Nessa chewed on the end of her lip, deep in thought. Her body was tense, waiting to spring into action. She knew, that with this choice, she would either make or break herself. It had taken her almost 5 hours to get to this moment, to finish her masterpiece, and she wasn't going to ruin it now just because she couldn't be patient. This called for the absolute best choice, at the right moment. Anything less, and she might as well give up now. She sighed to herself, going over her choices one final time, trying to see if she had made any mistakes.
'There are none…you know this is the best move Nessa.' She thought to herself, steeling her nerves. 'Now is not the time for doubt!…do it!' She nodded her head, squared her shoulders…
And dipped her brush in the tan paint.
Her hand moved like silk as she ran the paint brush gracefully along the wall, filling in the last section of the mural she had been working upon. Stepping back from her work, she looked upon the hallway wall and smiled.
"All finished." She said proudly to herself.
"And it is beautiful." Arliss replied from behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing her in close to him. He rested his head upon her shoulder and looked at her handiwork. "You know baby…I am still amazed at how well you can paint. I mean…this looks almost lifelike…"
Nessa growled and slapped Arliss' extended hand. "Don't you dare! It's still drying in spots."
"I wasn't gonna touch it." Arliss said with a pout, cradling her hand. "Just merely admirin' it."
"…with your hand?"
"Ya." He said sheepishly, drilling the toe of his shoe into the hardwood floor. Nessa giggled and kissed the back of his hand, before snuggling back into his embrace. "I do like the paintin'." Arliss finally said.
Nessa nodded. After the tour of their new home, as well as a quick lesson in shadow perfection spells and glamour spells, Nessa had begun working on making the abandoned dorm feel more cozy. Her first step had been to spend 2 hours unpacking the last of their belongs and putting everything away. The closet was now filled with their clothing; the TV and other electronics all programmed and ready to go. Nessa had made the bed up with the black silk sheets from Arliss' old room; as well as get his books, dvds, and other collectables in order and put away.
After that, they had grabbed a quick lunch of some leftover pizza from their celebratory dinner the night before that Arliss had packed. Then, she had moved on to the hallway, restoring it to it's former glory, then upon finding out that it's form glory was dull and boring, had decided to repaint the entire section near their door. She had chosen to do a dramatic scene, with Arliss and herself sending forth their monsters to defeat unarmed monsters.
"Is that the Cyber Blader's head your ShadowSlayer is holdin'?"
"No no, that Etolie Cyber's head. Cyber Blader is having her heart ripped out by Ha Des."
Arliss nodded. "Oh yea, I see it now. I do like how you have my Strike Ninja shoving a bubble blaster up Bubbleman's bulbous behind."
"That was a lot of B sounds."
He nodded. "Yea, it was. Wow… Is that a cyber dragon Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke is gutting with it's own tail?"
Nessa blushed. "Maybe."
Arliss grinned and turned her around, kissing her softly. "You are amazin', you know that…I think you deserve a treat…I'm going to make you a special dinner tonight!" He grabbed her hand and began to drag her towards the kitchen.
"So it's all cleaned up?" Nessa asked. While she had worked on the bedroom and hall, Arliss had been busy getting the kitchen and dining room all set, as well as begin considerations for what they would do for the main area of the dorm, which was going to become their living room.
Arliss nodded. "Bein' cleaned as we speak."
Nessa raised an eyebrow. "Being cleaned? What do you mean by…" She stopped as Arliss opened the door to the kitchen, and she took I the scene before her.
The kitchen looked like an average modern kitchen. A dual range stove, marble countertops with barstools around it, a large fridge/freezer combo, and any appliance they could think off.
However, what was shocking were the mopes and other clean tools that were currently dancing about the kitchen.
"Did you use dark magic to make those things come to life?" Nessa asked.
Arliss blushed. "Maybe."
Nessa sighed. "I was wondering why the soundtrack to Phantasa was playing." She walked past a broom that was cleaning around the stove and sat down at the barstool. "You are a strange man, Mr. Lockehart."
"And that's why you care for me, Miss Lockehart."
Nessa chuckled and watched as Arliss shooed a fluttering feather duster from the counter and begin to pull out some of the cooking supplies he had snuck in while his enchanted cleaning products had done their work. He took out a pan from one of the cupboards and coated it with cooking spray before getting a cutting board and a knife and working on 2 chicken breasts he'd already cooked prior to his going up to see how Nessa was doing. The truth was, he had always planned to make her dinner, to toast the new house, but no need to let her know that…
"IS that so?" Nessa said, causing Arliss to jump. "You're projecting." She stated simply, tapping her forehead.
"Guess I was. Mind puttin' some ice in the champagne bucket? I want it to be chillin' while I am preppin' this here chicken."
Nessa nodded and removed some ice from the freezer, walking over to where an ice bucket sat with a bottle of fine champagne. "Trying to get me drunk Arliss?" He merely smirked. "Well, more power to you…tell me, what are we having for dinner tonight, my king?"
"This here is a recipe my brother Arlen taught me…Arlen is a wonderful cook." Arliss grabbed a pan and filled it with water and some mushroom rice. He laughed to himself as he turned on the oven and let the rice begin to cook. "I remember that he once was able to make hamburgers over a trash can fire…don't know how he did it, or even how he got the meat…" Arliss' voice softened as he thought of his past. Those were some of the worst moments of his life…and some of the best. Simple times, just him, his brother, against the world. "…it was a bit raw, and had a funny after taste…but a burger never tasted so good as the ones he made that night." He grew quiet for a moment, just looking out into space. "Even the best burgers, made in the finest restaurants in Europe…will never taste as good as that one." The last tiny bit came out as a faint whisper, and then Arliss plastered a smile on his face. "But don't worry none…I ain't a-makin' you no garbage burger. Nah, I got somethin' much special in mind: Chicken breast stuffed with mushroom rice and topped with a nice white gravy."
Nessa looked over at Arliss as he stirred the pot and felt her heartstrings, which she had begun to think were dead and gone with the rest of Vanessa, being tugged hard. 'Sometimes I forget that Arliss was an orphan on the streets before he discovered that diary.' Yes, Arliss had told Nessa all about his life, from when he had still had a home to live in, to his days travels the road with Arlen, to his becoming a shadow mage and moving him and his brother into a posh Domino Apartment. 'It doesn't help that he can't talk to Arlen right now…' She looked up at Arliss, who was grinning as he carefully arranged the chicken on their plates. 'He thinks I don't get it…I can tell just by the way he's overdoing his accent…he's thinking about when he was just a little boy, and only Arlen was there to help him. Now, he has to act like the big brother to me…I hope he and Arlen are able to talk soon…Arliss needs his brother.'
"Love, you mind tone down them there feelings of dread?" Arliss said as he walked over to her, two plates of steamy yummy chicken in his hands. "Kinda ruinin' the mood here…it's our first night in our new home."
Nessa managed to smile. "Sorry Arliss…I'll grab the champagne." The dining room wasn't up to snuff yet, at least not in Arliss' mind. With what he ahd seen in the hallway, he wanted Nessa to paint the whole room, and redesign everything passed on what she chose to draw. Until then, there would be no meals in the dining room. Besides, it was much more romantic to have their dinner on the balcony of their bedroom.
"You ever notice…" Nessa said as they neared the bedroom. "That the best meals of your life aren't because the food was great…but because they have happy memories connected to them? I mean…let's face it, those burgers at the duel academy tryouts sucked. But that doesn't matter, because that was our first meal together, when I first got to know you and, I'm willing to bet, when you first began to craft me into the brilliant woman I am today."
"Guilty as charged." Arliss said with a smile. "I also think that meals signify the beginnin' and the end…the major moment that occurs when we wake up is that we eat…the last major one is supper. A baby is feed when it's born, and a every dying man gets his last meal. It's the bookend of life."
The two of them laid out their meal, with Arliss firing the champagne's cork into the pool below, then pouring each of them a glass. Nessa raised her's in a toast. "To new beginnings and ends."
"And to more memorable meals." Arliss said, and the two clinked their glasses.
&&&&
All around the island, students and faculty were sitting down eat. In the Slifer Dorm, Syrus was happily chowing down with Jaden, and despite the poorly cooked meal, was thrilled beyond belief that his best friend would be staying in the Slifer Dorm and not going to Ra Yellow. Chumley, however, was a bit mad that Jaden had taken the last grilled cheese sandwich.
At the Ra Yellow Dorm, students couldn't help but notice the absences of two of the more famous duelists there: Bastion Misawa and Hayden McGregor. Bastion was busy going over his match with Hayden, trying to figure out if there were any points in the duel where he made a mistake and postponed his victory. No one had a clue where Hayden had snuck off too.
The Obelisk men were also eating, though it wasn't easy. Sure, they had better food, tables that didn't wobble, and didn't have to fear insects flying into their mash potatoes. But they did have to deal with a depressed Dr. Crowler, who was whining about the fact that Arliss was missing. He was sure that that 'whore Nessa' had raped his poor 'Diamond in the Rough', and he was now trying to, apparently, organize a Obelisk posse to drive her out of the academy.
'Yea, right.' Chazz thought to himself as he leaned back in his chair. 'Like I'm going to spend all my time worrying about those two losers. Dr. crowler just needs to learn to be patient…I'm going to duel Arliss one of these days, and when I do, he won't know what hit him!"
&&&
Meanwhile, at the Obelisk Girl's Dorm, Mindy and Jasmine were just sitting down to dinner, and trying to ignore the gossip that seemed to be continually floating around them.
"Did you hear about there friend?"
"I heard she went nuts"
"I heard she's just faking, so she can pass off losing to that slifer."
"No, she was faking, then went nuts."
"I bet it was all staged, and they did it to teach us a lesson!"
"Uh uh! Some guys were talking after the match, and they think that slifer is really from the Pro Leauge, and she pretended to do bad on the entrance exam just to show us all up!"
The two girls heard a sigh of disgust, and turned to see Samantha Ciro sit down next to them. "Can you believe all of them? I swear, what is wrong with young women in the world…back home, only the poor and lower class women spread rumors so freely and so easily."
Mindy sighed. "Seems no matter how much money your family has, it doesn't mean that you have any manners."
"You can say that again." Samantha muttered, glaring at some of the girls. They quickly turned their heads and tried to not look interested. Samantha lowered her voice to a whisper. "Have you two talked to Miss Rhodes today?"
Jasmine shook her head, also whispering. "We tried, but she just kept her door locked. She was moving about though, sounded like she was redecorating." She shrugged. "Personally, I don't get the whole redecorating thing, but I've never had a nervous breakdown."
Mindy nodded. "I do think we should talk to her tomorrow…we can't let her seal herself away. Alexis has always had this problem with not letting other people get real close to her."
"See seemed friendly to me." Samantha said.
"Oh, she's friendly." Mindy began.
"Ya, but that's just the mask she wears. She's nice to almost anyone, but still keeps them at arm's length…never lets them know that she is hurting. Even when she was little, she would rather deal with things herself then seek help…this one time, this new boy stole this scarf her mother had made her…and Alexis refused to even bother telling the teacher."
"Yea, even when the boy moved away shortly afterwards, Alexis just said that it was no big deal…even though I know it was."
Samantha nodded. "Seems like Miss Rhodes has a problem with trusting other people with her emotions."
Mindy had to agree. "It got real bad after her brother disappeared…"
"Whose brother disappeared?" The girls turned an gaped as Hayden McGregor sat down. "One of yours? Because I would be willing to lend my shoulder to you to cry on." He gave them a brazen grin.
"What are you doing here Hayden?" Mindy asked with a sigh. It was common knowledge at the Girl's Dorm that Hayden, for all his charm and wit, was nothing more then a pervert, and he loved to try and talk some girl into the sack. Luckily for womankind, he was only charming to a point, and by the time he got around to actually asking a woman to go back to his room, they were all ready to slap him senseless.
Hayden grinned. "You lasses expect me to spend time with those boring Ra Yellows when I could be here with you beautiful minxes?"
Jasmine rolled her eyes. "And you expect us to fall for such poor flattery? Give us some credit."
Hayden cozied up next to her. "Oh…I could give you so much more then credit, beautiful."
Samantha sighed and grabbed Hayden by the back of his shirt, dragging him away from the table. "I think it's time we took a trip to visit Miss Fontaine, don't you think Mr. McGregor?"
"Don't much get into the kinky stuff, lass…" Samantha growled and bopped him on the head, silencing the little pervert.
&&&
Alexis sighed and set her suitcase down in some bushes, making sure that they were well hidden. She figured no one would be out in the woods this late, but if they were, she didn't want to bother with explaining why she had all her worldly possession packed away and at her side.
He truth was, she should have just left tonight and been done with it, but she needed to do one last thing before she made her way back home, and despite her fears, she couldn't live with herself if she didn't visit this place one final time. So, she had told her mother and father to arrange for a boat to take her off the island in the morning, and allowed herself one final night at the academy.
As she walked towards her destination, she couldn't help but go over her plan one more time. In her room, she had left letters for her friends and other people she had met in her short time here, explaining why she was leaving. Some, like the ones for Mindy and Jasmine, asked them to respect her choice. Others, like the ones she left Jaden and Zane, asked for them not to look for her. And of course, there was the one she had left for Arliss, that simply let him know she was leaving because of that duel, and she was sorry things had turned out the way they had.
Alexis held none of the illusions that Dr. Crowler had: Arliss had arranged that duel purely to give Vanessa a chance to beat her. Alexis didn't know what she had done to scorn the young woman, but it was enough, and Arliss was on her side. And that hurt the queen of obelisk blue. She had kept secret an attraction to the southern duelist, and though she had also been interested in Zane and Jaden…she had hoped in part that she would end up with Arliss. Now it seemed that Vanessa got the guy and the glory, and Alexis received nothing.
So, she was leaving, without a final goodbye. It was better this way…no need to deal with people trying to convince her to stay, no need to deal with the whispers as she walked away from her dreams.
Alexis paused as she reached her destination. 'Funny…everything in my life leads back to you.' She thought to herself. Alexis laid the rose she had snuck from the gardens near the Obelisk Blue Girl's Dorm near the broken gate of the Abandoned Dorm.
'Be at peace, brother.'
&&&
Later that night…Nessa woke with a start, panting slightly. Something was wrong…she could feel great fear below her. Normally, this would be a thrill for her, entrance her like a powerful drug, which of course would lead to giddiness and waking up Arliss for another round of love making.
But considering the fact that this fear was in a dorm that's only other occupant she had been preciously spooning with…
"Arliss." She hissed, shaking his shoulder. "Wake up."
Arliss grumbled. "Poopie trim."
"What?" Nessa said, utterly confused. "Arliss, wake up!" The king of rare hunters merely turned away from the mean girl trying to wake him up and nuzzled his face into the pillow. Nessa sighed, rolling her eyes at his antics. She wrapped a blanket around her nude form before resorting to more desperate measures. "Arliss…the Yankees are coming."
"Yankees?" Arliss shouted, leaping out of the bed, searching for a weapon. Behind him, the spirit of the Strike Ninja appeared, ready to attack anyone that dared to hurt his master. Arliss had reached into the desk and pulled out a gun, brandishing it wildly as he ran about the room stark naked. "You won't claim this land, you Boston-Crème-Pie-Eating, Lincoln-Lovin', Canada-Touchers!"
"ARLISS!" Nessa shouted, shaking both the southern duelist and his subservient ninja out of their tension. "There are no Yankees…I was just trying to get you awake."
Arliss blinked, lowering his gun. "Don't do that to me! Lord girl, you nearly killed my heart!"
Nessa shook her head. "Maybe if you would wake up when I asked you to, I wouldn't have to scare you like that!"
Arliss sat down on the bed, waving Strike Ninja away. The duel spirit nodded and faded back into the shadows. "Now, what was it that interrupted me from my dreamin'?"
"There is someone in the house…I can sense their fear."
Arliss shrugged. "With the glamour up, they can't find us…probably some kind here on a dare. One scared little duelist…no big deal."
"Helllloooooo!" a voice called out below them.
"See, only one duelist."
"Alexis, are you here?"
Nessa raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like Jaden Yuki is looking for Alexis."
Arliss dismissed her. "Just someone with a similar voice. And there are a lot of Alexises in the world."
"Alexis…Alexis Rhodes?" The voice called out. "It's me, Jaden Yuki. You know, from Slifer Dorm?"
Nessa glanced at Arliss, who grumbled. "I'm gonna have to go see whats all they're done in here, ain't I?" nessa nodded, and the king of Rare Hunters sighed, grabbing some black silk pajama pants and slipping them on, as well as throwing on a lounging robe made of the same material. "Fine. I'm goin'."
His queen smiled sweetly. "And Arliss…don't make too much noise…I need my beauty sleep." And with that, she shoved him out of the room, shutting the door behind him and leaving the king of the rare hunters in the hall.
Arliss glared at the strike ninja, who was leaning against the wall, arms crossed. "If I here so much as a chuckle out of you…" He continued to rant as he marched down the hall to the stairs, the ninja following him. "Stupid girl, wakin' me up to go investigate that stupid Jaden…stupid Banner not keepin' his students in line…" He decided to bypass the grand staircase and just leap to the first floor, landing gracefully. "When I find that idiot, I am going to taboo his ass. Get Jackie Chan on his idiot self, like Billy Blanks…"
The Strike Ninja held out his hand, covering Arliss' mouth and pointing to the stairs that led to the basement. Arliss frowned…when he had first been in the abandoned dorm, he had sensed great power from the basement. When he had shown Nessa during a work break, she had agreed that it felt similar to when they were in the meadow, only a lot stronger.
'A portal to the shadow realm…a rare find.' Arliss thought to himself when he had first laid eyes upon it. 'every portal needs a summoner to create it…but to stay open and allow others to use it…that means it's user was a powerful shadow mage…or someone with a shadow item.'
Arliss shook himself from his memories and quietly crept down into the basement. There were several of these strange great caverns under the dorm, and Arliss had yet to discover who had been using them…and that was something he wanted to find out. Another shadow mage could mean trouble…or a new ally.
Pausing at the steps, Arliss had to grimace as he watched the scene unfold. Jaden Yuki was dueling someone that claimed to be a shadow duelist. But Arliss could tell with ease that this was not the case…merely an illusion from the man's fake millennium puzzle.
'Probably some out of work carnie.'
"I bet he's just some out of work carnie!" Jaden shouted.
"I'm not out of work…I could get my job back at the fair!" The 'shadow duelist' proclaimed.
Arliss sneered. 'Knew it…he dares to pass himself off as a shadow duelist?' Arliss' eyes turned to pure black, dead like a doll's eyes, as his hand glowed. 'This room is a portal to the shadow realm…let's see if I can open it!'
The King of the Rare Hunters chanted lightly, and around the arena, as Jaden ran to confront the carnie, statues lit up and the eye of Egypt appeared on the ground. A bubble of dark magic enveloped the duelists, causing Chumley and Syrus to back away.
Arliss smiled. His work was done, and he killed two birds with one stone. That spell would be enough to end the stupid duel and get Jaden and the rest of them out of the dorm and let him get back to sleep!
'And…if Jaden survives his trip to the shadow realm…well, nothin' preps a soul more for evil then the shadow realm. Every encounter slowly will slowly degrade his conscious and his sense of right vs wrong…creating a little spot of gray. And with that gray…I will be able to make him the perfect general for my rare hunters. Of course…should he die…then I won't have to waste anymore time on a lost cause.' Arliss hummed to himself and he leapt back to the second floor and hurried back to the bedroom, slipping next to Nessa and falling back to sleep.
&&&
An hour laterAlexis watched as Jaden, Syrus and Chumley walked away. 'It was no big deal Jaden?' She thought. 'No…it was. You saved me.' Alexis looked back at the dorm. When she had been captured by that duelist…she had thought it was all over. Just like when Nessa had tortured her…Alexis had assumed she was all alone…that she was going to die by herself.
'But I didn't…and not this time either. Both times you saved me Jaden. You didn't have to, but you did.' Alexis looked up to see that soon, the sun would begin to rise. She had spent the whole night in the forest…and soon, the boat would be there, to take her back home.
Alexis looked down at her suitcase. 'When I came here, I thought that I could find out what happened to my brother. But I found something else…something I didn't expect.' For the first time since that duel, Alexis truly smiled. 'I don't have to be afraid…as long as I have people around me ready to save me. And with them…' She looked back at the dorm. 'I can save you too Atticus.'
With that, Alexis picked up her suitcase and headed away from the abandoned dorm, fishing her cellphone out as she walked in the opposite direction of the dock…to her dorm room.
'Things are going to change.' Alexis thought. 'This is the first, and the last night. A new adventure is about to begin.'
&&&
10 miles away from the Duelist Academy
The boat was making good time.
In a half an hour, they would be at last at duelist academy. The agent looked down at his watch and adjusted his dress shirt. He wasn't use to being so underdressed…without his standard black suit and sunglasses. The man patted his gun, staring out at the dark sky before him. Soon, soon he would be on the island, and he would be ready to figure out what was going on there. The report had said that many strange thigns were going on at Seto Kaiba's school: Students disappearing, duel spirits spotted, hotbeds of shadow magic…and most troubling of all, the employment of a man that the agent and his department knew all to well
Professor Lyman Banner.
The agent sneered. 'Damn those supes, thinking they can do whatever they want and we normals won't stand up to them.' Supes was slang, standing for supernaturals: Any human with a special gift. Some were minor: Joseph "Joey" Wheeler had some sort of magical luck that let him get out of tough situations. Nothing big to worry about, and the agent ignored those supes.
Others were more extreme: Yugi Moto had been a vessel for a spirit; Seto Kaiba the reincarnation of a priest; the media mogul Geno Roads and his wife Neph were immortal, as were his children Guy and Gala; even the agent's bosses, Doctor Kevin Allen and his sister Eliza Allen, had accidentally merged with their KAs and now had damn vampiric traits!
Liam Banner was just like the rest of those extremes: an alchemist that had almost perfected his craft.
'They should be all killed.' The agent thought with anger. 'They need to be dealt with…and I will personally start with you, Prof. Banner.'
&&&
On the other side of the cruise ship, Arlen Lockehart stood in a bathroom, scrubbing his hands under almost scalding hot water. He was singing to himself, his voice low and captivating for anyone that would have heard him.
"I'm so tired of bein' here/ Suppressed by all my childish fears/ And if you have to leave/ I wish that you would just leave/ 'Cause your presence still lingers here/And it won't leave me alone"
Arlen looked at himself in the mirror, splashing water on his face. He stared down at the sink, watching the water, soap and mess swirl down the drain. He would have to clean the bathroom up later, before they docked. That gave him thirty minutes to get dressed.
"These wounds won't seem to heal/ This pain is just too real/ There's just too much that time cannot erase"
But first, he had to wrap up one last mess…
"When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears/ When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears/ And I held your hand through all of these years/ But you still have/ All of me"
Arlen stepped out of the bathroom and made his way through the cluttered bedroom/living room of the cruise ship. A desk had been toppled, one of it's leg's cracked. He righted it, and gathered as many papers as he could salvage from the floor. He looked at the bed, and realized that he would need to throw the sheets away. Hopefully, the mattress wasn't stained.
"You used to captivate me/ By your resonatin' light/ Now I'm bound by the life you left behind/ Your face it haunts/ My once pleasant dreams/ Your voice it chased away/ All the sanity in me"
Arlen paused, looking down at the final detail he had to get rid of. Walking over to the large black bag that sat on the ground, Arlen stuffed the bed sheets into it, as well as the towels he had used to clean the blood from his hand.
"These wounds won't seem to heal/This pain is just too real/There's just too much that time cannot erase"
The 21 year-old looked down at the face of dueling professor. He didn't even know the man's name…didn't care. It was his own fault for waking up before Arlen could finish his job. If he had just stayed asleep, it could have been quick and painless.
Arlen stuffed a final towel in with the man, and then zipped the body bag up on the dead professor.
"When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears/When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears/And I held your hand through all of these years/But you still have/All of me"
With a grunt, Arlen Lockehart lifted the body into his arms, and after making sure the coast was clear, walked out of the room and to the rail that kept passengers from slipping and falling into the ocean. With a heave, Arlen sent the body flying, watching it sink below the waves. Arlen looked away from the final resting place of the teacher to see that the sun was rising now, and just on the horizon, the duelist academy. Somewhere on that island, his brother and future sister-in-law slept. Arlen smiled softly.
"I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone/ But though you're still with me/ I've been alone all along"
He was coming…soon, so soon, he would see Arliss…see Mayday…that made him smile. The three of them, the architects that had designed the entire Rare Hunter hierarchy, as well as their broad plan for the future. Nights spent in their Domino apartment, the three of them had forged a bond. One that went beyond magic, beyond family, beyond everything. It was something primal, something physical. And it was this bond that Arlen so desperately wanted back.
"When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears/ When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears/ And I held your hand through all of these years/ But you still have…"
He turned back to the room, shutting the bathroom door behind him. Inside, he could be heard showering, still singing.
"All of me."
Next Time of G/X: Hunters- Three new players have entered the game. One is a government agent, there to investigate the surge of dark magic and a danger to Arliss' plans. Another is Arlen Lockehart, brother of Arliss and Guardian of the rare hunters, on the island to help his brother in his grand plot. And finally, a new student, a woman that will shift the balance for one of the sides…but whose side…it's yet to be seen.
Meet the three new cast members in Episode 18: Two Professors and a little lady.
Author's note; A few things first: The song that Arlen is singing is My Immortal by Evanescence. I personally think that the scene is the creepiest one I have ever written. Arlen, calmly washing his hands and singing, when just moments ago he brutally murdered an innocent man. It's so contrasting that it just sends chills down my spine. It also says a lot about Arlen that he is able to kill without blinking an eye. As the story goes on, we are going to see that Arlen is darker then Arliss in some ways, while more light in others. He is a very interesting character, and I am glad to finally get to write for him.
Second, some of you may have noticed the lack of update this week. You see, this is the last full chapter that I wrote, and I was worried of posting it before I had the next one done. I had marked this week to write a lot, with one new chapter of pure character stuff and then a nice 1 to 2 chapter duel (with two characters we haven't seen duel yet!).
Then, Wednesday, I learned through my mother of a new reality show seeking applicants. While there is a poor chance of me being selected (only 11 of the thousands that apply can be on) it's a shot I have to take, as it is my dream project. So I have spent the last three days working on my application.
I'll let all of you know how it turns out, and I hope to have another chapter ready next week. Things are heating up. We have moved into the third arc of the story. So far we had the prologue, which led all the way to Nessa's birth, and everything to this chapter has been the foundation arc. Now we move onto the meat of the arcs, where we see several new hunters, a couple enemies, all leading to the dramatic conclusion.