"You're really in the mood today." Erik took a sip from his coffee. They were in his office, two great commanders having a meeting together. "What brings you here, Joka?" He tried to hide the annoyance on his face.
Joka placed both of his feet on Erik's table and crossed his arms. He sure had an attitude.
An attitude Erik didn't enjoy.
He had slicked-back blonde hair and wore sunglasses, so tinted that you couldn't see his eyes. It was one of those sunglasses a 10-year-old would buy and think it was cool. He was a bit taller than Erik, and wore the proper Commander uniform with many badges on it. It had golden streaks and designs on it, matching his hair.
"What? Can't a guy just visit his colleague?" He grinned and put one leg over the other. "It's just that you bring chaos with you, so I just asked. No harm in that, right?" He poured a glass of wine for Joka.
"No harm in asking, sure, but was this necessary?" Joka looked around the room. All the apostles except for the 12th, 3rd, and 1st were around him, watching him like a predator ready to launch. They were in the shadows. The only thing visible was the shine in their eyes. "Fucking loser, making kids run your errands…" Joka sighed. "...I guess I should've expected that from a pussy like you."
"Good point." He sat down and relaxed. "I didn't call them here. They just don't like you."
"Well, that explains why the 1st isn't here. The 3rd, on the other hand… I heard he lost to that kid." Joka grinned. "The 12th is still on the mission, I presume?"
"Yes. As for the 1st, I cannot thank you enough for handing someone like him to us. Though I must ask, why?" Erik took another sip.
"He was getting too affectionate. I thought it would be like a summer camp for him, but you sure turned him into an emotionless monster pretty fast." He took his leg off the table and grabbed the glass of wine.
"That's a bit cruel, don't you think? What happened to setting boundaries?" Erik let out a slow breath.
"Boundaries? Your reputation really speaks for itself. Do you know what we call you? We call you the emotional one." He took a sip from his wine.
"I'm delighted to hear that. I'll wear that like a badge." A smile tugged at the corners of Erik's mouth. "Just tell me what you came here for, Joka."
"You're not handling that sick kid properly. Just let me hunt him down before he becomes a problem."
"I unfortunately can't let you do that. He's the most valuable thing to me other than my family." Erik kindly refused.
"Then why did you let him escape?" Joka's smile dropped.
Erik paused. The smile didn't go anywhere, though. But the question caught him off-guard.
"He wasn't strong enough. He still needed to grow." He played it off by drinking his coffee again. Joka's attitude was getting on his nerves.
"Right. Let the kid with mana and insane potential grow. It can't go wrong, right? Oh wait- It did. They did the same with Nasaki, and look what happened. This is almost a miracle, you dork. We're getting another chance at a game we already know how it'll end. But because of you he'll be another thorn in the ass of the government." Joka finished his wine.
"You're afraid of the future, Joka. If you won't let the past go, you won't stay in the present and you won't catch up with the future." Erik wasn't smiling anymore.
Joka was amused by getting a reaction out of him, and smirked. "Save those words for your poems, nerd. If the future plays out exactly like the past, is it really the future?"
"But you don't know that." Erik placed his mug.
"Do you?" His smirk grew.
Erik glared. Joka chuckled.
Silence filled the room, a dangerous aura radiating from both of them.
"I'm not letting you kill Pablo. I need him." The declaration of need was almost… desperate. "You may do whatever you want with him, but don't kill him or bring him in."
"Oh, so I'm free to test him? I want to see what that mana of his is all about." Joka got up and was excited. "Have it your way, Erik. I really thought we could be friends when I first saw you, but I guess Kaan is my only friend now." He turned towards the door and began to leave. "Speaking of him, we got a Karaoke night tonight, you want to come?" He turned to Erik.
Out of kindness, and maybe to build a political relationship, Erik accepted the offer. "I'd love to."
"Well, too bad then, because you're not coming." He flipped off Erik, then left the room.
Erik's smile twitched. A vein popped on his forehead. He sharply exhaled when Joka left. "That smart-ass." He slammed the table with his hand.
Joka placed his hands in his pockets and walked down the hallway. But even if he didn't look back, he could sense the presence of someone else. "Were you listening?" He cackled.
The First Apostle was resting his back on the wall, right next to the door. He was looking at the floor. His hair was dark, and it was stylized as a wolf-cut. He had his odachi sheathed in his hands. He wore a black haori over his white kimono. He was the eldest of the Apostles, being 23 years old.
"Hey, why don't we have a drink and catch up?" Joka turned around, but the sight caught him off-guard.
"I don't take orders from you, Commander Joka." He clenched his Odachi. "You will regret creating a monster like me." His voice came out raspy. He looked up and met Joka's gaze. He had a horizontal scar on his face that ran over his nose.
His eyes… were darker than the night. His iris was glowing blue, the only colorful thing he had left.
"Whatever." Joka rolled his eyes, annoyed, then left for good.
His phone rang, though he immediately picked it up. "Yo yo yo. Yep, yeah yeah I'm on my way. What do you mean you started without me? WHAT?! 'Life for me'?! THAT'S MY FAVORITE SONG!" Joka began running.
A few hours later.
"AND THAT'S WHY I, LOVE YOU!!!" Joka screamed from the pit of his soul, clearly drunk. He almost had the microphone inside his mouth. Commander Kaan was holding the speaker on his shoulder.
He didn't have his uniform on, and instead wore a white buttoned shirt with leather straps on it. He didn't have one drop of alcohol.
He had short dark hair in a wavy mullet. He normally wears glasses, but doesn't have them on right now. He had a scar on his right eye, but his vision was fine. The weirdest thing about him was his eyes. Just like the first apostle, they were black. But his pupils were nowhere to be seen.
His physique was almost inhuman. He was almost the same height as Joka, just a few centimeters taller than him. But the shirt wasn't doing a good job of hiding his muscles.
"You're singing the wrong song." He calmly said. His voice was deep and monotone.
The women inside the room were singing along, but they were scared beyond belief. Being in the presence of a commander was enough to make someone paralyzed in fear. But these girls were used to them, as they were regulars in this bar.
That didn't get rid of the fear, though.
The sheer presence of Kaan was enough.
And nobody knows what drunk Joka can do anyway. He's too unpredictable.
"How did your talk with Erik go-" Kaan was interrupted with a punch to his face. "Shut up, I hate talking about my job at Karaoke!"
"I have to knock some sense into you, it seems…" He raised his fist, but then changed his mind. "I'm not in the mood, though." He chose to ignore Joka.
"You got me excited for nothing!" He repeatedly punched Kaan's shoulder, and Kaan kept ignoring him. "I don't like fighting a drunk you. It becomes too easy."
"Like you're any better!" He began punching his shoulder faster. Kaan sighed. "Our time's up." The screens and the songs closed, and Kaan placed the speaker on the ground. "What?! But we were just getting to the best part!"
"Rules are rules, Joka. Even if we are one of the great commanders, our time here is up." Kaan left. Joka left while furiously stomping the ground. "You rulesexual!"
"Ugh, I saw that stupid kid today." Joka groaned. "Kai?" Kaan's eyebrows shot up.
"Yeah. You should've been there. He had your eyes. I think he finally learned how to control his Intent. But he still had his pupils." They walked on the streets of Cindralith, enjoying the night life of the island. "That's the hardest part to get rid of. It requires great mastery, but even the fact that he can now control his Intent at will is a great feat. Almost nobody can do that."
"Well, how did you do it then?" Joka threw a hand over Kaan's shoulder. He was clingy when he was drunk. "Hell if I know. I was born with them."
"PRODIGY!" He started hitting Kaan's shoulder again.