((Most of my RO-related ficlets will be revolving around characters that have a connection to each other. This is about Llesnouh, the head scientist responsible for the seperation of Glyph and Maxwell, among other horrible things. He doesn't think he's evil though, which makes him the worst kinda villain.))

The man sighed lightly, then stuck the white-wrapped stick of tobacco back in his mouth, taking a long drag of it. He held the smoke in his lungs, savouring the exquisite burning, and the relieving lapse in his craving for a moment, before exhaling.

A small, muted blue, birdlike creature fluttered around his merchant's cart at the other side of the room. His first homunculus was as flawed as he'd allowed it to be; possessing minimal intelligence, a talent for voice and sound mimicry, and an ever-present hunger for the Garlet crystal, which bound it to him. Tritoch couldn't get food on it's own, after all.

Llesnouh raked his fingers back through his short blonde hair, his deep brown, almost black, eyes glimmering in the bright lights of his current workspace. Only recently, he'd managed to lay hands on a Seraph; servant of the accursed Gods who'd taken his greatest creation from him. A smirk widened his lips as he remembered the way the womanly Celestial had shrieked, feverish and delerious, as he removed her wings, bit by bit.

Amazingly, the wings didn't decay, and still fluttered slightly on their own. He kept them towards the bottom of his cart, beneath a hidden panel where some of his other works had gone. Llesnouh brushed his hands off on his grey and violet labcoat, looking around his laboratory.

Everything had seemed empty to him when that damned Valkyrie had shown up and stolen Alice from him.

"Damn the Gods! Damn them!!" he slammed a fist down painfully on his stone workbench, growling against the now-throbbing ache.

-

It had been a relatively nice day outside of the Kaufmann building, where the Somatology Laboratories were housed. Of course, the errant clones still ran about the lower floors; they simply multiplied too quickly for effective extermination.

But no matter, they'd finally caught Maxwell, and his family, to boot. Of course, the older woman had died quickly, having to be put down; she had turned rather... feral, when her children were taken from her. No matter.

The boy was a nuisance, and didn't have his father's resilience to the grafting process we had planned. With the addition of a Baphomet Jr.'s horns, his mentality diminished greatly, and he began to mutate completely into the monster. An unexpected side-effect, to be sure, but it only served as a warning to us; only those with strength of body and will would be able to survive the process. Guile was given to Elcyd; the incompetant wretch should have been able to handle him nicely.

As for the small girl, Alice, she possessed qualities unsuitable for the controlled killing machine we'd hoped to create in Maxwell. I had a simple use for her, though. Easily enough, I enhanced the girl's servantile and submissive qualities, then began to replicate her into the Alice model, to be used in the upkeep of Glast Heim castle. There were alterations, and improvements, of course, one such being the more effective Alicel model.

The original, I bound to myself, and I began teaching her the secrets of creation. Of course, my knowledge isn't quite as extensive as that of the Gods, but that's why we research these things; others with the knowledge don't pass it on.

Alice displayed unusual tendancies, keeping to me like a well-liked Uncle, or a very good friend. I'd never had a friend, or relatives of note, and I was shocked to discover that I was enjoying her company. Oh, Alice would wander off at times, distracted by something or another, but I would always be able to find her.

Before any of your sisters, there was you. I created you, you know. On the very top of Yggdrasil, under the light of the Gods; I wanted you to be the smartest, prettiest, greatest one of my creations. And you were.

Those were the stories I told her when she asked about how she came to be in Rune-Midgard in the first place. Of course, it isn't a lie so much as the omission of information that took place. I had taken her to Yggdrasil with me when her mind was still developing, to take a cutting of the World Tree for study. She was, by my own definition, the greatest of my achievements, even past my own Homunculus, a clone in -my- image.

-

Tears dripped from Llesnouh's cheeks, as he slammed his fist into the stone again and again. He was prone to violent outbursts when thinking of Alice, lately, feeling like he'd been stolen from, and that he'd been wronged. The man stopped when he felt a curious wetness on his hand, and drank a condensed white potion without bothering to look; he'd hurt himself.

The liquid caused his stomach to twist almost painfully in search of more to digest. Of course, he hadn't eaten much since she was taken; he had work to do, if she was ever to be his again.

He smirked again, mind running a mile a minute, his own consciousness sorting his thoughts. "Yes... that might be it...!"

Llesnouh swept a large sheaf of parchment onto his desk, scooting a stool closer, and grabbing a piece of charcoal to write with. "If I create a monster, even greater than Experiment 001, I can storm Asgard, demand they return her..."

He scribbled notes down, grinning. He'd use his new student Colette to create an already-powerful monster, though it would be under his command, then he'd enhance it. He was sure that by now his Yggdrasil Seedling had grown enough to give the dew he'd need, and with his expertise in genetic alteration, it might be enough...

"I'll need to go to Thanatos' Tower..." he muttered to himself, "Or get someone else to. The Fragments of Hatred, Sorrow, Pain, and Despair will complete my newest creation, then Alice will be mine again!" he chuckled darkly, rolling up the blueprint and notes of the monster he was going to recruit, using Colette, Thanatos, and a Seraph to create something even the Gods hadn't imagined.

Tritoch fluttered onto his shoulder, and twittered. "Yes, yes, there'll even be Garlets for you." he smiled, and patted the bird's head, puffing lightly on his cigarette.