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"Up...up....te..."

"Hm?" Shadow's eyes lit up and she looked around the room full of teens hopefully. "What was...."

"Up.... Upd... upda..."

"Up?" She furrowed her brows as she listened.

"Update, Shadow.... update..."

"Ah!" She blinked, slamming her fist down on the desk in the middle of world history class, making the entire room silent, looking at her as she continued to speak. "You're RIGHT, voice! I should do just that!" she exclaimed obnoxiously. "Thank you! You always did have the wisest counsel!"

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No but seriously, thanks you guys for reviewing, it's more enthusing than some may say or think.

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Monotonous Ballroom

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"....It's beautiful." Raine whispered.

"Yes, it is." Yuan could hear Raine's breath leave her in a fascinated rasp, he stared from the corner of his eyes with curiosity as she slowly became more and more intrigued with the area.

The ceiling was high, far untouchable and seemingly miles away, it was thick and misty marble, grey swirled with a pitch black and speckled with light blue, as if fish had been fossilized into the interior itself.

As she stared directly upward, she could see what must have been a large, distant circular opening where the waves shone lights over what must have been glass. along the sides she could see a somewhat thick ledge that spiraled up to the top, long enough from the wall to be walked on.

"..." Raine's lips parted, and Yuan waited for her to register everything, watching the delicateness that graced her features for but a moment.

"Where did the floors go?" Raine's eyes, suddenly struck with confusion, met with Yuan's. He averted the momentarily, registering her sudden attention on him.

"... A mirage perhaps." he suggested.

"..." Raine didn't seem to accept the answer, she glared back up at the ceiling and put a finger to her lips as she thought. It took her only a moment to start walking towards the ledge.

"Where are you going?" Yuan crossed his arms.

"This is walkable, is it not?" Raine turned around before the ledge started, where it merged with the ground. "It's this length from the wall the entire way up?"

Looking up at the ceiling before he replied, Yuan was careful to keep his eyes on her, "Yes."

"Then there should be no problem." She shrugged and faced away from him, starting to take a step.

Yuan almost appeared beside her, taking a step forward and seizing her forearm. "If you fall, it would be myself who pays. Last your companians knew, you were with me."

-Stare-

Raine's eyes were unmoving, glued his own, she seemed to be thinking, evaluating his words.

"..." her eyes closed and she smiled. "Oh. Yes of course."

As Yuan released her arm, it remained there in midair where he had held it, she was frozen for about a moment. "Let's go, then." she cleared her throat and let her hand fall back to her side, she made a small wave for him to pass her.

"Ladies first." he narrowed his blue eyes under teal-cerulean strands of straight hair shifted to the left over his face. Yuan stepped back folding his arm forward, waving for her to continue.

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"... Is it me or have we been pacing the same section of the stairs for the past ten minutes?" Raine furrowed her eyebrows and stopped, Yuan kept himself from bumping into her, taking a step back.

"...So you've noticed."

"You knew this would happen?" Raine turned around and leaned forward in irritation, her knuckles on her hip bones.

"I thought you should experience it first-hand. But.... I just remembered this, it didn't strike me before, oddly."

"..." Raine furrowed her eyebrows, she placed her hand on his face almost hesitantly, Yuan stood there in endurance, trying not to recoil as she moved it up to his forehead.

His face was warm, and heating up as she felt it.

The look in her eyes. concern. thoughtful, confusedly curious.

"I wasn't aware that you felt that way Yuan." Raine pulled her hand away with a light hum to herself.

"W-what are you talking about?" He glared.

"If you were sick, you should have said so in the first place, I wouldn't have been making you climb stairs."

Oh god...

Yuan thought to himself and sighed, "No, I think I'll be fine." He took her by the shoulders and turned her around, pressing her forward gently so that she would walk.

Passed them flashed a wall of blue space and time, as they walked, they could feel the wall surge through them, Yuan and Raine were surprised at this, Yuan kept his grip on Raine as they passed the barrier that was invisible before.

They walked through, and soon came to the end of it, stepping onto a level floor that was spacious and solid. Around them was another room, it was like a giant ballroom of faded pink and black with white. A walking space along the sides was lined with thick, columns that shadowed it.

"Oh!" Raine's eyes lit up and she pressed her hands together. "The mirage wasn't that it was, but rather that it wasn't there!" she clenched her fist and put it in her other hand. "...Or is it?" She slid a foot forward without putting any weight on it to feel the floor.

"....Yes, It seems it's really there."

"So it seems." Raine put a hand over her cheek in thought. "But what was it..." she turned to him with uncertainty. "That let us pass through....?"

"We'd best not ponder over it too much." Yuan trailed, stepping forward and into the room. "But maybe there was some sort of clue to us proceeding." he placed a hand over his mouth absently. "...Where are the stairs?" he looked around.

"That's strange, considering I had seen them going all the way up from the bottom floor." Pondering, now, over the same subject as Yuan. "I wonder what had happened to them..."

"Another mirage, I presume."

"Likely." Raine walked over to the wall again and started feeling around. "That's interesting, I can't feel any button or switch or..."

"The stairs from which we came are gone as well." Yuan noted stoically, one arm folded over his chest and the other bent up towards his face over his mouth as he thought.

Still now, as something struck her, "What kind of temple is this?" She suddenly asked.

"A ridiculously old one." Yuan replied sarcastically, turning from her and glancing over the room briefly again. "But it's called the temple of Lacuna. Apparently some goddess."

"So you don't know." Raine shook her head. "...And it has nothing to do with the chosen of mana, because if it did then-"

"We would have ended up coming here, which we didn't."

"Exactly, so what is it's purpose other than fending off 'Specific people'?" she quoted him.

"I'm not sure, I just know that it's never been visited or used by the 'angels' of our time."

"So not even by Mithos?" Raine asked, confused again, talking toward the back of Yuan's head.

"He was never informed of it, only Botta and myself have seen it, and we never even found a use for it. We... forgot about it's existence, that is... until it seemed to prove itself with some sort of relevance to our lives."

"Memory loss.... so then I'll likely lose mine when I leave?" Raine raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I've been wondering that ever since we first came."

"And how much of it?"

"..." Yuan looked over his shoulder at Raine. "I'm not certain, actually." a thought came across his mind that has to do with 'her not remembering' but he shook it away.

"..." Raine sighed in irritation with their lack of progress and looked around the room once more. There were there in a quietude, wordlessly taking in their surroundings. Past Yuan, Raine could see an open window where the waves caressed the dome with their light. He stood in the middle, silently, surrounded by the moonlight that swept the floor now. Yuan did nothing, and Raine knew he wouldn't end up doing so unless it was relevant to their search.

That's actually what kind of irritated her about him the most.

Taking a disappointed breath, Raine rubbed her forehead and started pacing the walls. Her hand brushing along it behind her as she walked. Behind a column, Yuan found himself taking a step forward in concern as to where she was at all times, it nagged at him.

"..." He narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, feeling something rile up in his chest that told him to instinctively follow.

"Yuan, look at this." Raine suddenly said, looking at something that was on the wall where she had stopped. Yuan quickly approached her and took a look at what she ad found.

"Wait-" he cut himself off as Raine pressed the button on a panel imbedded into the wall.

"My lady has returned, I shall format thine sequence."

"...What?" Raine put her hands on her hips, "who was talking just now?" she asked blankly, looking at Yuan.

"What are you talking about?" He looked at her like she was hearing things.

"The voice that projected just now."

"There was no voice." he sighed and shook his head, "The button didn't do anything, let's move on."

"But..." Raine narrowed her eyes in irritation, "you didn't hear it?"

"Obviously."

"..."

"Let's move on." Yuan walked passed her, his arms crossed as he strode along the walls as Raine was doing.

"..." Raine's lips parted in slight surprise as the button slid up and revealed a keyboard. "Oh, Yuan look."

"What now?"

".... I think I..." they were silent, Raine spoke no more as her hands lifted themselves and typed something into the keyboard, her fingers moved rapidly, like she knew it by heart, or like she had been trained to do so perfectly.

"What are you doing?" Yuan hissed, "do you know what that could-"

"Silence." Raine's voice came out in a brisk, melodic breath.

"?" Yuan glared, now, an irritation flushed through him, "you dare command me, woma--"

"I need not adress thine name, thou shalt silence thine self and stand aside." Her words in a hushed but loud whisper, clear, crisp. Commanding.

"..." Yuan blinked, "Raine--" He reached forward at her shoulder.

"Task complete," she stated, and turning immediately to grasp Yuan's hand tightly. "You heard my first demand, young one."

"...." He was confused now, a bit pissed, and superiority started to slip in.

"A-ah." Raine shook her head and her eyes seemed to light a bit, she blinked twice and looked, now, at Yuan in curiosity. "why are you---" she looked down at her hand that was grasped tightly around his wrist.

"Ow." she pulled har hand away, "why was I...?" she trailed, wringing her hand out off to the side.

"Last time I checked, I was the older one, the dominant one. Maybe you should learn to let me lead." he said simply in his Yuan-like tone that sometimes sent chills down one's spine.

"I ah... okay...?" Raine was at a loss for words momentarily, she stared up at him in a trance, and wondering where this was coming from.

His gaze was cold, and he looked at her in a way that made her want to step back.

She registered his agitation for something but in still mild bewilderment as to what it was for. She dismissed his attitude, though, as a slight rumbling could be heard but not felt, breifly. Raine stepped into the middle of the ballroom from behind a pillar and stared at the door on the other side of the room.

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