Sage opened her eyes to a vast, infinite desert that stretched off in every direction. The great domes that marked the cities of Mercy were nowhere to be seen. The city under siege that she had fought so hard to protect was gone. Somehow, she was suddenly in the middle of nowhere.
Fortunately, at least, the inconsolable rage that had gripped her had slipped away, and the real Sage seemed to have returned to the surface. It offered little comfort amidst her new predicament, however.
“Vad?!” she shouted, suddenly not interested in the mechanics of how she arrived in the desert, or why her foreign anger had suddenly dematerialized. “Vad?!”
This made no sense! She was just about to kill the mother of the Mershikali - the bizarre, monstrous creatures that had stormed the capital of Mercy-Sei, and she had been whisked away into the middle of the desert!
...The leader did it. She must have. Vad vanished first, then her. It split them up, to keep them from regrouping to come back for her. To keep them lost.
And she was lost.
The sand dunes stretched to forever and seemed to spin around her. She felt sick. All those people who had been mutated, corrupted by the Mershikali... or killed by them... and Sage couldn’t help them. But, then... they were lost already. She just hoped the damage she did to the beast would be enough to give her friends a chance.
In the desert, there was no frame of reference. No coasts to follow, or forests to orient you. Just like the ocean, the only way to navigate was by the stars, and there were none to be seen for Sage under the hot midday sun. An ocean of sand.
Determined to get back to the city somehow, the girl picked a direction, and walked. She could only hope that she wasn’t getting herself more lost as she trekked up and down sand dunes in what she hoped was a straight line. Although she had heard stories of people going around in circles for days in the desert, there was simply no other option. There was nothing here.
- - - - -
She had only been walking for about an hour or so, but she was exhausted. Sweat soaked her clothes and matted her hair, and her lungs burned from exertion. Hiking was one thing; hiking through sand something else altogether.
Finally, in a fit of frustration, Sage expelled a frigid bubble around her, sending the temperature just around her plummeting. A tiny patch of ice formed over the sand beneath her, and followed along with her as she walked. The frost she left behind melted almost immediately, under the sun’s harsh glare.
- - - - -
Night was beginning to fall. Finally, Sage thought. She had been keeping up her cold bubble all day long, and needed to rest. Instantly, the sub-zero shield that had been protecting her dispersed, and she was assailed by the desert’s evening heat. But it would get cold soon... as soon as the sun was gone for the night.
The girl plopped down onto the sand, taking a moment to relax for the first time today. Her whole body felt like concrete; everything was stiff and difficult to move. And there was still nothing everywhere.
Just a town! Even some frontier village! Anything, so she could just find out where she was! Was she even still on Mercy-Sei?!
Sage held out her palms so she could look at them. In one hand, she manifested a snowball, and in the other, an icicle. Simplistic objects, but she was still deeply disturbed by them. She had made a vow never to use her elemental powers since that day...
It wasn’t even the first time she had broken her promise. During the Friend or Foe tournament, she had used them in desperation, after she had no longer been able to suppress them anyway. But this time... this time, she had sought them out.
Placing her head in her hands, she began to sob. It was just too much. Friend or Foe, rescuing Trixie from Frost, then the monsters on Mercy-Sei... it was too much. And now... now that she had broken her vow...
No, he’s dead. It’ll never happen again. Xenia said so, she reassured herself. Didn’t do much good, though. The weight of the world sat on little Sage’s shoulders in the darkening desert, alone with her fears.
- - - - -
The girl opened her eyes, and suddenly found the world on its side. She must have fallen asleep. The diminutive quarter saiyan righted herself, and the desert went back to the bottom of the horizon.
She brushed herself off. Or tried to. “Stupid sand...”
“Nowhere else to sleep?”
Sage nearly jumped out of her skin. The azure haired girl whirled around, and came face-to-face with the clean-cut man in the suit. The man who had been manipulating her for the past few months.
“Wh-What do you want?!” she exclaimed, balling her hands into fists. “I’m through d-doing stuff for you!!”
“Indeed,” came the reply. “I didn’t come here to coerce you into working for my... employers. Not this time.”
“Then why?” Sage demanded through clenched teeth. Her normally compassionate, rose colored eyes contained only hatred for this man.
“Because... one of my... employers has failed to... compensate me for my efforts,” the suit-wearing man explained. “He was the one who had... interest in you. Like you, he is... displaced... in time.”
“What?” the girl’s eyes softened. Confusion seemed to shroud the fiery anger. The aging man in the suit smiled a sinister smile.
“Yes... you’re interested to know how any of this could be your... problem,” he drew the last word out. “You know him. And I intend to receive compensation... one way, or another.”
“Why would I help you?” Sage demanded, using her Chillrend technique to fabricate claws of ice over her hands. She fought to hide her tears. “I’m not afraid of you anymore!”
“You will help me, because you have... stake in my employer,” came the reply. The man fished a small device from his pocket, clicked the solitary button on it, and tossed it to the ground. It bounced, despite the sand, before sinking into the grains.
A hologram appeared above the tiny projector, of a man.
Sage recoiled so fiercely, that she tripped backward and collapsed. “No!!” she shouted, her eyes wide with fear. “No! He’s dead!! I- I watched him die!!”
“Your sister sabotaged his vessel, correct? It exploded, and... everything... was destroyed?”
“Yes!!” the girl exclaimed. “He’s dead! He has to be dead!!”
“Sol is quite remarkably alive. And also in default of what he owes me. So, we can work together to rectify both of our situations,” explained the man.
“Work with you?!” Sage retorted. “You were working for this monster!!”
“I work for whoever requires - and can afford - my... expertise. Since he cannot, I have decided to acquire what he owes me through... other means. You’re that means. In exchange, I tell you where Sol is, and you do with him... as you wish.”
To get a chance to pay him back... for what he did. To make him feel the things she did. To show him the anguish she had gone through for her entire life. To make him suffer... it was to good to be true. It was a trick. It had to be a trick-
“It’s no trick,” the suit interrupted. He smiled at the girl’s confusion, and tapped his temple. “You’re projecting your thoughts.”
“A-And why... wh-why would you j-just tell me where he was?” the princess was flustered. This was a bombshell, to say the least. Her entire perception of the world around her had completely altered, in an instant.
“I won’t just tell you... like I said; I intend to be compensated for my efforts-”
“Your efforts manipulating me!” Sage shouted. “What does Sol still want with me?!”
“Yes, my efforts manipulating you. I don’t know what he wants. But I want money. You’ll get what you want if I get what I want. And I have arranged a way for you to get the money I require in exchange for Sol’s whereabouts,” the suit explained.
“How?” she was almost afraid to ask.
The man smirked and handed her a note, and what seemed to be a computer chip. Sage took them, and quickly scanned the note.
Dear Sage,
Your efforts in the past few months have not gone unnoticed, and although we suspect you will turn this opportunity down, you come from a formidable pedigree, and as a result, you have been formally invited to this year’s Dante’s Abyss tournament! Your parents have fought here, and we believe our fans would be excited to see the next generation in action. We have sent an invitation to your sister, as well, and we suspect she won’t decline...
Regards, Damon Dukes
“D-Dante’s Abyss?!” the girl seemed shocked. “You want me to... to fight in Dante’s Abyss?”
“I want you to win in Dante’s Abyss, so I can be paid.”
“I... I can’t! I can’t! I’ve hurt too many-”
The suit interrupted with an angry sigh. “It’s not real! Nobody dies, nobody suffers, nobody is harmed. It’s a fake fight to a fake death and in return, you get to reconcile your... situation with a man who has caused real suffering and real harm. You are living proof, are you not?”
“No... I’m... I’m a doctor; I couldn’t... even if I could convince myself that Dante’s Abyss was alright... I couldn’t actually... go after Sol-”
“Despite what he did to you?” the suit-wearing man had gone back to his usual disinterested bemusement. “You would let a monster like that loose on the galaxy, knowing full-well what he’s capable of? Would not your inaction toward him be doing harm to those he comes into contact with?”
“I-”
“You want to pay him in kind. Your broadcasted thoughts said as much. You would let this opportunity slip by because of a perceived moral... conflict? Your mother has been in several Dante’s Abyss competitions, has she not? She was killed in at least one of them, wasn’t she?”
“...Yes, b-”
“And she’s still alive, isn’t she?”
“...Yes,” Sage conceded. That wasn’t the point, though! She was a medical doctor! Primum non nocere was supposed to be the guiding principle by which everything she did was directed. And yet, she was considering entering a competition based on bloodshed - real or not - in order to get a chance to exact her revenge on a man who had caused her a great deal of suffering years ago, in a different timeline.
She sighed. It should have been an easy decision. ‘No, I’m not a murderer.’ But it wasn’t easy. The more Sage thought to say ‘no,’ the more she wanted to say ‘yes.’ She fell to her knees, and the suit placed his hand on her shoulder.
“In ten seconds, I’m going to teleport us to Dante. If you don’t want to go, then say ‘no,’ and give up the chance to get back at Sol forever. I suspect he’ll be going underground very soon; he knows of my... connections. Make your choice. Ten seconds...”
Sage said nothing. She just sat there, in the sand, contemplating her future. And then everything fell away. She materialized next to that horrible suit-wearing man, in a lobby bathed in lavish marble and eloquent crystal. It was stunning.
Immediately, a man demanded her computer chip and invitation, and she obliged him, following his directions to proceed into the lobby in a stupefied passiveness. Finally, what had happened and where she was sank in, and she whirled about to tell the suit-wearing man to send her back.
And he was gone.
“I have to leave!” she exclaimed. The man who had taken the note from her - he looked like a bouncer - just rolled his eyes.
“No chance. Deal with it,” he grumbled. Sage protested, and he cut her off. “It’s like this. Go enjoy your stay, or I’ll beat the shit out of you and you’ll wake up on the killing field.”
Defeated, Sage turned around, watching the announcement displays overhead. The pleasant tone of the woman on display seemed to make everything even worse somehow. At least be honest with the competitors at the reality of this gladiatorial nightmare beforehand.
...What had she done?
OOC: Oh lawd, it's a behemoth! I'm so sorry!! I just had a lot of stuff to go over. ;_;
Fortunately, at least, the inconsolable rage that had gripped her had slipped away, and the real Sage seemed to have returned to the surface. It offered little comfort amidst her new predicament, however.
“Vad?!” she shouted, suddenly not interested in the mechanics of how she arrived in the desert, or why her foreign anger had suddenly dematerialized. “Vad?!”
This made no sense! She was just about to kill the mother of the Mershikali - the bizarre, monstrous creatures that had stormed the capital of Mercy-Sei, and she had been whisked away into the middle of the desert!
...The leader did it. She must have. Vad vanished first, then her. It split them up, to keep them from regrouping to come back for her. To keep them lost.
And she was lost.
The sand dunes stretched to forever and seemed to spin around her. She felt sick. All those people who had been mutated, corrupted by the Mershikali... or killed by them... and Sage couldn’t help them. But, then... they were lost already. She just hoped the damage she did to the beast would be enough to give her friends a chance.
In the desert, there was no frame of reference. No coasts to follow, or forests to orient you. Just like the ocean, the only way to navigate was by the stars, and there were none to be seen for Sage under the hot midday sun. An ocean of sand.
Determined to get back to the city somehow, the girl picked a direction, and walked. She could only hope that she wasn’t getting herself more lost as she trekked up and down sand dunes in what she hoped was a straight line. Although she had heard stories of people going around in circles for days in the desert, there was simply no other option. There was nothing here.
- - - - -
She had only been walking for about an hour or so, but she was exhausted. Sweat soaked her clothes and matted her hair, and her lungs burned from exertion. Hiking was one thing; hiking through sand something else altogether.
Finally, in a fit of frustration, Sage expelled a frigid bubble around her, sending the temperature just around her plummeting. A tiny patch of ice formed over the sand beneath her, and followed along with her as she walked. The frost she left behind melted almost immediately, under the sun’s harsh glare.
- - - - -
Night was beginning to fall. Finally, Sage thought. She had been keeping up her cold bubble all day long, and needed to rest. Instantly, the sub-zero shield that had been protecting her dispersed, and she was assailed by the desert’s evening heat. But it would get cold soon... as soon as the sun was gone for the night.
The girl plopped down onto the sand, taking a moment to relax for the first time today. Her whole body felt like concrete; everything was stiff and difficult to move. And there was still nothing everywhere.
Just a town! Even some frontier village! Anything, so she could just find out where she was! Was she even still on Mercy-Sei?!
Sage held out her palms so she could look at them. In one hand, she manifested a snowball, and in the other, an icicle. Simplistic objects, but she was still deeply disturbed by them. She had made a vow never to use her elemental powers since that day...
It wasn’t even the first time she had broken her promise. During the Friend or Foe tournament, she had used them in desperation, after she had no longer been able to suppress them anyway. But this time... this time, she had sought them out.
Placing her head in her hands, she began to sob. It was just too much. Friend or Foe, rescuing Trixie from Frost, then the monsters on Mercy-Sei... it was too much. And now... now that she had broken her vow...
No, he’s dead. It’ll never happen again. Xenia said so, she reassured herself. Didn’t do much good, though. The weight of the world sat on little Sage’s shoulders in the darkening desert, alone with her fears.
- - - - -
The girl opened her eyes, and suddenly found the world on its side. She must have fallen asleep. The diminutive quarter saiyan righted herself, and the desert went back to the bottom of the horizon.
She brushed herself off. Or tried to. “Stupid sand...”
“Nowhere else to sleep?”
Sage nearly jumped out of her skin. The azure haired girl whirled around, and came face-to-face with the clean-cut man in the suit. The man who had been manipulating her for the past few months.
“Wh-What do you want?!” she exclaimed, balling her hands into fists. “I’m through d-doing stuff for you!!”
“Indeed,” came the reply. “I didn’t come here to coerce you into working for my... employers. Not this time.”
“Then why?” Sage demanded through clenched teeth. Her normally compassionate, rose colored eyes contained only hatred for this man.
“Because... one of my... employers has failed to... compensate me for my efforts,” the suit-wearing man explained. “He was the one who had... interest in you. Like you, he is... displaced... in time.”
“What?” the girl’s eyes softened. Confusion seemed to shroud the fiery anger. The aging man in the suit smiled a sinister smile.
“Yes... you’re interested to know how any of this could be your... problem,” he drew the last word out. “You know him. And I intend to receive compensation... one way, or another.”
“Why would I help you?” Sage demanded, using her Chillrend technique to fabricate claws of ice over her hands. She fought to hide her tears. “I’m not afraid of you anymore!”
“You will help me, because you have... stake in my employer,” came the reply. The man fished a small device from his pocket, clicked the solitary button on it, and tossed it to the ground. It bounced, despite the sand, before sinking into the grains.
A hologram appeared above the tiny projector, of a man.
Sage recoiled so fiercely, that she tripped backward and collapsed. “No!!” she shouted, her eyes wide with fear. “No! He’s dead!! I- I watched him die!!”
“Your sister sabotaged his vessel, correct? It exploded, and... everything... was destroyed?”
“Yes!!” the girl exclaimed. “He’s dead! He has to be dead!!”
“Sol is quite remarkably alive. And also in default of what he owes me. So, we can work together to rectify both of our situations,” explained the man.
“Work with you?!” Sage retorted. “You were working for this monster!!”
“I work for whoever requires - and can afford - my... expertise. Since he cannot, I have decided to acquire what he owes me through... other means. You’re that means. In exchange, I tell you where Sol is, and you do with him... as you wish.”
To get a chance to pay him back... for what he did. To make him feel the things she did. To show him the anguish she had gone through for her entire life. To make him suffer... it was to good to be true. It was a trick. It had to be a trick-
“It’s no trick,” the suit interrupted. He smiled at the girl’s confusion, and tapped his temple. “You’re projecting your thoughts.”
“A-And why... wh-why would you j-just tell me where he was?” the princess was flustered. This was a bombshell, to say the least. Her entire perception of the world around her had completely altered, in an instant.
“I won’t just tell you... like I said; I intend to be compensated for my efforts-”
“Your efforts manipulating me!” Sage shouted. “What does Sol still want with me?!”
“Yes, my efforts manipulating you. I don’t know what he wants. But I want money. You’ll get what you want if I get what I want. And I have arranged a way for you to get the money I require in exchange for Sol’s whereabouts,” the suit explained.
“How?” she was almost afraid to ask.
The man smirked and handed her a note, and what seemed to be a computer chip. Sage took them, and quickly scanned the note.
Dear Sage,
Your efforts in the past few months have not gone unnoticed, and although we suspect you will turn this opportunity down, you come from a formidable pedigree, and as a result, you have been formally invited to this year’s Dante’s Abyss tournament! Your parents have fought here, and we believe our fans would be excited to see the next generation in action. We have sent an invitation to your sister, as well, and we suspect she won’t decline...
Regards, Damon Dukes
“D-Dante’s Abyss?!” the girl seemed shocked. “You want me to... to fight in Dante’s Abyss?”
“I want you to win in Dante’s Abyss, so I can be paid.”
“I... I can’t! I can’t! I’ve hurt too many-”
The suit interrupted with an angry sigh. “It’s not real! Nobody dies, nobody suffers, nobody is harmed. It’s a fake fight to a fake death and in return, you get to reconcile your... situation with a man who has caused real suffering and real harm. You are living proof, are you not?”
“No... I’m... I’m a doctor; I couldn’t... even if I could convince myself that Dante’s Abyss was alright... I couldn’t actually... go after Sol-”
“Despite what he did to you?” the suit-wearing man had gone back to his usual disinterested bemusement. “You would let a monster like that loose on the galaxy, knowing full-well what he’s capable of? Would not your inaction toward him be doing harm to those he comes into contact with?”
“I-”
“You want to pay him in kind. Your broadcasted thoughts said as much. You would let this opportunity slip by because of a perceived moral... conflict? Your mother has been in several Dante’s Abyss competitions, has she not? She was killed in at least one of them, wasn’t she?”
“...Yes, b-”
“And she’s still alive, isn’t she?”
“...Yes,” Sage conceded. That wasn’t the point, though! She was a medical doctor! Primum non nocere was supposed to be the guiding principle by which everything she did was directed. And yet, she was considering entering a competition based on bloodshed - real or not - in order to get a chance to exact her revenge on a man who had caused her a great deal of suffering years ago, in a different timeline.
She sighed. It should have been an easy decision. ‘No, I’m not a murderer.’ But it wasn’t easy. The more Sage thought to say ‘no,’ the more she wanted to say ‘yes.’ She fell to her knees, and the suit placed his hand on her shoulder.
“In ten seconds, I’m going to teleport us to Dante. If you don’t want to go, then say ‘no,’ and give up the chance to get back at Sol forever. I suspect he’ll be going underground very soon; he knows of my... connections. Make your choice. Ten seconds...”
Sage said nothing. She just sat there, in the sand, contemplating her future. And then everything fell away. She materialized next to that horrible suit-wearing man, in a lobby bathed in lavish marble and eloquent crystal. It was stunning.
Immediately, a man demanded her computer chip and invitation, and she obliged him, following his directions to proceed into the lobby in a stupefied passiveness. Finally, what had happened and where she was sank in, and she whirled about to tell the suit-wearing man to send her back.
And he was gone.
“I have to leave!” she exclaimed. The man who had taken the note from her - he looked like a bouncer - just rolled his eyes.
“No chance. Deal with it,” he grumbled. Sage protested, and he cut her off. “It’s like this. Go enjoy your stay, or I’ll beat the shit out of you and you’ll wake up on the killing field.”
Defeated, Sage turned around, watching the announcement displays overhead. The pleasant tone of the woman on display seemed to make everything even worse somehow. At least be honest with the competitors at the reality of this gladiatorial nightmare beforehand.
...What had she done?
OOC: Oh lawd, it's a behemoth! I'm so sorry!! I just had a lot of stuff to go over. ;_;
![[Image: Sage.jpg]](http://rebecca.florizone.com/sig/miscsig/Sage.jpg)