Waking From The Fire (Shin/Lunar Knights/Aya)

[Kato Shin]

My eyes fluttered slowly open.

I didn't know what day it was, how long I'd been asleep, or how much damaged I'd caused. I didn't remember any of it - just that feeling of the cage breaking down, and flames engulfing my soul.

I'd had dreams of that day, confusing flashes that leaped and danced around in my skull, the flames climbing higher and higher and higher. Even with my eyes open, they danced around me, jeering and laughing and calling my name, calling me a coward, calling me all sorts of things I couldn't name. I saw them engulf everything, the room I lay in, they crept closer and closer, ghosts overlaying the real world and I cried out, trying to leap away from them, but managing only to fall off the bed I was lying in, tangled in the covers.

The ghostly flames disappeared; they were merely illusions, figments of my own imagination. I instinctivel reached for the comfort of the metal band around my arm... and found it gone, the brand displayed for all to see.

I panicked. Had someone stolen it? Why would they do such a thing? I thrust myself to my feet and frantically went to my dresser...

Except this wasn't my room, I realized. I'd never been in this room. It was a somewhat fancy room, elegant, yet simple. The neatness of everything and the lack of any kind of personal touch hinted that it was some sort of guest room. I forced myself to breathe. At least there wasn't a fire, here - that would've been bad, especially in my current state.

Calming myself, I took a breath; held it, released it. Felt for the flames, ready to leash them back up, but they'd burned completely to embers. No wonder I felt so exhausted, so empty. I fell to the floor, too drained-feeling to sand, sitting and leaning against the bed, the pile of covers beside me.

Then I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," I called. "I'm awake..."

[Rin Tezuka]

I push the door open with my back and enter the room. "Hey, Shinny." I say calmly and immediately flop myself back-first onto the foot of his bed. "How's it hangin'?"

[Kurai Horo]

Kurai Horo followed behind Rin, Shin's band held in his right hand. He felt it important that the boy embraced who he was, which was a rich statement coming from a man who hid nearly 75% of his own face. He stood at the foot of the bed, arms crossed, Shin's band on open display in his hand.

[Kato Shin]

My eyes were about level with her knees. I looked backwards, up into her eyes.

"Rin," I greeted her simply. "How long was I asleep?"

Please don't let it have been more than a week, I thought to myself. Please, gods, no more than a week...

"And who's this?" I asked her, looking at the man who followed her in. He was holding my band, so he must've been the one who carried me here. I hoped I hadn't hurt him before I'd passed out.

[Rin Tezuka]

"Um. I have no idea on either of those questions... I don't keep track of time." I shrug with a smile. "But this guy's kinda cool. He covers most of his face. Very mysterious... Makes you wonder what he's hiding under there, eh?" I give Kurai a playful smile. "I heard he's a Lunar Knight, like me."

[Kato Shin]

My left hand rose to grip my right arm, covering the brand there; I noticed the masked man was looking at it.

"Give me back my band," I told him bluntly.

[Kurai Horo]

"No." He replied, equally bluntly.

He raise his eyebrow, not that anyone could see it, before continuing.

"My name is Kurai Horo, I am the Lunar Knight of Ariadelvento. And you have a gift, a very unique one that no-one else of your generation will share. Other will share similar gifts..." He looked at Rin briefly. "But no two gifts are the same... Either way..."

He spun the band around his finger.

"You seem intent to hide your gift. Why?"

[Kato Shin]

"My brand isn't a gift. It's a funny-looking birthmark," I told him. "As for my other 'gifts'? I presume you saw what happened today."

My voice was bitter and rightly so. I hated my 'gift'. I'd been born a fire mage, a talented one. A 'gifted' one. And then those talents had proven worse than useless. The hand that had been covering my brand reached up to touch the tough, darkened skin around my left eye, beneath my hair.

"It's not the first time," I said needlessly. "The first time it happened, somebody died."

If you hadn't lost it, they might've been able to save her. A familiar voice, an accusatory look.

And suddenly, my heart stilled.

Oh, gods. Had I killed someone this time, too?

[Kurai Horo]

"Right, right..." Kurai said with a soft shake of his head. His voice was laced with sympathy, but he couldn't afford to be soft on the boy right now, he needed to drill it into him that the only way this would improve is if he went through the right steps and training in order to better control himself. Then, and only then, could Kurai let this kid go out on his own, he was volatile. Eli was a berserker, but he went about that optionally in combat, he was always somewhat in control, 'Guo was a monk and had practiced control most of his life, Rin was an artist at heart which gave her the proper drive and focus needed.

What was it that this kid had? So far all he could see was anger and contempt for the gifts that had been passed onto him.

"You say your brand is a birthmark? Well then, that just merely confirms that which myself and Zephyr already new."

He tossed the band onto the bed, at Kato's feet.

"Kato Shinobu. You are the Lunar Knight of Valerian, the Red Moon of Ignis. You have been blessed with fire and have been chosen to uphold and maintain the energies of your respective moon and act as its envoy. This is not a power that you can turn down, this is not a power that will simply disappear. What you experienced today was you releasing all of the lunar energy that you had stored up over the years in one go, thankfully, you were unrefined and easily put down, had I been a real enemy I'd have killed you in seconds." His eye had narrowed now, his voice was hard and harsh, he needed to drill this message and sentiment in now before it was too late.

"I'm not saying that you have to join the Order of the Lunar Knights and uphold justice and such. That is your own personal choice, what you do need to do is undergo training, myself and Vash will teach you the basics of maintaining and controlling the ebb and flow of your lunar energy and channeling it in the proper motions. Once we are safely assured that what happened today will not be happening again, we will happily let you go about your life, ignoring what you've been given."

[Kato Shin]

I closed my eyes.

Easily put down.

"Thank the gods I didn't hurt anyone," I said to myself, staring at my hands. Most of his speech didn't really register on my numb mind - an explanationa bout being a Lunar Knight. I still didn't believe in those - I should. Especially with... with....

"Waitaminute. It was your friend who did that to me!" I accused, glaring at him. "How the hell does that work? I could've gone months, years, without that happening. I'm great at control, I've kept the flames locked up inside me for three years since my last outburst, so what did he do to me?!"

I had come to my feet, glaring... 'Kurai'...? in the eye (just the one; he was covering one with a headband. Maybe a scar like mine?).

[Kurai Horo]

"Something that would have happened in time." He replied curtly, not raising his voice in return, that would only aggravate him further, and that wouldn't help his situation at all.

"You should be grateful, you were at incredibly dangerous levels. You set yourself on fire. Do you know what would have happened had Vash not set you off? You'd have overloaded on Lunar Energy, it would have ripped you apart from inside, imagine every piece of you all burning at the same time, and then when that was done. You'd have burnt what was around you, the people around you. Don't ask me how I know, let's just say I have a certain ability that lets me see mana flow and yours was pushing the boundaries, but burning down after being given the opportunity to have some breathing space."

He gave a shrug.

"What happened was dangerous, but it may have just saved your life."

[Vash, the Angel's Moon]

I'd heard the argument from my place outside the door - I'd seen Kurai on his way there and decided to check on our 'patient' as well.

I quietly stepped inside.

"Kurai is right," I told him, "though unfortunately, most Knights are immune to their own powers. I've seen it before - everything else, destruction, and just one, remaining figure, completely spent, in the middle of it, the only survivor."

That definitely got his attention.

"You said you had locked the flames away inside - that you were good at control. But unlike many powers in this world, locking yours away only increases the destruction when it is finally released. For now, you've completely exhausted your reserves, but what next? They will build themselves again; do you want to lose it like that again?"

[Kato Shin]

I closed my eyes. No. Never. Not in a million years.

But how could I tell him it was futile? He said if I locked them away, they'd only get stronger; if I let them out, I'd lose it again. I could already feel the searing heat, pleasant against my unnatural skin but destroying everything around me. I could see it starting in the corner of the room, tracing along the corners first. Consuming, destroying - it touched the dresser first, then spread to the bed - the bed I was leaning on. Before I could remind myself it was only an illusion,t he fire had eaten the bed, was snaking around the other walls, and I'd hastily stood, almost in a leap away from the bed.

"Rin!" I said... but she was alright. THe three of them... they were staring at me. I clenched my fists.

"....it's no good," I said flatly. "If I keep them controlled, they'll eat me from inside. If I let them out, they'll only cause destruction and chaos."

[Rin Tezuka]

"Immune to our own powers, eh... Does that mean I could slash myself and not feel it? ...That'd be pretty cool..." I mumble and then I sit up and give a slightly joyous look to Shin. "We're both Lunar Knights now, Shinny. That means... That means we're special and stuff together. And you can leave. And travel with me. You know, protect me from thieves or whatever." I smile softly, imagining him burning a guy to a crisp because he was going to "steal" from me. "Heheh... Come on, stop being such a stubborn... stubborn... Hey, Blondie? What's something that's really stubborn?"

[Aya Dauzi Invargas]

This whole time, Aya had stood outside the doorway himself, his eyes closed- constantly jumping to and fro took a lot out of a person; and right now, he could hear everyone talking as he was still penning a letter using a sharpened fingernail and ink.

He had been planning to help Vash- he didn't know if he would have to go alone or travel, but Tuono and Nerezza would easily accept his rule of wanting to help the Lunar Knights and recognize them.

However, he stood in the doorway after signing his name on the document, watching the events transpire.