Timberland

The Hound of Despair certainly didn't expect the new wolf in town to appear. But before he could draw his attention to it, he noticed the little rabbit questioning his existence. The mention of some relative mattered little to him, he probably never even met them to begin with! That's when he gave her a great big grin as he saw the wolf approach. "You wish to know my answer to life?" He asked her, not even seeming to care as the new big wolf caused his legs to explode out violently, remaining that way even as the wolf grew closer. He didn't seem to care, rapidly regenerating his legs as he had already lured one of them into his trap.

"I know not the meaning of death, child. It is a beautiful thing I have always been curious about. My entire life has been built on nothing but this one, single moment." As the big bad wolf started to attack the Hound's body, that's when he felt something and his entire body rumbled from it. His grin grew into a sinister smirk as his eyes narrowed just enough to make him look... Terrifyingly evil. "Ah, how fortunate. One last help from an old friend of mine. Be grateful I am in a good mood now!" That's when the Hound's body began to crack and the black flames somehow grew more powerful, intensifying as the dark light that glowed from his body became too much and the sight of both the Hound and the big bad wolf became impossible to make out.

That's when a rather large explosion of black flames erupted. It's power alone shot out pretty high above them, luckily Sienna was able to protect them from the deadly flames threatening to engulf them. It felt too easy, the power they could all feel from the explosion let them all know the Hound would of easily been able to take them all on in it's true form, so why this? The answer was unclear, and would probably remain unclear for a long time. As Yohan noticed, Sakuya's power seemed to be over healing, which confused him for a moment on how it was able to take care of his wound so easily, but he quickly grew to accept it and smiled at Sakuya. "Thanks." He couldn't help but look back over at the spot where two creatures just stood. Magical flames, huh? Left not even a scorch or a piece of ash to let the police know that something magical had just visited them tonight.

Although Yohan let out a sigh of relief, it wasn't all fun and joy. The big wolf that had attacked was simply gone. Not a trace left of her where she once stood, attacking the beast with all of her force. He tried to feel out with his connection that he had been told he had with her, but there was nothing. Only a null feeling now as he tried. It was a similar feeling that happened when Rina's connection was broken. Although this time, he couldn't be certain if it was broken due to something happening to her or if it broke for another reason. Well, at least things were calming down a bit. The threat was over, right? That invitation was just a joke... Right?

The police soon emerged from the police station, no doubt as a response to all of the weird chaos that had just went down. Just when he thought they were going to notice Saiph, they simply walked pass her. He wondered if, during the fight, the magic from this girl and the hound had caused some kind of rift to be opened or something. It was only a guess, and really, it would do him no good to think hard over it. Guess they were just down to three now, huh? Himself, Sienna and Frederick. One had ended up dead, one just went missing in action and the last looked to be going home back to a normal life. It was only now that the reality of the situation dawned upon him, that whatever new world they had each entered into, it was a world that could be more dangerous than real life. Whether the trio liked it or not, they were in this together now and they would have to figure out just what exactly this connection was and what it meant. It didn't seem like it lasted forever, otherwise he'd still be feeling one of them right now.

Well, the police began to investigate for the strange wolf girl they had seen doing crazy things. With her gone now, they would probably be investigating into her and her family. If the rest of her family was like this, he had no doubt they would probably go into hiding after all of this. That other place, this magic stuff, the way normal humans couldn't see it... He wasn't normal anymore. School was just coming up, and yet here he was, fighting off magical creatures like he was in some television show, or a movie, or one of those fictional novels! He had to not let himself get excited right now, for he knew what this meant. They each had some responsibility with this magic stuff now. Strange creatures would be showing up to town more than likely, more people would certainly be targeting them down, but they had some kind of superhero role now. Huh, maybe the costumes they had gained in that strange place meant something more than first meets the eye.



Rubbish, rubbish to it all! That stupid Hound had gone and blown itself to dust now! While it looked to have taken one of them out of the picture, there was no body of any sort to confirm whether she was alive or dead now! Blast it! He couldn't even enjoy the small victory he had. He was mad, he had been watching them all silently and this was the end result of it all?! It couldn't end like this, he wouldn't allow it to end like this! That's when the Hound's invitation towards Yohan came back to him. Oh, yeah, he did do that. Stupid kid wasn't smart enough to come up with that on his own... Oops, he almost spoiled the surprise! Oh well, his disguise was waning anyway, the stupid brat was probably ready to fight now. With a sinister grin, "Ricky" stood up to his feet and turned to smoke, quickly making his way over towards the others!

As the unusual smoke rolled into the area, it quickly reforms itself into "Ricky" as the police didn't react at all to his presence. Yohan was shocked to see him appear out of nowhere, but that face... It was from the news! It was that guy, Richard Leonard! Little Ricky?! He was here, but why was he just smoke a minute ago?! There wasn't much time to process everything going on as "Ricky" gave a smirk to him. "I see you've done well." He spoke to them, giving a mocking tone behind it as he reached a hand into one of his pockets. "However, I won't allow my master plan to go up in smoke just yet. You may be down some numbers from what you originally were at, but you can't stop me now! Not when I have information important to you."

Yohan couldn't believe his words initially, but... What was going on?! He felt scared for some reason, like some unknown fear was about to come haunting him again, and indeed, his fears were confirmed as "Ricky" continued to talk. "Your parents... Don't you want to know who is responsible for their deaths?" He gave one heck of a smirk now, Yohan's expression intensifying as he stared at "Ricky" with a cold look behind his eyes now. "I know the reason why they had to die. I'm also the one responsible for dragging you all into this mess. Oh, don't give me that. All I wanted was a little fun. You believe me, don't you?"

Yohan couldn't help but scream out suddenly as he rushed recklessly at "Ricky" with his white scales hand tightening into a fist. He began to pull it back, ready to punch this stupid fool right in his mug, when he closed his eyes and stepped to the side, now revealing a Gateway behind him. Yohan's eyes widened, his fist moving into the hole as he heard "Ricky" speak out quietly one word. "Purgatory~" Yohan was immediately caught up in it, being sucked away as he had no idea where he was going this time. When he came to, he found himself... Standing within a building? It didn't look like one of those black rock buildings from that unusual town, it looked like... An actual building?! Before he could get a grip on where he was, he heard a voice ring out from deeper within.

"Djinn." The voice spoke out, as "Ricky" grinned, the voice coming out from the active Gateway. Lucky for them the cops couldn't see this mess going on right now, had the Gateway not been activated they might of been in bigger trouble than they originally were. "The second wish is complete. You can get rid of that stupid disguise now."

"What? Ricky, you are far too kind to me." The left half of "Ricky" began to turn into darkness, the darkness moving like a cape flowing in the wind as his left eye turned demonic and sinister, The Djinn's cheshire cat smirk could no longer be hidden on that side of his body as he couldn't help but chuckle at the others. "Holy Diver, you've been down too long in the midnight sea." The words mockingly came out from The Djinn's mouth. "Oh what's becoming of me~" He couldn't help but stand right in front of the active Gateway, almost as if mocking them to come try to get in through him.

"Ride the tiger. You can see his stripes but you know he's clean." Yohan could hear that voice singing out for some reason, though they could hear it, Yohan couldn't hear what was going on with them. Yohan began to walk forward, almost as if moving by instinct alone now. Then, without warning, he began to run forward, until he was running as fast as he could right for where the voice was coming from! "Oh don't you see what I mean." The song both of them were singing mattered little to Yohan, as he ran along the single corridor towards where the voice was coming from. He wasn't going to let this go on for any longer, he was going to make a stand even if it killed him!

"Gotta get away." Both of them sung mockingly towards the others, The Djinn spreading his arms out as if ready to attack, his eyes glowing yellow as he did so. "Holy Diver!!! Yeeaah!"

As the hound was ready to overload and explode, Frederick hopped on his two feet and looked around for cover. There were cars around but...could cars really provide protection against magic? Nah...He saw enough to know that big powerful magic would turn his would be cover to dust along with him. However thankfully one of the teens...Whats her name? Sienna? Yeah, she had projected a magical barrier just in time allowing him to dive right behind her to protect himself.

As he crouched for a vain hope of more cover, he relized that he was fine. She had protected them but what about that werewolf? Or more accurately their compatriot who had turned into a werewolf. She was in front of the barrier so...oh...from the other side of the barrier. Sure, he may have noted that the hound let them live possible because of some far unknown reason but really?

Come like a week from now they would meet again and then suddenly be surprised that they all beat him into the Stone Age. And then it's gonna be like. 'I could have killed you all...but I wanted this moment because of fate or destiny...curses...' And so the story went. Honestly, if he was a villain who wanted to take over the world arrogance would be the last thing on his mind. I mean seriously, in his books the evil villains actually are smart into of the generic never taking advantage to kill one of the heroes.

Speaking of evil villains, it seems the one who was behind their ambush had appeared. Was he a mastermind?...nope, he was probaly some sort of opposite of them or something. Unfortanantly he mad managed to make Yohan angry enough to charge blindly at him with no sense of tactics and get himself inside a portal...or gateway...they seemed similar.

Shoot! Their leader just fell into the most simple of traps! Bring up family and bam you might as well won. And the worst part is while everyone! Including...Wait when did that other girl show up? Oh yeah he was busy thinking to himself...Anyways! While he was think to himself she must have appeared along with Yohan. And she was doing things compared to him!

If only he could do something...hell he bet that some of those anime characters would be doing far better than what he was. Of course, he was just a janitor, writer, cook artist. He could not fight! He did not even know what his powers were!

"If only those character were real..." Frederick spoke to himself as he began to use his finger to draw a character he saw from an anime. A really powerful, arrogant but smart individual. He had golden armor and used weapon from portals. It was all cool...

Wait...something was strange...he could see the image of the character as if someone was drawing him...no, not his imagination this time. It was as if his finger was a pencil and the air in front of him like paper...Woah cool! Forget about the danger he wanted to draw.

Sticking his tongue out like an artist in thought. Frederick began to sketch away.

Saiph uncovered her face, having warped back last second to brace for the blast. Luckily the protection provided by the red haired woman was enough to block the force of it. However, there was a moment of shock that rushed through Saiph's system, down her spine, letting her arms drop limp, as she watched the flames clear, no trace of either the beast or wolf remained. Her legs trembling momentarily. Why would anything choose to... die like that?

Shaken from her moment of shock, however was the appearance of a figure from black smoke, and the blue haired boy she had recently saved was becoming the center of some torment. This guy had a weird quality to him, his power was all strange, something not even vaguely twisted. This guy was the one responsible for many of the recent disturbances, had to be, too much to be coincidental. Geez, what a jerk, she thought as he drove the knife in deeper, twisting it.

"Hold on, don't, it is just a pl-," before she could finish her sentence, the blue haired boy had enough, and charged straight at the man, screaming his lungs out in fury, straight into a portal behind him. The ploy was almost cartoony, but far too cruel for even her to find amusing, and using his parents no less, scoundrel! "Really, the family card? Must be easy for someone who has none!"

With that she glanced about at the others, at the red hair, Sienna, Frederick drawing, and Sakuya who seemed to be standing back. Well, may as well go on impulse. "Dunno 'bout you guys, but guess I'm seeing this through, this is the most excitement I've had in decades!" With that she charges straight at the portal, no second thought as she hops forward, knees up, arms crossed to brace herself as she plunges through.

"Lets see here...Have to make sure the colour is right and all the proportions are correct..." Frederick spoke to himself as he was drawing...someone. He was moving everywhere, laying on his back, standing on a car to work on the figures head, bending in many different angles to work on his drawing or more appropriately a figurine.

He had saw Saiph charge into the portal, brave bunny girl he had to admit. Although Yohan was alive, of course if he was they all be dead because of the chess rules that if the king died you lose the game. But no need to think on that, the portal could still be a trap even with...what was his face guarding it?...

Eh...who cared...he was the villain and the enemy. He tried to kill them for goodness sakes! Once someone tried to kill you then ain't no room for liking them. Now where was he? Oh yeah his drawing!

It took him a while, and he probaly missed the epic into for a fight. But he was putting the final colour on the figure. But he drew him!



Hey! This power was cool. Now he can draw whenever he felt like it! With his arms crossed he nodded at his work. Well he did good. "How long do you plan to marvel at my appearance mortal? Well, its to be expected when one gazes upon me!" The figure spoke as he laughed.

What? Did his drawing speak? Holy Mikey! He just drew him! And it is actually alive! This power was amazing! Wait a second...if that was the case then...oh...he just summoned a very arrogant person. And powerful!

"Amazing! I know you! Your cool and amazing! I am proud to---" "Yes, yes. You can stop praising me. Since you summoned me I will let you witness my power." The figure waved him off as he grabbed afrederick and began to drag him to the portal.

"Wait...The enemy is in there! It's like an obvious trap!" Frederick warned as the figure kept walking with a laugh. "Then, I shall elimate one of the masters to get much closer to my goal."

"Wait! That does not even!---" Frederick tried to speak until he was pulled through the portal. With one last voice in his head. "Oh my...Already ditching me for someone else? Such a cruel man. Using your knowledge on such childish cartoons to fight...Are you really a adult?"

"Welcome to the morning news." The morning reporter started out. "Today we have some unfortunate urgent news that has just been brought to our attention a few minutes ago. Richard Leonard, also known as Little Ricky, was found dead just outside the police station not long ago. Richard Leonard, for those of you who don't know, was thought to have been a small time criminal who only caused destruction in his wake. Known to the public as Little Ricky, he was sent to jail multiple times, only to get out of it time and again by his father: Walter Leonard."

Yohan's head was pounding as he barely managed to drag himself towards the hospital. He already knew from what the police spoke about that they had already sent people to investigate his house over the night. Great, he just hoped they wouldn't find that Gateway or anything else magical. Yohan had done what he thought was the right thing and left the body of Ricky out for them to find, but didn't stick around for questioning or to be found. No fingerprints or any evidence of them having to do with Ricky's death wouldn't of been found or noticed by them. To the cops, they had simply gone their separate ways. It annoyed him that things ended this way, but it was for the best. For once, he agreed with the mindset Sienna would probably have in this scenario.

"That is how the story has been, or so we thought. However, once Ricky's body was brought in to the police, something strange happened over the last hour and a half. New things began to pop up, not just from his family, but from other people as well. It may very well be that Little Ricky was not a criminal at all. But a rebel who only wanted to fight against the injustice of something he saw wrong with today's society. His father was the first to speak up about this unheard of side of Little Ricky. The things he said contradict what the public had known for years, and this could very well change everything we once knew about Richard Leonard!"

It was only half an hour after Ricky's body had been brought in to the police. Walter Leonard had not heard of anything yet, as one of his assistant's opened the door after knocking to find him busy talking on the phone. The assistant was nervous, Walter always made it clear not to disturb him for anything when he was on the phone. However, the news she had heard pushed her today to have to bring him the bad news. "Sir." She spoke up loudly, causing Walter to pause and put his free hand over the phone as he looked over to her.

"Did I not make myself clear before? I am not to be disturbed right now! I am on an important call with very important people!" Walter Leonard uncovered his hand over the phone and resumed talking. But that's when he heard the word again, this time louder. His eyes narrowed as he sighed and shook his head. "I apologize, sir. I will have to call you back. Yes, I know, but this is urgent. My deepest apologies." Hanging up the phone, Walter put down the phone and could already feel the rage swelling up within his body as he turned viciously towards the assistant girl. "What is it?"

"Sir, it's... It's your son, Richard." Walter's expression immediately changed upon hearing about his little boy. "He was found dead half an hour ago near the Timberland Police Station." The news caused Walter's face to become grim as tears began to flood up within his eyes. A primal scream came out of Walter as he brought his hands up to his feet, throwing his glasses aside as he found himself falling to his knees, with his assistant rushing over to his side.

"My poor Little Ricky!" Walter sobbed out. "NO! Not my little boy! Anyone but him! Why?! Why not me instead?!" Walter's hands came down from his face that was now full of tears as his eyes raced over to look at his assistant. "Get my phone! I need to make some calls, now! I need to make them, right now! RIGHT NOW!" Walter's love for his Little Ricky was apparent, only out of fear did his assistant rush over to the phone and begin to dial numbers at his request. Walter continued to cry, his youngest son was dead and his heart had shattered into pieces upon hearing the news.

"It is with great pain that I..." Walter hesitated on the television, sniffling could be heard ever so slightly as he rubbed his face with his sleeve to wipe away the coming tears. "Announce today that I have been keeping a lie. My son's lie. He wanted to make it look like he was leading a life of crime. I opposed this time and again, telling him that he wouldn't even be labeled a vigilante! But he refused to listen to me, he was such a good little boy." Walter brought up his sleeve again before continuing. "It is with a great and heavy heart that I call on all of you not to see him as what he wanted to be. A criminal. He was my Little Ricky! All he wanted was to prove his point to the world! And now he is dead because of the corruption he saw within today's world!" Walter had to stop and walk away because he couldn't stop crying.

"You want me to what?" Walter spoke hesitantly over the phone. "Oh, no, I don't have a problem with saying all of that, it's just... For him? Are you certain about this sir?" Walter stopped to listen to the words of his superior. "I, I understand. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't for the wrong reasons was all." Walter walked over to his chair and sat down in it, letting out a low groan. "I will make some calls to the news station. I can pull some strings very quickly and be able to be out speaking about the matter at once. I will do it with only honesty though, sir. Nothing more, nothing less. I want to be clear here. I am only doing this for my son, not to play along with any of your games. If you understand that, then we will talk later."

"Aside from his father, other people have come up talking about how Little Ricky was actually doing things for the better of Timberland. When the connection between him and the death of his gang was brought up, it was actually revealed that Ricky was just brought up in the crossfire and acted out of self defense. Speaking of his gang, it is believed that Ricky found four survivor's among them and took them under his wing, uniting them under the same cause as him. However, traces of these four have yet to be discovered. It may be that they have run off, but police will investigate further into it."

The group of little delinquents laughed as they all held up jugs of beer against each other. They had abandoned Ricky in his finest hour, after delivering all of the items that were actually filled with The Black across town. The sun had risen up in the distance for them, so that meant by now, The Black had already spread throughout the town. Anyone who bought those items would be unknowingly spreading it further. They couldn't help but each laugh as they were going to ride off somewhere to relax and settle down. When Ricky died, The Black he had given them all had died out as well, meaning they were no longer involved in this whole magical business. Life was good, life was very good for them! They had just stolen a huge amount of cash, they had gotten away with potential murder, and best of all, Ricky was probably dead!

That's when the one Ricky had called Franky began to act weird. He couldn't breath for some reason and he was collapsing. The others all started to back away from him, they had already ditched one person today, they were willing to throw another aside. But just when it looked like they could run, black flames burst forth and burnt Franky to a crisp! The others could only stare with wide eyes as a new body began to quickly form within the horrible flames. Murderous eyes looked over towards them as they stood frozen to the spot with fear. A demonic smile could be made out from within the black flames as the being's right arm rose and sent out black flames rushing over to them. The last actions they would ever perform were that of horrifying screams.

Once all the black flames subsided, the reborn being walked over and checked over all of their items. Just as it was looking through the money they had collected, clothes were thrown on it and it looked annoyed. However, as it looked back, it couldn't help but gasp at who it saw. "You!" The voice called out. The person gestured for it to dress up. The being could only growl as it was forced to dress up in human clothes now. "This is terrific. I come back in a new body, and suddenly, I am forced to wear disgusting clothing over my body!" The being pointed at the man. "Let me guess. You're the reason I'm still alive, right? And let me also guess this. You must also be the reason everything happened tonight, right?"

"You guessed correctly." The man in shades revealed himself to the being, smirking as he pulled off those mysterious shades and opened his eyes, revealing them to be glowing yellow. "I didn't expect things to go as well as they did. But Ricky didn't fail me in the end. The kid never questioned me when I gave him the orders in person either." The man couldn't help but grin as four yellow eyes opened up in the darkness behind him. Spider webs began to latch out over the area behind him as he spread his arms out. "It's been a long time, Despair. I trust the Hellhound's death helped you? It's time we went back."

"Ugh, back to those sinful morons? I wonder what they've been doing in my absence. Give me a smoke." The man in shades handed Despair a cigarette, as Despair lit it himself with his thumb before puffing out some smoke. "Damn, it feels good to be alive. Guess there are some things I didn't even know Despair could do. But it feels like I've been set back to zero. We'll have to perform some new tests when we get back to the labs. You chose some good clothes for me though, you clever little sneak." Despair and the man in shades began to walk away, the spider webbing's dragging the items in a bunch behind them as they soon shot out and the man in shades caught the webbing's with his bare hand to carry.



"Without a doubt, today seems to be the day people are crying out for Little Ricky to be seen as some kind of voice of justice. Regardless, police will continue to investigate the strange incidents that have occured as of late. In other news..." Yohan couldn't stand to listen anymore as he was lying there in the hosptial bed, turning off the television as he groaned out to himself.

"What is this, some kind of sick joke? Suddenly Ricky's being hailed as an icon? A voice of justice for the people?" Yohan put a hand on his forehead. That wasn't right at all, Ricky clearly seemed like the kind of person who would just murder people without a second thought. And suddenly, when he dies, people turn him into a hero? It made Yohan worry, whatever was going on, the trouble had not yet ended for any of them or Timberland. "Something's not right."

"Dad," Saiph says, her voice shaky, her hands shaky, Barely she held her phone to her ear, sitting up, leaning up against a wall in an alleyway. She had been debating to make this call for a while, but finally mustered up the courage. She swallows hard, her head... well her entire body ached. "Heh... I think I... I might have outdone myself. I uh... I kind of... killed a man... o-or well-"

"Hm? What are... what is the matter? So you got involved." a deep and powerful voice is heard through the phone, almost causing her to pull the phone away. Mr. Grimm's voice was undeniably concerned, she already knew it would cause a stir. "Sugar, did you hear the news? It is about to get very... problematic there. You should return home... you should come home." It was clear, he knew something she did not. Getting up she sluggishly exited the alleyway, and around the corner to see a television on display behind glass, watching in horror what the news was saying about Ricky. She didn't know what to feel, she felt a lot of things lately that she never had quite before. Was it anger? Was it confusion? She was transfixed, stunned on how quickly this had gone down. Her arms grew limp and just hung there, barely holding the phone. "Listen to me."

"D-dad, that isn't true, y-you gotta... fix it!" she says, swinging the phone back up, her voice becoming apparently panicked. "I-it's wrong, we stopped him because... because he-," before she could continue her head began to hurt her once again, causing her to nearly lose her balance.

"Fix it how? How can I fix this?" he responds, somewhat harshly, causing Saiph to fall back and lean against the display window. She was at a loss of words, was he scolding her? "What do I tell the public? An opposing story about his character, with what living witnesses to back it up? Your new friends who up until recently were marked as missing? Who ran hysterically out of a police station by creatures that no normal person could see? That a man, mad with some dark magical power killed people? People... are not ready for this. And even if I did manipulate the news, two opposing stories would just cause mass confusion, and who knows what that would create," he says, as earnestly as he can to Saiph. She didn't like it at all, sliding slowly down to the pavement, holding her head. "You're not feeling well, you've strained yourself, you need rest... care... you can only get that, here. Please?"

"I... I, o-okay," she says, finally conceding, albeit reluctantly. "B-but I... don't have the strength to," she began to say, before the sound of a vehicle approaching caught her attention, and soon a lavish black limousine parked itself right across from her. "Heh... you, just had him waiting, didn't ya?"

"Always be prepared. See you soon, love you," Mr. Grimms says before hanging up. The door of the limo opens showcasing an even more lavish interior, soft red velvet seats and carpeting. Saiph managed to drag herself inside, shutting the door behind her.

---

Elsewhere in a little novelty shop, a young white-haired man, the local Timberland High School gym teacher and wannabe big time actor, Rupert Kraus was hunting for props in his next attempt at a play. He was dressed in a t-shirt sporting a wolf, the mascot of Timberland High. Around his neck a whistle, and wearing shorts. Pretty well what one would expect of a school's gym teacher.

The owner, a rather crotchety, balding, whiskery old man, was growing tired of how long he was taking to browse his wares, rapping his fingers on the counter, puffing away at a cigarette. He had been looking at a couple oriental masks on the wall, one of a Tengu, the other the menacing facial armor mask of a Samurai.

"You sure these all you got? Certainly not befit the great HERO of the next big epic!" he says, placing a hand over his chest and the other in the air, all with dramatic flair as he looks upwards.

"Listen bub, I got what ya see, no amount of posturing... or whatever it is you're doing... gonna change that," the owner says finally, slamming his hand onto the counter. "Just buy something and go, you're scaring the other customers!" Of course, there were no other customers in this shoddy little shop, but questioning that would likely just get a smug exactly in response.

"Fine! Then I uh..." before he could finish that statement, something seemed to suddenly pull at him, his attention magnetically being pulled to the glass case under the counter. He scurries over, kneeling down and looking within. Some old watches, most of them broken... some decks of old playing cards, lighters... but then he say something faint, like a black mist surrounding one item in particular. A rather fancy looking gun, etched with... Little Rick. His eyes light up and he claps his hands together startling the owner.

"Aha! This one!" he says, pointing at the gun. The store owner scratched his bald spot in confusion, twisting his mouth switching the cigarette from one corner of his mouth to the other.

"I'm not sure giving some weird youngster like you a firearm is-," the man begins. But Rupert enthusiastically digs into his pocket, pulling out his wallet, reaching in, and, with a clenched fist grabs as many dollars as he can and slams it down before the owner, a wide white sparkly grin appearing on Kraus's face. He didn't even bother to count, but the owner did, the cigarette falling from his mouth. Greedily he scoops it up, opens the case, pulling the gun and hands it over to Kraus with a smirk. "Know what? Screw it, it is yours kid! Have fun, shoot your eye out or whatevah, don't give a shit if yer being generous!"

"EEee yes! Thank you, thank you!" Kraus says, nearly dancing as he runs out of the shop. Outside he glances over the gun, a dreamy look in his eyes. People walking down the sidewalk look briefly at him, a bit of concern as they back up and start to walk the other way. "I can't believe it, the guy didn't even know! Hah! A piece of the hero himself, passed down upon... ME! It must be a sign, oh yes! Things are finally looking up for Rupert Kraus!"

"More than your wildest imagination, mortal," a whimsical voice is heard inside his skull, Kraus looks around in confusion, trying to locate its origin. Soon an odd feeling begins to well up inside of him. "You and me, we are both want what the other wants, to put on the greatest show nobody will soon forget!"



Kraus looks beside him, red eyes looking back into his as a strange figure in purple robes was leaning over. Nobody seemed to see it but him, some walking straight through the odd pale man, who's face contorts into a wide smile.

"Name's Puck by the way, and... you could say, we are quite the kindred spirits, you and I~!"

Sienna Cartlow

After the fire dissipated, Sienna was pretty spent. Sure, she had some idea of her powers innately, but up until that moment, she hadn’t really done anything spectacular with them. Diverting an entire explosion of flame around her was a step up from finger flames to light her cigarette. Stumbling back onto her rear as she sat on the floor, Sienna took in some deep breaths as she threw her head back, groaning. Opening her eyes, she could see everyone that was huddled around her slowly separate and stand – completely unharmed. Giving a faint sigh of relief, she flopped back fully onto the pavement, lying spread on the ground as she caught herself. Faintly opening her eyes, she could see that where once the beast and wolf had been locked in combat, now… There was nothing. Not even a speck of ash, just a blackened spread of stains across the ground to mark the origin point of the explosion.

Behind her, she could hear some chattering – The pink haired chick, the weird janitor, Yohan and… Another voice, from in front of them; one that immediately brought annoyance to the forefront of Sienna’s mind as she sat up, resting her hands on her crossed legs. There, she saw a hazy individual wrapped in smoke, a weedy looking punk with a maniacal expression. Some stupid street rat. It was at that point she started tuning in to his words, hearing his ramblings about Yohan’s parents, something about some plan, them stopping him, all pointless crap. Except one thing: ”I'm also the one responsible for dragging you all into this mess.”

Anger blazed in Sienna’s eyes as she began to push herself to her feet, almost ignoring the police that were wandering about them and investigating the area. They seemed pretty bewildered at this point, but still didn’t seem to be able to see anything that was happening. Jeez, that made this mess way harder to deal with. If it wasn’t for them, she’d probably blast this guy with fire then and there. All this crap was his fault? These things trying to kill them, these powers, everything?! This was all a game to this son of a bitch, but because of him, she’d…

Yohan made the first move of the group, charging at him in a blind rage, only to be drawn into some sort of trap as he was sucked into a portal. Seconds later, that rabbit thing went in pursuit, the bastard smirking all the while. Shit, hopefully they could handle whatever was going on in there. Sienna had something more important to deal with however. She had a bone to pick with this guy. Looking to Frederick and Sakuya, both seemed hesitant to make a move. Well, that applied to pinky at the least, the weirdo janitor was… Drawing, of all things. Jeez, was everyone here incompetently stupid but her? Flexing her fingers and wrists, Sienna took a stride forward, placing her hands to her hips as she eyed down ‘Ricky’. Or at least, part of him. The figure was now split in twain, features blending and leaking together between the pale man and the smoky demon he harboured.

“This won’t work you know. You’re not ready to fight something like that.” Sinopia commented as she strode up beside Sienna, the feline taking a seat next to her. Sienna ignored her. “So you’re saying you’re responsible for all this mess, right?” The question was rhetorical, but the answer Sienna was given consisted of nothing but a shallow grin from the man. It was enough for her. Drawing her hand back she felt the flames licking her palm as the ball of fire formed, and in the next few moments, she struck, whipping it forward as she launched the sphere straight to the man’s chest, stopping as she observed the impact. Her aim true, the blaze struck its mark clean, but there wasn’t any visible damage as the Djinn barely flinched, its eyes ever trained on Sienna. Narrowing her eyes, Sienna decided to kick it up a notch. Both hands flaring up, Sienna was about to unleash her fury at the shadowy monster, but hesitated as it spoke.

“It’s not really fair if you get to do all the fighting, now is it?” Sienna caught sight of his eyes flicker below her, and was moving before her mind had time to catch up as clawed hands shot from the ground, seemingly breaking the bounds of reality as they reached at her, snaking for her ankles. Darting about to avoid their clutches, Sienna’s feet and hands were a blur as she pivoted and darted about, leaping and striding with a grace she could only vaguely recall, her pirouettes providing ample chance for more and more fireballs to be launched in a volley of flames at the djinn, a rapid fire barrage of heat and force. And yet, the monster didn’t seem to be struggling. In fact, it seemed to be toying with her, hardly moving and allowing the shadowy hands to continue to seek her legs to trip her up. Getting ready to unleash her largest fireball yet, Sienna suddenly shrieked in pain as it felt like something just ripped through her shoulder, but yet she couldn’t see anything of the sort. “You can’t do this. You need a plan, not to just fight recklessly – You can’t win, you need me to help you, but so long as you insist on following your pride, you can’t-“

“Shut it Sinopia!” Sienna shouted through gritted teeth as she barely avoided a swipe to her face, skidding to a stop at the wall of the police station. A bad move. More tendril like hands began to claw at her from behind, Sienna ducking and weaving as a few sliced her hair and sleeves, barely missing her. Scampering away, Sienna was surprised she still had the energy to keep going, but something between adrenaline, rage and her newfound powers were keeping her moving. This wasn’t working though, she needed a more decisive attack and to get off the defensive. Spinning to face the claws lunging for her, Sienna brought her hands together and gave a yell of exertion, a wave of fire shooting forth and scorching through the various appendages seeking her.

With that threat dealt with, she turned her focus back towards the monster, his legs long having dissolved to a smoke, revealing his true form as the Djinn. Knowing she probably only had a few moments before those things were back. Taking off into a full sprint, flames coursing around her heels, Sienna was quick to close the gap. As she moved in, she could see more of those things stretching out from both the monster and the area around him, preparing to both defend her assault as well as strike her as she came in. She wouldn’t give them that chance. As she moved in closer, the hands also began to surround her, coming from all sides as they radiated from the Djinn, entrapping her. Too bad for him they were in the wrong place.

“Eat this!” Entering into a straight-leg slide, Sienna went under the Djinn and, with everything she had, unleashed a firestorm of energy and flames straight up the creature, cooking him from below and hopefully, sending him spiralling into the sky as cinders. Holding the beam of fire for a few more moments, before finishing the slide, Sienna performed a quick pop-jump back to her feet, pivoting and sending one last explosive fireball towards the roasted Djinn, falling back from the explosion and retreating a few more steps away. That had to do it. Heh, she’d say a bad-ass line about being too hot to handle or something if she didn’t think it was too corny, but there’d be plenty of time for fire puns whenever she got the chance to show off to people she actually cared about.

Taking a few steps away towards Sinopia, Sienna flashed her a grin. “And you thought I couldn’t handle myself.” Continuing to smirk, Sinopia didn’t say anything. She just stayed staring towards the fire behind Sienna. The teen frowned a bit, glancing back. Then did a double take as the vague outline of a humanoid figure began to rise, arms folded together before suddenly-

With a cry of exertion, the Djinn threw its arms open, banishing the flames around it and standing unscathed. Cackling manically to itself, the Djinn looked back over to Sienna, who was immediately on the defensive, swearing to herself. She’d given that everything she had, how on Earth was she going to beat this thing if that didn’t even phase it! Standing still and eying the monster down, he was oddly… Unmoving. As if waiting for her to take action again. Was it trying to bait her? Slowly reaching to her side to charge a fireball, she stopped suddenly as it spoke. “Well, that was really fun, but It’s time I headed inside! Maybe I’ll see you all there!” Grinning wildly again, the Djinn suddenly turned into a whirlwind of smoke before shooting into the portal, vanishing from sight. Sienna swore, looking to Frederick and- Wait, who the heck was that? Some golden armoured figure hoisted the Janitor into the portal after the Djinn. Was that another demon of his? Geez, that Weirdo had way more problems than her.

“Fuck it, we’re going in there Sinopia, let’s go.” Undaunted by her failings against the monster previously, Sienna began to make her way forward, readying herself for another intense battle. Surprisingly, she wasn’t winded in the slightest. Had she somehow gotten fitter? Either way, she wasn’t complaining about that. Regardless, she wasn’t about to let that freakish creature get away. She was getting revenge on that monster. It was to blame for Rio, and she wasn’t stopping until-

“Whoah, hey, hold up! What’s gotten into you?” An arm grabbed Sienna’s wrist as she began to move, and instinctively she thrashed free, turning to face- “Tate?!” Sienna was stunned as she eyed the man in front of her, taking a step back. “What the hell are you doing here?!” Glancing back to the portal over her shoulder, she barely had time to pay attention to it as Tate got into her face. “What am I doing here? Sienna, I got told the moment you were taken in, I came to pick you up and take you home. What’s wrong with you bitch? You’re freaking out and running all over the place?” Tate had a face of mock concern, like he always did, but Sienna was pretty bewildered. What could she even say? What he just saw had to look pretty ridiculous.

“I uh, it…” Suddenly, all of Sienna’s nerves seemed to go on fire, frying with pain. Gasping involuntarily, she grabbed her arms, clutching herself as it felt like she was bathing in acid or something. “Whoah, hey, Sienna! You okay?” Tate moved up to catch her, and even though his touch was not welcome back there, she was grateful that he helped keep her on her feet. Slowly, he began guiding Sienna back towards the car, asking her to take it easy, that she had to be in shock. Honestly, she didn’t understand what was happening, but she wasn’t really in a position to resist. Bundled into the car to rest, Tate continued to state that she should stay calm, that she should rest and relax, he’d handle things from here. She felt like she should do anything but that, especially with this pain. And yet… Slowly, she felt her eyes grow heavy. Her body calm. “Wha..?” Sienna mumbled out her confusion, but soon enough, slipped into unconsciousness. Tate smiled.

Frederick sat down on the sidewalk as they finished their first quest of sorts. A quick recap for his brain, he summoned Gilgamesh who had caused him injury to his gut just to fight and who was busy leaning against a wall. Ricky who had an aura which caused people around him to feel pain, turned into a machine gun knight who created tentacles which all wielded machine guns as well...He swore only he could make something this crazy up...

Once the fight ended, Ricky had tried to shoot Yohan and ended up killing himself from himself own bullet which ricocheted into his throat. It was...and end of course. Now what would he do with Gilgamesh now? In fact where did his demon, angel, spirit go anyways?

Almost in spite of his words the familiar winged figure appeared by his side and sat near him. "So my dear lamb. How did your fight go against the Black? Your fate has picked you to finish the fight against the Black. My enemy, and now your enemy." She chuckled lightly as Frederick sighed.

"I don't know...It was interesting and fun! But...when Ricky bit the bullet in the literal sense that was just...depressing I guess. If I have to kill people then I want out." He spoke crossing his arms. He did not want to kill other people.

"Of course My lamb...There is an easy way to leave this war..." She soon leaned next to his ear and whispered. "Just...kill yourself..." Her words echoed in Fredericks mind who stumbled away from her in surprise. Before he could reply of course she chuckled again. "My precious lamb...how foolish you think to abandon your fate...You can only leave now until the Black has been killed...or you have been killed...The Black seek to cause destruction...Chaos...death. They are like Ricky, they have been comusmed by desire. If you don't fight, then people will die like his 'freinds' who he has so easily killed and abbandoned. What if your father was targeted by them? Would you care at that point?" She chuckled again as she looked directly in his eye. Her one eye looking full well into his as she spoke.

Frederick did not want his dad to be in danger...nor did he want innocent people to be in danger. "F-Fine...I can do this and be a hero of justice then!" He nodded firmly as his Angel spirit thing clapped her hands in approval. She would see if he can do this.

Of course Gilgamesh himself would not be so eager to help their cause but...He knew how to make a guy like him happy. And for that he got up walked in front of him before speaking."King Gilgamesh! I ask you for your assistance! Please I'll create whatever you want if you help me fight!" Frederick pleaded as he got on his knees.

Gilgamesh crossed his arms in thought. "If you make the Holy Grail, then I shall accompany you human." He spoke. He had already guessed this was no grail war. But this human managed to summon him...so he could make such an item...Of course knowing his power it would be very weak. But it would be a nice collection to have to drink wine from.

Beta

Again he found himself waking up in the strange castle. He felt strange, what had he been doing? Regardless, he managed to sit up and rub his head, looking around to see nothing really had changed. Well, except that one of the doors he saw before was now missing. That was strange, what happened to that door? Didn't Shiro mention before how each door held a different purpose? Had that door served it's purpose then? He pushes himself up to his feet as he walked over to where the missing door had been, surprised to see a mask was now there. It looked creepy, but it felt familiar to him. Had he seen something who's face resembled this mask before? Whatever the case, he felt he should find Shiro.

He walked past all of the doors again, looking over each of them as he saw each one held a different design and a different color to it. He really wish he knew what this all meant! He stopped when he saw that red door again. Only this time, it had a different design to it. Unlike before where it looked just like all the other doors but with the color red, now it seemed to hold a more grand design compared to the others. He didn't know whether that meant good or bad, he would probably have to ask Shiro if he wasn't busy. Walking over to the last door, he picked up the key Shiro had shown off last time, using it to unlock the door before putting it back up and opening the door.

Inside he found Shiro staring at the crystal ball from before, his concentration set so much on the ball he didn't even notice him walking inside and closing the door behind him. Walking over to Shiro, he looked over at the crystal ball to see people moving around in it. This is when Shiro finally takes notice and lightly pushes him away from the ball. "My apologies, I didn't see you coming in!" Shiro spoke with slight nervousness to it, standing in the way of the crystal ball now as he rubbed his forehead with his arm. "I apologize, but this is something only I must see. We will talk when I am finished. But for now, there is a book I need you to get me anyway." Shiro watched as the boy nodded and walked over to the boys. Shiro let out a slow sigh, shaking his head as he turned back to the crystal ball. "Gotta count myself lucky he isn't nosy."

The Mayor of Timberland was not someone who often got called upon to listen in on meetings. He considered himself lucky to have gotten the position at all, he only wanted the best future for a town that people barely cared about. But today he felt nervous, he had been called in to one of "those" meetings. He had only been called to them a few times before, but he knew it was always important whenever they were called upon. This time would be no different, he had to be prepared for the worst should it come to that. Arriving at the door, he opens it to find rows of people already sitting and talking loudly to each other. This didn't surprise him, as he walked in and closed the door behind himself, walking past all of them. They didn't even take a single glance in his direction, they were all too busy focusing on their own needs or wants.

The Mayor considered himself lucky, for just as he sat down, he sat a man in a suit begin to walk across the large screen in the back. Everyone immediately stopped talking and focused their attention on him, rarely did any of them ever get to see or talk to him, but he was someone who could very well have control over all of their lives. Stopping before the center, the man in the suit clears his throat before beginning. "Good evening, everyone. For those of you who have returned, welcome back. We are happy you have not run off from our generous offers. For those of you who are new, I am the head of The Emperor's personal guard. I'm sure you all wish to know why we have called you here, and I will be glad to take the time to explain that now."

Everyone felt tense as they waited to hear what they were all here for. The Mayor wondered why they had called him in particular today, it was unlike them to need to bring something up to him so suddenly without sending some kind of letter. "As you may have heard, there have been unusual cases popping up all over the state. We believe these to be magical related, as you might have guessed. However, we also see that many people on Gaia have been steadily getting a new form of magic. One that hasn't been seen very often until recently. As you know, this mass outbreak of magic will naturally have us investigate into them, along with The Order of Gray coming in to see what the trouble is about. Have no fear, we will make certain they do not do any unnecessary actions to any of you."

The Emperor's head guard pushed his glasses into place before continuing. "Whether these magical incidents are related to Dark Wizards or otherwise is currently a mystery. We do know of one place that may help us put the puzzle together. But that is not my place to speak of. I believe I have explained enough for you to get what my Emperor is about to say today. He is ready now." Pulling out a button, he pressed it and a golden symbol of The Sukodo Empire flashes across the large screen before cutting to a shadowy figure sitting down. "You are live, my Emperor." The head guard bowed from the waist before stepping out of the way for all of them to see The Emperor's figure more clearly.

"Thank you." A robotized voice spoke out, they all knew this was to help protect The Emperor's identity. "I have brought this up to all of you because of a certain project I found myself forced to approve. I could not speak my opinion on the matter as it had already been done. However, what's done is done, and now we have a very interesting scenario. The place this all occurred in, as you may or may not have heard on the news today, is Timberland." This got everyone talking again, with The Mayor swallowing nervously as he waited to hear more. "My wishes are not to have anymore people recklessly throw away their lives or receive permanent damage. I simply wish to --"

"SO THAT'S WHAT THAT NEWS WAS ABOUT, HUH?!" One large man among them stood up and put a dent in his chair with ease. "You are sick! So what, you like taking people now and putting them through horrible experiences so they can die and become some kind of fallen hero?!" The large man's body began to let out loud noises as though his body was shifting. "Well sorry to say, but I don't approve! This isn't some game for you to toy with our lives, you know! We don't need you stepping into our personal lives now too!"

"That is not my intentions." The Emperor's robot voice spoke up. "I have already said I do not wish for more people to throw away their lives recklessly. What was done was done by the time it reached my ears. Please, sit down and --" But The Emperor was interrupted by a vicious roar, everyone becoming frightened as the large man who stood up suddenly shifted and changed, fur expanding over his body as his upper body grew larger than it already was, and his head turned into that of a wolf's. With a loud roar, everyone became frozen to the spot as they saw him going berserk!

"Enough of this!" The werewolf's now twisted voice spoke out as he points at the screen. "I know enough! I won't stand for your arrogant tone any longer! Human or otherwise, we are not to be bossed around by you! I don't care how much control you have over the world, I don't care how many people in power you have across the globe, I can still rip you to shreds in this form!" That's when everyone heard a loud stomp, their attentions now directing to the head guard.

"Please, sit down and we will forgive this." The head guard pushed his glasses again, though there seemed to be a threatening gesture behind it now. "I will not tolerate any childish outbursts from here on out. I understand how you feel, but this is not the time to overreact. We must band together and each look out for not just the future of Gaia, but for the future of those from The Other Side as well."

"Screw you!" The werewolf let out another roar before leaping over towards the head guard, mouth open, arms spread forward, body ready to attack! "I'm taking charge now!" The head guard could only sigh as he shifts into a stance in a second and slams his fist right into the werewolf's chest, the werewolf's body stopping immediately as a low growl was heaved out. Slamming his elbow into the side of the werewolf's head, the head guard sent the werewolf crashing down into the ground regardless of his transformation. Stomping his foot down on the werewolf's neck, he pulls out a pistol and quickly fires a bullet right into the werewolf's head. All movement ceased from the werewolf now as the head guard put the pistol away.

"Oops, I forgot to pack in silver. I guess you still operate the same if a bullet to the brain can kill your kind." Removing his foot, the head guard snapped his fingers and two of The Empire's soldiers rushed in and saluted him. "Take the body away, please." The two soldiers quickly got to work, lifting up the body of the werewolf before quickly rushing out of sight with it. An annoyed sigh came out of the head guard's mouth before he turned to the rest. "My apologies. But I will not tolerate any threats to my Emperor. I would like to ask that all of you listen to my Emperor's words before jumping to conclusions, if you would kindly." A chair is set up behind the head guard as he sits down and crosses his arms and legs, looking rather annoyed now.

"As I was saying, my intentions are not to throw people's lives away recklessly, but unite them under one cause. We brought you all here today to tell you that a magical outbreak has just been confirmed in Timberland. The decision to make Little Ricky a hero was, again, not my choice. By the time it reached my ears, the actions had already been decided. However, I do wish to use this new image of Little Ricky to find a suitable candidate for us to employ. One who will grow in fame and power and inspire others to follow in his or her lead."

"Excuse me, Emperor." Everyone froze as they saw the Mayor of Timberland rise up to his feet as he spoke. "My apologies for interrupting, but I do wish to know who it was that turned Little Ricky, a known criminal even to the public, into some kind of tragic hero. And why is it necessary to have someone inspired by him to come out? Surely the police can handle any threat that comes to the city, magical or otherwise, right?"

"This is why I chose you to come here, Mayor of Timberland." The robotic voice spoke out. "I do not know who it was that wanted Little Ricky to be turned into a fallen idol, but rest assured, it may not last for long. Once the people have seen the true icon rise from his ashes, they will start to see the lies fabricated for Little Ricky and the honesty this new idol brings with him or her. As for why it is necessary, I did not say I doubted the police's capabilities to handle situations. However, regardless of that, they cannot interact with magical affairs. This idol, and those to follow, will be able to use magic to snuff out those we believe will be troublesome in the future."

"I understand the need to bring magic in to fight magic, however, I do hope you are not planning to just throw this on us and just accept it." The Mayor of Timberland spoke up. "I understand more people like Little Ricky will emerge, and they will no doubt only want things like murder or destruction. However, how are we to guarantee this idol of yours, who you no doubt have already figured will rise from Timberland, will not follow the same path of chaos and destruction?"

"You are mistaken. I actually brought you here to ask for your approval for this plan to be executed, Mayor of Timberland." Everyone's attention turned to the mayor all at once. "You must understand this. This person will most likely remain a vigilante. Like a vigilante, the police will see this individual as an threat. However, over time, I believe this vigilante will be requested to help out the police. In time, as is what modern society does, they will see the vigilante as a hero. When they do, they will no doubt start marketing to spread and show their affection for this individual. They will sell toys, produce clothing with his imagery on it, create television shows, comics and more revolving stories around them. In other words, this person will become a true modern icon for the people." The Emperor's claps his hands once. "So, Mayor of Timberland. What is your answer?"

The Mayor was hesitant upon hearing this, however, the idea of people having a modern superhero to look upon wasn't such a bad idea. If it could be done in fiction, why couldn't they apply it to real life? If bad people with magic like Little Ricky would emerge anyway, why not prepare those with magic who are more than willing to deal with them? In the end, he could only see more positive's than negative's. "Very well." The Mayor of Timberland spoke. "I assume you already have a list of people who are infected or something? Regardless, my only wish is that your head guard will handle overseeing matters himself. If I were to go out and search for these people myself, it would draw suspicion upon me. But you better keep me up to date, understood?"

"Very well. We accept these terms." The Emperor spoke out. "As you have wished, you will be kept up to date on anything that occurs. Who knows, one day you may be shaking the hand of a modern superhero." This caused the Mayor of Timberland to take a step back, he had not expected such kindness to sweep over him. But he did use to look up to superheroes when he was a kid, to actually be shaking the hand of one who existed was too much for him to comprehend right now. "You will be given a list of people we have already found to be infected. My head guard will seek each of them out, the one he finds most suitable to the task will be trained under him. Do not worry, Mayor of Timberland. We will not only make your town famous for being the origin of a superhero, but also protect it from those who would do it harm."

Well...what to do now? Frederick had just convinced Gilgamesh to work with him. It was morning, his car was still missing, and it seemed that danger was gone for now. Of course remembering the words of...Of...Ok this was getting old! He needed his inner angel spirit demons name!

"Hey, miss Shepard. Mind if you tell me your name?" Fredrick asked as he turned to face the woman. She chuckled lightly as her bandaged hand however over the bandaged part of her face. "Me? It took you this long to ask me of my name? My such a cruel man to never ask a lady her name. But, I guess better late then never. Especially when you keep calling me a 'demon angel spirit' which I find rather funny. I went by a few names over time but I like 'Celui Qui a Brisé' or just Brisé for short. A pleasure to meet you." She spoke.

Fancy name Frederick thought, he wondered what launguage that was...Was it a Russian name? Or...maybe it was a fancy British name. In any case that woman was called Brisé. This made things much easier. Of course Gilgamesh chuckled at her name but did not speak his mind.

In any case, Frederick began to think: if these two were magical he wondered. Could he cook food for them. Sure using a regular stove would not work since physical food would not work but...what if he made a magical stove and made magical tools and ingredients? It would be an interesting thing to do and he would work with his powers besides making another character! It would be safe to work out his power. And having a big crowd early on could lead to problems.

Besides, if he can get Gilgamesh to eat his magical food then he would be the ultimate cook! Cooking for a king was still an honor! Of course Brisé's face was covered so...he wondered if they even bothered to eat. He knew Gilgamesh can eat from the anime he watched. So...did Brisé need to eat? Or did she just need him alive just to live?

This was still on week one, a few days in. He knew very little. Eh...It was time to get drawing then cooking. Walking into his house with Brisé and Gilgamesh in tow. He began to get to work to get a meal fit for a king ready. Who knows! Nothing bad could happen and he could be freinds with a king! Things were great!

"Do you remember this book, Yohan?" Shiro asked as he opened up the book Yohan had brought him. "This is a very important story to you. One of two, actually." Shiro smiled. "This is the story of The Blue Haired Warrior's fight against The Wizard. I know your parents used to read this to you all the time along with that other story." Shiro couldn't help but chuckle. "I suppose everyone knows it, but you might have hazy memory right now." Shiro sat down and let out a satisfied sigh. "Well then, allow me to tell you the story in my own way, shall I?" Seeing Yohan nod, he smiled. "Alright then. Let's see, where to start?"

"During a time when magic was at it's peak, wizards across the world were revered for their talents. Magic had never been more useful or stronger to the world. Magic had become more commonplace over the ages, and as the magic got stronger, so too did the power wizards held over the world. It was decreed by the Royal Families of The Other Side that wizards of Gaia would be the balance between magic and normality. People could only imagine how much stronger magic could become from that point on, what humanity could achieve with it's ever growing power. Some, however, grew too greedy with this idea."

"They were known as the Dark Wizards. They opposed the ideals of being the balance, and wanted to simply use magic within normality. The Royal Families did not agree with this mindset, and declared that anyone calling themselves a Dark Wizard or acting like one would be executed. Reduced to nothing more than criminals, the Dark Wizards all united under one cause in order to create something even the Royal Families could not deal with. They made a deal with an Ancient, obtaining some of it's blood to bring forth a new creature. One neither God nor Man! A terrifying being was born on that day, and history would forever know him as: The Wizard!"

Another dream, another piece of the puzzle. Two figures walked through the shadows of a great hallway. One of them was a beautiful man, who's body seemed like something out of a legend and couldn't seem possible for a normal human to obtain. The other was a young male, a prince who had recently just lost his kingdom to a new force of magic that neither of them had ever seen before. As both of them came upon a set of double doors, the man pushed both of them open to reveal a grand room with figures sitting high above them, chattering among-st themselves.

As the two walked forward, the room was made of the finest jewelry the prince had ever seen before in his life. This was not something normal royalty would just have chanced upon, nay, it appeared that these beings were considered much more important than just simply royalty to the people on this side of things. When the two had walked forward enough, they could see the figures each had different colored hair among them. Each one wore a different style of robe upon them, with all the robes having gorgeous designs upon each of them. When the man cleared his throat loudly, all of the figures stopped chattering and looked over towards them with eye piercing glares. One in particular stepped forth among them, his hair of a dark purple while his robes were that of a light purple with beautiful phoenix designs on them.

"Betelgeuse Grimms! Also known as Sir Grimms!" The purple haired man spoke with an obvious arrogance behind it. "What has thou done?! Ye dare bring a mortal to this most sacred place? Has thou lost thy mind by bringing a man unworth the beauty beheld here?!" The purple haired man stared at the human prince with only venom behind his gaze. The prince could tell this man, or whatever he is, was clearly not friendly to outsiders. But the prince decided to step forth, despite whatever they may bring down upon him or his friend, he was not afraid. The lack of fear in his eyes made the purple haired man flinch back with surprise.

"Sir Grimms is not at fault here. I was the one who called out to a wizard, who brought me to see Sir Grimms here." The prince pointed up towards the different colored haired men. "I have come to call out to thee, Dragonborns of this place!" The mention of the word Dragonborn left them speechless, they could only look towards Sir Grimms before looking back at the prince. "I know thou are here! Show thyself, Dracul of the Dragonborn!" The Dragonborn began to panic now, but the purple haired Dragonborn let out a mighty laugh in response! The prince's eyes turned into a sharp glare as he looked over to the arrogant Dragonborn.

"Thou wisheth to see Dracul?! Hold thy tongue, mortal!" The purple haired dragonborn couldn't help but continue to laugh at this. "Ye are not worth besetting thy eyes upon the glory that is Dracul! Mayhaps Sir Grimms has filled thy head with nonsense now! Dracul is our glorious God, who was punished and scattered into pieces that were given to his children. Dracul is resurrected through one of the royal families when one of the pieces has chosen them upon birth!" The purple haired Dragonborn points arrogantly at the two. "Begone! Such outrageous actions could get thee slain on the spot if thou are not careful!" All of the Dragonborns erupted into laughter now.

"SILENCE!" A mighty voice boomed across the room, causing the Dragonborns to move aside out of fear. Behind them began to walk a figure, who's very steps caused the room to rumble with a power that was rarely seen. As the figure stepped out into the light, his beautiful golden hair stood out the most about him, with his black and red outfit making him appear very threatening to those who would see him in battle. Though his body looked beautiful, his eyes stood out the most as they only held purple pupil's within them. The one called Dracul bowed from his waist to the two of them. "I must apologize for the rude actions of my brethren. I will hear you both out. What is it you wish to speak to me about?"

"I thank thee for thy time, generous Dracul." The prince and the man both bowed back in response. "We have come with some grave news. A wizard of unknown power has been born and has started spreading a new type of magic throughout the world. Many lands have already started to suffer great losses due to his power, including mine own kingdom. My father has not been seen since the attack on the castle, and he is assumed dead at this point. This terror can not go on any longer, before it consumes our world entirely, before it does any further damage, it must be stopped. We extend a hand of help out towards the Dragonborn!" For a moment, everything was quiet as everyone stood waiting for Dracul's response.

"Do you know why I am Dracul?" The prince was confused at Dracul's words. "I am Dracul because I was chosen at birth to have him reincarnate through me. I am a member of the Gold Dragonborn family. Before me, a member of the Pink Dragonborn family was chosen. Before that, a member of the Green Dragonborn family was chosen. After me, a member of the Silver Dragonborn family will be chosen. Finally, Dracul will reincarnate himself fully through the Purple Dragonborn family. Dracul chooses who he reincarnates through next, and I bear the title of Dracul not to help out humanity, but to help the magical plane. This wizard you speak of only threatens humanity, only Gaia, nothing more, nothing less. If humanity falls, that is the way it must be. That is my answer to you." Dracul turns his back on the two when the man spoke up.

"But thou can help." Sir Grimms words caused Dracul to stop, glaring over his shoulder at him. "Thou has the last of the blood, correct? Give it to the mortal." Sir Grmms gestured to the unmoving prince. "If he proves unworth, he will die. It is the least thou can do for him, no?" Sir Grimms stared unafraid of Dracul's gaze, it was an intense moment for the other Dragonborn to see for certain. Even the arrogant Purple haired Dragonborn seemed to stand afraid of letting Dracul's glaring gaze even come near his general direction! After breathing out of his nose, Dracul raises up one of his hands and has it glow purple, letting a cup materialize before the prince.

"Very well, Sir Grimms! It shall be your word against mine!" Dracul's voice once again boomed out across the room, sending the other Dragonborn tumbling down off their feet. "But know that if he dies, it shall be you who pays the price! He will die, but you, you will know a hell that you thought never existed! Have I made myself clear?!" Sir Grimms nods in response, as Dracul's eyes glared over to the prince now. "Take the chalice and drink every last drop of the blood! Know that should you let one drop hit the ground, you are certain to die!" The prince nods in Dracul's direction before picking up the chalice and raising it up to his mouth, drinking down the blood.

Once all of the blood had been consumed, the prince set the chalice down. A few moments pass and nothing happens, with everyone staring and waiting to see what would happen next. Then, a blue aura erupts forth around the prince, causing the Dragonborn to all flinch back, while Dracul could only stare in shock at what he saw before him. "It is impossible!" The purple haired Dragonborn cried out. "A mortal of Gaia has been chosen to become a Dragonborn?! This is madness! This is nonsense! Nothing about this makes sense! Who are you?!" The prince, now with his eyes glowing with a blue mystique to them and his hair having been transformed into a blue color, stared at the Dragonborn with a slow smile spreading across his face.

"I am Belmont!"

Shiro closed up the book and put it down next to him, standing up to his feet as he smiled at Yohan. "Come with me. I have something to show you." Shiro lead Yohan back through the stairs from before, leading him up to one of the towers to show Yohan the state of things now. "See how the land looks to be healing? This is all due to your efforts. Since you overcame the Inner Demon of Despair, your world has been slowly taking some time to heal. Although, as a result, a new Inner Demon has risen up in the former's place. This one was quite a pain to contain for me. Nonetheless, it appears that the thing I said before will not happen quite yet. However, a new danger has emerged to threaten the castle."

"A new danger?" Yohan questioned Shiro, but as he did so, he felt the castle begin to shake furiously. Yohan could see it in the distance as it's wings flapped through the sky. As it got closer, it only got bigger and he could see the horrifying details that made it so fearsome. "No way, that's a dragon!" The beast let out a thunderous roar as it flew past the castle, the gusts of winds that it created sent Yohan flying down onto his back. Shiro remained perfectly still as he watched the dragon fly about, breathing fire into the air before flying off somewhere. "That wasn't here before!"

"I am already the conflicts within you have grown since the last time you were here. I am afraid that with the Inner Demon of Despair gone, your mind has allowed other things to rise up against you. It is sad to say, but we may have to awaken him soon enough." Shiro turns to Yohan and grabs his arm, quickly pulling him up to his feet. "But that can wait. I will keep this beast at bay, but in time it may become a threat to you and the two others who are still connected. This dragon reminds me of a conflict I was in a long time ago."

"Tell me something." Yohan began to speak. "You said before that when you had arrived, the door was already open. You can't use the key as well as I can, and yet you have no problem sealing away things or fending off beasts that appear here. If you were a part of my world, you wouldn't be able to have such a unique stance within it. Who are you, really? Or for that matter, what are you?" Shiro looked over at Yohan and let out a slow sigh, looking up at the sky.

"Think of me like a guardian angel. I'm here for a reason, and I know of only one other person who has a guardian angel. Speaking of, you must be weary not to come into conflict with that man. He will have a golden aura. Should you see that gold aura, run. Do not even think about fighting him. You must run as if your life depends on it." Dark clouds began to roll in as Shiro began to walk back down the steps. "I've said enough. I can tell you the full story another time. I think I've kept you here long enough. I must show you one more thing before you leave, and hopefully, we will not have to use it anytime soon."

It was business as usual. The bell had rung out and The Order of Gray's members had been summoned forth. With the exception of Epsilon, for obvious reasons, everyone had been summoned without issue. Upon taking their seats, Lady Alpha walked in with Omega by her side as always. Lady Alpha wore only the most beautiful white robes that could be made. Though her skin was unusually pale, she did not wear any makeout or try to make herself look "pretty" to stand out. Omega pulls out her seat and when she sits down, pushes her in before sitting down in it's own seat. Omega largely remained unknown due to always being seen wearing that strange armor. The only thing that reminded them that it wasn't just a robot was the long pink hair that could be seen coming out the back of the helmet.

"Welcome." Lady Alpha spoke with a soft tone that made her sound quiet, though usually one could understand and hear her just fine. "We have a lot to discuss today, so before we begin, I would like to see if any of you has anything to say before we start. Once we start, I expect full cooperation and attention on the matters we discuss, and no distractions." Lady Alpha turned a glaring gaze over to Delta. Delta gave up a lazy peace sign with his hand before relaxing in his chair again. Lady Alpha rolled her eyes as he did this. "Ugh. You know what I mean. Get it out of your systems now before we start, okay?"

The doors suddenly slammed open. "Sorry I'm late!" A voice rung out, which most would recognize as Gamma's. "It's a funny story-" Gamma was cut off by a glare from Lady Alpha. "Don't get your panties in a bunch! You said get it out now, did you not?" Gamma had on a cloak with the hood covering her face. One could tell she was spent physically as she took her seat next to Delta. She gave him a smile and said a quiet hello. Gamma then returned her attention to the oh so glorious Lady Alpha. Gamma's disdain for the woman was known among other members, but Gamma kept it in check. The woman waited patiently for the meeting to begin.

"Mmm, yes, greetings, a pleasure as usual," a deep voice reverberates through the room. The origin of this voice was a hulking figure already seated, waiting patiently. He was wearing a golden oni mask and dressed in a rather clean gray business suit. This was Omicron, a rather peculiar man, to say the least, if this colossus could be simply called a man.

He stares forward with glowing eyes, like burning embers, difficult to ascertain who he was looking towards, if anyone in particular. He was somewhat distracted today, but did his best to cover it. "Greetings, Gamma," he says calmly upon her loud entrance.

Lady Alpha couldn't help but let out an audible sigh. Omega ended up patting her back for her, with Lady Alpha shaking her head. "Of course the suspended fool is the late one. Bravo, Gamma." Lady Alpha rolls her eyes and looks around to the rest. "Anybody else wish to step forward with something?" But no one did. "Very well. Let us begin then with the first matter. We have been watching over The Other Side and Gaia for centuries now. We all know the rising conflicts that have occurred over the ages. Starting with before The Order's foundation itself, when The Wizard and The Blue Haired Warrior clashed. Or the time Gaia's influence brought about conflict on The Other Side, causing the first Sukodo Emperor to rise and form the Sukodo Empire from said conflict."

"But the worst example yet, to me at least, was the battle a hundred years ago. The one that took place a hundred years ago. The battle that almost reached Gaia and attempted to destroy it. When the man declaring himself as Dracul came out with an army of demons and laid a path of destruction in his wake. Were it not for the two men who were chosen by The White and The Black to mold them into what we know them as today, Gaia would be in ruins. But conflict has never truly ceased since any of those times. Mu!" Lady Alpha's sudden burst of the word caused Mu to flinch in his seat. "Your Dominion's name, it's Scan Chan, right? I need you to use Scan Chan to give me a report on the incidents I requested earlier before this meeting."

"Yes, yes, of course my lady." Mu seemed shorter compared to the rest of them. Though Mu had the strangest googles that made his eyes look bigger than they actually were. Mu's hair had long since turned white, his skin wrinkled and his body sometimes shook when he worked for too long on one thing. But that didn't stop Mu from doing what he loved, and he wore a suit of tech of his own design to let it be known what had taken his heart for so many years. With blue lines that ran over his body that occasionally glowed, Mu raised up his hands and wiggled his fingers before speaking again. "Scan Chan!"

Scan Chan appeared before Mu in the form of a monitor with a keyboard set out before him. The monitor and keyboard both looked holographic and green to an extent, though both were see-through. With a big wide grin, Mu began to type away as the monitor quickly began to change with it. "Regarding the number of The White and The Black infections finding potential candidates on Gaia, I have determined that the rate has grown by 37% in just the last decade. Most recently, there appears to have been several outbreaks of The White and The Black across the USA alone! The most recent incident we could find of this was a town called Timberland."

"Thank you for that, Mu." Lady Alpha spoke as Scan Chan faded away. "It is not just Gaia either that faces conflict right now. The many factions of The Other Side have always been tense with one another. We live in an Age of Tension, this I will not deny to you. We are meant to be keepers of balance, the people who bring peace between the magical and non-magical. Yet we cannot intervene if it does no harm to the greater good. But what we potentially face right now is far worse than just a mere battle or two. The Sukodo Empire, The Legion of Demons, Epsilon's Dark Wizards, The Dragonborn, among many others! They are all getting ready to attack someone, and with each side growing in power by the day, someone will launch an attack that will start a massive war unlike any seen on The Other Side before it."

"As you said, we cannot intervene much." Gamma said nonchalantly. "What do you suggest we do? Prevent one of the sides from gaining power? If so, which one? What's your plan, oh great leader?" Gamma glared at the woman from underneath her hood. "While it's in everyone's best interests to ya know...not have a war, how can we prevent it without violating what the Order is about in the first place?"

"Well then... there certainly are a lot of anomalies happening around Timberland, aren't there?" Omicron asks in rhetoric, tapping his fingers together patiently as he puffs on a cigar. With the creaking of his chair, he reaches down and starts to pull out some papers with his index finger and thumb, and then splays it across the table. On them are rather complex printouts of maps with marks on them and reports. Along with this is a few pictures, some of the Hound of Despair from Saiph's perspective. "Here's something to add to your data, Mu. Cross-world fluctuations seem to be happening quite frequently with this place and The Other Side, perhaps too frequently, wouldn't you agree? Lets call these crescendo points. To be frank, we are long passing the point of coincidence, and if a war were to break out, with this amount of instability, well... I'll leave it to everyone's imagination on what that entails."

Mu gathered up the papers and looked them over. "Ah, yes." Scan Chan could be seen forming over Mu's googles now, taking a look over the pictures and such. "It seems that, ironically, Timberland was founded by magical creatures. Even before that, Timberland has been known for being a hotspot for magic. It seems a lot of people there have always emerged with the potential to wield magic. How strange, considering that multiple people there have been chosen by The Black. My lady, I fear we may soon see The White and The Black clashing on Gaia. If The Emperor was correct in his report to us, that vigilante group he plans to have form could lead to a group forming in response."

"I understand, Mu." Lady Alpha spoke. "It appears that we may be facing people with connections. Sometimes these connections were formed to spread out an individual's power to others, though the person would eventually regain their power while the chosen kept their powers as well. Other times it was to simply gather people under their wing, as if to grant people the power of The White or The Black before the connection would eventually break. Though I imagine any connections have been recent, and the individuals who were chosen have not received training yet. Without this training, they will by now be starting to receive side effects. These chosen individuals will start to experience shifts in personality, they may see memories that are not their own and most for certainly, they will start to recall people they may not have met before. We will need two volunteer's to go forth to Timberland to find these people and train them before they have such experiences at the wrong time."

"I will go." Beta stated to the rest. The strongest human in The Order of Gray, Beta mostly kept himself concealed within the usual white robes of The Order of Gray. "I have business to take care of there. I will bring Delta with me just in case. If I find anyone with magic causing trouble, I'll handle it myself. I know you and Delta aren't on good terms, plus if something comes up beyond my control, he can help me out with it."

"Indeed. I trust Beta with my life." Delta spoke up. Unlike the others, he wore a gray robe over himself, standing out just that little bit among the white robes most of the members commonly wore. "I will help Beta with the training of these individuals, whoever they may be. However, from what I can tell, we have someone there who is not naturally from Gaia. I will look more into the matter when I arrive, but that is just my theory for now. Although I do wish to report that Epsilon was spotted looking for one of his artifacts in Timberland. Knowing Epsilon, he used the opportunity to go out and find information ahead of anyone else in Timberland. It's possible he is setting up influence in there now, without us knowing it. Hopefully that is not the case, but if it is, we may have more people showing up in Timberland."

"Epsilon is a danger we must not overlook. He is not only skilled with his abilities, he is smart and cunning. When he left our order, he managed to win in his fight against Delta." Lady Alpha put her hands together. "Beta, Delta. I will leave it to you then. As for the matter of dealing with the rising tension..." Lady Alpha's eyes glared over to Gamma at this. "It has always been our interest to remain as neutral as possible. With that being said, the Legion of Demons have always been our natural enemy. We have always fought against them, and they have always done the same with us. Should they cause any problems directly, we will have no choice but to make them targets. The Emperor seems to be making his move to prepare for the long term, while the others are simply gathering in forces and power. Either way, if we have to make a stand in this war, I have no objections to that."

"If I may, Lady Alpha." Chi stood up, one of the newer members. Chi had taken his position with pride after the retirement of the former Chi, however, Chi had proven at times to be reckless and new to the game. "This is not the time for me to be sitting here. With the growing conflicts on both Gaia and The Other Side, I propose that I be assigned to The Mage Killer. Whoever it is, this ruthless murderer has been targeting people with magic and I will no longer stand for it. Send me after this fiend, I have already started to research on this criminal and will personally see to it they are brought to justice!"

"Very well, Chi. I can't stop you. This Mage Killer is the one who's been behind incidents that the news keep bringing up anyway. Do what you must." Chi, Delta and Beta all vanish from sight at these words. "Upsilon, continue to observe Epsilon's every action and report it back to me. Gamma, go back to being suspended already before I send Omega after you. Omicron, continue to do what you do. I feel you are doing a good job, unlike certain people. Sigma, I need you to investigate something for me. Mu, continue to use Scan Chan to find any information you can. Everyone else, do what you do best. I need some time to decide on the matter of how to proceed with these conflicts we have been seeing of late. I will call everyone back in a week's time. Dismissed!"

Upsilon appeared in a cave after the meeting had ended. What nonsense, he thought to himself. There was only one person worthy to his eyes and that person was nowhere near the same league as anyone else. That man was a prodigy, he knew this from the beginning that he would be the one to save them all. Upsilon smiled to himself, gripping his staff as best as he could. He tolerated the others only because he had no other choice. His position in The Order had to remain for just a little longer. Damn that Omicron! He was too nosy for his own good, looking into matters that didn't concern him! It made Upsilon furious with rage, he didn't like how The Order were so close to finding out his secret plans!

Upsilon moved further into the cave, his staff hitting the ground as he walked. At least it wasn't all for nothing, he now had the information he wanted to confirm. The fools knew nothing! Not a single one of them knew what was best for the world, they were all fools. Upsilon would make sure this war would happen with or without them. He suspected Lady Alpha might try to make her stance in the coming flames, but she was too smart for her own good! She must of suspected something was up and sent others to investigate further into matters! No matter, he would find a way to involve The Order soon enough. Upsilon couldn't wait until he could execute his plans, the thought of it brought joy to his old heart. "One hundred years I've been searching for you again. I may be old now, but you were at your prime even after so many years had passed by you." Upsilon talked to himself as he moved on.

"I looked upon you like a God! Your majestic hair flowing behind you, the menacing aura that has never been seen since, the way you stood against the world and sought to brought it down with your forces. I haven't forgiven anyone for letting you die the way you did. Oh, but don't worry, I will find you again. I know you are somewhere in this world again, someday I will find you and have you brought to me. All I need is the sign, the sign that you have returned! Oh, the day will come, do not worry. We will meet again, just you wait. I have kept myself alive only to see you again. Not like you can listen to me anyway, but it's always good to talk as if you were here. I still have your precious little orb, I have kept it safe for you, my one true master!" Upsilon made several growls, among other noises, before finally calming down and walking over to one of his apprentices.

"Ah, Upsilon, sir!" The apprentice was shocked to see his master return. "I had thought the meeting would last longer, but nonetheless, Epsilon wishes to speak to you." He could see Upsilon not even look in his direction, continuing to move despite his old body slowing him down these days. "Uh, sir. About that thing you wanted me to investigate into. We have not yet been able to find the exact thing you mentioned. I apologize, sir, but..." He watched as Upsilon stopped moving. "It seems impossible at this rate. We have been searching for years, and no results have come up. It may be he just isn't coming back this time."

"BE SILENT!" A scythe's blade ripped itself out of the orb on Upsilon's staff, the scythe reaching over to hold itself over the apprentice's neck. The apprentice was unable to move, frozen by fear for his own life as he saw Upsilon stare at him with that cold gaze in his eyes. "He is somewhere, I know he is! I will find him, and I will have him! He promised, he promised me he would return! He would not lie to ME!" Upsilon pulled the scythe's blade away carefully, the blade sinking into the orb as Upsilon turned his back to the apprentice. "Search harder. It doesn't matter who they are. A baby, a child, an adult or an elderly. He MUST be somewhere! Find the mark, the mark is the key, the key." Upsilon began to move again, with the apprentice collapsing to his knees as he gripped his chest tightly. "The mark is the key. The mark is the key. The mark is the key." Upsilon kept repeating to himself in whispers. It was the only thing he looked forward to these days.

"Here you go great King of Heroes! I present to you your meal! Along with the finest of vintage wine! Just for you." Frederick announced as he brought out a trio of dishes. An appetizer, the main course and of course desert! For his appetizer was pan seared fowl, with a sweet glaze along with a dash of salad and berries.

For his main course was a marbled steak! Seasoned to perfection and cut from the finest of cows!...granted he just drew it into existence so there was that. Was it just the best drawn cut then?...nevermind! He was still busy explaining his meal! Along with the steak was a pile of well seasoned mashed potatoes. All which would go great with his vintage grape wine.

Finnaly! For desert he had a cheesecake! Topped with strawberries! A feast fit for any king. Did he mention that the table he served it on was made of solid gold? Nope, now he did though! A well decorated golden table that he himself drew along with a comfy throne chair. With soft velvet cushions it was a suitable throne for him!

Wait...wasn't he supposed to be the guy in charge? No wait, he needed be be on this kings good side. If he can get him on his side and fight better then he won't have to fear any powerful enemies! It's like feeding a character from a game to which they gain experience points!

As Frederick was busy cheering to himself as he walked back into the kitchen. Brisé joined Gilgamesh at his table. "I trust you can see me as well oh mighty king of lambs." She chuckled as she pulled up one of the chairs Frederick had made and sat down on it.

Gilgamesh simply ate the spread of food, for a Demi-God who has indulged in many luxuries and treasures he was not impressed by the food. However the man knew how to cook well, it was tolerable for his toungue. "Of course I can see you. You should already know this by now unless you needed more time to relize that." He replied with a scoff.

Brisé simply chuckled, not offended by this mans demeanour. "Just making sure, have to make sure you can spot me if you are to protect our little lamb now. For a magical construct you most certainly are learning quickly. Although, for a 'legend' with great intelegence that was to be expected. However, I must ask. With your meager powers how do you intend to work like this? You had a bit of trouble with the Black known as Ricky did you not?" She eyed him as she asked him.

Gilgamesh chuckled at her question, almost as if the question she had asked was stupid. "Even you should know that. That man himself is the key to our power, he had the power to summon me yet my own power is highly limited. Lets say the mongrel gets used to his power, hones his so called skills and gets better. His flow of energy would get stronger hence it will improve my abilities to fight. Of course, the more constructs like me he makes, the more energy that has to be divided and the much weaker we become in a sense. So, as long as that mongrel continues to serve me, I will Unfortanantly be his 'second in command'. It does not mean I am working with you two, put simply I am here for when he makes the Grail. Until that moment comes I will be like your most powerful weapon. Does that solve your answer? Sha---" He was about to finish when the ring of a bell stopped him.

"Please advise from using those words. But I see...If that is what you think then go for it. My mission here is to ensure those with the powers of the Black have been eliminated. Once you gather your Grail you are free to leave us, it matters not. In the end our mission will be complete. And besides, even if you die he can always draw you back to life. Such is the life of a doll, to be broken after use then patched together to do the same thing over again." Brisé chuckled as Gilgamesh gave an amused smile.

"Clever enough I must say, but I will not be cut down by anyone else. I am still the King of Heroes, the King of Uruk! With my Gate of Babylon nothing will stand in my way. I just hope this proves to be amusing along the way and you clearly amuse me. Especially with that name of yours. Something you are trying in plain sight? It matters not to me..." Gilgamesh ended up shrugging his shoulders as he drank his wine from a chalice.

Brisé simply nodded at him. "Of course, A lady always has secrets buried. To remain buried that no one may never know. But I am but a humble Shepard for my dear lamb. I am simply guiding him and ensuring he accepts his hidden sins. But please, do enjoy your meal then. If what you say is true then you must feel just an ounce more stronger. But for now I shall enjoy a nice stroll. Do ensure the dear lamb does not somehow---" She was about to say when they both heard a scream from the kitchen.

"My sleeves on fire! Fire! Not again! I forgot to roll my sleeves up!" Frederick yelled out as they heard the sink turned on.

With a slight chuckle, Brisé simply phased through the wall. If the Black did not get him, his stupidity would surley get him first...he must have been real lucky to live this long.

Yohan's eyes slowly opened, his eyes glowing purple for three seconds before fading back to normal. He found his body to feel straining, after last night and the fight with Ricky he was surprised he managed to wake up at all. His eyes widened as he remembered about his right shoulder, pulling the sleeve down quickly! When his eyes looked over his shoulder, he saw no marks of any wound. That's when he remembered about Sakuya, and how she had just been gone. He had assumed at the time she went home, but now that he thought about it, he really wished he had tried looking for her more. "Shoot! She might of been taken by someone!"

In another part of town, Sakuya jumped out of her bed with a start. She looked around, confused. The last thing she remembered was trying to cast a barrier spell around Yohan's friends after a portal to the Other Side opened. But now she was home? It didn't make much sense. She walked towards her kitchen and found a quick note. "Noticed you were unconscious near the station. Brought you home to rest. Don't strain yourself next time." Sakuya read aloud. It seemed to be Delta's handwriting. Sakuya sighed and leaned against her table. She heard a beeping from her answering machine. "Oh no!" She remembered that she had just up and left a shift at work. Most of the messages were from her manager wondering where she went. The last message from her manager was of her termination, as all they could see on the tape was her making out with a boy and running off. Today was just not her day, was it? However, Sakuya took it fairly well. She was more concerned over what had happened the night before. Where did they all go? Did they end up being stuck on the Other Side? Brushing her hair a bit and grabbing her shoes, she left her apartment to investigate.

Yohan wanted to get up so badly, but his body failed time and again. So this is what it felt like to be strained after going all out in a fight, huh? Well, that and he had used an incredibly overbearing power that felt like every time he used it, he was running through fire itself! Luckily he seemed to be fine, for now at least. But he wanted to find out where Sakuya had gone, who knows if Ricky had any more plans they weren't aware of. It seemed suspicious to him, why would Ricky go through all that time and trouble just to send some dog first? Whatever, didn't matter, he had to find her. All he could manage to do was sit up though, he felt incredibly strained just moving around. He checked the current time. Noon?! Really?!? He had slept practically through all of the ding-dang morning!

Sakuya was on her way to the hospital. "They told me it was...this one, right?" She asked herself. She had stopped by the police station to ask more about the events of the night before. They had informed her that Yohan was recovering from something. She made her way up the hospital stairs after getting his room number from a receptionist. Soon enough, she arrived at her destination. She knocked on the door gently. "Yohan?" She asked quietly. Sakuya hoped that he was okay...

Yohan practically almost jumped out of the bed if he didn't feel like total garbage right now. Though hearing her voice made him tense up a little inside, what if this was a trick? He had to make certain, but for now there wasn't much he could do. He just had to believe in himself that this wasn't going to go horribly wrong and that this was actually her. "Yeah. Come in." He spoke out from the bed he currently sat in.

Sakuya opened the door slowly. Yohan looked...well, tired was probably an understatement. She shut the door behind her and approached his bedside. "That was...some fight last night, huh?" She tried to joke, but it probably didn't come across very well. "I...I'm sorry. How are you feeling?"

Yohan couldn't help but smile and rub the back of his neck. "Yeah, it was. I wasn't expecting it, honestly. But I'm alright. I'm just fatigued." Yohan looks over at her. "It's funny. I hate the idea of fighting, yet last night brought about a spark that ignited throughout my entire body. I couldn't stop fighting once I started. I loved it. I wanted to keep fighting. It's strange to admit, but it was oddly addicting. I know it sounds stupid, but I can't help but want to get better at it. Get an idea for it, get my body pumped up so I can enjoy fighting people of higher calibers. I just don't know how else to word it. I think I love fighting."

It was at this time that the door would open and two more people were brought in to the same room as Yohan: Sebastian and Felix. All three of them had been looked over from last night's incident and were on the path to recovery now. The doctors had told Sebastian and Felix to take it easy for today, but they would be allowed to resume their normal routines tomorrow. A woman was also allowed inside: Sebastian's mother Tracey. Once everything had been set up, the others leave and it was just the five of them now. Yohan, Sakuya, Sebastian, Tracey and Felix.

Sakuya was about to respond to Yohan's previous remarks, but she was startled by the door opening. Two men came in, looking just as beat up as Yohan. She felt a sense of dread come up out of the pit of her stomach. They were...something or other with magic. Sakuya waved to them, but stopped as she saw a familiar face, the woman with purple hair. While Sakuya knew that she was considered an outcast among the royal families of the Other Side, she bowed to her regardless. "It's an honor to see you again, Ms. Winters." Sakuya said politely. She glanced over at the other two strangers and also bowed slightly at them. "I hope everything is alright?"

Felix was mostly shocked from the events and pains and while he may have had little physical injury to show, he was taking the doctors' advice quite happily. Although a mildly puzzled expression crossed his face as soon as he entered the room, he tried to cover this up. what he was openly confused about, however, was the way this person addressed Sebastian's mother, as if they were acquainted. The choice of language was...unexpectedly formal as well. "Wait, do you four all know each other?" he spoke up, trying to point to everyone in the room all at once.

Sebastian lay quietly reading a book his sister had so graciously brought up from the apartment, though she had gone home to do the sensible thing and sleep, so for the first few brief minutes his head was buried in the book a book by the name of left hand of god by Paul Hoffman; Tracey, however, was alert and quickly turned to Sakuya upon her greeting, she would bow in response "please, there is no need to bow to me Princess Sakuya" Tracey glanced over at Felix and sighed gently "you really are clueless, I know Sakuya and her family, yes." Sebastian had lowered his book to look over the top of it "good morning" he quietly went back to his book, Wraith however was stood next to his cot, poking Sebastian's left temple, the eye patch was laying on his lap and the scarred flesh usually hidden, exposed to all. "Sebby?" Tracey turned to her son who again looked over the top of his book "aren't you at all wondering?" Sebastian folded the corner of his book set it down and sounding lightly irritated "I've learnt to avoid asking questions of this....could you cut that out?" his head sharply turning to face Wraith, who would stop and then poke the scarred tissue "I hate you so bloody much right now Wraith" Tracey couldn't help but pinch the bridge of her nose.

Yohan saw the three new arrivals and quickly got impressions from each of them. So Felix was basically a younger Frederick, Sebastian reminded him too much like a male version of Sienna and the lady was... Well, he had no one to compare her to really. Looked around at them all as they talked, he felt really like the odd duckling among them. Who woulda thunk it? "Um." Yohan started, obviously nervous as he turned to look at Sakuya. "I am totally clueless and such so uh --" His brain immediately would turn itself back on to catch up to reality. "WAIT A MINUTE! PRINCESS?!" Yohan felt himself turn into a ghost for a minute or two at this revelation. "Wait and she's also royalty?! Wait, wha, how, but, I, oh, can someone please explain to me what's going on before I end up losing myself in a new wave of overload?"

Sakuya blushed, embarrassed. She nodded at Tracey and turned her attention to Yohan. "There are multiple kingdoms on the Other Side. My mother and father happen to be in control of one of them." Sighing, Sakuya continued. "I also happen to be the crown princess...but please don't treat me like a baby!" Sakuya exclaimed. She glanced around the room once again, calming enough to explain more to Yohan. "There are certain people that have...a unique look about them. The most obvious is our hair." She pointed to her own hair. "I don't know what everyone here knows, so I should let Ms. Winters explain further."

While Felix couldn't see it, he had a pretty good guess what was bothering Sebastian. "If it helps you feel any better, mine's taken to biting now." The small weasel was, in fact, biting the young man's hand. Although now he had figured out that it couldn't do him any real physical harm, he was just putting up with it. He hadn't been expecting to be in the same room as royalty though. "Er, apologies to have not addressed you correctly!" he blurted out, making as if to bow but then hesitating and sort of inclining his head a little. "Er, your majesty? Highness? Ma'am? er..." His voice trailed off.

Tracey glanced to Sakuya "oops, i take it you were keeping that secret sorry" Tracey tied her purple shoulderblade length hair back into a pony tail and nodded "Sebastian you best listen as well" Sebastian sat back relaxing a little since Wraith left to 'rest' "yeah sure" Tracey just glanced at her son, before looking around to everyone, keeping the nagging voice about the blue haired teen in the back of her mind while she would explain. "firstly, the unnatural hair colours, come from our dragonblood heritage, for myself and my Son Sebastian here, though recessive gene took hold and his hair is a much darker shade, Dragonborn were sired from the Dragon god: Dracul" she spoke the name with some venom and disgust. "most commonly the hair colour you have show's from which bloodline you come, Blue, Gold, Pink, Purple, there are green. There is quite the array, really." she paced a little thinking what would be needed to know and what could be left by the wayside.

Yohan heard about the whole blue thing and reached up to pat his own hair. Well, that just couldn't be, there was no way she was referring to him. Those scales he had manifested before couldn't of been because he was this Dragonborn thing they were talking about. He nodded to her words as he couldn't help but blink. This really seemed like just... Casual information to throw out? He felt like there was more she could of told them, but she was giving them the basics. Really, three in the present room were at least of these Dragonborn's she spoke of. He couldn't really say anything about himself, but that Felix over there looked about as human as Frederick right now. He decided not to really bring up any questions, since, well, he had no idea what to really ask. This was all shocking to him, in reality, he should be freaking out. But he wouldn't do that in a public hospital.

Sakuya listened attentively, though it was information she had known her whole life. She could see Yohan's confusion as he touched his own hair. "Yes, that means you too, Yohan. Your family....your family is not in good graces on the Other Side, though..." She said with a tinge of sadness. "I don't understand why, but a lot of the Blue line was killed off. My mother had a personal grudge, but even she was distraught by the news." Sakuya put a reassuring hand on Yohan's shoulder before turning towards Felix. "Sir, may I ask you a strange question? You don't have to answer, of course, but do by any chance have...magic? You look fairly human to me..."

Felix was a bit taken aback when Sakuya decided to ask him, of all people, for information. “Wha - me? Er…maybe? I think so? I can’t do anything like the others, but I have one of those…things following me around. That only I can see, I mean.” He answered, sighing. “I’m sorry, this is just a lot to take in and I’m a bit lost. Yesterday someone gathered a bunch of us, including Sebastian and myself,” he gestured to the dark-haired man, “and said a load of stuff about...well, magic existing, and us all having it. I’m not even sure what to make of that. Now I’m hearing there’s these dragon…people as well? I really am clueless, I’m afraid.” He paused in thought for a while, “When we went over to that…er, ‘other side’ place, we got these weapons and at one point mine lit up and there was this gold energy that made a kind of shield around me. But I think that was just an enchantment or something, not me. Either way, I'm definitely one hundred percent human, if that helps.”

Tracey nodded taking in what Felix spoke on about. "you mentioned fighting a hellhound on the way here, how you guys survived getting close enough to strike it is beyond me" Sebastian smirked proudly though, he winced when he realized that he still ached and hurt "yeah..." Tracey crossed her arms looking over at her son "what?" she raised an eyebrow "how?" Sebastian's face changed from pride to dismay, he was being interrogated, he let out a soft sigh "I'll explain my story, once you've explained to Yohan, so he stops catching flies" that got Seb a clip across the back of his head, by his own book no less Tracey had used her dominion Telekinesis to clout her son "stop with the attitude, it belittles you" Seb just nodded rubbing the back of his head. Tracey turned back to the others. "Yes...Yohan is it? you are the last of the Blue lineage to my knowledge" she says her demeanor saddened though she set aside the sadness "though back to the lesson, all dragonborn came from the first Dracul the god of dragons, his shards after his shattering formed the different draconic royal family's, and once every so many generations he would reincarnate in a newborn of each family...the last reincarnation was my father...a sad truth really"

Yohan couldn't really believe what he was hearing right now. The heck was this information suddenly? Why hadn't his mother or father mentioned this before? Then again, they hadn't even mentioned the Gateway to him. Everyone else seemed to just magically know this stuff and yet here he was, the odd duckling who was just left out to dry. It upset him in some ways, but in others it made him curious. Curious to find out. He looked over at Sakuya and took hold of her arm lightly with one of his hands. "Thank you all, really. Sakuya, I need you to help me move home. Sorry to just drop out of the conversation suddenly, but I have something to look into now."

Sakuya nodded at him. "I understand. It's...a lot to take in, I'm sure." She looked at Tracey. "Thank you for trying to explain. I think we can handle the rest. Regards to your family." She helped Yohan out of the bed and out of the room in turn. She waved goodbye to Sebastian and Felix, giving an apologetic look to the latter. She shut the door quietly and lead Yohan out of the hospital after he had checked out. "Are you sure you want to walk the whole way? It's pretty far..."

Yohan had a determined look in his eyes as she spoke to him. "Yeah, I do. It's a long trip, but it'll be worth it. Sorry to put this on you out of the blue and all. But if all she's saying is true, there must be evidence at my house from my parents or something relating to all of this. There just has to be something we can find that helps back all of this up. There must be, there just has to be!"

Sakuya sighed. She couldn't argue with him. The girl started off in the direction of Yohan's home. "It must be difficult for you to process this." Sakuya tried to make some sort of conversation as she thought about her childhood. Something struck her. "Do you remember your father's name?" Sakuya asked suddenly. They were still walking all the while.

"Richter Belmont." Yohan said without hesitation. "Yeah, I know. It sounds like the video game character."

Sakuya almost stopped. She did some quick math. "We need to get to your house quickly. It's going to sound weird, but trust me, okay?"

Yohan blinked in obvious confusion. "Uh, okay then."

"Can you move faster? I don't want to strain you, but any speed would be appreciated." Sakuya said quickly.

"Yeah, sure, sorry." Yohan moved faster at her request.

"Good! Let's hurry!" With that, the two hurried along in their way.

Epsilon was a rather quiet man. He preferred to relax in his strange little room of star lights projecting from his machine he set up right in the center of the room. It gave the room a space feel when all was black and the stars all shined the way they did. Sitting in his hovering bed, he flipped through pages of his book quietly. Whether he had read the book multiple times or didn't really care to read through this one was hard to tell, even for those who had known him for years. Surrounded by strangers who would rather waste their time practicing how powerful they were and how much they could destroy, Epsilon remained in the shadows of his own room and merely relaxed.

He could hear the playing that was being done by Susanne Fitzgerald, his daughter. Susanne was currently messing around with blocks and other toys in her own little floating space. She had long since gotten used to the strange rooms her father ended up creating for himself. Though it would be odd for anyone to see a grown woman playing around like some kind of child. Susanne didn't seem to take note of the world around her though, but to those besides her family that got close to her, she would give off a pretty sickening aura that kept the Dark Wizards their distance from her. One wrong move and she wouldn't hesitate to pop each of their heads.

The door creaked open and Upsilon walked in as slow as ever. Epsilon rolled his eyes and closed the book, putting it down on a floating table next to him, not like it really mattered though. Rolling off the bed, Epsilon adjusted himself to now floating in the air as he looked down at the old man. "Well this is a surprise, I had thought the meeting would of gone on longer than that. Though you've probably already heard that from one of your little apprentices." Epsilon's form was kept in the dark, no one but his kids were allowed to see the true form he put on for himself. Floating down slowly, Upsilon could only watch as Epsilon gave off an intimidating aura about him. Upsilon narrowed his eyes as Epsilon's feet touched the ground. He had to keep his guard up as usual.

"Yes, glad to know you are still observing everyone as always." Upsilon commented. "Paranoid as ever. You just can't let any of us have a break, huh? Well I'm here to tell you the bloody details. Looks like you were right. Magic in Gaia has been on the rise lately. In particular, The White and The Black. Looks like The Emperor's got some stupid vigilante plan for Gaia, but who cares? He used some dumb dude named Ricky to get this whole thing on a head start. The Legion of Demons are ready to attack at any moment, just give me the word and I'll have one of their best lead a charge. It doesn't matter if we start this whole war against the Legion of Demons, they'll never be able to take down the Demon Generals or the Demon Lords. The Order of Gray are all out and about doing things, Lady Alpha requires more information in order to make a stance."

"As to be expected of everyone." Epsilon walked over to one of his tables and opens up a rather large book. "Everyone just needs a little push. The Dark Wizards can assist the Legion of Demons. The Order of Gray will no doubt try and target the Legion of Demons first, then us. The Sukodo Empire won't attack, they will defend. They are too busy mobilizing their forces and defenses. As for The White and The Black forces on Gaia, we can consider them just like the smaller nations and organizations. Everyone's choosing sides. Most of the Dragonborn families have already allied themselves with The Empire. More Dragonborn are becoming allies with them by the day. It's only a matter of time before all of them are under The Sukdoo Empire."

"Whatever. All I care about is finding the mark." Upsilon managed to growl out, the goal he had set in mind was one that Epsilon found to be curious, but he could already guess what it was. Upsilon was too easy a person to read, honestly. He may have tried to fool everyone else, but to Epsilon, he could easily see Upsilon's true intentions clear as daylight. That's why he kept him around. It was just so easy to use such an obvious puppet like this into doing what he wanted him to do. Epsilon had long ago thrown aside the feeling of mercy for people like Upsilon or most of these dark wizards. They only followed him because he had a strong image and reputation about him, nothing more, nothing less. They felt safe behind his shadow, they felt protected by his sheer intelligence and power to overcome any threat that dared cross them. They would have no problem stabbing him in the back if the time came when they saw him as useless. That's just how life in the dark wizard's worked.

"You say that, but for all you know, this person with the mark is already dead." Epsilon continued to scroll through the large book before him. "If you really wanted to find the one person out of everyone with this mark, you should of simply come to me from the start with investigating into it. I would of done the proper research into it, unlike you and leaving apprentice's to do the job for you. What, still upset about that? Don't be. You chose poorly in allowing new people to do research into matters that are beyond them."

"What exactly is the problem with that?!" Upsilon gave a sudden outburst to Epsilon. "I can't do all the work by myself, you know that! I'd like to hear you come up with one of those lame excuses. You can't do everything either, Epsilon! Or did you forget you are still only mortal like the rest of us!"

"Yes, I do not deny that I am mortal. However, I know the truth about the situation of the world at large." Epsilon stopped and pointed at a specific page in his book. "That the world is full of lies. It is full of manipulators and people who would rather erase the truth than keep it. Why do you think no one really speaks of the Gods that the Dragonborn worship? Or of the Ancients mentioned in stories like The Wizard VS The Blue-Haired Warrior? Haven't you ever thought it strange? How The White and The Black are so inaccurately described from what we have read about accounts of them? Too many holes people have just covered up over the years that I am seeking out."

"You say that as if there's a problem, Epsilon. Then again, you did leave The Order in a rude fashion some years ago. Has that, too, been fabricated to you?" Upsilon questioned Epsilon. But Epsilon couldn't help but smile.

"Oh Upsilon. you say the that like you aren't responsible for most of this." Epsilon couldn't help but chuckle as the book began to glow. "But don't worry. You won't have to worry for long. Once I find the book with the inner demon I am looking for, that will all start to change." Upsilon could only watch as the book's words began to shift and form into a circle in the center of the book. "So that's where it's been all this time! I was hoping to use that ring to help me find it sooner. But whatever, set backs have been dealt with." Epsilon began to move around the room. "Upsilon! Call Ken in for me. As much of a goofball as that kid is, he is my direct apprentice. And don't let him near the dark wizards! I don't need them getting recklessly killed!"

Another day...another day where his janitorial skills are needed! Frederick sat up on his couch as he yawned. Now why would he be on the couch and not his cozy bed? Well, it was taken over by none other than Gilgamesh and refurbished by himself to make it a suitable bed for his liking. Or at least tolerable for him.

Brisé...he had no clue where she went. After setting himself ablaze and putting it out using his own sink he decided to call that a night before he set the house on fire. She might have just jumped right back in his head, maybe she was still out and about. He had no clue, she would probaly join him once the day fully started.

But right now he had to start the day off right! Breakfast! Because today he had some work to do to pay those bills! So he fired up his stove's and began to fry up some normal food for himself and some magical food for his supernatural ally. The two dishes would be the same. Toast with jelly, eggs with rice along with delicious spam for him and ham for Gilgamesh. Of course, he used only the finest of ingredients for Gilgamesh because even a breakfast had to be fancy for a king.

Once breakfast was ready, Brisé had appeared out of nowhere and by nowhere he meant that he was not paying attention around him thus had no clue when she appeared. Afterwards Gilgamesh came out of his room dressed in more casual wear. He was certain that the clothes he wore in the anime was a perfect choice for him, and would you guess he seemed to accept the clothing.

Breakfast proceeded in silence, without much common interest the three did not have much to talk about. However once breakfast was finished and done with Frederick spoke up. "Alright everyone! Here's what we're going to do. While our lives are not in mortal danger we are going to do this! I will be heading to Timberland High School to clean up the place as school is back in session! I will also be doing as Gilgamesh said and train more in my magic! So next time we are gonna be amazing and I don't need to be kicked away like a pebble! Any objections?" He spoke with a smile on his face.

"So, let me get this straight Mongrel. You want to go to a place where lesser Mongrels gather together to clean up their mess? And wait around? Once we arrive there I will be doing my own business. If anything happens I won't be far away. And if you waste my time I will make sure you walk back to this useless backwater town. Do I make myself clear?" The mighty King of Heroes spoke with a hint of annoyance followed by Frederick nodding in understanding.

With everything cleared up, he left his house and...He had no car...Wait! He can always draw a cooler and better one! As he was about to draw a new car his mind relized something. Anyone that had no magically talent would not see the car so...would they just see a man sitting in the air and floating across the street? How would he explain that to anyone?

Well...exercise was a heathy way to train...and he could always draw stuff on his hand and delete it afterwards and train his magic. But this would be a long walk...he hopes his car was in the right hands and not in the hands of drunken teens...

Sebastian had been released from the hospital in the early hours of the morning, only really being there for about four hours, his mother still about, keeping an eye on him, to Sebastian, the only thing hurt at the moment was his pride, he would split paths leaving his mother to see her back at the apartment, he needed to pick up his bike.

Arriving at the sunny shield shop about half an hour of walking, he’d try the door, obviously the night before they forgot to lock the door after they had gone on their trip, Sebastian out of security’s sake checked over the shop and home to ensure everything was where he remembered it, fetching his icebox and putting his leathers and plates on.

He winced as multiple sharp pains began running up his left arm from his hand, the skin hardening and scales began to form, luckily his arm didn’t grow any spikes or bony protrusions, looking rather normal really except for the clawed hand and purple scales.

“this wouldn’t happen to be your benefit of the deal, right?”

Wraith formed himself sat on the couch and applauded Sebastian’s quick conclusion. “Well done, though we both know we’re just a monster, born from a kin-slayer, who herself sired from an insane god.”

Sebastian swung the now draconoid fist towards Wraith who vanished from thin air, reappearing to uppercut Sebastian’s jaw and flip Sebastian onto the coffee table, smashing it under his weight and the added weight of the biking armour.

“So predictable, you should get that temperament looked at, it might kill you” Wraith’s laughter filled Sebastian’s mind, he rolled over onto his front and pushed himself to his feet, spitting out blood, Seb took his wallet from his jacket and dropped thirty dollars on the couch before leaving the building, Making his way home.

A few minutes passed and the two had finally made it to Yohan's home. Sakuya approached to door with Yohan in tow, the boy obviously ragged from exhaustion. "Is the door unlocked?" Sakuya asked politely.

-

The boy with deep red eyes finally made it back. Timberland hadn't changed a bit. The same buildings were in the same spots, though the type of people walking around had more variation. He got out of the cab he was being transported in, noting that he was by the main hall. Whipping out his cell phone, he scrolled to Sebastian's name and clicked send. It seemed high time for a reunion.

Yohan grabbed hold of the door and wiggled it around a little. "Huh. Look at that, it's unlocked. Who would of figured. I don't remember unlocking it though." Yohan quickly opened the door and had a quick peek inside. "Uh, well, it's awfully darker than I would of liked it to have been. Good thing those cops didn't stay long I suppose. This would of been awful to come home and find them probably eating up all my food."

Sebastian would feel the mobile vibrate and hear it ring, muffled by his helmet, he switched on the indicator and quickly pulled up the bike to the pavement, fetching his mobile from the pouch and looking at it, he unbuckled his helmet to feel something hit the vector field at the back of his head, the sound of shattering glass and then Wraith was launched into the car behind exploding into smoke "wait that works on me now?!" Sebastian just smirked hit the answer button and brought it up to his ear "morning Keo, what bewitched you to call"

Rupert walks down towards Yohan's house, a paper in held to his face with his address written on it. He had gone to the hospital earlier only to hear he had already been discharged! Oh what luck, he had assumed the worst after the whole horrible ordeal with poor Ricky. In the other hand he held a bag of various movies and games, he wasn't quite sure what clicked with Yohan exactly, so he just picked up whatever... seemed interesting.

"Why are we doing this again?" Puck asks, floating beside Rupert with crossed arms. He had not exactly been too big on this whole adventure, it was actually rather boring to him since it just involved a lot of... walking.

"Agh! The weird figment of my imagination is back!" he yells, flailing the paper in Puck's face causing him to back away... and people to give him odd looks. Clearing his throat he tries to regain his composure. "But as I've said, he was injured, possibly by... gangs, and honestly, I just want to make sure he's okay. Is it weird to care?" he responds, lifting an eyebrow.

"And all this..?" Puck asks, tilting his head as he points to the gift bag.

"I thought it was appropriate," he responds with a grin.

"Appropriate? Expensive is what it was... you act like you are his father or rich uncle, it is unhealthy," Puck responds, shrugging his arms and shaking his head. However something soon grabs his attention, his red eyes widening as he snaps his head in the direction of Yohan's house. "Well, seems it will be interesting after all," he says cryptically, smirking as he fades out.

"Okay, weird, but hey, I'm here!" he says to himself, looking towards Yohan's door.

Sakuya looked into the dark house and shuddered. "It is pretty dark, huh?" That's when they both heard a loud voice coming towards them. The girl looked over to see a man seemingly talking to himself with a gift bag. "Uh...I don't know what that's about, but maybe we should head inside...." Sakuya quickly pushed Yohan in and shut the door behind them. She searched for a light switch and flipped it, taking in the house for the first time. "Your home is lovely." Sakuya commented, wandering around. Soon enough, she turned to Yohan. "So, about the thing I wanted to tell you..." Her voice trailed off but a sudden thump from upstairs prevented her from going any further. "What the heck was that?" She said in a hushed voice. She could feel the same sense of dread coming over her except much stronger. Whoever was upstairs was definitely a threat should they be provoked. "Do you live with anyone? I recall you told me you lived alone.."

--

Takeo chuckled at Sebastian's greeting. "Just the fact that I'm in Timberland and want you to come pick me up. I want to go do some sightseeing." The boy also shivered. "Plus there are a fuck-ton of people here and I don't want to be out here longer than I have to be."

There was a short moment of tension in the air, the two figures in the doorway freezing at the sudden noise upstairs. It took a second before a rather anticlimactic sounds knocked that tension out of the air, a soft, yet strangely affirmative yip sounding out from the living room. Quickly followed by a strange blue light flickering from it, that in turn being followed by a very distinct sound of a Zap, and then the smell of burnt leather. There was a short shuffling movement before another yip flew out, accompanied by the same zap and smell.

Yohan's mind seemed to tick as all of this happened. The tension was building up slowly inside, it turned around all the gosh dang time. When the time to strike hit the dotted line, it all became clear to him that this was mayhem. Screaming out like a madman upon seeing the fire, he grabbed the fire extinguisher and sprayed away onto the couch without a second hesitation. That's when he noticed the little dog like creature and blinked. This creature was attributed to lightning? How shocking. "I think I'll leave it to play for now." Wait a diggly wiggly moment! "How did this thing even get in here?" His mind seemed to poop out as he sighed and went to grab the little dog, only to --

ZAP!

The dog was thrown in an instant, Yohan's body falling down to the floor paralyzed for a moment as the dog found itself landing perfectly on the floor. Yohan slowly managed to rise himself up as his body twitched and moved uncomfortably now. "Y-yeah, let's go..." Yohan made his way upstairs towards the master bedroom, that's where it sounded like all of this was coming from anyway. Though he still twitched and jolted every now and then as he moved. "Ow. Ow. Ow!"

Sebastian chuckled "alright, i'll be there, where are you?" once having his answer Sebastian would hang up and get his gear back on and put the phone back before walking his bike a little away from the pavement and then head for town hall, passing his apartment to fetch up his spare helmet. talking to himself Sebastian shook his head a little, keeping his eye on the road "I owe Keo my life" he sighed "i'll buy him a pint or something"

"Hold on, wait!" Kraus cries out as he ran up to the door. What would follow however only would soon turn his expression into one of horror, a thump upstairs, the smell of smoke, loud electrical sounds and a loud crash. My God, they are being attacked by a gang armed with tasers! Instincts kicking in, he pushes open the door and rushes in! "Listen up you scoundrels, if you lay a finger on any of my students, I'll personally ding dang- eh..?" Looking around he sees a scorched couch and Yohan on the ground, fried and twitching. In dramatic fashion he drops the bags and falls to his knees beside the presumably ill fated boy, tears forming in his eyes. "OH GOD NO! Stay with us, boy!"

"He's still alive, dum-dum, he's simply... stunned," Puck says from within Rupert's head, causing him pause. "As to why, well I dunno, probably the clearly electrical dog in the room."

"Huh..?" Kraus asks, looking back towards Paarl, his eyes narrowing.

The sound of a zap and subsequent smell of fire made her raise her head. This was followed by the yelling of some deranged man. "Fuck, okay...I have to hurry..." the woman said mostly to herself. However, she was so engrossed in her search that she neglected to hear the "ow" coming closer to the door. It seemed she had gathered items into piles searching for something and was turning around to search through her old things when Yohan got to the door. The door he could never open no matter how hard he tried. The woman looked up suddenly and locked eyes with the kid. An audible gasp came from the both of them. "Y-Yohan!" Was all she managed to get out before rushing over towards the door. He was obviously a mix of emotions. There was a mirror on the other side of the room that encompassed the pair: a tall boy with blue hair and a short Asian woman with extremely long black hair styled in two half buns. Her outfit was eccentric at best, more so otherworldly. Red eyes peered up at Yohan. "Yohan, you aren't supposed to be here yet." Kogo said in a stern voice. This was not the reunion she wanted.

--

Sakuya could only watch as the gym teacher bust through the door and look over Yohan. His rambling made it hard to think, but a tiny dog came out and started to yip cutely. It distracted the teacher long enough for Yohan to escape up the stairs. Sakuya decided that the best way for her to help was to continue to distract the teacher. "Mr. Kraus!" Sakuya said in a polite voice. "I don't understand why you're here exactly..."
--

"At town hall. See you in a few." With this, the friends mutually hung up and left Takeo waiting. It was only about 10 or so minutes before Sebastian was there on a motorcycle and ready to rumble. Takeo gratuitously accepted the extra helmet and the two were soon on their way. "I don't know if you remember, but I told you about my childhood home being here. Let's go check it out!" Takeo said over the roar of the bike. Takeo didn't seem to need to give directions, which struck him as odd, but he did not question his friend. Yawning, Takeo hung on tightly to Sebastian. Their destination awaits!

Paarl gave his head a few shakes, after having been rudely dog-handled. Fur practically flying in every direction, interestingly enough his fur basically levitated, the electrical charged hair standing straight out at different points and casually flowing as if he was underwater, the short discharge which had been shot into the blue man practically didn't affected him in the slightest, it was a low amount after all. The tiny dog was still more than groggy after having been awoken from his nap. Suddenly, a new challenger entered his vision. A rather abrupt change to his recently pleasant sleeping self. Giving off a sudden "Bwah!" he headbutted Kraus, a short "BzzZZT" escaping the connection.

Yohan had been looking through the gift bag and holy smokes. It was heaven. Just simply heaven, too much for him and his little heart. Movies and video games he had wanted for years, even some new ones?! That dude must be loaded if he blew most of his money on these. Whatever, he'd have to try them all out later. For now, his attention focused on the short Asian girl. Well, he said short, but she knew him by name and sounded very much like an adult woman should. It was not the best of confrontations, but well, there ya go. He held onto his bag still, making sure not a single precious movie or game slipped out. Hey, he said he was going to play them all later. He meant that. Static seemed to strike across his vision as he saw the woman. His vision flashing between two different locations. He could see a shadowy figure in the other, but who was either of them? His eyes began to feel like they were straining as his mind felt jumbled and distorted right now. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've properly met. But uh, did you place those curses around the house? Must be why I could never get into this room. So uh, you can take what you need and leave whenever, I guess?"

Sebastian was ever more nervous of Wraith pulling something psychotic now that he had his best friend on the bike as well, he couldn't really speak to Takeo since he had a full helmet and he only had the one eye to keep on the road, though they would arrive amidst the chaos, kicking out the stand for the bike "huh, i didn't leave the door open last night...." he glanced to his side his head moving as he looked at Wraith, who had a great big shit eating grin on his lips "what the fuck has you smiling?" Wraith's smile shifted a little to show its malice "don't worry, just some chaos" he rolled his eyes and removed the helmet and got off the bike once Takeo was off, taking his keys pocketing them and then fetching his eye-patch from his pocket and putting it on "after you Keo, your home"

"Why am I here? To be perfectly honest, I went to the hospital to see if Yohan was alright, I had heard he was in some kind of accident I dreaded the worst, y'know, ever since the whole Ricky incid-," he began to say, only to be suddenly headbutted by the couch destroying electrical dog, sending him toppling backwards into a wall and causing his hair to stand on ends. As he lays back twitching, his eyes beaming at the lightning pup, the most unexpected thing happens as he comes to... he laughs heartily. "Hah, boy's pupparoo really has some real spunk, don't he!? Don't be alarmed little fella, I'm not here to menace you or your master!" With that he pats Parl's head, each time getting a mild shock.

"You do realize I feel this too, right? Puck says to Kraus, his tone becoming indignant.

"Say, odd breed dontcha think? What kinda dog is this?"

Elsewhere a familiar rabbit themed girl, Saiph, too had begun to head towards Yohan's house as well... except she wasn't quite in the jumpsuit and helmet, but rather in a gray dress shirt a few sizes too big for her, the sleeves dangling, and a rabbit pendant on her collar. Her long silver hair braided into a ponytail, and her face, while no longer covered by a helmet, was mostly covered by bandages, except for one bright amber eye. For what was seen, she was a young woman who had a reddish tanned complexion and dark lips, her other oddities being a rather big grin, and... apparently ears being actually long and pointed for reals. Normal humans, however, wouldn't notice her at all.

She looks at the door and then glances around at all the people who are gathering together. "Oh um..." she mutters, looking in and waving. Her voice unmodified was a bit deeper and cracked a little, something she was actually a bit timid about. Her grin turned a bit sheepish. "Bad timing, heh?"

Kogo laughed heartily, her voice echoing out throughout the house. "Never properly met? Honey, I've known you since before you were born!" The woman lightly tapped his chest. "You really don't remember me?" She said more seriously as Yohan stared blankly at her. More footsteps could be heard downstairs and also the roar if a motorcycle right outside. Kogo sighed. "Well, look at what I've gone and done. My own son doesn't even know who I am. You and another one." Kogo shook her head. She then pushed out of the room, shutting the door behind her gently. "Come on, let's see what all the commotion is about downstairs."

--

Sakuya listened as Kraus explained why he had come, just nodding along politely. She was shocked as the dog headbutted her teacher and even more shocked as a terrifyingly loud laugh reverberated through the walls. She did not hear any noises that indicated fighting, but it still worried her nonetheless. "Yohan? Are you alright?" She called up the stairs, making her way about halfway up before Saiph came in. It took Sakuya a second to realize who she was, but she waved to Saiph after recognizing her. "Please, come in!"

--

Takeo chuckled at Sebastian. "My house, my rules...though it seems like there's something going on." With a sense of eerie calm, the pair walked up to the door and glanced in. "Hello? I don't know who you all are, but this house is not open to the public..." Takeo quickly maneuvered through the living room and saw Sakuya on the stairs. Her pink hair was the first thing he noticed. He knew immediately who she was, but Takeo decided it would probably be best not to confront her. "Excuse me, miss? I would like to pass you by. I believe I am needed upstairs, since I heard you call to Yohan..."

Paarl gave a few disgruntled yips as the annoying man more or less squished his exquisite fur. If it was possible for a dog to pout he was, even further annoyed by the fact that the man seemed to now be completely ignoring the passive static electricity withing him. Giving out a "Hmph!" He raised both his tail and head, abruptly leaving Kraus against the wall. Displaying a clear amount of "We're done here" attitude. Instead he happily waddled out the living room, glancing up onto the Purple haired woman standing by the stairs, the strange size, and even stranger depth to those eyes almost giving an uncomfortable feeling as he sat down beside her left foot, tilting his head as he continued to stare straight at her, giving a few adorable blinks, reducing the amount of creepiness.

Sebastian had come to a stop in the doorway, looking through towards the basement door, he jumped out his skin as he was knocked out of his focus by wraith's voice "you can't be seriously thinking about going back through to the other side" Sebastian stayed quiet, raising a hand from his crossed arms to wave to those around him "morning, quite the number of people here" his attention soon falling to the small electro dog that exited the living room "that...is the strangest breed of chihuahua i have ever seen" he thought back a moment "nor was it here..." he shut himself up there, nobody needed to know about the basement right?

Yohan was having a hard time right now, trying to get words out only for everyone to talk over it. He just couldn't believe what he was hearing from her, as she pushed him out and he ended up taking in a breath and rubbed his head. "Hold on a second. Wait a minute, wait a minute, hold on, hold on now, just, wait, a, minute... WAIT!" Yohan yelled louder than he should of and took a moment to breath. "You just said I was your son. That means your my mom. But I know for certain my mom and dad died in the car accident ten years ago! Even though I don't have any memory of the incident, I was told by everyone my father and mother died there! Ten years I have believed this, and you suddenly come in and just casually mention it?! No! I refuse to just believe it's that simple!" Yohan crossed his arms over his chest. "You want to really prove it? You want to really show you know who I am? Fine! If you really are my mother, then you will tell me something only you would know then. You better think up something good too, because otherwise, I ain't believing you."

Saiph steps in, only to hear Yohan yelling, sounding rather... angry. She remained quiet for a moment, scratching the back of her neck. The atmosphere was... confusing, to say the least. It didn't help that she was absolutely without her helmet, so she felt a bit exposed. "What... is going on here?"

Kraus shrugs his shoulders at the odd reaction the strange electrical dog gave. He then looks over and sees Takeo and snapping to his feet points with both hands in his direction. "Don't worry, I'm Rupert, I teach at the school, I was just here to see if-" he was suddenly cut off once more as he glances over at Saiph, his right eye beginning to twitch.

"Careful, she's some kind of magical being, you already flubbed it on the dog, by the way, nice going dum-dum! Try to ignore this one at least will you? There's a lot of magic here, The Black and The White included." Puck says cautiously, still rather peeved about the electrical shocks.

Rupert glances back around, trying to break eye contact from the rabbit girl. This became easier, hearing Yohan shouting at... someone, something about his mother?! What fiend would strike so low!? "H-what!? Insulting a man's mother!? That's cold!"

Kogo glared at Yohan as he yelled at her. Stubborn, just like his father it seemed. She waited for him to stop throwing his tantrum and pointed to a very specific spot under his neck. "Here. You have a birthmark in the shape of a dragon. You used to call it your monster." Kogo listened to the exchange between various voices in her home, one voice she knew well. "Takeo? What are you doing here?" She called past Yohan. She turned her attention back to her youngest. "I had to disappear with your brother, otherwise the two of you would be worse than dead. Your father died in that crash. Richter was a strong man, but he didn't have a chance once they...Never mind. There was nothing else I could do without putting you in more danger."
--

Sakuya nodded and let the boy through. She noticed another boy awkwardly standing in the doorway whom she recognized as Sebastian. She waved to him as well, not sure on what to say. She was worried about Yohan's yelling. Something about his mother...

--

Takeo passed Sakuya without a second glance. When he turned, he saw his mother, Kogo, along with a boy with blue hair. He instantly knew it was Yohan. "You've grown, Yo-man!" Takeo exclaimed. He was just glad to see his brother alive after the past decade. He dared not approach, however, because Yohan could have changed in ways unforseen and could have been dangerous. Ten years is a long time...at least for them.

Another rather weak "Bwah" Escaped Paarl, by now, he was simply annoyed and only annoyed, temptation to simply rise up and niftly electrocute the woman was rather strong, yet he simply felt too lazy to amass the energy for that. Planting his head atop his paws, attempting to put on a rather cute face to combat being ignored. Yet that was rather quickly ended yet again as his rather strong need for attention took the better off him, striking the side of Sakuya's leg repeatedly with his paws while giving out several yips, surprisingly enough there was no electricity withing the pawing, just determination!

the heated discussion kept catching Sebastian's attention, his eyes wandering towards beyond the staircase, and soon enough he heard mention of the mark. his eyes shifted to Sakuya only long enough to see her reaction to the words, though the shiver ran down his spine. "Hey Keo, I'm gonna head back, my mother is probably getting worried" he stepped out the door and returned to his bike, leaving the spare helmet by the doorway, he kitted up and soon left on the Yamaha Virago, soon enough he arrived back home and went about getting out of his biking suit. "why didn't you take the initiative and end it there?" Sebastian turned to wraith he was pointing his fingers like a gun at Sebastian "what are you on about now Wraith?" Wraith cackled a bit dropping his hand "the mark of Dracul, the last time he walked among us he waged a bloody war, you should've killed him then and there" Sebastian shook his head "nought but a coward" Sebastian gritted his teeth "i am no murderer." he was done with the discussion and began his way back to the apartment from the garage.

Yohan's eyes darted over towards the left side of his neck. He instinctively reached over to pull down his shirt and look over at the Ouroboros mark on it. Though instead of a snake it did look something resembling a dragon. "Always have I questioned this birth mark of mine. Always have I wondered how it came to be. I asked everyone I knew, they all told me they didn't have the answer for me. Here you are, a complete stranger, and yet the first thing you go for is that birth mark." Yohan couldn't help but feel strange. That's when Takeo came over into view and he called him Yo-Man? This guy also looked familiar, but he couldn't make out why. All he could do was put a hand over some of his face and let out a sigh. "I still don't recall anything about either of you. Sorry." Though Yohan did wonder what the mark meant, it probably could wait for now. "I don't got much food to eat, so don't eat it all up. I guess if you are my family though, I can't stop you from moving back in. Though it doesn't sound like either of you were watching over me this whole time, meaning someone else was paying for my food. There's still someone missing, and I bet whoever they are, they're back in this town as well." Yohan was starting to see a lot of things here. Something put him off from Sebastian, something about the look in his one good eye didn't sit well with him. He could feel it swelling up within The White that he held within himself. He is to be watched with caution.

Walking on the side of the road to work, thankfully Frederick worked close to home at the local Timberland High School! It was ten minutes away by car so it was probaly thirty minutes by foot if he walked on foot. Of course the only thing to keep him company was a Shepard named Brisé who was doing her best to get him to quote on quote make him confess his sins. His other company was a Demi-God and king of Heroes named Gilgamesh who quite frankly could care less about any of them.

They were not the best talking companions, but they were at least an interesting bunch. For entertainment on this journey, he was busy drawing small knick-knacks like small cubes, phones and even food ingredients before erasing them. It was small things but he was at least doing things to improve his skills. Of course this is what he or anyone with magic could see. For many people driving by they would see a man walking by himself and using his finger to draw invisible shapes. Just Fredericks new way of normal from now on! And he was used to it!

It took awhile of course, and many stares later. However Frederick arrived at Timberland High School! To do his duty as a janitor of the world! Clean the rubbish! The mess! And make the floors as good as new! Of course there was no sign of his car which was unfortunate but he smiled anyways as he proudly marched to the school.

Gilgamesh of course simply wandered away from the schoo, without even looking at Frederick. If a mongrel wanted to clean up after lesser mongrels so be it. He had more important business to look into, This 'Black and White' and what age he was in. These mages so far as he could see have meager power. That man probaly could not even defend himself from an angry duck.

He was going to the one place he could study in. The Schools Library and of course no one was going to stop him. For Brisé on the other hand she accompanied Frederick to keep an eye out. Ricky was a teen, and it was possible once school started there would be a few other teens who might have the power of the Black. If she could spot them from the crowd...Then she would be one step closer to her goal. Cleanse those of the power of the Black, and let those with the power of the White win. Just like old times...

Sienna Cartlow

“What's wrong with me..?” Sienna asked herself with a small sigh, sitting up in Tate’s bed and running a hand through her hair. She'd promised herself a long time ago that she was done with Tate. He was like some toxic poison draining her life away, so after she'd managed to split from him, she'd made a point of limiting their interactions. And yet here she was after a night of... … Worst of all, it was different this time. This wasn't just due to pent up feelings of aggression or frustration, using him for some quick satisfaction. This time she…

Tate had been nice. They'd talked about things, Rio… It felt like for once, he was treating her with some respect. Maybe she'd been wrong about him? Maybe the loss of Rio had been an eye opener for him too? Then he'd kissed her. Any other time he pulled crap like that she'd slap him across the face and tell him to get bent, but this time… It felt like she wasn't in control of herself, like her feelings had gotten all jumbled, then one thing lead to another and now… Now they were on again? God, she was so dumb. It was never going to work out, she should've just rejected him then, but for some reason she just couldn't. She had nothing but regret now, but in that moment, she'd just wanted to do anything to stay with him.

Burying her face in her hands, Sienna groaned. As if she needed more complications in her life. Rio's funeral was in three days. Apparently she'd been fired from Joe's. Tate has promised to look after her, covering the rent and burial costs and such thanks to that donation fund, but everything was still spiralling out of her control. She was just some jobless deadbeat now, how in the world was she going to recover from this? Somehow she felt the ability to magically create fire wasn't going to help her on many job resumes. Shit, she owed Tate so much now, but at least she could be somewhat thankful he wasn't taking advantage of it. Was that why she'd agreed to trying to make them work? Guilt? Fuck, that was so messed up. That wasn't what she intended at all.

Shuffling out of the bed and slipping on her underwear from the floor, Sienna took a moment to fix her hair up in the mirror. Sinopia wasn't around, for whatever reason. Maybe the cat decided that she was tormenting herself more than enough with her decisions? Either way, Sienna almost missed having that company to talk this over with. With Rio gone now… All she really had was Tate. Sienna grimaced to herself at the thought. “No car to get around, no money, no friends, no family… Things are just great…” Sienna mumbled to herself, moving out to head to her room and finish dressing.

Tate had suggested she stay home and get some rest; but that if she really felt the need to do something she could tidy the house to thank him. It didn't seem entirely unreasonable, loathe as she was to do such chores. Switching on the television as she began searching for the vacuum, she vaguely listened to the reports on Ricky as she got to work. It didn't make any sense to her, but that didn't really matter. That bastard was dead now, and there wasn't any reports about Than or any of the others. Hopefully for them that meant they were okay. As her annoyance grew from how boring cleaning actually was, Sienna turned off the vacuum, setting it against the wall with a huff as behind her, Sinopia slowly began to fade into existence.

“Don’t you think you’re missing something?” Sinopia questioned, tail flicking about slowly. As Sienna turned to look at the feline, she hesitated a moment. Looking out the window, her body she felt heavy, like her body was being weighted down. “I feel like I’m missing a lot of things Sin...” Trailing off a bit, Sienna stood in silence after that, while Sinopia watched her warily. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to intervene.

Sebastian didn’t hang about his family, Rebecca, his sister and Tracey were busy discussing the college mostly and how the two of them had settled in, Tracey had quickly figured out Rebecca hadn’t awakened to magic just yet, finding it odd that Sebastian had years prior. She was glad she had been suppressing Sebastian’s dominion over the years, she didn’t want to put up with a bratty magical child on top of what Seb had done.

Sebastian was laid in his bed staring into oblivion up at his roof, the enchanted longsword resting up against the bed, there was no silence to think and Wraith’s continuous taunts, jabs and insults slowly grating at Sebastian. “would you just shut up!?”

The fury of the dragon released. Seb had tapped the hilt of his blade causing it to flip and then fly into impaling Wraith, launching him through into the ensuite bathroom, apparently dead, hanging limply two foot off the floor, Seb stood up and walked towards the ensuite door, Wraith suddenly looking up and laughing maniacally, pulling itself off the sword. “the look on your face! It was perfect! That’s it! That’s what i want, come on, do more...” Wraith’s voice trailed off

Sebastian looked on, Wraith’s face, pure horror his anger displacing and soon he felt his breathing began to struggle, gasping for air around him darkness began to form engulfing the room around him. “good, fall...open the door, be consumed” a silent voice filled Sebastian’s head. but before his vision faded he felt a concussive blast and was knocked from his hallucination and launched back onto his bed bouncing off it he pulled himself up off the floor, the door swinging open his two family members rushing in.


“What the hell is going on in here, sounds like you’re trying to break through the floor” Tracey exclaimed expecting the bedroom, Tibber Rebecca’s cat rushed into the room and up onto the bed hissing at something in the room, it wasn’t wraith, Wraith was still paralysed with fear in the ensuite. It seemed to be hissing towards an old sword hilt mounted on the wall.

Pushing himself up off the floor he fetched the longsword from the wall behind Wraith, as he passed that hilt however he felt that depressing consuming presence enter his mind again. “you fear your truest pinnacle of power” the voiceless words haunting him.

Sebastian threw on his jacket and took the sword along with his keys, neglecting his bike equipment, he stormed from the apartment and rode for twenty minutes around town before heading down to the park locking his bike up and then going to find a secluded place out of immediate sight.

He stabbed the sword into the ground and then set down against it. Looking out into the water of the lake there, after a few minutes, Seb began to tear up only to be stopped when Wraith kicked him.

“WHAT THE FUCK WRAITH!?” Seb had rolled back and twisted up onto his feet glaring at the inner demon.

“YOU FUCKING KNOW WHAT, SUICIDE!? SUICIDE!? I WAS FUCKING RIGHT, YOU’RE A GODS DAMNED COWARD!?” Wraith’s fear replaced with anger again but Sebastian’s rage faltered, was Wraith crying?

Wraith swung again Seb deftly deflecting the blow. The pair traded blows for what seemed hours, until Seb missed a block and allowed Wraith to strike him.


“ha! You’re just weak”

“I’m not fighting you” Sebastian lowered his fists and walked around Wraith towards his sword and to sit back down stopping when he felt a foot plant in his back

“C’mon fight me, else you’ll end up black and blue” he swung again putting a fist into Seb’s cheek and knocking Sebastian to the ground. Sebastian just got back up ignoring wraith.

The next few moments lasted eons between the demon and Sebastian, then a crack of light formed across Wraith, followed by others forming. Wraith swung out again enraged by Sebastian though again impact was made but his hand shattering and soon enough, Wraith shattered completely.

Sebastian went and sat back down resting against the sword once more and sighing softly. “why fight myself?, you were just my self loathing, I’m better than that”


Though the issue of Yohan bearing the mark of Dracul. It weighed heavily, now even in this peace and quiet, though the threat of whatever that thing that nearly got him because of Wraith also hiding behind the peace.

Yohan had put the gift bag in his room before closing the door and letting out a sigh of relief. He walked downstairs, it was time to do some damage control, even though the couch had ended up the way it did by that little dog. Oh, there was Saiph, he couldn't help but wave to her. He looked around at everyone but sighing out. "Okay. So there's some more people here than I thought there was going to be. So let me clear up a thing or two, okay? I don't got much food. I don't have special much of anything. If you want to hang out, you can. Just saying, my place is not a mansion or anything." Yohan picked up the remote and turned on the living room television, putting the remote down on the table.

"Be my guest and watch whatever you like. Sakuya, I need you with me." Yohan began walking back up the stairs, it was time to deal with the family issue that had presented itself to him. Opening up the door to his room, he walked in and sat down on his bed, turning on his own television and letting out a short little sigh. "Alright." He started, letting his little room of comfort ease him. "So it seems like there are people I don't remember coming back into my life. That's not going to be complicated or anything. Especially when I feel I'm not exactly the best at being the host of a party or whatever this turned into now."

Sakuya jolted with shock as she was nudged repeatedly by the tiny dog. Not literal electricity of course, just with surprise. She pet the dog lightly a few times before Yohan had come down and explained his housing situation. She did not argue with him, but she did manage to scoop the little puppy up and bring him with her to Yohan's bedroom. The door was left open so the poor thing could escape if it wanted to. Sakuya put him down lightly on Yohan's bed and continued to pet him while she listened. "People you don't remember?" She questioned, looking out into the hall. She could see Kogo and instinctively knew who she was exactly, but did not react to her presence. "So, then she was the one here?" Sakuya asked quietly. She also glanced over at Takeo who was making small talk with Kogo in a language she didn't understand. The pair seemed to be catching up. They look so much alike... Sakuya thought to herself. She sighed and looked up at Yohan. "I'm sorry...this all must be a lot for you to handle..."

Kraus looked around at all who gathered, intentionally trying to ignore Saiph in accordance to Puck's instructions. There were quite a few gathered here, like a party, but the feeling was strange. There was at least some relief from the fact that Yohan seemed lively, if not a bit off. He then glances over at Kogo and Takeo talking, a part of his mind actually piecing things together slowly. A grin creeps over his face.

"Hah, had no idea he had so many friends and family, that is wonderful," he says finally, folding his arms. "Had no idea there was going to be a welcome home party! Uh, shame about the couch, though..."

Saiph herself was out of sorts, she had never been surrounded by so many people in a rather small space, in fact, most of her life she had spent in isolation, with dreams of being part of a crowd, going to parties, being normal... but now, she just feels overwhelmed. She puts on a grin as Yohan seemed to recognize her without her gear, waving back at him in response, then watches as he leaves back to his room with Sakuya after him. Her attention again falls to the gathered crowd. With a deep breath she decided to announce herself.

"H-hello... I'm Saiph, Saiph Grimms, pleasure to meet everybody," she says, waving her hand, forcing a grin on her face. She rolls her eye, holding out her hands, trying her hardest to make small talk. "Sooooooo... crazy night, huh?"

Sebastian stood from his spot in the park, the bruises and pelting he'd received from Wraith nearly gone now, he pulled the sword out of the ground and walked back towards his motorbike stuffing the sword into its sheath hung from the sword of the bike, he put the helmet on and went back to just riding, clearing his head.

soon enough he found himself back on the street to the Belmont house, he'd tap the handlebars and bring the bike up setting it back where he left it last, kicking out the stand, he didn't want to be inside the building, it just felt wrong for him to be near it, even on the same street, like he was betraying the trust of friends and family. Either-way he just sat on the bike helmet on his lap, if anyone paid attention to him, he'd chat but he was to busy figuring out what he wanted to do.

As for Tracey however, she was out searching for her son, Sebastian had been instructed to take a day off and he was doing quite the opposite in her eyes, thanks to Rebecca she had a car to drive about in her search for Sebastian. "Sebastian...why are you always so problematic" Tracey sighed heavily glancing down streets as she drove through Timberland.

Yohan looked over at Sakuya and smiled a little. "It's alright. I knew the day would come when I would have to deal with this. Years of just being alone, and then suddenly people start showing up, saying they're my real family." Yohan shook his head. "I don't remember a thing about either of them. I couldn't tell you if they were my real family or not. It's so hard to go about my life when I know I'm missing crucial parts of my childhood. I'm sorry to be a downer, just... I don't think I was ready to hear someone say they were my mom today is all." Yohan rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know what to do or how to handle this at all. I'm sorry."

The girl nodded. She couldn't imagine what Yohan was going through at the moment. She patted Paarl again and then rubbed Yohan's shoulder gently. "It'll be okay. To be honest, I don't think that woman has much of a reason to lie. She's...notorious for not having a sense of shame." Sakuya said, shuddering at the thought. "Not that I know her personally...most people from the Other Side has at least heard of her."

--

Kogo and Takeo continued to speak to one another while heading down the stairs. Kogo was mostly glad to be speaking her mother tongue with someone. It was mostly just chit chat, but it was interrupted by Kraus. "It was not supposed to be a party. I really don't appreciate strangers in my home." Kogo glared at him. She then turned her attention to Saiph. "Hello, Saiph. No need for an introduction. I respect your father and it is an honour to have you here. Please feel free to sit anywhere you like."

Kraus was stunned, to be called a stranger in his own home town!? This must be rectified immediately! "Ma'am, I'll have you know that I'm a teacher at the school here, I'm here because of a scuffle the boy had last night that landed him in the hospital, which I'd call that cause for alarm." There was no reason to beat around the bush at this point, he was going to give someone an earful one way or the other. "I've lived here all my life, and I'll tell you, things are certainly weird around here lately, spooky even. So, forgive me if I'm a bit concerned about the residents here, let alone a student. Speaking of which, hmm, you are rather lively for being dead."

"Careful, there's something strange about this one as well," Puck says to Rupert, his tone turning cautious. "To be honest, there's something strange about everyone here. Feel it? Magic all around, and I don't mean rabbits and rainbows either."

"Erm, anyways... need something done about the couch?" he says, glancing over at it and scratching the back of his neck. "Is kinda... scorched."
--

Saiph was somewhat surprised, she knew her father? Without her helmet she couldn't just scan for files to figure out why, so she simply bowed her head and took a seat in a chair in the living room, looking around the house. "Thanks," she simply said in response. Nobody seemed to be asking why she was here, that was good she guesses, it was good to be... welcomed. Though, there was a knot still in the pit of her stomach, not quite reconciling with what happened. It was the second time in her entire life she witnessed someone die, and this time she played a direct role in it. It didn't help that her head was still fuzzy from the strain, but she decided she couldn't just go back to hide away in her room, it didn't seem... right, for some reason? "You've... known my father long? Kind of a funny coincidence to meet up here," she finally says with a laugh, trying to forget how last night ended up.

Yohan tried his best to smile at her as he put a hand over hers. "Well, they must of been waiting years if they really are family. I don't know what I should do. If I keep them waiting any longer, it might seem rude. But I need someone there by my side to help me out. You don't mind, do you?" He asked. He thought he was pushing his luck a little. She didn't owe him anything, why would she bother going the extra mile for someone like him? It was only these past few days that Yohan had really gotten so much attention. That wasn't enough to put self confidence in his mind. Was he still just some nobody? It felt hard to give a definite answer to that now. Yohan felt hesitant now, no longer an adamant yes came to his mind.

Kogo had to hold back her tongue a bit, but was still highly annoyed by Kraus. "If you're a teacher, in what world do you think it would be appropriate to show up to a student's home? I'm almost positive that if it were brought up with the school board they would not be pleased." Kogo stated flatly. The man then moved on to the couch. "I'd rather you not touch my furniture, thanks." The woman crossed her arms and stared at the man with pure ice. Once her point was across, she turned her attention to Saiph once again. "I've known your father for a long time...since before he met your mother. She was a very lovely woman." Kogo tried to convey sensitivity to the young girl. "I'm assuming you are an acquaintance of Yohan's? That's...a funny coincidence indeed." Kogo chuckled. She glanced over at Takeo. The boy seemed to be distracted. Kogo placed a hand on his head and rubbed it lovingly. She jerked her head towards the door, which he gladly took as an exit cue. "I'll catch you later, Yohan!" Takeo yelled out. Kogo sighed as he left, waiting for certain someones to maybe take a hint.

--

Sakuya understood. "I can do that if you need someone. I'm not...doing anything." She awkwardly laughed, nervousness taking over. She glanced out to the hallway and back at Yohan, determined to support her friend.

With a sigh Rupert finally turns to walk out the door, he wasn't here to fight, he was satisfied enough at this point. But stops shortly before fully exiting. Placing both hands behind his neck, he sighs, hanging his head. "Look, I'm just going to be honest here, given you are his mother and all. If you or the boy are in some kind of danger, try to tell someone... authorities or something, okay? The town has changed, and not really for the better... so I'm just worried, that's all." With that he walks out, hands in his pockets, and starts heading back home. Something odd catches his attention though, casting a glance towards Sebastian who seemed to just be... sitting there on his bike. He raises a brow but just waves as he passes by. Wonder what he's up to? he thinks, slowing his walk.

--

Saiph ponders it for a moment. Since before her dad met her mother? For a moment she looks down upon the mention of her mother, then her eye widens and she snaps her head to Kogo. "Whaaaaaaaaa~," was the only sound that could escape her mouth at the moment. She clears her throat, and regains her composure. "Oh! Then you are... that Kogo! Wait, then you are," she stammers, scratching her head with a chuckle. It was quite a coincidence, indeed. She had come to check up on Yohan, and met up with a family reunion as well, and somehow it all connects to her dad in some way. Just how many people does he know? "Well, we met last night while I was checking up on something for my dad, and things got a biiiit craaaazy," she says, once again planting on a grin. "But we got kinda separated, and... honestly, I've never had a friend friend before, being half here, half there, y'know? And I just... heh, I'm not really sure how to explain it really... guess I wanted to not just be a jerk and disappear after everything? Um, pleasure to meet you by the way!"

Yohan couldn't help but smile over at her and pull her into a brief hug. "Thanks. It feels good to have someone I can depend upon." He couldn't help but laugh a bit out of honesty, rising up to his feet as he takes in a deep breath before releasing it through his nostrils. "Okay. I'm ready." He stated, heading off out of his room slowly, making sure Sakuya left before closing the door. He heard something about a 'see ya later' from the sounds of it, had Takeo left? He could only manage a brief wave before heading down the stairs. He let out a little groan as he rubbed his neck out of annoyance. "Um, hi." He stated to everyone who was still here, glancing to Sakuya nervously before looking back over to the others. "So, uh..." He looked over to Kogo. "I might need a refresher on the names and all that. If you are going to be staying here with me from now on and all."

Kogo just shook her head as Kraus left. What a strange man. Saiph, on the other hand, seemed to just have a revelation about her. She listened to the Grimms girl attentively. She was a bit awkward, but it was nothing Kogo didn't expect. "I knew something or other was going on...I was actually nearby at the time. I had my own fight going on." Kogo pulled back the collar of her dress to reveal some bandages stained with blood, but Kogo didn't seem to mind her injuries. However, before she could say more, a girl with pink hair had gained her attention. Kogo instinctively narrowed her eyes. Sakuya shrunk back a little, and sort of hid behind Yohan as he asked Kogo for names. "Names of what, exactly? I'm an old woman, you're going to have to be more specific."

Yohan looked over at Sakuya and sort of laughed a little. He couldn't help it, she was just too sweet for her own good. He knew exactly how that could feel sometimes. Looking back over at Kogo, he rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to think of how to explain it. "Well, it's like. I don't remember you or the guy who called me Yo-man. So it's like, uh, I don't know what to call either of you really? If that makes any sense."

Kogo nodded. "The one that called you Yo-man was Takeo. He is your older brother by a year and a half just about." Kogo explained matter of factly. "And I mean...I am your mother so I would assume you'd call me Mom or Mother...but if you insist most call me Kogo." She shook her head, mumbling to herself in Japanese. "Miss Grimms was just informing me of your encounter last night...She said things got a bit out of hand. You seem to be alright now...we kind of have a saying for that in my language. It's fairly old, but words of wisdom never die. The saying went...'起死回生'...coming out of a situation that seems hopeless with a burst of energy and coming back twice as strong..."

Seb hadn't noticed Kraus at first but glanced over and raised the one visible eyebrow, looking at the man with neutral expressions though Sebastian's body language expressed some shallow amount of concern as to whether the man was dangerous or not, either-way he soon went back to looking over his helmet soon enough hooking the straps over the handlebars to hold the helmet out the way, his hand had wondered towards the hilt of the sword though when he felt the wire that covered the hilt he scowled at the blade and drew it from the sheath and went to work removing the wire, if not to just see if there were any maker's mark or secret hidden beneath "should get some wrap for this...the wire isn't the most comfortable" he spoke out to himself and sighed, continuing mucking about with the hilt of the longsword.
-
Tracey wasn't having much luck in finding Seb and had pulled over looking at a small map of the town "i really shouldn't..." if she got caught using magic she would be in a lot of trouble, she rubbed her eyes and starting back onto her search.

Kraus's eyes widen as he looks back, watching Sebastian draw out a sword... in public!? With a chill down his spine, he slips behind the corner to watch from a distance. He didn't know what was up with this guy, but he got the feeling he wasn't here for LARPing. Whatever the case may be, that sword looked real enough.

"Well... this just got a bit more... interesting. Who wields swords this day and age I wonder? Hm, for some reason this reminds me of a play..." Puck says, only to get no response from Kraus, who was watching the man intensely.

--

Saiph scratches her head and chuckles nervously. She felt kind of like she just snitched on Yohan, which was not her intention. Though what was with last night? There was a fight going on nearby as well? "U-uhm... sorry, did I maybe... blab too much?" she asks, turning to Yohan and sinking down in her seat.

"Nah, it's fine." Yohan started to say, shaking his head a little as he put a hand up to his head. "I would of had to explain anyway, what with me ending up in the hospital...?" Yohan's sentence around the word hospital started to fickle. He collapses to his knees, looking to be struggled as his entire head felt like it would split open. Memories he had forgotten for years suddenly started to flood back into his mind all at once. It was like a rush, but most importantly, he finally remembered the incident. That tragic incident and how this had all started. How the White Haired Boy first came to be.

The white haired boy couldn't help but laugh at Shiro. "So he finally remembers, does he? Good. I was tired of mimicking you anyway." The white haired boy shifted in his seat, his eyes flashing red. "Shiro, you must release this form of me I was unwillingly thrown into. I've been stuck like this for years now. It is not a good form for a part of the greater force known as Malice!" Shiro rose up to his feet and walked over to the orb, not saying a word in response to the Fake Shiro. "Fine! Be that way! When the day comes you get thrown back to your so called paradise, I'll happily take this boy's body for my own! I can feel it, my power grows by the day!" Fake Shiro couldn't help but grin as his formed shifted into that of Ricky's.

"Oh, look at that. A new Inner Demon has already come about since last night. One's death has lead to another's creation. I still have a hand to play in our little game, Shiro. Don't forget that!" Fake Shiro returned back to looking like Shiro, grinning madly as he began to be sucked away into the big red door. Shiro couldn't help but sigh as he watched the memories flash within his orb. When all of Fake Shiro was sucked away, the door slammed shut behind him and he finally found himself able to sit back down comfortably while putting a hand up to rest against his head. Malice didn't seem phased by the destruction of the Inner Demon of Despair. The struggle was not yet over for either him or Yohan.

Yohan soon made his way back up to his feet, with a little help from three people unexpectedly. Letting out a sigh of relief that the pain had subsided, he couldn't help but smile over at Kogo. "Uh... Well, this is a bit awkward for a family reunion, isn't it?" He couldn't help but chuckle as he grabbed all three of them and pulled them into one big group hug. "Sorry for causing so much trouble. But I finally remember. I finally remember, mom. I'm finally here." Yohan felt tears begin to swell up in his eyes as he was forced to close them as a rush of different emotions was currently sweeping throughout his entire body.

Kogo and Sakuya alike were concerned when Yohan fell to the floor. Kogo immediately, even instinctively, reached for him, trying to make sure he didn't hurt himself. "Woah there, kiddo. Take it easy." Kogo whispered to him. The three women did help him back up, and Yohan was unexpectedly emotional. She patted his head a bit. "It's great to know I didn't totally fuck up." Kogo said, glancing around the room a few times. She gave her son a genuine hug. Sakuya smiled at the happy reunion, but felt that she was out of place.

"Yohan...are you going to be okay?" The girl asked tenderly. She stole a look at his mother before she waited for an answer.

his mystery solved. he tapped the wire and used the vectors to rewrap the hilt, as if his tampering hadn't happened, he put the sword back into its sheath and began to bind the sword into its sheath, dismounting the bike, he had noticed that Takeo had left the building, Seb had crossed his arms and waited for some response to a question that need not asking, though for the sake of the question and Sebastian's curiosity he'd ask anyway "needing a place to crash? you've got the look that you've just had all your luck shat on"

soon enough Sebastian's mobile would begin ringing and he'd check the caller answering briefly "yeah I'm fine, are you driving about? could you not waste Rebecca's fuel" he got an earful from Tracey and before he had to put up with it anymore he'd just hang up, only pissing Tracey off that bit more.

Kraus sighed as he put away the sword, ready to keep walking when Puck suddenly manifests next to him, a grin on his face as he floats there looking in Sebastian's direction. Kraus snapped a worried look at him. "Puck, what are you doing? Let's go.

"You are me aren't you? You're curious, I know you are~!" Puck responds with a tempting tone, grinning all the way. He then grabs Kraus by the collar and pulls him close. Kraus's eyes widen in shock, looking around to make sure no one sees him. "C'mon, partner, where's your love of theatrics? you can't just leave this as some hanging plotline." With a sigh, he lets go of him and closes his eyes. "Well, looks like today is a solo act, but you're gonna owe me." With that he walks out from behind the corner, taking on a more humanoid form, changing his purple robes into a hoodie, and taking on dark blue hair and begins to head towards Sebastian and Takeo, a mischievous grin on his face. Kraus himself kept, not sure what was about to happen.

"Well well, what is going on here I wonder? Up to something sinister with that sword? Funny choice for a gang weapon! he says, addressing Sebastian himself. He laughs, rubbing his chin as he begins to circle. "This... reminds me of a play, but is it Julius Ceasar, or MacBeth? I'm not sure... but maybe I'd waste time explaining, unless... you get the general theme of both?"

--
Saiph was shocked when he collapsed, holding his head like that! Had he suffered some deeper injury in the fight? The terrifying thought of a lasting effect of Payne crossed her mind, but then, helping him get back up, he suddenly says that he's remembered, and hugs them all. Her face visibly turning a bit red, her eye twitching. It wasn't usual to be hugged, not even by her father, well, not since the accident. She submitted into it though, feeling it was something he needed, even if she wasn't exactly sure why, and for some reason, there was relief in the back of her mind.

"Y-yeah, I mean, nothing... lingering from, y'know," she stammers, gesturing with a finger gun.

Sebastian turned to face the stranger who approached them. "damn stereotypes, ever heard of 'never judge a book by its cover', just 'cause i have a bike and the sword, its a recent purchace." as he spoke his accent broke abit exposing his faded English accent, sounding to be from the midlands he crossed his arms tapping his right bicep looking this hooded blue haired guy up and down, whomever it was he didn't sit well with Sebastian, 'rubbed him the wrong way' as the saying goes. "as for gangs, I wasn't even aware of any in this town" subconsciously he had sat with his English accent. "and who are you anyway?, you look like a Yobbo yourself."

Yohan soon let go of all three and shook his head, running a hand through his blue hair. "Sorry. It's just been a long time since I remembered." Yohan nodded to Saiph, indicating he wasn't suffering from any side effects from last night before looking a little sad. "I remember everything. The good and the bad. Richter Belmont. I can't believe it." Yohan sat down on his couch as he put a hand on his head. "I don't know how to say any of this. I remember being taken out of the car and being used as a hostage against my own family. I felt a rush of emotions coming through me, I remember the people around me being sent flying away as a huge blinding light engulfed the area around me. When I came to, my dad was dead. I don't think it was the attackers though that did it. They never got close to him to do it." Yohan's hands began to shake as he did his best to control his breathing. "... I think I did it. I think I was the one who took his life!"

Puck chuckles a bit, one of his suspicions had already been confirmed, this guy is not normal, he can see and hear him clear as day. "The name's Puck, well, one of them, anyways," he says, taking a small bow, before flipping his head up with fixated gaze. "And you'd think a simple little town like this wouldn't have much! You would think... but with the disappearances and reappearances, the bloody death of poor Little Ricky and all the other bizarre things going on, one has to wonder," he says, as he places a hand over his face. Then slowly he'd lower his hand. "Quite a night, wasn't it..?"

--

Saiph is speechless, it was a lot to take in all at once, but far more for Yohan, he was shaken, and yet, somehow she understood it. His memories came with baggage, uncertainty, and guilt, that much was clear. With a sigh, she holds up a finger ready to say something, "Well, I..." she mutters, then shakes her head. She then crouches down and mutters a bit to herself inaudibly, searching for something to say, looking around every which way for an answer. "You were like... really little right? And in like a bad situation... you were scared, confused. It hurts, I know, I... mean I get it, I... well, I lost my mother when I was really little too, right there in front of me, father he," she begins, stammering a bit, before cutting herself off and lowering her head. "And it... hurts, a lot, but you... even if..."

She stops once more, then raises her head staring right forward at him. "Look, I haven't known you long, so it is kinda awkward coming from a weirdo like me. H-hah, I'm really like, not even good at well, this, but... I can tell you this much: it just wasn't your fault! You're a good person, my first impression was a guy throwing himself into danger for others, who really cares for others. Maybe a little awkward at times, but heh, who isn't?"

Timberland High School: Library
Inside the schools Library, normally some would would have to unlock the doors to enter but for Gilgamesh in particular he phased right through the walls. Partially because his form was still purley magical so he could not interact with anything non-magical. Of course being here if he was looking for information he would have to open a book surely right? Not this time, he needed to skim the covers and spines of these books.

He could care less what simple books these Mongrels made, he only needed to know what year it was, and perhaps what this...'Black and White' was...He had no doubt that there would not be anything on it in a place for lesser mongrels to congregate. He was not going to hold his breath.

---

Timberland High School: Lobby

For Frederick, he decided to get a job at the school as the janitor. One reason because it was rather close, with the second reason being that...he had no car. Once he turned in an application to the receptionist he was to begin immediately. That was nice! He can earn money and do his job! Heck yeah!

Once he got situated, he decided to sit outside the school until it was time for school to begin...it was today right? He just shrugged as a familiar figure appeared beside him.

"How is my precious lamb doing?...I probably don't even need to ask, you are probably just happy to go clean more floors and mop up more grime...Lamb, there is more to life than what you are doing. You are wasting it away without doing much. You make others happy, but not yourself. Don't you wish for...something more? A loving woman perhaps? Maybe a thrill of gambling?...Something more..." Brisé spoke as she raised her skeletal hand and rubbed Frederick's cheek.

In response he jumped away in surprise, chills running up his spine. "Don't surprise me like that! Jeezums! I am quite happy with what I am doing thank you very much! I am---""Yes, the lamb who loves to clean, cook and write. My dear lamb, what awaits you at the end of this is not gratitude. You will be alone in the end, and everyone shall forget you within a few months. I am your humble shepherd...I only ask you do what's best for you..." She spoke.

Frederick waved at her. Eh, fine...I'll think about it. You are like a saleswoman, always driving the deal until I give up and say yes..." He sighed as Brisé chuckled.

She was content with his response for now.

Kogo patted Yohan's shoulder. She tried to give him a reassuring look, but her eyes were distant. Her memories of that day were a bit hazy. Was Yohan really responsible? It would explain that bright light.... "It wasn't anything you could control, Yohan. I know Richter understands that in the next life wherever he is." Kogo nodded at Saiph, understanding what she meant. "Don't beat yourself up over it. Both of us knew something would happened, we just didn't know when or how."

Sakuya stayed mostly quiet. She rubbed Yohan's back gently while the other three spoke. She did not have much to add as her family, as far as she knew, was alive. The only thing she could do was support Yohan and hopefully not say the wrong things.

Takeo didn't have to breathe a word for Sebastian to know exactly what he was feeling. Before he could even mumble half of a decent response, a voice caught his ears. Sebastian was more of a talker, so Takeo stayed back and studied the new figure. He was most definitely magical in nature, but what his purpose was Takeo had no notion. The thing seemed to piss off his best friend enough for him to forget about an American accent. The figure then went on to list the bizarre happenings of the past few days. However, Takeo just wanted to get out of there. He sighed quietly, glaring at Puck with daggers. "I don't know what you're trying to get at, but we don't want anything to do with your shenanigans. I'm sure my friend here will agree. Please take it elsewhere." Takeo then tapped Sebastian on the shoulder. "I'm good if you're ready."

Yohan could feel all three of them trying to reach out to him with what they were saying and he couldn't help but close his eyes. He could feel his mother patting his shoulder while Sakuya rubbed his back. He gave it a few to let it sink in, the memories conflicting with what they were saying. But he gave a thumbs up to Saiph and opened his eyes, smiling at her. Then he looked over to his mother and nodded. "It won't be easy. I know it won't. But I can do my best right now. I'm not going to fall back down into depression again, I'm not." Then he reached over to place his hand over Sakuya's and looked over at her, not wanting her to stop rubbing his back, but if she did, he wouldn't stop her. A slight blush came over his cheeks as he looked her directly in the eyes and smiled. He appreciated her gentle touch, his hand shifting slightly to allow hers to grip his hand in return. He certainly wasn't going to let go anytime soon if she did.

Sebastian was knocked back to reality, his answer was to hit the guy and leave but Takeo's calmer and more pleasant way, helped shave off some of the forming chip on Sebastian's shoulder, he nodded, "yeah, I'm good to go" just having his friend about calmed him down, the mellow nature rubbing off on Seb, apparently Seb needed more of it. "goodbye stranger" he turned towards his bike and took his helmet from the handlebars and went about putting it on. "oh by the way, Macbeth dies after his murderous rampages and Juilius was stabbed to death by his senators" Sebastian just had to put that out there, knowing the basics of the play and history of Ceasar.

Tracey was fed up and taking her son's advice of not wasting her daughter's fuel, she returned to the apartment to wait impatiently and worried for her Son's health "he's always been trouble...but this is something else altogether" Tracey was talking to herself as she pulled the car into the private garage and climbed out. when she returned to the apartment, she sat down in the small lounge, at her request Rebecca had removed the plaqued and mounted sword hilt, it now was in the 'storage' room, really it was supposed to be a third bedroom.

Puck simply lets out a disappointed sigh as they leave, it was looking like it was just getting interesting. With little choice left he shrugs, slips his hands into his pockets and walks back to Kraus with his head down looking sullen. "A shared theme was betrayal," he mutters looking to Kraus, his eyes lighting back up and grinning once more. "Time to suit up."

Kogo took this as her cue to leave the kiddos to their own devices. She had a specific mission in mind anyways. "I understand the years have been hard on you...unfortunately, I'll probably be a bit...busy. I have some personal business that needs dealt with. I know you can handle the fort while I'm gone." Kogo gave a final wave to the group of kids. "Oh, by the way Yohan, there's some money on the table for whatever take out you wanted...enough for all three of you actually. I also took the liberty of stocking the fridge and pantry...I wasn't sure what your tastes were like, so it's mostly just essentials. Be back soon." Kogo then headed towards the basement stairs. With the crystal necklace around her neck, she opened the Gateway and slipped through. Her adventures were not yet at their end.

The girl was surprised by Yohan's touch, but continued to run his back while Kogo made her exit. Once the woman was gone, Sakuya audibly exhaled. "She....is a very intimidating woman..." She squeezed Yohan's hand and looked around the living room. She pulled Yohan over towards the couch, grabbing a large blanket from the back of a recliner. She threw the blanket over the couch. "This will have to do for now...What do you want to do for now, Yohan? A lot happened today and yesterday..."

Takeo gave a peace sign to Puck before putting on the helmet and settling in to a familiar position. "Well, that was...something. That's enough of people for the day." Takeo couldn't wait to just relax for the rest of the day...but something seemed to be bugging Sebastian. He made a note of it to ask about later, when they weren't on a rolling deathtrap.

the Ride home on the 'death trap' was uneventful, thankfully, when they arrived at the apartment complex Sebastian took the bike round to the garage and locked it up, chaining the wheels, locking the handlebars into their resting position. he hung the helmet off the handlebars and began heading up to the apartment, of course they'd take the Elevator. The confrontation with his Mother never happened, the purple haired woman was still there of course, but Tracey had calmed down "Sebastian...please don't do that again" Sebastian just shuck his head and walked past yawning "we have a new room mate Rebecca, I'm gonna get the spare room cleared out" Tracey and Rebecca glanced to each other and then to the door.

Takeo entered in behind Sebastian. He was a bit surprised to see Rebecca and Tracey alike, but simply waved after he saw them. He was processing in his mind what that Puck guy was up to...but what had happened the night before? He knew someone had died, but did Sebastian have much to do with that? "It can wait a bit, Sebastian. Can we talk a minute?" He smiled at the two women before basically dragging Sebastian off to what looked like his bedroom. "What the hell have you been up to? I spend literally three days away from you and you've already gotten in trouble!" Of course, while Takeo was being serious, the stupid grin on his face made it seem otherwise. Takeo even crossed his arms in a funny way, much like his mother would when they would get in trouble as children. His "harumph" was emphasized as well. "You've gone off and made enemies! You could have at least made some with me!"

Well, Kogo went off just like that. Guess she was a busy woman or something. Well, Sakuya pulled him off with her, feeling a bit nervous now that she was holding his hand and all that. He chuckled nervously and looked over to the kind of destroyed couch. He could only hope his mother had some kind of power to fix that up or whatever. Hopefully Sakuya could keep that electric dog under control and from destroying anything else. Just what kind of animal did that other place produce anyway? If things like this existed, what else could there be? He smiled as he looked down at her hand and then back up at her. That's when a thought hit him. "Oh shoot, you haven't played video games much, have you?!"

He turned to look over at Saiph and points at her. "Go through that bag and find something multiplayer based. We're gonna teach this young lady what it means to play the vidya gaems!" He scratched his cheek with his free hand at that. "You know what I mean. This poor beautiful young woman is uneducated in the ways! We must show her the true glory!" He pulls out his cell phone with his free hand and sits down on the couch with Sakuya, holding her hand as he begins to call up some takeout. "Both of you tell me what you want before we start up. I want to make sure I get this just right before we begin the carnage that is the butt whooping."

The three hung out and played video games, losing track of time as they did so and just having fun. It was a time to relax and get to know one another. When it was getting late and night was starting to settle in, Saiph and Sakuya decided to head home and Yohan promised to walk with Sakuya to school while showing Saiph what a school looked up in person. When all was said and done, Yohan decided to head to bed, leaving a note on the couch that it needed to either be repaired or replaced whenever Kogo returned. With a short yawn, he headed up the stairs and looked over his shoulder at the house one more time before heading on up. This could be the last night he would have a "normal" life as it were. Everything from here would be entering into a whole new world he didn't even know existed.

"Yes sirs, I just received an update report on last night's activities in Timberland." Chi spoke to Delta and Beta as they stood on the highest building in Timberland, overlooking the town as the sun began to rise up over it. "Last night, a man in a strange attire came out and suddenly stopped a crime. He was gone before the police could get there though, he only left some kind of card with an emblem on it. I will keep an eye on this man's activities while you deal with finding who the connectors are." Once communications with Chi were down, Beta turned to look over at Delta.

"This is not looking good. It's possible that hero project is already underway Delta." Beta gave Delta a look of concern. "You should know better than anyone how that man leading the Sukodo Empire thinks by now. Can we really trust him to handle something like this? It's totally unexpected and came out of nowhere on us, the timing's off and the number of people who are being infected is rising by the day. I wouldn't blame those who are connected to start receiving the side effects starting since last night."

"The problem is that we cannot do anything about any of that for the time being." Delta gave a quick pat to Beta's shoulder. "We'll observe the High School today. If no results show up there, we'll move on to the Middle School and then start searching the shops and such. Have patience, my friend. School is about to begin soon. We should get moving if we want to observe everyone there in time."

Tuesday, September 8th, 2020. That was the current date as Yohan had woken up and gotten prepared for school with his bag. He had no real time to check to see if Kogo was back yet or not, he would have to hang out and talk with her more once he came back. He still couldn't believe a man died yesterday, he still couldn't believe that Sunday had started all of this. He had to clear his head, for now he had to remain focused. He left the house and kept it locked like always, putting away a spare key within his backpack so he wouldn't forget. He wondered how Saiph was going to meet up with them, she did tend to just appear randomly. But that wasn't a bad thing. He walked outside of Sakuya's house and sat on one of her steps outside, waiting for her to come out.