The Forked Path (Solo/training)

Closure

A word meant to help those to cope with the loss of those close to them, to help make amends with god and those around them to be able to help with the process of moving on. Growing up, it was taught to be something that should never be something easy to get over with it. However, even the most personal evils cannot be easy to find the closure they want. As much as one would want there to be some form of karma or revenge, the feeling of a personal vendetta consumes and corrupts too many people and forces them into doing things that they come to regret soon enough after completing what they set out to do... or die trying. Things that were taught and almost embedded into the child while she grew up in this town, or specifically the nunnery that she was adopted into. Honestly, the very reason she was brought here was nothing more than a miracle in it of itself from the stories she had been told. Most of the other girls were admitted into it from their parents, others orphans whom were doorstep babies or just those whom lost their parents and sought refuge there. Madison on the other hand had been a special case. A found child, left in the wild and among animals, giggling and happily snug as if left there by someone. Still to this day, there was no telling who, or knowing this magical world it could be anything that decided to leave her on her own as an infant, but many of the nuns had thought she was a test from god, something in way that would see if they were all "corrupted by the devil" or if they could trust it. Though that was before they found out what Madison really was.

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A special sect of the nunnery in Shirotsume had taken specific children, those gifted with magic that had joined any and all of the nunnery's within Fiore's borders and trained them in both their faith and in magic. The "Battle Sisters", a fitting name it seemed and gave the ones being raised people to look up to; the nuns who put their lives at stake for people they didn't know, and the ones who spent their time every day caring for them. It gave them a sense of pride and responsibility, something they could look forward to and grow up to become more like them. Not just to those that grew up there, but Shirotsume all knew of rumors that they existed, but for the safety of the church and the children inside, they were never confirmed to exist to the public.

In growing up, the people of the chruch kept the knowledge that Madison was a mage for years. After she had come to a certain age, her magic began to develop and it manifested much differently than any other girl they had taken in, or any other boy that had joined the ministry. Her magic was dark, almost evil perhaps and it gave her a conflicting problem among the sisters. A child they raised to become as innocent as can be had magic as dark as evil can be. As much as they thought to remove her from the church, they instead decided against it and was shown to given over to the Battle Sisters for her magic training. This way, they would be able to control her magic, find out what it may be, and find out more about Madi the mystery child. One thing that the children learned when it came to departing with the Battle Sisters; you always moved around and come back years later, a different person.

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And now she stood, facing the very nunnery from which her whole life had revolved around. All she could do was stand there with a sad look on her face and hesitation to enter. The last time she had done so, the child found a man who had come to capture her and force her into an imprisonment from Harrigan. She hated herself for falling for falling for his rouse and conning her into believing him. She hated herself even more for not doing anything when she should have the most. What stopped her was a promise she carried beyond her own beliefs; A vow to refrain from using her magic on holy grounds. It was a condition she had made years back when she had returned from her training. From both Mother Rose and her main mentor of the Battle Sisters, she was to never use her magic on holy grounds, no matter what. The only exception was a special area in which the traveling sisters spent their time when they were in Shirotsume.

Biting softly onto her lip, she slowly made steps towards the church as flashbacks haunted her mind of the last time she entered this place. Part of her wanted to turn back, too afraid and defeated to try and face this all over. However, today it felt as though god was pushing her towards her former history. As much as she was fighting it, she couldn't stop herself from cracking open the doors, taking her time to jump into this place after all that she and the others had gone through.Her head slowly rounded the corner and saw a single person, one that was completely different from the last person she had encountered in here. Long redish orange hair tied up high and down most of the way before it slipped into a braid and tied off with a bow. The child slowly slid herself inside and shut the door as quietly as possible and stood in silence, not wanting to disturb the woman.

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A quiet and small step inched her closer to the stranger. A pass by each section of pews had wandering eyes of the child assuring herself that this woman had no plans to ambush her and make her bait and used for someone elses plans for reasons she didn't know or understand... REASONS EVEN HER OWN CAPTORS HAD NO TRUE IDEA TO! The only thing Madison had gotten out of it was something in relation to her own powers was the cause of her being sought out for it. It bugged her that she had to deal with this and there was nobody to blame, not even herself. For her, it seemed to be more of the lords test of the child's will, but another part of her thought this had nothing to do with it. Religion... Was a rather confusing thing for her, to which she didn't feel she had to fully devote herself like the others, since the nuns never really wanted her to fully commit her life to the church.

As her gaze still peered to the back of the womans head, she began to rise, as if she was in a kneeling position. Madison instantly froze at the sight, more so out of an instinct than it was anything else at this point. She felt overly cautious; paranoid some might say, but that was within reason for her to do so. "Amen~" A small word ushered from the woman, as nothing had been seen to come from anywhere else of course. "E-Excuse me..?" Her arms trembled a little as she dared to speak up enough for her to hear her, the woman turning her head enough to peek over her shoulder and past her hair to see the casually attired child standing in the walkway. She took another few small steps, encroaching closer to the woman before she was swarmed by two arms, pulling her into her chest tight. "Madipie!" She cried out with such a happy glowing sound to her voice. "Oh gosh! I forgot how cute I used to look!" A whimsical giggle left this taller woman's mouth as she continued to press the child's face between her chest.

Struggling to remove herself, Madi finally gave one last heave and took in a breathe, the woman obliviously starring down before reaching over and scooping up some of her hair and examining it. "Such pretty hair too~ It's a shame it never kept the same... Oh well!" Her bubbly voice echoed once more, only for Madi to finally smack her hand away with a stern look of annoyance. "Who are you and why did you say 'the way I used to look'?" The woman giggled and leaned in, hands pressed onto her knees as she bent down and looked Madi in the eyes. "That's because I'm you, silly girl!~ Today is the day you begin path your life to the lord and learning to control who you really are! And I'm here to help!" She admitted, no sense of the problem in her facial expression, the words she spoke, nothing.

"That is preposterous! There is no way you can be me!" She outright denied the idea that this woman could be the same person as Madi was. Of course, she could only know of one way to prove it, and so the stranger claiming to be her knelt down on one knee, hands ruffled up in her hair and gathering it back into some messy bun clasped in her freshly polished fingers. "Remember, not long ago from now, when you locked yourself out of your room and got mama Aiyana to unlock it? She dressed you jokingly as a maid, pulled your hair back almost like this into a nice adorable bun, took you to the zoo?" She'd move in, her lips close to the child's ear now. "Remember now, maidipie?~" A giggle would escape the womans lips as Madi's jaw dropped, her face turned red as only Madison and Aiyana had known of that. "B-b-b-but! H-How could y-you-" She was cut off once more as the woman placed a finger on her lips after releasing the gentle hold on Madison's hair. "Trust me. There's plenty more things mama wants to teach you, you know. Well... You don't yet, but you will sooner or later. Now come, lets sit in a pew and I will discuss something important things you must know." The speechless child nodded and followed along, sitting in the first row as the woman, whom began to fiddle with her hair for a moment, knowing how nervous she was.

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Madison seemed to be anything but herself at this point. There was a very odd feeling of confusion, painted so clearly on her face as her mind tried to wrap her mind around it. She wondered why there was such a thing as some future self coming back to teach her things, more importantly what things she wished to instill had been left untold, but very much so that she was rather careful still. However, it felt like someone like her was highly unlikely to be in such a second guessing state after seeing such a bubbly personality, even now as the older version of Madison had yet to stop playing around and caring for the child's hair. Her eyes shifted back and forth from her to the empty end of the church, looking back once more as her hair was styled quickly and perfectly in some other fashion as if it was done at the snap of her fingers. "I know you're probably still rattled around, but trust me! With the lord as my witness, I'll take great care of myself while I'm here!" An arm shifted around the back of the red heads neck and pulled her in, laying her head beside her body, with skin much softer than she had realized, making her blush slightly.

The older Madison would sigh happily, looking up at the statue and then down to her younger present self, giggling and pushing her into an upright position. "So, as I guess you can see from both my attire that I am a liiiittle more devout than I had planned to be. However, I am the second in command for the Battle Sisters, underneath Sister Monaka of course." The way she spoke it off seemed much more proud then entitled, but then again she was never one to boast about the things she worked for in life. It all more so came out to be a reach for acceptance and positive reactions from a lack of parental growth that she had needed as a growing child and couldn't receive all of. "Now now, I know what you're thinking; 'but isn't that against time traveling rules and so on and so forth?' Well... No. In a special case, the lord has split this time spent between solely you and I... Or I and I.. Err.. Uh.. You get the point. AAAAANNNNYYYWAAAYYY~"

She paused in hearing the child giggle at her conundrum of thoughts spoken aloud without realizing it. She smiled at that, glad to see that she was coming around to trusting herself.. of course the older Madison already knew at some point she would. "Like I was saying, the reason this doesn't apply to you.. is because... Umm.. Oh gosh darn it. This is harder to explain than I realized..." She took in a deep breath and let it out as if she were sighing, sliding the child onto her lap with little care or asking. "That power those people in Savage Skull desired is much much more potent than they realize at this point. You are a miracle of god, and though the magic you were created with isn't exactly holy, by sticking to the life you have now, things will become blessed with happiness and goals from which every child dreams of being." As Madison finished speaking, a look grew on the younger girls face as she contemplated the idea.

"Wait... W-What do you mean... Created?" The sinking feeling in her gut began to come back again, something she hadn't had much of since she had been in the Savage Skull guild hall. Her eyes starred with worry and desperation to know what she was being told was true or false, looking to the girl whom had no show of anything other than a serious look. "You, Madison Richter, were a creation through a fallout between Acnologia and something else much greater than it. Nevertheless, the dreams you have are memories of it. I pieced it together years ago and once it was true, I had to try and warn you ahead of time. The extra time in your life to think over and comprehend it all is vital, Madison. Please, do not be alarmed, but rather understand why this unholy form of magic is inside of you. Embrace and control it! Use it in the name of the lord and show the world that you are just as perfect as any other person!" A shock look froze on Madi's face, unable to comprehend the truth put before her right now, right in the middle of it all. But she could understand now why they would want her power. The fear of it all worried her more, until her hands were pulled together and cupped between both of her older selfs. "You're a big girl, we both know that. I told you because I KNOW you could handle it. It's a lot to take in, but once you're accustomed to it, your birthright, and your new magic, you'll better yourself for the good of the lord." An encouraging but small speech brought smiles to both Madison's faces.

And suddenly, a slow clapping echoed through the church. a pause between each clap resonating from what felt like the shadows all at once...

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Both girls attentions shifted around different sections of the church until they had spotted the area from which it could only have come from. A pair of red gleaming eyes, both slightly intimidating and familiar had set their focus on the girls. "Who's there?" The little one asked, much less patient to wait and find out what it could be that someone would be here, spying on them. The older Madi was stunned silent, unable to process how this could have happened. This chapel was temporarily suspended from reality. No person could even be here but Madison, past, present, and future only. "And here I thought I could beat you here... Mmm." She paused and would step out of the shadows of the cathedral, revealing her appearance to both red heads; raven black hair tied back into a ponytail, emerald green eyes starring both girls down with a vicious gaze. Her body was rather magnificent too, almost like she could have if not of already been a model.

"How did you get in here!? There's no way you could have gotten in here!" The older red head shot up to her feet, trying to put herself in front of her younger self. The stranger smirked and leaned on the back of the pew and chuckled at the serious look of the red head, as well as the confused look of the child. "You're a dense one, aren't ya. A real fucking airhead." A gasp left the red heads mouth as she heard the swear, hands rested onto her hips as a stern look crossed her face. "How dare you say such words in a house of god! Who dares to act in such a sacrilegious manner!" She demanded, her shouting words echoing off the empty halls of the church. The child then adjusted her seat, her amber orbs not leaving the look the girl continued to give to the pair. Something about her seemed to be oddly familiar. The cocky smirk and mild manner pose she gave, the casual attire and the cross hanging from her neck...

Again, the stranger got a small chuckle out of the pair across the way, her eyes shifting to Madi and the realization set in on her face before she would return her gaze to the older red head. "She gets it... Come on, red. Think." The raven haired stranger got a kick out of the stupidity that was what a once child genius of sorts had come to turn into. She stared still, unsure of how to make any sense of the whole thing, enough so that she turned to the child and noticed her body language wasn't so tense. She seemed calm and unnerved by the stranger, but as she looked back up, the woman had moved. The stranger had started to walk down the end of the aisle headed down towards the pair of red heads, making the sister step in front of her present self and stand defensively. "It's such a shame... I coulda become that... Seems like a waste of talent, space, and life, if you ask me." Her walk would stop at the end of the pew. She didn't care to move past that for the moment, at least not yet.

It just so happened to be more amusing to tease this airheaded moron from the way she was acting, the way she tried to act so defensive when there wasn't any need to do so. With a heavy sigh, the raven haired woman brushed her bangs from her face and then her fingers through her hair and  shook her head lightly. "Tell her kid. This idiot doesn't get it." Arms folded under her rather abundant chest, one from which it seemed she didn't care much to really hide or dress more properly against. Looking over to the red head, and peering to her own chest, it seemed as though once she turned her attention to her own flat self... God was an ass. "She... is us." A little smaller, more quiet voice ushered from behind the red headed woman. "See? The damn kid gets it. You wanna try to protect her when you don't even know who you're trying to protect her from?"

It just seemed to finally be hitting the red head of the realization of how it could be that she was in here. Almost like when she had to convince Madison that they were the same person, this seemed to be her proof. "But.. How can that be? Your hair is black as the shadows and.. your eyes are like emeralds, cold and icy too. What happened to you?" A coy smile appeared on the womans face. She pulled her shirt up enough to reveal a symbol from which still haunted the child. She slowly began to crawl away, laid in the pew and her body shaking. The raven haired woman looked in confusion before realizing why she acted in such a way and lowered her shirt. "Calm down girl. I'm not gonna hurt you, sheesh. You both know anything I do to her comes back on me... Now stop and calm down."

With a deep breath, Madi slowly tried to calm herself, but her body refused to move. "Ah yeah... I remember this part in my life. When the day came, I used the power in me and let it take me over. I wanted to use it to destroy Savage Skull! I wanted to make them rue the day that they ever tried to take what was ours! But the more I used the magic, the more I started to change. My hair slowly darkened, my eyes shifted colors, and soon I looked like this damn good lookin' bitch you see before ya." A sigh left her lips as she stopped and sat in the pew by the red headed older Madi. "Sometimes... I wish I could change though... Ya know?" Her hands would rest on her lap as a sorrowful look would wash over her face.

The younger Madi would slowly slink off of her seat and crawl over before sliding off and onto her feet. The older red head would stare in silence, unsure of what she would want to say or do, but a gaze had settled on her with weariness and suspicion. A small hand would reach over and lay on top of one of the raven haired girls, with the sudden action making the woman look up to see a smiling Madison looking right at her. Returning the smile, the woman would place her other on top of hers, taking a soft grip like to just gently hold on. The hand underneath the childs would slide off and onto the pew and just in an instant her grip would tighten and with a shift action, the woman would slam her fist through her chest, pushing through her rib cage and into her heart. Both red heads stared in shock and disbelief while the other laughed maniacally. "You're going down this path one way or another! And you will soon thank me for it, Madison!" With a grin, she would enjoy the reaction before the rippled effect would put the older red head down to one knee, griping her chest in pain and seeming to be unable to move.

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A staggered gaze of fear and disbelief stuck the child as she stuttered down to see the writhing, breathtaking, and forceful strike into her chest. The raven haired Madison moaned as she seemed to feel the very pain she inflicted, enjoying every moment of it and the look in her younger self while her eyes dimmed of the bright life they shun with. The older red head had dropped to her knees, clutching her chest in that same place where the savage skull girls arm and fist entered. "Oh my.. This pain is so lovely, don't you agree!?~  Sadomasochism is such a GREAT feeling! This is a first for me to do this sort of thing... But hey, beats me fisting you to teach you the joys. Now, don't worry, you'll only feel this feeling once in your life... Twice if your heart and this little gift I give you explodes." She stopped and ripped the still heart out, veins and arteries attached to her insides and pushed a dark red orb inside of it and replaced her heart in her chest. "Enjoy the darkness, my love. Love it as much as I do!"

An evil laugh, much like the generic cackle like laugh that normal evil people carried along with them in their bag of evil tricks and gimmicks. With a flick of her wrist, she made the child cough up a bit of blood, a trail running down her cheek before she had dropped onto her knees. Shivers went up the aggressive woman's back from the rippled feeling of pain jostling her, biting her bottom lip with glee from it. Emerald orbs shot to the older red head, dropped on her hands and knees and writhing in pain, enough to make her albeit consumed with too much pain to want to move. "Oh good. On your knees begging for me to stop?" She let out a playful giggle, shoving the child's heart back into her chest and pushing the body to the floor on her back. "Oh, that must be a test of will from the lord~ Wanting to seek out and empower his chosen children!~ " Her tone was meant to mock the other Madison, getting a kick out of how much pain she must have been. "You and I are going to solve something." Yet another pause, taking action and gripping as much Crimson locks as she could into one hand and yanking her up onto her feet, the red head crying out in pain almost. "I won't fight inside holy grounds. As much as I mock it, I respect it as something that's a part of me. For even with papa's magic in me, I'm forever grateful for the trust people gave me as a child, and hell... Villains can be religious.. Some martyr themselves for 72 virgins, NOT A ONE PROMISED TO BE FEMALE... But I digress."

The raven haired woman would push the other older Madison towards the entrance to the church. With some hesitation, she simply agreed and walked slightly ahead of the woman until she had gotten to the doorway and stopped in her tracks. "I shall not move another step until you tell me where we're going, you devilish harlot." With a joking chuckle, she gave a soft jostle to the red heads shoulder and faked a blush. "Oh you flirt you~ Just fucking move before I drag you by that lot of hair you got." With one last glare, the woman would scoff at the threat and walk out, starting to head out and around the perimeter of the church with full caution of being attacked at random by the evil counterpart. A sigh of annoyance erupted from the woman and stopped as they entered the back area, fitted with a large battle arena. "We both know a fair fight is a fun fight! Don't try to think I'll try somethin' now. I may be evil and all, but there's nothing fun in a sneak attack.. Unless it leads to some.. Some.. Well you already think I'm a heathen, so why not. Actually, on second thought, I forgot I never get involved in that stuff, so forget I said anything." With that said, she rubbed the back of her head and averted her attention away from the red head and shrugged. "Now then, let's fight it out. Whomever kills the other gets the opportunity to put the little one down their path. Deal? Deal!" It wasn't a moment since until a dark spear crashed into the ground by the red head, making her jump in surprise. "LET THE GAMES BEGINS!" Meanwhile, back inside the church, a small hand began to twitch, the pooled blood around her body began to turn a black color, as if it were colored like the shadows surrounding her. Slowly, the blood began to recede into the girls body as if it were alive in some form and the hole in her chest healing itself back to a normal form.

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The desolate and spacial torn sky left the around around the church to remain silent and not a single bit of wind to pass around. The very area surrounding the place had been ripped from reality almost, torn from it's roots and placed within a temporal zone or plane fit for those of a specific form of existence. The so called arena had been just a single bordered rectangular area closed off with a white chalk line or paint of some kind that couldn't easily be kicked up and ruined simply by stepping on it. Inside of it, both the red head and raven haired Madison's stood in silence facing one another from opposite ends of the area from which they had planned to settle their "deal". The Battle Sister had remained silent, a vicious glare of anger and hatred of the other woman for albeit forcing her into fighting against her. Saying no would only put her younger self in danger and that wouldn't necessarily be good for either of them really. In the mean time, the Savage Skull mage stood with her arms folded underneath her chest, a cocky smirk on her face with the thought that she had an unfair advantage against her goody-to-shoe counterpart. However, through the logic of altering their past like so, they would alter the course of knowledge they had as well.

With a single step from the raven haired woman, the other had taken a completely defensive stance. She was completely ready to fight off at the very first chance she had to do so. Retreating her step, a light chuckle shook her torso with amusement from the reaction. All she had to do was bide time really and let things play out for her. All in all, getting this pest of an air head away from their younger self was just a way to secure herself the prime form as well as being the superior "ego", so to speak. "Well? You wanted to fight, you contemptuous tramp. Have at it then!" She snapped, breaking the bit of silence they had, further making the situation at hand just worse for the both of them really, but that was purely through the way they had taken any and all insults thrown around. In this case, it was more of the holy warrior's insult spree than anything. An irritated sigh left the Raven haired Madison's mouth before the emerald orbs began to glow a bright red and a pair of wings erupted from her back, expanding outward at their largest span of reach before a sigh of relief made her body less tense. "Feels good to stretch these bad boys out after so long. Come on red, it's a 'you show me yours, I show you mine' kinda deal! Let's go, whip em out and let's see!" She laughed a bit at her own joke, making the red head retaliate with her own eyes imitating the same action, a beaming red glow covering the color of her pupils before her own wings sprouted from her back and shot outward to the sides. "Fine! I'll rip you to shreds in the name of the lord!"

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Back in the church

A small hand twitched once more as the rushing of blood pooled back into her body still. The ink like fluid had seemed to rise from the ground like it was gushing outward, however only the motion was in reverse. Rather than pouring out, the blood had seemed to become imbued with her own magic and returning to her body slowly but surely, breathing a new life into the child. As the blood began to recirculate, it began to change her almost; Her long red hair had become tinted a secondary shade of color, brightening from it's crimson hue into a bright orange, almost emulating the appearance of fire. As the last bit of blood forced it's way back into the child's body, she coughed up a bit of blood, also black as night in color and dripped onto her bare portion of her torso from the hole caused by her evil future self. She shot up into an upright position and began to breathe heavily out of fear and disbelief, as if she had only spaced out it seemed and the rush of pain shooting back through revitalized nerves.

"W-What the...Where-" Her eyes and body jumped at the sound of an explosion from outside of the church and looked around. The rumbling ground jostled her memory to what had gone on, but was it all just a dream? A hand ran over her chest to feel the newly found hole in her clothing and the feeling of her hand on bare flesh had ushered her to feel a shooting pain throughout the child's torso for a moment, making her wince and bite her lip before another explosion had rang through the church. Something about it irked her really. Her thoughts were mainly focused towards the idea of her own adult selves fighting outside the church, keeping the respect of their childhood home which was sweet to know. She pushed off of the ground and started to dash off towards the exit before tripping as her body seemed to have trouble adjusting to it's reincarnated form just yet. The smaller red head shook it off and jumped back up, running off at the fastest she could seem to normally run without the need to use her magic. She wouldn't break the vow she made with Battle Sister Monaka and the other sisters, even if they weren't a part of the same plane for right now.

The two continued their fight back and forth in the sky, just a few feet above the ground. Caught off guard by the first explosion, the raven haired Madison had taken a bit of a hit to her wings and caused her to be unable to fully use the sky to her advantage. In the second explosion, the Battle Sister had gotten her right leg injured and slightly burnt from the backlash of the outward spread of it. Both women held back swords within their hands, seeming to be made of the same black, unholy energy that had caused the skepticism of the nuns and priests of the ministry throughout her life. The child stood peeking around the edge of the building toward the arena, watching and observing the look of the two women and what they had looked like as they fought. The black wings on both women, the gleaming red eyes, the familiar magic and feel of their weaponry had begun to reflect back at the child of the reality she was faced with knowing now. She was just some creation... No real parent.. But something made her wonder; Why was she human? Why were they both human as well? If they were all born from- no, created. Created, created CREATED! The word felt so alien and frustrating to accept, it started to make her hate herself for it. An abomination on the world created by god! But even then, it felt as though... Maybe he did it on purpose. As if she was given a purpose of something to find out, or maybe she was something he wanted to test, an experiment of the lords miracles.

She shook the thought from her mind and resettled herself to the fight before her. Watching the two fight in the air, an instinctual use of flight and both fighting for the same purpose; herself. It was hard in this case to REALLY narrow down whether it was the narcissistic form of herself, or if they literally were only fighting for Madison's own sake. A secure path of their own life, but both path's caught the child in a bump of confusion and tore her thoughts of the whole thing. For one, her red headed self was a life long goal come true. A battle sister! Something she idolized being since she had ever first heard of them. The passion only grew when they had trained her to use magic, and more when they instilled the hope that one day she could grow to join them in their endeavors and adventures. On the other hand, she had this woman, consumed by her own powers, a fear that now with knowing who... or well what she was, made much more sense to her. Granted, the curiosity she sought was more of why she had to let the darkness consume her and not grasp it's full power to use AGAINST Savage Skull, rather than simply turning to them for her acts against god's children.

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As much as it had kept her from rushing out to halt the fight, that same hesitant feel of everything from this day had seemed to only weigh itself heavier on top of her, holding her down and keeping her from acting on such brash ideas. Maybe it was for the better that she just sit back and watch them, wait to find out of any hidden intentions one of them may have and then decide for herself whom she would side with. However even then, the two of them had been acting more selfish and annoying to say the least... It was pretty damn irritating to think that it was all about making sure things went their way, even for someone pure like the version of herself that had been a part of the Battle Sisters... Still, it didn't really seem right to just sit back and let the two of them have at it like they were. On the other hand, they were both stronger than she was, and should one or both turn against her to keep her out, she'd most likely stand little to no chance against one of them if not both of them.

The battle at hand seemed to have only intensified between them. Less and less weaponry began to be used and only contact of parried fists and legs boomed back and forth in the air, the impacts so hard they looked to be visually reverberating off of one another. It was actually the coolest thing she had yet to see in a long while, but the strange part of it all was what she had seen coming off of them and spilling off on the ground below them; ink? It couldn't be that... That was illogical and improbable for the human body to be filled with ink instead of blood. The liquid of ink would be too unstable with the climate changes and be unable to fully carry in oxygen to the body and carbon dioxide out of the lungs and into the air. So, if that was the case... than what was all this stuff spilling from their body and in what hell did they come up with explosions to bombard one another with? Did the black stuff have anything to do with the- Her thought paused as she felt a shot of pain into her chest, almost as if her heart was riping itself apart from the inside.

The child dropped to her knees clutching her chest, biting her lip as hard as she could as not to alert the pair of older versions of herself that she was spying on their fight. The pain was so intense, her eyes felt as though they were cause even more pain from them being unable to shut any more than they had been right now. A couple of tears shed themselves and slithered down her cheeks as the feeling of a thicker trickle began to run down the middle of her chin. At once, the pain stopped and her eyes burst open, curious to find out what that feeling running down her chin had been. It could have been blood really, as she was biting down pretty hard and could very well have just broken the skin and caused her to bleed a little. However, when she went to wipe the possible stuff from her chin, she found it to be black in color and her eyes widened in shock of it. Had.. Had whatever that so called "gift" that her evil older self shoved inside her been something that forced her blood to turn back in color?

Now it seemed the more in thought she had of it all, her mind kept flashing to questioning what it was that was implanted inside of her to make this happen. Whatever it had been, it couldn't alter what Madison's personality was going to be like in the slightest and in reality, who knows if that was something that the Savage Skull mage was banking on the entire time. For now, she sat in wait as the anger built up more, looking on at the woman as she fought. When the time would come, she would get a chance to confront the raven haired woman with a battery of questions and she wouldn't know what hit her until she had come around to what had happened... Or at least that was what the child had hoped would happen anyway. Each of the winged fighters took blows to their face and abdomen, blowing them off like the wind had just hit them without a care was still baffling to say the least really.

It seemed like the fight was never ending. It never really looked as though one of them was going to out do the other and turn the tables on the other. Things were going nowhere real fast and the frustration of the fight was starting to get to her. She had to come up with something to separate the two of them and get her answers before she went rampant on the both of them and started attacking everyone left and right without a lack of care. Thinking back to the stuff spilled below them, she came to realize not only could she be able to come to the conclusion that they had spilled blood, but THEY WERE BOTH THE SAME PERSON AS HERSELF! All the blood used would easily be usable to strike and create the opening she came to need below them and ready to use! Her only problem was; How did they create the explosions? Nothing at first made sense to her until her mind began to delve into the more scientific structure of how blood was bonded chemically. With a smirk, she thought she'd attempt something, and with a single snap of her fingers, it acted as an ignition and caused the splattered blood to explode, rupturing the entirety of the world around them as well as the sky above.

7138/9000 words

A panicked child began to search for the cause of what was just happening to her right in this moment. The entire spacial area began to twist and rend itself almost. Was this god becoming angered and coming down against the 3 Madison's, ending their lives altogether and ending the paradox of it all in one fell swoop in some twisted way to reform the universe into one whole wisp without a shred or reality that Madison had existed? Why would he do that to someone whom, despite what they were in life would still believe in whom he was and what he stood for? Even so much that the child would go against those who spoke foul about his name or used it in vain. Despite not being a devout religious person, there were things she had picked out about it and held true to believing in it. Both due to where and how she was raised up and it being the only thing she had been taught growing up anyway, so there was no way she had learned otherwise until she decided to leave them.

The spacial world around her began to look as though it were like a computer simulation glitching out, literally seeing the same exact effects happen around her. The combative sounds of the two older versions of herself had continued without any care of what happened, up until that explosion she had created. Since then, they had completely vanished as if they were never there in the first place. That had made the child completely confused and unknown of what in the world she could do. There was nothing in her life she had to repent for doing. She remained like the delicate, yet bold flower that left the church only a couple years prior to this day, and even in such an amount of time, she had yet to stray from her lifestyle. To the opposite effect, Madison had embraced it as a lifestyle she loved! Something that was pure and good and gave her meaning. The drive to be a better mage and push herself to becoming nothing less than the best that god would let her become! That motivation alone had drove her to join the guild she was in, take the actions she made, and commit to the cause to help those that cannot help themselves.

Yeah! She had no need to depend or rely on some futuristic versions of herself to show what she was going to become if she made certain decisions. Of course, that wouldn't ever disprove the chance that the paths laid out to her today were any more real or fake than anyone would come to expect a person to think of them. Was perhaps all of this just a test of some sort? Something to make her realize what has happened to her could lead her down the path's laid out for her? "W-Wait! I.. I understand now!" She stood up onto her feet, slowly coming out from the corner and taking her time walking out into the open. Her chest still clutched from the pain of whatever it was that was shoved into her chest. "This was all some big test, huh!? You wanted to test my resolve if pitted between the path of darkness and the path of a holy crusade?" She waited a moment, as no sound was made but her own, until that of another glitching sound murmured through the sky, she growled angrily at being ignored. "WELL!? COME THE HEAK OUT AND SPEAK, YOU COWARD!" Suddenly, she dropped back down to one knee, both hands clutched over her chest and wailing in a pulsing pain.

The feeling of the pain felt so intense, it made her breathes shallow and almost as painful as the very pulsing in her chest. The feeling of being watched made the child try to look around at any given chance she could, but the second her mind left the thought of calming itself down to be able to look within the spacial area, she stopped to shriek out in pain once more. Her eyes glowed a bright red as she began to become infuriated, the pain becoming less than something that she would have ever cared about in the current moment. She pushed her body to stand on two legs and step forward. Glowing orbs only widened as she had seen the next thing before her; a large black silhouette with wings spanning out to the edges of the world. It's body had glowing blue patterns running up and down it's body in few spots, however not revealing it's true form to the child. Gleaming golden eyes starred as a soft, but loud growl had breathed into Madison's face, her face astonished by the sight of such a gargantuan being facing her right now.

"You dare call me a coward?" It's voice would linger through the whole temporal area in it's pause. "Child, what is your name. What is it, the humans call you?"

The look of anger and rage sunk down, washed over with the look of astonishment and surprise. This was like nothing the red head had come to expect to happen, but what was she to do now. She had some other magical power that she knew so little to nothing about, she was in an agonizing pain, and some large creature stood before-- and around her. "M-Madison.. I'm c-called Madison. Madison Richter." Her body seemed frozen with fear as the creature starred at her appearance, the place where her pain felt the most severe. It's head moved closer to the opening in her clothing before retracting it's massive skull back away, this time slightly further away.

"I see the lacrima is adjusting nicely to your body, Madison. I projected these people, not to test you, but in order for me to understand what is you've become since your birth."

It took time to process the words this being spoke to her. Mostly, it involved trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she had this all done, not by some two personas trying to become the true path of her life, but by a singular person whom wanted to observe her progress. A tear rolled down her cheeks before she flew into a rage, her eyes as a whole flaring red with an unwarranted anger. "YOU.. YOU WANNA KNOW ABOUT ME!? GROW THE DAMN BALLS TO ASK ME YOURSELF INSTEAD OF PUTTING ME THROUGH A PAIN WORSE THAN THE DEATH YOU MADE ME FEEL!" More tears streamed down her cheeks, feet with crushing force leaving imprints in the ground. "I was raised by a church of nuns! Holy people that detested me for reasons I did not know until you told me, but accepted me and loved me! They raised me to be a loving and caring person, and gosh darn it I will not be anything but myself! They could have left me, but god had other plans for me. His work put us together and I wish to know why it is he tested us in this manner! So who are you!? DON'T HIDE BEHIND THOSE SHADOWS ANY LONGER!"

8340/9000 words

The shadowed creature remained silent, as if it were baffled by the child's outburst towards him a moment ago. It began to chuckle as the shadowed thing grew smaller in appearance. It's loud, booming voice sunk quieter until it had become more human like. The child couldn't believe what she witnessing. Was it god showing himself to this particular girl? For what reason would he of all people want from or with her? Long, spiked blue hair and a muscular body emerged from the shadows. A darker tanned tone complected skin, a smirk on his face and the several nose piercings simply threw her off without a doubt. "I figured this of all things, would be easier on you.. Madison. That lacrima I had forced into your heart, will give you powers beyond what anyone can teach you. The power to slay the gods themselves. There are those gods whom are in this world, plotting to kill everyone." A more soft spoken voice, almost a caring nature to it had carried the channeled anger down slowly, but surely.

The man placed both his hands on her shoulders, kneeling down to look at her straight in her face. "It's the least I can do for a daughter I am proud of. This is the Madison I want to live on forever. One who'll inspire generations to absolve from gaining power for themselves like I did. The ones who raised you did an excellent job instilling the best morals in you, and I can't be any more proud than if I did it myself." Shock and awe still left the girl paralyzed without a thought to speak, but too many in her head to decide where to start. "History will paint you the story of who I've become, but remember that the only true soul to stop Acnologia... Is Acnologia himself. That is why I need you to be who you are. Stop this beast in me, consume me, and become the true form. Some day, you will. Some day. Until then, let the lacrima speak for it's own powers. Until we meet again, Madison Richter." A soft kiss planted on her cheek turned them pink. She only watched as the sky once again became black as night and the moment of changing her look had given him time to reclaim his dragonic appearance, bursting off into the night and vanishing almost instantly into the blackened sky. "G-Goodbye... Father." With one last pulsing shot of pain, Madi dropped to her knees and soon, onto her stomach, unconscious.

Some time had gone by before Madi had been able to wake up on her own will. When she had, she shot up with the first words being "Saving Grace!" for whatever reason that may have been. Her clothes had been removed and replaced with a bland colored night gown, similar to the ones she wore growing up in Shirotsume. Looking around, crosses and artsy looking "scriptures" hung on the walls, only brightening up Madison's face to find where she had been. The door clicked open and a nun graced the child with her presence, holding a tray of food and a drink. "Oh praise the lord, Madison. You're finally awake! You've been asleep nearly 3 days now! You had us all worried lying on the ground outside the church with that hole in your clothing!" She sounded so genuinely worried about her condition, one of which made her giggle and rub the back of her head, feeling her hair braided from her scalp down to the ends but making no special attention of it. "I.. Had a bit of a training accident, sister. No need to be alarmed though, when it doubt, I always know who will always treat me like family the most." The nun smiled and set the tray over her lap, adjusting herself behind the girl with a brush and undoing her hair before sliding the brush through it repeatedly. "Then you should take better care when you train, dear child. The lord does not reward those who do not practice patience." She truthfully hated having to lie to a nun, but in this case she would hope god would forgive her. Just this once...

[Exit]

8340 + 707 = 9047/9000 words

Yarrr!!!
Approved!