The Hidden Game

[Zorolo]

Zorlo's fist shook slightly in annoyance as the woman offered him money. The green-haired man sighed and pushed her hand away as he forced a smile. "I don't care about my door or any of the money you're trying to throw at me. What I want to know is how you learned my real name... my name that no one within this continent, save for very, VERY specific regions would know, was acquired, that tells me that THEY can probably find me," he muttered in annoyance.

Zorlo shrugged and looked at Claire. "I'm sorry, my name is Zorlo Amaranthine, and its an honor to meet you, your Master Maes, and his cat. For now, bring him home and let him recover. He was in the same bad situation everyone else was. However, I should warn you that I think that girl," Zorlo stated as he jerked his thumb towards Cecile, "will be coming to check on him occasionally. Let her in... she's just trying to help the kid... plus, I'm sure he could use a friend," Zorlo stated calmly as he looked at Maes.

"If you can agree to let her meet with your master and help him be... well, better, subjectively, then you don't owe me anything. If anything, helping him is only mutually beneficial for you and I, Lady Claire," Zorlo stated as he smiled at her. Zorlo then looked at Allraine and Arianna. "You two are sisters, yes? Where is your living-space, I'll walk you there... I'm sure the other young lady would love to escort our sedated friend back to her pad, right?" Zorlo asked in a knowing fashion, his spirit of a knight fairly obvious.

[Zorolo]

Zorlo's fist shook slightly in annoyance as the woman offered him money. The green-haired man sighed and pushed her hand away as he forced a smile. "I don't care about my door or any of the money you're trying to throw at me. What I want to know is how you learned my real name... my name that no one within this continent, save for very, VERY specific regions would know, was acquired, that tells me that THEY can probably find me," he muttered in annoyance.

Zorlo shrugged and looked at Claire. "I'm sorry, my name is Zorlo Amaranthine, and its an honor to meet you, your Master Maes, and his cat. For now, bring him home and let him recover. He was in the same bad situation everyone else was. However, I should warn you that I think that girl," Zorlo stated as he jerked his thumb towards Cecile, "will be coming to check on him occasionally. Let her in... she's just trying to help the kid... plus, I'm sure he could use a friend," Zorlo stated calmly as he looked at Maes.

"If you can agree to let her meet with your master and help him be... well, better, subjectively, then you don't owe me anything. If anything, helping him is only mutually beneficial for you and I, Lady Claire," Zorlo stated as he smiled at her. Zorlo then looked at Allraine and Arianna. "You two are sisters, yes? Where is your living-space, I'll walk you there... I'm sure the other young lady would love to escort our sedated friend back to her pad, right?" Zorlo asked in a knowing fashion, his spirit of a knight fairly obvious.

[GamerKale]

Claire shrugged at his question about how she knew his name, "I thought he had been kidnapped." She acted like that was explanation enough and pinned the money back inside her suit. Claire snorted when he called Maes master, "Master who would- oh right, I did call him that, didn't I?" She hit her forehead with her palm, she seemed... a lot different now that she wasn't pointing a gun at anybody. "Anyways, I've got room if anybody needs a lift." Maes wandered out of the bedroom, looking very groggy and like he was about to fall over at any second. She cocked an eyebrow at him, "Ready to go home?" He sluggishly blinked at her a few times before nodding. Clair gently took his hand and stepped towards the door, but stopped and looked at Cecile. "You coming?" When she had gotten Maes out the door she turned back to Zorlo saying, "Oh, and it's just Clair." She winked and was gone. Morgan didn't exactly hurry after them. He lapped up as much of the milk as he could and meowed something that gave everybody the impression that they would be in touch before he left.The car was a massive black hummer, probably armored, and fully stocked with milk. Claire made certain that everyone was strapped in good before she started the roaring engine. "So, does anybody need to be dropped off or should I just head for the house?" She asked as she started off out of the handicap only parking space.

[Helbaworshipper]

Sitting against the leather, Cecile examined Elsa thoroughly. She looked towards Clair and began to speak. "Right now it seems that miss Elsa is far from ready to accept more news. I suppose, in this case, she should be dropped at her apartment so that she can rest and take care of things that will calm her already crazy mind." She didn't touch Elsa, but thought of how strange this problem would become. She couldn't continue to do her normal route if she went along with the game. However, she couldn't exactly count on being able to drop her job if she did want to stay near Maes and Morgan. It was going to be an strange balance if she did choose to try and leave the gang to somehow clean up. Still, someone like her was already tainted, being clean was never a life goal now.

Elsa blinked when she hear Cecile's words. The woman seemed to relax a little as she sighed. "Just...home would be nice."

[nekoryuuha]

Allrainne waved off the offer for herself and little sister being dropped off anywhere, stating that their house was close by--which wasn't a total lie--and that they'd walk. Once everyone else left, the young woman sighed as Arianna moved over to let Allrainne sit down with her on the couch. Allrainne quiet a moment longer before, mostly waiting to hear the Hummer engine kick on, before looking at Zorlo with a relatively serious glare. "The words about to come out of my mouth don't leave this room, ya hear?" she said out of nowhere with a frown before sitting back. "Due to extenuating familial circumstances, my sister and I can't head home, unlike everyone else. On top of that, the place we were sleeping, my car, probably has a Fallen Angel sitting on it, seeing as it's practically next to the park." She sighed and leaned forward. "To be blunt, I'm asking if we can stay here for a while, Zorlo," she finished, sitting back and crossing her legs to wait for Zorlo's response.

[Zorolo]

Zorlo gave her a serious look back as he crossed his arms and laid against the door into the small bedroom. "I can understand that. You're welcome to all that I have, limited though it may be. You can sleep in my bedroom. The lock is on that side, so if you really don't think I'm trustworthy, you can even lock the door," he told her, shrugging. "I can't say here is much safer. Once my family finds me, I'll be leaving here as well. Until then, you're my guests, and at that point, we can part ways if you two so desire. After all, I'm not dragging anyone else into my business,"

Zorlo stated as he moved towards the apartment and rested his hand on it. "I'm going to go pick up supplies from where I work. Should you need to contact me for anything, my cell number is saved in the phone. No one calls me, so I'll know its you two ladies if you call. Don't do anything too suspicious and don't cause any trouble. I'll be back later," Zorlo stated as he tossed his jacket over his shoulder and headed out. He needed to buy some food and stuff if he had guests and needed some air. Today had just been a bit more than he was ready for... at least not so soon.

[GamerKale]

Claire nodded, understanding this was hardly the first time she had seen someone in that condition. Rather than pull of any more techno magic, like when she found Zorlo's true identity, she simply looked at the address on Elsa's license. After dropping the woman off Claire drove to a Wendy's and got frosties before they arrived at a fairly old small house, in comparison to the others, in what was definitely an upper class neighborhood. Claire helped Maes in, but once they were inside Maes got some milk for Morgan and disappeared into the living room.

Claire sat Cecile down in the den, "Ok, I'll be straight with you. I want to believe that you want to help him. Lord knows he needs to find somebody he can talk to. I've been his driver for over a year and the closest I've ever gotten to him talking is when he sends me texts to pick him up. You know that little girl that was with y'all? Maes was around her age when he was kidnapped. There was no ransom demand and years later he wandered his way back here holding Morgan like Linus holds his blanket. You might have noticed Maes's hands, those aren't tattoos, they're scars, and those aren't the only physical ones."

Maes got dragged over to the piano by Morgan. He smiled at the cat whispering, "Alright alright, you want to hear something? I suppose I didn't get around to playing anything for you last night, did I?" He laid his coat down on the piano bench and noticed that there was a conductor's baton in one of the pockets. Upon examination he noticed the same blue veins in it as had been on his coat. He moved it experimentally and a note rang out in the air. He smiled and used the baton to play a short piece. Maes was actually in a pretty good mood now, which was reflected in the music.

Claire looked towards the living room. "Oh, yes there's a play tonight." Claire stood up and looked Cecile over. "I suppose that outfit will be suitable. I'll let you see if you can get through to him." Claire stated as she left.

"Hey, let's see if this works outside." Maes pulled his jacket and a pair of conductor's gloves on as he went to the backyard and used the baton to reenact a fast paced and cheerful concert. He had his eyes closed so he didn't notice that the water in the pool was rising and falling as he moved his hands and Morgan sat next to the door lapping at his bowl of milk.

[Helbaworshipper]

"Maes was around her age when he was kidnapped. There was no ransom demand and years later he wandered his way back here holding Morgan like Linus holds his blanket. You might have noticed Maes's hands, those aren't tattoos, they're scars, and those aren't the only physical ones."

Cecile stood up and took a few steps towards where Maes was currently doing his play. Part of her remembered that this song had been playing the day she had met her doctor for that diagnosis. It had been a hard bit of news to hear and she remembered trying to drown out the emotion with music. She felt hesitant for a moment, her hand shaking as the memory washed over her completely. She had subconsciously avoided thinking about certain things, but... but this boy wouldn't have to face it alone. Alone was a word that she had reiterated too many times when she was younger. She regained her composure, starting to sing a bit. She had been in choir, so even if it wasn't that good of a sound, she knew the song properly. Part of hers was starting to lose herself in the song as she felt the words come out. 'It would be good if I had... If I had someone to count on.' She didn't notice her hands shaking or a few tears starting to leave her eyes.

---

Elsa finally put down the phone, collapsing onto the bed with her formal clothing removed. She felt exhausted at the moment, to the point she just wanted to curl up and sleep without eating. She curled up under the covers and held tight to the pillow to hold back the emotion that might come out.

[nekoryuuha]

"Right, right... Just be careful out there, Gods forbid you die and make the Fallen Angels happy," Allrainne replied casually as Zorlo walked out. She took a moment to look at the bed room door and lock before looking back to her sister. "Hey, you sure you're okay with this, Arianna?" she asked, her normally rough attitude turning feather soft in regards to her younger sibling. The younger sister nodded her head after a moment. "It doesn't bother you at all...?"

"....it does," Arianna replied in her quiet voice. She wasn't quiet because of the injury she took, but rather was a naturally quiet person. "But... It's better then the alternatives," she finished, looking up as she stood up. "If we head home, you'll probably be arrested for Assault at best. At worst..." She left it there, for it didn't need to be finished. "And the car's near the park, so you'll probably be attacked. I just...don't want to lose you..." she finished even more quietly, making Allrainne come over and hug her little sister.

"Okay, okay... I'm sorry to worry you, so relax, okay?" she replied before kissing Arianna on the forehead. "Come on, they are things to worry about for now, like figuring out completely unknown powers and what to change into tonight. We have no clothing and we both need a shower." A valid problem. It made Arianna stop and think. "Not to mention, what must his bathroom look like...?"

[Zorolo]

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Gods forbid I die," Zorlo muttered as he closed his jacket around him and started walking. It was somewhat cold today... oddly cold. Had it rained earlier? He wasn't really sure if any of what he was witnessing was real anymore. Maybe he had just died and this was his way of compensating for the seven years he'd spent in hiding? As he walked into his workplace, Zorlo picked began to pick up food and drinks for the girls and sighed. Well, as long as they didn't nag too much, it would be fine, he guessed.

ZOrlo emerged from the store with a bag of food and paused. He pulled his green jacket tighter to himself as he looked off into the distance. He wanted to know... if those creatures were still waiting there for him. Zorlo took a deep breath and walked towards the park and moved closer to the crater. As he looked out beyond the crater, he could see them... two people with ink-black wings sitting upon an unmoving car.

As the green-haired man approached, the two paused and looked at him. "What the hell do you want?" one asked as he pointed at gun at Amaranthine.

"I've come for what's in that car. Please step aside."

The other winged man laughed as he held an empty handle at Zorlo as a blade of light erupted from the handle in a bright flash. "Hmm? Golden Eyes... so he's one of them that Master Voyager told us about. It isn't the boy or the cat, but someone with golden eyes. Lets kill him and move on!" The Fallen Angel yelled as he licked his chops.

Zorlo smiled as he placed his bag next to a nearby tree. "Well..." Zorlo said as he took a deep breath and faced down the barrel of the gun. "Go ahead... shoot," Zorlo said as he held an arm up.

A flash followed from the barrel. No bang was issued, however. A beam of light shot from the barrel noiselessly, and Zorlo closed his eyes as he prepared for pain. Still... nothing.

Zorlo's eyes opened as he noticed the shield attached to his right arm with the handle of a sword sticking out of the top of the shield. "W-what?"

"Hey, little human. It seems that that ancient being decided you were worth keeping alive."

Zorlo stared at the sheathed sword in his shield and then at the armor he was now wearing. "What in the world happened?"

"I am Aincrad, and I am a sentient blade that shall guide your hand. Right now, given your low magical prowess, this is the ideal form for me to take... but until these bastards dead, this form should work. With any luck, you'll have some reinforcements from those mortals."

Zorlo laughed as he drew the sword and closed his eyes. Taking and releasing a deep breath, Zorlo smiled. Now it was time to fight.

[GamerKale]

At the addition of Cecile's voice, Maes stumbled for a second but quickly got back on track. He looked around to see who was singing and was surprised to find that there was one of the girls from earlier behind him. He had all but forgotten about the day's events, but he was able to think about it without suffering another panic attack. We've all been given the ability to use magic, huh? Mine seems to be elementally based. His eyes fell on the pool, and he glanced at his hands noticing black veins marring his otherwise stark white gloves. Blue does wind and black does water. I wonder, are the others the same as me and have started accidently uh, what's a good word for it, enchanting? Enchanting. their things?

At the end of the performance Morgan purred happily, "Maes, now that you're done, you might consider offering the lady something to eat." Morgan's eyes went wide at the prospect. "Ok, ok, just start making something then. I'm sure she'll get the idea. Your mother should be home soonish anyways. Oh, and don't forget to motion for her to follow you." Maes nodded at Morgan as he mouthed, Ok. He gave Cecile a smile and nod as he passed by her and did as Morgan had instructed him. He traded his jacket for an apron put a record on, yes an actual giant record, it was just loud enough to be background noise and Maes hummed along with it as he pulled out ingredients from the walk in pantry, and rolled his sleeves up to the elbows, revealing scars all the way down to his wrists, as he scrubbed and set to work. Morgan lounged in a big comfy chair as cats are apt do.

[Helbaworshipper]

Cecile was surprised to feel tears on her face. She quickly wiped away the salty trails of water and approached the kitchen. When she looked at Maes' scars, she thought of many things. Though the most prominent was the scars from the first time she had botched a drug deal. Though she covered it up, parts of her arms still held cigarette burns and marks that had been made with knives that were a part of punishments. Of course, she had learned to be efficient and avoid it by doing better things or bargaining. She watched Maes as he cooked, picking up one of the knives and chopping up the ingredient so that it could be used properly. "Cecile Blanc," She spoke softly, remembering most people started conversations by identifying themselves. Of course, that also told people a lot of things. One was that she was from France, rather than Germany. Two being that she probably had her own reasons for being in the country at that particular time. Either way, she preferred to have conversations without thinking about status when she could. "I grew up in Avignon."

[nekoryuuha]

The Sisters, meanwhile, took their time familiarizing themselves with the apartment and its rooms. They talked for a while, then they watched a T.V. show and decided to eat a little of the food he had left in the apartment before Allrainne sighed and stood up to stretch. "He's... taking a while..." Arianna finally said into the relative silence with some concern.

Allrainne crossed her arms and nodded. "Yeah... It's not like he told us exactly where he walked to, but unless decided to walk across the city, he should've been back by now..." she replied with a frown.

"Do you...think he was attacked or something..?" Arianna asked curiously. " DM did say they'd find us as long as Maes & his cat were alive."

That made Allrainne pause. "Did he?" Arianna nodded as Allrainne tried--and failed--to remember anything like that. But then, she trusted her little sister's near-photographic memory in such things. "But if it was that easy to find us, wouldn't it have been useless to move us all away...?" she replied, making her sister turn thoughtful.

"Maybe... if it was near the park thought...?"

That made the young woman laugh. "Even I can't see Zorlo being that stupid though," she replied before looking thoughtful herself. "...Is he...?"

"...here..." She looked down to see Arianna handing her the phone. "...Call him and see." Allrainne shrugged and took the phone. Why not, right? What could it hurt?

[Zorolo]

The ringing of his phone filled the air before a shattering sound echoed as one of hte fallen angels smashed his cellular. Zorlo had managed to collect up the girls stuff and start his retreat when four other Fallen Angels had appeared. Using his shield as best he could, he blocked bullets and narrowly dodged the slashes of swords.

"WHy are you running, human? THey may out number us, but with my great power, we shall smash them like waves upon a sea of rocks!"

Zorlo sighed and shook his head. "To hell with that. I'm getting this crap at least close to my house to dump before I play martyr against these bastards. If nothing else, I'm gonna give those two back some of their life before I die."

"Humans... all you think about is the time when you expire. You have so much ambition... be killed by these Fallen Trash heaps or be killed by your trash family. You're a winner, aren't you?"

Zorlo shifted and tossed the bags into a nearby alleyway as he spun on his heels and drew the sword. "Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Zorlo yelled as he blocked a powerful slash from one of the angels and held the blades against each other until he shifted and blocked another bullet from a Fallen Angel behind him.

Black Feathers fell like snow as the angels took to the air and began to chant. "We will bring judgment upon humanity and all that seek to protect it. We no more need you mortals than we need angels or demons. Everything will disappear!"

Zorlo gripped his sword tightly and shield bashed the first Fallen Angel that charged him and blocked the swords of four fallen angels that struck at the same time. A dust cloud rose as the landscape collapsed around Zorlo and plumed a cloud of dust into the air. In another flash, Zorlo's sword and shield pushed the Angel's blades away as Zorlo leapt backwards and stumbled back slightly. "Damn... they're quick," the green-haired man said as his head began to spin. "But I can't die... not yet at least."

[GamerKale]

Maes stopped for a moment, looked up at her and nodded. After a few seconds, and a prompt from Morgan, Maes held up a kitchen mit that had his name on it and made an all around motion to indicate the house. Morgan covered his face with his paws and purred, "You're killing me Maes." He looked over at Morgan and muttered, "What?" "Oh sure, you talk to me, the cat, but not your own species. Maes, talk to the girl." Maes looked at the cat dubiously, then at Cecile, and finally he just bent his head down. Morgan let out an annoyed noise and hopped off the chair. "I'll be outside. It's rather sunny today. Actually, you know what, crazy idea. Put everything on low, I need to borrow your body for a minute. Trust me." Maes nodded and did so, he looked at Morgan curiously and then they switched.

The accent returned, "Just sit there for a minute. I'm going to try something and see if that helps him open up a little." Maes(Morgan) disappeared up the stairs. Morgan(Maes) sniffed at the air and twitched his ears this way and that. Being blind was disorienting enough, having everything changed along with it, well that... actually kind of helped now that he started to think about it. Maes(Morgan) returned holding a hairband and something else. "Ok, don't ask me why his parents have these, I don't know. I just found them." He carried his body outside and then switched back so that he could go sunbathe. Maes looked around to get his bearings and froze when he saw Cecile with cat ears and a tail. He started to say something several times, but ultimately he still couldn't talk. He smiled at her weakly in apology, placed a cook book down in front of her, opened it to the table of contents, and motioned down the list of desserts before he returned to the other dishes.

[Helbaworshipper]

Cecile smiled as she saw Maes' actions. He seemed kind of cute in that way. She looked at the book for a moment, looking at the list. When had been the last time she could eat a home made meal that wasn't coming with a price? She had gone to restaurants a lot when meetings were necessary. Otherwise, she had had simple meals that didn't require being made from scratch. She closed her eyes and opened to the page for what seemed to be a simple chocolate pudding recipe. "Morgan seems to be very knowledgeable. You two must be very good friends."

[nekoryuuha]

Allrainne stood there, listening to the automated message before hanging up in phone and replacing in on it's base. "No answer..." The young woman thought for moment at that as she looked out of the window. Unfortunately, in was impossible to see the sidewalk in front of the building from there without opening the window, something she had no intention of doing on a cool night like this. Still, something was off, she could feel it like the earth shook. Or maybe that was the downstairs neighbors...? Whatever, she'd figure that out later. For now, she had other plans.

"Hmm...? Where are you going...?" Arianna asked as she noticed her older sister grab and don her coat.

"Just downstairs," she replied, waving off any concern her sister might of had. "I just want to get some air like usual and see if Zorlo's close. He should be after this long even if he went across town." She zipped up her jacket and moved to kiss her sister on the cheek. "I'll come back up with Zorlo, so don't worry about answering knocks at the door, okay?" she finished. Arianna nodded and Allrainne waved before heading out, Arianna locking the door behind her.
A few minutes later, Allrainne was exiting the apartment building into the cool night air. It was a nice night. Not really windy, the stars were shining bright, a slowly rising dust mushroom cloud a block or two over, the- "What, wait...?" She paused her musings to look again, confirming what she saw. It was in the direction of the park too. "No... He's not that stupid..." She said too herself before looking back away. "...Hell." And she took off.

[Zorolo]

He really was that stupid. Zorlo was now looking around at the angels circling him as light bullets and light swords continued trying to pierce his arm and sword, but to no great avail.

"Human, you're lucky that I'm such a great weapon, otherwise you'd be dead already," the sword told him as Zorlo smiled and stomped his foot as he lunged forwards and stabbed into one of the fallen angels. With a powerful twist, Zorlo launched one Fallen Angel into another and quickly moved to block the next attack as it came at him. He was holding his own fine thanks to his weapon, but there were too many and he was going to eventually be overwhelmed. Still, with a smile, Zorlo prepared to continue. "S'okay... we'll pull this off."

[GamerKale]

Maes nodded, pointed at his head, held up two fingers with that hand, and twisted it around 180 degrees a few times. He glanced at the recipe, smiled and nodded, closed the book, and replaced it with a pea pod. Maes gave her a questioning look and started on the pudding. If Cecile had taken a look at the ingredients list then she quickly realized that Maes had taken liberties with it.

[Helbaworshipper]

Cecile found it a bit interesting that Maes was trying to focus hard on making the recipe different in some way. She could understand what he was trying to say, considering Morgan could talk and walk around in the body now. 'This will become more complicated. I have no intention of dragging this boy into a world he shouldn't know. Still... What if I am inevitably drawn to try and be more than I already am?' She knew that she might get a call to do her usual route. What would she do about it if he actually followed her?