Episode 6: The Light of the Goddess
As the five of them (not counting Novem who is always sleeping) exit the train, bleary looks on all of their faces, none of them expect the sudden scream from a blur of blonde hair and black clothes to jar them out of their fatigue.
Mana and Calypso (and Mary) are the only ones who don't recognize the jittery bundle of long blonde hair and dark purple eyes.
"I-I'm sorry," she apologizes quickly when she sees the startled looks on everyone's faces. "I heard that we had a new member a-and that Mary was back and th-that the train w-was coming and I w-wanted to check to see if you guys were on it." she rambles, getting increasingly nervous with the aggressive, grumpy way Akane is staring at her. "A-And here you are! So..." Blondie trails off, fiddling with her bottle necklace...is that a dead spider?
Don't question it, Mana.
That's probably for the best.
Blondie frowns as she looks between Mana and Calypso. "So...which one of you is it?" she asks.
Mana yawns and waves tiredy at Blondie. "Hi. Mana" she says, still blinking the sleep out of her eyes.
Blondie smiles awkwardly and sticks out her hand, "Myling Alva. I-It's nice to meet you and M-Mary - and, um, sorry for scaring you." she apologizes meekly. "I didn't e-expect to see you guys right there."
Mana shrugs. "It's okay." she says and gets a better look at Myling as she introduces herself to a rather reserved Calypso.
Myling is an average sized woman with pale skin, dark purple eyes, and straight long blonde hair with a few messy strands sticking out in odd places. She's wearing something akin to a cross between stereotypical black wizard robes and a black cloak; the whole shebang being in rather poor condition. And of course there's that bottle necklace containing a dead spider...
"S-So, uhm, what kind of mission are you coming home f-from?" Myling asks as the five continue their walk towards the guild.
Veiss, the most awake out of them, explains what happened and catches Myling up on everything else she's missed.
"So," Veiss says. "If you're back does that mean…?"
Myling nods, "Miss Theresa and the others are back too." she says. "And no, we didn't find any leads this time either." she sighs.
Mana looks between the two confusedly. "'Theresa and the others'?" she asks in between yawns.
"Yeah...they didn't tell you?" Myling asks.
Mana shakes her head and Calypso speaks up, "Who's Theresa?"
Emile shivers. "A scary, scary woman." he answers.
Akane rolls her eyes. "No she isn't. You're just a little bitch." she says and starts shivering herself. "Master Nadine on the other hand…"
Mana raises an eyebrow. "You think Master is scary?"
Akane just grumbles and crosses her arms.
Emile snickers and puts an arm around Mana's shoulder. "Granny is an absolute demon when it comes to Fire Magic." he says. "Has anyone told you the Magic Council has repeatedly asked her to fill the empty spot left by God Serena's death? And they don't want to just put her at tenth place, they want her to be sixth, if I remember right." he says proudly. "She's awesome, right?"
Mana gives him a blank look, "What?"
"What?"
"Who's God Serena?"
"Uh-"
"What kind of ranking system are you talking about?"
While Emile gives an exhausted Mana a crash course in Ishgaran government, Calypso throws question after question at a flustered Myling while Akane and Veiss hang towards the back of the group.
"Soooooo," Veiss drawls, nudging Akane with his elbow. "How are we doing?" he asks.
Akane shrugs. "It's like I told Mana, as much as I don't want to listen to a Dark Mage, I just can't forget about what Kenji said. He made it seem like they were...friends." she says bitterly. "I believe what Mana and Mary say about their amnesia but even so…" Akane sighs.
"You're afraid about what will happen if Mana gets her memories back." Veiss guesses.
Akane nods. "What if we go through all of this and I start trusting her - we all start trusting her completely-"
"I already trust her-"
Akane slaps the back of his head. "Shut up you know that's not my point." she sighs.
Veiss doesn't miss a beat and slaps the back of her head right back. He raises an eyebrow at Akane. "That's the whole point of inviting a stranger you've only known for a week to be on your team, isn't it? And I know you don't like me-"
"Never said that."
"-but I can vouch for their story, you know that too, right?" Veiss asks. "Also, look! Now you have another person to get to know." he says, gesturing at Calypso.
Akane scoffs and crosses her arms. "As if." she says. "Mary believed her story and Mana seemed too as well but I'm not so sure. If Revenant Beasts managed to merge seven siblings together, wouldn't that make Calypso's sister freakishly strong? Like, beyond Wizard Saint level strong? Why haven't we heard anything about a rampaging girl with a description that matches Calypso exactly destroying forests or something?" she says doubtfully. "I'm not buying something like that just yet."
"And that's fine. That's why you picked Mana, right?" Veiss says and starts smirking. "Once you let yourself trust her completely with every fiber of your being, you'll become so close that trusting her will be as simple as looking at the back of your hand and you'll be oh so close-"
Akane groans and stomps ahead of Veiss. "You're so annoying."
Veiss grins and gives her a mock salute as she stalks away. "That's what I'm here for, Kumiko."
When they arrive at the doors of the guildhall, the exhausted members of Team No Name and Calypso get another rude awakening from the giant, intimidating form of Cooley running at them, "MAAAANAAAAAAA!"
Mana grows pale and nearly faints from the sight of that face rushing at her but Mary saves them both the headache of hitting the ground and takes over. The second Cooley is within arms reach, Mary grabs his left hand with her right.
Cooley blinks, hesitating when he sees her one green eye and one blue eye. "M-Mary?"
Mary smiles. "I'm impressed you don't reek of alcohol, Papa. We were only gone for two days." she says.
"I-"
Still holding his hand, Mary steps forward with her left foot and performs a clean judo flip, throwing Cooley over her shoulder and slamming him against the ground. "That's for scaring Mana." she says.
When Cooley recovers from the minor daze, he frowns when he sees the grimace on Mary's face. "What's with that face, kid?" he asks.
Mary laughs weakly and stands up straight, a hand going to her side. "That medicine they gave Mana fixed it but it still hurts like hell." she says. "In hindsight, doing that just now probably wasn't the best idea." she winces. Then she blinks and Mana is back in control.
"Nice to see you two are getting better at that." Emile says, giving them a smile and a thumbs up.
"It's seamless when Mary doesn't force control away from me. It hurts like hell when she does." Mana shrugs as she gingerly touches her ribcage.
Cooley narrows his eyes. "What did you do?"
"Nothing." Mana grumbles, looking away.
Cooley grits his teeth and pushes himself up off the ground. "Obviously you did something since you're in pain." he says. "What-"
"What the fuck else do you expect to happen on her first mission, Cooley?" Akane snaps, cutting him off. "That she comes out unscathed?" she asks sarcastically. "Like I told you before, you're not Mana's father so stop acting like it. The only thing you're allowed to do is care about her wellbeing, not chastise her for getting hurt. You of all people should know that's a given in this line of work." Akane says coldly, grabs a pleasantly surprised Mana's hand, and drags her into the guildhall.
Calypso stares after them and gives a confused look to Emile.
"We're working on that." Emile says awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.
Veiss sighs, "This is a different problem but yes, we're working on it too." he says and shakes his head. "Akane'll be fine." he says. "She's strong." Veiss says. "Now let's go get Calypso here inducted into the guild so I can finally talk to Mana in peace." he says and the four step over Cooley who's still sitting on the ground.
Cooley sighs and pushes himself onto his feet. He glares at the doors of the guildhall, muttering curses about his brother. He dusts himself off, pulls a cigarette box out of his pocket, and lights one. "I'll get my daughter back." he mumbles. "I'll get her back and I'll kill that bastard if it's the last thing I do." he says and clenches his fist. "But that damn brat can't go and break herself and Mary in the process before I do!" he whines, stomping his feet like a child before heading in after the others.
After getting their wounds checked out again and redressed, Team No Name is caught up on what happened while they were gone.
Nadine will be away from the guild dealing with business in Era for an indefinite amount of time. In charge of the guild in her stead is-
"You must be Mana."
Mana, who'd been sitting in a circle with everyone else while a reluctant Myling briefed them on what they missed, screams when she hears the unfamiliar voice speak directly next to her ear. She falls backwards, catching sight of a strangely familiar old woman stepping back before she hits the ground - her head bouncing against the reinforced wood. Mana groans, clutching her head and mumbling about how she can't seem to catch a break.
Veiss cringes, stepping around the bench they were on and offering Mana a hand. "Are you alright?" he asks.
Mana grumbles under her breath and takes Veiss' hand, "Y-Yeah, I just-"
"I will be in charge of the guild until Nadine returns." the woman says. Her red eyes turn to Calypso, cutting into her. "Who are you?
Calypso starts sweating nervously as the old woman continues to stare at her with a scary expression. "Uh…"
Emile saves the flustered Calypso from an inevitable word vomit, "This is Calypso Aurelia." he says, introducing her. "She wants to join the guild." Emile explains. "Calypso, Mana, and Mary, this is the Master's mother, Theresa Rodgriguez."
Mana takes another look at the woman and realizes she does in fact look like Nadine. The same fiery red eyes, graying red hair, and a formal blouse and skirt paired with odd socks and shoes just as Nadine wears.
Theresa keeps staring at Calypso like the girl's gonna burn down their historic guildhall. "Calypso Aurelia? That name sounds familiar to me. Why?" she asks.
Calypso quickly tells her the same story she told the others. Theresa doesn't say anything right away, instead staring each member of Team No Name in the eyes for a minute before she says "And you four - you five-" Theresa corrects herself. "You vouch for her?" she asks.
Emile nods quickly. He puts an arm around Calypso's shoulder and squeezes her cheeks with his other hand, "Look at this face, do you think this face could hurt somebody?" he coos.
Interestingly, Calypso doesn't immediately shut Emile down like she did in Veneto, instead staring at him with a curious look in her eyes.
Mana, Veiss, Akane, and Myling leave Calypso to Emile, skulking away from their very annoyed looking de facto Master. Myling lets out a sigh of relief and bids the trio farewell, leaving to go read in solitude. The remaining three decide to hang out in Veiss' room since Mana's is barren and Akane very harshly denies them access.
("Why not?" Mana asks. "Is it messy or something?"
"No. I just don't want anyone in there. Ever.")
Mana is surprised to find that Veiss' room is extremely well lit. The curtains are drawn on his windows, he has a ceiling light, a lamp in each corner of the room, and what looks like a candelabra on his bedside table. The exaggerated number of lights in his room makes it seem like he's afraid of the dark or something. He also has a little fish bowl on his dresser, a lone goldfish swimming around in it. Veiss' room is nicely decorated with the same basic furniture Mana was given along with a few things Veiss purchased himself - posters, books, a couch, and a little table in the corner of the room with a small Lacrima at the center of it.
("You have a fish?"
"I get lonely."
"...What's its name?"
"Timmy.")
"You have that whole table for that small thing?" Mana asks, pointing out the Lacrima.
Veiss just shakes his head and pulls out another Lacrima from a nearby drawer. "Charge some of your Magic Power into this." he says. "Just a little bit, don't go crazy with it." Veiss says and hands it to Mana.
Mana glances unsurely between him and Akane. "Why?" she asks.
"You'll see."
Mana sighs and does as she's told, slowly charging the Lacrima until it lights up.
"Now point it at the Lacrima on that table." Veiss instructs while Akane yawns and throws herself on his couch.
Mana points it at the Lacrima and gasps in fascination as it starts projecting a large, rectangular screen above it. The projection shows a bunch of half naked men and women talking in a very expensive looking house.
"So, Mana, have you ever seen Adoration Island?" Veiss asks. "It's Emile's favorite show."
"Disgusting, don't show her that." Akane scoffs. "Show her the spin off of that show, Memory Snow. I can't remember what it's called but I heard it's really popular in Wisteria." she says. "Supposedly this guy from Silver Sabelum is usually basically emotionless but that show gets him really riled up."
"What about that documentary on Fairy Tail-"
After arguing about what they should show Mana, they eventually agree on a historical documentary on Valiance to give Mana a brief rundown on some of the locations, cultures, and practices of their country.
Mana, fresh out of the shower, carefully flops onto her bed, mindful of her ribcage. She stretches like a cat and grabs the notebook Akane gave her after they finished the documentary from atop her nightstand.
"I just thought that keeping a journal might help strengthen your memory or s-something and to write down wh-what you've learned-" Akane stutters and falters, flushing embarrassedly as Mana stares at her gratefully. "Stop looking at me like that."
Mana smiles apologetically, "I'm sorry, I just - other than the clothes Rina gave me this is the first gift I've gotten in a long time-"
Akane scoffs and shoves the book into Mana's hands. "Whatever. Use it or don't, I don't care." she says and quickly leaves Mana's room.
Mana smiles as she looks over her new journal. It's a plain, leatherbound book but Mana will cherish it all the same. She undoes the clasp keeping it shut, picks up the pen she grabbed from the second floor, and starts writing.
Ah, wait. Do you know what today is?
April ninth. Mary supplies.
Mana thanks her and quickly does some math in her head before she writes her first entry.
April 9th, X793
I've been with Phoenix Fire for a little over a week now.
I'm surprised I went on my first mission that fast but the others agreed I was more or less combat ready. I didn't get any real fighting experience in but I did manage to cast my first spell! I don't think I'll be able to nor do I want to cast that one again. It was that guy's spell, Kenji.
We don't remember anything about him but he claims to know us. It put me off and I know it bothered Akane too.
I don't want to write about him in here. Mana frowns.
Then write about our new friends and teammates. Mary suggests.
Mana nods and smiles.
The first Phoenix Fire Mage and member of my new team I met was Emile Solflare. He's certainly something. He falls for every girl he lays eyes on but he's very sweet. He's actually the most cool-headed between him, Veiss, and Akane - the latter of whom he also takes great pleasure in annoying. All that aside he's very friendly to everyone in the guild (despite his pottymouth) and loves this place just as much as Danate. I haven't seen it much but it seems like Emile looks up to Danate like a big brother and he respects Nadine a lot. He's best friends with Danate and Rina and they're always hanging out together when Team No Name doesn't have anything else going on.
After Mary made me pass out
Mana ignores the offended gasp Mary lets out.
I woke up to find Akane waiting for me. Akane Kumiko. She's definitely the biggest hothead on our team and she has horrible trust issues. The mission we just got back from doesn't seem to have helped that but I did get a nice little smile out of her. I know she wants to get better and she's relying on me to help her with that. I'm going to try my best, I don't want to let her down and I don't want to let Emile down. He clearly cares about her a lot. One thing I don't get is that she says she doesn't have a lot of trust in me but she defends me whenever Cooley says anything to me. And she does it very aggressively. I dunno.
Something to think about later? Mary suggests.
Mana nods and continues writing.
Veiss Dregliark. He's just as hotheaded as Akane but he seems easier to calm down. Apparently Mary and I know him from our time as prisoners. He seems like he'd be very kind when he isn't arguing with Akane. I've only just met him and when we did meet we immediately went out on that mission. Other than our shared time with Revenant Beasts I know next to nothing about him but he says he wants to talk so I'm hoping that'll change soon.
Mana yawns. I think I can get through one or two more people, I'm getting pretty tired.
I know. Mary says. Don't forget about what you learned in that documentary, I want you to write it down tomorrow so it sticks in your head.
Mana rolls her eyes, Yes mom.
Cooley, Mary's dad, is the twin brother of The White Bull. He scared me at first but now he just really annoys the hell out of me. He makes Akane mad too, for some reason. I haven't figured out any possible reasons why yet.
Calypso Aurelia. I don't know what to make of her yet but I think we'll be friends. I think the others saw that look she gave Emile when we were talking with the Master's mother earlier. Obviously I don't have experience in anything romantic but maybe there's something there? Maybe Emile's flirting got through to her. Or maybe she's just interested in guy's with scars on their fa
Mary winces when Mana suddenly faceplants in the journal.
Mana?
...
No response. She's passed out.
Mary sighs and takes control of Mana's body. She closes her journal and puts it and the pen back on Mana's nightstand. She pulls the blanket over them and closes her eyes.
Goodnight Mana.
April 10, X793
Right. Back to where I left off because Mary won't leave me alone.
There's not much else to say about Calypso. She seems nice so far and I hope we get along.
Mana looks up from her journal, observing everyone in the guildhall. She raises an eyebrow when she sees Acro and Danate huddled together, whispering with conniving grins on their faces.
Acro Picasso-Atlas. He's a sweet kid. He has a big heart and likes to prattle on about strength and justice. Coincidentally he has Clay-Make Magic and is also an artist. He's not the best artist but he definitely has the heart. Acro looks a lot like Magnus and it hurts to look at him sometimes because I imagine that to be what Magnus looked like when he was fifteen. If he made it to fifteen.
Danate. Danate Lunith, I think. He seems a little weird, like he's not that socially aware. He's very nice though. He wants everyone in the guild to be strong so they can achieve what they want to achieve.
Mana takes a sip from her juice, scanning the guild again. As Danate seems to be planning something mischievous with Acro, he isn't around Rina and interestingly enough, Emile isn't anywhere near her either, giving the girl some much needed peace and quiet.
Rina Dawnstone. She's very nice, probably one of the nicest people here ((aside from my team of course)). She gave me a bunch of her old clothes so I don't have to walk around the guild in rags and she pushed for me to join them. She also sewed my clothes up when Emile tore my sleeve during our first training session and she acts as the guild's receptionist. Also I'm pretty sure she has a crush on Danate so that's something to keep an eye on.
Mana hums to herself as she looks back up, observing her surroundings. Akane is sitting on the bannister of the second floor while eating her breakfast, Veiss is reading a book at a table by himself, and someone she hasn't spoken to in a while is also sitting by himself: baby-faced Nelio. She tucks her journal under her arm, chugs the rest of her juice, disposes of the cup, and approaches him.
"Hel-"
"Does he look okay to you?" Nelio asks before Mana can even get a word out. He holds out the palm of his hand to her. A small, bug-like creature barely larger than a finger sits in the middle of his palm. "He says he's all fixed up but one of his wings keeps twitching."
Mana blinks. "Um-"
"I told you I'm fucking fine, Neo."
Mana yelps, jumping back at the sound of the gruff, robotic voice that comes from Nelio's palm.
Nelio rolls his eyes, "Tell that to your wing, Fleetler."
'Fleetler' flies up out of Nelio's palm up to his eye level. While the creature buzzes angrily at him, Mana gets a better view of what it looks like. It has a metallic looking head with yellow glass for eyes and what seems like a pair of pincers that serves as its mouth. Along with six metal limbs to scuttle around with, it has a pair of wings and some sort of satellite dish on its back.
Creepy. Mana grimaces.
And like Nelio said, Fleetler's wing twitches and it goes tumbling down towards the table until Nelio catches it in his palm. "What did I tell you?"
"Fuck off." Fleetler says as Nelio places it back on the table and turns back to Mana.
"Sorry." Nelio says. "What's wrong?" he asks, his signature blank look on his face.
Mana shakes her head and slowly approaches him, glancing at Fleetler warily. "Nothing. I just wanted to talk." she says. "We've only spoken once and that was about a week ago now." she says.
Nelio gives her a strange look. "You want to talk to me?" he says. When Mana nods, his look only gets more judgemental. "Why?"
"Why not?" Mana says. "You're my guildmate and we have relatively similar situations."
Nelio lets out a thoughtful sigh. "That's right. We both have bodies that make us look younger than we actually are." he says with a nod. "But in your case that big chunk of memories you're missing technically makes your mind and your physical age the same." Nelio points out.
"R-Right." Mana stutters and laughs awkwardly. She clears her throat and nods along with him, "And we both have cases of amnesia." Mana reminds him. She takes her journal out from under her arm and presents it to Nelio. "Akane gave this to me yesterday, she thought it might help strengthen my memory if I write things down." she says with a smile. "And on the off chance I lose even more memories, I can just read this. It's in my own handwriting so no matter how I'm feeling at the time, I'll be able to trust this." Mana explains. "Akane was a little aggressive about giving this to me but hey, by now I figure that's just her being her."
"Writing it down, huh…" Nelio mumbles, looking down at Fleetler scuttling about the table. For the first time since meeting him, Nelio looks like he's actually feeling something other than apathy. He stares at Fleetler, a downcast look on his face.
Mana frowns worriedly, "Did I say something wrong?" she asks.
"No." Nelio shakes his head. "Thanks for the suggestion but I don't think writing anything down will help me. I think I said it when we first met, but my amnesia is because of PTSD. It wasn't magically induced like yours. Revisiting that won't do anything but hurt, but thank you for trying to help." Nelio says with a small appreciative smile. "How's your training coming along, by the way?" he asks, changing the subject. "I know you trained with Cooley, Master, and your new friends for a week before you left on that mission."
Mana goes along with him and sighs, "Yeah. The mission itself didn't go well but we did manage to-"
"Mana!"
Both Mana and Nelio turn towards the sound of the former's name being called. "Akane!" Mana smiles. "We were just talking about you."
That seems to throw Akane off a bit, "You - what? Why? What did you say-" then she pauses and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Wait. Nevermind. You're not that blue haired moron." she says. "Are you busy? Emile wants to talk to us and Veiss privately." she says and only then does Mana notice the head of white hair behind Akane.
"Oh, um, yeah." Mana nods. "Sure." she says and turns to Nelio. "Can we finish this later?"
Nelio nods and turns back to Fleetler. "I'll probably be here." he says and cracks a small smile. "Talk to you whenever."
As Mana follows Akane to where Emile is waiting, she writes another entry in her journal.
Nelio Reonard. We've only talked twice now but I think both conversations went well. He didn't seem to mind that I interrupted whatever he was doing with his little robot, Fleetler. That little creature has a mouth as bad as Emile and Akane. But anyways, Nelio either chooses not to or has trouble expressing his emotions but he seems like a nice guy. Man. I keep forgetting he's 28 years old. But despite his seemingly 24/7 apathetic mood, it seems like he's friends with Genesis, a very bubbly and friendly guy ((who has a problem recognizing boundaries)). It's an odd combination but from that one interaction I had with them together, they seem like they make it work.
Just like my team.
"What's that?" Veiss asks, peering over Mana's shoulder.
"Oh, it's just a journal." Mana says. She bookmarks her page with her pen and shuts it, showing him the cover. "Akane gave it to me last night." she says with an innocent smile.
Akane stiffens when she hears Veiss poorly attempt to stifle a laugh. Her cheeks start turning pink as she turns to glare at her teammate. "Veiss Dreliark I swear to the Goddess and everything you hold dear if you don't shut your damn mouth-"
"How was it?" Veiss says, barely holding it together.
Mana looks at him cluelessly. "How was what?" she asks.
"The s-"
Akane instantly shuts Veiss up by wrapping his entire face in chains. "They'll come off when we get to the temple." she snaps, kicking the back of his knees and making him drop to the ground. Her face is still flushed as she restarts her walk, dragging a kicking and screaming Veiss behind her. "Come on, Mana."
"Mmmmph!" Veiss whines.
Mana just shakes her head and jogs a bit to catch up to Akane. "So, um, why are we meeting Emile at a temple?" she asks.
"That's where he lives." Akane answers simply.
"...Huh?"
"He lives and works part-time in a temple." Akane rephrases. "I think Emile said he got it as a 'reward' for doing a mission on behalf of the previous priest of the temple. The priest packed up his bags and wrote Emile a note before he turned so he didn't have a chance to refuse. Em wasn't too happy about it at first but when we pointed out that he was basically getting a free house, he packed up all his belongings from the guild and moved in." she explains.
"Grpharghsf!" Veiss struggles but Akane ignores him so Mana does too.
"That outfit he's always wearing is the uniform of the temple." she says. "Even though Emile uses the temple as his home, he dedicates one day a week to letting people come in to pray and offer things to the Goddess Soasis." she continues. "But even though he works hard to maintain and clean the temple all on his own, only a handful of people come to the temple since Emile isn't actually a priest and the temple is independent from the church of Soasis."
"'Independent'?" Mana questions.
Akane shrugs, "I don't get it either. Emile's tried explaining it but I've never been all that religious myself so it doesn't stick in my head." she says. "Something about him shipping their offerings to the main church or something."
"Wow." Mana says, impressed. "He does all that work by himself but people don't come to the temple because there's no official priest?"
Emile's voice comes from above them, "I try my best to lead them in prayer but alas only a handful of my fellow townspeople appreciate my efforts." he says dramatically. "Woe is me!"
Akane begrudgingly releases Veiss from his chains (the latter making a mental note to fight Akane later) and the three of them look up to see Emile standing on the roof of a small but pristine looking temple. It's walls are pure white and there are several columns decorating the front of the building. A shiny circle bearing the symbols of Soasis decorates the front doors of the temple: the Sun on one door and the Moon on the other.
"What the hell are you doing on the roof, Emile!?" Veiss calls up to him, switching between rubbing his now sore face and dusting off his clothes.
Emile gives him a look that says 'are you blind or just stupid'. "What the hell does it look like I'm doing?" he says. "Look at how clean my roof is. Did my roof look this clean yesterday? No. Were the walls this white yesterday? No." he says and crosses his arms. "I've been working since four in the morning. What have you been doing?"
"Journaling." Mana says, waving her journal at him.
"Reading." Veiss says.
"I woke up half an hour ago. I only woke up because Danate was there to pass your message along." Akane yawns. "It's nearly ten o'clock now. Did you have breakfast, clean freak?"
"Well, no, but-"
With a single chain, Akane pulls Emile down from the roof and hogties him. "Mana's cooking you breakfast and we're gonna talk about whatever you wanted to talk about." she says as she slings his body over her shoulder.
"B-But I have to finish cleaning-"
"Er, I don't know how to cook." Mana chimes in.
Akane pauses. "...Veiss is cooking you breakfast."
"Whatever." Veiss agrees. "This place has a kitchen, right?"
It does have a kitchen.
Veiss pulls an apron out of nowhere, puts it on, and begins to work.
Akane chains a whining Emile to a chair and Mana just watches their chaos with an amused smile on her face.
"Alright." Akane says. "While Veiss is cooking, talk. You can cook and listen, right Veiss?"
"Right." Veiss nods, pulling some eggs out of Emile's fridge.
Mana and Akane are taken aback by the sudden dejected look on Emile's face.
"What's wrong Emile?" Mana asks, concerned. "Is this about what that guy said to you?"
Akane cracks her knuckles, her anger growing by the second. "Who was it?" she asks.
Mana throws a concerned glance her way when she feels a surge of heat coming from her direction. "Um-" Mana's jaw drops when she sees that Akane's hair is sizzling. "A-Akane-"
"Who hurt you?"
"Akane-"
"I keep telling you you need to tell these jerks that I'm the only one allowed to bully you."
"Akane y-"
"WHAT!?" Akane snaps, whipping around to glare at Mana.
Mana winces and meekly points to her hair.
Akane blinks, confused.
"Your hair." Mana says, tapping her head.
Akane pats her head and sighs. "Yeah. Sorry. That happens." she says and plops herself down on the ground. She pulls her knees to her chest and rests her head on top of them. "I'm sorry for yelling at you." she mumbles, her hair slowly starting to fizzle out.
"Akane if anybody cared about your temper or my temper we wouldn't have lasted more than an hour as a four person team." Veiss pipes up while whisking some sort of mixture in a bowl. "You're fine."
Akane just grumbles and nods at Veiss. "Go ahead, Em." she says, letting out a small sigh of relief when Mana sits down on the ground next to her.
("You're not mad at me?"
"Never.")
Emile nods and sighs, telling her what Yuki Whiteclaw, the Mage from Aberrant Hydra, said to him while they were in Veneto.
Strangely, the winged man isn't looking at him when he answers, "Yuki Whiteclaw, Aberrant Hydra." he says blankly, staring intensely at Emile. "You…" he trails off, an unreadable expression on his face. "Who are you?" Yuki asks and looks at Novem. "And you...you're his Nine-Tails." he says and sniffs in their direction. "You're older than you look. Where are your other tails?"
Emile glares at Yuki and grabs Novem off his head, cradling him protectively in his arms. "He's stuck at his baby stage for some reason." he says. "What's it to you? Why do you know so much about him?" Emile snaps.
Yuki starts staring at Emile again. "And you...you're half-" he stops himself and shakes his head. "Nevermind." Yuki says and gently places Mana down on the other side of Emile. "I'll return with your other teammate and Calypso." he says with a smile and a bow and then he's off to the skies again.
"Half what?" Akane asks with a confused frown.
"I don't know." Emile says. "But I remembered something when we returned yesterday and Novem remembered it too when I asked: Nine-Tails are wild creatures from the heavens. I read about it in one of the scriptures of Soasis." he says. "The soldiers of the Goddess tame them to act as their companions."
"So that's what Novem is?" Mana wonders. "Other than his potty mouth he doesn't seem all that wild to me, nevermind heavenly." she says.
Emile shakes his head, "Nine-Tails that are born from two tame ones can also be chosen as companions." he says. "When I found him he wasn't a rabid beast or whatever so I didn't need to do any 'taming'. He was just...there." he says.
"And he doesn't remember how he got there either, right?" Akane asks.
That comment catches Mana's attention. She turns to Akane, "Huh?"
Akane shrugs, "Evidently Phoenix Fire attracts a lot of amnesiacs." she says. "Emile here has a case of it too." she says, nodding at their chained up teammate. "Him too, as you know." she says and nods at Veiss, earning a wave from the chef.
Emile sighs for the umpteenth time and nods. "I don't remember anything before the age of eight. At least, eight is what my mother told me, it's just an estimate." he starts. "My earliest memory is waking up on top of a mountain in the direct light of the moon. I felt like I was being drawn somewhere so I started following that feeling. Lo and behold I found myself in the biggest city that worships the Goddess; Arkcester. I was found by a priestess," he puts on a small smile. "my mother, Jun Kaldo. She decided to take me in and raise me." Emile says fondly and sighs once again. "While I don't actively worship and pray to the Goddess, I felt it when she took me in and I still feel it now: some strange connection to her - Soasis, I mean. It's the only constant I've ever known and ever since I woke up that day, I've wanted nothing more than to serve her."
Everyone stays quiet for a moment, absorbing the information. Even Akane didn't know that much about Emile's past.
Akane is the one to speak first: "So when that guy, Yuki, said you were half something…"
"...he was implying one of your parents was one of the Goddess' soldiers?" Veiss finishes.
Emile nods slowly. "I think so. But how would he know that? It's like he just looked at me and knew." he says with a troubled frown. "Does that mean he's not human either?"
"Wait - not human?" Akane questions. "Her soldiers aren't human?"
"Humanoid, yes, but not human." Emile answers. "They have similar features as we - as humans do, but there are certain aspects about them that hint to their actual race. Scriptures and history books don't provide an accurate description of them because they're a long forgotten race - there haven't been reports of any for hundreds of years so everyone thought they were extinct or something." he explains. "They're called Exalted."
"So the Goddess' heavenly soldiers are Exalted and the Exalted's companions are Nine-Tails." Mana summarizes, pulling out her journal and making a note of it. "But even if you are half Exalted, that doesn't make you any less worthy of being here, if that's what's bothering you." she says as she writes. "Exalted, Human, Elf, Machias, whatever. It doesn't matter to me." Mana says and shuts her journal. She smiles at Emile kindly, "You're still Emile, my friend that falls in love with every girl he lays eyes on."
"I couldn't have said it better myself." Akane says with a small smile. "You can't get rid of us just because some wacko from Aberrant Hydra says one of your parents is exalted." she says.
Veiss hums as he puts a fork and a full plate of pancakes and bacon in front of Emile. "I would've been a little more blunt about it but yes, I think Mana put our feelings into words perfectly." he grins and ruffles Emile's hair. "You're still Phoenix Fire's dumb little Emile Solflare."
Emile stares at them in awe for a moment before he smiles brightly, like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. "Thanks guys." he says.
Mana nods, "Mary is sleeping but I know she feels the same way." she says. "What does Novem say about all this anyway?" she asks as Akane takes off Emile's chains.
"Well," Emile hums as he picks up the fork and stabs his pancakes. "Now that I've reminded him of what he is, he thinks he did something bad and that's why he's stuck at his age." he says. "I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case." he yawns and shoves a forkful of pancakes into his mouth.
"I'm ninety-nine percent sure he talks and behaves the way he does because of you." Akane mumbles under her breath.
"And hypothetically if you are half-Exalted," Veiss starts. "why would you appear in Earthland as a kid with amnesia?" he asks as he begins to wash the dishes he dirtied.
Emile shrugs. "Maybeh ish bath for Exalthed to be with hoomans?" he says with a mouthful of pancakes.
"Don't talk with food in your mouth." Akane says, disgusted, and flicks a small chain at him.
Emile flinches when the chain hits his cheek and he swallows everything in his mouth. "Yeah, yeah, sorry." he says, waving her off. "I said: maybe it's bad for exalted to be with humans?"
"Mayb-"
"Emile Emile Emile Emile Emile!" comes the excited voice of Novem. The four of them watch the little Nine-Tails run into the kitchen and leap onto Emile's head. "I've been thinking." Novem says.
"Well that's not good." Veiss yawns.
"Shut up, drug liar." Novem says.
"It's Dregliark-"
Novem ignores him and starts tugging on Emile's hair. "So we've already established that I came from the heavens, right?" he says. "Assuming you are half-Exalted and you were raised with your Exalted parent, neither of us have any memory from our time up there." Novem says. "For some reason, I stopped aging but you didn't."
"Where are you going with this, buddy?" Emile asks.
"Shut up and listen." Novem says, pulling at Emile's hair again and making the boy whine unhappily. "I think one of my parents was the Nine-Tails of your Exalted parent." he says. "What if something happened up there that caused your Exalted parent to send you down to be with your human one? And I got sent down to be your Nine-Tails but something bad happened in the process and I stopped aging and got amnesia because of it?" he says excitedly, bouncing on top of Emile's head.
Emile blinks, taking in Novem's hypothesis. "That's...certainly a theory." he says slowly, the gears in his head turning.
"You said you were raised in Arkcester, right?" Mana asks. When Emile nods, she continues. "Going by Novem's theory that you were sent here to be with your human parent, what if you were sent to Arkcester because that's where your other parent is?" she suggests.
Akane and Veiss perk up. "Yeah man, what if your mom or dad is there?" Veiss says, getting a bit excited.
"If Emile's dad is the human parent I don't want to meet him." Akane says and crosses her arms.
They all look at Emile, waiting for his answer. He downs another mouthful of bacon and pancakes and then: "I'm not gonna get my hopes up about it but I've been meaning to visit Jun for a while anyways." he says with a small smile that almost seems sad but it's gone in the next second. "Yeah. Let's do it." Emile nods with the same energy as the bouncing Nine-Tails on his head. "Road trip with Team Phoenix!"
Akane immediately shoots down the team name, "No."
And so Team No Name plans to make a trip to Arkcester at the end of the month. They give themselves enough time to heal and train a bit more (just in case).
They force Emile to finish breakfast and help him finish cleaning up the temple afterwards. When they're done, Emile opens the temple up to the public and the others prepare to leave. Emile reminds them that he also has something else he wants to talk about and they plan to meet up at the temple again after dark.
As Mana, Veiss, and Akane make their walk back to the guild, Mana opens up her journal again and starts writing down the information she learned about exalted and Nine-Tails.
"Whatcha writing?" Veiss asks, trying to peer over Mana's shoulder.
She ducks and moves to the other side of Akane. "Stuff." Mana answers, still writing.
"About?" Veiss pushes.
"Everything and everyone."
The last part catches Akane's attention. "Are we in there?" she asks, trying to sound nonchalant.
"...Yes." Mana says, slowly looking up from her journal. She smiles nervously when she meets the very curious faces of Akane and Veiss.
"Can we-" they start simultaneously but Mana immediately shuts them down.
"No."
"But-" Veiss starts.
"No."
"But I bought it for you!"
"And I said thank you." Mana says and closes the notebook. "But these are private thoughts now."
When Veiss tries to reach out to snatch it from Mana, she zaps him with some Darkness Magic and starts running. "Yeah I don't think so!" she yells.
Akane and Veiss starts running after her: "Don't be fucking rude, Mana!"/"You bitch, I just wanna see what you wrote about me!" they shout at her.
Mana, in response, zaps them both with Darkness Magic.
"DAMN IT MANA GET BACK HERE!"/"STOP ZAPPING ME AND LET ME READ YOUR PRIVATE THOUGHTS!"
"NO!"
I'm still waiting for the whole story about how Akane and Emile teamed up but whatever it is, it's clear they care for each other. Emile was afraid none of us would want to be near him anymore because of what that guy from Aberrant Hydra said but none of us care about what kind of blood he has running through his veins. He's Emile, through and through.
I think I have about half an hour more until I meet up with Veiss and Akane in the guildhall to go back to Emile's place b
Mana pauses when she hears a knock at her door. "Yeah?" she calls.
"Mana? It's Calypso. Can I come in?"
Mana closes the latch to her journal and shoves it under her pillow. "Yeah, hold on." she answers, rolling off of her bed. She walks to the door and opens it, smiling at Calypso. "Hi, what's up?" she asks, stepping aside so Calypso can enter.
Calypso shrugs as she looks around, taking in the room. "Nothing, I just haven't seen you all day." she says. She gasps and turns on her heel, beaming at Mana. "I didn't get a chance to show you yesterday-" she says. "Look look look look!" Calypso turns around again and pulls her hair up off her neck, revealing a white Phoenix Fire emblem on the back of her neck. "They have a stamp lying around in case the current Guild Master can't put the emblem on themselves. They said something about Master Nadine needing to do something to it when she gets back but I'm officially a member!" she says excitedly, turning back around and practically bouncing in place.
"Congratulations." Mana says with a friendly smile, a little unsure as to why Calypso's needs to tell her this in the dead of night. "Is there something else you want to ask me?"
Calypso stops, her smile falling and a troubled look crossing her face. "Ever the observant one." she mumbles under her breath. "Do you really not remember the past nine years of your life?" she asks with a frown. "Nothing at all?"
Mana shakes her head. "I get bits and pieces but it's mostly just a big blank." she says. "Mary remembers more than I do though a lot of her memory is a blank as well."
"I see…"
"Why do you ask?"
Calypso shakes her head, "No particular reason. It's just, I remember everything my sisters and I went through with Revenant Beasts. I'm just wondering if it's a better fate to forget than to remember." she says, studying Mana closely. "What do you think?"
"I disagree." Mana says, going over to sit on her bed. "It's not just Revenant Beasts that's escaping my memory. My sense of time is all screwed up, I don't remember things about myself, and I don't remember my parents or my siblings all that much either. I don't even know my last name or where I came from." she says with a frown. "I'd rather remember everything - the good and the bad."
"Even if the bad made you remember that your family is dead?" Calypso says and quickly adds, "I-I'm not saying that they are, it's just a question."
Mana nods. "It's more painful to hold out hope and have it crushed than to just know." she says. "Do you think otherwise?"
"I'm not sure I'd like to remember my sisters last moments the way I do." Calypso says and shakes her head. "Well, that's all I wanted to ask you. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me." she says with a smile.
Mana smiles back and sits up. "No problem." she says and when Calypso is about to open her door to leave, she stops her. "Wait a minute," Mana calls.
Calypso looks over her shoulder. "Yeah?"
"What do you think of Emile?" Mana asks bluntly.
Calypso stutters, her face flushing slightly. "Wh-What are you talking about? He's an annoying flirt, that's all." she says.
Mana hums, smirking at her. "Is that really all you think? I saw that look you gave him when we were all talking with Theresa yesterday." she says.
Calypso huffs and rolls her eyes, opening the door.. "I don't know what you're talking about." she says. "Goodnight, Mana." she says and leaves the room, shutting the door behind her.
"Goodnight Calypso."
Half an hour later, Team No Name is huddled up in Emile's bedroom at the temple.
"So, what else did you want to talk about, Solflare?" Akane yawns. "We're gonna start training again bright and early tomorrow so I want to get a good night's sleep." she says.
"What she said." Veiss nods along, slumping against the door to Emile's room. "And Mana's stupid little Darkness zaps have me beat." he says, glaring at her weakly.
Mana looks unperturbed and examines her nails, "Sorry not sorry. You shouldn't have been trying to look at my journal." she says.
"You're spending too much time with Akane."
"Not possible." Akane says and smiles confidently. "I'm her favorite out of us three."
"As if. I'm-"
"All of you, shut up." Emile says, standing in the center of his room and pinching the bridge of his nose. "This is important so pay attention." when they all go silent, he continues. "I'm pretty sure all of you have heard the little comments made around the guild about what happened to Master's family." he says. "I know you heard something too, Mana."
Mana nods slowly, remembering what Nadine said when she first arrived at the guild. "Cooley's brother is responsible for the death of her husband." she says.
"That's right." Emile nods. "It was an attack by Revenant Beasts in X771. The guild lost a lot of people and the events that happened afterwards hurt our name." he says. "We've only just started getting requests outside of Zaflior again, this last mission was one of them - even if it was just bait for Mana."
"So what happened, exactly?" Mana asks.
Emile sighs and takes a seat on the ground. "This is gonna take a while so get comfortable." he says. "I'm only telling you guys this because I suspect Revenant Beasts is behind something else involving the Master as well. And if Revenant Beasts is our endgame…" he says, shooting them all a look.
Mana, Akane, and Veiss nod, giving the go ahead to Emile.
"So, like I said, it all happened in X771 but there was something else that happened the year prior…"
PF x AH x SS
A/N So Team No Name is making their way to Arkcester :eyes: Aberrant Hydra players are finally going to come into play :omaiga: maybe a Silver Sabelum player too?
The next chapter will be solely what happened in X771 and why the story's summary is what it is and then we'll be training and making our way to the home of Aberrant Hydra and their lovely Guild Master. :rosemouth:
We've got the beginnings of our first big arc :rosemouth: :poggies: