Episode 38: Child's Play
Zaflior | Phoenix Fire Guildhall
"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Akane scowls. "Does his battlecry get louder and longer every time we come back?" she asks.
Mana whips around to see Cooley running at her at full speed. Just like the time they returned from Veneto, Mana grabs one of Cooley's hands and uses his momentum to help her throw him over her shoulder, slamming him against the ground.
"Nice." Veiss whistles.
"Ow…welcome back." Cooley groans.
Emile looks down at Cooley, nudging the man with his foot. "Are Danate and Rina back yet?" he asks.
"Yeah." Cooley winces as he pushes himself up into a sitting position. "They got back a few hours ago so they're in their rooms sleeping." he says and looks at Mana. "How's Mary?"
Mana crosses her arms. "About as homicidal as your brother."
Cooley blinks owlishly at her. "...What?" he asks dumbly and turns to Akane when she starts explaining.
"Your daughter has a pattern of threatening to shoot anyone she recognizes or anyone that recognizes Mana and she doesn't like it when Mana feels negative emotions." Akane states bluntly. "And she was lying about the gun thing." she says and looks at Cooley warningly. "So you'll understand if Mana isn't in the mood for your bullshit today."
"Wh-What-?"
Mana turns on her heel. "I'm going to take a shower." she says and heads towards the girl's dorms. Mana freezes in place for a moment, going rigid.
Emile frowns. "Mana?" he calls.
Mana turns around slowly, all the color drained from her face. "I'm…I'm fine. I thought…" she shakes her head and turns back around. "I'm just tired…you're just tired…she's not…" Mana mumbles to herself as she resumes walking with much less energy than she had before.
Her teammates exchange a concerned look and mentally file away the interaction for later.
"I'm gonna take a shower too." Veiss yawns and walks upstairs to the boy's dorms. "Don't bother me." he says and leaves without another word.
"And I," Emile says, plopping his bag down on a nearby table. "Am in the mood to bother Rina." he says and cheerfully skips off towards the girl's dorms. "Oh Rina~!"
Cooley looks back at Akane. "B-"
"No." Akane says and drops her bag next to Emile's before heading towards the kitchen.
Cooley sighs.
Somewhere near Zaflior…
"For your sake, this better be worth my time, Calypso. Between working that job in Fiore and trying to do my business here, I don't have a lot of time to spare. What do you - what is this?"
Calypso grins as she explains the effects of the item she presented to her cloaked companion.
"So…what do you think?" Calypso asks. "That bitch Akane threatened to kill me the next time we meet so I have to get the upper hand on her somehow." she says with a scoff and flips her hair over her shoulder. "And, of course, this should be quite useful to you as well."
Her companion carefully takes the item from Calypso and holds it up to the sun, observing the way the light reflects off of it. A dark smile creeps onto their face. "I think you're a lot smarter than I give you credit for. Even if this doesn't return what's mine, this should still be quite fun…"
Zaflior | Phoenix Fire Guildhall
Coraline Graves isn't a nosy person. All of her Phoenix Fire guildmates would agree.
But still…
Master Nadine never said anything to anyone about hiring someone to tinker with their water supply.
Coraline frowns.
Best not to make a scene.
She waits for the suspicious figure by the building's water supply to leave before walking over there herself. Coraline unlatches the top of the supply and peers inside.
She's met with her own reflection: pale skin, gray eyes, and black hair kept in a low bun with a silver flower hair clip.
Coraline frowns again when the sunlight catches the almost unnoticeable light blue tint in the water.
Well that's not normal.
Coraline sighs as she puts the top back on and reaches over to turn off the water supply to the building. "And here I was hoping to have an uneventful day…how troublesome." she says to herself.
Danate stares down at the creature in front of him.
"'Creature' is a bit harsh, don't you think?" Acro says.
Danate scratches the back of his head. "What the hell is this Veiss look-alike then?" he asks.
In front of the two young men stands a small boy with blond hair, green eyes, and a suspiciously familiar looking face that looks like its patience is wearing thin.
"I don't know!" Acro cries. "He's right in front of us so ask him!" he says, gesturing nonsensically at the blond Veiss.
Danate sighs and bends down to the boy's eye level. "Hey. What's your name?" he asks.
The boy crosses his arms. "Well it's definitely not 'Veiss look-alike'." he says. "I'm Veiss. Who're you? Are you a Mage?"
Danate's and Acro's jaws drop.
The boy, 'Veiss', continues, starting to get excited. "You are Mages, aren't you?" he asks, looking between Danate and Acro. "That's so cool! Do you have any cool stories? I want to be an adventurer someday - I don't have any Magic but my mom says that I can learn someday. What guild are you a part of!?" Veiss asks, practically bouncing in place.
Danate and Acro exchange a look.
Each of them grab one of Veiss' arms, lifting him in the air as they scurry out of the boy's dorms.
"Mas - oh no." Danate grimaces when a panicked Emile runs out of the girl's dorm holding a small girl that is unmistakably Rina Dawnstone.
"What is this!? Why is this!? How is this!?" Emile cries, anxiously running in place as he holds a young Rina away from him like she's a wet dog.
Little Rina, for her part, seems to find Emile's panicked dance amusing and likes the way Novem's tails swish around on her head.
Emile catches Danate's eye and his expression crumples even further when he sees who Danate and Acro are holding. "What the hell is that!?"
Little Veiss beams at Emile. "Wow! Am I in a guildhall? That's so cool!"
"Someone tampered with our water supply." Coraline announces as she walks into the guildhall and lays eyes on her deaged guildmates. "I would recommend not ingesting or touching our water unless you want to end up like those two." she says.
"Make that 'those three'."
The Phoenix Fire Mages turn to see Cooley standing in the kitchen doorway holding a third kid by the back of her shirt. "Look what I found."
Cooley's prisoner crosses her arms. "My mom told me not to talk to strangers." she says and turns her nose up at the Mages.
Emile sighs and smiles. "Yeah, that's Akane all right." he says. He pauses for a moment, a thought coming to mind. "You said it was the water?" Emile asks, turning to Coraline.
Coraline nods. "That's right." she confirms.
Emile's eyes widen. "Mana said she was…around this age, Mana would've been-!"
"No! D-Don't - Don't touch me!" a shrill, young voice shrieks from upstairs.
Emile's eyes snap to Cooley. "You - bring that to her." he says, nodding at Mini Akane. Cooley doesn't waste any time and hustles upstairs. Emile turns to Danate. "And you, trade with me." he says, holding out Mini Rina.
"Sure, but why?" Danate asks as he and Acro put Mini Veiss down.
"We know Mana the best." Emile says simply as he picks up Mini Veiss.
Veiss scrambles onto Emile's shoulders and holds his fist up in the air. "Adventure!"
"Oh I am so bullying you for this later…
A young Mana cries and scrambles away from Nadine, putting herself in a corner of the office. Mana pulls her knees up to her chest, trying to curl in on herself. "Wh-What is this? Where am I? Is this anoth-another test?" she stammers.
Nadine's heart aches as a child Mana looks at her in utter fear and complete distrust. Her current state is leagues worse than when she first met Mana all those months ago - at least that Mana was open to listening to Nadine.
"Dear child, listen to me." Nadine says carefully, staying where she is to prevent startling Mana any further. "This isn't a test. You're safe here." she says. "We're not Revenant Beasts." Nadine says, slowly moving to shimmy her sock down to show Mana the Phoenix Fire mark on her ankle. "You're in my guildhall-"
"Oi, Master. Where-?"
Nadine watches all the color drain from Mana's face when a certain twin opens the door to Nadine's office and stands in her doorway. Tears well up in Mana's eyes as she pushes herself even further against the wall. "Liar!" she yells at Nadine.
Nadine grimaces. Haven't I told him to knock before entering my office?
Mana fervently shakes her head as she turns her fearful gaze to Cooley. "P-Please - I don't kn-know how I got here!" she insists, trembling.
Cooley's eyes widen as he looks at a terrified, crying Mana. "You…where's Mary?" he asks, stunned by the sight and state of Mana. Her entire body littered with bruises and fresh cuts from head to toe…did his brother do that to Mary too?
Nadine sighs. "I really don't have time for this right now, C-"
"Another kid? Old man, who's that girl over there?"
Nadine very quickly puts on the same stunned expression as Cooley.
A familiar head of black hair pokes its head out from behind Cooley's legs, innocent brown eyes looking at Mana curiously.
"A-Akane?" Nadine blinks.
Young Akane Kumiko turns her attention to Nadine and narrows her eyes suspiciously. "How d'you know my name?" she asks. "I don't know you. Mommy always says to beware of strangers," Akane's eyes drift towards Mana again, a concerned look on her face. "But…"
Nadine follows her gaze and gets an idea. "Ah! Yes," she says. "Mana here is feeling a bit…frightened." Nadine says, looking pointedly at Cooley.
"R-Right." Cooley nods, taking the hint and swiftly leaving the room after taking one more look at Mana. "No Mary…"
Akane tilts her head to the side as she observes Mana. "Scared of what?" she asks, turning to Nadine. "For strangers, you all seem like nice people."
Nadine smiles sadly. "Unfortunately, she has quite a lot to be scared of." she says in a quieter voice. "Would you mind talking to her for me?"
PF x AH x SS
A/N back hurt bad
this would've been out sooner and it would've been a bit longer but alas the chronic pain be especially chronic this month
this update marks the 50th chapter though so as it was with the 26th chapter, the next update will be a cheeky recap featuring two different guests this time
wink wonk