[Chapter 4: Purpose]
Eleanor entered the lobby of the inn and let out a tired sigh. Today was another long day, like usual. The Silver Flame had purified most of the Daemons across the land, for the time, only small pockets of corrupted beings remained. The flip side, however, was that humanity's resonance had returned to its state before "The Opening". Most of the lower ranks of the exorcists had lost their resonance, rendering them totally useless, and the upper echelons of the Abbey dissolved into a mess of petty quarrelling and bickering of who should replace The Shepherd Artorius following his passing and lead the last remaining exorcists to combat the remnants of the Daemon threat. Even 4 years later, the organization had no meaningful leadership, and was teetering on the brink of internal dissolution. Eleanor tried to be a voice of reason, but she was never taken seriously. Thanks to the efforts of Prince Percival, officially Eleanor had been a deep-cover operative sent to infiltrate the Lord of Calamity's terror cell, and had valiantly carried out her mission to its end, betraying the Lord of Calamity at a pivotal moment and sealing her away once and for all, bringing peace to the land once more. Unfortunately Shepherd Artorius had not survived the battle, and to the remaining exorcists, that had made her mission a failure and cemented her as the black sheep of the Abbey. She was only kept around because she was one of the few exorcists with experience that had kept their resonance, and that meant she got the missions that nobody else wanted. Most of the time she was sent to the corners of the world on wild goose-chases, and she was set up for failure on anything meaningful she was tasked with. The last 4 years had taken a toll on her optimism, her former friends had cast her out, and all of her fellow exorcists spared no expense making her feel unwelcome and unwanted. Her only respite from being constantly belittled and antagonized by her associates were the occasional letters she would get from Kamoana and Medissa, and the visits she would make to the Empyrean's Throne to see Maotelus when her travels took her close.
Eleanor shook herself awake and made her way up the stairs to the room that had more or less become her home whenever she was in town. Just as she was about to enter, a note on the door caught her attention: "I'm inside, need to talk you about something, don't stab me - V". V...She didn't know anybody at the Abbey with that initial, there was only one person, but that was impossible. Ignoring the note's humble request, Eleanor unsheathed the small dagger she kept as a backup, and slowly cracked the door open. Opening the door cautiously, Eleanor's eyes widened as she caught sight of the note's author sitting at her table. "Eleanor...It's been a while." Eleanor's dagger dropped to the floor. "V-Velvet?!" Eleanor gasped. "H-How did you?...Since when?!" Eleanor was in disbelief, she watched Velvet disappear into the void 4 years ago, this had to be some kind of dream, she must have just passed out on the way to her room and was laying face down in the hallway right now. "Believe me, it's a long story, not one I'm in any mood to tell." Velvet averted her gaze, going over once again what had happened in her head and marveling at the absurdity of it all. Eleanor blinked several times, still questioning the sight in front of her. "Is this a dream?...If it's real then, how did you find me? How do you know where I'm staying?" Eleanor asked. "Tabatha, who else?" Velvet replied. Something else caught Eleanor's attention, the bandages on Velvet's left arm were missing. "Velvet...Your arm!" Velvet held up her now human left arm in response. "Yeah, I can taste again too. I still don't understand it all myself."
Eleanor was at a loss for words, she wasn't dreaming, Velvet was really back. Velvet sighed and grabbed the bottle of rum she had bought earlier in the day, the same kind Aifread's crew always enjoyed, and poured herself a glass. "Wait, you're drinking?" Eleanor finally spoke. "Yeah, I'm not 19 anymore I guess." Velvet replied, in truth she hadn't aged a day in 4 years, but she could drink on paper, and she felt she could probably use it for what was coming. "So, Eleanor...How's Phi?" Velvet finally asked, her gaze turning to her drink. Eleanor's heart sank, the brief happiness she felt for seeing her friend alive and well was replaced by a sense of dread. She was going to have to tell her what happened, but she decided to go with the safest answer while she tried to figure out the best way to explain it. "...He misses you." Eleanor said softly. Velvet closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh. "I'm...going to miss him too..." Eleanor turned her gaze downwards. "So...you already know..." Velvet slowly nodded her head. "Velvet...I'm so sorry..." Eleanor's voice cracked as she spoke.
"Heh...I deserve this don't I?" Velvet finally spoke after what felt like several minutes of staring blankly into her glass. "Velvet?..." Eleanor turned her gaze upward with concern. "Even though he's still out there, I won't be able to see him ever again...All I can do is tell myself that he's watching over me, that he's doing his best to protect me, that wherever he is now, he's happy...But I'll never be able to see it for myself. This is exactly what I put him through on that day, isn't it? This is what drove him to give up his chance for a normal life..." Velvet closed her eyes, her face began to show hints of a pained expression. "That's not fair Velvet. You didn't have a choice." Eleanor retorted. "I know...But now he's gone to me...And part of me wishes I was still gone too now, even though I know it's the last thing he would have wanted..." Velvet's voice began to break, the pained expression on her face grew more intense. "Velvet, please-" Eleanor tried to interject. "I have nobody left Eleanor. Celica, Laphi, my friends from home, and now I can't see Phi anymore, I'm all that's left now...It's only me." "That's not true Velvet, and you know it! I'm still here!" Eleanor snapped. "I have no right to call you my friend, Eleanor. I used you. I would have killed you at any moment if I thought it would benefit me. I would have done that to anybody, Rokorou, Eizen, Magilou...There was even a time I would have done it to Phi." Eleanor heard enough, and swatted the glass away from Velvet. "Velvet. You're right, the last thing Phi would want is to lose you again, but next above that is to see you like this. He gave up his chance to live a normal life so everybody else could live a peaceful, happy one, and imagine how he's going to feel when he sees you like this in spite of that. I don't know how or why, but you've been given a second chance, and you are not going to waste it sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. I'm not going to let you." Velvet sat silently, staring at the empty space on the counter where her drinking glass used to be. "I don't know what I'm going to do now Eleanor...I know I can't just drink myself to death like this, but I just feel so...empty." "It's okay not to know, Velvet. Just try to find something, anything to live for, it doesn't have to happen overnight, but just try to find something. I'll be there for you if you need help, write me, come see me if I'm in the neighborhood, about anything, even if you just want to talk. Just promise me that you won't let this ruin you again Velvet. Don't let this make you more bitter, insular, and angry than you already are."
Velvet sat silently for a few minutes before she finally stood up. "I should get going now...thanks for listening." Eleanor stopped her. "Wait, where are you going to stay? The sun's down, you can't go out there in your state!" "Dunno. I'll find something, and you don't need to worry about me, I might not be a Daemon Lord anymore, but I can still take care of myself." Velvet extended the new blade she installed in her gauntlet. "That's what I'm afraid of! If you chop somebody up I'm the one who's going to be stuck filling out the paperwork, you know." Eleanor retorted. "Not my problem." Velvet shrugged. "Velvet. Stay." Eleanor said angrily. "Here, the couch should be-Wait." A quiver of crossbow bolts caught Eleanor's attention. "Velvet...What are these?" Eleanor asked accusingly. "Flamestone bolts, figured they'd come in handy out there." Velvet replied calmly. "Velvet! Those were banned! Even we aren't allowed to use these things! Since when do you even use a crossbow? Where did you find one like this anyways? This thing looks like it's from the future or something." Eleanor ranted. "Like I said, long story." Velvet deadpanned. Eleanor facepalmed. "If you're going to commit war crimes, can you at least do it outside of my presence?! I'm on thin enough ice as is." "Not my pro-" "Just go to sleep! I'll see you in the morning." Eleanor angrily stormed off.
Daylight cracked over the horizon as Magilou stepped outside her cottage. "Well, thank god for another night without rain. If Eizen was here I'd probably get hit with a flash flood." Magilou spoke to herself as she grabbed a ladder and set it against the side of her home. "It's going to be a pain going into town and getting all the materials I need for a permanent fix, and who knows how long the rain's going to hold even without the Reaper's Curse looming over me, I'll just have to make do for now." Magilou continued talking to herself as she made her way up the ladder with a bundle of tarp. "And here's where our majestic dove lost her wings, such a pitiful sight indeed." Magilou began unraveling the tarp over the hole in the roof as a flash of bright blue blinked high above off in the distance.
The Jet fell into a nosedive as the systems began to power back on after the jump in space/time. "CAUTION: STALL WARNING. CAUTION: STALL WARNING." The Jet's computer squawked as it continued to lose altitude. Finally, with a hefty roar, the F-35s engines powered back on. "CAUTION: PULL UP. CAUTION: PULL UP"
"And there we go, now I just have to seal this down and I won't have to worry about my shower and my bed being in the same place, at least unless another vengeful birdie decides to fall from the sky." Magilou said as she admired her handiwork, not bad for a DIY fix. However, just then, some kind of winged thing soared mere feet above Magilou's head with a deafening roar. The tarp she had unrolled over the hole flew up in her face and covered her head, causing her to involuntarily lurch back, which in turn caused her to lose her balance and stumble backwards off the roof. Magilou shrieked as she fell backwards and hit the ground. Just as she managed to start getting back up, the ladder she had placed teetered backwards and crashed down onto her head. The winged monstrosity looped backwards and roared back towards Magilou's cottage, just short of it, its flame-spewing rear oriented itself downwards, causing it to hover in place. "WOMAN DETECTED. RUNNING FACIAL MATCH." Magilou was too disoriented from both the fall and the impact of the ladder to even think about what was going on. "YOU ARE NOT VELVET CROWE. CONTINUING SEARCH." The booming, menacing voice called out before its rear re-oriented itself horizontally and it soared off into the distant sky. Magilou could only lay on her back and recount what had happened. "Ya really stepped in it this time, haven't ya Vel?" Magilou uttered before she fell unconscious.