keep her pace against him, even under the assault of a much more trained and experienced opponent.
Well, if the feeling he was having now wasn't pride, then he really couldn't understand which was.
Then he sensed the Force starting to reach her still opened dragonic wings, which now were gleaming with a red light and becoming more and more visible by the milliseconds.
Hmm. It took a lot of concentration from her, an attack now would be encountered by a very feeble defense.
But he wanted to see her progress, so he let her finish the attack.
Both her and Draig then shouted with one voice, when the light became almost blinding:
"Dragon's Blades!]
And the two wings flapped so quickly that to a normal person they wouldn't even beat, and from them two red blades of energy came out from their ends, so fast that they should have hit Galen at that exact moment.
Should have.
Galen already prepared to Dash back when he noticed the glow, and, at the exact moment Mordred unleashed the attack, he was already prepared to retreat.
[Reset!]
Mordred grimaced at the second reset, but retook her stance and prepared for the third contact, until Galen shouted:
"Break!"
Mordred let out a grunt and relaxed, starting to breath more heavily than before, but not so much that it would be noticeable to those who weren't used to be around her.
Galen smiled slightly and asked, while deactivting his lasersword (It doesn't meet the criteria to be a lightsaber, after all):
"What did you do bad?"
Mordred's still slited green eyes glared at him, but she immedietly said with a calm voice:
"I was too taken by your taunting at the start, and you would have took me down if you would have bothered to counter. Then I didn't take into the equation with the Blades of the visual and audibile signs of the attack, and that left me more opened for another assault. Other than that, I don't know"
"Maybe you are being a bit too much self critical, after all Vaapad is a style which channel your anger into it. The only thing which I could scold you for is the fact that at the start you immedietly lost your cool, but I used some very aimed insults, while normally someone would use your belief. About the Dragon's Blades, well, didn't you say that you thought about it two months ago?"
[It was six weeks before today that we had the hypothesis for such move, young king] the boming voice of Draig came out of the still summoned Gear:
"Even better, in only one month and half you were able to make a battle starting tecnique, which doesn't take too long to use. You should aim to make it usable without shouting its name and reduce the charging time to at least a quarter before using it like you were before, and even then you have to use it with caution".
"Yes, master. I'm sorry about it" she bowed her head more than a bit, her eyes closed, and made it open to his attack:
so he flicked her forehead. Hard.
Mordred squawked at the flick and, while rubbing the forehead with her hands, she started complaining loudly about the unfairness with some tears in her eyes:
"Why did you do it, big broth-?!"
Then a hand started stroking her hair, stopping her on her tracks, making her close her eyes and purr like a cat, while butting slightly with her head against his hand.
She was a big, overgrown and iperactive dragon-kitten.
With cuteness and I-will-maul-you attitude.
When he felt she had calmed down, he spoke with sliver of pride in his tone:
"You know that it's becoming more and more difficult to hold back against you?"
"Without using the physical Force, big brother" reminded Mordred, grumbling a bit even if she was in bliss by the headpats.
"But you made a sworman with almost thirty years of experience run for his money and you are mastering Vaapad. Don't sell yourself short. Aahh" Galen sighed in the middle in faux despair:"It seems that my cute, little sister is becoming indipendent. What shall this old, weak master do when his youthful apprentice will beat him?"
"You say it like I am in your same level with the Force. I still have problem with the physical part" grumbled again Mordred.
A grumpy dragon-kitten she was.
"Yeah, yeah, grumpy cat. You are only a savant with the sword, able to fight on even terms against me, you only have a body strong enough to make roll around with one arm tied behind your back, and you only have a Sacred Gear able to double your strenght every ten seconds without any theorical limit. I think that you need an hug now for your bad luck" said Galen with more than a bit of sarcasm and a widening smile, for then hugging her tigtly, while she tried to free herself, while sprouting profanities all the time.
After half a minuto or so she stopped for a moment, and from her still summoned Boosted Gear came Draig's voice:
[Balance Break: Armor of the treacherous!]
Galen immedietly let her go and dashed to the other side of the room, while a blinding red light lit up where Mordred was.
Galen smirk became more predatory, and, while he reactivated his lasersword in one hand, a few sparks lit up in the other, and he said:
"Round two, little sis!"
Mordred's POV; Sunday; 10.50; streets of Kuoh
' .hurts'
Mordred was in pain.
Her muscles hurt.
Her bones hurt.
Her skin hurt.
Her nails hurt, along with eyes, teeth and hair.
Her butt hurt a lot.
That was why she didn't like to spar with her brother.
The swordfight? She liked that. She made her blood pump, her heart roar and her muscles pleasantly work, while her dragonic instincts made her want to dominate.
The all out fight? Not so much.
While without using the Force her master was a tough opponent, him using the active Force and runes was pratically invinceble.
Not only with his skills with the sword, but with his mastery on the Force which he used along his style and his tecniques which pratically made suicidal to fight him head on, or around him; and that's without the runes, which made difficult to fight him even in long range, which, while being her forte, wasn't enough to penetrate his barriers.
Than there was the passive quality of his sword.
Not that Exorcist's lasersword (what a mouthful it was), but its true sword, which made even more difficult for him to tire himself out, along with that regenerative ability.
To sum up, it was uther bullshit.
So she and Draig, even in their balance breaker, even with Clarent, were almost always pressed on, and, due to the mistakes in the project made by God, which made her unable to use her Gear while in contact with the enemy, it was almost always a slaughter.
At least the day before her master let her rest (if with 'rest' you call three hours of information sharing and planning), and in the afternoon made her do only the routine training to not let her body lose its shape, along with the Force training.
So now here she was, in blue jeans and light blue jacket, her blonde hair hidden with a blue baseball cap, waiting for her brother's date to start for her to stalk them while faking reading a book on an uncorfortable bench.
That wasn't creepy at all, noo.
[At least it will not be necessary for us to follow them for all the duration of this fake courting ritual, hatchling, until we capture her at least] quipped Draig, his patience much more trained than the one of his young partner.
'And I thank the Force for that' replied Mordred, bored out of her mind.
She looked up from the book and saw her big brother dressed with the Mundane Civilian Armor.
Or the jacket and pants that he used two days before, which inside were covered by runes able to deflect or absorb a great deal of magical and physical attacks, able to remain unbroken even in front of a Clarent blast.
Along with the Isaz rune, which meaning in this case was simply 'Ice' and not 'Slow you the hell down like you are in molasses', for the hot summer days.
[Hatchling, bat's pet ahead] Draig voice made her tense and look around her big brother, both with the eyes and with the Force, sniffing for abnormal scents.
'Where the hell is it... ah!' Mordred found a strange feeling with the Force coming from...
from a girl dressed like a doll, with two pairs of bat's wing, one made out of brown hair while the other sprouting out from its ass, while its demonic energy wasn't suppressed and made her smell like... apples, if she could describe it.
'Really? This is how they do covert action? Couldn't you give her a sign 'I am supernatural' with a smiley face? It would have been less noticeable' thought Mordred, faintly amused by the lack of subterfuge in her action.
Then she felt two other supernatural presences around them, which were moving in their direction.
Without moving her head she started looking around, her nose trying to find those aromas which would indicate the direction and the identity of those people.
'Found one' she thought, and her nose directed her eyes to a blond boy one year her senior, dressed with the student uniform who was covered in the shadow of a building, which was in the corner of the avenue.
And he was glaring at her big brother, while his emotions against her big brother were making her angrier and his own smell made her want to kill him painfully!
[Hatchling stay. Stay. Stay. Stay!] the frantic voice of Draig made her calm down slightly.
'Ok, I will not flay him alive and use his skin to flog him, allright. But why is his smell so revolting? I know that big brother said he had a strange Gear, but it's like I would attack him only for it'
[I'm not sure... But from my previous hosts battles and the strange description that the young king gave, that Sacred Gear seems to be one of the Artifacts in which Vithra was sealed into. Which one I don't know, but the fact of having a piece of a powerful dragon in him could have triggered your instincts, along with his animosity with your brother]
'Right. Lets see the next one' and, while trying to screen the awful stench from the other boy, she tried to find the source of the second.
A strange mixture of sugar and a clean cat.
Which was the one of Koneko, and was coming from...
The roofs?
She looked up and saw some tuffs of white hair from the top of the building.
Well, at least she wasn't in the cliché position of stalk-observing like the stooge there.
It was one of the reason they were in a Devil territory, after all.
Who would expect them to be here, if it would like putting yourself in the maws of a predator?
While she was searching for the two devils, the familiar had given to her brother a summoning circle and then went away, so her brother now was waiting for his 'date' to arrive.
So she took out her telephone and opened a normal app of naval battle online, and she chose one account to match against;
her brother's one.
She started first, and pressed D2.
Looking up from her telephone, she saw her brother fishing out his civilian telephone and then press against the flat surface.
A1.
Acknowledged.
She tucked her phone inside her pocket and sighed, while her big brother took out a cigarette and lit it up with a lighter.
Now they would have to wait, it seemed.
Sigh.
...
...
...
*Sniff* *sniff*.
Her nose was twitching, and her senses with the Force were saying that there was something coming, but where...
[Hatchling, the crow has arrived] Draig helpfully reported to her, and she, without raising her head from the open book, looked ahead and saw the Fallen Angel for the first time in the flesh.
While her big brother did give her a mental image of her, it really was different seeing her.
First she was stunning.
While Galen didn't really talk about it, she noticed it.
She didn't see a lot of Fallen, but she saw a lot of supernatural women, ranging from some which were their allies like the Youkais to some less... amicable ones like the Devils.
And she beat a great deal of those but one or two.
The second was that her brother, while the Fallen girl was running towards him, started grimacing through his smile and to emit Force unconsciously through his cigarette, making it white hot, while his hand was clenching so much that it was only thanks to his (un)natural skin hardness that his nails didn't cut it.
[The young king still mourn it seems]
'Yeah'
Maybe it was the tenseness about the oncoming observation; maybe it was the fact that she deeply cared about her stupid big brother; or maybe it was the fact that while he saved her from herself she wasn't able to do the same thing in ten years.
But she knew one thing: looking at her usually boisterous and smirking big brother being so much hurt at the thought of betraying that woman made her feel a mix of sadness and hurt, along with so much anger.
*sharp intake* calm down Mordred.
The hunt begins.
Galen's POV; seven hours later; near the church park
'Please Force, take me out of this place'
There were three things which Galen didn't like of this situation.
One: he didn't like to 'date'. It wasn't his thing. He was a soldier, a warrior, an assassin. Not a lover.
Two: he didn't like to be followed. One thing was Mordred. She was backup in case something catastrophic came out of the corner, and having her around was something which helped him emotionally. But two Devils, of which one was completely and unshamefully inept in the art, thanks to shouting and cries from his part, and had to personally save from being discovered at least three times by the Fallen at his side.
That's without counting the enormous can of worms which would come out once the two Devils peerages knew of his powers!
Three: he loathed, aborred, hated faking his emotions, and above them all he detested to fake physical or, Force forbid, emotional attachment with someone.
There were two people he cared for and he would gladly die for.
One was supporting him, while the other saved him from himself.
Without those two people, and above all the one who saved him, he would be only an empty husk of a man, aimlessly killing and killing at the order of someone else, without purpose other than to serve his masters.
Yes, he would help the helpless, but between saving an innocent and one of those two people, he would choose the two without thinking.
So to fake his emotions was akin to spit in the face of those who saved him.
At least he understood some things with this 'date'.
The Fallen was young and inexperienced, like he thought she was. Even when that stupid prey of a bantha was risking his own cover he was able to deflect her to another place, while she subconsciously guided him to places she would have liked to go.
That was the inexperienced part. The young part (or at least young thinking part) were her choices before and during the date, like the hour and the day, her choices of fashion and restaurants and her own vocaboulary and thoughts patterns.
He didn't try to probe too deeply in her mind, knowing that he could blow his cover up if he made one mistake, but her surface thoughts were enough.
And made him feel guilty.
He already was going to capture her and interrogate her, so having do to this to someone who could as well be the same age of Mordred made him feel regret, so much regret that made him hate himself.
So trying to do this 'date' the best way possible was the least he could do.
So now he was doing two things that he strongly disliked, while being followed by at least two people, of which one was continously blasting him with killing intent for no reason whatsoever, and he had to smile through all of this to let this Fallen angel, who was trying to kill/capture him, enjoy this last moments of freedom before he captured her and broke his cover with the Devils.
Horrible. He felt horrible.
He didn't think he would feel like this again after only three years since the last time, he thought he became used to that, but luckily it wasn't like this.
At least having to pass months with a Jedi and a love interest inside a ship while being a double agent made him pretty good at faking his inner feelings and go on with his objective.
Luckily he and Mordred had prepared this date the day before, with multiples places to go, planned following both the mental and physical clues that the young Fallen would give to him.
So, using those plans and more than a bit of improvisation and witty lines, along with a free use of his emphatic abilities, he was able to let her being entertained by the 'date' and at that moment she was pratically skipping while latching on his arm.
His other arm was otherwise taken by all the clothes she took for herself.
Well, at least he was doing a good work if she had seemengly forgotten about the 'killing him' fact.
Then a vibration sound made him turn towards the young Fallen, who was looking surprised at it.
Galen, keeping up his facade, politely turned to the other direction, and waited that the Fallen had finished reading the message.
While the Fallen was reading it, he could feel that the happiness she was feeling vanishing, replaced by regret, anger and sadness.
Splendid. Now was the time to betray the trust someone else. Again.
It was in this moments that he hated himself for what he had done, and what he would have done, and what he will have done in the future.
But he will do this with a smile in his face if it meant the security of his family and of those like them in the world.
But she was trying to kill him, so he wasn't so much angry at himself, but sad at knowing that someone so young would have to fight him.
"Erm, Galen-kun?" the soft voice of the Fallen made him snap out of his musings and turn towards her:"Before we finish I would like to show you a place that I like very much, could we go there? Please?" she coupled the question with a pair of doe's eyes.
Galen wasn't much moved by the eyes, he was used (but not immune) to those eyes thanks to his little sister and one of the stalkers behind him, so it wasn't much of a problem to resist it.
But, for the sake of his ever less lasting cover, he needed to accept.
So that's what he did, with a smile on his face and his eyes open:
"Why not, it will be very good with this sunset" which was there when he was going to be attacked in the vision.
So now they walked at a brisk pace and they were in the park outskirts in less than ten minutes.
Then his senses tingled in a strange way when he got close to it, enough that made him slow down and automatically find out what it was:
'Bounded field, mundanes repellent, too noticeable for supernatural or aware of the supernatural beings. Sloppy.' he thought, while walking inside it at the side of the Fallen.
Along with them came Mordred and the other two 'observers', without being noticed by the Fallen, which emotions were becoming more and more chaotic and conflicting.
Until a grim determination took control and she started walking towards the fountain in the middle of it, looking at the setting sun.
Galen, feigning concern, asked:
"Is there a problem, Yuuma-chan?"
She didn't answer at first but, after a few moments, without turning to look at him, she asked:
"Do you know what my name stands for, Galen-kun?"
Galen looked at her and tensed slightly, knowing what its meaning was, but his tone when he answered was only slightly curious:
"It should be 'Heaven's Evening Daze', why? Is there some nefarious meaning in a lovely name such as yours?" He concluded with a teasing tone, which was in his character in that moment, while his hand was inching toward his pocket.
"And why is that the meaning of my name?" she continued to ask, slowly turning towards him with an unreadable expression, for those without the Force at least.
"Well" answered Galen, rubbing the back of his head:"Because your parents thought it was a good name?"
"I chose this name because I would have killed you at the end of the day, Galen Marek" she said, and her suppressed power came forth a bit.
Galen, while his hand was now on the brim of his pocket, asked with a false incredoulous tone:
"Kill me?!"
The Fallen didn't register his question and continued to talk, while her look became sadder and her tone regretful:"It was a...good date, actually very good date, Marek-kun. So good that I'm sorry to ask this"
Galen, following the 'poor-scared-shitless-human-for-the-first-time-in-front-of-something supernatural''s script, asked in a false fearful tone:"Which is, Yuuma?"
"Would you please die for me?" she asked with a sad smile, while two black crow-like wings appeared behind her and her body matured, like he had seen in the vision, while her power, which was high for a two winged Fallen, was no longer suppressed.
Galen took a step back while waiting with a terrified face the end of her transformation.
Not.
He smirked slightly, finally happy to get out of his facade to enter a fight and whispered, his right hand around the hilt:
"I'm sorry, but you will not be my executioner today"
The Fallen didn't hear the words and, while she soared in the air, she said with a mournful tone, her voice deeper:
"Do not blame me for what I am going to do, but blame God for putting that Sacred Gear in you. Know that the Fallen Angel Raynare, daughter of the stars, brought your end. Now please let yourself be killed"
A spear made of red light appeared in the Fallen hand.
That spear was launched against him with deadly precision.
And with perfect mastery it was deflected by a white light, coming from the hilt of Galen's lasersword, and it went against the ground on his left, breaking the paving in thousands of little pieces.
The Fallen looked at him with the mouth slightly open while he took his reverse Shien stance, waiting with an almost invisible smirk her next attacks.
Behind him he could feel the surprise and slight fear coming from the two Devils, but for now he would only have eyes and mind for the foe in front of him until he had subsied and captured her.
Unfortunately he couldn't use his active power with the Force, it was better to leave them in the dark about his connection with it.
So only passive powers, body enhancement and sword skills, along with a bit of runes, with which he could be considered an ex Exorcist of the Church, a good but not outstanding one-
His instinct screamed and his blade came down to deviate another light spear, this time to his right towards the trees.
He looked to the Fallen, who now had around her around a dozen of formed spears and shouted, moving her hand down:
"DIE!"
At that cry, Galen bolted.
Deflecting, avoiding and changing paths from the spears he was able to come beneath the Fallen Angel and leap towards her, who naturally avoided the human missile and flew a bit higher.
Unluckily for her, Galen knew that she would go there and didn't aim for her.
He made a somersault and used the fountain behind her to go higher, where her legs were.
His action was so fast that the Fallen didn't have the time to dodge and Galen, with an iron grip, took the Fallen leg and with three spins on his body he launched her towards the ground, making a small crater on the paving at the strenght he used, along with probably cutting her lips slightly when her teeth clattered on them.
While she was gasping on the ground and drops of blood went down her face, Galen landed with grace and came in front of his downed foe.
When she was starting to get up to fight he pushed her down again by using his leg on her chest and, while she was trying to get up with animalistic cries, he wrote a rune on the air with his left hand.
It was Isaz.
Funny thing about runes: they had a lot of meaning.
For example Isaz mean 'Ice', but it could be used with the meaning of 'slowing down' or even, in this case of 'imprisonment'.
The glacial 'I' flew on the Fallen chest, and made her virtually immobile, without counting her erratically moving eyes and her steady breath.
With a groan, Galen took her up.
The use of that rune was very tiring, because it needed to not kill the target but to make it a vegetable, and to overpower its defences.
Pretty difficult to do.
He turned off the lasersword and put it again in his pocket, from where he took the now crunched paper that the familiar gave to him.
He disdainfully tossed it and then glanced towards where the two Devils should have been and, with an emotionless tone, he said:
"Report to your masters this, and along with this give this message: I want to meet them tomorrow. They will give the hour"
Then he made two runes: Raido 'Journey' and Othila 'Home' and, with that, he vanished in a white light, leaving two terrified Devils.
Author Notes
Salve ragazzi e ragazze, vecchi e giovani!
This chapter came a bit late for some... life problems (damned exams) but now that I have the summer holydays, they will come much more often!
Before resuming I would like to thank the 22 people who have this story as a favorite (poor them) and the 24 who follow it (poor them again)
I would like to thank VladImpaler and alertpoet91 (and say that now there is another long chapter of the story).
I will apologise now for the grammar mistakes, and I will ask you to review the story!
P.S.
I have a pool ongoin in my profile about a possible third story, please vote the choice you want.
Ciao!
