It felt so weird the curse, or so as she felt it was lightly eating her. She felt her eyes change, a sort of itchy feeling that made her eyes light up but she wasn't hungry. She wasn't entirely sure if a doctor could help, annoying creatures of light. She needed her friends, she needed Victoire but she had no idea where her companion was and that made her feel rather lonely.

Perhaps she could find the place to Asmodeus her house but she had no idea where that was and she didn't actually believe that to be a smart move, the idea that she was depending on other people was definitely a bad thing. She never did, she sometimes counted on some of her Grimoire Heart friends but after the well her own failure for the guild, she felt the need to do something. Maybe wipe her memory to do something, something better. To stop. Stop being a shit person, stop being an idiot, stop failing, stop doing everything that was annoying. Stop being herself and become a better thing.

It hurt. The thing that blonde had done or whatever hair colour he had, she forgot, it wasn't important. The thing that was important was that the pain should get away and she didn't know how. She didn't want to go to a doctor, because they were annoying as well. She didn't know what else to do, but the fact was that she needed one was even more annoying, she had been killed, she had been hurt, she had been used as a punching bag, how the hell was this even more worse than before? How did that even work, she should not simply give up but a solution to not being a vampire, not constantly changing to a being that wasn't her was a good idea.

Things weren't going positive and she knew and she should try to get into the shade, she didn't even know why she had gone out during the day, she couldn't think, she couldn't eat, she wasn't hungry. Something was wrong but an undead to a doctor. Never mind she had thought about that before. She wobbled, the cobblestones where she was walking on felt uneven and she looked at all the faces that passed her, that seemed like masks that were of people with evil grins and hollow eyes. There weren't even many people but in her hallucination of feeling ill or cursed or whatever it was, it felt like that. She lifted up her hand, slipped, muttered a start of the word Vic, short for Victoire. It was unsure if she had planned to say her companion's name fully as the lights went out. Her eyes closed, she fell and simply fainted.

There were only a handfull of people in the streets of Crocus, and that was with a reason but there she was, the Scarlet Witch. The dreams behind her eyes were even less peaceful, but she didn't say or move, only her eyes twitched behind her eyelids. Nightmares simply continued in the dark.


514/500

There had been many things going through her had the moment she had set foot on Crocus. She had never been in the capital and even the little cracks in the show that ought to be Crocus couldn't harm it from showing what ought to be a magnificent city. With or without the debris, closed shops because people ran away to hide for the party that was about to be going on. That was days ago and Lacie found it pathetic that some apparently had not returned. It looked very busy, but she heard more noices and voices than that she was seeing people.

She must have passed a handful now, she split up with Michelle only to meet later, as Michelle was right; she needed to train her spells but the city of Crocus must die down from it's hype before they would see the magic of the Dragon Slayer. She absolutely didn't feel like having people watch her more often and things like that. She had already had the need to watch her back for her own family: whom she couldn't trust. There were so many things going on in her life at the moment, it felt like she wasn't herself. She had been all alone the whole time and now she got offered to join an organisation. It actually felt nice, that someone was waiting on her, that someone wouldn't mind helping her. What if Lucifer forgot, what if she had simply lost her soul to a demon? Those things could be easily happening, what did she knew about deals? She had been so dumb about it, no thoughts extra but to just hop on the bandwagon, offering her soul in exchange for the death of Alice while there were obviously now so many other options.

She wondered, as she stopped walking for a second. Quickly moving aside to not stand in the middle of the road; if she would get her soul back if she organized the death of Alice all by herself. She should ask Michelle that, maybe people in her organisation knew more about that.. she had been very dumb, it was a shame. She wrote it down on a mental note and wanted to continue her walk when she heard a loud gasp from the person that stopped around the height from where she stood on the street and turn to point at a woman that was fainting.

Normally Lacie wouldn't have cared, she would have pretended, seen too many people run to this so called victim and walk away but while the woman fell, she spotted something on the back of her neck and she wasn't sure if it was right but she speed over, "Leave it to me. I'm a healing mage." which was a lie ever since she got the lacrima fixed, she got different spells to focus on, and she had not done that. She had only used her magic once, sort of exploded by the power and burned Kon his eye. Not that she complained but it sure made life a lot more dangerous.


516/500

Leave it to me. Leave what to me? It reminded her too much of the White Claudia incident in Oak, something that had made her very angry at doctor Mabuz, but suddenly it felt like a warm welcome to prepare her from what might be around the corner now. She wasn't aware of the fact that she was on the cold stone tiles of Crocus' streets. She didn't know that her eyes were hiding the truth because they were closed. The darkness, she had never been afraid of it, not really it was what the darkness could be hiding, but with her vampire charasteristics she didn't need to be afraid, she could see perfectly clear into the void of the darkness if there was something. But there was nothing in the darkness that she was spotting now. No creatures like with the White Claudia concept.

Although in the end the creatures were in the room, so she wasn't even entirely sure how that worked. She had no time to think about it, the world was a very strange place at the moment so dark and she felt so much pain seeping through her body. What the heck was going on, what had he done to her? She simply didn't understand and actually she didn't want to understand, all she wanted to do was tear out the pain that was around her heart. She didn't need that thing anyway she was an undead. Not that she had any idea but it would be nice to be able to turn human, she hadn't lied when she told Caius that she wouldn't pick Vampire over Human, she loved seing in the dark and be soundless and the other things, she didn't mind the day/night rhythm that she threw around but the craziness that she got from needing blood. She had always been afraid to go crazy, and now it sort of happened. She had no longer any grip on her life when she was hungry.

I am a healing mage. There were no clear easons as why she would hear that. She had been in a street! Yes and she had tried to find Victoire, her faithful companion but it had not worked and she, now she felt the hard ground underneath her body, her head on something a little softer, it felt human? She opened her red eyes and stared at the cobblestones and noticed indeed the skirt underneath her cheek and she couldn't help but groan and wanted to turn around to see who was her so called rescuer. Because everyone wanted to be a damn hero when it came to fainting people. Thank god her so called hero was a woman, she had no need to deal with any guys at the moment, she haven't been wanting to deal with guys, apart from her two friends for a long time. She felt nauseous, perhaps it was the hit from falling on the ground, how many seconds had she been out? What the hell was happening to her?


507/500

First things first now Lacie had the reign in her hands. She needed to check if she had seen the insignia correctly or if it was some sort of random tattoo and she had now sacrificed herself to do something she absolutely didn't want to do. So she made sure to not harm the woman but get her head off the hard stones, and while she did that she was able to brush the long red hair away from her neck, as where she had seen the spot and notice the insignia that she had only seen once before. Grimoire Heart was her guess, that might mean that there were more options open. She had no idea if it was true though, it was always a guessing game for Lacie, she was very bad at remembering those things for she never believed to bump into one and about the other guilds she didn't care. Apart from that it was just simply trying to figure out what she could do with this information, because she needed information. Perhaps, not that was an assumption. But how would she get this woman to talk about a secret organisation, without immediately killing her. It was far more difficult than talking about Dragon Slayer magic if you asked Lacie, especially now that she was on the other end of recieving and giving information.

But she woke up and tried to turn, "Woh there, calm down. You fainted. How do you feel?" She whispered to not be too loud, she pushed a little bit on the woman her shoulders to make sure she wouldn't sit up straight. She looked around, what she had learned before, by the nuns was to test if the person could drink water by themselves, but she had no bottle or a glass so she would just have to guess, "My inn is close by. Come on, you need to sit down." Which was definitely a weird invitation but she needed to be able to speak to this person in private and see how they would be able to connect. So now that this person might be a bit lost in the world, and she was the so called healer, she could try and figure out if she could manipulate her way into this. If the woman would stand up, Lacie would stand up quickly as well, dismiss the people around them and check if she was okay with her balance. At least she wasn't wearing too high heels, that might be annoying at cobblestones. So she guided this red haired lady to the inn where she was staying. Thank god it was close by, else she would be clearly lying.

Lacie didn't want to hold her hand but she did look a few times to her to make sure she wouldn't fall again, that might hurt, she wondered if they should find a healer, because falling on stones, definitely not the nices way to drop down. She could see if she could find any wounds, even if she was not a healer anymore, she knew of course still how it worked. She had studied for it.


525/500

Red. She had once met a person with red orange hair like this one. She looked like her but since Nastasya couldn't really remember her face, she believed that she just projected this one in her mind, she didn't know her name, only that both their purses were stolen and they had run after it to capture the culprit. She wasn't allowed to get up from this orange haired girl and she stayed down, for the minutes that were allowed. She wanted out of here, she felt as if too many people were looking at her, even if there were only a handful of strangers on the street, it was enough to make her feel uncomfortable. Basically because they stared, what if they knew, who she was, her guild, being a vampire.. it hurt to even think that. She tried to ignore it and wait for this healer to say more. She didn't realize she was asked a question as her red eyes simply scanned the people around her, no one she knew. She was alone and perhaps in a trap. She looked up with her red eyes to the healer with her brown, warm coloured eyes, "Just a bit light in my head." To which came the invitation to come along to the inn from the healer, that was a tricky thing but it was an inn, more people would be around and besides that, she was sure if she felt fine that Nastasya could handle this girl all by herself. Which was of course her first mistake as usual, her arrogance. She got up slowly as the healer suggested and would follow her with a slow pace towards the inn.

She actually didn't mind getting off the street and sitting somewhere, her head did hurt a lot, it felt like a bonking headache. Someone repeatingly knocking her on the side of her face, which she had felt once before when that Sebastian had hit her on her temple, but that feeling had made her nauseous and this was in connection with the fall and the pain the light curse had given her. She walked towards the inn and entered to follow the healer to her room and sat down on the first available chair that she sat, if the healer would check a possible wound or anything else she would let her but Nastasya kept her red eyes on the girl the whole time, she wasn't ready for any nasty surprises.

She felt a bit distracted though, it was difficult to keep her mind by the girl, her eyes kept trailing over to her room and trying to figure out who this person was anyway. Then when she realized she did that she would look at the girl again who stood next to her figuring out the little wound on her head and cleaning it, brushing most of her hair aside. She had no idea that it was all on purpose but soon enough she figured it out for the orange haired girl started to talk about words she rather didn't hear.


514/500

It went a lot easier than she had expected to bring the red haired lady to her inn and with that to her room. She even collapsed on the first available chair next to her bed and the door and while she shrugged off her own fur coat, she looked at the woman, who stared at her very intensly that would almost give her the creeps. But she had a goal, so she couldn't simply back down because she got shivers down her spine that this woman would be able to turn around her head without much difficulty and not even care about the bloody consequences. And yet she would have to show off that she had nothing to fear, now she was getting very good at that with the threats that she had gotten from Kon and she was sure that if her sister had had the time to say them: Alice would have done it too.

So the mask was there, there was but a small head wound and it was mostly hidden by the wine red colour of her hair, which was a good thing, it was bad to show your weakspots or so Lacie believed, that's why she had not liked the blood coughing months and especially not when she was arrested by Alice by that time, but at the moment, she was doing very well. Her health had been fixed after selling her soul and adjusting the lacrima and now she had to place bets on a game that was very tough to play. "Your insignia is very much visible. Aren't you worried? With Crocus like this?" She decided to just say after she brushed away the long strains of hair. The red eyes immediately turning back to her and piercing her with a well best described: angry look. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." And now that she thought about it, she could perhaps ask some things more, it was a very wild guess that would perhaps not work but she could always try to find him again and get more information, perhaps that's why the red head came on her route. Unfortunately Lacie didn't believe that much in the Illumin or faith anymore so it was just a lucky moment.

She had used the same technique as Michelle had done, "If I wasn't so weak I wouldn't even mind joining your course." To which she got something that could be described as a short perhaps sarcastic chuckle. Because she didn't seem entirely happy. Lacie decided to let go of the stranger her hair and sit down on the edge of the bed so they could look at each other. "I'm a Dragon Slayer, the reason why I'm telling you this is so you have some information over me. I bet it's not that much worth compared to your guild." If only the red head talked but she kept quiet and likely to take in information before saying anything, "Do you know a man named Lucifer?"

504/500

All she did was tense up, when the orange haired lady was talking about her insignia, she looked at her with her piercing red eyes. She felt very angry, frustrated even, she hadn't brushed her hair aside to check for wounds, she had been looking for symbols. She was probably a rune knight or so. Being nice and thinking she could do everything the way she did but boy she was mad. She wanted to stand up but the moment she made a motion, she felt a sort of binding on the upper part of her chest, she couldn't move her head left and right anymore for a second. She tried to not show this and apparently the girl didn't notice as she didn't say anything about it. Instead she went to sit on the bed. The way she talked made it an open question though, worry? Grimoire Heart had won, not her, but the rest did so she didn't have to worry at all. She simply stared, try to be able to move a little again, without the other girl noticing the panic that she felt growing in the pit of her stomach. It was that damn curse.

Don't worry your secret is safe with me. Of course it was this chick didn't even know her, if she stopped with the hair dye and the like, who would be able to recognize her after this, but she kept her jaw shut, didn't utter a word. But that wasn't all, the girl thought she could even say more, something about being weak and joining her course. It made her giggle, she hadn't want to but it happened. The thing was that she had lost the battle, this time being picked up by Asmodeus instead of Icarus like last time or Theseus or whoever it had been, it had been disasterous, it was dumb. But she didn't tend to say that to this stranger who happened to be a Dragon Slayer? Yet she called herself weak? It was for the best that she didn't say anything.

And than she dared to ask a question about Lucifer. She closed her eyes slowly and noticed she could turn her head again, "Listen up buttercup, you are saying an awful lot of bullshit. First of all, you don't know me. You seen me once, that doesn't say shit. I don't know you, couldn't give a shit about a Dragon Slayer, so now you ask me if I know a man called Lucifer, if you ever knew the man, would you ever believe someone would give you information?" That was a yes, but she wondered if this chick would figure that out, "I really appreciate your help but I am not going to discuss my fabulous guild with you or anything else. If you really have the intention to join our course when you get stronger, you will know how to shut your mouth." She would stand up but again the tightening feeling in her chest was there, made her gasp for air.

508/500

Okay so the silence wasn't an approval, it was even worse than that it was an utter disaster what came out of it. Buttercup? She almost felt offended, but she was too damn scared to feel offended. She had not been scared for a long time, she had beena fraid in Magnolia after bumping into Kon but that had gone, the second time she met him and Alice she was simply just angry but she couldn't even think about them at this point, she had seen the sharp teeth showing, the red eyes and she didn't want to make assumptions but what if this person wasn't human? She didn't even notice that she said that if someone knew Lucifer that they wouldn't say, implying that she did. She completely missed that and stared at her with her mouth a little open, what should she do? This whole thing went the whole other road than she originally hoped it would go.

She was actually denied, she was like denied in a way that she figured made her to dumb to join this guild and it hurt a bit. Everything was taken away from her, she had made it so that she didn't want to join Phantom Lord anymore and now she was denied by Grimoire Heart, not even because she said she was weak but because she couldn't help but shut her mouth. She looked how the woman got up and gasped for air and she blinked because as she turned her head, Lacie thought she saw a light pattern on the pale skin just above her shirt, "Hold on, I mean it as a healer." Which was again a lie, she pushed the woman back and got some grunts as she pointed at her chest, "There is something there." She grabbed a hand mirror, after searching for it shortly, and got it up and gave it to her if she could move, which she could and she showed the little pattern that she had seen just by the glistering of the light.

The woman pulled her shirt a little lower, "What is that?" Lacie couldn't help but ask, it clearly smelled like Light magic and she wasn't sure what more she could figure out, "I just want to say a few more things. One that should be seen by a specialist. Two. I know I should shut my mouth, I have never been able to talk and I know you aren't interested but I sold my soul to this man. I'm trying to find him, I mean I simply have a few questions and well I was wondering if he was in your guild. And three. I'm Lacie Eventide." Which gave her a surprised look on the other lady her face and she wasn't sure what she should say or if she should simply run away very quickly. What would be actually be the safest to do because she wasn't so sure if she wanted to figure that out right now.


501/500

What the hell was going on? Why did standing up take so much effort and why did it hurt? Why was it like someone was pushing all their body weight on her chest and wondering if she was going to be okay because she clearly wasn't. She took a gasp of air, trying to releave herself of the pain but that didn't work. She looked at the girl as she said that she had to hold on and that she said it as a healer, not for the rest of the conversation. She was sure this girl would bring it up, she didn't like someone that would take no for an answer. She actually looked like a snob if you asked Nastasya. Luxury life, got everything she wanted until it was taken away and now she was trying to roll into the bad side of life. Honey get in line.

The thing was that there was something on her and she lowered her shirt as she looked through the hand mirror that the girl had gotten, there was this weird lines of light magic circling on her pale skin that was making it's way up on her body, it started at her heart, right between her breasts and made it's way up to the line of her shirt. Shit. She moved up her shirt and gave Lacie the mirror back. "If I knew what it was, it wouldn't be such an issue." But she looked around, thinking while not actually seeing. Was this the effect of that white being? Ugh. She rolled her eyes, than stared at the girl who opened her mouth again, oh really. This thing didn't know how to shut up. Oh yeah go to a specialist.. where did you find people specialized in vampires and light magic? Huh? What kind of joke was that! But she simply gritted her teeth together and didn't say anything.

She looked away because this conversation was.. oh.. wait.. didn't Odin tell her something about it? "If I figure out who it is, I shall tell you are waiting for another tea time meeting." She said sarcastic, didn't people understand that you got a deal and than it was done, ugh, humans! She still longed to be one, but the third thing surprised her when she introduced her and she couldn't help but snicker, fine. She didn't know how to give up but that might sometimes be a good thing, "As we both got very interesting information about each other, Nastasya Crowe. Don't ever call me that in public, My code name is Malice. Don't come looking for me. We are not sure what is happening with our guild but if this Lucifer," it surely felt like betraying her friend by not calling his name, "Needs you, he will find you. Get stronger, know when to shut up and perhaps better things will happen." There was a smile on her lips albeit because she was still super annoyed by this being. She stood up again. It was time to leave.


509/500

Ah she had asked the most obvious question and she felt even more dumb. She had never had that issue so much as with this woman and she wasn't sure what to think about it, perhaps she was trying and she should just let it go. Not meant to be, she didn't know Lucifer, it would not bring her any further into the process of taking her sister down. As she had felt offended the first time, she coolded down a little from that because this person was in pain, and she had figured out thanks to handing the hand mirror, where this weak spot was and maybe she wasn't the strongest but she was a light dragon slayer, this person was hurt by light magic. That didn't mean that Lacie could fix it but perhaps it wasn't smart to put a light magic pressure on the spot, it would only hurt her more, so she might win in an unfair fight if something happened. This person seemed far too sophisticated for that. The sarcasm was perhaps a way of hiding that she was trying as well? Lacie didn't know, she wasn't so good with sarcasm. But the tea time meeting? She was sure this wmoan would find Lucifer far quicker than she could, she must know all the secret entrances towards the world that Lacie kept missing out on.

Another reason to jump up to meet Michelle again and get that whole process of this master and student idea going, perhaps it had so it's good things. She wanted to know but it was also a bit strange to get orders from someone she didn't even know. She wasn't sure when Nastasya, as she introduced herself, meant that better things would happen but it was sure something to look forward to. Apart from that it was nice that she got her name and even codename. Did that mean that.. oh no it didn't since she didn't know Lucifer. She shook her head and opened the door for the lady to get out, "Thanks." She muttered and let her out, once she was, she closed the door and dropped her on the bed. She was actually quite happy and excited about the eventual process of this conversation. She had perhaps a new sort of alley, she wasn't allowed to look for her but it was time to get in contact with Michelle again, get some weird contract, help with some dragon spells and with that power over her magic ability and thus get stronger. Better things would come.

She wiggled with her legs and stood up to see the lady disappear in the street, just around the corner, it was sure as hell an interesting idea to have come to Crocus. Shortly Lacie wondered again what could be the weird pattern on her new ally her skin but she had really no idea, she might have been a healer, taught by the nuns but she had no idea about more than she was capable off. That was this in her case.

Exit.
511/500

It was the curse,s he was sure, she wasn't sure how it was a curse, she had named it that or what it did except for strain her heart, hurt her, give her a fancy little pattern on her skin, absolutely wonderful: always something she wanted. So much easier than a simple tattoo. She shook her head slightly, "Thank you though. I will try to find a specialist." It was a dumb suggestion but since this person didn't know she was a vampire, it was a normal suggestion you would give to anyone, especially as a healer. Which reminded her that she had not seen or felt her use healing spells because that would be a bummer, perhaps not even working. So was she lying to her to get closer? Nastasya hated liars but she didn't plan to say anything about it, she would just leave now. She walked towards the door, ignoring the little thank you that Lacie gave her.

For a second, as she stood in the hallway, the door closed, she wondered if she should tell Odin, she could always ask him when she saw him again. She didn't know what the whole ordeal was, she actually didn't need to know, he had mentioned it, he had not mentioned the whole deal but yeah something about getting a soul, with Lucifer? She wasn't sure, it was apparently in the period of her absense as he was still going by the name Lucifer. Although he still was if you had to ask Icarus, so she wasn't sure what she would have to think about that, but perhaps people would say a sack of bones instead of a man. She giggled at her own joke but she shook her head as she walked down the stairs. She shouldn't think that, she was a friend, she liked him too much to say something like that. Perhaps Victoire had run off to find him, that would be something very strange for her to do but since she was now completely missing, it was a high possibility and she had no idea where she would have to look. She could do that now, the ticking in her head from a starting headache, the strain on her body wouldn't leave. So she should make the best of it and just go on.

It would be so dull without her and she wouldn't forgive anyone that touched her companion, they had been together for about a year now, no it had already been a year since she had changed into a ninetails, man they had been longer together than the tame crow that she had before, when she had been a part of Phantom Lord. She shook her head, she shouldn't be sentimental but she felt very little on this lonely and empty street. Perhaps she should check the arc and figure out what was going on, that was a good idea and thus she let her instinct carry her back to the arc where she had seen Odin last. Perhaps he knew more.

Exit.
510/500