The Coming Darkness

He made a nervous chuckle. "I'm sorta new to being a romantic...I never really encountered a woman liking me before. Usually they stayed away because I fiddled with dead things time to time." He saw the pendant and his mind when back to his worries for a moment, but he shrugs it off so it doesn't kill the moment. "I would've wanted that dance too...and for that...moment also." He turned away to hide his embarrassment. "But it is kind of upsetting. Maybe the world is after us, testing us in a way. Seeing if we can endure obstacle and manage to come out smelling like a rose, and continue to grow as beautiful as one." His sensitive side was coming out. Reading those book on romanticism was starting to show and he caught himself before he could continue. He had a feeling she would prey on him for that.

Kenji sat next to Maya, tilting his hat in such a way were nobody could tell his identity, though, who else walked around a medieval town in a suit and fedora? "You shouldn't feel so down." He said. "The world is a big place, you'll never know who'll show up at your door, if you get what i'm saying."


Enzo decided it was time to give Enki some rest, and left his room. The hallways seemed pretty quiet, so he focused on everyone's possible situation. JD.. He had remembered the temper JD was in during the fight with Enki. He decided that if he would see him, he'd talk to JD. But for now, he made his way back to his room, and prepared to read the book he had been putting off.

Kenji spoke, and Maya admired how he did so. She still wasn't too fond of the words, though. "Thanks, Kenji." She smiled, making a last-ditch effort at expressing her feelings with eye contact before letting her eyes drop to the floor. He seems, almost, normal. More than I expected, she sighed, leaning back on the bench and feeling the cool breeze. Closing her eyes, she noted how impossibly serene it was there.

"Really?" Eos was shocked that Volitaire had never been romantically involved with someone before. "Well, neither have I... JD usually puts a stop to most interaction I have with blokes, but he hasn't been as intrusive with us, which I find odd... considering it was only some girlish flirting..." She paused and admired Volitaire from her laying position. "... and with you, it's a lot more than that." Realizing what she had admitted she tried covering it up with another nervous giggle.

"Maybe the moment will come again..." She mused, thinking about what kissing Volitiare might be like. He could be soft and sweet, or he could be bold and passionate... or even both~! Her heart fluttered again and she realized how hard spending the night keeping him company may prove to be.

Listening to his romantic musings made her smile, she had no idea he had a side such as this and felt giddy knowing not many have seen it. "You think so?" She grabbed hold of the stone and sighed, "You know, my brother often compares me to a rose. He says.." She proceeded to do her best impression of her brother, "... you'll always be our family rose. Yes, you're beautiful and surely someone will want to pluck you from the garden. But you must understand that you have to stay in the garden for your thorns are too sharp and too poisonous and will only hurt those that try and possess you." It was then she let go of the stone and let her hand drift across the bed to find Volitaire's, lacing her fingers with his.

"I'm sort of surprised he hasn't stopped me...every time I see him I think he has it out for me somewhere and he just isn't telling me. I've told him about my virus and other things, and I'm shocked he didn't pull you away from me." He grasped her hand as she laced her fingers with his. "But maybe you are a rose, if you are it wouldn't faze me none. I still am appreciative of you and like you a lot. But I know things don't last forever, I know that first hand. I'm just enjoying what time I have with you now, it's something new and it makes me happy to have. Not many things do that, and I feel like I have someone close to again. That feeling of...having something...it gives me purpose again. After I lost Einso there was a point where I thought I'd just end myself. Enzo was the one thing stopping me. He may be a bit of a social oddball and sometimes a jerk but he's my best friend and I need him, as I'm sure he may need me. I hope, at least...and I guess I'd need you too. Just like you need JD. But if you're a rose, you're a beautiful one. One that will never wilt." He said his entire little speech while hiding his eyes and cheeks. His face was warm from all the blushing. He never really showed his sensitive side to others, he was afraid people would look at him as if he was weak.

While everyone was creating various atmospheres of love, worry, and such, Sasha had been in her room, playing with water. If you were to enter right now, you would find swirls and swirls of water spinning in the air, along with various shapes and sizes suspended in midair. The whole room was practically filled with water.

Sasha stood in the middle of it, panting a little bit.

Geez, this little water used and I'm already tired? Pathetic.

Sasha kept going, kept fueling the water, determined to last at least another hour like this.

Her eyes quivered as Volitaire spoke, his vulnerability coming out with every sentence. She sat up, looking at him as if she wanted to tell him everything. But in that moment, Eos was speechless - unable to say a word. She needed him, and she wanted him to need her. And without hesitation, she found herself leaning in close, closing her glossy eyes and pressing her pink lips into his.

Perfect...

Quietly caught by surprised, he was silenced by Eos' soft kiss. His thoughts stopped, his eyes began to close. He leaned in further, closed his eyes completely and pulled her to him with his free arm.

JD’s power- no matter how long he uses it for- always knocks the vitality straight from him like a firm punch to the stomach. He figured that was better than the alternative: him using his ability until it kills him. Simply his power was extreme physical exertion that is triggered by emotion- ala he didn’t have much control over it-, and the pendant on his neck kept it from ripping him apart on a cellular level by inevitably ramping his emotions down. If he didn’t have it- well nobody really wanted to see that- but it wouldn’t look pretty.

Sometime after everything had passed he had pulled himself from his bed and found that his muscles screamed a little less when he moved. Slowly he slid his clothes back on and glanced over himself to reassure that everything was where it needed to be. “Bloody,” he grumbled before leaving his room. While JD hadn’t used his power for very long he had used it in an extremely powerful burst, and the after effects were seen all over him. Yet he tilted his chin up and walked with a confident swagger away from the cave of a room he practically kept himself in.
“I wonder where E is,” he stated slowly but inevitably found himself at a loss (not to mention that the tingle of emotion he was feeling from his sister was enough to probably send him into another spurt of rage- he didn’t need to see it).

By the by JD found himself outside of Enzo’s door sometime later- and he really couldn’t fathom why. He wasn’t going to apologize for his actions, but more so required an explanation from the other as to why he was stopped (beyond the whole unstoppable-man-anger he had had). He rapped slightly on the door before his hand idly twisted around his pendant.

Spoiler

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Spoiler

The Lady and The Book
Once upon a time, there was a land ravaged by war, and hate. People killed each other over simple issues. So, the overseers of the afterlife send down a woman named Aries and a book named Aurora, to restore peace. Aries was a special woman. She was the first Sky Guardian, and eventually, the friends she made along the way, became the missing 6 flames. They successfully restored peace in the world. That was, until Aries met a mysterious man, a warrior. The warrior was amazed by her abilities, and wished that the world could experience the same as he did. So, with Aries's permission, the warrior used Aurora, to grant magic on the world.


It wasn't long before the warrior longed for Aries, and asked for courtship. She could not, however, as she was tied with Destruction, An overseer of the afterlife.

The rest of the pages in the book are blank.

Sky... Enzo's wonders were cut off when JD entered. "JD.. Hey." He said, unexpected to see him visit.

She felt so small in his grasp, taking comfort in his warm embrace and sweet kiss. His touch was soft, but still as passionate as she expected him to be. Unknowingly, Eos spell that she adapted to be triggered by her kiss was setting off at that very moment - the power of her heart, and the power of the ring increasing the ability's affect.

But that wasn't the only thing altered by the kiss, with every passing second that Eos' heart, mind and body was aflutter, a strain was placed on the stone around her neck - finally, causing the stone to crack and chip along the center, a small piece of stone falling astray onto the bed.

Eos pulled away reluctantly, gasping and trying to catch the breath that he had taken away. She pushed the hair from his face and leaned her forehead against his, smiling. "I didn't want to waste another second..."

He smiled while peering strait into her eyes. He caressed her cheek with his index finger, letting it slide down he side of her cheek to her jaw and back up again. He pressed his body close to her and held her a little tighter, also rubbing his thumb in the palm of her hand. "Why waste a good moment, Eos?"

“Hey,” JD responded rather quizzically back. He had expected some deeper reaction, but apparently he could only scratch the surface with this one. “Look about earlier- I uh- honestly have no idea what is going on. Who is who, and what exactly is happening. Why didn’t you end him?” He stated shortly. “Maybe it was just a poor childhood on my part, but I was always taught that you remove all obstacles in your way- especially ones that could kill you- and I don’t know all of your friends.” He tugged a bit on the pendant in absent thought- the new ring on his finger clacking against the metal on the necklace.

Enzo looked down for a moment. "Enki is.. my best friend.. though I don't remember most of it." He looked back up to JD. "I promised I would protect him. His actions were only enforced by the corruption in him."

“A best friend you don’t remember? That is rather- um- hm.” Honestly JD didn’t have a word for it. In his entire expansive vocabulary he could only just form his lips into a thin line and before glancing downwards. “Right. Well. I don’t pretend to know everything here, and I’ll be the first one to tell you when I don’t.” It was the last part that JD seemed interested in, and his brow piqued in interest shortly afterwards. “And what corruption? I’m assuming magical of course unless your friend Enki has a terrible terrible gambling problem.”

Enzo laughed. "No, I don't think Enki gambles at all. It was Darkness, supposedly. He tried to get Enki to kill me." Enzo stood up. "He's fine now, though. And, i'm sorry about Eos. She didnt take any physical damage, from what I saw." He had a feeling he was still very much concerned about her condition.

Here Silver was again, what a shocker. This same black area with nothing around. She felt a chill go down her spine as she remembered what happened last time, and she took a step forward, only to end up falling through the ground. There she was, falling. Yep, she sure was falling. And she kept falling. After a minute or so she got really tired of it, but what could she do?

Suddenly she hit the bottom. It didn't hurt as much as she expected, considering she landed on her back, but it did hurt quite a bit. She sat up slowly and shook her head.

"What's that on your finger, my dear?"
Oh, no...
"Did I ever allow you to use something like that? No, I don't think so. I really think you should take it off."
She quickly stuck her hand under her leg, not responding to the voice.

"I said, take it off." Before she could reply, her entire body was in pain. A sharp pain, as if someone was stabbing her repeatedly all over her body. She keeled over on the floor and grabbed at the ring on her hand, ripping it off and throwing it far away. "I'm sorry! Stop, please!!" The pain stopped. She sat up again, staring at the ground next to her trying not to look up in case someone was there. However, a hand came down and grabbed her chin, tilting it up so she could see the other, face to face. It was him.

"My, my. Been a while, hasn't it, Silver?"

Silver woke up in her own bed again, panting. She looked around the room, clearly a bit shaken. She sighed a huge sigh of relief once she realized she was alone. Slowly, she got up out of bed, deciding it would be a good idea to check on Enzo while it was likely he would still be awake. She walked to his room, to see the door only cracked open. She heard voices inside, so she knocked before entering. "Enzo, hey I-" Upon entering, she saw Enzo and JD in conversation. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you guys were talking..." She looked at Enzo, who seemed to be in decent shape except for a cast on his arm. She frowned.

Sasha collapsed back on the bed, as all the water deformed and splashed against the floor. She'd reached her limit.

Godammit, I'm so fucking weak...

She sighed, rolling over.

I should have lasted another thirty minutes...

Sasha sighed, looking around the water drenched room. She slowly brought her arms up, levitating the water in the air, then closed her eyes, concentrating. Slowly, a steam began to fill the room. Sasha clenched her fists, and all of a sudden, no water was there, only mist. She'd sent the water back where she pulled it out from; the air.

“Darkness,” JD repeated with a much more pensive tone. Well that was insanely unfortunate given everything else that had happened; pitting friend against friend with some ‘corruption’ lodged square within them. “Ah E is fine. She was just exhausted from healing blokes- it is an unfortunate drawback to her power- much like mine.” Or at least JD assumed given the fact that he hadn’t seen her today. He hoped to all that was holy that something else wasn’t going on around here- especially considering there was a blatant lack of Voltaire’s form as well. It was then he rammed his hands in his pockets and glanced at the other.
“Look I am not of the mind to keep folks alive that have tried to kill me- sort of a family motto. But I guess Enki really couldn’t help it and the problem is resolved now. Not that I uh- am challenging your decision or anything. Doesn’t mean I’ll trust him though.” It was then JD sighed, “well that was it- unless you had anything to discuss Enzo- I’ll get out of your spikey hair.”

It was then Silver entered, and JD glanced down at his pendant before clearing his throat. “ Good day Silver- glad to see you are doing well. I guess I’ll leave you two to it; three’s a crowd as they say.”

As expected.. Nobody will trust Enki.. Enzo sighed, and before he knew it, JD was leaving, and Silver was entering. "Hey! Uh, bye!" He was too late, JD was already out the door. "Silver... What's up?"


"It's no problem." Kenji looked around the garden, quietly observing the others that were passing by and or enjoying the maze. "I get lonely at times myself." He said, looking down a bit to halt his observations.

Maya wrapped an arm around him and hugged him lightly, smiling. "Look at you, Mr. Bodyguard with feelings." She said jokingly. "I'm glad that you at least like me in some form, seeing as you haven't killed me for messing with your hat yet." She used her free hand to push his hat down lightly so that he could no longer see. Maya's other hand that was around Kenji slowly dropped, feeling as if she was making him uncomfortable. She looked away and blushed.

Kenji laughed a little at that. "I have spares." For once in a lifetime, Kenji actually felt at ease with someone. Was Enzo's phobia really just his problem? or was it something the girls knew about, and were capitalizing it? Either way, it made Kenji feel the same way in the slightest. "I don't mind what you do."

"I was just coming to see how you were doing..." She glanced to his arm again. "How's your arm?.." Silver looked pale, and he could probably tell that she was. Her dream had shaken her and she couldn't stop thinking about it, which is why she went to see Enzo. She figured if anyone could help distract her from it, it would be him.
She walked over to his side and sat in a nearby chair, waiting for his answer.

"Then you shall be my pillow." She said plainly, pulling herself closer to him and hugging him tightly. She leaned her head down on his shoulder and hummed quietly, adding, "If you really don't mind, that is." She closed her eyes and nestled herself deeper, maybe enjoying it a little bit too much.

"It feels better, thanks to the tea Eos made." Enzo looked down at his makeshift cast, and adjusted it alittle. He noticed Silver wasn't looking too well. "How are you holding up since the fight?"


This.. familiar feeling.. Kenji sighed. He didn't resist. In a way, he felt the same as her. Though he was a bodyguard, he was also human. Instinctively, he wrapped his arm around Maya. "Yeah, yeah."

Seconds became minutes, minutes became hours and Eos could barely tell time was passing. It was as if the moments she spent entwined with Volitaire froze the two in time, shielding them from the outside world. Their relationship was moving faster than any other, perhaps because they were simply meant to be. Or perhaps because they both knew that time was fleeting - and tomorrow may in fact not be in their grasp. And if not tomorrow, perhaps the next day.

She laid beside him, twirling a finger around the center of his chest - hovering over his heart. It was late, and she had little reservations about staying put and sleeping under his covers. But unfortunately, it was probably best kept secret for now, and someone coming in to check on Volitaire's state the following morning only to find Eos curled up beside him would more than likely cause a ruckus. "Hmm..." She peered over him to see the few teacups left on the platter. They were still piping hot due to a fantastic spell the Innkeepers chef knew. "I still have to go deliver those remedies to the others... I completely forgot." Her voice was soft, and a little bit tired as she offered Voli a content smile.

Silver smiled; Eos seemed to be very good at what she does. "Oh, I'm fine. I could do it all again right now. I feel top notch. Probably because I've slept too much today." She tried to play it off by jokingly flexing her muscles, which she didn't actually do because she was a bit sore. She grinned, and let her hands fall back to her lap, sighing.

Maya was surprised when he put his arm around her. She opened her eyes and sighed, just watching as people went by for a bit. Kenji was... interesting. Maya knew she could not have him, but something drove her even further.
"Kenji," she paused, biting her lip, "do you think you could ever have a real relationship with someone, even though you're a bodyguard?" Maya tried to play it off as a simple question as best as she could. She was glad that he couldn't see her face.

Enzo tilted his head a little, in confusion. He could of swore she was tired not too long ago. "Really? Weren't you just.." Enzo stopped himself, he'd rather leave it alone then to push it. "You look like you could last in a fight for about.. 5 minutes. Are you sure you aren't sick?"


"That depends solely on the situation at hand. In dire situations, the relationship can be a weakness. And, i'm not one for having weaknesses." Kenji looked down a bit. "If things were at their normal state, then yes, perhaps I would."

"Well, I think I could," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. Silver looked to Enzo, who looked confused. She looked away and sighed. "Okay, well.. Maybe I'm not feeling top notch.. Maybe I haven't actually been sleeping enough.. But I blame the nightmares for that." She nodded. She didn't want to just come out and say that she probably wasn't sleeping enough simply because she didn't want to. Oh, wait. Maybe she shouldn't bring up the nightmares. She looked back to her friend, an almost concerned look on her face.