Black and White

Rina stalked toward Miranda as she pinned Sienna to the ground. She drew back her fist and for the first time in her life, she was about to really hit someone. "Atta girl!" Her demon encouraged her from the sidelines. It towered over the others, standing eight, maybe nine feet tall. Its mouth bent into an approving smile. Taja's shout caught her attention, but she kept going. Perhaps fortunately, Yohan's shockwave interrupted her. She paused, feeling strange, but it was just long enough for her to realize what she was doing. What on earth was getting into her today? She took a short breath. The shockwave seemed to have done enough to Miranda, but Rina stayed close. "It's not so bad. That girl will fix it, right?" The sentence was punctuated with a pointed look at Sienna. She ran her hand through her hair. Now that she was calmer, she was really starting to register the presence of the other demons. A cat, some weird looking people, that werewolf thing...How did she not see them before?
"I think it's safe to say," she looked at Sienna, but was addressing everyone. Her voice was slow and somewhat cool. "That no one knows what's going on, but if we're all going to be working together on finding out, then we should at least all introduce ourselves. My name is Rina. I only wish that we could have met under better circumstances." She directed her attention to Miranda and held out her hand. "And I'm sorry that I tried to hit you."

First was the feable attempt to cover her face, which only angered Miranda further. Then the child grabbed onto her arm. Turning to glare at the child, the feral, primal rage flashed in her eyes, the amber-colored orbs taking in the child's appearance with a predatory glance. She also looked to Rina as she raised a fist, and while still holding onto Sienna's collar with one hand, began to rise to counter-attack the black-haired girl. She paused however as a strange key on her hand started to glow. She blinked, Sapphire returning to her eyes before the shockwave sent her flying quite literally over the desk she normally sat behind with a yelp of pain, eventually landing face first on the matted floor and groaning. Her Demon seemed to physically shrink at the intervention of Yohan's magic, becoming more human-like and appearing to just be Miranda with her hair down, and Amber-colored eyes. It crossed its arms over the ample chest it shared with Miranda.

Slowly rising to her feet, she grabbed at her head, as if in pain. "What the fuck....was that....." She turned to face her demon, glaring at it, it shrank further. "Fuck off." she growled to it, sitting in her chair and putting her feet up and grabbing an ice pack and putting it to her forehead. Sighing, she waved off Rina's hand. "Miranda." she introduced herself curtly. "Sorry for trying to kill you...I guess." she said to Sienna, shrugging.

She groaned again and shook her head, leaning forward to look for a stash of pain-killers she kept in her desk, hoping they'd still be there even in this...other world.

Everything seemed to be happening in a slow-motion effect. She was grabbing, trying to stop Miranda. Miranda was already going full rabies as the creature behind them seemed to egg her on more. Sienna looked like a sad mess. And Rina was finally getting into action, but it was Yohan who seemed to make things go awkwardly silent. I force that shot Miranda back sent Taja taking a couple of steps back. Her own pain in the bum had stepped back with her. She glanced up at him with a "Why Are You Backing Up" look before looking back at the mess that had unfolded quickly before her.

She was stuck in a place that she didn't know and wanted to go home. She was getting hungry and by now someone had to be freaking out tremendously at her absence. Rina, the black hair girl, introduced herself. Miranda, violent girl, did the same. "Taja." She mumbled.

Taja hadn't noticed that she had backed up behind the red eyed guy. "What is your name?" She asked up looking up. His hair seemed brighter in a way and his eyes two toned, was it orange at the top? He also seemed taller the closer she stood by him. Where did he come from too? Where did all the others come from? They weren't there when they were in the normal gym. She peeked around and say the tall creature by Rina, the cat by Sienna, the werewolf was by Miranda, wasn't there a white hair boy next to the powerful wand boy? And then there was hers, who looked almost normal.

Red eyed looked down, "Well, I don't really have a name, but... hmm you can call me Adolphus. I kind of like the ring to it." He smiled brightly at the accomplishment.

Her face went full on "Are You Kidding Me?" mode. "It sounds like Adolf Hitler had a kid with a dolphin. Now that is an abomination right there." She said matter-of-factly. Adolphus glared at her.

"I don't see you coming up with a better name than that." He growled.

"Hmm, how about Dandre?" She mentioned, tapping her finger on her chin as she thought while looking at the ground.

"It sounds like dandruff!" He yelled, throwing his arms up in a "What The Fuck?" motion.

"What about Elsworth, hm? Since your name is the only thing of worth to you." She mumbled, getting annoyed by this already.

He thought about it. "Fine, Elsworth it is. Hm, I wonder if your mother is crying right now? Or maybe it is your father, he always seems like the emotional one. Oh my, and what about Miss Lilybottom?! She is so old, something like this would surely kill her." He mocked at her worry. She raised her arm and punched his hip. He gave a small yelp and pretended to be hurt. Elsworth was getting on her nerve and it didn't help that she was starting to get hungry. She wasn't herself when her stomach wasn't full of food.

Sienna Cartlow

Sienna huffed a little, blowing a stray strand of hair from her face, before reaching up to part it behind her ear. Rina, as she introduced herself, seemed to think they were all in the dark about the situation they were in. Sienna disagreed. At least, in regards to an aspect of that point. There were a number of distinctly unnatural things that had joined them in the gym, and it seemed that they knew more of what was going on than they were saying. If the dumb grin on the cat’s face was anything to go by, at least. Still, she made a point that they may as well introduce themselves so they had a name to by.

The receptionist who had moments prior been trying to kill Sienna was called Miranda, and seemed to have somewhat regained some of her sanity. Overall, she was taking the whole attempted murder thing pretty casually, Sienna unconsciously rubbing her neck again as she watched her. The apology was pretty half-hearted, but what more could she expect out of a brute like that? “I guess, huh?” Sienna replied with her own terse response, making her annoyance audible, but keeping it brief. “And it’s Sienna by the way.” She added, looking about the rest of the group as she gave her name, folding her arms in front of her before looking back down to the cat beside her. “And that’s Sinopia. The talking citrus cat.” The cat seemed to give Sienna a bit of a dirty look before turning to the others to speak. “Charmed, I’m sure.”

With that out of the way, the little brat was next in line for her introduction. She mumbled out some short name that Sienna didn’t entirely hear, but that was fine. She had plenty of monikers she could call the little twerp in replacement. There seemed to be a bit of an argument between her and the… Hallucination? Monster? Whatever these other beings were, they seemed to be pairing up with each of them for whatever reason. It seems that they settled on Elsworth, for whatever reason.

Then there was the only male human of the group. Whatever those other things were, they weren’t native to her Earth. Yes, her Earth. It was becoming more apparent just by the vague layout and changes that they were in a place similar and yet different to their own. Sienna was no expert on such things, but she’d seen enough daytime T.V. to know the concept of a parallel or alternate universe when she saw one. Another dimension perhaps? It seemed insane, but she’d long ago given up on the idea that this was some prank show or drug trip or something. It was too real for that. As much as she didn’t know how to handle it, she wasn’t about to sit around in disbelief. She had shit to do back home.

Thinking over that stuff, she noticed that the boy still hadn’t given his name. Instead, he prattled on about it getting dark, then spoke something about having Sienna take charge. Well, she wasn’t entirely going to complain about that. Much as she hated the effort and responsibility, she couldn’t resist the idea of getting a modicum of power. “Whatever dork. Sure, I’ll take charge of this shit show.” Running her hand through her hair, Sienna moved it down to her hip, cocking her stance slightly. “What we need now is information – And unless we think we can get some out of these monsters-“

“Demons.” Sinopia interrupted, Sienna shooting her a look quizzically before turning back to the others. “Demons then. Anyway, unless we think we can get answers from them, we’ll have to source our own information to try and find a way back home. This wouldn’t have happened for no reason, there had to be trigger for our movement to this world.” Bringing her hand up to her chin, Sienna turned her gaze around the room. It was then that she saw the other item of interest. Darting her eyes about, she spotted the marks on each of them. Keys. And on that boy, a lock. Another piece of the puzzle? Or a separate matter entirely?

“…And on top of that, there’s these. I have no idea what they’re signifying, but it looks like there’s some sort of connection between us all. Why that dweeb has a different one I don’t know, but we’ll have to keep our eyes and ears open to try and understand what’s happening to us.” Sienna continued, before giving the boy a stern look. "And speaking of you, gonna give us a name? Or am I gonna have to come up with one for you like El-Stupid over there." Sienna awaited his response, but was then mildly interrupted by the feline that lightly prodded her leg for attention. “My, look at you. Seems you’re finally started taking things a little more seriously.” Sinopia snickered, while Sienna just gave a light scowl, kicking the cat away from her slightly.

“At any rate, did anyone notice anything out of the ordinary prior to us coming here? For example…” Sienna narrowed her eyes at Taja. “Why exactly did you want me to come here? It can’t be a coincidence that you dragged me halfway across town to this dump only to end up in some alternate hellscape. So spill what you know.”

Miranda grumbled, all this talking made her head hurt. She put her feet up on the desk and leaned back, listening to the words being spoken. She held up a hand, however, as Taja spoke of Miranda's Demon being a Werewolf. This hand up would indicate a desire to talk, but would be interjected by a laugh.

"I am a werewolf. Why else would my Demon be a feral version of myself?" she said, looking to the young girl. "And fine, if you guys are going to stay here, do it. Leave me alone, don't break anything, and don't make a mess without cleaning up."

With the whole school mapped out in his head, Frederick was working at a much faster pace than when he was sweeping. Knowing every area, he began to hard wax the floors while whistling a cheerful tune and singing to himself. "This is the janitor song that I totally came up with. With a one...a two...and a third sweep! I gotta mop, mop, mop and sweep! then I gotta sweep, sweep, sweep and mop!...wait...sweeping comes before the mopping right? I mean...I just swept than began to mop..." He soon stopped singing as his own song confused himself.

He scratched his head and began to ponder to himself. Man, he messed up on the janitor song. He was a bit to exited to clean and must have messed up that part of his song. WHile thinking to himself he had already mopped half the school and was continuing on the other half. "Oh who cares! Time to keep mopping...woah, I guess I was thinking really hard there. I am in another section of the school." He soon looked behind him and noticed the floors were all shiny and clean. "Wonder who mopped there?...Maybe my father came here and was secretly cleaning as well." Frederick laughed to himself as he shrugged and continued cleaning.

Sienna Cartlow

Sienna listened in for anything of importance in the rambling speech of the ten year old, vaguely identifying the boy named Yohan near the start. From there, though she took mild offense at the lack of faith in her ability, it was somewhat amusing to see her feline companion getting a little ruffled at implying her incapability due to being a ‘tiny cat’. Then came the further comments about her fitness, which Sienna snorted about. She didn’t exert herself unnecessarily, and leading didn’t have anything to do with how tough or fast you were. All you needed was the right head for it, and she was certain that she’d be more fit to direct them than the musclebound dimwit behind the counter. Voting was just as good as picking blind at this point. They’d be guessing based on looks and superficial information who’d be good to take charge. Still, she didn’t particularly care if she was ‘in charge’ or not. She’d make her own judgements what to do regardless. Yohan seemed to think following her was a good idea, but she had mixed feelings about that at this stage.

Then there was the elaborate tale of Taja, a ridiculous and what would have been considered the unbelievable imagination of a child if not for the present situation that Sienna and company found themselves in. Disembodied voices in her head? Visions of her? She’d call the girl mentally ill in almost any other circumstances. Here and now though, she had no choice but to believe her. Even so… Sienna wasn’t able to take the backhanded compliment without some hostility, narrowing her eyes. She’d graduated from bovine to still overweight but in what was considered an endearing way. Wonderful. Somehow, it was even more awkward the way such slang was being thrown around by a ten year old… Was that the voice in her head talking again? Regardless, Sienna simply hmmph’d again, though subconsciously folded her arms low over her stomach.

The focus of attention shifted back to Yohan, Taja now pressuring him for answers and responses, laying out her own reasoning for wanting to stay in this place. She wasn’t entirely wrong – for whatever reason they’d been lucky enough to have some refuge with this place. Still, it felt bad just to hole up in here and wait for morning, whatever that would be like. If they just delayed, it might work out, but Sienna just had a feeling in her gut that that wasn’t the case. They needed to work on finding a way out of here, and with no idea where they were or if there was any food or anything around, they needed to work on that sooner rather than later. Even if they could scavenge up stuff to live somewhere like here, Sienna had no intention of staying. She needed her comforts. Life wasn’t worth living if it was 100% crap and filled with struggle.

Before she got to chip in her own opinion, the earth trembled and knocked them about, Yohan quickly running to take a look outside. Great, what now? The runt seemed to shit his pants regarding whatever was out there, stumbling back from the door, then off to the corner to chuck his guts up. Sienna winced slightly. Well, the stench from that corner was gonna be another reason to hopefully leave soon. Ah well, Miranda’s problem. She was the one that wanted this shithole clean. Deciding that Yohan was too occupied to appropriately respond on what he saw, Sienna took charge to be the next to peek outside. What she saw was not comforting in the slightest, but she had more than enough mental fortitude to avoid a breakdown. She’d seen enough shit today that something like that was becoming par for the course.

“Well shit.” Sienna commented simply, looking back over her shoulder to the others. “Depending on what that thing and the little wolf things do, we’re either gonna be stuck here or will have to high tail it. And we’ll have to pick soon.” She added, making an annoyed sound with her tongue. “Though I’m gonna be honest, we might be fucked either way.”

Stepping back from the door to let someone else take a look, Sinopia was the next to speak to her. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll do my best to protect you.” The demon cat cocked it’s head slightly, smiling sweetly. Sienna simply eyerolled as she made her way across the room. “I’m going to check the back, see if there’s another exit. We can try to board up the front door if there is, and we’ll slip out the back if it looks like that giant thing is gonna smash its way in here.”

As Fredrick finished mopping up the other half of the school, he wiped beads of sweat from his forehead. The only thing in his mind right now was how good of a job he did, he wondered how long it took. Was it eight hours? Ten hours maybe? In order to solve this fated mystery he just pulled up his sleeve and looked at the watch on his arm instead of guessing how long he took. "Four hours...hmmmm...I guess its not that bad." He shrugged to himself. Maybe there was a way for him to clean faster? Unless he trained himself more in the art of cleaning then his time would remain the same! He had to get faster at cleaning to do his father justice and the entire world of janitors justice as well!

Heading back to the receptionist desk, the woman looked up at him. "Something you need sir?" She asked him as she was working at the computer. "Oh, I just came here to find out what to do after I cleaned the whole school. The job did say it paid hourly so...Do I head to someone else or?..." Frederick explained.

The woman raised a brow at him, yes because someone managed to cleaned to whole school in at least four hours. She siged as she decided to look around the school to make sure he even sweeped and moped. In ten minutes she returned with surprise all over her face. "You...Actually cleaned the whole school?!...In just four hours...How?!" She asked almost stunned by what she has seen.

"Oh that...Yeah it was rather simple when you use more than one item to clean with. Heck, my father could clean much faster than what I did! As a janitor I make sure to do all the cleaning so everyone else does not have to walk in their own rubbish!" Frederick pumped a fist into the air as if cleaning was the greatest honor for him. The woman stared blankly at him before snapping a picture of him. "Well sir, I think what you did was incredible for one person. I am sure some students here could look up to someone who could do such a daunting task by himself. Mind if I keep this picture? So I can leave a picture so the students can hopefully thank for a very clean school." She asked.

"Sure!...Um, actually could you also do me a favor and see if you can get some of the students here to come by my little food joint...Not that I am hard on for money or anything...but a little extra cash is always helpful." Frederick asked and the receptionist nodded. "Sure, thank you for your help and oh here. The four hours worth of work you put in here." She handed him a small envelope of money and he gratefully took it with a smile.

With a wave, Frederick left the school with high spirits. "Another place now cleaned by my hands! No dirt is safe as long as I am on the case!" He shouted into the skies with another fist in the air.

Sienna Cartlow

Finding a way out the back of the building had been easier than expected. For as dystopian as this world looked, the building they found themselves in had a simple wooden back door, which after a brief peer through the window, Sienna opened and began checking the path was clear. Seemed good, as far as she could tell. Turning to see that it seemed everyone (reluctant or not) was behind her, she motioned for them to follow as she took a few steps out before hopping off of a slight lip. “Looks like the coast is clear for now. Let’s get to work grabbing what we can.” Sienna commented to the group, striding slightly further ahead to look past the outcroppings to get a better vantage point. It seemed that the back door came out into a small pit, so they needed to climb slightly in order to truly get free. The moon shone down on all of them like a spotlight, but at least they’d be able to see where they were going.

Moving to start climbing up the side of the precipice, Sienna didn’t get very far at all before she got to stare fear in the face. Rising to the top of the mesa, it took her a moment to realise just what she was seeing as she stared into the black abyss of its pupils. So tight was terror’s grip that she didn’t manage a word or scream, instead just hanging in the moment as she saw herself in its eyes, watching in shocked silence as its jaw slowly opened, dripping black blood or saliva or god knows what to the ground in front of it. Finally, she let go, dropping back down to the pit and skidding to a stop, nearly stumbling over a partially buried rod as her back foot hit against it. Briefly, she tore her eyes away from it to look back to the door, but it was far too late for that as more of the creatures began to swarm and circle them. A true pack hunting their prey, and they were cornered. There was nowhere to run.

Gritting her teeth, Sienna looked to the pipe she’d slid against, and quickly reached down to wrench it free of the ground, snapping the rusty metal rod from the dirt and brandishing it in front of her as a makeshift weapon. It was better than nothing. Inching backwards to place her back to the others, she could only hope they either had the same plan as her, or at the very least served a distraction for the ones behind her. Not that she thought they really stood much of a chance. A steady cacophony of growls barks and snarls seemed to break out amongst the creatures, before an ear-splitting howl shook her to the core. Faintly, she heard someone fall near her mumbling an expletive. Honestly, it was taking all her nerve to stay standing. Maybe it was just some base instinct keeping her going. Defiance in the face of futility.

Then, shouts. The boy, Yohan, he seemed to be going more off his rocker than usual, both him and the white haired doppelganger mincing words and values. Sienna only heard half of it, though she was amazed that the beasts decided to stay back as long as they did. Perhaps evidence of some sort of hive mind or leadership structure? Could they just be holding them up for the giant red one they’d seen? Briefly, her eyes flickered about the encircling dogs, looking for some sort of way out. Even if there was though, who’s to say they wouldn’t just all turn on her before she got two steps away from the ring? Shit. If they were going to die, she wanted to go quick. She’d always joked that she wanted to be shot in the head, now a gun and bullet would do wonders for her.

Yohan seemed to have other plans. In a scream of desperation and rebellion, he seemed to explode with a raw energy as his twin burst into white flames, causing Sienna to stagger back from him. It was that moment of weakness that one of the wolves chose to exploit, leaping at her the moment her guard was down. By chance or perhaps something more, Sienna barely managed to turn back in time, pivoting to swing her pipe at the monster, only to have it weave to the side, dodging the strike. Stumbling back some more, Sienna now realised she was separated from the others as it came at her once again, this time with no intention of stopping. Instincts ablaze with a will to survive, Sienna brought the pipe between her and the maw of the beast, though the weight of the tackle still caused her to slide back in the dirt, barely staying upright before she impacted the wall of the pit.

Snapping at her face and splashing its ooze everywhere, Sienna grimaced as she looked into the abyss of death, her arms quaking under the strain. With each bite of its jaws the crunching and snapping of metal could be heard, the pipe straining to stay in one piece and keep the girl from her demise. It was all she could do from her position pinned as she was. Part of her thought about letting go and accepting it. I mean, what did she really have to be afraid of? She’d always told herself that if she was to die, she’d want to go fast. Anytime, anyplace, it didn’t really matter. She was inconsequential in the world, and she’d rather just end it then live uncomfortably or in pain. Why was she trying so hard to fight the inevitable?

“Look at you. My, you’re as pathetic now as you’ve always been.” The snide voice of the feline spoke, eerily close, almost like it was whispering in her ear, yet there was no way it was possibly there. “This beast, like the world, weighs you down. Suppresses you. No matter what strengths you have, the potential you hide, it means nothing. Not unless you have the will to be all that you are.” It was mocking the way it spoke, illusory riddles filtering through Sienna’s mind. “So what will it be? Fade away like before? Or will you actually be something worthwhile? Do you have the drive? The fire inside?” Sienna didn’t know what to say, but she could feel something in the pit of her gut. Seconds were passing in reality, but to her mind, it was like a movie reel of events and sensations unlike any that she’d ever felt before. A crackle of power. Possibility. Flames of passion seemed to kindle within her, the spark beginning to ignite into a roaring flame. Though she couldn’t see it, she could feel the cat’s smile. “You’ve always felt it. You know you’re better than everyone, more deserving. You’re worth more than anyone else. You value yourself over all others, there’s no sense in hiding it. Accept and embrace it. Tell me, would you miss that? Sacrifice is needed, both in your world and in this one in order to reach your goals.”

Sienna couldn’t feel her heart anymore. Nor could she hear anything, not even her own breathing. Only the voice of Sinopia, and her siren song of temptation. “Give it to me. Give me all of you, and I will shape you into something greater.” There was a tension in the voice now. A forcefulness. Maybe desperation? But Sienna couldn’t sense it. She couldn’t even move, her body almost paralysed. Her lips were dry and cracked, but weakly, she knew she had to answer. Later, she’d say that she didn’t really understand what it meant at that moment. That she’d been deceived into agreeing to a contract where the terms weren’t clear. Sienna valued herself over all others, that was true. To have that taken from her… She couldn’t have expected what Sinopia intended to do in order to claim that.

---

“Where is she..?” The rain was heavy now, pelting the windscreen of the young girl behind the vehicle. It was dark too, her headlights reflecting off the road in sharp white as she squinted to see what lay in front of her. Tate had ended up calling Rio and mentioned something of Sienna leaving the store, and since then they hadn’t been able to get into contact with her for several hours. It didn’t make any sense. Sienna was lazy sure, but she wouldn’t just up and vanish like that. Not without checking in at least. Something was wrong. Things had been a little weird today, but something in the pit of Rio’s stomach told her that she needed to find Sienna. It was why she was roaming the streets, scanning for any signs of her. Inefficient, maybe, but she had to do something. She’d checked all her usual hangouts, and now was circling the local area near the corner store, just searching for a sign.

Travelling down the street, suddenly, the light from her headlights reflected off something in front of her. The eyes of a feline sitting in the middle of the road. In a moment of panic, Rio spun the wheel of her car, skidding as the wheels failed to grip onto the slick wet road and spinning out as she slammed on the brakes. With a soft thunk, the vehicle collided with only a small amount of force to the side of the brick building. Wincing a bit in pain from the whiplash, Rio slowly pulled herself back upright. It wasn’t enough of an impact to activate the airbag, but it was still a big jolt. Geez, what kind of cat goes out in the rain like that? Sighing to herself to try and stop her heart pounding, she faintly noticed the bright lights approaching her. The world was filled with the squeal of brakes, before a crushing symphony of twisting metal sounded. Then, nothing but the sound of rain. In the night, the cat sat watching the scene in silence before vanishing into the darkness.

---

Slow at first, moving backwards in a way that seemed unnatural. Steadily, Sienna forced the monster back as she began driving herself from the wall, lead pipe in hand. Then, under strain from both sides, the pipe split in twain. As the wolf closed in to bite her face, Sienna’s hands spun with dextrous position, fingers dancing as she turned the split pipe ends inward into a reverse grip, before plunging the now jagged ends of the material into either side of the creature’s skull, driving them through it’s body and wrenching the head to the floor. By now, the aura that had begun to surround her was in full view, a haze of orange mist growing into a fiery swirl of energy. Despite the apparent lethal injury the wolf had sustained, it could writhe about unfazed, like it wasn’t even harmed. Moving to sit back up, a sudden heel slamming down into the back of its head forced the sharp pipe to impale into the ground, pinning the thing by its head as it struggled to right itself.

“The deal has been made. I have taken my end of the bargain, and now you shall have yours.” Sinopia spoke, but it wasn’t the feline that everyone knew. Standing before Sienna was a tall, sultry women, hair cut short into a bob-cut. A plunging, sleeveless dress gleaming with sequins and patterns followed each inch of her curves to her knees. Around her head, she wore a headband adorned with a tall feather, while draped low around her arms was a fanciful feather boa. Shoulder length, form fitting gloves perfectly fitted her slender arms, while silken black stockings rose from tall heels. A large ring on each hand, a hipflask in her garter, pearls strung around her neck, a cigarette holder in one hand and a feathered fan in the other, her accessories highlighted the aspects of her lifestyle. Heavy makeup enhanced her face in a smokey look that drew the eye. Apart from the voice, the only thing that identified her as what had once been a tiny cat was the slim tail creeping from the dress, the pointed ears atop her head, and those ever haunting eyes. Briefly, her eyes drifted downwards as she noted the wolf attempting to bite at her leg. “Ah ah sweetie. Bank's closed.” With a swift and sudden motion, she crushed the beast’s head underfoot, yet miraculously, managed to keep herself perfectly clean. “Mmm, it’s the berries to be back to my true self…” Stretching, she moved to take Sienna’s hand, the gobsmacked girl flabbergasted by the flapper girl in front of her.

“Now that we’re jake, I think it’s time you dudded up big cheese.” The accent began to become thicker as she spoke, the demon holding a pouting smile as she opened her fan, waving it past Sienna’s body. As it glided up from dogs to kisser, Sienna’s clothes underwent their own miraculous change. Stylish and swanky, Cartlow became something of a cross between the dress of a witch and a boudoir outfit, a revealing ensemble that showed plenty of leg and thigh, the smallest of frilly skirts covering her mini-shorts. Midriff on full display, the outfit continued upwards into something of a corset type top, though part of this was hidden under the shawl like cape that billowed around her. Almost mockingly, her head was adorned with a fashionable variant of a traditional witch's hat, while in her hands, a tight bundle of straw forming a neat broom. Sienna staggered slightly as she adjusted to the new heeled boots she wore, briefly bringing her hands up to look at herself.

“A little fluky, but you look like a choice bit of calico.” Sinopia commented, bringing her fan up to lift Sienna’s chin and look deep into her eyes. Taking the lit cigarette in her holder, she dipped it onto the end of the broom, setting it ablaze. Slowly, Sienna seemed to come back into reality as she stared into those flames, twirlingthe broom about and stepping forward, uncaring for how she looked. “Time for the show, let’s give them something truly spectacular, Sinopia.” Sienna glanced back over her shoulder, looking to her Familiar with a smile. Seeing this, Sinopia tucked her fan and cigarette holder away, reaching to take a swig of her flask before flicking out her hands, a pair of Tommy guns materialising in her grip.

“You said it bearcat. Let’s blouse.”

Miranda watched the others leave out the back, sensing the presence of a giant Wolf...Demon...thing outside, her lip twitched. "You're all fools if you think you can run from wolves and not get hunted down like Cattle." She called to them as they barricaded her front door. She watched them head to the back door and rolled her eyes, her Demon sitting on the desk, staring at her.

"What?"

"That's a nice picture on your desk there."

Miranda's Sapphire eyes turned to the only picture she had left of her baby brother. She snatched it and held it close to her chest. It had come with her into The Other Side....

"Those are some lovely eyes, too." the Demon scooted closer as Miranda stood, taking the picture out of it's frame and stuffing it into her shirt, she'd buy a locket, and wear it. She wouldn't let this Demon have it.

"Fine then...choose. Your eye, or your last picture of dear little brother."

Miranda's beautiful Sapphire eyes narrowed, she heard the howl outside and growled. She moved towards the back, only to see twenty large demon wolves, despite seeing some of them fall, her Alpha blood boiled and she needed to assert her dominance over them. Prove to them that they were useless unless lead by her and her alone, and if they rebelled, they died. Her Sapphire eyes turned Amber, and a hand covered her left eye, her Demon taking it. It singed and burned, the woman let out a silent scream of agony as she bent over and leaned against the door frame, the burning going all the way down her nerve, then down her spine to the rest of her body. When it was over, her left eye had turned permanently Amber, and glowed as if back-lit.

"You should thank me....I gave you something out of fuckin Lovecraft or some shit like that." her demon said, crossing its arms. "Give it a try."

Raising an arm, another five of the Wolf-things stopped in their tracks, the most ungodly screams escaping their throats for a second before they were silenced, and they began to jerk around, as if being controlled by an outward force. Walking forward, Miranda lifted her arm, her expression oddly dull as her Demon, no, her Familiar boosted her power, its own eyes glowing brightly as it amplified Miranda's power.

"Mutation....fun, in'nit?" the Demon said, loud enough for everyone to hear as the Wolves then began to crack and morph, bodies bubbling and twisting as they became grotesque, horrifying creatures, finally their necks snapping at an odd angle, and their bodies dropping to the ground as Miranda blinked.

"interesting...." She looked at her hands, then at her Demon, narrowing her eyes. "Just like the myths of old...one magic eye for the werewolf..."

Sienna Cartlow

Standing with full confidence before the approaching wolves, Sienna slowly turned her broom around in her hand, the flaming end leaving trails of embers that drifted in the air. The crimson sparks flitted through the air like falling fireflies, slowly falling towards the ground. Then, as the monsters that stood before Sienna began to move, the cinders began to fly upwards as if anticipating her next move. The most confident of the monsters charged forward as it leapt for her throat, Sienna’s eyes flashing as she reacted immediately, sweeping the broom in front of her in a wide horizontal sweep, the flames around the brush growing into a wide flare and engulfing the wolf that she struck and sending a wave of fire before her. From behind, the remaining creatures attempted to take advantage of her distraction, flanking Sienna in a squad of three.

With a duck and tuck, the broom was wielded expertly like a staff, the blunt end jabbing the first in the throat before she whipped it to the side and smacked the second to the side. Pivoting, her spin allowed the flaming end of her broom to twirl with her and knock the third aside, all three now knocked to the ground and shaking off their injuries as they snarled at the girl. Splitting up, the three moved to attack Sienna from different angles simultaneously. Drawing back into another spinning pirouette, Sienna swept a circle of flames around her, which immediately erupted into a pillar of fire all around. Lifting the dogs skyward from the force of the heat, it seemed Sienna was nowhere near done with them. Bursting out from the pillar, standing atop the broom like it was a surfboard, Sienna flew about the sky as she intercepted each of the dog’s trajectories, piercing through them in a spiralling fire drive and obliterating their shadowy being.

Down on ground level, Sinopia was doing her own part to eliminate waves of the canine monsters attacking them. Taking some steady steps, twirls and graceful movements, each fire from her guns shredded into the beasts, the noise timed to her movements to form a rhythmic tune, an instrumental of gunfire that provided the melody to her dance. It was quite the site to behold, displaying an uncanny sense of timing and finesse. As the dust and smoke settled, little remained of the creatures that had made the mistake of targeting Sienna and Sinopia, and as things calmed down, so too did Sienna’s sense begin to return to normal.

“Wait, what?!” Sienna stated in shock as her thoughts and feelings began to return to being her own. Taking a moment to look to her absurd outfit as she held her hand in front of her, she managed to stop herself from covering up out of embarrassment, but the incredulous look and flustered expression was a dead giveaway that she wasn’t comfortable with what she was wearing. “What the hell are these clothes, and why the fuck am I wearing them?!” Sienna stated in an outrage, immediately turning to Sinopia for an explanation. The feline-woman glanced over her shoulder towards Sienna as she dematerialised her guns, giving a bit of a snicker. “Doll, I just wanted to Razz you a bit. If you want something more Darb, you’re going to have to earn it. “sides, it fits now I’m your familiar.” As she spoke, Sinopia had pulled a bottle of booze from seemingly nowhere, undoing the cork to take a large swig. As she did so, one of the nearby dogs had roused from its injured state to leap at her. Eyes narrowing, Sinopia spun, clubbing the beast with the glass and shattering it, spilling the alcohol everywhere. “Tsk, Horsefeathers. Damn Bluenose ruining my fun. And here I was going to get Spifflicated…” Sinopia muttered as she instead pulled out a cigarette, lighting it. Taking a long draught, she sighed as she noticed the monster once again rising to its feet. “Shoulda stayed down Wurp.” Flicking her finger, Sinopia’s cigarette fell down onto the alcohol covered wolf, which promptly erupted into flames. It wouldn’t be getting back up this time.

Sienna meanwhile was coming to terms with her outfit and the craziness that was going on. She didn’t like it in the slightest, nor did she really care for the guy who gave some half-assed explanation to Yohan before buggering off. Not that she heard much of it from where she was – her combat with the wolves had drawn her somewhat away from the group. Making her way back, she continued to mumble aloud to herself her thoughts. “What kind of a loser uses a broom as a weapon? I don’t know what’s more lame, the broom, or the fact that I used it…” Stopping as she reached Yohan and the others, Sienna folded her arms. Anyone who commented on the clothes or her stomach was dead. “Well, what now? I’d like to get out of here before more of those things appear…” Briefly, her eyes turned towards the older man who was still with them. How long had he been there? Raising an eyebrow, she said the first thing that came to mind. “And who the hell are you?”

A New Conflict

Well, this was a fine start to a horrible night. Recapping the whole incident so far was... Troubling, to say the least. A strange man appearing and sending him off to the gym, only for an accident to happen while everyone was there. The strange bell like sounds that only they seemed to have heard, shortly after these sounds they were sent here. A Hell Hound, a living creature of folklore of all things, had almost found them and would probably have killed them. Then this power, these Familiar's that had appeared with them, and to put the cherry on top a strange man appears and tells them to go to Yohan's house.

So many questions roamed through his mind. Who were the two men he had encountered? Could they be related to all of this somehow? The first man was certainly suspicious, though how involved he was with this whole thing and how much he knew of what would transpire remained a mystery. The second man seemed to have just found them and has taken interest in them. Is it possible the first man had informed the second man of them coming? That put a scary thought in Yohan's mind: It would mean the two had planned for all of this. Though only a theory to him for now, things were too suspicious and events happened too well one after the other to just shrug it off. There wasn't a choice in the matter, caution had to be taken from here on.

A new question arose from thinking about this, how many people lived among them that knew of this place? Was it possible they had been observed for years if this was the case? Once again, he could only think of this as a theory. There was no real proof or evidence of anything he had thought of so far. For all he knew this was just a "thing" that happened often and the reason no one talked about it was because no one came back to tell the tale. Perhaps he could convince some of the others to help him investigate into matters tomorrow, after all the man did expect them to return here together. It seemed like a good idea to try to get to know some of them.

Briefly coming back to reality, he looked around at everyone and his head turned as he searched the place for any more signs of those creatures. Such terrible and horrifying things seemed almost impossible to exist, just like the Hell Hound, yet they had almost died to them as well. Well, it looked like his free time was going to be spent trying to figure at least some things out now. "I know what he's on about. I don't know how it's connected to all of this, but if it can get us out of here sooner, we should at least try." As he listened to his own words, he made things sound easier than they could be for his position. He couldn't question the man's interest for now, if this was a trap and the house had already been destroyed, it was better to find out than to wait and be attacked again.

At least he knew where to go, that was a start. As he walked off without another word, hoping to whatever divine powers that may exist that had brought them here that the others would follow him, he once more went back into his train of thought. That accident, he'll probably see it on the news when they get home. There's no way it would just vanish, at least he hoped so anyway. For now, he moved his focus to the strange sound they had all heard. There was a limit to how many times one could ask the same question and word it differently, no matter how many times he focused on all of this, no matter how much he focused on each one individually, his mind would only race and tire itself out at this point. Ignorance truly was bliss in this moment, as the curious mind he now possessed had been added to the list of things that could go wrong and did.

As he walked out into an opening of the town, he pushed aside any curious thoughts about how much this place resembled Timberland for now and focused on the building that should be where his home was. Well, it may have taken about ten minutes to walk over here, but the building stood out clearly as the only one that had not been crushed in this area. That's when trouble decided to voice it's ugly opinion. "Hey, I got an idea." Though his form did not appear, Yohan knew who's voice it was. "Let's leave them. Dead weight is never a good thing to carry, and they look like trouble."

"Can you please shut up for one day?" Yohan already knew the white haired boy would just brush him off, as the figure now stood at his right side and seemed to be more off than usual. He now stood with an almost eerie Cheshire cat's grin, his teeth looking more sharper now than before as his eyes had turned slightly more demonic to fit the expression he was going for. Yohan could see the white hair looked wild and moved slowly with an almost savage feeling coming off of it.

"You know you want to." The figure spoke slowly and with a malice intent behind it's tone of voice. "Why bother bringing more pain into your life? Parents didn't do that enough for ya?" The figure chuckles as he raises up his right hand and slowly had his fingers rise up and the tips of his fingers becoming sharper, letting every crack and strain of the extension be heard to all.

"I'm not playing this game." Yohan tried to brush him off again, but the boy just wasn't having it and suddenly appeared in front of Yohan, though he now stood directly in front of the door to the building. Yohan's eyes narrowed into a glare as he stared down the boy. "Get out of my way."

"Grew a backbone suddenly?" The boy chuckled as he points his twisted fingers at Yohan's direction. "That's unlike you. Earlier today, you were struggling to shake off that feeling of death enclosing in on your heart. How can you say anything to me when you are so weak that you could just do it again?" The fingers suddenly shot forward, the sound of blades being unsheathed rang out through the air as they headed straight for Yohan with full speed...

... Only to stop in front of his face, inches away as Yohan didn't move, looking more angry now by this action. The fingers retract as the boy licks the top row of his teeth tauntingly. "Face it, boy. You need me. Without me, you'd be hanging by the rope right now with those pathetic and dull eyes of yours rolled into the back of your head!" Yohan began to walk towards the door as the boy continued. "The more you repress me, the worse it will all be the day you explode! What would mother think of you, knowing her little boy has so many holes in his head!" Yohan's arm moved to swipe through the boy, causing him to poof into smoke clouds as Yohan grabbed hold of the doorknob and opened it quickly.

"Get lost, I don't need you. Never have, never will." Yohan walked into the building, leaving it open for the others as the white boy put himself back together at the bottom of the stairs, staring at the direction of the house as his eyes narrowed and his grin returned full force.

"That's right, deny yourself the pleasures of being human. You have two people you could unleash those teenage hormones out on and yet you instead want to get them home? There is such a thing as being too kind to other people, you know! Watch, the moment you let your guard down around them, they'll just stab you in the back like all the rest! Don't blame me when you find yourself bleeding out on the floor!" Letting out a small chuckle, the boy fades away into smoke and was gone.

"I'm going to have nightmares again, aren't I?" Yohan rubbed his forehead in frustration as he closed his eyes briefly. Letting out a tired sigh, he opened his eyes and walked over to the door that lead down into the basement. He had no memories of being down there, there was just something that told him not to go down there. But it was the only place he could think to search, well, technically it wasn't even his home, but he knew he might as well start with the most suspicious place in the building.

If the others had indeed followed him, he would make a motion with his arm to let them know to come down this way. Grabbing hold of the basement door, he opened it slowly to see stairs descending down into... Complete darkness. Well, he certainly wasn't expecting this, and a thought of how his place looked much better than this version tempted him to speak outloud, but he felt he would just be annoying the others by this point. Looking around, his eyes caught sight of a candle and a box of matches next to it. Raising his left brow as he saw this, he slowly reached over to grab hold of the holder the candle rested in and grabbed one of the matches.

Looking over at the wall nearest to him, he held the match up high on it before quickly striking down on it to make a small fire alit. He brought it over carefully to the top of the candle and set it alit, raising up the match and blowing out the fire on it as he put it down where the candle used to rest before looking down nervously. Letting out a nervous breath, he slowly began to descend down into the stairs into the basement, each step making a loud thud as he found himself surrounded by mostly darkness. Once he saw the stairs end, he swallowed nervously and slowly set down as he raised up the candle slightly and his eyes widened at the sight he could make out.

Some kind of strange device was set on the wall opposite to him, having a small space at the top of it as the rest was hooked up to the wall itself. The rest of the room he could make out looked to be covered in sketches of said device, strange writing and letters were used to point out various things on each sketch, but he could make none of them out. Walking over some of the sketches on the floor and making his way over to the device, he carefully placed the candle down near it so that he wouldn't set some of the sketches ablaze. One sketch he could see seemed to make out placing your hand in the hole and speaking a word, he could just barely make it out as his eyes narrowed slightly to try to focus in on it.

"I can ask questions later." He spoke to himself, not wanting to risk staying in this place for longer than needed. He turned to look at the device and tried to make out how something so strange could be set up like this. But the instructions couldn't be wrong, right? If they were, they would probably face something far worse than that Hell Hound. No, he had to stay positive. They were going to get home, and that was that! He reached out his hand slowly to place his it in the hole in the device, looking back over to the sketch once he did before looking back at it. "Well, here goes nothing." After all, it was the only option they had, right? Taking in a quick breath and letting it out, he finally mustered up the courage to speak the word. "Gaia!"

At first, nothing happened. It was possible the device had been here for years, and the time spent had caused it to malfunction perhaps? There was no way, it just had to be his imagination! Then, it happened, the device started to spark and glow! In any other situation, he would dare to say it was a beautiful sight to behold! The device started to make a hum that at first was low, but grew in sound as the device glowed brighter. As the device continued to stir up, the entire room around them suddenly began to shake! Suddenly, a bright blue color erupted from the device and spread it's way throughout the room, the stairs all moving down into the ground as the way they had come in suddenly slams shut! There was no backing out now, this device was taking them to wherever whether they had a choice or not!

With a flash of blue light, a bright blue circle suddenly erupts without warning over where the device was, Yohan only realizing at the last second his hand was now stuck in it! The others would see, in what felt like an instant, Yohan is lifted up from the ground and pulled in full force! Though he was gone, the others would quickly find themselves being pulled in towards it with increasing speed, in very little time at all they could now only see bright blue light as they felt themselves seemingly disconnect from reality itself...

When Yohan opens his eyes, he finds himself back in his actual basement, his eyes widening as he found himself standing just where he was, hand within the hole in what seemed like the same strange device. Pulling his hand quickly out of it, he looked around to see all the sketches were now gone, and when he looked behind him, he could see stairs popping up. Clearly his parents had not told him a few things, and he tried to make a good note to remember to search around the place at a later time? Wait, why did he want to do things later? That's when it hit him, his body suddenly feeling heavy like a boulder and his mind quickly losing any train of thought.

He felt dizzy, his eyes quickly becoming half closed as he swayed from side to side before ultimately his eyes closed completely and his body gave up to let itself fall down on the ground. In no time at all, he was asleep! As the basement returns completely to normal, the device momentarily makes a low sound similar to a growl before shutting down entirely. Now unable to be seen by everyone, the white haired boy stood near Yohan as he stared down at his body, though this time he looked normal for some reason. "So I guess this is just how it is. Time for another dream, a new door has opened and five others dragged out of the comforts of reality. I can only hope they don't disappoint me." With those words, and a strange feeling coming over Yohan in his sleep, the boy fades away, waiting for the day he will be called upon again.



Ricky couldn't move his arms or legs, they felt numb by this point. The numbing was nothing compared to the pain that pulsed throughout his body with every beat his heart took. He was stuck to this uncomfortable wall, and these people were crazy. The torture had not let up, and they were making sure Ricky had time to let all the torture he had endured so far sink in. "Alright." One of the robed figures spoke up. "How did you get here? How did you use the Magical Portal?!"

"It wasn't easy, you know." Ricky looked up at the figure and grinned slightly. "But I don't trust you with crap!" This earned Ricky a sudden smack across his face, his cheek aching from having to endure further pain as he groaned out slightly.

"Insolent fool! I will not tolerate this attitude any longer!" The figure suddenly grabbed hold of a weapon and raised it up, causing Ricky's eyes to widen. "This ends now!"

"Stop!" Another voice sounded from the distance, Ricky could only make out a person standing in front of some light in the distance. "We need him."

"Need him?! For what?!" The robed figure shouted out in anger.

"There were faint readings earlier. He must of brought some others with him. Ask him where he is from!" This caused the robed figure to throw the weapon aside, only to grab hold of Ricky's collar and raise him up roughly.

"Alright boy. Where are you from?"

"I come from Timberland. Why do you care?" Ricky felt himself dropping back to his former position as the figure released his collar.

"He says he is from Timberland! Is there a Magical Portal nearby it that could of released such massive Magic?!"

"I recall the Emperor having handed out some Portal's to those who agreed to serve him some months ago. If that is the case, this boy is one of them. However, The Black his body has endured should of easily morphed him into a demon."

"So what are you implying, General?"

"This boy could be useful to the Sukodo Empire. Do not torture him any longer, rather conduct an experiment on him. Let's see how strong he can get when exposed to high amounts of Black. Have it done by sunrise."

"But rushing his development like this will have severe consequences down the road. Are you certain you wish for this to be done?"

"I am. I have full confidence he will serve us well until he breaks down. Literally." Then, everything faded to black for poor Ricky.

As Frederick was busy talking to the strange dressed man, his attention switched to the two teenage girls who asked him who and what he was. Wow! They certainly had manners, going to ask him for his name first. They must have been taught well by their parents. Man...Kids these days are growing up into fine adults. "My name? Of course! My name is Frederick Bell! I am Thirty-two years of age! My hobbies include Janitorial work! Cooking! And making comics and Manga! I also was born and raised in Timberland. As for who I am, I am human!...at least I think I am still human...Maybe after I came to this place I am some sort of spirit now...or maybe my race was changed to become something other than human...No clue, all I know is that I have no idea why I am here!" Frederick introduced himself with a grin that showed off his pearly white teeth. He certainly took care of his teeth.

Of course he noticed the clothing the two wore...Woah...What was the word that explained their outfits? Eyecatching? Yeah that was the word. Of course he did really care much for fashion, just good old comfort from his jacket and a good pants was all that mattered in clothing for him. However he found himself looking a bit away from the teens and noticed a stranger sight.

The small girl hiding behind Rina. Ok, granted a small girl here was a strange sight, however what made this strange was he could swear he saw horns...and was that a tail?...Hold up a second there. Fredrick blinked a few times and furiously rubbed his eyes with his sleeve. He then would poke both eyes with his fingers which made him groan in pain while holding both of his eyes. There was also some "ow's" and "Bad idea!" from him.

After a half minute of Frederick holding both of his eyes in his hands, he gave a sigh of relif as the pain went away. His focus returned to the small girl Taja and relized...she still had her horns and tail. Alright, he was not imagining that...but the dress she wore was...Adorable! Man her parents had an eye for fashion...granted he did find it a teeny tiny bit weird for a girl her age to have tick-ish thighs...Wonders of genetics he had to guess. Girl must have inherited the Thigh gene.

With his inspection and introductions with the three close indivduals. His attention soon turned to his surroundings. Wow, he remembered this part of town in Timberland! Actually...this place looked almost exactly like Timberland but far...far more creepier. Hey, he remembered reading something about dreams and how that you only have dreams in places you know. This looked like Timberland but this was a strange dimension...wait! Maybe this was some sort of dreamscape!...wait, a dream is not usually this creepy. This seemed more along the lines of a nightmare. So, he was in some other nightmare dream dimension?

Maybe...Maybe he gained the power to enter dreams now! Actually...that did not sound that cool, he liked the idea of travelling dimensions more. Maybe he was overthinking it? Frederick went into thought as he tapped his chin in though and he paced back and fourth trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle...granted it was like trying to solve a puzzle with only several pieces out of one thousand so he gave up in the end.

His attention soon however focused on Yohan. Oh hey! Another person! A teenage guy this time...wait a second...One guy surrounded by girls? Hold up a tick! He read enough Manga to know where this could head to. He must be a hero or something of a story! Whenever someone is surrounded by only or mostly members of the opposite gender they are always the main character...Or perhaps this was more along the lines of a story which involved the whole group together instead of only the guy...huh?...He really overthinks things huh? Good thing he likes to think a lot! Speaking out loud and basically saying the girls and him were like something out of a harem was not a good thing to hear...

Grabbing something wrapped in a napkin, Frederick pulled out a hamburger and began to munch on it. He had gotten a little hungry thinking about his situation so he decided to eat his home cook burger! Bacon, lettuce, tomato, cheese with two grilled patties! Mmmm! Now this was a meal worthy of a hard days work. He wanted to eat it in his car but now circumstances changed. Now he was eating it in some other dimension.

As soon as Yohan opened up a door and was signaling for what he can easily guess as them to follow him. With nothing much to do Frederick while munching on his still warm burger began to follow Yohan down a flight of stairs which led down. He was not sure if the others were following, he could easily look back to ensure they were there but...he was cautious about turning around. In dark creepy places like this if one turned around they would suddenly encounter some sort of jumpscare! No way was he taking that risk!

Eventually they reached the basement when Yohan picked up a strange device. He soon shouted the wors 'Gaia' into the air. "What? Was that some sort of magic---" Frederick was about to comment until the device would begin to glow bright and begin to hum. Suddenly the kid in front of him gets pulled into the device and him being second he knew he was next in line. "I was kidding about the Magic wordAGHHHHH!" Frederick exclaimed as he was suddenly lifted off the ground and pulled into the device as well.

The next second he woke up in a basement, was this the same basement that they had just entered...how strange...Urk...this place smelled rather dusty like no one cleaned the place. Man, sometimes people need janitors at their own home. But for the moment, he was now lying on the ground staring at the ceiling. What a day...

He soon took a bite from his burger still clenched in his hands.

Taja just watched the madness around her lay out. Honestly she didn't need to be in the middle of all that, but then there was the strange man to just appear. He looked up Sienna,Rina, and Miranda before his eyes fell on her. They looked her up and down before resting on her thighs. Blushing she screamed, "Pervert!" before hiding fully behind Rina. Her body trembled slightly with anger, why the nerve of some people! All sorts of monsters live here.

She followed Yohan reluctantly to the basement, god only knows the idiot may bring them into a death trap. She almost stopped when she saw the pervert monster go in, but she wanted to go home and if this was the way. She ran down into the portal like contraption and appeared near the perverted monster man. With one swift kick she to the back of his knee she ran to Yohan. If the thing attacks I can use Yohan as a shield and run for it. By the looks of him, he won't last long anyway. Hurry up girls! She thought, hoping the could actually make it out.

Sienna Cartlow

“O… K…” Sienna managed to state as the man known as Frederick Bell introduced himself. A 32 year old weirdo. Either that or one of this world’s denizens doing an extremely poor job of being a normal human being. As his rant continued, Sienna felt the need to interrupt him as her annoyance grew. “We don’t need your life story Fred.” Dismissively shaking her head, she watched with some mild amusement but also concern for the man’s sanity as he proceeded to poke his own eyes with more force than any sane person would do. Turning back to Yohan and the others, it seemed the decision had been to follow the man’s advice and go to his house. Whatever made Yohan and his house special was anyone’s guess, but it wasn’t like she had any better ideas. Briefly looking to Sinopia, it seemed she’d returned to a small feline form, leaping up to perch first on her shoulder, than her hat, causing the top to sag a little in front of her face. Despite a few swipes, Sienna found herself unable to remove the freeloader, and so with a sigh and heavy footsteps, began making her way to follow the others close to the rear.

Travelling was relatively quiet. Perhaps everyone was coming to terms with the changes they’d gone through and fighting the disbelief setting in? Sienna herself still found it hard to believe it was all happening, but her senses told her otherwise. She could feel pain. This wasn’t some dream. It was as Sinopia had said. She had to come to accept a reality different from the one she knew. It was annoying having some smug ass cat on top of her head, but at least the darn thing had proven itself helpful to some extent. It let her fight, and seemed fairly intelligent, even if its dress sense and language was weird. The days of mafia and 80s slang were well gone by this point in time. Still… things could have been much worse.

Looking over to Yohan and listening to the ethereal voice that somehow floated around him, it was clear that his familiar was provoking him in a far different way. It was a little awkward hearing the discussion between the two, if a little trite. Honestly, any person would have a brain would just ignore or not dignify half the comments with a response. At least, she knew she was smart enough to do that. Maybe that was why Sinopia chose not to bother her with all the psychological mumbo-jumbo, and had relegated herself to a physical annoyance and causing minor embarrassment by altering the way she dressed. Having enough tact not to bite on any of the comments made by the demon (Particularly the ones pertaining to her), Sienna simply remained silent for the better part of the journey. She had no intention of making friends with any of these people – Just get home and try and forget this whole thing happened. Though she hadn’t voiced it, she had no intention of coming back here after they were out. She’d had enough of demons, monsters, familiars and all that nonsense for one lifetime.

When they finally came to Yohan’s alternate world basement, it seemed that there was some sort of machine and a bunch of sketches related to it. Curious, Sienna leafed through a few while they plotted their next move, folding a couple up for her pocket before Yohan declared he was ready to give it a go, judging by the vague instructions. It wasn’t like they had many other options, and though Sienna was a little sceptical of how Yohan had both began taking charge and figuring all this out, she didn’t raise any complaints. If he could get them home, that was all she could ask for. The next few moments were a blur of panic and forces beyond comprehension. For a moment, her body was filled with a wrenching feeling as she was dragged forward, the g-forces making her feel ill before she tumbled free and onto the floor in… Well, another basement. At least this one didn’t smell like a dilapidated shithole.

“Well, fuck me dead. We’re alive and I assume back on our Earth.” Sienna commented as she managed to drag herself back to her feet. To her relief, she was back to the clothes she had prior to leaving, as that would have been an awkward walk home. “I’d say it’s been fun, but it really hasn’t. I’m heading home to… to…” All of a sudden, it felt like she was taking that magical portal again. The room was spinning and sucking her in, and she could barely keep her footing. In fact, she didn’t. Moments later she hit the floor by the stairs in an unconscious daze as the fatigue hit her all at once. Sienna was already pretty lazy, so that sort of exhaustion meant she fell asleep almost immediately in spite of her best efforts. 

"I don't want to be here." Yohan said to himself, as he saw the place around him form like some kind of castle. "I want out." He spoke again, reaching forward to touch a mirror before him with sparks of light emitting upon touch and showing his arm now mainly looked white like a sketch. "Let me out!"

"Calm down." A white haired boy appeared from out of thin air. "There's no point in getting angry."

"Who are you?" Yohan demanded, a tone of anger lashing out.

"You may call me Shiro. I suggest you calm down now, sir." Raising up his right hand, a plate poofs itself onto it as he takes hold of a fancy looking cup and places it down before Yohan. "Have some water. It's cool, refreshing and will help calm you down in a jiffy!" Yohan looked to the cup with hesitation, but decided that he did feel dehydrated. Yohan takes hold of the cup and lifts it up, drinking it all down as his form quickly returns to how it should look.

"There now. Feeling better?" Shiro gave a smile upon seeing Yohan nod, taking the cup from his hand and putting it back on the plate and allowing it to poof. However, Yohan sees the boy grow older as the plate poofed away, now Shiro looked older and now stood taller than Yohan! "We don't have a lot of time, although it will feel like that's not the case here. But I have some things to explain, though I'm not sure if you will remember once you wake back up."

"Wake back up...?" Yohan sat down and put a hand on his head. Had he done something before now? He... Couldn't remember. Shiro said he would explain some things to him, so he decided it was a good idea to listen to him for now. "Alright, I'm listening."

"Well, for starters, the reason I had you calm down is mainly because of the connections you have right now." This caused Yohan to become confused. Connections? "Right now, the others must be in a fragile state after what you all just went through. When you were angry, that feeling must of briefly made it's way over to the others. Though I see one of them is currently not fully connected yet, that anger could of had a negative impact on the others."

"What are these connections you are talking about?" Yohan rubbed his head while trying to remember, but he could only come up with a blank.

"My apologies. Right now, there are other people seeing through your eyes, though I am not sure if they will remember anything from this either. Let's just say these connections will be important to remember for when you come here."

"So..." Yohan looked around, finding himself sitting in some kind of big castle like hallway. "Where exactly am I?"

"Ah, yes. You are currently in your own world." Shiro's words caused Yohan to blink rapidly a few times in disbelief.

"My... Own world?"

"Yes. Everyone with The White or The Black has one. The mind is a powerful tool, and well, you can think of this place as sort of a safe heaven among all the wild and crazy power in that brain of yours."

"So this place is somewhere I can relax?" Yohan rose up to his feet, looking up at Shiro. "So, do these others have a place like this?"

"But of course, sir. They have been given this power as well, though I imagine they won't be able to enter this place for quite some time."

"They can enter into my place?" Yohan rubbed his head as he tried to let all of this sink in.

"Yes sir. Those connections I mentioned before will largely affect how that goes. Though I don't know if they'll have reason to enter here. I can't really see anything being here waiting for them." Shiro looked over his shoulder really quickly before turning back to look at Yohan. "Though I have been wrong before. There are some things about this place even I do not know of. I have been here for years, searching and exploring everywhere I could go, but there are parts I do not have access to. Then there are the parts I don't want to have access to. You must be feeling tired though, come. I will show you around."

"Alright." Yohan slowly rose up to his feet and followed Shiro through the hallway. As he walked, he took notice of passing by multiple doors, some of them having different symbols on them, others having different colors on them entirely. "So uh, what's up with all the doors?"

"Each door has a different purpose. For now, all you need to know is not to mess with any of these doors. Opening even one of them could have some kind of negative effect on you. However, there is only one forbidden door." Shiro and Yohan stop as Shiro points towards one of the last doors, and Yohan's eyes widen to see a menacing dark red door.

"What's wrong with that door? It's not natural."

"Indeed, that door holds behind it something I've been trying to keep at bay for as long as I've been here. It grows stronger over time, and it's always getting free whenever I'm not able to keep it locked up. You won't hear any noise if you try to listen in, but there is something in there. That thing is dangerous and you should avoid it at all cost."

"So... Do the others have a door just like this one?" Shiro paused at Yohan's question, closing his eyes as if hesitant to answer. But after some silence, he opens his eyes and slowly nods.

"I hate to admit it, but yes. Everyone has a door like this, I wish I could say no one was tempted to open it. Well, hopefully the others don't have to deal with it like this troublesome one likes to act."

"But, how is it a problem for us? It was never opened before, right?" Shiro paused again, giving some time to choose his next words carefully.

"Things... Were different when I first arrived. By the time I got here, the door had already been opened and I barely managed to lock it back up. I wish I had known sooner of the dangers of this door, but nothing can be said of that now. Come, I have something to show you before you go." Shiro began to walk again, Yohan stared at the ominous door for a little longer before following after Shiro.

"This place is so big, Shiro. But if that door exists, does that mean there are other bad doors as well?"

"Yes, afraid so. Many bad doors exist within this place, that red one I showed you is the most dangerous of all. This place isn't perfect I'm afraid. I have taken it upon myself to learn of the ins and outs of what I could about this place. As long as you seek me out when you return, you will be safe. Should I ever be missing, however, you must take it upon yourself to take the path I show you now and not open any of the doors or mess with anything else. Understand?"

"Y-yeah. I think I get it." Yohan nods as Shiro and him come to a halt in front of the biggest door yet. Shiro pulls out some sort of stone and holds it up to a key that was hung nearby the door, the stone glowing and poofing as the key began to glow.

"This key will always open any door within this place. I must use special requirements in order to use it, but for you it will always be available." Shiro takes the key and inserts it into the keyhole, twisting the key as the key poofs away. The big door began to shine as it creaks open before them, the light that once shined behind it fading away to reveal a large room. "This room is special. It connects to every area of this castle."

"I don't get it. I don't remember any castle. Why is it like this then?"

"It depends entirely on the person, I suppose. For you, it seems as if you consider this castle to be the safest haven you know. In your case, this castle is designed to comfort you. But we can discuss that more later. For now, we must observe the dream you are having." Shiro walks into the room, leaving Yohan to stand there for a bit looking confused.

"Wait... I'm dreaming right now?" Yohan walked into the room slowly while Shiro tapped a crystal ball lightly. Yohan looked closer at the crystal ball to see some images flashing briefly in it.

"Why, of course. You couldn't be here if you weren't. This place is not set in reality, nor is it set in the fantasy. It is hard to explain properly, but I think you will just have to experience it for yourself to find out." Shiro looked over the images appearing in the crystal ball. "Interesting. This appears to be a dream you and someone else are sharing right now. I wonder if it will reach out to the others. They may awaken before you do, which could serve to our benefit."

"Our benefit? How?"

"Well, there is one more thing I would like to show you before you go. It is the only thing left I can do before you go. If you are interested in finding out, that is."

"Of course I am. If I can help out somehow, I will!" This caused Shiro to laugh lightly.

"I didn't expect you to be so cheerful, but very well. I will show you a secret about this castle, one that even I have not unraveled the mysteries of yet!"

Taja glared at the perverted man in front of her, she wasn't about to fall asleep in the same room as that man. She was extremely tired and if she didn't act fast she would fall asleep right where she was, which was in direct view of the perverted man. Everyone had passed out including the Great Yohan himself. "Loser." She whispered.

Wobbling towards the stairs she climbed each one with the last big of energy she had before opening the door and rolling into a seemingly hall and closing the door behind her. She had made it, her eyes barely opened. Raising her hand to her shoulder she gave herself a job-well-done pat right before falling asleep pressed against the closed door.

If someone was to try and open the door, say by the perverted man, than she would be awakened and ready to fight off the attacker.

---

---

Taja woke up in a large pink room and lined up along the walls were tables covered in grey sheets and on top of it was plated of food. Hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries, and more! Her mouth watered just looking at it. She hadn't eaten since she the morning she heard the voices. Her brows furrowed, if she would have just stayed home and called her mother about the voices in her head, then none of the events would have happen.

"Momma is probably sick with worry right now and what about daddy?" She said to herself, though in the middle of the room was Sienna pigging out on plates of food. Her face twisted with disgust. "Just what can't you shove down your throat?" She asked the dream Sienna. She just looked up at Taja, her expression blank and she kept shoving food down her throat.

Shivers ran down her back as she moved away from her and towards one of the tables. A sigh read ALL YOU CAN EAT! on it. Well she was hungry and if it was free she might as well. Taking a plate she started to fill it up with hot dogs, a hamburger, some fries, a donut, some gummy worms, and headed to a safe spot away from the lifeless expression of Sienna.

She took a bite of the hamburger and squealed with delight, "Sew gewd!" In six bites she was done with the burger, she understood why Sienna was eating it as fast as she could. The food was amazing! She watched as Sienna got up and grabbed two more plates and return to the place she was at. Taja counted the plates that were stacked in next to Sienna. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Oh there are some more behind her." Taja leaned over, "eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen! How is she eating that much? And why isn't she stopping?"

A voice from under one of the tables could be heard, "Well you see, she is just a pig. Though her thighs aren't as gre-" Taja had shoved her plate into the perverted man's face.

"What are you doing here?! Get out! Get out! GET OUT!" She had kicked him back under the table and ran over towards Sienna. "We have to go! Stop eating!" She screamed as she shook the expressionless red head. Sienna did nothing but eat and look up at her. Taja took a deep breath and slapped Sienna's face. "WAKE UP!" But to no avail she kept eating.

Behind Sienna two doors appeared, one red and one blue. She looked behind her and the perverted man was smiling at them in a very creepy way. She grabs Sienna's hand and runs towards the red door. Behind her the perverted man danced with a broom after them. "Come back my lovely ladies!"

The nightmare came again, the man in the room walking towards her as she lay prone and bound to a table. He smiled down at her while he recited some sort of words she couldnt understand. He laughed at her fear and trembled with delight when she tried to pull herself free from the bonds. He went to a table to grab something from it and withdrew a melon baller from it then placed it over a flame to heat it.

"With this final sacrifice, I shall be ascended to the hand of God himself. You my dear...shall be my offering...an Eye to see the world around me. An arm to open the door...and a soul to burn the lantern to guide me through to the Dark"

He turned and walked towards her and she let out a blood curdling scream as the melon baler was brought to her eye...

Sonea lurched forward and panted hard, thrashing off the blanket that covered her and sat at the edge of the bed. It was a dream...just a dream. Albeit a horrific nightmare but still just a dream. He wasnt there anymore, he couldnt hurt her anymore. She brought her one arm up to rub her face free of the cold sweat that covered it and then stood up. Turning to look out the window, she saw the rain, now being around mid morning. She shook her head and let out a grumbling sigh of frustration.

"Why couldnt it be evening?" She asked herself then went to the other side of the bed so she could retrieve her arm. Her fingers gripped the wrist of the prosthetic and slipped it into place while testing to make sure the connections still worked. Gripping tightly with her fist, she nodded once to herself then headed for the bathroom to start her routine.

It was always the same, first check the eyes, then the nose, then her torso, rear, back and arm to make sure there was no bleeding. Sadly to say, there was a rather long cut on her leg, probably from the nightmare and grumbled about how much blood had already been lost and set to bandaging the wound to stop it. There wasnt any pain, there never was any pain at all. She was at least thankful for that at the very least.

After her shower and check up, she went down into her kitchen and started to fix herself some breakfast and turned on the news to read what had happened over the course of the night. Of course it was nothing special until she looked next to the television and saw the calander. In big, red letters it read "Groceries Today". Of course it was grocery day she reminded herself and finished her meager breakfast of cereal and milk then gathered up her pocketbook, bags, list and bus fare and headed out into the marketplace. She kept her arm covered with a glove as to avoid people staring at her and pulled her hood up to keep her dry from the rain. It was a very nasty day after all.

After a few hours, she arrived at the market and proceeded into the district with her list in hand.

Frederick simply lay on his back and ate his burger in thought. What was he going to do now?...Well he cant just walk back home right now. What if someone sees an unknown man walk out of their neighbors house? What would he tell the police? "Hello officer! This seems to be a mistake, I was inside a parrallell dimension and then appeared in this hous's basment after a teen grabbed a strange device and said magic words!" They would think he was a mad man! He did not need to read books, or watch cartoons to know this was a very bad idea.

Once Frederick finished his burger he soon sat up. Well...there were two teens sleeping in a dark and decrepit basment...which was also dusty he had to add. Well, this was a house...must have a bed somewhere...With a shrug and flex of the arm. He lifted Yohan over one shoulder and Sienna over the other shoulder. And they say Janitor work did not build some muscle. Well he was proving them all wrong! Like...right this instant even though no one was here to look at his acomplishment.

The man easily noted the little girls missing person. He just guessed she had found a secure place away from him. Come of Frederick! Even though a human with horns and a tail are almost impossible...now a girl thinks your a pervert...well, what could he do? He just drew comics and manga, cooked food food and cleaned house very well...man...this kinda stinked but maybe he dould make this up!....somehow!...

With a simple shrug Frederick climbed the stairs from the basment into the house above. There might be a few rooms with beds right? Well...they could be locked for starters, I mean how easy would it be if he placed his hand on a doorknob and...twisted...and...it opened...

How...covinent! The room led to a single bed which looked like someones personal room. Well he plopped Yohan right in bed and pulled the sheets over him. Then after looking around the house descovering almost every other area in the process, he soon found another empty room and got Sienna tucked in...

Now what? He had nothing to...Oh! Thats right! This house was dusty! And dirty! He was going to clean this place up! Easily grabbing a broom and with a mop and a bucket of cleaning water. He got to work cleaning this house at a quick pace. "A janitors work is never done!...maybe I should cook some food afterwards...yeah...more burgers sounds nice..." He nodded ro himself as he dleaned the house.

Rina listened to Fredrick, her face growing more drawn the longer he spoke. Oh, hell, maybe he'd be easier to deal with tomorrow? His observation of her outfit made her uncomfortable, especially as she became more aware of her bare midriff. She'd never liked her stomach on the best of days, but now..."Cool," she said once he had wound down and Sienna had made her comments. "I'm Rina."
She rubbed the back of her neck, watching the others follow Yohan out. It didn't take long for her to decide to tag along as well. She didn't know what else to do. Besides, judging by Yohan's waving around and the vague sounds of voices, it looked like he might need the company.

The walk passed uneventfully enough and she scampered up the stairs into the "house" as quickly as she could, praying that the insides would be safe. As her eyes adjusted, though, she noticed sketches and words all over the walls. A shiver ran down her spine. Worse for her, she was hardly paying attention to Yohan, bizarre behavior seeming normal coming from him. The stairs and door snapped shut, bringing forth immediate panic that sparked in the back of her neck. She nearly cried when she felt herself being pulled into the wall with the others, but she heard her demon speaking in her ear.
"Don't worry, kiddo," it said. "I'm not going to let you die now."
And as it turned out, she didn't have long to be frightened: soon enough, the bizarre feeling of being transported wore off and she found herself in a strange room. Common sense would dictate Yohan's house.
Rina plopped down on the floor and pulled out her phone, leaning her back against a wall. She fought to stay awake as she texted her uncle, telling him that she was safe, but before she could finish, she dosed off.

In the morning, she woke feeling stiff and sick. It took her a moment to get her bearings, but the momentary panic made her more alert. She stretched, checked the time and started up the stairs. Her leg caught her attention, warped by the pact with her demon. Well, now she knew it wasn't all a dream.
Rina followed the sound of the television to the lounge. She looked from Miranda, to Yohan, to Sienna crying on the floor. Then she caught Sienna's name on the TV. Between that and the headline at the bottom of the screen, she put two and two together and backed out to head to the kitchen.