Light is to Follow, Never to Hold

[Noro]

((Oh, really? Was the simple and scenic idea boring you? Ha! You just had to come up with something else... That's okay. It's keeping me amused. ^^ I thank you for that.))

Azu heard the bats before they actually came into view. She'd never had a problem with bats before and she wasn't afraid of them, but that didn't mean she necessarily liked them. She withdrew her wakizashi from its sheath across her back and lit it up with her icefire. Spinning it in a fan high above her head, she toasted enough of the overly anxious creatures to let the rest know to stay away. The remainder of the flock rushed past her and their dead kin.
She turned to see where Angelo was. She knew he could take care of his self and that not much got past him, but who knew? Maybe he was actually caught off guard for once. Azu highly doubted it, but watched out for him, just in case.

[Ladd Russo of the Russo Family]

(No, but everything's better with bats. XD I'm sorry.)

Any bat that came within a foot of Angelo simply died. There was no flash of magic, no aura of light. Their beady eyes instantly went dull, like the turning off of a switch, and they plummeted to the floor around him. Angelo accepted the life-sucking circle around him calmly, pale eyes strangely emotionless while this happened.

When he turned to Azu, some of the life returned to his face. "You fight well. Few people have such control," he complimented. It was always nice doing something with someone else. Whether this thing was watching the ocean or killing bats, it left a taste of companionship.

[Noro]

Azu watched as the bats dropped dead near Angelo. I'm glad that didn't happen to me, she thought dryly. She turned her face so that she was looking at him when she replied.

"Thank you," she spoke. It wasn't often that she was complemented. "I appreciate it greatly." And she really did, though it she felt a little awkward. Acceptance of such made her feel too prideful. "You're a great wonder, yourself." She spoke before thinking... Or, really, she had thought out loud. Azu was not alarmed, shocked, or even remotely surprised by his walking on air, drifting through walls, teleportation, or vacuuming of life. She was simply curious about what else he could do.

Her leg began shaking of its own accord. She felt jittery, bothered by a matter she kept shoving to the back of her mind. She didn't want to think about it, but it kept resurfacing. She attempted putting all of her focus on Angelo's form, hoping it would work.

[Ladd Russo of the Russo Family]

"Are you alright? Were you injured?" he asked, his eyes catching the slight spasming of her muscles. It did not really occur to him that people sometimes did that, but he hadn't exactly been in crowds lately. He nodded, accepting her compliment, but he was more worried about her state. Azu, he felt, would be one to hide an injury, not wanting to burden companions. He did not see any blood, and it was unlikely that bats had harmed her, but her hurt did not necessarily have to have come from this battle. She might have been carrying it with her.

[Noro]

"Not externally," she replied with a slight smile. "My current state is of no true importance right now." Her tail twitched as she said it. Azu's nose flared as she tried to control the flow of emotion on her face. She failed. Her ears forced themselves to lay flat on her head.

"I have people problems, okay?" Azu's voice was full of inflection as she spoke. She sounded irritated, but not with Angelo. It had more to do with herself. The matter she had been trying to surpress before started coming back stronger than ever. She refused to think about it. Her hands began to shake, too. She suddenly felt very weak all over.

[Ladd Russo of the Russo Family]

"I believe that it is important," the gaunt redhead disagreed. "I want to help you..." There was a gentle intensity to his pale eyes; he did not often become sidetracked. An injury could be healed with a bandage and rest, but 'people problems', as she aptly put it, had no dependable salve. But burdens lessened when shared, and perhaps together a solution could even be found.

[Noro]

"I have people problems," she stated back. "There's nothing to it. I usually find it hard to communicate with people, and when I do they don't normally like me enough to stick around. That's why I am a little confused by this friendship now. But that's not what's bothering me." A pause. "I don't want to think about it."

[Ladd Russo of the Russo Family]

"I wish I could stick around..." he said quietly to himself, in a tone that suggested something would prevent it from happening. Angelo folded his arms and looked at the floor resolutely. He wasn't losing interest, but he suddenly felt somewhat shy, uncertain. It was a little unlike him, being so direct. Then again, he hardly knew what was 'like him', not anymore. If one could not trust what seemed to come naturally, than what could be trusted?

"It will not fade if you keep it hidden," he said, quoting a saying from his home. Angelo looked up again, tentative in manner but resolute in his eyes. "I want to know what's bothering you. Somehow, there must be a way to solve it."

[Noro]

Azuintaeya looked up. She felt strange. She couldn't describe the feeling that was now overcoming her. It felt completely wrong. Like a shadow crossing over her heart, not a foreign one, though. More like the sharp pain of the truth as it settles in like salt on a wound. She almost felt the tears start. Almost, but she willed them away, quietly. They were as irrelevant as this situation was inevitable. She had a theory and she needed to test it. She prayed she was wrong.

"You're a persistent one aren't you?" She spoke shakily and her voice was no louder than a whisper. She reached her hand out to touch Angelo's face lightly. Azu felt like she had stepped into a bottomless pit as her stomach seemed to fall from inside of her. At the same time, her chest filled with thousands of butterflies. She drew in a shuddering breath and let the tears fall this time as her hand moved straight through him.

Azu began to withdraw, but stopped the motion halfway through. Then, she reached her hand outwards again and placed it where his cheek was supposed to be. She said nothing, but simply let her eyes rest questioningly on his.

[Ladd Russo of the Russo Family]

Angelo made a startled movement, his mouth opening slightly in silent exclamation, but he was too late. His light eyes moved down to her hand, and he relaxed again, a very sad look about him. Slowly he took her hand and pressed it against his face again, this time both hand and face completely solid. Then Angelo gently lowered her hand and wiped away her tears.

"I apologize for hiding it from you," he said, voice as remote as from when she first met him. While explaining to Azu the truth, he had to accept it as well. "I am of the dead, Azu. Outside this lighthouse I was killed." There was not much more to be said. Nothing could blunt the blow, and concealing it was no longer an option.

[Noro]

Azu's face went completely blank for a second. She felt her hand fall back into place at her side when he let it go. She listened as the last of the bats echoing calls faded from her ears. She could hear the oceans waves crashing hard upon the jagged rocks that made up the shore.

The last rays of the sun hit the horizon at it's blinding point, forcing light into the room. It had been dark already, but it seems there's always more than one ending to the sunset. Here it was, the last one. The last flash of light screaming out to the world as it was forced down and could yell no more. It seemed that the darkness that seeped in after was thicker than usual. Deeper, somehow. A little more resilient than before.

The light left the room as quickly as it came, leaving a spark in Azu's eyes as she came back to life. That's just life, I guess. She thought bitterly and mentally recoiled as the irony of the thought seeped in. Figures how I finally make a friend... and then-- She stopped the next thought, ashamed. Who was she to judge him for that? Still. At least it makes sense now. Even though she let the last one come, she regretted it, too. Why couldn't she just be grateful for what she had and leave it at that?

Azu sighed and let a genuine smile warm the features of her face. She smiled for him, and only him. She didn't quite have the strength to smile for herself, yet. But Angelo, he deserved it.

"It's okay," she said, voice vibrating with the undercurrent of emotion. "It's completely okay." Her own worries and fears didn't even seem important anymore, though she knew they contained an urgency of their own that would force them back up soon enough. Relief flooded in from some unknown source, sweeping them away for now. She didn't need to bother him about it.

Azu walked silently towards the opening in the wall again. All was dark now, and the stars were mockingly bright. The meadow shone with a different radiance in the light of the moon. The night breeze rustled the tall blades of grass, forcing the flowers to sway. It called to her. She glanced back at Angelo's pale face.

"It would make me happy if you would agree to still accompany me for a time. I wish to go back down to the meadow for now, though." She wanted him to say yes, but she would find it understandable if he wanted otherwise.

[Ladd Russo of the Russo Family]

"I will go with you," he said, returning her smile softly, fully understanding the pain this must cause her. He wished he had not caused it. "This place is a wonder to me now, as are you."

It was easy to step on the grass and feel the cool wind of the night, and even though he could not experience them to the fullest extent, Angelo felt the simple joy of being there with a friend. She had smiled for him, and the gesture alone said that she cared. A friendship was not something he would quickly forsake, never again.

[Noro]

All is fair in love and war... Someone really lied when they said that. Azu thought. She felt unbelievably bitter, but she refused to let it show. She enjoyed spending time with Angelo before, she was going to enjoy spending time with him now, no matter what it cost her.

The grass parted easily for her as she walked through it. These things were so strange, seeing as they can change effects in the shortest of time periods. The very same grass, the very same flowers that had held her energized and so full of life before now made her feel as if she were dragging the weight of the world on her back. The iris's cast spells on her that caused her eyelids to sink lower upon her eyes. The lavender made her breathing fall so even and low that she was almost sure for a second that she had drifted off into the ether as well. But she was still here.

Azu laid herself down amongst the wildflowers somewhat defeatedly. She shook from the slight chill of the cool night's breeze. She was happier out in the open air, at least. There were a few wisps of cloud that dared to tary further in the deep abyss of the sky. Azu toyed at a dark purple flower that lay by her left ear, stroking its velvety petals.

"I believe I am going to leave the Academy." She had said it even before she had completely thought it. She had never yet formed the complete thought, actually. It was what she had tried so hard not to do. "At least... for a little while. I'm sure I'll come back." She bit her lip, drawing blood. She took her hand off of the plant and proceeded to wipe her mouth. Removing her hand, she looked at the splash of scarlet across her fingers. There she lay, in a momentary daze, half-curled and contentedly on her back.

[Ladd Russo of the Russo Family]

"You should stay..." he responded, settling into the grass beside her. In the darkness and the scent of lavender, his eyes glowed softly, watching her. "I... I once left, and I came to regret it greatly. I know that our situations are different, but.." Angelo was talking without thinking again.

"Why did you come to Twilight Moon Academy?" he asked, curious. He could hardly berate her for leaving if he did not even know her intention for coming in the first place. If she felt she had learned all that she could, who was he to stop her. Of course, he did not feel that this was the case. It was different, seeing someone so sad and yet so happy, curled up among the lavendar and grass.

[Noro]

Azu unleashed the ferver of her eyes upon him. They emotional pain that filled them was enough to cause actual physical damage to one who might have not been able to handle it. She looked back at her finger, releasing him from the turrent. She licked it clean, subtly. She sat up quickly, feeling a little lightheaded from the unexpected rush, and furrowed her eyebrows.

"I didn't have anywhere else to go. I assumed the Academy would be my big break. But it wasn't. I don't know what it is. I'm not leaving for good... No, I'm sure of it now. I shall return. I'm not done here. But I have business elsewheres that I must tend to. I don't know what it is, but something is out there, drawing me closer. I must follow it." She place a hand on her neck, feeling around for a hair-thin, twisted gold and silver chain. She pulled it out and looked at the pendant that hung on it. The gold flame and silver snowflake combination lit up instantly the minute she touched it. Her dazzling blue icefire danced in her sapphire eyes.

"I know I'll be back, if for no other reason then our friendship, which holds a strong enough tie for me now."