Chapter Warnings: Nudity, discussion of Rape

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CHAPTER NINETEEN

Slightly more than two weeks after we’d returned to Korya Academy, the occupants of Ryu Dorm, including me, received an unexpected and very pleasant surprise.

After I’d gotten up, gotten dressed, pat Artemis on the head, and headed downstairs, I found a trio of familiar faces standing in the entry hall, looking around.

“Hey.” James said, smirking. “That yellow-haired girl’s mom told us we’d be living here if we’re going to be attending the Academy.” My face slowly broke into a grin as he walked forward. I noticed that the angelic girl was clinging to him, in rather the same way Artemis clung to me.

“Hello.” The girl said, smiling at me. Her wings ruffled a little as she broke off from James and began exploring. The bronze-haired girl, Arianna, glared at Arc for a few moments, before heading into the kitchen.

“Ah. Noticed our new residents, have you?” Aril asked, stretching as she came into the room. She hadn’t really changed into her school clothes yet, instead choosing to come downstairs in a modest and serviceable bathrobe. Her hair didn’t look like it had been combed, either, and there were shadows under her eyes.

“Have a nightmare?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. Aril shrugged noncommittally.

“Doesn’t matter. I just couldn’t sleep well, that’s all.” The girl said. “Summer’s almost here, and my room doesn’t have air conditioning.” I nodded, having felt the heat myself.

“Should die down a bit in a few days… Right about when school ends.” I said, smiling. Aril chuckled softly and moved on, probably to seek out breakfast. I heard my stomach growl and headed for the kitchen myself, quickly whipping up a bowl of cereal. Minutes later, as I finished, I began cursing the sun for being so hot. It wasn’t even nine in the morning, and already I was sweating like a pig. “Only one thing to do on a day like this.” I muttered, heading to the bathroom. I stopped as I looked inside. While we’d been gone, somebody had turned it into a combination bath/pool. “Nice!” I said, hurrying back upstairs.

A few minutes later, after having changed into some swim trunks, I ran back in and dove into the pool, loving how blessedly cool it was. I stayed underwater until I absolutely had to surface, then slowly floated over to the edge of the pool.

I found myself face-to-face with Aril, who seemed to have been waiting there for me.

“Hello.” The girl said, shoving me underwater. Sputtering as I got back to the surface, I kicked away from the edge and glared at her. “What? Come on, I had to do something.” The girl protested. I narrowed my eyes, then bolted towards her and splashed water all over her. “Why you little jerk!” Aril yelled. “For that… I have to do this!” she pulled off her outer clothes, revealing a bathing suit, and tackled me.

“Hey, hey! Careful there!” I said, trying to escape from her grip. As we wrestled, I probed her body with magic to see if she was being controlled or something. She wasn’t. That made me conclude that she was just opening up more and starting to relax.

“Give up yet?” Aril asked, splashing water over my face.

“Yes, yes, I give up already!” I said, hiding a laugh. Smiling, Aril let go of my neck and floated over to the side of the pool. The door opened a moment later, and everybody else walked in. James immediately dove into the hot tub, looking like he considered it to be far more comfortable. Arianna sat next to him, resting her head on his shoulder contentedly. I raised an eyebrow, but figured Arc was okay with it, because she was right next to them. Of course, with her wings, she didn’t get in the water completely. She just stuck her legs into it.

My girls, as I found myself thinking of them, had no such problems and were soon organized into teams for a two-way water war. Sara declined joining, and instead sat in the hot tub and talked.

“Okay, let me think…” Aril said, looking around. Before she could continue, the other team shot towards us, and very shortly we were all completely drenched. Not that we hadn’t been before, but this time it just felt a lot more so.

After almost an hour, we stopped playing around in the water. Glad to note that the area had pretty much everything, I moved quickly and quietly into the somewhat small sauna room to relax. Arc, the angel girl, was already in there.

Closing my eyes, I felt a feeling of déjà vu as I remembered a similar incident with Aril.

“Hm? Oh, hello.” The girl said, not sounding particularly bothered by me being there. “There’s a smaller room through the door on your right you can use if you’re uncomfortable with being in the same room as me.” She said. I shrugged.

“It doesn’t matter to me. I don’t know you very well, but you certainly seem nice enough.” I said. The girl laughed. I liked her laugh; it was carefree and melodious, something I really rather approved of.

“If that’s the case, there’s also a bench next to me. I was hoping somebody else would come in, anyways, I was getting bored.” The girl said. I quietly moved forward and lay on the bench across the small hallway from the girl. “You can open your eyes, if you want.” The girl said, sounding slightly curious as to why my eyes were shut. “Being naked… Doesn’t bother me much anymore.”

“Why?” I asked, opening my eyes to look at her. The girl smiled slightly.

“These wings of mine… People found them interesting. Still do, really.” The girl said, flapping her wings a few times. “People would follow me around, and now and them somebody would try to pull them off. Then a gang found me. I was alone that night, since I’d stepped out to just get some groceries, and they jumped me. Next thing I knew, I woke up strung by chains between two pillars with a boy raping me.” I scowled. “…He was the leader of the gang. It took a little doing, but I eventually found out that the gang was just a branch of a fairly big organization. I was just a pleasure toy for the gang’s leader. I remained chained up like that for almost six months, raped two or three times a day. Even back then I was never really courageous, so I had to submit as he made me give him blowjobs, and of course I could do nothing about him doing it normally. Every now and then he would even do it anally, and curse me for being extremely tight back there. He did make up for that by squeezing my breasts a great deal, though. I never figured out what was so fascinating.”

“…How’d you stand it?” I whispered. Arc smiled. What was creepy, though, was in the way she was telling me all this. It wasn’t in a teary way. It was in a way that said distinctly she was not scarred by it. It had happened, she accepted it, and that was that.

“James.” She replied, interrupting my thoughts. “I had absolutely no proof he was real back then. But every time I slept, I would see him. Fighting bandits, camping alone, or doing a lot of other things. Every single time I slept, I’d see him. And then one day, after six months, I was so exhausted that I tried talking to him in my dreams. I asked him to find me and save me. To my shock, the very next day he waltzed in the door of the compound, beat the snot out of all the thugs, and came into my room. I’m never going to forget the way he just looked at me and apologized for taking so long to get there. It was a little funny, though, because it had only taken him about an hour. Then the gang boss tried to jump him from behind. James just hit him without bothering to look and gestured with his other hand. In an instant, I was on the floor, completely clothed. And I’ve stayed with him ever since.”

“…You must really care about him…” I muttered. Arc laughed.

“Yeah… You could say that.” She said, smiling. “He’s my guardian angel, and I’m his—“ the broke off as the door opened and James stuck his head in. Seeming completely unbothered by her being naked, he said,

“Lunch is going to be on in about ten minutes. You should finish up if you’re hungry.” The boy said, pulling back out as he closed the door. I looked over to Arc, who was slightly red in the face.

“…He means a lot to me…” the girl said, smiling. “Um… Thanks for listening. I’ve needed to tell somebody about my past for a while, but I couldn’t get the courage to tell James after Arianna joined us.”

“What’s her story?” I asked curiously. Arc shrugged.

“Runaway princess.” She said, chuckling slightly. “Arianna’s an Orion Child like the rest of us, but she left her castle because she got a crush on James when we stopped there overnight.” The girl smiled sadly.

“…What’s wrong?” I asked gently. To my surprise, a few tears slid down Arc’s cheeks. The girl sighed heavily.

“That stupid boy does care about me, just not in the way I wished for…” she muttered. “He sees me as a combination sister and best friend, and treats me that way. He’ll do almost anything for me, but he still won’t marry me.” She continued crying. Feeling a little bad, I locked the sauna door and gently hugged the girl. This seemed to be the right thing to do, because the girl hugged me tightly back and just cried.

“Life sucks like a bucket of ticks…” I muttered, wishing I was a little better at the whole comforting thing. “The only thing to do with it is say ‘You SUCK’ and slap it around until it listens to you.” Arc laughed a little and let go of me, smiling.

“You must be the weirdest boy I have ever met.” The girl said, shaking her head in bafflement. “You’ve got good relationships going with a number of girls that care about you, yet they don’t hate each other. Really, you’ve all become friends. I’m sort of jealous.” I chuckled.

“Well, don’t be.” I said. “Because you’re one of those friends. After all, if we weren’t friends, you wouldn’t have told me about your past.”

“That’s true.” The girl said, giggling. “Anyways, I’ve… Decided that I’m going to give up on James… He’ll be happier with Arianna, I just know it.” I raised an eyebrow. “Besides, I’ve found somebody else I really like.” She bent down and kissed me gently on the cheek before starting to pull on her clothing. As she did so, the girl added “I don’t deserve these white wings…”

“Why not?” I asked, surprised. Arc bit her lower lip.

“…The only times I’ve had sex have been because of rape. I’m dirty, and I don’t deserve these wings. I love having them, they make me who I am, but… I just don’t feel like I’m worthy of having them…” by now, she had fully clothed herself. Chuckling, I got up and ruffled her hair.

“Arc, don’t worry about that stuff. You’re not dirty, not at all. When I’m looking at you, I don’t see a piece of filth that every supposedly clean person would stay far away from. I see a lonely, innocent, beautiful angel who is for the first time learning what it means to care about people.” Arc slowly nodded. “Now, it’s plain as day to me that you love James with all of your heart, and not just because he rescued you. He’s been with you for a long time, and you’ve grown to care about him.” The girl nodded again. “So listen carefully to me. Go to him right now and ask to talk to him privately. Tell him how you feel. Go, now.” I unlocked the door and gently pushed her outside.

“Rai… Thank you.” Arc said quietly. I shrugged and waited about fifteen minutes before leaving the bath area and getting dressed. When I came out, my friends were whispering excitedly.

“What’s going on here?” I asked curiously, gazing between the girls. Artemis looked up at me, smiling.

“Arc just asked James to marry her.” The girl told me. I froze. I’d known she liked him a lot, but… “And he said he would!” I choked. “Oh, and Arc also said to thank you. The two lovebirds have gone up to the roof to spend some time together.”

“Blasted angel…” Arianna muttered from her spot on the couch. “I was planning to ask him tomorrow. She always gets in my way.” The girl sighed. “Figures.” Smiling, I moved aside and went upstairs.

Chuckling slightly, I moved to my room and put on some clothes over my trunks. A few moments later, I realized that sitting on the table was a note. Puzzled, I picked it up.

Greetings, brat. It has been determined that we are unable to sufficiently control you. Therefore, our orders are to eliminate you and your friends. Good-bye.

I looked out the window just in time to see a cannon shell blast apart my outer wall. I was out cold from the impact a moment later.

When I woke up, devastation met my eyes. It hadn’t quite sunk in yet. Taking a deep breath, I looked around to find that a small army had been decimated; from their tanks right down to the last soldier. James was taking deep breaths, his clothes ragged. One of his arms looked broken.

Staring closer to me, I found that all the girls had been gathered around me and stuck into some sort of energy field. James turned to look at us and smiled weakly.

“Looks like I won.” He said, giving Arc a thumbs-up. He staggered for a moment, but managed to right himself and look around. “You know… I’m tired of this place.” he said, laughing quietly. “Can’t even sit down and relax before somebody tries to kill us for the umpteenth time.”

One by one, the girls all nodded. I was in whole-hearted agreement. We weren’t treated like real people; pain and misery followed us wherever we went. Even in places where we should have been safe…

“Hey.” I said. All eyes were on me a moment later. “Can you… Make us a home on the moon?” James was silent for a moment. But, eventually, he nodded. “Nice… That’s out of the way, don’t you think? Nobody but us would be around. No more filthy humans…”

James chuckled.

“All right, then. But how about we just take the whole thing and make it our own planet?” he asked, pointing towards the moon.

There was a loud crack and a stream of red fluid suddenly burst out of James’ head. Then they began in rapid earnest, and everybody around me fell.

“…What…”

“You scum.” A soldier said. I turned around to look at him. “You don’t deserve to live. Thinkin’ you’re so high and mighty. Be thankful the boss wants you alive.” He pointed his weapon at me and fired.

I woke up one more time in a white, padded cell. Every anti-magic charm, device, scroll, and symbol known had somehow been shoved into the place. The wards wouldn’t be breaking anytime soon. I was also pinned to the wall by what was probably several tons of iron.

“Well, well, you’re up.” A voice said. I looked up to see a fairly ugly old woman standing in front of me. “You know, I always liked the way you children turned out. Magical powers others can’t even dream of.”

“Who are you?” I asked, snarling. “And what do you want? If any of my friends are hurt—“

The woman smirked.

“Hurt? Dear boy, they’re dead. I had no more use for those pathetic little wretches.” My blood turned to ice. “You’re the greatest success of the experiment, and I’m still alive to take it.” the woman said. “Looks like after all this work you lost, little brat.” She reached out and cupped my cheek with one hand. “Now… Do you want to do this the easy way and tell me what I need to know, or will I have to force it out of you?”

I spat on her.

“Ugh… Disgusting little wretch. Fine, if that is what you want, then I will gladly oblige.” She sent an electric current through my body by pulling a lever. I didn’t give her the satisfaction of hearing me scream. “Now…” she said as she shut it off. “Tell me the secret of your power. Why is it that you, thought to be a failure, are somehow the greatest result of the project?” I smirked at her.

“I’m not the best… I’m just a guy who helps his friends.” I replied. She sent another current through me. “It’s the truth. If you were in on Project Orion, then you should know everything else, because I don’t.”

One more current went through me. I could feel the burns on my body, inside and out.

“You will die if you don’t talk.” The woman said venomously.

“If my friends are dead… Then why do I care?” I replied quietly. “Try and pry your secrets from my cold, dead corpse. You’ll have more luck that way.” The woman scowled and slapped me. “Ooh, a slap. I’m terrified and breaking. How horrible! This fiend has actually slapped me!” I said mockingly.

“Well, I did lie.” The woman said, smirking. “I left one alive.” She tapped on the wall behind her, and it cleared to reveal Artemis. The girl was obviously on the verge of exhaustion. My eyes, being their usual observant selves, noticed that a number of used sex devices lay around her. “This little one is about ready to collapse. My guards have been having quite a bit of fun… Now, unless you want to see them start breaking her limbs, you’ll talk.”

I looked up at the woman and mentally hit myself. I had to protect Artemis…

“The secret of my power… Is that I can’t control it. I can only act as a conduit for the power of others.” I muttered. “Seriously…”

The old woman only sighed and signaled to the guards. One of them twisted Artemis’ left arm back until with a loud crack!, it broke. The girl spasmed, but didn’t scream.

“That can’t be it.” she muttered. “I’ve seen your full abilities, and they’re a good ways beyond what everybody else is capable of.” Artemis looked at me through the glass, breathing rather ragged. “Tell me the truth.”

“Lady, that is the truth.” I said bitterly. “Otherwise I’d get myself out of this place.” she sighed and gestured. Artemis’ other arm was broken. “STOP IT! I’m telling you the truth, so let her go!”

The old woman smiled and cupped my chin with a wrinkled old hand as I glared at her.

“I don’t think you are.” She replied. “Then I suppose my guards will have to continue having fun with your little friend, won’t they.”

Rai… Can you hear me, Rai?

Who…

Me, of course.

I looked up and found Artemis smiling slightly.

I… I’ve got a plan. I’m going to reverse time for you, and you can warn James, okay? That way, none of this will ever happen.

Do it. I trust you.

Heh. Yeah. Thank you…

What followed next was like nothing I had ever experienced. Every particle of my body suddenly felt like it was being pulled in ten thousand different directions. Lights appeared and vanished before my eyes as a howling wind blew past. Then, just like that, it was over.

I looked up.

“All right, then. But how about we just take the whole thing and—“ James was saying.

“DUCK!” I roared. Instantly, the boy did so, and a bullet shot over his head. Snarling, the boy whipped around, and I followed his gaze to see one last group of soldiers standing there. James’ eyes narrowed, and he made a slashing motion with his hands.

I never did figure out exactly what he did, but they all dropped over. Dead. Once again, his powers were obscene…

“…Thanks.” The boy said. Arc stumbled over to him, her face streaked with dirt and mud, her wings slightly burnt, and her wounds oozing red liquid.

“You did an amazing job.” The angel girl whispered, wrapping her wings around him in what I presumed was a hug. The boy smiled and kissed the girl’s forehead.

“It’s okay, Arc.” He explained. “It’s okay… I just did what I had to do to help you.”

“O-KAY!” Aril said. “If you two are finished being disgustingly mushy with each other, then what about that new home!?” James laughed. I saw his close his eyes in concentration. Half an instant later, we were on a moon that was rapidly becoming covered in plant life. James was sweating now.

He COULD get tired! Who knew!?

What happened next moved in very quick order. Instead of having James build us a nice big home, which he asserted would be simple, we chose instead to build it with our own hands after Sara grew some proper plants to build with(I don’t know it I mentioned it earlier or not, but plants are her forte).

James and Arc made their own house a little ways from ours, and promptly vanished into it for some private time. I couldn’t really blame them. After all the insanity that had happened lately, they deserved it.

I heard a cough from behind me, swallowed, and turned to find all the other girls except Sara and Arianna standing there. Oh boy.

“Rai…” Aril said, tapping her foot on the ground. “It’s time for you to pick which one of us you want to stay with forever, and which have to remain friends. No hard feelings allowed.”

“But-“ I began.

“Butts are gross.” She replied. “We all want you to make up your mind.”

I looked from one girl to the next. Then I raised a finger and pointed.

“You.”

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Wheee!! Cliffie!

Yes, that does imply, truthfully, that there is more. Aren’t you so glad? XP While there’s still a bit left to tell, though, this story IS winding down. XP I wrote a lot for it, so be happy already.

And once again, I have NO idea what I was doing when I wrote this.

And REVIEW!

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