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[Takes place two weeks after A New Page in the Story. Whether that happened in February or this happened in very early February... well, that's a mystery.]

Lukomorye Page of Lysithea really, truly, deeply wanted to resent the fact that "patrolling" with Halle felt more like having an arranged playdate -- the guy was still in high school, probably?? -- but the emphasis there was on wanted. It was... nice. Okay, maybe it wasn't nice, but it was still the most in-control of his life Marley felt in any given month. And Talia had been nothing but wonderful to him in the last two weeks, and Halle had been pretty great, too. So maybe this whole Page thing was... actually... pretty alright? The uniform was solid, it was comfortable... his knees were actually potentially a little less ******** like this, even, or at least they hurt less.

Still. He had a reputation to keep up, even if only in his own head. "You don't need to walk me home for my," airquote, "safety." Supposedly there'd been a whole ******** kidnapping snafu last month, -- not supposedly, Halle had been there -- but so far they hadn't run into any problems worse than a youma or two in any of their meetings so far, Lukomorye had never run into any Nega-problems worse than a youma in general, aaand he also did not particularly want Halle to see where he lived because he hated the ******** place. So there wasn't any reason for the chaperoning to that extent.

...Right?

It really, truly, wasn't anything personal: Lukomorye would've taken all of this from someone their senior -- worse, honestly, than they were taking it from Halle. Him being their junior stirred up a whole host of feelings that they didn't particularly like, but again, that descriptor worked for most of their feelings most of the time. "I've somehow managed to survive my whole life up to this point without getting murdered, against all odds, and the chances that this is the night that goes wrong? Not high."

Then its shoulders inched down just the slightest bit in acquiescence. Fiiiine. If that'd make Halle sleep a little better and keep him off its back, that was an unfortunate sacrifice. "...The closed-down playground right near Langholm and Sumner? If you know it." If he didn't, well, GPS existed. That was a few blocks away from where they lived: far enough they could limp their way without suffering much for it.

It was a fair point. At least for a civilian. But that wasn't what either of them were anymore. "Yeah, but now you're a delicious treat to them. Or at least your starseed is. Like instead of milk, you've become a steak dinner." He gave Lukomorye a little eyebrow waggle, trying to lighten his own mood more than the other's.

Nodding, pleased that the page agreed, Halle said, "I know that one!" As they shifted direction he went on, "I swear, I won't be such a helicopter Knight once you reach squire. You'll have a lot more to defend yourself once..."

His voice trailed off at the large, vague presence that entered their senses. Power covered in something...oily and ominous. "That's a general." Tensing, the weapon in his hand up and the one made of magic waiting at the edge of his will. "Stay behind the magic shield if they approach. They may not, or they may just try to act friendly but some..."

It was only one, but maybe they had a youma hidden under that aura.

The fire could have been any sort of light from any sort of thing, until it proved to be moving at them much too fast to be anything but magic, and terrible.

Oh. Oh,

The feel and claim of a Knight and Page was enough to pique his interest at the outset. What he wanted to find was a Knight and Squire, but he was prepared for a youma to be less accurate about Knight nomenclature. And while he hadn't found the Earth Knight or Cybele Squire he was looking for, he did find someone every bit as worthy of his time.

He recognized the stupid ******** hat from Borax's reports. He recognized the whimsy and flair and headband-horn symbol from the uniform as belonging to his ex-sister, who spread her wings on the other side and so fortunately reared up knights of her own. That he would find two such knights was fortuitous, especially when one of them had been implicated in the scheme to take and murder Heliodor. Rare were such times when he could repay an egregious slight while also taking a jab at an old enemy.

The trio of flames spooled up into the vague gesture of a human profile, which then drew its frenetic, burning arms outward as if welcoming something. Brief flashes of portals welcomed not one, not two, but a count of five youma that spilled into Destiny City armed with their ravenous appetites. The flaming figure motioned for them to surround the pair before shifting back into his native appearance as a Negaverse General.

You were there, he signed, though Headache was not around to translate. And I know the coward princess who owns you. What pain and glory would tarnished young wreak, I wonder?

It's a kinder fate than what you saved for Heliodor, you know.

"My big ******** mouth," Lukomorye hissed with acidic vitriol -- why had it opened its mouth and tempted fate -- and turned to keep an eye on some of the youma. They weren't under the illusion they'd be able to do much; being able to hold their own in petty little human brawls didn't mean a lot when a youma was - well. When a youma was, mostly. But it wasn't like they were going to go anywhere at all with the situation like this, so pretending they were useful was about all they could do.

There was probably a solid 70% chance that if he tried to run he was going to twist an ankle or worse, all the physical benefits of being a Page couldn't fix what was going on there, but that was the issue of Future Lukomorye (who was probably about five minutes away from being Current Lukomorye). So far those dice hadn't been rolled quite yet.

The weight of the transformation from general to general king was expected, but the sickening flare of power still hit Halle like a punch to the gut. Hopefully it would make it that much easier for Lysithea to find them, and maybe Halle should thank Faustite for turning himself into a beacon for her. Seeing the general king's snarling anger, it was honestly a little tempting to make him even angrier.

Seeing the snake youma start to slither toward Lukomorye, Halle desummoned and resummoned his shield, bringing it down rapidly between it and the page. It was close, the snake was so close, but Halle had been practicing again and again to be fast and precise with his magic. It had to be on time. It had to be in the right place. It had to stretch his pool of magic into countless averted attacks.

Otherwise, what was the point?

But he wasn't the only one who trained and strategized to use all the tools at hand to their maximum effect. And even as a knight, his battle experience was far, far more limited than many others. Most especially a general king. Distracted by the youma, he missed the teleportation of the actual monster they faced.

The giant cheery shield vanished as Halle collapsed onto the ground at Faustite's feet. The Boar, readying it's next charge, returned to aether. Suddenly, the street was a lot more still and so much quieter.