You guys can't believe how stressed out I've been lately. Like I can care less about school but the video. Omg, the fact that I'm sort of a perfectionist and kicked everyone else out like two weeks ago leaving me to do anything doesn't make me feel any better either. Or the fact I lost my one source of shortcuts (aka a class list that I listed everyone's Chinese names and dreams on) and have to resort to waiting on people on facebook. Gahh- it was supposed to be finished two months ago and it's a grad thing so I can't just ditch it... never again e.e
Thanks to everyone who answered my little question- to be honest, I'm an awkward person so I never know whether I should reply back or not but just know that I read every single review I get and they all make me happy.
Emily stared with her hands neatly folded in her lap as she watched En pace around the room angrily, muttering curses and occasionally staring at an old picture frame V had set out when they first arrived in their hotel room.
She didn't say a word as the older archer picked up the old birch frame and stared at the old painting one of their old commissioners had done for their original team once upon a time.
Their original team.
She didn't think of that since forever now, had she? Not that there was much to remember... the five members Master Apollon had sent and made it past the preliminaries of the Great Magic Games were basically the team of L'Arc Sibyl.
They were all talented mages, skilled and excelled in many things past their magic. They gave the guild a good name and kept them on the council's good side; and though they never had an official name, Emily liked to remember the original team as the Colors.
Back then, without even noticing it; they had all always worn the same colored cloaks before leaving the guild on a job. Each and every one of them had a different colored cloak, but it was always the same one they wore when they left and when they came back.
Lilian's, Emily remembered dully as she shifted uncomfortably on the couch and hung her head tiredly, happened to be pink. And a replica of it was probably hiding in En's suitcase despite knowing that chances finding the runaway mage were slim.
It was hard to forget about the blond S classed mage after all.
She was the best out of all of Colors; the leader actually, and in a brief slip up in the midst of battle, they had allowed her to be captured by her own family's forces.
They weren't idiots, after months of gunning down clues; they finally retraced their steps and researched back to that day she started acting weird and even further back to the day the Colors had allowed their leader to be kidnapped and immaturely thought that she would be able to take care of herself.
The Bureau of Magic Development, section 4b 7-2a.
She could remember the file like the back of her hand. Not believing the total amount of the times she actually went back and read it until she was able to memorize every word of something that will forever haunt her for life. Her mistake. Their mistake.
Something that Lilian had to deal with alone and without the care and love of her team mates.
She knew.
Project: Orelohr
Material(s): newly developed animal infused lacrima. Untested. One rabbit. Status: diseased. Human. Status: disabled.
Objective: What effect would man made lacrima infused with animal DNA have on human beings?
Just that simple question made her head hurt.
The file itself was something only her and two other members of the Colors knew of. Auguston had enough trouble getting a hold of the discarded file after all, and she was pretty sure that master didn't want anyone else to know of Project Orelohr. If someone like En had found out about the old illegal project, he would've definitely gone stomping through the Council's personal Detention Center and do something uncalled for.
Emily shivered at that thought as she got off the couch and headed to the small kitchen, passing the archer who was now sprawled out on the opposite sofa whilst still complaining about the tag battle.
She knew he was competitive, she always knew- definitely towards one Lilian Evan but she hadn't seen him this beaten up since they first caught wind of the fact their leader wasn't coming back to them. To their guild. Back to their family.
When Lilian was still with them, not saying it like she died but when she was; she and En were like the best of frenemies there was. Emily could literally count all the times she ever seen them not have some kind of physical or verbal contact on her fingertips. And if there was anyone who was the most affected by her disappearance, it would be En.
Which was why the master had told him the bare minimum when he sent the team off to the Games.
En would've definitely acted rashly if he knew who they suspected was Lilian. She was pretty sure that today's games would've ended on a different note as well if they did tell him.
When she was tracking her missing teammate that day, she had stumbled upon two of her kind; dragon slayers who bore hints of her homely scent on them. When questioned, she found out that the dragon slayers- the Duo Dragon Slayers of Sabertooth to be exact, were searching for their own teammate- a girl named Lily, or Bunny Girl as Sting Eucliffe referred to her as. At first she didn't think much of it at first as she found herself tagging alongside them, aiding their search while they helped hers; it only got her coming to many different conclusions.
And being the person she was when she found the sun setting over the horizon, she excused herself and quickly dispersed herself into the air and followed after the two.
Lily Harvard was anything you would expect a Sabertooth mage wouldn't be- she looked weak, frail, dull and just not special at all. From what she could conclude watching her brethren mother over her; she was looked at as a younger sister and deeply cared for by the white dragon slayer and someone of a second rate importance to the shadow dragon slayer (Frosch was his utmost, most definitely). Her appearance or lack of clothes for the matter didn't strike Emily any different either; pink hair was common to come by nowadays and she heard there had been a lot of prostitutes lately due to the crashing economy caused the Crocasian council increasing the taxes tenfold to cover the Games (not like she had anything to flaunt anyway) but her ears- whether real or not, just looked ridiculous. It made her wonder why they even hung around someone like her.
And then she got a real look at her shockingly blue eyes and heard a small glimpse of her voice as the pink haired bunny girl started crying meekly.
And she just couldn't believe it.
She really couldn't believe it.
Emily reached for her mug in the cupboards in mid thought; Lilian was strong and very independent. She had something that just made her pop around people, like a star or something. She was special- a rare find, one in a million. Lily Harvard of Sabertooth, on the other hand, was anything but. There was no way they could've been the same person...
A loud clattering of plates made her turn around to stare at En who had finally gotten up dully, watching as he pulled a plate out and skirted around her to grab a box of cereal.
"Boreas," the archer muttered under his breath, his eyebrows knit closely together still, "that girl was about to summon Lilian's pet."
There was no way.
"... don't look at the insects around you. Don't speak to them. Simply trample over them. What we're looking at is something greater..."
Gemma's loud booming voice resounded throughout the room with a definite echo, his giant form slouching on the only couch in the room while he munched on a grapevine. I let my fist ball up nervously behind me as I lifted my chin up a bit. I watched discretely as Yukino shook in fear as the new cruel master scolded all of us.
"To make the skies roar, to make the Earth boil, to make the seas silent," somehow, I noticed that when the master recited the old mantra; he made it sound so empowering- like a dictator's platform slogan. The whole room shivered at the brutality hidden behind his almost animal-like voice, "that is Sabertooth."
There was a collective silence in the room as he started naming the many faults in today's games; how we could've done better, how we shouldn't have done some of the things we did, how we scarred Sabertooth's name. No one dared say a thing to defend themselves though as Gemma angrily listed them out on pelted grapes; numbering them by the number of stains on the wall. I had a strong urge to hang my head down low when he began to number the participants of today's games by their abilities and strength.
It wasn't surprising that I was dead last on his list of weaklings. Yukino only one or two places away from me in his mental strength ranking.
I heard someone sniffle behind me, someone shifting uncomfortably and a shoe tapping against the marble floor impatiently. It was hard to tell whether or not the master was in a bad mood after all; the only clue that we would get would be one signal too late, leaving almost half of us unconscious. He was always this harsh after all, but in a political sense- through the eyes I have been taught to look through before I was disowned and ran away... Gemma was actually a man of ideals and with a clear image of what the future of Sabertooth would hold for them. He was right to be strict with us; they were all misfits under the last master. Maybe he saw it as playing nanny for the uncivilized kids in the old orphanage of a guild and make it to a guild that stands over the rest- one that does the bullying and not the one that gets bullied.
I tried to not shrug back further into the pink-white hood I wore over my head and body; any uncalled for action would cause unnecessary attention and I didn't want that. I thought if I showed up to all the meetings that he called in the same attire as the first time I met the bulky older man with, I'd be on his good side. To look like I was still the strong ex S-Class mage I introduced myself as even though I was far from it now. It seemed like my plan worked so far.
"Strip off your clothes."
My eyes snapped open, strip? Who...
My eyes flickered from the master to Yukino, who looked defeated and did as she was ordered to with shaky fingers. I felt tears fill my eyes despite myself as everyone watched as her cloak fell in blankets around her form. And then her dress and so on.
"Yukino..." I heard Frosch's petite voice whisper in protest, his master's head now hanging low and his shoulders tense.
"Please be quiet, Frosch." Lector frowned beside the frog-cat. My hands formed tighter fists once again beside me.
It was hard to keep my head up and solemn when I heard the last item of clothing drop onto the ground neatly beside her, so hard to keep myself from yelling out as the master's booming voice demanded her to erase her guild stamp.
So hard.
I had to practically crush my lip to keep a sob from escaping my lips as I watched her quiver and kowtowed in front of her now ex guild master.
"It was only a short while but..." she let out a small sob and a strangled gasp then, "thank you for everything."
I felt my nails dig into raw skin as I stared at the marble tiles; coming up with numerous conclusions of what my own punishment would be. I'd probably be excommunicated as well; I realized as he dismissed everyone with an angry comment.
I looked up finally when Rogue's black cape brushed past my own and we exchanged reassuring glances. He nodded before continuing on to the door and I turned my head to look at Gemma. His rigorous glare was the only thing keeping me standing, keeping my feet glued to the ground and unmoving. I didn't even dare bow as the sounds of everyone leaving the room became more and more quiet. Like bees managing a beehive.
He finally spoke up when the door slammed shut with the last member and it was just us in the room; his words weren't as comforting like my thoughts had I hoped it would turn out to be some kind of one on one prep talk instead...
"Lilian Evan Orelohr; you have disappointed me greatly."
tenshi-no-akuma-81 :: I don't usually like it when half the chapter is basically just the author responding to reviews but since your inbox isn't working; I'll make an exception. I'm not going to lie, the first review you gave me got me thinking that you were just another immature fangirl and I really wasn't going to take you seriously. That is until the third review you gave me; thank you for taking the time to read my fic by the way. I know it's not the easiest thing to do and you have my um... praise. Generally speaking, the only thing I hate on fanfiction is when people copy and paste my stories and republish them as their own (it happened quite a few times actually) or when reviewers encourage an author to continue writing a horrible story; so flames don't bother me a bit. When I was first planning Fool's Gold, I was going to make Lily a self insert but then I quickly changed my mind later; I can see why it bothered you so much. Truth be told, when I first wrote FG; I was trying to vent out my feelings towards my old crush; I write mainly based on or influenced or inspired by real life experiences. Lily's just sort of a mix of everything; she isn't exactly me, she's a stressed out, weird, sort of wallfllower-ish character. If anything, Lily is the type of person I seem like online; the reason why Lily is so submissive is because I thought after a certain amount of time, people stopped defending themselves around their friends when they constantly teased or bullied them. Or when you've actually fallen knee deep in love with someone, you thought about them all the time. Guess I'm wrong, guess that's just me. Ahah.. ummm... My writing style and ideas are influenced greatly by shoujo manga; I spend most of my free time just reading or reading things like Hana to Akuma and Kamisama Hajimemashita. But we're not even at the climax of the story yet and I assure you I have an ok-ish explanation of the bunny lacrima thing ready (no, this isn't it). Actually, the only thing keeping me from rewriting this is the fact I just want to finish something before I start High School. And um... yeah. I'm way too lazy and beat to think up of a reply to your entire review or defend myself or anything. Anyway, I'll take your advice to heart and make sure to apply it anywhere possible. Thanks.
I just remembered I still have to work on the Talent Show too. Whoops.
Review?