The Red Rose

[General Beatrix]

For a long time she held Save the Queen before her, regarding it with sorrow and longing for forgiveness. She frowned, pressing her forehead against the smooth, cool metal; its silent cry changed to a soft cooing, and the general's heart leaped.

"Thank you for the advice, then, Lady Ellin. That is all..."

She stood up and withdrew her blade, replacing it with her iPod. "You may take your leave now, and once more, I give you my sincerest thanks."

Nodding her head General Beatrix made her way down the hall where she would find the bridge, setting the ship's coordinates for the Jidoor Opera House. After she was finished she retired to her private suite and sat before her vanity.

Glancing into her iPod she considered attempting to contact whomever it was who penned the letter; and although she had met with Acteur De La Noir briefly she assumed that it was, in fact, he who had been long-winded enough to write it.

"Show me Acteur," she said. What is his angle..?

[Ellin Destroix]

Ellin stayed there, watching as the General took her leave. She was able to relax a little, looking about at the ship she was once eager to work in. She was glad that her path was not stopped by this ship, and she was able to explore vast worlds, seeing the good and bad in them. She glanced down to her metal pocket and took out a note, examining the one addressed.

"The Lady of Time...?" Ellin whispered, pouting a little at this. The darkness knew of whom Acteur spoke, but could not give out a specific location. The dark knight decided to hold this one back, and read another one: "The Holy Knight..."

Ellin had a look of annoyance, since first it was Beatrix, and now it was a Holy Knight she had to find. It was as if the fates were toying with her emotions. The darkness whispered around her, and she found she was on this very ship, so she set out to look for the warrior of light. The whispers lead her to certain hallways, and finally facing a closed room with no sound behind. Whoever it was appeared to be asleep, so she would have to wait, (How rude would it be to interrupt such slumber?)

The dark knight glanced to her side to see the vampire and white mage from before, and she bowed her head lightly to them before paying close attention to the door. She backed a way a few feet, until her backplate was resting against the wall, and she leaned against it.

"Now I wait..." she mumbled, yawning a little. What an eventful day she's had. She took this moment of peace to think of the children of the dark margin... how eager they probably were to see her again. To be needed, and loved caused the knight to smile in happiness. She should run a charity later on for them...

[Abigail Crescentlight]

Abigail smiled when Agrias finally decided to go to bed, and even giggled her signature, sweet way when Boco made it a point to make her do it. She would reach in and close the door, then turn to Lilith with an appreciative smile. "Thank you..." she said, nodding a little. "Sorry for barging in on your personal space earlier... I didn't know you were staying in the cargo hold! But... why there? I understand an aversion to light, but couldn't you just turn the lights off in a private room?" she asked politely, tilting her head.

Looking over, she spotted the dark knight from earlier, and saw that she was conflicted about going inside. The dots connected and she waved to her. "Excuse me, miss?" she said, beckoning her to join them. "If you have an invitation for Agrias, you can give it to me and I'll deliver it to her. I'm her attending physician so I'll probably be the first to see her. That aside, I'm planning on going to the bridge here in a minute to see if we can go to the Opera House, so this'll free you up a bit?" she said, then smiled sweetly, then walked over to collect the note. "I'll see it to its rightful place," she assured, slipping it into her bag after.

She nodded politely to the knight, then started walking back down the hall. As she passed Lilith, she gestured lightly for her to walk with her. She enjoyed having the company, and she had a feeling Lilith did too. "C'mon..." she said, then made her way toward the bridge. As they went along, she'd look over and smile a bit. "I bet you could have caught Boco if you didn't catch me back there. That was sweet of you."

[Lilith]

lilth brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear and she stared into the mage's eyes.
"it's okay... I really don't mind and I like the hold, its safer for everyone with me in there, when I'm out here... the smells of the crew are everywhere and they are rather... enticing..."

Lilith didn't really look at the dark night she didn't really need to or want to... her mind was rather preoccupied with Abigail's question... or maybe just with the mage herself.

"C'mon..."
she blinked and nodded, following after the mage and then she spoke... Lilith looked off to the side.
"y...your welcome"
she paused.
"hey do you want to get a drink or something..."
she looked back at her last statement and became a little bit flustered.
"...because I'm getting kinda thirsty..."
the vampire sighed a little after she spoke almost dreading that she added the other sentence"

[Ellin Destroix]

Ellin glanced over to the mage who had suggested a wonderful idea of leaving the note with the "doctor" and smiled; This way, she would finish and be able to return to the opera house for a new mission a lot quicker. She turned to the mage, and obliged by producing the note and giving her a polite bow.

"Too kind, Miss." She smiled a little, "A pure light. Thank you."

She stood up straight, and glanced over to the female vampire, nodding her head a little in a gentle fashion. She was glad such a dark and dangerous creature had found herself in the light's grace. A lucky woman.

"Huh..." Wait. She thought, looking to Abigail walk away, she realized she had been lucky too. There was no violence in this conversation, or no injuries, nor rudeness of the tongue or nothing at all! This conclusion caused her to smile brightly, tapping a little song with the tips of her gauntlets; A familiar fanfare. -clickclickclickclick, click, click, click~clickclik-

"Oh, I do hope I see them again..." she wished quietly, seeing them turn a corner and leave her sights.

With this, the knight turned in place, looking down at the one note she did not understand, "The Lady of Time" she mumbled, reaching up to scratch lightly at her cheek, " ...Hm... maybe Miss Appleton would know..."

A corridor began to form, a mist of the darkest black with a mix of purples and blues appeared, and Ellin walked through it. She disappeared the moment she walked in, and soon enough, the corridor collapsed and vanished any trace of ever being there.

**FOR JUSTICE! To Hyperspace, Jidoor Opera House!**

[nexus]

Nexus sat in the common room, there was something on his mind, something he couldn't grasp. It was there on the tip of his thoughts. He searched through his recent memories, nut he couldn't see parts, some things he couldn't recall. Nexus let out a deep "sigh" as he brought up his good hand to lean on and cover his face. "What am I doing, why am i just hanging out here? why am i not out there trying to find the one i'm looking for, where did i find the one that fuels my hatred?!" Nexus thought to himself Hatred............hatred......... lost in his own thoughts , that "word" ringed in his head, bringing something, someone once said to the front of his thoughts. Nexus started remembering something from the days with his teacher.

It was an sunny morning in the beginning of fall, the breeze blew in from the western mountains bringing with it the coolness from it's peaks. The open plains housed many an animal, none were as striking as the Earth Drakes that roamed out there, drakes were cousins to dragons , they were without wings, so they would live usually on the plains, they could be seen from time to time jumping and running about. Out in the middle of the plains there were a couple loose patches of trees with some ponds accompanying them, like stopping points one could make on there journey. Lounging at one of these "stopping points" was Nexus and his teacher.

Nexus was in a tree having one of his legs dangling from the side while chewing on a piece of jerky. His teacher was on the ground sitting on a log sharpening the end of a spear, his teacher was an older man with long silver hair, spectacles, and was well built , like many hunters are. The day was just like any day, normal adventuring to find more things to hunt, and or help people with problems. Today tho seemed to be another day the his teacher was going to teach him something. "Nexus" he started "Do you know what the "Circle of Hatred" is?"

Nexus stopped swinging his leg, and cocked his head toward his teacher "Can't say i do, Master Alicard, what is it?"he asked "Well Nexus, the "Circle of Hatred" is called a couple other things as well, but that is the most common term." he started "What is means is, ...well... you know what revenge is right?" he waited for Nexus to nod then continued "well when someone kills or hurts someone that you would care about, you would want to get back at them, or you would "Hate" them right?" he waiting to see that Nexus was fallowing him. "OK then , well say you do get back at the person who caused that "Hatred", well do you think that it would cause someone else to "Hate" you for hurting the person they care about?"he asked

"Well yeah i guess" Nexus was starting to understand"but i don't get it, how do you get back at that person without having someone hating you?" nexus asked. "That's just it Nexus, thats why it's called a "circle", the only time it can be stopped, is for one of the people in the circle to be strong enough to not continue it, or to not get "revenge" so to speak." Alicard said. Nexus nodded, he kind of understood but just let it go for now, figuring he'll get it one day.

Nexus was going to continue onto another memory, when he lost his concentration as a couple "Giggles" were starting to come in his hearing range. Nexus starting looking around the common area, seeing that he was completely surrounded by women, it just dawned on him, he might just be the only male on board the ship. He didn't know what to do , so he merely nodded to some , and smiled to others, but his eyes stayed a little longer on one of the girls, with a ponytail , he thought he heard the other girl call her "Ria"

[The Alexandrian Army]

"Sweet Alexandria!" Gasped Maara, looking to Ria, who's back faced Nexus.

"What?!" Ria would ask, alarmed that something had happened.

"He's staring over here!" her friend eagerly squeaked.

"He is!?" the younger one squeaked back, gulping, and out of nervousness slamming her hand down upon the table. Causing the cheese and crackers plate to tremble along the surface, "SH-shiz...What do we do!?"

"I don't know.." Maara asked, an odd smile playing on her lips as she continued to stare to the nervous youngling, "But I think he's checking you ouuuuut!" she said in a sing-song way.

Ria's face glowed a bright red, and her blue eyes seemed to shrink, " What to I do?!" she squeaked quietly, squirming in place and trying to look AWAY from the Dragon Hunter.

"Play it cool! play it cool!" Maara said, afterward clearing her throat and looking over to Nexus, waving a hand softly, "H-Hello there~"

"oh my god what are you doing put your hand DOWN!" Rai said all without breathing, reaching over to grab a cracker and SHOVING it into Maara's mouth out of nervousness. "You'll get his attention and he'll come over and I will have no IDEA what to do!!" she panicked nervously, never having met a boy before... not even a Knight of Pluto.

Maara flailed a little in her seat, munching and swallowing the rather dry cracker before breathing heavily, "Alexander's ghost, calm down, I SAID play it cool!"

[Abigail Crescentlight]

As they walked along, Abigail listened closely to what Lilith had to say. She smiled a bit when the woman asked if she wanted to get something to drink. She was about to respond when the woman added that she was thirsty, and Abigail connected the dots. Blushing, she looked off. "Ah-ohh... Uhm..." she coughed, her hands falling behind her back.

"Well... I'm sure the medical wing keeps a blood bank on hand... it could be a way of..." she tried to suggest, feeling a bit awkward about the matter. After all, she was a priestess, and drinking blood was something of a... well... dark thing. She smiled a little, looking back to her. "As for me... maybe when we get to the opera house? I don't drink, really... but juice would be nice..."

With that, they stepped into the bridge and to Abigail's delight, she found that they were already underway! She smiled, and nodded, opting to take a seat in the captain's chair while Beatrix was busy. After all, she had the authority to do so now, with the pin on her lapel. "Okay, everyone! Let's go!"

--I'll be posting in ShowTime when we get there next! Taa <3--

[nexus]

Nexus raised an eyebrow when the youngest one slammed her hand on the table, and also turned a little red when the other one waved to him. He let out a small chuckle when the young one shoved crackers into the others mouth, "Girls i don't think I'll understand them" he thought to himself, but in the meantime he thought this might be a good chance to get things off his mind and just relax a bit, they were stuck on this ship and all.

Nexus stood up from the couch, and stroked a hand through his hair, ending by rubbing the back of his neck. With a deep breath Nexus turned and walked over to the table that had the Ria sitting at it. Nexus stopped , standing closer to Ria then the other one, "O great what am i supposed to do now....Hey sooo you come here often?........what am i nuts" he thought to himself. Nexus decided less was more and went with a traditional greeting. Nexus bowed slightly addressing both of the ladies,"Hello, my name is Nexus Maxus........would you mind if i joined you ladies? He asked ion a polite and gentle tone.

[The Alexandrian Army]

"He's walking over, he's walking over!" Maara would whisper quickly, composing herself fully when Nexus walked over, "Oh. Hey. Mr. Dragon Hunter. Hello." she couldn't help but grin. The one with short blond hair starred off to the youngest of the soldiers.

Ria was PARALYZED, and she kept starring at the empty plate in front of her when he walked over. Her fingertips gripped tightly at the table, making small indentations, "Oh Sh--shi- HI. Hi there.." she would say, laughing nervously later. Oh, Alexander, what am I doing!? I sound like a total loser!

Maara shook her head, chuckling a little at her friend's nervousness, and nodded her head to a nearby chair. "Oh, please. Sit if you wish... a lot of room here, right, Ria?"

"Y-...ye-... Sure. I mean yes, so much room.... here. Hahah" Ria was apparently having difficulties.

"So..." Maara cleared her throat, trying her hardest to help the shy girl out, "Nexus... that's a nice name..."

"Y-yes... pr-pretty." Ria cringed at her statement, "A-ack, P-pretty.. uh.. rare. Yes! A rare name...never heard it before- nope." she tried to recover...

"Y-yeah! Rare...hahah..." Maara looked to the youngest, a stare that meant, calm down., and looked back to Nexus, "So... you seemed pretty deep in thought back there... you should relax... not stress yourself too much."

"Y-yes..." Ria would whisper quietly, "..s-stressing is bad..."

[nexus]

Nexus grinned when he heard his name called "Pretty" , he almost laughed , but instead he smiled at Ria . She was just as nervous as he was and it made him feel a little better.

"huh o yeah, sorry yeah i was just thinking of something from my past. Just trying to figure out what to do next." nexus answered the short haired woman

He turned back to Ria"Soooo you've heard my name and i thought i heard that yours is Ria right?" he said with a smirk , but couldn't hide the fact that the tip of ears had turned red.

[The Alexandrian Army]

Ria slowly turned to stare up at the Dragon Hunter, a soft blush over her creamy cheeks, "Ah...Y-yes.." she squeaked a little, gulping, "R-ria... soldier R999... haha..that's me..."

Maara shook her head a little at this, thinking these two should have a little chat together. It was about time Ria met a nice boy, and he seemed nice enough. She stayed quiet, drinking her juice to allow them some time to chat.

"Um... s-so..." She squirmed in place, trying to compose herself, "What...um...will you do next?" she would ask quietly, having an obvious death grip on the table on how nervous she was.

[General Beatrix]

'Hm...still a dark cloud concealing himself,' Beatrix thought to herself, turning off her iPod and putting it back into her pocket. With a heavy sigh she turned in her seat to look about her room; something didn't feel right for several moments. There was darkness on the ship still, but it was a vengeful, hateful thing separate from the waves emitted from Ellin.

Whatever it was subsided after some time and the general shrugged it off as just her nerves acting up. Since when had she a proper, decent sleep devoid of any terrible premonitions or nightmares? She could not remember but decided the hell with it.

Slipping away from her vanity she moved to her bed and crawled over the spread, wrapped her arms around the pillows and drifted deep into her head; after some time she fell asleep. When she awoke they would be nearing the Opera House...

***Off to Showtime!, in Hyperspace***

[Lilith]

Lilith smiled a little letting out a small "heh" as she moved her fringe out of her eye.
"thanks... I'm sure I'll find something to satisfy me"

the vampire followed after the mage and stood behind the captains chair.
"but juice would be nice..."
"I'd like that..."

***To Showtime, Hyperspace***