Such a lust for revenge! (Quinn)

~~~~Arcadia~~~~
“Where is she?.....Where could that stubborn girl have run off to?” A rather imposing demon said as he rushed frantically about looking for his queen. Var’dus eventually came across one of the queen’s many pawns “Have you seen the queen? She’s been missing for months and no one not even me can find her! You though….You were with her that day, you must know something.”

The lowly demon looked up at Var’dus with hesitation, it had been five months since Madeline had returned battered and bruised from a trip to the surface. When she made her way back to Arcadia, she made it her top priority to remain out of sight. If anyone had seen her in that condition it could lead to an uprising. Instead she instructed her pawns to keep quiet, as she retreated into the deepest reaches of her kingdom to train. The pawn demon shook his head and spook with a shaky voice as he addressed Var’dus, the queens caretaker and second in command.

“She…She’s in the Heart sir.”

Var’dus’ eyes widened with dread. The Heart of Arcadia was a prison that housed the most powerful and vile demons Arcadia had to offer. It was a prison meant to contain these beasts in order to ensure that there was never a rebellion that threatened Madeline’s reign. It was a precaution that Var’dus had made that very day that infant showed up in their dimension. If Madeline had gone there and had been missing for this long it was almost guaranteed that something horrible had happened. Var’dus was filled with fear and anger as he heard the news, he would have to discipline this demon later, his top priority was ensuring Madeline’s safety. He let out an angry roar in the pawns face before rushing off towards the heart.

Var’dus approached the gemlike structure fearing the worst. Before he could take any more steps the gem began to glow brightly before being engulfed in flames. Moments later a figure that Var’dus had never seen before emerged from the crystalline prison.

“My….My queen is that you?” he said as he laid eyes on Madeline for the first time in over five months. The young girl he had raised and watched go to the surface had transformed into a woman. There was something about her, her whole disposition had changed from cheery, wide eyed child, to battle hardened warrior. There was a calmness to her eyes, but also a lot of anger behind them as well.

“Var’dus. You’re late.” she said in a stern tone, as she walked past the concerned demon. “Wipe that look of your face, I’m perfectly fine. Can’t say the same for our guests.” she said, referring to the demons being held prisoner within the Heart. Madeline had spent the past five months rigorously training her body and mind, in an effort to make sure she would never be beaten again, and the demon’s within the Heart were her sparring partners. Var’dus remained speechless, what possibly could have happened to his queen that had transformed her like this? This was a whole new Madeline, one that seemed to have awoken something deep within her.

Madeline stopped momentarily in her tracks and turned to face her dear friend and caretaker. “You don’t have to worry about me any more Var’dus…..I’ve changed for the better.” She approached the demon and placed a hand on his shoulder “I know you’ve been looking for me, but I must leave once more. I promise I won’t disappear this time. and with that she flashed him a smile and vanished into thin air.


~~~~Earth~~~~
A fiery portal opened up and Madeline stepped through. She gazed up at the sunny sky, and took a deep breath, the memory of that day still hadn’t completely faded from her mind. A lot had changed in the five months that the queen of Arcadia had been absent from earth. The site of the battle against the mob boss had been reconstructed and new buildings stood erect where their predecessors had been knocked down by the cataclysmic fight.

Madeline moved past the block and continued to wander around, if experience had taught her anything, she knew what she was looking for would pop up any second now. Right on queue Madeline heard the pleas for help in a nearby alleyway.  She rushed over to find a young teen girl being mugged by a thug. With no warning or time wasted, Madeline gripped the thug by the head and tossed him viciously into the side of a nearby dumpster before signaling for the girl to get moving. The thug attempted to stand up, but his chest was met with the bottom of Madeline’s boot as she slammed him back into the side of the dumpster.

“Your boss! Where is he!?” She said as she applied pressure to the man’s chest, causing a rib or two to snap under the force.

Despite the pain he was feeling, the thug pressed his luck by giving Madeline a smart ass answer.
“I aint telling you shit lady.”

The demon queens amber eyes trailed off and looked down at the ground for a moment, she just wasn’t in the mood to try and make the man talk and instead, removed her foot from his chest and lowered herself down to be at eye level with him. The thug tried to stand once more, only this time he caught Madeline’s metal arm to the face, causing his head to bounce of the dumpster. “I’m just not in the mood for this today….” she said with little to no emotion. She then grabbed a hold of the thug as a portal opened up behind him. Madeline gave him a slight push and sent him into the middle of a large demon hoard. The portal quickly closed just as the thugs screams could be heard as he was no doubt being ripped to pieces.

Madeline rose from her crouching position and headed back to the sidewalk, before assimilating with a large crowed and carrying on as though nothing had happened.

Quinn's eyes snap open when she feels it, something that she hasn't felt for the last five months. Turning her head slowly, she looks in the direction that she felt the energy from, a small smile appearing on her face that the thought of seeing her friend again. They parted rather suddenly after their defeat, and since then Quinn hasn't even senses the slightly hint of her appearing again. Rising to a stand where she had been meditating, her body was still rather new and she needed to make sure she could control it correctly after all. This was a good chance to test her speed after all, to see if she could control it correctly.

She moves through the city like a force of nature, dodging down side paths and even using the roof tops sometimes, moving quickly and accurately towards her target. She did switch paths only once, when she felt another portal open and her smile turned to a frown, thinking that her friend had decided to go back home without them having a chance to meet. She could only go on though, in hope that her friend was still here. Landing easily on a roof top she looked down at the location the second portal would have been, then started to look around the area, hoping that her friend was somewhere nearby. It didn't take long until she spotted the familiar figure in the distance, walking down the sidewalk like she owned the place and her frown vanished like it wasn't even there.

Quinn jumps off the roof, landing lightly on the ground before joining the traffic on the sidewalk, slowing her speed down so that she didn't catch a huge amount of attention as she raced towards her friend. It wasn't long before she caught up to her, crashing into Madeline's back and clinging to her, knocking them both over. "Madeline! I have not seen you in a while! I was worried. You should have come visited more often."

What Quinn had forgotten in her rush to visit her new friend was that she looked and even felt completely different, seeing as how she was now flesh and blood and even her mana had changed how it felt when she used it. Of course, none of that mattered to Quinn in the first place, since she would work to get her friendship back no matter how this meeting turned out.

As Madeline continued to move with the small crowd along the sidewalk, she couldn’t help but feel all the eyes that were on her. She ignored it for as long as she could, before stopping in from of a shop window to see why everyone was staring at her. Her eye’s widened in shock, it was the first time she had looked at herself since she went into training, and she was surprised to find that she looked as though she had aged a bit, but it wasn’t so much her looking older that shocked her, than it was the fact that she had horns sticking out of the sides of her head.

“When did those get there?” She said to herself as she touched the tip of one of the horns. She quickly shrugged the feeling off, and continued to prowl the streets for any clues that would lead her to her target. Madeline looked around at all the pedestrians and just all the sites around her in general. To her Earth had lost its luster. Things she once marveled at, and things that brought a smile to her face just reminded her of her failure now, and it only made her more upset.

As the young demon queen moved along, she could hear the rushed sound of footsteps behind her, and she began to move to the side, assuming that there was a runner approaching. Before she knew it, something had hit her from behind, and all she could think as she fell to the ground was *TIMBERRRRRRRRR!!!!* Madeline hit the ground and just stared off to the side with a blank expression as she thought *This cant possible be happening right now.*

Before she could turn to snap at whoever it was that had knocked her over, she heard her name spoken. Madeline quickly turned to see a pink haired girl smiling at her, with a face full of excitement. The young queen raised a bro in confusion, who the hell was this? And how did she know Madeline’s name? Then it clicked. The only person Madeline had ever had any interaction with was her friend Q, but this girl looked entirely different, how was this possible?

“Who are you? And how do you know my name?” she said as she stood up and dusted herself off.

Quinn tilts her head to one side at the question, not sure what she meant for a moment. Then it all comes back to her as she looks down at her brand new body as her mouth shifts to something like surprise. "Oh, yeah, I forgot." Quinn stands up and dusts off her clothes, taking her time to look presentable again before answering any of Madeline's questions. "Hi, I am Quinn. I know your name because I have all the memories that Q7P13 had in my brain. It would make me happy if you could consider me your friend too."

Quinn puts her hands onto Madeline's shoulders, now giving her a really serious look. "I do have some bad news though, your friend is dead. She exploded. I still remember it. It was not fun." Quinn rubs her stomach like the spear was still there, then shrugs off the memory and gives Madeline a big smile. "I guess this is the first time we actually met, you are just how she remembers you. Well mostly, you seem to frown a lot more. Is everything okay?" An idea pops into Quinn's head right then. "Oh oh! Maybe we can go get ice cream. It tastes really good. We should go get some, I am sure you would love it." Quinn grabs Madeline's hand and starts to drag her towards the nearest ice cream place, trying to cheer her friend up.

Madeline gave the strange girl a blank stare as the news set in. She wasn’t quite sure how to handle it. Instead she was whisked away by the pink haired girl, while her mind still tried to absorb the huge bomb that was just dropped on her. The girl had managed to drag Madeline almost a whole block, before she snapped out of her daze and quickly yanked her hand away from the girl.

“What the hell do you mean she’s dead?!” She shouted. Everyone around the two girls seemed to stop dead in their tracks and stare at Madeline. The Demon Queen shot a vicious glance at the crowd around them. Prompting everyone to go about their business once more. She then turned to the girl. She settled down a bit as she thought of her own origins, it wasn’t too farfetched to think that someone could just swap bodies or minds, as a matter of fact she still saw glimmers of the old queens life every now and then herself.

“I want you to explain everything very thoroughly” The thought of her friend being killed in her absence made her feel a bit guilty. Maybe if she hadn’t disappeared on everybody for five months, this wouldn’t have happened. “How could I have been so selfish?” she mumbled to herself.

Madeline took a good look at the girl, who seemed confused by her sudden outburst and flashed her a faint smile before grabbing her hand. “Tell you what. You can tell me all about it, after we get that ice cream.”

Quinn takes a step back at the other girl's sudden outburst, not sure why she was so worked up. Was it because her past self died? That's weird, people die all the time. Letting her hand be taken by Madeline, she nods once. "O-okay."

It didn't take them long to reach the ice cream shop that was nearby, Quinn pulling the money out of one of her pockets and passing it over to the cashier after they had ordered. Taking a seat away from the rest of the people who were enjoying their ice cream, Quinn decides to begin her story while Madeline was distracted with the new taste she was given.

"Well, I... Sorry, I get confused sometimes, I have her memories after all. Q7 was just minding her own business at the library when it happened. It was some sort of weird golem thing made of rocks and dirt and stuff. It totally wrecked the whole place and everything. I am not really sure why cause I...I mean, she was too busy trying to stay alive and everything."

Quinn takes a break in talking to take a bite of her ice cream, then continues, not actually happy about talking about what feels like the death of a family member. "Anyway, the fight did not last that long, Q7P13.. You know I do not like that name. It makes her feel like a thing instead of a person. From now on she is Kali, okay?" Quinn has far more emotion that her other self did, and hates the fact that her 'creator' didn't even give them a real name.

"Kali managed to make it back to our home, and she thought that she had lost the golem. It managed to sneak up behind her and got her in the chest with this exploding earth spear, ruining almost all of her systems. Before she died she managed to connect to the network and pass all of her memories to me."

Quinn takes another bite of her ice cream before sliding it over to Madeline and forcing a smile onto her face. "I do not really need to eat much, so you can have the rest of it. So, is there anything else you want to know?" Quinn places on her hands on the table in front of her, not able to suppress her emotions like she was able to in her memory. The function was lost with the creation of the body she has.

Madeline listened intently to the story Quinn was telling her. She was interested to know who was responsible for harming her friend. Under most circumstances Madeline might have tried to comfort her friend while she relived the painful memories, but the demon queen of Arcadia had changed, and rather than feeling remorse she only felt anger. Just as Quinn finished her story and began to pass over her ice cream cone, Madeline’s metal fist tightened around her own cone, causing it to burst and drip down her hand.

She was snapped out of her daze, as Quinn tapped her on the nose with the icy cold treat. Madeline jumped from the sudden icy sting and couldn’t help but give her pink haired friend a large smile. It was then that she finally saw the emotion in Quinn’s face. It was at the moment that Madeline pushed the thoughts of revenge to the back of her mind, only for the sake of cheering up her friend, who was in desperate need of a pick me up.

“You’ve told me plenty. How about we get out of here and have some fun instead?” she said as she nibbled on the ice cream cone awaiting a response. Quinn had made it pretty clear that she wasn’t the exact same as Madeline’s old friend, so rather than make a suggestion, she thought she would leave that decision up to Quinn.

Quinn puts the thoughts of her death out of her mind and gives Madeline a bright smile. "I am okay now. So what were you doing? Looking for someone? We can go do that! It would be like an adventure! I like adventures."

Seeing as how the ice cream was already gone, Quinn grabs her friends hand and pulls her out of the shop, knowing that they don't need to worry about the glasses. Stopping outside of the shop, she looks both ways before deciding one way and heading off randomly, not really caring which way they were going. You can't get lost if you don't have a clear place to be after all, plus she has a near perfect mental map of the city already. Seeing as how they might not find "So, who are you looking for? Is it another friend? I know the feeling of losing friends, it is not very fun."

Without giving Madeline any time to respond, Quinn launches into another set of questions, having lost whatever tact she had before. "What have you been doing for the last few months? You have not been around lately. I would have visited but I do not know how to get to your...castle? Domain? World? Dimension? Where do you live anyway? I was never very clear on that."

Madeline was still trying to adjust to just how active her friend had become in her absence. Though Technically Quinn was a completely different entity that Q, she seemed to know all about Madeline, while in turn, Madeline knew very little of her upgraded companion. She didn’t know where to begin, in explaining the nature of her visit to earth, but it would have to wait, as she was abruptly whisked out of the ice cream shop by Quinn. Once outside Quinn began to barrage Madeline with questions, not giving her much time to respond.

Madeline stood cross-armed and just stared at Quinn, for a few moments, half expecting her to start back up with another game of twenty questions, but when a few moments passed in silence, Madeline took it as a queue to finally get around to answering her friends questions. “Well lets start with the simple stuff first. Since you said you have Q…Kali’s memories, do you know that mobster we had a run in with five months ago?” Madeline took a moment, finding it hard to explain things in such a manner, but she pressed on nonetheless. “Well anyway. I’m looking for him.”

Madeline proceeded to deflect the last two questions as she wasn’t comfortable with the fact that she had up and abandoned the only friend she had ever had, that wasn’t a demon. It left a sour taste in her mouth, as it made her seem like a coward. So instead of answering Quinn, Madeline proceeded to walk along the sidewalk, not really sure exactly how the rest of today would end up.