The man doesn't say anything for a minute. He just stares at the two of them until, "What are your names?" the man asks.
"M-Mana!" Rina stutters out.
...Huuuuuuuh?
Mana feels Rina wince and the girl whispers another apology in her ear.
"Mana." the man nods and turns to the real Mana. "And you?" he asks.
Mana panics and says the first name that comes to mind: "Rina." she says.
The man's expression shifts again. "Ah." he says. "Rina."
Mana pales.
I screwed up.
Episode 21: The Skarsguard Family
Well, we screwed up.
Don't pin this on me! Besides, Rina said your name, you panicked, I panicked, we all panicked!
The man studies Mana, looking her up and down repeatedly. "Rina." he repeats again. "I could've sworn all of the magazines depicted you a little…differently." the man says, narrowing his eyes. "Magazine Rina looks more like that girl on your back."
Rina digs her nails into Mana's shoulders, and whispers a shaky: "Run." into her ear.
Mana is happy to oblige.
However, before she can even think to move, the man pulls a knife out of his suit pocket and swiftly cuts his hand.
Mana pales, thinking back to Victoria's fight with Finn. "Not this again." she whines, taking a step back.
That ends up being the only step she takes.
The blood pooling at the man's feet suddenly moves on it's own, flying towards Mana like a magnet and wrapping itself around her ankles. When she falls forwards, consequently releasing Rina from her grip, the new blood pouring at the man's feet does the same thing to Rina.
"Tch." the man clicks his tongue, pocketing his knife and pulling out a cloth from the same pocket, wrapping it around his bleeding hand. "To think you almost had me, the amazing Nicholas Skarsguard, taken for a fool." he says and ties the cloth around his hand with his teeth. Nicholas slicks his dark red hair back, looking down at Mana and Rina with annoyed brown eyes. "Now then, I'll take care of you and put you someplace special until my dear brother returns-"
Nicholas doesn't get to finish his sentence because a gust of wind sends him flying across the hall and through the next wall, leaving a pile of rubble and dust from the broken wall in his wake.
Mana blinks, putting her hands down slowly. "...Well. That was easy." she says, surprised.
Rina sits up and stares at her, slack jawed. "Wh-What - I didn't know you could do that."
"I can do that," Mana nods as she starts struggling with Nicholas' stretchy, sticky blood around her ankles. "I didn't know it would be that strong though." she says. Mana grits her teeth, making no progress with taking it off. "What the hell is this?"
Rina grimaces, poking at the blood around her own ankles. "The Skarsguard family's specialty, Family Blood Magic." she says. "I had the unfortunate experience of witnessing it once before..." Rina trails off, thinking. "The more of them that are together, the stronger their Magic is. If it's this hard to take off…" she pales. "...that means Eva and the Lord and Lady have to be around."
The faint sounds of Nicholas' screams suddenly echo through the hallway and Mana's expression starts matching Rina's.
"He's getting back up." Rina says anxiously.
"Shit."
"...You've been spending too much time around Akane."
"Impossible." Mana says, waving her off. "Anyways, I-" she pauses, seeing some kind of colored smoke appearing from behind Rina. "What is that?" Mana asks.
As soon as she asks, though, Rina's eyes roll to the back of her head and she drops to the floor, unconscious.
"...Shit." Mana repeats, looking around frantically.
"Huh? Still conscious?" a gruff, unfamiliar voice says from behind her. "I ain't like hittin' girls but you gotta go to sleep."
There's a sudden dull pain against the back of her head and then everything goes black.
Presently…
As soon as Akane gets her change of clothes, the trio of Phoenix Fire Mages leaves the pool room and immediately Akane grabs the nearest masked servant by the collar of their shirt, "What the hell did you do with-!?"
Ken laughs awkwardly, quickly stepping forward and putting a hand on Akane's arms. "Ahaha, Miss Akane, please relax. Allow me." he says. He earns a glare and a scoff from her but she relents, letting the masked servant go.
Ken smiles politely at the masked servant and straightens out their shirt for them as he speaks, "I'm sorry about my friend here, she just learned that one of her dearest, closest friends-"
Akane bristles, shooting Ken a look.
"-is more than likely in trouble. She's just worried." Ken says. "Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?"
The masked servant fortunately agrees and the three Phoenix Fire Mages begin their interrogation.
Of course, because of course this is their luck, this whole thing was organized by the Skarsguard family, 'some big shots from Fiore' in the servant's words. None of the masked servants here came from Fiore with the family, they're all temporary hires for this 'event'.
Fortunately, however, the Master the masked servant from the start of the event was speaking of is not Marcel Skarsguard, it's his younger brother, Nicholas.
When Ken explains exactly who the Skarsguards are and why he and his guildmates are really there, the masked servant quickly says that they had no idea and offers their help.
Ken smiles. "That's very kind of you." he says. "As a matter of fact, you can help. Do you know what Aberrant Hydra's guild mark looks like?"
Almost an hour later, Akane, Ken, and Alistair reunite in the middle of the ground floor.
"Anything?" Alistair asks.
Ken shakes his head. "Not on my end, no." he says.
"No secret entrances to any basement here either, like the servant said." Akane says with a frown and looks up towards the many indoor balconies. "That means they're somewhere up there." she says. "Probably the top floor."
Ken beams. "Like villains do in stories, yes? Final boss and all that?"
Akane doesn't grace him with a response. "Have Victoria and Yuki given the signal yet?" she asks, turning to Alistair.
He shakes his head. "No, not-"
"The building's been evacuated but our fellow comrades in arms insist on helping you out!" comes the familiar amused voice of Yuki Whiteclaw.
The Phoenix Fire Mages' eyes widen at the sight of the small army being led back into the building by Victoria and Yuki.
Victoria smiles smugly at the look of shock on their faces. "What? Surprised people are willing to work with you again?" she asks. "Haven't you heard? Someone let the beans slip about your little adventure in the forests of Soncha Kapa." Victoria says. "They're here to see if the new generation of Phoenix Fire Mages can make up for their predecessor's mistakes."
"And to make sure they don't have any other hostages!" someone from the back of the group pipes up.
"Yeah, yeah." Victoria says, waving them off.
Yuki beams at the trio. "Aberrant Hydra has always been an ally of Phoenix Fire. Mana and Rina belong to you guys, you tell us where to go and we'll take care of it."
Ken watches as everyone disperses to the upper floors - Akane and Alistair specifically heading for the top floor - leaving him by himself on the ground floor.
Because of the nature of his Magic, if you can even call it that (Ken's words [it is Magic he just doesn't care for it very much]), it only makes sense for Ken to stay on the ground floor.
Ken sighs, talking to himself, "I usually don't undertake missions that would require me to use my Magic, but I suppose this is going to help Phoenix Fire's reputation…" he says thoughtfully and sighs again. "Miss Mana, Miss Rina, please be okay…"
Mana awakes to the dreadfully familiar feeling of shackles on her ankles and wrists and a binding tied around her head and over her mouth.
She just hopes it's not that blood binding Nicholas created.
Her eyes open to pitch black darkness, making her heart sink.
Mary?
No response.
Of all the times to be sleeping… Mana sighs, squeezing her eyes shut. Breathe, Mana, breathe.
Mana takes a deep breath in through her nose and lets it out slowly.
What was the theme song to that show Akane and Veiss made me watch? 'Oh, please don't let me die, waiting for your touch'...
…
…
…
Maybe that's not the best song to distract myself with.
Akane and Alistair finally reach the top floor, out of breath and sweaty.
"Those…were a lot…of stairs…" Akane pants, wiping the sweat from her brow.
Alistair nods, putting his hands on his knees. "At least now…we can…use your chains…to get down…when we're done…" he pants.
The two of them take another few seconds to get their breath back before they shake it off and start looking around.
"Where do you think they are?" Alistair asks, turning to Akane.
Akane points behind Alistair, "Probably that door that says 'staff only' in big letters." she deadpans.
"...Right."
Akane kicks the door open and the two Phoenix Fire Mages find one of their missing companions instantly.
Albeit, she is in fact unconscious.
And her hair is being combed by a woman with dark red hair and green eyes.
Truly an interesting sight.
"Now, now," the woman says as she combs Rina's hair. "I'm only combing her hair. Is that so wrong? I have done you two no wrong." she says and puts the comb down. She starts fluffing Rina's hair. "We're taking her back to Fiore with us. I hope that won't be an issue."
Akane grits her teeth. "Bullshit that's not an issue, your brother is a crazy obsessed fuckhead who ran her out of Fiore in the first place!" she snaps. "Rina doesn't belong to you and she wants nothing to do with your freakshow of a family! She's a member of Phoenix Fire and we're taking her and Mana home."
The woman raises an eyebrow and reaches down, pulling the left leg of Rina's shorts up slightly. "Rina is no longer a member of Phoenix Fire. We took care of that - although it was very hard to take off. Is your guild mark perhaps enchanted by any chance?"
Alistair and Akane go rigid, their eyes widening.
"How dare you." Alistair says clenching his fist.
Neither of them can make a move against the woman yet - not when she's holding Rina so close.
Akane flexes her fingers, itching to slap the smug look off the woman's face.
The woman smiles, "What? Did you think we wouldn't notice the other Mages escorting our servants out?" she says. "That was truly an oversight on our part, we should've hired more mercenaries."
…'More'?
"I'm real sorry 'bout this."
Akane reacts first: creating a chain and wrapping the ends around her hands. She whips around and uses the middle to shield herself from the giant hammer coming down on her. "A-Alistair!" Akane grits out, straining against the strength of the hammer's owner and the weight of the hammer itself. "A little help!"
The woman doesn't make any move to go against Akane and Alistair herself and resumes combing Rina's hair like she's a doll.
Alistair grits his teeth and jumps behind the man with the hammer, raising his hand, mentally aiming at the back of his knees. "WATER SLICER!"
Akane tucks and rolls to the side when the wave of scalding hot water makes the man drop to his knees, relieving the pressure on her from the hammer. She frowns, staring at the man. "I don't feel any sort of Magic Power coming from him." Akane says and turns to the woman. "You hired a magicless mercenary?"
The woman shrugs. "He's still very strong. I would keep your attention on him." she says, unbothered.
Case in point, the man rises to his knees again and raises his hammer once more. "'M very sorry. Y'all seem like nice people." he says. "You can call me Jelly."
Alistair frowns. "...Jelly?" he questions.
"Y'know…because…" Jelly shakes his belly. "Jelly."
…
…
…
"Well, Jelly," Akane says. "It's going to be a pleasure kicking your ass."
PF x AH x SS
A/N surprise bitch
i bet you thought you'd seen the last of me
it took me two months but we've finally reached the climax of this arc :catch: