The Land of Chaos: A Lost Past

Boreas blinked when he saw Batsu and gave a small wave, steadying himself in the air. "Hey man," he greeted casually. "...handling some things? Like...Madness things, or personal things?" He paused and his orange eyes blinked. "Does Cross even have personal things?" He doubted it. The guy was an emotionless weapon, if one were to ask Boreas, except maybe around Alice. But if it was a Madness kind of thing...wouldn't Batsu be helping him with that? "Is he delivering Madness to Silence or something?" he asked curiously, smirking when he noticed how Batsu was holding DK.

The raven haired male bowed his head when Batsu flew off, his shoulders dropping with his gaze. He slowly stood up and made his way down the main street to Silence's shrine and knelt in front of it, removing the blade and its sheath from his side and laying back in its proper place before bowing his head in reverence. Elysia would have scolded him for even touching the sword. She might have slapped him if she'd ever learned he'd taken it. His dark blue eyes closed as he sat in front of the shrine. He could almost hear their voices. The cheerful activity of the village during the day time, when the sun illuminated the mist and set the entire village aglow. Elysia would be tending to the village's food stock. On a day like this, him and Chridian would probably be out hunting, and Jahnna would be out collecting fruits with one of the younger girls or boys of the village. The mere thought made his heart break. Things were so different now. He could only imagine that him and Chridian would have been two of the individuals that would have been out hunting Madness at this time of day while Jahnna would have been out with a warrior of the village to protect her while her and another gathered food.

The onslaught of questions made him frown slightly. "Hello," he greeted. "He's doing something for Silence. He does not require my assistance, so I was instructed to return to you all."

DK frowned. "What if he runs into a creature of madness?"

"Cross can handle himself," Batsu replied. "Are you ready to fly?" When DK nodded, he let the child go and moved to give the change enough room to take his dragon form. He looked to Boreas. "Come on. Alice is probably curious to know where Cross is and Hunter is probably growing tired of Saionna's curiosity."

Boreas nodded when Batsu said that Cross was doing something for Silence. Sounded about right. And Batsu was right anyways. Stone hearted or not, Cross could without a doubt take care of himself. If not for himself, then definitely for Alice. "Alrighty, come on then," he said lightly, doing a casual backflip in the air while he was waiting for DK to turn back into his dragon form. Without bothering to wait for them, he started back towards the house at a casual pace. Once he landed, he saw Alice sitting on the porch looking more grumpy than he'd ever seen her before. She was sitting on the top step with her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands and a great big frown on her face. When she saw them land, she got up and ran over to Batsu, looking angry. "What did you do!" she asked, stopping in front of him. To be honest, Boreas thought that even her angry face was adorable. To him, it looked kinda like she was just pouting.

DK landed a split second after Boreas, followed by Batsu. The former God of Chaos looked at the girl with her onyx eyes as she yelled at him. He didn't think it was possible for her to get angry. DK seemed to steer clear of the situation, his expression surprised. Batsu's expression didn't change much. "I didn't do anything. It's what you did, Alice. You can't hide that from him. Why would you? He deserves his memories." Batsu had admittedly not really wanted his back. He'd much rather have enjoying living his life without knowing that he'd been betrayed by Izo. He didn't want to have Yukari's feelings. He wanted his revenge. Just the thought made him bristle ever so slightly. He knelt down in front of Alice. "I didn't mean to give him back his memories, but he asked for them and I wasn't going to lie."

When Batsu spoke, Alice looked ready to burst into a fit of tears, even if she did still look angry. "I did it because it's not possible to fix what happened to him!" she yelled. "And now he's going to be sad again all because of you! He's sad right now, I can feel it!" The white haired girl's onyx eyes grew glossy with tears. "There's nothing he can do to help them, why would you take him there?!" Even though she was about to burst into tears, Alice was trying to be tough and hold them back. Besides, she wanted Batsu to know she was serious about this. Why would he let Cross remember something like that? Did he want Cross to be sad?

"What do you mean it can't be fixed," he demanded. "What happened on the mountain?" DK shifted his gaze from left to right and then slowly started for the door. He didn't want to be here, listening to them argue. Enough had happened as of late and apparently Batsu had lied to them. He opened the door to see Hunter looking worried. DK moved past him to the stairs. Batsu shook his head. "Sad? Of course he is. He just found out that his entire village was turned to stone ages ago. You took that away as well as all the good memories. You left him with nothing. No time to grieve. No time to be upset. No, you just left him to be an empty shell that serves you! That's selfish, Alice." His gray eyes narrowed. "I took him because he asked. Because he wanted to go."

When Batsu asked what she meant, Alice seemed to shrink a bit and grow ever more upset. "I don't want Cross to be sad! H-h-he never smiled again after he came to my daddy! Not even once, I had to," she spoke, the tears finally rolling down her face. "He used to smile all the time when he played with his friends, I saw him from the Unknown." Her onyx eyes widened in shock when Batsu accused her of doing it so that Cross would just be an empty shell that would server her. "N-no, you're wrong! I would never do that to him! I-I...I was trying to make him happy again," she said, breaking into small whimpers as she spoke. "H-he...he would have completely given up if he'd known the truth. I didn't want that for him..." She'd asked, no, begged, her father not to tell Cross either. That there really was no hope. She knew it was beyond his power to bring Cross's people back, and he did too. But she made him promise that she'd never tell Cross that.

Boreas listened to the two of them argue, blinking in surprise at what he was hearing. Alice had taken away Cross's memories? No way. That didn't sound like her at all. And now...she was upset because he'd gotten them back. But...it sounded like a child's mentality to him, why Alice had taken his memories away. It didn't sound like anything malicious like Batsu was saying. But...Cross's village had...been turned to stone? No way. To be honest, now Boreas was curious. He wanted to see more people like Cross. But he doubted Cross would be okay with something like that.

"People get sad Alice, it's a part of life." Batsu couldn't really be sympathetic. Up until recently he'd not cared for a single soul. He'd had one mission, destroy the Onihana. Subconsciously he knew that devouring souls would lure them in, but it had also been a means of survival. He didn't know what to do when she started crying. He was sure Cross wouldn't appreciate that. Batsu sighed. "You didn't just take away his memories, but his emotions as well. Cross doesn't do much aside from protecting you because he's your guardian. If you knew there was nothing that could be done, you should have been responsible and told him so. It would have been the right thing to do." Batsu frowned lightly. "You can't dictate how someone lives Alice. That's not fair to Cross."

"I don't want him to be sad! He hasn't done anything wrong!" Alice protested, sniffling as she started wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. "He still has emotions," she mumbled. "You just never see them because you don't pay attention." She couldn't help it if she was mad with Batsu for having brought Cross back to his mountain. She'd tried so hard to keep Cross away from mountains so he wouldn't remember his sadness. When Batsu told her that it wasn't fair to Cross, she shook her head, her white hair swaying. "You're wrong. He's going to be sad now and it's all your fault!" she huffed, turning around and running into the backyard. Batsu was so mean. Why would he want Cross to be sad? It wasn't right, and it wasn't nice!

Boreas blinked at the conversation. It didn't seem like Alice was hearing anything that Batsu was saying. And then she just stormed into the backyard. The orange eyed male frowned lightly. He was kind of at a loss for what to do. Should he go try to talk to Alice? What if she ran off somewhere and got lost? His frown deepened and cast Batsu a glance and gave him a small shrug before starting off in the direction Alice had went, only to see her sitting on the swing motionlessly with her gaze down and both hands holding onto the chains of the swing. She didn't really look like she was going anywhere anytime soon.

Saionna had been standing behind Hunter, peeking her head out of the doorframe, trying to hear what was going on. She glanced at Hunter when Alice ran into the back before going down the front steps and walking over to Batsu. "What happened?" she asked curiously, tilting her head.

Batsu didn't understand children and the only real memories he had of a child was Izo who he had raised during his life as Yukari. Alice didn't understand that she was in the wrong and her childlike thought process didn't help at all. He'd have expected her to understand, seeing as though she was the daughter of a Guardian, but that didn't seem to be the case. He looked to Boreas as the girl ran off and then to Saionna as she came to ask what had happened. "Cross got his memories back and Alice doesn't agree with the change." He looked in the direction the little girl had ran off and then shook his head and started into the house.

The flame haired girl blinked her bright teal eyes when Batsu explained. Saionna immediately followed curiously behind him. "Cross had lost his memories? I just thought he was kinda lame," she mused with a small frown. "So why doesn't she agree with it?" She didn't understand. Wouldn't one getting their memories back be a good thing? Saionna personally wanted to know if she'd been alive before she'd gone about destroying things. "How does a person get lost memories back?" So what if she was spouting off questions. She would stop if it annoyed Batsu, but she really wanted to know. Had she had a home like this once too?

Batsu entered the house where Hunter gave him a questioning look, but he ignored it. He was tired of being the person that everyone relied on. He'd been given a body in exchange for putting a stop to Madness, but it seemed easier to deal with the Madness. To be consumed by it and there were days where he was more than willing to eat the souls of the creatures infected instead of drawing the madness out of them. It was almost like instinct and fighting that urge was an even greater weight on his shoulders. He headed for his room, listening to Saionna speak. "Yes, she removed them after his people were turned to stone. She says there is no way to reverse it, but I want to believe differently. There has to be." He sat on the edge of his bed. "She doesn't want him to be sad, but he can't fix it if he doesn't remember it." He didn't know how memories worked, but he knew that, "When Cross and I shared a body, our souls mixed. He saw my life and I saw his. It wasn't until we told each other that our memories sort of triggered." He shrugged and then sighed.

"She can do that..? How?" Saionna blinked curiously. How did someone remove someone else's memories? She didn't know that Alice was Silence's daughter, and even if she did, she probably wouldn't have realized that she had powers similar to his. They just looked a lot alike if one asked her. She wasn't all that good at making connections between similarities. "His...people? You mean...like his..." Saionna frowned, looking down. "What's that word again..? Friends..? No...his...family?" she asked, looking back towards Batsu. How did people get turned to stone? Saionna looked around and got closer to Batsu, suddenly looking kind of nervous. "Batsu, um..." She lowered her voice before taking another glance around. "I didn't...do that, did I..?" she asked, looking rather guilty. She didn't remember ever turning anything into stone, but she did know that she'd killed an awful lot of people. It only made sense that she might have done something as bad as hurting Cross's village. When Batsu sat on his bed, Saionna sat on her knees on the floor partially in front of him. That was his bed, she didn't want to sit on it without some kind of permission. Besides, the floor wasn't so bad. The flame haired girl was quiet for a moment. "Batsu...what was your life like? Before all...I mean...I guess, before you met me?"

The red haired male shrugged. "I don't know how she managed to do it, I just know that she can and will most likely try and do the same thing when Cross returns." He the nodded. "Yes, his family." He could put smiling faces to all those turned to stone. Sure, it was just glimpses, but it had been enough to help Cross find the mountain. Saionna's change in voice made him look to her when she asked the question of whether it had been her doing. "No need to look so guilty. You were not the cause." Saionna had been destructive, not the type of person to preserve people in stone for all eternity. He looked down at her as she sat in front of him, his expression unwavering, tired. "You can sit on the bed." Then she asked about his life before her. She sure did ask a lot of questions. "It's a long story," he told her with a sigh. "I don't remember much before I took over Cross' body. I just wanted revenge." Kind of still did. "Revenge on the Onihana for what they did to my soul. The villages named me the God of Chaos. I destroyed everything, feeding on souls and hearts, but everything changed when I met our group and Silence gave me this body." He'd cut out a lot of parts, but he also figured it was best to sum up the story and not go into every gory detail.

So Cross had family before them, then? That made sense, she guessed. A clear look of relief crossed over Saionna's face when Batsu told her she hadn't been the cause. Yeah, she'd thought Cross was lame, but he'd refrained from destroying Batsu when he'd been consumed in Madness. She hadn't seen Cross destroy a single thing, and his entire village was destroyed. Or, trapped in stone, at least. That meant not alive anymore, right? The flame haired girl didn't hesitate to get up and sit on the bed next to Batsu when he invited her to. She didn't mind either way. Bright teal eyes blinked when the red haired male said he'd taken over Cross's body. There were so many things she didn't understand. How did somebody take over somebody else's body? "What they...did to your soul?" What did that mean? Was there some people she should be trying to destroy too, even though she was in control of her actions now? When Batsu described how he used to be, Saionna's eyes lit up. "So...you were just like me? Or...I mean...I was just like you?" For some reason that made her feel better. Batsu was really cool, and if he'd been just like her, that meant...she could be like him. That...one day maybe she wouldn't have to worry about the voices.

Batsu saw that she was relieved about not being the cause of Cross's current state of depression. It made him smile lightly, which he didn't quite understand why that look of relief on her face made him feel better. Like a surge of warmth that spread through his body. "It's a long story, but a long time ago, my soul rejected a different body, or maybe the body rejected my soul, but either way it mean my soul wandered aimlessly for a very long time. I couldn't move on and that hatred bred a monster." He sighed. "But yes, we were similar, but now we're better." He gave a small smile. Now that she was on the bed, he glanced at her. "How has your day been going," he asked, not feeling much enthusiasm about further discussing the past.

Saionna tilted her head curiously when Batsu explained that his soul had been rejected from another body. She wanted to ask more questions about it, but before she could, Batsu asked her one of his own. She didn't want to be rude towards him, so she focused on his question instead. "It's been boring," she said with a light pout, her childlike demeanor seemingly returning. "I've already explored all of the house and the backyard, so I was waiting for you to come back so..." The flame haired girl suddenly clammed up and looked off to the side. That sounded like she was depending totally on him. But...she really liked spending time with him, and the others still didn't trust her, so... "So...maybe we could...talk, or...do something," Saionna finished, giving a small, nonchalant shrug that was completely at odds with the embarrassed tsundere expression on her face.

Batsu was a bit surprised that Saionna had been waiting for his return. The red haired male looked at her for a moment before he stood up. "Let's take a walk, or fly somewhere," he offered. "If you don't want to stay around the house, there's plenty of places for us to go." He wouldn't mind getting away for a little while. Hanging around here wasn't going to fix things and neither would leaving, but at least he wouldn't have to face Alice again. He motioned for Saionna to follow him. "DK," He called, seeing as though the purple haired boy was the closest one around. "Saionna and I am going out for a while, if Cross comes back, have Boreas come get me." He figured Boreas could easily track them if need be. DK only nodded in response. He seemed a bit busy building a house of cards.

Saionna tilted her head curiously when Batsu said they should go for a walk, or fly somewhere. "But...I can't fly," she said, blinking her bright teal eyes a couple times. She grew a bit excited though, when he said that there were plenty of places for them to explore, and it showed on her face. "Like where?" Her flame-like hair waved a bit as she stood up excitedly from the bed. She'd been bored all day...well, for as long as the day had been so far, so she wanted to get out and do something with Batsu. She could have asked the others, but it never really occurred to her, since the black winged male was more special to her than all the others combined. He'd saved her, and even though they'd tried to help, they hadn't been the ones to pull her out of the haze of voices. It had been Batsu. Telling her how he didn't want her to suffer such a horrible fate. She followed behind him, smiling happily as they walked past DK, not bothering to give him a wave as they left. Mostly because she had no idea what a wave was, though. "Where are we going?" she asked curiously, walking next to him.

"I'll carry you," he told her when she stated that she could not fly. The excitement in her eyes was a relief compared to the sadness he'd seen in Cross and the upset look he'd received from Alice. "Anywhere you wish to go." Batsu told Saionna as he stopped a good little ways from the house. "We can visit a nearby town, or go to the Unknown, or explore the wheat fields or forest around here, whatever you wish." He just wanted to escape for a little while. As the God of Chaos, everything was much simpler. Eat his fill, devour souls, burn villages, and hunt the Onihana. Now he lived a life that contrasted that. He had to protect his friends, he didn't need souls, though he always wanted to devour them whenever the opportunity arose, and he couldn't hunt the Onihana because he was hunting the infected and saving them by absorbing the madness. He shook his head. He didn't need to think about that. "Walk or fly?"

"C-carry me?" Saionna seemed a bit flustered at the suggestion, though she wasn't really sure why. "B-but won't I be...um...heavy?" She wasn't really sure what heavy was. That was just the first thing that had come to her head. She had absolutely no idea what the concept of weight was. Anywhere she wanted to go? Saionna took a moment to think, and cringed when he mentioned a village. She remembered what she used to do to villages, and Batsu had said things like that were absolutely bad. And places like forests had living creatures too. And the Unknown. "U-umm..." She didn't want to kill. Didn't want to upset Batsu, but...where could they go? "Are there...um, animals...and things...in the wheat fields?" she asked. "We can walk. I might be too...erm...heavy..? For you to carry," she said, looking off to the side with a bit of embarrassment on her face.

Batsu smiled. "You're hardly heavy Saionna." When she asked about animals being in the wheat fields he shrugged. "I'm not sure. I guess we'll find out along the way," he replied after a moment. He pointed to the fields. "Let's go." He started at a moderate pace, his expression a little less stressed than before. Cross was still on his mind, but he focused on Saionna instead. He liked to be around her. She was like him and he could relate to her. It was easier being around someone that understood you versus someone that knew your history and was cautious of you.

Flame red hair swayed when Saionna tilted her head. "I'm not?" She thought that she might have been very heavy. Human-like people were heavy, right? Well...maybe not the purple haired human-like person. She seemed to grow a little nervous when Batsu said he wasn't sure if there were animals or not, but nodded nonetheless, walking behind the red haired male. She wondered if they'd find another creature like before. And this time, Alice wasn't here to befriend it.

Batsu walked with ease through the fields of wheat. It was quiet here, with very little to be concerned about. He couldn't sense any madness. The thought of devouring souls crossed his mind here and there, but he never acted on the impulse, or at least he tried not to. The red haired male thought the day was nice aside from the issue with Cross and Alice. He wondered how different things would be now. Would Cross choose finding a way to help his people over stopping madness and what of Boreas. What would he do when he found Silence's stolen sword? And furthermore, what would become of Batsu himself once all of his companions went their separate ways.

Saionna walked next to Batsu quietly, since the red haired male seemed to be deep in thought. However, after a few moments, she turned her head to look at him curiously, her aqua eyes shining. "Batsu? Are you okay?" she asked suddenly. She wasn't sure why she felt the need to ask, but she wanted to know if everything was fine and those were just the words that came out of her mouth. She supposed they conveyed what she wanted to know, but...not in full. Alice had seemed angry with him. That wasn't okay, right? Was everything going...wrong? She was having a hard time comprehending everything that was happening. Feelings were kind of a new thing to her.