COOOOOOOOMATOOOOOOOOSE! I'LL NEVER WAKE UP WITHOUT AN OOOOOOVERDOSE, OF YOOOOUUUUU!

September 8th 2020
2:17 PM
Death City Toromaki Estate

Zealot stood outside the gate to the Death City estate, looking rather nervous. Beside her was her Master and relative, Ace Toromaki, hooked up to an IV and sitting in a wheelchair, unconscious. While his legs presumably worked, he had been comatose for quite awhile after a mission gone wrong in Germany. She had managed to evacuate him from the field, but despite her best efforts to stabilize him, he never woke up. She had many German doctors she knew from her time there look him over, but despite keeping him in good condition, none had managed to stir him from his sleep. Finally, one suggested she might try calling someone close to him and having them talk. With that, she booked a flight to Death City, looking for the one person who might still fit that bill, Mistress Rin. The fact that she hadn't thought to contact her sooner was a large oversight on her part. Ready to receive an earful, she began to wheel Ace through the gate and to the doorstep before ringing the bell and standing as formal as she could.

Despite her best efforts to look presentable, her dress was ragged and her bow was crooked. Her hair was a mess, looking as though it hadn't been kept well. Her makeup was shakey-looking, as though it were put on in a hurry. The only thing that looked remotely presentable was the small blade on her hip, Tonbagiri, which remained pristine and clean as ever. Ace, on the other hand, she seemed to have kept well looked-after. Hair brushed and washed, fresh clothes, and all around relatively clean looking. Zealot's expression, however, remained as warm and inviting as ever, from her smile to those eyes, she wanted to make sure that Rin's worry stayed on Ace.

The perfect Toromaki had felt a tug for hours, now, had felt something swimming through her soul, wild and elusive, like smoke in water. It had made her hair stand on end like there was electricity in the air, igniting a fire in her that sent adrenaline coursing through her. She'd been restless since, pacing the mansion and seeming significantly snappier than normal, a trait that did not go unnoticed by the estate's staff.

Everything was different, now. When Rin had arrived in Death City, the Toromaki estate of the area was in ruins, so neglected that it was unrecognizable as what it should have been. In the years since she'd showed up, Rin had pumped her power and funds into not only its restoration but in renovations to it, as well. Now, some two and a half years since the mansion's proper owner had gone missing yet again, everything was just so... different. The estate was fully repaired, renovated, refurnished, and staffed. None of the old cracks and ruins remained, and even the gardens were back to glory. By all accounts, it was a proper Toromaki estate again.

Now, despite the years she'd shown patience and professionalism, Rin was so tightly round that much of the staff was fleeing from her on sight. Her bandages coiled and shifted beneath her summer dress, her soul as much ill-at-ease as her body, and in fact likely the source of such. Her vibrant, amethyst eyes were wild and aflame, and when the doorbell rang she all but bristled. Closing her eyes, she worked to calm herself down as she slowly, carefully, made her way from the second floor down to the front door. The closer she got, the more restless her soul got, seeming to pang and quiver, making her heart and head hurt physically. Steeling herself and putting on her best mask of pleasantry, she opened the doors wide and welcomingly...

....-and promptly very nearly screamed/. The sound was somewhere between a startled, thrilled, relieved, panicked, and absolutely, completely physical. Her eyes were wide and the bandages lunged out at all angles, curling out over her as though attempting something of both a protective bubble and attacking claws. In the end, she kept them well enough under wraps to not attack either of the formerly missing Toromakis, but that meant little when her expressions kept cycling back to the threat of death.

"Zealot Toromaki," she all but spat, knuckles white at her sides while she physically forced her eyes to not linger on Ace, every second they were on him making her ache and panic more and more. "Where have you been?!"

It had been awhile since Zealot had been face to face with Rin's wrath, and never had she seen it this extreme. She couldn't help but stammer a bit when she spoke. "M-Mistress Rin... Well, you see... Master Ace took a mission, and I insisted on joining him... Things admittedly weren't as we were warned and... well..." She hesitated a moment before speaking. "I managed to retreat to the former estate where I grew up... At first I had hoped to just have a doctor take care of him and come home... B-But Master Ace... He won't wake up. I had hoped to spare you from seeing this... But I let time get away from myself with optimism something would cure him..." Her usual smile, by now, had faded into a worried expression. Perhaps ashamed as well.

The Mistress' display was terrifying. Even if she wasn't still bound by her collar, which she was, Zealot wasn't sure there was a force in her arsenal that could stop Rin if she decided to attack. Though really, Zealot deserved such. She had failed her Master, and failed to nurse him to health as well. Perhaps she was unfit of the Toromaki name after all.

The meister found herself gritted her teeth to the point of grinding them. Poking her head out, she looked around outside before yanking the doors further open and pointing into the foyer, her command clear enough without words. Behind the rims of her glasses, her eyes could be seen smoldering until she closed them.

Once she was sure they were completely inside, she shut and locked the door behind them, immediately dropping to her knees to analyze her cousin, hands cupping his face as she tried to figure out what she could with him. "Get yourself cleaned up, Zealot." She told her sharply, though she followed the words up more gently as she closed her eyes, seeming to try to regain her patience. "Take a shower and change your clothes, Zel. Your crow is in your room." Though gentler, the restraint was evident enough in her voice. This time, however, it seemed more to be holding back a sob than a shout.

Zealot gave a respectful bow. "As you wish, Mistress. Please inform me if there is anything I can do for you." She stated, as calmly as she could before walking inside to go fetch fresh clothes and the likes from her room. From there she would head to do as she was told, bringing her crow into the bathroom with her while she showered. She worried about Ace, and Rin, feeling as though she had let both of them down. At the very least, she felt Ace was finally in good hands. Perhaps, if they were lucky, he may even wake up before the new year. Regardless, she'd spend this time to make herself presentable, now that she had someone to look presentable for once again. It was almost a relief to have authority again... Despite the circumstances, Zealot was more at-ease than she had been all year... Perhaps it was just being at the estate, or perhaps it was knowing that Rin would give her at least some purpose again.

A world of darkness whorls around a wayward soul, threatening to crush it under the weight of reality.

"You see? Even in your only home, you are surrounded by no one. A lowly servant bound by duty to see to your resurrection, and a single woman burdened by familial love. Even her life has gone on without you. Lightning strikes for but a moment; your fight is over. Give in. Sleep." The shadows spoke to the soul gently, in a kind and effeminate voice that almost sounded as though it pitied him. The thought that this was the voice to call for his death was all the more unnerving.

"I have more to do... and those two aren't no one... Why am I still here? Why won't you let me out of this hell?" The soul pleaded.

"This is no hell. This is limbo, where the weary soul rests between the world of the living and the dead. To leave, you need only accept your fate and allow the thread that binds you to life to be undone. You have lived in pain and solitude for far too long. I offer you the freedom that your world never could."

"I don't live for freedom or peace or any of that garbage. I swore to avenge my family, and carry on our legacy. I don't know what kind of monster or witch or... whatever it is that you are, you'll tire of this eventually. I can keep this up for weeks. This is nothing compared to those worthless lectures at the DWMA."

"So you have found your strength again. I misjudged the connection your souls share. So be it. I cannot take you if you are unwilling. Perhaps when you wake, you will change your mind. You need only call upon me once you do. I will be with you.... until the end. A series of soft blue lights coalesced before the soul, manifesting in the shape of a butterfly whom gently flew into him, then disappeared, leaving him in an empty cage of shadows all alone. This darkness went on for some time. Years, perhaps, maybe more.

All at once, a brilliant, white light pierced the empty veil, splitting it in two. Then, another beam of light did the same, followed by another, and another. In moments, the darkness was nothing more than a series of puzzle pieces enveloped in a holy aura. They began to fall away, piece by piece, revealing a familiar and welcome view. "Rin."

"OhthankDeath," the words tumbled out of her mouth so quickly that the blurred together, accentuated by tears that sprang and fell from her eyes in the same instant. Her hands quickly shifted from his face to wrap around his neck, draped over his shoulders, and tugging him to her, all but flinging his face against her chest. A string of incoherent ramblings gave way and faded into a more aggressive slur of curses as she eventually pulled back, gripping him tightly by the shoulders as she glared down at him through her glasses. She was perfect, yes, but to the singular fault of being nearsighted. Now, though, she was back to anger, the relief dimming in lieu of the Rin he was far more familiar with; overprotective vengeance.

"Where have you been, Toromaki Ace?!" The words were spoken first in her native Japanese, and then repeated, still using the surname-given name formula, in English immediately after, said more bitterly the second time. There were tears in her eyes again, threatening to stain both her summer dress and his clothes, angry, bitter tears curbed only by the conflicting relief he was also making her feel. From this distance especially, he'd be accutely aware of the unharmonious hum of her wavelength, soul pulsing and off-beat from the stress of this encounter and subsequent revelation.

If the initial image of Rin wasn't surprising enough, the dark and warm constriction of her chest was more than capable of making Ace flail in confusion. Beyond that, when the two pulled apart something even more shocking became apparent. Something that seemed far more pressing to the weapon than anything else that had happened in the past few days. "When did you start wearing glasses?"

The Weapon winced when he tried to move, noticing the IV drip still attached to his arm, which tugged his vein one direction while Rin's wavelength pulled his soul in the other. In one fluid movement, befitting of Ace's typical I-really-couldn't-give-a-damn attitude, he rose to his feet, removed the IV from his arm, and kicked the wheelchair further behind him to provide the space he didn't expect his cousin to grant him of her own volition. He stretched out a bit before providing an actual answer to the question posed. "We were in Germany. Pretty sure I left a note or something. Still not my kind of place. Weird language, lots of family skeletons-in-the-closet, really industrial, not many attractive girls. I got caught off guard by a Witch working with Kremlin. Given how long I've been out, Zel's probably worked out a lead, so I've gotta start getting ready to head back over soon. You busy? I could use the extra head."

Clearly, the gravity of the situation was lost to Ace.

"Over a year." She snapped in answer to his inquiry; it had been a hard-fought battle on Takumi's part, but she'd eventually relented and had gotten into the habit of wearing them. With the dynamics of his weapon form, it was important that she actually be able to aim. Now, though, her eyes narrowed darkly, and if her expression alone didn't make it apparent just how livid she was, the sudden vibrant violence of her wavelength certainly did. This was, of course, punctuated by the sudden lashing out of her bandages, taking hold of his wrists as she attempted to drag him back to her, using others to boost herself up to at least make herself level with his eyes. "Ace, you have been gone for two and a half years." Despite her apparent frustration, she managed to keep her voice fairly steady. Deathly serious, even. "You left without a word and have been MISSING for two and a half years!" She hid the strange pang at his words, the way he so casually dismissed the place that had apparently stolen him and Zealot from her for the duration of his disappearance. She ignored the strange ache at the mention of attractive girls --- not only was she taken anyway, but it had always been apparent that no matter how pure their family wanted their line, they would simply never be more than they were. But still, these things had kept them apart. Kremlin, she could understand. That was enough to keep her from trying to strangle him herself. Still, she couldn't forgive him leaving her, couldn't forgive the way he'd dismissed it all as though there'd barely been any time at all.

"Ace, you have been gone for two and a half years." The words echoed like a knife piercing the fine glass of a chalice. Darkness threatened to consume the world around Ace as his eyes widened, grasping at any glimpse of that gracious light that might offer him salvation.

Red soon stains the carpet and a rampant thunderstorm shatters the windows. A chair is toppled, followed by shouting and a desperate cry for help. The weakened moans of a dying man fill the air as his helpless body brandishes a blade, lurching around like a puppet, striking at anything and everything. In horror, a child drops his book and flees up the staircase, watching the scene unfold from behind the railing. "I warned you. You've lost so much time. 12 years and you have nothing to show for it. Do not subject yourself to such pain."

With a display of sheer frustration, Ace toppled over the nearby end table, wiping the scene from his mind. He rose from the shivering, crouched form he'd left himself in, took a deep breath and returned his focus to Rin. "Two and a half years- fine. Catch me up. You can yell at me once I have my bearings." As though it were second nature, the Weapon broke his conversation to catch a passing servant and deliver an order as he made his way towards the stairs. "I need a map brought to my room. Wait-" Immediately he brought his attention back to his cousin once more. "Where's the kid?"

Rin steadied herself, pulling her bandages back and coiling them more securely around her form as she watched the display with knitted brows and a guarded form. Still, her arms had crossed over her chest and she held the same deadly calm as before, waiting out the storm and settling down as he at least calmed enough to speak properly. "Kid?" She inquired, surprised and confused by the question. Her mind rapidly went through any possible options she could think of for the question. There hadn't exactly been anyone that Ace was close to, or was in any sort of contact or proximity with prior to his leaving. Honestly, other than Rin, he only seemed to have associated with his meisters. Sarah and him had long since parted ways, and she'd only ever heard of the Farron girl in passing at the school. It wouldn't be her. Vaguely, Rin wondered if he might have meant Takumi, but happenstance had kept the two from as of yet meeting --- a fact that wasn't lost to her and actually had her paling a bit at the realization and inevitabilty of it, since the weapon had been staying at the mansion. This train of thinking had derailed her initial thought process to the point that she eventually decided to hazard a guess at his companion and, she supposed, current meister. After all, it wasn't like he'd thought their one --- or perhaps two, moreof --- night(s) together had lead to some sort of bastard? Besides, he'd already know if that had been the case. "Zealot? She's taking a shower, I don't see-"

Ace shook his head, still weary from his lengthy sleep. He reached for the guard rail on the stairs, missed, stumbled for a step, then caught himself and continued onward. "No, Rin, Millie. The only other person living here when I left." Once he'd reached the first plateau of stairs, Ace glanced back at the foyer, scanning over the room with a careful gaze. "I told you those curtains would look weird- I've been gone for two and a half years, and you're seriously the only person here to greet me? Millie and I weren't exactly close or anything, but I'd assume someone else would show up." The Weapon hesitated for a bit, trying to avoid setting Rin off again. "Not that you aren't a good welcome wagon in your own right. Really though, where's she at? She's usually just on the couch or something. I wanna see if she's made any progress on her recovery."

Hesitation met his words, and though she glanced to the curtains as he mentioned them, noting the distaste and opting to find something more suitable at a later date, she pursed her lips and began to slowly trail along after him. She kept her head high and her voice low as she did so, appearing regal but secretive when she finally brought herself to respond. "I don't know." The Toromaki perfect found herself saying, trying not to sound as torn up about the revelation as she was. The truth of it was simply that she'd looked, exhaustively, into each of the three of their disappearances. She'd uncovered nothing of use, and the most she'd received on the Hunter's Axe's previous meister was that she'd simply disappeared after a leisure roll through the town. Shy of diving into some birds' heads --- a feat she supposed could feasibly be done, now that Zealot was around --- she had no way of knowing what had happened to her. Technology and spies had certainly failed her. "The staff said she went out one day while I was in class. I waited, I tried to contact her. She just... never came back." Her soul had mostly settled down by now, but its tempo wavered as she relayed what information she had. It would take very little for Ace to infer that his Soulbound cousin feared the worst.

Ace took a deep breath, acknowledging the information Rin provided. Is ANYONE I know still around? he asked himself. His question was met with more unnerving whispers from the void. "WAS there anyone you really knew in the first place?" The voice suggested. Get out of my head. I don't have time for you.

"She wasn't supposed to leave the house. Somebody's getting fired. As though his coma were the most exhausting thing he'd gone through in years, Ace shut his eyes and ran his hand down his face, scrunching it into a wince. "Whatever, she made her choice, and I've made mine. Is Eibon still running his underground freakshow?"

"We don't have most of the original staff," she stated. It was the truth, but she also didn't want him going through and firing the help --- or worse --- just because he was upset. "And no matter how at risk she was, I wasn't aware of the extent so we weren't equipped to help her. Unless a doctor or someone outright told me that she couldn't be left unattended or couldn't go outside, I wouldn't have agreed. Locking her up like she was certainly didn't seem to be helping her, either." She frowned after this, looking down and gathering herself together before she could break down. Millie was who knew where, possibly --- likely --- dead, but at least she had her family back. Ace was home. Zealot was home. That was worth something, worth quite a lot. Rin needed to get back out of her head and feelings before they took over her. She had things to be grateful for, and she'd grieved the trio years prior. Letting herself fall back to those days right now wasn't going to help anyone. Besides, she wanted to make sure Ace and Zealot didn't have any further lasting traumas; they'd lead shitty lives to begin with. If she could minimize what stuck from their hunt then she would do it. Still, he had asked her a question, as disconnected to the rest of their conversation as it was. Hesitating, she frowned; they both knew that she wasn't supposed to know about the Institute, though that meant little in general. Besides the fact that she lived with a Hunter's Axe, it was Rin Toromaki. If she wanted information then for the most part she already had it. "Nothing's disbanded it yet." The girl said, the hesitation staining her voice. She wasn't keen on him going there, no matter the reason. Besides, their training and missions were more rigorous, even more deadly. She'd just gotten them back, and by this point he was already into adulthood. Student life wouldn't suit him and she'd specifically avoided looking into what Hunter's Axes dealt with as adults.

"Then that's my first stop. I was told once that Eibon doesn't consider spontaneous leaves of absence to count as un-enrollment, so I've probably got a lot of extra curricular activities on my plate..." Ignoring the obvious weight of the conversation, Ace finished the climb of stairs and quietly pushed open the door to his room. He was well aware that returning to the Institute would prove incredibly taxing on his currently-weary body, but he also knew that putting the task off would be all the more detrimental to his foreseeable future. It wasn't that he was in any great danger though, right? In spite of the Institute's reputation for being incredibly strenuous and offering far more rigorous than the DWMA, it was still a controlled environment. "Come to think of it, I'm surprised you stuck around with the DWMA when there's a better option available. If you're not careful..." The Weapon began reaching for a sort of teasing boast to wave at his younger cousin. He let his chest ease back, keeping his feet firmly planted, arms outstretched at his sides. "I might surpass you soon!" With an exclamation and a sharp movement, he swung his body forward and drew his arms against his chest, huddled into a two-legged ball, waiting for a flurry of chains to erupt from the large of his back. Instead, a single chain shot out, shakily writhing in the air, which promptly fell limp and clattered onto the carpeted floor behind him. The irony of the situation was not lost to Ace, but he certainly didn't have the tenacity in his current state to do anything about it.

Rin knew the potential consequences of him returning -- or not --- to the Institute now that he was no longer missing or comatose. Of course, she didn't have quite the grasp on the situation as Ace might, entirely by her own volition, but she had enough of an idea to not agree to him going just yet. In fact, despite his usual attitude in full force, his body displaying it's limitations made her even more skeptical on the matter. Still, the comedy of it couldn't be denied, and she wasn't about to pass up the threat of insult or the chance to sass him back. "I'm sorry, dear Ace, but you seem to think that your count is sitting on a singular soul." She took a step closer, lifting up the chain with dainty fingers and poise, cocking her brow at him in response. "My first hunt alone yielded a dozen souls." The girl was sass and clever wit, gentle, though biting teasing, but she was aware the monsters presented their own challenges. Still, she wouldn't let his taunt go unchallenged, and he was a demon weapon his entire life before that monster soul. He had his turn.

Ace turned an annoyed gaze at Rin and lazily coiled his chain off the ground before letting it return to his body once more, and offered a relinquished sigh. "Look, just because I haven't gotten my strength back doesn't mean I'm too old for this shit. Don't say you weren't thinking that, I can see it written on your face." After straightening himself out, the Weapon entered his room with far more enthusiasm and less grace than before, kicking the door the rest of the way open. There was something for him to prove now, both to himself and the world. "Where's my map?" He shouted out to the staff, expecting the message to be relayed to the correct individual in SOME way. "I have lost nearly three years to that bastard, and I am not going to let him take something else from me again!" It was clear that all the effort that had been put into helping Ace manage his rage and all-encompassing hatred was being unwound by his coma. The man was far closer to his teenage self than he had been in years, which may not necessarily be healthy, but it was certainly good for motivation. "I was naive to lose sight of what really mattered. I let my mind dull and my judgement be clouded. You showed up and I let you fill the void left by my family. I let Meisters convince me they weren't restraints. I let that Angela lower my guard. I don't have time to be this idealistic image of the Toromaki name! I won't abandon our life, but don't expect me to play the man. This city has seen me as a monster for a long time... Then I will become it." Towards the end of his rant, Ace regained his composure a bit and shut his eyes, leaning over the desk that he'd cleared off during the ordeal. This was not the Ace that left the estate two and a half years ago, nor the entirely unhinged loose-cannon who held his place before then. This was something else entirely.