The world was hazy.
She felt something stinging her body which stripped away the haze of her mind. The first person she saw was her sister who had an inhumanly angry expression. It was from that expression that Isabelle understood where the pain was coming from and whined.
"LET GO! MY EAR!! SISSY!!" Isabelle whined as she tried to shake her sister's grip but the golden haired Esperonica was far too angry to let that happen.
"OH I COULD DO A LOT MORE YOU STUPID BRAT!" She growled, pulling the younger woman's ear harder than before. "WHAT ON GOD'S GREEN WORLD MADE YOU THINK YOU COULD FIGHT MICHA?"
"I WASS TRYING TO HELP!!" The younger sister whined, desperate for her sensitive ears to be let go "THE STUDENTS ARE IN DANGERRR!"
"AND YET YOU GOT YOUR ASS WHOOPED!" The older sister yelled, twisting the younger girl's ear. P.A.T.R.I.O.T was now focused on Micha, so any misstep from her little sister, who was a direct lieutenant under the public security commission, could get her taken away. It's true Isabelle didn't know, heck the eldest female was only just told about it over the phone by Mihael during the physical exam. However, that did little to dampen the older woman's anger. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO IS LOOKING AT MICHA?"
"What?" Isabelle asked, visibly confused by the words, causing the older woman to groan heavily as she let go of her sister and planted her shapely bum in the chair next to the hospital bed. Fortunately for them, they were in Reviver's personal medical office, not too far from the common nurse's office most students were used to. Here in this tiny room, the two were completely alone without a single peeping eye, and able to talk freely.
"P.A.T.R.I.O.T is thinking about drafting Micha into their forces." the golden haired woman grunted, a look of displeasure on her pretty face. "Apparently they want him on their side since he's connected to Amaxia."
"Bullshit!" the younger sister spat before receiving a sharp slap on her right cheek.
"No foul mouthing, do as I say not as I do." the older sister sighed leaning back in her chair, her face married with suspicious anger. "But you're right. those suit wearing assholes're shoutin' some malarky "
P.A.T.R.I.O.T. - An organization that takes on the 'dirty' jobs that come along with blessings in order to keep the world safe. If you catch their eye, for positive or negative reasons, you aren't having a good day. Both of the sisters and Mihael could attest to that... but one thing that was certain was that they never stepped in on something so..... trivial.
The Daycide district in YJ Harbor is ruled by the Amaxia gang, which is a relatively small district. In their territory, drugs were virtually eradicated and the streets were safer. Rather than fight between the tiger claws and mad gears, the Amaxia were enforcing peace between them.
To have a connection between the gang and Micha be the only reason they had to justify their intervention was like calling the FBI on a first grader who kissed his girlfriend. The word overkill didn't even fit this scenario.
"It doesn't make sense Ivy..." Isabelle sighed, seeing no real reason for such a tyrannical anti-terrorist organization to step in. "Did they raid Micha's apartment?"
"From what Mihael told me, yes, and it was clean." Ivy answered recalling the phone talk that she had with her nephew. "it was messy as you'd expect from one of Agatha's kids but still no contraband."
"Doesn't help." the younger blanchette huffed,hating that Micha was full of tricks. "There's no use in theorizing now. Micha is an unpredictable guy with his 'fragment combination' hack."
"Yeah." Ivy sighed leaning back, causing the chair to creak loudly. Although the golden haired woman wouldn't admit it she was beginning to regret not getting to know her nephew's half brother. There is a possibility that all the tragedy could have been avoided if she had cultivated a relationship with the young man. Shaking her head free of the past, a past she didn't want to remember, Ivy whispered "What ifs don't help."
"Oh! Why don't you ask Thompson, he is the representative of the empire to P.A.T.R.I.O.T." Isabelle laughed creating several cartoonish hearts with a blessing, only for the older female to growl animalistically. "Right, walked out on you, forgot, sorry."
XXXXX
"Plion verges!" Veronica exclaimed in a foreign language as she placed the stack of boxes on the table as the other female salivated. After her first hot shower, comfort food like pizza and wings was just what she wanted! Arranging the boxes neatly the brunette continued "Green boxes are nuggs, barbecue, blue one is breadsticks and orange one is stuffed crust pizza."
Teka swallowed the bite-sized entree covered in dark sauce with a roar, "Heck yeah!". She savored the smoky sweet flavor for as long as she could, surprising Veronica with how long it took to finish a single nugget. "SOOO GOOD!"
"You really like food." Veronica said slowly as Teka began to savor another nugget "you really really like food."
Realizing the presence of Veronica, the purple eyed girl tensed and blushed before quickly swallowing the food only to end up choking heavily.
"Ok calm down girl." Veronica instructed sliding a can of soda to her companion who drank it quickly relieving her of the suffocating feeling. "Act like you've had cheap food before."
"Cheap?" Teka coughed utterly perplexed by the other lady's words. "This is a meal fit for a king!"
"You must not know much about food. This is literally only sixty bucks. Chump change." Veronica sneered in an arrogant manner similar to the overseas comics she read. Contrary to what was shown in the comics, Teka did not start sucking up to her but instead dropped her jaw in shock. Confused, the brunette asked "What's with that face?"
"You think sixty dollars is chump change? That barely pays a light bill for us!" Teka screamed like a wounded tiger "AND YOU CALL THAT CHUMP CHANGE?"
"Yeah, I think most people do." Veronica nodded, making Teka more annoyed at the casualness of the remark. "I literally made that just by helping my dad clean his shoes. Are you a member?"
"What?" Teka screamed leaving her mouth exposed to the breadstick that was forced down her throat by a curse strand. Once again she gagged heavily.
"The throat game club." Veronica laughed as she took a bite of her pizza before sliding another sida to her companion. "Also if you think that, then how did you get into a school like YH, do you have a sugar daddy or something?"
"WHAT? NO!" the other female yelled before a look of anger flashed before falling to sadness. "I don't wanna be a night-time girl."
"I guess you don't have to be so depressed," Veronica teased after finishing her pizza and opening a soda. Then she said, "You remind me of Oma." Sensing the look from the other side of the table, she interrupted and said, "He's part of Micha's cult mafia." Amaxia's representative and underboss, he seems to be."
"Amaxia? Underboss?" Teka blinked, a look of abject fear crossing her face. It was well known that a ruthless gang ruled the dayside district of the neighboring YH harbor. In devastating efficacy, they managed to win peace between the neighboring counties of Westerlon and Aridon through a massive amount of martial force.
Since she grew up in Westerlon County, the birthplace of the violent Tiger Claws, she feared this gang more than those violent tiger claws. However, now she was here with a friend of their underboss. Was the food poisoned? Were they after her death? She had no connection to the tiger claws but here she was! Her luck was-
"Stop looking all panicked." Veronica instructed, noticing the obvious anxiety in the companion's face. "I'm not a part of Amaxia."
"Yeah, I get that." Teka laughed shakily, reaching for a breadstick with a trembling hand. "I just don't like gangs. They scare me."
"You really are a newbie eh?" Veronica sighed, slightly annoyed by the fear in Teka's voice. "Why are you even trying to be an agent?"
"Because I want to be a useful tool for Micha, my god." Teka responded. Her eyes swirled with some emotion but Veronica saw that emotion flickering like a campfire. "I also want to take down Mother Frost."
"Pretty high goal there." the brunette hummed, taking a sip of soda. "You know how dangerous that maniac of a mother is?"
"Yes." Teka nods before looking at her hand, the same one held by her father that day, "But it's personal."
"Yeah I've heard that before." Veronica sniffled, the memory of a gentle natured friend flashing in her mind. "He died to the villain he hunted."
"Ooh im-" Teka began before Veronica interrupted her with a cloud of peach-scented smoke.
"He's departed and dead." Veronica sighed, exhaling a surprising amount of smoke for a nineteen year old. Looking at the ceiling she could still see the crushed body "At least he died on his own terms. He would be disgusted by Micha now."
"Really?" the other girl asked, small embers of anger rising to her chest.
As Veronica remembered the two boys' childishness, she laughed, recalling a constant argument between him and Micha. Adding, "It was ironic that if anyone was able to beat Micha, it was that wrinkled stage magician." Smiling, the brunette continued, "Plus they'd argue over whose fault it was when they got punished."
As she considered a magician like the one at Tyrone's birthday party when she was three, Teka's mind came to a screeching halt. "How can a stage magician defeat my deity? It's impossible."
After taking a long, loud and rude sip of her soda, Veronica took a deep huff of her cigarette. In preparation for what would surely be a long and tedious session of teaching 'basic shit' to the poor girl, as Oma put it.
"Do you know about BEM?"
