Day 25: Ripples
Day 25: Ripples
"Are you ready?" Rushimama and Rushia stood on opposite sides of a large and complex magical circle.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Rushia gave her mother a confident nod. She took a deep breath as black mist spread throughout the floor of the room.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" The black mist rose until Calli stepped out of the mist.
"Is there any reason we can't?" Rushimama shot Calli an intimidating glare.
"Relax," Calli held her hands up. Even though Calli was more powerful than Rushimama (AN: Sure. Keep telling yourself that) and was practically immortal, Rushimama still scared her to an extent. She'd never admit it, but Rushimama could be terrifying when she wanted to be. "I pulled some strings, but the magic it would take to revive her would be immense."
"Well, what are we going to do about that?" Rushimama asked, her glare not relaxing in the slightest.
"I have no choice, then," Calli sighed. "I guess I owe Ryan one, anyways. I'm not doing this because I'm scared of you or anything." (AN: Again, sure.)
"Thank you, Calliope-chan!" Rushimama clasped her hands together, giving Calli a warm smile. "Now, let's get started."
-
"Hey, this is Ryan Shade. Please leave a message or whatever," Ryan's voice came out through the phone. Kiara's face scrunched up in worry. This was the first time Ryan has ever failed to pick up the phone. Even when she called in the middle of the night, he would pick up almost instantly, but this time he didn't. Something was wrong.
"KIKKERIKIII~" Kiara exclaimed immediately after the tone rang. She tried to sound as happy as possible, but it was hard. She couldn't help but worry for her employee. "It's me, Kiara! I was just calling to remind you to come to work today! If anything is going on, please don't be afraid to tell me. Just don't die on me, okay? Bye!"
Kiara hung up the phone, sighing. "I hope he's okay."
-
Ryan was most definitely not okay. "Is that all you got?" Storm taunted as Ryan struggled to get up.
"Man, we've been doing this for the past however many hours," Ryan spit out some blood. Storm had been training (read: kicking the crap out of) Ryan ever since Ryan decided to go along with him. Ryan was in fact able to show a lot of progress, but Matsuri did it hurt. "Speaking of which, what time is it?"
"It's…" Storm paused. "5 am."
"5 am?! I gotta get to work!" Ryan concentrated his magic power throughout his body, causing his bruises to heal. "Thanks for beating the crap out of me or whatever. I gotta dip."
Ryan held his hand out and a portal formed in front of it. Storm sighed as he hopped through, the portal. "What am I going to do with you?"
-
"Sorry I'm late!" Ryan hopped through the portal into the KFP. "I got caught up with this thing and lost track of time."
"Ryan! I thought someone tried to assassinate you or something!" Kiara ran out from the back.
"I thought we've been over this," Ryan sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "I don't know why someone would assassinate you."
"Magical or not, you've instigated the United Nations," Kiara said. "Assassination is a very real possibility now."
"You know," Ryan put a finger to his chin before flicking it forward. "I really hate it when you're right."
"Glad that we're on the same page," Kiara smiled. "Now get behind the counter."
"I haven't heard anything from Calliope-san in a while," Ryan said. "Do you know where she went?"
"She said that she had to do something work related, but Calli told me she was forced on leave last month," Kiara said.
"She might need to prepare for what will happen in a few days," Ryan shuddered. "I don't want to imagine what is going to happen to the poor souls that will be put in Hoshimachi-san's path."
"That does sound scary," Kiara said. "Oh! Your doughnuts came in, by the way."
"Really?!" Ryan's eyes started to sparkle comically. "Where?!"
"Right over the-," Kiara started, but Ryan was already munching on a box of doughnuts he grabbed through a portal. "You're enjoying your magic way too much, aren't you?"
"What's wrong with that?" Ryan said through bites.
"Did we come at a bad time?" Both Kiara and Ryan jumped when they heard Amelia's voice. They turned to see Gura and Amelia holding hands.
"Hey, Ame, Gura-san," Ryan smiled as he took another bite of his doughnut. "Want one?"
"I'll take one!" Gura bolted over and took a doughnut that Ryan offered to her.
"You'll give up your wife's hand for a doughnut?" Amelia held her hands close to her heart in a faux expression of pain. "Oh, how you wound me."
"Yeah, yeah just get over here," Gura waved her hand dismissively, far more enticed on her doughnut.
"Did you meet Civia and Yogiri yet?" Kiara asked as Amelia walked over to sit down next to Gura in time for Ryan to pour her a cup a tea.
"You should've seen the looks on their faces when they saw the rings," Amelia chuckled. "That was an interesting reunion."
"Are you going to be going to China?" Ryan asked, swiftly grabbing the last doughnut.
"Hey!" Gura pouted.
"I ordered them, so they're mine," Ryan smirked as he took a bite, much to Gura's complete anguish.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Amelia chuckled at Gura's antics. "Honey, we can get more later."
"Fine," Gura crossed her arms and looked away in a pout.
"What about you guys? You coming with us?" Amelia asked.
"I don't think we should be talking about a national raid like a vacation, but yes, we're coming," Ryan said as he finished the last of his doughnut.
"So, I heard you got magic," Amelia smirked at Ryan, narrowing her eyes in intrigue as she leaned in on the counter, holing her head up with her palms.
"Yeah, some evil old man beat it into me," Ryan said. "Speaking of which, I found the guy who caused the attack."
"Really?" Amelia's eyes widened in shock. Gura got the message, her eyes flickering towards her spouse with worry. Gura knew that it was a touchy subject and couldn't help but worry.
"What attack?" Kiara asked.
"It… has to do with how Ame and I met," Ryan said, looking down. Ryan didn't know if Kiara got the message, but she decided not to press on.
"We'll talk about it later," Amelia said. She didn't seem shaken, but there was an unspoken agreement between the two that the attack on the KFP first time around was still a turning point in both of their lives. "Anyways, what can you do with you magic?"
"Well, according to that old bastard," Ryan refused to say Storm's name out loud, either out of spite or fear that uttering his name would somehow summon him, "I can kind of do a bit of everything. He mostly wants me to focus on weapons, though. I don't know why, but for some reason, I have a lot of relics in my magic storage or something like that."
"Huh, we need to get together and take a look at those," Amelia smirked. Ryan shuddered.
"I'm not sure I want to be on the other side of your guns," Ryan said.
"Yeah, fair enough," Amelia chuckled.
"Ame! Can we get doughnuts now?" Gura tugged on Amelia's sleeve.
"Fine, fine," Amelia sighed and got up. "I guess I'll see you in a few days. For now, I have an Apex Predator to feed."
"Your darn right you do!" Gura cheered as she dragged Amelia out of the store. Ryan shuddered as the doors closed.
"You okay?" Kiara asked.
"I don't know," Ryan said. "All I can say is that I have a bad feeling."
-
"You ready?" A dark light glowed on the tips of Calli's outstretched fingers as she channeled her magic into the circle.
"I guess I'm ready as I'll ever be," Rushia said, outstretching her hand.
"There's no turning back after this," Rushimama said, a green hue escaping from her outstretched palms.
"Alright, let's get started," The three closed their eyes and channeled their energy into the magical circle. The green hues of energy intertwined with the darkness that Calli emanated as an explosion of light and power overtook the room. When the light vanished, another person was in the room, standing in the middle of the circle, wearing nothing but a light blue dress. When she opened her eyes, they were a hot pink but when she blinked, the color shifted into an icy blue.
"Alright," Rushimama lowered her hands and approached the girl. "Welcome back to the land of the living. Do you remember your name?"
The girl stared down Rushimama, who was about eye level to her, her gaze as cold and icy as the ninth circle of hell. "My name is Brianna Edhas," the girl replied. "Where is my brother?"