[Shieba]

(OOT: Posting this here since there is no Whisper Forest section. I'll be doing that with quite a lot of my RPs, so get used to it. Thanks go to Moofius for suggesting this.)



"I'm here! And jumping! I'm here and jumping!"

Stella leisurely followed the dark-blue Fellox who was, indeed, 'here and jumping' through the hallways of the Chateau of the Mist. It was still rather early morning and she could see the surrounding forest on the other side of the lake, the fog seemingly even thicker than usual and the clouds hanging low and gray. Of course, just above the chateau, the sun was shining, but Stella had stopped questioning such strange happenings quite some time ago.

Then again, it seemed to be better to ponder something than listening to Chaotic's happy shouts of neverending 'here and jumping'. She was doing that since three days now and it was slowly drilling itself into Stella's skull. Why she hadn't snapped so far, she really didn't know, but she feared she'd end up like Chaotic soon. Minus the random mood swings and killing tendencies, of course. Hopefully, the insane Fellox she was forced to call 'sister' would soon find some other entertainment than neverending bouncing. It was likely, though, since doing this for so long was surely considered 'non-chaotic' and Chaotic loved chaotic things. Stella really hoped for something new and better. Like the time Chaotic had chased her own tails for ten hours straight. Watching had made Stella quite dizzy, but each time Chaotic succeeded and yelped when she actually bit herself had made Stella's day quite a few times.

Reaching a crossroads of hallways, Stella sat down in the middle and watched how Chaotic bounced first into one direction, then the other. Always ready to follow if Chaotic should decide to turn a corner at the end of one of the corridors, Stella wondered if she could lure Chaotic out today and maybe lose her in the forest. Forever, one would hope.

"Oh! Oh! Stella! I found something while I'm here and jumping!" Chaotic suddenly sang. Stella focused once more. The other Fellox was jumping up and down at the end of the hall to her left.

"And what did you find?" Stella asked and slowly walked towards her sister. She wasn't really curious, for Chaotic sometimes found the most trivial of things interesting.

"A Fellox! I found a Fellox!"

[C 1.1] [St 1.1]

[Shieba]

Stella sighed. Now that was a surprise, given the fact that they were in the middle of a building which was populated only by Felloxes. But since there was no snarky, other reply which could have helped Stella to identify which of her siblings Chaotic had found, Stella assumed that Chaotic had just seen her own reflection in one of the windows. This surely wasn't the first time that happened. Stella fondly remembered the happening where Chaotic had attacked 'that other Fellox which imitated her, but was totally less chaotic than her', had broken through the window and had landed in the cold lake.

"Is it a female Fellox?" Stella slowly asked.

"Uh-huh! A feee~emale Fellox!" Chaotic chirped in reply without turning around.

"And it's not Mother?" Stella continued.

"Nuu-uuh! Not mommy! And I'm here and jumping!"

Stella took a deep breath. Surely, she wouldn't be more successful than before, but it could never hurt to try. "Chaotic, the Fellox that you see, that's you."

"Me? Meee? That's me?!" Chaotic sang with glee. "Then I'm not here and jumping even though I'm here and jumping! And I'm bleeding all over the floor! Yay, I'm dying!"

...What?

Stella started to hurry. It was always possible that Chaotic had suddenly turned completely mad, but she wasn't taking any chances. Maybe Chaotic had, in her madness, mistaken one of her own brothers for a female? Stella started to fear especially for Hilal - what if he had finally gotten himself killed while trying to stop that madman, Dyugra?

"I'm bleeding! I'm bleeding!" Chaotic sang cheerfully and started to hop around whoever she had found. "I'm bleeding! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna...kill myself!"

[C 1.2] [St 1.2]

[Shieba]

It was that very slight moment of hesitation which let Stella know what would happen even before Chaotic's voice suddenly turned from bubbly to snarling and vicious; her mood changing in a split second.

Stella broke into a mad dash as Chaotic lunged at whoever was bleeding there. Slamming into the dark-blue Fellox just in time, Stella only managed to catch a glimpse. Indeed, there was a heavily wounded Fellox lying in the middle of the hallway - but it was none of her siblings. This Fellox had fur of a light blue color, even though it was now mostly stained with red blood - but also glowing in a warm, pink aura; something Stella only knew from the golden aura of her mother.

And this strange Fellox had markings.

The same markings that Stella and Chaotic had and which made them different from all the other Felloxes in the forest - besides the Chateau and the different colors and all that other, strange stuff, but still! For the first time, Stella had hope that maybe she wasn't some weird mistake of nature.

Not that she had much time to think about this right now. The female Fellox needed immediate help, but Stella had to focus her attention on the fact that Chaotic had changed into a deranged killer right now and was out for blood.

Stella quickly avoided Chaotic's first attack. It wasn't aimed well, but Chaotic and Stella were equals in terms of strength and Chaotic's attacks were always unpredictable. Stella knew better than to let her guard down a single second. She had to lure Chaotic away, hoping to keep the attention of the other Fellox on herself and hopefully finding Sui somewhere. Or Tau or just someone...besides Ruby and Dyugra.

Which would probably prove to be rather difficult if one was the target of a Fellox out to kill.

[C 1.3] [St 1.3]

[Shieba]

Stella tried her best, but Chaotic seemed to have made the hurt Fellox her primary target, trying to attack her whenever Stella had dodged or otherwise given her a clear look at the bleeding and unconscious female. Cursing under her breath, Stella considered her options. Her best bet seemed to be to knock Chaotic through one of the windows, but only the ones a few meters farther away were tall enough. Crucial meters Stella didn't know how to gain.

She lashed out at Chaotic and hit, but it only made the insane Fellox snarl at her. As chatty as she was in her hyperactive moods, Chaotic was never one to talk during battles and Stella knew better than to waste her breath on talking and reasoning. There was no reasoning with Chaotic in any mood, ever.

And just when she thought that things couldn't get worse and that the poor Fellox would bleed to death...

...they got worse.

"Hah! I smell blood!" Ruby sped around the corner, taking in the situation. For a second, he seemed to hesitate - he never wanted to get near Chaotic in general, even less in her killing mood and even more less when there was a battle going on between her and Stella. Ruby, as much as he hated it, wasn't strong enough to take on even one of the two.

But there was a helpless victim who was bleeding and seemed to beg to be tortured by him and since Stella and Chaotic were busy with each other...

"Don't you dare!" Stella growled into Ruby's direction while avoiding Chaotic's next attack aimed for her neck. "You will not touch her!" It was dangerous to take her eyes off Chaotic for even a single moment, but if Ruby was here, then Sui could not be far.

Ruby, however, seemed unwilling to listen to her and decided to take his chances. As Chaotic tried to bite Stella's head off her neck once more, he broke into a run. It was rare enough that he got a chance like this and he wasn't about to let this glorious opportunity slide.

[C 1.4] [St 1.4] [Ru 1.1]

[Shieba]

Sui was running like a madman. Ruby had caught him unaware and had suddenly broken into a run, happily shouting something about smelling blood. Which was, needless to say, not a good sign. It was very possible that Hilal had returned in a bad shape after a battle with Dyugra and even though Ruby was normally no match for the other Fellox, Dyugra and Ruby together could make quick work even out of Hilal in a good shape.

Or Chaotic had done something.

Which was just as scary, really. Stella was normally very good at fending for herself; by far not as reckless as Hilal, but Chaotic was so unpredictable that Sui lived in the constant fear that his sister might get herself killed one day when no one was expecting it. There still was hope that Chaotic was insane enough to attack Ruby as well, too, and while Sui didn't mind seeing the sadistic Fellox suffer, he wanted to take care of Ruby on his own, thank you very much.

When he heard the commotion and his nose picked up the scent of blood as well now, he knew things were serious.

Turning the last corner, he was, however, rather taken aback for an absurdely moment where hecould only note that there was someone completely unknown to him hurt.

Then, his brain got over the initial surprise - and his instincts kicked in at the last minute again and he managed to jump out just in time as Stella managed to slam Chaotic square against the running Ruby and, consequently, both into the next wall.

Panting heavily, she looked up when she spotted him. "Sui!"

"I'm here, sorry for this, he took me by surprise! Nice move there!" Sui hurried to Stella's side. "Let's finish this quickly." He glanced at the wounded Fellox. "This looks serious."

"It is." Stella nodded. "I...I think I can manage both for a bit. Try to get her away." She didn't sound as sure of herself as she wanted to, but still, there was a life on the line here. Having never taken on two of the dark Felloxes at once, Stella could only hope that Chaotic was insane enough to stop Ruby from doing serious damage. If both worked together, she would be in a lot of trouble.

"You sure?" Sui hesitated, clearly coming to the same conclusion.

"...Yes." Stella nodded after a second.

Sui looked at her. His sister was very brave indeed and it wasn't right that Hilal always was the one getting the most praise for heroic deeds. "Alright then, I'll hur--"

"Heeeeeeeey, Ruu~"

Both Stella and Sui froze. And then relaxed. "Heh", Stella said.

"Chaotic! Get off! Get off!" Ruby growled.

"Nuu-uuh~" Chaotic sang happily, back in happy mode again and lying cheerfully on top of the other Fellox. "You're cuddly! I'll cuddle with you! I'm here and cuddling!"

[C 1.5 (Level up)] [St 1.5 (Level up)] [Ru 1.2] [S 1.1]

[Shieba]

"Nice, Ruby", Stella commented with malicious joy as Sui hurried towards the hurt Fellox. "You sure stopped her. It was my pleasure to work with you."

"You---! I--! Grr! Chaotic, get off!" Ruby struggled, but the giggling Chaotic had him pinned down to the ground.

"I'm here and cuddling my little baby brother!" she cooed.

Ruby growled. "Yes, wonderful, and that Fellox over there hurt your 'little baby brother'. Remember? She slammed us into the wall! So go and kill her!"

Chaotic, as always, ignored each and everything she didn't want to hear and continued with her new and improved 'here and cuddling' song.

"Stella!" Sui diverted her attention when he saw that neither Ruby nor Chaotic seemed to be a threat in this moment. "It's no good, she's too deeply wounded! I need your help here!"

Stella rushed over to her brother's side. The glowing Fellox was still bleeding over Sui's paws, who was channeling all healing magic he knew into the unconscious female. Her healing powers were far weaker than those of Sui, but maybe they had a chance together.

"May I enquire as to why the sound intensity has risen above the calculated average value?"

Stella groaned under her breath, but did not stop her spellcasting. Why, oh why, was this turning into some sort of whacked-up family meeting?



Hakumuoh stepped to the group, followed closely by Tau Nebula and only now Stella noticed that they were rather close to the library. Most likely, those two had been playing another game of chess there or had been studying in general. If any of the two were surprised at what they saw, they didn't show it.

"A Peacer Fellox." She might have been mistaken, but Stella thought there had been a spark of interest in Haku's eyes. "How remarkable; to find something as rare as one of their kind in our midst. This should be beneficial to my research indeed."

"You stay away from her as well, damn manipulator", Stella growled, but Haku ignored her and only pushed his glasses up further - a gesture Stella still found incredibly stupid. Felloxes should not wear glasses. Period. She turned to the equally bespectacled Tau. "Tau, do you know anything about her? She has the same markings we have!"

Tau nodded. "As Hakumuoh said, this is a Peacer Fellox. There are indeed a few kinds of Fellox who are bearing the same markings as we do. However, the percental chance to actually meet one of them here was to be ignored perviously. I have to agree that speaking to her might provide answers to a few of our questions." He glanced at Haku. "I will make certain to ask the right questions. Your skills of manipulative interrogations shall not be necessary."

"Hn." With an air of arrogance that made Stella want to smack him a good one, Haku bowed assent. "As you wish. At any rate, according to my calculations, her answers will not be satisfying in terms of productivity anyway."

Stella had trouble to follow the conversation the two Felloxes were having with unbelieveable calmness, but hadn't Haku just said that the Peacer Fellox would be beneficial and now...? "Tau, what is he planning?" she asked, highly alerted.

"I don't care what he is planning right now", Sui suddenly intercepted. "She's dying under my paws here and then, no one will ask her anything."

[C 2.1] [St 2.1] [Ru 1.3] [S 1.2] [T 1.1] [H 1.1]

[Shieba]

Stella cursed and focused her attention back onto the heavy wounds of the Peacer Fellox, but her healing powers were simply too weak. Sui was far more successful than her, but they simply weren't quick enough. Desperate, she looked up. "Tau! Help us!" Stella knew Tau disliked using magic, but this was an emergency!

Tau, however, slowly shook his head. "It is unlikely that this will be necessary."

Stella's hopes sank. "You don't believe she will make it? Come on, we have to try! I don't care for your calculations right now!"

Haku sighed. "Fool. He did not claim that her death is inevitable at all. Your panic is so very unproductive, robbing you of the little logic your primitive mind has."

Sui growled next to Stella. "Then, oh great, all-knowing Fellox, move your technological crap here and show us how very perfect you are compared to us!"

Haku shook his head. "Negative. That would be a waste of resources."

Stella was, by now, completely lost - as she almost always was when she tried to get anything out of Tau or Haku, honestly. Tau was nice enough while Haku was simply unbearable in his endless arrogance, but getting some information out of any of them was nerve-wrecking. Haku was way too manipulative or simply didn't consider any of them worthy of his oh-so-valueable time. Tau was just a walking dictionary - way too complicated, even though he tried.

"I've no clue what you are talking about", Ruby admitted from the sidelines, "but if you are trying to tell me that Sui will save the day, I'm gonna hurl."

"My poor baby brother is ill!", Chaotic exclaimed. "We must cure him at once! At once! At once!" And she started to jump up and down - on Ruby's back. Which was probably a good thing, for it allowed Sui to concentrate on healing rather than arguing.

[C 2.2] [St 2.2] [Ru 1.4] [S 1.3] [T 1.2] [H 1.2]

[Shieba]

"I don't think I will", he admitted. "Is Hilal somewhere near?"

Ruby managed to roll out of Chaotic's way for at least a second. "Nope. The loser is trying to stop Dyugra from slaughtering some nearby town. He's so full of fail! I mean, think about it - look at the Fellox, this sure could be Dyugra's style. I-- ooph!"

Chaotic landed on his back again with a slight giggle.

Stella looked at Sui. "Damn. He could be right."

"Yes", Sui admitted. "I know. One more reason why I will not give up yet."

Only now Stella noticed that Sui looked rather exhausted. She herself was feeling rather tired as well, but that was largely Chaotic's fault. Sui was obviously channeling all the power he had into the wounded Fellox. Her wounds were closing, but way too slowly. There was no way they would be able to heal her before she bled to death.

"Tau!" she almost screeched at the other Fellox. "Do something! I don't care what, but do something instead of just standing there!"

Haku slowly walked over to the other side as Chaotic and Ruby got rather close to him in their struggles. "He is, in fact, saving her by not helping her right now. Have you learned nothing from prior happenings? Imbecile!"

"What Hakumuoh means", Tau finally began to explain, "is that our combined powers might indeed be able to narrowly save her life, but her road to recovery would be a long and painful one. But if we are on the brink of failure, we shall, with extremely high possibility, get aided by a power much greater."

"Huh?" Stella said.

"I know! I knoooo~ow!" Chaotic beamed. "Mommy!"

[C 2.3] [St 2.3] [Ru 1.5 (Level up!)] [S 1.4] [T 1.3] [H 1.3]

[Shieba]

It was as if Chaotic's exclamation had been all that was needed. One second later, a warm, gentle breeze seemed to sweep through the hallway, ruffling teasingly through the fur of each Fellox before enveloping the hurt Peacer. The flow of blood did not cease, but got much slower. Sui and Stella shared a quick look and then combined their powers in a final, great effort.

"Ah, I thank you, mother." Haku said to no one visible. "I had faith that you, who takes in all those in need of help, would not let one of our kind die so easily in your halls."

"Indeed", Tau agreed. "You have my gratitude, mother, and I apologize if it seemed like I tricked you into helping us. However, I feared that your aid would have been necessary anyway and so prefered to not interfere, as to not prolong the suffering of the Fellox by making you hesitate in front of our skills."

"I totally hate you for not explaining earlier - in easier words", Stella grumbled, but was overly glad when the wound she was tending to finally healed completely.

"Mommy! Mommy! Ruu is ill as well!" Chaotic chirped. "Make him feel better, too!"

"The only thing which makes me feel sick right now is you jumping on me, you crazy nut!" Ruby looked positively ready to murder Chaotic, but everyone knew that he wouldn't even dare to attack her - no one wanted another mood swing, especially not when one would be at the recieving end then.

"It's done." Sui sighed and swayed for a moment. "Thanks, mom, I'm totally beat. You saved her." He shook his head, feeling dizzy. "Let's get her into one of the free rooms so she can rest. Let's hope that she will recover; I doubt she will die under mother's care now, but she has lost an awful amount of blood."

"Indeed. According to my calculations she will not wake before tomorrow. Even with mother's aura around her, it will not be until the sunlight will reach the windows of the east wing of the Chateau. I will lower myself to meeting with you again then." Haku nodded once and then turned around to walk away without another word.

"Bastard", Stella said. And even Ruby had to agree.

[C 2.4] [St 2.4] [Ru 2.1] [S 1.5 (Level up!)] [T 1.4] [H 1.4]

[Shieba]

The Peacer Fellox woke up exactly when the sun reached the east windows the next day, because if there was one thing everyone hated most about Haku, it was the fact that he was simply always right. And so, after Stella and Sui had teamed up on Chaotic - Ruby refused to do anything together with Sui, but after yesterday's happenings, he decided to stay in Sui's line of sight and behaved while his rival helped his sister to tie Chaotic to a pillar, who found this extremely funny ("I'm here! And tied up! I'm here and tied up!") - they met in the room they had assigned to the wounded female.

Just as Haku entered the room as the last one of the siblings and closed the door, the eyes of the Peacer fluttered open. She tried to look around at once and winced.

"Calm down. You were hurt." Sui stepped into her line of sight. "You are safe now." Well, as safe as she could be with Chaotic, Ruby and Haku around, but there was no need to worry her even more. "We found you wounded in our Chateau yesterday. While we managed to close your wounds, you are still very weak and need to rest. Can you speak?"

"Y...yes." The voice of the Peacer still sounded a bit raspy, but at least speaking didn't seem to cause her pain.

"Good." Sui nodded. "We won't bother you for long since you need to sleep, but can you tell us what happened and who you are?"

The Peacer Fellox slowly nodded slightly. "My name is Rhana...well, Ipharhana, but Rhana is enough. I was just returning to the forest after I had left for some time when I ran into a strange Fellox. I had never seen one like him before." Her eyes suddenly narrowed. "He had marks like me...like you."

"And he was black?" Stella asked and Rhana nodded.

"Yup, she met Dyugra allright", Ruby chimed in.

"And, as we found her still breathing, Hilal as well", Tau concluded.

"There was another Fellox, yes." Rhana sighed. "I...the black one attacked me without reason. I fought - I thought I could win, I had fought in the war, I am no weakling - but I stood no chance. I surrendered, but he only sneered at me. I thought I would die, but then, another Fellox appeared; another one like you...with fur of the color of the night sky, filled with stars."

"That is Hilal." Haku took a step forward. "According to my observations so far, he saved you from death, but was unable to take care of Dyugra completely, so he told you to try to reach this Chateau instead."

[C 2.5 (Level up!)] [St 2.5 (Level up!)] [Ru 2.2] [S 2.1] [T 1.5 (Level up!)] [H 1.5 (Level up!)] [Rh 1.1]
{Pulling Chaotic out. This is crowded enough as it is.}

[Shieba]

"That's correct." Rhana nodded. "I dragged myself here, but found no one upon entering. I went to look for help, but then, I must have fainted." She looked from one Fellox to the next. "Who...who are you? And this place, where did it come from? I grew up in this forest and it hasn't been here before."

"The truth is that we don't know, either." Stella sighed. "My name is Stella and these two there are Sui and Tau." She then beckoned towards the other two Felloxes. "These are Ruby and Haku, but you should probably stay away from them as much as possible."

Sui nodded. "All of us - we have no memory of why we are in this world, but we appeared together with this Chateau. Our mother, Haephnes, she was the one who saved you in the end when Stella and I couldn't do it. We are eight siblings, but there are strange...bonds between us. We fight each other, like Hilal and Dyugra were fighting, but strangely, we feel at the same time bound to the one we fight. This is not an all-out battle, but duels between light and dark."

"And I'm sure she cares about all that crap", Ruby scoffed. "Why don't we just ask her what we wanna know and then kick her out?"

Tau stepped forward. "Do not listen to Ruby. Mother has accepted you as one under her care now and you are free to stay and recover. I can guarantee you that neither Dyugra nor one of the other dark Felloxes will touch you anymore, now that you are under her care. Of course, staying with us is your own choice."

"However." Haku gave Tau a look. "If you should choose to leave or not is indeed not of importance, but we must ask you some questions first. Consider answering them as your payment for mother's mercy. The rest of you can leave."

"She doesn't have to answer anything, Dyugra is the one responsible for everything anyway." Stella growled at Haku, but got up nonetheless. "Rhana, we would, however, appreciate your help. If you are too tired now, though, we'll drag those two with us."

"No...it is alright." Rhana tried to sit up slowly. "I am grateful and, I must admit, curious as well. I have never seen others of my kind who looked like you before."

"Good." Tau nodded. "Still, there is really no need for everyone to stand around. I shall inform the rest of you later - Hakumuoh, I am quite positive you want to stay as well, but everyone else, please leave indeed."

"Ah well, it's not like I want to hear your endless rambles anyway." Ruby left first. "I think I'm gonna looking if Chaotic has managed to strangle herself yet."

Sui gave Rhana an apologetic look. "Sorry about him and Dyugra. Half of us are...of a darker side. Haku belongs there as well. Answer to Tau, not him." And he left as well, together with Stella, who gave Rhana a small smile.

[St 3.1] [Ru 2.3] [S 2.2] [T 2.1] [H 2.1] [Rh 1.2]
{Pulling Ruby, Sui and Stella out. Still too crowded.}