Fantasy Ghosts From The Past

[Veno]

Barrett grit his teeth, cursing lowly as he was refused access to pursue after the beast. However, he did listen- as he did in fact put the soldiers health over his own vengeance. "Fine..." He reluctantly grumbled out as he walked over to the injured men, and carefully helped two of them up, holding them over his shoulders. He was about to walk off, though froze in his spot as Boman demanded answers... And Waven provided them.

"Consider her a fellow student as of now. Don't chase her."

Barrett froze where he was, staring forward with an open mouth, wide eyes full of shock, and a slight growing anger. "What the hell... Did you just say, Waven? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR GODDAMN MIND??" He whipped around, tightening his grip on the two men as he growled out lowly. "With all due respect... Teacher... YOUR A DAMNED IDIOT! What the hell are you thinking?! That thing Isn't even human, given the chance it very well might destroy this whole damned kingdom! We were trained to kill them and your expecting us to accept it as a fellow student. Your goddamn crazy old man. " He snarls out, fury raging within him as he paces a little, before focusing back to him. "Dammit explain this- this doesnt make sense! God I swear the next time i see that vile creature ill have its head on a stick."

Gracia decided not to go straight to her cave, instead, she spent the next while soaking within a nearby stream. Of course it was cold- though she had grown used to it, she used the water to wash away as much of the blood and dirt that she could from her body and hair. Though her clothing was definitely stained.

 

[Derpy Dev]

Waven sighed again. Barrett did have a point, his teacher was an idiot. But he was wrong about one thing.

"She's not a monster." Waven blurted out. "She's gone through more than you could know, and let me tell you this. She's not human. She's not monster. She's both. I'm simply trying to appeal to that human part." Waven took a deep breath before continuing. "There are some people in this world worse than the biggest monster you've ever seen. They took her, presumably as a small child, and turned her into this. Most of the ones they've taken have lost all humanity. But those shackles on her arm? That's evidence that she clung to that humanity, that little drop of hope, and used it to escape." He looked Barrett right in the eyes. "That's why she's still alive. Because she is being given a chance. A chance to reclaim her life. She was blessed by whatever god is up there, and it's not my right to take that blessing away."

Boman picked up the fifth soldier and started walking to the hospital. Waven looked towards him, and then followed. "Come on Barrett. We'll discuss this again later. And if you see her, don't try anything."

Boman
​

Boman didn't get it. Why? What? Who took her? What was she now? How did Waven know this?

...how did he know her?

 

[Veno]

Barrett flinched at his teachers words, gritting his teeth as he listened, his eye brows furrowed as he allowed his words to sink in. Though he didn't entirely believe it all- he had seen what beasts like her have done... and he couldn't possible believe that she was even slightly different. However, he opted against saying anything for the moment. Biting his tongue, he walked off towards the hospital while carrying the two men. he didn't respond to Boman either, in fact- he didnt even look at him as fury flamed within his eyes.

Gracia sat in the stream with her knees pulled up to her chest, and her arms wrapped around her legs, staring down at the flowing water silently. So much had changed in such a short time- she had been told so many things that she could barely believe or comprehend. The fact that she wasnt always what she is now, that perhaps she actually had some sort of life was shocking, though also heart breaking. Because she couldn't remember anything. She still wondered if everything he said was even true... Perhaps it was all a lie, but that would mean she would be ignoring that odd familiarity she held for Boman, and the chilling, occasional images that flash in her mind.

Nothing that she now knows changes the fact that she is a monster... Her life is quite valueless, which means she really didnt have much to lose by putting a little faith in that mans knowledge, and following her word to meet up with him tomorrow morning.

After an hour or so, she was about to get up from the water, however was suddenly stopped by an aching in her head. Gasping quietly, she gripped her skull and hunched foreward, using her other hand to hold herself up. 'Again... Dammit...' She groaned out quietly, shutting her eyes tightly and shuddering as blurry images, blurry and fragments of memories surfaced. She could hear crying- screaming and desperate pleas of a young voice, pain laced with every syllable. She could see a ceiling- it all looked metal with a hanging flickering light. The sounds echoed within the room, and she realized that the cries were her own. She saw a few blurry faces, people with long white coats.

"Are you ready?"

She couldnt break out of this memory, looking through the eyes of her past self, she stared at the ceiling, gasping and breathing heavily with salty tears running down her cheeks, screaming out and crying "No!" Over and over before suddenly she looked to the side with wide eyes, and just then she watched as a large blade came crashing down into her left arm, immediately severing her limb.

It was just then that Gracia essentially 'awoke' from her memory, and she found herself face down in the water, having falling over. She practically screamed just as she awoke and jumped up out of the water, gasping and hyperventilating as she immediately gripped onto her black left arm, looking down to her hand as she sat there frozen, her stomach tied in a knot.

 

[Derpy Dev]

It was later that night when Barrett was asleep that Boman brought a bundle of flowers. He hated every part of this. He dreaded what Barrett would be like in the morning after seeing this, and he had no idea how Waven was feeling about this. But nonetheless, Boman had orders, and he was following them to the letter.

The bundle of roses was put on the doorstep, and soon a note was placed besides them. It spoke of how "I've felt undying affection for you for as long as I've known you," and, "how I'll never be able to muster the courage to tell you up front, but I want you to know how I feel." Boman gagged just thinking about the nonsense he wrote on it. He walked away as fast as his legs could carry him, hoping that Barrett would never find out who put them there.

He couldn't stop his thoughts from going back to the girl though. He didn't even know her name. He didn't know where she'd come from. And he didn't know how he knew her. If what Waven said was true, then she was once human. Did he meet her in passing in the village, and just forgot? ...was she... Don't be silly, he told himself. Gracia Von is dead. You failed her. You can never change that. She's gone forever because you didn't take action. And if you don't keep an eye on this new girl, you're going to be wishing you'd taken action once again. Boman let out a tear and went home.

In the Morn
​

Waven was taking a walk through the woods, aiming himself towards the location of the girl's cave. It was quite early, she was likely to still be asleep. That would soon change.

He took inventory one last time before getting there. Had to make sure. Two swords, one metal and sharp and the other wooden and blunt for training. A large quantity of blunt wooden daggers, as well as the normal amount of ones meant for actual combat. Breakfast for both him and her, and last but not least, a set of non ragged clothes for her. He put his backpack down as he took a deep breath.

"Rise and shine girl!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. "Training starts early, so if you wanna learn you gotta get up!" It had been a while since he'd last trained a girl, as the vast majority of his students were boys. This might require different tactics then what he used on Boman. No matter.

 

[Veno]

The sudden shout from just outside of her cave surprised Gracia, and immediately tore her out of her sleep as she jumped slightly upon the rough floor, her eyes snapping open and her muscles initially stiffening. The girl paused a moment, before groaning quietly as she slowly turned onto her other side, and stared towards the mouth of the cave.

'He's... actually here?' She thought to herself slowly, frowning a little as she drew in a deep breath and slowly sat herself up, wiping her eyes tiredly. She was hesitant for a moment, feeling her stomach churn slightly before she finally crawled out from her shelter, and slowly stood up straight, fixing her gaze onto Waven as her hands clenched at her sides.

"You... actually came, huh?" She mumbled quietly and lowly, as if she was just slightly shocked as she examined his supplies.

'I guess backing out now isnt much of an option... Not a good one anyway.'

 

[Derpy Dev]

It was only a short moment before Waven heard a low groan, and saw her emerge from the cave. She looked rather tired, which wasn't too surprising.

"You..." she began, "actually came, huh?" She spoke softly and quietly, which seemed to just be her thing.

Waven nodded in response. "I'm a man of my word. Did ya think I was gonna stand you up or something?" He knelt besides his pack and began fishing through it. "Regardless, I've got a few things for you." He pulled some bread out and put on the ground besides him, as well as a small pile of clothes. They weren't anything fancy, the only thing they really had over her current attire was the fact that they were intact.

"One's for eating, one's for wearing." He pulled out his own bread and got ready to eat it. "Now come on over, there's a few things I'd like to say before we get this show on the road." He took a bite and looked at her expectantly.

 

[Veno]

She watched him as he knelt down to the ground and began a search through his backpack whIle responding to her question. She remained silent as he stated that he had some things for her before pulling out some clothes and a bit of bread.

"Ones for eating, ones for wearing"
'Obviously...' She thought to herself before slowly shifting forward. Reaching down, she grabbed the clothung and inspecting it for a moment. It felt clean and warm.

While gracia may have still held onto a sliver of her free will- her human, she still wasn't completely human and didn't share the exact same morales and what not. This means that since she has no memory of ever being anything but a beast in the woods, she had little to no problem pulling off her clothing right there without cover and slipping on the new ones.
She was definitely still different from any normal person.

Finally, she timidly sat down in front of Warren, examining him and then the bread on the ground. She drew in a small breath and lifted the food. She had never really had bread before as her diet consisted of only organic, raw foods that she cold scavenge around here. With slight hesitation she began eating it. And although she didn't say anthing, she was thankful.

"Okay... what is it?" She urged him to tell her what he wanted to say before starting.

 

[Derpy Dev]

Waven was prepared for a lot of things. He was ready to leap into action at a moments notice and had many potential responses ready. He was not, however, emotionally prepared for her to immediately strip down and start changing into the new clothing right there.

"Agh!" Waven gave a shout before just turning around and shutting up. I might have to teach her what normality is, Waven thought.

"Okay... what is it?" Her question got Waven to turn around again. Waven took a deep breath and started.

"First order of business, I gotta tell you what my job actually is. No doubt you've encountered the beasts, those horrible aberrations that lurk in forests like these. It is my job to protect this town from those beasts, and to train people to kill those beasts. Which is why those students of mine tried to kill you. They assumed you were just another beast. Now, I told the ones that fought you the day before last not to kill you now... but those two are my most rebellious students and I fully expect trouble from them. You know the one is named Boman, and I get the feeling you won't have to deal with a lot of nonsense from him. But the other one, Barrett... keep your distance from him, and if you see him and I'm not around, don't make yourself known."

He took another bite of his bread before continuing, giving her time to respond if she wanted to.

 

[Veno]

She crossed her legs on the ground, and gripped onto her knees as she listened to Waven, leaning back slightly. He seemed to be warning her- as well as being straight with her about why she was attacked, and exactly who he is. She frowned a little in contemplation as she thought over his words, scoffing quietly, she looked to the side with a slightly stubborn look.

"Im not afraid of that hotheaded worm." She mumbled lowly in a small insult towards Barrett, who she rightfully had some distaste for. Focusing her focus back onto Waven, she continued to take steady bites out of her breakfast, the taste of the bread beginning to grow onto her. She hesitated a moment before deciding to ask something that was one her mind.

"Waven... Was it? What are you gaining from this?" She watched him with concentrated, narrowed eyes. Seeming to examine every tiny movement he made, analyzing him as she asked this important question.

 

[Derpy Dev]

She scoffed when he finished his warning, and looked to the side with a frown on her face. "I'm not afraid of that hotheaded worm," she stated with a scowl and in a low voice. She took another bite of her bread before continuing, this time turning her head towards Waven.

"Waven... was it?" He nodded in response to this question. "What do you gain from this?" She asked.

"Hey, why's it matter?" Waven grumbled, "can't I just want to teach someone?" Sensing that his answer would not be satisfactory though, he rolled his eyes before continuing. "I... look kid, I don't freaking know. I just do. It's my job to protect this town, and by extension to teach others how to do the same. I did this for Boman, and I did this for Barrett, and I'll do this for you." He scratched his chin. "Actually, I'm not sure I know your name. And I get the feeling you don't know it either. So tell me the first name that comes to mind now." Her memories were likely to be buried in her subconscious. So their was a good likelihood that the first name that came to her mind would be her real name. At least, that was what he hoped.

 

[Veno]

Gracia pressed her lips together in a moment of thought as she leaned back, and averted her gaze to the side. She decided to ignore his answer, which left her still with unsatisfied confusion. He had now directed her to tell him her name- or whatever name came to her mind. "Mmm" She bit her lip as she gripped onto her arm.

'My name...? ' She thought slowly before drawing in a breath, and blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

"T-twelve... ?" She glanced towards Waven quietly with a small frown, disappointed at her inability to find an actual name, instead getting a mere number which must have been the number she was given and called by the scientists. "I really dont know.." She sighed lowly as she finished her food and rubbed her own arm while shifting her position on the ground and glancing towards Waven's bag of weapons.

 

[Derpy Dev]

Twelve? "I don't know..." she said with a sigh, clearly very indecisive about this. Waven smiled.

"Then it is nice to meet you Twelve." That was still almost certainly not her real name. He might find it out in time, but for now Twelve could do. Besides, it had a nice ring to it. He noticed her gaze shifting towards the weapons now that she was done with her food.

"I guess it's time to begin," he stated while picking up the wooden sword off the ground. "This blade is blunt. It will not kill you if I hit you with it, but it might sting." He smacked his own arm with it to demonstrate before he stood up and gestured for her to do the same.

"I'd like to see how good you actually are before we go on with more informative training. So here's what we'll do. I am going to try to poke you with this, and you are going to try to avoid that outcome. You are not going to counter or attack, you are just on the defensive. You can block with those blood spears if you want to though. So tell me when you're ready." He gave her a patient look.

 

[Veno]

As he gestured her to, she too stood up, and watched as he demonstrated how the wooden sword would do nothing but provide a small blunt force- as expected. Looking back up to him with a raised brow, she listened as he explained how he wanted to test her to see how good she was at the moment. She figured he would be testing her agility or reaction times, as she knew those were important to survive in a battle.

"Alright..." She exclaimed as she lowered her stand a bit, and slid one foot behind the other, glaring at Waven with burning concentration, watching him with a look of seriousness dwelling within her sharp eyes. She decided against using her blood spears- she found it unnecessary as she was certain she would do fine with just her speed and permanently armored left arm.

"Im ready." She informed as she studied him, waiting for even the slightest of movements, her left hand raised slightly, ready to block with that armored palm, which would be like striking metal with the wooden sword.

 

[Derpy Dev]

"Alright..." she said as she stood up and got into a defensive stance. A look of determination entered her orange eyes. Waven liked that, it showed that she was going to take that seriously. "I'm ready."

He was moving before she even finished saying ready. In the blink of an eye, he had charged towards her left with a swing towards her armored arm. But as always, he kept his true intentions vague. After deliberately botching the attack to make it easy to block, he spun around behind her and aimed a kick towards her back. Gotcha. He paused his train of thought a bit, deliberately slowing down the attack by half a second. Alright, maybe you should go a little easier on her then that. We'll see if she can block attacks that Boman can't even see through later.

 

[Veno]

Gracia was caught just slightly off guard when he charged forward before she could even finish her word. Narrowing her eyes in focus, the first attack was simple, and confusingly easy to defend herself from. Clenching her hand, she shoved her left arm in front of herself to make contact with his weapon.

But something was off- this was not it. She had faced Waven, she knew he was strong, and she doubted he would be going this easy on her. With this knowledge, she wasnt necessarily unprepared for him to suddenly swirl around behind her and draw a kick towards her back. She was impressed by his speed, but it would not be enough to faze her.

Thanks to her inhuman speed and agility, as well as her animalistic instincts and senses she reacted with impeccable timing. In a sharp movement, she was facing Waven- she was planning to grab his leg before it would make contact with her, but he did prove to be just a bit quicker as expected, and so she settled with a simple block using her armored arm, followed by a rough forward motion of her left arm, pushing Waven back by his leg.

Her eyes remained trained onto Waven, glowing intensely and nearly animalistically, with her pupils a little smaller than normal. Her eyes had a rather beastly, or animalistic intensity to them as she concentrated on the faux battle, drinking in every little movement he made, as if she was peering straight through him.

 

[Derpy Dev]

The first blow went perfectly as planned, Waven's sword made contact with her arm, and left Twelve slightly open at the back. But luckily for her, she saw through this and sent down her arm to block the kick as well. And then a simple shove was all she needed to send him back. He smiled. You've already got the instinct, he thought, you'll be a proper guard sooner than I thought. He shrugged off the fact that he went easy on her with that attack, he believed she could probably have still blocked it if he hadn't.

"All right, so you've got good instincts. But what about balance?" As he asked this question, he clapped his hands together and released a shockwave to make her stumble, and then rushed forward with a trio of thrusts towards her chest. He still made sure to keep the shockwave a bit weaker than how he normally used it, didn't want to completely bowl her over. But with any luck, he was underestimating her again.

 

[Veno]

Still not used to such a strong, and odd ability, she was in fact pulled out of balance from the shock wave. Flinching with just slight surprise as she found herself stumbling back a little with a small gasp parting her lips. The sudden rush that followed with multiple thrusts of his weapon towards her did in fact tip her balance over the edge, causing her to fall back towards the ground.

Her balance was not perfect- that was clear from this exercise, however, this is made up for by her quick instinctual reaction time, much like an animal. She hopped just slightly before she was completely taken off of her feet, and planted her palm on the ground, allowing herself to flip back until she was back on her feet in a slightly crouched position a few feet further back. She had good balance, but only when focusing on it, if she were not planning on something like that happening where she would need to hold her balance, she is not as effective.

"I dont think ill ever get used to that..." She mumbled quietly under her breath to herself as she stood herself back up straight.

 

[Derpy Dev]

Waven watched Twelve reel back after he clapped. He kept on the offense though, and leaped forward with his blade. This was what seemed to cause her to fall though. She fell over and the blade passed inches from her head, and she was up and away again before he had time to tap her while she was on the ground. Waven chuckled at this. It was clear that she made a slip up--but she immediately recognized her mistake and went into action to remedy her error.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that," he heard her mumble as she stood up and faced him again.

"I have to ask Twelve, where did you learn to fight?" he asked while giving her a curious look. "You know quite a bit about combat as I'm seeing, and yet you-" And then he stopped talking to throw a wooden dagger at her, followed by him rushing forward with amazing speed to slash at her. While he was asking a legitimate question, its purpose was to distract her. He wondered how easily that would be accomplished.

 

[Veno]

Her focus was not broken despite his question and early stages of a truly interesting conversation. She had been taken off guard with his last attack- she wasn't about to be taken off guard by a simple question masking his next attack. He had to give him one thing- he was faster than other humans that she had fought before. A quick twist of her body had her dodging the knife slicing through the air towards her. And now, she was left to deal with Waven's head on attack. Grounding her feet she lowered her stance a bit, and matched his pace, shooting her armored arm forward and catching his striking hand. her fingers coiled around his weapon tightly, holding it still as she stopped the attack. Then, her other arm quickly shot forward, and in a moment, armor formed over her hand and fingernails as she aimed her extended hand directly at his throat. She would be able to pierce his skin with her fingernails, as they too were affected by the barely-penetrable armor.

Glaring up at him with cold and focused eyes, she exclaimed lowly. "I dont know. All ive ever done is fight- I like to think that i taught my-..." She smirked a bit, however before she could finish her sentence, her whole body tensed as she flinched a bit. Once again, a dreadful feeling shivered down her body as chilling, and hardly comprehensible feelings and images flickered within her mind. Immediately, she gasped aloud and stumbled back, before falling to the ground and without warning, she hunched over and threw up into the grass with her eyes shut tightly, and hands shaking just a bit. Whatever she had just seen, or felt, truly must have been horrendous. She couldnt even comprehend what had just happened, what she had felt and seen, all she knew was that for just that split second she felt nothing but horror, and a familiar pain.

 

[Derpy Dev]

Twelve was good at dodging. That was what Waven had learned so far. She easily stepped out of the way of his flying dagger and caught his wooden blade mid air. And then, with a quick motion, she countered by lunging the tips of her fingers towards his throat. Waven moved his head to the side and with his free hand pushed hers aside. She gave him a smirk.

"I don't know," she answered in response to his bait question. "All I've ever done is fight; I like to think that I taught my-" Twelve stopped her speech with a flinch, a look of unexpected shock and horror on her face. Her grip completely slipped off of the blade and she fell to the ground and vomited. Was there something wrong with the bread? He thought for a split second before realizing the foolishness of that question. This was something else. That look on her face... it was one of horror. One of such terrible understanding and utter revulsion... whatever she had just experienced, it was something that he couldn't possibly understand.

"I guess you didn't like the bread," he lied while trying very hard to mask his worry. He reached his hand down to help her up. "We're done training for today. Now what just happened?"

 

[Veno]

Twelve groaned lowly as she leaned back, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. She felt a little lightheaded after suddenly throwing up like that, but she forced herself to recover as she glanced up to Waven, holding a hand out to her. Frowning she reached out and pushed his hand away.

"Im fine..." She mumbled as she slowly stumbled onto her feet. Despite her refusing his help, she ended up having no choice but to grip onto his shoulder as she lowered her head, her balance waving a bit, while one of her hands rubbed her head. Frowning a bit, whatever she had seen was now blurry in her memories, but it still made her stomach churn. A slow, shaky exhale escaped her lips.

"I dont know... It was just- ... Just a thought, i guess... a memory." She responded lowly and dullly as she slowly slid her hand off of Wavens shoulder, and instead leaned her body back against a tree, just taking a minute to regain her composure.

 

[Derpy Dev]

Twelve was stubborn as always it seemed. Without hesitation, she pushed Waven's hand aside and pulled herself up on her own. Of course she was still dizzy though, and quickly ended up leaning on her teacher to avoid falling, which caused him to simply roll his eyes.

"I'm fine," she muttered as her breathing wavered and her hand rubbed her forehead. Soon she was leaning on a tree instead.

"I don't know," she answered in response to his question, clearly unbalanced by this, "It was just... just a thought I guess... a memory." Can't have been a good one, he thought with a sigh.

There was a long moment of wait here, a soothing breeze bringing calm where there was none before. He relaxed and put his wooden sword way, and walked over to pick up his pack and the wooden dagger left in the soil. Waste not want not after all.

"Well, I'm heading back to town now," Waven announced. "I've got more than one student I need to supervise and spar with. You can come with if ya want." And on that note, he began to walk towards the town again without looking back to Twelve. He wasn't gonna lie, a large part of him wanted Twelve to follow. Didn't feel right leaving her in a cave in the forest.

 

[Veno]

Gracia watched as Waven declared his departure for the night, and walked off, dissappearing through the dense trees, and out into the open as he would make his way back towards the kingdom. At first, she had no intention of following him. It sounded like a terrible idea; going into the kingdom, given what she is... She was certain it would end terribly. Not to mention she would hate it there with all of the loud sounds and crowds of people. Her final reason was none other than the fact that she didnt see what the point would be, its not like she wanted to remain around Waven, or any human for that matter. Accepting to be taught by him was simply convenient, as she wanted to understand what was going on... Who she was, and who is is.

For a few minutes, Waven would be alone while Gracia slowly began to make her way back to own little cave.

Then, suddenly- about ten minutes later, heavy breathing would be able to be heard by waven from nearby behind him. Gracia was running through the empty fields, catching up to him. She quickly caught up, and slowed down once she was just a few feet behind him, heaving quietly as she tried to catch her breath. she looked up at him for a moment, but didnt exchange any words as she followed him.

She didnt know what brought her to change her mind... Perhaps it was just a feeling. Or a curiosity.

 

[Derpy Dev]

Waven felt somewhat upset when Twelve didn't follow. But it couldn't be helped. She was the one who wanted to stay out of town. And he didn't blame her either. He was certain that the next time she went to town, she would get all kinds of looks. But they all did. Boman's father was the town drunk, and they didn't all think well about him being the next student. Of course that was different though. Boman, unlike some of the students, didn't attack anyone, and wasn't half-beast.

He looked up at the noon sun high in the sky. He chuckled; for once he was the late one. And he would have to tell them all about the new student Twelve... but unfortunately he wouldn't be able to show them her on the first day of her training.

His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of footsteps behind him. About half a mile off. He turned around and gripped a dagger...

And was embarrassed by his irrational suspicion when he saw Twelve run into view. He gave her a broad grin when she stopped to catch her breath. "Welcome aboard kid," he greeted as he started walking again.

The Sparring Grounds
​

There were not a lot of guards who could take Boman in a fight. Waven was the obvious one, he couldn't ever get caught off guard. Barrett was an even match, and they could go on for a while before one would get knocked down.

And then there was Mavera, who had landed a kick to the chest and grounded him yet again. She gave him a toothy smile as she looked down at him. His attention was always drawn to her front teeth because one had been missing as long as he'd known her. But Boman had given up long ago when it came to counting that girl's scars.

"Alright, whatsa matter Bo?" Her accent betrayed her origins on the street as she asked this question.

"Who says something's the matter?" He snapped back. "I'm happier than I'll ever be."

She rolled her eyes at his sarcasm as she helped him up. "Come-on, you're not usually this open. It normally takes me at least ten minutes to knock ya down, but it didn't even take five today!" There was a time when Boman would be insulted by this. That time was not now.

"Well..." he started with a sigh, "you saw the events of yesterday right?"

She giggled like the overgrown child she was. "Course I did. How could-ya not at least hear about something like that?"

"Well you see..." he stopped and thought for a second. "Wait if you saw then what were you doing? Are you telling me you just did jack when you saw the monster burst in through the town gates?" She blushed when she realized she had blown her cover.

"Err..." She looked around awkwardly, not sure where to go from there. "Look if it ain't ya business ya don't get involved, alright? Waven had it covered and we both know that there was nothin' I could do to make things better from there, 'specially when he was scheming to get her past you and outta town..."

"He was doing what?" he shouted, and then took a deep breath and remembered what was going on at the time. "Well of course he did." Silence hit the two of them before Boman spoke up again after a minute of silence.

"How do you feel about her joining?" Mavera looked thoughtful for a moment.

"No comment," she stated blankly. "She means nothin' to me right now. Haven't seen this beast you keep comparing 'er to, so I've got no vendetta." Boman nodded. There wasn't really a reason for her to care after all. And with that settled, they went back to their one-sided sparring.

 

[Veno]

Twelve simply nodded, silent as she walked just a few paces behind Waven, following him as her mind filled with thoughts and uncertainties. Part of herself was still wondering what she was doing, why she was doing this- perhaps it was because she didnt have much else to lose if this all happens to take a turn for the worse. Nothing really mattered much, and the idea of figuring out who and what she was took more importance than any of the risks.

However, as they grew closer and closer to the city, Twelve's uncertainty grew as her body tensed up a bit. 'What am i doing, this is a terrible idea...' The girl clenched her fists at her sides as she walked slowly behind Waven, gritting her teeth as she looked around to all of the people who stared and shyed away from her.

' I should stop.'

She continued to follow Waven through the streets.

'This is a bad idea... I should go back, I should forget all of this.'

She could hear whispers circulating through the crowds of people, fear, hate, confusion and disgust lingering within each civilian.

And then, they approached the training ground. Twelve felt an odd feeling boiling within the pit of her stomach, she wanted to throw up, why was she feeling like this? She stared through the open gates with sharp, piercing eyes as she came to a halt, not moveing another inch.

"I cant..." She mumbled out lowly under her breath, looking past Waven and to the soldiers sparring with each other. "This was a bad idea." She did not want to take another step.

Barrett, letting out a low, deep breath, walked across the training grounds, a little sweaty and tired from his last spar. Though, despite his exhaustion, a deep, tense look was clear in his eyes, a concentrated fieriness, likely from the news Waven had given him regarding their 'new recruit'. He was pissed, to be frank. And then, he saw them. Standing in the gates leading to the training ground, Barrett's gaze focused onto Waven for a moment, his eye brows furrowing a bit before his gaze slowly flickered to the figure behind him; to twelve. Noticeably, the relatively bulky man stiffened and grit his teeth. "That son of a bitch...." He snarled out lowly, his voice quite loud, and meant to be heard as his fists clenched at his sides. At first, his pace was slow, though he quickly gained speed as he power walked forward, grabbing a sword on his way across the ground, and then suddenly, he shifted into a full on sprint forward.

Twelve did not even take full notice to him until Barrett, quite rudely, shoved right past Waven, and in a heavy swing aimed his blade for her neck.

With a loud clang echoing through the sky the metal made contact with her permanently armored arm that she raised up, blocking the attack with slightly wide eyes, initially shocked before she narrowed her fiery orange eyes, immediately covering her entire body and face with her armor as a low, animalistic growl came from her throat. "You damned... AughH!" The two of them tumbled to the ground, immediately at eachothers throats, brawling as his furious yells and shouts filled the silence as he swore to send her back to hell where she belonged. Twelve managed to get in a good enough position to send a powerful kick into Barretts chest, throwing him off of her and crashing into the gate fence with a pained grunt.

Slowly, Twelve stood back up, her deadly gaze fixated onto Barrett as she quickly began to walk back towards him, her eye brows furrowed with her teeth gritted and eyes glinting with that same hate. The knife-like sharpness of the ends of the armored fingertips glinting with the light.

There was a deadly look beginning to flicker back within the beasts burning orange eyes.

Already, a large scene had been made due to both Barrett and Twelve being in close proximity. And if not controlled soon, it was evident that it would take on a terrible conclusion.