Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Uh... yes." Leah began, her fingers curling in her hand as she pondered for words. She began to look around the room, at the orange petals covering the stone pillars. She always thought they were calming. "Unachievable?" Leah then asked, turning her face back down to Tsuna, wondering what on earth this girl could be so down in the dumps for. She was but a child, nothing could be weighing down her shoulders so much. Leah felt compelled to tell Tsuna she felt the same way, but before another word left her mouth Tsuna began to mutter and say random words. As quickly as she spoke tears began to form at her eyes and drop down her cheeks like rainwater on windows. As she lost her composure Leah almost took another step forwards until the red-head pulled herself together. Her figure-of-speech was understandable, and although Leah cocked an eyebrow at first, she let out a sigh and agreed. "It's alright" she said, then taking a seat back on the bench in front of Tsuna. She turned so that one arm was over the back of her seat so she could look round at Tsuna.

Tsuna was so young, Leah could tell she was still of school age, but she didn't look to be of Skyfall, most children here were Divine, and there weren't that many at that. The Divine race often struggled to reproduce. "It will get easier... over time" Leah then added, "I found that Sage Oil, imported specifically from Shard, helped my symptoms as a young lady." Leah could remember when she was young, she was often in Shard, and when she came of age her mother used to bring her sage oil from the elves that lived there. The thought made her smile slightly. "You said redemption is out of your reach, did you mean that? You seem awfully young to believe in something so hopeless." She then pulled out a tissue she had neatly folded in a concealed breast pocket, she gestured for Tsuna to take it to wipe her eyes dry. It smelled of lavender, and was soft on the skin.

"Hm" Leah muttered, as if to understand what Tsuna meant. A girl of her age, it seemed more likely she was telling the truth now. Sometimes a child's honesty was the most truthful, they often had an objective view towards things. Her eyes trailer over Tsunas clothing, noticing the stark red that complimented her hair, and as she followed her gaze her eyes suddenly caught glimpse of a tail. A Therian? She thought, but she was not in werewolf form, how could she have a tail? No way could she have one of those odd clip on tails.. such a thing would be racist.

Her attention was diverted what Tsuna asked for her own reason for being here. She then let out a sigh and said "I enjoy the solitude. Not many come here, even after the Greater Demon of Betrayal plunged the world into darkness. I..." She almost began to ramble on about her true feelings, but instead she said "I come here for hope. Lysandiel is the High Angel of Redemption, I believe his spirit is good for an inquisitor like myself. Not that you would know that, I can tell you are not from here- wait." Leah's eyed then narrowed in on Tsuna as things began to fall into place. "You're the girl that crashed into Old Archem aren't you? What is your headmaster up to this time?" By now Leah knew where she was from, Hope Academy, who's head master was.... Questionable for trusting his students and little too much, yet Lucas was always very fond of him.

Of all the places to crash land in Skyfall, she managed to fall into the most sacred part of it all. Leah could have laughed. She then watched as Tsuna got up and stretched before beginning to move around the knave. She soon brought over a dried flower that had been left by a visitor long ago. At Tsuna's first mention of resurrection Leah felt her chest become tight. L-like me? she thought to herself, feeling her mind's voice stutter in her own throat. On the outside she did her best to keep her composure flawless. Tsuna's quickly moved onto her mission at hand, being able to heal her friends that got hurt because of her. The small change in subject loosened Leah's chest. "Perhaps..." Leah began, standing up also and taking the delicate flower, "he has sent you to learn a lesson you do not understand yet. We know that some kind of ressurection must exist... Ruby of Team Elixir is a prime example, many just choose not to accept it... as a miracle." Leah then looked up towards the reaching statue of Lysandiel on the wall above them, he was grand, he was determined, that was the power of his redemption. Miracles, she thought, were an example of the High Angels, beings of light and sound... that... surely must be trying to guide mortals. "I too... failed once" Leah added, looking down at Tsuna again, still holding the flower in her fingers, "I could have hurt many people - luckily i was stopped, and the truth was shown to me. Often... you must pay for your sins." Leah then crumbled the flower, and as it turned to dust the fell to the floor she almost smiled and said "and rise from the ashes. I would predict your headmaster has the best healers looking after your friends... they would have no need of something greater to heal them. I can assure you."

With that said, Leah was about ready to head out. At that moment she turned and her lush ebony hair flowed behind her, followed by a subtle flick of her hand to push it back over her shoulder. It was also in that moment that Leah's collar glowed red, as did rings around her wrists followed by a small alarm sound coming from somewhere in her jacket. Her eyes widened and her head looked from side to side in a hurry before a large ring of white-light appeared around her head. A hologram that showed coordinated around her. Immedaitely behind her head was a red dot pointed towards Tsuna and as she turned her head to look at it something came crashing through the roof. There was a blast, a fiery red missile that crashed through the stained glass and hit the floor at the other end of the chapel. It threw the benches in the room outwards and shattered the crystalline flowers on each column. Dust fell from the ceiling and black smoke expunged the light in the room.

"Tsuna!" Leah shouted, coming to stand from among the smoke and ash, the sound of metal moving over her body as she did so. Her clothes were changing, the thick, leather-like jacket revealed itself to actually be made of some kind of white metal that shifted and opened to reveal a carbon-fibre-like material beneath it. There were fabricated materials all over, eccentuating her muscles and protecting her vitals with white plate. From her arm revealed a long katana of black metal and a white grip that moved itself neatly into her palm. The ring around her head then circled the words "HALO INITIATED" before turning bright red and locating Tsuna. Leah was transformed, she was no longer a beauty in fine clothing, she was a battle-ready warrior. Exactly what was expected of one of the most prestigious Inquisitors in the Courts of Justice. "Tsuna!" Leah called again. She then threw out three orbs that unfolded into small flying gadgets that began to scan the room so that she might see properly through the smoke. Arcaz Tech. The Blue Guild never let anything stop it. As soon as she located Tsuna she rushed over, but luckily it seemed that the Therian was mostly alright, thankfully the missile was a little off from being accurate.

Jut as they had regrouped, red fire tore open a portal near to where the missile hit, and from it came a robed figure with a barely visible face in all the black smoke. He was instantly recognisable however... the boney... ageless... hellish being that Tsuna knew only as...

Legion.

Leah jerked round and seemed shocked as she stared through her HALO. "How are my systems not picking you up! Reveal yourself! You stand before Inquisitor Leah Sainte-Croix! Answer now or I shall presume you guilty!"

Leah was about to jump into battle when Tsuna dashed forwards with her huge hammer and pursued for the woman that came with the robed figure. This one seemed a little off her wheels, judging by her tone of voice and crazy look in her eyes as she held the bogling. "Tsuna!" Leah called again, feeling as though all she did this last minute was repeatedly called out her name. At first Tsuna was stopped, her weapon grabbed quickly and electrocuted. Leah stepped forwards but she noticed how Tsuna's body was chanelling energy into her weapon, making it become red-hot. As the woman let go Tsuna grabbed the boggling and sent the woman soaring through the room, crashing into a nearby wall. The stone cracked into a spiderweb of damage around her as she lay stuck in the wall for a few moments as it crumbled around her.

Tsuna came dashing back, this time leaving the boggling with Leah who grimaced at the strange creature before getting a shudder and dropping it. Before it could touch the ground a small holographic plate appeared beneath it to cushion its fall. The small seat hovered behind Leah where it would be safe and out of the way.

Legion stood still the entire time, he didn't even pay any attention to his sidekick being thrown into a nearby wall. In fact, the force of the impact didn't seem to effect him at all. As Tsuna began to rush at him he still didn't move, it was like he was a statue or something. Leah watched as Tsuna's axe came down for a crushing blow onto the being that Leah could now see must only be a skeleton of blood-stained bone and sinew. For a moment she thought Tsuna might strike true, but instead the axe embedded itself into Legion's shoulder, sinking in half-way before stopping. Legion's shoulder dropped slightly as his black eye-sockets lit up with pin-hole red eyes that stared into her soul. After a second they began to light up fiercely and flames erupted from his eye sockets as he let out a maniacal laughter. The sound chilled Leah to her core, as if a ghost had just passed through her body when all of a sudden her skin felt like it was on fire. "I've... got you" Legion said slowly. Leah could have sworn she saw his skeletal jaw somehow grin, something impossibly fearsome. Legion reached up with his other hand and grabbed Tsuna's axe, holding it tightly in place, not letting her take it back no matter how hard she pulled. Her suspicions were right, he wasn't rejuvinated, not yet, but his power was definitely stronger!

Leah noticed then as the dust where the other woman collided with the wall began to move again, she was getting out! She looked between Tsuna and the wall and Legion several times before shaking her head and taking in a desperate breath! "Injustira, hear my prayer. Fill thy hands with thine chains of justice!" Leah prayed, she prayed to the Angel of Justice as many did in the Injustira Syndicate, with the verbal spell her hands lit up white and a white, magical chain of about a meter long appeared in her hands, She clasped each end and crossed her arms into an X formation, holding the chain as tightly as she could across her chest. The moment she did it stopped the other woman in her tracks before she could get to Tsuna. With her spell in effect she continued to hold tight and continued her prayer. "Give me the power to destroy the enemies of Justice. Let thy will end the sin of the faithless invaders." Her words were like the ringing bells in the distance, and they rung through her body as the white light of the chain in her hands grew brighter and brighter before finally shattering. In a flash she dashed towards the woman and collided with her, her blade becoming blocked by her strength, but it glowed white-hot! "You will not touch a hair on that girls' body - or i'll tear your body apart one inch at a time. Trust me - it's my job!"

Legion suddenly threw Tsuna's axe to the ground beside them, whether she was holding onto it or not. He then held up his hands to reveal burnt bony hands with barely any dried skin on it. Flames danced around his fingertips as magic began to work around him. "I shall reclaim what is mine, girl!" Legion said, "you will complete the ritual!!!" Leah looked over her shoulder, still locked with the woman, to look at Tsuna and shouted "What the hell is that corpse talking about?!" Leah was confused as hell! Ritual? What kind of horrific plot was this girl wrapped up in? She had hoped that tsuna would have an answer, but unluckily for her neither of them would know what madness Legion was talking about!

"Ugly?!" Leah grimaced and spat back, revolted at the thought of herself being ugly by this crazed woman! She kept pushing as hard as she could but Fae was powering up some electricity, luckily her armour wasn't electrically powered, but it was still beginning to arc across it's surface and onto the skin at her neck. She could even feel it begin to grip into her hands, caressing her muscles, begging them to quiver under Fae's might. Leah then noticed how Tsuna was beginning to go into a mental breakdown, her reply offering neither of them any kind of information as to what these two were attacking them for. She looked away again, over towards Tsuna who was now beginning to cry rivers down her cheeks as she exclaimed she didn't want to die. Watching her fear death, stare in straight in the face, it knocked the air out of Leah's lungs. Fae took that moment to overpower Leah and the grown woman was thrown backwards, crashing into the benches and smashing them into pieces along the way. She came to a rolling stop and thanks to her supportive armour she was back up on her feet just before she could hit the wall. The floating hologram with the boggling on it quickly zoomed out of the way to keep the small thing protected. Leah looked up, she could see Fae already making for Tsuna and Legion was giving another message. "Die?" he asked the girl, staring into her eyes with his flaming eyes, "that would be a mercy. Back in my day... demons prayed to die."

Leah paused, if demons were praying to die at his hand, what kind of horrifying, twisted torture could he have waiting for them. "...Enough..." Leah muttered, pulling open a compartment on her side to reveal a glowing blue crystal. I hate using these things... she thought to herself. It was an arcane crystal. She never believed magic was the way forwards, but this called for desperate measures. She couldn't use arcane magic herself, but her HALO system will manage it for her thanks to the Arcaz Tech that makes it. She threw his fist into the crystal on her side and smashed it, the dust scattered and a blue glow lit up all the crevices in her armour from head to toe. She waved her hand and her HALO around her head enlarged, surrounding her body. Blue magic then condensed into lines and circled, targets and enhancement runes. She could see her HALO working out all the equations. Arcane magic was raw, she remembered that much from living in Entei. It was chaos incarnate, theorised to come from the chaos that began the big bang. But once ordered, controlled with mathematics, geometry, words of power and concentration... it became a dangerous weapon. Leah raised her katana and touched its tip against the HALO's edge. She felt the magic coarse through her veins as suddenly her mind saw each precise strike before it had happened. In a flash she was darting forwards and passed Fae, a single slice and many magical blades appeared around the girl before collapsing in to slice and dice. A moment after and her katana changed into a long bayonet rifle with the HALO's edge acting as a target system. Without looking she shot a single bullet into Legion's head. The bullet exploded on contact and Leah pulled Tsuna out of the way just in time to be thrown away together in the explosion. Together they fell into unconsciousness.

When Leah awoke, she felt her body aching and her head thumping, as if a horde of animals were running over her. She opened her eyes and the light was blinding, and her ears were ringing as if a bomb had just gone off beside her. She groggily pushed herself up and couldn't help but notice she was laying on top of a bench. As soon as he mind became clear she shot up and looked around. "Tsuna!" she shouted again, wondering if it would become a bad habit. She quickly realised that the chapel was untouched, the sun was still shining down, the statue was still above them, the benches were all in tact and the glass was still as it should be. "Did..." she began to speak, then noticing Tsuna on the bench behind her, as she was before, waking up as well. "A... dream?" she asked herself, before looking down at her side to open the concealed compartment. Within was arcane shards, not an entire crystal. It was in that moment she realised... she had definitely used it... but it looked like nothing had happened at all.

An illusion, a trick by Legion, a test of their strength. Nothing had really happened, but at the same time they mentally exhausted themselves... and Leah somehow crushed the crystal too.

Leah pulled her hair over her shoulder and looked over the bench at Tsuna, she couldn't help but hold her arms around her body to try and comfort herself. "Who was that?" she asked, "what the hell just happened, you saw it too." Leah let Tsuna explain what she could, and soon after Leah seemed to be calm again. "You're in danger - how could your headmaster let you go on such a perilous quest with no one to defend you. I should alert Arisa - no - Valorious. That creature's power is demonic, it threatens the very existence of this holy city." Leah began to storm towards the exit of the chapel as she did before before the dream began. Tsuna pleaded with her to stop, but that wasn't what stopped Leah. She was almost at the archway when she stopped moving and hesitated. This was the spot she reached when the fireball hit. This time - nothing.

Leah turned. "Tsuna Miki... what does the headmaster of Hope see in you?" Her question at first seemed to be heartless, but after a few moments the look on Leah's face said it all. Why would a headmaster send a child to die? That was how Leah saw it. Perhaps he didn't know the grander scheme of things, perhaps he did, and knew she would find Leah, or knew she would somehow come out of it stronger. But at the end of the day - this was a student. One of his own students, fighting a battle all alone with her team incapable of helping. "Fine - I revoke what I said earlier, but we are meeting with Arisa."

After that Leah ordered Tsuna to come with her, who was obviously shaken and should not be left alone anymore. She gave Tsuna a helmet perched on another bench and showed her to her motorcycle outside. It was a gigantic machine, similar to her plate armour she had on during the dream. Together they traveled to another part of the city where Arisa could be found. Leah took Tsuna down a long, grand walkway of white stone, green bushes and tall treas. Great statues lined the edges of the streets and towards the end great stone wings and feathers came together to create a monolithic archway to what seemed to be a government building. She parked the motorcycle outside and demanded audience with Arisa, who was quickly outside to speak with them. Immediately, Arisa noticed Tsuna and how shaken she was.

Arisa took them to her office, it was a beautiful room, neatly ordered and decorated with flowers. It had a balcony at the end which looked out over the city, and the walls were depicting great battles in oil paintings. In the middle was a desk where she sat, inviting the two of them to sit. The more Tsuna looked around, however, the more subtle hints she could see that this has not been Arisa's study for long. On the side was a photograph, one that moved slightly, as if enchanted, and decorated with a silver frame of sapphire crystals. It was Lucas and Alexis, the two of them hugging together, smiling, twisting in the breeze. Over the modern fireplace was an oil painting of an angel, and it was titled 'THE PUREVELION LEGACY'. In another corner there was another painting, this was more recognisable. It depicted Alexis, Ruby, and Laxion, this one was titled 'TEAM ELIXER'. This was Lucas' office, and was temporarily Arisa's until he was found. She was the one that had placed some flowers in vases around the room. "So... you want to accompany Tsuna? And you know her from-"
"From Neutral City, Ma'am. As you may know, I used to live there with my husband before my career demanded that i spend most of my time here in Skyfall. I knew Tsuna when she first arrived at Hope. As a private detective I was in charge of leading a search for her father and the rest of the Therian civilisation."

At that moment Tsuna must've glanced at her, how could she know so much about Tsuna already. Then it became obvious. All the time they spent travelling to here, Leah was also looking through her HALO, she must have been searching old databases for information. Afterall, Leah had a high level of clearance. From that information she has managed to fabricate a lie. "Okay" Arisa began, "I may grant you leave to help Tsuna recover from the traumatic events that came upon her in the Land of Crows. I would like to suggest however, that with Tsuna in her current state of mind, you escort her safely back to Hope Academy. I have been instructed by her headmaster that she has something she needs to complete, however as the Overseer Regent I cannot ignore Tsuna's own safety first."
"Thank you, Arisa."
"You are welcome. And Tsuna, dear? I'm not sure what it is you are tasked with. The headmaster seemed to keep that information very vague, but I want to tell you that anything is possible if only you reach out. Solitude is a dangerous thing."

Arisa pulled back her hand as soon as Tsuna spoke. Solitude she thought... it was a grim thing. To think that Tsuna really believed loneliness was better made her so sad she felt her heart throb inside her chest. That was when Tsuna jolted to the door, pouncing almost like an animal with her Therian instincts kicking in. As she tried the door Arisa felt no panic as she knew it was locked, much to Tsuna's dismay. "Tsuna, please" she began, standing from her seat. She then took a sigh and looked down at her desk, wondering, what on magic earth would Lucas say? "I can only tell you what I think is the best option for you. However, you are not of the Injustira Syndicate, so my jurisdiction does not entirely let me force you. However you are a student and you did fall into our city. My advice is that you do what's right. And above all... think before you do something you regret." Arisa quickly realised that whatever she said was wrong, and triggered something in Tsuna to make her want to run for the balcony. Yet again however Arisa didn't move. This time however Leah reached out and called her name, making her way around the table just as Tsuna reached the archway. Instead of passing through however she ran into an invisible wall that glowed white when she touched it. At it's center was the familiar Injustirian Triangle, a symbol of solidarity and perfect order. "I am sorry..." Arisa said, not looking over her shoulder, but up towards Leah next as she said "I wish I could help you more. Leah. Please take Miss Miki with you." Leah nodded and moved towards the door, which unlocked at the touch of her hand. "Tsuna." Leah said, gesturing for the girl to come with her.

"Come on" Leah said, marching out of the building and back onto the outside space where her motorcycle was kept guarded by two Paladins. As soon as they neared the two guards left and entered the building behind them. "Look" Leah said, moving around the side of her bike and looking at Tsuna, who was no doubt sulking, "I'm not taking you back, do you have any idea how long it would take to get to your home, even with this? Absolutely not." She then tossed Tsuna her spare helmet, "we're going hunting. But first we need to get a Quest so we don't look suspicious. And then..." Leah placed the helmet on her head, "we're going to kill Legion. What do we need?"