Ashes of the Beautiful

It was weird. Ruben sensed something around this area. Ironically,this is the area where he took that job with his new team member. He thinks her name is Aura? That sounds right. Anyway,he had to come around here to meet her for some job concerning cherry blossoms falling everywhere. He doesn't see the problem though,they are quite beautiful. That is when he sensed it though. The magic in the area. He could smell it. It was different from Aura's. It came from the trees? Wait,that doesn't make any sense though. Why would the trees give off magic energy? Unless. The cherry blossoms! That is why the job was there. Ruben looked down at his feet to find them covered in petals. And they reached all the way to the top of his shins! "WHAT THE?" Ruben exclaimed loudly while wildly flailing his legs around. "I got to find Aura,NOW! Sin,can you detect Aura nearby?" His demon friend appeared on his arm as just a face,looked around and gestured over to the area where Aura was. "Thanks buddy. AURA! I'M COMING!" Ruben said as he ran around the garden,looking around as the petals piled up higher and higher. He stopped multiple times on his trip to Aura to kick them around, and stop them from piling up. He finally turned the final corner he needed to reach Aura. "Aura! The petals are piling up everywhere. It's getting extremely out of hand! We need to stop this now,or they'll form a wall. And it won't be a good one!"

It was Ruben that came from the little maze and something seemed to be troubling him. She knew he had a bunch of energy but man was he yelling. As she looked around at what she saw, she started to understand what Ruben was talking about as she saw the petals of the cherry blossoms rising, slowly but surely. As he was yelling she shushed him as she tried to focus on what the heck was happening, and where the heck it was coming from.

When she looked around the maze of bushes, the sense of magic started to get stronger as she peered around the corner. As her eyes met with a strange shadow, she realized it was a girl with brown hair of some sort. Her hair looked like they had sparkles in them but on further inspection, they seemed to be the glistening of the cherry blossoms produced. She seemed to be charging up some sort of beam that had cherry blossom petals flowing around it as it spread out into a dome a few meters above the area. The petals were falling so beautifully as they touched to the ground. As Aura got closer to this girl, the petals seemed to become more of a calming feeling than a one of despair.

As she got drawn into the calmness of the mage, she looked at Aura dead in the eyes and smiled an evil grin. As she pointed at Aura she saw 4 creatures made of petals as they danced around her and Ruben. It was mesmerizing until the toe of one of them spinning, smashed her right into the side of the stomach. She grabbed onto her stomach and wondered what she was going to do next as the dancers spun around the 2 of them.

wc: 301
Tc: 797/2000
Notes-too lazy for my template xd

Ruben was about to say something else,when he was shushed by Aura. He watched as she peeked around a corner. "Umm,Aura? What are you looking at," Ruben said to his teammate as he peeked around the corner with her. He then saw the dark mage. "Who in the world is she?" he asked Aura. "HEY! WHO ARE YOU?!" Ruben shouted out to the dark mage. No response. "Hey! I asked you a question!" Ruben watched as the mage pointed towards Aura and 4 petal dancers appeared around them? "What in the world?! What the hell are these things?! And why do they look like cheery blossoms?!" Ruben scratched his head,before deciding to take the offensive. He tried to punch one of the dancers,but it just gracefully dodged. "Huh?" He tried again,and it missed. Again,miss. He tried a kick,then that was a miss. He then tried to tackle one of them,but was dodged and ended up falling flat on the ground,now laying down on a bed of cherry blossoms. "Alright then! How about you guys take a bit of-AAAAH" Ruben was interrupted by one of the cherry blossom creature things jumping on his back and spinning around. "Get off of me you annoying ballerina!!" Ruben shouted again.

OOC:Sorry for taking so long to post. IRL issues ;-;

Aura could tell that Ruben was distressed as she heard his yelps coming from the opposite direction of her. She decided with a heavy heart that she could not help him, especially since there were still 3 more of the dancers surrounding her. They seemed to be very persistent in trying to defeat her so she yelled out to Ruben in confidence and said, "Don't worry Ruben. I know you can handle yourself, especially after your audition. You are strong, so don't let one of these "flower dancers" hurt you. As she took the book hanging from her leg, she enlarged it to reveal a huge star embroidered with many jewels. With her hand grasping it, she flipped the pages to try and find the perfect fairytale for her little situation. As she stopped on one, she smiled as she read the fairytale's title aloud. She yelled out to the dancers, as they flinched at the words, "The girl with a taste for revenge! Open gate of the vengeful, Little Red Riding Hood!"

As she reached into the page, she felt a key and lifted it straight into the air. As she waved it up into the air, 2 scythes shot from them in the form of a heart. As the scythes came apart, they clashed back together and turned into a girl with a red hood. Along with this was a black eye patch with red thread sewed on to form a heart. In her 2 hands, held a large scythe that seemed warm but yet felt could to the soul. As she looked around, she smiled as she saw some opponents she could defeat. She said aloud, "Hmmm...they may not be human but I will find a way to make them bleed." With a grin, she raised up her scythe as though she was getting ready for war.

Aura put an arm in front of Red as she tried to dash to an enemy. With question on her face, she asked Aura, "Hey! Why did you do that? I was just about to have fun." Aura looked firmly and seriously at Red and said, "We need one more friend. I don't want us to kill ourselves before the main enemy. We have to stay safe before its too late and we don't have anything left for her." As Aura pointed to the mysterious mage, Red nodded as though she could sense the magical power emitting from the female mage.

As Red calmed down, Aura got ready and flipped through the pages like she was lighting. As she turned to the page she wanted she read aloud the words, "The sugary beast! Open gate of the runaway, The Gingerbread Man!" As the little guy came out, he had a high and peppy voice. It was as though he was a 6-year-old boy, but he wasn't. Instead, he was what his name implied, a gingerbread cookie in the shape of a man. This was not like any cookie though, it could walk and speak and more. He had 3 gumdrops on his belly to resemble buttons, as well as frosting near the middles of his arms and legs to form, was seemed like a little outfit. His eyes and mouth seemed to be some sort of black frosting that seemed delicious. Before Aura could eat the gingerbread man, she stopped herself and turned away. The GingerBread Man said aloud to Aura and Red, "Oh boy! We are definitely not in the oven anymore."

With that line, everyone began to tense up as they prepared for battle. Aura seemed confident in the abilities of her spirits and raised up her book as though it was a weapon and charged. On her sides were her fateful spirits. The gingerbread man seemed to be taking a ride on the shoulder of Red. Red seemed very beautiful as her hair flowed in the wind as though they were as graceful as the sunlight that comes from the sky. In awe, Aura looked away and tried not to pay attention, so she just looked forward and aimed for the dancer right in front of her.

wc:690
tc:1480/2000

@Ruben Seranus

Ruben clenched his hand into a fist. "Look Ruben,if you need help,you know what you can do. Just a little bit of blood or a simple yes can give control over to me and I can help you out. You can trust me buddy. I'll make sure not to do anything too reckless," Sin said to Ruben. Ruben raised his hand towards his mouth before deciding to just let Sin take control of his body,instead of going demon mode. "Alright then Sin. I'm trusting you with my body. Don't fail!" Ruben fell limp for a split second before suddenly standing up and grabbing the cherry blossom dancer. A small laugh came from Ruben. "It's so funny how some people are useless,especially when grabbed." Ruben's small laugh became louder and more hysterical. His voice became more high pitched and would change pitch occasionally. "So,how would you like to die? Oh,I know!" Ruben made a ball of lightning appear in his hand. "This is to weaken you a little bit. Then the real fun begins!" He slammed the ball into the dancer. "You may be tough,but your nothing once your stunned!" Ruben then begun slamming his fist down onto the dancer repeatedly. Over,and over,and over,and...you get the idea. He didn't stop when it was dead. He only stopped when it was useless except as dye. "Dang Sin. It was already dead! You didn't have to  beat it into dye!" Ruben told Sin in his mind. Ruben,or rather Sin,took a little bit of the dye and made a crooked line on his cheek. He walked over to Aura and stood beside her. "I took out one of the dancers. Now there is some red dye on me," Ruben said to her while pointing to the mark on his cheek and some that got on his clothes. "So what about the others? Do you want me to take care of the others,or..." Ruben paused for a moment and turned towards Aura's summons and pointed at them. "Let these two take care of it?" His arm started to be covered in electricity. He then aimed it at one of the dancers,preparing to fire at it when it's needed.

As she saw Ruben defeat his attacker, Aura said to him, "Ruben take on one of these weird creatures for me. I have confidence that my spirits can defeat the last two." As Aura nodded towards her spirits, they nodded back as they got prepared for battle. Aura sprinted out of the circle that the 2 dancers surrounded her and her spirits in, and got to safety. She made sure that they wouldn't be able to attack her from the spot she was in. As she stood by a cherry blossom pile, she looked to see her summons working in unison as they hit the dancers with ease.

As she looked at Gingy, she saw Gingy eat one of his gumdrops, as he became a tad bit bigger. She saw as he became more energized. With that, he speedily hit the enemies multiple times. As this was happening, Red yelled aloud and said, "Red Cleavage!" As she said this, she swung her scythe around in a circle as she made wounds on the 2 dancers. They now seemed to be in distress as red dye came from each wound. Aura could tell that this wasn't real blood but she felt that it was the same as real blood for them. With that Red had slashed at them multiple times, inflicting even more wounds. They seemed to be winning until the dancers started closing in on them.

The dancers got closer and closer and started to hit her spirits more frequently. It wasn't until she heard a scream from Gingy that she realized how dire the situation was. He was now on the ground. one of his legs seemed to be broken off, and his smile turned to frown. As he laid on the ground, Red screamed in sadness as she saw her friend hurt. She seemed to be getting hurt more and more as the dancers closed in. She was wounded, which made it hard for her to focus along with her paralyzation from a friend dying.

All of a sudden Aura and Red both heard a voice. It sounded familiar, it was Gingy's voice. It was odd though, he was supposed to be back in his key. Somehow though, Gingy was still talking. Aura then remembered something, she remembered how he stayed alive for a limited amount of time. After a few moments later, Gingy forced Red to eat him. It was truly tragic, but she had to in order to win this fight. The moment he touched her mouth, he evaporated as a few of the wounds on Red disappeared. As she stood up, she pounded the handle of her scythe on the ground, and shouted with anger, "Red Explosion!"

Suddenly a red beam shot out towards the dancers as it zapped them. A few moments later they evaporated into ashes. With that, Red asked to be unsummoned. Aura complied and sent her back to her key. With that, she looked over to Ruben to see if he managed the last dancer.

wc: 504
tc: 1984/2000

Ruben laughed hysterically for a second before firing the bolt at the dancer. He charged and attempted to tackle the dancer,but it dodged out of the way. Ruben stood up and picked up some petals. "These petals. They are truly beautiful. I would take some with me if they weren't causing a massive problem and probably cursed," Ruben let out a little chuckle before speaking again,"You see,you are one of the reasons I don't take one of these petals. They'll probably turn into one of your brothers or sisters or whatever gender you guys are. If you even have a gender." Ruben closed his eyes and smelled the petals,their aroma filling his nostrils. "But alas,you must die." Ruben's eyes opened and his sclera had black marks,going towards his pupil. He chuckled again. "Enough of this playing around," the dancer went in for a kick and it hit,but soon realized that it would regret that,"It's time for some fun." Ruben bit the dancer on the leg,causing it to jump back in surprise and distress.

Ruben turned towards the others,and see Aura's summons attacking the dancers. "They got their share down. Now for mines!"
Ruben grabbed the dancer's leg and lifted up into the air. "Fun times await!" He slammed it down into the ground and began stomping on it repeatedly. It rolled out of the way and gracefully moved around Ruben. Another hit,to the side,and then another,to the head. Ruben held his head in pain and looked at the dancer angrily. "Sin,are you sure you can handle this fight?" The actual Ruben said. "Don't worry about it!" Sin said. Ruben's sclera got covered in more black leaving only a fraction of white left in Ruben's eyes. He went in to grab the dancer,but the dancer dodged and countered with a kick to the back. Ruben fell down to the ground in pain. That's when he heard the scream. Aura,she's having trouble and here he is,getting defeated by one little dancer. Ruben stood up as his sclera gets completely taken over by the black. The dancer moved slowly over to where he was. It prepared another attack when it was hit in the face by a kick. Ruben looked at the dancer,with hatred in his eyes. "You little dancing bastards are my enemy and anyone that hurts my friends,or gets in my way shall die." Ruben raised his fist high in the air,that was starting to turn completely black and slammed it down on the dancer. He grabbed it,then ripped it in half.

After Ruben was finally done,staring at the dancer,he turned towards the dark mage. "You!" Ruben's voice became high pitch and sounds like it was going up and down in pitch,but never going below a certain point. "I had it up to here with you!" Ruben raised his hand to go along with his sentence. "I'll make sure you die by my hand!" Ruben charged at the mage and prepared to tackle them but got hit by her spell. Her spell,was a massive expanding dome of cherry blossoms,that was growing fast. Ruben was sent flying back into a cherry blossom tree,causing more blossoms to fall on him. His head hung low,making it seem like he was incapacitated,and a small trickle of blood flowed down his head. "Sin? Sin,wake up! We got hit by that spell! We got to get up and help Aura. She can't fight that woman by herself!"

Aura had looked over to Ruben to see that he was blasted into a tree by...cherry blossoms? Aura looked over at the female mage across from her and gritted her. Aura yelled at the mage and said to her, "You will not get by, by hitting my teammate. I'll make you pay for that!" She flipped the pages of her book as she landed on the page titled "The Mother and Son." She reached into the right page and phased her hand through it. As her air felt the rush of cold air hit her hand, she felt as a metal key touched it. As she took it out, she went to another page as well. This one was named "The Golden Thief." She reached into the page of that one as well, to pull out another silver key. She then yelled out to say, "The Golden Thief and The Winged Backstabber, come out of your gates and form an alliance to help me defeat this evil lady. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, open gate of the thief and backstabber, Goldilocks and Pegasus!" All of a sudden, a bright golden heart with wings came out of it. As the heart popped, feathers surrounded it to show Goldilocks(in her lovely form) riding Pegasus.
They seemed to be in unison, but not fused...just perfectly in tune. It was so glorious to see, the mage was captivated by the sight, and got herself into a stunned state. That was her mistake because even though the 2 looked glorious they were fierce, cruel, and deadly. Pegasus flew into action and kicked the mage down, sending her into extreme pain. That's not all, however, while she was trying to get up Goldilocks cracked her whip at her and sent her back down once more. The 2 kept flurrying her until she decided it was time to fight back. As Pegasus and Goldi tried to go in for one more hit, she yelled as a dome made of cherry blossoms exploded around her. It knocked back both Pegasus and Goldilocks into a tree. As the cherry blossoms cleared, what was unleashed was the magic turned into what looked like an empress of the cherry blossoms. She laughed at Aura and said, "That was pitiful." However, Aura knew the mage was lying due to the limp in her leg, and the fact that she had to hold her arm. Aura yelled back at her and said, "Don't you dare call me pitiful. You are going to become captured and then I will never have to see your PITIFUL-" Before Aura could finish her sentence and subdue the mage, she heard a sound coming from behind her.

wc:453
tc:don't want to do math since I already know Im done

"Sin! Wake up! Si.." "Quiet with the yelling!" Ruben's body,still incapacitated,began to fall limp. "I never thought I would have to do this. Ruben,I apologize for any damage done to your body after this," Sin said. "What do you mean?" Ruben was starting to get confused when he finally realized. "No. Sin,don't do it!" Ruben said,but it was no use. Sin's mind was set,and there's no changing it. Ruben's body began to stir to life. His head raised up slowly and where his eyes would usually be there were spirals surrounded by black,with white marks coming down from them,almost like they were tears. Ruben's face started to turn completely black,followed by his neck,arms,torso,legs,and eventually his entire body was overtaken. Ruben's hand then jolted up and he bit his hand,and drank a drop of his blood. A massive black aura emanated from Ruben,followed by dust surrounding him. When the dust cleared,what was left behind,wasn't Ruben. It looked like a person's shadow,but without arms or legs. Its eyes are still spirals and its mouth was nothing but jagged teeth. When it opened its mouth,all you can see inside was white. it had Ruben's hair,still white with black tips. "Aura. It's me,Sin. What Ruben told you about me is true. This is why you never doubt him. But anyway,it's over now. Stand back!" Sin sprouted arms,that looked the same as Ruben's except for small quills,that were black like Sin,and white claws at the end of each finger. He charged at the dark mage,but by slithering on the ground like a snake. The girl only looked at him confused,before that confusion turned to fear. Sin suddenly came up from the ground and grabbed the mage. "I'm just gonna throw this out there. This is coming from me,not from Ruben,but it sucks that this beauty is going to be kept behind bars. It'll truly suck to see you behind bars with that face,if it still looks the same after this," Sin said. He chuckled,before continuing,"So,how will it be? Do you want to be clawed,and pass out from blood loss,or knocked out from a lot of force and pain? Or perhaps both?" "Why are you doing this? Why can't you just subdue me now and send me behind bars? I'm injured and can barely use my arm and leg. Why do you want to torture me? Aren't you a legal mage?" the mage asked. "Oh? I thought you were fine? If I remember correctly,you said Aura was pitiful. Also,you ain't talking to a legal mage anymore. You aren't even talking to a human right now. I'm Sin,the demon,and I'm here because you injured my friends body. Look at this!" Sin moved some of the hair on his head,and showed a wound,not that large,with white blood leaking slowly from the wound. "This is just one of the wounds on this body! So,where is that little cherry blossom explosion you used before?" Sin said. The mage raised her hand to Sin's face,and it glowed a pink hue. "Something new? Well I'll be damned!" A beam of cherry blossoms came from the mage's hand,similar to the one Aura saw before. Sin moved his head to the left,but the beam still grazed him,causing a piece of him to be covered in cherry blossoms. "This body can't handle much more injury. I'll end this now." Sin threw the mage on the ground with extreme force,causing cracks to form in the ground beneath. He then raised a fist high in the air and slammed it down on her chest. He checked her pulse. "Okay,she's still alive. We're good Aura!" Sin exclaimed. He picked up the mage and carried her towards Aura by sliding. "So what now?"