The Shadow of Peace (Abeiya and ConfusedShipper123)

Ulric swallowed, wincing slightly at her words, but keeping his own stronger words within.

"I understand... that this is reality, I've faced it as well. I realize this is my job, and that if we hadn't fought, we would be dead. I realize that if we would have been killed, there would have been dire consequences. I'm well aware of that, Phoenix, but... those people... they were here for their own reasons, but they were just like us in so many ways. If we thought like that all the time, yes, we wouldn't make it here, or possibly anywhere. We'd be dead like them. But... I can't... not think of that. Who are they, who were they. Before this. Why were they here. There are so many reasons and this whole system, the whole thing, sucks us in and sucks us dry. I wouldn't here if not for this 'job' I have. I want to catch those men. But will even that be enough?"

((AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAnd. I think I'll stop this rant there. t.t' blahderblaahderblarrrderrrblarh.))

Phoenix closed her eyes and pursed her lips. She had long been numb to the things Ulric was feeling now. She could hardly relate to them. He was frustrating her. The last thing she wanted after taking a beating for this contract was to hear that it would all be for naught.

"I don't know, Ulric. If you're questioning that, then why are you here? You knew where we were going. You know what this was about. Why did you agree to do this?"

"I see that you don't allow yourself to think this way anymore. But you did. Maybe this isn't pointless; maybe we'll take this whole operation down, and maybe we'll still be alive by the time we do. But what are the chances, Phoenix? I want to keep people from dying.

His voice grew frantic, panicked; he ignored the pain from the breaths he could hardly take while speaking.

"And I want to see this whole thing collapse in my lifetime, and there might be others like us, others less... less cowardly than myself, but... Phoenix, you know. You know exactly what they do here. It's all or nothing here, Phoenix. And after tonight, it seems like nothing. I... I can't be here, Phoenix, I honestly cannot... I... It's not safe, in more ways than you know, I'm sorry, this... I can't."

Phoenix laughed out of frustration. "Are you serious right now, Ulric? You can't take it?" She propped herself up to look at him. She was doing her best to pierce him with her gaze, even though one of her eyes was not fully functioning due to injury. She put the ice pack down.

"You want to leave? You want to leave me here alone in this clinic after I was nearly beaten to unconsciousness?" She sucked in air and puffed herself up to hide the pain that his words caused her. He was trying to abandon her. She muttered, "You really are sorry."

He spoke, nearly shouted, on the edge of hysteria.

"Phoenix! I would never think of abandoning you, damnit! I'm not leaving if... I wouldn't leave unless you came with me. We are not safe in this place while I'm here. You think you understand, and from what you know, Phoenix... you probably do. But there are things that you don't and cannot know about what's happened here and... I... I'm here to protect you, that's why I'm even here. That's why I went through that mess in the training room again, why I can even get through it, but damnit, Phoenix, we cannot be here."

Ulric paused for less than a second, lowering his voice, just as grave and panicked as before.

We will be killed if they find out... we... we just... Phoenix, we have to get out of here."

Phoenix bit her lip, wincing a bit because it had been bleeding from a moment during the induction ceremony when her head hit the floor and her teeth broke the thin skin on the inside of her mouth. Even so, she did not pull back from the action. "...Okay, Ulric. Okay. Just... calm down. We're going to be fine. But we can't just leave. If we do, we are dead."

She tried her best to make her voice sound soothing, to give him some sort of consolation. He was so panicked. "Try to breathe for a second. Then we'll figure something out."

((Abbey/Aly Roleplay Stats

Lip-biting count: 1.
"Slightly": TBD
"_______ sighed.": TBD
Shipping with Richards Level: Rising))

Ulric breathed as deeply as he possibly could, ignoring the pain that it obviously caused to do so, and the vast amount of control it took to keep his breathing even. He had not intended to have this situation become so out of hand; it wasn't even close to that yet, but he foresaw it. He knew Phoenix was right when she said that they would be dead if they ran now. There was a distinct possibility that they'd die being joined here as well. There was nothing they could do now, but it was certain that there was also no way they would have been capable of accomplishing their work without this connection. Gradually, he tried to apply logic to the situation. This had been inevitable.

"I... I apologize again," he finally said, after many moments' pause. "I should have been more collected."

He knew that his own dishonesty had been detected. They should have parted the first night that they'd arrived. He did not hope often, and dim, unlikely hopes were the largest waste of time imaginable, especially here, but it was all to hold onto with the treacherous history that threatened them now like the ceiling of a crumbling cavern.

((XDD <3))

Phoenix nodded. She laid back onto the bed again and closed her eyes. "It's fine. I'm glad you have a hold of yourself now." She yawned, cringing a little at the sensation in her jaw.

"You should try to get some sleep. We'll deal with this tomorrow. When everything doesn't suck so bad.." Phoenix tried to adjust her position to attain some sort of comfort. Her attempt failed miserably and so she laid there, glowering at the ceiling.

Ulric laid back down, allowing himself to note every sensation he felt in the motion and the lack of it. Most of the pain radiated from his abdomen, and his shoulder pressing against the bed. Still, he focused on softening the intake of breath, slowing the exhalation. He closed his eyes, trying to think only of this very moment.

---

"How do you know them?"

Stamatia stared down the man before her, gazing hard into his face to detect any falsehood, any motive he may have. She didn't expect any more nor less from him, but she would like to have the truth. As much as the pair seemed beneficial, she had only seen their actions this one night. That was not remotely enough for a proper judgment of their qualifications and loyalty.

(("proper judgement of their... koalafications."))

Phoenix closed her eyes, as if trying to trick her body into thinking that it was time to sleep. After a while, it started to work. She very gradually began to fall into sleep.

---

Ares smiled flawlessly at Stamatia, "I don't know him, but I know her. We were friends when we were younger."

((KOALAFICATIONS. PAGE. CLAIM.!))

"Friends, hm?" Stamatia replied, her tone a combination of sardonic and dubious. She narrowed her eyes at him, uncertain of whether she wanted to know beyond the amount that he had stated.
---
ULRICHADAREVEALINGDRAMATICALDREAMOFDRAMA

Ares chuckled, "Yes. Friends. Didn't you have any friends before the family? Or were you always this..." He grappled for the correct word, "Always this ornery?"

A fraction of Stamatia's signature smirk returned to her face with his question.

"Take a guess," she challenged.

---

"...Your father was a traitor... we need to know that you value your family here more than anybody else."

The boy stared up at the man before him, his fists clenched, his heart racing. He tried to think of home, of his mother and his siblings, swiftly stung by the image of his sister and the absence of his father.

"I do. I... I promise that I do," he spoke, his voice trembling, no matter how much he tried to keep it steady, as much as he knew that speaking was not what was required of him.

"We trust you, Ulric. We value you greatly in our family; that's why you're still here. Yet, unfortunately, your word has been sullied by your father's actions. We have to make sure that you are as committed to us as we are to you."

A door swung wide open, a man with a sack over his face, clothing loose, his arms bound, was thrown violently onto the floor.

The other man, standing tall, his expression distant, handed the boy, barely an adolescent, a knife.

"This man is also a traitor. One of our greatest at this time. We would never ask you to do this if we didn't value you so highly in our family."

((D: Awww, baby Ulric!))

Ares smirked right back at Stamatia. "It wouldn't matter if you were always this ravishing. People are always intrigued by pretty things they cannot have, you know." He paused for a moment, "Well, I'm off to make my rounds and get back to my sector. I'll be seeing you, Ms. Stamatia. Take care now." With that, Ares strode off. He walked toward the front exit, then turn once he was out of the range of the other Capo. He was headed for the hospital wing.

He walked in cautiously, making sure that both of the tenants were unconscious before making his way to Phoenix's bedside. He smiled down at her with uncharacteristic softness and carefully reached out his hand to brush her bangs to the side of her brow. "Sometimes," he murmured, "I miss you." He cupped her cheek and she murmured in her sleep, turning toward him.

"And I wish you hadn't left me," he murmured, "But I always knew I'd find you again." He brought his face closer to hers, as if to tell her a secret, "It can never work out, can it?"

Ares looked down at her for a few more seconds, before leaning down to kiss her forehead. "Sleep well, little bird."

He then left the room, very quietly so as not to wake either of them. He walked toward the mount that had brought him to this part of Umbra and hopped up onto its back. It was a tall black steed, well-muscled and broad. "Hei!" he shouted and it cantered forward down the lamp-lit streets to bring him home.

((I've determined that Stamatia's like, 27?))

Stamatia glared momentarily at the younger Capo, but the expression contained significantly less than its usual venom.

"You take care as well," she replied, when he was nearly out of earshot. There was certainly more to Ares than she could have initially

With this, her hard expressions softened into a genuine, private half-smile. Whatever had come of this night would certainly last, at the very least. With this thought, she started down the long Umbran streets to the entrance of her sector.

---
Trust, he heard, trust, trust, value, value. Loyalty, beneath all of it, this is what they asked of him.

He grasped the blade so tightly, threatening to slip with the sweat on his trembling hand. He saw escape routes in his mind, but the standing man before him stared him down.

"We need you to do this, Ulric. This is all we ask of you. To rid the family of one traitor. You understand what you need to do."

The man moved beside him, then a step behind, then leaned down the smallest amount toward the young man before him.

"You understand what you've committed yourself to here. We want you, Ulric. Maybe [i]need you. We all rely on each other here. We don't need anymore traitors. It would grieve us, to make you suffer the same fate as this man..."

Two other men stepped into light, each grasping their own weapons.

The youth breathed heavily, his eyes wide, his whole body racked with terror. The other stepped nearer.

"This is all we ask of you right now."

The other men came nearer, the highest ranked man, returning to the man on the floor, lifting him up aggressively, forcing the location of his neck, his chest, his heart to be visible, reducing the man to his veins and arteries. Almost involuntarily, his other hand wrapped around the one already grasping the hilt of the knife and with the strength of both arms, he drove the blade into the man's chest, squeezing his eyes shut when he knew where the weapon had connected, hot liquid running down his hands. The muffled, strangled sounds of the man he had killed, his killer thrown back from pulling the blade out.

"There we are, Ulric. That's all we wanted from you. We knew we could trust you."

((Sernds gerd.))

Phoenix's eyes opened shortly after her visitor's departure. She had no recollection of his presence. For a moment, fear invaded her psyche. She was unsure of where she was. After a moment, the darkness of the hospital room became familiar. She could recall the events of the past hours.

Her gazes floated over to Ulric, who appeared to be dreaming. It looked unpleasant. "Ulric?" she uttered, her vocal chords still half-asleep.

((Magicroleplayemotionaldetectioooooooooooooooooooooon!))

An arm wound around the youth's shoulders, leading him toward the door, his tear ducts dry and sweat dripping from his pores.

In the corner of his eye, just before leaving through the narrow doorway, he saw the bloodied man dragged across the floor, the sack being pulled unintentionally from the man's head as he was moved...

"Ulric?"

Ulric's eyes opened at the muffled sound of his name. The darkness sent his heart racing again, before he realized the context he was in, the figure just across the room. Phoenix. The enormous window of the hostel was not present and the curtains not closed; the bed was far less comfortable.

They were in the hospital, he recalled, the Umbran hospital wing, sent there by the induction ceremony. He could not bring himself to reply her, aching from wounds old and new, inside and deeper within.

Phoenix cleared her throat, making her voice stronger. "Ulric? Are you alright?" The darkness in the room made it difficult for her to see him. But he had become still. She didn't know if that was because his sleep had become restful or ended all together.

She flexed her back, trying to estimate just how sore she would be for the next week or so. She squeaked quietly at the pain the motion caused her. The next week or so would be rather painful.

((Magicalllll))

((Stats
Basic Mindreads: Approx. 4.
Extremely Audible Breathing/Sighing Level has Risen.))

Ulric took in one unsteady breath, unable to keep the last few images from his mind. He kept his eyes open to focus upon whatever was visible in the room, to keep from seeing what was obvious inside of his head.

He swallowed, and winced slightly. The voice came from beside him; he saw the dim outline of the young woman, and he could not even feel the reassurance from her presence in the dull ache that had begun to consume his entire body.

Phoenix's head fell back onto the bed. She could hear Ulric's breath and took it as a sign of his consciousness. Her eyes fell closed again, as sleep tugged at the edges of her mind. She managed to mutter, "Hey... You're okay. It's okay, Ulric."

Ulric did not reply to her, trying to take in the assurance of the person beside him. But as she began to drift back to sleep, he found his own eyes wide open, his own injuries and thoughts unbearably noticeable. He stared at the ceiling, thinking of the world they were now trapped within.

When a shadow arrived at the door, he froze, closing his eyes. The figure entered, pausing at the edge of each bed. The figure moved closer to Ulric, and he felt his heartrate rise, strained to hide the distress from his face.

"Are you in pain?" came a less familiar voice, a recently familiar voice. He opened his eyes, relieved minimally by his discovery of the nurse.

"We can get you something if you need it."

He opened his eyes slowly, as if he had been asleep.

"N-No... I'll be alright," he replied, his voice weaker than he expected when he finally spoke.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded slightly?, facing the woman as best as he could.

"I'll get you something," she said, before turning toward the door.

((Timeskip to morning, yezz?))

Fioro sat at his desk, looking through a few files. He was ready to send through another shipment of the treatment from Elios. It would arrive on a barge carrying wheat to Sidero. It would come right into the hub of the family in the outermost ring. And several associates would escort it on a freight car of the monorail into Umbra, where it would be received and distributed to the Capos and their soldiers.

He was eagerly awaiting a report from Stamatia.

And also awaiting word from his brother. It wasn't like him to be late.

----

Phoenix awoke in the morning, unable to stretch. She stumbled out of her bed, supporting herself on the pole the IV was mounted on. She rolled it to the bathroom and inspected her face in the mirror. It was a lot less swollen. Her eye was more or less back to normal and her lips were their usual size again.

It could easily be masked by some makeup. They would have to sneak past Peris to get back into the youth hostel.

Phoenix walked back to the bed and crawled into it. The pain that came with wakefulness was unwelcome.

Stamatia strode down the Umbran streets, equally eager to report to Fioro. What they had wanted were those who sacrificed themselves, not fighters, to join the family. She was certain she'd found a pair who were possibly capable of being both. She was given permission to enter the building in which the underbosses awaited her.

The flaws of the two she had found could easily be corrected, she was certain. She could only hope that her superiors would agree.

---

Ulric opened his eyes, adjusting to the lights that had been turned on, at least two hours ago. It wasn't the first time he'd woken up that morning, in spite of whatever the nurse had given him earlier in the night.

His head throbbed dully when he looked across the room, nothing quite clear yet in this particular awakening. He didn't quite comprehend what he was seeing, when the girl returned to her bed.

"H...Hey, Phoenix," he greeted, yawning even as he spoke.

Fioro smiled at the younger woman standing in front of him. He gestured to the leather chair across from him and his desk, silently commanding her to sit. "Good morning, Ms. Stamatia. How are you?"

---

Phoenix turned toward him, but her eyes were still closed. She made a sound that might have been, "Hey."

Upton walked briskly down the halls to meet his brother, sweeping the hair out of face as he walked. He would have never done this had he not been with the soldiers in the outer-rings the night before, preparing for the coming shipment. He had only just arrived in Umbra, after finishing off a great deal of incredibly dark and high-caliber coffee.

He was never more aware of the shift in his life than his arrival in his brother's office as late as he had.
---
"I'm very well. And how are you doing yourself?"

From just behind Stamatia, a door swung open. Turning around, she had not expected to see Fioro's brother so disheveled, but she refrained from commenting.
---
Ulric yawned again, cringing as began his first attempt to wake up, figuring that this hour was as good as any to keep himself awake. He hoped that his partner had slept better than he.

"Too... too early still?" he replied, suppressing another yawn.