Tomorrow always comes.

“Okay, where is that female dog?” Rave exclaimed as she stood at the school gate at the end of the day. “I don’t think you should be throwing potential curses around just yet.” John tried to calm down his disguised girlfriend. “In my head, she is guilty already!” “Yes, but in your head anime is also better than If-The-Emperor-Had-A-Text-To-Speech-Device.” “That’s because that is so nerdy it transcends being nerdy and becomes just plain unattractive.” Rave jabbed right back at him, “I have already complied with your request to not barge into her classroom.” “And I am very thankful for that.” John sighed.

Rave was hell-bent on seeing this through. ‘Oh well, the worst that can come of this is that the biggest organization in town puts us on their wanted list…that is not reassuring in the slightest, what the hell me?’ He lamented his fate.

His thoughts were, thankfully, interrupted when he saw her. Moira stuck out from the mass with her red hair bound into a low pony-tail by the sheer **** of the radiant colour. Come to think of it John never had used the new Observe on her. Might give some answers.

And what he learned told him that she was a very unlikely suspect. “Moi-Moi, would you come here for a second.” Rave already leaped into the perfect student’s way before he could say anything. “Rave…no, I guess I should call you by your name Jane Hollmey.” Moira returned the greeting in a frost tone. “What do you want?” She asked. “You tried to kills us yesterday, didn’t you?” Rave returned a lot heavier question, causing John to step. “Okay, Jane, take things slow.” He tried to calm down the situation before it could escalate. Just in time too because Moira was about to start a tirade that would surely saw her storming off at the end without them getting any answers.

Rave twisted her mouth into a displeased expression but kept quiet for the moment, giving John a chance to speak to Moira. “Would you mind if we took this somewhere less public?” A daring question surely but having a talk about the Abyss in broad daylight was a bad idea. Moire reluctantly agreed. “Sure.”

Ten minutes later they found themselves sitting on two opposite benches inside a little park inside an Illusion Barrier. “This seems good enough.” John exclaimed and then laid open the situation to the redhead. “Here is the thing: Somebody tried to attack Collide, all of us, yesterday. I don’t want to go throw accusations around but…” “BUT I think you did it.” Rave interrupted him and crossed her arms with a daring expression. “Just you?” Moira asked, “Are you telling me that those friends of yours kept a cool head unlike you?”

“They are all too busy to look into other people, just tell me did ya do it or not?” “I didn’t.” Moira stared at the technolover with intensity, “I have no reason to and neither does the Golden Rose. We are here to safe people not harm them and starting a war on you and the Bloodfallen would obstruct our goals over a minor inconvenience.” Which was exactly what John thought she would say. Rave however still didn’t seem convinced. “Oh yeah? Are ya just going to deny that we have bad blood?” “No. I don’t like you Jane.” Moira said straight out, “But I am not out to kill you and I would never put a grudge over my mission.”

The two woman stared at each other for a few moments then Rave said. “I still don’t believe you.” Moira audibly clenched her teeth. “Then let’s do this your way and duke it out. Talking to you gives me a headache.” Just like that negotiations had failed. “Now we are speaking my language.” Rave said jumped up from the bench while Moira rose a bit more dignified. She seemed about ready to start but neither of them moved.

John wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about how things were going but with Rave’s temperament maybe this was the best way. “Moment, a second please let’s lay down some rules first.” He stepped in. “So first we make this one on one, okay?” They both nodded, “Like I need your help to punch Moi-Moi in the face.” “At least one of you has dignity.”

John sighed, these two were polar opposites in most regards but right now they seemed just eager enough to claw each other’s throats out. “Okay and just so Jane gets her will you will tell us everything you know in case you lose?” He asked Moira, “Sure.” She willingly accepted, “In case I win Jane will address me like a normal person in the future.” “So cute of you, but fine.” “Okay, in that case Moira get ready, you need your armour and stuff, right?” “That is no problem.” She grabbed a medallion around her necklace and pulled it off. Within seconds the medallion grew into a shield and moments later she produced her Warhammer from somewhere as well. Both were fine, silvery radiant items with the iconography of the Golden Rose on them. ‘Neat’ he thought.

“Start!” John gave the signal after retreating a few steps and Rave immediately jumped forwards. “In the name of the Lady!” Moira shouted and slammed her hammer into the ground, the attack resulting in a golden shockwave that threw Rave back and **** her to tumble through the air and then trying her best to land. Still orientating herself she was barely able to see the hammer coming for her shoulder. She activated her aura just in time to block the worst damage of the blow was still pushed over.

Now on the ground Rave rolled to the side before Moira was able to hit her with the thin edge of her plate shield. The technolover got on her feet again and rolled her left shoulder with a pained expression. “Not bad, princess.” She admitted and then threw a wave of blinding light at Moira. The Paladin was hit full-front but as Rave tried to engage her into melee combat again Moira raised her Warhammer and once more incited her powers, “Lady, lend me your light!” a wave of healing energy washed over the redhead’s body and suddenly she was able to see again and her raised hammer stroke down on Rave’s position.

This time however the pink-haired fighter wasn’t that naïve. A quick flare of her aura and her speed increased enough to dodge the strike. Not only that but she now was on Moira’s unprotected right side. The Paladin tried to whirl around her hammer but Rave was faster and kicked her in the stomach. Moira didn’t budge but Rave was ready to follow the attack up. Her hand extended up to Rave’s face the technolover grinned, “Try this ladies light!”. The explosion that followed was the same attack that Rave had used against the Spectre, a burst of sunlight. Rave wasn’t quite done yet thought and as Moira finally took a step back, blinded by the attack, she delivered a roundhouse kick that sent the Paladin flying.

Rave was now about to consolidate her victory and charged after Moira. “I ask for your blessing.” The redhead muttered and just like the start of the fight slammed her hammer to the ground, forcing Rave to stop her charge and giving Moira a moment to heal herself. The sunlight attack had left some visible damage in her opponents face but nothing major enough to call it fatal. Moira turned out to be a lot tougher than some Spectre.

“Lady, Smite my foes!” She shouted and suddenly a pillar of golden light fell down on Rave, forcing her to her knees. Crippled in such a manner Rave wasn’t able to us her superior speed this time and Moira took full advantage of that. Shield raised she rammed into Rave. Off-balance Rave was unable to dodge the following strike of the Warhammer that sent her crashing to the ground. Moira had learnt from the last time she managed to get Rave into that position and slammed a foot down on her opponent chest so that she couldn’t roll away again. With a scream Moira brought down her hammer on Rave’s head.

And stopped just before the impact. “It is my win.” She said in a satisfied tone and raised her weapon. She saw the protective layer of earth underneath and raised an eyebrow at John. “I thought you trusted me?” “Trust is a strong word…I just don’t believe you the type to go around murdering people.” John said, scratching his head as he retracted the barrier.

Rave had a very displeased expression on her face. “Fine, Moira.” It seemed to make her physically ill to say her normal name. “You win….and I guess if you wanted to see me dead you wouldn’t have stopped there.” “Combat is about the only thing that goes through that thick head of yours, isn’t it?” Moira’s Warhammer vanished inside her shield which then shrunk down to the medallion again. “However, I will tell you what little I know despite winning. I dislike seeing ambushes of such nature.”

“Thank you.” John said in earnest, “What can you tell us?” “As I said, very little. It is widely known that only a few of the organizations that end under the Bloodfallen’s protection live longer than a couple months. For the why that is I cannot tell you but the few organization’s that do survive always have a leader fiercely loyal to the Bloodfallen. Rumour has it that the elixir they hand out has to do with this.” “The Blood of Thana.” John mumbled causing Moira to shrug, “If that is its name you know more about it than me. I can’t involve myself in this any further without overstepping the boundaries inside the Golden Rose.” She waved goodbye and left the Illusion Barrier.

John turned to Rave who was brooding over her loss. “You fine?” “Physically? Nothing Gaia won’t fix. Otherwise I am absolutely pissed.” She answered and finally jumped back on her feet. “Worst birthday ever.” “I can believe that…wait it’s your birthday?”

“Yes, and I had a lot of bad ones so I don’t celebrate anymore…but I think I am getting a gift in the form of power today.” She smirked as she had an epiphany.