"I mean sure I can spy on him. Gonna take me sneaking into his fortress to do it though. I'm not equipped with any magics or tech right now. All I have is my assassin abilities."

Suddenly Soren shook as if a tremor had just run through him. "That's strange..." Memories began to flash in front of his eyes and things looked a little fuzzy. Could this be the time lapse? Could things be synchronizing? It had been four months since Kazen and He had been on Raslan. Time stopped when they weren't there for long periods of time or when their spirits were out of sync. Usually things caught up in their dreams during sleep but this time Soren was getting a flash download.

"Kaz? Umm what would you like me to do? I can go after him and see what is up. Also there are some other things we need to discuss a bit later." Soren turned to look up above their heads as a thunk hit the roof of their warehouse they hid in.

"They had to have come this way. I can feel him somewhere."

"From what I can hear Kaz he might be able to feel a connection with you or something."

----Raslan-----

Kazen nodded and looked around the warehouse. "There's not a whole lot here to use, but the over all scope of things is dire. We need to regroup and come up with a plan." He said as he climbed on top of a crate and took a seat. He drew a flask from his best and took a sip from it. He then heard the thud on the roof and jumped to his feet. He was running toward the rear exit of the warehouse. "We'll figure it out later. For now let's run."

Soren bolted to the exit with his friend. Thankfully the door wasn't chained locked like most of the warehouses. He burst into the alleyway and threw some smoke bombs on the ground and grabbed his friend by the arm and drug him away from the scene. Suddenly he smacked into a door, hopefully Kazen would stop before he smacked into him. The door opened and out came a hand jerking them both inside. Some of the smoke had filtered into the space they were now and and then the door they had been pulled through slammed shut.

Merlin coughed over and over until whipped his arm in the air and the smoke disappeared. "You boys get into more trouble than I have ever seen Arthur get in!" Merlin whipped his wand again and the door disappeared.

Coming around the corner Cid sighed. "Well good thing I found them otherwise we would be waiting forever for you to find them with your magic." The two of them were now face to face and glaring at each other.

Soren was still a bit shaken but things were starting to become clear as his dizziness came back into focus. "Stop guys we are here where ever that may be." Standing he braced himself on a chair.

"You are in my house. We are on Raslan but not on Raslan. Consider it limbo. We had to make a break for it when that boy went crazy and started attacking the city more and more often. I'm afraid that my house was a favorite target and Cid's hanger was too. He seemed to always be looking for you guys. Well we aren't going to let him bully the city anymore as soon as we have a plan." Things went quite and Soren looked over in the direction of Kazen. "Well it appears we are safe now. Now might be the time for planning."

----Raslan-----

Kazen brushed his shirt off, look around the room and assessed the situation. Merlin was here, as well as Cid. That was good, it raised their chances of success.

"Good. Limbo, limbo is good." He said in a muted tone, he was still fuzzy. He hated feeling fuzzy, and the effect it had on his senses. He didn't feel as sharp, and it corrupted his decision making.

"We need to put an end to his reign. And swiftly." He said finally, adjusting his gloves before rolling up the sleeves on his shirt. It was then that he noticed a gash on his arm. It wasn't bleeding much, but it was annoying to him nonetheless. He looked to Soren and then to the table.

"Do we have a map?" He asked finally.

Cid exclaimed! "Yes boy we do. Also we havent been able to contact the other worlds or anyone else from this limbo state. We have been tracking you and almost had you before you entered the sky. Merlin couldn't even detect you by magic." Cid hobbled over and placed a map on the table and motioned for them all to gather around.

Merlin looked over at Kazen seeing the gash and waved his hand towards him. A jet of green magic shot out of his fingers and onto Kazen's wound. "There ya go my boy that would fix ya up. Now what do you need a map for? That bugger has the whole of this world almost under his control." Merlin winced wishing he hadn't said anything but was said nothing could be done. "You boy are going to need a power boost to beat him this time I'm afraid. He commands heartless and unversed. His body is even changing it seems though we are never able to get a close enough look at him." Merlin waved Soren over.

Soren came over wondering what they would have to do. He himself was down to next to no magic and but skills that he could kill a man with...not a powered...thing. "I'm sorry if I would have know you were looking for us then I would have never gone to Olympus. It's a thing of my creation and its meant to be the best kept secret on Raslan. It replaces my lab but I fear that it may become compromised now due to the darkness left behind from what ever Kazen transformed into. Suddenly Soren clapped his hands over his mouth and the to elders whipped their heads towards Kazen so fast you would have thought that it would have caused them damage. Both of them looked at each other and then back at Kazen and said in unison "You transformed!? Into what!?"

With that everyone went silent and waited for an answer.

-------Raslan-----

Kazen looked towards Soren and stared through him, he was feeling something close to anger, but it was mixed with mild shame and degredation. He smoothed over the sleeve of his shirt and nodded to Merlin. "Thank you, I appreciate it." He said as the gash closed.

"Well. Now that it's on the table; my....inner demon seems to have awoken." He said flatly, he was in a rush of emptiness. He felt light headed, but otherwise he was fine. Save for the growing need within him; the need to lay Vanitas bare. He needed to break him, every fiber of this young man needed to be eradicated.

"I've changed it seems. I don't feel as f I'm whole anymore. There...there's this vast emptiness that's been there all along. Though I do not quite understand what lies at the bottom, I looked into that dark space in my heart. i believe that is where the beast hides within the emptiness..." He rambled for a moment but eventually trailed off. He peered down at the map and began making notes.

After a few moments of scribbling and analysis Kazen looked up and over to Cid. "How many airships do we have at our disposal?" He asked as he went back to his notes and waited for an answer.

Merlin and Cid both shrugged it off.

"With you boys there is no telling what might be going on. Also to answer your question Kazen we don't have anything. All the airships were destroyed save my models that I had which are with me now. Unless we become an inch high then that won't do us any good. He shot Merlin a glare. Telling him that no they weren't going to shrink themselves.

"I wasn't going to suggest I make you small but make the ships bigger."

A smile spread across Soren's face and then he turned to Kazen. "Think that would work? I mean you are planning on going to take him head on in the mountains right?"

"Boys there is something else. What intelligence we have gathered says that he is looking for something called the Crown of Light. I have heard rumors about Crowns of Light all over different worlds but I thought them only things of legend. If that is what he is after though then we need to stop him because I have no clue his progress on finding it if it is real that is.

_----Raslan-----

Kazen nodded in agreement as they formed the framework of their plan. He though about what their chances of finding Vanitas were and it bothered him that he couldn't sense his foe as easily as he himself could be found.
"Merlin, this 'Crown of Light, as you call it. What exactly does it do?" He asked as he straightened himself and rifled through his pockets for his cigarettes. After pulling the black leather and steel case from his vest he casually lit it and took a short drag.
"Because if I'm right, I may have what he wants." He said as he unshouldered the green bag that was slung over his shoulder and dug through it a moment. He then removed an object wrapped in a silken cloth.
"When I found this one in the ruins of the castle here I didn't think much of it. I believe there are more of these, but I have no real evidence." Kazen said as he unwrapped the cloth and revealed the glowing Crown. He sat it on the map table and it floated there about an inch off the table's surface.
"I've been carrying this for a while, hoping to find others."