"Hey, God. If you're there, my life has really sucked... "[B-Rank Exam]

It had been a tough winter. It was written upon the faces of the haggard, shrunken beggars on the streets of the town. It was cruelly etched across the already scarred expressions of the color gangs. The thieves and pickpockets of the street drew it out, penny by penny from threadbare pockets, trying to make the meager supplies last. Their faces – they spoke of hardships. Of hungry, lonely nights. Of fingers frosted over and mewling sounds of pitiful whining, welling from even the toughest and most hard-set of mouths during the blizzards - sounds they would never admit to another. Needless to say, the denizens of Talonia’s hidden alleyways and hovels were sick and tired of such punishing weather, and each were more than thrilled when the groundhog poked its long, slender snout out from its warm cave and announced the arrival of spring. Yet spring, as promising as the word sounded to the starved senses of these people, was not the solution to the problems. To the hunger, the loneliness, the darkness. And this was a fact that was painfully evident to each and every one of them, including Yuzuki.

Once proud and lofty a woman, holding the position of one of the more independent, more successful at her craft in slipping purses from pockets and apples from vendors than the rest, having mastered the arts of looking pitiful, shy, and innocent. A street rat in her prime, you could say – yet not a single street rat could be immune to the curses and rages of the winds of the lady Winter, no? Nay, none dared to go against the will of the weather, not even a semi-fey who forced the world to revolve around her with each one of her bold and impulsive moves. Even such a creature as herself wouldn’t dream of it. But in this way, she had wasted away, feeling the gnawing feeling that was ever-present in her stomach grow as day by day, the winds grew closer and chill enveloped the city. For the first time in years? Yuzuki felt true helplessness. The feeling of being unable to do anything, losing control of one’s mind. The cruel ticking of Father Time in her ears, counting away the meaningless, useless seconds of her life as it began to slip further and further away. And this – such an experience it had been, had changed her. It had etched something deeply into the very depths of Yuzuki, a woman who had assumed that she had gotten past the struggles, the worst parts of life.

A woman who had thought she was in control.

Slinking silently into the bar, the lost one slipped into the grasp of a comfortably worn-out bench, feeling the pressure upon her wings only briefly before they dissipated, fading away like the broken figure itself camouflaged into the wooded patterns. Bent down to this sort of a level, was she now? Pathetic. A slow cruel laugh bubbled up inside her chest, a cough cutting it in half. How stupid was she, parading around thinking she could do as she pleased? Pretending to be some all high-and-mighty mage, working side by side with legal goody-two-shoes mages and rescuing people! Rescuing humans, no less! But alas, the gods would have none of it. They would whisper in her ear with a breath of cold, the grip of hunger to bring her head down from the clouds. To remind her who she really, truly was. Not a mage! Not a hero. Not even someone to be of any remote use in this world – neither this one nor the fey.

“You’re nothing but a worthless half-breed!” they scorn her, weakening her limbs.

“Nothing but a leech, living off the profits and fame of others, hmm? Deserving of the name of rat, the very definition, in fact!” Yuzuki slumped down deeper into the bench, willing her stomach to stop sending jolts of pain and desperation up through her body. What was she supposed to do now? It had been so long…so long since she’d been decreased to such a state. Pathetic! That’s what she was! Feebly, she slammed a bony fit into the table in front of her, only to wince in the pain she had unintentionally inflicted upon herself. What punishment was this? Whatever was it that she had done? She existed, and it seemed that the world had made her its punching bag. Now, Yuzuki knew full well that she was going into a state of mind she normally rejected, the depressed and self-loathing mindset she detested so much. Not only was she fallen physically, but it seemed that her mind was also failing her now, hm? The usual snarkiness had faded away, the pride, the selfishness and sadistic love of watching others suffer at their losses. But now? She was the one suffering – so who would be laughing at her?

It was as if her mind had been read in that moment, as a sudden touch on her chin would cause tingles to shoot throughout her body, alarm urging limp muscles to move – but exhaustion preventing the connection between mind and body. Ah, who was it now? A gang leader she had wronged? Some rich merchant she had snapped up goods from a few times too many? Either way, she had no idea how she would get out of this, huh… But, even as she turned her face up to the mysterious figure, silver eyes suddenly widened in shock, mixed emotions stirred up in her heart. This man! Recognition was established in her face as the former angel grinned down at her.

“Yuzuki Faerydae, hm? It’s been a while.”

“Y-you…!”

It was all the semi-fey could croak out, as this was the man who had sent her former set-in-stone ideals spinning upside down and out of control. Having interrupted her on the way to a job, he’d forcibly involved himself in her business, trying to look out for her! Outsmarting her! Overpowering her with witty words and forcing her into situations where she found that, for once, she actually had to choose.  She’d had to fight her former ideas, had to deal with the impossibilities that came with two different sides of her she had hoped to forget about, to ignore. But with a simple movement, a simple word… Azurius Tade. The man who had weakened her. In this delirious state, the semi-fey’s thoughts spun irrationally, pointing blame at the one who had tried and almost succeeded in teaching her kindness. In a flash of decision, anger blinded her formerly quiet, fallen gaze. A mustering of strength occurred, and Katsuki was soon quivering uncertainly beneath the man’s chin, pointed towards his throat. “D-don’t you dare come near me…!”

Heads were turned, mouths opening her surprise, anger, and confusion. This was a bar, and fights were not uncommon. But the typical fight seen was between two blundering, drunk men who were clumsily clubbing each other with flailing limbs – easily avoidable if you were used to the situation. But the sight that was seen here was one far different. A quivering wisp of a girl was hunched over on her bench, squinting hard into empty space while holding a silver, shining spear up against some invisible foe’s neck. A crazy. A…lunatic. That’s right. Here she was, a limp, broken figure, laughing silently at herself while pinning something against her speartip that was no more than a punishment from the lady in the sky herself. The people edged away from this woman, fear and caution edging their gazes. Someone would have to send her down… but who would dare? That was no normal spear, they knew. Those in Talonia had most certainly heard of the street thief who danced on toes of silver, who held abilities unlike any other beggar you could find in an abandoned alleyway. This was the mage-thief, the fighting thief that few wanted to cross. The rumors filled Talonia of the figure, but few had ever seen her until now. Yuzuki Faerydae, once a queen among rats.

But she had eyes only for the man who had haunted her memories, who had held her back for so long. “Old man, huh?” A raspy giggle escaped her lips, and she inched a little closer. “How have you been faring, Yuzu?” he asked, that same irritating grin on his lips, “Are you going to have to come crawling to me for help again?” Despite the taunting words, that wasn’t what the semi-fey truly hated about this man. It was his eyes. A fallen angel, but an angel nevertheless. What she saw in those bright eyes were things that she absolutely detested. Instead of the malice an enemy held, or the cruelty of the religious cults that hunted her down for fey blood, there was love, kindness, and mercy in there, emotions that she wouldn’t – no, couldn’t understand. “You’re still an old softie, yeh? Haunting me around even after I’ve tried to escape you, haha!” Hysterical now, she sent even more people scurrying away. She was unstable and dangerous, and no one wanted to be the invisible man at the end of her weapon.

“Indeed, Yuzu, you know that good ol’ Azurius is always here for you, hm?” He took a large, comforting hand out from his pocket, reaching out to help the sack of skin and bones up from the ground. Colors bolted before Yuzuki’s eyes as she stared back at it, something akin to fear in her silver eyes, now a dull gray. “Good ol’ Yuzu? Ffs.” So there was hope for her life yet, yeah? She knew she wouldn’t die here… She had always known. Azurius was always going to come back for her, right? As much as she detested him, had she come to rely on the man’s presence already? By taking his hand, she could be safe. The angel would keep her safe. He would keep her safe, and forgive her. She, a street thief, mercenary, murderer would be forgiven! How nice would that be? Her fingers rose up even as some feeble part of her mind rebelled, screeching like the immature young child she was at heart. Thirty-four years old and still a regular lil’ baby. “’Zurius, ya know I still hate you, right?” her words slurred together as the man’s body began to emanate a soft silver light. The lady of the moon was exacting her punishment – was this it?

Another jolt of colors flashed across her mind, and she was stunned in a sudden shock of thought. What was she doing? Bowing down to someone like this, how could she? The people around her saw the action differently – her eyes had suddenly dilated and were flickering, as if seeing some invisible horror that they could not view. A man gestured discreetly with his fingers to the back of the bar, and a large, shadowy figure rose from their seat. But Yuzuki paid no mind to that, instead, faced with the two fighting sides of her mind. No… She couldn’t bow down like this! There was nothing right in the action of letting go and letting someone else take care of her. How pathetic she was, a lump sitting down here at the bar, but at this moment, Yuzuki forgot the bar. She forgot her hunger. Turning her face up to look towards a small, hidden window in the corner, a tickle of moonlight would suddenly seep in from outside. The Lady had come for her. Letting herself completely fall into the rays of the moonlight, the semi-fey was consumed by fire. Cold, roiling fire that stung at her insides while everyone else gasped in awe and fear and the girl engulfed in silver light.

“NO!” A fierce, raw scream broke loose from her throat as all her frustrations, all her worries, all her problems came unraveled loose, flaring out in a burst of silver light around her. She had already used too much of the moonfire to keep herself alive over the winter, and here she was, at her very worst, having given herself up to her own magic in a desperate attempt to stay alive. The spear lurched forward, splitting the mirage into a million figments of the mind, and as the tip came crashing into the wooden floor, her choice had been made. It was a choice that she had had for a long time, and that she had resisted making, for thirty-four long years. All those who were bitter, who fought daily for each scrap of belonging all had to make the choice at some point. Those who wished to give into the charity of others, ultimately resulting in their ruin, or those who had chosen like Yuzuki. Who had chosen like the girl who had forsaken everything,

And had given up her entirety for strength.

She stood like a cornered animal, breathing coming through in harsh, loud gasps. Silver radiated outwards all about her, and the formerly nervous customers that had milled awkwardly about the area had all backed away into the corners. A mage, that much had been made certain. While mages weren’t that rare in Talonia, due to the location’s popularity for guildless mages. Seeing one like this, not even bothering to hide her obviously magical abilities was unnerving. It disturbed them greatly, to see that feral glow in her eyes, eyes that blazed with fury towards all those who had ever wronged her. And to the currently crazed version of Yuzuki that existed? All those standing before her in that bar were all enemies. Instead of the stupid lumps they had once been, they were each now totems of her misery, the ones who had brought about her broken, messed up life. If the moon had intended this, then it had most certainly succeeded. All thoughts of Azurius, the man who had held her humanity down with gentle teasing and rough lessons had been wiped from her brain. It was strange, how liberating this was. Who would have thought that becoming a psychopath would have rid her mind of so many worries?

Feeling somewhat high and strangely light, Yuzuki faced her enemies headfirst, silver spear sparking crazily besides her. Despite her starved state of health, insanity fueled her actions as the tip carved through the sea of people. The lady Luna was behind her fingertips, spinning the silver handle around and around, solid metal disappearing into masses of chain without second thought. She saw gaping maws everywhere, the pinks of tongues showing wherever she looked. Were they trying to devour her? That couldn’t be. Did they hate her so much? Were they underestimating her strength? Anger coursed through her as the customers screamed and ran, trying to flee the bloodbath that had been caused by a single street rat. Delusioned, she blocked their voices out, imagining the insults they poured at her, and growing even more and more angry – it couldn’t be stopped, she couldn’t be stopped! Her anger had finally found an outlet, the years and years of humiliation, the years and years of loneliness, the years and years of running, of hiding, of crying, of pretending! It was over! She had been freed from that prison at last! Canines showed in a bright smirk, and Yuzuki was almost instantly in the air.

Legs kicked outwards, silver shoes suddenly untarnished and deadly. Silver splattered across her vision, the reflection of moon on a mixture of gross liquids all over the now pitch dark bar interior. The screaming had already begun to fade, even as her legs and arms moved to the rhythm of her emotions, flowing along to this uncontrollable river of rawness. This glare of redness. She was carving through flesh and bone without a second thought, until something suddenly smacked her angrily and with great strength and resolve from the back of the head. The darkened figure that had been commissioned to get rid of the insane semi-fey had finally joined in on the fun, after a pile of bodies had already begun to gather. But they could never be prepared for the great anger of the semi-fey, who jammed her elbow back into the figure’s gut, causing them to let out an oomph of shock and pain. When the rat turned to face her assailant, the poor mercenary nearly fainted dead away. Despite her head that had been cloaked in thick silver-tinted blood, A fierce grin of absolute glee – no, absolute bliss was cast in her direction.

It was with absolute pleasure that Yuzuki Faerydae plunged Katsuki’s broad, shining tip into Carlyss Lim’s gut, ending her tragically short life and career as a mercenary. And then, things were really completely still. She was all alone in the darkness, panting breaths the only sound besides the muted murmur of commotion outside. She giggled, still reeling from the force of the freedom she had felt. She could stay like this forever, just raging about the city, dancing with the moonlight flowing through her veins, pupils dilated to a point where she could barely even see anymore. “Yah, old man,” she whispered, tilting her matted head to the sky, “Are you proud of me now?” And although no answer was returned, she could think of oh-so many responses she would receive from the fallen angel, none of them good. It only served to put another surge of pleasure through her veins. This was more enjoyable than saving little orphan girls, that was a definite yes. The high of murdering, watching as life after life slipped through her fingers was exhilarating, giving her a feeling of absolute control that she had never before experienced in her prior life of hiding and running, skulking around to steal a little bit of something every now and then.

Slowly, the semi-fey sank to her knees, feeling the satisfying squelch of still-warm bodies beneath her skin, and looped the pristine blade around her belt. The fey material that her boots and the blade had been formed of had instantly rejected the blood that had tainted them, and here she was, an innocently smiling child among bodies. So there were benefits of fey blood, weren’t there? But after a moment, the high began to fade, and a slow depression descended upon the creature’s head. Ah… How tired she was! Where had the moon gone? Forlornly, Yuzuki gazed up at the sky, only to frown at the sudden realization that her source of energy and fuel had unfortunately left her already. The moon had finished breaking this one apart – it was time to find another victim. Keening desperately, she crawled towards the pinprick of a window, wishing for a way out. Already, her abilities were forgotten, so it was with shock that she found herself falling through a shadow in the corner and reappearing out of the gutter of a building, falling downwards without a clue as to what was going on. Fortunately for her, invisible wings automatically sprang out to cushion her fall, so she fell lightly into the middle of the street, practically stark naked from the rough tussle she had found herself in only moments before. Luckily, it was the middle of the night, and almost no one saw this mysterious figure falling from the sky.

She was awoken by the urgent prodding of an arm, alarmed movements jerking her awake from a dead sleep. Slowly, she rolled over, biting back a yelp as arrows of pain stabbed through her body. She’d overexerted herself last night, and her muscles screamed for mercy, the movement tearing open wounds that had tentatively begun to heal last night. She released a sharp hiss of agony, groping about wildly for something, anything she could hold and squeeze to relieve the pain she was going through. The hands batted at her again, and slowly, a muffled voice came into her mind through all the pain as well. “Miss, miss, please get up! You’ll die if you stay this way for any longer!” No, she didn’t want to get up though… It would be better to go back into that darkness where things didn’t hurt so much, where things were nice and gentle and muffled by the bliss of absolute darkness. It was such a nice thought, such a nice dream… “Agharhghahhh!”

A strangled sound escaped the girl’s mouth as she was abruptly pulled up by the shirt of her nearly nonexistent tunic by now, light forced into her eyes as they fluttered open. “What the-?” she hissed, shuddering at the jolt of pain that electrified her body. “Get up already! We’re not gonna have another one die on our hands, kid!” As colors and shapes slowly came into focus before her blurred, tired eyes, she realized that a woman, health care worker by the looks of her uniform was slapped her face gently, trying to get her up. “If you lose consciousness again, I’ve no idea if I can bring you back alive, kid. Get up already.” A groan escaped her mouth without her permission, and the woman gently sat her up against a wall. “I’m surprised to find you alive, honestly. There’s been no one else besides some old man we found over yonder who can still pull more than two breaths before dying on us.” A trickle of water dripped down her throat as she held a flask to her chapped lips. “And you don’t look too good yourself, kid. Magic user, am I right?” Busily humming, she tapped the silver spear a few times, nodding knowingly. Yuzuki, by this point no longer knew how to be alarmed and barely reacted, grunting as life was brought back into her by the silvery, thin trickle of crystal.

“Good thing you were, too, or I’d be holding another dead body in my lap. Strange that only you survived though, when so many of the others also had distinctive marks of magic usage around them. Perhaps you’re carrying some sort of charm? Perhaps you’re an especially powerful healing mage? Certainly don’t look that way with the clothes. Oh well, appearances can deceive, can’t they? We’ll get you over to the shelter, where they’re gathering the bodies and the few who survived. Perhaps you can tell us some more about what happened here, m’kay?” Yuzuki nodded along, too tired to really follow her words. The woman scooped her up gently, treating her body like some fragile glass figurine before placing her on the waiting levitating stretcher and pushing her over the rubble to the tents that awaited them. It had been most strange an event. In the small square in the slums of Talonia, where a relatively bar took residence, there had been a great massacre. A shockingly contained massacre, as though there were boundaries keeping the killer from going any further than a certain amount of distance in the area. She’d never seen anything like it, but with how magic was advancing these days… who knew? And it was almost confirmed to be a magical attack from what they had found. Extreme amounts of some form of natural magic had been found on many of the wounds, showing that it had been a mage, probably one who was out of control that did it. Who could it have been? Sighing, she looked down at the ragged-looking girl, splayed out over the stretcher with countless cuts and wounds all over her body. The victims had all been mutilated beyond recognition, horrible slashes and cuts having cruelly gouged themselves into the bodies. A terrible scene of carnage had awaited other unsuspecting citizens of Talonia that had come upon the scene in the morning – somehow, they had not heard the violence. That was something else strange. Strange, and honestly, quite worrying.

Stopping in front of the medical tent, the worker lifted Yuzuki inside, calling out, “Got another survivor, make room!” Immediately, the other workers shuffled out of the way to make way, allowing the semi-fey to be placed gently on a bed. “She’s had a lot of blood loss, and numerous scratches and cuts all over her body. Her condition is quite critical, we need to get her treated as soon as possible.” The girl had gotten even paler than when she was found, and that worried her. Laying her down, she turned to an assistant, grabbing the washcloth that was handed over. She mopped the blood and dirt from the girl’s body, gently taking off the torn shreds of clothing. Surprisingly, despite her muscular, battle-worn build, not a single scar marred her body besides the wounds made recently and a peculiar blue mark on her hand. Another thing to note was an intricate silver tattoo that wound its way down her arm, hinting magic with the subtle way it glowed in the faint light. Well, she was a mage. Her gaze flickered over the silver blade and boots, noting how they were free of any blemish despite the fight they must have seen the night before. A powerful mage at that, huh.

“She needs blood. Get me the syringe, please?” A needle was handed to her, and she gently extracted as little blood as she could, placing it in a vial to be inspected. They had brought plenty of back-up blood, so there should be some that matched her type in there. “Get it scanned. She needs urgent care.” But suddenly, Yuzuki’s eyes snapped open in horror, her body alerting her to what must have happened. Loss of blood via needle? No… Her body screamed danger as the scanner was run over the vial, slowly processing her race, her species. No no no no no… No! Frantically, Yuzuki begged her body to move, and it did, releasing a sudden, uncontrollable wave of moonlight through the room. Eyes turned, horrified at the sight hat was now burned into their minds by the formerly delicate-looking girl. And just then, the scanner beeped quietly, showing that she was half-blooded. A semi-fey. Her species, revealed to those who should never have known.

While the workers backed away, terror present on their faces, the first woman glanced over at the scanner and gulped visibly at the sight of the name. “SEMI-FEY”. The words felt like a label as the woman whispered them, looking back y=up at Yuzuki nervously. “W-what does that mean?” she questioned in an almost angry way as she confronted the girl. “Fey? Semi-fey? What’s the other part of that equation?” Half-bloods, particularly fey half-bloods were known for their unpredictability. Feys themselves were already mysterious, trickster creatures with strange abilities to the large majority of other humanoid species, and so even if she was full-blooded, her presence wouldn’t be well-appreciated. However, the fact that she was half… That made her even more unpredictable. The mixing of the abilities was a dangerous thing.

Yuzuki slowly sat up, an overload of energy flooding into her body with the animalistic instincts of her magic, the uncontrollable surge only bolstered by her fear. The worker shuddered at the sight, trying to pull anything, put anything between her and that intense, wild silver gaze. It had her trapped, like a deer in the headlights. Who could possibly escape eyes such as these? But no, they were not eyes meant for escaping, or she’d have done so long ago. Instead, the eyes of moonfire would be the last thing any of them ever saw.