Aisling had faced Brant three times and she lost three times. In the third round he had swiftly knocked her off her feet. In each round Brant fought harder than before yet Aisling appeared to grow stronger each time.
At the end of the third round Aisling sat down outside of the fighting ring thinking. Brant was very strong; he was third strongest of the Sword fighters. His superiors were the Queen and King of Swords. She sighed and stared at the blade in her hands. She wanted to become stronger and be able to beat Brant or at least hit him for once. If she didn’t become stronger or could she face…. Her hands grip the sword’s handle till her knuckles turned white. Morrigan…
Remember the demon woman made her numb with fear. Her hands began to tremble and Aisling shook her head hard. Whenever she remembered that twisted face of loathing always made Aisling choke up in fear. She knew Morrigan was still alive and after revenge. But Aisling was worried if she would be able to fight if faced Morrigan again.
“Aisling dear?”
“Hm?” The red head looked up and saw Yolanda, the spirit of the Empress card. “Yes?”
“What’s wrong dear? You suddenly looked pale?”
“I’m fine,” Aisling said forcing a smile. Yolanda frowned; she folded her hands in front of her and gazed into her eyes sternly. Aisling sighed and looked away, “I was…remembering something…”
Yolanda nodded, “I see…well are you ready to fight Brant again?”
Aisling nodded and stood up. She walked back to the ring and stood in front of Brant. Gripping her hands on the swords handle and squaring her shoulders she was ready to fight again.
Before the knight could move, Aisling aggressively moved forward and strike at his right arm. Brant turned and parried her attack. Aisling jumped back and they clash swords sharply. Brant strike at her neck and stopped by a hair’s breath from cutting into her flesh. Again…Aisling gulped and felt herself becoming frustrated. Brant swiftly removed his swords away from Aisling.
“It does not matter if you beat me or not,” Brant told her, his voice sounded rough but gentle. “What matter’s is that you are becoming stronger and learning how to fight.”
“Right,” sighed Aisling.
“Do you want to continue?” Sindri asked her, hovering a few feet away.
“Yes.”
They were back at their original place and then fifth round again.
Puck was watching the sparing match on Aiba’s side of the room. The fairy entity hovered in mid air with arms crossed in front of him.
Aiba walked over to Puck, “They’re still at it?”
“Yeah,” Puck said watching the small red head and Knight clashing swords.
“How long has it been?”
“Hm…” Puck held up a hand and an old fashion hour glass appeared. “Over an hour according to this.”
“Wow how long can those two go on?”
“Well we’re in Sanctuary so almost several days time. They can’t fight more than that, well maybe Brant, but Aisling will have to wake up eventually.” He looked at Aiba. “And so do you.”
Aiba blinked. Then he nodded, “Oh right.”
Puck looked back at the fight and saw Aisling was pushing Brant back. “Alright you can do it!” Puck cheered.
Aisling swung and clash, swung and clash and swung and clash again and again. She decided to go on the full offense on the spur of the moment when she thought Brant was going to make a direct hit again. Brant was surprised and saw something burn in Aisling’s eyes. He smirked under his armored mask. The girl suddenly found her fighting spirit or maybe it was sparked by all the sparing matches. Brant wanted to test how strong her fiery passion of battling. He decided to aim lower than usual; it was hard to aim low as he was very tall compared to her.
Aisling saw that he meant to aim for her middle torso, Oh no not this time! Everything became a blur she thought that he had knocked her out real good this time but she realized that she grown wings and flew up in the air way over head of the others.
“What the?!” Aiba shouted as Aisling shot up in the air, snow white wings flapping sharply. “How did…can she do that?”
“Well she is an angel and she’s training in Sanctuary,” Puck said grinning. “So I’m pretty sure she’s allowed to use her wings.”
“YAH!” Aisling shouted as she dived down fast with her sword raised above her head. Then she swung it down and it clash against the side of Brant’s helmet.
Then there was a snap and the mask of Brant’s helmet broke off and hung on its remaining hinge and revealed most of his face. The room was in dumfounded silence as everyone gaped at Brant and Aisling.
Aisling hovered several feet off the ground, blinking. What happened? She stared at Brant and saw his mask had fallen off. She gasped and her feet found the ground again.
She could see his face, the main parts of it and they were horribly burned. They weren’t scars or even old wounds they looked fresh as if he was on fire moments again. Aisling covered her mouth and resisted the urge to gag.
Brant lifted the mask and covered his face again. He turned away from Aisling and walked out of the ring. “W-wait…Brant!” Aisling stepped forward and felt a hand held her shoulder. She looked up and saw it was Yolanda. The woman shook her head quietly. Aisling blinked and looked back at Brant. The other spirits of the Sword suits gathered around the knight and talked to him quietly.
“It will be alright,” Yolanda told her gently. “You did not hurt him or anything of the sort. It’s just that he didn’t want you to see his face.”
“Uh…” Aisling said glancing back at Brant and then at Yolanda. She slowly nodded and walked over to Puck and Aiba.
“What happened?” Aiba said looking at Aisling and then at Brant on the other side of the room. Puck sighed and shook his head sadly.
Aisling sniffed. Puck and Aiba looked at her and did a double take when they saw she was crying.
“Hey hey hey why are you crying?”
Sindri the Page of Swords flew over and hovered close to Aisling with a look of concern. Then he shot a glare at Puck. “Did you make her cry?”
“No! I would never make her cry! You know that idiot.” Puck said glaring back at Sindri clearing offended.
“Then it was you!” Sindri suddenly pointed an accusing finger at Aiba.
“What?! No!” Aiba said shaking his head and looked confused.
“It isn’t anyone’s fault…” Aisling said rubbing her eyes. “I’m just mad at myself for causing Brant pain.”
“It was an accident! You didn’t mean to.”
“…I know but I still feel bad,” Aisling murmured looking down.
“Wait I don’t get it. What happened?” Asked Aiba
Puck looked at him, “Oh right you couldn’t see his face from here….well to cut to the chase Brant’s face is pretty messed up. As in it’s burnt…” He said grimacing.
“How did it happen?” Aisling asked looking at the two fairies Puck and Sindri. “They look fresh like he’d just been set on fire.”
Puck looked at Sindri. The fiery haired fairy sighed and said gravely. “It’s survivor’s guilt. Before Brant became a Card Spirit he failed to protect someone dear to him. The burns on his face symbolize his guilt and failure. Our wounds heal themselves extremely quietly especially after resting in our card case however the wounds that Brant suffers linger due to his state of mind. If he gets over his guilt they should go away but as you can see Brant hasn’t forgiven him self. The reason that he hides it behind the mask is because he didn’t want to scare anyone mainly you Aisling.”
Aisling stared and nodded after a moment. She looked back at Brant. She took a deep breath and walked over to him and the others. They saw her coming and moved away except Brant. He stood there but his back facing her. When she stood beside him did he turned around and fully face her. His mask was repaired and his face was completely concealed again.
They stared at each other then Brant bowed his head. “This is mine pain to bear. You do not have to worry about me.”
“I can’t help it,” Aisling said somberly and then smiled. “That’s what friends do right?”
Brant was silent then nodded. “I think it’s time you faced Beatrice,” He said nodding towards the Queen of Swords.
Aisling looked at him and opened her mouth to protest but Brant held up his hand. “You beat me now it’s time for you to face another opponent.”
“…Okay,” Aisling walked over to the stage to face Beatrice, her next opponent.
~*~
“Why are you so nervous?” Aíne asked Mei Rin.
“I…” The young girl mumbled as paused to try to explain her self. “I guess I’m afraid how he will react when he sees me.”
“Well I’m sure he’s not expecting to see you but I’m sure he’ll be very happy…once the shock wares off.” She said smirking, wondering if he’s those fainting types. He didn’t look it though.
“But…”
“It’ll be fine. How about I’ll go with and stay by your side. Will that help you?”
Mei Rin said nothing as she considered it and nodded.
“Alright then,” Aíne put her hand on Mei Rin’s shoulder and gently lead the slightly reluctant and nervous girl out of the bathroom. She saw Ohno in the Cafeteria that was down that hallway.
She looked at Mei Rin and smiled lightly. “Let’s go…” Aíne walked a few steps forward but suddenly stop.
“Aíne?”
The angel said nothing and grew very still. She turn her head sharply and stared over her shoulder and down the hallway. This presence…No he shouldn’t be here. But…it definitely is him…Merrick! Anger boiled from deep within her and spread in every inch of her being.
“Aíne?” Mei Rin repeated again staring at the older angel as if confused at her sudden change in behavior.
Aíne took a deep breath and looked at the girl. “I’m very sorry but I have to see someone right now. I’ll be just down the hallway. You can come with me if you want to.” Before Mei Rin could reply Aíne ran down the hall so fast and swiftly it looked like she was flying—well she sort of was. She turned a corner sharply and saw him down the hall.
It took all of her will power to hold her self back from running down the hall and smacking the living day lights out of the man. It was severely forbidden to attack a human without a very good reason. If and angel were to take a human’s life then they would be damned and become a Fallen.
The man known as Merrick was performing magic tricks to a small group of nurses and patients. The trick was called Contact Juggling or Gravity Ball. Three balls mainly clear crystal balls would spin and twirl together in one hand and sometimes one ball would slide up and under the man’s arms like it was stuck on the man like magnets. But what captured his audience was that the spheres would glow brightly when they spin together and sometimes sparkled in different colors.
After he was done, he made the crystal balls disappear and bowed gracefully at the group before walking away. Aíne watched him approach with narrowed angry eyes. He stopped when he was a few feet way from her and smiled lightly. “Hello Nana Anna you look exceptionally lovely today.” He spoke smoothly and warmly. As soon as the words left his mouth his head was jerked to the side as she was suddenly slapped across the face.
Merrick sighed and looked at her sideways. “Now that wasn’t very nice,” He said and then smirked. “I hope you won’t get into trouble for that. Angels are not allowed to use violence against humans remember.”
“You…” Aíne hissed her hand that had slapped him curled into a fist. She mustn’t loose her temper, even if he disserved much more than a slap in the face after what he had done to the family. So she changed the subject and it helped her calm down but only a little. “Why are you here? You are supposed to be meeting with Molly and Richard in another town.”
“Molly and Richard?” Merrick said blinking and tilted his head to the side, his face appeared completely confused. “What are you talking about? Did they leave town?”
Aíne blinked and started up at him. “What?” She questioned frowning, something wasn’t right. “Didn’t you call them really this morning?”
Merrick just stared blankly at her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve been on tour over seas and I just got here.”
Aíne stared at him as a foreboding feeling shadowed over her. What does this mean?
*****
Aiya…super long post and I’m so tired =___= but I wanted to finish this before it became too hot. We’re having a heat wave and it is murder! @___@
I hope this helps KC ^^
And to everybody how has read this post, DO NOT HAVE YOUR CHARACTERS GO OFF AND SAVE AISLING’S PARENTS AND GRANDFATHER OR IT WILL RUIN MY EPIC PLAN! xD
Have a nice day! :)
