Tales of a Journey (Private!)

"Oh, right, the war. Nobodies' doing anything right now. It's all gone quiet. Except for the scouts, that is. But that's a given, isn't it?" Kosu told them, sheepishly looking for approval. "And Mother won't talk about it, either. This is just one big mess, it is."

"Sheesh. Remind me not to bring Kinta next time we go to a warzone, then," Ranma cackled.
"Not funny, kupo."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well, if that isn't ominous. . . There is just too much going on that's unanswered!" Kinta grumbled, leaning back in his chair and looking at the ceiling. "Looks like that has nothing to do with the disease after all."

 

"I kind of feel like this is probably our fault," Scarlett said as Lizabeth cocked her head in curiosity, "How so you envious girl?"

Scarlett just glared at her before she turned her attention to the others, "There... has been something wrong with Kinta these last few days, and we all notice it. He's been acting weird ever since we left the Balance and it's been troubling me the whole time."

"You know, Scarlett's got a point. Kinta's been acting a tad more cocky and a little weird ever since we left," Riri said as she went over and grabbed Scarlett's hand.
Riri spun in a circle as she had a grip on the red-head's hand, making her fly off with her, "I say that we go back, go check on the Mithra, and find some type of reason on why Kinta is a cocky bastard!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Andre looked over at Kinta before rubbing his forehead, "So, about this disease..." A knock was heard at the door as Andre glanced back and called out, "Door's open."

The door opened and Matthew poked his head in as he held something in his hands, "Hey Andre. Nice to see you haven't killed him yet." "Yeah, shut it Matthew. Did you fix the recording equipment?" Andre asked not amused by the fox's antics as the fox held out what looked like a wine bottle, "Still working on it, and Chaos got back with his new boyfriend. Also, Ace is going to be out for a while so I hope that you can analyze this without his help."

"Nah, it's all good. I'm more surprised that Chaos is actually not having a fling with that fox kid." Andre said as Matthew tossed the wine bottle to the blonde demon. He caught it swiftly as he looked at the cork with a star on the top, "Black blood, this is the one."

 

"Any reason to annoy him for a day!" Ranma cheered, while Kosu simply smiled sheepishly.
"Er. . . Then I shall open a portal, yes?" The Mithra half-whimpered, doing just that. He led the way, entering the grayish vortex.

"In we go!" Monty cheered, entering the portal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kinta's mouth dropped when he saw the bottle.

"You have GOT to be kidding me," he groaned, slapping his forehead as Andre examined the bottle. "My friends just went to investigate why (I'm guessing) your guys and Ace attacked for that 'wine'. Why do you need it so much?"

 

"Well, come on then!" Scarlett said grabbing Neli's hand and heading on through. "Let's run!" Lizabeth said grabbing Riri and Ace's wrists before pulling them through the portal with them.

"Gah, but wait!" Alice said as Zackary and Dietrich held her back, "Hold it Alice!" "Where the fuck is Xenlo and Audri?!" The witch snapped as the two brother glanced at each other nervously.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Andre raised an eyebrow at Kinta before speaking, "I need this bottle since I was asked to by my uncle. He says that he wanted to make sure that Audri didn't drink every last drop. So, I'm making sure!" With that said, Andre stood up and threw the bottle at the wall, shattering into thousands of pieces.

"What the hell Andre?!" Matthew shouted as he looked over at the wall seeing that there was no marks in the wall, but shattered glass on the floor. "Just shut up for a second Matthew," Andre muttered as he went over and picked up the pieces of glass which turned into ashes.

"Damnit, this is bad. Kinta, do you remember how long ago Audri drank this bottle down?" Andre asked as he looked down at the rest of the shattered glass bursting into flames.

 

"Audri went to go do things. . . I forget why though! Later!" Ranma saluted before dashing through the portal himself.

He reemerged in a throne room, pristine and as shiny as the day it was completed. That is, except for the chunk of roof that was missing.

"Wow, what a mess," Ranma whistled, earning him several glares from working Mithra.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kinta was startled by the break, but somehow felt like it wasn't exactly unpredicted either.

"Huh? Oh. . . A week? A couple of weeks? I'm not sure on the time," Kinta told Andre, raising an eyebrow. "On a scale of one to the apocalypse, how bad is this?"

 

"Hey, at least the place is almost cleaned up!" Lizabeth said as Riri and Ace glanced at the heartless girl.

"I don't think we should be he-" "HEY!" One of the working Mithra walked over to Riri growling at her. "For the love of God, can't you go anywhere without getting in trouble?" Scarlett rolled her eyes as Riri squeaked, "I c-can explain!"
"Just save it. You and your friends caused a mess the last time you were here, the least you can do is at least clean up," The Mithra growled as it handed Riri a broom.

"Hah, sucks to be you," Ace snickered as Riri glared at the boy before whacking him over the head with the broom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well, depending how this absorbs into Audri's body, it can be very bad," Andre said as he got up to his feet and looking up at the two.
"What's wrong and what was in that bottle?" Matthew asked as he looked at the demon confused. "Well, the bottle was filled up with blood from a person who should STAY dead, and if the blood reacts to Audri.... It can be bad." Andre said as he went around the room as he started to pace back and forth.

"Well, out of curiosity, who's blood was it Andre?"
"...Altessa White." Andre said as he looked over at them as he went over to the chair holding onto the back, "And she probably got a hold on Audri already, I'm sure of it."

 

"Alright, what are you dumbasses doing back here? Haven't you done enough damage already, jerks?" An incredibly grumpy Vivi spat at them, causing Kuso to shrink back. He leaned over and whispered to the others, "She's been in a bad mood ever since she got back from her last scouting mission, because now she's grounded. I don't know about that ei-"
"I CAN HEAR YOU KUSO YOU SNIVELING WIMP!"
"EEP!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Altessa. . . Arg, I KNOW I've heard that name somewhere before. Why can't I remember these things?!" Kinta cursed, punching a wall. He then growled, "And when she drank that bottle, her Lust Drive activated. Does that make things any worse?"

 

"Now Vivi, you don't have to be crazy right now!" Scarlett said as she went over to the Mithra with a smile on her face.

"Actually, you wouldn't happen to know where your pops and mother is would you? We wanted to ask on how things were for them and if they need help with things around here," Lizabeth said as she went over and stopped Riri from beating Ace from the broom some more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Lust Drive? Ah, no... that's something different," Andre said as he muttered something under his breath. "Um, I know I should keep my nose out of this business Andre, "Matthew said as he interrupted Andre's train of though, "but are you going to tell him anything about your connection to Audri, and to what happened to their memories? I mean, it probably would make sense if you started from the beginning at the least..."

"Bugger off Matt. I'll discuss that on a different manner since I rather save Audri's life first!" Andre snapped at the fox man just as the door opened and Chaos & Zero stood there nervously.

 

"Papa's in the dungeon, doing who knows what down there. I don't know. Don't ask me your stupid questions!" Vivi yowled, to which Kosu chided, "Vivi, they are here to help! Don't beat them up just because they came here!"
A sneer crossed the female's face, the owner of that face hissing, "Well look at Kosu! Finally growing some balls!"

"BOTH OF YOU, SILENCE!" A powerful female voice echoed. It was "Mama". And she did NOT look happy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Zero. . . Didn't I see you back at those Caverns? Oh wait, I was watching from a rooftop, nevermind!" Kinta grumbled, lazily staring at the fox boy. "So now what? I have no idea where Audri is right now, because she went off on her own for some reason."

 

"Well, I'm going to go find pops. Meet me there after you guys are done," Scarlett whispered as she snuck off before the rest of the group met "Mama's wrath".

Riri and Ace slunk back, a little afraid of the woman since it's an animal instinct. Also, the look on her face showed that she was mad enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"She didn't tell you why or where she went off to?" Chaos asked as Zero waved faintly to Kinta before looking around the room curiously.

"Oh, before I forget! There was a note left outside the door." Chaos said as he went over and handed Andre a piece of paper. "You mean HER door?" Andre asked as he snatched the paper from Chaos as the man nodded, "I think you should tell Kinta." "Not now. Not telling him now since I wouldn't be surprised if the guy's head imploded by all of this cluster fucking confusion," Andre said as he got up to his feet and went over to the desk with the neatly piled papers looking for something.

 

"Hey wai-" Ranma called to Scarlett, but was cut off by an impatient mother. One who was saying more words than she ever had to them.
"QUIET. I want to know what you are doing here, immediately!"
Monty was afraid, too. He'd never met the woman before, and to be quite honest she looked like she might eat him at any second. The moogle hid behind Ranma's leg.

But Neli never wavered. Neli stood her ground, barely flinching as the cat barked at her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kinta became annoyed when he heard them talking about him.

"Tell me WHAT?" Kinta snarled, glaring at the others.

 

"We... we wanted to see if we can help out in anyway, and... well," Lizabeth said as she was a tad afraid of the woman standing there.

"I really wish Scarlett was hear right now," Ace groaned as Riri nodded, knowing how the redhead can talk into situations.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scarlett was making her way through the dungeons as she had a small flame over her head. "Shikiri? Are you down here? We need to talk," Scarlett called out as she walked down the dreadful ruins.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Andre slapped his hands down rather hard on the desk before he looked back at Kinta. He took a deep breath before he got his hands off the desk and went over towards Kinta glaring down the man, "If you really want to know, I'm Andre White, I'm the twin brother of Audri White, who doesn't exist because I erased my existence from my family's memory, and anyone who has ever met me. Oh, and speaking of screwing up, I've done a shit load of things which ended up messing up Audri's memory and anyone else who has come in contact with her.

"And if you want to know something else since I'm confessing most of my damn sins, I really REALLY could of killed you, but I've already tried to erase you once, so staying quiet for at least a few minutes will let me think for now and sort all of this shit out." Andre growled as he backed up from Kinta, turned towards the door, and slamming it behind him as he leaned against the door, breathing heavily since he was a little exhausted after his little bitch-rant.

"Well, shit..." Chaos finally said after a minute of silence.

 

Kosu attempted to stammer out a reply, but he could hardly even form proper words in front of the commanding being that was his mother.

"Help? Help what? You fools may have initiated the doom-" The woman began, but thought better of it when she saw the workers on the building staring at her. "Get out of here before I rip out your hearts with my own claws."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Sparkle Beam (See KH2!) lanced out at Scarlett from a passage in the wall, apparently on that was secret until a torch is turned the right way. Which it already was.

"Get the hell out! Something very bad is going to happen!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

". . . Oh my god. . . THE LETTER! Crap, Audri had it? Oh wait, maybe it was. . . crap! Crap!" Kinta babbled, searching his person momentarily. "You didn't do a good enough job of erasing then. There's a letter with your name smudged out, but it still has mention of both of you two! Arg!"

Kinta crashed back into his chair, apparently tired for a moment before standing back up again, with a sharp glare to Andre.
"And don't you dare even try to erase me. I'm more powerful than you can imagine. . ."

 

"Er, now I'm a bit terrified to ask on what we have done," Riri said as Lizabeth stood before the woman, not budging until they found out what's going on.

"Please, tell us what happened. We could probably help so we can see if there is a way to stop it. If we can't, we leave, hopefully alive," Lizabeth said as she tried to pick her words out carefully.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ow, damnit! Does that really- wait, do? What happened?" Scarlett said as she bounced to her feet, wondering what the old Mithra was talking about.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"He left hints like that on purpose so Audri can at least try to remember who he is, or who he was," Chaos mumbled as he closed his eyes trying to concentrate of what just happened. "And besides Kinta, he did erase you. But not the way you're thinking of," Matthew said as he kept an eye on Andre just in case the blonde demon decided to storm off again.

"There... was a fight that Andre and Audri got into a year or two ago. It was over a boy who she was in love with and was dating. He got mad, lashed out on her, and went after him. You should remember now since you've met Andre again, he knows that you were Akira Kinta," Matthew said as he took his glasses to wipe the dirt off of them, "He made you forget about everything about yourself, your relationship with Audri, everything that hides away in your skull."

 

"Not out here. . . Come," The woman commanded in a softer tone, gesturing for them to follow. Several minutes later, they entered a chamber that actually had a ceiling.

"You fools."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Get out! You've already done enough damage!" Shikiri spat, emerging from the treasure room, seen glimmering just past his figure. "You destroy my castle, and now I can't. . . You can't help me! You don't even know what it looks like!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That. . . That was YOUR doing? That was- ARHGH!" Kinta's head throbbed and he nearly fainted, but regained his strength in mere moments, standing up straight. His eyes glowed, the white flames of magik flowing out from them.
"How dare you. How DARE YOU!" He roared, pulling out his fan. Flashing it forward, he launched a wave of pure energy at Andre. "WHAT RIGHT HAVE YOU TO TAKE MY- OUR MEMORIES?!"

 

"Of course, first statments always goes with how stupid you guys are," Lizabeth rolled her eyes as Riri smacked the blonde upside the head, "Shut up Lizzy."

"So, what DID you guys do to make these guys go into a panic?" Ace asked as he eyed the group confused on what's going on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scarlett had looked at him before crossing her arms across her chest, "Try me. I have my friend's boyfriend on a cocky, majik-deranged spree ever since he left this world. So, what is it you're looking for now?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Matthew, Chaos, and Zero saw that this was getting out of hand that they fled through their own respective portals.

"And this is why I didn't want to tell you now," Andre said cooly, not even budging an inch from the waves of energy as he opened the door back to the hallway. "You wanted to know why I did it? Why I stole the memories of all those who knew and loved Audri? I don't even know. I did it out of pure rage, pure hatred for everyone, pure hatred for Audri because she was the one able to live a great life while I'm stuck here with no way of being known as considered human. She was always around people while I can't stick my foot into a world without people making pitchforks to beat my ass with. I was lonely, having no sense of direction, and see where I am now!"
Andre said as he threw his hands up in the air before a smile appeared on his face, "I've done some terrible shit, and Audri is still a great sister after all of this... God, sometimes I feel like dying in a hole, but I know that I can't die now, and neither can you Kinta."

Andre closed his eyes for a moment before he walked towards an enraged Kinta, "But now is the time for us to put our differences aside to save Audri. We have only a week before she does some serious shit that could be her end. And if Altessa gets control of Audri, my sister's death will be on my hands because of what she might be forced to do. I know that if you do love my sister as much as I heard that you do, you'd stop being a damn wanker at the moment and we can decide when you can kick my ass about it later."

 

"Thanks to you imbeciles, a prisoner has escaped. A very DANGEROUS prisoner," Mama growled, sending a glare at the group that sent shivers down the Mithra children's backs. "He's the reason we're down one tribe directly, and the other indirectly. And the reason that Sri has been missing for so long."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Small white ring. Impossible to destroy. " Shikiri blurted, rummaging through the treasure pile. "It's bad news if anybody puts it on."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kinta dropped to the ground, panting, as he forced the magik to fade, emitting sort of a crackle around him as he did so. It took him several minutes before he was back on his feet, with a solemn look on his face.

"I. . . apologize. I'm not sure what came over me there," Kinta said, bowing. "Now, what were you saying about saving Audri?"

 

"Ok, so now we know why we're idiots," Riri muttered as Lizabeth started to walk around the room, "How dangerous can this person be? I mean, how bad is this looking for the world, or universe we're talking here?"

"Probably a high level of danger if he wiped out a tribe," Ace said as Lizabeth came to a stop and turned towards Mama, "Who is this person and what could they possibly do to make you fear for your lives?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The color on Scarlett's face started to drain away as she started to remember the day when she was down here.
The same day that Audri was knocked out during the battle...
The same day that Kinta blew up the castle...
"Shit. Uh, Shikiri! What.. happens when someone puts on the ring?" Scarlett asked meeky as she looked around the treasure room, able to smell the faint scent of Audri's the last time they were here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's ok, I'm just glad that you didn't kick my ass since there's a lot of other people that are waiting already to beat me up," Andre said as a smile flashed onto his face before he got serious again, "We have only a week, no wait, less than that, to save Audri. I know Altessa, and she doesn't do things by coincidence as she planned on driving her claws around the same time that me and Audri are turning 21."

"When is it your birthday?" Matthew asked as he returned through a portal as Andre looked over at the fox man, "In a week. There's this... weird-ass angel thing that if you kill a human, or any species for that matter, before their 21st birthday, they.... Well, I'll give details on that later."

 

"We never actually found out. Shikiri hunted him down a while ago and imprisoned him in something before we did find out. But that is of no consequence. Nobody has tried to find out about him, so we can only imagine he acted alone," The Mithra told them, raising her hands in a shrugging gestures.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I have no idea. Best case? The user hears the voice. Worst case? The mage takes over," Shikiri informed her with a sigh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We'd better hurry then. Do you have a way to track her?"

 

"Right... Hold that thought," Scarlett said as she whipped out a small cellphone and started dialing it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well, that doesn't give us much detail in who this guy is then," Riri said with a sigh before a ringer went off.
"Oh, I think that's mine," Lizabeth said as she pulled a cellphone from in her bra and answered, "What happened Scarlett? And why do you sound like you're panicking?"
Lizabeth listened as the redhead spoke to her on the other line. "Ok, I'll ask." Lizabeth says as she turned to the group, "Does anyone remember Kinta wearing a white ring of some kind these past few days? Apparently, that's what Shikiri is looking for..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"No, but I have the second most closest thing of getting to Audri." Andre said as he grabbed Kinta's wrist before yanking him out of the room and out into the hallway.

"Chaos, Matthew! Can you make sure that the door is locked or not?" Andre called out as Chaos appeared next to the speed-walking demon, "I think it's locked, but the key is still in good condition to open the door." "Ok, that's all I needed to know," Andre said as he stopped at a broken in room as he stepped inside.

"Well, you don't have to come if you don't want to," Andre said glancing back at Kinta before staring straight at the door in front of them, standing right in the middle of the room.

The door was made of white marble while had rose thorns engraved into the door and white feathers on the ground. It seem to give off an French Double Door sort of look as Andre went towards it and looked behind the door. Something about the door gave out a light and mysterious aura, but it seemed comfortable.