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Ryn gave him a strange look, not knowing whether to trust his words. "You know this guy?"
Terald shook his head. "He just showed up to fight some shape-shifting... demon thing... that got away. My head was pretty messed up, so I didn't really see much of what happened."
"No doubt because of that swill you keep drinking."
"It wasn't that... it was..." Terald trailed off for a moment. "... nevermind it's nothing."

The woman gave him an annoyed look. "Look, your pathetic attempts to come up with excuses are not funny, Ter. Since he's not here, I'm going to look elsewhere."

"Ryn, you should at least wait a bit. Besides, there's enough kids in the middle of that whole mess as it is."



Watts looked up as the ragged door was blasted off its hinges by a powerful force. Katrine entered soon after, paw covering her face.

"You're alone."
"That girl...
"You didn't find her?"
"I did. But she..."
Watts crossed his arms. "How come you didn't force her, Kat?"
"She... Kiri... Her mind is messed up enough as it is, Watts. She's too..."

"Mentally unstable? It's your fault, messing with her memories and all that."
"It's necessary. She'll expose us, with the way she acts."
"Look, you've taken great care to shelter her, but since she's no longer a little runt, she's been wanting to see everything.
"She has. She has her books. Why are you lecturing me, anyway, she's not your child."

Watts shook his head. "And you're supposed to be the psycoanalytical one. By the way, you still never told her who her father is.
Katrine gave him a nasty glare. "There is no need to. He's dead."
"Oh, yeah, that's right." Watts took a step closer. "You won't be able to keep that lie up much longer, Kat. You and I both know that."

"She is not going to find out. I've been taking care of it up until now, and I'll make sure it stays that way."
Watts took another step closer. "And you'll continue to rip her mind apart, bit by bit as you do that."
Katrine stepped back. "Stay away."

"Relax. I'm not going to do anything to you. Besides, I should get going. I need to make sure everything is in order."
"Master's orders? Where is he?"
"I don't know. He said he was going to pay someone a visit before getting back to us about our next move."



Aria scoffed. "Hell of a lot of good that does." She looked ahead. "Well, I'm gonna get goin'. Stupid kitty-cats don't bring themselves back."



She poked her head out from the darkened alleyway. No one was around.
Orange eyes darted back and forth, scanning the area. It wasn't like the other part of town, where most everything was in shambles. Everything here still looked new.

Cautiously, Kiri stepped out into the open, looking around. She had no idea where she was, she didn't even know what she was doing over here.
She finally sat down on the sidewalk and brought her knees up to her chest. Her eyes were still looking back and forth, as though afraid someone was going to pop out from the shadows.

"The name's Terald," the cat corrected him. "And the kid that guy was pretending to be was my youngest brother."
Ryn looked confused. "Raven? Pretending?" Her hands shook as bits and pieces of the mental jigsaw puzzle arranged themselves into a clearer picture.

"I have to go," she said hastily as she turned and ran back the way she came. Terald scratched his head, looking awkward.


Aria paused and looked John directly in the eyes. For once, she actually looked surprised, but she shook her head and tried to shrug it off. "What of it? So the man's practically considered a god by all the stupid nobles and religious pricks. Never did anything for me."

OOC: Just thought I'd toss this out here. General non-colored ref of Kiri, just in case my descriptions seem vague. <.<

"That stuff is bad for you."

Augustus had overlooked the strange girl sitting a short distance away with her knees up to her chest, staring at him blankly with empty-looking orange eyes. She didn't look much older than eleven or twelve,but her mannerisms seemed like that of a much younger child. "Mister, you should put that out before your lungs turn all black and yucky. My mommy says my daddy died like that 'cuz he smoked a lot."



Kenneth's feet pounded against the sidewalk with each step. He'd never run this much in all his life. He was following behind Kane now, who seemed to know exactly where he was heading. The wolf had easily gotten ahead of him; no doubt because of his height, which meant longer legs.

Were they there yet? The kitten didn't know, he couldn't concentrate with the sounds of crumbling buildings and thunder rolling overhead...

Wait... thunder?

He halted at once, looking into the sky just as a raindrop fell on his nose. Strange, it was sunny just a moment ago...
Putting two and two together, he suddenly realized it. No...
He looked ahead. Kane was already gone.

Dammit... I'm too late!

Aria's brow twitched; she didn't like the way they were talking one bit. "Don't talk down to me, you asswipes,"she called out, sticking up her middle finger at the canines. "I don't take crap from anybody, not even the likes of you."

The words struck the girl as odd. "What kind of stuff have you been smoking? I'm perfectly fine. You try anything funny, though, and my fist is going to break those teeth of yours. That's a promise."

--

"Excuse me sir, could you spare some change?"

An old rat no taller than an average human adult wearing tattered clothing limped about the slum neighborhood with an old, moldy cup in his hand. After being shooed off by a passer-by for the last time, he turned and limped away, but not before spotting a lone, cloaked figure walking up the street. He almost ran over to him and lifted up his filthy mug, rasping, "Excuse me sir, but could you sp--"

Before he could finish the sentence, the stranger lifted up his dark gray furred paw to his face. "Disappear into nothingness."

The elder was blasted backward at once, slamming hard into a graffiti-ridden building. The old mug fell to the ground and shattered; the old rat slumped to the ground, leaving a thick line of crimson as he slumped to the ground, rasping his last breath.

Many of the poor races that had been outside had their ears covered, as though they'd heard some sort of loud noise. It didn't seem to faze the stranger, even as the discovery of the corpse on the steps of the abandoned house gave rise to panic and screams.

He looked down at his hand, flexed his fingers for a bit, then grunted and looked up, keeping his eyes locked on a particular house in the middle of the next block ahead of him. "What a pointless waste of energy. At least it has momentarily distracted me for the time being…"

--

Kenneth froze; a horrible feeling had come over him again. He was alone, Kane was gone, it was starting to rain, and the further he traveled down this alleyway, the hotter it was starting to get. He thought he saw a flame for a moment, but what was really drawing him there was the indistinct shouting.

Staying still, the boy opened his hand, and a tiny ball of energy sparked to life. Part of him wanted to stay hidden, but he also wanted to throw caution to the wind and run out there…
Come on, Kenneth… this isn't school anymore… this is real…

With his heart pounding in his chest, he mentally braced himself. I'm going to throw myself into harm's way. So long as no one dies, that's all that matters.

"What makes you so certain the suspect is this young man?"

Ryn was slowly approaching the group, her violet eyes shifting back and forth between the two rabbits and the enforcers.

"I've heard enough to have some sort of idea of the situation, but I'm not wrong in saying that your job entails listening to at least their side of the story, would it not?"

IC:

"Relax, they're gone now," the feline spoke, closing her eyes. "Such audacity; who knows what they were going to do had I not gotten here in time."

"NEXT TIME I'LL KICK YOUR COLLECTIVE NOBLE ASSES! BUNCHA BASTARDS!!" Aria called after them as loudly as she could.

"Watch your mouth," Ryn addressed her, helping John to his feet. "If you're as hurt as they say, then you shouldn't be straining yourself."

"Tch, like you know better, Ryn," the young girl scoffed. "I'm a lot better off than I was five minutes ago."

"And what happened five minutes ago?"

"None of your business."

"You're not helping yourself, you know. Those enforcers were bent on making it look like you'd been assaulted. Or am I wrong?"

Aria muttered a string of swear words under her breath and turned away from Ryn. "It's not like that at all."

The feline raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Then please enlighten me. There has to be some reason kids are wandering around a disaster area."

Aria sighed, reluctantly deciding to explain the recent events.

Ryn only nodded once when she concluded. "You're lucky to be alive right now. She sounds like someone highly trained, probably a master of a kind of Art. She could have easily killed you, Aria."

"Yeah, I got that part when she threatened me," Aria snapped irritably. "You're not my &*#@%ing mother, Ryn, I know my own limits, ya know."

Ryn ignored this comment, and started down the street again. Aria raised an eyebrow. "Oi, where are you going?"

"I have to find my brother."

"No way, I'm still goin', you hear me!" Aria ran a bit to catch up with her. "I ain't backin' down after I got this far!"

Before Aria could react, however, Ryn turned about face, sidestepped her, then took hold of her arm and wrenched it behind her back. Pain stabbed through her, and she screamed. When the feline turned her loose the very next moment, she crumpled to her knees. The girl muttered another string of swear words under her breath as she slowly righted herself back on her feet, glaring at Ryn with contempt etched on her tear-stained face.

"That proves you're in no condition do anything," Ryn said plainly, "if someone can do that to you. Don't throw your life away, Aria. Get out of here, and take your friend with you."

The tan rabbit stayed silent, even as the feline resumed her brisk pace up the street.

--

The old hare had been sitting at the kitchen table, looking at the old photograph that dropped to the floor earlier. Although she smiled slightly, her eyes reflected her inner worry. The children had been gone for too long. Hopefully they would be back soon?

Estella looked up suddenly, hearing knocking on the door. Slowly, she placed the photograph on the table and rose from her seat, using her cane nearby as support.

When the knocking got louder, she said, "Hold one minute. I'll be there."

As she hobbled closer the front door, the hare felt relieved with the thought of seeing Aria, Kenneth, and Richard standing just over the threshold, unharmed and safe.

*Click. Click.*

One by one, the locks were opened, and Estella stepped back as she opened the front door. At once, her eyes widened in terror.

There were no children standing just over the threshold, but rather a large figure clad in a dark cloak. It seemed to tower over her, robbing her of the will to move.

Estella finally got a hold of herself and tried to slam the door shut, but the cloaked stranger held it open. "Why, how rude of you, Miss Estella. Closing the door on a guest? And one you haven't seen in many years, no doubt? I thought you would know better in your old age," a deep, sinister male voice spoke.

"N-no," the old woman said, shaking her head feverishly as she recognized the voice. "You're not supposed to be here… You're not supposed to be here… you're not…"

"Oh, then I suppose you think that I was supposed to rot for the rest of my life in that hellhole called a prison, right?" The man raised his arms to pull back the hood on his cloak, revealing himself to be a dark gray wolf. "As you can see, I'm a very busy man, with things to do, you know? One of these things just happened to be some unfinished business from a very long time ago…"

"Wha-what are you…?"

"I only want to ask a question; I was wondering if you happened to know where your former charge is. Miss Ryn Sonata, I believe her name was?"

Estella took another step back, shaking her head. "No, I do not know."

"That doesn't really help either of us, now does it," the wolf said, taking a step forward. "Now, I can feel your fear, Estella, and it's keeping you from telling the truth."

"It's the truth. I do not know. And even if I did, I would never tell you."

"Loyal to the Sonatas, are we?"

"No, Darien," Estella said defiantly, even with her expression still fearful, "I'm loyal to no one. Ryn Sonata is a dear friend, and I would never betray her to the likes of you."

Darien cracked his knuckles. "Ah, I see now. Then that makes things easier for me."

Estella took another step back, and the wolf stepped forward. "For the longest time, you, and the rest of your kind, have always been like this awful buzzing in my ear. Occasionally, the buzzing gets to be too much, and I just gotta do something about it, you know? Sure, you hear about all the petty crimes, but those are just the wannabes doing what they want 'cause no one's really going to stop them. My thing is on a much grander scale… one that, well, you or any of you filthy rodents will be living to see."

The wolf leaned forward, his muzzle just inches away from Estella's face. "Change is coming."

--

Thunder rolled overhead. Yet she still sat. Her clothes were soaked from the rain, but she didn't bother to move. Suddenly, her ears twitched and she looked up just as lightning struck one of the buildings, igniting the roof. As the flames danced and spread to the houses on either side, Kiri shuddered; it were as though it had triggered some sort of painful memory, or something else long forgotten, yet familiar.

Her ears suddenly twitched, and she started looking around. Someone was there, she could sense it.

--

So long as no one dies, that's all that matters…

Finally deciding that it would seem just plain silly to hide in the alley any longer, Kenneth stepped out into the open street.

"What are you doing?"

Kenneth jumped, then slowly turned around. Standing behind him, staring at him with childlike curiosity was a girl, a strange-looking mix of two different species he couldn't quite grasp. Granted, anyone else looking at her would probably have a hard time trying to figure out what she was, too.

She seemed to be about the same age as him, but there was something peculiar…

"What are you doing?" she repeated. "Are you lost, too?"

"No, I'm not lost. I'm looking for someone."

"Is it a friend? Is your friend lost?" The half-breed girl tilted her head to the side, staring into the boy's face. "Your eyes are weird. Were you born with those eyes?"

Kenneth just stared at her blankly. "Uh, look…I don't have time to stand here and talk…" He looked around, he could've sworn that other kid was around here somewhere. "You should get out of here, things are going to get--"

He stopped suddenly as lightning struck near, almost blinding Kenneth for a split second. As his eyesight focused, he saw that the girl simply stared ahead. After a moment, she pointed past Kenneth and said plainly, "Something's going on back that way." She suddenly grinned. "Hey, looks like a game of tag~! I wanna play~!"

Kenneth turned to see for himself, but the girl rushed past him. "Wait, stop!"

"Eh? But I wanna go!"

"That's no game... it's a fight."

At first, she didn't say or do anything; she was still seething in anger. The moment John touched her shoulder she shot him a venomous glare and stood up, lifting the terrified adolescent by his shirt. "Are you *#%&ing retarded or something?! I AM NOT DEAD, I'm right here in front of your face, John. RIGHT HERE IN FRONT OF YOUR $%#!ing FACE." Her grip firmed, and she tried to ignore the pain in her arm. "Get a grip on reality, or else I'll beat it into your skull. You hear me?"

The girl looked ahead, then jabbed a finger, pointing out and Ryn's disappearing form in the distance, "Look there. You see her? The noble who bailed both our asses out? We follow after her."



Kenneth stopped short, his green and blue eyes darting back and forth between the two combatants flailing blades at each other. He immediately recognized the smaller one as the boy who had been with Estella and Aria earlier.

The "hybrid" stopped behind him, looking with an unreadable expression on her face. "This isn't a game," she said softly, stepping back.

That's what I've been trying to tell you the whole time… Kenneth though irritably, looking around for something he could use. On the sidewalk nearby, a garbage can lay on its side, its contents strewn everywhere and the lid sitting on the ground. Kenneth smirked. Perfect.

Making a mad dash for it, the kitten deftly picked it up and, aiming for the foxes' blades, flung it like a frisbee with as much force as he could muster.

.... *CLANG!*

"I wasn't trying to help anyone," the kitten said, trying to sound indifferent. "I'd only intended to stop your weapons. Unfortunately, it worked to your advantage."

Out the corner of his eye, he spotted the girl prodding the younger fox with a finger, her eyes alight with curiosity.

--

Ryn looked behind her one last time to make sure there was no one following her. Good. She was alone. Everything was silent except for her own footsteps and the occasional creaking of the structurally unsound shells of what were once buildings. Her right hand remained on one knife in her belt, just in case someone or something decided to mess with her.

The white cat suddenly paused; emerging from an alleyway was a large, dark-cloaked figure, although the cloak was splattered with crimson. It stopped in the middle of the street, looking around as if deciding which way to go. She quickly hid behind a crumbled building just before it looked in her direction.

The cloaked figure stood a moment longer, then, chuckling a bit, muttered something under his breath and walked off. Ryn caught a glimpse of cold, emotionless eyes peering from underneath the hood and a lupine muzzle. Her heart skipped a beat; those eyes… she had seen those eyes before, and that look could only belong to one person.

The thing was, he was supposed to have been imprisoned.