Episode 3: Super Secret Soldier
Mana stands off to the side as Emile and Akane huddle together and whisper about, she assumes, herself.
Acro, who'd heard that Mana would be training with the duo, sits against a wall with his art supplies; waiting patiently for the sparring to begin so he can paint Mana's mask like he'd wanted earlier.
What could possibly be taking them so long?
Maybe they're discussing whether or not they should do this one by one or all at once? Mary suggests.
Mana rolls her eyes. If they decide to do this two against one then I'm a goner. I've never been in a fi- Mana stops, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. She whips around to find Emile rushing at her.
He jumps up in the air, his entire body starting to glow as he grins at Mana. "Those are some incredible senses there, Mana!" Emile says and makes a diamond with his fingers, "Elysian Shot!" A blinding white light manifests in the diamond and shoots directly at Mana as a beam of concentrated light energy.
Mana doesn't quite register what happens next. It's like her reflexes kick in - reflexes she shouldn't have because she's been a slave for most of her life - and she's doing an aerial to get out of the way. Mana doesn't even realize what she did. She gives Emile an incredulous look, not registering the looks of surprise on his and Akane's faces'. "Dude, what the hell?" she demands, stalking toward him and roughly grabbing the front of his kimono. "A little heads up would've been nice!"
Emile gives her an awkward smile, gently putting his hands on her arm. "I'm sorry." he apologizes. "The two of us were just wondering if you have any combat experience that you could've gotten in the nine years you forgot." Emile explains, slowly taking Mana's hand off his kimono. Then, he smiles. "And it looks like we were right. That flip was definitely not something you could do if you didn't have any practice." Emile says. "Is anything coming back to you?" he asks.
Akane doesn't say anything. She scrutinizes Mana silently, deep in thought.
Mana blinks, frowning. "No...I don't know where that came from."
I'm not sure either. Mary pipes up, reading Mana's thoughts. Whatever Magic Revenant Beasts used on you to mess with your memories is affecting me too, I can't see where you would've learned to do something like that. But…
But?
I kind of remember what I wanted to say to Master Nadine and Papa yesterday. I'll tell you when you're done training with them. Mary says and goes silent.
Mana huffs and looks back at the duo. "You might be right. About the combat experience thing, I mean. Mary knows something that she's not telling me yet." she says with a frown. "If they were training me, for whatever reason, that means they were feeding me, right?" Mana thinks out loud. "I couldn't train and get stronger with no nutrients to back it up. But that doesn't add up because I was so hungry and weak before I…" she trails off, her frown deepening.
"Hey, let's not dwell on that." Emile says, an easy smile on his face. "That was only an aerial. You could've learned to do that before Revenant Beasts even found you. Let's see what else you can do." he says, stepping forward. "Elysian Saber." Mana watches in awe as Emile's entire body starts to glow once again - she has a chance to actually appreciate it this time now that she's not being attacked. The same glow appears in front of him and morphs into a saber, floating in front of him until Emile grabs it. "Ready to go again?" he asks, flourishing the sword.
"Wait." Mana says, still staring at the saber in Emile's hand. "What kind of Magic is that?"
"Right, I guess we didn't tell you." Emile mumbles. "I use Elysian Magic." he says. "Uh, Master said the light aspect comes from the space and heavens - hence Elysian. It's sort of similar to Heavenly Body Magic. I can harness the actual power of space and the heavens - I like to think of the power as energy." Emile explains. "I'm not exactly sure what kind of power Heavenly Body Magic uses but Master says it's similar, so." he shrugs.
"Oh, cool." Mana says. "I've never heard of either of those."
Emile beams, making the glow surrounding him get brighter. "Both make you glow like this too, so-" he continues, eager to explain, but he gets cut off.
"I mainly use Chain Magic." Akane says, finally relaxes her features. "They're used...as chains. They're not exactly metal, they're made of my Magic too. I have Fire Magic, too, but…" she trails off, looking away and going silent.
Mana gives Emile a concerned look but he shakes his head. She gets the hint.
"So, are you gonna 'test my reflexes' again or are you actually gonna train me?" Mana says sassily.
Emile smirks. "We'll see. After seeing that flip, you might not even need training." he says. "Put your mask on and let's go."
("Finally…" Acro sighs and gets ready to paint.)
Mana gives Emile a look but puts her mask on. She smirks behind the mask, amused when Emile's face falls.
"Dude, that's creepy as fuck." Emile says with a frown.
"That's what I said!" Acro calls out, already madly sketching away the outline of Mana's mask.
"You got a name for it?" Emile asks.
Mana pauses, "Um, no?"
"Names have power, you know. Calling out for the mask instead of doing that hand motion could make the whole process faster and conserve Magic Power." he says. "Your Magic might even be a Requip variation. But never mind that, we can talk about that later and help you come up with a name." Emile shakes his head. "Ready?" he asks.
Mana shrugs. "I guess."
"Mana," Akane suddenly calls out. "I want you on defense mode." she says. "Emile, you're on offense."
"Why?" Emile whines. "I wanna see how she fights."
"I want to see if that dodge was just a fluke." Akane says. "And she will fight, she's just on the defensive." she explains. "The first one who's unable to get up loses."
Emile just grumbles under his breath. Mana turns to the apparent team leader, "Are we not fighting today?" she asks her.
"We'll see how you dodge my chains if you can knock Emile on his ass."
Mana grins, excited to see what else Akane can do with her chains that doesn't involve binding her teammate/possible future teammate. "Deal." she nods.
Akane nods back and cracks a very small smile.
Emile whistles, recapturing Mana's attention. "You ready?" he asks.
Mana barely has time to reply before Emile is raising his hand up and creating a Magic circle in front of him.
"What the f-?"
"Elysian Bomb!"
Mana's eyes widen as the Magic circle gets even brighter.
B-Bomb?
And in the next second, energy is blasted from the circle, simultaneously blinding and burning Mana. At the same time she puts her arms up to shield her eyes from the blinding energy, Emile leaps forward while his saber starts to glow brighter and brighter. He swings his saber, releasing the light energy at the tip of the blade. The energy releases in the shape of Emile's swing, flying forward and hitting Mana on her arms and throwing her backwards.
Mana stares up at the ceiling, dazed. Her head feels like it's spinning but it's not as bad as she thought it'd be. "What the hell?" she mumbles, bringing her arms up and examining the burns on her arms from Emile's attacks. "I just got these clothes…" she says unhappily at the sight of tattered cloth.
"Was that dodge just a fluke after all?" Emile taunts. "The little prisoner was just that, I guess. A prisoner. Not some secret super soldier." he yawns.
Mana grits her teeth and kicks herself up. In the blink of an eye, she's in front of Emile and shutting him up with a roundhouse kick to the face.
Akane bursts out laughing and Acro continues scribbling away as Emile stumbles and falls backwards onto his ass. The Elysian Mage clutches his face with a pout. "That's gonna leave a mark." Emile whines. "My face and my hair are my best features, how am I supposed to get girls with a giant bruise on my face?"
"The same way you don't get girls with that giant scar on your cheek." Akane mutters under her breath and clears her throat. "We wanted to find out if she had skills - and clearly she does." she points out with a grin. Then she frowns, "Maybe she is some secret super soldier." Akane wonders.
Emile huffs. "You're pretty fucking fast, Mana." he says, still reeling from the kick to the face but impressed nonetheless.
Akane nods. "She's quicker than you, Solflare." she agrees.
Mana tunes them out, racking her brain for anything that could explain her apparent skill in combat.
Of course, nothing comes to mind, and Mary is still keeping whatever she remembered to herself.
"Alright Mana," Emile says, once again pulling Mana out of her thoughts. "We're not done yet." he says, pushing himself up off the ground. He tosses his saber to the side and it fades away in the light coming from the nearby window. "Let's go. That was just a test, I usually use my saber for opponents who use some form of weapon Magic. You wanna do hand-to-hand? Let's do hand-to-hand." he challenges.
After an hour or two of sparring, Akane called it when Mana's mask literally started to crack.
Unfortunately, Mana was unable to recall any spells and nothing spontaneously came to her like her combat prowess, putting her at a disadvantage. She was able to keep up with Emile speed-wise (his incessant taunting helped spur her on) - but in the end Mana ended up taking more damage than him because of his spells and because weakness from her malnourishment started kicking in. When they finished, Acro scrambled off with his art to put the "finishing touches" on his painting.
The unofficial team of three head back downstairs, two of them cradling their bruised limbs. Emile offers to buy the three of them lunch but Akane opts out, saying she's going to browse the Request Board.
When he and Mana are outside and out of earshot, Mana voices her question from earlier. "About before, when you guys were explaining what Magic you have, was I reading that right?" she asks. "Akane looked like she was scared of her own Magic or something."
"Well…" Emile starts, scratching the back of his head as he frowns. "It's, um, complicated." he says. "It's not my story to tell, but yes. She doesn't like using her Fire Magic." he answers. "She has no problem with others using Fire Magic or something like a campfire unless the situation is, er…" Emile trails off and goes silent, thinking for a moment. "Unless the environment of the situation reminds her of the reason she doesn't like her Magic." he finishes. "That's all I think I can say without offending Akane for telling everybody her business."
Mana nods. "I get it." she says. "Chains kinda freak me out because, y'know, but I don't have any issue with her using her Chain Magic because I trust her." she agrees. "Both of you, actually."
Emile beams, smiling brightly as he wraps her in a tight hug. "Awww, she trusts us already!" Emile coos. "And we've only known each other for twenty four hours, how adorable!"
Mana's eyebrow twitches. "I should've gone with Akane." she grumbles in annoyance.
Mana and Emile return to the guild with their bellies full - as promised by Emile.
"Have any plans for the rest of the day, Mana?" Emile asks. "Danate and I were gonna-"
"EMMMMMMMMMMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEE!" an unfamiliar voice screams.
Mana's eyes widen as a black blur practically flies by her and tackles Emile to the ground.
"Novem!" Emile gasps.
Novem?
Now that 'Novem' isn't moving at unseeable speeds, Mana gets a better look at him. He's a fox-like creature with silky black fur and two tails. His tail has red tips with matching red marks on his face and bright yellow eyes.
"Novem, what are you doing here?" Emile asks, frowning at the animal. "You were supposed to be at the hospital for another day." he scolds, gently picking Novem up off his chest and putting him on the ground. Emile sits up, still frowning. "Did you sneak out?"
Novem shakes his head earnestly. "No! The doctor said I could go!" he insists. "Look!" he says, bowing his head to the side. "It's all better, see?" he says, his right ear twitching. Mana frowns when she sees he's missing a part of his ear.
Emile still doesn't look too pleased with the creature. "Fine. We'll talk about this when we get back to the temple." he says.
Novem beams, wagging his tails excitedly. "I can stay?" he asks.
"For now." Emile nods.
Novem makes a strange chirping sound that Mana figures is supposed to be akin to a cat purring and jumps on top of Emile's head.
Her staring apparently hasn't gone unnoticed because curious yellow eyes are on her the second Novem gets comfortable on Emile's head. "Emile, who is that and why is she staring at me like I have two heads and not two tails?" Novem says and pulls at Emile's hair with his paws.
Emile smacks Novem's paws away from his hair, "Her name is Mana." he introduces her. "She joined Phoenix Fire yesterday and we're trying to convince her to join our team." Emile says. "Mana, this is Novem, my best friend. He's a Nine-Tails stuck at his baby stage."
Mana gives Novem a small wave. "Hello." she says awkwardly. "Um, I'm stuck at my age too." she says.
Novem looks at her curiously. "I think I'm stuck at two years old - that's when Nine Tails get their second tail. I'm supposed to have seven tails right now. One each year until we're nine." he says disappointedly. "What about you?"
"I'm supposed to be twenty seven."
Novem grins and starts pulling at Emile's hair again. "Emile's always wanted to date an older woman. Has he put the moves on you yet? Did you reject him? Please tell me you rejec-"
Emile blushes embarrassedly and grabs Novem's snout, shutting him up. "Just for the record, she already knows about that," he says. "and give me some credit here, we just met yesterday!" he says. "Akane would kill me if I started messing with her like that already. Trust me, I learned my lesson from last time." Emile says, trembling.
"What happened last time?" Mana asks.
Emile pales. "Er…"
Rina, who'd been passing by, stops and grins as she summarizes Emile and Akane's first meeting: "Em tried putting the moves on Akane the second he met her. Let's just say it did not end well for either of them." she laughs. Emile starts tracing the scar on his cheek with a fearful, faraway look on his face.
Mana decides not to pry.
"So, how're you liking guild life?" Rina asks her.
Mana shrugs. "I like it a lot better than being a slave." she says. "How long have you been in Phoenix Fire?" she asks.
"Just a little over a year-"
Mana, can we go speak with Master Nadine now? Mary says suddenly.
"Did you remember everything?"
Rina looks at her weird. "Huh?"
Mana gives her an awkward smile and points at her head. Rina nods in understanding and turns her attention back to Emile and Novem.
Kind of. Mary says. I know what they were trying to do with you and…
And?
Well, let's just say Emile and Akane weren't exactly wrong.
...What?
Mary, now in control of Mana's body, stands in front of Nadine with a troubled look on her face.
"Whenever you're ready." Nadine says patiently, sitting at her desk.
"Um…" Mary starts, unsure of how to start.
How about where you left off last time? Mana suggests.
Mary nods. "Okay. So, um, about the doctors that merged and tortured me and Mana…" she starts and clears her throat. "I think their main goal was to turn Mana into some sort of super soldier for their guild."
Huh?
Nadine's expression darkens. "Explain."
"Mana and her siblings aren't the only, er...they've kidnapped other sets of twins, triplets, quadruplets, etcetera. Revenant Beasts believe that those kinds of siblings have the potential for immense power. They believe that twins possess a compatible Magic Power and that if they're merged, that power would only increase. I can't remember if they couldn't or just didn't; but I think their original intention was to merge all five of them. Something put that plan to a stop and they used me instead." Mary says.
"I see…" Nadine mumbles, looking deep in thought. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Papa and Mana trust you, so…" Mary shrugs awkwardly. "And, um, there's another thing." she says. "That frowny guy, Alistair. While I was asleep he approached Mana about his brothers yesterday."
Nadine nods slowly. "Yes, he's been looking for them for quite some time." she says. "Do you know him?"
"No." Mary shakes her head. "I don't think so. Mana doesn't either." she says. "He just reminds me of someone. Has he been with Phoenix Fire for long?"
"He has."
"I see…"
"Was that all you had to tell me?" Nadine asks.
Mary nods.
"Thank you for telling me all of this, Mary." Nadine says. "I'll let you know if I hear anything about these experiments and I trust you and Mana will tell me if you remember anything else?"
Mary just nods again and quickly exits Nadine's office.
Mana is sitting at a table with Rina, the latter telling Mana about her life before Phoenix Fire while she mends the torn sleeves of Mana's kosode.
"Your mom used to be a Mage?"
Rina nods. "One of Lamia Scale's best - aside from Jura of course." she says. "She was crazy strong but nowadays she just helps their Master, Ooba Babasaama, with keeping the new generation in check." she recalls with a smile.
Mana hums, looking at Rina curiously. "You didn't want to join them?"
Rina's smile falters. "I did…" she trails off.
Mana quickly backtracks, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to-"
"No no no, it's fine." Rina says. "It's just not my favorite memory to recount. Do you remember when I said I used to be a model back in Fiore?" she asks, continuing when Mana nods. "I was new but I was good. Jenny helped me out a lot and I even got to work with Mirajane for a bit when she came back from Tenrou Island."
Mana stares at her in confusion, completely lost.
"Jenny is a model from Blue Pegasus and Mirajane is a model from Fairy Tail. Acro told you about them right? The Mages who disappeared were from Fairy Tail." Rina quickly explains.
Mana nods and motions for her to continue.
"Like I was saying, I was good. I wasn't as popular as Jenny or Mirajane but I had a fanbase. One of those 'fans' was some guy that had his own modeling agency. He invited me to do a photo-shoot for his magazine but I had heard rumors about them abusing their models so I didn't show up. He like, became obsessed with me or something." Rina says with a frown. "He kept sending me letters and gifts, begging me to come work for him. He never even told me the name of his agency, I've just heard his name associated with those rumors. When I didn't respond to any of his letters he started bothering me in person - showing up at Lamia Scale and my home."
Mana frowns. "You didn't tell your mom or anyone else from Lamia Scale?" she asks.
Rina shakes her head. "I didn't want to bother them, I thought he was harmless until he showed up at my house. I told my mom everything right after that. In his letters he said where he'd be staying for 'when I change my mind', so we gathered a group Lamia Scale Mages and went to confront him. When we arrived we were ambushed by a group of Dark Mages who they apparently hired to kidnap me. Obviously they didn't succeed but he and his family got away." she continues.
"His family?" Mana questions.
Rina nods, cringing. "They were helping him. That's how he found out where I lived and that I was associated with Lamia Scale." she says.
Mana bristles. "That's…"
Rina sighs. "I know." she says. "I couldn't take the constant harassment anymore and my mom helped me relocate to Valiance. I heard about Phoenix Fire and figured I could do more as an actual Mage instead of just hanging around them. And, well, here we are." she finishes, her smile returning to her lips. "I've only been here for a year and I'm not exactly the best Mage but I love it here." she says. "I've only told Danate, Emile, and Master about everything - just in case. You never know, right?"
"Right." Mana agrees. "Danate and Emile though?"
Rina laughs. "Yeah, they're idiots and Emile can be painfully annoying but they're my closest friends here." she says. "I'd do anything for them and they'd do anything for me."
Mana smiles but before she can respond, a familiar gruff voice speaks up from behind her. "Speaking of brats doing things, where the hell do you and that Acro get off?"
Mana's face instantly falls. "And where the hell do you get off breaking your promise, old man?" she retorts, turning around and glaring at Cooley. "To your own daughter that you haven't seen since she was basically a baby."
Cooley's expression softens by a tiny, tiny fraction. "I plan on keeping my promise. I can't just quit at the drop of a hat, it's going to take time." he says. "I'm sorry."
Mana still doesn't look happy but looks away, sighing. "Fine. You'll have to apologize to Mary later though, she's sleeping right now." she says.
"Right." Cooley says. "So, like I was saying, where the hell do you two get off-"
"Listen here old man-"
Rina sighs, forced to listen to the two argue as she continues to mend Mana's sleeves.
And that becomes Mana's routine for the next week.
Wake up, eat breakfast with her guildmates, train (either with Cooley, Nadine, or Team No Name), eat lunch, free time (that sometimes just got turned into training with Cooley), and then sleep. The constant weakness she'd been feeling from her malnourishment is practically gone and she feels better than she has in a long time.
Mary hasn't remembered anything new but Mana doesn't think that's too bad. She's had time to straighten out her chaotic thoughts and she's not hellbent on getting revenge against Revenant Beasts. She knows she has to get stronger and-
…
Mana...
I just-
That's a dangerous thought to have, Mana. You just straightened yourself out-
I'm not going anywhere. I was just thinking, what if my siblings aren't in Valiance? Mana wonders. You said it yourself, Revenant Beasts' original plan was to merge the five of us. But they didn't. Maybe they didn't because they somehow lost control of us.
I guess it's possible. Mary says.
Before she can say anything else, Emile slides onto the bench next to Mana. "What's up Mana? Up for some more sparring today?"
Mana shakes her head. "I saw Danate and Alistair go up to the third floor a while ago." she says, turning her attention to Emile.
"Oh. Well, how about a mission?"
Mana blinks. "Really?"
"Yeah. You have to test yourself against someone other than us, Cooley's child squad, or listening to Granny go on about whatever she's teaching you." Emile says. "And wouldn't it be nice to earn some money?" he smiles, nudging her with his elbow.
"Yeah. Yeah that sounds great." Mana nods, smiling back at him. "What about Akane?" she asks.
"She's ready when you are."
Mana, Emile (and a sleeping Novem resting on his head), and Akane surround the Request Board.
"Any ideas?" Akane asks, scanning the board.
"Something that'll test Mana." Emile chimes in.
"Nothing too hard, though. This is her first mission." Akane adds.
Emile coos, clasping his hands together. "Awww, you care about her!"
Akane crosses her arms, blushing. "Shut up and pick a mission."
Emile snickers and pats Mana on the shoulder. "What about you? Anything standing out?"
Mana just stares at the board in confusion. "There's so many…" she mumbles. She scans the board again. A mission titled 'SISTER IS MISSING, PLEASE HELP' in big, bold letters catches her eye. "This one." Mana says instantly, picking it off the board.
Emile and Akane then proceed to crowd around Mana, reading the request.
"Huh. I didn't see this one this morning." Akane nods. "Alright."
Emile nods along with her. "Let's do it." he agrees and smiles. "I guess Team Fallout has their first mission as a trio." Emile says. "Let's-"
"That's not our name." Akane quickly says.
"Yeah I'm not vibing with that." Novem says, waking up.
"And I don't remember agreeing to join your team." Mana adds.
Emile groans. "Come on guys, we have to agree on something to call oursel-"
"What are you three doing?"
Novem whines, "I'm here too." and then promptly falls back asleep.
Mana grumbles unhappily at the sound of the voice. "None of your damn business, old man." she snaps, turning around and glaring at Cooley. "How long are you gonna keep following me?"
"Until my daughter has her own body again." Cooley says as if it were obvious. "Now, come on. It's time for training." he says, grabbing Mana's arm.
"Yeah, no." Mana says, jerking her arm away from him. "I'm busy. And Danate's using the third floor."
Cooley scoffs, "Doing what? Aside from Master Nadine and Emile, no one in their right mind would spar with him." he says.
"H-Hey!" Emile protests.
Mana crosses her arms and takes a step back from Cooley. "Even though you have two perfectly fine legs to go up and check for yourself, he's sparring with Alistair." she says.
"And what are you busy doing?"
Emile swings an arm around Mana's shoulder and Akane moves to step beside Mana, glaring at Cooley. "She's going on a mission with us!" Emile says.
The three of them awkwardly stare at a silent Cooley.
"...No she's not." Cooley finally speaks.
Mana gives him an incredulous look. "Excuse me?" she says.
"You're not going on a mission." Cooley repeats. "You're still in training," he says. "you're not ready to go on a mission."
Akane, surprisingly, steps forward to stick up for Mana. "I didn't know how bad your vision was, Cooley." she says sassily. "You probably didn't notice but Mana is a grown ass adult. She is her own person. She is not your daughter. And in case you didn't notice what year it is, Mary is also an adult." she says, poking him in the chest. "You're not the Guild Master so you have no business ordering Mana around. Yes, Mary is your daughter, but she also wants Mana to be with us. Both of them are members of my team so where they go, we go, and vice-versa." she finishes. "Any questions?" she asks sarcastically, putting her hands on her hips.
Cooley just grits his teeth and turns on his heel, storming off.
Mana and Emile stare at Akane in surprise.
"Damn, Akane." Emile whistles. "When are you gonna defend me like that?" he asks. "Can you come with me to Arkcester? I had a run in with the Guild Master of Aberrant Hydra once. She creeped me out, can you tell her to leave me alone?" he asks.
Mana blinks. "Thanks, Akane." she says, still in shock from her little speech.
It was harsh but he needed to hear it. I'll talk to him when you guys get back. Tell Akane I said thank you too. Mary says and Mana relays her message.
Akane blushes, embarrassed, and snatches the request from Mana's hand. "Wh-Whatever." she stutters. "I'm gonna file this with Rina and then we'll leave." she says, quickly making an exit.
"The Ice Queen's not used to showing affection, eh?" Emile calls after her teasingly.
"SCREW YOU!" Akane screams back.
Emile just laughs and takes Novem, still sleeping, off his head and places him on Mana's. "Watch him for me. I wanna check out what's happening upstairs." he says, running off before Mana can respond.
"Wh-" but before she can say anything else, Emile disappears upstairs.
Mana sighs and decides to go follow Akane, unsure of what she meant by 'file this with Rina'.
As it turns out, Rina is the guild's bookkeeper: meaning that she handles all the requests that come in, handles all the filing of requests, lets people know when their request has been accepted, and she makes sure that everyone gets paid what they're due. She takes on requests herself but only the ones from Zaflior townspeople.
It doesn't take too long to file the request, as she'd watched Akane do, and the girl quickly leaves to her room to go pack a bag. Mana doesn't have anything to take with her so she just stays and makes conversation with Rina.
"-not really good at combat." Rina laughs, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Danate gives me lessons every Sunday if he's in town but I'm just...I suck at it. I guess I'm just not built for fighting." she says. "Especially with the Magic I use."
Mana leans forward, interested. "Oh what kind of Magic do you use?" she asks.
"It's nothing special." Rina says with a small smile. She unclips the bag she always has around her waist and places it on the table in front of them. "It's a Holder-Type Magic-" she pauses, seeing the confusion on Mana's face. "-Holder Magic is Magic that requires a Mage to use an external source to produce the Magic." she explains and opens her bag when it looks like Mana understands. She dumps out the contents of her bag. It's all…
"Lipstick?" Mana asks.
Rina nods and picks three out of the pile: a dark purple tube, a gray tube, and a pink tube. "I put one of these on and anyone I kiss falls under its effects. These three are my favorites even though I rarely get to use my Magic." she says. "This purple one is Poison, the gray is Sleep, and the pink is Seduction." Rina explains.
"Hm." Mana hums, putting Novem down on the table and picking out a light blue tube from the pile. "I guess it would be hard to get that close to someone if you're not confident in your fighting abilities." she says. "What's this one do-?"
"Rina I-" a new, unfamiliar voice calls from beside the girls. "Y-You..?"
Mana looks up, surprised to find someone she hasn't met yet.
Especially someone who looks like that - no offense.
The unfamiliar face is a pallid, sickly-looking young man. He has a fair bit of muscle to him which honestly just confuses Mana's brain because the guy looks like he should be in a hospital. He covers more of his body in bandages than Danate does: his chest, arms, and forehead are all hidden beneath the white cloth. Interestingly, he has pointed ears. The young man has long silver hair about as long as Mana's tied into a ponytail and green eyes. He wears a simple white button-down t-shirt under a dark gray gilet vest and a black varsity jacket hangs over his shoulders like some sort of cloak. He wears black slacks and tall gray boots.
Mana gives him a friendly smile, oblivious to the haunted look on Pointy Ears' face, "My name is Manami but you can call me Mana-" she flinches suddenly, screwing her eyes shut in pain.
Rina reaches across the table, putting her hand on Mana's arm. "Mana? What's wrong?" she asks worriedly. When all Mana does his groan in pain, Rina quickly stands up. "I-I'll go get Emile!" she says, scared, and runs off.
Pointy Ears takes a step back when Mana opens her eyes again: a blue one in place of one of the green ones he was looking at previously.
"What the hell-?"
"V-V-Veiss!?"
'Veiss' tenses, staring intently at Mana/Mary. "I know that voice too…" he murmurs. "...Mary?"
Mary nods excitedly, her eyes brimming with tears. "I-It's a long, long story but it's me - in Mana's body." she adds. "I thought you were dead!"
Veiss shakes his head. "I...I don't know what happened to me. The last thing I remember from Revenant Beasts is going under the knife but then I woke up here." he says, gesturing around him. "But you and Mana...what did they do to you?"
"We're not sure ourselves." Mary says, her smile disappearing. "And, um, Mana isn't going to remember you." she says. "It's part of that long story…" she trails off, smiling at Veiss one last time, and relinquishes control back to Mana.
Mana slumps back in her chair, letting out a shaky, pained breath as she clutches her head. "That was a jerk move, Mary…" she says and slowly turns to Veiss. "I know you?"
Veiss nods slowly. "Veiss Dregliark. You really don't remember me?" he asks, sighing when Mana nods. "We were imprisoned together for a while," he says. "...but...you're so young." he says, confused. "You should be a grown woman right now."
Mana waves her hand off. "That's also part of the long story." she says. "But if Mary's okay with you, I'm okay with you too." she says with a bright smile. "What a coincidence we both ended up here, right?"
Before either of them can say anything else, Akane comes back from her room, bag in hand, and Rina comes running downstairs, dragging Emile behind her.
"You're back, Veiss?" Akane says, surprised.
"What's the problem, Rina!? I can't help if you don't talk to me!" Emile cries, nearly tripping as Rina pulls him downstairs.
Veiss and Mana (with help from Mary) explain everything so everybody calms down.
Rina blushes embarrassedly. "Nobody told me she could do that." she mumbles.
Mana smiles awkwardly, cursing Mary out in her head. "She didn't tell me she could force that either." she says.
"Right…" Veiss mumbles. "You said you guys were going out on a request?"
Emile nods. "To rescue some guy's sister in Veneto." he says.
"I'm coming with you."
Akane scoffs, giving him a look. "I think the fuck not." she says. "Nobody invited you, Dregliark." she says.
"I won't take any of the reward money, if that's what you're worried about." Veiss says with a yawn.
Akane scoffs again and slams her fist on the table. "I don't give a crap about the money. I just don't want to spend any more time with you than I have to."
"That's tough." Veiss says. "I'm coming so you don't get her killed before we have a chance to talk." he says, nodding at Mana.
"Excuse me?" Akane says, sending Mana into a panic when her hair starts sizzling. "For your information, she can protect herself just fine and even if she couldn't we can do that just fine on our own!"
"Don't care. Still coming." Veiss says, picking at his nails.
"Why you-"
"Why don't we all take a deep breath?" Emile tries, laughing awkwardly as he tries to calm them down.
Akane scoffs once again and leans back in her chair. "Whatever."
Veiss' glances at Akane, frowning when he sees the upset look on Akane's face. He sighs. "I'm sorry. Can I please come on the mission with you?"
Akane grumbles, crossing her arms. "Fine, whatever. Just keep your mouth shut." she says.
Emile, Rina, and Mana let out a sigh of relief when the arguing seems to come to an end. "Alrighty then." Emile says and smiles at Rina. "We should get going," he says, grabbing Novem and placing him back on his head. "Goddess knows how long they'll keep the peace." Emile says with a shiver.
Rina nods and smiles. "Right. Come back safely, everyone." she says as they all stand up.
Akane rolls her eyes and turns on her heel. "All of you shut up and let's go. The train will be leaving soon." she says.
"Yes ma'am!" Novem suddenly pipes up, waking up from his nap. He jumps onto Akane's head, much to her displeasure but she lets it go. "Onwards and upwards, Valiants!"
"We don't know where Mana is from." Veiss chimes in.
"I think I'm from Valiance?"
"I repeat: onwards and upwards, Valiants!"
PF x AH x SS
A/N Aaand that's Episode 3 of our reboot done and done :peepoblushers: This one has scenes that weren't in the og episode so I hope you like those
We'll be back to where we were soon ! :peepovoteyes: