Chapter Text
It was a clear and warm autumn night; the midnight moon was shining over the streets which connected the WestFort Academy to the city downhill.
Nikolaus Aren walked down the empty streets, towards the student residence, his posture was hunched from exhaustion. The same exhaustion dragged his charismatic, pale face down, reddened his ice-blue eyes, and caused his curly black hair to jolt unorderly.
He wore his school jacket and black tie loosely. Even so, his presence was unmistakable, a charisma unrivaled by any, at least in his opinion.
He waddled along, his mouth spouting random lines from Hamlet drenched in passion and excitement.
“You’re ready. You’re an exemplar. Your performance tomorrow will be the definition of perfection!” he commented by himself, loosening his tie before concluding, “I just hope the others won’t drag my perfection down” With rich arrogance.
“The queen bee sits atop her throne, overlooking the worker bees with disgust…” a cracking voice referred to him from the blind alley. “The workers, without whom she would be nothing”
The man came out of the shadow and looked Nikolaus in the eye, he was a ghastly figure concealed under a torn grey cloak. Nikolaus could make up open wounds still dripping blackened blood. As his eyes climbed up to the man’s concealed face, he noticed the two red eyes staring him down.
Nikolaus simply gave him a thumbs up and started walking again without thinking any further.
His response entertained the mysterious guy as a grin stretched across his face. His enjoyment didn’t last long however as he puked out a large amount of blood in pain.
“Fucking hell… Don’t fail me now” He cried silently, his voice shaking in pain. He puked out another stream of blood, more painful than the previous one.
Nikolaus halted for a second to process the situation. A mistake he would come to regret almost instantly.
Seizing the opportunity, the mysterious man charged the young boy. He could barely react, stepping back and raising his hands to block the man, a split second too late.
With the same impressive speed, he drew out a butterfly sword under his cloak and swept it downwards upon the young boy’s face. Taking his right eye with it.
Nikolaus immediately fell back, covering his scar with both his hands, he tried to hide his pain but still cried loudly in shock.
The mysterious man looked down on the boy with pity, “Sorry, kid. The truth is… I’m dying. And I need your body to keep going” He explained, raising his sword to deliver the final blow.
Niklaus breathed heavily, the fear and pain had gripped him, causing his limbs to convulse and his head to go dizzy. Yet, with death crawling on his back, the young man stood up. Leaving his enemy momentarily dumbfounded.
Looking over the hunched shoulders of the stranger, Nikolaus noticed the ledge of a two-story building directly behind his dizzy vision.
The young man’s face soured in fear from the impossibility of the task. With a cold gulp, he bent his knees and looked onto the ledge as if an actual lifeline.
“Joke’s over, little boy” The mysterious man declared, reaching for the boy with his free hand. Only to end up grabbing air.
Faster than he could have hoped to notice, Nikolaus had jumped beyond human capacity towards his goal. The mysterious man looked on in awe as the young medic’s arc hit its apex and started to fall.
Nikolaus found himself smiling as he closed down on the ledge, however, with each passing second, he came to doubt the distance. Realizing all too late that he wasn’t going to clear the building.
With arms frantically flailing around, the young man barely managed to hold onto the ledge with both hands, absorbing the impact head-on. He managed to hold on for a second longer before his strength gave out.
A loud rubble rang as Nikolaus fell feet first onto a pile of trash.
The stranger sighed at Nikolaus’ failure to use his eccentricity with pity, he wasn’t rich with time. And Nikolaus’ futile attempts only worsened the situation for them both. he started waddling towards the young man at a calm pace.
Nikolaus tried to crawl away from the stranger with all the modicum of strength he had left in him, but the wall behind him kept him pinned, leaving no escape route for him to go.
The stranger’s advance fastened, fueled by exhaustion and determination in equal measure.
“You could have just listened to me, but instead you had to ruin your own body! That’s my body, you idiot!” He vailed.
As soon as he reached Nikolaus a strong voice called out from the rooftop to the right, “That’s far enough, leave the kid be”
Both men looked up to the roof as the stranger instinctively took a step backward, they saw a white-haired and green-eyed man in grey-white attire. The lower half of his fair face was hidden behind a basic white bandana.
Nikolaus recognized the figure, though his vision was bad he knew the figure all too well, “Amadeus?” He murmured by himself, hope returning to his voice.
The stranger regarded the young man with a hostile glare. Before coughing out a few drops of blood in secret.
“Not this shit… Not now” The stranger whispered. “Spoken like an officer, let me guess, Enforcer?” He questioned aloud.
Amadeus jumped down from the roof with exquisite acrobatic skill. Then, he showed a golden-white badge with engravings of a blindfolded female face crowned by thorns as he landed.
“I should make this quick before the backup arrives then” The stranger threatened.
“Spoken as if you can do anything. Don’t try something you’ll regret” Amadeus replied coldly as he moved closer to the man.
After a brief moment of silence, both men rushed at each other, their velocity making it almost impossible to see what happened. After a second both men stood at the other’s previous position, Amadeus had a brand-new scar across his left arm, and the mysterious man had five transparent strings attached across his chess.
Amadeus, looking squarely at his opponent pulled the strings extending from his fingertips, the stranger collapsed to the ground as he cried a painful moan.
“…That’s all you’ve got? I could barely feel it!” He grunted as more and more blood made its way out of his mouth.
“It is just procedure; an enforcer should avoid using lethal force if possible. I’m simply trying to stop you from killing this boy. So please, don’t make me do something I don’t have to” Answered Amadeus. Releasing his stance as an invitation to peace. He twitched his eyes towards Nikolaus for a second, praying silently for him.
The young medic was trying to keep his scar from bleeding out as his power got drained with each passing second, he ended up so weak that he couldn’t keep his eye open anymore and fell unconscious.
The stranger looked towards his enemy with anger as he noticed the state Nikolaus was in and took a stance for an attack, Amadeus saw what was coming, he warned with disappointment.
“Don’t you think that you are taking this too far? No need to act so bold and foolish!” His hope, however, did not last long.
“There is no coming back for me, boy!” The stranger snapped, “I have no future, no hope, and only one out…”
He cried with gritted teeth, the fury he extracted would have been intimidating, if not for his sorrowful eyes, he cried a few tears in silence.
“I figured as much. Then there is only one thing left to do, to lament” Amadeus responded as he escaped his eyes from the strangers. After a deep breath, he took his stance one more.
His response bewildered the stranger for a second before he complied, “…And lament I will. For you” with confidence and rushed with all the power left in his body.
However, Amadeus was simply too agile for him, as he dodged the stranger’s attack and pressed on his back with all ten of his fingers in a split second notice, by the time the stranger realized what was happening, it was too late.
Amadeus twitched his fingers professionally, causing a giant scar to scatter the stranger’s back, leaving the open and bleeding vivid red crevasse behind.
The stranger shouted in agony and turned back to see Amadeus, already looking at him, as their eyes met Amadeus spoke with calm sympathy, “You had your chance. Shame you didn’t take it” His cold words echoed through the dead end.
The stranger widened his eyes with fear and despair, but quickly found hope as he saw Nikolaus, lying wounded and unconscious.
He started whispering sadly and dropped onto his knees. His play had successfully disarmed Amadeus’ vigilance as the enforcer slowly approached the dying man. Thanking the misplaced trust the young enforcer had given him, the stranger smirked and threw a handful of dust onto his face, temporarily blinding him.
With a painful grunt, the stranger leaped back on his feet. Two agonizing steps later he stood before Nikolaus, “It’s not over…not yet” He declared as he reached for an open scar under his raincoat.
Amadeus finally cleared his eyes, just to see the dying man placing his hand on Nikolaus’ scar. With overflowing anger, the enforcer charged the man and kicked him on the side of his head, sending him onto the wall to his left.
“Nikolaus!” He gasped, cleaning the stranger’s blood off of the young medic’s face. The young medic groaned silently in pain, relieving Amadeus of his fears.
The enforcer then turned his attention to the mysterious man, but his anger perished instantly as he noticed the limp figure before him. The man had died.
“Medic, my position, now!” The enforcer calmly spoke into the inbuilt communication device within his badge and stood up, looking longingly to the night sky.
-
The next morning Nikolaus woke up in a hospital room with a sore feeling in his head, his discomfort was obvious from his face as he placed a palm on his head, only to realize that most of his right side was covered in bandages, he jolted out of the bed to check the damage.
“Take it easy. You’ve been through a lot” Amadeus ordered as he lifted his tired body from the couch by the left of the room.
“How long was I out? I can’t miss the play today” Nikolaus said as he established his balance.
“…Around eight hours. I wouldn’t mind the play though. You’re in bad shape. And your eye…” told the Enforcer from the corner, it was obvious that he was serious from the look in his green eyes, even the scar on his mouth looked bigger to Nikolaus as he turned and looked at him, a cold drop of sweat dropped from his face.
After an awful moment of silence, Nikolaus turned back to the mirror and said, “No no, I’ll be fine. Just get me an eyepatch and let me be”
“Stop acting so reckless, you somehow survived losing liters of blood, your eye, and a pretty bad fall, you need to rest” Warned Amadeus, as he started walking towards the boy.
“Look, I appreciate that you are keeping an eye on me, but I have been practicing over this play for months, I wouldn’t stop even if I had lost an arm!” Said Nikolaus, as he turned around.
The enforcer sighed in defeat, “I’d figured losing one eye would not going to stop you, fine, but I don’t want to find you bleeding in a dark alley again, okay?” he offered.
“That does remind me, how did you find me? And what happened to that guy? God… asking questions gives me a headache” Responded the young medic with a hand on his forehead.
“I saw you falling off of the roof. And the guy who attacked you… he’s dead” Answered the scarred man as he handed an eyepatch to Nikolaus, already knowing what he would have chosen beforehand.
“That’s a relief” said the young medic as he started undoing the bandages on his face.
He tried to position the eye patch to hide the scar as best as he could, tilting, and re-doing his hair. The best he could still showed some of it downwards on his cheek.
After putting his uniform back on he turned around to head for the exit, accidentally hitting himself on a beam to his right. “Argh!... I didn’t see that coming”
Amadeus lifted his cousin back up by the arm, “Seems to me that you still need to adjust, but if you insist on doing the play there is nothing I can do, I’ll leave”
“By the way, could you keep this little event a secret, I don’t want people to get clingy about this. You know how my mom would act if she had heard this.” the boy asked with a smile.
“You are going to hide the fact that you’ve lost an eye? I suppose I can keep quiet for a while” The enforcer responded and looked at Nikolaus for a moment before leaving the room, smiling.
After closing the door, however, Amadeus’ smile turned into a serious look of worry. He thought about what the doctor had told him last night,
- ‘Five points of internal bleeding, four broken ribs, and vital amounts of blood loss. He’s stable now, but he’s going to be bedridden for a couple of days at least’-
As the medic’s words echoed in his mind so did the image of Nikolaus, acting as if nothing had happened last night, Amadeus walked away in frustration. His eyes dimmed with fatigue.
At the same time, Nikolaus made his way outside, rushing to make it to F.A. in time for the play.
After a while of running, the young man had finally reached the F.A. It was a century-old great building atop a hill with a modernized interior, a gorgeous fusion of old and new.
While he was walking down the alley to reach his classroom, he noticed the odd stares from the other students. Most glanced at his scar for a moment and immediately turned away, fewer looked on in curiosity as Nikolaus walked by, and fewer still dared to comment.
“That looks painful” A girl commented in pity.
“What the hell? Is this some sort of a joke?” A young man questioned rudely to his friends.
“Theater kids. Always trying to get all the eyes on themselves” Yet another criticized.
-So much for not getting noticed. And now, the true hell begins- Nikolaus thought as he opened the door to MED-2, his classroom.
“Nikolaus?! Oh my god! Dude! You look terrible, what happened? I thought you had left early to practice- A taller, olive-skinned student with a flat-top haircut, prominent nose, and not-so-prominent belly questioned as he jolted from his desk and circled Nikolaus.
“Heyy… Antonio, sorry I couldn’t make it to the dorm yesterday, an… accident, yes yes an accident happened, and I was at the hospital” Nikolaus responded without a trace of angst.
“And you still came here? That scar looks serious, you really should be resting. I’m sure Flaylay would understand” Responded Antonio with a hand placed on his shoulder.
Nikolaus considered the worry in his eyes before clearing his throat. “Don’t be such a drama queen. It was just a piece of shrapnel or something launched from a dysfunctional shredder. I’m perfectly fine” Lied Nikolaus, trying to relieve his roommate somewhat.
“Dude…Do you even hear what you’re saying?” asked Antonio with worry. “Come on now, this is serious. Take the day off” He proposed.
Nikolaus smiled and placed a hand on his roommate’s shoulder, “Oh my friend, your offering is noble, but alas. I’m in no such need, besides, need I remind you that my role is crucial to our play. And Flaylay would rip my legs off if I didn’t Show up” He explained with a loud and clear voice.
“Well, if you insist. But please, at least don’t exhaust yourself” The tall man relented.
“Your concern is anodyne, in any case, I’ll be fine. I just wanted to explain my situation before the play” Nikolaus concluded, taking his hand off his shoulder and giving him a gentle punch instead.
“See you then. And be careful!” Antonio concluded, dropping his shoulders as Nikolaus left the room.
While walking down the corridor Nikolaus noticed the librarian, Ms. Rosa, she was a young lady with light skin, somewhat long, wavy blonde hair that curved at the tips, and maine-blue eyes, topped by a beauty mark on her left cheek, she stood relatively short, but held an unexplainable presence of authority to herself, nonetheless.
She was wearing the blue and white sundress and dark blue jacket she always wore, and the contrasting silver ring with a red gem on her index finger. She was looking down at the list she was carrying while walking down the corridor, which gave Nikolaus ample time to get closer to her as he asked, “Greetings, Ms. Rosa, what’s up with the list?”
“Good morning, Nikolaus dear, I was just about to collect some of the books which are past due, have you seen your friend Antonio recently-
Her sentence stopped as she lifted her eyes from the papers and glared at the young medic’s face, suddenly, her joyful face gone grim as she exclaimed,
“Oh my! Nikolaus, what happened? Are you okay dear? That looks terrible! You shouldn’t even be here; do you want me to help you to the nurse’s room?”
As her voice grew more and more worried with each word. She put one hand on the young medic’s shoulder and turned his head side to side with the other, investigating the fresh scar tissue.
“Don’t worry Ms. Rosa, an accident happened last night but I’m all okay” Nikolaus explained softly, “Besides, I wouldn’t miss the play as long as I still draw breath”
His delivery somewhat eased her as she smiled again and said, “Alright then dear, break a leg on that play” As she started to walk away.
“I will!” Nikolaus responded as he continued moving.
-
The door of the upstairs classroom opened as Namika got inside, wearing excessive amounts of accessories on her ears, arms, and on her long and multi-colored twin tails. She whistled and walked towards a plain and pale girl, standing motionless with closed eyes and both hands on her desk.
“Hi, hun, you won’t believe what is happening right now in the sophomores' corridor” The frivolous girl said.
“Your gossip doesn’t interest me, Namika, and don’t call me hun” the girl responded, slowly opening her eyes to perceive her friend.
Unlike her friend, she didn’t put any care or effort into her looks, her knotted hair was done with so little effort that it had clustered bits of hair sticking out of the main structure, and her black eyeglasses were the only means of accessories she wore. But her most outstanding feature was her eyes, both as lively and fiery as those of dead fish, having no irises or luster. Only a drab, unnatural vortex of green and black.
“But it’s about that boy who likes you, Nikolaus Aren wasn’t it? And it’s really weird, he has like a big scar on his face and an eyepatch- Said Namika, as she continued speaking, she noticed her friend, already heading for the door.
“Alexis. W-wait I’m not done- She tried to tell in futility. The pale girl was out of the classroom at a second's notice. -Yet” Finished Namika as she sat down in frustration.
-
The young medic continued his way, throwing curious stares around. Finally, his remaining eye shone up and a smile blossomed across his face.
At the end of the stairs, Alexis appeared in front of him, she stared at him for a moment while Nikolaus looked her in the eye, both nervous and thrilled.
“I see you’ve lost an eye. Who were you fighting?” asked Alexis. She stood visibly taller than Nikolaus even at the same footing.
“Oh, you were always a creative one, but don’t worry it was just an accident” Responded the young man, his smile dining a minuscule amount.
“If you say so” The young girl shrugged, her green eyes lacking any kind of shine a normal person would possess.
“Hmm, say. Is there any chance that you find this new look intriguing, I’ve noticed how you have been making more direct eye contact with me” suggested Nikolaus as he took a step closer to her and winked.
“No, it’s just unusual to see someone with one eye” replied Alexis and moved back.
Nikolaus cleared his throat to hide his excitement before speaking. “My my, still playing hard-to-get? You are starting to break my heart” The young man joked.
“Alas, I should be used to getting the cold shoulder from you, but no amount of rejection will put out the fire of love I have for you- w-wait, where are you going?” Nikolaus lifted his face to see Alexis, going back up the stairs in complete silence.
“There is no stopping you when you start your usual rant about love, so I’ll just leave” she responded with her cold delivery as she stopped for a moment.
“As pure and truthful as always, just the way I like you, but do remember, it is not kind to leave someone mid-sentence” Responded Nikolaus, not noticing the fact that Alexis has already left.
-
A few minutes later Nikolaus finally reached the stage, the rest of the dozen or so drama club students were already busy practicing their lines.
“Well well, look who decided to Show up, the supposed main protagonist, I don’t even know how you managed to be late with your eccentricity. Couldn’t you just have hopped over here?” A tired female voice came from the right side.
“Hi, Flaylay, sorry I’m late” Responded Nikolaus timidly. The hair on his neck stood up for a second upon hearing the girl’s voice.
“Being late for five entire minutes is one thing, but being dressed in accessories that are not even part of the play! Are you kidding me? You’d better have a good explanation for this!”
Demanded Flaylay as she leaned towards Nikolaus, her usually vivid turquoise hair and eyes now bordering on a ghastly grey and the bags under her eyes making her normally youthful olive face look threatening and worn out.
“Uhh, the thing is… I… I kinda lost my eye last night, so that’s why I have this, and I know the script says nothing about an eyepatch, but I thought it wouldn’t matter that much” Responded Nikolaus.
“…I guess it can’t be helped, alright you can play like this, but next time make sure you lose something less obvious!” Shouted Flaylay as she walked away.
“What even is her problem, do you have an idea, Alleyna?” Nikolaus asked the girl to his left; she was quite surprised by Nikolaus noticing her as she gasped and moved a step back. Her looks were nothing special, say for the dark pink strip of hair among her nut-brown locks.
“W-well she has n-not been sleeping all that well for n-nearly two weeks, s-so that might be the r-reason why she is quite on e-edge, I’m sure she didn’t m-mean what she said” Alleyna answered in a stutter, her every word ridden by the speech impediment she had always been suffering from.
“Jeez, she takes this pretty seriously doesn’t she, well it was nice talking to you as always, now let’s go back to practice before- Nikolaus tried to reply.
“Why am I not hearing anybody going over their lines?!” Shouted Flaylay as everyone in the room rushed to the stage and started practicing.
-
The late-meridian sun shone over the city as Nikolaus made his way back to the dorms, a cocky grin on his face spoke of his achievements on the stage.
“…The rest is silence… Am I great or what?” He bragged out loud with great pride. His laughter flowed like warm honey.
“You sure are” A voice replied behind the wall dividing the main walkway from the park.
“I know right... Wait, what!? Who is there? Show yourself!” The young medic responded with increasing worry and awe.
As soon as his sentence was finished, the stranger jumped over the wall, losing their balance and falling in progress. “Beautiful day we’re having, isn’t it? Anyway, we've got to talk” The stranger smiled as she got up. She stood just a little shorter than him, almost unnoticeably so.
They had a beautiful smile Nikolaus noted. “About what?” Asked the young medic as he analyzed the stranger before him,
She was a fair-faced woman, wearing a worn-out overcoat in an umber-russet tone that looked vintage, two pouches hanging on her belt with an attachment of a thermos hidden by the coat. Short and messy black hair with turquoise tips on their locks and back. Completed by a big scar, roughly the same size as Nikolaus’ (although wider) but tilted to the depths of her cheek, stretched upon her right marine-blue eye.
The stranger had a weirdly soothing presence, something that didn’t trigger the human instinct. For a moment, the young medic questioned whether she even existed or not.
“About what happened in that alley last night” she responded in a kind tone.
“W-what? I don’t know what you are talking about! Leave me alone!” Said the young medic as he started moving backward.
“I’m sure you do, you were bleeding in a corner while your friend was fighting the guy who took your right e- The stranger stopped talking for a moment as she noticed Nikolaus moving away.
“H-hey! Where are you going? There are a lot of things we need to clarify about- She tried to continue.
“Look, you are obviously out of your mind, just keep this nonsense to yourself and let me be” Nikolaus cut her off and headed the other way.
“Just… Look at this!” The stranger stepped on his way and clumsily took out a picture from her inner pocket and showed it to Nikolaus.
The picture was of a tanned man, maybe in his thirties. Nikolaus did not recognize who he was until he noticed his red eyes.
“So… You know the guy who did this?” Nikolaus asked stoically as he turned around, pointing at his scar with a serious look on his face.
“Aarelion, my stepbrother” she responded. Taking a sad look at the picture before placing it back.
“And, in what way does that dead guy concern me?” The young medic asked.
“Well first off, he’s technically not dead. I mean he’s dead, yes, but also he might not be. It’s complicated” The stranger smiled, her hand gestures flew wild in circles and twists as she tried to make a semblance of sense.
“Oh, I understand. You are just a crazy person like your brother yes? Stop spewing out nonsense or leave me alone” the young man demanded.
“Hmm… Has he not talked about this to you last night? Aarelion really likes to make expositions, I’m sure he told you something along the lines of overtaking your body through blood or something. That would be my proof. Anyway, want some tea?” she asked, drawing out a thermos with a flower sticker from her belt.
After a second of grim thoughts, Nikolaus opened his lips, “So what? I’m somehow going to become him? Do forgive me but I find this rather hard to believe. Also, why would you even offer to have tea? Aren’t we having an important dialogue?” The young medic replied with confusion and irritation in his tone.
“It would make the affairs a lot more pleasant to discuss, trust me. Now, would you like cinnamon in your tea” The stranger responded as led the young medic to the park, stopping under an old acorn tree both sat down face to face.
“For someone with that much concern for the situation I’m in you do act disgustingly calm. We are talking about your brother after all, can I even trust you?” Nikolaus raised an eyebrow and made a hand gesture to prevent the stranger from spilling the ‘cinnamon’ into the cup.
“We didn’t have the best of relationships, unfortunately. To put it mildly” Explained The stranger, her words making Nikolaus shiver slightly as a feeling of unease spread through him.
“Still, you could be lying. And this tea could be poisonous, forgive my suspicion” The young medic accused as he shook the little aluminum cup in his hand with doubt.
“Fair enough, don’t drink tea from strangers. But we’re drinking the same thing. Look, I’ll take the first sip” The stranger said as she took a sip of her tea, gaggling it to imply trust.
“That’s… convincing. In any case, I’m getting thirsty just by having you talk” Nikolaus answered, finally taking the sip without breaking eye contact, examining the stranger without relenting.
“Wow, that’s pretty good” He responded in awe as the pleasing aroma and the smooth texture of the drink made its way down his throat.
“It’s my mix of plum, almonds, and quite a few more plants. Glad you liked it” The stranger smiled.
“So... you were saying that this guy ‘Aarelion’ may not be dead, and he will take control of my body lest we do something about it?” Nikolaus asked as both he and the stranger continued to drink their tea.
“That’s the synopsis, but don’t worry, you still seem to be well in charge. Also, another good development, since Aarelion had my blood in him, now you do too. That means with enough practice you can do neat stuff like this…” The stranger explained without breathing, their hands as erratic as their words. As her words spewed out she demonstrated her eccentricity, materializing a long iron rod out of the palm of her hand with a flower at the end of it.
“That’s neat and all, but it really doesn’t make sense to me how this works. You have a more logical explanation?” Nikolaus demanded.
“Hmm, think of yourself like a Russian nesting doll, with you on the outside, Aarelion in the middle, and a tiny me within him. He was able to use my eccentricity, and I’m sure you can learn too… Which is good because you may need it” The stranger explained with mild stress.
“Wait wait, that sounded an awful lot like a warning. What do you mean I may need it!?” Nikolaus exclaimed with fear, his eye blinking rapidly, his lungs taking in and spewing out the air in haste, and his hands shaking.
“Well, there kinda is someone else who… Shall we say, would go to the end of the world for Aarelion” The stranger responded as she took a sip of her tea, leaving Nikolaus distraught.
The young medic whispered to himself, “That’s it then. I’m a dead man…” With vanity in his voice.
The stranger put their arm on Nikolaus’ shoulder, “Hey hey, don’t worry, I’m here to prevent just that. And besides, she needs you alive-
The stranger stopped talking as she came to notice a purple and black portal opening in front of them. Her smile died with the realization.
From the portal, a woman appeared. She had long and slender arms, covered almost entirely in bandages. The little bits of exposed skin had multitudes of moles on it. Upon her body, she wore a loose cloak, vintage slim-fit jeans, and a dark red tanktop. A small amulet with a dark violet gem was surgically attached to her neck. She had long, wavy grey hair. Wore a black blindfold on her pale, ceramic-smooth face with two moles on her forehead.
“Oh, my my, a tea party? I was hoping you’d be here, Mystelatin. I still have to return the favor to you after what you did to Aarelion” The blindfolded woman spoke to the stranger as a sick snarl stretched across her face.
“Oh, hi Aspel. I was afraid you’d manage to find us eventually. Not so soon though” Responded Mystelatin without a trace of fear in her voice.
“Quite so. I knew spying on you would bring me to this little runt in the end” Aspel responded as she reached for the long sword on her back.
“You sound impatient. I’d hate to be a thorn in your side, but the kid is staying with me” Responded the scarred woman before finishing the tea in the cup.
“Now, Nikolaus. Don’t panic, I’ll handle- Mystelatin tried to tell before the young medic interrupted, “Wait... how do you know my NAME!?” His voice shook in stress, he stared blankly at both Mystelatin and Aspel, the visage of the newcomer tensed his muscles and clouded his mind for a reason beyond his understanding.
“Oh that, I sneaked into your hospital room last night- Mystelatin tried to explain once more until Aspel finally ran out of patience.
“God’s sake! You are as disjointed and chitty as ever, aren’t you! One of these days I’ll personally stamp that mouth of yours shut!” She shouted as she punched Mystelatin into the nearby acorn tree and grabbed Nikolaus with one hand. Simultaneously, several moles flew off of her exposed skin and turned into other portals, all shimmering in strange energy like a dozen eyes blinking in discord.
“Hey! This is between you and me, let him be will ya?!” Mystelatin shouted as she charged Aspel, transforming the rod already at hand into a sword and swinging with it.
The blade was a dull grey color, no longer than forty centimeters. It lacked any sort of noticeable sword design, with a pocketknife handle and a straight blade.
“Please, don’t kid me, Mystelatin. It doesn’t pleasure me to see you either” Aspel said as she dodged Mystelatin's attack and impaled her long sword through her chest and swiftly ran it through her side. The scarred woman cried from the pain right before falling onto the ground, completely motionless.
“Now, back with you” The gray woman said calmly as she lifted Nikolaus with one arm, burying her thumb into the young medic’s neck. “Sorry if my hands are a little cold” she commented with a smile.
“L-let me go! Please I don’t want anything to do with this!” Stuttered Nikolaus as he tried to set himself free from Aspel’s hold, his strength lacking.
“Unfortunately for you, my one-eyed child. This is the one thing you can’t escape. Now, let’s see what’s hidden beneath you” Aspel responded as she hit him on the end of his neck, dizzying his sight and making his body go numb in a second.
Nikolaus cried out in pain, only to find out that he couldn’t speak, looking down he witnessed his body slowly disappearing into darkness as something else fought its way out of his mouth. The young medic tensed, his body contorting as if poisoned. Then, he found himself in the dark.
Aspel let go of him. Surprisingly, his body stood on his feet without issue. But his face had an almost dead visage, like a man sleeping with open eyes. “Aarelion, is that you dear?” Asked Aspel in a soft tone.
“Aspel? I... I’m still alive? It worked?” Nikolaus’ lips spoke with a noticeably different and cracked voice, his left hand slowly explored his face in detail like a stranger.
“Looks like it, how do you feel?” Asked Aspel, a cold drop of sweat ran down her cheek.
“Weird... I'm not used to the feeling of being in another body...” Aarelion responded in awe.
“Take it easy now” Aspel softly said whilst supporting him on the chest with her arm.
“The kid, Nikolaus…His mind is feeding knowledge into me. His parents…Friends…Passwords…Someone special named Alexis…It’s overwhelming” Aarelion groaned.
While they were speaking Nikolaus watched the situation through his eye, not able to move or speak as if in paralysis.
-What is happening... did I die? No... it can’t be!- He spoke by himself within the vibrant and colorful innards of his mind, an opening in front of him showed his body moving without his consent.
“It’s like I know everything in his mind. Every corner of his cranium… But that’s something to fixate on later, where is Mystelatin? We have a score to settle”
Aarelion concluded his words with a hand motion, twisting his elbow followed by a grabbing motion. Just as he finished a Butterfly sword materialized out of his palm, the same one he had previously used on Nikolaus.
“You don’t have to do this!” Aspel pleaded. “We can just go back to how the things were…” She tried to explain, only to be shushed by Aarelion.
“We will go back to our old life. I promise. But she’s not returning with us. She’s made her choice and must pay the price” Aarelion whispered as he started to move in a half-paralyzed fashion towards the acorn tree, dragging his weapon just above the ground.
-Damnit Mystelatin, where are you…!- Nikolaus cried within.
However, upon reaching the said three Aarelion came to realize that Mystelatin was nowhere to be found.
“Search the park, we still can find h- Aarelion stopped talking for a moment as he felt someone tapping on his shoulder.
He turned around and tried to respond but in the middle of his sentence, something happened to him, something neither he nor Aspel could have anticipated.
The blind woman watched in shock as Mystelatin turned Aarelion around and placed a stiff left hook onto his face, sending the man staggering back.
“Haven’t you ruined his life ENOUGH ALREADY!?” The scarred woman cried with anger, continuing her assault of punches.
Suddenly Nikolaus’ body shivered as Aarelion felt such an unbearable headache, the intense pain made him kneel as he sharply cried in pain.
“The HELL do you think you’re doing? You skank!” Shouted Aspel as she rushed towards Mystelatin with a sword in hand.
“I’m not letting either of you take my brother’s life from him!” Mystelatin roared. Dodging Aspel’s swing, just before landing a punch on her gut.
“Argh... my head, huh? I can control my body again?” Whispered Nikolaus to himself as he got up. A quick motion of fingers and toes would soon prove his assumption correct.
“Glad to have you back Nikolaus, just wait there while I finish my business here, then we can continue our chat” Said Mystelatin while simultaneously creating a blade in her hand and stabbing Aspel on the shoulder with it.
“Wait, you were badly wounded... how are you still alive?” Asked The young medic, mesmerized by the absence of the wound which would be a clear death sentence under any normal condition, even the damage on Mystelatin’s clothes was gone, leaving only a massive stain on her shirt.
“Well, I can basically recreate lost tissue- and much more- using the metals in my body, told ya it was neat” Mystelatin smiled.
“Now you are just being rude. Don’t ignore me you slime!” Shouted Aspel as she swung her sword viciously towards Mystelatin, but as her attack was about to land the scarred woman locked her sword using two blades of her own.
“My apologies, but me and Nikolaus here have a lot to talk about, so I’ll beg your excuse” Responded Mystelatin while tossing Aspel on the ground via a kick on her knee and an uppercut on her chin. Finally, she pointed a blade at her neck.
“You wanna give up now?” Mystelatin asked coldly as she looked down upon the blind woman before her.
“…Fine. But I assure you, I’ll be back for him. Until then, take care of the boy. I need him well” said Aspel in a surprisingly civilized manner as she got up, dusted herself, and slowly sank her body into one of her portals before disappearing completely. The other portals around receding back onto her skin as moles.
All in all, it took a second for her to be gone.
“She’s really gone?” asked Nikolaus, walking up to the scarred woman. He still held onto Aarelion’s Butterfly sword.
“For now, but bet me she’ll be back, she is quite a rigorous one she is” Responded Mystelatin, casually flexing her shoulders to relieve the tension.
The young medic sighed before asking, “I’ve never expected to be in the center of all this trouble, but do tell me, was beating me up like that your idea from the get-go, or was it a heat of the moment thing?”
“Oh that, well it was the first thing that came to my mind to stop Aarelion, so I went with it. I thought you wouldn’t mind as long as it was successful” Responded Mystelatin as she placed her hand on his shoulder.
“I mean... it obviously worked, but don’t repeat it. I have to protect my perfect face” Nikolaus replied with disdain.
“Don’t fret. You’re as handsome as ever” she smiled softly.
“Like I didn’t know that. But compliments won’t save you if you do that again” his tone became ever so clearer.
“I assume it wouldn’t” Mystelatin cracked a little smile as she stopped talking altogether, “In any case, I should wash these clothes, they are all bloody” She disjointed as she scraped some blood off of her overcoat.
Nikolaus just stared at her face before she could stray back to the situation.
“Oh well, I’ll do it later. Now then… What were we talking about?” she asked in a slightly dazzled tone.
“What had just occurred” The young medic rolled his eye in response, “For example, how you called me your ‘ brother’ just then. Never do that again” He concluded coldly.
“But you are my brother now. We have the same blood” Mystelatin objected, “I know that’s not how that works, Aarelion used to say the same- She tried to conclude before stopping her sentence as she realized the enforcer who came by them.
“Oh, hi officer, how may I help you on this beautiful day” She turned her attention to him.
“Ma’am, have you been involved in a fight just a couple of moments ago?” the enforcer asked, tilting down his shades to look into Mystelatin’s eyes.
“I did. By the way, call me Mystelatin if you please, no need for formality here” The woman smiled warmly.
“Well then ‘Mystelatin’ would you mind coming with me to fill up some forms about what happened” The enforcer demanded.
“I would prefer not doing that, appreciate the thought though” Mystelatin responded as she patted the enforcer on the shoulder, while the patting continued the officer grabbed her hand and ordered. “You were not given a choice, now come with me without causing any further trouble!”
“Could you, perhaps arrest her another time? She still has a lot of explaining to do” Nikolaus intervened.
“You are a witness. Aren’t you, Son? Now would you like to come with and company your little friend?” The enforcer asked as he looked Nikolaus directly in the eye, his mirrored shades magnifying his terrifying presence.
“I mean... ummm... I was never actually here soo... I won't bother you further” The young medic walked away.
“All right, let’s go punk” The enforcer said as he grabbed Mystelatin by her arm and started dragging her.
“Right. My apologies, Nikolaus. I’ll be away for a bit” the scarred woman calmly explained as the enforcer started dragging her away.
“Be well… Goodbye” She managed to shout just before getting dragged out of sight.
Nikolaus stood still for a moment before moving away. But before heading back to the dorms he came to notice the butterfly sword lying on the grass, grabbing the curious relic he sighed, “Damn, what a headache” He complained to himself as he got moving. The streetlights on the way glared like towering giants, indicating the end of the day.
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