The Land of Chaos: Part IV

(Jeepers Creepers much)

" I don't care what you're doing. " Batsu almost growl. "We're going home, all of us." He shot a look towards Boreas. "No questions asked." He turned away and started for the house. DK ran to catch up with him. The purple eyed boy glanced over his shoulder at the others then looked to Batsu.

"Are you upset," he asked quietly.

Batsu looked down at him, his grey gaze softening before he shrugged. "Just annoyed. Saionna needs to learn that everything isn't prey and Boreas needs to learn where his loyalties lie."

DK, being young, despite his actual dragon age seemed a bit confused, but he'd stick with Batsu on this one. He looked up to Boreas and all, but Batsu was there leader and that wasn't going to change any time soon in his option. He kept pace with Batsu who was walking awfully fast. "I think Boreas knows we're his friends, he just likes that lady, a lot... And Saionna is...still getting used to everything." He was hoping to defend his friends. He didn't want them to argue and then separate.

Boreas looked at Batsu when he said they were going home, no questions asked, and then looked up to the ice woman. She nodded her head and put her hand on the ice chakra's. "I'll walk with you," she said softly. "I'd like it if you could walk with me in your humanoid form." Boreas stood almost immediately and did as she requested, turning into a male with brown hair and his normal orange eyes. She apparently didn't mind that Batsu had already started walking and took one of Boreas's hands, removing the leather glove that covered it. However, she was surprised when Boreas immediately yanked his hand back, his eyes wide. Understanding, the ice woman slowly retook Boreas's hand and held it in hers now that the glove was in her other hand. Once Boreas realized that he wasn't going to freeze her like he'd done Fara, he happily took her hand and walked with her, following behind Batsu and DK. "My name is Crystalyne," she told him quietly with a small smile. Boreas's eyes were soft when he looked back at her, giving a small smile before looking to the ground. Something about looking at her gave him the chills something fierce. He was sure it was similar to that 'warm and fuzzy' feeling humans said they got when they looked at something they loved. And her hand was so cold. He was sure it was probably even colder than his own touch. So he didn't realize the fact that his hand was becoming frosted over as they walked.

Saionna's shoulders fell when Batsu said they were going. That he hadn't cared what she was doing. Why didn't he understand it? It was something she did. It was a part of who she was. She truly didn't understand that it was something horrible. She walked behind DK and Batsu silently, her gaze down as she held onto her bleeding arm with her dagger in hand. Was Batsu going to push her away because of this? Would he send her away on her own? Back to the Unknown? Back to the voices and the killing? She didn't mind the voices and the killing, but...but she liked Batsu more. She wanted to stay with him. Eyes tearing up, the flame haired girl looked down with an expression that made it look like she would burst into tears at any moment. She didn't want to go away.

Batsu looked to DK, who gently pulled on the side of his hoodie. "What?" "Saionna looks like she's going to cry. Maybe you should go see what's wrong with her." Grey eyes looked over his shoulder and he looked surprise to see the flame haired girl looking as though she were about to burst into waterworks. He heard DK mumble about going on ahead because the adults were getting mushy. "Shush DK, go home and get some sleep, we'll be home soon." DK chuckled and turned into a dragon, heading home in his tinier form. Batsu fell into step beside Saionna. "What's the matter?"

When Batsu fell in step beside her and started speaking, Saionna cringed, as if expecting him to say something horrible. She seemed to shrink in on herself a little, tensing up after his question. He'll force you to go. None of them really want you around. They all think you're bad. Evil. Even Batsu thinks so. Even your precious Batsu. Saionna's eyes teared up a bit more as she tried to keep herself from crying. "Please don't make me go away," she said quietly, her voice shaking. She didn't bring her gaze up to look at Batsu. She couldn't. He's angry with you. He's going to send you away. And then you can do as you please again. You won't have to bother with pleasing any of them. Then you can kill them all. Won't that be fun? Heeheehee... The more the voices spoke, the smaller Saionna seemed to get. She didn't want to kill them. She still wanted the dragon's head, and she just didn't like Boreas, but...but she didn't want to kill them either. They were nice. And Batsu...Batsu really would be angry with her if she killed them. She knew he would be. She just knew it.

Batsu felt bad when he saw her cringe. She looked innocent and it didn't help that she was so childlike. He looked to the flame haired girl and then blinked when she spoke. "I'm not going to make you go away Saionna, I like it that you're here with us." Batsu, not having any prior relationships was not aware of how significant the word 'like' could be. "You just can't attack people whenever they back down from a fight. We have more important things to do." He paused and faced her. "Maybe it's the madness. I can understand that. It's consuming, and it's hard to fight it. I understand the urges and the needs that lay beneath the surface, but you have to fight them." Batsu was always ignoring the longing of who he used to be. A being with no fear, no pain, just hate. So many devoured souls, so many lost lives. Thinking about it was almost a tease. He shook his head. "Just remember who your friends are."

Once Batsu said he wasn't going to send her away, the voices grew quieter, and slightly easier to ignore in favor of listening to Batsu's words. Saionna blinked and looked at him when he said he liked having her there with them. But...wasn't he angry with her for what she did? Hadn't he thought it was something bad? He didn't look angry though...Swallowing, the flame haired girl looked down again when Batsu said she just couldn't go around attacking people. So...it really was a bad thing, what she was doing? She wanted to argue with him, and tell him that it was just something she did, but...well, she knew he was probably right. When he said that maybe it was just the Madness, she paused as well. Madness. She knew that word. Even before she knew words, she knew that word. The voices would always comment on it. On how wonderfully free it was. They'd been happy and giddy back then. Now they only hissed at her. I...have to fight it? But if she didn't do what the voices wanted, at least once in a while, she didn't think they'd ever shut up. And it was annoying to have them talking constantly. It made her want to rip her own head off just to get them out. Saionna slowly looked up to Batsu. "You're...my friends..?" she asked quietly. She felt better knowing that Batsu wasn't going to make her go away, but that didn't help the fact that now she was about to cry for a different reason. She didn't quite understand what friends were, even if she knew the concept, but she knew it was a good thing. And Batsu had said he liked having her around. Eyes still tearing up a bit, Saionna paused for a moment before starting forward and wrapping Batsu in a hug. She didn't know why she'd practically jumped on him just now, but...all she knew was that she wanted to hug Batsu for this. He'd made her feel better just now, when she'd been so afraid of being left alone again.

Batsu waited for Saionna to take in what he'd just said. As she asked about them being friends, he nodded. "Mmhm, always." He'd saved her that day because he'd know what it felt like to be consumed by the madness. He'd wanted to save her. To know what it felt like to give someone a second chance, like Kymin had done for him. Like, Izo. He quickly pushed that name into the furthest corners of his mind. It was thanks to him that he was in this position. When Saionna hugged him, he looked startled. He wasn't used to this kind of thing. It was strange, and yet it had pulled him from Madness. "Um...Saionna?" Batsu almost wanted to ask Boreas for help, but he didn't know if that would be rude or not.

Saionna had opened her mouth to tell Batsu 'thank you,' but he beat her to it when he awkwardly said her name, letting her know that what she was doing was either making him uncomfortable or just a very strange thing to do. Her face turning red with blush up to her ears, Saionna quickly pulled away, her gaze embarrassed and on the ground. "Ah, umm..." she stuttered, drawing circles in the ground with one of her feet before starting forward again, trying to act as if nothing had even happened.

Boreas couldn't help but to keep glancing at Crystalyne's hand in his. This felt nice. He felt like this woman next to him understood everything about him. Understood that he was just ice with a soul. He wasn't a 'chakra'. He was a soul of ice mistakenly placed into a human body. Into Jasper's body. When he heard Batsu speak uncomfortably, the orange eyed male looked up to his friend, blinking at the sight. He almost pulled away from Crystalyne to attack Saionna, thinking that she might've been attacking Batsu, but the ice spirit held her grip on his hand, shaking her head once before nodding to the two. Boreas blinked. Wait. Had Saionna been hugging Batsu? Well...it kinda made sense, as to why Batsu had been so flustered. Boreas gave a small grin. What a dumbass. How could he not even know of a hug? Then again, he couldn't really say that. He didn't truly know Batsu's whole story. Only that he'd been a destroyer of worlds at one point. Boreas nearly snickered at the thought. That guy, who was so easily flustered by a hug? Ha.

Batsu relaxed when Saionna moved away from him. He looked off to the side and then started to walk after her. He placed his hands in the front of his hoodie and smiled lightly. He didn't know why he was smiling, but it probably had something to do with that little interaction him and Saionna had just shared. Once at the house, he turned to Boreas and the ice woman. "See you inside," he told Boreas and then slipped into the house where DK lay sleeping on the couch. Batsu chuckled and picked the young boy up, taking him upstairs to the bedroom where Fara and Alice where at. Afterwards he came back down the stairs and sat on the couch. He wasn't all that tired anymore.

Once they got to the house, Saionna didn't even pause to look back before going inside. She was too embarrassed now. Batsu hadn't rejected her, he'd just not known what she was doing, that was all. At least, that's what she wanted to believe. Even having been a creature of Madness, spawned from the Madness itself, she'd encountered human-like situations right before killing everyone. So...she thought she knew the basics, at least. Some of them, anyways. She wanted to believe that at least some part of her was human and not all 'black curse' like the others had mentioned. Going up to her bedroom, she couldn't help but hope that Boreas wouldn't be coming up any time soon. He might try to rip her arm off again for what she'd done earlier. Frowning, she sat down on her bed and looked at her arm, which had stopped bleeding for the moment and was just several wounds from several very large teeth. Taking her dagger out, and sitting cross-legged on the bed, she let a blue smoke drift from the end of it. Controlling it with the metal piece on the thumb of her other hand, she drew it towards the wound, and her skin slowly absorbed the smoke. To her it sounded as if the smoke were wailing and moaning. It was the sound of death. The sound of those souls last moments. Yes, she used souls to heal herself. How else would she heal? Waiting normally would take too long, and her arm hurt. Soon enough the wounds started closing up, but the voices were back, and louder than ever. Trying to ignore them, like Batsu had said, Saionna laid down on her side, facing the wall, and closed her eyes, trying to force herself to sleep. Just ignore it...just ignore it...they can't force you to hurt them, she told herself, even though she was having trouble with keeping herself from getting up and destroying the house just because she felt like it.

Once Boreas spotted the house, he frowned, but nodded when Batsu said he'd see him inside. Crystalyne walked him over to the stairs of the porch, but no further, giving him a soft smile. "Once you're done with your mission, you can come stay with me," she promised. "You have to remember why Silence gave you this body," she told him, putting her hand on the side of his face. It only seemed to sadden the ice chakra more though, even if he did nod. Crystalyne's smile didn't waver, and she kissed his forehead. "Don't worry my little friend. We'll see each other again." With that, she slowly slipped her hand from Boreas's and started away, back into the woods. Once she was gone, Boreas's shoulders dropped and he turned into his wolf form, laying down heavily in front of the stairs and staring into the woods where she'd disappeared. He was...feeling kinda depressed now. Screw looking for Madness, he wanted to be with her. He didn't care that Silence gave him this body to look for and extract Madness from other things. If Boreas had been human, he would have sighed. Instead he turned his head towards the moon and let out a howl before laying his head down on his paws. What's wrong with me..?

Batsu had changed to lay out on the couch as he waited for Boreas to return, but it seemed like the guy wouldn't be doing that any time soon. He heard the ice chakra as it howled and Batsu's grey eyes shut and he rolled over on the couch. We have all established some security within the group, but with bodies and minds of our own, it's difficult not to want things like normal people. Whether it be love, friendship, or family. Things that humans desire and cherish. Something so close, yet millions of miles away.

Fara's eyes flickered open when she heard the howl. What was that? She sat up in her little bed that DK and Alice had made for her. That had sounded like Boreas. He'd sounded upset. Was he okay? Slowly getting out of the tiny bed, Fara flew out of the room and stood on the top step of the stairs. She looked through the railings. It was quiet now. Fluttering quietly down the stairs, she stopped when she saw Batsu on the couch. She flew over to him, landing lightly on his shoulder before nudging his arm. She hoped he would be able to understand what she was going to try to convey to him.