[IC] The Midnight Train to Nowhere

[Kimchi]

Clutching the plastic sword tightly in her fist, she backed up against the wall and flinched as the mirror Harper was just looking at with a terrified stare broke and shattered into a zillion sharp pieces. Suddenly glancing around at the bug jars each person held, the critters within didn't seem to be at ease at all. They were fluttering around within their home and constantly colliding themselves with the glass walls encasing them. The floors and walls felt like they were vibrating before finally ending the whole in a destructive explosion of their light source, the glow jars. It was impossible to see a thing. No longer was the room lighted, and she couldn't make out any figures in front of her let alone her own hand which she held near her face in attempt to see.

Looking around panicked, she could here nervous voices at all corners. She could here Leon mumbling not too far from where she was slouching. Harper then advised that everyone leave the room. The atmosphere in there was freezing cold and she could definitely feel the presence of a demon around her, lurking at unseen corners. A flash of lightning lit up the room and she wished it hadn't because right in front of her, she could see a dark demonic figure standing and approaching them. Her eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness and the light from her amulet allowed her to see half a meter away which wasn't much, but a shining glint caught her eye as Leon shouted for someone to dive down and retrieve it from underneath the bed.

Just then, she watched as Harper was struggling against a dark force seemingly dragging him down. She saw the black grasp of something around his leg and she panicked, scampering towards the sword underneath the bed. Diving down, she fumbled a bit until she established a good grip on its base and yanked it out. By now, Harper was suspended in the air, dangling upside down. Grabbing the boy by the arm, she swiped repeatedly at the tentacle that had him in a death grip at the leg. "Let go of him you demon! I have your sword!" she shouted pleadingly as she pulled on her friend. There was no way she was losing another friend, especially one she'd been with since day one.

[Orpheus]

Group One

Avian closed the door behind them and pressed his ear against the wood. He couldn’t hear any of the low rumbling noises that were present earlier at their first encounter with the Midnight Man, so the lot of them seemed safe for the time being. He turned around, a sigh of relief escaping from his lips, and surveyed the surroundings.

A child’s playroom? How odd, not to mention creepy. He strode over to the window as the humans began to talk amongst themselves and rapped a fist against the dusty glass. It was just an ordinary window but was useless since you can’t look through it to the outside thanks to the murky make. Avian left it alone and rifled through a large wooden chest instead, carefully but efficiently placing all of the contents on the floor one by one. The Lost Souls were talking to each other and the soldier wasn’t called so he just continued on with his work, but the sword wasn’t in the chest and he had to return everything he took out back inside the container. It was easy since all there was to scoop up from the floor was a bunch of broken dolls and bears with tangled limbs…

The room froze over and the dragoon scrambled to his feet, skirting over to where Harper was. The boy was glancing at the mirror, asking if Avian saw that too, and before the man could reply he saw that the boy’s reflection grinned, contrary to the alarmed expression that was on the real person’s face. He acted out of instinct and pulled Harper away as the mirror flew into pieces, but the boy slid somewhere else when glass all around began breaking and darkness enveloped the room.

"Avian? Is this you? Oh God, Avian...what do we do, is there some special protocol for times like this?"

“I’m right here,” Avian called out to the panicked voice and he strained his eyes to get accustomed to the lack of light. “First of all, don’t panic, okay? Everyone, get to the door, quickly. Lesley, Leon, you’re together, right? Jasper? Harper? Who’s nearest to the exit? Use your hands to feel for the knob- it’s oddly shaped, with triangular edges the feel a bit prickly. Don’t rush. More haste, less speed,” The dragoon gritted his teeth after spitting out those firm orders before a lighting flash lit up the entire room for a brief moment. That interlude was enough for Avian to see the shadowy figure which was in the very center of the room, right where he was about to walk into, before the light vanished and something came crashing down. Before that period ended, though, he was able to detach the salt packet from his belt and launch it at Lesley and Leon. It bounced off the young man’s forehead and he scrambled to pick it up before thrusting it at Lesley.

"Let go of him you demon! I have your sword!"

The sound of honed metal cutting through the air came from nearby and Avian quickly walked towards the dimly glowing amulet. However, the Midnight Man wasn’t too keen on having his game end too soon; with an ear deafening roar tendrils shot out everywhere, randomly assailing every solid surface each of it could land on. The sword, in particular, was the target and innumerable tentacles reached out at Jasper’s arm. “Throw it at me!” A spark burst out of nowhere and a flame flickered into existence before the candle itself was crushed by a box the Midnight Man threw over. Just as the albino reared her arm to chuck the sword over where Avian was, a tendril slapped her on the wrist and she accidentally let go, the sword making an arc as it flew through the air and-

Hit a certain suspended Lost Soul in the face. “Ow! Oh hey, got it!” Harper panted out. “Here Avian, take it!” The boy flailed at the tendrils that were aiming for his hands and threw hard, and the weapon successfully landed in the dragoon’s hands.

“Everyone duck!” The sword landed blade first at Avian’s hand and he realized that the metal was dull, practically useless at fending off the tentacles, which were all now hissing closer and closer to him. He wouldn’t be able to use this to cut anything, but maybe… Avian tested the weight and balance of the sword by quickly executing a circle parry, before bringing his arm back and throwing the sword at the Midnight Man like it was a dart.

---

Group Two

The door gave way and the two of them fell down on the hallway. “Thank-,” Songbird choked when Riley yanked him up by the scarf, which constricted his airway and reduced him to a sniveling mess in a moment. Were those snakes he could hear? Brandy helped him up and they lighted some candles, handing these out to the Lost Souls while Ace brandished her fiery sword. “That works too,” The white-haired nobody muttered as he tugged on the bunny’s hand and followed after Ace. "Nobody panic! This place is weird enough without anyone screaming or wailing, geez," He added with a tense laugh.

The door that the redhead approached wouldn't open and Songbird got annoyed. "Oh come on, do I have to bump against it again? My shoulder kinda hurts," He murmured before something caught his eye.

The corridor was lined by windows separated at an equal space, where faint light pored in and formed luminous blocks on the carpeted floor. On both sides of the hallway they were in, these squares of light were slowly being consumed by a thick, viscous black...

"Oh snap. Brandy, help me with this, will ya? Hey Ace, go check on Riley!" The item hunter cried out before he and the black bunny rammed against the door, trying to force it to open as the darkness swirled upwards to form the silhouette of a keeling man.

There was nowhere else to run.

[MUG]

Inadi had followed the rest of the group and decided to keep a look out behind them while the others took care of their business. Ace was showing her frustration with not finding the sword and Inadi was also beginning to get a little more than agitated at the lack of success they were having. “At this point we should just take the Midnight Man out ourselves and force him to help us. Give me a few minutes with him and my spear and I might be able to get what we need out of him.” Inadi growled as he continued to keep pace with Ace as they kept searching, all the while he tried to look for some kind of shadow figure to keep the group up to date.

Then Ace made the comment that they might have lost Riley and Songbird. A terrific thing to learn. The guide and the other fire mage gone in a situation that they may need emergency light and someone with more experience than any of them. And for whatever reason Inadi could feel a change in the air. Something was coming up....and it was getting closer for whatever reason. Perhaps it was his imagination, but then again his imagination was becoming more of a nightmare than anything these days. Ace began looking for a lever as well as Leila, the second one finally finding what they needed.

Riley came out and began panicking and making a scene in the room. Yeah the whole event was probably traumatizing and she wanted to blame somebody for it but there was no reason to draw that much attention. He walked up to girl and grabbed her on the shoulder to try and get her to get back to reality. “Riley, we don't need this from you or other people in the group. It's just going to create problems for us as we continue the job we have. Get yourself calm and do it quick.” He told her as he suddenly began getting shook by Riley as she began saying something about there being something in the room she and Songbird were just in. She was definitely way too scared to handle the moment right now.

Then suddenly the bugs stopped glowing and everything began making sense. Rather than simply wait for the fire mages to light their candles Inadi created a lightening ball in his hand and tried recreating the flash he had made a little bit earlier but with a more wide effect. He decided against it and kept the bolt lit in his hands and began looking at the others as they started to light the candles they had. Inadi let the bolt go and refused the candle that was handed to him. He needed both hands for his spear and didn't want to waste time by dropping it to fight off the Midnight Man if he showed up. Following Ace again, at this point she had become the defacto leader of the group in his eyes, he gave her a nod and tried following her to the door they needed to go. The sword wasn't going to find itself and this whole thing needed to end quickly. And that chill Inadi felt going down his spine, it was still there. And no amount of candle light and fire was going to make it go away. If he could, Inadi would like to burn this whole building to the ground, just so that they never had to walk into this place ever again.

Once they got to the door it was clear that it wasn't going to move. The two guides rammed into the door and suddenly a black silhouette filled the room and it seemed like the chill finally had a reason to be there. Inadi knew that this whole thing just spelled out the classic horror story stuff. He would rip them all apart one by one and those who were scared of him the most would be first, those who struggled would be given the most painful deaths of the group. While others seemed to shake in fear, Inadi couldn't help but chuckle. He really wanted to be one of those guys who got it the worst. Cause in those horror movies those jocks were tough, but they weren't mortal embodiments of Zeus.

Collecting his energy in his hand he waited until it was clear where the son of a bitch was going to stand and pushed the guides to the side. “Don't you know it's rude to keep guests that have to LEAVE!” Inadi yelled out as he shot out a large bolt at the figure and blasted the door behind him. The shadows disappeared for the moment and Inadi decided it was best to start running now. Turning his head towards the rest he began waving his arm at them. The door was now half way down the hall and Inadi could see shadowy black clouds floating in the air as he stood by the doorway. “Let's go! We still got a sword to collect now don't we?” He said as he stood at the door waiting for the group to all run out so he could cover their escape.

[John]

”I see you.”

The words continued to echo in her head long after they were first said.

Leila couldn’t even remember when they were first said. Yet it persisted - the deep, haunting voice that evokes enough fear on its own without even being attributed to the legendary Midnight man. It persisted even when the cries and yells and sounds of collision going on among the group of Lost Souls all around her should’ve drowned it out.

Leila nearly tripped over her glowing jar as the group scurried out from the cabinet. She didn’t fetch her yet unlit candle, and wouldn’t realize that until much later.

There was no such thing as a spirit of a Midnight Man that responds to rituals and materializes as will in the form of a figure all in black.

”I see you.”

As soon as she realized she didn’t have the time to think she started running.

There were flashes of light, most of fire, some brighter briefer, akin to the light produced by electrical discharges of sorts. Leila could tell that it was likely the mages in their group. Sources of light - in the darkness Leila wished for light, but the temporary, intense illumination from the fire and the lightning provided no comfort, and invoked instead panic. After the flames faded Leila’s eyes were left unadjusted to the darkness, the remnants of the signals of light imprinted in her brain materialized in the painful and confusing blue-purple shadows in her sight, and the already feeble light of the lit candles in the hands of others appeared even weaker.

Her fellow Lost Souls yelled various things, none of which she could entirely make sense of.

Her feet propelled her body blindly forwards, pushing onto whatever hold they could gain, without time to think about position or force or direction. She certainly bumped into a number of things, may have been people or walls or other things, she couldn’t tell. There were lights, softer lights, like that of the reflected light of the moon, shining through rectangular openings, projecting their shape onto other surfaces, yet it didn’t provide sufficient information as for how the surfaces were arranged, having Leila clueless about where she was and where she was headed. She was too disoriented to even follow the sounds - the only way she managed to stay with the group was grabbing onto someone’s clothes and following roughly the direction it jerked, and being determined to never, ever let go. Not in this chaos - not in this darkness.

There was no way either to determine whether it was just her imagination or was the horrifying figure of the Midnight Man composing itself again out of the darkness - she thought she saw it, but then there was a flash and an explosion and when she looked that way again there was nothing. She felt her way through the hallway, keeping her grasp on the sleeve that belonged to-

- it turned out the sleeve was Inadi’s robe, as she heard his voice when she heard him yell something about the guests and later about the sword they had to look for. It was too late when she came to the realization that he intended to stop at the doorway, however, and upon accidentally stepping onto a what sounded like a wooden shard from the disintegrated door she lost her balance and the momentum she carried in her scurry tossed her right into Inadi.

“wah”

She let out a sound as she stumbled over - a rather awkward one that was a result of part of her wanting to scream and the rest telling her that she needed to stay silent to stay safe. Possibly rolling a few times on the ground and potentially bringing the young man who intended to guard the door down with her, the action -along with all the action around them - finally seemed to come to a halt with her lying face-up, left hand still gripping firmly although she couldn’t tell onto what anymore.

And after an interval of several seconds that felt much longer than it actually was, when her mind was finally composed enough to tell up from down and her eyes adjusted enough to receive signal from the lights of the candles and the distant windows - she saw, this time clearly, the thick mist of emptiness gathering itself to form the silhouette of the figure of a man.

Many things went through her mind upon that sight.[/i] There is no such thing as a Midnight Man. What is happening? I want to see light. What was going to happen? Go away. Let me out of here.[/i] But most prominently, there was a signal that her consciousness screamed in a deafening volume above all other thoughts: the unreasonable, irrational, yet overwhelming sensation of fear.

Leila didn’t know what to do, so she closed her eyes.

[Fox of Spades]

Group One

The sword Avian threw pierced through the Midnight Man's chest and the shadowy apparition let out an ear-piercing howl.

Harper fell to the floor with a thud and he let out a pained groan. The boy scrambled to his feet, hands automatically grabbing onto the hilt of his blade. The amulet on his neck shone bright and for a moment he contemplated standing his ground. It was only moments later when the boy realized just how foolish the passing thought had been and he inched back, turning around to grab Jasper by the hand. "Thanks Jasper, good job!" At first the girl had been very jumpy, but she was getting a lot braver, and perhaps he was too. They definitely had Ace to blame for this, and even though he was running away from a demon, a part of him could not regret stepping onto the Midnight Train.

He pretty much ran away blindly, dragging his friend along with him. Harper bumped into a few objects before finally running into Lesley.

"Aaah!" Leon reached out placing a hand on Harper's and Jasper's faces. He began feeling around, "Martini? Avian? Is that you?"

Harper swatted the hand away. "No," he wheezed, "it's just us."

Avian screamed something about getting to the door before a giant bubble began sailing towards the Midnight Man.

Martini was floating on a bubble looking absolutely furious! The Midnight Man had given her quite a scare and oooh, that mean ghost was going to pay for it! She envisioned putting him in frilly clothes and all sorts of uncomfortable things. "Lesley darling, your heard him. If we live through this, you'll be the model of my next line of clothes."

Leon couldn't believe it. A demon was trying to kill them and they were talking about fashion? Oh, he had never met people as fabulous as them. "Hey, can I model for you too, I'm a huge fan of your clothes Marti-AHHHHH!" A shadowy tendril sailed over their heads, well, most of their heads. Due to Lesley's height, the things managed to mess up his hair, leaving a dark, stinky, tar-like substance on his strawberry hair. The tendril crashed right into the wall, cutting a picture frame in half.

The mermaid let out a squeak. "O-Of course dear, it we live that is." She floated towards Avian.

"Avian!" Leon yelled as he grabbed onto Lesley and used the man as some sort of barricade. "We got the sword, why isn't it dead yet?"

Harper who had his hand over his swords hilt narrowed his yes, "look..." the boy whispered.

A bright light began pouring out of the slash on the Midnight Man's chest and as he flailed and screamed the light would glow even brighter. He was dying, it was over for him. The shadowy thing tore frantically at it's chest, it's wisp like features fading in and out of focus. Suddenly a bookshelf fell and the room became grew chilly. Books flew around everyone and a floating chair nearly crashed into Avian's face.

"This is so frustrating!" Leon's clothes were dirty, his hair was a mess, and he sure as hell didn't want to die in some moldy mansion. The wind mage's amulet grew bright and a gust of air began to surround them all. It propelled the flying chairs and books away from them, creating some sort of barrier. Martini cheered the wind mage on, promising to fit him in one of her best suits when everything was finally over.

The Midnight Man let out one more cry, before he faded into nothing but shadowy wisps and Leon dropped to his knees exhausted. The wind mage gave the guides a grin. "Pretty cool, huh? I've been practicing back at Sol with Haku." The wind mage made a face, "for some reason though, he's ridiculously good. Can't seem to match him." He let out a cough. "Mind giving me a helping hand, soldier?"

The lights flickered before every light in the mansion switched on. The Lost souls found themselves temporarily blinded as the door to the room slid open with a creak. "Thanks for the save Avian, so what's next?" He looked around at the damaged room. It was a miracle that they were all still alive. The Lost souls made their way towards the door, but before they could leave, something caught their eyes.


Leon narrowed his eyes at the writing. "I don't think this guy is very trustworthy." Though they didn't really have much of a choice. He turned to look at Lesley with a smile. "So Les, you said you were an art student. Did you design clothes?" Martini simply laughed at both boys, yes, she'd make suits for them and maybe get them to participate in one of the queen's pageants. The mermaid placed a hand on Jasper's and Avian's backs before giving Harper a smile. "Come along now, lovelies, let's not wait for the Midnight Man to come back and change his mind."

---

Group Two

It was pitch black and the midnight man had found them

Riley froze in place, whatever courage and enthusiasm she had, gone. This wasn't some roller coaster ride or horror movie, it was real. Vince was dead and the possibility of them dying here and now was very real. The girl probably would have stayed that way if not for Inadi's sudden chiding. She snapped out of her thoughts, he was right. They didn't have time to panic or fear the Midnight Man. It was do or die and she sure as hell wasn't going down without a fight.

She took in a deep breath and calmed herself, "thanks sparky, I needed that."

Riley's amulet began to glow and she lit up a fire in the palm of her hands. It wasn't very bright but it helped illuminate the hallway. "Hey Ace, let's light things up!" Her flame grew a little brighter, and while it did drain her crystal she would be able to keep it up for a few minutes tops before she ended up hitting the half mark. Everyone began running down the hall while Inadi decided to stay behind and take a shot out of the midnight man. However, the electricity mage's plans were foiled when Leila crashed right into him, sending them both to the ground.

Hakuren stopped in his tracks, and swiveled around, quickly making his way towards his fallen comrades. "Oi, there's no time to play hero. I'll just get you killed!" Snowflakes began dancing around his arms and he raised a hand, shooting an icicle shard at the Midnight Man. It went right through and before he knew it a shadowy tendril knocked him back. He crashed into the wall, sending the picture frame above him crashing into his head. The ice mage curled up on the ground, biting back unpleasant remarks. "Get up!" He yelled at both Leila and Inadi. They weren't his friends per se, but losing two comrades at the same time wouldn't be very nice and Leila was interesting enough. He still had to ask her about her views on the world, she was in a way, mysterious.

"I don't have all day!" He barked as he concentrated on another spell. An ice pillar erupted from the floorboards just in front of the Midnight Man. Hakuren smirked, looking pleased at his work. "Let's see you break tha--" However, before he could finish his sentence the Midnight Man's shadowy tendrils tore through the ice pillar, making easy work out it. His amulet was almost half empty and he scowled before another tendril shot through the dark and sent him crashing into a wall. Hakuren sputtered and coughed, the wind knocked right out his lungs.

As they made their way down the hall, Riley stopped. "Songbird? Brandy? Where are the others?" The only other person she could see was Ace. The sound of a scuffle echoed throughout the house and her eyebrows creased in concern. "CRAP! They got left behind didn't they?" The girl flailed her arms around, practically extinguishing the flame as she did so. "Oops, and looks like we're going back?" She bit down on her lip but turned to both guides and Ace. "Ugh, we leave no person behind!" And with that she turned back and charged into the fray.

As they got closer, Riley could make out the figures of her friends on the ground. Her eyebrows furrowed in irritation and while she wanted to chuck a fireball at the Midnight Man, she did realize that the house was made of very old, dry, and flammable wood, so she refrained and instead grabbed the picture frame that had fallen on Haku. "Get the hell away from my friends!" She threw it right at his head and while it did connected with his face, it didn't exactly do much. A dark tendril shot towards her and before Riley knew it she was on the ground with Inadi and Leila, and sore all over too.

She thought she heard Ace and the guides, but several dark tendrils also shot towards them. There was the sound of crashing and breaking followed by a sudden howl of pain. The Midnight Man approached and as he loomed above them, Riley almost believed they were going to die. However, they didn't and suddenly every light in the mansion turned on and the midnight man turned into nothing but dark mist. "That was crazy..." the girl picked herself before offering both Inadi and Leila a hand.


Hakuren looked like a mess and he had a cut on his cheek from where the edge of the frame hit him. The boy winced before focusing on the words on the wall. "So rabbit and bird, it looks like he has a new task for us? I guess the bear and her group succeeded then."

[AkiBlue]

The door didn't open. Ace tried again and frowned at the result. The door was locked. "Crud. So, slight problem. Just a small one." She turned, only to face the sight of something forming behind them. "Okay... maybe a big problem." She moved out the way so the guides could struggle with the door. "Anyone know how to subdue. . . Dead things?" Her sword flickered as the amulet started to drain. With the candles on, her sword went out and she lit her candle using the one Brandy was holding.

When Inadi took a step forward, yelling out, Ace raised an eyebrow. She was going to say something, but the door was forcibly opened. "Alright, out we go! We'll thank Inadi later!" She pushed literally everyone out, and herded them like cows before turning to Inadi. "Come on you dope! You wanna be a hero, help us find that sword." She couldn't help the small laugh at the thought of Inadi becoming one of the 'heroes' in the worse case scenarios. Kind of like Harper. "Besides, that thing is going to follow us around the house anyway." Before she turned, she noticed Leila panicking and run right into Inadi. She turned when Riley spoke up, her attention turning completely. She saw Haku handling it and was sure they'd be behind them.

[Quote=Riley] "Hey Ace, let's light things up!"[/img]

"Heh, alright. But you gotta keep up!" She once again pulled out her sword and helped the light the way. The two ran ahead keeping the place bright enough for them to see. She skidded to a halt when Riley mentioned they were missing two people. "What part of follow don't they understand?" Before Ace's sword went out, she lit her candle. "Alright you two, we're going back to get everyone. Can you guys keep the lights up?" Before the guides could answer, she was running after Riley.

"Hold on Riley! You can't just run into the middle-" She looked around seeing all three of their buddies on the floor. "Gosh guys, you can't just lay around. We all have work to do!" She teased as she went to help Inadi and Leila. "Riley! Hey, are you-" One of the tendrils hit her unexpectedly and she was sent backwards, bumping into Brandy. "Ow. . ." Ace rolled onto her stomach and sat up. "That kind of hurt. . ."

She squinted as the lights flickered on and she put the hilt of her blade away and stood slowly, only to be faced with the the writing on the wall. "To the library? Aw, lucky. . .The other team got the sword first." She helped Haku up and then looked to the guides, and then the group. "Heh... See? Nothing to worry about. We will be perfectly fine. Now let's hurry to the library. . .Before other things start happening."

She glanced back where the Midnight Man had been only moments before. But since he was gone, Ace relaxed and hurried with the others to the library.

[Anonymous]

As the search continued, Lesley was beginning to feel a little impatient. Jasper was the only one who had managed to find something that resembled a sword, but the rest of the room was just a bunch of mangled, limbless toys. Instantly turning his head at the sound of cracking glass, which was the mirror, then all of a sudden each and every glow jar in the room also broke into smithereens. "What the hell is going?!" he freaked as he felt someone clawing at him, asking if he was Avian. Lesley knew it was Leon and he clung onto the male as well as Avian called out to them from somewhere in the darkness. A slice of lighting illuminated a dark figure in the center o the room advancing slowly towards them. Another bolt and Harper was swaying upside down in the air.

Being commanded to search for the exit, Lesley dragged Leon along with him more as a human shield than a friend until he found the know that Avian had just described. "I found the exit guys, come on!" he shouted as he fumbled to get the door to unlock and open for them. Meanwhile, he saw Jasper drop the sword, but luckily it had made it into Avian's possession. Beckoning everyone out, he looked at Avian as he skillfully threw the blade at a blinding speed right at the Midnight Man. Blinding rays of light began to break out of the open wound the attack had caused and the screeching screams magnified out of its mouth as it scratched at its chest viciously. In a flash of light and black tentacles plus the toppling of a shelf, everything was again cloaked in darkness and the room was again made even colder than before.

The lights then flickered back into life and Lesley could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Martini smiled at Leon and him, she had promised to make them model for her and he was quite delighted to hear that. Before they headed through the next passageway, another display of writing advised them to head towards the library yet Lesley was still a bit hesitant to comply. since his group seemed to follow the instructions without question, he just hoped it wasn't another trap.

Leon: "So Les, you said you were an art student. Did you design clothes?"

"Ah, no. I did splatter painting. I should show you guys sometime" he suggested as he thought about his would be audition. He still remembered his Michael Jackson painting routine step by step. In case he made it out of Nowhere alive, he was sure he'd be able to enter his dream school no matter what.

[Crescendo]

Brandy picked himself off of the dusty floor on which he had fallen after Ace had been whacked into him by a shadowy tendril with a wince. Song had been knocked down too, having been in turn knocked down by the bunny, and quickly Brandy stooped down to help the white-haired Nobody up. It didn’t quite help that he was still out of breath from running around, nor that Song was quite a bit taller than him, but somehow he managed to heave Song up from the ground. Brandy patted the dust from the other’s Nobody’s clothes while staring at the letters on the wall.

“I… Guess that’s that then.”

He was rather relieved and impressed that none of the hummons had lost an arm or leg in the whole ordeal considering how accident-prone they were. Instead they had merely suffered some scrapes and bruises at worst, which was quite an improvement from all their previous outings.

“Now let's hurry to the library. . .Before other things start happening.”

Brandy agreed with the girl- even though the Midnight Man had been taken care of, he still very much disliked the feel of the mansion- strange creaks sounded occasionally, and he could always seem to feel cobwebs clinging to his skin where there were none.



“Splatter painting. hmmm~?” Marti hummed in interest, feeling much bubblier now that the horrid Midnight Man wasn’t trying to kill them anymore. They did still have to meet with him in the library however, but as unpleasant as it was perhaps this time there wouldn’t be the danger of black muck flying everywhere and ruining hair and clothes. Who knew how long It would take the stains to come out? “I’d certainly like to see you paint someday, Lesles!” She glomped the pink haired human happily, trying her best to block out the gloomy surroundings.

“If you ever do want to do a spot of designing though, I’d be happy to help. In exchange for information on how you keep your hair looking so glossy and soft, of course! This offer extends to you too, Leon,” she gave a small twirl of her tail and a wink. “Perhaps I’d even get Inadi to model with you, what would you think about that?” She gave Lesley a playful nudge, giggling in thought.

[John]

...and then there was light.

Leila was thoroughly confused. She could feel the light through her closed eyelids, yet she was hesitant in opening them. She could also feel the once suffocating cold receding and the temperature around them nudged back to normal as the warmth from the light soaked in.

Her eyelids flickered a few times before her eyes finally completely opened, under the protection of a raised hand. For one moment, at the edge of the scene that seemed like an overexposed photograph to unadjusted eyes, she believed she saw traces of black not unlike that from which the figure of the Midnight Man once arose. It was, however, only over the duration of a blink that she realized such a feature disappeared from the picture, and Leila debated whether to dismiss it as an artifact of imagination.

It didn’t matter, she figured.

As her brows relaxed for she got accustomed to the light. Every single possible source of light in this room seemed to have just been switched on, resulting in a cascade of rays - slightly painful to look at, even, but under these circumstances, Leila couldn’t have been more pleased to bathe in it for a few more moments, as if it would somehow wash away the remnants of fear that still lingered in her mind.

Then it struck her and she took a quick check around the place - Ace, over there. Haku, the other way, on the ground. Haku had a cut on his face - didn’t look particularly bad, he’ll probably be fine. Inadi, to the side. Ace and Songbird and Brandy. She didn’t turn to look as she took the hand which was left to be Riley’s.

“...the library.”

She muttered as she struggled to push herself up from the ground.

* * * *

Leila tried to use the time they spent on their trip back to the library to think things through and recollect some ideas. It was a longer trip than she remembered, likely because their lot was all tired by now. The extra time, however, didn’t really benefit her thinking, for most of what happened was not to be made sense of anyway, and she ended up mostly between being confused and being uncomfortable remembering the encounter with the Midnight Man.

It seemed that the entire mansion was lit up as well - even when the light sources throughout the mansion was a mixture of oil lamps, torches, and light bulbs. Every single one of them seemed to be lit. She wondered how that would be possible. Part of her mind wanted to speculate whether the broken lights back near the door would magically light up as well. And while that was an absurd idea, she decided she honestly didn’t know what to accept and what to dismiss anymore and she let those thoughts stay.

She looked around her. Haku walked in front of her and seemed a bit irritated by his injuries and she decided not to bother him even though she thought he’d have answers to some of her questions. Inadi was aside her, and she realized her hand was still connected to the sleeve of his robes, as it was back in the darkness of the room, and she let go as soon as she remembered that.

“Uh...” on second thought, she decided to tap Inadi’s shoulder to gain his attention as they walked down the corridors on the way back to the library,

“...sorry…about...back there?”

She said, referring to when she presumably knocked him over in the room with the Midnight Man, unsure how to word it only because she was unsure what even actually happened.

[Orpheus]

Everyone gathered in the library and waited for the next turn of events.

The two groups convened and several Lost Souls took the chance to talk with one another. Avian was a few ways off from the group, one hand absentmindedly rubbing a cheek where the chair from earlier grazed him while the other one gripped the Midnight Man’s sword tightly. He didn’t know if the “game” included bringing the sword back to the library, but he wasn’t taking any chances; that event earlier where he skewered the apparition was unnerving because for a second there the soldier really thought that the Midnight Man wasn’t vanquished.

Jasper had a few cuts on her hand from that skirmish earlier and Avian was there to tend to her wounds. Wait, scratch that; all members of the group were subjected to a thorough inspection by none other than the soldier himself, and nobody was free from his fussy remarks. Not even Martini. In the end, every single Lost Soul who had a wound resurfaced with a makeshift herb bandage. The warm look on Avian’s face showed that he was relieved that nobody in his group suffered worrisome injuries and that was that. When the other team arrived he moved away to make room for them. Seeing no other purpose for the time being, the dragoon stood watch over the group, his distant position and rigid stance making him look like a stone sentinel.

Songbird sat just outside the irregular circle the humans have formed and sighed to himself, swigging from a suspicious-looking flask as he shot glances at various nooks and corners every now and then. He got up and approached the fashion trio. “So, uh… Good job finding the woo woo,” He made exaggerated gestures and then pointed at the sword. “And nooo Martini I’m nooot modeling wearing the alpaca hat. It’s too fluffy to just wear! … Are you two going to wear the alpaca hat?” He turned to Lesley and Leon.

[MUG]

Inadi was hoping his plan of letting the rest get out first would go smoothly and he would catch up to them soon. That was before everyone began calling him out for being some kind of a hot dog playing hero in front of everyone. Rolling his eyes he would eventually correct them later, but right now it was better to go ahead and just start getting everyone out. That part of the plan also hit a snag as suddenly Leila seemed to gather some kind of strange two left feet disease and it had her falling over and grabbing at Inadi's sleeve. That was when his defining moment of heroism turned into a blooper reel on a Monty Python movie.

Quickly trying to pick Leila back up, worried that the Midnight Man would pop back up before too long, it seemed that Riley then decided to join them on the ground and Inadi couldn't help but let out an annoying groan. It seemed that whenever people were falling over they used Inadi as some kind of cushion. Riley did once with Jasper, Jasper did it once on her own, and now Riley was back in this sequel with Leila as a special guest it seemed. Luckily this time nothing sensitive was hit like the last time Riley landed on him back with the dragons but nevertheless the whole thing still hurt. At this point he was beginning to think that gravity had it out for him at this point.

Inadi didn't know what exactly forced Riley to fall on top of him but he was beginning to try and help the girls back up onto their feet. At that point he saw the outline of the Midnight Man above them and his heart sank in his chest. He gripped tightly to Leila's arm and Riley's hand, wanting to at least die knowing some friends of his were within arm's length. At that moment he saw a light and thought that was him dying. His life flashed before his eyes and he saw everything in his life....minus one moment that seemed very shadowy. As the light waned, so did the image and it made Inadi very confused. Not only for the fact that whatever afterlife they were in looked like the same stupid mansion they were in when they died, but he still didn't have an idea of the memory he saw. Shaking his head he watched as saw Riley pick up him and Leila. Now the lights in the mansion turned back on and it made the man feel a lot more comfortable in his own skin.

Now they needed to get to the library it seemed. Terrific. That meant they were one more step closer to getting what they needed for the list. It also meant the other group was successful in finding the stupid blade they needed. Definitely something to celebrate once they got to the library. As the rest of the group took off to meet the others, Inadi saw Ace staring at the place where the Midnight Man was. She took off past him and gave the location a good stare himself. His hand began sparking again in anger due to his inability to make the plan work or to beat the damn thing himself. Clearly he wasn't as strong as he thought. Inadi caught back up with the group and walked next to Ace. Keeping a straight face he let out a sigh, looking straight forward so his agitation wouldn't be seen by Ace directly. Last thing he wanted was for the girl to think he was mad at her. “The fact that we've made it this far is something to be proud of Ace. We can't get scared quite yet, we still have those damned witches left. And I have a feeling they will react a lot better to a good bolt to the face.” Inadi said as he began picking up his pace. The faster he got to the library the better.

Eventually he slowed his pace and Leila eventually walked beside him, though he hardly recognized the girl next to him due to how lost he was in his own thoughts. The images in his mind he saw back at the room still had him puzzled. He wasn't sure when it was from, but it was definitely back in his youth. He was short and didn't have his glasses yet. He was walking it seemed, in a dark place. An alley maybe. Which was strange since he didn't use alleys at all as a kid as far as he remembered. Went against his belief of being in places he was used to and comfortable with. But towards the end of the image there seemed to be other boys walking up to him in the alley. They were getting closer and closer to him it seemed. What could they have wanted...

Suddenly the image disappeared from his mind as he was brought back to reality and Leila was tapping him on the shoulder. Quickly shaking his head he looked down at the girl and heard her quiet voice begin to apologize for the scene that occurred upstairs with the Midnight Man. Inadi showed a smile and a chuckle. He hadn't talked to Leila that much yet, but she always seemed to be a little nervous in her own skin at times. “Oh don't worry about that Leila. I should be apologizing cause I may have gripped you a little harder than I should have back there when that thing was right there above us. I didn't hurt you did I?” Inadi asked her as he kept his pace equal with hers. He didn't want to seem like he was in a hurry to get away from her or anything. The girl was frail as it was, no reason to make her feel subconscious. Eventually they found themselves in the library finally and Inadi gave a quick wave of acknowledgment to the other group as he continued waiting for Leila's response.

[Fox of Spades]

The Library

The lost souls had all gathered in the library, and once there, Avian began fussing over them.

Hakuren placed a finger on the band aid on his cheek then laughed, soldier boy actually made a pretty good mother hen. He flitted from person to person, checking on them much like a father would a young child or a duck its young. "That was pretty exciting," he quipped.

Harper shot Hakuren a glance, was there nothing he found frightening? The boy then turned to look at people in the opposite group. "Did you guys see anything strange?" He didn't know if they had ran into something weird either, but most of them looked a little worse for wear and even Songbird and Brandy looked a little ruffled up.

"We saw the midnight man and lived," Riley stated in an attempt to lighten up the mood. "We all deserve a slot in Nowhere's newspapers, ain't that right guys?" Hakuren nodded his head in response to this statement. "So Avian," she stared at the shiny sword group one had managed to retrieve. "What are we supposed to do with the sword now that we have it? And how exactly is this psychopathic shadow going to tell us about the stone?"

Leon made a face, "I don't think I want to see him anytime soon." He turned back to Lesley and Songbird before his eyes lit up at the mention of an Alpaca hat. "That sounds unique, you nobodies have one of the best wardrobes I've ever seen." He smiled at Songbird, "I'm quite envious of your hat, and Martini's stunning wardrobe. I wouldn't mind wearing the alpaca hat or anything you want me to." He leaned in towards the mermaid, starstruck. "Lesley probably wouldn't mind either, right?" He turned to look at Song, this was the most excited Leon had ever seemed to be. "Hey Songbird, where did you buy your hat?"

Hakuren chuckled, they were thinking about hats at this moment? Oh well.

"We really appreciate the help Avian, but we're fine, there's no need to worry." His made sure to check everyone when they regrouped, and the most any of them had to deal with were scratches and bruises. He gave the soldier a smile then watched as the dragoon paced around the room, a thoughtful expression stuck on his face.

The soldier stopped by the fireplace and placed the sword on the mantelpiece.

As soon as he had done that, a soft chuckle resonated throughout the library. On the opposite side of the room, seated on one of the chairs was a dark shadow that was humanoid in appearance. It had red slits where its eyes and mouth should have been and it looked like it was smiling. Not a sinister smile, but a content one. "Good job, humans." He crossed his legs and laughed. "I've been waiting for justice for so long. You'll deliver it won't you?"

He disappeared, only to reappear on top of one of the shelves, legs swinging back and forth like a child on a swing. "If you follow the light, it'll lead you to the Stone of Sacrifice." He clapped his hands together and out of nowhere, blue wisps flickered to life. "Keep your eyes on them at all times and when you get there, you must be very careful." They could see outlines of a frown on his face. The shadow brought a hand to his chest, voice nothing but a soft whisper. "They stabbed me right here here. Sometimes, I can still feel the cold steel buried deep inside me."

The shadow's voice grew raspy. "Destroy their hearts for it is wicked beyond repair," he faded away, and only the wisps remained.

---

The Forest

After the midnight man finished his little speech, the wisps flickered, growing even brighter as they exited the window.

The rain had ceased to pour and the little wisps of light waited for the humans and nobodies to catch up with them. As soon as everyone was out the door, the tiny lights fluttered deeper and deeper into the forest. The trees grew fewer in numbers, the deeper they went, and those that remained were crooked with branches that looked more like skeleton limbs than anything else.

It was a part of the forest they had never seen before.

"Y'know, we battled a dragon." Riley didn't exactly feel sure of herself, but it was best to do something to lighten up the mood. "We've gotten this far, so there's no way were going to let a bunch of old hags beat us."

"You know what," Harper turned to look at her, and the girl half-expected some kind of retort, but what he said next, pretty much made her grin from ear to ear. "You're right. We turned a chaotic star into confetti." He grinned at Leila, Jasper, and Hakuren, the people he had been with since day one. "We fried a mushroom man," he gave Inadi a smile then turned to look Ace, Lesley, and Leon. "And we tamed a dragon." The boy's eyes fell on the guides, "we've got them watching our backs too, we'll be alright."

Riley laughed, "you never struck me as the brave type, let's go get that witch, aye? Then Lesles and Leon can volunteer for that modeling thing Martini's been offering them." She quickened her pace, eyes focused on the wisps. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner we'll be able to attend on of the queen's balls." She elbowed Lesley lightly in the ribs. "I bet there'll be a ton of guys in suits, so let's give this our all!"

[Anonymous]

Lesley was glad to hear that Martini was actually interested in seeing him perform what he was most talented at. She then carried on to tease him about modelling with Inadi at which he nudged her back. "You better!" he responded as he eyed the framed man from across the room with a mischievous giggle.

It wasn't long until the two groups rejoined at the library where they formed an untidy circle and conversed with one another whilst awaiting the Midnight Man's next instructions.

Song: “And nooo Martini I’m nooot modeling wearing the alpaca hat. It’s too fluffy to just wear! … Are you two going to wear the alpaca hat?”

With a snort, Lesley flicked his pink locks. "A model must not shun any piece of clothing. Besides, I can make anything look like the next big trend!" he stated with confidence. Leon was just as open as he was on terms of fashion he appreciated that. He could already picture them strolling down Nowhere's runaways in Martini's fantastic outfits. He was definitely looking forward to it since the clothing hear is nothing like what they have on Earth.

At this time, Avian was flitting around the room and doing a full body check up on all of them. Lesley didn't mind the attention since it reminded him of Jasper who had done the same after the battle with the dragons.

Suddenly, a deep chuckle filled the room and a black figure with red eyes could be seen sitting on one of the chairs before them. Then he seemed to teleport onto the shelves yet the movement in between the transitions could not be seen.

MM: "If you follow the light, it'll lead you to the Stone of Sacrifice. Keep your eyes on them at all times and when you get there, you must be very careful. They stabbed me right here here. Sometimes, I can still feel the cold steel buried deep inside me. Destroy their hearts for it is wicked beyond repair."

Shudders ran up and down his spine and he was glad that the creepy demon had finally left their presence. The Midnight Man's remains were of brightly lit wisps which must be the light he was speaking of that they were to follow to the stone. As it led them deeper and deeper into unknown depths of the forest, Lesley was still unsettled with the surroundings and was quite glad to be accompanied by such a large crowd of Nobodies and people. Riley and Harper began chatting with encouraging words for everyone. That they'd be alright and the defeating the witches would be a possible task.

Riley: "The sooner we get this done, the sooner we'll be able to attend on of the queen's balls." She elbowed Lesley lightly in the ribs. "I bet there'll be a ton of guys in suits, so let's give this our all!"

He chuckled at her remark and grinned at the thought of seeing Inadi all suited up and slick looking. The group members knew some of the funniest ways of cheering him on. "I'm sure I won't be the only excited one here. You ladies are still lookin' aren't cha?" he questioned the women. "Unless you guys have boyfriends back home?" he asked. It was inevitable that the Lost Souls had all left someone back on Earth, someone they loved and cared for. Even though Lesley didn't have a special someone, he did miss his parents dearly and he wondered if they were worrying about him as of now, or even had the knowledge of his disappearance.

[AkiBlue]

Ace nodded and followed after Inadi. With a laugh, she saluted him. "Yes sir." She teased his new and growing leadership skills. Encourage and lead on, that's how it was done. Meeting the other group she clasped her hands together, getting their attention to acknowledge they were still alive and well. When Harper asked about seeing anything strange, Ace corrected Riley.

"We saw the Midnight Man, attacked it, and lived. Oh you know, the simple things." Ace laughed and plopped on a couch and put her feet up. "Woo, we're all here and we are all safe. Of course we are."

By then, she was just listening to all the conversation going on, not having too much to say. It was then the, or some time in mid conversation, that an extra and unfamiliar voice was heard. Ace quickly sat up to see the Midnight Man himself appearing in one of the chairs. Before any of them said anything, he spoke.

Ace stood to get a better look at him and tilted her head. He didn't look that scary. It was probably the smile. Ace paid close attention, not wanting her mind wandering off at a time like this- although that was bound to happen because it was Ace after all. She ended wondering about other things like, how many of them probably had family and friends worried about them at the moment. Or how many of them had jobs they had to get to by morning. And more importantly, how long had they been gone from home? Not like it mattered to her. They're wasn't much waiting for her when she got back. Lesley said something about having a boyfriend back home and Ace laughed a little.
"Not I. There's not much waiting for me back home. But," She gave a mischievous grin before patting Jasper on the shoulder gently. "I'm sure Jasper here has one, after all, most of the guys here find her irresistible!" She giggled, only further reminding her and everyone else about the multiple kisses she received. "Don't know how you do it girly, but you're a charmer." She decided not to say out loud about Harper's kiss. Haku's kiss. Or you know, the cute display between her and Inadi. Ace knew she could only embarrass the girl so much before she died or something.

When they were outside, Ace put her hands on her hips for a brief moment. "At least it's not raining anymore. Well, come on. Can't just stand around all day." She paused and listened to Harper's motivational speech with a grin. She then patted his back and smiled. "Of course he's brave Riley! He's gotten this far, he's got the knightly sword, and-" Ace turned to look at Harper. "Your motivational speeches are getting a lot better." Ace gave him a thumbs up before moving ahead to follow the glowing orbs. 'What were they called again? Crisps...Orbs...Glowy- whispers- oh right! Wisps!'

"Queeny's ball doesn't sound so bad. Unless I have to wear a dress. If so, I'll take the free food and go." She then put her fingers on the bill of her cap for a moment. "Well, unless the queen does turn out to be evil... then that would pretty bad." She mumbled aloud, but shrugged it off. "Whatever it is, let's just get these witches and get out. I say at least for the dragons."

[Kimchi]

The Midnight Man turned towards her, it's tentacles charging at her before Avian called at her to throw the weapon at him, as she brought her arm back to toss it his way, one of the octopus-like limbs thwacked her at the wrist which caused the dagger to go sailing into Harper's hold, but it ultimately ended up where it was supposed to be, with Avian. Watching intently as the dragoon used the sword like a dart, it pierced the black monster in the chest causing it to yowl in pain. Harper took her by the hand and thanked her for her bravery, she ducked with him and ran towards the exit as light came pouring out from the screeching Midnight Man. Inanimate objects began to flail and swerve around the room in no particular pattern. She jumped, skipped, and dove out of the way, but still ended up getting a few minor cuts and bruises along the way. Finally, the bizarre movement ended with the demon's last scream as he withered into black little smudges of smoke-like air.

The door behind her suddenly creaked open and the lights flickered back on. More writing made by the Midnight Man advised them to head out to the library and Jasper was glad all the running was over. Her hands and whole body were trembling and her teeth were clattering though she did not even feel cold. All in all she was in good shape, just terrified out of her wits.

---

As everyone gathered in the library, she assumed that group two had seen the exact same ghostly words since they too arrived at the said destination almost at the same time as her own crew. Avian was doing a check up on the humans and she smiled as he bandaged her cuts up. Jasper knew she could heal it on her own, she was a medic after all, but she had the right upbringing to let to the dragoon continue to tend to them if it kept him at ease. Chatter filled the room it Jasper felt pretty content as well. The danger of a lurking Midnight Man was o longer haunting her thoughts though she was still a little rattled. The mood in the library was definitely lighter than usual and her mates were even joking around a bit.

It wasn't long til a shadow across the room made his presence known and with a short speech, he dissipated into dark wisps once again, but this time the wisps glowed a bright color and seemed to wait for them to follow it out into the forest. The plants and flooring were damp from the rain earlier, but overall wasn't that unpleasant. In fact, the rain seemed to have cleansed the area. Jasper smiled lightly as she breathed a breath of fresh air, exhaling with a happy sigh. Skeletal branches reached out and scratched at her every so often which would cause her to twitch a little, but by now she had seen and experienced worse so it didn't bother her as much as before. Besides, she didn't want to cause another seen of useless worrying for anybody like she had done earlier.

Meanwhile, Riley and Harper were pouring words of encouragement and confidence boosters for the whole of them which made her feel even more determined to finish off the witches and continue on with this journey of theirs. They may be powerful, but she had faith in their group and numbers. There had only been two of them, so they had advantage in terms of people.

Just then, Lesley began talking about significant others waiting back on Earth which caused her to look down. She never really had any sort of romantic relationships so she couldn't quite relate. A sudden pat from Ace caused her jump a little as she looked up at her with alarmed eyes.

"I'm sure Jasper here has one, after all, most of the guys here find her irresistible!" She giggled, only further reminding her and everyone else about the multiple kisses she received. "Don't know how you do it girly, but you're a charmer."

Red hues spread out over her cheeks as she began to shake her head rapidly. "No,no, no. I-i-i d-don't have one... n-n-not that I wa-want one..." she clamped up suddenly and stared at the ground as they kept walking. Those kisses were still a blur to her and she truly she wished that she could forget about them, not that she didn't enjoy herself *cough*.

"I don't mean to offend, but," she lowered her voice, "Who else gets a strange feeling about Queen Delirium? She appears nice and everything, but something about her is just..." she fumbled her shirt, "Not right." she finished while biting her bottom lip nervously in case people didn't agree. Just then a twig poked her rib which caused her to yelp and back into Harper.

[Crescendo]

“But the alpaca hat is soooooo cute!” Martini huffed, lips pursed into a pout as she swiveled around to peer at Song. She gave a pleased nod, folding her arms when Leon and Lesley agreed to wear the fluffy hats. “See, see, they understand! Besides, I don’t know why you’d protest to fluffy-“ The mermaid suddenly paused, floating closer at the strangely wobbly looking Song. “Waaaait, are you-“

Her next words were interrupted by a deep chuckle, and the room turned to see the dark figure of the Midnight Man seated on a chair on the other side of the room.

It was quiet as everybody listened to his words, and Martini frowned as he faded away, leaving blue wisps in his wake. Now that he wasn’t trying to kill him, she felt rather sad for the poor guy. To be killed by witches- what an unfortunate fate.



Brandy, meanwhile, had approached Song from behind as the wisps started to glide around the room before floating out of the open window. He deftly plucked the bottle from the item hunter’s hands with a sigh, greeting the other three with a nod as they moved out of the mansion.

“I don’t know, Song, the alpaca hat might suit you pretty well. And what did I say about drinking on the job?” He made a face after giving the bottle a sniff and gave the item hunter a soft whap on the back of his head.

Martini tutted, flipping her tail idly. “Not that I blame him, bumbleberry juice is good for calming the nerves. But enough of you two, I’m interested as well!” She gave a titter, drifting closer to where the other hummons were. Did any of them have girlfriends and boyfriends? Gosh that would be so cute. “Hey Riley, Leila, do you have boyfriends? And you don’t have a girlfriend, do you Inadi? Tell meeeeee~!”

It had thankfully stopped raining, and even the fog had lifted slightly from the surrounding forests. Brandy shook his head at Martini’s enthusiasm, giving a small smile to Lesley, Leon and Riley. “She’ll certainly have you covered for clothing. She might even like you enough to give her clothes to you as presents- though some of her fashions choices are a bit too much for me.” The rabbit was pulling Song along, hoping the cool forest air would clear the other Nobody’s head a bit.

"Who else gets a strange feeling about Queen Delirium? She appears nice and everything, but something about her is just... Not right."

Martini had drifted close enough to hear Jasper's thought and she stopped short, whirling around with a frown of confusion. "I dunno what you mean, Jazzie, but Queenie and I are totally besties and she's always been super nice to everyone! Maybe you're thinking too much. It's certainly been tiring for you darlings hasn't it?" She reached over to give the white-haired girl a sympathetic pat on the head.

[Orpheus]

You know, those blue orbs really reminded him of the marbles he used to collect as a kid. Avian smiled at the memory as they exited the mansion, flinching when the weathered main door shut close soon as he, the one on the very rear of the party, passed under the doorway. “Poor Midnight Man,” The dragoon whispered as he blended in with everyone, his hand rising on its own accord to hover over his heart. Getting stabbed and existing as a supernatural creature with the pain lingering in your body… Seriously, poor dude.

"You know what, you’re right. We turned a chaotic star into confetti. We fried a mushroom man, and we tamed a dragon. We've got them watching our backs too, we'll be alright."

“I’ll do my best,” Avian’s cheeks warmed under the boy’s blatant display of confidence and he found himself smiling at the humans. Cuties. He wanted to adopt all of them. If only Victoria would agree… And if they were all cute little toddlers! Or better yet… Chibis! Avian had heard the term from a human that came from a previous batch; she also explained what the term meant and even drew an example for him. The world would be a lot better if they were all chibis! “Why do I feel like we’re taking a field trip,” The soldier murmured out of the blue while the young’uns got fired up over the Queen’s ball.

"Queeny's ball doesn't sound so bad. Unless I have to wear a dress. If so, I'll take the free food and go. Whatever it is, let's just get these witches and get out. I say at least for the dragons." Ace said.

“Yeah, do it for the dragons!” Avian cheered. He sure as fudge was doing it for his majestic scaly nonprincess-napping friends! “Oh, sorry if I got enthusiastic. I grew up with dragons, if I’ll have you know, so um…” His bright violet eyes twinkled in amusement as the sentence trailed off.

“You give me back my drink this instant, Brandy! Where’s the beefcake when you need him to pummel someone…” Songbird crowed from his place behind the bunny and expressed his sulkiness by repeatedly tugging Brandy’s hand down. His feet were now cold thanks to the leather absorbing all the moisture on the path they trod, but the item hunter was already used to these sorts of inconveniences. “Why are we talking about boyfriends and girlfriends?” He quipped when snippets of the conversation reached earshot. Earlier they were talking about an alpaca hat but now…

Eh… "I don't mean to offend, but who else gets a strange feeling about Queen Delirium? She appears nice and everything, but something about her is just... Not right."

“Of course she-” Songbird’s eyes widened and his mouth hung open at Jasper’s words.

“What do you-” Avian, on the other hand, looked curious.

The white-haired nobody raised an eyebrow and made dramatic waving gestures with his hand, signaling the dragoon to go first. Martini quickly tried to comfort the albino.
Avian coughed lightly and then cast his eyes away. “Well her name is Delirium, that in itself is an oddity.”

“Your freaking name means bird. Bird Rider.”

“Well your name is Bird! Songbird!”

The item hunter stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry at the dark-haired soldier, who gasped and then narrowed his eyes. The two nobodies ended up saying the same thing in the same annoying, mocking tone of voice:

“BUUUUUUUURD.” “BUUUUUUUURD.”

“A-anyway. Her Majesty should have sent professional help to us instead of you guys, to be honest. If you lot participated in the defense back then, all of you would’ve died! Although I have to say, all of you showed great tenacity throughout your mission. It’s inspiring,” Avian huffed out, his face almost as pink as Lesley’s hair from irritation at his earlier spat with Songbird, but his words were genuine enough. Apparently he still hasn’t gotten over the political misstep Delirium had done.

“Her butler’s a weirdo. He probably drinks the souls of nonbelievers for breakfast,” Songbird slurred cheerfully, raising his free hand in the air in a fist.

[MUG]

Watching the Midnight Man move back and forth through the room back in the library was a little jarring to say the least. If he could move that quickly the thought that Inadi had actually hit him was a little less than supportable now. More than likely he had moved out of the way in time and then was about to reappear before the others found the sword. It made the man a little agitated at his lack of success at what he was trying to do back in the building. Holding his spear over his shoulder he walked with the rest of the crew and found himself next to Harper again. He had almost taken in the young man as a sibling of sorts, and decided to try and do his best to support him in his leadership role he was taking up. Plus Inadi was finding himself falling into a similar position, almost like a second in command of sorts. He wasn't glad that it was happening, but at the same time he knew someone had to do it.

The boy next to him began talking up the idea that they had a chance against the witches, and Inadi couldn't help but agree. Giving him a strong pat on the back with his free hand the glasses wearing man gave a nod. “At this point it would take a lot more than a few retired old chanters to give us a problem. And besides,” Inadi began charging up his hand with a collection of sparks. Clenching his fist the currents disappeared and flashed a quick light before it was gone. “I really want to see if I can make those blind hags' eyes pop out with the shock I'm gonna give them.” He said with a laugh as they continued following the wisps.

As they continued the walk it seemed that the girls decided to start asking which of them had someone special waiting for them back home. Inadi himself didn't have anyone that he immediately thought of with that question, and sad thing was his parents didn't even come up initially. He had lived alone for so long at this point and they didn't talk much with him that it was hard to even remember what all they had done as a family before he took the trip on the train. Of course he wasn't completely shut off from them, but there wasn't a lot of effort to keep that relationship strong from either side. An admission Inadi wasn't proud to make to himself.

So Ace and Jasper didn't have anyone it seemed, and judging from Lesley's constant flirting it could be assumed he didn't have anyone special or he wasn't the most loyal fellow in a relationship. Inadi decided to give Les the benefit of the doubt and gave a laugh. Seeing Jasper get a little nervous with the whole discussion made Inadi feel a little bad for the girl. Giving Harper a quick nod to let him know he was taking a step back and slid next to Jasper, giving her a quick smile to show her that she didn't have to be that nervous about the discussion.

To be honest he thought she looked cute when she got all flustered like that, her normally white face suddenly red at times was a really funny sight to him for whatever reason. While walking with her he began noticing that he was still blowing past her on a few steps and gave a quick chuckle. Inadi slowed his pace to match hers, just so she wouldn't need to feel pick up her speed to match the others. Plus with how embarrassed she was she was probably still stuttering away in her mind as to how to approach the rest of the situation. Shifting his spear on his shoulder he looked ahead and then back at Jasper. “Not sure how long this forest is but those wisps look like they are definitely still trucking along. We probably got a ways to go yet. You think this stone is at least in a pretty spot?” He told her with a smile on his face, hoping she would see that he was just trying to strike up a conversation.

It was then that Jasper began asking questions about whether or not the Queen could be trusted. The comment made him go back to the newspaper clipping that he found about Mr. Cuddles and he suddenly lost his smile. Reaching for the paper clipping he had stuffed inside his belt loop before they had left the library he rested his hand over it, a small crumpling sound being made, and his anger starting back up again. Quickly letting out a sigh to control his emotions and gave Jasper a quick look as soon as the guides answered her and continued on their way, he leaned in towards her ear and began whispering to her. He was certain his breath could be felt on her neck and ear, but he knew that he needed to keep his voice low. “Just be careful with who people say you should trust from Nowhere Jasper. I only trust you guys here. Humans trust humans as far as I'm concerned. We don't know these people and what they hide. If you ever feel scared and uncertain of who to come to, I'll be there,” He told her as he leaned away and stared at her with a determined look on his face. “Either me or Harper. Trust those you know that can't hide something. Where can we go and hide? Think about that.” He told her as he went back to walking side by side with her, dropping his hand from his waist and back to his side. Perhaps he was getting paranoid, but at this point it was better to be paranoid than naïve in his eyes.

[Fox of Spades]

"I think we're getting closer," Harper mumbled as the forest suddenly came to an end. The ground beneath their feet was dry and cracked and the trees that remained were charred and smelled of soot. Some were cut down and others were bent at ridiculous angles.

He watched as the blue wisps continued to flutter onward, into darker territory.

"Someone special?" Riley laughed, "I'm not exactly close with my parents. Erm, before finding the train I kind of ran away to live with a friend. Not exactly the best example, I know." She laughed a little at how excited Martini looked for information. "I lived with my friend Kim, she's like family, but as for someone special," the girl lit up. "Well, I've got a friend who works at a bookstore, he's cute, but bleh we're both stuck in the friendzone, don't know if we really want to step out of it." She shrugged before giving the mermaid a devious looking grin. "What about you, Martini? I bet the most famous fashion designer in Nowhere has a ton of guys swarming around her shop."

"That does sound very possible," Leon chimed in with a laugh.

Hakuren though continued walking on with a smirk on his face. He didn't find anyone special, but he had his fair share of flings with lovely ladies. Too bad, he never called them afterwards, but the sea was filled with fishes anyway, so it didn't really matter.

The humans began talking about the queen, but the guides pretty much rose to her defense. Harper trusted the queen, but after seeing those news cutouts, he was starting to have his doubts. He decided to remain quiet though and instead quickened his pace.

Songbird and Avian got into a little spat and it seemed as if the former were a tad tipsy. Riley arched an eyebrow at the scenario that was taking place before them, then pretty much hopped between the two to prevent them from quarreling. "Enough you two, this is very mature." She stood on her toes to fix Song's hat then tapped both men on their shoulders. "So we know Avian is married, but what about our resident item hunter?" She turned to look at Brandy, "any juicy tales? He travels Nowhere, right, so I'm sure he must have met interesting Nobodies." Riley would have continued to chatter but before she could say more she bumped right into Harper.

"Hmm, what's the hold--Oh." The wisps vanished and in the distance stood the Stone of Sacrifice.



A giant sword shaped stone came forth from the dry land, as dead looking vines snaked around it. Several broken pillars were scattered across the barren field and a charred house stood not too far from the wreckage. It was dark and there appeared to be no signs of life. "This must be the place," he stated, his hand instantly reaching for the hilt of his sword. It looked abandoned, but if Nowhere had taught him anything, it was that looks could be very deceiving. "Let's approach with caution."

Leon narrowed his eyes at the stone and the burnt down house. "It looks really...empty? Maybe someone else already came here and burned them at the steak." He tried to sound braver than he really felt. "Songbird, you've been to this side of Nowhere, right?"

"They might want us to think it's empty." Haku muttered before he turned to look at guides.

This time they were told to stick together and investigate. The plan was to find the witch quietly, and hopefully gain the element of surprise. Riley stuck by Leila and whispered a question. "Where should we look first? And if you were a witch, where would you hide a cloud dragon?"

Harper unsheathed his sword, and held it out in front of him. "I don't know." He turned to the guides. "Where would you?"

Little did they know, the witch had already heard about their arrival from a certain grumpy, old tree.

[Kimchi]

As the boyfriend/girlfriend talk continued, she could see Inadi in her peripheral vision as he slowed down a step to get in line with her own movements. His grin burned at her cheek and she didn't dare look up at him in her tomato-faced state. The pair walked along in silence for the most part until he brought up the topic of the wisps leading them and the stone.

"I hope so. It'd be nice to see something a little less spooky around here," she mumbled in reply as she pictured how the stone might look.

"I dunno what you mean, Jazzie, but Queenie and I are totally besties and she's always been super nice to everyone! Maybe you're thinking too much. It's certainly been tiring for you darlings hasn't it?"

She began to laugh nervously and cringed a little underneath the mermaid's touch, but maybe Martini was right. Biting her bottom lip some more, these sort o thoughts were probably going through her mind since she kept over thinking things. Besides, Queen Delirium had done nothing but throw them parties since they arrived there and Jasper felt guilty for feeling anything else other than thankfulness for her royalty's kindness. Song's mouth had hung agape and she further kept her eyes glued to the dirt path on which they were strolling along. The comment probably offended the guides the most since they actually knew her. Avian's reaction was a bit more supportive as he agreed that her name was a tad odd in itself. Suddenly the two male Nobodies jumped into a silly argument while using the word 'bird' as an insult?

“A-anyway. Her Majesty should have sent professional help to us instead of you guys, to be honest. If you lot participated in the defense back then, all of you would’ve died! Although I have to say, all of you showed great tenacity throughout your mission. It’s inspiring,”

He made a point that she had always wondered about. How come it seemed as if she was purposely setting them up for failure or even death? The quests were near impossible for pros so how come she expected humans to carry them out successfully? And the Queen must have knowledge of the humans that they've already lost, so why isn't she doing anything to prevent it or even apologizing to them for that matter?

When the guides redirected their attention away from her she suddenly felt a warming sensation at her left ear. Eyes widening, she struggled not to freeze up as she continued to walk along side him and he began to speak in a hushed tone.

“Just be careful with who people say you should trust from Nowhere Jasper. I only trust you guys here. Humans trust humans as far as I'm concerned. We don't know these people and what they hide. If you ever feel scared and uncertain of who to come to, I'll be there.”

Turning her head to look at him, she gave him an appreciative smile. At least someone here understood how she was feeling about all of this. And it reassured her that she always had a person to count on and talk to without being judged wrongly. He was right. They had no real idea who these Nowherians were and their true identities. Past batches have passed through their hands and who knows how many of them had died if this is how dangerous the tasks were? For all she knew, there could be some mass human graveyard in Nowhere that they didn't even know about. Jasper couldn't stop herself from shivering a little in fear of the thought that sprung into her mind as she questioned how many humans have already died in Nowhere.

Minutes passed until the group finally came to a stop. The Stone of Sacrifice stood before them surrounded by various rock formations that were crumbled into heaps of sediment whilst some stood strong, almost like they were built to protect the stone in the center. Another abandoned home was planted just a short distance away, but like the mansion, it didn't appear to house any occupants. Everyone ducked low with weapons in hand as they all tried to be as cautious as possible. These witches were powerful, more dangerous than any other monster they've ever faced. Riley whispered something about where the baby dragon could be hidden and she instantly looked back up towards the empty hut. There weren't many places to hide on the barren terrain, but the house further head was an enclosed compartment, possibly able to hide a dragon.

"I'll head for the house over there to check for the little guy since I won't be much help in combat. You guys can keep them busy while I look for the dragon ok?" She placed her role and branched out from the group a little bit to make her way towards the blackened building. The worst thing that could happen is if instead of finding the dragon, she would find the witches. Laying low, she hoped the old hags weren't in there cooking up the poor thing in some giant cauldron.