Hours turned into days and Nero heard absolutely nothing from that guild or from Rose and Nikolai... A week passed and he had begun simply to throw himself into combat, dropping his emotion. Yuna's name had been grey in his friend's list since that night, as she had been taken into the dungeon, and that meant that she was still not in a safe zone. Had they not found the guild yet..? He assumed that Jacob's name had also been grey because he was spending all of his time hunting and returned for short periods to sleep or resupply. However, after so many days, Nero had begun to truly question why he had yet to hear from anybody since Yuna was taken. The sun was low over that same floor and it was nearly nightfall as he stepped onto the teleport platform. "Teleport..." He started the command, nearly calling out the city in which his house was located. However, he surprised himself when he finished it, "Black Iron Palace." In a flash, the white-haired boy found himself in front of the intimidating building... The atmosphere was so cold as he saw the Monument of Life. Those who had passed on would have their names crossed out with a cause, time, and day of death. Something told him to stay away... Go home, go to bed... Nikolai would contact him tomorrow, surely, for an update at the very least. However, his legs moved against his will and his boots made a slow, echoing [i]tap... tap... tap...[/i] as he slowly walked into the large hall. He was face to face with the rock and he placed a hand on it... It was so smooth... He paused for a moment, instinctively moving to Jacob's name once he had remembered the order of Romaji characters. His finger froze as he found Jacob's name... There was a perfectly straight line through it... The cause read in absolute clarity, "Player-killed." Nero gasped and held his breath for a moment, visibly beginning to tremble as he fell forward into the wall, his forehead hitting his forearm as he squeezed his eyes shut, taking several deep breaths. How..? He was alive only days ago, not even hesitating to save the girl that Nero had fallen for. A voice rang in his head [I]You don't want to know...[/i] it sounded in warning, [I]Don't look for her name...[/I] The boy didn't listen to it as he scanned for her name - it was in one of the columns near the end and his fears were confirmed. Same cause of death... minutes later... Where were they? What had happened out in those woods? Nero pounded his fist against the wall and was met with no more than an 'Immortal Object' window. His teeth ground together and he stared at the ground, the tears welling in his eyes. Now was not the time, he decided before swiping his left hand through the air and sending out a message to Sasayuka once more. He was sure she already knew where the two he had gone to for help were and when they met, he was three times as violent as he had been a week prior. ----- "Where are they?" He snapped offensively, fire in his eyes. They had agreed to meet on the teleport plaza for the final city of the twenty-sixth floor. He'd never lost his cool so readily... This was more Alice's personality than his - he was always so much more calm unless he was frustrated... Today, however, Nero was [I]afraid;[/i] he was scared to have lost his best friend and the girl that he loved in the same day. "..." The girl's expression was dark as she looked down sadly, "I'm sorry, Nero." He stepped back and furrowed his brow at her; Nero had never known his information broker to apologize or feel empathy for anybody. "What the hell are you talking about?" The boy asked, clenching his fist at his side in aggravation. "They were going to the boss room the last time I saw them - I expect them to be on the next floor within the hour based on previous start times and Rose's safety margin... Which means you have approximately an hour and a half before they have left the first city on the twenty-seventh," She stated, sighing and turning around. "No charge." She would say no more apart from a very quiet command, "Teleport..." It began, but Nero could not hear the end of the line. He didn't need it because he had already kicked off after the floor's labyrinth, his blade outstretched at his side. He was going to find out what happened - Rose could kill him, Nikolai could destroy him mentally... But he had to know. ----- "Get your ass back here, you masked son of a bitch!!" His voice boomed as he threw open the doors to the boss room. It was empty and he could hear footsteps... They were climbing the stairs already. Nero pushed himself forward again, bolting up the staircase after them. He appeared directly behind them on the next floor, where he didn't stop his momentum, blasting straight into Nikolai, pinning him to the ground. "What... Happened?" He asked briskly, his voice a low growl. "You can kill me or do whatever the hell you want - just tell me why Jacob's and Yuna's names both had a line through them on that god forsaken wall! Did you ever try to find the guild? Or do you just not care?"