trans_9 | After The Fall [Open]

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After The Fall [Open]

Things just keep getting worse and worse...

The bomb situation was over. They won. They're alive. In a sense - if the reports are true, then they've lost a number of people. And again, there was nothing Irma could do. She felt helpless at this point - no Guardians, no real powers, nothing. For once in her life, Irma started wishing that she was a normal person again. At least that way she could have more options as to what to do.

She didn't want to hide in the W.I.T.C.H. Bus and didn't to hang around the school or the citadel. Instead, she decided to wander, hoping to find someone, ANYONE, to talk to, to get her mind off of what was going on.

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Ed was laying on a portion of the park, his hand reached up into the air. Somehow this comforted him, always reaching for the sun like some kind of braided Icarus. The sun metaphor was close to what he and Al went through.

Briefly he wondered if Al was alright, and he needed to send a message.

Looking over, he noticed Irma wandering around. Huh, she looked really down. "Hey," he called out as he sat up from his patch of grass.

Irma heard Ed call out to her, causing her to stop and turned her lowered head over to him. She cracked a weary smile as she waved back.

"Hey to you, too..." she said, her voice matching her feelings.

"C'mere, sit down a spell," said Ed, pulling his jacket off and tossing it onto the ground to allow for a soft spot to sit.

"You look like you need a friend right now," said Ed. Social he wasn't usually, but he knew that this was a unique situation.

Irma let out a sigh and nodded, joining Ed and sitting down on the jacket. She pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her head on her knees.

"I kinda do, actually... it's... it's hard. Really hard. You're told you're supposed to save the world and you can't even save one measly person!"

"Preaching to the choir on that one," replied Ed softly. "Saving one person can be harder than saving the entire country."

He sighed tiredly. "Has Matt told you what I did? How I tried to resurrect my mom and wound up, well, with this?" And he held up his metal arm.

"...what? No... that's a new one." Irma said, eyes going wide hearing that. "How about you start at the beginning."

Ed shrugged. He had told his story many times before, but this time she needed to know what happened. "We were young, about six or so years old. Our old man was never around and all we had was our mom. When she died, Al and I were devastated. Then I got an idea, to use Alchemy to bring her back."

"So we learned Alchemy from teacher, and then one stormy night, we tried it."

Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew a battered notebook, one of his possessions and list a number of minerals and ingredients that sounded like a bizarre shopping list. "All of those items there? Those are the ingredients for a human body. So, we walked into Gods Domain, and he came up and kicked us in the balls. He took my leg, and Al's entire body. And then I gave up my arm to bring Al's soul back, and bound it to a suit of armor."

Distractions, huh? Someone to talk to? Anyone, huh?

Because there, walking through the streets of the City, strode a green-haired, vacant-eyed girl. She wasn't the important part of this scene, though. Instead, mind what she carried: a massive tome, five feet by three at a rough guess. Said tome has a face. And a voice. Because it is laughing, over something or some occurrence.

Was Irma THAT desperate for distraction?

"Woah..." Irma uttered, hearing the story. "Man, that's harsh. I... kinda did something like that earlier. Not that bad, but..."

Letting out a sigh, she continued.

"...for me and my friends, this just went south. One of our foes - a snakeman named Cedric - had just gotten a MASSIVE energy boost and we couldn't beat them. We were forced to reach inside ourselves and tap into our full potential - our Zenith, I heard it called. But, it came at a massive price, our humanity. We almost lost ourselves to our powers if it weren't for our friends and loved ones."

She looked away a bit. "I could do that here. I'm sure of it, but... if I did, I'd probably never come back."

Irma stopped, seeing the strange girl and the tome that was laughing.

A laughing book? And I've never seen THAT person before...! she thought, a little confused.

"Hey... hey! Hold up!" Irma called out.

Zetta has plenty of practice hearing things over his own (patented blend of) evil laughter. Said laughter stopped, as the woman carrying the book turned it to face the one so addressing it.

Another adolescent girl? What's up with this? There's so many of 'em! Zetta was seriously beginning to wonder if this whole ship was nothing but a giant slumber-party. But hey, he was fresh off a victory. An Overlord could afford to be magnanimous. So the tome spoke a very grand and Overlordly response to that girl. "Yeah?"

"And why's that?" inquired Ed as he made a grasping motion at the sun, having laid down and watched the clouds roll by. "No friends, no family? There's that Hay Lin girl."

"Well, yeah, there's Hay Lin, but... I don't know if it's enough." Irma said, leaning back to lay down. "There's also Matt, but... he's not the one I know. Neither him or Will... I know she's here somewhere. I was transformed awhile back. There's no other way..."

She let out another sigh. "Beyond them? No one else..."

Irma stopped as she saw the book talk.

"Wait... you just talked... I've seen weirder stuff before, why am I surprised at a talking book?" she said, before shaking her head. "Lemme guess - you're some sort of magical book and the girl was someone who was released awhile back, right?"

"What? I -- huh." Zetta, you technically ARE a magical book. "It's complicated. Sort of." he said, entirely unhelpfully. "But her? She's my minion. One of my loyal battle-monkeys. And me?"

The book puffed itself up proudly. "Overlord Zetta. The most badass freakin' Overlord that is, ever was or ever will be. Hyaa ha ha ha ha!" At least he doesn't demand obeisance or humility before him, right?

"So what?" inquired Ed, sitting up to look at her. "Even if they're not from your world, doesn't mean they look out for you. Even if Matt isn't from your world doesn't mean he doesn't care."

"You feel helpless because of this whole situation, and you can't do anything without trying to become the heroine you want, no, have to be. But you can't, because the team's divided. Something about that rings bullcrap to me." finished Ed.

Irma listened to what Ed said and blinked a bit. "Okay... mind explaining why it's bullcrap to ya? I... think it may have flown over my head."

"You're just fishing for reasons to push people away, to huddle in a corner without your powers," replied Ed calmly. "Your powers define who you are, but what did you do BEFORE them? Even if it was a meager existence of day to day normal life, it's still what you had become."

"A team is divided yes, but there are numerous people here who have done many things without support, without their powers, and sometimes without a arm and leg to stand on. You've got two good legs, so the only recourse is to pick yourself up on them and find that niche that's perfectly Irma. Be it hero, warrior, medic, teacher, whatever."

She was down in an isolated area of the city, in a complex of empty buildings where nobody ever went. You could only find her if you followed the sound of metal hitting stone, and there, inside the rubble, you could find Sylia, fully suited up in her hardsuit, and fully destroying the place.

She kicked and punched the walls, she broke loose stones into a thousand pebbles. Between every strike she yelled out in frustration, darkly wishing that there was someone standing in between her and the walls. Wishing he was still alive to stand there. Wishing she didn't feel so angry about a man who she really barely knew at all, and yet...

It felt good to wear her suit again. She'd probably pay for it later, but so be it. Sylia was starting to come to a decision about what to do in this god-forsaken place.

Irma's eyelids lowered a bit, giving her a "What is this bullhockey?" look. True, at least it wasn't Shiva...

"Riiiight. Irma Lair, magical girl who can't even do anything right at the moment." she said plainly. No need to sugar coat it.

Irma's roamings were cut off as she heard the sounds of screaming and the sight of destruction. Approaching the sight, she caught sight of Sylia in her hardsuit, wrecking the place.

Blinking, she took her chances and approached Sylia. "...I take it you're feeling the same as me right now... whoever you are..."

Irma looked down in thought. Ed had a point - she was just pushing people away. She had become so used to being Guardian of Water that she hadn't thought of what else she could be.

"...I guess you're right..." she said. "I guess I've been playing woe is me for so long, well..." she shrugged, a sheepish grin on her face.

"It's easy to do that," said Ed softly. "Easy to run, easy to make mistakes but it takes a lifetime of actions to apologize for the littlest things."

His hand clenched. "I know the sin of hubris as much as anyone. So I wanna make you an offer Irma. Want to learn how to fight? No fancy spells, no crazy alchemy for now, just straight up combat. A healthy mind makes for a strong alchemist teacher used to tell us."

Irma considered Ed's offer. She knew how to fight - barely. A lot of what she picked up was from Caleb and his fighting style. But, she didn't know how to readily protect herself. She nodded at Ed, smiling a bit more.

"Sure. I'm gonna need as much help as possible, so...!" she said.

Zetta considered her words for a moment, matching it to the archives of genre-savvyness in his head. (It's a fairly large collection, except the self-awareness section, which is so empty it's been mistaken for a Prinny's paycheck at times.) "I'm pretty sure going through that phase is pretty much required for magical girls, or heroes in general," he said. He should know, he's caused a couple. "Well, you could fight me, and despite the impossible odds against you find meaning in the fact that you struggled to the very last... but that's pretty trite.

"Still, since you decided to flag down the talking book and then said that pretty directly, I'm guessing you need someone to talk at." There was a time when Zetta would have simply laughed and made some pompous, self-important speech, but...

...this ship and its people were just making him soft. But hey, if he could get her back up to full magical-girl speed, she'd gain power and strength and be a valuable ally in the fight against the Ohm. That's the ticket!

Absolutely shameless rationalization and self-justification complete, the book smiled, and for a change it wasn't arrogant and nigh-psychotic in the extreme. "So what's eating you, Irma? Not that we need to talk here in the middle of the hall. But hey, talk and walk."

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