-Jodi Picoult

“Come on, Seras,” John breathed with a smile, “let’s get the hell out of this shithole and figure out where we are.”

“If I had to take a fuckin’ guess, I’d say you’re in a shitload of trouble. Seriously, if you hadn’t brought me this bangin’ broad, I’d be really pissed at how many of my men you just killed.”

John and Seras whirled toward the door as it gently swung open, a man walking in who looked like he was trying entirely too hard to seem arcane. He had a bracelet on each wrist, at least three necklaces that John could see, two of which were almost entirely filled with charms and beads and the third of which had multiple magical symbols hanging from it, including a pentagram, two symbols that looked rather similar to the nonsense summoning circles scrawled on the wall in the Cabal storehouse, and either a variant on the anarchy symbol or something closer to a knockoff of Chris Angel. His head was shaved but covered by a hood, and black tattoos ran across his face under his eyes and along his jawline. None of them immediately stood out to John, nor did they seem to glow with any signs of magic.

"You're just gonna be another body on the floor if you try to hurt me or Seras," John muttered. It was strange to be making threats when Seras was the only one with the stats - or the health and mana - to be inflicting any real damage, but John tried not to let that dissuade him. Seras remained loyally by his side, seemingly ready to intercept any sudden attacks. John opened up her character sheet and raised his left hand slightly, hoping that it was in a vaguely fighting position as he glanced over Seras' newfound Growth Points.

"Tough talk from a dumbass who had to get rescued by his pet squeeze… seriously, the fuck is she anyway? Never seen something outside of a Barrier that won't die when you shoot it in the fucking head, or whatever passed for a head on some of the fucked up things I've seen. Doesn't really matter. I've got backup on the way - you can either surrender now and both of you live to see your new masters or you can fight, waste time, and maybe I kill one of you before they show up. Spoiler - we need you alive; the girl's fair game, she's just a bonus. Maybe I'll even have a little fun with her before we make it out of here."

John's left eye twitched a little. He could feel… something. Somewhere. Deep inside of him there was a stirring, but his head pounded at the mere thought of such turmoil. John groaned and fell against the wall, his head spinning as forces both physical and metaphysical warred inside of him.

"M-master?"

"How fucking cute, she gave you a pet name!"

John opened one eye with a groan in time to see the wave of purple shadows ebbing toward him. It was a strange wave, slower than most of the spells John had been attacked with but expanding slightly as it reached for him. Considering the difference in their power, it was still frighteningly quick, and he could see Seras already tensing to leap in front of him. Whatever it was, whether a restraining spell or something else to put him under like the **** still coursing through his veins, John had no intentions of remaining in front of it or allowing Seras to risk herself.

Casting Siphon between himself and Seras, John stole some of the Agility points from her, enhancing his speed just enough to move out of the way of the ability, carrying himself toward Seras so that she would see his movement. She stopped at the last moment as the strange violet wave passed beside them, continuing until it hit the wall. When it did, it pulled itself backward, taking a sizable chunk of the wall with it.

"Damn, was kind of hoping the bitch would throw herself in front of you. Guess you can handle yourself, at least a bit. No biggie - I'll get you both in this one!"

The mist dropped the chunk of wall as it receded to wrap around the man's ankles, then protruded again, this time acting as a bit of a whip, a sideways lashing motion sending it hurtling toward John and Seras.

John mashed his buttons across the status screen that was still hovering in front of him, doing his best to pump every Growth Point he could into her physical stats. It was a bit hard while dashing forward, but it was all he could do.

"She's going to get herself caught protecting me… this is all I can do," John thought as he and Seras nearly bashed into each other while trying to protect the other. John siphoned off as much Strength as he could, using the minimal mana he'd regenerated and the element of surprise to throw Seras behind himself and embrace the violet wave. It flowed over his skin like mud, stinging a bit but not causing any obvious damage - instead it wrapped around him firmly and solidified everywhere it touched him, and the moment he was entirely within its grasp, it pulled him back and held him in the air behind the Cabal mage, nearly touching the ceiling as he was bound a few feet above the man.

"Seriously? How the fuck did those dumbasses die to you two? You're a one-trick pony with a decent right hook, and your master's such a fuckin' loser he'd die for a fake whore. Seriously, if I knew this was going to be so easy, I would've intervened a lot sooner instead of letting you two tire yourselves out on the imbeciles. If I didn't need you alive, I'd kill you for wasting my fucking time, you twit."

Seras growled, her crimson eyes nearly glowing under the dim lighting as she sprinted forward. She tried to approach the man, but despite John's frantic and semi-random spending of her Growth Points, she couldn't land any hits. The purple energy that had been the consistency of mist and yet held John like iron now solidified, batting Seras away and into the wall every time she moved closer. Its speed wasn't as great as hers, but it covered more area, and the man holding John seemed far more skilled in its use than the haphazard and panicky Cabal soldiers Seras had so effortlessly slaughtered. When she let her guard down, it would sometimes solidify entirely, forming sharp points and long tendrils that cut and pierced her skin.

Party Member: -32 HP!
Party Member: -41 HP!

Lyle Mullicent
Level 18 Cabal Officer
<The Cabal >
390 / 390 HP
Relationship: -150
Alignment: -90
Status Effects: N/A

"He's fucking right," John thought, eyes flickering between the Observe window and the scene before him. Seras continued to charge in, finding new ways to approach. She threw pieces of the environment at him, tried leaping above the mist, and even picked up some of the fallen guns. Everything failed, as the man either batted her away or thickened the mist and faded into it to avoid the gunfire as Seras was **** to blindfire. Seras got a few lucky hits, but her health was dropping, and she didn't have experience fighting someone with abilities like this. John immensely regretted not getting her a proper weapon, wishing he'd told Moira to fuck off and gone back to the mall.

Or even home. John realized now that he wasn't really that much safer with the Order - Moira wanted to use him too for her own ends and the advancement of the Order, so she had no issues risking his safety if it meant advancing her war. Tricia was interested in him as a science project, and maybe she appreciated his offer to escaped the Order, but at the end of the day none of those John had associated with since entering the Abyss seemed to care about him. They cared about his powers.

"Is this my life? At the mercy of people stronger than me, who want to use me for what I can do that they can't? I've been getting railroaded through everything since Moira found me at the Academy. Everyone has been either protecting me or using me, and now…"

John glanced one more time at Seras, still fighting to reach him. Some ability she must have had as a result of her transformation seemed to be healing the wounds she received from the mist, but she was still showing signs of slowing. The mist was having an easier time catching her; twice she only escaped its grasp by ripping herself free, losing pieces of skin and flesh to the mist's incredibly adhesive grip. She was running low on dropped firearms and the man's health was still over three-quarters.

"…and now someone might die for it. She already almost did. I'm tired of being saved."

John's numbness had barely begun to fade. Not surprising; it had only been a few minutes since he was freed. But where anger failed him, determination filled him. John didn't have much leeway in the throes of the mist, but as the man weaved to and fro to avoid Seras' repeated shots at him and to hide himself, sometimes his mist would waver. That let John move his arms around, if only a few inches at a time.

"Barely any health left. Again. None of my abilities will deal enough damage or get me out of this thing's grip, even if I do use Siphon to take Seras' mana, and I can't even look at her sheet easily to see if she needs it now. The Master of Darkness tree didn't have anything useful for this either. Gaia, or whoever makes these achievements, if you're listening… I need this new talent to be something good. I want to be stronger. I need to be stronger."

Driven by equal parts determination and desperation, John threw open his Talent menu the second his arm could go anywhere near what seemed to be the borders of his visual interface. Much like with his Master of Darkness tree, John found that there was only a single talent available for the first choice, which then opened up a branching tree. John hovered a finger over it and took in the magnificence that was the ability's description.

Twin-Soul Resonance Stage 1: Body
This skill allows the user to absorb the physical form of one of their creations or another being which shares a piece of their soul. The user will gain the physical stats of the absorbed being for as long as this skill is maintained, and the absorbed being will be placed in a metaphysical sleep as an object on the user's person, only vaguely aware of what is happening. During this time the absorbed being's abilities, mental stats, and experience are unable to be utilized. If the user performs any acts which the absorbed being would consider abhorrent, the technique is immediately ended and may never be utilized again on the same being. If the user is killed while this technique is active, both participants will die. Any injuries sustained by the user will remain on the absorbed being after separation.
Mana Cost: N/A.
Duration: 1 minute per level of user.
Cooldown: 1 year Cooldown, unique to each individual being.
Restriction: May only be used on willing partners, with a relationship score above 150, while they are gazing into the user's eyes.

"That's amazing… but it's all me. After all this - after being rescued so many times - am I even strong enough?"

John shook his head, fighting off the depression that seeped through his bleary state. If he stood here and did nothing, and Seras failed, that would be his fault too. He'd been a shitty master, and her own excelling strengths didn't excuse his overt reliance on them. Even now - even this ability - was relying on her as much as him, if not even more considering her superior level.

But it was a start.

John mashed the button, having to squirm several times to move his fingers properly, missing twice before finally contacting it. The skill acquisition window popped up, and John turned his head toward Seras, already opening his mouth to scream.

"Seras… I'm sorry I'm so useless! I want to do something for once, but I don't have time to explain. If you trust me, just look at me!" With only a few seconds to act, John took advantage of the range of his Siphon to drain Seras of her mana. He could return it, if necessary, but he prayed that he wouldn't fail at using an ability for the first time since he got these strange powers.

Like so many of his abilities, John had no idea what to do to properly activate it. All he could do was focus on Seras, on his relationship with her, and on what something like that might feel like. She was almost thirty feet away, pushed back again by another lash of protruding tendrils that raked her flesh and marred her beautiful pale skin. All the same, John knew it had worked the moment his eyes met hers and something poured into him. It felt like strength, like a powerful essence flowing through his eyes and into his soul. It felt like hope, an unshakable faith in himself and everything that he was. It felt like a warm embrace from someone he couldn't see, and the heat burned through his body and purged out the numbness still tingling through John's extremities.

John couldn't help the gasp and shout that escaped him in rapid succession as Lyle shouted something unintelligible over the roar of blood that filled John's ears and set every muscle in his body quivering. Light glistened on his hands, and a set of white gloves appeared where the light faded. On the back of his left hand was a pentagram with layers of inscriptions; on his right was a phrase that might have made John laugh if he weren't so serious at the moment.

"Love at First Bite."

Stretching as if awakening from a deep slumber, John extended his limbs against the iron grip of the mist - and found a strange sense of satisfaction as he was finally able to move. He was still being held in the air, but he could reach his arms up at last, slowly but surely. The Cabal mage below was looking around, apparently not yet realizing what had become of Seras.

While he was distracted John thrust his arms at the ceiling and pushed as hard as he could. The **** he managed to muster was beyond what he'd anticipated - though he succeeded in thrusting himself down through the mist and freeing himself, John also crumbled the ceiling around where he pressed, giving away his escape before he even hit the ground.

"Fucking hell, what bullshit is this?!"

"Was kind of asking myself the same thing!"

John responded without thinking as the purple mist that had held him moments ago chased after him. What surprised him weren't the words but the fact that he had the time to consider the banter at all. If stealing a few points of Agility from Seras had given him the speed to dodge a quick lash from the mist… taking it all had given him a new understanding of the very concept of speed.

The violet energy surged into the ground where John had been only moments ago, tangling itself on the concrete of the floor as he was able to utilize a burst of wind with Elemental Control to shift himself away mid-air. It cost some of his precious mana, but John had more than enough. Seras had already pushed the man hard with her speed. Combined with his own, John knew that he had a serious edge, regardless of his utility and reach disadvantages.

While that tendril of mist was de-solidifying and freeing itself from the concrete, John burst toward Lyle. The room was large, but he'd been close when he had landed - far closer than Seras, and Lyle still had most of the mist focused where Seras had been, perhaps afraid the vampiress was only hiding to attack him by surprise.

John's weapons were left behind, but his fists now struck with as much **** as any blade he'd ever properly wielded. The first blow cracked Lyle's jaw, and the second shattered his cheek, disfiguring the Cabal mage profoundly as he screamed and recoiled, delving further into his protective mist.

49 DMG!
Critical Hit! 98 DMG!

John chased after him, with the protective violet shroud rising up off the ground, thickening and grabbing at his body. John pressed forward, slowed but not deterred. A tendril shot through his lower abdomen, and another through each of his calves. He stumbled briefly at the pain but caught himself on the ground and threw himself forward, continuing to chase Lyle.

-54 HP!
-37 HP!
-49 HP!

"Thanks for the Endurance," John whispered, eyes on the gloves as if Seras could hear him. This power wasn't his, nor was it hers. It was theirs, together, and fighting as one with Seras - in some form, at least - was enough to drive John forward into the fray, faster and faster, lashing out at Lyle with repeated strikes where he could. Some were glancing blows, but Lyle's health was nearly gone, and his desperation caused him to rely too much on his mists to keep him safe, using them to push and pull himself out of reach instead of using them offensively against his assailant. Now that John was close, even the thick shrouds that tried to pull him back or suffocate him couldn't keep Lyle out of his sight, and John finally had the speed and the power to do something about it.

"Try not to die from this. I kind of wanted to keep you alive for questioning…"

Lyle's eyes widened. Perhaps he had a brief moment to see what John was planning, but he lacked the physical speed to move, even with his mist grabbing him to assist and pull him along. John stretched an arm out and with two fingers extended shot a bolt of lightning. The mist rose up at the last moment and was burst aside as John's Intellect proved enough even on its own to deliver the finishing blow.

Critical Hit! 79 DMG!

Lyle gasped, an oozing wheeze as his chest cavity threatened to empty itself through the drinking glass-sized hole opened in his chest. His punctured lung pulsed and fluctuated in the opening, the mist around John abruptly softening and slowly beginning to fade away as Lyle fell to the ground and started to violently twitch.

"I… I did it."

John blinked for a brief moment, caught off guard by the statement. His eyes fell to the gloves at his hands. No, he hadn't done it. He was saved again by whatever being - Gaia or otherwise - gave him these abilities and achievements when he needed them. He was saved by Seras, her immense strength and dedication, and her loyalty and trust in John. All he had done was take the first step. But still… John smiled at the gloves, thinking how strange the feeling truly was now that he wasn't fighting for his life.

"We did it."