As soon as the seamstress finished measuring Prim's wrists, she tapped on to her shoulder. Prim turned around to see what was wrong but instead she saw the woman giving her the 'ok' sign. Prim nodded to thank her. The woman smiled, walked away and disappeared to thin air.
Prim staggered to her feet shock of what jus happened, "But didn't she pass through the door earlier?" she said pointing to the residual mist floating around where the woman disappeared to.
"She was a half-light. Spirits walking on the far shore despite being tied to the near shore." Vin commented as he walked towards commander Chang's desk.
Prim's face switched from comprehending to confused making Olivia laugh. "Esmeralda has been this company's seamstress for 20 years now. To simplify what Vincent said, her body is in a coma but her spirit has been wandering about. Sometimes her body allows her to display ghost like abilities like what you've seen just now but sometimes she chooses to act human and pass through a door whenever she feels the need to remember that her body is still alive."
"Didn't you learn that in Spirits class?" added Vin with a sound of disgust.
Prim ignored him and just walked towards Olivia's desk.
"Now I know that both of you have violently protested about your living arrangements, but I beg to disagree knowing how crucial it is for S-Rank partners to be of the same vicinity. You two will be sharing a small town house at the Messiah's village just like the rest of the Messiahs that live there." Olivia then glances to Vin who was making a stern look, "And I best believe you understand this clearly Vincent."
"Yes, ma'am." he replied in a soft tone.
"As for you Prim," she glanced back to the girl in headphones, "I need you to understand that no matter what happens, you have to stick with Vin."
She didn't know how to respond to that. She nodded but was simply clueless of what was happening. "If it's company protocol, I'll abide by it."
"Oooh..Obedient for a change?" teased the boy.
"Always the tone of surprise?" she shrugged.
"Now," Olivia slammed down two black clearbooks about an inch thick on to her desk, "These are for you." laying down each folder to their direction.
Each folder were labelled by their initials, PP and VC on the bottom right while a huge spelled out CONFIDENTIAL was plastered at the center. The two pulled theirs and immediately opened the cover.
Prim was surprised to see the first page being the design of their official uniforms.
There were three images on the page. One being the full set and the other two being the dissection of what that full set was comprised of. The mission clothes was a combination of a full black suit and a maroon wrap around robe. The black suit underneath will be a zip on the back running turtle neck skin tight long sleeves and tights. One might descrbe it as a very tight onesie minus the hood. The robe is a traditional kimono type but only extending up to the knees. The full clothing will be matched with a black knee high combat boots equipped with several pockets on its sides.
"Are those..?" Prim said pointing at the pale yellow flower clipped on to the robe's sleeve.
Olivia smiled, "You have good eyes. Yes, you are correct. That is a Primrose Brooch. It will serve as your tracking device. Vincent has a matching pair of that attached to his robe as well."
"Aren't we the cutest? Matchy matchy." Vin teased as he showed his mission gear's design. It was an exact replica of Prim's design but Vin's was a mandarin collar paired with high rised black slacks and black leather shoes.
She rolled her eyes in disgust.
"As for your communication gadgets kindly open to page six of your folder." Olivia instructed and two immediately as they were told.
"It's the same headphones that I have now except...with a Primrose print on both sides..?" Prim said describing hers.
"It has been well known in the research department that your bionic hearing grows stronger each year. Thus, they created a more suitable limiter for you now that you're a Messiah. Those headphones will not only block your spiritual abilities, but are also directly connected to your partner's communication device."
"Which is..?"
"A telekinetic head band." said Vin showing his file to Prim.
Olivia nodded, "That band will transmit to your senses what ever your partner will think about."
"Wait gross. I'll be able to hear your thoughts?" Prim protested pointing at him.
"Don't lump me with the likes of you who can't control her emotions! I'm not barbaric like you are. In fact, my control is perfect."
"Wha―"
"He is telling the truth, Prim. He's more likely to read your thoughts than you knowing his." Olivia conceded.
"Okay hold on," Prim said closing her folder, "Why does it seem like he's gonna be the one in charge in all this?" she said swishing her fingers around in a circle.
"Because you're so not in control!" he said.
"Oh shut up raccoon boy!"
"No, she's right. She has a right to know." Olivia stands up pulling out a remote from her table. She pushes a button and the glass windows once there suddenly switched to a dark tinted shade and blank screen reveals itself from above. The room went dark and a projector pops out from the ceiling, illuminating the white wall. Olivia presses another button and a presentation slide appeared transitioning to a figure of a human body covered in a glowing thin film.
Olivia walks towards the screen and faced them both. Vin was at his calm composed self, expecting this to happen while Prim was the one at loss for words.
"I believe both of you are aware of spirit wavelengths."
"Yes ma'am." Vin replied eagerly.
"This over here is a normal human being with a regular soul energy." Olivia clicks and a small window pops out from the lower right, "And this is how this person's wavelength look like." she points. "Now, can either of you tell me the philosophy of twin souls?"
Vin raises his hand.
"Hey, nobody told me this was a class recitation!" Prim complained.
Vin pretends to cough, "Loser."
Prim glared at the boy after hearing that.
"Please, continue Vincent." demanded Olivia.
Vin stepped forward as Prim looked at him in disgust, "It is said in the twin soul philosophy that every human being's soul has it's exact twin that can be found in another person. More often than not these souls are closely intertwined if not perfectly in sync."
"Correct. And all the agents in DoReMi are paired based on that philosophy. Everyone went through the soul examination and were paired to someone if not perfectly synced but are almost similar in wavelength." Olivia explains. "Even the Messiahs were once regular agents, but what made them different is that the pairs trained hard enough that their souls resembled each other's so much creating the perfect sync. That is why they are so strong when together. Their souls resonate so much that not a single soul could penetrate their concentration."
Prim stepped forward in confusion, "If that's those are the major qualifications of being a Messiah, then I shouldn't be put there." she reasoned, "I don't even qualify in every single aspect of their experience. First of all I've never seen death which makes them so cool. Second, I've no one that is in perfect synchronicity with. And lastly, I doubt raccoon boy over here would even want to be near me."
"I must say I agree with everything you said, Vin interrupted.
"Oh really?" Prim scoffs.
"Always the tone of surprise. Tsk tsk tsk." he shakes his head, "But really, the commander isn't putting you there because you're so great. You said it yourself, neither of a Messiah's qualification fit you. However, it is most crucial that you be placed there as the Joker of this operation."
"Joker? Is this some kind of game?" she protested.
"What Vincent means is that, you're the final piece that we need to perfect the Messiahs." Olivia added.
"Why? Am I some kind of pawn?"
"Not exactly," Vin walks towards Olivia gesturing to her to hand over the remote, he points to the diagram of the soul wavelength at the bottom, "You see this wavelength?"
"Yeah?" Prim nods
"That's how wavelengths are normally. Even length, tame waves enough to pattern with another soul and contract to resonance." Vin then presses a button switching it to another slide.
There Prim saw a different image. It was the same human figure but this figure was enveloped by uneven flares like something was trying to escape from the body.
"See this?" he points to the image then clicking the monitor with the remote and a similar window from below pops up.
Prim gasps, "Why does it look like an earthquake's waveform?" she said looking at the waves that were extremely thin yet violently moving at large.
Olivia walks to Prim going behind her. She placed her hands over her shoulders and said, "That is yours, Prim."
Vin nodded, "The reason why all of your envoys couldn't last being partnered by you was because of this. Their souls could not resonate well with yours making their enchantments weaker than usual."
"So it wasn't because of my behavior?" she softly mumbled.
"Attitude wise, you can be dealt with," Vin frankly spouted.
"Hey!" she grunted.
"But this," he pointed to the violent waves on the screen, "That is too hard to tame."
"Additionally," Olivia walks back to the screen, "Your soul releases too much mana that it attracts spirits and you feed them with energy."
"What? I never did that."
"Exactly," Vin clicks his tongue, "Because your soul's wavelength is too strong, your sixth sense is having difficulty in filtering what should be out in the open and what should be kept inside. You're basically like walking naked for demons and spirits alike with a sign YOU CAN EAT ME." he explains.
Prim suddenly felt shivers all the way to her spine, "H-How are you two so calm about this?! Commander! You've known this for years and you never told me about this?"
"Which is why I only placed you on cleanup missions all this time." Olivia defends, "I couldn't risk you be sent to the frontlines and be a full blown meal while your envoy watch your life force be drained out. It was too dangerous."
"Then why now?! What makes it any different? You even push me to be part of those S-Ranks which I AM MOST CERTAINLY NOT."
"Because you are our only hope in finding the missing link."
"The missing link?"
Olivia was starting to become emotional so Vin decided to step in, "Three months ago, Philia Phillis of the northern branch who also happens to be a Messiah went missing. You're familiar with the story of the Paladin's Great War right?"
Prim nodded.
Vin nodded, "Philia had the sixth sense of dreams. She was the most powerful of all the Messiahs. She can travel through time in her dreams while her body is in paralysis. The Messiahs called this skill of hers as 'dream travelling'. With such skill, she can do anything. As part of the special forces, Philia was then sent on a mission to locate the point of origin of the opened spiritual passage way that erupted the war four hundred years ago. This was the highest ranking mission of DoReMi, and who else can they entrust this with but her. As she was fulfilling her duty in the mountains of Siargao in a small cottage with her partner exorcist Clint Omega keeping watch of her body. Clint reported that after an hour of dream travelling, Philia's body started having tremors and she started shaking and screaming repulsively. It was Clint's first time seeing Philia losing control in her incantation. He tried calling her back through spirit resonance but Philia was not responding. The tremor and violent shaking lasted for about thirty minutes then it came to a complete halt. Philia's body became lifeless and cold. He could still feel a pulse but it was faint. He then decided to bring Philia back here to be examined by DoReMi's doctors. They failed to identify what could have caused such an incident. But one thing was for sure..."
"She became a half light." Prim finished his sentence.
He nodded, "Her soul is most likely trapped in a different era, or worse trapped in a different dimension."
"Which brings us to why we need you, Prim" Olivia recovered, "We believe it was a powerful demon spirit who destroyed her soul link completely snatching her away. Your ability to attract spirits is our only chance to locate Philia Phillis and find out what really happened to her."
Prim worriedly pondered how heavy her role is. She looks at Olivia and Vin who are staring intently at her studying her reaction. She knew she had to decide there and then.
"I know how big of a task this is and I understand that we must find Philia the Messiah, but what if I'm the one who'll create a bigger problem? I can't control the energy oozing out from me. What if I end up fueling these wild spirits instead of helping to seal them away?"
"That's why you're partnered with me." Vin responded.
Olivia nodded, "Vincent's soul wavelength may not be identical to yours but his soul wavelength is able to take form of any soul wavelength necessary to contain yours. He's the genius spirit tamer of the exorcism department―Agent Vase."
Vin walks towards the blank faced Prim. He stopped just about when she took a step backward startled by his gesture. His yes of the night sky met her eyes of lapiz lazuli, staring at each other. Vin puts out his hand waiting for hers to meet his, "Excited to work with you," he smiled confidently finishing his sentence with, "Agent Flower."