Coping. (Post Prophecy)

"Well, if he's sending the elite," Bart said, frowning, "Shouldn't it be us that should be in a very tight situation at the moment?" Bart waited for an answer, quietly, still quite stunned. Did the Lord really think that he had to send the whole elite? Was Shadow really that good? Is she still as good? I mean...

Shadow was still pacing, trying to think. She stopped, looking at Kia.
"Kia, you'd better get back to the Guild before anyone realises that you're missing."
"Yes, Wolf," The assassin said, taking a few running strides before jumping out the window, grabbing hold of a rope she had used to abseil down.

Looks like I won't get my answer, Bart thought. Dominique looked down. "What do we do?" she said, looking slightly worried. "What do we do?" Bart repeated, looking at Dominique with one eyebrow raised, "We're going to do something all right, but I'm not sure what." Bart turned to Shadow. "I think Shadow would have an answer that would be more appropriate than mine, because I have no skill in this sort of stuff, whatsoever."

Shadow had resumed her pacing, trying to think.
"We can't reason with them, I don't want to kill them, sending them to another dimension's not an option..." She started to rattle off half-thought-through ideas, not really noticing what she was saying.

Bart repeated after Shadow. "We can't reason them, that's for sure, you don't want to kill them, that's your choice, and I don't think you would have enough control over your magic -no offence- to send them to another dimension, because, the way I'm thinking, your powers are still limited, and taking them to another dimension may... Take... Alot... Of control."

Shadow ran a hand through her coal black hair, growling in frustration.
"I don't think I have any option but to take them down," She said, glaring at the floor in her pacing. She didn't want to bring down people that she had trained with for years.

Bart looked down, also. "He sent them to us. He's the one risking their lives. Who says we have to bring them down? Without the elite, at his current disposal, I don't know, it seems that he is left unprotected. Unless there are more. And anyways, it's true that it is quite harsh to go directly for the King at chess. We better go by your way, Shadow." he finished his sentence, then took a deep breath for air.

"The Elite assassins are blind to anything but the Lord's orders. They'd rather kill themselves than go back to him with a mission unsolved." Shadow said, running a hand through her hair again. In her anger, the demoness kicked out at a table, not even caring about the pain in her foot at doing so.

Bart jumped slightly as the shock between the foot and the table was heard, as a loud crack in the air then echoed. Bart looked at the cracked table, and lifted his eyebrows. Neat strike. Wait, I should be more worried here, shouldn't I?
"So, basically, we're supposed to kill them all, as we did for the kraferrs at the beginning of my last quest," Bart answered, "Great."

"Don't talk about it like that!" Shadow snapped, her eyes narrowed. "I don't want to kill some of the pople I held closest to me! We guarded each other's backs when the military stormed our old base, we helped each other on missions!"

"Shadow," Bart answered, slightly frowning, "Do you honestly think that you are the same, after your little event in the prophecy? I mean, even your family thinks you are someone else."
Bart looked at Shadow straight in the eyes. He was being serious. Bart knew that this was Shadow in front of him. Her personality, he recognized it.
But do the others do?

Shadow looked back at Bart, realising that he spoke the truth. Her eyes started to glisten with unshed tears until a couple spilt over, leaving her with a sob. Quickly, the demoness got a hold on herself, running to her room.

Bart lifted his eyebrows. "Er..." he bgean, hesitating, "Did I say something wrong?"
Dominique let out a huge sigh. "Boy, you sure are dim-witted," she said. Bart glared back at her. "You really don't know how to talk with females," she continued. Bart rolled his eyes.
"Honestly, I don't think that Shadow is that female," Bart began.
"She does have female physical features, Bart," Dominique interrupted before Bart could complete his sentence.
"Yes, I'll admit that that is very obvious for a male, thank you, but you didn't let me finish my sentence. Mentally." Bart continued. Dominique rolled her eyes, then walked over to Shadow's room. She peeked out by a small split between the door and the wall. "Shadow? Are you ok?" Dominique asked.

Shadow was sitting in her basket, her knees hugged to her chest, silver vambraces strapped to her forearms to stop the resulting outbreak of her magic as she cried quietly. Wraith was turning tight circles around the demoness, trying to figure out why she was upset.

Dominique glared at Bart, and rolled her eyes. She walked to Bart very slowly. "You better present your excuses, Bart," she said, quietly.
"What? Is she..." Bart didn't finish his sentence. He knew what had happened. "She is." he finished. He walked to Shadow's room. He put his ear against the door. Then he was really sure. He felt sorry, and depleased with himself. He knocked quietly on the door.
"Erm... Shadow... May I come in?" he asked.
Dominique mouthed at Bart 'Just get in', and Bart rolled his eyes, and opened the door, closing it quietly behind him. He approached Shadow. "I didn't want to make you..." he began. He spotted the bracelets. Then he knew she was really upset.

Shadow used the base of her palms to dry her eyes, biting her lip to prevent any more tears from spilling. She took a deep breath, standing up, her eyes cast to the ground. Her black hair fell over her face, hiding her expression from view.
"Everything I thought I could hold on to is being ripped from my heart, all because of this stupid prophecy." She said, her voice cracking in the effort not to cry.

Bart looked down also. He approached Shadow, and hugged her, hesistantly at first. He closed his eyes, also. "Yes," he whispered back, "But isn't it you who said to live on with your life, even though the worst events might occur?" Bart answered, reminding himself of the kraferric catastrophe. He shook the memories out of his mind, not wanting to feel even more depressed than he was at the precise moment.

Shadow nodded slowly.
"I apologise, I guess it's just the fact that I just can't let go of the past." She murmured. "My family and I fought hard to be together, and now they've rejected me."

"You don't need to apologise," Bart said, letting go of her, "I mean, we all get caught by the past sooner or later. And I'm almost in the same situation. Except I've always been with my family, but until I got my quest, I have rejected them. It's kinda the opposite, but still in relation to your current situation."
Bart looked up at Shadow, his dirty grass green eyes glinting, "Things in your life will bring events, some being very unfortunate, I have to accept, such as this one. But I think that it would be better to try and stay, clinging to life while we can."

Shadow swallowed hard, taking as deep a breath as she could with her pinned-together ribs.
"Thanks," She said quietly. "I guess I should just accept that I need to distance myself from everything about my past." Her eyes drifted over to the small chest in the shadowy corner of the room. She walked over, opening it and drawing out a photo album. Flipping throug hthe pages, she showed Bart a picture of a smiling, black haired woman hugging a five year old child. Despite the fact that the child's hair was streaked liberally with dark purple and black and her eyes were a marbled mess of blue and purple, it was still fairly obvious that the emotionless child was Shadow.
"That's my mother, Arella..."

Bart gently took the photo album, looking at the woman. He smiled slightly, then looking up at Shadow. Bart lifted his eyebrows as he looked back at the photo, then back at Shadow. He laughed quietly to himself. "Heh," he began, "It's weird that you look more like her only after the prophecy." Bart looked back at the woman. A family, that's what Shadow once had. Same for me. And, she's treating Dominique and I like her family. Bart smiled to himself again. "Why did you say that you weren't going to get closer to your past, and then, just after, take a photo of your mother?" Bart asked, hoping he wasn't going too far.

Shadow bit her lip.
"Because I know that I can't let go of my past, not when I have so much of it." She murmured.

Bart tried to comfort Shadow by smiling back at her. You can't really ever let go completely of your past," Bart began, "The past is what makes you you. If you lost it, you wouldn't be you. And that's what I like about it."

Shadow smiled slightly at Bart, her violet eyes still gleaming with unshed tears.
"Thank you," She murmured.

- I got to walk the dogs now =( Back in about an hour. -

Bart approached Shadow, hugging her again. His heart hudded violently against his rib cage. Must be the side effects of my recent demonic transformation, he thought. Little did he know that he was only partially right. "Welcome," he said, quietly.