Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[ReformBlade]

"I'm not sure how ok you'd be with it," Jericho started, "But I could blow on your face and hold you in my arms to simulate it or some shit like that." He was laughing at his own suggestion perhaps a bit too much, the stupidity of it, as well as the hammy literalness of it really selling it for the man. "Come onnn, give me a real challenge here!" He threw out in a mocking tone, a bit miffed at teh wagon stopping as he wavered in his place. Nothing fancy, nothing quirky, just sort of wiggling in place, annoyed.

[Nanami Touko]

Eva stared at Jericho for a moment, before starting her own giggling, eventually turning in a ball of laughter. Whatever was happening with the wagon had been entirely forgotten. "Ohhhh man, I'm really not sure I should be laughing so much after what's happened today, but you're making it really hard for me not to," she choked out between laughs, trying to compose herself. Finally getting a grip enough to talk normally, she attempted to continue the conversation. "Yeah, that'd work perfectly. I'll have you give that a try tomorrow, huh?"

[roymbrog]

As the wagons began rolling out, Kat had taken off on Volga and had been flying rather low and slightly ahead of the convoy, on the lookout for problem spots. Thankfully she hadn’t come across any, but when she passed over a bunch of soldiers trying to subdue hounds rather than kill them, that struck her as rather odd. She had kept flying past, but soon circled back when she realized the wagon convoy wasn’t following. She wasn’t sure what was going on down there, but had Volga land on top a nearby building until the group began moving again.

---

Joanna didn’t really have a reason to listen to him, the horseman supposed, but he was glad she would at least attempt to stop worrying. The group set out soon, but failed to reach their destination before running into a mob of soldiers. As the wagons pulled to a halt, Valter rode around to get a better view of what was going on ahead. Upon spotting the demon taming operation, he was incredulous. “…There is no way they’re authorized to do that,” he said. He continued further ahead, to where he heard the tail end of the officer’s conversation with Raquel. Namely, that they were being let through and instructed not to mention this operation to anyone. Really, to hell with that last stipulation.

---

While Synthia had been speaking with the mariner, Amon had run inside after Anna. Well, if they were out of sight of Weyland's employee, they could at least follow him now. It felt safer with more from their group there anyway. As the two made their way further inside, the mage glanced back to find Sinbad following as well. See previous comment. Following after Amon and Anna eventually brought her across the first body, and she grimaced. There was nothing she could do to help there…

[-Cynthia-]

Satisfied with the outcome, Veronika returned to her position in the wagon. Trying to train demons seems like a futile effort, but if that's how Ursian officers want to occupy themselves then so be it.

[Mercakete]

Gytha glanced behind her as they entered the manse to find Sinbad walking along with them. She frowned a little to herself, wondering just how prepared for combat the man could be after the hits he took during the previous battle. Had he even reloaded his pistol yet? Quietly, she stood off to the side, motioning for Sinbad to walk in front of her. If they were attacked from behind, she was in the best shape out of all of them to face it, and she wasn't about to leave vulnerable comrades in such dangerous positions if there was something she could do about it.

[Toogee]

"Jam...I...agh my head." Alphonse groaned, clutching at his skull yet again. "The magic I got hit with, I knocked my head on the ground. I think I need a healer..."

"Here, sit down," Jam asked Alphonse, taking his arm as she pulled him down to the ground. Though the fights were winding down, the dancer thought it best to stay where they were rather than face a new threat inside.Jam wasn't in the best shape herself; she could still feel where the fangs pierced her. Still, she grabbed her bottle of vulnerary.

"Not sure if this works for massive headaches, but it's worth a shot."

With no cloth to speak of, Jam poured the healing agent into her hand, then rubbed it into her other hand. She struggled a bit, but the dancer stood up on her knees and began massaging the vulnerary into his scalp.

((I'll get to Eli in a different post))

Edited January 20, 2014 by Toogee

[Balcerzak]

Sinbad frowned slightly when Gytha motioned him forward, as he got the sense the mariner was doing it because she felt she felt he needed protecting or something, and a man getting protected by a women, well if that wasn't a backward scenario, he didn't rightly know what was. Still... in this case it was at least palatable, given how things had played out earlier. Gytha still seemed to be fresh and ready, while the cowboy had to admit he were operating a little under the weather at the moment. So he acquiesced to her proposal and took the mid position of the trio. As they stepped into the hallway, he holstered his gun, they were going to be indoors now, it wouldn't hardly be polite ta be firing rounds off inside another man's home, not to mention the crowding and the clutter just made for all sorts of potential shrapnel and ricochets. More danger than it was worth, discharging a firearm indoors in most occasions. Still, he kept his hand resting near the hilt of his sword, just to be ready for anything.

As they moved along, some of the corpses gave clear indication that some others held no such compunctions. Was that a blunderbuss wound there? Yowiee but that would be painful up close and personal like. Sinbad winced as he imagined the damage, even if one were only using rock-salt pellets. That'd lay you low real fast and real good. The fact that the body in question was a corpse was pretty much redundant testimony to exactly that effect.

[ReformBlade]

Haha, aaaalriiight... wait what am I saying, can I even hold her up? Man, I made a stupid suggestion and now I've got to follow through! Oh well, she looks sturdy enough, I doubt she'd fly off the handle when I drop her. Oh well, it's... something to look forward to I guess, though it'll probably be about 15 seconds of a day, haha. "Alrighty, Eva." He said, leaving it at that and faintly smiling about it.

Edited January 20, 2014 by ReformBlade

[Nanami Touko]

"O-Oh, I..." Should I tell him I wasn't being serious? I don't want to get his hopes up, since he seems quite invested in the idea, even as a joke, but I'm sure it'd be incredibly awkward. But I can't just leave him hanging for it, not after sounding so sincere. I was sounding sincere, right? Perhaps I should let it slide as a way to get back at me for all the flirting I've been doing. It hasn't really been fair to him. He should be able to hold me, anyway, I barely weigh anything. He might look like a stick, but If I'm too heavy I can just take off the armor, I'm wearing clothes. How complicated. "Yeah, Jericho. Should be fun," she said with a smile as well.

Edited January 21, 2014 by I have opinions

[Phoenix]

Dark Heritage

Once they reached what looked like the closest accessible area between them and the hatchling, Valdimarr stood in front of the wall, and let his arms down. <"Siv, hop on; this ride's going to be short but rough,"> Valdimarr warned before kneeling down. Siv quickly climbed onto his back and looped her legs in his arms and wrapped her hands around his neck. Then, Valdimarr warped them straight down into the basement.

As the two emerged from the warp, everyone standing around in the main hall of the basement level spread out and away from them, the woman holding the fallen newborn slightly tightening her grip. When Valdimarr's gaze rose up to meet the crowd, his eyes had shifted, giving off a fierce yellow-orange glow. The crowd began backing up even more in the face of this humanoid monster. <"The child ... now."> he demanded in his own tongue.

"We're here for her," Siv explained, pointing toward the woman with the newborn. Valdimarr let Siv down and then began to walk toward the woman carrying his prize. Valdimarr angrily beckoned with his hand while snarling at her. <"Give her to me ..."> The closer he got, the more the crowd of people backed away, deeper and deeper down the basement's main hall.

Greta just happened to be one of the closest noncombatants to the woman--almost noncombatants, at least--and reached out with her arms to nudge the woman back and shield her and the others from Valdimarr. "B-back off. You crazies don't have any right to just show up here and take whoever ya feel like!"

<"Urgh, get out of my way-"> Valdimarr shoved Greta out of the way and she went sliding a few meters across the floor. <"This has nothing to do with any of you. This one is one of us, and belongs with us.">

"Please just go away," the woman begged, not knowing how much longer to resist. Help likely wouldn't reach them in time. "Please just leave us alone!"

[-Cynthia-]

So Siv was in the basement...along with a male Fallen Connor assumed was Valdimarr. So Gabbie and Steinn and Uncle Seth and everyone else...they must have lost if these two are all the way down here- are they dead? he worried, although the situation happening right now was the immediate concern.

Connor bit his lip before speaking up. "I think it would be in everyone's best interests if we just hand over the thing formerly inside the egg. I'll take responsibility if necessary." Better an angry Lilith later than an angry Valdimarr now I think- if we resist he''ll just kill us and get the thing formerly inside the egg anyway.

Edited January 21, 2014 by -Cynthia-

[Snike]

And, out of nowhere, a hellhound came and jumped on his back. Damn those claws hurt. Oddly enough, the pain faded away for a moment, before coming back in full force. Whatever. Pete cursed and tried to reach his axe, and knock the dog off of him, but before he could manage that, the Rexian horsewoman and the axewoman knocked it off, and killed it.

"Damn, that hurt," Pete said, as he got to his feet. "Thanks. Any more of those things?"

***

Blake gritted his teeth as the group of survivors and mercenaries were stopped by the army. They had their damn priorities mixed up, but, well, there wasn't much he could do about it without causing a scene. So the swordsman kept silent as they were cleared to pass by, and resolved to track down Cain on the morrow, to get to the bottom of this.

***

A violent blast of light ripped past Valdimarr, going above his head by inches. Moments latter, an arrow found its' way into Siv's shoulder. The shots seemed to have come from further down the main hall, but it was deserted.

[Toogee]

Lumi

Seeing Eli, Lumi called out to him, "Hey, you probably can't see this, but Bert's stopped bleeding at this point, so just heal Rizen. She's needing some serious attention and he'll need to get the cuts taken care of to avoid infections. That'll be more helpful than a healing at this point."

Eli's focus was thrown off with Lumi's suggestion that he heal the peg first. Clearly, both were wounded and at risk for infection, but the girls somehow calmed RIzen long enough for them to clean the wounds with a vulnerary. His personal preference for healing humans first would have to be put on hold for Lumi's sake. He refocused his healing spell, this time on the wounded peg.

"While I'm doing this, could you get him ready?" Eli asked, referring to Norbert. "We need to make sure he didn't suffer anything internal."

Edited January 21, 2014 by Toogee

[scorri]

Lumi

"He's been taken care of, at least for a start. He's not bleeding anymore or anything. He's unconcious but healing him won't fix that. At this point, it'd probably be best to get him washed up before any healing takes place. So we should probably take him inside?" She paused, glancing around to see if there was anything she could use to clean his wounds herself. "Plus Weyland probably has some Restore staffs that could treat any possible infection."

[Eail]

"Jam.. no... don't waste this on me... you need it." Alphonse muttered as the dancer started spreading the salve on his head, he wasn't sure if it was working or not though. Could vulneraries even heal a head wound like this?

[Phoenix]

Trust
“B-but I was told this child is import-tant,” the woman protested, not bothering to hide how scared she was. If Valdimarr did decide to kill for that infant, she knew she’d be the first to go. Fortunately, someone came to their aid.

Valdimarr ducked down slightly despite the shot not being aimed directly at his head, and quickly turned around, intent on taking down the attacker. His priorities shifted as Siv collapsed with an arrow in her shoulder. He could dodge a follow up assault from whoever was targeting them, but she couldn’t, which meant he needed to get her outside. What was worse and solidified his decision more was the fact that the crowd was backing away even faster now, and the woman with the infant turned away and disappeared into that crowd. He could find her easily enough, but he doubted he could do that without Siv getting shot again.

<Can I trade Siv’s life for that child’s?> As he warped back to where Siv was, he quickly scooped her up and warped off again. <No, I can’t. She knows full well what kind of threat that child is to her and she still told me where to find her. The two reappeared in a hallway and then vanished once again, appearing just outside the right wing of the main building. Valdimarr knelt down to make sure they weren’t spotted; fortunately for them, no one was actually around. <”Siv, are you alright?”> <Heh, well, at least I came out of their with something.>

<”I-I’m sorry, Lord Valdimarr. I didn’t see them until it was too late,”> she explained, wincing as Valdimarr tested the arrow’s shaft. It was in deep, stuck in the bone no less.

<”You’ve got nothing to apologize for. I’m taking you to the gather point and then … well. Hmm …”> He hadn’t actually thought this far ahead. Until seeing Siv injured, the idea of pulling out hadn’t crossed his mind, but he had a feeling they were running short on healers. If anyone else but him went in, they would likely start seeing some serious casualties. <”… and then we’re … leaving.”>

<”Leaving?”>

<”Yeah. I have to kill Steinn on my own, or he’ll keep using my own people against me. Steinn’s so heavily guarded right now, though, and I doubt I can land the killing blow with that many shields running around. We’ll try this again, but not tonight. We’re going to regroup first.”>

Siv nodded, while the faintest of smiles surfaced through her winces. <”Okay.”> She didn’t like that Valdimarr wasn’t going to be able to achieve his other objective here, but if he said they were going to regroup for now, she wouldn’t protest or complain.

[spoiler=Sanctified]It was dark, far too dark. Even with his eyes shifted, Valdimarr couldn’t make out anything in this seemingly massive chamber. All he knew was that he sensed an incredible amount of dark energy around him. He was beginning to regret wasting time with this so called ‘meeting’ when he heard a voice deeper in the chamber. <”Prince of Devlinos … … I’m glad you decided to stop by.”>

Valdimarr was only startled for a second. What struck him as odd was that the figure got his title wrong, seemingly on purpose. <”My father is dead and save for one of my more pathetic brothers, I’m all that remains. I’m the Sovereign now.”>

<”Hmph, hardly, but you definitely have what it takes. That’s why I sent for you.”>

<”You’re Obelisk, right?”> Without waiting for an answer, Valdimarr continued on, taking a few steps deeper in to the chamber. <”I’ve got a massive campaign to get to, so if this is some sort of test, make it quick.”>

<”Relax. You are going to be here for a while.”>

<”Relax? We were practically on our way out the door when out of nowhere I get a summons from our so called ‘god’. Normally, I’d be honored, but like a lot of other people, I thought you were doing something more important than just stewing in some chamber, trying to stay out of the sunlight.”>

<”Are you attempting to provoke me?”>

<”Just show yourself already, and tell me what you want,”> Valdimarr demanded.

As the inexplicable darkness in the room began to fade into natural darkness, and Valdimarr’s vision cleared up, he saw a figure stepping toward him out from the shadows. With the lack of a tail or even wings, Valdimarr could easily tell that it was a human standing before him. <”Do you know why I changed my name to ‘Obelisk’? It was because people, mine especially, rely too much on symbols. I prefer the opposite: obscurity, uncertainty, chaos. Nonetheless, in order to wage that great war, I needed to be plain for all to see. Another time just like that is fast approaching.”>

Valdimarr scowled at the approaching vasilus. <”Thanks for the useless trivia; now mind telling me why you look like that? Why the hell would you come out looking like a human?”>

<”To remind you of where you came from and who you’re up against. It’s not something you want to forget, Prince. Now then, I trust you already know of your brother’s views … on Lord Wrath?”>

<”You’re not about to tell me that sniveling pile of garbage is actually right, are you?”> Valdimarr asked, wincing at the mere thought.

<”Yes and … no. If the God of Wrath was going to destroy you, he would have done so at the earliest opportunity. He was not in a position to act, though he most certainly wished to. The truth of the matter is that the fallen were sanctified long ago.”>

<”By who?”> Valdimarr figured that if Obelisk was going to bother with this, then their protector actually wasn’t him after all, which made him that much more curious.

<”In the beginning, Lord Wrath created the humans and called them his own. Then, the Goddess of Mercy created the avians and made them hers. Next, this world’s caretaker, ‘Nature’, she created the dragons. The God of Consolidation, my father, held back for a time. He would not follow Lord Wrath’s example as the other gods did. He would wait until he knew more about these ‘mortals’ that were beginning to fill the Earth. When I helped the humans bring your kind into existence, I did so for his sake. You’ve persisted and fought throughout an entire cycle, and the time of your final judgment is now at hand. You will be accepted as the natural born exemplars of ‘Truth’, or you will be left to the whims of this world, and the vengeance your enemies strive for will go unchecked. It will all be based on your performance … your performance during this very war you’re about to wage.”> Obelisk lowered his head slightly and his eyes narrowed at the now dumbfounded Valdimarr. <”I just thought you should know exactly how important your coming decisions really are, Prince.”>

<”… I don’t believe it …”>

<”I’ve no reason to lie, but think what you will. As a future Sovereign, the fate of your people rests on your shoulders now … as it should be. Still, you are a little young to be taking on the human world in its entirety. You might want to consider an offer of mine.”>

<”An … offer? So what? Now you want to chip in and help out?”>

<”I’ll be working as hard as any of you, I assure you. What I’m talking about is this,”> Obelisk explained, pulling out a shining golden rock from his coat. It pierced the darkness and lit up both of the men’s faces. <”This will give you the might you need to lead your people to victory.”>

<”It’s a rock,”> Valdimarr remarked, unimpressed and a little confused.

Obelisk rolled his red eyes and took a few steps closer. <”It is a piece of the fire emblem, a piece you can use, at that. In the hands of one of my kind, a limited number of things can be done, but we rely on our own abilities first and foremost, so the fire emblem can do little for us. In the hands of a mortal such as yourself, this ‘rock’ will become the ability that you need in order to accomplish your objectives. Your impossible dreams will become possible, but only if you have the will to see it through to the end. If not, you will fail.”>

While Valdimarr took all that in, Obelisk reached out to grab his right wrist, and once he got a hold of the man, he slapped the emblem piece to it, and a golden light overtook them both. <”Urgh, what are you doing?!”> Valdimarr yelled at the last second. When the light receded, the rock had transformed into a wrist guard that could be easily hidden beneath his sleeve. The fallen prince took a moment to look his arm over, holding his sleeve back with his other arm. <”… huh.”>

<”I suppose that isn’t really your style, but neither is the rock version, I take it,”> Obelisk commented.

<”It really isn’t,”> Valdimarr shook his head and smirked. <”How do I use it?”>

Obelisk’s gaze fell to the floor and a smile slowly appeared on his face. <”I trust you remember when I told you that you would be here for a while?”>

<”So that’s what you meant. No time to waste then. Let’s get started. I want to see what kind of power I need to accomplish my ‘objective’.”>

<”Prepare for a great deal of hardship …”> Obelisk warned as he slowly began to pull back his own sleeves.

<"That's where this power came from, Siv. Obelisk gave it to me, and showed me just how wrong Steinn really is,"> Valdimarr explained to Siv. As Siv stared, completely absorbed in the tale, Valdimarr smiled, though it was far more sinister than usual. <"But that's not all he told me ... not even close ....">

Destruction’s Wake

Athrun was coming up short everywhere he looked, unable to find Morgana, or other survivors, and mistaking the sound of a demon nosing about for a human whimper led to an unnecessary injury. Still, the prince won his unexpected battle with a pair of hellhounds and pressed onward. After a few more minutes of searching, Athrun thought to turn back and rejoin the others. He was confident he could keep going, but he was already in for a reprimand for what had happened not long ago with the hounds and he didn’t want to add to that.

Just a bit farther, he told himself, as he came out onto the abandoned main road. What he found there was startling to say the least. Several demons each at least twenty feet apart were all slowly melting, liquefying. He could at least tell that some kind of magic was behind the phenomenon, but as he drew closer, he saw the tail end of a large beast disappear into an alley and felt he’d found his culprit. After the tail vanished, he heard a low rumble, a growl that most likely came from that same creature “What was that? Another demon?”

When he spared the melting demons another glance he was disturbed to find that they were still very much alive and trying to claw their way past him, he suspected, to get as far away from that other creature as possible. Athrun felt something like an intense heat when he took another step toward the alleyway the had disappeared into and leaped back. So that’s what was affecting them … “What sort of magic is this …?” It’s so far away now and we’re still being affected … also curious, nothing else seems to be affected by whatever I just felt

Looking back at the demons, he could now see their skin and muscles melting away even faster. They were dead by the time he could make out their ribcages, and seconds later, their bones began to liquefy as well. He began to back away from the scene, frowning as he did. It was time to head back, even without answers. It was just time to head back and put this incomprehensible madness behind him.

Return of the Rescue Team

Once Anna found Weyland unharmed, she took command of the surviving combatants and ordered one group to help her make a sweep of the entire building while another went to help the survivors in the basement and the last group was to stay put and guard Weyland and Steinn in case Valdimarr was just waiting for them to let their guard down. Anna’s group eventually assimilated Amon, Gytha, Synthia, and Sinbad during their sweep of the area and eventually moved on to the left wing.

Meanwhile, the group sent to aid those hiding out in the basement arrived at the entrance, opened it, and sent half of their people inside to guide the noncombatants out. It didn’t take long before they started hearing word of what happened and how the infant had nearly been taken. Anna would want to hear about this, especially since nobody had the slightest idea who fired those two shots. It may have even been two people for all they knew, given the fact that one projectile was light magic and the other was an arrow.

Things back in the city were much less tense, though still quite so. If not for what they had seen this particular division of the army doing earlier, leaving the survivors with those fortifying the gate wouldn’t have been a very tough decision, but as it stood, some in the convoy were having some trust issues, Ken and Jessica among them. In the end, though, for the sake of having a little faith in humanity, the two volunteered to stay behind and watch over the survivors while Raquel’s people returned to the estate with the two wagons. They could at least trust the army to look after them now that they were right there and literally nothing was standing between them.

When the wagons returned to the estate, it wasn’t a pretty sight, but there weren’t any human bodies on the driveway or anywhere else in sight, just a lot of dead decaying demon bodies. So they did get attacked, Raquel thought to herself, grimacing at all the carnage. They inevitably rolled right over a hellhound’s corpse just trying to reach the front entrance, where a heavily armed group was waiting for them. There weren’t any Raquel immediately recognized among them and she didn’t know what to make of that. If there were allied casualties, they were probably moved inside a while ago. She just hoped someone would explain what was going on once they pulled up to the entrance.

It was sometime during the explanations that Raquel realized that Reign was missing. So was Nadine. She couldn’t very well focus on what had gone down at the estate after that, and though she didn’t make a mad dash back to the city to find them, she became extremely worried and difficult to console afterward.

[spoiler=A Real Night with the Prince]People had lost their lives, so few, if any, were in the mood to celebrate their apparent victory over the fallen. Gabbie was among those that didn’t want to celebrate, though that didn’t stop her from wanting to do other things. After making sure Tacito was alright and fed, she took the time she now had to quickly clean herself up and change into one of her other tunics. Once that was done, she put her belt, gauntlets, and greaves back on for some added protection. Since the threat of Valdimarr suddenly reappearing was still very real, she decided not to let her guard down, though as the hours passed, and her checks came up short, she began to suspect they might actually get a long enough reprieve to get some sleep. Some had already done so out of necessity.

With just a little poking around, she managed to track down the bedroom Steinn was using. Steinn wasn’t there, and it had been spared any damage from the attack, unsurprisingly. Gabbie shut the door behind her as she entered and began to poke around. She noted the books he had lying on the table and nightstand, around forty in total, and all borrowed from the library. She sat down at the foot of the bed and closed her eyes. After a minute or so, she opened them again. “… still nothing.” She’d done this several times before at Steinn’s request, and she didn’t sense Valdimarr’s spirit within ten miles of them back then either.

Falling back on the bed, she sighed and let her lance fall to the floor with a resounding thud. “… heh,” she smirked and quickly sat back up. She quickly but carefully untied her hair, took off her armor, slipped out of her tunic just long enough to remove her chainmail vest, and then put the tunic back on. “There we go, muuuch better~”

Steinn sensed something was up when he arrived at the door and had Annelise wait outside for the moment. When he came inside, Gabbie was further back on the bed, daydreaming about something. A small smile appeared on his face but just as quickly vanished. “Have you sensed anything else?”

“They’re all pullin’ out and Valdimarr’s nowhere to be found, and the area that was under attack is getting flooded with soldiers,” she answered. Then, thinking to her purpose here, she changed the subject slightly. “Look, Steoinn … Steinn,” she suddenly dropped her accent, “how helpful was I to you, tonight? Really?”

“Invaluable,” Steinn answered without the slightest bit of hesitation. Then he loosened up all of a sudden and shrugged at her. “Is that not obvious? In addition to that, if not for your constant updates, we would all be sitting here … wondering at Valdimarr’s next attempt. You’ve given us all some peace of mind … though I’m surprised Weyland let you wander off on your own.”

“Me too,” she admitted. “A girl’s gotta rest sometime, though. I was thinking of doing that here. That’s not too much to ask, now is it, being ‘invaluable’ and all?”

“… I suppose not,” Steinn conceded. He wasn’t opposed to the idea at all really, but he wasn’t too eager to upset some of Weyland’s people by doing this. Weyland himself might have even disapproved on some level. “Alright then, if you want to sleep in here with me, that will be fine … … aaand you trust me?”

“It’s not about trust, it’s about lust~” she quietly sang to him. “Really, though, I just want to have a decent night’s sleep for once. Haven’t you ever just wanted to have an extra body beside you?”

Steinn’s expression mellowed at that. “… every night,” he admitted. “Well, you might want to change out of that tunic and into something you’re more comfortable. I’ll return shortly.”

Eventually, he did return, and he had seemingly taken the time to change clothes as well, out of his suit and into robe tailored for him and some pants. He wasn’t wearing anything else. Anna had stopped by a few times while he was gone to check with Gabbie and see if the situation had changed but like before, there weren’t any enemies nearby. Granted, Gabbie couldn’t sense the demons, but the enemy had no plausible way of figuring that out.

As Steinn sat down at the side of the bed, Gabbie crawled up to him and draped herself over his back, letting her arms rest over his chest. “Sorry to ruin the mood, but how much do your people usually molt?”

“Heh …” Steinn resisted the urge to shake his head at that. “It depends on the season but I apologize in advance.”

“Oh no need, just wondering if I can make a few extra pillows later,” she joked. After a few minutes of cuddling and back and forth, the two settled into the sheets and got some much needed rest.

[spoiler=Sleepover]Reign had to argue with his parents for a time before they agreed to him sleeping on the sofa. While Aldric inquired about Nadine’s plans, Regina went to fetch Reign a blanket and a pillow; she still didn’t like the idea of him sleeping on the sofa with his recent injury, but he wouldn’t take their bed for whatever reason.

“Well I’m glad we get to see you again, Nadine. Would it be too much trouble to ask you to stay here for the night and make sure nothing else happens to our son?” he half seriously, half-jokingly asked her.

“It took forever to get here at the pace we were going but … I guess so.” The captain’s not going to like this, but every time I look away something terrible happens to him. I’ll go back in the morning once things settle down, I guess. “Uh, sure but where am I going to sleep? Reign at least needs that old sofa, right?”

Aldric smirked. “Well Regina wouldn’t need the extra pillow if you two shared the thing, now would she?”

Nadine shrugged indifferently. “I’d still need one for my head, but that’s not what you’re on about, I guess.”

Not far away, Reign was already resting on the sofa with his arm draped across his forehead. Try as he did, he couldn’t very well tune out that conversation. “Don’t you remember what I told you earlier?”

“Yeah, you told me she cried when you left,” Aldric mischievously shot back before patting Nadine on the shoulder. It was a rough patting if only due to the weight of Aldric’s arm; the man was kind of ‘built’. “Thanks for saving him from those monsters, Nadine. I owe you a lot for that. That said, if you want to share the sofa tonight, I’ve got no problem with that.”

“For gods’ sake,” Reign muttered under his breath.

“Hmm … what the hell, might as well,” she decided, shrugging as she did. She walked over to the old couch and prepared to sit down, but from Reign’s point of view, it looked like she was about to sit down right on top of him, so he quickly moved, narrowly getting out of the way as her butt hit the cushions. It was only after she nearly sat on his head that he realized why she chose the spot she did. “Just use my lap like he suggested,” she explained.

“Not what I had in mind, actually … but that’s OKAY,” he carefully corrected her.

Regina returned with the blanket and pillow just as Reign began resting his head on Nadine’s lap. Realizing what was going on, she handed the pillow to her and then draped the blanket over Reign, herself. “I’m so upset this had to happen to you,” she said, kneeling in front of the two.

"I’ll be able to get it fixed up someday … it’s just going to take a lot of money, and I’ll probably have to go to Neviskotia to do it, which is oddly convenient, but … yeah, that’s it really. It’s convenient once this money situation’s taken care of. Not looking forward to a violet colored eye though …” he replied, his expression becoming a mix of annoyance and uncertainty toward the end.

After a few minutes of discussing Reign’s damaged eye and catching up with Nadine, the couple retired for the night. “My eye still hurts,” Reign quietly muttered an excuse as to why he wasn’t asleep yet, possibly.

“Why’d you tell him I cried when you left?” she asked, ignoring his comment altogether, it seemed.

“Hmm,” Reign paused to think about that for a moment. “It went something like this …”

"Yeah. Us men don't have to do anything lofty with our lives, just something we want to do," Aldric added.

Reign shook his head a few times. "Following Raquel around for now is just fine since I have nothing better to do; following Raquel around for the rest of my days out of guilt seems even more misguided--and frankly, stupid--than serving in the military."

"Not if the two of you-" "I don't feel that way about her," Reign interrupted. "... I don't feel that way about anyone."

"Hah, you can't fool me. Maybe you're not madly in love, but you and Nadine were really close, at least until you left," Aldric countered. "Wasn't leaving 'the hardest thing you'd ever done'?" he added with a smirk.

"I could have left in a split second if she hadn't begged me repeatedly. ... it was the first time she ever cried in front of me. Do you have any idea how messed up it is to see her in tears, of all people? In our little group of four, she was my best friend. It would have hurt less if I stabbed myself in the chest. I felt like we became enemies and she knew it ... and I guess technically, we did."

"You left her in tears?! Is your heart made of iron? A lady in tears is practically mind control on me ... I didn't even know she did that. Err- ... you were just being stubborn, yeah. I'm sure your heart isn't completely closed off yet, either. You just need to stop forcing yourself to avoid doing things just because your 'emotions' agree with it. I live my life with my emotions running wild and everything's working out just fine."

"Congratulations, but If I have to keep making decisions like these, I'm trading in my heart for one made out of iron. I'm sick and tired of being tormented and controlled by my emotions."

“Iron, huh?” Nadine gave a small smile. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter at this point, but no one would ever believe a word you said back then if they knew everything about our training, especially not your father.”

Reign feigned a snore and pretended to be fast asleep.

“Keep snoring like that and I’ll smother you,” she playfully threatened. Reign stopped, but actually tried to doze off after that. Once the moment passed, she gently placed her hand over Reign’s chest, trying to feel for his heartbeat. It was faint, but she felt it, and closed her eyes. It only took a little over ten seconds for her heartbeat to perfectly match his, and eventually, she fell asleep.

The Sixty-Second Morning

In the city, things were depressing to say the least. The city was bustling with activity again, but not the right kind, Prince Athrun noted as he sat on the steps leading into a general store. Eugene was standing close by with a few other guardsmen, making sure no one disturbed the prince. He wasn’t sure why the prince was putting himself through all of this, watching with his own eyes as the people returned to their ruined homes and businesses to find things destroyed or family members dead. There were so many new orphans too, now.

“I can’t run away from this,” Athrun spoke up, almost as if he could read Eugene’s mind. “I have to see it with my own eyes, not just violence, but the aftermath as well.” Athrun then stood up from his place on the steps and dusted his coat off; there were still some claw markings on the back, but the shirt underneath had been replaced. “Besides, the search for our friends isn’t over yet, either. I’ve yet to track down Angelica or Morgana.”

“You should seriously consider getting some sleep. You’ve been up all night without as much as a nap.”

“My heart won’t stop racing. Nothing short of a boulder striking my head could put me out at this point,” the prince argued calmly and weakly. “I won’t wander off without you, I promise,” he assured his guards. He was too sleep deprived to willingly wander off on his own right now, demons or no.

At the estate, the atmosphere was similar, but still varied in some places. While many were mourning both the dead and the damage dealt to their home, others were practically celebrating the fact that they had survived the night. Some drowned their sorrows in alcohol while others used it for the aforementioned ‘celebrating’. Due to the tension this could easily cause, Ernesta made sure that those who wanted to drink for joy did so in the other dining hall, so neither of the two sides would butt heads. Ernesta also had a funeral service to plan for the following day, but for now, just keeping things in order was taking up all of her time.

Suzume was forced to have her assigning delayed, but she was fine with it. Having a day to become familiar with the place in general was alright with her, though she knew what was happening right now was anything but standard procedure. Learning what happened to Bert reminded her that she wasn’t the only one that had been set back by all the violence. He would most definitely have to wait for his assignment as well. Suzume ordered a light breakfast, and with Ernesta’s permission, ate it in her room. She didn’t have anything against eating with everyone else, but one dining hall was filled with sadness and the other with her former enemies. She planned to wander a bit once she’d finished eating, but not before.

Amon sat at a table with his original group, staring down at some porridge with a mournful look on his face. Fizza rubbing his shoulder wasn’t helping all that much, but he appreciated the gesture. Haythem was eating, but wasn’t hiding his feelings either, which were a little bitter. Sure, they won, but some of Weyland’s people were killed, fewer than they expected, but far more than they could accept. Malik was handling the situation the best, though he had a few scratches on him the healers hadn’t addressed in time. Still, no one relevant to their mission died, so he managed to move on very quickly. He was still irritable in general, though.

Greta was sitting at a table nearby with the woman who had been looking after the newborn and she still had the child with her, whether out of attachment or in response to someone’s order was anyone’s guess. Greta didn’t usually go for porridge unless she made it herself, but she gave the cooks a chance and wasn’t disappointed. The good food was about all that she could hope would cheer her up after waking up to the official death toll for the estate staff … thirteen, and that was just the estate. The previous evening, Weyland and Steinn estimated that hundreds of people in the city had died, and mostly civilians.

Shadrak was at Mushirah’s bedside, fast asleep. He had tried to stay awake to watch over her, but only lasted a few hours in the end. He’d spent those hours trying to find ways to help her get over the loss of her arm, but thinking about how he would feel if he lost his, he came up short every time. Eventually, he became desperate, and began to wonder if a vasilus could help her. Convincing those types to make a new arm for her wouldn’t be easy, or at least he suspected it wouldn’t be, but it was the only thing he could come up with before finally falling asleep.

In Steinn’s room, he and Gabbie were just coming to. Steinn sat up and looked at a pocket watch he’d left on the nightstand. <”Earlier than I expected …”> It was only eight o’clock. He was seriously considering nodding off for a while longer, but felt it wasn’t a wise move. Plenty of others were already up and active by now and he had some things to discuss with Weyland, his employees, and associates, and it was going to be a long day no matter how he went about it.

Gabbie sat up next and rested her head on Steinn’s shoulder. “Hardly any loose feathers at all … your wings are still a little unkempt, though.”

“Inevitable, really,” Steinn shrugged with his other shoulder.

Gabbie giggled and said, “I’ll help you straighten them out, as soooon as I get untangled~” While they slept, Steinn’s tail had wrapped several times around her legs. It wasn’t uncomfortable for either of them, but having just woken up, it was a little awkward. If she were a fallen, they would have wrapped their tails while sleeping together, but since she wasn’t, this seemed a little inevitable too.

When Raquel woke up, she opened her eyes and the first thing she noticed was the glow of the fire emblem beneath the sheets. It was her body that was glowing and just that. The light show ended before she could uncover herself to investigate, however. She wasn’t sure if Hypnos was up to something or if she had wished for something a little too hard in her sleep. “That was the worst night ever,” she mumbled as she slipped out of the bed and began searching for her pants.

Oh I think you’ve had worse nights, Discovery, Hypnos countered confidently.

Raquel froze and began to wince. “Y-yeah … it’s just a … it’s just something people say sometimes.”

Better that people say what they mean and mean what they say … for the sake of clarity … but I digress. You’re definitely hungry and should get something to eat once you’re done in here.

“You’re talking about clarity?” Raquel asked, alluding to some hypocrisy there. Last night was still terrible though … and I still don’t know if Reign and Nadine are alright.

Edited April 29, 2014 by Phoenix

[Script]

A Man Called Gar

Gar walked down the halls of the Weyland mansion with no general idea of where to go. He was wandering for the sake of wandering, all to alleviate his boredom. And to do so, he juggled all his fancy new knives as he walked, never missing a catch, never breaking rhythm. It was too early for other people to be awake, and half of everyone would be too pointlessly depressed to provide any entertainment. So, that just left him walking around, juggling knives, until something interesting happened or he suddenly felt the need to go ask if Suzzy Q was alright.

He kept walking...

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika slept poorly, probably due to the long nap she had the previous night. After waking up, she sat in the dining hall, waiting for Raquel and the others to arrive. Last night, they had realized that Reign had gone missing after the battle and Veronika planned to organize a search team to find him- or his corpse.

Nadya managed to make her way back to her room where she was still sleeping peacefully, the death and carnage of the previous night not seeming to affect her rest in the least.

Connor had a short night's sleep after the encounter with Siv and Valdimarr and was up early the next morning to work on the new Dauntless, requesting that food be delivered to the work area. The attack had caused the project to be behind schedule and there wasn't much room for more delays.

Reinforcements eventually arrived to assist Captain Erica and company in clearing out the demons in front of the cathedral. Most of the refugees chose to stay in the cathedral until the next morning, where the assorted soldiers mainly occupied themselves with escorting the citizens back to their homes.

[ReformBlade]

Once her body hit the bed, it immediately relaxed itself and Mushirah found herself drifting into a very deep, if restless in her mind, sleep the likes of which she hadn't quite experienced before. While she felt comfortable under the blanket, she seemed to be having an unfortunately vivid nightmare in her mind of the incident replaying with minor variations each time as if maybe she could alter the outcome if she had done something differently in the fight itself. Unfortunately, nothing ever really changed for her, and she always ended up losing her arm, feeling admittedly less and less pain about it each time but nothing she'd be getting used to by any stretch. In the course of her nightmare, she eventually came to the conclusion that had she simply not been there, hid away from the fight and refused to aid, she might have come out unscathed, but that lead to another little spat with her having a ridiculous argument with her parents about how she should just come back home if that was the case, if she wasn't willing to deal with risks and danger, unwilling to deal with real life consequences.

After dealing with the above for what felt like an eternity, shaking and a bit upset, she jolted herself awake. Her heart was pumping, which was to be expected of the poor girl, the dream and the night before simply a lot for her to handle. The first thing she noticed was that her arm, what was left of it, wasn't in as much pain as before, and with the shock value worn off slightly, she could look at it without getting an immediately weird and sad feeling. Unfortunately, it took only a few moments for the tears to surface from looking at it, still devastated by the injury. She might be able to overcome it at some point, hell she might come out as a better human being for it in the end but at the moment? It felt like one of the most crippling blows she could have possibly taken to her person. She wasn't going to be able to draw until she relearned it all with her left side, she'd have to change her eating habits, how to change clothes, how to be herse- At this point Mushirah was starting to hyperventilate and she caught on quick, closing her eyes again and trying to relax on her back, clenching her left hand a bit excessively, something to keep her mind off of other things.

Once she had calmed down enough, enough being a very loose word choice, she realized her hand was holding something, what felt like another hand. Lookign over she saw Shadrak, asleep and what appeared to be draped over the side of the bed she was on. "Oh..." she said, weakly and awkwardly. "Shadrak...?" She tried to sit up, but the bed was way too powerful and inviting for her to fight it at the moment, instead just enjoying the fact that someone was by her side for what appeared to be a long time.

[Ether]

Eventually Annelise was lead to her own lodgings, as it were, but it felt off. With things having transpired the way they did, she found herself unable to rest... not here. It didn't take an overly long time for her to make her way back over towards Steinn's room, and place herself in the hallway by the doorway, acting as his sentry. After a time standing guard, the fallen warrior eventually fell asleep in the hallway by Steinn's door, curled into a ball with her wings draped about her for what warmth they would provide, scythe propped against the wall.

***

Despite how hectic last night had been, Angelica was up bright and early, and having finally changed to her normal clothing, and having recovered her normal ensemble of weaponry, the adept had opted to head out even while most were still asleep. She had an appointment of sorts to keep, after all. She had originally thought to first check the royal's abode, but he didn't seem the type... her intuition seemed to have been with her on this day, as after a bit of searching, she found her mark near the general store.

"Prince Athrun... I see you're still out... I suppose It's a good thing I checked out here before knocking on your front door." Angelica chided, though it didn't really surprise her, it still was somewhat disheartening to see the Prince was still out and about.

'Hmm... maybe I should have dressed up a bit more... oh well, too late now...'

***

It had been a long night even after everything was over, Arietta eventually being sent down to the basement to check on the non-combatants... apparently someone had shot Siv and caused Valdimarr to retreat without getting the kid, but no one seemed to know who. There was still the issue of her assignment, however... she doubted Raquel would be around much longer after the Dauntless was fixed, and she still had no concrete answer on what she was supposed to do. Eventually finding Ernesta, she seemed as good a choice as anyone to ask.

"Aye, Ernesta. Have y'seen boss around yet this mornin'?"

***

Having made her way to the dining hall, Faatina cringed to see the majority of the people within it downing alcohol... after last time, she was in no mood to do that again. Retrieving some food, she wandered a bit to see if she could find any familiar... and hopefully sober, people to sit down with.

Edited January 21, 2014 by Ether

[scorri]

Hoshi had woken up early and had grabbed tea and a small breakfast from the kitchen before retreating back to her workshop. Flipping through one of her other tomes, she nodded. This one was discussing a different type of combat technique that could be useful if she was to ever get involved in another fight last night. Sighing, she shut the tome and leaned back in her chair. I was good at fighting. Perhaps I was wrong to stay shut up here. Maybe there's something more useful I could be doing out in the world... But I like it here... Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Walking over, she opened it to find Lumi standing there nervously. "Yes?"

"Uhm, I was told that you were an alchemist? I was hoping that you could maybe work on my weapons a bit? They're tailored to be defensive items, and after last battle... Well I can't help but feel that they could be doing a better job?"

Hoshi nodded and held out a hand for the weapons. Glancing them over, she nodded. "I can work with these. I'll return them later today."

Lumi smiled and left the room. She stretched and headed towards the dining room, hoping to get some breakfast.

Meanwhile, Erion was outside, sitting up in a tree, flipping a dagger up and down. He sighed. He'd blown last night with Jam. Even if what he'd been trying to say hadn't been understood he'd needed to try but... He couldn't help but feel he could have done a better job. Maybe he'd try one last time today.

[Nanami Touko]

Sleeping amidst chaos was something Eva seemed to do fairly well. Despite Weyland's manor being in rough shape, with burn marks here and there, people running about, and slight destruction, Eva wasn't too bothered. In fact, what she wanted to do most of all was lay down on Sasha, but a bed would have to suffice for now. There was apparently a guest wing, and finding an empty room wasn't that tough. She flopped onto the bed, struggling to get her armor and clothes off whilst laying down, but was too lazy to sit up to take them off easily. Eventually she managed, straightened herself out, and drifted off.

Sometime in the night she'd ended up on the floor, sprawled out on top of the pillow the bed had and some part of the blanket still attached to her. Pulling herself up to sitting, she stretched and tried to reach for her armor and clothes still up on the bed. Just out of reach. "Nooooo, why are you over theeeere..." She groaned. This meant she had to actually get up. As much as it pained her to do so, she did, and got dressed fairly quickly. Many yawns were had in the process. "At least the sleep was good. I wonder who's up, right now?"

She found an apple in the dining hall, ignoring the drinking men, and found her way outside to get assaulted by the sun. It was pretty refreshing. Though it wasn't the most refreshing thing she found in her wandering. A man was flipping a dagger up in a tree. She took a bite out of her fruit and looked up at him with a blank stare. "So," she started with her mouth full of food, swallowing before continuing, "what're you doing up there?"

Edited January 21, 2014 by I have opinions

[scorri]

Erion glanced down at the auburn haired girl below him and shrugged. "I think the better question is what are you doing down there? Life's so much more interesting in a tree. You have a much better view for one thing. And it's nice and relaxing, plus you escape the notice of a lot of people. Nice place to sit back, be quiet and get some quality thinking done. Of course, this is all if you're alone. If you've got someone else up with you, things can get more interesting."

[Nanami Touko]

She quietly ate her apple as he spoke, tossing the core at about the time he was done. Interesting, huh? "Well, no time like the present." Eva latched onto the nearest hanging branch, and slowly but surely brought herself up to his level in the tree, sitting across from him. "What happens now, Treeman? Eva, by the way. I'm sure your name isn't actually Treeman. Shade's pretty nice up here..." Branch is surprisingly comfortable too. I guess that's why they make benches and chairs out of wood?

[scorri]

Raising an eyebrow, Erion slowly grinned at Eva. "Well Eva, seems like we're E name buddies. I'm Erion. As for what happens now... well, I suppose it depends on what you want. After all, it's just you and me alone up here. Can you think of anything you'd want to do?"