Timberland

Sebastian was caught off guard by Takeo’s sudden exertion of effort, he had the look of a semi confused cornered fool, Sebastian did. He let out a heavy sigh “the only thing i fought last night was a giant flaming dog thing, that killed itself in its attempt to incinerate us.”

Sebastian turned around to pace about his room, noticing the sword hilt that was mounted above one of his set of drawers in the room was gone, he just nodded a little, glad he didn’t have that thing trying to kill him, he turned back to Takeo.

“as for why i knew where you old home was, I and one of the others i was with, used the orb thing in your basement to get back, and i didn’t even know someone had died last night.” he shook his head.

“and well i now have a dominion, Vector manipulation” he looked through to the ensuite, the gash in the tiled wall, still there from when he launched the longsword. “That will need fixing” he rubbed his face and turned to his desk sitting down on the desk chair and turning to face his friend.

“anything else you want to ask?” he leaned back against the backrest of his chair, leaning onto the arm rest and resting his cheek on his knuckles. “are you signed on at the college then or can i expect I’ll need to move my Consoles.” He motions to the Xbox one and PS4 sat together on the tv stand under the television across from the bed. “into the living space?”

The alarm blaring at her made the exhausted girl fall right out of her bed. "Oof!" she grunted, rubbing her head. The events of the previous day had caught up with her. Better yet, today was the first day of that miserable thing the people of Gaia called school. She had been here for almost three years, but it dragged the excitement right out of her soul. She already knew most of the things being taught as a result of her teaching prior to entering school. Basically, she was bored out of her god damned mind! There were sometimes things that she found interesting, like literature, but everything else was just down right awful. Sighing, she picked herself up off the floor and glanced in the mirror. Her hair was everywhere. Sticking up, sticking to her, knots everywhere. "Yuck." Sakuya mumbled, brushing her hair out. It took a good ten minutes to get her hair ready for the shower. That's what she gets for skipping out on hair wash day. The girl undressed and made the shower extremely warm, steam coating every surface it could of her bathroom. She hummed a tune her mother used to sing as she went about her business. Soon enough, she was out of the shower, dried off, dressed, and had dried her hair. She decided to style her hair a bit differently than normal. It was just enough for someone to notice...hopefully. Her outfit was pretty casual. "Okay, ready!" She said to herself in the mirror.

She slipped on some black ballet flats and her backpack while chewing on some granola she had laying around the house. She slipped out the door and outside, sort of caught off guard by Yohan. "Oh, hey!" she said cheerfully. "I hope you haven't been waiting long! You could have knocked on the door...but you don't know my apartment number." She said slowly, realizing she never gave Yohan a way to contact her outside of being in person. She stuffed her phone in her bag and stood next to him. "Did you sleep well? Have any dreams? Tell me on the way to school!" Sakuya said as she pulled the taller boy up off the stairs and practically ran down the rest of them. Of course, people stared at her perplexed, but Sakuya was finally in a good mood for once. Even while going to school! It seemed to be a miracle for her. She threw the bag of granola at Yohan. "Did you eat? Have some of this! I promise it's good."

Yohan looked up to see Sakuya exiting out of her house, he couldn't help but smile upon seeing her again. Though he was caught off guard when he saw her having a different style of clothes and hair today. He couldn't control himself as a slight blush came to his cheeks and his grin got a little bigger. "Haven't been waiting long, really." He spoke up in response to her. "I didn't want to risk waking you up by accident anyway. Besides, my mom can look after the house anyway for today." Yohan couldn't help but watch her as she stood next to him and asked him more questions. He blinked when she asked him questions about dreams, she wanted to talk to him that badly? He couldn't really deny that feeling, he really wanted to see her again after yesterday. "Well I mean --"

Before he could answer her questions, she pulled him up and ran down the stairs with him! It scared him a little, jolted his senses and forced him to have to hold onto her in order not to fall down. By the time they had stopped, he realized how he was holding her at the moment and slowly let go, looking nervous now. "Sorry..." He couldn't help but feel nervous, holding her in his arms like that hadn't really been what he wanted to do but it just happened. Was it just instinct, or had his body moved the way it did towards her because he felt so close to her all of a sudden? That's when she threw the bag of granola at him and he barely managed to catch it, chuckling nervously as he looked it over and had some.

"Oh, man. This is actually pretty good." He said, unable to help himself as he practically ate it really fast until there was nothing left inside of the bag. A small burp came out of his mouth as he looked really nervous now. "E-excuse me." He said, unable to hold back a nervous chuckle again. "I, uh, I didn't really know what to eat before I left. So I just took out an apple and ate it. Must of been more hungry than I thought I was." He said as he started to walk with her, pulling out his phone really quick to check before looking over at her. "I forgot to mention before, but you can have my phone number to add. I forgot to give it to you and Saiph yesterday, so, here you go." He said while writing it down on a paper and pencil he took out while talking. Once he was done, he handed it over to her without any signs of hesitation. "There. Don't worry about giving me yours for now if you want. I just wanted to make sure you had a way of contacting me again." He gave a small little shrug as he began to walk to school alongside her.

As they began to walk to school together, people began to notice them and that's when the gossip began. Yohan Belmont didn't have the best reputation, he didn't get into any fights but he was also known for being kind of a loner. When girls tried to get his attention, he shot them down faster than the eye could blink. Yet here was Sakuya Lecarde, a pretty girl with an average reputation about her, but she was known for being kind to others. Yet this was most strange of her, to be walking side by side with her neighbor all of a sudden and the two seemed to have eyes on each other. The talk of the school today would become obvious among the students: Had Yohan and Sakuya suddenly become a thing and started hanging out? The students who had never gotten along with either of them would start throwing out a name even before reaching the school, a little pet name as some would see it: Yokuya.

The rumors hadn't started here though. People had caught them supposedly kissing before while Sakuya was seemingly ditching work. People asked questions, and when they got the answer, they started to think something was up. But now the evidence seemed to be right in front of them! It wasn't going to be an easy day for either of them, to say the least. Yohan noticed the people around them acting weird, but he shrugged it off and didn't bother to put too much time or attention into it. "It'll take us a bit to reach the high school by walking, so I'll answer your question about the dreams." Yohan decided it was finally time to tell someone about the bizarre dreams he had been having since before this whole mess started.

"It started on Saturday. I had the weirdest dream, I couldn't really focus on it at the time but now I feel like I have a better idea of what it was. It felt like I was in some kind of castle, this darkness threatened to engulf me and yet I woke up and was fine. Sunday continued that dream. I woke up outside the castle and was suddenly talking like I was in some kind of play based on older times. Monday came and changed everything. Suddenly I was talking to some weird people about drinking something. I can't fully remember the details, but I can't seem to recall any other dreams besides those ones." Yohan turned to look over at her and suddenly realized how absurd everything he was saying sounded.

"Oh, right, sorry. Didn't mean to sound stupid or weird, I just wanted to be honest. It feels like I have these dreams, and yet, I can't fully remember them. It's like there are others having the same dreams I am now, and when that happens, I can't fully recall all the details because of this split focus." Yohan rubbed his head and tried giving her a smile to put her worries to rest. "I'm sure it's nothing. Today's just going to be an average day at school, right?" That's when Yohan stopped and looked over to see something. Only the two of them could really see it at the moment, a woman was being mugged by two guys! One of them was holding a gun at her, the other was taking her purse and forcing her to put her things inside. It was horrible, to say the least.

"Alright lady, you ain't going to speak about any of this to the cops." The thug holding her purse spoke up. "If you say a word, we'll find ya and have ya sleeping with da fishes! We didn't do nothing besides stealing yer things, so be glad you is getting off lucky. We ain't got time to waste, darling. Be thankful we in a good mood." The thug looked over towards his partner. "Don't bother wasting one giving a warning shot today. You heard about the deaths, right? We could be next for all we know!" The thug turned to leave, when an arm came slamming into his face and knocked him off his feet, the purse getting sent flying back out of his hands as he slammed down into the ground with some force.

"Oi, no one gets to be a hero today!" The thug with the gun pointed straight for Yohan's head, only to find his gun suddenly jammed. His eyes going cross-eyed for a moment as he looked over at his gun, only to get more of the same. "What is dis?! I'm jammed!" The thug found himself swept off his feet and a leg slamming full force into his chest before he hit the ground. Yohan took a few steps back, standing between them and the lady as both got up and looked over at him. However, both of them heard an unusual ringing in their ears that caused them to feel sick suddenly. "Dis ain't da time! Let's go!" The thugs both left in a panic, Yohan picking up the purse and giving it to the lady before she ran off in a hurry to find the police to report them to the thugs. Yohan walked back over to Sakuya calmly, though she could tell he was strained a bit now.

"Echo Transfer." Yohan let out while giving her a smile. "Yeah. For some reason, something's telling me that's the name of this power I have. So that's what I'm going to call it from now on. I hope it doesn't sound silly or anything like that, but well, can't beat what the heart is telling you, right?" He chuckled nervously as he shook his head while feeling a bit nauseous again. "Ah geez, this is really going to get hard to get used to now. Every time I use it, I strain myself. The more I use it, the more strain that comes. Sorry if I'm a hindrance right now, but I'm not going to just stand by and completely use my powers while people are in trouble."

Meanwhile, the two thugs managed to stop and get some fast breathing off once they were far away from where Yohan was. "Thought we were in de clear there!" One of the thug's shouted out to the other. "Gawd dayum it! Now we in trouble! We were careless! We got to go into hiding for a little while before --" The thug suddenly stopped as he felt a sudden pain rush through his heart. The thug gripped his chest as the other thug began to panic, backing up away as the first thug got down to his knees. "Heart... Attack.... Me...? How?" The first thug fell face first to the ground, dead. The other thug tried to run away in panic, but felt the same pain his partner did. As much as he struggled to remain standing, he quickly fell to his knees and then, he too collapsed. A card slips out of one of the thug's shirt pockets, a calling card of sorts that had been going around to criminals as of late. The card held only a sinister looking smirk on it.

Yohan felt Sakuya touch him lightly and began to feel warm because of her powers. His cheeks ended up blushing as he felt this way, his heart racing due to this. He couldn't help but hold one of his own hands over hers, a big dumb smile coming across his face as tears began to swell up in his eyes. She made him happy, that was all there was to it. She had always been there for him, even if he didn't see it. Now that he wasn't blinded by his own emotions, he could truly see that she cared for him as a person. Probably one of the few who did in this backwater town anymore.

"Thank you." The words came out quietly, only loud enough for her to hear. He quickly wiped his eyes as he continued to walk towards the school with her. Today was a good day, he didn't care what anyone thought of them. They were happy, so why should they care? That's when he heard the bell and his eyes widened a little. What was going on, this was a little too early to be doing this. Feeling her grabbing his hand, he was pulled along with her as they made great haste to reach homeroom today. When they made it inside the school, they found it to be pretty cluttered with high school students of all ages.

When entering into the high school, Yohan noted how much larger it was than the middle school. There were people he knew, people he didn't know and so much more. The lockers looked slightly different from the middle school's, but that didn't bother him too much. Pulling out his notebook full of notes he had jotted down beforehand, he quickly put it away and took Sakuya's hand to rush her over to her locker before heading to his to put away the things they needed to and such. Once they were both ready, they began to head off for homeroom and that's when Yohan noticed it. Sakuya couldn't notice it in time, for a foot was quickly passing by her and reaching out to trip her. Yohan's heart pounded hard for a second. With the way they were moving, she was going to get hurt if she fell down now!

As soon as Sakuya began to fall, Yohan grabbed a hold of her and tried to steer her away from the floor. But he hadn't taken into consideration everything surrounding the situation, her body was pulled into his side and he felt himself being thrown right into a wall at full force, quickly followed by her hitting him and using him to soften the impact. His arms held onto her body in response as he shuddered a little. Looking over at her, he quickly pulled her away and took hold of her hand once more. "Come on." Yohan pulled her along for homeroom, he had no time to receive thanks in the moment. But what he failed to consider was how the other students had seen and concluded based on what they just saw.

What the other students saw was both true and false. While Yohan and Sakuya didn't have any hidden agenda behind what had just happened, their bodies had moved in the heat of the moment and the students had caught sight of this. Of course, to Yohan and Sakuya, it wouldn't seem odd because they both were worried about being late. "Oh my gosh, did you see what Sakuya did there?" One girl whispered to another. "Sakuya totally shoved her butt into him there. Wow, and I thought the kissing was sudden. Now they're putting the moves on in public?" The girls both talked with a snarky tone behind the conversation.

"Hey, did you see what Yohan Belmont did just now to Sakuya?" One boy talked to another. "He totally went for a grab at her! He pulled her towards the wall so no one would notice, but I totally saw one of his hands flying towards her chest!" The boy couldn't help but laugh. "I thought that dude was weird before, now that he's got a girl, he's totally trying to upstage everyone and show us all up. Like, how desperate can you get?" The two boys didn't have much time to continue the chat, for the principal came walking by them with someone following closely behind him.

"What are you kids doing? More of this gossip is it? Get to class! You'll be late if you don't hurry up!" The principal had a rushed ring behind his voice, but the students feared what he would do to them and ran off. The principal's head kept turning from side to side as he watched students hurry along past him. "Stop this foolish gossip of yours. Get to class before you get into trouble! The school year's just started, don't ruin good opportunities by clowning around! This isn't your parent's house, or your relative's place, this is school! Get going, hurry!" The principal huffed a little as he pulled out his cloth and rubbed it along his forehead. "Kids these days don't know what it means to work hard!"

Once the two had finally arrived at his office, the Principal moved to sit down at his seat. "My apologies, sir. That took longer than expected. Please, have a seat." The man in question sat down before the Principal's desk. "I thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to guard the school. It may not seem like much, but we've had terrible crimes over the summer and with that Ricky boy dying out of the blue, I fear someone may try to target the students here." The Principal put on a smile as he leaned back in his seat. "We can discuss more in detail about your position after the school day ends. I trust you already were given the basics beforehand, so I hope you can keep a close eye out for anyone who may try to attack the school. Be they student or not."

"Of course, sir." The man bowed his head to the Principal before raising it back up. Little did he know he was sitting before The Emperor's own head guard himself! "I shall not let any harm befall upon the school or it's students. I am the best at what I do, even if it is only temporary. A week's time will be more than enough to see whether things will happen or not. But if you wanted my personal opinion, I believe nothing wrong will happen. You have my word. There is a girl I have sent a call for to come to town. She will be taking my place to watching over not just the school, but the town in general. I trust her to do a better job than I ever could. You have my word on that."

Back with Yohan and Sakuya, the two just barely managed to make it to homeroom as the teacher looked over at them while adjusting his glasses. "Welcome. I assume by the hair colors that you two must be Yohan Belmont and Sakuya Lecarde. You two are seated next to each over there." The homeroom teacher gestured over towards the two empty seats. Yohan walked over with Sakuya as the teacher continued. "Before we start, I would like to make a little announcement. It's about the PE teacher. Please, do not pick on him or start any fights with him. He is who he is, and if any of you wish to start trouble with him, you will be the ones who will get in trouble. We've had 'trouble' with this in the past, both on his own behalf and the students. But he has already been notified of this, now I am telling all of you here. And I will continue to remind you all of this. School's only just started, don't forget that."

The start of school!

Frederick smiled as he saw the many high schoolers entering school. Yeah! His skills as a janitor would be put to the test! With so many dirty floors to sweep and mop, he would be the one to keep the whole school clean! As he was walking through the halls he already heard the gossip going on. It's been one day and already he heard talk of...hold on...Yohan and Sakuya!? They were already making out and touching eachother in public!?

"Kids these days man...They are just wild no matter where they are." Frederick spoke to himself as he shook his head. "Oh such youthful indulgence in sin...Lust...Two young flowers in bloom to be joined together in time...I wish the same could be said for you my dear lamb..." Brisé suddenly appeared by his side shaking her head. "Here many young souls are gathered together to socialize, to mingle...to fall in love with eachother...to grow up together hand in hand...You however seemed to have squandered an oppurtunity like this...a great shame, but you are still young enough..." She chuckled a bit.

"Jeeze...I told you I'll think about it. What? Do you want me to draw myself a woman to romance or something?" Frederick asked looked over at Brisé, of course with her face all masked and bandaged up, all he could see was that one eye. "Dear lamb...Even you can tell even such lengths sound desperate even for you...but I am not against it...I even encourage it...I am interested to know if romancing a construct is possible. Perhaps you may even have---" "Okay! I get it! No need to go saying that alright!" Frederick interrupted drawing plenty of stares from the many teens around him.

"I understand, you should get to work for now. I heard the gym benches need to be cleaned up. I expect you to finnaly awaken to your hidden sins...At least some of them now, that child you looked at before---" "Will you quit it with that! Jeezums! She had a tail! And horns! I'm...Of forget it I'm dropping this conversation!" Frederick waved her off as he marched to the gym equipment in hand.

Sebastian nodded, listening to his friend about the college and the course he was on. “please don’t build any death machines, unless they’re for that battlebots show; then have fun” his expression had shifted, he had a bit of a smile, but he was still tense, when ‘Keo offered him the controller, he took it and reached back onto his desk for the remote and turned on the TV and switched it to the PS4.


“So what’s the game you want to give a go?” though to be honest with how much Sebastian used to sink into his consoles, what games didn’t he have, but Takeo was right, he needed to stop being himself for a few hours and relax for a change.

A few hours was on the lighter side of how long they were playing video games they pretty much sank most of the rest of the day into six or so games, between just stomping about and causing mayhem in the open world games, and anything of a linear story, was just a skip all the cutscenes and keep the gameplay going.
The tense feeling gripping Sebastian had long gone but in the back of his mind, he didn’t need any reason no matter how small, to use his new Dominion, Magic, powers, whatever the damn thing was in public especially in college.

“So new college students aren’t allowed cars? On the grounds that is?” he glanced at Keo as they steam rolled through one co-op story mode of a game. “Or is that more hollywood bullcrap for the movies? ”

Sebastian, stayed up a little later after Takeo took to sleeping on the couch for the night, more out inability to sleep due to stress, he wandered about his room just about twelve times each time sitting down then laying down, trying to sleep only to go back and pace again, it wasn’t till about one in the morning that Sebastian finally fell asleep.

Five hours later, still exhausted Sebastian woke up and went into his ensuite to shower, and go through his daily routines,it wasn’t until he finally got to look in the mirror that he saw just how much Wraith’s little deal had affected him, his entire left arm up to his shoulder and half his left side of his chest and a little down the side of his torso was coated in scales now, the purple hue from them tinting his skin and amongst the first words out his mouth were “BLOODY FUCKING NORA!...how the fuck am i supposed to hide this?” Sebastian had to slap himself and did so with his left dominant hand. “Okay...freaky scaley left hand and arm...”

Shaking his head and shutting up, he had Takeo in the house and only in the lounge, though he could sleep through world war three, his sister however, she couldn’t and he probably woke her, when he cursed like a sailer.

Though he showered quickly threw on his clothing and kept his shirt sleeves down instead of rolling them up in his usual style,though he’d try to keep his left hand hidden throughout the morning, about seven Rebecca would wake up, and it was easy for Seb to avoid her. Since he had been up an hour already, eaten breakfast and made his lunch for the day he was already set to head out.

In the Timberland Highschool gym, Kraus stood in the middle of the ball court, performing one-armed pushups, his other arm behind his back. This was not unusual for him, nor too unusual in general for a gym teacher to exercise, what was unusual was, if others could see it, Puck sitting on his back Indian style, rubbing his chin and pondering. Kraus paid it no mind as he switches arms upon reaching a count of 20.

"It is a good start, a few criminals here and there, but we are going to have to up the game to keep it interesting," Puck comments propping his arms behind the back of his neck, kicking his feet up. Kraus doesn't seem to pay him much mind as he continues to exercise. "Imagine it, up on the grand stage, hah, the great Iron Kaiser against a real menace! Wouldn't that be thrilling!?"

"Hnf... say, those two could see you, I thought only I could," Kraus says finally, regarding the encounter with Takeo and Sebastian. Puck simply slaps a hand over his cheek and leans over beside Kraus's face, a wide grin cracks across his face.

"What I said was that normal people can't see me, or did I forget that specification?" he responds, his tone half playful, half mocking. Kraus's eyes dart to Puck for a brief moment, stopping briefly, his facial expression tensing momentarily, before casting his eyes forward and continuing his exercise. "In fact, pretty well everyone back there..."

"Yeah, I get it, everyone had some kind of magical power back there, even that dog," he says with a sigh. Puck's expression blanks for a moment, he had almost forgotten that Kraus actually has brains in that thick skull of his. "The sudden reappearance of Yohan's older brother and mother, and then... Sebastian Winters, there is something up with that guy. And then there was that strange girl there that you said normal people can't see either. She like you?"

"Oh her? Different, she was some kind of part human hybrid, she seemed harmless enough, though," Puck answers, folding his arms as he levitates up off Kraus's back and flips upside down. He starts to walk in the air like this, as if there were ground under his feet, pacing around, each step leaving a shimmering ripple ring in the air, rubbing his chin. He stops and grins, his eyes aglow as he snaps a look back down at Kraus. "That man, on the other hand, well, lets just say his heart has shadows, and who knows what those will grow into."

"Ominous, but should something come of it," Kraus begins, stopping and sitting up, wiping his brow, a stern look on his face. "Someone will have to step in."

"Oh I do hope so!" Puck exclaims, holding out his arms. "We need more conflict!" Suddenly there are footsteps heard upon the gym floor, and upon hearing them, the bizarre Puck fades out. "What is she doing here?"

The steps came from Saiph who had entered the school gym. She was now dressed in a black rabbit themed hoodie, the sleeves too long for her arms, and a skirt that went down to her knees. Her eyes were obscured by some goggles, with the same red tint as her bodysuit. She wore a pair of purple laced black boots. Kraus watches just from the corner of his eye as she dances about before flopping down on the bleachers and just stares down at him. Kraus attempts to avoid direct eye contact, and just keep wiping his face with a towel.

"Soooo... you can see me, can't ya?" She says titlting her head to the side and rubbing her cheek with her right sleeve. Kraus stands up and begins to walk away, not intent to answer that. She stretches and lays back. "I mean, you are maybe it just seems like you're tryin' too hard to ignore me? I dunno, could just be how you act normally, I mean, hah, that'd be weird, a gym teacher suddenly being able to see what is supposed to be invisible to normal people. Yeaaaah..." She then pops onto her feet and begins fallowing Kraus, her hands behind her back, and waving a hand to the side of his face, then hopping around him in circles. Amazingly Kraus was unfazed, even though he actually could see her, his self control admirable, but inside his mind was stressing to remain composure, especially when she started making silly faces in front of him. "Wow, you are either really good, or just some regular guy after all. Eh, annyyywhoooo~ even though you probably can't hear it... um, thanks for the games, they were really cool." With that she skips back to the bleachers and sits down, looking like a perfect angel.

"Bravo! And they considered flunking you from drama class! Hah!" Puck says to Kraus as he walks into the locker room, who was just now staring at a locker, his right eye twitching. "So much for hitting the showers, what, with an invisible woman skulking about," Puck laughs, but Kraus simply plants his head against the locker, letting out a small whimper.

"Right!" Yohan exclaimed with excitement. He was happy with how things had gone just now, he got to sit next to Sakuya, the morning so far had been going well, nothing seemed to be going wrong today. School days had always been a drag before, but now Yohan had Sakuya there to make it all better for him. Well, for a brief time he did anyway. Now he was on his own, and that brought a gripping fear into his heart. Could he survive without his friends or family here to support him? He decided to walk off on his own, only to find a familiar face staring at him from outside. His eyes widened as he quickly headed outside to stare face to face with the familiar person before him!

"Hello, Yohan." Ricky stated with a cool attitude, the calm tone coming from his voice made it sound like nothing had happened to him. He held a cigarette in his hand as he brought it up to his mouth before pulling it away and releasing a puff of smoke. Ricky looked about as normal as his pictures lead him to believe, no demon influences, none of the Djinn's strings, he seemed pretty normal compared to what Yohan had saw! As Yohan stood in shock at seeing Ricky alive and well before him, Ricky looked up at him with a cocky smile on his face. "What's wrong? You look shocked right now, as if something was wrong." Static flashed briefly across Yohan's vision, changing his view of Ricky to seeing his corpse before returning to the normal Ricky.

"How are you... Here?" Yohan had trouble getting his words across fully. The static and seeing Ricky's dead body there had shaken him up. He had tried so hard to put away the image of Ricky's body, especially after he had to put it outside himself, but one reminder sent in a rush of the same emotions as before. He was close to having a panic attack over just the sight of it, yet here Ricky continued to sit, unphased by Yohan's disturbed form before him. Yohan could see it in his eyes, see it on his face. That smug, cocky attitude that had been given off of his character just from what he had seen before. Ricky had always assumed himself the top dog over everyone, that no one was superior to him. Could this have transferred with Ricky even after death, if this was Ricky to begin with?

"You called me here." Ricky stated, rising up to his feet slowly. Despite the intimidation Ricky's slow movements caused within Yohan, Ricky simply walked past him and looked up at the beautiful morning sky. "Nice day today. No rain, no clouds, just a perfect blue sky with the sun shining down on you. Of course, you only see green now, don't you?" Ricky's tone made it sound like he was playing around something with Yohan. Yohan had a growing fear of what that was, but didn't want to confirm it for Ricky. "I can tell you are tense. You can't hide that from me." Ricky turned to look over his shoulder at Yohan, giving a dangerous smirk. "You haven't been asking the right questions, Yohan. You haven't taken the time to properly address the things that should of been given attention to. Now, I'm going to show you why that is a problem." As Yohan felt frozen to the spot he currently stood on, Ricky pulls out of his chest a strange looking orb. Yohan felt a cold sweat beginning to rush through his body as he sees Ricky slowly reaching his right hand down on the top of the orb.

"Sienna and Frederick. That's the names of the two people, eh?" Ricky looked over at Yohan with a cold smirk. "Let's make this fun." Ricky's hand sinks down into the orb, the orb's color changing to yellow as Ricky's eyes glow red for a moment before he quickly pulls his hand out and the orb slowly begins to fade away. "I've just sent a piece of myself to halt both of their progress. With any luck, one of them will give in and turn into a demon pretty soon." Ricky couldn't help but chuckle as he stretches his arms up. "You seem confused, allow me to sum it up without actually explaining anything useful to you. I have total control over this connection power you have with them. If they should happen to die or turn into a demon, I consider that a win. They aren't going to be able to run away now, no matter how far they run, I'll still be able to screw with them." Ricky suddenly appears in front of Yohan and grabs him by the throat, pulling him down a little to glare him down right in his eyes.

"I want to make one thing clear between the two of us. As long as I'm here, I will be calling the shots from now on." Ricky's eyes glow red again briefly as he smirks. "If I tell you to bark, you bark. If I tell you to go steal someone's money, you steal the money. If I tell you to shoot someone in the head, well." Ricky let go of Yohan, only to pull out a pistol and push it up to Yohan's head, not even looking at Yohan as Ricky's mouth morphed into an unsettling, twisted version of a human's smirk. "You shoot them in the god damn head!" Ricky pulls the trigger, shooting Yohan right through his skull and causing him to collapse to the ground. Ricky faded away, his job done as birds flew past the area Yohan had been standing in. Yohan didn't know whether he was alive or dead for a moment, but after a second, he sits up and sucks in a large amount of air before coughing and putting a hand up to his throat. He checked his forehead as soon as he could, nothing out of the ordinary. It had been an illusion perhaps? No, something felt wrong here. Ricky was dead, yet Ricky had just appeared before him seeming to be inside his head now. The most likely answer was that Yohan had somehow manifested a new inner demon in response to Ricky's dead. If that was the case, Yohan felt like the gates of hell had just opened up before him and he had been the unlucky guest to be invited inside.

Ricky did not reappear before Yohan, there was nothing wrong with Yohan as of the moment. That was a scary thought, to know Ricky not only held some control over him, but over the others as well. He had been trying to avoid digging further into all of this since Ricky had died, he thought that was it. That it would be over with the death of one person and that he could live a normal life knowing magic just existed. Reality had come in and slapped him, telling him that it had only just begun. He felt like he was missing a piece of the puzzle here, why did it feel like Ricky had won despite him dying? Why was there now an inner demon of Ricky messing with him, why was there now doubts about himself? He felt like hitting something just out of the anger and confusion that flooded through his body right now. Yohan had to calm his breathing down before he could think again, classes would be starting up again soon. He had only a few minutes to himself at best, he had lost track of time when Ricky had appeared before him. As he looked around, he noticed a group of people near the school. That's when Yohan spotted one of them and immediately knew who it was. Yohan's old bully: Chase.

It would be an understatement to say that Chase had been the main reason Yohan had fallen into depression in the first place. For ten years, Chase had done nothing but try to ruin Yohan's life and it almost had worked. When Chase had learned Yohan's parents had died, Chase had spread a rumor that Yohan was the reason they had died and even convinced other kids to believe that Yohan was out for blood. Chase had always gone out of his way to beat up Yohan whenever he saw him before, the beatings only growing more violent as they got older. Yohan had refused to ever fight back, only getting back up despite whatever Chase had thrown at him. The verbal abuse Chase had played with him was all intentionally to screw with him, always spreading unhealthy rumors about Yohan to make him look all the more like a freak. This summer, Chase had been quiet, Yohan had not heard a single thing about him since middle school had ended for the both of them. Yet now Yohan saw him sitting calmly, smoking a cigarette with his group of friends, all of them appearing to be skipping school while sitting right outside of it.

Chase had not noticed Yohan, he didn't seem to care about Yohan right now. Yohan observed them as Chase motioned for one of his friends to get out the phone, motioning for him to call someone. Chase continued to smoke, he had been smoking for about five years now. He was a heavy smoker, going through about five to seven cigarettes in just half a day. He had earned quite the reputation throughout Timberland over the years, leading people to term the phrase that "If you smoke cigarettes or start doing drugs, you'll end up becoming Chased down by them for the rest of your life." A lame pun, to be sure, but an effective one given Chase looked about as intimidating as people advertised smoking and drugs to be. Chase had gotten into plenty of trouble and fights, probably the most terrifying wound he got and always showed off was the scar that ran down the left side of his face. The way Chase had "fixed" up his scar, he made it look like his skin had split open and had remained that way ever since. Even his left eye looked inhumane, always half closed to either give an impression that Chase just didn't care, or that Chase was always really angry.

Yohan felt scared watching Chase and his friends, he didn't really have time to waste on them. Yet something struck Yohan off about Chase today, something that he felt all too well when he had first met Sakuya. Or when he first met Ricky just before they started to fight. Could it be that Chase had gotten The Black somehow?! Yohan wanted to believe it wasn't true, yet he could feel it clear as daylight coming from all of Chase's group. Yohan knew others would be feeling this too, had others in Timberland always gotten a hold of The Black somehow? It didn't matter, Yohan knew if he took the first action it would be the death of him. Chase had made a hobby of practicing with guns, they say he started taking up firearms to start outright shooting people he just didn't like. If Chase had killed anyone, he had never let it reach the public ears. Maybe it was better to just leave them alone, but just when he thought of leaving, that's when one of Chaser's friends spotted him. He had been careless, and now it was going to cost him! Chaser looked over towards Yohan and motioned for him to come over. Aw, crap!

Upon walking over to Chase and his friends, Yohan could faintly smell something disgusting coming from them all. It could of been anything, so Yohan felt it was better not to assume and let his assumptions remain just that. As Chase's eyes glared over towards Yohan, immediately it was like the years had caught up with the both of them. Chase closed his eyes for a moment as he pulled his cigarette over to his mouth, pulling it away to blow out a puff of smoke before slamming it down onto the table before him and wiping the cigarette out roughly. Chase rose up to a frightening height of six feet, eight inches. He towered over Yohan, which sent a shiver down Yohan's back as he could now see in full detail the scary man known as Chase before him. Chase's skin came off as ash pale, with his greasy hair scattered about on his head. His jeans had some tearings in them, while his jacket looked torn and tired out. What could be seen of his t-shirt was stained, with what Yohan didn't want to know though. Chase remained unmoving on the spot, making Yohan think he had randomly passed out before Chase suddenly coughed into his arm, making Yohan jump at the surprise before Chase turned back to him.

"So it's the Yo-bang. That is yer name, r'ght?" Chase mumbled out, causing Yohan to give him a confused look of sorts.

"It's, uh, Yohan."

"I knew that. I was just messing with you, Yo-ham." Chase cleared his throat a few times before continuing. "So, uh, you's was lis'ening to us?" Chase asked with a shady look in his gaze. Yohan hesitated before answering.

"Yeah, I heard you guys." Yohan's response caused Chase to growl out lowly. His friends started to back up, but it was too late as Chase reached over and grabbed one his friends by the collar and slammed them face first into the desk right on the cigarette. Tossing him aside, the others only watched in horror as Chase took a moment to look around before looking back at Yohan.

"You is gon'a do me a fav, kay?" Chase started explaining to Yohan. "You 'eard no'hing. You even so much as whi'per one urd 'ere todah, you gon'a git a whooping." It was hard for Yohan to fully make out what Chase was saying, something seemed incredibly off about Chase than what Yohan could remember. Chase had gone through such dramatic changes during this one summer alone, but he figured it was years that built up to the current state he was in now. "I don like it when peeple rat'le on meh. They git them'elves in trible. You 'alk away now, kay?" Chase started to move to sit back down, but was stopped as he heard Yohan shout at him.

"No!" The tension could be felt as his friends only continued to back up further away from Chase. Chase's unmoving form again made Yohan think he had randomly passed out, until Chase looked over at him and wheezed out the most awkward pauses in-between laughs he had ever heard. Yohan suddenly felt one of Chase's hands gripping his collar and his body being lifted up, the sky becoming present to his view before his back was slammed right into the table, causing it to shatter underneath him as Yohan felt his eyes roll into the back of his head from the sudden pain that jolted through him right now. Chase's bad breath had become apparent for a moment as Chase let go of him and reached into his jacket's pockets, pulling brass knuckles over both his hands before taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly with a little wheeze coming out.

"Dis ain't no kiddie gluve I wear. You gon'a git it." Chase swung down at Yohan without another second to waste, Yohan barely just moving himself out of the way as he felt the ground shake a little just from Chase's fist hitting the ground. That's when Yohan felt something heavy hit him in his gut, causing him to collapse to a knee. He dodged Chase's strike, how did Chase still hit him without touching him?! He couldn't get much time to think as Chase came stomping in towards him and made a swing for his head, Yohan moving to the right to avoid Chase's arm as it swung through the air. Yohan felt a heavy impact hit his head as he stumbled backwards, Chase glancing over at him and clutching his fists tightly as he turned to fully face Yohan before giving him a pretty awful looking grin. "I nevah miss." Chase's word struck him as odd, could it relate to his ability somehow?

Once again he had little time to think as Chase charges in and sends in a flurry of punches this time, Yohan managing to dodge them at first when he started to feel the heavy impacts striking his body in rapid blows. Chase took the opportunity to start slugging in some hits of his own on Yohan, the impacts soon going away as Chase just started to strike away on Yohan. Blood soon began to spray across the area as Yohan was beaten up pretty badly in several places now. Yet he refused to use his sound ability on Chase, he wasn't going to do that for this. Chase took advantage of Yohan's weakened state to grab hold of his leg and pull him out from under his feet, then throwing him roughly into one of the school's wall as Yohan felt himself black out for a moment from the impact. Yohan's body limply fell to the ground, Chase's wheezy laugh could still be heard faintly as he took the time to examine his fists. Chase slowly came walking over towards Yohan as Yohan regained his vision, trying to push himself back up but it wasn't good enough. His body wouldn't correctly respond to him as Chase stopped in front of him and slowly pulling back his right fist, ready to strike Yohan a mighty blow to the face.

But Yohan wouldn't let that happen, focusing momentarily on his arms as he struck his left fist into Chase's right fist, Chase's brass knuckle shattering into pieces as Chase's eyes widen. Chase then struck out with his left fist, only for Yohan to respond with his right, Chase's brass knuckle shattering again as this time, pieces of something graze pass Chase's arm and make small cuts on it. Chase's eyes widened as he looked at his arm in surprise, turning over to Yohan to notice his left arm had changed. He seemed to have grown some white scales, but the white scales now held some faint blue tattoo like design to them. As Chase recklessly charges in, Yohan strikes in a hard uppercut to Chase with his left arm, shattering the scales on it as they go flying and stab themselves lightly into various parts of Chase's body. Chase gave a mighty wail in pain, the scales shattering and breaking off from Chase's body shortly after as a loud snap had come off to Chase's friends when Yohan had landed the uppercut. Blood dripped from Chase's broken lower jaw, the intimidating giant falling to his knees and holding his face as he could only give off muffled wails for the moment. Yohan felt himself growing more exhausted suddenly, collapsing to his knees as he could only breath heavily.

Before Yohan could push himself back up to his feet, Chase suddenly threw debris of the table at him with full force, causing Yohan to get smacked in the face by some of them and the rest slamming past his body as he felt himself getting thrown onto his back. Blood ran down the right side of his face, causing him to close his right eye as he slowly pushed himself to sit up while looking over at Chase. Even if Chase could talk properly right now, he seemed way too emotional right now to even care about speaking. Chase rose back up to his feet and glared down at Yohan, despite the pain Chase must of been receiving, he still was able to move properly. Yohan had to force himself to quickly get back up to his feet, only for Chase to start pounding into his body with more strength than before! Yohan was surprised by how much stronger Chase seemed now that he was backed into a corner, even more so by how Chase was still able to focus on where to slug into Yohan in order to make him feel the most pain. All those years of practice on him must of really helped when Chase kicked into berserk mode!

With a final slug to the face, Yohan was sent stumbling back into the wall and slide down it a bloody mess. Chase couldn't proceed to finish off Yohan for the moment, having stopped as the pain must of started to kick back in hard and force Chase to remain frozen to the spot. Yohan took the time to muster up the last of his strength to stand up to his feet, his entire body shaking as he could see blood dripping down from his body practically all over. He focused as much of his power as he could into his right arm, his right arm beginning to shake fiercely as he tightened his hand into a fist before pulling it back. Chase let out a low menacing growl before charging forward at Yohan, with Yohan being quick enough to step in and throw a weak punch right into Chase's right shoulder, but that one hit was all he needed. Chase's pupils turned tiny as he felt something building up before a loud sound practically exploded from his right shoulder. Chase let out a high pitched scream as his right arm was painfully snapped out of place, Chase being sent flying back and slamming painfully into the ground while Yohan was sent flying back into the wall for a third time.

As the loud booming sound went off, most windows within the school suddenly shattered, causing a lot of people to notice something strange was going on. Most people were now beginning to panic and wonder what was going on, the loud boom had sounded close to being like someone had just set off some kind of weapon. Yohan barely kept himself conscious as he saw Chase not moving from where he lay. Chase's friends had long since abandoned the scene in order to avoid getting into trouble with him. Some friends he managed to pick up. As Yohan barely to pick himself up, trying to move in order to go and warn someone about what had happened, Chase had been quick to the draw and gotten a knife out, swinging it across the air before letting it fall and stab into the ground beside him, collapsing and passing out properly. A cut suddenly forms itself on Yohan's chest, causing some blood to come out due to how quick it suddenly formed. Yohan felt his body go numb completely and he fell down flat onto the ground, passing out along with Chase as now everyone who had started to watch would freak out and think both of them had just died!

As Mr. Kraus contemplated exactly how he was gonna worm his way out of his predicament, reaching for a clean towel, there was a blast, a rumble and suddenly the lockers clattered with a most startling racket, causing him to bump his head against the locker he was leaning against. He could feel even Puck was shocked by this. Saiph popped to her feet as the windows cracked behind her, her jolly expression broken in shock. It was like a bomb had gone off outside, a terrifying feeling goes through both Kraus and Saiph, who immediately head out the back exit of the gym, the former no longer concerned about the strange girl. Before them at the back of the school was a grizzly scene, blood staining the ground and the remains of what was once a table, fragments of glass scattered about from the sonic explosion that went off. It was then, their hearts truly sank when observing two collapsed bodies before them, bloodied, cut, and badly beaten. To Saiph's added horror, however, was that one of them was Yohan, the very reason she was even here!

Snatching the clean towel from the stunned Kraus's arm, she rushed over to Yohan, to first check if he was still breathing, then to wrap the towel up and gently place it under Yohan's head to try to at least offer him some level of comfort. It was a mess, he was an absolute mess. Bruised and bloody, he was in a far worse state than when he fought Ricky, added that was mostly superficial. A lump gets caught in the rabbit girl's throat as one of her first real friends lays in such an uncertain state, and with all her power, all she can do is try to make him comfortable until someone more capable can handle this.

"H-hey, hang in there, okay?" she murmurs, her voice cracking as she remains kneeling beside him, trying to find something else to do for him, yet afraid to move him, should he have internal injuries. She looked to Kraus who was checking Chase's pulse, already on the phone talking to some emergency service detailing out the situation and route to get here, soon after coming over and crouching down beside her to check Yohan as well. It looked like the most serious is that he may be suffering a concussion with the amount of head wounds he has received, the cut on his chest however, was not deep enough to be the most concerning. Then there were the bruises all over his body, bringing to light another concern.

"Damn, not again,, there might be internal injuries with the other... student's name is Yohan Belmont, yeah, it looks bad, many deep bruises have already formed, some may have been with a blunt weapon, possibly a brass knuckle," Kraus says, trying to maintain composure in the fallout of this violent scene. There was a moment where he looked at Saiph, who looked absolutely miserable as she looked over Yohan, practically holding by a thread on breaking down. She had already witnessed one horrific death already, unsettling her, now it was with someone she actually trusted. The boy had some strange, yet loyal friends it seemed. "Uh, back of Timberland High, there is debris everywhere, nobody else seems badly hurt. I don't know, may have been some kind of weapon on Chase, but I'm not seeing signs of it... uh-huh... they are already on their way? Good, they both are still be breathing at least. Thank you, and hurry."

With that he stands up and turns to the students. "Alright, alright, make room for the paramedics!" He cries out, waving his arms at them.

"You are taking this rather well, but I know you are screaming inside! Screaming at the world that has allowed this to become the norm," Puck finally says to Kraus. "This is the result of the world, this violent world that lead Ricky to his fate, this malice, and here I'm asking... how does this man remain sane, unbroken, knowing it all... feeling it around him? Funny how I don't know... I mean, I am you after all, and yet... I'm not you?"

The school gym, where sports are held and where much sweat is spilled. And who is going to clean up all those sweaty benches which would stink like heck? Well why of course the schools brand new janitor! Frederick himself was on the scene! With rag in hand and bucket of water with cleaning solution.

As Frederick was hard at work cleaning the benches at top speeds, what stopped his progress was a loud boom causing the windows in the gym to suddenly explode into many pieces. He immediately hit the deck with a panicked shout of surprise. As soon as the coast was assumed clear after half a minute Frederick slowly got back up looking around. Now he was no expert, but windows do not suddenly explode like that, what if there was a battle between the people with the powers of white and black?

He was in danger! Where the heck is Gilgamesh!? If there was a fight he needed some help right! But wait?...This was a school right?...So that meant the people fighting are students...kids! He was not for killing kids. However it seemed that Brisé has...other thoughts compared to his.

He heard a familiar jingle of a bell as suddenly the so called Shepard in her usual white dress appeared. Mask still broken, half of her face still wrapped. And the wings on her back. Her single purple eye looks at him, and what Frederick could tell he could tell from the gleam in her eye that she was...happy?

"Oh my precious lamb! What Naïve thoughts, you refuse to fight? Let alone kids with the power to turn the world into darkness?...Oh my...this wont do at all..." Brisé chuckled as she thwacked Frederick on the head with her little staff which rang causing him to hold his head in pain.

"Now, Now...Let me start with something first my dear lamb...Those with the power of the Black want power...they want to destroy our world...Do you wanna something? You may not want to kill but those kids will gladly kill you without a second thought...to gut you and leave you for death...Look at Ricky dear lamb...He killed his own friends and in his final moments he could not understand why he was alone...A sad fate, to never understand that you yourself was the cause of it all...Such are the way of kids, to act first before thinking...But he has died right now so we need not shed any tears. He wanted to kill you all and instead died like a spoiled child..." Her eye soon had a hint of malice in them now. However her voice was still calm.

"To hesitate is death lamb...To hold back, pain...To continue your blind naiveté those around you will die...Its time to wake up lamb...No more grazing idly in the fields of poison...Its time to move onto greener fields...for your sake...I am your Shepherd, I know what is best for you so listen..." She spoke suddenly getting closer to him until they were mere inches from their faces.

Frederick had a chill run up his spine as all the hairs on his body stood up. "Woah...You went into scare mode..." He managed to speak as he looked at her. "But I see you are just looking out for me...No need to worry, I'll take some of your advice no worries!" He spoke with a smile before Brisé backed off and nodded to herself. "Good choice Lamb..." She spoke until she vanished.

Frederick breathed a sigh of relief as he looked around. Well...That was something but for now he had shards of glass to sweep up. If there was danger Gilgamesh would surely come to his aid in a heartbeat! Putting down the bucket and rag he soon grabbed a trusty brrom and went to sweep the glass.

Sebastian started on making everyone else's breakfast, Grilled bacon and poached eggs on toast, he’d hear his sister going about her morning rituals, which was to say, shower etc. Sebastian walked around setting a pot of tea on the coffee/ tea table and poured Takeo a cup.

“Keo, wake up, breakfast and tea” he didn’t want to disturb Takeo too much, unless time began to run out.

With breakfast made and an hour or so before they needed to be at the college, Sebastian sat back on one of the two chairs in the lounge drinking his cup of tea and reading a book. Though time flies and he’d glance to his sister, who had been trying to wake up Takeo, since he seemed so intent on sleeping in.

“do me a favor and give him a ride, he still doesn’t have a licence.” Rebcca gave Seb a nod but went back to trying to wake Takeo. "Wake up Keo." Sebastian closed his book put his bookmark in the pages and set the book on his bed before leaving. His sword was left in his bedroom, no weapons on campus.

Stopping in the garage, he felt something tight wrap around his neck, he turned quickly throwing out a swing at about his own head height, spooked, he glanced around, there was no more a tightening noose around his neck, if that’s what it was. He got into his full bike suit and helmeted up before walking the bike out and riding out for college.

Upon arrival at the college carpark, he’d chain up the bike and lock it up, before heading inside, he needed to talk to the receptionists, around him other college students older and new wandered about sticking to their groups of trust, doing their own things.

He was quiet uncharacteristically so, the past few days events shuck up his very knowledge of the world, sure he was educated in the dragonborn that he was one. Though, he was sure he caught a glimpse of someone he recognised on his way into the building, in the carpark.

Class started off fine for Sakuya. The teacher introduced herself, some students were working on some early projects, life was good. About 10 minutes in, however, a terrifying sound reached them and the music of shattering glass was the only thing Sakuya heard. Thankfully, she was towards the front of the room and away from the windows. Some of her classmates weren't so lucky, but no one was dying. They all stood up, looking around. Sakuya, however, felt something familiar. Magic...specifically Yohan's magic. Something had happened. While everyone was distracted, the girl slipped out unnoticed and followed her instincts. It lead her towards the back of the school. A group of people was already starting to form. She approached with caution, just in case, but soon saw Kraus, Yohan, a boy known as Chase, Saiph, and other faces she recognized. Kraus was trying to wave people away, but Sakuya only got closer. She had to know.

Yohan was still breathing, thankfully, but looked like he was in horrid pain. Sakuya let out a gasp and covered her mouth, but her shock was mostly contained. She stared for a minute before snapping out of it and coming up next to Yohan. "Yohan?" She whispered, knowing he couldn't really hear her. Without much thought, her Dominion started to radiate around her. Normal humans would feel much calmer and warm at most, but those with magic would be able to see a bright light over their wounds. This was effecting both Yohan and Chase. "Hang in there, Yohan. I got you..."

It would be some hours before Yohan would wake back up. His body shook as he opened his eyes. It must of been first lunch period, he felt hungry. But his body suddenly jolted up and he felt someone's hands lightly pushing him back, looking over to find Sakuya sitting next to him. That's when he looked over at a nurse nearby. "Thank goodness you are alright. We had some people coming in to check on you. School is still going on, thankfully, but you have been given the day off. Along with this girl here. She more or less volunteered to stay by your side, she said she was the closet person you had at the school." Yohan looked over to see Sakuya's hands glowing. She must of been using her Dominion all day on him. He could feel his body not being in as much pain, though it was still there. "I'll be going now to inform the doctor. You might get some visits later today." The nurse left the two alone, and that's when Yohan knew it was time.

"Sakuya... I'm sorry." Yohan spoke up. "I'm... Such a screw up. I stood up against Chase and got everyone worried. Most of all, I got you worried. I... I don't really have anyone else. I keep pushing it all on you, don't I? I'm starting to have more friends now, some of my family has turned back up, but you are... The only one who seems to be the closet to me. And I... I feel like you might of picked the wrong guy to be best friends with." Tears started to swell up in Yohan's eyes as he avoided looking her directly in the eyes. "I... I feel like I can't be honest with you right now. I don't know if you have been feeling the same way, I just..." Yohan raised his arm up to wipe away some tears. "I'm sorry... I feel like I don't deserve anything or anyone. All I do is just cause trouble for everyone. I don't deserve to be happy."

Sakuya was just happy to see Yohan awake and well. She listened to him intently and blushed. "Oh, h-hush! You deserve it just fine. Besides, I'm not the only one here to support you...I'm just the only one in the room right now." She petted Yohan's head a little, trying to calm him down. "You have people who love you and just want you to be happy. Don't let that Chase get you down. Although...did you feel something weird from him?" Sakuya lowered her voice as she said this. Her magic senses never quite turned off. She kept a hold of one of Yohan's hands, rubbing a little circle over and over. "I dunno...I just have a strange feeling...."

"I did." Yohan mentioned. "He had something." Yohan sighed out as he held her hand in his, looking over at her. "... I don't know what's gone down in the past between others. Or what my family has gone through. But I..." He swallows as he looks at her. "... I really want you to..." He hesitated, taking in a deep breath as he closes his eyes. "I'm sorry... I shouldn't say it. I'm..." Yohan stopped again, looking over at her. "... I really want to be happy. And, lately... I've been happy the most around you. Ya know?" Yohan said with a stupid smile as tears began to run down his face. ".... I want to be happy... Together."

"To-together?" Sakuya repeated. It took a moment for it to click in her head. "I would love that!" She exclaimed and hugged Yohan a bit too tightly probably. "Sorry! Sorry...I thought you would never really feel that way about me." She had a huge blush on her face (really, it was like that anime stuff all the kids are uppity about these days) as she held his hand tighter. It really did move along quickly, didn't it? Only two days ago did they really start talking, but maybe their attraction was more than a crush. It seemed like fate was working its wonders quickly. "Are you sure about this?"

"Well, at long as you don't have seven evil ex boyfriends I have to fight. I mean, I'm not ready to take up the mantle of Pilgrim." Yohan locked his fingers with hers as he couldn't help but blush and smile. "Yeah, I'm more than certain. I don't want anyone else but you. I thought you would feel like you were cursed to being stuck around me so much, like most seem to act. But if you are happy to hook up with a guy like me, well... Thank you." He said, grabbing her shoulder with his free hand to pull her in and, well, close his eyes and lock lips! If this was Scott Pilgrim, he might have just gotten the Power of Love power-up!

Sakuya kissed him back, her heart threatening to bust out of her chest. The kiss was...well, way better than the first one they had the other day. This time there was no fear, no forced feelings, just the two of them entwined into one another for this moment. She broke off the kiss, smiling at him. "You probably need your rest...I can just tell your brother that you're really tired and send him back home...he seems really worried about you though." Sakuya kissed him again lightly and put a hand lightly on his cheek. She was starting to feel drained. Her magic reserves were running low and she was starving. "Yohan...let's take it easy today, okay?"

Yohan returned the light kiss as he smiled right back at her. He couldn't help but stare right into her eyes as he rested his forehead against hers, holding her gently against him as he couldn't help but keep her close. "We can go to my house once we're out of here, go on a first date. I'll cook something up for us to eat. Just tell me whatever you want." He couldn't help but get another quick kiss off of her as he thought about what she suggested. "If he comes here, I... I'll appreciate that. I forgot about him for ten years, he must feel so bad to know that. I want to make it up to him. Besides, I... I want to introduce him to the cutest girl I know." He decided to throw out a flirt, blushing a little as he let off a little chuckle.

"I'll go get him then." Sakuya said, still blushing as she slowly got up. She stepped out of the room quietly and walked down the hallway to a semi-private waiting room. Takeo had basically paced a path into the tile. Sakuya lightly tapped him on the shoulder. "Yohan said he wanted to see you." The two silently went back to Yohan's room, Takeo entering cautiously. Yohan didn't look as bad as he had imagined.

"Hey, bud, how ya doing?" Takeo asked him quietly. Sakuya took her seat back and Takeo stood on the other side of Yohan. "I heard something about a bomb? You look...considerably less charred than expected. Sakuya has been taking good care of you...good, good...." Relief was visible on Takeo's face. He dared not touch Yohan without his permission, but it was obvious that Takeo deeply cared for the younger brother who had been separated from him for a decade. Sakuya was glad that Yohan finally had a family...and gave her hope that hers would be reunited as well.

Yohan smiled as he saw Sakuya and Takeo walk back in. "I'm good, thought I was going to have a Chase scar on my chest for the rest of my life. That would of been freaky. Luckily, it looks like I'm not going to have anything left over from that jerk beating me up for ten years." Yohan took Sakuya's hand into his own once she had sat down. "Uh, Takeo. This is Sakuya Lecarde. She's, uh... My g-girlfriend." He said with a slight blush, but soon brought that smile back on. "Sakuya, this is Takeo Belmont. He's my older brother, You met him earlier at the gather up yesterday. I uh, think it's a good idea to ease mom into the whole, hooking up thing and all that." Yohan sighed out as he leaned back and rested. "Bomb? There was no bomb. Chase had a knife, he had The Black, but like... There was no bo--" He stopped as his eyes widened. ".... Oh no." His grip on Sakuya's hand tightened slightly. "I.... I used my power, didn't I? I couldn't control it, it -- it went out like a blast and.... Shoot! He has some things coming, but now he's gonna end up in jail because of me. And without magic, no one will believe me because magic can't be backed up with simple evidence! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to cause a scene, honest!"

Takeo and Sakuya both patted Yohan, trying to reassure him. "It happens, little brother. It seems he had it coming. But the rumor is that he did, in fact, have a bomb. But if he had the Black..." Takeo and Sakuya exchanged a glance. "Things just got a lot more complicated. Timberland is making quite the stir and I'm positive that it's going to garner attention from all sorts of magic types." Sighing and rubbing his head, Takeo sat down. "I'm not quite sure what the best course of action is. Just...watch your back." Takeo then turned his attention to Sakuya, taking her in fully. "Erm...Mom is going to be...less than happy about this. If she doesn't know already, she will find out. She doesn't have the best history with the Lecarde family." He saw Sakuya's face fall and the knowing look in her eye. "I have no problem with who you like or whatever. Good for you guys." Takeo gave a thumbs up. However, another person gaining magic suddenly was not good. "I assume they probably won't let you out today. Do you want anything from the house? Here's my number in case you need me. Sebastian makes sure I don't leave without it, the knucklehead." Takeo chuckled to himself.

"You know...where is Mom? I thought she would be in here already."

Yohan ran his free hand through his hair as he thought about it as well. "Probably still out. After you left, she used that strange device in the basement to go somewhere. I presume she hasn't returned yet if you don't know where she is. Doesn't matter. Let's focus on the issue at hand. I thought how strange it was, when Ricky, this little petty criminal, suddenly comes out of nowhere with The Black. Then suddenly people like Chase start having it? I think there was more to Ricky's plan than just targeting us last night. It almost felt like too much of a taunt, baiting us in to distract us from the overall bigger picture. I think that somehow, Ricky must of gotten some friends of his to help spread The Black throughout the town while we were all busy with him. We were all exhausted after it was over and then he suddenly pops up a martyr on the news. I remember dad used to tell us stories about warriors clashing in the past." Yohan pulled Sakuya's hand up to his chest for comfort, while keeping his hand in hers as he did this. "... I think we're about to see another clash like the legends."

The young woman that had caught Takeo’s eye had also caught the attention of Sebastian, he’d speak up just before the glance and smile “Good morning” leaving the stranger be for now, Seb felt the firm clip about the back of his head from Rebecca’s hand “not even done with the first hour and you’re already checking out the opposite sex” Rebecca folded her arms and raised an eyebrow, Sebastian just gave a smirk and a chuckle. Which gained a roll of the eyes response from the twin.

Stepping inside the group soon split away, Takeo with his computer engineering Rebecca with her business administration and Seb; he was mechanical engineering student, he had already two years of his diploma he just needed to do two at a different college on the same subject, to pass the level 3 before going into university levels.

The block of the college he was studying was rather uneventful, heck the rumors didn’t reach him until midday, Sebastian on hearing the rumors and those involved immediately called Takeo, to make sure he was alright, he stepped out the dining area he was in, grabbing his bag and jacket, he got a lot of funny looks for wearing his gloves constantly, then again he couldn’t let anyone see that his left hand and arm was scaled and had claws.


“Fucking hell man, you guys alright?...” he had stepped into a quiet area out the way, to have his call, if there was one to be had. But that same feeling from the garage grew over him, he began to choke, like an invisible noose wrapping around his neck and pulled tight.

Sebastian dropped his mobile and grasped at his neck clawing with his left hand resulting in three clean shallow cuts to the left side of his adam’s apple. even now you’re weak, fall. know true power the words formed in his mind, Sebastian came back to reality collapsing down the wall when someone from further down the hallway around the corner came through, Sebastian didn’t allow a drop of his blood to fall, using his dominion to keep the blood from leaking from the three claw marks. He stood up and picked up his mobile, looking to see if the call was still on going.

Having been discharged from the hospital not long after arriving, Felix had spent the rest of his weekend and Monday not up to much. Since he was here to study, he would just be working a few evenings a week, plus Saturday, so he wound up in his room most of the time, refusing to go out for fear of something weird happening again, reading comics and novels to pass the time. He had decided to stay away from TV for the time being, after switching it on and immediately seeing a news report about a death here in Timberland.

What certainly didn’t help was that his ‘annoying sidekick’, as he was now calling it, had figured out it could essentially shapeshift and cast illusions on him, being part of his psyche and all. On Sunday night, he had been kept up by scratching and distorted, unearthly whispering noises at the door. Now he had figured out the culprit, it was slightly less nightmare inducing for him, but the trick where it turned into a horrifying mutated goat and charged at him still made him flinch, which obviously amused the creature, as it changed back to its normal form and rolled on the floor in hysterics. Throwing in a few spiders and snakes seemed to be working pretty well too.

He was actually relieved on Tuesday morning when he finally had to leave the flat. He thought he would be a nervous wreck walking around town after the recent incidents, but he always felt safe surrounded by other people, especially in the daytime.

Everything went pretty normally from there. His walk to the campus was short and peaceful. His first lessons of this year were more like poetic rambling than teaching anything practical but he listened intently nonetheless. Last year he had gotten looks from the others as he was one of those students who take excessive interest. He still managed to work up a small mountain of notes, but his peers were used to it by now. Even his inner demon found him hard to distract.

Having spent far too long reorganising said notes, and struggling to stuff them and his books back into the brown laptop bag he was now keeping in his locker, he set off to grab some lunch.

Nearing the dining area, he heard some scuffling and what sounded like someone collapsing. He hurried around the corner to see if something was up, only to run into one of the people he’d met the other day. Sebastian was standing up and seemed fine, and although it seemed some kind of wound was on his neck that hadn’t been there before, there were no signs of bleeding.

Felix approached him, waving to the young man just has he was picking up his phone, making him wonder if he had fallen over or just dropped his mobile and struggled to get it off the ground quickly.

Sebastian hung up the call, and the words hung in his mind, he didn’t realise Felix was approaching him until, the natural human sixth sense of ‘being watched’ kicked in, Sebastian looked up. “afternoon, how are you holding up?”

Seb felt the shallow cuts with his right hand, holding his phone with the left, the fingertips to his glove on the left hand cut open exposing the retracting claws, if anyone was observant enough anyway.

“do you know where the infirmary is, so i can get these stitched up, i don’t want to focus on keeping my neck from spewing blood for the rest of the day.” Sebastian’s voice had that note of annoyance it always got when he was even remotely annoyed or angry, though Felix listened to that any time Seb was speaking to or about the inner demon.

“oh and by the way, do you want your bow back?” he sighed and lost the not of annoyance, after all, he didn’t have a reason to be pissed off with Felix. Thankfully, for the both of them, Sebastian, pocketed his mobile and turned back to head into the cafeteria, really to fetch his stuff.

Hanging her head, Saiph was still kneeling amidst the debris. Yohan had been taken to the hospital a while ago, but she had broken down herself. She had considered today would be fun at least, but all it was was lead to more misery. This world was only proving time and again to be a cold, cruel, and unforgiving place, threatening to take away anything that mattered. It made her think of things she didn't want to think of, of the high probability that she'd watch as everyone else around her dies, that she'll instead be doomed to remain the same, doomed to be alone.

"My, my, what a burdened mind," the familiar warped voice come to Saiph, as the familiar form of Maddy appears to her, sitting down behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Oh Maddy, perhaps... dad was right," she mutters, as people, unable to see them pass by. "I shouldn't have gotten involved... but... if I didn't, they'd have died... but... but they are gonna die anyways... I... just... I-I don't know what to do."

"Not knowing what to do is part of learning what to do, like you must be lost in order to be found," Maddy responds, softly stroking her head. She doesn't however respond as usual, continuing to hang her head. "And right now my dear, you are quite lost..."

Lifting up her goggles slightly, she reaches up and wipes her eyes, catching something reflecting back on a shard of glass with one of her yellow eyes. It was Frederick, who was also on the scene, cleaning up the broken glass and debris. With a brief moment, she sighs and glances back before standing up and pointing at the debris that was once Chase's knife and brass knuckle. "Careful with the metal bits, they are evidence, y'know, don't wanna put your fingerprints on them," she warns, trying her best to joke, her tone however void of the more chipper one of before. She looks down for a moment and kicks her feet, then places her hands in her pocket. "Oh yeah... I almost forgot about our deal, um..."

She digs around in her pocket then pulls out a paper which she hands it to Frederick. It was the terms of the contract in detail, including the confirmation he made to follow through. The terms were, quite simply, for him to make a sequel to "Planetary Wars- War for Planet Hopitus." Apparently it had appealed to her, and she was a fan of it.

"Sorry for leaving you hanging, I... just wish it could have been under... happier circumstances I delivered this," she says, running her fingers through her hair. "I'm a fan, though."

---

Kraus had made his way to the principal's office, feeling it appropriate to report on the circumstances of the recent fight on school grounds. By the furrowing of his brow, it was obvious he felt like he should have done a lot more, even if he couldn't have possibly predicted today was the day. For the many years Chase had been a problem there, particularly to Yohan, he had only been there for two of them, and he was barely present even then. It felt to him like he had failed as a peer. Added to that, he started to understand the dangers presented by magic, that it could turn out a doped up thug into a real monster... if Puck's assessment was to be believed.

"Relax, the kid will be fine," Puck says, rather nonchalantly as usual, as he suddenly is floating beside him, lounging back with his arms behind his head and legs crossed. Kraus almost jumps, until remembering he's the only one that can see him. "Well, bruised and beaten, but he'll recover, besides, that girl is a healer... bout all she's good for I imagine!" He begins to laugh. Kraus lifts a brow, a quizzical look upon his face.

"How... do you know this? Because I didn't see anything that would have clued me in on that," Kraus whispers, covering his mouth so others don't see him muttering to himself like a nutter.

"Oh yeah, didn't I tell you?" Puck says, sitting up and slapping his hands down on his knees, giving Kraus a wide grin. "My Dominion! Well, part of it... Eye of the Beholder, what I see I see for what it is! What I see... is how it will be."

"That is... weird... but... so you see the reality of things around you?" He begins to say, but his eyes widen, then he furrows his brow and glances over at Puck. "Wait, what did you mean with that last bit?"

"That would be telling! Said too much already, better if you are surprised!" Puck exclaims, clapping his hands together twice, a whimsical grin across his face. "In fact, it probably is better I don't tell you yours either. Just keep doing what you've been doin' brother!"

Kraus held up a finger, getting ready to press Puck further but the joker had already poofed back into whatever recesses of his psyche he crawled out from. It was strange to Rupert, on how polar opposites they were to each other. Never in his life did he remember being maniacal or cynical... or whatever it was Puck was. Shaking that from his head, he now stood at the door of the principal's office... well, time to give the news. With a deep breath and a small sigh, he knocks on the door first to announce his arrival before opening the door with his head down.

"Just thought I'd follow up, Yohan Belmont has been taken into the hospital, and well... as it turns out, Chase was also found with a considerable amount of narcotics on his person," he then begins to scratch his head nervously, grumbling a bit to himself. "Actually, to be perfectly honest, that Chase was allowed to go on like this for this long, someone who has a notorious reputation, it was kinda... no, it was irresponsible, and I believe the boy has done us a major favor today and shouldn't be held accountable. I mean, high chances anyways that he was simply defending himself. Er, that is simply my opinion though." With that he sighs, and begins to lift his head. "But, I'm just glad to say that this wasn't as bad as-" he begins, before something catches him off guard.

”I’m doing alright. In fact!” Felix responded, ”I have deduced! That if I forget about the other day and pretend everything is completely normal, nothing weird or dangerous will happen to me. Er, well, it’s more wishful thinking than deduction.”he finished before realizing he’d disrupted a phone call.

”Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, if you were on the phone, it’s just I thought I heard someone falling over, and was headed this way anyway. I guess was mistaken.” Since Sebastian apparently didn’t know where to go if he was hurt or ill, Felix guessed that this was his first year, or at least his first year at this particular college. He also noted the hint of annoyance in his voice, but put it down to wraith, since he couldn’t see whether it was there or not.

”Er…what bow?” he lied very obviously, before sighing, since there was no point. ”It’s fine, keep it, I don’t really want to get mixed up in any of this. Oh! That’s not to say I expect you to keep it if you don’t want to!” he added, ”I’ll take it you’d rather not hang on to it. Anyway, I’ll help you get to the infirmary, I don’t know what’ll happen if you use that too much after only recently getting it. What if it’s like one of those games where you spend your own health points to cast spells?” he asked, also making his way to the cafeteria, although in his case to grab something quick he could eat on the go.