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 Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 7:57 pm
Backdated to April, after the events of Jet’s promotion and Ganymede’s escape. The problem with finding anyone or anything in the Rift was that it was vast and volatile.
Aquamarine despised it. He cared little for youma, and less for their domain. His few forays into the Rift had been short but frustrating — more than enough to convince him that he would find little to benefit him there, and that what might prove useful wasn’t even worth the effort. After their mission to the Scar, Aquamarine would have been happy to never set foot within the Rift again.
But he'd made a promise, and he kept his word.
Once Jet had healed from the injuries he sustained during his captivity, they entered the Rift together. A weekend passed with no success, so they departed with plans to return. Again and again they entered, for two, maybe three days at a time, but they found very little to lead them to the bird girl.
Sometime after their royal captive made her escape, they left all the frustrations of the Dark Kingdom behind and tried again. Aquamarine expected they would accomplish very little. He was beginning to think she’d gone for good. Perhaps she’d grown tired of waiting and went back to Destiny City, only to cross paths with a royal’s tiara.
“Your dog is useless,” he complained to Jet as they clambered their way over the rough, crystal strewn terrain.
They’d sent Arles off to search elsewhere to cover more ground. Arles went with a wide, toothy grin and low laughter. Aquamarine didn’t trust the dog to do what he was meant to. More than likely he’d gone to rest somewhere, muttering children’s stories to himself to fill the silence.
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:02 pm
Jet had already removed his cape and shoved it into his subspace just in case. The new outfit was comfortable, but it was still something to get used to. It was mostly the same, but seemed like it was for someone more mature than a twenty-two year old.
“He’s not useless,” Jet countered, although there were a number of things that Arles did that got on his nerves. Like the weird muttering and grinning all the time. But his abilities were useful. As long as it wasn’t daytime. Or in a bright place. Or raining.
Okay, maybe Arles was more useless than Jet wanted to admit.
He paused to hold his hand out to Aquamarine as they climbed up a large break in the terrain. They’d both healed from their injuries, and he was perfectly fine. But he didn’t want Aquamarine to be hurt. Ever, if he could help it.
“She didn’t give you any clues as to where we could find her?” Jet sighed. He was all for helping Aquamarine keep his promises, but searching the Rift for days and days (with breaks) was tedious. Thankfully, most youma kept away from them. But maybe that was the problem.
“Should I power down?” he suggested, because if the youma were staying away from his aura then maybe that was why they couldn’t find Aqua’s… friend.
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:07 pm
Even after taking Jet’s hand, Aquamarine still tripped over a loose patch of ground. He’d had two years to get used to his boots, but they were not the most practical for long hikes through the Rift.
“Don’t power down,” he said. “They respect you more like this. We’re both better off with you at full power, in case we run into trouble.”
Not that Jet couldn’t power up in that event, but Aquamarine preferred to minimize the possibility rather than deal with the consequences. Parts of the Rift held greater dangers than others. Neither of them had explored it enough to judge their surroundings safe.
Everything about this place set Aquamarine on edge.
At least they didn’t have a team to worry about this time. The more responsibility placed on his shoulders, the worse Aquamarine’s mood tended to be.
“She’s a bird girl,” he continued, though they’d been over this before. He had little else to offer. It wasn’t as if the youma in question gave Aquamarine much to go on. (It wasn’t as if he’d asked.) “Like someone fused a corpse with a raven. She talks nonsense. Repeats the same bullshit all the time. Where would a brainless bird girl feel at home?”
Where would anything feel at home in here?
Maybe Aquamarine should’ve asked Faustite. (A pity he’d rather swallow a vat of poison than ask anyone other than Jet for help.)
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:10 pm
He knew they were looking for a bird girl, but he was still at a loss for where they would find one. There weren’t any trees. Not trees like on Earth. Nothing Jet would consider a plant.
“Maybe somewhere dark. I know there were those caves in the Scar that youma like to hide in.” Or even be. Apparently a whole ceiling of crystals had ended up being a youma.
“We could ask some other youma if they’ve seen her,” he suggested with a shrug. He knew Aquamarine probably wouldn’t go for that, but it was an option.
“You said she… took away your pain before?” he asked, because he just wanted to make sure he was understanding it properly. He appreciated anyone helping Aquamarine, and the youma had kept him comfortable enough until he was able to contact him. He supposed he owed the bird girl his own gratitude for watching after Aqua when he couldn’t.
There was a moment that he paused where he was standing, and looked like he was staring off into nothingness, before he shook his head.
“Still nothing from Arles. Just wasteland.”
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:15 pm
Aquamarine made a disgruntled face, though it was unclear what he was most displeased by — any mention of the Scar and what transpired there, or Arles’s uselessness. (He doubted Jet’s dog was actually putting in his best effort. More than likely, he was amused by the entire thing.)
“Dulled the pain, or something,” he said. “Enough that I could think, and breathe. She didn’t seem to know she was doing it.”
Then again, she didn’t seem to know much at all.
Aquamarine heaved a sigh and kept walking. Patches of ground kept shifting beneath his feet, making the walk treacherous. He kept Jet’s hand in his — because the support was often needed, not because he wanted to. (Although he did kind of want to. Sometimes. Especially when he was troubled.)
(Not that he was troubled. He was angry. And annoyed. And deeply frustrated. He should have asked for more relevant information, but the last time he saw the bird girl, he’d been a bit too distracted to think of asking, “Hey, where do you usually hang out in the Rift?” At this rate, he was going to have to suck up his pride and ask around.)
“This is probably a waste of time,” Aquamarine grumbled. “Even if we find her, there’s no guarantee we’ll be able to help her find what she’s looking for.”
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:19 pm
Jet had nothing against holding Aquamarine’s hand. Besides, it kept Aqua from falling if he tripped. He had more of a heel on his boots than Jet did, after all.
He glanced over at Aqua for a moment. Even if it was a waste of time, they were spending it together. He could still replay everything Aquamarine had said to him before he’d gotten captured, and everything he did after. He never imagined when they first met that he would be happy with Lovely. Not just happy, but married.
“What is she looking for? Maybe if we find that, we’ll be able to draw her out.” Or something like that. He didn’t have special tracking abilities now that he was a General King, but he could at least try to do something.
Jet stopped where he was walking, making sure to keep his feet firmly on solid ground, and not any of the shifting sands or soil. And, because he didn’t think he got to do it as often as he wanted, he leaned close to kiss Aquamarine. It didn’t last very long, but it was enough, and he squeezed his hand as he pulled back.
“You’re doing a good thing. Helping her after she helped you. I think it’ll be worth the effort.”
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:24 pm
Aquamarine was not expecting the kiss.
In the before times, when he felt awkward and uncertain and preferred to keep their relationship in more formal territory while in service to the Negaverse, he might have jerked away, unprepared to accept it. Now, after everything that occurred in recent months, he wasn’t sure it mattered anymore. He still intended to keep things professional when and where he could, but they were alone in the Rift, with their only witnesses being random youma. Besides, Jet was a General King. He could do what he wanted.
“I keep my promises,” Aquamarine said.
That was true with Jet, and it was true with others, when he cared to extend the courtesy. Given that he had no other friends, Aquamarine didn’t often find himself bound by promises to anyone else.
He paused for a moment to stare into Jet’s eyes, distracted from his search by the warm hand in his and the lips that caught his own. They’d been in the Rift for almost two days this time around. Aquamarine was tired, worn from their travels. His hair was a mess, falling out of a half ponytail. He could use a long, hot shower, and a proper meal.
His lips parted like he meant to say something, but he was cut off by a flutter of movement, and a quiet, wistful voice asking, “Where’s my love?”
Aquamarine turned. Perched on a outcrop of tall, jutting crystals, the bird girl sat with her dark, vacant eyes trained on them.
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:32 pm
Jet could see the words that almost escaped Aqua’s lips. He wanted to ask him to say it anyway, even if they were interrupted by--
A corpse merged with a raven.
“Who is your love?” Jet asked, realizing this was finally the youma they’d been looking for. Unless there were other youma that went around asking those things. He kept his hand in Aqua’s and gave it a little squeeze for comfort.
He looked forward to going home. He looked forward to spending time with Lovely. There was a large part of him that was proud of his accomplishments, because it meant that the Queen was proud, too. Ganymede’s escape was… unfortunate, but not something they could have ultimately stopped. Not unless everyone’s loyalty was questioned and scrutinized.
And Jet didn’t want to force that because part of him was afraid that Aquamarine might admit to not wanting anything to do with the Negaverse to the wrong people.
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:37 pm
She cocked her head at them, eyes not staring at either one, but somewhere in between. She looked no different than before: the legs of a bird, complete with sharp talons; arms merged with wings; black feathers crowned her head, with a few loose wisps of flaxen hair escaping, hanging limp around her face. She was thin, almost skeletal beneath the dark, tattered remains of clothing she wore, pale where she wasn’t covered in feathers.
“He is beautiful,” she said in response, though whether she was talking about her supposed love or either one of them wasn’t entirely clear.
She blinked slowly, then shifted her gaze more obviously toward Aquamarine. “You…”
“Yes,” he agreed. “I told you I’d come.”
“You’re a mean boy,” she sighed — not disappointed, but… pleased, almost? The pitch of her voice rarely changed. Aquamarine could never get a good read on her.
“I am,” he said anyway. There was no point in denying it.
“Where’s my love?” she asked again.
“That’s what we’ve come here for. I told you I’d help you find them. Can you tell me what they look like?”
“Beautiful,” she said. “So beautiful. But he’s lost…”
“Lost? When did he go missing?”
She stared in silence, fixing her stare on Jet. His presence seemed to confuse her. She shifted, clutching at a crystal with taloned fingers. When she moved, a few black feathers drifted to the ground.
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:47 pm
Jet was used to the… oddities of youma at this point. Some weren’t even capable of speech. Others wouldn’t shut up, like Arles. Others didn’t need to talk, telepathically or not, in order to communicate.
“You helped Aquamarine before. Thank you. My name is Jet,” he offered, since if they were going to help her, he might as well introduce himself. “Do you have a name? If you know when-- or where he went missing, maybe we can help you find him.”
Although, depending on when and where, they might not be able to find whatever was left. Youma seemed to live on endlessly. It was possible that whoever her love was had died.
But telling them that he was beautiful and lost wasn’t very helpful.
He didn’t understand why she was looking at him the way she was, but figured it might have to do with him being a General King. Or maybe it didn’t.
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:51 pm
”Aquamarine,” she said.
“Yes, that’s my name,” Aquamarine replied.
She looked toward him again, but there was no sign of recognition beyond the observations she’d already made. He wondered if she could see, and if so, what they might look like to her. Then he wondered what she was capable of remembering. Their brief encounters had never given him much insight on the way her mind worked, aside from the fact that she spoke repetitively.
She did not answer Jet, but she didn’t seem to ignore him either. She sat silently, like she might be thinking — pensive, almost, turning their words over in her head.
“What should we call you?” Aquamarine prompted her.
She sighed again and said, “I was called Alys, once.”
“Once as in one time, or once as in at some point in your existence?”
“Once…”
She blinked, then cocked her head in the other direction. For a moment, her dark gaze looked even further away than usual, unfocused even as her eyes remained locked on him.
Aquamarine could not suppress a frown. Attempting conversation with her was no less frustrating than usual. He never knew what she understood, or what might draw more out of her than the same comments and questions she’d already made. Her body, the parts of it that weren’t that of a bird, were clearly that of a grown woman — young, perhaps, but grown — yet there remained something almost child-like about her. Her voice was soft, nearing timid, even when she didn’t seem shy.
Alys, he thought, because it was all he had to go on. Alys…
The answer pulled a dark, humorless chuckle from him. Aquamarine rolled his eyes and said, “Jet, summon your dog.”
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 8:58 pm
Jet was quiet as he listened to the youma and Aqua’s exchange, as strange as it was. He didn’t know what to think of the youma. She didn’t seem all that dangerous, and if she could dull pain then that was useful. But everything else was still so… unusual.
And what was even more unusual was when Aquamarine laughed. He turned to look at him for a moment, but then nodded and closed his eyes. Unfortunately in the Rift it wasn’t easy to just summon a youma or other agent to him. But he called for him regardless.
“He’s on his way. Why?” he frowned, looking from Aquamarine to… Alys...
His eyes narrowed slightly, and he glanced over at Aquamarine. Surely he didn’t think… No, it was just a coincidence. Right?
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 9:02 pm
She’d looked into the sky on Earth. Pointed to the stars and said her love was beautiful. Her name was Alys, or someone had called her that at some point in her existence, enough that she was attached to it, that she would offer it to them when asked.
Arles was always reciting that stupid book. Alice in Wonderland.
Apparently it was more like Alys in the Violent Hellscape that was the Rift.
“I swear if your ******** dog knew who we were looking for this whole time…”
Of course he did. He’d grinned when Jet sent him off — all teeth and quiet laughter, muttering familiar, oft-repeated phrases to himself. He probably hadn’t even gone far, tailing them at a distance so he could watch them fumble around.
One would think Arles would have more respect for the General King he was bonded to. Instead, he seemed to possess a shitty sense of humor.
“Where’s my love?” Alys said again.
“Close,” Aquamarine told her. “How long have you been separated?”
“Long,” she replied. “So long. He comes and goes, like the night.”
Aquamarine spared a look toward Jet, brows quirked as if to say, Are you convinced now?
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 9:05 pm
Jet held back a groan. Somehow. He made a face instead, because if they’d been searching this whole time for Arles and Arles knew...
He pressed his lips together, and turned so he could keep track of where Arles was. It wasn’t far, and it didn’t take long for him to hear a familiar laughter in his ears.
You summoned for me? the shadow asked, shifting from one to the next, twinkling as he did, and bearing a large, toothy grin as always.
He tilted his head this way and that, as if he was finally seeing something for the first time in a long time. If at all possible, his grin widened even more.
Time has not been kind to you, my dear Alys, Arles hummed, almost sympathetically. He swished his tail back and forth and moved to settle on the sand in front of where the other youma was perched.
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 9:14 pm
Her eyes widened ever so slightly, just enough that Aquamarine noticed. Something seemed to spark in her. For a moment, she almost looked animated. Her expression twitched into a rough approximation of a smile.
Alys’s next sigh was full of contentment. She slipped from her perch and dropped to the ground, shedding a few more feathers as she did so. Her thin, winged arms curled around Arles’s shadowy form, obscuring parts of him from view.
“My love,” she cooed. Her tone was the same, at least. She sounded neither happy nor relieved — quiet and dreamy as always.
Aquamarine grit his teeth to hold back his annoyance. With this, his promise had been fulfilled. He did not feel accomplished, far too aggravated by the antics of Jet’s dog for that. He thought perhaps he should have known all along. Nothing was ever coincidental anymore, whether there was meaning to it all or not.
The hand not held by Jet curled into a loose fist. Now that it was done, Aquamarine had no idea where to go from here. Alys had no further need of him.
She looked at him, still, staring beyond Arles. Her black eyes seemed to bore into him with an uncommon intensity.
“You could be mine,” she said.
“Could I?” Aquamarine asked.
Her expression smoothed out, back to the emptiness she always wore. “I could be yours.”
Aquamarine didn’t answer. He returned her stare, watched one of her taloned hands pet Arles.
“You’re a mean boy,” she said.
“Do you like that?” Aquamarine wondered.
She tipped her head and said, “Yes.”
Aquamarine swallowed. He felt a bit unsteady, like he’d gotten himself into something he wasn’t suitably prepared for. In a way, it was as he’d expected. She’d come to him in the city. She’d followed him, helped him when she could, and he’d offered her his help in return.
He didn’t care for youma. He didn’t care for much of anything, beyond Jet.
But maybe she’d be useful.
“I’ll summon you when I need you,” he told her.
Alys nodded. Her eyes seemed to sparkle with starlight.
Aquamarine turned to Jet and gripped his hand tightly. “Let’s go home.”
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