Jessi could tell something was wrong as he began passing certain landmarks over and over. It wasn't until closer inspection did he see the all too familiar magic wires pulling the very forest around him. A pit formed in his stomach as he realized they were once again in a trap set by the accursed Emilia.
Now aware of what was happening, Jessi broke into a full sprint breaking from the usual pathway and carving a straight line through the forest he hoped to catch Fei and stop her before she fell for whatever the Warovian had planned.
This worked in his favor as he was already going full speed when the trees seemed to part and revealed Fei and Emilia in front of him. With weapons drawn and rage on her face, it was more than apparent Fei was about to rush Emilia head on. There was no way Emilia wouldn't be prepared for this. She had to be using Fei’s anger to trick get into a fight. Jessi had to stop her even if it meant getting in the way.
As Fei neared the puppeteer, Jessi came from out of the trees and intercepted her charge. “Stop!” He grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to hold the angry princess at bay. “Don’t you see what she’s doing? She’s trying to get inside your head! Don’t let her play you like one of her puppets!”
Blood rushed to her face as the rage inside her thickened. Emilia would [i]not[/] get away. If she had to follow her to the depths of hell, she would. Nothing would stop Fei from getting the revenge she rightly deserved. All form of coherent thought seemed to disappear as only Emilia remained in her mind. Seeing Emilia’s corpse sitting at her feet seemed to be the only cure for Fei’s new sprout of doubt. She refused to let herself otherwise.
And then, hard hands gripped her shoulders and she turned to find Jessi standing before her. Fei blinked her eyes several times, making sure it wasn’t an illusion. Despite herself, she flinched as he yelled at her. The Fei minutes before might have listened to his words, might have even stepped down, but she was beyond reasoning. Jessi had to know this woman deserved death by Fei’s hands. She didn’t care if it was a trap. Whatever Emiila had planned, Fei would burn through it. She couldn’t leave, not now. A fire began burning in her eyes and she stared at Jessi as she spoke.
“I don’t care if she’s making me a puppet, Jessi! I’ll burn the damn strings if I have to. Do you know how long it would take to track her? I’m not giving up this opportunity up so don’t you dare try to stop me,” She snapped at him, letting her anger take over. Part of her knew she would regret being so harsh to him later, but at the moment, she didn’t care. Drawing fire to her body, Fei willed her shoulders, exactly where Jessi was touching, to burn, not enough to seriously damage but enough for him to pull his hands away, and continued advancing toward Emilia.
"Ho~?" Emilia let out a chuckle of throaty amusement as Fei literally ignited in rage against her. "And how exactly do you plan do defeat me, Fei, daughter of Asgard? Or should I say, Fei Luxonne? The name your mother has been negating you this whole time." The Puppeteer didn't even bothered to turn on her back and face Fei head on, if the redhead wanted to fight her, let she come, Emilia had way too many tricks on her bag, Fei wouldn't be more than a temporary distraction.
"Perhaps, should I go forward and give you the short version of why you don't even have a surname from your father, since you mother judged that her own wasn't good enough for you?" Emilia taunted once more. One could only wonder how much information she had extracted from Asgard in their short time on Emilia's palace on Exilia, or which methods Emilia had used to acquire such intelligence. Regardless, the fact stood that the Puppeteer knew too much and of too many things, things such as "Well, it's only natural, my dear Fei. After all, how do you think that the only daughter of the Crimson Guardian would feel if she knew that she was born after her mother was ra-"
The sound of wood crunching beneath a mighty force interrupted Emilia's taunting as something as black as coal stabbed through her chest. The puppet master sputtered, red blood coming out of her mouth and spilling onto Fei's face before her eyes became faded. Still, a smirk of satisfaction met Fei for one last time as the black object, now revealed to be a blackened gauntlet, ignited the woman's entire body.
The hand ripped itself out of the woman's chest, Emilia collapsing to the ground in a flurry of violent flames. Wood, bone, and flesh all crackled beneath the roaring fire before a figure stepped away from the smoking mess. Standing off to the side was a woman much older than Fei, but who looked almost exactly like her.
The Crimson Hound frowned, kicking up dirt to smother the burning Emilia before glancing at Fei. Soon a toothy grin spread to her face with her hands on her hips as she said, "Nothing but a cheap puppet trick. Man that's gotta ruin someone's day, y'know? Still, I thought puppets were supposed to be funnier than that."
Then she noticed the rather obvious inferno in Fei's eyes and sighed. With a snap of her fingers, Fei would find all of her flames extinguished without question. Finding a tree to lean up against, the woman crossed her arms and shook her head.
"Good thing I stopped you. You could have caused a nasty forest fire there, y'know?"
There was nothing he could do but watch as the mysterious figure quickly dispatched Emilia. The sight was enough to take Jessi’s mind off of his hands that while not burnt still felt this sting of Fei’s fire. For a brief moment, he wanted to believe that she had done it, that this stranger had finally ended the cruel tricks of the puppeteer. But as he gazed at the smoking body he could tell it was not so.
Of course his first instinct was to walk up to Fei and say something along the lines of “I told you!” But he refrained. Considering all the emotional and mental anguish she had been going through that day he at least understood why she acted the way she did, even if he was still bitter about the burns.
Now that the dust had settled, Jessi got a good look at the newcomer and almost instantly knew who she was. Not only did she have power over fire similar to Fei’s, she was nearly the spitting image of Eleonor. This had to be the sister she spoke of at breakfast if not an extremely devoted fan.
”Yeah, setting things on fire is sort of this one’s specialty. Just ask the tavern owner in Exilia.” Jessi chimed in as he approached the suspected twin while still admiring the burring Emilia nearby.
Fei flared her teeth at Emilia but found herself listening to the woman’s words. Luxonne? What else did Emilia possibly know? There had to be a reason her mother had neglected to tell her about her past, but Fei had a right to know… Didn’t she? For the first time in her life, Fei was beginning to question her mother. She found herself wanting to know more. Clutching her hand in a fist, Fei’s body tensed as Emilia began to reveal her grandmother’s fate. Before her lips could finish the sentence, a black object flew past her and right into the puppeteer’s body. Her eyes widened with complete shock.
Whipping around to find the person responsible, Fei felt even more confused as she saw her mother. Or, it wasn’t her mother. She frowned. This woman had to be the aunt Eleonor was speaking of earlier. Things were happening too quickly for Fei though. She just found out she had an aunt, now she was here? At the snap of the woman’s fingers, Fei’s fire extinguished and it left her feeling cold. Fei had never met someone capable of diminishing her fire power before.
“Who do you think you are?” Fei screamed. “She was just about to tell me where I came from and you stopped her!” She knew she was growing out of control, even for her. Fei was on some emotional rollercoaster that had no stop. It was honestly too much. All she wanted to do was run away from everything and return to her old life, where the only thing she had to worry about was training.
"Eh? She wouldn't have told you anything healthy to hear, y'know?" the woman said with a calm grin. "Let's see. If she was someone who would tell you healthy news that would help you, I might have let that puppet live. But at the moment, you're angry, scared, and yelling in my ear so obviously she wasn't telling you anything good, right? Y'know, I think that made more sense in my head..."
As the woman pondered her own botched up analogy, she grinned at Jessi before giving him a thumbs up. She liked him already since he at least had humor to dispel the situation. And if Fei wanted to be a fireball again, the woman would just snuff it out like last time.
Frowning, Fei continued to glare at the woman. She didn’t care that they might be related by blood, she simply didn’t trust her. Something about her was weird, but Fei had yet to know what. Making sure to avoid awkward eye contact with Jessi, Fei approached the spot where she had dropped Emilia’s apple. Perhaps it could give her a clue to the Puppeteer's real location. She quickly picked it up and took one last look back at the two.
“It’s not your place to judge whether or not her information was healthy, it was needed. Now, I will be heading back to the manor and I would appreciate it if you didn’t interrupt my work again.” She took a step forward before glancing back once more. “Oh, and don’t you ever extinguish my flames again. I won’t be so forgiving next time.” Fei hissed before taking off again.
"Sheesh, someone's cheeky," the woman said with a sigh. "Guess she wasn't all too concerned about why her not aunt totally has badass powers. Well, time to wonder around aimlessly until something happens that needs me. What do you think Little Man?" she asked, turning to Jessi.
Now aware of what was happening, Jessi broke into a full sprint breaking from the usual pathway and carving a straight line through the forest he hoped to catch Fei and stop her before she fell for whatever the Warovian had planned.
This worked in his favor as he was already going full speed when the trees seemed to part and revealed Fei and Emilia in front of him. With weapons drawn and rage on her face, it was more than apparent Fei was about to rush Emilia head on. There was no way Emilia wouldn't be prepared for this. She had to be using Fei’s anger to trick get into a fight. Jessi had to stop her even if it meant getting in the way.
As Fei neared the puppeteer, Jessi came from out of the trees and intercepted her charge. “Stop!” He grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to hold the angry princess at bay. “Don’t you see what she’s doing? She’s trying to get inside your head! Don’t let her play you like one of her puppets!”
Blood rushed to her face as the rage inside her thickened. Emilia would [i]not[/] get away. If she had to follow her to the depths of hell, she would. Nothing would stop Fei from getting the revenge she rightly deserved. All form of coherent thought seemed to disappear as only Emilia remained in her mind. Seeing Emilia’s corpse sitting at her feet seemed to be the only cure for Fei’s new sprout of doubt. She refused to let herself otherwise.
And then, hard hands gripped her shoulders and she turned to find Jessi standing before her. Fei blinked her eyes several times, making sure it wasn’t an illusion. Despite herself, she flinched as he yelled at her. The Fei minutes before might have listened to his words, might have even stepped down, but she was beyond reasoning. Jessi had to know this woman deserved death by Fei’s hands. She didn’t care if it was a trap. Whatever Emiila had planned, Fei would burn through it. She couldn’t leave, not now. A fire began burning in her eyes and she stared at Jessi as she spoke.
“I don’t care if she’s making me a puppet, Jessi! I’ll burn the damn strings if I have to. Do you know how long it would take to track her? I’m not giving up this opportunity up so don’t you dare try to stop me,” She snapped at him, letting her anger take over. Part of her knew she would regret being so harsh to him later, but at the moment, she didn’t care. Drawing fire to her body, Fei willed her shoulders, exactly where Jessi was touching, to burn, not enough to seriously damage but enough for him to pull his hands away, and continued advancing toward Emilia.
"Ho~?" Emilia let out a chuckle of throaty amusement as Fei literally ignited in rage against her. "And how exactly do you plan do defeat me, Fei, daughter of Asgard? Or should I say, Fei Luxonne? The name your mother has been negating you this whole time." The Puppeteer didn't even bothered to turn on her back and face Fei head on, if the redhead wanted to fight her, let she come, Emilia had way too many tricks on her bag, Fei wouldn't be more than a temporary distraction.
"Perhaps, should I go forward and give you the short version of why you don't even have a surname from your father, since you mother judged that her own wasn't good enough for you?" Emilia taunted once more. One could only wonder how much information she had extracted from Asgard in their short time on Emilia's palace on Exilia, or which methods Emilia had used to acquire such intelligence. Regardless, the fact stood that the Puppeteer knew too much and of too many things, things such as "Well, it's only natural, my dear Fei. After all, how do you think that the only daughter of the Crimson Guardian would feel if she knew that she was born after her mother was ra-"
The sound of wood crunching beneath a mighty force interrupted Emilia's taunting as something as black as coal stabbed through her chest. The puppet master sputtered, red blood coming out of her mouth and spilling onto Fei's face before her eyes became faded. Still, a smirk of satisfaction met Fei for one last time as the black object, now revealed to be a blackened gauntlet, ignited the woman's entire body.
The hand ripped itself out of the woman's chest, Emilia collapsing to the ground in a flurry of violent flames. Wood, bone, and flesh all crackled beneath the roaring fire before a figure stepped away from the smoking mess. Standing off to the side was a woman much older than Fei, but who looked almost exactly like her.
The Crimson Hound frowned, kicking up dirt to smother the burning Emilia before glancing at Fei. Soon a toothy grin spread to her face with her hands on her hips as she said, "Nothing but a cheap puppet trick. Man that's gotta ruin someone's day, y'know? Still, I thought puppets were supposed to be funnier than that."
Then she noticed the rather obvious inferno in Fei's eyes and sighed. With a snap of her fingers, Fei would find all of her flames extinguished without question. Finding a tree to lean up against, the woman crossed her arms and shook her head.
"Good thing I stopped you. You could have caused a nasty forest fire there, y'know?"
There was nothing he could do but watch as the mysterious figure quickly dispatched Emilia. The sight was enough to take Jessi’s mind off of his hands that while not burnt still felt this sting of Fei’s fire. For a brief moment, he wanted to believe that she had done it, that this stranger had finally ended the cruel tricks of the puppeteer. But as he gazed at the smoking body he could tell it was not so.
Of course his first instinct was to walk up to Fei and say something along the lines of “I told you!” But he refrained. Considering all the emotional and mental anguish she had been going through that day he at least understood why she acted the way she did, even if he was still bitter about the burns.
Now that the dust had settled, Jessi got a good look at the newcomer and almost instantly knew who she was. Not only did she have power over fire similar to Fei’s, she was nearly the spitting image of Eleonor. This had to be the sister she spoke of at breakfast if not an extremely devoted fan.
”Yeah, setting things on fire is sort of this one’s specialty. Just ask the tavern owner in Exilia.” Jessi chimed in as he approached the suspected twin while still admiring the burring Emilia nearby.
Fei flared her teeth at Emilia but found herself listening to the woman’s words. Luxonne? What else did Emilia possibly know? There had to be a reason her mother had neglected to tell her about her past, but Fei had a right to know… Didn’t she? For the first time in her life, Fei was beginning to question her mother. She found herself wanting to know more. Clutching her hand in a fist, Fei’s body tensed as Emilia began to reveal her grandmother’s fate. Before her lips could finish the sentence, a black object flew past her and right into the puppeteer’s body. Her eyes widened with complete shock.
Whipping around to find the person responsible, Fei felt even more confused as she saw her mother. Or, it wasn’t her mother. She frowned. This woman had to be the aunt Eleonor was speaking of earlier. Things were happening too quickly for Fei though. She just found out she had an aunt, now she was here? At the snap of the woman’s fingers, Fei’s fire extinguished and it left her feeling cold. Fei had never met someone capable of diminishing her fire power before.
“Who do you think you are?” Fei screamed. “She was just about to tell me where I came from and you stopped her!” She knew she was growing out of control, even for her. Fei was on some emotional rollercoaster that had no stop. It was honestly too much. All she wanted to do was run away from everything and return to her old life, where the only thing she had to worry about was training.
"Eh? She wouldn't have told you anything healthy to hear, y'know?" the woman said with a calm grin. "Let's see. If she was someone who would tell you healthy news that would help you, I might have let that puppet live. But at the moment, you're angry, scared, and yelling in my ear so obviously she wasn't telling you anything good, right? Y'know, I think that made more sense in my head..."
As the woman pondered her own botched up analogy, she grinned at Jessi before giving him a thumbs up. She liked him already since he at least had humor to dispel the situation. And if Fei wanted to be a fireball again, the woman would just snuff it out like last time.
Frowning, Fei continued to glare at the woman. She didn’t care that they might be related by blood, she simply didn’t trust her. Something about her was weird, but Fei had yet to know what. Making sure to avoid awkward eye contact with Jessi, Fei approached the spot where she had dropped Emilia’s apple. Perhaps it could give her a clue to the Puppeteer's real location. She quickly picked it up and took one last look back at the two.
“It’s not your place to judge whether or not her information was healthy, it was needed. Now, I will be heading back to the manor and I would appreciate it if you didn’t interrupt my work again.” She took a step forward before glancing back once more. “Oh, and don’t you ever extinguish my flames again. I won’t be so forgiving next time.” Fei hissed before taking off again.
"Sheesh, someone's cheeky," the woman said with a sigh. "Guess she wasn't all too concerned about why her not aunt totally has badass powers. Well, time to wonder around aimlessly until something happens that needs me. What do you think Little Man?" she asked, turning to Jessi.
