Honesty?

"Ah, there's that man again..."

"Should we trust him, Earl?"

"He could be a spy sent from the Order."

Jaegar was used to hearing such words from the Noah. Their words held no special meaning to him though. The only reason he was here in this blackened city was because he had been called back. Any resistance and he was to be killed. While the thought sickened him Jaegar came back regardless.

"Place smells like filth," he growled, imagining the Noah crawling around. But if he didn't cooperate...well, all of his progress went down the drain. It didn't help that he felt as if he was being consciously watched every step he took. He rubbed at one of his wrists, Clarimonde not particularly liking being there.

"I have no choice...bear with me a little longer..." He mumbled. The dim light was starting to get to his eyes and Jaegar stopped to lean against one of the lamp posts to rub at them. He was sure they could wait a little longer before he reports in.... He closed his eyes to rest, his figure slumping as fatigue from traveling finally caught up to him.

* Ying made a "humph" sound and went up to the person, she saw how much pain he was in as she stopped before him. " Ying will figure it out with first meet so don't worry <3 " Earl said with full confidence in Ying even thought shes not vary nice all the time. " are you okay? do you need help? " She asked while getting closer to him in a kind way.*

Jaegar stared at the Noah who approached him with annoyance, standing up slightly. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "Clarimonde just doesn't like being here long...I need to report to the Earl as well."

Jaegar, in all honesty, didn't want to be around the Noah longer than he would allow himself. But he knew that he needed to stay on this girl's good side if he wanted to stay alive there.

"Sorry, if I'm bothering you," he said, trying to keep his sentences short and polite as best he could.

* As cold as she can be, she didn't even react all she gave him was a straight face showing that she too was more annoyed being around anyone at all. She turned around ignoring what he said knowing her didn't really mean it and started to walking away.*

When the Noah girl left, Jaegar allowed himself to fully fall to the ground. He couldn't show any form of weakness...any form at all lest the Noah be upon him in a heart beat.

"Damn," he muttered as he saw his vision swimming. The black buildings mixed, the landscape broken as he slid his eyes shut. Clarimonde burned in his skin but he did nothing about it, instead allowing himself to fall asleep.

"White, be careful!"

"But, Jaegar, I need to help it! It lost its mommy!"

Jaegar grit his teeth, knowing how White felt about abandoned creatures. "Fine, just let ME put the bird back up in its nest," he said. "I don't want you to hurt yourself."

Jaegar reveled in the memory, reluctant to open his eyes and wake up despite the warning signals Clarimonde was giving off.

* Ying had never left, she had made him see an illusion of her walking away..She watched him fall and thought to her self ' what the hell is he up to?...and were did he get his wounds from? ' Ying crouched down and put her hand kindly on his head and softly pet him on the back of his head..*

Jaegar had felt the warmth on his head, his head tilting lightly into the touch. "White..." he mumbled. He opened his eyes a little to see who it was only to see the Noah girl from before. He reached his hand up to gingerly touch at her wrist.

"Your name?" he asked. "Noah's usually demand my name and why I'm here with the intent to kill...but you seem to be a little different."

She almost gives off the feel of being harmless...heh, I know that's wrong by a long shot, Jaegar thought.

"I'm Jaegar," he said, not knowing why he was suddenly spilling everything to this Noah girl. It must've been the fact that she had made an effort to speak to him unlike the others. "I...I work under the Earl even though I have an innocence so don't worry," he said. "You don't have to kill me just yet."

* Ying just looked at him; even she didn't know why she was being nice.... but it didn't matter because she was passing her magic right into him threw his hand when he was still touching her wrist. After Jaegar finished talking or babbling off she answered his questions..." I'm Ying; and my reason for not having the eager to kill you is only because you are not the one I wont to kill; so I don't care what you do as long as the Earl is okay with it. " She said then she wanted to move her hand away be it seemed as if he didn't want her to...*

Jaegar smirked, letting go of her wrist. "I'm not injured quite like that," he said, getting up slowly from his sitting position. "If you wanted to heal me...you'd have to heal me here."

With that Jaegar made a little "x" over his heart. "I don't think your magic can heal what's ailing me, thanks for the thought, though," he said. He continued walking to where the Earl was but paused, looking over his shoulder at Ying.

"Ying, thanks," he said. "For trying." He pulled down his sleeve to see how Clarimonde was holding up being exposed to the Noah's magic. To his relief, Clarimonde seemed to not have changed any.

I don't need to die just yet, he thought.

*Ying walked past him " who said i was healing you? " she added coldly and with a small evil smirk that fated as fast as it came. Earl came down and stopped in front of Jaegar and Ying stopped just behind him " hes not with the 14th, 15th or 17th he is on our side for now... " she said again with the same tone as before.*

"That's good, Ying <3," the Earl said, his voice forcing a shiver down Jaegar's spine. "Now, Jaegar, weren't you here to report to me about the suspected location? Did you bring anything back? <3"

Jaegar dug into his pocket, tossing the innocence piece to the Earl. "There, just like you wanted," he said. "Now, information." Jaegar watched as the Earl seemed to play with the innocence before destroying it.

"Hmm...not the one...oh well," the Earl said, though not even a hit of disappointment was in his voice. "Now, information, yes, yes...hmm...come back later! <3" Jaegar glared at the Earl but said nothing, turning on his heel to leave.

"Ah, Jaegar, this is an order," the Earl said, his voice taking on a much darker tone. "Do not leave the ark yet. You have a new mission coming soon...stay until then or the consequences will be most dire." With that missive the Earl went prancing off, leaving Jaegar to stand there trembling. He brought out his innocence quickly, lashing at the nearest building he could. The structure collapsed under Clarimonde's strength, Jaegar standing there looking pissed.

"Who does he think he is?" Jaegar growled, but brought his innocence back in. "Hmph...orders are orders though..." Even if he did desperately want to go out and check on White.

Ruusu laughed, and waltzed from behind a nearby potted plant. "Well, he is the Earl, and he does have a God-complex." he said, non-chalantly. "I guess you could say that he tends to be over-bearing yet lovable at the same time."

Remembering his manners, Ruusu stuck his hand out and said "Ruusu Lilja, 16th Noah and Noah of Pain." Flashing an evil smirk, he added "Though, I guess you would already know that, eh?"

Jaegar looked at the offered hand with suspicion before taking it, "Jaegar. Jaegar Redwood. And actually, I've never particularly cared about keeping up with the Noah."

Jaegar smirked, remembering listening to one of the Noahs before, "Unless you're that infamous 'Roses and Lilies' I keep on hearing about?"

* When the Innocence was destroyed Ying knew Yang had felt it cry out for some one to save it but She knew Yang could not do a thing to help it. After Earl and Jaegar had finished talking and the Earl left she staid. She wanted to leave but the Earl gave her an Order to watch over him for a while.*

An evil aura surrounded Ruusu as Jaegar called him a nickname only one person was allowed to call him.

"Let me make myself perfectly clear; the Earl says we can't kill you, but orders or no orders, I will slaughter you. No one is allowed to call me Roses unless I say so!" he yelled before he applied more force than necessary to Jaegar's hand. "Now, I will offer to heal your wounds this time, and any other time, but if you ever call me Roses and Lilies again, I will kill you beyond recognition!"

* Ying sighed and walked up to them both giving a off evil aura " your both annoying me so shut up and be friendly or I'll kill you both with out question" She said in a vary dark tone while her black eyes turned red and glaring at them.*

Turning around, Ruusu just said in a sugary-sweet voice "Of course, Ying. I'll be on my best behaviour." before pretending to zip up his lips.

Placing his hands onto Jaegar's body, Ruusu let his power flow through the muscles, tendons, bones, and blood vessels. After a few minutes, while Ruusu made sure to make the procedure as painless as possible, the Noah was done.

"There, that should about do it. Do be careful, because I'd hate to have to do that all over again."

Jaegar stared at his hand in semi-awe, forgetting how powerful these Noah could really be. Once again, he pulled up his sleeve to check on Clarimonde. He grimaced at the dark color the tattoo seemed to take, but calmed when it faded back to its normal hue.

"Thank you, Ruusu," he said, making sure to put more emphasis on the Noah's name.

Be lucky I'm not White, Jaegar thought. She'd be calling you that name every chance she got.

"Agh, hate doing nothing," Jaegar said, tugging his sleeve down and going over to examine the building he cut with Clarimonde. He was pleased to see that the cut was clean, knowing he had yet to lose his touch.

Ruusu blinked in surprise; never had anyone besides Road ever said thanks to him, so he smiled a genuine smile, without malice or evil intentions behind it. "You're welcome. Oh, and if you want to call me Rose, it's fine."

Turning around before the "exorcist" could say anything, Ruusu walked off, saying "Well, if anyone needs me, which is highly doubtful, I'll be flirting with Tyki and Cyril some...I think they're the only ones who actually enjoy flirting back."

* Ying yawned with her hand in front to be polite, but she accidentally made a cute sound with it. She then looked at the two boys whom were looking at her. Ying said" humph" in a cold way to made them think of nothing about her.*

Jaegar gave a small smile at Ying, the Noah reminding him too much of his childhood. He then turned to face Ruusu.

Jaegar scrunched his nose up in disgust, "Is that all you really think of as fun? Flirting?" It reminded him sorely of Grey, and Jaegar hated the male entity that inhabited his friend's mind. "That's a little...tasteless," Jaegar commented. "Almost as if you're SEEKING for affection over anything else."

Ruusu smiled coyly before saying "Actually, I don't seek it; I flirt to get some form of love from people, be it familial, romantic, or otherwise." Spinning around on one foot, the Noah continued "Trust me, if I were ever joking, you'd know. I flirt with Tyki and Cyril because it's harmless. But I did have a lover at one point...until he left to join the Black Order." Ruusu said that last part in a whimsical, almost reminiscent tone, looking towards the sky.

Realizing who he was talking to, Ruusu said in a colder and harsher tone "Why am I telling you this? You'll just act like everyone else did: Judgemental, hateful, and down right bigoted about the fact that I had a male lover. Well, I don't want or need scorn from you or anyone!"

* Ying didn't say anything she DID want to know what Jaegar was up to; she walked over to him but didn't say anything but her eyebrow just twitched once when Ruusu said male lover...*

Jaegar shook his head, "None of that ever really bothered me...but maybe it's because I had a friend who I desperately seek...she went to join the Black Order as well, under the...dare I say, guidance....of General Zokalo." Jaegar closed his eyes, frame trembling.

"The Black Order took away my world, practically," he said. "I've had to learn how to use Clarimonde myself, no one to help, and I pathetically chase after my friend." He opened his eyes slowly.

"Clarimonde is my only link to that person...I know they're alive I just need the perfect chance to get to them," Jaegar said. He looked at Ruusu with a kind look, one that he usually reserved for White and White alone.

"Why would I judge you when I obsess over a sister who isn't here anymore?" Jaegar asked.

Seeing that Jaegar was being truthful, Ruusu sat down and said softly "My lover's name was Tionne Airion, or better known as Tionne Le Papillon in the circus he worked in; he was an acrobat for Le Cirque de Intrigue." Motioning for the other male to sit beside him, he continued.

"I was only 18 at the time; he was 16, and the greatest acrobat I'd ever seen. I had only been a Noah for three years, but I knew immediately that I didn't want to destroy him; I talked to him after his shows from time to time, and we connected." Tears streaming down his face silently, he still talked, the only signs he was crying were his tears. "He and I shared a love for art, poetry, and food; one day, General Cloudnyne of the Black Order came and told him that he was an accommodator for Innocence, and offered Tionne a position as an Exorcist. He accepted, and told me of it an hour before he had to leave."

Sighing, he took a rock and molded its atoms enough to make a stone butterfly before saying "He was the only one I let call me Roses, and I the only one he let call him Butterfly."