Private --[Jimmy and Lucifer]--

[St.Jimmy]

Max glanced at Hannah again, taking a deep breath to try and decide what to do. Was it safe to assume that these two Godproject were not giving false names? At last, Hannah took over again - she was always more outspoken than he was.

"I'm Hannah, and this is Max."

There was a heartbeat of silence. How long had it been since two Godproject and two EBPM had exchanged names in a manner that bordered on civil? Max took a few steps forwards, keeping the gun in his hand but pointing towards the ground.

"Shall we head to the station, then?"

***

Jacob followed suit, closing the menu out of utter confusion. He looked up just in time to see a woman in a business suit who was sitting on the next table give Messiah a dirty look. He grinned slightly.

"I think this whole fucking place is pretentious, personally," he said, putting emphasis on the expletive. The woman looked scandalized. "Let's just order whatever the fuck we can and hope it doesn't taste like shit." The woman was now getting redder and redder and he smiled, satisfied with baiting her.

[Saint Lucifer]

Hannah and Max. It was entirely possible that they were giving them false names, but that didn't really matter. At least now they had something to call these guys.

"Yeah, why the fuck not. We're just burning time standing here anyway." Judas said, but was hesitant to turn his back on them in order to lead the way to the station -- the guy had a gun and could put a bullet through his back the moment he turned. "Lead on," he added.

Serena sighed. This could possibly be the most awkward and perilous train ride in history. Two members of the EBPM riding with two members of Godproject? That would make for endless fun, no doubt.

+ + +

Messiah grinned at Jacob, noticing the woman get redder and redder the more Jacob swore.
She threw her menu down on the table and looked pointedly across the table at the woman as she spoke.

"I think," she said, slowly. "That this is a fucking good idea. Seeing as we can't understand anything on this fucking menu, we should probably just order whatever the fuck we think sounds nicest and hope for the best."

[St.Jimmy]

"I don't think so," Max said coldly. He wasn't stupid enough to turn his back on these people - she had a gun, after all, and just how stable was Scarface? He hesitated, knowing that none of them wanted to trust any of the others enough to turn their back on them.

"Oh, for God's sake," Hannah snapped at last. "Why don't we walk in a line? Is that so difficult? Look, I'll walk here, next to Judas, and Max, you can walk next to me. That way, the guns are on the each end of the line and we can all feel a bit safer."

The walk was still extremely tense, as would be expected, and at the station Hannah had to stand at the ticket booth with Max right behind her, facing the Godproject members so as not to leave her back unguarded. At long last, they were boarding the train, and they sat across the aisle from each other. Max and Hannah at least were still on hyperalert.

***

When the waiter finally came to take their order, Jacob picked an item at random. He irritated the man for a short while by seeming to be unable to decide between several of the meals on offer, even though he really didn't have a clue what any of them were. Ensuring to slip some choice expletives into his every sentence, he knew that he was pissing everybody off - and that cheered him up immensely.

At last, he had picked something - to the waiter's annoyance, it was actually the first thing he had decided on before changing his mind about ten times - and now he looked up at Messiah, waiting for her to choose.

[Saint Lucifer]

After what seemed like an extremely long and tense wait, the train arrived and they boarded. Serena and Judas sat across the aisle from Hannah and Max. As with the two members of EBPM, Judas was on hyperalert. Serena, however, seemed more than content to sit there, a faint smile on her face, still holding her gun. Other passengers noticed this, but when they gave her a shifty look, she just smiled right back at them.

Judas was twitchy. Twelve hours? Jesus Christ, the train had only just made it out of the station and already he didn't know how much more he could take.

+ + +

Messiah ra her finger down the menu, also pretending she was undecided on what to eat. Eventually, after a few false orders and changes of mind, Messiah ended up ordering the same thing that Jacob said. She made sure to use several swearwords whilst ordering, earning several glares from the waiter along the way, but she didn't care.

Annoying everyone made her feel better.

[St.Jimmy]

Max could feel the tension getting to him. He didn't like this one bit - his natural instinct was to shoot, attack or avoid any member of Godproject he encountered, and now here he was calmly sitting on a train beside two of them. He was trying hard to keep himself under control, but it was insanely difficult - especially when all of the other passengers were so uptight, as well. Everyone was staring at the gun in Serena's hand - at least his was better hidden.

***

Jacob laughed as she wound the waiter up in the same way. He was trying hard to remain professional, but it was clearly a struggle for him. At last, she had picked something - which turned out to be the same thing as him - and they settled back to wait for their meal. Jacob was having much more fun now that they were allowed to be idiots again.

[Saint Lucifer]

The train ride was agony for Judas. Even though this was his plan from the start, and the train was taking him where he wanted to be, he couldn't help but feel twitchy around two members of EBPM -- it was instinct to want to attack them on the spot. Several times during the journey, he felt like slapping Serena for being so relaxed -- he rarely saw her angry -- and for leaving her handgun in plain sight. When he wasn't feeling irritated at her, he was shooting glances across at Max and Hannah.

Serena, however, made slightly better use of her time. She spent the first part of the train ride sizing up the two EBPM members. Max looked like he would be a good shot, she decided, remembering how he had handled his gun. She couldn't make a decision right now about his knife-weilding skills. He seemed to have a reserved intelligence about him, whereas the girl, Hannah, seemed more outspoken.

The next portion of her journey was spent idly glancing at her watch. At roughly halfway through the journey, the train slid into a station, and out of the corner of her eye, Serena saw a tall, male figure with long messy hair board the train, in the carriage ahead of theirs.
So the kid kept his promise after all.

+ + +

After a lot of unnessecary waiting around, which she would have been annoyed about if she was with anyone but Jacob, Messiah finally spotted their waiter heading toward their table with two plates of something steaming in his arms.

He set their plates down on the table, and upon inspecting hers, Messiah found that it was chicken with some sort of fancy sauce, with potatoes and things on the side.

"Jesus Christ," she grumbled to Jacob, making sure she said it loud enough that the waiter would here. "Why they had to go to great lengths to come up with a fancy name no one could possibly pronounce just to say 'chicken with vegetables' I'll never understand." She grinned and winked at him as she spoke.

[St.Jimmy]

Max wished this could have been a journey with no other stops along the way. Each time the train doors slid open, he went onto an even higher level of hyperalert. About halfway through, he saw Serena look up with a higher degree of concentration, but he didn't know what could have caught her interest. Even so, it disturbed him.

"You're on your guard, right?" he murmured at Hannah.

"Of course I am, you idiot."

She had taken the window seat, so that he could guard the aisle with the gun. The train began to pick up speed again, and he felt incredibly tense. Hours passed agonizingly slowly, and he had no idea how long was left.

***

Jacob grinned at her. He was not at all aware, of course, of the danger that was coming towards them even now, on the train, and so he felt perfectly relaxed and at ease. He began to eat the meal, punctuating their conversation with swear words about everything from the 'fucking disgusting' sauce that had been put over the chicken, to the vegetables that tasted 'like crap'.

The other diners were all sending them dirty looks by now, but he wasn't at all bothered. They were out of here tomorrow, and disrupting the other guests just served the hotel right for making such ridiculous prices.

[Saint Lucifer]

Twelve hours is one fucking hell of a long time.

This is what Judas decided, sitting on edge throughout the entire train journey, becoming increasingly impatient as the seconds crawled by.

"How can you be so relaxed?" he hissed to Serena at one point.

"Mind over matter, dear Judas." she replied, in a slightly mocking tone.

He sat back in his seat, drumming his fingers on the armrests, louder and louder with each passing minute..

"We're here, dickwad."

Judas looked around, realising that the train had indeed stopped, and passengers were getting out of it. Thank fuck for that. Serena was already on her feet, and he stood too, glancing across at their EBPM companions as he stepped into the aisle.

+ + +

The dinner was superb. It didn't taste too bad -- better than she had been expecting, actually, but what made it superb was the company. I.e., Jacob. The two of them accented their conversation with a variety of swearwords, commenting on the 'shit service', and the chairs that were 'unconfortable as fuck' and the 'lack of any decent goddamn drinks'. She enjoyed the evening thoroughly, and left the restaurant hand-in-hand with Jacob, a grin on her face and a distainful look from every other person in the room following her out. She was unaware of the approaching danger.

When they got back to their hotel room, Messiah was still grinning, and she sat down on the bed with a small chuckle.
"Great night, huh?"

[St.Jimmy]

Max had never been so relieved in his life as he was when the train rattled to a stop. He stood up and slipped out of the carriage doors. It took all his self-restraint; he was expecting to feel a bullet in his back at any second. Hannah came behind him, and they waited on the platform, shivering a little in the cold air but keeping their weapons close at hand.

***

Jacob smiled at her, locking the door and hanging up his coat on the hooks by the side. "Brilliant night," he replied, running his hand through his hair and then sitting down on the bed beside her. "I wonder what the motel room's going to be like. It's a pity this room doesn't cost $10 a night."

[Saint Lucifer]

When they slipped out into the cold night air, Judas felt more relieved than he had in a long time. He also felt anticipation flare inside him -- suddenly he couldn't wait to get his hands on the two kids who had made his face look like hell.
Serena, meanwhile, cast a quick glance around the station, and instantly picked out the person she was looking for. He was leaning casually against a pillar, smiling his trademark half-smile. He spotted her at the same time she spotted him and raised his hand in greeting. His red-brown hair fell to his shoulders -- it would have been straight were it not for the tangles.

Looking across at Max and Hannah, she gestured toward him. "Seraphim, everyone." she introduced him as he approached the small group.

+ + +

Messiah watched as Jacob ran a hand through his hair, before sitting down beside her.
"Yeah. I get this feeling it's so expensive here just to mock us. I hope the motel room's not a complete dump."

That was when she kissed him, out of impulse. Messiah felt like it had been way too long since her lips had touched his. Her hands found his neck as she kissed him. And of course, she had no idea that her little slice of happiness was about to be shattered.

[St.Jimmy]

Max's eyes flared with sudden panic and he pulled the gun back out of his pocket. Hannah tensed beside him, her knife back in hand.

"If we'd have known you were bringing three people, so would we," she said, trying to remain calm. The odds were suddenly switched considersably away from their favour, and she was trying hard not to break into a fight right now. Her knuckles had gone white around the switch.

"You should have told us that there was someone else," Max said. He flicked his gaze over the boy who was approaching them; he was tall and radiated a kind of arrogant power. "Who is he?"

***

Jacob was taken by surprise as she kissed him, but he moved his hands down to her waist and pulled her closer. Her arms were around his neck and he didn't think he had ever been so happy. He lay down, pulling her with him, so that they could just lie side by side and kiss and be with one another.

He had no idea that five people had just arrived to ruin their happiness; had no idea that this was so precarious. All he knew was that she was in his arms, and he never wanted to let go.

[Saint Lucifer]

Seraphim surveyed the group. He recognised Serena, and vaguely knew the guy whose face was covered in scars. Judas, was it? The other two, the girl in the hat and the blond-haired guy, he did not recognise and guessed immediately that they were the two members of the EBPM. His hand went to his knife in his pocket, but he didn't draw it out.

"Who is he?" asked the blond boy.

"Name's Seraphim." he answered. "Though I believe I was already introduced."

"I wasn't going to tell you about him until I knew for sure he was coming. He's kind of unpredictable in that respect."

Seraphim was rolling his eyes. "Yeah yeah, anyway. We're looking for Messiah and some EBPM kid, right? I gotta say, I never thought Messiah was one for romance." He chuckled softly.

+ + +

As they kissed, lying side by side on the bed, all Messiah could think about was that she never wanted to leave him. She knew she wouldn't care if the motel room was crap, so long as Jacob was with her. If she had known there were five people here in the city who were coming to ruin their happiness, then maybe she wouldn't have been kising him right now.

But again, maybe she would.

[St.Jimmy]

Max tensed up. "He's not just some EBPM kid," he said stiffly, "he's Ja-"

"-Chelsea," Hannah cut in. "You've heard of Chelsea, right? Likes to put scars across people's face. Like him." She nodded at Judas with a slight smirk. "He's a big guy. Very tall. And he isn't scared of much. Sure you can handle him?" She smirked again, this time aiming it at Seraphim. She was toying with them now, interested to see what would happen if they were wound up.

Max had slightly more common sense, and he got the feeling that deliberately exacerbating this situation wouldn't do anyone any good.

***

Much later, when she was lying asleep in his arms, Jacob reflected on how bizarre this whole thing was - and how lucky he was to have found her. He would never have imagined that he would "fall in love" - previously, he had sneered at the hideous concept and laughed at anyone who said it had happened to them. He hadn't believed in it.

Now he knew what they meant.

Very slowly, he drifted to sleep, content with his arms tightly around her.

[Saint Lucifer]

Seraphim raised his eyebrows. Chelsea? He'd heard of him before. He was well-known, of course, for his signature move: the Chelsea smile. He nodded to the girl.

"Yeah, I've heard of him." he noted she was trying to wind him up, but it wasn't often he allowed anyone to get to him. "Well, if he's as scary as you're making him out to be, you know, I don't think I can come with you. He might be too frightening for me." He lost the mocking expression. "Nice attempt, though. Now, what do you say we cut the chit-chat an' start looking for Messiah and Chelsea?"

"By the way," Serena added, realising Seraphim had no idea who these two were, "Max, and Hannah." She pointed them out respectively.

She started walking, then, gun in hand in case either of the two decided to spring on her. Judas followed more slowly, and Seraphim walked along with his usual lazy-yet-purposeful stride.

+ + +

The girl was in Messiah's dreams again. The dream had, in fact, picked up where her last one had left off. She stood on the beach, completely wet and shivering, staring out at the stormy sea. The rain tracked down her face and it was impossible to tell if there were also tears on those cheeks. She looked numb, empty. Messiah noticed her eyes were fixed on the point in the ocean where she thought the boy had disappeared.

She remained like that for a long time, staring out at the ocean while the wind whipped her wet clothes and hair, no doubt chilling her further. And then, without warning, Messiah watched as she slowly walked back into the sea. The waves that surged around her seemed to move in slow motion, and just before she disappeared completely beneath them, she turned and looked straight at Messiah.
And her eyes were an odd shade of green -- somewhere between muddy-green and a glittering emerald.
And her eyes were Messiah's eyes.

Messiah jolted awake -- fully alert in a heartbeat. She didn't move, didn't think she could move. She was dimly aware of Jacob's arms around her as he slept; she was dimly aware that this was the boy she had fallen in love with.
But try as she might, she couldn't rench away from the grip the dream had on her. It made no sense, and yet it was perfectly clear. The girl, who was she? Was she dead? Did she drown, like the boy? Was the dream even a dream?

[St.Jimmy]

Max started walking, irritated at Hannah for deliberately trying to wind up three Godproject members. His knuckles were white around the gun, but slowly he began to realize that this was not the sort of place where one could carry a weapon round so obviously. Hating to do so, but not wanting to get arrested, he slid it back into his jacket pocket, but kept his hand clamped over it so that he could draw it at a moment's notice. Hannah followed suit with her knife.

"Where might they be?" Max muttered to her, starting to realize how hopeless the task of finding them would be. It was late, and they were probably asleep in some hotel somewhere. This city probably had hundreds.

***

Jacob wasn't disturbed as Messiah stirred in his arms. He was far away, in a dream where he walked through a warren of silent corridors, all of which were well-lit and expensively furnished, but from which he could not escape. The doors on all sides were locked, and every time he turned a corner it just went on and on and on. He frowned in the dream, tightening his hold on Messiah slightly and drawing some subconscious comfort from her closeness.

[Saint Lucifer]

Noticing Max and Hannah putting their weapons away, Serena decided that this was not the kind of place in which you wanted to be seen carrying a weapon. She slipped her gun reluctantly back into her jacket pocket, but knew she could easily pull it out again if neccesary.

Seraphim surveyed the city, wondering where the most logical starting point would be.
"Seems to me like they could be anywhere in this damn city, so whichever way we choose isn't really gonna make that much of a difference."

He picked a street at random and starting to walk down it, knowing the others would follow. Judas starting walking also, with Serena falling in step beside him.

+ + +

As Messiah lay in the dark, feeling exhausted but having no desire whatsoever to fall back asleep, she felt Jacob's arms tighten around her slightly. She could see in the dim light that he was frowning in his sleep, and she wondered what he was dreaming about.
She was trembling again, as she had done when she had awoken from her previous dream on the train two nights ago.

Suddenly she had a strong desire to have Jacob awake and talking to her, knew that just hearing him talk would make her feel better, make her nightmare recede.
She pulled herself closer to him as she whispered his name, "Jacob?"

[St.Jimmy]

Max glanced at Hannah, and she shrugged before following after the three Godprojects. The city was quiet, even though it was the early hours of the morning, when people should have been bursting out of clubs and probably having several fights all over the road. Instead, they were walking through a smart shopping district, which was already closed for the night, and had no broken windows or garish neon signs. He wondered what the hell Jacob thought he was doing here, of all places.

Before long, high-rise hotels started to come into view, all of them very clean and white. "They won't have been able to afford anything like this," he said doubtfully. "This city has to have a slum side, right?"

***

Jacob was still walking down another of those corridors when he heard his name whispered. He stirred briefly, but it took a couple of minutes before the dream lost its hold on him altogether. He opened his eyes, beating back the sleep that danced in the darkness on the edges of his vision, and found that Messiah was pressed as close as possible to him, huddled against his chest and trembling.

"What's wrong?" he asked, struggling to be alert and failing magnificently. He was usually a quick waker - when you might wake to attack at any moment, you had to be - but today he was being very slow. He wondered why, and then realized; it was because, for the first time in years, he felt safe. "Messiah? Are you okay?"

[Saint Lucifer]

Judas looked around. Max was right -- this area was far too posh and the hotels far too expensive-looking for the two of them to have possibly afforded to stay here. Serena and Seraphim both seemed to be one step ahead of him, however.

"You're right," Seraphim was saying. "I don't know much about Chelsea, but Messiah's never had or bothered to have a lot of money on her. It's very unlikely that they would be staying here."

"If there's a rougher end of town, it's most likely to be on the other side of the city." Serena added. "I suggest we head in that general direction, but we can ask around on the way."

Though by the looks of things, in this swept-up closed-down-for-the-night city, they wouldn't be meeting any people they could ask.

+ + +

Relief washed through Messiah as Jacob woke, and though he still seemed on the edge of sleep, she didn't care, because he was talking to her and oddly it was the sound of his voice that made her nightmare just that -- a bad dream, a bad memory.

She forced herself to relax slightly. "I had another nightmare." she told him. "It was real as fuck, and it frightened the hell of of me for reasons I still can't explain." She found herself wanting to tell him more. To tell him everything, even. The only thing that stopped her from doing so was the thought that he might not want to hear what she had to say.

Messiah buried her face in his chest in the darkness, breathing in the smell of him and trying to forget her dream.

[St.Jimmy]

Max nodded in agreement, following Serena and Seraphim. Judas was walking slightly apart from them; he didn't seem to be as accepted as part of their group. Hannah glanced at Max, then fell into step with him.

"So -- Judas, right?" she said. Max rolled his eyes at her and got on his other side, letting Serena and Seraphim walk ahead of them. "How'd you get so many scars? I can see the ones that Chelsea gave you, but you've got a lot more." Hannah was still talking, and Max had no idea what she was trying to do, but he was there to back her up if Judas decided he didn't like her talking to him.

***

Jacob felt the bite of panic loosen its hold slightly. A bad dream was much better than, say, someone trying to break down their hotel room door. Even so, he could tell that Messiah was badly shaken up over it, and was surprised when she buried her head in his chest, trembling. He tightened his hold on her and trailed his fingers lightly up and down her back, trying to soothe her and calm her down.

"Want to talk to me about it?"

[Saint Lucifer]

Judas looked over at Hannah, somewhat warily. What was she doing? Was she here to mock him? To try to get information from him?
She seemed generally curious, but Judas knew that one could never be certain -- especially when the person in question was a member of an enemy gang, and especially when that enemy gang was EBPM.
However, if it was information she wanted, then, seeing as they seemed to have found a mutual enemy in Messiah, he had no problems in telling Hannah it was Messiah who had cut his face up.

"The rest of the scars," he replied, finally and somewhat bitterly, "were given to me by none other than Messiah."
He clenched his fists as it dredged up an unwelcome memory, angry not only at having been beaten by a girl, but having a constant reminder of that beating criss-crossing his face in sharp red lines. Couple that with the fact that he would be smiling for the rest of his life, and you got a grudge that would die hard, and not without a fight.

+ + +

Messiah calmed slightly at the feel of his fingers running up and down her back.
"I keep dreaming about a girl." she began, choosing her words carefully. "And a boy. At first, they're playing together at this beach, and it's sunny, and everything is happy. But then the scene changes, and the beach is stormy, and the girl and the boy are playfighting. It turns into a real fight, and the girl pushes the boy out into the waves." she paused, gritting her teeth against the memory of the dream. "The boy drowns, and the girl eventually walks into the ocean after him."

It wasn't a particularly gruesome or frightening dream, but for some reason, it left Messiah feeling unsettled and acutely melancholy, for reasons unknown to her. But she had a strange feeling that she knew both of the kids. The girl especially chilled her to the core, with her eyes that were identical to Messiah's own. Who was she? And the boy, why was he significant?

Her blood ran cold then as a memory long since forgotten floated to the surface of her mind.
"I think I had a brother." she whispered.