The hut, Ash and Rukia lived here for a bit...

[AshAvalon]

Rictor and Demetra finally make it to the abandoned hut in Bangor. From her observations, there seemed to be no signs of intrusion(which was actually surprising). With the still unconcious Rukia in Rictor's arms, Demetra lead them to a backroom. Demetra removed her tailsmans and walked into the dark room. She lit a nearby torch and motioned to put Rukia down on an empty table, near another table with a covered object. "My son and this woman lived here? I thought my son would have wined and dined the girl better." joked Rictor. "Can I talk to you about something, Sir Rictor?" asked Demetra as she went near the covered table. "What is it?" asked Rictor, who was now interested in the table as well. "Take a look at this." Demetra uncovered the object, which turned out to be a body identical to Rukia's. Rictor jumped back. "Egad!" he cried. "Calm down. I'll explain everything. As you can tell, Miss Kuwinska here isn't fully human. You can tell since she is shooting more sparks out of her wounds then blood. Well she used to be fully human. A strong, promising warrior from the land of Chuzu. Her peers and friends hoped she would lead the village one day, but she had a rival. A brash man that had a nasty grudge againest her. This man hated her so that he took part in dark arts and skill training just so he could best her and he did. Poor Rukia's body was so badly damaged, she would have been a vegetable for the rest of her life. The sad thing was that the young man made Rukia believe that he was a friend of hers. He would have done worse if Ash wasn't in the area. He came and the youth fled, knowing that Ash was still out of his league. Ash quickly healed all her wounds and Rukia made a quick, full recovery.

To be continued...

[AshAvalon]

"No wonder why Rukia is so dedicated to him" said Rictor. "But my son never had the ability to recreate bodies. That's one of the highest level alchemy, spiritual or magic level of skill." "Well, all that Ash really did was transfer her soul to a sword that he made himself. I'm talking about Rukia's prized Reqiuem blade. Ash made it from the metal of the very sword he fought with when he was a fallen warrior. Ash did so that her soul would be lessed harmed and she was guaranteed to survive the surgery needed to convert her body. Currently, Rukia uses her body more like a puppet, as so long the sword is nearby. Ash taught Rukia some of that, but she soon realized that Ash would always outperform her and so would her rival. Ash was an esper, a superhuman. Her rival was enhanced by dark power. Ash suggested that she augment her body so that she would be able to hold more chi and also be physically stronger. She took the opportunity without heistation." "How do you know all this?" asked Rictor. "Rukia left a diary here. It's very obvious from the writings how deeply in love she is with your son. In another writing, she wrote how when she reunited with Ash that he told her he made her another real body, so that she could return to being fully human when her power was no longer needed. He promised her that she wouldn't have to fight all her life like he had to. He vowed to "be her sword." I examined the body itself though and found it tainted with mind-controlling magic, but it seemed different from Ash himself. It was very dark, very forbearing. From my...prior experiences with Ash, it seemed more like an outside magic that was influencing Ash. "Hmm, I figured. It was Zeal's power that made this happen" "It turned out okay though. The magic was weak enough so I could dispeal it. And I'm pretty sure Ash didn't see this coming. Well enough talking, we need to get this done." Demetra took the Reqiuem sword, which seemed to pulsate with life. As soon as the sword was moved away, the original body of Rukia lost it's signs of life. As soon as Demetra placed the sword in the other body's hands, a glowing orb came out of it and melted into the other body. Rukia Kuwinska woke up in a shock at first. Rictor and Demetra calmed her down, explained everything and clothed her. She remembered everything and she also remembered the fight in which Ash was in right now. Demetra reminded her that since she lost her cybernetic body, she wouldn't be as strong as she was. Since Demetra used to be a necromancer, she had knowledge of this art, although it wasn't the style of a necromancer to recreate bodies. After burying the old body and burning down the hut, Rukia walked out with new resolve. She felt her heart, a real beating heart. She felt human, something which she hasn't felt in a while. Demetra summoned the cloud again and all three headed back to Merak. From there airborne view, they could see lots of dust and smoke in the air. All three prayed that Ash was still hanging on.