Sun, Surf, and Demons (insaney)

He was gone... for now, but Cadenza could still sense him, those little bugs and critters that he had broken up into, burrowing in the shadows, into the dark, still very much alive and active...

She hadn't the faintest idea where it might be headed. When she walked back to Rain, breathing out a sigh, letting the tenseness dissipate from her in that one big breath, she found the man laying against a wreck of a car, the chassis still smoking behind in ruin. His face looked... alarmed still, filled with the worry she'd just exhaled out and slowly let go of. Seeing that expression stirred back up the concern in her.

Cadenza kneeled down beside him, brushing a little hair out of his face, looking into his eyes, "Where... is it going, Rain? It told you somehow, didn't it? That's why you look so worried..."

Her eyes trailed along his arm, as she spoke softly, noticing something had been odd about it since the moment she'd first glanced at him again. If she followed it, down into the shadows cast by the car... she saw that it went into those shadows, dipping into the realm, just like she would.

Her eyes widened a little at this, but just a bit of thought provided her with the answer, "I... must have passed some magic to you, didn't I? It's in my blood, it makes up a good deal of it... I didn't know it'd... have such an effect though..."

Rain smiled up at her, “It’d kind of…cool,” he whispered, dipping his hand more into it. His hand popped out behind her and nudged her forward. As she was pushed, his other arm wrapped tightly around her, and he closed his eyes, burying his face into her shoulder.

“It’s going to Rubato…” he said, slightly muffled. He couldn’t see her expression right now, but she was probably surprised at this. He pressed a soft kiss into her shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “If I had taken more, you wouldn’t have had to risk yourself to fight the thing… but… thank you, Latina.”

He clung to her chest tightly, lifting his head and brushing his cheek against hers.

“Before I go after it,” he whispered softly onto her skin, “…I… I think I love you…”

There was a sharp intake of breath... her heart skipped a beat, and she hugged him tighter, "Oh Rain... I'd," she kissed his cheek, moved away a little to look at him, and give him the warmest smile he'd ever seen from her. The softness was back in her eyes, now shimmering faintly with the hint of tears, and... there was love, too, that look that said her gaze wanted to be on nothing else more than him, "I'd been... waiting to hear you say that."

She slipped her hands into his, gave them a squeeze... she felt so light, and this close to him, warm too... she remembered this feeling, this blissful feeling, that she thought she'd never recapture, would never hear the words from another again after she'd shut herself off from it for a time... "I... I've been in love with you for... some time now, I think, meu amor..." Cadenza laughed softly, joyfully, her eyes meeting his before she leaned in closer, giving him a gentle kiss.

But eventually, she had to stop feeling like she was soaring, and come back down to earth. As much as she wanted to put all bad things aside for now, all was not well, and couldn't be forgotten for very long. In the back of her mind, there were images lingering, of her dad, and her sisters, and Avello being torn away from their house, swallowed up by this dark figure without a thing they could do to stop it... she may have not been on the best terms with some of her sisters, she might have felt distanced from the family in general, but... she loved them still, felt like when something from another world came to threaten them, it was still her time to protect them.

Her hands slipped from Rain's as a look of worry flickered across her face, and she started to stand, offering him a hand. "You... won't be going alone after it, either... I... have to be there, to help you, and... look out for my home. I want to... stay by your side, if I can..."

Rain chuckled softly, taking her hand and standing up before her and even though they were ready to hurry to Rubato to find this thing and destroy it before it did any harm, he had to say something like:

“Stay by my side?” he grinned, caressing her lips with his, “…I’d rather be in front of you, like this.”

To be honest, he was worried. About her, her home, and lastly, himself. That what he had just pulled to take the Reaper apart was just a spur of the moment thing. What if something happens to him and Cadenza’s on her own? She might not… He might not survive, either—but at least he won’t go down so easily if he has to. I’ve just met her… so it’s not my time, he thought.

“Cadenza,” he spoke softly again, that soft chuckle escaping her lips “After we take care of that guy… Could you show me around Rubato? And…another thing, I don’t know the way.”

"Show you around...?"

What... would I show him? The desert? There's not too many nice places--the country's mainly just a spread-out pile of dirt and sand. Would I take him to meet my family? I don't know... I'd actually be much more worried about his reaction to some of them than theirs to him...

She looked down at his hand, which she still hadn't let go of, even though he was already standing... she thought she might know of a place.

...But first, we have to go, before there's no one left to meet or even anything to show.

"It's not far," she told him, glancing up again, squeezing his hand. There was a Dome door around here, she remembered, from back when she'd been healing him on the ship, in the shadows, and she'd had to stretch out her senses to find where he was first. "Come on..."

The gypsy tugged on his hand a little, and began to run. Rain kept up easily, matching her pace--he'd had been maybe the only person she ever met that could. He ran at her same rhythm--could probably go faster, but he stayed in line with her nonetheless. He followed alongside her faithfully as the town blurred by them, began to be left behind for grassier fields, and a hill where a strange, seemingly out-of-place shape loomed.

"There's our door," she called to him, the sound almost lost in the wind.

They began to slow down as they neared the hill, and Cadenza let go of Rain's hand to stride forward and grasp the doorknob. When she reached for it, though, she found her hand resting on top of his instead--he'd grabbed the knob first, and gave it a turn, the door opening with a creak.

"After you, Latina..."

She looked at him for a second, blinking, before a soft laugh escaped her lips, and she stepped through the doorway, pulling him gently along by his tattered shirtsleeve to follow her, "If we meet my family, we're going to have to find you a shirt that doesn't look like it's been through a cheese grater first."

She hoped the fact that she liked seeing him with significantly less-of-a-shirt on didn't show, her cheeks a little pink but hidden by the darkness beyond the doorway that she was halfway through. A chuckle from Rain was the last sound that rang out from them before the door shut behind.

Moments later, another door was opening up, this time not atop a grassy knoll, but on a high dune of sand outside the limits of a city. Cadenza could recognize the buildings with their brittle orange eaves, the market stalls full of the smell of roasted meats and herbs, the sounds of police sirens and screams and children's laughter, as one place and one place only. It would have looked and sounded like just about any other Rubatoian city to an outsider, but to her... this was her home--and the place she desperately hoped the creature hadn't come to.

Santa Mariela... something much worse than our usual everyday threats might be roaming around right now...

She exchanged glances with Rain, could see that he was sharing her worry... she reached for his hand again, wanting that comfort. Hand in hand, they strode towards the town, the sky unusually dark overhead...

Cadenza thought she might be imagining things when she felt a little drop of water on her head. Another didn't follow, but... there was a sort of rumbling stillness in the air... she shook it off for now, glancing around as they crossed into Santa Mariela.

"Can you... sense where this thing is?"

He was expecting somewhere different—that’s what he got. But he didn’t expect the heat to be thickening the air and making everything seem stifled. Even though the clouds began to cover the sun and sky, the place still radiated a large amount of melting air.

“Not yet. It can probably sense me, though.” he answered, her eyes showed more signs of worry.

Rain looked back out at the horizon, which was distorted by the numerous bumps of sand dunes. However, instead of seeing clear skies as one would expect in the desert, the clouds at the horizon resembled a black wave with a white tip.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cadenza looking at him. He turned to her and laughed softly, whispering, “The desert can be beautiful, too.”

She blushed, he smiled. He turned away, looking into the town now. His eyes darting from one market stall to the next. They were selling meat or herbs, or tiny souvenirs. As they walked on, Rain saw that one or two had their stands on wheels, carting it about the place—a portable store.

Rain bumped into one. The tan man, who was wheeling around a cart of clothes to sell, stumbled to the ground.

“Ah, excuse me, Senor,” the man got up with a little help from the Grim Angel, “today is just not my day—hardly anyone buys my clothes.”

Rain glanced over at the contents of the cart. His fingers ran across the fabric of some of the shirts; they felt extremely light and cool, perfect for someone like him in a warm country.

“Can I try one?” Rain asked the man, who smiled and responded excitedly. “Yes!” Finally, hopefully, he was getting something sold.

Without looking around to see who was watching, Rain took off his tattered shirt right there. He took up a long, light, white shirt with long sleeves and slipped it on. His fingers didn’t fool him, the material was light, and he did feel a lot cooler. He passed his hand down the front of it, fingering the tiny, intricate little patterns on the cloth. The length of it reached passed his waist, and rested just in the middle of his thigh. The sleeves were also very long; the ends rested on his knuckles instead of his wrists, and he was able to hide his hands in them by just curling in his fingers.

Rain dug into his pocket and pulled out a strange looking wallet, something that looked like it didn’t belong to him.

“How much?” he asked, giving the vendor a wide smile.

But before the man could answer, Rain tossed him the wallet and turned to walk away, smiling mischievously at the Latina.

“Keep the change.”

The man looked at the wallet with a perplexed expression, wondering why it looked exactly like his own.

"You... didn't," Cadenza looked back at him with disbelief, but that expression was cracking, showing a hint of the amusement underneath.

She laughed when Rain just continued to grin, slapping him a little playfully on the shoulder. "Chuckles!" her tone pretended to be scolding, but that didn't hold up for long as she laughed again, said a little quieter, "...I haven't been around you long enough to have a bad influence already."

She smiled back at him, her eyes lingering over the way his new shirt fell over his chest... the chest he'd just shown, without a hint of bashfulness, off to her and anyone else who might have been looking when he changed his shirt. The woman knew she'd told him he should change it before he met her family--but she hadn't meant right that second. He'd done it just to tease her, she was sure...

Stop staring, stop staring...

That was when another raindrop fell. Yes, it was, for sure, a raindrop. It had fallen from the sky, from those dark-looking clouds overhead, and it pattered onto the sandy stones, steaming faintly when it did. Children with unwashed faces watched from porches as more fell, little by little, some wandering out to try to catch this water from the sky with their tongues. There seemed to be this general question in the air: are we dreaming? But even if they were, at least they wouldn't go thirsty anymore in their dreams...

Boys and girls were dancing in the puddles, running and giggling, as Rain and Cadenza walked through, hand in hand. The feeling in the air was getting to the gypsy, too; she leaned over a little, resting against Rain's arm as they walked, wishing she was tall enough to rest her head on top of his shoulder. Just a couple of inches away... but even so, what she had was nice enough for her. She played with his fingers a little as they walked on, her other hand caressing the arm she leaned against a little gently, through the thin cloth of his shirt.

This little rainshower was nice. Fog started to form low, along the streets, from water condensed by the heat of the sands. Everything was blanketed in cooler colors, a cooler atmosphere... the only thing that ruined all this was if you had the knowledge, like Rain and Cadenza did, that there was a specter of sorts roaming these streets that had been calmed by this rainfall, searching for souls to take.

-----------------------------------------------

Algretta Madrigal was on the roof with her father, setting up the gutters they had long ago designed in the hopes that a day of rain would someday come. It had been just the bored, doodled blueprint of an afternoon... but now it had seemed to pay off.

"It'd be a waste to let all this water just run off the roof," 'gretta was saying, nailing another half-open tube into place. "If we save it, I don't have to supplement our water supply so much with my own magic."

Galliard just nodded, hammering cheerfully away. He couldn't remember the last time his daughter had asked him to help with one of her projects... even if it was only installing gutters this time, he couldn't be happier. There was just the matter, now, of this strange little silhouette in the alley below him... was it Cadenza? he kept wondering. If it was, it was very unlike her not to come up and greet him...

OoC: I actually made my brother come over and compare for heights for that shoulder part. x33 Our difference in heights is about the same as Cadenza and Rain's.

OoC: Awww x3 That’s kinda…cute Hehehe~


Rain used his fingers to brush away the raindrops on Cadenza’s palm before intertwining their fingers and squeezing her hand softly. Water dripped off his hair as the strands begun to get heavy, some of it clinging to his skin. His shirt began to cling to his skin as well, some parts that clung, because the material was so thin and light, became transparent, so it was easy to see his pale complexion underneath his shirt.

He shook his head, shaking off the droplets as the rain came harder, using his hand to brush some back, out of his eyes. He laughed as the children ran past, splashing in the puddles and shouting loudly. Their joy didn’t seem to break even for a moment as a flash of lightning streaked across the sky—some stopped to look up at the phenomenon.

Rain was looking up as well, but not at the sky, but at a figure on a rooftop.

He nudged the woman on his arm gently. “Latina,” he whispered motioning up to the person.

The large figure came nearer, and she could see the wide grin, and the big, tan hand waving to her, even through the mist and the rain.

"Pai!" her head rose up, from Rain's arm, looking up at the man on the rooftop with a mix of affectionate recognition and suppressed worry.

"Cadenza!" he called back, still smiling all the same.

"Pai... are you really sure you're well enough to be back working already?"

“Of course, hija—it’s only a little water! A shower never killed anyone, right ‘gretta? I think you could use one after all this sweaty hammering and building up here, huh?” he laughed, elbowing his other daughter in the ribs lightly, trying to win over at least a chuckle.

Algretta just rolled her eyes, continued to screw bolts into place, a look on her face that said "I don't have time for this".

“Pai," Cadenza called back, frowning a little. She knew he'd understood what she meant, but was just avoiding it, "that’s… not what I meant. I meant, after—”

“Hey, who’s that down there with you, huh?” He said this loudly enough to drown out any sentence she may have been trying to finish, as he put down his tools beside Algretta and came over towards the steel ladder, grinning broadly again, his big, friendly, tan face gleaming with the rain like polished bronze. He put a hand over his eyes to cover them from the rain as if he were shading them from the sun, and looked over Rain as closely as he could from a distance. “Well, well, he looks younger and handsomer than me! You haven’t come to steal my daughter away from her dear old dad, have you?” the man chuckled heartily, started to come down the ladder to introduce himself, going rung by rung as he talked. “Well," he went on, "just make sure to invite me to the wedding, yah? I’ve missed the all the weddings of my daughters up until this point. But if 'denza plays her cards right, there might be one coming up!”

Cadenza had been turning redder and redder with every word. "Pai…!" she protested, "Para… você está sendo um idiota..." She buried her face in her turtleneck's collar, trying to hide her burning cheeks, feeling just like a little girl again with her dad teasing her.

Her father just let out another laugh. He was nearly off the ladder now, but his hands were starting to slip. At first Cadenza thought it was the rain just making the metal slick, but then a shadow crept over the man’s body, over the ladder, and she felt a shiver run down her spine. But it was already too late to warn him. Galliard Madrigal was flung, ladder and all, across the alley, into the street. He and the ladder tore through a group of aluminum trash cans on the way, sending garbage flying everywhere to get soaked and muddied on the road.

The ladder was nudged away just in time through the shadows, clattering heavily to the ground just a few inches from Galliard's head. Cadenza was already sprinting towards him, only a few steps away, when one of the trash cans was lifted up too, and hurled into her too quickly to avoid.

She hit the ground rolling, but unhurt, as Algretta let out a gasp back up on the roof.

"What was that!?" she shouted--shouted like neither Cadenza nor Galliard had ever heard her--dropping her tools onto the roof to stand and look.

OoC: Rubatoian to English dictionary for anyone who's reading:
-Pai = dad
-hija = daughter
-para (as a command) = stop
-"você está sendo um idiota" = "you're being an idiot"



The writing in this post stinks, but I still luff Galliard's lines. ^^;;

Rain was upset at the events that unfolded before him, so much so that he almost shouted “Pai!” when he was flung away into the trashcans. After Cadenza was knocked back, he reacted as swiftly as he could, thrusting his hand into the cloud-casted shadow and grabbing Galliard by the collar and pulling him out through the shadows. His arm moved so that the bewildered man was pushed behind him, but all through that time, his mind was racing.

That won’t help.
I have to do something!
Move! I can’t move.
I can’t fight. My legs won’t move…
If I had only taken more, I might have been able to do-- “Urkk!”

His breath caught in his throat, he couldn’t breathe. An all too familiar, severe coldness took over his body as an invisible hand clasp against his chest.

“Did you come to play, Immortal?” the Reaper was upon him again, grinning, the rest of his face flickering.

I have to protect… I want to… his quivering eyes made their way to Cadenza. He barely saw her lips move before his eyes rolled to the back. He felt his life bleed out of him. His hands grasped a spike that had come out of the Reaper’s shadow and pierced him straight through the stomach. A flurry of others shot out in a split second, piercing all parts of his body, lifting him into the air.

It ended with a thin one penetrating his forehead. His hand stopped grasping, and fell back to the side, lifeless.

The spikes retreated into the creature’s shadow so fast that it pulled his body into the shadows, burying him in it.

The scream was lost in the rumbling thunder and pattering rain. Algretta was watching, wide-eyed, as her glasses slipped off her nose, a blanket of blurriness descending on the scene as they slowly fell off her wet face. When she noticed the change, and scrambled to push them back up into place, her sister was already in motion, and out of sight. She couldn't even hear her footsteps when she'd started running.

She slowed down only to heft Galliard onto her back, slinging his muscular arm across her shoulders, and then started back up—Algretta couldn’t see why all the rush, until seconds later when she finally noticed the shadow following them, zipping behind right on their heels. The woman sat back on the roof, too worried to watch, terrified for the moment where it might finally catch up with them. Her heart was pounding like she could scarcely remember it ever doing before.

She didn’t spot the shadow when it moved up, prying at a pipe of her new gutters, until the sound of the screws popping loose and the metal being ripped off by impossibly strong hands filled the still air, screeching like nails against a blackboard. That was when she’d had enough. Whatever this was, it had now made things much more personal to her—it’d destroyed some of her work. When she saw the pipe being hurled at Cadenza and her dad, spilling water everywhere, it only made her usually cool-demeanor melt all the more. Algretta stood, clenching and unclenching her fists.

"Hija..." Galliard breathed to Cadenza back on the ground, the sound of the pipe crashing to the earth stirring him from his daze, "where's…where’s your boyfriend? Are those… tears in your eyes, hija?"

"It’s… just rain, Pai. Save your breath for now, okay?" was all Cadenza said, hugging her father a little closer with one arm as she tried to keep his head upright to keep him from drifting off with the other. Mud rose up in brownish waves to either side of her, covering her new clothes as she sprinted along.

Galliard eventually realized what she was doing—she was heading towards the house, and towards Algretta. She slid through the mud, and stomped on a shadow as she started to toss him forwards—the force was sent, to his body, and propelled him up like he’d just bounced off a giant trampoline. Algretta wasn’t paying attention up above though, too occupied complaining over her ruined gutter, that was, until her sister yelled, “Gretta—shut up and catch!”

The stunned woman just managed to lift her arms in time to break Galliard’s fall with her arm and her side, both of them falling back onto the shingles. When Algretta finally sat back up, ready to shout at Cadenza for being so reckless, she instead found herself cut off by the younger gypsy, “Borrow my spell like Ari always does and melt into the rainwater to get away!”

“But…I never have before—there’s never been enough water to do that before!”

“Well then, this is the time to try, isn’t it? Hurry!”

Cadenza didn’t have time to see if her sister and dad got away. She’d been planning to try to borrow her sister Luminari’s light magic, and see what it could do since the holy magic had been so effective, but those plans screeched to a halt when the Reaper took hold of her by her boot, and threw her towards perhaps the most dangerous area for miles—the Madrigal porch.

It looked innocent enough, to anyone who didn’t know about the traps that had been set up underneath the boards years ago, meant to keep the girls in when they were younger, and anyone else out at night. But it was filled with hidden spikes, springs, flamethrowers and more—and several of these were tripped now, as Cadenza was hurled bodily onto the porch, shattering the boards because of the sheer speed, and because of her mythril armor. The Reaper lingered for a moment to watch as a concealed spike stabbed the woman’s foot, and a hidden flamethrower managed to singe her cheek. The only thing between her and another spike that might have impaled her was the armor she was so thankful for, worn underneath her now-torn clothes.

It was a roar that sent ripples throughout the realm of shadows. It was loud, lengthy, ferocious, animalistic; the ripples sent throughout this realm affected the physical world in such a way that the shadows cast would ripple and tremble visibly, just before the ground and buildings themselves would shake from the strength of it.

Inside the realm, jet-black claws tore at the velvet enclosure. Something large, something fast, something powerful moved swiftly through the thick shadows. With a body and scales made up completely of velvet black shadows, aside from gold patterns that could have been easily hid in the shadows with some control, and searing gold eyes split down the middle by a thin void.

And a powerful, impatient roar that shook everything inside and outside of the realm.

It had to get out. Find a way out, back to the surface; ease through the shadows as it did once before.

It roared.

Rainwater dripped onto her through the gently-quaking, brittle eaves over the porch. She found herself feeling glad that Galliard couldn't see her now--if he'd still been here, there'd be no end to his apologizing about the traps on the porch she lied away from now, leaning against the front door as the earth rumbled beneath her, reverberating in her ears. There were two sensations that were capturing her attention, making her only vaguely aware of the Reaper's movements around her; this shaking, in the ground and in the shadows, too, and the warmth of the rain.

If Cadenza wasn't mistaken, each little droplet was healing her.

One had splashed onto her cheek, and when she reached up to brush the wetness away, the burn mark was gone. The same happened when she held up her hand to catch a drop, and the scratch on it faded away. There were... two causes for rainshowers, she knew--the Spirit of Life's tears, of either joy or sorrow, and the Spirit of Water's goodwill. It seemed unlikely that it was the latter. That meant... these were Life's warm tears, pattering down on her and the desert as a whole, healing up her wounds. Just... why was she crying?

The sound of more gutter pipe being rended away from the house drew her eyes up, back to the Reaper, who seemed a little harassed by the rain as it fell harder and harder. It whirled around agitatedly, swinging the pipe in its shadowy hand, his spectral form trembling and quivering at every shake of the area. Cadenza struggled desperately to maneuver off the porch, out from under the cover overhead to get her injured foot into the healing warmth of the rain, tossing darts and orbs of magic rapidly as she did. A number of them struck the pipe in the Reaper's hand, wrenching it away from his grasp, engulfing it in shadows until it hit the ground and sank down.

What the hell's down there--what's causing all this shaking? It feels huge, and angry ... like it can't wait to break out.

Frustrated, the Reaper floated closer, seizing the gypsy by the boot of her injured foot before she could get through the last of the traps and out into the rain...

A massive roar pierced through the skies over Santa Mariela. It was a whole lot louder this time, and the invisible sound-waves it produced bent the falling raindrops to its will, scattering them in mid-air. The Reaper was knocked back, his fingers went loose, and he let go of the gypsy’s leg. The creature stumbled to the ground as another roar ripped through, pushing him further back.

The raindrops that once splattered, began to shatter against the ground. They weren’t liquid anymore, but solid ice. The majority of it fell onto the creature, making him try to shield himself with his hands—no use running for cover, the hailstorm followed him everywhere. A bolt of lightning rushed through the clouds, lighting up the thick sky, and for a brief moment, a coiled silhouette was visible.

Thunder followed, the hail stopped falling and reverted back to rain.

Another bolt of lightning shot through, and thunder followed, but this time, the silhouette was gone, and the world was quiet; nothing moved except the rain. The Reaper shrugged the events off after a tiny while, moving over to Cadenza once more, who was free now, having had enough time to free herself from the traps.

A massive claw emerged suddenly behind him, slamming down on him, making him squeeze into the shadows below. And in the blink of an eye, the whole beast appeared from the depths of the shadows. The long, snaking body with gleaming black claws, each one longer than the height of an average human.

Swiftly, the beast coiled around the Latina, leaving enough room for her to move around and not squeezing her, but protecting her with its own body. Its claws dug into the ground as it turned its head, looking at her for a few moments with a slit golden eye. It exhaled a tiny cloud of fog that turned the raindrops that passed through it to ice.

It turned its head away, facing the reappearing Reaper. Claws dug more into the ground as the beast let out another massive roar that shoved the creature back, and shook the earth and sky.

It was almost like being grabbed by King Kong; a giant feral beast, snatching up a lady. But this was a dragon--and... strangely enough, his grip wasn't tight or constricting, but... almost more like a protective embrace. Cadenza couldn't understand it... why this creature that had apparently been the cause of all the shaking would defend her. That was, until she saw his eyes. Great pools of amber they were, reptilian no doubt, with those black slits that might have even been bigger than her, but... there was no mistaking that color. The look it was giving her.

Somehow, this beast was Rain.

It sounded right the moment the thought sprang into her mind--however wild the idea was, it clicked--resonated with some truth. He coiled his massive, snaking body around her more while he glared at the Reaper, and it was clear that he was holding her away, out of the danger. She couldn't even see the specter beyond all the black shadow, traced in gold. It filled up the entire alley, her entire field of vision, dwarfed the houses nearby and made them look like little toys beside it. Cadenza felt unbelievably tiny, but... still safe. She brushed some of the wet hair out of her eyes, and, shivering slightly, hugged her arms, trying to focus on staying warm in the grasp of this cold-blooded dragon with the icy breath. Hopefully, all of this would be over soon...

There was that grin again. The grin that never moved with its twitching, blurred face. The Reaper made a motion, as if he was sniffing the air. Rain wondered what he was able to smell, under than the calming scent of the cold rain that was falling heavily upon the town.

“Are you…the Immortal?” there was that echoing again in Rain’s mind, “You’re uglier than you were before I stabbed you through the head.” It called through the rain in that same resounding voice; the kind that filled your ears and drowned out the hard pattering of the rain on the rooftops.

Rain couldn’t speak well enough to respond, although he would have come back with the quick retort: “I still look better than you.” Instead, the dragon opened his mouth, allowing a frigid blast of air to escape, freezing the rain and the ground in waves. The Reaper quickly slipped out of the way, only to come face to face with a melting blast of fire that evaporated any water around it. The creature was barely able to dodge that, losing a whole arm to the blaze.

And out of the smoldering wound, the creepy-crawlies climbed out. One on top of the other, slowly reforming the arm; made entirely of cockroaches, centipedes and snakes. Before he did that, Rain was thinking about crushing him between his teeth, but now… that idea didn’t sound too…appetizing. And from the way things looked, obliterating the thing in one move would be best instead of taking off bit by bit; but how would that be done without wrecking everything in Santa Mariela?

The Reaper moved his newly formed arm, shaking little insects off as he did so. But he wouldn’t get a chance to try it out. The dragon had slammed his talons into him, sending the thing sky-high. Rain raised his head and opened his mouth. And orb of black energy appeared just over his swirling his tongue as the town drowned in spiraling darkness.

Swiftly, the darkness was pulled into the orb, making it expand to a point where the dragon’s mouth couldn’t contain it.

And then it snapped. A massive black beam fired straight towards the sky, obliterating everything in its path: the raindrops, the clouds, and the Reaper. What was left was a massive hole in the clouds overhead, and the hard pattering of the rain on the rooftops.

Rain turned to Cadenza, who looked up at him, still hugging her arms and shivering. He closed his eyes, a small flame burning brightly in the back of his mouth as he breathed warmly on her. His breath began to fade and he collapsed onto her, wrapping his humanoid arms around her, resting his head on her shoulder. The shadows that had created the massive dragon had evaporated, moving off like smoke in the wind.

Cadenza’s clothes were stained with crimson and black; his wounds leaked both blood and shadows, the smaller ones healing swiftly while the larger, dangerous ones remained open. His eyes were closed, and his body was slumped onto hers, lifeless.

Algretta and Galliard watched from where they reappeared on the rooftops, materializing out of the misty rain, as Cadenza laid Rain gently across her lap, cradling his body in her arms. She kept one hand over him as she sang quietly, and rings of healing magic started to circle him; Galliard couldn't remember how long it'd been since he heard his daughter sing, but the soft sound, as hard as it was to pick out in the pattering rain, brought a smile to his face. He tried draping an arm around his older daughter to share the moment, but Algretta just nudged him away, and watched on with her arms crossed.

"She's not focused on anything but him... not the rain, not her bloodied, torn clothes... not even us up here, after she saw us get away safely..."

The water mage glanced at him, waiting for a joke, expecting a chuckle or something to detract from the more serious, sincere tone to his voice. There was nothing but a small smile, as he looked down upon his youngest daughter lifting Rain up, struggling a little because of his height, his long legs dangling over her arm, and she started towards the house and the wrecked porch as carefully as she could.

"...She really loves him," Galliard's smile deepened, and he wiped something from his eyes. Algretta wondered if it was a raindrop, or a teardrop. He had a slightly faraway look in his greenish blue eyes, like he was reflecting on a happy past that reminded him of this present.

She blinked, and tugged on his arm a little, telling him they too should get out of the rain.

Inside the Madrigal house, Cadenza carried Rain into the parlor, dripping water over the wooden floors and fine rugs without so much as a care for them. There was still a small fire going in the fireplace; it was just artificial wood for show that Galliard had put in, with flames that could be controlled by an electronic control. She pushed the sofa a little towards the warmth, and laid Rain down gently upon the cushions, taking a few of the softest pillows from other chairs in the room for him, and draping her mother's woolen blanket over his soaked figure. He needed rest right now, but afterward, she'd bring down some of her father's dry clothes from his room for him to change into, even if they would probably be too wide and maybe a little short.

Until then, she sat on the floor beside where he rested on the sofa, and brushed aside the wet strands of hair from his face, planting a light kiss on his cheek, "...Sleep well... meu cariño."

OoC: Rubatoian to English dictionary for anyone who's reading (part two!) --
"meu cariño" = my sweetheart

I’m not dead… he breathed, his eyes opened for a small moment before he lost himself to the raindrops running down his face. His vision blurred as he felt his body move, not by him, but by someone else; right now, he had trouble keeping his own eyelids open… they slowly closed on him, drowning his senses in darkness.

He was drifting in and out of consciousness.

When next Rain opened his eyelids he saw a brightly lit flame out the corner of his eyes. His sense of smell wasn’t so drowned out by the coldness of the rain anymore; he inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of the woman he had fallen for, literally, more than once. A small smile found its way to his lips as his eyes began to close once more.

Drifting, drifting…

He didn’t have to open his eyes next time to realize he was lying down on something soft, with something warm covering him, and the soft crackle and miniature roar of the fireplace nearby. And a wet, but warm caressing hand that brushed away some of his soaked hair. Cool lips pressed softly against his cold cheek for a brief moment, and a loving whisper floated into his ears.

“Sleep well… meu cariño.”

“Cadenza…” he whispered weakly, looking at her through half closed eyes, as if he would drift away at any moment. He stretched a wobbly hand across to simply run his fingers down her wet cheek.

“You…should get out of those wet clothes…” a weak, but joking grin spread on his lips for a small moment. His eyesight blurred once more, darkness beginning to cloud into it. Before he drifted off, he mustered enough strength to his lips to mouth the words “I love you.”

He'd fallen asleep, but Cadenza was still finding it hard to leave his side. She wanted to lie beside him and keep him warm, or just hold his hand and gently run her fingers through his hair, staying there for him in case he woke up and needed something. Maybe he'd even... just be comforted by the sight of her there when he first opened his eyes. But they were both soaking wet, like he'd joked, able to make her cheeks become tinged with pink even when he was half-asleep like this, and they really needed a change of clothes before they caught cold. She pried herself away after another light kiss, this time on his damp forehead, and tiptoed away towards the stairs to fetch the clothing.

Some time later, Galliard and Algretta came in to the sounds of a teapot bubbling on the stove. A quick look showed that Rain was snoozing on the sofa, a pile of dry clothes folded up on the table near him, and Cadenza was coming in with a cup of tea for him from the kitchen. The two nodded to one another wordlessly, Galliard giving a warm smile, and climbed down the stairs into the basement, deciding to leave the couple alone.

If they had come up a little while after, they would have spotted the gypsy sleeping too, at the foot of the sofa, leaning against it near Rain, changed out of her armor and tattered clothing into just a blouse and a comfortable skirt. The sounds of the tea kettle whistling were gone, but there was still the soft crackling of the fire as the two rested peacefully together.

It was a little while afterward; Rain had sat up, and spied the dry clothes on the table. He looked down at his own suit of bloodied, torn clothes. Those won’t fit me well, he thought, but at least, they’re better than these… His pale, weak fingers curled into some of the crimson holes of his once white shirt. It was thin, damp from the blood and rain, and so, easily torn off.

Rain stretched across, taking Galliard’s shirt in his fingers. And out of the corner of his eyes, he saw his lady sleeping soundly at the foot of the sofa. He smiled at her sleeping form, carefully putting on the shirt; which was a little wide for him, and a little too short.

And now, for his pants; quietly, he undid his belt, slipping the damp, ragged cloth off and putting on a clean, dry (but short-ish) pair.

He watched the woman for a while, just smiling. She really did cast some kind of spell on him, but she probably did it without knowing; and at that moment, he pictured her saying “I could say the same for you.”

Rain shook his head; this tiny moment would have to end soon, but that didn’t mean that he wanted it to just slip away without enjoying it a little. Softly, he slid down next to her with the woolen blanket in hand. He rubbed his cheek affectionately against her shoulder as he draped the blanket over them both, curling up next to her and wrapping an arm around her as he closed his eyes once more.