Legion's Very Merry Christmas
 

Chapter 1: A City of Woe

December 25th, 12:03 AM. The Estecia Region.

Two hours ago, Estecia Prison and Insane Asylum were suddenly broken into, the few officials within both facilities remain unaccounted for, either captured or killed. At the same time an unidentified arsonist burned down the small police station within the city. This was all within the first hour, and most of the occupants of Estecia remained in their homes, unaware of what was happening on the city's outskirts.

This all changed within the second hour in which all the inmates of the above facilities made a rush into the city, laying waste to everything in sight, breaking into homes and killing families, at best. Despite the riot nature of the incident, the mob has made a perimeter around the city, cutting off escape for most survivors. Had the mob not been acting with bizzare, unnatural powers, this might of been considered strange.

Now, in the third hour, the mass panic for escape has died with those poor initial citizens that attempted to flee. Now any survivors are either hiding or moving quietly, as to not to be spotted by the monsters roaming the streets.

Included in this number was a young man named Matthew, who either lacked or cared not to share his last name with anyone. He and a few others had managed to slip into a church that had been ransacked previously. The only one left alive was the priest, who was only saved because a bullet to the head of his attacker cut his fun short. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough to save anyone else in the church. Those left to suffer had been relieved of their misery in a similar passion.

Matthew finishes bandaging the holy man and softly advises him to rest for a few minutes. He stands, flicking back some of his blonde hair as he reaches for a old calvary-esque saber that he had placed down momentarilly. Sighing, he leaned against the wall. Here would be a decent enough spot to rest for a few minutes.
__
Alinos hovered over the city, an expression of anger twisting his face which was usually of calm neutrality. He scans the city with a third eye, searching for the source of this madness, the Demon he and his allies had failed to kill far too many times. His lip thinned as he realized that Legion's distinct, unmistable aura was not concentrated in any one place, but instead could be sensed from all of Estecia. The monster had divided himself up to control the mob. So, this would have to be done the hard way.

The former Cherubim folded his wings, allowing himself to drop into the city bellow. After a few minutes of silent fall he opens his wings and stops before his sandled feet reach the ground. Outstretching a hand, Alinos summons light into his palm and creates a transparent blade of light that he uses to cut into a nearby Familliar who had mutated into something far different than human, resembling something more of a serpent. If he had to destroy every Demon in this city, no matter the number, he'd do it to erase every remnant of Lock's Legion from this world, and all those who would offer their aid to him.

One down, some six-thousand more to go.
__
Technically, he was somewhere. Just an unnoticable fraction of himself that was masked by the stronger Demons that he had released into other sections of Estecia. Now the master of the Legion sat in the almost empty prison. A few of the Familiars remaining behind, marked by a rough "L" torn into their foreheads, a signature neccessary for the synthesis of their human selves and the bodyless Demons that were within them all. Besides them, a few survivors of the initial massacre had been dragged into the old prison for the amusement of those tasked with remaining. After them, all that were remained where the elves who had decided to remain momentarily, Dyv among them, and the instigator of the chaos, who had taken leave to the medical wing of the prison for 're-decorating'.


Dyv silently went inside the medical wing, shoving a Familiar guard away only out of rudeness. He stands silent inside a waiting room, ignoring the screams of a nurse on the floor beside him, curiously missing her eyes. Yet he does give the poor woman a pitiful glance, if only for a fleeting moment. Maybe if he had been a better person, a stronger one, he could of helped her.

"It's done, Legion."

A mess of black hair topped by a Santa hat pops up from a cardboard box, and a little boy leaps out, spilling assorted medical supplies onto the floor. The boy is wearing a poncho far too big for him, almost slipping off of him and reaching the floor. The boy looks up at the Incubus curiously, only grinning upon seeing a bload-soaked lance, "Ohohoho! You did do it! And here I thought you'd go soft and run! But no! You totally exceeded my expectations and killed all those off-duty police and their families! I've never been prouder!"

The boy goes into a giggle fit, but in turn the other Demon smirks and snickers. He stops, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow, "What?"

"Some Santa you are," Dyv managed in between chuckles.

The boy's good spirits died at his words, and he snarled, "Shut the hell up. It's not my fault I'm like this. It's the only form I can manage at 7% capacity."

Dyv just turns away, heading for the door, "I'm going to bed."

"Suit yourself, but you'll miss all the fun!" The Demon chimes as his counterpart departs. When the door is shut, he immediately sneers, frustrated at being mocked. However, he remembers the nurse, and his good mood returns, he picks up a stray syringe and skips over to her.

"Kids nowadays, they love celebrations but never help get ready. Dontcha think so?"
___________________________
((I don't expect much posts today, but I figured I'd just post it up anyway. Feel free to jump in wherever. Just don't be like "LOL I ATTACK THE PRISON" or anything of that sort. Oh, and I apologize for the lengthy starting post.))

Dyv stares blankly at the main for a moment, but otherwise does not seem too bothered by someone having reached this section of the prison undetected. He opens his mouth to speak, but there's a slight flicker in his eye as he does, "You could say that, what's your buisness here?"

The boy was curiously absent, having left a half-injected needle in his victim moments earlier.

Giggling and licking his lips, Legion's Elf Jit stalks the adjacent corridor in the prison. His target was a young girl who he had kidnapped and brought here, as a Christmas present to himself. Sniggering happily, he watches the 15 year old desperatly try and find a way out of the prison hallway. He continues to follow her, giggling her into hysteria.

"What do you want with me!" She screams.

A giggle fills the air, and Jit moves in closer, enjoying his fun to its fullest.


~~~

"Fancy meeting you here." The rough-edged voice calls out. Stepping from the rubble-littered doorway of a nearby building comes Wolf, her jaws red with demon blood. Behind her is her charge, Rose. The two young fighters move across the street towards Alinos.

"Do you know what's going on? Rose and I stopped here for a bite to eat, and next thing we know...this! Filthy demons."

In an alleyway of the wounded city, Serafine van Ewyk stopped to rest for a second and to take stock of her situation.
She'd arrived a couple of days ago after a suggestion from that damned machine that it thought something 'interesting' would happen.
Well, a rampaging magical mob undoubtedly counted as 'interesting', and only a little forethought and a loaded pistol had got her out of the inn she was staying in. As much as she wasn't a fan of the AI Hobbes, she had to admit that it was alarmingly good at finding these little events to monitor. Still why it belived that she should be there as well as 'a little mechanical surprise', she didn't want to sepculate.
A soft crunch of snow at the alley's end got her attention and she reflexively drew her Mauser, aiming for the newcomer's head. A fraction of a second later, she came to the conclusion that it was rather unlikely that there were many magical entities that were 7 feet tall, composed of metal and with a glowing blue eye. When it stepped out into a better lit area, Serafine almost couldn't hold in a laugh.

"Sixteen, what's with the... uh... the... you know... "

"I believe that it covers all the parameters to be described as 'fetching' (Although I am uncertain if the colour 'works' with my own existing scheme)"

"It's... great... unique... I don't think that I ever expected to see a 7-foot, half ton, striped-scarf wearing killing machine..."

"So, he's in all of them?" Wolf sighs, and shakes her furry head. She follows after Alinos, beckoning Rose to come along too. "So much for Christmas."

Rose pulls her sabre, Fate, out of the stomach of a Familiar with two heads, grimacing at the things stench. Quickly wiping the sword off on the thing's stomach, she catches up next to Alinos and Wolf. Studiously, the 13 year old smells the blade of her sword.

"It's going to reek for ages...So then, what are we supposed to do now? Kill all of them? ...That would kill a part of Legion each time, right?"

"Fine by me, on all accounts."Wolf snarls at a shadow leering up the side of the building, and it turns tail. She nods her head triumphantly.

Rose frowns, still pretrubed."Where are we going to go? We can't just keep wandering the streets all night and killing everything."

~~~

With a final giggle, Jit finishes off the young girl, leaving her mutailated body in a prison cell with some Familiars. The demon monsters quickly fall onto it, ripping it apart. Jit steps out of the cell, unafarid of the creatures behind him. He was above them, far above them, on the hierarchy. Although technically not even a real demon, but just empowered by Legion as they were, Jit had more of that power. His body, however, didn't take on much more of a demonic shape. His already slanted eyes became a little more sharply so, and his eye colour changed from green to a yellowish haze. Most notably, his jaws had become dog-like and stuck from his head at an awkward angle. He loved them and hoped Legion wasn't planning on taking it away. Licking his lips again, Jit made his way back to the "office."

"Cross little Suzy off your list, Santa."

Dyv turns from the newcomer and eyes Jit, again being used as a mouthpiece. So much for sleeping, "Now now, Jitter-bug, if you keep killing them you won't have anyone to play with later. There's going to be a serious shortage of pets and a major increase in food within the next few hours. However, one of our New Myria friends, Rosie-girl, seems to have made it into the city."

Dyv raises a hand, the image of Alinos, Wolf, and Rose could be made out from the perspective of a canine-like Demon, "She should prove interesting, in one way or another. She has quite a little history that might be fun to dig up. That mongrel, however, is going to be a problem, same with the Fallen. Let's put the old girl to sleep and occupy the ex-Angel. I really don't need any of that posse gathering together again."

Jit, aka Jitter-Bug, grins wickedly. His tounge streaks across his stretched lips and wettens them, adding that perfect holiday shine. "I hate dogs, Chief. So unChristmasy, and covered in fleas!" He pauses to scratch at himself. "I'll be glad to take care of 'em, but there's an ex-Angel, you said." Jit's cowardness shines through. He knew from past experience that he could overpower Rose, and he wasn't afarid of Wolf. But an ex-Angel sounded strong, and therefore was a threat to his health.

Dyv frowns, his body not his own at the moment, "No confidence in your new powers? Pity, perhaps Jakail is up to the challenge," Dyv shook his head and turned away back to the stranger. However, kid-Legion, wherever he was, couldn't resist grinning to himself in silence.

Jakail was currently quite busy. After having found the candy-cane, and finding the proper mortal to use it on, he'd spent a few minutes shoving the candy-cane down her throat, then out her back and shoving it into the ground like a pike. "Merry Christmas!" he said to the woman, and then giggled as he danced off to find his next victim.

Meanwhile, in the peaceful confines of a Church, a small mass of children huddled in a room watched over by a pair of teenage men in priest garb, daggers tied to their waist and semi-automatic pistols with silver bullets in their hands. Another of the teenage defenders patrolled the roof, him holding a shotgun and waiting. And of course, Father Solamente stood behind his Pulpit, Bible open and he was reading it to pass the time. His cannon was readied, and in the doorway a large mass of bodies lay, familars of Legions who'd broken down the door to his Church, not really prepared for the shower of bullets that ensued. Solamente had broken into his armory shortly after and given Jake, Tyler and Van a few weapons and told them to stand watch. A few survivors had fled into the church, and he'd sent them downstairs, armed and with some of the younger and disabled children. The ones upstairs were all above ten, and had also been armed. Sola raised his eyes to the doorway and waited. It wouldn't be long now. Damned demons would sniff out the blood, only to have theirs added to the pile.

"Is the order confirmed?" a voice came from an alleyway. speaking into a headset. He waited a moment and then slinked back into the shadows, his glowing blue eyes letting him cut through the darkness into the currently being destroyed town. "Understood. Operation will be carried out shortly." it said, then ripped the headset from it's ear and crushed it, tossing it to the ground. Syinthios adjusted the long coat he'd chosen for the occasion and readied his double-blade, and stepped back into the shadows to wait for his moment.

"I think that could be arranged, but first, please, introduce yourself. I make it policy to know those who I associate with." Dyv crosses his arms.
__
"Son...please come here. I need you to do something for me," Whispered the wounded priest inside St. Claire's Church. Matthew glanced over, kneeling beside the weak man.

"Please, rest Father. You'll need your strength for when we get moving to escape," He lied, he knew that the old man was dying of his wounds, he didn't act fast enough. It wasn't the first person Matt had been too late to save, unfortunately.

Father Kamri shook his head, "I doesn't matter. You see, my faith was not strong enough to save my parish, I-I feared these dark creatures, and when my faith faltered no blessed object could save us. That is my failure. But, there's another, someone who's faith is so much stronger than mine. If...if you can get to him, you'll be safe. He is truly a man who acts as the hand of God."

Matthew frowned, he wasn't one to put his faith in a religion. He had seen men and women of God stand against injustice in his old home, New Myria. Those people were as brave and noble as they were dead. Regardless, if only for Kamri's sake, he'd do as he pleased, "I'll contact him, who is he and how can I reach him?"

"Father Solamente, the phone number of his church is in my address book. It's in my desk...please, save as many people as you can."

"I promise to take care of it," Matt nodded, "Just rest for awhile, Father."

Kamri let out a sigh of relief, finally feeling at ease. He eased back into his hastily made bed, falling into a tranquil sleep he'd never awaken from. Even if his faith in Divine power had failed, his faith in another might aid those who still had a chance to survive.

Shaking his head, Matthew walked over to an over-turned desk, finding a small blue address book. Taking out his cell phone, he thumbed the pages and dialed the specified number.

Childish laughter once again echoed down the streets before the little girl appeared once again at the end of town. She moved through the snow quietly, clutching her bear to her chest as she moved towards the middle of town, not giving much notice to passerbys that were survivors. The other boy was just a sad victim that her 'friends' wanted to die.

She let out a giggle as if someone was talking to her, but couldn't be seen. A black shadow passed over the ground in front of her about that same time. Once more a childish giggle that sounded rather psychotic echoed off the buildings sending a few children fleeing into the church.

About this time a young half-elven woman with long blondish colored hair that curled at the ends made her way up an abandoned churches steps quickly. She was dressed rather elegantly with a white cloak on, trimmed in white fur. Her outfit was a lowcut, bell sleeved white tunic that was tucked neatly under a very light teal colored corset that laced up the front with the tunic hanging from it like a skirt. A pair of form fitting teal leggings adorned her legs with a pair of light brown knee high laced boots. On her waist held a light brown leather belt with a sword sheathed at her side.

She slung the doors open and headed inside the church, leaning against the interior of the doors breathing heavily. She was trying to regain her composure after nearly being skewered by some unknown human, before she dispatched him of his life.

Solamente jumped slightly as the phone nearby rang, and hastily picking it up he said "Friend or foe?" quietly, one eye still trained on the door, which children appeared to be running into.

Jakail, meanwhile, had made his way back to the prison, holding another giant candy-cane and made his way through the place, bashing anything that didn't move quite harshly in the head. He made his way to Dyv, and said "I'm boooored!" loudly, then leaned in his candycane. "Anymore survivors to plaaay with?"

Jealousy flares in Jit's eyes. If there was one person he couldn't stand, it was Jakail. Jakail, always competing for Legion's attention. Jakail, stealing his thunder. Jit snaps his dog-like jaws together in distaste. "I can take care of it better then that kid, Santa. Better then any of them!"

"So... suggestions? I'd say that against this mob, us two would find it a little tricky."

"From a purely practical point of view, withdrawal to aquire support would be advisable, altough it appears they are blockading the routes out.
However, I do not wish to withdraw. The odds are against us, the enemy possesses powers that I have not seen in combat before, and we have no idea of the root cause."

It flexes it's fingers, and a pair of three-foot blades slide out of it's wrists with a slightly silky noise and it examines them before continuing.

"However, I am armed and prepared. I am trained in stealth and assassination as well as group combat. I wish to test my abilities against a foe worthy of them."

"No... moral issues, then? I was thinking of trying to find survivors, seeing if we can't find out what's going on here. Think that makes sense?"

"I suggest looking for a house of worship. It would be very human to head to one in a time of crisis."

"Perhaps. I saw a chuch a couple of streets away when I got here a few days back. Think you can help me get there without too much hassle?"

"I guarantee it. Show me the way"

With a smile, Serafine left the alleyway, pistol drawn. She was still a little scared, but a purpose and a little help from the XVI were doing wonders for her morale.

Dyv frowns, "Ex-god? How unfortunate. Regardless, welcome to our merry little crew!"

He turns to Jitters, his face devoid of his usual grin, "Good, go prove it."

"As for more survivors Jakail, between everyone here you lot have killed them all off. If you want more, you best go 'collect' some."

The flicker in Dyv's eyes vanishes, and at last the young Demon is given his freedom, "...I'm going to bed," and with that he departed.
___
"Friend, of Father Kamri specifically. Unfortunately, he's...no longer with us. He implored me to contact you, Father Solamente. There's a small group of people still alive in his church. I'm requesting your help, if at all possible, sir."

Matthew held his breath, this strange priest might be their ace in surviving this massacre.
___
Meanwhile, Alinos had encountered a rather large ogre-like creature that had broken down a building wall, on top of the Angel. After some effort, he rips through the debris, and dashes toward the monster, "Help would be kindly appreciated! I was not created for combat!"

Solamente closed his eyes and muttered a prayer for Kamri. "His death will be mourned." he said, then opened his eyes again. "Listen. I can't leave my church at the moment, I've got children I'm protecting. If you can make it to the church, I can give you shelter and eventully when this calms down a bit, to escape. It's straight across town from Kamri's church, should be next to what remains of an apartmet complex. Think you can make it?" he asked, tightening his grip on his gun. If not, he'd had to trust the three in here to keep the children safe while he went out..Not something he wanted dreadfully.

Jakail sighed and said "Fiiiiine. I'll go hunt something dowwwwn myself." he said, and promptly spun on his heel and walked down the hallway. Maybe there was a store in town someone had hidden in..Maybe a used car lot or something.

Alinos's plea for help was answered by a most unusual source; five silver wires, that snaked around the beast's wrists, neck and knees and pulled, rendering the beast open for attack, even as the sea-green light of energy moving through the wires was seen and eventully began channeling into the creature, slowly reducing his insides into a sea of liquid. Behind him, Syinthios stood with his right arm extended forward, wires extending from each of his fingertips. "Now would indeed be a good time to kill him." he called, as the creature began pulling against the wire and snapped the one on his left knee.

A smile stretches ear to ear on the half-elf's face. Khaishin ranked above him, even without Legion's power boost. Which meant if anything went wrong, it'd be on his head, not Jit's. Self preservation always came first. "Righty-o. Let me just get Tino."


Jit disappears for a few moments and comes back with an AK-47. Apparently, Tino has been upgraded. Whistling merrily, he follows after Kaishin.

~~~

"Nobody was created for combat. We adjust, is all." Rose's sword rips through the ogre's side, leaving a massive gash. The thing howls, seemingly more in fury than pain, and spins on her. Its back turned, Wolf leaps onto the beast, jaws ripping through the flesh around the base of its neck.

Not wasting a moment to acknowledge the stranger or Wolf, Alinos leaps up and slashes, successfully scalping the ogre. He kicks the back of its head to leap off, sending it to the ground as not to crush Wolf.

"Your assistance is welcomed, whoever you are," He crossed his arms and looked up at Syinthios, "Who are you?"
__
Matthew frowned, it wasn't that good of a situation, "There's only three with me, all young children. I can manage fine, but it's them I'm worried about. I understand if you can't come, however. In which case I'll try to make my why there."
__

Syinthios lowered his arm back to his side and the remaining wires slid back in quickly. He flexed the hand, then picked his double-sided blade from the ground again. "My name is not important, but if you insist on something, it is Syinthios. Shien Kitzu of SAI INC has sent me to aid in rescuing survivors and purging the demons." he said. He spun the blade in his hand a bit, and said "Where to now?"

Solamente's breath stilled when he heard the others were children. More children out in this hell. He growled and said "Listen..Give me two minutes. I'll be there." he said, then promptly hung up. He gave the children their marching orders, and felt insanely guilty about placing three teenagers incharge of almost a hundred lives, but the thought there were more children out there spurred him on like a possesed man. Loading Archangel quickly with anti-demon rounds, he sprinted out the door of the Church into the night and anything demonic that got in his way was wasted by a spray of bullets or one very heavy cannon to the face.

"I wish I knew," muttered the Angel, "The source of all this is too dispersed to sense, he could be anywhere. Our only option is to try to stop the Demons." Alinos holds out his left hand, creating a second blade of light.
__
Matt hung up the phone, cursing himself for endangering others. Letting it go, he headed downstairs where three children where quietly playing. The oldest, Collin, was twelve. Then Kate who was five, and finally Lauren who was two and being carried by Collin.

Matt waved to them, "Wake Kate up and get ready to go, we're leaving for somewhere safe in few minutes."

Jit peered over and immeditatly frowned. There was more than just Alinos, the wolf, and Rose. "I'll take the girl, and the wolf. You should be fine with the other two, right?"


"It'd be safe to say Legion is under all this. This place reeks of him. If we can find him, we could probably stop them all. I don't think that he'd be able to stop us too much if all of these demons are a part of him." Rose sheathed her sword, feeling safe for the moment.

Wolf sniffed the air, suspicious, but unable to detect anything over the ranking bleach scent of demon blood. "I don't smell anything. We should be safe here, for the moment. Until we can figure out where we want to go."

Solamente's tactic for getting to Kamri's church was as simple as it was lacking finess; rush right through, cutting his path through the center street. Of course, when one is armed like Solamente was, thats not a bad plan. Gunfire rang out several times, getting closer to Kamri's church, as well as one or two howls of pain from sources unknown. After a while, silence fell over the place. A utter, strange silence that made it seem like something had sucked the noise out of the world.

Then of course, the gunfire resumed after Solamente had reloaded. He was close now, decently close atleast. If this spindly little fast bastard would stay dead, he'd be there shortly. He leveled his cannon and barely missed turning the thing into a pile of bits, then swung the back of his cannon upwards, meeting the thing's face headon as it tried to jump him. The thing smashed into the street, and Solamente slammed the barrel of his cannon down on it, and fired.

"I see." Syinthios said, then nodded to them. "Then maybe we should first try to exterminate the demons near survivor hideouts. I believe there is a.." he said, then halted. He blinked several times, then shook his head. "Hrm. Odd..No matter. Must have been my hearing malfuction." he said, but even so he tightened his grip on his blade. "As I was saying, I believe there is a few buildings around here that should be first on our lists, including a small gun store several blocks from here that I saw people breaking into when I dropped in, though Demon or Human I know not. I was on my way when I met you three."

Childish giggles echoed throughout the main street of the town as the little girl appeared in random places in the street before walking into the shadows and reappearing at another location on the street, stepping from another set of shadows. It was as if she was traveling by shadows. She held her bear close and hummed a continuing theme. She looked so sweet, and could easily be mistaken as a child hiding from the 'bad guys'.

The young half-elven woman glanced down at her arm that had been gashed open under her sleeve from some creature that had a huge set of teeth. She examined it closely to see if there was any poison and anything and shruged. She took a piece of tattered cloth off of one of the broken chairs that lie around the door and wrapped her arm before she peeked through the doors to see if anyone was around. She was pretty scared actually. She was strong and could keep up with the best of them, but her mentality still held an innocence she hadn't quite got past. She was just unsure, that was all.

She stepped out onto the steps of the ruined church and hurried down them into the streets. About that time a blast of icy wind caught her and blew her blonde locks all in her face blocking her vision before she glanced over and saw a few children running towards an open church. Then it happened. A sudden blow to the side caught her off guard and she went flying back into the doors of the abandoned church as she slid across the floor.

She managed to get up onto her feet to look up at see a large undead manifestation. She held her side as she looked up to the creature as her eyes narrowed. She held both hands out to the side as she ran full force out of the doors of the church and leaped into the air, cutting a flip over the creature and landing behind it, placing both hands on it's back and setting it aflame. She stepped back as to not get caught in the fire as it faded and the creature remained. She arched her eyebrow and drew her sword from it's sheath. If magic wouldn't work, she needed to use brute force. For a battlemage, either skill would be rather easy if she could keep her confidence up.

Suddenly the creature turned and it's eyes flashed red as it's mouth formed a twisted grin. The half-elven woman was frozen. She tried to pull her feet from the ground but she couldn't move. Some paralizing spell was rendering her unable to move her feet. No.. her legs. It was steadily moving up her body. It finally reached her arms and she dropped the sword to the ground and screamed an ear piercing scream hoping someone would hear her before she was frozen forever.

Arlene woke up, gasping. The dead man on laying on top of her was heavily muscled and heavy. She tried to put both hands on his chest to push him off, but screamed when she realized there was blood pooled all over her.

"Shit.."

She stopped for a minute, breathing hard before giving it one last push. The man rolled off of her and lay just as lifeless as before. Arlene sat up, tears running down her face as she crawled around looking for her pants.
She recalled coming home earlier from work...cooked a small meal and sat down to watch tv. She recalled an arm coming from behind and wrapping around her kneck, then being thrown to the ground where she got raped until she managed to reach a piece of broken glass that came with the initial struggle. After stabbing him in the neck she had gone out cold.

Arlene found her clothes among the trashed living room, everything dark with no power. She stepped outside into the cold night air, wiping her face off with her sleeve. The more she walked the more she realized it wasn't just her that got attacked...

((Just a quick note, as Solamente, Matthew, and the kids will probably be doing a bit of inner-city navigating, anyone who has not established a location is free to run into them. Likewise, you can find anyone else if you care to. Eventually, unless someone objects, I'd like everyone to be in one large group. That's all for now.))

Chapter 2: The Omnipresent Demon and Those Who Followed Him

So, this what it was like to be God.

At least in a minor sense.

Legion drifted in the red void of his 'mind', modelled after the stars and heavens. I a mere instance he drifted through countless stars, each a mind of its own, an individual part of him. Within it he saw everything the being ever said, felt, and knew. All intimacies were eradicated once someone became a part of Legion. There was no privacy, no self, lying cold and naked in darkness with the only the light of thousands of eyes belonging to the damned who shared the same fate.

Right now, however, he was only interested in what they were seeing.

And thus, he saw everything there was to see in his new city. That was with the exception of the holes in his vision where his eyes had been gauged out.

Though annoying, the whole situation did create an interesting radar. Sight through blindness.

Rose, Alinos, Wolf, and that newcomer, Syinthios was it? They would soon be dealt with, he'd see how Jitters and Khaishin fared before taking further action.

However, that troublesome Priest heading for one of the churches he vaguely rememebers having been attakced was something to be noticed. Ergo, it was something to be noticed by a great number of the Familiars nearby.

Fucking Christians.
__
Matthew, his charges having awakened, quietly stood by what remained of the Church's door, urging the children to remain silent. Fortunately, Collin was wise enough to remain quiet, and Lauren was asleep. Kate, however, was quite overwhelmed with everything, and needed quite a bit of consolance before calming down. Matt only hoped no one had hea-

Too late, something just jumped through the window.

Instictively, Matt stood infront of the kids, drawing a revolver and leveling it with the demented humanoid shape that had intruded into the church. Upon seeing his choice of weapon, the thing seemed to snicker.

Here's to hoping bullets not made of silver at least slowed it down.
__
Alinos nodded, "As good a plan as any, let's move out before more of them show up.

Arlene had only walked for less then quarter of an hour, hiding in and out of the shadows when she heard glass breaking not too far away from where she was at the moment. She could see the source of the noise up ahead, coming from the church. Maybe there were other people there? She prayed to God there were and not the bad ones either.

"That should be satisfactory, Although I have no idea what this figures are capable of."

He grips his Shamshir tightly and peers around the corner at them, then back at Jit. "Well.... Let's go." He twirls around and walks with a determined pace at the group hoping that Jit was following.


((Excuse my absence, haven't had anytime to get online with enough time to post.))

Jit tagged behind, and began to sing softly to himself.

"On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to mee...a cartridge in a pear treee..."

Cocking the gun with practiced ease, he takes careful aim at Wolf. "Ready when you are, Chief."

Wolf's sharp ears pick up the soft sounds and swivel in that direction. She sniffs the air again and utters a low growl. Rose pats her reassuringly on the head.

An eye falls on Wolf, and Alinos arches an eyebrow, "What is it?" The Fallen's wings unfold as he begins to consider moving to higher ground.
__
Well, he managed to keep it away at least. Still, the inaffectiveness of his revolver was fully revealed when the time had come to reload. Just as Matthew was loading another six round, his assailant dashed toward him, knocking away his sidearm and making an upward slash into his chest. Matt was flung upward and back, landing on a pew and shattering it into wooden splinters.

The children, however, took this time to hide, as the Demon seemed to be more interested in Matt at the moment then victims he could easily track down later. Again he rushed toward the young man to slash, this time rebuffed by the boy's saber.

The young man panted, glancing down at the red stain growing across his shirt and then the gun at the opposite end of the church. He had to get to it, this thing was too fast the fight in melee.

"Hehe, miss your pistol boy? You'll die before you get within five feet of it."

Arlene slowly made her way towards the church, looking in through the busted window first. When she saw the demon her heart nearly stopped. What was going on in this city she once thought was much more normal? Her trance broke when she realized the demon wasn't just standing in there for nothing; there was a man, who seemed to be having a stand off with it, although she could see his gun was clearly out of reach.
If the man who had attacked her earlier in the night had something to do with this demon, she'd get it back too. Sudden fury welled up inside of her as she strolled through the door and ran for the gun. Grabbing it she cried out.

"HEY!" to catch both the man's and the demon's attention, throwing the gun as hard as she could towards the man. She only prayed she was fast enough.

The Demon turns, sneering at Arlene and lunges to catch the gun before Matt. Unfortunately, Matt had raised his saber so that in diving, the monster would gash his neck on the blade. Suddenly clutching his neck and screeching, the boy slides across the floor and grabs scoops up the revolver. Leveling the arm with the monsters head, he unloads the weapon, only letting out the breath he had held in once its head was reduced to shattered skull and oozing brain.

Falling onto his back, he attempted to catch his breath, looking over upside down at Arlene. He opens his mouth to say something, but can not seem to decide just how to respond.

"Well, uh..'thank you' is the sort of thing you say for someone who holds a door for you, but you just saved my life, so that's not really the right words huh?"
__
Alinos turns to Khaishin, somewhat startled that he could not sense his presence, and slashes at him with his duel blades, "And just what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

There was a loud crash as another demon flew through the church wall, a smoking crater where his chest used to be. Solamente's boot crunched wood as he stepped inside, his cannon held over his shoulder and smoke rising from the barrel. "I belive someone called for divine intervention?"

Syinthios growled slightly and spun on Khaishin, holding his double-blade at his side. "Obviously he has a very, very big death wish." he said as the blades on it began to glow softly, and burst into flame. He rushed over and slammed the blade down towards Khaishin, trying to catch him while he defended Alinos's attack.

"Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is dum dum dee delightful.." Jakain sang, watching the shopping mall that had been the house for a group of survivors begin to spark. They began running for the exits as the big christmas tree in the center began to catch on fire too, only to find they were boarded up from the outside, and padlocked too. Windows were crashed out of, only to land on carefully arranged christmas decorations outside and die nigh-instantly. As the fire consumed the building, Jakain rubbed his hand together and put them close to the building. "Mmm..Toasty."

Wolf stumbled to the side, not really hurt, but surprised and annoyed. Her fangs clashing, she begins to turn towards Khaishin, only to be deterred by a high pitched, terror stricken scream. Wolf twirls to see Rose staring, peterified, at the alleyway. The muscles in Rose's throat bulge and slide, making soundless words. The animal, confused, looks in her direction and sees the half-elf stepping forward, and wicked grin splayed across his doglike face.

"N..No! You're dead! I saw you die!"Rose's voice comes back in a hurry, as does her confidence. She grips the sword, slashes the air defiantly.

Jit giggles, soft at first, but eventually breaking into a manical laugh. Not deigning to answer the girl, he sprays a round of gunfire at their feet, forcing them to back up, and away from their allies. Wolf, growling fiercely, lunges forward as soon as the gunfire ceases. Jit was prepared for it and shot once at the animal. With a deep cry, Rose also moves forward, shoving Wolf out of the way and barely missing being shot herself.

"You can't fight him! He'll kill you!"
"You're just as likely to be killed as me!"

Rose ignores this and leaps forward, coming within sword range of Jit. To her vast surprise, Jitters throws the gun to the side with a frustrated (and somewhat pouty) look on his face. Stepping back, he catches Fate in his hand, allowing the metal to bite into his hand. Rose looks at him, horrified. He laughs and pushes the sword away, watching the wound quickly close up on itself.

"Santa gave me some new powers, my little Rose. Son of a bitch!" Jit swings around, in time to land a kick in Wolf's side as she bounds away from leaving a nasty bite across his side.

"Legion may have dragged you from your grave, but this time I'll make sure you stay there!"

Syinthios chuckled darkly in mid-motion, as he spins out of the way and manages to force the brunt of the blow onto the padded spot below his shoulder. A decently deep nick, not nothing Syinthios couldn't live with. His next movement was to use the momentum of the spin to sideways-leap over Khaishin and slam his foot down towards the man's head, and lands into a crouched spin and slashes at the man's knees. Briefly, he considers the thought of helping the other two, whom he'd not recived the names of. He passes it, hoping to finish the more immediate of the attackers before they needed help, if at all.

Jakail's weak giggle comes from a rooftop, not exactly too far from the fight. He's sitting on the edge, his feet handing over the side and kicking merrily. He claps and whoops, yelling "Get em, Jitty!" and cackles madly, before almost falling off the roof.

"With what? Those feeble abilities past down by a pair of warlocks who couldn't even keep themselves alive?" Legion mused as he held his head in his hands, floating through the void, "The irony of it all is that she's more of a Demon than Jitters is."
__
Alinos leaped into the air as to hover over the battle. This newcomer was different, he wasn't a Demon like the rest, what was it about him?

Dismissing these thoughts for the moment, the Fallen took his left weapon and flicked his wrist, using the energy to create a thin beam that tore up the ground around Khaishin and moved toward him.
__
Matthew's jaw dropped upon seeing Solamente's dramatic entrance. After a few moments of gawking, he rose up and walked over to the priest, bowing his head in respect, "Thank you for getting here so fast, Father Solamente, I'm indebted to you."

Moving toward the pews, he bends down and speaks softly, "It's safe now, you can come out."

Slowly, Collin crawls from under a pew and picks up Lauren, followed by a sobbing Kate. Collin looks over at Solamente with wide eyes, in awe of his weapons.

Now moving over to Arlene, Matt extends a hand, "Again, thanks for saving me. My name's Matthew."

Arlene, still not smiling, shook his hand in return. "You don't have to thank me, I did it mostly for myself." She shook her head. "And my name's Arlene."

Receiving a rather large kick in the head he bends over backwards and grasps his head. As he starts to recover he catches a glimpse of the blade and leaps slightly to land on the blade and push off causing him to fall backwards where he then pushes off the ground with his hands to land upwards once again. Once upward though he is trapped in a avalanche of rocks and rubble spewing dust about the immediate area.

Khaishin is now unable to be seen from the dust as it swirls and billows from the collision. "Enough with the light shows and weak attacks, I don't want mercy I want blood, now fight!" The dust slowly dissipates and only silhouettes can be seen now. There are three now standing where Khaishin once stood. They all move simultaneously and all three charge forward attacking both of the opponents.


((Think of the one boss Poe who split in four or whatever and you have to find which one is real...))

Syinthios let out an agitated tongue click, and his blade ceased it's flaming. He watched the trio carefully, and said "Fine. Blood. On your own head be it, fool." he said as he flexed his right hand. Wires snapped out of his fingertips, sapphire energy cracking at their tips. He drew them back and sent them forward with a crack, hitting the ground and sending pulsing waves of blue plasma and acid towards them.

"It's quite alright." Solamente said, then kneeled down by the children and said "It's going to be alright now, you three..I promise you, nothing is going to hurt you tonight." he said with a wide smile. His scarf was on, but the messege conveyed. He eyed the crying one and lifted his finger. A white letter, the size of if it had come off paper, sparked from his fingertip and fluttered about her, letting her play with it for something to keep her mind off the horrors around them.

Turning to Arlene and Matt, he reaches into his coat and pulls out a handgun, which he tosses at Matt. "Safteys on. Holy Silver rounds, will knock a hole the size of a brick in any demon. Ten rounds." he said, then nodded to Arlene. "And please, call me Sola." he added. He turned to the doorway and said "Lets hurry. I have the feeling we should be getting back, soon."

"Yeah, but I can't go in there myself, and that..Kha..dude creeps me out- WHOA! LOOKIT THE LIGHT SHOW!" he screamed, gawking at Syinthios's attack. He giddily clapped and yelled "Go get em, wire dude!" and then realized he was rooting for the wrong person. "I mean, you kick his ass, clone guy!" and giggled loudly, before finally tumbling off the side of the building and landing with a smack.

Alinos sneers at the division, choosing to meet the charge of the left clone. Recreating his second blade, he holds them both in a 'X' before him and dives down. As he approaches he throws out his arms and releases the blades, sending the X spiraling towards one of the Khaishins. Throwing out his wings to brake, he soars upward to maintain his aerial advantage.
__
Nodding, Matt shruged, "Can't blame you, Miss Arlene," Turning to face Solamente, he catches the gun as Kate giggles, chasing the letter. He holds it out to Arlene, "I'm already armed."

Collin meanwhile is still astonished at the Demon Hunting Priest, staring in awe, only after a handwave from Matt does his attention return. He stays close behind, but waves at Arlene and Sola before turning to Kate, "Come on we're leaving now."

Suddenly looking up, Kate bolts over to Collin, clutching to the back of his shirt.
__
Legion had to admit, Jitters was performing quite well. His previous failures at New Myria had previously been cause for concern, but it seemed with a new environment, proper motivation, and newfound power he proved very useful.

Besides, Jakail was in the wings incase something went dreadfully wrong, and Khaishin was occupying the others effeciently.

Now, it was time to get started.

Digging his claws into the space around him, the Demon pulls and rips a hole in the void. Legion pulls himself through, ariving on the battlefield as a formless spectre.

Focusing on Rose, he giggles to himself, "Now isn't this pitiful, you're getting worked over by some shameless thug? That's no way to avenge Bianca, didn't those two Abbis teach you better then that?"

"Spouting hollow threats and impotent insults will serve you little, Rosie. The undeniable truth is that you, like your mother, are inordinately weak. You adopt foreign habit and attempt, vainly, to pass it off as your own. Who the hell do you think you're fooling? That stance, is it human? No, it's not that ineffecient. Gale and One taught you how to fight, taught you magic, am I correct? How can you rely on the teachings of an extinct race? Where are Gale and One now? They're both dead, and that's what you'll soon be if you follow their hackneyed path!"

Legion's voice rises, abandoning the typical boisterous, mocking tone in his accusations, "What success can you put claim to? What have you achieved? Violated friends? Dead comrades? Insane mentors? Can't you see the absurdity of your choices?! Child, what could you understand about what is required to surive, to gain anything besides death and misery? You know nothing of this world, or even of yourself! So how is it you can justify being here?! From my estimate, your bitch friend isn't going to last too much longer. How many friends would that make it who have died due to your inadequacy, it certainly wouldn't be the first!"
__
Eyeing the unaffected Khaishin, Alinos again dives down, creating a single blade and holding it with two hands, "I'm getting tired of this."

Arlene takes the gun with a half smile, a little surprised at it's weight. She looks at it before putting her arm down at her side, ready to follow the others.

"Lets go." Solamente said, flicking a switch on his cannon which activated a long line of scopes to flip up onto it. He walked out the church door, taking quick glances as he moved. He turned and nodded to Matt and the others, and waited silently for them to follow.

"Yo, sword dude. As much as I like watching this whole scene and stuff, shouldn't we be down their kicking these dude's asses?" "Patience, Jango my friend. Patience. Our part in this play called Life has not been scripted yet. Give it time, friend. We're here to talk to the kid, and see how long he intends to keep working with Legion.." "Wonder what ole' demon dude would say if he knew I was working for a you now." "Probably something along the lines of 'Fucking hell.'." two figures bantered. One was dressed in a long blue coat that went to his shins, discs wrapped in golden cloth tied to his coat. He wore leather gloves and shoes, along with a pair of blue pants and a white shirt, with an odd hat and a pair of gleaming heart shaped glasses, with brown and gray hair. He looked older then he once had, his turn to darkness wearing on his once plesent features. Next to him stood a man with a pair of wings wrapped around his black cloak. The wings were black and red, with hooks at the tips and made of a leathery flesh. A bundle of six katanas was tied to his waist, all but one a standard looking one. "Just give it time, my dear hypnotist. Give it time."

Syinthios took the punch to the head and flipped back a bit, then landed on his hand and skidded. He was doing a single handstand, with his right hand. His double blade lay on the ground, left to remain. Syinthios's hand released a burst of heated air, sending the cyborg flying into the air. Time to test that upgrade, he mused. He lifted his right arm as he landed, pointing it straight towards whatever Khaishin was nearest. A panel shot up from his wrist to his shoulder, and a white wing shot out and Syinthios's hand began to pulse with black energy. "One Winged Sho-!" Syinthios started.

"Jango. Now."

A whirling sounded out, as a silver disc embedded itself in Syinthios' 'wing', sending sparks of black and blue all over the place. The disc sliced through, then returned to it's sender, a blue shadow standing on a rooftop overlooking the place. Before any questions could be raised, a pink flash echoed and the shadow faded.

"Excellent shot, my dear hypnotist. Had he launched that attack, we'd be picking our puppets off the ground with a spoon. Not something I'd like to see just yet." "Whatever you say, King."

Syinthios growled in pain as the wing fell off cleanly, sending a shower of black sparks and a trickle of silver liquid onto the ground. He shot his glance up at the rooftops, then decided to ignore his unknown attacker and dashed for Sephiroth. He picked his blade up and then spun, sending a downward slash at the nearest Khaishin.

Jakail grinned slightly from his pile of rubble, watching the fit with intrest. He walked over to the 'bleeding' wing from Syinthios's arm and flexed it slightly, then snapped it into pieces. He walks over to the wall Jit had fallen through and leans into it, then said loudly "Aww. Are the widdle doggy and the cute little girl too much for Jitty?" and then gave an almost girlish giggle, and waved to the pair and said "Hey guys! Keep up the good work! Maybe you'll beat him so much he'll grow a brain, eh?" and then skipped out of the line of fire.

Alinos' snapped toward the new attacker and frowned, "More of them? Wonderful..." With a frown, the Angel condensed his blades into a large sphere of light. Reeling back, he hurled the orb toward Jango in a spiral. As it turned, pieces of it began to break of, creating a wide whirling of energy that if nothing else, would get rid of some of the interlopers' footing on the roof top.
__
Matt motioned for the children to follow before sheathing his saber, cautiously following the priest into the streets, "How far to the church, er...Father?" Matt stumbled on his words, unsure of how to address the Holy Man, he couldn't remember the last time he'd been to a church before today.
__
A sudden, bizzare gust was the only physical sign of Legion being forced out of Rose's mind. The Demon found himself in what would be the street between Jitters and Rose in the distorted realm in which he roamed. Being forced away by of a child, if only in one sudden burst of willpower, was infuriating. Silently fumming, his fists clenched tightly and his lip curled into a sneer. The presence of a third party was ignored, for the moment.

The wrath apparently subsides in an instant, replaced by laughter. "Well, well, so you do know something after all. Though, you've only touched an ember of the inferno, about as much as can be expected from a pseudo-Demon," the last comment filled with a tone of disdain.

"Though, in all fairness, I'm superior to true Demons as well," he giggled, basking in his vanity, "I hope to see you again, if you can even get any further in your present state. Toodles!"

With a final guffaw, the Demon returned to the void.

"Jango.." "Yes boss dude." and with that, Jango had leapt off the roof onto another, then in a flurry of blue cloth, he was gone. He chuckled softly as his wings shot out and propelled him into the air, then he shot off, following Jango nicely. Their presence here had been enough, he supposed.

"Feh. False pretender, perish." came a voice from behind the demon slowly turning Brielle into a popsicle. A large 'ring', about the size of a car, embedded itself in the demon's back, sending it falling to the ground in a heap of blood. A man, dressed in a long black coat with a set of black jeans and a turtleneck shirt walked forth, and pried his blade from the demon. "Hmpf. Inane creature." he muttered, then turned quickly. A woman, dressed in a pink suit of armor with a robe underneath and a sword tied to her waist waited by the door. She was a little smaller then the man, but about the same age, with lavender hair and one of the cute, girly faces. "Big bro, that was so neat! Didja see the way it just cut into hiim!?" she said, giggly and giddy. "Calm down Tia. It was just a fake demon." he said to the girl, and patted her head. He turned to Brielle and nodded to the girl, who walked over and kneeled down. "Hey! My names Tiami and I'm gonna heal you now, okay?" she said with a big smile, and lifted her hands. White light began to spread over Brielle, melting the ice on her and causing her wounds to recover slowly. "There, all better now!"

------

"Call me Solamente. My title means nothing in these times." he said, then adjusted the cannon. "Depending on how many demons..About two and a half miles. Now, however, if we have to detour the main road, we could be wandering for hours." he said, then stopped. "My god..Is that a childing over there?" he said, staring. Sure enough, it was a child walking down the street holding a doll.

------

Jakail giggled giddily at the fight, then perked up slightly. "It's the Kiddies!" he nearly screamed, then turned in a direction. "It's my favorite two little assassins!" he boomed, then turned back to the fight, smiling. If Tia and Hell were here, then that meant..Hehe. So the disc WAS his. Oh this was going to be so much fuuun..

The half-elven woman suddenly collapsed to the ground when the ice faded. She slowly stood to her feet as Tia healed her wounds. She smiled warmly at the pair and nodded. "My thanks be given to you. I did not know if I was to survive that. My experience with an undead creature is limited, at best.", she said softly as she brushed her white cloak off. She flipped her blonde hair from her face and offered another smile. "A lovely name Tiami. I'm called Brielle." She didn't say her last name because she didn't want her link to the royal family of Seria traced back to her.

Slowly the small girl reached the group and looked up at the figures. Her face held no emotion at all. Her empty, blank eyes looked right through Solamente as she looked up to his face. She tightened her grip on the bear. She honestly didn't like the idea of approaching them at all, and the more nervous she got the more the demon's that urged her on sensed this and caused her physical pain inside. She didn't speak, wheither she really could or not was unknown. She didn't even say her name. She just stood there staring at Solamente, the demons inside of her and in the shadows all around stirred up by the holy power that eminated off of Solamente.

Arlene just about put her hand on the little girl's head to pat it before she actually looked down and saw the girl's eyes. Instinctively she pulled her hand back, suddenly feeling like it wasn't a good idea to touch her at all.

The children stopped, Matt frowning behind them. He notices Arlene shy away from the girl, but can't help but feel sympathetic, "Poor thing, she must off been wandering out here."
__
Alinos sneered upon the pair making their escape, but quickly dimisses it and turns to Syinthios, "Are you alright?"

"Thats a nice name, Brielle! Pleased to meeeet you!" Tiami said, closing her eyes, nodding, and smiling cutely. She then walked over to the man and said "This is my brother Helix, but you can call him Hel. Everyone else does." "Charmed, I'm sure." "So what're you doing here, Brielle? Doesn't seem like the kinda place for people right now. Most of em should kinda be dead by now." "Against these third-rate imitations, Tiami? Feh. Humans are weaker then I thought, then."

Jakail cackled softly then sighs. "Well, time to make both entrance and exit." he said with a chuckle. Walking over to the fallen Wolf, he crouches down and says "Oi. Fluffy. You alive?" and pokes her. He shrugs and puts his hand over her head, letting fluttering snowflakes of silver light shower onto it. Wounds begin to heal or atleast seal, stopping further blood loss as well. Jakail stands up and yawns, then says "Whatever. I think it's time I go collect my children and get outta this dump." he said, turning on his heel and walking away from the fight. He glanced back and stops, then chuckles. He lifts his hand to his side and says "Better make sure these fun people can't follow me." and giggles as a turquise ball of energy, with little strands of red, begins to form in the palm of his hand. It grows to the size of his head, and he smirks as he tosses it straight into ground zero of Syin, Alinos and Khaishin's fight, and it promptly explodes in a shockwave of rending energy. He giggles and resumes walking, whistling 'Dashing Through The Snow.'.

----------

Syinthios growls slightly and yells "Not really! That damn disc took off my Angel Battery, which means I'm fucked." to Alinos, then turns just in time to catch a punch to the fact. He tries to dodge as best he can, which basically means he dodges one punch. The result of the attack leaves him sprawled on the ground infront of Khaishin, panting. This was so totally NOT going the right way. He was about to sit up when he heard the explosion from Jakail's energy ball, and is promptly thrown across the street, landing headfirst in a building. The flesh on most of his face is now pretty much gone.

--------

Solamente nods and crouches down, face to face with the child. "Hey there. My name is Sola. Whats your name?" in a rather sweet voice. His eyes were alternating from trying to stare into hers, to glancing around quickly to make sure nothing was going to attack them. He shrugged and said "No time to waste..Lets get out of here." he said, then reached down and put his arm around the girl and picked her up onto his shoulder. He wasn't really concentrating enough, or he would have quite well heard the voice in the back of his mind screaming at him something was wrong.

Wolf groans, opens her eyes. Her head was still pounding, but she was alive. And it didn't feel as though she was bleeding. Pushing that oddity to the back of her mind, she staggers to her feet. Memories begin to trickle to the front of her mind. "Rose? ...Rose? Rose! Oh no...oh no oh no oh no. That elf demon thing. He must have taken her! I got to get help..." She looks behind her, towards the battle. "I can't ask them...but I can't just disappear." Paws scraping for traction, Wolf pivots and bolts towards Alinos and Syinthios. When she gets close enough to be within earshot, she comes to a skidding halt. "Alinos! They took Rose, I have to get her back! Finish this and come find us!"

With that, the wolf swirls again and takes off, tail bobbing behind her.


~~~

Elsewhere, Jit whistles merrily as he races through the streets. Legion would be so pleased with him. Sure, he had left Khaishin to his fate, but that wasn't his worry. Indeed, more importantly, he had achieved the original objective. Alinos and his buddy were distracted, the wolf was disabled, and Rose was his. It is in this triumphant attitude that Jit kicks the door to the jail open, and announcing his return with an obnoxious giggle.

"Honey, I'm home!"

Rose, meanwhile, stayed determinely rigid and stiff. During the race, Jit had the amazing innovation to blindfold and bond the girl. She wasn't afarid. She had been in this situation a few times before. Plus, this idiot hadn't killed Alinos, Syinthios, and she didn't believe for a moment that her wolf was dead. They would rescue her, if she didn't escape first. Then they would all kill Jit, and hopefully Legion as well. Rather confident in this scenario, she keeps up with making things difficult for Jit.

Brielle paused for a moment. Considering she was on the run from the Serian government who wanted her to take the throne, she wasn't quite keen on just spilling the beans on that much, but her reasoning behind this particular town, that was fine. She quirked her lips and thought and then finally spoke up after a awkward silence. "I've been wandering in search of new living grounds, and perhaps a place to train my skills more than I have.", she shook her head. She was quite strong, but so unsure of herself that it affected how well she battled.

The small girl looked to Arlene as she went to touch her, and pulled her bear up close to her chest. She then stared at Solamente as he first spoke to her. She didn't say a word, nor blink. She clutched the bear tighter. This child looked almost like a ghostly figure from regal times with the way she dressed and wore her hair. To be wandering alone, she was well groomed and neat, just like a doll. She lowered her head as her black curls fell in front of her face, mostly noting that she wasn't, or couldn't speak. Perhaps it was fear of the demons that were part of her, or an inability, it wasn't clear yet. She jerked her head back up as Solamente picked her up. She squirmed faintly and then sat in silence as he carried her, an odd childish giggle could be heard echoing behind the group as shadows danced in and out of the alleyways along their path behind them, following them; moving across the ground.

Alinos opens his mouth to respond to Syinthios, but finds himself short on time as Jakail's blast erupts. Instinctively he throws his wings infront of him, melding them together to create a shield. He's knocked quite a ways, but spares himself of severe injury. Many feathers begin to fall off and flutter down, provoking a frown, "I can't keep going like this too much longer..."

Glancing at Wolf, the Fallen mutters, "Don't think there's much left to fight over..." Quickly scanning the area, he searches for Syinthios, hoping to assit him before following Wolf.
__
Matt raises an eyebrow at the girl, contemplating her bizzare appearance, but says nothing. He had certainly seen worse things tonight, but the girl wasn't what bothered him, it was how damn quiet the street here seemed to be.
__
The prison rumbled with inarticulate roars and screams that echoed from the block of the prison Legion had taken for himself. Curses mixed with jargon and words that either no longer exist or had no meaning in an inhuman voice grew in volume to the point no where in the prison was silent. Within his personal sanctum Legion had created a bizzare homage to 'Christmas' in mocking parody. Metal had been twisted and fused to create a gigantic 'tree' upon which corpses had been hung by nooses and wires, blood and limbs peppering the floor. Close to the tree a sort of throne had been construced and surrounded by bones and skulls. The chair itself was contructed from gravestones, specifically those that were once contained in Estecia Castle. The original names, however, had been clawed through, and some red liquid used to write over them.

Slut.
Failure.
Science Fair, 3rd Place.
Idiot.

The child-shell of Legion tangled over the chair, the body seeming dead. He had been bound to the chair with wires in a similar manner as other 'decorations' were in other sections of the room. Still, Legion's presence was palpable, as was his anger.

"No no no no no no NO! What the hell do they think they're doing stealing my show? This is my city! I own it, everyone and everything inside it. MINE. ALL OF IT!"

Roaring again, Legion's speech again becomes incoherent, and his wrath seems infused into the Familiars which roam the city. They grow wrestless, angry, and some begin to become less human. Even Dyv, blessed with a somewhat peaceful sleep, awoke in a start and felt an unexplainable anger consuming him.

Legion, however, grow somewhat calmer upon Jitters return, "Oh, about time someone did something they're suppose to!" Even then, he didn't seem very happy.

Jit smothers a nervous giggle, feeling as though this wasn't the time. Carefully dumping Rose nearby, he backs off a step. "I'll, uh, take her when your done, okay-dokey chief? Just...well, leave some kick in her." He giggles and licks his lips twice. Sensing Legion's ire turning his way, Jit makes good his departure. Winding his way through the prison, he stops at what was once the Warden's Office. Shoving the disembowled remains of the Warden off of his desk, Jit sits down behind it and, amazingly, begins to scribble notes in a little journal he kept hidded in his jacket pocket.


Squirming, Rose works her way into a sitting posistion and takes the blindfold off with her bonded hands, then loosens the gag. Her first sight is the Christmas Death Tree. Moaning softly, she turns her head to the side and is silently sick. The stench of it fills her nostrils and gets frustrated by the gag, leaving the taste in her mouth. She pulls a sour face. Slowly, her eyes drift over to the mastermind behind all the chaos and destruction. It had been a long time since she had the chance to take a long, hard look at the demon. He ruplsed and disgusted her, filled her with rage, but yet a part of her felt deeply sympathetic towards him. Confused, she glances away.


Elsewheres in the city, Wolf is confronted by a pack of Familiars. Fearlessly, the animal dives into them, tearing and ripping the pack apart.

Chapter 3: Lookin' Bleak
Dyv sat on the roof of the prison, giving himself a wonderful overview of the smoldering city and a distant castle that had, thus far, been spared destruction if only due to its reputation. He sighed, there weren't many people left alive in the city, those that were seemed to be the ones that were actually fighting. Melancholy, the Incubus side, his only comfort is that this would soon be over, at least, one way or another. Finding himself reminded of what had gotten him mixed up in this, he sighed once more.
__
Legion does not bother to respond to Jit, nor inform him just how angry Khaishin had become back where the fight had took place. With an exasperated sigh, the sort of mist within the room subsided, being pulled into the body in the chair, whose eyes suddenly fluttered open.

Tearing himself away from the wires without a second thought, the Demon murmered to himself, ignoring Rose for the moment, "Someone always
has to fuck this bit up, this is even worse than last time!"

Clenching his fist drags his nails across a metal bar, creating a high pitched screetch that he takes no notice of, "Then again...there's always that to try..." He bites his lip, seemingly unsatisfied by whatever the idea was, though his mood seems to have calmed enough that he ceased screaming.

Finally, he remembers Rose amid his mostly inaudiable mutterings, "Oh, you're here. Merry fucking Christmas."

"And a merry fuck you to you too."Rose watches Legion's tantrum. Far from being afarid of the demon, she was amused. Legion didn't scare her. Neither did the thought of death. Rose was one of those handful of kids in the world who understood they wouldn't live forever and had come to terms of it. There was very little the girl was afarid of, but she'd be damned if she let Legion in on that. Readjusting to a slightly more comfortable position, she poses a question for him. "Just what is it you want me for? Somehow, I don't think your plan behind all of this was to just abduct me and kill Wolf or Alinos when they come in after me."

There was an extremely odd shadow movement on the roof with Dyv, followed by a pair of katana's appearing on each side of his neck, pressing gently. "Lovely night, isn't it demon? We're here to see your master, the lovely Legion. Show us to him, would you?" A blue dressed figured stepped out from behind Dyv and kneeled down infront of him, grinning. "Been a while, spear dude. Be a pal and tell demon boy we're just here for a chat, kay?"

"Oooh. Training, huh?" Tia said, rocking on her heels. "Me'n Hel are training still too, though he's better then me! We're here looking for our daddy. He's in town somewhere." she said softly, then giggled. "Probably killing stuff. He's the best daddy ever!" she said, adding another round of giggles. Hel shook his head. "Father said he'd find us in this old church here when his mission was over, so we came to wait but got sidetracked by those demon wannabes." he said with an air of disgust.

-------

"This is quite odd. I'd expect-" he said, then growled as the voice in his head rose quite loudly. "SOLAMENTE! THE GIRL YOU FOOL! THE GIRL!" "Maxwell..What..!?" Solamente said out loud, his eyes taking a silver hue. He looked up at the girl and grimaced. He shrugged softly and shook his head. "Whatever that damn angel is trying to tell me..Meh. Protect the girl? Bloody hell if I know what he's saying." he muttered, seeming quite crazy. "Whatever..Lets get moving." he said, and began to quickly move down the street, Archangel aimed infront of him

-------

Syinthios's soft sigh was heard from a pile of rubble and blood as his arm clawed out, followed his his head and body. His face was bloody and gored, flesh melted to reveal silver metal and wires instead of bone and muscle. His eye swivled quickly, then he managed to extract himself further. "Nothing internal damaged, no main pathways clogged." he muttered, then dusted himself off. "I am fine. You make haste after the girl! I'll follow on foot." he said, waving his arm towards Jit's general escape direction. He quickly stumbled off the pile, then cricked his neck and picked up his blade, dusting it off with his gloved hand.

Arlene couldn't seem to take her eyes off the girl, her hand squeezing harder on the gun she carried as each moment passed. She nearly jumped when Solamante spoke out as if he was answering someone that wasn't there. Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to be with these people. Some of them simply didn't feel right.

Brielle studied the girl before her and held up a piece of parchment in her hand. She looked down to it and held her other hand above it as it began to glow a teal color and then fade as the parchment combusted into flames and she dropped it. "An old archaic spell of the undead.. it was lying on the steps of the church. From what I've studied, it was quite a deadly incantation. Best left destroyed." She glanced around slowly before letting her gaze go from Tia to finally Hel. She looked at him for a moment and then back to Tia. "So your father is fighting in this town? Do you have any idea what is truly going on?"

The small human girl sat quietly on Solamente's shoulder as he did his ramblings like a mad man. She wasn't sure if he was going to hurt her or what, but she couldn't run away. If she disobeyed again, they would probably kill her this time. Last time they only tortured her. She stared blankly, only a faint hint of sadness could be seen within the darkness that were her eyes. It was obvious this child had been alone in this world for a very long time.

Slowly nodding, Alinos unfolds his wings and takes to the air, following after Wolf. He hoped this would be the end of it, he was running out of energy to keep fighting.
__
The Incubus frowns upon being threatened, but doesn't seem overly alarmed, "He knows you're here, now that you've made yourselves known to me."

Sighing, he turns to look back at them, "And threatening me doesn't me anything to anyone, so if you please, let's act like adults. I'll show you to him."
__
This was about enough for Matt, the voice, the girl, the damn SILENCE in which they were moving through with no sight of any Demons. He stopped, the children behind him, and waved his arms, "Ok, this is too goddamn weird for me. Something's going on and I'm not moving till we figure out what it is!"
__
The Demon seems pre-occupied, murmuring, "Oh, that. I thought you'd be worth keeping around, but it was just a mistake. Nevermind then. What you prescribed will suit my purposes just fine."

He sneered, running a hand through his hair and flipping it out of his face. It was settled, he'd use it, might as well. Everyone seemed to be just swarming here any-and what the hell is Dyv up to?! For fuck's sake was everyone here so incapable of doing the littlest things?! He roared again, his form suddenly becoming more cadaverous and his pitch lowering. Fine, whatever, it didn't matter. It just ment the party would end early.

Jit groans, rolling over onto his back painfully. Blood masks his face from numerous cuts and burns into his eyes. He blinks up at Khaishin, reeling from the star-burst pain that sparks through his head. One hand clutching his head, the other grappling with the desk in order to pull himself upright, he slowly stands. A wave of nausea barrels into his stomach and he retches dryly. When the sensation passes, he glares at his offender.

"What the hell was that for?"

Rose snorts. Her hands squirm in the bonds, slowly loosening them. Jit had made two mistakes when he had captured the girl. First, Rose still had Fate strapped to her hip. Second, he had tied her bonds sloppily, and it was all the slim-wristed girl needed to eventually slip free. "So what are you aiming for with all this? I thought you were above petty destruction and the death of civilans."

"Of course. I was merely afraid you too were one of those controlled..Freaks out here, and was taking precautions." the voice behind Dyv called, as the katanas returned behind him and were sheathed. "After you." he said. "Sorry bout that. Coulda kinda hurry though? We're ina bit of a rush, man." Jango said, shrugging.

Tia merely stood next to Hel and blinked, watching Bri blankly. "Interesting.." Hel muttered, turning to the door of the church. "As for whats going on..Something released all the locked up people in town..You know, the murderers, rapists, psychos, sadists..The colorful bunch." he said, fingering the edge of his blade slightly "And decided to give them demonic powers and let them loose. Simple as that, I suppose." he added as Tia hugged him.

-------

Syinthios watched Alinos take off and rubbed his face a bit, removing the blue liquid that had started to leak from his eye. "Damned implant." he mumbled as he bolted off after Alinos, trying to keep him in sight as much as possible. He leapt over the head of a familar, ignoring it. He was focused on finding the cause for all of this, which was no doubt also near the kidnapped Rose.

------

Solamente sighed and turned to Matt, walking closer. "Look, we don't have time for your-" he began, then halted as a bright, holy light began to seep from his back. "Maxwell, what.." he muttered, then yelled as the light exploded into a form. It was roughly humanoid, but it had large wings and was apparently made purely of white, pure light that ignited the whole area in a blinding shower of bright light. "Solamente, the next time I tell you to listen, don't block me out." the angel said, his voice hollow and echoing. He 'turned', as much as a solid embodiment of light can, and said "Forgive me for..Popping in unannounced. I am Solamente's..Hrm..I'm the embodiment of one of the voices in his head, I suppose. Maxwell the angel, at your service." he said, giving what appeared to be a sweeping bow.

Brielle crossed her arms over her corset and glanced down the side streets and then back to the pair. She looked at Tia, "Are you alright?", she said noticing how Tia seemed rather nervous since her casting of the spell.

The small girl quickly jumped from Solamente's shoulder and stood there, clutching her bear. She watched the angel figure appear and slinked back a few paces due to the demons in her body crying out in agony trying to get her to flee. The shadows that surrounded everyone scattered back into the alleyways and an odd calm came over the area, the light returning around them.

The little girl lowered her head a bit behind the head of the bear, only her distant eyes showed. She wanted to move closer to Solamente, but she was afraid of the angel. Yet again, like so many times in the past, the demons were keeping her from being free and reaching out for help.

The children are equally startled, and hide behind Matthew who shares their shock. He gawks for a minute, the bizzareness of the day clearly getting to him, "What the f-" he stops and frowns, "would you care to explain to me just what is happening here, Mr. Maxwell?"
__
Dyv shakes his head, walking to the door leading out of the roof and back into the prison. He shoves his hands in his pockets and descends back down into the stagnant, decayed air, only glancing back once to make sure the pair was following him.
__
Rose's question went unanswered for the moments in which the Demon decided he had more important things to consider. Jitters would have to worry about himself, Legion wouldn't make an enemy out of Khaishin for his sake. In the worst case, he supposed he could piece Jitters back together again anyway. As the recognition of all the forces approaching him creeped into into conscious, he forced them out again, they'd be dealt with in due time. Plotting for the future was one of the many thing Legion loathed.

Deciding that the girl, if nothing else presently, was an adequate distraction.

He let out a snort, not his typical heckling giggle, but a genuine laugh, though it's quite possible in his own way he did find everything he laughed at funny, "Well that'd support the statement of how totally numbskulled you are, but I suppose that's what happens to women when they leave the house."

"I suppose I could explain it to you, but it's an awful lot easier to say that suffering makes me giddy, irony gets me hard, and I'm having a jolly holly ol' time. That's overlooking the fact that any effort to stop me at this point is futile, as most of the people not under my control are already dead," Legion smiled, quite pleased at the idea that he had won already.

"So, for peace of mind, there's not a thing I'm not capable of."

Jit stutters and shakes his head. He knew he was in trouble, and his sly mind was racing for a way out of it. Finally, he lands on something. He flashes a winning grin, ignorant that its effect is destroyed by his bloody, doglike visage. Moving up to Khaishin, he slips his arm around his shoulders. "C'mon, chief, ya gotta understand. I was only acting on orders! I didn't want to leave you behind, but Legion didn't give me any other choice! I'm just a soldier, it's my job to obey orders, you know? Legion, he thinks your a threat, wanted to make sure you'd stay outta his way, you know?" Jit pats his back sympathetically, innerly congratulationing himself.


Rose shakes her head. It was all so pointless...so many deaths and so much destruction for a head rush? Stamping solidly on the part of her that whole-heartedly agreed with Legion, the girl shakes her head in silent sorrow. Her left hand begins to slip free.


"No...no! The trail can't be gone. How could I have lost it?" Wolf berates herself, sniffing the ground carefully. With so much blood and demon scents soaking the area, the fleeing, cooling trail of the half-elf and half-demon was evading her grasp. Growling her frustration, the wolf continues to circle, sniffing for the elusive trail, growing ever aware that her time to save Rose was growing short.

Alinos walks, spotting Wolf in the distance. His wings had disappeared, and he'd been reduced to normal movement at least for the moment, "What happened?"
__
Legion sneered as he gazed into the void once more, his corporeal form flickering with green energy, struggling to retain itself. That priest who had attacked him in the arena, oh how he remembered, was in the city, among some other civilians. It seemed one of the Familiars was present but had failed to act, typical. Perhaps if others were notified something would get done.

Arlene can only grip her gun harder, pointing it towards the new figure, not really planning to shoot but needing it for comfort. She notices the little girl and her bear a bit back now, wondering why she appeared to be so terrified of the stranger now in front of them. Sure, the other children were frightened...but nowhere near as bad as that strange little girl looks.

The cloaked figure followed behind Dyv, almost exactly in step with him. His sword jingled a bit in the silence while his wings were wrapped around him, a pair of black crosses hanging off their tips silently. He seemed distracted, even though he kept up with Dyv nicely. Jango wasn't nearly as silent or composed. Newly introduced to the 'Darkness', the sights and smells of the prisom were disturbing. He kept content by humming what sounded like a disco tune, while making weird little dance moves every few steps. "So, Spear dude. Whatcha doing working for Legion now?" he asked, brushing a finger over the rim of his hat.

Tia nodded and said "Yeah. I just..Don't like seeing things..Burn.." she mumbled, then buried her face in Hel's tunic to hide. Hel patted her head gently, then said "It's okay. She just..Doesn't like fire, which is why we chose to wait in here instead of in the town. Too much..Burning, you know?" he said, tapping his finger on Tia's head gently.

--------

"Gladly." Maxwell's voice came as he turned to Matt. "I the 'embodiment' of a being you mortals know as Angels. I was sent to watch over and guide this priest you all know as Solamente, in his divine mission to clense the demonic from the world. When I choose, I can pop out in this oddly unfitting form, to dispense advice or for a nice party trick, I suppose." he said, shrugging slightly. The aura of light he emitted grew slightly, showering the area in light. "Basically he's a giant pain in the ass who can talk to other people." Solamente said to Matt with a sigh. He looked over at Meo and slowly walked over, then kneeled down. "Hey there. Whats the matter? It's okay..The weird lights arn't going to hurt you." he said, holding out his free hand carefully.

-------
Syinthios growled as he leapt over the next in a long series of rubble piles, then sent a swirling blast of energy at the head of a demonic human, watching him explode into red goo. He landed in the puddle and kept going, cursing as the wiring on his arm sparked a bit. He couldn't keep up thia rapid-fire pace much longer at all. He leapt up the wall of a partially standing building and kneeled down, opting to tinker with his wires before following Wolf and Alinos further. A badly damaged cyborg would be of little use to any further battles, he mused.

"I see. I'm very sorry if I startled you, forgive me.", she gave a slight bow of respect and adjusted her white cloak with fur trimming. She glanced down the street and returned her gaze back to Hel and Tia. "Well, if you two would rather be alone to wait on your father, I certainly would not wish to impose."

The little girl stared at Solamente and then a sudden manaical laughter could be heard all around them echoing off the buildings which turned into a childish giggle. She winced slightly but other than that, showed no signs of reaction.

At this point, it was well evident in her eyes that something had ahold of her. The shadows inside of her were now dancing in her eyes. Swirls of madness, darkened by the ominous color that possessed her eyes. She grinned in a purely wicked manner behind the bear as she stared at Solamente only her eyes showing over the head of the bear; no obvious show of anything on her face but blankness.

The air around the group filled with the scent of embers and burning roses as the girl stared at Solamente, never moving her eyes away. To anyone around, it wasn't noticable, but she was already wreaking havoc within Solamente. The shadows that possessed her eyes were now gone, but were clearly evident in Solamente's eyes. They toyed in his head, trying to inflict as much pain as they could. Stretching the limits of his sanity, and bringing forth hidden memories to the surface, playing on his innermost fears. His orphanage burning with the children within, and many other things.

Suddenly the area got calm, and the little girl continued staring at Solamente. The scent of burning roses left quickly with a wicked, childish laughter. For once, the holy light of the angel did not phase the shadows as they clung to the area that the girl and Solamente occupied. None of what had occured was obvious to anyone other than the two. Except the odd smells and the laughter. The thoughts and such that were conjured in Solamente's head were only seen by him. And only him. Even the girl knew not what the shadows did. She was only a medium between the two.

Matthew again found himself speechless, swept up into something far over his head. He sighed, he was way out of his league on this one. Spinning around upon hearing the noises, he grows tense. Staying was clearly unwise, but where else could he go with the city like this?
__
"Long story short, I have no choice, as many of his associates discover at some point. I'm bound to him eternally, my will is nothing to his," Dyv ended the explanation there, clearly a subject he wasn't fond off.

"Do realize however, due to that he knows you're both coming."

Jit smiles at him, his mind racing for the right path. There was the potential that Khaishin would wipe out Legion, thus freeing him from his...partnership with the Demon. On the other hand, if Legion crushed Khaishin, Jit would be screwed. For now, he'd avoid immediate danger by playing along. If Legion wiped him out, Jit could always plead his was brainwashed.

"I'm with you, all the way. I don't want to be a slave to Legion anymore. You wouldn't treat me like that, wouldya, Chief?" This if followed with another dazzling smile. "And, for how to get at him...well, uh...you should just hit him where it hurts! And right now, that's him!" He giggles, then resumes his serious-face. "Right now, he's real weak, cause he's so split up, ya know? The entirety of his physical being is being held together by very little. If there was ever a time to try and kill him, this would be it. It'd be like taking candy from a baby for somebody like you, Chief."


Rose slips her wrist free. "Ok...good. Now what?" She ponders, weighing her options. Figuring that making a break for it would end bloodily, and unsure if she could run on her impaled leg, she relaxes. At least her hands were free, should she need them. For now... "Aw, are you having a hard time? Maybe you should pull yourself together." She snickers.


"I'm glad your here! I lost her trail fighting some of...those things. We have to hurry, Alinos!"Wolf keeps sniffing, a feeling of dread growing in her heart. "I'm not sure what happened. One second, he's buried under a wall, the next, kicking me square on my nose and grabbing Rose! Then all of the sudden, I'm...healed! It doesn't make sense. But one things for sure...that half-elf would have bee-lined right back to Legion, if I can find the trail, we can find Legion and...and..."She growls savagely, hair bristling with animalistic rage.

Suddenly Legion becomes infuriated over something, veins all over his body begin to become visible, something beneath pushing outward. Blood streams down the edges of his lips, as if they were being ripped further open. The darkness all condenses into him, exstinguishing the mist within the room.

It only took an instant for all of it to subside, and Legion to appear as though nothing happened, "Oh please, there's no need for that. I wouldn't be in this form if I didn't feel perfectly secure."
__
Alinos nods, excussing the excited, rapid speech, "In which case it might be a trap, but better off finding Legion than wandering this hell."

He smiles a fake, winning smile. Not bad so far, not bad at all. If he kept it up, he may just come out on top. Jit liked coming out on top. It was a hobby of his. "You got it Chi-er, Khaishin. Weapons? Sure thing. I can get you anything under the sun! I'll be right back." He steps out of his "office" without another word. The half-elf never minded playing lackey. For him, it was the intelligent choice. He never had to worry about making Big Decisions, but still got to take part in all the fun. Big Decisions worried Jit. He just wanted to have his fun and let somebody else worry about the who's and where's and what's. If that meant running some mindless errands, he could deal with it.

A few moments later, he slides the heavy warehouse-like door to the storage room open, and gazes dreamily at the array of arms inside. Everything from poisoned daggers to explosives was here. Jit frowned. Choosing which to take would be a Big Decision. He would have to take his time and not screw up.

"Really? You could have fooled me. After all,"She stands awkwardly[color=sienna] "I can tell that beating you would be akin to kicking a sick dog."

Wolf wags her tail in response. Hell indeed. After circling the area a few more times, she catches the elusive scent. Not wanting to loose it again, she takes off. "Follow your nose and you'll find the treasure at the end of the road!"

"Yes, let's call it a treasure. We're clearly not beyond euphemisms at this point." Alinos takes off behind Wolf, leaving feathers behind him. Allowing the her to lead him, he simply opens his wings and glides above."
__
"That kind of arrogance sounds familiar, didn't know it was contagious." Legion glances back, finally giving Rose more than passing attention, "Though if you really thought that you would of done something by now."

"Besides, you and your pals have really done a bang up job of killing me so far."

"Of course. I expected as much. I wonder if he remembers me..Hrm." he said, rubbing his chin a bit. They were nearing Legion's little sanctum now, he could tell. His hands decided to rest near the katanas at his waist. He didn't really feel like attacking the demon, but given this place and the madness of Legion, he took no chances with it. Jango nodded and grumbled "I know the damned feeling.", then gave a sidelong glance to the winged figure.

"It's okay..I'm fine." she said, then smiled brightly while hugging Hel closer. "Your choice. I don't mind, as this is probably the safest place in town right now." as he put his hand on Tia's head, patting it slightly. "Affectionate little bugger, isn't she?" he asked, smirking.

----

Solamente was about to comment, when suddenly he found himself living his worst nightmare. He collapsed to his knees, growling in pain. He grabbed his head, obviously unaware of the world around him now. "Solamente? SOLAMENTE!?" Maxwell cried as he knelt down near the pained priest. There was a flash of light and it looked like Maxwell started to fade into Solamente, then was pushed out. "Agh! Curses. Whatever is happening, it's strong enough that he's blocking me out.." he sighed and then stood up. He shook his head again and said "Matt. The church isn't terribly far. If you can make it by yourselves, you'll be safer then out here. There are other survivors who can keep you safe until this is over. Hurry. I will try to help Solamente and we will meet you there." as he looked towards Matt. Solamente screamed in his mind, watching flames sweep over dead children. He heard words spoken into his mind in demonic tones, and memories slowly creep in from out of nowhere. His families' murder, the last time he'd seen a child die..All of his most painful and buried memories seemed ripped from his head in one big wave, and with the amount kept hidden it was like living his lifes worst moments again. He growled and reached into his robes in his mind, pulling the cross kept there out and said "God give me strength.."

-----

Syinthios launched into the air with a loud 'whoo hoo!' and flipped, landing on another building. His wires snaked out again and grabbed onto a pole on the ground, probably a power line and he pulled back, the wires stretching like rubber. He stopped, and then shot forward, the wires disconnected from the pole and trailed behind him as he landed on his knees on the ground and repeated the process, following the readings of Alinos and Wolf as he went. He would catch up in the next three or so jumps.

-----

He sighed suddenly, pulling on areas of the new outfit he'd created for himself from his old one, to even out certain parts. His magic did indeed come in quite handy. A pale blue shirt with long sleeves, but the sleeves split past the shoulder. The bottom layer was the same as the shirt, light blue cloth. The upper layer was a see-through material that was tinted teal and inside it, wrapping around it infact, were five metal rings that went from shoulder to wrist. They were wide, and kept the outer sleeve pushed out around him. His pants had become a pair of blue jeans with a ring for a belt, holding it onto him like it was stapled. He hadn't changed his shoes or anything else, but he had trimmed his hair after it had been caught in a rock pile four feet behind him.

He slowly stepped into the church, whistling slightly. Tia noticed him first, and promptly dove off her brother to cling to her father tightly, giggling. "DADDY!" she cried, holding him. She started firing off questions in a hyper manner that would have made ears bleed, but was silenced with a pat to the head and a hug. "Ahh, hows my girl? Miss your old man, didja?" he asked, chuckling in that hollow and light voice of his. Tia nodded and giggled, then let go and said "I shuuure did." "Hah. You look like hell, old man. What'd you do? Live in a pit for a hundred years?" and then walked over to shake his father's hand. "Was two hundred, actually, and a room at the bottom of the ocean actually." Jakail said as he shook his son's hand. After getting idle chitchat out of the way, he finally noticed Bel. Walking over and extending his hand, he said "Jakail Judia. Thanks for keeping my kids occupied, I suppose." with a chuckle.

Dyv glanced back, curious for once, "You know him too? How unfortuante for you."
__
Matt is silent, but only hesitates for a moment before nodding to Maxwell, he picks up Kate, trusting Collin to carry Lauren at least for the moment. He begins to run, but then glances back at Arlene, "You're coming too, right?"
__
Lucas, dear, take care of the survivors from Solamente's party, Meo is doing a bang-up job on the priest, but I'm bored with the rest now.

Me? I feel so privilaged, thank you, Lock.

I am not Lock.

Sure you're not, Lock.

Just do it before I let someone else go.
__
Some ways away from Solamente's breakdown, the aimlessly roaming Familiars suddenly collapse and burst, painfully, into red energy. Their hosts are not spared, a minor consequence that it seems Legion failed to alert the mortals of. All the energy is harvested and condensed until it forms a humanoid shape. A goatie-sporting man with slicked back brown hair stood in a loose-fitting suit that seemed to be hastily buttoned. He examines his palms, pleased to see his powers had been restored. With a smug expression, he begins a serious of leaps through what remains of Estecia's rooftops.
__
Legion 'flickered' again as he took care of the Lucas buisness, growing more pleased with himself by the moment. Meo, though a bit slow on the draw, was proving up to her task, and with Lucas' assitance that particular problem was solved. With a self-satisfied smirk, he looks at Rose, but before he could make any sort of comment the doors to his sanctum fling open, not at all to his surprise.

"We have guests," Dyv muttered to Legion as he strode in somewhat rudely. He glanced at Rose as he passed, she didn't look more than a few years younger than him. He shrugged it off, not particularly caring what she was there for.

"They want to see you, I'm leaving."

"Not just yet," the Demon purred, though something in his face showed a flicker of anger, "I'd like very much for you to stay until these two explain just what they're here for..." Legion reclined into his throw of graves, clasping his hands together and resting his chin on them.

Brielle raised her head from her concentration to look to Jakail. "A pleasure, I'm sure. Brielle Hinde-", she paused and shook her head. ".. no matter.", she chuckled. She glanced over to Tia and Hel and then back to Jakail with a rather arched brow. She shook the look quickly as to not disrespect the man before her. She brushed a blonde curl from her shoulder and looked towards the door. "Perhaps now that your father is here, I'll leave you to your business. Thank you kindly for your help.", she said as she turned back to the two and gave a subtle curtsey.

The small girl looked silently as Matt and the others left. She got a sharp pain in her mind and she winched hard. Another punishment for not acting fast enough to satisfy the thirst of the demons. She walked over to Solamente and placed a hand on his shoulder, a cold chill moving over his body as she did. Her hand was cold to the touch as if she was dead.

About that time another childish giggle filled the air and before Solamente's eyes once again a lone child could be seen. The girl standing next to him actually. In the vision she stood there clutching her bear, and then in an instant, ripped apart by shadows until there was nothing there.

And like that, it was gone. Nothing around at all but Maxwell, Solamente, and the girl. No shadows, no smell, no laughter. Even the girl could not see what the demons showed him. She only passed it on to him either through touch or eyes. She had no clue what they planned for her.

The man nodded, and quickly stepped forward. "Of course, demon. I see you are entertaining another guest so I'll keep this short." he said, sparing a glance at Rose and then putting his attention back on Legion. "I am..Well, you know me by face only, but you may call me Shi for now." he started, his wings twitching a bit. "I've come because I am shortly going to attempt..A rather intricate plot. Of course, I am not going to ask or even suggest you waste your time with this plot, but I do simply ask you let me and my agents go about without interferance. I swear to do no harm to you or your plots, if you agree to do the same. If you don't, of course..Well, I can't really do much in that even." he said, shrugging. "So what say you, Legion?" Jango, undisturbed by the speech Shi gave, turned to Rose and studied her critically, then smirked and mumbled something to himself. Something that looked oddly like 'Legion boy sure has odd tastes'.

"Oh, not on my account please. I need to get going as it is. I have things to do, people to kill, places to be, that whole rot." Jakail said, the metal bands in his arms glinting slightly. "I suggest you leave at first light." he added, then turned to Tiami and Helix. With a nod of his head and a quick hug to each of them, he turned to Bri and said "Goodbye, dearie." quickly, before the trio made it's exit. Tia gave Bri a quick glance and a wave, while Hel seemed to have vanished into the shadows.

------

Solamente continued his fevered motions, eventully falling over on his side. It was a wonder he hadn't screamed yet. His mind was sadly close to snapping, and he was still trapped in his nightmares. He clutched the cross in his mind tightly, then gasped as it broke. He looked around, his eyes foggy. "...What..happend?" he uttered, not aware if he was talking in or out of his mind. "Solamente? You okay?" Maxwell asked, then turned to the girl. He reached out and touched the girl "It'll be okay, my child. He'll be-" then recoiled like bitten. He looked at his hand, and the faint traces of black that seemed to run up it towards his head. He shook his hand and said "..Demons. Must have..Touched you at some point." and shuddered. He kneeled back down to Solamente, ignoring the girl. Solamente was, as selfish as it sounded, more important to him..

-----

Syinthios eventully caught up with Alinos and Wolf, stopped to catch his breath, letting them pass him. "Cyborg Slingshot. I really have too much free time.." he mumbled, before a coil of wire shot out and wrapped around the base of another building, then he repeated the process of shooting himself forward, landing on the next rooftop in Wolf's path. He waited and watched, wires already coiling around to follow further.