Mashyuu and Kanix (Date Night Part 4) in: The Heretic!

Holy fire burns again

the magic circle is all around it, burning like the innocence of love

The wind grazed along ashen hair, twisting it in its wild dance through the empty atmosphere as it spiraled away. Silent feet carried an elegant, young woman over coarse masonry, dirtied and beaten from years of no shoes. She was a shadow among shadows, a dark silhouette masked by the unlit space that surrounded her slender form. From time to time, she would stop, hush something at her feet, then dash forward again before pausing once more. As she ran along the bridge between keeps, the woman stopped only when she reached the other side and stood before Blacksteel Keep. Now standing in front of a large, wooden door, she reached forward and grasped the black iron handle, opening the gateway. It harshly creaked open at her touch, the sound of the door slamming against the stone wall echoing into the empty darkness.

Glancing away from the entrance, she darted over to the edge of the wall and peered down, staring at something below. Extending an arm forward, she beckoned with her wrist for whatever it was below her to rise up and perch on the roof of Blacksteel Keep. A heavy beat of wings sounded in the silence, mimicking that of thunder rolling through the sky shortly after lightning having struck. Another figure peeled itself from the shadows, barely noticable with its black bodice enveloped by the dark gray skies. It twisted backward and swooped toward the keep's entrance, only to roost on the block cutouts of the circular building. Ruffling the contents of its body, one could soon make out that it was a giant bird resting on the rooftop of the keep. Unexpectly, the creature let out a sound that embodied a terrified woman's scream mixed with nails on a chalkboard.

Harshly, she shushed the bird but left it there to roost while she slithered into the shadows of the keep's belly. She crept down the long stairway that spiraled to the first level, where she was met with another staircase that led farther down. However, this staircase had a rather strange appearance, as it looked as if it had been lifted by unnatural means. How was she meant to get down there when the stairwell was nearly blocked by its own self from unknown workings? Shifting her feet along the ground, she felt her way around the tiny room, getting a feeling of what was around her. Unfortunately, it was all empty space, nothing that could help her proficiently in removing some of the stair's steps. Sighing, Kanix moved back to the entrance of the stairs and shifted her right foot forward, then brought her right hand own in front of her.

Ice slithered from the tip of her right foot's toes to the stairwell that was encased by its own steps as a means of blockage. The ice grew in small spikes as charged toward the entrance, slamming into the closed opening and freezing what was there. When all of it was frozen, Kanix straightened her stance and raised both of her hands above her head. A series of light beams shot up from the ground around the staircase until it struck the entryway and broke a hole. As soon as an opening was heard crumbling away, Kanix cancelled the spell and leapt forward, disappearing down the newly made rabbithole. She landed heavily onto her feet, kicking up dust that had been settled on the stone flooring and entering the battle scene. Voices rocketed against her eardrums, where she could pick out two unfamiliar voices beside a familiar voice and many other unknown ones.

Standing in the back, she listened as a battle ensued between the Pergrande knights and Mashyuu, Hoseki, and Davey. A loud crashing sound emitted in the air, forcing her to cover her airs to mute the deafening noise of Hoseki's roar. Gritting her teeth, she breathed in deeply once the roar ended and looked back to the fightening at hand. Her senses went wild with what was going on, unable to pick out magic power from the next as they mixed and mingled. Mashyuu's magical essence was the only one that she was capable of plucking out of the crowd of magic users. She did not want to interfere with the current situation, standing off to the side as they battled the mix of Pergrande men. However, the second that a majority of the battle was over, Kanix found her feet working on their own to rush the leaders.

The paladins were quicker on their feet than she had expected, sidestepping her attack and sending her skidding to a halt. She had stumbled to her buttox, dust kicked up from her sliding across the ground and a raw back from the action. Groaning, Kanix rolled to her side and weakly lifted herself back to her feet, only to have one snagged out from under her. A surprised cry released itself from the depths of her innards as she now hung upside-down by the hand of one of the paladins. Her broadcloth fell over her bodice, covering the center of her torso, down to the tip of her forehead, and her necklace slipped off her chest, clattering to the ground. Blindly, she swung a fist in any direction that she could until it connected with the one of the paladin's crotches. As expected, the one holding her captive buckled at his knees and released his grip on her, letting her drop to the ground.

She coughed the second her body connected with the floor, but rose to her feet in a matter of seconds, so as not to be taken advantage of again. With one paladin down for a bit, she focused her attention on the other, who was standing there, now in fear. One fell swoop of her feet and the paladin was on the ground like her partner, but grappled to her feet once she fell. Drawing out her sword, the woman charged Kanix, only to have her attack thwarted by the guild master as it came baring own on her staff. Using both her hand, she shoved the staff up and over her head, pushing the sword off it and out of the paladin's hands. The weapon clattered to the ground with a noise of metal hitting stone, leaving her opponent now defenseless against her. Kanix drew out her water whip, sending it flying toward the woman and entrapping her in the clear liquid.

A flick of her wrist and the paladin was brought closer to her before being quickly thrown to the side and into the wall. The room emitted with a loud crashing sound as her opponent collided with the wall, sliding to the floor below her. Her head lolled to the side, remaining unmoving and left Kanix wondering if the paladin would get back to her feet. When no move was made, she turned around to the paladin, who was still gripping his groin out of agony. She grinned wildly at the man, then rammed her foot into the man's chin, flinging him backward and crashing into the wall as well. Feeling the vibrations of the man's landing allowed for her to sense where he had crashed into the wall and for another attack. Stepping forward, a blaze of fire was sent from her fist as it came slamming toward the paladin's helm and set it afire.

She huffed lightly and dusted her hands off on her thighs, smirking as the two paladins were now unconscious on the ground. Crossing her arms over her chest, she would spin on her heel to face Mashyuu and his two companions on the mission. "I guess I came in the nick of time," she chuckled, teasing the Sabertooth mage and sticking her tongue out at him. "They should be knocked out for a while, so if you want to get going and head down to the dungeon area, I suggest we go now. To be honest, I don't know how much time we have before these two bimbos wake up and notice that we're gone. On top of that, I'm surprised they haven't sounded the alarm on you yet. . . you do know taking this job will mark you as a criminal? Isn't that like a taboo for those Rising Stars that you are? Might leave a bad mark on your reputation and all."

With that being said, Kanix let her head roll around on the joints of her neck, as if she was looking for something specific. A shift of her feet and it was like a spark had ignited in the single blue optic settled on her features, and she turned on her heels again. Leading the way down the corridor, the woman searched for the door that would lead them down into the dungeon. If any luck, nothing would run by them and they wouldn't run into anymore Pergrande army men as they had earlier. Well, she had been lucky enough to say she hadn't run into any, as she had encountered Mashyuu with them first. "Stay on the down-low, stay quiet, and make sure that whatever you do does not draw attention to yourself. This place has to be jam packed with guards, considering the fact that this is a prison for all those who went against Pergrande orders."

Her hands trailed along the walls of the hallway, fingers scraping along the stones, feeling each of their curvature. Doing so allowed for the blind magus to get a feel of her surroundings, to make an image in her head as she moved. No vibrations in the ground meant that no guards were coming, which made her curious to know if there were any down there. With the amount of guards that had been upstairs, perhaps there wasn't a single one down in the dungeons at all. A jingle echoed into the air, breaking Kanix's concentration and as she realized that her fingers had touched keys. Yet, when she listened more and used her senses to feel her surroundings, a doorway wasn't even an option. It was as if the keys were some sort of decoy, like the guards knew members of guilds would come to save their own kind.

"Hey, Mashy, do you ever get that feeling that this place is far more trapped than you think it's going to be?" she inquired. Her hand wrapped around the outlandishly sized key loop, pulling it off its hook and storing it in her deerskin pouch. "I understand that it's just an empty hallway, but I can't help to get the feeling that something's not right here." A tingle ran down her spine, like her instincts were telling her the hallway was not the place to be at the time. However, this one time, she disregarded the feeling, kept the keys, and continued on down the corridor to the dungeons. It had to be in her head; otherwise, what was meant to happen to them in the empty hall if nothing did when she grabbed the key? Just like that, a groaning sound could be heard and from underneath Kanix's feet, the floor was swept away, revealing a trap door.

A scream of terror irrupted from her lips as she slid down the ramp of the trap door that led down into the exact place they needed to be. Her ass landed on the ground with a harsh thump and she let out a groan of pain, moving to rub her butt sorely. "Damn, I wasn't expecting that to happen," she muttered to herself, clambering to her feet and walking forward. However, as she walked forward, she was not entirely aware of what was in her surroundings and rammed into bars. Scrunching her eyebrows together, the woman reached a hand forward and wrapped slender fingers around cell bars. Her arm pulled back, jangling the metal to see how tough it was, and realizing that it didn't budge if at all. "Well, this is wonderful. . . How the hell am I supposed to get out of this when I can't even bend metal at all?"

Kicking her foot forward, the magus sent a blast of fire in the direction of the cell bars, only to have it skim through them unharmed. The bars were made of a type of metal that didn't easily melt at the touch of blazing fire, which concerned her. She didn't know if Mashyuu had fallen down with her either, as it was pretty silent after she had fallen down the hole. Gripping her other hand around another bar, she shook the bars as harshly as she could, resulting in a slight budge. "All right, so they aren't as sturdy as I thought they originally were, so that's a good thing, I just have to figure out what to do." Pulling one of her hands away from the bars, she summoned a small pool of water into her palm and coated it on the bar. After which, the magus changed the temperature of the water until it froze on the bar, the curled her hand into a fist, shattering the metal.

@Mashyuu , 2,189 words , NOTES

Holy fire burns again

the magic circle is all around it, burning like the innocence of love

"Your girl? Is that all you're going to call me by when around other people?" Kanix inquired when she heard Mashyuu murmur his realization. A smirk was upon her lips, however, merely teasing him about what he had said when he first noticed her. She wasn't at all bothered by what he had called her, though she had been taken off guard by those two words. In fact, she had never heard him call her "his girl" in the time that they had been together and that was what threw her off. Most of the time, he had called her by her name, a name which wasn't even her own from the start. . . a stolen name. Perhaps if she ever found out from her sister what her real name had been, she would share it with Mashyuu in due time. For now, she would remain as Kanix Laspor, the woman he had fallen in love with and the mother of his child.

Turning away, her attention was focused back on the bars that were slowly freezing over from the water she spread on them. Her attention was quickly drawn back to Mashyuu when he had explained to Hoseki and Davey who she was exactly. "Mashyuu, please be careful in who you tell the information to," she stated in a stern voice compared to earlier. "I don't need my guild being known by other people for having gone dark; the Magic Council will learn about it and you know it." She was fearful of her guild being found out by the Magic Council again and that was why she had them move to another planet. There, they could settle down and start a new life as a dark guild and work their way back to legal status in time. Never would she let her guild prosper under the status of a darkness when Heero had given the mastery of the guild to her in the hope of keeping it going strong.

Hearing his next words, a frown would appear on her lips for a second, then she would turn around to face him. "You're such a showoff," she stated in a playful manner, pushing against his arm lightly and shoving him away. "I already know your status as an Ace of Sabertooth, and Babe, I also know you're an A-ranked wizard of the guild." The smile returned to her lips and she focused back on freezing the bars while Mashyuu rambled on about his Rising Star status. "Hm. . . I suppose that's too bad, but at least you can start working your way to being one of the Wizard Saints." She started laughing after she had mentioned Wizard Saints, as if a funny thought had been aroused in her head. "Imagine if I was a Sinner and you were a Wizard Saint, what do you think the people of Fiore would think when they found out we were married?"

She stopped her sentence there and went silent, taking a step back and thinking over what she had said to him. "Our daughter's doing fine," she answered him finally, skipping over anymore thought about marriage to him. "I also had a feeling the keys would be fake, but you never know when it comes to keeps like this one." Kanix glanced toward Mashyuu for a second, letting a shiver run down her spine as if a strange thought occurred to her. "The eye? I didn't want to wear it, it hurt too much since the socket isn't used to inorganic material being there. Being on jobs, that tends to get bothersome, but I promise you that I wear it around the guild and at home." Though Mashyuu introduced her to Davey and Hoseki shortly after having asked her where the eye was.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both," she'd quickly greet the two, bowing slightly before straightening her stance. As she did so, Mashyuu would step toward the bars and begin eating them one by one until a large enough space was left. "Why didn't you tell you could do that earlier? That would have been so much easier than me attempting to freeze it." She let out an exasperated sigh, though she was being a bit overdramatic about the ordeal than she should have been. "All right, so now that we're free, I guess we continue on our search for Remy; he's got to be down here somewhere." Without saying another word, the woman would step through the bars and enter the narrow hallway the ran in both directions. Kanix looked both ways, using her ears to listen for any unnatural sounds while also waiting for Mashyuu's word.

However, as she had stepped out of the cell, she would be bombarded by Hoseki inquirying about the injuries on her face. Taken aback by his abrasiveness, she'd step backward and bump into Mashyuu, who scolded Hoseki for asking. "No, no, it's okay, he has a right to ask, just as I have a right to not tell him," she would in turn scold her lover. As she spoke to him though, she would feel him grab her hand and bring it up to his face, asking if she could connect her vision. Right, he doesn't know that my magic has changed since the last time we've seen each other she thought to herself. Heaving a sigh, she'd free her hand from his and only shake her head with a small smile on her face. "I can't connect my vision to yours anymore, Mashyuu, I no longer have that ability after giving up my previous magic."

Mashyuu would slip her necklace back around her neck and she'd raise a hand to lightly touch it in confusion. "Oh, I didn't even know I had dropped it; thank you for not leaving it on the ground, I wouldn't know what I'd do without it." She'd stand on her tippie toes to kiss him on the cheek before falling back to the flats of her feet and turning away. "Is there anywhere you want to meet at all?" she'd inquire when he told her that splitting off would be the best idea. However, by the time she had asked, he had already hopped onto Hoseki's back and headed in the opposite direction. "All right, Davey," she stated in a prepping voice, clapping her hands together and rolling her head on her shoulders, "let's do this." With that being said, the woman would in the opposite direction that Mashyuu had gone, looking for an entrance to a large dungeon or Remy, himself.

@Mashyuu , 3,288 words , NOTES

Holy fire burns again

the magic circle is all around it, burning like the innocence of love

"I'm sorry. . . Was what I said too much?" Kanix inquired, feeling that her bringing up potential marriage was incorrect on her part. If he wasn't ready for that large of a step in their relationship, she wouldn't bring it up again unless he was the one to talk about it. Perhaps he didn't even want to marry her? She was fine with that thought, no one wanted to marry someone who was in ruins. "And I know you got that eye for me as a means of protection, Mashyuu, but I've been blind since I was fourteen. Losing my eye to Sol means nothing to me; I still appreciate the thought, I really do, but I'll be fine without it." She gave Mashyuu a small smile in the hope that he wouldn't take her words too harshly about the gift he had given her. It upset her a little that he wanted her to wear that eye so much, but in truth, she hated being able to see things.

"Oh, so what other secrets are you hiding from me then?" she questioned, a smirk now upon her features as she looked at him. He had fallen into a trap once again, but this time, it wasn't so much a trap in the Blacksteel Keep as it was her own. Mostly, she just wanted to see his reaction and how he would respond to her question rather than an actual answer. However, he was busy eating the bars of the cell, so he probably didn't much care to answer her right away. Wrinkling her nose up in disgust, the woman turned away and stared out into the hallway, wondering what could be down there. The hall went in two different directions as if it just looped around rooms and connected back to itself in the end. Once all bar had been eaten by her boyfriend, she stepped out into the corridor and listened for any strange sounds. It didn't sound like there were any guards around, which was odd since Pergrande was supposed to be full of them.

She decided that while Mashyuu went down the right side of the hall, she would go down the left and look for Remy. Perhaps, she would have better luck in finding the raccoon down this way than whatever her boyfriend was getting into. Stalking down the corridor, the woman would only stop when she heard Mashyuu's voice calling back to her on where they would meet. So, it seemed he had managed to hear the question she had asked him before they had moved too far apart from each other. Meeting back here sounded easy, but she knew, in the long run, that it was likely going to be a tad more difficult. Davey was also with her, which meant she not only had to look out for herself but also had to look out for him. While she had tended to Mashyuu in times of his need, Davey was someone she wasn't all that familiar with after all.

"You know, I don't like being in this castle; I feel like there are guards around every corner and they're going to attack us. What are you going to do when they do that and lock us up like Remy is, only to execute us in the morning just like him?" Davey asked her.

"I'll accept my fate as a wizard then," she answered him back in as a stern of a tone as he was talking to her. "Remy is your friend, is he not? Friends stick together no matter what happens to them, so we're getting Remy back."

Davey let out a huff of air and flapped his winged arms in distress like he didn't like her answer all that much. She didn't much care, though, figuring Davey was just there from Seven in order to return Remy to his home. For all she knew, either of the two animals was that close friends and he hadn't been all that pleased with her answer.

"Well, I don't want to be marked as a Satanic duck and crucified on a standing cross because of your actions," he grumbled.

"You're not going to get crucified for busting out Remy; now, would you shut up about the whole thought being crucified?" Kanix snapped at him. In turn, the magus had closed his beak and stopped muttering obscenities about being captured and executed along with Remy. They would get out of Pergrande before anything bad happened and they would make it out of Pergrande through Iceberg. She had a feeling that the country would be all right with them escaping Pergrande through there and heading back to Seven. Besides, Iceberg was literally that, a nation that was covered in ice and ruled by some sort of tyrannical king with a crown. Considering that king had powers from the crown and its people were afraid to deal with him, they had nothing against wizards.

"Hey, is someone there?" a voice called out into the open, though Kanix wasn't able to discern its direction at the time.

Her single optic fluttered toward Davey as he looked at her, and a sudden realization dawned on the two of them. Remy was definitely down here, and while they didn't quite know where he was, it was likely they would find him soon. However, they didn't want to yell too much, in fear that there were guards around and that they didn't want to handle those men.

"Come on," she whispered to Davey, picking up her pace and rushing down the hallway. "He's gotta be close by if his voice can ring out that loud, but I have a feeling there are going to be guards patrolling the area." When they reached the end of the hallway, Kanix would pause at the other entrance and stop Davey from going any farther. Her head was bent down slightly and she listened intently to the surroundings that were beyond the entrance they were at.

"What do you hear?" Davey inquired, looking up at the blind woman and waiting patiently for her to answer him.

"I hear about. . . four different set of footsteps, unfortunately; so, breaking Remy out of jail is going to be a bit harder than I thought. We can do our best, but with that many outnumbering us, I'm not quite sure how this battle is going to end. So, are you in this with me or are you going to chicken out and make me do all of the hard work because you're scared of being captured?" Kanix blinked her eye and focused onto Davey, frowning a little and expecting for him to want to stay behind.

"No, I'm going in with you; like you said, Remy is a friend and friends stick together no matter what happens," Davey answered her.

This made her proud because it meant Davey was up for the challenge even though he fretted over being captured and executed. Now that everything was said and done, Kanix turned the corner and came face to face with one of the guards near Remy's cell.

"Hey, you can't be here!" the guard shouted, raising their sword and shield, then charging Kanix the second he had.

"Shut up, asshole!" the woman stated, skidding to a halt and raising her hands up, drawing moisture out of the air. Droplets of water surrounded the magus and one by one, the droplets turned from water and into shards of ice. Flicking her wrist, one shard was sent toward the guard, then a volley of them followed after in order to keep him busy. The guard, in the end, had to raise his shield in order to make sure he would not be hit by the salvo of ice shards.

@Mashyuu , 4,589 words , NOTES

Holy fire burns again

the magic circle is all around it, burning like the innocence of love

When the volley of ice spears had ended, the guard lowered his shield and raised his weapon, then charged Kanix with a war cry. Her optic widened and she stepped to the right in order to avoid the blade that was coming straight at her. Manmade wind rushed past her as the guard struck out his sword and missed her by a longshot, causing her to heave a sigh of relief. As quickly as the man had thrust with his blade, the woman reached out with both of her hands, grabbed the extended arm and brought it around his back. She twisted his arm so that the elbow was facing down and the back of his hand was pressed between his shoulder blades. The man cried out in pain, which only caused her to grit her teeth and press his arm harder along his spinal cord. Eventually, he dropped his weapon and using the heel of her left foot, she dug it into his lower back and shoved him away.

From the force of the shove, the man's arm would dislocate his shoulder, leaving it dangling at his side, useless. Kanix picked up the sword where it had dropped at her feet and twirled it in her hand, a smirk playing across her lips. With a crosshatching slash, the woman cut deep into the skin of the guard until the guard remembered he had his shield. Upon the second slashing, the shield had been raised and the weapon clattered into the wooden base of the shield. She growled and with both hands she dug the weapon as deeply as she could into the barrier until it started cracking. When she heard the cracking of the wood, she bent the sword downward, letting it split the shield in two and leave the man defenseless. By now, the guard was whining and mumbling words, as if he was afraid she was going to end up killing him with no remorse.

Kanix was about to impale the man when Davey called out to her in a voice she recognized to be rather angry. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Witch? You're supposed to be saving Remy's life, not murdering guards who are only doing their job! Who the hell raised you with the belief that murder was all right to do? To just randomly slaughter people as you pleased?"

She hesitated in bringing down the weapon upon the innocent guard, her blind optic staring down at him like she could see him. The snarl twitched at the top of her lips like she was realizing what she was doing, then the sound of metal clattering against stone resounded in the air. Heavy breaths and dry swallowing echoed in her ears; in seconds, the guard scrambled to his feet and ran away. Taking a step back, Kanix blinked her single eye and didn't give any excuse toward Davey about what she was doing.

"Look, just forget about it; let's find Remy's cell and break him out, then we can worry about the guards," Davey stated. With that being said, the duck would run off down the hall, skimming the cells in the hope of finding Remy locked away.

Kanix, on the other hand, still stood where she was, staring at the place where the guard had once been like she was fearful of something. Swallowing a lump in her throat, the woman would shake her head and follow after Davey, breathing in deeply. It was a mistake, it wasn't like she was going back to doing what she had formerly done as a dark mage; she was changed. She wouldn't mercilessly kill someone unless there was an actual reason behind why she would need to kill them. Perhaps it was the idea that she was once again a dark mage? That she felt she needed to kill because she was one.

As they rounded a corner, Kanix would come face to face with another guard, only this time, Davey was trapped in his arms. She growled as she recognized the duck's magic power mixing with the guard's, meaning this guard wasn't just a normal human. "Davey, I'm going to have to ask if you trust me," she stated in a voice that was hard as stone from where she stood. "So, do you trust me or not?" Her blind gaze would steadily stare at the guard and the duck in his arms.

"Why the hell would I trust you? You've done nothing more than try to get us killed this entire mission! I'd rather be with Mashyuu right now!" the duck yelled back.

"But do you trust me?" she repeated the question, her voice getting harder with each passing second Davey wasted.

Silence would follow her question, as if Davey wasn't so sure if he wanted to answer her truthfully or not. "YES, I TRUST YOU!"

"That's all I needed to hear," she responded, letting out a growl from her throat and lowering in her stance. Water coated her arms as she spoke, leaking down from the tips of her fingers and running along her forearm until they reached her shoulders. Tentacle-like appendages rippled along her skin, and with a single slash, Kanix let out lunge out at the guard. Since both of his arms were currently preoccupied with holding Davey, the guard wasn't able to defend himself. As a result, he got the backlash of the attack, being struck in the face by the water and forced to release the duck. With her other arm, Kanix lashed out and grabbed Davey with it, bringing the small creature back to her side. "You really need to watch what you're doing because I can't have you going around and getting captured by the guards."

However, the guard was not finished with them and as soon as he recovered, the man sent out a blast of light. Kanix's attention was quickly drawn back to the guard, yet her reaction wasn't fast enough and she was blasted with the magic. Thrown backward, the woman landed on the concrete floor, scraping up her back more and peeling some skin off. She let out a cry of pain when she crashed to the floor, Davey rushing over to her and taking a knee beside her.

"You really need to watch what you're doing," he repeated her words, "we can't have you getting so beat up, you're unable to move. Now, sit still and I'll patch up these wounds for you so that you can get back into battle and get our Remy back."

"No, Davey, I have to finish this battle with the guard or else he's going to take advantage of us at our weakest," Kanix shoved him away and stood up. "I'll be fine."

@Mashyuu , 5,718 words , NOTES

Holy fire burns again

the magic circle is all around it, burning like the innocence of love

Cracking her neck, the woman shifted her stance into a position close to what one would assume as the crouching tiger stance. One leg swept forward, drawing up water from the air, then kicked the water out in front of her as it froze into a large disc. The sharp circular creation spun toward the guard but was easily deflected by one of the man's spells as he cast it. Anger boiled underneath Kanix's veins when she heard the ice shatter into one of the stone walls and she sent another disc. This time around, the disc managed to slice into the skin of the guard, throwing him off balance and fizzling out his spell. She smirked and with another flip and kick of her foot, she sent a third disc flying straight at the magus of a guard. How someone like him had survived this long in Pergrande was strange to her, considering he was able to cast spells.

However, as she was about to send out another attack on the guard, a powerful auric sensation cast over her. She breathed in deeply and halted her actions, waiting for whatever it was that happened to be coming their way. The magical aura rounded a corner, sending shivers down her spine at the intensity of it and waiting to see if it was another guard. No, it couldn't have been a guard considering this was Pergrande; magi were marked as heretics here in this magicless kingdom. Turning around, Kanix was crashed into by Hoseki, who happened to lack the rider she knew he had left with. Taking a step back, shock resounded in her voice as she recognized Mashyuu was not with the dragon.

"Hoseki, where's Mashyuu?" she cried out, trying to sense the magical power of her lover.

"Kanix, you have to go; you have to get out of here," the dragon warned her in an eerily calm voice. "Mashyuu has been captured, and if you don't leave now, you'll be the next one they're after. You're not safe here."

A shiver ran down her spine out of terror, a feeling that she wasn't able to explain as it was the first time she had ever felt it truly. "No!" she wailed out, "I won't leave without Mashyuu; I won't leave him to be taken away and murdered by these men! Where is he at? Hoseki!" Her hands reached forward clamped onto the dragon's shoulder, shaking him as hard as she could. "Why won't you tell me where he is! He needs me! He needs me! He nee-" Her voice, having gone too high of a pitch, cracked from the desperation in it. She cleared her throat, but unfortunately, her wailing had summoned the other two guards that were patrolling the area.

Whirling on the men that had entered the area, the room became a deadly cold temperature and the water droplets froze in the air. The droplets seemingly shifted on their own, all pointing like spears at the men and women with raised weapons in the room. Kanix had a dark aura surrounding her, and as a result, the icicles shot at the guards before they were able to act. Forty of the tiny creations had impaled the three remaining guards, pinning them to the walls or the floor. Davey, terrified by the immense power Kanix had displayed, rushed toward one of the cells and unlocked its door. Remy stepped out of the cell and with Davey's help, went rushing past Kanix and back the way they had come. She was not a happy camper, and the two animals did not want to stick around when she was as angry as she was.

"Get out, Hoseki. . ." she muttered in a dark voice, the room temperature still growing colder as the seconds passed. "Get. . . out."

The dragon, not wanting to test the words of his companion's lover, decided it was best to make like a tree and leave. Kanix now left alone, walked in the opposite direction that the magi and dragon had gone, leaving a visible trail of ice along the ground. Wherever she stepped, the moisture in the air would turn from liquid to solid and clatter to the ground as ice enveloped the entire building. Overhead, a loud screech could be heard, echoing in the nighttime air as Ancalagon swooped around in the sky.

"Ancalagon," she spoke in a tone that was rather quiet for someone to hear beyond the walls of the keep. "Annihilate them." As soon as those words were spoken, lightning began to strike down on the building.

Before long, Kanix had made it back out of the keep and was standing alongside Hoseki, Davey, and Remy. The squad watched as Ancalagon flew over the castle-like structure and threw down bolts of lightning, crumbling pieces of it. Minutes passed by and the bolts never ended, screeching apparent in the air as the giant bird broke the castle. Eventually, the building rumbled and started to crumble underneath the pressure of its own weight until it was nothing but rubble. Ancalagon came swooping back toward his master and settled on the ground behind her, letting out one more screech. His feathers were ruffled and it was quite clear that he wasn't all that happy, likely an extended emotion of his master.

"Hoseki, I'll leave you to finding Mashyuu; Remy and Davey need to be brought back to Seven before it's too late," she stated, clambering onto Ancalagon's back.

She still hadn't taken off when she got onto Ancalagon's back, however, her blue optic gazing in the direction of the building. A shrill cry pierced the silence, followed by a choked wail as Kanix tried to regain her composure over the loss of her boyfriend. Out of anger, she had Ancalagon decimate the castle, not realizing that it would also potentially kill Mashyuu. Her fingers gripped and tore at the feathers on the bird's back, causing him to shake and whimper as she did. Eventually, she buried her face into the black feathers of the Thunderbird, muffling her cries and failure to regain herself. Kanix still had her fingers entangled in the bird's feathers, never once letting them go as she weeped into them. Blood and tears mixed as one yet again, failing to realize that it was possible Mashyuu was still living and breathing beneath the rubble.

@Mashyuu , 6,784 words , NOTES

Holy fire burns again

the magic circle is all around it, burning like the innocence of love

Ancalagon nearly let out a squawk of surprise when Mashyuu had leapt up onto his back and practically attacked his master. However, the bird remained still in respect of what he was doing, simply ruffling his feathers and waiting for what was to happen. Kanix, on the other hand, still had her face buried in his fathers, her shoulders wracked with sorrow at her stupidity. It was only when she felt hands around her waist did her body lock up in fear that she was being kidnapped again. Yet, she was in too feeble of a condition to really care what happened to her and let the hands bring her up and away from the safety of Ancalagon's feathers. Her stout body pressed against Mashyuu's and she felt him kiss her shoulder, then his voice filled the silence. All at once, her crying stopped and she fell silent, listening contentedly to his voice as he assured her nothing was wrong.

After which, he pulled her to the ground, holding her hands in his as he knelt to his knees and began mumbling odd things. She listened to his rambling, but didn't say a word as he finally got to what he was about to ask her and she felt something slip onto her finger. Startled by the cold metal, she withdrew her hand and touched the ring with her pinkie and thumb, twirling it around slightly. Kanix bit her lip and let her gaze steadily stare back at Mashyuu, then her head slowly started to nod at him. As much as she wanted to say something to him, she couldn't find her voice able enough to make a sound. All she could really do was nod in gesture to him and try to prevent herself from crying more than she had previously. However, tears were already streaking her dirtied face and she'd pull Mashyuu up into a hug before letting him go.

Once he was released, the woman would climb back onto Ancalagon's back and grip his feathers more gently. A smile was upon her face as she dug her heels into the bird's side, sending him off into a hurried flight in the sky. The duo would head home on their pets, unfortunately marked as heretics of the nation, but that didn't bother Kanix.

@Mashyuu , 7,169 words , NOTES