"They're getting ready to leave now." Nelio says, walking up to Alistair.
Alistair nods. "Do you have the tickets?" he asks.
Nelio holds them up in response: two tickets for the train headed from Zaflior to Arkcester. "We'll be in the car right behind them." he says. "Close enough to keep an eye on Mana, Mary, and Calypso." he says.
"Good." Alistair says. "Maybe we'll finally find the person who left that Lacrima on the roof of the guildhall."
Nelio nods. "I'm surprised Theresa didn't ask Danate or Cooley to handle this." he says.
Alistair shrugs, uninterested in speculating about it. "Master might've told her that we're more responsible than them two." he says. "I'll keep my eyes on the girls. You keep an eye out for anyone suspicious, you're better at that."
"Roger that." Nelio says with a mock salute.
Mana starts writing in her journal as her teammates and Calypso bustle around her, continuing to get ready.
April 30, X793
We're finally heading out to investigate Arkcester. We've trained all month and I definitely feel stronger than I did when we first went out to Veneto.
Emile asked Calypso to come along with us - I think he actually might like her. In a different way than how he flirts with every single girl within two feet of him. After Nelio and Alistair brought her to train with Madelaine and the rest of us that day, he was the one who continued inviting her.
Mana is pulled out of her thoughts when she hears Mary giggle. What? she asks. I just think it's something interesting to note.
And you said romance wasn't on your mind.Mary laughs.
Mana rolls her eyes and continues writing.
Moving on since I'm apparently not allowed to be interested in my friend's relationships…
I don't know if I wrote about it before but Cooley confirmed that Mary's mother had Spatial Magic. He was excited at the discovery of Mary's Requip Magic but even after all these days of training, neither of us can figure out how to tap into it. Even giving Mary control of our
Mana… Mary says warningly.
Mana sighs and crosses out 'our'.
my body doesn't let her tap into it. She has no problem using my Mask Magic and recreating the spells I've come up with but it's a dead end with her Magic.
In other news, Master Nadine still isn't back from wherever she went. Theresa has been nice enough...kind of scary though. Emile and I still think she's scarier but Akane disagrees. Veiss just thinks we're stupid for finding either one of them scary.
As for Emile's story of some Dark Mage with Gold Magic being after me, Mary, and Calypso, nothing's come of it so far. At least, nothing we know of. I have to wonder why Nelio and Alistair suddenly took an interest in watching and forcing Calypso to train with us all month, though.
Mana looks up from her journal, glancing up to see Emile chatting excitedly with an exhausted Calypso.
"Sorry, I - um, I want to join you. Phoenix Fire, I mean." she says. "Akane and Mana and Mary saved me from Kenji. Clearly I wasn't strong enough to overpower him myself and I just - I want to replay you guys." she says earnestly. "I'm not going back home until I either avenge my sisters or rescue them from Maia. I want to get stronger, help them, and help you in any way I can." Calypso says. "Please?"
She did say she wanted to get stronger but the others have been working her to the bone all month. Mana feels just fine - adding to Emile's theory of her being some super secret soldier or whatever - but Calypso clearly isn't used to it. She's trying her best though, her transformations are at an advanced level (according to Nelio) but she has absolutely zero combat experience. Nelio thinks she has a lot of potential; once she starts getting used to fighting she could easily become one of the strongest Mages Phoenix Fire has to offer.
Mana is pulled out of her thoughts by a smack to the back of her head.
"Get your head out of the clouds," Akane says. "we're ready to go. Do you have everything you want to take?"
Mana huffs, rubbing the back of her head. "Yeah, I've got everything." she says, closing her journal. She raises an eyebrow when she sees Akane staring at the journal with an odd look on her face. "What?" Mana asks.
"N-Nothing." Akane says, clearing her throat. "I just - you've been writing in that all month." she says, gesturing at the journal she bought for Mana.
"Well, yeah." Mana says as she redoes the clasp that keeps it shut. "You didn't buy it for it to just sit around in my room collecting dust." she says unambiguously. Then, Mana frowns, a thought coming to mind. "You said you bought it for me to strengthen my memory. Am I doing something wrong?" she asks worriedly.
Just like when Akane initially gave her the journal, she quickly grows flustered and embarrassed by the way Mana is looking at her. "N-No, I was just - I-I was just making an observation." she says, turning on her heel and letting out a rather shaky breath. "Come on, let's head to the train station. It'll take us two days to get to Arkcester which means if we miss it, the train won't be back for four days."
"But I'm tired." Calypso whines, slumping against Emile and making the boy turn beet red.
Akane rolls her eyes. "You're only here because loverboy wants you to keep him company so get off your ass and start walking."
May 2, X793 | Arkcester City
"I really don't understand why you want me here."
"Because you're just so fun to keep around, Ms. Suck Up."
Luna grumbles under her breath. "I don't even get why we're out here looking for him. I thought Master put Victoria in charge of him." she says.
Yuki shrugs, uninterested in any specific reason why. "All I know is that Victoria went out on an S-Class mission because of Master," he says. "she's been worried about that guy all month. I don't get it but it's none of my business." Yuki says with a yawn.
Luna crosses her arms as she follows Yuki down another street. "So you're telling me you wouldn't care at all if Cole is going through something right now?" she asks. "That if we had the chance to help him out, you wouldn't care enough to take it?"
Yuki stops. He turns to look at her, surprising her with the serious look on his face. "That's not what I'm saying at all." Yuki says with a frown. "I'm saying I'm not questioning Master Glinda's reasoning for sending Victoria out on that mission and I'm not questioning her reasoning for sending us out looking for him." he says. "If he or anyone else in our guild were in danger, I wouldn't hesitate to help. All I'm doing right now is following orders-" Yuki pauses and smirks. "-just like a good soldier should, right Ms. Military Brat?"
Luna sighs and rolls her eyes. "Just when I thought you could be serious…"
Yuki laughs and continues walking, Luna following after him. "I'm just saying you're the first person I've met that quite literally grew up in the military."
"That's not what you said at all!"
Before Yuki can respond, a shout from above them catches their attention: "GUYS LOOK!" a familiar voice shouts. "It's the freaky jester guy and Luna!"
"Hm?" Yuki looks up, peering at the second level of the city.
Luna giggles under her breath, "Freaky jester guy." she repeats. "Rude, but not wrong."
May 2, X793
Arkcester city is one of the bigger cities in Valiance. In the same way that Zaflior is a port town, Arkcester is a merchant city. It's been prosperous in trading and Magic since the ancient eras. Such a reputation is supported by the fact that the city is home to a powerful religious guild, Aberrant Hydra. I don't know much about them but Emile says they're known as a religious guild because a majority of their members actively worship the Goddess Soasis. The guild also hosts a bunch of events related to Soasis. I'm not familiar with what kind of events exactly but
Mana is pulled out of her thoughts by Emile's shouting: "GUYS LOOK! It's the freaky jester guy and Luna!"
"Huh?" Mana mumbles, following the others over to a railing.
They'd gotten off the train about fifteen minutes ago and have been just taking a moment to stretch their legs.
Mana had found a brochure on a nearby stand and was in the middle of eagerly writing down everything she'd learned about the city when Emile had shouted about some jester and someone called-
"Oh!" Mana blinks, as she peers over the railing. The two people they met in Veneto are standing below the train station: Yuki Whiteclaw and Luna Luster, members of Aberrant Hydra.
The five of them rush down the steps of the train station, meeting them at the ground level of the city.
Yuki stares at Emile with the same odd intensity he did before.
Emile's smile drops.
Veiss, sensing the tension, quickly speaks up before Yuki can say anything else to put Emile off. "It's nice to see you guys again!" he says, bringing the attention to himself. "We're just taking a little vacation of sorts. Can you point us in the direction of a hotel or somewhere we can stay for a while?"
Luna gives a strange look to Yuki, noticing his shift in behavior too, and gently shoves him in Veiss' direction. "Go on, Yuki." she urges. When he doesn't stop staring at Emile, she shoves him a little harder. "Yuki." Luna hisses.
Yuki shakes his head, snapping out of his daze. "Yeah, sure." he says, walking a little ways off with Veiss to give him directions.
Luna turns and smiles apologetically at Emile. "I'm sorry about him." she apologizes. "He can be a bit...weird, sometimes." Luna says. "Anyways, what brings you all the way to Arkcester? This is a bit far for a vacation." she asks curiously.
Akane glances at the still silent Emile before responding, "Emile here was raised in Arkcester." she answers. "We're here to see his family."
"Oooh." Luna says, nodding. "What made you join a guild all the way on the other side of the country?" she asks Emile.
Emile shakes his head, still looking put off from Yuki. "That's a story for another time." he says, flushing when Calypso reaches up and pats his head.
"There, there, scarface." Calypso says comfortingly.
Emile freezes, his jaw dropping. "'S-Scarface'!?" he stammers and looks at Calypso in disbelief.
Calypso immediately starts looking regretful and steps back. "I-I-I thought you liked to be called that!" she stammers. "A-Akane said-!" she says, pointing an accusatory finger at the aforementioned girl.
Akane yawns, unbothered. "Payback for those freaky nicknames, scarface."
"They were cute nicknames!"
"I didn't think so."
"So you're telling me you didn't enjoy them at all? Nene, Kane, Kacchan, none of them?"
Akane grumbles under her breath, a demure look on her face. "No." she says, not at all sounding believable.
"There's nothing wrong with your friends giving you cute nicknames, Nene." Emile says, sticking his tongue out at her.
Akane grits her teeth and reddens, flustered. "I hate you." she says.
"No you don't."
"Fuck off."
"Alright everybody," Veiss says, returning to the group. Yuki stays away, not meeting anyone's gaze. "I've got the directions to the best hotel our money can buy." he reports, holding up a piece of paper. "Let's-"
Akane snatches the piece of paper from him and stalks ahead of the group. "If I get there before you, I'm taking all of the keys and you'll have to leave your stuff with the boys." she says warningly, giving a pointed look to Mana and Calypso. "So get your asses in gear." Akane says and continues walking, quickly following the directions on the paper.
Mana and Calypso exchange a panicked look before quickly saying their goodbyes to Luna and Yuki before running after Akane.
Veiss sighs and turns to Emile, patting him on the shoulder. "I've got the directions memorized already, we'll be fine." he says and leans in a bit closer, whispering, "And don't worry about Yuki. I asked him very politely to leave us alone for the duration of our stay here."
Emile nods and smiles. "Thanks, lice."
Veiss blinks. "I-"
"See ya later, Luna. Weiss, myself, and the others will try to find you guys to say goodbye when we leave."
"Em-"
"Maybe we can check out your guildhall sometime before we leave? Anyways, gotta catch up with the girls. Bye!" Emile says quickly. He grabs Veiss' arm and drags him behind him as he runs after the girls.
Luna nods. "Okay! Bye Emile, bye Meiss!"
"MY NAME IS VEISS, DAMN IT!"
Everyone gathers in Veiss' and Emile's room. They huddle around a map of the city.
"Okay," Akane starts. "so, where's this place you were raised at?" she asks Emile.
Emile frowns as he stares at the map. "I don't...I can't place it on a map." he says. "Especially this one, it's too new; places have changed. But I know how to get there." he says confidently. "But…" Emile trails off, his frown deepening.
"But what?" Akane asks, raising an eyebrow.
Emile looks up from the map and smiles awkwardly at Akane. "Would you mind going to the temple in my stead?" he asks. "I want to look at this other place."
Akane scoffs, "You just said you know how to get there but you want me to go find this place on my own?" she asks.
"Well," Emile says and gestures to Mana. "you and Mana. Don't forget our primary objective here." he says (beside Akane, Mana happily sticks her hand up for a high five to which the older girl begrudgingly reciprocates).
"What about me?" Calypso asks.
Emile shakes his head. "You're coming with me and Veiss. Akane needs to learn how to be alone with people she's unfamiliar with."
"Akane needs to learn how to be alone with people she's unfamiliar with." Akane mimics mockingly.
"But-"
Veiss raises an eyebrow. "What, you don't wanna spend time with us?" he asks.
"N-No, it's not that." Calypso says. "I just-"
"Oooh, so it's me that's the problem." Veiss says, nodding and rubbing his chin. "You just want to be alone with Emile." he says and gives her a thumbs up. "Gotcha. I'll hang back with Novem so you two can talk privately."
The subjects in question turn bright red, looking at Veiss with horrified and embarrassed expressions. Akane and Mana snicker under their breaths while Novem rolls around on Emile's head unhappily.
"It's not like that at all!" Calypso cries.
"Whaaat?" Novem whines. "You're replacing me with a girl?"
"No! Veiss is just being stupid." Emile insists.
"Exactly!" Calypso agrees. "I barely even know him anyways!"
Emile pouts, clutching his heart. "'B-Barely'? We've had lunch together almost everyday since you've joined-"
Calypso's face turns an even brighter shade of red. "THEY DON'T NEED TO KNOW THAT!" she says and punches him in the stomach.
Veiss winces as Emile groans and drops to the ground. "Ouch. Tough love, I guess." he shrugs.
Mana grins, pointing at a flustered Calypso and a whining Emile. "Heh, Akane look, it's you and me whenever you deny my friendship and affection."
Akane blushes, her eye twitching, and she wordlessly slaps the back of Mana's head.
"So where do you think Emile wanted to go?" Mana wonders.
The group wasted no time in starting their investigation. They split off soon after they decided where everyone would go and now Mana and Akane are on their way to the temple (they'd gotten directions from a citizen).
"Dunno." Akane shrugs. "He said this Jun lady is a priestess so she should be in the temple." she says. "It's only the middle of the day, I don't know where else she would be."
"Hmm."
Akane gives Mana a look. "What's up?"
"Mary said he might have left Arkcester with bad blood between him and Jun." Mana says. "So if he doesn't want to see Jun or the temple...maybe he went to investigate the mountain he woke up on all those years ago?" she guesses.
Akane crosses her arms, thinking. "...Yeah, maybe." she says. "Although it's not like Emile to leave things on a bad note with someb-" she stops when she bumps into a woman wearing fancy green and gray clothes. "Sorry about that." Akane apologizes quickly, sidestepping her and continuing to walk.
Akane nearly sets the woman on fire when she suddenly grabs her wrist. "S-Sorry," the woman apologizes when she sees the near homicidal look on Akane's face. "I just, this is Phoenix Fire's mark, right?" she says, turning over the back of Akane's hand and studying the black emblem.
Akane snatches her hand back, giving the woman a distrustful look. "It is. What's it to you?" she asks.
The blonde woman smiles, her yellow eyes sparkling with something neither girl can pinpoint. "My name is Glinda Goldkuhl." she introduces herself. "I'm the Guild Master of Aberrant Hydra, Arkcester's guild. When you girls are free, would you mind meeting me back at my guild? I'd like your help with something...uh...off the books." she says.
Mana and Akane exchange an unsure look and give the woman a once over.
Glinda is a woman with shoulder-length wavy blonde hair tied up into a high ponytail with stray locks of hair framing either side of her face. She has beige skin and yellow eyes that are still looking at the girls with something unsettlingly indecipherable. She wears a fancy looking olive green button up shirt with a black ribbon tie to close the collar. She wears a gray skirt over light gray stockings and dark green boots with gray buckles and straps.
"You don't have to accept, obviously, you have no loyalties to me." Glinda says. "But I would be more than happy to pay-"
A lightbulb goes off above Akane's head and she interrupts her, "Wait, you're Aberrant Hydra's Guild Master?" she says and starts cracking her fingers. "I need to have some words with you." Akane says, her hair beginning to sizzle.
Mana doesn't understand her anger until she remembers something Emile said before they went to Veneto. It was back during one of the first times Akane defended her against Cooley.
"Damn, Akane." Emile whistles. "When are you gonna defend me like that?" he asks. "Can you come with me to Arkcester? I had a run in with the Guild Master of Aberrant Hydra once. She creeped me out, can you tell her to leave me alone?" he asks.
"Ooooh…" Mana nods in understanding.
When Emile initially brought it up, Mana didn't think Akane was listening or even cared. Apparently, she was wrong.
Akane grits her teeth. "Where do you get off messing with Mages that don't even belong to your guild of snakes!?"
Mana sighs and takes a seat on the sidewalk. This is gonna take a while, isn't it? she says.
Yup. Mary agrees.
"Emile, where are we going?" Veiss asks for the millionth time since their group set off. "Why did we need to stop off and get cleaning supplies?" he asks, shaking the bag of aforementioned supplies in his hand.
Emile shakes his head and gives him the same answer he has been, "You'll see."
Calypso sighs, following silently as she cradles a sleeping Novem in her arms.
Veiss and Calypso frown, getting an uneasy feeling as they approach what looks like a graveyard. It clicks when Emile doesn't hesitate in continuing on into the cemetery.
The two of them remain silent as Emile continues leading them. He stops at a dirty, uncared for tombstone. "Veiss." he says, sticking out his hand.
Veiss gives him the bag without a word.
Veiss and Calypso watch in silence as Emile sprays the stone and wipes off the dirt. "Hey, mom." he says quietly. "It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about that. I'm sure you know it's hard for me to be here but I know that's no excuse." he says as he sprays the tombstone once again, polishing it off. "You raised me better than that."
The second cleaning allows Veiss and Novem to read the stone clearly:
JUN KALDO
DEVOTED PRIESTESS OF SOASIS AND BELOVED CARETAKER AND MOTHER TO EMILE
X758 - X787
"She never actually adopted me." Emile says. "But she's the only mother I can remember having." he says as he finishes polishing off the tombstone. "I didn't want to go to the temple because it hurts to be there." Emile says as he moves on to pulling out the weeds around Jun's grave. "I tried to visit the temple the last time I was in Arkcester on a mission but I broke down crying before I could even step foot in there. That's where I met Aberrant Hydra's freaky Guild Master." he says with a laugh.
"I-I don't mean to be cold, Emile, but are we just here to clean Jun's grave?" Calypso asks. "I thought we were here to find out more about your family." she says, confused.
Emile smiles as he cleans his hands off with the paper towels they bought from the store. "Jun was an excellent, devoted priestess." he says. "If anyone can help me figure out where I came from, it's her." he says, sitting down in front of Jun's grave.
Veiss gives him a weird look. "And...how exactly do you plan on having her help you when she's...y'know." he says, gesturing at Jun's tombstone.
"By praying, obviously." Emile says and closes his eyes. "Now shut the hell up so I can try and talk to Jun."
Glinda is sitting next to Mana now, her head in her hands as Akane continues to yell at her. She turns to Mana, a tired look on her face. "How long has she been at it?" she asks.
Mana scoffs, "I'm definitely not the person you should be asking for the time." she says as Akane continues yelling at her about boundaries between guilds.
"I just wanted to ask you to follow the Mages the Vice President has gathered…" Glinda sighs.
Akane shakes her heads, pausing her rant to respond to Glinda. "As interesting and illegal as that sounds, we have our own business to conduct in Arkcester." she says.
"Maybe I could help!" Glinda offers, perking up. "I am the Guild Master here, the title alone earns me a lot of respect. If it's information you're after, I'm sure I can get that for you." she says. "I can offer my services and the monetary reward I spoke of before if you'll do this for me." Glinda says.
Akane and Mana share another look.
"Well…" Akane trails off.
"Mar - uh, I think this is a good idea." Mana says, giving a pointed look to Akane.
Akane crosses her arms. "Right…" she says and turns to Glinda. "You said to meet you at your guild, right? We'll be there after we finish what we're doing here and regroup with our guildmates." she says.
Glinda beams. "Perfect!"
PF x AH x SS
A/N and we're back to our regularly scheduled programming folks :omaiga: I thank you for your patience and the next update will be fresh off the presses ! :omaiga: