Awakening

"Put up the barrier at maximum output now, I want see how they do when completely separate, especially Vexenesis." Layla demanded of the other scientists, they silently went to work as she commanded. Layla was one of the most extreme researchers, she always pushed things over the edge until they were deemed "perfect" by all. Shes cold and distant, she has never cared about anyone else. Layla is all about perfection, and she will never be satisfied until she herself is flawless. Several years ago, Layla was a test subject, herself. They were trying to physically enhance her structure by adding mechanical parts to her body, a cyborg -in terms of most science fiction novels.


Layla sat down in one of the many metallic chairs that aligned the wall, then reached for a bottle labeled 'Symustein' and some other device on the shelf. "Prepare the system for my entry, I wish to view this battle in person."

"Yes, ma'am...it should be ready any time..."

"Good." Layla placed the metallic visor over her eyes, then took one of the pills inside the bottle. She fell back in her chair unconscious soon after, Layla was now inside the simulation.


~~~


The invisible wall between Vexis and Xenon solidified, it became a sturdy metal wall. Once Vexis lost sight of Xenon, she felt...unusually alone. It was like a chain that connected the two of them had just been severed, and left a big gaping hole in it's absence. Vexis felt more vulnerable, as if some shield around her that she had no clue about previously had finally dissipated. 'I'm alone...'

A bright flash of light erupted from on top of one of the crates above, the figure of Layla started to materialize. Layla gracefully leaped down onto the floor, then stopped next to the shadowy version of Vexis. "Hello, Vexenesis." She said with a wry grin on her face, her voice was very chilling to listen to. "And since I'm certain you have no clue who I am, allow me to explain some things. I am Layla Wakemen, one of the main researchers who created you. And this..." Layla gestured to the room around them, "...is all a simulation. This life you've been living these past few months, all these places you've been, all those people you've met, it's all fake." She said, visibly enjoying Vexis's horrified reaction. "All of this has just been a mere test for you, and now, it's time for your final test: you must battle yourself!" Layla let out a wicked little chuckle, "Have fun!" then she disappeared temporarily.


The shadow all of a sudden disappeared from view in a burst of speed, then punched down hard into the floor in front of Vexis. Vexis was thrown back several feet by the impact, a giant hole now covered where she was previously standing. Vexis immediately got up, ready for her enemy's next move. But the shadow did not attack, nor move in the slightest, it just stood there. Vexis watched it closely, then reacted in disbelief as it changed in appearance. The shadow had taken on the appearance of her, an exact replica of Vexis. Though, something was odd about this creature. It's dark green eyes looked hollow and seemed to pull you in, soulless and empty. This wasn't Vexis, nor was it a copy of her. This shadow was Vexenesis, the being that Layla and the other researchers created.


Vexenesis finally made it's move, it darted towards her at an incredible speed, and in a flash kicked Vexis into the wall, hard. Vexis found herself unable to move for some reason, as if invisible bonds were being used to hold her in place. Vexenesis came closer, it reached it's bony hand out to her and placed it on her forehead, a dim greenish glowing emanated from Vexis. Both of them were now covered in this light, it was gradually pulling the two beings together into one. Vexis and Vexenesis were competing for dominance, a test of wills. Vexis was the one that was fading, she melted into Nova energy and was absorbed by Vexenesis.


The girl fought, but the beast won.

~

"Vexis..." Xenon could sense something wasn't right, he felt her aura fade away, like Vexis had just died. His shadow charged towards him again, but Xenon fought it off with ease. Whatever his opponent did, Xenon could mimic and enhance the attack. The shadow stepped back, presumably in fear or submission. Xenon advanced towards the creature, then stopped just a few feet away from it. His limpid blue eyes became foggy with green energy, strands of Nova started to surround Xenon. He held his hand out in front of him, the Nova streams followed his direction and all flooded towards the shadow. Nova energy was pure and powerful, and absorbs lesser beings such as this shadow. The creature gave in, it just stood and allowed itself to be absorbed into Xenon.


The guardian conquered, and the demon fell to oblivion.

~~

Everything started to fade and disappear, Vexenesis, Xenon, and everything around them. Layla was no where to be seen during the battle, but she had watched it all.


The simulation had ended here, Layla woke up immediately after. She removed the visor from her face, then got up and headed towards the two pods. The other two researchers examined the containers closely, any moment now would Vexenesis and Xenon awaken. "All has gone as expected." Layla said, her devious grin never fading. She watched Vexenesis mainly, waiting to see the result.


Vexenesis's eyes suddenly snapped open, dark and hollow as ever. She reached out to the glass panel in front of her, and broke through it with barely any effort. The dark angel left it's container, and stood obediently, awaiting Layla's orders.

Xenon also awoke just after Vexenesis, but instead of violently breaking out of his pod, he gently pushed on the glass until it fell out of it's frame. Unlike Vexenesis, Xenon took his own sweet time on getting out and presenting himself. Once he stepped out into the room, his gaze was fixated on not Layla, but Vexenesis. What had happened to her? Vexis didn't seem herself anymore, she was just and empty drone now.


Layla looked from one angel to the other, satisfied with both of them. "Welcome to the world of the living, Vexenesis and Xenon."

The True "Beginning"

The echo of footsteps on the hard metallic floor could be heard, the dim lighting against the pitch black walls left the person silhouetted. The dark figure stopped at the end of the hall briefly, waiting for the automated door to allow them to enter. Once the door slid open, a giant laboratory of sorts was revealed. Large glass containers each filled with a silvery substance aligned the walls in an orderly fashion, more pods containing a similar fluid stood freely in the center of the room. Out of the hallway entered a young woman who looked in her mid twenties, her face had a very definite point to the chin, her golden hair was tied up into a ponytail currently, her eyes an icy shade of blue. She glanced over at one pod in particular, the one labeled "V". "Layla Wakemen reporting for duty. How's everything working out so far?" She asked the other researchers standing near the container, her icy stare fixated on the being inside.

"Everything is turning out fine, Project Vexenesis seems to respond well with the Symustein." The first man replied, "Although, the tests have shown some odd reactions when we expose her to the Nova radiation."


Layla watched the unconscious Vexenesis carefully, this being would truly be the one to help preserve the Nova stream? There's something rather unsettling and eerie about Vexenesis, and Layla couldn't figure out what. "Well, if it's responding fine, then why not release it now? And how's that one doing?" Layla questioned, then pointed over to the container labeled "X".


Inside this pod floated Xenon, the other side of Vexenesis. Xenon was more normal to Layla, he didn't have that same unsettling quality that Vexenesis did. Xenon seemed more like a guardian, a protector. Whereas Vexenesis was a weapon, an empty vessel for the Nova stream's revival.



"Project Xenon is showing no signs of change, his power seems to double whenever he's in contact with Vexenesis, however."


Layla got a satisfactory grin on her face now, "Good. Increase the simulation combat difficulty now! I want to see the true abilities of these things."



~~~~

Vexis had been cluelessly wandering these woods for hours now, no sign of Xenon or the beast anywhere. 'Where the hell could they have gone? Did Xenon already defeat it on his own?' Just when she started thinking of the possibilities, something strange started happening. Everything around her, the trees, the sky, even the ground below her, started fading to complete and total darkness. Vexis looked around frantically, trying to locate the source of this unusual experience. "What...hows this happening?! Xenon!? Lea!?" Vexis shouted out, but found herself no response other than her own echo. The ground started to collapse in on itself in sections, Vexis fell with it. The darkness was gradually beginning to lighten up the further Vexis fell, until she finally landed in some odd room. This new area was one gigantic warehouse type building, on the wall opposite of Vexis was written "Axion Testing Center IV." Vexis stood up, trying to remember if she had been here before...it seems...familiar. 'Where am I? This isn't that laboratory I busted out of...is it? I wonder....'


Something started to take form on the other side of the room, it looked human...but with wings, one black and one white. Xenon. He didn't seem to notice Vexis, maybe she was just a bit too far away to see? Vexis immediately spread her wings and burst off towards him. "Xenon! Where are we? And where's Kunekaku -" Vexis slammed into something just then, something...invisible? An invisible wall? Vexis jumped back to her feet, then tried once more to reach Xenon. She held out her hands in front of her, every time she tried going forward, some kind of force field just repelled her. "What the? Xenon, what is this?" But yet again, he did not seem to see nor hear her. Vexis stepped back a bit, why couldn't Xenon see her? She could see him...


A loud clashing sound echoed out from behind Vexis, something darted out from the piles of crates near the wall. The creature was completely pitch black -like a shadow, it looked exactly like Vexis in shape. The being had no face, and no other identifying details to it. This strange new...person slowly stepped closer to Vexis, a shadowy blade gripped tightly in it's hand.


On the other side, Xenon found himself encountering a similar being, this shadowy figure looked exactly like him, as well. 'This is certainly unexpected...'

"Uh oh..."

"Tazuma...you mean that those fools ACTUALLY believe that Kunekaku is just some beast for hunting? I thought that at the very least Xenon would know better, oh well, this just makes it even easier." Lea said, she held a devious looking grin on her face as she leaned up against the wall, staring out the window. Tazuma remained silent for a short while, then finally spoke up "Indeed, they honestly seem to believe its just a simple hunt." he started for the front door, Lea followed him. "And do they seem to suspect that you're...well, you know..." Lea asked him as she stood in the uncut grass that was behind the guild. Tazuma faced away from her now, looking out at the large field that was ahead of them "Not a clue." he grinned, then revealed two large black wings upon his back "I don't think Vexenesis even knows that my kind exists!" Lea got a satisfied look on her face now "Excellent."

"Xenon...I don't think Kunekaku is in this forest..." Vexis said rather doubtful -they'd been searching for several hours now with no success. The sun was starting to set, it was getting hard to see in this dark forest now -not that it was any easier while the sun was out. "Xenon? Are you even listening to me!?" Vexis got a bit annoyed with his lack of a response "I ASKED YOU A QUES-" but she suddenly realized that he wasn't there. Vexis looked around, but no sign of Xenon anywhere 'Did he find it? Ahh well...if hes in any trouble I'll probably hear a yell of pain or whatever...' she thought, but then realized that she couldn't exactly just stand here and wait all night "Crap...either I have to find him...or just return to town without 'im..." Vexis noticed smoke rising in the distance "Great...whats he gotten into this time?" she headed in the direction of it. Soon after, an odd looking house came into view, the smoke that Vexis had seen was coming out of the chimney -obviously Xenon wasn't the cause of this 'Who on Aristaisia would want to live in this dark, depressing place?' out of curiosity Vexis decided to check out the little hut. This house was pretty ordinary on the outside, it was incredibly small, had a blue shingled roof, and was pretty well hidden by all the large trees that surrounded it, Vexis tried looking in one of the small circular windows, but saw nothing because a brown cloth covered the inside of it. Vexis decided it was probably nothing and started to walk away "Hello? You need something?" a young girl asked from the door of the hut. Vexis looked back at the blonde girl who was peeking out the door "Well...I was just wondering if maybe my friend came around here...he went missing..." Vexis explained, wondering if maybe she might know something. The girl opened the door slightly more now, revealing the inside of the hut "Please, come in, lady Haruka might know something..." Vexis did just as she instructed, the inside of the house looked even smaller than on the outside, everything was pretty much the color of beige or brown ((like thats much of a change from most people's houses *sarcasm*)) , and it was generally just a normal looking room. "Please follow me, she should be in the basement..." The girl led Vexis down a tall staircase "I'm Calypso by the way, might I ask your name?" she asked curiously while grabbing a lantern to light up the dark room below. Vexis looked around at the large, dark room "I'm Vexis, I'm from Aristaisia...the city, not the planet -we're all from here!" she replied, still examining the surrounding area. Calypso was feeling around the wall for something "Ah! Here we go..." she pushed a blue button and instantly the once simple looking room turned into a huge, brightly lit laboratory/half library. Vexis looked up in awe at the huge and odd looking machines "Yeah...lady Haruka is a Mystic researcher, shes trying to find a way to bring back the Mystics...so far she hasn't found anything...but you should never give up hope on something" Calypso explained, placing her hands on one of the large metallic structures. "My my! We have a visitor do we? Goody goody!" a very odd -and rather hyper- woman entered the room, shes quite short, her face was very angular, her hair a deep red color, and her gray eyes were hidden behind the lenses of her round red framed glasses. Vexis was surprised to see that the person who created this vast laboratory was so...weird "Um...I was just wondering if my friend had come this way recently...his name is Xenon, he looks kinda like me only with white hair...he can be a bit annoying at times, uhh..." Vexis obviously wasn't describing him very well judging by the confused look on Haruka and Calypso's faces. "ANNNYWAY! Welcome! Its very rare that we get visitors here! Welcome welcome welcome!! I'm Haruka, but YOU can call me Hara!" The crazy woman said in her normally hyper state of being "Caly! Go brew up some tea for our guest! Do you know about the Mystics, deary?!" Hara burst out rather randomly as Calypso ran off somewhere to do as she was told. Vexis stepped back towards the stairs a bit "I-I only wanted to know if you might have seen Xenon around..." but Vexis didn't get too close to the stairs before Hara practically shoved her into a chair that happened to be nearby. "I've never heard of a Xenon...is that a new kind of animal breed or something? Oh, how the Mystics were such interesting people! Did you know that they first created Ethiamn with some powerful spells that they formed out of Nova energy!?" Hara was now messing around with one of her machines while shouting out random info to Vexis. Vexis tried to leave once more, but Hara just shouted out "Please stay a little longer!!" so she sat back down, a bit annoyed with this woman already "I just want to find my friend and hunt down Kunekaku..." Hara turned around to face Vexis again now "Did you say...Kunekaku?" she asked, staring at Vexis from behind her huge glasses. Vexis got up very annoyed "Yes! I said Kunekaku! So what!? And now, I'm leaving, goodbye!!" she started to go back upstairs now, letting her temper get the better of her. Hara just watched as Vexis left, then heard the door upstairs slam closed "...this isn't good..."

The Hunt Of Kunekaku Begins!

They finally arrived at the Guardian Alliance (after a trip full of laughter, jokes about Xenon being old, and many other things of the sort), Vexis went in ahead of Xenon -he decided to stay outside. Vexis walked up to the front desk, but was immediately pulled to the side by Tazuma "You're the one who keeps completing the majority of the missions we receive, correct?" he asked, letting go of her shoulder now. Vexis nodded her head "Yes sir, my name is Vexis" she replied immediately. Tazuma looked out the window "Yeah...I'll TRY to remember that...ANYWAY...I want you to take this hunt, take Xenon with you" he said while handing a sheet of paper with info on the creature to her. Vexis examined the creature's info "...You want me to hunt Kunekaku?" Vexis asked him a bit unsure about this "Isn't this that legendary beast that YOU were supposed to kill?" she said while raising her eyebrow with a bit of suspicion. Tazuma sighed "Yes, originally, but Ranroh keeps bugging me no matter how much I try to convince him its too powerful, I figured that if you're the one hunting it hes less likely to bother a fellow MEMBER instead of the boss" he shook his head with a bit of an annoyed expression on his face. "Hey guys! Whats up?" They heard the voice of Ranroh echo out into the hallway as he drew nearer. Vexis's eyes widened as she realized Ranroh was right behind her, looking over her shoulder "Wha-!? YOU get to go on that hunt!?" he whined, practically making Vexis deaf in doing so "Good luck" Tazuma said to Vexis while walking off -leaving her behind with the whiny moron. Vexis punched Ranroh in the forehead without even turning around to face him "OW!! WHATS THAT FOR!?!" Vexis started for the front door without answering his question.
Xenon had been waiting for her outside, he was leaning up against wall of the guild staring off into the distance "Well, we were assigned one heck of a hunt -Kunekaku" Vexis said, trying to fully exit the building with Ranroh hanging onto her arm. Xenon got up and stared at the idiot who was whining and holding onto Vexis at the same time "Awesome...but uhh...whats with the-" he pointed to Ranroh, Vexis looked down at her arm warmer "...Yeah...don't ask, anyway, we should get going now, right?" Xenon nodded and watched as Ranroh jumped up onto his feet "CAN I GO??" he begged the other two. Vexis looked over at Xenon, then turned back to Ranroh "Can you fly?" she asked him, knowing that the obvious answer was no. Ranroh looked a bit puzzled "Well no, but whats that got to do with anything??" he answered her question with one of his own. Vexis nodded over at Xenon, then in a matter of seconds they both disappeared, leaving behind only a few black & white feathers to flutter in the breeze "What the hell!?" Ranroh jumped back suddenly in surprise, then picked up one of the feathers "Are they...?" but his wondering was easily distracted by an attractive woman walking down the street "Ahh well...some things are left better unknown."


Somewhere up in the sky...

"So how big do you think this thing will be?" Vexis asked Xenon, looking down at the scenery below "Uhh, about half the size of Rugnica Plains I'd say..." he answered, also staring down at the ground. Vexis got a bit nervous "You think it'll be THAT huge???" she asked, now regretting the fact that she'd agreed to take on this hunt. "Nah, I was only trying to scare ya! but I think it'll be just slightly bigger than the Guardian Alliance building" Xenon said with a grin on his face. Vexis heard a loud thud! coming from down below "Think thats our monster?" she asked Xenon a bit hesitantly. "Only one way to find out!" Xenon immediately sored down closer to the ground, Vexis followed soon after.

Xenon's confession

The next day...

Vexis felt rather unsettled, she had so many unanswered questions and they only keep increasing without any explanations, last night was another night that she was sent memories of someone else. Though the things she experienced were far different from anything that Lea had sent to her in the past, these were almost (in a way) worse than what Lea usually shows her -a whole world fell apart this time. Vexis went outside and headed for the guild, though she was hesitant to do so in case Xenon was there 'I thought he was different...but apparently I thought wrong, ALL humans are the exact same'. Vexis felt a sudden pain pulse throughout her body "..what is this?" she wondered while trying not to move too much 'Something strong is nearby...it feels like it wants me there with it... she realized she was sensing something. The presence she felt was coming from near the forest just outside of town, Vexis rushed for it and soon wound up in the same place she sensed it -so why wasn't anyone here? She looked all around her, but found nothing "...maybe I was wrong...maybe its just a spare thread of Nova energy..." she started to walk back into town, but someone jumped in front of her. "Don't go just yet...I need to talk to you, Vexis" Xenon said quietly while preventing her from entering town. Vexis looked at him rather impatiently "Why? So that you can prove even more that you're an arrogant idiot?" Xenon looked down "...You're the one who doesn't understand! We're the exact same!" His eyes glowed in a bright red color "You know those memories you saw last night? Those are mine...I sent them!" He soon revealed two wings apon his back -left one black and the right one white. Vexis stepped back a bit in surprise "I was created over 200 years ago, my home planet Lystrium was destroyed about 50 years ago. Then I came here to Aristaisia to hopefully prevent another world from falling...I think I understand more than you what it feels like." Xenon explained to her, his voice was unusually cold and distant. Vexis was now starting to come back to her senses "...I'm sorry...I had no clue...you hid it so well..." she looked down in shame while thinking things through. Xenon folded his wings back in and his eyes changed back to their normal green "Before you go judging someone else you should at least learn a bit about them first, -I learned that lesson years ago when I came across another N-Angel named Yulia, she was the very first one ever made" He returned to his normal attitude now -kind and glad to point things out. Vexis was still a bit confused, thinking about how this guy once knew the very first N-Angel created -'jeez hes old!' she thought jokingly. "Hey! I'm not THAT old!" Xenon yelled out while laughing. Vexis laughed now too "You heard that? jeez...you older angels can do pretty much everything." Xenon started to walk back into town "Nah...not EVERYTHING....close to it though" he teased while heading back the guild, Vexis right next to him.