Chapter 6: [Spirits]

Jaden without saying a word began walking away from the team, leaving them there in the remnants of the city.

Echo sighed, picking herself up. She walked slowly to Kado after hauling Asuya onto her back again, careful not to disturb her sleep too much.

"I'm starting to understand why you and your family seem to hate everyone..." Echo voice was a whispered grumble, but her tone was still clear. She was pissed off, and rightly so. She was the one person there who could actually understand what the damn thing was feeling, and then everyone seemed to ignore it. It was the dumbest thing she had ever seen.

A thought sparked in her mind then. Jaden had been deteriorating in his image for ages now. Was it possible... she didn't love him as much any more? Was this the stress of both of them speaking? Or were these her actual feelings?

She shuddered for a moment before calming again, trying her best to hold still for Asuya. She loved him, yes. but was it currently right to? These emotions swam in her head, filling her conscience as she tried to cope with all of this. Ancilla began to speak then, her voice soft and soothing as always.

"You are not wrong in how you feel. I will not intervene, but do be careful about how you proceed. Even if you end up not loving Jaden, he loves you."

Echo sighed internally, biting her lips as she watched Willow.

Thanks, Ancilla...

~~~

Ancilla resided in the corners of Echo's mind, the parts she still couldn't reach. There she sat, her body slowly shifting. It turned red before her fingers erupted out, forming long claws. Tentacles covered in eyes writhed on her back, and she grew tall and lanky, a small bust forming on her chest. Her face contorted to a faceless head, all except for a teeth filled with sharp teeth.

"I do love a good slaughter... good job, Klaus. Good job."

((Sadistic Ancilla Face Claim. If any of you know where this is from, cookies for you: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/z8HXw3Ay1QE/maxresdefault.jpg ))

Kado remained silent but nodded. She wasn't around for very long, but from a combination of talking to Willow and from what she's seen, this team wasn't a team at all. She sighed and looked down at Willow, who stood up. When she spoke to the skeleton, her voice was calm and soothing.

"Alright sweetie...you just take your time to get used to everything okay? We'll be here if you need anything." She turned her head to see Jaden walking away, which triggered something in her head. Looking to Kado and Echo, she said "Stay here and make sure you keep this thing comfortable. Do not crowd it, do not attempt to speak to it. Don't even look at it. I'll be right back..." She climbed out of the crater and walked into her shroud before reappearing in front of Jaden. Her eyes were ice cold and her face read as one of obvious anger and annoyance. Quickly, she grabbed him by the shirt.

"You listen to me, and you listen right fucking now, Jaden. You are NOTHING like your father. Your father was MUCH more mature than you are being right now. You walk around saying 'I'm the leader, I'm the leader,' well guess what shit-for-brains, you're the leader of NOTHING. I look at Echo, and you know what I see in her face? Sadness. Confusion. Anger. All directed at you, because you're too proud to know when to shut the fuck up and let people opt their right decisions. I see it in her face; she is losing all of her love toward you, and you have nothing to blame but yourself. So you can either turn around, go back to the team, and all of you, collectively, can work together and think of what to do. Or I'll lock your sorry, ungrateful little ass in the Dream World where you'll NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!"

Cobra hearing willows word turned around his back to the skeleton but he was still close to it.

"So Kado, what do you think of that group of people over there. Very peculiar aren't they."

A sliver of light appeared inside the ruins of a building, widening to form a doorway. Kiru stepped out of the hole in the air looking slightly disheveled. Kiru reached into her pocket and pulled out her medallion which she put back on and walked out of the ruins which was near the team She looked around the area. She felt a spark of anger, the entire god damn city had been leveled.. Kiru took special note of the strange skeleton thing. Willow was off bitching at Jaden again, no doubt he deserved it but it wasnt anything new. Kiru sighed, running her finders through her hair, "What in the fucking hell happened while I was away?"

Kado sniffed the air. Her eyes got that look again...that look of greed and lust. She looked over at Kiru, who had just arrived. In an instant, she was next to Kiru, inspecting her while somewhat sniffing her.

"You...you smell like cash...You're loaded ain't ya? AIN'T YA?!" Kado got face-to-face with Kiru, but not in a threatening way, more like a curious dog kind of way. Kiru smelled like the rich. Kado bowed to her.

"My liege..." She spoke to Kiru as if she was a queen.

Kiru raised an eyebrow, looking at this new girl who was bowing before her. "Who are you and how did you know I was of noble birth?"

Jaden looked at willow and spoke calmly "I came out here to get some fresh air, I wanted to make sure I didn't freak out like last time willow, I don't wanna put them in danger." Jaden looked over towards Echo then back at Willow "I care about Echo deeply, I have had my own problems as of late and haven't been able to spend a lot of time with her" he motions to his robotic arm and leg "I may not be as mature as my father yet but I'm doing my best, and when I'm constantly berated I get angry so that's why I came out here, I apologize if you took it the wrong way" Jaden turned around and took some deep breathes, his hands glowing softly "I'm...sorry, Willow. I really am. Just give me a moment. Then I promise I'll come back"

Willow dropped Jaden but jabbed her finger into his chest.

"No, that's a load of bullshit. If you were sorry, you wouldn't be making excuses. 'Oh I get angry when this happens' and 'I couldn't spend time with her because that happened.' Personally..." Willow looked back over at the group, more specifically Echo and the sleeping Asuya.

"You don't deserve her. She has watched your ass get kicked time and time again. She sat with you through all the times you were berated, and yet you still have the audacity to call yourself a leader...You don't love her, you only love your fucking self."

Kado looked up at Kiru with a sly smile.

"You could say I have the nose for cash. 'tis a hobby of mine." She flicked out a couple of playing cards in her hand.

"I will do anything and everything I can to get cash, and anyone who's got the loot is a friend of mine. Name's Kado; Mary and Asuya's sister. And before you ask, there are only three of us. Not including Karasu. He's a cousin." She bowed once again instead of offering a handshake, as she knew from being around the rich that they don't like to sully their hands.

Kiru sighed again, "Will you stop bowing to me? Here, will some money get you to stop that?" Kiru reached into her pocket and pulled out a 10 ounce solid gold coin and handed it to Kado. "There, and you seem to like playing games, we should play a few rounds. After whatever the fuck is going on here is dealt with."

Jaden stared at Willow "No I don't deserve her, but I love her" Jaden stood and looked at her "I may be a terrible person, I do my best to protect the ones I care about" he sighed and started walking back to the others "I'll be with them till we can leave"

Kado's mouth dropped. No one had ever voluntarily given her solid gold before. She quickly snatched the coin and instantly hugged Kiru.

"You are my new best friend. Like it or not. I'm stuck on you like a wet dollar to the washing machine."

As Jaden started to leave, he would feel several tiny strings coiled around his arm, forcing him to stop.

"No...I'll tell you what you're going to do...You're going to stay quiet while the others come up with a plan. Then, you're going to go along with said plan. Then, you're going to go to Echo, and propose to her. If your sorry ass loves her that much, then prove it. Because otherwise, you're going to lose her, and that's going to hurt her. And I don't want to see Echo hurt. She was my first real friend, and she was Asuya's first real friend. If you hurt her, you hurt us, and if you hurt us, I'll kill you."

Jaden looked at her "I was planning on doing that soon anyways, now please let go so I can go back to them" Jaden says calmly

adrein stood there keeping a eye on the skeleton not saying a word at all, still in holy awakening.

Willow only grew angrier at his composition. To her, it seemed like he wasn't taking anything she was telling him seriously.

"You know what...fine. I'm done talking to you anyway. But let me make one last thing clear...If you hurt her again...I WILL kill you. And you know as well as I do, that you're no match for me..."

At this point in time, Asuya's eyes began to open. Looking around, she noticed she was in Echo's arms.

"E...Echo..? Echo!" Asuya jumped down and grabbed ahold of Echo, inspecting her.

"Are you okay? What happened? Did the procedure work? Are you dying? What about your arm? Is it broken? Is it fixed? Who fixed it? What happened?!" She started panicking, inspecting Echo all over.

Echo just stared, an amused smile coming to her face. Asuya was clearly scared, but it was almost cartoonish in the way she was inspecting her. Echo rose her previously broken arm to ruffle Asuya's hair before nodding.

"I'm fine, Asuya. Relax. I'm happy you're awake, though. You were exhausted; in fact, you still are. Sit down. I'll fill you in." Echo plopped down, suddenly uplifted by the little moment.

"Basically, that dude blew up the city and now that puppet is... well, we dunno. But it doesn't seem hostile yet." She shrugged, pointing to Merlin and the puppet respectively.

"So that's the situation."

Jaden slowly walked over to the others and closed his eyes "Now...time to give her that necklace...at least that for now till I can buy a ring"

Asuya blinked a bit, still a tad confused but she just accepted what Echo told her.

"Huh...so the place is leveled. Oh well...I'm just happy to see that you're alright." Asuya gave a genuine smile, something she hadn't done since before she was corrupted, at Echo.

Echo shrugged, but she was blushing like a tomato. Asuya had been that worried, huh? Well, Echo could say the same anyway.

"Y-Yeah. I'm happy you're okay, too."

Asuya tilted her head. She never saw somebody blush before, at least not that she could remember. Immediately she panicked.

"Echo! Your face! You're BLEEDING INTERNALLY!!!"

Jaden walked over to Echo adn smiled, kneeling lightly and rubbing the back of his head "Hey sweetie...listen im sorry I haven't spent much time with you lately but I have something for you, I have wanted to give it to you for awhile"
Jaden pulls out this necklace from his pocket and gently places it in her hand "Happy anniversary sweetie, I know its sorta late but I needed to find something perfect for you"
http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/img-thing?.out=jpg&size=l&tid=76534800

Asuya glared over at Jaden when he walked to Echo. His recent behavior made her both dislike and distrust him. From over his shoulder, she could see Willow standing above them, her arms crossed with her eyes locked on Jaden. It didn't take a genius to find out Willow put him up to something, or at least it appeared that way. Asuya waved.

"Hi Mary!"