Ashraeh stumbled in the darkness. What's in this room? So big. The darkness seemed to go on for forever. She couldn't see a thing. Not at all.

"Oh! They're there!" Rose smiles, as her Delinera Blasphemia indicates Aliidan was extremely close by, as was William. "I missed you guys!" Rose shouts, jumping onto Aliidan and William, 'glomping' them, so to speak. The group was back together again and now much more informed on what was happening with the castle.

Someone was attempting to hijack and keep the castle for themselves. They were requested to protect it.

Aliidan, remembering that Rose had a paction, frowned as Rose glomped her and Will.
"uhm... Rose? Can I Talk to you for a minute? In Private?" without waiting for an answer Aliidan dragged Rose off towards a room a little ways off. Closing the door she turned towards Rose with a serious expression on her otherwise goofy face.
"Rose, be honest with me here. You pactiod with Will... So answer this: Do you love Will?" Aliidan asked seriously, her friendly voice not so friendly anymore.

(Hehehe! It's starting!)

Ashraeh somehow saw Aliidan drag Rose off. normally she wasn't nosy, but this was very peculiar. Using her amazing powers of being so plain no one notices her, Ashraeh tiptoed over the the room, and laid her ear on the door.

"This is so shameful!" Ashraeh thought to herself.

"Eh? O-Of course not...! We're just friends, what're you talking about?" Rose backs away slowly, she was slightly flustered. She of course, never actually thought about liking Will. She always thought of him as a childhood friend, but now... have these feelings extended themselves? No. That's not possible. "I just... don't know..." She thinks to herself, clenching her chest.

She then looks up at Aliidan. "W-wait! I'm not the only one who's made a pactio... Rie and Ashraeh did, too." She attempts to change the subject.

Aliidan eyes turned stern as she slammed her hand down hard on the door to keep Rose from escaping. "Rose! Focus with me here! This is not about them, its about us! You, Me and Will! The Two of you are my only real friends and it has hurt me deeply that you never even CONSIDERED to confide in me that you were going to pactio! Answer my question. No dodging. No changing the subject. One. Plain. Answer." Aliidan's voice was hard as she spoke, a tear falling from one scarlet eye. This was it, this would decide one very important moment in her life.

Rose jumped back at Aliidan's reaction. She didn't know what to say or do, she's never seen Aliidan like this. "I..." She begins to speak, walking over to Aliidan. "I might... I think I do... I'm sorry for not telling you... I'll only tell you since you're my best friend." She walks over to Aliidan, giving her a heart-warming hug.


"...What about you?" Rose asks, this time she wasn't changing the subject. She wanted an honest answer, too. She held her tears back, she forced herself to speak though there was a slight quiver in her voice.

Ashraeh thought to herself as well. It's true, William was her friend, but her liking him? Never! Not in a thousand years! She thought about Rose and William living together...but this only made her...something. She couldn't quite put her finger on it though...

...No. It can't be. It made her...angry. The thought of Rose and Will together, made her angry. Ashraeh wildly shook her head, as if to banish the thoughts from the back of her mind. But still they pestered, festering in her brain, growing larger and larger and larger. This time, she thought of Aliidan and William. But this made her angry as well. Next, she tried Rie. She couldn't see that happening. Lastly, Jess. For some reason, it didn't make her angry. It....infuriated her.

Ashraeh gasped loudly. Her heart twitched. No! She was...falling in love...

But with William? No! I just can't be! Her eyes grew wide with disbelief.

"You know you've been suppressing it." a voice called out.

Ashraeh whirled her head around. William, Rie, and Jess were still there, but frozen. She faced forward, and the door she had been leaning on was gone. In its stead, stood....Ashraeh...herself.

"Wh-what's going on?! Who are you?!" Ashraeh asked.

"You know what's going on. You know who I am. Hearhsa."

Ashraeh's eyes grew even wider. Not her! Not now!

"Ha ha ha~ How cute. Ashraeh has herself a boyfriend~ This is just what I need to break free." Hearhsa licked her lips maniacally.

Aliidan relaxed into Rose's hug as a few more tears escaped her eyes. The moment was over and she now knew enough. Enough to make a very important choice.
"No. Will is a Friend, perhaps even a brother... And Annoying at that. But I do not love him. Not like that. And now that I know this much I can't possibly pactio with Will. Not when knowing You actually love him. You're too much of a friend for me to do that." Aliidan said, her voice filled with sadness of a diffrent sort. With this final act, Aliidan had left the close knit group that she had shared with Rose and Will. Will and Rose would hopefully move onto something even greater, but Aliidan knew, in her heart, that she could not be a true part of that. As her tears continued to fall silently Aliidan realized that the relationship between herself and Rose had changed... How curious, it seemed like a lifetime since they had been in the clearing... That rainy day.

FLASHBACK!
So on rainy days, when training was cancelled, Aliidan would go outside anyway. It didn’t make sense to a lot of people, she hated getting sick. But when it rained, she went out and did everything that would be done on a normal day. Like it wasn’t raining. With days like this, she would get Will to come to spar with her. And Will wouldn’t deny her a chance to show his skill. So on days when it rained, Aliidan and Will would always spar, and on those days too, Rose would come and she would watch. They would spar and dance with each other in fluid and graceful movements, and Rose would sit on a stump and watch, her blue orbs sparkling and following every part of it.
On rainy days, they would do this until Aliidan and Will got tired. Until Rose got exhausted just from watching them move so quickly with attacks. And then, Rose would get up and move to wherever they were, and together they would lie on their backs, regardless of how muddy and wet the grass was. They would lie on their backs, hair spread out between them, so close their heads were touching.
They would watch the sky, and each drop that fell from it to various places of their bodies.
During this time, sometimes they were completely silent. Will would listen to Aliidan’s breathing, Aliidan would listen to Rose’s breathing, and Rose would listen to Will’s breathing. But sometimes, sometimes she could hear Aliidan’s laboured and unsteady breathing, so much unlike Will’s steady and soft breathing. It was easier to hear Aliidan’s breathing when they were silent like this. Will would agree that they even breathed differently. Will in long, breathless strokes, and Aliidan in short, ragged ones. And sometimes they both could hear Rose’s breathing. Soft, and steady. Quiet and peaceful. And when they could hear her breathing, they were able to relax all that much more.
But sometimes they weren’t silent. On those rainy days, Aliidan would talk to fill some silence because she didn’t want to hear the thunder, or acknowledge any lightening moving across the sky blindingly. Aliidan would talk, Will would throw in an absent comment here and there, and Rose would nod her head to both of them, and they spent some hours, talking about everything, yet talking about nothing at all. Sometimes they were able to sit out, watching fat drops of rain fall on each other, soak their bodies, and forget about everything else except the rain and the breathing of the other person.
They had all believed it was supposed to be this way. And if you asked Allidan, maybe even meant to be this way. Destined to be, almost.
So when Aliidan had brought up the topic one day, while they sat and listened to rain fall and cover everything, neither one of them were surprised. In all honesty, they had thought the same thought before.
“..What do you mean, Aliidan?” Rose whispered, her voice getting tiny from disuse.
“I mean, maybe there was a reason that we ended up like this, something meant to happen.” She said slowly, stretching out every word like it was a sentence by itself. Will had chuckled softly, his voice rumbling along with the echoing thunder.
“Destiny?” He whispered throatily, experiencing the same issue as Rose. Their voices were so dry…
“Yes, I mean destiny. We were paired together for a reason!” She squeaked, and then closed her eyes to let a flash of lightening strike past her eyes. She didn’t like lightening as much as she liked the rain, something that many found odd. Thunder came second on her list, the rumble reminded her much of Will’s quiet voice, silent but demanding in every other aspect.
“Other than our grades, Allidan?” Rose mumbled through wet lips, drops were coating her face, sticking to her eyelashes, so she kept them closed. She relied on her hearing to follow the conversation.
“Besides all that, there’s a bigger reason. Like, we complete each other almost.”
Will laughed at that. Aliidan made a noise.
“I’m serious! I mean, we’re like…a complete person like this. Like, the three of us make something complete, rather than relying only on ourselves. Like… a trinity or something...” Allidan had furrowed her eyebrows as she spoke, her voice trailing off a sentence. She wasn’t explaining this as good as it had shown up in her mind, and she maybe thought that she shouldn’t have brought it up, it was just a fleeting thought from her mind, as most things are. But then she felt Rose nod her head in thought, and she recognized that she was really close to them. Rose on her right and Will on her left. They were really close to each other. She wondered what their hair must look like, sticky and wet and tangled into each other.
“I understand Aliidan. You mean like the 3-part trinity saying. What was it…mind, body and soul?” Rose supplied helpfully, and then coughed after she spoke. Her throat was really bothering her so she parted her lips and allowed some of the rain to fall into her mouth and wet her drying tongue. Clear, and tasteless, the rain always was. She felt Aliidan’s head move vigorously to her suggestion.
“Yes, that’s what we are, the Trinity. We’re like this for a reason.” She said thoughtfully, her voice energizing and excited. She heard Will make a noise in the back of his throat, and more importantly felt his head shake slightly.
“Oh, is that so? So then, what parts do we all play in your Trinity?” Will mused, clearing his throat as Rose had, but keeping his voice low and soft, a softer rumble, Aliidan noted.
“Well…” Aliidan frowned.
Rose licked the moisture from her lips.
There was a silence for a while, while Aliidan thought of what to say. Rose kept her eyes closed, and tried to listen for breathing. She caught Will’s long breathiness for a moment, before Aliidan started talking again.
“Well, if I had to say, I’d think that Rose would be the mind.” She said softly, her bright voice eased, being careful on what to say from here.
“..The mind, Aliidan?” Rose hadn’t really been paying attention until now; too busy enjoying the lightness of lying out on slippery grass, the falling rain and her soaking clothes. It all felt so nice…
“Because you’re so smart.” She said flatly, as if that were a given.
Rose giggled at Aliidan’s tone.
“No, really! I think out of all of us, you’re probably the smartest out of all of us, and not just in that academic way either. You’ve got more wisdom than us, and by far the best control on emotions. And I’m pretty sure about this, but you make very good assumptions and connections between things during missions. Like, putting information together, or maybe just figuring out an effective plan. It’s all so creative and…dynamic…in a way.” She said, and then closed her eyes again, listening to the banging of God’s drums as the thunder washed over the three of them. She sighed outwardly.
Rose blinked and drew her lips in a line. Then she blinked again. She had never thought of herself that way, and if the flush across her face was any indication, she was quite flattered too.
“Wow, Aliidan. I...wouldn’t have guessed you thought that way of me…what...what do you think, Will?” She couldn’t help but push Will into this conversation. It was about all of them anyway.
“I’m happy she could use big words like ‘academic’ and ‘dynamic’.” Will murmured and turned his head to the side, allowing pellets of washed rain to hit his cheek and run down his neck.
“Aiyah! Do you agree with me or not?” Aliidan grumbled.
“Yes...”
More lightning. Aliidan closed her eyes.
“Yes, I agree.” Will sighed. Rose murmured a gracious ‘thank you’ and blushed some more, now fully attentive to the conversation.
“Well, if I get to play the mind, then Will gets to play the body.” Rose suggested, blinking more.
“Are you just saying that because you like Will’s body?” Aliidan asked and Rose vehemently shook her head.
“No! I’m serious, I mean, Will playing the body part of our Trinity.” Sakura repeated, making herself clearer, but the thought of Will’s body did make her blush again.
“I’m the body?” Will echoed out.
“Yeah, I think you can play the body, being so skilful and fluent in movement. Definitely the better one at agility than you and I, Aliidan.” Rose said, trying to crane her neck to see Aliidan's reaction. She could only see her thick eyelashes, pink, supple lips, and those deep red eyes of hers.
Aliidan thought this over. “Yeah, I guess. I guess he would fit the body part of our Trinity. But I can beat him at agility some days.”
Will snorted jokingly. “So I get to play the body then, huh?”
“Yep, you’re the body.” Rose smiled and then giggled at her own sentence.
A lengthier silence followed after that, their minds stirring with thoughts.
“Guess what that makes you, Aliidan?” Will broke the silence this time.
Aliidan thought for a moment, eyes blinking. “….the soul?”
Rose nodded. “The soul.”
Aliidan paused, and then smiled, feeling her eyes get a bit wetter than before. But that was probably just the rain in her eyes.
“I think you’re the perfect kind of energy to fuel my 'mind' and Will’s 'body'.” Rose continued.
“Energy?” Aliidan flushed. “..The soul…”
Rose nodded along with Aliidan, and then they all got silent, bodies cold, but faces warm.
They were so, so warm.
“I love you guys.” Rose blurted without thinking, only trying to cherish this moment. She could feel their might not be any more like this.
Aliidan didn’t hesitate in response. “I love you guys too.” Then she outstretched her hands and grasped Rose’s tiny fingers in one hand, and Will’s elongated fingers in the other. Neither one of them moved their hands; instead Rose’s other hand moved and cupped Will’s hand in hers, intertwining fingers with the both of them.
“Our Trinity.” She whispered.
“Our Trinity.” Aliidan repeated.
“..Our…Trinity.” Will murmured, face hot.
And that’s how they sat in the rain on that day. That day that carved into their memories and each swore to each other to never forget. Never, ever forget…

"H-how can you say that...? You're just as important to me, Aliidan... If you ever leave, I don't know what to do. I'd never forgive you..." She also had tears in her eyes, still embracing Aliidan. She wouldn't allow it, not their friendship to change. She was slightly relived that Aliidan thought Will as more of a brother than boyfriend. Just like Rose felt Aliidan was a sister.

"You, if you don't feel any affection towards him... then there's nothing wrong with it, right? If you pactio with William? N-no! You have to! Because, you're my dear friend and I want our friendship to stay the same." She grabs Aliidan's shoulders and tilts her head with a radiant smile. "Don't you remember? We vowed to... as a trinity."

"Oh, don't worry, though. It's not like he's in any danger, or anything. At least, not from me...yet." Hearhsa laughed insanely.

"Not...Not you!" Ashraeh cried out loud, and went into the fetal position. This...this monstrosity! Back!

"Don't you know? You can never be normal! Not with a past like yours." Hearhsa trotted over to Ashraeh. She looked at her sympathetically, then gave her a savage kick in her midriff. A dry sob escaped Ashraeh's throat. She leaned in closer. "And you can never be rid of me."

(Hey, all, I just want to know if it's okay if I swear in the next few posts?)

William wondered what Aliidan and Rose were doing in the room. He also wondered what the hell Ashraeh was trying to do, as she seemed like she was eavesdropping on them, but she couldn't be that kind of person. "A-Ashraeh, what're you doing?" He calmly asks, as she collapses into a fetal position.

"M-Master! Something's wrong with her," The panda shrills, "Is it an illusion? A spell?" Riro questions as she seemed to be having a hard time breathing.

Ashraeh suddenly stopped rocking, and quickly got up, as if disgusted with her actions.

"Oh. You must be the one. Die, you filthy bastard." Ashraeh coldly mutters. She pointed her hand at William, and her artifact shot freezing water at William, threatening to impale him on its sharp points.

Rie jumped in front of Will, her sword absorbing the magic water, something that surprised Rie a great deal, she had been planning to merely deflect it but this worked just as well.
"..." Rie stared in silence at Ashraeh, knowing that something was wrong but having no idea what it was exactly.

"Oh. This girl has some interesting spells." Using her artifact, Ashraeh sprayed water into the air directly in front of her. Then, using her Gelidus Capulus, she froze the water into the shape of a weapon; a peculiar sword with a segmented blade.

"Now," Ashraeh mocked, licking the blade, "Let's see what she can do~"

In an instant, the snake-like movements of the blade shot forth at William's neck, aiming for a clean kill.

William wandered why the girl was only aiming for him. ]"Thanks Rie," He pants, if it wasn't for her, he might have got stabbed. Ashraeh was obviously getting controlled, licking a blade wasn't her type of action. She was acting suspiciously. "We have to knock her out. She'll keep attacking us if we don't." William says, charging his gauntlets with lightning, he shundos behind her and does a soft palm thrust.

Of course the impact wouldn't hurt her, but it may paralyze her if she's hit.

"Foolish boy." With Ashraeh even turning to face William, she used her artifact in conjunction with Gelidus Capulus to erect several barriers that no human could ever shatter. Finishing, she froze herself...in an icy all body armor no material blade could penetrate.

"Where is your resolve? Do you even have one?" She asked mockingly.

Aliidan shook her head with a wierded out expression on her face.
"No way, Kissing Will would be like kissing my brother, It'd be too wierd and I wouldn't be able to look straight at him afterwards. I'll save my first kiss for someone special, thank you very much." Aliidan said and made a face. Seriously, pactio with Will would be way too strange for her... It was bad enough that he'd managed to get three girls already.

Rie dismissed her Shoryoutensei, the blade transforming into her pactio card again.
"Adeat." She said softly, the card quickly transforming into the Garyoutensei. Good. Rie could now go on the offensive. though she had to take care not to hurt Ashraeh.
"Lets see how that barrier of yours hold up to the pure destruction of a Fire Dragon..." Rie said as she struck the barrier harshly with her sword, flames errupting on the point of impact, the barrier visibly straining to hold that pure destruction wrought at bay, cracks, almost like if it was a mirror shattering, began forming, spreading outwards from the point of impact and filling with what seemed to be liquid fire...
"Well now, isn't this interesting..." Rie said quietly as she strained her muscles to put more preasure on the impact point.

"Wait..." Rose grabs Aliidan's hand forcefully, if it was like this their friendship may begin to drift apart simply because of a crush Rose has. She wouldn't let this happen. "Remember that song I sang to you on your birthday?" She smiles. Her gaze was intense and strong.

"You should never be afraid, because I hold both of my hands out to you. ♫" She sings softly, however her voice was beautiful like usual. "Share your tears with me, I'm here, I will always be right by your shoulder. Please lift your head, as you're never alone. Cry on my shoulder, I'll share my tears with you. ♪" She sings.

"...I will feel really bad if you don't pactio with him. You might feel really bad, like you're left behind... I won't let that happen, alright!? Because no matter what you do, visit a love hotel with him, fall in love with him... I'll always trust you. You're my best friend." Rose lets a tear leave her eye as she smiles happily. There was a bit of commotion now outside.

Jess sighed... As far as she was concerned how the people felt about each other should be the deciding factor as to whether they should pactio or not... "... That's what you think in your head Ali... It should be what you feel in your heart that you decide to do this sort of stuff based off of." She could see what was going on, and while she agreed with Rose she wasn't being forceful... Not in the same way at least... About how she felt about the situation.

(Jess, you do know Aliidan and Rose are in a totally separate room, right?)

(Also, Jess, in the same room you are in, William and Rie are being attacked by Ashraeh.)

"You think you can defeat a goddess? You insult me." Ashraeh spat. Using all her resources, she replenished her barriers. With unseen speed, frozen mist solidified around Garyotensai, effectively extinguishing its flames.

"The impertinance...!" Ashraeh formed an icy javelin, and it rocketed toward Rie's abdomen.

Warning, long post about dragons and swords and death and carnage. And Dragons.

Rie stared in shock as Garyoutensei, the strongest fire sword ever created, was wrapped in frozen mists. How very Stupid! This was the sword that had wrought destruction on a scale Unseen and unimagined upon the realm of dragons, forcing them to flee to various locations as their very world was consumed by the fiery rage and destruction of Ryuujin. Granted, not a single dragon had expected the young Ryuujin to be so mighty at only a hundred years of age. In thier arrogance they were unprepared, outmatched and ultimately destroyed. All save one. The Dragon Ryuujin never counted on his younger brother the Dragon Hyoriin. Hyoriin was a dragon of a much more diffrent cut than Ryuujin, preffering healing and protection over death and carnage. Hyoriin confronted his brother at the height of Ryuujin's power, when nearly all dragons had fallen to his onslaught. The two dueled for what even a dragon would call an Eternity until finally Hyoriin struck a mortal blow (the only real blow he had ever struck on anyone) on Ryuujin and Hyoriin, though virtually unscatched, nearly died himself then and there. As the two combatants laid there, dying of wounds, both mental and physical Amaterasu-ōmikami sent two of her servants, a Smith of the gods and a seal master. Ryuujin, too wounded and exhausted to fight could do nothing to prevent his sealing into one of the swords, where he would have to spend eternity, atoning for the deaths he had caused. Hyoriin was more than willing to grant his powers to the sword made for him and thus were created the legendary and mystical Garyoutensei and Shoryoutensei respectively. These were handed down to humans of 'pure enough spirit and resolve' until eventually the swords were lost in the sands of time...
Rie moved to deflect the ice javelin directed at her abdomen and in that moment the deafening roar of Ruyuujin, a roar feared even by gods. And thus the icy mists shattered and Garyoutensei flared to life even stronger (figure of speech for lack of better words). A disembodied voice spoke, powerful and ancient.
"Little Goddess! You know not the powers you tried to contain! I am Ryuujin! Greatest of Dragons! Most ancient of beings! You seek to hurt my wielder? I think not!" Ryuujin spoke mockingly as Rie batted the ice javelin away (granted, with some difficulty but still).
"Wielder! Strike hard and true!" and with those final words the presence of Ryuujin vanished, only to be replaced by Hyoriin. the sword in Rie's hands twitched as Hyoriin spoke.
"Wielder, do not falter, do not fear. You can win and your friend can be spared. Amaterasu-ōmikami will aid you." Rie nodded quietly as she prepared to strike again.