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"What kind of nonsense is that? This IS fun!" Mariana exclaimed. "All it IS is good, clean, wholesome fun! Ain't nothin' wrong with a little scrap, now, is there?" Mariana began to pace back and forth along the entrance of the cove, curving ever closer to the couple in an almost predatory manner. "Now, I don't see any reason why you two should be afraid of me. After all, from the looks of it, you two were just about ready to go at each other's throats. Of course, you--" she indicated, pointing at the dreadfully average-looking boy, "--you got yourself a funny little stick, so I can't imagine you really wanted to hurt anyone. Blunt trauma can only do so much, don't ya know. But YOU--" she said, turning toward the ridiculous-looking goth girl, "---you got yourself a pretty little pointy thing there, now don't ya? They say you should never point a real, lethal weapon at anyone you don't intend to kill, right then and there. If you're usin' that... well, let's just say there's no such thing as 'pulling punches' with that thing. So, I'm guessin' you meant to kill this kid all along." She chuckled lightly and shot a wink back toward the boy behind her. "Now, then..." she added, twirling her axes around in her hand like some sort of deadly baton show, "anybody still scared?"

MYTHOS

Mythos watched the boy start to back off and then leave. He knew that Mary would scare them off, though he also thought that it wasn't exactly all Mary's fault. He knew that he himself looked intimidating, but then again he hadn't really spoken to either of the two new comers. Mythos had decided that neither of these two were really worthy of being looked at as allies. After all, one of them looked too normal to be of importance and the other one was so gothic that he was completely turned off to even looking at her, at least in his opinion. So Mythos carried on like this little run-in had never happened.

"You know..." Mythos said in a sly, yet monotone voice. "If it's a little action you're looking for why not just ask? You know what they say right? The best opponent when fighting is your own ally. This is because if you can go hard on your ally, you can practically do anything. I am up for it if you are..."

Mythos slowly formed a fighting stance and threw down the pistol Mary had given to him. "So.... are you ready?"

Unable to see through her glasses anymore, Alma slid them into one of her coat's pockets. The sight before her made Lucid Dusk drop from her hand. A girl with bright red hair, the one that probably accused her of trying to kill Austin, was attacking a goth-ish guy... with a battle axe? The guy wasn't much older than she or Austin yet, there was something off about him.

Trembling, she felt the shadows around her yearning to have her sink into them. An escape, no one would know....

But they would.

All three of them, and two that could possibly be criminals, given the axe and the gun. Unable to stop shaking, Alma's body moved quickly towards Austin, leaving her sword behind.

"No... no, no," Her eyes looked at Austin, wide like a frightened cat, "Don't leave me with them, no, please." Hugging herself, she got within a few feet of Austin before her shadows began to dance. It was only in her shadow and only an inch from the ground, but very obvious to someone like Austin, who wasn't far away. Eyes watering and only looking at Austin, she nor anyone else noticed Lucid Dusk sink into its own shadow; no longer anywhere in the world of light.

The boy had some moderate speed, but Mariana wasn't impressed. As her hands were forced upwards, she began to lean backward. As his leg swept toward her feet, she was forced to backflip in order to preserve both her momentum and her balance. She honestly never knew she could do a backflip, though she did perform it a bit clumsily and land with a bit of a thud. She wasn't really designed for acrobatic tricks, anyway. She preferred fighting from a stable base or moving in with a series of unpredictable attacks. So, she crouched down and leaned back onto her rear foot. With one axe guarding her front and the other wound up behind her, she awaited his next attack. She grinned wickedly, wondering who would get the "first blood" of the match.

Mariana did her best to block his attacks with the blade of the axe. He must've gotten at least three punches, but the third one didn't hit the axe at all. The second one had swiveled the axe loose from her grip, and she didn't know where that third one ended up. Then the boy tried to throw some kind of fancy kick into the mix. It looked impressive, and if her nerves worked like they should have, she probably would've flinched. But, the attack missed by a few inches, sailing straight past her head. After that, he launched himself off her shoulder, swiping the loosed axe in the process. Thankfully, her other was already poised to strike. She jumped backward, spinning around and swirling the axe around. She had intended to do this with two axes to get more slashes in, but she had to make do. As she landed, she raised an eyebrow. "Now, why would you want to do a silly thing like that?" It annoyed her to lose one of her axes, but it seemed that the boy was getting into it now. She herself had forgotten about the others in the room, but she remembered their weapons. She delivered a feint attack as she dashed past him before picking up the blond kid's other stave. She held one end in her palm and turned her arm backward so the object was at least partially concealed. Then, she doubled back and brandished her axe, circling closer, looking for the next opportunity.

[/This kid was getting cockier and cockier! It was quite odd, seeing how he was nearly silent before. Now, he was relishing the battle and even trying to unnerve her. "Heh, tough words. Let's see if your body can keep up with your mouth!" she exclaimed. As the boy rushed in, she got ready to strike. He seemed to be sliding in, which was rather an odd move to her. For one, it exposed his back entirely. She wondered, just for a split-second, whether or not that was a trap. It didn't take long, however, for her to go ahead and take the opportunity, anyway. She slammed the hafted weapon down into his back as he came up. However, she didn't notice until the last second that he was thrusting upward with the axe. She jumped back, but it wasn't in time; the blade sank about an inch into the padding of her stomach. It wasn't serious, but it bled a good bit just the same. She didn't think anything of it, though--her body was neurologically incapable of feeling pain. Little did she realize that the blood was beginning to swirl around her, giving her a slightly demonic appearance.

She pressed on with the attack. Using his back as a springboard, she leapt behind him and doubled back. She threw one arm beneath his armpit and the other over his shoulder, using the other boy's cane to reinforce the hold. She knew, though, that this effort would be completely useless unless she could gain control of his legs--something that could only happen if he stood up. She pressed her weight against the spot on his back where she had previously aimed her axe.

Mariana wasn't much for thinking in the middle of a fight. Fighting was just something she liked to experience, not to study and analyze. But... perhaps it was her instincts, but something told her the fight had changed somehow. She couldn't place her finger on it, but something was definitely off. She was actually more surprised that such a thought would pop into her head; usually it was just the adrenaline talking, with the occasional exchange of taunts and insults. But this... what was happening?

She tried to keep her weight on top of him, but somehow he managed to shift their collective weight backward. She didn't mean to, but she broke her hold. Perhaps it was the momentum, but something caused him to fly backward as if she had thrown him. As she scrambled to her feet, she caught a glimpse of him colliding with one of the rocky walls, forcing the air from his lungs. It wouldn't be any fun to kick him while he was down, so she waited until he got up. But then... when he stood up, he was completely unharmed. She couldn't see a scratch on him! What was going on? First, he flew through the air as if he weighed nothing, then he comes out of the whole fight unscathed? Was... was he a super?

Mariana considered the possibility, and the more she thought about it the more credit it had. The strange calamity in the back alley... was that him, too? This kid looked so innocent... but perhaps that was why she was unable to peg him for so long. She started shaking a bit, partially from anger, but also because of something else. She didn't understand how she felt at the time, but she knew she couldn't stand being here anymore. The boy taunted her again, further reminding her she had thus far failed to injure him. She gripped her axe like a vice and flung it at him like a tomahawk. After that, her vision clouded over; she had no idea what was happening. The blood she had spilt was pulsing, the crimson mist twisting about her like a tempest. More blood crawled up her body, fighting against gravity and painting her face with demonic tattoos. Both the whites and the irises of her eyes swirled like a raging inferno, ever shifting between black, red, and yellow. She found it incredibly difficult to focus, but she realized she was running. Which direction, what she was going to do, and what was happening... she didn't know.

Outside, the sun had mostly set already. Violets and purples streaked away from the horizon, but the rest of the sky was approaching a rather dark blue. A few last strands of sunlight caught the choppy waters, casting a yellowy outline upon the turbulent tide. Sea foam rose up as the waves crashed upon the rocky shore. From a shadowy nook in the cliff, a scarlet figure dashed out, carrying a pistol in one hand and tugging on the sleeve of a girl shrouded in onyx. Under her breath, a long string of impolite words streamed from her lips. In her mind: who's to say?

MYTHOS

Mythos thought that Mary was fine until he saw blood pooling around her. She looked horrible. Then Mythos watched as Mary started dragging the goth looking girl. Mythos suddenly felt something in his stomach drop. He couldn't help but to let the axe in his hand drop. He didn't want to hurt Mary anymore. What was going on with him? Mastermind had always taught Mythos to have no remorse for anybody he worked with. But now thinking back to it, Mythos had never gotten to know anybody he worked with before. He had never really leveled with anybody in his entire life, besides Mastermind, but then again Mythos could never level with his master. The Mastermind was supreme, but watching Mary slowly fade away, Mythos couldn't get the pain in his stomach to go away. He knew that if Mary wasn't helped soon, she would die.

Mythos locked onto Mary, who was slowly making her way over to Mythos and he concentrated all of his energy on the wound of Mary's. It was a stretch, but using his mind, Mythos was going to try and close up Mary's wound, something he had never attempted in his life. So he concentrated hard and willed with all of his might for Mary's wound to heal.