Episode 16: Calming Down
Mana narrows her eyes as she stares at the two boxes placed neatly on her bed: one wrapped in red wrapping and one in light blue wrapping. "I'm not even going to ask how he got into our room." she sighs.
Your room, not our-
Shut up, it's our room until you get your body back. Mana grumbles and picks up the light blue wrapped box, shaking it lightly. Which one do you think is yours?
Mary hums. ...I don't know. There's only one way to find out. she says.
I guess so. Mana agrees and rips the wrapping off. The light blue box is pretty small so whatever's in here can't be too crazy, right?
Mana puts the box down on her bed and pulls the top off, revealing a small, ornate picture frame. Mana blinks, staring at the picture. She reaches into the box and picks it up to get a better look.
The frame is holding a picture of a younger Cooley, Mary, and a woman that Mana can only guess is Mary's mother. All three of them look so happy, peaceful even. And Finn took that away from them. Cooley doesn't look like he drinks every hour on the hour and Mary's mother looks like a darker eyed version of Mary - from what Mana can remember of Mary's face anyways.
"Mana, are you in here - why are you crying?"
Mana turns towards her door with a frown. "'Crying'? I'm not crying."
Akane narrows her eyes. "I'm looking right at you. You're obviously crying." she says and rubs her temples. "I won't ask again. Why are you crying?"
Mana frowns again and touches her face, "I'm not - oh." she blinks when her hand meets fresh tears. Mana looks down at the picture frame in her hands. "...I'm not crying." she says and walks towards the door to her room.
I-I'm sorry, I just - I just - Mary stammers and Mana finally registers all of the mixed emotions she's feeling because of Mary. I haven't - I h-haven't seen her in a long time a-and -
You don't have to apologize for feeling things about seeing your mother again, Mary. Mana says to her and holds out the frame so Akane can see. "Cooley gave this to Mary for her birthday." she says. "I'm not crying," she repeats as she wipes away the tears. "Mary is."
Akane looks down at the frame and a twinge of sympathy crosses her face. "...Oh." she smiles empathetically as she continues to gaze down at the picture. "I guess Mary had to get that hair from somewhere."
Mana's jaw drops and she stares at Akane like she has two heads.
Akane looks up from the picture when she feels Mana's eyes boring into her. "...Why are you looking at me like that?" she asks, her smile dropping.
"I didn't know you could smile." Mana says in awe.
Akane gives her an affronted look. "I - what? I've smiled before!"
"Yeah, but only when you're bullying Emile!" Mana insists. "That - that was a kind smile."
"I-" Akane pinches the bridge of her nose. "What the hell is happening right now?"
"Can you do it again?" Mana asks.
Now it's Akane's turn to stare at Mana like she has two heads (ignoring the fact that she technically does). "Can I what?"
"Smile!" Mana beams.
"No!"
"Come on, it was cute, just one more-"
Akane freezes and her cheeks start to burn. "C-Cute...?" she stutters. Akane looks like she's about to consider it but then she quickly shakes her head. "No!"
"Please?"
"I'm not a fucking dog that smiles on command!"
"But-"
"You've been spending too much time with Emile. The answer is NO!"
May 6, X793
Apparently Acro has a game he wants all of us to play. I think Akane said it was a big hide and seek game, something like that. It'll be a nice way to unwind - especially after the back to back stressful requests we've been out on. I can train without worrying about having to do any big kind of battle and we can help Emile without the stress of Revenant Beasts breathing down our necks. The game is supposed to be tomorrow so I just have to find something to do until then.
Alistair and Nelio still haven't gotten back yet. If they're taking the train like we did when we first left to Arkcester, they should be back in two to three days. I wonder why they didn't just come with us through Glinda's portal? Emile said the two of them seemed to argue with Victoria, Cole, and Seinaru about something for a minute but he didn't hear exactly what.
I wonder if it has anything to do with Theresa's bad mood
"WHERE ARE THOSE EMOTIONALLY INCOMPETENT MEN!?" comes the angry voice of Phoenix Fire's acting Guild Master.
She had wanted a word with Team No Name the morning after they returned. Apparently Glinda had told Theresa about everything she asked the young Mages to do and while Theresa wasn't angry with them, she was still upset for reasons unknown to the team.
Mana crosses out her last sentence.
So apparently it has something to do with Alistair and Nelio.
She shakes her head and stabs a forkful of pancakes into her mouth. "I wonder what they did...hm." she mumbles to herself. Suddenly, remembering the earlier evening, Mana frowns as she recalls the strange, jittery behavior from one of her guildmates.
Emile and Danate stayed in Rina's room last night. I'm not sure where he left the Silver Sableum Mages but he did sleep here. Rina was acting extremely out of character last night. She seems scared of something, I'm not sure what. Emile and Danate seemed to understand
Mana stops, remembering the conversation she had with the ex-model about her stalker.
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."
Not scared of something, someone.
Before Mana can start to worry any more than she already is, a hand on her shoulder jerks her out of her thoughts. "Oi, where's Akane? I haven't seen her today and nobody here wants to fight me." Veiss says, annoyed. "I can make her angry enough to fight easy."
"I'll fight you, Veiss!" comes the cheery voice of one of Phoenix Fire's youngest members.
Veiss raises an eyebrow. "Oh really, Acro?"
Mana turns to glance at the boy, smiling kindly at him. "Hi, Mag - erm, Acro." she blinks, shaking her head.
What the hell was that?
Acro smiles back at her, unbothered by the odd Freudian slip, and turns to face Veiss again. "Yup! I finally landed a hit on Cooley the other day so I might finally be able to give you a descent fight!" Acro says proudly and dramatically flexes his muscles, striking an odd pose in the process.
By the ticked off look on Veiss' face, Mana can tell that the young man didn't take Acro's comment as the compliment it was supposed to be. Also, in the process of posing for Veiss, Acro accidentally knocks Mana's fork off her plate and sends it to the floor.
"Aw." Mana sighs.
"Ehehehe," Acro laughs awkwardly. "Sorry, Mana. I'll get that." he says.
Mana shakes her head and closes her book as Acro moves to pick up the fork. "It's fine-" she stops when she looks back in Acro's and Veiss' direction only to be met with an extremely filthy foot holding her fork between its toes.
…
…
…
Acro smiles innocently at Mana. "Here!"
…
…
…
"Black Mask."
"Wh-What? No, Mana, wait, I'm sorry-"
Madelaine, the girl who'd helped Mana and Team No Name train before their trip to Arkcester, sits beside her former trainee with a frown. "Genesis, you said?"
Mana nods, wordlessly dusting off the clay from Acro's feeble attempts at getting Mana to calm down (the onlookers of their squabble, including Veiss and Akane [who'd appeared from wherever she was], were greatly amused).
Madelaine sighs and shakes her head. "Sorry, no, he left the day after you guys did. I'm not sure where he went and I'm not sure when he'll be back."
Mana pouts. "Well that sucks for the Silver Sabelum Mages." she says. "They should be here any second to come looking for him. And there's also that Aberrant Hydra Mage, Eira, who said she wanted to talk to Master Nadine…"
"Is that so?" Madelaine asks, a thoughtful look on her face as she taps her chin.
Mana frowns as she stares at Madelaine.
Mo...rgan…?
Mana?
"Mana?"
…
…
...Huh?
"GET THE HELL OFF OF ME YOU STUPID BITCH!"
"GET FUCKED, DREGLIARK, I TOLD YOU MY ROOM IS OFF LIMITS!"
The shouting that's very quickly growing familiar is what pulls Mana out of her strange reverie.
Madelaine and Mana turn to watch Akane pinning Veiss down and trying to wrestle something out of his hands. As evidenced by her shouting, Akane looks angry, but...she also seems embarrassed? Just what exactly does Veiss have?
"V-VEISS!" Akane whines.
Veiss grins, his expression a mixture of angry (at Akane, obviously) and cocky. "What? Can't take the hit to your big bad asshole reputation?" he taunts and quickly starts looking around the room. He locks eyes with Mana and grins. "Catch!"
"DON'T YOU DARE!"
"SCREW YOU, KUMIKO!"
And with that, a little red blur flies directly towards Mana's face. Madelaine catches it before it smacks Mana in the face and looks at it with an odd look.
Mana's face matches Madelaine's expression.
"...A teddy bear?" Mana blinks.
Akane's face turns bright red. "DON'T SAY IT OUT LOUD!"
Mana takes the teddy bear from Madelaine, staring at it intently.
Then, she runs.
Akane is taken off guard by the sudden sprint but she quickly releases Veiss and runs after Mana. "WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GOING YOU FUCKING AMNESIAC?"
"I WANT TO SEE THE REST OF YOUR COLLECTION!"
"I-I DON'T HAVE A COLLECTION! AND STAY THE HELL OUT OF MY ROOM!"
"NO!"
Emile and Danate exchange a look when they hear Angry Akane Shouting™ outside of Rina's room.
"...I don't want to know." Danate sighs.
Emile shrugs. "You get used to it." he says and turns to look at their sleeping companion.
Rina, sleeping, still looks extremely bothered by her bad feeling from last evening. She hadn't gotten any sleep during the night and at the boys' insistence, she's taking a nap. It took a while but she eventually did manage to fall asleep.
Emile frowns. "Do you really think he found her?" he asks worriedly.
Danate clenches his fists. "I don't know. But if Rina is feeling this way, something has to be off. She doesn't usually get like this." he says, a mixture of anger and worry for his friend on his face. "If he really has…" Danate trails off, glancing at Emile.
Emile nods in understanding, smiling at Danate. "I have your back, Danate! Together, we won't let anything happen to Rina."
Danate sighs and smiles at Emile. "I know." he says and gazes at Rina's sleeping form. "You two are my most precious people. If anything happened to you…" he trails off, a dark look on the Devil Slayer's face.
Emile smiles again, softer this time, and squeezes Danate's shoulder. "I know." he repeats Danate's words from earlier. Then, his smile shifts into something else. "When are you going to tell her how you really feel?"
Danate laughs lightly, his cheeks reddening. "What, the oblivious act isn't cutting it anymore?"
"You know it is, she's just as oblivious as that act of yours." Emile says, rolling his eyes. "She's going to see through you any day now."
Danate smiles and glances at Rina again. "Either way, I can't get involved with her like that until I take care of that."
Emile nods and repeats Danate's words from earlier once more:
"I know."
PF x AH x SS
A/N a bit short but :cheffrank: like mana said, she just had to find something to do until the big hide and seek game
and yes, chapter titles are going to be in the chapter themselves now because sometimes i come up with ones that are too long and they don't fit the character limit :rofllmao:
a reminder to my lurkers that submissions are still opennnnnn but they're filling up quickly now