I only speak the Truth

[Horo]

Luca walked slowly through the library, a soft song playing in his head as he replaced the returned books onto the shelves. He was paid handsomely for his work due to his memory of every single books location and it always allowed him to re-read books, especially the philosophy books. As he replaced the last book on his cart, a pack of larger male students came rushing into the quite sanctuary.

"WHERE IS LUCAS!" the leader of the pack shouted. One of his friends leaned over and whispered into his bosses ear. "Luca, boss. His name is Luca." The boss dropped his head and whispered back "Oh, really?... Well then. WHERE IS LUCA!" They began knocking books off shelves and flipping tables over.

Luca sighed and walked calmly towards the buffoons. "Is there something I can help you with?" The boss looked Luca over, he was well built but small in comparison to the massive muscles on the boss's body. "You told my now ex-girlfriend that I slept with her best friend!" Luca walked past the boss and exited the room. "Let's take this outside."

The boss and his troupe followed Luca outside and behind the EX building. Luca began cracking his knuckles. "What I told your ex-girlfriend was nothing but the truth. She hired me to find out if you were cheating and you were. This isn't an issue you have with me but an issue you have with your own rotten character being exposed for everyone of your classmates to see. So while it would be rational for you to self reflect and improve yourself you want to push this blame onto me and see me sent to the hospitial. How could you lose anyway? You've beaten up every other person who has exposed your character and they never did again. Why should I be any different to John, Kim, Mika, Amira, Sean, or Kyle? But now you are more sure that beating me up will solve your problems because I've brought up another blemish of your character that you didn't want to remember. No one wants to remember nearly killing a girl because she tried to resist you sexually and then tried to tell people about it. Look around, your friend are backing away. They know fear well, you keep them around with it, but they fear me more. I know this will only make you more angry, but this is your last chance to turn around and walk away."

Boss's face was flush and red with anger. "WHO ARE YOU! YOU DON'T KNOW ME! YOU DON'T KNOW MY LIFE!" He charged at Luca like a rugby player. "So you choose this path still. I expected as much." Luca kicked his flip flop forward and blocked Boss's sight, he then stepped to the side at a 45 degree angle and with a twist on the ball of his foot he sent a kick into Boss's neck. Boss fell to the side, coughing and holding his throat. Luca calmly walked forward and took Boss by the hair. He pulled Boss's head to the side and lifted his long leg into the air and preformed a flawless ax kick to Boss's neck. Luca dropped Boss's head into the dirt and began to walk away. Boss's lackeys stepped back as he walked through. Luca reached down and picked something off the ground.

"I'M NOT DONE YET!" Boss shouted as he slowly pushed himself back onto his hands, knees and then feet. Luca turned around and with a pitchers wind up he pegged a rock into Boss's temple, knocking him out cold. Luca then returned to the library and cleaned up the mess the boys had made, humming lightly to himself.

(( Luca is still missing a flip flop))

[Johnathan]

A long but slender eastern dragon coiled her way through the hallways at a swift pace. The golden accents on her scales of brilliant red glinted beautifully in the light as she writhed and coiled through the air, as a serpent might through water. Upon reaching a door, her head peaked up jumping from side to side to exam the contents of the room. Not finding who she was seeking, she continued on.

Rounding a corner, a group of first years yelped in surprise as she coiled swiftly between them. A short distance further, another girl screamed in surprise as the serpentine dragon slid by right between her legs. Reaching another door that was ajar, the dragon slipped through the open crack into the biology clubs room. Reaching a manikin, she paused to look at it, before coiling up and around it's frame, stopping with her head cocked to the side as she examined it's face. The biology club had stopped what they were doing and simply stared in awe at the beautiful creature.

After examining the strange 'person' for a short time, the creature lost interest as it made no signs of moving and slipped back out the door into the hallway once more.

Traveling down the hall, she spotted a pair of double doors that students would occasionally come and go through. Winding her way through the air, the small dragon approached the doors, stopping in front of them waiting for someone to pass through. A short time later, the door cracked open and the creature prepared to slip through.

Chrystaline hummed happily to herself as she cracked open the doors to the library. She had been searching for material on Oblivion, and more specifically, the effects Erebus's void fire might have when used to heal his body. Finding nothing concrete but a few good volumes to peruse, she was just about to head back to her office as the slender dragon coiled under her arm and into the library. Turning to watch her, Chrystaline blinked in surprise.

"Wasn't that Erebus's familiar?" Chrystaline thought for a moment. "Yuuki, wasn't it?" As the dragon coiled through a set of bookshelves and out of sight, Chrystaline shrugged and continued on her way.

As Yuuki coiled her way through the books and shelves, she noted that the large area smelled strangely. It was a pleasant scent that seemed to stir some unknown memory from one of her former lives.

Rounding a corner as she searched for her master, she paused questioningly at an unfamiliar sight. A row of strange boxes that emitted light and moving pictures was laid out. People were moving to and from them, occasionally sitting down to click away on some strange board. Curious, the long serpent made her way over. Coiling around an empty chair next to a 7th year student, Yuuki leaned over to look over the girls shoulder.

Startled, the girl gasped in surprise when she noticed the creature. Seeing that the dragon was only curious she smiled, stroking the creatures beautiful and smooth scales a few times before continuing her research.

[Horo]

"Kaiya, when did you meet a dragon?"

Luca strode up behind his 7th year friend with a pleasing strut. He brushed her black bangs to the side and placed a light kiss upon her forehead. He smiled at her blush, placing his hand on her shoulder and giving it a quick rub before walking around to examine Yuuki. He dared not to touch a dragon so simply, and examined it first.

"My my, you are a beautiful creature. Might I stroke your scales?" Luca reached in and allowed on of his fingers to lightly touch the creatures back. "So you belong to the Melanthios family. They truly are an arrogant bunch of assassins." Luca's comment caused Kaiya to turn her head.

"What do you mean by that Luca?"
"When I was born they learned of my powers and created spells to block it. This dragon has the spell all over him and it is all I can absorb."

Kaiya leaned back in her chair and smirked "The great Luca has been trumped by someone other then Soleth?! What a chance this is indeed!" she spoke in a playfully mocking tone but Luca didn't react which caused her to pout. "I'm never able to pry a reaction out of you! I could stand before you naked and you probably wouldn't blink." Her last comment coaxed a chuckle out of Luca. She smiled and looked at him devilishly. "Ah ha! I found your weakness." she exclaimed only to have Luca kiss her forehead.

"Not a weakness, it was just funny."
"What's so funny about it?"
"It's funny because I didn't even blink the first time I saw that."

Kaiya blushed and sent her palm into the side of Luca's face. The loud smack turned the heads of a few other students in the room. "Luca, you're a jerk. I hope you know that. I'm not going to go easy on you the next time." She stuck out her tongue and turned back to her studies. "I need to study so go bother someone else."

Luca laughed. "You're adorable Kaiya." He turned to Yuuki. "I would like to meet Erebus, but for now why don't we go visit his sister upstairs. Sound good to you little dragon?" Lura turned away and began towards Erika's room. He entered non nonchalantly.

"Hey! Little Princess are you awake?"

Luca walked further into the loft with a calm grin. "It's just Luca. You don't have to hide. I wanted to challenge you to a read off, but if your not interested or if you don't think you could beat me... Well, I guess I'll just take the crown of fastest reader in the Academy."

((Because Luca would see the construction of the book as Erika read it, the race would be a tie.))

[Johnathan]

Yuuki cocked her head to the side as Luca spoke. When he turned away, she zipped off in pursuit, coiling loosely around him, her head just to the right of his.

In the center of the large room that marked the entrance to Eirika's loft, were signs of someone's presence. Five books were laid out in a slight arc, each opened to about halfway through. In front of them, a blanket laid out in a crumpled fashion, as though someone had stood up, dropping it from around their shoulders. To the left was a box of cookies that was left open.

Looking around the apartment, Yuuki slid from Luca's form and coiled swiftly to a corner of the room, stopping in front of a medium sized cabinet. Tilting her head to the side, she sniffed at the seam where the cabinets two doors came together. Tapping on the doors with her nose, Yuuki made a sound that was somewhere between a throaty growl and a coo. After a short pause, one of the doors slowly opened a crack. Pressing against it with her nose, the dragon forced her way in. There was a squeal, followed by a scuffling noise before a small blonde girl tumbled out.

Standing up, she turned her head away from Luca in embarrassment, brushing off her dress indignantly.

"It's polite to call ahead when you're going to visit someone." She said angrily, stomping her way back over to where she was reading a few moments ago. When she reached her spot she sat abruptly, her dress billowing out in a perfect circle around her. "It's not because I'm scared," she continued as she pulled the blanket back over her shoulders. "It's for your own safety. You might end up getting badly hurt or killed if you surprised Veronica. Not that I'd care if you died of course, it would just be troublesome to have to explain to the headmaster." Looking down at her books, Eirika turned the page of each book in succession starting from the left. With a prideful smirk she looked up at him.

"I have no reason to compete with the likes of you. Besides, reading that quickly without a good reason devalues the wonderful information contained in these pages. I would much rather take my time and enjoy the experience." Looking back down, she turned the pages again. "Of course, I don't expect someone like you to understand." A look of slight worry crept into her features as she glanced up at him and then to the door. It was obvious that despite her attitude, she didn't necessarily want him to leave.

"W-while I'm very busy, and have no time to give to people like you, if you'd like to prove your worth, you can grab some of those books and be my page turner." Eirika pointed to a stack of books on a table near the stairs.

Looking back down at her books with a quiet 'hmph' she turned the pages again.

[Horo]

Luca smiled, "Of course. Veronica can be rather fearsome when she is surprised but I don't the Headmaster would be that upset if she killed me." He walked and gently placed his hand on her head as she sat down. "I am just a lowly... what was the word you used... I can't remember." Luca smiled wide and squatted down to her eye level. "... ah I remember now!" Luca played on his perfect memory, knowing she might find slight enjoyment in his obviously false belittlement of his skills. "A dog with no sense of class, taste or manners. Was that it?"

Luca chuckled and stood up as she declined his offer. "The value of reading. If I've obtain the knowledge, why continue to read it? Why not just allow myself to sit back and ponder, reminisce?" Luca began to fall backwards with his arms on his head as if he was lounging on air. A moment before he hit the floor his arms shot out to the side and slammed onto the floor with a loud 'thwack'. It was becoming his routine to preform this maneuver.

"Ah... you ask only after I've laid down?" Luca rhetorically questioned as he rolled forward and onto his feet once again. He retrieved the books and opened them in an arc above those she was already reading. He tapped on the cover of a fictional novel and smiled. "The wife did it." Opening them in a swift succession of motions Luca watched Erika's eyes travel and turned pages once they moved away.

"So Princess, where did the scary one go today? It isn't like her to leave you for such a long time." Luca turned a the current page prematurely, hoping to get a little reaction out of Erika.

[Johnathan]

Eirika smiled happily when he touched her head, but didn't bother to meet his eyes. Chuckling haughtily at his comment, she nodded.

"It's good that you know your place. A dog who thinks he's a man causes trouble for everyone." Looking up at him as he spoke about his own feelings on reading, her brow furrowed slightly in displeasure. "Just as I thought. You have no sense of culture or refine-Hey!" As Luca began to fall backwards, she threw her hand out leaning forward as if she could catch him. When he caught himself at the last moment, she breathed a sigh of relief before in realization, he cheeks flushed in embarrassment. Looking back down at her books, she turned each page angrily.

Watching out of the corner of her eye, she suppressed a happy smile as he gathered the books for her and set them out. When he spoiled one of them however, she gasped slightly before looking down, lips clenched together and cheeks puffing out. She turned slightly away with an expression as though she was trying not to cry.

"I was looking forward to that one..." She said quietly in a pouting tone. Trying to ignore him, she went back to reading. When he asked about Veronica, she inhaled sharply and stopped, failing to notice him turn the page too soon.

"I don't know." She said slowly, staring at the ground sadly. "She said there was something important she had to look into and disappeared before I could ask any questions." Eirika's hand's fidgeted nervously in her lap as a thousand different worrying trains of thought went through her mind at once. "Everything's okay...probably. She usually just worries too much. She better not do anything stupid...I hope...I hope..." Eirika's eyes grew distant and then without warning she screamed, recoiling in apparent pain. Falling backwards into a heap on the ground she clutched at her head and curled into a ball. "No. No no no no no! Stop! I have to....I can't." The tears streamed from her eyes as she lay there shaking, doing her best to reign in the painful visions once again.

[Horo]

Luca chuckled at her pouty face. ”We dogs ruin everything don’t we?” Luca leaned forward and got a closer look at Erika’s face. ”But we are loyal to our masters and fun to be around, so we have some saving graces.” Luca couldn’t help but laugh at his joke, but his attitude began to change as her’s did. He reached forward to place his hand on her shoulder as a sign of comfort.

”Hime!”

Luca rushed forward and caught Erika’s head before it touched the ground. It was another one of her attacks, but it wasn’t the first time he had witnessed one. The last occurred when they first met and Veronica was holding him in the air, his throat crushed, trying to figure out his intentions before she let him any closer. He lifted her onto her bed and began stroking her hair. ”Princess, you are in control of this vision. It isn’t real and it never will be. Hime...”

Luca placed his hand above her forehead as a magical seal appeared on the back of his hand. He closed his eyes and forced himself to focus. ”I use this power, this power of mine, to call the Guardian from the hells, to save this one.” The chant began to fill the room as Luca’s hand dropped down and touched Erika’s forehead. Placing all of his focus on the spell he allowed his barriers that prevented memory transmission to fall, hoping to rely on the Melanthios family’s seal.

Sadly for Luca, the seal wasn’t there.

Luca’s focus prevented him from watching the influx of information that was rushing into his body. His focus flushed this senses away, he wasn’t spatially present as he chanted and called forth Erika’s Guardian, Veronica. ”I use this power, this power of mine, to call the Guardian from the hells, to save this one.” All of his muscles relaxed as he finally fully called forth his magical energy. Connecting with the Guardian he spoke.

”The Princess is having an attack. You must return to her at once Veronica.”

[Johnathan]

The room darkened instantaneously and without warning, Luca was thrown violently from the bed side, slamming into the wall and pinned there by an unseen force. A dark and sultry voice reverberated through the room as a shadowy figure passed through the shadows of Eirika's bed, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"Oh my, I'm gone for the morning and already the wolves descend." As Veronica materialized from the shadows, she pulled Eirika's head tight to her chest. "Shh, there there, it's alright, I'm here now. There's nothing to be afraid of." As Veronica spoke, a profound sense of calm fell over the room. Slowly, little by little, Eirika calmed down as she regained control of her painful ability. Soon her screams had faded to mere whimpers, as she sniffled into Veronica's dress. With a snap of her wrist, Veronica opened her trademark black lace fan, and held it so only her eyes were visible. She regarded Luca suspiciously.

"Such a precocious little fly we have here today; touching the little princess with your filthy hands. I need to be more careful or you'll end up defiling her." Veronica's eyes narrowed in fury and the shadows twisted themselves into dangerous lances. "You said something you shouldn't have, didn't you?"

[Horo]

Luca gasped as the breath was taken out of his chest. He shook his aching head, pushing books that had collapsed on top of him off of his lap. ”It’s nice to see you too V.” Luca went to move but stopped as the laces formed. ”Because it is my goal in life to become a pedophile. You should be a little more grateful the attack was so short. What did I say? Let me think...” The blow to Luca’s head prevented his normal instant recall of memory from the short term, so he entered his memory banks to figure out.

Luca entered the vision.

’What is this? I don’t remember ever experiencing this. These, people... Who is this memory from... Erika? A sixth sense... it must be This is one of her visions. This is terrible. Rocks, famine, monkeys eating fingers. Wait... there we are... I would never kill her! This is crazy! V! What is this!? … So many things happening at once... Things she can’t control...’

Luca pushed himself to his feet and brushed some dust off from his shoulders. ”She went into an attack because I asked where you had gone. I thought that it was strange I had been here for more than a minute and you had not tried to slay me.” Luca turned towards the exit. ”Tell her that I’ll be back to visit her tomorrow.”

Luca began moving towards the door before turning back around and pointing ”That dragon belongs to her brother Erebus I’m guessing. It has a seal that prevent me from reading it.” Luca turned his back again and waved as he walked back down the stairs into the library. He took a few steps forward before falling forward and slamming his face into the floor. His back was badly bleeding, having been impaled on one of the artifacts in the loft. He wished to heal himself but his energy had been sapped by his summoning spell.

Soleth rounded the corner and looked down at his rival.

”Look at this, the great Luca is dead on the floor.” He squatted down and poked Luca’s face. ”Go to hell Sol, I’m not dead yet. Actually, don’t... You’d enjoy it too much.” Soleth laughed and picked Luca up and threw him over his shoulder. ”Now now, I could leave you here to die and then torment you in the afterlife. It’s not too bad actually, but you know that.”

Luca would have struggled to break free but he didn’t have the energy, ”Damn... now I owe you two.” Soleth tossed Luca into the air as a ball of light formed in his hand. It was the spirit of a great and long deal healer. ”Soul Merge” Soleth was engulfed in a bright light before emerging with tattoos covering his body. He punched Luca’s wound and with a powerful healing spell restored all of his energies. Luca landed gracefully from the punch and rubbed the wound. ”Good as new.”

For a second their friendship had returned, but when the light of the merge soul faded, their attitudes reverted back into rival mode. ”I’ll see you around, next time you have a case you can’t solve, you know where my office is.” Luca gave Soleth a heavy slap on the back as he walked away. ”Bastard” Luca returned to scanning all the books of the magic section, learning what they had to teach. There were methods he wanted to work on. Eventually he would develop his own art, unique to him.

((Luca is downstairs if Erika wanted to chase after him and scald him for leaving without premission or something))

[Johnathan]

As the visions faded, locked securely in the back of her mind, Eirika pushed herself up slowly from the soft bed. Veronica supported her, gently running her fingers through the girl's hair to straighten it.

"There's no need to push yourself." she said softly, eyes affectionate and showing no trace of the malice they had moments before. Eirika shook her head, rubbing the tears from her eyes.

"I have to apologize." Veronica pulled her into a tight hug, her face a mock pout.

"You don't have to do anything for him. It's his own fault. Some dogs haven't been trained not to bark." Eirika smiled weakly at the comment, before she noticed Yuuki, floating worriedly just outside the room. Standing shakily, she walked towards the red dragon with her hand extended. Veronica stood, and followed behind ensuring that the young girl's balance did not falter. As the dragon flitted forward to meet them, Veronica inclined her head respectfully. Eirika reached out and pulled the familiar creature gently down to eye level.

"I suppose my brother is curious about why I'm here." Yuuki cocked her head to the side, and Eirika mentally felt the answer. Yes. "He's alright isn't he?" Eirika asked looking away sheepishly. "I heard he was in the hospital." A mental image of Erebus arguing with a girl and a teacher about being allowed out of the medical bay was projected into her mind. Eirika giggled at the images, before her face grew sad. "Make sure he doesn't overdue it. I-I wanted to ask him about Papa, b-but it can wait. I'm sure he'll come to visit when he's feeling better." Yuuki cooed softly before rubbing up against Eirika's cheek. Pulling away, the dragon flitted off through the loft, eager to return to her master's side. Eirika called after her. "If you see Luca, make sure he's okay!" Following the shout, Eirika tipped and swayed dangerously for a moment, until Veronica caught her. Smiling, the dark woman pushed the hair from the girl's eyes.

"She fell asleep standing up." She remarked humorously. Lifting the blonde gently, Veronica pulled the blankets back on her bed, tucking the small child in affectionately. When she was finished, she sat down on the edge of the bed, closed her eyes, and simply waited.

-------------

As Yuuki wound her way back into the library, she spotted Luca perusing one of the shelves. Flitting over to him, she coiled swiftly around his torso, stopping as soon ash she was eye to eye with him. The dragon began to glow faintly, and a soothing sensation fell over Luca, as any remaining damage to his body was healed. She cocked her head to the side questioningly, as an image of Eirika flashed through his mind, projecting the question, "Are you alright?"

[Horo]

Luca looked down at the curious dragon and smiled, rubbing its scales. ”What a kind creature” He watched the flash in his mind and smiled. His silly little princess was worried about him. ”I am fine. No need to worry Princess, If I have the chance I will come and visit you tomorrow.” Luca moved out of the magic section and traveled to the runes and scripts, touching all the books he had never visited before and absorbing their knowledge.