The Coming Darkness

Somewhere in all that- the world went black; JD didn’t know if this was part of the illusion or his own fatigue gripping at his eyelids. Those lungs remembered to breathe in-and-out, and so some order was restored to his form. Otherwise he was some object in space and didn’t quite know where he belonged in all of this mess. Yet before he could even doubt the fact that he wasn’t dead- the light burst through and he felt the ground become a solid mass under his feet. Apparently he had never left, or if he had it had been so brief that he was back where he had been.

Blood sputtered from his lips but he wiped it off on his sleeve as he watched Silver glance bereaved at a black pile of ichor that now adorned the roof. If he was to guess it would be Haimon, and he guessed shortly afterwards that she had killed him. Of course it had been in self-defense, but it was apparent that the man had meant her harm. Slowly, with a slight limp, JD hauled himself to Silver, dropped to the ground with her, and wrapped his arms around the girl and kissed her black hair. “You- you only did what you had to do. For me, for Voltaire, for Maya, and most of all for yourself- I love you Silver.” JD remarked into her flowing dark locks. “And I meant what I said- when all of this is over I will marry you.” The blonde just held her there- not tightly as he didn’t have the strength- but he held her nonetheless. Honestly along with Eos- she was the only wonderful possession he had left in the world, and he would cherish it. "We need to get back to the others."

Feeling her phone vibrate, she decided to ignore it due to the fact that, well, she was driving. She had a pretty good idea as to whom the text was from. "If that's what you call a boring life, mine will be a snore-fest." He didn't seem to like remembering some of his past though. Was a shame he kept getting attacked. Guy didn't have an aura of 'punching bag' or an easy foe. In fact, David seemed quite normal. "I've got two parents and an older brother. We all get along well enough. Don't see my brother most of the time as he's off doing his own things. Moved to New York when I was, around maybe, 13? Dad got a promotion and a new job opportunity, we took it and have lived here ever since. Went to normal schools, recently graduated from high school. Doubt I'll be going into college. Currently work at a bakery as a cashier. Like I said, not terribly exciting."

Kira left out a few pieces of course. The more important ones but, this was fine for now. They were reaching their destination and they wouldn't have too much time to chatter on about her more personal history. As they neared the street where the diner was, she slowed down, making the appropriate turn and stopping once she caught sight of Harley outside. Smirking, she rolled down her window and called out. "Hey sweetheart~ Wanna ride? Got plenty of room in here."

After a few moments of lament, Marcus took a deep breathe and checked his phone. There were still no replies. With each passing minute he grew more and more worried for both the students and Ines. However, as much as he'd like to get out there and find them all he already chose a meeting spot and his condition wouldn't allow it. He decided he'd try to be at least a bit productive in the mean time. Standing up he faced the room's floor mirror. He examined himself closely, making sure the pistol remained concealed. It was. Quickly, he drew it from its hiding spot and held it in a Weaver's stance, aiming directly at his reflection's forehead. He then holstered it again, and repeated drawing and aiming. His goal while waiting for a response was to practice quick draw maneuvers. Just so he'd be ready for any sort of surprise attack.

The blonde male moved, and was now leaning on the black haired girl

They must be a couple... thought Ines, as her romantic tuition was pretty decent, Idiot Ines, this isn't the time to be thinking about that now!

"You are students, correct?" Ines called out, "We have to hurry! Marcus is waiting for you!" She ran over to the two, "You don't look too well..."

Silver turned into JD and held him close to her, fighting back the urge to cry. Why did she feel like crying? She was done, he was gone. She should be happy. But the way it happened is what bothered her so much; She felt like she was being possessed. She didn't feel like herself, and she hated whenever that happened. It was like she had another personality that came out when she was in a serious fight with someone, and that's the first time that has happened in a long time. She bit her lip, knowing JD was in worse condition physically than she was, and looked up at him with apologetic eyes. "I.."

Before she could say anything, someone called out to them. She looked to see someone with pink hair, and she was telling them that they had to hurry to find Marcus. "Who are you?" She felt paranoid and unsure of this woman. A stranger showing up randomly like that, especially after that fight and the door being blocked, made her a bit suspicious. Silver straightened herself up, reaching for her swords, which had gone back to normal. However, when she touched them, a spark flew out from her ring and shocked her. Silver stared at her swords for a moment, even more confused than she was before. She gripped JD's hand tightly and looked back to him, expressing a bit more concern for him now.

David shrugged when Kira explained her life in a few sentences. "Sounds like a nice life to me. Too much excitement can be a bad thing." He watched as they slowed down and Kira rolled her windows down to talk to someone. Is this the Harley she mentioned earlier? He smiled and waved at the stranger, trying to be polite.

Ines blushed when the girl asked who she was. Of course! They must be scared, and paranoid. And here Ines had just marched up to them, and asked them to come with her.

"Oh! My bad," she said, "I am Ines, another teacher. Due to personal reasons, I arrived late..I haven't really met anyone else but Marcus and another bespectacled student. Besides that, do you need help with your...uh...friend?"

A smile stretched across her lips as she caught sight of Kira as she rolled her window down. Harley came over and pressed her hand against the hood of the car and leaned down to talk to her, "Hi there doll face..." She dipped her head down a bit more to cast a glance across to the boy seated beside her, "Specs." She nodded to him in acknowledgement, sticking a new nickname to him without hesitation.

Making her way into the car behind Kira, she leaned back in the seat and rubbed her cold hands together. "So where we headed?"

"Everything will be okay.." She said weakly, unable to protest against Volitaire carrying her. He had such a powerful urge to help others, a trait common in Enzo and Silver as well from what she had gathered. For the longest time it was just JD and Eos. They lived for one another and didn't worry too much about anyone else. But now everything had changed, Eos had Volitaire, and JD had Silver. Along with that, they had an ever expanding friend group that despite being chaotic was tightly knit.

Speaking of them, she could tell they were getting close.

JD hadn’t even seen the pink haired woman until Silver acknowledged her. First he had been lost in some crazy illusion and now he was both injured and concerned for his girlfriend. Those pale gray eyes flicked over to the older woman, and he watched as she attempted to explain whom she was and why she was on the roof. Silver reacted violently, and he slid his hands up to her face to hold her still for a moment. “It is fine- she mentioned Marcus- she must be an ally. If she had wanted to hurt us she could have already considering the fact that we weren’t aware of her until now.”

It was then he turned back to the woman and painfully stood. His hand pressed harshly against his abdomen as he did so, and glanced at the one that called herself Ines. She was older- plausibly a teacher? Yet that is not what had the poor boy both confused and amused about: her breasts were massive. Somewhere in his mind he wished Silver’s were that size, but he wasn’t about to voice that opinion. That led to an odd thought about there possibly being some breast enhancing magic somewhere on this planet- maybe Ines knew. Maybe he should have been thinking about other things: like his own health, Silver’s stability, or if Ines was truly a foe. Instead his eyes dallied a bit too long at the woman’s impressive chest before finding her face. “JD VanCise. You think you could help Silver? She might be in shock, and I- ah- am not the best one to handle that at the moment.” Another cough emancipated itself from his lips and blood smattered against his chin. Everything was getting a bit hazy, and he murmured something about: “boob magic” before he sank to his knees and passed out.

Silver took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. I'm being stupid, this isn't a big deal. I just need to calm down.. Silver watched in horror as JD coughed up more blood and then fell over, trying to catch him as he fell. She took her sleeve and wiped off some of the blood off his chin and looked back to Ines. She stood up, pulling JD's arm over her shoulder. "W-Where's Marcus?" JD had a point, if she knew Marcus, she must be a friend. Silver looked at JD and frowned, then looked back to Ines. "He needs help more than I do... Please.." Silver felt awful about getting JD involved in all of that, especially her own illusions. She never wanted him to be on the receiving end of that, but she could barely control herself when she used it. It was that moment she also began worrying about everyone else, especially if the fate of Maya and Volitaire was true.

David watched as Harley got into the car, pushing up his glasses at the "specs" comment. Damn straight I got my specs on. He had a bit of pride about his glasses. No one could ever understand it, but he did.

"J-JD, you don't seem-" Ines started to talk to the male until he collapsed. Ines ignored his boob murmuring, though it did make her fairly uncomfortable when he was staring at him, and quickly helped Silver support JD. "Marcus is downstairs...we need to get this man into the elevator..." She managed to haul him down the first set of stairs, which lead to an elevator further down.

As Harley seated herself, she turned up the heater and headed down the street once again. "David, this is Harley. My best friend and partner in crime, so to say." David hadn't seemed to mind Harley's nickname for him. Good thing too, because even if he did, the other woman wouldn't have given a damn. At least this way, there won't be such hostility or ill feelings. "Feeling up for some Copacabana?" It was an decent priced buffet that served some of the best Brazilian food she'd tasted. Served different kinds of food too, but she'd enjoyed the variety of meat.

Silver, JD, and Ines all made their way downstairs to the room where Marcus was. They arrived outside the room, and Silver knocked on the door lightly, hoping Marcus would answer quickly. She looked back at JD, putting her hand on his cheek lightly and wiping away some more blood. Oh how she wished he would have left after seeing Haimon.

David, on the other hand was completely at ease. He leaned back in his seat again, speaking to the stranger. "Howdy, Harley. Nice to meet ya!" As for where to eat, David had only been here about once before so he didn't really know any places or how good they were. Instead, he remained quiet and let them decide.

In the middle of his quick draw routine he heard a faint tap on the door, he swung his handgun towards the open entrance ready to shoot whomever it was. To his relief, it was Ines with two of his students. But the relief shortly dissolved as Marcus glanced over at a badly injured JD. "Shit, get him on the bed. I'll grab the first aid." He walked to the closet and pulled out the kit, bringing it to the bedside. "You didn't let me die, so I'm not letting you..." He muttered pulling out a pair of gloves and snapping them on. "What's the extent of his damages? Apart from those on the surface?" Marcus asked, looking back and forth between Ines and Silver hoping at least one of them had the answer.

"I'm.. Not really sure.. He got hit hard with swords multiple times, but that's all I really know.." Silver explained as they took JD to the bed, like Marcus had told them to. It was about that time she wished she had some sort of magic that could let her see what exactly was wrong with him. She held JD's hand tight and couldn't help but thinking getting him on the bed would have been a bit different, had Haimon not shown up. She quickly dismissed those thoughts and looked to Marcus as he prepared to examine JD.

Ines shook her head at Marcus's question; she had only witnessed JD collapse, and nothing more. Listening to Silver explain the situation that had befallen the two unfortunate students cleared things up a bit, but Ines was still confused. Why was there a sword fight on the roof anyways?

Ines shook the thoughts away; it wasn't appropriate to think about the past while in the present. The female looked towards Silver, who didn't seem to be in a great condition either, "Y-you're hurt too! I'll take care of you..."

Ines had hooked her whip to the side of her skirt when carrying JD down the stairs, but this time, she transferred the whip back into her luggage in her room, summoning a small first aid kit instead.

Silver shook her head in protest. "I'm fine. Really..." She was trying to forget how she felt a bit earlier, and she took barely any hits at all, anyways. She was a bit tired, having used a lot of energy for her magic, but other than that she was fine physically. Mentally, however, was an entirely different story...

"Absolutely." She responded, pulling a cigarette from her pocket and placing it between her lips. She rummaged around her pockets, directing a question towards the front of the car. "So what is all this I hear about taking care of my girl here, Specs?" She wasn't exactly sure what was going down, and by no means would she thank the stranger, but she would at least like to be filled in on what had gone down.

"Oh, and either of you got a light?" She asked, realizing that she couldn't find her lighter.

The cold air, the aggressive, foreign language people, and the overall situation slowed Enzo down a bit. Kenji had acted as his translator for anyone he came across, but it still didn't help Enzo's mood. He stood at the corner of a fair sized intersection, and leaned on the streetlamp. "Why did you stop?" Kenji hopped down from his head to his shoulder. "I'm tired.. and I can't find anyone in this city."
"I never thought you'd give up so easily. Want me to help you?"

Enzo really didn't want to answer that. He wanted to show he was able to take care of himself, so that he didn't need to be watched by Kenji all the time. Sure, he was a bodyguard, but he was no babysitter. "There's David." Kenji said, pointing to a car speeding by. Enzo perked up. "We've got to stop him!" "'We'? You mean 'you'?"

Enzo growled silently, and started running down the sidewalk, trying to catch up the car. The fast moving air chilled him to the bone as he ran. "I'm not going to reach him at this rate..."

Nodding, Kira just kept making her way down the busy streets, cutting into a different lane when needed. "There may be some matches in the glove compartment. Mind checking?" she asked, directing that question to David as she turned left once the light had turned green. Normally there were matches somewhere in the car, but it wouldn't be surprising if they weren't there. Sometimes Harley took them out of the car. Since the question was meant for David, she'd let him get it.

"Well, Kira here managed to get herself tangled up in some of our, er, my group's dangerous business, and so I tried to help her out of it. Then I helped her break into her room. No big deal, really." David shrugged it off with a smile as he looked in the glove box for a lighter or matches or something. He found a box and turned to hand it back to the stranger who requested them. After handing them over, he faced forward and glanced to the side mirror only to see Enzo running towards them way far back. David became a bit confused, and pulled out his phone to see if he missed anything, but there was nothing. He decided to shrug it off and ignore it as best he could. Though, it did make David a bit nervous.

JD felt stiff and in pain when his eyes fluttered open, but he lifted them anyway. The scenery had changed but the people were more-or-less the same. “Good morning,” he grumbled tersely under his breath though he was really quite unsure what time it was. “Ah- yeah- I fainted didn’t I?” JD tried to pull himself up but it honestly hurt- and so he just laid there somewhat in the same position. “When I overuse my abilities that happens- don’t worry. I’ll just be fine after some sleep.” He paused. “Is everyone else alright?” The question left his lips very slowly as the news of Voltaire’s and Maya’s death were still on his brain. No one had deserved to die for that petty man, and yet they had.
And with it- any hope JD would have for a cure.

He looked to JD with some concern as the boy rose slightly and opened his eyes, "I'm glad you've come to, I was worried about you." A faint smile appeared on his lips as he lay his hands on JD's abdomen, pressing down lightly around where the major organs are, "I haven't heard anything from the others yet. I know Enzo and Sasha are okay, they are out looking for more of the students. Does this hurt?" Marcus pressed down a bit hard in different areas, checking for swelling; indications of internal bleeding. He had noticed that parts of the student were a bit purplish and yellow, just some standard bruising thankfully. But there were also some rotund lumps around the torso. He will monitor JD for now, to see how he stabilizes. All the while, trying to tend to his own wounds. Before he could answer the question, Marcus pulled out some anti-inflammatory drugs from the first-aid kit, and grabbed a glass of water. "Here," he offered them to JD, "this will help reduce the swelling."

8:00PM

It didn't take much for Enzo to give up chase. They were going too fast, and the amount of people to dodge on the sidewalk slowed him down even more. He stood there a moment, trying to catch his breath. "It's... no hope.." He managed to say without totally passing out. "..He's.. not a student anyway.." "Granted that it was only David, and not anyone else." Kenji responded.

Either way, whatever he was doing, he was bound to come back, and if not, he might as well be left behind. As for JD and Silver, Enzo suspected they were doing okay. Eos and Volitaire were still missing.

Can't I do anything right? He wondered as he caught his breath. I should go back... If JD was with Silver, then it was a high chance that Eos was with Volitaire, and that they were okay as well. With a depressing huff, he started walking back in the other direction. "Where are you going?" Kenji asked. "Back to the hotel." "It's the other way." Enzo stopped, sighed, and turned around again. This place was wearing him down fast, and all he could do was worry. What would Sasha think when she finds out her pathetic boyfriend can't even find his own friends?

Ines frowned, "It doesn't matter if you're 'fine' or not, you still need to rest after whatever happened on that roof!" the woman insisted, "Here, you can rest on the other bed..."

Turning, Ines saw that the other boy- JD, was it?, had awoken. She sighed in relief, glad to see that it hadn't been too serious of a problem. Good grief, so much to handle on the first day..

"Dangerous business, huh?" She spoke with a condescending tone to her voice, insinuating that the supposed dangerous business wasn't that dangerous at all. Taking the matchbook from him, she plucked the match from it's case and flicked it against the back of it - starting a small orange flame which with she used to light her cigarette.

Harley curiously watched David, taking a long drag as her eyes moved to catch a glance of the spiky haired kid chasing after Kira's car. "What the hell is that kid doin'?" With a chuckle she shook her head as he stopped and seemingly gave up on the chase.

Silver sighed, glancing up at the woman with pleading eyes. "Really, I'm perfectly okay.." It was about then JD woke up, and Silver gazed at him, thankful he was awake. At least he's alright.. She looked to the door and nothing was blocking her path, so she decided to take her leave. "I'm, uhh.. Not feeling too well, so I'm going to go take a breather.. Somewhere. I'll see you guys later." Before anyone could get the chance to respond, she quickly slid out the door and into the hall, closing the door behind her. She took a deep breath and walked to the elevator, pressing the button and closing her eyes as she waited. The memories of earlier today and earlier in her life kept flashing through her mind, and it was driving her a bit mad. Her head was pounding as the elevator doors opened and led her down to the lobby, where she exited the hotel and went to the streets in hopes of finding someone else.

"Is that Silver?" Enzo saw her exit the hotel, but didn't seem too happy. He was just glad she really was okay. He walked up to her, and saw that she was a little battle damaged. What had happened? "H-hey."

"What...what the hell is going on? Random guy in bathrobe, chandelier, lightning grenade failed me, cursed out Gordon Freeman for texting me...and now I feel like shit.
Jacen slowly opened his eyes and clutched his chest, feeling that most of the blood from earlier was now dry. He slumped against the wall and held his head.
"Yo, what happened to everyone else?"

Silver looked up, almost as if she had been disturbed from a deep thought. "Oh, it's you.. Hi Enzo.. W-Where is everyone?" she questioned, almost afraid of the answer. She didn't want to hear what she already knew about her friends deaths, but wondered if Enzo knew about them at all.