Chapter Text
As any Magical Girl show starts, a teenager is sleeping in and is late for school. Except Baldric, a man who is twenty one, is neither sleeping or late for school. Yet somehow, this is still, well actually this is not a show this is a story, but it’s still somehow about magical girls.
Baldric, an asian man in his early twenties, lived alone in a two bedroom house in one of the most dingy parts of the city. With how isolated he made himself and how he acted if he saw anyone even step near his property, one might think he had no friends. And how he wished that was true, if only he could snap his fingers and make his problems disappear. Said problems were the three incessant idiots that refused to leave him alone, they had also decided that there was a meet up that day. Which technically he was late for, but he willingly chose to not care about being there for the time planned regardless.
The only person that would have actually gotten there on time was a man named Tannhauser. Who was the most annoying of the bunch in Baldric’s opinion.
He was heading to the meet up point by walking, the trip was too short to go by train or cab. Even if he didn’t entirely fit in with the crowd, seeing as how he was wearing a full face bike helmet. The rest of his outfit was what he usually wore, white shirt with text, jean shorts, and leather work boots. His shirt read ‘how to refer to me? Don’t. I’m busy’. Which was a gift from Vina, one of the idiots, though he only wore it because none of his other shirts were clean.
As stated; he was walking by foot to their meet up point, if he didn’t go there they would go to his house and annoy him there. It was planned that they would meet up at the mall, and do whatever things entertained them for the day. How three adults and a teen had that much free time was beyond him, even if it was saturday.
The mall wasn’t one of their usual meeting spots, usually it was parks or one of their houses. Dinner at his house one day, breakfast at Vina’s another day, and then board games at Oran’s house the next. It was a weird schedule but it was better than the alternative where if he didn’t join then they would come to his house regardless. Usually raiding his pantry and going anywhere they pleased until he had to drag them back to the living room agreeing to ‘hang out’.
A mall wasn’t somewhere he would normally be found, the two story building was full of things. Bright noisy things, that didn’t help his usual headache that he had from working day and night. Nevertheless; there he was, pulling open the doors to the mall and being greeted with an angry red head shouting from a couple yards away.
Baldric found himself groaning under his breath even before they were face to face, mentally preparing himself to deal with the other. Tannhauser was two years older then him and acted like an unruly teenager hellbent against society. As much as he agreed that their government sucked, shouting about it from the roof tops was too much.
The red head wore a black sleeveless crop top with the heavily stretched words ‘sic semper tyrannus’ in bright green. Underneath he wore a sleeveless black shirt tucked into baggy cargo pants that were barely kept in place by a thick belt with metal loops. Metal chains decorated them as well, complimenting the stitched on red patchwork that started at the leg cuffs and went upwards. Fingerless leather gloves were the last piece of the outfit, with similar red stitching on it.
Unlike Baldric, Tannhauser had gotten there by driving his motor bike, making it seem odd sometimes that it was the other who wore the helmet. Much like his clothes the bike was bright red, ‘ACAB’ was emblazoned on an exposed pipe. Since he wore a decorated fake gas mask and goggles near constantly, in his mind he had no need for a helmet. Except for protection, but he liked to ‘live dangerously’ as he put it.
He had been excited for the meet up when he woke up that morning, as he always was when they gathered. And he had gone about his day as he usually did in his small two bedroom apartment that he shared with Professor Zael. It was nice to have finally met someone other then his mentor that believed in the same cause.
But that wasn’t all of why he like the others, they were in a very small select group of people that had ever actually wanted to be his friend. How odd it was, that he was twenty three and had only recently made what Zael called ‘actual friends’. According to her she didn’t count, her reasoning was that she was his mentor and boss. He wouldn’t have been hired if they hadn’t gotten along, which made sense he supposed.
He found himself agreeing to her words, especially with how willing his friends accepted all of his eccentricities. Even if he was still learning what counted as normal in the city of Outset and what wasn’t. Though he wasn’t alone in that, Oran had been born and raised far away from almost all civilization until his family had moved.
They were to meet at the mall, a place supposedly of entertainment and fun that Vina had reassured him he would find interesting. He had so far only seen the food court, where he sat waiting for his friends until they arrived. All three of them were late, one of them he could understand but all three of them was preposterous. It was a usual thing, Baldric had been the only other punctual one but had given up over time.
The bike helmet wearing man walked through the doors of the mall at that moment, five minutes late. Setting aside the fact that he was late, at least he had arrived at all, the man had a habit of sometimes not appearing for their meetings. Which just meant that he had to be hunted down at his house and forced to participate in whatever their group decided to do.
“You’re late! You should be grateful I’m lenient.” The punk growled, glaring from behind his goggles at Baldric even if neither could see each others eyes. It didn’t stop the two of them from making as many facial expressions as they pleased, one out of annoyance and the other out of excitement usually.
“Not my fault no one else arrives on time.” Baldric grumbled, shooing off the red head when he got close but choosing to sit at the same table. One of the larger ones though made of the usual cheap plastic that the rest of them were.
“I arrive on time!” Tannhauser argued, insulted that he would be grouped in with the other two of their group. Oran and Vina were usually late for good reasons at least, one lived in a distant part of the city and the other had a variety of reasons.
The reason for being late that she was going with was something along the lines of ‘traffic jam’. And avoiding any questions about it that she might get, specifically from Tannhauser who rode a motor bike around perfectly fine. In her defense, she drove a corvette not a bike, and was subject to different rules. A blue 1997 corvette to be specific, her pride and joy that she had saved years for.
Vina, a woman with vitiligo skin and white hair was twenty two and maybe a week sober. A sobriety that had been forced on her by Baldric who had decided she was due to get liver failure. It was touching that he was concerned, even if his concern sounded like ‘if you die without repaying me I’m stealing from your grave’.
She in fact had woken up early, panicked getting ready when she remembered they had a meet up, and had gotten caught in traffic. Already she was regretting her decision to get up early, and missed her comfortable bed in her one bedroom apartment. Even if she was saving to get a better place to stay, she had made sure that she was happy with the space. Though crashing at Baldric’s place was also a viable option, she could only stay there so many times in a row until he kicked her out. He grumbled about having her there but she knew that he was a softy under all his thick boar hide.
As she usually did she had done her best to look nice for the occasion, a simple but well put together outfit. A black turtle neck under a open button up sea waves patterned shirt, both tucked into well fit black pants with a black belt keeping them in place. Her long white hair was mostly loose, with only a few small braids decorating her locks.
It had been her idea to spend some time at the mall, there was enough to see and do that it would entertain them for a while. In truth she just wanted to spend time with them, and though she was willing to admit it she wasn’t going to. After moving to Outset since she was kicked out of her home, she had made three friends and two maybe friends. Kronch, Baldric’s neighbor was a nice but odd metal worker, and Duhakis, the local librarian. Even if two of them were as new to the city as she was, having others new to the area like her helped too.
At least the traffic was clearing up, enough for her to make a well timed turn onto a side street to get to the mall. Letting her corvette sail along the roads unhindered until the next turn, where she could move back to the main street. According to the random news show she had listened to while getting ready; some kind of tree had fallen onto the road or something. But she couldn’t remember if it had broken the road or they were just having a hard time removing it. Either way it made her day difficult.
Finally the mall was in sight, and luckily enough there was a vacant spot next to Tannhauser’s bike. The familiar sight of the decorated pipe was both nice and bad, he had probably arrived exactly on time if she had to guess. Which meant she would get an earful about being late, even if it was only by eight minutes.
“Ms. Vina!” A voice that she recognized called to her, it was Oran, the blond waved at her as he approached. Standing off to the side of her corvette as she unbuckled and stepped out of the vehicle.
“Hey bud!” She greeted, happy to see the teen before she had to face Tannhauser’s wrath. Easily they settled into walking together, and she took a moment to pat his head before stuffing her hands in her pockets. “How was the subway?”
Oran, a freckled nineteen year old who had grown up in a small village in the mountains, had taken the subway to get there. The ride was quiet, most of the usual occupants being the working class meant that it was rather vacant during the weekend. He had woken up at his normal time but still had taken the opportunity to close his eyes for a short moment
His outfit was something he usually wore, a brown sweater under a bee themed cardigan an black baggy pants. Not particularly fancy but it was comfortable, and that was his goal most times he had to put together an outfit. Though Vina seemed determined to get them matching outfits whenever they went shopping together. She was usually rather willing to work around the fact that he hated anything he wasn’t comfortable in.
One might think, as the only teen in this story about magical girls, did he wake up late? No, his mother woke him up early to help with making breakfast and doing housework. Since his father was away it was up to them to take care of everything in the house, but they managed well.
He had traveled on his own to the subway to wait for the train, his mother having left earlier for work. And while waiting for the train thought over what parts of the mall he wanted to see, and what things his friends might want to see. Tannhauser would probably like the arcade, Vina would probably like clothing stores and food stalls, and Baldric was a difficult one. The man rarely indulged in things he actually liked, making it hard for Oran to figure out where best to drag him to. Personally, the teen wanted to go to a particular store Vina had mentioned when explaining the idea of going to the mall. A store that supposedly specialized in stuffed animals and plushies, alongside blankets and bedding.
Since he had his own money, no one could stop him from getting whatever he wanted. Whatever he wanted was a certain large stuffed platypus that he was hoping the store had. He had seen it once in a different store and ever since had wished he had it. And though he knew that his friends wouldn’t make fun of him, he was still determined to hide the fact that he was getting it.
Yet that was all dependent on getting a moment where he could sneak away to get it, and he had no clue how he would do that. But he desperately wanted that adorable stuffy, which meant he had to try.
The exit to the subway was about half a mile away from the mall, an easy walk after so long sitting. Most of it was along the sides of the parking lot at the front of the building, and as he was walking something caught his eye. A familiar vehicle, Vina’s blue corvette, it was pretty and almost seemed to shine in the sun. Making it easy to recognize as she parked her car, taking a moment to check her phone before stepping out.
He called out to her, and after a small greeting they walked into the mall together, easily spotting the other two in their group.
“Hey boys!” Vina shouted at them, easily seen and heard above the crowd due to her height and generally good shouting ability. It might also have been that she had a lions mane full of white hair that nearly went down to her waist. Tannhauser noticed her first, standing from the food court table and leaving Baldric sitting by himself.
“Each of you was late!” The red head grumbled, seemingly insulted by the fact that they hadn’t been there on time. Off to the side, Baldric and Oran greeted each other started up their own conversation.
“Uuhh- there was terrible traffic, you should have seen it.” She waved him off, literally and figuratively, before hooking an arm around his shoulders and steering him elsewhere. “Who wants to get some food before we start wandering?”
“Hmmm. Fine.” Tannhauser relented, allowing himself to be pulled along to the small hole in the wall breakfast-themed restaurant.
“We’re getting food?” Oran perked up, always happy to eat no matter the situation or when he last ate.
“Your paying for yourselves.” Baldric reminded them, knees clicking as he stood to follow the group to go get food.
Elsewhere; a creature made from the stars awakened, Rehua had lived in the forest for years. Easily scaring off any stupid enough to wander through the woods simply by looking at them sternly. He had found that the average person was rather frightened by a hulking monstrosity in the dark.
Though he thought with his wooden crown and long skirt made of flowing leaves that hid his digitigrade legs; that he was quite pretty. The plants of the forest agreed with him, as a living mix of stars and a construction of wood and metal, he was very pretty.
But he had to put how beautiful he was to the side for a moment, there were more important things to think about.
It started long before humanity or him in his current form had ever existed, at the dawn of Earth. Where when magic began to bloom in forms entirely incomprehensible to man, some of it began to rot. That Rot grew beneath the Earth’s surface, in the cracks that light didn’t touch and in deep collections of still water. Animals were twisted by it, corrupted to the brink of death, and humans who were touched by it grew sick. Their minds desperately attempting to fight off something that it couldn’t seen, smell, or even hear.
Before it had been contained in some sense, but some part of it had grown to reach further to humanity. Wanting in to consume as it had before so many times, to take and take and take. And before, there had been powers of good, blessed by magic and the gods themselves to carry forth the gods’ wills. To fight in their names to protect mankind, to protect the Earth itself from being consumed whole.
The last of those warriors had died hundreds years ago, of old age with the blessings of sleeping gods on their shoulders. It had been a far longer break between the need to have those warriors again, and it was time for new ones.
At the base of the mountain there was an entrance, only noticeable if one were to know exactly what they were looking for. And only accessible if someone were to have the right magic to open it. A being of the stars counted as one of those things, as entwined as he was into existence itself. The large metal and stone frame of the door creaked as it opened, parts and pieces shuffling like a jigsaw puzzle.
Inside it was dark, minutes passed as he walked through abandoned temple ruins buried beneath miles of earth. Finally dots of light began to appear, floating out from cracks in the walls to illuminate the murals. Drawings, paintings, ancient cave art, over and over again about brave warriors and loving gods. The idea of hope pushing people even thousands of years ago to create wonderful things.
The temple itself had also been made by man, yet the sleeping consciousness’ of gods kept it standing. The space was broken into rooms to represent them, a pool, a brazier, conductive materials, and a plot of earth. Each representation of what they embodied sat in the middle of their respective rooms. Surrounded by whatever the warriors of the past had put there, personal items, storage, and furniture. Rehua supposed that who ever was chosen next would do what they liked with what was there. He had never met the others, though he hoped that he would meet, possibly befriend, the next ones.
In the center of the temple was a large intricate work of magical ley lines that the gods had set long before. Formed into the middle of a large stone dias that Rehua stepped up to, careful in some form to not crush the surrounding vegetation. Overgrown as the whole place is, it’s difficult to not burn some of it away as the magic activates. The sections of it glowing wildly as he started the sequence to call upon them.
It didn’t wake them up, the gods would remain asleep even after the end of time, but it did butt into their dreams. A warning system to allow them to know that they needed to act, and because they couldn’t wake up; they chose humans to act for them. Those they believed would do what they considered right, and fight in their name.
Fighting in their name entailed an odd specification of very certain things. Including getting a new set of clothes that could be activated while working for them. And magic powers befitting whatever god had chosen them.
He hoped that the signal went where it was needed, but a small part of him hoped a bit more then the rest that those people were somewhat nearby. Afterall, it would be a pain in the ass to track them down.
In the mall, where four- Correction; Where one adult, two idiots, and a teen were wandering away from the food court. One of those idiots; being Vina, was leading the charge, Oran on one side and Tannhauser on the other as Baldric trailed behind. Not quite wanting to be associated with the two people bickering over the right way to eat pancakes.
“You can’t eat them without syrup!” Vina argued, holding Oran’s hand to keep him walking with them instead of wandering off. Why his parents hadn’t began to medicate him for adhd was probably because he would be too powerful.
“Why would you want them to be soggy?” Tannhauser scowled beneath his mask, eyeing her suspiciously. What sane person wanted to eat soggy pancakes when they could eat them with whipped cream?
“Hey, Ms. Vina?” Oran’s call and his tugging on Vina’s sleeve went unnoticed.
“Well if you don’t drown them then they won’t be soggy.” She countered, not that the punk had any sense of self control and would drown them anyway.
“Ms. Vina?” His silence afterwards and the lack of a hand in hers went unnoticed.
“If you’re going to put something on your food for flavor you need to go all in with it!” He replied, confirming her suspicions and earning the metal decorated man a disgusted look.
“This is why you don’t cook for the picnics.” She sighed, knowing very well that if he were to they would probably all get sick. From food poisoning or his obsession with flavor and spice, it was hard to say.
“Hey! Shut up for a moment!” Baldric growled, smacking both of them on the side of the head and gesturing for them to quiet. Busy glaring through his helmet at the shops around them, if there were shops at all.
The space had become overgrown, plants sprouting from cracks in the tiled floors and gaps in the walls. Further forward it became a full blown forest, as if the mall simply faded away into nature. Oran had continued walking, eyeing the plants that grew around his feet with a blank look. When he had let go of her hand, she didn’t know, but found herself too distracted to care.
Behind them the mall was perfectly fine up to the point where it began to turn into a forest. Stores were open, it smelled like the average mall, the sound that had been in the background the ruckus of the mall was gone. The people that should have been wandering about had disappeared, gone without a trace. Leaving only eerie silence left to guide them, and she let herself trail behind the others as they pressed into the forest.
It looked like any other forest, tall trees blocking out the sunlight and a breeze to rustle the undergrowth. No animals could be heard, just the shifting of leaves and the crack of twigs beneath their feet.
How uncomfortable any of them were went unsaid, though Oran seemed perfectly happy to walk through the sudden woods. Baldric was the only one who seemed truly cautious, watching their surroundings and checking behind them. The mall stayed where it was, a blot of unnatural color in the distance as they traveled away from it.
Finally, after minutes of walking, they came across the opening of a cave like structure. It made Oran stop, hesitant to go inside even though light glowed farther down the tunnel. Tannhauser got the closest, barely held back by a hiss of caution from Baldric to not go inside.
“How did we even get here?” Vina piped up, the first to brave the silence though she didn’t sound as brave as she wanted to. Her voice shook slightly, none of anything that transpired in the last few minutes made any sense.
“Do you think it’s magic?” Oran wondered, wide eyes staring at the tops of the trees since he could no longer continue forward. Though he was fidgeting nervously with his hands and the sleeves of his cardigan.
“Not likely, though seeing as how we’re all here and lucid, it obviously isn’t some hallucination either.” Tannhauser growled, squinting his eyes behind his green tinted goggles to see deeper into the glow in the back of the cave. It flickered, the light was likely made by torches, but who had lit them was the real question.
“And what? You want to wander deeper into the Suddenly Appearing Forest?” Baldric countered, gesturing widely to the trees around them in his usual ‘don’t be a dumbass’ way. The fact that none of it made sense was enough to piss him off, they didn’t need to add their own idiocy.
“Do you have a better plan?” The punk countered, turning from the cave and ignoring Vina’s groan in the background.
“Ladies, ladies, you’re both pretty now-”
“Am I pretty?”
“You’re the prettiest. Now, there’s no where else to…” Vina stopped in her tracks as she turned to the new voice, near the entrance of the cave.
She would have thought it was some kind of wooden carving if not for the fact that the entrance had been clear mere minutes ago. Whatever it was stared down at her from what she could only assume was eight feet of height. At her side Oran stepped forward, extending his hand and smiling at the creature.
“Hi! I’m Oran!” The teen greeted it, the creature smiled back, skeletal face just barely moving. The entirety of the creature was rather skeletal, with a barrel chest like ribs and hands carved like a dead mans.
“I am Rehua! You may wish to know that I identify mainly with masculine pronouns.” Rehua noted, taking Oran’s hand with one twice the size and with enough force to shake the entirety of the small blond.
“My name is Tannhauser.” The punk introduced, seemingly as unaffected by the new face as he was by most things. Then turned to Baldric, putting his hands on his hips before addressing the helmeted man. “I for one vote that we go into the weird cave in the middle of the Suddenly Appearing Forest.”
“I also think you should, afterall I was just in there and I didn’t see anything dangerous.” The magical wooden creature nodded, still shaking Oran’s hand.
Baldric groaned loudly, outvoted as he was there was no way he was getting out of it. Once they got Rehua to finally let go of Oran, and had checked said teen for Shaken Baby Syndrome they moved forward.
The cave itself was a cooler temperature then the Suddenly Appearing Forest. Not freezing but enough to raise goosebumps on any exposed skin. Wind passed through the tunnel easily enough that Oran and Baldric agreed that there was probably another entrance. This was confirmed by Rehua, who explained the entrance they had walked through was new. Purposefully opened for them to travel through, which only raised more questions that went unasked.
After what felt like only a few minutes of walking the tunnel opened up to a large circular room that had four doors. Each one equally spaced from the next, only broken up by a larger tunnel that was at the opposite end of the room from them. The walls were decorated with a mix of differently styled murals. Some painted others carved, some made of oils and one that covered the entirety of the ceiling that looked as if it was made of blood.
“What is this place?” Tannhauser questioned, eyeing the art though part of him still faced Rehua no matter where he looked. In contrast Baldric watched only the wooden creature, refusing to turn elsewhere.
“It is a temple to the gods of old, they sleep elsewhere but their minds are here.” He explained, gesturing with spread arms to the structure as a whole. Rictus grin still in place as if he was having a great time, or perhaps being made of wood made frowning difficult. Either way, his expression did not change, his eye did not blink.
“Gods can astral project?” Oran mumbled, walking along the walls, his left hand following the patterns. Swirling and swimming in movement as if they went on forever until the walls ended.
“So~ why are we here?” Vina asked, grabbing the teen by the scruff before turning back to Rehua. This seemed to not be the right thing to ask, as finally the wooden creature stopped smiling. A look of concern taking the place of joy, which set off alarm bells in all but Oran who was still staring at the walls.
“You’ve been chosen to fight a great evil that has existed since the dawn of time,” Rehua explained. “It is a fight that does not end, simply prolonged every time a band of warriors is chosen. But that does not make it hopeless, in fact those who are chosen are blessed by the gods that choose them for their efforts.”
“We’ve been drafted into some sort of holy war??” Baldric summarised, presumably raising an eyebrow underneath his bike helmet. His tone was of clear annoyance, though none present could blame him.
“In a sense… but there are benefits to this! And you’ll only be warriors for as long as it takes to push back the Rot.” The wooden creature added on, nervously folding his hands together in different positions. “And there are rules in place to make sure that you come to no real harm.”
“How exactly would we be warriors?” Tannhauser pressed, he was from a country of eternal war, to be drafted again after a short life of peace sounded like a gun to the head. A familiar emotion turning his knuckles white as he clenched his fists.
“Not in the traditional sense! Especially not the outfits, or the weapons, or the fighting style, or actually any of it. But you would be fighting! Just not quite in the way you think?” Rehua seemed to be confusing himself as well as them, which only irritated Baldric more.
“Just spit it out.” The helmeted man snapped, part of him was just as angered as Tannhauser was by the idea. Another part of him was anxious, he wouldn’t say he was scared, but he lacked any information to know what to do.
“Don’t be rude, it’s not like Rehua is the one who caused this.” Vina reminded him, her glare would have been more effective if she wasn’t still holding Oran. Who, unlike Baldric, had his concern plainly written on his face.
“You would be given magic, that allows you each your own special battle outfits, powers, and weapons, fitting you as a person and the god that has chosen you.” The wooden creature rephrased, and held out a hand to Tannhauser. “I can show you if you’d like?”
Tannhauser hesitated briefly before accepting the invitation, stepping atop the stone dias. Rehua guided him to the middle before stepping away, the moment he did the lines decorating it glowed. And in a bright flash the red haired punk lit aflame, causing all but the wooden creature to exclaim in concern. Though the fire died almost immediately, leaving a very different looking Tannhauser to blink owlishly at them.
Atop his head was a hennin that a princess might wear, though the silk hanging off it was ragged and torn. Under a large cape in similar condition he had on a military button up shirt that was tucked into a knee length frilled pencil skirt. The last touches were the high heeled boots that went up to his knees, and the fabric mask over his face. In one clenched hand there was a sceptre that’s head was decorated with a star symbol. In the other hand he held a bright red book that seemed filled with notes and paper scraps.
“You know, I imagined a lot of things… I didn’t imagine that.” Vina admitted, wolf whistling as the punk twirled about to look at himself. Clapping enthusiastically alongside Oran and Rehua whenever he took a moment to pose.
“Do we all get pretty clothes?” The teen piped up, looking eagerly at the wooden creature who nodded happily. Gesturing in a ‘go ahead’ motion to the stone dias as Tannhauser stepped off of it.
“We don’t get to say ‘no’, do we?” Baldric sighed, already knowing what the answer was before Rehua confirmed it.
“Well, if we all get pretty outfits, why would you want to?” Vina countered, taking the open invitation and stepping on the stone dias. A swirl of clouds and wind enveloping her form, taking her out of sight.
Just like Tannhauser she reappeared with a new outfit, her hairstyle was different as well. It sat like a cloud around her shoulders, braidless and extremely fluffy. Her outfit was reminiscent of gym wear, with a swimsuit-esc body piece. Complimented by the brightly colored leg warmers and arm wraps that went up halfway to her elbows and ended with fingerless gloves. A giant bow was tied around her waist, the ends of it shaped like lightning symbols. Under her leg warmers that went a bit past her knees she had on sneakers. Her hair was held back by a thick band, only a few locks weren’t held back by it.
“You know, not half bad.” She nodded, smiling down at her outfit and adjusting small parts of it. Just as before, Oran and Rehua clapped enthusiastically for how nice she looked, which she took in stride. Posing and showing off to get more applause.
“I wanna go next!” Oran decided, and stepped onto the stone dias once Vina had taken a few short steps away from it. Once in the middle storm clouds enveloped him, floating water twirling in unknown patterns before vanishing.
The largest part of the outfit was of course two ribbons spilling out from under the cropped hooded cloak. Floating like wings behind him, and stopping just a bit after his skirt, the second largest part of the outfit. It was puffed out, caused by the puffy pants beneath it that ended at his knees. Just below his knees was a pair of rain boots, decorated by small bows at the front of them. They matched the large elbow length rubber garden gloves he wore, with the fingers being a different color. The cloak had a line of frill on it, and ended at his waist just above the skirt. At the front of it was a large tied bow at the bottom of the hood with pointed ends. The hood itself also ended with a point, and in his hand he held a staff that circled itself several times at the head before ending in a hook. At the end of the hook was a small bell that made no sound even when he moved.
“Awh! You look like that one fairytale!” Vina cooed, ruffling the teen’s hair when he stepped off the dias. Leaving it wide open for Baldric to step onto it, though he grumbled heavily about having to. A black cloud of smoke and floating chunks of rocks swirled around him, hiding him from view just like the others.
When he was revealed again the most noticeable thing was the giant hat that sat atop his head. It was so large that the frilled brim of it sagged enough to hide his face, no matter how hard someone looked. A bow decorated where the brim met the long sagging top of it, and at the end ribbons and a star pendant hung off.The rest of him was covered by a black dress, buttoned at the top with puffy sleeves and a long skirt. Under the skirt was another slightly longer underskirt and high heeled boots. His hands were covered as well, with silk gloves that turned to thick hide at the hands. At his waist was a variety of pouches and bags, filled with a number of things that would come in handy later. A tattered scarf was wrapped around the lower half of his face, the ends of it almost going to his knees.
“You- huph.” Tannhauser interrupted himself with a cough, eyes switching between looking at him and looking elsewhere. “You don’t look entirely stupid.”
“That’s a really big hat, Mr. Baldric!” Oran pointed out, walking around the man to look at it alongside Vina who was pointedly not looking at the hat.
“I think you look great,” she commented with a smirk, earning a huff of annoyance from the man. And when she got too close he firmly planted his hand on her face to shove her away a short distance.
Their moment of calm was interrupted by a strange pulsing glow from the art across the walls. Though they simply gazed curiously at it, Rehua seemed concerned about the glow. It was like a silent fire alarm, brightening and fading in a steady rhythm as if to warn them of something. Unbeknownst to them, it was indeed a warning.
“The Rot has concentrated, going back through the tunnel you came through will put us back in the city. There it should be easy to track down the form that it has taken, it isn’t the most subtle thing…” He explained, gesturing to the tunnel they had walked through to urge them onward.
“Wait, what are we supposed to do?” Tannhauser questioned, they had just been introduced to the concept, not how they were supposed to fight with their supposed ‘powers’.
“Yeah! Tanny’s the only one of us who’s been in actual fights, what are the rest of us supposed to do?” Vina backed him up, she had no want to rush into a fight without proper reason especially for some strange cause.
“But what if people need us?” Oran argued, ribbon wings flaring behind him as he turned towards the others. “We have the ability to help them, why shouldn’t we?!”
“Listen kid, it’s a nice thought but we’re not prepared and it’s not our job.” Baldric huffed, shaking his large hat slightly as he crossed his arms over his chest in a show of finality. Earning a desperate look from the teen that he shook his head at.
“Fine! Then I’ll go and you guys can stay!” The Innocent cried, marching out of the room and back down the tunnel hallway system. Rehua was right behind him, sending only a forlorn look over his shoulder as they went.
“Oran! Bud, it’s not safe!” Vina called after him, following at a slower pace the two men left found themselves at the back of the pack.
Though when they exited the tunnel and blinked away the harsh light of day, not the mall nor the forest was what greeted them. Instead they found themselves in the middle of the city, tall metal buildings surrounding them. And the ruckus of yells and destruction off in the distance, indeed, the Rot was not subtle at all. Vina was grateful for the commotion, it meant that no one was paying attention to their group and odd outfits. But Oran and Rehua were no where to be seen, probably already at the point of destruction.
With that thought in mind she set off running, quickly followed by Tannhauser and Baldric. The Witch found himself more concerned about how much destruction there truly was. Smoke billowed out of buildings only a few blocks down, with debris littering the street. The Wizard had no want to throw himself into another battle that went on for gods knew how long. Yet he refused to allow his friends to go on alone, and so kept pace with them.
People went screaming by them, too focused on their own escapes to pay them any mind. None of them were too hurt, some had bruises and others had simple gashes decorating them.
Rounding the last bend allowed a full view of what truly had happened, and what they were up against. In a circle of utter destruction was a black mass interlaced with chunks of debris. Broken plates of concrete sidewalk and metal pieces of nearby window sills from ruined buildings. It was a mass of tentacle like limbs, slamming itself into anything within reach.
On one side of it was Rehua, whose form had broken down the middle to reach out his own set of tentacles. Which grappled with the monster’s and kept it from doing more damage to the buildings on that side of it. Oran was on it’s other side, and with each swing of his bell ordained staff lightning struck the mass. It arced from the sky as bright as the sun and pulled screeches from the creature with every hit.
“Oran!” Vina called to him, a somewhat choked off sound as she dodged to the side to avoid being bodyslammed by concrete. Separating her from Baldric and Tannhauser, who were attempting to keep out of reach of it.
“If you are not willing to fight then you should leave.” Rehua ground out, his voice a mix of echoes and the pattering of rain on leaves. Almost distracting her enough to not dodge the next arm that was swung at her though she managed in time.
That was the real question wasn’t it? How willing were they to actually fight this supposed threat that had been thrown at them with no warning. They hadn’t volunteered, hadn’t signed up, yet Oran had ran into danger just at the thought of helping others. While the rest of them had hung back and weighed the pros and cons of saving lives. Part of her felt more terrified then she would ever be willing to admit, another looked back on her life.
“We are not!” Baldric decided for her, before she knew if she agreed or not he had already grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the way. Ducking behind the remains of a brick building as another arm swung out at them, spiked metal at the end of it.
“What about Oran?” She rounded on him, the Witch blinked in the shadow of his hat almost in confusion. One foot already poised to take him far away from there and to where ever was safe.
“He chose to fight, he can deal with it.” He reminded her, not that she needed a reminder of what they were running from. The constant sound from the monster and it’s desperate attempts to destroy everything in sight was enough.
“We can’t just leave him!” The Gymnast pleaded, pulling her arm out of his grip and ignoring his protests in favor of leaving their cover. Just in time to pass Tannhauser who had a number of gashes across his upper left arm.
Though the creature had taken quite the beating Oran and Rehua were both still corralling it with full force. It didn’t look as though they had even made a dent on it, aside from the rubble in it’s form being slightly more broken up. Several deep gouges on it’s main body leaked a deep black ooze that sizzled and bubbled. She did her best to not touch the weird liquid, not wanting to see what would happen if it fell on human skin.
For a moment she panicked, she didn’t have a weapon to defend herself with unlike the others. But muscle memory activated at the last minute, and before she knew it she found herself kicking the arms away. Strong enough to leave dents in the sides of them, and further breaking the rubble. Allowing her to work her way back towards Oran, where he had been pinned between a building and the creature.
One well placed kick made an arm close to him swiftly retreat, giving him space to strike another with his staff. Though Rehua could handle himself well enough, she and Oran were barely going untouched. Bruises and scratches littered his skin, and after mere minutes of fighting she found herself in a similar condition.
It never seemed to end, a constant bombardment of attacks that aimed to kill instead of maim. Yet she refused to leave him, refused to let the Innocent be left to fight by himself and be stuck with the damned creature.
And damned it was, screeching and flailing like a mad dog stuck in a cage desperate to get out. Perhaps desperate was not the right word for it, that would mean it felt like a human did. And it very clearly did not, it seemed only to want to tear them and the surrounding area apart. Each noise it made more like sound trapped in a bubble, only clearly heard when it popped.
Without warning, an arm got past Rehua’s defense and struck him in the chest directly where he had broken apart. It sent the wooden construction backwards, followed by more arms reaching out to stike him. And allowing the ones he had previously been keeping a hold on to round on the two of them. Even with Tannhauser and Baldric rushing to back them up, the onslaught was not something they could match. While a flash of fire danced by her from the Wizard’s wand, it missed the arm rushing at her. A thick rod of metal held firmly in it’s grasp like a spear aimed to kill.
That was the thought that made her freeze; she was going to die in a fight she didn’t want. Hadn't signed up for.
Until there was a firm weight in her side, and the metal rod whizzed by her. Mere inches from her left arm though it had been aimed at her chest. And directly through Oran’s right shoulder, a sickening crunch accompanying it.
The red of his costume blended into the blood that poured from the wound. A stark contrast to how pale his skin had become.
The metal rod was firmly planted into the ground, but that seemed to mean nothing to the creature. Who almost mockingly, as if it was the easiest thing in the world, pulled the rod out sideways. His scream was deafening, and would haunt her for the rest of whatever life she had left. The tearing of flesh as the rod leveraged his arm off, and the continuing of thunderous noise as the battle continued. There was no reprieve for her, no pause to let her understand what she had just seen.
Until she moved without thinking, launching herself at the next mass sent hurtling their way. With as much force as she could to kick it several meters off it’s intended path. Fire following closely after as Tannhauser rushed past her.
He could barely make out how Vina retreated away from the fight, too busy with dismantling the accursed foe. Each swing of his wand marked by another blast of flames that gouged out chunks of it’s ‘flesh’. It acted as enough of a distraction for Rehua to regain ground, helping him pin the creature in place. Baldric following quickly after with a number of bombs that he had been finnicking with. They did their job well, lessening it’s amassed flesh enough so that it sizzled out beneath the sun. It’s handmade crater would act as an open wound in the city from it’s existence, though that would be fixed.
Before he could do anything else, Baldric grabbed him by the cloak, rushing away from the fight without so much as a comment to Rehua. The wooden construction left staring after them with what Tannhauser almost considered to be pity. An odd thought that he kept to himself.
“What are you doing?” He demanded, catching himself staring between the other man and the remains of their battle. Interrupted slightly by a flash of fire across himself that left him in his original clothes. The same happening to Baldric, black smoke whisking away his ‘battle outfit’. Leaving them only slightly battered looking, dust and bruises the most noticeable things.
“Hospital. Now.” The other man ground out, gaze not moving from the path forward through the destruction. Distracted by something that he wasn’t telling Tannhauser, causing annoyance to bubble up inside him.
“Why? Unless perhaps you’re afraid you’ve broken something.” He shrugged, eyeing the helmeted man for injuries that he could not find or perhaps simply couldn’t see. Finding none he moved to more pressing matters, particularly about their friends. “We should be more concerned about wherever Vina and Oran are.”
“Vina and Oran are at the damn hospital!” Baldric snapped, releasing his death grip on Tannhauser’s arm to gesture towards the building several blocks away. White walls almost highlighted by the office buildings surrounding it.
“What,” in truth he had been more focused on the battle then how the others had been doing. Perhaps he had missed one of them getting injured, or something that had happened.
“Because of that stupid fucking tree and the useless fucking gods that sent a child onto a battlefield to get his arm ripped off. Or maybe you’d like to sit around twiddling your thumbs while Vina waits to have to tell Oran’s parents that we couldn’t keep him safe!” The helmeted man was damn near screaming, his usual monotone voice broken up by complete anger.
It felt as though it took several seconds for what he had said to completely click in Tannhauser’s mind. And the moment it did, he took off running.
Vina had never been a fan of hospitals, they were cold and smelled strongly of sanitation supplies. Burning her nose and making her lungs feel dry whenever she had to speak to doctors. Though they hadn’t asked her much after bursting through the doors covered in blood with a half dead teen in her arms. Their ‘fighting uniforms’ were long gone, hers with a whirl of clouds and his with the crash of water as he had collapsed.
She couldn’t stop herself from twitching and moving in place, her heart beating a mile a minute. The blood pumping through her ears almost drowning out what the doctors had said. She had only made out that they needed to take him back for surgery. Everything after that had gone in one ear and out the other without a second in between. Only being startled back into reality when Baldric sat down beside her.
He said nothing, merely sat and waited with her in the quiet of the waiting room. Tannhauser paced rhythmically across part of the room, a slow march compared to his usual stride. Few others sat in the waiting room with them, not that the three were paying much attention.
What felt like hours waiting on news proved fruitful, as a nurse stepped out to invite them back. Of course under the illusion that they were family members of the patient.
Vina felt like she was choking as she stepped into the thirteenth room in the ICU, the smell at an all time strong. Though she didn’t think that was why her throat was closing up, or why her eyes had started to water.
Oran was deathly still, wrapped in thin blankets with wires laced around his form connected to various machines. Several things beeped, and something that pumped air through clear tubes to his nose whirred. Cotton pads were tapped across his right shoulder, the stump having been slimmed down in surgery supposedly. Likely to have enough skin to cover the exposed bone and muscle. She didn’t want to see what was underneath.
Small amounts of bright stitches peaked out from beneath the pads, yet more noticeable then that was the blood. Some of it was still wet, spreading across the cotton slowly but surely, even more was dried across his chest and neck. Matching the dried blood still on Vina.
Baldric shoved a chair in her direction before stealing one for himself, a plush one next to a window. Tannhauser took a plastic one, choosing to sit at the foot of the hospital bed while Vina sat besides Oran. Watching the slow but sure rise and fall of the teen’s chest in his sleep, and the occasional twitch. After several minutes of being settled, a new doctor walked in, she had bags under her eyes but a smile on her face.
“He’ll be alright, there was enough left there that the skin could be used to cover anything exposed. Though he’s the worst we’ve seen from the accident in that area, can I ask how that happened?” She set a clipboard down on the keyboard of the monitor on a metal stand before turning to them.
“It was an accident, part of a building collapsed near us and a metal pipe caught his shoulder.” Baldric explained, saving Vina from having to say anything, which she was grateful for.
“I see, well we’ve notified his emergency contact, they informed us you would be fine with staying with him? We’ll be checking in periodically until he wakes up, once we’ve confirmed he’s stable he’ll be fine to go home.” The doctor continued, receiving only nods and noises of agreement to her statements. At that she tapped a couple of things into the monitors keyboard before taking her clipboard and leaving.
The hospital wasn’t quiet by a long shot, but none of them wanted to break the feeling of quiet. Once Baldric was sure that Vina wasn’t going to have a mental breakdown he would stop by the hospital cafeteria. Though his kitchen skills were better then any processed food known to man, it wasn’t as if he could go home for an hour to make something.
Already he was mentally going over the things he knew that they liked, not that he would admit that he remembered.
Tannhauser gazed uselessly across the room, the constant beeping scratching at his mind. The chatter outside the room was worse, but he couldn’t understand why. He didn’t know if he wanted it quiet or louder, to let him think or drown him out. He let himself lose track of time with these thoughts, only blinking back into reality when Baldric tapped at his shoulder.
“I’m grabbing something from the cafeteria,” he stated blandly, but the punk understood the intent. It was the only form of invitation that the other man was willing to give, and with that he stood from his seat.
Following the other out into the hallways, into the maze of white walls shifting to stone and back to white again. Paintings, some realistic landscapes and others of mosaic color pieces decorated the place. Oran’s room was on the second floor, the cafeteria was on the first and was connected to a courtyard.
“I don’t know why she wouldn’t say something to us.” Tannhauser felt like he was thinking aloud more then actually attempting to start a conversation. But Baldric had always been more level headed then him, surely he would have reasoning.
“Do you really need to ask?” The other sighed, likely giving him a flat look from behind the tinted visor of his helmet.
“Well, no! But I still would have liked to know that something had happened!” He retorted, grumbling in frustration without forming any real words aside from gibberish.
“We’re here now, no use complaining.”
The cafeteria was a large room, with only sparse amounts of people sitting sparingly at tables or grabbing food. Most of the food and drinks were packaged things, from deserts to sandwiches and sodas. Though even the food served to patients was clearly premade and process, likely to keep things moving at a timely pace. It would indeed suck to have to wait two hours on your food instead of a couple minutes.
With Vina and Oran in mind Baldric set about grabbing the right things, letting Tannhauser grab his own things. There wasn’t drinkable alcohol in a hospital of course, but there were plenty of other things. For Vina he grabbed a packaged sandwich that seemed healthy enough and a canned sprite. For Oran he grabbed a sunkist, as he assumed the kid would like the fruit flavor, and a packaged fried chicken sandwich. He made sure to grab a mix of condiment packets to go with both.
Vina had begun to regret her decision to sit on the right side of the bed. The smell of blood was starting to get to her, and reaching across the wires to grab Oran’s remaining hand felt weird.
In the end she stayed where she was, some mix of regret and an odd twisting feeling in her stomach keeping her in place. Though she didn’t have long to question the odd sensation as a noise beside her caught her attention.
Oran twitched in place for a couple of seconds as he regained consciousness, whatever pain meds they had given him taking their toll. He blinked sluggishly and mumbled words she couldn’t make out, but finally he focused on her. A small, tired smile gracing his face before he took on a more pained look as the muscles of his shoulder spasmed.
“Try not to move, I know it feels weird,” she soothed, and once she understood what he wanted pressed the button to move the bed. The system in it whirred quietly as it tilted the upper half upward, letting Oran sit up without moving.
His noises became more hums then mumbles, which she took to responding to as if he was talking. It felt like making up imaginary conversations with animals when they made funny noises at her.
“Mnnnnh” “Yeah? Sounds rough,” “mmhmm”
At least it was easier to focus on that, though she still avoided looking at his stump. But still found herself wondering how long it would take for him to be used to it. How long of reaching for things with a hand he didn’t have, of needing help doing once simple things? If the teen noticed how she sounded the next time she responded he didn’t make a fuss about it.
Baldric returned to a room that felt a little more alive then it had when he had left, Tannhauser at his heels. The time walking back had been as quiet as walking away, though this time a little easier and not as weighed down.
Oran had awoken, though not entirely. Humming odd noises at Vina who nodded along or gasped at supposedly the right moments. Her eyes looked red, but she smiled at him when she noticed him in the door way.
“Brought food,” he noted with a jerk of his head in the direction to the waiting room of the ICU. Of course food wasn’t allowed from outside sources, it increased the threat of infection. So Tannhauser was out there grumbling and eating his slice of pizza.
“I’ll eat in a bit.” She acknowledged, almost without thinking her hand had moved to the empty space at Oran side. He nodded his agreement before grabbing his previous seat and planting it on the bed’s other side.
“Food…?” Oran slurred, widening his eyes slightly to look almost awake enough to figure out what was happening. It shook a laugh out of Vina, though the thump of shoes pulled it to an abrupt stop.
“I see our patient is awake!” The doctor smiled, tapping a password into the monitor that she had used before. “After a short checkup to make sure everything is okay, you should be good to leave. We would have you stay longer but we didn’t see anything too concerning in our scans, but you should come back immediately if anything seems wrong.” Allowing them a moment as she checked his eyes, ears, and throat, and then looked over his bandaged stump.
“Can I get an itemized receipt for everything?” Baldric asked, mentally going over how to shuffle the lot of them somewhere else and inform Oran’s parents.
“Of course, I’ll grab the paperwork and a prescription for pain meds for the surgery.” She nodded, smiling lightly before ducking back out of the room and into the maze of halls and desks.
“Can um… can he even stand?” Vina questioned, attention turned back to the teen on the hospital bed who was taking four whole seconds to blink.
“Good thing you’ve got two hands to carry him with.” He pointed out, planning to carry the food to whatever- that was another problem huh? They didn’t exactly have a cab called. The way in which her face scrunched up at his words redirected his attention back to the present. “Too soon?”
“Definietly too soon.”
In the waiting room Tannhauser had finally remembered not to speak with his mouth full. Eating his peperoni pizza slice as aggressively as possible without his unending grumbling. And pointedly ignored the weird look the mother with her child was giving him.
Just as he was finishing his slice Baldric came to collect the food that the punk had been guarding. All of it wrapped in a paper bag to be more easy to carry, in his other gloved hand he held a short stack of paper and a receipt. The labels of medications and the name of the downstairs pharmacy were printed onto it.
In the hallway waiting for them was Vina, who had turned her hands white from gripping the handles of a wheelchair. Oran seemed not too disturbed by it, remaining hand fidgeting with the white locks of her hair that hung around him.
“We’re free to leave I presume?” He stepped up to the teen after tossing the pizza container, his presence garnered no response or acknowledgement.
“Yeah, have to stop by the pharmacy first to grab his meds.” The helmeted man gestured with the receipt down the hall, presumably in the direction of the pharmacy.
Most of their wandering was spent in calm silence, with Oran having gone back to sleep. The meds were strong ones, presumably to help adjust after such a great loss. There had been plenty of prosthetics in Golgotha, the land was of course a constant war. It was more easier to lose a limb than it was to keep them.
But they weren’t in Golgotha, that was hundreds of miles away, and there wasn’t a war nearby to lose a limb in. Instead, it had been because of love and the will to care about others. Though he supposed he could think on and on about philosophy and humanity.
There was one real question that needed to be answered. How did Vina’s car and his bike get from the mall to the hospital?
They were in perfect condition, the same they had been when parked in the mall parking lot. But they were no longer in the mall parking lot, they were parked outside the hospital. Which was somehow more concerning then if they would have had to go get them from the mall.
“Baldric, you should go with Vina to keep an eye on Oran.” He decided, fishing his keys from his pocket as he looked over his bike. Even if it looked fine he would rather it work fine as well, vehicles that couldn’t run were just about worthless.
“Who said I was planning to go with you in the first place?” The other man remarked, already helping Vina shuffle the unconscious teen into the backseat.
“Because bikes are cool and mine looks awesome!” Tannhauser defended, glaring at Baldric before hopping on his bike. It purred under him as he drove out of the parking lot, determined to get home and immediately get back to research.
Vina and Baldric had no better plans, one aimed for drinking and the other wished simply to drown himself in his work. But first, Vina had to take Oran home if one of his parents were there, if not she supposed he could stay with her.