The Reckoning: Act 1 - A Blade in the Night [Nova]

[Rocton]

Nova's rant had taken the meister by surprise. He was under the impression the demon chakram was the kind of person with a cooler temper,someone typically cheery that could get along with Ashley well. However, Rocton wasn't the kind of person who separated people by gender, so he wasn't familiar with the difference between a woman scorned and a man pissed off.

As he was being yelled at, he looked up at Nova with a painfully tired face indifferent to her words to mask his uneasiness and breathed a huge sigh of relief as soon as she walked out.

Before he could apologize to Theron, the latter began to speak and explain his current situation, which wasn't something unfamiliar to ex-soldier.

They both let the room grow as quiet as it could possibly get before the firearms meister looked up at Theron with a serious expression.

"I imagine you don't know too much about what I did before Shibusen. I'm pretty sure the teachers don't like talking about it and some of those that know would rather lock me up than teach me.

For the next few words he looked away from the young Romanian to help ease what he was about to say.

I was a child soldier, forced of course...but that doesn't change anything. They gave us guns and told us to go shoot whoever shoot at us.or we'd die, get tortured, starve. It was hard at first for others. For me... at that point, I just wanted to die. I would run into enemy fire, reload while rockets were going off over my head, wondering, "Why I couldn't just get shot once.
The enemy thought I was a demon. They'd run at the sight of me because somehow I just lucked out. After the whole fight, I'd look at what I did. I killed a bunch of other kids, same as me, only afraid, confused. I kept thinking to myself, was killing them the only reason I exist? It nearly drove me mad. My parents died to give birth to a kid who can kill others so easily. Well...some things happened and I broke out of thinking... I ended up getting my vengeance on my "generals" and freeing my brothers and sisters....only to end up killing them too. That's something...for another day though...
Point is Theron, the world is a crazy place, it'll lead you in all sorts of crazy directions and call them sane...only reason I've held on for so long on...well I just found something to make me ...care... When I first got to Shibusen, I told Shinigami I wanted a chance to die doing something worthwhile. He told me that would have to change for me to stay... meeting Ashley, protecting him, It's the only reason I can stay in the game nowadays.
You can be a monster all you'd like, as long as it's for the right reason. That's how you look yourself in the mirror."

[nova]

Nova hung her head in her hands, trying to fend off the pounding thud, thud, thud in her brain. For now she was glad to have Theron out of her way, and to be out of his. Alek was right, she wasn't one for repeats. Everything had been repeating in her head enough as is was. The silence wasn't as tense here than it had been out there, she knew that much. She'd probably prefer to sleep here to, if it meant no one could hear her.

After a few minutes, the painful thudding in her head started to become dull and more distant, but her head was still spinning yarns of thoughts. Nova wasn't really paying much attention to the little things going on around her, but even if her position didn't change, the fellow Demon Weapon had her attention when he started explain whatever he knew to her, which seemed not over much more than she knew. Greece would be a day of learning for all of them, and regardless of whether Nova truly wanted to know or not, she was included.

Her stomach turned. "...Like Lizzie Borden did?" The weapon replied in a blank response. "Our first Mission together. Lizzie Borden of Fall River. She burnt up...from the inside and out. Or, that's what it looked like, anyway." She took a breath, remembering that night as vividly as any other. "Theron told me, that, if he was ever to become like her, I'd stop him. Now I wonder if I'm already too late..." Silence fell around them again. This night was growing old, and it's battles tiresome and the same. But the more she thought, the more she stewed, the more she stewed, the angrier she got. She half closed her eyes, her jaw came resting on the upside of her hands, she almost looked peaceful, but a million cogs turned inside her eyes.

EVERYTHING YOU SAY TO ME

[/b]

"I know tonight's been... heavy. You've been through hell and back, and we're just getting started. So if anyone deserves something out of this, it's you. We're going to figure this out, and that's a promise..."

'....A...Promise?'

"But in the meantime, you've been holding a lot in. I can tell, without one bit of that Soul Perception craziness, that you're wound up in knots that're only getting tighter."

'Not that hard to tell...I suppose'

"That wall is sound-proof; so's the door. Let it all out. All the anger. All the regret. Fear, hate, whatever you've got. Words, fists -- don't hold anything back, and I mean that. Just let it flow. Catharsis is good for the soul, after all."

"Don't hold anything back."

She flinched. That awful silence surrounded the cabin again. Then she tensed, her eyes narrowed.

TAKES ME ONE STEP CLOSER TO THE EGDE

"..."

"He...he lied to me... The only thing I asked from him... was trust, true trust. There isn't one thing about me, not one secret, that he doesn't know. But he still didn't trust me...

His partner. His friend.

The one who jumped out into harms way to protect him when he needed it... I... I never gave up for him, because that's what Weapons do. That's what friends do. Through everything we've seen and faced he...he still didn't trust me![/b] He stole from the Academy, and he lied about who he was and yet I still forgave him... Why did I do that? Am I really that stupid, really that fucking naive?! It was so obvious to everyone else that he...

But I still thought he was a good person! I was willing to cut everyone down that said otherwise! But they were right, they were all right!

And now look at me! I'm pathetic! I believed everything he promised me, whether it be making me a DeathScythe or being the best partner he could...He LIED![/b]

He treated me like SHIT![/b]

And now I find out, the only reason he even came to Shibusen was for no other reason than to survive?! Is that all I am?! A tool, a worthless piece of METAL?![/B] Did he not even stop to think about me?! He completely forgot what I was raised to believe?!

A weapon a Miester stick together, no matter what, and if he had just told me, I would have done just that! I would have been there! I would have trained twice as hard and twice as often, if it meant giving him a chance!

And above it all, I had feelings for him?! He didn't even KNOW?! He probably doesn't even CARE! Nobody CARES, they all just act like I'm completely fucking STUPID. Like I don't have any emotions, like I don't have a heart to break! I started to CARE For the person who LIED and STOLE and USED ME. Who made false promises, to give her HOPE.

He was the best Goddamn thing that school ever gave me!

NOW IT MEANS FUCK ALL...

AND I STILL CARE!"[/color]


Nova snapped, and shot up, her eyes burning with pure rage. With one, swift, move, everything she had was forced into her left arm, going to hit Alek with more force than she had ever used in her life.

CRAAACCCKKKK~

A vile crunch could be heard from the weapons fragile and artisan hand, knuckles cracked, wrist sprained, a bolt of white sharp pain clawed itself up her arm, tears in the back of her eyes from either pain or rage, even she didn't know, but she didn't flinch. She just glared right back into pitch black eyes, though hers started to soften. The events of the night had drained her, her body ready for a system shut down due to her exhaustion. She fell to her knees with a thud, completely drained, and before she could even comprehend the damage to her hand, before she went out completely, silently, two sentences trailed from her lips...

"Fight, Nova, until you’ve given all you have to give…



and lost, all you have to lose."

AND I'M ABOUT TO

BREAK.

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[theron]

Alek's eyes held hers through the whole ordeal, only showing the slightest hint of surprise and concern at the unsettling sound of bones shifting and cracking in ways they were never meant to. It was only when the young Demon Weapon dropped to her knees that his expression became one of serious concern; he knelt down next to her just in time to catch Nova -- and her fleeting self-resolution -- before she hit the floor.

With careful hands he lifted her, putting her down gently into a nearby flight chair and reclining it so that she could rest. His hands found hers and, with a practiced touch that echoed years spent patching up his former Meister in the field, lightly pressed against palm and fingers until he was sure the extent of the damage. Fitting a brace and wrapping the wounded hand took just minutes after digging out the first aid kid Caleb kept stashed in the back, counterpart to the one in the forward part of the plane. The wanderer looked at her unconscious face... and couldn't help but sigh.

"Poor kid." He then winced slightly as he stood up, a hand finding its way onto his chest right where she'd lashed out at him. "Huh. Guess Shibusen still does some mean phys-ed."

Pulling a blanket from an overhead compartment he laid it gently across Nova's unconscious form before pulling out his cell phone and heading for his own seat on the opposite side of the plane. He had a call to make, one that wouldn't wait all night, and odds are November wouldn't be woken up as long as he kept his voice down.

----------------------------------------------------

Theron stared in blatant plain-faced surprise as Rocton told his tale, hardly believing what he was hearing. He'd guessed Rocton had a rough past just by the way he carried himself... but the full story was in the same league as his own.

Why, he thought to himself, did it have to be now that he found someone that could truly understand him??

" . . . Something to make me... care..." He muttered, looking down. He chewed over the ex-soldier's words for several long, arduous moments, not even noticing at first that he was reflexively grasping for something around his neck -- something that wasn't there anymore. The realization that the chain-looped ring was gone brought a pained sigh from the Meister, hand dropping wearily onto his leg. "...Seems like I've already blown it where that's concerned."

"She deserves better than a monster, anyway." He added with a bitter grimace. "Don't think me ungrateful Rocton -- it's good to know there's someone who knows what I've been through... but... I just don't see the point in being anything anymore. Not a monster. Not a prince. Maybe if I hadn't fouled things up so bad I'd still have being a Meister... but now I don't have that, either."

"I... need some time. To think, maybe sleep. I lost a lot of blood tonight and I'm not really at my best, and..."

He paused briefly as he turned towards the window, blinking several times at a strange shadow dancing on the wing. His eyes went wide and, after blinking again, it suddenly disappeared.

"... and I think I'm starting to hallucinate."

----------------------------------------------------

"Somehow I knew I'd be getting a call from you."

"What, no greeting for an old friend? 'Hey, how's it been' or 'what're you up to these days'?"

"Seems like what you're up to these days is abducting students, Alek. All of the teaching staff have been getting messages from the police -- first a break-in at an apartment, then someone matching your description breaks from a police escort, and now there's word of a bomb scare at LAS. I don't know what you're up to, but I cannot, will not cover for you this time."

"Don't need ya to, Dave. Just wanted to let you know what I'm up to and why."

"Davian, Alek. And this had better be good."

"I'm sure you guys knew something was up. I mean, Shibusen's got an ear to the ground almost everywhere -- you had to have some questions when a kid named d'Metreon just appeared out of nowhere and asked to take classes."

"Enrollment isn't my department, Alek... but, to be honest, yes."

"Questions that were, conveniently, never asked."

"Again, not my department."

"What was the line they used, I wonder? To make sure nobody started nosing in it. I mean, this had to be approved at the top -- even without knowing what I know someone had to know that the d'Metreons are a shady bunch."

"Alek, if you're just going to --"

"His dad's dead. Throne's empty. One year and it's a bloody mardi gras in Romania. Theron's time is up, Davian, which is why I'm taking him to Greece along with his partner."

" . . . What do you know about his blood?"

"You mean besides the fact that it's added a few new patches of color to his apartment? . . . What should I know, Davian?"

"... Theron's approval in Shibusen was fast-tracked after his initial blood-work turned up some unusual properties. After that whole Black Blood business a few years back we've been doing increased screenings on student health; Theron's sample was the first recently to set off a red flag. We thought at first he might be witch-kin but the DNA analysis didn't support it. I did some of the testing but the decision, yes, was made at the highest level. Someone knows more about him than they're letting on and made it a priority that he be inducted into the EAT class as quickly as possible."

"Like I thought. What'd you find? What's in the kid's blood? Some kind of unusual strain or..."

"Alek, Theron's blood has traces of magic bound into it, on a cellular level. The magic in the sample started to deteriorate over time, which suggests that something about the host body is refreshing it -- his soul, I'm guessing. And since all the data we've gathered about Theron strongly suggests that he is not a warlock or somehow a magically gifted human... that leaves one possibility that I can think of."

" . . . A curse. Damnit."

TO BE CONTINUED
{Continued in Europe}

(OOC: For the record, that was just a hallucination -- Excalibur's NOT part of this storyline. Just something to break up the angst a bit. xP)