Expedition to Further the Studies of Dark Magic [Job ; Elvira Arcade & Vincent Gauss]

Elvira shot upright in bed, breathing heavily. The oversized Hosenka lucky cat t-shirt she often wore to sleep was soaked with sweat once again. The young wizard shifted on the tatami mat that was rolled out in Rin's living room and stood up. She'd had the dream again; the same one she'd had every night since the week after returning from the strange magical dimension she'd found herself traversing with the companion she was no longer sure she entirely trusted: Necropolis had been there, but more importantly so had the being that stood behind the monster, forever in the shadows --wordlessly ensuring her that her life was both meaningless and soon to reach it's conclusion.

Her brown eyes surveyed the room and noticed that once again, the shelves full of pretty stuffed animals had been jostled about; probably Theo getting chased around the house by Lily or Elvira stumbling in drunk --"I really should treat Rin's place more respectfully..." she thought to herself as she carefully rearranged everything on the shelves. Once the card wizard was satisfied everything was in it's proper place she walked to the bathroom and splashed cold water on herself. Dark circles had begun to form under her eyes.

"Blech...I look like ****" She muttered as she dried herself with a towel and exited the home through the small sliding doors which lead out into the garden. The cool night air caressed her face; it was normally something she'd enjoy, but it didn't do much to comfort her now.

Elvira's body was cold and hot at the same time; the result of a growing void in her chest which seemed to absorb all feelings of light and happiness --it felt as though she'd never feel joy again. She hadn't felt this feeling so acutely since the day she'd watched her mother and father disappear into the early morning fog at the edge of the sea as an indifferent wooden ship carried her away from them forever. Panic attacks the family physician had said: Just like her mother. Her mother who, like her father, was gone; lost to the sands of time. Somehow she hadn't thought to bring a picture of them with her: She was so sure they would have joined her in Fiore within a week or two --she couldn't remember what they looked like now.

Tears began to stream down the girl's face.

Theodore and Rin were away with their squad and there'd been no word from Vincent in several months --she felt alone. She was cast adrift in a sea of ether she couldn't understand or control; dealing with forces so alien to her as to be almost incomprehensible. Vincent seemed convinced Necropolis had done something to them, cursed them somehow. She wasn't sure if that was what she was feeling, or if it was simply a sense of helplessness before a power that felt so much greater than herself. After all the Magic Council hadn't said anything about a curse or a compulsion so she really shouldn't be troubled, yet she was.

Elvira ran her fingers through her hair and walked back inside the house; stopping beside the bag she'd never fully unpacked to change into a different shirt; she pulled it up over her head and noticed the small collection of scars that she'd begun to accumulate on her body over the past year: She'd never imagined herself as a guild wizard...much less a fighter...when had her life changed so much?.

She donned a new shirt and silently walked up to Rin's room. She quietly crawled onto her young roommate's bed and picked up a stuffed animal, hugging it to herself as she stared at the wall. Slowly her eyes closed again.

...

Elvira arrived at Crystal Swan the next day after managing a few hours of restful sleep in Rin's bed. She sat down and ordered some juice from the bartender while glancing over at the job board to see if anything new had cropped up.

"Heard Vincent got back into town last night." The bartender said as he served her drink. "I know you've been looking for him."

Elvira's eyes opened slightly wider as she downed the juice in one gulp and stood up.

"Yeah. Thanks." She said quickly before glancing around and trying to located the wizardy wizard.

Elvira raised an eyebrow as she watched the weapon on Vincent's table disappear into the strange pocket dimension where the mage seemed to store most of his belongings. She listened as he recounted his research and a pang of anger struck her.

"What have you been up to in my absence?" He inquired.

"Well, aside from not knowing what else you'd found out, what precisely you were doing and having constant nightmares I've been swell, you?" She thought it, but didn't say it. It wasn't really his fault anyways, she'd been the one who'd told him she wasn't interested in having anything more to do with the whole endeavor; knowing full well the archaic wizard wouldn't have an iLac if she changed her mind.

"I've just been keeping busy you know, taking jobs, tutoring Juno. I've been writing songs a little more often.." She said, scratching her cheek as she trailed off, unsure what she'd hoped to gain from this conversation. She didn't believe in a curse after all and yet the idea that Vincent had said he'd found a way to remove the non-existent malady gave her pause none-the-less.

"So tell me about this grove and what you're planning to do next..."

The golden light of early morning filtered through the windows into the guild quarters, shaded by the fluffy clouds that drifted lazily by as the Crystali slowly slipped it's way through the sky.

"'The Trial of the Basin will purify all afflictions, but be warned it is not for the meek. The Guardians of the Basin will kneel only to those with strength befitting a monarch.' That's my best translation, but I have to admit that I'm not too proficient in Seven's ancient language. The natives weren't much help because of how different it is to their modern language. There are a few words in their that I'm not too sure about. The words for monarch, hero, and great soldier are all the same word, and affliction translates closer to sickness or ailment rather than curse, though I've seen it used in that way." The white haired wizard explained. It was amusing to Elvira that a civilization would have the same word for monarch, hero and soldier; it reminded her on Minstrel --a kingdom founded on the ludicrous idea that an ascribed status like "noble" was somehow related to the achievements of soldiery or heroism. She scoffed.

"Still, I'm hopeful. As for the plan - we travel to Iceberg and find Zenshin, convince him to come with us to the Sevenwood, have him assist us in breaking our curse, then going home and enjoying a job well done. No suffering for anyone. How does that sound?" Vincent said.

It sounds like another arduous trial Vincent." She said to herself. This all sounded like incredibly vague magical nonsense. Vincent seemed sure of himself...then again he always seemed sure of himself. She wanted this to be all over and done with so she could move on and get back on track to the bright future she hoped to win for herself; but she was so very tired.

Elvira's eyes were lidded; she pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head rapidly to try and force her mind to focus for a few more moments.

"Why is that every time someone needs something magical there is always a guardian or riddle...wizards are so contrary." She muttered. "Alright. If you think this Zenshin can help sort this all out then I'll go with you. I still don't believe there's a curse but I want all this business with the book over and done with so we can all move on." Elvira stood up and stretched, bouncing on the balls of her feet slightly as she looked out the shaded window into the morning sky. For some reason the vicissitudes of fate constantly saw fit to have her traveling with the aloof wizard.

"You never really end up where you expect...no matter how hard you try." She mused as she thought back to the battle at the hunter's village where Vincent had offered her a continuing business partnership --now it seemed more a matter of survival.

"So what do we do now?"

Why wouldn't Zenshin help us? Well, coming to him like a storm crow carrying a magical relic he, by all accounts, went to great lengths to discard might be one reason. Still, she didn't have a better plan...and the nightmares were getting worse.

Elvira looked Vincent over one more time.

"Yeah beginning to get dangerous." She said with a sigh. "We'll finish this together then I suppose. The sooner we leave the better frankly. I'll go pack and be ready by this evening. If you need more time that's fine --you know where to find me."

The brown haired wizard nodded and left the wizard's temporary abode, returning to the guildhall and downing another drink before proceeding out into the fresh air of the Crystalli's streets. She resolved to enjoy the warm breeze for a short while before returning to pack. She found a shady spot in the grass and lay down, spreading her arms and legs as though she were trying to make a grass angel.

"The next job I take is going to be somewhere warm..." She said with a sigh as she closed her eyes and prepared for the hardships to come.