Darkened Memories

A week had passed since Ruvel had stepped for the first time onto Divide Island and the country of Tolgalen that laid within it. He looked at everything with genuine fear and curiosity as they had made their way from the docks, trying to take in all the information he was given but it was still overwhelming to the youth who had never seen such grandeur before; well not outside the ceremonial halls but even those where left wanting in comparison. He took note on how everyone had approached and spoken to the one who had managed to get him the medicine he needed and get him out of his home and found himself wondering if he was one of the higher tiers of this organisation. He had forgotten most of what had happened recently due to one reason or another and so had remained quiet so use to being seen and not heard for fear of punishment that he remained that way.

Over the course of the week he was told what the company done and about it's counterpart Black Sails, and during that week he had situated himself to the back of the companies building to sleep only really going into the building to get something to drink and cook a little before taking both back to what had become his normal spot. It was during that week that Ruvel's summons and Cirven spoke on safety measures and things needed for his health. The formula sent to a section of the guild that was kept off the books for reasons no one should know. It was early in the morning and Ruvel was watching the sun raise a sigh escaping his lips "Perhaps today?" he whispered to himself 'You'll gain your mark when he thinks your ready, it's a big change for you.' Amuul consoled his summoner knowing it to be the truth, all Ruvel could do was nod knowing that the younger of the void prince's was right.

Standing Ruvel moved silently into the the large building not looking at anyone or anything his eyes remaining on the floor not wanting to draw attention to himself, but then again he was wearing pure white clothing that one would expect someone in a medical lab, he didn't mind it he was use to wearing such clothing. He had almost finished the new ones he wanted but for now he had for now were resilient. Heading into the kitchen he made a small fruit salad and got a glass of water heading back to his spot sitting setting both to the side, his eyes going to the bedding that he had been given to keep him comfortable at night but didn't understand the reason for it. He was use to sleeping in all kinds of weather without them only being use to it when a blood moon was coming and since one had just passed he knew it would be a few months before the next. For now he just laid back down looking out wondering what the day would bring given the last few weeks it seemed to peaceful given they knew that his home would be after them both now and the crazed scientist and his son where still alive and had plans for them, the youth couldn't help but be worried.

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The devil had been a part of multiple meetings where he just wanted to get away from them and not be a part of them at all. He thought over having his Vice Presidents deal with more of the meetings because of how boring they were and how they were not exactly needing his presence much at all but he knew his secretary, Alisha would be after him for doing that as much as he wanted to. It really did seem like his life was paperwork on top of paperwork at this point but he was able to get out of that even though Alisha came after him for that. It was less like he was the head of the organization and more like he was the signature they needed to do things and that was it.

After finishing up the last meeting with a new successful partnership put in place, he made his way to Alisha's desk where he spoke to her. "You know I hate these meetings, right?" He sighed after speaking. "Yes, but you do well with them. Better than others could. Especially for someone who tries to avoid his work to focus on other things at all costs." She replied back while he grinned at her. "Yeah, yeah. Won't make me like it anymore than I do now by saying that." He started to move away from her desk and head to the back of the building. "Where are you going? Tired of the work life already?" Cirven silently grit his teeth to her comment knowing she was just trying to bother him. "I'm going to see the new addition to our organization that has stowed himself away in the back alone. You should come meet him if you haven't yet. He is a good guy. I know your curiosity has peaked about him." Alisha raised an eyebrow to her boss's comment. She had seen the young man who was brought in by Cirven but had not officially met him. "Sure, but I'm not coming because of my curiosity as much as I'm coming to meet him and be courteous." Cirven grinned about how Alisha tried to hide her intentions and allowed her to come with him.

After a ten-fifteen minute walk through the building, the duo found themselves where Ruvel had placed himself in the building. A small bed among some other things were in the 'room' that Ruvel had taken and made his own. "Hey, Rui." Cirven called out calling out to his friend by using the name he recently heard him be called. "Looks like this place is coming along pretty well. I want you to meet my assistant and probably the best secretary I could ever have, Alisha. She keeps me in check about everything I do which is great when I want it but annoying when I need it." Alisha blushed a bit to Cirven's introduction for her. "He.. Hey! Don't introduce me like that!" She yelled at him and then turned her attention to Ruvel who had food in front of him. "Sorry if we are interrupting anything but I am Alisha Lurian. I help keep this place going almost as much as my boss does here."

After Alisha and Ruvel introduced themselves, Cirven moved closer to Ruvel. "So I protected you and gave you a place to call home over that horrible place you were forced into which means I can fulfill a promise I made to you." The CEO reached out to Ruvel's arm and placed his hand on Ruvel's left wrist, a place he knew he wanted his new gift to be placed. "Welcome to the organization officially. Things will be different from here on out.
Like you being trained to fight better by me and taking jobs for the group, plus helping with our other endeavors." He looked at Alisha who nodded to acknowledge that Ruvel knew about Black Sails now which Cirven would have told Ruvel and the summons about on their way to Tolgalen. "So where should we start?"

WC:

Ruvel sat up as he heard the noise coming his way though it was quiet it was still as plain as day for the youth as he bit his lip pulling his knees to his chest hugging them his eyes closing. He was still frightened to be on this island knowing his home island was still so very close to it, he had no idea what was going on between his summons and Cirven but they had been talking a lot over the short time they had been within the place. He was tempted to make a dagger of light appear within one of his hand but then he remembered that this was Cirven's home and that he would be safe here regardless of what happened off the island, taking a deep breath he readied himself for what was to come around the corner 'Shindara? Amuul?' he called to the twins but he remembered they where still resting up after what Shindara had done for Demi so wa on his own for now.

Sniffing at the air a little he caught a familiar scent though it was almost overpowered by the perfume of a woman but was still there strong enough to distinguish the two. "Cirven?" He asked seeing him looking confused given just how early it was, he thought everything that he had to had likely taken all night and to the youth it made sense. "H-Hi.." he said quietly looking down to his glass of water diverting his gaze which was common in the youth who was wearing what seemed like a perfect set of what he had worn within the facility right down to the numbers and names on his arm in red thread "Y-you don't need to call me Rui if you don't want to Cirven, Demi and the others called me it because the other names where bad." his voice honest on the matter, for all the there would have happily sold him out for additional food or a bit of warmth mattered little to Ruvel he understood why it happened but they where still kind enough to find a word or name to call him that wasn't degrading.

"The bedding and such haven't been used Cirven, I'm not use to having it so it's unlikely it will ever be used. I've been told a store room is being converted for when I'm sick, I will use the bed there when needed." he said sheepishly looking up to the two. Standing he dusted himself off his left hand going to his chest as he lowered his torso a little to Alisha "It is a pleasure to meet you Lady Alisha." he said with a warm tone taking her hand finally in his kissing it before sitting down where he had been, looking at the water once more "It's fine, it's not time yet." he said with a weak smile his hand touching the glass of water but pulled back placing it back on his lap, blinking as Cirven spoke again taking his hand and blinking as he seen the mark on his wrist. He was confused about the colour it had become but was happy that he had it "Th-thank you Cirven." his voice shook as he moved his hand over to it his thumb glancing over it "I'll treasure it..." he said looking up making eye contact with the male for the first time since they met a small smile on his face.

"Different?" he seemed confused by the prospect not fully understanding and it showed in his tone. Hearing training and fighting he shook his head backing away till he could not more because his back was against the wall. "I can't Cirven, don't make me please..." he begged, his body was still hurting from when it was forced into the ground by the gravity of one of the twins and he had forced himself to stand under the same gravity "J-jobs I can do, and the other things I can try but I won't be very good at." he already felt like he was making a fool of himself and the day had just begun, his eyes going to the horizon for a moment before he picked up the glass taking a small sip setting it down once more. 'You need to train kid.' he heard the warrior dragon 'I'm not built for that Barthenz' he sent back and was met with a huff "Barthenz agrees with you but..." he he held one of his arm still covered in bandages from what the chair had done "I've seen and felt to much pain, I don't want to be the one causing it to others." to the youth the truth but knew he was to do as he was told, his eyes looking away as he nodded a little.

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Total word count: 1'361

Alisha did not know exactly how to react to the young man's kissing of her hand and stood in silence as Cirven gave him his guild mark. She had never met anyone who would do such and made her feel a lot more special than any other person had through doing that. "Uhh.. Yeah.. It was nice meeting you but I need to get going. Hope to see you more around the building, Rui." She spoke out quickly and then quickly ran off not knowing exactly how to take being around either of the men. Both made her head spin for different reasons that now had her mind rushing from thought to thought as she made her way back to her desk.

Cirven watched as the blonde haired woman as she left the two of them. "I swear she is weird sometimes. Any ways," He put his focus back onto Ruvel who had spoke out about his training and not wanting to hurt anyone like the pain he had seen others in. "I understand you don't want to hurt anyone like you have seen but this world is not that kind to you. With the life you have there will be people out to get you and you will not always be able to just sit and let others fight for you. Plus, your job here will require you to be strong so that you can help others when needed. This world is based too much on fighting and its either you get strong enough to protect yourself or end up being protected and possibly a burden to others." Cirven then reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a lacrima that he placed near the wall. He tapped the top of the lacrima and the wall suddenly transformed into a door. "I have discussed it with the others about the contract we have for you and they agreed that you needed to become stronger in order to protect yourself more. They might not always be an option for you, especially with they requirements for summoning them. The other thing is I want to help you learn how to use that power you had at that twisted facility." He opened the door the lacrima had produced and revealed an open white room that only had a small house-like area in it. "This is the void room. It is its own pocket dimension where I train. The room repairs itself from damage and does not affect others unless they are in it so we can do whatever we want here to train. Don't worry though. I will go slow with you on things. You will watch Barthenz and I fight and from that gain insight into how you should be moving during a fight with others. We will teach you both lethal and non-lethal techniques to dealing with your enemies." Cirven walked into the Void Room and spoke with his back turned to Ruvel. "If you agree and are fine with training then come into the room but either way it is time for me to train myself so I stay sharp. Just know, if you don't come into this room now that there will be another time that you will need to unless you want to end up being a burden to all those around you." He stood just inside the door and waited for a few minutes before he went deeper into the room.

WC:

Ruvel listened to Alisha smiling standing once more kissing her hand before she left "You'll know where to find me otherwise Lady Alisha." he said with a charming tone watching as she left them, sitting once more looking to the elder male as he commented about how the woman was weird He couldn't comment one way or the other having only met her and briefly at that. Then a thought occurred to him "Cirven, wouldn't we be considered weird if they knew we where test subjects... I.. I mean..." he looked away bringing his knees to his chest shaking, he may not really know to much of the outside the twisted place he had called home for as long as he could clearly remember but he was sure that their treatment would be considered far from normal by any who found out. He found that he couldn't voice what they were or the treatment that they had received because of it, it was still a raw open wound on the youth that would likely never fully close let alone heal when it came to the subject.

He listened as he was told that the world wasn't so kind as to let one like him live the life they so deserved after living the life he had, this made him close his eyes not wanting to listen anymore currently wishing that he was just put out of the misery that was living but then what type of person would he be if he managed to survive hell twice only to take the easy way out? "I don't want to hurt people Cirven, I don't want to be hurt anymore either." he whispered looking down to the ground knowing what he was saying made sense, they where wanted by an insane scientist and his former home just thinking about that made him shake uncontrollably. Hearing his next comment made him look up quickly it was more than a slap upside the head "I didn't ask to have summon magic! I didn't ask to be born! Especially not like how I am!" tears fell from his eyes he knew he was weak and that his body was fragile, he felt like a failure as it was and this wasn't helping him feel any better about himself or the situation.

He finished listening to the other his head turning away his body couldn't get physically stronger he knew that, they had tried a multitude of ways inside the facility and all that happened was he got quicker and more acrobatic. 'Strength comes in more ways than one Ruvel, it's not always physical. You've proven it twice already, every breath and change you make keeps proving your strength.' Seiyuki sent to him he looked down taking in what the snow elf maiden had said to him 'For every time someone is having to make sure you are safe, it's putting them and others in danger... more so because you have the power to protect yourselves and where it may take us time to get to you, you'll always have us.' Neru spoke calmly he understood what everyone was saying but he was frightened and just wanted to not hurt or be hurt.

Hearing it was discussed between Cirven and his summons even that the contract between them was brought into it made the youth flinch knowing that it was now iron clad, but couldn't believe that the healers would have agreed with everyone else given they believed he had been through enough. 'You all agreed?' he enquired to them all waiting for a reply, he still despised them all for taking him back home and this was just adding to that hatred towards those he was suppose to depend on 'We did little brother, we know you are gentle but the world isn't and you could get seriously harmed.' Maera spoke before Barthenz could knowing if anything came out of his mouth it would just make a bad situation worse. "Only some of them have special requirements." he explained looking at his hand seeing right through the flawless illusion of perfect skin to the truth that laid below from the summoning of Barthenz and Ordhabbi.

Hearing the next statement made Ruvel blink in confusion which was written all over his face "What power at home?" he genuinely seemed baffled and that was because he couldn't remember anything after Demi's death, he had snapped in that instant and became someone or something different but when it was out of his system it seemed to have went back into hiding leaving no trace on the others mind. He watched the other create a door on the wall near him from a lacrima unsure what to make of the matter "Void room..." he repeated moving so he could see inside taking note of how it looked and that there was only a small house in an other wise sea of white 'Way ta go Sparky!' Is all that could be heard by Ruvel from Barthenz "Barthenz shh.. I don't know about it.." he whispered 'To bad kid, we've acted on your behalf you are gonna train it's that simple.' he said back before Ruvel could do anything it felt like he had been pushed in by an unseen force but he knew that wasn't the case it was an over zealous summon. Starting to sit up he looked to Cirven "If I need to do this I don't want to use lethal force, don't teach it to me." he said simply, he would refuse to learn it making this already difficult endeavour harder on both parties. He couldn't help but focus on that one word that Cirven had used a few times now, but little did the elder male know he already felt like a burden to him and to his summons.

Word Count: 974
Total Word Count: 2'335

Months passed and the mentor and the mentee had multiple training sessions that were aimed to show the younger of the two to use his inherit physical speed and abilities to fight against his opponents and quickly overwhelm them with attacks to defeat them. This was completely something for when it would be needed to be done but Cirven wanted to make sure Ruvel was ready for anything and everything when he was fighting. This meant that Ruvel had to find a way to wield weapons as well as learn to fight with his own body as well. The training at this point was more for Ruvel but that did not mean that it was only meant for Ruvel alone. He also had to know exactly how to fight with each of his summons to the best of their capabilities together. He could not lag behind them and be a burden to them as they were fighting because that would just end with the summon he had out being forced to help him and hampering their efficiency in battle. He had trained countless times now with each of his summons in their movements together but they had never fought against a live enemy to truly test their skills together. Cirven wanted to change that and allow Ruvel to gain some much needed experience against a strong opponent; the CEO himself.

Cirven barely slept at all the night before his plans could happen due to the memories that swarmed his head at night so he ended up doing one of his nightly hobbies which had been hunting with Zinnath in the forest/jungle area of Tolgalen, near the West Fiore Trading Company Headquarters. As the duo of dragon and devil made their way through the tree covered area, Cirven's mind was flooded with thoughts of his sister. She was a light in a tunnel of darkness to him but that light was one that he ended up putting out himself. He wasn't himself when it happened but he could remember it so vividly now ever since he gained the power to control his Thunder God Slayer magic that he used to kill her. Even if it was accidental, he never could forgive himself for doing it. The thought of someone else crossed his mind as he thought about his sister. Someone else that he had strong feelings for during a time where he was slowly slipping into being someone else. The girl who was always there for him after he returned from one of his 'assignments' in order to keep his sister alive. Her name rang through his head over and over again until he finally spoke it out loud. "Korvin.." A single tear from his face as the thoughts all collided inside of his head. He had held himself back from thinking about what he had done to her but it had suddenly resurfaced as all of his thoughts came together. "Zinny." He spoke to his partner who quickly responded and seemed concerned about him. "Let's split up. I will go this way and you go that way. Meet back here in a little while, okay?" The serpent dragon nodded lightly after hesitating slightly then left Cirven to go to the other side of the area.

The devil made his way through the trees while his mind was still running over what he had done in his past. He had not only had taken his sister from the world but he took someone who even in his darkest times was able to find a way to care about him and help him stay himself. Without her he would have fallen deeper and deeper until he completely lost everything and actually was just a killing machine for Cor Torva to use any way they saw fit. Thoughts of Korvan and him sitting together and talking crossed his mind and then the last times he say her flashed over his eyes. More tears fell from his eyes but this time they continued to fall. "I...
I... What.. Am I?" Purple electricity erupted out around his body as his thoughts raged through his mind.

A sudden screech of a creature came from near the devil and a giant lizard-like beast with wings appeared from out of the trees, splitting them in half in its charge towards Cirven who only looked at it with a serious glare. He did not flinch at the entrance the creature gave and instead turned to it slowly. "Thank you for your sacrifice. The thoughts were getting to be a bit too much again." The beast let out another screech and reached its head down in an attempt to bite a chunk out of the devil but a quick slash from the devil's hand prevented that and sent its head reeling backwards. Cirven then quickly flew into the air and grabbed the beast's face while releasing a massive amount of purple electricity that ran across the beast's body. The beast let out a pain filled screech but managed to get out of Cirven's grasp. It then reeled its head back and released a stream of fire in an attempt to scorch the CEO and Captain but the devil flew up into the air quickly where he dodged the attack and released his own blast from his mouth that covered the beast and much of the area in front of him in purple electricity causing a loud crackling noise to echo across the island as well as destroying the land where it hit. "I went overboard..." He spoke out as he saw the damage he had caused and then flew down to retrieve the beast he had just scorched and killed with his attack. He later would find Zinnath and give her the beast to eat before heading back to his room to rest as much as he could.

The next day, Cirven stood in the Void Room with Ruvel with purple electricity sparking over his body. "Rui, tell Shin to come out. I want you and him to fight me as if your life depended on it. Tell him to not worry about what memories he pulls out. This will be a test for myself as much as it will be for you." Cirven had figured out that Shindara was probably the best way he could get over the thoughts that haunted him and because of that he wanted to fight against both Ruvel and him. The training would have to help him with finding peace against the thoughts. He could not go on being haunted by them like he had been.

WC:

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months, new rules where gave to the youth so he would be safe while on the company grounds and so he would be able to keep in touch when off the company grounds; he was shown his bedroom after it had been changed and told that only Cirven himself would be permitted near it when Ruvel was using it for his safety when ill and unable to do anything to protect himself. One thing that was set in stone was training and how it would happen daily, from the day it was decided the youth hated the idea, and fought with his summons about it on a daily basis before the training began in the hopes they would ask for it to stop. Something inside him told him it was never going to happen but he at least had to try, he disliked it sure he was getting faster but everything else remained the same in regards to his strength and frailty.

The training did however help him get a stronger bond with some of his summons and resent others more than he already did due to the vast amounts of abuse that he was given, in a place that Cirven couldn't hear and that was through the bond they had. Barthenz on the other hand was one of the few that was outwardly verbal on the youth's flaws making him feeling even worse, every day he made it to around an hour to an hour and a half before his body wanted to give up on itself due to exhaustion but the warrior summon insisted that he continued and he did but it had adverse reactions on the youth that he kept hidden even from his summons. Some of the summons refused to take part in the training plainly because of what their skill set was or their own personal beliefs, Ruvel thought that was unfair given they could opt out of doing it while he was forced but kept it to himself after the first argument knocked him out for over fourteen hours due to a mass of energy building up.

He knew the elder male would prefer for him to stay inside where it was safer, but then he also had see how Ruvel had been treated so knew that he was more comfortable where he had placed himself and would leave him be at least for the moment knowing to many changes at once would make him more resilient to things than he already was being. During the evening in question Ruvel had been fast asleep curled on his left side, he used his arm as head support but made sure that his mark was always the last thing that he would see as he rested and the first thing he seen when he first awoke. It was how he reminded himself that he was safe and protected from his past but even then he had doubts that they would allow him such a feeling for to long before trying to hunt him down.

It was the middle of the night when he heard the distant echo of Zinny's screech making the youth sit up abruptly in a cold sweat screaming out the vivid nightmare he was having, made all that much worse by the noise. He dropped back laying flat looking at the lip of building that protected him from the rain for the rest of the evening unable to get back to sleep haunted by the nightmare that happened that night. When morning came he was exhausted, but went through the morning routine of taking care of himself and the swallows that had taken up nesting on the bedding he didn't use. Looking after them made him feel more at ease but before long it was that time of the day again and he found himself pushed into the void room by Barthenz showing he had no option but to deal with it. He was still tired from the lack of sleep and on hearing he wanted the training summon that day to be Shindara he couldn't help but blink knowing that would be a bad idea, it never turned out well given his talents.

"Cirven, Shindara doesn't come out of my shadow he's a non combatant in this realm besides last time it didn't turn out well." he said concerned about what the elder male was wanting, Shindara who was one of the constants watching from the shadows so to speak knew that there was much more going on than what his summoner could see. 'It's fine our summoner, please comply with his wishes.' the elder of the two void princes, knowing he was out numbered he nodded wondering what was going on 'Shindara' he thought knowing it would call the summon to his shadow making it slightly darker the elder male would know by now that it meant someone was there. "Done." he said simply unsure how to fight with the twins as they used illusion and it showed on the youth's face. 'Use his memories, I need not see it's not my place.' he sent to the summon who quietly nodded doing as was requested of him, normally he would be met with some resistance from his summoners teacher but he knew that the elder male was struggling within himself which meant there was little to no resistance... at least for now

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Total Word Count: 3'243

Cirven had multiple sparks of purple electricity swirling around his body and they started to intensify. "Rui, I need you to dodge my next series of attacks. I know you can do it." The devil did not wait at all for a response from his mentee and rushed towards him with two knives in his hands while another four were floating around him. The charging devil would be intimidating to Ruvel but Cirven had trained him for all this time and had gotten his reflexes to be close to on par with his own at times. All he needed to do was get Ruvel to dodge the attacks himself without guidance. The knife in Cirven's right hand cut through the air aiming at Ruvel's torso, then the other knife moved through the air to hit his shoulder, another knife flew through the air aiming at his face, then another came down aiming at his thigh, another flew to stab at his right forearm, and then another came down to stab into Ruvel's foot. Cirven did this barrage of attacks and if any of them were about to hit Cirven would stop just before to show his student that he was too slow but then he would proceed to the next attack. Cirven gave up some space for Ruvel and spoke out to him. "Have him attack me as I do the same series of attacks again." He then rushed in close to Ruvel again and attempted the same barrage of attacks but this time there was thoughts being pulled into his mind as he did so.

The thoughts were of Aayla, Korvin and his mother and the looks on their dead faces after he had killed them. He was showing signs of the thoughts affecting him but still did the series of attacks until the fourth attack where he dropped the knife in his left hand and grabbed at his face while breathing heavily. He jumped back away from Ruvel to get distance between them because he didn't know what could happen next. "Tell him that is enough for now. I- Ugh!" He dropped to one knee as he gripped over his eye. Something felt different about the situation. Something felt as if it was burning into his eye as the thoughts ran rampant through his mind. "Shin, stop! STOP!" He yelled out as his mind continued to be tormented by the thoughts but the thoughts were now out of Shindara's control. He had stopped upon hearing Cirven ask for it to be stopped the first time but the thoughts seemed to get only worse with the pain in his left eye. Cirven then dropped the knife in his right hand and grabbed at his other eye too as he started to feel the pain there also. "Ah! What is.. Going..On!?" He spoke through the pain he was feeling.

A multicolored portal appeared just behind Cirven and a woman's voice spoke from out of it. "They said this would be the best way to affect you with this thing but I didn't think after all these years that it would be this easy to trigger it again." Cirven dropped to the ground still clutching his face as the pain worsened for him. "That... Vo-... Kor.." He barely was able to get out a sentence as multiple portals appeared over his body and then a barrage of swords burst out from them stabbed through his torso and pinned him to the ground. He let out a gasp of pain and moved his hands from his face showing that the usual blue and red colors they had usually had suddenly changed to a dull lifeless color. More swords came out from the portals and pinned his arms and legs to the ground. A woman came out of the first portal that appeared and walked out of it holding some sort of device in her hand. "This is the last of it's kind that will affect you, you know? I had to make sure it worked and that I have you properly restrained for what comes next." The woman's red eyes looked towards Ruvel who had only been able to watch in the short time that everything happened. She wore a sleeveless shirt with a sleeveless short jacket over it with matching pants and a belt. On her upper right arm was an insignia showing that she was part of a guild but it was not one that Ruvel would be able to recognize.

"Training is over if you couldn't tell. I'm going to be taking your teacher here before things get too crazy. What comes next might not be the easiest thing to contain. I bet you want to stop me, right?" A grin formed over her face. "I want you to try to at least because I need a warm up. The whole surprising Cirven like that was not how I wanted to do it but this entire process would have taken much longer than I would have wanted otherwise. You though, won't take that much time. So what do you say? Here to stop me or will you run away scared?" She stared at Ruvel as she waited for him to reply.

WC:

Ruvel listened to what Cirven wanted of him, he hated this exercise it was the one that he had to do on a daily basis the way the blows came out was always different and he had yet to manage to dodge more than three and that was on a good day. He at current was tired from waking up so early due to Zinny's screech within the jungled forest near the company and was unable to get back to sleep for fear he would be attacked as stupid as it was Crescent Island wasn't that far away after all. "Okay Cirv-" he was cut off as his mentor dashed towards him with such a quick pace he almost fell over, he wanted to try for four dodges today he didn't think he'd manage to dodge more than one at current but he knew he would have to try because if this was anything more than training then he would likely be dead and so would anything he was trying to protect. As the first knife strike aimed for his torso he managed to back flip away from his tutor though almost lost his footing he manage to balance himself, as the second blow aimed for his shoulder he moved his arms forward with all the might he had trying to push it away from him it did cut his clothing a little but it would pass as a dodge as it would have never touched his skin, the third was a little more difficult as he didn't see it coming given it wasn't a strike that had ever came into this formation but leaned backwards allowing it to slice through the air. Doing that however left him open as he lost sight of the devil's hands, 'Next three movements are for your thigh, your forearm and your foot our summoner.' Ruvel nodded smirking as he allowed himself to fall to the ground rolling to the right to dodge the stab meant for his thigh, to prevent the hit to his arm he brought up his foot pushing the arm back before he jamp back onto his feet running and sliding between the others legs kicking at his back.

When the set was done he sat up the bases of his feet touching one another as he panted a little, knowing that while he was dealing with the onslaught of attacks Shindara was attacking the man's mind. He hated using the twin's abilities as it was but on someone he respected and cared for made things that much worse. Jumping up he nodded knowing if he was sat he wouldn't be given any quarter. As the first attack was coming forward he was getting ready to dodge but stopped seeing that something was not just wrong but seriously wrong "C-Cirven!" he called out dashing forward not caring if he got hit by the knife "Shidara, stop... it's hurting him..." he called to his summon as he tried to comfort him 'It is not me my summoner, I may have opened the door but someone else is the cause of this, I am attempting to cancel them but it'll take time given I am still recovering.' he sent to Ruvel who nodded. "Do what you can." he whispered to the summon wondering what could be doing this given the void room was meant to be secure.

He took each of the hits crying out tears falling the glistening blood being soaked in by his clothing but he didn't care he was more concerned about what was going on with Cirven. "It's not Shindara, someone else... someone else is..." his voice showed he was frightened he didn't understand what was going on. Seeing the portals his eyes opened wide but he stood where he was trying to protect his hurting big brother and the perceived thread. He then heard a females voice not knowing how they managed to get within "W-who are you?" he asked his voice shaking, he should have known that things where going to smoothly for them and that the other shoe was going to drop. "What do you want?!" he demanded he had no idea what he could do given when they where in training he was always instructed only to use the summon or summons that where asked of him but he guessed training had ended and something darker was about to begin.

"CIRVEN!" he called out seeing the portals over his body and what happened next he moved to grab one of the swords trying to pull it out knowing that his healing powers would take over and help him recover quickly like it had back at the Cor Torva guild ruins. 'More are coming our summoner dodge or you will be pinned too.' Shindara warned making Ruvel jump back just as the other swords pinned the elder males limbs to the floor dashing forward once more to try and remove them but he wasn't strong enough to even move one a little. "Shindara, help me..." he begged but he was met with silence for now. Now seeing a woman coming out of one of the portals he placed himself between Cirven and the unknown presence his eyes looking at the object in her hand trying to study it the best he could but there was no way for him to do such a thing without being closer and given he didn't know her capabilities he thought that would just be a stupid move on his part.

"I kinda guessed my lessons had come to an end the moment Cirven started feeling pain in his head." he said coldly, he wasn't the strongest but he was loyal to the man and would do what he could to protect him. On hearing her question he nodded "Y-yes, I want you to stop..." his eyes moving to the side submissively though now he took note of how she looked and the marking that was on her arm, he needed to stop her but had no idea how at the current moment. "If I can survive Barthenz and my big brothers training and going through hell twice... I can survive you too." he said his eyes never made contact with hers "Cirven isn't just my teacher or my guild master... he's my family and family doesn't abandon one another because they're scared!" he called out now looking at her fully "I won't bend, I won't bow and I will never run from people like you!" he was petrified but he didn't show it but then what she had said made him worry "What do you mean that what comes next won't be the easiest to contain?" he asked wondering if she would answer him

Word Count: 1'125
Total Word Count: 4'368

"Be careful about what you call him." Her eyes glared at Ruvel. "He might be your teacher and the leader of this organization now but getting closer to him is like a curse. Those who get close to him are destined to have short comings. I wonder if you can really deal with that. Let me test you..." The blonde woman spoke out as a portal appeared next to her and a sword came out of it. She grabbed the sword and dashed towards Ruvel cutting through the air towards him multiple times while not caring if he would live or die from each stroke. All she cared about was showing him what it was like to fight against her. To fight against someone who successfully took down his brother. "Don't fret over what is going to happen to him. What you should be worrying about is living through this and fighting me because unlike some teacher I will not hold back." She spoke out loud as she continued her attacks filled with slashes towards the younger man.

Back with Cirven, he could not move as his body felt different. It was as if he was losing control of himself because he was not able to move but he could feel himself moving slightly. "Am I dying?" He thought inside of his own head as he could not think of any other answers to what was going on or how to get out of it. "Dying?" A voice that Cirven felt like he had heard before spoke into his mind and then broke into laughter. "Maybe you are dying but this is a rebirth for me. A rebirth that I plan to erase you completely." The person continued to laugh in his mind and Cirven tried to speak but he couldn't. It wasn't as if his voice could not be heard or that he couldn't talk. His voice wasn't coming out at all. He tried to scream out but all he could see was a version of his self with white hair and looking more demonic along with orange eyes that continued to laugh at him.

The multiple swords that had been stabbed into Cirven suddenly started to rattle as the woman cut towards Ruvel another time. She jumped back to look at the scene that was unfolding near them. "This device worked much quicker than I thought it would. Looks like you will get to see the birth of a devil, Ruvel." The woman spoke out the name of the man she had been fighting which was thought that she did not know him or his name. She stared at the swords suddenly being pulled out from Cirven's body by what looked like by some ghost hand, one by one as a purple aura engulfed the man's body.

After each of the blades were pulled out of the man's body he stood up and let a smile form over his face and with a new look. His hair had changed to a white color, his ears were now on top of his head like a wolf's, his eyes were orange and his hands were clawed like a demon's. "It has been a bit too long now hasn't it?" A darker tone came out of Cirven's mouth. He then put a hand over the side of his neck and rolled his head around a few times causing the sounds of cracking to sound out. "Did you do this for me, blondy?" He eyed her over. "I thought he killed you but looks and smells like you had a bit of a transformation, huh? Korvin was your name, right?" In the blink of an eye it seemed the new Cirven disappeared and reappeared near the woman holding the device she had that triggered the appearance of this new Cirven. "This is what helped bring me back, huh?" He let go of the device and then used his claws to cut through it multiple times. "Just so they can't get rid of me using this thing. I do have some memories where I was put back as soon as I was brought out. That was something that wasn't my cup of tea at all." A grin stayed formed on his face as he spoke and did everything. "We didn't want you to go back this time. We are a new organization that wanted your help in finding a relic." The devil Cirven chuckled. "You mean that there is a new organization now that he has destroyed the last one? Sounds like this could be fun. Before we talk about that though."

The orange-eyed man took his focus off the woman and turned it onto Ruvel who he disappeared to in a flash and reappeared in front of. "He treasures you, you know? He sees you as some sort of brother. Here, I'll show you how people he cares for end up." A twisted grin came over his face as he spoke his last words. "Call me the Devil Jester or DJ for short or even call me the Laughing Reaper." A laugh broke out from the man as his arm plunged forward and shot through Ruvel's body and protruded out from his back causing the boy to feel the pain of having an arm stabbed straight through his body while all he could face was the twisted smile of the Devil Jester in front of him when in reality Ruvel was placed into a illusory existence where he was unconscious and seeing whatever the Devil Jester wanted him to. "We are taking this kid with us. Be careful with him. If he is hurt or worse it might trigger him to gain control and drive us into a completely different type of devil. Lead the way, portal lady. I do so love dimensional travel!" He spoke out as he lifted up Ruvel and carried him out.

In the illusion that Ruvel was now placed in he was brought to a well lit room where a blue haired small boy sat on a bed with nothing else around him. There were books placed on a counter and some toys placed around the room but the boy was not using any of them. He sat with his back turned to Ruvel and was sniffling. "I..I.. A failure.. I can't.. Do it! I can't do it!" The small boy spoke out muffled between his sniffles.

WC:

Hearing what the woman said he couldn't help but glare back at her "He is my family and nothing someone like you says or does to me will every change that! I've been through hell... nothing you can do to me could be worse than that!" his voice was cold, he was loyal to Cirven and would go against his own wants and peaceful nature to keep him safe. "You call it a curse, then you obviously don't know him as well as you do, because having him as family is a blessing to me!" his thumb went over his guild mark, he was no longer alone. He was protected, cared for and even felt loved for the first time since he could remember "I won't abandon him, not while I still draw breath!" for the first time since the two would have met, the youth's voice would hold absolute conviction in every word he spoke; he wasn't going back down.

"Come what may..." he spoke keeping his eyes on the woman as a portal opened. 'Keep calm kid, and trust your training.' he heard his summon speak to him "Barthenz, will you please shut up... this is gonna be hard enough for me without you lot blathering." he said his eyes going wide as the woman rushed towards him quickly parrying to the side preventing the first blow 'She wasn't kidding when she said she wouldn't hold back... luckily even holding back the Cirven and Barthenz training me together is far harder.' he thought to himself as he counted his blessing managing to deflect the next three moves, while dodging the three that came after but he was getting tired and fast normally this pace was only kept up for a short time before moving onto something else, and then coming back to it for a bit more but it had been at this pace since training had started that day. "If you want to hit me, you're gonna have to do better miss... since right now you're attacking like when Cirven is holding back with me." he commented a smirk on his face, yeah he was getting tired but facts where facts this woman was slow in comparison to what he was use to.

Shin who had been keeping himself quiet and following the order to find out what was going on seen the conversation going on within Cirven's mind and knew that it was anything but good for either of them. He remained quiet not wishing for his presence to be detected at least for now because he had a feeling that like before his summoner would be limited on just how many he would be able to rely on. He also had no idea just how practised he was in his new abilities and didn't really want him falling sick, right now it couldn't be afforded as there was only one dose ever kept in the void room just in case of issues arising during training which had happened a few times. The second voice that he heard, he could tell it was Cirven and checked through his memories once more to see exactly if he could figure out what that voice was and why it seemed so familiar, he found it during tasks that almost caused the devil to lose himself.

'Brother, we have an issue...' he sent to Amuul over a private link 'What's new?' was the response he got back 'Brother, this isn't the time for this our summoner is in a lot of danger and it's from teacher.' he sent to his twin whom only chuckled thinking it was his brother being over dramatic 'It's training dear brother he would never do any actual harm to him.' he sent back not knowing what was going on 'Brother... that would be true if it was teacher who was in control...' he sent back making Amuul silent for a moment 'Explain...' he sent back 'A woman ended up getting into the training hall, she had something... it's bringing Reaper forth.' he explained 'Get our summoner out of there... he can't see that side of him, he's not ready' Amuul's voice was concerned 'I'm already aware of that but I'm limited on what I can do because of what he wants me to do and my protections not being fully in place yet and if you arrive without summoning you can do much because you'd use up to much energy...' as much as they both hated it they knew they where up a creak without a paddle 'Return home, your protections need only one more moon and you'll be finn, we need to have faith our summoner is strong enough and that teacher can prevent Reaper from doing anything to bad.' he had no faith in his words and Shindara knew it but remained quiet fading leaving his summoner on his own for now.

Ruvel had managed to avoid all strikes that had come towards him though his clothing was shredded in placed from some very close calls. Seeing her jump back as the swords rattled he smiled thinking that Cirven was fighting what had done to him but that was short lived hearing what she said "The birth of a devil?" he seemed confused "Cirven has always been a devil, so that statement is obsolete. W-wait h-how do you know what I'm called?" that last part scared him given he had only spoken to perhaps four or five people since joining the company so he and his name weren't well known things. Seeing how Cirven looked he couldn't help take a step back "C.. Cirven, a-are you alright? Y-you look different." he stuttered unable to take his eyes off the other and their new appearance, but hearing the darkened and cold tone of his words he couldn't help but shudder not liking it one bit, his eyes going to the woman as he heard a name "Korvin?" he couldn't remember hearing the name before and thought it may have something to do with Cirven's past later confirmed with how Cirven had said it had been a while and spoke of transformations.

He then tried to get to the device to try figure out what to do with it to help Cirven but he was to slow in comparison and before he could blink he seen it being smashed 'What's going on? I.. I don't understand... who is this woman? What's going on with Cirven?' he held his head shaking it a little trying to make sense of everything but it was hard without the information. Seeing a set of shoes he slowly lifted his head seeing a set of orange eyes looking back at him "C-Cirven..." he whispered trying to take a step back "you're my elder brother, I care for you..." he said gently no lie or deception heard or seen from him "I'm loyal to you... come what may..." he said looking the other straight in the eye. His eyes widened as he was struck tears falling from his eyes, being that the other was so close there was no way he could have deflected the strike.

Falling forward his vision diming as he heard the other introduce himself as someone else, his eyes looked to him once more weakly as to ask him what he had done for the betrayal that had happened to him by the one whom he trusted the most within the world. It all turned black unaware of what had truly happened he shook now within his new world. "A.. am I dead?" he whispered checking over his body, seeing no severe injury but taking note that his clothing was still wrecked "Why did he betray me?" he asked tapping his head hoping to wake his summons up so they might help him but he was met with silence, he stopped looking up hearing a voice before he looked around the room seeing the toys and books before seeing the boy himself and walked over to him "You can't do what? Perhaps I can help and we can figure it out together?" he said hoping it wasn't reading because then they really would have an issue.

Word Count: 1'369
Total Word Count: 5'737

"I.. Can't... Do it... It hurts..." The blue haired boy spoke out again through his sniffles. "But I try! I try hard! Look!" The boy turned around and showed Ruvel his hands or what was left of them. His fingers were all missing and covered in bandages. The sight would cause most people to jump back in terror but the little boy was different from others. "I just want to.. Make them happy... But I can't make them come back like they said it should." The boy came off of the bed he was on using his feet to pull him across the bed and to the edge as he stared at Ruvel curiously. "Wait. Who you? They will be mad if they find you in here and not in your own room. They don't like us to have friends." Footsteps could be heard from outside the room's door causing the small boy to get nervous. "Hide before they come in!" The boy tried pushing Ruvel into the closet near him and shut the door once Ruvel was inside.

"Who were you talking to, Trase??" A woman's voice could be heard on the other side of the closet door. "No one, mommy. I was just talking to myself about how my hands won't come back." The boy spoke and then started to cry again. "Why won't they come back, mommy? I tried so hard and thought about them coming back like I was told to do but all the big man did was take more of my fingers. It hurts..." If Cirven was able to look through the door being cracked or something he would see the woman walk up to the small child and hug him. "It is okay, my little azure prince." The sniffling and crying stopped as the woman hugged him and consoled him. Two military uniformed men moved through the room looking around it for something. They looked under the bed and each corner until they stood in front of the closet and swung the door open where they found Ruvel. "Mistress Salindra! Who is this man?" One of the guards called out and the woman let go of the boy so that she could look at the person inside of the closet. "Trase. Who is this? How did they get here?" The woman questioned her son. "I don't know! He was here when I woke up from my nap! Don't hurt me! I don't know!" The boy yelled out and the woman turned to him and picked him up with a warm smile on his face. "It's okay, my little Cirven." The woman kissed his forehead and picked him up. "Mommy, you know I like that name because you came up with it for me. Call me it more!" The woman smiled and then signaled the men to grab Ruvel from out of the closet and restrain him as she continued to call the boy Cirven over and over. "Come on, little Cirven. It is time for us to continue your training. You will make mommy proud, right?" The young Cirven nodded to his mother as they went out of the room with her carrying him. Ruvel was held and restrained by some anti-magic shackles over his wrists and taken out of the room where he was forced to follow Salindra as she held Cirven and played with him. They went into a room and the guards and Ruvel followed. A man stood in the room with a table covered by a white sheet with a single chair with straps in the room. "Go ahead and get into the chair, Cirven." The boy moved towards the chair reluctantly. "Don't worry. You will get to play with mommy more after this, kay?" The boy looked towards his mother fearfully but seemed to be forcing himself into the chair where the man strapped him in. The man then stood close to Salindra and spoke to her. "Mistress. We know you said you needed to make him happy to keep him doing this but the name you call him is not his name. He is experiment TR-435-E, code name Trase. That is it. Remember to keep your feelings out of this." Ruvel would be able to hear the man speak as he was held by the guards. Salindra nodded with a sigh escaping her lips. "Yes. Start it."

The man then pulled the sheet off the table showing a assortment of bladed knives ranging from different sizes. Young Cirven flinched at the sight of the knives and the man quickly grabbed one and approached the boy. "Mommy, I don't want to do this. Mommy! Please! Mommy! Please!" The next scene was one where the man grabbed Cirven's foot and cut off toe by toe with the boy screaming out in pain and crying with each one. "Hmm... The injuries have not healed on his his hands or the now recent of his toes that are now missing. I will continue to remove the other toes in hopes that it will trigger his healing factor in some way." The boy had liquids coming out from his face from the pain he was feeling and fortunately passed out as the man went to cut at the boy's other foot even though he was completely unconscious.


Back with Devil Jester and Korvin the two of them came through the portal into a new area. "This is where the relic is we are after. Our men have already started the assault on the temple for us." Devil Jester scoffed. "I'm not here for anything but to flex my muscles. I don't care about getting this relic much." Korvin turned to Jester and glared at him. "I was ordered to get you back and have set this all up just to make things easier for us but you are pivotal to us getting this relic. You can go and flex your muscles but you will be needed for us to complete this mission. You know that because you failed this assignment in the past. Let's not have a repeat of that." Jester laughed out loud and as he did so he placed Ruvel onto the ground. "Got a tongue on you, huh? Maybe I should remove it?" He flicked out two of his knives into his hands and spun them as he looked towards her. She did not flinch at his words. "Oh... You will be a fun one to cut into. Like a prime and juicy steak just begging for my fangs to dig into..." Jester spoke out but before he could finish a spear shot out towards his body and stabbed through him causing him to cough out blood and look down at the spear. "Hm? Looks like someone wants my attention more than you do." He turned around to see a group of guards for the city standing and wielding weapons. "We are here to protec-" Jester turning around showing the spear through his body stopped the man leading the small group of four from talking. "Wh..What are you!?" Jester smiled and pulled the spear from out of his chest and it healed completely. "I am a magician. Want to see a trick?" Jester's eight knives floated off of his body and into the air around him. "Look!
No hands!" The knives flew quickly through the air and stabbed at the bodies of the men who were too fear stricken to defend themselves. Jester laughed maniacally as he watched his knives cut and tear through the bodies of the men in front of him. Korvin looked on with a serious look before looking down at Ruvel. A portal appeared above him and then moved over his body putting his body into a pocket dimension where he would be kept away from the fighting. "Wooo! That was a good trick, right?" Jester spoke out after the bodies of the men were all dead. "Tough crowd, huh?" He laughed out loud again to his own comment for a short time and then turned to see what Korvin was doing. "That boy is my offering to the new organization. He has some weird abilities I bet they will like so I have him in an illusion where he can't get out without my allowing it.
I'm showing him exactly who I really am in here!" He pointed to his head at the end of his comment and laughed again.

WC:

Ruvel stepped forward with a concerned look on his face "I'm sure we can figure it out together.." he tried to smile to help place the younger male at ease but then he was unsure if he could help, his eyes going wide seeing what had happened to the boys hands "Y-your fingers..." he whispered, he didn't jump back but he was caught of guard wondering what kind of monster would do such a thing to a child but then he paused remembering his own past; 'yeah never mind on my last thoughts... is there anyone kind on this planet?' he though to himself as a sigh "I understand wanting to make people happy, I'm like that even now..." he confessed taking his bandaged hand looking biting his bottom lip unsure how to fix this issue "I'm guessing you're needing to regenerate your digits... I.. I'm sure we can figure it out." he said calmly "I'm called Ruvel by most, but those who are close to me named me Rui because it is kinder." he explained when he asked who he was.

He nodded hearing the footsteps not fighting with the youth as he was stuffed into a closet, he'd quietly listen pushing the door open a little so he could watch the goings on through the small crack, his hands going to his mouth knowing that people like him had heightened senses and didn't want to be heard by anyone. 'Mommy? That woman is his mother permits him to be harmed in such a way?' he thought to himself 'I-I don't remember my parents well but they weren't like this... I don't think so anyway, the shadows of the past become dimmer daily but I would hope they were not like this.' he continued to assess the goings on. 'Trase? That is the boys name... cute..' he smiled a little not understanding its meaning at that point in time. Ruvel's eyes looked to the two men who had found him for a moment "T.. those symbols..." his hand went to the guild logo "C..Cor Torva.." he shook a little now realising just how bad a situation he was in.

"Please not this place, it's as bad as home..." he shook but took a deep breath trying to calm himself knowing that panicking would make things that much worse, his eyes going wide hearing the name "C-Cirven..." he struggled against the ones holding him, "Leave him be! Please..." his hands going to his hands going to his face covering everything but his forehead, he had no idea if this place knew of his home but he suspected that places such as these knew of one another and common mannerisms. Hearing Cirven cry out in pain tears began to fall his eyes looking at the guards his single pale eye golden eye, and dull moon blue eye spiralling to show aspects of the other in each "THAT'S ENOUGH! LEAVE HIM ALONE! NO ONE IS HURTING MY BROTHER NOT NOW.. NOT EVER... NEVER AGAIN!" he yelled out flicking his hand causing a seal appearing underneath everyone slowly having them grabbed by tendrils made of light encasing everyone. Kicking at the two who held him he dashed forward taking the young Cirven out of the chair picking him up, he knew he was likely going to struggle but he couldn't take this any longer.

Holding him close he dashed out of the room 'We need to vanish for now...' with that the two where shrouded, he knew he'd have to be careful because any sound could still be heard by those outside the shroud. 'This is Cor Torva, I've seen it in ruins... but I know the basic layouts... perhaps the secret room within the guild masters room... or... what am I thinking.' he asked himself shaking his head looking to the unconscious Cirven "I'll protect you, I promise..." he whispered having no idea exactly where to go 'I need to know how to get out of here but then... what... how do we get out of the canyon?' that was a matter for when he got to that bridge and began to run to the left in the hopes if he couldn't get to the exit he'd find a window to jump out of but at least for the next fifteen or so minutes they couldn't be seen by the enemy.

'If any of you would like to chime in now would be the perfect time because I have no idea where I am going...' he said to his summons but again got nothing in return 'I swear... there's twenty eight of you and nothing?!' he silently sighed he felt so lost and alone right now almost like he was back home, eventually checking doors he found one open and headed to a corner jumping between the shelves until he was in a corner at the top of a large book shelf hidden within the shroud holding the young Cirven in his arms, taking his top apart he stared to bind the wounds. 'Never again...' he thought to himself, he would protect the one he had taken even if it meant his own demise to do it, but then he was a lot harder to kill than one may expect him to be.

~~~~~~Outside~~~~~~

Though Ruvel was still unconscious and completely unaware of what was going on or his soon to be fate, his body had reacted to certain things within the devils illusion "Trase.." he said softly but given the heightened hearing of Cirven would be able to hear it clear as day. "C-Cirven..." he whispered shortly tears beginning to fall "Leave him be.... please..." he continued to speak at the same point within his apparent reality tears falling for the longest time, but then something changed the tears stopped and his body began to glow a bright light completely engulfing it "THAT'S ENOUGH! LEAVE HIM ALONE! NO ONE IS HURTING MY BROTHER NOT NOW.. NOT EVER... NEVER AGAIN!" he yelled his voice booming as it did a golden crimson seal appeared underneath him and instantly cracked all the way to thirty meters away from him in all directions fire coming forth hitting everyone caught inside. This all happened before Korvin had even managed to pick him up and place him into the pocket dimension. The last words either would hear from the unconscious youth would be "I'll protect you... I promise." softly

Word Count: 1'072
Total Word Count: 6'809

The blue haired child was whisked away from his predicament by Ruvel but was still unconscious from the pain. Salindra and the guards could only watch as Ruvel was able to quickly restrain them and grab Cirven away from them before rushing out of the room and were masked by a shroud of magic that prevented others from seeing them. Guards patrolled the areas around the facility but due to the shroud over both of the boys, the guards were blind to their whereabouts. Ruvel took them into a room where he started to use pieces of his own clothing to cover the wounds over Cirven's body and as he did so Cirven's eyes would open up.

"Never again? What do you mean? Who are you?" The child's voice sounded older now as if he had aged a few years and when Ruvel looked up at him he'd notice that Cirven looked different as well as the room they were in. It was completely different. There were two small beds in the room and Ruvel was laying in one with an older Cirven. "Are you one of my sister's friends? Maybe dad's?" The blue haired and blue-eyed boy asked the man who sat in front of him. Before he could get an answer a young girl ran into the room. she had blue eyes and had blue hair just like Cirven too. Her hair was put up into pig tails. "Cirven! Cirven! Mommy and Daddy said we are going to go to the festival in Magnolia!" Her voice was high pitched as she ran to the side of his bed showing exactly how small she was as only her head really reached over the top of it. "Who is he?" She questioned after she came down from her excitement. "Is he a new friend?" Cirven shrugged. "I don't know who he is. I just woke up and he was on my bed saying something weird."

"Cirven, Aayla!" An older man's voice. The man that had had cut the younger Cirven's toes off stood in the room and looked at the scene in front of him. "How the hell did you get in here?!" The man charged towards Ruvel as both of the children grew a look of dread over their face upon figuring out that Ruvel was not a welcomed guest into the home but before the man could make his way to Ruvel a woman screamed from outside of the house causing the man to stop moving. "Zinnath!!?" The man yelled out and then looked towards Ruvel with a face full of anger. "Did you do something to her? Are you attacking us? Damn!" The man threw out questions but did not stay long enough before he ran off to go and check on the woman who screamed out. The two children ran out of the room also to follow their father and as they do so multiple more screams and sounds of things being destroyed or thrown around could be heard.

The man went outside of their home to find that multiple women and men were being killed in the streets of their small town which included his wife who he ran to the body of and held. "No... No..." Tears swelled up in his eyes as he held her and the two children managed to come out of the house just in time to see this. The small Aayla ran towards her father along with Cirven just behind her and saw their mother was covered in her own blood. "Da-Dad. What is going on?! Who are these people?!" Cirven yelled out in fear and confusion just as some of the people attacking approached them with weapons drawn and/or magical energy in their hands. "Run." Their father set down their mother and stood up to face those in front of him. "Take your sister and run!" Cirven flinched upon his father yelling at him. "No! I lost my mother already and came here with you! I don't want to lose you too! I will get revenge for Zinnath. For your mother." Cirven then stormed off back into the house as the armed men rushed towards his father and little sister who was too stunned to react at all at the sight of her dead mother. All she did was stare at her mother and try to wake her up but finding that didn't do anything left her completely paralyzed.

The man fought against those who were attacking but could only do so much with the number of them against him and some of them got around him and grabbed Aayla who they started to run away with. "No! Aayla! That is my daughter! you can't have her!" A black portal formed in front of the man taking Aayla and a sword flew out of it hitting him in his chest and stabbing through him causing him to drop Aayla on the ground but another man picked up Aayla and a barrage of magic was thrown towards the man which forced him to react to it before trying to save his daughter again. A wall of black matter formed in front of him that blocked the attacks and he released the attacks back out onto their users. When he was finally able to turn around though Aayla was gone. "Damn it! Damn you!" He yelled out and charged towards the enemies that had taken his daughter.

Cirven ran through the home he had recently become accustomed to and looked around the biggest room in the house where he found a sheathed sword. He ran outside with the sword and was just in time to witness his father be hit by a thrown knife. "Dad!?" He called out and ran towards his father holding the sword. His father put out his hand and formed a black hole towards a group of the enemies that sucked them into it and quickly closed. "Where were you?! You were supposed to protect your sister and run!" Cirven's eyes widened. "I wasn't going to leave you! You are all I have left!" He yelled out and his father started to moved towards him and hugged him. "I'm sorry... We will do this together." He then let go of Cirven and backed up from him while wearing a smile on his face. "Let's-" The man was cut off by something his ears caught the sound of and he quickly moved in front of Cirven where he was hit by a spear-like white flaming attack that shot through him. The spear was followed by multiple more but the man stayed standing until the attacks ended. He then smiled to Cirven before dropping to the ground where he said his last words to the young boy. "Run and always protect her..." Cirven wanted to approach his father and try and help him but the boy knew there was nothing he could do.

With tears in his eyes Cirven could only look towards his now lifeless father as the feeling of complete loneliness washed over him. He dropped to his knees with the sword in his hands. "Dad... Da..Dad...?" The tears started to fall down his face as he reached out to his father and before he knew it multiple men were surrounding him and his fallen father with their weapons drawn. "Our mission is to kill this one and to take the other one so let's get this over with." One of the men spoke out and lifted up his sword above Cirven and brought it down but Cirven pulled out the blade from the sheathe he was holding and sliced through the man's arm. The boy's eyes had changed to an orange color and his hair changed completely white as well. "What the hell was that? He was supposed to not be a threat with what happened?! Screw this! Get him!" The man yelled out who had just lost a part of his arm. The rest of the men attempted to attack Cirven but found their weapons missing and with new injuries across their body from the sword and from the boy's new claws that had formed over his fingers. Each man was brought down one by one by the young boy and then he let out a feral roar. The boy then dropped to the floor unconscious and his body changed to its original form.

WC:

Ruvel held the younger version of the one he seen as his brother in his arms tenderly as he tried to think of his next step he should take to get them out of there. Slowly his eyes began closing as he hummed something so quietly that only Cirven would be able to hear; it was almost as if he was trying to give the youth enough peace to sleep. He knew how to make sleeping medicines, numbing agents and pain killers from plants due to the harsh survival he had within the facility, but given where they where hiding he had no access to any of it, so this was the best he could do. He was upset with everything going on and angry with Cirven for changing, with Korvin for changing him, with his summons for leaving him alone and himself for not being stronger. he was trying to figure out what was going on but nothing seemed to make sense right now 'Please... I need help... I need... please.' he thought tears starting to fall as he felt so alone and isolated, something he hadn't felt since he was taken in by the elder male.

Hearing an older voice he stopped humming and opened his eyes looking around, seeing that the scene had changed, his knees going to his chest it was all to much for him to take in, it was like someone was messing with his mind, it already felt like it was going to explode from Korvin's appearance and Cirven's change not only in appearance but demeanour. 'He attacked me, but he wouldn't... even during training he's never cut my flesh so for him to hurt me like that; what's going on?' he started to question before his dual coloured eyes went to the older version of Cirven "Most call me Ruvel, but those who're close to me call me Rui." he explained for the second time wondering why he didn't remember from the first time but then he just put it down to being another illusion to mess with his already fragile psyche. "Please stop messing with my head... it's already broken..." he quietly begged the force that was driving this torturous journey before hearing what was asked of him shaking his head.

"I have a special bond with you..." he explained with a small gentle smile "You saved me from a very dark place and made sure I never felt alone." he continued, he realised it may sound crazy to the other but it was the truth. "I also knew you when you're fingers and toes where being taken away..." he said his hands tightening a little "You where an experiment Trase was your designation, your mother named you Cirven." he said quietly looking down he knew this was nothing more than illusion, but it was one he wasn't strong enough to break through without help and even then something was keeping him and his summons separate from each other. 'What's happening to my body?' he couldn't help wonder knowing for a fact those two monsters it had been left with cared little for his existence. Hearing a girls voice he looked up and took in her every detail smiling "You are very cute." he said in a sincere tone watching as he was told the two would be going to a festival in Magnolia.

Seeing the man from the first illusion he jamp to his feet in a crouched position but he was caught off guard as the man seemed to remember who he was. 'Then why can't Cirven remember?' he thought to himself before waving his hands in front of him "I'm no threat sir, I don't even know how I got here... I was at Cor Torva and then here..." he tried to explain until he heard a shriek of a scream his eyes going wide in surprise and fear as he had no idea what was going on or what to expect, he and Cirven where close but they had never crossed the line into what the other had endured in the past and both seemed happy with it that way. "Jester let me out of here and let Cirven go..." he wished he could threaten him with something but he had noway of defeating someone so fast or strong. "I don't want to see anymore!" he called out to the unseen forces not caring how crazy he looked to anyone he just wanted it to stop and would do whatever was asked of him to have it happen.

Hearing the man blame him for what was going on his eyes narrowed "Why would I want to attack you?! I don't even know who you are you jerk! All I know is you like torturing children!" he said coldly his hand going to his head as he felt a pulse that didn't seem normal to him "W.. what the..." he had no idea what was going on he just knew it didn't feel right to him. Running after everyone he made a quarterstaff of light, he had no idea just how useful he would be but he would try his best to protect the illusion of his brother it was important to him, he promised to protect him and though he knew this was merely an illusion it felt like he had to do it or something bad could happen. Spinning his staff with some skill he managed to take out several of the enemy, he never killed them only knocked them out after all he was dead set against killing people and dead people couldn't talk unless you where someone like Demi. Due to fighting off the men blocking his way he couldn't prevent the things that where happening, it felt like for every one he knocked down two took it's place. His hand moved to his head again feeling the pulse "I.. is this stress... pain... what..." he could only put it down to not being in contact with his summons.

Eventually he managed to get to the hall that held Cirven, seeing the dead father on the floor and watching as he changed and took down fully armoured and armed soldiers he was wanting to help but he was frozen on the spot watching as events unfolded. "C-Cirven..." he whispered watching as the youth fell unconscious between the the dead bodies rushing forward, holding him close "Big brother, what's going on? W-why am I being tortured by seeing this? Why are you forced to relive this?" he asked knowing for a fact no answer would come but likely a new scene would be coming "I'll protect and fight big brother, come what may..." he was tired but he was still having to push forward or he would be a useless burden that Cirven and Barthenz said he would be become even though he hated it.

Word Count: 1'150
Total Word Count: 7'959

"Rui." A voice called out to Ruvel lightly but sounded too low for him to really make out what was being said. "I'm.. Sorry... But just a little bit more..." The voice continued to speak but Ruvel could barely make it out as the world around him started to morph again and with it the child Cirven disappeared. The area changed into another room that looked similar to the smaller Cirven's room from his time in the Cor Torva headquarters. Ruvel seemed to be just thrown into the room suddenly and was left standing in it looking like a fish out of water compared to the rest of the room. The room looked fairly generic with only having a bed and closet now with nothing on the counters besides the typical things a person would have. The door of the room opened and a blue haired Cirven walked into the room. He stopped in his tracks as he saw Ruvel and formed a floating sword out of thin air near himself which he cut through the air and took up a offensive stance towards Ruvel. "Wait.. You are..?" He questioned himself and lowered his stance upon looking closer at Ruvel. "You are Rui, right? You are the guy that was in the village when it was attacked in the past? Why are you here or all places?" His stance was lowered but the sword next to him stayed near him as he closed the door behind him to avoid anyone preying on their conversation.

Back with the Devil Jester and Korvin, the two had made their way through the area of Oak Town and into the Oak Temple where they fought multiple guards along with some members of the new Neo-Cor Torva. The guards did not stand a chance against the forces assembled of Neo-Cor Torva and were quickly dealt with. "Looks like the new lackeys have more bite than the old ones now. It is surprising what a little bit of genetic manipulation can do. I mean you twist and pull some genes and mix others together and bam! You have yourself some reliable fodder to throw at your enemies." The Jester chuckled as he looked over the damage that the Neo-Cor Torva men had done. He continued to look around the devastation and make his way down a hall with a silent Korvin followed him. The two of them found themselves standing in front of a wall covered with inscriptions  of devils and gods fighting over supremacy over the land they stood on. "These inscriptions show what happens when the power goes to someone's head and they don't use it in fun ways. They only use it to try and rule and govern when they can easily just use it to watch everything burn. Sad really." Jester placed his hand over the inscriptions and grinned again knowing that his comments were bothering Korvin. "This is where we need to be and this is where our new little friend is needed for a grand appearance so I'll be needing that girlish looking runt out of your little pocket dimension now." Korvin scoffed at the comments being made by the man and did not waste her breath responding to it. She instead opened a portal to the pocket dimension where the unconscious Ruvel was and grabbed him out of it and placed him on the ground near the wall and the Devil Jester. "Thank you, miss assistant! And now for a magic trick that has everyone only needing to by the edges of their seats because they will be on them!" He spoke out confidently and approached Ruvel's body while dancing side to side. The fingers on both of his hands suddenly had demonic-like claws come out of them near the end of his dance and he attempted to bring down one of the claws onto Ruvel's body.

WC:

Ruvel's ears perked hearing the low voice of the Cirven he was use to, how he longed to be around that Cirven once more, tears started to fall as he heard the request shaking his head "I-I can't do this Cirven, it's to much... far to much for me to do alone... I need help." he whispered crouching down hugging his knees to his chest he felt so helpless being pulled from one illusioned memory to another, to him it was like the twins had turned on him and making him see things from the elder males past that he couldn't change for some twisted game to harm them both. He knew however that both Shindara and Amuul where loyal to the contracts they swore with him and their sense of duty prevented them from hurting him or showing him things of others without their permission which he was fine with. Whatever was going on it was cruel to someone like him who had been abused and tortured enough in his life. "I want to go home... they hurt me... but everything made sense!" he didn't mean his words he was scared and disorientated.

Hearing Cirven's voice he looked up from his crouched stance his eyes red, puffy and stinging from where he was crying so much, he seen the sword and stood looking at the other. He was mentally to tired to fight and was willing to accept the blade if it came to that, but seeing the other drop his stance and say his name and where he remembered him from he nodded "Yeah, that's me..." he whispered in a broken voice, his throat hurt 'Why can he remember me now, but not the time before?' he wondered but kept the thought to himself. "I-I don't know, I-I just found myself here... wherever here is.." in honesty he had no idea where or when he was at current "Please, I'm not a threat Cirven... mind making the sword go away, it makes me nervous." he whispered he had, had no contact with his summons the entire time so was limited to his items and light magic it seemed to him at least and he tried to not use the latter since it still made him sick.

"Cirven, what is going on and how do we end it?" he asked wanting to live up to the promise he made when he was just a little boy in the first illusion, moving forward he took hold of his hands and examined his fingers "You learned to regenerate then, I'm glad..." his eyes looked away, he hated that he was forced to watch as his toes where cut off even now the mere thought of it made him cringe and want to throw up. "Why did they hurt you like they did? They where your parents..." he sat on the floor hugging his knees to him "I don't have clear memories of my parents and each day the memories become more shadow like, soon I'll lose them completely but I'm sure I was never harmed by them." he said honestly sadness heard and seen on him as his thumb going over his guild mark lightly "My big brother is a kind man but he can be very scary but I understand a little better now why that is." he said looking to Cirven for a moment his eyes making direct eye contact with the other

"During training its like he stops being my brother and someone else takes over, he is so strict and harsh on me; as pathetic as it is I can only really do around an hour and a half of training before I tire but he pushes me to double the time and doesn't ease up for even a second." he continued leaning back looking at the ceiling "But given my own history and what I know of him now it makes sense, that even though I am a pacifist, that I am weaker and do tire quicker than other people he wants me to do the best I can to protect myself and those who truly can't." he sighed as everything seemed to take on a new light for the youth "I've always been resilient to my training and I likely always will be, but I now understand why its needed so from now on when I must do it I will give it my all." he smiled to the other though the events where traumatising to him they had been enlightening too "I got side tracked, sorry... what I meant to say is family doesn't hurt one another, not like you where." he ended gently

As Ruvel was taken out of the pocket dimension he couldn't help but whimper in fear, even though he was unconscious it was almost as if he knew exactly where he was and for what reason. "Demi, si tir ti tuor ekess qe tenpiswo... coi ui ti harkt." tears fell from his eyes as he whispered his voice shaking. As the Cirven brought down his hand to try and end Ruvel's life he would feel nothing for a few moments followed by a sharp pain as his hand would be struck, it wasn't enough to be taken clean off but it was enough to make a statement for the other to back off. Demi would now standing between the jester and his sorely wanted prize. The demonic jester would recognise her from when they where both youths, she had orignially been branded with the Cor Torva symbol and even when things changed it even now remained on the albino skin clearly seen under the barbs on her right arm. "I would ask if you have lost your mind clown, but it seems like that fact hasn't changed because clearly you haven't gained an ounce of sanity since we were children." her voice serious on the matter "So pathetic to become a puppet again Trese." her eyes dis-guarded Korvin for the moment but kept aware of her movements regardless "Rui always spoke of how strong his big brother was, but right now I find it hard to believe, given you're in control..." she said with a sigh the end of the scythe going into the ground "So teacher as my cousins call you, if you are really that strong I would start fighting before I either end you or you kill him and never see the light again, because Rui's will be snuffed out due to your weakness." her intention was clear she would try buy Cirven time to regain his mind or would try to take him out before her time was up as a threat to her summoner, either way this needed to end and quickly.

Word Count: 1'127
Total Word Count: 9'086

Demi, si tir ti tuor ekess qe tenpiswo... coi ui ti harkt:

"Wait, what? You don't know how you got here? I haven't seen you since my father was killed and my sister was taken just to suddenly see you now. Hmm.." Cirven stood in place confused and kept his distance from Ruvel and continued to listen. "I barely know you but I do remember you fought to help protect my family back then so I hope this isn't some sort of trap set up by my mother..." The sword dispersed into ethernano particles before completely disappearing. "I'm going to trust you but any movement I don't like and I will not hesitate to kill you." Cirven spoke out and moved closer to the younger man and listened to everything he said. Ruvel seemed to talk in rambles as if he was being put through hoops and trials over and over again to get where he was which caused the blue-haired and blue-eyed man to stare confusingly at the other in the room as he listened. "What are you talking about? End What?" Ruvel suddenly reached out and grabbed Cirven's hand causing the younger Cirven to summon his sword again and hold it up behind Ruvel. He only stopped as Ruvel looked to be examining his hands. "I told you not weird movements!" He said angrily as he pulled his hands away from Ruvel who spoke out about learning to regenerate. "Regenerate? What are you talking about? You are confusing me more and more with each sentence." Cirven ruffled his own hair with both of his hands as he tried to understand what Ruvel was saying. "My parents... Hurt me..? What are you talking about?" Ruvel then continued to talk about his 'brother' and how they would train. The sound of it sounded similar to something that the young Cirven had been through in his past. "Look, I don't know anything about this my family hurting me stuff but you did say something that reminded me of someone who took over as my family. He is an old man who took me in after the village attack and taught me how to fight and use magic. He was really strict on me and taught me more than I could wished for in my life. Maybe your brother is similar to him?" He spoke to Ruvel while staring off towards the wall next to him while memories flooded into his mind.

"Look, I don't know how you got here or why but today is the day that they have said they would let myself and my sister go. Mother said if I did one last job then they would allow me to leave this place with Aayla and we could be done with everything. We could get out of this life and just run away from it all so I can't have any distractions or any reason for them to change their mind on me. I won't lose her or anyone else and right now you are a threat to that so I am sorry." Before Ruvel could speak anymore Cirven did something that neither thought they would have to deal with. "Guard! There is an intruder in my room! Guards!" Cirven called out and jumped away from Ruvel where he threw himself through his door while keeping his eyes locked onto Ruvel. The guards quickly rushed in with multiple weapons and pointed them at Ruvel while some of them restrained the young man. "How did he get in here?!" One of them spoke out as they restrained Ruvel. "I don't know but either way we have him now and that is all that matters currently." With that the guards placed anti-magic cuffs on Ruvel and pulled him out of the room Ruvel was able to lock eyes with Cirven. As they moved Ruvel out of the room a woman approached and stopped the guards. "What is the commotion all about?" Salindra stood dressed in a Cor Torva uniform in front of the guards. "Ma'am, we found this man inside of your son's room. The fai-errm- I mean he called for us saying there was an intruder and we got him. Simple procedure from here where we will have him dealt with so no one can trace how he got here or who he was." Salindra stared down at Ruvel surprised and grinned. "Now isn't this just déjà vu." She spoke out and looked towards Cirven. "You don't know how he got here at all?" She called out to her son who shook his head with a stern look on his face. "Well I wonder what will happen if we bring you to witness my son's latest job? It should be entertaining. Bring him with us to the duel chambers. Cirven, it is time." Salindra started to walk away as the guards all complied to her order as well as Cirven who followed behind the guards.

The group made their way around the facility until they came to a familiar room to Ruvel known as the duel chambers. It was the same room that Ruvel fought the creature in the run down Cor Torva facility in the future. It looked much better now though and was completely spotless of any damage or filth. There were other people standing in the room wearing Cor Torva uniforms that quickly greeted Salindra with grins and smiles. "Oh sister, this will be his final trial, right? I can't wait to see what you have planned for him to do." A man spoke out. "Maybe this will finally prove that he is not a failure." The man stared at Cirven as he finished his sentence and grinned knowing that it bothered the blue-haired Cirven but was not given the satisfaction of a response from him. "This will be just that time for him to show such, Nestler."

Cirven quickly made his way passed the Cor Torva members upon seeing a blue-haired smaller girl with pigtails being held by a single guard. "Aayla!" He called out and rushed towards her before a spear of white flame cut off his approach. "Now Cirven, what did we agree on? You prove yourself and we let you free, right?" Salindra stood with white flames covering one of her hands. "Let's get this over with then." Salindra looked towards the guards holding Ruvel and nodded to them. They then dragged over Ruvel and placed the cuffed man in front of Cirven. "Kill him and we will fulfill our end of the deal." Cirven's eyes widened at his mother. "Do it!" She ordered and Cirven regained himself and closed his eyes. He summoned his sword into the air and grabbed it in his right hand by the hilt and cut it through the air. "I'm sorry." Cirven spoke out and lifted up his weapon to strike down Ruvel and started to move the sword downwards but opened his eyes to look at Ruvel and stopped before he could do it. "What are you doing, Cirven? Kill him! He is one simple person! He doesn't matter to this world at all! He means nothing! Just a speck of life that will be forgotten by most, if not all of the world after his death!" Salindra yelled out at Cirven. "A speck that will be forgotten, right?" Cirven quickly cut down his sword towards Ruvel but only cut the cuffs on his arms and then threw his sword out and hit the guard holding his sister through the neck with the blade. "Just like that guard, right?" He then quickly moved to his sister's aid and stood in front of her to protect her. "We are leaving this place, mother." Salindra first looked surprised at what her son had done but then took a step forward in order to oppose him. "Maybe you will show me you are not a failure in another way then..." White flames erupted out around her arms furiously but just before she could attack Cirven suddenly grabbed at his right eye with his hand and fell to a knee. Salindra looked at her son confused and then looked back at Nestler who was holding a similar device. "AHH!! What is... Happening...?!" Cirven spoke out as Aayla quickly moved to her brother's aid. "Big brother! What is wrong!?" She placed her arms around him and tried to help him up. "I.. I..." Cirven tried to speak out but could not finish his sentence. Aayla managed to get her brother to his feet but his head was tilted over. "Cirven... Hey! Are you okay?" She spoke out to her brother again. "Never been better..." Cirven's voice sounded darker suddenly and deeper as he spoke now and he moved his head to lock eyes with his sister showing his orange eyes to her while his hair changed into a white color. The transformation quickly caused her to stumble backwards and let go of him but not before a clawed hand cut through her body. Her steps backward ended with her falling the the ground bleeding onto the ground from an attack from her only family left in the world.

"Now that is what we-" Nestler was cut off in what he was saying by Salindra quickly striking him in the face. "You idiot! Why would you do that?" Rage covered her eyes as she looked at her own brother. "You just killed a valuable source we had doing that! I should kill you myself!" Salindra called out and then turned to the newly formed Cirven who was smiling over the dying body of his sister with her blood covering his hand. The Jester chuckled at the sight he had just caused. "I need my space from the ladies, what can I say?" He then laughed at his own joke.

Before anything more could happen in the scene the entire area turned into a black void for Ruvel with nothing around him but blackness. "So that is why he exists.." Cirven's voice spoke out from behind Ruvel. "I'm sorry I put you through this, Rui. It was either that or you would have dealt with what the Jester wanted to put you through and I doubt you wanted that. I used what control I had to influence the illusion you were in which he didn't care for and now he is distracted with something else so I am talking to you now." Cirven sighed. "This whole thing was just for me to see what he is because when he takes over I have never had control. I know now though that it is all my subconscious that is what he is."

Back with the Devil Jester, as he reached out to slash at Ruvel's skin a sudden pain went through his wrist and he quickly jumped back from Ruvel as he saw an old friend standing in a protective manner in front of Ruvel. "Oh, look at that! I thought you would have been dead with everything they did to you back then. I remember those days when they ran out of knives to cut you open with because they had done it so many times and couldn't find good enough ones to get into you. Luckily, I was always there to help them." He spoke and moved his hand around as if he did not know his hand was nearly cut off from his arm. He grabbed his almost removed hand and placed it back in place on his arm and allowed it to heal. "Maybe they will be happy to see you again. I just wonder if they prefer you in one piece of a million? Aww, screw it. I'll meet them in the middle with a couple thousand!" Eight knives came up from Jester's waist and flew towards Demi aiming to cut her at the weakest points of her body which were her arm and leg joints, her neck and her back. "Look, Ma! No hands!" He yelled out as the knives swirled around Demi's body over and over trying to cut into her as he laughed at the sight. "Don't worry! I'll be right there to officially greet you! I just like my meat cut up a bit before placed in front of me!" He continued to laugh at his own comment. Korvin stood back and watched as the two fought and would only jump in if she felt she was needed. "I wonder what would happen if I.. Oh I don't know.. Maybe did something like.." Black electricity sparked out around Jester mouth and he then shot out a massive blast of electricity from his mouth aimed at Demi who was dealing with the knives and also aimed at the unconscious Ruvel. "I wonder who survives this; You or him?" He broke out into laughter again.

WC:

Ruvel shook his head to the question, his eyes lowering as he felt foolish for admitting it but in truth he was at the whims of some sort of external force that was using him as a pawn in some sort of cruel and punishing game. "No, I just turn up at places and not by my own will." he whispered, he couldn't lie it was a cross being to scared to do so and the complete inability in the first place, the best he found he could do was leave out information in the hopes that it would lessen punishments. It often came back and hurt him if they found out the information was incomplete, but he still done it to protect the others he was raised with. His eyes looked to the side as he spoke of the last memory he seen biting his lip rubbing his arm nervously "I tried to help Cirven, I'm sorry... I-I really am..." he whispered Ruvel knew these where nothing more than illusions and memories of a past that couldn't be changed but at the same time be truly believed that if he tried harder perhaps he could have prevented it happening. "It's not a trap, I promise..." his words where sincere as he looked to Cirven with his dual coloured eyes. "I dislike your mother, she reminds me of the people in the facility." he added shaking a little.

"Feel free to kill me if it makes you feel better Cirven, I wouldn't hold it against you." his voice was ernest as he spoke on the matter, the last thing he wanted was to cause issue for the other "O-oh, my older brother is called Cirven." he said with a weak smile bringing up his hand to show his mark on his wrist "He gave me my mark... it's the first gift I've willingly wanted to receive." he said with a bright smile moving back seeing the sword the smile vanishing "I'm not a threat... I hate fighting..." his voice showing the fear that mirrored in his eyes "Sorry, I don't mean to confuse you... I'm just as confused myself and starting to question what is even real." he moved his hand to his head it was pounding and not hearing of feeling his summons presence to help guide him was now becoming more of an issue as time went on, he knew eventually he would fall back onto old routine because it was what he knew and he didn't want that because it would end badly one way or another.

"Took over as your family?" he looked up at him through the pale fingers of his right hand "My family where killed when I was little, very little. I seen everything..." it was the first time he had openly said about it, he remembered barely anything about his life before that day, but that day had burned itself into his mind as it was the day his world ended and became a hellish place. "For a long time it was thought I possessed no magic, at that place magic for ones like me weren't allowed anyway so it didn't really matter." he shook as he thought of the facility "When I almost became lost and broken like they had hoped, I cried in my cell that night begging for it all to end... then I heard two voices... they said they would help me, give me strength, protect me from what hurt me, all I had to do was agree to the terms of a contract with them." he said quietly, it was now Cirven would learn a little more about the youth, how he learned his magic and how it worked in general "Who was I to say no... I either broke and became a puppet to the wills of others or I agreed and had had a restricted version of freedom where I could at least be me." he said lowering his hand "I agreed and gained my first two summons who care for me, though one of them I swear is trying to kill me." he sighed thinking of Barthenz.

"Perhaps that is why he trains me the way he does, because it was how he himself was trained." he said finally acknowledging what the other had said a soft smile on his lips. Hearing the next part he shook his head "They're lying to you Cirven, they'll never let you go... even if they see you as incomplete or imperfect they won't let you go and they'll use her to control you, because they need you." his words where stern but his eyes showed he wasn't lying about it, he remembered his visit here when he hadn't long met the one he now seen as family and what he had spoken of, it hurt him to even speak these words but he needed to. "You're nothing more that an experimental weapon to them, something for them to use when they need and throw away when you become obsolete or useless to them because you've either forfilled your objective or they make something better!" he wasn't saying any of this to be cruel but he had witnessed it at the facility many times over the time be spent there.

"Your little sister is just their insurance policy you won't turn on them, after all how bad would it be to own a weapon you can't control!" he continued hoping to make the other see sense but he was unsure if any of this would make sense to him, he knew it was an illusioned memory but he still spoke so passionately trying to save him, to make him see sense in it all. "I'm no threat Cirven, I'm an ally... I can he-" before he could finish his sentence his eyes went wide as the other betrayed him calling the guards to his side, tears falling as he turned his head away as if something far worse than physical pain had hurt him as he was restrained he didn't even fight to keep them off, it was as if the last spark had gone out in that moment 'This is a memory, an illusion... nothing I do will change anything here and this isn't my brother... so why does what he done hurt so much? Why do I feel betrayed by him?' he asked himself unable to find an answer and had no one he could ask, his eyes went to his guild mark, hand going to it and without another thought scratched through it, his glowing blood seeping through, tears falling.

"This is cruel... I wish I never left home if I knew it would hurt so badly." he whispered more to himself than anyone else. Not once had he ever wished he was one of the lost but at current it seemed like a kinder fate. He shook his head a little 'Stop thinking like that, they'll be mad... nothing is worse than home and nothing more than being one of the lost...' he thought to himself his hands moving to his chest "I understand why you done it Cirven, I wish the best for you and your sister, please be safe and happy." he smiled brightly as he was made to walk pulling away as he seen the woman again, he could still use his magic but had no will to not if it meant another would suffer, that and he seen little reason to he listened walking to where he was escorted to his eyes closed. He was frightened but there was little he could do to change his circumstances or even how he felt. As they entered the hall his eyes looked around it, he took note of how certain things looked familiar "I know this room... I know where in the guild this is..." he whispered, he didn't know if he could escape but then what would be the point in trying, he trained in clothing that was the same as what he wore in the facility day to day so even if he did escape he'd have to navigate a canyon he didn't know and by then they would be hunting him and didn't want to think what would happen if he was caught but what would happen if he did manage to run he was trapped in a world that wasn't real.

Ruvel stood watching the goings on his eyes going to Cirven's mother as she spoke of his freedom after doing one more task "Liar!" he said calmly in a cold voice his eyes just as cold as she looked into hers, this was unheard of from someone in the facility that he was raised in but still he done it, then again he was also talking back to someone that would be classed as his superior. Hearing he was the trial he lifted his hands and made a sword of light the blade aimed at his heart a gentle smile on his face as he looked to Cirven "If my single life ending can bring the happiness or ease the suffering of others then I will die without issue." Yes, he was scared but he just wanted this nightmare to end, part of him believed that if he allowed himself to be stabbed then he would wake outside the illusion and if he didn't it couldn't be worse than this. He knew the other had a sword above his head and had even offered a sword to him already aimed at his heart "My life has held little meaning to anyone, and who knows you could even be doing me a kindness by doing it... I could return to those who where stolen from me when I was very little." his eyes closed his voice trembling as the light sword faded through the emotional anguish and turmoil he was currently experiencing he tried to remain smiling and his normal self but tears were falling betraying how he was feeling inside.

"Nothing is forgotten, so longs one person cares enough to remember..." he whispered; it was one of the first lessons he was taught when he gained his freedom, he didn't understand at that point and to some extent he still didn't but he trusted the summon that seen him as her son enough to know she was wise and tried to take in everything she said though he might not understand it. Ruvel watched what was going on in total bewilderment his eyes going wide in horror as he seen Cirven strike through his sister running towards her and held her close "W-why?" his voice showed he didn't understand, this was his most important person in the world and he had struck her down as if her existence meant nothing to him. He tried to stop the bleeding but it was to late "He loved you more than anything Aayla, please remember this as you pass through the gates of the afterlife." he whispered his white clothing drenched in the carmine blood of the one he held to him, he slowly closed her eyes, looking to the monster above pain and pure anger in his dull moon blue eyes. This would be something that would never been seen before by anyone. "I will end you for what you've done to her!" he knew nothing of her, but he knew she didn't deserve the fate that was given to her especially by him.

He looked around as everything faded into darkness, he turned quickly when he heard Cirven's voice behind him, he glared as he heard the apology "NO!" he yelled, he was upset and angry at everything he was just put through "I hate you for what you just done to me! It is beyond cruel..." tears fell from his eyes as he spoke in anger to the elder male "I was used as a pawn and I don't appreciate it! Home was kinder than what you've done to me and those people where bastards!" The calm, gentle Ruvel that never raised his voice nor spoke ill of anyone had snapped and not in a good way. "Either way it would have been just as cruel! Him... he's a demon I'd be use to it given some of my summons are down right cruel to me but... you.. you..." tears continued to flow as he fell to his knees "congratulations, you've made me feel like I was back at home!" his throat and eyes hurt so much from crying and yelling but he was drained emotionally. "I want to go home... I've had enough..."

Demi looked at him "And I thought you where in your dark little room, in the back of his head again clown, but here we are." she said with a smile chuckling "So how does it feel to be dancing at another's tune like a trained monkey only allowed out when they permit it?" he asked leaning against her barbed scythe "Oh yes, I remember my days as one who was suppose to bring around the new world until they found out my lineage and sent me to become one of the new gods" she said with a grin "Not all it was cracked up to be, I tell you but then the treatment was still better than what you were put through" she smiled "Oh yeah, it was always a great laugh when you where around, but then that is why you are a clown right." she said standing "Can't kill what was never alive to begin with, didn't you ever learn that?" she asked before bringing one of her hands went to her mouth "Oh wait, your own mother done this to you... ouch..." she said with a sarcastic tone, neither really felt pain so it didn't surprise her that he continued as if nothing was wrong.

Seeing the daggers rise her hands went to her scythe as she picked it up her eyes keeping an eye on each as she moved it skillfully deflecting each back to their original owner. The two often had to fight knowing what failure meant if the other won, so they had to learn the movements of the other quickly ending their matches as a draw more often than not; even then that was out of sheer exhaustion on both parties sides. Seeing the sparks her eyes widened and she moved to cover Ruvel's body with her own wincing as she felt the electricity going through her body, when it was over she stood her clothing torn her body cut but a smile on her face "How about us both... we aren't children anymore Trese and that attack doesn't damage me as it once did." she said keeping herself firmly planted between the two her eyes going to Ruvel as he heard him crying as if in pain. "Rui... I can't protect you in there... memories... illusions that is the realm of the twin shadows." she worried for the other, she knew he was near the point of no return but wondered if this ordeal would have pushed him over it.

"Trase, what are you thinking... seriously?" she asked looking to her old friend her eyes softening to what they had been long ago "We aren't their puppets any longer... we don't need to destroy to bring around a new world and we definitely don't have to harm ten year old children like we were once." she knew he was insane but hoped she could find that one piece of sanity that he had when they had been allowed time just to be themselves "He's an innocent kid." she sighed looking up "We said once if we had the power that the grown ups had, we'd never do to others what was done to us..." her eyes looked directly at his "But here you are with the power to forfil what you said and you are still dancing to the tune of someone else's music like you where the scared child with missing digits and limbs scared if you didn't do what mummy said that it would get worse." she said holding her hand out with an orb showing the old guild hall "It's gone... the nightmare is gone..." she wanted him to stop being a puppet and be a person but at this stage she knew that he would likely attack again.

Word Count: 2'738
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"I didn't choose to put you in the hell that my life has been and change it all just to fit you into it. I didn't want you to be attacked by a part of me that they always had control over and I never did." Cirven spoke out to his mentee. "I used this as a way to protect you and a way to help myself figure out what this other side of me is just to find out that he is me. You know what I can't do, right? I can't hurt those who I consider close to me. I might be rough with them but I could never hurt them to a great extent. Devil Jester is me and I am him so that means he falls under this moral or rule also." Cirven floated off the ground and moved his body in a sense that made it look like he was simply leaning on the air itself as he continued to speak. "This whole ordeal somehow involved you much more than I thought it ever would and puts our lives even more connected than they ever were going to be. I know this is hard for as young as you are to understand and take in but I think anyone would be torn to either side based on what has been going on. The thing is, I will not put you in any of this life to you again if you don't want it or can't take it." Cirven turned his body away from Ruvel in the darkness that surrounded them and did not want to look at him. "Either way you will be waking up now because I am ending this myself. Be ready for what you see next and if anything goes wrong with my next moves, if you still care, make sure the guild knows I won't be coming back." With that the blackness washed away and Ruvel would feel as though the world was tilted horizontal and his body was being tilted along with it until he finally found himself laying on the ground with a small cut across his arm.

The younger man would wake up from the illusion he was in to see a knife with his blood on it floating through the air from him as the Devil Jester and Demi spoke back and forth. "Aww! You remember the good times when we fought over and over again to please those higher ups who watched as though we were tools for their entertainment on a daily basis. Those were the good ol' days weren't they?" Jester placed both of his hands over his heart and looked like he was swooning over the fact that Demi spoke about him in such a way. It was done in a overly sarcastic manner that probably would have annoyed most people who were put in Demi's shoes. "Look, I was only conceived to be one thing and that is a killer for them and they were the only ones that would let me out to have fun. The only ones who let me out to live! Mother loved me and showed that by letting me out!" Jester started to yell towards Demi and visibly showed that he was annoyed by her comments. "All I ever wanted was to be able to live in control of my own body. In control of myself but this stupid weak failure-" Jester suddenly felt a pain come over his right eye and placed his hand over it and then chuckled. He then suddenly used his ability over his knives to call it to him and caught it before stabbing himself in his own right eye. He left the knife in his own face as he continued to speak. "Sorry. Someone was rudely interrupting my words and was knocking but I made sure to prevent that for now. Where was I...? Oh! This weak failure that controls this body could never amount to the power he actually possesses like I do but he was always in control and all I could do was watch over and over again as he let everything slip through his fingers like some sort of water. He lost his mother twice, his father, his sister and his lover due to his powerlessness. Though the lover came back and even brought me back out." He shot a wink to Korvin who scoffed at his gesture.

"He chose subconsciously to forget memories of when I came out when he was younger and never let me out so I was always there to watch when we lost anything that made us happy at all because of his negligence! He is the weak one! I am the strong one!
He cannot save anyone in this world but I can and I will!" The knife that had Ruvel's blood on it flew through the air suddenly to Devil Jester and instead of going into his hands it stabbed into the door that was behind him and then cut its way down the center of it. "This door needed the blood of someone pure which is ironic that the weakling decided to take someone with blood like that under his wing, isn't it? It is funny how things work out in this world. Almost as if destiny really just is paved out for you from the beginning." The door suddenly let out a crackling noise and started to open itself. "Even with obstacles in the way, destiny breaks them down for you just so you can do what you are meant to do and I am meant to save this world it looks like." Jester broke out into laughter as the door continued to open and those around him were brought to the sight of it opening behind him only to see a blinding light come from the opening towards them. "Hey lover, got and get the relic. I will clean up here with my friends. I still have some fun left to have with them." Korvin sighed and shook her head while running off through the opening of the door and into the room that supposedly held what they were after.

"Hey Rui, Cirven just told you that I couldn't kill you, right? I want to test that idea myself." The entire room was suddenly engulfed in pure darkness that did not allow anyone caught inside of it to see anything in front of them. The darkness was so thick that you could not see your own hand in front of you but for the Jester it was different. This was the Jester's strongest spell that put everything around him within a vast area into a world that only he could have control over. A world of darkness and pain that he delivered to those who deemed as his play things. A world that only he could see through. He used the disadvantage that the area he created gave and moved through it stealthily towards Ruvel and took his place behind the boy. He lifted up his clawed hand and started to swing it down towards him. "Just like the sister he couldn't save. Ironic, huh?" He said but stopped just before he could hit Ruvel. "Why? Why can't I do this?" He continued to try and move his hand closer to the blinded Ruvel but could not move it. It was as if a ghostly hand was holding him back. "You are me and I am you, remember?" The voice spoke into Jester's head causing him to quickly jump back from Ruvel. "No, no, no, no! This is my body! I claimed it again and will not give it back! This body is mine! You cannot have it back, Cirven! You failure! Mine, mine, mine, MINE!" Jester yelled out to his counterpart leaving it the only thing that Demi and Ruvel could hear in the darkness.

Inside Jester's/Cirven's mind the two of them stood in front of each other where their confrontation was really happening. "You are not worthy to have this power!
Only I am! I can save everyone we care about! I can do it! You can't do anything but fail over and over again!" Jester yelled out at Cirven and then threw out his hands in an attempt to stab his clawed hands through the man. "I have failed a lot but that means you have failed with me, Jester. We both are one side of the same person." Jester's attacks became more sporadic and less precise the more he attacked. "Shut the hell up! I am not some weakling like you! I have all the power and I have the ability to save everyone! You can't do anything!" He yelled out more as he attacked Cirven. Cirven parried an attack and moved quickly towards Jester in a position that left Jester wide open for an attack. "I'm sorry." Jester readied himself for being attacked back and held his eyes closed knowing that if he was attacked he would be sent back to the back of Cirven's mind and locked away again but something else happened. Cirven hugged Jester. "I'm sorry I forgot about you. I'm sorry that I placed you in a cell in the back of my mind and left you to rot. You are a part of me that I should never have forgotten. I'm sorry." Jester stood in completely shock from what Cirven was doing and did not move. "You... you.. AHHH!!" Jester then stabbed his claws into Cirven's body over and over again. "Fight me! Fight me! Not like this! Fight me!" Jester yelled out more and more but Cirven simply held his stance and took all the attacks until Jester stopped attacking. "Why won't you fight me...?" A bloodied Cirven stood in place with his arms around Jester. "I'm not going to fight against you anymore." Jester growled at first and let out a loud roar. "Looks like if you won't fight then I have no choice." Jester started to materialize into Cirven's body and became one with him. "I have no choice but to let the strongest of us have control, huh?" Cirven grinned as Jester gave into him and spoke. "This means no more jokes, huh?" Cirven laughed. "They will be a bit different is all."

Back outside of Cirven's mind anyone trapped in the darkness could only hear Jester yelling in pain and agony until it finally stopped and the sound of a knife clanged on the ground. The darkness around the room disappeared and Cirven in his regular form stood in front of the large door that opened earlier. "Rui, Demi. I'm sorry but I have to get moving to stop Korvin. I will explain everything later more to you both but for now just know that I am sorry." Cirven then dashed forward into the room that Korvin had rushed into earlier just as Neo-Cor Torva members made their way into the room to see what was going on which left Demi and Ruvel to deal with them. Cirven made his way through the door and closed the door behind him so that no one could follow him.

Cirven rushed into the large room that seemed to hold multiple relics and magical items that he could feel were all strong in their own right. This room was known to be where multiple dark and twisted relics of the past were kept away from the rest of the world so that no one could ever acquire them again unless they were pure of sin and gave up their blood as sacrifice. Cirven remembered all of this after merging with his other side and quickly realized that was why Jester brought Ruvel with him in the first place. Everything seemed too centered around both of the two that it caused Cirven to question how much control they really had over their lives. He continued moving through the room until he saw Korvin in the center where she was facing a black jewel of some sort that was placed on a pedestal. "Korvin! Don't! You know what that jewel can do!" He called out to her and just after he did a black portal appeared in front of him and shot out a barrage of knives towards him. "You got control back. Glad to hear it but you won't be stopping me. Not even I can do that." She turned her head showing that there were tears in her eyes as she moved forward to try and touch the jewel causing Cirven to rush to her faster and tackled her away from the jewel and to the ground near it. "I can't let you bring hell to the world using that. I won't!" He spoke out to her as he tried to hold her down as more tears fell from her eyes. She moved her body in an attempt to get him off but couldn't until she finally used her magic and summoned a sword to come out of a portal behind Cirven and stab him through his chest and drag him into a nearby wall and off of her. "I'm sorry, Cirven. I haven't had control of myself since I was brought back to life by them. I can't stop anything I'm doing but at least I was able to somehow regain my ability to talk to you one last time." Cirven could only watch as he was pulled into the wall and pinned there. "Korvin! You can't! Stop!" He yelled out between the pain of being impaled and being slowly stuck to the wall. He quickly moved his clawed hand across the front of the blade that protruded out of him and cut it off where he used his strength to pull the blade out of him and move out of its way before rushing towards Korvin who reached out towards the jewel and grabbed it. Cirven rushed forward to prevent what she was doing but before he could she threw the jewel into one of her black portals and fell towards the ground.

Cirven caught her and held her. "Are you okay? What happened?" Korvin smiled up to him. "I finished the order given to me and was able to do it for them. They don't need me anymore so the magic must have wore off. I'm sorry." Cirven closed his eyes and shook his head at her. "Don't be. I have you back now so we can deal with whatever else comes together, okay?" Tears swelled up in her eyes and she nodded back to him. "Ye..Yeah. I can get us out of here through the magic barrier now that I know what the area looks like but it will take a lot of my energy to do." He smiled at her. "Can you stand up?" She nodded to him and he helped her stand up on her own. She was wobbly for a few seconds but managed to get her footing. Cirven stood up and looked around them with a feeling of unease. "Korvin, are you ready?" She nodded to him as multiple portals opened up around them and brought in multiple Neo-Cor Torva agents all wielding magical weapons. "I have always been ready. We do this together!" Cirven stood next to his lover and smiled. "Wouldn't have it any other way." The two then fought against all of the Neo-Cor Torva members using their abilities together like a team and protecting each other as they did so. The number of Neo-Cor Torva members continued to lower but with that the number continued to grow more and more as more came through the portals which pressured the duo. "Cirven, we have to go! I can make a portal to get us back outside of the door so that we can escape but it will take a lot of my strength to do so like I said!" Cirven quickly cut down more men before responding. "Okay! Do it!" He called out to her and she quickly summoned up the portal for them to leave through and waited for him to get close to her before going through it. He moved quickly to her and before he sent through he pushed her forward wearing a smile on his face and finally said something he always wanted to say back to her. "I love you." With his words said she fell through the portal and back outside of the door where she was placed back with Ruvel and the portal closed. "No! No! Cirven! Not like this! We are supposed to do this together! No!" She yelled out at the door in front of her and banged her hands onto it. "I can't do this without you, you idiot! I need you!" She continued to bang on the door over and over as tears rushed down her face. She didn't have a way back in but that was not stopping her from trying to do so again by making a portal but her remaining energy was not enough and she was only able to manifest a portal that was too small to fit even a small mouse. She fell to her knees and slammed her fists against the door over and over. "I can't... Not after you said that to me... I just can't.." She spoke out as she continued to cry.

WC Achieved:

Ruvel listened to everything Cirven said to him tears falling he felt like he had been used in some twisted game, his emotions pushed and pulled left, right and centre every memory becoming harder for the youth to make sense of. "I hate this Cirven, it's so hard..." he sobbed, he didn't understand how this was a way to protect him, to him he was isolated from those he depended on for support and left to drift in a world he didn't know or understand. He rubbed his eyes on his left sleeve it instantly becoming wet, he was trying to see things from the others point of view but he couldn't and that was through no fault of either party but Ruvel's youth and current chaotic emotions. "You're lying! You killed your sister, she was your flesh and blood... the person you held dearest to you; if you can kill her, you could kill me easily without a second thought!" he said honestly to the other his eyes both a dull amber a sure sign that he was worn down, defeated almost.

"How could this effect me so much? Effect you so much? We've not known each other all that long but everything..." he shook his head grabbing and pulling at his hair, his head hurt badly. He stood and glared at him grabbing his wrist "You're right I am young, this is hard for me to take in and understand..." he turned his head to the side and huffed for a moment before lunging forward and striking Cirven with enough force to knock him off his feet both his eyes a dull moon blue glaring down at him, there was no softness that Ruvel normally showed within it "Don't you dare! I may not want or be able to handle this life that has been forced on me, but I am not walking away from it and you damn well better not walk away from me either Cirven!" his voice was harsh, cold, filled with defiance and determination that the elder of the two would have never heard before from the youth "Like it or not our fates, destinies or whatever you want to call it are intertwined and have been long before we met so deal with it, we're stuck with one another!" his voice showed he wasn't going to back down on the matter as the darkness came and faded everything. "Stop being selfish Cirven, we're both going back to the guild or I'm going to find a summon that can resurrect just so I can kill you myself." he grinned one of his eyes turning back to its normal dull golden amber colour "We're brothers right? We don't abandon one another no matter how bad things are." he whispered before everything was gone.

Ruvel's eyes flickered open a little but he remained unmoving feeling the twinge of pain in his body where a knife that Demi had missed had cut claiming the one crucial thing they needed. He laid their listening to the conversation between the two 'Demi knows Cirven?' he thought to himself wondering why the two didn't react to each other in the facility, he guessed this would be a question for later however. Demi looked to the Jester and chuckled "Oh yes my dear, I remember them fondly just as you do... all those entertaining battles, terrible, terrible jokes and the beatings that came afterwards." she said scratching her head with the tip of her scythe "But it wasn't all bad Trese, we had each other even if it was only for a while if we reacted how they wanted us to." she said warmly, it was as if it was a tender memory for the female "Though that was very rare indeed." she finally added with a sigh. "Idiotic clown, we were both designed to be killers! Everyone in that damn project was!" she said her tone turning angry in an instant, her hand swiping in front of her "We were the harbingers of death... the ones that where to be used to destroy the old world..." her hand pointing to Ruvel behind her "So that people like him would rule the new utopia..." she huffed sourly.

Demi held no ill will against Ruvel in the least, no one could help the role they where to play in the plan of the higher authorities game they where just pieces made for a select purpose. "Had you actually listened to them and became the weapon they wanted instead of what they classed as a failure, your sister would have likely have been sent to the facility in my place if I had to be honest so thanks for that." She didn't say any of this to be cruel to the other but to notify them what the original plan most likely had been, stabbing her weapon into the ground she put all her weight against it "To be honest Trese, it was difficult being separated from you and being paired to someone like him but something happened and I forgot Cor Torva... I forgot..." she looked to him with saddened eyes "I forgot you..." to her that was beyond unforgivable, her voice held shame in it. 'She held him dear? Demi never held anyone close not like that.' Ruvel thought to himself the whole situation seemed to be getting more complex to the youth but he remained quiet and still continuing to watch events unfold.

Hearing a little more he pushed himself up and shook his head "She didn't release you the final time, the time you killed... killed the one you held dear... you're uncle released you." he said turning his head away "Your mother used you as much as she used everyone else that went through that treatment." he continued quietly looking at him "I seen the memories... your fingers and toes being removed, how you cried when you couldn't regenerate them... the happiness when she called you Cirven, when you begged her not to do it when you were scared and how she didn't stop him harming you! I SEEN IT! THAT ISN'T LOVE... THAT ISN'T CARE! IT'S ABUSE!" tears fell from his eyes, his natural light flaring from his aura as his emotions continued to be pulled and pushed. Demi turned to Ruvel feeling the light on her wincing moving she hugged him trying to calm him knowing that if he got to worked up it be bad for his health and likely everyone else given where they where. "Rui, calm... I know it's hard but you need to" she worried that he was past the point of returning, he was ten and like herself, Cirven and Korvin had been put through more than what most people had in his short life than most did in a long lived one. "Trese... please this is to much for him." she almost begged the jester.

"Cirven isn't weak!" Ruvel called out "He has his own strengths! Like you do, if you worked together... the power would be unmatched!" he called out as he began to cough through the tears, he was becoming emotionally sick, at this point Demi was at a loss she had never seen him like this in the six years she had known him, she had to hold him back as Trese/Cirven stabbed himself in the eye and hugged him close "Cirven protects me from the ones who hurt me, who want to use me... he's rough with me but it's to make me better. He cares for me, gives me a home, a family, a purpose... that... that's not weakness." he whispered through tears and a coarse voice tears still falling as he fought against his summon to try and get to the one in control of his adoptive brothers body. "You can't blame him Trese, some of the things we went through and where forced to do... no child should have to go through that." Demi said her voice showing sorrow "Killing people never bothered me, I'm a child of the god of death it comes naturally to me though I do fight against it" she said standing picking up her scythe she pinned it through Ruvel's trousers to make sure he would stay put as she walked towards the other caressing his cheek "We all lost things we shouldn't have, we all lost or have memories taken from us that should still be there even now Trese." she said gently to the other with a sigh "But they cared little for us, we were tools to them not people." she looked to him with saddened eyes "I want the world saved as much as you do, but is it worth it if we become the monsters they made us to do it?" she asked clasping her hand in his like she had when they where younger "If we hurt people like him who shouldn't see our darkness?" she asked all she could do was watch as he opened the door giving her his answer "I'll always be by your side Trese like I promised, but I need to protect him like I was taught." she whispered kissing his cheek before jumping back to Ruvel's side picking up her scythe so he could get to his feet. "Come what may you stay here." she ordered him as the area surrounded the two in darkness.

"It's not funny Trese, there's more to it than any of us know and even you must realise that by now." she said keeping her weapon in her hand "We aren't the saviours of this world Trese, we were the ones designed to tare it down and rebuild it so people like Rui could rule over it as the new gods while we served them." Demi knew there was more to it than that but at the same time without the information there wasn't anything anyone could do but speculate the motives of those that done this to them. Ruvel listened to the words of the other and lifted his head as he was spoken to sniffling his eyes stinging, red and puffy "No matter what happens Demi, don't get involved. They may have killed her but... Cirven won't hurt me... I-I need to trust him..." Demi nodded and backed a few steps away reluctantly showing she didn't approve but would do as he wished and allow the events to play out, internally she prayed that the other was right and his trust wasn't naively misplaced or she would never hear the end of it from any of the others especially her cousins.

Ruvel kept his eyes open looking up at Cirven/Trese from his knelt position his eyes calm and gentle a soft smile on his lips "I may hate what I've been put through because of this ordeal and I my feel hurt by all of it... but you are still my big brother and if it is my time to become one with the light I'm glad you are the one doing it." his voice was calm, clear, without hesitation or fear as he spoke to the elder male watching as his hand came down and didn't flinch or move. He looked at it as it came to as sudden stop above his head. Demi watched through the darkness being a dweller of the deep void though it was hazy as her eyes where still adapting "Trese..." she whispered concerned for the other and the inner turmoil he must now be facing that she couldn't help him with.

Ruvel sat in the darkness quietly listening to everything til the screaming stopped "They're at peace again." he said with a smile as he laid back physically and emotionally tired at everything that had happened in the day. "Idiotic clown just go and get her!" Demi yelled pointing at the door and she moved to help Ruvel to a wall so he could be a little more comfortable. Ruvel's eyes went to the things on the wall his hands going over it "I... I can read this... I know what it says..." he had never been taught how to read or write normally but this text was something he was forced to learn before the ceremonies, he remembered how he thought it was just gibberish that was made to make him feel special and keep him occupied but seeing their was a place with the actual language it made him wonder even more what was going on and if they really should be here. Demi looked at the Neo Cor Torva members with a dark grin "Didn't they tell you fools, most remakes don't live up to the original." her voice mirroring her grin as she dashed forward to take care of the enemy while Ruvel proceeded to read the walls and Cirven dealt with the threat inside the vault.

Ruvel blinked as he heard a thud nearby and looked beside him to see the woman that had started this whole chain of events. His eyes moved back to Demi was walking back leaving a trail of crimson blood as she walked "Well my father is going to be happy, that angel of his most likely not so much since he'll have a lot of paperwork." she said standing by Ruvel's side once more as he stood going to the door his eyes going to Korvin "I dislike you and what pain you've caused myself and my family but I am not callous..." he whispered looking at his wrist that bled from when he done it in the illusion, he hated when things like that where vivid but it gave him what he needed "Later, you and I are having a chat before you even speak to Cirven again... Demi, for now keep an eye on her, but when you leave take her with you and heal her up." he requested, Demi looked to him "Ready to face what's on the other side of the door Rui?" she asked him watching as he nodded she smiled before holding onto Korvin's wrist "Fight against me and I'll reap you... he can still speak to the dead." she warned fading with the injured woman.

Ruvel placed his wrist against the door "I pray to you with the purity of my being, let me through." he called loudly watching as the doors opened, and walked through just to see Cirven fighting against people who had the same symbols as Korvin did. "Hear me, oh beloved ancient ones... give your strength to the worthy within your halls!" he called out his voice echoing as he began to trigger internal traps and defened to the vault, watching as the Neo Cor Torva members seemed to become confused by his words, himself and Cirven would almost feel like they had a new rush of energy going through their systems. His eyes went to Cirven for a moment before he began to walk over "Beloved ones of old, you're wards have been breached! I pray thee strengthen them!" he called out watching as the portals and the door behind him closed as the hall again listened to his words, "Seems I can read the rites and stuff on the walls... Can we please deal with this and go home.. because you have a lot of explaining to do" his voice showed he was less than impressed about the situation "Oh, and Cirven/Trase/Jester EVER speak to me like you're not going home again and we're going to have more than a minor disagreement..." he said with a huff crossing his arms, he was so done with this day and it was written all over his tired face and eyes.

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The devil jumped around the vault room dodging attack after attack but the amount of people he was up against was too much for him to simply dodge. He was forced to take hits in order to deliver some of his own and even though he was able to strike down an enemy, that did not stop the rest from continuing their assault. It showed that they were trained to be merciless and uncaring for their own allies which was a sign of the type of training that only Cor Torva would give to their best. Training that was instilled into Cirven's mind with each time he was forced into training with another Cor Torva member. His mind flashed with the memories he was forced to go through as he was a child. Over and over he was made to fight a younger Demi as if she was some sort of test dummy for his power and again and again he did not fulfill their wishes of killing her. They brought the two together and made them become closer and closer just to force them to fight and try to break either one of them but somehow they managed to keep each other strong enough to withstand the mental attacks that Cor Torva were doing. This lead to Cirven being labeled a failure as well as Demi and finding places for both of them to be. Cirven was to be killed while Demi's lineage was found out and she was forced to become something more with the sister facility that Cirven only recently found out about. It was funny to the devil how all these memories of her were locked away and she never mentioned them to him. How she kept to herself around him about everything. Did she forget it all too, like him? Or did she choose not to bring up past scars to avoid any sour moments between them? More questions crossed his mind but none of that mattered now.

He was fighting alone this time. He was alone to fight for everyone and anyone who trusted him and cared for him. He was fighting in order to save them from the cursed existence he always felt he brought to those around him. This was meant to be his last stand and he was going to take out as many of the enemy as he could with him as his closest friends and loved ones escaped or at least that was what he wanted to do. It was a fitting way for a warrior like him to go out and he would not have wanted it to happen any other way but fate seemed to have a different idea for him in the end.

Just as his strength was starting to lessen and he was starting to take more hits from his enemies due to their overwhelming numbers the doors of the vault started to move open again. This caused the Neo-Cor Torva members to quickly react and with a combination of attacks, they cornered the devil and surrounded him but before they could react fully they were stopped by the sound of Ruvel's voice and Cirven suddenly felt rejuvenated like he had been healed. He used his newfound strength to quickly deal with the enemies around him in a flashy sort of way with a powerful slash of his clawed hands which left the enemies around him slumping to the ground, lifeless. "Rui, as selfish as this sounds, this was supposed to be my way of saving you." He spoke out not wanting to make eye contact towards his mentee and instead looked out towards the enemy that still remained with the portals closing around them. "This was to end the curse that was known as Trase to the world. It was to fix that wrongs I have committed and leave things in better place than what they were in without me..." He spoke out and finally was able to look at Ruvel as the enemy started to retreat. He moved closer to his mentee and continued speaking. "It was to repent for my sister, for my mother, for Korvin and even for what I did to Demi. It was for all of that that I wanted to be left to die here in this vault with a smile on my face." His tone was not angered or harsh but was saddened by what had just happened. He felt like even when he had some sort of control that it was always stripped away from him and left up to whoever else to guide him down the path he was meant to go, even if that meant if it was one covered in dirt and loneliness or a bloody one. "I can't say I'm happy that you are here but thank you. Looks like I have more to do he-"

The devil's voice was cut off as he suddenly saw Korvin's hand move outward towards him and Ruvel. His instincts told him something wasn't right and he pushed Ruvel out of the way as four  portals like the ones the enemy had come out of, started to form around the two. Dark blades started to come out of the portals aimed at Cirven and Ruvel while all he could do was close his eyes and accept it. He could only think that there was something wrong with Korvin again that forced her to kill him and he accepted that fact, after all she had no reason to attack Ruvel and he was a constant target of Cor Torva which would be even more so now seeing as he remembered everything. He waited for the pain to rush over all of his body but all he felt was some of the blades hit his upper shoulders and nothing serious. He opened his eyes to see that the blades missed him because of black portals placed around him. "Korvin! Nice wor-" He stopped speaking as he saw the one girl he cared for the most covered in stab wounds from the black blades that were fired at him. "These..Would have ..killed you.." Korvin tried to speak but fell to the ground next to Demi. Cirven ran to her and at first did not know where he could touch her that did not hurt her but her words changed that. "Are... You... Okay...?" She used her most of her strength to speak to him and push herself up from the ground. "Korvin.. Why did you...? Why couldn't you just let me die!?" He couldn't help but yell out to her. "Because..
I love.. yo..u.. Id..i..ot.." Her words became softer and softer as she spoke less and less. Cirven quickly wrapped his arms around her and as much as he did not want to show it to anyone around him his eyes swelled up in tears. "You can't go. I just got you back! You were supposed to live and I was supposed to die here! No the other way around!" Korvin could not reply back but she smiled and laid in her lover's arms as she died. Cirven felt completely helpless over what was happening as he held her. "Rui, make a new contract." He spoke to his mentee as he laid Korvin's body onto the ground. "I won't lose her to something like. I won't allow it! She wanted to protect us then she could keep doing something of the same for us that way as well as still be alive somehow. So please just make this right..." He held her as more of the portals formed some distance away from them allowing more enemies to appear out of them. "I will protect you." There was a new resolve to the devil as he lowered his lover's body onto the ground for Ruvel to do what he needed with. He took a few steps forward towards the enemies in front of him and the entire area around him and them was covered in complete darkness. Ruvel, Demi and Korvin's body were left outside of the darkness and all that could be heard from inside of it was the sound of the screams of men before they died over and over again until finally it stopped and the darkness was sucked away like some sort of drain formed in thin air leaving nothing but Cirven left standing where it was. "I did your job, Demi. Sorry." He said as he moved towards Ruvel and her.

Ruvel looked at the elder male tilting his head as he walked closing his eyes not wanting to see the blood of those on the floor, he almost fell over the 'obstacles' in his way due to it on hearing Cirven's voice his eye opened in a cold glare "You're damn right it is selfish!" the tone he spoke in showed just how much irritation he held at the current moment. "And tell me, if you died here and now protecting me... then what?" he swiped his hand in front of him "I blame myself for your death..." tears falling once more "Again I'm left alone in a world I don't know or understand... hunted..." his voice showing he meant every word he said "They find me... I panic... they drag me back... I break... become one of the lost" his eyes closed as he cried into his hands, he was scared of that fate not knowing what one like him would be used for.

Hearing his next words he turned around and put all his strength, anger and frustration into a single punch catching his unaware mentor off guard knocking him to the ground his eyes glaring "I don't who you think your a curse to, but not to me, not to Korvin or Demi... the guild looks up to you..." he said kneeling next to him "The only one who sees your existence as a curse is you... you're not a weapon anymore but a defender." he tried to talk sense into the other but he had no idea if he was even listening to him on the matter, he knew he was younger but he was trying to speak like he was older and had no idea if he was doing it right but it was from the heart. "Repent?" he thought a little on the word touching the others heart "They are all in there, live so they might live with you." he said with a smile "That is the best way to repent" he said hugging him crying into his shoulder, he was scared to lose the one person that made the frightening and unknown new world he was brought into. "We're brothers and will face it all together... come what may..." he whispered.

He looked up smiling hearing Cirven's voice but hearing him being cut off he looked worried as he was about to look around he was pushed away from the four portals that appeared around them "C-Cirven..." he had no idea what was going on he just wanted it to stop regardless, his eyes filling with fright as he seen the dark blades he moved to be back at the others side. He refused to let Cirven die alone and long ago accepted the fate that his death could come at any point for any reason, but nothing hit him he could only guess it was because the other had used himself as a shield. When he looked even Cirven had came out relatively unscathed and found himself now wondering what was gong on, but then he seen it Korvin the woman who started these events today had used herself as a shield to protect the two his eyes trembled not knowing what exactly to think on the matter.

Demi was lent against her staff watching the events unfold, she was there to make sure Ruvel was safe and reap where needed nothing more, nothing less. Ruvel had stood slowly following the emotional elder male and knelt beside him "I pray to thee, oh beloved ancient ones dispel the darkness from your halls." he called out his voice echoing as he activated another hidden trap causing the dark blades to vanish so Cirven could hug the other properly, he blinked hearing what the other said about forming a new contract "C-Cirven..." his voice low, he didn't know how to say that he couldn't make contracts with the dead, that all his summons where alive, he took a deep breath looking at Demi for a second "She has passed, I-I can't make a contract with her..." he said his voice filled with sorrow, he wanted to grant his elder brother's wish but as things stood he just couldn't.

Demi looked down to Cirven and Ruvel for a moment remaining completely still and silent "That's not entirely true Rui..." she said crossing her arms looking away "I can refuse to reap her, though it would be breaking my father's rules." she continued bringing out a small pale green orb and brought it to eye level within it Korvin's soul "You are lucky you died protecting them, had it been anyone else I would have personally taken pleasure in torturing you..." she said in a cold harsh tone that made Ruvel flinch "Don't make me regret this at any point little sister." she said dropping the orb watching as it fell into Korvin's mouth "You only have a few minutes tops Rui, if she dies again I have to reap her properly and you won't be given another chance." she warned him watching as he nodded taking her hands.

"My name is Ruvel, those who are kinder to me call me Rui because it's kinder... I am weak, fragile and sickly.. without help I'm not longed for this world." he whispered keeping eye contact with her "Please agree to come to my aid when I call, so I might prolong your life.. so I might for once do something for another that would bring them joy and happiness through something that doesn't..." he looked away tears falling it was hard for him he had never had to make a contract under such circumstances "Hurry Rui..." Demi warned making him look back "That doesn't involve fighting... I am like you, Demi and Cirven but I'm... please... help..." tears fell from his eyes rolling down her cheek as the fell from his watching as her eyes closed once more, his eyes going to look at Demi to see if he had managed it.

"The contract is forming Rui, she will be reborn and then the contract terms can be spoken of." Demi said before her eyes looked at Cirven "Never put him or me in a predicament like that again Trase... I broke the rules of death and he made a contract that should never have existed under the circumstances, know that there will be backlash for him" she sighed fading with Korvin's dead form leaving the two alone as she now had to help her new 'sister' find her footing as a child of death. Ruvel had used the little of his energy that remained in that one act causing him to faint onto Cirven shivering as if effected by the cold, they had defied their fates and even death that day but who knew what was to come in doing so?

Word Count: 1'146
Total Word Count: 15'578