Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) in this devastating but brief encounter… especially for the one who doesn't understand.
~保護者~
"Reunited"
~保護者~
When he refused to do what he was told, he was electrocuted. Still, Black Doom resisted. Always, always he resisted. But his instincts, the primary guiding forces in his life, were torn. They wanted to disobey and fight for freedom. They wanted to escape pain through any means necessary. They wanted to do what his mind knew was right and not listen to her, ever. They wanted to ignore that logic to save his own skin… especially after enduring this for so many years again.
His captor approached to taunt him once more. It was a sadistic ritual, truly. "I specifically asked you to kill him," Nareish murmured. Gripping his head tightly, she forced him to bow it low before her. Trapped as he was in a kneeling position by her powers, he could do little more than growl in his own defense. "Your suffering ends when obedience begins. This soldier of mine is nothing to me. He means even less to you. Why not simply end his life as you were told?"
Instincts warred. Black Doom glanced at the prone and bloodied form she had brought before him mere hours ago. Or… perhaps it had been longer. The days had blurred together to the point where he could scarcely keep track. The passage of time was meaningless in here. This was hell, plain and simple.
One of the most basic teachings his kind lived by was their views on fear. It wasn't a weakness, nor a source of shame. It was as natural as any other instinct or emotion. But that didn't mean they had to blindly succumb to it. Fear was never to be a guiding force in their lives. Fear did not determine their fates. They did that on their own, forging ahead no matter how much fear may have tried to hinder them. He refused to live his life any differently now, no matter how much he had come to dread her voice, her scent, and especially her touch. Fear would not rule him.
Electrocution resumed swiftly. Agony laced through him, wrenching a strained snarl from his lips. "Come now," Nareish murmured while never letting up on her attack. "Are you becoming a masochist now, pet? I have seen many times before the kind of savagery you are capable of unleashing on your prey. I know you prefer to hunt rather than have prey merely dumped at your feet, but surely you will find enjoyment in causing a bloody death regardless. I know you have it in you."
"I… will… not," he bit out, though he was barely able to speak as the electricity continued to violently wrack his body. Talking back was dangerous. Far more dangerous than silent refusals were most of the time. She made him regret it instantly by introducing her damned whip into the situation for the first time in quite a while.
"If you think that mere words will be enough to save you, then you are mistaken," she told him, lashing his back again and again. She spaced each attack out to ensure that he felt every new strike as fully as the last, preventing him from going numb to them. "You are alone here. No one is coming to help you. No one even knows that you are with me. This only ends when I get what I want. You will learn to obey, no matter how many centuries it takes for me to break you. You belong to me. The sooner you accept that, the easier your life will become."
She was… right, in a way. He was alone against her. He wasn't being looked for right now. His situation genuinely was unknown to anyone else. Not for the first time, he caught himself contemplating how hopeless this was. Conflicting instincts did nothing to help him decide how he could proceed from here. By himself as he was, he couldn't escape her. In the face of that, what future did he really have? What chance did he actually have of winning? How long could he even hold out? These weren't questions he could answer. But… he couldn't and wouldn't give in to her. His son and grandchildren were still out there. He would live long enough to see them again. No other outcome was acceptable.
Time passed. How much, he no idea. Any sense of pain had long since dulled. He'd started to retreat within his mind, for it was the only place to retreat, but then something… happened. Energy belonging to neither him nor Nareish coiled around the cuffs on his wrists and shattered them. In the seconds that followed, several things happened at once. Behind him, Nareish let out a "tch" and muttered something about "damned, meddling Faein". He reacted instinctively by shifting into his most frequent form (the one with the barbed tail) and whipped around to attack his torturer. His claws, teeth, and barb all sank into flesh.
The apparent clone vanished in an instant. At the same moment, the changes she had made to the flow of time within the hive were undone. With his previous numbness gone, all he could feel was hostility and rage. His need to attack and kill was far from satiated. The blinding urge to unleash violence upon anything he could began overtaking him more than it ever had since the birth of his son. Screeching in rage, he whirled around and tore Nareish's minion's throat out in a single devastating bite. Far, far from calmed down even after taking the time to savage the person's body with his claws, he vanished from the hive.
He needed to destroy something.
~保護者~
Hm. Now there's a metal I've never seen before. Sothan looked at the ingot in his hand, then glanced at his nephew. He had half a mind to interrupt the younger wolf's smithing to ask what this strange new metal was, but in the end he decided against it. I'll let him work in peace. He's quite focused already. I would hate to interrupt. 'Sides, I've got plenty to work on, myself.
Setting the ingot back where he found it took only a moment. With a quiet word to Li, he excused himself from the forge and retreated outside. I really ought to make sure I fixed everything out here. Hammer in hand, he paced around outside and looked for anything that may have been left in a state of disrepair. In the end, there wasn't much left to fix up. He glanced around to ensure he was done, then hefted his hammer up onto his shoulder. It's good to see this place in proper working order. It's too bad it sat around wrecked for so long, but… at least it's better now.
Smiling, he angled an ear toward the forge. It sounded like Li was still hard at work. Staying out of his way for a while longer would be easy enough. Although… Sothan had had plans to get to work on his own weapon earlier. He'd found a smidgen of inspiration during his and Li's conversation about chameleons, and his idea had taken on a more concrete form since then. Alright, so maybe I will go bug him about that metal after all. He chuckled softly to himself and headed inside.
No sooner than he'd shut the door, he heard a thud outside. Then another. And another. He spun around and opened the door again, then slammed it shut with an annoyed groan. Gods be damned… Already? It hasn't even been a week since I was revived! Sure, he'd been anticipating that Nareish would catch wind of his revival and would possibly want to verify her intel. He'd just been hoping, apparently in vain, that it would take longer than this.
At least these ruffians don't feel that strong. Still, warning his nephew seemed prudent. More and more people were arriving outside. There was a pound on the door. Sothan set his hammer down so that it was leaning against the door, more than adequately holding it shut. That didn't stop the door from soon cracking, though, and he grimaced. You break my door, I break you, he silently threatened while turning away to jog back into the forge speaking to Li when the kid was focused sometimes startled him as he recalled, but it was unavoidable this time. Sothan resolved to help fix his nephew's current project later if need be. "We have company, bud," he called from the entryway. A short distance behind him, the door splintered loudly. Rather determined company, at that.
Li brought his hammer down once more and set a hand on the unfinished work, preserving it's current state with a faint spell. "Yeah… I can tell," the young wolf replied, teleporting a metal bar into his hand. "I assume they're coming to see if you're around again, yeah?"
"That's my guess," Sothan said. The front door splintered further behind him. This time, bits of wood were sent sailing inward and peppered the floor. "I get the impression that they won't be willing to leave quietly."
"Figures," Li said with a low sigh. "Not that we can let them. You don't just break a smith's things and get away with it."
Sothan grinned. "'Course not." He turned to look in the direction of the door and put his hands on his hips. "In the spirit of that, let's keep these guys outside for the duration of this."
Li shifted that bar in his hands and allowed it to manifest into a blazing warhammer. "Novei!" he called out. "We've got unwanted guests!" With those words out of his mouth, he teleported outside to meet the trespassers. Sothan raised an eyebrow, then just went to collect his own hammer. As soon as he grabbed it, he swung the door open and knocked all the intruders back with a solid impact from his weapon.
Li was ready for them all to be blown back, swinging wide and sending them all into the outside walls of his home. It briefly satisfied him that he was capable of helping defend his home, especially when Novei appeared outside with him. "Hell they doin'?"
"Coming to check if Sothan is alive, and they were also busting down my door," Li answered, jumping a bit when she leapt forward and drove an unnecessarily large blade through one of them. Almost forgot that she's just… used to that. With her focused on brutalizing what was nearly a corpse, Li launched his hammer into one of the trespassers and let it slam them against the wall again, calling it back and swinging it backward to shatter the blade of another enemy.
On the other end of the small battlefield, Sothan took hold of his hammer with both hands and gave it a mighty swing. The opponent he was facing was about the same size as him, but looked physically sturdier. Still, the person was carried off their feet by the blow. Their body exploded into a mist of blood. A shockwave exploded outward along the arc of Sothan's swing, killing several others and throwing the rest away.
Nearby, a portal opened and more enemies spilled out of it. While initially alarmed by the sheer number of them, he soon realized that most of them were unconscious. A magical crackle on the other side of the portal seemed to explain why. However, he didn't let himself relax just yet. There's no telling who or what is over there. Just because the user of that magic isn't on their side doesn't mean they're on ours.
He was distracted from wondering too much about it. A fresh scuffle broke out between him and a few additional soldiers. It didn't last long, but by the time it ended the fight beyond the portal seemed to have escalated significantly. So much so, in fact, that the magic user themselves wound up either jumping or being tossed through said portal - either to escape an explosion of sorts or because the explosion had already caught them. Whatever the reason, they landed badly once through and wound up in a sort of tumbling roll for a moment before catching themselves.
Now, Sothan wasn't much of a talker with people outside of his family. What he was instead was observant of others. He tended to "people watch", as his sister had once called it. After so many years of doing it, he was rather skilled at carrying out such an action even while working or, as in cases like this one, grappling with a rather ticked-off foe who was aggressively trying to steal his hammer. Keeping an eye on the newcomer, whose aura was suspiciously hidden, was easy for him to do even now.
The person, a black-furred wolf like himself and Li, stood with his back to the fray and took a moment to brush off his robes with his hands. A flick of the man's fingers when he finished was all it took for magical ice to be conjured up and sent roaring back from whence he'd come, utterly freezing whoever might still have been alive there. Then the man turned to look through the portal, giving Sothan a sideways profile of him. And that made his blood run cold.
The eyes were wrong. Rather than the soft brown he was familiar with, the eyes he saw now were a shade of dark gold. Their pupils were narrowed into angry slits that began to slowly round back out as Sothan watched. That, too, was wrong. So too was the outfit. But that face… That face…! Almost too in shock to speak, he threw his opponent off and jumped far backward to stand right beside his nephew. "L-Li-" he choked out. His eyes never left the newcomer, almost desperate to keep track of the man lest he vanish from their lives all over again.
Li felt the hand of someone on his head and he kicked back to send them flying away. He then rushed forward to all but tackle the man. When said man did nothing but stare in open confusion, Sothan cleared his throat and asked softly, "Xin…?"
Now the man looked startled. "How… How did you know my real name?"
The youngest of the three wolves looked up, small tears welling up in his eyes. What…? He pulled himself away and looked the wolf dead in the eyes, confused as well. "Dad…? Do… do you not remember us?"
When Xin heard Li speak, he suddenly winced and held his head in his hands for a moment or two. He was utterly silent for the duration of those couple of moments before finally almost whispering, "...Li? I… You're Li?"
Li stopped for a long moment before his eyes widened. His eyes caught sight of those teeth and everything abruptly made sense. "Oh my god… You were turned into a vampire and lost your memories?" He had to take a moment just to process it all, his gaze falling elsewhere. "That… explains a lot, actually…" It's rare, but newly turned vampires sometimes lose their memories of their lives before being turned. Being around their home, family, or friends triggers the memories and makes them come back quickly, but if he wasn't with us at the time… Which means this is probably why he disappeared.
Sothan took a small step forward, quickly noticing the same details Li had just taken in. Odd that he managed to cling to the memory of his name… but this does seem to fit Li's theory regardless. He eyed Xin closely. He looks… distracted. Perhaps his memories are already returning? For now, he focused on turning around and knocking some of the surviving soldiers away from the group.
Eventually, Xin sank down onto his knees. It was all was rushing back and it was overwhelming him. I… I forgot my own… my own son… Yuma, too…
Li sat down beside Xin and set a hand on his father's shoulder, frowning out of concern. "Hey, are you alright?"
There was a long pause, but Xin eventually nodded. "Yeah, I'm… I'm alright. I just dinnae expect… that."
"Take a second. I've heard from a different vampire just how rough it can be," Li said softly, smiling a little. "There's a lot for you to remember."
"Rough" is a wee bit too weak of a word, Xin decided. He did what Li suggested regardless, though, and gave himself a bit longer to try to recover.
Novei decided now was the time to speak up, letting a body slide off her sword over her shoulder. "So, who the fuck is this?" Sothan decided to stay out of it for now, mostly because he had just about managed to take out the remaining enemies and wanted to get it done and over with.
Li glanced over to Novei with a bright smile. "This, Novei, is my father. He went missing a long time ago when I was a teen and… well, I never thought I'd see him again."
Xin finally lowered his hands from his head and managed a smile that, while weak, was very much like Li's. "Ah… yes. Though I dinnae mean to drop in quite like this."
"Don't be too worried about it," Li said softly, standing and offering a hand to his father. "Come inside. You need to sit down on something soft."
Accepting the hand, Xin pulled himself to his feet. He felt a bit shaky, what with all the emotions running through him, but he nevertheless managed to remain upright just fine. "I couldnae agree more," he said, trying to regain some of his normally lighthearted tone. "The ground is rather hard."
Li escorted his father to the door while Novei watched, dumbfounded by the fact that there was yet another person staying here, even if only temporarily. Sothan, meanwhile, struck down the final soldier and sighed. "Finally. Bastards." He began walking inside, motioning for Novei to go ahead and do the same.
Novei let out a little sigh and dematerialized her blade while walking on inside with him. Fuckin' hell. I have to share his attention with another person again?
~保護者~
A short time had passed since Saethrim had fallen asleep with Kial and Rose. Familiar energy coiled around his limbs without warning and dragged him through reality until he wound up in Nareish's pitch black throne room. As had been the case when she had captured and restrained Sein and Black Doom, something about the energy she was using to hold Saethrim prevented him from accessing any of his powers. Which, of course, meant he was stuck.
Nareish rose from her seat and walked over to him. She was idly gathering the length of a whip into her hand. It was soaked with Black Doom's blood and covered in his scent, the former of which had also splattered all over clothes and skin. None of it seemed to bother her or even bring her harm. "Well, now. You were easier to grab than I anticipated." Stopping a couple feet away, well out of potential headbutting range, she admitted, "I expected much more of a struggle from you of all people."
The man rolled his eyes and watched her. "I was asleep, fucker. Hell do you want with me now?" He was fully aware of the danger of this situation, and honestly he knew he likely wasn't going to make it out unscathed.
"A few things, as it happens,"Nareish drawled. "For one thing, I have decided you will be a uniquely valuable instrument in finally breaking my pet. I have brought him close, but he resists me. He will prove far less resilient against you." Her whip now fully gathered, she teleported it away who-knew-where.
Saethrim blinked once, narrowing his gaze. "You're a sick bitch. I wish you'd been killed before that dumbass gave you privilege."
"Alas, here I am, decidedly not dead." Nareish waved a hand and cleaned the blood off of herself. "Any final words before I proceed?"
"I'll find a way," Saethrim muttered, baring fangs. "And I will kill you. I will take delight in watching the life leave your eyes with my hand buried in your chest."
Nareish smiled. "For now, I will take my own pleasure in enjoying you unleashing that savagery on those you love. Take that little bobcat, for instance…"
Saethrim took in a slow, deep breath before staring into her eyes. "Fuck you, bitch. Get it over with so I can be purified faster and fucking kill you."
"As you wish," Nareish agreed. She needed no further goading to begin corrupting him in just the same way that she'd done with Sein most recently. The da Asani was utterly silent, staring at her with an untold amount of malicious intent. Once the corruption was finished, Nareish spoke again. "I have two orders. One, you are not to attack me or my soldiers. Is that understood?"
Saethrim grumbled under his breath and waved her off. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. What if they're in my way? Bastards like to show up in the worst places."
"In that situation, you may do as you wish," she conceded. "Any other objections?"
"Meh," Saethrim shrugged. "What's your other order?"
"Break Black Doom for me," Nareish said simply. "I don't care how much you have to damage him, provided he survives it. However, you are not to harm his descendants in the process. I have reason to want them alive and relatively healthy. After that, you may do what you wish and kill who you wish, provided I have not already told you otherwise." While telling him this, she released him from his bonds.
"You've got a weird interest in the leader of the Black Arms," Saethrim said. "What for?"
"A weapon," Nareish smiled. "That's all you need to know."
"Not gonna be the best weapon," Saethrim idly commented, shrugging. "But what do I know? I'm just their God."
"He is precisely what I am looking for," Nareish countered easily. "Now go, do what I have asked and then sow whatever form of chaos wherever you want."
Saethrim vanished in an instant, letting his body take the form of a Black Arms. This the only way he'd reasonably survive Black Doom's blood. And he was about to be creating quite a lot of it.
~保護者~
Stupid shit sword.
Back up in the overhanging branches above Ryuji's house, Haru held the weapon in question. Or, at least, what was left of it. When he'd teleported it to himself, all he got was a handle with a bit of the blade still on it, along with a variety of shards. It irritated him that it was apparently shattered during the attack he'd suffered, but… he'd stolen it not even two weeks ago. He wasn't particularly attached to the thing. It was just less than desirable to be stuck with nothing but a knife again.
Sighing, he brushed the shards off of his legs where they'd landed, then tossed the handle to the side. By the time it hit the ground, he'd reclined with his arms behind his head. If Shei wasn't using my old sword, I'd just take that. I'll need to look somewhere else. He closed his eyes. Whatever. Not like I can deal with it right now, anyway.
A short amount of time passed. Somehow, he got the sense that he (and, by extension, Ryuji) was being approached again. Opening his eyes, he looked up at the sky. She did say she'd be back in a couple hours, he mused. Apparently she's bold and punctual. He shook his head and sat up, then dropped down out of the tree like he had earlier.
Unlike the last time, however, he felt a sharp stab of pain somewhere in his side and chest the moment his feet impacted the roof. This wrenched a couple coughs from him. A small amount of blood entered his mouth, but not enough to be too concerning to him. Still, he made an immediate decision. Alright… no more jumping. Clearly. He sighed again and moved to sit, crossing his legs and rubbing at the spot on his side that was hurting. Apparently, he was waiting here rather than going to the ground. Wasting energy to teleport such a short distance wasn't ideal when he was already still tired. I should probably be making more of an effort to sleep.
The cat walked up to him suddenly, teleporting to be on the roof when she sensed his presence in particular. "The hell did you do to yourself?" she immediately asked, taking a seat beside him and setting a bag down in front of her.
"I jumped," Haru shrugged. "It hasn't been a problem until now."
Eila was rather bold again, shifting closer and setting a hand on his chest while her eyes glowed a gentle purple. "You've agitated your wounds."
"I noticed. That's why I'm sitting here and not going anywhere else." Haru crossed his arms. "I'm not dumb enough to continually make it worse."
"The point is that you've already done it," Eila sighed, pulling her hand away. "I've temporarily fixed it, but for the time being, no more chameleon shit. Try to relax, or I will have to be more drastic."
"That's easier said than done," Haru grumbled. He wasn't the best at relaxing and he knew it.
"Make it easier, then," Eila huffed, crossing her arms. "I fought for your life once and goddamn I'm not allowing you to just hurt yourself."
As if it's that simple to do, Haru thought in response to her first sentence. Other than that, though, he just waved her off. He'd already decided he was going to stay put on the roof for now, so there was no point in arguing.
Eila glanced away a little, pulling the bag closer to Haru with her magic. "Here. Take this."
He grabbed it and opened it to look inside. Contained within were clothes that were overall very similar to what he was currently wearing, and as such he had no complaints. Heedless of his current company, he simply took off his current shirt and hood and swapped them for another, cleaner set. He'd deal with his pants later. At some point, anyway.
Eila noticed that he didn't change it and blinked once. "If it bothers you to change in front of me, I can turn away. There is little I did not see while examining your body the first time, however."
Onyx eyes rolled hard. "I'm a chameleon," he reminded her. "I don't care. Outsiders typically do."
In this moment, Eila blanked on what he might have meant and turned fully to the chameleon. "Huh?"
"How little do you actually know about chameleons, even while you're waltzing into our territory whenever you feel like it?" he asked her in return, somewhat incredulous.
Am I exhausted or did I just not understand what he said…? Eila paused for a moment before outright ignoring what he said. "Hold on, what was stopping you from changing them?"
With exaggerated patience, he decided to spell it out for her. "Outsiders are overly modest and often quite prudish, in my experience. My people are the opposite."
Oh. Right. Forgot that's a thing. "I forgot in all of the years where I didn't give a fuck about what I looked like to anyone around me. I don't stride around naked because I'd hate to bother my few friends."
He looked at her for a long moment before simply saying, "You are odd. Even for an outsider."
"Spend most of your life in a haze of insanity and you'd understand," Eila shrugged. "I'm not like most outsiders."
"Evidently." Haru laid back on the roof tiling and put his arms behind his head. "For one thing, I take it you're being literal about the insanity thing."
"Mm, I'd say it was worse than insanity, but the universal language lacks the tactful bliss of letting me explain that it was a fucking nightmare even for insanity."
Her explanation actually managed to earn a chuckle. "I suppose that's one way to put it."
Eila managed a small chuckle as well. "Yeah. Kinda ruined me for the longest time. Dunno if I'll ever recover."
"You seem miles better'n that to me," Haru shrugged. "Obviously I'm basing that on only a tiny amount of intel, but regardless."
"What's a mile to a light-year?" Eila posed, turning to look at him. "I've made strides in the right direction, but I'll probably die well before I can make it to being okay."
"Not if you don't let yourself," was the frank response.
Once more, Eila didn't quite pick up what he meant, frowning. "What?"
"If you actually put forth the effort not to die, you just might live," Haru told her. "It isn't that hard."
Eila gave him a bland, incredulous glance. "You do realize that my body is fragile from years of neglect, correct?"
"Didn't really notice, no." It could be said that he hadn't particularly cared, either, but in a way he supposed that that wasn't true. He was at least a little curious about this strange woman. Not that Haru intended to tell her that, or to leave his mind open enough that she could see his thoughts on the matter. Still, he did keep talking. "You don't need a strong body, anyway. Chameleons don't have a lick of magic in us and never have, but even I can sense how powerful yours is. Mental powers can be uniquely powerful forces on the battlefield as well. You aren't exactly helpless. Meaning my point still stands."
"The issue stands that there will be many threats that I simply can do nothing about, and that seems to be where existence likes placing me," Eila said with a light shrug. "Not that I plan to make it easy for anyone to kill me. I'd sooner kill myself." Her gaze turned away from him finally, a low sigh escaping. She didn't know why she was still here, admittedly. Since she was sure that Haru was okay, normally the plan would simply be to go home and try to rest. However… Eila felt enough at ease here that she was relaxed. "We'll see how it goes, though."
"Suicide is ill-advised," was all Haru said in response to that, eyes on the cloudy sky.
"Better than a few alternatives," Eila added, laying herself out on the roof. "I'd know that well enough."
"I assume you have allies. If whatever it is you're facing in your life is insurmountable for you to handle alone, then rely on them. That is the whole point of having allies. That's why they're there."
The cat turned back to Haru, furrowing her eyebrows. Three times I have been confused… What in the world? "I am more under the assumption that someone I've wronged will come for me."
"If your allies care at all about you, they'll protect you regardless," Haru told her frankly.
Eila decided that it wasn't worth replying to that. She had plenty more points she could make, but ultimately they didn't matter. Either she died or she didn't. "Ignoring that, recovering isn't going horribly. My allies have been… very helpful."
"Then focus on that," he said. "Stop focusing on how things might go wrong. If they do, deal with it then."
The cat paused, then something dawned on her. "It's hard not to dwell when I use my mind to simulate what the future may hold… And doing it for so many years, watching my blood spilled in countless possible futures…" Eila took in a deep breath, then let it out. "Kinda takes away some of that optimism. Makes you think about what's real."
Haru turned his head to frown at her. "You want to focus on what's real? How about focusing on the fact that no future is set in stone? Not one. I'd wager that you already know that, yet you're acting as though your murder is a guarantee. That isn't logical. It's just idiotic."
Eila blinked once slowly, shaking her head. "'M not an idiot," she mumbled under her breath, bringing up a hand to rub at an eye. "Fuckin'..." The hell is going on?
"No, you're not," he agreed immediately. "But there's a difference between being an idiot and just doing something idiotic."
"Hell…" Eila moved to stand, managing to merely flop over in his direction onto her stomach. "Fuck. Tired…"
"Then go to sleep. Not like I have any reason to endanger you if you let down your guard for a while." Haru closed his own eyes. I also need to sleep, anyway. The cat didn't get words out in reply, a tiny snore escaping her due to her position. She had obviously been exhausted. Huffing softly, Haru let himself slowly drift off as well.
~保護者~
At first, Shadow was too out of it to really understand that he'd woken up. It wasn't until he felt movement on his arm that he began gaining a proper awareness of his surroundings. He was on his back still, which wasn't his preferred way to sleep. Attempting to move, though, was swiftly proven to be a mistake. The pain he was rewarded with caused him to let out a hiss. Vaguely, he recalled Toru telling him that he'd made that sound once before. Remembering his partner's tired humor regarding that at the time helped him to breathe through this.
It may have been the sound he'd made or the fact that he'd moved a little, but whatever the reason he felt movement on his arm again. Turning his head, he looked down at the tiny ball of fluff that he was cradling against his side. A familiar sense of warmth filled him when he looked down at her, the same as it did when he looked at Lia or Soren. That feeling helped to relax him further.
Elize squirmed a little more, then let out a tiny sneeze. This prompted some whines and general fussing, so he moved the baby onto his chest to hold her better. Soon afterward, she settled back down. He looked around the room once he was sure that she'd gone back to sleep, only to find that he was alone. Toru was close by, that much he was sure of. Most likely, Toru was tending to the other children. He could feel the chameleon's energy gently brushing up against his senses with soothing regularity despite how busy Toru seemed to be. That alone made him want to let himself drift back off again.
For now, he held off. A question tugged at his mind. Why did Father leave? Mobius wasn't a place Black Doom liked. Shadow knew and understood that. He understood the reasons why very well, in fact. But he'd been so sure that his father had intended to stay all the same. That was what Shadow had wanted. He wanted his father to be there, to explain what had happened since he'd vanished and if he was alright. Maybe even just for… support. It felt silly, even childish, to want the latter. Still, the idea remained.
But it didn't matter. Black Doom hadn't stuck around. The feeling that evoked wasn't one Shadow was familiar with. He supposed if he had to name it he'd guess it to be… disappointment? It seemed to fit the bill. Regardless, it was pointless to keep focusing on it. He was exhausted, in pain, and strangely hot. No medicines or anything else at his disposal would help with any of that. Sleep was the only tool in his arsenal. It was what he most wanted right now, anyway. He allowed his eyes to slip shut.
When he woke next, it was because he sensed someone's abrupt appearance in the room. He felt a bit more hot and exhausted than before, but his pain levels remained about the same. Opening his eyes wasn't too difficult overall. When he accomplished this, his gaze fell upon Ghune. Protective instincts that he hadn't previously been aware of feeling seconds before eased once he saw her. She is not a threat to us, he reminded himself to encourage them to settle fully. Within no time, they had. That was for the best. They had started to make Elize restless and ill at ease again, but once they were calm she was as well.
Ghune leaned down by him and spoke softly once the two were settled. "I brought Ryint with me. Something happened and I am keeping her by my side for a short time."
Shadow nodded faintly in understanding while using his free hand to rub at his eyes. Though he was making an effort to wake up further, he didn't feel as though he was succeeding. His thoughts felt distracted, too, and rapidly turned back to Toru. Where…? It took less than a second to locate the other man again and to determine that he was still just as close by as before. Realizing that allowed him to refocus on Ghune in short order.
The woman ever so softly set a hand on his shoulder, trying to help comfort him. "Are you okay? I understand that the process is rough for your kind, but… I did not expect it to bring you such difficulty."
"I'm fine," Shadow mumbled. He managed to shift just slightly to get more comfortable, causing Elize to whine a plaintive complaint at him in reply.
"Hardly," Ghune said gently, glancing to Elize. "I understand if you are against the idea, but I could take the child briefly to allow you to rest further."
Shadow immediately hesitated, feeling protective all over again. But he took a slow breath and forced himself to relax a bit. "You can hold her," he conceded finally, gathering the baby up to hand over.
Ghune wrapped her hands around the child and brought Elize close to her chest, making sure to keep a firm but gentle grasp. "You two have given birth to a wonderfully adorable child."
"Toru named her Elize," Shadow informed her quietly after a noticeable delay.
"Elize…" Ghune blinked once, then smiled ever so softly. "Fitting." She shifted the baby to let Ryint see, and the smaller woman beamed at the sight.
Ryint giggled a little and brushed a finger against Elize's cheek. "Absolutely adorable. Couldnae been more proud of ya myself, Shadow. S'pose Toru played a small part in 'er."
Crimson eyes blinked slowly, puzzling over the unusual change in her accent. His exhaustion loosened his tongue enough that he, for once, gave immediate vent to his curiosity. "Why are you speaking differently?"
"Ah, I was around Akol," Ryint explained. "Got quite the habit of taking on the speech patterns and accents of others by accident." Shadow nodded slowly, then turned his attention back to Elize. He was strangely and acutely in tune with her pulse and breathing, to the point where he could tell in an instant that she was starting to get upset over something. He wasn't sure what it was until she shifted a bit in Ghune's arms. Apparently comfortable again, she promptly relaxed. Thus, he was able to do so as well.
Ghune smiled a little at this and leaned her head down to press her nose against Elize's forehead. The tiny girl squeaked out an equally tiny complaint. "I understand that I smell your Darkness and Toru's within this child, but what has caused yours to have such a resurgence as of late?"
"It was dormant most of my life," Shadow explained. "Something woke it up a while ago. It acts up in small ways now and then, then goes quiet again." Though it is not doing anything now. Is she only aware of it because of scents? It was possible, and he was too tired to think of any other possibilities.
"Hm," Ghune thought for a moment. "It may well have to do with the loss of all of your metallic body. I can no longer smell the hideous amounts of electricity from your brain and whatever was present there before."
"A Faein is responsible for that," Shadow reported quietly, moving a hand to rub at his eyes again. He didn't explain further.
Ghune blinked once at this explanation, but ultimately didn't question it. "Well, I suppose it's for the best, my child. You may well find more power in your flesh than what was forced inside of you."
…"My child"? After a pause, Shadow decided to brush that off. "Perhaps."
"Regardless, I understand that you wish for rest, and I do not desire to keep you awake. Would you like us to remain in silence or step out for the time being? I can leave Elize here or take her with me, whichever you desire," Ghune murmured.
"I do not want her taken out," Shadow said immediately, those protective feelings returning once more. He again forced himself to calm down right afterward. "You can stay if you wish."
Ghune nodded gently, taking a seat and keeping Elize close to herself. "In that case, I will be silent. Rest now."
It was only then that Shadow finally gave up on rubbing his eyes to keep himself away and just lowered his arm. He had sort of started drifting off, too, when something else snagged his attention. It took some effort to focus on, but once he realized what he was sensing he grew tense all over again. "...Something is amiss with Father."
There was a long moment of silence, then Ghune stood and handed Elize to Ryint. "There's something wrong with Saethrim, too. No way this is unrelated…"
At about the same time, Alana suddenly appeared in the room. "I apologize for the intrusion," she looked at Shadow and then at Ryint and Ghune, "but I have located your friend. He is with the God of the Forge, Li."
"If he's with Li, then he's safe," Ghune observed, looking fully to Alana. "I need you to return to your home with your husband and child. I fear that something terrible may happen momentarily." I have never sensed this much bloodlust from Saethrim. I don't like it.
"I understand. It will be from afar, but I will watch over this home in your stead for now." Alana gave Ryint a nod of farewell and vanished.
Ryint blinked, then turned her attention to Ghune, sniffing the air. "Ghune… why do you have the blood of an Immortal…?"
The vampire simply let the preserved drop of blood fall into a vial of liquid. "Borrowed power… Was enough to raise our people. Didn't use it all."
It was hardly his place to speak on this, but Shadow nonetheless murmured, "Do not be careless." It is bad enough that Father may be endangered already.
"I won't be careless," Ghune mumbled. "But…" She didn't finish the sentence, teleporting away. She needed to discard some of this gear.
~保護者~
Following his conversation with Steam, Espio returned to Hyale. Like many other chameleons were already doing, he began to sift through the ruins of his home. As much as he didn't want to be here right now, he also didn't… want to go to where Aku was. He wasn't ready to deal with his friend's death yet. And he suspected Armaris would show up here eventually, too.
The wood burned his hands when he grabbed chunks of it to move it aside. Although he narrowed his eyes slightly in pain, he mostly ignored the sensation. He needed to take stock of what was left, see what things had survived. Already, he could tell that there wouldn't be much. All of his food and herbs were burnt away into little more than ashes. Every weapon he'd had in the house (being mortal weapons as they all were) had been melted into useless slag. Even the damn alcohol was destroyed.
As much as that all bothered him, it somehow bothered him more that his children's things were gone. Neither had owned much, but what few things they had owned had been burned away and couldn't simply be repaired. Zei's first toy and Sako's little blanket were among the losses. Thinking about that hit him, and hit him hard. Those two… he missed them like crazy. Far more than he had anticipated in the past. He'd managed to keep his mind off of it lately by keeping busy with other things, but…
Perhaps it was better not to think about that. Not right now, at least. Instead, he resumed digging through the rubble. Only… energy coiled around the wood in his hands and gently tugged it away. He had time to frown, but that was all he could do before a voice spoke to him and the other chameleons in the area. The hell?
"I apologize for the suddenness of my actions," said a woman's voice. All around them, plants began returning to life. Even the massive trees were recovering with ease. "My name is Aethra. I am not within your territories, I promise you. I am merely helping from afar. You did not deserve to have your homes torn apart like this, or to lose so many of your kin. Restoring your homes and reviving so many people all at once will be tiring, so I will not be able to do this more than once right now. Forgive me for that."
While they all watched and listened, their houses were restored to their former states. People who had perished within the village reappeared all at once. Stunned, Espio could only look on in silence. Then he made himself move and jumped up onto his porch high above the ground. Not seeing Aku's disguised form within the branches around his home hurt, but he forced himself to simply continue inside. Once there, he looked around. He soon felt an odd sense of relief. Everything is back.
He pulled his communicator off of his wrist with a sigh and texted Armaris. "Hyale has been restored again, somehow. I believe it was a Faein. It is safe for you to return now. I will… deal with Aku later. Leave him where he is for now." With nothing else to say, he set the device on the table and went to the floor compartment where he kept his alcohol. It had been a while since he'd had anything to drink, and after a day like this he was keen on changing that. Though, he took care not to open anything too strong.
After taking a long drink from his chosen bottle, he set it on the table as well and closed the compartment back up. He then went to a different compartment, this one in the wall near where the food was stored. In this compartment, pots, pans, and the like were stored. The one next to it contained plates, cups, chopsticks, spoons, bowls, and those sorts of things. He pulled a cutting-board-like pan out of the former and a pair of metal chopsticks out of the latter. For now, he left both open.
Returning to the floor, he uncovered one last hidden compartment in the center of the room. Hidden beneath the panel he removed was a sort of hearth that was used for cooking. Old shinobi tricks kept any flames from spreading out of there, rendering it safe to use. He went ahead and got a fire going, then left briefly to open the wooden window shutters. The front doorway was already open, as always, but doing this would help further air things out.
The fire was going strong already. He let it eat through some of the older firewood, leaving less fuel for it to feed off of. This caused it to gradually grow a bit smaller. It was now a more appropriate size, and he set the pan over it on some metal supports built around the hearth itself. While that was heating up, he went into the food compartment to pull some things out. He grabbed some spices and a few different plants and set them on the table.
After that, he teleported away briefly. Earlier in the day, prior to the attack, he had nabbed a couple large fish from a surprisingly lively stream. Each catch had been cleaned with care and otherwise prepared already, and he had left them hanging from a branch near his roof to dry some. He now grabbed them and returned inside. Rather than get another dish, he used his Darkness to create a sort of cutting board on the table, as well as a knife.
Both fish were cut up into bite-size pieces, then seasoned. He then cut up small amounts of material from the plants he had grabbed and mixed them into the pile. They were there for added flavor, nothing more. Everything was then taken to the pan and placed atop it, which then allowed him to let the board and knife vanish. He seated himself, chopsticks in hand, by the fire and began moving things around slowly to ensure it cooked properly. This was something he had only just started to do when he sensed Armaris's arrival.
The cat appeared suddenly within the home, dropping from the inside of the roof onto the floor with a bright smile. "Wow! You weren't kidding when you said the place was restored! It looks just like it did before everything happened!"
Espio blinked, then nodded. "Yes, it does," he agreed. "For once, I do not have to rebuild it myself."
Armaris beamed about this and her tail stood upright. "That's really good." For a moment, her expression softened and she walked closer to Espio, taking one of his hands in her own. "I… made sure that Aku's body was covered in my Darkness for the time being. Okay?"
"...Alright." Espio took in a breath and let it out slowly. I will need to bury him soon. He did his best to brush the thought aside and focused on serving up equal portions of fish into two bowls. "You said you made progress with your magic?" he asked in an effort to change the subject.
Without missing a beat, she replied. "Mhm! It's been slow, but I've apparently really improved. That Cyril guy actually seems to know what he's talking about, so it was helpful."
Espio inclined his head. "You seem pleased with the results," he noted.
"Yup, but I doubt it's a good idea to show you. I'd hate to break the house and make you fix it right now," she explained, nestling herself against his side. "Unless you wanna see it for yourself."
"Eat first," Espio huffed, amused. He handed her a bowl and a set of chopsticks. "You look worn out from your training."
Armaris blinked once and stared at the bowl, eyes widening in surprise. "Wow, you made this? I didn't think you'd bother with cooking much, since chameleons don't really do that much."
"We cook plenty," Espio corrected. As he spoke, he doused the cookfire and grabbed his own bowl. "We seldom cook meat, specifically, unless it is fish. You can cook plenty of things with plant foods as well."
Armaris gently pulled him over to her with a tendril of Darkness and kissed him on the lips, smiling with a warm gaze. "You're sweet, you know?"
"I am not," Espio huffed, though he wasn't being serious. He kissed her as well for a moment, then let her go so that he could take a bite of his own food.
"I'm the last person you should lie to, Espio," Armaris teased, taking a bite of her own food as well with a gleeful giggle.
"Shinobi do not lie," Espio told her before adding, "Though we may occasionally twist the truth a bit."
Armaris mocked him playfully with a hand, making little annoying noises. "That's what you sound like when you're lying to me. Just accept that you can be sweet and I'll lay off."
"Never," Espio responded just as lightly. Armaris's emotions filled his senses just as they had earlier, and it felt as though they were rubbing off on him somewhat as well. This is much easier to deal with than the emotions from earlier.
She gave a playful little hiss, smacking his leg with her tail. "I'll make you learn in due time to accept it, or maybe I should be a terror like I was as a kid and give the house hell."
"If you do that, then I will be forced to not cook for you anymore," Espio casually "threatened" her. "Mother may have taught me to make the same treats you once adored, but I suppose you will get none now."
Armaris lashed her tail against the floor. "Oh, no, that's for sure not fucking happening. You're gonna cook for me and like it, and realize that you're being sweet."
"You cannot have it both ways," Espio answered her, idly shifting his own tail somewhat out of the way of hers. He took another bite of his food and then huffed at her. "Seriously… eat. We can bicker more once you are finished."
Her ears folded down a little at the mention of the word "seriously", understanding that he meant it. He wasn't being mean, but since reuniting with him… that kind of casual wording wasn't something he used. "Of course," Armaris replied, quickly focusing on her food.
Only once they were both finished eating did Espio speak up again. "I encountered Steam before returning home," he started, picking up the dropped thread of conversation without missing a beat.
The cat tilted her head a little. "Huh? How'd that happen?"
"He found me." Espio shrugged. "He appears uniquely skilled at using communicators to track people, much like Tails and Sonic are."
"That's kinda creepy," Armaris commented, shrugging. "I suppose something important happened for you to mention that."
Espio set his bowl aside, thinking, and then just came out with it. Well, sort of. "Have you ever heard of something called an empath?"
"Uh," Armaris murmured, blinking. "I don't think so?"
"Neither had I," Espio admitted with a sigh. "Yet he says that I am one. His explanation was a bit… lacking, however."
Armaris frowned a little, tilting her head. "What did he say?"
"Using far more words than were strictly necessary," Espio huffed, "he said that empaths are able to easily sense, feel, and 'take in' the emotions of others. "
"Oh!" Armaris replied, smiling. "I get it. Probably just means you're affected by the emotions of people around you. So, like, when I'm happy it might make you happy?"
"That seemed to be what he was implying," Espio agreed.
The cat shrugged. "Well, that's good to know, I guess. From everything we've seen of him, he won't lie to us."
"He does not make a habit of it," he nodded. And I suppose this would explain some things from my own past as well… such as why Caer's opinions of me bothered me so much. I had never stopped to consider the reason why before. Brushing that aside, he asked her, "Do you need to sleep? I will handle the cleanup out here."
Armaris moved closer and idly wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face into his stomach. "Hm… not yet. I'm sleepy, but I want to spend time with you. We've been apart too much as of late."
"Go lay down," Espio murmured before leaning down to kiss the top of her head. "I will join you momentarily if you wish."
The cat purred and smiled a little. "I'd like that. I've been wanting your arms wrapped around me for long enough that I'm about to try and make you hold me."
Espio huffed at her and gave her a brief hug with one arm. "Go on, then. The sooner you do, the sooner I can finish dealing with the dishes and join you."
Her tail swayed and she nuzzled him, giggling. "Mm… fine, fine. I'll go, but you better hurry up. Okay?"
"I will," he assured her, kissing the top of her head one more time.
Armaris giggled and scurried away within her own shadow, disappearing to the bedroom and laying herself out on the bed. Espio huffed to himself again and set about picking up the small mess from their meal. He would have to wash the dishes later, however. If he knew anything about Armaris, it was that she wouldn't put up with waiting for very long. So the very moment he finished, he went straight to bed as promised. It was what made her happy, and that was enough for him.
~保護者~
Flicking Black Arms blood off of his arms and hands, Saethrim returned to his normal form and ripped off the blindfold before tossing it into the void of space. Taking stock of the choices he had… the first person that came to mind was Kial. At one point, Kial had been like a son to him. He'd protected the man as a child and taught him all sorts of wondrous things.
Now he despised the one who he had entrusted his role to. Mythical beings and creatures had barely been respected in the time he was dead, and his student was part of the problem. He'd failed to protect them, and it was about time he paid for that. It was easy to get to him and his girlfriend, and almost as easy to strike while the two slept. Almost. What he hadn't expected was for Rose to awaken and protect Kial in an instant. Only now did it dawn on him that she smelled like an Immortal, and that made his blood boil.
Staring at her crumpled form on the ground and how the bobcat huddled over her to protect her made him seethe. "Fucking pitiful," Saethrim growled, reaching beyond Kial to grip the woman by her hair and hoist her off the ground. "An Immortal couldn't stand up to me hitting them once? Is this the kind of woman you want in your life, Kial? Someone who can't take a hit?"
"What the fuck are you talking about, Saethrim?" Kial barked out, staring with blind eyes. "Why did you hit her in the first place? I thought you liked her?"
"Because you fucked up!" Saethrim snapped, tossing Rose aside roughly. "I entrusted you with everything we held dear-"
A flash of aura interrupted him. It forcefully knocked Saethrim away from Kial and Rose, then revealed Jet standing between him and them. He didn't have his cloak or sword with him. "You're done," he muttered, eyes cold and dark. "Get lost before I make you."
Saethrim hissed hatefully, lowering his stance. "This has nothing to do with you, Immortal. Get the fuck away and let me finish what I started."
"I have a name." Jet didn't bother telling it to him, just flicked a finger in Saethrim's direction. This almost idle action utterly pounded Saethrim into the ground, creating a crater around the man. "I said get lost."
The da Asani stared blankly into the sky for a moment before standing back up, opening his mouth to speak. Words didn't have the chance to leave his mouth before he was blown off the planet by a magical explosion. "Jet, get your weapon now," Ghune appeared in front of him, cloak and armor off for once as she stood in some sort of silken garb. "He harmed Black Doom and intends to kill all of us."
"A'te vin'i," Jet murmured. "I don't need them. This will end quickly." He turned to Kial, his demeanor softening a degree. "Your teacher is corrupted by Nareish. We will handle it, but for now I must send you away. Understand?"
Kial hefted Rose up into his arms, nodding with tears streaming from his eyes. "I got it. Please be safe. He can warp space and move anywhere instantly."
"I know." Jet sent them to New Babylon without another word, then silently told the Void, You are not to kill this man. I won't argue with you over this. When no answer came, he returned his attention to Ghune. "We need to take him away from this planet. Far away."
Ghune frowned a little. "And we need to stop him fast. He just issued an order to mythical creatures to raise hell on their worlds. I'll keep him busy and get him away, make sure he can't cause collateral damage. We'll end this one fast." The vampire swallowed down a liquid in some vial and tossed it away.
Shit… this will impact Shadow and the baby I heard about. Lia and Soren, too. Though he was still tired and in pain, Jet nevertheless teleported close to where Saethrim already was. He had every intention of helping deal with this regardless of his own condition.
Before Saethrim could lash out at Jet, Ghune was there and had hold of the da Asani's warped arm in front of the hawk. "Take care of yourself. Let me do most of the fighting."
Jet blinked and then nodded. "Fine. I will guard you from taking damage."
"You gonna do anything, Ghune, or are you going to be as much of a coward as ever?" Saethrim dared to ask, withdrawing his arm. "You spent all those years locked away from existence for what? To watch your people die? To put your only friends in danger? What are you gonna do when I get to R-"
Ghune grabbed the man by the throat and squeezed, pounding at his face hatefully and forcing him to warp out of her reach. When he took a knee to the back, he spat up a few drops of blood and whipped around, throwing a wild kick into nothing.
It took him a second to comprehend how hard he crashed through the asteroids Ghune flung him into, hurtling across space rapidly until he recovered himself. She drank some sort of potion. I've never seen her this strong or fast. Fuck.
Only when she reappeared did he make a move, intercepting a fist and striking at her stomach. When nothing happened, he realized his mistake and warped out of sight once more. Jet was protecting her, obviously, so there was no choice but to try and break through it. He ducked down under some spell and wrapped his arms around her waist, taking her to the surface of a planet and bashing his fists blindingly fast into the energy protecting the woman.
It didn't take her long to blast him off her, sending him rocketing right back into space where she relentlessly battered his body and kept him close at all times with explosions of magic that ripped into his skin. Ghune smelled Black Doom's blood on him then and reason flew out the window. She pummeled him until she saw him cough up his own blood, which only enticed her to continue.
A second more of this passed, then Jet suddenly caught her in his aura and pulled her away. "Enough. You cannot kill him." Calling forth more aura, he encased the weakened da Asani and help him there while calling out silently for Eona's attention. With plenty of her help, he suspected they could free Saethrim of his corruption now that he was no longer fighting as hard. Nareish wasn't very thorough… this time.
Ghune hovered there, eyes flashing as she fought for control over herself. It had already been quite some time since her last feeding, but now Saethrim had overstepped one of the few boundaries she'd ever made in life. She wanted nothing more than to see the man dead, but right now she had to dig her nails into her head to level herself out and calm down. "Fuck. He harmed Black Doom. Damn bastard."
Blue eyes slid her way. "This was Nareish's doing," he corrected her. "He did not choose to harm Black Doom, nor to do any of the rest of this."
"I smell Black Doom's blood," Ghune bit out. "Send me somewhere else, please, before I fucking tear his heart out."
Jet let out a soft hum and said, "Go to A'latria. I will handle this." He teleported her there whether she liked it or not, despite having worded it as though she had a choice. At just about the same time, Light swarmed around Saethrim from afar and began working on the corruption. He quickly added his own energy to the mix. Purification wasn't something he was especially skilled at, and in fact it was only by having observed others doing it that he even knew how, but together they did stand a fair chance of success.
"She… almost fuckin' killed herself to protect your ass," Saethrim coughed out. "Whatever she drank… I wouldn't be surprised if she's vomiting blood right now or somethin'."
"That was her choice," was the mostly impassive response. "She would have done what she did whether I was here or not. And I did not need her protection."
"Heh, nah," Saethrim agreed. "Make sure her little annoying friend knows. Would love to see the look on her face seeing that woman bleed."
"Shut up," Jet sighed, covering the man's mouth with a band of aura. "You're distracting." He didn't wind up having to silence Saethrim for long, though. As he'd suspected, Nareish had been far from thorough with her corruption for whatever reason. It soon gave way and vanished entirely. Being how he is, not much corruption was needed to send him down this path. She must have been fine with him being found quickly, too. That is… troubling. He released the band of energy.
After the corruption finally gave way and his mouth was uncovered, the da Asani groaned and rolled his shoulders, annoyed by the lack of pressure on his wounds. "Damned woman hit like a fucking Immortal. Shit hurts."
"As it should," was the bland reply. "That was my mother's blood she drank." With the corruption now gone, Jet and Eona turned their attention to his wounds. Soon, Saethrim's skin was slowly knitting itself back together and his bruises were fading.
"Thank god it wasn't yours. We both would've died from her hitting me, probably," Saethrim bit out, sighing. He took a second and stopped the order he'd issued before his deserved beatdown. "Guess I'll be on damage control once I can stand again."
"You will go see your student first," Jet instructed him. "It is not up for debate."
"Eh?" Saethrim questioned, raising an eyebrow to the hawk. "What for? He knows I was corrupted."
"That does not dispose of the emotions he is feeling now. I understand from your aura that emotions mean little to you, but you must make an effort to try and understand his, Ghune's, and that of others." Jet slowly released Saethrim fully now that the wounds were just about gone. "This is in the best interest of those you care for. Emotions can harm one sure as any wound. If they are truly under your protection, then you must protect them in all ways."
This didn't make sense to Saethrim, but to appease the other man he waved it off. "Yeah, yeah. I'll go check on him and Rose. Shouldn't take long."
"Let it take as long as they decide it should." Jet crossed his arms. "One more thing. Where did you leave Black Doom? He cannot be left undefended."
Saethrim waved a hand and warped the space in front of Jet. "Right through there. He should still be there. Think you can heal him like you did me?"
"No," Jet said honestly. "I am no healer, and I have less strength than normal just now. But I will take him to someone who can."
"Good to hear," Saethrim answered, stretching a little. "You should probably get some rest once that's handled. You seem exhausted."
"Mm." With this vague response given, Jet sent Saethrim straight to Rose and Kial and then vanished.
Saethrim blinked once at this and looked around, catching sight of the two he was here for to begin with. When he approached, however, he was met with a particularly strong hit to the jaw, one that sent him reeling. "Okay, fair, Rose, but really? I just got my ass beat by Ghune-"
"I don't want to fucking hear it," Rose muttered, staring into his eyes angrily. Alana, who was nearby, had already healed her. "You'd better talk to Kial now, because you made him cry."
The da Asani nodded slowly and rubbed his face, walking past the cat and over to Kial, kneeling in front of the huddled man. "Kial, you okay?"
Blind, teary eyes looked up at him… almost incredulously. "Is… is that really a question, Saethrim?" he asked softly. "What you said… How you hit Rose…"
"Well, I was trying to hit you, actually-"
Kial cut him off quickly. "Is that actually how you're going to approach this? I could've gone my whole life without knowing that and you threw that fact out in the open? Why in the hell would you say that?"
"It's the truth," Saethrim said easily, not quite sure where this was coming from. "Like, what am I supposed to do? Lie?"
"That is enough out of both of you," Alana cut in from where she was sitting beside Kial. "Saethrim, was it? I notice that you have strong senses, though you seem to lack much emotional understanding. Focus on those senses for the moment and tell me precisely what this man is feeling right now."
"It's obvious, sadness and pain. They're giving way to anger, but I don't get it." Saethrim explained. "I didn't choose to hurt him. It wasn't something I'd ever do normally."
"From what others have said to you over the years, is such cold logic ever normally enough to ease a person's pain?" Alana calmly challenged. "If not, do you not think that a different approach might be better?"
Saethrim stared at Alana, unsure. "I mean… I guess? But that's the only approach I know… I guess. Never really had to worry about this sort of thing."
"You do now. You have someone under your care who requires this of you." Turning her attention to Kial, she said much more gently. "If there is anything you wish to say, please do so. I will stay beside you, and he will listen."
Kial took a long, deep breath before letting it go. "Two things. One… if this doesn't make sense to you, I need you to leave and figure it out. I'll be willing to wait for you, but I won't hear more of this. Two, I want you to apologize to Rose. You really hurt her."
Saethrim looked between Kial and Alana, then over to Rose. "I… I'm sorry?" He didn't understand this. Why should I apologize for something I wasn't even really involved in? It's not my fucking fault.
That gave Alana an idea, and she gave Kial's arm a comforting squeeze. "I believe I may know of someone who can help him understand," she told him softly. To Saethrim, she then added, "Please, go apologize properly to Rose as he asked and then come back. I can at least give you a name."
"He needs to," Kial murmured, glancing pointlessly at the da Asani as he stood. "Saethrim, seriously. I mean it."
"This makes no fucking sense," Saethrim muttered in irritation. "I didn't do anything of my own choice. Why the fuck am I apologizing?"
Alana drew in a breath and also stood. She raised a hand to silence them both. "One more thing, before we continue. Saethrim, was anyone else hurt?"
"Yeah, Black Doom. Jet's making sure he gets healed," Saethrim answered, crossing his arms irritably.
"And you crossed paths with no one else?" Alana frowned.
"I mean, Ghune beat the shit out of me," Saethrim shrugged.
Alana was silent for a moment or two. "Rusen," she told him eventually. "I have heard of what he has done to help others. He can help you, too, so that you will be able to understand the feelings of and apologize properly to all of them."
Saethrim resisted the urge to scoff. I don't need help. Maybe everyone should stop being such little babies about it. It's over already.
"None of that," Alana chided, arms crossing. "Absolutely none of it. If you do not want to lose your relationships with these four, you will do this. Even if not for yourself, you will do it for them. This is for their sakes."
"Don't tell me what to do," Saethrim bit out, narrowing his eyes. "I'll figure this out without his help."
"You require help whether you like it or not," Alana told him. "If you do not receive it, you are not protecting any of these people that you seem to care for. Is that what you want?"
The da Asani let out a small growl, his stance shifting. "Shut up. I'm not going to listen to someone who doesn't even know me. You will not lecture me." He vanished without another word.
"I expected he would leave." Alana sighed and shook her head, then turned to Kial. "However, I am confident that he will return. Though he is… unusual about showing it from what I have seen, he cares deeply for you. He will find his own path toward fixing this, as you asked him to. And when he finds his way, he will return to you. It will be alright."
Kial sighed, gently waving off her words with his hand. "I don't want to get too hopeful of it coming soon. I'll wait as long as necessary for him. What I'm worried about is his friendship with Ghune and Black Doom. From the stories I've heard of Ghune, she might try to kill him. Black Doom might just be traumatized."
"I believe what you say about Ghune," Alana admitted, "based on the little I have learned of the woman so far. But can a being such as Black Doom truly experience trauma, especially in such a short time?"
"Black Doom has been tortured by Nareish," Kial quietly revealed. "It might be far worse than we're ready for, and I don't like the idea of what might happen." I really did mess up while I had Saethrim's role, though. Maybe I could've helped stop this instead of just giving the role away immediately…
Alana pursed her lips together in thought. "I see. If possible, I will… see what I can do." She stifled another sigh. "In the meantime, would you and Rose like to return to Mobius now?"
"Let Rose simmer down," Kial said gently. "If her sister is around, she'll react badly to Rose's anger. It's liable to set off a chain of events that puts us in a worse situation than before."
"Understood," Alana said. "Tell me when you believe she has calmed enough, then. I wish to go check on my son. Simply direct your thoughts to me and I will hear you."
"I'll try," Kial said simply, straightening his cloak. "For now, I'm gonna try and make some guesses as to what's happening. Got a weird feeling while they were fighting…" Alana murmured her understanding and a farewell, then vanished.
Kial walked over to a window to feel the sun, noting the difference in warmth. It was relaxing amidst this emotional situation, but that wasn't his focus. I… think that perhaps there are some remnants of the senses left within me from being the God. I felt something from Saethrim, then widespread anger and destruction… but just for a short time. What in the world was that?
~保護者~
12,990 words this time. Many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all of his help and support, and I hope you all enjoyed. Posted (at about 10:25 p.m.) 10-23-22.