Kuusou

Rin slowly shook herself out of the awful trance that her mind went into. It was hard to think. The only thing she could think of was telling them what had happened. Her eyes widened as they went back to their black color. She looked at the man as he approached her and drew her sword and pointed it at him, keeping him away from her. She was terrified of what her life turned into.

"The Destroyer of Kuusou... That name sounds familiar. Tell me what you know." She said as she glared at the man. She needed to know. In such a short time, she grew to be a stranger to herself. Even as an enemy to herself. She had to learn what she could in the time she could.

"Look, fate is fate, dandy man, but I can tell in your eyes what you're about to do and you better not do it. Rin Hayashi is just a simple girl with bad genetics. It's not her fault she's in this position. Look, she's still unaware of herself. She wouldn't hurt someone without purpose. Maybe she can control her state. But killing her isn't the way to go. Anything you do to her, I will unleash on you tenfold. And I make good on my threats. So play your cards right..." The man said as she started to feel panicked. How did he know her name!? How could he act like he knew her?... But... the voice sounded so familiar... And he seemed to care about her well being.... She had to continue trusting him...

Rin wanted to explain herself... To say she didn't mean it, but she didn't even know if they would care. They would probably just write it off as a lie and attack her.

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A painful gasp escaped Alizé's lips as she put a hand lightly to her head. Connecting her mind to that much pure energy was terrifying, but invigorating at the same time. She quickly shook away the feeling and tuned back into the conversation at hand.

"The Destroyer? That was just a dumb kids book. Completely fictio-....." She suddenly stopped and then thought for a bit before responding.

"Although, there was a big book on a shelf in the library at the base that was labeled "The Destroyer"... I just labeled it as just some more of that end of the world nonsense..." She finished as she took another smoke.

"Look, fate is fate, dandy man," Bane began. "But I can tell in your eyes what you're about to do and you better not do it. Rin Hayashi is just a simple girl with bad genetics. It's not her fault she's in this position." the young man in the tree spoke in defense of the girl. So her name was Rin Hayashi, was it? He continued. "Look, she's still unaware of herself. She wouldn't hurt someone without purpose. Maybe she can control her state. But killing her isn't the way to go." this time, it was painfully obvious he had directed his words towards Dianne. Fate didn't like that one bit - threatening her was about as dumb of a move he could pull right now, especially given the fact that he was alone, so to say. But Fate kept any irritation hidden while he watched the boy make a threat he couldn't follow up on to Fate himself, allowing him to establish an understanding of the relationship between this man and the Destroyer. He knew her name, and he definitely wanted to protect her, so she had to be a friend of his at the very least.

Good, he could use this later on.

"I can tell you're bluffing, but can you?" Fate chuckled in response. Such threats were given to him constantly, by more feared and respected people and yet, here he was today. Malcolm Swain didn't fear words. He used them to his advantage. "You'd best be able to win the hand if you're going all in. And right now, I don't think you can. Nor should you. Because I'm not so sure harming her is the best bet." it was then that he turned his attention back towards Rin, who had drawn her blade on him. He was just out of reach of her blade, so she probably felt more comfortable from him. Considering his goal wasn't to kill her, he didn't mind the distance a bit. His words were the weapon here.

"Sorry to keep a lady waitin." he began, now ready to address the subject that she had brought up. How ironic that she didn't know what the Destroyer was when she herself was that very same legend. It only made things more interesting. "But have you truly not heard tell of the Destroyer of Kuusou? Any children's book about it could tell you: You're here to kill us all..." he let it sink in for a moment before he then said, "Or so they say. I'm sure you can tell that there's one very obvious method to making sure you don't do that. To kill you, don't cha think?" Fate extended his arm to his side and dropped about eight playing cards, which then circled around him as if he had a gravitational pull, but that's all they did. "But you see, I'm sure there's a way we can prevent such a tragedy from happening without losing one hand. Surely your power isn't uncontrollable."

At this point, some might think he was leaning towards the Chikyuu's thought-process. That is, until he continued with, "Or they'd claim to. 'Harness your talent' could easily just be a rewording of any number of things. But ultimately, it'd just mean you were a prisoner without even knowing it. And would your abilities really be put to good use? You could end up harming innocent people under the guise of saving others, when you'd be establishing a position of power above others. You'd be playing right into their hands."he shot a glare at none other than Chikyuu's leader, as if he was telling someone something the other party didn't want them to know. Fate was reasonably sure that they would't do that, but Fate couldn't manipulate events if they kept her under heavy watch. At least not without a high risk, and since his task meant that she had to trust him (willingly or not), he needed as much time as possible near her. So, he had to make both sides look bad.

"I don't see a profitable outcome for you, miss. Not with the Shikaku, and not with the Chikyuu No Mirai. Your life would either be a burden, or uselessly spent." Now, Fate's eyes seemed to lock onto Rin's, a soothing blueish glow that made things seem calmer. This situation, his voice -- they'd all seem much less tense or rough than they truly were. After all, nobody could completely resist his charm. "You can either fold, or..." he smirked. "You can make a contract with me and become a magical girl! decide your own destiny...and I never bluff about such things." he then struck a courteous bow, and held his hand out for her to take as an offering.

It wasn't safe for this woman to be in Fate's care the whole time, but he couldn't do anything if she were dead or with the Chikyuu. So, that left one party left. One who would keep her well-being intact, but wasn't affiliated with an entire group, making it impossible to reach her. Fate'd make sure she got to him.

"...But killing her isn't the way to go." There were two men with cards here, but, the one that wasn't Malcolm Swain had just offended them.
"How did you get the idea that we were going to KILL her?" As soon as Aurelie finished speaking, she had her sword drawn, and was lunging at the man.
"Attendez!" Dianne leapt infront of the man, and parried Aurelie away from hitting anyone.
"Restez pour maintenant. Senseless fighting isn't what we need right now." Dianne barked, putting her weapon away.

"We are not here to kill anyone." Dianne said, directing it to Bane and Aurelie. "Everyone needs to find a way to decide this, besides just some savage bloodbath. This is the destroyer for god's sake!"

"Dianne, you're scaring the poor child. But no more than this man." His voice was again calm. He took a slightly aggressive stance and approached Fate in an attempt to pull his focus from the girl. "I do not know if she is what you are calling the 'destroyer.' But even if she is, nothing says she's meant to destroy the world, just that it's possible." He kept his physical focus on Fate but turned his head to Rin.

"If you did cause the explosion, you must be frightened. You have a power many will want to use or abuse or even destroy. You can't trust anything any of us say, even me, right now. So all I will tell you is this. Find someplace safe. You can't make any decisions when we're all calling on you like this. The only real advice I can give, until, if, we're able to talk again, is run. Keep running until no one can find you."

His eyes began to change color as he stared at her, occasionally his eyes darting back and forth to the others looking for movement."And you better run fast, girly. Because nowadays, there'll always be someone chasing you."

"But have you truly not heard tell of the Destroyer of Kuusou? Any children's book about it could tell you: You're here to kill us all..." The man said as her eyes widened. She couldn't believe it. But... she was the one who destroyed half of her own town. She tried to deny it, but her voice wouldn't allow it. She was terrified. What would she be able to do if she trained that power?

"Or so they say. I'm sure you can tell that there's one very obvious method to making sure you don't do that. To kill you, don't cha think?" The man said as her gaze hardened.

"But you see, I'm sure there's a way we can prevent such a tragedy from happening without losing one hand. Surely your power isn't uncontrollable. Or they'd claim to. 'Harness your talent' could easily just be a rewording of any number of things. But ultimately, it'd just mean you were a prisoner without even knowing it. And would your abilities really be put to good use? You could end up harming innocent people under the guise of saving others, when you'd be establishing a position of power above others. You'd be playing right into their hands." the man said as he shot a glare at the man who stopped them all earlier.

"I don't see a profitable outcome for you, miss. Not with the Shikaku, and not with the Chikyuu No Mirai. Your life would either be a burden, or uselessly spent." he stated as his eyes slowly made her grow slightly calmer and her golden essence whipped out again and stayed around her.

"You can either fold, or..." he smirked. "You can make a contract with me and decide your own destiny...and I never bluff about such things. he said as he held out his hand. The smirk on his face put her off though.

"I don't trust you in the slightest. So no, I don't believe I will." She stated bluntly as a laugh escaped a woman's mouth and she quickly covered her mouth to stop.

"Apparently I'm not the only woman to turn you down." The lady said with a smirk before Rin's attention was brought to the two people looked the same. The woman lunged at the man who Fate gestured to earlier. The other "Twin" stopped her and tried to calm them all down.

"We are not here to kill anyone. Everyone needs to find a way to decide this, besides just some savage bloodbath. This is the destroyer for god's sake!" She yelled as Rin flinched. She didn't like that name at all.

"Dianne, you're scaring the poor child. But no more than this man." he said as he approached the man from earlier.

"I do not know if she is what you are calling the 'destroyer.' But even if she is, nothing says she's meant to destroy the world, just that it's possible." he said again as her head started to spin. There were too many sides to choose from! Who could she trust!? Suddenly the man looked at her.

"If you did cause the explosion, you must be frightened. You have a power many will want to use or abuse or even destroy. You can't trust anything any of us say, even me, right now. So all I will tell you is this. Find someplace safe. You can't make any decisions when we're all calling on you like this. The only real advice I can give, until, if, we're able to talk again, is run. Keep running until no one can find you."

Rin stared blankly as she thought over her options, not giving any emotion to show anyone what she thought. Suddenly, her mind was made. Her essence quickly formed a wall between her and the others and she quickly took off, taking the mans advice. She couldn't trust anyone there.

Bane Skamour

Suddenly, everyone was talking. They all were trying to get Rin on their side. The way Bane Skamour saw it, all of them wanted to use her to their benefit. The Shikaku wanted to kill her, the Chikyuu no Mirai wanted to control her to their bidding, and God knows why Dandy Man wanted her . He had to talk to her alone. He wanted to know what she wanted. He only wanted the best for her (and for everyone else to beat it.)

He whistled, shrilly. It pierced the air all around them, cutting through the noise like a hot knife through butter. He had noticed that the glint in her eyes had receded momentarily, so if there was a time to talk to her, it was now.

"STOP! ALL OF YOU!" his voice boomed over everyone elses, most likely making them stop and listen. He then turned to Rin, but she was gone. Damn all of you...

"Okay, you all need to stop and let her think for a while. She will come back when she's made her decision on what to do. We can only let her. In the meantime, I suggest you all leave me in peace because I'm not a people person anymore and I only help the closest of friends. So be gone before I decide to change my lawn's color to blood red..." his empty threat was meant to be a mood changer and his tone showed it: he really didn't want to slaughter any of these people, no matter how bad their personalities were. He just wanted to b left alone and at peace.

Matthew was already gone.

For the first time, he felt excited. This girl was powerful. She would surely attract a lot of those Blasted Shikaku members. When he realized that it was Fate who was talking to that girl, he got a little concerned - they knew each other, Fate and he; they were on a... "truce of mutual interest". However, when he got the girl to run instead of handing her over the Shikaku, he sighed in relief and set out after her, continuing to follow her.

Fate wore a dissatisfied frown on him in the face of the rejection that the woman threw at him. Not because he wasn't expecting it, not because it put a dent in his pride, not because it would make his overall goal harder to achieve, but because it's what the others wanted to see. It was a show and nothing more. Nothing about this outcome had been surprising to Fate. In fact, he predicted her reaction rather well. Everything was going according to his plan, and nobody but himself new that.

As she prevented people from following her with a wall (Or so she thought. If he had wanted to, walls couldn't really do much against someone with the ability to teleport), he let out a "tch" as if annoyed by her retreat - as if it wasn't something he wanted in the first place. He then moved his glowing blue eyes up to Alize, as he pretended to recover his cool that he hadn't lost in the first place. "Simply means I get more time with you, Alize. After all, you're one of a kind." he chuckled. She probably knew that that meant he was going to do his best to get back at her. And he would, not out of anger, but out of boredom. While he wasn't manipulating events, it was always fun to do what he could to screw with her. Childish? Maybe. Fun? Sure. Necessary? Absolutely.

Soon, the man cowering in the tree had spoken. A threat again, but this time, his bluff was obvious. Intentionally, maybe. Either way, it wouldn't matter to Malcolm, who now needed to make an appointment with someone else. Rin could wait, since his role in this was going to be on a temporary hold for now. He had alliances to forge and scenes to be behind. So many things to do, so little time and no room for errors. If things were to go his way, he couldn't allow any mistakes on his half or anybody else's. That's why he needed to predict events before they happened, as well as people too. Shikaku members wouldn't be hard: he had time to gauge what they would do in a given situation. Especially Dianne. Assuming things was foolish, but necessary in the case of the Chikyuu No Mirai. Playing cards was something Fate was a master at; people wouldn't be much harder. Speaking of.... he wasn't in the tree anymore - his target. He had moved on, presumably to follow Rin. Now was the time to confront him.

"I guess it's time for me to leave then. In fact, I'm already gone." with a smirk, the cards circling around him lowered their orbit to his feet and began spinning more rapidly, until Fate disappeared inside of them. He was no longer near the gathered crowd, but instead a lot closer to Rin. Not that she was his target at the moment. He set his sights for someone else, and when that man leaped to another tree, in pursuit of Rin, he tossed a charged card right at the man. Well, his shoulder, to be precise.

Matthew felt a charged projectile enter his right shoulder as he hopped from branch to branch. Feeling the card make a small explosion, Matthew winced - it had exploded right in the middle of a jump.

Quickly gathering his bearings, Matthew grabbed a smaller branch before swinging himself up and perching himself once more, this time turning to the man who had thrown that card even as his shoulder regenerated from Rheingold. There was only one person that could be.

"...would you please stop that?" he asked in a more annoyed instead of hostile tone. "If you wanted my attention, Fate, you could decide to just, you know, tap me on the shoulder instead of doing something that would send a normal person to the hospital?"

Fate laughed at his annoyed response. Nothing more fun than calling someone's attention by hitting them with a card. At least, not to Fate. Well... Alize was always a barrel of fun, so maybe he wouldn't be entirely truthful if he said that. "What's wrong? Feelin' blue?" he asked, but didn't wait for an answer. He wanted to get right down to business. "Anyway, I got a proposition for ya, if you're interested. But why don'tcha come down hear so I don't have ta yell at ya? Wouldn't want to reveal the hand I'm playing to someone else before it's dealt." Fate made it clear that he wasn't going to say much more until he did so.

Matthew sighed and jumped off the branch, landing in front of Fate. "...I have a feeling I know what you're about to say." he sighed. "It concerns the girl, doesn't it?"

There really was no other explanation on why Fate would try to talk to him now of all times. That man did promise that he wouldn't get in the way of Matthew, even if he was in the middle of attacking Shikaku members, so long as he left the leader alone. While the leader was the one he wanted to give a good punch to the most, he decided it was an ok deal if it meant getting this annoyance off of his trail; at least temporarily.

After everything transpired, there were the five of them left, well also the shadow clone. "We'll be out of your lawn soon, I assure you I have no... Do I..." He held his head in pain again. "What can't I remember." He took an attempt to quickly recompose himself. "Now, I'm not going to beat around it here, I think we're all pretty deep into something here. We've known each other a while, been enemies for most if not all of that."

"It's been lovely seeing you all again, don't get me wrong."

"BUT!" He spoke angrily at himself, more specifically Bries. "I believe we've all had an... exciting day. I don't know about the three of you, but I have a long walk back home. So, if there's nothing else, I'll be on my way. Come along, Stein. I could use some pleasant company, he'll be in a foul mood after this." He put the hood of his robe back up and turned to walk away from the group, pausing long enough for anyone that wanted to grab him before he left to do so.

Bane Skamour

One by one, they all began to disperse. Dandy Man had gone off in the direction of Rin, but most likely not to find her at all. The Chikyuu no Mirai leader left as well. He assumed that the others would be leaving soon after, so he climbed into his secret hideout (which wasn't really a secret anymore) and continued to do what he set out to do: make breakfast. However, at this point, there was really no need to go into town to eavesdrop on conversations for intel. He'd already gotten more than he could handle.

He'd left the hatch Rin was supposed to climb into before he was rudely interrupted by Dandy Man open...just in case she came back. He began to cook eggs and bacon. It looks like he'd have a rest day today. He wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. The auroma of the two breakfast foods began to fill the woods altogether. For some reason, he'd made four eggs and double the bacon he usually cooked. Maybe he was feeling extra appetizing, but some would say as if he was expecting someone else to arrive and have breakfast with him. He sat down in his chair and began to eat silently. He'd left another plate of eggs and bacon on the table. He had a feeling...Rin would come to him first. She would be curious as to how he knew her name...he just knew it. Not to mention the fact that he was the one who was trying to help her stay unnoticed when Dandy Man decided to be the one to spot them out. If not...oh well. He'd been wrong before. He assumed only time would tell. The door was wide open for Rin. All she had to do was step through it.

"Alize, we probably need to head off too." Dianne turned and started walking back the way they came, and Aurelie and Alize soon followed.
"I doubt going after that girl right now is a good idea, as we'll probably still run into everyone again." Aurelie remarked, before shivering a little. "It's pretty damn cold out here too," she added.
Dianne produced a coat, wrapped her arm around Aurelie's side, and threw the coat around both of their backs. They pulled each other close, making the coat even warmer.
"That would be why I brought a coat, darling." Dianne giggled, causing Aurelie to blush.

"Anyways," Dianne continued, "We'll need to figure out what to do back at home. Something more than just a wild goose chase."

"You're brighter than you look, kid." Fate had said, acknowledging the fact that his proposition involved the young woman Matthew was just chasing. "Which is why I can see us being partners in crime, so to say." Malcolm then elaborated. "As I'm sure you know by now, after my splendid performance, what that young woman is is the possible destroyer anything and everything. Or, as the Shikaku might label her: A 'liability'. You can understand what that means, I'm sure you can. So, how about you help me with something selfish, and I'll do the same?"

It was simple, really. Fate hadn't tried to butter his words up, so it would be obvious he reworded, "Hey, can I use you?" to even Matthew himself. But Malcolm wasn't worried about him getting upset or declining because of an obviously hidden ulterior motive for this partnership. In fact, it'd make things simpler if Matthew understood that. Fate was a selfish man and that wasn't something he bluffed about. It wasn't something people wouldn't know. You could tell just by how he acted and did things. That was part of who he was. So, why try to hide that when discussing a partnership? They each had something to gain out of it, and that's all that really mattered.

Juliet, not knowing quite what to do, basically just stood there next to her leader politely. She idly listened to the conversation, slightly concerned about where it was headed. Juliet found her self at one point staring at the young girl that everyone was calling "the destroyer". She had read stories about this destroyer person any times, if the young woman was the destroyer, well, Juliet still wouldn't really mind. She'd probably try to make friends with her the next time they met. If they ever do again.

Come along, Stein. I could use some pleasant company, he'll be in a foul mood after this." He put the hood of his robe back up and turned to walk away from the group, pausing long enough for anyone that wanted to grab him before he left to do so.

Juliet nodded and walked closely beside him as they departed. Pausing with him when he did.id didnt seem like anyone was going to stop him so she took some steps forward heading back to either the base or the place they were previously at.

"...as much as I hate to admit it, I'm used to this kind of partnership between us." Matthew sighed. After all, a partnership was, at it's core, when two parties decided to work together to head towards their own selfish goals, and the goals just happened to be on the same route. That was how he and Fate worked.

"And? What do you want me to do?" he asked. "...keep her safe? I can't think of any other reasons why you would ask me..."

"Heh, that's part of it." Fate smirked, then continued. "But keeping her safe isn't specific enough. More importantly, do you know how to make a friend?" he asked. Fate needed Matthew to be close to her, not only for scouting purposes, but for another reason as well. Of course, that was not anything Matthew had to know at this time.

"I'm sure protecting her from your favorite band of punks will come natural anyways."

((OOC: I'm so sorry for being gone so long! D: I'm going to try to make more posts this week. Once this week is over, I'm on summer break so I should be on here a lot more often :) ))

Rin kept running until she finally was too tired to continue. What was she going to do? She had no reason to trust anyone anymore and there was a high possibility of people following her. She leaned on the tree by her to catch her breath.

Images slowly started to make their way back to Rin. With a shake of the head, she refused to remember. It wasn't the right time to mourn a loss. She'd have to do that later. For now, she had to continue running. Pushing herself back up, she went back to running.

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"Simply means I get more time with you, Alize. After all, you're one of a kind." Fate said as Alizé grimaced.

"I'd rather die than spend that time with you." She muttered before he was off chasing the Destroyer.

"Alize, we probably need to head off too." her Mistress said as she nodded in response and quickly followed them, quietly listening to their conversation without interrupting.