Welcome to Gaia! ::

"The Ancients... have staked a claim on her soul?" As he repeated that, several thoughts went running through Ialo's mind. Such as, Ophiuchus and Riser both being very old. Especially Riser. Who happened to be incapacitated, which was no good to Ialo at the moment. Or that, as a dragon, he could locate Danni's soul without too much difficulty by himself. Or that because he was now affiliated with Riser, he could do a little namedropping. Or...

"I don't know what the hell they're thinking," Ialo said roughly. That dragon-like, possessive gleam appeared in his eyes. "Taking away my student without my permission. To fight Satan too. You can't have light without darkness, that's wrong. It screws up the balance of things." He clenched his fists.

"I can't make promises anymore, I'm not very good at keeping them," Ialo admitted. "But when I get my hands on those Ancients, I'm gonna show 'em what for. And I'll slap some damn sense into Danni, too." He looked up at the sky and pointed at the distant clouds with his hands held like a make-believe gun. "Goddamn dieties running around my school like they own the frikkin place... You know who owns this place? I do! This ratty run-down decrepit pile of stones is my kingdom, and whoever goes running around thinking they own me or my students has got a world of pain coming."

H squinted at the distant storm and cocked his make-believe gun. "It's on." He blasted off a nearly-invisible spell. The storm clouds on the horizon immediately evaporated into multi-colored lightning. The thunderous shockwave from the rapid heating and colling of the air rolled by, and the whole sky was clear again... aside from the smoky shape of a lithe dragon rising into the stars.

((And I quote John: "Spaghetti Western much?))

Cook shrugged at Ialo's words about there needing to be darkness to have balance. "I don't know much, but I got the gist of it. They're not trying to get rid of darkness, just trying to take back their position as, I don't know, leaders of Hell or some such. Seems bloody b*****d Satan's got it into his head to fight for more power, and he's already got the Ancients discarded as it is." He shrugged again, and his eyes darkened a bit when he mentioned slapping some sense into Danni.

"It won't do any good." Sly said from behind him, pausing in his digging as he studied the headmaster with sad eyes. "We got some news when we managed to pin them down in Montana for a second. They've completely gotten rid of all her memories, she doesn't even know her own damned name. They put her in an illusion for a body...She thinks she's some damned girl named Addie, living a nice, peaceful life with her parents and brothers...They've got her god-damned brainwashed." He said fiercely, glaring at the storm as it was pushed back.

"Of course she's safe." He had come along at a decent pace, leaving himself short of breath upon arrival. "Well, more or less. Even the Ancients, tight-assed as they may be, wouldn't go through this sort of trouble for no reason. From what we currently know, she's needed alive...oh, right sorry, I might be a mortal for a few weeks but I'm still telepathic. Anyways, for all purposes we must assume that she is needed alive for something. We just need to hope things stay that way."
He took a moment or so to calm his breathing before he looked to Ialo.
"Hey, you need to stop scampering off. I'm stuck with no useful powers for a while and you don't know how to fully control yourself yet. I'd say we'd be far better off as a duo than as independents, for the time being at least."

Even Nathan cringed at the intensity of the shockwave - but to him, it was merely a loud roll of thunder, coupled with an unusual barometric change that made his sinuses hurt. "Ach..." he muttered. "It was a shockwave. It was definitely something atmospheric - is there a storm nearby?"

"A storm that came and passed in just a few seconds?" Nathan asked. "Sounds like my son then. He loves messing with the weather. Are you alright?"

"Duo, as in a pair numbnuts. As for the control, frankly kid you suck. As we speak there are three voices inside your head, two natural, one placed by me. Those voices are arguing, fighting, disagreeing, and as a result you yourself are a conglomerate of this bickering. Until the day comes that all voices shout out in perfect unison upon any course of action, you lack control. And just how exactly do you expect to control those voices, through lucky guesses? You'll be buried before you get the chance to make a second mistake kid. I gave those new powers to you, I know exactly what you're capable of, so trust me, you need me."
There was a vicious glare in his eyes; he decided that he could not tolerate being mortal for much longer, his imposing nature seemed to have almost vanished.

Cook and Sly looked at the new appearance, barely batting an eye. There would be time for introductions later.

"So they're keeping her alive...They've no right to her. They've no right to do this...they had a right to none of this. She jumped because she was scared of what she saw, what those bastards were showing her in her head. And now, because of them, she's not really alive anymore...You're not the only one who doesn't know what to do." Sly said, rubbing his grubby hands against what had once been designer pants.

"On that we can agree..." He replied, and began following Ialo, setting the shovel against the tree again and shooting a quick look at the casket on the rocks.