Chapter 7: The End of the Beginning

[Polaris Lyn]

"Son of a bitch!!!"

Polaris nearly dropped her weapon, barely holding on, the pain deep and intense and unexpected, fucking Hyne, oh shit, oh shit oshitoshitoshitoshit goddamn, what the FUCK just happened, shit, free hand dropping down to the gash on her stomach, where the blood was seeping through the white of her shirt, and soon white was red and she was getting dizzy.

Re--- gen...

And it hurt more than a wound was supposed to, she was starting to see white, fuck, it hurt so much, this wasn't normal, not normal not normal gotta think, what happened, cut him and it healed and I... got shanked, no, cut, I just... I just...

"Okay," she said, her words slurring because of the pain, "so we probably shouldn't attack them."

[Hadrian D'arcell]

Hadrian looked at the girl annoyed. If he closed his eyes, it was just like talking to an old office guy with starchy pants. "What are you looking at?" he asked.

"Your teammate getting gashed on her stomach," the girl bluntly replied.

"What?" Hadrian took a few steps closer to the girl to see Polaris together with Stella, Blaze, and Gemma being surrounded by monsters. She was bleeding.

"You damned brat!" Was the girl behind all that was happening in the bridge?

"Hurry, hurry, tell me my name, or I will get bored." The kid giggled. "See? If I get bored, I might end up playing with your friends a little too much."

Hadrian ran a hand on his forehead and took a deep breath. He was pissed even more, but he should calm down or this would be going nowhere. "So...basically, we can ask you anything except 'what is your name', right? You'll tell the truth no matter what..."

The girl nodded cheerfully. "That is the rule of my game. Anyone here who disobeys the rule will suffer consequences accordingly." She pointed to herself. "I even applied it to me. Aren't I just?" A manly laughter filled the air.

"Heh," Hadrian smirked. This kid is stupid enough to give us an advantage... They were going to crack this easily. No sweat.

"Did you hear that?" He walked back to the others and lowered his voice. "We can outsmart this brat into spilling her name. Any ideas?"

[ST]

Pol,Gemma, Stella, Blaze

The creatures close in on you, their breathing heavy and ragged, saliva oozing from their mouths. Slowly, they corner you with their massive numbers and grab you at your feet causing you to fall down. Their hold was tight and you don't think there is any way you can wiggle your way out of their grip other than slicing their hands. You see a horde of them stand between you and Adel's fortress--that is supposed to be just ahead of the bridge--like a huge barricade. The four monsters grabbing your feet begin to move, dragging you back forcefully away from the fortress. Looking back, the bridge behind you seems to stretch forever. It looks like it's going to be a long way back.

[Polaris Lyn]

She fell, hard and unexpected, stifling a cry of pain as her head hit the wooden bridge and the dizziness worsened, the ache in her skull a throb. And then she was being pulled--- none too gently, either--- away from her destination, and from the looks of things (she couldn't quite see straight, what the hell), the other girls were getting taken away, too.

Polaris sucked in a sharp breath and tightened her grip on her axe, wondering what the consequences were of her next action; and deciding to hell with it.

She swung her weapon, hard, at the hands of the monster holding the nearest person to her--- Gemma.

The axe blade bit into the reptile's right wrist, and the monster screamed.

A second later, Pol was screaming, too.

She was bleeding, still bleeding, wounds weren't healing like they were supposed to, even with Regen it was too slow.

So maybe she shouldn't have done that.

[Blaze Sanaku]

SCREW THIS!

After unsuccessfully trying to wrench herself free of the monster, she just didn't care. Her claws shinked out and she drove them into the wrists of the monster.

"AHHHHH!!!" Blaze screamed as three bloody holes began oozing out of her own wrists. But it had been worth it. The monster had let go. Blaze rolled onto her feet and saw that Polaris had done the same. Her wrists were streaked with red as well.

"RUN!!!" Blaze yelled. She hurried to Stella's and grabbed her hands, trying to yank her out of the grasp of the monster. Maybe she could get Stella free without having to attack the monster.

[Gemma Ridean]

Gemma choked back the brutal pain as the creature's razor-sharp claws raked through her forearms. Spitting out the salty taste of blood that filled the back of her throat, she attempted to wriggle herself free----as the creature's talon sunk only deeper into her flesh. Gasping, Gemma felt numb with the pain when suddenly---a streak of silver dismembered her captor's grip as she dropped soundly to the floor. Next to her, Polaris was desperately trying to staunch the blood flow from a nasty gash in her stomache with a weak Reagen spell that was acting too slowly...

Gemma rushed to Polaris's fallen body and cast Full-Cure. Snapped the handle of Paleruin once, she hesitantly took a defensive stance slightly unsure of what to do next.

We can't attack them physically... "because they're protected by Reflect!"

Suddenly, it dawned on her. "Blaze!" Gemma yelled out, "You have to cast Protect!"

The creatures were swarming closer.

Not waiting for Blaze's response,Gemma summoned her limit break.

The orange haze of Aura illuminated all four SeeDs.

"Blaze!"

[Rayden]

"Excuse us while we formulate a plan." Rayden flashed a dazzling smile at the girl, and beckoned his teammates to come closer.

"We aren't limited to the number of questions asked right? She didn't say anything about the questions, she just said we had three turns in guessing her name?" Rayden spoke in low tones. He didn't know anything about the girl's eavesdropping ability but it wouldn't do to announce their plan out loud. "So what's bugging me is why would an old man masquerading as a little girl want to play games with us? And what gives her power over the bridge? Obviously the only person who would benefit from that would be Adel right? So maybe we can ask about her connection to the sorceress or does anyone have a better idea?"

[Jaime]

Jaime stared at the black hooded figure disbelievingly.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!" She yelled at the figure, rushing towards it but her shouts did nothing to slow his progress of cutting the bridge's ropes. The pair of hands only quickened their pace when she got closer.

"STOP OR ELSE!" She readied a flare in her hands, ready to release it at a slight fling of her arms.

"Try at your own risk." The muffled voice from the hood was unmistakably male and condescending. "But you bear the consequences."

Jaime was incensed.

"FLARE!"

[vanesse]

Vanesse felt better when Rayden actually stepped up to share his ideas. Honestly, she was at a loss. This place, the girl, her game, all is weird and even suspicious. "I agree with you," she said to Rayden. "She did say that we can ask any questions so I think it's all right if we---"

Vanesse hadn't finished her sentence when Stardust stepped forward and asked the girl all of the questions Rayden had mentioned.

[stardust]

"Why does a brat like you sound like an 'old geezer'?" Stardust blurted out of the blue.

"Eh?" the girl answered, confused. "But this has always been my voice. Your the ones who sound weird."Another giggle resounded.

"What is your connection to Adel?" Stardust continued briefly.

"She's not my master if you're thinking that," she replied, "but she's not my enemy either. She's very nice. She said I can play with you all I want. There's no way you can guess my na--"

"Enough. What gives you the power over the bridge?"

"You are so impatient, sister. But this "question-asking" is fun isn't it?"

Hadrian crossed his arms. "Just answer. I'd like to know that too."

"Hee well." The girl sighed. "It's not a matter of what...but rather who."

[ST]

Pol, Gemma, Blaze, Stella

Though protect has been cast upon you, a Flare spell comes out of nowhere and hits you in full force. Whether one of the monsters casted a magic spell or someone else is unclear.



-----------------------
Omg, poor group A *hugs them* >_<

[Stella]

The mass of redness came out of no where suprising the hell out of Stella. She barely managed to throw her arms up in front of her face before it rolled over them. Heat and pain shot through her making her shake all over. This day just kept getting longer and longer, was it ever going to end?

[Blaze Sanaku]

With the warm glow of aura surrounding her, Blaze immediately cast her limit break. Time seemed to slow down as her body's tempo sped up, far surpassing the speed of someone on haste. She wasn't fast enough to dodge the flare spell, however.

"Where the hell did that come from?!!" Blaze yelled angrily. She casted protect on one of the monsters and punched it out of the way. With protect cast on both her and the monster, the blow she felt reflected back upon her wasn't that bad. But there was still no way she could see them winning this fight. She grit her teeth. This was something she only said once in a blue moon.

"I think we should retreat. Just run away!" she said, taking a head start. Fighting a losing battle is a waste of time anyway, she thought.

[Diego Stanton]

Deo watched Jaime's flare completely miss her target and redirect towards the middle of the bridge that the hooded figure was cutting.

"Um.. well.. good effort Jaime, but the guy we're trying to attack was about 100 feet above where you aimed." Deo scratched his head. "Here.. let me try." Deo closed his eyes and drew a flare from his friend.

"FLARE!" Deo shouted, aiming directly for the hooded figure. His flare exploded not at the figure, but in the exact same place as Jaime's had a moment before. Deo looked from the hooded figure, back to the bridge, back to the hooded figure. He quickly stood up straight and scratched his head again, his cheeks turning a light shade of red.

"Well.. I guess I'm not the best magic caster out there but how the hell did you and I just miss that guy so badly??" Deo asked Jaime, bewildered. The look on her face explained everything.

Deo looked back at the bridge again, then back to the hooded figure, still cutting away at the thick rope cord.

"ohhhhh..." Deo said slowly as he just realized his mistake. "Maybe we should cast cure on the evil rope cutting guy.... juuust in case our teammates might be down there." Deo gave an embarassed grin.

[Blaze Sanaku]

Blaze had run about 3 feet before another flare exploded in front of her face. She jumped back as fast as she could.

"Where are all these flares coming from?!" Blaze shouted angrily. She turned back to her teammates and saw that all of them were suddenly glowing with the light blue magic of cure. She too felt her health returning.

"Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on?!? First they try to kill us with flare, now they're curing us?" Blaze growled, utterly confused.