"Burden of proof?..." Ryoko stared back at the red haired youth, undaunted by neither the pool of darkness swirling at his feet, or the cold he was expelling from his body. He had broken out of Salforge's make shift prison, but what of it? He stood on no ground high enough to speak to her as if she were a peon he could command. She would have laughed if she had not known he was serious. If he wanted to play the fool and toy with them, that was fine. 

Ryoko's head tilted slightly upwards, a motion one might expect from pompous royalty. "Perhaps you should have crushed his arms and legs." She muttered to the mercenary beside her. The boy was confident in himself, and he had the power to back it up, but this only triggered the sadist inside her. She would enjoy seeing his copacetic demeanor fall apart beneath her heel. Reopening the wound on her right wrist, she pooled blood into a ball, the quantity being nearly five gallons. The sphere of black blood was made to rotate and vibrate, until the point it was boiling hot. With a thrust of her palm, the sphere was shot towards Gavin. Before it was allowed to make contact, the sphere exploded, splashing the entire area in her blood. With Salforge's shells blocking all escape routes, there was little chance Gavin could have avoided getting her blood somewhere on his body. Ryoko's vision turned blurry, and she leaned against the alley wall. Her breathing had become heavy, and her hands were shaking. "Keep him busy for a moment, while I catch my breath." She said to Salforge. 

The average human body has anywhere between 1.2 to 1.5 gallons of blood inside them, losing more than 40% of that blood is typically lethal without immediate medical assistance. Needless to say, Ryoko's body was not average, however, she still needed to watch how much blood she loss. It would only take a short moment for her to get back to her feet, 

[center]_____[/center]

Ace and Shizuka were both surprised when Lin grabbed one of their hands. They knew the business with Cerden had left her rather bitter, however, hearing about her brother revealed that it had hit her on a highly personal note. Shizuka smiled, and returned the tight squeeze of her hand. "Of course. The only reason I joined the Unbound Hearts was so I could be with my friends again." She said. "And I hope to see Han again too, he should know that he doesn't need to do things alone. What's he thinking making his cute little sister worry?" 

Shizuka's smile turned into a full on cheesy grin, it didn't take much to get her in a good mood. She considered Lin to be a close friend, for the feeling to be reciprocated was akin to receiving a gift. She noticed that Ace was being quiet, which wasn't very unusual for him, but she expected him to say something here. 

He let out a sigh, and looked to the two of them with a pleasant expression. "Between the two of you... You sure do put things in perspective. If it weren't for you, I'd have nothing but revenge on my mind. Thanks." 

Shizuka let out a noise like air escaping a bag, the tell tale sign of someone holding in a laugh. Using her free hand, she punched Ace in the arm. "Ow!" he said, quite eloquently.

"You know," She said, her voice distorted by giggles, "You can be really sappy sometimes."

"Me? What about you!?" 

"That's different." Shizuka said, covering her heart with a proud motion. "I have that type of character, you're the gloomy, silent type."

"What even..." Ace couldn't help but laugh along with her, bringing a palm to his face.

Lin then called out to an elderly man that had been among the crowd, pulling the two of them forward towards him. Lin wanted to know the man's name, however, he insisted upon leaving his identity blank. Instead of a name, the old man expressed his faith in the three of them, as if he saw something great in them that dwarfed his own existence.The words of this kind stranger struck a cord in Lin, and her friends could see her becoming emotional. 

"Y-you tear duct terrorist, if you start crying you'll get me started too." Shizuka sniffed, watching the old man walk away. "He kinda... Reminds me of our late keyblade master. He would always give me and Ace advice about nearly anything. It would be nice to see him again."

Their talk with the old man over, it was time for them to keep moving, as Lin was about to point out, however, a bright light off in the distance caught her attention, as well as that of her friends. The light was only visible for a moment, however it was bright, bright enough to be seen even during the day. Ace was tempted to investigate the source of the light, however they had more important things to do. "Let's go back to the bunker." He said to Lin. "We are preparing to infiltrate the factory on this world, so we need to gather some of our members and make our move. Are you going to join us, Lin?" Ace asked, knowing that there was a factory on her home world as well, she could understand the desire of ridding it from the landscape.