The Coming Darkness

She nudged Sasha lightly and smiled as she sat down. Maya took a seat across from Eos, the same as they had been the last time they were here. She remembered how excited she had been to first have friends; especially Eos. Eos seemed very kind and upbeat, and she had been so happy, and...

Maya shook her head. Any happy thought she had, Ryuu was happy to destroy. She looked at Enki pleadingly, almost begging for her friends to help her, but knowing that they couldn't, and it was her problem.

She spoke to clear the air. "We better let Enzo and Sasha have their... privacy." She chuckled, wondering if she would be forced to eavesdrop. Enki brought up the rings, and she looked back at hers. She sighed and slumped back.

Sasha nodded at the burgers; she'd been craving them for a bit. Sitting down across from Enzo, the female seemed unusually...well...shy. Her cap was tucked low over her eyes, her face flushing a tad bit red, and her arms crossed, as if protecting herself.

Jesus christ...why am I acting so...so..self conscious?!

Sasha berated herself for feeling like this, annoyed and embarrassed. Her self beration was interrupted by Enzo's, "Sooo..."

Sasha's head jerked up, "U-uh, wh-what?"

Jacen opted to wash his hands before eating and came back to the table where Maya and Eos sat. Upon sitting down, he noticed there was someone missing.
"Wait a sec, where's Enzo at? He was just here, and I didn't see him in the restroom."

Enki looked to Jacen. "Sky's out with Cloud." He said to him. "But, really, I have to tell you this now, because The Gaze is in serious trouble." He paused for a second as he remembered the last troubled minutes of their time at the Inn. "Your rings.. The ones Destuction gave you. It's an honor to wear those, as it means you are the ones that protect the magic that is here, in your world."

"The Sky ring chooses it's bearer, and from there, it selects the wearers 6 closest people, and attaches rings to them according to how the Sky ring sees them. Right now, the rings are half-empty. They are missing their flames. None of you have your flame in the rings, but the flames themselves are here, in this world."

Enki looks down at the food infront of him. "I believe.. that once you obtain all of the 7 flames, your combat ability will increase greatly, and would give you a fighting chance against Darkness himself." Enki clenched his fist at mentioning his name.

"I uhh..." Enzo tried to find the right words to say. He knew Kenji's eyes was right on the back on his head. "..care about you.. A lot." He said.

"..care about you.. A lot."

At this, Sasha's face went from embarrassment, to mild surprise, to complete and utter shock, and then back again to embarrassment. The girl remained hidden under the safety of her cap, though her bright red blush was easily still visible.

Finally, a word was spoken, "R...really?"

"I do." Enzo took a sip of his beverage, and continued. "Which is exactly why.."

Spoiler

"..This won't work."

"You see, Darkness.. I feel that he wants me, for whatever reason. And he'll get what he wants by whatever means. He sent my best friend after out to kill me, and threatened his life, too." He took a deep breath. "You're a really nice girl on the inside." He smiled. "But i'm not going to have anyone get hurt over me."

Kenji looked down.

Silver quickly followed after Voltaire, with David trailing not too far behind. "Oi, Silver, are you sure it's alright for me to come?" "Yes, of course, why not? It's better with more people. Plus I want to see your skills. I assume by traveling all over you've developed some nice fighting skills, correct?" She glanced back at him, "..Well, I guess.."

She paused, waiting for him to catch up. "Plus, how else are we going to catch up?" He looked at her with a worried look on his face. "Well, I just don't think it's any of my business, really. I could get to know your friends a bit better if I stayed behind. Wouldn't that be a good thing? For me to be friends with all your friends now?" Silver looked at him, narrowing her eyes. She wasn't actually sure it was a good idea, plus, it sounded a bit strange. He smiled innocently in response to her glare, and she sighed. "Yeah, this is probably too dangerous for you anyways, considering you can't use magic and all." He huffed. "Hey now, I'm just as strong as you, even without magic."

Silver rolled her eyes and turned to go back to Voltaire. "Don't get killed while I'm gone. I wanna see how strong you really are." David smiled as he watched her go, casually checking her out. Dang, puberty has done good things to her.. "Oh, yeah, of course, I'll be fine." Did I seriously just think that about Silver?.. Of all people! He lightly smacked himself on the cheek, before turning back to see where everyone had gone. Silver, however, finally caught up to Voltaire. "..Sorry about that... Had to talk to him for a bit, you know.."

He blew some hair out of his eye, he looked a lot more focused than he was before. It was as if he totally abandoned how friendly was before. "Come on, we gotta get going. Montesque should be waiting." He started and made his way out the school, remaining quiet until they left school grounds. "Anything you want to know before we depart? There's no going back until the job is done."

Silver remained quiet the entire time she was walking alongside Voltaire. She shook her head when he asked her something. "No, if I need to know anything, I'm sure it will come up when it's necessary," she responded as she smiled at him. She looked forward and down a bit. To be truthful, she was a bit scared. She had no idea what to expect on this mission of theirs. But she knew everything would end up okay, no matter what. At least, she hoped it would.

Meanwhile, David had gone wandering, looking for the group that Silver had been with. He managed to stumble upon a place called 'The Wizard's Treat', and decided to look and see if everyone was in there. He noticed a few familiar faces, and saw Sasha and Enzo having some time to themselves. He blinked. So she IS his girlfriend! Well geez, I should apologize!! He walked right over to their table, putting his hand down on the edge, and facing Enzo, completely ignoring the fact that they might be discussing something serious. "Alright, I'll be quick, I just came by to say, I'm sorry that I made you upset to the point where you wanted to kill me even though I really didn't do anything, but I totally understand why you would get upset. I don't want to have a lot of enemies here, and you seem like a cool guy. So what do you say, will you give me a second chance?" he asked, smiling innocently with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"I'm saying that now because there won't be much talking when we get there...your Grandfather isn't a very talkative one." They reached the middle of the forest, light from the sun beamed down at one spot in front of them, there Montesque was standing as if he was waiting for them this entire time. "I knew you'd bring Silver. Are you both ready? There's no point in wasting time with chatter." Volitarie nodded his head, and then looked to Silver for her response.

Enzo relaxed a little, until a hand slammed down onto the table infront of him, making him nearly fall out of his seat. David wasted no time explaining himself. Enzo had no choice but to listen.

Afterwards, Enzo stared at David for a second, before laughing. "Sure!" He felt a lot better now that he had apologized.

Apologized? for what? Sasha wasn't his girlfriend. This confused him, but he was grateful that he took the responsibility of clearing it up between the two.

This hit Sasha like a slap to the face. Her expression was stunned at first. then slowly evolved into a forced grin, "Haha, yeah, it's okay. I get it."

You're such...a fucking idiot.

This is why you got hurt before.
You got too attached.
This is the result, Sasha.

You shouldn't have expected anything.

Sasha managed to squeeze out a laugh, "You've been a good friend too, Enzo.[/color]

JD had finally managed to catch-up to the group. After the entire confrontation in the woods, and the inevitable mentioning of food to Silver- he had inevitably parted to go handle a couple of things. One was the fact that his clothes were covered in the smell of smoke, and slathered a bit around the edges with ash. Another was the fact that he had a bit of a brilliant idea for something for Silver considering her infatuation with her swords- well infatuation was the word he would use for himself not so much for her. Inevitably this ended up taking a bit longer than need be so when he finished and managed to wrap it up- wrapping paper provided by some sneaky ‘shopping’ at the school- he was quite proud of himself.

Of course that pride eked out when he managed to make it back to Whiterun where everyone was meeting and Silver wasn’t there. Those lips drew into a rather disappointed scowl, and he slid up to Eos in his usual fashion. “Where is Silver?” Not really much acknowledging anyone else at the table as he flopped down with his twin. “More so- why so glum?” He sat his little present in his lap and brought his hands up to Eos’s face- pressing her cheeks in on each other and forcing them into a makeshift smile (which inevitably looked a bit more like a squirrel face).

Enzo looked at both David and Sasha. Sasha laughed, but it was clear to him that she was upset. He would have gladly accepted any punches taken from her. "It's about time you got here, David." Enzo said, looking up at him. "I've been holding this seat for you for about 30 minutes now." Enzo stood up, and pulled out the chair for David to sit in. She deserves better then someone like me, anyway..

He pulled out his wallet and took out a $100 dollar bill, made from the Castle Aurora mission, and the Battle Royal earnings. He put the bill on the desk and said "This is for everyone else." He told the two. He didn't make any eye-contact with Sasha. The air around the table was dense.

Then, he turned around and left the restaurant.

After the brief interaction with the students, Marcus decided it was best he were to retire to his quarters for the night. He realized it wasn't that late, but there was a good book he was meaning to finish, and hadn't had the time to. Also, there was the chore of writing up a lesson plan for the remainder of the year. Leaving the training room, and making his way across campus, he began to think to himself about what's to come in his time here. "It's a fresh new start, I better not screw this up. The people here seem pretty nice, I hope I made a good impression." He trekked slowly across the campus and to the dorms, walking slowly so he could indulge in the scenery. When he made it back to his room, he admired how clean it was, how neat, tidy, and the overall 'professional' look. He took his off his coat and threw it over the chair before setting off to make the room feel more like home. Unpacking his things, he pulled out a pile of books, a bag full of sweets, and a picture frame. In the picture was him, about twelve students, and tall, businesslike woman on the opposite side. He smiled and set it on his windowsill, sitting at his desk, and starring at it. After a few sentimental moments, he turned back to his work and began writing out the lesson plan for the week.

She kept herself hidden under her cap as Enzo walked away. Sasha had no words to say. She'd finally accepted...these...emotions...that she'd garnered for that man, yet had it all thrown away in a split second.

All she could really think was, You were so stupid thinking to trust again, Sasha.

She didn't even look at David; only stated down at the table.

David smiled as Enzo agreed to be friends. Whew, that's one less person to worry about. He noted a blonde come in and join the other group, he looked similar to the girl he sat next to. David figured they were twins. Whoa.. I wonder if they have some sort of freaky weird twin powers or something. He thought he overheard him asking about Silver, which of course peaked his interest. Maybe that's another one of her friends! But then, suddenly Enzo stood up to leave. "H-Holding?.. Wha.." Before he could ask what he meant, he left. David looked to Sasha, who seemed upset. "Did I interrupt something I shouldn't have?.." He felt bad, seeing the poor girl look so down made him feel guilty. Of course, of course. I never time things right. He sighed and sat down, wishing to help Sasha.

Meanwhile, Silver was with Voltaire and Montesque, who had asked her if she was ready to leave. She nodded, remaining silent.

At this, Sasha simply just sighed, her hand reaching to tug on her bangs a little, "It wasn't anything important. It was just...something."she sighed again, resting her arms on the table and head resting on top of those, "Nothing to worry about..."

((Y'ALL BETTER POST FAST BECAUSE I'M GOING TO CAMP IN THIRTY MINUTES QUQ ))

Montesque pulled the small group in a rift. Events blew by them instantly. But events only each other could remember would appear to each individual. Collected events replayed like a rewinding DVD player but stopped when Montesque witnessed the courtyard of Venciersio's manner. The rift stopped and the world materialized around them. Soon they exited the rift. "We're here..." The courtyard was still battle damaged. It looked like Venciersio didn't put any work into mending the ground. "Then lets g-" "You're back...I expected as much." Venciersio was standing at the treeline behind them, with two other cloaked men. "It seems you missed my parting gift, Volitaire. Did they not suffice?" Volitaire gritted his teeth and clenched his fist hard enough that he was pulling skin. "I got them...don't you worry..." Venciersio ignored Montesque when he saw Silver. He narrowed his eyes on her and recognized her instantly. "Malinda...I thought I was rid of you seventeen odd years ago. I see you found her Montesque. More scared children to come and confront me?"

"Are you sure? I mean.. I'll just.. Go over there, give you some time to yourself.." David frowned, standing up slowly and walking away. He was worried about her, sure. But for now he figured he'd give her some time to herself. He decided to stroll over to the guy who had mentioned Silver and make himself known with them. He lightly brushed some hair out of his face and stood next to their table. "Greetings, strangers! I'm new around here. So uhh, do you wanna be friends?" He offered them a polite smile, hoping they wouldn't think he was too strange.

Silver stared at the man who just called her Malinda. She remained quiet and let her face stay blank as she finally met such a horrible man. Her fists clenched, but she still appeared to be emotionless. She couldn't decide whether she was angry or scared, or even disappointed. He didn't even look like he could be a father, let alone a grandfather. She sighed. This was the man who had made her life miserable with a simple decision, and what could she do? Nothing. She glanced at Voltaire, seeing his was angry and placing her hand on his shoulder in attempt to comfort him at least a little bit.

Volitaire was too blinded by rage to care for Silver's comforting hand. Montesque looked at the two, more worried about Silver but knew Volitaire was about to act irrationally. "Volitaire..please, calm down. You remembered what happened last time you lashed out this violently!" Volitaire glanced over to Montedque from his shoulder and looked back at Venciersio, not saying a word. He squinted his eyes shut and started pulling on his hair, he shouted out and lets go letting tendrils coming from his rising aura rush out towards Venciersio. "Venciersio!!" The tendril traveled fast but came to a sudden halt when Venciersio moved his palm. A rippling force stopped and the tendrils were bent and struggled to break through, but couldn't get any farther. "Hehehe..you won't get to me like that.." Venciersio nodded his head and the cloaked men summoned undead magicians from other families, they prepared their magic and aimed for Silver and Montesque. "To play this dirty game, Venciersio! It's sickening!" The first undead Mage rose the ground around him, they telepathically floated around him. The second swayed his arm and the leaves from the trees tore off and blew strait for the group. A spinning rift coming from between Montesque's hands quickly expanded. The world around them turned a dim blue, and everything was slowed. Even in slowed time, Venciersio looked unimpressed.

Silver stared at the undead beings that rose before her, preparing to attack both her and Montesque. Montesque, to her advantage, had managed to slow time down a bit. She took a deep breath, readying herself for a long battle. "First.. We need to take care of one thing." She glanced at Venciersio for a moment, and closed her eyes. An illusion good enough to make him think he's winning, yes, that's exactly what we need right now. She focused for a moment, her ring glowing brightly. After a few moments, she grinned. "Perfect. Oi, Voli-boy, you wanna take care of those annoyances over there?" she asked, gesturing to the cloaked men and the undead attempting to attack them. She quickly glanced back to Venciersio, who seemed to have no idea what was going on. She grinned more.

"Good! I'll keep the Temporal Magic up wh- OOOMPH!" A Spatial blast tore through Montesque's Temporal Rift and time was resumed, the large rocks and leaves launched at a fast pace towards Volitarie and Silver. Volitaire remained quiet as he watched Montesque fall, he put his own Spatial wall, not as strong as Venciersio's but it did the trick! The rocks and leaves dissipated when they impacted the wall. Volitarie called it off when their onslaught was finished, his hands glow red and began to siphon manna out the dead Mages. They fell and turned to dust afterwards. Necromancy was especially easy for Volitaire, the other two Necromancers stood back and looked to Venciersio for what to do next. "Hmm..they're weakened from last time..this shouldn't be any trouble." The two Necromancers looked to Venciersio with a confused glare.

8:00PM

Enzo walked alone, with his hands in his pocket, and his eyes fixed onto the ground infront of him. He wasn't paying too much attention to where he was going, as his mind was stuck on what had just happened at the restaurant. Part of him wanted to scream out his apologies, and take back what he said. But another part of him feared for her safety, so much, that love wasn't an option.

His mind eventually moved on to Darkness, and how he would be able to stop him. If he weren't around, Enzo and Sasha could have been going out by now. Was this Darknesses plan? To drive Enzo insane? He sighed, knowing that if that were the case, it was working.

Looking back up to the horizon, he realized he was standing infront of the dorm building. He casually made his way inside, and to his room. There, he packed what he needed to pack inside of the same traveling bag he used to move from his dad's house to the dorm.

Afterwards, he flopped down onto the computer chair and rested his head into his arms. "Forgive me." He muttered.

Silver grinned at the Necromancers, deciding to have a bit of fun with them while Voltaire was taking care of the undead. She took out one of her swords, which ignited itself in an indigo colored fire, and stabbed it into the ground, the fire spreading towards them and surrounding them. Slowly, it moved in on them, barely touching them and rising above their heads, trapping them. The flames gave off an immense heat, heat you could feel dozens of feet away. Silver grinned more as she watched them squirm, unable to escape their torture. She casually walked over to them, picking up the sword she dropped on the way, and stabbed both of them in the throats, turning her swords and pulling them out quickly. Silver didn't believe in decapitation; she much preferred to let her enemies bleed to death or suffocate. She dropped the fire illusion she had going for them and tore off a bit of one of their cloaks, wiping off her swords. She didn't want to stain them.

She decided to break the illusion she had on Venciersio, considering the beings she had in the illusions representing Voltaire, Montesque and herself were almost dead. She stared at Venciersio as she continued to wipe the blood off her swords.

Venciersio squeezed his eyes, a sudden pulse just boomed in his head and wavered throughout his head. He saw his Necromancers fall and looked in shock. "They were just losing...what happened!? My head seems to hurt a bit, did I fall into some sort of illusion? If so..which one of them has that ability!?" Venciersio found himself coiled up in chains by Volitaire before he could finish collecting his thoughts. He was slightly impressed he was tricked so easily. "I see...so all that was a ploy. Nicely done, I didn't expect an illusionist in the group. But you have me bound, and I can't use my Spatial magic with my muscles all compressed like this...you have me in a tight spot." Venciersio looked at the three, he continued to wonder who cast the illusion. "Perhaps fighting all three of them at once may be a issue...I'll pick them off one by one. Starting with Montesque, he'll be the most troublesome aside from the illusionist."

"JD, nice to see you, too." Maya mused. "She went off with Volitaire."
Maya leaned back in her seat, her hand brushing her hair back. She looked over only to see David. He's here? She scoffed a bit, wondering if he even recognized her. Too many goddamn 'friends' to be comfortable, she thought to herself. She looked around quickly, and the others seemed open enough. She put aside her feelings to go along with the group. "As it seems you have been accepted by Enzo," she looked over to Sasha, "I think you're okay with all of us. Come, sit." She smiled.

Silver walked over to Venciersio, looking him straight in the eyes. "Why did you do it? Why did you make my mother give me up? And who was my father, why did you hate him so much?" Silver stared at him with a serious expression. She was here, he was there, and she wanted answers. Montesque avoided the topic of her father before, so she figured Venciersio might tell her. She threw down the rag she was cleaning her swords with, and held them in her hands at her sides.

Meanwhile, David was making friends. Or he was trying to. He smiled at Maya's comment and sat down next to her, putting his hand over his mouth as if he were whispering to her. "By the way, how are you feeling?" He put his hand back down and looked at the others, smiling. He didn't even know her name, but he did remember her and wanted to be friendly. Looking at everyone's faces, he thought to himself. These are the people Silver hangs out with? Huh..

Eos found herself in a daze. She didn't even look at the menu, she just stared out the window - looking toward the tree that Volitaire once was standing under. But before she realized it, her order came. A cup of tea (something Eos could never refuse) and a large, sticky cinnamon bun. She couldn't help but smile a little. Perhaps her brain was so busy thinking about Volitaire that the telepathic order that was sent ordered his favorite thing.

Noticing her brother take a seat beside her she froze up a little - her heart tightening up but then relaxing itself. "Oh, hi!" She pushed out a smile for him and sipped up her tea. "I.. well, you already know why..." Speaking quietly she looked away, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Venciersio turned to Volitaire, who didn't even speak yet. "He was in my face last time...now he has nothing to say...as for Malinda, she can't know who her father is." Venciersio turned back to Silver. "You don't know...that's good. It unfortunately has to remain that way." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he grunted and the chains were broken and blasted away along with Volitaire. Montesque acted quickly by slowing Volitaire's fall. "He's on the offensive again...Montesque, he's immune to your Time Spells, sit this out. I don't want you to get hurt." "Voli, while I appreciate your care you and Silver can't handle him alone. I have other schools under my belt." He slammed his palm and the earth shifted and rose, splitting out of the grass. The rising stone went for Venciersio, he blasted it out the way easily. Volitaire was in the air after Montesque's first attack. He shot chains to pull Silver out the way and to attack Montesque. Venciersio easily dodged them and Volitaire fell to the earth kneeling. His shadow expanded and black humanoids spawned and gave chase. They jumped to surround them but were easily blown back by a shockwave surrounding Venciersio.