"In my hands is your life. Trust me. Embrace me. I'll end your strife."

 

That is the motto of all members of "Heaven".

The members, called Strikers, protect the people in the world with unexplainable and extraordinary powers. They were sent from the gods themselves to watch over the humans in their time of need. And now, a new evil has risen, ready to annihalate the entire human race and anything else that stands in their way.

 

The enemies, or Slashers, have one mission only: To find the object known as the 'Devil Factor', a ruby orb who's power is yet to be known. However, the Strikers take no chance to hesitate.

 

The time to fight is now.

 

 

The Roleplay will start but sign-ups are still open.

 

You may begin.

"You show your emotions perfectly well," he argued. "Everyone knows when you get pissed off with me, it's the other stuff we never see from you." And he fell silent for a change, not even humming.

 

After a few minutes of awkwardly waiting to catch her, Zeph decided to take his chances with her falling and walk normally. As such, he shoved his hands as deep into his coat pockets as he could get them, wincing slightly when something sharp pricked painfully under his fingertips. He supposed it was his own damn fault for keeping sharp objects in there, but still lifted his injured hand into the air, all but flapping it around in front of his face. Tilting it, so that the blood trickled down to his wrist, he pretended to frown, but there was still an odd, weak glee in his eyes.

 

"Oh crap, massive blood loss. Death could be imminent," he said, examining his hand with an almost clinical interest. And then his frown froze, his eyes widening, just a fraction.

Then he blinked hard, and dropped the hand to his side.

"Never mind."

Destiny raised an eyebrow, looking back at Zeph, slightly curious. It was somewhat hard to walk without limping now but he had been right, the pain was slowly going away. She noticed his bleeding finger and then his unusual change of expression. He abruptly dropped his hand and left it at that. Now what?

 

"What?" She asked, turning to face him, hand on her hips. The more distractions the less time for them to scare of the Strikers...and maybe get some information on The Temple of the Damned.

"Er. Nothing. I mean it. Keep your nose out my business."

He'd snapped his response at her, and very nearly went and apologised right away. After all, it wasn't her fault. But then he reminded himself that he was Zephyr, and he never apologised, not for anything. Not now. He was past that. So instead he stuck his injured fingers stubbornly in his mouth, and kept walking. He was nearly stalking up the street when he picked up the pace.

 

"Come on. You want to mess with the Strikers or not?"

Destiny was taken by surprise again. She hadn't really expected that from Zeph of all people. Sure he could be annoying and all but....never, dare she say it, mean. She huffed gently, jogging painfully to catch up to him and walked side by side with him, trying to match his fast pace.

 

"Hey, I don't take orders from you~" She stated, trying to lighten him up with their usual teasing while keeping an uncaring air. She wasn't going to show she cared but she could still think it as opposed to acting on her need. "And no need to be so snappy Storm, one might think you're hiding something from your fellow Slashers and we wouldn't suspicion being aroused now would we?"

"Like I could hide anything," he mumbled in response, voice muffled by the fingers in his mouth. He took them out and glanced sideways at her, expression cold- his eyes narrowed, lips a scowl. "You're all pushing your asses where they aren't wanted, so sooner or later any secrets I tried to keep would get out." Zeph abruptly glanced downwards, breaking the eye contact. He kept his pace, boots slapping hard against the damp stone, dark head down. He wanted to look lost in thought, even if thinking was the last thing he wanted to do. Then he sighed, huffing the breath out so quickly it was painful.

 

"Sorry. I'm being outta line," he groaned, but he didn't look up, and upon closer inspection, his teeth were clenched, his shoulders tenser than ever.

 

Sorry. I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I'm sorry.

 

Hissing a curse, he reached back and tugged his hood up, hiding his face from her. All that was visible, and awkwardly so from the side, was the set of his mouth and his dark hair, curling messily against his face from under the hood.

Destiny narrowed her eyes dangerously, the red darkening with the change in her expression. This was very unlike Zeph. Normally he'd brush her off with a more amused sarcastic comment then a dark one. And he never admitted to being wrong or "out of line" as he put it. Her mouth tightened into a thin line, the petal pink lips pressed together in irritation. To be honest, it looked to be more of a pout a spoiled child would wear. But she didn't care.

 

"Zeph," Destiny turned fluently, stopping in front of him and gripping his shoulders tightly to make him halt as well. "Whatever it is that's bothering you you need to push it aside. It may just jeopardize the mission if this keeps up. And we wouldn't want Scarlett to see you like this either. She'd patronize you to no end." Of course, that was only an excuse to get him to knock it off because he was scaring her. Just a bit.

Hazel eyes glowered down at her from under the shadow of the hood. "I'm trying to psych myself up, so I don't get so affected by the Temple when we get closer," he retorted. "Besides. I think she'll patronize me more if I'm a weak, whimpering mess, won't she?"

 

Zeph flinched at the thought of his own words, so slightly it would normally have been inperceptable, but, with her gripping onto his shoulders like that, he was sure Luna would notice. Even just using them had brought the image to mind. But he urged himself to snap out of it, to focus. The mission.

 

That was what was important. He had to keep moving forwards, that way it couldn't catch up to him.

"Luna, let go of me," he hissed, reaching up to grab at one of her wrists, knuckles straining at the tight grip. "Let go. Destiny, let go."

Zeph hadn't really meant to, but he snarled her name like it was a horrible expletive.

Destiny could feel her eyes widen as he used her real name for the first time since she had joined, and even more so that he didn't use that annoying nickname of 'Lu'. If he was telling the truth, if he really was doing this for the mission Destiny would rather page Scarlett, tell her the missions off and just go back to base so he could knock it the hell off.

 

"I..." She caught his flinch, feeling her own hands start to shake as he reached up to grab at her wrists, to pull them away. And she swallowed a hard lump in her throat as he kept a tight grip on her wrists, to pull them. Yet despite her shaking and the pain that he was putting on her wrists and the not-yet-healed wounds she refused to let go. Even if it reminded her of when she was threatened. Even when it reminded her of when her father grabbed her wrists and threatened to kill her.

 

"Z-Zeph it's not a big deal...If you honestly need to psych yourself up then I can wave Scarlett and we can go back. And calm down and-and...." And get you back to normal and me in the safety of my room so I can hide.

"I'm not going back."

The harsh tone he was using stunned even him, just a little bit. He didn't normally try to be assertive about missions. He knew that. But, then again, when he'd said the words, he hadn't been thinking about the mission at all. Hell, he hadn't been thinking about anything other than himself right then. He would have happily screwed the mission, but it worked as a nice safeguard, at least.

 

"If we stop and waste our time waiting to be ready for things, we'll fall behind and we'll-" he choked on the words, for a moment, squeezing his eyes shut, his grip tightening even more. Then he suddenly dropped his hands from her, head low. He would have looked defeated were it not for the fury in his eyes.

"We have to keep moving forwards." he said, like it was a mantra. Like, if he repeated the words enough times, said it surely enough, it might really work.

Destiny swallowed, trying not to let herself get worked up. For once, she fell silent, her voice dying out in her throat. He was just to persistent. She couldn't convince him because he didn't want to listen. Instead of letting him go though, she slid her hands off his shoulders and around his back, pulling him into an uncertain hug. She wasn't good at showing affection or even comforting people, let alone someone supposed to be her argument partner.

 

"Stop." was all she could get out. This was extremely out of character for her and she swore, if they ever got off this damn street, that she would never let this happen again. Ever. This was lowering herself to a state that her father would have whipped her in seeing this...this form of weakness.

Zeph gave a short, sharp intake of breath, in surprise- but it caught, clinging rebelliously in his throat. He tensed, hands fisted at his sides. He was determined not to move them, whether to cling to her or shove her away would cause a reaction within him, a reaction he didn't want. Any break in the barrier he'd tried to put up would be the end of his emotional control. Any movement, no matter how small or how against the embrace, would crack his resolve.

 

But he still allowed himself to close his eyes, just for a moment letting himself believe it was okay. Nothing had ever happened, and he was ten years old, and-

 

"Please let go of me..." he tried to snap it at her, but it sounded like he was pleading.

Destiny couldn't speak, shaking her head as she grew more and more desperate to get the Zeph she knew back. This was so pathetic of her and she knew it but damn it she didn't care anymore. It was always the same before the playful insults came into her life to brighten herself up and make her smirk. It was always hard, no comfort, no warmth. Everyone either hated her or feared her. Or worse. They left her.

 

"Not until you go back to normal. Because I swear to God...if you don't we're never going to leave this street. And I'm never going to forgive you and Scarlett's going to bitch at us for making her wait in the cold." She said that last part with a small laugh, not loosening her grip on him the slightest bit.

He gave a short burst of a laugh, but the sound was empty, hollow- faked. His whole tone was, when he next spoke. "How am I supposed to know what "normal" is? And how d'you know this isn't normal with me?" Almost as if from a distance, he heard a loud crack- and winced, surprised at the pain in his knuckle. He'd been clenching his fists so tightly, it sounded as if he'd broken something. He didn't open his eyes, though, despite the pain.

 

Maybe he could let himself pretend for a moment, if she wouldn't let him go.

[align=center]Rust smirked to herself. "Well, that sure was fun."

 

She scrambled up onto the top of the cliff and looked around. The sky shone brightly; Rust could see it sparkling on the ocean, like a mirror shattering into a thousand pieces. Everything seemed to be illuminated by the fiery red sunset. She could hardly believe that, not twenty minutes before, everything had looked dark and cold. It was too good to be true, but, then again, weren't most things that happened to her?

 

"Ah well. It's not really the time for sight-seeing anyways." Rust hastily left the clearing, disappearing into the shady darkness of the trees.

------------------

It was close to nighttime now. The Striker had been wandering around for at least and hour or two, and she had finally found someone. Someones, specifically.

 

She crept up on the Slashers, making sure not to make a noise. They seemed to be arguing about something, and took no notice of her.

 

Rust was dangerously close now.

 

Just a few more steps, just a few more steps... [/align]

Destiny jumped slightly at the crack but didn't pull away. He wasn't hurting her or anything and he wasn't forcing her off.

 

"Because what's normal about you to me is the sarcastic, stubborn, stuck-up, immature, brash, insulting, and annoying guy that you are. But I can't help but think..." She bit her lip, hesitating. This was really tough to say, especially in front of him. But it felt as if they were in some dream, just the two of them. This couldn't hurt to badly then. It was almost as if they'd wake up and this would have never happened. "I can't help but think that I wouldn't want to see you any othe-" She cut herself off suddenly, her senses pricking at her. Reluctantly she turned around, releasing her old on Zeph and tossed an illusion of daggers at the new presence. Not any presence though...

 

"What do you want Striker?"

"Who wouldn't?" Skyler muttered in agreement, and rubbed her arms. It wasn't much warmer inside than out. She glanced around, not paying too much attention--she could tell Astra wasn't too excited to be in this creepy place, either, so they probably weren't going to find much. Well another damn vision found Skyler.

The same Striker girl she'd seen a vision of before--Rust. She was creeping up on the OTHER two Slashers that she'd seen. Suddenly, one of the arguing--they were STILL arguing?--Slashers spun to face her. Skyler's vision cut off with a quick burst of light, as they always did. "SHEET!" She yelled aloud. "She's right outside too. I KNEW there were Slashers here, Astra! I TOLD you I saw them! Come on, we have to go outside."

Zeph opened his eyes, just a fraction, during her speech, and was about to cut her off- before she did it herself. When she let go, the tension in his body dropped just a bit. But any hope he'd had of continuing that illusion was gone. He was stuck in the present, he knew that- and no amount of wishing for the past could ever really take him back.

 

"Striker?!" he repeated, the word a snarl. "What?! Where?!"

 

After all, it was hardly his fault he couldn't see anything. He considered grabbing the lighter again, but the light it gave was tiny, pathetic- he'd barely been able to see Destiny when he was right next to her, let alone seeing anything from a distance.

Destiny took an intake of breath, pointing directly in front of her.

 

"In front of us. Three feet away." She stated clearly, her voice wavering. She cursed herself silently for not getting to the point sooner. Now she wouldn't be able to tell Zeph what she had really intended. That she wouldn't want to see him any other way. Because she...she liked seeing that side of him. That was it...yeah. (FAIL /shot) "She...snuck up on me and you when we weren't paying attention." She stated, voice no higher then a whisper. Damn it. That was such a stupid mistake! She could have avoided that had they had just dropped the whole subject. But no, she had to get all emotional...

[align=center]"Shit!" Rust skittered backwards, her hands in an attack pose. Of course, I picked this exact day to leave my fricking dirk back at headquarters.

 

"Slasher scum! Back off before I-I kill you!" She leapt the the Slashers, not caring that she had no weapon. If I'm going to die, might as well die in a fight.[/align]

"Oh, dammit. I already saw the outcome of this one if we don't hurry uppp," Skyler muttered, grasping Astra's wrist and starting to drag her with her. She'd explain later. Whatever. Eventually, you had to get used to Skyler. She marched back out the ornately carved front doors, flinging them open, and stomping out. She caught a glimpse of a Slasher behind them. Probably who'd been planning to ambush them. 'I knew someone was in there with us..' Skyler thought, but sprinted to the side of the mansion. "Rust!? Are you here!?" She shouted.

(What the fudgecakes is going on? I'm so totally lost. )

 

Astra pulled her wrist away from Skyler. Her sudden urgency had made her lose her footing about twice. "I can rn on my own two feet, thank you." She snapped, laughing. Rust? She turned to Skyler, still running. Who was that? "Is that a new Striker, Skylight?"

"Yes," Skyler answered in a clipped voice. "Now come on! I just had a vision! Unless you want to explain why we couldn't save a newbie Striker from two Slashers when there will be three of us, I'd hurry up." She wasn't usually so abrupt. Mostly, she was annoyed, but with herself more than anyone. These visions were starting to give her a headache, and they were, in a way, messing with fate. She could get herself or someone else killed, when they would've originally been fine. She winced at the thought. "Around here somewhere.."

((OHOHO I'M BACK))

 

Scarlet had determined that either the young Striker had visions or she was very good at guessing what would happen in the future.

If there was another Striker at the Temple, then Zeph and Destiny were sure to attack her if they saw her. So it was only Scarlet's duty to slow down the other two Striker's who were most likely going to go help her. Just her duty, nothing more.

Scarlet smiled, almost demon-like as she stayed just five steps behind them, silently moving through the shadows.

Slowly, she started looking through their memoriees, trying to find their darkest fear, while letting their other memories be consumed in darkness. Oh what a hell Scarlet would create for them.

Skyler knew there was someone behind her. She didn't need a vision to tell her that. She could almost hear the faint footfalls, and the almost non-existant breath. That might've been her imagination, but the sense someone was watching her wasn't. It was turn and fight this most-likely-Slasher, or go find and help Rust. Skyler bit her lip as she ran. Helping another Striker was more important than fighting off a Slasher, wasn't it?

Astra sensed Skyler's hesitation and sighed. She continued to run and whispered almost inaudibly. "Don't hesitate. Keep going. Strikers first no matter what." She reminded her. Her motto was always 'An eye for an eye'. It didn't matter if it made the whole world blind. She never let anyone hurt her friends. Those who did payed the price. "C'mon. We better find Rust."