A/N: This chapter's name comes from the song Darkens the Will by the band From Beneath Billows. Like a lot of the other bands I reference, they're a great post-metal band that has their music up on bandcamp.

Chapter 12 - Darkens the Will (Part 1)

It was now the afternoon, and Bathory and Negati were heading back home. They had met up near the end, checking over the complete lack of updates on the search for Izah. Their hope had partly turned into worry, now that a full day had passed since Izah had escaped, but they tried not to show that too much. However, he had just stepped in the doorway to his home when a new conflict presented itself.

Arin stood there, tall, firm, and already with a slight scowl on his face.

"Bathory."

Bathory looked up at him. There wasn't much else he could do, given that the other man was already in his personal space. Bathory responded, confused and awkwardly.

"Umm, hey? Good afternoon?"

"While you were out, I spent significant time thinking about my situation. And I wish to speak with you about it."

Negati had also been stuck in place behind her boyfriend, also barred from entering their home. She responded now, trying to look over the tall man's shoulder to see if he was hiding anything.

"Yeah, so, why are you blocking the door again, Arin?"

Bathory chuckled, still feeling the piercing stare from the other man.

"I mean, give me a few minutes but yeah, we can chat."

"No," replied Arin, "we are doing this now."

He grabbed Bathory's wrist and began walking over to the couch, dragging the other man along with him. He ignored the reactionary pleas from Bathory and Negati and shoved Bathory forward toward the couch. Bathory turned so he ended up sitting normally instead of getting sprawled out, but now there was an incredulous look on the face.

"Arin, wha – ugh, okay, fine. Fine, let's go."

Negati stood next to Arin, crossing her arms and also looking agitated.

"So what do you want me to do?" she asked. "Just stand here?"

Arin kept his gaze on Bathory but addressed Negati.

"You are not currently the focus of my attention. This is none of your business."

"So you want me to just leave? Ignore this?" she said. "You live with us. This is, in fact, also my business."

With all three now in an irritable mood, Bathory sighed and shook his head.

"Okay, you want to talk, let's talk."

Arin kept glaring down, his voice mostly normal but with a definite undertone of frustration.

"Very well. As you both know, I am now under house arrest by this point by the Captain's orders."

Bathory sighed again.

"Yep, we were there when that happened. I told you to leave it. Either way, I don't think she literally meant you couldn't do anything. Just…stay out of our mission for the moment. Did you get out at all? You need to get out some."

"No, I did not. I took this time I was given to think and reflect on my situation. This is an interesting turn of events, as I am able to feel something more often than I am usually able to do. I do not know if I am quite used to this again."

"That's…not necessarily good," said Negati, "if that means you're letting your anger control you and charge you into these situations."

"Do you know what it's like," said Arin, looking bath and forth between the other mages and raising his voice, "to be trapped in your own head for the rest of your life? Do you know how it feels to feel nothing? Nothing except for some anger that I have to just bury away, lest it leads me somewhere just like this? I don't, obviously. I don't feel that. I estimate it would be somewhere between depressing and horrifying. And I am not even given that. All I am given is the growing realization every single day that this is who I am, and I will never. Get. Better."

There was a capstone of silence on the end of that speech. Bathory and Negati both stared at Arin, trying to find the words to say. Finally, Bathory stammered something out.

"Arin, I…I know you feel that-"

"You don't know" said the taller man harshly. "Don't tell me you know what I feel."

Negati uncrossed her arms and raised her voice as well.

"Hey, we're just trying to relate to you-"

"And you can't, so stop trying!"

In one sudden action, Bathory stood up and leaned in, now joining the other two in their argument.

"Do you want us to listen or not, then? Do you want us to talk? If not, then I'll just walk away and leave you to sit here, all by yourself. This is not a one way street. I'm sorry I can't help as much as you want. I tried to make you better, and it didn't work. But I did the best I could, and if you-"

"Will you stop doing that?" said Arin. "I don't care about your efforts, or your situation, or your struggles, or any of the shit you constantly spew out of your mouth to look valiant. Look around you. What has all your 'suffering' gotten you? A perfectly normal life. Friends. A partner. The whole entire sky right in front of you to go in any direction you want. But what did I get? What did I earn for getting caught in your crossfire? I was ruined. Broken, if you will. Cut off from everyone around me."

Negati rolled her eyes and stepped back in.

"Arin, shut up. You made some bad decisions, and that's why the Captain's mad with you. Why don't you put all the facts together and see that we'll treat you better if you act better? It's not about who you are."

Arin lowered his voice, but now he added a near-sinister edge.

"But it is. My situation goes a step deeper than you believe. My anger is not the root, it is a reaction. A reaction to what I see in your eyes when you look at me. Everyone. They're scared of me. I'm an oddity. A danger. I'm not like the rest of you."

Bathory shook his head again.

"That's nonsense. No one thinks that. You've worked yourself up into speaking gibberish."

Arin leaned in towards Bathory so that there was only inches between the two's faces.

"I'm not so sure about that, Bathory. What do you think of me? Are you scared of me?"

"I – Arin, I'm not playing along with this."

"Answer me, Bathory. You're scared of me."

"I – well, when you attacked me, yes, I was scared, but not all the time."

"But I'm the flaw in your perfect life. I'm the reminder of how it all went wrong. Tell me Bathory, do you regret me?"

Bathory's eyes went wide for a second before narrowing again. Then, despite knowing he needed to stay calm, he began to give in.

"Don't go back to this. Leave me out of it already. The past is the past."

"Tell me already. Do you regret me? Am I your biggest regret?"

Bathory raised his voice again.

"I know what you want to hear. I know what you want me to do."

Arin matched him, and then began escalating.

"Then answer me. You made me this way."

"I'm not doing this, Arin! I'm not playing your games."

Arin suddenly reached forward, grabbing the back of Bathory's head and pulling him in, filling Bathory's vision with a crazed, maniacal man.

"Your 'creation' wants an answer, Bathory! YOUR CREATION WANTS AN ANSWER!"

Bathory pushed Arin back, stunning the man, and when Arin looked up again, Aphelion had transformed and was aiming right at him. Arin reached for his device and activated it as well. It expanded, and the rotating blades on both ends of the staff spun about in the living room of the house.

Next to them, Negati brought her arms up as well and pointed one at each man. The red markings ran up her arms and glowed boldly, ready for her magic to be used.

"Boys, enough!" she cried. "We are not going any further. Bathory, you're falling for it. You're doing what he wants. He's pushing your buttons and getting you angry so he can feel justified with his own anger. All he wants is validation, and we're not going to give it to him. Arin, this is not good, and we are not going to reward this."

Bathory stared at Arin, but listened to what Negati said. It was scary to think, but it all made sense. Arin wanted to get angry, and he wanted to stay angry, and what better way than to drag someone else in to feed off them? Calming down, Bathory deactivated Aphelion and it returned to its standby form, hanging down by the back of his wrist from the cord wrapped around his lower arm.

"Okay…" said Bathory. "You're right. I'm sorry, but I'm not playing this game anymore. We can talk, but we need to be reasonable. Understood?"

Arin's eyes darted between the other two. His white-knuckled grip on Retrigal slowly loosened, and he finally retracted his weapon as well. He didn't respond to Bathory, though. He just turned and walked around the other side of the couch and over to his room. Once inside, he reached back, and with a firm push on the door, he swung it closed.

Back in the living room, the patterns on Negati's arms quit glowing, and she lowered her arms back to her sides. She walked the couple steps over to Bathory and stood next to him, looking at the door that Arin was now behind.

"Well…" was all she could muster.

Bathory sighed and looked down at the floor.

"I…I don't know what I'm supposed to say. What do I say to convince him?"

Negati reached out and hugged Bathory, lightly bringing him in.

"I'm just nervous, now. Nervous that there's gonna be another argument. I don't really want to come home to this more than once."

"I know. This is…a new side of him, or at least a new level. I thought he was coping. I thought he'd been going along just fine."

Both mages struggled with a tough feeling in the waning light of the argument – the want to help their friend while at the same time, wanting to avoid that kind of emotion again. Bathory looked up, back over to the front door, and put an arm around Negati, rubbing her shoulder.

"I still need to get to the market. I was going to wait a bit but now I should probably get some space between Arin and I just in case. Let me go do that and I'll think about where to go from here with him. Alright?"

Negati nodded and released Bathory.

"And I'll just be here" she said. "I have some work I can finish up."

Bathory nodded and he smiled. A quick kiss, and he went for the door. He hadn't even gotten to take his shoes off, so he was able to just go back outside to the car and head out to run a couple errands.

Some time later, Arin had finally left his room and moved over to the couch. Negati remained over at the kitchen table, nesting a cup of tea and watching Arin reposition but otherwise not interacting with him. Then, she had gotten back to her work, typing on a virtual screen projected from her storage device.

As Arin checked up on various pages with a screen projected by his own device, Retrigal began to blink and emitted a repetitive tune as it received a call. Arin glanced at the notification that popped up, but didn't seem to care, and he let it continue ringing. As it did so, Negati finally looked over at him.

"You gonna get that?" she asked.

"I do not believe so," replied Arin.

"Who's it from?"

Arin glanced over again and responded in his normal, monotone voice.

"Greater Call."

Negati's eyes shot open. Greater Call – that was Izah Lumiere's device! She grabbed her own storage device and practically fell out of her seat trying to dash over to the couch.

"And you're not answering?" she cried.

The man shrugged and resumed what he was doing as Negati rushed over.

"If I am not currently involved in your operation, then-"

Negati made her way around the couch and ran up to Arin, grabbing at the screen.

"Retrigal, answer!"

She turned the screen to face her as the transmission connected and a video began displaying. It was the feed from Greater Call. On the opposite end, there was what looked like a dark room, with few discernible details, but that was all. No sign of Izah.

"Izah?" cried Negati. "Izah, are you there?"

A hand reached across the video feed as someone grabbed the device and slowly pulled it up to shift the viewpoint. As Greater Call was moved, there seemed to be skylights visible on the ceiling of whatever area the call was coming in from. It looked like a large, somewhat-empty storage room. But as the screen moved, Asana was soon front and center on the screen, holding the device shakily to reveal herself. She looked distraught, and her voice was timid and reserved.

"Um…hello?" she asked.

"Asana!" said Negati, "Where are you? Where's Izah?"

Asana looked offscreen momentarily, then looked back. She was trying to hold back tears, but they were quickly forming.

"I…no, it's just me. I'm alone."

Negati paused, now more confused and worried.

"You're alone? What happened?"

"No, no, no…nothing bad…I just had to run. Miss Izah…she's not good. I had to go."

Negati took a deep breath and leaned in more.

"Asana, talk to me. What's going on?"

The foxgirl shut her eyes and shook her head wildly, more responding to herself than to Negati.

"No, no, no, I can't…I can't just…"

"Asana!" shouted Negati. "Where are you? I'll come get you. Hold on, I'll get you to safety…It's all going to be okay, understand? It's going to be okay."

As Negati was speaking, Asana looked off to the side again. She winced, and her shoulders sagged, but as Negati finished speaking, the familiar looked back at the screen.

"Um…Greater Call can tell you, right?"

Greater Call began to blink and respond to Asana.

[I HAVE TRACKED OUR CURRENT LOCATION – TRANSMITTING NOW]

As Retrigal received the info from Izah's device, Negati looked down at the grey gem.

"Retrigal, send this over to me as well."

Arin's device glowed and responded in a similarly robotic fashion.

[UNDERSTOOD]

Negati checked her own device and then looked back at the screen.

"Okay, Asana, I'll be over as fast as I can. Just remember that it's going to be okay. Alright?"

Asana nodded meekly once, and then ended the transmission. The screen faded out, and Negati ran over to get ready to leave again. As she put on her shoes, she looked over at Arin.

"You want to come with?" she asked rapidly.

Arin stared straight ahead.

"I thought I was expected to stay out of the current events for the time being, so I will-"

Not patient enough to let him finish, Negati pulled the front door open and interrupted the other mage.

"Got it, fine, I'll keep you in the loop once we get her back to base. Later."

She raced outside, shutting the door behind her and dashing over to the other car. She pulled out her device and saw that the data for Asana's location was downloaded. Jumping into the driver's seat of the car and turning it on, she brought the storage device up to her mouth and spoke to it.

"Also, call Bathory."

The device did not verbally respond, but it brought up a screen showing the insignia of the TSAB as it waited for Bathory to answer. Negati was off the driveway and speeding down the road when Bathory answered and his face appeared on the screen.

"Hey Negati. Forget something we need?"

"Bathory, we got a transmission from Izah's device."

Bathory's eyes opened wide now, and he responded more seriously.

"You did?"

"Asana was on the other end - it sounds like she took the device and ran. I'm gonna get over there and pick her up. It sounds like she's scared, and she needs our help as much as we need hers."

"So…so what's the plan once you get her?"

"Get her over to the Captain. Go back to work. I'll keep you posted once that happens, okay?"

Bathory took a deep breath. Things were suddenly playing out faster than he expected.

"Okay. Okay, Negati. See you later."

Negati ended the call, and the screen from her device changed to show the location of Greater Call's signal and the best route over to that part of town. It was near the edge of the city, down by the river and that large bridge spanning it and leading out into the forest. It was a bit of a drive, and Negati only hoped she caught up to Asana before Izah did.

She made it across the city, hands gripped tightly to the wheel, checking constantly to see that the beacon was remaining in the same place. By the end, Negati found herself in an unpopulated area, with no traffic on the roads and just empty buildings on the sides of the road. They all looked like warehouses or storage areas – nothing meant to attract a lot of attention or customers. Finally, the beacon closed in on the inside of a nondescript-looking building. Negati drove up to the front, skidding to a stop and then jumping out of the car, running for an open door that led into the building.

"Asana?" she shouted. "Asana?"

She entered inside, and it matched what the area Asana called her from looked like. Dim, mostly dark with some light peering in through skylights. Not too dark to make out what was inside, but what was inside wasn't much. A large collection of crates and boxes was stacked to one side, and the machinery to move said boxes was also there, parked to the other side. The middle, though, was empty.

Negati slowed down, looking around at the sights. It was almost eerie how silent it was.

Silence – Negati noticed that. It was silent. No one came to greet her.

"Asana?" she asked again. "Asana, can you hear me?"

Then, she heard something faint. There were sounds, and their location was obscured behind the row of boxes in front of Negati. As the redhead walked further into the open room, the sounds became more audible, until Negati could tell what they were – the sound of someone crying.

The mage picked up her pace, and ran around the row of boxes to see what was on the other side. There, kneeling on the ground and pitched forward, supported with her hands on the ground as well, was Asana.

Negati only pause for a moment before running over to the figure.

"Asana! There you are."

The familiar didn't seem to hear Negati at first. The mage had to kneel down in front of her and put her arms on the scared girl before Asana looked up. Her eyes were red, and she was obviously distraught. Negati looked her in the eyes, then pulled Asana in for a hug, rubbing the foxgirl's back as well.

"It's okay, it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you"

Asana looked down, and she continued to whimper.

"I…I…" she stammered.

"It's okay," Negati repeated. Then, after a few seconds, she released Asana and spoke to her.

"You left Izah, you said?"

Asana nodded, muttering a little affirmation.

"Do you know where she is?"

Asana froze. Through her eyes and expression, she rapidly went through multiple emotions before her eyes shut tight again and she buried her head back in Negati's chest. Here arms wrapped tightly around Negati's back.

"I'm sorry! I'm doing such a bad thing."

Neagati looked down, caught off guard by the response and the uncomfortable force of Asana's grip.

"A…a bad thing?" she said. "Leaving Izah? You know she needs our help, and if this is the only way…"

"No, no, not that…not that…"

"Then what? You're trying to protect your master, right?"

Asana failed to answer that as well, and now her voice just sounded defeated.

"I'm…I'm sorry…"

"Sorry for what?" Negati asked. "Asana, what are you sorry for?"

The entire time, another mage had been listening in from above. As the show went on, and as Asana carried out her duty perfectly, the other mage smiled and slowly descended down to the floor behind the kneeling TSAB officer. Izah Lumiere had taken Greater Call, and now it was active, transformed into a pistol that Izah held tightly in her hand. She stood on the ground again just behind Negati, and the ground mage was oblivious until she felt the barrel of a weapon pointed into her back.

Negati's eyes shot open wide. Behind her, Izah smirked viciously and answered for her familiar.

"Sorry for this, probably."

In the afternoon, while the sun was still up and the temperature remained mild, there was a local market set up in one of the city squares. Vendors came out to set up their stalls with all of their different produce on display – vegetables and fruits fresh from the field as well as baked goods, sweets, and other concoctions. At one of the stalls, Bathory stood in front of it, looking down at the baskets filled with different vegetables. He was already supporting several bags of goods already bought with one arm, and with the other, he checked the product, looking to see that it was in good condition. Satisfied, he gathered several of that type into another bag and looked over at the vendor.

Behind the stall was an older woman, but right now she was chatting loudly with someone else, perhaps a friend, family member, or just a very talkative customer. Bathory didn't mind waiting, though – there were several things on his mind, and it would give him a second to think some things through.

He sighed lightly and looked down at his right hand. He brought Aphelion up to face him.

"I know, Aphelion – I know I'm stalling for time."

The dark green gem pulsed as it responded.

[ON WHAT MATTER]

"I think you know. I'd – I'd told myself that any day now, sooner or later, once Negati and I have the right moment, the right timing, then I'd maybe talk to her about…well…you know…getting married."

[YOU SHOULD NOT FEEL AS IF YOU ARE STALLING, MY MASTER – YOU WILL KNOW WHEN YOU ARE READY]

Bathory shook his head and laughed nervously.

"No, I – I am, trust me – I am. I'm not even asking her the question here; I'm just asking her if she's expecting the question. That's, like, nothing, I mean that's…that's just checking up with her. That's just being on the same page."

[SO WHAT IS PREVENTING YOU FROM DOING SO]

Bathory took a deep breath.

"Me. I mean, what answer do you want me to give? I just…There's a good time but then I don't feel right, or I don't know what to say once I get there…but again, that should be the easy part…"

[DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SAY OUTSIDE OF THESE MOMENTS]

"Yeah, yeah, of course, easy."

[THEN WHAT WOULD THAT BE, MASTER]

"I'd…I'd just look at her, all normal, like any other conversation, and say…"

Bathory laughed again and looked around, making sure Negati wasn't secretly right behind him or anywhere nearby. He was only as talkative because this wasn't happening for real. He closed his eyes then and looked forward, imagining Negati standing there.

"I'd say…I'd say, Negati, ever since we journeyed together and moved to a whole new planet, we've been there to support each other. And as we went on, and…and developed, and got closer, I've always been so happy that you're here to share this with me – all the little moments, and things that have happened, and the things we want to happen too…so, I want to ask, because I've been feeling strongly about this recently…do you think, soon, you would be ready to get married?"

Bathory kept his eyes shut tightly. Even with this fictional version of his girlfriend that he'd imagined speaking to, he stood there nervously, worried for how she'd respond. He thought about what he had said as well; if that was how he would say it, would that be good enough? No, no, maybe it was too direct – or maybe it was the opposite. He definitely rambled too much – Negati would want him to cut to the chase. But he couldn't be too direct, or she'd think he didn't really mean it…

On the other side of the food cart, the older woman chuckled and responded.

"Well, I may be a little out of your age range, don't you think?"

As soon as she began speaking, Bathory's eyes shot open and he froze in place. He felt like he sank into his shoes, his mortified embarrassment the only thing keeping him rigid and upright. Someone had heard all of that? That whole bit of sappy romance?

Quickly, he tried to play it off, holding his hands up in front of him.

"No, no, no, I – I was – I wasn't saying it to you, I was just…just practicing it, not – not – no, I –"

The vendor chuckled again and interrupted Bathory.

"I know, I know. Just giving you a hard time. Are you making a purchase?"

Still embarrassed, Bathory nodded and held the bag up before handing over some money. As the woman handed him his change, she said one last bit to him.

"I'm sure that if you truly mean it, she thinks the same way. Good luck!"

Bathory bowed slightly and walked away. Once he was a couple steps out, he let out a deep sigh, finally feeling himself calm down.

"Aphelion, you're supposed to warn me when I'm making a fool of myself."

With some room to breathe, he started looking through the bags of good that he had bought, checking to see what else was needed back at the house.

Suddenly, Aphelion pulsed again.

{EMERGENCY TRANSMISSION FROM NEGATI WINTER]

Bathory looked down rapidly at his device.

"Negati?" he asked, worried. "What's going on?"

The green gem projected a screen and Bathory looked up at it. It was an automatic transmission from Negati's device, sent to her designated emergency contact – Bathory. The screen interface showed info about Negati's vitals, including info about her linker core that indicated something was wrong. She was fighting, that's for sure – and she was using quite a bit of her mana to do so.

Bathory stared at the screen. What was happening to Negati? She went to go get Asana – she said something about the familiar calling her. But if she went to do so…what if someone else came after Asana? What if Izah was there?

Bathory couldn't stand around. He had to get over and protect Negati. He dropped the groceries to the ground and clutched his device tightly.

"Aphelion, we need to go! Standard form, Flight Driver!"

Aphelion quickly transformed back around his right arm, and a thin blade of energy formed from the groove on the side of the device. Bathory had brought himself some attention, and as the other people at the market watched him, they jumped out of his way as the mage ran forward before swinging the device down until the energy blade cut into the ground. Then, his device began to propel him quickly along the ground down the rest of the market as people further down had to scramble to the side. Once he was out of the clearing, Bathory transformed into his battier jacket and sped down the middle of the road, glancing over at a screen that now showed Negati's position before he'd glance ahead again.

"I'm coming, Negati…" he said telepathically. "I'm coming to get you. Just hold on, I'll be there soon."