"Then I'm off." Veiss says and turns to Emile and Mana. "...Don't die. I need to make sure Kumiko knows I was the one who saved her." he says and runs off towards the sound of Cole's angry screaming.
Emile scoffs, a weak smile on his face as he leads Mana into the village. "We're growing on him." he says.
"Yeah." Mana agrees absentmindedly, glancing down at Akane. "She is not going to be happy when she finds out that Veiss rescued her."
Episode 14: Then Comes the Aftermath
Mana and Emile don't know how long they've been hiding.
Novem returned to them a few minutes after they found a place to rest but he almost immediately fell back asleep when he was reassured that none of them were at death's door.
Akane is still peacefully unconscious in Mana's arms and Emile is using everything it takes to stay awake. Mana, however, is wide awake. The adrenaline and panic from seeing Finn again and from him nearly taking Akane - the one person she's supposed to convince that she's trustworthy and dependable - hostage still has her reeling so Mana is doing everything in her power to keep herself grounded.
Which has turned into her braiding the unconscious Akane's hair.
"Unconscious Akane is nicer than conscious Akane." Mana says with a grumpy pout. "Conscious Akane wouldn't let me braid her hair." she says.
Emile watches Mana's movements tiredly but curiously. "Where did you even learn to do that? Weren't you kidnapped when you were like...seven or something?" he asks.
"Eleven, according to Mary." Mana corrects him with a yawn. "I think I used to braid Mary's hair...she had hair as long as mine and Veiss' before Finn cut it off." she mumbles with a thoughtful look on her face. "And before...before Veiss was taken away from Mary and I...I think I used to braid his hair too?"
Emile makes a small 'o' with his mouth. "You think or you remember?" he asks.
Mana is silent for a second before responding with, "I remember. Kind of." she says. "Veiss told me everything he remembered about his time with me and Mary before we left that hotel Victoria is staying in." Mana says. "I know it's just about braiding hair but it's one of the only things I've been able to remember without Mary chiming in." she says.
Emile smiles. "Well, it's something, right?" he says. "And the more you remember, whatever you can remember, it can only help little Miss Trust Issues-"
"Emile I can barely move my arms but I swear to the Goddess I'll rip that snarky tongue from your mouth if you keep talking."
Emile and Mana jump slightly at the sudden sound of Akane's voice. Sure enough, Akane's awake but just as fatigued as Emile. She looks like it took all of her energy to shut Emile up and now she's looking around, presumably trying to figure out what happened while she was out.
Then, slowly, Akane's eyes drift upwards towards Mana. She looks a bit confused for a second, probably wondering why Mana is right there, and then it registers in her head.
Mana frowns worriedly as Akane's face gradually starts to flush with color. "A-Akane? Akane what's wrong?"
Emile snorts, "Nene's just embarrassed to be in a pretty girl's lap-"
"Shut up, Solflare." Akane snaps, whipping her head in his direction. The little braid Mana did on the side of her head flips in the same direction and smacks Akane in the face. "What the…?" she mumbles and grabs at the braid, staring at it like it just insulted her entire family. Then she turns to Mana, "Did you braid my hair while I was knocked out?"
"No." Mana says immediately.
"Mana I swear-"
"Yo." a new voice none of the three were expecting speaks up from the far end of their hiding place.
Emile blinks and rubs his eyes as he tries to get a clearer look at the figure. "I know that voice…"
The figure moves closer to the trio, "Sorry, am I interrupting something?" they ask dryly.
"Huh?" Mana frowns, confused. "Is that you, Nelio?" she asks when the figure comes into a better view.
"You two seem awfully cozy." Nelio says, gesturing to Mana and Akane. "Come on, let's give them some privacy." he says to Emile. Nelio picks Novem up off Emile's head and puts him on his own. Then he effortlessly picks Emile up off the ground and slings him over his shoulder. "Bye." Nelio says and starts to walk away.
While Emile starts wondering how someone of Nelio's size picked him up like he was a ragdoll, Akane's eyes nearly bug out of her head at Nelio's comment. "Wh-What? What the hell did you say? Get back here - fuck me I can't walk. You, Mana, after him!" Akane cries, her cheeks even redder than before.
Mana looks down at Akane in confusion. "What's wrong? He just said we were cozy - are you not cozy?" she asks worriedly. "Do you want me to hold you some other way?"
Akane sighs and covers her face with her hands. "Oh dear Goddess, Soasis take me now."
After Akane manages to convince Mana to follow after Nelio, they exit their hiding place to find not a battlefield, but peace. Well, peace barring the angry, steaming Cole and a woman with short white hair who looks ready to snap someone's neck.
"What happened…?" Mana mumbles under her breath, looking around for any sign of resistance. Apart from the Dark Mages who were actually defeated, the rest of them just look defeated and are putting up no fight as they're cuffed by Rune Knights. "Were they left behind?" she asks out loud.
Akane looks just as puzzled as Mana. "Looks like it." she says. "Moving on, where did that freak take Emile and Novem?" she asks and cranes her neck trying to look around.
"Would that be the boy and his little animal? Mr. Reonard brought them over to us a minute ago. Oh, is she hurt? Let me take her from you Miss-"
The second Akane feels another hand touch her arm she quickly slaps it away, quickly snapping her head around to glare at the hand's owner. "Don't touch me. Who are you?"
Akane, Mana, and the person very clearly garbed in a medical uniform stare at each other silently.
"I'm fine." Akane says eventually.
"She needs medical attention." Mana deadpans.
"No I don't-"
"She was unconscious for about half-an-hour and when she woke up she said she could barely move her arms. Less than five minutes ago she said she couldn't walk."
Akane narrows her eyes at Mana. "Snitch."
"You did the same thing to the doctors and nurses in Veneto." Mana yawns as she follows the field medic towards a makeshift medical tent. "Their purpose is to help, there's no reason to not trust them." she says.
Akane just grumbles unhappily as Mana sets her down on a cot.
"And what about you?" the field medic asks Mana.
Before Mana can respond, Mary suddenly starts to wrestle control away from her.
Mana winces, clutching her head. "Mary, what-?" she sucks her teeth and screws her eyes shut. When she opens them again, a blue eye is in place of one of Mana's green ones.
The field medic looks like they just witnessed a medical miracle.
"She's not physically hurt in any way but she's exhausted." Mary says. "Can you give her something to make sure she sleeps?" she asks.
"Uh…" the field medic turns to Akane, unsure.
Akane just shakes her head and sighs. "Two different people. You get used to it." she says.
"If you let her walk away now she's going to keep herself busy so she can keep her mind off of everything that just happened and she's going to run herself ragged and if that happens then it happens to me and it'll only double what she'd be feeling and I'm already doing enough damage by sharing her body so please-" Mary says in one breath. "Make her go to sleep."
"...Uuuuh…" the field medic stands there, still unsure of what to do.
"Well what the hell are you standing there for?" Akane snaps. "Put the girl to sleep!"
"R-Right. Right. Yeah, okay." the field medic says and starts to gather the necessary equipment and medicine.
Mary smiles tiredly. "Thank you."
"Are you going to at least make some conversation with me?"
"No."
"Then why did you come over here!?" Emile whines, pouting at Veiss. "Talk to me, talk to me." he says. "What happened? Why does it look like the Dark Mages just...gave up?" he asks as Veiss absentmindedly tightens the bandages around his head.
Veiss sighs and explains everything that Emile missed while he was hiding with Mana and Akane. All of the major players escaped but fortunately there were no deaths or irreparable injuries on either side.
"Damn…" Emile says and turns to look at Cole. "That sucks."
The Aberrant Hydra Mage is calmer now and sulking while he's dressed in new bandages by a medic. He's situated a few cots away from Emile. A vaguely familiar looking man is standing by him while an angry Victoria berates Cole for going directly against Master Glinda's orders.
Emile's eyes widen when the medic takes off the bandages covering the lower half of Cole's face. Beneath them is horribly, horribly burned skin. It doesn't look fresh, more so like an old wound that hasn't healed properly because it keeps getting rehurt. "Ouch." Emile winces. Victoria and the stoic man don't look phased so it's definitely not something new. Emile is also guessing by the man's reaction that he's also a part of Aberrant Hydra.
He shakes his head and turns back to Veiss. "And what about Calypso and the villagers? Are they okay?" Emile asks.
Veiss tenses. Then he lets out a long sigh and nods his head. "Yeah. They're all fine." he says.
Emile lets out a sigh of relief and smiles. "Good." he says. "It sucks that we weren't able to get Finn for Mana and Mary but next time we see him, we'll be stronger." Emile says. "We'll get him then for sure."
Veiss is silent for a moment and Emile thinks they're finally having a moment until: "You're stupid."
Emile groans and sinks back into his cot.
They're silent for a moment before Emile speaks up, "Can we talk about your freaky Magic-?"
"Go the fuck to sleep, Emile."
"...And that's everything she told me." Alistair says. He glances at Nelio, trying to gauge his reaction. "What do you think?"
"Hm." Nelio says. "I don't think we should tell Theresa. Let's wait for Master Nadine to return." he says. "In the meantime, I think you just earned yourselves five new kids and a baby animal thing to babysit - six if they keep letting Calypso tag along with them." Nelio says with a crooked smile.
"...Why do I have to do it?" Alistair sighs.
"Current motives aside, you have a vague idea of where your brothers are now." Nelio says. "From what I've heard, they're all in agreement that they want to burn Revenant Beasts to the ground and you're the perfect addition to their crusade." he says as a matter of factly.
Alistair pinches the bridge of his nose. "They're kids-"
"Young adults." Nelio corrects him. "Emile is the only one underage and even then he's going to be an adult in a couple of months."
Alistair ignores him, "You want me to hang around a bunch of kids until we can figure out who and what exactly Fafnir is?"
"Yes!"
"..."
"..."
"Fine."
"I'm not an elf."
"Then explain the ears, elf boy."
"I don't want to."
"Then I'll just keep thinking you're an elf, elf boy." Saul says with a snarky grin. "Anyways, that's not why I came here," he says. Saul picks a sleeping Emile's legs up, sits down where they were, and puts Emile's legs on his lap. "You're with Phoenix Fire, right?"
"What gave it away? The fact that we all have it on our hands?" Veiss sneers and crosses his arms. "What do you want?"
"A couple of my guildmates - Akito Kageyama and Koz Anhalt - have been trying to get a hold of your guild's little boat man. Both for separate reasons, but still." Saul says. "Where can I find him?"
"That would be Genesis." Nelio says as he and Alistair approach them. "What do your guildmates want with my ride?"
"A ride." Saul says and glances between Nelio and Alistair. "Hi, I'm Saul-"
"Alistair. Not interested."
"Nelio Reonard. Too traumatized."
Saul pouts. "Are all of you fire birds so hard to get?" he asks and shakes his head. "Anyways, I was wondering if you'd be so kind as to make a pitstop in Wisteria on your way back to Zaflior. Pick them up, take them with you, all that." Saul says and grins. "It'd give me the freedom to bully Lenox about her crush in peace."
"Whatever." Veiss says. "But if Akane starts abusing them on our way back it's not her or any of our faults but yours." he says. When he finishes talking, he feels the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Veiss turns around to see Calypso standing a little ways away from Emile's cot, rocking on her heels with an unreadable look on her face.
Veiss clenches his jaw and without saying goodbye, he heads towards the silent girl.
Calypso tenses when she sees Veiss approach her and hardens her expression. "Listen V-"
"No, you listen." Veiss says. "I'm not going to say anything to the others about what I said to you but you're more than happy to tell them and twist my words any way you want. Like I said, I'm not here to make friends so I don't care about how they feel about me." he says lowly. "But know that I have been and will continue to watch everything you do. You can't hide anything from me. Whether you are a rat like I think you are or you're innocent like you claim to be, I'll find out for myself. The only thing I refuse to let you do is spend any more time acting like a member of this team. When we go out on another mission, you're not coming. If you try anything, I won't hesitate to kill you right there." Veiss threatens. "Are we clear?"
"Crystal." Calypso snaps. "Can I go check on my friend now or do you want to ask me to kill somebody else?"
Veiss scoffs and laughs coldly. He pushes past Calypso and heads towards where he sees Akane laying with Mana passed out in the cot beside her.
Akane sits up when she sees Veiss coming. "Veiss."
"Akane." Veiss says, looking her over. "You look like shit."
"Fuck you." Akane says. "Where's Emile?"
"Alive and resting." Veiss says. "Some guy from Silver Sabelum is asking us to make a pitstop in Wisteria to pick up two of their members." he reports. "They're looking to get a ride somewhere from Genesis."
Akane's face drops. "What, they can't find their way to Zaflior on their own?" she scoffs.
Veiss shrugs. "Saul said they've been trying to get a hold of him but nothing, I guess." he says and his eyes drift over to Mana. "So, what's the verdict now?"
"What are you talking about?"
"This is the second mission you - we've done with Mana. And Mary, by default." Veiss points out. "I just want to know where you stand now."
"Right…" Akane sighs and takes a minute to think. "It's...better, I guess?" she tries. "I can fully trust in the explanation of her past now but that's all I can say with one hundred percent confidence."
Veiss nods and stands there in silence.
Akane raises an eyebrow when he doesn't move. "What?"
Veiss looks up from the ground. "What?"
"You're just standing there."
"Great observation, Kumiko."
"Don't be a smartass, Dregliark. Why are you still here?"
"I have nowhere else to go."
"Do you want to know where I stand with you too?"
"I don't care where I stand with you."
They both go silent again for a few minutes.
Veiss starts tapping his foot with a sort of nervous energy and crosses his arms, looking anywhere but Akane. "...I still don't care but just out of curiosity-"
"You're an asshole and a different kind of annoying than Emile and Mana but you're a good person." Akane says. "I know you put yourself on this team for Mana but you are on this team so I want to trust you just like I want to trust Emile and Mana." she explains.
Veiss nods slowly, taking in the information. "Okay...good." he says,
"Good."
"Fine."
"Fine."
"I hope you recover quickly so we can get a move on you stupid bitch."
"Go choke on your moon sword you greasy whore."
"Her name is Moonsaw, Miss Daddy Issues."
Akane flinches, "I don't give a fuck and that one was too far, cockroach."
"Sorry. Fuck you."
"That's better."
The two of them go silent again. When Veiss starts smirking for seemingly no reason, that's what makes Akane break it: "What's with the face, Dregliark?" she asks, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Did they tell you who exactly saved you from being Revenant Beasts' next pet project?" Veiss asks, trying to hold himself together.
Akane looks at him suspiciously, "No…"
Veiss gives her a cocky, toothy grin and holds his arms out dramatically. "You're looking right at him!"
Akane pales. "No."
"Oh yes."
"FUCKING HELL, EMILE! ONE JOB!"
When things finally got started moving, a majority of the Rune Knights left their field medics to attend to all the injured - including the Dark Mages - and escorted the uninjured criminals back to the capital.
As that one Rune Knight reported to Grand General Ace at the end of the battle, all of the major players disappeared - including the Cavern God Slayer Ace spent hours fighting to put down, Uzlamain. In place of where she left him tied up were a bunch of pretty little flowers (that's when Alistair decided it would be best to keep his little interrogation with Rosalia a secret from the Rune Knights).
All in all, the Rune Knights lost all of the major players they have orders to track down: Xander Break and Uzlamain of Heaven's Light and Finn Brown, Hibiki Ito, Rosalia Moore, and the mysterious Devlio of Revenant Beasts. Ace made sure everyone added the Xander's rescuer "Haze" to their list. If Xander ordered Haze to come retrieve him, he has to be right up there on the danger list with everyone else.
Ace apologized to the village chief for not being faster but after being reassured that all of the villagers were accounted for, she too made preparations to return to Soncha Kapa.
Preparations of which included questioning Victoria, Cole, Seinaru, and all of the Phoenix Fire Mages on what the hell they were doing.
("How the hell is she still sleeping?" Emile asks.
Akane shrugs as she pulls Mana's arms over her shoulders. "Mary told the medic to make sure Mana gets some sleep." she says and locks her arms under Mana's legs. "She might be out for a while.")
In the end, they got lucky. Ace only agreed to keep quiet because she's familiar with Cole's parents (she still isn't being clear about how old she is).
"Wait, wait, wait." Emile says. "I'm confused. You, a twenty-five year old woman, knew-"
"Forty-two, actually."
Everyone stares at Ace in bewilderment (bar the emotionally challenged members of the group).
Ace smiles. "Just kidding." she says. "But yes, I knew Cole's parents. I'm also familiar with Xander Break." she says, nodding respectfully at Cole. "They went through a lot for you, Cole. They deserve to know why you went crazy over Xander."
Cole looks down and crosses his arms. "My mother was a seamstress in our village and my father was a member of the Rune Knights." he starts to explain. "He...that man...Xander Break was also a Rune Knight." Cole reveals, making some of his audience's eyes widen. "They were friends. Supposed to be, anyways. Both of them were being considered for a Wizard Saint position. I think the trial was supposed to be days before Xander ruined my life and betrayed everyone he knew." he says bitterly. "I didn't know why - I still don't know why - but he rounded up a bunch of Dark Mages and attacked our village. He killed everybody in Markello - the children, the elders, everyone I ever knew. Xander killed them all. He killed my mother right in front of me and my father died trying to save me - I don't know if Xander thought I was dead or he let me live but I don't care. I have to...I need to kill him." Cole finishes.
"Well," Akane speaks up. "Far be it for us to stop you then." she says. "If I saw the woman who killed my mother again I wouldn't let anybody stop me either."
Cole looks up when he hears Akane's voice and nods. "Right. And...I'm sorry about before. I didn't know." he apologizes, referring to the earlier evening when he sent Akane into a panic with his fire.
Akane winces and absentmindedly start rolling her shoulders. "You couldn't have. It's fine." she says.
Ace turns to Victoria. "And you. Tell your Guild Master I won't report her either...but remind her next time to not send a bunch of inexperienced kids out to do her dirty work." she smiles.
"R-Right." Victoria nods, Ace's smile still unnerving her to no end.
"But," Ace says. "Before you all return to your homes, I would like you to meet the Vice President. He is the one who set up this whole mission - I believe he would like to meet everyone who participated in it."
And that's how Team No Name and company found themselves in the office of the Vice President of Valiance about an hour later (it went faster this time because Ace summoned several carriages).
The Vice President, Eric Vaust, is a lithe man who looks to be in his late thirties. He has slightly wrinkled white skin and short salt and pepper hair. He's dressed formally, as the second in command of a country should be. Eric is wearing a clean, crisp black suit with a black undershirt and a white tie.
Eric pinches the bridge of his nose when Ace finishes her report, the latter with her signature smile on like she didn't just tell the Vice President they have around thirty-five Dark Mages in custody and none of them are prime targets.
"Okay…" Eric says, processing the information. He sighs and looks back up, scrutinizing all of the guests Ace brought with her. "I thought only five S-Class Mages signed up."
"Friends of mine." Ace lies easily, her smile never leaving her face. "I thought the backup would be nice - and obviously it was needed." she says. "Anyways, sir, if that will be all, I'll escort them out."
"Not quite yet." Eric says and walks over to his desk. "Payment, remember? I'm happy to pay the friends you brought along too. They may not have signed up officially and you didn't exactly get any infamous targets but you saved that village and brought a lot of Dark Mages into custody." Eric says as he pulls out several thick bags of Jewels. "Two millions Jewels each."
The only ones who don't look phased are Victoria, Saul, and the Emotionally Challenged Man trio of Alistair, Nelio, and Seinaru.
"T-Two million Jewel each." Akane whispers.
"On top of the three million we're splitting from Master Glinda…" Emile whispers.
"That's what, two million six hundred thousand for each of us?" Veiss whispers.
Calypso blinks, unable to process just how much they're getting at the end of the day. "Two million...n-no, you guys can take mine, I didn't even-"
Veiss grabs Calypso's arm and pulls her towards him, "Calypso this isn't the time to play Miss Goody Goody. As much or as little as you think you helped and as much as I don't like you, you still did something." he whispers harshly. "Shut up and take the man's money."
Emile raises an eyebrow when he sees the vice grip Veiss has on Calypso's arm. "That's a little rough, buddy." he says, narrowing his eyes at Veiss.
Veiss nods, clearing his throat. "Yeah. Sorry." he says and releases Calypso's arm.
Eric passes out the Jewels to each of the Guild Mages, thanking them one last time. He smiles kindly at them. "I would expect nothing less of the friends of a Wizard Saint."
Everyone freezes, slowly turning their heads to stare at Ace.
"Wizard Saint?" Alistair questions.
Cole gulps. "Um, what rank are you?"
Ace smiles. "Number two. I would be number one but I don't have the time or patience to lead those grumpy old men." she says.
"S-So you're technically number one?" Akane stutters, a chill going down her spine.
"That's right!" Ace beams.
Emile's eyes widen. "Erm...aren't - aren't the top four Wizard Saints, um, not, er, not exactly...human?" he stammers. "I know that was the case when God Serena was number one but…"
"Yes, they're still keeping that little thing going." Ace answers when Emile doesn't finish his sentence. Her eyes are gleaming with something not quite...friendly. And were Ace's pupils always that shape-? "That's enough questions, hm?" Ace says before anyone can say anything else. "I'll show you out."
"B-But-"
"We'll meet again, Guild Mages. We can talk again then."
"It's not really our business to know what exactly she is."
"But-"
"We're only here to find out what you are, Em. Let's not forget that." Akane says.
Victoria approaches the group of Phoenix Fire Mages, "Alright, Glinda is ready when we are. Are you guys ready to go?" she asks them and glances at Mana, still passed out on Akane's back. "Is she alive?"
Veiss bristles. "Yes, she's alive-"
Right on cue, Mana starts stirring. "Hmmm…?" she mumbles, lifting her head up off of Akane's shoulder. Mana looks around sluggishly with half lidded eyes.
Akane frowns, turning her head to glance at Mana.
"Kacchan...so tired." Mana whispers before promptly dropping her head again and passing out on Akane's shoulder.
Calypso's eye twitches and she looks like she can't decide between being amused or something else. "What…what did she call you?"
Emile and Veiss burst out laughing at the embarrassed and mortified look on Akane's face.
"Sh-Shut up! It's your fault for getting those stupid names into her head!" she cries.
Earlier towards the beginning of April...
Mana walks into the guildhall and comes upon a rather strange sight - Akane with her head down on a table and Veiss and Emile over her, triumphant and mischievous grins on their faces.
"What's wrong, Nene? Cat got your tongue?" Mana hears Veiss say as she gets closer.
Akane grumbles incoherently in response.
Emile pats Akane's head obnoxiously, "I can't believe you're two years older than us but nicknames of all things are what get you embarrassed, Kane." he says.
Oooh. So that's what's happening... Mana thinks to herself.
...You're going to make her mad.
It'll be funny.
I don't recommend it.
Too late.
Mana approaches them from behind and puts on a sweet smile. "Good morning, Kacchan." she says.
"I swear to the Goddess I will castrate you two-"
"COOOOOOOOLE!" comes a voice they haven't heard in a while. "I'm so happy you're alive! Now get your ass over here so I can kill you!" Glinda Goldkuhl calls down with a cheery smile.
Everyone looks up to see Aberrant Hydra's Guild Master peering down at them from a portal she created in the sky.
Cole pales. "Oh no."
"Oh yes." Glinda says and with a snap of her fingers, the portal starts to vacuum up all of the Guild Mages.
"Wh-What!? No! Glinda I said I still needed to check out of the hotel!" Victoria cries, trying to hold onto a nearby lamppost.
Glinda leans down and cups her ear. "What was that? Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of my portal bringing you back to Arkcester."
"GLINDAAA!"
Alistair and Nelio exchange a look when they see Glinda and silently agree to make a quick exit before Glinda notices them. The pair of them jog over, catching the attention of Calypso and Team No Name as they're being lifted up into Glinda's portal. "We're going back to Zaflior the long way." Alistair deadpans.
"Wh-What? Why?" Emile asks.
Alistair shoots a look at Nelio. "She doesn't like us." he says.
"...Why?"
Nelio yawns. "She didn't like being threatened." he says casually.
Unfortunately, that catches the attention of all the Aberrant Hydra Mages floating above them.
Cole narrows his eyes. "You threatened Master Glinda?"
Victoria glares at the men. "Degenerate males." she mutters, reaching for the zippers on her arms.
Seinaru shakes his head. "What's the point in trying to get them for it now?" he sighs. "They're obviously trying not to get sucked in by Glinda's portal." Seinaru says. "Just let it go for now."
Nelio gives Seinaru two thumbs up. "Thanks, dude. See you when we see you."
Seinaru doesn't say anything in reply.
And with that, Nelio and Alistair head off and everyone else is sucked up by Glinda's portal.
As a result of Glinda's erratic portal, Team No Name and company once again end up as a mess of tangled limbs in a haphazard body pile.
"Ow." Seinaru deadpans, the poor man at the very bottom of the body pile.
And that's when the arguing starts.
"Get OFF of me, Kumiko!" Veiss cries as he tries and fails to wiggle out from under Akane. "I don't need your hair catching fire in my face when your anger issues inevitably get triggered!"
Akane rolls her eyes. "As much as I love being attached to you, Dregliark," she says sarcastically. "there's about five hundred pounds of human flesh weighing me down so that's not gonna happen."
Mana, forced awake when a bunch of bodies are dropped on top of her, has no idea what's happening. "Why...why is Calypso's foot in my face?" she asks groggily.
"I-I'm sorry, Mana!" Calypso stutters. "But are you finally gonna stay awake? Jeez, what did they give you?"
"That's really none of your business, Aurelia." Veiss mutters under his breath.
"Veiss your head is right next to my elbow, do you really want to test me right now?" Calypso sneers.
Emile, on the other hand, looks quite pleased with where he ended up in the body pile (right next to Calypso). "You know, I'm fine to just stay here for a while if that's alright with you guys-"
"Get the pervert away from me before I slit his throat." Victoria says immediately, glaring at Emile's leg. "And SOMEBODY get Glinda here so I can slit her throat-"
"Feisty." Saul says with a yawn. "But for real, if somebody doesn't start untangling this body pile in the next five seconds, blood will be shed."
Cole, sitting pretty at the top of the pile, is only being hindered by his leg being stuck between Emile, Calypso, and Saul. Before he can add to the chaos below him, Glinda finally reappears beside the body pile she vacuumed into her guildhall.
She beams, holding out her arms to Cole. "Cole!" Glinda says joyfully, silencing the body pile of Guild Mages.
Cole pales and smiles nervously at his Guild Master. "M-Master Glinda!"
"Come, stand beside me Cole." Glinda says, her smile never leaving her face.
Victoria's eye twitches. "So that's what Ace reminded me of…" she mutters.
Cole wiggles his leg out from between Emile and Calypso - kicking Emile's face in the process. "Sorry." he apologizes quickly and clambers over to Glinda. "Y-Yes?"
(Behind them, Luna and Yuki have to hold back a frantic boy with dark skin and white hair and a frantic Eira.)
Glinda looks him over closely. "Are you hurt?" she asks.
Cole shakes his head earnestly. "Nothing I couldn't handle," he says.
"Did you get to do what you wanted to when you went and disobeyed my orders and the law?"
Cole starts sweating nervously, "N-No, no I didn't." he answers, picking at the bandages covering the lower half of his face.
Glinda continues to smile at him.
Cole continues to shake in his boots.
"I'll see you in a half hour, Cole." Glinda says and raises her hand.
Cole blinks. "W-What?"
"I think thirty minutes of falling will make sure you don't pull something like that again." Glinda says and makes a motion with her hand, opening a portal below and right above Cole. And just like that, Cole falls through the hole, reappears out of the one above his head, falls through the one he just fell through, and so on and so forth. The cycle keeps repeating and Cole's screams go in and out with every fall. Glinda nods, pleased with herself, and turns back to Victoria, Seinaru, and the Phoenix Fire Mages (they quickly stopped arguing when they saw what Glinda had in store for Cole and quickly worked to free themselves one by one).
"Glinda." Victoria deadpans.
"Victoria." Glinda deadpans.
"Master Glinda." Seinaru yawns, nodding at his Guild Master respectfully.
"Seinaru, the only one of my Mages who has never wronged me." Glinda smiles kindly.
Victoria and Seinaru exchange a glance, both of them silently and mutually agreeing it would be better to keep Seinaru's miniature adventure with Alistair and Nelio on the down low.
"Right." Seinaru says. "I'm going now." he says and without saying anything else, he walks away to elsewhere in the guildhall.
Victoria crosses her arms, glaring at Glinda. "I told you to leave me behind, I still need to check out of the hotel." she says, annoyed.
Glinda waves her off, "I can have someone take care of that for you." she says. "Don't you want to see Sonia again?"
Victoria blinks, her expression softening. "I-I mean, yes, obviously. Always. But-"
Glinda pouts. "Oh come on, Victoria, I'm trying to do you a favor. As thanks for taking the S-Class mission for me." she says.
Victoria sighs and nods. "Alright, alright. Fine." she says. "...Thank you, Glinda." Victoria says and turns to the Phoenix Fire Mages with a small smile. "I'll see you kids around." she says. A beat passes and her smile turns into something suspiciously sneaky. "Come stop by Sonia's General Goods before you leave or next time you're in the city. They offer some great deals there." she says with a very untrustworthy giggle and skips out of the guildhall.
"Uh…" Emile blinks.
Akane narrows her eyes. "I don't trust her."
"You don't trust anyone." Calypso mutters under her breath.
Akane crosses her arms, shooting Calypso a look. "And what about it?"
Glinda's voice interrupts them, "As much as I would love to start giving you your rewards for pulling through with my request, I don't recognize you." she says, pointing at Saul. "You have ten seconds to tell me who you are before I separate your head from your body." Glinda says with a smile and slowly starts to raise her hand.
"R-Relax, relax." Saul says quickly and starts rolling up his right sleeves. "I'm with Silver Sabelum, see? I was on the same mission with Victoria and these guys here." he says.
Glinda lowers her hand.
"Damn crazy bitch…" Saul mutters under his breath.
"What was that?" Glinda snaps, her hand immediately going back up.
Saul keeps his mouth shut.
"That's what I thought." Glinda says and turns her attention to the Phoenix Fire Mages. "And then there were the birdies." she says with a grateful smile, walking up to the group. "I can't thank you enough for doing this for me...even if we all got into trouble for it."
Mana blinks, still feeling groggy. "Into...trouble?" she asks slowly.
Veiss frowns. "The Grand General said she wouldn't report any of us." he says in confusion. "Who did we get into trouble with?" he asks.
"Your Guild Master's mother." Glinda says and explains the call she tried to make to Nadine.
Emile puts his head in his hands, "I can't believe I'm going to die before I find out who I am." he sighs dramatically.
Akane, for all her talk about how Theresa is nothing compared to Nadine, looks terrified. "She's totally gonna kill us…"
Veiss slowly unsheathes Moonsaw. "I didn't think I would ever meet the other end of Moonsaw this way but it's better than living to see what Theresa has in store for us." he says and closes his eyes.
Mana just yawns.
Calypso looks at all of them, concerned. "Come on...she's not that bad...right?" she asks.
Veiss shakes his head. "We've seen how Master Nadine is when she's angry. We've seen how Theresa is normally. Theresa angry, though? We're not surviving that."
Glinda puts on a brave smile, trying to reassure the young adults. "Good news, though, Theresa is back in Zaflior. You have plenty of time to return to your investigation." she says. "Speaking of, I went ahead and searched for everything I could while you were away." Glinda says, walking over to a table and picking up a thin file. "Nothing in it is officially related to you exactly, Emile, because this Jun Kaldo woman never officially adopted you. However there are a few records of lone men and women entering the city over the past twenty years or so with newborn children. It's an odd record to be kept, yes, but the politicians in this city are very...thorough." Glinda says with a hint of distaste. "It's only a matter of narrowing down the list to when you were born and reading through the descriptions of each adult." she says and hands the file to Emile. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more. Nobody I met recognized your description or knew of anybody missing a son."
Emile smiles despite the disappointed look on his face and takes the file from Glinda. "Thank you for all of your help, Master Glinda." he says and bows slightly. "This is farther than we ever could have gotten on our own." he says. "And...I'm sorry for calling you a creepy old lady." Emile says meekly.
Glinda's eye twitches but she keeps her smile on her face. "It's...not a problem." she says. "I left the other half of your reward in your hotel rooms, by the way." Glinda says. "Whenever you conclude your business in Arkcester, I can give you a lift back to Zaflior." she says, gesturing to the portals Cole is still falling through. "I can open up portals anywhere I can physically see or anywhere I've been before." Glinda explains.
Akane shakes her head. "I think we'll stay a night so the drugs wear off of her," she points at a droopy eyed Mana. "And we have a little more time to look around for Emile's family."
Veiss nods in agreement. "And then I guess we'll be making our way to Wisteria first." he says, glancing at Saul.
"A-Ah, excuse me." comes a familiar voice. "You will be returning to Zaflior eventually though, right?" They all turn around to see Eira standing there (she'd broken free of Luna and Yuki). "I have business there myself and I'd like to meet with your Guild Master, if possible."
Akane scoffs, "Obviously we're going back eventually." she mutters.
Emile beams. "You're coming with us? It's always great to have another lady like yourself-"
Akane elbows him in the stomach and Calypso pulls him by his ear.
"-ow ow ow ow ow! Fine, I'm sorry!" he whines.
May 5, X793
Veiss filled me in on everything I missed when Mary made the medic put me to sleep.
This Ace woman, the Grand General of Valiance's army, Supreme Commander in the Rune Knights, and the number two Wizard Saint, found out about our not so legal adventure but said she wouldn't report any of us involved. Something about Cole, I think.
We also got a hefty reward from the Vice President of Valiance, Eric Vaust, and combined with the 600,000 J I got as my share from Glinda's reward, I now have 2,600,000 J to my name. I don't really need or want anything so I think I'll just save it. There's nothing I need - Rina gives me clothes (and repairs them if I break them), I stay at the Phoenix Fire guildhall for free, and the food is free too.
Emile said we got the information Glinda promised us. It wasn't much but they went through it while I was sleeping off the drugs. They narrowed it down to one person - a woman with navy blue hair and dark grey eyes like Emile: Valerie Elford. The file said that she had a baby boy with her and his description matched Emile perfectly. They went around asking about her but nobody could tell them where she or the boy was. Her name was familiar but it's like she just up and vanished. The city lost track of her around the same time Emile says Jun found him. He was extremely disappointed but he's not giving up just yet. She doesn't have a tombstone in Arkcester's cemetery so she has to be somewhere.
Emile also said that Akane carried me around while I was sleeping off the drugs. That was nice of her - maybe she's finally starting to like me. Maybe she won't be mean anymore
"MANA GET YOUR DUMBASS IN THE SHOWER BEFORE I LEAVE THE HOT WATER RUNNING SO YOUR SHOWER IS AS COLD AS VEISS' HEART!"
"SCREW YOU, AKANE!" Veiss screams back.
Mana pouts.
Nevermind.
She starts gathering her things, tucking them under an arm while she continues writing.
We're also apparently making a stop in Wisteria and we have two new people accompanying us - Eira Coslett and Saul Morfran. Eira is that girl we met on Aberrant Hydra's doorsteps and Saul is an S-Class Mage from Silver Sabelum. This is the third guild I'm meeting, I wonder what they're like? Eira seems nice enough so far (apart from when Akane's butting heads with her) but Saul doesn't seem as friendly.
"Mana - what are you doing? Akane's been yelling for you, you know."
Mana looks up from her book to find Calypso standing in her way. She gives her a small smile. "Writing down everything that I missed while I was sleeping. How are you feeling?" she asks.
Calypso frowns, a concerned look on her face. "I should be asking you that. I spent that whole battle locked away with the villagers. You and Mary had to face Finn again." she points out. "How are you two feeling?"
Mana sighs and shuts her book. "Mary hasn't spoken much but I can feel everything she's feeling - she's tired and scared. She's trying her best to keep everything together so I don't feel the consequences of her feelings." she explains.
Calypso crosses her arms. "And what about you?"
"I'm...okay." Mana says with a slight frown. "Better than Mary. I was and am still terrified of seeing Finn again but I know that I have everyone else watching out for me now. I'm not alone anymore." she says and starts to smile. "I don't have anything to be afraid of. We're all only going to get stronger. I can protect myself and Mary - she won't have anything to be afraid of when we're all strong enough to stand up against Finn." Mana says with a confident look on her face. "I'm sure Cooley is going to make us train non-stop when he finds out we met Finn again…" she says, her expression faltering.
Calypso still looks a bit unsure but nods and smiles. "Okay. Me too - I'll - I'll get stronger too." she says, trying to look as confident as Mana. "But maybe I'll stay back for a bit until I learn how to actually fight." she says meekly.
"Oh," Mana blinks and nods. "if you're sure that's what you want." she says and smiles back at her. "I'm sure there are plenty of people back at the guild who would be happy to help you train when we're away-"
"MANA THE WATER IS GETTING COLDER!" Akane yells. "GET YOUR ASS IN THE SHOWER SO WE CAN MEET UP WITH EIRA AND SAUL AT ABERRANT HYDRA'S PLACE!"
Mana gives Calypso one last reassuring smile before following the sound of Akane's taunts. "I'M COMING, CALM DOWN!"
"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"
PF X AH X SS
A/N fuck you sizzle:)
a reminder to my lurkers and new readers that this is still an open syoc ! all of the information you need is on my profile :)
lurkers i know you're there stop being shy and give me an oc
next chapter we bid adieu to our aberrant hydra cast (for now) and we move on to finally meet the silver sabelum guild !
in other news regarding our phoenix fire mages:
mana and mary are still traumatized, emile possibly has a mother, akane's still being a tsundere, calypso is just tryna vibe, novem is still sleeping, and of course-
more beef with veiss and calypso more beef with veiss and calypso more beef with veiss and calypso more beef with veiss and calypso more beef with veiss and calypso more beef with veiss and calypso