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Choices. Options. Actions to take or not to take.

Everything seemed final. The Reaper's words could have been true, he could have indeed been offering power, he had let them go after all, and yet at the same time -

- Kato had never returned. And then there was his words. That Kato had willingly already followed the Reaper, turned to them, without even consulting his so-called friends. That Kato had taken the power first.

But why?

It was not hard to retrace steps, search for a friend one last time, as if just to reconfirm their own Fear and suspicions. The walk from the library to the school grounds, the junkyard was quiet, abandoned even. And the crater was still there, a wide crude circle that confirmed all suspicions and disbelief.

Kato had disappeared right at this point. Had it been betrayal or had it been lies?

It was hard to tell.

'Sleep' was a little far off from Dis's mind as he'd left the cave, as was the thought of graduation. He'd been looking forward to it for a long time. He'd worked for it. He had clawed (often literally) for this. So why? Why did now it seem so useless? Oh right, he's had his a** handed to him by some reaper.

It hurt, mostly, as it was just another painful reminder as to what skill he sorely lacked. Power came in many forms, and the reaper seemed to have it in spades. Physical, mental, he had that something. The something that gave a natural edge to them.

Dis wanted that edge.

Dis wanted that power.

There were other things in play aside from power. The treasure for one, Kato on another. Treasure taken by the other students would be a problem, he might be able to steal some back, but not all of it. He would prefer not having to deal with that. Kato was still missing. The reaper hinted he'd left, that he knew something they didn't.

Another form of power, knowledge.

Running his tongue over his fangs Dis considered his options. None but one were appealing. The reaper... that was the appealing choice. The choice was solidified as he got the text from Jinhai. Arriving to see the dragon, he smiled, going up next to him. "Well, where do we start?"

"Dis," said Jinhai, a little more relieved to see the other boil than he would have cared to let on under normal circumstances - but these were not normal circumstances anymore. "I - "

He never finished his sentence. The voice came from behind, as though he had always been there, waiting for them to arrive - or had he followed them from the cavern?

More unanswered questions. The list was getting longer and Jinhai's carefully constructed world was slowly crumbling around him. He didn't want to feel this way - everything that had once made sense no longer did. His routines were shattered, his neatly organized little place breaking into a thousand pieces.

I never lied, thought Jinhai, but it was not entirely the truth. He had simply not said anything, which was the same as lying by omission anyway. He pressed his lips together and swallowed back the angry retort that had started to rise in his throat.

His tail flicked behind him, curling around one of his ankles.

"And so your friend made a choice."

Jinhai's head snapped up, his eyes flicking first to Dis, his expression wide-eyed, and shocked before they went back to the stranger. He swallowed hard, trying to figure out whether or not it was a lie, whether or not he was just making it all up - but a part of his mind was telling him that it could be true. Kato was just that ambitious, but...

But he abandoned me, didn't he? He made the choice without telling me, and I...

...what am I..?

He wasn't even sure he knew anymore. Jinhai straightened a little, dropping his hands to his side and leveling a gaze at the reaper they stood before.

"If I asked," he said, and his voice was surprisingly calm. "Would you tell me?"

A slow chuckle. "We are not that different, where I come from, you can think of me very much like a teacher of sorts. These questions are questions that my students always ask me, time and time again, and so, I will give you the same answers. I will offer you the same choices, because I am here only to discipline, not to punish. Rewards are for those who accept them, that is all."

There was something in his raised cupped hand now, a small objects, a round orb, palm-sized, glowing a soft blue. "We all have reasons to hide. For some, it is because we are scared. For some, we lash back because we cannot understand the system that confines us, forces us to be something we are not. We act out and pretend, hide, because we have no other choices."

As the figure talked, their soft tone began to overlap with another, a gentle humming, a singing that pulled the students unconsciously forwards, towards him. It felt as their bodies were not their own, their minds slowly being invaded by something else.

Desire perhaps. Curiousity. An urge to understand something so beyond everything they had ever learned. Someone was calling to them, no, not someone: power was calling to them and all they needed to do was accept it.

That secret, that truth, the questionable truth that they had been avoiding all this time-

- Why, it was just themselves now, wasn't it?

At first, the thought felt disjointed, foreign almost. That wasn't true, there were those out there who still cared for them, there were those who called out to them, laughed with them, cried: there were hundreds, thousands of others in their complex and ornate society that they had created, lived with, talked to, invested emotions, feelings, and memories. It was those memories that defined them that-

- The singing grew louder still.

Memories of-

- What.....?

No, until now, they had always been alone.

A teacher? Well teach on Mr. reaper man, Dis was listening. In fact, he was pretty enchanted with the whole idea of punishment and reward. He kind of did that anyways in the bedroom but hey, he would be willing to do it outside too. He was cool with that sort of thing.

Red eyes went to the orb as it gave of the soft blue light. That was certainly a treasure worth stealing. But what would it give? The man spoke of choices, and Dis was debating his choice. The choice of power, all he had to do was take it. That was how it worked wasn't it? There was something more, just under the surface and like a lure, Dis was drawn in. Something in the back of his mind, something said, something offered... something to fill that void.

Dis couldn't get that something out of his head. That seductive purr of a question, and offer. Answers just out of reach. He couldn't feel Jinhai next to him anymore. He couldn't think why he should be worried about that. A tiny part of him said he should worry, but that something drowned it out, made it irrelevant. Jinhai wasn't there, he didn't matter, he probably didn't care.

No.
That was wrong, Jinhai would care.
He would pretending he wouldn't care but... was he really pretending? He put up with Dis. He dealt with him. The answer was yes, Dis was sure Jinhai still cared. If it was all an act he'd not have been that worried about Kato right?
Bella cared too didn't she? She was the one who indulged him, who was prone to violent mood swings but would never truly push him away. Not for very long. He loved Bella is the way one loved a friend. A term he so rarely place upon others while meaning it. Kato, sensitive haughty Kato who would push him away yet accepted him in his own way. Fussy Dabir, Douche Cain, Brash Red, Fire happy Pyre, Skittish Arcana, Weepy Selene, Blushing May and Rowdy Tex. Not quite friends but... precious. Valued. They would care.

Wouldn't they?

The void in him was cold. Dis didn't love. He didn't care that deeply. He had once. A short while, a foolish love if it could have been called that. He hadn't said anything, just left him. He didn't want Dis in the end.
No one ever did.

The hum in his head had risen to a song, drowning it all out. He didn't need them. They didn't need him. They never had, they never would. It didn't matter. He could find something, someone, else. If just for a while.

He was alone. He should have felt angry, sad, hopeless, lost but instead, there was just a void. An emptiness he'd stopped trying to fill. Licking his lips, that ghost of an arrogant smile was on his lips.

"I want it." His voice had a hiss to it, an edge of longing. He wanted that void filled. People or power. So long as that void was fulled.

Almost as if a needless accessory within the room had suddenly become interesting, Kato was just -there-. A swish of his own scaled tail, a deep inhale of his own breath, he blinked a few times as if clearing his own vision.

A question that would remain unanswered...was he there the whole time?

"Jinhai....Dis." The Quilin nodded at the two of them almost solemnly, facial expression remaining almost neutral. The usual look of hostility was there, something unique to the boil that made him him. It came as a bit of a unexpected shock to him as well when the pair of them showed up, he would never had taken either of them to have the force of will enough to come. Well... Jinhai he could see. Dis? Not really as much. Jinhai always was the type to further himself, if mostly through his own studies. Yes he was quiet... but deep down there was always the feeling of power to him, that was one thing that originally attracted Kato to him. The vampire always con-quested after having a very very notorious number of lovers, but power? He guessed having so many lovers in a way was power all its own, but in a very back-handish way.

Kato did not run to them, he did not embrace them. In fact? He looked more like a statue than anything else. Usually when the trio were together, Kato was being a loud mouthed little whiney thing and hiding behind Jinhai to get away from Dis and his teasing. That was when his emotions were all in control, as it stood Circe too was effecting him. Though in a different way, not as full of the pressure to isolate, he already felt that with the betrayal of his classmates. Instead his arrogance and anger were in full swing and rearing their ugly heads. Pacing forward he did decide to get a little closer. Sometimes old habits did die hard, and these two were the closest things to 'friends' he had ever had in this school. Head tilting up cockily, he saw them both now as below him more than in the past. Blood lines be damned, HE made the decision first... he took the necessary step to get to this point, that leap of faith. He was the one whom should, no, WOULD see this through first. He was ready to give up this old life. This old way, old classmates, school, petty arguments and fighting. Why should he care about something that was quite possibly the worst few years of his life? He needed to further his own life, gain his own powers.

"Liam, I think it's time to go." Impatient? Him? Never.

"Kato."

He could see the pale haired boil just in front of him, as though the Quilin had been standing there waiting for them to arrive. But the snarky whining and the scowling face had gone, replaced by a calm sort of disdain. The look in Kato's eyes was empty of the usual warmth.

Jinhai took a step towards him, then stopped.

You left me alone.

No, wait.

It was all coming to an end - or was it a beginning? He wasn't sure, but Jinhai took another step towards Kato, ignoring the haughty, proud expression on his face, disregarding the cocky boldness in his eyes and reached for him, his fingers closing around the other boil's wrist.

"Kato."

He slid his hand upwards, over the boil's arm, touching his face with his fingertips as Jinhai pressed his lips together, a look of consternation flickering briefly across his face. He knew Dis was there, but Dis was strong and Dis knew what he wanted and went after it. This sort of Kato was different.

They had been friends - all three of them - and it was all changing.

But then he stepped back, and his hand slipped away, and he could feel the world shifting, and his heart was beating loud and arrogantly in his chest, Jinhai turning back to the stranger, the blue glow from the orb falling across his face.

It was time to go.


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