Nova

[Fleckvieh]

"hey I just want my friend to feel welcome", Marceline said with a soft smirk, before she dowsed the campfire and took Killian's hand.
"You said you can teleport, right? In that case I'll Justin teleport us to Siam'han."
Teleporting with someone who couldn't do it themselves could be a risky thing; often their bodies weren't made for the rapid strain of teleporting- resulting in their bodies just dissolving and ripping apart like a piece of paper. Luckily she didn't have to worry about that with Killian, so she tightened her hold on his hand and teleported right into the garden of the house where Alma, Kate and Caine were spending the night.

She just wanted to talk to Killian, when she noticed Alma standing in the garden, looking into the air.
"Alma?", She asked quietly, surprised.
The Aeterna took her eyes off the sky, smiling when she noticed Killian.
"Oh, hello", she said politely.
"Alma, what are you doing out here?"
At that, she frowned sorrowfully. "I am waiting for someone very special..." Looking at the two from the corner of her eye, a remorseful look swept over her face for just a second. "... My nephew."
"Nephew??", Marceline remarked in surprise, her eyes wide. "But Aeterna have a Chastity vow-"
"And one of my sisters broke it."

Just then, a giant, 8 feet tall, multi-winged grey eagle descended from the sky, landed in front of them and turned into a black-haired young man.
He gave a short nod at his aunt when he formally shook her hand.
"Alma.", He sighed. "I came as soon as I got your message. I of course will help, though I'm everything but please to he around a human."
Alma just ignored his last words and instead smiled thankfully at Killian. "I'm very thankful for your decision to help us save our world, Mister-...?"

 

[Wyosch]

[don't forget to reply to Enoch & Luna]


Killian had just watched Marceline talk to Alma - who he thought was very probably the Aeterna - akwardly shifting his gaze from the women to the floor as they talked about the Aeterna's sister breaking the chastity vow.
Wasn't breaking a vow punishable with death?

Upon a giant eagle-like animal landing in front of them, Killian flinched, his eyes swiftly turning black for a second.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts, greeting the Aeterna with a nod as she adressed him.
"Killian Gunner at your service, ma'am.", he mumbled, keeping his gaze low to the ground. "It's an honor to meet you."

 

[Fleckvieh]

[yes sir (;]


Alma smiled softly at the man in front of her, who seemed totally intimidated by the fact of standing in front of an Aeterna. It wasn't something that happened often, that a dark one met one of her sisters, mainly because they didn't spend much time in the mountains and dark ones weren't really welcome in the cities.

"Killian Gunner...?", She repeated thoughtfully, until it came to her.
"You must be the young man they maltreated in Marmoria a couple of years ago...- Mr. Gunner I can only apologize, for me and my sisters weren't able to prevent the wrong they did to you. We are working on making a new law that forbids the inhumane punishments for a couple 9f years already but the government is, as always, barely more than a babbling bumbling band of babboons with skulls as thick as concrete."

 

[Wyosch]

[sure seems as though you keep forgetting to xD]


"How do you know about that?", Killian asked, frowning deeply. Sure, it had been an open ceremony for everyone to attend if wanted to, but like the Aeterna said, that had been years ago.
How did she still remember his name? Someone deemed as not important?

"I am glad you and your sisters are trying to do something about it, ma'am, but you see, the inhumane punishment is only for those who have done even worse.", the man replied, shifting his gaze from the Aeterna over to the whisp, then to the other man before back to the ageless.
"Some would rather have people call them names and beat them up for a couple of hours than spend the rest of their lives in the dungeons."

 

[Fleckvieh]

"Bullshit-", Kieron spoke up, but immediately was silenced by his aunt.
"Young man, I hope I misunderstood you!"
He just sighed soundlessly, subtly rolling his eyes. "apologies, Alma. But I'm right! Cainssons, Dark Ones, children from forbidden love- Nova is judging people who have done nothing wrong!"

Alma was still glaring at her nephew, but lastly nodded.
"As much as I dislike my nephews sharp tongue, I have to agree with him there, Mr. Gunner. It is a commonly known fact that Dark Ones have a very hard time controlling their dark gene, and in my opinion the right thing to do would be to help those people learn strategies to get out of it, instead of deeming them as worthless and punishing them for something they have no control over."

 

[Wyosch]

Killian sighed silently at the Aeterna's reply, smiling softly at her.
There seemed nothing that could be done to aid Dark Ones in controlling their dark - aka the black - gene, according to Killian himself. He believed his punishment had still been too light in comparison to what he had done. Murder, no, slaughter, of 7 people, including a child.

Turning into a Dark One was often seen as, not only something dangerous and life-threatening, but was also disregarded by Dark Ones themselves.
Turning dark was seen as being weak, not strong enough to keep one's emotions under control. There were many cases of Dark Ones never going dark, at all - and honestly, Killian had started to believe that there indeed was something wrong with him, as nobody in his own family had ever gone dark.

"Nova has and will always judge species for their quirks. Being different is not really something admirable around here anymore.", the man added, shrugging.
He just turned towards the man that was standing next to Alma and Marceline, greeting him with a nod.
"I believe I haven't introduced myself. Killian Gunner."

 

[Fleckvieh]

Kieron grabbed Killian's hand for a firm handshake, nodding briefly.
"I'm-"
He however was interrupted by Alma subtly holding up her finger as if she was replying at school.
"Not wanting to interrupt but- I have to go. Mr.Gunner, Kieron, Marceline- see you soon."

She transformed into a falcon and flew off, before Kieron spoke on.
"-I'm Kieron Dormammu. Pleasure to meet you. So, I think I will go and prepare breakfast. I will tell you when everything's ready."

As Kieron had left into the house, Marceline watched Killian from the corner of her eye with a sad look.
"Are you okay, Killian? I can feel shake and sadness pulsing from you..."

 

[Wyosch]

"Nice guy.", Killian mumbled as he watched Kieron walk off, looking back at the whisp with an emotionless smile.
"Just thinking about what Alma said.", he replied, nodding at her as if everything was fine.
But who was he kidding?
He was already lying to himself, and a whisp would surely know when she was being fooled.

"I try to understand that what they did to me was inhumane, but I cannot see why. Didn't I deserve to be punished for what I did? Something horrible that could have been prevented had I just been stronger.", the man mumbled, shaking his head.
"I try not to blame myself, but how could I just pretend everything is fine and go on with my life? I murdered my best, and only, friend. My family. I killed a child's for fuck's sake! How can that be seen as something normal!?", he gritted his teeth, tensening his muscles as his eyes, slowly but steadily, started darkening until they were entirely black.
"It just feels so great living with the thought of having killed their own family, and all that just because I'm weak.", the man growled, taking some threatening steps towards the whisp.
"Do you think I'm weak too? Do you pity me for what happened? Save that pity for those shadows we're gonna kill-"

All of a sudden, the man gasped and his eyes turned back to normal.
There was terror written in his gaze as he stumbled a few steps back, pinching his own arm.
"I'm sorry-", he whispered, shaking his head.
"I didn't- I didn't do anything... did I?"

 

[Fleckvieh]

Marceline just watched Killian in silence, but even though she only reached up to the middle of his upper arm, even though he could have killed her with a flock of his hand, the was not a hint of fear in her beautiful diamondeyes.
She didn't even blink when Killian made some threatening steps towards her; instead, she approached as well, sadly shaking her head.

"Yes Killian, I feel sorry", she said gently. "I feel sorry for what the world did to you and for what you are still doing to yourself. I feel sorry for how you think you deserve to be treated like a monster, because you don't. You had no control over your darkness, yes, and no one could ever live on like nothing had happened after what happened to your family. And no one expects you to."

Right now was one of those moments when she couldn't be more thankful for her ability to make pain disappear at touch- because she could feel Killian's pain crashing upon her like waves of a raging ocean.
So she stood up on her tip toes and reached up, slowly, to give him the possibility to pull away, gently resting her tiny hands on his cheeks.
"I feel your pain. I feel it raging inside you so brutally it's about to destroy you..."

When his eyes suddenly turned normal again and he stumbled away from her in fear, Marceline just caught up again and, in lack of height, wrapped her arms around his waist to hug him. It was said there was nothing that made someone feel more at peace than a whisps hug... She just hoped it really worked...
"It's okay Killian, you didn't do anything. Everyone's just fine."

 

[Wyosch]

Killian was glued to the ground, unable to move, just blankly staring in front of him as if he had just seen a ghost.
His heart was racing. His thoughts too.
Thoughts about himself. About what he had done. What he could've done.

Never before had he seen someone, unafraid of a Dark One. Never before had he even thought something like that to be possible, yet here was this tiny, fragile whisp - hugging him.
She was either crazy or just incredibly brave. Maybe both. Probably both.

"I was about to-", he mumbled, hardly able to get any words over his lips.
"I was about to hurt you."
The man shook his head, carefully freeing himself from Marceline's hug, taking another few steps back.

"It was a bad idea for me to think I could do this. Next time I won't be able to snap out of it, and might end up hurting or killing you. Or any of the members of our little team. Or a civilian!"
He spoke with fear in his voice, pure terror in his eyes as he thought about what would happen if he'd kill a civilian.
It wasn't a prison sentence, no -
death.

And even though Killian often wished he could die, he was terrified of death. Scared to live and scared to die.

"I think it would be better if I'd leave the saving of the world up to you."

 

[Fleckvieh]

Marceline briefly shook her head, catching up once more, this time with blue fire licking up her body, lastly shaping a lion made of nothing but blue fire.
"Killian you can't spend the rest of your life running from yourself. Have you never considered that someone might be able to give you the help you need?"

"You are forgetting a key point about the whole thing though."
Marceline jumped at the silky voice of Kieron, who was leaning in the doorway with an annoyed expression before he let out a sigh and approached the two.
"You have no idea what itis like to feel like the whole world would be better off without your existence."

"But-", Marceline tried to talk back ..but honestly she didn't know what to say.
"You- come on, you don't know it either! You are an Aeterna, everybody respects and loves your kind-"
"Wrong", Kieron interrupted hero once more. "I am the son of an Aeterna. I am the result of a broken vow. If I wouldn't exist, not only my parents would still be alive, but this world wouldn't be in danger as well. See the whole misery isn't my mistake- but I am the mistake that caused it. That, whisp, is what you don't understand, neither about me, nor about this guy here. You have never wished to boy be born at all."

Turning to Killian, while Marceline was silently leaving into the house, he shrugged.
"I didn't mean to disturb your conversation but I'm having a hard time holding myself back when I hear people talking about things they have no clue about.", He explained. "You should do what you feel is right. I decided to go on this mission because I can't change what has happened and I can't change what I am- but I try to make the best of it. ...and because my aunt scares the shit out of me when she gets to 'talk serious'."

With a faint smile, he winked at Killian before he headed for the streets of the city and turned back to Killian once more.
"Take some time to think about it. The whisp should be somewhere upstairs and I'm heading for the city to get a bit distance between myself and this suicide mission for a bit. Go to heralk to her, or come and distract yourself for a bit. Your decision."

 

[Wyosch]

Killian was frowning deeply at the man, shaking his head when asked to accompany him into the city.
"Next time you hear someone talk about something they have no clue about - try to explain it to them instead of snapping. Of course she doesn't know what it's like, how should she? You should be grateful that not everybody is hated and beat up.", he replied, shifting his gaze to the house in which the whisp had left.

"I don't know what you are or what you did or to whom you were born - and honestly, I do not care, but as the son of an Aeterna you should know what it's like to be disrespected and worse. Don't disrespect others, especially not those who are just trying to help."

There was a serious tone in Killian's voice, clearly indicating that he wasn't joking.
One thing he despised was disrespect, and especially disrespect from people who are disrespected themselves because of who they are.
Shouldn't they know better?

"I'll go check up on Marceline.", he explained, just nodding at the guy before disappearing into the house.
It looked abandoned, yet there were traces of people having been inside. The table looked as if it had been cleaned, and there was a coat in the sink.

The Dark One carefully made his way upstairs, his right hand on the tip of his gun so he could pull it when needed.
"Marceline?", he called, the serious tone in his voice having disappeared, now sounding rather sorrowful.
"Where are you?"

 

[Fleckvieh]

"I didn't even snap!", Kieron called after him, a mixture of confusion and offendedness in his voice, before just sighed and went for the city spine, mumbling something about 'oversensitive pighead'

Inside, it didn't take even five seconds until Marceline appeared out of the room at the end of the long corridor, shining blueish-white as always, with big, surprised eyes.
"You are still here!", she said with a wide, happy smile slowly forming on her face before she walked down the corridor towards Killian, her long white dress leaving a trace in the dust in the floor- however without gaining a single stain.

Her wings were hanging down like a shimmering shining coat , tracing over the floor as well.
All in all, she looked like a magical mix between a star, a fairy, a princess and, yeah, a little bit like a bride.

"I was worried you'd leave and make me fly through another snowstorm to bring you back here. Because I for sure won't give up that easily." Smirking softly, she winked at Killian before she took his hand and placed a coin-like talisman in it.
"Everyone of us is given one of these at birth. It symbolises the ten pillars of a full life- loyalty, passion, companionship, love, laughter, happiness, a long life, compromise, faith and adventure. We try to live by them, and I can say it brought me good luck. I'm blessed with all but one of them, and, who knows, maybe it will bring you some luck too and help you move into the future instead of looking back into the past."

 

[Wyosch]

"I wanted to apologize to you. Not only for my behavior but also for Kieron. What he said to you wasn't quite nice, and he spoke for himself, not for me. I appreciate you wanting to help me, even if you don't understand what it's like - you are trying your hardest and that's something really honorable.", Killian mumbled, blinking as he looked up from the floor to the whisp.
She really looked different from what she had looked like just a few moments ago. She looked like a fairy, like a fairy princess bride - and it was beautiful.

"Well I wouldn't want you to freeze again now, would I?", the man replied, winking, flinching as the woman took his hand and placed something in it.
That something looked like a coin, but it definitely wasn't one. Perhaps a talisman, a lucky charm?
While Marceline was explaining the talisman's meaning, Killian was inspecting it with big eyes.
There were little engravings that symbolized different things, the whisp explaining it were the ten pillars of life.

"I don't know what to say.", Killian whispered, looking back up from the talisman with a happy sparkling in his eyes.
"Thank you, Marceline. I love it. I'll wear this with honor."
He stared at the talisman for another minute before he just flashed a content smile at the whisp.
"I do hope this will bring me as much luck as it did with you, but don't you want to keep it because you still miss one of those ten pillars of life? And if it's not too blunt, may I ask which one is still missing?"

 

[Fleckvieh]

"it doesn't matter", Marceline just said with a gentle smile when Killian started to apologize to her.
"You are still here, so you haven't given up. I don't care about the rest, and in a way Kieron was right. I can feel your feelings, but it's not the same as actually having been through it all. I hope I'll be able to help you anyway though."

At his question about what pillar was still missing, she squirmed slightly, her glow gaining a slight pink while she was looking to the ground.
"No no, it's- it's fine, ask away. Eh-"

She awkwardly ran her fingers through her hair once, before she shrugged.
"Well, it's love. See, this part of life is... Complicated. Intricate and faceted. There are so many kinds of love, and the awkward, twisted way in which I love my mother is just a small part. It's that kind of love where you love someone because they are your family, so you basically have to. But that's it already. You know, where I come from all guys are all about that wings. When you have big, round wings in a vibrant color, everyone wants you, but mine are pointy and fragile and seethrough, so I'm more like a wallflower that no one would ever notice."

trying to change the topic, she smiled softly, shaking her head.
"You need it more than me, and- and if, for whatever reason, we get separated on our mission, it grants you access to D'khrain, the hidden town of my people. That way I can make sure you will be taken care of if something happens, even if I... Shouldn't happen to be there."

 

[Wyosch]

Killian raised an eyebrow at Marceline's sudden akwardness, a frown appearing on his face as she mentioned being a wallflower.
"Well I like your wings. I think they're really pretty.", he replied. "And you shouldn't mind about those guys not wanting you, because they're just blind and stupid then. The real one will love you, no matter what your wings look like."

The man's frown deepened even more when the whisp mentioned what the talisman was for.
"I won't let that happen.", he mumbled, shaking his head with a serious expression on his face.
"You're the only one I'm accepting help from, and missy you'll make sure you stay alive. I for sure know that I'll treat you like a raw egg.", he winked, smirking softly as he gently swatted her shoulder.
"Hey, so - there's a kitchen down here, wanna eat something?"

 

[Fleckvieh]

Marceline smiled shyly at Killian's compliment about liking her wings, gently running her fingers over their fragile structure for a moment before a small smirk crept over her face at his suggestion to grab a snack in the kitchen.
"Let me just quickly change into something comfortable!", She said happily, giving his hand a quick squeeze before she disappeared into her room.

When she came out again, her outfit was the exact opposite of her beautiful white dress-
In a pair of black, comfy shirts and an oversized black T-shirt shirt with the logo of Papa Roach on it, her feet in some of those super fluffy black socks and her white hair pulled up in a loose, messy bun, but still glowing faintly, she stood in front of Killian with a cute, smile, a mixture of happiness and shyness.
"I hope Alma brought some Nutella from the other world. I'm addicted to that stuff! Should we go then?"

 

[Wyosch]

Killian raised an eyebrow at Marceline when she walked out of the room, wearing the total opposite of her white dress.
Why was there a roach on her t-shirt? And why was it called a 'Papa Roach'?
Even though Killian was trying to figure out what her shirt meant, he did know that the whisp looked extremely cute and fluffy.
But maybe that was something he shouldn't say out loud.

"What is Nutella?", he asked, raising an eyebrow as Marceline mentioned being addicted to it.
It wasn't a drug, was it?
"And... why is there a roach on your shirt?", he asked, smiling akwardly.
Nutella and Papa Roach were probably things from the human world, which was probably why Killian had never heard of them.
His parents had never been big fans of the human world, and he had actually never been extremely curious as to what the humans were like.

"Yeah, should we go then?"

 

[Fleckvieh]

Marceline chuckled softly at Killian's question, pulling her shirt straight to look at the band's logo herself.
"Well this is a fan shirt of a rock band from the human world; Papa Roach. I went to one of their concerts last year and man I had a blast! It was awesome, especially when Jacoby, the lead singer, started to sing 'in the end' from Linkin Park after Chester had-"
She stopped, noticing that Killian probably had absolutely no clue of what she was talking about.

"Let's just say it was awesome. They sometimes play their most popular song in the radio here in Siam'han. Wait-"
She took out her phone, and after a while of seeking played the first few seconds of 'Last Resort'.
"Sounds familiar?"
At his other question, she just grinned softly. "It's like chocolate but you can put it on your bread or into hot milk... Or eat it pure, in my case", she chuckled, before she nudged his side and headed for the kitchen.
"Come on now, or do you want to stand there some longer?"

 

[Wyosch]

Killian was just smirking akwardly as Marceline started talking about that human world's band.
It was cute how her eyes lit up and she talked in a higher pitched voice than usually, but he just didn't know anything about the human world, and he found it wasn't fair to her that she was happy talking about something he had no idea about, because he couldn't react like she wanted him to.

He pulled an even more akward face as she played him one of their - apparently - well-known songs, even here in Nova.
"...There's no radio contact in the mountains of Glacies... so I've never heard that song before. I'm sorry to disappoint you."
His own face slightly lit up as Marceline got over excited about that thing called 'Nutella', happily following her down into the kitchen.
"So Nutella is basically the same as chocolate, just with another name?", he asked as he walked past her, holding the door into the kitchen open for her.
"Can I try some of that?"

 

[Fleckvieh]

"hey just because you don't know a song doesn't mean you disappoint me", Marceline chuckled, rolling her eyes with a soft smirk.
Silly guy; was he really thinking something like that would even bother her?
Hell she hadn't even minded when he had almost turned dark just a couple of minutes ago; and what was not knowing a song compared to that?

"It's cream though", she commented about his comparison between chocolate and Nutella and grinned softly when Killian asked if he could try it.
"I suppose you can; you have hands and a mouth", she laughed, winking at him before she held up a super size jar of Nutella.
"And that's the exact reason why Alma is more of a mother for me than my actual mother- she knows me."

Grinning happily, the jar of Nutella in her one arm, two spoons in her hand, she too Killian's hand with her free one and pulled him to the kitchen table- just to sit down on it, in front of the jar.
"Okay, I'll exceptionally let you have the first spoon", she chuckled, handing Killian one of the spoons she had brought.
She didn't know about him, but Marceline felt like they were hitting it off right from the beginning and it all seemed like the start of something really great.

 

[Wyosch]

Killian's eyes widened at the sight of that huge jar full of Nutella, asking himself if humans ate that entire thing in one sitting or not.
They probably did.
He tilted his head when Marceline sat down on the kitchen table, following her lead and doing the same.

"Is it something special to be the first to take a spoon out of the jar?", he asked, thanking her as she handed him the spoon and quickly opened the jar to taste.
It looked weird to him, and it actually smelled more like something else than chocolate.
Killian smiled softly at the whisp as he put the spoon full of Nutella in his mouth, his eyes widening as if he had just been taught the secret of the universe.
"This is really good!", he said, turning to Marceline with a soft smile, wanting to add another sentence but that just turned in a big grin.

"So how is it even possible that Alma gets human food and that you go to a concert in the human world? I mean the portal is closed, and trespassing it has the death penalty on it, hasn't it?"

 

[Fleckvieh]

"Well I can teleport", Marceline chuckled, winking at Killian. "And Alma is an Aeterna. They are one of the very few beings who are allowed to use the cracks in the gates. And the death penalty has been repealed in many states of Nova. At least, well, for the majority of species. They are still happy to get rid of every Cainsson and Dark one they can get their hands on though..."

"You two...can be really glad that humans have such bad ears.", A grey wolf with a black, dragon-shaped marking on his face grumbled, shuffling into the kitchen with a deep yawn.
"-sadly, I don't."
Caine jumped on the chair on one end of the table, yawning once more before he just rested his head on the table, watching the whisp and the man through half closed eyes.

That guy was new, but he was with Jitter, and honestly that was the only reason his teeth weren't anywhere near that guy's throat yet.
If he was with the whisp, that probably meant he was a friend. Maybe also the new recruit Alma had mentioned.
"Uh-... Nutella?", Marceline offered as a peacemaker, but Caine just scrunched his nose. "Allergic", Caine explained, before he tiredly licked his muzzle and straightened up to look at the stranger.

Somewhat...familiar, somehow.
"Hi. Caine", he yawned one more time before he managed to change into his human shift, running his hand through his messed up dark blonde hair once before he held his hand to the familiar stranger for a handshake.
"Cainsson. And no morning person. And your are-?"

 

[Wyosch]

[Caine's shift is so pretty xD]


Killian had just wanted to reply to Marceline as a wolf walked in.
A wolf.
There was just randomly a wolf-
oh, he talked. Probably a shifter then.
The wolf didn't really seem to be aggressive, at least it hadn't tried to attack Killian in any way - but the man was prepared for the case if the wolf would make a wrong move.

Upon the wolf transforming into a man, Killian just stared at him for a moment, frowning.
It somehow felt as if he knew that guy, but he just didn't know where from. He didn't even know who that guy was!

"Killian Gunner. Dark One.", he replied, shaking the stranger's hand with a tight grip.
"So you're the Cainsson Marceline talked about. It's nice seeing people treat Cainssons like equals."

 

[Fleckvieh]

"yeah...", Caine mumbled thoughtfully, watching Killian for another long moment.
His mind was racing.
Something was... Disturbing him about Killian.
Or maybe disturbing wasn't the right word... More like, putting him off.
He thoughtfully scratched the brand scar on the right side of his neck, that had been burned into his skin just a couple of hours after his birth; the label of his breeder.

"It still feels weird to wear no chains, but...", He trailed off in the middle of his sentence, distracted by scanning the stranger once more.
"Hey man... Have we met before?"
Yeah apart from being cautious, Caine also was a curious person, and there was barely anything that bugged him more than having something on the tip of his tongue but just not being able to point it out.

"You look somewhat familiar but I can't- have you been to dog fights or so? Or visited the Kande Farm sometime?"
By know he was thoughtfully chewing around on the handle of a wooden spoon while watching Killian but lastly went on to shrugging and attempting to distract himself by getting himself a glass of water.

"Dark one you said? I'm partly dark one, too. Breeder illegally crossbred and genespliced like no other. Last owner had my genes analyzed to see if I'd be good for breeding- turns out I have DNA of five different species from all over Nova; three spliced in and two inherited."
Laughing roughly, he shrugged.
"I'm basically the United Nations."