Another week, another chapter! :) Not much in this chapter, just some progression with training. How was last chapter, by the way? It's hard knowing whether or not they're any good when met with silence XD EXCEPT for one reviewer and our ever-constant reviewer, A.G.W.N.S.
Spotlight fanfic of the week goes to:
"The Broken Soldier" by M10m gas mask soldier (Honestly, I haven't read much of this but HE read it over maybe two times and DEMANDED for me to give it the spotlight for this week). It takes place in the F.E.A.R. universe, which is a horror/1st POV shooter series and is rated M. And warning from Nyx, it supposedly contains lemons (I'd hear him curse and scroll over those scenes whenever he reads it, my little bro so innocent when it comes to those types of things XD) and LOTS of humor. There's currently 68 chapters, in progress, and about 412k words. Give it a read if you want!
Shoutout to TristanLeo, for reviewing! Looking forward to your further reads (if that makes sense :D)
Disclaimer: We do not own pokemon, but Nintendo does. We only own our OC's and plot. (Also, more references in the story so see if you can catch them!)
Chapter 8: Braving the Elements
With Hugh…
...What? Hugh rubbed his eyes, blinking before staring at the eighteen floating orbs. Each had a color of its own, or different hues of another. They were all shaped differently as well. For example, one was constantly fluctuating as if it was liquid and another flowed and crackled, as if it was fire. In the center of the circle of floating orbs was a...Jirachi?
So should he start making wishes?
"Step closer, you two." came the voice of Alpha. Hugh glanced at Roxanne to his right, wondering if she was just as anxious as him. He could tell that she was, though it was probably his imagination. Behind him, his partners watched with worry. Returning his attention to the floating orbs, Hugh stepped closer, as did Roxanne. When he looked at Alpha for further instruction, he managed to capture one of the orbs in his view at the same time Alpha's tail swayed into sight. That was when he noticed it. The orb, as well as Alpha's tail, were both cackling with embers and radiated heat. Today's the start of the second quarter, isn't it?
And it was. He realized that each orb represented a typing, all eighteen of them. Well, he wasn't sure if Normal could be counted as one, as it was the only orb that lacked any special features. It looked like a simple floating ball. Nevertheless, he was still anxious.
"Come on, you two." Aurora said as she crossed her arms, smiling. "You need to let Lady Jirachi strengthen your attunements. She motioned for the small Legendary to explain.
If you two are to learn the eighteen forms, the Jirachi said, you must allow me to do what I'm here for. Please, take hold of arms. It does not matter who needs to go first. With that, the Jirachi spread her arms, waiting for the humans to make their decision.
Deciding to might as well do it, Hugh shrugged and stepped forth. "I'll go first. But, I have a question."
Yes?
"Are there any side-effects to gaining any one of these?" He didn't want to develop a Fire-typing then suddenly go up in flames or be forced to eat charcoal for the rest of his life...The thought was pretty funny to think about, actually.
The Jirachi shook her head. The only thing that comes with adopting one of the eighteen forms is labor. Harsh and continuous training until you can master and submit them to your will with but a thought. Great.
"Well," Hugh said apprehensively, "might as well get this over with." He slowly held onto the Jirachi's arms and almost gasped when he felt a surge of power flow in a cycle between him and the Legendary. He saw the world spin, his balance failing, and a new...something, growing within. Hugh almost let out a groan, it was painful as well.
He felt the feeling grow and grow, the pain fading away more with every second. Soon, he felt nothing but energy flow within him. And that was not all, he felt an intense warmth, and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Wait..There was another feeling, this one strong and it seemed to sync well with the other feeling. He felt his body strengthen itself, as if there wasn't blood flowing through his veins, but wires of the hardest fiber.
It was indescribable as the two feelings pooled within. He felt like he was swimming in a sea of power, though there were no currents or pressure fighting against his muscles. Hugh felt like he could run for miles and miles and come back, only to be slightly winded. His hair was still on end, his muscles, of which had been developed nicely over the course of the couple of months they had spent training so far, were tingling as if they were metal coils threatening to spring. Even his breathing felt good! It was almost as if he could breathe through every pore in his body. And then, the euphoria calmed and left Hugh shakily breathing excitedly.
The Jirachi lowered her arms, prompting Hugh to let go. Hugh looked himself over, starting at his palms before looking at the rest of his body. "How do I tell what typing I...have..?" He looked up, as did the rest of them. It began to rain lightly, the clouds were like a dark blanket over the sky above them. The rumbling of thunder sounded from the clouds, as did the crashes of lightning.
It wasn't until Hugh felt himself reaching for the sky that they felt the sudden change in atmosphere in their area. The air tasted metallic and warmed before a flash streaked across the sky, the white bolt directly striking Hugh's raised hand. "Hugh!" he heard Roxanne shout, feeling her worry.
But he wasn't hurt, nor was he worried himself. He felt the electricity traveling all around his body in natural, but strengthened currents. Hugh relished the feeling, somehow managing to manipulate the electricity to flow through certain areas that ached in his body and feeling them warm with relief. He then noticed his heat-rate slowly quickening, deciding to direct the electricity downward.
Looking at his feet, he watched the electricity discharge into the ground. However, some seemed to be drawn towards his body or lingered for some time before flowing into the ground. Strange...Then again, he survived a lightning strike without any injuries. Unfortunately, his clothes were seemingly the only thing affected by the lightning as there were singed holes spotting multiple areas. He wasn't that worried though, he had other sets of clothes. It was getting a little breezy though, but at least the thunderstorm stopped.
"You're of the Electric now, Hugh." Alpha remarked. "But, it seems like that is not all…"
"Wh-What?" Hugh could barely contain his energy. But holy crap if it doesn't feel good! "What do-do you mean?" The Fenrir simply answered him by picking up a pebble. Alpha tossed it in the air and caught it with his other hand. He then looked at Hugh before casually flicking the pebble towards the human at high speeds.
Hugh didn't know why, but he felt like he shouldn't be worried as the pebble soared towards his face. In fact, he boldly braced himself for the projectile, waiting for it to connect and possibly leave him with a bleeding scratch or something.
*ping!*
...What in the…? Hugh watched the pebble ricochet off his face and buried itself deeply into the ground. A second later, he felt some pain register in his face, though not as much as he thought it would be.
"You're a dual-type, Electric and Steel." Aurora explained with a smile.
"So he's not just hard-headed?" Roxanne decided to quip with a smirk. Ignoring the playful insult for the moment, Hugh eyed the Legendaries with narrowed eyes.
"Electric and Steel?"
"Yes. It explains why the lightning homed in directly to your palm so accurately and quickly. Even though you're partly Electric-type, being Electric-type alone wouldn't gain a result such as that even with such mastery over it." Alpha explained. "Had it not been for your Steel typing, the lightning bolt would've struck near you or somewhere random on your body. But, your arm and palm acted as a lightning rod, so to speak. It also explains why it took some effort for the electricity to discharge, your entire body is a conductor."
"And it looks like you can strengthen your body's durability at will too." Aurora commented. "But we'll get into the applications later, we need to test Roxanne next." Nodding after a second of taking in all the information he had just been told, Hugh stepped back towards his partners as Roxanne prepared to make contact with the Jirachi.
Are you alright, Master? Rift asked.
"I'm just fine, Rift." Hugh nodded at Oculus reassuringly as well. "I just need to get used to this new feeling.." He went silent as the Jirachi raised her arms.
Roxanne hesitantly held onto the Jirachi's arms before a gasp escaped her lips. Her veins made themselves visible through her skin, but there was something...off.
Either her blood was a really dark red, so dark red that they even showed through the blue veins, or the dark red was really black.
It spread throughout her entire body, as far as Hugh knew from what he was seeing. Roxanne's pupils also took up the majority of her eyes, they grew large and left little to no white of the sclera. Hugh also noted his shadow, along with other shadows nearby in their area, danced wildly. Shuddering at the creepiness that was going on at the moment, Hugh decided to take a wild guess at Roxanne's new typing.
She's a Dark-type now, isn't she? They waited for a moment for the process to end, though when Roxanne groaned and held herself, they realized that it was not done. Roxanne's arms fell to her sides as she suddenly stood erect, her fists clenching. She then rolled her shoulders and neck around, bringing up her legs to stretch her calves before exhaling and releasing Jirachi. Hugh watched her lightly bounce on the balls of her feet, though she stopped after consciously realizing what she was going. "Roxanne, you feeling alright?"
"I feel...just fine, Hugh." She brought an arm across her chest and pulled, stretching it. "I just have this weird urge to work out now."
"Another dual-typing, Dark and Fighting." Alpha stated. Hugh noted that his eyes held some sort of...satisfaction within, as did Roxanne's though her own eyes expressed it much more obviously. Alpha then picked up a rock this time, this one considerable larger than the one the pebble he flicked at Hugh. "Strike this rock out of the air, please." He then tossed the rock. And when it got within Roxanne's proximity, she quickly, almost like a blur, erected a fist to the rock.
They saw the rock fracture into a plethora of pieces before it exploded around her, resembling an effect similar to that of a standard shotgun spray. It was a cool sight to Hugh, seeing her barely putting any effort or force into the move and still resulting the rock to be utterly demolished. Wonder what she can do with her Dark-typing…
It was as if his question was heard, as Roxanne suddenly brought up an arm and with gritted teeth and some visible effort, launched what Hugh recognized as a Night Slash, of all attacks he expected to see (he figured he would see a smaller scale move like the standard Shadow Ball), at Alpha. When she did, several small tears appeared in her clothes due to her own attack, evidence that she would need quite some practice handling her new abilities.
Hugh watched Alpha redirect the Night Slash with a simple twitch of the hand, but the attack cleaved through the ground next to him. But it didn't stop on impact, it traveled for a good few meters before dissipating completely. "Powerful, but slightly unstable. We'll work on that." Alpha stated, Roxanne smiling.
"So. uh, you're just going to ignore the fact that she attacked you just now without warning?" Hugh decided to ask.
"Yeah, that was just me acting on..instinct?" Roxanne said, not sounding very sure of herself and frowning.
"Whatever the case, the process is done and the second quarter of training will begin." Alpha said as he nodded to the Jirachi. The Wish pokemon simply bowed and disappeared with a flash of light. "We'll start with you two getting used to your new typings first before heading into attacks and the like."
"Should we see if they can handle telepathy and all that good stuff before anything?" Aurora asked. "That should be the simplest thing to learn out of everything, to see whether or not they can do it."
"I agree. But it will be tedious. It would be much simpler to just impart the knowledge to them and have them learn it instantaneously."
"Wait." They looked at Roxanne. "How will you do that?" Hugh was curious as well. To know something without having to actually learn it...That would be like breathing, right? So, knowing telepathy and whatever else that came with it and using it as simply as breathing would be amazing!
Hugh only had little experience with telepathy, thanks to Rift. But if someone were to ask, he wouldn't be able to actively communicate with the Alakazam mentally at all unless the latter initiates the connection first. And even then, Rift would have to read most of Hugh's thoughts to know what he wanted to get across. The idea of projecting your thoughts or only certain things one would want another to know was something he couldn't fully grasp. Hugh didn't know how one could do that without projecting various other thoughts or anything personal as well.
"There's not much to explain." the Akirari said, smiling. "We'll just send you the information. That way, you two can try tele/psychokinesis on your own. If you can't do it, then no worries. But at the very least, you should be able to communicate telepathically."
"What is the difference between telekinesis and psychokinesis by the way?" Oculus asked. At that moment, Hugh's earpiece beeped and signaled that it would run out of power soon. He'd give it maybe another few minutes before he'd have to go and charge it.
"Telekinesis is the ability to interact with, move, or manipulate objects without physical contact at all though can be directed or channeled more accurately using hand gestures or movements." They looked at Ryker now. "Psychokinesis is more or less the same, but with and only with the mind while excluding any gestures and such as guides. It can also be more powerful in some cases, as well as more influencing with lingering spirits of the world or anything similar." He then demonstrated telekinesis, lifting yet another rock with a hand gesture before glancing pointedly at another rock and lifting that as well. "They are very similar in effect, so that's why many people today, including pokemon professors and scientists as you well know, just refer to any interaction with an object with direct or physical contact as Psychic to be simple."
"Oh.." Oculus nodded in understanding. "Wait, why didn't I ask you this before, Rift?"
I was just wondering that myself, Oculus.
Laughing at his silly Noctowl, Hugh shook his head. "So, about the whole information transfer thing.."
"Right." Aurora walked up to Hugh and placed an open palm on his forehead. In the next few seconds, Hugh processed everything Aurora knew about what they had just discussed. He had a feeling that he could do it, also feeling excited to try it out. Aurora stepped away before he knew it, also holding up a hand in a way to tell him to wait before he tried to attempt anything.
"Your turn." Hugh said to Roxanne. He expected Alpha to do the same to Roxanne, but the Fenrir simply remained still and slightly bowed his head. The next thing he knew, Roxanne mouthed "Ohhhh." as if she suddenly understood something.
"One at a time guys. Roxanne, you go first since Hugh went first with the typings." Aurora instructed as she held up a stick. "Since we know that you two can already speak telepathically without a problem-"
"Do we?"
"You do, trust us." Aurora said with a laugh. "The only thing we'll probably have to help you with is building a wall around your mind to prevent excess thoughts from leaking or anyone trying to read yours without permission. Attacks too." She then cleared her throat. "Anyway, try getting this stick out of my hand. Do whichever method you find easier or more efficient, you're not limited to using telekinesis or psychokinesis."
I can't wait to try myself...Just imagine how many people will come to my magic shows. Hugh joked to himself, actually considering it for a moment. Nah, I'll be busy being a Knight. He returned his attention to Roxanne and Aurora.
The former narrowed her eyes at the stick, she seemed to be concentrating on moving the stick with only her mind without her hands for guides. She even began to sweat as the stick in Aurora's hand shook. "Don't strain yourself, Roxanne." Aurora advised. Roxanne eased up on her concentrating but after a while, the stick still didn't move from Aurora's grip. Roxanne sighed, resorting to direct the psychic intent with an open hand, almost clawed, towards the stick.
Finally, the stick violently shot from Aurora's hand and floated in the air. "Nice, Roxanne!" Hugh congratulated, happy for her success. Oh, how he so very wanted to try it out as well now. If he ever felt unconfident about fighting an opponent in close-quarters combat, he could always mop the floor with them...Which can be taken literally too.
"Great, Roxanne." Aurora smiled.
"Now, try and split the stick in two, Roxanne." Alpha said as he put his hands in his pockets. Hugh noted that the Fenrir had been acting a bit more casual lately, a bit less strict or cold and easing up on that drill-instructor vibe. It was a nice change, Hugh thought it would make it easier for them to develop more of a friend-to-friend relationship than a teacher-to-student one, he would even take a balanced relationship between the two over the mostly one sided teacher-to-student.
"Roxy." Roxanne corrected, almost glaring at him.
"Roxy." Alpha placated, chuckling. The sound was still so foreign to Hugh, he had a double-take upon hearing the Fenrir. He saw that Aurora almost did so as well, though the Akirari had to tap her ears once or twice to test if they were actually working.
Smiling victoriously and nodding, Roxanne focused on the stick again and almost immediately, the stick snapped into two. "There, now what?"
"Have them side by side, please." Roxanne did so and Hugh wondered what the Fenrir was planning. "Now, quickly send the top end of the stick on your left into the ground an inch away from my left foot. At the same time, slowly send the bottom end of the stick on your right into the ground an inch away from my right foot."
"Oh, I see." Aurora said. "It'll help determine how well she can control the speed, direction, and overall accuracy of whatever object she's manipulating." As she said this, Alpha walked back a few meters before turning to face them again.
Ohhh. And I just thought he was trying to be complicated. Hugh thought. "You can do it, Roxanne. I'd just use your hands to help. You know, just in case you send one of the sticks into his foot…" Roxanne gave Hugh a rather nice display of a single raised finger from her hand.
"Don't jinx me, please." she said as everyone else chuckled. She then focused again, Hugh could tell she was nervous now. Would it be his fault? After all, he did tell her that she could possibly ending up stabbing one of Alpha's feet. The right stick shouldn't be worrying much, as it was the one that she needed to send slowly to the ground, but it was the left stick that he was concerned for.
And so, when they all saw both of the sticks sail fly towards their intended spots by Alpha's feet, both very fast, Hugh held his breath. In that split-second, he saw Aurora's eyes narrowed in worry and Roxanne's eyes expressing increasing horror.
The left stick went perfectly as planned, sinking an inch away from Alpha's right foot with its top end. It was the right stick, however-oh, the irony-, that went awry. Instead of going slowly, it went just as fast as the left stick. The bottom end sunk into the ground as planned, but it actually took some of Alpha's shoe, as a strip of the outer layer of his foot it seemed, with it. Alpha looked at the sticks before looking at Roxanne.
Oh geez, she's shaking. He could see how horrified she was at her mistake. Hugh thought that it would be the one time they'd hear Alpha lose his temper and possibly yell at her for her blunder. They had made some mistakes in the first quarter of training too, though he never once yelled at them or even berated them. Sure, he had been stern at those times, but never angry with them.
So when the Fenrir opened his mouth to speak, the four of them took a breath to prepare what may be him expressing some pain-induced anger.
"Cutting it a little too close, are we?" Alpha asked with a raised eyebrow.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
…
"We'll work on your control for sure." was the next thing Alpha said. Sprinting over, Roxanne almost tripped to a stop as she hunched over his foot.
"Oh Arceus! Alpha, I'm so sorry!" she panicked as she tried to do something about his foot. Several times, she made a move as if she was going to start fixing the injury, only to withdraw her hands in hesitation. Alpha only shook his head.
"Mistakes can happen, and don't worry. I will get to healing it later." the Fenrir said as he looked back down at his bleeding foot. He let out a quiet snort, resulting in a bolt of flame that seared across the bleeding strip of flesh. A few seconds later, the fire died away and the wound was seared shut.
"A-Are you-?" Roxanne tried to get the rest of her words to form, but couldn't. Hugh only winced, knowing how hurting Alpha must've caused her inner pain as she was rather close to him.
I think he'll be okay. Hugh thought as he noted Alpha's truly unconcerned expression, he wasn't expressing even the slightest of pain. He then noticed Alpha's nod towards him, signaling that it was his turn. Now let's see if I can avoid doing that same exact thing…
…
With Daina…
Oh my-she really screwed up with that one! Daina snickered in Alpha's head. The Fenrir acknowledged her with a mental shake of his mind, letting her know that it wasn't all that amusing. Oh, come on! You have to admit, that was pretty damn funny, nii!-(AN: No quotation marks here since she's speaking within his mind, the others do not know about her so don't think that her speech structure has completely changed)
Perhaps, though you have to consider the fact that it was her very first attempt at doing that.
It's STILL funny, that's the point I'm trying to make. was her retort.
Ah, sometimes, I just wish you still need to spend a few more hours sleeping.
...You don't mean that...Nii?
Of course, I don't. I'd get lonely otherwise. His mental tone had very subtle amusement.
...But don't you prefer solitude? Oh, how she hated the times she couldn't get a read on him. His words oftentimes had double-meanings or some sort of hidden message within them. Other times, his words would be contradictory in one perspective, but would make perfect sense in another.
Solitude and being alone are two different things, Daina. She supposed that was true, but he still didn't answer her question.
Why can't you ever be straightforward?
I am-.
Straightforward without being all cryptic or intentionally confusing. When she didn't get an answer except for an amused chuckle resonating, she simply threw her hands up in the air with an annoyed sigh. She decided to lounge in her chair in the planes of Alpha's mind, the area she was in intentionally set up to be her room of sorts whenever she decided to stray from his sword. Looking around his mind, she spotted the usual blank planes and thoughts that he processed. In one particular area, one that was rather small and compact, it was completely black and impenetrable..not that she tried peeking in there, of course. She just knew that out of everything there, that particular spot exuded most of what he usually kept to himself and radiated with his negative feelings and thoughts, all blocked or dulled in some way.
Wow, Hugh was spot on. she remarked to him as she saw the two sticks sink in next to the Fenrir's feet, perfectly as instructed.
Yes, he has almost perfect control over it. Daina watched Ryker's vision shift from the ground to Hugh was sighing in relief some meters away. "We won't need to work on control with you, Hugh. I suspect that your time with Rift and the training all three of you do on your own time is a great factor in this."
Hugh, the boy Daina thought was pretty well in training despite his laid-back tendencies. She always found him to be the link in the group, and even though he shied away from Ryker's cold disposition sometimes, he did his very best keeping Ryker from distancing them. He was also withdrawn at times, whenever everyone else was focused on something other than him. It was easy for both her and Ryker to spot this, but Hugh was never called out on it. The Fenrir suspected that it was because of the fact that Hugh had to practically leave behind his family with serving under the two Arceus.
And then there was Roxanne, or "Roxy" as Ryker had to call her (she still teases him about that, she did earlier). She was actually similar to her nii in a few ways. While the girl was always quick to smile and have fun spending time with everyone, there was something..dark-no, not the newly-acquired Dark-typing-within her. While it wasn't to the extent Ryker was going about it, Daina was personally worried that Roxanne might fall down the same path.
Also, she was to be the one to help Ryker out of his self-sustaining/inflicted hell. While the Fenrir had a habit to retreat to his mind as it was his "sanctuary", as he often called it, it really factored in his decline. He was constantly trapped in his thoughts, doubting, fearing, hating, pleading...Daina knew that she had helped him through a great deal of it all, but she knew Roxanne-No, she'll call her Roxy from now on, it was cuter-would be the one to help him through the last set of steps. Baby steps, Ryker, baby steps. Finally, there was something else with her, something that Roxy wasn't sure of herself. It was funny, actually, for even if Roxy did know and she expressed it openly, Daina's nii would be too dense to recognize it.
Aurora was actually a bit unsure of the Fenrir. With everyone else though, she was 100%. While she had complete confidence and trust in Ryker, she wasn't as...Hm, how to put it. The Akirari's relationship with Ryker was actually unstable, the slightest wrong move on Ryker's end would be enough to make her cautious and unnerved. Still though, she was one to keep in Ryker's small bubble, like the other two.
There was something else about the Akirari. She was very loyal to her duty (if that made sense), and to the two Arceus. That was a problem though, to Daina. That loyalty might get her trapped in a difficult decision one day, one that she would be forced to make. And whether or not she'd like it, or if it was for the better or not, the decision will come one day, Daina was sure of it.
As for Hugh's two pokemon partners...To be honest, Daina didn't really spend much time studying them. While they were significantly above average compared to other pokemon now, they held no significant detail Daina would deem...influencing. Sure, they were great companions and all, but...they were just not much in her eyes. It was like when you think of your best friend, then think of their best friends of whom, you're not really acquainted with. While they might be a great deal of importance to your best friend, it wouldn't necessarily mean that they would be very important to you.
It was harsh, but eh. Daina blamed Ryker for his coldness she picked up on.
Daina watched with disinterest as the Fenrir and Akirari began to teach the two humans the basics of ranged combat involving their new powers, also including the Noctowl and Alakazam in their lectures to further expand their knowledge with any information they hadn't known before.
"For example, Hugh, you can apply your dual-typing for things like magnetism." Ryker said.
"Magnetism?"
"Yes. It is simple, really, to grasp. What happens when you charge two metals with electricity, one with a positive charge and one with a negative charge?" Ooh, she liked the way her nii was thinking.
"They become attracted to each other."
"Yes, and what if they both have the same charge?"
"...Then they repel..?" Come on, Hugh! You'll get it! Think of what he's implying!
"And you can will your body to have similar properties to steel, and there are also many minerals and metals in the ground." Okay, with that one, Hugh should get it.
"...Are you saying that I can make myself float or fly if I charge my body one way and the metals in the ground another?"
There you go, Hugh! Proud of ya!
"That's just one way you can apply your dual-typing. You can learn and discover more as time goes on."
Deciding to zone out the rest of the conversation, Daina began focusing on Roxy, smiling. So, I gave her a boost in her senses. I wonder if she's noticed...She had figured it was a good idea to do so those two months ago, a gift, if she wanted to be honest since she really had no reason to. Either way, she did it and no one can complain about it. She was a soul, damn it, she could do things like that.
After about an hour, the two Legendaries sending projectiles for the humans to dodge at this point, Daina sighed when she spotted her nii's blank expression. He was always like this during any sort of combat, even with sparring. One of these days, she'd have another talk with him about that. He shouldn't have to be so emotionless all the time, but at least he was getting better with the past couple of months.
Clasping her hands to her chest, Daina closed her eyes and swayed her body slightly side to side. She then began to sing, keeping her words muted to her nii even though they resonated everywhere in the planes in his mind.
"Nor dread nor hope attend
A dying animal;
A man awaits his end
Dreading and hoping all…"
She paused, shaking her head and sighing.
"Many times he died,
Many times rose again."
She hummed for a little bit, immersing himself more.
"A great man in his pride
Confronting murderous men
Casts derision upon
Supersession of breath;
He knows death to the bone
Man has created death."
Opening her eyes, she glared at seemingly nothing. Her eyes smoldered with anger at the memory of all those who wronged her nii. She was so angry at that moment, in fact, that as much as she wanted to sing, she couldn't. And while the memory of many traitors she and Ryker had encountered, the informant that had killed her was the first one that came to mind.
…
"Can we go flying again?" Daina asked as she sat next to the Fenrir, the latter had already casted an illusion to keep his wings and horns hidden. It was another thing on her list of things to learn and do in the future...and the list was gradually growing with the more time she spent with him.
"We had just landed not five minutes ago after an hour or so of flying." Alpha replied. They were seated outside of a cafe, a small table separated them along with a small umbrella that was opened to provide some shade.
"...Fine." she pouted. Alpha only shrugged, focusing on the time. "When are you leaving again?" She hoped that it wouldn't be soon, she had grown to like being around him. Sure, the grump could work on his people skills, and actually express some concern when it came to other people around him, but his company was still enjoyable. Including the times when he pointedly ignored her. Hey, how else would she react to seeing a fire-breathing, winged wolf that took down a Original dragon of all things? Stay silent? Nope, she would rather keep up a volley of questions in order to learn more about him. And oh well if she had been annoying him with those questions.
Because why the hell not?
"I'm leaving in ten minutes to meet with my contact before I return to my employer." Aww. Why so soon? Sighing though knowing she couldn't do much about it, Daina simply blew into her straw. Bubbles formed in her coffee and they circled around the cup faster and faster the more air she blew through the straw.
"You keep saying 'employer', who's that?" The Fenrir glanced at her, an eyebrow raised at what must be her umpteenth question in the couple hours they'd known each other. Before answering, Alpha waved away a waitress who came by to check on them.
"That information is on a need-to-know basis and quite frankly, Daina, you're not in on it." Oh, she wanted to just pinch his ever-blank face and yell at him for an answer. Rather than doing that though, she smiled as she decided to simply try to annoy him as much as possible.
"Why am I not in on it?"
"Because you do not have the credentials to."
"Why don't I have the credentials to know?"
"Because you haven't earned them through work like I have."
"Why haven't I-?"
"I advise you to stop right there or I will boil your coffee the moment you take a sip next time."
"...You're mean."
"And you believe I care for your opinions."
"..." Daina wondered how would he react to having some coffee drenching his fur. But she had to give it to him, if only she had iced coffee because in that case, she'd at least have some ice for the burn she'd just received.
"I apologize, that was rude of me." Ah! All is forgiven.
"Yeah, that's right. You'd better." Still though, Daina wondered what he had been going through to give a response such as that. It was so blunt and without hesitation, it couldn't have been a joke or lie. He had meant it, and with so much hidden hate lacing his tone. She knew it wasn't because of her personally, so she deduced that it was because of just people in general. She knew some individuals can be pretty nasty, a serial killer for one, but the Fenrir's response was as if said serial killer was also a child-murderer/rapist who also intentionally ran over all the puppies and kitties in the world and to top it off, eat the last piece of chocolate candy stored in the jar. Yeah, people like that were horrible beyond belief! And furthermore-!
Ahem. Well, her thoughts went on a bit of a tangent there for a second.
"Would you like another cup of coffee?" Alpha asked her as she finished her caffeinated (Alpha had strongly advised her against drinking caffeinated coffee at the age she was, but she didn't care) drink and grinned.
"Yes, please." Alpha nodded and when their waitress approached sometime later, he ordered another cup. But this time, when Daina focused on criticising the chalk-art drawn on the sidewalks, he made sure to order the coffee decaffeinated.
"Thank you. And please make sure it's decaffeinated, she's quite talkative." Alpha stated as Daina turned back around.
"What was that?" she asked as the waitress walked away.
"Nothing, I was talking to the waitress."
They were later walking down the street. Alpha had suggested they start walking to meet the contact on time so Daina had to bring her foam cup of coffee from the cafe. Multiple times, the Fenrir had asked her if she'd like for him to drop her off anywhere since he would be leaving soon. And every time, her answer would be-.
"For the last time, Alpha, no-oooo~." Daina said in sing-song as she walked alongside Alpha. At one point, she decided to grab his arm as they walked. The Fenrir almost threw her into the building to their right at the unexpected action, but Daina explained that she was only doing it because it reminded her of some sweet childhood memories with her family.
"I was just asking in case you needed to go home, wherever your current home is." Daina laughed.
"I'm a traveller, remember? And don't worry, I'll leave you alone when you need to go, Mr. Smiling-Is-Too-Hard-For-Me." She noted his ear twitched at the name she called him and tried to hold in, but failing, her giggling.
"You are incorrigible."
"You don't mean that~."
"I do."
"No, you do-Wait, what does 'incorrigible' mean?" She didn't get an answer, so she simply settled for poking his side repeatedly. In the short while they had known each other, while the Fenrir showed slight irritation at a few points, he had never shown anger or true, genuine exasperation. Hence, the incessant poking.
And Daina would soon find that he wouldn't react in any way at all for the rest of their walk.
"There, he is." Alpha suddenly said as he stopped. "Stay here, Daina, I'll be-."
…
-still awake, Daina? Daina shook her head as Ryker's voice finally registered in her head. Daina nodded, only to remember that he could not see her in her current state.
Yep! She said cheerily, seeing Ryker nodded almost imperceptibly to her as the others continued in their training. How goes it so far?
They are learning fast, as I suspected. This quarter of training will go by faster than the last, I am sure. She watched through Ryker's eyes as the Fenrir breathed a fireball towards Hugh while Aurora sent steaming water at Roxanne, the two humans barely evaded the attacks. Rift and Oculus were constantly sending special attacks towards each other, as instructed, while also having weights tied to their bodies to make it harder for them to evade. We should still take it slow in case, it is-
Contractions, nii.
-it's only the basics, but what we'll do tomorrow might be much harder for them.
Either way, they're working hard and the efforts will show in the end result.
Indeed.
Later, when training ended, Ryker decided to split from the others as they went back to the house. He was walking towards the river some ways away, it seemed. All the while, the two made comments on several specific points during the training session about what to improve and what didn't need polishing.
"In any case," Ryker told her as he slowed to a stop before the river, "I'll be bathing in a moment. You should retreat to my sword and sleep or go on a walk somewhere for a bit." Figuring it was safe to talk aloud to him, Daina spoke with little restraint from his sword.
"You got it. I think I'll take a quick nap while you wash up. Wake me up when you're done, 'kay?"
"I'll wake you if it doesn't seem like you need more rest."
"Yeah, yeah, just go scrub your dirty ass in the river. Make sure to get the base of your tail and in the nooks by your wings!" she teased, prompting him to shake his head at her words. "See you in a bit!"
Daina felt herself retreat deeper into his sword, feeling colder and more restricted the deeper she went. She became used to the sensations already, though she still wished that it could be warmer and less cramped. Hm, perhaps she could ask her nii to help remedy the problem.
Settling in a meditative-like state, Daina closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She felt her conscious begin to slip away, and the constant feeling that her soul was going to come loose from the sword every time she did this quickly made itself apparent. This feeling, she talked to Ryker about once more, fearing that the attachment of her soul to his sword was weakening and not strong enough to keep her in the world.
The Fenrir examined the bind and assured her that it wasn't anything to be afraid of, as her soul was likely to remain attached until the day he died or when she decided to leave. Daina never felt more relieved than she had that day, she had thought that she was going to leave her nii alone in the world and there was still so much in the regions for her to see.
Before succumbing fully to sleep, she decided to sing once more. She began to hum, smiling as a song came to mind. It was a bit morbid, sure, but she didn't mind much.
"His soul burns with a fire of darkness,
Quenched only in the pain of loneliness
Of loneliness, he holds his breath waiting
Until spots as black as the past fill his lungs up with lies of hope…
He is marked black and jagged,
To cover the scars-to hide the monster
I only give you this warning, men of sin, seeking for your own pleasures
To those who dare raise a sword against him
To those who dare utter a insult to him
To those who dare catch his wrath…
This is not a place of honor,
No esteemed dead are buried here
None will be remembered as they were, if remembered at all
None will ever embrace the warm light of day again…
But, a word for the worthy,
To those who dare offer their ears
To those who dare offer their hands
To those who dare offer their hearts
This is a place of sorrow,
No masked ones are welcomed here
All words and actions will be remembered, pure and evil
Tread lightly on this place…"
"Hey, nii, how do you always seem to come out on top whenever you get into a fight?"
"It is because I fight to survive, not for any other reason."
"But what about them? Don't they fight for the same reason? To survive? To see tomorrow?"
"Perhaps, but they do not understand what it means to kill an enemy, the mindset that drives you…"
"And what is this mindset?"
"To rend one's enemies is to see them not as equals, but objects-hollow of spirit and meaning."