ToTT: Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Aftermath
July 20th X792 -- 03:34am

Ezra was resting in the guild's medical bay. Also present were Sif, Eugene, Hayden and the children, most of them anyway. Sif winced as she had some of her wounds treated by Yukino, who scolded the other woman every time she moved, much to the amusement of the Werewolf and Dragon Slayer nearby.

Elsewhere, Michelle was sitting on the roof of the guildhall, her clothing still tattered. She had found a crow's nest-like structure to sit upon; her long, loose blonde hair flowing in the wind. She stared across the city blanketed in night-time darkness, lit by street lights and the odd bedroom light of multiple houses.

"Come on Sif, buck up a little. That pain's nothing compared to what we just went through." Eugene said in response to the woman squirming around as Yukino tried to treat her wounds. All the while, he kept an eye on the reports Ren was sending him. "Just try to relax, you're making it harder by being so tense."

Eugene was promptly met by an empty food tray launched at his face from his companion.

Ren was outside doing some pondering about the situation. As one of the few people who didn't do any actual combat, he felt that he should do his best to at least be their brain. He had already sent Aria to keep watch over the area as she wasn't hurt at all either, letting the others rest. With all the fuss that they cause there was bound to be people wanting to question them. Aria kept at the ready a spear, the weapon she favored contrary to her best friends Brooke and Brianna who preferred the sword.

It was then Ren noticed Michelle who was on the roof. Using a replicard and some Fortification Magic, he managed to run up the building and onto the roof. "Why aren't you down there with the others? At the very least, you'll catch cold with the way your clothes are. You're injured so go sleep you idiot."

Michelle's only response was a glance, and a sigh through her nose. "I'm fine...I'm an Elemental Mage.", she mumbled. She grabbed her hair, and swept it round so that it hung over one shoulder, and continued watching the city in silence.

Meanwhile, from the shadows, undetected even by Ren, another figure was observing the conversation between Michelle and the scientist.

"Well, that's not going to matter too much if you're low on magic energy." Ren said with a sigh before taking out a small container. Even though it's been a while since they had won the fight, many of the people were exhausted, both mentally and physically. In the case of those using up all of their magic to stop the projectiles, they had used up whatever stores they had and were almost running on empty. He took Michelle's hand and put a candy in it. "This will help restore your energy once it's been absorbed into the body. Eat it." Ren said with a serious tone before plopping down next to her. Whatever seriousness he had earlier was gone for now. "Man, you Flame Body people are lucky that you can just heat yourself up if you have enough power. I have to do it manually..." He said as he summoned a fireball. "Or maybe I'm just weak..." He said with a sigh. "So? What are you going to be doing from now on? All of your guildmates skedaddled on you."

"Thank you...", she said softly, as she ate the small object. "Well, not all of them left...Artemis came with us, so it's not all bad, I guess.", the woman said with a small voice. "Sting offered both of us memberships in Sabertooth as well. He had a big goofy smile on his face even after he was told about what I used to be a part of. He trusts too easily.", Michelle continued. She was twiddling a small knitting needle between her fingers slowly; it was her lance, shrunken by her Command T Magic.

"Yeah, there are a lot of easily trusting idiots out there, I guess I'd be one of them." Ren said in response with his own goofy smile. "Ahh, looks like Sting beat me to it. I was going to invite you to guild I'm in myself. I thought it'd be fun having you around." He said as opened up a soda and drank from it. "Want one?" He held up another soda can.

Nearby, Alex who was watching the two from a decent distance all of a sudden had the blade of a lance/spear in his head. However, it didn't harm him. "Eavesdropping on conversations is rude you know?" Aria said Alex as she pulled the blade out of his head. The reason no damage was done was because she used Percentage magic, increasing the chance that the spear could pass through his head. "So what have they been talking about?" She said squatting next to him.

Alex clearly had not went to get new clothes; his shoes were gone, as was his sweatshirt and t-shirt, and his shorts were almost torn apart, leaving him looking as if he were at the beach; shirtless and in shorts. "I was about to talk to her, and then your dad popped up.", he said in response to the girl beside him. "They're just talking about what she plans to do.", he said to Aria softly.

"I see." Aria replied simply although she had an expression curiosity on her face towards the scene they were watching. She then remembered why she came here. "By the way, Brianna told me to bring you some new clothes and shoes." As she said this, she pulled out said items and handed them over. "So why do you need to talk to her?" Aria then had a teasing smile on her face. "Did you fall for the woman that stole a kiss from you? Brianna isn't going to be happy about this." She said with a snicker before going back to normal. "So why are you just sitting here? If you need to talk to her, just get her attention." She said as they continued to watch the two of them talking and drinking soda.

"I could push you off this roof just by thinking about it.", he said in a playfully-defensive manner, glaring at the girl, as he took the clothes. "Thanks. And I'm just gonna let them finish their conversation.", he said afterwards as he glanced at the two.

Elsewhere, down inside the guild, Hayden was already bickering with his younger sister, the two almost barking at each other. Sif was sat at a small, round table with Eugene, enjoying herself a cup of tea, smiling at the handsome Dragon Slayer at the table with her.

Ezra was asleep in the medical bay, being tended to by a small number of medical experts, but the man's Healing Magic, at such a mastered level, was slowly, passively healing his wounds, even as he slept.

"I wonder how long that's going to take..." Aria commented as it seemed the two wouldn't be done anytime soon. "Want to just go back inside and wait?" She suggested.

Inside the guild, Eugene was pondering about how this might go based on the data he had received. It was then he noticed that Sif was smiling at him, for whatever reason he wasn't exactly sure. "You seem happy, what's up?" He said with a smile.

Sif giggled. "When you think a lot, your nose crinkles and your eyebrow twitches. It's adorable.", she said with a laugh.

Up on the roof, Alex sighed. He stood up, making sure he kept a hold on his new clothes from Aria. He pounced down to a ledge, and then onto a nearby balcony. He proceeded to look up at Aria and say, "I know you have the urge to do it, but try not to perv on me as I change.", he said with his usual smug smile and a teasing wink as he went inside to put the new clothes on.

Eugene felt embarrassed when Sif said that it was adorable. "I-Is this really the time for it? We just got through one hell of a battle." He said in response. "I'm surprised you can be completely relaxed now. I guess I should do the same."

"Don't get so full of yourself you narcissistic perv!" Aria exclaimed after Alex, also in a teasing tone. Afterwards, she gave one more glance towards her father and Michelle before jumping off the building in the opposite direction.

Down in the main area, Sif was even more amused by Eugene's awkwardness at her response. She had another sip of her tea, enjoying the taste. She paused, and looked at Eugene in silence for a few moments. And then she turned away, sniggering mischievously with her hand hovering in front of her mouth, testing for a reaction.

After five or ten minutes, Alex had changed into the new outfit he had been given. He investigated how it looked on him with a full-length mirror. He fidgeted with the zip of his new black hoodie for a moment. The outfit consisted of the hoodie, a white shirt with red beneath, white trousers, red Converse, and a pair of headphones. Alex seemed to approve. After, he went downstairs to the main part of the building.

He was greeted by Bree and Akabane, and started having a conversation with the two.

What the heck does she have in mind now? Eugene thought to himself in worry as he saw Sif giggle mischievously while looking at him. "I really hope what you have in mind isn't anything bad..." He actually wondered whether this was to just mess with him or that she actually had something in mind.

"You're safe.", Sif said with a chirp. "For now.", she said after, sniping the two words in with a chuckle.

"Ah, I see Aria finally found you Alex." Akabane said when Alex approached. He had been present when Brianna asked Aria to hand him the clothes. "What were you doing outside anyway? It didn't appear that you just needed fresh air."

"I was looking for Michelle, to see how she was doing.", Alex said in response to Akabane's question.

"So...you were up there in the dark...in only a pair of shorts that were basically gone...and her clothes were ripped apart as well?", Brianna said, with a slightly twitching eyebrow.

"Bree?", Akabane said with a puzzled expression on his face, despite knowing fine-well why Brianna was acting like this.

"Yeah, but why do our clothes matter? I just wanted to talk to her, but Aria's dad beat me to it.", he said casually to the white-haired Swordswoman. He raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"It's just--", Brianna went to talk but was interrupted by Brooke, who just joined the conversation.

"It's just that Bree here thinks you two were doing the dirty!", Brooke said teasingly, with an expression of absolute joy watching Brianna react wildly.

Alex's face went bright red! "Woah, woah, woah! Even if I did want to--", Alex went to speak, but he too was interrupted...by Michelle of all people!

She looped her arms delicately over his shoulders, half-cuddling the boy. "Awh, no need to be shy about it, Alex~!", she said in a tender voice, to purposely agitate Brianna. "It may have been cold-out, but it was definitely starting to get a little hot too until an interruption~!", she said again, but looking directly at Brianna, who was now bright red with a twitching eyebrow.

Alex tried to speak again, but laughter from Michelle and Brooke interrupted him once again. They clearly met up and organised this little "chat".

"Hahaha, you're getting popular with even the girls from the past. Good for you." Akabane said with a small smile, joining in on the teasing although he kept his usual composure. Ren who had come in after Michelle had was also snickering at how the situation turned out.

"At this rate, you'll turn into a harem series protagonist and have a bunch of girls going after you. Hahaha." Ren said as a joke mainly to get the image of Alex getting a harem of girls into Brianna's mind to sort of piss her off further.

Brianna growled throatily and punched Akabane, Brooke, Michelle and even Alex and Ren on their heads in a burst of speed and strength, walking off in a huff afterwards, leaving the group to lick their wounds.

"Ow...why me too..?", Alex whined as he rubbed where Brianna punched.

"Young man, I wish you good luck. You're going to need it." Ren said as he patted Alex on the shoulder. "How about going after her then and resolving everything before it turns into a big mess?" He said motioning for him to calm her down.