The Fall of a God [Plot/Noir]

Lance walked through the streets of Heliohapt with a sort of smile on his face. His white purplish hair shone in the sun light and he wore a mellow look on his face. He wore his normal clothes and his staff was strapped on his back. On his shoulder sat the little wolf pup he had found in the boat ride over. Behind him walked Amber, Rose, and Drake. These were his three followers, His disciples. To his side walked Pestis, his giant fox. Amber sighed and shook her head “Hey Lance… Why did we come to Balbadd anyway? I mean… there is nothing for us to do here…” she said as Rose gently pat the blonde haired girl on the head “Now Now don’t worry dear. Lance thought it would be good to get out of the church for a while and go on a vacation.” Lance nodded at this and laughed. He paid little attention to the three talking behind him or Shevika silently sleeping on his shoulder. Pestis silently walked beside him, not paying any mind to the faces watching the out of place group as they walked passed.

On his wrist Lance wore a small black ribbon. This ribbon was given to him by a friend of his that he met back in Reim. He wore it in hopes that one day he would find her again. He looked at it and briefly touched it for a second before he felt a pat on his back “You really treasure that bow huh?” Drake asked with a teasing smile on his face. This caused Lance’s face to turn red with a blush “S-Shutup!” he said as he playfully punched Drake in the side. Drake had raven black hair and scars on his face. He laughed a bit at Lance “To think I would make my Lord blush!” he said playfully. Lance shook his head a bit and chuckled.

Amber groaned behind Lance “Hey can we please ride Pestis instead of walking?” she asked. Lance sighed “Fine…” he said as Pestis leaned down to let them on his back. This was the first time Pestis had carried his full capacity before so it was a bit different for him. Eventually though he was able to walk comfortably.

It was another exciting day for the black haired girl as she got the chance to explore Balbadd again. From all the places she had explored, the port was still the place that she liked the most because she could see a lot of things happened there. Her daily routine while she stayed in Balbadd was visiting this coffee store near the port once per two days, only to enjoy the busy scenery that usually involved some merchants. When the magician’s order arrived, she would thank the server and passed the big bowl filled with water to Haku. She would run her fingers on the soft fur and scritches behind the liger’s ear, making him purrs softly. ‘It is peaceful…’ The girl closed her eyes for a few second, inhaling the fresh air and sighed slowly. Just after she sipped her tea, she noticed a figure that she recognized from afar. It was strange thing to happen that now she seemed to meet a lot of people that she knew in this country, first was Ariella, then it was Ani, and now… it was the white haired magician.

She immediately touched the jewel around her neck, recalling how she got it from the white haired man himself and then smiled warmly. Noir stood up, making the liger stood up as well and growled softly as if he asked for what happened. The girl petted her liger, “Do you want to greet Lance, Haku?” In instant, the name ringed a bell in Haku’s memories; he remembered the man named Lance as the one he and Noir met at this church in Rem. Soo he growled softly and made his way after scanning where the man was among the other citizen, he would then dash towards Lance but without any killing intention. “Rawrr~!” He growled happily and stopped himself when he was in front of Pestis now, slowly approaching the creature and made his nose touched with the fox’s nose.

Noir would use the time to pay for her tea and approached her liger. Once she saw the white haired man, she would bow to him and called, "Lance..." She would notice that he was with another people that she didnt recognize, so she just nodded politely while saying, "Greetings, it is a pleasure to meet you."

The group traveled on top of the giant fox, Lance being at the helm of the fox. He looked around at the port and smiled as he took in a deep breath of the fresh ocean air. He exhaled and opened his eyes to look out into the streets below to see a white liger running towards the group. Pestis halted for a second trying to remember who the energetic animal was but eventually leaned down and touched noses with the liger. Lance smiled to himself "Of course." he said as he hopped off of Pestis and waited for the approaching lady to reach them.

He smiled at her "Hey Noir!" he said with a cheerful smile as he bowed a bit. "I see you didn't get a chance to meet these guys." He glanced back at the three people hopping off of Pestis. "The little Blonde one there is Amber. She is the oldest of the Orphans living at my church in Reim." he said as Amber stared at Noir with a curious expression. "The Tall Red Head is Rose. She is the one that takes care of the church in Reim when I am away." Rose slightly bowed her head in greeting. Drake came up beside Lance and looked at Noir with a blank expression for a second before smiling. "This is Drake. He is the oldest of the orphans at my church in Heliohapt. He takes care of them when I am away." Lance said, patting Drakes back. "Not only are they my helpers but they are also my most trusted followers." He said with a proud smile.

He smiled at the three of them. Shevika's ears perked up from his sleep and his eyes fluttered open. Once he saw the new person he jumped off Lance's shoulder and started running in circles at Noir's feet making little yipping noises. Lance sighed and chuckled "That's Shevika. We found him in a box on the way to Balbadd and he just sort of followed me." he said picking the small animal back up and holding it in his arms.

He looked Noir up and down and saw that she still wore the necklace. He chuckled and scratched the back of his head "I- I see you kept it with you." he said with an embarrassed look on his face. Drake smirked a little at this "Is she the one who gave you the bow you wear on your wrist?" he asked. Lance nodded "Yes. She is." he looked Noir in the eye and smiled.

Noir bowed a little bit to three other people who were standing beside Lance, giving a very little smile that was hard to be noticed that was mixed with her expressionless face. It was not her intention to show that kind of expression; it was not that she was bored or not pleased with them. It was just her natural expression based on her difficulties to control it, like it was not her own face. She would pet Haku who was now standing beside her before observing this cute creature that ran around her in circle, gazing at his cuteness while listening to what Lance said to her. “Shevika?” She asked back, still gazing at the creature when that little one was being picked by the white haired magician.
 
Without any fear, the lightning magician would slowly reach her hand to touch the Shevika. “Arent you pretty…?” She used her pointy finger to rub the small furry forehead carefully, as gentle as she could. Noir liked the friendly small creature a lot, wondered if she could hold it in her arms too. But then Haku growled softly at her, rubbing his face on her legs to seek for her attention. With a happy sigh, the girl reached her hand to rub his forehead, petting it several time until Lance talked to her. “Yes, I always treasure it.” Noir would notice a black ribbon tied on his wrist before looking back at the purple eyes and said, “And I see that you are keeping my bow…  if that is mine…“

Lance smiled a bit as he watched Noir pet the small animal in his arms. Shevika yipped quietly in appreciation when Noir pet him. Lance smiled at Noir and chuckled. The three people behind him where being silent as they watched Lance become happy. He was rarely happy anymore but ever since Noir had visited his church they had witnessed a change in his mood towards things. He smiled more, laughed more, talked more.

He was silent until Noir started talking to him about the bow on his arm. He smiled a little and placed his hand on it "Ah- Yes this is yours." he said as he said with a more sentimental chuckle "I as well treasure it... I always keep it on me even." he said as he clenched his fast and nodded "Anyway, what are you doing in Balbadd?" he asked with a curious look on his face as Shevika hopped back onto his shoulder and stared at Noir.

Lance was in Balbadd not because of a vacation but because he had to face his fears about his past. His dad was dead, thats it, there was nothing to be afraid of in Balbadd anymore.

A warm smile decorated Noir face, something that was very rare for her to have. Maybe being surrounded by a lot of kind people could help her to get back her emotion? She didn’t know, all she knew was it was the price for her freedom... and it made her feel something that could be called as happiness when she heard that Lance said he treasured her bow too. To be able to meet a person like this was truly a gift and she hoped that she could do her best to keep the friendship going well, because she didn’t want to lose every single one of her friends. Perhaps used to not having anything made her to treasure everything that she had right now…

She pointed at the direction where a strange structure could be seen, “I am planning to explore that structure…” Then she would cock her head to the side, wondering what the man plan to do in Balbadd by bringing along some of his friends. “How about you? Are you on vacation? This is a fine place if you want to enjoy the beauty of the sea, it is my second time visiting this beautiful country.”

Lance looked at Noir smiling and smiled a bit to himself. It really was a pretty sight and he was happy to have a friend so pretty. He coughed to himself and regained composure as he heard her point out an object. When he turned around he saw a tower in the distance "How could I not have seen that on the way here..." he thought to himself as he ran his hand through his hair and turned back towards Noir "Thats really interesting... maybe I should go check something like that out in the near future..." he said with a slight laugh as his eyes gleamed a little with excitement. Right now he lived for adventure and trying to find out what life really was. Was killing people the right thing to do? He needed to avenge his mom but was this really the right way to do it?

When Noir asked him why he was here he nodded "As you said it really is a beautiful place." he said as he looked around and took in a deep breath, exhaling as he continued "This is where I was born, Balbadd." his tone got a bit more serious as his eyes darkened ever so slightly. "This is also the place where my mom died and I was enslaved by my father." his voice was deep as Rose came and touched his shoulder gently, snapping him out of it. He laughed pittifuly as he rubbed the back of his head "Sorry about that... no need to worry my dads dead so there is no need to worry." he laughed again as he nodded "Anyway, how about we go get something to eat. Talk for a little while." he said as he pulled out a pouch of money "Dinners on me." he said with a kind smile.

The black haired girl was delighted to know that such a beautiful city was the place where Lance was born, she was just going to compliment it more but then stopped herself when the male magician mentioned about his parents. She wondered if… probably her parents were like that too…would she able to kill them just like what she did to some slave masters? But it was… No, she didn’t know. When the tall red haired woman touched Lance’s shoulder and snapping him back, Noir could only look at the man without being able to uttering any words. The white haired man tried to brush it off but for Noir, it was not something easy to be shared, so she moved closer to Lance and took his hands. “The memories that you had about your parents are what makes you having connection with this city. But remember that this also the place where you begin to having any resolve that you are having at the moment, where you begin your life.” The female magician gazed towards the ash mauve eyes that Lance had before continuing, “You are free, not enslaved anymore… and you have your friends supporting you. So you are free, try to embrace your freedom and live happily.”
 
After that she would let go of his hands and stepped back, “I am neither in the place nor having the right to say those things, but we are craving for freedom since we never enjoyed it in our past years.” Noir was saddened a little bit as she looked down to gaze at the stone ground, “ I-I mean, embrace it in order to get stronger. We can even join forces to… erase the slavery.” The black haired girl said the last three words in whispers, knowing it wouldn’t be a good thing if somehow there was a slave master wandering around them. She prefer it to be a smooth and well-planned if the time for her to crush those wretched being came, so right now, she just needed to hide in the shadow. As Lance invited her for dinner, Noir nodded at him, gladly accepted his offer but with one condition, “Desserts on me, then.”

Lance stared at Noir with a smile on his face before shaking his head and chuckling "Alright..." he said, giving up as he gently walking close to her side, almost touching. He normally did not like being this close to someone but this was different. He felt happy when he was close to her. While he led her to a small little tavern he remembered when he was a slave all he could think about was what she had told him. "Live happy..." he muttered underneath his breath as he smiled and looked up at Noir. He pressed up against her a bit and grabbed her hand gently, his face blushing slightly as he did so.

He led her to a small tavern in the middle of town and turned to his three followers. He took a small bag of jewels out of his pocket and tossed it to them. "Hey guys go buy us a room in a nearby inn. We need a place to stay tonight." he had a happy voice. After they nodded to him Lance gave one last smile before walking in. The inside was a bit louder and there were clanks of glasses. Lance turned to Noir with a weird smirk on his face "I don't know if you drink but feel free to buy as many as you want. Or you can get something non-alchoholic." he said as he sat down at the bar and ordered a glass of water and some fish.

Outside of the bar, Drake put the bag of coins in his pocket and smiled. After a few seconds Amber looked at the other two "We aren't buying a room right now are we?" she asked as Drake shook his head with a loud laugh "Of course not!" the three pulled up their hoods and walked into the tavern, sitting at a table in the corner where they could watch Lance and his friend eat.

When the white haired man grabbed her hand, Noir didn’t step back and slap the hand. She was just holding it back as gently as how Lance holding her at that moment, it felt different. The black haired girl could feel the warmth from the hand, slightly knowing that this hand wouldn’t try to hurt her. It was a different from those cold hands of the slave masters; they grabbed her hand roughly and dragged her away to the unknown but Lance did it carefully, treating her like she was a human. Despite of his amusing traits and behavior, Noir found this man as a caring and a gentle one, probably has this kind of innocent side and a kind heart. Happiness was the only think that she wished for the man, hoping that he could live happily like how she suggested to him. Perhaps this was how it felt like when her dead big brother hold her hand, she imagined him to be a very gentle big brother with a warm smile and kind eyes. Just like how she saw him in their family picture, he looked like a very loving brother.

Noir shook her head lightly when Lance mentioned about alcohol, she didn’t really want to drink because of an unpleasant past events where she lost all control on herself and that action resulted something that was not good enough to be remembered. “I don’t drink. But I like warm milk.” She proceeded to order warm milk as soon as she said it, it was one of her favorite drink and she didn’t know why but it was warming. Not just physically warming, but it also helped to warm her heart and made her calm. “Lance.” Noir called softly, she stared at his ash mauve eyes with a determined gaze, “How do you feel right now?” She was not sure on what to ask since directly asking about his family was not a nice thing to do, but she was worried about the man and there was no way she could leave him in this kind state of mind where she was not sure if Lance was sane or not at the moment.

Noir seemed to have a lot in common with Lance. She hated slavery, She didn't like to drink. He smiled at her and nodded as she ordered her warm milk. He grimaced to himself however when she asked him if he was fine. She didn't say it directly, but he knew what she meant by it. He turned his body to face Noir, looking like he was about to cry but he put on a reassuring smile as he grabbed one of her hands and squeezed is softly "Don't worry about me. I will be fine." he said as he gently laid a kiss on her hand before turning back to his water. He didn't want to worry her at all because she was important to him and he hated seeing her worried or sad. He laughed a little bit as he took one last bite of his fish and gulped down the rest of his water. He gently stood up and stretched before holding out his hand to Noir "Now, I am going to invite you to stay with me tonight. Please. You wont need your own room." he said as he waited for her. Drake, Rose, and Amber saw that their leader was leaving and they quickly got up and scurried over to the inn to buy the room before the two got there.

When Lance arrived in the room he found that their were only two beds. He sighed and pointed at one bed "Girls sleep together. Guys sleep together." he said as he plopped down on the bed with Drake. This day was going great so far. He was planning on staying in town for a while though and he was hoping that Noir could stay by his side until he went back home but he realized that she did have stuff to do and she had a life to live. With one last look at the girls bed he smiled and turned off the light next to his bed and turned over so that him and Drake where facing each other.

His heart was pounding out of his chest and he felt his breathing quicken as Drake started to speak to him "Lance?" he asked in a soft voice, making sure not to wake anyone else. Lance blushed a bit and stared at Drakes sparkling eyes. He had never felt this way about Drake before "Y-Yes Drake?" he stammered with his words as Drake got closer "It's cold. Even with the sheets... D-Do you think you could warm me up a bit?" his breath with warm like a fire as Lance gently pressed his body against Drakes "Sure..." he said as they wrapped each others bodies together in an embrace, pulling the blankets fully over their heads to stay warm.

[FADE TO BLACK/END OF LANCE'S NIGHT]

When the man planted a soft kiss on the back of her hand, Noir tilted her head in confusion. So far, one of her friend did the same thing to her and now Lance did the same thing. The black haired didn’t really know about the meaning behind such act but seeing the white haired man’s expression made her hold her own question and decided to just ask it to someone else later, maybe to Solomon since he did it first. She wondered why the man kept being sad as if he was about to cry but his smile was what keeping him from shedding the tears, so she just patted the man’s hair with a small warm smile tugged on her lips.

As she was invited to sleep at the same room as the white haired man, Noir accepted the invitation without giving another thought. She assumed it would be cheaper to just share a room with the man, she could sleep anywhere and even on her liger as well. The other reason on why she accepted it was also because she used to have a sleeping together session when she was still a slave. Usually some of the older slave in the ship would gather all the younger slaves and snugs up with all of them so they could at least get some warmth. It was a common thing for Noir and nothing else were ever across inside her mind beside she could get to know more about Lance and the other peoples, she was grateful to be given a chance to make more friends and they seemed kind. Even though she was a little bit unsure about sharing bed with the other girls, Noir didn’t try to object or even say anything. She then climbed on the bed after waiting for the other girls to lay down on the bed, they seemed nice, but the bed might not be enough for them since three of them would share one bed. But if she say anything at the moment, they might not happy with it so she take the near the edge spot and lean her back against it.

It was the greatest feeling ever to have your back pressed against the bed, like suddenly you feel that your body was light and also very relaxed to the point that the only thing you could do was only to give in and sleep. When the white haired man turned off the light, Noir closed her eyes but she was not feeling sleepy at all. She used to stay half asleep ever since she was a slave to guard herself, so she could wake up as soon as possible if any danger appeared. It was not like she didn’t trust Lance and his friends, but it was just the silly habit that she had, so after witnessing a romantic moment between the male magician and Drake, Noir could only stare a little bit and quietly walked to the window. She would then sit under the window and letting the moon’s ray to shone on her pale face, her golden eyes that brightly shine along with the moonlight would be slowly closed as she gave into her deep slumber with her hand holding her wand tightly.

The sun shone through the window ever so slightly casting a dim light into the room. Lance stretched and yawned as he sat up in his bed to find Drake staring at him "We don't talk about that." Lance said with a grim expression as he swung his legs over and hopped off the bed quietly. He walked over to the mirror on one side of the room and started to brush his hair quietly as he awaited for the others to wake up. Today he was planning on doing some shopping around town and have some fun with the three members of his group and possibly even Noir.

After everyone had woken up and gotten ready for the day Lance smiled and nodded to them as he looked at Noir "Today we are planning on having some fun around town and go shopping and stuff if you want to come. If not then you can leave the room once you're ready" he said with a smile as him and the group left the room and walked outside where Pestis and Shevika had spent the night. Upon seeing Lance Shevika hopped to his feet and start to run circles at Lance's feet. Lance smiled gently at Shevik and knelt down to pet the small beasts head softly. "Morning buddy..." he muttered to the beast. He looked at Pestis and smiled as he pet his head as well. With the whole group ready for the day they started to walk away from the inn and into the market place.

As they headed to the market place they crossed in front of an alleyway where Lance caught a tall, muscular figure looking at him from inside. He turned his head to look but the figure was gone. His smile had faded from his face as he slowly pulled out a bag of jewels and handed it to Drake "Go shopping... I will catch up." he said quietly and darkly as he headed off into the ally, gripping his staff he whole time. He used his staff to light the way. The sun shone dimly into the alley and along with his staff, a dim eerie light was cast down into the alley. Once he traveled deep enough he was met with a tall muscular figure with white hair. The man had scars on his face and looked a lot older than Lance. The hand on his staff gripped tighter the moment he saw the man. “I knew you would come back.” the man said with a scratchy, deep voice. The orb on Lance’s staff started to grow brighter as he growled “You should be dead…” he muttered as the orb flashed as he cast Flame Slice. The crescent of flames went soaring towards his father only to be dispelled by a gust of wind. Lance looked back and from the shadows a boy about his age walked from behind the man and stopped in front of him. The boy had chains on his feet. Lance looked at the tall man in the back and scowled “I see your ways haven't changed father.” he said with a slight twitch of his eye. Another man came out from behind his dad with a staff. It was three against one now.

Lance stood there motionless for a second as he shook his head “No… you can’t… I- I am free-” his eyes widened as he started to panic a little bit. His father just laughed “Lance, just because you got away does not mean you are free. Once a slave Always a slave.” he said as the wind mages magic pushed him to the ground. His father walked up to him and picked him up by the color of his shirt and punched him. Lance coughed before falling to the ground. His staff fell to the ground with a wooden clank. His father stepped o h and pressed on it until it snapped. He was helpless now. This was truly the end.

Noir tilted her head in confusion, never before someone invited her to go shopping and had fun around the town.  Perhaps that was what people normally do, so the girl would approach the white haired man and nodded while holding his hands tight. She was grateful to have a friend like Lance, one which understand the pain of being slave and one which showed her that an ex-slave can survive and socialize too. With a happy and warm gaze, she agreed to join them to have some fun. But before she left the room, she decided to take shower to clean her from the filth from last day. It felt nice to go out with clean body and after she was ready, she would go outside to meet Lance and his friends as well as with their pets.

When they were walking, Noir would notice that Lance was giving his bag of jewel to Drake and walked somewhere else. She wondered about it, knowing that his warm smile faded the moment he looked at this certain place. She didn’t dare to move as the white haired man was now giving off some kind of dark vibe, it was not because she was afraid of it, but it was because she didn’t want to interfere with anything Lance had to do. “Haku…” The female magician called her liger and gestured him to stay beside her while she keep staring at the alley where the male magician went into. She could see different color of rukh fluttering from the alleyway, something that looked like wind rukh and heat rukh. Noir’s eyes widened as she saw it and her whole body tensed. This would surely made Lance’s follower became aware of this occurrence, but with a firmed and determined voice, Noir would say, “…Im sorry for doing this, but Miss Amber, please stay with Miss Rose here. Mister Drake, I need your assistance.” She became uneasy, like she felt that she needed to hurry. “If both of you see something suspicious, please command Pestis to let out any sound so Haku can go to where you are right away.”

If they agreed to do as what Noir asked, she would then hastily walk to the alley. Also if Drake would ask what was going on, the female would say, “Lance was strange and I have a bad feeling. Mister Drake… get ready for anything...” The moment she heard the sound of wind, Noir reached for her wand, knowing something was really bad. As she heard the sound of snapping wood, the female magician stopped herself but shook her head trying to not think about anything else. “….khh…” She bit her own lips and brought herself to continue to find for the white haired man who was just nearby, he was laying on the ground and she could see his wand was on the ground too and broken. The view of the tall man and a boy who has chains on his feet made Noir horrified, there was no way… and judging by the look of Lance’s face… could he was someone who enslaved Lance before? His father…? No… she didn’t dare to guess. While gripping her wand tightly, the black haired girl approached Lance, letting Haku to be offensive in front of her as he growled viciously towards the tall man. “Lance… are you alright? Can you stand?”

Drake stared at Noir for a few seconds as she told the girls to stay in the market place with Pestis. The girls nodded at her but had caught onto the fact that she had asked rake to go with her. They realized that there was trouble and that somebody was in trouble. Amber gently took Drakes hand "Hey... be careful..." she said in a desperate voice. Drake smiled and gently kissed the top of her head "No need to worry about me..." he whispered as he turned to Noir "Alright let's go." he said as he followed her.

Lance grit his teeth together when he heard Noir's voice. This couldn't be happening. Not here. Not now. He closed his eyes and shakily stood up "Didn't I tell you guys to stay in the market place Dammit!" he yelled as he winced and staggered towards his dad, taking one weak swing before getting hit it the head hard and dropping to the floor again. His dad laughed a bit "You know I am actually proud of you! You managed to get some friends before coo to see your old an again!" he said as he looked the two guests up an down "They are small... We don't need them." he told the wind mage with a deep voice. The wind mage nodded as held his staff in front of him again.

Back in the market place Rose looked at the Ally way and sighed "I can't just..." she said as Amber shook her head "I know... We are just sitting here while Lance and them get themselves into who knows what kind of trouble..." Amber picked up an apple and stared at it before putting it back "Sorry Rose but I gotta go find them." she said as she motioned for Pestis to follow. Surprisingly however, Rose nodded "Agreed." she muttered before following the two. After a while of walking they reached the Ally and saw the scene unfolding.

The wind mage made a little smirk as he murmured something under his breath, creating a sharp wind the could cause horrible cuts of about A-tier proportions. He sent it flying at Noir and Drake. Amber couldn't hide for much longer however as she ran and jumped in front of the two before the wind could hit them. The slice of wind hit her arm and as soon as it did she let out a loud, pain staking scream as she fell to the floor, holding her arm which now had blood coming out of it. "Amber!" Rose rushed out, catching the wind mage, Lance, and his dad off guard.

This day just kept getting worse for Lance as now everyone he loved was here. It wasn't like he couldn't do anything about it anyway. His staff was broken and his strength was weaker than normal. His dad laughed as he smiled "The party keeps getting bigger!" he said as he picked Lance up by his collar "You'r going to watch all of you'r new found friends slowly die." he said as he threw Lance at the wall. The wind mage charged up another slice and sent it at Noir. Drake growled "Hell no." he whispered as he stood in front of Noir with his arms stretched out, taking the hit. This time it hit Drake in the stomach, causing him to fall to the ground in pain.

Everyone was getting hurt. This was all Lance's fault. He brought them all here. There must be something he could do to save everyone from getting hurt anymore.

“No…” The girl’s golden eyes widened as Amber fell to the floor and blood coming out from her injured arm. Haku growled more towards the wind magician and quickly chose to approach the injured little girl, knowing that Noir would want him to make sure this girl was safe. The liger would growl once more towards the black haired girl, attempting the snap the girl out of it and made her focus on the fight. “Tch! Haku, help Miss Rose to take care of Miss Amber.” Anger almost filled her, trying to taint her mind with black color and attempting to gain control of her power. But she was still strong to regain the control as she quickly pointed her wand towards the enemies; she knew that being in this alley was not a good thing for them as now there were too much people here that might get caught in friendly fire.

Noir was going to help Lance who was being thrown at the wall but this wind magician was taking advantage of the chance and once again… another person fallen to protect her. It was frustration that she felt… she felt it inside her. Her breathing became heavier and her eyes widened once more while the irises changed color from golden into a pair of crimson, she had lost, letting herself to be devoured by her own rage. The scene played back in her mind, the scene where Ariella died to protect her… the scene where Amber stepped in to protect both her and Drake… and now this, the scene where the wind slice hit Drake’s stomach and caused him to fall in pain.



She shouted to herself as frustration of her own weakness increasing uncontrollably while gripping her wand tight until making her own knuckle to become white. They needed to be healed and she needed to crush those ignorant pigs, it was all she could think of at this moment. So she would use the delicate silver bracelet which contains a blue gem embedded on it, using its ability to heal Amber and Drake. But she had no more time to look after the injured one as she turned her focus back towards the enemies. “…slowly die…?” She asked back, there was nothing that could her back anymore. It was something that she knew was necessary to do, for the sake of her dear friend. He could put all the blame at her later… but right now, there was nothing stronger that her desire to kill this man, burning him up in a raging lightning until nothing was left.

“You fat slaver pig…” Noir murmured and glared with her ice cold gaze from her crimson eyes before she whispered to the rukh. “…don’t worry Lance… your pain and hatred will be gone after this…Fulmine Nero II” Then with a flick of her wrist, the wand glowed a yellow light and the rukh formed four black lightning strikes towards the man who claimed as Lance’s father. But it was not done yet, there were more to come towards the enemies as Noir cast Thunder Bullets and Fulmine Palla again towards Lance’s father before finishing him up with Parafulmine. With another whisper to the rukh, Noir produced Fulmine Coccio towards the wind magician. “…all of you won’t be forgiven… we will rot in hell together…however…” She chuckled darkly, “I will allow you to have an eternal sleep now… Tormenta!” Her strongest spell quickly travelled towards her father and his companion in order to freeze them to death. However, she made it in time to use her flying carpet and made Lance hop on it while Haku and Pestis brought all three of Lance’s follower out from the alley before the blizzard caught them in too.

However, spamming her spell definitely made her exhausted and she would breathe heavily as he kept feeding her magoi into the flying carpet. It was not long until she couldn’t stay conscious and stopped giving her magoi as she fell from the flying carpet and made the magic carpet useless as it lost ability to fly because there was no magoi being fed into it. The last word she said before she fell from the flying carpet was for Lance, “Run Lance… to the… free... dom…”

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Magoi : 90/300

Ability Used:

Item Used:

Lance watched on as one by one all of his friends fell. He watched as Noir started to lose her temper and her cool. "N-Noi-" he started to say but his pain was too much to handle as he winced. He couldn't stop her from what she was about to do. He had no place to stop her. This was her choice to make. He winced as she made shot after shot. The shots were to quick for his father as he was caught off guard by Noir's new strength to fight. The Wind mage on the other hand slowly crept a smile onto his face as he held his staff in front of him and muttered a spell under his breath. Right before the final spell hit them he looked at Noir and Lance who were already on the flying carpet "Thank you..." he muttered as a light flashed in front of him. His father was no longer breathing. They had done it. They had killed his dad.

Lance winced as he sat on the magic carpet. He looked at Noir who was breathing heavily "H-Hey We are away... dont over exert you're self..." he said weakly as he rubbed a bruise on his arm. It wasn't long after he relaxed a bit before he felt a drop in power coming from Noir as she told him to run to freedom. Lance's eyes widened as she plummeted towards the ground. He shakily stood up on the falling magic carpet and jumped off of it. He reached out for Noir as they both fell to the ground, catching her body and holding it close to him as he made his body to be the first to hit the ground so she would be unharmed. As they fell he muttered one word "Noir..." he fell to the ground with a loud and echoing crack followed by a screech of a girls scream.

Amber hopped off of Pestis and limped over to Lance, pulling a wand out of her pocket. She turned over Lance who was still holding tightly onto the black haired mages body and gently pressed the wand onto his back. She started to chant a spell with a shaky voice as a green light emitted onto his back. After a couple seconds Amber laid her hand on his back and sighed. Rose ran over to her with tears in her eyes "P-Please tell me he will be Ok... He could die you know...." she muttered as Amber nodded "Yes..." she had a revealed smile on her face "He will be fine but..." she explained to Rose what was happening. Rose looked terrified for a second before nodding a picking the two up, taking them to an old abandoned warehouse.

When inside the warehouse drake gently laid the Magic Carpet onto the floor and collapsed onto his butt when leaning on the wall. His whole abdomen was bandaged up. Amber sat at the feet of Lance and Noir who Rose and laid down in a small little cot. Her arm was bandaged up. Rose had gone back out into town in order to get some food for the injured people. Out of everyone who was suffering however, Lance had it the worst. His Head, Arms, Abdomen, and feet were all bandaged up leaving the only skin showing was his face. He lied in the cot asleep while Amber watched over the two in anticipation for one of them to wake up.

It was a place with a darkened sky, where a girl with her hair which was dark as the night leaned on the wall before bringing herself to sit down on the ground. The water dropped from the sky and making the ground wet, luckily for the girl, she was sitting under the rooftop of a place that looked like an abandoned house. The young girl, hugged her knee as if she was looking for some warmth but actually, it was not why she did that. It was her way to show that she was afraid, to show that she didn’t know what to do. She was conscious at that time when rage took control of herself, she knew she could stop herself but she let rage drowned her more into its endless depths. She was torn into two sides, the side where she wanted to just stop this all and walked away… and another side where she wanted to destroy everything that made her friend suffers. It was the latter side that she ended up planting in her mind, all just because she saw how people fell to the ground just to protect her… all just because she couldn’t bear to see the white haired man’s face like that, all sad and looked like he was in pain.

“Why…?” She could hear a voice and stopped burying her face by looking up at a figure that was surrounded by a bright light. Then she asked back, “Why…?” The figure was wearing a cloak, hiding her face inside the cloak. She approached the girl even closer, “You killed them. Why? You have the strength to fight back the beast within you…” The black haired girl shook her head, “No.” Her voice cracked and her tears began to swiftly flow, “I cant. The urge is stronger… and it was a necessary thing to do… I…” The cloaked woman placed her warm finger on Noir’s lips, hushing her, “…Because you don’t want them to suffer anymore?” Then as if Noir was engulfed by light, the woman wrapped the girl with her warm embrace, “I see… However, you need to learn how to control it. Don’t let yourself to be one with the beast… you are a human… my child…my dear daughter…” The magician’s eyes widened, she knew from the start that she was her mother because of the warmth and light radiating from her but she denied it. Nevertheless, she felt it, surrendering herself within the embrace of her mother. “…I found him, mother. That man… the one who--” Once again, she was being hushed by her mother, “Shhh, my dear daughter. Let it go… pursuing him will only make you suffer… you won’t be able to control your own self…and the beast inside you will surely win.” Luna paused, seemed not sure but she decided to just speak, “However, the only way was only to get stronger… and to gather as many ally as you can… Don’t pursue him because you want to get revenge… but pursue him because you want to know the truth… to get back your memory…” But her mother loosened the embrace as she slowly step back, giving a warm smile towards her daughter. “It is time, Noir… You need to wake up… he is in pain, he needed you. I wish you and your brother a bright future… We miss both of you…”

A blinding light made her shut her eyes tight and the moment she opened her eyes slowly, she was at an entire different place. She stared at the ceiling for several second before looking to her side only to find her friend lying beside her, with bandages all over his body. Noir tried to recall on what had happened; the only thing she remembered was just when she fed her magoi into her flying carpet until she could no longer feed it. However, Lance could still feed the flying carpet, and even though she fell from it, she was the one who supposed to be heavily injured, not this white haired man. Did he tried to catch her and protected her from falling by using his own body to be Noir’s safe landing spot? She looked around and found Amber near them, “Miss Amber…”Noir noticed the bandage on her arms and looked away for a second, “How…is his condition?” She gulped hard, “He… he is going to be fine… right?”

Amber's gaze shot towards Noir as soon as she heard her speak. She had a relieved look in her eye as she let out a sigh and stared at Noir for a few seconds before looking at Lance and nodding with a sad look on her face "Yes... Luckily he is going to be fine. Only thanks to my life magic..." she looked at his right leg with a bit of a grimace as she shook her head "However, we need to get him a new staff quickly because he won't be able to walk right without it." she shook her head "The fool jumped off of the carpet when you fell off, grabbed you and used himself to cushion your fall so your injuries wouldn't be worse than they already were..." She turned her head towards Noir and looked her straight in the eye "When he fell he... injured his back bone... Cracking it. It was a miracle that my magic kept him alive." she let out a relieved chuckle as she placed her hand on his right leg "but no matter how strong my magic was, he won't be able to use this leg to walk as it is now paralyzed." she closed her eyes and sighed once more "You should probably relax a bit as I don't know when he will wake up." she moved back to her spot in front of the two and kept her eyes on Lance with a hopeful look "Please..." she muttered under her breath "Don't die...".

Deep in Sleep, The white haired boy gently stepped foot inside of a dark room. The room was filled with Black Ruhk to the point where there wasn't a empty spot. He looked around and fell to his knees "Dammit..." he muttered as he clenched his fists "No matter how hard I try... I couldn't save them... I couldn't save anyone..." he said in tears. "Then show them you're true power. Show the people who ever doubted you, the people who caused you and the people you love harm that you are not someone to be messed with." Lance looked up and saw a woman leaning up against the wall. He looked up at her with tears in his eyes "Mom?" he stood up "What do you mean? What should I do?!" he raised his voice to the point where it was cracking. His mother, shining with a golden light gently walked over to his and embraced him. He gently fell to his knees with tears coming out of his eyes. "Search your heart my son... you know all of the answers." his eyes opened with his mouth opened slightly in a gasp. He saw a doorway behind him as he stood up and turned around towards the door "You're right. I do know what you mean." he started to walk out the door, stopping just before "Mom just wait... I am going to make you proud!" he said as he walked out the door with a new found goal inside of him.

His eyes shot open to a new scene. It seemed like a warehouse because of the ceiling he was met with. It took a few seconds for him to collect all of the thoughts in his mind before hearing a voice "Lance! You're Awake!" the voice laughed as he was met with a Golden haired girl falling on top of him in a hug. He winced a bit in pain but chuckled "Y-Yeah I am alright... but can you get off please?" Amber opened her eyes in realization as she shot up off of him "Sorry!" she said as he raised his hand "Its fine...". He slowly sat up but then remembered something urgent. His head shot towards Amber "Noir! Is Noir safe?!" he said in a panicked tone. Amber saw his tone and held up her hands "Lance you should really calm down-" she was cut off by Lance's next words "I don't care about anything else but her right now! Please tell me she is Ok!" he said as Amber pointed behind him. Lance glanced behind him quickly and smiled "Noir!" he turned towards her and embraced her as tight as he could. He was hurting but he didn't care. When he pulled away he smiled "I'm glad you're alright..." he said calmly.

He shakily stood up only to fall right back down. "W-What the hell?! My leg, I can't feel it!" He said as he grabbed at it. Amber touched his hands in order to calm him down "That little fall you did back there paralyzed your leg for a while. You won't be able to walk without a support." she said with a stern look on her face. "Without your staff or someone to hold onto right now. You can't move on foot." she kept a serious look in her eye as she told him this. His eyes widened a bit "W-Will it be like this forever?" he had accepted it by now. Amber shook her head "I estimate a few weeks to a month before you can walk normal again.". He smiled at this news and nodded before turning back to Noir with a shy look on his face and a blush "I- I want to thank you. For saving me and my friends back there and for showing me how -" he stopped and laughed a bit "Never mind that last part!" he laughed nervously.

Noir looked towards Lance’s leg and couldn’t help but feeling an excruciating pain at her chest, it made her winced and closed her eyes for a few second as if she was trying to swallow the bitterness. It was indeed her fault for making the white haired man in pain like this, seeing him bandaged like this was too much for her too see but she couldn’t just look away from it just because she felt hurt. Noir decided to keep staring at the heat magician, reaching her hand to caress his cheek only to know if he was still alive or not even though she knew that it was kind of a stupid thing to do. However, she couldn’t help it, she was too afraid and probably wouldn’t be able to accept it if the worst thing really happen. Just when Haku wanted to get closer to his master, the black haired girl would halt him by showing her palm as if signaling him to stay and keep guarding the place alongside with Pestis.

She couldn’t even say anything when the white haired man opened up his eyes and then starting to call for her, the surprise was just too overwhelming for her. Deep inside, she was glad that this man was alive, managed to survive from the death even though he might be very near to be swallowed by death once before. Then, when Lance hugged her tight, Noir didn’t say anything and just wrapping her arms around the man back, grateful that she was still allowed to have her friend around. “I am very grateful…I am very happy to see you wake up…” She said with a little sweet smile being formed by her peach colored lips, however her smile would soon be a small frown as she felt the guilt began to crept in to her head as Lance fall when he tried to stand up.

“Lance…” She called with a voice as sweet as sugar, “I apologize as I might be the cause of your injury.” Noir gulped hard, but she would then reach out her right hand before asking Drake to sit between Amber and Lance. Once three of them gathered close, Noir would say, “This is my token of gratitude… I am so grateful that I am still allowed to meet all of you.” Noir then whispered to the rukh and made the bracelet glowed a faint light. She used Heal all ability to heal three of them, making them healed from their wound instantly. It cost some of her Magoi but it was a cheap price to make in order to heal them all, so Noir would then ask Lance to stand up while asking the other if their wound still hurt or not. “I hope that helps.” She smiled again and then stared at the heat magician only to see if he can use his paralyzed leg or not while secretly thanking Ariella for agreeing to make a nice magic tool for her. After that, Noir would begin to ask, “I need to thank you too, Lance. It has been fun and I do apologize if me and Haku did something wrong in the past days. However, what did you want to say again? Showing you how to what?” She tilted her head in confusion and waited for Lance to explain.

Magoi :60/300

Item:

Lance smiled when she healed all three of them and stood up. He laughed "My leg is fixed!" he said with a smile as he sat back down. When Noir asked him what he was going to say his smile and joyful tone faded for a second. "Nevermi-" He shook his head "No I need to say it..." he said with a chuckle as he picked up his broken staff and handed it to Drake and Amber "Can you too leave up for a second and try to fix this. There is something I would like to discuss with her in private." he stared at Amber. Amber grabbed the two pieces and nodded before grabbing Drakes hand and pulling him off despite his protests.

It was silent in the corner Lance and Noir were in now. Lance sat cross legged on the cot, facing Noir with a look on his face that showed confusion. He was silent for a few moments before looking at the black haired girl "Honestly, I don't really know what to say or how to say it..." he chuckled for a second before shaking his head "The one time I don't know how to say something is when it's most important it seems." he said as he stared down at the ground, tracing his finger on the floor shyly. He had a slight but calm blush on his face.

It took a while for him to speak up again because he was searching for his words "You know, growing up I never really had any friends or family. I never knew how to love someone or have any affections towards anyone whatsoever." The white haired mage remained not making eye contact with the girl in front of him still because he was shy "I don't even know how to love the Orphans... I care about them sure but... I don't know how to love them." he muttered as he spoke so that only the girl in front of him would be able to hear him. As he spoke his voice got more wavering "I didn't know how to love someone..." he looked up at Noir with a blush on his face "Until I met you." he smiled shyly as he nodded "That's what I wanted to say... Thank you for showing me how to love someone..." He placed his hand on hers for a second before giving an actual smile.

She wondered why the white haired man wanted his friends to leave and was tilting her head in confusion as she was curious to what Lance might want to discuss with her. However, Noir understand and commanded her liger to follow the exiting group before staring at the male magician, waiting for what he wanted to discuss. “Take your time, Lance.” The black haired girl said with a gentle tone, didn’t really mind waiting for the white haired man to speak what was in his mind. She found how the white haired man acted as an interesting one as he randomly traced his finger on the floor, but she frowned a little bit when she saw Lance had this slight blush on his face, worrying that he might be catching a cold. However, she halted herself to speak when the male magician started speaking, uttering his words without making eye contact with the girl.

His words reminded her about herself, knowing that both of them shared similar past that was definitely not their fondest memories. However when he mentioned about loving someone, she wondered how was that felt like and how was that looked like… she had not yet learn about what love was. Yet when the white haired man mentioned that she showed him how to love someone, Noir could only stare at the man with a confused gaze. She? A dummy little girl who didn’t even know what love was? She wondered about it but decided to not ask about it. Instead, she smiled at the man, showing what was rare for her to show to anyone. He was a dear friend after all, so her small smile was only a small gift for him because he had been very kind towards her. The black haired girl would then lift the man’s hand before wrapping it with both of her hands; she would then close her eyes and felt the warm and happiness from the man. “I have no idea how I show you how to love someone as I have not yet learn about it. However, I am truly happy for you; I heard from some sources that loving someone is a joy. If you treasure and nourish the love, someday the love might try to love you back, they said. But, if the love has loved you back, I am very happy for you!”

With a pleased smile, the girl stared at her friend; sending a gentle gaze for the man. However, she remembered about something, “Oh… I am planning to go back to Reim soon. I wonder if you want to go back to Reim as well… we can meet up with Solomon, I hope he is still in Reim.”

Lance fell silent as he listened to her speak about how she was happy that he found someone he loved. He looked down at the ground and fiddled with his fingers as he answered her question in a soft voice "Yes... I am planning on going back to Reim after this... I will be living there for a while and maybe even join the Unity Corps while I am at it." he said with a soft smile before falling silent again. He took a deep breath and looked up "If you wanted I could show you how to love someone!" he said suddenly.

His face went red once he said this and he started to breath faster "I-I mean- What?! PFFFT" he said with a little nervous laugh "Only if you wanted to of course! I dont love you that's for sure!" he was heating up as he panicked a bit more with every word that came out of his mouth. He finally calmed down a bit and sighed with only a slight blush on his face "Crap..." he said as he shook his head "Noir, What I am trying to say is... its you." he bit his tongue a bit and winced "I love you." he got quiet again as he didn't speak at all.

He Probably scared her a bit with his little outburst but he wouldn't blame her if she just walked out right then and there. Everyone else he had ever loved at one point either left him or betrayed him. His mom was killed, His dad was abusive, his only friends went away or died.

The black haired girl was delighted to hear that the white haired man planned to go back to Reim, she was even more amazed by his resolution to join Unity Corps. From what she knew, it was the squad that was being led by the king himself even though she didn’t know more than that or even got any chance to ask that to the king directly. “That is nice, Lance. You have a goal.”

“Hm?” Noir eyes widened then she sighed before smiling at Lance. “Didn’t you just say that I am the one who taught you how to love? I have no idea about it and now you offered to teach me. You truly are an amusing one.” Seeing the man blush and laughed nervously made the black haired girl curious even though she found it a little bit funny since she saw the heat magician in front of her often acted like that, she didn’t know the reason why but since she found it amusing now, she would just let it be.

“…Me?” Noir asked back, tilting her head just like what bird did but in confusion. She didn’t know what to say since love was something that she couldn’t understand even now, so perhaps this man was trying to nurture a love for her. But what she was supposed to feel? She couldn’t tell. From the book, loving someone felt like there was a butterfly in your stomach, there would be a sharp pain in our heart as if someone has stolen it from you. The other thing that someone will feel will be this hallucination of seeing this someone in your mind over and over again. Based from that, the black haired girl couldn’t tell if she had those things happened to her at the moment.

She held out her hand and then placed it to Lance’s hair, ruffling him carefully because she didn’t want to make him felt like a child before pulling back and placed her hands on her lap. “Lance, I don’t know what love is… but I think it is something that I need to learn by myself. But I heard that being loved is a great thing to have so… Thank you for having such kind of important feeling towards me.” She paused a little bit and closed her eyes for a second before opening them again, “I am not able to tell if I have an emotion called ‘love’ within me as well at the moment, so I wouldn’t be able to say anything right now… I am sorry for that…for being clueless about it.” Noir looked down and sighed, knowing that she looked really weird at the moment.

Lance looked at her with his eye brow raised slightly as she told him that she did not know what love was at the moment and that she couldn't say it in return. The brightness that was previously on his face drained away for a couple seconds as he took a deep breath, swallowed, and smiled calmly as he stood up and placed his hand to his mouth and kissed it. He placed his hand on Noir's head and rested it there "No need to think about such things right now." he said said with a gentle smile and his eyes closed "Go live your life." he said as he chuckled a bit "Honestly I didn't know what love was either so I guess I should thank you as well." he took his hand off of her head and placed it in his pocket "I mean, you saved me today... I will wait for you to find your answers..." he turned around and started to walk towards the door of the warehouse before turning back to look at Noir "Whether it be bad or good... I can't wait to find out." he said as he gave off one last smile before turning around to face the door "We will meet again. I am sure of it." he walked out of the warehouse leaving Noir while his Disciples headed out the door as well. Before leaving Amber gave one quick glance back at Noir "Bye." she said as she walked out.

[EXIT]