'A…Dreamscape?'
'Oh my, dear Owner how old are you exactly?'
'fifteen, a problem?'
The crimson star seemed to recoil in shock, then a flurry of crimson tendrils once again appeared all over its body as it circled around her.
' A child…yes, child? You're awfully mature'
'Do we really have time for normal conversation?'
'Right, ahem!'
The ember star retreated back, Crusch now noting that its form was beginning to twitch and change shape.
'A dream scape, to put it simply is a domain from within a Caster or a beast's mind given shape and appearance in the form a lucid dream'
'That's why it's called a dreamscape, everything here can essentially be attributed to a dream' The red star added.
Crusch nodded, 'So I've entered one of your Dreamscapes?'
'Both actually, this is neither mine nor her's' The ember star swiveled in direction of its red counterpart as Crusch frowned.
'Is it because I'm trying to fuse the two of you?'
'Yes,' The crimson star answered, 'You understand the essence of a fusion, correct Dear Owner?'
Although Crusch desired to say, 'Yes', however, a part of her stopped herself. The tone in which the Crimson star asked this question made it seem as though there was something else about the entire process that she wasn't aware of, was it their nature's? Compatibility? Crusch couldn't sense anything so Integral to this that she hadn't already been aware of, after all, her parents and practically everyone around her had tried by all means to make it as clear as day just what would transpire once she'd attempted this.
Sighing, she stared at the crimson star and asked, 'Is there perhaps something I'm missing?'
'A clever owner, quite refreshing' the crimson star then retreated back as, just like its ember counterpart began to change form and grow in size.
Soon enough Crusch wasn't staring at simply stars anymore but two beast's, a large bear-like creature and…
'That's…quite the appearance…'
**
In actuality the process of wand fusion was only barely understood let alone desired to be, the lack of success in it whether harboring potential or not made research and understanding surrounding the process null and unimportant.
What did it mean to make a wand into what you wanted? A new desire? A new nature? Perhaps this is where a lot of the failures came in from, the process was far too vague and overreaching. Although many would later avoid grandiosity in this process, it still didn't mean anything if the process itself was barely understood. Perhaps Grandiosity had nothing to do with it, wording and warped will might have but then there's still a question.
Why does this part even matter? One could simply desire the simplest and most basic format for their wand, easy to comprehend and create, a success…right? Perhaps not, for in a process, in order to yield the best results one had to fully understand and comprehend each and every step to its core. This comprehension ensured no mistakes were made along the way, increasing the chances of a success.
'I ask again, Dear Owner, what is it you desire?' The red star, no, it was more apt to call it a woman had asked her.
Contrary to the fact that they referred to themselves as beast's, the person in front of Crusch aside from the bear was almost entirely human in appearance. Long and silk like crimson hair flowed past her shoulders while cross pupiled golden eye's stared at her, as for what she wore and it was simply a bra and feather decorated skirt to cover although the different colors and shades of each one from how they were placed and designed was quite masterful. There was however a second part of her that certified she wasn't human, four dark brown wing's similar to an eagles that hung slightly folded on her back.
'What significance does that have?' Crusch asked, the woman's appearance was bewitching but this process required focus.
'A desire is the first steps into shaping your new wand, its a goal but not a shape or form' This time it was the bear that spoke, 'That's where many get it wrong'
'So by answering that question, I get closer to how I want my wand to be?' she asked.
'How it will operate'
'Operate?' The woman ignored this question and asked again.
'What is it you desire?'
Crusch frowned.
A desire? That was hard to answer, her entire life had been built around the horrors of misfortune. It was the kind of lifestyle that although Crusch had clambered to have a semblance of what she felt she'd wanted, the rest was given and left for her to make do with. A desire? Live comfortably? Sleep on a full stomach? Meet her parents more often? Graduate? Get a better job?
Were these desires? Perhaps, although most were hopes and dreams, some necessities to ensure her survival so were they truly what she herself wanted deep down inside? She shook her head again, it had become far too increasingly often that her thoughts would wander to herself and incur moments of unnecessary deep thoughts.
What mattered now was what she desired for her future as a Witch, for that, then what did she desire? Power perhaps? Yet that was a given, Crusch had to look deeper, towards how she'd later want to live her life here, the magic she'd like to explore and felt her mind flash with an answer.
'I…' she slowly began, a look of anticipation in both the figures in front of her as they listened. 'I desire..freedom'
The two beast's stared, a silence hanging in the void as Crusch gazed at them with much weariness in her choice for a desire but it did fit what she wanted to do here. Exploring magic to its fullest, visiting places she could never dream of and experiencing adventure's like she'd always read about, a childish desire perhaps but one she was content with.
'Freedom?' The bear glanced at her, its face serious before it turned to what she could only describe as a toothy grin, 'Fear not Master, it is a desire I most certainly can accomplish'
'Dear God, the beast is still in denial' the woman spoke, one of her hands on the the bridge of her nose as she shook her head in exasperation.
'Tis a simple desire! A Wondrous and splendid one no better fit for a soul writhing for adventure, there's no better match' The bear growled.
'Freedom is as easy a desire that can be given through fear, the feared are largely ever hampered'
'Language fit for a demon…'
At this point Crusch could feel something slowly cracking and the sound of tearing, it boggled her till she met eyes on what was happening to the void around them; there were Cracks appearing and breaches of white light and visceral red.
'Does that classify you as a Saint? Do you feel sorrow over the corpses strewn behind you now that you speak? Or perhaps I should remind you where that conscious of yours was born from'
'YOU DARE—'
'Enough!!' The two had come so close to each other with aura's exuding malicious intent that the void had become a sorry state of fractures and open spaces coloured in their opposing nature's.
'I came here to Fuse the both of you, not choose one over the other!!!' She shouted, standing between the two to separate them.
'Nonsense!! I dare not be tainted by a spawn of a devil's kin!'
'Dear owner, this beast can barely listen to reason, do you wish to harbor a wand or the will of an animal?'
Crusch could feel the bear's desire to attack, its fangs bared so viciously that it was quite a bit terrifying.
'Did you think I came here having not already analyzed who'd suit me best!?'
'I would think no such thing dear owner, only that you haven't thought it through deeply enough'
Crusch glared at the woman as she heard this, 'If I wanted you, I would've chosen you, plain and simple'
'Ha, even the master—' Crusch glowered at the bear and interjected before it could continue, 'You either'
She glanced at the two whose expressions hardened and glared while she sighed, 'Both of you are wands inexplicably built for me and I can feel that but neither of you are perfect, I don't have just one nature nor a goal that one of you would work best on your own to help me accomplish'
She held desire and that was a desire either of them could accomplish for her but a part of her, perhaps it was this body or her own greediness but she felt a strong resistance from choosing either one over the other, after all, she'd have done so in the beginning when the options were first laid to her but a desire for both had prompted her to choose both and that wouldn't change now.
'So you want us both?' The woman raised a brow, 'I don't know whether to call this a passion for power, greed or ignorance'
'For once I agree with the demon'
'There, you two can agree on something!' Crusch exclaimed, completely ignoring their sleight on her, 'Isn't that a possibility that you two can work together?'
"Absolutely not!" The unification in their cry was a slap to the face but Crusch pressed on.
'I won't be able to work without either of you thus I can't reject one and accept the other'
'Such a thing is impossible' The bear commented.
'Earlier you said that you could sense two nature's in me right?'
'Even so,' the woman interjected, 'There's always one that stands stronger than the other, strong enough to make a choice'
Crusch stared at her and half smiled, although she didn't completely understand what was happening to her and although she knew that this body wasn't her's and some lingering phantasmal alien-ness would occur, she hadn't expected things like emotions or reactions to be a thing nor to the extent of which it had been affecting her, so much so that her possession; although strong enough that Crusch held a grasp on her decision making, thoughts and desires for the future, it equally held control on how she acted and felt around others and some people.
Crusch hadn't tested it and couldn't find a good reason to either but she was pretty sure that even the strength to hold a weapon or say something hurtful to either her parents, siblings or Melissa, granted that she'd only known them for a few days was completely and utterly out of her reach. This was enough evidence to come to the conclusion that if one of her nature's was coming from her body and not herself then it was fifty-fifty as the extent of control to which she had on the body itself, was, as well, fifty-fifty.
'Have a look for yourself then' Said Crusch, if they could already sense her nature's then distinguishing over which held more influence over her should've been easy but the woman only grimaced.
'Tch, that's…' she trailed off.
'You already noticed didn't you?'
The woman didn't answer and the bear also seemed stumped for a retort, 'I need the both of you'
'Unfortunately not possible, to share a body with a demo—'
'One of us has to relent certain aspects to properly fuse' The woman interjected, 'Our fleshless form, to be exact'
Crusch raised a brow as the bear barked at the woman, 'Don't you dare!!'
'What do you mean by relent? Does one of you have to..disa—'
'Heavens no! Dear Owner, it wouldn't be fusion if one of us disappeared in the process, that's simply absorption and domination'
Crusch looked at her and then the bear whose face was practically contorted in anger as she asked, 'So what exactly has to be relented?'
This creased a smile over the woman's face before she answered, 'Who's becoming the main body of course'
'I refuse!! Are you saying you're agreeing to this?! Even for a demon, I thought you'd have pride for yourself!'
The woman who's gaze had become amused by now only lifted her arms in Innocence, 'Of course I do, I'm only stating what would have to be done'
She looked at Crusch, 'Neither of us are willing, as you can see, we're at an impasse'
Crusch who now began to feel frustrated at the sheer difficulty this was becoming, she felt as though it wasn't the compatibility of wand's that made them not fuse properly but whether said wands even wanted to, she looked at them both.
'I can't go back on this you know'
'Rather I become an incomplete mess than fuse with that demon'
'Can't say I'd like the instincts of an animal either, you can simply go back and ask to break the spell dear owner, so long as our cores exist…we can be restored'
Crusch's hands clenched into fist's, 'I'm not going back on this'
'It's pointless, a fusion is built out of harmony not strife'
'You can learn to work together!'
'How? So long as one of us refuses, it'll never happen'
Crusch frowned, 'So you'd rather leave me defective over something that can slowly be fixed?'
'The demon has already told you how to at least ensure that one of us gets restored'
Crusch glared at the bear, 'Well then, tell me how exactly are you going to account for my second nature?'
There was a boiling rage in her now, a seething wrathful irritation that emanated from her as she glared, one that even in Crusch's years of both strife and anger had never once reached these heights; it was clearly not hers.
'Do you see yourself capable?'
The bear who although had harbored a malicious and wrathful intent of its own had only acted so out of the scorn it apparently had to the woman's race, its actual nature barely held a candle against such insidious intentions without reason. After all, this was the excited, adventurous and loyal wand of hers.
'T-That…' The bear searched for an argument but its gaze quickly lowered 'I can't say'
Crusch sighed and glanced back at the woman whose face was all smiles, however, she felt as though it was a show of approval rather than to the fact that the bear had essentially been shut up by the nature she exuded that most definitely resembled its own, noticing Crusch's quizzical and contemplating gaze did the woman raise her arms once again.
'Oh no, no need to show me some really kind and righteous side of your's or whatever, I wouldn't be able to compensate'
Crusch sighed, 'Right, I really need you both'
The two looked over each other and slightly grimaced but thankfully enough, there were no words of refusal.
'Our attributes may not mix well together…' The bear commented, 'Even if we agree, there's no guarantee of success'
True, Crusch couldn't guarantee that their attributes would mix well and it was really pushing it up to chance but there was no going back now and a part of her felt there was no need to worry over that.
'I have confidence it'll succeed'
'Hmph, nothing has been agreed upon' it glowered at the woman whose gaze turned amusing.
'The dear owner desires a suitable wand for both her nature's, you wouldn't deny that would you?'
The bear clicked its tongue, 'Even so...'
'Even so, we're wands'
The woman whose gaze grew slightly solemn as she spoke, narrowed and lost focus, 'We're no longer alive, tools meant to benefit its master'
'Have you no Pride!?'
'Writhing in anger won't change that and denying this fate won't help us either, weren't you already inclined into becoming her tool if she so much as refused this fusion?' She stared at the bear, his gaze evasive now.
'That...' He trailed off, Crusch who'd heard this entire ordeal slightly frowned at the thought.
'I don't mean to treat you as tools...'
'But tools we are' she laughed, 'Don't mind the implications'
'But...'
'Haa what an owner I have' the woman smiled and then looked over at the bear, 'So, who becomes the main body while the other writhes as a voice in their head?'
The bear remained silent, contemplating and brooding over its own thoughts till it turned to the woman again and suddenly growled yet there seemed to be a sneer of mockery on its face, 'You'd tread carefully if we'd have met still alive'
'Hm? You must've had an obsession, a demon take something from you?'
'Can't we settle this more peacefully!?'