Unchained Bonds: Telltale Heart

Unchained Bonds Arc

Telltale Heart

Giving her wet head a shake, Gia brushed her hair out of her eyes and wrung it out. She felt extremely satisfied to have the dirt and grime out of her nails from her rigorous training, but it wasn't over yet. Her teacher still had more to show her, but they were running out of time. Gia was well aware that Alejandro knew she was a half-demon so he probably won't leave without a battle from her.

Her fingers gripped the marble sink as she looked at herself in the mirror. She had grown, that much was evident, but she never once felt like her age. She assumed it was because of her quick maturity for Running Lion, but she hadn't gotten to enjoy her childhood to it's full extent.

Her thoughts trailed back to that of her unanticipated master, Blakeley, and the strange marks on her cheeks. Gia had noticed them, and she was sure Haru had as well, she thought smugly. They honestly thought they were being subtle on the fact that they had kissed? Their magic levels had been all zippy and unbalanced, if they had wanted to keep it a secret then they should have taken a few more deep breathes.

Those marks had caught her interest and she couldn't help but wonder what they symbolized. Perhaps she would get her own after she learned this new spell? Or she was overthinking this whole thing and they were just birthmarks.

"Probably the second thing." she thought deadpan.

Turning to the clothes Blakeley had left her, she began pulling them on starting with the shoes. By the time she was finished she was dressed in a white-black shirt, matching pants with brown holsters and a pouch, black pants and matching knee-plates, black boots with a yellow trim that ran down the front of the footwear and lastly a black cropped jacket with yellow lining running down the arms of it.

She smiled in the mirror, happy with the choice of clothing. "Master has great taste!" she noted, brushing her long hair. Suddenly, she frowned at her hair through the mirror. How many times had it been grabbed, stepped on or even used to throw her around like a rag-doll throughout her years of growing it? Although, she liked having her long, dark hair as it reminded her of her origins, so that struck out cutting it.

A lightbulb formed over her head as an idea struck her. Opening the bathroom door, she called for the woman awaiting her. "Blakeley?" she called out. "Do you have any hair clips or hair ties?"

"Yudala."

Abraham plowed straight into Alejandro, finally causing extreme damage to the reckless Etherious. Alejandro choked and garbled as he was thrown back into a building that had long been abandoned, creating a large crater inside it.

''"Shit!" ''the full-blooded demon cursed. ''"This is bogus, how could he suddenly be able to harm me now opposed to the entirety of this battle?! Not even that Earth Magic user could touch me!" ''

"Okay, first: what! Second: the hell?!" Alejandro demanded an answer from the Black Arts user. Still staring murderously at his foe, Abraham remained silent.

"Oh I get it, you're upset with me?" Alejandro teased, trying not to wince as he stood up from the rubble. "Your friend is very passive aggressive, Master Jordan."

Jordan kept his face void of emotion, but internally he was swelling with pride. "You've dug your own grave now, Cross." he said bluntly. "At this rate we won't even need his daughter to come put you down."

"Put me down? Shut your bigmouthed ass up!" Alejandro snarled. "I refuse to even acknowledge that  you all believe that a disgusting half-breed will sentence me, a full-blooded demon, to my death bed? You're off your rocker, shithead."

Shrugging, Jordan didn't respond. Instead, he looked straight up at Abraham as he appeared to be waiting for them to finish. "You know what they say," he told himself. "You can't help ignorance."

"Not willing to admit the truth, eh?" Alejandro taunted, unknowingly digging himself deeper. "Isn't that one of the Five Stages of Grief? You do realize that by the end of the battle you'll be either depressed or accept-"

Before he could finish, he was slammed into another building by Abraham's magical power. Alejandro growled in anger at the audacity of the man. "Fine! No more Mr. Nice Guy!"

"You were being nice?" Jordan gaped.

"I was having a good day, but because of you imbeciles-REQUIP!"

Abraham charged at the full-blooded Etherious, adamant in not letting him get further but was knocked into the pavement below in his attempt.

"Ah ah ah," Regana teased, wagging his finger. "No cheating!" Jordan motioned to go after the water Etherious, but was caught by surprise when he was set ablaze.

"Augh! You again?!" Regana growled. Turning his head, Jordan found Blanco standing on the pavement helping his former student up. Smirking, Blanco made a crude gesture with his hand and used his flames to lift him in the air and power himself off towards the beach.

"You-! I'll drag all the water out of your body, foolish bastard!" Regana shouted with pure rage as he used his water to send him flying off in direction of Blanco. His distraction, however, was in vain.

"Soul-Snatcher Armor!" Alejandro introduced. "My strongest armor, Hades below I didn't think you'd all be this difficult..."

"Jordan, leave this place." Abraham told him in a monotone voice. When he received detestment as a response, he decided to say it a bit meaner.

"GO NOW, OR YOUR SOUL WILL BE LEFT AS JUST OXYGEN FOR US TO BREATHE IN!"

"O-Okay!" Jordan stuttered, racing off to who knows where. Alejandro laughed, clearly amused by Abraham's efforts.

"Oh Abraham, why? Why do you try so hard for people who will always hate you?"

"I...I know I have done horrible things, things that should leave me locked up until the end of time...but that shit will never define who I am standing before you right now. As humans, our destiny is to get up whenever we are put down. That is exactly what I am doing here, for everyone I have let down. And I swear to you, on my soul...I will see to it that my daughter has a future!" Abraham promised, feeling a weight lift off his shoulders and chest.

"Adorable," Alejandro chuckled. "Then let's see if you'll live to see her have one, shall we?"

The two adversaries collided with war cries, causing two gigantic black energy auras to appear in the sky.