In the Eye of the Beholder

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

Axel muttered something in her sleep but it only came out as a mess of letters. But by the gentle smile on her face, one could guess the girl was having a good dream. Axel shifted on the grass, fingers playing with the grass for a moment before they relaxed again. She muttered something else when Balenth began to stroke her head and curled halfway into a ball. It was a warm night but she shivered a bit.

[Calmay]

Balenth smiled as he heard the incoherent jumble of letters. It looked like she was having a good dream. He did not want to interrupt it. However when he saw her shiver he did not want her to sleep out in the open. He was going to take her home even if Aqua had not confessed yet. He did not want her to catch a cold because she fell asleep outside. He gently picked her up and started to make their way back to her inn. He made it through the streets being more familiar every time he walked through the streets. He walked passed by as some people looked strangely at him but he did not care. He eventually made it to the inn and entered it without looking at the inn keeper. He took Axel to her room and knocked twice before entering the room. He walked to Axel's bed and placed it on her bed.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

Roxiri walked into the room to find Balenth laying down her little sister. Aqua had confessed, quite loudly, to Xion and they said they were going somewhere. and would be back in the morning. God knows what the half demon (temporarily human) and the angel were planning to do. No doubt it was something angels never did. The thought about that made Roxiri smile a little.

"Long day? Nice to see you again by the way." Roxiri said, eyes softening when she looked at her little sister. Well, Axel wasn't really her little sister. But they were close enough to be sisters, and Roxiri had found Axel in the woods. Roxiri walked over to the dragon and little girl, smling. The shapeshifter stroked Axel's hair and moved a stray hair from the little mage's face.

[Calmay]

Balenth smiled at Roxiri as she entered the room. He was glad that it was not another new person that entered the room. He did not want to remember another name. He smiled when he found out that Aqua had confessed to Xion and left. It looked like it went well. He was glad that he had encouraged her to confess. He silently wished for their happiness and for their love for each other never fade. He then turned to Roxiri.

She had been the one with his memories, yet he had no hatred or anger at her. He felt sorry for her for having to house his memories. "It's been a very hectic day. Just when we thought we could relax another situation arose. I don't think I could go through this all the time." He would have eventually freaked out and caused some chaos. Maybe that was why he decided to remain in his cave hidden from the world's problems.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

Roxiri smiled at Balenth's words. "Our little group always has those kinds of days. You get used to it." Roxiri said, looking up at the dragon. Axel and her always attracted that kind of chaotic events but she couldn't help but wonder what they had did that day. No doubt a lot of things. "Seems my little sis fell asleep on you." Roxiri said, walking away toward the counter with a sink added into it.

She poured herself a glass of water, getting a second for the poor male. He probably wasn't used to the things that happened around them. After a few years, Roxiri was actually quite used to it and enjoyed it. Roxiri held out the second glass of water towards Balenth, taking a long sip from her own.

[Calmay]

Balenth laughed. It looked like it was not only him that attracted this trouble. Well at least it was not him that was the one that was having this trouble with Axel. She doubted however that they had ever attracted a dragon. He took the water from Roxi and looked at her with a serious expression. "If a dragon other then me ever approaches you and Axel, get her out of there was fast as possible. I can't tell you why until you ask Axel about her family. I just don't want her to be put in danger." He did not want to tell Roxi the truth of Axel's lineage, that was Axel's responsibility to tell her friends if she wanted to.

He then took a sip of his water and then sighed. He did not know what to do next. He had only been thinking about what was happening at the moment and not what to do next. He looked at Axel, he knew he had to leave soon. He was after all just a friend and he would not impose on her more than he already had. He wondered if he should stay until she woke up or leave without saying anything. Either way he had made his choice he was leaving and he did not want to get to close to a person.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

Roxiri looked at the dragon with a slightly concerned expression at his words. "You act like your going to leave and never come back." the shapeshifter said, looking at Balenth. Surely he wasn't going to leave his descendant. Roxiri knew of Axel's bloodline, her Other self telling her after she had run from the river earlier.

Roxiri let her eyes change colors lazily. It helped her think to change her form. She would defend her little sister Axel no matter what. But she knew that it would break Axel's heart if Balenth really was leaving forever.

[Calmay]

He did not realize that the tone he had said the words in made it seem like he was going to leave for good. He had no intention of leaving Axel alone, but he had to leave. He was going to find information on her real parents before he did anything else. He at least had to do that after letting her find out that her parents were not her real parents. "I am going to leave but I am going to come. I am unsure about when I will comeback."

He looked at Roxiri and smiled. She was there when he got his feather back and he knew that she was there when he had a missing a memory. "You must have found out something about my past. I don't want to know, but I as of you not to tell anyone what you found out. History has probably written me down as some sort of monster and I don't think people would listen to the truth yet." The truth was that he doubted anyone would listen. And he did not want to hear what really had occurred until he was ready.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

Roxiri nodded slowly at Balenth. She knew about his past, often seeing flashes of it in dreams or times when she zoned out. The flashes even turned to pieces sometimes and made her faint. But now the feather was out of Roxiri, so she no longer had such things. And maybe one day everyone else would know, along with Balenth.

Roxiri decided she would follow Balenth at least until morning, when Axel would awaken. The shapeshifter wanted to know where the dragon would go in case they needed him. Sure, axel could use a spell to find him. But Roxiri would have to steal all of the mage's powder. If it took a long time for Balenth to come back, Roxiri didn't want Axel to try to contact him. It would only make it worse.

[Calmay]

Balenth got up and looked at Roxi. "If you want you can come along with me. I'm not going that far right now." He knew where he was going to started the hunt. It had been clear to him since he decided to look for Axel's parents that he needed to get information. He kissed Axel on the cheek and made his way out of the room. He made his way through the inn towards the exit. When he reached the main entrance he looked at the inn keeper reminding him of what he had done earlier that day. He was not going to allow him to forget what he had done. With that he left the inn and made his way to the streets.

He made his way through the streets knowing where he was going. He was going to a bar that he had seen earlier today. The best place to start looking for information. Who knew more about the area than the local bartender. He entered the bar and made his way to the counter. He did not look at any of the people then because they were not important to him. He sat down on an empty seat and looked at the bartender. "Give me the strongest drink you got." The bartender nodded and made him the drink. Balenth took it and drank it all in one gulp. He felt the alcohol burn as it went down his throat. He like the feeling. "You don't look like you are only here for a drink," the bartender said as he looked at Balenth. Balenth laughed as he heard the comment.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

Roxiri also kissed Axel but on her forehead instead of her cheek. The little girl would be out cold until the morning by the looks of it. Roxiri changed her form, slipping into the form of a different girl. Her hair turned bright red while her eyes changed from a grey to a piercing green. Small purple upside teardrop tattoos appeared, one under each eye.

Roxiri made sure that the hair shrunk to above her shoulders before following the dragon. She kept a low profile, sprouting red wolf ears and a long wolf tail while following Balenth. It was better to look different when walking around sometimes. She followed Balenth into the bar nearby and sat down next to him, not ordering anything.

[Calmay]

Balenth looked at Roxi and smiled before he returned his attention to the bartender. He was glad that she had come along. He did not want to be alone right now in case he attracted some trouble. He was afraid that if someone challenged him right now he would me more than willing to fight them. He had been holding himself back in so many occasions he was afraid that he could kill someone. He smiled at the bartender. "You are right. I did not just come here for drinks. I came here for something else." He did not say that he came for information because he wanted to see what the bartender would offer him first and how everyone else in the bar would react to his response.

Balenth could hear behind him the sounds of small weapons being drawn. He did not go fir his weapon showing that he was not here for a fight. The bartender told them to calm down as he looked at Balenth. "Well if you tell me what you want I can lead you to the right direction." Balenth doubted he would tell him straight out what he needed to know. But there was nothing wrong with trying. "I needed information on a certain group of people." He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down descendant of dragons and slid it to the bartender. He looked up at Balenth with surprise. "You're not one of them, right?" "Don't make me laugh. I'm a purebred." He did not mention that he was a dragon. It was information that was need to be said.

The bartender nodded and leaned over the counter. "There is a group of people that can help you find whatever you are looking for. That is if you can pay the correct price." He wrote down an address on the paper. Balenth took the paper and placed a gold coin on the counter. He then turned around and saw that some of the patron had gotten up and were now surrounding the two. "Do you have a problem gentlemen?"

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

Roxiri watched the exchange between the dragon and bartender with slight worry. What if this was a person that had things against mixed blood? Roxiri didn't care enough about blood to know if she was purebred or a mixed. Today Roxiri had learned that her little sister Axel had mixed blood, but she really didn't care.

Roxiri's wolf tail slowly and lazily swished behind her until she heard small weapons be drawn. She turned her head slightly and, using the corner of her eye so it wouldn't be noticed, looked at the other people around them. After a moment, they put thier weapons back.

When Balenth was handed an address to someone who could help the two, Roxiri calmed down a bit on the inside. The bartender was helping them and had only been surprised at hearing what Axel was. Was it really that rare? Surely there must be some others then Axel...right?

When Roxiri turned her body around with Balenth, she saw that people had surrounded them. Even though she had changed her body to one of a sixteen year old, Roxiri felt a bit small when being crowded around by the group. Her wolf ears flatten backwards on the top of her head as she looked at the people. They didn't really seem that friendly. Then again, Roxiri was paraniod.

[Calmay]

Balenth looked at the men with a look of annoyance as they stood there and said nothing. He was not in the mood to deal with them. He looked at each one of them and waited on a response. "Well," he said with the tone showing his expression. One of the gentlemen stepped forward and spoke up. "We do not like half-breeds or this who bother our people." Balenth then looked around and noticed the three that had been at the sword shop. So had gone and called for backup. They really were weaklings if they had called on help.

He got up and walked up to the leader. "If you are talking about those three. They tried to rip off a shop keeper and then hurt a child. I only did what was right. Or did those two not tell you that part." He did not pull out his weapon. He just hoped that a fight would be avoided. He did not wanted to injure any of the people here he get injured himself. He took a set back and then looked at Roxiri. He wanted to leave now. It looked like those three were not going to leave him alone after what he had done to them at the shop.

He took her hand and pulled her through the crowd. He thought he was home free when he felt a hand on his shoulder. As a reflex he ducked and dodged the attack that he had not known was coming. He looked at the man and then kneed him in the stomach. He then continued to make his way to the door at a much faster. He knew he was going to have to take out a couple more before they reached the door, he justed hoped that Roxiri would be alright and that he would hold himself back. The last thing he needed was to kill someone right now.

[{{Roxï-kun-+]

Roxiri didn't know what the men were talking about but didn't care either way. She glared and growled quietly, watching the people around her. The bertender said nothing, acting as if this wasn't happening. The shapeshifter let Balenth begin to lead her away from where they had been sitting. She ducked as well when a hand shot past her.

Right when Desmond began to pull her again, a hand grabbed her other arm and pulled hard, making Balenth let go of her. Roxiri snarled, letting her current form's instincts kick in. She snapped her arm away from her capturer. She spun on her heel to face the person, to find herself face to face with a sharp-fanged vampire. Normally, this wouldn't be a probably since Roxiri likked vampires. But this one looked hungry.

Roxiri didn't want to reveal what she was, so she stayed as a hybrid of wolf and human. Her eyes darted around for a moment, noticing that they were surrounded by purebreds. And, by her luck, she was in a half-breed's form. But it was still better then revealing she was a shapeshifter...right?

The vampire suddenly came toward Roxiri. The shapeshifter's eyes widened, totally taken off guard by the fast movement. "Balenth!"