Two Monsters Chapter I, a Prototype + Tales of Berseria Crossover fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't think I will be using an OC in this fic, so I don't own anything, because I'm poor, poor, little 15 year old kid.

…Well, I know that I have a few fics that are certainly and hopefully not dead, and I shouldn't be starting another one because it will pile up and all. But who cares really?

Now that's out of the way, let's talk about this fic of mine.

This is my side-project, so to speak. My partner isn't involved in this one, so it's all on me.

I've started playing Tales of Besaria recently.

As you can look at the tags this fic has, I'm genuinely surprised that there isn't any (if there is one please pm me, I'll very much like to copy paste all over this bad boy.) Crossovers for Prototype and Tales Of Bersaria.

I will be using Alex Mercer, but considering there are many theories about his personality, how he is dead, or how he is a clone made by the virus(the cannon I think, but Idk) so I will be using what I think he is when I first played the game, so if his character doesn't fancy you or makes you puke, then call him an OOC, alright? But don't worry, he still be that brutal, zero mercy, a complete asshole and with a pragmatic outlook on pretty much everything(he was the head scientist of Blacklight project, he made the virus for fuck sake, he 'was' not a good person to sure.) and probably OP as fuck.

So, basically I changed a few things about him, if you don't like it, make a fanfic of your own, if you have a brilliant idea, different from what I wrote down below, go ahead, you can pm me; I'll gladly help you out.

So to sums things up, the protagonist I added from the Prototype game is the blacklight virus desperately trying to become human, to become Alex Mercer, if that fancies you, then go ahead…

And Enjoy the story!

3RD Person POV

02:54 AM

….

"If I'm still human...where do I fit in now? How do I rejoin the human race?"

Alex ponders as he looks down to the eerily empty streets of Manhattan, from his perch.

"Tch." He clicks his tongue, his upper face is covered by his hood, his voice is borderline monotone, but if you pay close attention, you could vaguely hear the disappointment in his voice.

"What I need…" he closes his eyes, he lost all faith in humanity after what he had done… he felt like he accomplished nothing…

"Dana…" he opened his eyes, a bit of emotion could be seen in his sickly light blue eyes, only his sister can bring so much emotion… Life, to him.

With a small smirk, he jumps off from his perch.

"Maybe Dana can help me?" he asks under his breath while speed running towards her apartment, jumping over buildings, gliding, to reach his destination, quick and efficient.

Even though it's Manhattan, the streets are eerily quiet, no cars, like a ghost town, 'cept the occasional gunshots of course.

It's just reminds him, that he was the cause of this.

He caused the outbreak that infected about eighty percent of the city's populace, and killed more than half of them… Scratch that, he is the infection himself.

After the outbreak died down, government finally acknowledged the fact that Marines can't contain the problem, so they declared full martial law along with the quarantine, and asked for intervention from the NATO, in the span of a single week, they built checkpoints in every corner, and soldiers from many different nations flooded the island, from what he can tell, they are going to turn his home into some sort of zoo, with no way out, you could hear the distant gunfire, where they kill the remains of the infected. The survivors however, escorted from the island via helicopters and boats.

Blackwatch became publicly known, and officially got named as the scapegoat that government jabbed, stabbed and occasionally gave the middle finger to, also they got a 'few' charges in the Hague, many members got life time jails and Uncle Sam called for a huge crackdown to find the remains of the 'not-so-secret military black-ops operations unit' around the world. Which other countries happily obliged to.

The connection between Blackwatch and Gentek were discovered, and Gentek biological and genetic research company quickly got stumped out, For their crime against humanity since they conducted research on biological weapons and Gentek got blamed for the Manhattan outbreak alongside with Blackwatch.

Alex doesn't exactly know how and who exactly pulled their plug, but he can bet a few cents that it had to do with the Uncle Sam. He became very infamous because of his actions, but nobody knew who he was except the Blackwatch, so his sister was relatively safe.

Blackwatch practically self-destructed themselves, so that government wouldn't get their hands on more info that can be used against them, so government only knew just about what marines know about him. Which is next to none.

What happened helped him believe a little in humanity, not by much but enough to not go around and consume some fools left and right…. Or start another outbreak.

"Ah, here we are." He was at the balcony of his sister's new apartment; he opens the glass door and closes it behind him.

"Alex?"

'There she is…' Alex thought to himself.

Dana was still awake and tapping away on her keyboard while managing to talk to him, it's a simple two room with one bathroom apartment, it's not well decorated and you could see that she just move it by looking at the boxes scattered around the living room.

"I thought government cut all connections to the outside, what are you doing?" Alex walks towards her to look at her screen, electric and other utilities were cut off too, but he could hear the distant generator sound bellow, so that would explain how she had electric.

"Heh. Feds have a tight leash sure, but not enough to tie me down." Dana quips with a cocky undertone.

"Hey… Were you the one who managed to bring Blackwatch to light?" Alex raises an eyebrow while asking.

"No I wasn't, but good riddance I suppose…" she just shrugs while continuing to tap away at the keyboard.

"Indeed." He nods with a blank face.

"So, brother; what do you need me for?" she stops typing and turns her chair around to face him.

Alex carefully thinks about he is going to say…

"…I… I'm lost." For the first time ever since the day he 'died' he showed…. Emotions.

Distraught and confusion, he never been so unsure, before he became… This, a monster.

Even his sister, is caught off guard by this development, but she recovers her cool after a few seconds.

"Maybe… You should explore you know? See what's world has to offer, I can tell that you don't have much trust nor hope in humanity… But, brother… There is always hope." She stands up and walks towards him,

He closely inspects the mat on the floor, but even a toddler can tell that he is listening very closely.

She places her hand on his shoulder, and continues to talk.

"Never forget that, there are all kinds of people out there Alex, most would never understand you, but there are;" she pauses and points at herself with her thumb.

"There are people like me, who don't judge you for being you, like Ragland for example."

He still continues to inspect the wonderful mat on the floor.

"All you have to do reach out to them, you don't need to kill everyone, I know that deep down, you are scared of being left alone aren't you?"

"I…" he raises his head a little while opening his mouth, but decides not to and stay silent while Dana gives him a pep talk of sort.

"I know that your psyches aren't that… Y'know… Stable, heck I'm surprised that I managed to talk to you about this without you lashing out on me… Like last time." She shakes her head while sending a half smile at her brother, even though he is still looking at her beautiful mat.

She patiently waits for his response, her hand still on his shoulder.

"I... I want you to come with me." he finally looks up, looking at her straight in the eye.

She flashes a wry smile with a nod.

"This place… There is nothing here for us. When do we go?"

Alex shrugs.

"Now?"

With a sigh, and not a single word, Dana starts packing up her stuff for… God knows somewhere, except here.

1 year later…

And so the Mercer siblings went on an adventure, around the world, the brother wanted to find a reason to strengthen his dim, almost non existing faith, but alas, the past always catches the escapist.

"Where is she!?" Alex screams while choking a very familiar black uniformed soldier, although it looks old and un-maintained.

"W-wouldn't you like to know?" the Blackwatch soldier choked out, Alex could consume him, but he needs him alive, so that he could turn him to the authorities, since the man-hunt for the Blackwatch got called off because it's been around 3 months since one was caught; to this point at least thirteen thousand Blackwatch members got arrested, and he heard that they won't be searching for them actively, but everyone knew what they were, if he sent this bastard to the nearest police department… Heh..

The hunt would resume, and that's good for Alex, very fucking good in fact.

"Tell… Me, where… She is!?"Alex half-screams while bringing the soldiers face closer to his, now that he looked more closely, his equipment is quite old, probably has to do with the funding he mused, which it doesn't take a genius to realize that their coffers aren't that full, to nobody's surprise.

"Let me go you monster!" the soldier in black struggles, struggles good indeed, but its futile none the less.

Alex brings the commander's masked face even closer, looking straight in the eye…

"Okay! Okay! I'll talk!"

…It was easier than he expected.

…

"You wanted your sister? Here she is." Blackwatch commander points at a bookshelf, he moves it out of by breaking it in half, and he comes face to face with a door, it has a face recognition lock.

He grabs the commander's face and slams it on to the screen, after painfully ripping off his mask, of course. Only the soldier can do is groan in pain.

What he found behind the door, however….

Was a broken body, with all of her orifices (including ears) full of god knows what slimy white substance, the lashes, the wounds, he could not….

She was raped…. By bunch of animals…

And….

….

…..

The most important person in his life, the one who gave him will to live, and the light he so desperately searched for…

Is dead.

Alex's face morphed into a very, very angry scowl,

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

His screams of anger, pain, loss, could be heard from a mile away.

He does not remember how he cut the commander into tiny little pieces with his claws afterwards.

Nor does he remember the fact that the place was rigged with nuclear explosives…. The very last ones that Blackwatch somehow managed to keep, he learned about it when he consumed one of the blackwatch soldiers for the disguise, because he always liked the stealth approach regardless of all circumstances, like a true predator.

Nor does he remember the last words of the commander, before his immediate… 'Doom'.

"Z-Zeus, cough* the game was rigged from the s-start, heh."

Everything went black.

….

"Ngh!"

Incidentally enough, Alex felt like someone or something, currently chewing on his chest.

….

Immediately realizing that, he snaps his closed eyes open, and moves his left hand to stop, whoever feasting on his flesh.

"A… Werewolf?"

At first, he thought that it was an infected or maybe a hunter… But what he saw surprised even him.

A black werewolf or some sort is currently taking bits and pieces from his chest and eating them, his superior regenerative abilities constantly replacing the eaten bits faster than the werewolf could eat them, so it's a bit silly sight if you discount the blood is non-stop splattering all across the lush green grass.

But then he remembered.

Ah, he would've loved not to remember.

"RAAAAAAA-"

The pain of loss, grieving, got the hold of him as he grasped the werewolf-type daemon's face.

With barely noticeable tears in his eyes, he sent a piercing punch to its neck.

His fist, just like always, gone straight through, and opened a hole on werewolf-type's neck, black blood splattering everywhere, surprising him a little, but hey, he seen weirder shit before.

And he proceeds to consume it, as the werewolf-type turns into a red-black, pulsating amalgamation.

"Geh-"

Grimacing at the taste, he immediately releases the now dead corpse of the werewolf daemon from his grip, the corpse turns into a black mist before it could even touch the ground, making him raise an eyebrow at the scene, mildly surprised.

Funnily enough, it tastes worse than the hunters, so he won't be consuming it fully, probably ever.

He raises his body up, now standing straight. He could tell that he isn't alone…

He hears series of growling, his senses telling him that he is surrounded, but that just makes him smirk.

…Under the light of the Scarlet, Crimson-Red Moon, his arms shape shifts into claws, his mind is in complete disarray because of his emotions, yet he is still in full control, perhaps the adrenaline is getting him?

The pack of wolf-type daemons jumps at him at the same time after a few seconds of staring their… 'Prey', down.

'There is eigh- no, nine of them…' he stabs one of his claws on to the ground, making black, tendril like spikes come out of the ground, just below his targets, with pristine precision.

…Three pathetic dog like whimpers could be heard as the spikes stab straight through them, and he pulls his claw out of the ground just in time to block some of the strikes the wolf-types made, their speed amuses him, the fact that they are a bit faster than your average hunter, but he dodges them pretty easily, he blocks the rest.

He repeatedly slashes his claws, the daemons stand no chance, the more intelligent ones moves back to avoid the onslaught, but four of them get caught, and effectively turns into mincemeat, and the pieces immediately deform into black mist as they disappear.

His very sharp claws could cut through even the toughest steel, Alex felt a little disappointed at the fact that they are faster, but weaker and less resilient than the hunters he used to deal with.

'Then again, a hunter's skin isn't that tough either, their pain tolerance and how many hit they can they before going down, is the difference here.' Alex lowers his stance, sparing a glance at the werewolves he just spiked, seeing them… Not there at all, the spikes were empty, considering what he just saw, the corpses most likely turned into that black mist as well.

"Only two left…" he turns to face the surviving werewolves, they look a little different, and bigger, probably more intelligent since they backed away just in time to avoid his wrath.

Alex stands still and maintains his lowered stance with his claws out, the two werewolves circle around him, growling, ready to pounce at any time.

Alex simply clicks his tongue, and closes his eyes in order to calm his overwhelming emotions; this is certainly not what his sister would've wanted…

Taking that as an opportunity, remaining werewolves pounce at him.

… He opens his eyes the very second the werewolves make contact with him, with their very… Friendly claws.

"Worthless."

With a single sweep slash, the two werewolves suddenly turn into three pieces, not so evenly cut, body parts and drop to the ground with a small splat, black goo, or perhaps blood, but the pieces, just like the other ones, deforms into black mists as they disappear.

Now that the immediate danger is gone, Alex deforms his arms back to normal, and clutches his head in his hands, heavily breathing.

He tries to get his breathing under control for a few minutes, now that the adrenaline leaving his body, his thoughts, grief, pain of loss, overwhelms him….

Taking a shaky long, heavy breath, he tries to calm himself down, constantly telling himself that he needs to be stronger, that his sister wouldn't want him to lose what he fought and shed blood just to find it.

His sanity. How ironic isn't it?

'For my sister…' taking yet another shaky breath, he somehow manages to calm himself.

Now that he relatively calmed himself down, he lifts his head up and straightens his posture, and takes a look around.

First thing he sees is trees, and a small river, just deep enough to sink his feet in, but that thought disgusts him too much, to a point where he unconsciously takes a step away from it, he has no good memories of these, even though its nowhere deep enough for him to drown. Alex thinks that he developed a PTSD or something.

Also, there is a wooden bridge, he mused, its small and primitive, just wide enough only one or maybe two people to pass it at the same time.

'Great, I'm in a forest.' He shrugs, a few moments ago he was in an urban area and, the weirdest part is….

The fact it was winter and snowy back there. Yep, unless he somehow managed get teleported to Australia or something, but that wouldn't make much sense. Also he doesn't think that werewolves aren't exactly that common is it? If they even exist at all. But that comes from a guy- no, a monster, who might as well be a boogeyman or… Maybe all of this is in his head? Or did he finally hit the bucket?

'How… The fuck did I miss that?' He truly gapes as he gazes upwards, it looks about past midnight, around 2 or 3 Am and it would mean that the moon is there for him to see it, since it's a cloudless night.

He saw the Scarlet moon, at its full glory, its bloody-crimson color fills him with emotions, but he doesn't let that get him, regardless…

'Well, let's see what we are working with here.' He jumps, leaving a noticeable crack on the ground where he once stood.

Climbing up a particularly tall tree, he scouts around for points of interests.

It looks pretty rural area, but he sees a few houses not too far away from his location, perhaps a village of sort.

A normal, more rational person would've panicked… And, among other things, but him? Heh, like he said before, he seen weirder things, and witnessed stuff that aren't supposed to be possible, heck he is an impossible factor himself. So he isn't exactly in a position where he can judge.

With a shrug, he heads towards the village; perhaps he can find answers there.

…

"Why am I not surprised?"

Alex rolls his eyes while dodging a werewolf daemon that lunged itself at him,

From what he can see, Alex could tell that the village got overrun by these… Creatures slash werewolves? Alex ain't judging.

The same werewolf tried to attack him once more, he narrowly side-steps and grab its neck.

It tries to retaliate with its claws, but Alex just simply punches his chest, straight through.

Consuming the werewolf for a second or so, he drops the damn thing.

...It dies before it could even touch the ground and just like the other ones he killed, the body deforms into black mist.

They do show intelligence, but they have nothing useful, not a single memory for him to absorb.

Alex killed and consumed every last one he could find, but it was futile, he didn't get a smudge of a memory, he has no clue on what's happening here.

Taking a deep breath, he uses his senses, to find a survivor, standing in middle of the village.

… To find nothing, entire village got killed by these monsters most likely, and doesn't know if they turned into these… Creatures, or did they killed all the villagers? If they did, he would've found half-eaten dead corpses all around the village, but he couldn't find any.

He could tell that this village wasn't abandoned, the buildings looks maintained, even though they are fairly… Primitive, he couldn't see any telephone line or any television antennas on the rooftops… Or any convenient piece of technology.

He is in Australia isn't it?

But then again why is his mind keep thinking about Australia? It is because the air, the fucking bugs, more bugs! Even more bugs! And these said bugs are currently trying to bite into his hands, and…

"My- That's a big spider." Alex inspects the very big and hairy spider crawling up his arm, before swatting it away, now that explains why he keeps thinking about Australia.

After some deep theorizing, he climbs on top of the highest building he can find, and checks his surroundings for places to search; he could see that there are several buildings that might be worth looking into.

….

Alex searches the village with his thermal vision; he encounters several werewolf type daemons and dispatches them.

After a few minutes of searching, he almost gives up, but then…

"A scream? Shit…"

He hears a distant, scream; he could tell that it belonged to a female… Or a very very girly 12 year old boy…

"Well, only one way to find out."

He immediately turns towards its direction, he needs answers, and he is going to get 'em.

…

It takes him less than half of a minute to find where the scream came from, a house that was at a fair distance away from the plaza, behind some large trees and hills, he couldn't see it from there.

"Who the fuck builds their house right outside of the village? Sure, it's not that far, but I would've at least built it where everyone could see it if it caught on fire or something…." Alex shakes his head from his branch on a particular tree, his eyes scanning his surroundings for anything, but he has a hunch that the scream came from the house.

"Laphicet! Where are you!?"

A young girl, with flowing plaited black long hair, slams the door as she exists, he half expected it to just fly out of its hinges.

The girl, looks around with panic clear in her golden-brown eyes, he could hear her heart beat getting faster each passing second.

And then, he hears once more, series of growling, indicating that werewolves are back, for yet another tussle.

"Daemons?"

Apparently she noticed them as well; her heart skips a beat, a bit of fear added into her already panicking complexion.

'Daemons? They call them that? Okay.' Alex shrugs, and continues to watch her intently, with an interested look on his face.

She cautiously walks towards the village, the daemons, still continues to growl in the background, not exactly showing their selves just yet.

He could hear her gulp, the growling ever so present, but despite the situation, he takes a moment to check her out, even though she is turned away from him, she wears a red shirt with dark-brown belt pouches… And black mini pants with black stockings? Okay, he raises an eyebrow at that, considering he feels like he is in one of those cliche stories where one goes back into the past for whatever reason, he expected her to wear something more different that, like suspenders or something.

He jumps off from his branch, and climbs on top of the tree, hopping from tree to tree, he could hear the werewolves just below him, where they lay in ambush, they are only intently watching her move, she gets even more nervous, her eyes darting all over the place.

Just like the werewolves, Alex's eyes doesn't leave her either, the whole point of asking questions flown out of the window.

…The girl hit her limit, and she broke into a run, the werewolves spring into action from their hiding places, there are about 15 of them here alone.

'Hm, perhaps they are attracted to her somehow, that's not creepy at all.' Alex's sarcastically comments to himself, now following her on top of the trees, his interest ever growing.

…

"Laphicet!"

She desperately screams out while running for her life, the werewolves in hot pursuit.

'That's an interesting name.' Alex guesses, maybe it's time to intervene before she gets eaten; she might as well the only survivor in the village.

But, in all honesty, Alex is a bit worried… Scared even, to do that, for obvious reasons.

He certainly did not want to be called a 'Monster' yet again…

But now that he seen it, she wears a gauntlet on her right hand, he expected her to shoot laser beams or something from it, but nothing so far.

She calls out that name multiple times while avoiding the daemons around her, realizing the person she is looking for is not at the village, she heads… Towards the woods, just where he came from.

'Damn, she's quick on her feet; daemons can't even get close to her.' Alex silently applauds, and continues to stalk her while she sprints for her life.

The forest was packed with the werewolves to the brim, but the black haired girl expertly dodges their attacks, still breathing normally enough, but her heart rate was through the roof, though.

"Laphicet! Where are you!"

She… Looked like she was about to cry, whoever this 'Laphicet' was, probably close to her…

Like Dana…

Alex tightens his hand into a fist; hard enough to break through his skin, but his regenerative healing power doesn't let it bleed though.

After about 5 minutes of watching her dodge, avoid and run away from the daemons, she manages to arrive at a clearing, with visible ocean water, that reminds him of his old home.

But that's not what keeps his attention though, just like the unaware girl, he is looking at the structure, where two people, one of them being a blonde haired kid, other is an old man, judging by his white hair complexion with noticeable wrinkles on his face, also he has a sword in his one hand, other is amputated? He couldn't see it clearly from his angle, Alex moves in shadows, to get closer, to take a better look.

The crimson-red moon just behind them, also did he mention the fact that they are standing right next to a… uh, he doesn't know what that is, but he felt a very ominous feeling about the structure, that giant, pit next to them doesn't exactly help his nerves either, he silently climbs up on top of a pillar and he looks down, carefully watching the scene, the shadows, keeping him from seeing, although Velvet isn't exactly in the right mind to pay attention to that.

"Arthur! Laphi!"

The girl calls out to them as soon as she sees them.

Both of them turn around to look at her,

"Velvet!" the boy shouts out, presumably the name of the girl,

'Velvet huh… Beautiful name.' Alex thought to himself, continuing to watch the scene like some sort of a drama film, all he needs is some popcorn, and he is golden.

"You…" the old man, just like the kid turned to look at the girl, now named Velvet.

"Oh thank goodness… You kept Laphi safe, didn't you Arthur?" the girl visibly relaxes while looking at the old man…

'…Named Arthur, okay, now that's an overused name if I ever saw one.' Alex chuckles lightly, giving his full attention, Alex is not type of person who would get involved in something that doesn't directly affect him, and so he is going enjoy the show.

Arthur, dramatically looks away, the crimson moon giving the perfect lighting to add even more drama into it, to a point where Alex gave him a nickname,

'Arthur the Drama Queen.'

"One more sentiment..." He calmly starts to talk, his eyes closed,

"-to cast off." Arthur, finishes his sentence while opening his eyes,

"Velvet, run!" the boy cries out, the girl doesn't listen and runs towards them instead, but before she could even take one step, she falls down, face first, like as if she wore a full metal armor and walked into a magnetic floor.

Flames appear on her arms and legs, which surprise Alex even more, but eh, he has that 'Just another Saturday noon I suppose' look on his face.

Velvet can only groan in pain where she lies, her golden-brown eyes doesn't leave Arthur, and she could only watch what he is about to do.

Alex… Simply continues enjoys the drama filled show, because he is a very sick man indeed.

'When should I intervene I wonder…. Hmm, decisions, decisions.' Alex just watches, but he does somewhat relate with the girl, from what he can see, she deeply cares for the boy. Just like him…

And Dana…

'Tch.'

"Here once, was the seal to the underworld broken. And tonight, here shall be born the power to save the world." Arthur chants with an emotionless voice, before continuing he stabs his sword into the ground, and pulls it out, and raise the sword.

"With Laphicet's life as a sacrifice."

'Duh, duh; duh!' Alex, with his mouth, makes a very dramatic, royalty free, sound effect as the Drama Queen finishes his chant.

"What? What are you saying!?" Velvet asks, but ultimately gets ignored.

The kid closes his eyes, simply giving up perhaps? Maybe it's time for Alex to join in the fray eh? Nah.

Arthur slams his sword onto the ground once more; a big magic glyph appears on the ground where the kid is standing. A magic sphere envelops the Laphicet's body, and lifts him up towards the pit.

"Arthur, no!" Velvet screams, her terrified voice… brings something out of him… His breathing gets a bit heavier, with his grief for his lost sister returning in full strength.

Arthur stabs the glyph, the magical barriers around the blond haired kid activates, cross shaped crystal looking spikes impales the kid, turning the poor soul into some sort of shish kebab, although in an orthodox way.

Damn, now he wanted to eat some shish kebab. The virus thankfully didn't do anything to his taste buds, in fact enchanted all of his senses, so he can enjoy normal food, his sister did forced him to pick up sleeping and eating habits as well.

Also, he discovered that his favorite food of all time; is shish kebab, to nobody's surprise, considering more than half of his abilities is about impaling people to death with pointy sharp tendrils, especially his devastators. He got hooked up to it after staying in Turkey for about five weeks, eating nothing but kebab, to a point where his sister got sick of it.

Velvet screams, and frees herself from the flames, and runs towards the falling now very much dead blonde kid who is falling down towards the endless pit.

Alex couldn't take it anymore, she reminded of himself way too much, so he ultimately decides to intervene. Sure some would call him heartless (he is one heck of a heartless dick), because he let the kid die and he would agree with them… But oh well, that's exactly how he works, also there is slight fear that if he intervened from the start, there is a high chance of them treating him like a monster, and that's not what he wants here.

He wants to be a savior.

'Can't believe I'm doing this…', Alex thought to himself, and jumped as high as he could, and dashed in mid-air, gliding towards the old man, almost in-sync with the raven haired girl.

Velvet, somehow reaches to the falling impaled kid, and grabs his hand, almost falling into the void herself, but she manages to hold on to the edge of the pit.

"Let him go. This is an offering to the world." Arthur says while looking down coldly into the eyes of Velvet, who is struggling to climb up, with one of her hands tightly holding on to the impaled kid.

"Why would yo-" Velvet grimaces,

"I got you." Alex whispers while free falling straight down, face first just above his target.

"Nothing can save hi-" Arthur gets interrupted, by a drop kick straight on top of his head, and Alex rides his body like a skate board picking up dust and cracking the floor, away from the pit, and finishes it off with a back flip kick. Sending the old man flying away, straight into a pillar, which he painfully collides into, breaking it in half, Alex has no time to be surprised, the fact that the old man didn't turn into pile of meat jelly, like usual.

"Wha?" Velvet makes a confused sound, very justified indeed.

Alex turns to face the pit, and walks towards it,

"Need a hand?"

He offers his hand with a half smirk, crouching down, full knowing that her hands are full.

"Lift me up moron!" of course, Velvet isn't in the best mood to take a joke.

He wordlessly grabs her hand, the one that holding the ledge, just before he can pull them up, his instinct screams at him, to release her and jump away, but he doesn't listen to it.

"Shit-"A giant, fireball, hits him square in the back, not exactly damaging him, but that knock back though-

Ah, he always regrets whenever he doesn't listen to his instincts.

"Ahhh!" Velvet screams while both of them fall down into the bottomless pit, with Alex being the calmer one, he tries to reach for an edge by dashing towards it, Velvet is in way too into the panic mode to realize what he is doing, but while doing so he keeps an eye on the girl.

But before he can reach to the edge, a… Chinese dragon magically appears…

And it eats the dead kid's body.

"Laphicet!" Velvet tries to reach for the boy, her heart in million pieces; the sore sight of her heart break makes him want to crawl into a hole.

'Is that how I looked like when I saw… Dana?' he gives up on trying to reach for the edge, instead, moves towards her.

"How could he… How could youuu!" Velvet screams from the bottom of her heart, or whatever the remains are, it makes Alex feel more miserable, why every time he does something and almost immediately regrets it? Even though he genuinely felt like just watching and not get involved until the end when he first got there.

'I got shot by a fireball, so…' He desperately searches for an excuse… Which he drops immediately for a second later, the hell is he doing? But before he could question his thought set, he gets blinded by a very bright light…

Next thing he knows, the pit launches them outside with veracity, landing onto the ground, next to each other, Velvet is out of breath, Alex… Is just fine, at least he thinks he is.

With a pained heave, Velvet raises herself up; next Alex does the same, clutching his head as a migraine hits him.

…The migraine suddenly goes away when Alex looks at his right.

"That arm…"

Alex sees several changes in Velvet, on the outside and the inside, her left arm is enlarged, red-pulsating demonic look, it resembles his claws… But unlike his, she has all of her fingers intact, while his claws only have three… In the inside however… She reminded of his old self, distraught, and blood thirsty if that glare aimed at the old man is a go by.

He was sort of itching to test that theory out, but decides against it.

"Who are you?"

Arthur asks while walking towards them, sword in hand, he had already recovered, although the blood trickling from his nose couldn't be missed.

Alex, looks around, seeing that they are surrounded by bunch of daemons, seemingly ignoring the old man, and focusing on him and Velvet.

"You are talking to me?" Alex points at himself, the werewolves' seconds away from pouncing at them.

"You are a daemon."

Arthur states, it wasn't a question, say to very least, Arthur sensed great malevolence in Alex and thought he was a daemon, but… Alex is something more than that.

Velvet continues to look at Arthur with pure hatred, but mostly ignores Alex,

Alex couldn't tell if he was supposed to be relieved or disappointed, or why feel anything at all really.

The time is up, the werewolves, indeed jumps at them,

Velvet already grabs one of the attacking daemons with her demonic hand and quickly proceeds to absorb it, a drop of black blood splatter on her face,

And daemon's body turns into a familiar mist as it disappears.

"A daemon, who devours other daemons." Arthur comments after turning his face to Velvet from Alex.

"…A therion."

Alex, looks at her with variety of emotions, mostly with his mouth gaping, but snaps back to life when one of the daemons lunges at him.

Instead of forming his arms into a weapon, he goes unarmed, and grabs the werewolf in mid-air by its neck.

And tear its head of from its shoulders, all while consuming for a half of second, rest instantly turns into mist.

"What strength…" Arthur comments coldly, watching them from afar as Alex and Velvet, tear all of the daemons around them, unconsciously working together at the times, Even though the emotional stage Velvet is that isn't the most… Stable, as his sister would've said in a polite way.

Damn, she really is like him isn't she? Or at least, before he… Changed, for the better.

"Why did you kill him!? His blood… on your hands… Answer me! Why!?" Velvet shouts out in rage while absorbing yet another daemon, Arthur mostly watches in silence.

"He was my brother! My Laphi! What did he ever do to you!?"

That…

Stops…

Alex…

In his tracks…

He falls down to his knees and brings his hands to his face, breathing heavily, now he really regrets not getting involved sooner, his sister would be severely disappointed for not helping her sooner…. But hey, it's not that easy to break the old habits is it?

'We really are the same…' Alex thoughts to himself, but Velvet, blinded by her rage, doesn't even acknowledge him, at all really. Makes him quite sad.

"Get out of my way!"

Also, he had to roll out of her way to avoid her demonic hand; something did broke inside her didn't it?

"Take a look around you." Arthur points out, while Alex raises himself up, Velvet calms herself a bit before taking a look.

Corpses.

Corpses, everywhere, the people she grew up with, her friend, lying down all around her, each passing second her breathing gets heavier, but her eyes stop at one thing.

Alex, who was also looking at her as well, his jacket had burn marks all over it, his eyes are visible as they both send each other a confused look, Alex looks away first, his eyes landing on the man… Who she will kill…

"Daemonblight has spread through the village." Arthur says, dramatically, and does an even more dramatic move as he stabs the werewolf who was sneaking up on him.

"But do not fear, with my power as an exorcist…"

"Arthur!" Velvet roars almighty, red aura surrounds her, as she charges towards the old man.

"No…" Alex mutters softly, his instinct once more screaming at him to do something…

"I, Artorius Collbrande, will end your pain."

Thankfully though, this time…

He does listen to his instinct.

He grabs Velvet on her shoulder, and he yanks her to his side, avoiding the flame ball that would've hit her if he didn't intervened.

"Release me!" Velvet tries to escape from Alex's grip, but Alex is really grateful that she doesn't attack him.

He jumps away with his grip on her shoulder tightens further as more… People, teleports in in a bright light, surrounding them effectively, At this point nothing is going to surprise him.

"Seres?" Velvet murmurs, not trying to fight his grip anymore, she looks at a masked woman standing close to Artorius.

They close in on them, Alex tighten his grip on Velvet, who can't look away from Artorius, her eyes still filled with pure hatred that makes Alex go weak in the knees each time he looks at her in the eye.

"Why is it that birds fly? Behold my answer, Velvet." Artorius, with a smug undertone, although barely noticeable, and he walks towards them.

"Arthur…"

His instincts now scream at him to run away, but he won't not run, not this time, he really wants to know more about the girl. And he is going to take a guess and say she won't appreciate if he suddenly ran away. He releases her, and decides to stand next to her.

Artorius gives the silent order, they get targeted by flame balls, ice, laser(a some sort of blinding white light beam), sand… And dirt? Most of it doesn't really damage him, heck, bullets do more damage than their magic, but then again, you don't need damage to put a predator in a cage do you?

But speaking of damaging… They do target him with,

Electricity, or lightning in this case, it's not exactly his kryptonite, but one could say that lightning damages him more than whatever else they threw at him, more like annoying the lion by poking his eye with a stick really, but imagine that lion having super regenerative healing, yeah that's just about how he would describe it.

From the corner of his eye, he see that Artorius already knocked out Velvet, judging by how he is standing next to her, with his sword is poised to stab her.

Artorius sends him a look. It's enough for him to know what he wanted.

"Uh, Truce?" He raises his hands in a mocking surrender; He will have to play along, to learn more about where the fuck is he, and what the fuck is happening or what her three sizes are, for pure example.

Oh hey, they accept his surrender, how nice, no wait; they knock him out with their magic. He doesn't try to defend himself.

…

"Oi! Wake up!"

Alex, this time, wakes up to a fairly strong kick to his chest, if he were normal, he would've had to get hospitalized because of it.

"Okay. Okay I'm up!" Alex coughs while rising himself from the pavement ground, he opens his eyes to see that he is in a cramped hole of sorts, if the iron grate on the ceiling isn't an indication to a prison, he doesn't know where else he is.

Next, he sees her…

And oh boy, she does not look happy at all, unlike that faithful day, she actually focuses fully on him this time, glaring hard into his light blue eyes; they got rid of his old clothes, he wore a prison 'uniform' (some would call it a hurriedly meshed and sewn rags), but he would call an absolute piece of garbage.

His messy, long brown hair at full display, his hood no longer covering them.

"Who are you?"

He doesn't answer for a second; it's been a while since someone actively challenged him, let alone a girl.

"Answer me!" She changes her left hand into that demonic form, and threateningly points her demonic hand at him, although her clothes are still the same, he doesn't think that he's been unconscious for that long.

"It's rude to ask someone's name without telling yours first you know?" He crosses his arms, looking straight in her golden-brown eyes.

She clicks her tongue, still pointing her demonic hand at him threateningly.

"Velvet Crowe."

Alex gives a small smile and leans against the wall.

"Mine's Alex Mercer." Alex introduces himself, while she continues to glare at him. Her demonic hand still raised, ready to attack at any moment.

…They just look at each other for a while (more like glare on Velvet's part) not moving an inch.

"Tch." Velvet was the first one to look away, her hand turning back to normal, and moves to sit down against the wall.

Alex watches her as she moves, a few questions came to his mind, but considering how pissed she is, he certainly doesn't think she will answer them.

But oh well, he has all the time in the world, he can wait.

She takes a fatal position against the wall; his eyes subtly follow her movements.

"Laphi…" her hair shadows her eyes, voice hoarse like as if she smokes fifty packs a day, or hasn't been dehydrating for two days straight.

Now he realizes something…

He looks down to his body, to his clothing…

They took his favorite jacket.

Nobody touches his jacket…

No one… Touches his precious… Or any of his clothing, he could feel them, like a detached limb, waiting him to take them… But they are a bit too far way, from what he can tell.

Those clothes are part of him.

He needs that jacket back,

But that can come at a later date; he is so pissed and angry to a point where he feels numb about it, strangely calm.

Back to her, maybe focusing on something else will help him as well but anyway; He'll let her cool (and himself) down; he practically just met her after all. He mimics her movements, and resumes fatal position against the wall as well, he snakes his arms around his knees.

He could try to escape, but he is interested in something else, namely someone.

…

3 hours later.

They both had similar dreams, with their siblings…

"Geh!" Alex, doesn't normally sleeps, if at all really, but watching her sleeping form made him sleepy as well, also there is that reason where his sister forced him to pick up the habit to sleep again, to be more normal.. . To be human again, along with eating of course.

"You can't sleep either?" Velvet, looks at him with one of her eyes closed, resting the back of her head against the wall.

"Yes… What about you?" This is the first time they are having a civilized conversation, without any glares and no threats.

"Well, we are stuck here for the foreseeable future, so let me tell you something… "Velvet smirks, looking at Alex, un-moving.

"Get in my way… I will devour you." Her voice, this time turns into full of malice and hatred, but he could tell that they are not aimed at him, not all of them anyway, well, that was the longest time they talked without any threats, less than 30 seconds… Yeah, there is work to be done isn't it?

"In the way of what?" Alex prods a little, with a surprising soft voice, even himself baffle at it.

"Vengeance." She spats out the word with so much hatred, he…

They really are alike aren't they?

He must play this smart, lest he gets on her bad side even more than he already did, considering how hard she is glaring at him from her position.

"Instead, how about I help you out?" Alex offers, she still has that glare, but it softens a little, she stays silent, so Alex takes that as a token to continue talking.

"By breaking out of this dungeon." He lazily points his index at the weak looking iron grate on the ceiling; it's a unique… Dungeon, or cell, maybe a solitary cell, ish.

"Heh, good luck with deciphering the magic barrier, let alone forcing through it." Velvet rolls her eyes; her voice loses all hostility, instead filled with sarcasm, Ah, Alex always appreciates sarcasm.

"A… What now?"

"…You really are dumb, aren't you?" She states while looking at him pointedly.

"I would prefer… Not informed, thank you." He scratches his cheek, he can figure out what a magic barrier can do, even a toddler can, because it's in its name.

"It's there to keep things in, and no amount of force can break through it." Velvet explains even after everything said.

"What can you do anyway?" Velvet asks, she did saw him hit Arthur… during that night, that's the whole reason why her hand aren't around his neck, devouring him.

Alex doesn't know how to answer that really, but he wants her trust… He wants to trust her.

Without a word he shape shifts his arms into claws, his favorite ability.

"I knew you were a daemon as well." Velvet doesn't even bat an eye at the change, makes him a bit emotional, but he holds it in.

"Uh… What exactly is a daemon?" Alex darts his eyes to the ground, changing his arms back to normal.

"…" Velvet stays silent.

"Really?" Velvet asks, flabbergasted, that he doesn't know what a daemon is.

"Yes." Alex nods, still looking at the floor.

"Sigh, I don't know much, but there is a disease called Daemonblight." Velvet, yet again starts to explain, making him smile a little, having someone to talk to is better than not having any, and if it's someone you get along, then you are luckiest person alive.

"From what I heard from…" she turns her face to her left, and spits in disgust,

"Artorius… People catch the disease because of their own malevolence, corrupting them and turning them into those…" Velvet narrows her eyes, and punches the ground with impressive strength, cracking the floor.

"Monsters." Velvet simply finishes,

'Ah if only she knew…' Alex muses inside his head.

"And a therion can absorb them?" Alex, curiously asks.

"A therion can devour any living being that has a soul… So, don't you dare get in my way or I'll-"

"I know… You'll devour me." Alex finishes for her, making her glare intensify a little, but nods once. Probably indicating that the conversation is over, considering she closed her eyes and shifted her weight, trying to make herself comfortable.

'Damn, she really is an angry one isn't she? Was he like that back when he first became… Whatever he was a long time ago?

He has a hunch that he was worse than that. He certainly wouldn't spare her if he was still the… Thing, or whatever he was…

'Daemonblight huh, it does sound like blacklight virus doesn't it?' he can't ignore the similarity there as well, they both turn its victims into mindless monsters and do nothing but kill anything in sight and all.

'… Did I just insulted myself?' because the Alex Mercer is the Blacklight, the Blacklight is the Alex Mercer … They are one of the two, that's what the virus chose to be… Instead of being ZEUS, (AN: in cannon virus thought it was Alex, later on chose to become ZEUS thus led the cannon to Prototype 2)

3 years later

…And so Alex, and Velvet, stuck in the same cell, the guards regularly sends down daemons for them to devour, so to speak, thinking Alex is a therion as well, but he doesn't really needs to consume to survive though, his abilities would get weaker each passing moment because he needs biomass to use them, so he doesn't neglect consuming daemons from time to time. Get some biomass and keep his strength up, but gave up most of it to Velvet, she needs it more than he does.

He also offered her to teach some martial arts, being an adept himself, it baffled Velvet to no end, but she accepted.

Alex kept his strength in check, since he could turn a normal human into a pile of mush with a light punch, he taught her how to find pressure points, and some judo, grab and choke-slam techniques to go along with her kick oriented fighting style, he also learned that she uses a gauntlet blade alongside it.

He was surprised that she accepted his offer, but when he asked she said something like this;

"I will use any tool… To kill him!"

Although, 3 years of being stuck each other sounds really long, they didn't made much progress with their relationship, mostly on good terms, she stopped threatening him each five minutes (seconds), he would like to call her a friend, but he receives the cold shoulder whenever he does so, Velvet was extremely defensive, just like he was…

But he had something that she didn't have when he was just like her long time ago…

Alex's- No, his sibling, who trusted and never discriminated him, and always stayed by his side,

He wanted to be that person to her.

"Damn…" Alex curses, sitting next to Velvet, on the ground, relaxing against the cold, hard wall, as well as they could anyway.

"What?" Velvet lazily turns her head to look at him, which he does to same to her.

"You need a bath." Alex points out, her outfit seen better days he can tell that much, its condition is… in even worse than his, its ripped all over the place, there are black spots all over her body as if she worked in a coal mine, her hair is unkempt, and not anywhere near the plaited hair she had when he first saw her, Her left arm is wrapped with bandage because… He got no idea really, probably to keep it normal? How does that even work?

"… Shut up." Velvet spats out angrily while turning away.

But there were some progress; he doesn't have to be extra careful lest she attacks him, so he can get away with comments like these. They can talk normally enough, but she is very defensive and has at least five layered walls around her that would put the Chinese Great Wall to shame.

But Alex is determined to do break those walls; regardless of how many years would it take.

… To do that, they must get out of here first, Alex had managed to become what he is today by traveling, seeing new things with his sibling, it certainly helped him immensely, sure he didn't became a saint, if he was, he would've intervened, and probably saved the kid from dying, but, eh, another regret to add to the pile he suppose.

Why he tries so hard? Well, he likes her. He likes her a lot;

That determination to achieve her goal, that thick, hard headed personality, it just draws him in.

Because he is a predator… He naturally gets attracted to the powerful, and who can stand without fear in his presence when he shows his true colors. Can you blame him for thinking that it's much more fun to dominate a strong female and make her his? There is the fact that most of the females he saw… Aren't really his type, and he doesn't like the idea of fucking his own sister either.

His more… primal side whispers to him… Telling him… to force Velvet to be his mate but… He resist it, he wants her to come to him willingly; also ghost of his sister would haunt him down forever if he does something like that.

It's time to make some amends.

"What are you thinking about?" Velvet asks, bringing Alex out of his stupor.

"Thinking about how to escape actually." He chuckles while looking up to the barely visible barrier.

"Want to jump, and collide face first into the lightning barrier again?" She sends a sarcastic comment jab at him with an eye roll.

He unconsciously rubs his nose, at that comment, Electricity is a bitch to deal with in the first place, now with this magic stuff, there is no way for him to get rid of it from the inside, so he is genuinely stuck here with no way out. But he regrets nothing; it's worth it just to be with her.

Dang, he really is head over heels over her isn't he?

Velvet glares at him, and says;

"You know, you are telling me that I need a bath, but you are the one who needs it the most, you stink." She mockingly pinches her nose.

He sweat drops and looks down at his clothing.

He still feels for his lost precious jacket, his rags is somewhat in better shape than hers, there is no big black spots on his body, he looks like one of those hobos he used to see back at home.

'Unlike you, I don't look like a slave working in a coal mine though.' He resists from commenting that out loud.

"Yeah… I need a bath." He means an actual bath, he'd drown if he tried to wash in a lake, because of his biomass, his body weight is quite dense, even if he jumped a single meter, the very second when he lands, the ground would crumble like some two days old bread.

Wait, now that he thought about it, how did they manage to knock him out that quick?

"And we both need to get out of these rugs." Velvet adds in while pointing at our clothing.

"Gigidy." Alex smirks at her, his eye brows wiggles up and down.

"Shut up, you know what I mean." Velvet rolls her eyes while looking away, her face is neutral; at least that's what she thinks anyway.

"You know… I surrendered during that fight for you." Alex says after a few minutes of silence.

"You could've escaped." Velvet sends a difficult expression to him, but he simply stares at the iron bar above them.

"Probably, but I didn't." She's right; no matter how much electricity or lightning or whatever they throw at him… Won't work if they can't even find him right?

He could've escaped and find a better way to fight them, but he didn't. He did have that promise his sister after all. The person… The thing he was a long time ago, is gone because of it, if he made the other choice, Alex… It would've consumed anything in its path, including the girl right next to him…

"…" Velvet stares at him, waiting for more input on his part, but he stays silent, his gaze this on the iron bars.

…Alex activates his thermal vision after hearing footsteps coming from above its quieter than the guards, also the magic barrier is a deep red color, he narrows his eyes, the guards here are bunch of buffoons and their footsteps are nowhere near this quiet.

"Hm? What's wrong?" Velvet asks, she looks up where he is looking.

Alex shushes her, and stands up.

"Get ready." He whispers, and nods without looking at her, his eyes glued to the iron bars above them.

Suddenly, the grate opens… He could just wall run out of there, if it weren't for the barrier of course.

A familiar person, Alex saw before, jumps down from the opened grate, this is the point where he would make a run for the exit, but he could still see the barrier with his thermal vision.

"Seres?" Velvet mumbles and gets ready to attack, Alex follows the suit.

Velvet sends a quick look at Alex, telling him to stand down, which he agrees to with a shrug.

And she charges with a roar and grabs the masked woman's face.

"Where is he?" Velvet questions, her hand get covered in multiple small flames…

'So she's the one who was restraining her, and shot me once huh…' He grits his teeth, now he really wants to show her a real nice time….

For him, but for her though. Heh. She would beg for him for end her life, but he keeps these thoughts to himself, controlling his urges….

Velvet throws her towards him, taking that as a 'get involved' he moves in to attack.

And high kick her into the air; she couldn't avoid him because of the momentum of Velvet's throw.

"Ugh!" Seres groans, three meters high in the air, Velvet jumps high, and heel kick her in mid-air, straight into the ground with a loud crushing sound.

Alex moves in fast for an attack.

Seres have better plans as she stands up, unnaturally fast, and… She covers her body in flames, so instead of getting caught in her next attack Alex jumps over her, and lands next to Velvet.

…And turns out that was the right choice, flames explode around her as she releases her attack.

"I said… Where. Is. He?" Velvet hisses, looking straight at the masked woman.

Seres first 'looks' at her, and turns towards Alex, sending a look at him as well, but stays silent for a few seconds.

"If his malak here, he shouldn't be that far is it?" Alex questions, Velvet told him a lot of things… With enough persistence of course, but nothing too personal.

"Yes." Velvet doesn't turn to face him, and curtly answers.

"I am no longer his malak." Seres finally opened her mouth to talk.

Velvet and Alex share a look, and look at Seres afterwards in perfect sync.

"First, let me tell you what has transpired-"

"Boho, who cares? Just tell her where he is." Alex cuts her off, with a shrug, Seres turns to face him with a small frown, Velvet couldn't agree more with him.

"Artorius Collbrande is the head exorcist at the Abbey, an institution that boasts-"

"Okay, how about a nice, simple and short version of it?" Alex impatiently scoffs, while Velvet smirks at the annoyed look on Seres's face.

"-You can find him in Loagres, capital of Midgand." She still, looks at him with annoyance, and disables the barrier, Alex looks at her weirdly, but from what he can see, she is on their side, so he won't say anything.

Velvet nods and turns around, walking towards the ladder.

"There, was that so hard now was it?" Alex sends Seres a half-smirk.

"Aren't you interested in learning what happened during that night?" that, stops Velvet in her tracks, her back still turned away from her.

"He sacrificed my brother." Velvet harsh comment stops Seres from talking.

"That's all I need to know about it." Velvet starts climbing up the ladder, leaving Alex and Seres alone.

A second of silence (and the sound of Velvet climbing up) passes between them.

"She wants revenge. Not some stupid backstory…" Alex points out the obvious at the somewhat confused masked woman, and jumps up straight towards the opened grate, surprising her quite a bit at how high he can jump.

…

"Now what, Velvet?"

"We escape." She says ever so simply.

"And how are we going to do that?" He could think of a several ways, but it's amusing to watch her think so hard about something.

"Uh..."

"I believe I can help you with that." Seres joins in the conversation, she still have that frown on her face.

"How?" Alex questions with a raised eyebrow.

"But first… You both need equipment and clothing." Seres walks past them,

"This way." She mentions them to follow her.

"Well…" Alex hums, waiting for Velvet decision.

"She does realize that's only way you can go from here right?" Velvet said, she shakes her head and massages her forehead.

"Let's just go…" Alex sighs, he really needs to get rid of this junk rugs he is wearing… His jacket was a part of him…

AND HE WILL GET IT BACK!

...

After a few minutes of walking down the corridor, they arrive at a door, mind you, it's the only door that leads to somewhere in the corridor they are in….

'A single fucking door…. For that long of a corridor….. Oh my fucking- Who build this place!?' Alex screams internally.

Unaware of Alex's internal struggle, Velvet and Seres goes inside, Alex follows them afterwards.

"They haven't activated the alarms yet." Seres said while looking around the room.

"There, grab what you need." Seres points at the chests, boxes on their left.

Again, Alex wonders who designed this place.

…Unless they have some secret passage ways, but even then it's a dumb design, because you will have to go through this room if you want to reach to the cell block they just came out of.

Velvet opens a chest, and looks inside, before turning around and looking at Alex pointedly.

…Alex not being a dense douche, nods understandably and steps out.

After a few minutes of clothes rustling on the other side of the door, Seres opens the door and lets Alex walk in.

"Do you want us to step out as well?" Velvet asks, a smirk on her face.

Alex examines her new outfit first, looking at her up and down…

'If that doesn't scream 'edgy' I don't know what else does.' Alex thought to himself, she is wearing a tattered red corset that doesn't leave much to imagination, black jean shorts, but that looks equally tattered as well, it might've been a trouser at some point in time…

"Are you done checking me out?" Velvet impatiently asks, crossing her arms under her breasts, leaning on her right leg.

"Just about." Alex casually answers, ah where he was? Right chain accessories, metal boots (her right boot looks… Eh… Fine, but other looks like it fell apart and most likely made in china), also that gauntlet on her right hand, it must be her weapon she was talking about.

"Tch." Velvet looks annoyed, but there was a ghost of a smile on her face.

He forgot mention her cloak, it's a little longer than knee-length; colored black on the outside, the inside however is blue, from what he can see from here anyway.

"It suits you." Alex nods and sends a thumps up, he isn't going to question why is there…'Clothing' that seems like it was especially made for her. He is going to hope that he can find some for himself.

Nor did Alex questioned the fact that how did she managed to get a shower, the conversation they had in the cell flown out of the window, she looks squeaky clean, there is no way she managed to get all of the dirt of with a tissue.

"I don't need your opinion." She looks away, but her words contradict with her actions, if she doesn't need it, why did she strike a pose there? Alex isn't dumb, He is getting somewhere, but he won't count his hunters before they can hatch yet.

He searches the crates, the chests, he finds a white parka, white shirt and… you guess it!

….A white trouser, and hippy sandals which he promptly get rid of, he'd rather go barefoot; many thanks.

Alex sighs, once they are out of there, he is going to go a tailor and buy himself an outfit, and he really does hope that he can find his signature jacket… But he knew it wasn't around here, he would've senses it.

Velvet and Seres, they shamelessly watch him strip the rags he wore, showing off his bulky looking muscles, his unnaturally pale skin with a feint green hue, that made him look sickly and a few scars from before he- became the virus.

He, not paying attention to his spectators, changed his clothing.

Velvet shows no emotion, but continues to watch him as he gets dressed, she never questioned why he looked so… Sick(no pun intended), and he is grateful for it.

Once he is done, he looks for a weapon; even though he could shapeshift appendages, he likes being versatile.

There are spears, swords, shields…. They really are looking for an uprising aren't they? If someone broke out, their only way out of there is going through this room.

What caught his attention was the large, long sword, it looked different from the other ones and that's the whole reason why his interest peaked, the black sheath, red outlines, to contrast with the other generic swords that are all white.

He grabs its handle; it's already sheathed, and straps it to his back. It might just come in handy.

"That sword's name is Stormhowl; does it suit your interests?" Seres asks, the sword's tip almost touches the ground while it's strapped to Alex's back.

"It'll do." Alex answers simply with a shrug; he'll just get rid of it if it's useless.

A man with white armor comes crashing through a door, a guard, Alex realizes, and he's looking at him.

"Stop! You violated the law! Pay the court-"the guard shouts while points his sword at him.

"G-Guck?!" he painfully gags on his own blood, when Velvet sneaks up behind him and stab the back of his neck with precision, her blade aims for the unarmored part…

The guard pitifully falls down face first, gaging, gurgling, blood running down from his nose and mouth.

"Let's go." Velvet nonchalantly says while walking towards the door the guard just barged in, leaving the guy to bleed out on the floor.

…And you ask why Alex is so stuck up to her. He loves that side of her…

…

…Ah sneaking, Alex always loved stealth.

And that's exactly what they are doing by hugging the wall, there is one guard watching the corridor they are in, how convenient, he motions stay still with his hands to both of his companions, they nod but keep their guard up.

Since he is looking in their way, Alex deliberately makes a noise, attracting the guard and getting an angry look from Velvet, promising pain if he butchers it.

But, that was exactly the plan.

"Whose ther-"

Alex pounces at him, grabbing by his neck, and rip him into two, consuming him… Gaining his memories and some delicious info, leaving nothing but a puddle of blood behind, the guard's skills wouldn't leave much to envy, he can't even write.

After he's done, he turns to Seres, who looks a bit disgusted by the scene.

"And where is your ship exactly?" Alex questions Seres, full knowing that they are in a prison island, kinda like Alcatraz, but more stupid because however designed this place, probably had three thumps, and zero brain cells.

"You know that this prison is on an island? Impressive." Seres comments.

"So, where is it?" Velvet sends a blank look at him, before turning to face Seres;

"…It's at the front dock."

…

Did she just deadpan?

He ignores her.

"I got a plan." A brilliant idea came to his mind, at any second guards will realize that they had escaped so…

Velvet and Seres looks at him expectantly, Seres is quite awkward in his presence, he could feel it, she is yet to address him properly.

"Since they will know we are gone sooner than later… How about a prison riot?" Alex smirks, those fuckers would make the perfect distraction.

"It wouldn't work." Seres, ever so gently shakes her head.

"I didn't say that it will work did I?" Alex's smirk gets even bigger.

Seres gasps when she realizes what he wants to do.

"The perfect distraction." Velvet half-smirks, she was thinking the same as Alex.

Seres shakes her head disapprovingly, but and leads them-

"No, I'll lead, I know the layout now… And a shortcut." Alex interjects, and walks ahead of them.

"How?" Velvet raises an eyebrow; there is no way he could know about that.

"When I consume people, I not only get stronger, I also take their memories as well." Alex explains to her, but leaves the part he can also learn their skills as well.

"… And you had this ability, but you never told me about it?"

"You didn't ask." Alex jests with a smile.

…

"You do the honors?" Alex says while examining his hands, un-caring.

She sends him smirk, and turns to face the metal door that leads to the cells, And kick it to make some noise.

"I will release all of you from your cells; we are getting of this rock!"

"Are you serious?!" collective chatter noise began to rise; you can't really tell what they are saying.

"Yes, split into two groups, attack both front and back entrances, you'll get a ship!" Velvet's resolute voice carries on.

"Wait, aren't the ships are guarded?" a different voice worriedly comments.

"After all only that pirate Van Aifread successfully escaped from here!" another one cries out.

"And even he had to get help from a exorcist, Melchior!"

Velvet seems to be thinking about something, her hand supporting her chin, He just can't stop staring whenever she does that…

"Or stay in there and rot!" Velvet finishes her little speech, and mentions Seres to disable the barriers, which she does, the prisoners start to break out of their cells….

"We'll kill them all!"

"Let's get them!"

'Ah, and chaos ensues.' Alex points out the obvious inside his head.

…

"So, where is this shortcut you speak of?" Velvet asks, looking at him.

"This way."

…

Alex, stops moving after they turned around the corner, before Velvet could question what's happening Alex starts to talk.

"Didn't your parents teach you not to stalk other people?" He looked at a particular shadow, his eyes glowing red.

His two companions adapt their fighting stance when they hear him.

"Ahoh~ no they did not, good sir!"

'A girl, with a silly witch hat… And is that literal books around her waist? What?' Alex thought to himself while the girl skipped her way towards them, a cheshire smirk on her face.

"Who are you?" Velvet asked, her hand still raised in case the witch girl attacks them.

"I'm glad you asked! I am Mazhigigika Milidi-" Witch hat wearing girl bows once and starts talking, but…

Alex immediately interrupts her.

"Oh my- the short version, please?" Alex impatiently says, but he did say please, so he is confident she will accept his feelings right?

"-n do Din Nolurun dou, the legendary witch!" the… whatever her name is expertly continues on like as if he never said anything.

"-But the party poopers like him calls me Magilou!" she pointedly glares at him, her head is tilted to the side.

"Nice insult." Alex deadpans, but feels amused none the less; she does have that certain air around her.

The comedic relief type of air that is. If he were a writer, he would've added a character like her to his story as well.

"What do you want?" Velvet coldly asks,

"Get out of this moldy, stinking prison~" Magilou flashes a smile while jumping on her spot, and puts her hands behind her head.

"I see you around poop-man, tatters and masked tits!" Afterwards, she casually walks off, trio simply stares at her, some feeling not too happy about the nickname she gave them.

"Why I'm I the 'masked tits'?" Seres looks confused,

"Pff-" Alex tries to chuckle and answer Seres's question, but Velvet elbows him.

"Let's just forget about her and move on." Velvet walked ahead of them afterwards.

…

After a few minutes of walking, the trio saw freshly died corpses scattered all around, guards, daemon's alike,

"So, there's more of you."

A man, about the size of a gorilla (probably over exaggerating), calls out to them, standing in middle of the corridor, his duel daggers poised to attack them.

He looked relatively normal, if it weren't for the blackened right side of his face, all the way to his neck, as if he rolled into a camp fire while he was sleeping, but anyway, Alex knew he was a daemon.

Velvet immediately gets into her fighting stance, Seres and Alex do the same.

"…Is tha-? You! Where did you find that sword?!"

But, the daemon, drops his weapons, and runs towards Alex.

Alex, grabs the sword's hilt, and pulls it out, alongside with its sheath.

"You mean this?" Alex asks while juggling the sword like an expert.

The daemon's eyes follow the sword like a excited dog, Alex wouldn't mind making a new friend, especially a relationship of a dog and its owner.

…It sounded a bit better in his head, but now he thinks it's stupid.

"Here then." So, he tried to give the sword to him, key word 'tried'.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou-" the daemon, hugs him and says something gibberish, but Alex knows no gibberish, he is going to guess that it's an insult to his mom, or something, Alex lets him grab the sword from his hands.

"This blade is my life. I owe you a great debt, one I vow to repay."

"Okay..." Alex sweat drops.

"My, I didn't know you swing that way Alex." Velvet comments while watching two of them hug each other. With... annoyance, maybe a good type of annoyance, its starts with 'jealousy'.

Alex, sends her the most deadpan look he can muster, and pushes the daemon away from him.

"Whats your name?" Alex asks.

"Rokurou Rangetsu." the daemon introduces himself.

"Then you should get out of there."

"But I'm debt-" Rokurou tries to argue.

"I want you to cause some havoc, perhaps you'll meet some strong enemies to fight." Alex narrows his eyes at him; Alex instantly knew Rokurou was a battle hungry… Dog. Again, the second Rokurou said 'Life' and 'debt' in the same sentence, Alex is certainly going to abuse it.

"If you wish!" Rokurou's eyes lit up with excitement, and he starts to run to the direction where they came from.

...Also, Alex didn't want him to come with them because he already had a third wheeler, he doesn't need the fourth one. Especially a male, even though Rokurou wouldn't be the best example for this.

He is the jealous type in case you didn't notice, maybe uh… Bits of yandere personality, is imminent.

"..." Velvet stays silent for the rest of the walk until they reach the shortcut. Seres is completely forgotten, she can't really strike a conversation while Alex here.

To her, just being near him makes her feel so much dread, her brain just shuts down, thus there she goes to the darkness that is the background.

...

"Seriously? Isn't this a dead end?" Velvet gives him the stink eye.

"No, look!" He points at where they supposed to go, the info he got from that guard told him that there was a pathway here, but it seems it collapsed, he had to jump over a few ladders while his companions used them to reach to the top of the tower, the shortcut he found inside that memory is supposed to be underneath it.

"…Moron, how are we going to get down there?" Velvet chides, Seres being overly quiet, still not getting a chance to talk, the aura they present… Is just a bit too nasty, for her to actually intervene, she is officially did became the third wheel after all.

In case you didn't know (yes you, you did), Alex is a GOD of going from point A to point B, regardless of ridiculous the situation is.

"We fly." Alex simply says, eh it's an upgraded version of a gliding really, but don't say it to Alex's face, he'd seriously start to cry, so don't judge him alright? It took him a month to get them.

"We do wha-" Velvet gasps when a pair of large wings, sprouts from his back, long and large enough to get used as a cape, resembling a bird's, he spreads his wings to show off his incredible wing span, big enough to completely cover up two people like a cocoon.

Although, they look… Demonic, with red-pulses with black outline, as if the wings itself are alive, just like her arm.

"…You really need to tell me all of your abilities when we get out." Velvet… Pouts, and looks away.

'Ain't that adorable…' Alex gapes for a second before presenting his hand to her. Forgetting about the 'third wheel' altogether, since she is so silent and all, he forgot that she even existed.

"My lady, will you accept my hand in-" he receives a slap to his cheek, a resounding one. But she grabs his hand none the less.

"Let's just go…" Velvet said with a low tone.

He lifts her up, bridal carry in his arms, Velvet simply sends him a look that says 'Try anything funny…'

"I swear if-" Velvet tries to threaten him while putting an arm around his neck.

"I know, you'll devour me." Alex rolls his eyes, he has a feeling that they are going to have this exact conversation for a million times or so on.

And off they go, with a flap of his wings, the ground almost crumples by the force the wings made, Seres gets blown away by a meter or two because of the wind Alex unintentionally created.

He can flap his wings about 6 six times before exhausting himself; it's really hard to carry his own weight, but on the bright side, he can glide forever with them, gaining altitude is the problem, but he could go way beyond his limits if he jumps first and uses them later.

They gently glide down to the platform they supposed to land,

Velvet would never admit it, but she deep down, she did enjoyed the ride, and couldn't hide the disappointment when they finally land, gently, and he released her from his hands, his wings deforms into his body once more.

"That was… Something else." She frowns, but Alex knew that it wasn't the 'I'm angry at you' kind of frown.

"Any time." Alex casually shrugs, he knew that getting out of that cell would do wonders to their relationship, and he was right, they are getting somewhere, but he ain't doing nothing until the signs gets a bit more stronger, and she realize that...

No matter how hard you try...

You can never cut off your emotions, deep down, they still exists no matter how well you hide them. He is a virus for fuck sake, but he even he has emotions!

At least… He thinks what he is currently feeling is emotions anyway.

"Ahem." Seres coughs to get their attention, she arrived there faster than they did, but nobody pays attention to that.

"Shall we go?"

They both nod to Seres's question.

"Now, we head straight for the dock in front of the prison." Alex explains.

"Would that really work? They most likely had that place in lock down." Seres, for the first time, addresses him, although she doesn't say his name.

"Because, we could caught them off guard, since they are probably expect us to attack the dock in the back." Alex turns to face the masked woman.

Velvet nods, Seres looks on, but doesn't respond, they encounter a few daemons, and quickly dispatch them.

"Be on your guard." Alex stares at Velvet, who does the same, before nodding.

…

"Seres? Now are you aiding criminals now?"

They encounter a shiny head, pretty boy with blonde hair, he has two malaks by his side,

Seres responds by getting into an attacking stance,

"A exorcist praetor? Here?" She mumbles loud enough for Velvet and Alex to hear.

Then, Alex felt something.

His jacket.

His precious.

This pretty blondie touched his precious.

He could smell it.

This bastard put his hands on his…

"Oh… There will be blood…" Alex shape shifts his arm into blade, even Velvet felt a little creeped out about his tone.

The exorcist shudders, 'Such malevolence…'

The kid turns to look at Velvet,

"Since you are a lady, I have to be respectful, my name is Oscar-"

Yet once again, Alex interrupts another person's beautiful speech about their very very much important names.

Alex, wordlessly dashes towards the bastard, speeding up like a bullet, his blade arm raised to strike.

"So fast…" Velvet looks on for a second, before running to attack one of the malaks that Oscar had.

"I'll support you!" Seres shoots flame balls, whenever she'll think she is going to hit successfully, otherwise she stays out of her allies' way.

The… Virus and the praetor clashes when they meet.

"Gah!" Oscar was brought to his knees, Alex's face morphed into an amused look, that kid managed to stop him like that.

Oscar, doing the sensible thing, rolls away from him, Alex's blade cutting nothing but air.

"Tch, you are so strong, I will have to expand a malak or two." Oscar raised his blade to attack him.

His malaks shoots at them with black floating energy, or so Alex would call them, but he easily dodges their pathetic attempts at shooting him, they are heavens away from the speed of a bullet, and he can dodge those too.

He needs a plan, a smirk appears on his face as a plan forms in his mind.

In actuality, this is a test for Velvet.

He once again, dashes straight towards him. His hand turning back to normal, and brings his arms as if to grab him.

"…"

Oscar's blade goes straight through his chest, all the way in.

Velvet kicks the malak she was fighting, tumbling it to the ground, and turn to look at Alex, her mouth is agape,

Even Oscar, looks astonished, his pretty head drawing blank, his eyes locked on to his sword, sticking out of Alex's chest.

"No…" Seres, jumps towards Velvet, and puts her hand on Velvet's shoulder.

Oscar, looks up, to face Alex's blood thirsty smirk, his sharp teeth in full display.

Oscar, lost a few precious seconds when Alex threw his body at him, and Oscar, he adopts a fearful expression, those seconds will cost him his life...

Alex chuckles, and grabs Oscar by his neck, the kid immediately releases his sword from his hand, but it's still stuck to Alex's chest.

Velvet and Seres could only look while Alex, tore the pretty boy tiny, little pieces, his screams filled the room.

And consume him afterwards.

The second he became a part of him, his malaks fell down, and they started to release black like aura.

Velvet gets out of her stupor and looks at the malaks, transforming.

"Shit! They have daemonblight!" She quickly checks him out to see if he is okay, the sword still stuck to his chest, but he looks like he is having a field day, not a sliver of pain shown on his face.

"Oh you gotta be- Dragons!?" Alex loves surprises, but this is simply not on revenue! He isn't getting paid enough for this.

Four legged, wings, and a fire breath, there is not only one, but two, one of them is colored red other is green,

No Scratch that, the green one breathes some poison or something, Alex promptly dodges, completely forgetting the sword stuck to his chest, and run straight for Velvet, these things are not a joke, he would've said, but nobody would believe him. Considering his situation.

"Velvet No!" Alex screams in alarm, and drop kicks the red dragon, as it was just about to attack her, straight into the wall,

Velvet straighten herself up, and looks behind him, gradually her eyes widens.

"Behind you!"

Alex jumps straight up, and dodges the poisonous gas the green dragon attacked him,

"I got your back!" Seres shoots a giant, flame ball at the green dragon, and Alex follows up with a drop kick to its head. Sending it down to the ground.

"Velvet, I would really appreciate if you eat them!" Alex shouts at her, which prompts her to run towards the green dragon, her demonic hand is at full display.

"Yes…"

The red dragon tries to flame her while she is feasting, but Alex doesn't let it by forming his arms into hammerfists, and elbow slam the dragon down…

The ground cracks a little, but the dragon still alive for consumption, Alex turns to see that Velvet is done consuming the green one, and wordlessly does the same for the red one.

After she is done, without a single second of delay, she turns to face him, a frown on her face; he could tell she is definitely not happy, she walks towards him.

She doesn't stop until they are only a half of meter away from each other, Velvet, still looks at him in the eye, no words escape from her mouth.

"…"

She silently grabs the handle of the sword, which got stuck to his chest for some time.

And rip it out of its cage, his regenerative body already healing the gaping hole on his chest.

And she throws the bloodied sword away.

"… Never do that ever again." Velvet spits out the words like its venom, but doesn't break the eye contact.

Seres watches the scene, she could feel it, memories… but she shakes her head, it's not the time nor the day to think about this.

"… Okay." He mumbles, Velvet narrowed her eyes, and closed whatever distance they had, practically invading his personal space. But stays still as she glares straight into his soul, if there is any that is.

There is one thing to be sure, She did passed his test with flying colors, All he needs to do, is to make sure she doesn't go… Mad, period.

The irony, his sister would do a flip if she saw this scene.

'So, this is how you felt when you wanted to help me huh…' Alex thought to himself, still looking at Velvet in the eye, lost for second,

"Ahh~ finally we managed to go somewhe- What is this play~? Why I'm I not invited? Did I miss the kiss~?" Magilou enters the room with Rokurou in tow, and does a twirl while walking closer to them.

Velvet and Alex in sync, without moving away from each other, look towards them. Their face betrays no emotion.

"Eh~Eh?" Magilou sweat drops with a nervous laugh,

"Great, you pissed them off." Rokurou comments, Magilou sends him the stink eye for second.

Alex sighs, and takes a few steps back, Velvet stays still and keep looking at Magilou, it's difficult to read her face.

"She is going to explode." Alex whispers to Seres, who can only watch the scene as it unfolds.

"No hard feelings right~?" Magilou tries to defuse, but Velvet lowers her head, her bangs covering her eyes…

"Aw, tatters I thought we were friends…" her comment makes Velvet smirk, when Magilou sees it, she starts to shudder heavily.

"Any second now…" Alex starts to count in his head, Seres looks at him for a second.

And Velvet explodes.

"I WILL EAT YOU!" her hand demonic hand at full display, its glowing red, and she chucks fireball after fireball at the so called legendary witch.

"S-Stop~" Rokurou sighs, and jumps away, next to Alex, who looks at the scene with a mirthful expression.

"I bet five Gald that the daemon will kill the witch." Rokurou says to Alex, still looking as Magilou dodges the onslaught of fireballs.

"… Her name is Velvet Crowe." Alex corrects him, but he decides to play along anyway.

"I'll take you on that, I bet she will cool off… Right about now." Just as Alex finished talking,

Velvet stops shooting fireballs, her breathing is heavy, Magilou somehow managed to came out of the attacks with only her stupid hat burned, but otherwise she looks fine.

"Not the hat!" Magilou shrieks with the remains of her hat in her hands, and starts to cry.

"Hmph." Velvet crosses her arms on her chest and looks away, a small, yet satisfied smile on her face.

"…See? Now pay up." Alex puts his hand up, Rokurou reluctantly puts the Gald on his hand.

"Alex, Seres! Dock is this way!" Velvet shouts while moving, both of them go after her.

"Hey! Wait up! I still have a debt to pay!" Rokurou follows after them.

"I don't want to be stuck in this poop hole~ I will come as well!" Magilou, as if nothing happened, runs after them as well.

Author notes:

... And so tits are fired, the guns are hot, the butter is nice...

I don't know where I'm going with that; but thanks for reading, I do hope that I could pump out some more chapters in the future.

Alex is a psychopath, and he is trying to get better, a virus trying to become human, not what they want it to be.

tell me your thoughts, did I do horrible? or did you puke while reading? please review so that I could see it.