Ima's True Story

Ima was doing a sort of hop-skip-jump thing down the streets of Magnolia Town. The sun was shining brightly, which only added to her good mood. She wasn't sure why she felt this way. Somehow the child got the impression that this was simply going to be a wonderful wonderful day.

In foresight, interesting might be a better word.

Passing by a road that split off to the side, she noticed some red at the corner of her vision. Turning her head, the child recognized the back of someone she knew very well.

Her smile got impossibly wide. This was going to be a wonderful day.

She lowered her gravity and leaped, floating down and landing softly on the shoulders of the person she knew. The child wrapped her small arms around his head in an odd sort of hug.

"Takato!" Ima cried happily.






No offense, but I'd appreciate it if only me and Leon were in this one. Sorry, but Ima doesn't trust anyone else like she does with Takato. Yet.

The amber eyed Magi blinked before grinning, scratching his cheek as he came to a steady stand. He slowly came to return to the odd hug, his smile hiking at the edge of his lips. "Hey, you seem to be in a good mood." Saying that though, Ima rarely wasn't in a good mood. Takato gazed at the small girl as he gently pulled away, crossing his arms as his arched a single eyebrow, "Any reason?"

"I dunno!" Ima said, very giggly, letting herself bounce on the ground. "It just sort of happened. I've just got a very good feeling about today. Maybe it was because the sun looked so pretty this morn-"

"Ima?"

A voice came from not very far away. Ima's eyes grew wide as she stopped bouncing and snapped her head in its direction.

The was a dark haired person staring at her with eyes that seemed as wide as Ima's own, though his were hidden behind glasses, and thus hard to tell. He looked to be about Takato's age, although he was about the norm height-wise for his age, if not a tad on the tall side. The person wore a lab coat, and seemed to be holding groceries.

"No way..." The alien breathed.

Takato arched an eyebrow, his soft amber eyes landing upon the person before coming to focus at Ima. He brought up his gloved metal hand and rubbed the back of his head as he spoke silently to the small girl "Friend of yours?" He had yet to meet anyone Ima knew, so this could make for a pleasant surprise. Or unpleasant.

He hoped it wasn't the later.

The little girl didn't respond to Takato. She seemed far too busy staring at the other person in what seemed to be disbelief, which the other man seemed to return. It was hard to tell behind his tinted lenses.

For what seemed to be an eternity the two didn't move or make any sound.

Then the eternity ended, because Ima threw herself at the other person. "Soooooooool!" She cried happily as the child glomped the person.

Both the groceries and 'Sol' went flying back a bit, and the latter landed on his back with a grunt. Then he laughed and hugged the small child back. "Hello Ima." He said, sounding as elated as Ima did.

"..Sol?" blinked Takato as he crossed his arms and arched his head sideways. Sol? This guy was named after the Sun? The Rutherford didn't know what to make of that, but he shrugged it off either way. He had seen a lot of odd names, hell, look at his own! The Rutherford chuckled to himself and began to walk towards the two people, coming to a stop near the taller boy. His eye twitched at the height difference, but he made sure his voice was polite as he began. "Guess that answers that question, eh?"

Ima blinked. She had pretty much forgotten that Takato was there. She smiled and looked between the two, looking very very happy. "Takato, sorry, I didn't introduce you, did I?" The girl pointed to Sol. "This is Sol. My best friend!"

Then she turned to Sol and pointed at Takato. "This is Takato. He's my first friend here and other best friend!"

Sol brushed himself off, and then looked down at Takato with a kind smile. He didn't seem to notice the mage's annoyance. "Hello sir." Said Sol in his smooth voice as he put out his hand for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Takato Rutherford," began the Magi as he brought up his gloved metal hand to shake. He gave a simple nod with blinking amber eyes, making sure not to crush Sol's hand with the weighted metal. Finally the blonde male scratched his head and then glanced between the two, "So, how did you two meet anyway? For that matter, why are you so surprised to see each other again..?"

"She used to visit where I work."Sol said with a chuckle, as Ima stayed silent, nodding. "She practically lived there with all the time she spent with us."

"It was fun." Added the girl. "Sol would always teach me lots of neat things, and play with me too!" She smiled happily and held onto Sol's coat like she would an older brother or a figure she admired greatly. Her eyes said the same thing as she looked up at him. Then she turned back to her other best friend with a great smile.

"And I was really surprised because I thought Sol was dead!"

"Dead?"

Takato blinked and looked at the man, crossing his arms. Well, he certainly didn't look dead. The Rutherford blinked and arched a single eyebrow at the small girl and man, his voice echoing over his lips. "How did you come to that conclusion?"

"I work at a lab." Began Sol. "One day, something went horribly wrong, and there was a huge explosion. I was the cause of it, and hence was at the center of the blast. I almost did die. But it was my fault anyway."

Ima hugged him tightly and looked said, so the teen picked her up and held her like one would a child younger than her. This seemed to comfort her a bit.

He continued on. "The events are really blurry. I went into a coma for a while. When I woke up, it was a month later. They told me Ima had been the one to find me, but that she vanished after."

Then Ima herself spoke. "I...I don't really remember that well either. Just that I needed to go. Go and never ever come back." She snuggled closer to Sol. She felt so safe with him...

Takato just blinked. The story was sketchy, but he wasn't going to note that out loud. His eyes landed upon Ima and he felt a twinge of something, yet he suited to ignoring it with a unheard snort. The English Magi looked at the two and brought up his hand, his voice echoing once again "You work at a lab? Huh..." Lab, eh? Not a main Magic-user then, nor could he be from Fiore. The Rutherford didn't know what to think of this man, but he refrained from poking around too much because of Ima's friendship. "So, not to be a git', but what exactly are you doing in Fiore?"

He seemed nice enough, so why exactly was something bugging him..?

Sol shook his head. "I don't know." He said. "After all of that happened, I'm pretty much out of the loop of everything. The project I was working on was massive, and I was lucky enough that I was allowed to keep working at the lab after I destroyed it." He shook his head again.

"The only reason I was allowed to come along is that I'm needed for what we're doing. And even then I needed to get on my knees and beg for them to let me come. My real reason for coming though was in hopes of finding Ima, though I never dreamed it would actually happen."

Sol then put the girl down, and kneeled down so he was eye level with her. His face was surprisingly serious. "You know that you have to leave, right? Today. Now would probably be the best time."

Ima nodded, her childish face looking both more serious and sad than one her age seemed able to. "I know."

"Woah, hold it!"

Takato interrupted while holding up his hand, his amber eyes falling on the two. He didn't cut an intimidating or inspiring image, being far shorter than the male next to Ima, and being dressed in rather odd clothes, but he did have a rather sharp spark in his eyes at the tone of the two. "Leave? I understand she has to go home sometime, but what is the rush? There is a festival in a few days, aren't you staying for that?"

Perhaps surprisingly, it was Ima that shook her head. She turned her sad and seemingly ancient eyes to her first human friend. "No. I need to leave." Said Ima. "I'm sorry, I can't stay. I just NEED to-"

"Ah, well if it isn't little Ima."

At this, both Sol and said girl stood straight and rigid, and snapped their heads in the direction of the new voice.

It was an older looking man, appearing perhaps in his late thirties or early forties. He was very plain in looks, but had the same hair and coat as Sol did. The biggest difference besides his age was his eyes.

While Sol hid his eyes behind some odd type of glasses, this man did not, showing his eyes that were a coal black.

The color of his heart, one might say.

And his eyes certainly showed that he meant far worse than his jovial tone implied.

Ima began shaking, looking more terrified than she had ever before. Sol looked at Ima sadly, and the resignedly at the man.

"Sir." He said, monotone.

The gloved hands twitched, amber eyes falling upon the newly arrival. Takato gazed for a few seconds before shaking his head and walking forward. He could smell fear. He didn't like it, not one bit. He silently passed Ima and Sol without another word, crossing his arms as he came to a stand still with an arched eyebrow. Finally tension was let loose as the Magi spoke calmly, scratching the back of his head cheekily,

"Yeah, not to be an ass, but you have about five seconds to explain why Ima fears you."

The man gave an insincere smile. "Now my boy." He said soothingly. "I'm sure you must be mistaken. You see, she surely is shaking out of pure joy. Why wouldn't she?"

His smile seemed to become more sinister.

"How could she possibly be unhappy to see the closest thing she'd seen to family in years?"

The man suddenly seemed to become uninterested in the short boy, and turned his head back to Ima and Sol. "Well done, Sol." He said, his voice filled with false pride and praise. "Come here."

Sol didn't even glance at Ima or Takato before walking over, stopping only when he was right in front of the man. "Sir." The teen repeated.

"That's my boy..." Said the man. "Now you weren't thinking of trying to tell Ima to leave before we could find her, now were you? Tell the truth."

"I was, sir." Was Sol's monotone and emotionless reply.

Something happened that the others couldn't quite see, but the younger man was suddenly kneeling, face contorted in pain and mouth open in a silent scream. It was over in less than a few seconds, and Sol gasped, begin to dry heave as if to get rid of the pain.

"Now that's not good." The older man said. "Remember what happened last time."

He left Sol to recover and stared at Ima, beckoning for her to come with one hand. "It's time to go home now, Ima."

Ima couldn't move.

Magic?

No, something else.

Takato narrowed his eyes and suddenly stood in front of Ima, his amber eyes snapping up, His slowly brought up a palm and pointed it at Sol, a whisper of Latin echoing across the area. A chilling white glow suddenly rose up around the pained man, the healing spell coming into full effect as the Rutherford looked over at him. "Hey, Sol, you okay?" Yet, his amber eyes snapped to a narrow and he turned, his gloved hands clenching deeply. Okay, that was enough. Ima was scared, and her friend had just been hurt. Takato had enough info to decide upon the situation.

"I don't think you quite get it, friend.."

His gloves were torn apart as his cloak was tossed off, the shining metal glowing in the darkness. The amber eyed Magi glared at the man and he held up his shown machine-like hand, a small electrical discharge crackling at the fingertips. All in all, the mild mannered shorty had become a glowing and seemingly dangerous man, if still quite short.

"I think Ima would like you to leave."

The edges of his lips hiked mockingly,

"Sir."

Even 'Sir' was a little surprised by the magic. Then he smiled, a truer one than those before. "Ah, a western mage. I knew one once. It feels like such a long time ago..." The man shook his head in disbelief. "Ah, I feel so old."

Then he smiled. "And I see you have a similarity with it as well...fascinating."

Then the man chuckled. "But I'm afraid that sort of healing magic won't work on something like Sol."

It was true. Sol, though had admittedly stopped dry heaving, looked no different than before the spell was cast. The teen nonetheless shakily forced himself to his feet, turning to face Takato.

"After all, how can you heal something that isn't truly alive?"

Sol did nothing.

Ima did the same, as she couldn't do anything but even if she wanted to.

"Now it seems that our little girl is having a bit of trouble moving. Sol, if you would please? Retrieve Ima."

The teen started towards the child.

"What?"

Takato froze before lashing upwards with his hand, the earth around Ima shifting with a following of Latin. A massive wall erupted between Ima and Sol, the stone it was made of becoming rather shiny. The Rutherford backed off, his fists clenching as sparks began to echo off of his form. So, he knew of Western Magic? Great. Either way, friend or not, they were not getting Ima. He took a fighting pose for a second before sighing, his voice echoing almost sadly. "Sorry bout this."

His eyes snapped to the two,

"Silicis Telum (Hard Stone Javelin)"

The earth shook beneath them and a large piece of the land, around the size of a small truck, hovered straight over his form, quickly reforming into a massive and rather deadly spear like weapon, floating without will and pointing straight at the two. He held up his hands and then swiped them, sending the large object straight at the two unknown beings.

"Sol, protect."

The dark haired teen turning around and ran back so that he stood him front of the older man. He positioned himself right where the giant rock was going to hit them both. Then, he did something that seemed incredibly stupid.

He jumped toward the attack.

In midair, he pulled back his arm and slammed it straight into the rock.

It instantly shattered in hundreds of fragments, if not more. A few of them ended up hitting Sol, but by the angle of the punch, he had made sure that none hit the older man, Ima, and even Takato.

One of these pieces of rock hit his face, and knocked off his glasses. When he landed, he simply stared at Takato.

His eyes were a glowing red.

Then he grabbed his glasses off the ground and pushed them back on his face with the same hand that he punched with. Some of the skin seemed to be peeling of from the force he had punched with.

And under that skin, was metal.

"...Eh!?"

Takato paused and took a step back, his eyes growing wide as they landed upon the apperance of his new opponent. Metal? What the hell was this guy? He didn't even seem truly damaged by that spell! Okay, this was going to be tougher than he thought, but he now had a target. His amber eyes suddenly flared a bright blue as he slammed both palms together, a rush of light echoing around him. He finally let his arms dangle by his sides, a sharp ocean gaze staring straight ahead,

"You're like me? No. You're something more..."

His lips suddenly arched into a grin,

"Either way, you're gonna have to beat me to get to Ima. Now, come on!"

Sol did nothing, and his face remained expressionless. It was almost as if he were waiting for something. A signal. A sign.

Or an order.

"Fight him." The man with black eyes said.

That was all Sol needed. He dashed towards Takato at a speed that seemed far too fast to be normal. When he got close enough to Takato, he let loose a punch aiming for the mage's solar plexus. But not before saying something that only the two of them could hear.

"I need you to find a way to destroy me."

A metal arm tore through the air, catching the fist with a constant struggle. The Rutherford grunted as he was pushed back, his glowing blue eyes gazing straight into his opponent. He gave an almost unseen shake of his head, a single sentence whispering "Incipio Confestim vi Magica," with that said the Magi gathered a pitch of lightning and wind around his arms, letting loose a shock wave to launch himself backwards and away from his opponent. Without stopping once, he brought up both hands and then slammed them together,

"Ira of nox noctis divum, orbis of duodeviginti, altivolus down procul. Permissum puter hounds of abyssus! Malum obtutus ex afar!"

Anger of night sky, circle of eighteen, soaring down far! To allow rotten hounds of hell! Evil gaze out of afar!

A large bolt of lightning crashed down between them all, a heavy wind picking up in the vicinity of the Magi. Blue eyes snapped to the two beings before a howl of Latin echoed over the area, hands flashing outwards.

"Atrum Murmur Ventus!"

Dark Roaring Wind!

The earth around them was tore apart as a vicous wind exploded forth from out of nowhere, flashes of lightning slamming into random places within the current view. In a matter of a few seconds, the wind had a target. Tree and beast alike were torn apart by the unseen wind blades, cutting apart whatever was in the way. Yet, something odd happened. The attacks bent around the red-eyed being, a sharp grin forming on the features of the Magi. The B-Class Wind spell now soared downwards to the man with the black eyes, increasing in speed as a blue gaze became increasingly deeper in colour.

Sol didn't move. Rather, he seemed to suddenly vanish, reappearing in front of 'Sir'. He gently pushed the other man to the side before taking the blow himself.

The wind hit and he grimaced in pain, before putting up his arms instinctively to cover his face. The gales ripped into him, tearing his coat and some parts of his skin. Where any skin was torn off, there was no blood.

Simply more metal.

When the attack was finished, Sol lowered his arms and smiled sadly at Takato, giving a shake of his head. His expression contrasted greatly with his voice, which was still monotonous, maybe not to show the older man any signs of being how he felt.

"That won't work."

Sol lifted an arm and pointed at Takato. "You can't win like that."

There was a sound like a gunshot, and suddenly what seemed to be the first segment of Sol's pointer finger seemed to be flying at Takato like a bullet.

And it was.