Waking from the Dead {Briggs, anyone else really}

Murazar suddenly exploded into a world of color, no not the hospital room he was in. It was a dream, his conciousness was raising back to normal. His heart rate returning to a slightly faster pulse rate. His world he was in, was not just his last moments. It was every single one of his last moments, every time he almost died. His pulse rate was skyrocketing, adreneline was pumping into his veins and arteries.

The nurse on duty was panicking and trying to add a dosage of alcohol into his i.v. to no avail of it working. She ran out the room to try and find the duty-station doctor or any of the briggs team and alert them to his new state of physical self. His eyes burst open and he stared at the bright world around him, he groaned heavily as he leaned up. He could barely remember what had happened, he was covered in sweat, his head was pounding, and his surface veins were pulsating gently. He was half dressed with just hospital bottoms and he looked like hell.

He turned his body so his feet dangled off the bed, almost instantly his mind was crashed with information. He remembered everything that had happened, houka had lashed out with anger and he kept his promise to not even defend himself. He grumbled lightly and looked over sluggishly at the i.v. in his arm and ripped it out. His right arm bled slightly, but he could barely register it. He shook his head lightly before dropping himself onto the floor and stumbling backwards into his metal bed to lean on it.

Then he stumbled to the left crashing into the metal cabinent and leaned on it, he barely had motor function control over his body. He gritted his teeth and moved forward slamming into almost everything on the way out as he went into the hall. He leaned on the wall just outside and puked on it leaving a stain before wiping his mouth on the wall and stumbling towards his office...Which happened to be just through the outside hallways with the snow and ice.

He barely made it through there, his skin pale as the snow as he stumbled into his empty office. It seemed new employees were yet to arrive to replace the dead ones, he collapsed in his chair after clumsily dusting it off and started to read the reports quickly that had piled up in his absence. He didn't even bother closing any of the doors in his wake as he struggled to stay concious as he read the reports.

"Your awake." said a quiet voice from infront of Mura. The voice was one of disbelief mostly at the fact he was awake, but partially at the fact he had not noticed her standing there. Then again she had been standing behind the door so it was understandable. Afterall, she was not in his direct vision. She walked over to him."Your such an idiot." she said slumping down onto a chair in front of his desk not looking at him. "You should still be in the hospital awake or not." She looked up at him.

"But I knew you'd come here......" she said with a sigh. She had grown to know Mura quite well even though they had only become friends a short time before him falling into a coma. "....afterall your money is where you left it and you were always one to fulfill the duties you were paid for." There was a look in her eyes that said she wanted to say more, but she didn't know how to say it. She wanted to apologise, but didn't know how.

He looked up, his head moving slowly. His reactions melted from the drugs and weakness of just waking up and expending all of his strength and will power to force his body to move. He gave a thin smile to her as she sat down and he let a report drop to the table as his hands rested there. His body shook slightly from the freezing cold he had walked through earlier. That and his adreneline had petered out, he was starving and thirstier than a man crawling in a desert.

He replied raspily, " I was never one for quitting my job, even if I was taking a..." He paused for just a moment to think on what to consider his coma. He finished what he said less than a second after his pause."" Nap." He cleared his throat for a moment before leaning forward to look her directly in the eyes, he kept his face expressionless except for that small smile. Small obvious hints were that he was in pain, but ignored it. He continued in his raspy voice," You know, I didn't quite expect a ball of wind to hit me. I thought you were going to hit me with something else from the look of you back then."

He held a hand up to his mouth just as he coughed for a few moments before stopping and letting his hand drop back down to the desk. He made it very clear just then, that he knew very well she was going to attack him; possibly kill him, yet he didn't bother to even defend himself let alone evade and counter-attack. He hadn't yet bothered to even look over to where his money was sitting, nor his weapons that were on the ground now instead of the desk. He stared into houkas eyes, as if he was piercing through her into her soul. It was his normal way of looking at people, yet most people were unnerved by it. It was a amestrian trait, one of those odder ones.

"I didn't mean to hit you so hard with it." she said with a shrug trying to make it seem like his coma was nothing. Something she was finding very difficult to do. It was her fault he had fallen into a coma, one he might not of ever woken up from. "I know you like the mercenary life, but if you weren't a mercenary....none of that would of happened." That was her way of trying to make herself seem like it wasn't her fault, but his. If he wasn't a soldier for hire, if he hadn't agreed to join the enemy and then come back to their side because of money. She still probabaly wouldn't of attacked him if he hadn't provoked her with the whole 'i'm unarmed and won't defend myself' bit. She slammed her fist down on the table.

"And now you being an idiot again, risking a relapse just to get some work done." she said with an exasperated, but angry tone to her voice. "If it wasn't for the fact you've just recovered from your 'nap' i'd slap you so hard you'll wish you hadn't woken up." She looked at him with a sad tone in her eyes this time. "I missed you."

He shrugged before responding with a smile, his head was pounding too damn hard to think clearly or understand exactly the feelings behind her words easily as he normally did. " Well people tend to hit pretty hard when their angry, not that I mind much. I love being free, free to die how I choose or die trying to choose it." He laughed once at the end of his statement before coughing for a second or two and stopping with a weak smile on his face. He was barely staying awake, he kept smiling however trying his very best to conceal just how weak he was at the moment.

He replied to her angry statement with a simple shrug and statement," This idiot still has to get paid, plus I did kill off the majority of the intelligence team that worked under me. I have to do their work too you know." He shrugged before holding up the reports so he could look at her and read them at the same time. His eyes kept halfway closing and reopening, he looked as if he was about to pass out and the only thing that kept him going was sheer willpower. His hands and body shook gently and continously from being out in the cold for so long stumbling his way to his office.

His weak smile became more gentle, yet still frail. He looked strong considering he was half clothed and yet he looked extremely weak. Like a illness had overtaken him and he was on the verge of passing on, yet refused to die and refused to show any weakness that he could hide. He spoke softly as he set the next report down on the table, looking in her eyes. " Thats the first nice thing i've heard in a long time. " He paused as if puzzled for a second then asking curiously and smiling mischeviously," So is my little wake-up just going to have you with me, or is anyone else invited to my craziness?" He seemed as if trying to mask himself, as if he felt emotions that he just couldn't say at any costs without being called out on it. It was blantantly obvious that he had missed houka and everyone else. It just seemed that he was embarressed by it and was trying to be professional as usual, but failing emotionally and barely succeeding if that verbally.

"I have the duty of keeping an eye on you and talking to you once you were awake." she replied calmly though this calmness seemed to be forced. "I am cleared to give you an update on the current situation for your Intelligence department." She looked at him dead in the eye.

"I have been promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and am now in charge of the North HQ of the Amestrian army." she began quietly rising to her feet. Mura would notice she did not wield a single sword anymore, but two blades both with triggers. "Which is why I have the clearence and the duty. "And due to that I have the right to order you to rest. A new intelligence team is on the way from North HQ. So stop overworking yourself and get some rest." She had decided for now not to let him know of the upcoming battle against Father. Afterall, Mura might be her friend, but he was still a mercenary and as such could not be trusted with such information. "I want you back at full strength ASAP so I can see how much stronger I have become."

Murazar raised a eyebrow and let her finish her small speech, he clapped for a few moments and replied cheerfully." Congratulations on the promotions, although you can't really order me around. Only Reila can do that, and in our contract she can't really give me a order to rest. So I think i'll keep doing my job until that new team gets here. " After destroying her speech on the intelligence department and himself he decided to reply to her final statement. " Well, sparring with me is going to have to wait a day or so. I have to get stronger myself too, this time you'd be even harder pressed to defeat me. "

He looked over some reports about the damage and casualty rates, the damage wasn't horrifying nor the casualty's it was just that he knew it would take a very good chunk of work to get everything running as before again. He swore for a moment in auregese and drachman," Damn flooding the lower levels." " Double Damn the fact we cant trust the new intelligence team." He shook his head before moving on to other reports. He was slowly, very sluggishly getting his energy back as his body steadily warmed up to the new temperature.

He looked over at houka again and asked two simple questions, neither really based on anything but intuition and common sense." So, what'd I miss? And whats the secret being kept from me this time?" He grumbled quietly to himself about him always being kept out of some parts of the loop. It irritated him to no end, how was he to do his job as a intelligence chief if he didn't know all the facts and factor them into the equation to get the best results? Yes, he had betrayed briggs previously, but he had not given any information on it away. It was just a simple infiltration. Regardless, secrets were kept from him from before that and before his arrival. He was a mercenary after all, you never trust a mercenary even if they were a friend.

"That is something that I can't really tell you without asking Reila first." she replied honestly. "However, you should know that Xan is back at Briggs and we have a new addition to our team....Menoitos." This was a lie, but in a way it wasn't so she felt comfortable saying it. She smiled at him, which was a rarity in itself. "There have been a lot of changes about me...I wonder if you can tell what they are?"

There were only three major changes: her alchemy symbols, now not only on her weapon hilt, but also on her gloves (she had three seperate circles now), her weapon, which was originally just a sword now it was a pair of gunblades, and finally her gloves. They had originally both been white, but now one was white and one was black. She wondered though if he would be able to tell. However, what she really wanted to do was test how these changes had changed her fighting abilities and her chances against Mura in combat.

Murazar raised a eyebrow pausing in mid-motion when he heard xan was back, his mind was doing backflips to decipher what his position was now. He finally decided on not officially assigned to briggs, but just an alliance until otherwise proven. Menoito's...That name wasn't well known, all he knew was of a mercenary that was very difficult to die and used swords. Green hair and a nice white suit was his normal appearance that people remembered.

He grunted a simply, "Figures" to the statement of she couldn't tell him anything yet, instead of focusing on that however he perked up slightly that she had changed in three ways and was asking him to figure out what those were. He liked those kind of games, figuring things out was almost a talent of his. This little query of hers being safe, made it slightly fun. He looked her over once, noticing nothing overly out of place at first he closed his eyes for a moment.

He imagined her current self next to the last time he saw her. Almost instantly he picked out the details, the surface ones anyway. He opened his eyes and simply said," You've gotten stronger." He pointed at her black glove, then her gunblades although he kept his opinions to himself about them. Accuracy wasn't a high factor for those things, to him they'd better be suited to grenade launching than an actual firearm. Lastly, her alchemy had approved he pointed at both the gloves this time.

He was slowly feeling better, although still horrible. He probably should put some clothes on, but it didn't occur to him to do that. He'd been in worse condition than simply wearing only hospital shorts before. He spoke up again with a smile of his own that matched hers, he was surprised she was smiling directly to him. Yet it felt sort of nice to see her smile, sort of like a small fire lit inside him to keep him warm from the frozen heart he had. " Well, looks like you might beat me this time. Although I really wouldn't recommend any kind of melee attacks. You'd die if you tried that." He said the last line matter-o'-factly, as if there really wasn't much she could do against his ability. From the knowledge of her type of fighting, there really wasn't much she could do unless they fought outside in the climates. Then he'd simply escape.

"My abilities are not as limited as they were before." she said with a smile. Gunblades, whilst generally inaccurate, had quite a lot of firepower and her's had been customized to increase the accuracy of said weapons and to allow for her to have a few tricks up her sleeve. She wondered if he would notice that one of her transmutation circles was almost identical to the one used by Roy Mustang's Bombs on Command technique. It didn't matter if he did or not. What most people would expect from it would be flames, a return to her original style. However, few knew of the flame circle's other ability which worked with water. Her small alteration to the circle had allowed much greater control of this secondary ability and it was now one of her more useful techniques when combined with her other alchemy style.

"There are a few things regarding current events that are necessary for your department." she stated calmly. "One, Aerugo has launched an attack on South Amestris planning to take it over whilst it is weakened and Two, part of Briggs is being deployed to Central for another task rather then assisting in the South. The reason behind that is classified and if you want to know about it talk to Reila." She took a deep breath. "I don't know who is going to Central, but it is likely that only the most skilled of us will be sent there. The others will likely remain her to defend against another Drachma incursion or be sent to assist in Southern Amestris."

He set down his reports and replied to her comment with a knowing grin, as if he knew something she did not. "Dont say I didn't warn you." As soon as she informed him of the two facts that were very important. He stopped for a moment to stand up abruptly and pace around for a moment or two deeply in thought before pausing and saying aloud as if guessing what was happening and going to happen.

" Well Aurego's been taking their time, so i'm not surprised they're hitting our weak point of amestris. I was expecting that, but then again its not in my contract to warn people who should be obviously aware that was going to happen." He shrugged, Aurego obviously being a smaller concern and not a high point on his check list of things to worry about let alone bother with.

He spoke up again, this time in a more interested voice." Obviously if we're going to central with a select force of our strongest, and we have Xanthus back along with a fairly well known mercenary. That means one of three things. First, a guardian style coup d'état of the fuhrer by briggs, which oddly would look like history repeating itself exceptions including homonculi and father from the past since their dead. Second, we're going to guide the aurego army into central since that would be their next move to carve a path straight to central and defeat us as quickly as possible. We would ambush their army and kill them along the way with guerilla tactics. Lastly, it would be we're simply fortifying the area or gathering more troops before moving south. "

He looked over at houka, watching her for any reactions that would give away which one of those were correct. Even if it was just a miniscule twitch, or micro facial expression from controlling her emotions on her face. He'd read it and know which one was correct, it was far too easy to concentrate on solely her now. He was feeling better steadily, he just felt like crap as normal. He spoke up again almost as if like a after-thought." Oh yes, that was in order from most likely to least. Plus if I did talk to Lieutenant General Tsukino, she'd probably rip my head off due to the prior money making betrayal. " He spoke the full title and her last name in a almost mocking manner, to him he held only respect in terms of her fighting capabilities and some slight bit in leading her army. He also felt old, compared to the rest of the dossiers' on the briggs brigade. He was the oldest person there, while reila was the youngest. It was a oddity he always tried to shake off, he sighed for a moment as he looked at his paperwork and then back at houka.

Houka thought about this carefully being careful not to show any sign of which was correct. He wondered if Reila had thought about that and that was why Briggs moving to Central for their attack would not seem suspicious initially. However, she did not know for certain and because he did not factor in that Father was back along with his 'children' the Homunculi and the fact that they weren't attacking to take over Central just to destroy Father, all three of his deductions could be considered wrong and she told him so.

"All three are interesting points, but are all incorrect." she said in a plain matter-of-fact voice. "I do not know who is going to Central yet, but unless you are fully recovered I would assume you would be left here with maybe one other to guard the Fort and prepare for a possible invasion from Drachma whilst Amestris is distracted." she smiled at him again and nodded as if confirming herself. "That is what I would do anyway, though if Lieutenant General Tsukino has thought of that I do not know."

Reila chose that moment to make her presence known. She clicked open the door and slipped through, but her skirt got stuck on the door handle, flaring out. She turned to glare at it and quickly untangled it, turning her eyes up to Mura. Then she smirked. "Perfect timing. Aerugo has made their move. The attack is commencing as we speak." She stepped but closer to the two of them. "The Fuhrer is Father. He's still alive...after all this time. Xan, Dai, Meno, and myself will be leading an attack to destroy him." Her gold eyes seemed to sharpen as she stopped in front of them. "Houka will stay here to defend Briggs. Mura, even if I ordered you to stay, I'm almost positive you would still go regardless..." She looked down with a sigh. "Though I regret giving the South to Aerugo, this is the perfect chance to take Father by surprise..." She looked from Mura to Houka and back to Mura. "What do you think? We're having a mission briefing in 15 minutes and then we will take the helicopter to Central."

He looked over at reila suspiciously, he was almost searching for some kind of hidden meaning as soon as she popped in before he could even respond to houka. He replied to houka, "Speak of the angel and she has appeared, although it seems my first point was partially right. A guardian style coup d'état." He smiled, his thoughts however were swirling in turmoil. Father was alive?!? He had to get in on that action, it was too good to pass up killing such a legendary figure. He'd be a quiet legend and if not, he'd have proven to himself just how powerful he had become.

He turned to Reila and spoke in auregese rather than amestrian, the reason you ask? He didn't want houka to know everything he said," Of course i'll go, after all I have to see if Fuhrer Father can kill me. If not thats just another milestone i've passed on becoming more powerful." He paused for a moment looking down at himself, " I would probably have to dress first in something, preferrably a combat uniform or my suit before going with our assassination strike team. I'll dress right after the briefing in the armory and meet the team at the helicopter. I'm guessing you've got a plan to deal with father, correct Lieutenant General Reila Tsukino-Kensei?"

He smiled faintly for a moment, his adreneline was picking back up. Killing father, even in a strike team was boiling his blood. He wanted battle, he wanted to go now! He however was level-headed enough to know to prepare properly before leaving. Also calling her by her full name, Rank, and the title Kensei was almost sarcastic. Almost, Kensei mean't sword-saint, he was practically calling her a legendary swordsman, or rather swordswoman. Himself on the other hand was more well-known for simply killing people. His fame had grown while at briggs, in the underworld of life. The illegal systems, he was very well known now. People were constantly contacting him in various ways, but he had to turn most of the jobs down. The ones he had taken would require time to figure out where the targets were and how to deal with them.

Houka stared at Reila as she entered and told Mura everything. Still, Houka was sure she was right to wait for Reila to tell him rather then herself doing the job. It took her a few seconds for the message to sink into her mind. She was to be the one left behind? It made sense in a way as she was the only other general rank soldier at Briggs. However, she felt saddened that she wouldn't be able to assist Reila.

"I never said it was completely wrong Mura. Just incorrect. You assumed it was to merely take out the Fuhrer whereas the true mission was to take out Father." she stated calmly. "Reila, with Central distracted by the Aerugese invasion I suggest we send some of our forces to the South to try and prevent its loss or at least delay it until you have won in Central and then your forces can lend your assistance to defeat the invasion." She looked at Reila. "We dealt heavy damage to Drachma after their last assault and they will unlikely launch another invasion. However, if they do it will most likely be weakened and Briggs should be able to handle it without our full force, even with You, Dai and Mura gone." She took a deep breath. "If we do not send some of the Briggs forces I will send a larger amount of the North Army to help deal with the situation in the South."

"As for the helicoptor....I suggest you pretend you need to land at Central for re-fuelling on your way to the South rather then flat out denying to go to the South. It will seem less suspicious that way and you will have a greater element of surprise in your hands."

Houka, whilst she could not speak Aerugese, could now understand it though only enough to get the basic jist. She kept this ability along with her other new skills in linguistics to herself. It meant fewer people could take in another language near her without her understanding it. She knew Mura was only going to test his strength against Father and that he wanted to properly attired for it. None of it seemed important enough to hide.

"I'm sure no one can kill you, Mura," Reila laughed, her eyes flickering briefly. She clearly did not want Mura to die and had no intention of letting that happen regardless. Well, there was always a risk, but it was clear that Reila was working overtime to ensure that Father would be the only one dying. "Right, wear anything you deem fit, though I do suggest wearing something else to the meeting." She smiled. "Correct. Now, if you weren't hired by me, you wouldn't have gotten this chance. Remember that," Reila said in a dark voice, playing on Mura's personality. She knew his blood had to be boiling now, but she had to be sure not to let him overdo it...especially after the last mission.

Now, Reila had another matter to take care of. She turned to Houka with a soft expression. "Yoshi, thank you for not telling him the details. I did actually prefer to do it myself so I appreciate it." She pulled her hair behind her and let it fall back down her back with a sigh. "It is because we've also received heavy damage that Drachma will attack again regardless of their own condition. It has happened in the past, therefore I prefer leaving a large amount of forces behind while we are in Central. After Father is killed, then we will focus on Aerugo."

He grinned for a moment as he replied to her with a small bow of his head, the bow was equivalent to a respect between equals rather than a superior and subordinate. It was his way of saying she had earned respect with him. He replied to her statement that he couldn't die with subtle grimness," I was born with the name The Shadow of Death, and i'm nicknamed the Wind of Death. I'm sure one day i'll lose my luck and die in battle, after all...i'm always alone." His tone and facial expression were the complete opposite of his grim words. To someone who wasnt fluent, it would sound like he was just stating something prideful.

He replied to the statement that if she didn't hire him he wouldn't get this chance, he grinned wildly. It didn't fit his normal image at all, he was in another act, another facade, another mask. One of the many Battle Mask the Wind of Death held in his mind and heart. " Your correct, however I would get other chances to fight or do legendary things that i've done before. All I want is to become powerful, legendary, then die, and then be buried or burned or left to rot somewhere where I cant be bothered again. " That was a slam to her poke, her statement was to let him know who was in charge or to remain with her team. He slammed it back with a set of goals that were completely off with his being excited to fight father after coming out of a coma. He was letting her know it would take more than just this one fight to keep him around.

He turned to face Houka and spoke to her in amestrian," Good luck Houka, I know you'll be able to defend this place no matter the odds. Maybe when I get back we can go get a drink, if you'd like." Right now, he almost felt like dropping down and passing out. He forcifully kept his legs steady and prepared himself to walk to his room to dress in urban warfare fatigues and get his vest and pistols ready. Afterwards he'd leave to the meeting, then after that he'd prepare his more illegal armor and weaponry on himself and head out.

Houka nodded looking at him. "That would be nice." she said with a half smile. She sighed deeply. "I wish I could be with you when you take down Father, but I will obey orders and guard the North." She looked at them both. "I will leave you to prepare and go to prepare myself."

With that she turned and began to leave thinking about what best to do to defend the fortress without the aid of the other alchemists, in particular Reila. It was going to be difficult, but with her new alchemy abilities and skills, as well as her new resources she believes she should be able to deal with the situation. It was not a matter of if, it was a matter of how. She would not fail. Failing would mean disobeying an order and that was out of the question. She pulled out her radio and sent an encrypted signal to her office in the North HQ.

"This is Brigadier General Yochi." she said and quickly stated her command code. After recieving confirmation of their code and a check of the encryption so as to be sure the signal had not been and would not be intercepted she began to issue orders. "Aurego is invading the South. Briggs' strongest alchemists are going to aid them, however this leaves the border weakened. I want to divide our forces in three. 1/3 to come to Briggs to reinforce us, 1/3 to go to Aurego. The final 1/3 I want to stay on standby." She nodded to herself. That was the smartest thing to do. That way the remaining four teams could be sent to aid the east or even the west if Creta invaded or if Xing broke the alliance. "Team white, black, blue and silver are to come to Briggs in two days and serve under me, team yellow, gold, red and orange to head to the south immediately under command of Major Felburn. The remaining forces are to serve under General Sikon." With that she signed off and placed the radio back in her pocket.

Reila felt her heart twinge slightly and she brought a hand up to her chest, sighing loudly. Why were some people always like this? She wanted to smack some sense into his head, but her conscience told her now was not the time (especially considering his condition). But still, she couldn't just not respond to his lonesome comment. Reila found herself pouting and quickly straightened up. She bowed slightly, mimicking him with utmost perfection. She was almost like a mirror image of him, except for the fact she was grinning. "You can say your alone," She said in a calming voice, her eyes drifting onto Houka, "But to us, we're with you all the way." Reila laughed bitterly, turning her sharp, golden eyes onto the silver-haired man. "You can be a glorified mercenary--you can be powerful and attempt to bomb my fortress--you can betray me as many times as you want..." She smirked, her eyes taking on a strange glow. "But I will always win." She turned from him, folding her arms behind her back and walking around to the other side of them to busy herself.

"Now, I can make you legendary." Her eyes were fastened to him deeply as if they could never come undone. "But I have a condition." Reila was all seriousness, her entire body pulsating with it. "Become North HQ second in command under Houka Yochi. Your pay will increase dramatically and become more frequent." She smiled slightly like a small breath of sunshine after a downpour. "If you choose not to, nothing will change. Think about it and rest before the meeting. You will have enough time."

Reila bounded over to Houka and grabbed her hands, eyes lighting up. "Ne, ne Yoshi, you know you're the only one I can trust with holding up the fort...literally." She laughed and twirled a piece of her hair nervously. Did Houka hate her for leaving her behind...? Reila would have traded with her in a second. Glory in no way meant more than friendship to her, but she didn't trust Xan... and protecting Houka from being alone with him was her top priority in this instance. Especially if she wanted Xan alive. It was difficult making all these decisions... She may be hated for them, but... as long as everyone else was happy and...alive...then everything was okay. Reila turned serious again. "I want you to head over to the South as soon as I give the signal. At that point, Briggs will no longer be under the threat of invasion and the rest of our troops can aid Central. After this is all over... aside from teaching you Aerugese, we have to figure out what to do about Amestris... Father was reigning all this time...and no one knew. It makes me sick." She turned around with a wave. "I'll see you both at the meeting."

He stayed silent, now it wasn't willpower that held his feet up. It was rage! She would make him legendary?!? He would make himself a Living Legend! She was wishing he'd go directly under houka? Force him to have a secondary boss! That was breaking the contract that was set upon their relationship. It wasn't like they took a sibling sake oath with her having seventy-percent and him thirty-percent. This was business, she had just lost him.

This was over. He'd do his final job with them, sleep his weakness away and leave. Then he would become stronger, more powerful, and live his life without her thinking she owned him! She thought he was against her and testing himself against her? Ha! She to him, wasn't even strong enough to be a whetstone for himself to keep his edge. She was as strong as him, that was for sure. She however wasn't stronger than him.

He yelled out in a rage after they both left and threw a desk into the wall where he was hit, it crashed into it leaving naught but a big dent in the wooden desk. He turned around and briskly walked out of his office, he was heading to his room to dress appropriately before dressing in his war suit. He yelled out furiously for once to the open and empty outside hallway. " To hell with this place!"

[XD damn. I don't know how to react to this. Well...at least she got some response. Mura REALLY hates Reila >.< -sigh-]

{OOC: He doesn't hate her xD She just treats him more as a if he has no choice but to work for her when he is chosing to work for her. He wants to be treated how he feels he deserves, which mainly is respect and equal standing while knowing fully that he could up and disappear from her side and easily reappear on the enemies or never appear again to her. He feels like shes just shoving the contract in his face constantly that she's his only ticket to becoming a living legend and a good paycheck. If she treated him more respectfully as a ally instead of a slave or servant, he'd be more than willing to actually stick around out of his good graces than up and try assassinating her with a sniper rifle everytime she became visible outside the fortress.}

[Hahah I hardly believe he doesn't hate her! But no...she's not like that at all. I think Mura is just reading her wrong...really wrong. She's giving him a choice and she just directly stated that she is fully aware of what he is capable of and the fact that he can switch sides in a second. She just doesn't care. At this point, she's merely confident in her ability to adapt to whatever he throws at her, (hence the 'I always win' statement). She isn't really shoving it in his face, she's just saying that she CAN make him legendary, meaning she can assist him with his life's goals, not do it herself like he thinks... -sigh- And constantly...? She's never suggested this before now so... I don't know where that came from. And NO she is NOT treating him like a slave/servant whatever. In what instance has she EVER done so? Now I feel insecure. Am I not portraying her intentions correctly? I know she's definitely over-dramatic because that's her personality and she gets really intense and serious, but... what am I doing wrong then?]

{OOC: Its not that your doing anything wrong, more or less its the interpretation of her actions. To people like mura, it'd be best to come out and say everything really bluntly and as concisely as possible. Otherwise, the more you drag statements out and the more vague it gets he starts seeing too many possibilities of what it means. Which leads him to take the pessimistic view and read them in the worst intentional way possible.

To him if she mean't " I can adapt to anything you do that affects me" She should say it exactly like that, not phrase it as "I'll always win" To him thats a arrogant challenge to his pride and strength. Also, while the offer of a rank up hasn't come before this. The constant shoving of the contract in his face is mostly the "You belong here", the "Your not leaving here" Etcetera. Pretty much any statement where he feels she's saying she owns him. It may be very nice and well-meaning, but he misinterprets it in a negative view. To him, she's really just not clear enough with her intentions and meanings. So in the end, she just extremely pisses him off. Its not that he hates her, its just she's like a bee buzzing around his ear all the time and wont stop.

Mainly because if he did hate her, he would have already exploded in fury towards her. Instead he keeps his cool around her.}