The Coming Darkness

She blinked away her tears and smiled back at him, rolling her eyes at how self assured he was, but was comforted by it. She thought about saying goodbye, but for some reason the words couldn't come out. If she were to say them, she'd feel like she was saying goodbye forever. So instead, she stepped into him again, leaning up to kiss his cheek. Her lips hovered near his ear and she whispered, "I'll miss you." before running off after the others. If she stayed any longer, it would only get harder - it was better to just do it fast, like peeling off a band aid.

But even when she was now behind the others, she couldn't help but look over her shoulder and give him one last glance before he left. Be safe...

He gave her one last smile, he felt a little better seeing her regroup with the others. He turned and gave her a small wave. "I swear..she somehow makes me feel better about everything.." He now, had to go let Silver know he was leaving. She was involved too, and she'd kill him if he left without telling her. He made his way into the cafe, he was pretty sure he saw her there. He skimmed the room and found her sitting with some guy who was hugging her and being a bit too close. He raised his eyebrow remembering he was with her but this was a little different. He walked over to Silver and patted her on the shoulder. "Hey, Silver..who's your friend here?" He gave him a fixated glare, both suspicious and curious.

She did her best to give Eos and Volitaire privacy. She had a bad habit of eavesdropping, but, these were her friends. Maya slowed back to put an arm around Eos. She hugged her lightly, and that was all. Maya didn't pry, but she hoped she still wasn't overstepping her boundaries by giving Eos a hug. Her arm dropped down, and she resumed walking, as if nothing had happened. Strange things, strange world... she glanced around, just attempting to go with the flow.

Enzo looked to see the strange, 4-eyes teacher before them. "Yeah. we're o-okay." Enzo tried his best not to think about his departure. He had figured that Marcus was either a high ranking student, or a teacher of some kind, since he was the most approachable of all.

"I'm.. Enzo... Enzo Ferrari." He introduced himself. It reminded him of Arthur, and how he hadn't seen him for a while. This only increased his overall worry.

Meanwhile, Enki stood close by Enzo, thinking up of a good time to talk to the ringholders about what their rings were for. If they were all going out to dinner, he'd be able to tell them there. He caught sight of Maya, and smiled a little, seeing as how even though his search was meaningless, she still came back okay.

As Maya was glancing around, she noted Enki actually... smiling at her. It was definitely something she had not seen before, considering how he usually acted. She lightly smiled back, but realized that it might have not been his intention to catch her attention. It probably wasn't anybody's. She looked down, thoughts stirring. For a moment, all of her senses and abilities drifted away. Maya found herself sitting in a dark, cold, foggy place. Her arms were around her knees and her head down. She looked up, frightened, and saw nothing and no one. Wait, no... There was someone sitting across from her. It was someone she had never seen before. Was it even a person? She leaned her head back down, only making herself more scared.

When she snapped back to reality, she realized she was still standing in the exact same position. She looked down at her body and hands and chuckled nervously. There is something wrong with me. She shook her head.

It was that man who had spoken to her in Russian before. Sasha looked up, nodding a little bit, "S'nice to meet ya," she replied, "Name's Sasha."

David looked up at the boy approaching, noting he seemed sort of.. Dark. He smiled at him, not really wanting him to be there and interrupting he and Silvers little moment, but trying to be friendly. Silver stopped hugging him and looked to Voltaire. "V-Voltaire, this.. This guy used to be my best friend when I was very little. I.. I thought he got killed, but here he is..." Silver smiled at Voltaire, clearly very happy that David was here. "His name is David." David looked back at Voltaire and smiled a bit more sincerely this time. "Hiya, friend." Oops, was he allowed to call him that? Well, any friend of Silver's was a friend of his, he thought. Whoa. Silver had friends. That was strange.

Volitaire curved his finger over his lip. "It seems everyone is igniting old friendships today...but I'm glad he's alive for your sake." He turned to David but couldn't really grasp what exactly he was. "Hello, umm..David. Well, as your heard Silver my name is Volitaire. Strange yes, but eh...so I guess your having a little reunion?" He slightly chuckled. "I guess I'll leave you both be then. Well, I really came over to tell Silver that I'm leaving again. I'll probably be back...umm, soon...take care of her now. I don't want to come back and see her in trouble. She's like a little sister, so I'm expecting you to keep an eye on her while I'm gone. But do a better job than me, you've known her longer most likely." He felt like he was her actual guardian . It felt kind of nice telling someone to help look after a loved one. He sort of felt like JD. "It was nice to meet you nonetheless, David. Hope I run into you again under a different circumstance." He waved at them and turned to go find Enzo. He remembered him being with that blue hatted fellow...

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold it." Silver stood up, putting her hand on Voltaire's shoulder and leaving David behind. "You're leaving? Already? Without me?" No way, Silver couldn't allow that. Maybe he could convince her to take him this time? Maybe David could come along, even. She's not sure why, but she felt a lot safer with David around. "I'm coming with you this time, no questions." She turned to David and sort of gestured for him to follow, and he immediately stood up, but stood there waiting for them to be done talking.

He sighed. He knew if he argued there would just reach a impasse, and she wanted to bring David along? He knew nothing of him but his name, and wasn't sure if he wanted him involved. He gave in after thinking about it for a moment. "Fine, Silver. You can tag along..I just need to talk to Enzo before I go." He kept walking out of the cafe and decided to go see if Enzo was back with the others still.

Enki noticed Maya's 'disturbances', but didn't say anything about it. It seemed to be troubling her. "I can see why Sky is always so careful to protect his friends..." He said. "I've never really had any other friends beside Sky, but, like him, i'm willing to make some new ones." Enki shuffled his fingers around nervously, hoping Maya would get the hint. Anyone he had let get close to him, had hurt him in some way, with the exception of Enzo.

Meanwhile, Volitaire approached Enzo. "Voli?" He said. Even though they were friends, Enzo didn't have the slightest clue of his struggles. Was it for the best?

It completely surpised Maya that Enki had spoken to her. Was it that obvious? She looked down as he spoke.
"I thought we were already friends, Enki." Maya tilted her head slightly before finally looking up at him and nervously smiling. She patted his hair lightly. "I might not be a good friend right now, though. I think I'm going insane." She slumped back and looked down again. Enki seemed so mysterious, and she badly wanted to have a friend, but it felt like her world was ending.

"Aha..I haven't spoken to you lately have I? Well, I haven't even spoken to you in a bit, with you doing your school..stuff..what do you do here, anyway?" He noticed the boy from before who was speaking to Eos, he hoped taking her away from him for that slight moment hadn't still upset him.

"What do you mean, 'insane'? Is something bothering you?" Enki asked, feeling a need to protect his new-found friend.

Enzo laughed a little at how oblivious Volitaire had been to Enzo's social and school life. "Train, stuff like that. You've been pretty distant recently, Voli." He scratched his head. "I can tell when someone isn't happy."

"Hmmm...well, I should've guessed that. I've been distant because there's a few things I found out. I've been leaving to see these things for myself. But it didn't end so well. To get to the point I found him, the guy who killed my family, also, I know where that fire came from. And I see you've been getting friendly with Sasha...but I'll bother you about that later." He chuckled to himself, a bit excited to pester him about it.

Enzo's face only got more grim as Volitaire continued on. He found his family's killer? What was he planning to do? His train of negative thought was broken when he heard Voli bring up Sasha. His face turned it's trademark red and Enzo shook his fist at him. "I g-get friendly with everyone!" He shouted. At this point, he nearly had enough of everyone teasing him about the matter. Was it really that obvious?

"Yes, a little bit." Maya sighed, taking the time to be grateful for Enki. "Don't worry about it, though. I'm sure it will be fine." She gave a weak smile. Maya really couldn't afford to get too close to anyone, for fear of getting hurt, or, for fear of hurting them. Her gaze became fixated on something far off as she thought.

Ryuu's voice suddenly echoed loudly in her mind, and she held her head in her hand. He insulted Enki and everyone who was around her. Why, Ryuu? They're still my friends...

"That's the exact same thing I told Sky, but.. That wasn't true." Enki sighed, not going to push it any farther, for their friendship didn't start with a simple 'Hello', but rather by exchanging blows.

He snickered loudly at Enzo's reaction. "Calm down, I know you've probably seen me and Eos. But, I kinda wanted to tell you that the fire was caused by..my Dad. He raised from the dead and sent after me. He must've caused that fire for..whatever reason, also I'm going to go find the man who started all of my life's turmoil. That's why I left the first time...also Silver wants to drag along...but, I thought I'd do my best friend some good at least telling you where I've been."

"I guess we can't help the bad stuff," Maya chuckled. Realizing Ryuu was distracted, she added quietly, "We can talk later when he's asleep. My thoughts aren't safe." She made no big deal of it, casually putting her mind on something else and very lightly leaning on Enki, watching the others interact.

Enzo caught her attention, and she shook her head. Such a child, she sneered, and immediately hated herself for thinking so.

"I would go with you, but I can't.." Again, his thoughts led him back to the fact that he was leaving. It was slowly eating away at him.

Enki was a little confused when Maya mentioned about how her thoughts were unsafe. But again, they would talk about it later. Enki looked over to Enzo. "Sky, are we ready to go?" Enzo turned around and saw the two. He smiled and nodded. "Yeah.."

And so, Enzo led the way out of the school, and toward 'The Wizard's Treat'

[Finally]

She trailed just behind Enzo, afraid to look at him, for fear that the emotion she was bottling up would overflow. Sasha kept a stiff upper lip, her eyes hidden under the cap she'd slipped on.

Godammit, hold yourself together, Sasha. He's just a guy...That idiot...

A hand went up to tug on a stray strand of hair as her sneakers thunked onto the pavement of the ground. They were nearing the restaurant.

"It seems we're all busy. I'll see you later, Enzo. With whatever you're doing, kick its ass. I'm pretty sure with those flames you can do whatever you need to." He waved at both Enki and Enzo and turned to leave Sorcerers. Waiting for Silver and David to catch up.

Jacen followed Enzo and the others into town, to go to a local restaurant.
Whiterun...let's see what this little town has in store. Might actually have something to enjoy outside of food...which hopefully won't suck. "Enzo, what kind of food does this Wizard place serve anyways?"

6:00PM

Enzo looked up for a moment to think about it. There were menus, obviously, but the restaurant and it's employees used magic to serve their customers. For a lot of people, some kind of magic could detect what the person was craving the most, without even looking at the menu. He smiled at that. "Just about anything, really." He said in a calm voice. He looked back down to where he was going, and found 'The Wizard's Treat' right infront of him.

"We're here!" He said, before going in and taking the same large group table they took last time. At the other end of the restaurant was a small, shady figure, having a large dinner by themself. Enzo didn't pay much attention to whomever it was.

Sasha took a seat beside Enzo, but averted her eyes from the male, concentrating instead on the menu...which didn't really need to be used anyways.

This place brought back memories. The first time Sasha had seen Enzo...he was just a weakling idiot who couldn't pay a bill. But now..Now things were slightly different, though Sasha would never admit it. Her eyes took a little sideglance at him, then immediately shot back to the menu.

Idiot...

The shady figure left the table, and went over to the reservations booth. The person's movements were familiar, which caught Enzo's attention. He couldn't help but stare. It was a small, old woman who was talking with one of the staff. Enzo narrowed his eyes a little to focus in. Is that...

Spoiler

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"Kenji!?"

Enzo covered his mouth, trying not to make a scene, but his shock took the better of him, making him shout. The employee nodded towards him/her? And walked over to the table Enzo and the others were at. "Is there a Mr. ...Ferrari here?" The table employee asked. Enzo nodded. "H-here.." What did he do?! He wondered as his heart started beating quickly. "There was a table reserved for you and a Ms. Vetochkin. The total is $125 for a private table, but it's already been paid for."

"Y-you what?! He what?!" Enzo started to panic, and Kenji, in his disguise. went back to his own table to eat, with a sly smirk on his face. A private dinner? With Sasha?!

"There was a table reserved for you and a Ms. Vetochkin. The total is $125 for a private table, but it's already been paid for."


At this Sasha's head shot up, "Wh-what?!" she exclaimed, her voice echoing across the table, and sending the waitress who she'd scared the last time scurrying behind a counter, "A d-dinner with him?!"

After a pause, Sasha sighed, turning her head away from Enzo in an effort to hide her face, which had turned a light pink in color, "F-fine...I wouldn't mind it..."

Maya was such a sweet and caring girl, a sisterly figure she had never had. In all honesty Eos didn't know much about Maya and Maya didn't know much about Eos, but despite that Maya still seemed to show a real caring nature to the girl. Nothing fake, it was truly from the heart. And the simple gesture she had made on the walk their only eased the pain of seeing Volitaire go.

As she walked with the others, she mainly stayed silent, working hard to calm herself down and not lose touch of her cheery demeanor. She even managed to crack a smile when she found out a table was reserved for Enzo and Sasha. "Enjoy dinner you two~." She piped up, waving at the "oblivious couple" as she walked away with the others.

"I wonder when those two will realize they like each other." She mused out loud as she took a seat with the others.

The employee led them to their more secluded table, which was still in view, but consisted of spaced out, 2-seated tables. There was already food on the table. It had seemed like they knew their craving as soon as they walked in. Enzo sat down, and looked at what he had. "Burgers..?" He thought out loud. Burgers and a soda of some kind. He didn't understand it, but his stomach agreed with it. The employee bowed and went off to serve the other customers.

Every single day.. it's getting harder to hold back. Enzo thought.Even if I do think of her in.. that way.. She could be a target for Darkness.. He looked up at her, and said whatever words were at his disposal. "Sooo..."


Enki took a seat where Enzo previously was. "I hope Sky confesses his love for her." Enki said calmly, with a smile on his face. "Love is probably as strong a force as physical power." He said. Then, he suddenly remembered. "Oh, right.. I have to tell you about your rings, don't I?"