The guest room was dark, the faint moonlight cast around the interweaving shadows against the walls and floor. In the center, David stood, trying to focus his mind. Ever since returning from the castle, he knew there was something more, something deeper about his power. He could feel it at the far edges of his consciousness, but for all his effort, he couldn't access it.

It had been only a day since his return, and still, straining his mind to cooperate, the power would not yield.

On the floor at his feet was his small tactical knife. David had given up on using his outstretched hand to help him channel the existence of the object, to be aware of it in time and space. If he was going to accomplish what he wanted, such gestures would have no place in it. They were gags from the movies, ways to help explain a fictional story, and had no grounding in reality. The books on the desk, layer upon layer on the subjects of telekinesis and ESP, hours of intensive mental focus, and still, the knife did not move.

It was then, after a long pause and a dissatisfied grunt, Yinko thought he felt something just beyond the door.

Valdis sighed, stretching her arm over her head as she walked the ever increasingly familiar halls. Her bare feet did not make a sound as she roamed the halls in the simple garb of a miko. It was late and the trains would be shutting down soon, wasn't enough time for her to get to the subway and make the connection that she needed to get to her home in the country side. So it would seem she would be crashing her like she did occasionally. Her hair was tied back in a low pony tail, small strands framing her face.

Valdis paused her attention turning to a closed door; her head tilting to the side. She felt a semi familiar energy signature within its confines. Curiosity got the better of her as she opened the door poking her head in slightly. She blinked when she spotted Sophias other half sitting on the floor staring down at a knife.

"Hello? You know the trains going to stop running soon, you'll be stuck here"

"I... don't care..." David sighed, straining against the mental effort. Still, nothing happened. "I'm... staying here. I have... work to do..." It was so annoying, still fighting for the power to resonate, to surface. Finally giving up after hours of exhaustion, he sat on the floor, staring up at Val. "How did you... gain your full powers?"

Valdis entered fully leaning against the door way; looks like she'd have a buddy for the rest of the night. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow when he asked her how she had gotten her full powers.

"I don't know...As far as I've been told I haven't gotten to my full powers yet. I'm the only one out of the group who isn't a senshi or a knight. So I think I may be the wrong person to ask...but so far I have noticed either the cats awaken the knights or Senshi or in a rare case there item of transformation appears before them. Even then I don't think any of the group have reached there full power."

Valdis paused and stared at the ceiling as she thought more on how to answer his question.

"Besides being able to see into the past or future and heal myself when stabbed or burned my powers are connected to chaotic energy......When I transform I'm diving within the most painful part of my memories. Letting the pain tear down mental walls and lashing out with that pain....if I could access that power without doing that I would in a heart beat...it's confusing to have the main goal of protecting others but using pain and anger to do so...it doesn't feel right. My powers pull me into the opposite direction of where my motives stem from."

She stepped forward and took a seat in front of him, her legs crossed in front of her.

"The chaos powers started with Granny slapping ofudas on me in attempts to purify the taint out of me. Burns like a bitch....she did it for EVERY little thing....every time they were slapped on me they would burst into purple flame....it triggered a response and eventually after experiencing that feeling multiple times I could access how I felt at that moment and make it reoccur on a whim....So what are you trying to do?

"I was told... my powers were only partially opened," David grumbled. "I need access to more. It's... exhausting, and it's been hurting my brain to keep using the same two techniques over and over again. That... and Priestess Hino won't let me use my rifle. She thinks it's the work of... evil or something."

That was what galled him the most. He had to do a job, do it with limited tools, and the only tools he had, the people he was working with called them evil. What else was he supposed to use?

"Guns, explosives, psych warfare, and whatever psychic/telekinesis thing lies buried in my brain... those are all I've got, and that's what everyone complains about when I use them... What am I supposed to do, Val?"

Valdis could understand his frustration; to know you could do more but haven't the clue how to reach it. It left the taste of failure in ones mouth. She listened with silence as he went on; a small sweat drop forming on the side of her face as a stray thought crossed her mind...He was liked a kicked puppy! She ran her hand over her face...she was never going to be able to shake that mental image. When he was finished Val was silent for a while. Her purple gaze looking him over; this was a complicated problem with no true right answer.

"I refer to her as Granny; fits her better...But she worries for those of us who use chaotic energy for she's seen people be consumed by it before...and after pushing the chaotic energy as far as I have I can understand why someone would lose themselves to that pain. But...I think not using a power you believe can do good will consume you faster."

She looked David right in the eye.

"Your motives are to bring down the covenant for the good of tomorrow am I right? As long as you never stray from those motives I say use whatever power you have at your finger tips. We don't have the luxury of picking or choosing that our predecessors had before us....so to answer your question my advice is to let it go. To take away one's ability to fight; I think the devastation that does to ones soul is worse than using a power that is considered 'evil'"

She gave him a lopsided smile.

"So you now have me curious tell me more about this gun of yours and why Granny claims it as evil? Isn't it just a normal gun or is there more to it? As for these sleeping powers......how did you access the ones your already using? In what situation did it occur? Perhaps we can discover a way that is less mentally frustrating then staring down at an object hoping it with explode or float"

"It's..." David started, then paused, looking up at Valdis. "Granny isn't a fan of shooting, killing, and all of that. Guess I can't blame her, but there are times when it needs to be done." Frowning, he considered the knife again, and gripped the hilt, feeling the weight in his hand. In a way, it felt good to be dangerous.

"Maybe she's right, though," the former cadet breathed. "It would make things so much easier for a cohesive team all on the same page, even if it's the wrong direction."

"There is always a time and a place for everything, you don't have to like it to acknowledge it is useful. Granny dislikes me using chaos energy; I understand her reasons why she dislikes it and I don't expect her to accept it. I've learned to be ok with that; you cannot please everyone in this world and your just adding and impossible burden on yourself if you try..."

Valdis scratched the back of her neck; she had a feeling this conversation could go on for a while.

"Compromise; the group needs compromise a radical shift in personalities isn't going to work and is only going to leave resentment in the long run. Anger and resentment is the last thing this team needs to be operating on; considering that would just be fallowing in the covenants example....now you didn't answer my previous questions."

"You're right," David admitted. "I didn't answer your questions. First off, the powers...well..." The man shuddered, thinking back to the events. "The Covenant got me... stuck me in one of their camps, tortured the hell out of me. They figured out something was special about my brain, and decided to have some fun in a sensory deprivation room. No lights, except for a single spot above my head, a small wooden chair, chain, and that was about it."

He hoped he didn't have to explain any further.

"The weapon... well, it's something special I got for a high school graduation gift," he explained. "It's a .50 caliber anti-armor conversion of a civilian version of the M-16. So, it punches through armored cars, and apparently, does a number on lower-level Covenant youma, so it has it's uses."

He paused, staring at Val, then back to the knife. "How did you get involved in all of this, though?"

Valdis frowned; he got his powers from negative emotions brought on by the treatment from the covenant.

"So your powers are Chaotic based like mine? They stem from painful memories brought on by the things the covenant did to you. It certainly explains why I found comfort in them during the fight if that is so"

She whistled, impressed at the description that he gave his gun.

"That's some gift for a high schooler; hell my dad still won't let me drive a car and I'm in college...never mind a gun."

When he asked how she got involved in all of this she shrugged.

"I am from Transylvania; my home town was the first place the covenant massacred..."

She really didn't have to describe the blood bath that had been.

"I was small when it happened; it was during my mother's funeral; I had just met my father for the first time. Didn't speak a word of Japanese or understand it so it was a bit awkward. It was during the wake that the covenant broke into the church. My father grabbed me and ran ...years later I'm here and I happened to find myself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nazo was the one to fill me in on what was going on, and this whole situation...and told me I would be able to help. Rei says I'm suppose to play some big part..whether its destruction or salvation she was unable to see."

Short explanation but she figured words could be short with him. He knew the horrors the covenant put people through. He had seen battle and blood baths...less description the better for both of them.

"I guess they're chaotic based," David sighed. "Honestly, I don't know what I have, or what I'm doing. Just that... running into Prime Minister Ito and his security detail didn't go as well as expected the other day. Thank God for minor miracles and body armor, or that could have gone downhill fast."

Valdis face blanked when he told her he ran into her father...and things didn't go well. Sophia was right the knights needed a babysitter. She rubbed the bridge of her nose shaking her head.

"You ran into Daddy? Exactly what did you and my father talk about...and how did it not go well...You better had not attacked him otherwise me and you are going to have issues"

Her eyes narrowed; Valdis was highly protective over her family. Her father was all that she had left after all.

"Am I going to need to do damage control?"

David sighed, turning away from the girl. He didn't want to tell her, certainly not with her vampiric talents. Things were getting more complicated, and he started to realize Japan may not be the best place for him, after all.

"I don't think he knows we are associated," David started, staring out the window. "Probably best to keep it that way, until security cools down, or I find the Covenant loser who hijacked my brain, and turned me into his puppet." Did he really have to say more?

Valdis rubbed the bridge of her nose; judging by what he said the meeting certainly did not go well and her father had been targeted by the covenant.

"What about his black guard; you said it was the other day? He ended up coming out of it alright..right?"

Valdis took a deep breath, calming herself before she found herself in a frantic mode. She sat there quiet for a moment before speaking once more. She needed a bit more information.

"I'm sorry but could you please go into more detail...I am lucky to catch a glimpse of my dad on a day to day basis. I get my information on his health from outside sources more often then not."

"He's safe, and alive," David sighed, nodding. "The meeting with your father... went downhill badly. He thinks I'm a lunatic, and..." He didn't want to say it, didn't want to imagine what Val would do to him. Her usual teasing and mischievous nature were bad enough. What would she do when she actually had something to fight for, and that something was a close betrayal?

"The Covenant did something to me in the Camps," he continued. "Hijacked my brain, tried to turn me into a weapon and assassinate your father. No one was permanently hurt, but I'm doing something about it." David looked back up to the girl, and frowned, his eyes cut off as he glanced back down at the knife. "The threat has been... eliminated."