《Ravenport: Luna's Awakening》Chapter 13: Return to Sender
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New Year’s came and went without much cause for celebration, as Sakura spent the entire day asleep and Luna spent most of the time busying herself with various television shows to pass the time. Miguel came around to see how the girls were doing from time to time, but for the most part, he left them to their own devices. Sakura felt about as good as new after a few nights, waking up to find that the werewolf had moved from her sleeping spot. The sounds of dishware in the kitchen did provide a helpful clue where Luna had likely gone.
Getting up and brushing the blanket over the window aside, Sakura takes a quick look outside. The snowfall had eased up a bit, and even from the apartment, the roads looked clear. Sunset must have only been a few moments ago, as the sky still burned with dark oranges of daylight. She eases out of the curtain blanket and steps over towards the kitchen, sticking her head inside of the doorframe.
Luna stands at the sink, her back to the vampire, filling a glass up with water. Sensing a mischievous opportunity, she waits until the werewolf tips the glass up before speaking sharply, raising a hand up near her mouth to amplify her voice.
“Hey!”
Luna snorts, her fur-raising on end and her shoulders hunching in surprise. The water rockets out of the glass, blasting herself in the face with it and dripping off of her whiskers in large drops. Luna, realizing what she’s done, slowly tilts her eyes back towards Sakura with a minor turn of her head. Her face flattens itself into barely smothered indifference.
“...Hey.”
Sakura chortles to herself, her lips spread wide in a smile the managed mischief. She comes out from around the corner and leans on the small wall space by the door, crossing her arms nonchalantly.
“Wow, you are jumpy. What’s up with you?”
Luna blinks innocently and looks at the completely empty glass. She didn’t upturn the glass that hard did she and water usually doesn’t explode like that, does it? Nearly two decades of experience suggested otherwise.
“Nothing? Besides taking a bath apparently. How are you feeling?” Luna runs a hand over her nose and blows it, sending any water there outwards.
Sakura flexes both of her arms, admittedly not showing much muscle, but at least she looked healthy. “Good as new. Or at least as new as I get.”
Luna wipes the rest of the water off of her face and nods positively. “That’s good. Are you hungry at all?”
Sakura shakes her head in response. “I’m still good for now. I’ll need something to eat in a few days though.”
“That...uh...less good.” Luna admits. “You don’t...kill them, do you?”
“If I don’t screw it up, no. Sometimes accidents happen and you take a little too much, but most of us don’t enjoy killing off our food source. Emphasis on most.”
Luna sets her glass down by the sink. “I guess that makes sense. Kind of.”
Sakura waves her hand dismissively. “Don’t you worry about it. We’re good people...some of us. Others...well...heh. Not so much.”
“Uh-huh.” Luna moves over towards the fridge and opens it up. The racks were almost entirely barren, outside of some cans of beer and soda, neither one of which constituted much of a meal. The werewolf shifts upward, opening up the freezer section. The only thing the contained tundra held were a half eaten pack of chicken nuggets that were encased in ice so thick that an archaeologist would consider it preserved. Luna shuts the door, leaving the fossil to rest once more in darkness.
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She turns then towards the pantry and starts searching its contents, which prompts a raised brow from Sakura.
“Problem?”
Luna leans over, fishing out a single can of barely edible pasta. The rest of the pantry either contained seasonings or half-eaten condiments.
“Yeah...we’re out of food again.”
Sakura frowns at that and shrugs. “Really? Does he not have money or something?”
“Well...yeah. I don’t know. He bought me some clothes and some stuff but then he also bought all those explosives…”
“That shit is not cheap. He doesn’t have a job or anything, right? Has he talked to you about money?”
Luna meekly shakes her head. “No...uhm...not at all. I mean, I guess it’s really none of my business.”
“Bull. If it involves you, then it is your business. I seriously doubt you have money. And If he’s blowing it all on fighting Scar, that’s kind of dumb. You’d need a lot more than just a few bombs to take him out. What are you going to do if he can’t pay rent? Or like, utilities or something?”
“Well...that’s kind of his responsibili-”
Sakura snorts derisively. “Yes! Exactly that! But we’re staying here too. And we have a right to know what his overall plan is. Because this little guerrilla hit and run stuff isn’t gonna cut it.”
Luna sets the can on the table and looks back towards the vampire. “I mean...I guess we can. It’s good to have all that sorted out before it becomes a problem.”
Sakura jerks a thumb out of the room and then turns to leave it. Luna considers the can for a moment longer before departing with her. They travel around the corner and down the hall to Miguel’s room, which as per the usual, is locked. Sakura reaches forward and knocks on the door sternly. Smooth jazz could be heard through the door.
It takes a moment of shifting, but Miguel opens the door quickly, sticking his head out of the frame and blocking the rest with his leaning body. He looks between the two women quizzically.
“Uh...hey. Is there a problem out there?”
Luna starts to speak, but Sakura instantly interrupts, casually pointing towards Miguel’s chest. “We need to talk. The three of us need to talk. Mind letting us in?”
Miguel thinks on this for a moment before backing out of the doorway and leaving the door slightly ajar for the others to enter. The room is a little messy compared to the last time Luna saw it on her first day here. The bed is unmade, a few articles of clean but wrinkled clothing litter the ground and a half dozen of empty bottles of beer sit on his desk. Luna’s nose wrinkles in distaste; the alcohol content in the beers were strong.
“So…” Miguel starts, closing the door back and crossing his arms over his chest anxiously. “What’s this about?”
Sakura takes a seat on the edge of Miguel’s bed confidently, clearing her throat before speaking. “First off, I gotta say. Props to both you and her for getting me out of a tough situation. I really do appreciate it. But I got to thinking just now...what’s your endgame? What’s your long-term goal here?”
Miguel’s pupils shrink dramatically. “Wh-what? What are you talking about?”
Sakura continues casually. “This whole Scar thing? I mean, I don’t blame you for wanting to get revenge. He’s done a lot of bad things to a lot of people. And the bombing thing is cute but...you won’t stop him. Not like this.”
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Luna stands nervously, turning her head slightly to whoever is speaking, wanting to say something but also knowing better than to interrupt. Miguel leans up off the wall, dropping his arms to his sides.
“So what? You want me to just leave him alone? Let him run his little screwed up game? Let him get away with everything?”
Sakura leans forward a little bit, looking bored. “Did I say that? But you need to stop and think for a moment.”
Miguel frowns severely. “What’s there to think about? His rap sheet is a mile long, he’s importing materials that just...has to be illegal, and as if I needed more motivation, he killed my-”
Sakura interrupts him, rolling her eyes. “Do you honestly think you are the only one? Seriously? The only one who’s ever had that happen to them? I’ve only been working there for a bit, and I’ve watched him kill people for insubordination just as easily as he kills the humans he feeds upon. He has a font but on his bad days...well, let’s just say he has his vices.”
Luna chimes in quickly. “What’s a font?”
Sakura’s tone softens for a moment. “I guess you guys wouldn’t know that. It’s a human that is specifically used for feeding because they regenerate blood quickly. They are really, really rare and even more expensive. Like, millions of dollars expensive.”
“Okay, so he’s a monster.” Miguel states matter-of-factly, cutting off the tangent. “Already knew that. Plainly. But here’s the problem. Nobody is doing anything about him. He’s been the same bastard for years. I’ve read his charges, and no matter how many times he gets caught with something, he weasels his way out of the system. I tried to do something about it and I paid for it. I did it the right way. Now I’m doing it my way.”
Sakura’s eyes narrow at him. “Does ‘your way’ plan on living for any period of time? Because you don’t have a job, she doesn’t have a job...” Sakura jerks a thumb at a somewhat frozen Luna. “And I just nearly died losing mine. I’ll get the hell out when I can, but I don’t know about Luna. You have someone depending on you.”
Miguel takes a step towards Sakura and raises his voice, his ire getting the better of him. His hands subconsciously ball into fists. “Look, I didn’t ask for this shit! I had a plan. A SIMPLE plan. I knew what I was going to do the second I got out of the hospital. Get some fireworks. Get revenge. Get life back on track. Simple. And my plan didn’t involve a werewolf busting my car in half, and it sure as hell didn’t involve some surly vampire coming in and crashing on my couch. I can’t even believe what I’m saying right now. The fact that you two are even here is insane!”
Sakura’s own temper rises as she stands up from the couch, the height difference between the two not intimidating her in the least. She glares right back towards the human. “Your ‘revenge’ is going to get yourself killed! You are a human, without the skills, tools or even basic damn knowledge on how to fight him! In other words: NOTHING SPECIAL!”
Miguel bristles with barely constrained anger while Sakura continues onward. “And to make matters worse, he’s a crime lord, with tons of dudes at his beck and call. And a strong vampire, as if we needed to make this shit sundae even worse. You WILL die if you go after him. And you are going to take Luna with you!”
Miguel finally explodes, throwing his hands up and then quickly to his sides as he yells. “I. DON’T. CARE! I am doing this, with or without your help! I have come too far and waited too long to give this up now. I will have my revenge. And come tomorrow goddamn night, pack up your shit and get OUT OF MY HOUSE! And while you are at it, take Luna with you. If you are such a smartass, clearly you can figure something out better than this regular human can.”
Sakura snorts at him and crosses her arms. “Fine. After this, you won’t see me again. And we’ll see just how far you get. And when I do leave, you WILL give me back my sword.” With that, the vampire brushes a shoulder on Miguel as she passes him, presses her way out of the room.
Miguel calls after her loudly. “And only then, because I still don’t trust your ass.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” Sakura retaliates, disappearing into the hallway.
Miguel’s resentment radiates off of him visibly as he starts to pant to calm himself down. It wasn’t working. It’s only then he recognizes that Luna’s standing right next to him, the werewolf looking shocked and hurt. Miguel shakes his head as if he’s offended.
“What!? Why are you looking at me like that?”
Luna’s eyes well up with emotional pain but she shakes her head dismissively. She wipes away the beginnings of her tears with the back of her wrist. “I just...I just thought you were better than that. That’s all. Goodnight Mr. Morales.”
Miguel simply stares at her as the werewolf turns to leave, the door closing quietly behind her. He bites his lip as he looks down, closing his eyes and lowering his head. He slowly reaches for the door after a few moments of contemplation and locks his door, settling back into his computer chair with his head in his hands. His hand slowly gravitates towards one of his warm beers.
When Luna makes her way back into living room, Sakura is sprawled out on the couch, fuming but dispassionately clicking the remote through television stations. Luna frowns at her as she steps up from behind, draping herself over the back of the couch above Sakura.
“Why’d you have to push him so hard?” Luna says, trying to get Sakura’s attention. The vampire doesn’t respond immediately. The rate at which the channels flip increases.
“Don’t do this. Just answer the question. Why did you have to push him? He’s clearly been through a ton, and if we just mentioned the food, I’m sure he would have-”
Sakura interrupts her with the bluntness of a hammer. “...He’s not worth it. You should go somewhere else anyway. He’s too stupid to know when death is looking at him in the face and taking measurements. And you are just as stupid for following him. Blind leading the dumb.”
Luna’s fur riles up subconsciously. “Hey! If it wasn’t for him, I’d be dead! And he at least helped you back to your feet, isn’t that worth anything to you?”
The channels stop flipping as she looks up towards her. “And if he got you killed tomorrow, how much would that be worth? A few nickels maybe? A dollar?”
Luna goes silent and stiff, unable to come up with an answer to the question. Sakura turns her head back down towards the television and continues rifling through channels.
“I’m sure you’ll be fine…” Sakura continues, her voice flat and sarcastic. “Werewolves love the great outdoors, right? It’ll be fine. And when we get kicked out tomorrow, hit the road. I’ve got better things to do than babysit. You’ll be one less thing on my conscience. And that’s screwed up enough as it is.”
“Fine. You are welcome for saving your life by the way.” Luna remarks, going over towards her makeshift bed on the floor and grabbing her pillow and her blanket and moving it away from the couch. She finds a nice corner to the side of the television to lay in, setting her bed back up and crawling in it, despite it being fairly early in the evening. She rolls her back to Sakura and tries to relax, the tone of the earlier conversation causing her to tense up considerably.
With nothing to focus on, Luna eventually falls asleep. Sakura never did seem to find anything she wanted to watch and outside of that, everything else seemed to be quiet. Even with her enhanced hearing, Miguel’s room seemed to be silent, and the few tenants that lived in this building didn’t even provide much else to listen to. Like the last few nights, her sleep seemed peaceful enough, but something felt...off. And not just because of the night’s events but as if it were some sort of sixth sense.
The uneasy feeling eventually overwhelms Luna’s slumber and startles her awake, her heart taking residence in her throat. She instantly turns around and looks towards Sakura on the couch. At some point during the night, the vampire dozed off, the soft volume of the television playing an infomercial. A small bead of saliva drips out of her mouth and onto the couch’s plush material. Luna’s ears swivel to focus on Miguel’s room. Judging by the lack of even the soft jazz he had playing, he’d likely gone to sleep as well.
Everything seemed to be fine, so why was her heart beating so hard? Luna tries to fall back asleep, snuggling herself back in her covers. After only a few minutes, it’s clear that she’d be up, at least for awhile. The werewolf pushes herself to her feet and heads into the kitchen, the light of the street lamps only barely being enough to illuminate it. Spotting the failed glass of water she had earlier, she grabs it again, moving towards the kitchen and turning the faucet on.
As she fills up the glass, she looks out of the window in the kitchen and towards the street below. A sudden light source catches her attention. She couldn’t quite see what it was, but it was bright, and it flickered, sort of like a flame. Within moments, the light disappears. Just as soon as Luna raises fills her glass and starts to take a drink, a palpable heat rises and crashes into the nearby living room window, shattering it.
Luna drops her glass and immediately dashes for the living room, only to find that an inferno seems to have claimed it. The large window that was there is gone, the glass of which could be seen twinkling amongst the orange flames. Sakura herself practically slams into Luna coming out of kitchen in a mild panic, grabbing the werewolf strongly by the forearms.
“Where the hell did all the fire come from!?”
Luna’s fur bristles outward as she goes stiff with fear. Over Sakura’s shoulder, Luna finally gets a glimpse of the source of the fire. A second white-hot fireball arcs lazily through the window, sings past the two of them and explodes into the back wall, engulfing it in flames. The strong smell of smoke pierces her nose like a needle, forcing her to cover it with a hand. The air starts to get hazy as the fire spreads.
“We need to get to Mr. Morales and make sure he’s okay!” Luna shouts, lowering her head to breathe slightly clearer air. Some of the smoke emanates from the nearby air vent; more floors than just this one were on fire. The heat was already sweltering thanks to the carpet catching fire; Miguel’s TV sparks for a few seconds and shuts down, the heat forcing it to twist and warp out of its shape.
Not wasting much more time, the two make a mad dash towards the less-on-fire hallway and through heavy smoke to reach his door. Luna knocks on it hard, nearly putting a hole through the cheap wood. Miguel stumbles his way towards the door and opens it, looking sleepy but cognizant.
“What the hell happened!?” Shouts Miguel, his eyes widening at the wildly spreading fire.
Luna picks up Miguel and pushes him inside of his room, ushering Sakura inside before shutting the door behind them. The brightness of the flames forces Miguel’s eyes to widen as he’s put down, stepping back into the room.
“Fire! S-something threw fire in the front room, and I think it’s in the building too!”
Sakura instantly makes for her sword resting on the back wall, undoing the sash around her middle where her sword was previously and linking them together again. Miguel’s moving just as quick, throwing on a pair of slacks and a jacket. Luna opens the door back up for a moment and sees that the fire had gotten to the front door; running through there wasn’t happening. Was fur flammable?
Luna decides now is a terrible time to test that query.
The werewolf shuts the door back and makes her way towards the window in Miguel’s room, opening it up as wide as it would go. Unfortunately being on the fifth floor and with no fire escape, the only option out of here would likely be to jump. The window leads to the parking lot of this the apartment building, where a few other residents appeared to be fleeing the building. Sakura looks somewhat scared as she joins Luna at the window and looks up and down the window, searching for something.
“No fire escape!? Are you kidding me!?” The werewolf exclaims, clearly distraught.
Miguel rushes over towards his closet and quickly opens up his suitcase, pulling out his Magnum pistol again and starting to reach for his other equipment. Luna runs over to grab him, pulling him away from the closet as she feels the floor beneath them stutter and weaken.
“Mr. Morales, we’ve got to go! The whole building is going to fall apart!”
Miguel roughly bucks the werewolf off of him, looking at her coldly. Unlike herself or Sakura, he seemed...hurried, but oddly, almost grimly calm. As he walks towards the door to the hall another fireball slams into the same wall, exploding hard enough to take out the wall it had smacked once before. A rush of flames hits the bedroom door, and it too starts to become engulfed in flame.
Miguel steps away from it and looks towards the window, sprinting for it. His voice is calm.
“Too far. I can’t make that jump.”
Sakura chimes in immediately. “I can.”
Luna looks back towards Miguel and nods quickly. “If she can, I can. Let me catch you.”
Miguel stares at the werewolf sternly before nodding in agreement. Luna’s eyes begin to water as the smoke filters into the room, the bedroom door crumbling off of its hinges. Sakura quickly climbs out of the window, leaping free of it and disappearing. Luna goes next, simply jumping out of the window and clearing it. The breath of cool air was refreshing as she fell, the flames leaving her back. She looks down and spots Sakura, standing off to the side to let Luna land. The werewolf hits the ground hard, landing on her feet and bending painfully down towards the ground. She gives off a weak whine of discomfort, but she pushes herself back up.
Miguel looks down towards them and seems to be mildly hesitant about jumping, but he pulls his head back in the window. A few seconds later he reappears, having leaped straight out of the window and not a moment too soon. Just as he got clear, a gout of flame shoots from his window, the building rumbling with the sound of two distinctive explosions. Luna readies herself and catches Miguel in her arms, her knees buckling a bit due to the weight. She grunts but she sets him down on the ground safely, nodding towards him.
From here, it’s clear the building wasn’t going to last much longer, and the few people who hadn’t escaped likely wouldn’t. Flames burst through various seams in the brick building and smoke billows from the windows. The Miguel, Luna and Sakura all stare up at the burning apartment complex for a few moments in silent awe. Luna holds a hand over her heart as she watched her second home burn up. Just before the anxiety of the situation starts to grip her, Miguel runs a comforting hand to rest on the werewolf’s shoulder.
“Hey! They jumped out of the window, over here!”
The unknown voice cutting through the flames immediately causes the party to turn around to look towards the source of it. A young man, likely no older than his late teens and dressed in a cheap brown suit, points towards them from the entrance of the parking lot. He slowly steps out of the way as an older woman walks around him, her gaze locked on the trio. At an immediate first glance, the Luna thought the woman could be someone’s young grandmother. Her hair was grey and silky, and her glasses were thin. She was dressed impeccably well, wearing a formal black jacket, a white corset, and black slacks, along with high heeled boots. Her eyes seemed silver as well, though even through her smile, Luna could see the sharpened canines.
“Well well well…” The woman muses with a soft but still threatening voice. “I believe we’ve flushed out the problem. You’ve had a look first hand…” She gestures towards the burning apartment building Luna once called home.
“What do you think of my...handiwork? Think of it as a present, from me to you, courtesy of Mr. Scardino.”
Miguel steps forward and starts to pull out his gun, but Sakura holds an arm out in front of him, stopping him, shaking her head.
“Shit...they sent V…”
Luna raises an ear as she keeps one eye on the enemy vampire and the other towards Sakura.
“Is that short for something?”
“Vanille White. Scar’s right-hand man. Woman. Whatever. Remember how I said there were good and bad vampires?”
Luna turns back towards Vanille and nods slowly. “Yeah?”
“This one is bad. Very bad.” Sakura remarks, slowly drawing her blade with her free hand.
Vanille laughs, raising a hand to her mouth to stifle it. “Bad? Me? Oh honey...if you think I’m bad, then you haven’t met me. Clearly. This building is nothing, compared to what I’m about to do to you.” Vanille holds up a hand with her palm facing upwards focuses for a split second. A large ball of fire erupts there, conjured out of seemingly nothing just an inch or two above her hand.
Miguel takes a step back from Vanille and looks back towards his parked SUV. As he starts to turn and make a break for it, a fireball flies just over his shoulder and impacts the car, setting it ablaze almost instantly. The windows shatter all along the sides of the car and the flames lick their way up the interior, twisting it into ruin.
Vanille tsks, shaking her head. She holds her pointer finger up and blows off it like it was a gun, a small trail of smoke billowing from it. “Now, did I say you could leave?”
Miguel turns back towards the enemy and grimaces and runs a hand over his gun as he steps back with the others.
“We need to go.” Miguel quips, his voice lowered so that the other two could hear.
“I don’t know. Think we can take her?” Luna says, matching his volume.
Just before Sakura speaks, Vanille throws her hand out with orange flames trailing behind it, throwing a massive fireball at group. Luna and Sakura leap out to the side while Miguel jumps back, the fireball hitting the ground and exploding. The force is nearly enough to throw Miguel off balance, his feet hitting the ground and sliding back in the snow. Eager to get out of her line of sight, Miguel dodges behind an old van, letting the others take over.
Sakura charges her first, drawing her blade out. Vanille throws another fireball her way but the faster vampire ducks underneath it, swinging her blade up towards Vanille’s head. The older woman takes a step back and evades the sword and points towards Sakura’s feet. In mere milliseconds a geyser of fire shoots up from the ground, instantly melting the snow. Sakura leaps high into the air to avoid this, but as soon as she looks back down towards Vanille, the older woman had already prepared a second fireball. She throws it, this one being faster than the first one, and it connects with Sakura mid-air, tossing her backward. She falls from the sky like a flaming aircraft, crashing into the ground just behind Miguel’s hiding spot.
Luna tries her hand next, picking up a small, foreign compact car and tossing it at Vanille in a lazy arc. As soon as the older woman picks up on what was happening, her eyes spark with glee. She puts both of her hands together at the wrists and fires off a solid beam of fire so hot that it looked white orange. The flames burn intensely immediately scorching the car and charring it beyond nearly all recognition. The force of the flames slows the car mid-air and much to Luna’s surprise sends it flying back at her. Vanille laughs to herself as the car redirects itself towards its source with nearly the same velocity. Luna manages to sidestep it just in time for the car to explode against the brick wall of the other building, sending the werewolf flying and landing on her back, sliding up towards Miguel and Sakura behind the van.
Sakura pats the few flames licking at her leather riding gear and looks towards Luna in pure exasperation.
“Does THAT answer your question!?”
Luna groans in acceptance.
Miguel, despite the dire situation, still sounds fairly calm.
“So, we leave. Gotta get past her first.”
Sakura pushes herself to her feet and looks down towards the others. “Do you think you can hotwire any cars still here?”
Miguel stands and looks around. As he does, a buffet of flames slam into the van, pushing it slightly towards him. Miguel leans back against it, keeping the van still.
“Come out from there! It’s so dreadfully boring without some company, wouldn’t you agree?”
Miguel stands up and looks over the lot, spotting a car in the very back; an old slimy blue compact car. He points towards it with his metal hand. “There. I can do that one. I’ll need some cover. Can you guys keep her busy?”
Luna slowly picks herself off of the ground, the excessive noise was a bit of a bother for her ears. “Yeah. We’ll have to. Just hurry though, okay?”
Miguel nods and takes off for the blue car, his hand reaching inside of his pocket and drawing out...his phone? Why would he need that? Luna dismisses the thought, she had far more important things to do at the moment.
Sakura leaps out from behind the half immolated van first and throws a solid gust of wind at Vanille. She takes a step back from the burst before bringing her hands together for another stream of laser hot fire. The flames meet the wind dead on, the flames spiraling out and dispersing heat everywhere. The snow evaporates from the front half of the parking lot instantly, leaving it slick and wet. Slowly but surely, the flames bite through the wind as the intense heat starts to reach Sakura’s hands, the smallest outer bits of her hand beginning to bubble with heat.
Luna takes this chance come around Vanille’s side, and shoulder tackles her, forcing Vanille to shut down her flames or risk losing control of them. The werewolf carries her to a wall and slams her roughly into it. Vanille winces as she brings a hand to Luna’s face and detonates a white explosion of force. Luna gets a moment to raise a hand to block it, but she gets sent flying dozens of feet straight back, slamming into the wall of the apartment building across from them. Luna goes limp for a moment while she’s dealing with the impact of the hit, her arm patting out the flames.
Vanille starts to take aim with a hand, building up a fireball to finish off the lupine. But just as she does, Vanille rips her arm back, Sakura interrupting the attack with her katana slicing through the spot where her hand once was. Sakura's free hand jabs Vanille in the face and brings it down, hand facing up towards Vanille’s stomach. She turns on her Sanguine Art, forcing a huge torrent of wind to blow Vanille off of her feet and up into the sky, easily clearing the top of the apartment building and disappearing into the smoke rising from the building.
Sakura takes a moment to admire her handiwork, whistling amusedly before sheathing her sword. The male that was with Vanille is still present, having watched the whole fight from his position, not wanting to step in. He looks towards Sakura with a fearful expression, his hand shakily reaching for a weapon stashed in his pants. Sakura merely passes right by him as he pulls out his gun, his hands almost shuddering too much to hold onto the weapon. As his finger hovered over the trigger, Sakura turns quickly with another burst of wind and sends the poor man flying off of his feet and into a corner of the parking lot. By the looks of it his crumpled body falling off the wall and curling into the fetal position, he was likely a regular human.
Sakura makes her way over towards Luna who had just patted out the flames on her forearm. Luna lets Sakura pull her back to her feet, nodding in thanks.
“Got it!” Miguel triumphantly shouts, the churn of the engine accentuating his success.
Luna and Sakura sprint for the car and dive into it quickly, with Luna taking the backseat and Sakura sliding into the passenger side. The car lurches to life and rips it’s way from the back of the parking lot and speeding towards the entrance. They pull out onto the streets and speed away from the burning building, a sigh of relief passing through the car.
Just as Luna turns back to look at the burning building, Vanille falls back from the sky, though not uncontrollably. Jets of fire shoot coming from her hands as Vanille eases herself back to the ground. And after a second, a car hidden in an alley near the building pulls out and aligns itself to pick her up.
Luna whines as she turns back around. “Go go go! They're coming after us!”
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Do you love playing strategy games ? No matter the style ? I do. And I was quite good at it. World challenger and all. I even got a title! The Deceiver ! Why the past tense ? Because some class 3 civilisation judged good to use me and 5 other thousands fellow human in a deadly experiment, craving for innovation.
8 101A Wheel Inside a Wheel
Two brilliant young me, Reinhard von Musel and Yang Wen-li, are forced to flee the countries of their birth and become refugees on opposite sides of a century long galactic war. While they both struggle to adapt to their new lives, their obvious talent propels them to the forefront of the war. Their choices will shape their adoptive homelands forever, and their clash will decide the future of the galaxy. This story is broken up into volumes, each following one half of the conflict. You can read them in chronological order, or you can follow just Yang or Reinhard. See individual descriptions below. Part One - Speaking in Tongues When Yang Wen-li’s father dies, the only thing that he inherits is a mountain of debt, which can only be paid off with fifteen years of his life. Wanting to escape that indentured servitude, Yang flees his homeland and takes up a false identity in the Galactic Empire, a hyper-stratified society where stepping out of line is punishable with imprisonment or death. Yang enrolls in the Imperial Officers’ Academy to study history, but despite his unusual and unmistakeable talent as both a tactician and a scholar, his classmates resent him for being a visible outsider. When tensions at the school boil over and several of Yang’s classmates attempt to murder him, Yang finds an unlikely ally in the top student in the class: the aloof Oskar von Reuenthal. But Reuenthal and Yang both have secrets, secrets which could destroy both their lives and their newfound friendship. [70k words, complete] Part One (Alternate) - Talking Without Speaking When Oskar von Reuenthal enrolls at the Imperial Officers' Academy, he doesn’t expect to make real friends. The IOA is a competitive place, and Reuenthal has never been well liked. But when a foreign student shows up to challenge him for the top spot in the class, Reuenthal can’t look away. [77k words, complete] Part Two - Life out of Balance When Reinhard von Musel's mother learns that her husband is about to sell her daughter to become the concubine of the Kaiser, she takes her two children, Reinhard and Annerose, and flees to the Free Planets Alliance, where the three of them must start a new life. [129k words, complete] Part Three - Servants of the Pharaoh Now an officer in His Majesty's fleet, Yang Wen-li struggles to maintain his principles in the face of everything that is expected of him. When he's unwillingly drawn into the politics of the court, he has to use all of his talents to keep himself and his new friends out of danger. [173k words, complete] Short - Whatever It Takes to Keep the Body Warm After their falling out, Reuenthal and Mittermeyer are both posted to the brutal wasteland of Capche-Lanka. It's difficult to hold a grudge when you're just trying to survive. [23k words, complete] Short - Keep the Home Fires (Burning) Three soldiers. Two bodies to be buried. One haunted house. [33k words, complete] Part Four - Lighting Out for the Territories While his sister has joined the fierce Rosen Ritter regiment, Reinhard's fame has earned him a post stuck on Phezzan. Instead of getting to fight, he's caught up in a web of secrets, including the shelter and care of a mysterious refugee from the Empire. Separated from everyone he cares about, Reinhard is forced to make some unexpected allies, and make connections with old friends. [147k words, complete] Part Five - Serpent's Mouth, Serpent's Teeth After having sacrificed his freedom to save his best friend's life, Yang must figure out how to win, and not just survive, the largest civil war in human history. [In progress] Part Six - Lightless Labyrinth [forthcoming, TBD] Part Seven - Silent Spiral [forthcoming, TBD] This story is crossposted on ao3 at bit.ly/wheelinsideawheel
8 276Dreamland
Dolores is a lucky girl with a high-level avatar in a very popular game. She did not level it up; she got it through some fortunate circumstances. She is not interested in fighting and levelling; all she wants is to have some fun and follow her own fantasies. If only there would not be all those idiots who intend to kill her, capture her, or simply use her. And those flaws in the game! Wait, what? Those pesky game characters now appear in the real world? And they can do magic? How did this happen? Adding to her troubles, her crush does not even look at her. As Dolores tries only to survive and hide between 'normal' people, she encounters stranger and stranger things that force her hand and, in the end, she has the answers to a lot of questions. It is a slow-developing story. I had a lot of fun writing it and hope to share it with you, dear reader if you also enjoy it. On the other hand, putting it in an acceptable form requires much work and energy. I intend to bring it to its end and not let it unfinished. I hate it when I encounter unfinished stories, so I understand the feeling. This is not a classical isekai story. There is travel between the two worlds, and the game world seems to be so very real... well, this is one plot of the story. This is not an MMORP game story. Part of the action happens inside a game world, but it is treated as a real world. Updates on a weekly basis, at least Monday and Friday, with additional bonus chapters as time and energy allow. Cover art: White Flower as A Dark Fairy by Darkrealmsmaiden Yolanda gracefully allowed me to use her dark fairy as cover. There are many more beautiful works of art to be discovered at her site: https://www.deviantart.com/darkrealmsmaiden Additional Grammar Trigger Warning: As a non-native speaker, I do my best. Unfortunately, this is not enough for people with a low tolerance for warped sentences and... they may want to skip the story :( Well, you have been warned :) I appreciate it when a reader points out a sentence that needs rework. That may spare a follow-up reader some pain and helps me understand where my English grammar problems are. * We thought we made the best game in Earth's history We thought we made the best interfaces ever seen We thought we made it - lifelike But it far exceeded our expectations. Dolores, I hope you're happy now. I hope you're alive now...
7.91 277The Magical Workman
A 41 year old neet finally getting out for the first time in years because of the death of his parents is shot to death walking outside of a grocery store.He gets reincarnated into a world of fantasy only to find out that everything is not what it seems.(As you can see i changed the title because i felt like it, it used to be Just Normal for whatever reason)Website: https://ilightnovel.wordpress.com/
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