Soul catcher

I'm not quite sure why it ends the way it does. Oh well. Enjoy!

Three days.  This is around the average time it takes for a person to re-fuse with their Blade.  Give or take.

     For three days, the Ronin had to listen to their comrade, Quicksilver, screaming, howling, and sobbing in a pain they could do nothing to ease.

     Re-fuse is a very messy process, and the details would most likely put any normal, emotion-feeling human being off their next meal.

     So it’s little wonder that when Quicksilver emerged, weary bags under her eyes, on the morning of the fourth day to join her friends for breakfast, only Acid was able to meet her gaze for more than a moment.  And even then, his own eyes brimmed with a thousand unspoken apologies and regrets; unspoken because words have never been delicate enough to express that heartfelt an emotion.

     Because they had failed.  Failed to protect her, and failed to correct their mistake soon enough.  They all knew it.

     Finally, mid-meal, she grew tired of it.

     “Guys,” she slammed her tankard down in order to gain their attention, since her voice was still weak and cracked frequently, “I’m sick of you all acting like you’ve done something wrong; you’ve not.  It was my own damned fault.  I was weak, and stupid, and I overestimated myself.  It’d be nice, now that I’ve been taught my lesson, if you could at least look at me without shuffling around like guilty schoolchildren.”  The group was silent for a short moment, rebuked.  In the end, it was little Breeze who stood and said,

     “You’re right...  kind of.”  He stood proudly, with his chin up and his shoulders back and his spine straight, “Maybe it was partly your fault, and maybe we are being silly, but...  in this group, we look after each other, because nobody else will, and because we care about each other, and we do that because nobody else will, too, and...  and we didn’t look after you, Quick.  That’s why we’re sorry, acting like guilty kids.”

     Quicksilver glared at the young boy for a moment, and even though his white eyes clearly regretted having been so bold, he stood his ground.

     “Sometimes, you’re older than your years, kid,”  Red stood then, smiling an odd smile, and put a hand on Breeze’s shoulder, “I couldn’t have said that better, myself.”  She turned to Quicksilver and smiled.  “I know how you feel; you’re proud, and strong, and you hate being pitied and apologised to, you hate to lay blame with other people.  I understand that, and I respect it, but, Quick, you’ve got to look at this through our eyes for a moment, yeah?  And for what it’s worth, we are really sorry.  And I, for one, am not going to apologise for that.”  She sat, after her short speech, and tugged Breeze’s sleeve so that he’d do the same.  Quicksilver sighed.

     “Fine.  Whatever.  I’m too worn down to argue with you guys much longer; how about we just eat?”  She asked, her voice trembling wearily.  There was a general murmur of agreement.  They were about to tuck into the rest of their meal, when Acid said,

     “Hold on a second.  Does this mean we don’t get to shuffle around like guilty schoolchildren anymore?”  He sounded so earnestly disappointed that everyone burst out laughing.  He grinned to himself.

Just like old times...  perhaps.

 

“Quick,” Hearing her name spoken, Quicksilver glanced up.  She knew exactly who it was even before seeing the telltale brown eyes, orange hair, and aloof stance.

     “Aradat,” She felt her features ease into a smile, “your hair’s gotten longer.” She observed, pulling lightly on the end of his ponytail as he seated himself beside her.

     “Yeah...  Maybe it has.” He muttered in response, clearly embarrassed.

     “So.  What else is new?” Quicksilver asked, brightly.

     Aradat’s response was to look at her quizzically.

     “You know; what realms of unmapped excitement did I miss out on while I was a vegetable?”

     “Oh,” Aradat seemed to take a moment to process the request, then said, “you know, subtlety never was your strong point.”

     She grinned.

     “Yeah, well.  Who’s going to reprimand me?  You?”  They both laughed a little.

     “To be honest, you didn’t miss much,”  Aradat told her, growing more serious again, “Breeze finally found out what Regret does.”  He glanced at the girl.  She seemed intrigued, so he continued, “As it turns out, Breeze’s Blade draws its energy from wounds, rather than from Breeze directly, healing them in the process.  Anybody’s wounds, not just Breeze’s.”

     “Handy.”

     “That’s not all; once it’s absorbed 20% its maximum, it can release the energy in a quick, powerful attack.”  Aradat pushed back a stray strand of his fiery hair, smiling slightly.

     “You must be proud,” A slight inflection of tone made it a question, rather than an assumption.

     “Yeah, he’s a good kid...”

 

“Acid,”

     “What’s wrong?” Acid didn’t look up from the page he was studying.  He knew who was speaking, “You haven’t called me ‘Acid’ since we were five years old.”  He looked up then, turning to Red, who had taken a seat beside him.  Her eyes, so alike in colour to peridot, were troubled, and she continuously ran an anxious hand through her scruffy hair.

     “I was thinking...”

     “Odd.  I’d always thought that required brain cells.  What, have I been wrong all this time, and nobody saw fit to tell me?” Acid grinned wolfishly, and she elbowed him gently in the side.

     “This is serious.” She told him, loudly, then, more quietly, “It was easy.  Far, far too easy.”

     “I thought so, too.”

     “You think he did something?  Tampered with it, somehow?”

     “I don’t see how he could,”  Acid gathered his papers together in such a manner that Red couldn’t easily have seen their content, “but we’ll find out soon enough.  One way or the other.”  He stood, tied the papers with a ribbon, and shelved them before turning back to Red.

     “My studious mood seems to have deserted me,” he said, an odd gleam to his eyes.

     Red recognised the smile on his face, and grinned in return.

     “Oh?  Courtyard or fencing hall?”

     “Courtyard.  Do you know how badly you damaged the hall last time?”  He laughed, “Angels above, Red, you really should control yourself in a little spar like that.  You’re so... destructive.”

     “I know.” She giggled as they left the room, “You’d not keep me your deputy if I wasn’t.”  Acid pushed her lightly, and she stumbled.

     “Sometimes, you really scare me.”  He laughed, “If you had half a brain cell, you could probably take over the world!”

 

The courtyard wasn’t best suited for sparring.  There were trees, and benches, and water-features that got in their way.  In other words, it was just the kind of environment they faced most of their enemies in, or was alike enough that the differences didn’t matter.

     “Shimmer, Child of Starlight.”

     And, just like that, the silver blade vanished.  Red glanced around, to no avail.

     “What the-” Suddenly, she found herself surrounded by what appeared to be thousands of tiny, twinkling stars.  “Ah.  This makes some modicum of sense.  Or, it's fitting, at the least.”

     “It’s a good job we’re only sparring, or you’d be dead by now.” Acid told her, calling his Blade back into one solid object.

     “Okay, smart guy.  How about you don’t use all-out, mortal-blow techniques in a spar?  It makes the whole thing a little redundant, doesn’t it?” Red scowled, pulling Light of the Full Moon from her sheath.

     “Deal.  But first I want to see that move you pulled with the spinning Blade replicas.  It’s interesting, but depending on the sympathetic link between the replicas and your Blade, it could be near-suicidal in an advanced match against someone like...  say...  Ember.”

     “Fine,” She took her stance, Blade horizontal before her, and muttered the Summon, “Shatter the night; Light of the Full Moon.” Acid stood, silent, as the Blades began to rotate.  He watched, silent, as they gained momentum.  “Renshi.  Tell me to stop.  If this goes much further, it’s not going to bode well.”

     “Just a little longer...” Acid muttered, more to himself than to Red.  Two seconds later, the Blades stopped rotating, and sped towards him.  Red gasped, horrified.  A flash of brilliant white... and then Light of the Full Moon was wrenched from her grip.

     “What... the...” When the light cleared, Acid stood before her, unscathed, holding both Child of Starlight and Light of the Full Moon.  He stared at the new weapon for a moment, apparently surprised.

     “Well...  That was unexpected.  Catch,” He threw the Blade to her, and, caught off guard, Red let it clatter to the floor.

     “Renshi,” Her voice was barely more than a whisper, and she was breathing raggedly, “what did you just do?”

     “I think I may have just stolen some of your soul," Acid laughed, lightly, "my apologies.”

Author's Note

So the last bit is a little lame.
I wanted to finish it up quickly and get it uploaded. I may edit it later, if it's reallyreallyreally bad.

As always, constructive criticism, if you've spotted mistakes, etc etc.
Any plot ideas are welcome, too, because at the moment I have so many whizzing around in my head, and no idea which to use...
Well... yeah.

Thanks for reading!

Reviews

[Liam]

I laughed at the ending, so keep the last bit :P I think you captured the atmosphere and the personalities of the characters superbly! I'd like to see how good it gets if you improve it. Well done, can't wait for the next chapter!

[Star Catcher]

--Mid-read--
" "Hold on a second. Does this mean we don't get to shuffle around like guilty schoolchildren anymore?" He sounded so earnestly disappointed that everyone burst out laughing. "
Freaking win.