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Ties

It was later that afternoon. Cibbie had called the front desk and asked if they could reserve one of their onsen baths for her private use. She didn't want to scare the other hotel guests. She headed down the hall and rode the elevator to the ground floor, heading toward the reserved onsen bath. She was wearing a heavy Bathrobe that covered most of her features, hiding everything except her head and shoulders. She stepped into the reserved area and found it to be occupied. Three males, much larger than her, were relaxing in the water. One of them noticed her and grinned widely, motioning to his friends.

"Hey, I reserved this onsen for private use!" Cibbie said angrily as the men walked up to her. "What're you doing here?!"

"We found this bath to be free of people and decided to make use of it." one of them said rudely. "Now it's reserved for us."

Cibbie spun around to walk out when one of them jumped infront of her. "Where you think you're goin'?" he asked.

"Either I'm going to the front desk to complain or you lot're leaving." She replied darkly. The men laughed.

"We aint going anywhere, and neither are you!" The talkative one said, grabing her by her waist.

In a single smooth movement, Cibbie spun to her right, the gun on her arm held out. She clobbered the man in front of the door to the ground as her robe fell to her ankles. She held her gun right in the talkative male's face. "Checkmate!"

The male laughed coldly as his colleagues scampered up next to him. "We got ourselves a fighter! I like them like that!" he roared.

At that moment, Faith stepped around the corner. "Ah, Cibbie! I asked at the front desk for where you might be, and discovered you were to be found in this onsen, I trust we're not intruding?"

"No, no." Cibbie replied. "You're just in time. These men were just about to fight me."

Faith twitched her ears, her blind eyes staring straight at Cibbie. "Three vs one? That seems unfair..."

"I know." Cibbie growled. "Maybe if there were six it could be considered equal force?"

"Allow my husband to tip the scales a little." Faith said before whistling. "Honey!"

As the men charged at the two girls, a blur whipped through them, clotheslining the men to the ground.

"You called?" Silence asked, nonchalant.

"These men fancy a fight, and I don't want to hurt the baby, could you...?"

Silence grabbed and lifted the largest of the three by his face. "Of course, dear." He said, hurling the man through the open door. The other two tried to run, but Silence was too quick, throwing them by their hair through the open door. "And stay out!" he yelled after them, slamming it shut. Faith winced at the loud noise. "Oh, sorry honey." He apologised.

Soon they had settled in the water. Despite being a bath onsen, they had decided to stay in the most basic of clothes rather than humiliate each other. Cibbie relaxed; happily humming to herself as the couple went over their respective days. Their conversation ended, however, when Queen strode in and sat in the water. She seemed oblivious to them until she looked directly at Cibbie.

"Oh, right, hello!" she said cheerily. "You three probrably know each other's names so it's only right that I share mine I guess." She shuffled round until she sat right up agains Cibbie's left side. "I'm Delta, Delta Singe. King is my father, but it's better for him to tell you his name than me."

"Right." Cibbie said, sarcastically. "I'm Cibbie Heritance, nice to meet you Delta."

"You too." she said back. "Oh, also, there was someone outside who wanted to come in but didn't know if he was allowed, do you want me to invite him in?"

"Sure, I guess." Cibbie replied.

Delta stood up and walked out. A few moments later she came back and sat down next to Cibbie as Pride walked in, his blue glow reflecting off the water and highlighting objects. He hovered over the water and finally sat next to Silence, partly submerged in the water. The pool's temperature seemed to rise slightly.

"Pride!" Cibbie greeted him happily. "How are you?"

"I am fine." he replied. "I see you are also well?"

Cibbie nodded her affirmation. "And Priss?"

"She is very well. Her body has matured into a League, finally, so I do not need to be there. Instead I am here inviting you to a function Thursday."

"Oh?" Cibbie curiously pushed.

"In three days she will be selecting a companion race. She has decided, therefore, that she shall decide her mate from the selected race." Pride said, flatly. "The suitors are going to be nude, however the rest of our guests are not required to be." Pride finished, straight-faced.

"You require mates..?" Silence asked.

"Not really, but she's grown up in a society where she believes it would be acceptable. It is her decision, I shall not question it, despite my disapproval."

Delta sighed. "You know kids these days, they all do things differently." She shrugged dramatically. "The only thing you can do about it is support her in her decision. Just hope she doesn't make a bad one and be there for her when things are tough."

Thr group nodded. Silence and Faith went back to telling each other about their respective day while Delta and Pride struck up a conversation. Cibbie simply stretched out and enjoyed the warm water. Despite being among friends, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Her face seemed to tell this to the others, and they grew silent.

"What's wrong?" Delta asked.

"I don't know. I just feel like something's missing." She replied.

Faith hushed them. "Someone's coming!"

Sure enough, they heard the changing room's outer doors open and shut. Footsteps padded across the room and a silhouette fell across the inner doors. It slid open a fraction and a familiar voice drifted across the bath.

"Is this the bath reserved for a Miss Heritance?"

Cibbie slapped a dripping palm to her face and stood up, walking over towards the door. She threw it open and pulled an unexpecting Flare into the room, dropping him onto the stone floor behind her. He lay there for a short period as Cibbie closed the door. She turned around and stepped on him as she made her way back to the bath, making him grunt as all the air was pushed out of his chest. Flare stood up as she sat down, awkwardly drawing the attention from the entire room to himself.

"Delta, Silence, Pride; I'd like to introduce you to my new bodyguard, Flare. Flare, these are my friends." Cibbie announced.

Pride and Silence nodded to him and Delta waved. Flare nodded back, yet didn't seem to settle. Cibbie waved him over.

"Well come on! If you're going to guard me you might as well get to know me; sit down!" She snapped.

Flare gave a huge sigh and scratched his shoulder nervously. "I've not been anyone's bodyguard for years, so I'm a little unsure."

"Well come and sit on my right side and try not to be so nervous. We don't bite." Cibbie said reassuringly.

"I do." Delta giggled. Cibbie splashed her with water.

"Quiet!"

Flare slowly and cautiously waded over and sat next to Cibbie. He nervously looked about. Cibbie nudged him in the ribs and offered him her hand.

"I'm your charge, Sybil Heritance, but just call me Cibbie. You're my bodyguard, but I don't expect you to hang around twenty-four-seven, and you don't need to act like a brick on legs all the time." She said. "The lady to my left is Delta Singe, the couple to your right are Faith Starbrook and her husband Silence. The blue one is Pride."

Pride frowned. "Greetings, 'Riptear' Flare Wingspan."

Flare blushed and turned his face away. "I wish not for those nicknames. Although I guess you must be 'Trump Card' Pride, the monster that the Hunter's Guild keeps as it's last resort?"

The water's temperature rose. "I am not a monster!" Pride yelled.

"And now you see how I view myself, yet we are both considered living weapons of war and destruction, are we not?"

Pride collected his nerves. "Indeed. However, if you view yourself as such, there must be a logical reason for your ideology."

Flare nodded. "Five years after the war began, a young Aeris female approached me in my home during the night after heavy bombing on the Hoven, as the Underground is named. She was famous amongst our faction, Sarah Woolspin, the first undergrounder to ever concieve a child naturally. She was heavily injured and deep in labour, she had lost alot of blood and requested my aid as I was the only Undergrounder who had left my doors unlocked during the period. I did my best to help her and the child was born without any trouble. However Sarah's injuries and the blood and energy drained from the birth was too much for her and she died on my bed. Naturally, as she was technically one of my sisters I grieved, however I adopted her daughter as my own. For five whole years of the war I practically hid from enemies, denied orders and sheltered the young lamb from harm. I named her Fortune and protected her like she were made of gold. At the surrender I was forced to be on the front lines, despite having her with me, and clutched her close. When the humans disobeyed direct orders to stand down, the first shot ran through her, knocking her out. In the insuing chaos that followed, my fellow undergrounders demanded that I throw her to the humans as she would have died anyway. When I refused, they tried to take her from me but I still stood my ground. When they then turned on me, aiming directly at me and her, I did only what I could to ensure her safety..." He finished, staring directly at his lap. "I'd have let them kill me, they could have mutilated me and left me to die, but..."

The bath sat silently for a few minutes.

"You were convicted of treason and sentenced to prison for what you did." Delta said. "What happened to her then?"

"I gave her to my brother, Hazard, after the battle when the military police came to take me. She was near dead when I last saw her. Whilst in that godawful prison I prayed every night for her safety. The only person who has known my side of the story for these last ten years has been me."

Again they stayed silent. Flare continued to stare into the water avoiding everyone's gaze.

"Pride." Cibbie said, breaking the silence. "You're a father, you should have some idea on this."

"Your meaning?"

"Well, wouldn't you do anything to protect her?"

Pride sighed. "If only you knew." He mumbled.

"Even Superman had cryptonite." Faith said solemnly.

After a few minutes, Pride got up and left back for home with Delta in tow. The remaining four spent a little extra time talking before actually bathing in the bath and then they too went their seperate ways. Flare, Cibbie later discovered, had been moved into the room directly next to her. Cibbie made sure to get Terry to wake her the next day and climbed into bed, images of Amanda flooding her head as she drifted to sleep.

The next few days passed rather quietly. She spent a majority of them talking to Terry and ordering things online for Amanda for when she arrived. She had installed drake care programs into his memory, and had set up a meeting with one of the Guild's drake handlers so that she could ask for tips and hints. At roughly two PM on the day, Terry assisted her into her formal dress and she was soon contacted by Michael. He had her and Flare teleported directly to his office where she met up with the Starbrooks and they walked to section E-17. They once again entered into the large room that Pride and Priss inhabited only to find Hazard, President Washington, several other delegates, and Melissa already there. Pride was standing with the group.

"You're late." He said.

"Sorry, my fault." Michael said. "I forgot the time."

"Three of our allied races have sent dignitaries." Hazard said critically. "The Helindra, the Rindar and the Highborne." He pointed to the naked males standing on three points around the room.

The Helindra was large, looking much like a bipedal ape with a rather flat face. He had a look of pure embarrassment; the Rindar, however, was more human, being more like a werewolf than alien. His face was long with glowing yellow eyes and two small ears that topped his head. He looked angry. The Highborne looked almost completley human, save for him being slightly taller and being coated in a light brown fur. He had a crest of three spikes adorning his forehead, one that pointed up and two on the side of the first that pointed to his ears, which were atop his head much like Cibbie's. The back of his head was covered in grey scales, the same colour as his crest, and his long tail had the same scales on its top right at the base. His face was of total apathy. Standing in the middle of the room was Priss. She had a curved tendril on either side of her head, much like a ram's horns, and a third that draped down her back from the back of her head. Her tail, like her father's, was long. She glowed green, illuminating the room. Like her father, she had a large red core in her abdomen and red veins running through her arms, legs and tendrils. The Helindra looked disturbed by Cibbie's arrival as she sat down, Flare standing by her side.

"Three have entered." Priss said to the trio. "And yet only one shall remain. One of you three shall be of the chosen race that I will work closest with, one of you shall be my mate." Pride grumbled at this. "The other two shall not."

"Priss get on with it, some of these people have work to do!" Pride said. "Honestly, it's like you think we're getting a perverse pleasure out of seeing these grown men in the altogether."

President Washington leaned close to Melissa's ear. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm taking notes for blackmail use." She whispered, the two giggling from her comment.

Priss sighed and looked the three men over before going back to plain staring into the wall opposite her. She suddenly turned, and floated over to the Highborne.

"This race." She said, pointing to his chest.

"Thane Hashim Nak'maahl of the Highborne." The male said, awkwardly lowering to one knee.

"There is no need for you to kneel." Priss mumbled, grabbing his arm to lift him back up before screaming and grabbing her head.

Pride rushed over. "What's wrong?" He asked. She seemed too in pain to talk, merely gesturing to Hashim wildly. Pride, too, tried to grab him and drew back as if he had been electrocuted. Hazard rushed over, grabbing Hashim with no physical harm. "Turn him around." Pride demanded, as Hazard whipped the bewildered male around. A glowing tattoo, clearly something physically embedded into his skin, resided at the base of his neck, between his shoulderblades. Two lines, bent upwards to make an arrow, and three dots, two on either side of the top line and one as the bottom of the tattoo. The dark purple glow almost ominously highlighting his upper back. "I thought so." Pride said. "Where did you get this tattoo?"

"O-on Hellen'aht. It's a religious tattoo and the element is considered sacred and is supposedly extremely rare." The now frightened male said. "Can I get up and put some clothes on before you continue questioning me? This floor is cold." Pride nodded and Hazard let him go, waving the other males out.

"Thank you for your time gentlemen." He said to them. "It is now time for you to leave. Please dress and go down the hall. Enter the fourth door to the right, the rest of this evening is being held there; Felrose Starfury and President Washington shall escourt you there."

The men and their respective races left with Rose as the now lone Highborn pulled on some pants.

"So what is it?" Hazard asked.

"My people call it Huun'esht." Hashim said. "Religiously it is the element weapon that one of our gods weilded. We lost it, along with our first homeworld when the Cataclysm struck."

"Huun'esht." Pride parroted, almost spitting the word. "How appropriate a name. 'Ore of the Forsaken.'"

Michael leaned down to Cibbie's ear. "That looks kind of like the stuff Three can utilise as a weapon!" He hissed. "Clearly we must have a chat with King when we get to the hotel." Michael then found himself the centre of attention. "...What?"

"The others have left, Eleven, you can tell us all what you know." Pride said, a Five of Diamonds materializing in his hand and flying across the room, embedding itself in the wall.

"I was saying that this sounds like the work of Three."

"No, it does not sound like Three's doing." Faith said. "He would never make a physical quantity of it, or allow others to use it in such a way. And even though we have had no word otherwise, Three is now part of the Polaris, he couldn't be involved."

Hashim looked around the room frantically. "I-I don't know who this Three is;" he stammered "but there is also rumour of a monstrous creature in our defence oh Hellen'aht facility that the military is using as a weapon."

Pride's eyes lit up. "That's IT! I knew I had felt this pain before!" He exclaimed. "Hazard, hold him still. This may hurt a little, Highborn, but please don't move too much or I may kill you."

Hazard grabbed Hashim and Pride positioned himself behind the frightened male. Quick as a flash, Pride snapped his hand to the tattoo on Hashim's back, the vein in his arm glowing dangerously bright. As soon as he had started, however, Pride stopped, backing away.

"It's not simply normal dark element, I just didn't know how." He said. "It's not dark element at all, it's Phazon!"

"How..?" Hazard probed.

"When Priss was still little, barely a Fission, a side effect of the feeding process was phazon crystals becoming corrupted. I don't know how it works or why, but we could only drain the positively charged ions of Phazon, leaving a negative charge behind when young. Now that we're both older, we cannot create the element, being able to process Phazon completley. Exposure to positive energy causes it to lose its chaotic nature and become null. We can touch him now, and it is no longer radioactive, but the glow shall not ever fade."

"Why did it harm you two and not us?" Hazard asked.

"We're practically made out of the element." Pride replied. "It hurt us because it drew part of our life essence out of our bodies, using his as a conduit. It's different from normal phazon, as if all the life giving energy is gone, and its radioactivity is lesser. Exposure to any normal Phazon causes it to react, sometimes violently."

"Where would they get this element naturally?"

"That's the thing." Pride said. "They couldn't possibly get it naturally. You said something about a monster in the defence building, right?"

"Yes."

"They must have a metroid there." Pride said, rubbing his chin. "But how would they, there was just me and the egg in the core, and I hatched Priss when I got here after the scientists..." He trailed off, as if trying not to relive a bad memory. Pride walked to the block of phazon embedded in the far wall, quickly making look like water again. "If there is a metroid that can make corrupted phazon, clearly they are using the natural element despite our warnings. Priss! Bring the Thane, get him to carry the camera! Master Starfury! I shall bring a solution to our problem."

"How're you getting him into the portal? Won't the radiation kill him?" Cibbie hazarded.

"He shall be fine. Their race is completley immune to all forms of radiation, are you not?"

Hashim nodded, clipping a small camera to his shirt collar. "The sector of space I come from is dangerous, the planets almost all contain minute traces of Phazon energy in their atmosphere, and we have evolved a resistance to any and all radioactivity as a result."

Pride and Priss jumped into the vortex, and the Thane followed them soon after. Michael switched on the screen in the corner, the sound abruptly spitting gunfire. The camera showed security force badly containing the metroid duo before quickly flee the room. A large, heavy, metal door opened on the far side of the room, revealing the pitch darkness within. Pride and Priss suddenly fade from sight as a huge, black barbed creature staggered in, looking about wildly before roaring at the camera. It charged blindly towards the camera, lumbering its way across the room before stopping as if hitting an invisible wall, cracks emerging from a single point on its front. Priss fades back in just next to the camera, and Pride appears directly infront of the massive monster, his feet on the cracked carapace. It seems to look at Pride weakly before having his hand rip a massive hole in the top, glowing orange ooze spilling everywhere. Pride reached into the carcass and pulled out another Humanoid shape like himself, this one barely glowing, however what little glow there is shows that it would be a reddish colour. Several scientists came rushing into the room.

"What do you think you're doing! This is an act of aggression!" One yelled.

Pride loked down at them, cold malice in his eyes.

"Your race was chosen as my daughter's companion species." he stated.

The scientists seem to find this a good turn of events.

"Oh, fair enough. We don't need this one anymore then!"

"Where did you find this one?" Pride asked them nonchalantly.

"A clone from DNA we discovered on a battleship you had destroyed... Oops!"

Pride roared loudly, throwing the almost comatose pink metroid to Priss before charging the scientists. He grabbed one and pinned him to the wall. "That data is to be destroyed or I'll come here and start another war!" He yelled. "And you'll not like the victor!" The scientists nodded quickly, pointing to the computer next to him.

Pride dropped the Highborn he had ahold of, promptly ripped the harddrives out of the computer and, if it were possible to stomp while floating, he would have been doing it as he floated over to Priss. He handed her the harddrives, taking the pink clone from her and stepping back through the rift.

He emerged a few seconds later, quickly followed by Hashim and Priss as the rift shut behind them. Pride lay the pink one on the floor. In person, Cibbie could tell that this one was, in fact, female. She was much like Priss, only she had a pair of extremely short tendrils atop her head accompanying the usual one down her back and tail. She had no veins in her arms, legs, tail or tendrils though; and only had a smaller, almost spherical core in her chest. She reached up for Pride weakly, putting her hand to the side of his face before even that taxed her depleted energy reserves too far. Pride put a hand to the phazon block and impaled a finger into the pink one's chest, tapping her core with his finger. Energy flowed between the two points, across Pride's body and into the dying female's. Her eyes widened, her core flashed and pulsing multicoloured veins made their presence known as phazon energy was fed directly through her body by Pride, her flesh glowing brighter as seconds passed. Pride withdrew after about a minute and the female put her hand to his face again, the veins once more vanishing from her body.

"Thank you." she managed, before passing out on the hard metal floor.

Pride stood up. "Dammit I should have known." He grumbled. "I could feel something was out of place but..."

"Will this one live?" Michael asked firmly.

"Will she live? Yes, she will live. However she is not a Metroid." Pride said, his face drooping. "She's a badly made clone, in my old reality they were failures to those who made them. She's not a Metroid; she's a Mochtroid, or at least that's what they were called. They were weaker physically and held less energy in their cores. The fact that she's made it to this evolution is staggering."

"What was that huge black thing?" Cibbie asked.

"That was a defensive shell, like a crab's only much, much tougher. The shell is almost impenertable to all but phazon energy and certain elemental wavelengths; which is probrably one of the ways she was disciplined."

"One of the ways?"

"Look at her!" Pride yelled. "Her body is all but atrophied, her claws long and badly unkept, and her tendrils are undeveloped; possibly never to finish growing! They were starving her, using food as a reward for good behavior, no doubt."

Hashim stared at the floor. "I'm sorry." He mumbled. "I should have known something was wrong."

"No. You shouldn't." Another voice by the door stated. A female Highborne had strode into the room, glaring at them. "You did not need to know anything! That girl belongs to us. Hand her over." Pride growled, but Michael waved him down.

"I should have you know, madam Relthis, that one person in this room is capable of killing you and be immune to any repurcussions." Cibbie stepped forward at the cue.

"Oh? Your Polaris girl?" She laughed smugly. "I don't think so."

"Not me." Said Cibbie. "Although I'd certainly like to, the one you need to worry about is currently standing behind you."

The double doors slammed shut as Relthis turned around, the pink Mochtroid standing directly behind her. She spoke, her voice like an angel's.

"For five long years you've kept me imprisoned in that tomb, torturing me, malnourishing me. It is only right that I would want revenge." She said, stepping forward and causing Relthis to back herself up to a wall. "On this day, I give you a warning. If you do this to another; create another of me and practically treat it like dirt, I shall find you."

"Is that a threat, project 32?"

The pink flourescent creature leant in close. "It's a promise." She growled. "Get. Out." The doors flung open behind her and Rethis ran out. The Mochtroid walked up to Hashim and looked him up and down. "I don't know you, but don't expect me to trust you, Highborn!"

"I completley understand." He replied. "I would expect no less from anyone else."

Cibbie took a moment to look this girl over, tilting her head slightly to get a better view of her back and side. She was slim, but she had a definitive hourglass figure, wide hips and thin waist curved into a torso that was roughly half as wide as her hips, but larger than her thin middle. Apart from her cute pink glow and the single round cell in her chest, right where her heart would be, her most distinguishing features were her tendrils and tail. The tendrils on her head, two atop like flattened ears and one down her back like a ponytail, were shorter than those of Pride or Priss, but her tail was much longer, dragging along the ground at the tip.

"Flare." Hazard began after the room had settled. "I believe that you have had a question for me these last few days, yes?"

Flare nodded, staying silent before Cibbie nudged his ribs. "You're a person, not a brick. Use your tongue, you can talk."

"I-I want to know what happened to the girl I placed in your care at the end of the war?" Flare asked. "W-what happened to my Fortune?"

Hazard's ears drooped and he looked crestfallen. "She did not survive the injuries she had sustained at the battle."

Flare's face matched his mood, instantly reflecting how this bad news struck him, and he slowly dropped to his knees. "No... I sacrificed my innocence and fellow undergrounders for a lost cause..!"

Cibbie grabbed Hazard by the arm and dragged him outside. "Could I have a word?" Once she got him outside the double doors and closed them behind her she slapped him across the face. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Hazard raised a hand to his cheek. She had slapped him hard and she was stronger than he thought.

"Your meaning?"

"If your intention is to break him completley before you start to rebuild him you're doing a bloody good job!" She growled.

"I have done nothing but tell the truth to him; you would have me lie?"

"You could at least show a little compassion! Remember that this girl was his daughter! You've no idea how much of a blow that was just now, do you?"

"And you think you do?"

Cibbie grumbled. "I have no family left to mourn." She growled.

"I didn't think you'd know what it's like." Hazard said calmly. "Look, kid, if my methods of rehabilitation upset you, just say so. I won't take any offence. However you must remember what this man is!"

"What am I then?" Flare interrupted, stepping out. "C'mon!" He yelled.

"You are the single greatest monster that the Mutenagenix war produced, and a laughingstock of the Underground military." Hazard replied, uphased by the interruption.

"Is that so?" Flare snarled. "Look, Hazard. I was in the military corps. That's true. When I was arrested the first thing they did was strip me of all rank and reward," he informed. "To me, that's enough to tell me that I was not wanted in the military. When they released me, the forms said that I was being released into the civillian population. I'm not your pawn anymore!" He yelled. "I'll go to this class in the Hunter's Guild, but I'm staying out of the military!"

"And what would you do, pray?" Hazard asked. "You never were any good at anything but fighting."

"I don't know!" Flare snapped. His eyes, momentarily, flicked to Cibbie, who hadn't noticed. "Maybe I'll just find someone and settle down."

"You are going to have to take his word for it, Eight." A familiar voice rang out. "The Dozen of Truth speaks no lies when talking from the heart, do you Seven?" A card, the King of Diamonds, buried itself softly in Hazard's fur. Hazard removed it.

"King, why do you not stay out of my personal affairs?" He asked angrily.

"Your affairs include trying to destroy fellow dozen at the moment. He shall be fine with the training, you must see this." the reply came as King stepped out of the shadows. "Twelve may not have a full understanding of what he has lost, but I do; as do Four, Ten, Queen and Five. You have no right to be so blunt with him."

"He handed me a dying girl and expected me to keep her alive for the duration of his encarceration!" Hazard snapped.

"Something he trusted you to do to the best of your ability."

"All I wanted was for her to know that I loved her... I would have died for her! I... I did die for her..." Flare said, his mood dropping again.

"As I said." Hazard said. "She died shortly after her injuries were inflicted. Even Six would have been powerless to save her."

For a short while the only sound that could be heard was the soft shuffling of a deck of cards.

"However." King said. "That was not the end of her, was it?" He held out the deck of cards face down in a fan. "Take one." Hazard cautiously took a card and examined it. "The Fool. How fitting." King said, not even bothering to look, turning to Flare. "Take one." Flare, in turn, took a card, flipping it over and his jaw dropping when he looked at it. "The Lovers." King announced. "Eight, you shall take Seven to that you wish to keep from him."

Hazard gave King a frustrated look. "But-"

"But nothing!" King interrupted, his voice now full of rage. "The Lovers signifies that he shall find someone or something that will complete him and you shall not defy the cards." He turned to Cibbie, who took a card without being told so. "I never said for you to take one, I am unsure of the news you shall recieve, young Twelve."

Cibbie turned the card over, it was mostly black with a sunrise in the background and a large robed skeleton in the foreground. She showed it to King, whose eyes widened.

"Death." He said, promptly taking the cards back from Hazard and Flare, shuffling the deck and returning the fan to Cibbie. "Another!" She took the card and turned it over. "Judgement." King announced. "A final card." Cibbie again chose another card, this one from the very outskirts of the fan and turned it over. "The Lovers..." King said. "...You have some strange luck, young Twelve."

"Huh?" Cibbie asks perplexed. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about, King, please explain your logic."

"Death, symbol of death, transformation and transition signifies that you shall be confronted by your own death or transformation. Judgement, in this case, probably has something to do with healing. Most likely from great injury or disease. And the Lovers mean you too shall find someone or something that will complete you. Take another two cards. Your right hand show first, show only to me. The second show all." Cibbie did as told, turning them over one at a time, presenting her right hand to King, who grinned. The second card King almost jumped at. "The Devil." He said. "You, my girl, are amazing. You are exactly what we needed."

"Eh?"

"The only person to ever pull a Devil card from my deck is Jack. As a person, the Devil can stand for a man or woman of money or erotic power, aggressive, controlling, or just persuasive; Jack became that kind of person completley. He's become a slave to his immense power. The right hand card, if not a story card, can tell who in your circle of friends you have fallen for."

"That's not quite how I remember tarot working, King." Hazard interrupted.

"My cards are not the same." King said. "The left hand tells me who is going to cause all three of your initial cards to complete fruition." He smiled an almost fatherly smile. "Would you like to see who the card from your right is?" Cibbie nodded and King showed her the card, making sure to avoid any of the others from seeing it. Her jaw dropped. "Do not say it aloud or you may ruin the events that bring this about before they begin." King whispered into her ear. "Just remember that this card is important to you." He reshuffled his deck as he leaned away from Cibbie, who was busy collecting her nerves and blushing brightly. "I did the same thing for Four and Ten when they each came to me asking about love, and they are together now with a child in waiting. Protect your friends, Twelve."

"R-right." She said, nervously blushing. "Anyway. Hazard. You were to take us somewhere, yes?"

"Us?"

"He's my bodyguard, and he can't be too far away from me, usually by terms of being my bodyguard, no?"

"Ah, yes." Hazard said, almost angry at this turn of events. "Fine, let's go."

A couple of teleports later and they were outside Jay's training gym. Hazard opened the door and walked in, waving to someone in the room before Flare and Cibbie followed him in. The door clicked shut behind them and Cibbie heard it bolt shut before someone yelled.

"Targets confirmed!" The female voice echoed. Cibbie looked up and unsheathed the blades in her gun just in time to react to an oncoming attack. She and Flare were tackled to the ground, amazingly heavy knees holding them down by their throats. Flare's eyes went wide. A fist swung down and plowed into the concrete where Cibbie's head would have been had she not shifted to her right. She wasn't going to go down this easy, that was for sure. Cibbie growled as she swung her gun up, catching the assailant off guard and knocking her across the room. Cibbie stood up and got a good look at her new opponent. She looked young, an Aeris roughly five foot tall with light pink wool and cream skin, horns framed her face, and she wore barely anything. She charged at Cibbie again. Cibbie's eyes started to glow red and she ducked a swung fist, plowing her gun into the girl's gut; but this didn't phase her, and Cibbie found herself on the recieving end of a winding punch. She coughed heavily before inhaling deeply, baring her teeth and once again shoving her gun into the girl's gut, firing a stunning blast. The girl was thrown back, and she struggled to regain her balance as Flare stood up, a stupefied look on his face. The girl charged once more, but slid to a stop when Jay's voice called out.

"Fortune! At ease!"