Mystic Syn

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Q: The Linear Thread (yet again) [Again, not that anyone will read or care about this lol; this is to just ease my conscious]

  Q stepped out of the chaotic room, closing the door behind her while tugging the IV stand with her. The nausea left a little bit as she did so and she let out a held breath. There were just too many things going on at the same time that Q couldn't understand even if she weren't trying to hold down whatever was left inside her stomach. She’s seen a lot of things in her time, but this has got to be one of the things that take the cake. Everyone can use a breather from that, even if it’s because she was not feeling well.
  She let out a shaky breath, striding over to the railing of the balcony. She laid her arms over the cool metal railings, sighing in relief as she felt more of her sickness fade away. It wouldn’t be for long, but Q would enjoy the peace as much as she could before she will undoubtedly feel sick again.
  Why did we come here again, boss? Krow asked out of the blue, causing her to jolt awake. Like why did we decide to leave home and go here, of all places? I know you’ve said the reasoning before, but I just want to make sure if it’s still true.
  Q rubbed her face, her now cold hand cooling down her warm face. “Because he was here and I needed to make sure that he wasn't luring anyone else away like he did with me.”
  Well, not to be obvious or anything stupid like that, he wanted you to come here to see these people.
  “Yes, but why did he do that? Why did he decide to bring me here when I already have enough problems at home? Why did he decide to take time to fiddle with reality for a bit to come here to antagonize me?”
  Krow fell silent, not sure what to say after that.
  She continued to rub her face, trying to stay awake enough to know if she were to have a random wave of nausea. It was taught to her that no matter what she was feeling at the moment or if she was half dead, she needed to be alert to know what was going on around her. She itched the annoying IVs, desperately wanting to take those cold needles out of her veins but knew that she shouldn’t. Q had never liked having those types of things in her, no matter if they were helping her or had saved her life. It always felt like sticks being stabbed into her veins and the image of that haunted her since the first time she had ever received an IV.
  “I never know why I'm here,” she heard herself say. “I don't know why I'm with this group of people, no matter how sappy they are with their friendship crap. I don't know why I need to protect them. I don't know why I haven't left them to protect them from me and my past. I don't even know if I'm the best choice for this kind of job, given my history. As you know, we got our butts handed to us on a silver platter earlier, and I can't even remember what in the name of Ko'ad happened.” She glared at the empty air. “But I'm guessing that you had something to do with it.”
  Oh, that. Krow sounded hesitant. Yeah, I kinda took over for a bit, boss. Not for long, just enough to deal some damage.
  Q rubbed her eyes. “You're telling me,” she said slowly, “that in the five to ten minutes that you took the reins, and so happened to have me forget the whole experience I might add, you had me on the brink of death? And you did it to ‘deal some damage,’ even though I cannot remember what the enemy looked like.”
  To be fair, boss, it's in the job description that you signed up for.
  “Not the whole possessing part!” she tried not to yell. Q pointed a finger in the air. “Look, I didn't ask to be this way. I didn't ask to be someone that I'm not. I didn't ask to protect people that I just met from an enemy that they don't even know exist. I certainly didn't ask to have a disembodied voice in my head that somehow takes control of me and causes me to die almost every time!”
  Q didn't notice till a few seconds later that she was gripping the railing so hard that her knuckles were turning whiter and whiter by the second. She laid her arms on the railing, taking in its soothing chill. She let out a breath, calming herself.
  “All I wanted was a normal life,” she said quietly, tears blurring her vision. She blinked them away. “I wanted to live in peace, with my family and friends for the rest of our lives. I wanted to live a life where I didn’t have to live on the run. That was all taken away from me because of the choices that I made years ago. I will never have that life again, and that is what I need to deal with, no matter how much I want to just…” she didn't finish her sentence.
  She hung her head, feeling defeated from her own emotions. Q had thoughts like these all the time, but to actually put them to words is another thing. She didn’t know that it would hurt this bad to try and articulate what she was feeling at the moment, but there were those few things in life that surprised her to this day.
  You need to get away from all this, boss, Krow finally said, changing the subject for her sake. Take some time to yourself for a few minutes or so, then come back to protecting your friends.
  “They're not my friends,” she said immediately. “But you're right. I need some time to myself for at least a few minutes.”
  Q straightened herself, then pulled out the IVs in her arm and placed them on the railing in front of her. A sigh of relief escaped her lips when Q took the bloodied needles out. It felt way better to have those needles out rather than in, no matter what good they were doing to her. Those needles and her could never agree on comfort. She applied pressure where the needles had been, stopping the droplets of blood from streaming down her arm. It wasn’t the best patch up job, but it would do in times like these.
  She gripped the balcony’s railings, the outdoors calling to her as she climbed over the cool railing. Q hung from the balcony, her backwards grip on the railing keeping her from falling into the unknown. It was her choice to make this moment hers or to let him win. It was a simple yet crucial choice that she had to make.
  A calm breath escaping her lips, then she let go.
  Q fell through the still air, wind and blood roaring in her ears. She closed her eyes and fell for a few more seconds, taking in the small bit of freedom that falling would grant her, before tapping into the waiting reservoir of power within her. Q snapped her eyes open, feeling her body shrink into a small body of a crow. Her clothes melted into dark feathers, except for a solidarity silver feather above the left wing. She easily took flight, away from the house and into the dark city.
  She only wanted to get away for a few minutes. That's all. She would be back.
  From her view, the city looked small compared to anything else and it was always a fascinating sight to see. The windows of light came from the many skyscrapers, almost too bright for her to look too much into. The people below went about their business without knowing what kind of world they lived in. It was almost baffling to know that the normal people could be so oblivious to the world around them, but they also wouldn’t be able to understand what kind of world they live in and what other many worlds there were to explore.
  She descended into the city, the chilly wind flowing through her wings. It was unnatural to go from having a human body to having one of a crows’, but she would eventually get used to it. Q remembered the first time when she had attempted this. It didn't feel right the first time and it still didn't feel right years later, but a tool didn't need to feel right to be useful. Nothing needed to feel “right” in order for it to be useful to her now.
  Feeling a bit sick, Q descended and landed in an alleyway before turning back to her normal form, clothes and everything back on her. She immediately threw up whatever was left inside her stomach when she set down on the ground. She groaned, her vision going fuzzy. Q leaned against the cool brick wall next to her, trying to regain her bearings. It's been a while since she's gotten this sick. A film of sweat coated her forehead as she gasped hungrily for air.
  “Whatever that doctor gave me,” she said softly, wiping the corner of her mouth, “it did not agree wi––”
  Something immediately socked her in the jaw before she could finish her sentence.
  Her vision blacked out for a second. Pain flared where she had gotten hit, causing her to fall to the ground as she clutched her jaw. Another wave of nausea hit her as she fell, causing whatever else was left in her to come out on the ground in front of her. Q grunted in pain, feeling the little strength that she had leaving her.
  “You got a lot of guts coming here,” a new voice came from behind her. “Not after what you did to me and my family.”
  When her vision cleared, Q looked up behind her to see someone that she hadn't seen before in her life.
  It was a young man, not that much younger than herself yet a bit taller than her. He was staring down at her with cold dark blue eyes filled with anger. Although he had a smile on his face, his pose showed anger towards her for what reason that Q didn’t know. He had a hood up over the rest of his head, keeping himself mostly hidden away from her view except for his eyes. Nothing about this boy reminded Q of anything or anyone. What did she do to him?
  “Look, kid.” Q shakily got up on her feet as she looked him over. “I don't know who you are and you don't know who I am. It’s just better for the both of us to just leave each other alone.”
  The young man's smile melted and changed to one of pure rage. Was he angry because she couldn’t remember who he was? He raised a hand and slapped her across the face.
  Q stumbled back, but didn't fall. Her cheek stung for a bit, but it wasn't anything that she couldn't handle. She raised her hand where he had slapped her, breathing deeply. Her vision went fuzzy for a second. Q looked back at the young man, whose whole frame was shaking with anger from what she could see.
  “You took everything from me!” he yelled, the shadows clinging to him now. “You may not remember me, but I remember you. I remember like it was yesterday.”
  Through Q's clearing vision, an arsenal of ghostly blue blades came out of the boy's back. It looked like it was being held by some sort of string, even though she couldn’t tell if there was anything helping it hang in the air. Q couldn't tell if there were multiple blades or something that her mind was playing tricks on. Each of the blades looked so intricate that it couldn't have been from her mind. She might have a broad imagination, but she couldn’t possibly make something up like this.
  The blades shot towards her, zipping through the air with precision right at her.
  Q mustered enough energy to step out of the way, the ghostly blades missing their target. She was surprised that she had managed to find that energy to stay up and step out of the way without falling. She needed to conserve this energy if anything, especially if she was going to get in a fight.
  But she studied the blades in front of her, raising an eyebrow at them. As she had noticed before, they all were different and intricate from each other. One had waves like the sea, flowing to a certain direction and glowed with a slightly brighter blue light than the rest. Another one looked to be a one-edged blade and was perhaps too tall for the young man to be carrying, let alone using, but yet it was here and he was controlling it. There were more, but she didn’t think that she had the time to truly study them all.
  There were about seven to ten blades that had all tried to strike her, and somehow each of them were different from the others. They all looked to be as sharp as her own blades. It was quite the interesting power, and she hadn't seen something like this in a long time, not since––
  WHAM
  Q had been too distracted by the blades that she basically forgot that the boy was there. He had grabbed her by the collar and slammed her against the brick wall. A coughing fit erupted from within her, blood coming up this time than already eaten food.
  The young man held her there. He stared her down with dark eyes, bloodlust shining brightly despite the darkness. “You really don't remember me?” he said, a snarl coming into his voice. “You don't remember murdering the Naito's, Angel of Death?”
  “Naito?” she asked, looking up. “I don't remember any Nai––”
  A wave of memories flowed into her mind's eye and then she remembered what this boy was talking about.
  She was standing on top of bodies in a vacant living room, about three of them to be exact. Q had felt little to no emotions that day, only the need to obey what command that had been given to her by His Highness. She felt no remorse towards the dead family as she might have before, but she had only gotten used to doing this and seeing the results. She had done what was commanded of her down to the letter, and she had asked no questions. It was only now that she wanted to know why Highness had wanted the family eradicated, but she will never know why he wanted it to be so.
  Q had been ready to leave the house till she heard movement from one of the closets. Immediately, her long silvery, one-edged blade fell into her hand in a puff of black smoke. She had stalked over to the closet and opened the door with swiftness to find a little boy cowering from the blade. Her eyes had widened in surprise when she lowered the blade. Nothing had prepared her for this kind of encounter.
  His dark blue eyes had borne into her, showing pure terror. Those same eyes were looking on her presently, with bloodlust in its gaze instead of terror. This was that same boy from so long ago, from her actual home.
  “Ji,” she whispered, remembering the boy's name. The one that she had saved. It was in that moment of clarity where she had been able to access her emotions and finally figured out that she had not wanted to murder anyone else. He was the one where she had realized that this was not what she wanted in life, but didn’t know how to change it.
  She had left the boy be in the empty living room with his dead family. She had spared his life although it probably would have been the better choice to end his life right then and there. Q couldn't have made herself kill a child that young, so she left him with his slaughtered family. But that was years ago, in a land that was far from this one. She couldn’t have possibly remembered that all these years later.
  Ji smiled wickedly. “So you do remember me.”
  Blood streamed down the corner of her mouth as she weakly coughed. “Yes,” she said. “I saved your life. Isn't that enough for you?”
  He growled, then slapped her. “You left me with no family,” Ji seethed. “No one to look after me. It happened that someone had conveniently opened a portal to this world where people understood and took care of me. Ko'ad gave me that chance to live to see you suffer for what you have done. Turns out that you have quite the record.”
  “I've always had a record, no matter where I am,” she spat weakly.
  “As I have found out.” The ghostly blades surrounded him, cresting around his head with the sharp tips pointing towards her bruising face. “Now, name one reason why I shouldn't end your horrendous life right now.”
  Q raised her head at the blades, again amazed by how he was able to summon such intricate blades. She bowed her head towards him, searching within herself for something. Anything. But she couldn’t find anything to say to him to make him not kill her right now.
  “As I thought.” Confidence showed in Ji's stance as he had won. “You've grown weak like the rest. If you hadn't taken everything from me, I would like you live in that weakness and misery, but alas: Ko'ad works in mysterious ways.”
  He raised his hand, the blades following his motion. Before he could make the motion to send the blades her way, Q's hand moved with inhuman speed as she snatched his hand in the air. She looked up at Ji, smoke trailing from the corner of her eyes. She gave him a ghost of a smile as her eyes faced from her normal sapphire to a deep black. She had tapped into the reservoir of power that she had been conserving, giving this tap a bit bigger than the last.
  “That's where you're wrong,” she said in a distorted voice as Q let Krow take over. “I'm not the one that has grown weak.”
  Ji's eyes widened in fear when Q twisted his wrist the wrong way, causing him to howl in pain. With a single enchanted push from her other hand, she had sent him flying into the wall on the other side of the alleyway. He hit the ground hard a few feet away, rolling over as he groaned in pain.
  Krow breathed heavily through Q, feeling as if she could take on anything that was sent her way. They both knew that that thought process would end them up in a ditch dead. Yet they stood up straight, their pure black eyes full of distaste towards the young man. They both considered bringing out their own blade, but decided against it. That would only end in disaster.
  Ji turned over to glare at her, anger replacing his confidence. The bloodlust had grown in his gaze as he got up on his feet, his blades following his motions, cresting around him yet again. The blades ghostly blue light glowed brighter, as if it was mimicking his emotions. He breathed heavily as he considered her, raising his hand to strike her with his blades.
  “Don't even try it,” Krow said with a hard expression, thrusting their hand out to produce the pure black ribbons of pure energy. They shot from their fingertips zipping towards the young man, plunging themselves into his shoulders without a second thought.
  Ji cried out in pain when the ribbons drove themselves into him, but couldn't fall to the ground as the ribbons were connected to Q's fingertips still. Krow gave a wicked grin as they pulled their hand back, Ji's body following their motions. Without even thinking about it, they raised their hand up and threw the body against the wall behind him.
  Krow heard a discernible crack coming from that direction and couldn't help but give a devilish smile. Remaining their grip on him, they strolled over to the cowering young man. They leaned over the body, tilting their head as they saw him turn over to look at her with fear trickling into their eyes. Satisfaction blazed within them as they saw Ji on the ground cowering away from them, but the feeling soon passed after a few seconds.
  “The Angel may not have gotten better at feeling remorse with every death that she's caused; in fact she's probably going to feel horrible about everything that she's done for the rest of her life and I won’t deny that,” Krow said, peering down at him. “But at least she has more honor than you. She gave you the chance to live while she continued to die internally. She figured out what she was doing before she could continue.”
  Ji tried struggling against the energy ribbons, but Krow tightened their fist. He cried out in pain again, anger showing through his eyes. “She killed without reason,” he grunted, the anger turning into fury. “My honor is not the one in question here.”
  They shook their head. “You don't understand what she had to go through and what honor she had to sacrifice to get where she is now.” A little bit of emotion showed through their eyes. “But you're right: Ko'ad moves in mysterious ways for her and you. He gave you the chance to live when she hasn't. He made sure that you were able to choose for yourself while He didn’t for her. Now make that choice to live life to the fullest rather than mope around in the past. That will affect your future, whether you like it or not.”
  Krow turned and started to walk out of the alleyway, slowly giving control over Q but not quite yet. They unclenched their fist, letting go of the ribbons' grip on Ji. The ribbons disappeared in a puff of black smoke. They heard him start to cough, but made no move towards them.
  “You don't have to forgive her,” Krow called back to him, waving their hand in farewell, “but you can't let your anger blind you from what really matters. Once you figure that out, you'll go places you've never dreamed.”
  No words came from Ji as Krow and Q left him in the alleyway with his injuries. They didn't say a word to another as Krow lent the strength for Q to morph into a crow. They flew away without another word, back to protecting those she had promised herself to protect.