Fate's Direction (Invite Only)

[mugenginga]

Shinku frowned but said nothing more. Nine days, and for reasons this "teenager" didn't seem inclined to explain. She saw signs of a pained past, and chose to leave it at that. She walked over to Jun as he was trying to find words and looked up at him. He didn't seem to notice, his attention being focused on Abel. Wait, it was his fault? He pushed up his glasses and shook his head, seeming to try to come up with a response when Shinku cleared her throat. He looked down at her.

"I am tired of walking, Jun," she stated.

He gave an annoyed look at her box and grumbled, "Why can't you fly around like Suiseiseki does?"

"I see no need to use my powers when I have a perfectly good servant," Shinku stated.

Jun glared at her and opened his mouth with a comeback. At this point Xiu had crossed several wires in the mp3 player and completely tossed one out. It lay on the ground next to her basket. She held it at an angle, seeming to try to find a better light. She looked up just as Palette winced, and it was then that the device hit the box again, followed by the screwdriver. In half a second, speed granted by adrenaline rather than paranormal powers, she had the suitcase wrenched from Palette's hands.

She smashed the thing against the post Shinku had earlier used to balance upon. The thing popped open and art supplies scattered everywhere. She managed to catch a single blue pencil as well as a pad of paper. She dropped everything but, transferred the pencil to the hand with the pad, grabbed Palette's wrist and shoved the pad and pencil at Palette's chest. It had happened when Palette had heard the term "The Fall" and for once she wasn't being tripped by past live vs present memories.

"This could be important," Xiu said with a voice carrying maturity far beyond her physical years, "Please, Palette."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Palette didn't have time to object to Xiu's odd actions. For one, the Chinese teenager had moved so fast Palette hadn't been able to react much besides a surprised, "Hey!" At that moment, Xiu had pushed the pencil and pad into her chest, and Palette's inconvenient power had kicked in.

Abel watched with mild amusement as Palette seemed to rather literally lose it in her art. It was frantic, and at the same time detailed. And instead of the loud declaration of her last prophecy, she was speaking in a low voice just as frantically as she was scribbling on the paper.

"The breaking of the chains is near. Without the intervention of a Messiah, the linchpin holding together our very World will shatter, ending the World of others with it. Alone, the Messiah will fail, and the Puppet will remain tied to its Mother's strings. A turning point in fate has been reached. The clock will break. The thread will be cut. Guilt over a broken fate will cause misfortune to those that had been tied to that thread."

Palette staggered, and fell back. Whatever that prophecy had been, it had been draining. Eriol caught her, and she muttered one last sentence.

"The arcana is the means through which all things are revealed..." Palette mumbled. She finally dropped the notebook, which Abel caught. He let the pencil clatter to the ground. The image she had drawn was just as vague as what she had said. Breaking chains. A statue vaguely resembling Minato was tied to the same breaking chains. Abel scowled as he got to that part. There was some kind of cosmic irony in that, he swore. Then there was that disturbing face in the center. It was clownlike, and it creeped Abel out, which was saying something. Its features were way too similar to Ryoji's. It was obvious who it was.

And then the image changed to something else. A large Egyptian styled eye, wrapped in thread. What was strange was how smoothly the image transitioned from something that was obviously about the Fall to something else.

"What was that?" Kerro asked. That entire experience had been odd. He wasn't entirely sure what had happened, only that the strange animal-like woman had suddenly had a prophecy of some sorts.

Abel handed the notebook to Xiu. "This will make more sense to you, I hope."

[mugenginga]

As soon as Palette showed she wasn't going to drop the pad, Xiu yanked her hand back. She took a piece of paper from the pad with it, and just let herself drop as Palette's pencil first hit the paper. She had pulled up a yellow colored pencil and was scribbling something down as Palette whispered. Jun had jumped back and just barely avoided landing on some pencils and taking a grand fall. Shinku avoided the pencils calmly, walking around them with her focus clearly on Palette more than the pencils.

She stopped scribbling as Palette fell back, actually panting herself. Man, that had been close. She almost hadn't gotten the words down. She looked over the paper, squinting a bit due to the way yellow didn't show up well on white paper. There were references to a prophecy Palette had given before. Messiah, though? That wasn't making much sense, but she found herself understanding a lot of it. She got to her feet and folded up the paper, sticking it in her pocket, just in time for Abel to hold out the pad Palette had drawn on.

Jun shifted weight. What was he supposed to do here, anyhow? Shinku seemed focused on Palette, and there was something like worry on her face? He looked a bit nervous and shifted his weight again as Xiu looked over the paper.

"I have some ideas. If I'm right, it doesn't have much to do with you," she looked at the scattered art supplies on the ground, "Ah, there any markers anyone can see? I need one."

"Are you alright...?" Jun finally managed to get out, looking at Palette.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Palette slowly opened an eye to look at Jun as he asked if she were alright. "Just fine... it happens sometimes." She managed to get to her feet again, though Eriol still looked rather concerned.

Kerro picked up a blue marker and handed it to Xiu. "Will this work, Ms. Xiu?"

"It should," Abel said. He turned toward Xiu. "Even if it doesn't have anything to do with me, I'd still like to know."

[mugenginga]

Xiu nodded as she took the marker from Kerro and sat back down. She lifted up the cords in the mp3 player and was writing down symbols. She had to focus on it quite a bit as the blue was hard to see on the black. She was blowing on the device when Abel spoke up again. She sighed and set the device down.

"Why? It's not your fight," she stated.

Well, she seemed to have lost the fear, but there was a bit of the arrogance Himitsu had possessed as well. But it wasn't the mischevious sort. The teenager was dead serious. She glanced to the side and picked up the back of the device and began stroking on the inside of it as well. If Abel could sense neutral magics, he'd realize both parts of the mp3 player had a very faint aura growing around them.

"If you say so..."

"Jun."

"I'm not picking you up when you're capable of walking on your own. If this is another 'dimension', its one that is quite clearly used to living dolls."

Shinku frowned.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Abel scowled as Xiu spoke again. She seemed to have lost the fear from before, and there was a bit of arrogance there. He looked away from Xiu as he answered her. He still didn't like her, even if he was having to ask her for help.

"It's my fight now," Abel said. "I could probably escape on my own, but I won't leave Naoya, Keiji, and Atsuro here." He looked toward the MP3 player, curious as to what she exactly was doing. There was some sort of magical energy there, but it was faint.

As Shinku and Jun spoke, Yui took a glance toward Kerro. He was different from the doll he remembered. Not just in his general construct. His personality was oh so slightly different. It was painful to Yui, even though he hadn't known Kerro all too long.

[mugenginga]

Xiu said nothing as she continued writing. Shinku and Jun were looking at each other and there was a rather awkward silence going on between them. It was Jun who broke it first, glancing around the group. There was a lot more going on here than he had any clue to. And the blue haired teenager had admitted to not being human. So what the hell was he? What the hell were any of them, for that matter? Living dolls of completely different constructs to Rozen's Maidens, some anthropmorphic rabbit.... thing. The Chinese girl that had far more than met the eye, and the blue haired teenager who insisted whatever he was was hard to explain. He sighed and shifted weight. Well, this was awkward.

Xiu put the back of the mp3 player in her lap and braided the wires in the device before wrapping the spares around it and reconnecting it all to the bottom. The lone wire she had ripped out remained next to her. She screwed the back of the device back on and held it at arm's length in front of her. She held her right hand with the fore and middle fingers straight up and the thumb fully extended. The position put the tip of the thumb just below her chin. About three minutes of silence had passed by this point. The energy around her shot through the roof as she began to chant.

Actually, Abel would more than sense it. It wouldn't be enough to do much to him, but there was a heavy sealing energy going on there. It still remained neutral, but the fact was that had Abel not possessed the power of a Bel demon, he would have been pushed back by the force. The level of concentration she had going was of the sort Eriol and Palette would recognize. She had channelled in a similar fashion when she had put the energy into keeping Belphegor out.

The chanting continued for thirty seconds, and it was hard to tell when she was actually taking time to breath. The energy drew in with the same force it had shot out with, focused on the mp3 player, before seeming to vanish completely. Well, almost. A small it of energy could be sensed from the headphone plug if Abel tried and wasn't too busy focusing on the strong power of the sealing energy. Xiu let out a long breath as soon as the energy drew in and her arms felt limp to her side, and she was panting. A few beads of sweat ran down her forehead.

"Hey, are you okay!?" Jun said to her, taking a step forward.

"Jun, wait," Shinku said, holding out a small hand. It was probably a good thing Jun had seen her, as she was a fair bit too small to actually block him.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Abel had watched on as Xiu continued to work with his MP3 player, rearranging wires and writing symbols upon the inside of it. And then Xiu had started chanting, and her energy had shot through the roof. Abel was grateful for how strong he was. He could feel the push her energy was causing. He vaguely remembered it from somewhere, but he wouldn't be able to place it; after all, he'd been afflicted with Apathy Syndrome at the time.

Eriol and Palette both recognized it. Palette was still a tad confused; it hadn't really been directly stated to her that "Xiu = Himitsu" yet, but Eriol seemed to get it. This woman... had to be Himitsu reborn. That was the only explanation for him.

Once Xiu had stopped chanting, the energy had focused around the MP3 player and then just faded into it. Abel seemed a bit stunned, but he looked back toward Xiu as her arms fell to her side.

"Is it done?" Abel asked.

[mugenginga]

Xiu's breathing stabilized and she took in a final deep breath. She picked up the mp3 player and stood up. She gave a weak smile towards Jun and nodded.

"I'm fine, thank you," she walked over to Abel and held out the player, "You'll need to keep it plugged into your headphones at all times. Not only will it not work very well otherwise, but anything capable of sensing metaphysical energies will know something is wrong if it isn't. The way I cast the spell will allow it to remain concealed to all weaker than you."

"At this point, there are probably more than a few demons who can sense it. That's why you have to work at controlling and increasing your powers naturally, without the dampener. I doubt you had any intentions of doing otherwise, but it's worth noting," she had a slightly bitter expression, "In that sense, it can serve as a guide for demons stronger than yourself. If they can sense it when its connected, they're stronger than you. Not that you can't still fight and win. You were once human, and you have the potential of one still."

She waited for Abel to take the device. It was worth noting she had yet to explain the image to him. It still lay on the place she had been sitting. Jun had opened his mouth at one point, and it was just hanging there. Shinku turned towards him and opened her own mouth to say something when Jun finally got it out.

"Wait, wait. You're a demon?"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Abel nodded as Xiu spoke. Like he'd said, it was just a temporary measure until he could control his powers better. He had no idea how long that would be, but if he survived the Fall, he was going to put more effort into learning how to control them. He'd decided he didn't want to lose his human emotions after speaking with Yuugi earlier, and for now, this was how he was going to do so. He grimaced as Xiu mentioned it would be a guide for demons stronger than him, though. As far as the demons Abel knew of went, that amounted to Lucifer. Lovely.

When Xiu held out the player, Abel reached out his hand to take it, but once his hand touched the device, he sharply drew it back. Even when it wasn't connected to his headphones, he'd felt how it had repressed his demonic energies. After a moment, he took the device from Xiu and plugged it into his headphones. The effect was immediately apparent. The amount of demonic energy Abel had been giving off sharply dropped, and his eyes regained a bit of their light. It was still apparent that this was Abel, but there was a bit more humanity there. He stared down at the broken MP3 player before clipping it back onto his shirt.

Abel had been about to thank Xiu and ask her to explain the image when Jun had spoken up. He turned to look at Jun and nodded.

"I used to be human, but yes," Abel said. He wasn't going into it any further than that to someone outside the situation. He knew people would disagree with the path he'd chosen. And this boy seemed to have some problem with demons based on his interactions with Palette.

Palette had picked up the notebook from where Xiu had left it and was examining the image. "Geez... this has got to be my creepiest prophecy image yet. What did I say?"

[mugenginga]

Jun just sort of stood there as Abel confirmed his question. His jaw was hanging open. He didn't noticed Shinku was giving him an annoyed look. The last demon Jun had dealt with had more or less caused the deaths of all six of the Rozen Maidens he knew. He seemed rather broken. Shinku said his name a few times, and her expression changed to concern as he continued to just stand there.

Xiu gave a concerned look towards Jun and Shinku, but her train of thought was distracted when Palette asked her question. She let out a sigh and her entire pose relaxed a bit. Not that she seemed more positive about the situation, but it was a slight stance shift. Less uptight, more or less. She walked over to Palette and took the pad. She pulled out the paper she had written on and unfolded it, holding it next to the picture. It was still hard to read with it having been written in yellowed color pencil. Oh, and it was in Chinese.

"I can tell you what you said, but I don't know if you'll understand most of it. I can take several educated guesses," Xiu took in a deep breath, "The breaking of the chains is near. Without the intervention of a Messiah, the lynchpin holding together our very World will shatter, ending the World of others with it. Alone, the Messiah will fail, and the Puppet will remain tied to its Mother's strings. A turning point in fate has been reached. The clock will break. The thread will be cut. Guilt over a broken fate will cause misfortune to those who have been tied to that thread. Oh, and this... The Arcana is the means through which all things are revealed."

"Jun!"

Jun jumped, cementing the fact he had been anywhere but there after Abel's response. He carefully knelt down and Shinku found herself being hoisted a bit roughly into the air. Her eyes widened and she flipped her head to the side. Jun winced and almost dropped the girl as one of her long ponytails snapped up and hit him in the face. He managed to recover from the fumble and held her in a rather polite manner. It was extremely similar to how one might support a puppet, with her legs hanging to the side. For those with knowledge of expensive dolls, he was holding her properly.

"Jun, what was the meaning of that!?" She stated, her voice a bit shrill and glaring at Jun. He didn't look at her.

"If you're a demon, what do you know about Laplace's Demon?" Jun stated, his voice flat and his expression angry. There was clearly more of a past with the aforementioned demon than had been previously revealed...

(OOC: I wasn't sure if you wanted Palette to use an exact Nyx Avatar quote or if you wanted it to be a bit off. I just copied what you said, but if you wanted an exact quote lemme know and I'll edit it.)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Abel kept his expression flat. There was no need to be showing any weakness here... not while he was in front of this woman. She's helped him; he really had no reason to be here, but that prophecy might also be useful. But this kid who apparently liked playing with (living) dolls seemed to have some sort of history with demons. Revealing that he was a demon probably wasn't the smartest thing.

He blinked as Jun mentioned Laplace's Demon. The boy had mentioned Laplace's Demon several times previously, and Abel had been meaning to ask about that. Looked like Jun was asking for him.

"Only that it apparently can tell fate and that it's what's behind these emails I received on my COMP called Laplace Mails," Abel said. He scowled. "I also think it's what sealed the island off. The world's supposed to end in nine days, and we can't even escape anymore..." Well, he could. But like he'd said, he didn't want to leave Atsuro, Cain, and Seth here.

Palette rubbed her head as Xiu spoke. "I don't get it either... the only part that seems familiar is that reference to chains, and that's only because of that last prophecy I did referring to him," she said, pointing to Abel.

Eriol took a look at the image. "There's an image of that boy with Kerro's hairstyle again. Do you think it refers to him?"

Palette shrugged. "I dunno. Who is that guy, anyways?"

[mugenginga]

Jun couldn't think of anything to say. Wait, fate? So that thing was insisting everything it had done was fated? Shinku and the others had been fated to go through that!? That couldn't be right! Laplace's Demon had been insistant about the Alice Game, and he'd heard Rozen say it wasn't the only way! Shink had heard him!

"That can't be true," Jun said, his voice a bit hoarse. He shook his head, "It can't know everything like that! And why would it change things if it knew? That's saying it has free will but no one else does...?"

"From what I can tell of the creature, it seems to know everything that will happen and has happened. If it does, it acts on the 'fate' it knows to be true. However..." Xiu looked up, "I know for a fact fate is not fated. There are those with power to change it if they can only harness it," She held up the pad and indicated the Egyptian eye wrapped in thread, "However, there can be consequences to changing fate and they are not often desired."

It was the style that had gotten her attention the most. It wasn't the eye depicted on the Duelist Arcana. She knew about that, her past life had given that teenager a deck containing it. She turned the pad back to her and gave a pained look towards the mask. She'd never seen the being actually being depicted there, but the similarities... she shuddered. But it wasn't the style there. It was the exact style seen on the pendant that boy had worn. With the "tails" for lack of a better term hanging from the bottom center. No, it was representative of something far more specific than Himitsu had realized. She looked up and awaited further responses.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Abel gave a slow nod at Xiu's comments about fate. He was well aware of the consequences of changing fate, after all, he'd done it several times during the lockdown. Not just his own fate, but the fates of others. He looked toward the pad and the Egyptian eye indicated on the image.

"That's the kind of eye that's on Yuugi's Puzzle," Abel stated. "But what does that have to do with Fate?"

Palette shrugged. She didn't really know much about arcana, and even if she had, she didn't know anything about the Duelist Arcana. It didn't exist in her home universe.

Yui, Eriol, and Kerro were all focused on Xiu, awaiting her explanation.

[mugenginga]

Xiu didn't seem to notice Abel's nod. It was possible he had changed fate, but it was just as possible he had acted according to fate due to Laplace's Demon's fated manipulations. He'd had many routes he could take, but the knowledge he'ds shown Himitsu had proven to her he'd already locked himself into one route. It was then that Abel spoke up. She looked at him for a moment before turning to the image. One could pretty much see her trying to decide whether or not to tell him.

"I believe this is representative of the Millenium Puzzle, or to be more specific, the Pharaoh resting within it," that comment alone was an indicator of at least Xiu not knowing everything that had happened, "If it was just Fate, the symbols beneath the eye would not be there. Knowing what I do of that world, I can only guess he did something to prevent going to the Land of the Dead as he was meant to."

"Beyond that, the words on this paper and spoken by Palette indicate that at least the Pharaoh has the power to alter Fate. That would be represented by whatever he did stopping what was supposed to occur. This mask here represents the Fall, which you have expressed knowledge of already. Here is Minato, who has already managed to be freed from enslavement once. Minato and the figure represented by the mask, Ryoji, are connected stronger than I think you realize. The hows are not important."

Xiu let out a long sigh, "Long story short. The Pharaoh has made some sort of action that has brought him regret and will effect those he has met. The world will end if Minato doesn't intervene, and he'll need help. If he fails, the human personality of Death known as Ryoji will quite possibly be nothing more than yet another of Death's many masks. This coming Fall... it'll decide the fate of the Multiverse, and I feel most of us are powerless to intervene."

"...who are you?" Jun managed to whisper.

"I am rather more interested in how you know these things," Shinku stated.

The teenager had made a lot of leaps there, that was true. There was really no way the group would know that she should know all of that. Actually, of all of them there Kerro would have the best chance. He'd seen the girl marathon watch the anime known as Yu-Gi-Oh! and its indirect sequel, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters as if she were doing homework. She'd played several video games with that same vigor as well. Persona 3: FES, Persona 4, and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor. She'd imported them from America despite Chinese versions being available and Japanese versions being cheaper. It wasn't the only shows she'd watched, but goodness she'd given those the most research. She'd had almost (but not quite) the same level of interest in the anime Rozen Maiden and its sequel Traumend. She'd also read the manga.

Actually, she'd tried to prevent Kerro from looking over her shoulder as she played the games, but it had only met with moderate success. If Kerro really focused on Abel, he'd realize the teenager looked damn similar to the main character from Devil Survivor. She'd used a name for him she wasn't referring to him now, muttering about English characters and name spaces. The name Minato had come up as well, both in her playthrough of Persona 3 and in the few manga of the game she had laying around the house. She'd also had a collection of manga by the name Yu-Gi-Oh! in Japanese.

The fact was, when Xiu had regained her memories she had done some heavy research. She'd known after coming out of that coma she may meet the group again. If they'd known about it, they'd probably be creeped out. Really, she couldn't know she was making the same choices the "real" ones would have made as she played through the games. She looked up at Abel without responding to Jun and Shinku. She'd realized that she may have freaked him out by this point. She did sound awfully sure of herself...