Of Forge Rooms and Head Rubs
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(Dante POV)
Walking… I kept walking on and on through this...shattered, broken city… Cracked roads, demolished buildings and sites... Ash floating and sifting through the pitch black sky like snow in the winter…
Where was this?
This wasn't Vale. Nothing here resembled Vale in the slightest. Or any city for that matter. Not even anything from Primordial…
So then...why did walking through this cracked, crushed city give me an overwhelming sense of nostalgia?
As I continued through the city, I eventually came upon a large expanse of the town, presumably it's center. And before it, a long winding road reaching towards...something shrouded in fog further in the distance.
What was that place? What was this place?
Everything soon faded away until nothing but darkness surrounded me. And below my feet...water… Each step I took on the black, watery surface, small ripples formed before settling after a short second or two. Then it occurred to me to look down, and beneath me…
My reflection was that of my Shadow Skin, moving as I did to perfectly mirror my movements. I knelt down slowly, my hand steadily reaching for the water's surface to touch it, ripples forming from my fingertips making contact. Then it stopped. And it wasn't just the ripples that stopped. It was my reflection.
It tilted its head sideways, as if taking note of me and determining that I was real, that I was actually present. And then, from beneath the surface, the shadowy, clawed hand reached out from the water and grasped my arm, pulling part of my arm below the surface as I struggled to pull back. But my shadowy reflection refused to let go. It knew I was here, and because it knew, it was like it was trying even harder to pull me under. And for a moment, I thought it would pull me under completely.
But soon enough...I broke free.
I was brought back to reality as my hand moved upwards and chopped through a thick sheet of metal holding up a cluttered row of parts. Looking around, I remembered that I entered the Forge Room and locked myself in the storeroom, working on plans for a little side project I suddenly thought of. I was in the process of designing it, but I closed my eyes for a few seconds and then...I was walking through that broken city…
I looked over my design plans once more, and from the looks of it, almost finished up before I...drifted off I guess..?
Before I could think of anything else, the shelf I accidentally karate chopped folded inwards on itself and dropped all of the parts on top.
On my head.
Numerous heavy, metallic pieces fell on my head within an instant, making me let out a groan of annoyance with myself instead of pain.
"Well, I'm certainly not taking credit for breaking this…"
Letting out a sigh, I stood up from the desk inside the storeroom and carefully looked over the parts I could see in my area, determining what I needed. Eventually, I had a large pile of parts stacked upon each other in my left hand, forming a pile large that it rose above my head level even.
Before I took a step out, I suddenly remembered what transpired before I chopped the shelf, that place I was in…
The hand that grabbed me…
…
Nothing more than a bad dream. This is one of the reasons why I don't ever sleep, or doze off for that matter…
Instead of being dragged down by it, I let my inner Jack Skellington take hold, despite it being nowhere near Christmas time.
But who the hell cares?
As soon as I pressed the button to open the door lock, I stepped outside the door and broke out into song.
"What's this? What's this? There's color everywhere!" I sand, my voice filling the once silent room, tuned to the steps of my feet as I made my way towards the few steps that led down to the main floor, "What's this? There's something in the air! What's this? I can't believe my eyes, I must be dreaming, Wake up, Dante, this isn't fair! What's thi-?!"
Another flash from before, my arm remembering the powerful grip of my shadowy reflection that grabbed hold of me. Even though momentary, it was enough to distract me and make me misplace my step down the stairs, which in turn made me take a swan dive of epic proportions into the floor below. Everything I carried suddenly flipped into the air as my body crumpled and thumped harshly down the stairs until I eventually flopped on my back.
Somewhere, somehow, I could hear the shutter of a camera just as the parts I carried in my hand fell down on me with a loud crash, a few of those pieces covering my head.
"Erm…are you…alright?" I heard a voice ask.
I sat there, trying to remember whose voice that was until I realized it was actually Arex of Team ELAA. I guess she likes forging too.
See, back in Primordial, I was always too busy with my work to do anything extracurricular, like metalworking, forging, making cool tech, etc. I only ever had time to do small upgrades and the like, but never anything too serious like I can do now. Now? I had all the free time I could ever want and more, not having to worry the ridiculous responsibilities I used to have.
A poke to my cheek snapped me out of my train of thought for a few moments, enough to realize the three tailed kitsune of ELAA, Kitsuki, was the one who had poked me.
"Is he dead?" the familiar voice of Ray called out, forcing me to see front he corner of my eyes that he stepped around from his work station.
Kitsuki just quietly stared at me before she sat herself down on the ground, tails sweeping back and forth against the floor behind her as she shook her head no in response and waited, continuously poking me in the cheek.
I think she was waiting for me to register her poke… Which I was, but I felt like sitting here a bit longer.
Even I get lazy sometimes.
"I guess not…" Ray murmured as he crouched down beside her, "But we can drop more stuff on top of him just to make sure."
As he said that, he dropped a titanium ingot I picked out onto the center of the pile, causing a couple loose pieces to shift. Normally that would have hurt anyone else.
But I'm not anyone else.
Kit poked me again, but I soon suddenly shot up, snapping into a sitting position and firing some of the debris on top of me into the far wall.
"My digital watch processes information faster than you, Dante." Ray deadpanned, standing back up as I looked around me, taking note that Arex, Ray, Kitsuki and I were the only ones in the forge room.
"Please tell me nobody kissed me..." I jokingly asked.
"Not in this fucking lifetime..."
"Good. And that wasn't me processing information from falling and stuff. I just…got into the mood of thinking of other things for a minute. Like the meaning of life. Why do we wear two socks and not three? And how come graham crackers are more addicting than drugs? Especially the cinnamon flavored ones. You know, the important stuff."
I had to give them something.
Though, that last part sparked a little interest in Kit's eyes.
"42, convenience, and additives." Ray listed off evenly.
"Whelp…" I said looking at my pile, "This is a downright mess now..."
"You're bleeding..." Kitsuki signed out with her, shifting up onto her knees to lean behind me to try and find an injury on the back of my head.
Little did she know that there wasn't going to be one.
"He heals." Arex informed, catching her partner's focused attention and getting her to sit back on her ankles with a nod.
"Wow, magic…" Ray commented sarcastically, his voice virtually dead.
Kitsuki smiled amusedly at Ray's response to my ability to heal instantaneously, reaching down to try to pick up one of the ingots on the ground that I picked up.
Well…'try' was the keyword here. The ingot was pretty large. And heavy.
I watched her for a few moments as she tried to tip the object up to get her fingers under it, where I was actually hoping to see if she'd actually do it. Ray used his vibrant purple hardlight to branch out across the floor and sweep beneath the objects littering the ground, moving all of them and restacking them into a neat pile back in my lap.
That only left the ingot Kitsuki was trying so hard to pick up.
"You can do it. Any day now. Sometime this century would be nice too…" Ray said, standing back up as the girl struggled.
"What about the ones across the room?" I asked, my inner laziness hoping to get Ray to pick up the rest.
"Not my problem." Ray said waving off my question.
Damn…
Wait...this guy's afraid of water, right?
Hehehehe… I am very despicable at times...
"Maybe I should go find a glass of water…" Dante smiled, "I'm awfully thirsty. Like...really really thirsty."
Ray only rolled his eyes in slight annoyance to that.
That's right Tinman, I remembered.
Kitsuki silently pointed up toward the sky after I said that, the cascade of pelting water against the forge's exterior walls suddenly filtering in again.
"Just kidding, I was only messing with him." I said playing off Ray's weakness of sorts, "He likes other drinks besides water, especially since he doesn't like how water tastes. He's very ashamed of it."
The kitsune mouthed a quick 'oh', her tails settling back down behind her and ceasing their movement.
"Says the one who crashed and burned during a musical solo."
"That last step before taking my oh so glorious swan dive was sort of loose, okay?"
Can't tell them I blanked or whatever. They might force me to go get checked out. Well, maybe Kitsuki or Arex would. Not Ray. He's kind of a jerk.
And by kind of, I mean a huge one. Like huger than-
Not finishing that sentence.
"The last non-existent step was loose? If you say so."
"Walking on air's pretty tough. It takes a few tries." Arex commented from behind, a small flutter of amusement in her voice before she switched her focus from us back to her project.
Little do you know little bird, I actually used to be able to do that.
Man...I actually miss doing that… It was seriously convenient for getting around...
Kitsuki eventually gave up on picking up the ingot, which forced me to get up and pick it up, but I sword I could feel her gaze on me. Was she looking for something?
Wait… I actually remembered… She likes cinnamon, right? And I actually have a box of cinnamon flavored Graham Crackers on me.
"Hungry?" I asked, glancing over to meet her gaze, "Or just wanting to satiate your gluttonous craving for cinnamon?"
She silently nodded to both with a meek smile.
"Here then. Have the whole box if you'd like." I said, reaching into my bag and grabbing a box of unopened, cinnamon graham crackers.
With a cautious glance and a small, tiny sniff to make sure the box had nothing wrong with it, Kitsuki lightly took the snack box from my hands and wandered back to Arex's station, getting a small roll of the eyes from her partner.
"So Tinman..." I asked standing back on my feet and holding the pile of towering materials in my left hand for a moment, looking around for a free forge, "Where are you set up?"
"The one with the stool." Ray replied, gesturing to the other side of the room, "away from danger."
"Awe, you took the one I wanted..." I said, heading off toward the back side of the forge, between Arex's and Ray's forge stations, "Wait… Danger?"
What was so dangerous that-?
…
Does he mean Arex? Now why exactly would she be dangerous? Come to think of it, she did some nice damage against the Hydra before we stepped in. That alone speaks volumes of her potential. But did Ray do something to make her angry? She doesn't seem like the type to anger at all, more like the timid and antisocial type if anything…
"What'd you mean by 'danger'?" I asked, "Did you do something you shouldn't have? Prank gone wrong?"
"No comment." Ray said placing his hands inside his jean pockets and walked back toward his workstation.
"Now now, don't be shy," I spoke after him, eyeing him curiously, "Share with the class today."
"No."
"Spoilsport…" I replied with a sigh before taking a glance toward Arex, "So, what'd he do?"
She shrugged at me, only partially paying attention to the only conversation taking place inside the room as she finished the final few minuscule pieces to her current part.
From the looks of it, I think she was working on processors...
"Something happened between him and my sister. I didn't ask for the details." Arex replied absently, glancing over to Kit for a moment to see her partner's gaze watching her work.
Her sister...
Oh, she means Anoel.
…
Oh… Oh! Ray, you idiot.
I began chortling before breaking out into laughter, kicking my feet slightly as I tried to imagine how Ray got his ass kicked by Anoel.
"That was your first mistake, Tinman. I'm actually surprised and amused."
You'd think someone like Ray would be smart enough to not mess with a person like Anoel. Hell, even I don't want to mess with that woman… She's all kinds of scary to me...
"Lighten up." I said with a tilt of my head, shrugging my shoulders before heading off to the empty station, "The fact you're here, breathing and with all your limbs, means she only roughed you up a bit. Maybe."
Ray's single glance told me that was the case.
"Still, I can pretty much imagine your pants being a few pounds heavier after having a 'talk' with her. I get the feeling she can be pretty convincing when she's scary."
I've known people like Anoel for a long time now. Hell, I had someone like her on my old team when I worked with the CGA in Primordial, a sort of government agency tasked with defending the kingdoms. Freya was a handful, and pretty scary at times, but she was fun to work with, and most importantly, completely reliable.
I can only hope I would eventually get along well enough with the members of ELAA. Maybe not with Niro, but more than likely with Arex, Kitsuki and Anoel.
Well, here's to hoping to for a bright future together as friends…
My method of working was different compared to most people. I did a lot of what others deemed as unnecessary actions in between, for instance, sitting on my wheeled stool and spinning around in it while I worked, the cylindrical tool in my left hand crackling with white sparks as I worked on my "project". Though, spinning around in my stool wasn't the only thing I was doing.
I was singing another song.
"You know that I can't smile without you, can't smile without you." A quick triple twirl of the tool between my fingers and the sparks ignited once more when the tip made contact with the metallic disk, "I can't laugh and I can't sing. I'm finding it hard to do anything."
I then leaned back fully until I was completely horizontal on the stool, still spinning while crossing a leg over my knee.
"You see I feel sad, when you're sad. I feel glad, when you're glad. If you, only knew, what I'm going through..."
Then, I quickly sat back up straight and raised the handle and tool overhead, "I can't just smile without you!"
The rest I hummed to myself while continuing my spin, not getting dizzy in the slightest.
Mid spin, I took a glance around the room, and between spins, I could see Arex hard at work, her focus sharper than a blade as she worked away diligently. And Ray… Well, Ray was doing his own thing. But he was doing something at least. Now then, that left…
…
Where was the small fluffy one?
I looked around everywhere I could while spinning around and continued humming my song, looking for any trace of a small lithe girl with white hair, fox ears, and a fox tail, seeing nothing of the sort in any direction.
Did she leave the room? No, not possible. I would've noticed if she left the room, no matter how silently the doors would have opened to mask the noise of her leave.
Hmmm... Maybe she's hiding herself to try and spook me?
I closed my eyes and focused, slowing my breathing as I saw flickers of Aura. From Arex, I could see her Aura was a bright orange, flickering about her person flame. From Ray, I could see vibrant purple, only they flowed about him in digitized streams resembling clustered circuit patterns.
And…
…
What the hell..?! That's..! Where is she?!
My head turned in numerous directions as I spun, attempting to pinpoint where she might be. Was she moving too fast for me trace? That could be possible…
Wait, I think I know what she's doing…
It's been a while, but let's see how close I can get without her noticing.
One of my spins put me close to the edge of my table so that I could drop my tools on it, freeing my hands up so I can reach behind me and flip backwards out of my stool and into the air. I landed in the estimated target zone I set for myself with a silent thud, slowly walking up to my table as I finally saw Kitsuki appear before me from thin air.
So I was right… She was using an ability that quote unquote "erased" her existence. It's why I couldn't see her or sense her. Normally if her Semblance simply turned her invisible or allowed her to blend in with her surroundings perfectly, I still would have been able to sense her, now matter how terrible my Aura Sensing is. But the fact I could neither see nor sense her tipped me off to her Semblance being as such.
I can't wait to see the look on her face when she realizes I'm not in my chair, especially since she was searching through my bag currently. Was she looking for my Graham Crackers? She could just ask me, I'd happily give her as many boxes as she wanted. Though, maybe she was testing out her Semblance on me, seeing if it worked.
Truthfully, it did work. I wasn't able to see her or sense her at all. The only reason I was able to guess that "erasing" her existence was her Semblance was because I've run into someone in the past that had an ability similar to hers. Not exactly the same, but it still shares some similarities. The extensive battle I underwent was ingrained deep within my mind, making me remember the entirety of the fight and the abilities used down to the last second of the battle.
There's no way in hell I'd forget something like that.
Oh, looks like she's noticed I'm missing given that she's frantically looking around. Guess it's time to say hello.
I made a subtle tapping noise to make her aware that I was behind her as I lowered myself into a squat, cupping my hands around my eyes to form a mock pair of binoculars.
The kitsune's tails went rigid as she spun around and fell back on her butt, staring at me in alarm.
"Good evening." was all I said.
Kitsuki clutched her KitKat tightly to her heart, blinking silently as she supported herself on her one free hand.
Let's mess with her a little bit longer.
"The little kitsune has taken note of the hunter, possibly fearing for the chocolatey and cinnamony goodness in her hands. And possibly soul," I said, hands still in place over my eyes.
The small, awkward gleam in Kitsuki's eyes reflected back at my own in a narrowing, confused gaze before the kitsune took a silent breath to calm herself down, realizing she wasn't in any danger. She then quietly pulled her knees in a little as she curled her tails around her legs, softly wrapping her lower half in a white, fluffy embrace as she pouted at me
…
That's honestly so adorable I almost feel bad.
Almost.
"Sorry sorry, I couldn't help my childish tendency right there to scare you a bit. The temptation was too strong to resist." I said, offering her a hand.
She didn't wanna take it. Not right now anyway.
Okay, now I'm actually sorry.
"Please don't scare me like that again..." she signed out with her hands.
"Again, very sorry." I said, slamming me head into the floor in an apologetic bow, "I will compensate with my life if you see fit."
With how she looked at me, I think she was actually considering what she could do with that.
"Graham crackers." she signed simply, then pointed to my bag.
"Understood your majesty." I replied respectfully.
My hands quickly reached inside my bag and pulled out four more boxes of graham crackers to offer them to her with a bow as if she were a queen. I could hear her tails softly unraveling from her legs, an unsure look falling over her face again before she giggled lightly.
I can tell she like being pampered on occasion.
But… she reached a slim hand forward and plucked only one of the boxes from my hands, setting that beside her as she stuck her KitKat back into her mouth to sign again.
"I just wanted one."
"Grievance compensation is included. Besides, I have a whole cupboard of them back in our room that's restocked every week. So it's fine."
Kitsuki bit her lip, as if wondering how anyone could even have such a large stock, or even needed one.
Aside from Inuba's cooking, Graham Crackers are the only thing I eat that I can taste and enjoy. Hence why I have a whole cupboard of them.
"Thank you…" she signed, then paused for a moment before continuing, "It's just for tonight. Arex looked like she was getting hungry, so I started looking around for something we could share."
"Well, for me personally those function really well as a late night snack and fill up someone really well. Then again… I don't get hungry really so I wouldn't entirely know."
SHe gave me a simple nod before picking up her new box of crackers and gave me a grateful smile, lightly flicking her bundle of tails behind her and perking her ears to show her thanks.
"Aww~ So cute… You're just like my partner when she's in a good mood."
Kitsuki smiled in return to the comment, her tails swaying a little more lively now as she tilted her gaze at me, wordering of something...
Wait, did she think..?
"Ah, don't get me wrong or anything. She's pretty much in a good mood always. Except when I do something naughty. Then she pinches my cheeks, which kinda hurts. But then she's in a good mood again right after."
Still, I was interested in her Semblance. Maybe she'd tell me a thing or two?
"Your Semblance is pretty interesting. First variation of yours I've seen of its type with a singular effect. Very useful. And better compared to the rest I've seen. Train harder and you'll be even more amazing in time."
Remnant has some incredible thins about it in comparison to Primordial and some of the other Worlds. For instance, I didn't have to hide my powers or abilities or the like. No need for a secret identity, which was somewhat annoying at times. In a way, I kinda preferred this World more so. Especially since his Royal Assness, the Commander of the Holy Pidgeons up in the Heavens is a complete and absolute-
Kitsuki set her things back down on my workstation and placed her KitKat on top of her new box in order to reply to me, which snapped me out of my short mental rant.
"It's not really that amazing. It didn't even work on you..." she signed out with a frown.
Well...
"Now now, replace that frown with a smile. It is actually amazing. And can be so much more. It did work on me at first…but... To be perfectly honest, I'm practically what's considered a freak of nature, so a lot of things won't work on me all too well."
"Does that mean you're not ticklish?"
"N-No! Definitely not!" I replied quickly, earning a quizzical look from her.
I can't begin to describe to you the horrendous torture I endured from tickling...
"Okay. Well… you don't seem like a freak to me."
"That's sweet of you. But some others would strongly challenge you on that. They would probably lose to you in the face of your fluffy might."
Angels and Dark Entities falling under the heel of a small kitsune... Kitsuki and Mai, Inuba's little sister, could be friends and dominate the universe.
"I'll keep training it." she signed reassuringly, "Do you think it'll eventually work on you some day?"
"It could very likely be the case. There's a constant stream of unknown's out there. Anything could change just like that." I said, snapping my fingers quickly, "Whether or not the changes are good is up to you entirely. In short, I believe that it could very likely work."
"I'll…keep that in mind." Kitsuki replied, a delicate brow furrowing for a moment before she took up her sweets and gave me another thankful smile.
Again, to reiterate, it did work on me. And I would have never been able to guess what your Semblance was had I not encountered someone like you in the past. But the gaze she gave me expressed her doubt in my words, though, I didn't exactly know what it was she was doubting.
Was it my words? Or was she doubting herself?
"Hey, don't doubt yourself ever. I have this funny thing about how I see people. Looking at you, you definitely are strong. And you'll be even stronger as time goes by. So, in short, trust yourself and your feelings. You'll go many a place."
You could be the weakest person in the entire universe and eventually grow into someone very strong. This occurrence was as rare as a blue moon, but still possible.
She calmly nodded her head to what he said to show that she took in his words.
"And one more thing. Don't let anyone bring you down. Especially because you're a cute and fluffy kitsune. Honestly, I can't even imagine how someone could be so mean to someone so adorable…"
If I recalled, Cardin was starting to pester her a bit. And by a bit, I mean a lot. He's already messing with Jaune and few others, but I heard of more particular cases involving a rabbit Faunus known as Velvet, and soon after a case or two involving Kitsuki.
"I've noticed Cardin being not so nice to a lot of other students recently. Especially towards students that are Faunus. So if he's being a real jerk to you or anything, just call over your faithful manservant Dante to take care of him. I'll be over real quick to sort him out."
Being who I am, dealing with bullies never has been a problem really. All one has to know is in what manner to deal with them. And when it comes to bullies, there's various different means and methods.
"There's no shame in askiing for help really. Even I need help myself now and then."
I learned that lesson the hard way...with very harsh pinching from my partner.
"Or you could deal with them yourself. That's also okay, even if people say otherwise."
Kit silently nodded, clasping her box beneath her chin to hold it in place before sticking her KitKat in her mouth to make a quick response.
"Thank you for the offer. I'll keep that in mind too."
"Alrighty then. May I?" I asked, motioning my hand to give her a head rub.
I never asked Inuba for this sort of thing, mainly because I think she wouldn't exactly let me. Maybe I should try one of these days?
Kit glanced up for a moment before nodding fervently, ears fluttering for a moment in preparation for any kind of touch. I slowly reached forward and gently rested my hand on her head, watching her for a moment as she closed her eyes and brushed the sides of my hand with her ears, tickling me slightly.
I couldn't stop the small smile on my face as I gave the hair between her ears a soft rub, sliding my fingers over as well to give the bases of her ears a brief scratch before pulling back.
"Aha, you're too cute and fluffy. I might actually die."
Kit's eyes quietly opened back up as she flicked one of her ears, "Don't die. Inuba needs you."
...
For once, I didn't exactly know how to respond to something like. Except for what the normal answer would be of course.
"You're right. She'd be pretty upset with me if that happened."
The kitsune nodded with a proud affirmation, as if her point was proven right then and there, turning to glance at me a final time for the night before signing out "So don't die."
That's all for this week, so with that...
I highly recommend you all go check out the freaking amazing collab Xera Stark and I are currently working on concerning his story XSRA's Flame. His story overall is absolutely fantastic and is a must read, so I suggest you read from the very start. I've said it once and will say it again, you won't want to miss out on this story.
Not only that, but check out his other awesome and highly entertaining story Rogue Huntsmen. It's just pure awesomeness bundled into one story. Trust me, you'll love it. And hey! Go check out HydraFLow's story Lost in Binary! It's equally as awesome and entertaining, definitely worth spending the time reading and enjoying.
Questions? Ask them anytime. I will try to answer without spoiling.
Please remember to review, follow and favorite this story if you really enjoyed it and want to continue seeing more of it. And hey, even tell others about this story! Remember that your support is what helps make this story grow even larger and what helps improve it. With that, I bid you all an excellent week/weekend!
Bye-bye now!
