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Now without further ado, on with the fic!


Chapter 1 – Through the Rain

Thunder crashed, rain pounded, it was chaos in the skies above the dark forest. Thick, fat raindrops piled up on the leaves and escaped the great canopy of branches, soaking the ground into a carpet of mud.

This did little to dampen the mood of a dark figure who trudged steadily through the woods. Their clothes; a grimy white hoodie and long black trousers; clung to their lithe, slim frame. Mud caked the stranger's bare feet – they'd given away their worn-out old shoes in return for some food from a homeless woman – and clung to the hems of their trousers. A heavy backpack weighed down on the figure's shoulders, but they were thankful that it was completely waterproof. If it wasn't, then they'd need to get an expensive replacement for what was in it.

They were tired, and the temptation of finding a place to rest was powerful. However they knew that it wasn't that long before they reached their goal.

"Just a little farther, and you can finally rest," they whispered to themselves. "Just keep going…"


Half an hour later, they reached the edge of a clearing, and hesitated.

The rain was bad enough under the canopy, and they didn't want to get hit with the full force of it.

The stranger shook their head, and powered forward. The moment they set foot in the clearing, the rain's force almost knocked them down. They grunted in surprise, but carried on.


After another forty-five minutes of painful walking, they finally, finally, made it.

The stranger stood proudly at the edge of their destination; the beautiful garden of a tall, dark, and imposing mansion. Multiple flowers, hedges and small ponds edged the graceful, curving paths that branched off from a main one, which lead up to the enormous, black oak doors.

The stranger made their way to the doors, and knocked as loudly as they could on them. Unfortunately, it wasn't that loud. They looked around for a doorbell, but instead found a large brass doorknocker with a simple engraving above it in the shape of a circle with a cross through it. Taking hold of it, they knocked on it loudly. The echoing ring of brass against brass vibrated down their thin, pale arms.

"Please open up," they muttered quietly. They were shaking now, the cold slowly getting to them. "I'm freezing out here. Any longer and I'll drown."

About five minutes later, the door finally opened. Stood in the entrance was a young man of about twenty-two, who stood a head taller than the stranger, who possessed the average height of a typical twenty-year-old. The man inside was pale, his face a dusty white. His hair was jet black, and hung over a set of unusual eyes. Instead of whites, the silver irises were surrounded by a dusty grey colour. His nose was literally a cone, with black-and-white stripes running down it. He wore a monochrome-striped t-shirt and long grey tracksuit bottoms. The stranger looked up at him curiously.

"Can I help you?" the cone-nosed man asked, his voice slightly toned with surprise. This visitor was… familiar.

The stranger nodded slowly, the light from the hallway revealing a small portion of their face; namely a messy black fringe that clung to their forehead due to the copious amounts of rain that was still falling, and a pair of glinting gold eyes that gazed at him steadily.

"Jack! Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!"