The Forsaken Art

Zelcys had fallen silent before saying, "While I serve the office of the Czar of the New Republic..." She paused, "I will not work for a Paladin."

"Well it will take a few days to get things set up." The passenger said. He got out of the car and Cress followed suit. He opened the door Zelcys to get out.

"I hope you reconsider. From what the czar said, you have an excellent reputation." Cress said to the cat girl.

She hissed, "It's not my reputation I care about, but the New Republic. Serving you? It's worse than the mages." She stated, with a flick of her tail, "Don't do anything that would make me raise a manaflayer against you."

Cress glared at her and rubbed the pommel to his sword. "You should heed your own advice wench." With that he turned and walked into the office.

"Wench? At least I care! You don't give a shit about anyone!" Zelcys shot back.

"At least I'm no a slut who sells my body to move up in the world." Cress said. The office was dark and relatively empty, save for the hooded members. The person in the chair spun around and greeted the both of them. "It's nice to meet you both. My name is Exeekiel Brown. Please sit."

Zelcys didn't sit, "I'd rather stand..." She said bluntly, returning Grungineer to it's polearm form. Her tail swayed slowly as she added, "I just want this thing over and done with."

Aldron turned to Anna, and wrapped her into a hug, muttering, "I'm so glad you're okay."

Anna hugged her father back, saying, "I am too."

She then turned to Amanda and inspected her leg. Aldron walked over, their backs to Emma's body, now covered with a sheet Aldron had laid over it. Anna pursed her lips, saying, "when the hell did you get shot?"

(The Big Epic Fix-a-riffic Post!)

"Oh, wonderful. I've got immortal aliens in my waiting room," Jordyn said sarcastically. The migraine was beginning to build and she rubbed her temples a little more furiously.

"Ah, yes, and apparently there's a bloodbath going on in the streets," Charlie deadpanned.

"WHAT?!" Jaide shouted, her eyes snapping open. It was CORE's duty to keep Venice safe, to keep it away from violence, and twice in one day they had failed. The mayor was going to have her head!

She ran out of CORE with gusto. There was NO way she was going to let this continue. She sprinted down the streets until she noticed a giant crowd. Stupid citizens! That's right, let's just hang out around a whole bunch of murderers. They didn't make her job easy.

Jaide phased into a shadow and reappeared at the front of the crowd lines. There were three people in the center, two men and a woman. They had all the signs that they were the ones responsible for the murders.

"Get out!" Jaide ordered, her tone that of a woman not to be trifled with. The audience was stunned for a minute but then they started to migrate like a herd of sheep.

Jaide approached the three with a very serious, very angry look on her face. Her inner shade recoiled at the sight of the woman and one of the men. It told her that they were Crusniks, very powerful beings not to be trifled with. Jaide, already cranky from the happenings of the day, couldn't care less.

"Who the fuck are you three and what the hell are you doing in my city?" She growled.

Jack heard the word "bloodbath" and that was it. He was out the door within seconds. He followed Jaide,who went ahead and parted the citizens, allowing him to get through. in the middle were several people. He didnt know what they were, but they had to be powerful, so he raised his arm to grasp the handle of his blade. At this position he could dart foward and cut his opponent down with a simple draw of his blade.

Trent sighed and stepped forward.

"Hello... My name is Trent Erund, this is Greyson, and that is Mircana. We're here to rid this city of these traitorous Jager, which we have finished. We were sent here on a mission to do so from the City of Arce itself. We have done so, and now we should be returning, now if you would kindly step aside, we will be on our way."

He was about to start walking when he saw the man reach for his blade.

"Hey... Man with the Sword... It would be great if you would stop that. If you attack us we would have no choice to attack back... And it's 2-3 in that situation. As I've said before, we only seek to return to the City of Arce, and claim our compensation for this mission."

Amanda smiled "When? That's easy. It was just as I'd picked you up. But don't you worry girly, I'm a tough woman. I'll be fine."

Jack studied the mans body language. There didnt seem to be any telltale signs, but he couldnt be too careful.
"And we know that those people were jager, and not ordanary soldiers...how?"

Greyson simply held both katanas and gazed into Jordyn's eyes, sighing as he reverted into his Crusnik form, still in his yōkai clothing but the katanas disappearing. He ran a hand through his head and sighed.

"Those aren't regular soldiers. And stop with the foul-mouth cursing." He extended four storm silver wings from his back and got on a knee, showing the two the Jäger regenerating from his neck wound. "Do real soldiers regenerate from fatal slash wounds?" He took a nail and fully decapitated the Jäger before rising back up. "And if you harm any of us, you'll have quite the army to deal with. The Venetian government has been closely allied with Arce for several centuries." Greyson's hair began to rise, his eyes become pitch black and fangs sticking out.

"And if you as so much as lay a hand on these two, I'll see to it your body is utterly annihilated bey-" A hand found itself on Greyson's shoulder, makings him relax and calm down. Cyprus and Annamaria appeared behind Greyson, sighing. (Crusniks speak in a strange dialect mixed of Slavic and Latin. For the sake of keeping sanity I'll post the English, but you still couldn't understand in IC)

"Good thing we came to clean up the mess," Annamaria said calmly. Cyprus, with his more than terrifying appearance, walked over and grabbed the Jäger body before disappearing in a sphere of blood. "Greyson, calm down."

"This woman and man threatened Trent and Mircana." Annamaria looked up and sighed.

"Just calm down Greyson." He stood up, towering over Annamaria by a foot and a half. His wings were extended, as well as Annamaria's phoenix-like wings. (Back to English in IC)

"Please, do not harm these three. They were on a mission to assassinate a Russian guerrilla member from gathering Intel on this city and all organizations involved with it." Mircana hid behind, looking at the man with the sword's sword with curiosity. She patted Greyson's back, giving a smile and wave to Trent.

"Nice job guys. I'll see you guys later." With that she was gone in a column of fire. Greyson stood solemnly, still his cold stare fixed on Jordyn.

"Sorry if I had gotten carried away. These two mean a lot to me."

Aldron sat down facing the two girls, staring into Amanda's eyes for a uncomfortable amount of time. Just sitting, and staring. She had always been the bitch he didn't want his girls around, but she had seem to change over the coarse of a few days. So he just sat and stared, trying to determine who she really was by reading her eyes.

Anna found this relatively weird, and instead started talking about cells and their manipulation with the doctor, something she did on a regular basis because it interested her.

Amanda stared back at Aldron. "You won't figure anything out by doing that." she said, a slight smirk pulling at her lips. "If you really want to know why I've changed towards Anna, it's because I know what it's like to lose a sibling." her eyes grew sad, just thinking about Garreth.

Aldron furrowed his brow, before silently getting up and placing a hand on Amanda's shoulder, and whispering into her ear, "don't say I didn't warn you, but you opened up to Anna, and she'll never forget that. It's like feeding a puppy, she'll keep coming back."

With a confused look from Anna, he stood back up and walked towards Emma's body, picking her up, sheet and all. He turned to Anna, saying, "we'll burn her tonight, tell your friends."

Anna nodded sadly, before sitting down next to Amanda and staring at her feet.

Amanda looked sideways at Anna and put her arm around her. "Hey, Girly. I know it feels hard now, but.... it gets better, in time. You get left with a hole, and a scar... and you end up wearing a mask... but you move on. And don't worry, I'll help you with it."

Anna sighed, wiping her eyes as they teared up, saying, "I don't want to wear a mask though. i want to be me."

Amanda sighed. "but that's the thing. You never get to be you ever again. I was like you, all those years ago. I was a chirpy little girl, always friendly, and I dearly loved my brother, but... but he... he... He was a Manaeater." she looked down.

Anna sighed, wrapping her arms around Amanda, "and you were a mage. That doesn't change that he was your brother. And just because you lost him, and just because I lost Emma, doesn't mean we have to be bitches, pushing away all emotion, right?"

Amanda shook her head. "If it was all that simple..." Her mind flashed back, remembering how they dragged Garreth off to be executed, his face a bloody pulp.... and she remembered how they beat her, too, they beat her whole family, just because her brother had been born with a rare genetic disorder, and eventually, they beat all the emotions out. "Maybe it'll be easier for you, Girly... You don't have to go through everything I did..."

Anna hugged Amanda tighter, feeling sympathy for the other girl, knowing she hurt much more than she did.

"I'm sorry Amanda."

Ezekiel just glared at Zelcys and pulled a large scroll out of his desk drawer. "I have been the executor of the Late Lord Czar's legal matters for quite some time. I helped him draw up this very will and it seems to me that you have essentially inherited the keys to the kingdom so to speak." He then looked at Zelcys. "And you.... get a boot to the head!"

Amanda laid her head against Anna and smiled. "Mmh... Tired.... why am I so tired...?" a few seconds later, she was fast asleep, cuddling Anna.