Colin's posts

While she had been out, he had been busy. VERY busy.

One of the first things he had done was go back to where he'd heard the info about Vanessa in the first place, and filled the pertinent people in on what had happened. The altercation in the woods, how he'd found HER, and how she needed help. Badly. She needed a safe place to be. Even if that ended up being with him.

The other thing he'd done, was clean his apartment.

He had gotten rid of ALL the plastic bottles, stacked boxes in corners of the rooms, and had picked up all his strewn-about laundry, putting it in a (heaping) laundry basket, which he planned to take care of later.

When she woke up, he hadn't noticed, and was laying on the couch that he had claimed as his new bed.

"...think, Ash, think." he muttered.

"There has to be SOMEONE that can detox her of the junk that Vanessa put in her..."

"...on one hand, that's a relief, on the other, that's frightening." he responded.

"Then again... I do know about that sort of thing. Kinda." he admitted.

"A-Anyway, is there anything I can do for you right this moment?" he asked.

"Or do you just need to lay down for a bit?" he asked further.

"I'll do everything I can to also remove all traces of Vanessa from your system." he then promised her.

Ash almost fell backwards when he heard that.

"K-KILL!?" he exclaimed.

"Oh dear lord!" he said, sounding a little panicked now, to understate it.

"I'll... I'll try and get someone to help as quickly as possible, then!" he told her.

"How long!?" he asked hurriedly.

"Days? Hours? MINUTES!?"

"...oh..." Ash muttered, before quickly closing the gap between them.

He put his hands on her shoulders, and helped her get through the mess of clothing, boxes, and plastic bottles he had strewn about.

"Sorry." he apologised.

"I... yeah, my place is a mess." he admitted.

"Not used to having people over." he went on.

"So yeah, sorry."

"..." he was silent as he heard that.

"I'll try and find someone to remove that." he told her.

"Seriously. She shouldn't have control over you." he reasoned. He was amazed that she'd come with him so willingly, but he wasn't going to question that right now. All that mattered was that she needed help.

And that she was a victim of Vanessa Encrae as well.

He couldn't NOT help her.

He was silent for a moment, VERY worried about her well-being right now.

"You... you can stay here for now, obviously." he told her. "This is my place, it's not much, but you can stay here for the time being." he continued.

"That door leads to the bedroom, feel free to go in and collapse on the bed." he informed her.

"And I know of some people that might be able to help you, so I'll contact them in the meantime." he went on.

"So yeah, crash on the bed for however long you need." he finished.

"...you gonna be ok?" he then asked hesitantly.

Sure enough, they were engulfed with black fire, and they were gone. Not only did they leave the forest, she then found herself in a... modest apartment. It was a bit small, but she could see it was at least a home.

HIS home.

He let go of her hands, and sighed.

"I'll make SURE you never have to go back to her." he told her.

"You deserve to be safe from her."

"..." he was silent for a moment, before shaking his head.

"Come with me!" he quickly said.

"Let me get you away from that hell!" he continued.

"You said she prioritised self-preservation? Then come with me and I'll try and make it so that you're not being experimented on and tested to your limits." he told her further.

"Nobody deserves to be with that bitch." he then growled.

"...I see." he replied.

"I... I admit that... I was not expecting to run into YOU of all people out here." he then admitted. "Not under such circumstances, anyway." he went on, looking around slightly.

"...and I can see that they've just not stopped the experiments." he continued.

"Damn it." he cursed.

"It's... I admit, it's a nicer blast from the past to meet you again."

The elf was practically beside himself now, as the one known as Fyrane got to his feet.

"Looks like YOU'RE stuck between a rock and a hard place." he said. "And it clearly looks like you're outmatched. You don't have NEARLY the amount of power you think you do, and you're poking a hornet's nest." he went on.

"So how about you answer some questions-" he started to ask further, but was interrupted by another knife being thrown. Though he easily dodged it. When he looked back, however, the elf was gone.

"YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE LAST OF THIS!" echoed all around them.

"...self-preservation, huh?" the Fyrane then asked the woman.

The elf had nearly been brought to the point of death, but he placed his hands over his chest, and his entire body glowed a light blue. Then, he rapidly started to look a LOT better than before... aside from legitimately throwing up at one point.

He then rolled off to the side, coughing violently, and looked at her.

"Wh-what!? LIES!" he yelled.

"I order you to take down the Fyrane!" he shouted.

"Knock him out! Render him unconscious!" he ordered her further, though his tone was definitely wavering now.

"You are nothing but a mere tool!" the elf told her. "You have NO authority over me! I was sent here to do this, NOT you! You were sent along to be MY tool for this assignment!" he continued.

"Now shape up, LEARN YOUR PLACE, and be a good little tool!" he ordered her, his other hand glowing with the same mana.

"Or I will slap you again and again and again, until you're nothing more than a damned MANNEQUIN!" he threatened her.

"Are we clear?" he asked, his voice darker and more threatening.

The newcomer couldn't help but feel immense anger over how the elf was treating the woman... but something was causing him to not do anything. Something was pushing that anger down.

It was as though the DNA that he had been forcefully combined with was screaming at him that there was a predator here. A dangerous one. And the danger signs all seemed to be pointing to the one he'd referred to as 'A-2'.

The newcomer seemed to gasp audibly, as the elven male took a few steps back.

"You... you..." he sputtered.

"You TRAITOR!" he yelled.

"Mistress WILL hear of this! And you will go through HELL when you return!" he declared, growing angrier by the second.

"Actually, no! Screw that!" he then said. "I'll learn you a lesson, MYSELF!" he finished, as the newcomer watched, still feeling a little... 'off'.

'Damn it...' he cursed mentally.

The elven male, then coated his hand in the weird red mana, and brought his palm forward, aiming to slap the woman across the face... as hard as he could.

The newcomer slowly collapsed to his knees, as the elf male just looked at her.

"Hey!" he exclaimed.

"Listen! If HE is going to get in our way, then he deserves to be taken back to the Mistress!" he told her.

"I know I have EXTREMELY limited authority over you, but I STILL have authority, damn it!" he went on. "I'M the one in charge here, and Mistress will most certainly praise us if we bring him back!" he reasoned.

"Why are you sabotaging this!?" he asked.

"Just let me take him back with us."