If You Could Be Anywhere In the World, Where Would It Be?

Sadako followed him quietly, her head bowed so her hair swept across as a curtain to conceal her blush. Once it had faded from her cheeks though, she took to looking around as they walked, trying to memorize the way in case they got separated or something. She whispered something barely audible and the wind swirled around her for just a moment, straightening her clothes and fixing her hair. Hopefully that little breeze was too faint for him to notice.

Just then, she caught sight of the one gun he had kept with him, and she sighed. After her experience earlier with guns, she didn't like them very much. She preferred to stick with her swords and such. That reminded her - Didn't she still have her katana at her hip? She had grown so accustomed to it's familiar weight that she hadn't noticed she still carried it...

Now lightly gripping the familiar hilt, Sadako started to relax. Was it so bad that she should enjoy herself for a time? Elijah didn't exactly expect her to forget. Rather... It was more like he wanted to help her; to cheer her up and remind her thing's only get better after such a devastating blow. She was so deep in thought, trying to decide whether or not what she was doing was right that she wouldn't notice much else.

They were now at the end of the hall. In front of them, was a large stone wall. The wall had dozens of shapes and symbols engraved into it, with the most prominent being the carving of a large arc.

"This is the transporter gate," he explained. "These devices can transport you to any of the major area's of the Academy - the front gate, the upper court, the meditation, the dining hall, etc. To use the gate, you have to key in your destination with the gate's dial."

He pointed down to a circle carving cut into the floor, then tapped on the circle three times. After the third tap, he removed his foot from the circle. The circle began to glow in a soft white color and it rose out of the floor until it was at waist length with Elijah. He placed his palm on the dial. This action triggered the activation of the gate, and the gate began to glow like the dial.

"To key in the destination, you just need to keep your hand on the dial, and then use mental or verbal commands to open a portal to said destination. And the command is pretty simple - just think or say the location, like 'Main Office' or 'Garden'" As Elijah said the names those locations, the gate created portals to them, first to the Main Office and then to the Garden; images of both locations appeared as the corresponding gate opened. People could be seen walking around the Main Office and Garden, and some of them even waved at Elijah and Sadako.

"And that's all there is to it." Elijah removed his hand from the dial, and the gate returned back to being blank again. "Why don't you try it?" He gestured for her to come forward and use the dial.

As Sadako walked, she finally came to her decision. What she was doing wasn't wrong in any way; the ex-sannin deserved to forget for just a few moments, and simply enjoy herself. She sighed happily, glad that she had finally decided.

She finally realized that they had come to a halt in front of a large stone wall, with a multitude of carvings that Sadako herself hadn't seen before. As he explained, her eyes would widen, though she smiled as people waved from the other side of the gate. As it went blank again, she turned to Elijah. "Alright..."

With a bit of hesitation, she stepped forward. Extending a slender hand to the dial, then thought, Ranking Chambers... - After all, most facilities would have such places to rank up their members. Sure enough, a clear projection of a ranking exam in progress lit up the archway, and she smiled. She missed being able to rank the young Genin of the Reality. Such a tedious task was frustrating at times, but it was also very rewarding, for she got to watch each shinobi as they rose through the ranks. It was too bad that --- And that's where she stopped herself. It did no good to linger on such things. No. Her mind was made up.

With slight thought, the image faded away, and Sadako thought, Sparring Rooms. The image flickered unsure of which she wanted to visit. Surely the one with weapons...? As she made up her mind, the gate showed her that area, and a mage and swordsman were locked in a fierce duel, not seeming to notice the spectators they had just gained. Sadako watched for a moment, before taking her hand from the dial, the gate becoming blank once more.

"Interesting..." She remarked, tearing her gaze from the gate to study Elijah, "Thank-you."

Elijah gave her a thumbs up sign with his free hand. "No problem. Now, can you open a portal to the balcony? I'm starving!"

"Ah, that's right..." She placed her hand back upon the dial, and thought, The Eastern Balcony. Instantly, the scene shifted to be of the balcony. Sadako then thought of something, "If the portal fades once I take my hand off the dial... How am I to walk through as well? Is there some lock mechanism that holds the portal to it's set destination...?"

Elijah facepalmed. "I forgot about that. Yes, the portal will stay open until you pass through the gate. You just need to lock the destination into the dial, by thinking or saying 'lock'."

Sadako nodded, and thought, Lock. Taking her hand from the dial, she started to walk towards the portal, then turned back to Elijah with a smile. "Come on, then."

"Okay, I'll go first." Elijah got in front of Sadako and stepped through the portal. As he stepped through the portal, his vision blurred, and he could feel tugging sensations all over his body: That was the portal trying to rip his body apart, something that would eventually happen if he stayed in the portal too long.

He finally stepped out from the portal an onto the eastern balcony. Like almost everything else in this place, the balcony was huge, the smooth white-stoned structure overlooking the lake and forest that bordered the Academy. There were a few people up here. Some were eating like he and Sadako were about to, some were just chatting or enjoying the view, and at least one couple - seated at the far right side of the balcony - was making out.

He stepped to the side of the gate to allow Sadako to pass through.

Seeing him step through without hesitation, Sadako followed. The tugging sensations alarmed her for a moment, and she made sure not to linger there. Her eyes watered from the blur, and once she was through, she had to blink the moisture away. Her eyes widened as she took in the view from the balcony. Seeing landscapes with a bird's-eye view like this wasn't the same as actually flying high above, but it didn't make for that bad of a substitute.

At first, she didn't see Elijah off to the side, and was about to panic.. But then she spotted him, off to her side. She gave a quiet sigh of relief, and stepped a bit closer to him, before letting her eyes roam over the area of the balcony, trying to spot a good place to eat. Not seeing any spots that were particularly remarkable, she looked back to Elijah, her uncertainty clear in her eyes.

After Sadako passed through the portal, the gate deactivated. She turned to face Elijah; she looked lost.

"We can go eat at center of the balcony, right next to the barrier," he offered.

"Ah, alright. That sounds good." She said with a smile. Stepping a bit closer to him, she walked beside him stride for stride.

((Do you ever plan to have Sadako attempt to revive the spirit within her sword?))

As Sadako moved to Elijah's side to walk beside him, he noticed that she had a sheathed katana slung to her hip. She must have been carrying the sword the whole time, but he hadn't noticed it until now - probably because he had been so focused her face and voice earlier.

Elijah stopped in front of a half ring engraving next to the barrier. There were several of these engravings bordering the barrier, as well as full ring variants all over the balcony floor. He tapped on the engraving twice, then stepped back. The action caused a stone crescent and a stone half ring to rise from the ground. The crescent rose to a height just below Elijah's waist, while the ring rose to his knees.

"Here's our table," he informed her.

((Can't... It doesn't work that way.))

"Oh... Wow." She said softly, not expecting a table to have such elaborate mechanisms. But then again, this was the Academy. She took a seat across from him, smoothing her skirts as she did. Her eyes wandered to the gorgeous view for a moment before she returned her attention back to Elijah.

"Hey... Elijah?" She said softly, smiling a bit, "Thank-you. Really." Her tone suggested she was thanking him for more than just lunch... But would he know the significance of what she was trying to say?

Elijah set the picnic basket down and scratched the back of his head. "No problem," he replied. He realized that she was thanking him for more than the lunch. "I'm glad I could cheer her up, or at least improve her mood some."

He proceeded to remove items from the basket. First he started with the supplies, giving Sadako and himself a plate, a cup, some napkins, and a full set of utensils (knife, spoon, fork). Next, he took out the jug of ginseng tea, and set it in front of Sadako. "You can have a drink while I heat up the food."

Finally, he removed all the food from the basket, placing them at the center of the table. He pushed the basket toward the barrier, and then got to work heating up the food. He raised his hands over the food (save for the orange cheescake), and began bombarding the food with infrared beams generated from his palms. The beams would be invisible to the naked eye, but one would be able to see mirage-like distortions in the sections of the air where the beams passed.

Looking up at Sadako, Elijah explained, "I have the ability to generate electromagnetic radiation at virtually any frequency. The food should be ready in about 3 minutes."

"So, how are you liking the Academy so far?" he asked, trying to spark a conversation.

Sadako sat quietly as he set out everything. She didn't know what she was supposed to say. Why was he being so nice to her? It was a question that she couldn't really answer, but it was one that she had been idly wondering about. Sure, the gunfire had really scared her, but it was her fault in the first place, wasn't it? If what he had said was true, and he had booked that room for his 'sole use only' and she had wandered in, it wasn't his fault... That overruled any feelings for guilt. Then what? Sadako didn't know. She couldn't find any other explanation.

As he took out the jug and set it in front of her, Sadako nodded, "Alright, thanks." She removed the lid from the jug and decided to show off a bit. She was laughing inside as she let her hand hover over the top of the jug, and she slowly pulled her hand away, the water rising in a trail behind it. The swirling liquid played in the air for a moment, not touching anything, before she directed it to her cup. She then swirled her finger in the air above the jug, and a ribbon of tea rose up once more. She smiled at Elijah, "I'm assuming you want tea?" If he was wondering how she knew what the drink was, she could tell from the smell of it... It wasn't weak tea, but neither was it strong. That, and Sadako's senses were pretty keen.

The ribbon swirled into his cup, and she then noticed what he was doing. She tilted her head to the side at his explanation, but decided not to question it. At his next statement, she looked down at her hands, now folded in her lap. "From what I've seen, I like it quite a bit... But... Really? This is my first time setting foot here. It doesn't seem like a bad place to stay." She paused, looking up at him with a curious expression. "I noticed.. You have a room here. Do you live here at the Academy?"

"Nice," Elijah said as he watched Sadako manipulate a portion of the tea into his cup. "You can control water too?" By coincidence, Elijah was trying to learn to control water via Magnetism. "Maybe you could help me improve my skills in that area?"

She asked him if he lived at the Academy. "For the time being," he answered. "Normally, a person is only able to stay at the Academy for no more than four days, but I worked something out with the administrator, so I can stay a long as I like. I've been here about a month now. This is actually the longest I have stayed in one place since I was 18 - I'm a soldier in the Sunlit Army, so I have to travel often, and then before that, on Vescrutia, I was a mercenary, and of course that require me to move around a lot."

"Speaking of Vescrutia, I noticed that you have a Vescrutian accent. Were you transported here by the original portal, or by some other means?" There were thousands of Vescrutians running around Escellsia (as well as beings from other universes) all transported to Escellsia by a series of portals that had opened up between the two realms. Elijah himself had come through what was generally thought to be the first and largest of the portals, which had transported the majority of Vescrutians here.

"Perhaps I could." She said thoughtfully to his first statement. She was also very interested to hear about the fact he was a soldier. She never heard of the Sunlit Army, or whichever nation it was mobilized by. Before she could ask though, he asked her about Vescrutia. Her eyes widened, then she shut them tightly, fighting for control of her emotions. Not again. No... Not again. It was simple conversation, not something she should get so worked up about!

But still.. The emotions that rose up just from the mention of the name were quite difficult to beat back down. She took a few steadying breaths before she answered him. "I was brought here by other means... This isn't even my original body." She said sadly, her eyes opening slowly as she blinked back tears.

"Oh shoot, I did it again. Sorry!" Elijah cried. He thought his question had been innocent enough - all Vescrutians shared a similar origin when it came to Escellsia - but apparently it wasn't, as it had caused Sadako to start tearing up again. He was intrigued by her admission that she had come to Escellsia by an alternate method, and that her mind and spirit were housed in a body that wasn't technically her own. He wanted to ask her more about that, but it was clear that she wasn't in the mood for any questions related to her past.

He sighed. "It would best if I just stopped talking, huh?" Now feeling guilty, he looked back down at the food that he was heating up. The dishes were almost ready.

"No, no! It's alright..." She said softly. What was wrong with her?? He was just trying to talk to her... She shouldn't be acting like this. As he lowered his eyes, she sighed softly, then got up from her seat to stand beside him. She tapped on his shoulder. "Hey..." She said softly, waiting for him to look up.

Elijah finished heating up the food before he looked up at Sadako. "No, really, it's better that I don't talk to you, because I usually end up upsetting you when I do. The food is ready by the way." He looked back down and, with a large spoon, scooped out a large helping of chicken Alfredo pasta from the serving dish to his plate.

Sadako sighed. Once he was finished with his portion, she surprised him by hugging him tightly for a few moments. Once she let him go, she caught his eye. "No. What's best is that I tell you exactly what happened. It's not you that's upsetting me, not really... I just need someone to talk to about the whole thing. You eat, I'll talk. I'm not terribly hungry just yet."
She went back to sit in her seat, hoping he would agree to what she proposed. She couldn't back out of this now... Sure, they had only known each other for what, half an hour, maybe? But she still got that feeling that she should trust him. So that's what she was going to do.

Elijah was taken a back by Sadako's hug, and he nearly dropped the spoon in his shock. She released him, and then offered to tell him about her past.

It was strange to Elijah that this woman, seeming to be so tortured by her past, would now share it with him, a person that she had known less than an hour. But he was curious about her past, and it wouldn't hurt him to listen to her.

"Okay," he answered just as she sat back down. He found that he had lost his appetite, so he let the spoon rest on his plate as he leaned forward to hear about Sadako's life story.

Shifting slightly in her seat, Sadako made herself as comfortable as she could, knowing they might be there for awhile. She sighed slightly, "There's just one problem." She said softly. "I sort of erased most of my own memories about certain people. There's these yawning holes in my memory... I'm going to have to force myself to remember everything." She looked up at him with frightened eyes, "When I first got here though, and I still knew all that I lost, I almost utterly destroyed this plateau, and... I'm frightened I'll do the same here."

Her eyes flicked to the other people there. "So for now, I'll have to tell you a revised version, okay? Maybe later I'll do all that remembering.."

Elijah nodded. At this point, he didn't want to risk having Sadako go berserk while trying to recover memories that she had suppressed in her mind. He realized that she must be suffering from Post-traumatic stress disorder; that could be the only explanation for her strange behavior every time he asked her something related to her past.

"Alright... Well," Sadako took a deep breath, then began to tell him her story - Or, everything she could remember easily. "I remember that back on Vescrutia, there were many people I was close to. I can remember names, but not all those faces, or even what most of their ties to me were. I guess I was liked by quite a people because of my rank - I was a Sannin there, for the Reality village. Besides, I enjoyed my job, giving ranking exams to most of our shinobi and whatnot.

"On the Reality, I'm not sure if you know, there is a concept that allows 'Soul Weapons' to exist. My soul partner and weapon was named Mamoru. I know how much he meant - No, how much he still means to me. It wasn't like we were lovers or anything; no, we had more of a brother-sister relationship. Mamoru had been with since I was a little girl... We found eachother when I was seven. No matter how alone I felt, he was there..." She sighed softly, remembering what little she allowed herself.

"Ah, and my friend Reia Ruan, who came here with me... She has a soul partner as well... His name is Aeros. He's quite the odd one... Hardcore one moment, and as shy as you could possibly imagine the next. The four of us lived in this amazing floating castle. It was supported with nothing but a tad of elemental energy from each of us.

"Of course, I only lived there at that castle which we named it the Twilight Palace for a little while. Eventually, I met the Kage of the village, Maze..." She hugged her sides tightly, taking a moment to compose herself. Her voice was a tad shaky when she spoke again, but grew stronger as she continued on. "He was the love of my life...

"N-not long after we got married, I moved into the grand castle in the middle of the Labyrinth. Maze had two soul partners, Una and Yoko - both of whom I considered almost like sister-in-laws." She laughed lightly, trying to distract herself from how much talking about this was hurting... "Of course, there were quite a few adventures that changed my life, and made me into the person who I am today... But, if you'd be willing to listen, I'd want to tell you mostly about the one that led to the end of life on Vescrutia.."