"And so...why is Vincent covered in bruises?" Sig said folding his arms as he watched his two cute students fume at each other on their seats.
Back at the cabin while Prim was changing into a pair of sweats and jersey after taking her bath, Vincent accidentally slipped into their bedroom while she was still half-naked. She screamed. Prim was furious and accidentally exerted all her brutal strength in hitting the boy. Vin was able to dodge most of her hits, but she was too fast. They took their time fighting and completely lost track of the time. And because they were so late, they couldn't have dinner and had to rush to their lecture with Sig. Spending two hours unpacking and three hours bathing was not a good idea especially when they are two in one cabin. Now, they are at the West Building lecture room for their mission orientation with Sig, however, their relationship as partners seem to have come to a bitter start with the bruises inflicted upon the boy. They were snarling at each other on their seats by the time Sigmund arrived.
"I reminded you that the lecture was at seven! How could you take so much time bathing?" he yelled.
"Excuse me, while you were bathing, I was cleaning and tidying up our place."
"The cabin was clean Flower, you could have spent more time in tidying up yourself. And didn't I tell you to change in the bathroom?!"
"I left my clothes in the bedroom, Chang."
"This is why I kept on telling you how having one bedroom was a bad idea. And yet there you were all cheery about it without even considering the whole situation! So naive!" Vincent argued, his back against Prim. He didn't want to look at her right now, but the lecture room was too small that they had to sit right next to each other.
"How am I supposed to know that you were coming in?! You didn't even knock!" she yelled.
"That's not my fault! I told you to change in the bathroom!"
"Then why don't you do it, Chang? You didn't even change at the bathroom!"
"Because I'm a boy!"
"What kind of sexist point of view is?—"
BOOM. A loud bang froze the two. And it wasn't a simple roar of a loud sound, it made their body completely petrified, unable to move from their position.
"You seem to have forgotten I was here." Sig said.
"What just happened?" Vin said with only his eyes moving around.
Sig sat on Vin's table grinning at him, "Don't worry, I just stupefied your wavelengths. It'll wear off in a short while."
"What?" Vin was not amused.
"Amazing," countered Prim, stiff faced.
"Now," Sig walked away, "As you are both still petrified, let me begin my introduction to what Messiahs missions are like." he walks to the whiteboard, gliding his marker at the surface.
S.P.I.R.I.T.
"Spirit." he reiterated what he wrote, "This is the Messiahs protocol when doing missions."
"Cool. Like some kind of secret code." Prim cheered despite being frozen.
Sig smiled, "S stands for 'Surveillance'. Keep in mind that these targets are S-Rank as well. These malicious spirits that you are going to handle are those who come from the multiply entry dents. It is important that you keep your wits up and be sure to keep watch first before you dive into the matter."
Prim noticed that she can finally move her fingers, slowly she shook them until her whole body felt loose. "I've heard about these dents." she said fixing herself in her seat. Sig grinned realizing his trick didn't last that long at Prim. Vin was obviously not amused that he's still frozen. "These dents are those so difficult to locate. However, once you locate them, it's even harder to close it than exorcising the spirit itself," she explained.
"Correct." Sig winked, "That is where P comes in. Planning is important since it's only you two. Unlike regular operations from the base, a Messiah pair is its own team of recon, defense, and attack. Next is the first 'I' which is 'implement'. After planning is the implementation of the devised tactic."
"Then, I believe R is 'retrieve information'" Vin finally was able to move.
Sig nodded, "Care to elaborate Vincent?"
Vin stands up from his seat, "As important as planning and implementation, retrieving information is also essential as it is to find the other dents and find a lead to be done in another operation." he sits down the moment he finishes. He glances at Prim, who was gritting her teeth, giving her a smirk.
"Brilliant," Sig clapped, "Every mission is like an experiment. One must be able to gather data and keep track of the information which will be written as a report and be submitted to the base after."
Prim raises her hand, "But what if the plan does not work?"
Sig pointed to the second 'I', "Improvise. It is true that a single plan will surely not go smoothly. Therefore, along the way, you'll have to adjust depending on what situation both of you are on."
"And T?" Prim said.
"Target tracing." Sig replied, "Because these are highly classified targets, the goal of every mission is to locate the dent that they came from. Multiple entry dents are not the typical black hole portal type. Cases are these dents are regular objects that these creatures reside in like their own personal cocoon."
Prim raises her hand once more, "Then what happens after we destroy and seal the dent?"
"The usual cleanup comes after."
"Oh, alright." she cheers, thinking it's easy.
"However, these cleanups are so high maintenance that usually it takes a week for that to completely heal. No worries, you'll only be cleaning up on the first day. The rest of the maintenance will be done by the cleanup crew back at the base." Sig explains.
"Hmm. So basically a Messiah is like an all-around system comprising of all the departments that usually do the job separately." Vin folds his arms, "Ain't that convenient for those at the top." in a tone of sarcasm. He can't believe that they're being used.
Sig shrugs, "As much as DoReMi is giving Messiahs all the recognition and compensation for what we do, our job is truly life-threatening compared to the regular missions at the lower branch."
Prim, on the other hand, was not bothered by how dangerous their job is. What piqued her curiosity was the way the Messiahs are being limited to five extremely "powerful" pairs.
"Professor," Prim interrupts, "I've known many strong whisperers and exorcists back at the base and I was even able to work with them on some cleanup missions. I do not wish to think that I'm especially talented because I am absolutely the worst in resonance as what you saw earlier. But...why are there so little members of the Messiahs? Is this connected to that pandemic you've mentioned earlier?"
Vin was not expecting Prim's in-depth realization. Sure, she sucked, but for her to accept that and be conducive to asking the right questions, Vin thought that no matter how barbaric this girl can be, she is smart. He glances at Sig, who was not surprised by the question. He simply walked to the window and calmly admired the moon. Sigmund thought that there were things in this world best left unknown, but he too wants to take this chance and maybe, just maybe, finally make the broken cog move again.
"You kids know about the history of the Great War right?" Sig said not looking back at them.
"Yes." Vin responded, "Unlike today that humans are only born with five senses, originally there were six. Sight, smell, taste, hearing, touch, and supernatural. But because of how the people four hundred years ago took advantage of that gift by using the spirits to harm each other, there was a legendary Paladin who sealed away all of humanity's sixth sense. However, because he wasn't able to anticipate the consequences of his reckless decision, he faced death and paid the price."
Sig nodded, "But if he sealed away all of humanity's sixth sense, how come there are still people like us who roam the earth?"
Vin didn't know the answer. He never thought of it that way. He always thought that maybe it was because of pure luck that there was one human out there that was not affected by that sealing away four hundred years ago. He also had no explanation basing on the history of DoReMi, as it was only told that three strong warriors with the gift of divination were the founders of the organization. However, it was different for Prim. Oddly enough, as she was listening to their discussion, unknown memories came flashing in her head. The scenes didn't look familiar nor were even comforting to see. There was a man wearing a warrior's robe, standing on top of a cliff under the vast starry sky. The man was looking over what seemed to be a village. Then suddenly he jumps and a loud cry was heard.
"Pri.."
Her head starts to ache. She became confused as if it was her head getting hit by the huge rocks below the cliff.
"Pri..!"
She screamed 'No!' in her head, but it seems that only she can hear her. The loud cry became louder and the gust of the wind engulfing every bit of her senses. She looks at her hands and sees blood smothered all over. She screamed once more, but it was only her. She hears a cracking sound of wood from behind. It was warm, warmer than the summers she used to experience as a child. She turns to the village the man was watching over, and it was swallowed in flames.
"PRIM!!!!"
Prim wakes up and finds herself on Sig's arms on the floor. Sig and Vin were looking at her with eyes of wonder and worry at the same time.
"What happened?" she slowly got up.
"You fell over." Vin replied, "Thankfully, Sig noticed you were flinching so he caught you the moment you fainted."
"Are you alright, Prim?" Sig asked worriedly.
Prim remembered what she just saw. She thought it was a dream, but it was too realistic to become a dream. She felt the heat of the fire from her back. She smelled the blood. She heard the scream. It was all too real. She glanced to Sig, thinking of telling him about what she just saw. She was about to, but then she remembered how he reacted earlier when she said she knew about how what happened 200 years ago. Prim realized it wasn't time, so she bashfully chuckled scratching her head.
"Heh heh, sorry. It think it's because we haven't had dinner." she said.
WHACK.
"Don't go scaring us like that!" Vin yelled with an incoming whack.
"Like it's only my fault that we didn't get to eat?" she argued catching his hand chop.
Sig chuckled, "Well, I guess that's it for tonight so you kids could eat."
"How about training?" Vin stopped from attacking Prim, with the girl angrily balling her fist in the background.
"We'll do that tomorrow. For now, you kids have to build up strength, you exhausted yourself." Sig said picking up his marker on the table, "Oh and also, you can grab a bite at the cafeteria downstairs. It closes at 9 pm so better hurry." and he left the two to themselves.
"Well, we do have a kitchen at our cabin and a full pantry to beat but might as well eat before we go back. We better go now before it closes," Vin said but as he was about to head to the door, Prim pulls the sleeve of his blazer making him stop.
"W-What?" he stutters as he turns around to see what's wrong now. Prim stays silent. "Why is she acting all cute now?" he thought to himself.
"If this is about me head-chopping you, I'm sorry. I did it out of habit, but I don't think it was that strong okay?"
Prim still wasn't responding.
"Hey!"
"Shh!" she abruptly shushed him, eyes glued on the floor. She looked like she was listening to something. Vin quietly followed her command.
.
.
.
"Okay, he's gone." she whispered, letting him go.
"Care to explain?" he said folding his arms, his eyes were grim.
"I was listening to whether the Professor has left the building."
"No, not that. Why the holdup?" acting out how she snagged him from his sleeve.
Prim sighed, "Because I couldn't tell the truth while he was still here."
"What truth?" his voice softens.
She looked him straight in the eye, "That was no ordinary fainting I had earlier." Vin sat down as she started to narrate. "Earlier, when both of you were talking about the extinct of our ancestors' supernatural senses, I heard a voice. Then I woke up in an unknown land looking from below at a man that was watching from the edge of a cliff. It was a clear night when suddenly he jumps off and there was a scream. A really loud one. I felt my body burn and when I turned around, the village was burning."
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"I meant to, but only to you." Prim bites her lip, "I just have a feeling that he shouldn't know."
"What do you mean?"
"You saw how he reacted to what I said earlier about the pandemic 200 years ago remember? He looked worried like it was supposed to be a secret."
"Yeah. That thing that even Rem has no idea about and he's been here longer."
"I just feel like," her voice cracks, but it was due to hesitation, "I'm not supposed to know all this, but someone is making it so that I am aware of it."
Vin pauses to think of a possible explanation, "It's not rare for whisperers such as yourself to have the power of clairvoyance."
"But I'm not a clairvoyant, Chang. We both know that my sixth sense is reliant on my sense of hearing."
"Hmm.."
"Please. Just...let's just keep this between us." she begged.
He stared at her as she looks out the window getting worried. It's the first time he saw this side of her. It showed more of how vulnerable Prim was despite her being extra powerful there was no way to control her.
He nodded, "No problem. I don't see any harm of the current situation so far."
"Thank you."
"However," his voice got deeper, "You have to be careful. Memories that are not yours pose a great danger to the host especially if you're constantly exposed to the supernatural. It'll eat you away from your own consciousness. It's better to be alert as early as now."
"Then..what'll happen then if this keeps occurring to me?"
Vin stands up, "I hate to say this, but worst case, you'll most likely end up trapped in that memory, rotting your soul away."