Tidius, Nolan, and Ariel - Crocus Underground
Tidius gave a heavy, annoyed sigh, and said almost bitterly,
"I research things, child. I try and make the world a better place, for all worlds. Tell me, what have you done, but try and destroy some potentially valuable work? I would appreciate it if you left, now, before I'm forced to use...force. I will return Ariel. I feel there is a breakthrough coming. Would you, your guild, have let me borrow Ariel? That seems a bit like slavery to me. If Ariel wishes to stay, then she can. If she wishes to go....I'd be distraught, certainly, but I see I can't keep her here, especially if you are intent on creating war between guilds. oh, yes, I am with a guild myself. You attack me, and my master won't be too happy"Tidius gave a thrilled smile and said
"Which, given the fact your guild is on the cusp of a war with iron enigma too, wouldn't bode too well with Master Jamie, now would it?"For a second Ariel scowled. Tidius knew nothing about how Phoenix Wing worked. The expression did not last long though and soon became brighter. "
The guild doesn't own its members. They would have asked if I wanted to help you. "
"I put criminals in their place while you go around kidnapping women and experiment on them like slaves already. I couldn't give a less than a damn if you found a panacea for every ailment if it meant her safety would be compromised." Nolan stepped forward, his eyes exuded a great pressure that would induce fear in most people. If it wasn't for promising Ariel that he will not hurt Tidius he would've already been trying to beat his face in. This incident was making things much more complicated. If news leaked that Ariel was kidnapped by another guild then a war between them would certainly break out. He couldn't leave empy handed.
He looked at Tidius' wide shit eating smile. He scowled and grated his teeth in frustration.
"Your master does not have room to complain if I beat you half to death. That is only a fitting punishment for kidnapping another guild's mage that has not provoked you or your guild in any sort of fashion. You've committed an injustice against our guild and you should suffer the consequences, but if you are true to your word and will let her go on her free will then I'll keep this incident between us. If you wish to further your experiment then you take that up with Master Jamie and her. Tidius very nearly laughed.
"Like your guild committed an injustice against mine when it took down our ship? Or was that a provoked act as well?" Tidius didn't' know everything that had happened there, having not had much contact with the guild the last couple of days,
"And given the way your guild treated the Edolasians, who just wanted a better life, why should I have expected any sort of kind treatment, given that I am from Edolas myself? I have heard that your guild does not wish those that have come from edolas to have magic. So why should I have asked, when chances were, I wouldn't have gotten any help? I haven't really kept Ariel here against her will-the few times she did try to escape I prevented it simply because the magic she possessed and the personality accompanying it would have been damaging to Crocus, and the magics out there could cause something drastic, for Ariel. Do you really wish t take her out there, were there is so much magic? That could hurt her, but if that is what you want, go ahead"Tidius stepped back, waving a hand as if in invitation, shaking his head at this. Youths were so...eager to make a name of themselves, weren't they? He sighed, and waited to see what would happened.
"Phoenix Wing is filled to the brim with idiots, but they aren't blood thirsty idiots. If they attacked your guild then your guild must've done something to wrong them. Our mages have been getting kidnapped by other guilds so it is very likely that your guild must've been behind one of them judging by the fact that you also took one of our own. Admittedly I don't know the exact details of the incident so I may very well be wrong." He glanced around at the shelves of lacrima and walked over to examine them. There were so many that he could only assume that Tidius had been obsessively trying to obtain magic even though it physically wasn't possible as far as he knew.
He turned back to look at him and said,
"I want you to get this through your head. I may be a member of Phoenix Wing, but don't assume that I am like the rest of them. I've seen desolation, corruption, and poverty in the country of Caelum. I've seen absolute misery and then some in the eyes of those that wanted a better life. If you and the rest of the Edolasians have to come here to prosper then I don't mind." He sighed and pushed his hair out of his eyes. He could sympathize with the struggles of the Edolasians since he's seen humanity at it's absolute lowest. Beggars shaking empty mugs for money from foreigners, mothers holding screaming babies that they could hardly feed on their own, and perhaps the worst of it all was seeing the disparity between them and their leaders, who lead excessively luxurious lives.
As much he did sympathize with Tidius, he wouldn't let this be his excuse.
"I understand why you did it and why you concluded you wouldn't get any help. I wasn't aware that the situation was like this...However, I can't look the other way when someone I care about is spirited away." Nolan walked over towards Ariel slowly as if he was cautious.
"Life always has hurt, but it's when you're hurting the most is when you decide to push forward or give up. What do you think Ariel?"Ariel stayed quiet while the two talked. She noticed that Nolan was being rather careful with his actions and words. Most of the time he wasn't like that. Actually come to think of it he was saying some rather strange things as well. Spacing out in the mean time Ariel heard everything. However even now she was feeling rather burned out mentally, physically, and magically. With the situation under control for the moment she let out her breath slowly. "
Yes, I agree. This is rather complicated. I do want to go. But I would also like to help. I'm from Edolas too after all. I don't know how my magic works but I think I should understand it better. Tidius has helped with that even if he didn't do it in the best way." She shook her head a tad, her thought getting a bit fuzzy.
Relaxing perhaps a bit too much she weaved a bit before steadying herself. Losing the pink color her clothes turned to the dull
orange and her hair and eyes brown again. Unlike last time though her white bangs also turned brown. What feeling of magic she had died out. Pausing for a moment she held her hands out. Obviously she couldn't use magic with the cuffs on but at the moment she felt nothing. "
Oh..." After a second she reached for a lacrama. Holding it nothing happened and eventually she dropped it. "
My magic isn't working." There was somewhat a mixed feeling about not having magic. On one hand she had wanted it to stop because of the personality stuff. But at the same time she was getting somewhat used to having magic."
Um, I'm not sure what's going on. Maybe I reached my limit or something."
Tidius gave a heavy sigh, and said to Nolan
"if my guild master had done that, I would know. It isn't like him to plan things without me" no, the master was a gullible sort of person, and that's why Tidius stuck with him. So easy to get him to do what Tidius wanted. As Nolan began to move cautiously, Tidius watched him, ready to attack if need be.
His eyes flickered to Ariel, at the distress she seemed to be in, and before anything else happened, he stepped towards her, watching everything, taking in the change. This must be Ariel's true form, the one that didn't rely on magic, but what was going on? Perhaps she had used too much magic, but the completely a sense of magic? Everything had magic! was her Edolas side coming out? Or had something happened?
Forgetting Nolan for the moment, Tidius reached out to Ariel
"Are you okay?" he had to first establish if she was alright, before doing anything else, and there was concern in his voice.
What the hell? How was is physically possible for anyone to run out of magic? Wait, she did say that she was from Edolas so how was she even capable of using Earthland magic to begin with? His knowledge of the Edolasians went as far as knowning that they don't have the ability to use magic from their bodies so it should've meant that Ariel couldn't use magic in theory. If she did have magic in her body then did she finally run out?
"You, explain why Ariel was capable of using magic up until now." He asked Tidius with a cold, suspicious glare.
"
It's not quite that simple Nolan. We're not really sure why I had magic. That's what Tidius was trying to figure out. But it's probably because my father is from Earthland. I don't know the whole story about that myself. I didn't even realize Edolas was a whole different world before joining Phoenix Wing. So I have some questions for my parents about a lot of things." Rubbing her temples a bit she turned to Tidius. "
I'm fine really. This is how I was for years before the magic sprung up out of nowhere." Yeah this being the center of attention thing was not for Ariel. Both of them, for one reason or another, were being protective of her. Fidgeting for a moment she looked at the door. "
Can we try and figure this out some other time? I don't want to be stuck down here any longer." Tidius did say she could leave if she chose to. Ariel held out her hands to have the cuffs removed.
He really didn't know what to say to her about this. Ariel's abilities were either gone or lying dormant though if she still has her powers then when would they activate? Her powers were already sporadic enough as it was so this only made it more complicated. That's if she still had her powers. He looked at Tidius and motioned his head towards her.
"You heard the pretty woman.Tidius frowned slightly, unsure of why this absence of magic occurred. He was reluctant to remove the cuffs, and said so
"The cuffs aren't to imprison you, but rather protect you against magic. If you go out there now, you'll be overwhelmed. I don't care if you can't feel it right now, what happens if you could, and felt all of it? You could dange yourself, and anyone around you if things got out of control" he said, ignoring Nolan again, wanting to impact the danger on Ariel, and see if she still wanted the cuffs off
Sighing a bit Ariel looked at the cuffs. "
They're kind of in the way. I would like to be able to use my arms. Could you at least get rid of the links and the key for when I do want them off?" This was starting to get irritating. It had been a long time since she'd been herself. Whatever hangups her magic gave were gone with it it seemed.
"Oh for the love of..." Nolan muttered and he unsheathed Kaso and with two quick, precise slashes that were much too quick for the untrained eye to even follow. The chain links fell to the ground with a light thud.
"Listen to the woman and give her the damn key. You have no right to forcibly keep them on her." He was getting tired with Tidius' rigidness and was tempted to just forcibly cut the cuffs off himself, but if helped her resist outside magic then he didn't want to harm them.
This was getting tiring, and Tidius was sick of explaining himself, so when Nolan unsheathed a weapon, Tidius decided enough was enough, and as the cuffs were cut, Tidius was very tempted to attack him.
"They are magic cuffs, they have no key. Are you so ignorant of such things, or are you just that stupid?" Tidius said in annoyance,
"Your Master Will be able to get them off, that is if you don't do anything stupid to try and get them off for her." Tidius shook his head, wondering if this was how it was always going to be.
"And draw a weapon in front of me again, and I will not hesitate to attack. There are lots of ways to counteract magic, and lots of ways to hurt without it, none of which I did here." Tidius really didn't want to see Ariel go, there was just so much he could have tried, could have learned, and it annoyed him that someone tracked them down so quickly. Another lost chance, and Tidius sighed.
And again Tidius seemed disappointed. Groaning slightly Ariel was done with this. "
Could you lighten up a little? So far you're still the only person that seems to..."
If this were a different situation he would've beaten him into a bloody pulp and throw him back into his guild to face his punishment. This man had one hell of a mouth, one that dared to insult a man that was worried for his guildmate that was kidnapped by him, which was reasonable for him to be angry. He tried to reason with him that if word that Ariel was kidnapped by Tidius then it would've sparked a war between guilds. He tried to sympathize with the man's cause even though he disagreed with his methods. This man had been nothing, but an obstacle the entire time and he had to restrain himself from removing said obstacle.
Perhaps it was the emotional shock of finding out his siblings were still alive that made him much more emotionally unstable or if it was simply the fact that this man was a complete giant asshole even compared to Nolan, but he couldn't hold himself back. In a blink of an eye Nolan closed the distance between them and in that moment Kaso was pressed against Tidius' throat, a small cut opened up, creating a drip of blood running down his neck. The cold blade shimmered in the light of the hideout with a sheen that seemed almost unearthly. The intent to kill was radiating from the weapon.
"Shut up." He pulled Kaso away from his neck and swiped it in the air, leaving droplets on the floor. His magic wasn't the only thing that he was working on while he was training for two months. He pushed his body to its limits so that he wouldn't become too reliant on his magic.
He walked away from Tidius and sat down against the wall, taking a deep breath to calm himself. Dalton who was somehow absent from all of this stumbled onto Nolan's lap, groaning after vomiting into one of Tidius' flasks.
Things seemed to be getting out of control again. Like before she tried to get between them. "
Calm down Nolan. Quit being such a hot head." Nolan seemed to dismiss himself. By now it seemed that it was a better idea to just get out of this place. Following him she grabbed his arm to lift him back up. To some extent she was expecting him to freak out. But at the moment Ariel was more intent on leaving than actually paying attention to such details. While heading to the door she looked at Tidius. "
If you want my help in the future please ask next time."
With no hesitation he grabbed her hand and pulled himself up with Dalton clinging onto him.
"Thanks." He was done with all of this bull. No waiting for Tidus to respond he walked out of the room holding Ariel's hand so that neither one of them would get separated in the cave. Now he can at least enjoy the Magic Games without this nagging his mind.
Tidius was annoyed enough to be petty, and that's just what he did. At once, a stone door began to fall over the door, preventing exit. He would not stand for being pushed around like a rag doll.
"let's face it Ariel, you would have said no to a stranger asking if you minded being experimented on. You wouldn't have come here, of all places, so I did what I had to do. Even a few more hours, a few more, and I think I would have broken through something so astronomical, that I could have restored balance! If this hot tempered bull hadn't come..." Tidius sighed and shook his head, walking to the other side of the room, he grabbed one of the fruit lacrima, as if studying it, Unafraid.
The stone door came down and Ariel drew back from it. Surely Nolan could break through but this was beginning to get on her nerves. It was kind of nice having a normal transition with her emotions over the jarring ones from magic. Turning back she threw her arms out. "
Well it doesn't look like you would have gotten that hour anyway because if you haven't noticed whatever magic I had isn't working now. So what are you going to do exactly?" Somehow Ariel felt that she was going to regret asking that question.
So they were going to be playing this game huh? Nolan rolled his eyes and turned around to look at the sore loser.
"I really don't care about the if, ands, or buts of your research. Like I said before, if it ended up hurting Ariel then I would gladly do it again. You're only lucky that she hasn't been hurt or else that cut on your neck would've been your entire head rolling on the floor instead." He gripped his hand into a fist and then threw a straight jab at the stone door. The stone flew around in pieces as it was quite literally was turned into rubble from the sheer force of the attack. The dust settled and Nolan simply was standing there with his hands in his pockets.
"He's not worth your breath. Let's go."Shifting sounds could be heard again, as Tidius just chuckled. He figured he could have a bit of fun with Nolan, who didn't seem to think things through. Reckless, that was the word. But it wasn't even just that. There was some arrogance there too. Tidius just smiled, not concerned that Nolan had blown a hole in his door.
"Have fun trying to get out. I doubt you can blow through miles of rock" Tidius said uncaringly,
"Oh, and do be careful upon exiting if you do. There's a lot of magic out there, and just cause you can't feel it now doesn't mean you won't later.""
I'm just going to have to live with that. It wouldn't be the first time. And if I recall correctly you're the one who teleported me here in the first place. You're making this really hard to consider helping you again." Tired of this she steppped out of the open passage that Nolan had broken. Surely the sound from a moment ago was the earth moving to stop them. Earth magic would be useful right now.
There wasn't any point in making a snarky remark to Tidius. Nolan walked out of the mad scientist's lair with Dalton and Ariel though he could tell that this man wasn't going to let them go easily. The shifting sounds of earth and rubble echoed through the cave and began to form barriers to keep them from progressing.
"Huh, what a dirty tactic. No matter." He said, walking to the front of the group.
"Cover your ears." Nolan leaned back and then soon leaned forward, launching a massive tornado of ashes that blasted through the walls of earth and rock. The whirl of the wind sounded like the roar of a raging monster. Soon enough once the ashes and dust subsided the pathway was clear as well as scorched as if flames had ravaged the area. Not saying anything else, Nolan began to walk with his hands in his pockets.
