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Discovering The Park [REG13]

Most people his age were busy with one specific thing today – getting ready for prom. Matthew didn't care much about prom – been there, done that, had the punch spiked on him. His high school senior prom had been, to his mind, a complete waste of time, and basically just an excuse to hold a Meadowview senior-wide pissing contest. He had no desire to repeat the experience now that he had nearly finished his second year of university, even if this year it was a huge inter-school business, with even non-seniors allowed to attend.

Ashley's threats that she was going to hand him his a** if he didn't show up did little to phase him into reconsidering his decision to avoid prom like the plague. Beside, he had other things to do – he only had two weeks left before he had to be out of here, and Matthew rather preferred to have everything ready when that happened. Or even better, being moved before that. He really didn't like having a space this big all on his own, he noticed. Sebastian's place might be smaller, but at least it came with company – good company at that.

It was just a matter of waiting for his dad to have a free weekend – his dad's faithful, beaten up truck would be much better at carrying furniture (what little of it he did own) than his tiny car would.

One did not realize how much stuff they owned until they had to pack it all into boxes, really. Though with his ex-roommate gone, it was a simple, if boring, prospect – if it was still in here, it was either because it was his, or something the roommate forgot. For the latter, it was a matter of deciding if he wanted to keep it or not. He didn't know the address of the dude's parents, and after he bolted the way he did, Matthew really had little want to do the guy any favour. a**.

And really, it looked like said roommate had been on quite a hurry to leave, now that he thought about it. There was a lot of crap left behind. Maybe he had a very scary run-in with a youma ? s**t, that would have been hilarious, since he had always said the monsters were something the media made up. Really, he would have paid good money to see that. Unfortunately, that made a lot of crap Matthew had to short out though. Some clothing, unfortunately too big for him. Towels, washcloths, and other useful things that went into his boxes.

But then, when looking at the bottom of his own wardrobe, he hit gold. “I still own this... ?” He said, to no one at all, as he pulled it out. A laptop. His old laptop, actually. It had broken sometime before christmas and he hadn't had the time to truly poke around with it at the time – then he had gotten a new laptop for his birthday and all had been well. He had planned to fix it and sell it, or sell it for parts if it wasn't worth the hassle.

No better time than now, then ? A quick rummage turned up the power cord, and a nearby box became a make-shift desk as everything was plugged in and a quick look was taken, and the young man struggled to remember what exactly had happened to the laptop. Wasn't it a storm... ? Sure enough, it refused to power up. Power supply, then, was his first idea. Then if it worked, he could...

Matthew held that thought for a moment, staring at the laptop in front of him. He could sell it, certainly, but... what if there was something he could do with it ? What if it could be useful ? A new hard drive, just to be perfectly safe, maybe see if he could find a dongle, hdd and bios level passwords should deter anyone who didn't have a reason to look inside... Databases could be useful, couldn't they ? Keep track of supplies... energy flow...

Hmmmmmmmm.

Perhaps... Indeed, perhaps selling it wasn't exactly in this laptop's future. A quick flip revealed serial numbers which Matthew jolted down on paper, then he was up, graping his jacket, then out the door.

Packing could wait a little more. Now, he had something else to do. Shopping, but of a very different sort than the promgoers.

Chivalry Isn't Dead [BAT2]

The Eclipse [BAT3]

Medicinal Eclipse [REG16]

Fluorite was serious – too serious, really. It was always extremely alien, for Alunite, to see his sister like this. Be it as Ashley or Fluorite. His sister was almost always smiling, laughing, or at least showing a lot more emotion than this. But now, Fluorite was extremely silent as she led him though town, to destination unknown. There was a barely restrained storm in her green eyes. What was going on ?

“Where are we going ?” He was nervous – how couldn't he be ? They had to be going somewhere important, he knew it. But why had she not told him where, or why ? It set him on edge.

“Shh.” Came the answer, with a concerned frown. She looked back and forth like she expected shadow enemies to jump by at every moment. Then she continued, toward a closed off area of town. He didn't remember exactly when or how it had been abandoned, but it was starting to become commonplace in Destiny City. One had been closed off after the mysterious coma epidemic, one year ago. He remembered that all too well, along with the sight of his asleep parents. They had been caught in it, and Matthew had acted as Ashley's legal guardian, the siblings fearing that their mother and father might never wake up.

He still had no idea what had caused it, or how, or if this was, indeed, the place where it had happened. All he knew was that the neighbourhood where so many had fallen had all but become cursed in the eyes of the populace, and swiftly closed off after it had been evacuated, never to see light of day again.

Beside for them, apparently. If this was truly the place, then he could only hope that nothing was lingering.

They got all the way to the outskirts before Fluorite stopped, overlooking the clearing in front of them, eyes distant. What was she seeing, that he did not see ? What was going on ?

“What... What happened here, Fluorite ?” He asked, nearly calling her Ashley before mentally correcting himself. It seemed to bring her back, and she looked back at him,

“A battle, Alunite.” She said, softly, turning to walk up the hill. There was little else that he could do but follow, so he did. “The first major battle than I have been a part of – and not the last. I hadn't been in the Negaverse long when it happened, and the cataclyst to it happened before I even was. Agents were taken by the Blood Moon Count, kidnapped.”

Oh, that ? He had heard of it, of course. But he had no idea that his sister had been involved in it. “I heard some about that...”

“Did they tell you.” She started. “That we came to save our own, right here ? That there was a huge battle right here, with nearly every one of us, against so many senshi that they were impossible to count ?”

Was she exaggerating ? He was really hoping she was exaggerating. “Some of it... but not what had happened in the fight.”

“Then, let me tell you.” She said, softly. “At first we split in two teams, each tackling one entrance to that building, here.” She pointed over yonder, and Alunite turned his gaze – only rubble remained where she was pointing. “They used their magic relentlessly against us – nearly drowned some of us.” Drowned ?! How ?! s**t. “We managed trough each of their traps, and got to the end. In one room, was Captain Wolframite.” She paused, shaking her head. “In the other... Alunite, not everyone survived those events, or the fight that followed it.”

She stopped them, and he saw them – graves. A line of graves, right there, and his blood ran cold. This... was where the Negaverse had buried their dead, it hit him like a million bricks. Where had the senshi had buried theirs ? ...Had they ?

Suddenly, a youma came out of the line of trees – a small bird-like creature, black feathers so familiar, somehow. It seemed to recognize Fluorite – chirped some as she reached to pat the top of it's head. It gave him a bit of a dirty look, but did no move toward him. It seemed to hold no love for him, even if it recognized him as part of the negaverse.

“After we got out, the Blood Moon Court, along with more senshi and us, fought in that clearing. General Tanzanite became something known as a great youma.” W...What ?! He knew that the General Queen was part youma, the youma queen... but to actually having been one ?! “We did our best to protect her, but our best was not enough. The Black Phoenix was slain... and then reborn as General Queen Tanzanite.”

“But...” She faced the graves again as the small phoenix flew off to continue it's endless patrol. “Not everyone was that lucky.”

Fluorite stepped in front of the graves, her expression still somber, and named them, one by one. “Lieutenant Helicase. Who was in the room opposite of Wolframite. I was the one to find him.” Her expression was grim, but it was easy to see tears starting to gather in her eyes. She had what ? In what state had she found him ? “Lieutenant Primase. Captain Dioptase. General King Marthozite.”

General King. The senshi... had killed a General King ? It seemed impossible, somehow, but he knew better than to think that his sister was lying. “There were more... but we have never found the bodies to lay them to earth. I saw all this with my own eyes, but you don't have to. What I need you to understand, Alunite, is that you need to be careful. They may look weak – they may look kind, even. They may say that they fight for good, but Alunite... As you can see, now, the senshi will stop at nothing to get what they want. I have no idea what the officers trapped in there for weeks have truly endured. But I do know that they were tortured. Their bodies were left broken and bruised, to say nothing of their minds... If they survived. We may kill them as we need, Alunite, but I have never heard of one of us torturing a senshi. All of the deaths I heard of were clean deaths, quick deaths – not long, drawn out agony that they reserved for our own. They call us monsters, but they are the one who slice down still-alive people into ribbons, Alunite.”

Slice down... ? How... How could someone even do that ? It was sick. Utterly sick. And it made him queasy. He tried not to let it how, but he knew Fluorite would see it. She knew him too well.

“And this, Alunite.” she stared at the graves again, then finally knelt. “Is why we fight. Do you understand ?”

Still in shock, he followed suit – knelt right beside her. “I... Understand.”

“Perhaps not completely.” She answered. “But it will come.”

The mis-matched siblings knelt there for what seemed like forever, silent, until they finally rose back to their feet and left.

More of Us ? [REG19]

After their impromptu training session, the siblings had parted ways – Fluorite heading back to their parents' house, hoping from roof to roof with an ease that was now practised.

Alunite was going back to East Heights – back to his new apartment with Sebastian. So far, his new roommate hadn't noticed him sneaking out at night. Or if he had, he hadn't said anything about it. It wasn't like him keeping the window to his room open was strange – the weather was mild and pleasant enough for it.

His own leaps were slower than his sister's, more calculated. Less skilled. It was all it all came down to – less skilled. He figured he should have expected such an outcome, with the two of them going against a general. It wasn't the fact that Zinkenite had a field trip with them that bothered him.



And there was nothing he had been able to do about it. It rankled. It burned. The idea that his sister could so easily get harmed because of his inexperience rankled. He was the older one – always had been the protector, always, always. He'd shoved kids in lockers. He picked fights with the teens who pulled her hair. He'd chased off boyfriends that got a little too close for comfort. Normal things. Mundane things.

This was far from normal and mundane.

He stopped on the roof of his apartment building, and looked down at his open window. No... no, not yet. Sebastian might still be awake – better not take the risk.

He settled on the roof, then, retrieving the starseed from the hole in his chest and letting it hover gently in between his hands. There was something... fascinating about holding your very soul in the palm of your hands. Something about the blackened edges...

Hm.

He couldn't help but think how different things could be if things had been... normal. As they should have been. How easier it might have been to wield a weapon rather than a strange magical power that only seemed truly useful for escaping. If he'd been a lieutenant. Just a lieutenant, with a normal aura, with no longing toward a star he did not know.

How easier would that have been ? But no, fate had always been a fickle mistress.

Fate... ?



...When had things changed ? Did he really want to use fate as an excuse ?

No. No, he wouldn't. He would find a way. There had to be one... He would get better. He would show himself worthy of the chance he had been given.

He would, or well... It was likely that both himself and Fluorite might die trying.