Inner Demon — Roleplayer Guild

Collaborating efforts from @TheWindel

Zak

     After a long exhausting day of doing nothing, Zak cast his cares away, along with the end of a fishing line into a calm and quiet lake. The water gently rippled around him as he reclined against a gnarled old stump jutting from the grassy knoll near the edge of a sparkling lake among the clouds and palaces of heaven. The looming shadow of a straw hat fell over the upper half of his gaze, hiding Zak's eyes from the light of day while he absently and occasionally tugged at the unresponsive line. Finally, after several minutes of inactivity, Zak yawned, and set the fishing pole in his lap, letting the line drift aimlessly against the subtle current. He briefly pondered how to this day, after many millennia, not a single fish has been snagged on his line. It made him contemplate if there were even any fish in this water...or in any of the lakes or rivers of heaven. However, the thought passed as quickly as it came, for likely the millionth time as his consciousness slowly began to blur away, fading into the realms of his dreams. There he laid, motionless yet seemingly focused on task at hand. None would be the wiser of his dozing, unless they got any closer than several feet...or within audible range of his subtle snoring. 

     But it looked like something or someone would answer his silent request because soon enough the sound of light splashing could be heard from the lake in front of him. It wasn't anything too violent and closer inspection would reveal a single fish swimming about in the clear water. That was funny; just a moment ago the lake had been silent, almost peaceful and serene. But this one fish, although desired, was now disrupting the flow in a huge way. It continued to swim about, kicking up a few drops of water onto Zak with mighty swaps of its tail.

     The sensation of water running down Zak's face brought him out of his snooze, yanking his attention down to the water that splashed and babbled below. His gaze peered down, meeting with the wavering reflection of himself on the dancing surface of the water. His eyelids fluttered as moisture sprayed into the air, peppering his visage with droplets of water. Through the ripples and foam, it he finally made eye contact with the source of the noise. Many centuries of contemplation and unanswered questions suddenly flooded to mind as Zak jumped up, wrestling with the fishing pole between his legs as he struggled to get a firm grip on it. Then he realized the aquatic creature wasn't snagged on the line. "...Wait...huh?" He was sure it flailed and struggled due to being painfully snagged on the end of his fishhook. But as he drew in the line, it became clear the creature wasn't at all caught. After a few more moments of confusion, Zak set down his fishing pole and leaned in to get a closer look. If it had been a shark, it would have taken his head off as he brought his face within inches of the waters surface, staring intently into the depths at the strange 'fish' or at least in it's direction.

     It was all the distraction needed for the hand from behind to push him forward, shoving his face into the water. No doubt he would gasp and splutter at the crude prank enacted upon him. Even the fish was gone, as if its purpose of tricking the young man had been accomplished and so its existence faded away. The soft of soft giggling would fill Zak's ears and standing in the spot he had occupied just moments ago was a grinning girl. Her snickering continued with great mirth and she waved happily at the man who had taken an involuntary swim.

     Water splashed into the air as Zak went plummeting into the rippling depths of the lake. He only managed a very brief and sharp yelp before his voice was muffled by gurgling. The shock of the frigid water nearly sent Zak jumping into the air, but only his head emerged from below the surface, sputtering water from his mouth and nose as he spun around, looking for the culprit. He made futile attempts to wipe the water away from his face but it was replaced with more water which streamed down from his soaked red hair. Finally, Zak managed to cough away the last of the water that had rushed into his lungs before finally focusing on the fair looking woman who stood atop the knoll next to his fishing line, giggling mischievously as she admired her work. "Dammit! Do ye know what ye've just done?!?!" asked the exasperated man as he feebly clambered his way out of the water. "Hundreds...no....thousands o' years..." he growled between sputtering coughs and gasps for air before continuing. "...and not a single fish. Not a bloody one!!" Fire burned in Zak's eyes as he looked up at the girl, towering over his soaked and collapsed body. "Finally....Ah find one...and you...you...." His fist slammed the ground. "YOU SCARED IT AWAY'!" Zak turned and frantically began digging away at the water, clawing at the surface as if rummaging through rubbish for treasure. "Now Ah'll never find it again! Tha one fish in heaven! Ah'll be a legend among legends!" At this point, he seemed to be completely ignoring the girl as he desperately searched through the shallow waters at the lakes edge.

"A legend among legends? Now why would you wanna be something lame like that Mister?" the girl asked, still snickering to herself. It was clear that he cherished the fish like it was his own flesh and blood or something like that. She wondered if she should burst his bubble now or wait till later....eh. Might as well do it now and see how he'd handle it. So the girl crouched down beside the edge of the lake and watched him dig around its murky depths like a fool. "Hey, hey, did ya like the little joke I made? You must have loved it since you actually thought there was a fish in Heaven. Pretty cool prank, right?"-"Wait a minute!" Interjected Zak, still somewhat oblivious to the girl. "There it is! Ah see it!" Without a single moment of hesitation, Zak dove forward, back into the water with a massive splash, disappearing beneath the surface as his silhouette became one with the murky depths. The sudden action sprayed water into the air and over the girl before she could finish her question. Several moments passed as the water fell silents and the ripples that danced across the surface calmed. It wasn't clear at this point if Zak was still searching for the mythical heaven fish, or actually caught on something below. 

"....I don't think he found the fish," the girl mused to herself, watching as he dove in headfirst like an agent sent from Heaven. Oh wait....in any case, she continued ot watch the ripples move about before finally settling into a serene state. The lake wasn't that deep, right? It shouldn't have been, not when it was so close to shore. "Hey, hey Mister, did you drown? Guess you'll be a legend of something after all. The legend of the moron who drowned himself over a fish," the girl said with another smirking snicker. Something brilliant bean to emanate from below the depths. Through the dreary waters, the girl could see a small, bright orange and yellow oblong form flailing back and forth. The sight was unclear, clouded by plumes of murk and mud kicked up from the floor of the lake. It almost looked like golden scales, refracting the few rays of sunlight the pierced the gloomy water. A few bubbled rose up, popping at the surface as the blurry silhouettes below wrestled to and fro. The girl saw all this and raised an eye. So he had found a fish after all? Or maybe he was just wrestling with some kind of lake monster. Either option would work but the latter would have been especially funny. So with a shrug she reached forward to poke one of the golden things popping up from the surface of the water.

     Breaching the surface through the golden blur, came a hand which took a hold of the girls as she reached forward to prod the water. She felt a moist but firm grip clench around her wrist, quickly yanking her forward, drawing her toward the frigid depths. Amidst the rush of splashing water, she could see her own wrist clasped in Zak's right hand and a...'fish?'...in the other. Upon his face, he wore a grin to match the girls just before she had shoved him in. "Gotcha!" He gargled, still submerged as he attempted to pull the girl in with him.

"So you really did catch a fish. And you caught a second one. You really are good at fishing Mister," said the girl smoothly, standing a good feet away from the lake's shore. What Zak had caught in his hand was not her wrist but rather another wriggling fish, one that was rather violent in its writhing. It danced in his hands before jumping against his face, tail and scales slapping about. This distraction caused the other one, the golden specimen, to slip out of his hands once more. A plop in the water indicated the escape of not one but both fish, each of them zipping past his legs and darting a good distance away. 

     The girl's laughter once again met his ears and this time she held a sorry grin. "Man, you just don't have the best of luck Mister, do you? Well...I'm feeling a bit sorry for you so I suppose I can make it up to you in some way. As long as you don't get any funny ideas," the girl said with a taunting grin, mismatched eyes winking. "Actually...there's a battle going on right now between the Factions. Why are you out here playing with fish? You got some sort of weird fetish or something?"

     Once again Zak pulled himself up out of the water and onto the grass at the girls feet, soaked and breathless. He raised a finger to speak, but only managed to sputter a stream of water onto the ground as his lungs emptied. Having invested a bit too much time into trying to re-prank a prankster, he had momentarily forgot the necessity for breath. As she continued on asking about his involvement in the conflict, or lack there of,  Zak rose up as if too answer, gasped for air, then face planted back onto the ground. Finally, after several defeated moments, Zak pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. "Okay....Nobody gets tha better o' me like that...cept fer tha boss lady....who tha hell are you?" He asked between desperate breaths suspect of foul play.

"Now, now, you didn't even answer my quesition Zak! It's a bit rude to skip over a girl's curiosities like that, right?" the Mismatched Girl said. She walked around his wet form in a small circle, humming as she did so and eyeing him up. "An eye for an eye...is that what they say? You answer my question and maybe I'll answer yours."

     Drawing a hand across his face to try and wipe away some of the water that ran down his somewhat sullen visage, Zak looked up, breathing raggedly. "But...Ah like both mah eyes..." He coughed a bit but his breaths began to normalize. "...And Ah don't like playin' other peoples games...specially when those people have completely unknown omnipotent powers..." he said half referring to the entity known as Hoenheim with a slight sneer as he forebodingly looked toward the girl. 

     To that, the Mismatched Girl shrugged. "So someone's a rebel. Don't like following the rules huh? Well...but you've done so well to follow my rules. What makes me so different than that old hag?" the Mismatched Girl said, still snickering and winking. "Anyway, I guess a deal's a deal. I'm...hmm...guess I'm no one. And I don't really wanna be anyone either!"

     Zak raised an eyebrow to this. "That makes total and complete sense. Ah understand everythin' now...." responded the soaked angel in a satirical tone. "Well nice to make yer acquaintance wee strange nobody lass...but somethin' tells me ye didn't only come here to push angels into lakes and make ironic jokes." He paused, sitting up slightly as his strength returned to him. "Unless Ah've finally lost it and ye'r just tha manifestations o' mah madness made flesh and come to torment me..." He reached a hand out towards the girls ankle, prodding to see if she was in fact a physical object. 

"I like to think I'm the latter. Makes it more interesting for me," the Mismatched Girl said, unfazed even as he grabbed for her ankle. "Oh yes, you'll find that I'm plenty real Zak. But I'm not here just to make a conversation with you. I came here...to you right now...knowing you'd be here...to have fun!" she said, nodding and grinning all the more. "And I know you like to have fun, right? Betcha get bored all the time; why else do you fish in a lake with no fish? Or maybe you're just mad? Maybe, maybe...but I can make you mad with fun."

     Such a strange offer from such a strange girl did indeed perk Zak's interest. But he remained skeptical for many reasons. "Ah guess that depends on yer concept o' fun." He said, still subtly gripping the girls ankle. "Ah'm not so sure how for this idea o' 'fun' Ah am...if it's me that ends up wet." Her grinning unnerved him slightly. "What exactly are ye intending....what does it have to do with me....and what do ah get out o' it? Other than whatever yer possibly contorted version o' 'fun' is...Ah'm sure it's not patty cake." asked Zak, mustering a feeble chuckle under his breath. 

"No. No it's not. But I'm sure it'll be worthwhile for you. What am I intending? That's classified. What does it have to to with you? Nothing really; you just look bored and I happened to drop by. And what do you get out of it? Hmm....well I guess you keep breathing? That's gotta be worth something, right?" the Mismatched Girl said, smile curving up into a knowing smirk. "But that's not enough for you, right? Well...how about this Zak. What would you like me to give you in exchange for my brand of fun?"

     It felt a lot like the deal one makes to sell their soul. Everything about this girl or entity or whatever she was brought a sense of both fear and curiosity to Zak. Whatever it was though, even though she failed to acknowledge it, Zak knew she had to have chosen him for a reason. Then again it wouldn't be the first time his luck ends him up smack dab in the middle of a shit storm. The subtle threat in her words didn't help in this line of thinking. The fact she even dared to threaten an angel meant she couldn't have been just any normal entity. Normal being relevant in a realm of angels and demons. Still, not knowing who or what she was, he had no real idea of what to ask for, or what she was capable of. Other than pulling pranks. He glossed over her inquiry for a moment to make one of his own. "...What did ye mean by ye don't want to be anyone?" 

"It's as I said. I'm just a nobody. You don't see me spouting around my name so freely, do you? But I know who you are Zak. I guess to me...you're just a little more interesting than the rest. Heh," the Mismatched Girl answered, as if she couldn't think of anything more fitting to see. She raised an eye as she looked down on him, noting that he was beginning to dry up a little. "You gonna keep fondling my ankle all day? It's starting to get old. You're lucky you didn't get me wet," she said, snicker all the same. 

"Then that's what Ah want." Interjected Zak as the girl spoke of his grip on her ankle. He smiled looking, looking down at the ground briefly before looking back at the mysterious girl. "Ah'll play yer game. Ah'll be tha piece ye need fer this round o' chess...but yer name. That's all ah want. Somethin' to know ye by." His grip tightened slightly. "Somethin' to bind ye by...to yer word o' course." He figured she could turn him down as easily as he could turn her down. At least he assumed so. But he also figured she must have needed him for something. "Ah'll embrace yer brand o' fun if ye embrace mine..." He still seemed slightly unnerved as he spoke...but the slightest confidence never left his voice.

     The Mismatched Girl blinked, caught off guard by his willingness and devotion. She spent a good moment simply staring down at him with a neutral expression before her lips curved upwards into that familiar grin he was used to by now. "Someone seems desperate to get to know me. But yes, I suppose that's only fair. I'm nobody, and frankly, I don't want to be anybody...but if I had to be someone, I'd just be a fool. A clown in someone's court. A cute little Harlequin who does what she's told and acts when she wants...yeah, I think that fits. Go ahead and call me that," she said, wriggling her ankle in his grip. "I told you what you wanted to hear. Now tell me what I want to hear. An eye for an eye."

     A muddled expression crossed Zak's face as the girl came up with Harlequin. "So ye really don't have an actual name huh? Ah guess that'll have to do fer now. Alreit then 'Harlequin'...an eye fer an eye...just as ye said. Ah accept yer offer." Zak removed his hand from Harlequin's ankle and in its place he left a bright shackle of golden white flames. The shackle linked to a chain of ethereal flames that fed out of Zak's wrist as he drew backward, standing to his feet suddenly. The other end of the chain ended in another shackle, which he fastened to his wrist. A name seared into the brim of the shackle in dark red flames reading 'Zachariah.' The one opposite, on the girls ankle read the name 'Harlequin'. The shackles blazed brightly for several moments before dissipating into nothingness, leaving small red tattoo like symbols in their place. "There ye go. We're even. Our fates are tied together Harly, tha nobody lass. Ah assume ye aren't tha most innocent o' beings. An eye fer an eye...here's hoping ye live by that mantra...because if ye ever take more than an eye fer an eye...you'll bloody burn." In hindsight he had no idea if this being was effected by fate or by the judgement of holy fire, but it was the final card up his sleeve for maintaining at least the slimmest sliver of control over this unexpected situation. A burst of flame and hot hair blew through Zak's clothes, cleansing the fabric of dampness before quickly dissipating into the air in a small plume of steam. He looked at the girl, sternly for a moment, before becoming somewhat oblivious as he scratched his head and somehow procured a substance tightly rolled up in a piece of rice paper from the innards of his coat pocket. "So uh.....now what? Time fer tea er whatever a wee mysterious lass like yerself does?" asked Zak finally as he brought the paper roll to his lips and singed the end with a glowing hot fingertip, sending white smoke billowing into the air.

     Harley looked down, not really surprised at the binding contract taking place. She figured the Angel would do something like this, and she snickered to herself. Seems even Heaven's best could be tempted with the idea of power and knowledge at their grip. "Sure, sure. I'll burn the moment I try to pull a fast one on you Mister. That's usually how these contracts work, right?" Harley said, watching Zach return to a relatively dry state thanks to his power. To the question, Harley merely shrugged. "You entertain me, duh? Or did you think I would just let you go back to fishing? Maybe if you participate in the next battle...heh, heh, I might do something for you in exchange. You know, eye for eye?"

     Zak kicked the makeshift fishing pole into the water. "Oh...o' course. Ah should have known." Spoke the angel through a wry expression. "Always comes down to fightin' with you lot. Never a mysterious entity with an offer o' peace and prosperity." Smoke escaped Zak's lungs as he spoke. He wasn't all too happy with the idea of getting involved in any form of battle. However a deal was a deal. "Fair'nuf then...and in tha meantime?" Asked the somewhat irked angel. "In the meantime? Try not to die," Harley giggled, image fading away from the Angel's sight. As if she was a phantom, she would be gone from the side of the lake and leaving Zak to his own thoughts and machinations. No doubt this was the beginning of a very interesting relationship.

Bravery

Soreness wracked Ashton's body, specifically his right shoulder, causing him to wake from the pain. He let out a muffled, slowly pulling his eyelids open as the dark recesses of the cave the bus had fallen in came into view. He blinked a couple times, letting his eyes adjust. Once he regained some strength, Ashton attempted to pull himself from beneath the object he eventually realized was the schoolbus door. The feat was difficult due to the pain that plagued his shoulder, but it wasn't enough to keep him immobile. After a few ragged breaths and grunts, Ashton finally pulled himself out from underneath the wreckage and to the shore of the underground lake, where he was able to see his reflecting. Among the rippling waters surface where his reflection danced, he saw the reflections of the other children as they struggled with something on the other side of the lake. The sight made Ashton snatch his gaze upward toward the turmoil. He couldn't tell exactly what was going on but something else caught his eye. Someone had made some kind of makeshift campsite just a few feet away. Curious, and still somewhat dazed and confused from the crash, Ashton walked over to the campsite where he saw someone had set aside a pile of various snacks along with a pile of backpacks, and clothes that seemed to be damp. Among the bags, he found one that looked familiar. Ashton knelt down, rummaging through the pile for a moment before he procured his own bag. Looking inside, Ashton saw that most of the contents had either been removed or were stuck to the insides of the bag thanks to the moisture. After shaking out the ruined pieces of paper and droplets of water, Ashton slung the backpack over his bad shoulder, grabbed a handful of snacks and supplies from the piles, tossed them in the bag, and stepped toward the edge of the shoreline. 

Looking out over the lake, Ashton felt the cold air nip at him as a mysterious and gentle breeze wafted over him from the caverns above. The idea of swimming across the water to get to the other side quickly left his mind as shivers ran down his spine. However, it was then that he noticed the makeshift bridge of a fallen tree trunk that laid precariously across the surface of the water. A convenient path for Ashton to take, but likely not an entirely safe one. It didn't help that he was a rather tall kid for his age and not the most graceful at that. But he wasn't going to let the fear of getting a little wet stop gt in his way. With that, Ashton carefully stood upon the tree trunk, holding his arms out for balance. "Okay...here we go. Don't fall..." He began slowly stepping across the length of the log, repeating encouragement to himself. "Don't fall don't fall don't fall!" As Ashton got further across the log, his steps grew faster and his balance wavered. "Crap crap crap!" He shouted as he neared the end, stumbling and almost falling into the water. However his foot managed to connect with land before he went tumbling forward, landing face first on the ground next to the girl trapped under a seat and the other boy who was knelt down by her side. "...Oww...That smarts..." Muffled Ashton into the dirt as he peeled his face up off the ground and rubbed his forehead. That's when he saw the other two kids. "Wha...oh...hey. Hey! Are you guys...ow...alright?" Asked Ashton, gripping his shoulder as he stood up. "Are you stuck under there?" He asked toward the girl who's leg was hidden beneath the bus seat. 

@The1Rolling1Boy@XxLyraxX

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