Shining Wills (Episode 51 centered)

[Dessa]

((OOC: This is both backstory and current story. The current story takes place after Xeno-ikkou and Modogumi find out they're fighting each other. Also, it's quite long. At this point, it's 10 pages long in Word.

Also, there ARE going to be MAJOR SPOILERS for XENOSAGA EPISODE 2, and it's going to be heavy on the Xeno references. You have been warned, don't blame me.))

~~~~~

~Many Years Ago~

“Gah!” the girl cried, noticing the weather outside the bus window. “And my stop is next!”
A young-seeming man with light blond hair near her walked over. “I am also getting off at this stop, if you would like to share an umbrella with me. What direction are you going?”
The girl looked up at him, and her blue eyes were caught by his red ones. “Just to the other corner, to make a transfer.”
“I would not mind waiting with you, so that you can stay dry,” the man told her, and she nodded.

The girl and the man exited the bus together, sharing his extra large umbrella. Standing at the transfer stop, she turned to him. “Thank you very much, sir. Most people wouldn’t’ve offered help.”
He looked to meet her glance, with those strange red eyes of his. “Not a problem. It would be a shame to let you get soaking wet,” he replied.
“You know,” he practically whispered, “you are quite beautiful.” The girl started. She was bundled in a heavy jacket, gloves, and hat, the man could barely see her. She started to step away, nervously. “I apologize,” he said quickly. “I did not mean to frighten or offend you. I was referring to your will. You seem to have a beautiful, shining will…” The man trailed off, as the transfer bus was pulling up.
The girl quickly went to the door of the bus, and as she climbed in, she heard the man’s parting words “please remember that.”

~~~~~

chaos woke with a start. He didn’t know what had woken him, but he didn’t trust it. And he knew of only one thing that could make him feel this uncomfortable.
“Nephilim,” he whispered, after making sure he was alone in the cabin, and locking the doors. The childlike girl appeared behind him.
“Nephilim,” he said, knowing instantly that she was there. “Where is Wilhelm? What is he doing?”
The girl known as Nephilim closed her eyes, then opened them. “I do not know for certain. But I believe he is attempting to manipulate events in the past.”
“The past? Isn’t he content to manipulate things here?” chaos thought for a moment. “Wait… WHEN in the past?” Nephilim remained silent. She knew that chaos knew when the only time Wilhelm would be able to truly manipulate things was, and there was no reason to say it aloud. “I have to stop him. I spent a hundred years watching is actions, if I’m going to act now, I need to act then as well. Nephilim, will you send me?”
“How will you know where to go, who to go to, once you are there?”
“I…” chaos fell silent. The ability to find those who Wilhelm could manipulate to his advantage was not one that chaos held. And he couldn’t take Canaan with him, the only one who could. “I will have to trust my instincts. Wilhelm and I were once close, I should be able to follow his train of thoughts.”
“And what if you are playing into his hands? What if he is waiting for you to go back?”
“That’s a risk I’ll have to take. Please, Nephilim, will you help me?”
Nephilim was silent for a moment. “Yes, Yeshua, I will help you.”

~~~~~

~5 years ago~

The girl sighed. It was a few years after she had met that strange man on the bus, and now she was living on her own. Which meant interviewing potential roommates to help her with the rent and utilities. She looked down at her list. None of the people she’d talked with had she clicked with, and there was only one left.
chaos, Male, 19, she read. Strange name… But maybe he’ll work. A knock at the door snapped her out of her thoughts, and she went to answer it.
Standing at the door was a boy about her height, with a boyish face, silver hair, and stunning blue-green eyes. No, she decided, they were more blue than blue-green, but there was that hint of green in there.
“You must be chaos,” she said, inviting him into the apartment. “My name is Dessa,” she continued, extending her hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dessa,” he said, shaking her hand and sitting down.

~~~~~

~Present Day~

Dessa sighed as she left the apartment in the morning. Last night hadn’t been fun. It wouldn’t’ve been as bad, all the Oracle Bells going off, if they weren’t announcing a battle between the two teams living in said apartment. Dessa had been amazed not only to run into her old childhood friend Lovely, but chaos’ friend Jr. as well, in Patch Village, and that they were on the same team. Everyone had been amicable, so the two teams, her own Xeno-ikkou (consisting of herself, an online friend of hers named Van, and his best friend Tyrell), and Lovely and Jr’s Modogumi (the two of them and their friend Resurie), decided to share an apartment. Both teams knew that eventually, if they weren’t bumped out of the tournament earlier, they would have to fight each other. But did it have to be so soon?
The fight was scheduled for two weeks from yesterday, but Jr’s ally Great Joe was missing, and his weapons sealed, and who knew where Kon had gotten to. Only the fact that Van’s shoes weren’t covered in Sanskrit writing gave them any clues to Kon’s well being. Walking through town, she tried hard to avoid members of other teams, not wanting to answer any questions about the fight.
She passed by members of the white-garbed “X-Laws” team, including the one she’d fought in the first round. He’d made some rude comments about chaos then, and she didn’t want to hear them now, especially not with people going around sealing people’s spirits. chaos could take care of himself, so she wasn’t worried, but with the way tensions were up, she couldn’t help be uncomfortable.
chaos liked to go out by the lake, she knew, and she unconsciously found herself out there herself. She sat down by the trunk of a tree, and looked up at the tower of energy that was the Great Spirits.

((OOC again: since I know this is getting long at this point, I won't post anything more. I will allow interaction with Dessa and chaos later, but wait until I let you guys know. There are certain things I want to happen, and I don't want any surprises before they happen))

((OOC: edited to add dates))

[Jr.]

(OOC: GAH!!! I took me until the shinig will line to figure out who you were talking to Dessa!! I got it though! Very nice backstory. I want to wait until after our battle to post mine since it does a bit more revealing than I want to go into now! I hope I didn't interfere with your story by having written that Jr. has recovered Joe thanks to chaos's help. )

[Dessa]

((OOC: considering that it was Tuesday night when the fight was announced, that means that the "current" stuff in here is Wednesday... so it shouldn't interfere... Heheheh... I was hoping you'd figure it out. I figured "shining wills" and "red eyes" would give it away.

I just hope this next part doesn't affect your story for Jr.))

~~~~

~4 Years Ago~

It was late at night, but Dessa suddenly found herself wide awake. She rolled over, trying to get back to sleep, but she couldn’t. Not wanting to look at the clock, she instead glared through her bedroom wall toward chaos’ room. In the year they’d shared the apartment, she’d never known him to have problems sleeping.
Maybe a midnight snack will help, she thought, knowing full well that it was long after midnight. However, she was surprised to find the door to chaos’ room open when she opened hers, and to hear voices coming from the living room.
“Is she the one?” a young, yet not-young voice was saying.
“I… I don’t know,” came the reply from chaos.
He has a guest over, this late? Why didn’t he at least mention it to me? And is he talking about me?
“You’ve been here for almost a year now. You’ve only got 4 more years. If she is not the one, you must hurry and find the one you are looking for. Yeshua, time is not on your side. You must find the one Wilhelm went after, and make sure that the Zohar is not tampered with. Is the girl even a shaman?”
Dessa couldn’t take it anymore. She stepped out of the hallway, and saw chaos sitting talking with a young girl. “What’s going on, chaos? Or should I call you ‘Yeshua’? And how do you know about shamans?”
chaos stood up, as the girl just looked at Dessa. “Dessa, I… what are you doing up?”
“This is not the time for chit-chat, chaos. Who is your friend? Why couldn’t she have come over at a decent time?”
chaos looked surprised. “You can see her? You can see Nephilim?” Dessa looked at him with equal surprise. “What do you mean? Unless… Shaman. You were speaking of shaman. Are you one, chaos? You’ve always seemed different to me.”
Nephilim stood up, and, walking over to Dessa, took her hands in hers, pulling her over to a seat. “Yeshua, I think it is time to tell her everything. Even if she is not the one, she has a right to know.” chaos looked down, then nodded, and sat down with the girls.

~~~~~ ((OOC: what goes on between the previous section and the next section will be revealed later))

chaos looked down. “Dessa, will you team with me, allow me to be your spirit ally, and work to become Shaman King?”
“I…” Dessa was interrupted by a knock at the door. “We’re popular tonight, aren’t we?” she joked to chaos.
She opened the door, but stepped back away from the man who was there. The man stepped in, seeming to pull away from the darkness, as all that was visible from underneath his black hooded robe and clothing was his pale face.
“Who are you?” Dessa asked timidly. “What do you want?”
“Dessa, get back!” chaos shouted, running to the girl and pulling her behind him. “Leave us alone, Voyager!”
The man in the robes said nothing, but stepped again towards Dessa.
“Who is he, chaos?” Dessa asked, truly scared now.
“He is Voyager, one of Wilhelm’s ‘Testaments.’ Wilhelm offered him power because he had a ‘shining will.’” Voyager kept walking toward them, and chaos kept walking backwards, keeping himself between Voyager and Dessa.
“Nephilim!” he shouted. “Get Dessa out of here! Take her back!”
“Yeshua…” Nephilim started.
“I’ll take responsibility for what happens!” chaos interrupted her. “All we’ve worked for is for lost if Wilhelm gets her. I’ll hold Voyager here, you get Dessa safe, and start teaching her!”
chaos pushed Dessa back toward Nephilim, and she felt strange as the not-really-there girl touched her. “What?” Dessa started to ask, as she became suddenly tired.
“Do not fear, Dessa-san. I will protect you.” As Dessa fell unconscious, there was a flash of light, and only chaos and Voyager were left in the room.
Voyager scowled, his prey had gotten away. As he turned to leave, chaos called after him “Tell Wilhelm that I won’t let him have her. I told him I wouldn’t hold back anymore, and I meant it.”

~~~~~

“chaos, what is going on?” An irritated man in a red baseball cap questioned the boy. The hat read “Caution. I am a boozer.”
“I’m sorry, Captain,” chaos said, trying to walk past him into the cabin. But the Captain wouldn’t let him go by.
“First, you disappear on us for a year, now, a strange girl suddenly appears in your bunk, and you’re back. On top of this, Little Master’s gone on some strange mission and can’t be reached either, except by Master Gaignun.”
“Jr? On a mission? By himself?” chaos asked.
Knowing he wouldn’t get any answers out of chaos before he satisfied his crewman’s curiosity (if he got answers at all), Captain Matthews sighed, and answered. “He said something about trying to prevent something, and about Shaman.”
“Shaman?” a voice asked, and Captain Matthews jumped as Dessa opened the door behind him.
“Ah!” Matthews called, moving out of the way for chaos to get to the girl.
“chaos, where am I?” Dessa asked. “And who is he?”
“This is the Elsa, and this is her captain, Captain Matthews.” He leaned close and whispered in her ear “I had to bring you back to my time to escape Voyager. Don’t worry, we’ll go back soon.” He turned to Matthews. “Captain, this is Dessa-san. I was unaware that Jr. was working on the same mission as me, but we really must be going. We just ran into some problems and had to return quickly. I’m sorry I couldn’t’ve warned you.” He took Dessa’s hand and was going to pull her away, saying “We’ll be going now,” but Matthews stopped him.
“chaos, we had no clue where you were, or who she was, but we did notice that she’s not exactly wearing clothing meant for public viewing.” Dessa blushed as she noticed that she was still in her nighty shirt and shorts. “I sent Tony and Hammer to go find her decent clothes, so you might as well wait for them to get back.” Throwing his hands up in the air, he turned to go to the bridge, and chaos took Dessa back into the cabin.
“Might as well start your training while we’re waiting,” he said.

~~~~~

~Present Day~

Dessa didn’t know how long she’d been sitting there, but the instant someone walked up, she was on her feet, facing the direction they were coming from. With or without chaos there with her, if the person coming wanted a fight, she’d give it to them. However, the person coming up was the last person she expected.
“You!” she shouted, instinctively entering a defensive position.
“I do not mean to harm you,” the man replied, showing her that he was alone, and had no weapons to attack her with.
“Why should I trust you?” she asked, not letting her guard down.
“What reason have I given you not to trust me? On the contrary, was it not Yeshua who hid his true intentions from you, and who is the one you should not trust?” Dessa lowered her guard slightly. What he said was true, yes, but she had gotten over it long ago.
“What do you want?”
“To offer you power. Power that ‘chaos’ cannot give you, and that he is too afraid to use.”
“And what would the cost to me be?”
“None at all, my dear shamaness. I simply wish to help you out. After all, long before we were adversaries, Yeshua was a dear friend of mine.” Dessa felt herself becoming lost in his eyes, and fell to the ground unconscious.
“Did you truly think she was safe from me, old friend?” Wilhelm whispered, as he disappeared.

~~~~~

((OOC: Yay! Only 1 more chapter until people can start interacting with Dessa... however, if someone wanted, they COULD mention to chaos that they saw someone strange with Dessa over by the lake, but don't let him get there.

Oh, and this takes place before Funbari Onsen beats Fudou, which I think we're placing at Wednesday night (since Lovely said Joe had to be back by Thursday).)

((OOC: Edited to add dates and to adjust comments about Jr))

[Lovely]

((OOC: Techincally, the only reason Lovely said "Thursday" was because she likes the sound of the word. "THURSDAY". Weeee~))

[Jr.]

Lovely said:

((OOC: Techincally, the only reason Lovely said "Thursday" was because she likes the sound of the word. "THURSDAY". Weeee~))

(OOC: ? Our leader ladies and gentleman!! XD

Oh and Dessa, the only thing that isn't quite right (it's eerie how in sync this is though, is that Jr. kills Joe so Matthews wouldn't know anything about him. Jr. kind of sneaks off but Gaignun could tell him that Jr. left on a mission since Gaignun was the only one that knew Jr. was leaving...... aw crap I'll just send you my backstory!! XD )

[Konekone]

((Speaking of which, I'm hoping the whole dinner party thread is up, soon, since I want to bring Zinc back here...))

[Dessa]

((OOC: Okay, I have the rest of that flashback, but I forgot that I can't view the files on vanman's computer (stupid mac), so I'm changing the order of a few things. It shouldn't affect the story, though

Also, I apologize in advance, but this is going to go heavily into Xeno territory from here on out. I mean, how else can I have fun with chaos, without taking all of my chaos knowledge into account?))

~~~~~

~Present Day~

"Jr," chaos said, interrupting the cleaning that Lovely was making him do. His friend turned to look at him. "Have you seen Dessa this morning?"
Jr thought, then answered no. "But don't the two of you have a connection? Can't you find her?"
chaos looked away. "I should be able to, but I can't. It's almost as if something is blocking me. Will you help me find her?"
Now it was Jr's turn to look away. Here he was, without his spirit, and chaos was asking him to help reunite a shaman and ally. Then again, chaos was a good friend, and he didn't have any animosity toward Dessa (not counting the upcoming match, of course). Sighing, he told chaos he would. Besides, it would get him out of cleaning.
As they were about to leave, Lovely stopped them. "Hey Jr! Mystery boy!" chaos groaned, but the two turned to listen to her. She handed them a list. "While you're out, I need some more supplies for tomorrow." She turned away, and went back to her work.
"I suppose she expects us to pay for them, too," Jr mumbled as the two left the apartment.

~~~~~

"Where should we start looking?" Jr asked. "She was kinda quiet last night, do you think she's still in a bad mood?"
"Probably. Dessa tries to stay bright and happy all the time, when she finally breaks, she's usually like that for a while."
"Do you think she might've gone out to the lake? I mean, not many people go there, and it's usually quiet."
"Good idea," chaos replied, and the two headed out to the lake.

~~~~~

When they got to the lake, they didn't see anything at first, until they saw a crowd of people around the water's edge, under a sakura tree.
"What do you suppose is going on?" Jr asked. chaos shrugged, so the two walked over to the crowd.
As they got near, they could hear that the crowd was murmuring about someone apparently unconsious laying there. chaos and Jr pushed their way through, and saw Dessa was the unconsious party.
"Everyone clear out!" Jr yelled, trying to dispurse the crowd.
"Isn't that boy on Team Modogumi?" someone murmured. "Yeah, but the other boy is that girl's ally," another murmured back. "Strange to see Modogumi and Xeno-ikkou together so close to their match," a third said, and then the crowd was too far away for more comments to be heard.
Jr turned back to chaos, who was trying unsuccessfully to wake Dessa up. "Is she okay?"
"She doesn't appear to be sick or injured, just passed out. I..." chaos didn't know how to continue, but Jr interrupted his thoughts.
"Hey, where'd that pendant come from?" chaos started, then looked where Jr was pointing. It was a cross-shaped pendant, identical to Nephilim's laying at Dessa's neck. "Isn't that the one that the little girl in the Encephalon had? What was her name...?"
"Nephilim," chaos supplied. He knew it wasn't Nephilim's, but admitting that to Jr would reveal that he had a connection to Nephilim, and he wasn't ready for anyone to know that yet. "I don't know. It looks right."
"Anyway, we should probably get her back to the apartment, right?" chaos nodded, and lifted her onto his back. Jr shuddered, remembering when chaos had carried him like that, and not wanting to bring back memories of those times. "Let's go," he said, walking infront of chaos.

~~~~~

When the boys returned with Dessa, Lovely was ready to pounce on them (especially since they didn't have her groceries), but when she saw Dessa, her anger turned to worry.
"Is Dessa-chan okay?" she asked.
"We don't know," Jr told her as chaos carried Dessa into the girls' room. "We found her passed out, and we can't wake her up."
Lovely watched as chaos laid Dessa down on her bed, and adjusted the blankets around her. She was about to turn away, when she saw a glint of silver reflecting in the sunlight. She walked over, and was surprised to see Dessa's grandmother's pendant around Dessa's neck. Where did she find that? Lovely wondered, then left the room, leaving Dessa in chaos' care.
Suddenly, the front door burst open, and Tyrell came in, nearly running over Jr, who was still standing near the door.
"What's going on?" Lovely asked, coming out of the bedroom.
"There was this creepy guy in town, asking questions about Xeno-ikkou," he answered.
"So?" Jr said. "Tons of shaman are asking about other teams. There's a lot of battles coming up."
"This guy wasn't a shaman, though," Tyrell said, as chaos came out of the bedroom and quietly closed the door, to let Dessa get rest in quiet.
"What's wrong with this guy?" he asked Tyrell.
"He wasn't asking normal questions about the team. He was more interested in where we were staying, where we went. He especially wanted to know about Dessa, and how often she was alone."
chaos furrled his eybrows at this. This was potentially dangerous questioning. "What did he look like?" he asked.
"I didn't see him very well, 'cuz he was covered. But he was wearing a blue hooded cloak, and it looked like some sort of bird-like mask."
Jr looked at chaos, and found his eyes meeting chaos' blue ones. They both knew only one group of people who wore clothing like that. "Testament," chaos whispered, under his breath.

~~~~~

((OOC: Okay, interaction is allowed now. For now, I only want the BLUE Testament to show up. Although, if Lovely allows it, can I have three of them forming a team? Otherwise people might find it peculiar for someone in such a strange outfit to be walking around (strange outfit and NOT in the tournament). Also, Lovely, I'm gonna PM you with part of the next section, to make sure it doesn't interfere with RP-Lovely's story, since she's in it.

Oh, and for timeline, remember that this is how it goes: Day 1- Teams find out they're fighting each other (in another thread). Day 2- Current "present" story in this thread, plus Jr gets Joe back (in the evening/night). Day 3- Lovely's Dinner. I'm assuming the fights will be after that, but until Lovely gives us the timeline for exactly when stuff is happening, I can't give that out.

But now this is open for anyone who wants to join into the story (like seeing the Testament(s) or something).))

[Dessa]

((OOC: **sniffsniff** No one's participating in my story... not even people who are IN my story...))

~~~~~

~4 years ago~

Nephilim stood up, and, walking over to Dessa, took her hands in hers, pulling her over to a seat. “Yeshua, I think it is time to tell her everything. Even if she is not the one, she has a right to know.” chaos looked down, then nodded, and sat down with the girls.

“As you have guessed,” he started. “‘chaos’ is not my real name. But please, do not call me ‘Yeshua.’ While that is indeed my name, the being known as ‘Yeshua’ no longer exists, and ‘chaos’ is who remains.” Dessa nodded. Names meant little to her. “Yes, I am different from you, although I am not a shaman. I am not human, although what I truly am does not matter at this point. Just know that I have come from far into the future, to try to keep a horrible occurrence from happening. Nephilim is a being similar to I, although she cannot fully appear in this world.” Dessa looked at the girl again, and did notice that she was slightly translucent. She also noticed the pendant the girl wore, but when she tried to say something, chaos held his hand up. “Please, allow me to finish this. Other than Nephilim, who has always known all of this, you are the only other person who will know this information about me… The only one who matters, at least.” chaos took a deep breath, then continued.
“Only someone with spiritual powers, like a shaman, should be able to see Nephilim, as she is now.” chaos was more serious than she had ever seen him. “Tell me, have you ever, before now, been able to see spirits or ghosts?”
Dessa took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “Once, only. I was very young, and I’d almost forgotten it now. I was with a friend, and I…” Dessa pointed at Nephilim’s pendant. “I had that.”
Nephilim looked surprised. “Tell us about it, please.”

~~~~~

~Many Years Earlier~

“Grandma, why is your pendant so special?” young Dessa asked the elderly woman. Her best friend, Lovely, was sitting next to her, just as curious.
“It has been in our family for generations. For those of us with special gifts,” at this point she pointed at not only Dessa, but at Lovely as well, “it enhances them. However, if it were to fall into the wrong hands…” Dessa’s grandmother trailed off, not needing to tell the two children the rest of the story.
“By special gifts,” Lovely asked, very matter-of-factly, “do you mean like seeing ghosts and stuff?”
“Yes, Lovely-chan.”
“I can already do that! But Dessa-chan can’t!”
“No fair! Just ‘cuz I can’t see them!”
“But you won’t go with me to the haunted house! What’s so scary if you can’t see them?”
“I can still feel them!”
Dessa startled as she felt her grandmother pull her into a hug, and then place the pendant around her neck. “Why don’t you go over to the house now, and see if my pendant will allow you to see the ghosts? Lovely, no tricks now, alright?” The other girl nodded, and then Dessa’s grandmother let her go. “You two be careful, alright!” The girls waved, running off to play.

~~~~~

~4 Years Ago~

“That was the last time I really got to play with Lovely, since they moved away. But I saw the ghosts, I definitely did. A few times, I’ve thought I’ve seen sprites or something playing in the woods or the wind, but nothing definite, not like with the pendant, or now. Come to think about it, right around the time Lovely moved, the pendant disappeared, too. If I ever see her again, I should ask her about it.”
“The pendant does indeed hold those powers, but to see me, your gifts have grown since then,” Nephilim replied. “You talked as if you knew of shaman. What do you know?”
“I know that shaman are those who can use their spiritual powers to interact with spirits, but not much further than that.”
“Have you heard of the Shaman Fight, or the Shaman King?” chaos asked her.
“That sounds like something out of one of my grandmother’s stories, but I don’t remember very well.”
“Then I shall explain,” Nephilim replied. “Every 500 years, shaman from all over the world compete with each other, in a tournament. This tournament is known as the Shaman Fight. At the end, one shaman will be crowned as Shaman King, and they will have the right to claim as their spirit ally the Great Spirits, and have immense powers.”
“And the ‘Zohar’ you mentioned?”
“There is one… a man from my time, one who is like me. We believe that he wishes to manipulate someone here to become the Shaman King. There is an object, that will be discovered on Earth, but whose origins are unknown, known only as the ‘Zohar.’ In time, it will lead to Earth being known as ‘Lost Jerusalem.’”
“What do you mean by ‘lost?’”
“It will be cut off. In our time, no one knows exactly what has happened to the planet, and there are many who wish to gain access to the planet, for many different means.”
“So this man you think is trying to manipulate someone…”
“If he can control the person who becomes Shaman King, that person could use the Great Spirits to take control of the Zohar, for unknown purposes.”
“And you think that he might’ve tried to manipulate me?” Dessa thought about how ridiculous this was, until, unbidden, an almost-forgotten memory of a strange, red-eyed man on a rainy night came back to her. “This man,” she said quietly, barely above a whisper. “Does he have red eyes?”
chaos and Nephilim looked at each other, but said nothing for a while. “Yes,” chaos finally replied. “That was most likely Wilhelm.” chaos looked at Dessa seriously again. “Dessa, I know that I came to you under false pretenses, and that you have no real reason to trust me any longer. However, if you will give me your trust, I can teach you to be a shaman, so that you can participate in the Shaman Fight.”
“But if that’s what he wants…”
“He wants you to be Shaman King if he can control you. I can teach you to resist him, as well as to protect you from other things that may try to break down your defenses. Tell me, did he tell you anything when you saw him?”
“He said…” Dessa was struggling to remember what she had struggled to forget. “He said that I had a ‘beautiful, shining will.’ Do you know what he meant?”
chaos looked down. “Yes,” he said. “Wilhelm searches for those with ‘shining wills,’ so that he can use them for his purposes. Dessa, will you team with me, allow me to be your spirit ally, and work to become Shaman King, to stop Wilhelm’s plans from going through?”
“I…” Dessa was interrupted by a knock at the door. “We’re popular tonight, aren’t we?” she joked to chaos.
She opened the door, but stepped back away from the man who was there. The man stepped in, seeming to pull away from the darkness, as all that was visible from underneath his black hooded robe and clothing was his pale face.
“Who are you?” Dessa asked timidly. “What do you want?”
“Dessa, get back!” chaos shouted, running to the girl and pulling her behind him. “Leave us alone, Voyager!”
The man in the robes said nothing, but stepped again towards Dessa.
“Who is he, chaos?” Dessa asked, truly scared now.
“He is Voyager, one of Wilhelm’s ‘Testaments.’ Wilhelm offered him power because he had a ‘shining will.’” Voyager kept walking toward them, and chaos kept walking backwards, keeping himself between Voyager and Dessa.
“Nephilim!” he shouted. “Get Dessa out of here! Take her back!”
“Yeshua…” Nephilim started.
“I’ll take responsibility for what happens!” chaos interrupted her. “All we’ve worked for is for lost if Wilhelm gets her. I’ll hold Voyager here, you get Dessa safe, and start teaching her!”
chaos pushed Dessa back toward Nephilim, and she felt strange as the not-really-there girl touched her. “What?” Dessa started to ask, as she became suddenly tired.
“Do not fear, Dessa-san. I will protect you.” As Dessa fell unconscious, there was a flash of light, and only chaos and Voyager were left in the room.
Voyager scowled, his prey had gotten away. As he turned to leave, chaos called after him “Tell Wilhelm that I won’t let him have her. I told him I wouldn’t hold back anymore, and I meant it.”

~~~~~

~Present Day~

Dessa awoke with a start. She could place herself in her room, but not how she got there. She remembered being out at the lake... Oh... that was why she was remembering that... She shuddered at the idea of Wilhelm being in Patch Village...
She walked to the door and peeked out, and saw chaos and Jr. lookign worried, and Lovely and Tyrell looking confused. chaos noticed that Dessa was awake, and, taking his leave from the group, pushed Dessa back into the room and closed the door.
"Are you alright?" he asked, eyes full of concern.
"Yes," she said, "but what's going on?"
"Nothing you need to worry about," chaos said, but Dessa didn't believe him. "Where did you get that pendant?" he asked her back.
"I don't know," she answered just as unconvincingly.
"It was him, wasn't it?" Dessa didn't answer. "Dessa... we know that he has at least one agent in the Village. You are in danger. Please let me help you."
Dessa looked over at chaos, then simply threw herself at him, crying. chaos looked down at her, and then just let her cry. ((OOC: If you've seen it, think the end of XSepII))

~~~~~

((OOC: Please someone participate...))

[Jr.]

(OOC: I'm sorry Dessa! I've been real busy lately!! And I don't know what to add! )

Jr. knocked on Dessa's door, "Come in!" she replied.

Jr. entered with the newspaper he had from the other day! "Since it seems that you are more involved with this then I thought, I guess you should see this as well."

He hands Dessa the newpaper that talks about the Zohar.

"I know the old man told me that eavesdropping wasn't an aspiriing habit, but bad habits are hard to break, " Jr. laughs.

(OOC: Sorry I don't have more!! )

[Dessa]

((OOC: heh... I actually had to go back and reread "Reflections" to remember exactly what Dessa was doing at that point...))

Dessa looked up questioningly at Jr, not understanding his comment, but he was already out of the room.
What's this? she wondered, looking down at the paper. Wait... isn't this the one that Jr and chaos were looking at? She looked at the article Jr had left it open at. That... the Zohar? Then... then Wilhelm is here because... Dessa trailed off her line of thought... She didn't like how things were going.

[Dessa]

((OOC: Hey! I found more of this that I'd written!!))

~~~~~

~6 months earlier~

Nearly four years had passed since that crazy night, and Dessa was now a fully-trained shaman. Oh, there were still things she couldn’t do, but chaos said that they would come to her eventually. Besides teaching her basic shaman abilities like Hyoi Gattai and Oversoul, he’d also taught her to tap into a special energy he referred to as “ether,” which she could use to heal, attack, and defend. He also taught her a range of attacks that she could use, which combined her shamanic furiyoku and his immense ether abilities. He said that they were skills that he used when he had to battle, and it was through their connection that she could use them.
They were still living in the apartment that everything had started at, but chaos assured her that there was no way that Wilhelm could get to her. He was there to protect her, and she now could protect herself as well. But he was right, there were no more late-night visitors (even Nephilim had stayed away).
So Dessa was surprised when she suddenly awoke one night. Walking to her window, she saw a comet streaking by, and knew what had awakened her. She walked to her door and opened it, and found chaos standing in his own doorway.
“You saw it?” he asked, and she nodded. “Then it’s time to go. Get dressed, and let’s start this.” She pulled the clothing that had she had been given by chaos’ friends from his time, which they had long since figured out worked much better for fighting, and went off to confront the representative from the Patch tribe who would judge her worthy of entering the tournament and give her the Oracle Bell that would give her information on the Fight.


~~~~~

((OOC: hmm... I might go and write the first round for Dessa, too))

[Jr.]

(OOC: Be careful Dessa! That's how it started for me and then I found myself writing a six chapter long fic!! XD It'll be posted after our battle! Or you can go to Zinc's board and read it now! )

[Dessa]

((OOC: It's already 14 pages in Word))

[Jr.]

(OOC: My final Chapter of my backstory was 10! HA! I use a lot of spaces though!)

[Dessa]

((OOC: this happens after Lovely's confrontation of Dessa in the "battle" thread))

Dessa sat and thought for a long time after Lovely had left. She wasn't a coward. That was certain. She might've been bibibi when she was little, but she wasn't anymore. Someone who had been through what she had, and still went ahead with participation in this tournament. If she were a coward, once she found out Wilhelm wanted her, she wouldn't've agreed to help chaos. Well, she MIGHT have agreed then, to get away from Voyager.

Dessa sighed. She was getting nowhere, arguing with herself over what Lovely had said. And she didn't want to talk with chaos, either. She looked outside, and saw that it was getting late in the evening. She took a deep breath, then opened the window and climbed out.

~~~~~

chaos was leaning against the wall next to Dessa's door. He'd been there since Lovely had gone in there, hours before. He smiled, thinking of what Jr would say to him, if he saw him here, knew what he'd been doing.

"Man, and Ziggy says I have bad habits about eavesdropping..."

He almost laughed, but kept from it. It was late, but not too late. Lovely hadn't come back yet, but he figured she wouldn't wanna be back for a while. Jr wasn't here either. That was another one who wouldn't be back for a while. On his way home the previous night, Jr had noticed "Patch Antiques," but they'd already been closed. No, the boy wouldn't be home until they kicked him out of the store. chaos just hoped that Jr wouldn't spend too much money, or he might not get a paycheck!

Resurie had come back while Lovely was here, and Tyrell had been hanging out on the couch, but both decided to discretly leave once they heard the smack. Tyrell had come back at one point later, but, when he realized that Van was still out, he decided to go track him down.

At the thought of Van, he did have to laugh. The boy was deathly afraid of fangirls. chaos knew the feeling of fear, having seen many strange crazes over the years (and by looking at the reactions of players of that propogandic "game" that Wilhelm had released in this time period), but even so, Van took it to an extreme.

chaos sighed. He knew he'd have to go get Dessa, and he figured he might as well trail her before the others got back to the apartment.

As he left the door, he started singing, under his breath. He knew that no one could hear him, but, maybe, the meaning of his words would reach their intended target.

Harukanaru toki wo koe
Meguri au hito yo
Keshite mou hanasa nai kimi no subete wo

Itsumade mo soba ni ite
Taisetsu na hito yo
Kimi dake wo zuuto sagashi tsuzukete ita

Ikusen no yoru wo koe
Meguri aeta kara
Keshite mou hanasa nai kimi no subete wo
dakishime sasete kono mama

~~~~~

((OOC-

translation of the lyrics:

Crossing space and time
You are the one I stumbled across
I will never let go of anything about you.

Please stay by my side forever
The one I hold dear.
You're the one I've always been searching for.

Because I could finally meet you
Crossing thousands of nights,
I will never let go of anything about you.
Let me embrace you, just like this

(opening theme from Harukanaru Toki no Naka de ~ Hachiyoushou)

And "bibibi" is a word that means "scared," basically. I don't know the actual translation, but that's the rough meaning.))