[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/nmkJPIx.png[/img][/center] [center]----- Witnessing Aaron Kissing Magdalena -----[/center] When Aaron and Magdalena did not return after the group’s discussion was over, Olivia asked Kimberly to go search for the two so that the group could leave the area to find civilization. Keeping his ears and nose sharp, it did not take long to spot them. The giant was ready to raise his hand and call to them when it happened. Aaron’s lips clashed into Magdalena’s. Kimberly halted at the sight. They were kissing. As soon as he processed what was happening, the giant averted his eyes, feeling as though he had just intruded in an intimate moment. Naturally, his gaze landed onto his roommate. Ghost stood there silently. Kimberly watched Ghost’s face change from pure shock to a heart wrenched expression. It was a facial expression that Kimberly had seen his imaginary friend show every time Magdalena was intimately involved with someone, a phenomenon that the giant could only recall happening twice. Each time it happened, Ghost became blue and showed symptoms of a heartbreak. For the first few days, Ghost would not appear in front of Kimberly, locked away in his little room inside Kimberly’s head, and when he finally got out of there, it would take weeks for him to get back on his feet. A time period, which usually meant that Kimberly was going to be forced to consume copious amounts of sweets and listen to hours of Ghost’s ramblings. At first, Kimberly thought that that was all that was going to happen. He was ready to place his hand onto Ghost’s shoulder to comfort him. He even prepared himself for a day full of nothing but sweets: a day that would surely end with him becoming diabetic. None of this would happen, however. Before his hand could reach Ghost’s shoulder, his roommate’s heartbroken face transformed into anger. Kimberly stilled his hand. This was not like him. As much as Ghost was prone to jealousy, he had never shown rage when Magdalena was in a relationship before. What was different now, from the previous ones? It was a simple answer: Magdalena rejected the kiss. Not only that, she started to have what Kimberly could only describe as a panic attack. Aaron’s kiss triggered her fit of terror, which in turn triggered Ghost’s intense reaction filled with anger, disgust, and hostility towards Aaron. It was hatred. It was the beast that Kimberly saw two years ago. Two years ago, when Ghost---… Kimberly almost beat a man to death. Kimberly felt himself become pale, his heart almost stopped beating as dread dropped from above and down into the bottom of his stomach. Ghost wanted to harm Aaron. Maybe even kill him. He had no basis for this conclusion, but his gut ordered his body to grab onto Ghost right as Magdalena and Aaron ran right past the two. With the wild beast struggling to be free of Kimberly’s grasp, Kimberly did not have the luxury to think about what could have happened if he had not trapped Ghost’s movements in time. “LET GO OF ME!” Ghost roared as his feet stomped and kicked at Kimberly’s feet and legs. “No! I know what you were about to do! I’m not letting this happen again! Not with my friend!” Ghost roared in frustration as he slammed the back of his head into Kimberly’s face, which allowed him the chance to escape. Quickly turning around, he glared at the giant, “FRIEND? You’re letting a sexual assaulter get away!” “Don’t call him that! He---…!” “WHY THE F*CK NOT!? FORCED KISSING IS UNDER THE CATEGORY OF SEXUAL ASSAULT, KIMBERLY! ARE YOU SAYING THAT IF YOU GENTLY DO IT, IT'S SUDDENLY OKAY? EVEN IF THE OTHER PERSON OBVIOUSLY DOESN'T WANT IT? OR IS IT BECAUSE IT WAS AARON!? IS IT SUDDENLY F*CKING OKAY TO FORCE YOURSELF ON SOMEONE ELSE DEPENDING ON WHO THE F*CK IT IS!? DOES NOTHING OF WHAT SHE THINKS OR FEELS MATTER!? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS AGAIN KIMBERLY!? WHY DO YOU LET THESE SELFISH PSYCHOPATHS GO UNPUNISHED!? WHY DO YOU KEEP LETTING HER GO THROUGH THIS SH*T WHEN IT WASN’T HER FAULT!?” “Wha---… what are you ---…” The spirits detected a sudden change in the atmosphere, making both Kimberly and Ghost freeze. Something was happening that the Tree of Life. They could hear the faint sounds of people yelling. The two exchanged looks at each other and a silent truce was made before Kimberly bolted towards the Tree’s direction. --- The look on her face. The emotional turmoil that showed through her eyes, something that she did not normally allow to presented itself, was there for everyone to see. It looked as if she feared the possibility of Kimberly witnessing the whole ordeal. Maybe he was too rash on his decision to follow the two. She did not want anyone ---not even Aaron--- to see this side of her. She did not want to say the things she said. Yet… somewhere inside, Kimberly did not think she did the wrong thing. Sure, she could have worded it better ---not that he, of all people, had any right to say that to Magdalena---, but she did not actually say anything wrong. Aaron kissed her, something that she did not appreciate and thought that he did in the spur of the moment; an action caused by his recent rejection by Olivia. She needed to do that. Even if it must have hurt Aaron’s feelings, it was necessary to say “no” to him. If she hadn’t, Aaron would have continued to do something that she did not want and that was not fair for him or her. As for Chaos. That… was simply unfortunate. Aaron, despite his good intentions, had outright rejected the spirits within Magdalena. Spirits, which before the Tree of Life, largely defined who each member of WARG was; spirits that chose their host because something in the host attracted them. Aaron may not have known it when he had said it, but he unwittingly called Magdalena an “evil thing” right in her face. Magdalena’s rejection of Aaron might have hurt Aaron, but Aaron also cut just as deep into her heart. Kimberly wanted to say something to the two, some comforting words that could serve as a first aid for the heart. But his tongue was not capable of moving so smoothly; his throat would not emit the sounds as fast as he wished them to come; and his mind could not think of the appropriate words for either of them. So he ended up just watching Aaron stand defeated and Magdalena walk away in shame. Empathy touched Ghost during the brief seconds that the small woman passed by Kimberly. The raven-haired man could tell that it had told Ghost something that he would never know about. Ghost turned towards Magdalena’s direction. “Lena!” Ghost called out as Magdalena continued to walk away from Kimberly. He held on to her shadow as long as he could as he continued, “there’s no reason for you to regret what you said! You did nothing wrong! In fact, I’m damn proud of you, Lena!” She kept walking away. “You were extraordinary! Do you even realize what you accomplished, Lena? You did things that you would have never done before! You helped Kimberly out! You tried to give Emily emotional support! You spoke your mind! You actually stood up for yourself! You stood up for what you believed! You defended yourself! You are not that girl anymore! You’ve become stronger than you ever imagined!” Ghost ran to her side and even stood in front of her to talk directly at her face, but she walked right through him. Like a ghost. “There’s no need to feel sorry for Ron! He needed to hear that! He needed to know what you felt! F*ck everyone needs to know when they did something right or wrong! Don’t feel like you’re the bad guy, Lena! There’s no reason to regret what you needed to do!” No one heard Ghost’s voice even when he was yelling at the top of his lungs to be heard. The world still ignored him. “I’m so proud of you, Lena!” His words fell on deaf ears. “I’m proud of you Magdalena…” She was gone. --- After giving a few minutes for Magdalena, Kimberly left Aaron in the groups’ care and searched for their smallest teammate. Like before, it did not take long for him to find who he was looking for. Approaching her carefully, Kimberly informed her that the group needed to leave soon. As he waited patiently for the petite woman to respond and begin to return to the group, Kimberly started to mumble something. After some attempts, the soft spoken giant finally blurted it out, “you did nothing wrong.” Silence. “You… stood up for yourself… and… Aaron needed to know.” Kimberly gaze fell onto Magdalena and then turned to look at the dumbfounded Ghost. “It… must… have took a lot of courage… to say it… b-but… but you did it, Maggie.” “We---… ‘I’ am proud of you Magdalena.” Ghost smiled at Kimberly. “‘I’m’ very proud of you.” --- [center]----- The Anatolian Wilderness: During One of WARG’s Breaks-----[/center] For the most part, Kimberly was amazed at Ghost’s restraint during their travel through the wilderness. He had thought, with what happened at the Tree of Life, that Ghost would act bitter and angry for the entirely of the day, but amazingly, he behaved as normally as he would have in any other day. He even responded to conversations with the name “Aaron” without a negative response. As it turned out, however, this was actually the closest thing to the “silent treatment” Ghost could actually do. He acted as though nothing had happened when Aaron’s name came up, but the moment Kimberly got too close to said Aaron, Ghost continuously attempted to harass Aaron using juvenile level annoyance tactics. Fortunately, 99% of what Ghost had done went unnoticed. Unfortunately, it meant that 1 in 100 times, Ghost succeed and it made Kimberly look like an a**hole for bullying Aaron. When Ghost succeeded 3 out of 300 attempts, Kimberly had enough. The moment the group took their much-needed rest, Kimberly apologized to Aaron and then excused himself from the group. After walking some distance away from them, the giant finally yelled at Ghost. “Okay, now… now you’re just… acting like… like a child!” “He started it!” “Stop… right there. I’m… in no mood for… this.” “No. In this case, he did start it. If he hadn’t kissed Lena, this chain of events would’ve never happened.” “Stop blaming him… for everything that happened. It sounds… like you’re trying to justify your… unneeded behavior. He might have… done something… Maggie didn’t like… but he meant no harm!” “And you need to stop f*cking protecting him for every sh*t he does wrong. He screwed up royally. Whatever respect I had for him, is gone. I honest to Kami, don’t give a damn about him anymore. The only reason why I haven’t punched him into a bloody pulp is because he’s your friend.” “You …. sound like you’re… just jealous…. that he was able to do something… that you’d never be able… to do.” “I probably am, but you know what? It still doesn’t change the fact that he’s a self-centered spoiled brat who does everything on a whim without any regard for the other person’s feelings. He projects his own desires into others and does what he f*cking wants to them, because he is under the illusion that that was actually what THEY wanted, when it was always only what HE wanted! I thought he loved Vi. I actually admired his devotion and I even rooted for them. It is a pity that he was rejected, but did you see how fast and eager he was to jump to the next girl? How easily he replaced someone? Lena is not a spare part. Vi is not something to be replaced either. But to him, that’s what they exactly were: replaceable. Did you know, a couple hours from Olivia’s rejection, he had the balls to even say---…” Ghost’s voice changed into Aaron’s as he spoke. “‘For you...I could burn the world to ashes if it would mean that you would be safe. I may not be able control myself now, but I will use my anger against anyone that makes the mistake of threatening you.’ To Lena?” Ghost’s voice returned as he laughed, “suddenly, he’s capable of destroying the world for a girl who suddenly became more important than the girl he supposedly loved!? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! He would kill his friends if it meant that he could keep a girl! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AND he dare called Samil a MADMAN!? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Kimberly, it doesn’t matter who it is! That psychopath only wants someone, anyone, to love him! To make him feel needed and important! With what happened, it obviously never had to be Vi! Then what makes you think it has to be Lena!? He was able to toss ‘the love of his life’ to the side and replace it within a single f*cking day! What makes you think he won’t do that to Lena!? He didn’t even apologize to her for what he did! No. I may never be able to touch her like he did. I will never be accepted or rejected by her: she may never truly acknowledge me as long as I exist, but I want her to be happy. She deserves to be happy. She needs to be happy. And Aaron is not capable of doing that. Not with his insecurity or his flimsy ass allegiance. If he wants Lena, he better f*cking prove it, because I swear to Kami, I will kill him if he uses her like ‘him’.” “I-it was… a moment of vulnerability… he was heartbroken! He wanted comfort---…” “Stop it! Stop it you f*cking goody-two-shoes! Why do you keep looking at a problem and try to justify it!? Why do you keep ignoring it!? He was vulnerable!? So was Lena! And he took advantage of it! He tried to make her his while she was down so that he could feel better about himself!” “That---…!” Ghost suddenly burst into another fit of laughter, “I just realized something. Haha! You and Aaron are similar, aren’t you? You’re wanna be heroes. Insecure children, unable to bare loneliness and incapable of living on your own when you both think that your existence some how makes life harder for those around you. Which, it does, at the moment. You both claim that your friends are one of the most important things in your world and that you would do just about anything to help them… but you guys never actually make anything better do you? In Aaron’s case, he makes it worse by doing things he claims is for the other person’s sake when they didn’t even ask for it. And in your case… AHAHA! Oh, in a sense, you are much worse! In your case, YOU BACK AWAY! Whenever you get too close, YOU BACK AWAY! THIS IS EXACTLY WHY YOU CAN NEVER BE A ‘HERO’ KIMBERLY! YOU ARE ALWAYS AFRAID OF GETTING HURT, BY HURTING SOMEONE ELSE! SO YOU TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT! YOU CAN’T SAVE ANYONE THAT WAY KIM! WHY WON’T YOU LOOK STRAIGHT AT THE UGLY FACTS OF LIFE? THERE’S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ACCEPTING AND IGNORING IT! YOU’RE NOT AS DENSE AS YOU ACT KIM! YOU KNOW WHEN THERE’S A PROBLEM, BUT YOU NEVER TRY TO PUSH THE MATTER ANY FURTHER! YOU KEEP BACKING AWAY, IGNORING IT ALL, BECAUSE YOU’VE BRAINWASHED YOURSELF INTO THINKING THAT YOU AREN’T CAPABLE OF HELPING ANYONE! SO YOU WAIT UNTIL SOMEONE ELSE CAN DO IT! AARON IS A SELFISH BASTARD, BUT YOU’RE A COWARD KIM! YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE PROBLEM GETS IGNORED! WORSE CASE SCENARIO, PEOPLE DIE! AND YOU ALREADY F*CKED UP TWICE! THREE TIMES IF YOU WANT TO INCLUDE VIVIAN. ISN’T THAT WHY YOU WANTED TO HELP PEOPLE? WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING HERE IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING AT ALL!? SUCK IT UP KIMBERLY! SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO HURT FEELINGS FOR THE HEART TO BECOME STRONGER! YOU NEED TO FACE WHAT YOU DON’T WANT TO FACE TO HELP, TO TRULY HELP PEOPLE!” “Forcing… your way in… doesn’t always work. You… you… can’t force change… if they don’t… want change. It’s better to… wait for them… to come to you.” “But sometimes they never ask for the help they need. They sometimes don’t think they need help. You should know that, Kim. She’d never ask for help.” “We’re… not talking… about me or Aaron anymore… are we?” Ghost let out a deep breath, “the point is. Aaron is too immature and I will treat him as the self-centered brat that he is until he grows the f*ck up. When he stops feeling sorry for himself and actually takes the time to actually see what people want or need… then…” His fingers combed through his hair, “then I’ll leave it up to Lena. She… can choose him.” The two stood there in momentary silence. [i]Let’s negotiate. If Aaron apologizes to Maggie, you stop your bullying.[/i] Ghost crossed his arms and turned his head away from Kimberly defiantly. [i]You will stop bullying Aaron, if he apologizes to Maggie. Okay?[/i] “You suck at this negotiation thing. That sounds more like an order.” [i]You’re right. It is.[/i] Ghost sighed, “fine. I’ll stop. I’ll even kiss him as an added bonus.” [i]And you said forced kissing was a sexual assault.[/i] “Not only will he not notice it, but regardless if he does, that’s what he gets for doing it to Lena. Win, win.” As soon as Kimberly returned to the group, he walked straight towards Aaron. “Aaron… you need to apologize to Maggie. This… tension between you two… it can only get worse and… it’ll affect others… around you. “ Kimberly glanced at Ghost, then back at Aaron. “Talk to her… explain… if you need to… for her to understand… but you need to apologize.” --- [center]-----The Anatolian Wilderness: Battle III-----[/center] The pain was not like anything he had ever experienced before. Kimberly could feel his bones crack; his organs shift around, and his muscles and skin stretch more than they should have. His clothes were becoming too constricting that it made it hard to breath. In the haziness of the pain, Kimberly tried to remove his jacket. He would not have been able to do the normally simple task if Magdalena did not offer a helping hand. Despite the assistance, the jacket ---along with all his personal possessions in the pockets---was the only thing she was able to salvage before the already giant man grew too large for his clothes, tearing them as he continued to morph into something that humans were not supposed to look like. He could hear the sound of a thousand voices talking to someone. [center][i]Magdalena Abendroth, lend us thy strength. [/i][/center] Kimberly could not hear what words she used in response to the spirit’s request, but when he felt the intense heat of fire flow into his body, he knew that Magdalena agreed. The metamorphosis was complete. The once hairy ---but still very human--- man transformed into a full-fledged bear right before everyone’s very eyes. Not just any bear, either: a fire bear. A bear with flames for fur; nails and teeth that were black and glassy as obsidian; lava that replaced the saliva that was supposed to be dripping down its mouth; breath so hot that it could cause degree second-degree burns without trying; and eyes that shined as bright as any great fire could. Its mere presences melted near by snow and burned anything that was flammable at its feet. [i]Oh... my... Kami...[/i] [center][i]It is your new power, Kimberly Faye. Use it wisely.[/i][/center] --- After getting over the initial shock ---and realization that Magdalena were linked so that not only could he share a spirit with her, but was able to communicate with the mind alone--- Kimberly, the fire bear, decided that the time spent questioning his new ability was probably better used if he used said ability on the swarm of enemies in front of the group. The giant bear ran towards the first group of Blobs and slashed his sharp claws through them like a hot knife through butter. When the second and third group charged towards Kimberly, he tried punching them and biting them, but once he was finished dealing with the third group and took a look around, it was obvious that the army of mini-Blobs were not decreasing in number. They needed to kill their leader, or leaders if there were more than one. A quick glance around revealed that there were a few Blobs that were distinctively larger than any of the other ones. With no other candidates, Kimberly called for Magdalena’s attention. [i]Maggie! Over there! The big one! [/i] Understanding what he was suggesting, Magdalena nodded and the two started to run towards the closest Blob Leader, which was surrounded by continuously spawning mini-Blobs. Kimberly, using his large fiery body, rammed his way through the horde and spat lava from his mouth, time to time, to make a clear way through the xenomorphs. As the large bear charged his way through, at some point, Magdalena jumped on to catch a ride and assisted Kimberly by slashing at any and all mini-Blobs stupid enough to get near them. Once Kimberly and Magdalena were able to see the Blob leader clearly, Kimberly held his breath to begin charging his lava breath and the second they got close enough he let the blast of lava erupt from his mouth and onto the Blob leader. [hider=Summary] [list][*]Kimberly shape-shifted into a bear and made a link with Magdalena and is borrowing/sharing her fire/lava spirit to become a fire/lava bear.[/*][*]After attacking three groups of mini-Blobs, Kimberly charges through a horde of them to get to a Blob leader, with Magdalena catching a ride. [/*][*]Once they reached one, Kimberly attacked it using a charged lava breath.[/*][/hider]