The story of the young man and young woman that team MACE has come to know as the twins started many years ago, more than a decade before the two were even conceived. Like many others, this is a story of two childhood friends who become practically family as they aged and a man who sweeps one of them off their feet. This is a story that intertwines families, friends, and more importantly lives of these four young heroine and their supposed enemies. This is a story of fate.
It all began thirty-one years ago, deep in the underparts of Mistral where crime, drugs, and violence soared and covered the land.
Catching a glimpse of a young girl in a light pink kimono, a group of thugs hid in the shadows, watching her walk past with several school books in her arms.
"She looks just right for the picking." One man said, crouched down low with a cigarette in his mouth. He reached up, grabbing it with his index and middle finger as he blew out smoke. "Whatcha fellas think?"
"Looks sweet enough for me." A blonde male mumbled, his hair braided back in a unique style. "We'll need to make it quick. Someone as nicely dressed as her must be headin' somewhere important."
"Then let's hurry." A third man pushed himself off a wall, standing up straight with his hands in his pockets. Underneath his hood was deadly dark orange eyes. "We need this cash fast. They'll definitely pay a pretty little lien of her. And ya guys can have ya fun."
"Hell yeah." The one smoking stood up, chuckling softly as he flicked the ashes from his cigarette.
"One, two, oh great Baku." The young girl no older than ten sung to herself, skipping across the sidewalk. "Three, four, from great folklore. Five, six, my nightmares fixed. Seven, eight, for they you ate. Nine, ten, now rest I can." She smiled to herself, slowly down as three shadows towered over her own. "Huh...?" Her soft pink eyes dilated as she quickly looked back, holding her books a little tighter.
"Hey there, sweetie." The thug with braids crouched down, his hands on his knees. "Listen, my friends and I are sorta missing out pet cat. You haven't seen one, have ya?"
The girl glared up for a moment, her white hair a mess as she slouched back a bit. "No." She spoke with such an innocent tone.
"Well, can ya help us?" He smiled, holding out his arms a bit. "We'd sure appreciate it."
She blinked softly, tilting her head some before giving a soft smile with a faint giggle. "Daddy has told me about silly people like you."
"Huh?" The man was taken aback, his brows raising. "The hell do-" He stopped himself, slowly looking down at his crotch where the girl's leg had struck. He gave off a heavy grunt, collapsing onto the ground with his hands cupping his manhood. He groaned, rolling his face on the ground. "Ooohhh...! Y-You damn wrench!"
"Hehe." The girl laughed softly, quickly stiffening as the two other men pulled out a set of brass knuckles and a switchblade. "Oh... shoot." She gulped, quickly hugging her books across her chest as tight as she could. She turned on her heels, bolting off as fast as her small feet could carry her.
"Hey! Get back here!" The man smoking spat out his cigarette, spinning his knife around as he ran after her, the hooded man not far behind.
"One, two, oh great Baku..." The girl muttered as she skidded to a stop, turning and running down an alley. "Three, four, from old folklore..." She jumped up, running across an old dumpster before jumping over a fence. "Five, six, my nightmares fixed..." She grunted softly, landing on her feet.
She glanced back, seeing the man with the knife groan, stopping at the fence and hitting it. Smiling faintly, she shot to her feet and continued to run. "Seven, eight, for they you ate..." She rounded another corner, heading towards the main road again. "Nine, ten, now rest... I... can..." She trailed off, gulping as the hooded man with brass knuckles stepped out in front of her. She slowed to a stop, turning around only to freeze at the man with the knife.
"Oh crap." She bit her lip, looking back at the other man as the man she kicked before stumbled up towards his friends and her. "Major crap..." Her arms lowered, her books dropping onto the ground. She held up her fist, gulping.
"Who the hell do ya even think ya are, kid?" Still cupping his crotch, the man narrowed his eyes. "Huh?" He groaned with a grimace on his face.
She gritted her teeth, her eyes narrowing with a gulp. "Someone you should be afraid of. Daddy won't be nice to you."
"Oh no." The man who was smoking twirled his switchblade. "I'm so scared, don't call daddy!" He smirked, slashing with the blade.
The girl's eyes widened as she stepped back, barely even dodging as the tip of the blade barely cut a few hairs on her head. She quickly ducked down, hearing footsteps behind her. With her hands over her head, she looked up, seeing a balled up fist with brass knuckles on it. Her teeth grounded together before she grunted, the man she had kicked kicking her back. She slid across the ground a bit, rubbing her arm.
"Ouch..." She groaned, looking up at the three men who came closer. She quickly lowered her head, shutting her eyes. She could have sworn this would be it, that was until a voice came from above.
"Hey boys!" A dark haired girl shouted from a balcony above. "Hope you know you're in the wrong territory! You should remember your low life thugs, not part of actual mafias!"
"Oh, shut it kid. If you know what's good for you." The man with the knife waved his hand. "Go back inside. Unless you want some trouble."
"Maybe I want some trouble?" She jumped over the railing, climbing herself down before jumping onto a dumpster. She crossed her arms, standing up straight. She smiled. "Ever think of that?" By the looks of it, the dark haired girl was at least three years older than the white haired girl.
The man with the hood snarled, his orange eyes narrowing. "Listen kid, go run back home."
The dark haired girl smirked, jumping down. Her black skirt ruffled around as she landed, standing up straight. Underneath her skirt she had on a pair of long black spats, almost demonic dark blue designs etched into them. "I'll remind you again you're not in your territory, thugs." She said the last word as fowl as she could.
"Well whatcha gonna do about it? Huh?" Rubbing his crotch a bit more, the man with braids crossed his arms and glared. "Huh, punk?" He stepped closer, smirking back. As he did, the young girl in the kimono slowly got up to her hands and feet.
"Well I could always call Papa Bear." The dark haired girl moved her hands behind her back. "Well, he's getting pretty old. Maybe I should go call Big Bear." She started to smile. "I mean, he treats everyone like they are Little Bear to him." She stood up on her tip toes, sticking her hands into her pockets. "You guys really wanna fight someone that badly?"
"Listen here, you little-" The man with the knife stepped up, only to blink as he was suddenly being disarmed by the dark haired girl.
In her now golden eyes, she chuckled, watching the world slow down. With ease, she grabbed his wrist and took the knife away before he had time to bring up his other arm. She jumped back, standing with the knife in her hand next to the younger girl, her eyes fading to blue. "You're going to start a war. I advise you leave." She smirked.
Growling softly, the man in the hood glared. "Come on guys." He shoved his hands into his pockets. "Let's ditch these brats. I'm sure we could find someone else worth a lot more."
"But, boss!" The man with braids complained before his head shot to the side from a sudden punch.
"Quite." The man with hood snapped, taking his brass knuckles off. "Let's go."
The man with the knife sighed, putting it away as he pulled out a cigarette, lighting it. "Damn it..." He groaned, stepping away with the other two men.
After they left, the dark haired girl knelt down next to the white haired girl. "You alright? Nothing hurts does-"
She was cut off, the younger girl shoving her back a bit as she stood. "That was stupid, you know." She glanced up with her arms crossed. "They could have killed us both."
"Uh..." The older girl blinked. "Um, okay, no thank you for saving your life." Her head tilted some.
"Huh?" She glanced up. "No! No no no! It's not that I'm not grateful..." She trailed off, groaning before she quickly bowed. "I apologies. I didn't mean to offend you."
She blinked a bit, chuckling softly as she bowed back. "Don't worry about it." She stepped over, helping pick up the books. "I'm Sakuya by the way. Sakuya Aoigane." She glanced up.
Smiling faintly, the younger girl brushed some of her white hair behind her ear, revealing a small panda shaped charm pinning her hair back. "Cherry White." She smiled.
"White?" Her eyes quickly widened as she stood up. "No... no way. As in the White faintly?"
"Uh, yeah." She rubbed the back of her head with a small laugh. "Always have been part of that family."
"No wonder you weren't afraid of those guys..." Sakuya mumbled. "You've probably seen worse people than them. Any other little kid would have wet their pants."
Cherry gave a small shrug. "I guess. They're just stupid wannabe thugs anyway. Besides, I'm not the crazy one here. You jumped down to help. You know you're a kid too."
"Yeaaah," She shrugged back, handing her the books. "I guess you're right. But I'm not like normal kids."
"No one who grows up in these levels of Mistral are normal kids." She laughed gently with a smile, holding her books tight. "Say, you want to come meet daddy? I bet he would very much appreciate you helping me out."
"Head of the White family. Oh no!" She quickly shook her hands. "Please! I'd rather fight those idiots one on three!"
"Great." Cherry smiled, grabbing Sakuya's wrist. "You'll like him! He's super nice!"
"Wait! I said no!" Her voice fell on deaf ears as she was dragged off, the younger girl taking her straight to her home.
Six years then past, the young Aoigane becoming apart of the White family and getting closer each and every day. One morning, the dark haired girl stepped up to the White family household. "Morning guys." She waved at two large bodyguards at the front door, both dressed in tight fitting black clothes that showed their muscles.
"Sakuya." One stepped back, sliding open the door. "Your hair looks different. Did you dye the tips with blue ink?"
"Yep." She nodded back, stepping inside with a smile. "Did it last night. I think it looks really cool."
"I think it does." The guard holding the door nodded.
"Young Howaito is in her room at the moment." The other man spoke, his voice stern and harsh. "But I believe she's being lectured by her father."
"Oh boy..." She sighed, stepping into the home. At every window and every door, even at each entrance into a different room, a guard much like the ones at the front door stood with hands in front of themselves.
Smiling, Sakuya headed to the steps, passing by a guard whom she patted on the back. "I like the new haircut. It makes you look scarier."
The man smirked a bit, quickly shaking his head and hiding his emotions. Though, he was rather fond of his hair at the moment. The sides had been shaved, the top long and pulled back into a ponytail.
Passing by several other men and walking down a hall, she came up to a door and stopped, peaking in the half opened door. "Is he still in there...?" She asked the buff man standing at the door. He simply nodded back with a small grunt. She groaned in response, slowly sticking her head in.
Inside, a sixteen year old Cherry sat on her bed, her arms tucked into her kimono sleeves. Now with her hair more neatly brushed, her panda hair clip was visible.
"Do you understand, Howaito, sweetie?" A man in his upper forties asked, his body wrapped in a tight suit. Though he wasn't that old, his hair was white. Long and white, his hair was tightly pulled back into a long braid. His chin having short stubbles which he meant to shave earlier but had forgotten.
"You need to be safe and cautious." He repeated, taking a deep breath. "I know the tournament is a sign of peace, but just in case anyone from the Black family decides to try and pull a quick shot... I need you to be careful, Howaito. Please."
"I promise. I promise, daddy." Cherry smiled, standing up. Strands of hair falling across her eyes. "Besides," She tilted her head some. "Sakuya will be there. Plus, mommy predicts there will be a good outcome from this event." Her eyes narrowed a bit. "And you know a White's vision is never wrong."
He gave another soft sigh, shaking his head. "Just be careful, alright?" He glanced back at the door. "And Sakuya!"
Flinching, said young woman slowly slid the door open, stepping inside. "Yes...?" She chuckled a bit.
Rolling his eyes, the lord of the house reached over, ruffling her hair before wrapping his arm around her neck and bringing her into a tight hug. "You know in informed when anyone enters the premises, right?"
Struggling to breathe, she smiled up at him, faintly chuckling. "Yeah... but pretending to sneak up on one of the biggest crime bosses in Mistral is fun."
"You're not an assassin, Sakuya." Cherry smiled, eyeing her father to release her friend. He rolled his eyes, letting her go before the two quickly hugged.
"I bet I would make a better one than you!" She smiled, chuckling back.
Rolling her eyes, the white haired girl smiled and pulled back. "You ready?"
"More than ever." Sakuya smiled. "You'll love the tournament. It's amazing. The fair grounds are cool too!"
"Yeah, yeah." Cherry nodded, heading out. "Later, daddy! Say later to mommy for me too!"
"Sure thing, Little Howaito." He waved her off, watching as she walked out.
"Bye dad!" Sakuya joked, smiling as she stepped out behind her friend.
"Good bye, Sakuya." He chuckled a bit, shaking his head.
Later on that day, as the two childhood friends sat and ate bowls of ramen, they were both unaware of the magic that was soon about to happen.
"You really think that team is going to win?" Cherry raised an eyebrow, slurping down some noodles. Most people would find it disrespectful to make such a sound, but in this kingdom, in this part of Remanent, slurping just showed how much one enjoys their meal.
"Definitely." The dark haired young woman nodded. "They have skills, brains, and strength. That's sorta all that is needed. That plus luck." She smirked.
"You know, I bet you would have made a great Huntress." She leaned forward a bit.
"Really?" Sakuya raised and eyebrow. "Eh, whatever. Being a Huntress was never really my thing."
Sighing back, she brushed her white hair behind her ear. "Doesn't mean you wouldn't be good at it." She sighed. "I don't know why you didn't enroll in Haven two years ago. You would have been accepted for sure."
"It's just not my style though. Being the hero." She rolled her eyes. "I like it more on the sidelines and only stepping in when I really need to." She blinked, sighing as she saw a bald gangster snatch up a woman's bag. "Like right now." She stood up, only to stop at the scene.
Bolting through the crowed, a tall and sturdy soldier dressed in an Atlas uniform locked his eyes on the bald man. "Don't worry ma'am!" He patted the woman's shoulder, passing by her. "I'll handle this!"
His skin was slightly darkened, his frame pressing up against his uniform with each step he took.
Cherry blinked, watching Sakuya's eyes lock with the man. She shook her head, seeing the bald man running in their direction. "Hey," She kicked her friend gently. "Trip him." She smiled.
"H-Huh?" Sakuya shook her head, suddenly realizing the gangster was close. She blinked, her eyes flashing gold. She watched the man run past her in slow motion, smiling as she stuck out her leg. When she pulled it back, he crashed into the ground with a thud.
The man in uniform quickly landing on top of him. "You know, it's crooks like you that give Mistral it's bad name." He pulled him up, taking the purse back and shoving him to a few other soldiers.
"Whoa." Sakuya smiled, sitting down next to her friend. "Did you see that guy. He came out of nowhere and just... he's so fast. He's probably super strong too."
"Aw." Cherry smiled, holding her hands together with a smile. Even she could notice the faint blush across her friends face. "I think you have a crush."
"H-Huh?" Her brow went high. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," She leaned back, crossing her arms. "He's coming over here. And I bet he's going to talk to you."
"What!?" Sakuya's face went extremely red as she felt someone standing beside her.
"Thank you for the assistance, civilian." The soldier said, arms crossed on his chest. "You're quite a quick one."
"I uh..." For once, the strong willed young girl was at a loss for words. "I um... it's more of... being... slow..." Her face grew even more red.
"Oh boy." Cherry sighed, lowering her head some. She stuck her hands on her sleeves, giving a soft smile to the soldier. "She has a really amazing semblance. It allows her to view the world in slow motion for a couple seconds. Maybe a minute if she focuses."
"Really now?" The soldier chuckled a little. "How does everything look when you do that?"
Smirking, the white haired girl leaned back. She knew her friend all too well. This question was all that was needed to spark a conversation.
Sakuya began to grin a little, reaching up and rubbing the back of her head. "Uh-Well... see, time moves the same well sorta." She sighed a bit. "Okay see, time keeps flowing, but I slow it down for myself so I can view it differently. By doing so I think I'm going to live a long life but," She shrugged. "The way everything looks..." She smiled brightly. "It's really cool. Like really cool. Everything turns dim, and all the color just sorta fades, and everything just slows down. I could probably snatch a bullet out of the air if I actually tried. I've never attempted before... but I bet I could." As she started to ramble on and on, Cherry simply smiled, laying her head on the table next to her bowl of ramen.
The soldier smiled and nodded. "I bet everything looks better in slow mo, huh? What's your name?"
"Sakuya Aoigane." She licked her lips, holding her hands together as she gave a small bow. "You?" She glanced back up.
"Sergeant Aquilus, first name's Magentus." He took off his helmet, revealing neatly cut magenta hair. "Enjoying the tournament, I take it?"
She gave a quick nod back. "My friend has never been able to see one before." She motioned in Cherry's direction, the young girl waving back. "I talked her father into letting me take her. He's... very overprotective."
"I see." He placed his helmet aside on the table. "She looks quite noble, at least compared to...most citizens out here. No offence, of course."
She chuckled softly, rubbing the back of her head some more. "Yeah, I'm not the richest I'll admit that." She then smiled, pointing over at her friend. "But her family is amazing where mine isn't. Her father treats me like I'm his own sometimes. It's great."
"Well, my squad and I were heading to break when that just happened." He pointed back towards the direction of the thief.
Sakuya have another faint chuckle, rubbing the back of her head even more as she sunk down. "What do soldiers like you even do on break...?" She bit her lip. "I would think you guys would always be out showing how strong and tough you are... and you know... wooing women over..."
"Well we can still do that even if we're eating." He winked, sitting down while looking at the menu above. "Yeah, a number nine."
Cherry smiled more, watching her friend look away with a deep blush. "Number nine is her favorite." She spoke up. "She loves ramen with a dash of lime and an egg with beef."
"We had a chef from this kingdom." He smiled at them, leaning an arm on the table. "He cooked things like this on base."
"Bet I could cook better than him..." Sakuya but her lip, glancing up. "I mean not to brag, but I'm rather good."
"Really now?" He leaned in. "Willing to prove that to me?"
Before the dark haired woman could speak, her younger friend did with a smile as bright as the sun did. "That depends." She smirked. "What do you want to eat?"
Sakuya blinked once at that, quickly kicking under the table with her face as red as a tomato. "CHERRY!"
Magentus laughed at that, reaching over to put a hand on Sakuya's. "I wouldn't mind anything. Where should we meet?"
"I-I..." She glanced over, biting her lip with a small shrug. "I... I in we could..." She stammered, quickly looking at Cherry for help.
Smiling, she pulled her hands from her sleeves and let them rest at her sides. "My mommy owns a hot spring that has a little place for natural cooking. It's really nice. You can boil water without any Dust. You two could go there if you want."
"So why don't we meet again here tomorrow and you lead us to there?' He asked her then looked at the bluette, patting her hand.
"I-I um..." She gulped again.
Giving a sigh, the white haired girl kicked her friend under the table just a bit. "Say yes you idiot. You know if he rapes you he won't live to see tomorrow."
"Don't say that!" Sakuya quickly flailed her arms. "You'll scare him away!"
"So now you're worried about scaring him away?" She smirked. "You DO really like him. That's cute."
"Cherry!" The blue haired woman snapped, her face red yet again. "I'm going to kill you!"
Laughing some more as he traded some lien for a bowl from a waiter, the purple-haired soldier shook his head. "You two are something else. Maybe when I retire, I'll settle out here."
"R-Really?" Sakuya glanced over with a half smile. "I-I mean not that I don't want you too I just um..." She gulped, taking a deep breath before letting out a huff of air. "When... when you go back to Atlas," She looked up at him, gulping some. "How about you give me a mailing address for you? I'll have a space reserved on Cherry's mailbox for you." She smiled faintly.
"Well that sounds like a plan." He winked while grabbing chopsticks. "I'll be sure to send you any Atlas goodies I can get my hands on. Maybe some trinkets from here in return."
"I could definitely find you some old lien coins. They're buried in the undergrounds of the city. There is probably a bunch in some large bodies of water too." She slowly slid her hands together, holding them tightly on her lap.
He nodded and took a few noodles in his mouth, silently spurring them then licking the flavor from his lips. "We can contact each other on the CCT as well, if you'd like."
At that, she quickly shook her head no. "All this technology we use for communicating... I don't trust it. No offense." She smiled up at him. "I admit Atlas has done an amazing job at creating the CCTs... but I don't trust it. I would never want anything about me being on some hacker's fingertips."
"Understandable." He held up his free hand in defence before taking in more noodles with a piece of beef. After chewing and swallowing, he kept his smile while looking at her. "Old fashioned packages and letters are fine by me."
She smiled some more, glancing up at him before looking down at her own bowl of noodles that was starting to get cold. She quickly reached out, grabbing her chopsticks as she began to eat.
After a moment, Cherry grinned and glanced between the two. "So if you guys ever get married and have children, may I name them?"
Sakuya nearly spat out her noodles, he face going red as she glared up at her with her hands over her mouth to stop the food from falling out.
Ignoring her friend's response, she leaned onto her hands a bit with a smile. "Nihilus of it's a boy and Thanaton if it's a girl. Alright?" She smiled innocently. "Promise. I'm not using my semblance, I didn't get a vision. It's just a feeling. You should name them that. For me."
A year later, after hours of consulting with her parents, Cherry was finally able to convince her parents to allow her to travel to Vale and attend Beacon. And though Sakuya would be left alone, even she seemed ecstatic for her friend. But Cherry didn't need to worry.
The story of the poor girl raised in the dirty side of town was finally finding her knight in shining armor. Magentus and she had been mailing each other nonstop through a special mailing service which was actually trustworthy. It was used for sending messages the military couldn't send by technology.
Sakuya had shelves filled with little gadgets from the top minds in Atlas in her bedroom at the White estate. Her favorite being a small watch which was able to form a glove of the type of Dust inside it. And on the streets of Mistral, if you wave a glove made of electricity around, not many people will want to fight you. Not that anyone wanted to fight Sakuya anyway.
Three years passed since Cherry had left, making it the fourth year since Sakuya and Magentus had met. And this was it. Having visited Sakuya, the soldier from up north took her on a trip up the mountains, something she would remember forever.
"This is so beautiful." The dark haired woman smiled, standing on the edge of a mountain which overlooked a large portion of Mistral. "I would love a house up here. No one would ever come up here. I mean, it's pretty nippy too." She rubbed her arms a bit as a cold breeze blew through. "Why'd you want to bring me up here anyway, Magentus?" She glanced back.
"Because…" He said, taking a step back and going down on one knee, he pulled out a small metal box and opened up to reveal a ring with a tiny dark sapphire on top. "Would you like to live the rest of you days on this mountain as my wife?"
Her dark blue eyes immediately went wide and quickly filled with tears of happiness she bit her lip, pulling him up to his feet and hugging him as tight as she could. "You're absolutely crazy! What if I got to excited and passed out and fell off the mountain!" She held him tighter, not exactly saying yes, but in a way still doing so.
The soldier laughed, twirling her around in his arms before setting her on her feet, looking at a certain spot in a patch grass. Five years have passed as that would be the spot for a simple but humble cabin house. In that very home, a much older Magentus stepped inside a bedroom, seeing his wife sitting on the floor with a dark blue haired boy and a purple haired girl. Both just barely over four years old.
Sakuya gave a small chuckle, watching her son run around in a circle before falling. "Oh come here." She reached out, helping him stand back up. "You need to be more careful, sweetie."
Laughing it off, the four year old Nihilus balanced himself with a smile. "I'm okay! See!" He waved his arms around, making his father laugh by the doorway.
"You say that, then watch when you scrape your knee on a rock." Magentus leaned on the wall with a smile.
"Or when someone pushes him onto rocks." Sakuya slowly glared over at Thanaton with a smile.
The young purple haired demon blinked a few times, calmly sitting down. She stuck out her tongue before reaching out and grabbing Nihilus' hand. She quickly stuck a finger on her mouth, biting down.
"No no no no no! Sweetie!" She quickly reached over, grabbing both her children's wrist. "Come on! He's your brother! Don't hurt him!"
"Ow!" Nihilus stepped back, looking at his finger which was now red. He glared at his sister and picked up an action figure of an Atlas Knight, making it point its gun at her. "I dare you to bite one of these, meanie!"
"Do it! I dare you!" Thanaton glared.
"No no no no no... guys." Sakuya took a deep breath, slowly reaching out and taking the action figure away. "Please guys, be nice for one day? Especially today. Please!" She smiled softly.
"What's so special about today?" Her daughter asked in a rather annoyed tone, looking up at her father.
"It's your mother's and my anniversary." He said, smiling as he stepped closer to them while ruffling their hair. "We've been together for five years now."
"It's also been three years since the one who named you little munchkins..." She trailed off a bit before smiling, reaching over and ruffling her son's hair. "Well, since she moved on." The word's nearly cracked as they came out of her mouth.
"Oh." Nihilus blinked and looked up at his mother while Magentus went to his daughter, neatly doing her hair.
"It's a very special day," He said and held her by the shoulders, "especially for your mother."
"It's a strange day. It's good but it's also bad..." She sighed some, letting her hands rest in her lap. "She saw you guys when you were no more than one year old. She loved you guys. I was going to make her your godmother but then..." She lowered her head, only to blink and look up as a small blue blur quickly hugged her.
"Don't cry, mommy..." Nihilus mumbled, holding his mother tight. "It's okay... She's somewhere happier, like you said..."
She blinked slowly, sniffing as she wrapped her arms around him and held him tight. "Don't worry, Nill... I won't. I got you. You're my big strong boy."
Magentus stared at them then glanced down at his daughter before picking her up in his arms. "What do you say you help daddy make supper for your mom and brother?"
"Can I eat the raw cookie dough?" She smiled, kicking her legs a bit. "Mommy won't let me. She says it's unhealthy."
"Not with eggs in it." He said while walking out of the room. "How 'bout you help me bake and I'll make some dough without eggs just for you?"
"Yeee!" She bounced around, before jumping on top of the kitchen counter. "I can't wait!" She kicked her legs back and forth, smiling like the child she was.
Later that night, after the two young twins had fallen asleep, Sakuya was laying in her bed, repeatedly rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands. "I honestly never know how to feel about today anymore..."
"I understand what you mean." Magentus said while laying on his side facing her. "There's men I've grown up with at the Academy that I never got to see again..." He sighed and reached up to rub her hand gently. "Hard to think about anyone like that. Ever."
"I just wish I could have been there for her. For her family. They were their for me nearly half my life. And..." She sighed and rolled over, looking at him. "And now I don't even know where her body is."
He nodded, his hand cupping her cheek. "I know, dear. I know. They mean everything to you, just like our kids. Anything we could do for her family? I'll do whatever, you name it."
"Only those in the Black family survived that night." She sighed, curling up next to him until her head was on his chest. "They ran off in a little bandit group now."
"Damn..." He mumbled and ran his fingers through her hair. He closed his eyes slowly, about to drift off when he began to sniff the air. "Flames...?"
"Flames?" Sakuya's head perked up, her eyes wide as she saw a glow in the distance. "Nill! Thanaton!" She jumped up, ignoring the fact she was in her pajamas and ran to her children's room.
Following her with his rifle, he barged into the room to catch a slim figure at the small beds. "Hey! Stop right there!"
The figure calmly glanced back before looking away.
"You better listen!" Sakuya snapped, her dark blue eyes narrowing.
"And if you want to live you'd step away now." The figure glanced back, eyes flashing gold even in the darkness.
Gritting his teeth, Magentus held up his rifle and went to squeeze the trigger. Just as he fired, an arrow pierced his thigh, making him fire into the roof as he hunched over. "Dammit!"
"Shit." His wife looked up, blinking as her eyes went gold. With the figure now slowly notching a new arrow, she ran forward as fast as she could, scooping up Nihilus and Thanaton. As she started to run back out, the figure began to pull back on the arrow. Her jaw clenched as she held her children in one arm, grabbing Magentus with her other and dragging him out.
As time flowed forward quickly again, the arrow shot struck the ground where the man had been. Blinking slowly, the wicked witch known as Valentine stepped from the shadows, eyes narrowed as she tightened the grip on her bow. Her age bore more than eighteen at the time. "She wants new apprentices. And I'm going to get them." She muttered to herself.
"She's a fast shot..." Magentus grumbled, rushing out of the house while staggering on his wounded leg.
Stirring in his mother's arms, the sleepy Nihilus slowly looked up with blurred eyes, "M-Mom...mmy...?"
"Shhh," She patted the back of his head, glancing back at their small home which was starting to catch ablaze. "Everything's fine. Mommy's got you. Don't worry."
"What's..." He rubbed both of his matching azure eyes with his hands and blinked. Pointing forward, he yelled. "MOMMY!"
Sakuya quickly stopped, her eyes darting upward. The dark figure from the room standing in the light of the moon. Her pink hair graciously flowing in the wind.
"I'm not sorry about this." She smiled wickedly, notching four arrows on her bow.
"Shit." Her eyes widened, watching them launch. She quickly activated her semblance, letting the world dim from color. She set her children down, rushing forward as she knocked down an arrow headed towards her husband. Quickly jumping back, she grabbed two arrows and tossed them to the side which were a meter from her children's shoulders. But the fourth arrow, even with time slowed, it came too fast.
Sakuya grunted, her eyes widening as the world regained color. She stumbled back, blood dripping onto the mountain grounds before she looked up at the shooter who smiled back at her. She blinked once, her body falling backwards as the world once again lost all color and faded to darkness.
What followed were the brutal years of training for the twins. Everything they knew with morality were lies. Their new purpose was to serve their higher ups without question and to kill whoever they were told was a threat to the ones they were then raised by.
Falling to his knees with a practice sword, twelve year old Nihilus panted heavily, glancing up at the twirling bow-staff that knocked him down many times. "Not...gonna lose..." He muttered despite his heavy breathing.
"Then get up." Valentine demanded, holding the staff still for a moment as her eyes narrowed down at him. "Even Maya and Thanaton were able to land at least one blow on me."
Breathing in slowly, the shaggy-haired boy groaned and narrowed his eyes, which changed from azure to gold the moment he yelled then somehow stood on top of the pinkette, his blade at her throat.
She blinked slowly, raising an eyebrow at the boy. In an instant, she grabbed his practice sword, jerking it out of his hand as she narrowed her eyes at him, nearly about to strike him with his own weapon. "How did you do that?"
Blinking very slowly, Nihilus backed up off of her while looking around. "I...I don't know... S-Salem says...I have something special...but there's nothing special about humans..."
With lightning speed, both wooden weapons fell to the floor as the pinkette snatched him up by the throat. "We don't say Her name. Remember that. You never know who is watching." After a moment, she set him back down, crossing her arms. "What type of powers?" She demanded.
"I have no idea!" He backed away from her, fear in his eyes. "I-It looked like...you froze...and lost all color...s-so I just attacked you..."
She took a deep breath, rubbing her forehead in aggravation. "Get in a human body She said. It'll be fun She said." She mumbled to herself before sighing. "Alright, fine." She waved the young boy off. "Tell that twin of yours it's her turn next. And I want you to figure out this power or semblance you have quickly. Understood?"
"Y-Yes, ma'am!" He quickly nodded, turning to run out of the room. Heading over to his sister who was juggling rocks, he gulped and put his hands in his pants pockets. "Uh, Thana? Valentine says it's your turn..."
The purple haired girl sighed, catching each rock as she looked over at a nine year old Maya. "I'll show you how I can make them explode later." She sloppily stood up, grunting softly as she walked into the room where Valentine was.
Watching her leave, Nihilus looked over at Maya and sat down, rubbing the back of his neck. "S-So, I have a new power or something..."
"Hm?" She glanced up at him, her hands fidgeting together as her eyebrows raised. "Like semblance wise?" She reached up, pulling a light blue beanie over her head even tighter.
"I guess." He shrugged, looking at his hands. "It looked like I made her freeze. But there wasn't like any ice or anything."
"Time stopping maybe?" She glanced down at the floor. "Before... before mother shot Mr. Gron a while back, he used to talk about there are all kinds of semblances out there. Even time stopping ones."
Silently taking this in, Nihilus tilted his head while looking at her. "Did I...stop time? How's that possible? Time's just...there... It's beyond us."
She gave a small shrug. "I don't know. Technically time isn't even real. It's a figment of human imagination. Yet we say it can do so many things." She glanced up at him. "Maybe it's more of breaking into the fourth dimension and messing around with the third dimension while there. Or... or we could just say it's magic." She smiled a bit then shrugged again, her smile fading.
"No, no, no, no..." He waved his hands around. "Time and space is all different. It's beyond what humans can control. I can't just stop time unless I'm tampering with reality! And it can't be magic. That's...different..." He shook his head and stood up. "I need to figure this out before Valentine gets mad at me..."
"Yeah... mother is pretty aggressive when she gets angry." She moved her arm around, looking at the hand shaped bruises on it. "But at least we'll get to change the world one day."
"For the better.." Nihilus mumbled, walking away. The young twins, taken from their loving parents would be twisted into ruthless killers with immoral views on humanity. Would it not be for Val fighting back for her body, the azure-eyed man would forever remain a nihilist. In some ways, the twins lived up to the names given to them by Cherry so many years ago. Life is meaningless and there is only death. Though they were not hopeless. Especially up towards now.
In the present, Nihilus was sitting on the edge of the roof, facing the two girls that sat across from him as he held himself up from falling. "I think that's about it... At least all that mattered I guess."
"Oh for the love of Oum..." Kagami reached up, groaning as she rubbed her sleepy eyes. "Every bloody damn thing just got a million times more complicated..."
Elise sat silently, looking down then back at Nihilus. "Have...you thought about...seeing your parents again?"
The young man just shrugged, not really having any emotion about it. "Thana and I never talked about it much. Guess we never bothered."
Feeling her teammate's look, the jade haired girl glanced over at the young farm girl next to her who was smiling. She took a deep breath, rubbing her eyes more. "Great. Now we're going to take a trip to Mistral! Do you know how long it will take for us to get to Mistral in a time like this?"
"That's not important though." Nihilus stood up. "We've got Val to save. Now you've heard my little sob story, do you at all trust me or was that just for nothing?"
While Kagami took a deep breath, she slowly nodded, sticking her hands in her pockets. "I do... at least until you pull something that makes me not want to trust you." She glanced over at her teammate.
Standing there, Elise was staring at her feet, blinking slowly with crossed arms. She licked her lips a bit, letting out a sigh as she shut her eyes.
"Well?" Her leader raised an eyebrow.
Sighing once again, the brunette slowly lifted her head up and narrowed her eyes at the Aquilus man. Slowly, she stepped forward with her finger out. "If you ever harm Kagami in any way again, if you harm anyone I care about, I'm blowing your kneecap out with an explosive Dust dart."
"So it was a pointless storytime..." He mumbled under his breath, holding up his hands in front of him. "I have no intention of harming anyone. All I want is Val safe."
She sighed, crossing her arms again as she looked away and across the dimly lit city. "Then... I guess I trust you enough to help you save the one person who kept even the slimmest part of humanity in you."
"I guess that's enough..." His eyes rolled as his hands went into his pockets, mirroring the way his mother would. "We'll come up with a plan. Maybe next time. Also..." He pointed at Kagami. "You're paler than usual."
Groaning, the jadette turned around on her heels and started to walk to the edge of the building to climb down. "I'm fine! I'm just working double overtime at the moment!" She held up her arm, coughing into it. "I'll rest once we save Val."
Sighing, Elise shook her head and looked up at the blue haired young man. "She has a nasty cut on her upper arm from fighting this bandit from the Bad Blood Bandits. Pretty sure it's getting infected but she won't let me look at it."
"Well, if she decides to stop being stubborn," Nihilus tilted his head, taking a step back, "I'll brew up this venison and vegetable stew. Helped Thana fight her sicknesses before."
She gave a slow nod, the corner of her mouth slightly peeking up as she stuck her hands in the pockets of Kagami's hoodie which she still had on. "I might take you up on that offer. Maybe some for myself too."
He nodded back, stepping up on the edge of the roof. "Speaking of the Triple B, I heard some recent activity relating to them from Valentine. Gotta check that out before I'm somehow missed." With that, he jumped back and vanished into thin air.
Once he was gone, she began to walk near the edge with a sigh, tossing her arms up. "Sure, just have his mother be Sakuya. Just make everyone related why don't you." She glanced up at the sky, watching the flickering stars. "You're crazy Lord Oum. You really are." She faintly smiled, climbing down from the rooftop.
Looking up at the same stars but with the sky slightly lighter in color on the continent of Mistral, high up in the mountains, a figure sat on the edge next to a slightly charred and burnt house that had been fixed up over the years. Wearing a blue and black kimono, a woman with long dark blue hair watched over the fair kingdom, a black cloak over her shoulders blowing in the wind like her hair. In her hands, a cup of tea with steam rolling off of it was held so carefully. To her right was a gravestone, marking the only adult male to ever live up here with her.
Taking a deep breath, Sakuya opened her eyes, looking up at the broken moon before lowering her head and taking a sip of her tea. The strangest part, in the past twenty-one years, she seemed to have only aged a few years. A gift or a curse, the powers over time always leaves a toll on all those who gain it from their bloodline.