Earth Quest - Villain X Hero 6

You returned to your home for the day, throwing your bag down onto the floor next to the door. You were carrying your uniform jacket and tie because you had been the one to reassemble your ensemble after being stripped. The top buttons were undone, as well as the buttons on the cuffs. You ran your hand through your hair anxiously, cringing a little.

`Being a human sucks... Wearing all of this stuff is getting me flustered.`

`Is that really what's getting you flustered?` Fin asked.

`Yeah.` You thought defensively.

`It isn't the fact that you asked to kiss that girl and then chickened out?`

You grabbed your things and stormed up the stairs past Fionna as she stopped and stared at you quizzically. You did not bother to turn around.

`Bullshit. That's not how it happened.`

`Okay? Do you want to go over it?`

`No.`

`You asked her if it was alright for you to kiss her. She got flustered and said that it would cost a 'Djir Point.` Fin stopped.

`What is that by the way?`

`I just made it up! Get off my back.` You opened the door, then slammed it behind you. You immediately set about removing everything you were wearing in a huff.

`Clothes just suck, okay!? I'm not getting upset about anything other than that.`

`I'm not your father... Don't talk to me like a parental figure.` Fin sighed in your head. He continued.

`So, if it's not bothering you I can proceed?`

`Fine.` You slipped out of your pants and shirt, throwing them away. You felt the underwear was fine, since it closely resembled things you would wear in your past life. Nobody ever wore robes or harnesses or armour, which annoyed you.

`Alright. So you asked her and she asked for a point. I'm pretty sure she was giving permission. You just had to-`

You jumped onto the bed, laid back and closed your eyes. Since you were alone you began speaking normally.

"How do you not know anything after a thousand years of living?"

`M-me!?`

"Yeah, you." You stretched your arms back behind your head.

"If she's asking for something in exchange, I don't want it. Doesn't matter if she didn't mean it."

`Wait...`

You blinked, blushing deeply. "I- I mean-"

`I know you a bit better. You wouldn't say that unless-`

"Shut up!"

`You don't care about anyone other than those you have your eyes on. They're just pieces from your warped perspective. If you wanted something you would've taken it from her unless-`

"Stop." You whined, opening your eyes. You sat up, staring straight ahead awkwardly.

`Unless you liked her. But that doesn't seem likely...` He paused and waited for you to contradict him.

`You aren't saying no. Huh. You like her?`

"I dunno."

`But she's a-`

"I know."

`And you still-`

"Yeah." You admitted, finding the silver lining.

"I'm flattered you could read so deeply into that. Means you know me pretty well." You let yourself fall back, conceding the point.

"I don't want someone I have my eye on to have reservations or excuses. I want them to like me. All of me and entirely me. Not my money or my power. But I got none of that here so when she played into that silly made up currency and took it seriously it triggered me. Yeah, I think I like her. Yeah, she's a girl. No, I don't know why."

`Interesting... I think that more of our friend's Soul is bleeding into yours than we would like. I've been trying to unravel things here, and it seems like that girl is one of his hangups. He could never say anything to her. They were always going to stay acquaintances. I suppose even he didn't know that she felt similarly to him.`

"Yeah, yeah. It's a tragedy, really..."

`The biggest challenge we face is getting Finn to come out of his shell. If he doesn't want to witness anything or retake control he won't. Never. I think part of fixing this will be to improve his life in the ways that he felt it was bad. All the individual parts that drove him to perform the summoning in the state he was in.`

"I'll go after Asuka, but I'm not gonna be able to use my usual means. I can't. You're right. This guy's having an effect on me. I'm more vulnerable and sensitive. Not just physically. I mean for fuck's sake-" You stopped as you heard a light knock on your door. You got up and answered in your underwear without thinking. You threw it open wide, as well. Fionna was standing on the other side. You leaned against the door, regarding her curiously.

"What?"

"Uh... You seem very different recently. Wondering if maybe you snapped." She asked seriously.

You thought for a second, then nodded even. "Yeah, that's it." You winked and went to close the door. She blocked it.

"H-hey!" You struggled against your older sister's strength. You could not beat her.

`Bested again...` You surrendered and stopped trying to close it. You stared at her in annoyance.

"What!?"

She blinked. "What's that tone?" She was at first surprised, but then that wore off and she looked annoyed. She reached out, grabbing your ear and pulling you inside. She shut the door behind her with her foot.

"You don't talk to me like that." She remarked both as an observation and a warning.

"Ow ow! Fine!" You struggled until she let you go.

Fiona eyed you strangely. "Why are you in your underwear? Usually if I got you while changing you'd finish up and shout in some shrill tone 'just a minute' before opening up while flustered."

"Okay?" You looked at her.

"I guess today's different."

She glanced over to your computer, cocking her head to one side. "Wait..." She walked over to it and moved the mouse. She then leaned over, getting close to the power button. She hovered it, looking at you. You looked at her, wondering how you were supposed to react.

You rolled your eyes and asked nicely. "Don't touch my things."

"That's not how you'd react... First, you were definitely talking, but your phone isn't on the nightstand and your computer isn't on. Who were you talking to?"

"I put my phone away before answering."

She shook her head. "That doesn't make sense." She leaned back from your computer. "Usually if I got close to turning your computer off after you turned it off in a hurry to hide something-" she made air quotes around 'something.'

"You'd get all flustered and beg me not to."

You looked away, trying to think. `I learned this... There's a code thingy on it, like with the phone.` You smirked smugly.

"You can't get past the code thing, so why should I be worried?"

She squinted at you. "I know the code and you know that I know how to get it... You wouldn't say Code thingy and you wouldn't react this way, either... You'd say something smarter, but you're being so-"

"So what?" You scoffed, crossing your arms.

"I'm just different. People are allowed to change."

"So dumb." She finished her thought.

"H-huh?" You blushed.

"You're acting so dumb and brash. It's literally the exact opposite of who you are. We're not twins but I still know my brother better than anyone."

You gulped, searching for anything. A single strong thought from the crossover between your and Finn's Soul arose. All of the strong thoughts and feelings were things that you could reach for more easily. You took a risk and asked.

"So then why didn't you believe me?"

Her mouth opened, remained like that for a few seconds, then closed. Fionna looked a bit shaken.

"Because it's not believable." She said after a long silence.

"All of the stuff you talked about? It would require magic to be real. Impossible stuff like that. The most likely thing, in reality, is that you need help. Like the tests showed. Me too, to some degree."

"What tests?" You looked at her with a raised brow.

"We got tested, since we were both experiencing losses in time, things going missing and getting misplaced and other inconsistencies. We were judged to have some form of mental illness that you need 8 years in med school to be able to look up, because I couldn't find it. Still, they were a professional, Finn. Besides, ever since I started trying to manage this, things have been less inconsistent for me."

`That's because the cause has gotten better at hiding his tracks.` You walked towards the door. You somehow felt hurt that she was still not believing you.

"That explains it. I'm crazy, right? Get off my back, sis."

She became quite annoyed suddenly and balled her hands into fists. "You aren't doing anything to fix it! I made it better so you can too if you try!"

You smirked smugly at her and waved one hand. "Sure, sure. Bye. Leave me to my insanity."

"Fine!" Fionna stormed out. As the door slammed you felt sick.

"Ugh..." You wandered back over to the bed and plopped down. As you teared up a little for reasons you could not understand easily you uttered.

"Being human sucks..."

You walked out of the morning brainwashing and fellatio session with the family to head to the Academy. As you got through the gates you stopped and looked around. You saw Mark by the door with his goons. You smiled at him and waved.

"Morning." They scowled, but otherwise did nothing but let you go about your day. As you entered the school Maurice approached you. You both talked while walking. You asked him first:

"Mark stopped giving you trouble, right?"

"Completely!"

You smiled. "Good. Progress?"

"Stuff about magic is actually extremely common online."

"Woah! So you got it?"

"No... I said it was common. If it was that common wouldn't everyone do it? I've never even thought about it. On the contrary, it's common knowledge that all that stuff is bullshit."

"What the hell?" You gritted your teeth.

"Aren't there any that say something like 'absolute certainty' or 'real' with some guarantee? Those should be the ones."

Maurice looked at you in disbelief, adjusting his glasses. "Those are the worst ones..."

"What about ones that ask for lots of money and resources?"

He was starting to get nervous. "Th-those are cults and scams, Finn. What's your aim, here? You can't find real magic, because it doesn't exist. It's just fun to think about. Historically, the pursuit of magic and occult stuff has been interesting." His face lit up.

"Your family, for example!"

You lifted a brow. "My family?"

"You're descended from John Dee. He was the occult advisor to Queen Elizabeth. He was said to have knowledge of magic and would use it to aid the crown, but that's all conjecture and it's more likely that he used his knowledge in science as a way to trick others into believing he could do magic and prediction."

"Johm Dee... I see." You had some good guesses.

"I don't have much connection to that stuff. Are there any groups that came from him that can be looked into?"

Maurice shrugged. "That's a bit deeper than I could go. I was basically just scanning anything I could find."

You stopped hearing the hollow slapping of steel. "What's that?"

"We're passing the fencing club."

Your eyes lit up. "Fencing Club? What do people do there?"

"Fencing." Maurice offered frankly. You stared at him. After a few seconds he clarified:

"Long thin, bendy sword. They're swording."

"Pfft. Swording? You mean duelling?"

Maurice glared at you. "You're the one who didn't know what fencing was! Look, what do you want me to do next?" You stared at the door the sounds were emanating from distractedly.

"Finn?" You continued staring.

"Boss!" He shouted in your ear.

"Wuh? Yeah. Uhm... Look into groups that are related to John dee or other magic famous people."

"Kay... Catch you later." He walked off while giving you the side-eye.

You entered the clubroom only to be greeted by a long, thin room. At the side there were some rolling bleachers set up. In front of them there was a long stage where you witnessed two figures trying to hit one-another. You watched from near the side of the bleachers with interest as the taller, bulkier man was dominated by a more slender opponent. Eventually the slender combatant stopped and pointed you out. The larger one removed his mask.

"Johan?" You walked forward, waving with a wide smile. As you and him met in the middle, the slender figure removed her mask. A woman with dark hair that had been tucked into her vest. She pulled it out and walked over to the bleachers to grab a bottle of water. You paid her no mind and continued to regard the Prince.

"I didn't know something like this existed here."

"Ah..." He tried to put your words together in a way that made sense, and reassembled them in his own interpretation.

"Yes, there's always been a fencing club, since it's supposedly a 'Noble Sport.' I'm only here because it's expected of me, though."

"Who's that?" You pointed to the woman as she gulped down water.

"That's the leader of the club. If you're interested in joining you should talk to her."

"You died a few times there." You joked.

He lifted a brow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you let her hit you centre mass. Wouldn't you stop if you got hit? Also... Why are the swords blunted at the tip? They don't seem to have an edge, either. You're already wearing protection." You chuckled lightly, leaning to the side to get a good look at the rapier.

"This weapon looks pretty terrible, too. I don't like it. Are you gonna whip someone to death? Wouldn't this just bend if you tried to stab someone, as well?"

"Well it's-" Johan began, but the club leader stepped in to interject.

"You have a lot of questions and comments that are, frankly, very stupid and uneducated."

You laughed. "Oh yeah?"

Johan raised his hands. "Please don't start anything. This is someone that I placed under my-"

The girl looked at him sharply. He stopped and gulped. She then turned her attention back to you.

"Maybe your friend wants to give fencing a try, since he's so confident? How many times will you 'die' you think? How about we go until one direct hit, since you think that's how it should work.

You rolled your eyes. "Sorry... I don't wanna wear that padding. Looks annoying and wimpy."

Johan saw your taunting as begging to be let go from the challenge. He nodded and tried to help.

"You can't fence without protection, Finn."

"Nonsense. As he said, the swords are blunted and dulled for a reason." She smiled widely. "Would only bend if I tried to jab him."

"That's right." You nodded.

`I dunno how my muscle memory is... I know how to use a weapon. This thing is probably light enough that my weak body wouldn't matter. Maybe it's worth a try to see what I can do?`