Sebastian had never heard of Rocky before, but it didn't really matter, because they were both somewhat distracted by the escalation of the fight. It was becoming more of a wrestling match, rather than a duel now, and they couldn't see it from their seats. Just like in football (Sebastian had learned this from some X-man, but could no longer remember why he had been hanging out with him) you stood up when something exciting was about to happen, whether it ended up being good or bad.

In this case, he hoped he wasn't rooting for the underdog, though. He was fond of Noel. He believed she could handle this, but on the off chance that she couldn't, he'd have a difficult time forgiving himself and there would be no forgiveness for Forte.

Sebastian found himself walking to the front of the center aisle, where parents brought their babies to be blessed, where grooms stood to wait for their brides, where relatives bid their last farewells. He could see from here; see whether or not he had to step in. He had his hand on the hilt of his sword, though it was an unconscious movement, and when she screamed he almost drew it, but no. This was her fight. She could handle herself, he just had to give her a chance.

He shoved his head forward. With her arms engaged with his helmet that only served to push her and the helmet up off the ground... which actually made getting the dang thing off easier. She hoped he got neck strain. His hands closed on her shoulders and pulled her forward. Her elbows were locked. His pulling was the final extra push she needed to slip that helmet up over his nose.

She lobbed the thing off to the side and fought to get her elbows in place on either side of his head, if his face was in the way of the path of one of her elbows, oh well. (He should have worn a helmet to guard against that kind of attack, huh?) She locked her arms around his head so that he would have to face her. Her brown hair slid around them like a privacy curtain. Little zippy pops continued to drive her toward him until they were nose to nose. She really wanted him to stop that.

All it would take was a fraction of a second. Just a little eye contact and her pupils would go all wiggly.

Forget you are a mutant.

If she had more time to think over what she'd wanted, she might have tacked on a few more things that she didn't mind forgetting herself. As it was, that was the one thing that she had wanted most at the time.

As her focus returned, Noel realized that she was laying on top of a man, breathing heavily, aching in various ways and she had every intention of closing that last inch of space between them. She had wiped them both. That was possibly why she felt absolutely nothing romantic as she leaned in the last little space to press her lips against his.

Sebastian's reaction was interesting. Glancing between the unicorn and the girl, she saw a clear connection. She was fighting a stranger in Sebastian's name. Sebastian, wasn't just idly chit-chatting any more. Now that the fight had heated up, he was alert and ready to defend his underling.

It was just so... cute.

The unicorn gripped his sword and Lori glanced back to see... wow. The blonde tilted her head to get a better view. "Huh. she didn't look like that kind of girl." Lori Sat down on the back of her pew and dangled her legs over the other side. Sebastian might interfere, but Lori wasn't about to.

His helmet connected with the empty air of space before him, a fact that temporary surprised him. The moment passed quickly enough, but the question of why his attack had failed spun through his brain like a twister without direction until it finally sucked up the right piece of information. She’d been trying to get it off; of course an attempt to attack her with it would be useless. He’d only helped her to get a better grip on the thing. Heck, his attempt to pull her close enough for him to prevent her from escaping even helped her more than it did him. With a final pop as the helmet slid over his features, it came clear off, exposing his head and appearance to the woman.

She quickly tossed it aside and in that brief moment, Kyle shook his head to clear some of the hair form his eyes. When he was done, he noticed that she was closer to him. A lot closer. Her elbows came down on either side of his head, one of them forcing him to adjust his head slightly to avoid getting cracked in the jaw. Then she was right there, her hair dangling down to either side of him, shielding their faces from their observers. And as his energy bolts snapped her down even closer to him, his mind tore through why she wanted to be so close.

It settled on the only one that made sense; she was about to reveal her powers. Since the fight had started, she had shown no sign of any visible mutation or used anything that a normal human couldn’t do. But now, in almost intimate range with her opponent, she was coming closer and staring right at him. That meant that her mutation, whatever it was, likely had to do with physical touch in some way. Or if not that then eye to eye contac…

And then the world blanked for a fleeting moment and everything was a white blur. What seemed like a small eternity passed in the space of moments and then it all came back, that white returning to the lines of the world. And as those lines focused into shapes and colors, Kyle found himself staring into the eyes of a young woman who was practically lying on top of him. Why was she on top of him? What had he and she been doing? No wait, he knew he’d been fighting her for some reason, but he didn’t remember why in this exact moment. But he knew they’d been fighting…so why did it feel like something was missing from his scenario?

He didn’t get much more time to think about it because something warm suddenly pressed against him. It took him only a moment to realize the source of that warmth was her lips pressing against his. His entire body froze at this development, unsure of what needed to be done in this situation. In that span of time, the woman’s power would be getting bits and pieces of his past in a flood; the actions that lead to the death of his past love, parts of his training regiments that brought him to this level of skill, details of his past that he would not tell anyone without a good reason. So lost was Kyle in this moment that he didn’t even realize that he was kissing back; only the sudden warning in the back of his mind made him break his head back from her. And he still didn’t have a clue what was going on but he did know that his heart was on fire now.

”What in the seven hells was…who the heck are you and just what was that about? I mean…not unappreciated, but I think the church would consider this to be sinning.” With a light shove, he pushed her back from him, then rolled out next to the discarded helmet and getting to a knee. ”So, who might I have the pleasure of speaking to? And well, pleasure of kissing as well.”

When sword fights turned to wrestling turned to kissing it was time to step in. It wasn't clear who had won or who had lost, but this fight was clearly over.

It wasn't that Noel was his lover or anything. Yes, they shared a bed, but all they did in it was sleep next to each other. Still, he didn't like her kissing him. He liked him kissing her back even less. If he was in the habit of talking to himself he may have tried to convince himself that he wasn't jealous, that he was simply being protective. On this occasion, he didn't take the time for mental discourse with himself; he simply acted on his instincts.

He was down the aisle in three strides. His sword was drawn in two.

With his left hand Sebastian pulled Noel back, helped by the light little shove that Forte had given her. He didn't give Noel a chance to answer the junior Syn's playful questions. His right hand, pommel first, swung down toward the kneeling man's head. If that missed it's mark, the blade was following close behind with a much longer reach.

Furthermore, his tail, the usefulness of which most people overlooked being not used to having one themselves, whipped forward toward his front, knee up, leg. It didn't pack much force, but it could distract someone or possibly trip them up.

She kissed him clinically. The things that she saw— the apology in the rain, the girl, the training, the rooftop, Chillo —that was all him. Her brain felt like it was drawing in on itself as he pulled away. A slight headache formed somewhere in the middle of her mind like an itch that could never be reached.

"I am not sure that I know what a sin is, exactly." It was an honest admission. One that earned her a shove. Boy did he scuttle away fast.

Noel got grabbed after that. Her hands went to the hand gripping her shirt to help her get to her feet instead of just getting slung backward, but he didn't hold on long enough for her to steady herself. The brunette ended up on her butt behind the sword slinging unicorn.

"Sebastian, don't." The brunette drew the back of her hand across her lips to wipe the last bits of feeling away.

"Ariel wasn't your fault." Her heart ached for Forte. She could imagine herself comforting him just as easily as driving her elbow up into his chin. "No amount of fighting or training will bring her back." It was likely that she had an incomplete picture, but what she had seen made her think that his fighting and training was partly because of guilt.

Sebastian... and Ariel? Lori sputtered and nearly fell off her pew. Her hand clamped over her mouth and her eyes watered. Oh this was rich. Mutant Drama Theatre: Little Mermaid style!

She snapped a photo of Sebastian in action. The unicorn Sebastian. Though imagining him in a lobster costume made for more giggle fits...

She didn’t know what a sin was exactly? Just who in the heck was this woman and how was it possible that she didn’t know what a sin was? Cursing was a sin and just about everyone did that; there was no possible way she could reach whatever age she seemed to be and have not come into contact with a sin in some form or another. Hell, she’d been trying to kill him a minute ago and while it would have been claimed in self-defense, killing someone was still a sin.

The fact that they were fighting made his head hurt suddenly and he resisted the urge to grab it. They’d been fighting, he knew that…but there was a gap in that fight. Something was missing, out of place, didn’t make sense about it. There was a lingering sense of…something in the room, in his mind, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. He knew that if he did, everything would become clear. It was just a matter of finding out the best way to overcome that problem.

He didn’t have much time to think about it actually. A shadow loomed over him and he shook his head to clear it just in time to see a large and slender man yank Noel back and move toward him. Then the man started drawing the sword at his side, the pommel being the first thing to streak towards him. If Noel had been quicker in thinking, she would have made him forget how to fight and that he was a mutant. As it were, he didn’t remember he had powers, but his years of fighting and experience were still there and as the pommel came towards him, instinct and training combined.

His position wasn’t good, but it could have been worse. With little time to react, Kyle’s eyes watched the pommel drop and when it was almost on him, adjusted his body so that the pommel missed him by inches. Of course, there was the blade to still contend with, but Kyle had already reacted to that. Even as he slid back, he brought both his arms up so that the bladed forearms were facing the incoming attack. His blades met with the man’s blades, sparking slightly where they clanged together. In his position, it made him the weaker in terms of stance, but the double parry and his strength made up for that. Barely.

He was about to attempt a roll away when the woman shouted something at him. When the words left her mouth and connected with his ears, his entire body froze. How did she know who Ariel was? Even more to the point, how did she know one of his reasons for fighting and training was to make up for that failure? He didn’t know who the woman was and didn’t recall Ariel mentioning anyone like her. Had she been there that night? Just how did she….

Something suddenly whipped around his leg, snapping him from his thoughts and the growing headache within his mind as the memories flooded him. Like before, the memories were clear, but there was something missing, blacked out, obscure. No time to worry about that though, as whatever whipped around his leg through him off balance. Clenching his teeth, he shoved back against the sword as he stumbled back, then shoved hard to the side so that he could roll the opposite way, tugging his leg free. He was back to a firm stance in an instant coming out of the roll, though his back was to the stage behind him. But his attention wasn’t on the man; it was on the woman. His tone was a mix of anger, confusion and pain, all of which were easy to tell apart.

”How…how in the hell do you know that name?! How…how could you?” Gritting his teeth for a moment, he let his anger subside a little as he pondered how she could know. ”It’s…it’s not like I think fighting and training like I do will bring her back. I’m not that naive. But I do know that in order to avoid letting that happen again, I have to get better. So I’ll train. And I’ll fight. Then I’ll keep doing it over and over until either I die or till I become strong enough to prevent anyone else from suffering.

I saw it in an instant. Even though I’m sure I’m missing something, I can tell that you’re strong. And even though the threat of death lingers over this fight, it lingers only for me. I have no intention of killing anyone unless they deserve it and you don’t deserve it in the slightest. So, my only question is this; do you want to continue and test your skills still or would you rather let this man step in?”

Sebastian's sword was pushed back, his opponent rolled across the ground, and then... Sebastian paused, feeling compelled to clarify exactly what it was Noel wanted him to do.

“Stop what?”

“Stop fighting him,” she responded, as if it had been obvious.

Sebastian's sword quivered in the air. But.. but... there was the perfect opening! The guy was just standing there and monologuing about how he was going to get so strong he could help change the world and keep people from suffering, blah blah blah.

A silly sentiment, but one that could be useful to someone. It would make him easy to manipulate. Sebastian lowered the tip of his sword to the floor.

The man could be an X-man, with his ideals. Or possibly an Orderling, with his willingness to fight whatever he was pointed at. If the Kabal was still around, he'd fit in perfectly there, with his idealistic desire to keep everyone in the world from suffering. But it was impossible. The world was imperfect. It was always going to be imperfect. Whomever had made it, if anyone had, had let humans run amok all over it for far too long without any regard for nature, each other, or anything else.

A perfect world was impossible unless someone came along to remake it.

“If you really want to become stronger and better yourself, challenging random strangers isn't going to help you. You need discipline and you need a teacher, otherwise you are going to get yourself killed before you ever have a chance to make a difference.”

How did she know? Noel wasn't about to tell him. She measured his reaction, instead. Anger, frustration and then perhaps a little peek into what he was really like underneath that aggressive shell.

Noel put her head between her hands and allowed herself a moment to just feel hurt. Her stomach, her leg, her head. This fight was doing a number on her and the enemy seemed just fine physically. That made her want to re-evaluate her own strength. She could still fight, but now she didn't want to. Not because of her physical hurts, but because of his emotional ones.

"Do you really think you can prevent anyone from suffering?" She took her time getting to her feet. The more she moved, the better she felt. Sitting still was making her feel stiff. He still had her sword. Sebastian was far better equipped to finish this fight and yet, at her insistence, he stopped. He really was a saint.

"What about the people you are fighting? Or the people who you scared out of this church? Your actions are disruptive and selfish."

Standing now with her chin out, Noel could only agree with Sebastian. "I don't want to fight you, but if it is a test you want Sebastian makes an excellent teacher." Hands. On. Hips. The damage to this church was already done. The congregation was gone. They still had time to fight it out if that was what he really wanted.

Instead, Noel was hoping Sebastian would talk (or smack) some sense into him.

Fascinating. Lori watched Noel from her place on the pew back. Her giggle fits had subsided and now the real show was starting. The smooch had given Noel access to Kyle's... thoughts? past? insecurities? Lori's brain ticked through the possibilities. Whatever she had done, Noel had gotten information from him. Information he hadn't wanted to give up.

Noel was looking more and more useful to Lori every day that went by. Her time with Sebastian was clearly helping her grow. It had been the right choice to send her to him.

Kyle on the other hand... he was a mess that, for whatever reason, Noel and Sebastian were trying to recruit. It seemed her pawn was not strong enough after all. She could back him up and make this a two on two fight, but that would blow her cover as a useless mutant nobody.

Did that even matter any more? Not really. But she did not want to put herself in opposition of Sebastian and Noel. She was, after all, supporting their little endeavor in her own little way. Someday she planned to stand against them with an army of mutants to back her up. Today, with only Kyle... the timing just wasn't right.

If there was one person more surprised then the older warrior with the sword, it was Kyle. Not just from the fact that the women he had just been fighting had just told the man to stop; but because he actually stopped. If Kyle's memory wasn't fooling him, the man was her superior or teacher or what not. And yet, here he was, obeying her command to cease attacking him. It rose a lot of questions while answering almost nothing. On top of the blank slate that some of his memories about the fight seemed to be, it was enough to drive the ordinary man insane.

But Kyle had long ago learned that a cooled mind and body won in battle, though you could heat up your drive in order to fight longer and better. Even though he didn't want to admit it, random fighting really wasn't fighting for a purpose, which had in the past, made him feel stronger then he should have been. More confident. Sure, it allowed him to test his style against many foes with different ways of fighting themselves, illuminating faults and strengths he could adapt around later, but it would likely get him killed. Despite knowing that, he did it anyway. And until now, he really hadn't given it any thought about why.

Noel's words about the past made him remember and recalculate; he did have a purpose before. When did he lose himself so much that he justified it through his reckless fighting? The thought made him ache as it forced him to remember Ariel but it was an ache he needed to feel. It slapped him back to reality...just in time to catch the man's words that seemed to mirror his own thoughts. Either the man was a mind reader or he had come to the conclusion just as Kyle had.

Mind reader...that made Kyle freeze as he read the situation once again, his mind clear and directed once again. The man before him had a horn...a horn!...and that could only mean he was a mutant. The woman had spoken about memories only he knew about, that he knew only a few were present for and she wasn't anywhere in those memories. That likely meant she'd done something in order to see them...or had a good network with which she got the information from. Illogical that thought; until today, she had never seen Kyle. Her reaction to him told him as much. So that left mutant as the most logical explanation.

That rose the question; why was he fighting against mutants? A normal human would have to be mad to try and fight a mutant by themselves, let alone two at once. A glance to Lori had him throwing in the chance that there was three mutants. Either he was suicidal or had a plan, there was only one other reason he would be bold enough to challenge a mutant to a fight. Adding to those thoughts was the fact that despite knowing they'd rolled around a bit already, Kyle didn't feel the least bit tired. In fact, he felt amazing, minus the parts of his body she'd connected with. Logically, there was only one conclusion. And it all came flooding back, so quickly he was almost overwhelmed by the suddenness of it. Grabbing his head, Kyle took a deep breath to ignore the ache it gave his head, which faded after only a moment.

Standing, Kyle folded his arms and sighed in relief. "Well, that was an experience. A most interesting mutation you seem to have there my lady. I applaud it. Now then..it seems I have some things to answer too.

Your right, of course. I should have asked to take this fight outside rather then make chaos within this place. Nor can I deny that my actions were selfish either. I asked to fight and did so without thinking about the repercussions. Luckily, I think you gave me the kick I needed to reevaluate my direction.

Mr Horn or whatever your name is, you make a good point. Aimless fighting has its advantages, but as you've clearly pointed it, its cons outweigh its pros. I probably could benefit from some direction like your suggesting...but I'm sorry to say that despite your confidence in the man, my lady, I don't think he'd be the best suited as my teacher. However...you managed to see something about my past. That means you know more about me then he does and as such, you can likely see how I work better.

So here's my suggestion; whether we continue this fight or not matters not to me anymore. Personally, I'd like to continue it a bit more, because your skills are grand and test me greatly already. However, I'm willing to stop if that's what you want. But if I'm going to be shown some discipline and learn, I'd ask that it be done by you." His eyes stared directly at Noel, though he lowered his eyes enough so that he wasn't making eye contact. Not taking that chance again.

"That's not exactly a bad deal. Heck, if you're concerned Mr Horn, you can be around to make sure I behave. But she's the best suited to teach me now, whether you believe me or not. So...whats the verdict?"

“Sebastian Csendes,” the unicorn man supplied his name, then waited for the little Syn clone to finish his speech. Then, he re-sheathed his sword.

“Very well, Noel can be your teacher, but there will be no more sparring today.” It sounded more like there might be some talking. Someone had some touchy-feely stuff to deal with that held no interest for the unicorn man.

He turned toward his student, lightly touching the back of her hand as he walked by and giving her a cold little jolt of healing energy. He stopped for a moment and looked back at the blast maker. Those little electric puffs had done more damage than he'd thought. Noel would have to be careful around him.

Still waiting at the head of the aisle was Lori.

“It seems the show is over,” he offered his arm to the blonde, “may I walk you out?”

"His name is Sebastian." Mr. Horn was not an acceptable form of address for a man who was so long lived and knowledgeable.

>“Sebastian Csendes.” Of course, he didn't need Noel to defend him either. The memorymancer shifted and let her mentor and Kyle talk.

And just like that it was done. Did nobody care about her opinion? Sebastian stopped and touched her hand in order to reset her hurts. If it did come back down to a fight, she wouldn't be at any disadvantage. Still, her "Thank you." came with a frown.

Fine. He clearly wanted this for her so maybe he had his reasons. Noel approached Kyle with caution. She intended to retrieve her sword back from his helmet. "I can only teach you swords or guns." She wanted to warn him up front. "If it's fighting with your mutation, I can't help you."

She couldn't help but feel that he had his hopes misplaced in her.

> “It seems the show is over”

"Are you sure?" Even though she was asking, Lori looped the camera around her neck. Kyle seemed lost to her now, but Sebastian was not.

> "May I walk you out?”

"Delighted." The Order leader took the unicorn's arm and prepared herself to be scolded. Wouldn't the unicorn be mad at her for bringing this problem to him when she very well could have taken care of it herself?