Welcome to Gaia! ::

Merlin stepped outside his door and looked up at the burning crest. A sighed escaped his lips and he shook his head. 'As much as Anna needs to be around Hotaru, I think he needs to be around her more. Especially outside of here. He can see exactly what a destructive life is like, where it leads.' A knowing smirk crossed his face as big, gray thunder clouds started to tumble in, a storm very, very soon in the coming. He looked back down at the street, wondering where Hotaru could be. 'If only Anna was where now, she's also the person I send out, especially when it's beginning to rain...'

Merlin followed him. "Looking for you," he commented casually. "Just thought you would like to know that Anna's gone."

Axel couldn't help but roll his eyes inside Italia. "Fire and water don't mix my a**." He grumbled, blinking at the blond who had fallen asleep in Italia's lap. His eyes widened in a moment of 'O~h-s**t what do I-do-ItaliaHelp!' Before she told him to just told him to leave her, before muttering something about him being a hopeless child.

He just nodded. "Her an me both. Suppose I could consider this more heavy duty training then I prefer....." He gave a light sigh, and shook his head. "Like or hate water. If you use it, you're much to similar to someone I've decided needs to die." He shrugged at the last bit. "And water leaves a bad taste with me. Nothing but horrid feelings." A sliver of dark energy ran across his eyes, changing them temporarily. "Guess when it comes to him.....well I've still got a long way to go. Also, I'll send notice when that man's gone. When you get that, you'll have to tell Leon, 'Sorry, but you just weren't on our level.', for me. Hopefully he wont take me killing that b*****d to hard. I'm sure like me, he's Squa....Leon's top prey." He shook his head. "Maybe a nap before more training. Seem's I was about to let a secret slip, which just aint my style." He was smirking, as he went over by Leon, and laid on the floor. "If you happen to hit me while I'm sleeping, I wont take it too personal. You know, with the whole almost killin ya thing." He said it with a little remorse showing through in his tone. "Anyways, I'm calling it a day for a couple of hours." He called out. "And wake me up when Zero, or Phantom show up. I gotta discuss training." He was talking to everyone at this point, but as soon as he laid his head down, and shut his eyes, a light snoring could be heard if you listened hard enough.

((Sorry, forgot to say this earlier. Happy Birthday Ichy!))

Axel settled back disregarding the blond asleep across his knees. ‘Italia…’ He concentrated folding his arms over his chest. In a moment the world faded to different room, he could tell it was a room because despite the scenery, the serene setting that clawed at his imaginary heart. It was a beach, that’s waters only went out so far until one met a wall, painted to appear to stretch out to the horizon. Behind him was a forest of thick pine trees, also painted. He cast his eyes around, as always at the far end, elbow deep in ocean water was a small girl her nose pressed against the wall you couldn’t tell was glass until you were that close, her dark brown hair in pigtails. He turned away, to cast a glance over his shoulder where a piece of the forest had been dislodged revealing a wedge of warm light. He snorted at the piece of drift wood and twine that hung off the simple silver knob of the door, painted with simple black font reading “Axel’s Broom Closet." Leave it to Italia. Speaking of which, he turned again, finally finding the actual girl sitting an iron garden table, its surface a lovely floral pattern, and two matching chairs [one of which she occupied]. On the table sat a vase of flowers, ferns, stargazer lilies, peonies and yellow roses. He also noted the appearance of red Camilla blossom since he had last been here. On the table sat a note book and a box of pencils with a withered sprig of mint beside a lose Camilla. Above the table arched an arbor of wisteria and following it down to the right it began to tangle with one of the few true trees in the room. The one that a cork board filled with pictures was nailed to the trunk. Underneath sat eighteen stacks of twelve notebooks each, the first five or six stacks were all clean and obviously not written in while the others were all bent, pages dog eared and stained. No two of the notebook covers, though for the most part all relatively simple [in contrast to the couple sitting on the table.] were the same, and some were distinctly more worn out then the others.

“Is something the matter Axel?” He swiveled his head back to look at her. She was dressed in a light summer dress, and sandals befitting the beach setting. On her nose sat a pair of red framed glasses that he knew she didn’t need. She tapped the blue ice cream bar to her lips. “You don’t usually come in here.” She said tucking the yellow pencil behind her ear.

Axel walked over, feeling the sand shift beneath the soles of his boots. He himself was aware of the sharp contrast he was in to this place. Holding his old form again he stood tall, spined hair matching the brilliant red color of the Camilla’s on the table. His long heavy black coat, though open over his jeans and green shirt still seemed to cast a grim void over the soft warmth here.

Italia cocked her head. She’d only seen his real form once, when he had first taken up refuge within her. It caught her off guard really. She never forgot he was a guy, or that he was formidable, but something about seeing him in his own form just made it crash down on her again. She absently bit off the tip of her ice cream watching his long legged gait. She guessed it was his eyes. Never really knew green could invoke that kind of feeling. The most frequent associations with the color were like, growth, jealousy, wealth, sickly. This green was not any of that. It was powerful, dedicate, relentless. They showed the smoldering burn of his powers, weighted and she would imagine unsettling to anyone who didn’t understand how gentle, loyal and sometimes adorably naïve he could be at times. Axel, had power, and intelligence, he was sneaky, slippery and manipulative as hell, but it didn’t change that at his core, he was still missing some vital things about existence. It made him awkward and seem a little more like a child to her.

“Stop analyzing me, Italia.” He said having stopped behind the chair across from her. She blinked. No wonder he complained about her being slow when his normal pace allowed him to cross a distance in half the time it would have taken her. He tipped his head to one side. “You’re doing it again.”

“Sorry.” She apologized granting him the permission he had been waiting for to sit down. “What’s up?”

He sat back stretching his legs crossed at the ankle as she folded his arms over his chest. He cast a look over at the little girl still pressed against the furthest glass wall. “She ever gonna move?” He asked.

The dark haired girl scowled. “Probably not.” She said snapping off another piece of the ice cream that seemed unphased by the warmth of the room. “Is that what you came to ask?” She furrowed her brows.

“No.” He sat forward staring at her intently. “You told Jistin and Anna both you intended to travel with them.”

“Yeah? So?”

“So are you sure that’s a good idea?”

She shrugged “I don’t see why not. They’ll probably be using gummi’s which, if you ask me, beats stumbling blindly through corridors neither of us can control all that well.” She shrugged again laying the now bare popsicle stick on the table thoughtfully. “Besides, aren’t those things supposed to be bad for you anyway?” She looked up at him in time to see him twitch. “And it’s not like it’s gonna harm our quest any.” She scowled at the look on his face before flicking her eyes to the mint sprig that seemed to be reviving in his presence. “Why?”

Axel leaned forward setting his elbows on the edge of the table, pressing his mouth into the side of his interlaced fingers. “They make me nervous.” He said softly.

Italia’s amber eyes squinted at him. “Zero, makes you nervous.” He lifted his eyes to hers. “Ever since she showed that second spirit you’ve been skittish around her.” She cocked her head, gaze soft. “Like it’s... painful.” He shifted uncomfortably sitting back again. “Axel?” she coaxed.

The redhead sighed running a hand through his hair. “Let’s just say I’ve seen this before.”

“Really? Is there a way to help her?”

His green gaze narrowed. “Okay, let me rephrase. I’ve seen something similar.” He corrected. “Same circumstance very differently handled.”

Italia scowled in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“This didn’t start with Zero.” He stated. “And it won’t end with her either. Unlike me, who dies with you, when Zero’s time runs out that thing inside her will merely find another host and reside there until that one reaches it end. On and on till time itself stops.”

She stared. “How do you know that?”

Axel returned her gaze, hesitating to answer before sighing and looking away to the paint horizon and the little girl still pressed to it. “I knew her predecessor.”

[[O.O I think I just topped my previous post….]]

[[There’s a crap load of symbolism here, but I’m going to at least point out the flowers. And mind you I got the meanings of these from several sights sooo they might not be the same as what you’ve heard. Red Camilla: Your flame in my heart. Fern: Magic, fascination, Confidence and Shelter. Stargazer Liliy: Ambition Peony: Healing Yellow Roses: apology, a broken heart, intense emotion, dying love, extreme betrayal Wisteria: Stead fast Mint: suspicion.]]

Merlin looked down at the sleeping Hotaru. He nudged him with his foot. "It's time to wake up, boy. Anna's out there all alone with who knows how many people looking for her and that makes me nervous. The sooner you train and leave the better. And I mean that in the best way possible."

Hotaru's eyes flicked open for a second, just long enough to glare at Merlin. "You realize this is the first nap I've gotten since......" He closed his eyes as he sat up. "Since I do believe I got back from the meeting with the king." There was a little sadness in is voice. "And that was like, what two, three days ago?" He shook his head and gave a sigh. "I'm actually kinda surprised with myself. After all that I was able to last at least a couple of days with no sleep." He smirked. "Just gotta fine tune everything now, and lay into anyone who pisses me off." He dropped the smirk, and gave a sigh. "And I thought remembering one persons name was already a pain....Now we got, what Zero, Phantom, Ital.......Azel....." He threw his hands up. "This is gonna be a real drag...." He stood up, and leaned on the nearest support.