*one year ago*
Six was walking down an old road. The sky was dark, and the streets were barren. She rolled over her mission in her head. Find Five. Tsch. Find Five, she didn’t even know what he looked like.. She didn’t even know if he was actually alive, besides her intuition telling her he was.
And the City was huge.. She didn’t even know where to start.
“Quite the difficult task you’ve set for yourself, isn’t it Aifos?” A voice said from behind her.
Six spun around, and activated her laser scythe. She knew that voice. “Double!” She yelled, staring at the smiling nun. “The jannolor are you doing here!? You’re supposed to be dead!”
“So are you. And yet, here we are.”
“..What do you want..?”
“For my pawns to get themselves back in line.”
“I’m not your pawn anymore.” Six sighed. Her scythe deactivated, as she turned away, and started walking. “Go find some other gullible sap to boss around.”
“Is that what you think?” A tendril began sprouting from Double’s shoulder, and coiling down her arm. “We’ll have to put you back in your place, then, won’t we?”
“Like jannolor you will.” Six calmly snapped her fingers towards the ground, and a large wall of flames appeared between the two. Six took the opportunity to take off in the opposite direction, but didn’t get very far before something grabbed her by the ankle, sending her tumbling to the ground. Turning back towards the flames, she saw a long tendril reaching out, coiling around her foot, and the abomination it was attached to rising out of the fire. It was a hideous thing, with limbs and faces constantly growing out of, and melting back into an amorphous, shifting mass.
“Jamblasted..!” Six yelled, pulling out her scythe again, and slicing at the tentacle around her leg, cutting its tip clean from its source. Desperately, she pulled herself to her feet, and tried to scramble away, but quickly found herself grabbed, and restrained by several dozen long, spindly hands reaching out from the monster. They dragged her back to the thing, which held her up to one of it’s many misshapen faces.
“A good effort, but futile. No matter how far you run.. No matter how hard you fight..” One of Double’s hands coiled around Six’s body, and gently placed its palm on her face. “No matter who you hide behind..
You.
Belong.
[b][u]TO ME!”[/b][/u]
Six’s eyes shot open, to the sound of a train galloping down a rickety old track. She let out a sigh of relief.
“Just a nightmare..”
“No kidding..” Sapphire’s voice said, directly into their mind. “You have the freakiest dreams, Six.”
“You saw all that, too? That mean we share dreams, now?”
“Well, yeah. We share the same body, I thought that’d be pretty obvious.. So.. Who was that?”
“Double. Mortal incarnation of Lamia, or something like that. She’s the reason we’re in this situation to begin with.”
At that moment the tunnel the train was traveling through gave way to an open plain, and at its edge was the capital, resting on the horizon.
“There it is. The City.” Six said.
“So Five’s somewhere in there?”
“Probably. If I somehow survived being killed, the first place I’d go is either to FlipFlap to let everyone know I was alive, or to the Church of the Trinity, to burn it to the ground so Double can’t do to anyone else what she did to me.”
“..The way you said that. We’re not... Are we?”
———
Six, dressed in a head-concealing mask, and heavy white cloak, kicks open the doors to the old church. There was a crowd of people praying in front of a large statue of Lamia, as a nun recited something Six didn’t bother trying to understand. A few other nuns were walking about the building, taking care of various small tasks. Six walked up to the closest one she could find.
“Get everyone out of this building, now.” She said, sternly.
“Excuse me? What ever for?” The nun asked.
“I said, evacuate the building!” Six snapped her fingers, and a large burst of flame shot out from her hand, tearing down a stained glass window of Aeon. The room flew into a panic, and the crowd began clambering out onto the streets. Six began to dance through the halls, weaving fire through every inch of the structure as she did, making sure to avoid catching anyone in the chaos.
“Well, that’s that.” She said, standing in the middle of the burning chapel, after everyone got out safely. “Let’s go-“ She stopped, and carefully made her way over to the wall. Outside, there was a voice; mechanical, official. It was hard to make out what it was saying, but it didn’t take long to realize who.
“Jamblasted..” Six said, taking a few steps away. “Cobalt soldiers. Probably here to arrest us.”
She slipped her backpack off her shoulder, and tossed it onto the ground. Several of its contents, mostly vials of various chemicals, dumped out onto the floor.
“What’s this?” Sapphire asked.
“A diversion.” She placed her hands together, and then upon the backpack. Blue flashes of lightning shot out from the sack, as it and the contents inside began shifting to take the shape of a human. Six took off her coat, and helmet, placing them upon the lifeless body.
“I’ll lead them off our trail, we’ll meet up on Baker Street, alright?” Six said, taking out the SMD, which took the shape of a knife. She jabbed the blade into her shoulder, and everything went black for a moment. The next thing either of them knew, the blade was stabbed into the dummy, which began moving on its own.
Sapphire gasped. “I can move! I’m back in control?”
“That’s right.” The dummy said, standing up. “Ugh, this body is so stiff.. Don’t keep me waiting, alright?” Six reached over, and pulled Sapphire’s MagiTech glove off her hand.
“Hey, wha-“
“I’ll give this back when we meet up again. Now act like you were trapped in the fire, I’ll draw the legion’s attention!”
The mechanical soldiers kicked in the door, and immediately began scanning the area. It didn’t take long for them to find the two, and identify the dummy as the culprit from the nun’s description.
“Target sighted, proceeding to apprehend!”
“Just try and catch me, you jannomapops!” Six yelled, running towards Aeon’s shattered window, and climbing out onto the street.
(Continued below)
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The soldiers were quick to give chase, just as Six expected. She lead them down an old abandoned road, and then threw her gloved hand towards them. “See ya later you tin ca-“ “Error.” The glove said. “Excessive mana usage can and will have harmful side effects on the body. The requested action would put you above the Mana Safety Limit. For your own protection, this action has been cancelled—please keep your FP level in mind in the future.” “Of course this body can’t use magic..” She grumbled, before immediately changing course—sprinting down a cramped alleyway. She quickly clasped her hands together, and then dragged them against the walls. After a short delay, spikes jut out from the surfaces she touched, impaling most of the machines chasing her.. But not all of them. A select few escaped with her out onto the main road on the other side. They got close—within arm’s reach—but with a smirk she clasped her hands together, and slammed them against the street. The road curved up, and formed a massive wall that spanned from building to building. As it rose, it caught one of the units by the stomach, hoisting him up, and cutting off the rest from following her any further. “But that doesn’t stop my alchemy.” She said confidently, before taking off. ——— Eventually she reached her destination. With no sign of Cobalt’s legion on her trail, she’d started casually walking down the sidewalk, looking around for Sapphire, but so far, no luck. And then something happened. An emptiness in the back of her mind, creeping over her body, and taking hold, like Death itself was calling her home. She stumbled, falling forwards, but catching herself on a nearby wall. “The jannolor is going on...?” She muttered to herself, as she took a few more steps forwards, leaning against the wall for support, but pretty soon that wasn’t enough. She collapsed completely, falling forwards at first, but then to the side into an alleyway, as she tried to catch herself on a wall again. “-ix! Si-! S—“ Six could vaguely hear a voice calling for her. “Sa..Saph..” She tried to say, but could barely move her mouth enough to talk. She didn’t know how long the sensation had lasted, but just as suddenly as it came, it began to vanish. The next thing she knew, she was on her hands and knees in an alley, with Sapphire worriedly looking over her. “Sapphire..?” “Six!? Are you all right!? What was that, why did you suddenly collapse like that!?” “I don’t-?” “Step away from the fugitive!” A robotic voice said from behind. The two turned to see a lone Cobalt soldier, with its gun pointed at them. Sapphire was still for a second, but she eventually did what the machine said, and backed away—but not before nabbing her glove back. “Why you little-!” Six began to say, before being cut off by the soldier. “Hands up!” Slowly, and cautiously, Six began to raise her hands into the air. [i]”Okay.. Got one way out of this..”[/i] She thought, before quickly slamming her hands together. The unit didn’t hesitate. “Firing!” “No!” Sapphire yelled, reaching out her hand. The bullets from the unit’s gun unloaded in Six’s direction, but none of them managed to hit, as a blue barrier appeared between them and soldier. Her barrier successful, Sapphire was quick to counterattack, snapping her fingers and calling down a bolt of lightning on top of the Cobalt unit. The machine helplessly collapsed to the side, in ruins, and Sapphire immediately turned her attention back to Six. “Come on!” She said, grabbing the SMD, and handing to Six. “I don’t know how to use this thing, you have to do that soul-transfer-thing you do, and we’ve got to go! Hurry, before more of them show up!” Six sat there in a daze for a moment, confused at what just happened. Still not fully processing it, she grabbed the weapon, and transformed into a small knife. With a few small incisions, Six’s soul was back in control of Sapphire’s body, and the dummy left as a lifeless decoy in the alley. They escaped with relatively little trouble; it was the dummy’s face on the wanted posters, not Sapphire’s. Not in any more danger, they had taken to somewhat aimlessly wandering the streets. They weren’t talking much, but not because they didn’t have enough to say, but rather the opposite; they both had so much to talk about that they didn’t know where to start. Eventually, though, as they walked down an empty sidewalk, Six found the question she really wanted to ask. “Why did you do that?” “What do you mean?” Sapphire responded. “You had your glove, and I was cornered by that machine. You didn’t have any reason to save me; that was your chance to run away.” “Run away?” Sapphire laughed. “What, do you think you’re holding me prisoner or something? I want to help you get your body back, too. As far as I’m concerned, we’re in this together.” Six stopped walking, and they stood there in the middle of the sidewalk silently. It didn’t take long for that silence to be broken, though, by the sound of quiet sobbing; someone too proud to cry out loud, but couldn’t stop themselves from letting a few tears run down their face. “Six, are you..?” Sapphire began to ask, before immediately getting cut off. “Thank you.” Six said, quietly. “I don’t know if I could do this on my own.” “..Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’m here, then, huh? Because that means you don’t have to.”
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5 RepliesBump!
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16 Replies
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Edited by The First Aifos: 2/13/2021 6:27:17 AM[b][i]Previously on Aifo-tar![/i][/b] [quote]Aifos is dead. Blaze drove his rapier through the Skull Heart, destroying the lich in a violent explosion, before he could cause any further damage! As the shadowy titan looming over Violette City collapsed, Kokonoe stood prepared on the sidelines. [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/256132653/0/0]She captured Aifos’ soul before it returned to the Boundary, and placed it within an android known as Xi-14.[/url] Seemingly free of Lamia’s foul influence, it seemed Aifos was back in action! However, [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/256132653/0/0]all was not well with the new android[/url]. Struck by mysterious blackouts caused by a strange phenomenon known as “soul dissonance”, will our new mechanized hero survive his new body? To make matters worse, [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/255648444/0/0]a mysterious individual calling herself Number Six seems to be hunting our hero![/url] Wielding the SMD—a sinister weapon designed for Skullheart Aifos by Lamia herself—she is no doubt up to no good! What could this woman want with Xi? Find out, now![/quote] [spoiler]I wish I could mark two posts as the answer. -.-[/spoiler]
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5 RepliesBump![spoiler]Hecking Spitifres [/spoiler]
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3 RepliesNice. Is this story influenced by RWBY and Full Metal Alchemist?
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[spoiler]I’ll do a proper “previously on Aifo-tar” reply when I get a sec, but here’s a link to Six/Sapphire’s introduction post for now. https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/255648444/0/0[/spoiler]