Speech = "….."
Thoughts = [… …]
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...Dont make a girl a promise you wont keep...
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It was said that true peace was the product of ones own mind and body working in harmony.
A battlefield then was the most peaceful places he could be.
And now that he was treading this corridors, did that meant that he missed the hectic and loud, scrambling noise of battle?
"So, what books do you like? Do you have any preferences? Do you laugh often? Is black your favourite colour..? Or do you just like the texture of steel with leather..?"
….
He sighed loudly behind the metal mask. Eyes closing as he clenched his jaw tightly.
Yes, yes indeed..., he really missed the unleashed violence of those moments of reprieve he had before and after their little debacle
Even if he had been forced into an awkward position of protective her even though he tried to kill her..
At least there he didn't have to deal with...the inexplicably endless amount of questions the woman next to him would come up with from nowhere
``I like purple, though perhaps that was a pretty give away given the shade of my clothes, or my hair…, or the colour of my eyes..´´
He sighed once more…
At this rate he was gonna start to wish for this real to send their new batch of hounds after them with barely waited breath.
For it didn't matter if he grunted or said nothing in return to that endless stream of questions and little jabs she sent her way, her mouth a completely chatter box unheeding of the myriad of signs that he was not really into it..
She continued, on and on…
"When I was out, I used to look at the moon...its cold, bright light washing over me. I always thought of it as a beautiful view..."
He fought down the urge to pinching the bridge of his nose, knowing full well he would not be able with the mask standing on the way.
It was impossible, and yet she was well in the way to make his head have his first migraine after so fucking long...
And yet, he restrained himself.
It would be in poor taste to let loose to his frustrations on the girl only because she spoked nonsense.
He should be a little more stronger than that.
He was mercifully rescued when they reached an open pair of dual doors to the left, the connection to the core of this realm growing stronger past its hinges.
[Well, we are definitely making progress...]
"Stand right behind me, let me check where this place leads before you enter its-"
He started to say, only to realize the woman had left his side, dust hovering where she once stood. She had not been taken, or attacked, the reason for her sudden, inexplicable departure been more the fact that she had already made her way through the entrance and started walking inside the room.
She was clearly-…
Look! An open room, it looks like a school..or what I think is a school classroom
In the clouds…
Shaking his head he ventured in, ready to meet whatever may lay inside, only to be met with a strange scene.
The girl was right, the room where they stood did resemble a classroom from a school.
Desks were arranged in rows one behind the other, one wall was covered with statues of all kinds of books, while the other wall was covered with a series of windows that gave the possibility to look what laid outside of it.
A world that resembled an empty, though well polished courtyard…
If he did not know better, one would have thought that they were between times of classes and that the students would just appear from nowhere, ready to take the next lesson.
Looking away from he directed his attention back to the classroom and the purple haired idiot that was now mingling between desks.
"Oh...I have never been to one of these.., what you think they are for..?"
She asked out loud, pointing with her slender gloved fingers at the furniture around her as she spanned around as if she was dancing in a ball room. A bright smile warping around the edges of her lips, amusement and excitement drawing out from the depths of her eyes.
Like a child who is given a strange little thing that had just become their favourite toy..
For the first time in a while, with her sadness and that solemn look in her eyes gone for the moment she appears to be a lot more younger.
He does not respond, nor he wishes to…
Preferring to drank in this view that she was granting him. It made him remember of times long past where a little girl would too ask time and time again the things that she did not understood or merely piked her curiosity.
"Do you know, stranger...?"
He sighed.
That was then, this was now…
There was no point in reminiscing over sand castles long over blown away by the wind.
"This...is a class.."
He grunted, almost surprising the girl as much as himself by answering truthfully as he pointed with a sharp talon at nowhere in particular to make his point
He did not elaborate any further, he did not see any reason to.
After all, he was not wrong, nor she had asked for more than that.
In other words, he had done as it had been requested.
That did not keep her silent for long though, surprise gave way to shock, and shock gave way to excitement and more curiosity as she sited down over one of the desks.
"A class..? What is that..?"
"Young people...come here to learn, to prepare themselves for the future…, to grow as...people"
"Like a warrior camp..?"
She said, cocking her head to the side and allowing her purple mane to fall over one of her shoulders..
He hummed silently.
If she had been lost in here for that long, at least it made sense that the first thing that came to mind would such thing.
Those who served to fight were given more opportunities to study and learn more than be nothing else than illiterates the rest of their lives.
Yet again, he had no clue what made for education in this world.
"Something like it, though more versed in academics than just brawl and swordsmanship….."
"I see, pretty big room if you ask me...though the chairs and tables don't look very comfortable. "
She said, tapping the cool surface her backside was on top of while grimacing a bit as she tried to find a good spot.
He shrugged
"They were not meant for that purpose.."
"So the people have to learn sitting on these things?"
The shock in her voice was unneeded.
"Yes.."
He drily replied.
She pondered about his words for a second, before she shrugged like he predicted.
"That kind of sucks…, I don't think you would find me sitting on...something like this and not argue about it"
"Discomfort keeps peoples attention more sharp than complete complacency.., a mind assailed by laziness makes for a poor one when the time comes to deal with future problems"
She hummed at him, clearly not against it.
"I suppose I can not argue with that…, with you probably knowing a lot more than little old me.."
After that the two remained silent for a while, with him walking away from her, but not fully leaving her surroundings as he inspected the room, not wishing to allow her fully to her own devices in case he had to protect her once more.
Searching for the direction the energy of the core was calling to him.
They were close..
The girl meanwhile leaned down, her long legs and head slowly hanging from the opposite ends above the ground as the desk proved to small to cover her entire body in the process. Her chest, though covered was in full display in the position she was in.
Young men may have fallen bewitched by her beauty, but for him it only reminded him of a cat trying to stretch out.
"Hey…, I don't know if it sounds stupid, but I have two questions."
"Spit it out.."
"What is your name?"
"My..name?"
"Calling you stranger is fine, but is getting old real fast. You saved me back then after all.."
"…."
"So.., do you mind if you tell me your name or do I have to make a nickname for you?"
He would rather not have to suffer any more of her unrelenting teasing if he could help it.
"Reaper…"
"What...?"
"I had many names in my past, many faces I showed and titles I bore…, they are meaningless now. You shall address me as what you can see me us right here, right now..."
"A Reaper of souls..?"
"You catch on quick…"
He muttered dryly, mockingly…, but not with hurtful intent.
"I will take that as a compliment.., I am Aurora by the way. You interrupted me back then, so its good to have it finally out of my chest..."
[This girl...]
"And the other question..?"
"Do you really think I would make a good student...?"
He could not help but blink a few times, unsure if he had heard correctly. Turning around only to meet the expectant pools of purple that waited for him.
Patiently..
"Come what again..?"
"I mean, do you think me as student material?"
Of all the things to be asked….
"Do I...?"
"I don't think what you are imagining and what I think would….mix well for lack of a better word"
He replied in the end with a scoff.
Of course, she did not take that well. Those soft, pale cheeks flushing red slightly as she started to pout.
"Oh come on! Don't be like that, I am sure I can pretty much pull that off if I try.., right?"
"Pretty hard for someone who stumbles every five feet.."
She bit her lip, crossing her arms below her waist and pushing her breast upwards.
If that was meant to distract him, then she had failed.
"I don't stumble, I land with elegance…"
"If you don't know how to walk with heels, please don't wear them…, fashion is not synonym to health. Ghost or not..."
"But the floor is now cold "
She wined.
"The floor will always be cold..."
She scoffed before she stood up from her position, eyeing him with a scowl before it turned into a broad smirk.
He did not like that...
"So you do care…"
"I do no..t"
"And now you are denying it, that is so cute.."
He sighed once more…
She was disgustingly cheerful now...
Perhaps he was wrong, perhaps he missed the sadness that kept her silent.
"Please, shut up…"
"Oh, there is no need to be embarrassed, why don't I share with you what I feel I would be as a student to make it even..?."
"I would ask you to stop, but I have the nagging feeling that you are not gonna listen.."
She smiled at him, raising both of her arms above her head.
"Guilty as charge.."
He waved a clawed hand at her, silently granting her the permission that she obviously did not need as he found a perfect spot for him to seat between two bookcases.
His scythe leaning against him, always close…
Always waiting for it to be used.
[Go on…, the sooner you get on with it the better] He thought.
"Well, when I think the life of a student I imagined myself looking at the moon at night from the window of my room, hearing the chatter of the other students around me about their lives, their dreams and their desires.."
"…"
"I wonder how the wind would brush against my clothes as I stroll through the corridors as I carry my books towards the next class, greeting my classmates asking them favours while they do some for me.., perhaps someone would confess to me and everything.."
"…"
"And end the day looking as the sun settles while I lean down against a tree in the company of those I care…"
"…."
She looked at him.
"So….Did you hear anything you liked?"
She asked once she stopped, sitting down beside him. Smoothing the skirts of her robe
"Nothing? Nothing at all.."
She questioned, faking hurt by his silence...
"You sounded like a showman.."
He said curtly, earning a glare from Aurora.
"Is that so..?"
"Or a carnival peddler, advertising her wares…."
Aurora crooked one black eyebrow.., the ghost of a smile warping around the corners of her lips before she started to giggle.
"Sometimes, Reaper...that is exactly how I feel…."
He scoffed a dry and mirthless one.
"You don't believe in what you are selling?"
"Do you..?"
She replied, her question...rather strange if he was honest with himself.
After a long pause, he cocked his head to the side.
"hat I am selling..?"
Her eyes glimmered once more...as if she had been awaiting for him to avoid answering her question and making one himself.
"Faith….through murder of course. Truth through combat.."
He scoffed, shaking his head at what he had just heard...though this time he was no longer frowning too much.
There was no faith or truth to be found in the carnage, only death. Everyone had their own ideals, their own reasons to partake in the bloodbath.., but there was not one true Truth that made everything that took place afterwards meaningful.
She was merely embellishing what was ugly and dark...
At least...that was what he believed.
"Its just combat…., it has no meaning other than that. A meaning that has been long decided long before I even have to deliver it upon their worthless heads.."
She cocked her head to the side.
"So as a warrior, you are without conscience…? You do a task and be done with it with a second thought..?"
Her words were collected, even playful…
It was clear to see that she was trying to poke a reaction from him, she may as-well have scratching a wall for all her troubles. After all...how could she take notice with his mask shrouding his visage from her?
Still, he shook his head once more...
"As a warrior I am a creature of conscience…whether you speak or morality or not is not of interest. In fact, I would rather not have such nuisance inside my head at all..."
"Why...?"
The question is simple, pathetically so…
And yet its a lot more harder to reply to it than it should have.
He did not know how long he stood there in silence, how long it took him to respond with something else than the shallow, cold raspy breaths of his respirator...,
Seconds or minutes...they seemed all blurry and fuzzy around him. It makes him feel as if he was swimming over a strange pool.
But when did respond there was no weakness in his voice., no doubt to betray what laid underneath..
Just spite….
Spite at himself...
"A blade needs not to question its duties, nor does a tool ponders about the meaning of its own existence…such things merely dulls its sharpness and makes one stay their hand. Something that could cost too dearly in either the short or long run of the one afflicted by it. "
He paused, as if to catch his breath..even though he did not need to.
"Who knows how many evils have perpetuated because one was too...human to punish them? How many lives were lost because the other choice did not satisfy a certain moral compass of certain individuals..?"
"Do emotions in our hearts not help warriors choose when and when not to fight? They give meaning to the reason a fight must take place, do they not..?"
Her interruption was expected, but he does not bark at her for it. He instead ponders about what she had shared.
For a woman who clearly had no muscle above the common individual she knew things that only someone who had taken keen eye in the practice of steel would know.
Or she had read too many books of fantasy, where writers boasted and exaggerated with their words feelings that they had never felt, nor they ever would...
Still, she was not wrong…, that did not mean that she was right either though.
"In war….words mean nothing, and petty self serving ideals born from the emotions within us even less. Only actions do..."
He looked at her, but she did not see her..his sight lost in the past that had started to resurface from where it had been dwelling.
"Only actions make the difference between life and death, victory and defeat...and yet, sometimes…, they are not enough"
Aurora remained silent, taking in slowly his words like a dutiful listener..
He was glad she didn't speak right away, that she didn't say that she is sorry to hear that or that she understands what she can not...
When she could not..
He instead felt her hand tug his own and clasp it with hers…
Her small, delicate fingers brushing against the cold and dirty talons of his own hand, uncaring of the blood and dirt smeared all over them. Holding them tightly and placing it over her ample chest, yet with great care..
As if she was holding something frail and precious...even if those very same talons were now clawing at her own flesh as his fist had clenched tightly as his mind fought off this...this proximity.
And yet, even as blood started to stain the cloth of her gloves and drip down her arm she held on.
"You believe that such things make you lesser…"
It was not a question, bur rather a statement.
He did not reply affirmative.., he did not deny it either though..
Instead he looked up to the ceiling.
Letting his thoughts wander...
"It doesn't matter what I believe…"
"It does…, for if you don't believe it yourself. Why should others believe you..?"
He looked down at her, red meeting purple…..
Time seemed to slow down as she tried to held her glare as long as she could.
He shook his head standing up, shaking her grasp over his hand away before she moved away.
Blood fell onto the polished floor, stomped down under his metal heels as he moved out, away from her and the annoyance her words brought…..
He needed time to put his thoughts in order...
When he looked back, he saw that Aurora had rose from her sitting position and was trying to grab a book from one of the shelves of the bookcases they had been leaning against just a moment ago..
Failing at that as her fingers barely scratched their target, but were not able to pull it away..
Instead she was leaving it a mess of red as the cuts in her fingers had not yet fully healed.
He sighed, walking back towards her. Slowly, dragging his feet in the process..., though it only took him barely a step or two before he was already standing right next to her.
Graving the book she was hoping to catch and allowing it to fall softly over her waiting hands.
"Thanks..."
She said, beaming him a smile as she started to walk away as she started to turn the pages.
"What are you looking for there?"
"Oh, nothing...is empty"
She said before she threw the book above her head.
"Then why did you tried out pick it up in the first place?"
"Ah, that? I just wanted to see whether you would step up to help me, it was so cute…, I had my suspicions but deep down you really are a softy"
He was about to strangle her…
And this time he was not gonna stop until her eyes pop out from her sockets and her guts left through her nails in the form of spaghetti..
"Is ok, she is just young…."
"I thought you said you were going to lead me to the core.."
"And I did, we are just right there…"
"Then why are you wasting my time again with your antics…"
"Because I want to know if you will do it…"
His eyes narrowed behind his mask, confused at first before they narrowed even further as he realized what she was talking about.
"You speak of me killing you"
"Yes.."
"You want me to kill you.."
"Yes…"
"…"
"…"
"You are very eccentric.."
That he…, of all people had to say that…
The world truly had gone mad while he had gone unknowingly sane..
"I guess I kind of am.."
She said with a shrug.
He scoffed, gripping his scythe a little tighter, taking one more step and graving the girl by the shoulder, raising her up in the air until she was his eye level.
Her feet dangling on the air, but this time with not the frenetic spams than when he had been strangling her, nor any pain as his hands closed tightly but not enough to harm...
She did not seem to mind, though her heart skipped a beat.
"So, will you?"
"Is that what you want, or what you believe you want?"
"It is…, because I must.."
Now she was been cryptic…
How nice..
"Explain.."
"This is not life, to be trapped here forever…, to not be able to do, see or talk to anyone…, I don't want to be here."
"So you just gave up on life? You believed it to be too hard? To annoying to bare its weight?"
He snarled.
"I am already dead, a memory of an old past that should have been buried and forgotten and yet here I am. Forced to endure..."
"Endure...".
He parroted the word.
"But the worst part is that I feel broken…, robbed of something that was supposed to be mine. As if my body was made of broken shards hardly glued together by a child, dreading the day the wind will blow harder. As if I-..
"Were divided in tiny, broken fragments…"
He finished for her, not liking in the slightest the implications.
Souls should not be shattered without reason, and he was having a hard time picturing her becoming a reason important enough for such sentence to be carried out.
Even at her worst, she appeared to be just an annoying child...
"Yes..."
Now that he thought about it…, were there not a presence that had looked at him from afar. One that resembled her essence yet it had come from the opposite direction?
"So there are more of you outside of this boundaries..."
"There may be, my memories are fragmented, so I believe that they must have them.."
"How many"
"I don't know, perhaps too many..or too few…, my mind is not what it once was, nor I have the power to see outside this prison."
"I see., what do you know of the cult"
"The cult?"
"The cult of Diabolos…"
It was merely a second, a shadow in the eyes…, but the depths behind her eyes faltered.
"Why would you want to know…"
"Because I must…"
"They are dangerous…, I suggest you do not seek them out."
"I thought you lost most of your memories.."
"I did…, but I know who my jailers are"
With that said he let her go, this time making sure she would not crash on to the ground.
"I understand, but that is still not enough to convince me to end you"
She bit her lip, clearly annoyed but controlling herself from speaking out her thoughts into the open.
"Then tell me, why do I still draw breath."
"Because I didn't kill you.."
He replied dryly, a deadpan tone in his voice as he was forced to explain something so simple to a toddler.
She rolled her eyes, placing her hands around her thin waist..
"Dah, yes I know…, let rephrase it. why didn't you kill me back then? You were just about to...why did you stop?"
"Does it matter?"
"It does to me..."
Of course she would…
She was obsessed with getting railed one way or another by him.
She was mad, even for his standards...or just desperate.
None were making the choice any harder to deny her..
"A hunter should only hunt beasts…."
"So if I were a monster, would you have done it?"
"Are you..?"
"The world believes so..."
"And you?"
His voice grew more sharper, yet even more softer..
A second passed, then another...the girl starting to shift her feet.
But her glare remained unbroken..
"You know the answer to that..."
He did…
He did know….
The parallels between them only made the fires inside his chest glow brighter. The flames licking and chewing at his flesh, hard...even if they were nothing but delusions of his mind.
But at least now he was sure what he had to do….
"I will do as you desire.."
It took a moment for his words to be fully understood, the look of joy in her eyes was painful.
"Really..?"
So it pained him to deny it with the next three following words.
"But not today.."
Happiness and relief washed away like morning fog, leaving behind surprise if not down right outrage.
"W-what?"
"If what you said is true, you are a fragment of a bigger whole…"
"Yes, but what that have to do with….oh"
She started speaking, realization dawning at the very end, purple eyes widening.
"Yes, I will pick your pieces and pull them back together…, I will look for you, find you and make you anew…"
"But why..?"
"Because, only then...I will be able to ask the true Aurora if she..after all does wish to die.."
She relented, biting her lip after a brief pause. Her eyes glinting with understanding and...gratitude.
Before she asked the question that had been dying to be let out through her lips.
"And if she does…?"
"Then I will full-fill my promise and end her...and by that end, you as-well. That I swear..."
She stared at him with surprise, her eyes trying to peer through his own and take a look and what laid behind. Trying to read his thoughts and discern whether he was truthful or not.
She shouldn't have tried..
Soon enough she shook her head, a weak smile wrapped around her lips as she rose an arm to her left, touching a book and pressing it forward.
The room shook as the bookcases moved out of the way, giving way to a large room where a heart stood suspended by threads of mana over a pillar. Throbbing loudly…
That was the core...
``Making a girl wait a little while longer to get what she wants….You truly are a bad man´´
She said softly, not an ounce of frustration in her voice. She was thrilled in fact…
He did not stop walking towards the beating, throbbing heart of the realm…That did not mean that he was not listening though.
``Always have been, never pretended to be anything else…´´
``You know that you are more than just that...´´
"No…, this is what I am. What is left for me to be..and what led me to you.."
``Then I will be waiting for you…my wandering Reaper…´´
He reached the platform, stretching out a hand as he graved the heart and started pulling back to him. Threads of energy trying to keep it where it belonged, empowered by the entire realms strength.
But one by one they were torn up by the sheer strength of his unpowered arm...
``And perhaps, when that time comes….you could please take off that ugly mask so that I could see your eyes one last time...´´
He did not hear anything more as he crushed the heart under his grasp, the world around him breaking down into pieces.
Black and white wrapping around him as he made his way hack to reality.
With one more promise to keep over his shoulders.…
And perhaps, just another one that he would break, like all the others...
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A/N
Someone commented that signs for speech and thought were confusing, so this change is merely a test whether they are easier to understand or not. Is not a definitive change.