Light in Darkness, Darkness in Light. (Librairian)

It was a dark and gloomy night. As cliché as that sounds, this night truly was dark and gloomy. Well, it was for TDC, at least. Whenever he was away from Kawaii his life settled back into the endless monotony of darkness and depression.

He tightened the stolen cloak in a poor attempt to shield himself from the cold. Whether it was the night or the inner hole that his doll’s absence had left, he didn’t know. Either way, he felt colder than ever before. The albino wouldn’t be surprised if his fingers became discolored with frost bite.

For the time being, he tried to push Kawaii out of his mind. There were things that he needed to do before finding her. He realized, after awaking amongst the ruins of some kind of twisted temple, that he’d been spending too much time trying to figure out her origins, and had completely neglected his own.

The hybrid reached a hand into his pocket and felt two spherical objects. If he remembered correctly, they had something to do with whatever happened back at the succubus’ temple. The orbs were taken from him before they started ‘using’ him, and he’d found them lying next to him after awakening near the destroyed temple with blood on his hands.

A quick search through the rubble turned up several dead women, the majority of which looked as though they’d been torn apart by somebody’s bare hands. He realized at that point that the blood on his hands wasn’t a coincidence. After rationalizing that it was okay for him to have killed them, considering what they’d done to him, he’d continued his search in hopes of finding the lead succubus’ corpse.

What he’d found was both puzzling and disturbing. Next to a small hole in the ground was a dead succubus. Unlike the others, her corpse was completely whole. Near her was a mess that TDC later learned, via a library, was a placenta. She’d died in the process of giving birth. What she’d given birth to, he didn’t know.

With the way the succubus’ had been ‘using’ him, there was no doubt that he was the father of whatever it was that succubus gave birth to. Since he didn’t find any bodies in the area besides the succubus’ and what appeared to be a man’s arm, he came to the chilling conclusion that whatever he’d fathered was still alive somewhere. He needed to find the lead succubus in order to find the thing he’d created, as well as get some information on why the succubus’ chose him to father it.

That was how he came to be standing outside of a quarantined inn in the middle of the night. He heard rumors that a woman matching the description of the lead succubus had been killed inside the inn, hence why it was currently shut down for cleaning. The murder was very messy, he heard.

“I don’t like the look of this place,” TDC muttered, bending over and stepping between the yellow tape that was strung about the property, urging passerby to avoid the inn. His foot snagged onto the tape and tore it with a bit more noise than he would’ve cared to make. The boy froze, listening for the sounds of detection from nosy neighbors. After a few seconds of listening to crickets chirp, he resumed his trek to the inn’s door.

The inn looked like an old farmhouse, as far as the albino could tell in the darkness. The side he was facing was two stories high, with two windows on the first floor and three on the second. An old door with a peeling dark green paintjob was situated between the windows on the first floor. A, “Quarantined for cleaning” sign was hung on the doorknob.

TDC grabbed onto the doorknob with one hand and roughly pushed the door with the other. His ears were greeted with the sound of tearing hinges. If he hadn’t kept his grip on the doorknob, the whole door would’ve fallen over with enough noise to wake up the entire street. Since he’d thought ahead though, he was able to gently lower the door to the ground and walk inside.

What he found was exactly what he’d expected to find. A fireplace here, a bar there, several tables, a couch near the fireplace. Why did every single inn’s first floor look like that? Was the same carpenter hired to make all the inns in the world? TDC made his way over to the stairway that was, as he’d thought, right next to the door, and went upstairs.

The top floor was eerily familiar. There were several rooms on either side of the hallway, with a bathroom at the end of the hall. He briefly remembered the first time he and Kawaii had bathed together. The albino had to shake his head and pinch himself before he could get too absorbed in his thoughts. This was something that he had to take care of before he could find her again. He didn’t want this to be something that could cause her harm later on.

Figuring out which room the murder took place in wasn’t very hard. A sign exactly like the one that’d been hung on the inn’s door was hung on the doorknob of the second door to his left. He walked over to it, casting the bathroom at the end of the hall a longing glance. The door to the room was soon open, revealing a shocking scene to the young boy.

Though the body was long gone, the room was still a grisly scene. The bed had a massive blood spot, and there were streaks of red all about the room. Shredded clothing was scattered about, as well as bits of blue hair. Whoever killed her didn’t have any reservations about being as brutal as possible.

He covered his nose and mouth with the collar of his cloak and started rummaging through the room in search of anything that would lead him to the thing he’d fathered. Surprisingly, it didn’t take him long to find something of interest. A bloodstained diary was sitting on the bedside table.

“Weird. Diaries are usually used by girls who are a bit more… nice,” TDC muttered, opening the diary. He flipped through the pages, most of them too bloody to read, until a single word caught his attention. “Gorin?” he said, checking the word to make sure he wasn’t misreading it.

No, his eyes weren’t deceiving him. Two small parts of the last page remained free of blood, and scrawled on them were, “Gorin”, and “224, Lazerby, Tybalt.” TDC tore the page out and pocketed it.

“Then here,” the tailor said, holding up yet another very small piece of clothing, “If trousers aren’t what you’re looking for, then this would be absolutely perfect.” He handed the shirt down to his pint sized customer whilst still regaling the girl’s guardian. “You wouldn’t even have to by a new dress to go under it. Plus, you could put that cute little bow on over the button. Oh, and it wouldn’t take me but a second to modify it so that it would fit her perfectly. I’m telling you, not only will she look darling, she’ll have a full range of movement, as well as a warm thing to wear at night. What do you say?”

“I don’t know,” his jacket sporting customer replied, “Do you really think seafoam green goes with pink?”

“Honey, the colors may clash,” he continued,” but your little girl can definitely pull it off. I’m telling you, she looks absolutely adorable.”

“And, you’re sure that you’re willing to do this for free?”

“I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t think I was helping you somehow. I know what it’s like to lose an important man in your life.”

“Once again, thank you very much.”

“Oh, there’s no need to thank me, honey. Yours is a good cause if I’ve ever seen one.”

Dreamer snickered inwardly as she watched the tailor she had happened upon take his sweater off of Kawaii’s back. After having disclosed to the rather elegant man that they were on a hunt for someone important to the little girl, he quickly offered to donate something to them. Being a tailor, he took them back to his shop to make the doll a change of clothing. What he came up with was a green sweater with one button on the front. It came with an undershirt that added a large pair of light blue cuffs, and a matching collar. It was admittedly cute, but more of a positive reinforcement than she would have liked.

The two golden haired girls had been on the trail of the pseudo-humans who had taken TDC from the doll. A day behind at they very beginning of tracking them, they had fallen, at the very least, a week behind as they stood where they were. Dreamer had completely lost hope in chasing them down, and retaking the boy herself. Coming upon the thriving town as they followed their tracking route, she thought that she could ask some of the locals if they had seen the three pseudo-humans. Unknowing of the consequences, she told the doll her thoughts. Many unsuspecting people proceeded to learn their story.

Naturally, the mature of the two did not have the patience to watch the immature strike up a conversation with every person she saw. She was about to scold the child when the fairy of a man Kawaii had approached offered a bit of charity. Though she did not want the doll’s energy to be encouraged, she was not the kind of person who could refuse something free. And so, they followed the tailor back to his shop. Once there, they passed on an impressive amount of children’s clothing before settling on something everyone could agree upon.

“It’s finished!” the tailor called back to them from where he was stitching. With an exuberant giggle, Kawaii skipped over to the counter he was behind, peeking her head over. He slid the clothes over to her, which she quickly snatched up. She unfurled her ribbon, threw the sweater on over her dress, buttoned it, and tied her bow back up. Without wasting a second, she jumped in front of a mirror and began looking over her shoulder. Sure that she did not have anything on her, she gave a quick twirl, topped off with a stylish pose. “Thank you,” she said, turning to the tailor, and giving a deep bow.

“No problem, sweetie,” he replied, resting his elbow against the counter, “I just hope you find your special person soon. I can’t imagine what he must be going through. Oh, tell you what, if you pass back this way after you find him, swing by here. I’ll make him something better than that, free of charge.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Dreamer responded, urging the doll toward the exit, “but it’s about time we hit the road. Good bye.” With that, they were back out on the streets. The Sacred Lance wielder looked toward the sky. The sun was bright. It hurt her to think that as soon as the sun set, her little companion’s own sun would set. One of them was going to cry themselves to sleep that night.

OoC: So sorry it took so long to get back to you. Let's hope every piece I'm in doesn't get a reply at the same time again. Anyways, I think we can take it from here.

From TDC’s position he couldn’t see much. He guessed as much before hiding, as hiding in a pile of hay was obviously going to be a detriment to his vision. While he couldn’t see much, he could still listen for any remotely threatening sounds, and escape from the wagon if he needed to.

“I’m telling you Jack, you’re full of ****!” one of the wagon’s drivers said. He’d been arguing with his fellow farmer for what seemed like an eternity. Something about one of them being attacked by a crazed man with a stick the other day. The kid didn’t quite follow it.

“Seriously, it was this huge stick!” Jack retorted. Whether he’d actually been attacked or not, he seemed like he was planning on sticking to his story. He was either telling the truth, or he was very stubborn.

“And what did he do with it, eh?” Jack’s fellow driver said. “Cram it up yer arse?”

The hybrid fell asleep to the sounds of Jack and his fellow driver’s continued argument.

~

“Morning Freddy!” a familiar, cheerful voice chirped.

“Five more minutes,” TDC grumbled, rolling onto his side.

“Freeedddyyyy!”

“Fine…”

TDC yawned and cracked open an eye, looking at the most important person in his life. Despite still sounding like a little girl, Kawaii had definitely grown. An adult woman was smiling at him, and the hybrid wasn’t sure whether this were Kawaii’s natural form grown up or the adult form she assumed on occasion.

“You’re going to be late for work,” Kawaii said, grabbing the boy’s blankets and tossing them aside to reveal that he was no longer a boy. Instead, a fully grown man was lying in the bed, and a quick look in a mirror above the desk across the room revealed this man, via similar hair and eyes, to be TDC himself.

~

“What the hell?” a voice said.

“Five more minutes,” TDC grumbled, rolling onto his side.

“Get out!”

“Fine…”

TDC cracked open an eye, the same as in his dream, and found himself looking up at two very angry farmers. One of them was threateningly holding a pitchfork in the boy’s direction. Wait, was he still a boy? The abomination looked down at himself to find that he was indeed still a boy.

“Just a dream then,” TDC muttered to himself, climbing out of the wagon and backing away from the farmers. He should’ve known better. Kawaii wouldn’t grow older, and he’d probably die in the next two or three years anyway, at the rate he aged.

He walked over to the side of the road and sat down against a tree to watch the farmers ride into the distance. With any luck, he was within less than a day’s walk of Tybalt. The child closed his eyes and sighed. Even though he’d only intended to rest for a moment, he ended up dozing off once more.

Kawaii walked alone. As she went through her current day’s scuffle (Namely, inquiring as to the whereabouts of her stolen Dark Child), she had outpaced her fellow blonde. Dreamer seemed unusually intent on apologizing to every person the doll came across in her search. It affected her very little, though, so she just let her jacket sporting watchman do what she had to do. All it meant was that she was going to get left behind. The young girl simply trudged on, searching for the next person who might know something. It was a tough search. There were only people every few meters.

The next person came into view. This was a person who looked like they knew things. She was much taller than her. Smiling, she approached the person. “Excuse me, ma’am,” the doll said cheerfully, lightly tugging on the woman’s sleeve. “Oh, my,” the woman squawked as she turned to find out what was pulling at her. This person was also a fancy person. “I need your help,” Kawaii continued, “A whole bunch of really bad girls came and took Freddie away. Doubean said you might know which way they went.”

“I’m sure I don’t know any Freddie,” the woman replied, pulling her sleeve away.

Holding her nose high, the woman began to walk away. Despite being so tall, she had not known anything about the little girl’s plight. It did not matter much. All it meant was that she had to go on to the next person. Where were they? Looking around, she spotted someone. He was all the way down the street, though. Making a vain attempt to whistle a tune, she started to skip down toward him. She liked the clicking sound her shoes made against the cobble street. It made an echo against the sides of the buildings. That day quickly became a nice day for her. She got to have fun as she worked.

After skipping the street’s distance, the doll casually walked up to where the man was sitting. He was seated at a table in front of a place that smelled like it served grilled food. “Pardon me, sir,” she said as she strolled up next to him. “Well, hello there, little missy,” he replied, speaking with a strange accent, “What can I do for you?” This person must know something. “I need your help,” Kawaii went on, “A whole bunch of really bad girls came and took Freddie away. Doubella said you might know which way they went.” Her plea made the man chuckle.

“I might,” he responded, pushing what remained of his food away, “Can you describe these girls to me?”

“Oh, yeah,” the doll continued with gusto, “They came out of nowhere, and yelled at us. They were really pretty, but that was a trick. They were actually really mean! All of their clothes were way too small, and they were almost falling out of them. Some of them were even naked! They all had really big boobies, and a lot of them had really pretty hair. They also fly really far when you throw them.”

“Hm. This Freddie is a man, yeah?”

“Yessir,”

“And this Doubella is a woman, yeah?”

“Yessir.”

“Sounds like you have a Succubus problem, lass. Where’s your mum? I feel like I might need to talk to her about this.”

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“Again, sir, I’m very sorry,” the brief and apologetic woman reiterated. “Oh, it was no bother at all,” the man she was apologizing to replied, “In fact, I feel like I should give you something. Here.” Without any regard for what she had just tried to explain, the man pulled a shiny new coin out of his satchel. When she did not stretch out her hand, he casually reached over and placed the coin in her coat pocket. “It’s not much, but please use it to find her brother.”

“Yes, thank you very much, and, again, very sorry to have bothered you.” With that, she broke away.

Dreamer had just finished apologizing to the last person who was on that particular street. That, essentially, was what she had been doing the entire morning. As soon as her pint sized companion had gotten outside, there was not a person in front of their inn that did not know about their situation. Yari had finally apologized for disturbing the last person on their inn’s street. Unfortunately, the doll had went ahead while her new guardian was still busy. Just then, she was missing two people. Worried; more perturbed than anything, she rushed to the corner. It did not look like there were any dolls around.

There was an angry looking person, though. That was a start. “Excuse me, ma’am,” the Sacred Lance Wielder said, getting the woman’s attention. “Oh, dear,” the overdressed woman proclaimed, clearly surprised. “Oh, I’m very sorry. Uh, have you seen my daughter pass by here? Blonde, ‘bout this big, wearing something completely ridiculous?”

“Oh, you, I know what you’re up to. I’m hep to your do. You send her in, and then expect me to give you something. Well, I’m not so gullible.”

“Myahuh. And have you seen her?” Jackass “I wouldn’t concern myself.”

That did not help her much. Without giving out her usual barrel of forgiveness, Dreamer splintered away from the unpleasant exchange. It appeared that she would have to find the little girl herself. Mission accomplished. Straight ahead, she could see Kawaii shaking down another person for information. This time, it was someone sitting down for a meal. She nearly faceplamed when she saw her. Making a clanking clatter, she rushed down the street. It was oh so obvious that they saw her coming. Sweating in her jacket, she marched up to the small short order pavilion.

“That’s Doubanna,” the doll chirped as soon as she was close enough to talk to, “She’s helping me look for Freddie.”

“Ah, Kawaii,” Doubutsu, not Doubanna, began, grabbing at the little girl’s new collar, “I said stop that. It’s rude to walk up to people; especially when they’re eating. I’m very sorry, sir, my daughter doesn’t know right from wrong, yet. She’s a very slow learner. We’ll just get out of here, and leave you to your meal. Once again, very sorry.” Already grinning, the man let out a slight chuckle. “You know, I heard your little girl’s story,” he started.

That meant the Sacred Lance Wielder still had something to do. Pulling Kawaii back from the slight start they had made away, she stood as upright as she could. “And I’m sure it caught your interest,” she stated plainly. Since they had came to the town they were in, cleaning up after the doll was the greater extent of what she had been doing, and it became boring the second she started doing it. “Let me explain. A few days ago, her older brother was kidnapped by what I believe was a group of Succubi. We’re trying to find out where they went. Please, we don’t need any handouts. Again, sorry for wasting your time.”

“I heard your little girl’s story,” he continued, as if she had not said a thing, “And I think I might be able to help. That is, if you give me the real biz.”

“I…” That was unexpected.

Another dark night at Braggot’s, a dual bar and brothel. The establishment was known as one of the most morally reprehensible places in Tybalt, and with good reason. Barely a night passed without somebody getting maimed, drugged, or killed. It was only through hefty bribery to the local law enforcement that it was able to stay open.

Inside, a large bearded man was attempting to sell a small group of slave women to the owner. He claimed that all the women were legitimately bought in a slave-legal town, which would make it legal for Braggot’s owner to “Rent” the slaves for use as prostitutes. This, the large man pointed out, would help the owner cut back on the costs of having paid hookers.

“Whoah, whoah, whoah,” said the owner, a tall and thin man with long gray hair. He walked over to the shackled group of women and grabbed one by the hair. “This one doesn’t look like she’s even thirteen years old!”

“And your point would be?” the slave-renter asked. He pulled the young, blonde girl away from Braggot’s owner. Her frightened green eyes looked up at her master, though she remained completely silent, as did the rest of the slaves.

“Regardless of the slave-carrying law, it’s still illegal to have sex with anybody under the age of sixteen in Tybalt! My bribery rates would go through the roof if I let people screw this… this… how old is she?”

“Twelve,” the girl suddenly said. “I’m gonna be thirteen in a month.” Obviously, she hadn’t been a slave long enough to know not to interrupt two business men. Braggot’s owner guessed that she’d been captured during a raid through another town a week ago at the most.

“Well,” the slave-renter said, ignoring his property. “You’d be able to pay the increased bribery rate, because you’d be getting more customers. There’s a lot of sick people out there that’d love to screw a kid.”

Braggot’s owner scoffed and waved a dismissive hand. “I doubt that.”

Just then, the door opened, and a peculiar looking man stepped in. He was about six feet tall, well built, with short black hair that had a few crimson highlighted spikes in it. This man was the dark god, Gorin Kaja, and he was not in a good mood.

Lamenting the death of Dante, and hating himself at the same time for even caring about the death of his greatest rival, Gorin had come for the express purpose of taking his frustrations out on the cheapest female thing with two legs. Seeing as Braggot’s was a great place for cheap sex, he’d come here.

“How much for her?” he asked, pointing at the little girl that the slave-renter still held by the shoulders. Before Braggot’s owner could protest, the slave-renter replied with, “Thirteen gold pieces, and you can have her for the night.”

“Alright then,” Gorin said, handing over a handful of coins without bothering to count how much he was giving the man. He didn’t care about paying this time. The God of Wrath was too tired to bother simply killing the men and having all of the women for free.

The slave-renter undid the girl’s shackles and pushed her in Kaja’s direction. Gorin effortlessly hoisted the girl over his shoulders and carried her to the back room to enjoy for the rest of the night.

~~~

“224, Lazerby,” TDC repeated to himself. He turned and looked at the nearest street sign, which read, “Amontillado Street.”

He was definitely lost. Who could blame him? Tybalt was one of the largest towns in the world, due to both tourism and trade. People came from around the world for the city’s entertainment, food, and, in some of the darker parts of town, brothels and drug dealers. It was also situated in the middle of the continent, next to a series of fish-laden lakes, hence the great trade.

The streets were alive with people moving to and fro, here and there, point A to point B. TDC found it impossible to pinpoint specific faces in the crowd. Gorin himself could be within feet of him, and the boy wouldn’t be able to discern him from the rest of the nameless mass.

“This is going to take a while,” The Dark Child muttered to himself. His voice, just like his face, was merely added into the jumble of the crowd.

OoC: Sorry for getting back to you so late, Mikey. Whenever someone links to that Television Tropes website, I tend to turn into a sort of fanatic.

BiC: “I, I…” Dreamer stammered. She was caught off guard by the man’s attitude. Well, not so much the attitude as the fact that he could tell she was feeding him a story. Most mooks on the street took her story at the value she gave it. Worse, it was more positive reinforcement of the hyperactive doll’s habit. WORSE, if he was actually offering real help to find the Succubi, then they never even would have run into him if it were not for the hyperactive doll’s habit. If she had not gotten to know the little girl as well as she did, she would have been steeling herself for the ‘I told you so’s.

“Uh, exactly how could you help us?” the Sacred Lance Wielder went on, collected. If he could actually help, there was no way they could pass the opportunity by. The man chuckled at her not quite an answer. “Well, alright, I’ll go first, then,” the man replied, “Name’s Jonathan Kincaid, but I use the professional alias ‘Domino’. I hunt things. And, if you have a Succubus problem, like you say you do, you need someone who hunts things. Now, why don’t you get to telling me who you are. That’s all I’m bloody asking.”

Dreamer blurted out the first thing that came to her head. “You’re not exactly the kind of help we were looking for,” she said, nearly slapping herself in the face from the idiocy of it. To be fair, they were not looking for someone to do their work for them, although that became irrelevant, considering their situation. “The way your little girl comes up to me, lovely, I’d say you’re looking for any help you can get.”

“Yes, yes that’s true. Would you mind if we took a seat here? It’s… Hot.”

“Knock yourselves out.”

“Thank you. Pull up a chair, Kawaii.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, she sat down in the chair opposite the hunter. The doll fetched a chair from a nearby table, and took a spot next to her. “My name is Doubutsu Yari, but I use the professional alias ‘Dreamer’.” The man chuckled at her obvious attempt at humor. “This is Kawaii.”

“Hiya!” the little girl interrupted. Not content with just that, she stood up in her chair and stretched herself across the table to extend a hand to him. With good humor, he took her hand, and gave it a little shake. Introduced, she retracted back into her seat, smiling, of course.

“Anyways,” the taller of the two blondes continued, “She’s not really my daughter. That seemed like an easier thing to tell people. Her… Older companion, Freddie, was kidnapped by a group of Succubi a week ago, as of today. I was there when it happened. We’ve been trying our best to catch up to them, but I fear they’re too far ahead of us to follow. We ‘attempted’ to ask around town, but no one’s seen them, so far.”

“And now you’ve found someone that might be able to get you somewhere,” the hunter replied, leaning back in his chair, “Well, missy, you’re lucky, and unlucky.

“After listening to your little yarn, there, the outlook’s not good. In your situation, dumb luck, let alone a hunter, couldn’t find unholy buggers like Succubi. But, lucky you, lovely, you’ve run into the one man who could possibly help you. Ah, but you may not want it. There’s a condition, you know.”

“If you’re being truthful,” the Sacred Lance Wielder responded, “then I don’t see this as an offer we can refuse.”

“Righto. There’s this bloke, mousy fella, who knows all there is about those chaotic, human shaped, villains. He lives at least four days of travel, by horse drawn…”

“Are you serious?” Dreamer interrupted suddenly. “We can’t leave Freddie!” Kawaii chimed in. Even she knew they were on a chase for a reason, and that losing so much time would likely lose her white haired special one. “That‘s way too much time!” the more mature of the two continued, “If we let this carry on for that long, he may be…” She shot a glance to her pint sized companion. She really did not want to say that he might be dead. “…Beyond our reach.” The little girl was affecting her. The mere fact that she had any hope at all, was evidence enough.

The hunter seemed to lose a bit of his cool. “Were you even listening to me?” he said, almost threateningly, “From what you’ve told me, he’s screwed. The Succubus sucks out a man’s soul the second she gets her hands on him. The fact that a group carried this guy of yours off may suggest he’s still alive, but, chances are, he’s dead as dirt. I told you that there’s no other way. If you care at all about this fellow of yours, then you’ll commission me, shut up, and leave the work to someone who knows what in bloody hell they’re talking about.”

OOC: Sorry this post took me forever to make. I’ve had quite a few problems for the last month or so. Not enough time, no creativity when I did have time, etc. I figured that throwing Mercutio into the mix might help, since I’ve always got an endless sea of ideas whenever he’s involved in something.

BIC: A little ways away from Tybalt, a canvassed wagon was slowly making its way down the country road. Two horses dragged the transport, which was heavy with trading goods such as sugar and flour, and people ranging from a sick baby to a peculiar priest. After sticking two odd looking buds into his ears, the priest had begun murmuring strange things to himself, which caused the rest of the wagon’s inhabitants to avoid him.

“He drinks a whiskey drink, he drinks a vodka drink, he drinks a cider drink, he drinks a lager drink,” the priest muttered. He fingered something in his pocket. The strange man suddenly winced, and bit his lower lip. He’d turned the volume too loud for a moment there!

“Heard that one a bit too much,” Mercutio Rosaline confessed to nobody in particular. He fingered the object in his pocket again, and began murmuring, “Yeah, I get it, you’re an outcast. Always under attack. Always coming in last, bringing up the past. No one owes you anything. I think you need a shotgun blast, a kick in the ass, so paranoid…”

He was silent for a brief moment…

“WATCH YOUR BACK!” he suddenly shouted.

And so, that was how Mercutio Rosaline came to be walking to Tybalt all by himself, wishing that he wouldn’t get so into the songs on his Zune.

~

Around the same time Mercutio was being kicked off the wagon, Gorin was exiting the back room at Braggot’s. He grabbed a beer, left a gold coin on the counter, and left. The owner didn’t bother checking the back room, figuring that the girl would leave it when she was good and ready.

The dark god walked just a few blocks before checking in at a hotel for some rest and thinking time. With Dante gone, he could focus on either taking over or destroying the world. How he was going to do either of those, exactly, he needed to ponder over.

OoC: Sorry if it’s not up to par. There has been a reply drought as of late, and I’m a bit below my game. It is, however, good to see that you’re posting again.

BiC: “But Doupuzu, I still can’t get it right!” Kawaii squealed, swinging her fists down at her sides. She was adamant that her friend should give her another demonstration. She had yet to perfect the technique. “I still say no,” Dreamer retorted, folding her arms as best her jacket would allow, “We’ve already made big enough spectacles of ourselves today. What’s more, a proper young lady shouldn’t even be doing hand stands in that.” She panned her hand to the length of her dress. “And, it’s ‘Dreamer’. For the tenth time, don’t even try to pronounce my given name!”

“Kawaii says to Dreamer that I want to learn how to stand on my hands,” the doll went on, doing her version of a callisthenic warm up as she complained. Of her many talents, handstands were not one of them. She had, though the years, made her share of honest attempts at learning, but had never stayed with a teacher long enough. Having personally witnessed her new guardian’s prowess at the handstand, she was in a ripe mood to study the skill. Unfortunately, the taller of the two did not share her enthusiasm. That was not going to stop her.

“He’s still in there. We have plenty of time! Just show me once more, and then I can try it again.” The larger blonde did not show any interest. “I’m in no mood,” she replied, turning away. The doll huffed. “Oh yeah, well, I’m not going to be your friend, right now.” And that ended both of their games. Their exchange came to a halt, and they both stood there, silently. After a few moments passed, the little girl made another attempt at a handstand. She bent over, planted her palms, and sprung up. She stood upside-down for a moment before falling forward onto her back.

The hunter stepped out of the storeroom turned storefront they waited in front of, walking right into the dust Kawaii’s heels kicked up as she fell. Seeing him, she curled up, and somersaulted out of the way. He smiled at her. “Well, then,” he said, turning to Dreamer, “We’re all squared away. A man should be bringing around a beast of burden right quick.”

“And you’re sure there’s nothing more to this ‘renting’ concept?” she replied, leaning more heavily on her lance, “It seems kind of suspicious, to me.”

“Like I said, you tell him how many days you want, pay him, and they’re yours for those days.”

“Suspicious.”

He had just rented them transport from a local businessman. He no longer carried his down payment, and Dreamer no longer carried the discs of hope that the townsfolk bestowed upon her. They were set up with a horse, a rider, and a cart. They would be trotting the whole way there. Sure, walking would have cost less, but a trot was quicker even than a walk. Time, though workable, was still an issue. Although the taller of the two blondes was fairly skeptical about the entire experience, there were no major complaints. As long as they creeped, in any capacity, toward TDC.

Lo, a man and horse, pulling a cart, came around to the street. He stopped before them. “Three to the Tyb Highway Archive,” he announced, not looking at anybody in particular, “Four days travel, one way, non-stop. All aboard.” With the inspired indifference that he instilled, the three seekers climbed into the back of the cart. It was a very cheap looking thing. There were two wheels, and no hatch on the back. A sleeping individual could very likely fall out while riding. A layer of dead grass covered most of it, most likely to give a rider something soft to sit on. Unattractive would be a polite adjective.

No one complained. Once they were all unsafely in the cart, they jerked forward, and started on their way toward the two blondes’ only lead. As they watched the buildings lurch by, Dreamer found herself in an uneasy mindset, while Kawaii turned out intensely focused on something that no one else could put their finger on. Jonathan Kincaid folded his arms and lowered his head. If his employer was not shooting him a glance every few moments, the chances are high that he would have taken a nap. She was not about to let him sleep when there was still so much left unknown.

“Domino,” she said, causing him to tilt his head back up, “What did you say our chances were? That we would find Freddie alive?”

“Well, I’ll tell you missy,” he replied, “I don’t think you have a chance at all. Whether you find him or not is completely up to who I’m taking you to see. Now, don’t get me wrong; I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think that he would tell you that you have a chance. From what I can tell, you should still be fighting for him.”

“I’m hopeful, but I can only fight for Kawaii‘s sake. She’s been so strong throughout this whole ordeal. I don’t know what kind of relationship they had before I met them, but I know that he means the world to her. The way she talks about him, I think that Freddie is the only person she has. She’s alone without him.”

As Dreamer cleared her throat, the doll once again tried to perfect the technique. She bent over, planted her palms, and sprung up. She stood upside-down for a moment before falling forward onto her back. Unfortunately, she was not situated well enough for that to be the end of it. Half of her landed outside of the cart, and she began to slip out. With a near dive, her new guardian reached out and grabbed her by the wrist. “Thank you, Douballo,” the little girl said as she climbed back in. Sitting back where she was before the stunt, she began to focus intensely yet again.

“Please, Kawaii,” the Sacred Lance Wielder began, “Save the hand stands for later. Try not to do anything too exciting while we’re riding on the cart.”

“But I want to learn how to do one,” the doll reiterated, clearly not drained of resolve, “Can’t you show me again?”

“No. I can’t even tell why you’re so interested in learning.”

“I want to show off to Freddie.”

“Hm?”

“Those bad girls are probably being really mean to Freddie, so I want to be able to cheer him up, once we find him. I’ll show him my amazing hand stand abilities, and he’ll feel all better.”

And that, the taller of the two decided, was a very good reason for wanting to acquire the skill. She sat there for a few moments before sidling up to her. “Kawaii, can we be friends again?”

“That would be posilutely wonderful. I don‘t even know why I was mad.”

“Good. Then I’ll give you another demonstration just as soon as we stop.”

OOC: Very, very, very sorry that this took so long. From now on I promise that I won’t make you wait more than a week, a week and a half at the most, for a post.

BIC: “I’ve had enough, I’m taking you down, taking you DOOOOOWWWWWNN,” Mercutio mumbled to himself, looking at the hotel and turning down the volume on his Zune. “Lazerby? Yep, this is definitely Lazerby.”

He walked into the decrepit establishment with a smile. Everything was going according to plan. Through his connection with Dante, he could tell that Gorin was already in the hotel, sleeping in the twenty-sixth room on the second floor.

“Excuse me, sir,” he asked the balding man behind the counter. The man looked up from a stack of yellowed documents and mumbled something incoherent. Mercutio answered the mumbling with, “Do you have any open rooms?”

The man nodded and pulled a bronze key out from under the desk. He put the old trinket on the counter, and Mercutio could clearly see the numbers 224 written on it…

~

It was getting late, and TDC’s search had turned up nothing. He didn’t find Lazerby Street, and he didn’t find Gorin. The few people who actually stopped to help him were unable to tell him where Lazerby street was.

Did Lazerby Street even exist? The poor boy was beginning to lose hope. He was on a wild goose chase, and every minute that he was away from Kawaii was more time that it’d take to find her again.

TDC sighed and decided to look for a cheap hotel to stay the night in. He had a little bit of money, so he figured that he should be able to afford a hotel, even if it was a rundown shack. That was when he noticed a sign. He only saw it for a fleeting second before the sight of it was obscured by passing tourists, but he was sure he’d seen the word, “Lazerby.”

The hybrid pushed his way through crowds of tourists, heading in the direction in which he’d seen the sign. A shadowy figure followed him from a short distance away. The figure’s cold blue eyes watched intently as his target found and entered the inn.

OOC: Kind of on the short side, but the next post will be full of awesomeness. :3

Two nights to their destination~

Dreamer sat with her legs out, her feet hanging just over the edge of the cart. She stared plainly up at the stars, not trying to find any familiar constellations, but, rather, to contemplate. Her mind reflected upon what she had seen her pint sized companion go through as they spent more and more time together. Life is so unfair to some people, she thought, A girl like her shouldn’t have to suffer through something like this. Her thoughts flashed back to one of the occasions in which she spotted TDC giving Kawaii an embrace. It just shouldn’t happen to people like them.

Starting to turn misty eyed, she craned her neck back down. The doll was asleep, lying peacefully and without breath. The little girl’s head rested in her lap, with the Sacred Lance wielder’s jacket covering almost her whole body. The bottom of Doubutsu’s shirt was still warm and wet. Before falling asleep, Kawaii had sobbed quietly into her belly, lamenting the loss of the only person who had ever made the little girl happy the way he had. The crying would have lasted longer, but there were too many new faces for her to scream the way she had before.

Yari gently stroked the doll’s hair. She was doing her best to try and make things easier, but did not feel like anything was working. She was doing her best, but the little girl’s sorrow simply seemed to become deeper every night. It nearly tore her heart out to see the tears, but she kept a straight face, anyways. She may have first decided to help find The Dark Child out of pity and an obligation to help the younger, but that had changed. What she saw convinced her that the doll loved her white haired guardian like no other could. Her only goal was to see them reunited.

“You’re doing a good thing for her,” Domino remarked through the darkness, “The best thing I’ve ever seen one person do for another.”

“Only if we find him.”

Arriving at their destination~

After the obnoxious klip-kloping of a horse had been repeating constantly for four days straight, when finally the noise stopped, everyone riding in the little kart immediately became aware of it. Rather, they woke up to the not sound of it. As the kart warbled to a halt, most of the passengers awakened from the night’s sleep. Kawaii remained motionless, with a bit of drool across her cheek. After she was shaken awake, she instantly jumped to her feet. Her childish expression shined brighter than the morning sun. “This is it, right?! This is it!” she exclaimed joyfully, “This is where the guy who knows where Freddie is, is, right?”

“Yes, it would seem this is it,” Dreamer replied, glad to see the doll in such a good mood, “But in such an out of the way place.” Her eye for detail picked out the oddities of the area. Although the road they were traveling was obviously very well traveled, they were only just within sight of the nearest town. The only thing nearby that could have been the Tyb Highway Library was a barrow mound with a decrepit looking door attached. The grass was worn away in several places leading up to the mound, though, so it was clearly visited often. Barrow mounds did often extend into caverns.

“It may look like rubbish from the outside,” Jonathan Kincaid began, “but it’s bigger on the inside. They keep it all the way out here like this to discourage loitering. It’s actually one of the most famous libraries and research labs on the entire continent. In fact, we more than likely missed a few tourists coming from here before we woke up.” By the time he finished his explanation, Kawaii was nearly shuddering with anticipation. She swayed up and down on her toes, ready to burst in and ask everyone where TDC might be. Her adult companions were not as eager.

They walked discreetly into the barrow, closing the door behind them. It was dark. The light from the cracks in the door were barely enough to light their way. They marched single file through the narrow passage. At the end of the dark corridor ahead of them, there was a light coming from another room. With Domino leading, they made their way to the lighted room. Inside, there was little more than a door at the opposite end, and a bored looking young man sitting behind a table. “Is Joker in?” Kincaid asked as he approached the young man. “Funny,” the young man remarked, “Just look around inside.”

Taking his heed, they walked through the opposite door. While the passages they had just gotten though had been cramped and narrow, the chamber they had entered was of a size not easily comparable. The place was greatly larger, almost like the trunk of a tree being put up against the stalk of a flower. The walls seemed to be made of books, and tables covered almost every free inch of floor space. In the distance, the room seemed to open up even further, almost like a canyon lined from face to face with books. Dreamer was caught breathless. Not only was the library subterranean, but it was cavernous as well.

The doll and the hunter seemed less than impressed. Considering one was unable to read, and another had seen it before, the outcome was clear. Domino led them past scores of tables overflowing with text, stacks that towered, and dozens of people walking one way or another. “Th-this place is absolutely enormous!” Dreamer remarked, dumbstruck, “I don’t know what I was expecting, but this…”

“That‘s what everyone says the first time they see it,” Kincaid replied after she trailed off, “Kind of makes you want to be a scholar just to see how big it really is.”

As he finished his line, he noticed someone coming from out of a nearby corridor. Their eyes met, and they stared at each other for a few moments. After a few seconds, they approached each other. “Ampershield,” the familiar of the two said dryly. “Kincaid,” the less familiar just as dryly responded. Their stares continued, but a smile, the same smile, formed on each of their faces. The stare that sparked between them grew more intense, and an odd feeling began to form in the air. The girls stared on in frustration. What they came for was not being taken care of.

Then, as if nothing had happened, the two men began acting normal again. Domino turned back, and introduced the person. “Dreamer, Kawaii, this is Lord Lorne Ampershield,” he said, gesturing to the mousy looking man he had just finished staring down, “He’s an authority on human shaped supernatural beings. If there’s anyone who might know the answer to your problem, it’s this bloke.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” the mousy man began, lacking the accent the hunter retained, “You’re clients of John, right? Well then, I assume you’re in some kind of hurry. What do you want to know?”

Heathen God of Wrath, Gorin Kaja. Avatar of Destruction, Mercutio Rosaline. These were the Legend Killer’s targets. These were the men who would be dying today, if the blue-eyed fiend had his way.

“No idea where that intel came from, but it’s right on the money,” Matt Rosencruex mused, staring at the Lazerby Hotel. He’d been given orders to go to Tybalt and look for a white-haired child. According to the intel his superiors had received, this child was on his way to meet Mercutio Rosaline, though the child didn’t know it.

As a bonus, the originator of the Oblivion Wars was here. Matt could feel the dark god’s darkness oozing from every inch of the establishment. Two legends for the price of one! And an abomination thrown in just for fun.

“This’ll be good,” the Legend Killer said to himself, walking in the front door.

~

TDC didn’t bother talking to the man behind the counter. Instead, he went straight for the staircase. The albino’s mind was focused on where he was going, though he had no idea exactly where that even was. He just had a subconscious urge to go up the stairs, an urge he couldn’t explain.

The boy’s eyes didn’t take in any details about the hotel. He almost felt as if he were in a trancelike state. Nothing mattered, except getting to some destination on the second floor. The abomination barely noticed anything. His steps, the hotel around him, even his very thoughts, none of it was worth noticing.

TDC didn’t snap out of this state until he was standing right in front of door number two-hundred and twenty-four. 224, Lazerby? This had to be the place! Was Gorin on the other side? The child clenched a sweaty palm into a fist and lightly knocked on the door.

“Come on in,” a voice called. Was that Gorin’s voice? No, it didn’t sound like him, but that didn’t mean that it couldn’t be him. The last he’d seen of Gorin, he was being cut down by the Heavenflame Samurai, Tokumaru. That was quite some time ago.

TDC opened the door and stepped into the rundown hotel room. There was a figure in the room, but the boy averted his eyes for now. He was too nervous to look. Instead, his eyes took in the details of the room, seemingly making up for their lack of attention to the rest of the hotel.

A small bug scuttled by on the shag carpet. The abomination’s eyes slowly scanned the rest of the floor, finding a few more bugs and a bedside table. His eyes moved up a little, and he saw a closet with a rusty bar for hanging clothes. There was a door that TDC assumed led to the bathroom.

“Hello Freddie,” the figure on the bed greeted him. TDC’s eyes widened with shock. Freddie? Only Kawaii, Dreamer, and the late Flamel knew of Kawaii’s name for him! The boy gave the man on the bed a surprised glance, which caused the bespectacled man to laugh.

“Yes, I know the name your doll friend gave you,” the man said. He smiled at TDC and popped a jawbreaker into his mouth. The boy studied this man’s appearance up and down, and found that he looked nothing like Gorin. Though he was still interested in what this man had to say, he felt a little disappointed.

“My name’s Mercutio Rosaline, and I do believe that we need to talk,” Mercutio said, patting a spot on the bed beside himself. TDC cautiously walked over and sat down, ready to leap out the window if he had to.

“Now then, there’s something that I’d like you to know,” Mercutio continued, resting a hand on TDC’s shoulder. With any other stranger, the boy would have felt very uncomfortable at this point. For some reason however, this man seemed to have a calming presence. “It’s about Gorin, your experience with the succubus’s, and a man named Dante.”

TDC arched an eyebrow. What did Gorin, those evil women, and some guy he’d never heard of before have in common? He decided to keep his mouth shut for now. This odd man probably had something important to say.

~

The dark god sat up with a jolt. Something was amiss. There were two presences in the next room that he didn’t think he’d ever feel again. One was of Dante, albeit quite a bit diluted. The other was of his son, or was the boy his father now?

Gorin chuckled. That was complicated business, there. When he and Dante had been one being, they’d fathered the boy. Because of the boy’s fast aging, he’d been able to father the dark god’s current body. So he was technically his son, biologically his dad, and… why was he thinking about this right now?

Kaja rolled off of his bed and formed a large axe. Whatever their reasons for being here, it was fine with him. The less relatives he had, the stronger he would be. Gorin smiled and headed out the door.

~

“I’ve got a lot to say, and not a lot of time to say it. Please don’t interrupt me until I’m finished, okay?” Mercutio asked. TDC nodded, and Mercutio handed him a jawbreaker. The boy absent-mindedly popped it into his mouth and watched this strange man intently.

“The Gorin you knew, the white-haired man you saw cut down by Tokumaru, wasn’t always a nice guy. For much of his life, he was pure evil. He slaughtered countless villages, became a god, and even started the Oblivion Wars, which caused nearly two million fatalities across the world. Eventually, however, his soul began to kick in,” Mercutio said. TDC felt it hard not to scoff. Gorin? Evil? Preposterous!

“Long before his soul kicked in, he fathered several children. Most of them died, and one is still alive. That child is you.”

For the second time that day, TDC’s eyes widened in shock. Gorin was his father? That couldn’t be true! Then again, they DID look alike, and TDC was able to use the weapons that Gorin himself had used. His hand found its way into his pocket and rested on the spirit orbs.

“Now, you met him after his soul made him, well, good. The last time you saw him, however, an anti-immortality virus had taken both his immortality and his sanity. Tokumaru slayed him for his own good. Of course, that wasn’t really where it all ended,” Mercutio said, a slight smile on his face.

“The Death Dealer, Grasthos, performed experiments with souls and a substance called Tainted Element. I won’t bore you with the details, but these experiments eventually led to Gorin’s soul being turned into an echo, as well as the creation of that creature you killed, the thing that looked like the original Gorin. An echo is a being created from a soul. A being with memories of the soul’s former life, albeit it’s still a separate entity itself.”

“I believe some time ago you met a woman named Nenet Miniya, correct?” he asked. TDC nodded. “Well, around that time the echo was using the name Gorin, which is why Nenet told you that Gorin was still alive. The Gorin she knew was the echo, who was her lover until she left him for a man named Elrick.”

Mercutio paused for a moment to unwrap another jawbreaker.

“Anyway, this echo eventually changed his name to Dante Kaja, to disassociate himself from the Oblivion Wars and the destruction that the original Gorin caused. Dante had a problem, though. There was a being inside of him, born from the evils that the original Gorin commited. This being called itself the White Light, and it was able to possess Dante on some occasions.”

“Eventually,. White Light managed to gain a cult-like following of succubus’s. He wanted to get out of Dante’s body so that he could resume his role as a dark god. In order to regain his godhood, he needed a body that shared blood with the original Gorin.”

TDC lifted a hand to stop Mercutio. He knew where this was going, and his stomach was doing flips as he opened his mouth. The boy said, “That was why those women kidnapped me, wasn’t it? They used me to give this White Light thing a body?”

Mercutio nodded and said, “Mm-hmm, pretty much. The new being created from your child and White Light’s essence is the personification of the original Gorin’s evil. He calls himself Gorin Kaja, and he will try to kill you.”

TDC sighed. That really didn’t surprise him. Everything and everybody either wanted to kill him, or wanted to use him for something. Everybody but Kawaii, that is. His heart fluttered at the thought of her name.

“Gorin’s got his godhood, but it’s diluted,” Mercutio continued. “Because, biologically, he’s the son of the son of the dark god, he doesn’t have as much right to the godhood as, say, you. However, for every blood relative that dies, he gets a higher right to the godhood, and more power as a result. So he’s going to try to kill you in, oh, about five seconds.”

“Five what?” TDC asked incredulously. Suddenly, the door to Mercutio’s room was ripped off its hinges…

OOC: Lots of dialogue in this one. XD

As eager as ever, Kawaii stepped forward, ready to tell the tale of her lost companion. Dreamer was not even fast enough to get out a syllable before the doll was in the middle of a sentence. “I’ll tell it,” she began, sounding as if anyone else telling the story would have been a crime, “Alright. A couple of weeks ago, a big group of mean suck-you-buy came and took Freddie away. Doudou and I tried chasing after them, but we never saw them again.” Her explanation was surprisingly clear, considering her last one was barely understandable. “Then we said hi to Domino. He said that you know a lot about sak-yuu-bai, and that you might know where they took Freddie.”

With a crease in his brow, the mousy looking man crouched down in front of her, and began staring intensely into her eyes. After only a few moments, she lowered her gaze out of embarrassment. “You’re not human, are you?” he asked, startling everyone besides, of course, the little doll. “Nope,” she replied, happy to get attention from the stranger, “I’m a doll.”

“Yes, yes, a doll! I thought that was what you were. Wow, a real life specimen right here in my own library! This is stupendous! I’m sorry, would you mind if I pick you up for just a second?”

“You may, you may.”

Not wasting a second, the man scooped Kawaii up in his arms. With a rapt expression, he turned her from side to side, examining her. “Oh wow, so light for such a beautifully crafted model. And the lines are just perfect. I can’t see any imperfections at all! And it’s so lifelike. Wet eyes, wet lips, actual warmth!” After a few seconds of gushing, he turned her sideways, tucking her belly under his arm. “Oh, and this craftsmanship!” He ran a fingers up and down her leg, causing her to begin giggling uncontrollably. “It’s smooth as real skin. I can’t believe how human it is! This has got to be the best model I’ve ever seen in my life! Ah, I wonder if her insides…”

He was not able to finish that particular sentence. Yari had thrust her spear out just below his neck. One move, and it could have run him through. “Put me down!” the doll demanded, still laughing heartily, “You’re ha-haha tickling me too much! I can’t haha-ha stand it anymore!”

“Do it,” Dreamer added, lowering her weapon. No longer making exclamations, he set her back on the ground, and backed away a few feet. “You’re really fun,” Kawaii went on, brimming with energy, “We should be friends.”

“Uh, yes, that would be very nice,” he responded, stuttering somewhat, “In fact, why don’t you stay here for a little while and help me with my research.”

“I really wish I could, but I have to find Freddie first.”

And that was where things got back on track. “Uh, Freddie, right,” Ampershield began, “I‘m so sorry. You two are here to ask me something, yes?”

“Heh. It’s good to see the world hasn’t changed you yet, Joker,” Domino interjected, though no one acknowledged it, “You jumped on her just like you would have back in the day.”

“So, you say a group of Succubi came and kidnapped this ‘Freddie’ of yours. Hm…Were you there to see this?”

“Yes,” Dreamer answered, “we were both there the whole time.”

“A-hm… Are you sure it wasn’t just a group of humans? Even with only what you’ve told me, it doesn’t sound like a Succubus is what you’re describing.”

“Yes, I’m sure. I suspected as much from the beginning, but Domino helped confirm it on our way here.”

“I trust that. In that case, it was a good thing he brought you here. Those are some very odd actions for a Succubus. They normally hunt alone, and only prey on solitary targets. Once captured, the target is drained of their life essence immediately. For a group to prey upon more than one person, and to capture instead of feed on, is just about the strangest thing Succubi could do. Not even someone as good as Domino could have helped you track them after something like that. It’s just too random to predict what they would’ve done next. LUCKILY, I might be able to divine a couple answers for you. If you’ll just follow me back to my office.”

Showing half a smile, the mousy man turned back toward the passage he had come out of. He didn‘t make it a step. Ever since he had set the little girl down, a certain question had been practically bursting past her lips. “Does that mean you know where to find him?” Kawaii asked, her voice both wavering with uncertainty, yet still growing with the sound of hopefulness, “Does… Does that mean you know where they took Freddie?” After being away from her white haired guardian for as long as she had been, the emotion that the question created was almost too much for her. She was prepared to either break down crying or jump for joy.

For a moment, he seemed perplexed by her question. “What? Oh, yes, I’m sure that after I cross-check the possible reasons for his capture against recent reports of Succubus activity, that I can tell you exactly where he is.” He did not get past ‘yes’ before the doll had tackled Dreamer to the ground out of the sheer jubilation his response brought on. “You hear that, you hear that?” she exclaimed, sitting atop the Sacred Lance Wielder‘s chest, “He knows where he is! We’re finally going to find Freddie!” Although the taller of the tow blondes normally would have been annoyed by the little girl doing something such as that so abruptly, she could not help but feel happy for her.

As the girls shared their excitement, the mousy man began to back away. Having no desire to split up the scene, he quietly retreated to his office to do the work.

Gorin tossed the door down the hall with ease. TDC reacted before the dark god could even get a good look inside the room. The white-haired boy charged through the doorway and punched Kaja in the face as hard as he could. Gorin reacted with a punch of his own, which knocked his relative back into Mercutio’s room and sent him flipping over the bed.

“Back off!” TDC yelled, hopping back onto his feet. In the time it had taken him to get back up, Gorin had crossed the room. The God of Wrath took TDC by the throat and hurled him out the window before turning his attention to Mercutio.

“Doesn’t anybody say, ‘Hello’ before attacking anymore?” the Avatar of Destruction asked. Gorin took his axe and brought it down, splitting the bed in half where Rosaline had been sitting. Mercutio himself was already outside, standing next to TDC’s limp body.

~

Matt heard the commotion and hurried over to the source. He found Room 224 a complete mess. The door was gone, and the bed inside was cleaved in two. A broken window and the sounds of combat let him know that the three of them had begun fighting before the Legend Killer arrived, and were now outside.

He walked over to the window with a smile on his face. They were making this too easy. Matt picked up several shards of glass and began to focus.

~

Down in the street, the fight was well on its way. Gorin was focusing his attack on TDC, whilst Mercutio seemed to be standing back and watching. The boy managed to shift his spirit orbs into a shield and sword, two items that he was mainly using to try to avoid being annihilated by the god’s weapon.

The Harbinger of Doom merely sat back and sucked on a jawbreaker. If he fought alongside TDC, the two of them would probably be able to turn back Kaja’s attack without Mercutio having to use one of his released states. In that situation however, they’d be sitting ducks for the assailant in the inn.

Mercutio glanced at the broken window, knowing fully well that the Legend Killer was inside. The instant Matt made his move, Rosaline would make his. Whilst he remained focused on the DAM agent, Gorin was giving TDC a sound beating.

Though the spirit orbs were strong enough to save the boy from being carved into bits, they couldn’t do anything about the force of the dark god’s blows. So, though he remained unscratched, each attack he blocked sent him sliding and hurtling around the street. He wouldn’t be able to keep this up much longer.

OoC: Very, very, very, very sorry about this wait. Let's see if we can't make this RP move faster in the future.

BiC: The cavernous reaches of the Tyb Highway Library were filled with the wails of a woman weakly weeping. Kawaii the doll cried softly, yet steadily, into Dreamer’s chest, having yet to go a single night without shedding those tears. But her sighs were softer than normal. Whether it was from hearing the echo of her forlorn yelps, or feeling the stares of the researchers who constantly passed by, her moans were quieter that night. The volume of her display belied nothing, though, and the change gave the one who she cried into no comfort. Despite being less exposed, her feelings were just as raw.

Rather than shouting, the doll groaned, “I want to see him again,” or “Please come back,” into Yari’s bosom. She repeated those lines with every heave that was not devoted to a whine or a whimper. Her little body quivered with each doleful noise, as if a permanent hiccup was caught in her throat. The heat of her tears could have cracked ice, though they did no more than pinken her cheeks. Her eyelids closed tight, still managing to let the salty beads of liquid flow down her face. She embraced her friend as a tree would grip the soil, longing for comfort with no sign of letting go.

“D-d-dreamer?” the little girl narrowly managed to stammer, surprising the taller of the two, “You kn-now, he never let-let me touch them.” After so many nights of the same two cries, she at last said something different. “He s-said they were dan-dangerous for me, and that they re-reminded him of someone sp-special to him. They were so n-neat. I wish-I wish I had one with me. He w-wouldn’t like that, b-b-but it would make me…” Her breaths became more unsteady than before. “I w-wish he would have lef-left me something. I want to see him again.”

The words belied nothing, and the change gave the Sacred Lance wielder no comfort. She could only become teary eyed as her frowns and fidgets became more pronounced. She pulled the little girl closer, only managing to make herself feel more uneasy.

-_-%-_-%-_-%-_-%-_-%-_-%-_-%-_-%-_-%-_-%

Whether morning was dawning or not, Doubutsu Yari found herself awakening from her night’s sleep. Her little companion had fallen asleep into her chest again, and still had an arm wrapped around her torso. Her other arm, oddly enough, was not stretched into a hug. No, the blonde awoke to find the man they had come to know as Ampershield holding the little girl’s limp arm out by the wrist. He crouched beside them, doing some unknown examination that involved looking intensely at some unknown spot on the doll’s arm. She could not even guess what he would have been looking for.

“Just what are you doing?” Dreamer asked, interrupting whatever deep concentration he had invested in. Dropping the girl’s arm, he fell backwards onto his rear end, letting out a small yelp as he fell. “Gah!” he exclaimed, stirring Kawaii to life, “You startled me.”

“I’m sorry. You startled me, too, though.”

“Yes, well, I’ve been known to do that. Ah, good morning, Kawai~i. How are you feeling today?”

“Good morning, Joker,” the shorter of the two blondes responded, turning to hop down off of her companion’s lap, “I’m feeling healthy as a horse with a carrot.”

Somewhat groggy from the awkward night’s sleep, it took the taller of the two blondes a few moments to get up off of the bench they had been sitting on. Her back cracked when she stood, another sign that sitting up in one’s sleep was not healthy, especially if someone was lying on you. Naturally, Kawaii was chipper as a humming bird as soon as she hopped off of her. Her cheery grin may well have worked as a substitute for the sun that they were hidden away from. The library was continuously lit by candles, so it may as well have been in a constant state of afternoon.

“Well, that’s so very nice to hear,” Lorne continued, “So, were you able to give any thought to my proposal, last night?”

“Your what?” the doll responded, causing the mousy man to sigh with exasperation, “Did you ask me to do something?”

“No, no. I’m just thinking wishfully. Oh, such a sweet personality to go along with such a cute body. Why couldn’t a doll like you be his lost legacy?”

“His…?”

For a few moments, Kawaii fell silent. Although her lips moved, she made no noise above a few inaudible mutterings as she stared blankly out into the air. Her eyes glossed over for a second or two before her clarity returned to her. For an instant, her taller companion began to grow concerned. After a long enough time, she popped back into herself. She snapped her gaze over to stare Ampershield in the eyes. “Freddie,” the little girl said, as if his name were the answer to a complicated problem, “Did you find out where he is? Did you find out where the bad women took him?”

Letting out an old man’s sigh, Joker rose to his feet. “Well, just as I thought, there’s a story behind this,” he began, adjusting his eyeglasses, “After checking some reports I remembered finding odd, I confirmed the suspicions I had from the beginning. A select few dark creatures have been acting differently as of late. Among them were the Succubi. According to recent sightings and encounters, they have been gathering in oddly specific areas and traveling in tightly knit packs, a rarity among their kind. With a few exceptions, these reports have all come from the same area.

“This immediately ruled out any of the few reasons why they might have decided to work together to capture your friend under normal circumstances. These actions point to the Succubi serving an up-and-coming demon lord. That then suggests that your friend was not a random target. Whoever this demon is, they wanted him specifically. Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten any reports in of a new demon lord taking power in this or any nearby region. We haven’t even gotten any reports of a minor demon taking minor power. Because of that, I… Wasn’t able to find out where the Succubi took your friend.”

If the two blondes had not been geared to hear a positive answer since the beginning of the mousy man’s second paragraph, their reaction may have been more graceful. “But… But I thought you said you would tell us where they took Freddie!” Kawaii exclaimed, sending an echo throughout the library. She stomped her foot against the floor, nearly putting a hole in it. Lorne made a panicked motion to be quiet as her voice rose. “Where did these reports come from?” Dreamer asked grimly, “If you don’t have an exact location, then we’ll just search the entire area.”

“Woah. Please, don’t talk like he’s doomed,” Ampershield replied, “There’s a good chance he’s still alive as a prisoner. And when I said ‘area’, I didn’t mean someplace small. This place is an expanse of forest not easily navigated. It could take you weeks to find this demon’s keep if you don’t know what you’re looking for. I have a solution. You see, a few days journey from here, there’s a monster who controls all of the dark creatures in this country. He facilitates demon uprising. I’ll stake my reputation on this monster being responsible for this demon lord’s Succubus following.”

“What are you getting at?”

“Well, this monster is just about dead. Rather than fight, he would betray his less prolific brethren if he were threatened. If you and Kawaii were to confront him, he would probably tell you exactly where this demon lord is, and what kind of being you’re dealing with.”

OOC: Wow. We’ve had this RP going for a year now. Mainly my fault. XD

I’d say, “I promise I won’t make you wait long for posts anymore”, but we both know that I wouldn’t be able to keep that promise. So instead, I’ll just give you a good post. Deal?

BIC: “Resilient little ****,” Gorin grumbled, sweeping low with his axe. The Dark Child leapt over the attack and nailed his father in the face with a kick. Despite the child’s above-average strength, the kick barely made the dark god stumble.

“You call that a kick?” Kaja asked. He made another low swing. TDC jumped over the attack, taking another chance to kick his foe. This time however, Gorin was ready. He sidestepped the attack and booted his son in the chest, sending TDC skidding across the street and through a fruit stand.

“That’s a kick,” Mercutio mused, whistling at the attack. Gorin shot a brief glance Mercutio’s way. With that temporary distraction came TDC’s chance. He grabbed one of the few unbroken melons around himself and hurled it at Kaja’s head with as much force as he could muster.

The melon shattered in the dark god’s face and blinded his eyes with its juices. TDC, bloodied by his father’s attacks, charged forth to return the favor. He slammed his shield into the side of Gorin’s head and plunged his sword deep into his chest, before knocking him back with a flurry of kicks.

~

Matt smirked and stood before the window. Where there had previously been shards of glass, there was now a bare carpet. Rosencruex watched the fight with mild interest. As soon as his chance came, he’d take it.

~

TDC pushed his luck. Rather than being pleased with the attacks he’d managed to get in on his foe, he tried to get in another stab with his sword. By this time Gorin could see again, and he was not pleased. The dark god stood his ground and allowed TDC to run him through with his blade.

“Dumb move,” Mercutio said, unwrapping a candy bar and taking a bite. He shook his head disapprovingly. “Very dumb move.”

The demon child looked at his bloody blade, jammed up to the hilt in his foe’s gut. Then he looked up into the face of his father. Gorin’s smile was akin to that of a man who has just won a game against a less than worthy opponent.

Unaffected by the sword rammed through his midsection, Kaja grabbed TDC by the throat with his right hand and started to squeeze. The boy dropped his shield and released his grip on his sword in order to try prying the dark god’s fingers from around his neck. Gorin lifted the struggling boy into the air and readied his free hand to knock TDC’s head off.

Sure that his life was about to end, the boy closed his eyes. Because he was unable to speak, or even whisper, he said a silent apology to Kawaii in his head. In that moment he wished that he’d simply tried to find his doll, instead of going about with this insane half-assed detective work.

One thing saved TDC from having his head separated from his shoulders, and one thing only: Opportunity. The ultimate opportunist struck in that instant, and Gorin would be feeling the effects for a good week.

Matt Rosencruex had dropped down from the window just as Gorin pulled back his fist. The Legend Killer extended his hand, and a large glass blade was launched from his palm. The blade sliced the dark god’s left arm off at the elbow just before exploding, embedding a series of glass shards into Kaja’s flesh.