River Protection (Daiko, Heero, & Rita)

Daiko picks up Rita, staring over at Heero. He looked very calm given the situation. Daiko hadn't even need to be told to take Rita out of there, and runs a good distance away. Feeling the energy coming from Heero was extreme, and the Smoke Mage knew some shit was about to go down. He made sure to stay out of the general vicinity of these two, and he tended to Rita, pulling small bits of glass out of her, quickly pressing his thumb to make the blood clot. "Don't worry, I'm sure Heero can take care of this. You don't need to fight."

Daiko nods at the brunette girl in his arms, glancing over at Heero. He catches his blood red eyes, those of a slayer. Blinking absently, the boy holds Rita a bit tighter. Suddenly a rippling feeling pierced into his 'sixth sense', sending a shiver down his spine. Heero began to glow gold, lightning and wind whipping around him. 'Holy shit...' Daiko thought to himself, secretly admiring the man's ability. It wasn't envy that he felt, but... 'I'm going to become as strong as him some day...'

Daiko's mind was set, but he had no idea at the time how hard achieving such a feat would be. He knew so little about what Heero's power contained, but this was a good example. Daiko watched in awe. Chapel was screaming like some sort of mad man, while Daiko watched Heero send a punch into his face. After the villain flied back, he was visibly melting. His arm was basically that of a skeleton, and his face looked like something out of a movie. 

Each individual cage dissipated in a blue mist, riding on the wind before slowly disintegrating. That was when Heero looked... like a monster. His face was stone cold, that of someone with no emotion left, not caring for life. The Slayer had closed his eyes, and fell. He had grabbed his head in his hands, and fell backwards, seemingly passed out. Rita forced herself off of him, and he followed her to his body.

Daiko wasn't a doctor, and he had.. little to no idea on how to help Heero. He didn't have any healing magic, and was just sitting there, not knowing what to do. He was back into his human form now, shirtless due to his clothing being used to stop Rita from bleeding out. The smoke mage ran his hands through his hair, looking at Rita "W-Well now what?"

Daiko made a audible 'Hrumph.' sound, picking Heero up. Although he was heavy, the mage managed to hold him above his head. "Heero! You're supposed to wake up now!" He shakes Heero in the air, then throws him in the air, catching him. Setting him back down, Daiko sits on his chest. "Well, let's wait until he wakes up."

Help… this guy?  Why would any sane person not hand him over right now?  Rita turned away from her teammate, glancing down at Chapel with a strong bitterness in her eyes; the same vengeful look which lingered among the townspeople.  “No” she had wanted to say to Heero, but she couldn't bring herself to say the word to him, her mouth stretching into a thin line instead…  She would have already finished Chapel off by now but making sure that Heero was alright had been her first priority at the time.  So why the hell should save him him after everything he'd done?  Rita was convinced in that moment that she was not going to help, but then she looked back to Heero. If it wasn't for his help she would probably would be lying on the ground somewhere dead and If he hadn't told them to protect Chapel she would have already merged into the bitter crowds. W-Why shouldn't she after all he nearly killed her. She half closed her eyes whilst studying her teammate, thoughts passing behind them like shadows. “Okay.” She shortly managed out, as if unsatisfied with the decision.  Rita needed to learn… that not everything in her mind was just as it seemed to her… This was a start. Rita had been going off onto the wrong path just to much as of lately. With a sigh she mentally thanked Heero, wiping away more blood from her forehead, trying to keep it out of her eyes.

Rita’s magic had a tendency to injury and even kill when used on normal people, and it was best that no one asked how Rita had discovered this fact. Regardless the mage did not know that she had anything to serve as a distraction... But the one she assumed was called Daiko seemed to have the ideal kind of magic for this kind of situation, Smoke. Hesitating she turned in his direction, looking up at him her sapphire hues stabbing into his purple. “You, perhaps you can put up a smoke screen of some sort for us.” She stammered, glancing back over to Chapel coldly and staring off to him as she spoke. “They can’t come after what they can’t see after all. Once we book it I recommend we head for the outermost side of the village, somewhere near the river preferably.” The Mage explained pointing in the direction she intended to head.  She gripped her shoulder blade which had been pierced into by a broken beam of somewhat when she was tossed in a pile of debris, the spike likely coming from the frame of a building... many in which had been destroyed. She quickly  smeared the crimson that had come off on her hands on  her skirt, gazing down at her red palm for a moment unblinkingly.

The girl waited for Daiko and then Garfield’s response, hopefully carrying through with the plan no problem. Without warning, she snagged Heero’s arm tightly and bolted forward in the direction she had chosen. Ignoring the hot throbbing pounding within her wounds, she refused to let the pain overtake her actions in this situation. The Shadow broke into another abnormally quick sprint, carelessly dragging him on the ground behind her rather than electing to let Daiko try to carry him or allow The Dragon Slayer to take care of himself.

Daiko blinked after setting Heero down. He had passed out, and there wasn't anything Daiko knew how to do to wake him up. Hearing a familiar voice, Daiko's eyes flicker toward Heero with a confused glance. He was sure he didn't hear him wrong, but was still very confused as to why he said what he had said. "Chapel-sama...?" Daiko repeats. He could tell Heero was a nice guy, but this was a bit too far. They had both watched Chapel try to kill Rita, as well as destroy an entire town. The purple-eyed mage had fought him, and was fearing for his life when he swung for attack. "Heero... This doesn't make sense, why would w--" He was cut short by Rita's 'Okay'. Daiko rolled his eyes, and it seemed like everyone was leaving, and Daiko walked over to where Chapel lays. The mage looks up at all the angry people, who looked like they were about to start a mob. "Get outta' here. There's nothing to see. go home." The people started screaming at him, telling him that they had no home to return to. Daiko sighs, then sits down on Chapel's chest, staring up at the people "I said leave. Now." And the people remained there.

Daiko glanced over at Rita, who had suggested he make a smoke screen of sorts. "Pfft.. Why don't you make a shadow screen of sorts..." He commented sarcastically, but she was already too far away to hear him. "All of you guys! Back!" He said, and pulled out his pipe. He took a deep breath in from it, and blew out a black plume of smoke that nobody could see through except for himself. Yawning, he decides to talk to the still lucid Chapel. "So, do you make your living off of being a douche or something?" The man coughs from the smoke, and Daiko rips off a piece of Chapel's shirt to cover his mouth. "As I said... I had once aspired to become a Fairy Tail wizard.." He chuckled, the smoke making his voice raspy. "But the money that was in doing this.. It made me make some terrible decisions." The boy felt like killing Chapel, right here and right now. He had the means to do it, one quick shot to the head and Chapel would be dead. His hand on his pistol, the mage stares down. That wasn't who he was. It may have been him less then a week ago, but he had promised someone that he'd walk the right path for once. He wasn't going to go back on his word just because some lousy criminal was heading on the wrong path.

"You know, it's never too late to join~"

Rita didn’t look back, not once amid the escape.  She knew well that Heero probably didn’t have the strength to run.  He would have to find it because Rita wasn’t in in that great of shape either after the beating she took.  The sprint came to a stop once they made their way outside of River Village and a little further out just to be safe.  The mage skidded to a stop. She held her knees, panting in an attempt to catch her breath as Heero, Garfield and Chapel followed behind her.

Rita blinked, Heero catching her attention when he made his way over to Chapel.  She recognized the green glow almost instantly, narrowing her eyes as he made an effort to heal the bandit’s wounds, despite out of energy. 'I-Idiot…'  The girl thought to herself as a dark visage masked over her former expression.

Her wounds throbbed and her body flinched, bits of blue electricity still sparking at her body.  Rita was naturally weak to any light based magic, especially lightning, which had caused the damage taken to be all the more severe.  At least she wasn’t dead... -But If Heero hadn’t shown up Chapel would have certainly killed her... Just imagine all of the other terrible things him and his crew had done to innocent people…  You don’t just forgive people like that, not ever!—In Rita’s book at least.


“I’m gonna go look around, see if I can find myself a better view of the village-” she almost whispered.  Before anyone could say much of anything she turned away. Rita headed away in the opposite direction, gravel and dirt crunching and sifting under her as she followed a dirt path, escaping to higher elevation.

After a minute or two of walking she stopped,  taking a seat behind a boulder just off of the trail, the rock casting a large shadow over her, fitting for the mage.  She gazed out into the distance and to the small blip known as River Village.  In her hands she conjured a sphere of darkness, the object gradually taking the shape she desired.  A short sigh left her lips as she pressed  a makeshift set of binoculars up to her face, beginning to scan the town in the distance through the scopes. Gee, the place was a mess… Heh Ironic how their task was to initially protect this village but instead… it was as good as wrecked.  Rita would have believed a tornado spun through the place if someone told her that’s what happened.

She blinked, discovering a mass of figures amid the debris, including that Daiko guy from before—She spectated, wondering how would manage his way away from the angry mob.

Daiko nods at the cat in front of him, standing up so that Chapel could be taken away. "Understood.. Dealing with these villagers should be fun." As the exceed zoomed out of sight, his smoke cleared from around him and revealed him in the center of the masses. "Hey" He smiled, waving at one of the most angry man he'd ever seen. The man had thick chest hair, and his breath smelled of onions. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING LETTING HIM ESCAPE?" The man yelled, having no control over the tone of his voice. "He's not going to hurt anyone anymore. We made sure of that." The man then walked up to Daiko, grabbing him by the shirt. "OH? WHY DON'T I SHOW YOU WHAT KIND OF PAIN HE'S CAUSED US!" The giant cocked his fist back, then swung at the purple-eyed mage. Sighing, the boy simply catches the mans fist. He was a wizard, after all, and they were much stronger than an average human. The man looked astounded. "H-how could a scrawny kid like you.." Daiko simply slipped a pistol out of his pocket, holding it by the barrel. He swiftly smacked the man in the side of the head once, causing him to fall over knocked out.

"So... Anyone else care to attack me?" He put the gun away, taking in the astonishment on the villager's faces. "No? Good choice." He laughs, then spins around once. A younger child comes up to him, seemingly worried. "I..I...Is my daddy going to be alright...?" He points to his father, who was passed out. "Yeah, I'm sure he'll be fine. Just gotta teach him not to attack the people who help him." The boy nodded, running over to the man. "Maybe someday I could be as strong as the guy with blue hair!" Daiko shook his head. "Me too, bud... Me too." The kid then ran with his friends, and they decided that one of them would be Chapel, one would be Rita, and one would be Daiko. They all fought over who would be Heero, and they began throwing around their cat pretending he was Garfield.

"Now.. Where the hell did they go..." The smoker scratched his head, glancing around at different directions. This wasn't the first time he had randomly been left to deal with people, and he knew it wouldn't be the last. Spotting small versions of Heero and Chapel, he begins to sprint over, hoping to make it there before they left. He had time to think when he was running. The boy had ditched Savage Skull of all places, and had not a single fear that he was being hunted. He believed himself to be brave, though most would say he was a fool.

Rita sighed, listening to the dragon and the bandit converse with one another in the distance, her sights scanning the village. She caught a few of their words here and there, not paying attention enough to know what they were discussing, nor giving a care.  She was still sour about what happened back in the town, but it was to be expected. This was Rita after all; she never got over things very quickly, always holding a grudge over something.

 She crushed the makeshift scopes in her hand; the shadowy matter in which it was reduced to seemed to be absorbed into her palm. The mage lay back against the surface of the boulder, looking over the scene from the shade. Dark whips crawled out from the shadow that the stone cast, Rita’s nails digging into the soil lightly. The ground was cold to her touch as were the dark streams as they drifted towards and ran against her wounds. Like black ribbons, they began coiling around her injuries, dressing her wounds. Before long, the process came to a close. Rita tugged at the shadow-conjured bandages with adjustment as she carefully helped herself to her feet, standing back up against the rock.

She blinked up as Heero said her name. The mage rose an eyebrow as he tried to say something, unable to manage the words. All she caught was that she was mad, and oh boy how right Heero was. If he had something to say she felt that he should just spit it out and be done with it, but the words never came--

She felt the magic aura of what seemed to be another mage approaching, the Ethernano being given off was familiar, familiar enough for her to identify its holder. Her mouth played a smirk as she turned to the source. So he made it back in one piece… She glanced Daiko’s direction as he approached. 

--Her eyes lowered as Heero turned to Daiko, stepping away from her again as he handed over his attention to him.

What the hell were you going to say, Heero? she thought internally, wishing that he had at least finished his sentence.

She was amazed by how quickly his atmosphere changed, blinking as he began to emit his typical comedic sparkles, glimmering like an idiot. Rita face palmed with the cat, watching as Heero made a fool out of himself. Heh, what did she expect? This was the Gold Salamander after all.

She turned to Daiko shortly, batting her eyes once. ”?—“ The mage felt her face grow warm as she looked him over, noticing that he was standing there-- shirtless. “Ehhh ehehm.” she quickly regained her composure, gingerly unwrapping the shirt he had knotted around her abdomen.

She waved the blood stained cloth in her hand once. “I don’t know If ya want this thing back.”  She started, finding her eyes scrolling down his chest slowly S-Since when was every guy born with a 6-pack? the words echoed inside her head. Her attention was soon captivated by something else on the smoke mages body, His wrist. She blinked wondering if she was seeing things.  The mage was surprised to see the mark hadn’t moved... A burn?  How  could he have gotten something like that?--- She hesitated, quickly tearing her gaze away from the spot before he noticed her staring. The thought of unwanted marks high on her mind, she adjusted her hair instinctively, wanting to be sure that the scar which curved through the side of her neck was still covered up.

Daiko continued running, until he had finally made it to where Heero and Rita were. Upon arriving, he noticed that blue-haired man was doing different poses, and sparkles were appearing around him. Laughing, Daiko grabs one from the air. The pink sparkle in his hand looked like it had been created by pure manifested masculinity. Shrugging, the smoke mage tossed the sparkle backwards. Returning his attention to Rita, he scratches his head, just now realizing that his shirt had gone missing. “O-Oh.. Right... Thank you for pointing that out...” He laughs, taking back the shirt that had been encrusted with blood. Taking out his lighter, he burnt the shirt. He then tossed the ashes of what was once his shirt aside, and pulled another shirt from his back pocket.

The shirt Daiko had just put on read “I <3 Boobs” in large black letters, and was neon pink. Scratching his head, he chuckles awkwardly. This was his backup shirt.. He usually only wore it when his shirt was taken. Looking down at his own wrist, Daiko notices the scars that were left from his exit of Savage Skull, the last time he had talked to Kakuma. Scratching his head, he knew he wasn't ready to tell this girl what it was. She was bound to scream and yell at him for no reason and most likely to report him to the Rune Knights. Daiko made a face that showed that there was... something wrong..

“H-Heero...” Daiko gasps, falling to his knees. The boy closed his eyes tight, grabbing at the grass with his fists. He then began rubbing his eyes and pulling at his eyelid. After about five minuites of this, Daiko pulls his fingers from his eye and holds up something. It was one of Heero's sparkles, which had lodged itself in his eye. “W-Watch out where you sparkle...” Yawning, the boy puts his hands on top of his head, spinning slowly in a circle.

Then, there came a sound. It was very distant at first, and slowly grew in intensity. It begain to overwelm the party with it's sounds, like a great beast seeing it's prey. Comically, lines were coming from Daiko's stomach. “Oh.. Also... Let's go eat food... Kicking ass has got me pretty hungry.” The mage falls to the grass, sighing the sigh of a very hungry man. “Chapel.. Do you know any good places?” The bandit was quiet, closing his eyes slightly as he thought. Raising an eyebrow, Daiko walks over and stands above him, next to both Heero and Rita.

“Kakuma... I wonder where you are now...” Daiko slowly looks up at the sky, remembering his past with his ex-guildmate. They had only done one job together, but they bonded all through it. They got to know eachother through their fights with the treasure hunters. Where could she be now?