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The pain in his head was unnaturally fierce, even at this time of night. There had been no warning, no event bringing it on. He wasn't angry or annoyed, or even scared. He had just wanted to sit.

Though, it had been bothering him more and more lately, the pain a constant that he had begun learning to live with. He couldn't deny that. Nor could he deny the wide stretch of bleach white skin that had begun to travel down the length of his face. The hair around his temple and right half of his forehead had begun to gleam white strand by strand like some sort of very selective early aging.

The trip from the side of his new bed to the table and chair set sitting before the wide bank of windows on the north wall of his room was short, and yet he barely made it, his hands out to catch himself on the edge of the table and one of the chairs, the latter tumbling to the ground with him in audible thunks. He gripped his head immediately afterward, closing his good eye to keep the swirling image of his room from making him sick.

The halls were expansive. Much more expansive than somebody like Helen was accustomed to since dipping into the cookie jar of RhyDin. The nooks and crannies weren't nooks. Nor crannies. Even the smallest bend of corners were like canyon sized holes. Pains in her rear.

For somebody like Helen, though, she didn't call need of her chopstick legs to hyperextend to reach those out of the way spots where there were signs of neglect in the form of creeping webs and splatters of dust that soiled pure white walling.

Thin digits rolled beneath the handle of her feather duster, pockets of distortion expanding within arms length. Where the distortion originated, the destination was said dusty sections of filth. Plumes set firmly in the plastic rod sank into the warped space, mowing down the webs with an expert swipe. She knew her attributed skills of transportation would become a worthy addition to any household that required her cleaning expertise.

A childish tune thrummed in her throat, whistling off-key as she wandered down a hall of the third story which housed the various bedrooms; of both her Master and her assis--? friends. A startling, heavy sound alarmed her senses. What first was a jaunty walk turned in a brisk run, dress and petticoat alike held as she rushed with extensive purpose toward the source.

Outside the door of Toby's bedroom, the origins of collapse, the ridge of knuckles rapped energetically across the surface of wood, calling, "Is everything all right in there?"

He heard the knocks and the call like gunshots, his hands flattening to his ears, then one leaving to press back into his eye. He felt that that socket was going to burst, taking the right side of his head with it. His fingers curled into his forehead and two toned hair, he lowered onto his side, his knees pulling up as close to his chest as they were able. He didn't particularly want to answer Helen. What was going on now was quickly starting to become normal. It would just pass and he would be fine. But he cried out like he had been struck when the second wave of agony cut and twisted through what was hidden beneath the patch, borders of white overtaking tan and ginger slowly, but quick enough to be alarming.

Helen's brow furrowed, twisting the handle of the door to subject herself to what was transpiring. It was inexcusable for her to arrive on scene with no adequate weaponry, thus brandished the feather duster like a bastard sword in both her hands, glaring with narrowed eyes across the room at the downed figure with bright ginger hair. Her reluctance to release the implement was apparent, the milk white of knuckles and trembling of arms at the possibility of misdoing taking place.

Helen's caution was second to none when she started to fill the gap between her and Toby, an officer of the law checking for suspects along the way. Once before him, never once tearing her hollow, diamond eyes from the surroundings, she lowered to one knee, a hand sliding from the dowel handle to rest on a tensing arm. "Who did this? Show me where the scoundrel went and I'll pummel him," threatened the woman in a dress and pinafore with nothing but a cleaning tool on hand.

He grit his teeth, fangs apparent in the right half of his mouth and he yelled through his teeth at the touch, the sound of a voice close by, and the further sensation of knives stabbing, twisting, rending, goring and scraping inside of his brain.

"My..my *EYE*!!" he huffed, his chest heaving, breathing too hard to be of any use. "Where's R-Ria? It h-hurts..!"

"Your eye did this?" Helen answered as she released Toby's arm. A quick, assertive look was provided to her surroundings, fearful a floating eye was currently on patrol. "Mistress Ria is currently ou--"

"Eeegh, what the fuck is going on in here? I'm trying to not sleep in peace, you know," emerged Ria's voice from the doorway. Lively lavender hair, straight except for the bare ends that curled against her shoulder, sat beneath a pert hat, giving the perfect impression she was prepared for a hot summer day (even though it was presently night and far too cool to suggest otherwise). Deep scarlet eyes, and more precisely, vertically cut pupils, ran over Toby's prone, curled positioning, then up to Helen with a rise of a single brow. "Oh, my. I don't think there are going to be very many people approving of this relationship," Ria chortled.

Regardless of her jest, and insinuated dismissal, she approached the two, bare feet flat against the floor with each formal step taken. Ria's manner of walk, right down to the manner of speech, all swirled in a cyclone that spoke of ancient heritage. Those that caught on her condescending nature and put the pieces together would be precisely correct: She was of royal heritage in her long ago life. Sharp ends of painted red nails came inches from meeting Toby's side, dagger-like finger tips curling at her chin as she inspected him with a smug grin. "Somebody called for me? I don't think I heard you correctly."

He had begun trying to keep track of the few seconds? long windows of time when all pain seeped away from his eye. He rolled onto his back during one of those times, the hand at his eye no longer able to conceal all of the white peeking through. The muscles in the right side of his neck bulged and strained against bleached skin, stretching the collar of his t shirt to its limit. The same hue rippled and traveled like water from beneath his sleeve. (s)"Whatever you do..to make the p-pain go away.." He grunted, kicking his legs out straight. His other hand flew up to his head, pulling strands of his hair free in audible rips, the sound easily covered by the strained bellow of the single word 'Please.' at the top of his lungs.

Ria's closest foot lifted, piercing toe nails clipping and rolling against soft white carpeting, orbs of skin coiling into the sole to keep the boy from being rended when he decided to move of his own accord. Her self-cradled chin inclined at the masochistic display, intrigued yet aloof to his turmoil. A sharpened digit stretched out to Helen, motioning for her attention, "Close the stupid ass door and bare the damn windows. Last thing I need is to be evicted from another home because I was in the wrong place at the very wrong time," displeasure thick in her voice.

Helen obliged with a bow of her head, heading off to do as requested.

Ria lowered to a squat, clawed hands out to grip him and keep him still. "Hey, HEY. Shut up for two freaking seconds and tell me what the fuck is going on with you." Her voice commanded a tolerable level of attention, her indifference to his agony painstakingly visible. Already it could be assumed she was much preferring a drink and a biscuit rather than deal with Toby's shit.

His good eye peeled open, already golden and spliced down the middle with a black slit. It rolled back in his head as Ria took hold of him. The only thing keeping him going from one second to the next was that now, any second now..it would all be over.

He inhaled a grating breath, gulped, and tried to speak through his hyperventilation. "The..eye..is..going..nuts. Hurts too much..! I don't know..more than..*THAT*!!"

Points of cuspids pinched her lower lip as she eyeballed bleach white skin that crept from beneath the patch. "What the fuck is this?" she asked, claws ridding of his arm to take up his face. Her palms were affectionately soft, plush like a crisp, clean pillow--the only quality people tended to see which displayed a dazzling girlish side to the tough exterior Ria had.

She, after all, hardly seemed feminine.

Door sealed, windows shut off via drapes, Ria proceeded to hook a claw beneath the strap that held the cloth fast to his face and provided a sturdy jerk to cut the elastic. "Now I remember? You're that idiot that got in the way of the Maiden's Precision Laser Strike, didn't you? You do realize there is a delay between the tracking beam and when the attack actually fires, don't you?"

Condescending as always.

"GUH!!" His spine arched from the floor when she removed the patch, the bulbous and beaten looking eye on the right side of his face flying painfully open, the black sun seal broken. A thin river of crimson trickled back from the outer corner along his white temple.

The white of that large, inhuman eye was black, its borders swathed in an ominous purple aura with undertones of red. It shadowed his eye socket like soot that moved and flickered of its own accord, a well of trapped energy.

All of Ria's words were like a foreign language to him, her voice far away. The bone white color just barely inching across his body took over everything in an instant, turning tan and orange into a ghostly image of what they used to be. He clenched his fists, his right arm thickening absurdly, claws biting into his palm. His yoki was running rampant, and he couldn't get enough of a grip on himself to do anything about it.

The vertical cut of Ria's pupil stretched in width, mangled hand slicing the air in retreat. The violet glow, once a soothing calling, was something straight out of a horror novel now. Ria's calloused expression didn't shift. A sharpened point of one finger aimed at the extensive pattern of colorful luminance, fangs bared when her voice became audible, caked in malice, "The marking of the Maiden. Typically, a direct hit by her normally is enough to kill you. An EX Maiden is an entirely different level. I thought there was something special about your stupid ass."

Fingers splayed, palm smashing down with the force of a Colossal raining terror on an old, Greek civilization. Tips of fingers sliced through flesh and bone ridge to embed her hand and attach it to his skull. Nothing was done with warning; her lackluster care continuing to unfold to unprecedented levels. "This might sting a little," she warned only after the act was unraveling.

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(s)"N-no..body..hit me." It was a wonder that he could speak with teeth that were meant for shredding and rending flesh. He closed his left eye, but his right stayed painfully open. Moisture had been continuously flooding it, running back into his hair and ear, washing the earlier crimson away. (s)"It's b-been like this for..a wh-while."

The Maiden's head lifted, the floor incapable of maintaining enough reason to excite her interests. She took a single step and collapsed beside Toby, guiding Ria's gaze to meet her own. The girl could tell, even from a simple glance, that Ria was already beyond natural limits to do everything she could. The girl provided the Scarlet Maiden with an appreciative smile, hands outstretched to clasp atop Ria's own. "You've done e-enough for n-now?" tugging Ria's hands until they released from Toby's skull. The immense pain would be on the cusp of returning once she did so.

"I'll handle i-it from here," the girl continued, shifting along the floor to align herself opposite Ria at the foot of Toby's head. Her own touch fell to Toby's temples, surveying the hideous display of damage that was caused on her behalf. "I-It's the least I can d-do. T-This time?"

Although having agreed to release the flow of healing energies, Ria was vehemently against this twist of admission. She snarled, "Are you an idiot, as well? You realize that you're in a simple human body right now, don't you? You might be a youkai on the inside. You might be dead right now, but you're still in severe danger even getting anywhere near this shit. You're going to fucking kill yourself."

The painless bliss he was in snapped like an overworked rubber band. His bestial hands fisted, claws fitting back into place on his palms as he writhed, unable to keep himself from crying out, even though he felt May there, touching his face, knowing how she felt about it.

He heard only half of what was said. "Don't," he growled, pounding the outsides of his hands into the ground. "Not for m-me. Not *AGAIN*!!" He paused, wheezing his breath back under control. (s)"Not ag-gain.."

The girl was calm, a fierce contrast to both Ria and Toby. She was fully expecting Ria to snap at her, kick her away and pin her down to prevent this reality from becoming more surreal than it already felt. Ria's body teetered backward, falling flat. Helen, ever so near, refrained from moving. She was once an advisor as well as a servant. Yet her training told her she had no business meddling. She would be forced to cooperate and respect any decision those she served decided to make.

Mayu's hands clasped over the stretch of violet glow, fingers dipping into the surface of residue. The energy popped and hissed, oil being added to the hot skillet, a shrill whine reacting to foreign flesh being inserted in the raw power. The girl bit back a wince, eyes already quivering and on the verge of spilling tears; somehow refraining through willpower alone. "D-Don't start t-telling me I s-shouldn't b-be doing something?" she quipped to Toby, unfazed by his wishes. "I d-did this? I k-know how t-to get r-rid of it?"

Her powers were revoked, her knowledge of the subject struggling to remain intact. This would be her final service to a job that she once held with the highest level of regard.

The thick, ivory residue plastered in every orifice of scarred tissue tremored and vibrated with the force of an earthquake, it being forcibly coaxed to lather Mayu's inserted finger tips and withdraw. It didn't abide because it was asked to; Toby would feel suction being applied to the very insides of his cranium.

"If there's even a ch-ch-*CHANCE*.." The odd feeling overtaking the right half of his head made him trail off, lifting off the ground to try and follow her hand, to somehow make whatever it was that was trying to get out go faster. (s)"If there's even a ch-chance..you dying..just stop. K-kill me. I'm n-not l-living with this ag-gain, without you h-h-*HERE*!!"

The dome of color shut upward into the ceiling a second time, becoming increasingly unhindered by the energy May was drawing out of him. His bare feet morphed into something that should have been on a bird of prey, long curling claws clenched. His knees cracked, trying to invert. None of it compared to the pain in his head, or the uncertainty of whether she would be alive the next time he saw her.

"Shut up al-already. Y-You're ruining my c-concentration." It'd be a rare display of beauty, the flower able to bloom through the storm hell brewed. Violet and white swirled beneath the tip of a carmine painted fingertip. To her, it was like pushing a button and watching the mechanics take over from there.

When the first layer of spiritual residue was peeled from him like skin from an apple, she could feel a burning sensation flow through her. Normally cerulean veins, revealed beneath the narrow layers of ivory white skin, began to be painted a blood red when familiar power began to return to its host, a dip of dark green eyes toward a dangerous tinge of ruby at the outer edge of the iris. The sclera darkened, becoming as bruised as her iris.

She fended off the need to groan to rid bottled pain, teeth nipping down on her bottom lip. The slightest stretch of elongated fangs were evident; slashing apart smoothness and drawing out the thickness of life essence. "R-Ria," her usual, fragile voice on the verge of breaking, "I n-need you t-to use your en-energy and p-patch this a-area here s-so it w-won't fill w-with the M-Maiden e-essence?"

The Scarlet Maiden hissed in disapproval. "You're a damn idiot?" she muttered, draping Toby's frame in the process. The green flow of spiritual power reignited in her hand, hovering over the socket to knit together released tissue.

He felt trapped. If May succeeded, and didn't live through it, he couldn't just give up. It would mean that she was giving her life for him for a second time. He wasn't worthy of it even once..

In his mind, he could hear her telling him that that wasn't up for him to decide.

His yoki followed the healing taking place without his permission, or knowledge, further aiding her mending capabilities from the inside out. His too-large eye swiveled so he could see her through the thin slats of both sets of fingers, his left hand shakily rising toward her face, the tips of claws inches from her cheek. If this was the last time, really..

She ignored his encroaching claw, guiding the second layer beneath the surface of flesh into her system. The ache increased, the burn like whisky being shot down the throat through her arteries. Visibly, she appeared strong and capable, determination etched along her features, deep in reddening eyes, stern on a fang-infested mouth. Everything that was transpiring inside of her originated from beneath.

Areas her mind refused to traverse so long as she held his life in the palm of her hand. Literally.

"D-Deepen t-the fl-flow? t-theres d-damage b-below th-there?" she wearily commanded Ria, becoming the eyes for the ex-princess. "T-There? p-push it all t-there? It-It'll b-be done i-if you c-c-can snip t-the tissue f-from the c-core?"

"Ugh." Ria's head shook, delirious from the loss of power that kept her bound to the corporeal realm. "You're? changing already, dumbass. It's going to dissolve you if I let the core go."

Sea green and spliced red eyes rose to Ria, eyes narrowing toward thin points. Her pupils transfigured into vertical slits. "Are y-you going t-to argue w-with me now?? C-Cut it," she demanded with a sharp breath.

There wasn't an ability to choose in this circumstance. Green energies molded into a narrow blade, severing the seed of raw spiritual energy from the insides of Toby's skull, allowing it to flow freely. Mayu's attention was deadset on the rampaging power, though. She coaxed it into herself, consuming it through her own skin before it had the chance to go very far.

It was far greater a task than she anticipated. Beads of sweat dribbled across her brow, feeling the effects of Shamanista's energy coupled with vile, foreign, dark sentience began to wear on her. "?i-it's g-going to? g-get away f-from me?" A shallow breath was taken, feeling the sharp jabs of membrane squirm against her spine. "?I d-don't have a choice?" she leered down to Toby, free hand snaking across the air to bat his rising hand away. In a fluid motion, her hand sank against his neck, sharp tips of fingers penetrating the surface. Blood flowed freely onto invading digits, which began to knit a sign.

"S-Seal?" she uttered aloud. In a flash of light, an intricate pattern began to etch to life, no different than somebody would acquire in a tattoo parlor.

Ria's eyes flared in a sign of both realization, and life. "W-What the hell are you doing, jackass? Are you trying to throw your life away here?" The Scarlet Maiden knew all too well. A seal of that caliber, capable of tackling and obstructing a Maiden's power in another, on top of consuming its energies, was not something a human could survive. The transformation alone was fatal.

Mayu Tsuzuki's player. Thanks!! ]

A sliver of deep red pierced through a seemingly closed lid, a fragile breath accompanying the rise of luminescence. Effort was expended on behalf of having a chance opportunity to look over at him. Sharp bone sank into the mattress of the bed when she slammed down on her back, head lolling to give him a more direct stare. He was a haze; a dim light in a dense fog with no known escape. With that beacon set before her, even then, she couldn't judge whether she'd manage to find the shore that she was seeking or not.

"?y-you're a real? jerk," she muttered to him, the strength of her voice frail, but audible. "?why d-do you h-have to go and s-say a l-line like that for??"

Slowly, she drew a decrepit hand up to the air after him, fingers sliding inward to form a loose ball. There was no strength behind the swing she managed to produce, which angled just below his chin. It'd connect without enough force to even move a feather. "?jerk?" she wheezed. The arm fell limp to the bed, and silence overcame her.

He chuckled at the gentle blow, grinning ear to ear. There were many reasons for it..but first and foremost.. (s)"You said something. That's good enough for me." He withdrew his hand from her hair, only to further smooth away strands that were still stuck to her face. (s)"How much pain are you in?"

"A t-t-ton?" she managed between gritting teeth, wincing at knife-like sharpness surging through her shoulderblades and across the column of her spine. She could feel herself being torn in two. "I-If this doesn?t m-make up for e-everything I've c-caused you, I-I'm going to h-hit you a-again once I'm b-better?"

Nearby, there wasn't a similar feeling of optimism. "If you get better, Maiden." Ria flagged from her perch on the floor. "Don't sit there and put up false hopes for everybody. That's a pretty bitchy thing to do."

"Knock it off," he said on impulse, but then exhaled, leaning all the more heavily into the mattress. "It's sweet, May, really..that you felt bad and that you wanted to make amends for it, but it didn't have to be something like this. You could've just hugged me and I would've forgiven you," grinning.

His eyes flickered over to where he heard Ria's voice. "You'll be just fine. Just remember..you still owe me a good hit. You've gotta get better enough to do it."

She tried to laugh, the pain welling in her chest proving too intense. She wheezed as her next-best reaction. "R-Right? I will t-try my b-best?" She hadn't much else to offer him. What Ria said spoke true, and it was difficult to keep up a facade when, the entire time, the only one she was not going to really fool was herself. Dim ruby red focused on him, the silhouette of his person the only capable thing she could make out.

"S-She's r-right, though? I k-knew? t-taking this e-energy out o-of you would h-have t-tragic consequences. I-If it wasn't m-me, it w-would have been you?" She paused, swallowing thickly, "W-Why didn't y-you t-tell me t-that t-this power was u-underneath t-the patch? I c-could have l-looked f-for b-better s-solutions in the m-meantime?"

He grimaced, stuck between trying to joke and being completely serious..both options seeming entirely too grim for him to stick with. He wished he had something for her to drink.

His head shook slowly at her question. "I didn't know. I mean..I didn't know what was going on. I knew that something was wrong, I just didn't know what.. It didn't start right away either." Having run out of hair for him to stroke away, he drew his hand back, resting his jaw on its heel, his fingers curled at his mouth. "For a while afterward, everything was fine. I've been looking for things for me just like I have for Katt.

"But more than all of that, May..I didn't want you to feel any worse. There was enough going on, drudging it up wouldn't have done anything other than make you sad." He shrugged. "It wasn't worth it to me."

She exchanged him for the ceiling high above. Helen snagged a brief glimpse from the girl, her reassurances present in a weak smile fractured at the corner of her mouth. "W-What ab-about me, though? D-Don't you think t-things that are u-upsetting you and b-bothering you wo-would b-be worth it to m-me??

"I know I c-can't do v-very much. I t-try when I c-can, though. F-For you? f-for everybody here." Her arm weighed six tons. Even her fingers couldn't motion to her surroundings. She was paralyzed by exhaustion and inevitable defeat. "E-Even for p-people w-who don't d-deserve a chance. P-People who don't n-need one? I-It'll always b-be worth it t-to me. The s-slightest bit of help would mean s-so much."

"Just like you keep things to yourself so that you don't worry everyone, I do too." He dropped his eyes, it was still dizzying to be able to see out of the right one, and rested his palm on the back of her nearby hand. "I know you try. I know to what extent you'd try. And I'm sorry..but you're more important to me than I am. I wanted to protect you, if even for a little bit."

She looked off even further, expelling him from the very corner of her gaze. She was on the verge of collapse, and yet, couldn't do anything about feeling the heat of temperature emerge from her cheeks, kissed with a rosy pink color. "I-Idiot?" she quipped, mirroring Ria's retort. They were spoken for entirely different reasons, and with entirely different emotions.

Still, she felt relieved that he was in better spirits. Another breath shivered from her mouth, "I-It's good t-to see you're f-feeling b-better a-already. Y-You h-heal pretty q-quickly."

He smiled. "Yeah, I do. ...Or you just did a very good job. I'm willing to go with that one." His gaze slid over to the wide bank of windows on the north wall, covered by drapes. He'd wanted to figure what time it was.

"Oh, thanks," Ria added from behind them. "I'm so glad I didn't do anything to keep your fucking brains intact. Remind me in the future to-- oh, fuck it." She didn't carry the physical energy to exert strength and lift, tipping sideways to sprawl out on the floor. Dim the light, scratch some lines over her character, she was done with caring this morning.

Mayu held back a giggle to prevent feeling her ribs wanting to crack, watching Toby as he swam back into her field of vision. "I h-hope you don't pl-plan on staying here a-all day w-with me a-again?

"I d-don't think t-there are a-any cops to call a-and get you out here?"

He winced, looking aside apologetically, but May drew his mismatched eyes back to her. He grinned. "I didn't plan on it, no.. I don't even know what cops are..is."

"T-They'll k-kick your tail if you de-decide to st-stick around here," she remarked toward near silence. Her eyes closed when expecting the drapes to be thrown open. "D-Don't t-tell anybody a-about this f-for now?

"I d-don't know what's go-going to happen in the next c-couple o-of hours? If ev-everything winds up f-falling apart, I'd k-kind of l-like to keep it q-quiet. Y-You know?"

Another, smaller grin flickered across his mouth. He drew his hand away from hers at her latter remark, nodding, the fall of his hair half shadowing his eyes. "I won't tell anyone."

The dainty mouth of fangs parted to chide him for not taking the hint in staying with her in his room, but nothing emerged. Her consciousness slipped well before she was prepared for it to, burrowing into dreams that would soothe her and express to her how everything would be all right. They were her escape; her sanctuary.