[Pyramid Investigation][Mission]

"Oh in that case then I should beat you within an inch of your life, and make sure my face is inrained into you mind." She didn't even flinch at his attempts to make her angry. When a new noise entered the picture she turned to face it, clinching her teeth to keep a growl from coming out. This was her target to mess with. She could do with him as she fucking pleased. "And if I don't leave him be? Oh wait, nothing! Because you aren't in charge of me! I get to do what I want as long as it isn't against Argona herself." SHe shifted in her spot placing a hand on her hip. "Now what do you want? Come to wave something in my face or something? Or am I required to be else where? And if I'm required to be else where then angry whimp here is coming with me." She wasn't going to let anyone else kill him nor was she going to let him go free.

Babysitter? Straying too far for his comfort? This boy was rather amusing, acting up when the girl of his dreams was just destroyed right in front of his face. His method to channel the helplessness he felt was to spit and growl a feeble bark at an alpha that was always going to overpower him at every opportunity given. He was simply part of a pack and the leader knocked his pride down a size or two. Poor guy, being used by the academy, tricked into falling into the hands of a predator that would only continue to torment him slowly before dealing the killing blow. Cadence may enjoy toying around with her victims, but she was not one to keep away from an instantaneous death. And that only brought his lips to a wry smirk to the point where he almost wanted to laugh.

Key word: almost.

In a bout of entertainment, his hands clapped together with slow, steady movements simply to spite the two of them. To Cadence, for thinking he was about to steal her prey - he could only dream of doing that without dealing with the recoil damage of being squashed or messed with in more ways than he could ever imagine. To the other boy, for thinking he was so much of a friend or guardian to his tormentor. The last thing he wanted to consider was that Cadence was more than an affiliate, a co-worker, that he had to cooperate with unless he wanted to be thrown about into the prison they call space.

Twirling his staff with the bare minimum of fingers he could spare, he mustered a shrug. What did he want? He was following orders, last he heard. Cadence seemed to get too carried away when she was in the heat of things. She enjoyed this far too much, even compared to his standards. But was she that willing to break command just to enjoy herself? She must be insane if she thought she could do whatever she felt like as long as it didn't go against her. Then again, everyone in this makeshift brigade of theirs was insane to some extent. God, Cadence might've been worse than Snow in more ways than one, and it wasn't because all Snow could do was make everyone go splat! And there were more people out there that were probably just as bad as the rest of them. He wasn't necessarily one of them, he'd like to think.

What much could you do in a dream, after all? Everything was possible, breaking the rules of reality and logic, but unless there was a way to translate it to real life, it was almost meaningless. A dream was simply a dream - it was an ideal, a desire, something people choose to have for instant gratification. The little fantasy worlds they craft and come up with were all wrapped around the strings attached to his fingers - they were all puppets to him. A not-so-nice version of the Sand Man.

"Cadence." A warning tone slipped and laced around his voice. "You'll have your chances in the future, m'lady." His smirk only widened as he gestured a mock-bow just to spite her. Spiting others was a small pleasure of his. He wasn't like the others in their ridiculous manners of suffering and torture and pain. They were far too ostentatious. Subtle and simple was the greatest. "Don't start straying away and betraying your kind, now."

Barry realized that taunting Cadence obviously wasn't going to work so he resigned to just glaring at her. "If you're so bad and you don't listen to anyone except this Argona character, then why don't you just kill me already? It's obvious you want to. And do me a favor and just get it over with. The torture seems too messy." he said, sounding bored. Inside, he was still seething with anger and about to crumble with sadness. Whoever this new guy was, he wanted to kill him too, just for being here.

Cadence just simply ignored Barry for now, she would kill him how ever she pleased, and if she decided to torture him first then that is what she would do. She narrowed her eyes in the other member's direction. "Straying? Hah! I'm only loyal as long as I get to do what I enjoy," She said gesturing to Cass' remains, before crossing her arms over her chest again. "and because they actually pay me to do it. I have no other reason, I have no real loyalty to you. And if either of those things stop, then I will have no problem betraying my 'kind'" She said with quotes from her fingers as she spoke the word. "Now what are you here for?"

Cadence didn't really enjoy many things, last he heard. Everything she did had to invoke a sense of pleasure within her that was equivalent to a high induced by drugs or alcohol or something. Just a simple feeling of pleasure that can only granted through a few things - she was always a rather violent individual to him, and without a doubt, the very thing that cracks a smile on her face was feeling the pleasure that she could reach within the grasps of her fingers from torturing and killing others. Humans were little playthings to her - their lives were practically meaningless when all they could do was scream and flail around helplessly as she crushed their very soul and being, in more ways than one. To her, every other person was a little ant that she could destroy with the push of a finger to the ground. It was rather sickening to know her sadism stretched that far.

She didn't have any real loyalties to Argona, he knew that much. That was the very reason why she wouldn't listen to anyone else and go off on her own and wander around like a lone wolf hoping to howl to the moon away from its pack. Money was her aim, pleasure was an added benefit, and doing what she could do best was all she could do. A very vile person she was, wasn't she? If he said anything wrong, then she would kill him without a doubt. His senior by a year or two could murder anyone on the spot.

Hazy violet eyes gleamed, falling to the area where Cadence was signaling towards. Bits and pieces of diamonds were piled up together in a heap, glistening from the faint light that seeped through the cracks of the pyramid walls and the eerie luminescence provided by whatever other light was around. They were sharp looking, almost inviting as viable daggers with their glistening, shining brighter than the stars that swirled across the night sky, with edges so smooth yet slightly rigged. Unrefined pieces they were, weren't they? Beautiful gems they were, probably of the rarer variation of diamond. Slowly, he bent down, his fingers clutching a stone straying away from the crowd, the whisps of a crooked smile as he looked at the trapped boy from the corner of his gaze.

How helpless he was to not have been able to do anything for the girl who shattered through time and space. That was something he could agree with on Cadence's part. How cute. Love was stupid. People were stupid. It's why they could be played with strings on one's fingers and controlled as though they were marionettes prancing on a stage. It's why it was enjoyable to be sadistic. All of these fun and games that one could have from inducing hurt and pain on others. How much better it was to do that than to play with the manufactured toys and devices that companies made. Artificial, man-made things that don't last long. At least humans had a long shelf-life.

Carefully, he brushed away white strands of his bangs, his eyes examining the diamond clutched in his palms. She followed the plans in the end, after all. "This is my territory." An assignment, the place he would always 'watch' over like a loyal sentryman and 'protect' like a guard and soldier. It was clear already that this boy would remember his voice and that he was affiliated with Cadence. That cover would be blown. "Dear, I hear you haven't heard the change in orders. He's certainly in the clear." His voice mimicked a playful sing-a-long, only more so mockingly than before.

"Now then, boy, you wouldn't mind if I take these pieces, would you?" The shard was tossed into the air and he effortlessly balanced it at the tip of his staff until it rolled back into his fingers. "Since they're out here, surely they must not be all that important to be in that little cage with you."

Checkmate.

That was the final straw. "You motherfucker." he growled, teeth clenched. "You leave her alone." He wanted to kill the two bastards standing in front of him. If only he weren't trapped in a cage. He glared at the two of them with a cold, angry stare. He wanted Cadence to kill him. He didn't want to live any longer.

Cadence just glared at the other boy in the room. She was so fucking close to kicking his ass and killing him in place of this student but she couldn't do that. Well she could, but it wouldn't go over well with Argona. The space manipulator let out a growl. She really hated this guy. "Fine Mr. Dream Eater, if you are so insistent he is in the clear than you can deal with him on your own. Good luck with a speedster ya fuck face." As Cadence spoke she opened a portal and stepped through as she finished speaking. As soon as she was gone the portal closed and proof that she had been there that remained was the box she had created leaving the speedster, and the dream eater alone. After a moment of Cadence being gone the box encasing Barry shattered leaving the angry speedster to do as he pleased. And with the hint from Cadence as to what the other members gift was, hopefully the Autumn would be able to sort of fight the guy.

It was absolutely adorable, watching the boy bare his teeth and try and act all cute and tough to defend someone who was already dead in his eyes. He didn't know the fact that she could come back to life by piecing the shards together like a puzzle, so why even bother? Was he going to collect the trash, bring it back and tell the headmaster that he was oh-so-sorry that he let her die because he was too busy being trapped between space? That dangerous spark in his eyes, the callous glare and deadpan tone reminded him about someone, another little speedster, that was very familiar. Edward Jackson. They were the same person practically, with only that minor color palette swap. What a smart way to decide how to tell twins apart - the parents couldn't even bother trying to learn their own children and resorted to something silly like that.

Barry was so easy to manipulate, a pawn on the chessboard. His world was the entire board and the difference between Barry and him was that he was a spectator rather than a part of that clique. He controlled what happened and right now, this was exactly where he wanted it to go.  With a teasing wink towards Cadence, her agitation only feeding his delight and enjoyment in the current situation, his crooked smile widened itself. A gentleman-like bow was gestured to top it all off, and the way she loathed him didn't phase him at all. "As you wish, m'lady." It didn't matter if she heard him or not - there was a different matter at hand and it started with the letter 'n'. The box began to slowly dissolve, the chiseling pieces floating up like balloons, and before it happened, he quickly threw over his hood and swung his staff, cleanly sweeping up many of the gemstone shards straight into his bag.

The action was only done completely out of spite - he knew he would win already and that there was no point. Someone angered couldn't control themselves nor think properly in the midst of a battle; this guaranteed a loss, especially against someone who was far more experienced and skilled. Didn't matter how fast he was, if he couldn't get where he wanted, it would only frustrate him further and bring him to a point where he was boiling red and completely forfeiting his chances. Heh, he wasn't like Cadence or any of the other members who would immediately go for the kill. To him, Barry being dead or alive did not matter.

All that mattered was getting her.

Cassandra. Yes, a lovely name for a lovely madame indeed.

Gray didn't get into a position to defend himself nor make any attempts to move, only twirling his staff with his fingers as though it as a circus tool that anybody could perform tricks with. There was no point in fighting an already defeated opponent. He was sluggish, broken, filled with revenge, yet unable to do a thing to back it all up. Barry was weak. So weak that he let himself be played by a puppet by the simplest of movements. All it took was picking up one shard and that was enough. What an animal he was. It was like baiting a dog with a slab of meat, letting the froth-covered spit bubble from his mouth as he endlessly chased it and never being successful. There was no way, no matter how fast the boy was, that he would ever catch it. He dug himself into a pit that he wouldn't be able to leave.

"I dare you." His voice didn't try and drop the condescending lead that weaved its way through, playfulness and mockery dripping like rain in the sentence, each word enunciated as though the boy was a baby who had to carefully hear the sounds in order to understand what he was saying. "Try to kill me, coward." It wasn't overconfidence. It was through careful calculation and consideration that he knew, without a doubt, that he would win. But he may as well satisfy the victim by playing along for a few brief moments. If things were different, perhaps he would've been friends with this Barry person. After all, he certainly got along swell with his twin and they were one in the same.

Barry would take the bait - it was guaranteed.

"You hid behind her, didn't you?" An empty laugh filled the air. "A fair lady like Cass doesn't deserve someone who uses her like a shield." Without a doubt, making him even angrier would make this all too easy, as if it weren't already. His fingers snapped together, and a misty smog began to encircle his hand.

"You sacrificed her to live. You let her die."

Every word was feeding him, making him stronger. Or so Barry thought. In reality, however, everything was going to Gray's plan. With a guttural yell, Barry charged at the dream eater with all of his speed, aiming to punch him in the face. He abandoned his escrima sticks in the shattered remains of the box. He wasn't thinking clearly. He ran up, faster than he had ever run before, and managed to land a solid punch to Graham's face. He quickly took the tore the bag away from his opponent before skidding to a stop on the other side of the room. "Oh I'm sorry, was that too fast fo you?" he mocked. "And don't you ever say anything about Cassandra. I didn't hide behind her. She threw herself in front of me. You wouldn't understand what it's like to actually care for someone, now would you?" He wasn't going to allow this boy to get away with Cass' remains.

The boy was a whirling blur, completely indistinguishable like a flash of light that wouldn't stop for even a moment. He was silently hoping that Barry would've put up a better resistance, but for him to make it this easy was completely laughable. Who would've thought that someone could be that idiotic and so easily manipulated by words? It was like giving candy to a baby, taking it, and promising to give them something better to calm them down, only to never uphold that promise. Gray didn't move to his position or dare attempt to flinch, taking the impact with the full force that Barry tried to provide. A charming effort it was, causing him to partially lose his footing and skid backward, his hand shooting up to keep the hood shadowing his face on. There was a minor sting, likely to swell up a bit later, but that was easily fixed with a bit of ice.

Barry took the bait better than he would've expected. His mockery was just cute, trying to sound all apologetic and tough. The wry smile imprinted across his lips didn't drop, allowing the boy to keep talking on and on about Cassandra's sacrifice. How stupid was he? He left far too many loopholes to allow him to counter back and forcefully feed that weakness further. His palm faced outward, the haze growing and spreading throughout, whispy tendrils flowing straight into the bag with their ethereal atmosphere that would've brought a warm, delicate feeling to someone if they tried to touch it. The proximity that the boy had brought to himself without knowing what was inside was absolutely dumb of him. Too focused on being Prince Charming.

A powerful swing with his fingers brought the staff to entangle itself with the coil, but Gray didn't make another move quite yet. No, he wanted his fun. "You're going to resort to agility and running around with your tail between your legs." Carefully, he took heed to tug on his staff, provoking the bag to pull itself closer to him. This was all too easy that he might as well be slightly bored. His mellifluous voice took no precautions with each word, allowing the sentences to fly smoothly. "Ah yes, how absolutely adorable. You needed a girl to jump in front of you because you're too weak to defend yourself."

It was too easy to exploit people like this, searching through every phrase they speak only for it to be thrown to the abyss. None of their beliefs would stick or stay. Did they say that sticks and stones could break one's bones, but words could never harm them? In that aspect, they're correct. Place those words in the right hands and they're formidable weapons to break a person without resorting to physical violence. Nobody had finesse nowadays. "I'm a fighter, not a lover, boy." With that, he thrust his staff backwards and pulled it full-circle back, the content that the fragile string was holding onto forcing its way out of the bag's flap and dangling in the air. Its contents were or less unknown, taking the form of an unearthly butterfly floating inside, glowing a radiant brilliance.

"Ryry, you're too useless to do things on your own. Thank you for making this so much easier for me." With a turn of his hand, the jar shattered and the butterfly began to morph, its edges stretching and features tearing apart to unveil what was inside. They say that it was the greatest thing of all to make your dreams become reality... Then he had that in his hands. Dream-eating was so fascinating when one could steal the dreams and turn it into a weapon.

A beam of light and from it emerged a serpentine-like figure, wrapping itself around Barry before whizzing past towards Gray, its tail flickering to try and knock the speedster off his feet. An Asian dragon taken from the dreams of a child who wished for the dragon to bless his family and make them happy again; its golden-armored body with the night sky for its underbelly, slanted eyes and horns that rivaled those of a devil. The flowing silvery beard and mane with claws as sharp and piercing as a knife - what would've been a benevolent creature bent for evil.

Gray reached up, stroking the dragon as the dreamy mist enveloped its entirety. Without warning, it dashed forward in Barry's directions, bearing fangs and used its entire body to block off all exits. Another tendril began to emerge from his hands. "Let's have our dance, shall we?"

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" he managed to scream at the dream eater before getting knocked off his feet by the serpentine-like dragon. He barely managed to sit up before everything came rushing at him. He quickly dashed out of the way, but not before he got slashed in the side by one of the tendrils. With a slight yelp of pain, he tripped and fell. He should've known he had bitten off more than he could chew. He got up after taking a couple seconds to regain his breath. "That the best you got?" he challenged foolishly.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

His fingers held the bridge of his nose, eyelids falling to a close almost in disbelief as he shook his head. A part of him wanted to give a bit of mercy and simply end the show and get back on the road, but at the same time, there was the entire prospect of being allowed to jest without so much as a few limitations. The entire battlefield was controlled by him and him alone. This boy was only making it much worse for himself by puffing up his chest and trying to act all cute and mighty like the hero he wanted to be, the knight in shining armor that would rescue his Sleeping Beauty from the almighty dragon that he would slay, slicing the head and keeping it as proof of his success. He thought it would be easy to challenge an enemy that wasn't even using a quarter of his strength.

An amused, crooked smile graced his features as the next transparent jar floated above the bag and materialized into a large hand, seemingly aiming to grab Barry himself before switching last second towards the satchel and tugging it away from his hands. Without so much as hesitation, the hand mockingly reprimanded the boy the way a mother would to a child for trying to steal the cookie jar from the top shelf and proceed to scold him until he was crying. The lesson would be engraved in their head until the end of time so that they would never repeat it again. That was how parenting worked and that was how he would teach this lesson to the student who thought he could win against someone who manipulated an entire world.

The bag was dropped, fluttering down like a delicate flower, resting on his palms. Before Barry could react again, Gray flung his hand out, his voice dropping to a low, didactic whisper as the dragon darted forward, blazing blue fire rushing out of its mouth: "Don't fan the flames. They're already too hot for you." There was no way it would roast him alive - no, he'll survive without a doubt -, but it would certainly be enough for him to knock him unconscious, whether it be from inhaling too much smoke or tanking the burns and overworking his body. Black smog filled the area and the dragon and oversized hand vanished into thin air, letting the corridors fill with toxic death.

No witnesses, the cameras are obscured, and anyone who could be patrolling was dead.

There was no way anyone would be caught.

It was a double-edged sword, without a doubt. Covering his nose and mouth had proven to be poor and he couldn't bring a gas mask to life. Once the entirety of smoke had cleared, his lungs had been filled, snapping his legs and his arms felt like jelly as the excruciating pain blossomed and refused to leave. His hands grasped onto the staff, eyes falling on the unconscious body in front of him. He could kill him right now if he wanted to - Barry was in a susceptible state and it was unlikely anyone would be coming for help now. Inspecting him, it was only clear that he was a scrap who was so used to being protected, whether by his dearest or someone else. Did he ever actually fight? Gray reached into his bag, scavenging for a pistol, and bent down, holding it at point-blank at the boy's head. The trigger came close to coming off, but it never happened.

No, he wouldn't stoop as low as Cadence's level. She did all of the dirty work in the end and there weren't any orders to kill him. There would be the fun later when all of this came to fruition. Tossing the gun back into hiding, Gray worked steadily in collecting the final pieces of the diamond before stumbling upon a final one, a heart-shaped piece that seemed to shine in a more dazzling manner than the rest. The corners of his lips steadied down into a frown. Memories. Taking it would only interfere with the whole scheme. He had to hide it well so that Edward's twin would never find it. Too bad he had always been terrible at hide and seek.

His steps were clumsy as he clambered up the stairs with his staff balancing him. Back to the king's tomb. If Barry wanted to take this, he would risk being called a criminal for looting the dead. The dawn was beginning to rise - he had to be quick. Once he was sure that the piece would be concealed properly at the base of the coffin, Gray forced himself to run out the exit and sneak his way past the guards. This wasn't as easy as getting in when it seemed that the previous smoke from before had alerted them of someone's presence inside. Search lights were everywhere, voices speaking in a familiar tongue. The entire outfit he was wearing now would make him look suspicious, but he couldn't run very far. Hand reaching slowly into his bag, he threw an empty jar down the other hallway, the crash! alerting the men from rushing towards there. Once the coast seemed to be clear, Gray rushed out.

No sign of him being there seemed to have been left, not so much as footprints in the sandstorm or fabric. As suddenly as he first appeared, he had disappeared within the blink of an eye.

Barry awoke with a fit of coughing. His lungs were filled with smoke. After a minute or so of coughing, he stood up in pain. He had burns across most of his exposed skin. They weren't too serious, and would be healed within a few hours. He knew he had to get out of there. He ran up the stairs and back into the King's Tomb. Only stopping to pick up the piece of diamond that caught his attention from the corner of his eye. He teared up as he put it into his pocket, but quickly rubbed his eyes and flew past the incoming guards. They looked around, confused as Barry ran by. He ran away, tumbling into a sand dune. It was nighttime, so the sand was still slightly warm.

It was there that he lied until morning. His exterior injuries had healed, but his internal one's would take much, much longer to heal. He looked up at the sun, not wanting to move, but if he didn't want to get roasted alive, he'd have to get home. He stumbled into the city, delirious from the lack of food and water. Luckily, it didn't take long until he found some Beata guardians who grabbed him and took him to the plane, where his stuff was already located. He didn't remember the plane trip back to North Dakota, nor did he remember the day or so he was holed up in the infirmary. But he did remember what happened. And he would never forget.