"Find my weapon," David repeated the only instruction Caelius had given him as he stared down into the dark. Trepidation grew as he began his slow way down the stairs and into the gloom. He'd put this off long enough, letting others go first when previously he would have been the first to volunteer. This was different, though. The Dark Cove, again. Cryptic instructions, again. Davey just hoped it was third time lucky and he didn't end up dying on the Cove floor like he had both other times. Forget that it hadn't been 'real' both those times, that this would be Davey's first actual visit to the real Cove - Davey still felt the creeping up his spine that often heralded a mission about to go wrong.

He reached the bottom. The torches still lit the walls, just like the dream-Cove during the test. And just like the dream-Cove, the darkness still seemed to eat away nearly all light cast by the torches.

"Find my weapon," he said yet again as he turned a slow circle. "Yeah, right. No problems."

Caelius had yet to steer Davey wrong. If he said there was a weapon to be found down here, then there must be. But that didn't mean Caelius was telling the whole truth either, that there weren't tests and trials and everything else the quite-possibly-crazy man liked to throw at the trainee Hunters.

A lap of the room revealed nothing but the two torches and the strangely marked walls. There went his hope that this part might be easy. Davey discounted the torches - he highly doubt even Caelius would consider them proper weapons. So that left the glowing runes on the walls. Clearly there was some secret to this place. A puzzle or a test, or both.

David's hand clenched. For once, couldn't it be straight forward? Point him towards an enemy, he'd fight it. Give him a weapon, he'd use it. But all this needless trickery and brain-teasing was wearing on Davey's nerves. He was a soldier, not a scholar!

An irritated inspection of the runes revealed nothing useful. There was no repeating pattern or code - every mark was different. He ran his hand along a section of the wall. A harsh buzzing assaulted his ears, followed by a sharp static shock to his fingers. Davey cursed and let his hand drop. It was only when he immediately felt better than he realised his stomach had also been turning over during his tactical exploration.

His eyes narrowed. Davey's breath escaped in a hiss. If it wasn't for the very clear rejection from the wall, Davey would have punched it in frustration.

"Find my weapon, my a**," he growled. "Show yourself!" The yell ricocheted around the small cavern, mockingly throwing Davey's anger back in his face.

A soft snicker accompanied the echoes. Davey glanced around wildly, but still couldn't locate a source.

"Who's there?"

The noise abruptly cut off.

After several moments of silence, Davey loudly announced, "If one of you bastards is spying on me, I'll kick your ******** arse, one arm or not!" He wouldn't put it past a few of the other Hunters. Some of them seemed to think this was just a high school field trip, and kept up the stupid cliques and childish behaviour.

Only silence answered him. Davey almost wanted to storm back up the stairs and check - only the knowledge that he'd more than likely fail by doing so kept him in the Cove. He was going to find whatever damn weapon was down here, and then use it to hurt whoever thought he was a good target for stupid pranks.

Maybe it was stubbornness that kept Davey in the Cove. Maybe it was the patience that the military had done their very best to drill into a headstrong young man (and not entirely succeeded in, truth be told). For whatever reason, Davey forced his raised shoulders down. He tilted his head to each side, the cricks loud in the still cavern. Then his right hand took hold of the tags around his neck and Davey closed his eyes. Someone down here, there was something just for him and him alone. Davey would find it. He wouldn't leave without it. This test was just one more in a long line of tests, past and future. Davey would not allow himself to be stopped here.

Slowly, he walked around the edge of the cavern. The walls all but hummed with power, as though a faint electrical current powered the glowing runes. He knew better than to touch them, this time. As he moved, the hum changed. Davey frowned, eyes still closed, as he imagined the hum was almost a whispered litany.

~Nothing here, nothing for you, leave, leave leaveleaveleave~

He paused. Great, now he was imagining that the bloody Dark Cove, of all places, was repeating back his own doubts and insecurities of the past half hour (or however long he'd been down here by now). "This place is driving me insane," he muttered.

~All the more reason to leave leaveleaveleave-!~

Davey's eyes snapped open as a faint, familiar, snicker accompanied the new hum-whisper response. His hand shot out, slamming against one of the runes. "What do you think you're doing?"

The hum-whisper grew louder, now that Davey was wise to its game. ~Go away, stupid human. Nothing here for you, no weapon calls you, just leaveleavele-~

Davey interrupted the familiar rant. "You're calling me."

~...Am not!~

Eyebrows lifted at the affronted denial. "I can hear you right now."

Now the voice clammed up again, but Davey wasn't fooled. A rune that didn't hurt him, and a voice that he could hear even if it claimed not to be calling out to him. The stupid thing obviously was, even if it wasn't to play childish games about it. He turned his attention to the rune under his palm. The 'wall' was made of up small tablets, a faintly glowing rune on each one. It was a bit of a trial, but Davey managed to wiggle the block loose from the others, pulling it out a centimetre at a time.

~Stop that, you cretin! Wh- put me back right now. Is your intelligence of such limited capacity that you fail to understand me? Right now, I demand it!~

"Quit yer bitching," Davey absently said, attention focused on getting the tablet loose. Finally it was in his hand. He barely noticed the tablets still in 'wall' adjusting like puzzle pieces to fill the gap - Davey's attention was taken up by the sword that had suddenly taken the place of the tablet.

He gave it a test swing. He'd rather missed having a sword, even if his former one had been a mostly-ceremonial rapier. A gun would have been perfect, but this was... "Not bad."

~Not bad? Not bad!? I am magnificent! Superb! The perfect melding of grace and death, of speed and power, the sharpest-~

"The noisiest," Davey added. "Are you done? Can we leave?"

The voice - the sword, Davey mentally correctly himself - didn't take kindly to the interruption. ~Are you daft, you son of rabid, flea-infested monkeys? Do you know who I am?~

"The bitchiest blade that ever there was?"

~Why you-!! I am-~

"Leaving now," Davey interrupted. If Caelius was actually monitoring these 'tests', then the man must be (laughing himself sick) thinking that Davey had died down here by now - for the third time. (Again, probably laughing himself sick either way.)

~Azrael!~ the sword thundered, quivering madly in Davey's hand.

"Davey." He didn't stop, finally starting up the stairs.

~That may be the most pathetic name I have ever heard,~ Azrael scoffed. ~And who said I agreed to work with you? Put me back, you cretin! I refuse to fight with you so you might as well put me back now and save yourself the humilitation.~

Davey never paused in his ascent. He never gave the words even a passing consideration. "Nope, you're stuck with me now."

There was a very loud silence in the back of Davey's head, where the voice had resided since the sword appeared. As he reached the top and left the Dark Cove behind, a very tiny voice said, ~Fine.~