The Assassin, Death Toll

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay but the holidays really took it out of me. Plus I've been debating about which member of the Guard to write up next. I thought about doing The Captains but since I mentioned DT in Stardust, I decided that he would be next. Now DT is a bit tricky because he initially starts out as an enemy of the Blood Guard. Did I mention that he didn't have a soul? Yeah, this is an important detail about this particular character because when he is granted a soul of his own...it creates a division. To be more precise, he is one of two personalities created by the sudden introduction of a soul to his physical form. Two halves of the same soul and thus creating two very different people. This post will only cover DT and his alter ego will be the the subject of the next post. Now for introductions!


The Assassin of the Blood Guard, Second in Command of the Chaos Brigade, The Punisher. He is Death Toll of the Assassination Corps and he is her Heartless.

Now anyone that has watched this anime or read the manga are undoubtedly screaming their heads off right now. Why because this is none other than Nicholas D. Wolfwood from Trigun, also referred to as The Punisher. Now good ol' Nick here gets to have a split personality in the form of Death Toll and Preacher because I like poking at characters to see just how much I can do with said characters. In the anime, Wolfwood is a gun for hire, the founder of an orphanage in the city of December, and is considered to be the best friend of the legendary Vash the Stampede... both having very different views in regards to killing.

Now in the universe of the Blood Guard, he is born without a soul which already made him dangerous, but he also possessed a very unique gift referred to as empathic clarity. This gift garnered the attention of an organization called The Black Death Bell Toll Church, in the anime it is called The Eye of Michael. This organization gathered children with either great potential or unique abilities and trained them to become assassins, the ultimate killing machines. So...Nick is soulless and possesses empathic clarity...how does this translate to the art of killing? I'm stealing Sesshoumaru's title for this...The Killing Perfection.

The gift of empathic clarity allows Death Toll to use his opponent's emotions against them. How you may ask...by using said emotions to predict their every move with one hundred percent accuracy. Now this gift only works perfectly so long as he does not possess a soul. The reason is that once gaining a soul, his own emotions would hinder this special ability, oftentimes clouding or obscuring what he senses and thus allowing the possibility of misinterpretation. However, during his childhood and early adulthood, this wasn't an issue. He had a one hundred percent kill ratio, an absolutely flawless record, and not a single individual could defeat him or overcome his empathic clarity.

When his notoriety as the perfect killer hit a certain level, he was hired by a secret society for a very special mission...the elimination of the Blood Guard, more specifically to bring about the permanent demise of the Star Child. He accepted the job on the condition that the society would provide him with every bit of information they had on the Guard and their founder and to not get in his way. When asked why in regards to the information he requested, considering he never bothered doing research into any of his other targets, his answer was simple...the location and identities of the weakest or most vulnerable members of the Guard, whose deaths would inflict the most emotional damage to the Lady of the Blood Guard.

The society questioned him further and he simply stated that the easiest way to kill a woman as powerful as she was...attack her heart, blind her with grief, inflict terrible yet lasting pain, and turn her greatest strength into her greatest weakness. The Star Child was well known for her exceptional kindness and the deep bonds of love that she held with each and every member of the Guard. These bonds were her greatest strength, intensifying her powers while granting an increase in number for her Guard. By killing the weakest members, especially children and kindred spirits, it would send her into an emotional spiral of epic proportions and making it quite easy to predict her actions and ultimately leading her to her death. The society warned him of the ones known as The Prismata, but it was a moot point. What effected her would effect them as well.

Once attaining the information about the Blood Guard and his primary target, the killing perfection set out, sifting through the rather extensive records and ultimately discerning which members he should target first. Within the first month, he had massacred over a dozen villages that held ties to the Guard, leaving none alive. He didn't even bother to conceal his methodology and quite blatantly taunted the Blood Guard by leaving the bodies of the children on display in some rather gruesome and horrific ways. Three more months passed and he single handedly assassinated hundreds of the Guard's weaker members and yet his prey had still not revealed themselves. He was beginning to wonder if his Intel was faulty but after a rather brutal interrogation of some of the stronger members, he discerned that the Blood Guard was deliberately blocking the bonds the Star Child had with those on Sol side.

Death Toll had found this to be extremely inconvenient and simply started murdering all those that crossed his path. It didn't matter who they were; men, women, children, the elderly, infants, other races and creatures. All who had the misfortune of meeting him were slain, each one becoming more brutal than the last. Four years of constant killing, a never ending blood bath...that was how long it took before he crossed paths with the one person that the Star Child would most definitely feel dying, regardless of the machinations of her Guard. This individual was, in fact, a member of The Prismata and part of the inner circle that was in constant contact with his primary target.

Who was this incredibly unfortunate soul...the Third Mage of the Blood Guard and Magi of the Air, Van Yagami. The only reason why these two had crossed paths was due to the death of a young woman that Van had been teaching, his very first student as a mentor. Her death had not been quick or painless. The perfect killer that was Death Toll had forced the wind mage's student to suffer an extremely slow and painful death in the form of a demonic summoning ritual...it didn't actually summon a demon, it was just a means of murder that the assassin had yet to attempt and he had found the experience to be quite informative. By butchering Van's student, he incited the wrath of the Pathfinder resulting in the activation of the Stigma of the Wind, but because it had been activated by fury and the need for revenge, Van was much weaker than normal and the third mage died quite quickly but in excruciating agony.

The Star Child did indeed feel the death of her beloved pathfinder, but was restrained by all three Hollows, the Third and Fourth Captains, and the First and Second Sin of the Order of the Seven Deadly Sins. Van's body, along with his student's, was retrieved by the Archmage and the Druid King that had journeyed into the past for this very reason. The combined might of Merlin and his twin sister, Emrys, were able to successfully deflect and shield them from the killing perfection long enough to bring their fallen friends back to the Realm. Once their task was complete, they returned to the future. It was too late to save Van's student but the Star Child was able to save the Magi of the Air.

The First Sin of the Order and Sorceress of Creation, Esmer, took it upon herself to inform Her Ladyship of the events that had been occurring on Sol side for the last four and a half years; every death, every means, and the identity of the creature responsible. The Prismata honestly believed that this news was going to shatter her to pieces, but instead a sad smile graced her lips as she said it's time. The First and Second Sin, along with the Third and Fourth Captains, accompanied the Lady of the Blood Guard to Sol side. When asked about what she was going to do, the answer broke their hearts and flat out pissed off the Captains, but there was simply no other alternative.

'To defeat this man, I must seal away that which defines me...my heart. To ensure that such atrocities are never committed again, I must do something that I thought I would never do. I just hope that they can forgive me for this...there isn't another way and that hurts...My Captain, it will be up to you to stop me for you are the only person in the whole of creation that I will obey, but wait until both have been claimed.'

The soulless assassin made his way to a nearby cathedral, what was left of it at least. It was already in a state of decay but would serve nicely as the Star Child's final resting place. He had no intention of turning her remains over to the secret society that had hired him nor would he allow her body to fall into the hands of The Black Death Bell Toll Church. If they wanted what was left of her then they could retrieve her themselves. He was an assassin, not a delivery boy. His part would be over once his primary target had taken her last breath, never to rise again.

He may not have emotions but his brain still allowed for certain mental states which resulted in a rather perplexing conundrum. His primary target walked into the church yet his gift did not register a single emotion from her. They stood before one other for several hours, neither blinking nor moving at all. His eyes widened as she disappeared, his empathic clarity unable to locate her or predict her movements at all. He was getting the beat down of his life from the seemingly heartless woman yet on some deeper level, he knew that something was being pushed inside of him.

The cathedral began to collapse as he felt his first emotion...awe. He was in awe of her, he respected her, he was confounded by her lack of emotion, he marveled her technique and battle prowess...in his eyes, she was perfect; beautiful, brilliant, and ethereal. She was a smoking hot sex goddess of death and destruction. After a multitude of emotions, the one that would become known as Death Toll of the Blood Guard realized...he was in love...in love with the woman that quite literally handed him his ass and sent him flying out of the crumbling church, making him bounce and skid across the arid ground and kicking up a fair bit of dust along the way.

She did not hesitate to follow and she pinned him to the ground, her left hand firmly grasping his neck in a vice grip. Her other hand grabbed his left hand and he cried out in pain as the back of his hand started burning...like he was being branded by a red hot cattle prod. That's when he felt a second consciousness being formed within him and it was being forced to the surface. When this second personality took center stage, her hands changed positions, her right hand gripping his hair and forcing him to expose his neck while her left hand grabbed his right hand and the scorching brand like pain erupted on the back of said hand.

Death Toll didn't really remember much of what happened but he did know that his other self was getting the crap beat out of him and he tried to take control but the smoking hot sex goddess forced him back inside. He did not become fully aware of his surroundings until a scorching pain emanating from his right hand made itself known and he could feel the brat trying to stay in control of their shared body. When he finally relinquished control, his eyes changed colors.

The first thing he saw was the glorious gorgeous goddess and he felt her emotions with his empathic clarity. He couldn't help himself and he pinned her to the closest flat surface he could find which was a wall, his body pressed fully against hers. When she giggled, her eyes had sparkled with mirth and a gentle fondness. By the stars, this woman truly was a goddess to him and so he worshipped her like one. He claimed her body again and again, positively drunk with her presence and the deep well that was her emotions. 

He was completely captivated by the depth and intensity of her emotions. He had never felt anything remotely close to what he had found within her heart and he was honestly surprised when he sensed such strong, positive emotions directed towards him and his alter ego. He could feel it...she loved them, had always loved them, and he knew that she always would. This revelation made him be particularly rougher with her and he pushed her well beyond her physical limits which did result in her passing out from extreme acute exhaustion, but it was so totally worth it.

He finally noticed the cross shaped weapon laying on a nearby table, the brat's memories floating through his mind...the Punisher. The man known as Death Toll picked up the weapon, absolutely loving the design and feel. Personally tailored just for him...them...hm, a weapon meant for the love sick puppy that was his alter ego...who was currently swearing up a storm and yelling at him for how he had treated the smoking hot sex goddess. As he tested each function of the Punisher, he allowed the puppy to have an open connection so that they could communicate and he gave him his word that the only harm he would ever inflict on their goddess would be what she wanted him to do to her...specifically stating that he would not murder the woman that had made them her bitch...to which his alter ego had mentally face palmed.

Death Toll, more commonly known as DT, honestly didn't give a crap about anyone outside of his smoking hot sex goddess. The puppy eventually allowed others into his heart, starting with the little plant boy then others kept popping up. It drove DT up the wall, he honestly hated all these people...plant boy made for a good drinking buddy when he got older though so not a complete waste. Millennia passed before he crossed paths with someone that actually made his sex goddess squeal like a rabid fan girl and loved chaos even more than he did. It helped that his favorite redhead was practically super glued to the newcomer...the look on their face was priceless....like no one had ever reacted to them the way she did...and the identity of this mysterious individual that held such sway over him and his sex goddess....*points below*.

Oh yeah, I went there. Say hello to the leader of the Chaos Brigade and is essentially Death Toll's best friend, Missy and yes, this is the one from the Whoniverse. More on her and Meta at a later date. Anyways, on this lovely little bombshell, I'm gonna end it here. Up next is the other half of the equation, Preacher...and a bit more about a certain little plant boy. Seeya!

The Magi - The Wind Mage, Van

FINALLY! I was able to get the big hiccups to go away...I still don't have his origin story or how he is actually involved. Why do I not have at least some of this sorted out already...because he was not the Magi of the Air, the original one at least, but then I put her in a different role...mainly because she is kind of irksome and her character as a whole, the OUaT version, felt very forced or choppy like they just meshed a whole bunch of random stuff together. She actually gets a lot better in the final season of the show.

Anyways it was during one of my image/gif searches when I stumbled across one of my favorite anime characters....and kaboom out pops a brand new Magi of the Air and the clusterfuck that was his name and introduction. This guy gave me a real headache but I believe that it was well worth the effort. Intro time!

Third Mage of the Blood Guard, the Magi of the Air, the Wind Mage. He is Van of the Prism Guard and he is her pathfinder.

To the rest of the world, he is known as Kazuma Yagami, formerly Kazuma Kannagi. He was a member of the Kannagi clan, wielders of fire magic, but he did not possess the ability to the summon the spirits of fire that power the Kannagi's fire magic nor did he possess the natural immunity to fire and after nearly being roasted by a very young Ayano, he was promptly disowned.

The anime he originates from is called Kaze no Stigma and anyone who has watched any form of Japanese anime or read manga knows that the word Kaze is the Japanese word for wind. Kazuma sums it up pretty well with his opening remarks before the opening theme.

I know that the image is small so I'll repeat what it says so you don't have to squint or fiddle about with the magnification.

"Eyes as blue as the azure sky...that is the symbol of the Contractor, entrusted by the Spirit King of the Wind with the powers of his domain. I bear this mark...the Stigma of the Wind."

Ironically, he is the origin for Artz's glowing blue eyes along with the Wind powers displayed by the Celestial Priestess in my Inuyasha story, Destiny of a Dream. It was in one of the final chapters where I was literally trying to describe the action occurring in the gif below...somewhere in between ice skating and snow boarding. A terrible description I'll give ya that but it was one of my earliest works and I've come a long way since then as a writer and as a person. There is only one word that can describe this ability...badass.

Don't watch that gif too long because your eyes will start spinning. I forgot how fast he was and the fact that wind spirits accumulate much faster than fire spirits and quite frankly, far more lethal in my personal opinion. Fire goes boom and everything goes up, but the Wind is both benign and deadly, a gentle breeze and a F5 tornado.

This is why i didn't really like the Kannagi clan as a whole because they viewed the Kaze clan and all forms of wind magic as inferior to their own, simply because their clan had conquered the wind clan and made them their servants a few centuries prior. *insert eye roll* Kazuma may hold the contract with the Spirit King of the Wind, but he's a badass without any magic!

This...*points at gif above* is him without magic, before he ever made the contract to gain the ability to use wind magic. Also it was this gif that made me face palm for not remembering him sooner because he is absolutely perfect for the role of Magi of the Air. Originally it had been Zelena aka Zen, but yeah, the wicked wonder was best used elsewhere.

Anyways, you're probably wondering why I chose the name Van. Now many anime/manga fans will automatically point to the anime Gun x Sword due to the main male protagonist is also named Van while anyone that may or may not have been obsessed with Final Fantasy XII would suggest that it was loosely based on Rek's brother, Vaan. That is not the case...in fact, the usage of the name has more to do with its definition than any particular fictional correlation...plus I really like the name Van, it just rolls off the tongue really well. 

Kazuma's original name was going to be Cloud and yes that was heavily influenced by Cloud Strife and the irony is that Van is a loose definition for cloud. I knew in an instant that I had found his name but I was still having difficulties with his purpose. I tried many things and almost said that he was her East Wind. Yes that is definitely a Sherlock reference but it didn't seem to fit right. I was glancing through some random notebook of mine and discovered a list of words, predominately nouns. 

Amongst this random lists of nouns was the word pathfinder and I just sort of blinked because that basically summed up Kazuma. In Kaze no Stigma, Kazuma had to discover his own path, to find where he belonged and ultimately embrace who he was always meant to be. He was also an exceptional tracker because the Wind gave him an acute sensory perception, making it pretty difficult to get the drop on him. Thus he became Van the Pathfinder... *snickers* sorry was reminded of Van's ever changing title in Gun x Sword. He even went by the same one twice, Van of the Dawn.

At the rate I'm going, this may just end up as a gif gallery because a lot of them depict his powers and the gathering of the Wind spirits. Seriously, this guy is just awesome. Let me finish splurging about his powers before I start picking apart his personality and ultimately descend into an undoubtedly lengthy character profile. Trust me, his will be brief in comparison to several members of the Prism. I really flushed out quite a few of the Prismata early on so you'll have better quality posts once i get to them.

Now on to the Wind magic and wind spirits showcase!

Okay...thus ends the current showcase; however, there will be at least one more but it has a very specific purpose and I might not get to it either. As the precious showcase has depicted, Kazuma is a fucking badass when it comes to being a wind mage, but his personality initially comes off as a bit ambiguous because a lot of his personal history stays hush hush for a good chunk of the season but we do get some hints and this allows us to get a better grasp of his true personality...for me anyways.

I don't have anything definitive for his Blood Guard origin story, but I will eventually be adding in at least his baby brother, Ren, and his cousin and all-around fiery menace/disaster that is Ayano Kannagi. His relationship with the Star Child will also appear a bit ambiguous or elusive because their interactions usually revolve around snarky wit, over the top sarcasm, and a wide variety of humor.

Now in the Realm of the Blood Guard, the Stigma of the Wind is similar in concept to a double edged sword. In the beginning of Van's time with the Star Child, everyone was unaware that Van actually possessed the Stigma of the Wind. This was before Yuel had joined the Guard and the others with the gift of sight were not powerful enough to discern something so finite, usually only seeing a generalized and most probable future, but the future is subjective, meaning that it can and will oftentimes be changed which is why Yuel's power as a Seeress is so vital because any deviation to Her Ladyship's timeline could ultimately cause a temporal cascade, rewriting the entirety of history. Why because specific people were required to save the Star Child in the future and because Artz's timeline begins in the future, Yuel is able to perceive the entirety of her timeline.

The activation of the Stigma requires either mastery of one's power or an intense surge of deeper emotions. Depending on what that emotion is, determines whether it is benign, lethal, or self destructive. Oh yes, the Stigma of the Wind can potentially rebound Van's power right back at himself which did happen and caused his premature demise. The Star Child was able to save him but it was kind of her fault to start with. In wanting to help him with the insane amount of emotional baggage and the trauma of his rather volatile upbringing, Artz had to continuously provoke him for his deeper emotions to reach the surface. This always resulted in a rather one sided fight with Van consistently yelling at her and saying some pretty bad things to her.

He never apologized either which compounded the effect his words had on her heart. She knew he didn't mean any of it and he did care for her a great deal, but it didn't stop her from being overly sensitive and oftentimes secluded herself away from everyone else so that she could cry her eyes out. She didn't dare cry in front of anyone, especially the members of the Prism...they would rip Van to shreds for wounding her exceptionally kind heart. He was fortunate that Light, Poseidon, Hook, and Mars had yet to join the Guard because there were fates worse than death and he would go through a few million before they would finally stop or if the Star Child caught wind of it first.

The first time the Stigma emerged was after a rather heated argument between the two, both active participants this time because Artz was becoming more and more pissed off at how much she was crying and then Van said the one thing he shouldn't have...he wished that he had never met her, that he never should have joined the Guard...and the final nail in the coffin... I hate you! Yep, the idiot actually yelled this at her, looking her in the eyes, and she cracked. The tears she never shed in front of him slipped silently down her cheeks as she just stared at him in shock. She didn't say a word, she didn't move, she just stood there, crying silently.

Van kept spouting his mouth off saying that it didn't matter that she was crying like a fucking baby and that he wasn't a pushover like the other members of the Guard, that she could cry all she wanted to because they had no effect on him at all. He told her to leave him alone and that he never wanted to see her again. When she didn't move or respond, he actually walked up to her and back handed her right cheek, sending her to the ground. When she still didn't respond, he grabbed the front of her shirt and pulled her up so that he could yell at her some more but he stopped, his eyes growing wide with shock.

The look in her eyes was the same one he had seen every day he looked in the mirror while he was still living with the Kannagi clan. He released her like he had been burned and she crumpled to the ground, a pained sob escaping her lips. She was no longer crying silently but full on sobbing because when he had back handed her, it had forced a memory from her old life to resurface...she had tried to warn her mother and grandmother about what was happening to their world but they didn't believe her, both women slapping her and sending her to the floor with the second one which made the rest of that event to start running through her mind like a never ending movie reel.

Van didn't know what to do, his emotions were all over the damn place. The air around the pair was saturated with her emotions, emotions so intense that it felt like he was drowning. It was getting harder and harder to breathe and then...she screamed. A long soul shattering scream that pierced Van right to his core and activating the Stigma of the Wind. In doing so, the Wind swirled around him at first before blasting him off his feet and into the air. The cyclone formed from his unrestrained powers was reflecting back at him, his own wind becoming blades and slicing cut after cut into his body. Shortly before his heart stopped, he screamed in agony and that's what snapped the Star Child back into the present.

One final slice and Van's heart stopped beating and when it did, the Stigma faded away and the Wind once holding him in the air subsided, his body plummeting to the ground below with a sickening thud. Artz was by his side in a fraction of a second, her powers already surging to answer her unspoken desire to save his life. She wrapped her arms around him, his blood soaking her clothes and staining them a deep red. She let her heart guide her, knowing that her powers would do the rest and she was able to revive him and healed him completely...their clothes however were a lost cause and after her power returned to her body, she passed out on top of him.

When Van awoke, he bolted upright, Artz's prone form falling into his lap. He looked down and was shocked to see her covered in blood...his blood. His clothes were completely wrecked and drenched in blood and she had been holding on to him...the sight of her hands and arms and a good chunk of her body being covered in his blood nearly made him lose the contents of his stomach. He pushed the urge to throw up away as he turned her over, his gut twisting in revulsion because her face was almost completely stained with his blood but it was the tears trickling from her closed eyes that made him hug her to his chest tightly.

For the first time since he was a small child, he cried. He didn't know about what she had went through. No one told him just how deeply she felt or how far she would go to help someone, anyone. This was before the creation of the Hall of Memories and most of the Guard didn't know the full story of Artz Lanaria. All they knew was that she was kind, that she loved them so deeply and so much, that every single one of them held a special place in her heart, but they didn't know the true depth of her pain, her sorrow, her grief and despair, the bone crushing loneliness or the tears of blood shed by her very soul...but Kazuma did and it was that day that he truly accepted the name and purpose she had given him.

He knew now that there was a deeper meaning to them. His name meant cloud and within the cloud was the rain. When the rain falls, it cleanses the earth, brings life to nature, and was both gentle and torrential. She had given him this name because he was like her, too kind for the world they lived in but still carried on with the strength born from that same kindness. His purpose was to be her pathfinder, the one to guide her out of the ruin of herself every time the world plunged her into darkness because after all, the Wind is felt most clearly in the dark, an omen of the sun and of the new dawn that she would be bring. It was up to him to keep her course steady and true.

He had been so blinded by his own past that he didn't stop to think about why she was always pushing him, provoking him, enraging him...she was trying to save him from himself and like the idiot he was, he hurt her, he actually struck her, and then his own powers murdered him and she had to bring him back because of his own stupid, emo bullshit. As he sat there clutching her to his chest and tears streaming silently down his face, he vowed that he would do everything in his power to make her smile, make her laugh, and bring as much happiness and joy as he could into her life. It was the least he could do for someone so much like himself.

Later on down the road of life and a bit of turbulence between the two every now and then, they were able to form a deep bond of trust and friendship, but life always did like to throw curveballs and this curveball came in the form of an annoying fire mage and newly appointed head of the Kannagi clan, one Ayano Kannagi and wielder of the Kannagi heirloom called Enraiha, a powerful sword capable of channeling and focusing the raw power and might of the clan's fire magic. Now how was Miss Ayano a curveball of life, she had come to take him back into the family. He refused and she said that he didn't have a choice. The elders of the clan had already arranged for them to be married which disgusted him. He always did hate how the clan would force distant cousins to marry to keep the clan pure and untainted.

Van told her in none too polite terms that he was no longer a member of the Kannagi clan, that he was the Third Mage of the Blood Guard and that he had no intention of leaving the Star Child. Ayano did not back down, in fact, she tracked down the Lady of the Blood Guard while she was on Sol side and demanded that she release Kazuma, that he was to no longer be her prisoner. Artz just stood there with a deadpanned expression on her face and surmised that the woman before her was Ayano, verbally clarifying this, and stated quite clearly that Van could do as he pleased for he was not shackled to her in any way.

The young leader of the Kannagi clan insisted that the wind mage be referred to as Kazuma Kannagi and this sparked something pretty deep in the Star Child because Van was proud of the name and purpose she had given him and she was not about to let some snot nosed little girl dishonor and disrespect the heart of her beloved Van. This resulted in a proverbial sparks flying through the air between them moment, neither willing to budge an inch. Ayano determined to take Van against his will and force him to marry her and Artz determined to protect her family, her precious Guard and the third mage that made her life so much brighter by him simply being there.

Fortunately a friend of Artz's showed up which had thrown Ayano for a loop because the young man was none other than Kazuma's younger brother, Ren Kannagi. The teenager had been trying to find the Star Child and warn her about Ayano's arrival which thoroughly enraged the red haired Kannagi, accusing the boy of betraying his family by siding with the very woman that held his elder brother captive. The ever passionate Ren immediately came to the Star Child's defense, telling Ayano that what the council of elders told her about the Lady of the Blood Guard was a lie. She didn't capture Kazuma nor was he her prisoner. He joined the Guard of his own volition and was not forced in any way.

The red haired Kannagi scoffed at this, and demanded that Artz free the boy from whatever spell she had placed on him to sway his loyalty because Ren Kannagi would not betray the clan that was trying so hard to bring his brother home. The Star Child snapped saying that she wasn't some fucking magician or seductress or succubus or whatever hellish names the Kannagi elders were calling her. She did not cast spells or curses and she had never forced anyone into her Guard...that would change one day but the situation was pretty dire and it forced her hand...she told Ayano to go home because unless Van wanted to return to the clan, then she was wasting her time and that Ren could be friends with whoever he damn well pleased because he was his own person and followed his own heart to wherever he wanted to go and to whoever he needed to find.

Artz turned away from the fuming irritant that was Ayano Kannagi and started walking away, but stopped as the girl summoned the fire sword, Enraiha, and challenged her to a duel but not just any kind of duel, a duel to the death and Ren nearly flipped his shit because there was no way that he was going to allow either of them to die. He begged the Star Child to not accept the challenge and she gave him a look that pretty much said he was an idiot before saying that she would never agree to such a thing because no matter what form it takes, life is too precious a gift to waste. The blonde teen had tears of relief in his eyes and said that he was right to be her friend, honored too.

The Star Child began to walk away again but Ayano charged at her. Ren screamed for her to get out of the way but she simply stopped walking. The boy shouted out NO as Enraiha was shoved through Artz's chest. The young clan leader was shocked, wondering why she hadn't moved. The Lady of the Guard coughed up blood, the action causing the sword to make the wound larger, the blood freely flowing and running down the blade. Artz took a step forward sliding off the blade before collapsing on the ground, her blood beginning to pool beneath her. Tears in his eyes, Rem's emotions ignited his golden flames and he threw a volley of fireballs at Ayano. It wouldn't hurt her but it did push her away from the fallen redhead that was slowly bleeding to death.

The blonde teen placed himself in between Artz and Ayano, fully intent on defending his friend from the woman that wanted to murder her. The Kannagi leader tried to calm the boy, saying that she thought that she would move, that she would protect herself or dodge or something. She never actually expected the woman to simply stand there and take the hit and this rambling further angered the boy into admitting that he was ashamed to be of the Kannagi clan, that he wished that their foul blood didn't course through his veins. He denounced the name of the Kannagi clan and was no longer a part of her family. The blonde haired boy wielding the golden fire swore an eternal oath of love and loyalty for the Star Child, said woman protesting as much as she could in her weakening state.

The boy had made up his mind. This was not a spur of the moment decision for he had decided long ago that he was going to join the Guard to protect his dear friend. He revealed how he had weighed the pros and cons of such a life altering decision for some time. He had even entertained the notion of getting the Kannagi clan to join the Blood Guard, an idea that had been summarily dismissed after he discovered that the clan elders had sent out secret letters to the other elemental clans in the hopes of creating a force strong enough to annihilate the Blood Guard and publicly flog and execute the Star Child, calling her the whore of history simply because she chose to give her love both emotionally and physically to anyone she deemed worthy of it.

Ayano lowered Enraiha while shaking her head back and forth in denial, saying that he was lying, that the elders would never go behind their leader's back to commit such an act. The boy engulfed in golden flames revealed that she was leader in name only and that her only purpose was to force his brother into an arranged marriage so that he would not be able to protect the Star Child. How...by performing a blood binding ritual on him and Ayano during the wedding ceremony, stripping him of his free will and making him a slave to the Kannagi clan. The red haired Kannagi dropped Enraiha, the blade vanishing in a flash of flame. She believed him because it actually made sense.

She had wondered why the elders had been so insistent that she marry the exiled Kazuma, but they had assured her that it was to give him a reason to return home, that they never should have exiled him, and they wanted to right the terrible wrong they had committed against him by exiling him in the first place. When she agreed to the marriage, they told her that the one known as the Star Child was holding Kazuma prisoner, having forcibly bound him to her during sexual intercourse, bewitching his mind and turning him into her willing slave. Ayano had been appalled by this so called conduct and swore that she would save her future husband from such a vile creature, but looking at the woman bleeding out on the ground, she realized the truth.

They used her...they knew how she would react, that she would barrel after her target and never stop until her mission was completed. They made her the leader of the clan as an act of supposed respect and honoring her loyalty to the clan. They used her...they used her...they used her to kill an innocent woman whose only crime was loving someone so much that she would allow herself to be killed just to save them. Ayano looked down at her shaking hands, staring intently at the red sticky substance that clung to her skin. She actually had a complete and total mental breakdown, her blind loyalty slapping her hard in the face while her heart screamed in disbelief, guilt, grief, self loathing and a never before known hatred rose up in her. She couldn't think, her entire view on life had just been chucked out a window and she had no idea what to do now.

As to what happened after this...no idea. I haven't worked it out yet, but I told you I was going to have Ayano and Ren in his story at some point...by the way, I kind of made up all that on the spot, but it's surprisingly good so I'll probably keep this version or at least stick pretty close to it. Now as I have said in a previous post, The Magi act as wild cards and basically are the ultimate plot devices...

Poseidon: If they are the ultimate plot devices then why don't they show up in all your other stories?

Hook: The brat has a point, wench. He and I have been in every story you have created since the creation of the Blood Guard.

Anna: That's not entirely accurate. You're not in the revamped version of the Lost Angel called Beyond the Night.

Poseidon/Hook: Yet.

Anna: *opens her mouth but then closes it* True. *blinks* Um...where is my sister? *the trio look around and there is a distinct lack of their authoress*

Van: *chuckles from above them, making them look up into the air and see him floating in the air with Artz passed out in his arms* Sorry about that but I think it's time for our favorite redhead to get some sleep.

Poseidon: Bloody hell, she's been overdoing it again, hasn't she?

Anna: Dude, this is my sister we're talking about so duh.

Hook: I do believe the question was rhetorical, Yuna.

Anna: *rolls her eyes and wanders off*

Poseidon: Guess we're doing the wrap up? *noticing that Van and Artz had vanished*

Hook: What wrap up? This isn't like posting a new chapter on Fan Fiction, brat. It just sort of ends...like this. *a clapboard snaps shut, calling an end to the scene*

The Magi - The Red Queen, Mars

Yes, I am still having issues with the Magi of the Air so that post will undoubtedly be delayed, but this post is about the Second Mage which i admittedly don't have much on her personal origin story. I do, however, have her involved in quite a few things and some very important events. That being said, allow me to introduce the next member of the Magi.

Second Mage of the Blood Guard, Commander of the Science Corps, the Magi of Flame, the Red Queen. Mars of the Prism Guard and she is her phoenix.

I told you before that Once Upon A Time plays a big part of The Star Chronicles and The Prism. From the Evil Queen to the Red Queen, but she commonly goes by the name Gin or Ginny. She is technically a fire elemental but is also a phoenix. No seriously, she is a phoenix which includes the power of rebirth though it's not exactly painless, requires a specific kind of jewel called a fire gem or a phoenix gem, and it's possible to take others with her when she combusts into flames and becomes a pile of ash.

Not quite what I was looking for... apparently, it's rather difficult to find a jewel fragment or a gem the size of a small pebble that glows with a fire from within. I have spent over a month trying to find something that was even remotely close and ironically, the closest to it was red kryptonite. *insert eye roll here*

Anyways, moving right along...much of Gin's origin story has yet to be written but a fair few events in the future have been, so I will be revealing a few spoilers and some general information, namely the identities of her husband and her son.

The first to be revealed is her husband. He is the current leader of the Wolf Clan, a somewhat nomadic species of werewolves. No, they do not transform in moonlight nor are they associated with the once human turned feral canine species referred to as Haps in the Sanctuary verse. Now then, it is my distinct pleasure and honor to introduce the very lucky man that scored himself a mighty phoenix.

The Alpha of the Blood Guard, leader of the Wolf Clan, the Red Claw. He is Fenrir of the Prism Guard and he is her Huntsman.

You guessed it....Graham aka The Huntsman from Once Upon A Time. Now to be fair, in a different story he is with Emma but I've always liked him and Regina being together. I know, the whole heart ripping thing makes this pairing seem extremely unlikely, but given that this is the Blood Guard verse, so very different backgrounds for him and Gin.

For instance, Graham was with Her Ladyship when Killian and his older brother, Liam, met her when they were kids, but he wasn't in human form. In fact, he couldn't take human form just yet because he was quite young...he was a puppy. No seriously, he was an actual wolf pup...why because all children born from the Wolf Clan are born as puppies not as human babies.

Puppy Graham was actually the one that discovered the Jones Brothers on the beach, taking off all of a sudden and forcing the Star Child to chase after him. Thus was the humble beginnings of some rather odd friendships...especially when a baby kraken gets involved...a story for another time.

Gin does not marry Graham for quite a long time due to her long standing relationship with the First Mage, Emma. I swear I just heard a fandom explode somewhere. It takes him several centuries just to get on speaking terms with the Red Queen, mainly due to her distaste for mongrels. She favored cats, though this might have been heavily influenced by both Emma and her mother who both absolutely adored cats.

He remained persistent but not invasive, always letting her come to him on her own terms. As to how these two get together.... well I haven't worked that out yet, along with Gin's origin story; however, she is at the center of many events and has connections with Light, Poseidon, and Hook. She becomes further involved up until like fifteen to twenty years before the events of Stardust occur. She will eventually come back into play when shit hits the fan with Emma and her mother and a lot of stuff gets revealed which kind of blind sides a good chunk of the main characters.

Now on to the second reveal, the son of Gin Mills and Graham Foss...anyone who has seen Sanctuary knows who he is. Introducing Henry Foss aka Wolftech and resident genius of the U.S. Sanctuary.

Not only is Henry a genius but an inventor as well. Admittedly, not everything goes to plan when inventing never before seen or conceived technology and sometimes things do go boom. Ah but some inventions have worked incredibly well, including but not limited to several variations of the stun gun...slide stunner, sonic stunner, super stunner, etc...along with several kinds of scanners...bio-scanner, multiscanner, modified chromatographic scanner, and even a holographic scanner.

Mars's son commonly works on co-op projects with a certain genius vampire named Nikola Tesla. Though Nikola commonly calls Henry by a variation of nicknames, makes quite a few derogatory comments about his intellect, and just loves pointing out the guy's mistakes...the resident sanctuary genius actually views the arrogant, self proclaimed know-it-all that always has a hidden agenda...his best friend. 

When the werewolf admits this to the father of electricity and inventor of radio waves, Nikola is actually quite shocked by this revelation and for the briefest of moments, he is quiet, almost humble because no one outside of the Star Child had ever bothered to get to know him, the real him...not the self-absorbed prat that thinks he is smarter than everyone else, but the man born from his love for the Lady of the Blood Guard. He only acts the way he does because it makes Artz happy...blame the show because Yowzah.

These two get into plenty of trouble and the irony of their friendship is not lost on them....the Vampire and the Werewolf being best friends...I think another fandom just erupted somewhere...let's hope it wasn't the Twilight Saga fandom, because I doubt any of us would survive. Were that not ironic enough, add in a Huntsman and a Phoenix and you've got yourselves a party...just don't invite the Second, Third, or Fourth Captains. Why because Mars will use the Third Captain for target practice, the Fourth Captain not lifting a finger to help him and commonly takes control of their shared body long enough for Mars to hit Poseidon...as for Light, I'll explain that in a bit.

Poseidon was technically her opposites trainer though most considered both the Third and Fourth Captains as her opposites mentors. Mars's power, both as a fire elemental and as a phoenix, required two kinds of teachers, control for the wielding of her element and the creation of a centralized mental core. Gin, very much like Hook, had a vast quantity of power at their disposal; however, without the mental discipline needed to protect one's mental and psychological states, they would become lost within their own power, unaware of the devastation their powers were causing.

There have been very few times of Mars losing control but that was only because Hook had pretty much drilled into her head that if she lost control for a split second, she, like him, would kill everyone around her. When she asked him if something like that had ever occurred with him or Poseidon, he looked away in shame. 

Both he and Poseidon had both lost control many, many times throughout history...the most devastating for Poseidon was when his mother had been murdered. He was just a child, nine years old with his brother Liam being thirteen years old. To save his brother from shattering his soul, Killian took it upon himself to take the life of the man that had killed their mother...their stepfather. 

Watching his water powers carve through the man's body and quietly literally slicing him to pieces; the blood was everywhere, it pooled at his feet and splattered across his body...this wasn't the breaking point for Killian, it was what came after. In his desire to protect his brother, his powers had been pushed further than he had ever done before. His attack had been like a maelstrom of death and it took not one life but two.

The woman that both he and his brother had loved, having heard the screaming and felt the surge of power, had come to help, only to be caught up in the outward edge of the cyclone, deep gashes being gorged into her body. When Killian heard the sound of a body hitting the ground behind him, he turned around and the world for him came to a grinding halt. There on the ground lay the woman known as the Star Child, her breathing wet and labored as if drowning on dry land. She tried to move, reaching out to him with her hand, her eyes glazed over from the pain but still held such worry and kindness for the child of the sea that was on the verge of breaking.

Before either of the brothers could move, her hand suddenly dropped as the light of life faded from her eyes. The once vibrant and sparkling sapphires were dull, empty, an endless void of nothingness...her last breath exhaling like a whisper in the wind. This...this is what broke him, a soul shattering scream erupting out of his throat. The ocean reacted to the astronomical surge of pure, raw, and powerful emotion and began to flood the entirety of the world.

The sound of him screaming vanished but his mouth was still open in a silent scream, tears pouring from his eyes and down his face. Fortunately, the ocean was not the only thing that responded to the boy, so too did the Empress of the Sea, the superabnormal known as Kali. 

Her physical form was that of an aquatic spider and she was able to control the magnetism of the world, allowing her to take control of the tectonic plates in the earth's crust as well as generate land and create massive tidal waves. To the Children of the Sea and Sky as well as the Star Child, they see, not her Arachnid form but her human avatar.

Kali used her powers to disrupt the synapses within the boy's brain, rendering him unconscious but also suppressing the memories of his elemental powers, worse still, she had to suppress the memories of the woman he loved, making him forget that she ever existed. It was the only way to save the soul of the Child of the Sea. Liam asked the superabnormal to suppress his powers as a lightning elemental so that he wouldn't accidentally bring back his brother's memories.

The Empress of the Sea warned him that unlike his brother, his powers as a Child of the Sky were not meant to be caged because his kind constantly generated their elemental powers non-stop. By suppressing them, it would eventually kill him, the pain becoming more and more excruciating until he died a horrifically painful and lingering death. He will beg for death long before it would be granted to him and quite possibly losing his mind entirely, causing his powers to erupt and to destroy everything around him.

Liam told her that without his brother, there would be no point in living... especially now that the Star Child was dead and even if she were to be restored, he would never be able to look at her, his guilt and shame along with the memories of this day haunting him till the day he died. He would not be able to love her like she should be loved, his heart constantly poisoning her happiness. He couldn't do that to her nor could he bear to live in a world without his baby brother. 

He also assured her that he would find a way to die on his own terms and with the least amount of trauma to his brother, but with his powers bottled up inside, it would be difficult to kill him. The aquatic superabnormal promised that someone with great knowledge will come to him one day and teach him many things including a method powerful enough and potent enough to kill him, granting him a swift death. He thanked her for her help and her compassion. He even apologized to which she replied that if this event had not occur then he would never have met the Star Child for she would have died the moment she took her first breath in this world.

Kali then suppressed the boy's powers and before leaving, she made certain that the physical evidence of this event was gone which included the remains of their step father, their mother's body, and the body of the woman he loved. Many years later, Liam and his brother, now proud members of His Majesty's Royal Navy, embarked on a journey to find a specific plant said to have miraculous healing properties. The moment Liam Jones had seen the name of this plant, he knew that not only had their king betrayed them but that this would be his final adventure with his younger brother.

Just as the Empress of the Sea had promised, a man with great knowledge and power had indeed come to teach him. This man was from the future and his name was Light. This Second Captain was a powerful lightning elemental with absolutely exceptional control over his powers. Liam was in awe of the man yet there was something about him that struck a familiar chord within his heart.

The Lightning Fang taught him a great many things, having been taught by his first mentor and commander of the science corps but also by Liam's own brother that had been his second mentor and his current working partner. The elder Jones did ask about Killian, wondering if he was okay, if he was happy, and if he ever found their star again...the answer was yes to all of them.

His brother was the Third Captain of the guard that protected the Star Child, a member of her inner circle and was the second most trusted person to her, the first being apparently long story. Light also revealed that his baby brother would one day regain both his powers and his memories but that in doing so, made it possible to save the woman they both loved. To say he was relieved was quite the understatement...his brother would be saved, their star would be by his side, and he would find the happiness that had been denied to him for so long.

After the man's departure, Liam worked diligently to make his brother into an outstanding officer, a man of honor, someone that followed his heart and not his head, and to make certain that Killian was strong enough to endure the tumultuous storm that would undoubtedly scar him for life. The elder Jones hated to do it this way but the alternative was to have his precious baby brother watch him die a very slow and agonizing death. Better that his faith be shattered rather than his soul and give him the knowledge of their King's betrayal and to plot his course straight to the woman that was his salvation.

Upon discovering the land where this miracle plant grew....a place called Neverland, he and his brother sought out the plant, having several run-ins with a young girl capable of flying and floating in the air. She identified herself as Petrani Panson, former denizen of another realm simply called Oz. 

She informed the brothers that this so called miraculous healing plant called Dreamshade was, in fact, one of the most lethal poisons in the whole of creation and was impossible to cure. Why because even if the one effected were to drink the water of the mountain spring which was capable of nullifying the effects of the poison but only while within this land, they would still not live to see another moonrise because the viscosity of Dreamshade was so potent that most of the victim's internal organs would be liquefied and thus still resulting in death.

Killian had attempted to dissuade his brother from acquiring the Dreamshade, but Liam simply spouted off that he had faith in their king which was a complete and total lie. The elder Jones broke off a piece of the plant, placing the thorn against his skin before slicing it into his arm and just as the flying child had stated, death was almost immediate and Liam Jones died in the arms of his younger brother, his final words...Lightning, it flashes bright then fades away. It can't protect, it only destroys. The sea makes for a much better shield than I could ever be. Find her...find our star...she shines only for you now.

Upon finishing his tale, the Fourth Captain retreated within, forcing Poseidon to take control of their shared body. He tried to apologize but Gin slapped him before latching onto him in a bone crushing hug. Thanks to his counterpart, he and his student were able to find some middle ground...a pain shared, for the young phoenix had lost an elder sibling too, her sister, Zelena. It still didn't stop them from squabbling all the time; snarky jibes and sarcastic quips galore but it always put a smile on the Star Child's face usually followed by her shaking her head in fond exasperation.

Sadly, the times when Mars lost control over her powers caused some of the most devastating catastrophes in human history. She never did anything by half measure, it was all or nothing. The first time she lost control was shortly before she had crossed paths with the Star Child, resulting in the creation of a super volcano that blanketed a good chunk of the world in ash, formed its own landmass, and ultimately caused the extinction of the dinosaurs...most of them anyways. Almost every species of dinosaur had had select groups transported into the Realm and deposited onto a planet later known as Dinotopia. 

Not long after this cataclysmic event, Gin was found half buried in ash, tear tracks down her cheeks and was completely catatonic but her eyes were still open. Near her were the charred remains of a former hunter's camp and the mutilated corpse of an adult woman, later discovered to be the girl's mother or what was left of her. She and her mother had been searching for Gin's elder sister and her father, Henry. When they stumbled across the camp, they had believed that they had found a safe place to bed down for the night but they were very mistaken.

They had believed it to be a normal hunting camp, gathering provisions and furs for the coming winter, along with thinning out population of the local wildlife aka dinosaurs, specifically some of the nastier carnivores that seemed reproduce like the Nubbins in the Sanctuary show. Turns out this wasn't entirely accurate. Yes, they were hunters and yes, they were gathering provisions but they were also hunting something very specific...women.

This hunting camp was a specialized base of operations in the acquisition of baby makers aka healthy females capable of reproducing and birthing offspring. Why because the number of births had drop drastically in the past few decades while the number of deaths caused by unnatural causes aka dino chow had substantially increased. These kind of camps were created to correct the deficiency and ensure the survival of the human race by any means necessary.

Any means included the capturing and imprisoning of all females; young, old, healthy, frail, anyone and everyone of the female orientation. Any means also included habitual sexual intercourse with as many sperm donors as possible, consented or not. Gin and her mother were immediately captured and the young phoenix was forced to watch as all the men in the camp tried to impregnate her defenseless mother.

They were held captive in that camp for the next nine and half years. Her mother had birthed many offspring, several sets of twins and even a set of quadruplets. The poor woman had become so used to her constant treatment that she actually complained when she was not in use, but it didn't matter anyways because there were several complications during her next pregnancy and both her and her unborn child died from the premature birthing.

After her mother died, Gin was the only female close enough to the optimum reproductive age within the camp. She was almost fourteen years old, having just turned four shortly before being captured. She saw the looks in their eyes as the leaders discussed who would go first and a working schedule that was satisfactory to all the camp's male inhabitants. Once the schedule was finalized, the leader's protege and their best hunter was granted the honor of taking her virginity and given one full night to completely fill her with his seed.

She was dragged out her cage and her raggedy dress was ripped to pieces. They cleaned her up, washed her hair, even rubbed fragant oil into her skin before she was shackled to a makeshift altar, the inhabitants of the camp seated themselves in a circle around the altar. Her mother had not been pure so she was not subjected to this humiliating and violating spectacle but Gin had spent nine and a half years watching them conduct this little ritual again and again and again.

Now it was her turn and because she was untouched, undefiled, her innocence and purity untainted, she was to be taken in full view of everyone to ensure that she was ready for the constant exertion of repetitive intercourse. It was sickening and evil...she hated them. She hated all of them...she wanted them to burn, to be scorched from the face of the earth. As her rapist approached her, his member already erect and twitching, a heat began to build within her body.

He positioned himself in between her legs, guided the tip to the correct spot, took hold of her hips, his fingers gripping her so tightly that she was certain that she would have extensive bruising later....the heat within her became hotter, her cheeks flushing bright red from the intensity. Then in one swift and powerful thrust, he ripped straight through her barrier. She screamed in an intense pain. They had done nothing to ease his entrance so that her virginity was taken in the most painful way possible...an action to remind her that she was their slave, their play thing, to use as they saw fit.

She didn't have time to catch her breath or to brace herself for the next thrust and she screamed again, the heat within her becoming a small flame. Each time he trusted, he went deeper and deeper until he reached some spot within her that made the pain mix with a kind of euphoric feeling. It was causing her mind to lose focus and she was having difficulties concentrating. Once he was fully sheathed within her, he used his knowledge of the female form to make the euphoric feeling to increase and the pain began to dull. She was no longer screaming in pain but in pleasure...her body was reacting positively to his ministrations.

She was disgusted with herself. How could she let herself feel this way? Why did she start screaming for more, to go faster and deeper and harder, to slam into her core and hit that special spot that made her feel like she was losing her mind? Moreover, she could see them, hear them...they were watching her being violated, listening to shameful pleas, using the scene before them to pleasure themselves...monsters.

The flickering flame that had almost been extinguished by their activities roared to life once more, the fire battled against the growing pleasure in her body, but it wasn't strong enough to override the physical reactions of her body. All thought ceased as she hit some sort of peak, a pinnacle of pleasure, and her mind hazed over completely...then came a different sensation, some kind of sticky fluid was filling her insides and the fire, no longer restricted by conscious thought, erupted from within her.

It was everywhere...the fire felt glorious like she was being purified...then he screamed, not in pleasure but in excruciating agony and he wasn't the only one. More screams reached her ears and her rationality returned to her along with the conscious awareness of her immediate surroundings. She honestly wished she hadn't opened her eyes because the man that was still fully sheathed inside her was now nothing more than a burnt husk; the flesh smoldering, the bones blackened, and very, very dead...a dead man was inside her. 

Then the rest of her surroundings finally came into focus...dead, they were all dead, every single person...even the children birthed by her mother...all dead. Her mouth opened in a silent scream, her vision being engulfed by flames. They were dead...she killed them...how did that happen? What was she? She knew the answer...she had called them monsters but the evidence before her and within her made that statement false...she was the true monster.

Time held no meaning for the young phoenix, unaware of the devastation being wrought by her freshly awakened heritage. The sky darkened with smoke as ash fell from the sky like snow. The fire burned through her bindings, allowing her to separate from her first victim. She stumbled about until she landed near the remains of her dead mother, having been chucked outside the camp like garbage. 

She started crying but she didn't make a sound. She just sat there with the falling ash becoming thicker and heavier. She didn't move, she just kept crying silently, unable to stop, unable to move, her rational mind was overloaded by the intensity of her deeper emotions...a voice...there was a voice...a woman...she was singing...why...why was she singing? It was such a beautiful melody yet seemed so very sad...lonely...the young phoenix listened to the song, allowing it to penetrate to the deepest recesses of her mind. It went even deeper, touching her heart and soothing her soul.

The sound of shuffling footsteps caused the dark haired child to raise her head, her eyes blank and empty. The woman that was singing walked through the falling ash, her body glowing softly with an electric blue light and still she sang. Even as she approached the carnage the little girl had caused, there was no hatred or anger or horror or disgust on her face. A sad smile adorned her lips as she knelt in front of the young phoenix, her sapphire eyes shining with a light from within and swirling with stardust. It was the most beautiful thing Gin had ever seen.

Did this divine being truly not hate her? She was a monster, destroying everything around her. Could she really forgive her for all the lives she took? The girl wanted so badly to believe, but she was afraid. What if she destroyed her too? Why was she still singing...the same song again and again? The air around her became warmer and it was easier to breathe. The woman stopped singing and Gin immediately became aware of her surroundings. No longer were they in the ash filled camp...in fact, they were no longer in the camp period. All the bodies were gone, all the destruction was gone, the scent of death and charred flesh was also gone.

The young phoenix didn't know what to think. The place they were now in was so beautiful; the grass was a soft red, the trees were filled with silver leaves, and the sky was above was a burnt orange color. The light from the twin suns shined through the canopy, creating a contrast of light and shadow, the trees seemingly on fire but all she felt was a gentle and all encompassing warmth that saturated every cell in her body. 

She started sobbing and quite vocally too. She found herself in the arms of the woman that had brought her to such a wonderful place. She held her like a mother would their child...so warm, so pure, so bright...a star. This woman was a true and genuine star, she could feel it...the rest of her emotions were released when the woman spoke three words.

"Welcome home, Ginny."

From that day on, the young phoenix was hers. She constantly trailed after, not caring what anyone else said or thought about it. She claimed this woman as hers; in what way, she had no clue. What she felt for the surprisingly kind redhead went beyond friendship, beyond kin, beyond romanticism. There were no words that could be uttered to adequately describe the immeasurable love she held for her star. 

Every day was like a brand new adventure and they always seemed to be running everywhere, bright smiles and even brighter laughter. Gin definitely loved the running. It made her feel free like nothing could hold her or cage her or bind her in any way.

Their routine changed when her star suddenly slid to a halt, tears pouring down her cheeks...the pain and sorrow in her eyes was making her want to cry too. An orb of light formed around them and they went flying away. The orb vanished as her star yelled out a name and a title she had heard in passing a few times.

"Poseidon! Captain!"

This was the very first encounter with the man...men that would one day become her mentors, her partners, and the very first males that she actually trusted, whose touch did not make her lash out in rage, whose voice could always calm her fast flying mind, the men she would one day make them the godfathers of her firstborn....the problem was that he was dead...they were dead. 

Her star was screaming in anguish because she couldn't revive them, that some sort of period of grace had already passed, making it impossible for her power to save them. She was crying so hard, clutching them tightly to her body as her heart wrenching screams pierced the air. Was there truly nothing that could be done? Was there truly no way to give them back to her star?

She felt something brush against her leg and she looked down to find a very odd creature with long ears, a fluffy tail swishing back and forth in hypnotic rhythm, and there was a mark on its back...a starburst within an Ouroboros. The odd creature held up a golden locket emblazoned with a golden phoenix. She took the locket and opened it, inside were four red shards glowing with a fire within.

She poured them into her hand and it felt like a flood gate had been blasted open, her mind filling with the ancient knowledge of her kind. She was a Phoenix, she possessed the power of rebirth, the glowing shards were fire gems also referred to as phoenix gems, she could grant new life to others so long as she had a gem for each person that she takes with her.

Her hand wrapped around the gems tightly. What she was about to do was going to be quite painful, both for herself and her star but it was going to hurt them even worse because they children of the sea, water elementals. She would save them but they would need an extended period of time in order to completely recover from the rebirthing process. She turned to thank the odd creature but he was gone like he had never existed in the first place.

Her star's anguished cries forced her to return to the task at hand. She cut her hand, allowing the gems to be saturated with her blood, the blood of a phoenix. She then called to the power that she had released since its awakening. She mentally gasped when her body transformed into a bird made entirely of flames. 

"Look how the golden phoenix shines in the burnt orange sky."

Her star was too far gone and thus could not be separated from her loved ones. She would destroy her star just as she feared but she would also grant life anew for all of them and that was worth an eternity of agony to the young phoenix. She took flight, enjoying the sensation of being midair for a moment before screeching loudly and dive bombing her star and the two idiots in one body. They better not make a habit of this, otherwise she was going to figure out how to make her flames into projectiles and use them as glorified target practice.

Coming out the other side of a phoenix rebirth was like being dragged through shattered glass while constantly being on fire. It was not a pleasant experience to say the least but did have the desired result...which she found out about three weeks later. Apparently going full on elemental firebird for the first time while doing a rebirth caused her to temporarily forget how to retake human form.

When she woke up, there was an absolutely gorgeous blonde haired woman sitting next to the bed, watching over her as she recovered. Gin knew in an instant that this woman was hers. It was a similar feeling like she had with her star but she could feel the difference between the two. This incredibly stunning goddess was someone she was meant to love in a romantic way, to which she had no qualms with because there was no way she was going to let a man be intimate with her.

The irony is that what she got was not a man but a wolf, a kind and gentle wolf that always allowed her to take the lead, to proceed at her pace, to do as she desired without impeding her at all. It would be that very same wolf that would reunite her father which led them to her godfather and her father's best friend, Zeal and with his help, Gin's elder sister would be found and the sisters finally being reunited...and that their birth mother was not only alive but a member of the Blood Guard. The woman that the girl had believed to be her mother was her mother's childhood friend and former hand maiden and was her godmother on top of all that.

Artz: Yeah, I think a Part 2 is in order because this thing is seriously long already and I haven't even gotten to Light and a plethora of other things she is involved in.

Anna: *rereads the post several times* Um...I think you just sorted out Gin's origin story, sis.

Artz: *blinks before rereading the post herself* Sweet Menti Celesti, you're right! Yeah, it got a little dark but man, this just flowed out perfectly and actually makes a lot a sense.

Anna: Especially with Graham. Helping her reunite with her long lost father, Henry, would definitely earn some major brownie points with our mongrel hating phoenix.

Artz: Huh, I actually worked out a good chunk of stuff with this post. Once I add a few more images and gifs, I'll publish it, but part two is gonna have to wait because i finally solved the issue with the introduction for the Magi of the Air!

Anna: Hurray!

Artz: *sheepish* But I don't have his origin story like at all.

Anna: *points to the above post as an example* That will not be a problem.

Artz: Whoa...you just sounded like Miss Impossible.

Anna: *laughs* yeah the inflection was definitely there. Okay, on that bombshell...

Artz: More like fire ball.

Anna: *rolls her eyes* This post is over and done with. Please leave a ton of comments and don't forget to check out my sister's fan fiction profile and her totally awesome stories!

Artz: My shameless plugging is beginning to rub off on you. Anyways, the site is www.fanfiction.net and the author name is Lady Artimes Blaine. Until next time, dearies.

Anna: Oi! That's my thing. Your thing is sweetie. Respect the thing! Hey come back here! *as her sister walks away*