Understanding (Aayla and Mary)

Mary was sitting at the edge to the cliffside, staring down at the keys that she held in her hand. They felt so odd yet familiar, it had a special calling to her even. It was a couple days after she got her job complete and promoted to C-rank, but she did not want to tell anyone a secret. It was something that was bothering her since the event and was very urgent... She could not use magic anymore. It was like if the demonic possession she always had was purged, gone and she was free to live a normal life again. This moment would decide a lot of things, she could go back to being a nun of the Maker again. She could rebuild and get her normal life back! The thing is that there was this one Platinum Key that she had in her hand. What was it? She did she feel such a calling from this?

"Whats going on? I first jump from the guildhall and survive. I had this in my stomach and now my lack of magic." I am so confused..."

Lucky for her she had a visit. She needed someone not Kiersa to talk to.

"Maybe that's because you still have lot to do before you go"
Aayla’s voice came up from behind Mary as she finished making her way up the cliff, a slight huff in her voice as she came to a stop some ways away from Mary. Her cheeks were flushed red, and at first sight, you wouldn’t know if it was because of the small hike or out of embarrassment. She was definitely embarrassed of the way she acted towards Mary… it wasn’t fair towards the girl.



"I didn’t mean to follow you…It just…better I come after you than Kiersa right..?"
She offered as an excuse, keeping her distance from Mary for the moment however. She didn’t understand what happened to the girl back at the haunted house… and she was sure Mary didn’t know about her own encounter with Dark Celestial Spirits … but maybe the two could finally sit down and talk, something the two girls hadn’t done since… well ever…



"I… is it ok if I sit?"
She asked the girl, pointing to an empty patch of grass next to the ex-nun.

Mary sighed, a sign of utter depression that she felt and the emptiness that she felt. Mary looked up to Aayla again, eyes of loneliness in them. The pain of that time in the haunted house was still felt in her heart, the time where she was at her most vulnerable and she was cast aside like a monster. She told them about it and now here she was, none of her team treating her as normal anymore. And Mary through all this trauma is left with a lot of questions.

"Go ahead Aayla... You hurt me you know... I was trying to make sure were safe and rewarded my concern by treating me like a demon."

Mary sighed as she pocketed her keys except 1, the platinum Key that was inside her. Something was calling her to open it, to let her out to the world. Mary shut her eyes and sighed, she didn't know what to do. She was trying to piece everything together, but there was so many variables. What if she was wrong? She placed the platinum key in Aayla's hands.

"I don't think that the demon corrupted me anymore Aayla. And it leaves me with so many questions, why was I transforming like that, what was that key doing inside my body and why... did I feel so complete when I transformed like that?"

"I... I know I did... I'm sorry Mary it's just... well, in I've been really hurt by Dark Celestial Spirits before... I almost died and t...that house just... it brought it all back... those ghosts weren't as scary but... their intent was the same... and when you changed... I was already so scared that... I... I wasn't thinking... I didn't see you all...  just saw those evil spirits again... I'm sorry..."
She said in a mutter, looking down to her lap as she explained things to the other girl as best she could. She had to admit to herself that deep down, she was still scared of what Mary had become to some extent, but not being scared would just be stupid. It was like, when she used her takeover, she expected it to cause a certain amount of fear... maybe if she just looked at  Mary's own transformation that way it would make it easier for her...

Her thoughts were interrupted though when Mary took her hand and placed something into them. She looked over, opening her hand to find a little platinum key. Sh looked at it curiously before looking up to Mary.

"Uhm... I don't know... a key? Why are you giving it to me..?"

Mary looked down as she said the following and it caused her to have tears down her eyes. Mary was scared, but not as much as Aayla would be of her. Mary grabbed both of her knees in comfort, something that she did when uncomfortable. Then came the most uncomfortable of questions, why was the Celestial Key given to her. A question that was beginning to haunt her now... Mary looked Aayla straight in the eyes as she took the Platinum key and looked straight at it. With tears in her eyes she gave the only answer she could think off.

"Aayla... that key was inside of me... I-I think that... I am a Dark Celestial Spirit... B-but I didn't hurt you! I never would have!"

"...uhm..."

 
She honestly didn’t know what to say to Mary as she admitted to being a dark Celestial Spirit. On one hand, she wanted to give her the key back, apologize and leave right then and there… on the other hand, Mary was right. The girl herself had never hurt her, in fact she only ever fought next to her, and even comforted her when she was scared of their last mission. She looked at Mary, then back down to the key and closed her hand tightly around it.



"Mary… what do you think… makes you a dark spirit? You’re only evil if… if you do evil things right..? So… that would just make you… a normal Celestial Spirit. A light spirit."

Mary said, "Maybe... but every time I become the... Celestial summon I prefer the shadows... the Darkness is comforting as I hunt my prey... And now I have these keys that are calling to me... to release them..." Mary showed a set of Iron Keys that she acquired at the haunted mansion and placed it to the side. She started picking up a set of keys and said, "So let us see if my theory is correct then." She grabbed a single iron key and turns it, soon the place was darker as a portal of shadow opened. A pair of yellow eyes opened as a 10 foot tall wolf emerged and stretched its back before an earthshaking howl sounded. It then looked at the two girls and growled, "I smell fear. You the one with the key, did you summon me to eat this morsel of a prey?" Mary immediately yelled at the giant wolf, "NO! This is my friend!"

The wold looked at the 2 of them, before shrinking back into a humanoid form with wolf ears and a tail. The wolf sighed, "Of course the first one to summon me wont let me have any fun. So why the hell did you summon me?"

"Shadows and darkness don't make you evil..."
She muttered lowly as she went to give the key back to Mary, assuming that she had just given it to her to look at so that she could try to understand it. However, Mary continued to speak, and she pulled the key closer once more, listening to the girl speak and sliding back slightly as she turned the key. As she did so, a portal of shadows opened, two gleaming yellow eyes appeared and Aayla couldn't help but give a startled squeal as she scrambled backwards away from the portal, clutching the key tightly as the form of a mighty wolf appeared before her, about ready to eat her.

Her eyes started to well up with tears as the wolfs teeth (in her mind) were quickly changed to black, as the form of a black dragon appeared before her. Her eyes went wide, but the image faded as Mary yelled, and the form of the wolf shrunk to the size of a human. Her eyes darted over to Mary as she pouted, reaching up to wipe her tears away.

"What was that for!?"

Mary looked at the wolf girl that she summoned and then back at Aayla. It was true, these were Dark Celestial spirits within these keys. The wolf girl seemed to be annoyed, but regardless she turned around to her summoner and said, "Okay Queen. The name is Fenris and I like to hunt prey and eat them. So unless you have prey for me to drag inside my key to eat, I will be going now." And with that the wolf entered back into her own self-made portal and looked at Aayla again hungrily. Then returned in, but Mary was gasping with red flushed cheeks in her face. She gasped, "I don't know but..." Mary looked at the keys that she had and then straight to Aayla. Instead of tiredness and shock though, it showed the complete opposite.

"...it felt sooooo good. I want to summon another one! I want to summon all of them! I never felt so alive before!"

It was obvious, Mary was getting an adrenaline rush from summoning a key!

“Mary… Mary please wait…”
Aayla pleaded with the other girl as Mary seemed intent on summoning all her spirits. She scrambled back over to Mary, and placed her hands down on the keys she had in front of her as if to stop her from summoning any more of them.

“Do you know what other spirits are in there..?”
She asked the girl, hoping to be able to talk to her before she was faced with any more giant wolves that would be attempting to eat her. The last thing she needed was to be taken back to the Celestial Spirit world by some crazy demon spirit. She still had small tears in the corners of her eyes, as her hands shook slightly as she held onto the silver key tightly, while trying to prevent Mary from summoning any more.

Mary did not listen, she was having so much fun at Aayla's expense. She wanted to open all of them and meet them all, so when Aayla placed her hand on Katherines keys... She kind of pouted, but little she know that one of the keys were. Mary answered, "No idea whatsoever! That is part of the fun!" She was intent on summoning all the keys, but would have to fight Aayla to do so. Unfortunately for Aayla, Mary had a habit of separating the key from the ring. So with her offhand she turned another key and the loud noise of a motorcycle revving near the Cliffside as another portal opened. This time a feminine figure in a motorcycle rode straight out with a cat helmet. She didn't get too far though before her head came clean off from a tree. This caused the motorcyclists body to stop, turn around and park next to her head. A single muffled feminine voice could be heard, "I hate when that happens. Always losing my head in things." Picking up the helmet, the body reached inside to pull out a beautiful brown haired lady. She placed the head back where it belonged, on her shoulder, before approaching the 2 with hand outstretched to shake theirs.

"Well it has been a long time since we finally got a Dark Queen. So my name is Celty the Dullahan, except I hate taking care of horses so I ride a motorcycle. Hey why does your friend look like she is seeing a ghost?"

"It's not fun! What happens if you summon some kind of demon spirit that tries to eat us?!"
The young girl demanded, however her words seemed to fall on deaf ears as Mary turned another key, and a sudden loud noise was heard echoing in the air. Aayla's face grew even more pale as she attempted to gather the keys on the ground to hold them hostage away from Mary.

Whenever the spirit finally came into view though, her face lost even more color if that was possible when she noticed the lack of the persons head... and what was a motorcycle? What was that thing she was riding?!

"SEE?! Mary!"
She complained, not sure what this new spirit would try to do to her.

Mary watched in wonderment and amazement of the new summon. It was so dark and mysterious... Mary liked it. She was enjoying herself being sorrounded by all these Dark Celestial Spirits and felt so right! Mary was panting from rush of Adrenaline that was flowing into her head, there was nothing like this. It felt so... right. Mary watched as the cyclist walk up and looked at both Aayla and Mary quietly and sighed, "Did I scare you? Are you you going to be okay?" She was of course referring to the Water Dragon Slayer that was white in the face. She tilted her head and the line separating the head from the body had a small whiff of shadow smoke. The eyes met with Aayla's eyes as she said, "You dont have to worry your cute little butt. You are too young to die and have much to live for am I right? " The Celestial Summon stroked Aayla's chin in an attempt to calm her.

"Don't touch me!"
She panicked as the Celestial Spirit stroked her chin. She scrambled backwards again to get away from the finger that stroked her chin. The spirit was talking so nicely to her, and she was freaking out much in the same way she had been when Mary had transformed. She blushed lightly, regaining a bit of color in her face as she held onto what keys she managed to grab, wrapping her arms around her knees as she muttered.

"I... sorry I... Mary please stop..."
She said in a low wimper. Wanting this encounter to be over with. She had come to make peace with MAry, and now she was throwing her worst fear in her face.

Mary's eyes opened wide at Aayla's  violent reaction. This was somebody in completely panic, but before she could unsummon her the keys were all being stolen by Aayla. This left an awkward Dullahan between summons in front of them. In fact the Dullahan was feeling threatened since the possession of the key was not to the Dark Queen. So Mary watched in horror as the Dullahan created a scythe out of shadows and wrapped it around Aayla's neck. Celty said, "Do not steal from your majesty or I will cut your head off. You seem like a very nice girl, please do not make me do this. I would rather be friends with you. So this is what is going to happen, you are going to drop all the keys. And then Mary is going to summon the last key so we can all have tea and be friends. Got it?" Mary watched open in wide eyes, but did not do anything. What could she do? Her keys were taken from hair and she had no magic, but there was one thing she could do.

And that was to hug her friend enough to comfort her, "It's going to be all right... It's like you said, they don't have to be evil spirits... Maybe they are just like shadows, hiding us from the dangers of the outside world."

"M... mary I don't..."
Her eyes went wide as the spirit placed the scythe around her neck. Aayla squeaked in fear... she knew that the scthe would just pass straight through her water body, but still... the other spirits had managed to hurt her, regardless of her magic... why was this one any different? Sh burried her head in her knees, clutching the keys tightly as she really started to bawl, crying and shaking as she tried to picture herself anywhere but where she was. She had had enough with these spirits.

Then Mary came up to her and hugged her... gently... without long claws, no evil aura. Just Mary. She peered up above her knees into Mary's chest, suddenly springing forward and hugging her back tightly, clutching onto her shirt as if t was the last thing she would ever hold, and dropping all of Mary's keys in the process.

"Make it stop... please please please... Mary I'm... I can't... I'm n...not ready to... to face them I... I can't..."
She whimpered.

Mary calmly picked up the key and unsummon Celty, the rush however was incredible and probably squeezed Aalya a little harder. It was such a rush, as if she was truely alive for the first time in her life. It was almost on par with doughnuts even! However she held Aalya to comfort her from her fears and to protect her from those that would hurt her. She whispered to her, "It is okay, they won't hurt you. I will not allow them to hurt you. Just please don't hate me for being one of them..." Mary's eyes started to tear up, because she was realizing all of her antics today were reasons to keep her further apart. Mary even thought that it would have her kicked from team. Yet as she cradled Aayla in her arms, she felt like it was during her time at the convent. Could she ever return there anymore or should she embrace her dark side?

"I-I am scared too. I feel that my soul is split into 2 parts... My light side wants to help others, but my darkside wants to hurt the same people. I feel like a monster despite all of this... All I know is one thing, that there will be a day that I need to make a choice of who I am..."

"I... I don't hate... I dont... hate you..."
The young girl muttered as she pulled back away from Mary a little bit once the spirit was gone. She wiped at her eyes with her sleeves, but didn't look any less terrified.

"You... you're not the same..."
She said lowly before diving in for another hug and holding Mary as if she was the last person on earth.

"You're different. You're not evil... I've seen evil.. trust me I know it... and you're not. Maybe you are a spirit... but you're more like... like Cygnus... or Cetus..."
She stated, only knowing the spirits that Skye had used on a previous job. They were both light spirits... the very energy they radiated calmed her, unlike the energy of the dark spirits...