Rest can be found at http://kalciane.tnim.org/ab


.08. - Kail



The hallways of his castle were silent as he moved gracefully through them, 
his overcoat swirling luxuriously around his form. Though the lighting was 
dim in this particular area of the mansion, he managed to traverse it with 
practiced ease, coming to a halt in front of the door to the princess' 
room. It was here that she slept, her power so great as to imbue everything 
around her with emerald light. But Kail had grown accustomed to that not 
long after they first met, and it no longer frightened him; even back when 
they were still hesitant friends, he had always found that aspect of her 
strange and fascinating.

It was unfortunate that she was still asleep... but such was the price of 
his dreams.

Hikaru's words had been nothing but truth: the princess *was* the key to it 
all. Kail found himself constantly disappointed that he hadn't been the 
first to see the potential she held, and every time he needed advice, he 
knew that Hikaru would be there for him. Had it not been for his words to 
begin with, the entire plan would've never fallen into place, as his own 
ambitions and methodology were far too ill-suited for a revolution of such 
scale.

But now, Reiya was finally coming to him. With that girl firmly under his 
grasp, he would be able to speed up the gears of evolution, letting the 
princess' power swallow the city of Hoshimi whole to leave only the strong 
and the capable behind in a wake of catastrophic change. No more would 
humanity need to be so weak, so frail. With the strength of the Guardians, 
they would be forever immortalized as warriors amidst the landscape of 
human history.

And as he thought about it, he lifted his hand in front of the glowing 
portal that led to the princess' room, smiling softly as the door slid 
aside soundlessly. Things had been difficult at first; there had been the 
matter of who to cultivate as proper Hosts, who needed to be observed and 
the ultimate question of which ones needed to be eradicated. But the 
opposition was slowly dwindling. With two of the three major threats out of 
the formula, it was only going to be a matter of time until the rest of the 
Hosts in Hoshimi lay at his feet.

Things would have been considerably easier had it not been for the caprice 
of the princess' own Guardian. Her choices continued to baffle him even 
now, but he was powerless to stop her. All he knew was that he and Hikaru 
had to constantly plan around her decisions, the lady's influence extending 
to them even in her slumber. But he was finally edging out in their battle 
of wits. The princess' Guardian was relenting in the face of his own, 
whatever hidden agenda she had crumbling steadily in the face of his ideals.

It hurt him to do such a thing... but he knew that she would understand, 
once it was all over.

His footsteps took him across the multitude of ribbons draped throughout 
the room, the door swinging shut behind him of its own accord. Satin and 
silk rustled softly with each step as he approached the canopy bed, 
reaching out to gently brush the curtains aside. Leaning forward, he smiled 
softly as he gazed at the idyllic form of the princess. She was a vision of 
perfection, her hands clasped close to her bosom as it softly rose and sank 
in time to her hushed breaths.

"The stars are reaching their zenith, in this little play," he murmured, 
kneeling quietly in front of her. "It has been so long, my dear... but you 
shall open your eyes soon to behold a brand new world, one that will be 
worthy of you."

Her only seeming response was a slight quickening of her breathing.

"Do not fret, for soon I will no longer need to exert myself upon you like 
this," he continued. "I know how hard it must be. Relax and enjoy your 
slumber, and allow me to awaken you when all is ready."

Kail shifted away from the bed and rose to his feet. A quick sweep of his 
hand and the curtains slid back in place once more, the fabric sheened with 
a muted green hue from the princess' energies. He turned and was on his way 
to the entrance, the door opening for him as he proceeded down the hall and 
towards the waiting room. There was much to do before she arrived, and a 
proper welcome was in order.

A part of him felt only the slightest twinge of sadness at what things had 
finally come down to in order to acquire the swordfighter. Hikaru's methods 
had always been brutal yet effective, and Kail had been unable to come up 
with a better solution. No matter how many demons he had cast upon her, the 
girl simply worked through them with an unnatural mindlessness. She had 
avoided the fate that had befallen so many of the others, and the accident 
with her parents had only ensured that the demons had no spirit left to 
break. Even her friends had capitulated, once he found the source of their 
innermost fears.

He knew that a simple invitation would never have enticed her to join ranks 
with him, and a test of physical combat would have been equally futile. But 
now he was afraid that the girl whose determination had never faltered 
would finally be at a loss to find the strength within herself to go on, 
once she understood the truth. There was just no way to tell with her; she 
remained a mystery, even to the analytical Hikaru, in many ways.

But things had moved too far for speculation now. He was just going to have 
to hope that everything would come together, so that he could finally be 
united with the one he loved in an untainted world of their making.

"Reece..." he murmured as he moved into the lobby. "I won't let you down."

__________

Angelblade

by Jeffrey Yang

10.24.03 to 11.08.03

__________


Even back when they first met, he was sure that he'd already disappointed 
her. Always a man of dreams, Kail found himself utterly lost once he was in 
his early college life, having been cast into the system by the will of his 
parents. Mild panic didn't set in until a few years down the road, when the 
prospect of graduation suddenly became very real. He wanted to make 
something of himself before it was too late; the only problem was that he 
didn't know *what* he wanted to do.

Out of whimsy and no small amount of desperation, he decided to take an 
acting course one quarter. Acting had struck a chord within him even since 
his childhood, and in his drama classes that he found a pursuit that he 
could invest every bit of himself in. The relative ease of the classes was 
a fringe benefit; while rote memorization and studying didn't appeal to 
him, he had relatively little trouble with it.

But the act of slipping away from his own formless self and assume the 
guise of another was intriguing like nothing he'd ever experienced. 
Grasping someone else's dreams and believing in them as if they were his 
own gave him a purpose that came with an immense sense of freedom and joy. 
His colleagues often expressed how confined they felt to a way of thinking 
when they were in-character, yet Kail found it thoroughly exhilarating.

And yet, there was no one to share his happiness with. His apparent 
disinterest had encompassed every part of his being: there was no desire to 
excel save for the wishes of his father, and no particular motivation to 
find love even at the behest of his mother. Moreover, there was no drive to 
develop a coherent image of his persona; he wanted to live everyone's life 
but his own, finding them infinitely more interesting than his own ever was.

It wasn't until she came into his life that he finally realized what was 
happening to him.

Her name was Reece Ellis, and their first meeting had been anything but 
extraordinary. A few brief words of conversation and some polite smiles, 
and nothing more had come of it. Had it not been for fate's intervention, 
in the form of a team assignment, he probably wouldn't have ever pursued it 
further - and even when they were having lunch together in the cafeteria, 
Kail found himself hard-pressed to find anything interesting to say. 
Instead, he began quoting passages from classic literature to answer her 
questions.

She found it amusing, effortlessly pinpointing each and every source he 
used within a few sentences. His amazement at both at the breadth of her 
literary knowledge and her casual way of speaking was unforgettable. That 
had always been a trait uniquely her own, as much as the ever-present smile 
upon her face; it was as if she knew something about him that he was not 
aware of, and that suggestive glimmer of knowledge was what drew him 
inexorably towards her in the following months after their class together 
had ended.

Their next year was supposed to have been their final one, and by that time 
Kail had no other desire in his life but to make Reece happy. Whether it 
was simple conversation together at lunch, or a weary smile after an 
intense rehearsal, she seemed to fill his life and make him complete. All 
of his doubt and the questions of self-worth melted beneath her brilliant 
smile; had he felt more confident in himself, he would have tried to 
confess his feelings to her.

But he never found himself strong enough to do so. Either the mood simply 
wasn't right, and when it was, he found himself at a complete loss for 
words. All of the heartfelt laments from similar characters strewn 
throughout his literary background simply vanished when he wanted to try 
and impress her... so he remained as he had always been, pouring his soul 
into his acting and delivering lines of love with unrivaled emotion, almost 
as if he hoped to breach the invisible barrier dividing the woman he loved 
and the character she was playing.

Everything changed when Hikaru came into the picture.

At first, Kail thought that she was merely being pleasant in maintaining 
polite conversation with him, though there was a noticeably pronounced 
interest on his part. But even after she had given him more than a few 
hints of dismissal, Hikaru persisted in following her around, seeking any 
chance he could to spend time with her. Kail remained impassive, allowing 
her to do as she wished at first, until she admitted after their classes 
one day that Hikaru terrified her.

Despite everything he tried, Kail was unable to console her. She had seen 
something in him that refused to leave her, latching onto her thoughts like 
a demented parasite. Asking Hikaru to stop talking to her was out of the 
question as well; Kail wasn't sure that he had the courage to do so, and if 
he'd tried, it would've been akin to admitting his feelings for her. Not 
only was he unsure as to how she would've reacted, but he also had no 
intention of allowing that fact to come out in such unhappy circumstances.

And once again, Reece's intervention was what finally managed to bring 
matters to their inevitable end, at one of their routine gatherings after 
classes. She'd made sure to meet him in a place that was relatively 
deserted, behind the main office of the forensics building; the presence of 
an old air conditioning unit in desperate need of repair made it difficult 
for them to hear each other, but the memory of what she showed him remained 
as vivid as if it had been only yesterday.

He had known that Reece was gifted from the first time they'd met... but as 
she unfolded her hands to reveal an unearthly green light, he felt his 
flimsy conceptions of her paling beneath the nourishing illumination of 
something greater than his mind's ability to comprehend. The light drew 
back and seemed to shiver as if it was cold, gradually solidifying into 
something he could identify: a tiny butterfly, shaking its wings free of 
the dewy life that clung tenuously to the curves of its body.

"I have... a power," Reece said uncertainly, letting the butterfly perch 
upon her curled finger. It trembled and crept lightly along her bare flesh, 
leaving minute trails of green light behind. "I don't know when it 
happened, but somehow it seems like it's been with me all along. Like 
something I knew once and forgot, for a very long time."

Kail stared, entranced by the butterfly's auroral glow. "What does it do?" 
he murmured, resisting the urge to reach out and touch it.

"I don't know for sure," she admitted with a silly grin. "But I do know 
that ever since I've found Trinity, I've felt safer, somehow. And happy..."

"Trinity?"

Reece laughed softly and lifted her hand up, letting the butterfly dance 
through the air around them. "It told me its name. Somehow, I just *knew.*" 
She gazed at Kail intently, her expression much more serious. "It makes me 
feel secure, as if someone was watching over me. When I become frightened, 
Trinity whispers to me, and I know that I'll be able to find the strength 
to persevere."

He knew he had to say something to stop her. Even when he was exploring the 
mazes of his imagination to pull out the right thoughts for a character, he 
had never believed that there was another self inside of him. Such a thing 
was insanity, and he knew Reece too well to accept that she had suddenly 
developed some strange form of schizophrenia. Maybe the stress of their 
final term was getting to her... but there was no denying what he was 
seeing right now. The butterfly was impossibly real, fluttering lightly 
about his face in questioning circles.

"Why are you showing me this?" he finally whispered.

"You are someone important to me, Kail," Reece replied softly. The rattle 
of the air conditioning unit died down, leaving a tranquil silence in its 
wake. "And I believe that friends should share what makes them happy. If 
you are afraid, though, I will not make you."

"Make me? Make me do what?"

"Share, of course." Her voice was matter-of-fact, as if she'd expected him 
to already know that. "I can let you understand too, if you want. But only 
if you want to. There's nothing worse than having to accept someone's 
desires against your own, and I don't want to do that to you."

His first reaction was to insist that he would've been honored to accept 
such a thing. But then he looked at the butterfly again... and that moment 
of hesitation was long enough for her to notice the look upon his face. He 
was still frightened, whether he wanted to admit it or not, and with a deft 
gesture of her hand, she allowed the little insect to melt away into so 
many droplets of light.

"It's all right," she said, already moving away from their little space. 
The air conditioning unit kicked back in at that instant, stirring some 
overhanging branches lightly. "Someday, Kail, I hope you'll want to 
understand."

"Reece, wait - "

But she was already gone, the leaves perfectly still as she moved through 
the foliage. Kail scrambled to see where she was going and found that Reece 
was nowhere in sight, as if she had managed to disappear into thin air.

He spent the next few days in silent fear, wondering if it had been 
something he'd said or more importantly, something he had done. In their 
time together, she had learned to read him to the point where a single 
gesture conveyed more than a hundred words; perhaps he had slipped, letting 
his doubt show through. But he had no regrets in doing so. Even if she felt 
hurt at his rejection, he had to make her understand that her power was not 
something she could be so carefree with.

But when they did finally see each other in class, she was as pleasant and 
charming as she'd always been, making no mention of the incident. It was as 
if nothing had never transpired between them, and after speaking 
uncertainly with her for a time, Kail began wondering if it truly *had* 
happened. Perhaps it was a figment of his addled imagination, a result of 
far too much time spent in his craft.

The illusion she maintained vanished soon after she saw Hikaru's face; a 
quick glance to his side and he saw Reece paling, unconsciously drawing 
closer towards him as if to flee from the presence of the other man. Kail 
smiled genially, but Hikaru didn't notice; his gaze was locked upon the 
princess rather obsessively, and it was then that he understood why she had 
been so afraid. Hikaru was the one Trinity protected her from, and Kail 
felt a sharp twinge of guilt as he realized what he had done wrong.

Reece had been asking him to protect her... and he had subsequently refused.

No. He would not allow himself to do such a thing ever again, to lose 
everything that he'd gained in befriending the one person who understood 
him. After their classes were over for the day, Kail approached her with 
every intent of speaking his mind about Hikaru, though he wasn't sure what 
he could do about it; the look upon the man's face had left him with a 
dread that refused to be shaken. Kail was no fighter, so physical threats 
were out of the question, and from what he knew of Hikaru, mental warfare 
was a lost cause. His own mind was a pale and disorganized thing that would 
have been easily crushed by his rival's cold logic.

But Reece's idea managed to quell most of his fears. She proposed that they 
meet with him and finally get their concerns in the open, so that they 
could try and make things come to an amicable end. Kail had nothing better 
in mind, and as so he found himself standing in the commons one afternoon, 
the rustling leaves overhead casting a dancing maze of shadows on the 
concrete beneath them. Hikaru was already there... waiting, as if he had 
been expecting them - but the look of mild surprise on his face told Kail 
that he had expected Reece to come alone.

"And you are?" Hikaru said immediately.

Kail stepped forward authoritatively, restraining a scowl. "I am Kail 
Tnim," he replied. "A friend of Reece's."

"Friend." Hikaru seemed amused by the word as a small, cold smirk rippled 
across his lips. "I see, then. You have come to dismiss me. Is that it, Reece?"

She shook her head adamantly, for it was indeed not her intention. "No... 
no. Hikaru, I don't mean it like that, I just wanted him to come with me so 
we can all understand each other."

"What is there to understand? Though we have never truly met up to this 
day, Tnim, I can approximate your relationship to her quite easily. Please 
spare all of us the time wasted and simply deliver the message you came 
here to."

"Exactly what is your problem?" Kail snapped, feeling his self-control 
spiraling dangerously out of control in the face of the man's arrogance. 
"At least listen to what she says first!"

Hikaru regarded him with a scathing look, but nodded. "Very well. I am 
listening."

"I..." Reece faltered beneath his gaze, and uneasy silence fell between 
them for a second. "I want to know what you see in me that is so special."

He appeared politely confused by the question at first but chuckled 
lightly, his mirth cold yet somehow relieved. "What do I see?" he said 
cautiously. "Many things, Reece, too many to be articulated. I see the 
presence of someone special, a person who can change the very way the world 
works. Perhaps your friend has not seen the truth, but I have."

"*What* truth?" Kail demanded harshly, wondering if she had already let the 
other man know about Trinity.

Reece gave him a chiding look and gazed intently at Hikaru, her voice clear 
and strong. "Hikaru, I feel that I have to be upfront with you about all 
this. Maybe there was some kind of misunderstanding in what we've talked 
about, but I..."

The hesitation was all he needed to know that even she didn't have the 
strength to dismiss him.

"You... what?" he said liltingly. "Tell me, Reece. I do not want to be led 
in circles in this matter; I loathe guessing games. If you wish for me to 
leave you be, then I will do so. If there is something else I should 
know... then show me."

She shook her head. "This wasn't a good idea," she murmured, slowly backing 
away from the two men. "Hikaru... please trust in me. I promise I won't 
hurt you... but you have to believe me."

"Reece, I - "

But she was already gone, as if she had never been. Though Kail had been 
watching her the entire time, she had simply vanished from his line of 
sight like a wraith. Somehow, she was already surpassing the limits of what 
he knew her to be capable of, and there was no doubt in his mind that it 
was because of Trinity. Even as Hikaru walked away to leave him in 
contemplative silence, he was already making his decision. No more would 
Reece be alone in trying to understand the power that she had been granted. 
He wanted to know more, to discover if there was truly an end to her depths.

It was a solemn promise for both of them, and he had every intention of 
seeing it to its end.

_____


Seki's progress across the city of Hoshimi had been a hectic one, his 
preferred method of travel being repeated leaps that took him across the 
span of a few buildings in a single bound. While Reiya had managed to keep 
pace with him, her Guardian lacked Infuriel's sheer power, and she had 
struggle more than once to make sure he didn't leave her completely behind. 
Only after what felt like an interminable amount of time did they finally 
arrive at a large mansion in the outskirts of the downtown sector.

She flipped over the iron-wrought gate and landed softly on her feet, 
letting Setsuna recede inside of herself quickly. Seki landed next to her 
and took the lead, striding out ahead towards the entrance of the building 
with a familiar jauntiness.

"Kail's really not a bad guy," he was saying, blithely unaware of Reiya's 
sullen expression. "You just gotta get used to him, he's kinda swishy and 
talks a lot. Y'know, come to think of it - he's a lot like Hikaru. But I 
guess you wouldn't know that."

"We've met," Reiya said tersely. "The same night I met you, if you recall."

"Yeah, that's right! I forgot about that." Seki turned around and gave her 
a wide grin that faded slightly as he saw the look on her face. "You seem 
pissed. What's up?"

Reiya hardly believed what she was hearing, though she was fairly sure he 
was being earnest. Seki was genuinely dumb at times, but at least he meant 
well. How he ended up with the likes of Hikaru was a mystery, though she 
had a few vague suspicions. "I'm not angry. Do I look like I am?"

He frowned as if he'd been asked a trick question. "Well... yeah. How can 
you not be?"

"If you know full well how I feel right now," she said softly, "why are you 
still doing this?"

Seki stopped in his tracks and moved in front of her, lifting his arms up 
momentarily before he thought better of it; physical contact was probably 
not be a good idea right now. "Look," he said earnestly. "This wasn't my 
idea, y'know. But I gotta do what he says or else - "

"Or else what?" she demanded. "You have talent, Seki. Why are you letting 
it be used for something like this? Why is it that I'm the only one left 
who believes that our true enemies are the demons?"

"Because you don't understand," Seki said with mild exasperation. "There 
are no such things as demons, Reiya."

"Of course there are. You've been watching me for such a long time now... 
what have I been fighting this entire time?"

He turned around and shook his head, resuming his progress towards the 
manor. "Hosts."

She felt icy doubt threading through her heart, the coldness quickly 
blossoming into something that nearly overtook her. Fighting back her 
dread, she stepped forward briskly to catch up with him, her arms shivering 
as pieces of the puzzle began assembling themselves against her will in her 
mind. She didn't *want* to hear the truth, because already it was an answer 
she knew she would regret understanding.

"What do you mean... 'Hosts?'" she said as the black marble walkway tapered 
into a sleek path leading up the steps. "They weren't Hosts... they weren't 
even human..."

He was silent for a long while, responding in a much quieter voice. "I 
joined these guys because they knew what they were doing," he muttered. "I 
was like you when I first got Infuriel. Lost, lazy, unsure of where to go 
or what to do with my life - "

She interrupted him, sounding rather annoyed. "I knew full well what I was 
going to do with my life, thank you."

"Course you did. Then your Guardian came along and mucked it all up, didn't 
it?"

"No... Setsuna wasn't the cause of that."

Seki shrugged. "Either way, we both know how our lives changed when we got 
our Guardians. Maybe you had some idea where you were going before... but 
not after. I sure as hell didn't."

"So you allied yourself with kidnapers to find your purpose in life?" Reiya 
said.

"No. I was looking for a challenge, and I got one." Seki waited at the foot 
of the stairs, allowing her to go first - it was the polite thing to do, 
after all. "These guys knew everything about every Host there ever was, and 
ever will be. The princess, Reiya... she knows what she's doing. She's the 
reason behind it all, and I dunno about you, but I wanted to know what the 
meaning of all this was. Didn't *you* ever want to?"

She took the steps one at a time, nodding in thoughtful silence. "But I 
can't believe someone like you would go to such lengths just to find an 
answer..."

"Hey. What can I say, sometimes I'm a dumbass. But look at it this way: 
after it's all done, you'll know everything you've ever wanted to." He 
grinned at Reiya again, reaching out to pat her on the shoulder amicably.

"I don't need to know everything, especially if it's on someone else's 
terms," she replied evenly, brushing his arm immediately. "I only want to 
find out what I need to, and you know what the demons are. Tell me."

But he only shook his head as they approached the entrance to the mansion, 
the great doors swinging open for them upon their arrival. Seki waited for 
her to go first again, which she did after a moment's reluctance, and 
trailed in behind her protectively. The doors slammed shut a few steps down 
the dim hallway, and he quickly took the lead once more as she began 
walking down the corridor towards the glowing green portal at the end.

He stopped at one of the smaller hallways that branched off to the side, 
turning into it and glancing behind to make sure she was still following. 
The path eventually wound through the eastern quarter of the estate until 
it opened into a small bar of some sort. Stained glass windows lined the 
walls, backlit by some artifical lighting so that the room was cast in a 
haze of dizzying colors. Velvet carpet covered the floor, matching the 
dark, burnished look of the wooden counter; a rack of glasses dangled 
upside-down a few feet from the back wall, which was lined with dark 
bottles of every size and shape, each with its unique label.

Reiya felt the presences of the Hosts within before she actually saw them, 
and was not surprised to see Hikaru already waiting for her, curled up on 
one of the plush recliners with a book in one hand and a mostly-empty glass 
of wine in the other. The other man, however, was completely unfamiliar to 
her... although there was a certain nostalgia about him, as if he was 
someone she could have known. His leather overcoat whispered softly against 
the couch he was sitting on as he rose to his feet, smiling warmly.

"Hello, my dear," he said with disarming pleasantness. "Welcome to my 
humble abode. I am Kail Tnim, the lord of this castle, and I believe you 
have already met my companions... Hikaru Ijisawa and Seki Tsukichiro."

She glanced between the two men briefly and turned her gaze back upon Kail. 
"Where are my friends?"

The man wagged his finger lightly and clicked his tongue. "Such impatience 
indeed... a mark of misguided youth," he murmured. "Your friends are here 
with us, of course, and perfectly fine. In fact, they have never been better."

"Stop playing games!" Reiya snapped, her arm moving upwards instinctively. 
But Hikaru and Seki quickly flanked her, their own Guardians awakening in 
response; a sudden, bitter cold snapped from her left and waves of intense 
heat crackled on her right. But Kail raised his hand quickly, indicating 
for them to stay back, and the two men reluctantly complied after a few 
tense seconds.

"You will find that such impetuousness will not serve you well in my 
domain, Lady Eice." His expression became harsher by degrees, and his eyes 
bored into her own. "Nor does it suit you, my silent raven of the night."

Reiya took a step back, averting her gaze so she didn't have to look into 
his face; it seemed as if he was trying to reach into her mind, and the 
creeping sensation was beginning to unsettle her deeply. She'd almost 
resigned herself to him before she'd realized what was happening. "What are 
you talking about?"

Kail sighed extravagantly and glanced at the stained-glass wall. "Your 
hostility wounds me, Lady Eice. I had hoped that you would understand the 
truth so that it would not come down to this... but it saddens me to see 
that for once, you are the one left behind in your own self-doubt and 
single-mindedness."

"Don't be stupid," she said. "I've been *trying* to understand the truth 
ever since I began fighting."

"Ah, but you cannot... or is it that you will not?" He moved towards the 
door, brushing past her on his way; Reiya caught the faint scent of roses 
upon his garments trapped within the gaping, invisible maw of his 
unfamiliar Guardian. "A demonstration is in order, to show you simply how 
much you are missing. Hikaru, it is time."

She cast another angry look at Kail as Hikaru left the room wordlessly. 
"What are you doing?" she whispered.

He smiled again, this time with a wicked note. "Do you not wish to see your 
friends again?" he replied sinuously. "I am merely bringing them to you."

Reiya took some time to compose herself and responded as calmly as 
possible. "Kail... I don't see what the point of all this is. I don't know 
how you knew of us this entire time, but my friends will not betray my cause."

"You seem so convinced of that."

"I *know* they won't," she insisted with a vehemence that took her by 
surprise. "Minaki never would have willingly allied herself with someone 
who hurt her. And Toji..."

"Ah, but I can hear the hesitation in your words," Kail interjected. "They 
carry a hidden meaning aside from what you intended, whether you are aware 
of it or not. But you do not know as much about your friends as you think 
you do, Lady Eice. In fact, I would go as far to say that I know more about 
them than even you, for it was through my power that they were granted 
their abilities. Through my emissaries, I familiarized myself with every 
aspect of your lives."

She almost scoffed at that. "I find it impossible that your men managed to 
stalk me every hour of the day, at every fight I had."

"You are correct; it is impossible." He leaned against the bartop as Seki 
yawned expansively, having taken a seat in one of the unoccupied chairs a 
few minutes ago. "But I have more eyes than you think, Lady Eice. After 
all, not every Host must be human."

That nagging feeling came back to her, refusing to be shaken; Reiya 
unconsciously tightened her hand into a fist and willed Setsuna to stay 
back. "Seki already mentioned that I've been fighting Hosts this whole 
time. Are you saying that these demons have Guardians as well?"

Kail's response was a deep chuckle that seemed at odds with the humorless 
appearance of his black-swathed form. "No, my Lady. Truly, your charm lies 
in your ignorance, and I am almost loathe to shatter that misconception; I 
think to myself that perhaps it would be better to let you stray along, so 
that you may continue to delight me, much like the princess - "

"How *dare* you!" she shouted, feeling every last bit of control break down 
as she saw the smug, self-satisfied look on his face. "I am not some toy to 
be used for your own amusement!"

Seki glanced up from being sprawled out on the couch. "Reiya, calm down a 
bit - "

"No! I will not calm down!" she railed, her arms shaking with indignant 
fury. A few quick steps and she was standing in front of Kail, looking up 
at the impassive features of the taller man. "You've been stalking me since 
day one... you've sent these demons to harass harmless people... and now 
you've kidnaped my friends. What do you want from me?!"

Kail appeared faintly disgusted by the outburst of emotion, a faint sneer 
rippling across his lips. "The innocence has been soured with anger, as I 
feared would happen. You are truly not like the princess, after all."

Reiya found that she was shaking too much to respond coherently.

"But to answer your question, my Lady," he continued, emphasizing the title 
with a hint of jubilant sarcasm, "these demons do possess Guardians. But 
there are no such things as demons, save for the ones you keep within your 
soul. There are only the myriad of races on this planet... the humans that 
rule them... and the Hosts."

"Those things you call demons are just what happens when a Host lets the 
Guardian win," Seki finished, sounding almost disappointed. "When the 
Guardian's power gets so overwhelming the Host can't take it anymore. They 
break free of the shell and end up doing whatever their master tells them 
to do."

"And I am their master," Kail said, meeting Reiya's gaze evenly. "Now then. 
Cease your hysterics and sit down. You are hardly in any condition to meet 
your friends."

She dropped her eyes away from his and finally resigned herself to a sullen 
silence, her thoughts a jumbled torrent. Her entire world had suddenly been 
turned upside-down; nothing was right anymore, and yet she found herself 
unable to refute what he had said. Somehow, everything began making sense 
in her mind: the twinge of demonic energy when they had first met Kaname, 
which had eventually led her to Keiya and Seki. In her endless pursuit to 
rid Hoshimi of the demons, she had overlooked the very reality that she'd 
wanted to escape from, blinding herself to the obvious to the point where 
the mere prospect of being wrong had upset her in ways she could not 
articulate.

In the end, she couldn't have been more wrong.

Unable to restrain herself any longer, Reiya turned and bolted out of the room.

Her thoughts refused to leave her even as she fled down the hallway, her 
horror mounting with every passing second as her mind played out the fights 
she had been through one after another. Every stroke of her sword, every 
violent dismemberment... and the inevitable death throes, filled with 
crimson ichor and wails of agony. At the time, she had believed herself to 
be doing something right. But...

Each one of those demons had been a human at some point.

The thought was enough to make her feel violently ill. She had to flee, to 
run away from everything that was closing in around her; her mind was 
unable to cope with the sudden, oppressive guilt weighing down her heart. 
But even as she rounded the corner to move further into the castle, she 
heard no sounds of pursuit. The only thing she heard was Setsuna's voice 
trying to reassure her that everything would be fine, though its words only 
seemed faded and hollow to her.

Another few steps and she abruptly stumbled into someone, the impact 
sending them both tumbling down on the floor in a heap. There she remained, 
staring lifelessly at the carpet. She didn't want to get up anymore. All of 
her reasons to keep going had been taken away from her; if Toji and Minaki 
weren't at her side, she had no one to believe in but herself... and even 
that wasn't something that she could do at this point. What had she been 
fighting for? Who had she killed, in those fights?

The other person was already scrambling to get back up. "Oww... why'd you 
do that?"

Reiya looked up in disbelief; the voice had belonged to Minaki... and sure 
enough, as she looked up she saw the girl brushing herself off, offering a 
helping hand to her. Already at her wits' edge, Reiya quickly staggered 
back against the wall and regarded her with a suspicious look. There was no 
doubt that whoever it was certainly *looked* like Minaki, although her hair 
had been unbraided so that it draped softly around her shoulders. Her 
Hoshimi Academy uniform was also missing, having been replaced with a wispy 
gown laced with hints of gold.

"Reiya... is that you?" Minaki whispered, her feet whispering across the 
carpet as she moved forward. "It *is* you! You finally came!"

She stumbled back, not wanting to let this thing that Minaki had become get 
any closer. "No. Don't - "

"You don't trust me, Reiya? What's wrong? I'm your friend!"

But Reiya shook her head slowly, her eyes wide. Even beyond the superficial 
details, there was something unsettling about her; the sparkle of life in 
her face was *too* pronounced, her enthusiasm *too* great. "Minaki... what 
did they do to you?"

"Nothing, silly!" Minaki said cheerfully. "The people here have been really 
nice to me. Seki even apologized for hurting me earlier. They let me wear 
these pretty new clothes, and I finally understand all these new things!"

The girl let out a series of soft giggles as she danced around the hallway, 
twirling back and forth with unrestrained glee. Reiya moved back another 
few steps, lifting her arm instinctively as she thought about what could 
have happened. Minaki had always been like this, carefree and happy... but 
the tinge of honest delight was gone from her laugh. She'd already seen it 
in her eyes, and her actions only reflected a note of self-awareness that 
had not been there previously.

"Reiya?" Minaki murmured quietly, turning to look at her with a deadpan 
expression on her face. "Are you running away?"

She shook her head and tried to look past the girl's eyes, into some part 
of her that still knew reason. "These people are not our friends. They've 
done something to you, Minaki. You might not believe it, but - "

"No!" the girl snapped, stomping her foot defiantly on the ground. "That's 
not it! You don't understand anything!"

"What? I..."

Another voice cut in before she could continue. "Let her be, Minaki."

Reiya's blood ran cold, and every instinct in her mind told her not to turn 
around - yet she found herself doing so regardless, almost as if Setsuna 
was guiding her movements. Standing there was Toji, casually garbed in a 
loose black silk shirt and matching trousers, his hands in his pockets. He 
was smiling at her, although his familiar, hesitant warmth had been 
replaced by an edgy brashness.

"Toji?" she murmured.

"Of course. Who'd you think it would be?" he said easily, ruffling Minaki's 
hair affectionately as he moved besides her. "Honestly, you're always so 
paranoid... you should relax a bit."

His words held no hesitation, and she knew that as much as she had always 
wanted him to speak in such a fashion, the bravado he was displaying was 
utterly contrived. Toji had never been the one to take the initiative in 
anything for as long as she had known him, and his sudden confidence made 
him seem almost like a different person.

"Relax? You're asking me to relax?" she said, glancing around subtly to see 
if there was a way past them. In her panic, she had unwittingly cornered 
herself in one of the winding hallways. "Toji, look at yourself!"

"I have, Reiya, and I didn't like what I saw." He seemed content to let her 
huddle defensively against the wall as his smile widened. "Hikaru showed me 
just how weak I was. I knew it was true, but for the first time, I felt 
like my eyes were opened to the world - I didn't *want* to be weak anymore."

"Me neither," Minaki chimed in softly. "Reiya, I lost the fight against 
Seki. Even with Kaname... even with Kalciane... we were no match. Our 
master has finally shown us how not to be weak. It's because I always 
depended on someone else, and now I learned that the only person I can 
trust is myself. Like you, Reiya! I've become just like you..."

But Reiya shook her head sternly. "You have not!" she said. "Don't you 
understand? I began fighting because I was lonely, and if the two of you 
hadn't helped me, I never would've kept going! All those times that we 
fought against the enemy together... I don't care if they were Hosts, or 
humans at some point. I don't care anymore, because I spent that time with 
the two of you, and that's why..."

Minaki looked rather puzzled by the outburst, a momentary flicker of 
recognition flashing in her eyes. Then it was gone, leaving the girl 
giggling madly. "Silly Reiya. That's why you're the last one now. Everyone 
wants to be better except you."

"If I were to fight you now, I would crush you like a twig," Toji said 
calmly. "All this time, I've been holding myself back - not because I cared 
about what you thought, but because I was afraid. Kail has removed that 
fear from me, and I've never felt better in my whole life."

"You *liar!*" Reiya screamed, drawing her arm upwards in a flash of blue 
light as her Guardian manifested with a sharp ringing. This wasn't the Toji 
she knew, the man whose awkward nature permeated everything he did. The 
glimpse offered of what he could have been was all she needed to know that 
she didn't like it one bit. "Kail took more than your fear. He took your 
sense of morality!"

Toji smirked. "Oh, but of course. He had to, Reiya. You don't become 
stronger by feeling guilty about walking over the weak."

"I was hoping to show you this sometime when you really wanted to see it," 
Minaki said gently. "But I don't like what you're saying, so I think I'm 
going to have to show you that you're wrong."

Setsuna glimmered brightly as Reiya steadied herself, positioning her sword 
forward along her arm. "No, Minaki," she said quietly. "I don't know what 
they did to you or Toji... but my fighting was never about becoming 
stronger at the expense of the weak. You fight to protect those people, 
growing stronger with them so that one day you won't have to protect them 
anymore."

"Reiya..." Toji murmured quietly. "The weak will never be like us. We're 
different from everyone else, but that's no reason for us to be fighting 
each other."

She desperately wanted to believe him, if only to end the struggle - but 
the look on his face was resolute, and she knew that his words were as 
fabricated as everything else about him at that moment. Believing him would 
mean the end of all that she'd been trying to accomplish, and all the 
deaths she had caused would amount to nothing.

"Liar," she said, choking back a muffled sob. Blue light sizzled in the 
space between them as she swung her sword angrily in an attempt to drive 
him back. "Liar. *Liar!*"

Minaki shook her head slowly, reaching out with one arm in a hesitant 
gesture of comfort. "He's not lying, Reiya. We've been fighting the wrong 
thing this whole time. Don't you think we should start doing the right 
thing? That's what you always wanted to do, isn't it?"

But Reiya jerked away from her grasp, her Guardian pealing softly as she 
pushed herself upwards. A quick push of her legs against the wall and she 
flipped over their heads, landing solidly on the carpeting; another 
powerful thrust and she was soaring down the hallway in a long jump, 
already feeling the tingle of Guardian energy gathering just behind her. 
She forced herself to keep looking ahead. There was no telling what either 
of her friends was capable of now, and she had to get to somewhere open to 
hopefully buy some time while figuring out an escape plan.

She rounded the corner and darted into a large room, skidding to a stop 
across the tiled floor. A quick glance and she saw that she must have ended 
up in the ballroom, judging from its shape and domed ceiling. A row of 
antique lamps circling the room provided a soft light, and a number of open 
doors lined the wall opposite from her. Toji and Minaki came striding in a 
second later, the latter leaning quietly against the wall as the former 
made his way towards Reiya with a disarming smile.

"Reiya. Oh, Reiya," he said disapprovingly, wagging his finger at her. 
"Running away's not good, you know. It never got me anywhere... and look at 
what I am now."

"You're like this because of Kail! Not because you chose it!" she retorted, 
bringing Setsuna upwards. "I'm not going to listen to this, Toji. Maybe 
when it's all over, we'll be able to see each other eye-to-eye, but now..."

Toji clicked his tongue. "So, you want things to come down to this. Very 
well, don't say that we didn't give you a chance. Minaki!"

"Coming!" she said cheerfully, lifting her hand upwards as golden energy 
trailed from her fingers. "Kalciane!"

Reiya braced herself, expecting Minaki's angel to come bursting forth - but 
instead of the familiar rush at the girl's side, her Guardian's aura 
quickly swirled outwards in a storm of sound and light that engulfed her 
completely. The brightnes that emanated from the chaos quickly grew 
unbearable, forcing Reiya to turn away; even so, there was a sense of 
something taking shape, a high-pitched squeal of metal bonding with supple 
flesh, and a vibration of undeniable power thrumming through the air.

Then it was over, leaving Reiya to look up from behind her arm at what had 
happened.

A figure was standing where Minaki had been... an angel of color and 
strength, clad in a navy blue bodysuit with white shoulderplates, greaves, 
and bracers. Each piece of armor was trimmed with gold, inset with a 
glimmering sapphire; her hair flowed behind her, unbraided, in a wild brown 
mane that seemed to float on its own with unseen energy. A pair of lavender 
wings stretched behind her, fluttering lightly against the smooth tiling, 
and as she lowered her arms back down to her sides with a soft sigh, her 
eyes opened.

"Look, Reiya..." Minaki said softly, bringing her hands up so that her 
palms faced outwards. "Look..."

Reiya took a step back, not from fright or horror, but at the impossibility 
of it all. "No..."

"It's what I've always wanted," Minaki continued. "I don't have to rely on 
Kalciane anymore. She's a part of me now - what's wrong, Reiya? Don't you 
like my new power?"

"Minaki, you - " Reiya began, unable to form her thoughts into words. There 
was no denying the beauty of her form, nor the power that hummed from every 
part of her body. Yet there was something indescribably sad about her 
appearance, as if that strength had come with a terrible cost...

"Reiya, please. You have to understand, this was what she wanted," she 
pleaded. "She wanted to help me as much as possible, and this was the only 
way. I believe in my own strength now. I'm one with her... we don't have to 
fight apart anymore..."

"That wasn't Kalciane," Reiya breathed softly. "Kalciane never would've 
forced her will on you, Minaki - "

Minaki suddenly snapped, her expression growing harsh and belying the 
transcendent beauty of her form. "You don't know that!" she cried shrilly. 
"She isn't *your* Guardian, Reiya!"

"Minaki!"

But she refused to listen. Both arms flicked outwards, hands splaying as 
cool blades of azure light formed at her fingertips. "She's mine, all 
mine!" she screamed. "And I'll show you just what she can do!"

Reiya lifted her sword defensively, already knowing what would happen. 
"Minaki! Stop it!"

The air exploded without warning as Minaki tore through the distance 
between them with alarming speed, her body tucked in a furious spiral. 
Reiya instinctively leapt backwards, bringing her sword outwards in narrow 
arcs to deflect the deadly blades whirling at her - but she was too slow to 
stop a powerful kick that slammed into her midsection. The impact stung 
even through Setsuna's protection, the force sending her flying towards the 
wall of the room. A quick flip around and brought herself back onto her 
feet with a light hop, flicking her sword outwards to prepare for Minaki's 
attack.

A rush of air behind her was the only indication of the girl's presence, 
and Reiya threw herself forward just as something slammed into the ground 
behind her, sending shards of tile exploding everywhere. She pivoted 
around, pushing herself up from the ground just as Minaki closed in with a 
furious hail of quick punches to her face and shoulders. Normally, Reiya 
would've had little problem defending herself, but the flowing blades of 
energy made each blow far more dangerous than a normal punch would have 
been - and moreover, she found herself incapable of truly putting herself 
into fighting her friend, no matter what had been done to her.

Nevertheless, her blade sang through the air with each flick of her arm, 
the weapon angled so as to avoid doing any real damage. Minaki, however, 
had no such reservations. Punch after punch rained upon her defense, 
whittling it down by degrees; Reiya felt herself being driven back by the 
assault and quickly leapt upwards to avoid a kick that shattered the wall 
beneath her. Reaching out with her free hand, she grabbed one of the lamps 
in front of her and swung herself forward, twisting around in midair to 
land softly in the middle of the room.

Minaki pivoted on her heel, shaking the dust and grit off of her leg 
nonchalantly. "What's wrong, Reiya?" she murmured. "Are you running because 
you're afraid?"

She knew that the words were only meant to intimidate her and refused to 
believe them. Instead, Reiya jammed the tip of her sword into the tiling 
and gazed evenly at Minaki, taking the time to mentally compose herself. 
"I'm not afraid," she said calmly, sounding more confident than she 
actually felt. "I'm not running either. You just haven't hit me yet."

"... what?" the girl muttered, her expression darkening at the insinuation.

"I taught you everything you knew," Reiya said softly. "Everything. All 
those times we practiced at the park and the missions where we fought 
together... it was because of me. And now your weakness is showing itself, 
because power is nothing without discipline - "

"You're just saying that because you can't be as strong as me!" Minaki 
protested, clenching her hands. "You're just jealous!"

"I don't have anything to be jealous of."

Minaki looked stunned at that, unsure of how to respond - but there was no 
need to as the ground exploded around her, sending bits of concrete flying 
in every direction. Reiya quickly lifted her sword to shield herself... and 
felt her heart sinking at the sight of a torrential fountain of water 
welling up from what must have been a broken water line beneath them. But 
instead of the expected deluge, the liquid suddenly arced around on itself 
and *stopped*, as if someone had simply shut the faucet off.

Reiya lowered her sword as the dust cleared to see Toji standing before 
her. Coils of water hovered serenely around him, pulsing and ebbing like a 
living thing.

"Very impressive, Reiya," he said, clapping his hands lightly while giving 
Minaki a hostile glare. "What is wrong with you? You're supposed to be 
*better* than this."

The girl said nothing, looking rather sullenly at the ground.

Toji shrugged lightly and lifted his hand up at Reiya, smiling slightly. 
The water shifted subtly in the air and contracted in upon itself, the 
coils blending in upon each other. "No matter. Perhaps she was going easy 
on you. Perhaps she was just incompetent. Either way... you have to face me 
now."

Reiya tightened her grip on the sword, her gaze shifting towards the jagged 
maw in the floor and at how the water was utterly motionless in the broken 
piping. "Toji, listen to me," she said shakily. "I need you to listen to 
me. Will you do that?"

He seemed to consider it for a moment but only shook his head angrily, his 
expression twisting in a demented parody of a frustration she knew too 
well. "No, Reiya. No! I've listened to you too many times already. Because 
of you, I'm in this mess. Because of you, I nearly *died*... and it was 
only because of Kail that Hikaru didn't outright kill me - "

"Kail was the one who told Hikaru to attack you!" Reiya shouted. "Don't you 
see that?!"

"This is your fault, Reiya. Everything's your fault." Toji abruptly 
composed himself, his voice growing cold. "I never should've gone with you. 
It was the worst decision of my life."

She stumbled back in surprise, stricken, barely hearing Setsuna's whispers 
cutting across her confusion: he was still under Kail's influence, and was 
undoubtedly doing all he could to unravel her. Even still, his words had 
managed to plant a seed of doubt in her heart. Her fault? Even at his 
worst, Toji had never given any indication that he'd harbored any regret in 
using his Guardian to help her, and the mere implication otherwise was not 
something she wanted to think about.

"I... I didn't mean to force you into it," she stammered. "I really didn't. 
I asked to make sure you were okay first - "

And then she stopped as Toji doubled over, his shoulders shaking with some 
unidentifiable emotion. For a second she thought he may have been crying, 
judging by the way he was trembling... but as he straightened himself 
amidst the coagulating shapes of water in the air, Reiya saw no trace of 
sadness on his face at all. Instead, there was only savage joy, and the 
maniacal glee of a crazed beast that had been freed.

"I have to thank you," he said roughly, bringing his hands outwards. His 
fingers curled in on themselves, clenching into fists briefly and circling 
his arms into position, both hands relaxed and loose. The water around him 
regrouped in similar fashion, taking on more definition as they moved. "If 
it wasn't for you, I never would've discovered... *this.*"

Reiya looked at him uncertainly, then over his shoulder at Minaki; what was 
she doing, waiting in the background? Were they playing a game with her? 
"I'm afraid I don't understand," she said carefully. "What do you mean by 
'this?'"

"This... this *power,*" Toji breathed, his voice hoarse and desperate. "I 
need it, Reiya. I need it to be complete, so that I don't have to be 
worthless anymore - "

"What?! Toji, you're not worthless!"

"Don't lie to me!" he snapped, an angry ripple coursing through the 
now-singular mass of water coiled around him like a tremendous snake. "I 
saw it in your eyes every time we fought. I heard your Guardian whispering 
to mine. It's always my fault, because I couldn't keep up with you and 
Minaki. No more, Reiya! I'm not weak anymore! Do you understand that?!"

He gave her no chance to respond. The liquid snake around him expanded and 
seemed to grow tiny stunted limbs upon its body. Ribbons of water unfurled 
from one end and then the other, followed by tooth-filled jaws... and Reiya 
suddenly saw that the beast was not a snake, but an enormous dragon made of 
water. Its transparent body was already moving with a silent, deadly grace 
towards her, gaining speed as it curled through the air and spreading its 
claws wide as it drew close.

She brought her sword out in a vicious arc aimed for its neck, only 
realizing after it was too late: though animated by Toji's Guardian, it was 
still liquid, and her blade met no resistance as it splashed harmlessly 
through its "skin". It slammed into her the next moment, throwing her back 
through the air; a sharp flare of pain welled up in her gut as her Guardian 
absorbed the attack, its protective light blindingly bright. But there was 
no time to hesitate as the dragon whirled around with an unearthly speed, 
whipping its tail towards her even as she struggled to right herself in midair.

The shock reverberated through her arms as she raised her sword up at the 
last second, another flicker of light sparking from the blade upon impact. 
She avoided the subsequent blow with a quick flip, widening the space 
between them once more in a series of light strides across the floor. 
Toji's present skill was deeply unnerving, and she fought to remain 
focused. A single slip-up was more than she could afford right now.

But she was exerting herself too much, and holding off the assault wasn't 
going to be an option much longer. Setsuna was tiring, its weariness 
already pulsing through her like a dull, painless headache. A warning throb 
came as water flowed at her from the side, and before she could even react, 
the dragon abruptly broke apart into countless droplets and swarmed around 
her in precise formation, coming at her from every angle all at once.

There was no way to avoid them all, and she didn't even try. Instead, she 
braced herself and forced her Guardian into the background as the tiny 
droplets began slamming into her like bullets, quickly driving her down 
onto the ground with their combined force. Pain blossomed through every 
part of her body, and it took every bit of willpower she had to remain 
silent, holding Setsuna back despite its protests.

The barrage was over almost as quickly as it had come, leaving Reiya to 
look up in mild puzzlement. Toji and Minaki were standing over her, their 
faces disappointed. The water dragon was mostly gone, having spent itself 
upon Reiya; what remained of the liquid perched upon Toji's shoulder in the 
shape of a rather large hawk.

"What's wrong with you?" he chided. "You used to be so serious about this, 
and now... you aren't even trying."

She staggered back onto her feet, using her sword to help herself up. Water 
dripped from every inch of her clothes, and the coolness of the room was 
already beginning to sink uncomfortably into her skin. "I can't fight 
you... you two are my friends."

They appeared somewhat amused by that, exchanging a quick glance as Minaki 
smiled ruefully. "We've got new friends now, Reiya," she said. "You should 
be friends with them too. We can all be friends together."

"No."

"I'm afraid you aren't in any position to deny us," Toji said softly. He 
looked past her as the sound of footsteps grew closer, smiling as he saw 
who was approaching. "You know we're right, and it's only a matter of time 
until you realize that you are not."

Reiya didn't have to turn around to know that Seki and his partners were 
already standing at the edge of the ballroom. But it wasn't even the sudden 
turn of odds that angered her so much as their casual indifference; 
somehow, they had planned this from the very first day, and she had walked 
right into their hands; nothing she did now mattered anymore. She felt 
herself shivering in frustration at the thought. Helplessness was something 
she had never wanted to experience again after her parents had passed away, 
and the sense of control and power that had come with Setsuna was about to 
be taken away from her.

"Lady Eice, I ask again that you reconsider your stance on this matter," 
Kail said, moving across the ballroom as he spoke. "I did not bring your 
friends here so that they could do this to you, though I am sure you 
believe otherwise. Rather, they came to me, for they understood that I was 
able to provide them with the answers that they wanted."

"Then why did Kaname tell me you had captured Minaki?" Reiya replied, 
shifting around to face him.

"I know of what my men did, Lady Eice," he replied unflinchingly. "But once 
she and Lord Kizuda realized who I was... there was no doubt in their 
minds. They *wanted* to know. They *asked* that I show them the truth... 
and so I merely complied with their requests."

A flicker of doubt crossed her mind. Maybe he was telling the truth. 
Although she still didn't believe Minaki would've given in so easily, she 
wasn't sure about Toji anymore. After all, he had always been questioning 
their every move, and as delusional as his rantings were now, it was 
possible he could have asked Kail to help him...

... but that still wouldn't have turned him into what he was now. If 
anything, he would've tried to find a way to contain and harness his 
abilities into something he was capable of handling; with the way he was 
acting now, it was almost as if the two of them were reveling in their 
newfound strength, as if they had lost control over their own power.

Cold understanding suddenly filled her.

She glanced over at her friends and noticed, for the first time, that their 
eyes looked worn and tired. Their shoulders were slumped, shaking slightly 
from their ragged panting... and their breaths came in thin streams of 
mist, even though neither of them had been exerting themselves as much as 
she had been....

"You!" she screamed, glaring at Kail hatefully. "How dare you do this to them!"

"Ah, but you finally see," he said wickedly. "Were you simply too absorbed 
in your own woes to have noticed earlier? Were you caught up in your own 
expectations of walking away the victor?"

Reiya brought her sword up, steadying herself with her free arm. "Of all 
the things you've already done, Kail Tnim... I had never expected you to 
stoop so low."

Kail looked down at the blade, utterly unimpressed. "You will not win this 
battle, Lady Eice. Your friends are already well on their way. Why do you 
not join them, so that we may all usher in the glorious new era of humanity 
where weakness does not exist?"

"Weakness will always exist," she said slowly. "Thinking otherwise is 
foolishness. If you're trying to eradicate weakness from humans, *you* are 
the one that's going to fail, regardless of what happens to me."

A hint of indignant anger curled upon his lips. "What did you say?"

"We received our Guardians so we could learn how to deal with our 
shortcomings. Not to forget about them," she stated calmly. "Who gave you 
*your* Guardian, Kail?"

He took a step back, looking thoroughly baffled by the question. "Silence, 
insolent child! I am the master... my word controls you all!" he shouted. 
"No one gave me my Guardian but myself!"

Reiya shook her head slowly and advanced upon him, feeling her confidence 
growing with every step. "No. You're lying... someone gave you your 
abilities, and you've forgotten everything about why it was done and what 
it meant. How come?"

But Kail never got a chance to reply. Hikaru was already moving forward 
from the opposite wall in a flash of white, his arm flicking up at his 
side. Reiya braced herself in anticipation... only to scream in unexpected 
agony as the air around her became bitingly cold in a matter of moments. 
The dampness in her clothes snapped and seemed to tear itself outwards with 
impossible speed, a fragile crackling filling the air; tiny crystals began 
forming around her, their edges glinting malevolently as they blurred in 
her direction, reshaping themselves in mid-flight to form a jagged ring.

The attack ripped into her with a sickening crunch, a bright flash of light 
sparking from Reiya's midsection as her Guardian came to her defense at the 
last moment to keep her from being torn in half. She let out a pained cry 
and sank to her knees, feeling Setsuna's pain bordering upon her own 
senses. Every instinct told her to stand back up, but it was already too 
late; Hikaru was upon her in a second, and she just didn't have any more 
strength left in her body.

"Clever girl," he murmured as Crystallean's blades returned to his side. 
"But you would be foolish to believe that I will allow you to continue."

Reiya felt the eight blades whirling around him with increasing speed and 
squeezed her eyes shut. There was no way that Setsuna would be able to hold 
that off, and she knew that it wouldn't be long before she was made into 
one of them. The thought was all it took to push her over the edge; 
despair, long-forgotten since her Guardian's awakening, settled in and 
tears of frustration stung at her eyes. Her grip tightened upon her sword, 
as if begging it for one final chance at making things right.

And then a flash of light filled the room, as if in response to her silent 
prayer.

She thought for a moment that perhaps Hikaru had decided to end it all 
mercifully. Perhaps she was in heaven now, finally at peace with herself.

But the ground felt all too real underneath her, and as she looked up she 
saw that everything was still the same, except -

The room was a brilliant emerald. Every inch of it, from the broken hole in 
the floor to the slants of light cast by the lamps across the wall was 
bathed in a rich, verdant glow that came from everywhere at once - and as 
her eyes adjusted to the brightness, she noticed a figure silhouetted in 
the radiance at the far end of the room. It remained perfectly still, even 
when a pair of curved shadows lifted up from its back, framing the person 
in strange, nebulous arches of blackness.

Kail was shielding his face with his arm, looking at the person with utter 
awe. "Princess?"

Reiya blinked, rising to her feet painfully. *Princess?*

"What... what is this?" Hikaru muttered, looking around in confusion. He 
glanced over at Seki, wondering briefly if he had been responsible and 
dismissing the thought almost immediately. He barely afforded Toji and 
Minaki a glance; the two seemed entranced by the figure's appearance, but 
there was no way they could have awakened the princess either. Kail 
certainly would not have done it, which only meant one thing...

The light gradually diminished, retracting in upon itself by degrees to 
sink back into the figure. Once it cleared, Reiya saw that the figure was a 
woman garbed in a wispy white gown that draped loosely upon her shoulders, 
the ends trailing about her ankles. Her hair was a pale blond, billowing 
down in thick curls past the curve of her hips; her eyes had probably been 
a vibrant green at one point in time, but now were sheened with dull 
exhaustion. Moreover, the black arches that surrounded her were a pair of 
magnificent butterfly wings, dappled with every color of the rainbow: blues 
highlighted the outer curves, giving way to deep lavenders and bold reds 
spotted with splashes of gold and green in perfect symmetry.

The princess took in a deep breath, as if doing so for the first time in a 
long while... and sighed softly, the butterfly wings upon her back trembling.

"Reece..." Kail said quietly. "What are you doing here?"

She turned to look at him with a soft smile. "It has been a long time, 
Kail. You seem so different now."

"I..."

The princess frowned suddenly and turned to look at Toji and Minaki, who 
had been staring lifelessly at the proceedings for quite some time. "What 
are you doing with these two?" she said cautiously.

"They have decided to help us with our cause," Hikaru replied, without 
missing a beat. "Surely you remember our cause, Reece, before you fell into 
slumber."

The woman paused, as if trying to remember. She shook her head after a 
while, looking over at Kail once more. "I remember that you decided I 
should sleep. Am I mistaken?"

Kail looked taken aback at that and glanced over at Hikaru uncertainly. "It 
was for the greater cause, Reece. You can remember that, can you not? Why 
is it that you have awakened now, when the course of affairs has not come 
to its resolution yet?"

Reece began moving forward, her bare feet making no noise upon the dusty 
floor. "I was having a nightmare," she whispered.

"Nightmare?"

"I felt a presence close to me in my dreams," she said. "A presence that I 
had known from the past. Not you, Kail... nor you, Hikaru. Not even you, 
Seki... but someone I had seen suffering for a long, long time, someone I 
had tried to help. She was in my dream, feeling the same pain that had 
threatened to destroy her when we first met."

Reiya flinched and instinctively tried to shy away, although there was 
nothing to hide behind. The princess turned towards her, and their eyes 
met. Something was inexorably drawing her towards that emerald gaze, and 
she could feel something working around her thoughts, almost as if Reece 
was trying to burrow into her mind...

No. Not her mind.

Her Guardian's.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Reece murmured, her smile gentle and almost 
maternal. "Reiya Eice... the girl who felt no joy. How has Setsuna been 
treating you?"

"Well e-enough, I... guess," Reiya said awkwardly. "But..."

Hikaru took a step forward as she faltered. "Perhaps it would be best if 
you returned to your chamber, Reece," he said sternly. "There is a lot of 
unpleasantness in the air, and it cannot be good for your - "

"I'm used to unpleasantness," she interrupted primly, giving him an 
enigmatic smile. "Please do not lecture me, Hikaru."

"You do not understand." His expression twisted, allowing a hint of 
ugliness through. "This is an important time, and your presence is 
disrupting the natural course of events."

Reece regarded him coolly as she continued moving towards Reiya once more. 
"What have you been planning, Hikaru, while you thought I was asleep?"

Her words took him by surprise, and he found himself unable to respond. 
Instead, he glanced towards Toji and Minaki and gestured towards the 
princess, indicating for them to take care of her. A long time ago, the 
mere thought of attacking the princess would have been inconceivable... but 
that was back when he had still been trying to discover what to do with the 
precious commodity that had been given to him. Now that the commodity was 
turning against him, he knew he had no other choice.

The two Hosts lurched around and focused upon the princess with a dazed 
look on their faces. Toji took a few shambling steps forward, as if 
puzzled... and raised his arms smoothly outwards, the water from the broken 
pipe swirling around him. Minaki blinked a few times and shifted forward as 
well, the sapphires upon her armor popping outwards with a soft click. A 
smile crossed their faces simultaneously, as if savoring the prospect of 
further violence.

But Reece only returned their smile with her own, as if she was secretly 
pleased with something. "Poor Hikaru... I thought you would have finally 
changed after all this time, but it would appear that I was wrong. 
Therefore, I cannot allow this to continue. Trinity and I will show you the 
error of your ways."

And with that, she lifted one arm upwards towards the two Hosts that stood 
before her, stretching her hand out in a beckoning gesture.

_____


-- bellreisa

Writings	http://bellreisa.tnim.org
Wiki		http://ciel.ath.cx:8080/cielwiki


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