[Ragna]

Although she had just painfully dug her claws into him as she leapt off to pursue the meat bun, at least she had gotten off of him. Suddenly something fell into their midst and Taokaka quickly leapt on top of the sudden intruder, Ragna rushed over to see who it was. He stared down at the person Taokaka had apprehended before a wave of horrified realization came over him, it was a little girl he recalled meeting in Kagutsuchi, except she wasn’t always a girl….at least in soul.

“What the hell are you doing here Platinum?!” Ragna demanded.

[Tazuka]

Tsubaki’s eyes moved up but they did not meet Tazuka’s and instead focused on his left shoulder, he looked closely at her eyes and it became apparent what her problem was.

“Ah….I see” he said, his sharp mind quickly deducing what he had just figured out “your eyes haven’t an ounce of light in them, lost to the Izayoi, how sad”

“I know of that vile weapon from my younger years” Tazuka said, seeing no harm in indulging the girl’s curiosity “it was created as a way for humans to fight against observers such as I, once within its web our powers are worthless and there is no escape but to wield such power costs the wielder a price which you have already paid”

[Relius]

After Hazama took his leave, Relius turned his attention back to Nu. The girl seemed to be absolutely terrified, not that Relius cared in the slightest but he couldn’t help but admire his own handiwork. The emotions it displayed were nothing more then a work of art with Relius as the grand architect.

“You needn’t fear for your life number 13” said Relius “you have a grand role to play and it is up to me to prepare you for your debut”

Relius snapped his fingers and at once Ignis moved towards Nu, her long arms enclosed around Nu and prevented her from moving. Relius snapped his fingers once more and the space around them began to distort, Ignis was moving them all.

A few seconds later and they were now in Relius’ personal lab, Ignis moved Nu over to a nearby operating table. This table had housed a lot of Relius’ unfortunate test subjects; dried blood covered the table and the walls of this unnaturally barren lab.

As Ignis strapped Nu down to the table, Relius was at a separate table, picking out the tools he will need.




[Flashback]

The Clover family members who were at the table began their meal and a few minutes later Relius Clover entered the room and took his seat at the head of the table.

“Evening” he said curtly to others “this looks simply divine dear” he complimented his wife’s cooking before beginning his meal.

“Looking forward to next week Carl?” Ignis asked, referring to how Carl was due to start at the military academy next week.


[Jubei]

The second Jin got distracted; Jubei twisted his sword around Jin’s and Jin’s sword flew out of his hands and down to the floor. Jubei then twisted his body around and delivered a kick right into Jin’s chest and Jin fell down to the ground. He could see Yukianesa close by but as he reached for it he felt something press against his neck. He turned to see that Jubei had his blade in the position where a single swift movement would slit Jin’s neck.

“You completely lost ya focus there kid” Jubei said “I can’t help ya if ya won’t even pay attention”

[Nox] – [Tager]

Makoto continued to lead them further down into the dark underbelly of the ruins of Ikaruga.

“I can see what you mean” Nox said in reply to Makoto “There isn’t much left, we should be careful in case the ceiling decides to cave in on us”

“Aslong as we don’t disturb any remaining foundations it should hold” said Tager.

“That sounds kinda foreboding” said Nox “you’ve just jinxed the whole thing Tager” Nox joked.


[Flashback]

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you Noel” Nox said as their handshake ended, she was very, very nervous, Nox wondered if that’s just how she was around new people or if she was always like that. Well, perhaps he’d find out, if he befriended her, she did seem very nice.

“Well as senior student, I shouldn’t let a younger student struggle with that baggage, I got some spare time before my next class, let me help you take it up to your dorm” he offered as he picked up one of her cases, wow a lot heavier then it looked but then again girls had about a million things in their luggage all the time.

_________________

[Reign]

As rocks fly towards Reign, he bats them down and prepares to strike again, however Ein had caught up to him in the mean time. As Ein swung his hammers ferociously, Reign felt his animal instincts flare up in excitement. He defended himself slightly, the sheer force of the hammers tearing chunks of skin out of his arm, which were quickly replaced by the black drudge from his torso and reformed. This was fun. He had plenty of energy in reserve, but the seithyr in his body was draining at a rapid rate with each swing. Reign needed this to end if he wanted to have the strength to beat the Snake.

"Yes, yes YES! Kehahahaha! You can fight for your life all you want, but I'm going to tear you apart!"

Suddenly, Reign dropped his defenses to trade blows, and seithyr formed at the tips of his fingers in the shape of blades. As one of the hammers fell into his shoulder blade, completely crushing through and debilitating his arm, he struck into Ein's right hip, aiming for his liver.

Reign fell to the floor, laughing hysterically. as his body struggled to restructure itself using the seithyr from both himself and the air around him. Then, a new presence almost asserted itself amongst them. Somewhere... Somewhere very close-by and getting closer, the Snake was here.

_________________

[Litchi]

Tazuka was an interesting figure. Litchi wasn't sure if he was harmless or not, but, as cryptic and threatening as he was, he seemed to have his sense about him. Litchi sincerely doubted any funny business would arise, and hoped that her intuition did not fail her. She had seen Tazuka speaking to the young Tsubaki girl, and decided to approach anyway.

"Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but I was instructed to meet you," she said, attempting to be as courteous as possible.

[Platinum]

"Uh-uummmm" Sena stuttered out, Ragna's sudden outburst startling the young boy. He attempted to keep Luna from replying, for fear she would simply make situations worse. Sena simply stood there, frozen, fighting off Luna's attempts at overpowering.

_________________

(Quick OOC: OH MY GOD I'M SO SORRY FOR THE FUCKING SHORT MESSAGE I'LL MAKE IT UP ASKGJNKASJGSDH)


[Nu-13]
Nu stared at Relius. She was terrified beyond all possibilities. Seeing the corpses, she cried. “I…” She thought of running away, but felt Ignis dig her claws into her shoulder blades. The robot began to bleed, and she squirmed. She wanted to get out of there. “Get away from me! Please, I’ll do anything! Just don’t hurt me!” Her movements became more frantic. She dug her nails into the hard robot’s body. Then she felt her mind slip away as she passed out.

[Jin Kisaragi]
Jin growled, pulling the cat off as he sneezed for a second. “Stupid cat… I was paying attention. But what about Terumi? He doesn’t use swords. He uses knives and those goddamn snakes…” He tried to hide the fact that he wasn’t paying attention. At all; all of it directed at Tsubaki.

[Taokaka]
“Nyan! I got the pink person, Good Guy!” She pulled the cape off and bit slightly on her pink hair, trying to eat it like cotton candy.

[Saya]
Saya stared at Phantom. Once the hero Nine, now she’s forever her slave. Her slave. She tried to keep herself from smirking as she spoke in a refined voice. “Well, it’s not much, but I wish for you to watch Relius and my Sword, if you would. And you would, am I correct? As always, I am, indeed, correct. Now go.”

[Omnicron]
“It’s okay, sister!” She laughs. “I’ll kill them! Nothing can hurt us…” Then she held out her hand as a man ran up to her. She thrust her hand back and inside his chest, causing a loud squishing sound. Omnicron giggled, jumping slightly. “Killing is fun though, isn’t it, Lambda!”

_________________

[Yuri]
Nodding silently, Yuri followed steadily behind Bang's footsteps over this old escape route, and noticed her eagerness for a change of pace from the constant running. Though then she would have to see and take in all the dismal landscape of her old home...

The young officer-ninja soon thereafter looked up at the tall spire rising from Ibukido, reaching up past the clouds. Hm... That tower...

[Noel]
Noel meekly followed along with the rest of the group, feeling understandably uncomfortable in such a dark and desolate place. And the others' banter didn't help at all... Surely there wouldn't be a cave-in, right? The place was designed and built by the NOL to be strong and hardy, and even if there were significant structural damage this far in, any collapses would have already happened... Right?

"C-come on, you guys, don't joke about things like that..."

And then the small girl felt a strange sort of mental... twitch. Like a slight convulsion or pulsation in her subconscious. But she ignored it, as it probably was nothing to be concerned about. The talk of cave-ins and the uncertainty of whatever might lie ahead were much more pressing matters.

"So, anyway, Makoto... Um, what is it you saw in this place, anyway? You mentioned something about being here on an assignment..."

[Noel - Flashback]
After more stuttering and some anxious laughter, Noel thanked the older student and set off in the direction of her dormitory room with an uncharacteristic sense of direction. Fortunately she was at least able to remember how to get to her bed when she needed to...

---Rachel Alucard---

A level of concentration was required to achieve the necessary focus for manifestation of a teleportation spell; such arts were not designed to be cast or created by the bursting masses of power hungry individuals not intelligent, or wise enough, to understand them.

Not that it didn't stop dedicated people from all moral and ethical divisions from learning magics - even when the world would be better off without some of those more seedy characters.

Turning on her heel, swiftly, Rachel's descent into the garden was followed by an unnatural wind which cast soft gusts of caressing air along the traverse of roses and thorns. The crimson flowers, unsettled, would flow passed the timeless youth as she stepped forward and within the centre of this wonderland estate.

"...you will be unhinged without guidance," she whispered, to herself, quietly and reserved before turning those softly crimson eyes to the seemingly perpetual moonlight which was downcast over her manor. As if her personal monolague required a brief commentary on it's meaning, she continued to speak privately amongst the company of her own thoughts. "A fool, a temporary fool. Time once set can not be left unbound without the interference of those who seek the world to burn, and knowing or not of these tribulations you've stubbornly set upon a path which will see you dead or hero."

Her brow furrowed, "I am terribly cynical of heros. I would rather you a man, perhaps that I may contain your stupidity." And she smirked, in a method exclusive to her own understanding. It wasn't elaborate or methodical, she just seemed to experience a passing moment appropriate to whimsy.

"It is time, now, Valkenhayne. I will attend and see if our intrepid fool may be cultivated in the dance." The only dance which mattered now, and it was timed in turn to the rotation of a wheel and not a clock.

---Makoto Nanaya&Nathanial Lionheart---

They would descend several floors, following a broken and weaving path which seemed designed around keeping them away from any obviously treacherous pitfalls or environmental hazards.

Despite the years which have passed, the bases primary generators were located within and thus kept the areas, those still capable, operational. The issue, than, was that several exposed circuits kept the floors super-charged with electricity. Many fires having obviously broken out and the remnant sprinklers took their supply of water from an underground source. The entire base had been, mostly, designed to be independently operated from within in a situation of emergency.

"The base itself is mostly intact, so avoiding the most obvious signs of interior damage should in itself solve any issues of unexpected collapses. However," and with a rather shamelessly motionless, but sarcastic, expression Nathanial would continue on to explain further, "I would keep a healthy distance from the devil amongst us, unfortunately if he happens to trip on any loose debris you can be sure he'll go through the floor." Unfortunately, despite the fact he was being mostly humorous about it...there was an element obviously born from truth.

"Yeah, there's a few tight squeezes big-guy. Are you sure this is okay with you?" Makoto turned those intelligent, but easy, ember eyes on the Red Giant with an honestly questionable quality. "The way you got in was open enough to fit someone your size, I'm not saying you wont make it through but it wont be comfortable."

She stepped down a rampart, leading onto a stable elevator platform. "Lucky enough that this old rig is still working, but the deeper you go the more stable the power supply seems to be." Her tail lightly drifted toward the floor, ghosting across the dust and loose articles of mortar or paint which was displaced during the explosion.

With an audible rumble and grind the gears began to turn as power was shunted into the magnetic clamps which would propel the ramp downward, it's slow moving locomotion seemed more purposeful than accidental - but it was fitting considering the atmosphere was chillingly creepy.

Cold dark ceiling, lights flickering from time to time as they'd pass under broken bulbs or clipped circuitry. The further down they went the warmer it got, though it was a comfortable heat - it wasn't abrasive or concerning.

_________________
~We are all but slaves to Fate, Kings and Desperate men. Only those not shackled by destiny can carve out their own future~

[Tsubaki]

The red-haired girl almost jumped in surprise at Tazuka’s observation, but instantly settled down and sobered up to the weight of this realization. “Oh, so you do know the side-effects of this weapon… I guess I wasn’t very good at hiding that I’ve been affected by it,” she said with a faint smile. Tsubaki’s mind drifted to the thought of exchanges and the term ‘price’. Was this price really worth it? She had lost the light in her eyes and now faced an uncertain future with little to no foresight whatsoever.

It was then that a woman entered into the room, her presence being made known to Tsubaki through the sounds of her footsteps and voice. She recognized this voice, it was Doctor Litchi Faye-Ling’s, who was a new volunteer that worked at the NOL. “Ah hello, Doctor Faye-Ling,” Tsubaki greeted as she turned around to meet the guest. Apparently Litchi had to meet with Tazuka, so Tsubaki immediately took the hint. “Ah, so you two have a meeting scheduled… In that case, I’ll be on my way. It was nice meeting you two, Litchi, Tazuka.” She said, motioning her head in the direction of each individual as she spoke their names and walked away.
-----------------------------
[Ein]

Ein growled angrily as Reign stabbed into his right hip. The sound of his own flesh tearing was a strange change of pace for him, as not many materials were able to pierce his durable attire and still tear deeply into his torso. This insane beast was stronger than Ein had originally given him credit for, but that didn’t mean that he was finished yet. The man tried to move and was able to, so the damage to his innards must have not been as bad as Ein had originally expected. He could still move, and that meant he could still fight.

As Reign lay writhing on the floor from their last exchange of blows, Ein walked over with one arm wielding a hammer and the other holding his wound. It would take a little while for it to heal, even if he transferred energy from his armagus. However, that wasn’t very important right now. What was important was finishing this fight. “Heh, you fight better than you look like you could,” Ein grinned as he finished walking over to where Reign was. He looked immobilized for the time being, so Ein had to finish this now. He raised his hammer to crush Reign with one final blow, yet something felt very off.

Sure enough, a cold and dark presence felt like it was stabbing into Ein’s back, as if some great evil was nearby. There was only one man that had that aura around him, and that was Captain Hazama of the intelligence department. Oh well, that man’s being there or not didn’t matter much to Ein, although something did feel very off about him sometimes. Resuming what he started, he swung his hammer down, looking to smash Reign and avenge the soldiers that were already dead as a result of this being’s rampage.
-----------------------------
[Phantom]

The lavender-clad witch silently acknowledged Saya’s order and proceeded to leave the room. “…” Phantom then transported herself to Relius’ laboratory just as Hazama had left. She observed Relius and Nu just as she was supposed to, yet this left her wondering why she had been assigned to this task. Relius was more than capable of handling this thing himself, especially with Ignis around.

Were her talents being wasted with these trivial errands? Phantom could only remember vague images of her past, but they were mostly of glorious battles and things that were worthy of her efforts as an impressive mage. Why couldn’t she remember? She sat there silently contemplating her past, and how she would be able to remember the fine details of it.
----------------------------
[Lambda]

Omnicron’s enthusiasm was encouraging, which made Lambda shyly grin. She wasn’t really sure if she would be able to make it out of these horrible labs, but meeting with Omnicron made her feel like she would be able to be free once again. “..But about killing.. I do not think that it is fun..” She explained, not looking back as the two made their way down a corridor. “Only necessary sometimes.” They came across a large and spacious room that looked like a foyer of some kind, which meant that they were going to be getting close to the exit.
-----------------------------
[Kokonoe]

The pink-haired scientist grinned at her work, the arsenal of nuclear warheads deep beneath the laboratories where she worked. This last resort would be able to do what her previous weapons couldn’t, and that was finishing off Terumi once and for all. These warheads had no room for error like Hakumen and Lambda-11 had, since there was nothing preventing these missiles from hitting their target except for Kokonoe’s will itself.

“If only these things didn’t barf radiation everywhere they go,” She said to herself, rationalizing against the use of these weapons for the time being. “These will get the job done, but as my final trump card it’s still a bit too early to use these babies,” and with a laugh, she returned upstairs to work on another weapon.

_________________

[Yuuki 'Hazama' Terumi]

When he approached the chaotic scene, Hazama adjusted his hat slightly. Humming to himself he looked to Ein and then Reign. As Ein came down on his assailant, Hazama called out to him.

"Soldier! Back away from the intruder!" Hazama didn't much care if his hit struck or not, just that he got away from the creature. It was...awfully familiar. A previous test maybe? Test? More like failure. "I want to have a word with him...but stay on guard in case he decides to not much for words." Hazama not only didn't care about the well-being of Ein...but cared even less about this intruder. He just wanted to know if they were going to be a pest...if so, then Ein could finish him off. If he was going to be a big pest...well after Ein's body was disposed of, maybe Hazama would step in. Maybe.

Hazama would come closer to the intruder, a hand still on his hat.

"Let me guess...some poor disturbed old acquaintance of mine who decided to try and be some kind of hero? Or maybe you're even more boring than that and just want revenge? Ya know...doesn't matter. All that matters, is, you're making a mess! A helluvamess! And...I don't really want to deal with that right now...so...why don't you...ya know...scram! Leave before I get him to beat on your sorry ass some more!"

[Bang Shishigami]

As the two would run, eventually they would come to a wall. The wall was large, tall, but not so wide...at least here. It was connected to the other walls of Ikaruga, but this was more of a branch out. One that simply came too far out. Bang stopped before the wall and held out a hand to his companion to halt her.

"We're here...no doubt this is where I made my escape. Many Ikarugans had followed me through here...though this wall is not as it seems. As you can see there are no visible doors!" Bang began to laugh, "But visible is a key word, you see!" He punched a seemingly random part of the wall. The wall stood silent, absorbing the blow. A moment past...

"YAAAAAAAAAAH!" Bang began waving his hand frantically, "Ah...! I...I seem to have forgotten where the weak spot is...OH MY HAND! I-IS IT BROKEN!" He flexed his fingers, there was a loud snap, "AHHHHHHHH MY HAND, MY GOODNESS I THINK IT IS! OH WHAT A CRUEL DAY IT IS TO BE A HERO OF JUSTICE!" Bang waved his hand around some more, his other hand coming around it, providing some more snaps, and cracks. He rubbed it furiously, whimpering slightly.

He then remembered himself, and quickly attempted to regain composure.

"A-ah, Yuri! Yes! You can find the weakness! Use your water! Eat away at the stone that stands between us and find the door that would lead us to the tunnel! Yes, its a tunnel...goes underground infact! The NOL never knew! Wahahahah-AH MY HAND!"

_________________

[Ragna]

“Heh, good job Tao” Ragna said with a smirk.

It seemed Sena was momentarily in control, considering that Platinum had yet to snap at him or call him a paedophile like usual. It wouldn’t take long for Luna to emerge however and Ragna cringed at the thought, this was the last thing he needed right now, on top of Taokaka following him.

“Let me guess” Ragna said when Sena didn’t answer “Jubei told you to tail me right? Just like he told Taokaka to follow me around too, right?”

Ragna knew that Platinum had a soft spot for Jubei and he was about the only person she would listen to and given how much she hated Ragna, he knew she wouldn’t be following him without a reason.

[Tazuka]

“Till we meet again, Tsubaki Yayoi” Tazuka called to her as she left, he could not help but feel she was not really worthy of the power she possessed, he remembered the man who wielded the Izayoi back during the dark war. A man who was a far more worthy wielder, no wonder the girl had completely lost her light.

Litchi had now returned, ordered to meet with Tazuka, perhaps she required a quick form of transportation to wherever she had been ordered to carry out whatever mission she had been given. Come to think of it, Hazama had informed him earlier of the mission Relius would be giving Litchi.

“I see….Relius Clover’s assignment is it?” he asked as Litchi nodded.

“Very well, let us go to Ikaruga then, I am to provide….protection for you, although if that power your have if anything to go by you should be fairly adequate at handling yourself but we are heading into an area heavily contaminated by seither so you will need protection only my magic can give you since you do not possess a seither protection armagus at this time”

Without further delay Tazuka snapped his fingers and opened up a portal he and Litchi stepped into the darkness and the corridor within the NOL headquarters disappeared from view to be replaced with the open space and ruined buildings and the sight where Ibukido was destroyed. Tazuka waved his arm in a short fluid motion and Litchi saw for a fraction of a second the translucent shield he had cast before it disappeared from sight. She could not feel the dense nature of the Seither around them, even though the area was covered in it.

“You may now begin your mission” said Tazuka, waiting for Litchi move.

[Flashback] – [Tazuka]

At the Alucard Manor, Tazuka stood in a small room on a stool as many people fussed over the elegant suit he was being fitted into for his now imminent marriage to Rachel Alucard. He simply allowed his relatives to get on with it, too distracted by the feeling as though his heart was caught in a vice. Tazuka had never been more nervous before, though maybe it was more of the excitement and happiness that this day was finally here and the moment he would bond forever with the love of his life came ever so closer.

A young man entered the room, one of Tazuka’s distant relatives; he rapped his knuckles on the door to get everyone’s attention.

“Ten minutes everyone!” he said excitedly “let’s get the handsome groom out there soon!”

He left and everyone turned towards Tazuka and continued to fuss over him, much more feverish this time. He could feel his heart pounding against his chest now.

[Relius]

The 13th Prime Field had over exerted herself and fainted, her hands which had been grappling with Ignis went limp and dropped down onto the table. Relius gave no indication of change from what he was doing at this and merely continued to siphon through his tools. They were odd looking, many with prongs that twisted off into odd patterns, some with jagged blades or magnifying glasses.

“Ah…here it is” he said to himself, finding the tool he wanted. It was a long object that ended in a large spherical knob; it looked like a scanner of sorts.

“I’m interested to see if the Azure has undergone any…changes with your reformation, unlikely but I have a fair bit of time so I may as well be thorough with this examination”

He walked over to the table and held the object above Nu’s Azure Grimoire, the back of it that faced Relius lit up and begun to display data on a screen for him to examine.

“Ah…seems you retained the idea engine from your previous body” he said as he analyzed the data “Your life link with Ragna The Bloodedge serves you well, with a link to the true Azure Grimoire you will serve the Imperator well too”

Relius continued to mutter to himself as his examination continued, his only companion to hear his words being the lifeless robot Ignis. This was not to last however as the sounds of the space being opened somewhere behind him told him he had company.

“Ah Phantom” he said, turning away from Nu to look at her “and to what do I owe this pleasure?”

[Relius] – [Flashback]

Carl expressed his excitement at starting at the military academy next week in response to his mother’s question. He was one of the very lucky few at his age who was allowed to study at the academy where most students were a lot older; it was mainly due to his family connection. Relius Clover was a colonel from Research and Development and considered one of the most brilliant minds within the NOL and naturally everyone expected great things from his son.

“I trust that you’ll make me proud my boy?” Relius said, rather sternly from the other side of the table.

[Jubei]

Jubei shook his head.

“It ain’t bout that son” he said “if ya lose yer focus like that, it won’t matter what weapon yer opponent is using, if I were Terumi I coulda ended yer life right there”

Jubei sheathed away his swords, an indication to Jin that this was the end of their sparring match.

“Ya think I don’t know what’s distracting yer?” he asked Jin, who did not respond.

“I know yer worried bout Tsubaki but ya can’t let it get to ya, not even the power of order can help ya if yer mind’s not on the fight so yer gotta learn to control yer emotions son and I know it’s hard after having them under Yukinesa’s control for so long but unless yer do ya won’t be helping anyone”


[Nox] – [Tager]

“I’ll be fine” Tager said in response to Makoto’s concerns

“To think this hunk of broken down crap would still work,” said Nox as the ramp took them down to the cauldron “well saves us taking the stairs at least”

The ramp came to a stuttering halt at the last level, the growing levels of heat they were experiencing reached its threshold. Ahead of them lay the cauldron, as active as it was the day Ibukido was destroyed. Several metal coffins lay around the edge with a large console in the centre.

At once Tager got out his small communicator and contacted Kokonoe.

“Come in Kokonoe, this is Tager, we’ve arrived at the cauldron” he said.

Meanwhile Nox led Noel over to one of the coffins. He suddenly had a grim look on his face for he was about to show Noel something that would change her life forever.

“You wanted to know what Makoto saw here right?” He said “Well....”

Nox removed the coffin’s cover, Noel looked into it anxiously and at first she thought she was looking into a mirror but her reflection had her eyes closed and wasn’t clothed. She realized she was looking at a body within the coffin that looked exactly like her.

“This.... is where you were born Noel” said Nox.

[Flashback] – [Nox]

Noel and Nox set off towards her dormitory, Nox carrying her luggage with Noel leading the way. As they walked down another corridor, Nox noticed that Noel’s pacing had slowed down. He caught up with her and saw that she had suddenly gone very pale.

“Hey....” he said, sounding worried “what’s wrong? You’re white as a sheet all of a sudden”

[Valkenhayn]

Valkenhayn placed an arm at his chest and bowed slightly at Rachel's command.

"very well milady" he said "allow me to provide your transportation"

Valkenhayn turned away and summoned forth a portal, ready to take Rachel to her destination of choice.

"After you milady" Valkenhayn said, gesturing for her to enter the portal.

_________________

---Makoto and Nathanial---

"It's not surprising, honestly, that the technology here is still functional; you have to look at it from the stand-point of a group whose sole capacity for remaining independent has managed to slip the NOL for over a decade," Nathanial would explain, already having an intimate knowledge of where they are.

"When you give thought to how they needed to maintain secrecy and isolation, it's not all that hard to believe they would build this place to survive prolonged separation from other assets." He followed the path Noel and Nox took, turning his gaze smoothly over to Makoto's face; he wondered, perhaps, why she'd felt the need to bring Noel here. Given how protective she was - the thought occured to him that this could be...rather damaging for her sense of self.

When she finally caught him looking at her, there was a brief crease in the woman's brow, Makoto's tail giving a gentle twitch. To her, Noel had every right to know exactly where she came from and hiding it would do the girl no favors. "Don't look at me like that..." She scowled softly.

"Why? You're obviously upset,"

"Maybe...but it's something I'll need to get over." Makoto responded cooly, arms crossed over the chest of her dark poncho-style uniform. Briefly, she adjusted the position of her berret.

"Worried that she might start to think she's not who she thinks she is? There's a difference between who and what a person is, you of all people should be aware of that by now."

Makoto nodded, "Yeah...well I know that...it's just..." She sighed, turning toward him and letting her tail give a gentle sway, "I don't know if SHE realizes that."

"She wont learn if you don't let her,"

Makoto would shrug her shoulders, "That's why we're here."

---Rachel Alucard---

She paused for only a moment, turning her head to look back at the manor she'd called home; through troubles and trials, the tribulations of her life had led her to these moments of testing - she only hoped she'd steeled herself enough over the passed decades of repetition to be prepared to see it come to a final conclusion.

However it went, things had to end.

She stepped through.

[Flash]

Rachel was nervous, certainly. The excitment did indeed bubble up from within her, making her stomach tight and her cheeks blush - if they could blush, she hadn't really taken the time to look in a mirror. After all, she wasn't even certain if her blood flowed like that of a typical human.

Most likely not.

Which meant most of her daydreams had been slightly off-putting and incorrect.

Which was a bit disconcerting.

But why was she thinking of this now? Well, she had to distract herself - she even had the expression of someone with their head in the clouds.

_________________
~We are all but slaves to Fate, Kings and Desperate men. Only those not shackled by destiny can carve out their own future~