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Helpful Hand
Vivian crossed her arms. "Well, now that that's done, we just sit and play the waiting for now, right?" She was pretty impatient about these sorts of things. The things she hated most in the world was injustice, corruption, atrocities, and...waiting.
"Actually...I don't think we'll have to." Jason replied and a dark shadow headed their way, running actually. He turned, swinging Gehaburn into the hands of a large monkey-like creature, a Mountain Vulcan.
"Want! Women!" The creature grunted, it's eyes past Jason on Wendy and Vivian.
"Vermin." Jason hissed, gritting his teeth as he was locked in the stalemate with this creature.
"Give! Women!" The thing hissed once again.
"No. I have different plans." Jason cut deep into it's hands before swinging his blade and drawing blood, causing it to scream. He then kicked it in the stomach, sending it backwards. "Tonight, I dine on monkey soup."
Vivian made no attempt to assist Jason, feeling either a mix of sheer apathy or boredom. "...Alright, finish this quickly. We have a lot to do...I think."
"Quite." Jason replied, foregoing his blade in exchange for physically beating down the Vulcan, slamming his elbow into it's gut, then grabbing it's face and thrusting it into the ground. "Time to plant me a dumbass tree." The force of the attack cracked the ground and shattered the Vulcan's skull on impact, killing it.
"Aha! He did it!" Wendy cheered.
Vivian glanced at her wristwatch. "...Welp. Time's a wastin'." However, she was impressed by this display of power. Ever since they met a short while ago, Jason had never ceased to amaze her. He was so powerful it was almost unnatrual.
Jason picked up his blade, and it gleamed. "No. There's more. Do you actually think just one of those things could tip over a train like that?" He took a stance. "Both of you, you're going to have to help."
Wendy clenched her tiny fists. "I-I'll work hard!" She had to be able to help, otherwise, her training was meaningless.
Vivian brushed such words off. "Nah, I think we'll bowl this over easily." Suddenly, she turned to Wendy. "You are a fast learner; I think you'll do fine." Though, she couldn't help but wonder, why exactly was she growing so damn fast; it was almost scary. Maybe this was the result of being borne artifical.
Wendy nodded, smiling. "Thank you, Vivian."
Coming from several corners were dozens of Mountain Vulcans, hooting and steaming from the mouth, their eyes on Wendy and Vivian. "Don't let them get a hold of you." Jason told them.
She felt like shooting blanks; the idiot in the haystack of geniuses, but she couldn't stop herself. "...I know I'll sound like an idiot, but what happens if they get ahold of us...?"
"One of two things." Jason said as he gripped his sword. "Vulcans specialize in Take Over, but also have an insatiable lust for women. Either you'll become them...or get defiled."
Wendy gasped, and but then remembered, Jason was here.
"Now...let's begin!" Jason launched himself forward, immediately slicing a good ten of them into pieces. "As I've said...vermin." He slammed the hilt of Gehaburn through the heart of a Vulcan who tried to sneak behind him.
Wendy turned to Vivian. "Here, I'll make you faster!" She raised her hands, glowing a bright blue. "O swift wind that dashes through the heavens!.... VERNIER!" Vivian also began to glow the same blue colour as the spell began to take effect. "Quick, they're coming!"
Vivian's crimson eyes blazed furiously, before she kicked off like a bullet, managing to knock a few out with a furious barrage of kicks. She made sure her movements would be precise and such; suddenly, she ground to a halt in front of one, declaring, "Solar Dragon's Devouring Fang!" She thrust her hand forward, which was imbued with heat. Upon reaching her entire arm's length, it caused a viscious explosion that resounded through the air; the force of this blow caused a Vulcan to actually explode. Performing a few backflips, Vivian spun around in a circle, becoming a spinning top of absolute destruction that knocked off a fair few of these grating monkeys.
"So you can fight well, Vivian Starrkewolfe." Jason replied, cutting a Vulcan clean in half.
"I-I can do it too!" Wendy reached for the nearest Vulcan, covering one of her hands in invisible wind. "Sky Dragon's Crushing Fang!" She struck the Vulcan with her finger tips, utterly destroying it with air pressure.
"That's the way Wendy!" Jason called out, swinging his sword in an arc and releasing a huge blast of energy that erased half the Vulcan number, and a bit of the ravine wall. "Make me proud!"
"Yes!" She replied, and dodged the strike of another Vulcan, before releasing the Sky Dragon's Roar to take out five of them.
The passengers, still by the train as ordered, watch the spectacle in awe.
Vivian quickly assumed the proper stance. Heat amassed on her hand once again, declaring, "Rising Fang!" as she made an uppercutting motion, slicing straight through a Vulcan. "Falling Fang!" She slammed downward again with the same hand, completely bisecting it. Other vulcans moved like some puppet being controlled by its strings, without any warning. But Vivian easily killed it. One monkey. Two monkeys. Three monkeys. Four monkeys. She killed the beasts who with an easy grace that makes it look like she was dancing. There were no useless motions in that dance. Before long the area was full of corpses. For the first time—with a face full of hatred Vivian ran, stepping over the corpses of the Vulcans she had murdered before shooting around, slaughtering many a target.
However, ten minutes eventually passed, with more Vulcans simply crawling out of the woodwork. "Tch..." Jason hissed. "Where? Where are they all coming from?" A Vulcan charged at him, and he raised his sword, however, the Vulcan was cut in half immediately.
"What the?" Jason was trying to figure out who had done it.
"Maguility Sodom!" A voice called out, and a rain of teal swords began to hit the ground, piercing each and every Vulcan instantly. The voice then called to the group. "This way, come this way!" They could see the figure of a man standing a bit father into the ravine.
Vivian couldn't believe it. This smelled rather suspicious; then again, so did the chicken last night. "...Are you really going to do this? I mean, what if he's dangerous...You don't think about these things, do you?" She remained skeptical.
"It's better than hanging around here." Jason answered, so they followed the sound of the voice, and met a tall young man with shoulder-length black hair, wearing a long-sleeved shirt with suspenders and dark pants. He seemed to be a bit glazed, and Jason actually walked up to him and waved his hand.
He suddenly snapped back, looking over at them. "Ah, yes. The ones with the pest control problem." He walked right by them for a second, looking at the direction of the crashed train. "Those folks will die out there if we don't do something. The Vulcans are still around."
"You don't seem particularly bothered." Jason noted, not that he was any different.
"Oh, on the contrary, I'd say I care more for that lot most people." He said airily, before he snapped his fingers, creating a large barrier blocking the people from the Vulcans that could show up. The barrier was huge, just as long as the ravine, and just a stall. And the man didn't seem to be concentrating it on it anymore, yet it stood tall. "So, come with me?"
Vivian just surrendered to this surprising state of events which had unfolded. "...But what if he's gonna cast an unbreakable hypnosis on us or something..." she thought to herself as she merely nodded, still rather cautious anyway.
"Follow me, this way." The man urged, and they could hear movement above the ravine. Most likely the train station come to fetch the fallen. The man led them through darkness until they reached what appeared to be a lightsource.
"A cabin!" Wendy exclaimed.
"Sharp little one, aren't you?" The man chuckled sardonically. He opened the door, and walked in. The sight was breathtaking. Seemingly small on the outside, inside, the cabin was more like a mansion. He slide across the floor, landing in chair that seemed to take him right to the kitchen.
"Whoa...this is...." Wendy seemed to be at a loss for words.
"A complex bit of magic, took me five minutes to get it all down." He explained, levitating plates of glazed salmon their way. "Sit, sit. I think we should get onto introductions."
Vivian thrust her hand out the man rather imposingly. I'm Vivian Starrkewolfe, former Rune Knight and INCOMPARABLE SUPERCOP. You are...?" It was always shouted at the top of her lungs, that 'incomparable supercop' line. Almost off-putting.
"Me? I'm the Doc-" He cut himself off. "Sorry, wrong wrong introduction. Seireitou Takahashi." He grasped her hand. "It is truly a pleasure. And who are you two?"
"I'm Jason LaHote, and this is Wendy Marvell." Jason introduced himself and Wendy.
Vivian thought to herself, "...Now, where is his police box..." Saying out loud, "...Is there any reason in particular you helped us?" ...That oughta throw off suspicion.
"I was just passing by, and I felt the need to play exterminator." Seireitou replied. He then got quiet, staring at the wall for a full minute before snapping back to reality. "The Vulcans can get quiet rowdy during this time of the season, but they're easy picking."
Vivian growled, "....'Quite rowdy?' ...That's an understatement. But thank you, none the less." She glanced over Jason, rather impatiently. "...Should we tell him what happened and what we're doing? He doesn't seem to be an enemy."
Seireitou chuckled. "'Enemy' is subjective. Are you affiliated with the council?"
"She was." The voice of a young boy came from the upstairs balcony. He had stark-white hair and was wearing an outfit very similar to Jason's. In his hand was a rather large book. He slid down on the railing, landing neatly on the rug. "The white-haired one was part of the Council, I'd seen her before."
Wendy was quick to speak up. "She's not anymore though. She's with us. We're the Akatsuki Mage Guild."
"Never heard of it." The boy replied briskly. "I'm Raian Slade by the way, who the hell are you?"
Everyone quickly went through introductions again.
Vivian couldn't believe it, really. Everything was eerily calm- almost unnerving. "...So, where are you two from? I swear that I've vaguely heard of you..." though, she wasn't sure. Hell, she wasn't sure of much anymore; these past couple of weeks had thrown her off balance and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. She thought to herself how nervous she was, before keep up a rather fragile smile and nodding along with every word these two said.
"We're members of the Oniwabanshū." Raian snapped his book shut. "A group of mages that oppose the dark new council we've had to endure. That's how I know about her." He jabbed his finger in Vivian's direction. "I'd seen her before."
Seireitou, who had vanished for a second, was back with a packet of fish fingers and a bowl of custard and proceeded to dip a fish finger into it and eat it.
"Um...why are you wearing suspenders? And eating fish fingers with custard?" Wendy didn't want to ask, but she couldn't resist the temptation.
"Why? Suspenders are cool." Seireitou replied airily. "And this...I just had a hankering for it."
Vivian crossed her arms, unimpressed. "...Lemme guess, you'll say that snap-backs are also cool as well?" She muttered something under her breath which couldn't be made out as well.
"But yes; they have grown rather...for a lack of a better word, more corroded than my ma's eye infection. Hmm..." she began to think; the monkeys began to draw on the chalkboard again. "...How about, we work together...?"
"No." Jason flat-out refused. "I am..." He struggled on the word. "...grateful for your assistance, but we don't need the additional number."
"It's fine." Raian replied. Seireitou was staring off into space again, apparently fixated on something. "The Oniwabanshū isn't in a true need of additional number, and joining up with a recent guild like yourself couldn't possibly benefit us."
"That's the spirit!" Seireitou said, snapping out of his daze. "Kill the Germans!"
Vivian squinted her eyes. "...What." That was all she could say; this guy reminded her of a certain devil woman whom she could vaguely remember; but that person had managed to nearly drive her insane in the span of ten minutes. With all those cartwheels and stuff, it was a wonder that she wasn't in jail by now. But that wasn't the problem here; Vivian merely nodded and smile. "...I see, I see."
They all continued to shoot the breeze for about an hour, more than content to discuss their mutual loathing of the Council. Jason went as far as to open up a bit, and discuss his loathing for overly cruel individuals. Wendy was close to his side at this time, and it was obvious this hate was directed at the scientist that had thrown her away like trash. The injustice still rankled within them both.
"You care for that child, don't you?" Seireitou asked, strangely seriously for a moment, his blank eyes focusing on Wendy.
"More than you know." Jason replied, putting an arm around the child and bringing her close. She was more than happy to reciprocate this attention, placing a hand on his stomach and smiling. She always felt safe here.
Vivian actually shot Jason a pissed-off glare for whoever-knows reason. "...Riiiight, this certainly is suspcious." It was clear now that Vivian was just hurt by their reactions or something. She leaned over to Jason, informing him, "Maybe they know something about Wendy...?"
"Oh? No, nothing at all." Seireitou replied, waving that away. "Though I've seen a girl like her before, in the infamous Fairy Tail Guild. Haven't been seen for seven years, at least the core members. Absolutely tragic."
"...I see." She wasn't sure what to say, exactly; maybe she was snooping around in the wrong places. This felt more awkward than the time she'd waved to her superior in the streets and he pretended that he didn't know her; she didn't understand why, exactly. "...Sorry to hear that."
"He was being sarcastic, I assure you." Raian sighed.
"Hey, don't tell them that, make it look like I care!" Seireitou insisted desperately.
Vivian looked pretty unimpressed by the duo's antics. "Erm, well. Thank you for helping us before, I guess we'll be on our way..." she looked as if she were about to just bail out of there.
"She's about right, the next train should be stopping soon." Jason got up from where he was sitting and Wendy followed suit. "I'm sure the vermin have vanished."
"Thanks for your help!" Wendy said cheerfully as they left.
Seireitou looked at Raian and then back at the exiting guild.
"A very interesting group. Akatsuki."
Smooth Sailing
"Not again..." Jason sighed. He kept a firm grip on Vivian's waist as they navigated to their compartment. He opened the door and they walked inside. "You are going to have to do something about this."
Vivian was finding it to concentrate due to the previous turn of events; though she continued to think about many things; the council, Jason, Wendy...those two guys..."Kya!" she let out a high-pitched squeal; suddenly, she found herself losing her balance, stumbling forward rather crashingly...
...right on top of Jason, accidentally pushing him down to the compartment, falling on top of his body. In a mishap that happens only rarely, their lips met, resulting in surprised expressions from both parties. Jason noted that he felt tongue, but he quickly straight them out, helping Vivian into a seat, and sitting down himself, his face actually red for once. Wendy sat down next to him.
"Did they kiss?" She was mulling it over in her head. "I don't like that. I feel weird...why?"
Vivian's face was a permanent blush . "...Blegh! ...Ew, how disgust-" she couldn't finish her last sentance. "...I didn't mind it..." She bit her lip, trying to stop herself from having these feelings of embarrassment. "...Uh, I..." she was so awkward right now; she felt like she should dissapear. "....So..." she couldn't form a coherent sentance to him.
Jason wasn't looking her in the eye. "I..." He could only get that word out. "It..." He couldn't up a coherent sentence either. Wendy's unease deepened. Would she lose Jason to Vivian?
Vivian still wasn't feeling all too well. "...A-Any...wa...y..." She slipped several times in her next words. "....How long will this train ride go for?" She was already feeling uneasy about the whole thing- this just made it even worse, if that was possible.
"An hour..." Jason replied, not taking his eyes off the window. Wendy, taking a bit of an initiative, moved closer to Jason, almost snuggling up to him in the seat. As always, this caught his attention and he wrapped his arm around the girl. This served to reassure her, though he did not know it. Jason himself quickly recovered from the shock of the situation just in time for an owl to come fluttering by the window. Jason moved torward it, Wendy by his side and let the owl in. It quickly dropped the letter it was holding, fluttered around and landed on Vivian's head, pecked her twice, and flew out the window. The letter that rested on the seat next to Jason bore the now familar E.
Vivian didn't look too happy. Her arms crossed, with a constant half-scowl, she suddenly relaxed and let out a deep sigh from the bottom of her throat. "...Great. Just flipping great." Noticing the letter near Jason, she quickly broke from her irked demeanour and questioned, "Well, go ahead, open it. Why do I get the feeling this is just MORE bad news?"
Jason's eyes scanned the letter. "Depends. It just says two things."
Wendy looked up. "What? What does it say?"
Jason simply read aloud. "Beware of snakes. Also, congratulations on that kiss, when's the wedding?" Jason lightly shredded the paper, and Wendy's hold became slightly vice-like.
Vivian's scowl became even more pronounced upon hearing these words. "...That guy, he really is like that devil woman." Of course, such a comparison couldn't be denied; she punched the empty seat next to her in a rage. "...If somebody brings that up one more time, I swear..." all sorts of evil thoughts crossed her mind as her scowl became a rather psychotic smirk. "...It won't be pretty. That's all you need to know."
The rest of the trip was rather silent, and Jason himself actually fell asleep with Wendy, lying against the train seat.
For some reason, Vivian felt a tinge of jealousy. She didn't know why, at all; puffing her cheeks out, the Dragon Slayer attempted to curb her motion sickness by resting her eyes for a few. Soundly asleep, Vivian suddenly had a flash of pain course through her mind. It was like she had an older sibling she didn't know about...White hair, red eyes, everything was similar...though she felt that this person was a being of pure evil. Nevertheless, in that darkness, there was a darkness that was much deeper. The small figure with red eyes was staring down at Vivian. The term 'Izanami' immediately appeared in her mind, and the figure's body suddenly expanded as the surface that was cracked open revealed red light that looked like bleeding.
At the same time, the horn of the being cracked in half as its eyes seemed to shine like a demon. Vivian instinctively felt that she was about to be eaten as her body would not listen to her. The fear that rose within her form a voice that roared out from her throat—
"And once again, you are still alive." Jason's cold voice, thick with irritation came from the seat across as Wendy was rubbing her eyes, awoken by the noise Vivian had made. "You woke up Wendy."
Vivian was still rather catatonic from the nightmares...or was it visions of a future? Nevertheless, she seemed to hiss in a low tone, "...Alright, alright, sorry, geez..." she remained rather put-off by that dream- what did it all mean, exactly? Who was that woman in those visions? She was far too distracted to actually notice the world around them.
"Bosco, last stop." The train's driver spoke the words to the train at large. Jason picked up Wendy's sleeping form and looked down at Vivian, who was adjusting to waking up and the motion sickness fading. "Before we disembark, let me educate you. Nightmares cannot harm you. Even the intangible falls to me. As long as I am here, you're safe. Trust me."
A faint shade of crimson covered Vivian's cheeks, as she crossed her arms rather haughtily; though she stuttered in a rather strained tone, "...T-Thank you, J-Jason..." She seemed somewhat reluctant to say his name; she was too damn nervous around him now. She began to stand up rather shakily as she attempted to stay on her own two feet.
"Then let's get started."
END