The Ace is Wild

"You are a simple, colorless man, mister Toromaki. I abhor that about you."

Ace's battered body shuffled through Death City, practically being dragged by some unknown force like a sack of bricks. Although his blood was no longer fresh, his clothes, hair, and arms were stained a crimson red, reflecting the still rage in his heart that would be VERY apparent if it weren't for the obvious danger that his life was in.

"You're too much like your father. Arrogant, reckless, and a pitiful martyr."

People in the street stared and pointed, frightened by what appeared to be a living corpse making its way through town. The hushed whispers from the bystanders were something he was used to, however they were typically more taunting than they were frightful. He paid them no mind, and continued his linear path to the DWMA.

"Although I, of course, won't let that cloud my judgement in considering you for my army. I know that there is a hatred deep in your heart. We share a common enemy. You just haven't realized it yet. And it is for that particular reason..."

A blood-stained hand pressed softly against the massive doors of the academy, weakly pushing, attempting to somehow influence the heavy wood. He'd remained in this trifling position for no more than a minute before, all at once, he collapsed in a rather unbecoming, slumped over position at the top of the stairs.

"that I shall spare your soul from the Inferno."

Everything became dark as the sun rose.

Sylas sat with his feet propped up against one of the endtables in the infirmary, hands behind his head. He looked at the ragged young man occupying the bed next to him and sighed softly, a myriad of questions and the like occupying his thoughts. Of course, he'd learn nothing until Ace awoke, which was anyone's guess at this point. He'd had a foot in the grave when he showed up at the Academy, and despite the best efforts of Stein and Aiko, it rested on Ace to decide whether he was going to live. The Death Scythe sighed once more, ignoring the prodding from his other half and keeping the second soul he carried with him contained, for the moment at least.

Juro walked into the infirmary, totally unannounced. And he practically stumbled into a chair as he grabbed it for balance. He had not been planning on the door being somewhat open. He paused for a moment before sitting down and sighing. He had been walking through the halls when he noticed an extremely powerful soul, that looked like a Death Scythe, sitting next to another soul that seemed to be injured. He couldn't have helped his curiosity and had decided to investigate. 

He looked up from his chair and looked at Sylas' soul, examining it as he spoke. "Hello, sorry to interrupt but I wanted to meet you Mister Death Scythe, and also ask you a few questions." He said. This was the first time he had ever seen a Death Scythe, and he was absolutely fascinated by the soul in front of him. Today he was wearing his black blindfold with a white shirt and brown leather jacket, and customary cargo pants.

Ace's expression contorted. His stoic personality, even out of consciousness, was soon replaced with a visage of pain. The madness coursing through his body ensued and became quite clear... all for about a minute. The boy eventually relaxed and returned to his senses, gripping the air with his hands as if trying to regain his strength. Two amber eyes revealed themselves, and Ace's voice found it's way into the room. "The.... hell happened?" His body, now free of the stains of blood and his torn clothing replaced, still looked to be in pretty bad condition.

Sylas watched the proceedings with a certain annoyance, flexing his mechanical right arm before reaching over to another window and dragging his steel claws down it to gain everyone's attention. "If. I. May." He said in an authoritative tone. Firstly he turned to Juro, looking at the blind Meister. "Young man, there are some serious proceedings going on in this room, and while I admire your enthusiasm, if you wish to learn something catch me at my office, not while I'm on official business. As for you." He turned to Zera, unsure of what to make of her, the second soul he harbored whispering for a chance to speak and being denied. "Kindly tell me what you're doing here.?

Ace slowly turned to acknowledge the pink and blue colored missile heading towards him. His reactions clearly not at their peak, he was unable to do little more than shield his face from the flying glass. His arm lowered and he cautiously looked at the little girl sitting on him.

"..."

He said nothing at first. Simply just stared at the girl, incredibly confused as to what was going on. He'd just woken up, after all. Eventually, his typical rage returned and reacted with as much volatility as would be expected of him.

"What the hell are you doing!? This is an infirmary for Death's sake! Do you have any clue what you're doing? Crashing through windows is dangerous, little kid, you could hurt someone!" In the middle of his lecturing, Ace stopped. His soul perception kicked in and he realized that this adorable little girl before him had no soul. He was preparing for combat when a shrieking noise overcame his thoughts.

Ace clamped his ears shut when Sylas ripped through the air with that wretched noise, and responded with disdain. "What the hell, Sylas?" He raised a fist in protest before clutching his arm in pain, clearly not ready to make such sudden movements yet.

Juro had covered his ears at the horrible screeching caused by Sylas and his face obviously showed pain. He didn't respond to Sylas as he didn't hear most of his statement, due to Juro covering his ears. He removed them shortly after Sylas finished speaking and "looked" in front of him. He knew that there was something in front of him but he couldn't see its soul? What in the world did that mean? He tapped his blindfold for a moment before he stood up in front of the Candy Girl and started to remove the glass from her face with surprising efficiency. "Excuse me I'll just help you with that real quick." He said, his fingers glided across her face as he found the pieces and removed them without incident. Afterwards he moved to one of the cabinets and started to rummage through it. "Please continue your 'Official business' while I do this. Don't mind me."

Sylas rolled out of his chair, despite being dressed in a fine suit. As he rolled to his feet he flattened his tie to his chest and his passenger broke free, the hollow image of Viator appearing beside him, visible only to those with an affinity for Madness. The once and former remnant brushed his tie to his chest and growled angrily. "Kindly allow me to finish the upstart clown." Sylas sighed at the request before grabbing Juro's shoulder and shoving him away from the clown, for his own safety. In his free hand, a gigantic single-bladed battleaxe appeared, and he grasped it tightly, lightning springing from it and shocking some of the metal instruments in the infirmary. "You're going to leave willingly, or not at all."

Ace growled, clearly upset by the situation. His anger, mostly, was directed at the Death Scythe in the room. He obviously was the only person that still had his head screwed on straight, save for the blind man. "Shut the hell up, Sylas and put that jackass away!" The boy attempted to sit up, but was met with the opposition of Zera's weight and his own bodily limitations. "Talk about unprofessional! You're gonna hunt a clown while I'm on my death bed here?! I can't exactly dodge your attacks, idiot, and I don't have the energy to go into my weapon form! Besides, do you really think a clown would come to the academy to fight? Use your brain for a minute, if a clown came to the DWMA, there's probably something else going on here. Besides that, I'm starving, I have important information for Lord Death, and I'm covered in ************* CHOCOLATE!"

Electricity sparked off of Ace's soul, clashing with Sylas'. "I hate chocolate...."

((OOC: Ace Highly encouraged the makeout session in the ChatBox so it isn't exactly godmodding.))

Sylas found himself in two different predicaments. One the one hand, Viator had taken the opportunity to switch control of the body, the only noticeable changes being that the spectral doppelganger now had the white of Sylas's soul outlining it instead of the red of Viators, and that the shared body now spoke with a hint of a cockney accent and had red eyes instead of blue. The Death Scythe let out an audible groan as he watched Viator make use of the Lightning Charge, leaping out of the way of the spike and landing on the outer wall, clinging to it with the assistance of a group of poles that appeared from his hips and anchored him to the vertical surface. Axe in hand, the current inhabitant of the body adorned their Cloak of Madness, the armor appearing around him in a flash of black-red lightning. Ready for combat, he pointed the axe at Zera. "Alright Dove, only going to say this once. Off the boy, and outside, or else." Lightning flashed along the axe he held, the scent of ozone filling the room.

"Hey, HEY!" Ace squirmed, trying to get out from underneath the girl. His inability to control his body made this quite the task for him, and so he failed miserably. "Just what do you think you-" He shouted from beneath the candy dome, but was cut off by Zera's forced kiss. Next thing he knew the room was spinning and he could feel bugs crawling beneath his skin. His eyes began to swirl and he became even more powerless, leaning over the bed, skin crawling, contemplating vomiting. "Yeah, okay, Sylas. I take it back. You can kill her now." Ace gave a weak thumbs up to the senior weapon and held his stomach with his other hand.

"Wrong name, kid." Viator said as he approached the hole, the winds whipping the leather of his cloak around him. He took a step out, and instead of falling started to slowly descend after her. Once he approached ground level, however, a flurry of spears tipped in white fire shot out from his body and straight for the clown, curving wildly on unpredictable paths towards their target.

((OOC: Ace said it was alright for me to skip his post.))

Viator flew to the right, enough to dodge the incoming rock and continuing his assault, explosions shattering the courtyard and leaving fires around the dome of solid candy. He let out a bored sigh, having hoped this battle would be more challenge. Sylas, however, urged him to be cautious, and as such Viator held out a hand, another axe appearing in that hand. He crossed the weapons in front of him, a barrier of sorts around which his soul spears continued to fly, the parts of his weapon form sprouting from his arms, legs, and back and all curving towards the melting blue dome.

Viator quickly sent a grouping of spears towards the hole in the academy structure, drawing himself towards it with moments to spare, the ends of his cloak getting shredded by sharp rock candy. From his vestige in the Academy he looked at the clown, growling softly before shivering, a familiar feeling spreading past him. He let out a grin and started to laugh, slowly starting to cackle. Sylas appeared beside him, still dresses in his suit, and looked up at the clown. "I assume you know who I work for?" He asked, crossing his arms. "You have, at best, 12 minutes before you're sealed inside this city, and at the mercy of any and every Death Scythe in its walls. Not to mention the Boss." He said, watching with unbridled anticipation as, for a brief moment, the monumental soul of Lord Death flashed around the city.


OOC: Ace wants Zera to live, so this seemed like the easiest way to offer her an out.

"Dammit, Sylas, stop dicking around with that girl!" Ace shouted. "You're gonna destroy the academy, you idiot! You're lucky I can't move right now, I swear you'd both hear from Stein!" Lacking the strength to continue his rant, he relaxed for a moment, still growling, when his eyes rested upon another single eye staring back at him. He was particularly creeped out by this, and immediately turned his head to look the other way. "Stupid, creepy, molester-clown girl."

((OOC: Pulling out now.))

Sylas looked on in more annoyance than anything, switching places with Viator and collapsing onto the rubble of the wall, panting. Too many Soul Spears had been launched using his wavelength, and he hadn't expected the sudden loss of strength. He staggered to his feet, watching the clown leave and dispelling his cloak, looking at the thing that trapped them. He turned to look at Ace, giving a small nod.

During all the commotion, Ace had made a peculiar decision, and acted quickly, making sure Juro wasn't aware of his actions. As he had little control over his arms and legs, the Weapon maneuvered himself to grip the candy eye with his teeth, taking caution not to swallow it, and slipped it into his shirt to keep it hidden from Sylas' prying eyes. Afterward, he promptly began grading the Death Scythe's performance.

"You were far too irrational in your decisions in that fight. You used up too much of your wavelength all at once, what were you thinking? If that Clown had kept her barrier up for a full fight, you would have run out of energy and she could have taken you out in one easy attack. You can't just randomly swing yourself at an opponent you know. Careful planning and evaluation of your opponent's abilities are important when fighting enemies stronger than just measly first class Kishin Eggs." Ace turned his head away in irritation. "You know, for being my role model, you're not exactly a great tactician. Maybe I should consider Stein or Azusa my role model instead." Despite his obvious injuries, Ace was just as much an arrogant jerk as ever.

Sylas started chuckling, nodding. "Well, I guess it's a good thing I wasn't the one fighting." He said with a bit of a pant, standing up straight and stretching. "We can fight for hours, but when the support switches to the control, they're weakened. He used more of my soul than I expected. Quite honestly, I'm surprised he let her go..." He mused, turning out to look at the sky. "I think he's just scared of Lord Death..." He said, his normal arm suddenly smacking him upside the head in a brief surge of anger from the second soul.