The Coming Darkness

His eyes fluttered open to see the woman's chest hovering in his face. "Yup...those are boobs alright." To make things less awkward, seeing that she didn't notice his eyes open, he closed them again and moved a bit, making a few 'waking up' noises. He shifted into a sitting up position so that his face was in front of hers, and re-opened his eyes. "Oh, hey..." He said, calmly and in a weary voice, "I'm so sorry about that, I didn't mean to scare you. I guess the injuries decided to catch up with me." Marcus chuckled a bit, but it was interrupted by his abdomen throbbing. Beneath the Ines' worried face, he saw that in one outstretched hand, she had tiny pills, the other a glass of water. "I assume those are for me?" He gave her a kind smile, his cheeks flaring red again, he just wasn't used to people taking care of him like this.

A bit of grumbling brought Ines's attention down to the male teacher, who had just woken up. Immediately, the female flushed when their faces were close to each others', instinctively shifting back a little, "H-hello...No, it wasn't any trouble at all!" She handed the pills to Marcus, "Just rest up, it's important for the injured to get better as quickly as possible!"

Maya approached Enki warily, with Kenji still riding on her shoulders. She sat down, allowing Kenji passage off of her. There were random thoughts that made their way into her head, and, instead of speaking, she attempted to open her mind up to Enki and Kenji. Taking a deep breath, she looked away, but focused all of her attention on them. She felt the connection form, break, and then form again. Not knowing for sure if it had worked, she let random images and feelings from the fight flit through her mind. She finally looked up at Enki apologetically, her intent to side that she was sorry and didn't mean to. Maya awaited any sort of response from them.

At the time same, both Kenji and Enki's minds were linked, and they could hear each others thoughts. Huh.. that's weird. Enki thought as he could of swore his mind went blank for a second. Telepathic connection, Enki. R-really? With who?

Silver had been standing there, staring out at the city below them. It was so high, and to be honest it made her a bit uneasy. She glanced down the side of the building she was on and backed up a bit, still able to see the far away view from where she was. It was about then JD came up behind her and slid his arm around her waist, causing her to blush a bit. She smiled at him as he gave her a kiss and listened to him explain why he wanted to meet her here. "A couple things? Well, okay. Go for it." She wrapped her arms around his neck and looked at him, waiting for him to explain further.

Maya heard Enki's thoughts and answered. It's me. I just wanted to say I'm really sory to both of you. Her sincerity showed in her thoughts. Ryuu, noticing the connection, stayed quiet because of his true timid nature. But, with prodding from Maya, he added, Tell Enzo I wish him the best. It wasn't the real ...me, and I hope he doesn't feel it was. I am willing to protect him, or any of you, with my life.

JD smiled sweetly as Silver graced his neck with her own arms. He had wanted to tell her all the dark things about his past, but he found himself highly distracted by the fact that this was the first time that they had been alone together in quite some time. "You told me about all those dark things in your past- and I never once mentioned anything in mine." He tilted his head to the side. "I fear something may come to fruition- sooner rather than later. And I want you to know that no matter what happens, what comes to pass, or what I say- I care for you Silver." The blonde sighed. "I'm hoping that Voltaire and I can figure it out, but considering I haven't had much of a chance to speak with him- I'm a bit skeptical. And it may be nothing- of course I hate worrying about nothing, but I do that on occasion." His brows furrowed a moment and then he shook his head. "And now I'm rambling. Either way- I would be more specific Silver if I knew what was going on, but there seems to be a curse on me and E. That is the beginning and ending of my knowledge." JD thought about mentioning E's incidents with the 'Sleeping Brother', but instead he just let himself be quiet about that. He hoped that Voltaire could help him with his problem before it was too late, but considering how frequent his episodes were getting- well he honestly didn't know.

"But that is not the sole reason I asked for you to come up here, but I thought I would mention it. Like I said it could be nothing- or it could be something. And if the latter is the case- I want us to have some time together for the impending shit storm. Of course considering how Sorcerer's is- there is always an impending shit storm." With that JD leaned in pulled her close- breathing softly on her lips before he kissed them long and hard.

A concerned look came over Silver's face as she listened to JD explain his situation to her, even though there wasn't many details. A curse? What exactly did that mean? A curse could mean anything, and tons of possibilities were running through her mind, but she decided not to ask at this point. He explained that he simply wanted to spend some time with her as well, and then leaned in to kiss her. She, of course, turned bright red at this point, but wasn't going to prevent this from happening. She kissed him back, as well as she could for having pretty much no experience, and closed her eyes.

Meanwhile, David had gone to a store not that far away and bought some eye drops. He left the store, took off his glasses, and put them in. He blinked a bit, and put his glasses back on. "Much better.."

Enki smiled. It is not either of you that is at fault here. I have went through the same misfortune. He chuckled a little bit. I haven't talked with a dragon before.

Spoiler

Enzo shuffled about in his bed again inside his mind, a world was forming, nothing but a clear sky, and an ocean that stretched out in all directions as far as the eye could see. He stood on a unseen platform, which prevented him from falling into the bottomless sea below. He knew it was a dream, but the cool sea breeze that blew past him made it hard to tell reality from the dream world. His vision was blurry, and was slowly clearing, when he saw a figure, that looked much like himself, form before him. When his eyes focused, he saw that it was Destruction before him.

"You've done well with your guardians, Sky." He complimented him in the same ghostly voice. "Darkness is noticing your growth in power, but you still have not used even 50% of it." Enzo blinked. He didn't know he had the potential to gain that much strength, but another question ebbed in his mind. "If you are so powerful, why don't you stop Darkness?" Destruction smiled at his curiosity. "Because he is my Guardian, Sky, and to attack him would mean war, not only between us, but our followers as well." Enzo was still confused, and huffed.

"Sky, I was once like you. A boy that only strives for peace. I knew I had a duty to perform when I was given the Sky ring myself, now, I am Destruction, and I watch over the Gaze." He paused before continuing. "I do not know the origin of our flames, either, but I noticed a new flame within you. The Minus Fire." Enzo looked down as if he were ashamed. He knew it was an evil flame, and he shouldn't be using it. "I've had it too, but I could not control it. You can, and should use it for good." He gave Enzo a pat on the shoulder like his friends would.

JD parted for a moment and glanced at the scarlet blush that Silver was currently displaying- and he nearly laughed. “I’m sorry was that too forward?” He inquired as he slipped his hands under her and lifted her up a bit off the ground before taking a few steps back and plopping into a chair with Silver in his lap. “I’m sort of a forward person- apologies- didn’t quite have an innocent childhood. So I don’t want to make you too embarrassed, and so just let me know if I do too much or say too much. I don’t want you turning bright red and staying that way all evening- can’t be good for your face. I also won’t stop laughing- and that just ruins the romance. Because then I start snorting, and that is rather bloody unattractive.”
Slowly he brought his hands up and rested them against her waist, and brought his chin to the sweet crook of her body where her neck met her shoulder. “So what say you Silver? Because if we get too into this- I might have to start explaining other things, and it is really hard to back pedal when it is quite obvious where my mind went.”

"Plan all you want, Haimon. I know what I am going to do." Seth's body was starting to emit a dark aura like black smoke. It covered his entire body in flash, and when it dispersed, Seth was a flock of crows. The birds took off flying towards the main land.

Silver looked at him for a moment, biting her lip. The blush had faded to where it was only a little and she smiled. She casually shrugged a little and put her hands on both sides of his face, leaning in to kiss him again like they were doing earlier.

Faye sighed, watching Seth fly off. She glanced back to Haimon and stared at his blank face, waiting for further instruction. Haimon, on the other hand, stared after Seth and took a few steps forward. "Come." He stuck out his hand, dropping some sort of a crystal in front of him, which opened a portal of some sort. He stepped through it, and Faye followed without a word. They ended up on mainland, and looked around thinking of where to go next.

Yes, well, this whole ordeal seems to have ignited my flame. This sharing of thoughts seems to be a benefit. Maya continued. I'm glad that everyone came out, alive, though. She leaned closer to Enki and gave him a hug, still managing to connect their thoughts with ease. She made sure none of her thoughts obviously reflected how strongly she cared.

JD smiled softly at her shrug. He was not offended nor confused at Silver’s lack of words, but instead smiled gracefully at her as he returned her kiss. His ears caught a few disturbed knocks on the door he barred, but beyond that they were left in complete silence for the time being.

Time was an affable noun, and honestly he had no idea how much had passed before he breathed a soft sigh into her ear. They had been passionate, but not to the extent that anyone would call it carnal teenage hormones- no JD was much more skilled than that, and much more in love with Silver than he had been with anyone before. “So America is nice,” he smirked. “Not that we have seen much of it.” They were curled up on the loungers together- a bit disheveled but mostly reformed since their foray. “Oh right the gift in my pants,” JD then snorted. “Oh that sounded bad.” Yet he produced a small box before she could inquire further. “Here.” He thrust it toward Silver, and seemed more nervous about the presentation of it than he had been in the previous moments about anything else they had committed too. What she would find was a thin Silver band with a dark stone imbued into it. It was an odd cut, but he figured it suited her. Especially considering the fact that the gem was a dark emerald- about the same color of her eyes, and the other two that were set next to it were small twinkling diamonds that had about the same hue as his own orbs. “Nothing fancy- it wasn’t expensive. Actually it was free, but let’s not inquire about that.”

She'd fallen asleep against her will. Sasha's head was now on the bed, her arms folded below it, and very close to the sleeping Enzo. The girl looked peaceful, but tired- exhausted from keeping her eyes open and watching for an enemy that wouldn't come...yet.

Enki smiled and returned the hug. He had only known and trusted Enzo after the fight in the Gaze, but overtime, he had grown to trust his friends, too. He was beginning to feel a lot like Sky, with the desire to protect them. If he wasn't so absorbed into this realization of this, he would have noticed he was blushing heavily.

"Aww, look at you two." Kenji teased and shook his head a little.

He swallowed the pills and nestled into the pillows he was propped up against. "Thank you, again. You're so kind, and we only just met. I'm glad there are still caring people in this messed up world." There was a brief moment where their eyes locked, by he averted them quickly. It was apparent that this woman was shy, and a bit nervous around others. Marcus didn't want to make her more uncomfortable then she already was. "Thank you Ines..."

Their telepathic connection snapped away, and Maya released Enki. "Don't think you'll get out of it," she chuckled, and aimed to hug Kenji as well. As she was hugging and squeezing Kenji, she noted Enki's red cheeks and giggled a bit.

Meanwhile, Ryuu was resting happily outside of New York, watching the far away islands. Suddenly, he could sense the Darkness, still predisposed to it. He growled, altering Maya that there might be more trouble. Then again, he could just be sick. He rested his head in between his paws.

His words brought a faint blush to her cheeks, "No, it wasn't a problem, really! There was an injured person who had collapsed, of course I would help!"

Ines felt that the man in front of her had a certain distrust for humans, though she didn't understand why. Sure, there were certain people that one wouldn't trust, but Ines usually went with a 'I'll see for myself,' type of attitude.

Their eyes met for a moment, and Ines instinctively looked away, Can't have stuff combusting in here...

"You're welcome, Marcus," she said, "Fellow teachers have to help each other, right?

Silver smiled and looked at the small box he gave her, opening it. She took out the bracelet and smiled more, putting it on quickly. "Oh it's wonderful. I love it!" She glanced back up to him, still fidgeting with it on her wrist. "I should have gotten you something. I will eventually," she explained, nodding to herself. She gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, JD!" She was thinking about how thoughtful he was to give her this, especially since she still had her pretty charms on her swords too. Either way, she was glad he did. It gave her something else to remind her of how wonderful he is.

David was walking along, to go back to his room. He was alone, and didn't mind it, but he was feeling kind of lonely about now. People didn't really seem to enjoy his company, and he began to question why he even came along. Of course it was for Silver, but she had JD and all her other friends. He had come along looking for a challenge, a new opponent to duke it out with. He didn't expect any of this to happen, and he wasn't even sure he wanted to be here anymore. Perhaps he should just leave, without saying anything. He doubted they would miss him too much. He arrived back in his room and flopped down on the bed, leaving the door wide open; something he had warned Silver about before.

Meanwhile, Haimon and Faye were still standing there. He glanced to her and sighed. "Why are you still here? Go, hurry up and find them. And don't return to me until you do." Faye clenched her fists and nodded, a small black circle appeared under her feet. She sank into the ground and vanished, leaving Haimon alone there, still on the look out for Silver.

"That's very true. I mean, if something were to happen to us who would look after the kids? I know they can probably handle themselves, but to get back to Japan on their own and explain the untimely demise of their teachers? That'd be crazy." There was some legitimate worry on his face as he spoke. But he tried to mask it and cover up with another question, "So, where are you from, you accent isn't from around the East-Asian area. French?" Although Marcus would be teaching a school of magic, he was quite educated when it came to cultures and languages. It came in handy when he left his homeland, stowed away on a ship, and trekked from Spain east-word into Russia. If you didn't learn there language, and fast, you didn't survive. So was the law of travel.

Ines frowned a little as she thought about this, "I do suppose that they would...though I haven't met all of them yet."

She then chuckled, believing the second half of what Marcus had said to be just a joke, "Ahaha, I suppose you're right, that would be pretty ridiculous. "

Ines's eyebrows raised in surprise, "Why yes, I am indeed French," she replied, "I was born in Paris."

The flock of crows sailed over the streets of New York like an omen. Seth held the ability to see through each of their eyes, making this a suitable hunting form. He and Faye were already briefed on who they were going to be up against, and their current condition. They were in the process of recovering from some kind of battle last night. Now was the best time to strike.

One of the crows managed to land on the windowsill to Marcus's room, scan the room, and leave. No sign of Enzo or Silver. Finding and killing Silver was Haimon's job. and Seth was going to leave him to it. Landing onto another windowsill, he spotted both him and Sasha in the room, then the flock of birds gathered at the entrance to the hotel, and the same black smoke started to cover the birds. It caught the citizens attention, as the birds reformed into Seth's original form.

Seth then walked into the lobby. Captain Azure and his men had already left, or else he would have been caught already. After noticing that Volitaire and Eos were gone, he decided to have a little fun, and walked over to a more secluded location, which was the maintenance room. There stood a surprised janitor.

"Who are you? This is staff only."

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Seth's body began to emit a distorted, eerie blue. "Y-you're a magic user!" The worker stumbled back in fear as he realized his fate.

"I need your skin."

"That's really interesting." Marcus gave Ines another smile before something at the window distracted him. "Weird, crows aren't usually in densely populated places like this. They are scavengers, but prefer to be in quieter areas, away from danger." He decided he wasn't going to put too much thought into it, even though it was really odd. "Bah! New York." With a chuckle he shifted a bit in the bed, sitting completely up now. "I think those pills have kicked in, I'm feeling a lot better now." He took another moment to examine the woman before him, and a bit of a dopey grin crossed his face, "Listen, once these wounds have healed a bit more. I'd like to take you out for coffee. There's a few places here I heard have excellent coffee and tea selections. We should check them out together. All because we're teachers, doesn't mean we can't enjoy ourselves."

He rushed through the massive herd of busy men and women walking about the pavements, looking in every building he could enter, and checked every alley he could. His worry began to climax to fear that she may actually be lost in this large city, where anything could happen. He went down one open alleyway, there were very few waste receptacles and objects on the ground. It made him think this spot is visited frequently, there was a cut out in the wall of a old parking lot. It was vacated but very spacious. Some unfortunate could call this his or her home. He decided to scan the place, hoping to find at least something that will lead him to her. "E.. I'm so sorry.. I lost you and can't find you. I can't even return to your brother until you're found. I'm sorry too, JD... I couldn't even keep an eye on her during all that chaos..."

Faye slowly traveled along the side of the streets in the shadows, looking back and forth to see if she could find what they needed before Seth. She always loved racing with him, even when he didn't want to. Whenever they separated, she found it to be like a game to see who could find their prey and kill them first. It was a thrill she got that made these tedious and simple missions exciting to her. After a bit of searching, she came across one being who seemed to be one of their targets. A boy with black hair and red eyes, yes, this was one of her targets - Though, she had forgotten which one. She grinned, thinking she had already won, considering she had him alone and cornered. She rose up from the shadow, creating a black circle below her. She slowly sneaked up behind him, and tapped him on the shoulder with her long, claw-like hands.

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"Excuse me, sir. I'm afraid you'll have to come with me." She spoke in an eerie tone of voice, with an equally nasty grin on her face.

He felt the unsettling chill as her monstrous hand touched his shoulder. He knew he had no choice but to defend himself. But knowing he can't use magic here, he couldn't use his more extreme abilities. "I can't cause too much of a commotion, but I'll have to if things get out of hand with her." He forced the gravity around him to push her hand off and faced her while sliding back in the shadows of the dark parking lot. "I'm busy. What do you want?"

The grin didn't leave her face as he slid back away from her and into the shadows. She figured one of his advantages would be in the shadows, but little did he know that the shadows was one of hers as well. She walked towards him, feeling like playing with your food wasn't as bad as everyone said it was. Other animals did it all the time, didn't they?

"Busy? Too busy for a little playtime with a lonely girl like myself? I just want to get to know you a bit, silly." She stood in front of him and got as close as he would let her, letting her skeletal fingers climb up his chest and to his shoulders, one by one. "Don't be so tense."

He grimaced and warped away to a balance beam nearby, his red eyes pierced through the dark. "With all the occurrences as of late, I highly doubt you want to play the way you falsely advertise. I don't have time for you." He put his hands in his pockets and started to walk out the lot.

"How dare you just walk away from a lady like that. Talk about a rude boy," she commented as she sank into the ground, and rose up again before him, blocking his path to escape. She frowned, grabbing him by the neck and pushing him back into the wall behind them, keeping the tight grip on his neck. "I want to play, so we're going to play, boy. I don't care if you have time or not." The grip tightened as she leaned into him, speaking directly into his ear. She brought her other hand up and lightly brushed some of the hair out of his face. "My, what pretty eyes! They remind me of mine." The nasty grin she had before came back.

He giggled and dissipated into a black mist. Out from the shadow under them Volitaire sprung out with a rising roundhouse under her chin. "You play with shadows too. As much as I detest hitting a girl, I'll have to swallow my pride."

Faye stumbled back a bit and cracked her neck back into position, causing a rather loud popping noise. God, it was annoying when people did that. Her grin had vanished and a much more irritated look was on her face now. "Oh, you'll need more than that to beat me." She threw her arm out, extending her long fingers out in random directions. After a few seconds, one could see particles joining together to create a very large sword. Something she often heard from her food before she sliced them up was, "How can you carry something that large?" and she was waiting for this stupid boy to say the same. She casually swung the sword over her head, letting it rest on her shoulders and walking towards him again.

"You remind me of Nightmare. Big hand, large sword.. You just need armor and a void for a stomach." He watched her swing the sword, he felt a little worried, but wasn't too fixated at the weapon. "Melee isn't a option for me here. That large sword would just swat me away, and with her being able to swing it with such ease it wouldn't be any sort of problem to her. I may just have to stay back. I have a few ideas." Black runes spiraled down his calves and into the ground. They slithered through the shadows and went by her. "Though, I'm somewhat curious to how observant she is. Those runes aren't really that visible in such a dimly lit area. Those will just be a small backup or set up for things to come." He sighed and let loose a few shadow bolts, flicking them out his hand like he's tossing throwing knives.

Seth consumed the man with black mist, leaving only his skeleton clothed with the janitor uniform. He gained the thoughts, intelligence, and memories of the staff member. Just another trophy for his collection. In his mind were the memories of all of his victims. From birth till death. He contained knowledge that would revolutionize the world, yet he shared it only with Darkness.

He left the staff room, now knowing the locations of all the rooms, and less-used maintenance corridors. Enzo's room was housed on the top floor, and that's where he was going to go. He made his way to the stairs, and, after seeing them empty, flew up them with his shape shifting ability.

Once up onto the top floor, he caught sight of Maya. Enki and Kenji had moved elsewhere, and he decided to start his hunt off good. So that's Sun. He emerged from the shadows and starting walking up behind her. A long, black steel blade formed where his hand should be. "And you just obtained your flame, too. A shame." Seth said before slicing horizontally at Maya.

Blood splattered over the wall in a line, and a small thud was followed by an even louder and harder thud. Seth stood over Maya's decapitated body, his sword reforming back into his now bloody hand. "Pathetic. Are all of the guardians like this?" He asked himself.

Ines frowned, "Strange indeed...why in such a large group...?"

However, the woman shook it off; perhaps it was just a rare occurance from time to time. Listening to Marcus's proposition, Ines's head immediately began to race through thought after thought.

Should I say yes? Why is he asking me this? What's happening? Ahhh, I don't understand....

Finally, the woman nodded, "Mm, alright. It's important for teachers to know each other well after all," she said with a smile.

A thudding sound in the hallway jerked Sasha awake. Instantly the girl jolted up out of her seat, shaking off the thought as to why she was so close to Enzo. She opened the door outside, and saw a bloodied figure- presumably a man, standing over...a decapitated Maya. Sasha's mind instantly went blank, and it took her a second too long to process this new information. Maya...was dead?

Maya is dead.

A low growl sounded out from deep within her throat, "...you...who are you?"

"You think you can fool me with those silly things? Pathetic." She sank into the ground again and rose up behind him, slicing the sword up at his back as she rose.

Sasha's appearance caught Seth's attention, and he smirked. Another kill. He knew that he was in the lead when it came to the head count. Faye was probably toying with her targets.

Without answering, and without warning, Seth raised his hand towards the girl, and hundreds of moths shot out of his hand. Meanwhile, Maya's body was sinking into a black mist that screamed 'Darkness' all over it. Once it was finished, there would be no trace of her body.

He kept a stoic face. He knew those who called their opponent down on their skill is nothing better themselves. "Who said I was fooling you?" He spawned his sword and blocked the rising strike. He used his spatial power to back up the defense, making it a little easier on himself. The weight of the sword would have probably overwhelmed him. "I'm guessing this is when the real battling begins, hmm? I would assume so, it's been nothing but havoc since I came to this decrepit country." His black aura rose and lashed out tendril at his foe, going over and under her sword.

Though the moths surprised Sasha, she had been ready for an attack from the moment she spotted Maya on the ground. Sasha whipped up a shield to block the oncoming slaughter of moths, but she had done so but a second too late. A large portion of the moths hit the side of the girl's body, sending her reeling into a wall.

"Shit!" she choked out, coughing a little as she attempted to stand up again, water condensing around her.