[center][b][u][i]Fenix Tear - Foyer[/i][/u][/b][/center]

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/1t1YMWN.jpeg[/img][/center]

[center]For all of his life, Aki has been a boy of suspicion and mistrust, not just in mistrusting other people, but in other people mistrusting him.[/center]

It wasn't that long ago that he had a place to call his home with a family to call his own, yet it felt like an eternity since such things were snatched from him by the whims of fate. He was a Kunihisa, but even before he became the monstrosity that he is now, he had people in his farming village treating him as a bad omen. Countryside villages like Yoake tend to be more open to fears and superstition than more populated communities, and that signature red hair of his gave away the fact that whoever his mother was, She clearly wasn't anyone from around their parts. In spite of whatever Red hair meant in the cities of Shangri-La, all it was at best to a mere rural village was the symbol of an outsider, and at worst, a blasphemy of the father eloping with one far above his stature.

Throughout his life, there were only two who'd support him when all else wanted nothing to do with him, A girl from the village - Yuna Valentine - and his family.

The former was a kind and innocent girl of whom Aki was best friends with; she ended up dying when they were young. However, her spirit seems to have lived on within him - at least that's how the villagers seemed to have believed it when he claimed he's been hearing her voice in his head - and evidently not in the best of ways. She became a phantom, a cursed spirit that somehow bonded to him via a haunting, connecting the two souls together in the same body. It's not clear how it happened, and at first he wasn't even convinced it was Yuna to begin with. This phantom had the same memories, the same likes and dislikes, thoughts and feelings and knowledge only the real Yuna would know, yet her personality was somehow...[i]different.[/i] There was a kind of obsession with keeping Aki safe from anyone, lashing out whenever there was a threat, creating misfortune for aggressive villagers, and of course because of this, their combined existence was that much more of an ill omen for the village, as if they didn't have enough reasons to treat him poorly.

As for the latter, most of the Kunihisa family saw Aki as nothing less than a member of the family. Some were in agreement with the village regarding Aki's ominous existence, but they'd never dare to say that directly without becoming disowned. Instead they'd trick and deceive, get him into trouble just like every other bully around that village, all to give some kind of excuse to kick him out. The rest of them never let that happen though; they treated him like family, protecting him from fear and anxieties of Yoake lashing out at him for every unfortunate event that transpires. But what happened to them, what their compassion rewarded them, hardly needs to be said. Aki barely remembers what happened, and Yuna seemed unsure herself. All he remembered was a startling agony through his body while hunting with his family one day, his consciousness fading away from the pain. When he woke up, they all laid lifeless at his feet, his own body drenched in what could only be their blood.

It was at this point that he became a Vampire, and naturally the Village had all the reasons they could ever want to finally end the source of their troubles once and for all. Were it not for Yuna's voice yelling at him to run for it, he probably would have just let them do as they wish to him. Not that they'd ever be able to with their primitive weaponry, now that Aki had Reflector Magic as a result of his transformation.

So he ran, he ran as far as he could, away from the screams and vitriol of his home town, away from the survivors of his clan who blamed him for their deaths and called him a monster, and from accepting the possibility that they may have been [i]right.[/i] As a cursed phantom, Yuna seemed to help him any way she could, though that only served to prove him a menace and a monstrous threat people claim him to be. Inevitably, this caught him on the radar of Shangri-La's police force, and the Guilds as a monster-elimination target. He's been drifting around for a bit, never knowing if someone's willing to sell him out or stab him in the back, always asking questions and not taking risks, helped by Yuna of course.

However, even with his new magic - not helped by his clear and obvious inexperience - it was only a matter of time before they were arrested. It didn't take long to sentence him to Death for his crimes and his existence.

That would have been the end of his tale, if not for a certain Icy Guild Master and her motley crew stepping in to take him for themselves, saving his life in the process.

[hr]

All that to say he has been through a lot in his life, has plenty of reasons to be suspicious of others when anyone associated with him are either dead, or deceiving him. Even now, he's convinced that the only he's still alive is to be this "Ur"'s slave. But at the same time, a life debt is a life debt; what choice did he have?

[center][i]...So it's no true exaggeration to say that, to him, this has got to be the most suspicious and untrustworthy motely crew he has EVER seen.[/i][/center]

It was actually kind of impressive; they'd have to actually [i]try[/i] to be this shady and crazy. This wasn't a guild as he's heard of them, it was a mental asylum!

Where would he even begin to describe what he just entered? Well, how about the lady who almost cut his bloody head off on sight before they even got into the building, with a sword that somehow got past his Reflector? How she even pulled that off in the first place, when all other weapons were able to be distorted away from him, was a mystery to them. The only reason he got captured in the first place was by an ambush without weapons, the police just beating him with their fists since his Reflector can't distort living organisms in defense. Was there something special about her sword?

In any case, As soon as the sword Kintsugi was close to his neck, a black aura was manifesting above Aki in response, but deteriorated almost immediately as the wielder of the sword hesitated, distracted by, apparently, an illusion brought about by two small creatures.

Twice now, Ur seemed to save his ass with the help of the two that were with her before - Both weirdly dressed in his eyes, quite frankly - and some kind of entity he couldn't quite explain that seemed to stop the psycho-samurai in her tracks, quite literally. Aki didn't notice the little fox on Ur's shoulder, mostly because the second he noticed Ur was practically nude, his eye sight faded to black while he blushed. Seems Yuna blinded Aki from seeing this perversion, mentally ranting about the perverted madness of a woman who'd walk around a city butt-ass naked in broad daylight.

She took off the veil from the eyes the second the nudist was out of sight, and he stepped into the guildhall itself. Things...only got stranger from there.

Let's see, there's the sex offender with the fox on her shoulder. [@Dane] [@Sadu]

The crazy lady from before who got hit with a sudden short-term amnesia apparently. [@Digmata]

The two boys from before, one of which seemed to have a harem of ladies wanting to fawn over him and the other's...Well Aki has no idea what the deal with him was as he looked like he was having a sudden seizure on the ground and no one seemed to be concerned about that, so he can only assume that's some kind of oddly normal behavior for him. [@Aguy] [@Noob5674]

There's the white-haired lady who wrapped some kind of choker around his neck, that seemed to effect his Vampirism and allowed him to summon up Yuna's phantom with a push of the button on his own...which suggests she can't do so on her own anymore, which to be fair, is probably for the best. No real words beyond what was necessary, as she put the choker on him and headed over to the two boys, particularly the one with the narcissist with the harem, to arrange a deal of some kind...

 After which the guy/entity who froze that lady from before suddenly appeared and went into a debate with her. [@JrVader]

Finally, there was the girl playing a fiddle, interestingly with the same red hair as himself, which in itself was a curious thing. His family told him that red hair was some kind of symbol of nobility in the city. It was something he never really thought about before, but does that mean his mother was a noble too? Was this girl connected in some way? Probably not; there's likely a lot of unrelated noblemen and women who happen to have red hair here. [@Petulant]

Were they missing anyone? ...Ah yes, the Ghost girl who came down when Ur began talking to him and making promises to protect him, who seemed to be a big deal around here, all things considered. She was apparently attempting to put the mark of the guild upon the hand he was supposed to stretch out. But it seems the situation with the apparent elites of this place required her attention more. One probably would be shocked to see a ghost girl lingering around the guild hall, but he's been so used to being haunted by a spirit himself, seeing another one wasn't all that surprising. [@Thanatos 7]

[color=lime][i]"What the hell kind of guild is this!?"[/i][/color] Yuna spoke in Aki's mind.

[color=red][i]"Yeah, I'm starting to think we should have taken our chances with the execution."[/i][/color] Aki thought in response, clearly nervous of this place.

Still, he listened to the woman who saved his life, who vowed to protect him from the White Creed, looking her square in the eye...if only to keep focus away from the fact she was still apparently without any clothes.

Aki was someone who questioned everything, and yes, he was practically overloaded with questions about the people here as this place triggered just about every alarm bell in his head. But as he listened to Ur, sensing the sincerity in her words, reminiscent of his father's own, of Yuna's - well, "past" Yuna's - own, there only one out of hundreds that floated up from his subconscious.

[color=red][b]"...Why? Why are you guys helping me like this? You stopped a government-backed execution and brought me here, giving me this...thing on my neck and asking me to join a guild you probably risked the existence of with that stunt. None of you even know me, but you should know what I am, what I apparently did. I-I mean, this [i]is[/i] a guild, right? You must have seen the request to hunt me down to even know I was about to die. Why go out of your way to rescue and take in a Vampire, [i]a Monster?[/i]"[/b][/color] He asked.

[color=lime][i]"...Really laying on the Melodrama there, Aki."[/i][/color]

[color=red][i]"I-...I know, it's just...Nothing about this adds up, what sane person would risk their whole guild to break a Vampire out of a death sentence?"[/i][/color]

[color=lime][i]"Aki, look around, I don't think there's a single 'sane' person here..."[/i][/color]