Orlain

"I would like you to go with me, it would make me feel better," Rane smiled, folding up her map carefully.

"Well... If you want to try, you can..." Jack shrugged lightly. "Maybe you can use your powers and try to figure out why, if Jayce even knows. Or maybe you can just figure it out?"

"No. Don't be s-sorry..." Damien said firmly, holding him at arms length. "I c-can't... talk. That's why..." She tried to explain why she was mad, sighing lightly. "I'm s-scared t-too...'

-----

Taiju smiled. "Then I guess that's settled, then," he said. "I'll let Kerian know later."

"I don't know," Zakuro said, looking uncomfortably at the floor. "I know he doesn't like it when I do anything like that. I could try and nothing would go wrong, probably, but . . ."

"It is pretty scary. I guess we're probably all a little worried about it," Joey conceded. He tried to smile, though it wasn't all that successful. "We'll probably manage it, though. We've gone to Hell and back a few times now, so this isn't much different."

Rane put her map back in her things and turned to face Taiju. She starred at him for a moment and before he could say anything she moved forward and embraced him tightly. She closed her eyes and nuzzled her face into his shoulder. She hadn't had a chance to hug him after she got out of the room.

"You don't have too," Jack repeated firmly. "I just... If you want to try I want... Jayce gone... And I don't mind you being in my head anymore... I mean..." he trailed off, obviously feeling unsure. "The things I was hiding from you... Seem so pointless now..."

Damien smiled very lightly and nodded. "We will be okay.." She agreed softly.

Taiju stumbled slightly from the sudden embrace, but didn't hesitate to return it, smiling to himself. It had been some time since he had actually been close to her; he had almost forgotten how much he missed it.

Zakuro looked back to Jack, slightly surprised. It had been ages since she had argued with him about the things he kept secret and she had since forgotten, but to hear him say that it no longer mattered was still surprising. It made her wonder just what they were--and how bad Jayce must be to make them seem so insignificant in comparison.

"Alright," she agreed after a moment. "I'll see what I can do."

Joey took a deep breath, trying to shake the last few doubtful thoughts for now. "I guess I'm going to go to bed a bit early, then," he said, "since someone woke me up and we're traveling tomorrow. Coming, or . . . ?"

Rane inhaled deeply against Taiju's shoulder, taking in his scent and warmth. After a moment, still not letting him go, she hummed lightly. "I missed you..." She mumbled quietly.

Jack sighed and took a deep breath, "okay. But I kinda want to tell you what it was I was hiding from you.... Just so you don't find it out the wrong way.."

"Al-Always," Damien nodded with a smile. She usually wasn't the type to go to bed early, she could never really hold still. But when she was with Joey she found herself being content for hours, just sitting there.

"I missed you too," Taiju admitted after a brief moment of hesitation. He held her a little tighter. "I'm just glad that you're okay, though. I wasn't sure that you would be."

Zakuro felt her stomach turn cold. She wanted to know, but the possibilities of whatever it could be ran through her mind. "Alright," she said again, then waited for him to continue.

Joey smiled again, genuinely this time, before heading toward their shared room. He looked forward simply to sleeping and forgetting the thoughts that were jumbled up in his head.

Rane finally looked up at Taiju, "if you hadn't found that little extra amount, I probably wouldn't have been.." She admitted. Before he had came back with more of the cure she had known her days were numbers and simply didn't want the others to watch her die. she thought of how scarred she was and how it was much too soon... And now that she was well again it gave her a new drive to find that great healer who lives by the sea. Find him, and hopefully find a way to make her live the amount she is saposed to, not die early.

Jack paused for a moment before grabbing Zakuro's hand and sitting down at a table with her. He ran his hand through his thick hair and sighed deeply.
"First off, there are just some things that I have kept a secret from everyone. Things I am ashamed or scared of admitting. But not afraid for myself..." he trailed off for a moment, looking at his hand on the table. "Kinda like how you guys found out that my dad hit me sometimes... Stuff kinda like that..." It was obviously hard for Jack to talk about his fathers flaws. "Well... He's a drunk, you already know that... But, he was the one who got me into drinking too... When I was younger, like 10, to punish me he would force me to drink a whole six pack or until I puked..."

Damien subconsciously grabbed Joey's hand as they walked, wanting to be close to him. She thought about the plan to kill rowan and felt her heart skip a beat with fear. But she didn't show it. She couldn't, he already knew she was scarred, she didn't need to make it worse. Now they just needed to relax alone together.

Taiju looked slightly surprised; Rane had said before that she probably would have been fine, even if she hadn't taken a full dose of the cure.

He dismissed the thoughts. It didn't really matter now whether she would have been fine or not, because she was fine now. "I guess it's a good thing I went and found it, then," he said lowly. "Though River was ultimately the found who found it."

Zakuro didn't know what to say. She knew to an extent about Jack's father's abusiveness, but she had never felt safe assuming just what it was he did. Unable to speak and sensing that Jack was having a hard time speaking, she simply leaned forward and took his hand between both of hers, waiting for him to continue.

Joey sat on the edge of the bed and gave a heavy sigh. "It'll be nice to get going," he said. "I'm tired of this village, and it's obviously not the most pleasant place to stay."

Rane looked down at River who was lying on the floor, eyes half closed. He had become board quickly and was drifting off.
"Well you both get credit," She smiled widely, looking back at Taiju.

Jack felt better when Zakuro took his hand, his body was growing tense as everything in him screamed to shut up. But her touch calmed him down. "I don't want anything to happen to my dad, at first it was horrible, but I became numb to it really fast. And I know that's not a good thing. But... I'm so used to my dad being that way that it feels normal..." he shook his head, confusing himself a little.
"He always said that he was a good guy once, and I think I remember a time without beer and yelling... But it's vague. He always said it was my fault that he was so messed up... He always said that everything went to hell when I was diagnosed with schizophrenia. And that's probably what scares me more then my attacks. The fact that I'm going to screw up someone elses life that I love..." He paused, his voice cracking a little. "I... I knew Jayce was going to happen sooner or later... The doctors told me it was possible to develop split personalities...."

"Only bad... has happened here.." Damien nodded in agreement. She flopped down next to Joey, making him bounce a little. She giggled lightly and tried to shove him off the bed as he lost his balance.

"Fair enough," Taiju agreed with a glance down toward the wolf. It didn't really matter--the end result was the same, and that was Rane's survival.

Zakuro frowned. "I wish you would have said so," she said softly, trying not to sound admonishing. "I know it's not the easiest thing to say, but maybe we could have been more prepared for it or something."

Joey nearly fell from the bed with Damien's efforts, only managing to plant his foot and grab a fistful of the bedsheets before he tumbled to the floor. "The hell was that for?" he demanded, looking back at her with a disbelieving smile.

"When should we leave then?" Rane asked, still smiling.

Jack sighed, "I should have said something... But I was also told it wouldn't happen until I was older.." He agreed with a nod, "Jayce used to be one of the voices... But I didn't know Malak could make him so much more real." He paused and bit his lip, "but... None of those things are as big as the next thing..."

Damien laughed quietly, shrugging at Joey. After a silent second she suddenly got up and pounced on him like a cat, aiming to get him to the ground one way or another.

"Tomorrow," Taiju answered. We can leave when the rest of the group does. Our new assignment isn't until the end of the week, so if the location's as close as you said, we should still be able to get there shortly after they do and have time to do what we must."

Zakuro felt a little ill. Every time he said he had something to say, she imagined worse and worse things. She gave Jack's hand a reassuring squeeze, as much for herself as for him.

This time, Joey couldn't even being to prepare himself. He fell and hit the floor hard with Damien, giving a strangled cry of surprise. He laughed until he hit his shoulder hard against the wooden floor, at which point the laughter was cut short with a pained swear and a grimace.

"Sounds good to me," Rane said with a nod. Then she thought of something, "were our horses effected by the illness.... I know River was able to catch it as well...." She asked though she was unsure if she really wanted to hear the answer. Finding new horses would be hard, someone would have to walk to the next city.

"I..." Jack stopped as if he wasn't going to actually say it. He swallowed the dry lump in his throat, trying to swallow his sick feeling as well. It didn't really work. He was so worried about what she was going to say...
"I... I'm a cutter.." He spit the words out like they were poison and quickly regretted saying anything at all. He looked away from Zak, not wanting to see the disappointment on her face.

Damien laughed until she noticed that Joey got hurt, then she frowned in concern. "I'm s-sorry... You okay?" She asked, still on top of him. Despite her concern, she didn't move.

"I'm actually not sure. I haven't been to the stables yet. Kerian didn't mention it, so I'm hoping that just means that they're fine." Taiju frowned as he thought of it. He had been accustomed to walking from city to city before working with Kerian--he didn't, however, want to repeat the experience now.

"Oh," Zakuro said softly. Unintentionally, her gaze flickered down towards her hands and Jack's, wondering if she might see some scars she had somehow missed before. Somehow, she felt a little relieved. The news was terrible, yes, but she had conjured much worse ideas on her own.

Joey smiled through the pain. "Fine," he said. "No thanks to someone. It'll just end up bruising later."

"Maybe we should check that out first.." Rane sighed lightly, hoping that the horses were okay.

Jack was silent before he looked up at Zakuro again, "just oh?" he asked, expecting a much bugger reaction then that.

Damien smiled again, " kay, I don't feel bad then.." Damien leaned down and kissed Joey on the lips for a brief moment, interrupting anything else he was going to say.

Taiju nodded his agreement before starting down the hall. Like Rane, he hoped the horses were fine. He wasn't certain they would even make it to the next city in time if they didn't have their horses.

"Well . . . I honestly don't know what to say." Zakuro was struck by another thought then, one that made her feel significantly more ill. She hadn't known about any of this. She hadn't known her uncle had been depressed, either . . . Tears were in her eyes before she could stop them, and she quickly looked down at the table in a vain effort to hide them.

Joey was more than happy to forget the pain of his bruising shoulder then, sitting up as well as he could to return the kiss. He felt happier than he had in days--things were finally improving, if only marginally.

Rane fallowed Taiju, pausing once as River had a hard time standing up for a moment. But when the wolf was finally up he caught up to them and fallowed silently as he always did.

Jack blinked once, still confused about Zakuro's reaction. Then he suddenly felt extremely guilty, seeing her look at the table. He knew her well enough, and he caught sight of her tears before she could hide them. He quickly got up and moved his chair as close as he could to hers and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to his chest. "I'm sorry..." He said quietly, unsure of what else to say.

Damien smiled into the kiss and pulled away to look down at Joey happily. Times like this she was still surprised by how happy he made her. Yeah, they had moments where they argued, but they always worked it out. She had never felt this happy with any of her past boyfriends. She had always thought she was happy with them, she always thought she couldn't be happy. But now she realized what happy truly was. She had never thought Joey, of all people, could make her feel like that.

As they headed outside, Taiju caught sight of Kerian's horse tied outside the stables, presumably for fresher air after being inside for so long. That was a little hopeful, at least, though he had no idea if the rest of the horses were the same. Kerian's did seem slightly sickly, though still well enough to function.

"It's okay," Zakuro mumbled into the fabric of Jack's shirt. She sniffed and reached up a hand to wipe her eyes. "Just . . . thought of something. I'll be fine."

Joey smiled back up at Damien. He was grateful for the times they could actually have a moment without his insecurities acting up randomly or something else happening. It seemed like the occasions were few and far between.

"Are you going to let me up any time soon?" he asked, his smile turning to a bit of a smirk.

Rane paused for a moment, looking at Kerian's horse. That left her hopeful. But she continued into the stable just to be sure. She glanced around, noticing quickly that out of the 6 horses that should have been in there, there were only four. Apparently Rane and Zakuro's horses had fallen to the illness. The rest of the horses were about the same off as Kerian's.
She sighed before moving to each horse and putting their halter on and leading them to a fenced off field next to the stables to eat and get fresh air. No one in the town would be using that pasture anytime soon.

Jack looked down at Zak, slightly confused. "What did you think about?" He asked carefully, unsure if she would want to talk about it if it had made her that upset.

Damien quickly shook her head at Joey's question, giggling lightly. "Why on earth would I do that?" she asked as if it was obvious.

Taiju helped move the horses out to the field. At least they had the majority of the animals left. It just meant a few people would be riding together for awhile.

"Could have been worse," he remarked to Rane while checking over his horse to make sure he had no injuries or anything of the sort. "Lucky bastards didn't need anyone running for a cure for them."

Zakuro swallowed thickly before answering. "You know about my uncle, right?" she asked "How he died a few years ago and all . . . He committed suicide because he was extremely depressed. Nobody ever knew about it, not even me, and he told me everything."

Joey gave an exaggerated sigh and a roll of his eyes. "So much for going to bed, then," he remarked.

Rane nodded, "yeah, I did notice that River got sick as well, but he wasn't nearly as bad off as us." She patted the horse closest to her for a moment before looking back at River. He sat at the gate of the field, watching them.
"That's one thing that turned out okay for us... Not the best, but okay."

"I knew he died and you were really upset about it, but I didn't know how. I had never wanted to bring it up." Jack admitted. He thought back to when her uncle died, Joey was much closer to her then he was. In fact he hadn't known her all that long or extensively. He was closest to Damien at the time, friends with Joey and Zakuro, but not nearly as close as they were now.
He held her a little tighter and kissed her forehead.
"I'm sorry..." He said softly, "but if it makes you feel any better... I have always had depression, it comes with the skitzo... But I had never wanted to kill myself. Cutting was just and outlet, made me drink a little less. Freaked my mind out more, but usually I would fall asleep before it got too far." he explained, trying to make her feel better and not knowing if it was working.
"I always had a reason to live. I wanted to take care of my dad, and I had friends... That was more then some people..."

"Well I guess if you said please..." Damien teased Joey, "I might let you up."

"It's a bit depressing that the best thing we have going for us is not having all of our horses die," Taiju said with a roll of his eyes. "But par for course, sadly."

"That's why I hate it when anyone keeps things like this from me," Zakuro said halfheartedly. "I try really hard to let people be, but for all I know, the same thing could happen again. I spent ages thinking that I could have done something for Uncle Zack after that had happened if he'd only told me. And now I can do something, but if I still don't know and I can't do anything about it because of that . . ."

"Somehow, knowing you, I don't think that'd help," Joey replied. He shifted a bit, testing to see if there was a way to move.

Rane nodded in agreement, glancing around briefly as she suddenly felt like she was being watched. She tried to shake it off, thinking it was only how eerie the town felt after everyone had died.
She started to leave the field, pushing some of her light blonde bangs out of her eyes. She paused when River jumped up from his spot and growled lowly, sensing someone as well. She glanced around once more, seeing very little places where someone could be hiding.

Jack nodded, "that's understandable..." He thought quickly, wanted to tell her anything he may have been hiding. He didn't see any reason to hide anything from her.
"Well I don't want to keep anything from you anymore. it's pointless and childish. But you have to promise to tell me how you feel about things too... Like... What Jayce did."

Damien felt Joey shift and almost find an opening. She quickly shifted her body weight to make sure he couldn't get up easily. "You will just have to push me off."

Taiju instinctively tensed when he heard River growl, knowing the wolf had better senses. He reached for one of his swords, pulling it partially from its sheath as he waited to see if there was an actual threat.

Zakuro nodded. "I guess that's fair," she said quietly, dropping her gaze to the floor. "Honestly, though, I try not to think about that very much . . ."

Joey sat up as well as he could, trying to find a way to free himself that didn't involve much effort or even much contact. Without warning, he sharply tried to push away and pull himself out from under Damien.

Rane reached back for her bow, but didn't grab it just yet. River looked up at a tree about 50 feet away, his hair standing on end. Something moved in the tree and his growl intensified.
"Can you smell them?" Rane whispered to the wolf who responded with a step forward. She knew that ment it was someone who River really hated.
"I would be quite surprised if that old mutt could smell anything past his own stench..." Malak's voice rang out from the tree, knowing that his cover had been blown. Not that he cared all that much.
Rane quickly grabbed her bow and readied an arrow in it, aiming for the tree.

"You shouldn't have to think about it. But I know it still scares you a little to be around me... And it would make me feel better if we could at least talk about it once..." Jack explained, loosening his hold on her to look at her better.

Catching Damien completely off guard she was tossed to her side on the floor. She yelped lightly but it was fallowed by laughing. She didn't think he would actually do it.

Taiju drew both swords, taking a ready step forward. He debated the merit of running back inside for the others, but he couldn't afford it. It would leave Rane alone--and even if he sent her to go, it would only leave him alone, instead. He thought to give a retort, but kept his mouth shut for the time being, waiting for Malak to reveal himself.

Zakuro took a deep breath, trying to find a way to explain herself. "I'm alright now," she said. "I mean, what happened is done and it's not like he managed to actually do anything. I guess . . . I don't know what will happen. It's not that I'm afraid of you, and I can tell the difference between you and him, but never knowing when he'll take over makes things so much harder."

Joey laughed a little and dusted himself down. "There, happy?" he asked with a smirk. "It would have been easier if you'd decided to just let me up, but you like being difficult for some reason."

A tree branch moved and Malak jumped down from it. Rane had been expecting to see a gryphon, but instead they were greeted by another body that was host for him. It was the body of a young human man, he looked a lot like Malak's original body, though that hadn't been his own body either. He smiled at them, placing his hands on his hips.
"Alright, please tell me SOMEONE died from that plague..." He sighed, "maybe the little whimpy boy, Joey?"

"Yeah," Jack agreed, looking down. "I wish there was a way I could keep him from doing that so randomly... Makes everything harder. I'm afraid to be alone with anyone, I don't want him to take advantage of it."

"Jeeze, I didn't think you would do it." Damien laughed, getting up as well and fixing her tossled clothes.

Taiju scowled. While he was somewhat grateful that they no longer had a beast to fight, Malak as a human hadn't ever been much better. "Nobody died," he replied. "Nobody of ours, at any rate. I take it that this came from you, then?"

"We all do. Which is why we just have to work harder to find some way to stop it. It's harder here, but we'll figure something out soon." Zakuro kept quiet on her own efforts to find a way to get rid of Jayce. She had to be getting close, but she didn't want to try until she could be sure. Otherwise, Jack's alternate personality might simply find ways to stop her again.

"Well, the floor hurts, so I had to get up. Maybe you shouldn't be doing that," Joey replied, moving to sit back down on the bed.

"Why yes it did." Malak nodded proudly, taking a few stride closer to the two.
When he moved closer Rane pulled her arrow a bit tighter before letting it go. It sank cleanly into his shoulder, jerking him back a little. But he gave no other reaction other then looking at it, annoyed.
She quickly readied another one, seeing that it actually hit this time.

"Well, I think something is wrong with him. He barely takes over now and when he does it always leaves me sore..." Jack nodded, "maybe we will have to worry much less.."

"Maybe you shouldn't be so easy to tackle..." Damien argued, sticking her tongue out at Joey.

Taiju started to move forward, swords at the ready, then hesitated. Malak had always been somewhat resistance to injury, but never that much. Nobody should have been able to take an arrow to the shoulder and act as if they barely noticed.

"Maybe," Zakuro agreed, though she didn't know how much she believed it. It was still too easy for Jayce to show up unexpectedly.

"Oh sure, blame the victim. That's always appropriate," Joey said, rolling his eyes jokingly.

"I would stop that if I were you. Unless you want to kill and innocent human..." Malak smiled, pulling the arrow from his shoulder.
Rane lowered her bow a little, "What do you mean?" She asked sharply.
"I'm sure you have noticed by now that I can move to different bodies. But this one is new, I haven't yet bonded with it completely and so I will not feel the pain yet. And I can leave this body and leave this innocent human to die from your arrows... How would you feel then?"

Rane glanced at Taiju, unsure about what Malak was saying. If it was the truth she couldn't keep shooting. Not if she couldn't heal.
"And I know you can't heal right now..." He added in a satisfied voice.
She gasped lightly, if he knew that, this wasn't going to end well.

Jack let out a long and deep sigh, "well this conversation went better then I thought it would..." He admitted with a light chuckle.

"I hardly think you are ever a victim when you can get taken down by a girl..." Damien rolled her eyes. She loved teasing Joey.

Taiju glanced at Rane. He wasn't sure what to do. Malak had yet to actually attack them, and if what he said was true, Taiju didn't want to rush into the fight unless he was forced. Then again, the man was probably already dead from sheer blood loss from the first arrow . . .

Taiju grit his teeth. He hated being uncertain.

"Well, I guess I could pretend to be angry if you want me to, but I really don't want to," Zakuro replied, smiling slightly.

"Oh please, like I've ever thought girls couldn't be stronger than me. If you're trying to get me to feel bad, you're not going to accomplish it that way," Joey laughed.

"And you don't expect me to just LET you get your healing power back? Or let you live for that matter..." Malak asked, rolling his eyes. He walked forward again, "but then again, I don't even work for the Dragon anymore. I don't have to kill of any of you."

"Then why would you try to make us all sick?" Rane asked, confused.

Malak shrugged, stopping about 10 feet away from them, "it's entertaining..."


Jack leaned back on his arm, "I would rather you not be mad... You amaze me more and more everyday." He added, "I totally thought you were going to flip out, worse then when you found out I was drinking behind your back..."

"I'm not saying that some girls are stronger then you, I'm saying that ALL girls are stronger," Damien corrected, "and I like that it doesn't bother you, but I am still going to tease you."

Taiju raised his swords when Malak came closer. "Why aren't you working for it anymore, then?" he inquired. "Did even that have morals?"

Zakuro sighed. "Normally I probably would be upset, but there's just so much going on that I don't think I can get that angry. Not," she added with a stern look, "that I want you to keep doing it anyway."

Joey threw up his hands in defeat. "Whatever," he said. "I don't get it, but okay. Tease away."

"If you must know, we have different interests. Sure the Dragon taught me many things I didn't know, but I don't need it anymore. And it works much too closely with an enemy. I became tired of being ordered around as well." Malak half explained. He left out some things that they didn't need to know about.

"Who would that be?" Rane dared to ask.

"Rowan..."Malak spat his name bitterly. "At first we were just rivals, but there is only so long that I can remain civil with a pretentious bastard like him. And THIS is why I haven't killed you yet."


Jack smiled, "it's sounds horrible when I say it outloud, but I haven't needed to in a while, with me getting hurt so often."

Damien plopped down next to Joey and kissed his temple briefly, for no reason.

Taiju narrowed his eyes. "We're not working to kill him for your benefit," he pointed out. "If I had my way, the two of you would just kill each other off and be done with it. Why do we have anything to do with your little grudge?"

"I think we need to find a better way of dealing with it, then," Zakuro said with a tired smile. "You've almost died too many times for my liking."

Joey blushed a little with an awkward smile, as per his usual, and moved to take off his shoes so he could actually follow up on the desire to go to bed.

"I would say the same," Malak agreed. "But I am going to let you try and kill him, I think it's amusing. And if you do kill him I will agree to leave you alone."

"Liar," Rane hissed, "why would you do something like that?"

"Because you will save me the fight. And I could find someone else to toy with. I am a man- well a demon- of my word... And I highly doubt you could kill him anyway."


Jack nodded in agreement, "well the more I drink the less I want to cut and the more I cut the less I want to drink." He smiled lightly, knowing that wasn't a good thing, but he had to be honest.

Damien kicked off her own shoes and flopped down on her stomach, groaning lightly and tiredly.

"Somehow, I don't have any reason to believe you," Taiju spat. "But if you really want to leave us alone, feel free. We'll be taking care of our business regardless of what you want."

Zakuro sighed. "And neither of those options are good for you," she said, resting her head against his shoulder. "I know it's not easy, but you need to curb both of those habits. You're just going to hurt yourself more. Come to me or someone else if you need to, but please at least try."

"This should be interesting," Joey sighed as he lay back on the bed, covering his eyes in his arm. "The next week, getting ready for everything . . ."

Malak shrugged, "well I wasn't going to say anything to you, I was just sitting in a tree, minding my own." He acted innocent, as if he hadn't been spying on them.

Sensing that there was no real danger from Malak, this time, Rane put her bow on her back and turned to leave. She was tired of talking with him if he wasn't going to do anything and they couldn't kill him.

"I will try," Jack agreed with a soft nod. "I promise."

"It will be just wonderful..." Damien agreed, her face in her pillow and her voice muffled. She was being sarcastic, "I can't wait.."

Taiju rolled his eyes. Seeing Rane start to walk away, he sheathed his blades partway, leaving them an inch out of their scabbards in case he needed to draw them again quickly. He started to say something else, then decided against it, instead turning slowly to leave while being wary in case Malak tried to attack.

"Good," Zakuro said, shifting to embrace Jack again. "I'm glad to hear it."

"Neither can I," Joey said with a slight smile, which fell again immediately. "It's weird to think that we're actually doing anything. We've spent so long screwing around here that sometimes I forget that we actually have something we have to do."

The week leading up to their new mission seemed to pass far too slowly as they dreaded the day's arrival. Taiju left with Rane for Rane's business, both promising that they would meet with everyone in the city again before it was time for their assignment. Kerian led the rest of the group to the city of Ioran, where they would find Rowan. The deaths of the two horses left Zakuro and Rane to ride with others--nobody seemed to particularly mind.

Upon arriving in the city, Kerian began making preparations for infiltrating Rowan's gathering. She took the four to be fitted for dress attire, which was a bit of a miserable experience in itself (at least for Joey, who was extremely uncomfortable with the tailor's constant measurements and prodding). With the tailor's promise that it would all be ready by the end of the week, the group was left to do nothing else but train and wait.

Kerian encouraged them to practice more with their powers, particularly Jack and Joey, whose abilities were better suited to offense. Joey spent some time working, but could only think of one certain idea that could kill Malak from a distance--and the idea of freezing the blood in someone's body made him a bit uncomfortable. He never tried it. Zakuro, on the other hand, continued her regular practice with Joey while training as Kerian directed. Kerian also showed everyone how to hide small knives on their person, saying they wouldn't be able to take their weapons into the party without being noticed.

In this fashion, the week crawled by until the evening came to begin.

Rane and Taiju's little adventure didn't go too badly, but not exactly according to plan. When they got to the area Rane had been talking about there were carving in all the trees in the area. Rane explained that they had probably been carved there by healers who had come there in the past, it helped them meditate. After gathering some things and carving her own symbols into some of the trees Rane began meditating. After a few hours of meditating she passed out, something that had not been part of the plan. When River started to panic he passed out as well, seeming to have a connected experience with Rane. Day's passed by before Rane came out of her coma like state, her healing power back and stronger then before. But River did not wake up. Day's of waiting and healing still didn't wake him. He wasn't dead, he was breathing, but he was lifeless otherwise.

The day came that they had to head back to the others and they tied River's limp body to the back of the horse for the ride back. Rane was worried for him, and fell into silence. She smiled very little, telling Taiju she was hopeful and sure he would be fine, but in reality she thought the worst.

When they met back up with the group Rane explained what happened and left it at that, not talking to them as much as she usually did. She already had some fancy clothes so she thankfully didn't need to be fitted.


During the week Jack practiced as much as he could without Jayce interfering. But Jayce kept telling everyone that Jack was nothing without him. When they were fitted Jayce made a big deal over it, but Jack only found it amusing that it bothered his other personality so much.

Damien enjoyed the fitting, taking the time to make herself feel good about her appearance. She practiced her power secretly, hoping she could defend her friends if needed. As it came closer and closer to the actual day, she became increasingly uneasy.

When the night finally came, the group divided up to don their dressier attire, which had only barely been finished in time that afternoon. Zakuro went off to help Damien and get help if needed be, which left Joey and Jack in a different room.

Joey sighed deeply as he smoothed down the front of his clothes. His attire consisted of a black silk tunic with white, loose sleeves, and dark slacks tucked into knee-high boots. It all fit properly thanks to the tailor's meticulous attention to detail, but it made him uncomfortable anyway. There was no way to fight comfortably in these clothes. He caught his hands shaking with nerves and shoved them into his pants pockets, taking another deep breath to calm himself.

Kerian came by shortly after, knocking on doors and making sure that everyone was ready to go.

Damien tried to hide her own nerves by joking with Zakuro about how this would be the only time they could really dress up with the boys. But in the end, it was still very obvious how scarred she was.

Jack didn't say anything as they got ready. After ward he starred down at his and Jayce's swords wich lay on his bed with his other things. He didn't feel comfortable going without them. He let out a deep sigh and rubbed his eyes, turning to the door when Kerian knocked.
"Guess there is no turning back now..." he said softly to Joey, giving him a look that said he was worried but didn't want to admit it. Secretly he decided that he would do everything in his power to keep his friends safe. And somehow Jayce agreed easily with him.

Rane took the longest to come from her room, tending to River and wishing he would wake up.

((I don't really know how to describe this type of fancy outfits. XD ))

((XD I designed Joey's ahead of time with some references, so I have the benefit of having it already done, basically. Zakuro's I will make up pretty much right now.))

"No," Joey agreed heavily. "I guess not." With one more breath that did nothing to quell the feeling of nausea, he opened the door and stepped out into the hall to wait for the others.

Kerian was waiting for them, wearing a simple gown of deep green silk. She looked rather uncomfortable in the attire, but she gave an encouraging smile when the boys came out.

Zakuro waited for Damien to finish, then left to find the others at Kerian's call. She had settled on a long-sleeved dress of royal blue, tightened with black ribbon across a corset-styled top. Like Kerian, she would much rather have worn something more comfortable, but she didn't have much choice. She pushed her hair, left down for the evening, away from her face as she crossed the hallway to see the others.

Taiju was among the last to leave. He pulled on his dark-blue jacket as he left his room, half-fastening the silver buttons as he knocked on Rane's door. "Are you ready?" he called through the wood. "We're just about to go." He paused to fidget with the bottom of his slacks, which had also been tucked into high boots. He hated the things. Running in these would be impossible if it came to that.

Damien came out with Zakuro, having her usually loose hair pulled back unlike Zakuro's. It was in a loose, but nice bun. Some strands fell out of the bun and tickled the back of her neck. But it still looked nice. Her dressed and long and white Kind of plain for Damien. But she had wanted to blend in as much as possible. She looked at Joey and couldn't help but smile at how cute he looked.
(( http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&q=medieval#/dbypx6 ))

Jack was dressed very similarly to Joey, adding his own touches here and there. And keeping his cloak on his shoulders for now, as ordered by Jayce. His outfit was colored differently as well. It took his a moment to notice how beautiful the girls were. He cleared his throat, "does this give me an excuse to stare at you all night?" He teased, trying to lighten the mood. The fancy clothes didn't bother him as much as it did the others.

Rane's room was quiet for a long moment before she finally came out of her room, giving Taiju a tired look. She spent all her time worrying about River that it left her sleep deprived and tired emotionally. Her dress was mostly white with gray and gold in the front and fancy gold trim around it. The top was low cut and the sleeve were about half the length of her arms. Her hair was left down and brushed neatly.
(( Like this but without the coat. XD http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=medieval%20dress&order=9&offset=48#/d11p096 ))

Zakuro laughed lightly. "I think it would be difficult to actually get anything done if you were staring the whole night," she remarked. "I'll take it as a compliment anyway, though."

Joey smiled tiredly, only able to appear so happy with the worry knotting in his stomach.

Taiju tried to smile at Rane, but it fell flat quickly. "Are you sure you don't want to stay?" he asked, leaving his coat half-buttoned for the moment so he could take Rane by the arms. "No one would fault you if you decided to stay after what's happened."

Jack nodded with a smile, "good." He patted his sided where he had daggers hidden in his clothes, making sure they were there for the millionth time.

"No, he will be here when we get back. And I can't let you guys do this alone..." Rane sighed, but said firmly. She forced a small smile, "I'm fine, I'm sure he will wake up. I just haven't been getting much sleep."

"Are you sure you are all prepared for this?" Kerian asked, looking over the four. "There is still time if you are having doubts, though considering the money put into the outfits for the evening, I might prefer if you didn't act upon them."

Joey smiled halfheartedly at the joke. "I'm scared to all hell, but I don't think we can really turn back at this point," he said.

Zakuro nodded her agreement. "We do need to do this," she added. "I think . . . I think we'll be okay. We've gotten this far."

Taiju looked doubtful, but eventually nodded and took a step back. He almost wished Rane had agreed to stay, for safety's sake, but a part of him did prefer to have her at his side.

"Yeah. If we turn back now, we may not get another chance like this." Jack agreed, then he smiled at everyone, "we will be okay."

Damien sighed lightly, "Jack is right. We can do this. We are the prophecies after all."

Rane closed her door behind her, giving River one last glance before heading down the hall with Taiju.
"You look nice," She said softly to break the silence.

"I suppose we wouldn't be much of a prophecy if we got our asses kicked halfway through," Joey added.

"Alright," Kerian said lightly. "Then we will depart shortly. We'll leave in two groups, a few minutes apart, in order to avoid raising too much suspicion leaving here. Damien and Joey can come with me; the rest of you will leave with Taiju and Rane afterward and follow behind. Taiju knows the way to the manor as well. We'll meet outside once there."

Taiju glanced down at the front of his coat, noting half the buttons were still undone. He frowned at his state of undress and hurried to fix the buttons. "You look rather lovely yourself," he said, though he was now a bit distracted.