Home Again and for Good [Open]

A short burst of a scream filled the quiet office before the sound of the female toppling backwards out of her chair and landing butt first on the floor could be heard. Niala stared upwards at the ceiling, blinking in confusion, as she laid there. Had all of that been nothing but a dream? It couldn't have been... already she could tell she wasn't 'alone' in her own head. It was a voice she had heard in this 'dream' over and over again, but now she was sure she was very much awake; it was the spirit phoenix she had helped rescue from some sadistic cave with Jr. a good long while back. The spirit phoenix, who was for the moment causing Niala to glow a soft purple color, was asleep and mumbling in her sleep about some silly thing or another.


She found herself thinking back to that dimension, and all of the confusion that resided there. The Gods liked to play games, change things, constantly. The shinobi, trained from birth to fight were nothing but cowards with a whole bunch of power but no real skill or urge to use it. Those they had stumbled across who wanted to use it had ended up joining them: lured in by the actual idea that they weren't just sitting on something they would never have a chance to use. She then thought about this supposed 'brother' or 'twin' she had over there and a shudder ran through her: one of disgust. As the thought of what happened in that warehouse flashed through her mind the pain of what had been done to her became almost real for a moment - as did the disgust of finding out that less than twenty-four hours after she had been kidnapped and tortured not only had her brother been promoted but he had gone to the bar to drink. Leaving Niala alone. Leaving Niala to the demons in her head.

No wonder things had turned out the way they had.

No wonder she had left. Returned to the person or persons she considered her 'true' family. She might not have been related to the Kane's by blood, but they were as close to a family as she had ever had, and likely ever would have.

"God... thinking about that place makes my brain feel like it's going to explode in my skull.", she said out loud, staring upwards at the ceiling. She hadn't, up until that point, bothered looking around to see if anyone else was around, if anyone else had left: surely all of them would bail around the same time - none of them had really been able to stand it there any longer, or so she had thought.

What a joke.

Traveling to a dimension full of so-called ninjas who sat on their asses afraid of conflict would have been a total waste of time if not for everything he learned and gained over there. How to build magical weapons. Two special eyes that allowed him to pretty much fuck over whoever he looked at. A Symbiote that protected him and allowed him to transform into whoever he thought of. Not to mention of host of new abilities.

He made a lot of new friends too, but everything else beyond that was a joke. He kidnapped people close to most of those powerhouses, but none of them did a damn thing. He bombed cities and killed innocent civilians who tried to sop him, but the leaders? None of them did a damn thing. What happens in the end? Most of those weaklings wanted to make alliances or choose to “just stay out of it.”

What a fucking joke.

So the decision was made that after 5 years it was finally time to go home. He told the people of Makkura that the entire village would be transported to another world. Half of them didn't believe it, but Alec just grinned. He told the friends he'd made good bye and that they were welcome to come along for the ride if they wanted, and back through the dimensional door he stepped.

Still in his Makkura garb and blindfolded, even though he didn't have to be since here, there was no chakra drain or any of the limitations in that joke dimension, he walked back into his office, still the way he'd left it 5 years earlier. His Blind Fury Walking Stick still in hand, he walked behind his desk and took a seat, sighing, satisfied to be back home. He heard what Niala said and simply shook his head.

”It wasn't all bad, I mean, we all learned some new things, abilities, and gained some new partners. Jr has that phoenix spirit Hi No See-something, and I still have my symbiote pal here. Everything beyond that is just laughable at best. Bombing, kidnapping, murders... And no one tries to stop me. I'll be damned if someone takes my loved ones against my will and I just sit in my office scared shitless.”

"I dunno, that was pretty bad - not the worst situation I've ever been in, but bad nonetheless. But I can totally see under the ground now, and a lot clearer than I ever could over there. This'll make keeping my eye on things around here a lot easier - no one will be able to hide anything, and I can see even past Sunset Island.", came Dez's voice as she walked into the office. She raised her hand, pushing long silvery hair out of the way, before itching at her own blind fold, a strip of cloth that was of a soft cotton material, she had wrapped around her otherwise useless eyes.

She was glad not to be a ten year old little girl again: she had gone through that time and time again, and so she was glad to be an adult once more - it was weird having your daughter technically older than you in another dimension. Dez walked over to Niala and picked the female up, putting her back into the chair she had fallen out of. After she released the female she paused and tilted her head. "You... have something inside of you. I'm going to assume it's the phoenix spirit. It feels friendly.."

She then walked over to her usual spot against the window, and off to the left of her father's desk, and leaned against the window: as if this were simply any other day and they hadn't spent five years in some other dimension. Yup, business as usual for her. Her arms folded across her chest and she got comfortable. A content sigh escaped her. "Ah, this is much better... as much as I enjoyed my childhood, and getting to do it more than once... really glad I'm an adult again."

Niala chuckled softly as Dez walked in and then picked her up and put her back into her chair as if it were nothing at all. She reached forward, placing her hands on her electronic desk and 'awakening' it from the sleep mode it had been in for a while. The top glowed softly, waiting for use. She then concentrated for a moment on an empty section of her desk and a cup of hot chocolate appeared. She let out a happy laugh and picked it up, immediately sipping it.

"Mmmmm, I didn't mind it over there so much... well." She frowned, thinking back to the torture she could clearly remember. "Let me rephrase that. I didn't mind it over there after I got to Makurra and didn't have to worry about some group of thugs... just yeah.." She felt the phoenix begin to wake up inside of her, her body glowing a slightly brighter shade of purple. She looked down at herself, distracted. "... Can we cut the glowing down, I feel like a lightbulb." A snicker of a sound could be heard around her, feminine in sound and coming from the phoenix spirit inside of her,  as the glow disappeared.

"Much better.", she said before taking another sip of her hot chocolate. "Hmm, I wonder where Avery will appear. She talked about destroying Shinkai... even if there's a chance Houjin and Natalie will appear and try and stop her."

”Pfft... I don't know who this Houjin fella is, but if he's anything like that Natalie chick, he's nothing to worry about. I killed that Uchiha dude Izanagi right in front of her and gouged out his eyes, and she didn't do shit but ask me did I want some fucking tea. I basically gave her the finger and walked out. She even had a whole squad of dudes with automatic weapons and she just let me walk out. Then as a further fuck you, I kidnap Avery, who I soon learn is one of her closest friends. She didn't come after her or even try to find out what happened. Her and that father of hers, Squall? Both of them are some fucking retards. I doubt that chick ever comes back here, and if she does, she just gonna sit on her ass and guzzle tea just like last time.”

Alec reached forward and typed several commands into the invisible keyboard on his desk, after resting the stick sword next to him. Holographic TV's appeared before him. He missed the sight of cameras linked everywhere within Edge City. Crime was still rampant. Alec almost rejoiced at the sight of conflict, something that other world didn't have.

Alec turned to look at his old dufflebag. Unzipping it he could see all of his weapons, including The Devil Gun, were still there. Having built 2 special swords, and learned many different deadly abilities over in that other world, he decided to leave the guns where the were for now. With the things he'd learned, he didn't really need them.

He settled into the leather recliner, the smell of the building and the office in his nose, a smell he enjoyed and had known since he was a small child. Alec wondered where his father Darkman was. Having just got back, he knew his father would be able to feel him. Alec expanded a screen to see Jr and Holeman returning over on Sunset Isle. Holeman had a lot of people with him, so he figured that he must have brought his family and his entire clan with him. Alec himself didn't mind at all, and was prepared to put them up in the Tower somewhere if they wanted.

Dez remained up against the window for a moment; taking note of her brother and Holeman arriving and the load of people Holeman had with him. She assumed it was his family and clan and grinned. She found herself wondering who else would end up coming over from that world. Would that dragon girl, Amara, suddenly show up? Dez figured they would likely run into her eventually: no one with that much power would be able to stay in that world for long, not without going crazy. Surely that couldn't be a good feeling: sitting there on all of that power with nothing to do, nothing to use it for.

"Hmm. I think I'mma go wander... perhaps run over to Sunset and see where Holeman's people want to stay, and make sure Amaranth made it back alright."

With that she turned and walked out of the tower: via the window. She simply walked out onto the air, stood there long enough to close the window behind her, and then took off, wings erupting from her back as she shot off towards Sunset island.

-Exit-

Demi blinked as she walked into her father's office. The cause for the blinking? Her reflection. The reflection that showed that somewhere between the other dimension and this one she had reverted back to a child - a pretty young child too, she looked about six years old. She had been wondering why everything had looked differently, but had figured it had something to do with the Sharingan she was still sprouting since arriving. Now she knew.

Why she was a child? She had no idea. Perhaps this was God's way of giving her another shot. Her first childhood had been pretty shitty. She was made Alec's daughter as an adult. Perhaps this was God's way of giving her a second chance at a good childhood. She wasn't going to question it too far - her child-like mind wouldn't allow her to anyway.

She took in her reflection a little more: her hair silver white in color, eyes a silver in color, hair messily hanging around her face. A gray hoodie on with a wide hood, a white shirt beneath that, and some gray sweat pants and sneakers. A lot more appropriate than she had been dressed the first few times she had shown up in this office. Giving a shrug she skipped her way the rest of the way into the office, giggling. "Dunno why I'm little, but I'm little!", she said, her voice that of a child's. She glanced up at her halo and flicked it gently, causing it to make a soft ding of a sound.

With the sound ringing out in the air softly she skipped around her father's desk and over to him. "Apparently I get another chance at being little since the first time I was little it sucked." She took note of Destiny heading off towards Sunset Island, of Niala having returned. She figured everyone else had too: no one wanted to stay over in that other world any longer, and without the family being there it wasn't worth it anymore.

Niala took another sip of her hot chocolate as she watched Demi enter, her form altered greatly. Her head tilted to the side and she took another sip, watching the girl go over to her father before looking back to Alec. "I think that's why Avery thinks she's just going to destroy it. She said she really wants nothing to do with it: it wouldn't be the same after being leader of Makurra for so long. Plus, I think she was rather disappointed... they were her friends but no one came looking for her, and they both were in that other world. Zansho told me her cousin was named Houjin - it doesn't seem like a popular name so I can only assume it was the same guy."

Niala shrugged. "I'm sure they won't show up over here again, either. If they do, and Avery does what she plans on, they're going to come back to a crater, or something similar  Not really sure what her powers are like here..."

A tall man of 7 feet dressed in black clothing came walking into the office. He normally struck fear into those that didn't know him, but he knew this wouldn't be the case here. He was wearing a black trench and a pair of dark sunglasses that he seemingly never took off. A cigarette hung limply from his lips. He seemed to look a bit confused at all of the people in the office, when previously the room had been empty for about 5 years.

After stopping in front of the desk he took note of the female with the cloth around her eyes jumping out of the window, who had to be Destiny. Niala, he recognized easily enough, but there was another small child he didn't recognize at first sight, but he could feel that she was part of the family. Last but not least, of course, there was Alec, but he looked different too. He also had a cloth wrapped around his eyes, and was dressed like a character from Star Wars.

”Everyone disappears and falls off of the face of the earth for about 5 years, then all of a sudden everyone just... appears. I like to think I was the expert at pulling vanishing acts, but this time I will admit I am totally stumped. You and Destiny have your eyes covered up, those clothes you have on... don't seem to be clothes at all, the little girl there has the same blood as you, but I don't recognize her, and there's a crowd of people over on Sunset Isle... Oh yes, i'm sure this will be an interesting tale.”

Darkman reached over the desk to press several button on the invisible keyboard. One of the comfortable chairs rose up from the floor, and Darkman took a seat in it. Darkman also grabbed an ashtray from the desk, flicking ashes from his cigarette into it.

Avery... what was she going to do now, then? She planned on blowing up Shinkai like Squall planned on doing before that ghost showed up and pulverized him. Would she come here afterwards, then? Had she even come back here yet? As far as those other two went, her so-called friends, he wasn't worried about them either, not even in the slightest.

Dez jumped out of the window to go and greet Holeman's clan before Demi walked in as a child. Alec looked like he was squinting to get a better look at her even though he was blindfolded. He knew that sometimes there were accidents when traveling between worlds, and this appeared to be one of them. It wasn't anything to really be concerned about; Demi had a second chance and being a child, he figured. If she wanted to be grown again, now that they were back home where they belonged, Alec knew that someone could provide the means for her to be accelerated back to her original size, but she seemed content with being a kid once more.

Then in walked his father Darkman. While saying what he said, Alec rolled himself a “Cigar.” bringing a lighter to it, he took several large inhales, quickly fogging the area surrounding him with green smoke while leaning back in the leather recliner chair.

”A good thing you sat down, it's gonna take a minute to get all of this out... So one day I got bored, right? You remember Spook, the ninja guy with the gas mask who is really another me, and the blind kid Holeman? They would tell me about where they were from sometimes, about how over there people were trained since they were kids to kill and use magical ninja tricks. When they decided to go home, I went with them. I mean, they're ninjas, right? There's gotta be some wars and people jumping out of trees shooting fireballs and whatnot at each other, right?... Wrong. Over there, you got these “Super” ninja with all of these incredible powers and abilities who do nothing but sit on their asses all day writing rules and barking orders.

The old CS me came back to the surface and I decided to shake up that world, see what fell out. I appeared in this village called Hana. I guess at the time it was the most advanced of all the villages in that world. They had a “Weapons Technician” program there that I quickly mastered. The leader there was some arrogant asshole type who thought he couldn't be touched, and had this thing for trying to pick on people who he thought was weaker than him. So, I decided to try him out. Before I left the village I bombed the buildings where the leaders live. Leaving a village in that dimension without permission makes you what's called a “Missing-Nin,” and other ninja in the village get the green light to come hunt you down to either bring you back or kill you to prevent that village's secrets being leaked out into the world. Sad to say, no one came after me.”

Alec slid the glowing Kane Katana across the desk toward his father, along with his Blind Fury Stick Sword.

”Amaranth, who's called Mitsukai over there, and the blind kid Holeman, they went on a journey up north into the unknown and discovered a long forgotten village called Kori. I took a visit up there, and she let me use a Blacksmith's shop to make the Katana there. I imagine that it's much more powerful now that we're back home. After that, I took a visit to a village in the desert where Holeman and Mitsukai are from called Yokuchi. That's where the drama actually started...”

Demi looked over to Darkman as he entered, her head tilting to the left in curiosity as she blinked. She watched him make a chair appear and take a seat and then looked over to Niala to see her drinking something that smelled rather sweet, and looked delicious. She practically bounced her way over to Niala as she listened to Darkman and Alec begin to speak and poked her gently before pointing at the cup: a silent way of asking for one without interrupting the story that was being told.

She offered Niala a 'please' type smile and then waited to see if she would give Demi some. Demi's stomach growled and gurgled softly and she looked down at her belly, blinking. She poked it several times and made a "Shhhh!" of a sound.

Niala watched Darkman enter and then looked over to Alec. She had heard bits and pieces of the story that was beginning to be told but she hadn't, even in five years, actually listened to the whole thing from front to back: it was definitely something she wanted to listen to. She leaned back comfortably in her chair, her cup of frozen hot chocolate still in her hand, and sipped at it quietly through a straw.

As Demi poked her she looked to the much younger female in time to see her gesture and smile. A grin spread across Niala's face. With a little bit of focus she manifested a large cup of frozen hot chocolate, and upon hearing Demi's belly begin to growl, she made some freshly baked chocolate chip cookies appear that were perfectly warm - and just the right bit of gooey. Not the best choice of food, but it would do for now: especially because the warm gooey cookies were the perfect compliment to the drink she had made appear for Demi.

She then returned to listening to the story and lounging comfortably in her own chair. Taking a sip from time to time of her drink; still focused on the story, while thinking about her own story since she had entered into the other dimensions version of herself's head. She couldn't help but think that if that 'twin' ever showed up she would likely slaughter him... and she wasn't a violent person, nor one to ever abuse her power. But, she would break her own personal rules for that...

Spook, an alternate dimension's version of Alec. He'd seen the guy several times. Darkman had also heard about the blind kid with the rag tied over his eyes. Who was he in this other dimension? Perhaps he'd never know.

Alec went to this dimension apparently to find that the majority of ninja, trained since childhood, were perpetrators and show-offs. His Chaos Squad mentality returned and he decided to cause some trouble just as he and Ness used to all those years ago in Onett. He learned how to build magical weapons and became a criminal. It all came as no surprise, but the story was getting interesting nonetheless.

”Seems like you did a lot of traveling in this dimension, but it still doesn't explain why you and Destiny have your eyes covered, and your clothes seem to have a life of their own...”

”I'm getting to that dad, be patient... Where was I?... Yokuchi, ok. Before I left Hana I ran into Destiny, who'd been turned into a little girl again. She'd been pulled over there against her will though, and she was part of the Holeman clan. The Holemans are blind but they can see through Chi, or Chakra as they call it over there, and all of them have something that covers their eyes. That's why Dez is blindfolded. The Chi eyes are actually kinda better than using real eyes. It's how I can see now too, i'll get to that. Destiny came with me to Yokuchi and learned some martial arts moves from Holeman. While they trained, I took a visit to the local bar. By this time they had wanted posters up for me and this bounty on my head for 200k.

“Some of the scum of the village came into the bar and tried to claim the bounty, but they weren't ready, and ended up on the floor bleeding. The “Kage,” or Boss of the village came in next, and after a short exchange with him he was on the floor missing a leg and bleeding to death. One of his little foot soldiers was waiting for me outside, but Dez got the drop on him and paralyzed him.

The lackey was a part of a special clan in that dimension called “Uchiha.” These guys were the most notorious clan in their history, because when some of them have a near death experience, special powers activate in their eyes that basically let you pretty much rape someone just by looking at them. These eyes can also be taken from them and transferred into other people's eye sockets.”

Alec took the blindfold off then, blinking, letting his Sharingan eyes adjust to the light after being covered for so long. He wondered how his father would take the knowledge that he'd gouged out someone else's eyes and put them into his own head.

”The right eye belonged to the lackey. I was going to start a rivalry of sorts with the kid, but I never saw him again. The left one belonged to another Uchiha I ran into, i'll get to that soon. The kid Holeman, he's also a genius medic; I had him do the surgery. Over there, a Non-Uchiha with these eyes has to work extra hard to use the powers in them, so the strain is extra. A Uchiha can activate and deactivate them at will, when a Non-Uchiha can't, so when they're not using them a Non-Uchiha has to keep them covered. That's why mine were covered.

“The next stop on our little journey was a village called Niwa... it's actually longer than that, but we're just gonna call it Niwa. That's where we ran into Demi here. I'd heard a rumor about a clan of intelligent Apes, and how they gave some of their power to those they deemed worthy. I was about to go and see if the rumors were true, until the leader of Hana called me out. Izanagi was his name, and he was also a Uchiha. So back to Hana I went...”

Frozen hot chocolate and warm and gooey chocolate chip cookies? Niala was one of her new favorite people, likely for forever. She whispered a "Thank you!", and then picked up her drink and the cookies from Niala's desk. With both in her hands she looked around for a moment and then wandered over to a nearby couch. She carefully climbed up on it, being careful not to drop any cookies or spill any of her drink. Once situated she focused back in on the story that her father was telling.

She brought a cookie to her mouth and took a bite of it: the delicious taste reaching her tongue and the warmth of the cookie spreading through her - Niala would be an awesome cookie baking grandmother when she got older, if she could actually get older. Once that bite was chewed and swallowed she took a sip of her frozen hot chocolate and than began to repeat the process as she listened to everything that had happened to Alec over in that other dimension of scaredy cat ninja.

As Alec neared the part about Izanagi she grinned and listened closer. She pushed her untidy silvery white colored hair out of her face, revealing one eye that matched Alec's and the other which was silver. With her face uncovered for the moment by her hair she shoved another bite of a cookie in her mouth and went back to her food and drink, still listening intently.

She watched as Demi grabbed up the cookies and the frozen hot chocolate after saying thanks and then wandered herself over to the couch where she carefully attempted to sit without spilling or dropping anything. Niala was ready to imagine anything away that might have dropped or spilled, but apparently Demi still had those awesome ninja skills that kept anything from getting on the couch or floor.

So, she focused her attention back to Alec and the story that he was telling. A lot had happened over in that other world when it was all broken down, so she was sure he still had a long way to go: especially because the creation of Makurra had yet to even start up - that was what she was most curious to hear about. That, and what Alec was doing in Niwa when he had stumbled across her being tortured.

She brought her cup of frozen hot chocolate to her mouth and took another sip: pulling up nothing but air she frowned and looked inside of it. It was empty. Rolling her eyes she concentrated on the cup once more and it filled itself right back up, whipped cream on top drizzled with hot fudge and all. Satisfied she smiled and went back to sipping her drink and listening - she had missed her frozen hot chocolate back in that other world...

The Holeman people could use chi energy to see. The idea of that was intriguing to Darkman. Perhaps he'd meet this Holeman kid and get him to explain it to him. Destiny was somehow part of the Holemans, and no longer needed eyes to see. It appeared that Alec could see that way too? Yet he had these new red eyes that had powers in them; powers that he could feel. Uchiha's, he said...

So Alec got into a fight with the Boss of the desert Village and cut off his leg. He plucked an eye from someone's head, and had the Holeman kid do a transplant surgery. Alec had 2 of them, but the story of how he got the other one was surely coming up next. The Uchihas could turn them on and off, but a Non-Uchiha's eyes were always active and taxing, so when not using them they had to be kept covered. Darkman already figured out that Alec must have had the Holeman kid see with eyes made of chi, but Alec would probably explain that next as well.

The girl there, that had an eye that was the same as the one in Alec's left socket, that was Demi? And she was a child again. It must have had something to do with traveling between worlds. Darkman wasn't surprised. With all of the drama the girl suffered 5 years earlier, perhaps another chance is what she deserved. Darkman flicked ashes into the tray and waited for the next parts of this interesting ninja story.

”Izanagi?... That's a strange name. You go back to Hana, kill him, and the end credits roll, right? Fast forward to the part where you get the funky new threads.”

”You know dad, for someone as old as you are, you act like a little kid sometimes! Lemme tell you the whole story already, be patient!... Now. I went back to Hana. Some of the people recognized me from the last time I was there, and from the wanted posters. Some of them tried to stop me, but they died. I guess in my time away, Izanagi had been kicked off of staff as leader. There was this girl in charge of things now, named Natalie. She's the daughter of Squall, that moron that was chasing after that sick chick, Himitsu? Went to her city and started leveling the place, then gets his ass handed to him by that ghost?... Anyway, she's there, drinking tea; has this firing squad with automatic weapons waiting nearby. I thought she was about to try something, but then Izanagi shows up.

“The fight didn't last long. I guess he just didn't know what he was up against, and had his throat slashed. Before he died his eyes activated -- as I said already, he was a Uchiha – so I took those too. Natalie does nothing about me murdering one of her people right in front of her except offer me some of that damn tea, just like she tried to do when she was here. I basically gave her the finger and walked out after gouging out Izanagi's eyes. She does nothing to try and stop me.

“On the way out, there was this girl... I don't know what came over me, but there was something about her; I had to take her away from that place. When I snatched her, she didn't try to fight me off, so I started thinking it was just meant to be or something. Her name was Avery... turns out she was one of Natalie's closest friends. Natalie made no attempt to come after me, (Remember, i'm still a Missin-Nin from Hana, which she was in charge of, a bomber, terrorist and murderer) investigate the disappearance of her close friend, nothing.

“I took her with me back to Niwa, and we all got a room in an inn because Dez and Demi were hiding in a tree. I gave one of the eyes to Demi, and Dez started the surgery. While that went on I started to roam around. Came across yet another Uchiha, I forget his name. Xio or some homo shit like that. At first I thought i'd just play around with him. I'd already given 2 of these Uchiha a near death experience/ emo moment, so I figured i'd give it a try again. Was kind of fun to see them get all riled up. That's when I catch wind of Niala here being held hostage in a nearby warehouse, and also to the fact that Xio is her brother over there. So we mount a rescue attempt, and I got the chance to practice an ability I learned called “Lightning Release Armor.” I don't have Angelic Speed over there, and this was the closest thing to it, not to mention the protection it offers should someone get lucky enough to hit me. We smash the guys holding her hostage and get her out of that hell hole. Xio starts talking this hero shit, “I know you're a criminal but you helped rescue my sister, so i'll let you go” or some nonsense along those lines – as if he could have really stopped me if he tried -  but in the process the both of them manage to awaken their eyes in the chaos. That story goes on to reveal more bullshit, but Niala can tell you about that if she wants...

“I took another trip to Yokuchi out in the desert. Holeman transplants the other eye into my head and teaches me his clan's radar, or “Chakra Eyes” as they call it. I went back to Niwa and found that Dez had successfully put Izanagi's other eye into Demi's head, but it appeared that she died in surgery.

“Now, there's something you have to understand about these eyes. It takes a near death experience or a really stressful moment to activate them in their default mode, which is with just one of these dots around the pupil, called Tomoe. To get the other 2, a person has to undergo 2 other stressful/emo moments, but there's an even more powerful mode to these eyes that activates when a loved one dies.”

The 3 Tomoe within Alec's eyes begin to spin, and transform into pinwheels. It wasn't as taxing as it was back in that other dimension, and Alec can barely feel any strain at all.

”This is what's called the Mangekyo Sharingan. When these eyes get activated, the user gets all 3 Tomoe instantly. While we thought Demi was dead, she had a dream in which she thought we were dead too. It was all a trick played on all of us by an alter ego inside of Demi's head, but the process wasn't all bad. It activated a secret power between Demi and me; gave us access to a special dimension. I can look at something and drag it inside, but Demi has to be touching it. Her version is also a little better than mine because she can use it to avoid almost any attack.

”So, this is around the time that I decided to give up looking for the apes in the forest, and learned how to cast illusions on people from Demi after she'd woken up again. This is also the time that we decided to take over a village and use it as a headquarters, since this running around and hiding in hotels thing wasn't going to keep working since there were posters of me everywhere. So, we set our sights on a Village called Makkura, located in a place called The Land of Shadows...”

Demi frowned and suddenly put down her frozen hot chocolate at the mention of Niala's twin; setting the glass down on the table, and not having to worry about the cookies since they were all warming up her belly at the moment - though, that didn't matter as she felt an icey cold chill go up her spine. When Demi had heard of what had happened to Niala, had listened to all of the gruesome details, including what had happened next when her brother had been promoted and had gone to go drink a bar.... well, it brought out some sort of violence in Demi. Some sort of intense hatred towards the male who should have protected his sister, not abandoned her.

She looked over at Niala, knowing that even now the knowledge of it all affected her: and it likely always would. She climbed off of the couch and wandered her way over to Niala. She paused about halfway there, her nose wiggling as if it itched. "HAAAACHOOOO!" Wings burst out of her back as she sneezed, thankfully not knocking anything over: however, feathers flew everywhere, causing them to rain on Niala since she was closest to her.

Demi stared at the sight and giggled. "Oops!" She plucked a few of the bright white feathers out of the air as they slowly drifted downwards and then wandered the rest of the way to Niala. She hugged the larger female and smiled. "Don't worry, no one can do those things to you here... they'd never get close enough.", she whispered softly. She then smiled again at the female before looking to all of the feathers in her hand. She wandered back over to the couch and sat back down. She picked her cup up of frozen hot chocolate and started sipping at it again, returning to listening to the story.

Niala listened Alec detailed how he had killed Izanagi in front of the new leader of Hana, and how the female - someone who had tried to get him to drink some tea here all those years ago, and who was the daughter of that Squall character - had simply offered him a cup of tea instead of doing something to defend her people, or attacking. Niala could only shake her head, taking yet another sip of her drink afterwards.

She listened as Alec spoke about how he had kidnapped Avery on the way out, and then returend to Niwa. Then onto Xio, and how he had been trying to fuck with him when Alec had realized that Niala was being held captive. As he told that part of the story next she pictured it all in her mind; the violence that had come from them seeing her tied to that chair, broken, bloody, and burned. She had been very, very happy to get out of there.

She then listened as Alec spoke next of going back to Yokuchi, of Holeman preforming his own surgery and teaching him the Chakra Eyes. About how he returned to Niwa again to find that Demi had apparently died, but how it was nothing but a trick played by the other Demi in her head. How that had caused their eyes to transform further; giving them a whole new lethal ability.

Niala looked up as she saw Demi move over towards her, and blinked as the female sneezed, causing feathers to fly everywhere. She couldn't help but giggle, which caused her to forget all about Xio for the moment. She returned the younger female's hug and couldn't help but grin: she knew no one would be able to touch her here, and that they'd be stupid to try. That situation would never again repeat itself: but Demi saying it caused her to nod, feeling better. "I know.", she whispered back before releasing the child and watching her return to her drink. She focused back on Alec's story, waiting for him to begin his explanation of Makurra.

Darkman couldn't help but to laugh some when Alec reacted the way he did. But everything made sense now, seeing those strange eyes, and hearing that he had to keep them covered when he wasn't using them. Like he thought, Alec returned to Hana and killed the leader Izanagi, in front of the daughter of the individual who used to work for Alec, whom himself got killed by a spirit of revenge. Nasty business that was.

His attention was grabbed at the revelation of a girl. A girl he kidnapped, and made no attempt to escape. Yes, he went back to Niwa, and he and Demi had eyes put into their heads, and Alec rescued Niala from her own form of kidnappers, and so fourth and so on, but this girl, Avery was her name?... Alec finally let go of the hope that Sunaro was ever coming back from where ever it was she went, then?

He listened to Alec explain the strange powers of these eyes and the strange way of activating them, listened to him describe the strange power that he and Demi now shared. The 4 of them decide to take over a village called Makkura...

”Avery, huh? Haven't seen you look and speak about any female since the likes of Sunny... what about her, then?...”

Alec wasn't really expecting his father to drop that bomb. It made him frown some and look at his invisible keyboard. Alec had come to the conclusion that she was gone, never coming back, happy and content where ever she was out in space now. But that wasn't to say that he liked it.

”Sunny... she's gone, dad. Maybe she found some of her fellow birds out in space or something. Maybe she got tired of being married to a gun toting psycho. It hurts, but... all wounds heal up eventually...”

Alec wasn't really the type to get emotional. At least, he tried not to be. He didn't want to talk about that situation, so he continued on with his ninja tale.

”...Anyway, me and Avery went to Makkura. It was a dump, run by drunks and scum. With a little... “Convincing,”... me and Avery got them to join up with us and start fixing the village. There was this tower in the center of the village; it reminded me a lot of this one. No one had gotten into it in like 30 years because the bridge inside was stuck, and there's this moat that surrounds it that's bottomless. I managed to get it open. The place was pretty amazing. All kinds of secret passages and rooms. It was in one of these secret rooms that I found this Symbiote. It bound itself to me and now I can control it. It lets me transform into anyone I think of, and when i'm in trouble it forms armor. Everyone started wearing purple, and we started calling our thing we had going “The Dark.”

“There was this girl, Amara I think her name was. She had a dragon sealed inside of her. She was so powerful that all it took was a sneeze and she wiped out an entire village. I decided that I had to have something like that, just in case one of the other villages decided to go to war with us... a laughable thought now. So I kidnapped her... Dez looked her over in the lab that was on the lower levels of the tower and that's how we found out that she had a dragon in her. Afterwards we let her go... I kidnapped another girl that was close to the Boss of Niwa, and a clone of the Demi of that world, Aisling; his name was... Hiro-something? Made a ransom demand. Amara's father, my people told me his name was... Rai-something. Raijin? Homotastic name, I know. I guess this guys was supposed to be the feared “God of lighting” or some bullshit, and this other guy, Hiroyuki? He was supposed to be the pinnacle of illusions. Even with me kidnapping people close to them, neither did a damn thing. I wasn't going to hurt the kid, and she actually started liking it in Makkura. It took Aisling showing up herself to smooth things out.

“I think it was around this time that Jr showed up thinking we were all dead. He read some books in the libraries in the tower and found out about a phoenix spirit out in the desert. I don't know all of the details of that tale, but he managed to convince the phoenix to join with him, so Jr is now just like the dragon girl Amara. I think this is also the time some of the villages decided to hold a peace conference, one of them being Yokuchi, where I cut the leader's leg off. Him, and the new leader of the snow village Kori showed up to make alliances. Those other clowns? Hiroyuki? Raijin? Natalie? All decided to stay out. There isn't much more to tell beyond this... everybody either wanted to remain neutral or wanted peace. So 5 years of no action go by, and I finally got tired of those cowards and weaklings. You have all of these incredible powers at your disposal but you're too afraid to use them? I might as well go home...”