One-sided[Pierce]

Pierce watched Ethan sadly. He could read it on the man's face, he hurt and ached internally. It was the kind of pain Pierce was a little too familiar with not only in himself but others. He was used to causing it but he wasn't so used to regretting it. Most people he violated brought it on themselves in some way or other to his point of view but Ethan had deserved none of it. True, they hadn't started off on any kind of good footing but nothing Ethan had done had warranted what he had just been put through.

Pierce watched him start to go and grabbed his bags hurriedly rushing to catch up and offer Ethan his hand to take the other meister's bag for him. "You gonna tell her you got mauled by a pit bull on the way to school too? Think for a second, you say it was a training accident and they'll know it isn't." Pierce grimaced but curbed his tongue. "And you had better mean it. Do I have your solemn oath that you'll stop me if the curse takes me over? Before I might kill someone?"

He zipped up his bag along the way and looked at Ethan dropping his voice. "The shoulder is easily explained away; I was training with my poi a little too close to the door and didn't see you coming in behind me, knocked you in the shoulder and dislocated it. How are you going to explain the bites though? A pit bull grabbing you by the wrist and chewing up as much as possible and you didn't seek treatment until you got a dislocated shoulder? Not even a snowball's chance in hell. The devil is in the details as I'm sure you're aware. You seem like the first truly intelligent person I've met actually." Pierce offered Ethan a grin with the compliment. There it was, probably the only unveiled compliment he'd give all day.

The turtle-paced Ethan wasn't hard to catch up at all. He barely managed to take five steps before Charon caught up with him. The redhead stopped at the sight of Charon's hand, giving it a glance. Ethan wanted to slap this filth away from his sight. His hands rose slowly towards Charon's hand, and stopped beside it.

"A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control." With that said, Ethan took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. " For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. -- And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

Ethan slid his left hand over and dropped the straps to his bag in the blue haired student's open hand. "Even though that was an outburst of anger on my behalf; I give you my word." He stated calmly before resuming the ungraceful, wavering walk to the infirmary. "Of course the shoulder can easily be explained. If you want to use your example, then why don't you talk to the nurse, huh? Like I said, I won't say more than I need to. Like they care that much. As for smarts around here: There's plenty of it. It's just that either most of the student body seems too stupid slash meatheads slash blood-thirsty combatants to even think for a second or three…"

With that said Ethan raised his left hand and looked at it. The redhead seemed to be momentarily lost in thought. "I guess you wouldn't think of a frozen hell, huh." He stated, closing and opening his hand slowly.

[/justify]

He listened to Ethan's religious quoting and wondered which exactly Ethan followed. His family had never been particularly religious. The topic was rather fascinating really. How people could find faith for such things was beyond him but if it made people happy then so be it. If Ethan had a religion then good for him, Pierce would have to try and pick his brain about his faith later. Faith was always a little short in his family. Forgiveness they had aplenty, especially toward their own. Yet Pierce hated the way they forgave sometimes.

Pierce chuckled darkly at Ethan's comment and slung his bag over his shoulder. "The only person I can't forgive yet would have to be myself. I don't think you need to be bothered with my little sob story though." He gave a gallant shrug at that and readjusted his grip on the bag. "I'll hold you to that and I'll have to pick my teeth before I try smooth talking the nurse. The last thing anyone needs to see is bits of flesh between them. I owe you by the way, big time." He shot a glance at Ethan, he'd have to square things away. The redhead's bag dropped into his palm and he easily hefted it over his shoulder.

He grinned at Ethan's description of most of the student body. "Recklessness leads only to failure. Over caution leads to paranoia. To stand between these lines one must keep balance. Without balance even the greatest of us shall fall." It was a proverb that had been ingrained into him from a young age with his meditation training, one of the many mantras of his life. "I've imagined many types of hell. A place where you fall asleep and never wake up, where the curse can easily take me or any others marked over. A place in which I've slaughtered everything I care about because I was too weak. A place where I can't go home and let my family forgive me as they wish so desperately I'd allow. A place where my mother cries over me always and my father sits waiting on his only son to come home. A place where I'm lonelier than before. A place without music. A place with nothing but noise that carries conscious thought away. A place I have no self control in. A frozen hell sounds about as fun as any of the versions that have crossed my mind. Whatever version you believe, I hope you can get through it better than I'm getting through mine."

He was sincere in the wish for Ethan and offered the boy a wistful grin. "You know, until I left home I never really thought much about heaven. The more I thought about it when I left the more I simply wondered if any god could forgive the marked ones of my family. How could we be forgiven? It is an innate part of us that gives the curse its sway. Every time we lose control it is our own faults and many..." He swallowed thickly as if a bitter taste came to his mouth. "Many of us enjoy it to a degree. Tell me about your faith, I could use a little. Maybe everyone could use a little more faith than most have." He wouldn't mind listening to what Ethan had to preach. Maybe it would give him something to strive for.

Ethan stopped walking as Pierce kept talking and talking. His head hung slightly and his eyes were closed. This kind of talk Ethan needed his complete attention. This wasn't just some random small talk; this was some serious topic that Ethan had to address. Even if he hated the idea of helping him at this point, the redhead still had to. This kind of talk was far too huge to ignore.

"My faith…" Ethan repeated as he began walking. "Stop for a moment." He ordered Pierce to stop where he was. It would take a few for Ethan to catch up wherever Pierce had stopped. "One thing: You're right. I don't want to hear your sorry "Make you wanna cry of pity" story. It'd probably just give me more of a reason to punch you.

-- So I was right." Ethan added the last part once he stood in front of the little Charon. Half-opened emerald eyes looked down at the poor fellow. "I'm gonna be a little harsh, so don't try to get angry again up to that point." The redhead stated, waiting for a reply from the blue haired student before continuing.

"But I'll try and keep this short… I don't really have the energy to say everything." That I want to, that is. Some things need to be left out.

[/color] "But I'll keep the harshness for last.

Anyhow. If I had to ask you: "Where on or in the human body did "Hell" reside?" Where would you put it?" Without letting Pierce answer that question, Ethan moved his left hand towards Charon's face, index finger pointing at his brain. "In there. All of which you said about Hell came from your imagination. Powerful tool for some; destructive for others. Now: If your brain is "Hell", then where is Heaven?" Again without letting the other student answer, Ethan lowered his hand, now pointing at the young student's chest. He poked him once. "There. The only place where you are you. Where it all begins, and ends, is at one's heart. What you just told me…"

Whether or not Pierce was looking down at Ethan's hand, Ethan would raise his hand to smack Pierce's nose from under. "Your "Hell" has much greater power than your "Heaven"." He stated calmly, lowering his hand back to his side. "But don't get this wrong. It's like that for many others. Like you said: "How could we be forgiven?" If you can find this power to forgive in your heart, in your "heaven", then the grasp that your "hell" has- has already loosened that much.

As you said, without balance, even the greatest of us falls. That's why the angel known as Satan decided to go to hell. Someone needed to balance out God, and that someone, became what we have come to know as "The Devil." Fallen angels become demons, which become devils if they can use their brains. Everything needs a balance. Sanity and insanity. Men and Women. Heaven and Hell. Yin and Yang. The list is forever-going. People who believe they reside deep in the safe zone of sanity, will never see that the farther they walk that way, the closer they are to passing the line of insanity. After all, the line between sanity and insanity is thin. It's a line we all walk down daily. Now that I've said all this: Would you believe me if I said I was catholic?"

"Now for the harsh part. You just proved to me that you actually have a brain. Congratulations. Yet, what you are is nothing but a snivelling brat, prone to be angered. You're just a spineless punk at times when it's convenient for you. Your own self-hate, self-loathing; is what holds you back. Once you get past that, you'll see things much differently, and think differently. As for your anger, easy. Just learn to control it. Yes, it's much harder than saying it, but humans are creatures that continuously push back the boundary of "the impossible"."

With that said, Ethan turned and started walking towards the nursery again.
[/blockquote][/blockquote][/justify]

Charon stopped and let Ethan catch up. He listened earnestly, he was genuinely interested in the topic and gave Ethan his rapt attention, even when he was cut off before answering. Ethan had a point to make and he wanted to hear it. The red haired meister hit every nail directly on the head about the berserker. All except for one. Pierce had had control once but it started slipping more and more the further he was from home.

He grinned through the whole thing. Ethan was brilliant and it showed, even as the crimson haired meister flicked his nose he just chuckled and let the redhead have his way. He'd beaten the guy up pretty well but it was good to know he still had some room in his head for humor. He'd have to show Ethan something later on. It would be important for the red haired meister to know for later should he ever have to go against Pierce fully. Catholic? He hadn't heard that one as much. He'd heard a little bit about religion, the religious types had been the ones who helped him most. It never felt right to steal from them, they followed their faith devoutly and he could never bring himself to punish them for kindness in the eyes of their god.

He wasn't angry when Ethan called him out on what he was. Yeah, he was a brat, he'd almost blown up his father's car to keep him home and make his father react but his mother hadn't let that happen. He liked getting his way, that was for sure and he well knew it. By any means Ethan was right as a rule. No matter how Charon thought of it, his irreverence for other people's feelings in general made him a punk though spineless wasn't something he counted on hearing. Oh well, he wouldn't correct Ethan, it was his view of the berserker and if he knew what Ethan thought of him he could always try to manipulate it later.

"You're right about all of it except for one thing." Charon grimaced and looked down ashamed. "I had control once. It started slipping after I left. I don't know whether the curse is just getting stronger or if I've gotten weaker but I can't fight it alone anymore. I've lived my life keeping people away for their safety as much as for my own sake. I don't like stupid or weak people, my own feelings tend to feed off of their brand of chaos. I want to end the curse and get better but I'll admit, I'm not doing very good at that by myself." He shrugged and turned slowly. "I haven't even been around enough religious people to really know what it means to be catholic actually. You can explain it to me whenever you like though. I like listening to you talk." He flashed Ethan what he hoped was a friendly grin though it fell a little short.

He unzipped his bag and pulled a drink out of it to hand to Ethan as they started walking again. "Maybe I can be saved, maybe I can't but I'm not the one who needs saving and it's not why I'm here. Redemption would be great and all but I've little interest in redeeming myself except for two people's sakes. Other than that I could usually care less what anyone thinks of me. You see me for what I am, a sniveling brat that pushes people away and can't see very far passed anger. Trust me, I like it about as much as you liked fighting against it. Tell you what though, if I ever do get to the day when I can breathe easy without hate or fear you'll be the first man I call to celebrate." He grinned at Ethan. This guy wasn't half bad after all. He could genuinely like Ethan and it didn't hurt that the guy was pretty either.

"I need to get back into the habit of meditating honestly. It's one of the best defenses against the curse. You're more than welcome to join me sometime. It's the least I can do to thank you." He cracked the lid on the bottle for Ethan who only had one available arm and held it out for him as they walked. Ethan had earned his sincerity. It was a fair trade, he'd spoken earnestly to the berserker even if he didn't much like him. He hadn't given Ethan many reasons to enjoy his company but it didn't hurt to try to patch things up between them.

Ethan tried his best to pay attention to the blue haired student's voice. It was becoming hard to hear it properly. His vision was going from clear to blurry, and back. Shit…

[/color] "Yeah, yeah…" The battered-up student said weakly. His strength was being sapped away. Each step became heavier and heavier. Ethan knew what this meant, and knew that he needed to listen to the voice at all costs.

But the redhead knew he could not go on any longer.

"Just… take me to… the nurse……" With that said, Ethan's body plummeted forward with the last step, hitting the ground with a loud thump. His vision blurred and went pitch black. The voice became distant, and then silence. The crimson haired meister had finally passed out.[/blockquote][/blockquote][/justify]