The Coming Darkness

Eventually, Enzo gave up on the book again, dropping it on the seat next to him. Kenji watched with his disappointed mood. "English is too hard." Enzo turned away from the book, and looked out the window. "It's not like I'll be talking to alot of Americans anyway." "When Team Valor gets to a certain point, you'll be sent on missions all over the world, like the other teams. It'll require that you know their languages." Enzo glanced up to Kenji. "I don't have any magic that'll let me read a book in a minute." "Which was something you should have been working on."

Enzo pouted, and returned his glance to the window. He saw a large statue of a woman. She made the island she was standing on ridiculously small. His eyes widened at the sight. "Whoa, check that out!" He pointed at the statue, and the city that was appearing as well. "That's Lady Liberty, so this must be New York." Kenji tipped his hat down a bit. "It's been quite a while..." He said under his breath.

It wasn't long before the plane landed, and everyone departed from it. Enzo's luggage was small, while Kenji's required a large cart just to be able to move, which Enzo had to pull, as well. They ended up in the airport.

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Several people were staring at the large amount of luggage Kenji had, and the fact that he was tiny, and wearing a suit. Enzo looked up at some of the directional signs with focused eyes. "I... don't know what that means." He said, sighing. "It means, we go this way." Kenji hopped off of his head, and started prancing down a corridor which the other passengers were going. Enzo shook his head and followed.

Volitaire was still immersed in the text about America's feuds with Magic. He only had a backpack on, he brought a few extra things to wear along with pajamas. He looked around the airport and remembered only one of his family members knew English and that was only because he was part of a international Magic activist group that encouraged its study. He was never reall around to give anyone the first hand at English. Eventually he let that thought slide after wondering if he was even there during the massacre. He looked at the signs and all the people, he got a little nervous and hopped no one talked to him. So he continued to hide himself in his book. "If only I knew we were coming here sooner..."

Eos bounced along with her large black trunk with golden locks. It wasn't as heavy as it looked - so she had no trouble with it. "Oi, JD~ you think we should pair off with the others? Maybe help 'em out a bit?" From the looks of it, Kenji could be of help to Enzo but that left many of the others lost in translation.

As she walked beside her brother, wide eyes darted around the airport - Eos jumping to pick up every free thing that was offered. Flyers, maps, ect. Yes, she was overexcited.

"Sorry." Maya had said curtly. The inner, uncorrupted Maya burned angrily in response. She liked Maria too much, and she ended up giving Maria a hug.

Ryuu and Maya had been talking ever since, and finally, they both agreed that Maria could not be harmed. It was then that they deboarded the plane, and Maya pulled on her backpack with a few days' worth clothing and a small music box. She kept hold of Maria's hand, feeling a need to protect her even in her most evil time. Everyone else she had a burning desire to hurt.

She looked at the signs, and frowned. "America, my homeland. How I've missed you so." she hummed sarcastically.

Silver walked along with her bag over her shoulder. It was an average size bag, containing mostly clothes and other things necessary for a girl to have on a trip. David only had his backpack, which was small compared to Silver's, and contained only the necessities. For a guy, that is.

"David, you speak English, right?" David stopped and turned to her. "Silver, please. Of course I do. I speak... ..A lot of different languages. Err, I know enough to get the point across. Traveling all over makes you learn that sort of stuff real quick." Silver was relieved. She spoke two languages, which were Japanese and Italian. She never bothered with English, mainly she never needed to. She looked around at her friends who were excited to be here, doing various things. She thought she might be the only one not excited to be here. David put his hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Silver. This will be fun, don't worry so much." Silver rolled her eyes. She looked back to her friends, mainly looking for JD now.

Maria smiled and then became very shy, clinging to Maya's side and flattening her ears, putting on a jacket and covering her ears and tail trying to look as normal as possible. " Maya I'm scared " She whispered quietly her fur standing on end as she walked seeing many people she'd never seen before mixed with people she had. She Pulled along her small hand luggage bag and followed Maya closely feeling an intense protective vibe coming from Maya which she hadn't noticed till recently.

Seraph looked around and it seemed as if everyone had that "friend" which they could count on. He exhaled and slipped his hands in his pockets. Seraph slowly walked up to Marcus and asked him in a calm tone.

"I do not have any real "friends" or close people, and to be quite frank, you are the only person that can tolerate me it seems. Would you like to be accompanied by myself?"

She'd trailed behind, her head still tucked under her cap. Sasha could speak English pretty well, but her mood at the moment was...well, let's just say that she wasn't really in the mood to help others. After her utter disappointment involving Enzo, the girl had honestly just kept to herself, and only responded with a glare to the people who seemed to have a mild interest in the seemingly mopey Russian Tiger.

Sasha huffed under her breath, her hands shoved in her pockets.

I should have let it go. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

But the thing was, she couldn't. Sasha was far too deep into this whole 'having feelings' thing to really pull herself out of it. To the outsider she looked just as moody and aggressive as ever, but in reality, it was the complete opposite.

And to make it worse, we can't use magic here. Great. Just great.

Sasha huffed again, her eyes still in that defensive glaring stage. She'd be violating that rule for certain.

"There she goes!" A man in blue said, clutching his nightclub and pointing his partner in the direction the culprit had gone.

It just so happened that the "menace to society" they were after was none other than Harley Jones. She crouched atop her skate deck, her thick black boots digging into it's tape. Her pants were a red plaid that clung to her thin legs and barely stayed atop her hips due to her heavy studded belt and tier of chains that hung from it. A jean jacket covered in an array of patches, spikes and buttons kept out the cold, the most noticeable of all the accessories was the large American flag that was stitched upside down on the upper back of the coat. Beneath that she wore a black t-shirt with some whimsically ironic band name written on it - that most probably wouldn't recognize anyway.

Her gloved hands were clutching a can of spray paint in each, her bare fingertips stained with red and blue paint from the cultural masterpiece she was attempting to bestow on that banks storefront. As she dipped around a nearby alleyway, it seemed as though she was now running on foot back out and down the road. "I've got you now!" While the original Harley tucked herself behind a dumpster and tried not to laugh at how easily distracted the NYPD was, her fully controlled copy was running as fast as she could through the crowd of people clogging up the city sidewalk.

Considering she only had one copy up, she could fully control her movements and watch the images in her mind like it was up on a movie screen. Every thought she thought, so did the copy - but if the original became distracted the copies would go on a decently capable autopilot. But never fear, she wasn't in the mood to spend her night in a cell - she had a show to get to. So as the two boys in blue raced after her, Harley let them take hold of the copy. "You're gonna pay this time, boy!" Ah right, I should mention now that it is a common misconception that Harley be referred to as a boy. Even if someone hears her real name, it's a unisex name and can be taken either way - but mostly due to her boyish appearance everyone has a tendency to assume she's not a girl. As one of the cops took hold of her, she turned her head and spat in his face. Just as he went to pull his Billy Club from his belt she grinned, "Sorry, but Billy's not gettin' a taste of me tonight!" And in that moment she relinquished her clone - her form shattering in their hands and dissipating into a purple mist.

"Idiots." She scoffed, pulling out her phone and sliding her thumb across the touch screen to unlock it - immediately dialing the desired number. "Yo! Joey, when's the show tonight?" The bassist replied with a friendly tone, "Doors open at 7:45, we're on at 8:00. You need a ride?" She stood up from where she was sitting and tossed her board on the ground. "No, I've got it. The Snake Pit, right?" She hopped on and went off around the corner, brushing her fingertips through the ends of her thick and messy mohawk. She never really spiked it, that whole process always took so much time and effort. "Yeah, I've got Princess, and Micky is here with me - we'll see ya then." With a nod she made her way down the street, "Peace." She spoke quickly before hanging up and stuffing her phone into her pocket before picking up speed, moving in the direction of the underground venue.

6:00PM

Enzo continued to follow Kenji around the airport, it looked as if he knew what he was doing, and fortunately, he did. They found their way out of the loud, urban maze and out infront of it's entrance. The hotel they had been assigned to, was not far from the airport. Boone probably thought they would get lost, granted they don't speak English at all.

With everyone else seemingly in tow, Enzo and Kenji made their way to the hotel, which upon getting close to it, looks like a 4 star hotel, much like the hotel that was used to house the Battle Royal teams in Whiterun, just without magic.

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Enzo and Kenji approached the counter, the clerk seemed American, but was speaking in Japanese, probably because they knew students from Japan would arrive by the boatloads. Checking in was easy, all they had to do was find their rooms. They were all given specific room numbers, which were close by each other. Enzo and Kenji were going to share one room, of course.

127.. 127.. Enzo kept repeating their room number in his head. It was likely he was going to forget it. Rooms with numbers over 100+ were nearly at the top floor, so an elevator was used. It wasn't long before Enzo and Kenji parted from the room and busted into their room. It had the standard 2 beds, flatscreen TV that was mounted to the wall, a laptop, and finally a balcony to enjoy the view of New york. Kenji hopped onto the biggest bed and laid back. "Start unpacking." He said, with his fedora covering half of his face. "Me?! Most of this is your stuff!" "Can't you see? I'm too small and weak to lift any of that." To prove his point, Kenji waved his two arms in the air like noodles. Enzo sighed, and unpacked their stuff.

For some reason, the short little blonde was holding herself up by the elevator. A nice man in the hotel's uniform had taken her bags up to her room for her, but unfortunately Eos couldn't manage to get up there herself. Instead, each time the doors opened to the elevator, she fought with herself to hop on - but in the fear of the moment would end up standing to the side and letting others on insisting that she would take the next one.

"Oh, I can't do it!" She whined, knocking herself on the top of her head with both her fists.

Volitaire walked up behind Eos, book in his other hand. He pushed her wrists away from her face and gave her an endearing gaze. "Calm down. I can stay with you while you're on it." He opened her palm and held her hand tightly and took a step forward from them to enter. He patiently waited for her to be ready. "It won't hurt, love."

Sasha had gone into her room a few minutes after Enzo had gone to his. In reality, the caramel haired female had arrived a few moments before the male, but had hidden herself the moment she saw the brown haired guy enter the floor. When she felt that he'd retreated into his room, Sasha made a straight line for her own room, which happened to be right next to Enzo's.

She sighed, flopping on the bed, running a hand through her hair before thinking to herself, pondering if avoiding him was really the right thing to do.

"Godammit, that idiot...making things hard for me..."

Sasha bit her lip, still thinking, and finally, reaching a conclusion. She slid out of the comfort of the bed, exited her room, and finally walked over to Enzo's door, knocking on it, "...hey.."

Just as Enzo sat down after unpacking, a knock on the door caught his attention, followed by a faint voice - It was Sasha! Enzo started to panic a little, when he looked over to the bed, Kenji had disappeared. Maybe he knew this would have happened? Enzo stood up, dusted himself off in the mirror, and went over to the door. He took a deep breath, and opened the door. "S-Sasha.." He backed up, allowing her to enter if she wanted. "What are you doing..here?"

Jacen looked into the hotel's lobby, duffel bag on his shoulders filled with his prized electronics. Tablet, laptop, game controllers, other assorted accessories for the few. He never needed to bring chargers anywhere, but the magic ban had put a damper on that.
Damn it, I'm only going to be plugging shit up if I'm not in the room...and even then I might speed things up just a little bit. Room...129. Alright then.
He grabbed his luggage cart and walked up to the front desk. The short clerk stood behind the counter, hanging up a phone before going back to jotting something down.
Time to put these lessons to the test, pop.
"Ehrm, excuse me. I'm looking for room 129." Jacen's English was fine, but his pronunciation was a bit hindered by an accent.
The lady looked up and suddenly blushed a bit, before regaining her composure.
"It's level 100 on the elevator, and then t-to your right." She said in a quiet voice."Do you need someone to take your bags up? If so, you can just leave the cart here and I'll send someone right away."
"That'd be great, thank you."
Jacen took a silver trunk off of the top, and began to walk to the elevator.
"Wait, you don't want us to take that one?"
"It's personal, I'd rather not."
"Oh, I see. Someone will be to your room within 5 minutes."
She hurried to go inside the room behind the desk with her head low.
Weird...she's probably just stressed or something.
He walked into the elevator with his silver box in hand and pressed 100 level on the panel.
So this is America...the women are weird. Cute, but weird.

Her eyes opened when she felt her wrists being held and heard a familiar voice. "Oh!" She looked to see it was Volitaire standing before her and felt herself blush at his hand on her in such a way. "You will?" That calmed her down momentarily but she was still feeling squeamish. "But uh... I..." She stammered as the doors came open once again, slowly stepping forward but not loosening her grip on Volitaire's arm.

She let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding, and took a few steps into the room, standing a few feet away from Enzo, leaning on the wall. Sasha nodded a hello to Enzo, attempting to calm herself. Unfortunately Sasha's way to calm herself was pretty much just glaring at the person.

"What, I can't come into someone's room to...uh...talk?" Her voice came out a tad quieter than she expected it to, which resulted in Sasha dipping her head lower a little bit, wishing that she hadn't left her cap in her room.

"O-oh! No no! You can!" Enzo nervously smiled. I can't mess this up... He closed the door behind her, and looked around the room. Kenji's probably laughing his butt off at this from somewhere. He thought. "You're.. thinking about that night, aren't you? At the restaurant.." His voice lowered toward the end of his sentence. "You.. do know why I said that, though, right?"

"You're.. thinking about that night, aren't you? At the restaurant.."

Sasha froze, her eyes narrowing even more as she tried to shake off the thought, "Tch...no...I-I'm not thinking about that..."

However, her tone of voice and facial expression seemed to say that yes, Sasha was definitely thinking about exactly that, and in the end, the female gave up, nodding her head a little, "Yeah...I know..."

Enzo sunk down a little, both emotionally, and physically."I've.. been pretty miserable lately.. I'm not even like you, or anyone else here.. I'm Soulless." He looked away for a second, figuring that he would have to explain what a Soulless was. "The way Kenji explained it, what I would have for a soul, is my flame. Same for Enki." He crossed his arms. "And not only that, the man that raised me wasn't Dad, it was Kenji. ..Dad isn't even real."

He made a light giggle, and secured his arm around her. "So...where are we going? I haven't been paying attention..." Obviously embarrassed because he was so lost in his book. He hoped to redeem himself by helping Eos out. "Why are you so afraid of elevators? I mean..I've never been on one. But I don't see a reason to be scared." He thought about what he said and wondered if it was like scolding her sort of. "Nice choice of words, Voli. Now she'll really feel good about her fear now..."

"Our rooms are on the top floor..." Stepping inside, Eos pushed the button for the top floor and watched as the doors closed in front of them. Taking a deep breath in, she tried to calm herself - begging her mind for any type of distraction. "I just... have you seen how many shows at the cinema have scenes where the elevator snaps and everyone falls to their death? It's so scary in here! Like a little box of doom!"

As the elevator began to move she quickly turned to wrap her arms around him and stuff her face in his chest. "I know I'm just being stupid but..." She kept her eyes closed tightly as her heart raced, this normal little act being more like an unbearable chore to her.

She noted his slight shift in emotion, and immediately felt guilty for what she'd said. "..I-I see," Sasha managed to stutter, listening to what Enzo had to say. When he finished saying the last bit, Sasha's brows were knitted in frustration. Part of her wanted to hug the poor guy, but the logical side of Sasha knew that she couldn't; she shouldn't do it.

"I..I'm sure you can still..go on, Enzo. I-I mean..life goes on, right?" This was Sasha's failed attempt to try and bring a little positivity into the conversation.

Checking the time on the clock, Kira took off the name tag and headed to clock off, waving at a fellow employee. "I'm out!" she called out, blue eyes glancing behind her to catch a wave from a co-worker, Stepping out of the bakery, she brushed back a strand of hair that'd gotten loose from her pony-tail. Dressed in black work pants and a loose bright green shirt with the shops logo and name, she needed to head home and dress up for the nights events, ASAP.

There was no work to do the next day, parents were away for the next few days, plus her friends were playing that night at some venue. Perfect excuse to stay up all night and have some fun. Pulling the green shirt over her head, it revealed a fitted dark red top. At least now she wouldn't have to walk at night with some neon colored shirt. Flinging the shirt over her shoulder, she made her way down the block to her car.

She wasn't sure where the show was going to take place. Her own fault for not paying attention. A slight sigh escaped before reaching into her pocket for the phone, sending a text to Harley. Hopefully the girl wasn't too busy to answer.

'Yo, where's the gig at again?
Snake something..? :P'

Once sent, the phone went back into her pocket and out came the keys to the car to unlock it. Backing out of the parking lot, she made sure no one was coming before flooring it, wanting to beat the rush of traffic to get home faster.

Volitaire tilted his head. "What's a cinema?" His family never took him to one because of his training with Magic at a young age. Along with no one really had the time. He never treated himself to one when he was just with Einso because they used their money on food, clothes, and Bed n' Breakfasts'. He didn't have much pleasantries throughout his life. "But it's fine. I could only imagine what could happen in a suspended metal box.." His sudden suspicious was found with the odd tickle in his stomach from being elevated. The only other time he felt like this is with the plane ride, it wasn't as bad on the elevator but he still had his doubts. "Oh..umm, what's the rooms like? Do you know?"

Enzo lowered his head a little and smiled. A faint blush was on his face. It was calming seeing Sasha attempt to cheer him up, and while what she said may not have done it's job, her effort alone did. "Yeah, life goes on." He replied with a smile on his face. "I'm no longer fighting to figure out my past, or to impress my.. 'father'. I'm fighting to protect my friends, and you, so that we can all enjoy our days together." Somewhere in the room, Kenji was spying on the two. It was relieving to hear Enzo speak those words. Was he able to move on? He smirked at the possibility.

Outside the room, some of Sorcerer's students were talking on about a show opening soon. Their conversation was pretty loud, despite the thick walls and doors. Maybe I'll ask her to come with me to see what Americans do. He pondered.

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Meanwhile, in the Gaze, the Inn had been completely destroyed, along with Anvil. It's ghostly males had been executed, while the females were tortured, and met the same fate. Not even the younger souls were spared when Darkness and his army was through with it.

Back at his city fortress, Darkness sat at the throne, giving him power, even over the other entities. In the room with him, was Luck, and War. "Surely you couldn't have expected her to die to such trash?" Luck told Darkness. He was referring to Silver, how she and Volitaire crushed Venciersio. "Evil is in her blood, whether she likes it or not." Darkness sipped on a cup of red wine that was placed near him. "Be that as it may, they will come to challenge you, even if we can't." War said to Darkness as well. Darkness in return chuckled, and set down the wine.

"You know you cannot attack me, therefore, you cannot stop me. As for Silver, she is growing indeed, but if she isn't on my side, she is an enemy, like all the others. She might as well join the GodHunters in their demise." War narrowed his eyes. "Tch.. To think you, of all people, would even attempt to colonize another realm. You used to be just. A fair person. Until you corrupted your own being." "Hold your tongue, or I will remove it myself."

"Really?" She looked up at him, momentarily distracted from the fear at hand - thinking to herself that perhaps that would be the perfect date. Considering they hadn't really been on a real date before, maybe they could try for it while they were here. Volitaire did say that things may get easier and a bit more normal here on out... but with JD's issue still not taken care of and the mysterious rings linking them to Team Valor she had no clue what the future had in store for her.

Finally.

The doors opened and Eos darted out of the elevator, dragging Volitaire along with her. "Do you not know which room you have? Professor Tormod had a list, he told me I was in room 126." As she made her way down the hall, they finally reached the room she was looking for.

She struggled with the key card but then finally got the right timing on when to slide it through. Pushing open the door she gasped at the sheer size and beauty of the room. "You should be my room mate~" She cooed, walking inside and admiring the peering around the room curiously.

He completely ignored the sight of the room when she suggested he'd be her roommate. He had a small shriek and blushed, thinking about what happened when they were last alone. Nothing bad happened, he just received healing from Eos. But now that he's much better who knows what they'll do. It made him think about Gaze and their first kiss. He blushed even more. Soon he may pass out. Though, he never learned his room number, nor did he care really. He was happy with having a room with her. "U-um... Sure, why not?" He said with some uncertainty then ended it with a shy grin. He entered behind her, finally taking in the design of the room. He's never been in anything so...neat. It was like a whole new world to him. "So...is America just first rate homes everywhere? Or is there some slum they keep well-hidden somewhere?" All of it felt too good to be true.

With the club just around the block, Harley decided to make a short stop before she arrived, realizing on her way that she had an empty pack of cigarettes in her pocket. Kicking up her board, she held it at her side as she entered the dingy convenience store and made her way to the counter. "Hey, pack of reds." She pointed in the direction of her desired brand, it wasn't her favorite but it wasn't like she could afford the best, cigarettes were expensive as hell these days.

"Hey there Harley..." A purring voice spoke from behind her at the counter. "... you never text me back. I didn't think you were the kind of guy to blow me off like that?" Taking the pack of smokes and sliding the last of her crinkled bills across the counter, she looked around curiously cocking an eyebrow. "Hm?" As her bright eyes met with the girls seductive one's, Harley grinned suddenly realizing she definitely knew this girl but for the life of her couldn't remember her name. "Sorry, sweetie. You send me a message after the show tonight and I'll make sure to get back to ya." She winked at the brunette before slipping out of the corner store.

Hoe's will be hoe's. She thought, shaking her head and popping a fresh cigarette between her pale lips. That girl was just another girl who got heated up by any dude in a band - but Harley didn't have the heart to tell her if they got down to it, she would either be very confused or very disappointed.

Harley's phone went off as she took a long inhale of that sweet smoke, flipping it open she saw a text she would much rather answer.

Snake Pit @ Corner of 49th Street
See ya there, love.

Hitting send she smiled, flipping her phone closed and decided to walk the rest of the way to the venue, considering it was right around the corner. It was a bonus to know that Kira would be there, considering she was always so busy with work she had missed the last couple shows.

Silver had managed to find her room, somehow, which seemed to be the room across from Enzo's. She made her way inside, seeing a bed, a tv, and a closet. It was a typical hotel room, but Silver was in awe. She had never been inside a hotel before, so this was exciting. She walked to her bed, set her things down and plopped on it, feeling the fluffy pillows and soft sheets as she laid there. She smiled as she snuggled into her bed, cuddling a pillow and closing her eyes.
"You know, you shouldn't leave your door open like that. Strange people mind wander in." David explained, standing in the doorway, watching her. She opened her eyes and sat up. "Oh, like you?" He threw his finger up. "Yes, exactly like me." She sighed. There were two beds per room, it seemed, and David sat on the other. "You're not staying here with me, are you?" He rolled his eyes. "Who else would?"
Silver decided to not answer that, considering they both knew very well who else would, and looked out the window, looking at all the foreign objects she had never seen before. "God, you look like a kid in a candy store." She turned to him, narrowing her eyes a bit and shushing him. This was exciting, especially now that she was off the plane.

Meanwhile, a certain someone had gone on a trip as well. It wasn't a vacation or trip like Silver and David were on; more of a business trip. He arrived, not paying attention to any beings around him, knowing they were being tortured. He didn't care. If anything, he enjoyed their screams of terror and pain. He paused a moment, trying to remember where he was going, and remembered. Once he did, he snapped his fingers, and appeared in front of a pair of rather large, royal looking doors. He entered, closing the doors behind him, and turning back to the people who where in there. They seemed to be discussing something. "I apologize for arriving late, Master. I had a bit of trouble remembering where to come, since it's been a few years." He walked towards the group, addressing the one and only Darkness.