Send Me a Friend (Sakume)

Louis gave her a affable smile, laughing at little at himself, "You're right, Miss Kate, I have been calling you 'lass'. My apologies--this ol' minstrel's getting a little up there in years, and his memory isn't what it used to be, ya know? You'll have to excuse me."

"Mister Fritz tries his best," Melody chimed in quickly, to the defense of her friend. She wasn't completely familiar with all the little nuances of self-deprecation or modesty, but she sure knew that the man didn't speak up for himself enough. He just took any comment in stride with a laugh or a grin, usually agreeing with whatever was said.

As they came up to two doors, one a sturdy oak, and the other a pale lilac, Louis made sure to address Kate's other question. He spread his hands, indicating the two, and said, "You can have your choice here. The lavender door is Melody's room, and the wooden one is mine--the two are connected, and have plenty of space for you, so feel free to choose whichever you'd like, or move in between the two as you please."

OoC: Short and bland, I'm sorry. <____<;; I'll do better next time.

While looking back and forth, Kate pondered which to open first. She neared the lilac, liking the shade of purple better than the muddy brown of the oak. She felt awkward opening it, so she waited until Melody opened it herself, showing her things, though Kate didn't really wait around for the explanations. In fact, Melody could hardly seem to catch up with Kate as she zipped from corner to corner, inspecting every piece of the bedroom.

The soft, enveloping shades of the lavender sent a warm feeling through the girl. "I like it," she said with a tinge of happiness, directed towards Melody, who she seemed more comfortable talking with so far, despite Louis's attempts. She patted the musical note-studded bedspread, unsure of what the black dots were. They looked to her like sticks. More of the strange notes were on some paper with lines on top of the small writing desk nearby. She peeked into the other two doors in the end of the room, one leading to a bathroom and the other, a large place full of different instruments.

She turned and saw a door she had not seen yet and opened it, her mouth dropping slightly at the sight. Grass layered the room instead of carpet or tile, and there were stars. How come the stars can be out during the day? Are they daystars? she wondered, eyes scanning the rest of the room to see many trees. It's so pretty... Suddenly, she gasped, drawing both of her company to the room with the sound. A squeal of joy escaped her lips, though small, quite audible. "Look! Look!" she exclaimed, her true childish innocence fully escaped from the shy, seclusive barrier she had previously. "Look! See?!"

She pointed and swiftly removed her bunny backpack from her shoulders, putting him on the ground so gently one might have thought he was made of glass instead of cotton and fabric. "Bunny, look, there's a friend for you!" she whispered.

A small, quivering rabbit had appeared in the field, probably from a nearby hole dug, completely white as hers, with a twitching nose and pink, velvety ears. It seemed pudgy for a normal rabbit, perhaps having eaten too many blades of Louis's flooring, but it made the animal seem all the more cute to the little girl.

Kate approached the butterball creature on her hands and knees, almost crawling against the grass, getting green stains on the white, but not seeming to notice. She pushed her own Bunny with her free hand, growing nearer and nearer, her presence quite revealing due to her constant shuffling and whispers.

The rabbit, however, was either too occupied continuing to stuff himself or not frightened by the girl since he remained. He disappeared from sight only briefly, the bit of his white cotton tail visible as he inspected a rather strange patch of red grass coming out of his burrow.

Ouch! Ow! OW! Oo- Mast-OW! Isn't th-ah, a better-oof, way to do this?

"Nonsense... you don't want to be seen, do you?"

But Mas-Hey! Get off, you pest! The rabbit zoomed back in a few bounds as a head popped out of the now quite-enlargened burrow, big enough to hold a person through means of magic. The red grass didn't taste all that good, anyway, it seemed to say as it ignored Pyralis.

Get back in there! Now! They'll see you! We act tonight!

"Easy... for you... to say..." grumbled Pyralis while he shifted his weight back and forth, sinking back into the hole.

Surprisingly, as Kate looked up at Louis, she turned to Melody and bowed her head, returning now that the bunny was gone as sullen as she had been first meeting them. "Um... I"ll... stay in her room."

Dusk had finally fallen upon the Dome, although you wouldn't be able to see it in the minstrel's room, where the stars perpetually twinkled overhead, like diamond dust spread on a blanket of midnight. Still, Louis could tell when twilight had come just by the heaviness of sleep that tugged at his eyelids, beckoning him to slip into dreamland. It was a feeling that poured over you, soothing like warm honey...

Tonight, however, he laid awake and alert, his arms folded behind his head as he rested against a tree by a pond. He knew the two girls would be safe in the next room, but still... something worried him... made him want to stay awake, like the chance of either of them having a nightmare and waking up afraid. If he really thought deeply about it, maybe the reason he was staying awake was because those two girls he was protecting in the next room... they reminded him so much of Caroline and Melinda. His blessed daughters. He could still see them when he closed his eyes to sing...he missed their smiles and their laughter. So often, on quiet nights like this, he and his wife Julianne would stay up late, dreaming of their bright future. They never imagined the brightness they saw would be their home in flames...

The man shifted onto his back, away from his reflection in the small pond's silvery waters.

Papa...no one would ever call him that again, he thought, but he could at least try to be a pillar of light to the children next door. He sat up, hearing a little noise coming from a burrow not far off. The rabbits weren't typically noisy...to be honest, he didn't even know if they made a real distinct sound at all...but there was this constant, restless rustling that struck him as out of the ordinary.

Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he rose to his full height to have a better look around.

Wiping the sleep from her eyes, Kate sat up to her full height to have a better look around.

The room was dark, darker than the little girl ever accepted. She whimpered as she pulled her stuffed animal closer to her chest, comforting him with reassurance and pats of encouragement. If Louis had made the guess of one of them waking up because of a nightmare, he would probably be mistaken for a prophet. Tottering to her feet, she pushed back the homeliness of her blanket and felt her way to the door connecting the two rooms, stumbling only once. Melody seemed to sleep well and deep, since Kate never heard her wake up. Kate never slept well, especially not in a new place, and the nightmares were worse tonight.

She opened the door just a crack, enough to see what Louis was doing but not totally reveal herself just yet.

A whimper escaped from within the burrow of the rabbit as the hellhound dug its claws into the dirt, paws sinking in the mud it created with the intense heat generating around its uncomfortable position.

Pyralis gave the beast a shove from behind, pushing it further upwards in the cramped conditions they shared. You dumb dog! Just GO! I got through, so you certainly can!

Kate let the door open, stepped inside, and closed it just as gently behind her. She gazed up at the stars, her pj's she had been provided most likely originally Melody's, so they were a bit too big for her, covering her feet and hands from sight if she let them, as she did now. They were a pale pink in color, slightly faded, and had dark pink dots on them, so the little girl very much liked them. Pink was her favorite color, after all. She looked at the water, taking in her reflection and noticing her pajamas covered everything.

Maybe I'm shrinkin! A panicked thought filled her mind for a brief moment, since she had not been told they were previously another's. I need to eat more vegetables!

Then she returned to the matter at hand, rocking a little back and forth and finally looking up at Louis, her voice soft, big, blue eyes still damp from a few tears. "I had a bad dream..." Little did she notice near the suspicious rabbit hole and impatience from Pyralis, some grass began to singe as smoke wafted into the air.

"I had a bad dream..."

Once a father, always a father, Louis thought. Only rarely did a peaceful night pass unbroken by some dream or frightful flittering in the darkness of a room; something would always creep into the imagination, like a bat into the moonlight. Somewhere behind Kate, he could see smoke rising up from the ground, as if a nightmare were about to take place for real in this very room.

I didn't light a fire...

He knelt down and looked into Kate's big blue eyes, shaking a few blades of grass out of his hair. "...You had a bad dream, did you?" he said softly. "Why don't you tell me what happened?"

His eyes flickered back up to the smoke, which was thicker now, coiling like a wispy gray serpent. It was always said that where there was smoke, there was fire--so someone was here... there were a lot of fire-wielders in the Dome, but Louis felt he had a hunch as to who it was.

An image flashed through his head. The man with the flaming red hair. His men dragging the minstrel away from Melody, off to torture and beat him ruthlessly... this man, he felt quite certain, had followed them here. But the Dome was Louis' arena--and his room, his domain. He controlled this room to an extent... it obeyed his will as a teacher.

He could snuff out the man's flames.

He reached for the instrument case beside the tree he'd been resting on, and placed it in front of him, leaning on it as he waited for Kate to tell him about her dream. The very moment the red-haired man made a move... he'd be ready.

And until then, well... this was his Dome room--it listened to him. And he was telling it to rain.

Drip...drip...drip...drop

The little girl didn't seem to notice the moisture coming from the sky at first. She paced as a general would giving a pep talk to his army just before the war, hands behind her back and staring at the ground. She spoke for the first time in a normal volume, though her childish tone and girly pitch made her as innocent as ever. "So... at first I thought it was a big snake wearing a scarf, but then it turned into a huuuge-" at this point, she spread her arms as wide as possible to emphasize the sheer size, "worm!" Normally, a nightmare about a giant worm wearing a scarf would make the listener chuckle, or at least crack a smile. The only thing most likely keeping Louis from doing so was the terror reflected in Kate's eyes.

There was a method to the madness. This nightmare, not exactly the same, had occurred before many times. The senses were taken from her subconscious, formed into things she could relate the memory to with her age. The worm related to the strong smell of the muck deep under the earth. The smell was not the sweet, earthy scent Louis had about him, rather, that of a rotting ground, dirt made from a dead body, that which worms made. The man who had kidnapped the little girl in her past had this smell, a smell that also lingered about Pyralis.

The size emphasized how easily her kidnapper had snatched her, dragged her away from all she loved in a simple swoop, kept her from speaking, taken her without warning into a world that, though burning in hatred and smothering in bitterness, was colder than anything she had felt.

The scarf summarized what he wore, his face entirely hidden from her, though she recalled dark, muddy hair, perhaps another reason for the worm analogy. She retained her position of arms spread until something wet hit her nose. "Hey!" She looked up and gave a squeal of alarm. "I'm melting!" Rushing under the tree beside Louis, she looked herself over and breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm okay. Phew." She lifted a hand to touch the drop running down her nose.

"Heyyyy..." She licked it. "This is water." Kate knew what rain was, but as far as she knew, it only occurred with clouds. There were none. The stars still glimmered, though the rainfall was steadily increasing beyond the protection of the trees. She continued to stare upwards. "How come the stars are cryin'?" she asked, turning to see Louis, and very slowly inching over towards him. She nervously, but firmly, affixed one hand not holding her bunny around the material of his pant leg, leaning only slightly into his body. "How come?"

The nightmare was over.

For one of them, at least.

Pyralis scrambled to dig his hands into the dirt, which was swiftly becoming mud, pushing the whining hellhound upwards. "GO! Get out now or we're going to be flooded!" Though the demon did not like water, it did not harm him, nor put out his flame. With a spatter of dirt in all directions, the hellhound clawed its way out of the rabbit hole, squeezing out to make room for a very angry Pyralis to escape.

He stood up and narrowed his eyes towards the girl, his hair hanging limply around his face. "You. Minstrel. Get out of the way." His voice was normal, though it could be heard throughout the entire room. "The girl is mine. If you don't give her up, I'll burn every scrap of green in this room into ash. Rain makes no difference. This will be your first and last warning. Test my patience and I can kill her."

"The girl is mine. If you don't give her up, I'll burn every scrap of green in this room into ash. Rain makes no difference. This will be your first and last warning. Test my patience and I can kill her."

...When his wife left him, Louis had made a promise to himself. Nothing would ever shake his daughters' worlds like that again--nothing would make them feel that kind of sorrow and hopelessness again if he could help it.

But he'd failed them--he'd been tricked and his girls had died.

After he had lost them, he made himself a new promise. On his travels, if he ever came across some child in need, he'd defend them to the very last. It was the least he could do, he always thought, to repent for his failures. He didn't care what it cost him in return. As long as he kept that promise...

At a very low pitch, as he stared Pyralis down, he hummed a tune. He could hear, he thought, the melody resonating somewhere else... maybe even in the next room over, after he had started. When he glanced down at Kate, he could see that a doubly-strong Sound Barrier was around her. Melody had reinforced his spell.

He stood, the raindrops running down his rugged features and dripping down onto his shoes.

"Burn the room down. It means nothing to me," he said, drawing a halberd from his instrument case and kicking the now-empty box aside. "To take this girl from here, you're going to have to do it walking over the dead bodies of me and every single one of my allies in this Dome. Because if I have a shred of energy left, I will not allow it."

He could smell the scent about Pyralis... it reminded him of Kate's nightmare. His eyes gleamed at the man, sharp as his halberd's blade. This was the man who'd ordered the beatings on him... and the man that the girl feared. Louis wanted to attack him until he couldn't move anymore. If learning and teaching all this time at the Dome had meant anything... let it pay off now, he thought, setting his jaw firmly.

"Oh, I'm so frightened. Don't attack my worthless pawn." Swirl swirl swirl. The crimson color of the wine formed a small whirlpool as he swirled the glass, watching the liquid churn from side to side. "Humans. Such wonderful creatures. So emotional, so predictable." The cool ice-like eyes shifted to look into the semi-clear liquid in the pot in front of him. His grin spread to reveal sharp, organized teeth, not quite long enough to count as fangs, but not short enough to be anywhere near normal.

"Burn the room down you say, Louis? Oh, never. Such vibrant personality. Why would I ever destroy such a thing? But walking over the dead bodies of you and-" he had to stifle a chuckle, his voice taking on a sarcastic, rather buffoon-like quality, "every single one of your allies in this Dome... that I can do." He raised a hand, then thoughtfully let it drop to his chin. "But then again... why attack you physically when I can do such greater damage in other ways?" His eyes sparkled as his grin grew, making his smile look like a jack-o-lantern, almost as if it was too big for his face.

By this point of silence on Pyralis's end, he was beginning to wonder if his master had indeed forgotten or abandoned him altogether, something which he didn't understand. "Master?" he asked outloud, a puzzled, nigh-childish look on his face as if he was a little boy looking for a parent in a crowd.

We'll kill the girl.

Pyralis's bewilderment gave way to an almost indignant look. "Why, Master? Shouldn't we use her?" His palms lifted and a shimmery orange color began to materialize a five-foot long sword, intricate patterns of unreadable language incripted into the blade.

No, you idiot! Stop talking outloud! We're not going to hurt her physically...

Pyralis blinked once, pondering over what his master meant.

The heart, slave! The heart! We'll scare her... to death. And along the way... we reach his.

Pyralis paused for a brief moment, hefting the sword up and glaring across at Louis. He made a quick, though heavy vertical slash towards Kate, which did not connect, but sent a ridge of flaring fire towards her, skittering along the ground in an unstable pattern. It surrounded the girl, and though the barrier did not break or give way, her screams penetrated the air. He charged for Louis, each footprint instantly seering the ground below it, kiling anything living. A horizontal strike flew through the air, the target being the ministrel's abdominal area.

Any little girl would have been afraid of fire. Kate was not any little girl. She was deathly afraid. It consumed her, made her unable to think and act on her own. She continued to scream, though she was not hurt, thanks to the barrier around her. Her rabbit was held tightly to her chest, her tears buried into the fabric making up the stuffed animal. He would not stop. It was never finished.

The flames... it was like it was happening all over again. He could see Brantmill in his mind's eye, burning... another fire he could not stop. This man, Pyralis, and his blade... they were another fire he could not stop. The slash seared through the air, towards his body...

"It's dark here, Mister Fritz..."

The minstrel blinked; there was a faint, ghostly outline of a flute, stopping the sword inches from his stomach. He looked up the instrument, half-expecting to see the blonde girl's delicate little hand grasping the end, but there was only air and smoke.

...Miss Melody?

"I...don't understand where I am... but I can see you. It's like... when that heavy blanket was around me in the carriage, and a-all there was was the darkness and this one circle of light, with you there reaching out a hand..."

The girl's voice, unlike the screams of the one behind him, wasn't heard through his ears. It resonated somewhere deeper; he could feel strength coming from her. The familiar feeling of Melody's magic was running through him, even greater now...

"...I want to help you reach out to Kate now. She needs you, like I did."

Pyralis' sword swung at Louis again, but he felt himself leaping out of the way before it came too close.

...Did?

In the back of his mind, Kate's screams were ringing. They penetrated deeper than just simple sounds; this was an innocent girl in terror. Whirling around, Melody's voice still lingering in his mind, he turned his back on Pyralis and swung his halberd towards the circle of burning grass. Air rushed around, and there was this faint melody of a flute... the fires, unharmed by rain or anything else up to this point, were blown out, like candles on a cake.

Louis spun around just in time to parry another attack from the redheaded man, the cool starlight now the only brightness shining upon them.

Pyralis pushed hard, pressing deep against Louis's weapon, no longer joking or playing around with the man. He wanted to get it over with, and quickly. His force and power building steadily, he managed to thrust the ministrel back against a tree, swinging the now-flaming sword towards him. The man ducked and rolled, avoiding the attack, but only barely. "You're getting annoying!" The weapon didn't even touch the tree; the bark evaporated before the blade hit it, completely slicing it through clean as if it were air.

He has help.

"What... kind of help?" Pyralis grunted outloud as he followed and attacked his prey, swinging his sword repeatedy down in an irritating game of whack-a-ministrel.

A girl. She's slightly powerful, more than him. Nothing to worry over. Continue your fight. To the person watching, this was nothing more than an entertainment, a game to cheer and laugh over in which one controlled every string. Look at them. He mused, sipping the rest of his glass of wine. One little mistake, one little emotion, and everything unwravels into chaos. Isn't that right, Johnathan? How fun these mortals are.

Pyralis glanced briefly to where Kate had been, only to find in a fit of surprise, she was not there.

Run...run...run... don't look back. Don't look back. Her heart pounding like a war drum in the back of her mind, her legs flew as fast as she could force them, already nearly at the door. She was not thinking. She couldn't. No more fire. No more fighting. She swung open the door and was gone, lost in an infinite amount of danger and doors, each waiting to be disturbed by such a little girl as Kate.

Pyralis looked back at Louis, both weapons pressing against one another. Leaning over and lifting his head back, he smashed his skull into Louis, the impact leaving him with a completely bent-in forehead. It looked as if someone had pressed their fist into a pile of clay, but the fire slave merely smiled and backed away from the dazed opponent, his head returning to proper shape as if he were a balloon being re-filled with air. "I'd love to stay and fight. But I've got previous engagements." In a flash of fire, he disappeared, reappearing only inches from Kate.

She screamed again as he reached a hand forward, only to be blocked by the barrier. "GRAH!" Several heads were poking out of doors nearby to see what was happening, and Pyralis removed from his jacket what appeared to be a pistol. "MINISTREL! Remove your barrier!"

A pair of dark brown eyes stared out from a visitor to the Dome, someone that had only come back to grab the last of his things- a drop out also with two souls at one time, but the soul that understood more than any other about Pyralis.

What?! The wine glass shattered as he dropped it. "No! That's not possible! Not now!" A sneer replaced the previous smile on his face. No matter. He will not be able to do anything... and if he does... I'll be ready.

OoC: Excuse my rustiness. ^^;;

IC:
A worried voice stretched out across worlds... across universes, from some unknown, lonely void where a young girl paced and clutched a flute. She wasn't aware of how her voice was carrying such a distance, or why her voice could carry such a distance... she simply thought of someone, and somehow, the sounds she made could reach them...

This time, her little voice reached the ears of a gypsy with a glass raised in her hand, seated at a tavern of some world far away. Not a drop of alcohol had passed over the woman's tongue yet that night--an average person would've wondered why, then, they were hearing voices. But this particular woman was all too familiar with magic--it was one of the things she was best known for, and she recognized the soft, musical words that reached her as those of the girl's right away.

She looked at the glass of tequila in her hand, conflicted, as she listened intently to what the girl had to say.

"Mrs. Cadenza--please, this is Melody. I need your help... M-Mister Fritz is in trouble... and I don't know what else to do... He's... he's in the Dome, in his room, fighting this scary man and... and trying to protect someone... and..."

Suddenly the shot glass in the gypsy's hand felt very heavy, as did her heart. It was like watching a see-saw tip from one side to another... Melody's pleading voice just kept tipping it back...

"We really need you... I'm afraid, I don't even know where I am... and... there's no one else to turn to. Please... will you come?"

Cadenza had come here to forget her troubles, she thought to herself, not to pick up someone else's and add to the burden on her back. There was no sensible reason she should just go and rush off and ignore her own needs...

...but she knew that next shot of tequila would be the nastiest tasting drink she'd ever had if she didn't go to Louis and Melody's aid now. It would be utterly spoiled by that thing called guilt. And when she thought of the girl's angelic blue eyes, crying for her to come... no amount of self-pity could compare. That kid depended on her, like always. And she owed Louis, too, for being there for her in rough spots recently.

She put the tequila glass down firmly on the counter, and slid it back to the barkeep so hard that it nearly fell and shattered to pieces on the floor.

Before the man even had the chance to glance up and look for an explanation, the double doors of the bar's exit were swinging back and forth as if a gust of wind had blown through.

-----------------------------------------

"MINISTREL! Remove your barrier!" Pyralis ordered.

The minstrel's expression stayed unchanged. "I won't. There's nothing you can do to her--and I don't care what you try to do to me. Give up," he said, "Leave."

OoC: I realize I leave you hanging here, but you can IM me if you're confused.

BiC:

The incarnation found himself feeling something he had never known before, namely, a sinking sensation of truth to the minstrel's words. He pulled the triggers as mini discs of flame shot towards the barrier, bouncing off with small screams from Kate with every impact. His hand shook as he released the trigger, the weapon dissipating into smoke. He was sweating.

"You're him..."

Pyralis turned, almost not out of his own volition, nor his master's will. He stared at the former student in the middle of the hall. The man did not appear frightened, a startling new reaction for the fire demigod. Louis temporarily faded from the demigod's attention. Pyralis blinked as he overlooked the man's appearance. His eyes stopped, halted by an unseen barrier around the single piece of jewelry the opposer wore. A pearl... dull, medium-sized, yellowing around the edges.

Amazing... The carpenter stared back at the man. Lucien... you spoke of him often, but is this really him? "Johnathan?"

Pyralis’s cheek cracked like a mirror, and his skin began to tingle, sending uncomfortable sensations further up his arm. Master?... For the first time he could recall, he felt weak. He lifted a few fingers to his cracked skin, where a dark line of dirt spilled out from beyond the pale skin. “What’s… happening?”

“Johnathan? Are you in there?” The werewolf took a step closer, near Kate now, but eyes fixated on Pyralis.

“Master?” his tone began to gain a desperate sort of overtone. “Help me…” More cracks, as if his skin were pottery baking in the sun, were splitting along his skin.

Kate hid her face as Raziel stared at the fire incarnation, unable to look away. His tanned skin appeared to glow, the normally gentle features of his face stern.

Marcus was not surprised per say, by the appearance of the past nuisance, but he was not quite pleased, either. This interruption would put his plans into an unhappy mix. “Hm. This is interesting. A break in the soul. Will he allow himself to die? Or will my servant regain control in time?” Marcus did not bother worrying about Pyralis dying. He could always create him once more, seeking out a different soul among the many in the world, or perhaps try his hand at controlling a full being instead of a shell holding the soul.

“Master… he…” Pieces of his broken face clattered to the ground as if they were porcelain, shattering on contact with the ground, following by the rest of his skin. Dirt began to spill to the ground in waves, sliding down until a very dusty layer of tan skin appeared underneath. Kate screamed, covering her ears.

A pair of loving eyes blinked once. The body glowed unnaturally, even more so than Raziel. Although they were heartfelt, the eyes imprisoned waves of sadness and regret. Facial features other than the eyes weren’t easily distinguished, hidden behind the glow. The ethereal soul faced Raziel. “Lucien… forgive me,” his pained voice squeezed out the words with a heart-wrenching whisper. “Please…” He turned towards Louis, the minstrel’s weapon glinting. “Kill me.”

“Please…” the man gasped, “Kill me.”

And Louis thought he would like to do nothing more at that moment. But something tugged at him... some... some sympathy, maybe it was... looking into the younger-looking man's sorrowful eyes... hearing that weak, desperate whisper... this somehow didn't feel like the same man who'd ruthlessly beaten him, who'd done such horrible things to poor innocent Kate...

There was still compassion in this old minstrel's bones, and he couldn't deny it, even to this man with the cracked face. The question was... would it be showing mercy to kill, or spare his life? And would he revert back to that demon-like man from before, and make Louis wish he'd had struck him down?

He needed to make a decision... he needed to make one even though he was acutely aware that he did not have all the facts here.

A rush of wind through the shadowy trees preceded the words from Melody: "She hurried here even faster than I'd ever seen her do before."

And the minstrel's dorm room just seemed to keep on gaining guests--he and the others turned as one to see the woman's always-defiant figure standing in the deep shade of a tree, dark even by the starlight, a small smirk on her lips. She was holding her cutlass--she asked for no explanation, simply angled the weapon's tip towards Pyralis when she saw the horror the young girl in the room was looking at him with--it took no details to know that her friend would be defending the child here. Louis couldn't describe the overwhelming relief that came when he saw her there. She would have the decisiveness and strength that he lacked when the situation called for it.

"You seem half-dead already," she said to Pyralis coldly, narrowing her eyes at him. Fritz couldn't tell if she was sensing anything strange about their enemy, or anything else magical of the sort... but he felt, too, that what she said might be true in a way. There was something odd there... he just hadn't the slightest clue what.

"My friend here might be hesitant to finish the job, but I won't be," Cadenza continued. She gripped the Conquistatore da Luz tighter, and seemed to be staring at it almost as if locked in some sort of contest with it for a moment...

...then there was, Louis thought, almost a soft cry from the sword, and this brilliant shape made of light--blue, and shining, and pure--that shot towards Pyralis like an arrow, ripping through the night air. It struck him... the minstrel wasn't even sure where, his eyes were so dazzled by the bright light, but it seemed to have pierced deep and caused a great deal of pain...

Cadenza's blade was hissing when he glanced back at her, like it'd let off steam or magic. The gypsy stood there, still, watching for what happened to Pyralis...

Much like blood, the dirt flowed through the unseen wound in the half-rebuilt body of Pyralis. Hands tried to cup it; fingers scrambled to grab it, but it left him. Pyralis, in a sense, was angry, yet, he could not feel the emotion itself without cooperation of the soul. “Master…”

“Will you swear yourself to me?” Marcus asked, staring at the man he knew would soon replace Pyralis.

“I swear it,” he responded in a deadly cool tone, blinking. “Our terms have come to pass.”

Pyralis struggled, attempted over and over again. “Master… help me.”

For a sudden moment, Kate’s screams increased, and then died slightly. A silvery mist filled the room. As if it were haze, it began to lift.

A pressure of an arm rested on Louis’s shoulder. “You really shouldn’t have hesitated…”

“Master… please!” Half of an arm extended towards the new presence in the room as the slave groaned, even begged.

The being tsked, shaking a finger. “Not now. I’m busy.” Anyone who saw the man would have known without a doubt something was not normal about him. Perhaps not magical, but still other worldly. His hair was a dark grey that of a storm cloud holding out for rain as long as possible, twisting in thick strands around his head. His eyes seemed to be a vivid green color, also dark, deep enough to smother someone if they dared stare into them long enough.

A black coat kept any aspect of his body-type hidden, apart from the milky whiteness of his skin. He smiled at Louis, then Cadenza, his teeth replaced by small fangs. “Hello.” He didn’t wait for a reply. “I have a preposition for you, my good mom.” He reached down to point to Kate. “You want to keep this… little person, correct? While having her be un-hunted, un-chained, and in all real senses, free? Including from her affectionately-called ‘puppies’?”

"I want to give the girl a chance to live as happily and 'normally' as possible--to grow up in an environment where she doesn't have to feel fear or feel alone every other moment. To be free enough to experience childhood and learn about her world while still having someone to come to for protection and guidance and care. So yes, put that how you will. I wish to take care of her."

He tilted his head to the side. “Intriguing… very well then. I shall make you a deal of some sort. You may keep her, as far as I’m concerned, and she will never be hunted by Pyralis or the dogs again. But on two conditions. One, only if I can talk to her and ask her a series of questions alone. Two, if everyone in this room now, excluding Pyralis, of course, has dinner together. Very well?”

“Why can’t I be there with her?” Louis asked with a suspicious tone to his voice.

“The questions I have to ask are for her ears alone.”

“… then her safety must be guaranteed. Give me your promise she will not be harmed.”

“Agreed. I have no intention of harming her.”

“Alright…”

Kate looked up towards the approaching Marcus with tears in her eyes, streaming down her cheeks as they overflowed. The man knelt down to her eye level. “Kate. I must speak with you now. Then you are free.” She shook her head, to which he squeezed her shoulder. “Kate. I must.”

“N-no!” she exclaimed in a heartbroken muffled sob. “I-I want my Daddy!” She stumbled as she left his side, flinging her body into Louis’s leg and clutching his pant leg with a death grip. “Please don’t go, Papa…” She hoarsely cried, rubbing her blurry eyes against him. “Please…Don’t go…”

“Please don’t go, Papa…”

There was that word: papa. He never thought he'd hear someone call him that after the Brantmill fires... and yet here were these big, innocent blue eyes, staring up at him with hope and fear all mixed together, and... it was too much to take. He didn't even notice Cadenza staring at him, giving him a look that said she'd lose all respect for him if he didn't respond to this girl how he knew deep down he should...

All he could think of was how this was like his second chance... his chance to be there for one of his children. Letting Kate go alone with Marcus would be like letting his daughter back into those flames burning their home down...

“Please… don’t go…”

The minstrel reached down and gently tugged Kate from his leg. She didn't resist. Something about his grip told her she was safe. Then he picked her up, and swung her around slowly onto his back, letting her secure her arms around his neck.

"I won't..." he told her softly, and he squeezed one of her little hands reassuringly in his own big, tan one.

Then the gentleness faded from his eyes as he turned to Marcus again, and he said, "You heard her, didn't you?" he gave a little smile, as if that was all the answer needed for anyone in the world, but went on, "I can't leave her." This too, he stated as a simple fact, with no room for debate. "A daddy can't just abandon his daughter--and so wherever she goes, I go. Whatever you need to ask, you can ask in front of me."

Saying those words... getting to call himself a dad again... it warmed his heart. He knew he had missed it... but he'd never realized just how much until this moment. He smiled, a warm smile to mimic the feeling in his heart, as he thought he could feel little Melody, wherever she was, somehow squeezing his hand gently too.

Outside this tender moment, eying Marcus suspiciously, stood Cadenza, who was feeling quite confused. The man she'd killed... he had just faded away to dirt, and then... this man had appeared, demanding to question this little girl Louis seemed attached to, and requesting that they all eat dinner together for some unfathomable reason. She'd come here because Melody had begged her--and yet the girl was nowhere to be found. The gypsy felt... kind of lost, just standing here, her cutlass still in her hand. But... still, seeing Louis and the little girl right now, and how they were standing up to whoever this other man was... it made her want to smile.

Somehow... I think that Fritz would have made sure things worked out all right for her, even if I didn't show up.

That thought made even the gypsy, as cold as she was trying to seem while she glared at Marcus, feel a little warmer and happier too...

...It must be... something about this cute little kid--she just... makes you want to smile.

Kate rubbed her tears into Louis's clothing, her little arms linked about his neck as if he were the only thing holding her on this earth. She refused to look at Marcus now that she felt protected, burying her nose in the crook of Louis's neck. She successfully began to calm down a great deal from when she was inside the barrier.

Marcus looked at Louis as if considering something for a moment. "Very well. If that be the case, we can talk right here." In the blink of an eye, and a small wisp of silvery smoke, a velvety couch slipped into the fabric of reality just behind them. "Have a seat." As he sat down himself, he nestled into an armchair of the same fabric. "The questions will not take long, but must be absolutely answered truthfully. Is that clear, Kate?"

The girl hid slightly behind Louis, but nodded. "...'Kay."

"Alright..." Marcus stared in Cadenza's direction as he watched her stare in return. "You may leave us now."

Kate looked at Cadenza, and then at Marcus. Cadenza hadn't moved. She didn't seem intimidated, or if she was, she did not show it.

Marcus, for a brief moment, gained a spark in his eye. Whether it was anger or mere frustration, no one would be able to tell. Kate had shifted just a little beyond Louis to see Marcus. It might have been because of a sudden bond Kate felt towards the woman, but she stepped beyond Louis. She walked up to Marcus and waved her hand down, making the man bend down to hear her whisper. His eyes lost their spark. "Hm. That so?..." He looked at Cadenza and a smile formed over his lips. "Alright."

He settled back as Kate did, things now calm and relaxed in the room. "So... my first question... from what I hear, Pyralis spent quite a few nights with you alone. How did that feel, when he loved you?"

Kate's expression fell. Behind those big, blue eyes tears began to threaten to escape. "It hurt..."

"Did he just touch you?"

"...sometimes," her voice whispered, so low and dejected it could hardly be heard.

"Hm..." Marcus nodded. "And when the hell hounds caught up to you and dragged you back to him, did you ever bleed?"

"...sometimes," she answered again, the voice choked. She squeezed Louis's shirt, hard.

"Did he ever make you touch him?"

At this point, Kate was crying too hard to answer, her body shivering and jerking with sobs.

"Did he?"

The little girl nodded forcibly and quickly, sending tears to the fabric of the couch and a few on Louis's pant leg. The crying began to be audible as she wished she could be anywhere else. She crawled into Louis's lap and curled against his chest, shaking as she cried.

"This is ridiculous!" Cadenza shouted. Some people might have felt self-conscious, being an outsider and interrupting things this loudly and suddenly, feeling everyone's stares fall upon them. But she didn't. Her hands were clenched so tightly the knuckles were turning whiteish underneath her gloves. "I'm not going to just stand here and let you talk to this girl like this any more! Why would you ask her these things--what kind of sick satisfaction do you get from forcing her to answer?"

Louis couldn't recall ever seeing her more enraged. He felt like he could almost picture steam rising off her in angry wisps. But to be honest, when he looked down at the poor, crying little girl holding onto him... when he'd listened to those questions... he'd felt the same anger. Cadenza was just echoing his thoughts, voicing them in a much more direct way than he usually ever would.

Still, even if he wouldn't say things as hostilely, that didn't mean he wouldn't say anything at all. "I believe that's quite enough," he said with stone-like firmness, fixing Marcus with a deathly grim and serious look. "You've asked all the questions you need to"--this was not a question, but a statement.

He tore a large part of his vest, and loosely draped it over Kate's shivering figure, dabbing gently at her tears with it. "All that is over now," he said soothingly, in a voice like warm honey, while he lightly patted her hair. "I will not allow anything like that to ever happen again... and it looks like my friend Cadenza will not either. We will keep you safe, dear, I promise." He hugged the little girl very gently, letting her finish sobbing into the rest of his vest. This, he thought, was a horrible situation he'd never been through with his daughters, but... he could be there for Kate now, through this, all the same. A dad had to be ready to help his children through anything; to be a strong, safe, guiding figure through any nightmare.

He only looked away from the scared child in his arms for a moment, to see his friend, the gypsy, locked in a tense gaze with the man in the armchair. At least... it was tense on her part--she seemed to have frozen up, midstep, as if she were nearly paralyzed and could not step any closer to try to hurt him. She was even panting a little softly, as if something were taking its toll on her. The man's stare itself wasn't so tense... it was just strange--mysterious and unnerving in an indescribable, almost otherworldly sort of way that sent small shivers down Louis' spine. The minstrel quickly averted his eyes in case he, too, would end up like Cadenza if he looked any longer.

The only thing that kept him from worrying was that he knew how strong-willed she was, and that she'd be able to break out of whatever this was and move soon.

Marcus knew, without any sort of visible implication, of the effects he could have with a simple sway of his will. He didn't understand it fully himself. The only thing he knew was that things had not gone according to how he guessed, and that meant he needed more research. He watched Cadenza, and thought on Kate's previous assumption and admittances. He could not tell whether the flair in her eyes was protective enough or not, but he nodded very slowly once. "The questions have been sufficiently answered to my liking. Now, for dinner. Do not bother cooking. It would take too much of your precious time." He did not say this in a condescending manner, but a truthful, respectful tone, as if he truly understood they had limited time on earth.

Kate shuddered against Louis as she tried to forget the memories Marcus dredged up, her eyes dry and red. At some point during this shudder, there was a whirl, and the setting changed. Flickering candles were upon a linen tablecloth, which in turn sat on a polished table. Several platters, many steaming, lined the places set at the table, a strong smell of italian in the air that made a person's tongue salivate much too heavily for his or her own good.

"Please... sit." Marcus took a place in one of the three chairs lined across from the lonely chair opposite them. "Sit and let us eat and talk."

Kate clung to Louis, but as he approached, supporting her with his hands linked under her and her arms around his neck, she gave Marcus a small look. "Please... I want to sit by Mommy and Daddy."

Marcus turned to look at Cadenza. "If she agrees, I don't see why not."

Kate's eyes moved to Cadenza as Louis turned. "Please, Mommy?... Sit with me? Don't leave me with him." The little girl sensed a bond between Cadenza and Louis, but even though she didn't quite understand the whole bond of husband and wife they did not have, she knew she already loved Cadenza with all her little heart and she didn't want to lose her, as she had her previous loved ones. And so, she reasoned, somewhere in her six-year-old rationalizing, she had to quickly explain how much she needed her. Maybe Mommy had left before because she didn't know how much Kate wanted her. Maybe if she let Cadenza know now... maybe she wouldn't leave.

Warmth unexpectedly rushed to the gypsy's cheeks, coloring them the pink of roses; she didn't quite understand this feeling the girl's words had brought... this look of affection and need and vulnerability that she was giving her, but... it was... sweet. Did she really just... I've never been called... even Melody, I was still 'Mrs. Cadenza' to her, not... not...

Louis just stroked the little girl's hair gently, not looking up, but she could see the smile on his face. He was hoping, too, that she wouldn't refuse Kate. He hadn't known the child long, but he already wanted so very badly for her to be happy... and he knew, behind her cold and angry walls, his friend had a big enough heart to care for this child and give her all the love she could.

The cutlass in Cadenza's hand melted away, and she walked over quietly to where Marcus was by the third of the three clustered chairs, motioning for him to get up. "I'd... like to sit next to her, thank you."

The man let her take the seat without so much as a stare like she had expected, and she plunked softly down, before scooting her chair a little closer to Kate's and giving her a small smile. "This is... the best seat in the house, I think," she told her, reaching out to take her little hand gently.

Louis reached over and took the girl's other hand, giving it a little squeeze. "This seat's just as good."

Kate leaned first against Cadenza, gently nuzzling her arm and rubbing the woman's hand over her face like a fawn would rub its head against its mother. Then she nuzzled Louis's hand, resting her cool cheek against his tanned skin and sighing. The sigh signified a final relaxed poise she gained as she felt both secure parental figures on either side of her chair.

Marcus soon seated himself in the single chair opposite them, opening a vat of spaghetti and spooning some of the succulent food onto his plate. "Try the pasta. Quite good, I've heard." He began to eat. It almost seemed like a family reunion, with Marcus playing the part of the rather strange, secluded "uncle" who suddenly shows up at the door talking about his casino he formed in some unheard-of town. The type of relative you weren't even sure was related to you at all.

For the first course everyone seemed quiet, but Louis appeared to take to fathering Kate quite quickly, helping her put a napkin in her lap and tucked in the neck of her dress. Cadenza equally helped by spooning Kate an appropriate amount of food and even cutting it for her to make it easier for the little girl to chew. Kate began to swing her bare feet under the table as she munched spaghetti, getting the red so much around her mouth it appeared she had gotten into a bad makeup salon.

Marcus couldn't help but smile as he watched her. It was not a pleased smile, per say, but it was not condescending or fake. "So... I suppose... the two of you will be adopting Kate, won't you?" A flick of his finger and a single scroll appeared within his fist, a pen in his other hand. "This is the contract binding her to your care. I'll take this time to read it to you." He cleared his throat once, let the scroll unroll down to his waist, and removed a monocle from his coat pocket, leaning forward.

"I, Marcus Von Starlingbriar, having sole custody of the being known as Katherine Anne Aleski, do hereby bequeath all rights, privileges, and duties of care to the newly signed trustees located in this contract. In doing so, I solemnly swear to destroy any connections of hell hounds, guardians, or otherwise hurtful intent towards the adopted and will allow her to take permanent residence without any inclusion of the aforementioned. In return, the adoptees must agree to provide the mentioned with suitable clothing, food, and shelter in any and all cases and fulfill the roles expected of them.

Visits from previous guardians, I.E. me, will be allowed on seldom occasions or when I am unable to come, will be performed by someone I deem worthy. If this person ever harms or intends any harm towards Miss Aleski, he or she will be immediately discharged and not return. These visits will be monitored at all times unless the situation is deemed hazardous by the visitor, in which case, the visitor will take the adopted to a safe destination and report back to the adoptees as soon as possible.

Money or non-harmful gifts will be given at times to the adopted in order to take research, but will never imply any bad or condescending manner among them. Miss Aleski's contract will only be breached if she does not have both parents, I.E., if one of the parents breaks this contract, or if Miss Aleski no longer mentally or physically shows/considers them to be her parent, I.E. they are absent. In this case, full custody is granted to me or to a guardian I shall appoint until I may reconvene this audience at a later time. This absence of parents includes, but is not limited to, complete ignorance of the adopted, any sort of sexual, physical, or mental abuse, marriage of one or both adoptee to another, or one or both of the parent's deaths. This contract may be altered or changed with only my permission and a hearing of this sort pending the decision. I have the final say and no loopholes may be exploited.

This contract is legal, binding, and completely unbreakable. As per my word, I establish it as truth. With the signature, this contract becomes reality. X____________ Mother X______________ Father"

After literally reading every piece of the contract, including the underscores, Marcus passed Louis the pen and paper. "Sign here, and congratulations, you're a Daddy. And you-" he pointed to Cadenza, "are a Mommy."