Roman's Angels IX
The Mirror breaks, reflection shatters.
Where I once saw one reflection, I see many, all of them staring back
With broken eyes
"Please, when you find her, give her this."
She held out a star shaped pendant, colored pink, white and brown.
"Is that I think it?"
"It looks like the star shaped fruit."
"I grew up, hearing stories inspired by the fruit. I made three pendants, two for my friends and one for myself. Now I make one more."
"She must be a great friend."
"Great is perhaps subjective when it comes to certain people who know her, but she has been a great help to me and my friends. I believe with your help she can be even better."
The leader took the pendant. "We just give it to her like that?"
"Well, her life was complicated growing up. You might have to wait for the right time."
"How will we know when the right time is?"
"When your Heart tells you."
"Don Corneo, as promised, your new bride."
Neo's eyes went wide in shock and revulsion at the sight of her so-called betrothed. She had been dragged into the dining room away from the party by her mother, presumably to meet whoever she had been engaged to.
Why couldn't it have been the Schnee boy?
Her 'betrothed' happened to be a crime lord and was a middle-aged man with a short and portly build. He had fair skin, sports a thin mustache, and blond hair shaved on the sides. He had the word 'Love' tattooed on the side of his head. He wore a red, three-quarter length coat with fur trim on the collar and cuffs, an open white pocketed-buttoned shirt, blue jeans, a dark brown buckled belt, and white dress shoes. He also wore an assortment of jewelry, including stud earrings, a medallion necklace, and several rings on his fingers.
The man turned and lecherously gazed at her, smiling. "Hello my dear."
Neo took a step back, but her mother grabbed her by the shoulders, and she felt a jab in the back of her neck. Neo's entire world spun before blacking out.
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"Are you all right?"
She blinked, looking up and seeing blue eyes looking down at her, not with condescension and disdain but kindness and concern.
Wait, she remembered this.
This was during the days back at that school.
Before forced to go to Beatrix Academy.
Remembering all the faces, even her sisters helping her and training her skills, becoming more than she once was, especially meeting the greatest role models she had ever come across at this school. She was very nice and kind, also understanding her and talking to her. She even also began to train her even further, understanding her fighting style and honing her style.
The name of this woman was Aqua, a recent newly added assistant teacher to this school. Even though she was new and only an assistant teacher, the kids practically loved her. Whether it was her kindness, her beauty, or even the fact she looked so cool the few times she demonstrated her skills in the few spars she took part in, demonstrating how future Huntsmen and Huntresses should act as she spared against a muscular man.
Under her teachings, Neo was constantly honing her skills beyond who she once was and Aqua helped her understand her semblance beyond her own understanding.
A certain memory reached out and one of her mentor's lessons stuck with her.
"No matter where you go. I'm always with you within your heart. I will lend you my strength."
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"…" Neo let out a silent grown as she began to wake up from her sleep.
Blinking her eyes, she looked around, realizing she was in another room, not in any of the rooms back at her parents' house and noticed the guards were knocked out cold inside the room she's in. She remembers these men belonging to that disgusting cretin of a crime lord her parents had sold her to.
No matter how much her parents might have paid she would most certainly rather not join that creepy man in bed.
She would rather stab his men hood.
One question came to mind was how long was she out?
She checked herself, realizing she was still in the dress her parents had forced her to wear. She didn't have her Scroll to check the time or contact her sisters and Roman.
She got off the bed and walked over to the unconscious thugs, searching their clothes for a Scroll. She found one and took it, checking the watch and noticed it was only 9:00 which means she was only out for at least half an hour.
Which meant she didn't miss much, meaning the plan was in motion too.
'Hold on a moment.' She realized something.
She was drugged and it would have left her knocked out for hours. She felt something loose on her wrist that fell off. It wasn't a glove or a fabric piece of her dress. It was the rope that had tied her up and she recognized back there the rest of the strands of it where she was lying on the floor.
They had tied her up while she had been knocked out.
But who knocked out the goons and untied her?
Even the guards, despite their tacky clothing style and hair looked like the kind that were hard to look at are knocked out.
How did this all happen when she was unconscious?
Her question was answered when someone appeared before her in blue pixel light mix that was similar to her own semblance, but it couldn't have been from her. Anything created by her Semblance was always created from pixels that shined pink and white.
Not blue.
The figure transformed to someone in their teens close to the age.
'Wait a minute.' She recognized this figure.
She was this other imaginary friend she remembered appearing when she was very little. She looked similar to that teacher back at that school she gone to on the island of Patch. Her appearance was entirely different though, looking more like a knight.
Like the stories of the Silver Knight.
She always read those stories by herself at times in that medical room during her appointments with the psychiatrist.
'How could this be?' Neo was puzzled by this.
'There's no time for this right now' She heard a voice, her widening when she realized it came from The Silver Knight. 'We haven't much time, we have to move. It's likely those people who brought you here will come here to check on you.'
How did…
Neo shook her head, setting those thoughts aside for now since this this version of her semblance was right.
She needed to focus on the task at hand.
Looking at the bed, she grinned as a sudden idea popped in her head. With a simple gesture, an exact copy of her appeared on the bed, seemingly asleep and bound like she had initially been. She threw the rope strands under the bed. She made her out of the room, carefully looking around the hall before she began checking out the rooms.
First, she needed a change of wardrobe.
"Cut him off!"
Roman grunted as he felt his legs aching from all the running but no way was he stopping to catch his breath, knowing that Malachite would probably kill him for all the trouble he was causing. The Spider goons behind him were still on his tail but Roman was much faster. Having to survive in the wilds and on the streets followed by boot camp training DiZ had subjected him to had made him a lot more physically fit than most people would think.
Except for the Bullhead that came out of nowhere, flying over the building and landing right down in the middle of the street in front of him.
Roman bit back a curse as the hatch opened and out stepped Malachite who was looking rather…displeased with him.
Before he could do anything, a shot was heard and Roman found himself being blasted off his feet.
BANG!
"Gah!"
Luckily, he had Aura protecting him.
The next thing he knew, he was pulled off the ground with his hands tied behind his back and his legs tied together as he was loaded onto the Bullhead.
"Well, you certainly gave us a nice little jog tonight, Roman." Malachite said as the hatch closed. "But the game ends here."
Roman grunted as he forcefully sat down as Malachite turned to the pilot. "Take us back to Mistral, now."
"Yes, Miss." The pilot nodded.
Roman pulled on his bonds, testing whether he could slide one of his hands free, but he'd been tied up really good. He wasn't alone either. Four Spiders were guarding him with Malachite herself in the co-pilot seat in the cockpit.
"Miss, there's something-GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The pilot screamed in mid-sentence.
He wasn't the only one, as the rest of the passengers were screaming as the Bullhead shook with something forcing it down onto the ground.
"What is happening?!" Malachite shouted as the ground came up.
There was a flash of blue energy at the hatch before it broke apart into pieces, revealing a familiar red robed figure.
Right now, no matter how much Roman hated him, he was so damn glad to see the red mummy bastard that was his partner and mentor standing there.
"YOU!" Malachite shouted as she stomped out of the cockpit.
"Greetings, Miss Malachite. Enjoying Vale so far?" DiZ asked with a condescending smile.
Malachite snarled as she marched up to DiZ, rearing her fist to punch him but there was a flash of light suddenly Malachite found herself sinking into the ground up to her head. "Wha-?!"
"Temper, temper, Miss Malachite." DiZ shook his head. "You must really learn to remain calm in these stressful situations."
Just as the Spiders guarding Roman were about to shoot, they too found themselves sinking into the ground up to their heads, completely immobilized like their boss.
"Now what am I going to do with you?" DiZ sighed as he approached Roman. "I give you the knowledge you seek and not a moment later, you're captured and about to be hauled back to Mistral for Malachite carry out her own sense of justice."
"Yeah, what would you do in a situation you set up?" Roman retorted.
"I set up?" DiZ raised an eyebrow.
"You had to know Malachite was looking for me, actually she was looking for the both of us since she showed right outside the club that we were in." Roman scoffed. "You baited me."
"I had nothing to do with that…. This time. Believe it or not, Roman but my world does not revolve around making you miserable no matter how amusing I may find it." DiZ rolled his single visible eye.
"Could have fooled me." Roman continued to try breaking free of his bounds before a flash of light cut the rope restraining him. "I thought your Semblance was creating portals."
"I never specified what my Semblance is. I prefer to keep you all guessing." DiZ stated. "Now, since I went through the trouble of saving your life, I presume you won't carry out your previous threat of taking my life next time we meet."
"And why wouldn't I?" Roman stood up, grabbing his cane and pointed it at DiZ's chest. "Seems like the perfect chance to settle things right now."
"Not when you owe me, and I happen to know the whereabouts of your partners." DiZ calmly answered. "Specifically, the one with the illusion Semblance."
Roman paused. "…"
"She was sold by her parents to the Don Corneo, Hei Xiong's top competitor for the position of Kingpin here in Vale, to be his new bride." DiZ continued.
Roman's eyes widened slightly. "What?"
"In return, Corneo agreed to take on payment of their debts to both Hei Xiong and Miss Malachite here." DiZ gestured to the still buried Lil' Miss Malachite. "In truth though, their plan was to set Hei Xiong and the Spiders up to fight and kill each other in a gang war, thus allowing the Vanille family to take over as the new family crime syndicate in Vale."
Miss Malachite stiffened, having heard what DiZ had said. "She wouldn't…"
"She would." DiZ turned around. "That fake school trained Miss Carmel a little too well. However, her ambition is clouded by the training that had been put into her. She unfortunately has lost complete touch with reality and the ambitions she shares with her husband have led them completely astray. By now, word of Lady Beatrix's school being a front to train children into assassins for you, Malachite will have spread across Vale, and I know that the Vanilles have been caught and arrested. Your plan to expand the Spiders into Vale has failed."
Miss Malachite looked furious but said nothing as DiZ walked past her, followed quickly by Roman.
"Hey, you said you know where Neo is, right?" Roman asked, catching up with the bandaged man. "Well where is she?!"
"She is at Corneo's mansion. He took her as leverage over her parents and to keep her from testifying against him and her parents." DiZ answered. "Fortunately, her sisters are on the way."
"Hey, you three here for the audition?"
Standing before the head of security and three guards were three young women. One was a brunette waring a pink dress. The second was a blond wearing a lacy dark blue dress with a silver tiara on her head while the last one had short grey hair and wore a dark red dress.
"Yes, we would like to audition." The brunette nodded with a pleasant smile on her face.
"Very well, follow me."
"I should have known old Jimmy boy would try to cheat me." Don Corneo sighed. "Offering me his assassin daughter as my new bride…I didn't think he had the balls to try."
Oh well, he could make use of Jimmy's daughter in something else other than a bride.
Good thing the night was still young.
There was still time to pick out a new bride.
And there were some pretty new faces as an added bonus.
"Okay, my beautiful ladies! Time to line up for the don!"
Into the room walked three beautiful girls, all of them lining up and looking nervous but submissive.
"All right, ready to do this?" Kotch asked, spreading his arms out. "Introducing Vale's most eligible bachelor…The one and only Don Corneo!"
Corneo immediately peeked his head out from behind the curtain. "Ladies?"
The three girls all stiffened.
Putting on his best smile, Corneo strolled out, looking over each girl with an approving smile. "Nice! Very nice! Whichever shall I pick?"
He knelt down in front of the one wearing the pink dress, starting at the legs, his eyes traveling up. "Shall I pick you?"
He then moved over to the one in the dark red dress. "Or maybe…you?"
With a laugh as he moved away, Corneo turned his eyes to the last one, the blond one in the blue dress. He grabbed her arm, feeling a bit of muscle in there. He turned away, not sure who to pick.
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"Oh yeah! I've got it!" Corneo pointed a finger into the air, turning back to face the girls. "I've got it! Today's bride to be is…"
His gaze seemingly fell on the grey haired one who flinched but was saved as the brunette spoke up. "Today's?"
"And tomorrow's or the day after's, if the don takes a shine to you." Kotch stated with a thumb's-up.
"Oh joy." The blond one whispered.
Unfortunately, the don seemed to hear her as he approached the girls again. "Hey, which one of you said that?"
The other two remained silent but Corneo seemingly knew who it was as he looked at the blond one. "Was it you?"
The girl said nothing, but Corneo could see the look of defiance in her eyes.
"Ohhh, you've got a mouth on you! I'm going to enjoy breaking you in!" Corneo grinned. "Today's lucky lady is the big boned girl!"
He grabbed her arm to pull her along but she refused to move very far.
"Still playing hard to get?" Corneo asked, not annoyed in the slightest. "I can dig it. Oh yeah."
He managed to get her moving, dragging her along as he turned to his men. "The leftovers are all yours."
"Yeah!"
"Sweet!"
The other two girls blanched as the men cheered, slowly approaching them.
"Okay ladies, y'all are coming with me." Kotch stated with a big smile as he approached the two.
"Don't be shy, little kitten! Shimmy on over and give daddy some sugar!"
The blond-haired girl sat at edge of the bed as Corneo shamelessly ogled her, panting like a dog all the while.
It was rather disgusting.
"Say, don." The girl slowly said. "I heard you already had someone picked out to be 'Mrs. Corneo.' A petite girl with two kinds of hair color and two different eye colors to boot."
Corneo paused. "Huh?"
"She just so happens to be a friend of mine."
A friend of Jimmy's daughter…
Wait.
Suddenly the girl's dressed was ripped and two larger daggers were pointed at his neck and…
"So where is she?" The girl asked with a dangerous smile.
"What are you-GAH!" Corneo screamed as he was suddenly pulled back by an invisible force that forced him to lie back on his bed. "What are you-?! I can't get up! You rotten-GAH!"
A foot slammed down on his chest, stopping him from speaking.
"That would be my Semblance at work." Rikku tossed the remains of her dress aside, revealing her usual attire underneath. "I call it Mix. I can combine any kind of material I want which in this case was fusing your own clothes and anything in them to your bed."
Corneo struggled to get up, but he could barely move any of his limbs.
"Considering what you were planning to do, I'm surprised you're having such a hard time removing your clothes, Don." Rikku remarked with a smirk. "I guess when you're alone with a girl who has two daggers, you're probably more afraid of wearing nothing then you are of being absolutely helpless."
"You little bitch. When my guys hear what's going on-"
SLAM!
"GAH!"
SMASH!
"What the hell?!"
"W-wait!"
Corneo lifted his head up, hearing the sound of fighting. "Wha-"
"That would be the sound of your men getting their butts kicked by my sisters." Rikku answered with a smile.
"Nice work, Paine." Yuna tossed off the dress she was wearing, revealing her usual outfit underneath.
"This was nothing." Paine remarked as she kicked one more thug away. "I can't believe it was this easy."
The door was kicked open and in walked another thug who looked surprised. Just as Paine and Yuna were about to attack, the man's form faded in shower of pink sparkling pixels to reveal…
"Neo!" Yuna cried happily, her and Paine rushing over to hug their lost sister.
Neo happily hugged them back.
She was wearing a black vest and pants, obviously that she had stolen from one of the thugs that lived here.
"Busted out on your own, huh?" Paine asked rhetorically, smiling as she pulled away. "Good job."
"Now let's get Rikku and burn this place down." Yuna said, pulling out a familiar parasol and held it out to Neo. "Down for that?"
Neo smirked, taking the parasol and nodded.
"Then let's get moving."
"Now then…" Rikku looked down at the now fearful Corneo. "Let's talk about what treasure you might have in this dump."
