Take Your Time [Aoi's B-Rank Exam]

Spoiler:

The first idea of being able to accompany the former guild master along to some location, it seemed to be more or less too exciting to say no. In her long, long lifetime Isabella had been to a number of unique and special places and even seen some in distant places. However unable to visit those other places due to various reasons and treacherous lands surrounding it. Despite all that, it was very much so an honor to even be around him despite the rumors of his womanizing ways. Even so, Isabella was a lady of class and of a more old fashion style, much so that she wouldn't easily be swayed by his charm and words.

AS the pair climbed the steps, Isabella found it a little difficult to keep up with Shuhei. Climbing without a trouble at all had been a little more than just a breeze for him. Unfortunately, the need to pause and take a breather made it harder for her to keep up with him, but with a good pace with her breaks and pushing herself further more, she managed to make it up only about 15 or so seconds after him. She bent down, placing her hands on her knees and huffing before she would push herself up and pushing her hair back behind her head and tightening the ponytail it was in before she would step up beside him and smile. "I see. This is.. quite the.. remarkable building.. Sir." She huffed between words for a moment before she could collect herself fully and with a final big breath in and out, would clear her throat and smile. "Being able to experience to enter this temple would be enough of a prize for me. WHatever thy caretaker is in store is grander than any trinket could bestow... However, I am ready when you are." She would wait, ready to follow him whenever he would be ready to move and enter the temple.

It seemed to be a rather generous gesture on Shuhei's part to have waited until Isabella had caught up as well as her breathe so that she wouldn't be heaving like she was having an asthma attack or something of the like. So far the length of travel was the fun part, as the surprise of her location had kept her ecstatic and pumped to keep her body moving. Now that it was at a halt, it seemed like the whole effects of her body's adrenaline had ceased to continue and would begin to kick in to its fullest backfiring --which even then hadn't been much at all, thankfully. If anything, there was more excitement in Shuhei's voice than his body had let on to believe. She began to wonder how long he had known about this place and if he was just feeling a little more hyper to be able to show this place to someone... But why Isabella? Of all people, there had to be more in mind an closer acquainted people than her.

The time mage had taken in one more big breathe and quickly exhaled it before she took in position behind Shuhei has he walked into the building. Her eyes wandered around as the inside of the effects of lighting had magically become ignited by their motions passing them. Looking up, her visual focus came to the look at the drawings depicting the story that Shuhei had begun to speak to her. It had been quite some time since something even anywhere close to something close to this that she had a story told to her. Possibly.. a hundred or so years at the least, or so it seems to be even longer in her mind. The gesture of it all had been something more off standish compared to the thought of what she may or may not even end up getting into here. Of course, with Shuhei anythings possible what with the rumors she's heard.

The story was rather fascinating to say the least. It had seemed like one that would possibly be expected of someone with a special gift of something has different as that. However, in the same sense early civilization would not have had the same forms of situations and concerns as those of this time so the reasons may of course have been different. Once they reached the final room, she turned her attention to the idol that laid in the center. It seemed almost.. mesmerizing. She quickly snapped after she heard Shuhei stop speaking, looking down and approaching him. She waved her hand in front of his face, snapping her fingers even. Nothing. Reaching for her side, she would take sword in hand, questioning exactly what had caused this, but more so why it was that she was the only thing unaffected by the pause in time.

Her eyes glared around the area, slowly stepping to be able to keep an eye on behind Shuhei's frozen figure so that she could see if someone was hiding behind him. However, something felt off and not right about it. That strange tingling feeling in her mind making her feel paranoid almost about being watched was getting louder and more irritating. In one sense, she wanted to turn around and see if her instinct was correct, but leaving an a chance for someone to strike from in front while checking her back felt too risky not to take up on. At least to make sure of herself felt the most assuring thing to her consciousness that she could get for now.

After a moment, she found herself taking a second to try and calm her nerves. Turning around, she froze in place. Her orbs shook with shock as even her voice felt paralyzed with fear by this surprise. Aside from the fact, she seemed to notice that this snake spoke to her, trying to appeal to not be needing to use her sword. The snake slid away from her, slithering over and coiling around the statue of Cassandra before it had introduced itself. Her hands had shaken slightly with fear still, still impacted by the initial shock of the whole ordeal, until the echoed name snapped her mental state back to normal. Aoi? It had been hundreds of years since anyone had called her that. Her cheeks flushed to a light shade of pink before she could shake it off and finally clear her throat to speak.

"A-and here I thought manipulating time was only my skill." Opening with a small joke seemed like a good idea to get things started, at least to assure herself that she could relax for now until she was sure of things. "Aren't thou simply a legend? One more uncommon than that of the woman you lay upon here?" She had been sure he was somewhat familiar, maybe from an old time legend from which she read some long time ago in an old pursuit of trying to expand on the knowledge of her magic. Of course, knowing more about the history and origin of ones magic made learning it easier for her, as countless others she would assume. "I.. Prefer to avoid that topic... After things I have witnessed in my long, long lifetime, I have found that knowing such things would do nobody good. Knowing how one would die could only make things worse; attempting to avoid the things that would cause it and possibly end up shortening their life even further." She would pause and look towards Shuhei's frozen figure before looking back at Ananke, this time her face puzzled and full of questions. "So Ananke, sir. Might I ask why thou hath caused this pause in time? Surely to ask such a mundane question for ones such as us is far less than deserving of your time." Her eyes continued to stare into the snakes own, unwilling to change from anything else until she was answered.

As she continued to gaze at the body of the snake from which she had had a bit of a conversation going with, it seemed to be stranger and stranger in thought of why this all was happening. However, in the same sense, she had the thought that someday something of this sort would happen. Defying time to escape the fears of ones life wasn't anything she had come to think of before acting. Even after a while it all seemed natural to just readjust and move on with life even knowing that whom she would meet would one day die before her. Though she had never stayed around a person long enough to do so on most occasions, it had made others happy to have someone by their side when they passed. Someone to give them a sense of comfort in a time where their own innate fear would kick in. In such a time it seemed like Isabella's own fear was nonexistent, possibly having to do with the comfort of helping those out when they needed it most.

Her mind snapped back as the shimmering scales of Ananke had albeit flashed in the frozen light as he moved along. Just peering over her shoulders one at a time as he passed around her, she remained silent as he spoke and only nodding along as he had come to explain to her things she hated to hear, but knew they were true. If this hadn't been more than a test, maybe it was more of a warning to show her the errors of what would happen if she played with time for much longer, defying it for her own personal gain. Though it didn't seem like such a troublesome thing, she pushed that thought to the back of her mind. An audible 'gulp' sound could be heard from her as he seemed to almost emphasize the notion of death being inevitable. Sure, one day she would probably want to stop the charade of her life and finally let it take its toll, but the thought never weighed heavy enough to be of a struggle in her mind. Her experiences had engrossed her need to survive far too much to put the fact of death before her "refreshing" her own life, so to speak.

Looking straight at the snake, the serpent seemed to be gazing right at her. Normally, a person would fear such a large creature, unless they were idiots, of equal size, or had something up their sleeve that even a deity like Ananke hadn't already known of. Instead, Isabella's own was more of intrigue and one more bent to the idea of being taught things that she had forgotten of just never knew of before. However, in a quick instant, the room illuminated with a blinding light that forced her eyes shut, and more so that she would become somewhat off balance to it. She struggled for a moment to do so, but ultimately ended up falling onto her back before the light had faded to the opposite.

Once her eyes and mind has adjusted to the situation, she gave a literal shaking of her head so that she could try to gain her senses back a little better. Placing her hand down to keep herself from falling back down fully while she regained her thoughts, she felt something cold and wet underneath her hand. She quickly pulled her hand away and looked down to the palm of her hand before seeing it covered in a red liquid. Turning around, she looked over to see the feet and moving her eyes up the body. She found herself meeting with a person that seemed to look familiar. Spinning herself around onto her knees, she looked down to this body until she had seen the face. She froze for a moment before the realization had albeit smacked her in the face. She let out an audible shriek. The cold, dead eyes and minus the huge gash on her looked like she was going crazy, but it was unmistakable that she had been looking over her own dead body. The shock became too much for her to handle, so much so she began to scramble backward until she tripped on something. Looking behind her once more, she had backed herself into the stubbed body of another person, blood staining her clothes and hair, making her jump back once more, this time onto her feet to examine the entire scene. Her hands covered her mouth in surprise and shock as she looked over the whole scene.

The scene surrounding the time lost mag had come to a grinding halt. Starring continuously at her own body was among the last thing she had ever come to think that she could ever comprehend happening to her. Not thinking that something of this sort could even be done, Ananke seemed to have pulled out a little more than expected. If anything, she had thought to have gotten to see images or a video clip of sorts of what her death was to be like. However, instead it seemed as though she had been pushed forward in time to the point where she was overlooking the scene of her demise, as well as several others. As her attention hesitantly moved off of her own corpse onto others, they had seemed to be normal people from the looks of it, but there was never any real tell since there was no obvious difference between a normal person and a mage when they're just corpses.

In all of the silence of the surrounding area, the sound of voices and footsteps crowding together meant others were approaching. She didn't know who it could be, whether someone was coming to gloat or if they were just here for some other reason, but seeing the same person both alive and dead in two different places would surely not look good for Isabella in the slightest. She scrambled quickly to her hands and knees and crawled over behind the first thing she saw big enough to make a cover for her, which happened to be a rather elongated table with no way to see one side through the other, thankfully. Her body trembled with fear as she had to sit quietly, racked with the mental images now branded in her mind of her demise and what had come of it. The thoughts hadn't occurred to her on why her, and more so what the other bodies were around there.

The footsteps and voices had paused momentarily as whomever it had been coming had reached the scene. Her head slowly began to poke around the corner to seem whom had been the guests that arrived, or even the cause of her demise. A man stood with arms folded at his chest in a black coat with golden designed trimmings on it. It almost seemed like a cult-like robe from her point of view, but not from the way he stood. He had long white hair and a pair of demon horns on his head. His face was rather content, almost pleased by the view. "Mmm.. My, such a long time I've waited for this day." He paused, his voice deep and almost.. upbeat. He knelt down by the corpse of Isabella and his finger ran along her cheek, swiping off a small droplet of blood that sat on it. "If only you weren't needed for this ritual, I would have made you my queen for all eternity... Oh well." He rose up to both his feet and licked his finger of the blood and stepped outside a circle.

Turning back around, he held out his hands as they would begin to glow a sky blue color. Strange, ancient tongues of incantations began to spurt from his mouth rising in volume and becoming more and more in stereo until it seemed as though he was speaking through a microphone into speakers, similar to surround sound for comparison purposes. The blood of the bodies surrounding Isabella's body had come to converge in one point, right above her own body. Once theirs had halted, it began to form a large ball before Isabella's blood had begun to pour into it, rising up to be exact and mixing with the already large object. In contrast to a normal occurrence, the sphere would begin to shrink in size until it would stop taking in the time mages blood. "And.. with that, it is complete!!" With that, the glowing hands began to dim into nothing and her blood ceased to add into the object. Once things had settled down, Isabella had set her eyes on a black sphere of sorts, one that could fit into the palm of someones hand.

The object slowly floated down and into his hand and his mouth albeit drooled with excitement over it all. He began to laugh like every generic villain and walked toward the table and set the orb into a glass box and turned to his two minions. "Boys, it's done. Your work will not be in vain, now lets to celebrate in the best way possible." A toothy, evil grin like smirk formed before the blood inside the two men had began to suddenly burst from their bodies, splattered onto the floor and walls as he laughed maniacally. "Soon, I can feast on my first meal, and then, conquer the gods that dare smite my mighty form! BAHAMUT SHALL BE REBORN ANEW!"

In the meantime, Isabella had quietly crawled as best she could to where he set the orb down and looked up over the top of the table. She didn't waste a moment before reaching over and grabbing the orb and shooting back underneath the table looking it over. "What could he possibly hath needed to kill me, to make this thing? W-What ever does it even do?" She wondered, pondering the thoughts before looking to her sides and spotting an entry way of sorts. If she was lucky, she could sneak through there and get out, but there was no telling what it was. She looked it over and thought to herself to have a little bit of an insurance policy, should she be caught. She smiled as in one hand laid this orb, this magically created lacrima from which she had no idea at the time, and created an exact, fake copy of it. The time mage pounced to her feet and began to run quickly and quietly, but she was quickly grabbed up by one hand and raised up, pressed against the cold rocky wall. His other hand rested underneath her chin and pushing her face up to look into his eyes.

He smiled softly before the distinct look had made him look away for a second at the corps and then back to her. "How.. Who are you?" He gave a rather cold stare, but his eyes rung something different to her for some reason. "Y-You should already know that. Seeing as how thine corpse is lying over there." Not once did Isabella's eyes leave his stare. She was more afraid of starring at her own corpse than to fear her own demise right now for being caught, but he looked up at the orb her hand and chuckled softly. "How wonderful. I can have my cake and eat it too, so the humans say... How, delectable. Dear human, if you give this over, you can serve as my queen! This very act now can make it so that we both shall rule over the gods, the demons, the humans forever!" He sounded more inclined to have a queen than to gain his lacrima back honestly, but not so much that he didn't overlook the lacrima for much longer.

Looking to her other hand, he raised a brow and looked back up and blinked. "What is that? How do you have two?" He asked her, making his grip harder on her wrist. Isabella smiled and chuckled before she smirked. "We're gonna play a game here..." She paused and increased the pressure in both hands, making a crack in both the real and fake lacrima, as to make it seem as though the mirrored effect was nothing more than the real thing. "Thou shall pick one hand. If thy chooses correct, then thou shall get thine item back. However, choose wrong, and the right one is transported back in time to a time in which is completely random, and you will just have to go searching throughout time for it." Her game was dangerous, but she had to play a bluff and try to get him to fall for it.

He simply smiled and began to laugh a little before gripping her up by the throat with a tight grip and smashing it into the wall, enough to show his anger, but keeping her conscious. "Stupid human, I can simply kill you and make another! Why would I go through all that trouble!?" The retorting question was true, but it wasn't like Isabella hadn't thought this through, but now she had to simply outsmart someone whom was possibly thousands of years older than she had been.. at least long enough to get out alive. "But then thy great lord Bahamut, thou would not get the queen thy has sought in me. You may never find someone for whom your feelings tie to such as I. If thy would simply have noticed that as well.. Unless my lord has tried to deceive a believer." She stopped speaking, feeling her heart bounding and surely she wouldn't get away with it, having her pulse racing so much.

After what seemed like an hour of him thinking things through, he looked up, then to her other hand and pointed to the hand by her side. "That is the real lacrima. There's no mistaking it." He removed his grip from her throat and arm, holding his hand out as she stumbled to collect her position and look up to it. "Now, hand it over." He ordered, glaring down at the time mage. With a smirk, a large clock shaped field would appear underneath the pair and Isabella would begin to distance herself before holding both lacrima and applying more and more pressure until they both would shatter. She tried her hardest not to flinch as the shards pierced her hand, but instead focused her magic to the face as the shards would float up with small green colored lights around them and vanish. In her other hand, Isabella had used another spell to reverse the small cuts to her hand so that the blood wouldn't give away her rouse. "Lucky for you, I could only.. send them to one time. Good luck. If you hurry, thou demonic being can find it before they spread, if they even will. Plus, then you get to start thy plans sooner in the time period."

In a state of panic, along with her words, he vanished into thin air, leaving Isabella there alone. Opening her hand, she looked at the hand she held the real lacrima in and it had vanished. Her head tilted in confusion before a sudden shooting pain in her head made her legs tremble, dropping to her knees before screaming shot through her mind. One by one, each victim's blood began to infuse with her own and their deaths flashed in her mind. With each added, crippling death, the fear of it all brought along her own and she let out a piercing fearful screech before she passed out seeing her own death for her own self and falling onto the ground, unconscious.

Her body slowly began to feel as though it and her mind were beginning to be stretched further apart from one another. An odd, painful sensation, but none that could break her away from her unconscious state. It seemed as though it was more than just a simple thing getting knocked out by that blow of her head against the wall in some manner of a delayed reaction. The thought of a magically induced "coma" of sorts from that orb she had shattered in her hand was the cause. However, even then that was simply an assumption that she couldn't confirm even if it had been true-- or at least in Isabella's case that is.

Her fingers twitched as the slithering sound of Ananke's voice has seemed to ring in her mind. The deity's words were clear as day when they started, but they slowly began to fade into a blurry, muffled tone. Once she had felt the ability to open her eyes, she stood face-to-face with herself. She was stunned and surprised, looking around for a moment before the white haired male had appeared before both of the mages. His initial reaction seemed to be a little more surprised than she had been, but regardless of it he seemed to calm himself down once he realized how well he could make out with both of his goals.

Both Isabella's had taken a rather martial stance, ready to fight in close quarters combat, however what seemed to be different was the definition of their stances. The Isabella from the future had a more defined and ready pose, as if she knew what to expect. Before anything, she pushed the present Isa back and stood in front of her. There was something about how adamant she seemed to fight him, but didn't really think to fight her on it. Stepping back, she motioned for Bahamut to attack. Swiftly, he did so at a speed the present time Isabella could barely track. With a single motion, her arms pushed a swinging fist away from her body, countering it with her left arm wrapping around his arm and pulling down while bringing up her knee to drive into his exposed rib cage.

Immediately after, she swung around with a roundhouse kick, sending him flying back a couple feet before he stumbled back to his feet. Cuts began to form on Isabella's arms and she swung them forward, unleashing blood that had turned black in color, almost seeming like the blood was corrupted or something completely different. The blade like blood was dodged easily by the male whom simply charged again toward her. A thrusting open palm raced quickly toward his chest in an attempt to halt his approach, when he snatched her grip up and pulled her into the air with one swift yank. He grinned at a flinch she gave from the pain of feeling as though the pill was meant to remove her arm completely off. With one prolonged grunting sound, she swung a foot straight up, nailing the demonic being in his jewels and causing his immediate release of his grip on her.

He then knelt over in pain, gripping and trying to hold onto his nerves while the pain shot through his groin. His legs shook as he struggled to keep on his feet before receiving a sharp kick to the top of his skull, further sending him closer to the ground. On her side, she drew her weapon and stopped right above him, one heel on his chest and the blade to his neck. Her gaze seemed colder than her present counterparts. More calculated than anything she had been before, like one who's witnessed and been consumed with their abilities and had no remorse for battle. "Thy fiend hath slain me once, this time however.. You are useless in your techniques and your pursuits." She pushed down on his throat, looking down as his gaze starred with shock and disbelief. Putting pressure down onto his chest, she raised her blade up a couple inches and drove it straight down through his throat and swung to the left, slicing his carotid artery wide open and watching him bleed out, licking her lips as the liquid would already leave a warm taste in her mouth before she would even sample it.

It seemed strange that she had been able to witness this event. And even so it looked to be so simple, it almost motivated her. Lighting a fire inside of her to strive to be like this future self. She was proud to look this over and get the chance to see what people could only dream to witness. A small smile appeared on her face as she watched herself sheath the very sword sitting on her waist, proud to see even in this length of time that it would still be around. She opened her mouth, ready to mention something to her, to ask her some questions that she would want to know. Steps maybe, to guide her to the path that had led her to become this powerful Mage, and more so what magic it was that she had done so that she could train herself to use it properly, when everything halted.

A pause that had affected everything else around her, but her. It was that same thing that happened not long ago when she first happened upon a pause in the things around her. Quickly, the area around her dissolved until the serpentine body that was the deity, Ananke showed himself once more to her. He spoke small, but his phrasing made up for the lack there of in words he let out. He was right in a sense. There was something left to think about though... She watched Bahamut being killed, but there was myths that even deities don't die just as though a normal person would. Whether he would come back, or even just to find him in he past would prove an inevitability now. She would need to train herself to get stronger so that when he day would come when that event would arise, the times would prove to be the same as she witnessed.

Her mind set boggled in thought until she heard Shuhei's voice call her name. Her body jolted for a second before she had turned to him and faked a smile as she tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "Huh? Y-yessum?" She paused and faced her guide and shrugged. "Why'd you stop? I was enjoying the story thus far." Taking a couple steps toward him, she would look back to the statue of Cassandra before looking back at Shuhei and placing her hands in front of her body at her waistline. "Is something on thy mind, sir?" She'd tilt her head in curiosity, hoping to not go into the topic at this moment. Not until she could secure herself all the facts correctly in her mind so that everything could make sense.

She watched Shuhei as he simply watched her and starred in silence for a moment. Her head tilted to the side in wonder of what exactly he was doing when just stood there, looking her over --not in the physical manner it seemed to be at least. He finally spoke up after a moment, regarding a question that had racked her brain already, but more so to the point that she would be over this all already, but it seemed as though the question was... Off somehow. Instead of pursuing it though, she smiled and shrugged at the question. "That is true. However, the mystery of it all is what keeps us all going, is it not?" Ending with a question that needed no real answer, she unfortunately wouldn't have as much of a good future, or at least one that she didn't know fully. However with what had happened, it was safe to say things were right to change in some manner.

As she continued to stand by his side, the orb in the hands of the statue had come to glow once more. She expected the chamber to freeze and end up going through some other task of some sort and end up either fighting or needing to watch a fight again. Instead, the orbs light began to show something strange; a black dragon hoisted far above the town, blue flame pouring from its mouth like exhaust fumes from a car muffler. Her hands slowly reached over and wrapped around Shuhei's arm gently as Isabella watched the dragon fire toward their guild hall and having next to no issues obliterating it. Her grip tightened watching it, fearing that she was being shown what new cause of death would appear to her now that Bahamut was slain and kept from being able to harm her any longer.

She looked up into his eyes as he spoke about protecting everyone. Her almost frightened expression had turned into a small, soft smile as she nodded in agreement and lightened her grip. "I hath no doubt everyone will do what they can. Who knows if we'll even be alive when this happens, but by the gods I know that you and sir Zack will be right on the front lines should this day be there, as will the rest of us." She paused as she felt her stomach grumble and shake inside and gave her a bit of a painful sensation. "Food sounds wonderful. And.. I shall share a story or two of thy own escapades if thou art interested." With the orb then sated in its departing presents, the pair would leave, with Isabella planning to tell him of what happened during her time in the temple. Of course she didn't think he would believe her, but magic is s strange creature...

[exit]