Welcome to Gaia! ::

--Forgiveness--

Hunger was what finally drove Deimos out of his room. By midnight his stomach couldn’t hold up any longer and he was forced to leave his room for the kitchen.

He hoped against hope that he would run into no one as he slinked past his door and into the small living room. Unfortunately, fate didn’t often work his way and before he could slink back into his room, he was spotted by Jizzy, who was sitting on the couch, a cup of hot tea in her hands. He gulped as he saw the fresh tears that were about to fall as she spoke.

“I.. you must be hungry…” She said in a soft, cracking voice.

. It was the first time Deimos could really see how bad his mother was off and he hadn’t helped. He nodded silently, padding softly through the moonlight room. He stopped in front of her, unknowing of what to say to her..

’Just apologize, you idiot.. Honestly, you have no tact with women..’

”I’m sorry..” Deimos said quickly, taking Erebus’ advice.. He saw how Jizzy shifted slightly and he continued.. “I.. you are my mother.. even though you.. aren’t my mother.. I mean.. you are…” He babbled, staring at his feet. He wasn’t good at apologizing. Though soon a pair of arms had wrapped around him and he felt tears falling upon his shoulder. He looked over at his mother’s face and he took a deep breath, sitting down next to her and letting her cry on his shoulder.

Even though she was his mother, he had this feeling he was taking care of her most of the time.

Happy Birthday Deimos!

Sibling Rivalries - Part I - The Attack

Amalia sat at the table of a small cafe in the heart of Gaia. An empty cup of frothy coffe sat at her side and she was drumming her fingers as she looked into the crowds with amber eyes.. Today would be the day she'd finally met with her sister face to face, and frankly, Amalia wasn't paricularly enthused. She felt lik she hadn't quite done enough yet. Once she met up with Mahlah, the game would be over, Amalia's lips pursed at the thought.. It could nd like that.. She needed to go out with a bang, something big, bold, something her sister would never forget.

Frowning, the drumming of her fingers grew faster as she thought. She ignored the whimpering looks from the busboy (she had been sitting here for hours now and the poor boy was too scared to go up and ask her anythign at all) and kept thinking. She needed to something her istser would never forget.

Rico pushed through the heavy door of the cafe, bringing with him a sharp waft of Gaian autumn air. The Heanzian teen took off his hat and stuffed it in his satchel then proceeded to shake his head to clear away the air of stuffiness as he unzipped his jacket and loosened his scarf, all the while making his was through the crowd.

Despite the crowd there wasn't much of a line and he quickly handed over a thermous and asked for an coffee with two shots of expresso (because, <********> he really needed the caffine fix after dealing with the family the past few days) and a raisen bagel (partially to ward of scurvy or something similar and undesireable but mostly because he just liked the fruit).

After nodding to the cashier he found a small table nestled in the corner and settled down, pulling out a book and relaxing in the warm atmosphere of the crowded cafe.

Amalia's drumming continued as she scanned the cafe for inspiration.. Maybe somethign with coffee or.. no.. It couldn't be anything stupid like that. This was the big thing, the coup de gras, and she was going to make it great. Her eyes moving from person to person in the cafe they finally landed upon a young Heanzan in a corner table and her whole face lit up, her lips curling into a cruel smile. It was as if the powers that be ahd handed her this chance on a silver platter.

"You.." She said, a delicately manicured hand pointing to the busboy who'd been to scared to speak to her. He almost dropped theempty plate he was holding as he yelped a yes. "Get me a pen and paper.." She requested, no, demanded. The poor busboy simpl meeped in slight fear and rushed off, soon returning with a pen and a pad of paper..

"I.. uh.. Here you are miss.." He said, holding them out and she sntached it from his grasp, setting down to scribble something on it. The busboy lingered for a hile, as if expecting a thank you, but none came and he slinked away.

Finishing what she was writing, Amalia grinned, shuffling in her small purse and dropping som gold on the table (no tip). She stood, holding the paper in her hands, and grinning, started to make her way over to the table.

"Excuse me.." She said, feigning politeness as she reached Rico's side.. "But I'm new to Gaia and I was wodering if you knew where this address was.." She said, taking the seat next to him and passing him the paper on which she'd written down her sister's address.

Rico's eyes slid unhappily from his book, fixing the intruder with a sharp look at the interruption.

Sight registered and, for a moment, Rico took in and appreciated the beauty of the girl in front of him, before his temper snapped back and even testosterone couldn't stifle his annoyance. Honestly, couldn't she have asked someone else instead of the guy absorbed in his book?

Annoyance briefly surfaced on his features and he merely glanced at the address, barely giving himself time to register the numbers and address and shook his head, "I'm sorry, I don't, this cafe has maps though," he gestured to the counter, "I'm sure you can find your way using one of those," and then he was back to his book.

Amalia resisted the urge to huff. How rude! Fighting to keep her composure, she took a deep breath and just frowned.. "Oh.. Well.. thank you.." She said, though in all honesty she wanted to slap him across the face for being so ungentelmanly. "I came to visit m sister, Mahlah, and I'm afraid I got a bit lost, thank you anyways.." She said, dropping her sister's name, as she stood, hoping that it would jar the boy to be a bit more fun to play with.

Rico nodded absently still reading. The teen was paying so little attention to the woman that his distracted mind interpreted the semi-foreign 'Mahlah' as the more normal sounding 'Maria' from his world.

He chuckled quietly, amused by the once hellhoud-but-newly-named 'Dog' in his text.

Amalia actually huffed indignatntly at this.. How.. How exhasparating!! How Mahlah could put up with the boy was now beyond her! Trudging off towards the counter, her mind raced. He was tough one, but..

A lightbulb went off and she strode back to his table and sighed, imagingin the look on his sister's face, and that was the only thign keepign herself from mauling Rico right there.. "I'm sorry.. I should have been more forward.. My name is Amalia Valnosse and.. I couldn't help noticing you and I was wondering if you would like to join me for lunch.." She said. He was daft. DAFT I SAY!

Rico had taken the precious seconds that she'd been gone to plug in a pair of earbuds and resume his reading, just incase other people were going to try and pester him without the excuse of giving him his sorely needed caffine.

When she came back he didn't even look up as the music did its job and blocked out her voice.

Amalia snapped. Honestly. The busboy was sure he ehard a oise remarkably similarly to a rubber band snapping and a second later, Amalia's hands had tugged out Rico's earbuds. "I'M TRYING TO TALK TO YOU! YOU INSOLENT LITTLE.. UGH.. How my sister puts up with you I have no idea!!!" She shouted at him, glaring and glowering at Rico, her grip tight on the stolen earbuds as she fumed..

Rico snapped his gaze upward and grabbed at Amalia's wrists quickly. A snarl tipped his lips and snapped out in his voice, "listen lady, if I know your sister she must be hell of a better conversationalist than you are. Now, I don't know what you're ******** problem is but shut up and leave me alone. There are plenty of other guys out in this cafe that'd love to help you out in whatever way your pretty little head desires," he grabbed back his earbuds, and slung them over his shoulder, shoving his book into his satchel he stood up and pushed past her towards the counter, praying that he'd be able to grab his food and leave.

Oh, and that the crazy b***h didn't have some sort of firearm on her, yeah, he was praying for that to.

She may as well have had a firearm. Magic sparked at her fingertips and she charged after Rico. Her hand grasping his shoulder tightly, sending a spell through him to root him to the spot. "Do you have any idea who I am, you filthy little mutt? I'm the person whose succeded in making your life a living hell for the past few months.." She hissed from behind Rico, slowly moving to face him. "Or did that lust potion I slipped you and Mahlah addle your brain so much you can't even figure that out?!" She hissed, her voice rising slightly.

Rico gagged, a shudder working its way through his body at the intrusive, repulsive magic.

He twitched, feeling the spell activate fully and then, almost immediately, begin to dissipate.

Oh, wait. WAIT. This b***h was the one who'd been behind all that?!

A few people in the cafe, some which knew Rico, looked up and eyed the woman with distrust.

The spell dissapated fully, but he didn't give her any indication that he could move his legs again. Instead he smiled at her, the expression anything but pleasant, "so, what, you're here to add to my misery by not allowing me to eat or do you simply want to fight?"

Amalia simply smiled, shakign her head and leaning in to whisper in Rico's ear seductively. "You're going to kill my sister for me.." She whispered evily, placing ahand on Rico's face and muttering a few choice words to pump his system full of magic.. If there were two kinds of spells Amalia prided herself in, it was her glamour spells, and her love spells. Though she always found the use of the word love so wrong to speak of the spells she used.. You couldn't magic love, but infatuation and obsession were two entirely different things..

As soon as her hand touched his face Rico's head snapped up, the first word made it into his ear, but even then he'd clamped onto her hand and clamped down hard, shifting his hands to grab her and throw her away from him.

His teeth left marks in her skin and may have even broken skin. He gagged and spit mindlessly.

A few of the patrons were now actively glaring at Amalia, "hey, lady, back off," one of them pipped up, standing and gripping their fork.

Rico felt like he was going to throw up from the magic in his system. He hadn't gotten the full hit from it, but there was enough that his brain had split between wanting to kill Amalia and wanted to throw her against a wall and ravish her (to which the 'kill' part of his brain said could be acceptable if it was bloody and involved decapitating her at the end).

The Heanzian snarled at her, "******** witch," he gasped.

Amalia shrieked, grasping her hand tenderly as it bled, her eyes flaming as she glared over at Rico. Another bunch of patrons had stood, most (well all of them) men. "Hey! That's no way to treat a girl!" One of them shouted. "Yeah!" Another shouted, stiding towards Rico. "Apologize!" He said, pushing Rico towards Amalia, obviously puffing himself up to look impressive for Amalia.

Amalia's eyes had narrowed in anger at how much magical resistance this boy had. "They're right.. You don't know how to treat a lady.." She said, reaching out to grasp his shoulder and finish her spell.

"Hey, she's the one that started it!" snapped a woman near Rico's side, who stood and glared at the men and Amalia.

"Yeah, we know this kid, he's got a girlfriend! Shown us pictures! This lady's obviously she's just trying to do some ******** up s**t to him, probably to mug him!" "Yeah!" "Yeah! I bet she's just a whore!"

Rico danced away from her and hit her hand with his bag for good measure, putting a table betweeen them and taking the oppertunity to arm himself with a knife, "pfft, you're one to talk. I bet they're right, you're just a whore with a sister complex."

Amalia's eyes sparked.. He was being so damned difficult.. "I do NOT HAVE A SISTER COMPLEX!" She shouted. Obviously Mahlah was just about a touchy a subject as Amalia was to Jizzy. Turning angry eyes to the crowd on Rico's side she huffed. "I know he has a girlfriend.. She's my sister.. and.. and.." She stpped, her mind racing.. "I'm jsut looking out for her.. He's a violent little mutt.." She said, lying out of her teeth.

The men on Amalia's side (none of them knew Rico beforehand) gasped at her accusation. One of the bolder, and bigger men strode over to Rico angrily. 'DIdn't your mother teach you not to hit girls?!" He said, swigng a punch at the teen. Most of the men on Amalia's side had spent a bit to long in the cafe and were practically slaves to her glamour spells..

"You're so wonderful at proving it to," Rico replied, scarcasm thick enough to taste.

At the man's accusation he twitched, "she's," he threw a finger towards Amalia in accusation, though he took a few steps back to compensate and make sure she couldn't touch him, "put my sister in the hospital! She's going to try kill her sister!"

Rolling his eyes Rico ducked the punch and put more distance between himself, the witch and the witch's posse of sorts.

One of the women on his side put herself in the way of the crazed man, "back off, you," she snapped.

Another of the women leant conspiraically towards Rico, "get out of here while you still can, 'kay? The owner just called the police, hopefully they'll be here soon and can get this pyscho b***h into custody."

Rico smiled, "thank you," flicking Amalia off he raced off towards the back, avoiding the men who tried to get at him and springing out the back door without a look back.

Once he was outside he flicked his cellphone out and open and quickly dialed Jizzy's number, still racing away incase Amalia got out of the cafe, even though half his insticts screamed to go back and he was again feeling queasy, "betherebetherebethere, come on Jizzy!"

Amalia growled as Rico tore off, jumping over the table to tear after him.. She was surprisingly fast for a woman in high heels. Charging her fingers with magic, she tossed an eneger bolt at Rico's hand, trying to knock the phone out of his hands.. She couldnt have Mahlah knowing about her just yet.

On the other line, the phoen rung several times before there was a click. 'Lo. This is Jizzy Jazz speaking'.The sounds of a ccrying Deimos could be ehard in the background. This was an old recording then. 'Pleave leave a message after the beep.'

Rico ducked, paused, skid and nearly lost his footing on the leaf swept ground. With no chance to get back his momenteum he pivoted, throwing himself backwards in a sort of reverse headbutt, aiming to get at Amalia with his horns or his skull, arching his legs to (hopefully) catch the pavement and be able to run again while she was dazed.

All the while he was yelling into the phone, "JIZZY! s**t-! -The sound of skidding.- Jizzy your sister is here-! Oh ********- -the wind whistled past the mouthpiece and there was the sound of Rico muttering in Heanzian, even the nearly French lit sounded strained and desperate-."

Amalia had to skdi to a stop at Rico's sudden movements but she threw her hands out, catching Rico's shoudlers before his head could collide with her. Immediatly she began pumping the boy full of magic.. "You're very stubborn, you little mutt.. I'll give it to you, you were certainly difficult to break.." She said in his, her grp like an iron vice on his shoulders. "now hang up the phone..."

A sort of dread had settled on Rico's shoulders as he threw himself back. It'd beena stupid, bad plan. Mentally he laughed and pressed the phone a bit closer as Amalia's fingers settled on his shoulder, "hey JizzyMahlah, I love you," he softly murmured, so that only the message would catch it, and noting with morbid amusement how stupidly cliche it was.

And then he wasn't thinking about Jizzy much anymore.

At Amalia's command he snapped the phone shut.

Amalia's lips curled into a cruel grin as the phone snapped. Loosening her grip slightly on his shoulder, she reached over to whisper in his ear.. She'd found that under this particular spell, the more sensual the action, the more effective the command.. "I'm glad you've come around.. Now.. I need you to do something for me.." She whispered, drawing closer, letting her lips linger on his earlobe. "I want you to find my sister, and I want you to kill her.. Will you do that for me?"

His lips piped up from where they'd fallen into a dazed line and curled into a smile. Amalia needed him to do something for her? Of course he would do it! He moved, thought, spoke- nay, breathed and lived for her.

"Of course I will..." he murmured, tilting his head and reaching back to grab Amalia's chin and yank her into a violent kiss.

He pulled back and smiled, displaying all the cruelty of his Heanzian heartiage, looking eager to hurt the one she'd sent him after. But there was something, in his smile and his eyes which seemed to say that part of that violence was directed towards Amalia herself.

Rico's horns were nearly humming as they fought to extricate the magic, a slow, taxing task in itself which probably wouldn't happen fast enough, but enough of him was still there, poking about in his head and not quite smothered with lust, to let Amalia know that he hated her just as much as he was forced to idolize and 'love' her.

Amalia kissed him back.. He wasn't a bad kisser afterall. Extremely pleased to see this cruel side of Rico, her smirk grew ever wider. She saw the something in his eyes, but she could care less if she hated her now.. She knew the spell would last long enough for him to at least inflict some damage upon her sister, emotional, or physical and that was all that mattered..

Still holding Rico close, she spoke to him again, in a low, sultry tone.. "then go.. I'd like her head with you when you return.." Her cruelty seeping into her tone.. This was way beyond a sibling rivalry.

Rico nodded as she spoke. It wasn't a terriby eager nod, just a nod of complacency. Whether it was because the horns were doing their job or because he was having a better time focusing on Amalia's neck, which was in range to scrap his teeth and tounge over, wasn't apparent.

He rose away from her when she finished, turned to look at where they were to oreint himself, and headed off.

--

"So I said 'penguin sledding sounds great, but, honestly, where're we going to get the penguins?'" Chao sighed, "and she said 'well, from the zoo of course,' and it all went downhill from there," she shook her head against the pillows she was propped up against.

As Jizzy was no doubt learning, the Heanzian teen, currently bedridden and hyped up on painkillers for her back and the wings that were so annoyingly attached (which looked rather worse for the wear. The feathers were clumped, they were grey and sortof ragged and she'd lost so many that there were 'bald' clumps littering the poor appendages), had a love of tangents, most of which started and ended abruptly in the middle of previous conversations.

Seriously, Jizzy was a brave woman for visiting her, as Chao would occassionally mention (usually in the middle of another sentance), along with how nice it was to see someone other than her family and thankyousomuchforvisiting and then she's usually break away coughing.

Amalia simply smirked, turning away before the police the coffe shop lady had called could reach and find her.. This ahd to be her very best idea yet.

----

Jizzy chuckled lightly at her story. In all honesty, she found Chao's tangents very amusing to sa the least and she didn't really mind them at all. Besides, penguin sledding sounded like a really interesting thing to try.

"You've certainly done some wierd things, Chao.." She said, still chuckling slightly. Jizzy hadn't delved into her own wierd activities (and turst me, there were at least 800 years orht) opting jsut to sit at Chao's bedside and let her talk her pretty, drugged head off.

Jizzy would feel a bit bad though, when Chao would break off and thank her for coming. She still felt a tad guilty about the whole fiasco that had brought out Chao's wings and her visit today held ulterior motives.. Jean Claude had been called away.. He hadn't said why, but Jizzy felt a small crushing fear at being left alone. Jean Claude had told her it wasn't healthy and that she shouldn't worry. That he'd be back by tomorrow and that she shoudl take the day off.. Taking his suggestion to heart (or perhaps it had been a bit of vampiric influence that changed her mind), she left Tal at a daycare center and was going to do the same with Deimos, who jsut objcted violently and she was left with no other choice than to leave him as long as he promised not to leave HQ.

So with the kids gone, she spent a good half an hour sitting alone in the apartment before she got up and came to visit her friend. And at the mental picture of Chao sliding down a hill on a penguins back, she smiled, and was very glad she had come.

"I blame boredom, or the bird that we found and ate the day before..." Chao tapped her finger against her lip pensively. "Which looked fresh enough, so, hopefully it wasn't th-that," a cough worked its way up through her throat, interupting her. She tried to stifle it, failed and doubled over breifly, grabbing a tissue and clapping it to her mouth as she coughed violently, her entire body shaking with the motion.

Face flushed, partially from exertion and partially out of embarassement for her physical state, Chao discarded the tissue once the minor fit had passed, ignoring whatever substances had been hacked up and murmuring an apologetic, "sorry," to her friend.

Worry filled Jizzy's eyes but she jsut grinned softly. "It's alright.." She said, her hands fidgeting slightly in her lap. "I just hope you've learned better than to eat random dead animals by now.." She said, trying to get Chao on another tangent. Chao didn't worry about her cough when she was ranting about penguins and roadkill, and that made Jizzy worry less as well.

size=11]Chao gave her a shocked look, "but that'd be such a waste of vauble food! Hunting takes forever, I mean, it's not like animals just die if you look at them, and if they do you probably have some sorta mind powahs, which some people in Gaia must have, but if they use it for that then they're probably evil! ...or just hungry. Is hunger a sin? No, wait, that's gluttony, damn he was creepy," the teen shuddered.

Jizzy couldnt; help but openly laugh at this. "Well yah, but for all you knwo they ahd soem horrible disease they died from and you can get it from eating them. I'm sure some Gaian can kill animals by looking at them. No Hunger is not a sin and yes, Gluttony was creepy." She said, adressing each of her friend's points before bringing a single finger up to her lips and putting on a raspy high voice. "Can I eat him, Lust?" She said, mocking the charcter between giggles.

Chao shuddered, thankfully not from illness, but rather because, "uggghhh, he was sooooo creeepy. And he ate everything. Like people! And probably cats and dogs and more road kill than I ever have but at least Lust was hot and, honestly, had the better skill. Stabbity hands beat massive arms and a never ending desire to eat anyday, can you imagine how many bathroom breaks he must've had to take? That's a lot of biological waste to dispose of after all. Whenever someone asked 'where's Gluttony?' Lust probably had to answer 'in the bathroom, again. Damn I hope there's a plunger in there.' But then again, wasn't his clothing connected to his body?"


Jizzy had quickly learned that her friend didn't make too much sense in the state she was in, either that or she made too much sense. It changed from tangent to tangent. "I don't know Chao.. I mean. I'm not sure any of them had normal bodily functions." She said, though, this was one of the times when Chao did make too much sense.

"But that doesn't make any sense," Chao replied, shaking her head, slightly obviously to Jizzy's thoughts on her amount of sense. "One can't possibly digest that much material and not have it go anywhere!"

"Maybe he sweats it out?" She offered, but Jizzy knew she was beaten. Chao was right. It had to go somewhere, and now her mind kept trying to figure it out where it was that it went.

Chao shook her head again, "nope, I'm fairly certain that it's impossible to sweat out that much organic mass. I mean, the thing eats bo-" she paused abruptly, brow furrowing as her fingers gave a slight twitch.

The teen looked around after a moment of staring at nothing, obviously confused, "er... sorry, what..." another pause as she looked around then made another attempt to focus on Jizzy, "what were we talking about again?"

Downstairs a door opened and shut.

Jizzy frowned at Chao's sudden bout of forgetfulness. She was almsot sure her friend would not forget a conversation while she was in the middle of it, meds or not, especially if it had to do with Full Metal Alchemist. "We were talking about how Gluttany gets rid of all his waster after eating so much.." She said softly.. Maybe it was the meds, Jizzy didn;t quite know what they did to her exactly anyways.

Hearing the door open and shut downstairs, Jizzy looked up.. "I.. Would you like me to go see who that is, hun?" She asked.. Maybe Rico was home.. The thought made Jizzy smile slightly. Maybe he could explain more about what the hell was going on with Chao and her crazy meds.

"Oh, right," Chao gave a little, self-conscious laugh and raked a hand through her hair. Wow, memory problems now Aeon? ********, she probaly had a brain tumor or something, rather than the semi-numerous things the doctors claimed she had.

That would be just her luck, anyway.

At Jizzy's question she looked up, paused, then shook her head, "don't bother, it's probably just one of the kids, if they want our attention they'll come to us."

Apparently someone was coming to them. Rico climbed the stairs, knife in hand. He was carrying the weapon by the blade and leaving a smattering of blood behind him.

Jizzy nodded iddly, shifting back into a comfortable position in her seat and looking back over at Chao. It was probably was just one of the kids. Sighing softly, she racked her brain for another conversation point. Silence unerved her. "So.. uh.. Do you think Gluttony is the only homonculus that eats? I don;t think I've seen any of the others be hungry." She added lamely.

Chao tried to focus on her friend and failed, her eyes kept drifting, over towards the hall. She frowned, twitched, shifted her back and sat up a little.

Abruotly she turned over and began to feel under her mound of pillows. Something felt off to the teen.

There was a gentle rap from the doorframe and Rico peeked his head around the doorframe, "Chao? Oh, hello Mahlah."

From the bed Chao paused, frowned deeply and then continued to search with vigor.

Jizzy looked over and smiled over at Rico, getting up to go greet him.. "Just because Jean Claude calls me that doens't mena you should.. I don't go by that name anymore, Rico.." She said, moving over towards the doorway, but she paused halfway, looking over at Chao slightly..

"Uh, Chao, dears... What are you looking for?" She asked curiously, wondering what it was that Chao seemed so bent on finding.

Rico laughed lightly, "sorry hun, it just popped out, what're you doing here?" he asked, lingering by the door, hands hung behind his back.

Chao cursed suddenly, ignoring her sister and Jizzy and dove off the bed, shoving an arm under the matress.

Rico twitched, his mind flicking about. Amalia had told him to bring back Mahlah's head, she'd said nothing about his sister or what to do if someone got in the way. He was frozen, insticts warring with eachother.

Before Rico could decide to take her out, Chao extracted two light, slim guns and shifted into a comfortable firing posistion. She inclined her head to Jizzy.

"Jizzy, luv, you might want to get out of the way," she stated calmly.

Jizzy's eyes widened to quit possibly the size of dinner plates... or maybe teacups.. Either one works. "Chao?" She satrted but then for a moment, she felt off and she took a step away from Rico. Her stomach was twisting into knots as she concentrated, taking another step away and she felt it not.. And she actually gaged, feeling sick at the recognition of her sisters magic.. "damn her.." She said, walking steadil away from the door now, her eyes on Rico.. She didn't know what Amalia had done, but if Rico was bespelled, it couldn't be good..

Chao smiled wanely, thankful that Jizzy hadn't misunderstood the strange situation (which, admittedly, she didn't quiet get the whole of either).

Rico glowered at both the woman, "you know it won't do any good. Your guns are an empty threat, sister dearest."

The aforementioned sister twitched at the language and made a face, "gods, Rico, you went out for coffee, what the hell happened?" her finger twitched on the trigger as he took a step forward, in Jizzy's direction, "stay where you are. Bullets can stop you just as easily as they can kill- hey, I said stop!" she snarled leaning foward, only to gag. Rico ranked in that charming way a Heanzian forecfully pumped full of magic always did (Chao knew, she had experience in that area).

Rico smirked and took the oppertunity to snap off the smaller of his knives (one he'd had in his pocket, poking him in the thigh the entire way up the stairs) in his sister's direction as he lunged towards Jizzy.

Jizzy watched the scene unfold, all the time feeling sick to her stomach.. Amalia was here, and she was on the offensive again.. Jizzy found herself a bit to lost in her worry, that she almost forgot that Rico was, in fact, enchanted. At Chao's gag though, she snapped back tot he real world in time to see Rico lunging for her.

She stumbled with herself, trying to get out of the way of the knife, as most any sane person would do.. The blow clipped ehr arm slightly and she winced, lookig over at Rico.. "What did she do to you?" She asked, her feet bracing themselves for another attack.. Whatever Amalia had done, it'd made Rico dangerous...

Rico smiled, the expression lacking any warmth to it. He didn't bother to answer her. After all, the only worth she currently had was as a dead corpse, which she'd yet to become.

He twirled the knife and advanced slowly, from an angle. If Jizzy hopped back too much she'd be backed into a corner.

Chao, who'd been rendered useless from a violent coughing fit, fought to stready her guns and ignore the sharp pain from her arm where the small knife had struck and dug in deeply.

She tried to catch Jizzy's eye and indicate that the other woman should get ready to get out of the way.

Jizzy hadn't noticed her whole corner predicament.. His lack of answer had confirmed that whatever Amalia had done, it had been bad enough.. She didn't ask anymore questions, seeign as she didn't expect any answers. Her mind was racing for soemthing, anything that she could think of that could dispell this, but she was drawing a blank so far, and a big one.

Wuickly glancing over to her coughing friend, she felt slightly sick at the sight of the blood nad the knife in her arm. Gulping down bile she saw Chao's signal and bit her lip glancing at Chao's guns, but she nodded faintly to the woman.. Their options were prety limited at this point.

Casting a quick glance behind her, she cursed at the quickl appraoching corner.. She couldn't be cornered.. Stopping her backtracking, her eyes darted around for any hope of escape from her currently homocidal boyfriend. Shifting, she started moving backwards, bt at adifferent angle, now towards a wall, rather than a corner.. At least a wall let her keep some mobility. Looking back to Chao, her eyss urged her friend to hurry.

Chao didn't need the urging. She noted it when Jizzy shifted away from the corner and then she abruptly went still as Rico shifted his weight, albeit slowly, almost like her brother was trying to clue her in to his actions, which he probably was, and that gave her hope, but also forced a premature wave of guilt to slap into her.

Shedding it easily the teen's body abruptly straightened, she contained her coughs and pulled both triggers abruptly.

When Rico lunged he was struck quickly. One bullet finding his thigh, the other, his arm.

He dropped the knife and tried to fall back into a decent stance, but the shock and pain from the shots allowed the still sane part of his brain to snap forward and shift his own leg into a bad posistion to land on.

The Heanzian teen crashed to the floor and Chao threw one of her guns away, "tackle him! Keep him down!" she snapped at Jizzy, sprinting to try and pin her brother before he could go after his weapon.

It happened quiclly, at Jizzy slinched at the soud of the gunshots. Her ears were still ringng when she wuickly moved over to Rico, lunching on top of him and grasping his shoulders tightly, trying to pin him down.

Her mind was racing, trying to figure out someway to end the spell. Her magical trainig seemed to have left he rin the moment of crisi and she couldn't think. Her ears were still ringing. Adrenaline pumping through her, she gulped, and picked the first spell that came to her mind. A simple dispelling.. "'Kshonna.." She muttered (She was quite unable to do non-verbal magic, like her sister) and hoped, hope it would be strong enough to jar Rico to his senses.

Rico snarled and tried to buck her off. When that failed he began to writhe and twist under her grip, trying to wiggle away.

Chao threw herself over the two of them, firmly pinning her brother to the ground with both their combined weight so that Jizzy could do what she needed to do.

The dispelling didn't have quite the intended effect. Over Jizzy Chao coughed and this time threw up, Rico looked more than a little ill himself and, for a moment, stopped squirming to stare at Jizzy in horror.

Chao snapped up at the, bile still onher lips, and struck Rico in the head with the butt of her gun while she had a chance to do it precisely. Her twin went out like a light.

Jizzy stared back at him, the sounds of Chao retching making her feel sick as well.. It hadn't worked, her magic hadn't worked...

She flinched as Chao knocked Rico out. SHe was starting to feel sick herself. Managing to wiggle out from under Chao, j**z flopped over to the side, looking at her two friends sadly.. She wanted to heal them, the sight off the blood of both thier wounds was making Jizzy feel worse and worse by the second, both of guilt and of squemishness. But Jizzy knew she couldn't heal them.

Her magic was a failure.

Gulping down bile, she lay her head on her palm and sighed. "I.. I'm sorry.. I.. It.. My magic.. isn't as strong as hers.." She muttered softly. "I...I'm sorry..." She muttered, her mind racing from the adrenaline. Her sister wasn't playing around anymore. "I.. I'll call the hospital.." She said softly, getting up slowly, still feeling sick to her stomach.

Chao sat up as well and shuffled over slowly to lean against the nearest wall. The adreniline which had been singing in her veins was dying and she was starting to feel light headed from illness and blood loss.

Still, the Heanzian tried to focus on her friend, "Jizzy wait... what's... what's going on?" she asked pressing her hand to her arm where it was bleeding freely. "Rico stinks of magic...?" she trailed off looking lost. While Chao had gotten used to living with magic and having it intrude on her life on some basic level she was still quite wary, even downright scared of it sometimes, espically this sort of magic. Aido's shadowmancing and Fai's weatherworking didn't frighten her, but this sort of penetrating, people manipulating magic did. Right now she was so out of her depth that all she could do was look to her friend for answers.

Jizzy's head dropped shamefully, stopping on her way out of the room. "It was Amalia.. Amalia cast a spell on him.." She said softly. She had recognized her sisters magic, and while the spell itself evaded her, she had an inkling of what might have gone on. "She probably cast some.. some emotion altering spell on him.. She's always been good at those.." She said, turning slightly and looking over at her friend. "I.. I tried to dispell it but.. Her magic is stronger than mine.. Hopefully, it will fade by the time he wakes up.."

She honestly hoped this would be the case. Jizzy wasn't sure if she could really fully dispell Amalia's magic. She felt guilt swell in her eyes went to Chao's bleeding arm. She gulped.. It was becuase of her they were all in this mess, but it was too late to run now.. Besides, she couldn't just leave the boys.

The thought of the boys hit her like a ton of bricks as worry began to fill her again. What if Amalia had gotten to the boys too? She.. Jizzy moved to the desk and picking up the phone, dialing the number for the hospital.

The lad on the other side was friendly, and Jizzy told her Chao's adress and the kind of wounds both Chao and Rico had before hanging up. Her own wounds weren't bad.. "I need to check on the boys, Chao.. I'll be back.." She said softly, not waiting for a response before she left the room.

Sibling Rivalries - Part III - The Discovery

Deimos opened the door to his room, yawning. He'd fallen asleep on the deck of his ship. It had been warm out today and as he lay down, looking up and thinking, he'd fallen asleep before he'd even noticed. Rubbing his eyes gently, he smacked his lips. He was hungry too, the nap had made him skip his normal lunch time. Maybe there was some leftover pasta in the kitchen, and perhaps some blood candies for desert.

The thought of the candies made him smile. He could almost smell the blood as he strode across his room towards the living room. His mouth watered as the scent grew stronger. He ahdn't realized he'd been this hungry.

Opening the door though, a wave of scent hit him and his eyes widened.. This wasn't a candy.. There was blood here. His mouth watered from isntict as he padded into the room, peering around for the source of blood, and then he found it and he lost all his appetite.

She was lying there, blood pooling from her wrist, blood tricking down her temple, blood stainign her shirt, but it wasn't fresh blood. There was no fresh blood coming. Her eyes were wide and foggy.. She wasn't blinking.. Why wasn't she blinking?

Deimos jsut stared at those eyes for a while, hoping she'd move, hoping she'd blink, she'd breath, she'd do soemthing, but she jsut lay there staring back at her. Any hunger he'd felt before was gone now. Replaced only by the scent of blood and fear.

He stood there for at least five whole minutes before his mind reeled back, a single thought in his mind. His mother had told him, that if anything shoudl happen, that he should go and get Chao. Go and get Chao.

Without looking back at the body, he turned and ran. It wasn't far to Chao's door, but it felt like forever till he came to it and started pounding at it. "AUNT CHAO! AUNT CHAO!!" He shouted, his voice cracking with fear.

No one answered the door and there were no sounds from within.

Whereever the Luaier family was, there weren't there.

Deimos kept pounding on the door, though his shouts for Chao, faded quickly.. Pouding on the door one lst time, his strength getting the best of him and denting the door slightl, he slid down the door, sitting down against the wall of Chao's door. It didn't occur to him to go get someone else.. He wasn't thinking about that.. His mother had told him to come here, and he came here.. Grasping his knees, he sat there outside the door, waiting..

He couldn't go back to the room, not with her there, lying there.. He couldn't go back alone. Gulping down bile at the memory, her closed his eyes tightly, trying to think about anything but the body that lay in his living.

So he sat there.

and he waited..

It was several hours before Chao returned home and made her way to Reid's room. She'd wanted to make sure her son hadn't come home and gone looking for her (and/or found the large blood stains and assumed that something bad had happened).

Her footsteps gently rapped against the wood of Reid's floor. She looked around and called out after a moment, "Reid? Fai? Chesh? You guys here?" as she made her way to the door which led to the hallway of the Mishap Headquarters.

Deimos had nodded awya as he waited, but his head snapped out as voices came from inside the room. "AUnt Chao? Aunt Chao?" He called out, standign and groaning lughtly, his muscles sore from not having moved while he sat there.

Chao blinked and promptly opened the door with her good arm.

"Deimos?" wow she hadn't seen the young Demon Mishap in... quite some time. She frowned in concern and knelt down, coughing into her sleeve during the motion. When it passed she looked back to Deimos. "Dei, what're you doing here?"

Deimos looked up at Chao.. She was here.. now.. now... "I can't go back home.." He muttered, dropping his gaze.. "She.. Mother.. there's blood.. and.." Deimos gulped, the image of his Mother's dead body floating back to him and he started to cry and he reached out to grab Chao's sleeve.. "I can't go back there.." He admitted.. He was terrified, shaking.. He couldn't see the body again.

Chao started, "Jizzy's hurt?!" her fogged mind cleared abruptly. She hadn't even thought about who might have been behind Rico's strange behavior only hours before or if they'd go after Jizzy.

But apparently they had.

She came back to herself when Deimos spoke again and wrapped her arms around him and stroked his back. "Dei... I need to go see your Mom," maybe Jizzy had only been hurt?! Chao thought desperately, unable to comprehend that something truly horrible could've happened to her friend. Either way she needed to go check. But she really didn't want to leave the shaken Mishap on his own and there was no one home at her house, "here... why don't you come with me to your door and I'll just hop in and be right out and we... we can figure out what to do next, 'kay?"

Deimos just nodded.. "There was blood.. I.. I dind't knwow hat to do.. She.. she told me if anything happened to come get you.." He muttered. He was still shaking slightly, now clinging to Chao's shirt sleeve as they walked back towards the room. The door was slightly open.. Deimos had forgotten to close it as he ran out. "you.. you'll help her.. right.." He said, looking up at her hopefully.. That's why Mother asked for him to come to Chao, right? Because she could help..

Chao gently pet Deimos' hair, ignoring her arm and any pain she might be feeling. "I... It's good that you came and found me Dei," she said eventually, trying to smile.

Her half smile falted and the teen bowed her head, her navy-black hair sliding in front of her face to hide her eyes. "Dei... I..." she almost said 'yes' before she stopped herself, took a deep breath and looked back to Deimos, "Deimos, if I can, I will help her. But I might... I might not be able to," she gave his hand a squeeze and gently dislodged it from her sleeve, "I'll be right back," and the Heanzian slipped inside, shutting the door behind her until it was only open a small sliver.

The time that Deimos had spent outside had allowed the smell of blood to fill the apartment. It was weak in Deimos' room, but in the living room it was predominant.. She was still laying there, her eyes open, the dagger in her chest. The pool of blood ahd seemingly increased since Deimos had left, but other than that everything was the same. She didn't move, she didn't breath, she didn't blink.. She just lay there...

Chao steeled herself and walked closer. Even though she knew it was useless she listened to Jizzy's mouth, and pressed two fingers to her pulse point.

It was no use though, it only confirmed what Chao had immediately thought when she'd seen the dagger and Jizzy's unmoving figure.

The Heanzian teen's wings drooped misrably and she bowed her head, gripping her fallen friend's hand as tears welled up in her eyes and dripped down her face.

And, to think, she'd thought making her life in Gaia would make it so she'd never lose another friend....

Jizzy's didn't stir. Her hand didn't twitch as Chao's grip. Her eyes didn't spring to life at Chao's tears. She jsut lay there, foggy eyes staring off into space.

Chao twitched and sniffled, her brow furrowing and furrowing. Her sadness was covered by the sheer hatred she felt towards whoever had perpertrated this.

In true He'ancele fashion Chao wouldn't-couldn't really- take this lying down. She needed to do... something! Anything! Sadly, whoever had done this to Jizzy was long gone and the teen was left without an enemy.

Looking up through the fringe of her hair she stared at the dagger stucking out of Jizzy's chest.

Almostly numbly the teen stood, yanking out the dagger. Turning she and swinging in one fluid motion she decaptitated a lamp and then, simply because the ******** thing was there, she swung at a potted plant that was nearby, shattering the pottery.

It took a minute or two for the change to present itself, but as the dagger slid out of her chest, another scent started mingling with the scent of blood in the air. It smelled of magic.

The scent grew stronger and stronger as the magic started weaving, closing the chest wound. It was almsot palpable by the time the wound closed and Jizzy took in a deep shuddering breath, the fog in her eyes dissipating.

Blood plus Magic never equalled anything good as far as Heanzians were concerned.

Chao threw up on the remains of the potted plant before she could help herself.

It was probably for the best though, as she'd been about to head back out to the hall and try and talk to Deimos. Instead she looked over to Jizzy and, despite the nausea which caused her stomach to flipflop she gasped in surprise and sudden, abrupt joy as Jizzy took a breath.

"Jizzy! Jizzy! 'Cra! N'es sa- I- ********-!" the teen flopped between languages fratically, her wings twitching and flapping as she crawled over and pressed two fingers, grinning in dizzy relief when she felt a pulse.

Hah, so, apparently magic could have a good use after all. As could rage.

Who knew?

Chao watched as the wound on Jizzy's chest closed but noted that the other wounds had remained as they were.

She looked towards the door. "Dei! Dei!!! Jizzy's alive! Where's your phone?" Not about to take any chances Chao scanned around, fully intending to call the hospital and ask them to get an ambulence down here as soon as they could.

Jizzy coughed slightly. She was back, she jsut wasn't quite back yet.. Being dead takes a lot out of a person afterall.

At Chao's cries, Deimos hesitated a bit, before coming inside. Chao's words rung out.. His mother was alive? Peering into the living room, prepared for the worst, there she was, shifting, blinking. Alive...

"Mother!" He cried out, rushing to her side andpractically tackling her in a hug, causing her to cough again, but he didn't care. She was alive. Chao's questions registered vauguely in his mind and he looked up.. "table.." He said, indicating to a side table across the room where the phone lay.

"Dei be gentle with her," Chao called over her shoulder as she scampered up and grabbed the phone, dialing 9-1-1 she almost rattled off Jizzy's adress and where they were in the Headquarters.

Deimos nodded iddly, but he still clung to her.. He'd been so sure.. He'd been so sure she had been dead.

Jizzy blinked a few times, shifting.. It hurt a bit to move. Looking to her side, she saw the familiar top of purple hair and managed a grin.. "Dei.. you're.. ok.." She said, her voice raspy, her throught having been a bit damaged when Amalia shoved her hand down it. Looking up, she noticed Chao.. "you too.." She said, filld with relief Amalia had seemingly left the rest of them alone after her visit..

Chao smiled, eyes wet as she hung up the phone after the person on the other side of the line told her that they'd be there as soon as they could.

"Yeah... we're okay. It's good to see you Jizzy..." she wiped at her eyes, meandered over and sat next to her friend, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand, not that it did much good as the tears just kept coming.

Jizzy just nodded iddly, thoguh she stoped that quickly.. It made her head throb.. The bruise on her temple still hurt.. "I'm glad.. she just.. left.." She said. It didn't seem to register in her mind how both Chao and Deimos were crying.

But that jsut might have been the concussion.

"I thought.. she'd killed me.." She said, forcig the words out depsite her cracking voice.. She felt relieved though.. She didn't want to leave, not yet, not really..

"Shhh, hun, don't talk, just... save your strength," Chao murmured, patting Jizzy's hand softly. In all honesty she really didn't want to talk about whether or not Jizzy had been dead because she was fairly certain that the woman had been.

They could deal with that issue later.

Belatedly Chao tilted her head, "Jizzy... was it your sister who did this?" she asked cautiously. She needed to know, if only so that she could kill the b***h herself should she ever happen upon her.

Remembering that she'd just told Jizzy not to talk she quickly added, "blink twice for yes, once for no."

Jizzy didn't object at all, just did as Chao said. She didn't have the energy not willpower to argue right now.. Blinkign twice, she also tried to nod.. Of course it had been Amalia.. But she'd sure fooled her again.. Amalia wouldn't ever finsih her off. Jizzy grinned at the thought..

Demos was stilling clinging to her upper arm, sobbing slightly into her shoulder.. He lsitened to the coversation.. Her sister.. Deimos felt a spur of anger.. "why couldn't she jsut leave Mother alone?" Deimos asked.. "Why did she ahve to do that?"

"Because she is a horrible, horrible person," Chao murmured, for once not caring how black and white her view was.

There was a knock on the door and Chao stood up, making her way over to let in the Parametics.

Deimos nodded, agreeing with Chao.. She was horrible... Looking up as the Paramedics entered and moved to Jizzy, he tightened his grip upon her defensively.

One of the paramedics bent down, examining her broken wrist.. j**z winced ludly as he lifted it. I hurt and Deimos growled, actually growled at the paramedic, making him stumble back slgihtly as he stared at the demon child.

Another of the ones was over with Chao, asking question.. "Do you knwo how she recieved her injuries?" He asked, among other things like.. "when did you get herr?" and "how do you know her?"

and that she'd gotten to the site about ten minutes ago and that she'd known Jizzy for about a year now.

At the sound of a Parametics butt hitting the floor she looked over and, after asking the questioning Parametic to wait a moment, wandered back over and bent next to Dei, placing a gentle hand on the Mishap's shoulder. "Dei, don't worry, they need to check her out so they can figure out the best way to help her get better," she soothed, "they're not going to do anything bad to her, I promise, so come on and stand with me for a moment while they get her situated, okay?"

Deimos frowned heavily, reluctant to leave his still dazed mother. She looked over and smiled at him weakly, and he le go of her sleeve slowly, shooting a dangerous glare at the paramedic before getting up and moving to Chao's side. "I don't like them.." He said to her, his voice soft and angry.. He didn't know Jizzy's sister, so his blame went faceless. The paramedics were jsut fodder for his anger at the moment.

The fallen paramedic looked extremel glad that Deimos had parted with Jizzy. He was rather new to Gaia and not quite used tot he demon children and other oddities that resided in the place. Slowly continuing his inspection of Jizzy, he stood up.. "I'm gonna gt the strecher.." He said to his companion who nodded and turned back to Chao..

"Does she have any family that ened to be contacted, besides the sister, of course?" He said, trying to be tactful, his gaze a bit wary at the still angry, muttering Deimos.

"I know, but they're only trying to help. Really. It's they're job, they won't get paid if they don't do it right," Chao replied, voice equally soft as she put a hand on Dei's shoulder and smiled proudly at him.

She looked back to the parametic and frowned, thinking. Her mind immediately flicked to Jean Claude but she mentally shook her head at that because she hadn't the foggiest where he was.

"As far as I know her sons are her only family living in Gaia. Her boyfriend is here though, if he counts, he's my brother, but he's at the hospital as well after being attacked by who I'm assuming was the same woman," that information would actually fit well with the story Chao had given the parametics when they'd shown up at her house.

The paramedic nodded, frownign slightly in distant at Amalia's violnt streak. "Do you knwo how I could contact her sons?" He asked a the othe rparamedic walked in with oen more man, and a large white stretcher.

Deimos watched as they brought it in, and lifted Jizzy up onto it. "I'm her son.." He said, as the man asked Chao the question. He answered, though eh was watching the other two paramedic's closely, making sure they didn't hurt Jizzy at all.

The paramedic nodded, putting his pen onto is clipboard and looking up.. The men wre rollign Jizzy way on the strecher, one of them coming up to Clipboard Man ad talking o him in a hushed voice, glancing at Deimos every onc ein a while, ebfore departing.. Clipboard Man turned to the apir.."Do you two want to ride with her? Her condition is not critical, but we'll still need to take her for tests and xrays.."

Chao looked around and found a piece of paper and a pencil and speedily scribbled down her phone number and cell number then handed it to Deimos.

"Dei, will you be alright going with your Mom without me?" Chao didn't bother asking if he'd want to stay with her as she was already fairly certain she knew the answer to that. "I can't go with you now, I need to head home and tell the boys what's happening," and she was starting to feel under the weather again as her adreniline finally began to fade. The teen really didn't want to risk having a coughing fit and passing out in the ambulence or something equally silly.

"But these are my numbers and if you need anything just call them and one of them is guarenteed to get me."

Deimos took the ppaer, clutching it. He nodded meekly, obviosuly feeling a bit fearful at the prospect of Chao leaving, but he would go all the same..

The Paramedic nodded and moved over to Deimos.. "It's time to go.." He said..

Deimos looked over at Chao and nodded.. "I.. I'll call if I need you.." He said simply, before he was ushered out after the strecher.. He wasn't jsut about to leave his mother alone with these strangers.. He had half a mind to never leave her aloen ever again..

Chao hugged Deimos breifly, "you'll be fine. Just be nice to the parametics and don't hesitate to call if you need me," she let go and followed them back into the hallway, carefully shutting the door after they'd all left Deimos' room.

She waved to Deimos a last time as they dissapeared down the stairwell.