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Chapter 7: Genisus Zero
Eveli's POV
I squeaked, shifting closer to Rantai. I was sure Sebastian was a nice person deep down, but he was definitely scary. Sebastian's grin faded as his gaze shifted from me to Rantai. Sebastian had to look way up to Rantai, but he didn't seem perturbed. Rantai and Sebastian matched gazes and Sebastian nodded slowly.
"Yes, you'll do nicely," Sebastian nearly purred, his eyes half-lidded, giving him an even more mysterious air. Hikorai huffed, crossing her arms and turning her glare on Sebastian.
"He'll do for what?" she spat. Sebastian glanced at her, shaking his head.
"Nothing. Forget I said anything," he hummed, looking over his shoulder.
Hikorai narrowed her eyes, unsheathing her claws, "I don't take kindly to being told what to do, Mr. Eyepatch," she snarled. "So, where are we, anyway?" she sniffed, looking around with disdain. Sebastian didn't answer, looking again over his shoulder.
"Astronomer's Ruin," he said shortly. Hikorai rolled her eyes.
"I knew that," she hissed sourly. "I was hoping you could tell us more about how we got here. Last I knew, we were in Magnolia. And that is clearly not where we are now," Hikorai hissed acidically, eyeing Sebastian. Sebastian hesitated, his eye roaming to meet mine before going back to Hikorai.
"We're quite far from Magnolia now, but we are still in Fiore. I believe that's all I need to tell you. As I have said, our Master here is very-"
"Paranoid. Yes, that's a word to describe me, indeed." A deep, throaty voice echoed through the hall as a solidly built man rounded the corner.
My heart jumped to my throat.
Dark boots, laced with fur in a weaving pattern. Heavy? Probably. Thumping sound indicates wooden floors? Pants tucked into boot neatly. Initial observation: perfectionist. Tight shirt, short sleeved, outlines muscles well. Muscular stature and fairly tall. Well-defined abs and arm muscles. Golden...eyes….
Blue and black hair...looks wiry, buzz cut….
"Come out, come out wherever you are! You can't hide from me forever!"
"Little Princess? What's wrong?" Rantai's voice broke through the fog of my thoughts, and I slowly looked up to him. I felt tears, hot and huge, threaten to spill out of my eyes.
"G-G-Genisus," I squeaked out, shivering. One of the man's eyebrows rose, his mouth twitching into a smile.
"Well, well, well, I see our new member has heard of me," he said, his rough voice lilting into a more feminine octave. He strode forward further, resting his arm on Sebastian's shoulder. I cowered behind Rantai, who was looking from me to Genisus in absolute confusion. Genisus leaned closer and I let go of Rantai's arm, scurrying behind him and latching onto the back of his shirt instead.
"Eveli, you can't just hide. Get out here and face him like a man!" Hikorai scoffed. I looked up at her incredulously, her wings blurring through the tears in my eyes.
"But I'm a girl!" I wailed, dropping to my knees and wrapping myself around Rantai's right leg.
"That's not the point!" Hikorai hissed. She grabbed onto my shirt, forcibly dragging me off of Rantai. I squirmed around, trying to loosen her hold on me, when she whispered, "Act natural. Don't tip him off," in my ear. I froze, looking Genisus eye-to-eye, thanks to height added by Hikorai's Aera. He smiled softly at me, but behind that mask was the face of a monster, his slightly sharpened canines glinting in the eerie light he'd made. I gulped, shivering despite the damp heat. Hikorai set me down slowly, so I was looking up to Genisus, the man who had ruined my life. I forced a smile onto my face, holding out my slightly shaking hand.
"Sorry. You look like a man I used to know," I managed to choke out. Genisus grinned down at me, nodding and shaking my hand with his free one and a chuckle.
"I see. It's quite alright. I'm mistaken for different people often." The gleam in his golden eyes unnerved me, a nervous laugh escaping my lips. Suddenly, his grip on my hand tightened, and he roughly jerked me towards him, taking a step away from Sebastian. He shoved my sleeve up my arm jerkily, his mouth set in a scowl. A gasp escaped my mouth, tears coming to my eyes.
He was looking for my guild mark. I'd had it on my upper arm in Sabertooth.
"Oi!" Rantai protested, taking a step forward, surprised by the cat-like quickness of Genisus's movement. Genisus frowned wryly, his eyes meeting mine again. They were gelid*, completely emotionless and cold as he swept me up and down.
He knows.
The shaking started again, my legs trembling as tears came to my vision. Genisus let go, and I jetted back towards Rantai, hiding behind him again with a breathless sob and peeking out from behind his back. Genisus still wore something similar to a snarl on his face, his eyes narrowed. He glared in Rantai's direction and I shook more violently.
"Get back here! I'm not done with you, Eveli! You'll never escape me!"
Rantai stood up straight, his muscles tensing. His arms were loose, ready to call upon his magic at any second to protect me. My hand fell to the sword fastened to my hip.
For your protection. From, Your Dragons.
The time had come. I had to kill Genisus here, now, before he hurt Rantai or Hikorai. My breathing halted in my throat as Genisus's glare eased to a neutral look, his eyes scanning down to Rantai's arms.
"Chain tattoos? What an interesting magic…" Genisus murmured, taking a long stride back.
"Was that necessary, Genisus?" Sebastian drawled, his eye half-lidded in boredom. Genisus shrugged, looking at him. "I already asked if they were from a different guild, and they said no, all three of them," Sebastian lied, his gaze trailing to the ceiling before resting again on his master. He tilted his head at Genisus. "You could've asked me and I would've told you so without you terrorizing her." Rantai stiffened once more, and I looked up at him. Sebastian was staring straight at Hikorai.
Hikorai's guild mark was prominent on her back and, although it was covered by her kimono today, some of the ones I'd packed for her openly displayed the mark. Was Sebastian...warning us? I shivered again; he'd never asked us about our guilds, just asked why we wanted to join Astronomer's Ruin. He'd seemed concerned, as if he knew we were here to take them down. Did he know, too? His expression displayed nothing, and his gaze returned to his Master, who was frowning.
"They could have lied. I was just...checking," Genisus finished slowly, his gaze wandering to meet Rantai's. The two stared each other down for what seemed like aeons before an unnerving smile slipped onto Genisus's face. "Hmph. Sebastian, show them around, will you? It seems I have some new research to do," he said, his throaty tone deepening as he offered a menacing smile towards me. "Until we meet again, my lady," he rumbled, a fierce hunger burning and writhing in the pits of gold that were his eyes. I swallowed. I squeezed Rantai's arm tighter, and he grunted in slight protest.
"Very well, Master," Sebastian said quickly. He stepped between myself and Genisus, breaking the man's gaze. "Shall I ask for extra portions for you?" Genisus nodded briskly, turning around and stalking back down the hall. As soon as he rounded the corner, Sebastian slouched over, a sigh of relief escaping his lips. He turned to face us, his mouth set in an almost pitying frown.
"That did not go as I expected. I apologize for him. He's very…" Sebastian trailed off, rolling his visible eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. "He's an acquired taste, if you will," Sebastian growled finally. Rantai and I shot each other looks. Sebastian seemed to be of high ranking here at Astronomer's Ruin, but he seemed to despise Genisus's sadist streak. That didn't make sense unless Sebastian wanted to be Guild Master, which, from what I'd seen, I highly doubted.
Then again, dissention in the ranks could make the job a lot easier. Sebastian would be a strong ally if we could get him to fight with us against Genisus to destroy the guild. I smiled to myself. Yay! Plans!
Sebastian opened the door we'd just came through, motioning us out. Hikorai fluttered out and I skipped after her, thanking Sebastian with Rantai right on my heels. I stopped, hopping up to catch Hikorai and pulling her down to my chest, nuzzling my cheek against hers. Hikorai let out a purr, relaxing in my arms, her fluffy wings poofing into nonexistence.
Sebastian swooshed out in front of me, looking back at Rantai. His visible eye narrowed, then he nodded, stalking forward with a brisk, "I'll show you the dorms first."
"Ne, Sebastian...How can you see with just one eye?" I asked, springing forward and staring up at the mage. He shrugged. "Isn't your depth perception a bit off?" He thought for a moment before nodding.
"I'm mostly a distance fighter. I don't like getting too close to my target. Distance affects my magic, as it's full range." He cleared his throat. "There's not very much you'll need to know about Astronomer's Ruin," Sebastian intoned, cutting my question off and raising his voice so Rantai could hear. I dropped back in step with Rantai, frowning and shrugging.
Sebastian gestured to his left, "Down that way is our guild hall, which you saw when you came in," Sebastian made a face, "It's where we eat and practice magic. Though, some of us with more elite magics don't practice with others often," he said.
"Cocky much?" Hikorai snorted. Sebastian ignored her.
"Now, I'll show you a couple empty places we have this way in the dorm rooms, and you can take your pick of rooms for yourself and your partner." I smiled, looking up at Rantai, who offered me a bright grin back. I clasped my hands behind my back, giggling.
"A-HEM," Hikorai coughed , glaring at Sebastian. He looked at her and opened his mouth to respond when...
CRRRAAACCKKK! BOOF
"YA IGGIT, GET OFFA ME! NEMIO, I SWEAR I'LL PUNCH YA SMACK IN THA FACE!" Rantai, Sebastian and I all jumped, Sebastian's gaze snapping to the main hall. His eye twitched and his jaw clenched tightly. His eye swept over to me and he sighed roughly.
"I'm afraid we'll have to cut this a bit short. I'm in charge of keeping peace between members. Follow me, I'll show you the guild hall." With that, Sebastian took off again, his footsteps quick and easy. Rantai started off after him and I ran behind them. Hikorai finally picked me up, pouring on some speed to catch us up to the boys, who were much quicker than I was.
Sebastian rounded a corner and stopped abruptly, startling Hikorai into dropping me. Sebastian looked at us over his shoulder, his expression a touch irritated before he turned around again, sighing and striding forward again, not a bit slower.
The guild hall surprised me again with how huge and lovely it was. My jaw nearly dropped to the floor as I stood slowly, taking in every inch of the place, a smile slowly spreading across my face. Right in the middle of the hall was something I was more than familiar with, being in Fairy Tail; a brawl. All I saw was flashes of bizarre colors, other members getting close to stop the brawlers and getting sucked in instead. I chuckled.
"Jamie, Nemio, settle down," Sebastian barked authoritatively. I shivered; he didn't look all too intimidating in comparison to some of the other men hanging about the guild hall, but, boy oh boy, could he command some airspace.
Most of the fighters in the guild hall stopped almost instantly, people flying across the room as Sebastian made his way ever closer to the middle. The two instigators were revealed as though he'd cleared a path to them, people shrinking back from the boy in the cloak.
One, a girl with bleach blonde hair cut at her shoulders, was straddling the waist of a boy on the ground, one hand entangled in his multicolored, streaked hair and the other in a fist as she reared back to punch him. The boy had what looked to be dark blonde hair, his hair streaked different colors, ranging from red to white. He had his knee in her gut, his left arm flying to grab her hand before it made contact with his face.
Sebastian blinked, tilting his head slightly to the side before shoving a hand in his pocket and rolling his neck. I heard some bones crack from where I stood and cringed. That didn't sound good.
His mouth moved ever so slightly as he brought his unpocketed hand up, pushing down quickly and with a violent stroke. A harsh flare of purple and white sprung to life around the two, and both people froze before letting out yelps of pain. The girl was pressed flat against the boy's chest, and a glimmer of a smile ghosted Sebastian's face before he withdrew his hand, clenching it into a fist, the white and purple lights disappearing and the girl tumbling off the boy, gasping. Sebastian's hand unballed and he shoved it into his pocket, striding over so he was standing directly above the bleach blonde, looking down at her in a way that was nothing less than degrading.
"Jamie." The blonde opened her startlingly blue eyes, squinting up at Sebastian. Her face split into a grin and she scrambled to her feet with a cry of joy. She glomped onto Sebastian, her arms encircling his torso and holding tight, her eyes closed with the expression of the most glee I'd ever seen plastered on her face. Sebastian grumbled something, shifting around and removing her arms. She grinned, giving him a wink.
"Nice ta see ya back, hun!" The girl, Jamie, said briskly, a Southern accent drawling across her words.
Blonde. Blue eyes. Squinted- possibly poor vision. Piercings everywhere. Hugged Sebastian...there must be a connection there, but not a relationship. Southern-like accent? Speaks rather quickly. Words cut off and abrupt. Speech pattern seems to be a bit off. Maybe not her first language. I smiled. She seemed nice! I looked down to the boy on the floor curiously.
Blonde hair, short and streaked. Streaked? Sharp features, but not unkind. Bruise on left cheek. Jamie must be a rightie. I giggled. Well-built for sure. What are those chains around his arms and ankles for? His magic?
"Well, isn't that just the weirdest thing," I hummed. Rantai looked down at me, an eyebrow raised.
"Did you say something, Little Princess?" I bit my lip.
"Well, I've made a couple observations today. This job shouldn't be as hard as an S-Class quest, if what I've seen is true," I noted, looking up at Rantai. He nodded slowly, looking back to where our guide had broken up the quarrel and was waving off everyone else. He cast a glance back at us before engaging in conversation with the girl, Jamie.
"So, we'll talk later, once everyone is out of earshot, right?" I nodded.
"That would probably be best." I smiled up at Rantai, pumping my fist in determination. "This is so exciting!"
gelid: adj., icy, extremely cold
