The Land of Chaos: Part III

Saionna walked behind them all, glancing to the giant every now and then. He was familiar to her, but he seemed to know her just fine. Maybe she'd come across him back when she'd been a little less reasonable. She wondered if they'd fought. Approaching behind the larger being, she looked over the sword that was now perched on his back. It was huge. Saionna ran her hand over it. It didn't seem familiar to her. Her hand froze in place and her face turned a bit red when the creature looked back at her, catching her in the act of inspecting the sword. When the metal helmet tilted, Saionna gave a defiant look and crossed her arms. He stopped a moment to turn to her, then pointed at his blade, then the blood, then to her. The exchange of motions lasted only a moment before he began walking again.

Boreas hadn't take down his prey yet, despite how much time had passed. He wanted to see how long he could stalk the large stag before it noticed. He was positive he could outrun it. There was no doubt in his mind. It was just more fun to toy with the beast first. It hadn't yet noticed him, because he was stalking from a distance, and keeping low to the ground, trying to moderate the amount of chilled air that radiated from his body to the surrounding area.

Batsu didn't notice what was happening between the two. He was just walking without much worry since the thing seemed to be civil enough. Huge, but not a threat. Batsu hadn't even noticed them stop walking.

DK was still tugging the deer. It was heavy and he wasn't very strong when it came to being in this child form. He gave a small huff and then paused to stretch his arms. "You're one heavy deer, but you'll win me a day of not cleaning the meat," he said with a big smile. Purple eyes glanced to the sun. It was still high in the sky.

After Boreas took a step forward, accidentally snapping a twig under his paw, he saw the stag raise its head in alarm. The ice wolf crouched lower, and seeing the movement, the deer took off running. Boreas immediately started after it, his paws freezing the ground wherever they touched. There were a couple times where the deer nearly escaped him by swerving around trees, and there was no doubt that the creature was faster than Boreas had expected. But...that just added to the thrill for the ice creature. After a few moments, Boreas got close enough to the creature where he was able to grab onto it and take it down, his claws digging into the fur fairly ruthlessly. The thing thrashed for a while until Boreas's claws found its throat, at which point it stopped moving completely.

DK had started back to dragging the deer when suddenly he heard movement and not just any movement either. Fast paced, panicked running. The little dragon gasped as a deer shot past him with an ice wolf hard on it's heels. The entire chance was thrilling, yet scary. He watched the creature take the stag down and then blinked. "Boreas?" He slowly moved towards the creature then thought better of it. "Know what, I'm just gonna take my dear home, you continue doing what you were doing." He went back to his deer and began to drag it again, he didn't care if it was smaller.

Part of Boreas wanted to tear the deer to shreds with his teeth. He was actually fairly hungry, though he hadn't noticed it before. But he remembered that he had a bet with the kid, so instead he just pulled his claws from the dead deer's throat. He'd heard DK's voice just after the fact, so, blinking, the ice wolf shook off whatever blood had gotten on him from the deer's take down, and turned into his human form. His heart was still racing in excitement. He'd end up requesting that he could do the hunting for all of them from now on. He wouldn't mind it. In fact, he might've ended up getting addicted to it. Jasper had mentioned before that it was a little scary how much of an animal he could become, but honestly, Boreas didn't care. It was thrilling. Maybe he was an animal at heart, and he was fine with that. What was wrong with it anyways? Taking a breath to try and calm down from that little adrenaline high, Boreas started dragging the deer back to the house before stopping. He looked around.

..........

Which way was the house again?

DK was a bit disgusted about the way Boreas had handled that deer. Pulling quietly he finally made it out of the woods and towards the house. "So much pulling," he huffed. He came to a drop at the top of the hill and set down. "Oh boy, that's quite the distance." He laid back and let out a sigh. "Boreas is kind of creepy."

Boreas sniffed the air lightly for a few moments after turning back into his wolf form. Once he picked up DK's scent, he turned back into a human and began dragging his deer in that direction. He came across DK a few minutes later. His arm was getting tired from dragging the deer, and he realized just as he came upon the purple haired boy how stupid he himself was. He could have made an ice trail to drag the deer over. "Who's creepy?" he asked dropping the deer before stretching.

Alice looked towards the Unknown. They were just about there; she could see the entrance. She looked up towards the giant of a creature next to her. It was so tranquil. It was weird, because it had been tranquil when it had been sick too.

Cross walked with one of the two mattresses over his shoulder. It was large and bulky, and fairly heavy, but the winged male didn't seem to be having much trouble with it, and if he was, he certainly didn't seem to be showing it.

DK jumped when Boreas spoke. He hadn't even realized that the guy was right there until the last moment. "Err...nobody," he answered quickly and then looked to the deer. "I guess that you win," he said with a small smile.

Boreas raised an eyebrow. "Mmhm, sure." He glanced at DK's deer and gave a grin. "I guess you're right. I never had any doubts," he said with a small laugh, stretching lightly. He then pat the kid's head a couple times. "That's okay though, you did good," he said with a small grin. For once he wasn't picking on DK. Any other time he would've teased him, saying what a smallfry deer he'd caught. But a, he was in a really good mood, and b, DK's deer wasn't that small at all.

Batsu could see the gates as well. His eyes narrowed against the fading light of the sun. Time sure has gotten by. Batsu shook his head lightly and looked towards the others. "Almost there." He glanced to Alice and Saionna.
DK shrugged. "I had doubts," he said with a small sigh and got up. He picked up the leg of the deer and started down the hillside after Boreas patted him on the head and gave him a compliment. "I'll win next time."

Alice walked towards the gates with her hand in the larger creature's. She looked up to it happily. "Almost there," she assured it. She turned her gaze back to the gates when she heard something large drop, quickly pulling her hand out of the creature's when she realized that Cross was right in front of them. In the next moment, he'd snatched her up and pulled her away from the creature, standing between the two of them with his wings spread and his jade eyes alert and dangerous. He hadn't even realized that Batsu was there, he'd just assumed because of the creature's size that it was still infected by Madness. The first thing that had run through his head was maybe it had been taking her to the Unknown to Oblivion. It had been far too close to Alice. "Cross, it's okay, he's not sick," she told him, her face a bit worried. She was scared that maybe Cross would be mad at her or Batsu after this. Cross was pretty scary when he was mad, or at least she thought so. Regardless of Cross's hostility, the only thing the creature did was pull its sword off its back and held it in front of it with both hands.

Batsu didn't blame Cross for his reaction. The thing did look pretty evil. To keep an unnecessary fight from starting he moved between the two, his back to the creature. "Alice is telling the truth, I removed the madness from it, we're just taking it back." He glanced over his shoulder at the creature. "He's not going to hurt you."

Hunter was a bit surprised when the other mattress hit the ground and Cross swept Alice away from the creature. Sighing he started to lay down his own, but it seemed Batsu was defending the creature. No surprise there....

Cross had nearly been about to move towards the creature when he saw Batsu get in front of it. He paused, but didn't relax. His eyes scanned over the red haired male for any signs of madness taking over. There were none. "What was it doing so close to Alice," he asked, his green eyes focused on Batsu. Maybe he was overreacting, but that thing still looked dangerous. His eyes looked past the red haired male and to the creature again. There was blood on it. Eyes widening, he quickly turned around and knelt in front of Alice, checking her over. He finally relaxed when he saw there was no blood or wounds on her. Standing back up, he looked back towards Batsu. "Whose blood?"

Boreas followed after DK, dragging his deer along until he realized there was a much simpler option. Freezing the side of the hill in front of him into an icy slope, Boreas pushed the deer down and watched it slide to the bottom of the hill. "You can push yours down it too," Boreas offered with a grin, stepping onto the ice and gliding down it. God he loved being able to use ice for whatever the hell he wanted.

Batsu shrugged. "I don't know who's blood it is. He told Alice sheep blood." His grey eyes glanced towards the little girl. "He was walking so close because the two can communicate. That and he's a bit protective of her." He shrugged lightly and looked to the creature before his gaze turned back to Cross.


DK smiled when Boreas made the ice slid and pushed his deer down it. The little dragon happily pushed his deer on there as well and then sat on the slide and slid down. "Yay!"

"Sheep blood," Cross repeated, looking at the large creature. He didn't believe it for a minute. He wasn't sure if he should get angry at Batsu or not for allowing the thing to walk so close to the little white haired girl. His wings relaxed and folded slowly behind his back as the raven haired male took a breath. "It's a creature of the Unknown. It's probably been there for a long time if she can communicate with it," he said, looking at the larger creature, who had sheathed its sword now that it saw the danger had passed. Alice smiled and nodded. "Uh-huh! He's a guardian," she told Cross happily. The black wings on Cross's back seemed to tense up at that. Cross's face remained blank after that, and he looked to the large creature Alice had dubbed a guardian. As if having been instructed with only a stare, the larger creature followed after Cross into the Unknown.

Boreas grinned and hopped off the ice once he was at the bottom of the hill, giving a smirk when DK said yay. "Maybe when winter comes we can get sleds," he suggested with a light laugh. Going towards his deer, the brown haired chakra stopped halfway. He sniffed the air lightly a couple times. It...it smelled like ice. Boreas's orange eyes scanned the area. When he saw the movement of something light blue in the trees at the bottom of the hills, he started moving towards it. "Be right back kid," he said.

Batsu went to say 'neither did I,' but he kept his mouth closed. He turned and started towards the Unknown as well, nodding to Hunter as he went. He wondered why Cross seemed to tense when Alice spoke of this thing being a guardian. Was he afraid? It wasn't his place to ask so he didn't. Walking slowly he stopped at the gates. "I'll take him inside," he offered.

DK made it to the end of the slid and then nodded when Boreas offered to get sleds in the winter. "Yes please!" He then blinked as Boreas sniffed the air. "Weirdo," he mumbled under his breath. He looked off to the side when Boreas spoke. "My name is DK, not kid, but whatever." He then drug the deer right up to the steps and plopped down. "Where is everyone?"

Cross led the creature towards the Unknown until Batsu came up and offered to take it in. "Sure. Thanks," he said lowly, glancing at the guardian before going over and picking the mattress back up. "I'll start on getting this back," he said, starting towards the house. He didn't mind going back himself. Saionna, on the other hand, stuck with Batsu like usual, and followed him and the large creature to the gates.

Boreas started in amongst the trees. Every now and then he would see a flash of blue farther and farther away from him. He picked up his pace until he was at a steady jog. Only when he realized it had been a minute since he'd seen the blue shadow, he stopped and looked around. He didn't know where he was. There were plenty of trees, but he'd gone too far in chasing that thing. It had been foolish of him to chase it in his human form. He couldn't run as fast as his wolf form, and he knew it. Still...he wondered what that thing had been. That blue shadow that left the scent of ice everywhere...

Batsu looked at the creature and motioned for him to follow. His gaze landed on Saionna and he gave her a small smile before going inside the gates. When they were deep inside the Unknown he called for Silence. The guardian appeared and without question removed the Madness. When he was gone, Batsu turned to the creature. "Goodbye." He faced Saionna. "Want to go to the river for a little while," he asked. "We both need a bit of a break," he said with a smile. The grey eyed male stretched. "The others won't mind too much, they're already heading back."

Saionna gave a wave to the giant creature when Batsu said goodbye, as if saying 'good riddance'. However, before leaving, the creature walked over to her and put a hand on her head, patting it lightly. Saionna gave a huff and looked off to the side, but did nothing. After a moment, the creature finally walked away. The flame haired girl blinked at Batsu's question. Wasn't he still mad at her? Looking off to the side, Saionna nodded lightly. She liked that place. It was peaceful there.

DK was tired of being alone so he decided to busy himself with cleaning both deer. He skinned the first one with great accuracy and then the second with laziness. "I'm bored," he whined.

Batsu started for the river when Saionna nodded. He wasn't sure what was up with her, but he wouldn't think too much on it. When they got there he sat down and smiled. Laying in the side grass he closed his eyes. "That's more like it."

Boreas wandered for a long while before he picked up the scent of the house again, and started towards it quietly, if not a bit disappointed. He'd been curious about that thing he'd seen. "Hey kid," he said when he saw the purple haired boy. He gave a wave, not at all perturbed by the fact that earlier DK had told him not to call him kid. "'m back."

When they got to the river, Saionna sat down in front of it and looked over the side at the rippled reflection of herself. She glanced at Batsu when he laid down and looked back at her reflection, lipsyncing the words she'd heard Batsu and the others say. She didn't make any noises though, for fear of being caught practicing. That would be embarrassing.

(I love Saionna, she's so innocent.)

DK blinked when he saw Boreas coming up to him. "I'm not a kid. I'm a two hundred year old dragon." He stood up and hopped off the porch. "Where have you been," he asked. "I've been sitting here for forever bored out of my misery, I even had time to clean both deer. Will you stop chasing your tail and pay attention to me sometimes," he asked with a small frown. If he'd been in his dragon form his tail would be lashing. "Oh whatever, I'm going upstairs." He turned away and started into the house.

Batsu let the calmness of this place wash over him. He didn't care about anything right now. Not even about the fact that they were in the Unknown. It was just something one couldn't care about when they were in this specific spot.

( )

Saionna sighed lightly. She wondered if it was just the lip movements she couldn't get right or if she was doing the sounds wrong. She looked over to Batsu. He seemed so relaxed. Deciding to try and relax too, she went over next to Batsu and laid down, but not too close next to him. Crossing her arms behind her head, she looked up at the sky, but tilted her gaze slightly away from Batsu. She was a little embarrassed about laying right next to him like this. But she wanted to relax like him, or at least try to.

"Yeah yeah," Boreas said, shrugging. "Two hundred years or not, you still act like a kid. Maybe that's why Silence made you one," he teased with a grin. The grin faded when DK turned a bit hostile, and he blinked. 'And pay attention to me sometimes,' the kid had said. Boreas's orange eyes seemed confused for a moment. "Hey, kid," he called lightly when DK started away. The orange chakra rubbed the back of his neck and looked around before following DK inside. "Hey kid, hold up," he said, catching up to the purple haired boy. "What's up?" he asked, an edge of concern to his voice. Had something happened while he'd been searching for that blue shadow or something? Boreas tilted his head in confusion.

Batsu smiled when he heard Saionna come over and lay down next him. He knew she wasn't close, but it was okay. He remembered how she'd broken through the haze of madness and told him that it'd be okay. Everything before and after had been a blur. The grey eyed male smiled and then allowed himself to fall into a light sleep.

"I AM NOT A KID," DK yelled when Boreas asked him what was up. "My name is DK. You got that? DK!" He was not happy about having to repeat himself over and over again. "That's what up." He gave a huff and then marched into the house. DK didn't like being called a kid. It was bad enough that the other dragons his age had called him kid despite being the same age. Just because he was smaller didn't mean anything! Moon creatures aged differently, that was all.

Boreas blinked in surprise when DK suddenly snapped at him. His orange eyes wide, he stood speechless, blinking a couple times after the purple haired being stomped up the stairs and into the house. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again a moment later. He didn't know what to do here. Why was DK upset over something so little? Boreas was clearly confused. "H...hey, k-...DK, hold on now," he muttered in confusion. He wondered if he should follow the kid. He didn't know what he'd say. He took a glance around before starting into the house. "Hey," he called lightly. "Hey, look, I'm sorry, okay? I won't call you kid anymore," he said, frowning with his head tilted lightly.

Saionna turned her head to glance at Batsu when she heard something change. His breathing was different. Was he dead? Going over to the red haired male, she put her head against his chest lightly to listen to his heartbeat. It was still beating. That meant he was alive, right? She thought so. But now she didn't feel like moving. So instead, she just laid there. Maybe he was sleeping. After a moment, she laid on her side and got comfy, keeping her head on his chest. The steady beat made it easy for her to fall into a light sleep as well, and her blue eyes closed slowly. After only a few moments she had fallen asleep.