A Story For The Ages

Part Two: Regaining Memories

Written By: Armina Qi Saxton

Standard Disclaimer: See Prologue

Chapter One: Shadows Of The Past

The last several days had been spent shifting through stacks of books, piles of things that had no more used to those that had sorted through them in a hurried manners, and searching room after room that held nothing but emptiness. It wasn't a frantic search, but it was one that had more tantrums and tears then the last few years combined. Still, they pursued the tiresome bother, only to find nothing there and nothing to add to their already mounting fortunes. If only they could find what else they were looking for, then they would not have to continue to stare endlessly at floor plans to their mansion.

Marie stood in the center of one of the spires that touched the outer wall of the city, looking around at the mess that sat on the floor. Misplaced books laid across one wall, pictures torn and frayed from more then just time against another, broken glass laying upon the carpeted floor, and more then just dust laying upon the few things that hadn't been overturned in a mad rush to find things. It was a sight that made her cringe even when she glanced inside a she walked past. Their father would have been a bit more then shocked to see how the mansion looked now, if he were still alive.

The search for the last part of their inheritance had been only a small part of the reason for the dismay of the mansion; the rest was more memory-based then an actual search. Both sisters had things they did not wish to remember about the place they had left ten years before, when all hell had broken loose. Anna especially had nightmares about things Marie never knew of until she first started to console her sister through these same nightmares. Then the haunted past had come alive, with things that should have never happened and old wounds breaking open.

There was nothing in this home for Marie, nothing that held her desire to stay there. The truth untold, she had been quite content in living in the country side along the borders of Gaia and a neighboring land, long after she had gotten used to doing her own work. Even with the deep distaste for having to work for her own food and lodging after being used to the grand lifestyle of the rich, she still loved waking up to a cool breeze and a fire every morning. Anna, on the other hand, hated it with a passion; perhaps that was why she was so eager to come back into the bustling life of Gaia. To escape the confines of a life that she had looked down upon for so long.

Footsteps brought Marie out of her daydreams, as she looked over towards the doorway. She knew who those footsteps belonged to, the only other person inside the mansion that day. It was New Years Day after all and the sisters wanted no one else inside the mansion until the following day. At least it gave the hired help a day off and allowed the sisters to spend searching the mansion once again as they wished without anyone poking their noses into business that did not concern them.

"Where is the damned safe at?" Marie growled, placing her hands upon her hips as soon as her sister appeared at the doorway. She stared at her sister, as though she had the answer to her question. they both wanted the same answer, despite not knowing where to turn now or where to look.

"Don't look at me like that," Anna said, kicking a broken vase out of her path as soon she he walked into the room. It was a mess, that was for sure, and they weren't about to clean it up themselves. "We've both searched this mansion more times then I can count. Even Edmund has searched and he has more skills in searching then we do combined."

"I am tempted to find Gambino and make him talk. He most likely knows where it is," Marie said with an even lower growl then she had before. There was a scowl on a face, one that only seemed to twist her features into a hideous expression rather then make her seem like she hated to say a single name.

"Marie, no. We are not running off to him like wounded puppies. That is the last thing I want to do," Her sister said with a glare geared towards her. She began studying her nails, looking bored at the thought of searching the mansion once again, as though the anger at a mentioned name was just a passing thought. "Besides, it will be admitting defeat on our part if we go to him for help. I don't want to give him that satisfaction."

"Better to admit defeat then to have to keep searching on our own," The other replied, walking to the window of the spire the room was in. She looked down upon the city of Durem, crossing her arms over her chest. "How many more times do we have to search and not find anything?"

"As many times as it takes," Anna answered, walking to her sister's side and leaning her back against the window pane. She casually looked down at the streets below, a look of disgust coming upon her normally pretty features. "Look at them. Walking around as they have nothing else better to do with their time. It makes me sick that they have turned their backs upon us."

Marie didn't respond at first, moving her head up from those that walked along the streets to the far horizon that spanned towards the island. She could barely make out the features that defined the coast that sat well beyond the walls of Durem, despite being in one of the two spires that overlooked the city. There were nights that she missed walking along the coast of Barton, just staring off towards the island and wondering if she would ever be as carefree as those that lived upon the sandy beaches. Those were the days prior to their eldest sister's death, before Anna became more obsessed then her sister with placing the blame upon the only person that was close enough to their sister. They were past memories, memories that Marie never bothered to dwell on.

"I doubt they remember. Many of them weren't here when we left," Marie said softly after several minutes of silence. "If they were, they were children then, just barely out of the playpen. Children have ways to make themselves forget things that they do not like."

Anna stared at her sister for a moment, trying to decipher the longing look that had appeared on her face and the eyes that stared off into the distance. She then frowned at a passing thought, knowing that there was something more to her words then she was letting on. Then it hit her, the deeper meaning behind the spoken words. Her face lit up, a thoughtful looking coming upon her face and a smile that only indicated that there was something that was making the wheels in her mind spin.

"Not all children forget," Anna said, her smile broadening. "I think I have a way to find the safe that has the rest of our inheritance in it."

"Wouldn't father have left everything here or at the bank?"

"He would have left most everything here for us to find on our own. There are only two places that I can think of that are the hardest to get into and we've already tried the bank." Anna put an arm around her sisters shoulders, turning her away from the window as she started to lead her towards the doorway of the room. "Where else do you think he would have put something?"

Marie looked down at the ground as she was lead towards the doorway, a thoughtful look coming upon her face. She tried tot think of a place, other then their own mansion and the bank, that their father would have put something for them. It didn't take her long for a complete understanding to come upon her face, her eyes lighting up and a soft smile coming upon her lips. If there was one place that was just as hard to get into then the bank, then all they had to do was get past the one person that wouldn't let his guard down.

"I think I understand now." She smiled at her sister, walking first out of the room before Anna followed suit. "Today?"

"Yes, today," Anna said with a nod. "Lets go. Get the book."

As the sisters left the spire's room, they knew that they were about to embark on one of the impossible things that no one else had done before. Whether or not they could bypass one of Gaia's hardest to get inside places wasn't the question; they had the means to get inside, and the beauty to do more then spend the money they still kept in their safes, but they needed more then that to bypass this place.

****

The day seemed to be dragging along, as though time itself had slowed down. Perhaps it was because many people had slept in on the first of the year and were just waking when they should have been up hours before. Or perhaps it was the coldness of the day, the bitter wind in which came from the north that gave the extra chill in the air. Whatever it was, few people dared to step outside their warm homes, instead intent on being bundled up in front of the fire with a mug of hot chocolate in one hand and a book in the other.

The slowness of the day was fine for Leon, who stood behind the counter of the Guild Office, quietly flipping through the oversized book that housed every known guild that had been created. The slow period between angry Gaians that braved the cold, who had been booted out of a guild, to the Guild Captains who had paid dues on their guilds, gave him more then enough time to catch up on things the had been neglecting to do for months. There was little chance that he would be stepping out into the freezing coldness anytime soon, happy enough that he had a lapse of time when he wasn't being bothered by someone that he did not really want to see.

The quietness of the day would soon change, despite the perfect beginning to it. The guild office door opened with a clang, Leon looking up when he heard it hit the wall next to it, half expecting to see another angry Gaian walk in, asking about a guild or two that they had been banned from. A frown came upon his lips when he saw who had entered, his whole body shifting into a slight defensive position. Two women walked in further, their eyes falling upon him once they had looked around the entrance-way and lips curled up into sneers as soon as they did. He slammed the book he had been looking through closed, narrowing his eyes at them as they narrowed their back at him. Sitting the book down upon the counter from the slightly raised position he had it in, he walked around it and stood just a few inches from where it stood. The two women stopped not far from where they had been, one holding a tattered book in one hand while the other kept her arms at her sides.

"What do you two want?" He asked coldly, wishing more then anything to kick them both out onto the curb and lock the door behind them.

"We just want to know if our father left anything around here that's of value, that's all," Anna Von Helson said, a poisoned sweet smile replacing the sneer. "This is the next best place to look, you know."

"Like a safe with things that he may have left behind for us," Marie Von Helson said just after her sister finished talking. "Family heirlooms, perhaps."

"Sorry, I don't have anything here of the type of things you are looking for." He spread his arms out as far as his armor allowed him to, indicating the space they were standing in. "There isn't anything here but the registered guilds and the names of every person in Gaia, dead and living. You can look for yourselves in the areas that are open to the public, but I doubt you'd find anything. You are more likely to find it in the bank then here. Sorry you wasted a trip."

"Look, we know something is here. You can not have a safe somewhere in here that we don't know of." Marie leaned forwards, her eyes narrowing more. "We own this place, like it or not."

"Actually, Gambino still does, despite everything," Leon put in with a nod. That gave him two identical glares and a satisfaction that they both were looking murderous at the mere mention of the word 'Gambino'.

"Besides, we already checked the bank and our home," Anna said boredly, although there was a hint of anger in her voice. "There is nothing there at we haven't searched dozens of times. We are looking for any remaining safes, small or large."

"I have safes here, yes. Everyone knows that, but they are reserves for the few guilds that use them. I couldn't give you access to those even if you tried to force me to open them." He crossed his arms over his chest, staring directly at the two for them. He knew they were up to something and knew that they would use anything to get him to talk about something they wanted to know. It wouldn't work on him; he had a certain skill with people that wanted to know things and couldn't get the knowledge out of him, Ruby being the only exception to it. "Anything else they are used for isn't my concern nor do I have any knowledge of what is inside them or who used them. I just make sure that they are kept as safe as possible. If he left anything for either one of you, you would have found it already."

At that point, both sisters had deepened their murderous glares and were looking like they were about to do more then just stare him down. He wasn't the least bit afraid of them, nor did he ever have the piece of mind that either one could do to him. Their father had already ordered the worst that anyone could have possibly done to him and there was nothing else that they could do that could remotely come close.

"Listen to me, you insignificant fly," Anna said, striding the few feet to Leon and staring up at him with a cold, determined look on her face. She then pointed to herself, then to Marie. "Our father had more valuable things then what we have in the mansion and in the bank, more then what your pathetic life is worth, so don't tell us that there isn't anything you don't have here that is his."

"Ladies, if I had anything that belonged to Vladimir Von Helson, do you honestly think I would have kept it within my reach?" He asked, staring Anna down. She stared right back at him, with a fierceness in her eyes that could rival even Rina's. "What you are missing that was his is not my concern nor do I give a damn that you ware missing whatever you are looking for. Honestly, I would rather not think about him or either one of you. Now, if you would so kindly excuse me, I have better things to do with my time then to argue with either one of you."

He looked at Anna, then gave the same look to Marie, uncrossing his arms as he opened the book he had been reading before the sisters had come inside the office. Anna looked at him with a glare, horrified that she had been talked to that way and her simple request had been ignored. She frowned at him, turning around and walking to her sister's side with a look that only see could understand. She nodded, walking to the counter and stood in front of it.

"We aren't finished with you quite yet," Marie said, leaning upon the counter. "See, we have a little bit of a problem here. You have something we want and we have something that you want."

"And what exactly do you have that I want?" He asked, looking up from the book as he raised an eyebrow.

"I think you might be interested in this," Marie answered, throwing down the tattered book onto the one Leon had been looking through. He looked down at it as Marie turned around and started for the door. "Read through it. It might be of interest to you."

"You know where to find us if you decide to help us look for what we want," Anna added as Marie pushed the door to the office open, Anna following after her a moment later. Leon didn't look up from the book for the next several moments, staring down at the leather bound book as though it had hypnotized him. Whatever the sisters had wanted form him, they wouldn't get it, not because he had what they wanted but because he didn't care. They were just a faint memory to him, a memory best left forgotten.

The door of the guild office opened once again, Leon not even bothering to look up from the book to see who it was. If it was the sisters, then he would ignore them as he had ignored their presences in the last month. They would soon be on their way back tot he mansion, pestering others along the way. If it was one of the guild captains to change something in the ranks of their guild, then they would have to wait a moment or two before the spell of the book let him out of it's grasp. Even when the soft footsteps came to a halt in front of the counter did he not look up, the book holding his attention more then who was standing in front of him.

"Leon? What is it?" A female voice asked quietly. Leon looked up at that same moment, his eyes falling upon the form of Meredith. It was a surprise to see her standing there he had not seen her since Christmas, when she had been helping him and Rina shop along the island. He smiled forcibly at her, a relief washing over him to know that she was not one of the sisters.

"Didn't know that was you. Nothing's wrong here." He hook his head, forcing the past memories away. "What brings you down from the island?"

"The copies of the items that your parents left behind for you and Rina once both of you were of age. Rina will be turning eighteen shortly, so it's best to get them from the bank soon," Meredith answered, handing him a small manila folder. He stared at the folder, a confused looking coming upon his face. "You said you wanted to see the list a couple of weeks ago, remember?"

"Oh, yes. I forgot about that," Leon said, the confused look leaving and another, more faraway one replacing it. He took the folder, his smile fading slightly. "I haven't had the time to come to the island to get them since I asked. Thanks."

"Nothing's wrong, you say. There is. I know," She said, looking over his face several times. There was something about the way that his eyes wouldn't meet hers, the way that he stood, and the way that he was staring down at the old book that told her he had more on his mind then the start of the new year. "Don't say there isn't. I can tell."

"How?" He asked, looking at her strangely.

"I saw them leave just a few moments ago, when I entered Barton. That's how I know something is wrong," She said, gesturing towards the doorway. Leon smiled halfheartedly, picking up the book that Marie had given him with his free hand.

"This is what they left me when they came in," He said, setting it back down on the counter. "I haven't opened it yet, so I don't know what it is."

"I don't have to ask what they want, I already know," Meredith said, chuckling. Leon opened his mouth to speak, but she held up a hand to stop him. "Yes, they already came to the bank if they haven't told you already, looking for anything their father left behind. More then once since Christmas, I should say. Quite frankly, I don't remember anything that the late Count gave to the last person who ran the bank before me. There would have at least been something in the records from the last ten to fifteen years. I couldn't tell them otherwise, so they left."

"And they don't believe you," Leon said with a nod, before looking down at the folder then at the book. "I don't know what is in that book, or why they gave me it. I don't care. It's going in the stacks of books I have laying around here, if I don't give it to Rina."

"She might not understand what it is about, Leon. You don't know what the sisters have put in there, or what it even is." Meredith nodded to the book quickly. "I suggest you read it first before you go handing it to anyone else. You never know what kind of horrid things they have in there."

"You know what's inside, don't you?" He asked with a stare. It was surprising on how much the women in Gaia knew things before anyone else.

"No I don't, but it's your duty to keep that girl as happy as possible. She doesn't need to be looking at things she doesn't need to remember." Meredith smiled, then started to back up towards the doorway. "Look through the folder and give me a set date on when you and Rina want to take everything out of your parent's vaults. It's not much, but you'd be surprised at what you'd find."

"I'm sure," Leon said, hardly noticing that Meredith had even walked out of the Guild Office or how long she stood there, watching him from the entrance before heading back towards the island. He was so engrossed in the two items in front of him, that if the roof had come crashing down at that moment, he wouldn't have even noticed. Everything else didn't matter to him, just the things that were supposed to be dead and now were dancing in front of him, alive with life.

The shadows of the past were about to be unleashed, that much he knew. When, was another guess completely.

****

The air around them froze as though everything had become much colder then they remembered when they had first left, their breath rising up to meet the wind that took it away from them. Neither one remembered the trek to Barton being this cold nor this hard to move from the city to the town before, or even back again. It was as though there was something keeping them from reaching the confines of the city and the warmth of their home. Despite wanting to turn back and find shelter in Barton, they kept moving forwards, ignoring the coldness around them.

It was not the wind that held the sisters back, as it below enough to give the extra chill in the early January coldness a boost. It was not the leftover snow that drifted around their ankles, as it was not deep enough for them to have any trouble moving through the worn path. No, it was something other then the outside weather that made their journey home longer to complete then the journey to Barton. It was a force that made their bodies move slower then before and everything around them as though they had not moved at all.

Anna walked only a few feet in front of Marie, her head bowed down and hands wrapped around her upper arms. Marie simply kept her long coat wrapped around her tightly, keeping her gaze straight forward. Only a few times did she move her eyes from the path ahead, to give a half-hearted glare at the few others that dared to be on the road on this day. The few that took notice of this glare ignored it completely as though they had not been looked at all, or they simply glared back just as strong.

And it was during one of these glares that her eyes caught something moving from the other side of the Reclamation Facility as she started to walk past. Marie stopped walking along the dusty path, her head turning towards the southern direction of the same Facility in which she saw that movement. She knew something, or someone, was there in the nearly barren land that sat around them, something that moved towards the direction where it was rumored to be more then just a bit haunted. It was her mind, she told herself, that was playing tricks on her. Just something that the wind blew that caught her attention. Whatever it was, it didn't seem any more human then she saw and it had definitely caught her attention.

"Marie?" Anna asked, stopping as well as she turned around to stare at her sister. Marie blinked, shaking her head as she looked up and met her sister's gaze.

"Go on ahead. I'll catch up later," She called, nearly having to shout over a gust of wind that came between the two. The slight movement that she had seen out of the corner of her eye, the thing that was most likely long since gone, held more then her attention but also her curiosity.

"What is it? What do you see?" Anna asked, now looking interested in what was out there then she had only a few second before.

"It's nothing," Marie said with a shake of her head. "I just want to take a walk. Alone. To clear my head. Maybe then I could remember things better."

"If you say so. You'll be the one to catch a cold," Anna answered with a shrug, turning around and walking the rest of the way to Durem without even a look over her shoulder. Marie stood where she was, waiting for Anna to be far enough away so she wouldn't see where she was going before heading south. there was something down past the Reclamation Facility that caught her eye, something that didn't seem natural. Then again, there was things in the Gaian Territories that couldn't be explained, even by the Council.

Now with the wind that she pushed herself against, and the terrain of the area, she found herself out of breath after ten minutes of walking from the Reclamation Facility and away from her original path. She found herself in a sparsely vegetated place, where the closest tree was perhaps not far from where the Facility stood. It was only when she looked up from holding her head down from the wind did she see the apparition that she had seen out of the corner of her eye. It was a young boy, crouching down beside a medium-sized boulder, his deep purple eyes looking up at her with a blank glaze over them. It was odd to see a boy his age kneeling down beside a rock, in the weather that this day held, and alone.

She walked up to him, standing not but a few feet away, her eyes moving just beyond him where a run down, one-roomed shack sat. It had one window that faced her and the boy, the door looking as though it had been recently patched up, and a brick chimney quietly looking up at the heavens from the roof. Marie shuddered at the thought of the boy having to stay in such a place, thinking only of what she could do to help him that would make her look good in any Gaian's eyes. She thought better of it, perhaps only to ask the boy a question or two before returning to her home where she could get warmed up.

"Hello there," Marie said with a false cheeriness in her voice that she hoped the boy didn't see through. "You shouldn't be out in this weather."

"Who are you?" He asked with the same blank stare. She stared right back at him, unable to hide the mild surprise from her face. The boy looked no older then nine or ten, even when he stood up, but there was something about him that seemed familiar. It was the eyes, the slight facial features, the hair that gave it away. Where she had seen him before, she did not know but would soon find out.

"I'm Marie. And you are?" She asked as sweetly as she could as the boy continued to look at her, his eyes darting over her shoulder for a moment before returning her gaze.

"I'm Gino," He said quietly. There was silence between them, Marie turning the name over and over again in her mind. That name, the name she knew as familiar but still couldn't place it, that echoed a distant past. Other names that somehow couldn't place the child with anyone else that she knew. "At least, that's what he calls me."

Marie's body stiffened when the boy pointed behind her, a feeling that the short-lived conversation had been watched and heard by someone else. She slowly turned around as the boy lowered his arm, expecting a man of the same build as the boy was and the same innocent expression upon his face, but found that assumption to be wrong. Instead, she found herself to be staring up at a face that resembled the boy's, but older and perhaps wiser then he was, with time wearing it down. A man that was nearly three times as big as the boy and had the aura of intimidation about him. A man that she hadn't even expected to see standing there, the last person that would have been so close to her without even attempting to kill her.

Johnny K. Gambino was the one that had stood behind her, glaring down at her as though she was scum that was waiting to be scrapped off of his shoes. His jaw was clenched firmly, his eyes set down upon her with a burning rage inside them, his body ridged with anger, and his hands balled into fists. Marie took a few steps back, a certain fear setting into her. Even though she had known this man from the day that he had first set foot on Gaian soil, back when he did not have the slightest bit of the same aura floating around him, she still felt a twinge of fear go through her. She knew that he could just as easily break her in half without even trying, just from his sheer size alone.

"Johnny Gambino," Marie said one she found her voice to spit his name out. That was met with the same glare that he held on his face, the effects of his intimidation beginning to wear off on her.

"Marie Von Helson. What a surprise," Johnny said, with a forced half smile. "I wouldn't have expected you to be this far from the comforts of your home. And alone, too."

"I'd say the same thing, but you don't have a mansion to go home to any longer, so I won't," She said with a smirk before gesturing to the shack behind her. "Is this the best you can do?"

"At least it's something. At least I didn't have to kill anyone to get it." His attempt at a smile disappeared and the glare went away from his face, but the fire burning inside his eyes remained. Marie stared at him with disbelief, pushing back the urge to punch him squarely in the jaw for that comment. She held it back, knowing that she wouldn't even come close to hitting him.

"Are you still hung up on the rumor that Anna and I had something to do with our father's death?" She asked, staring at him some more.

"Perhaps I am. You and Anna seemed pretty damn convinced that I killed your sister, so we're even," Johnny answered simply. Something changed on his face that Marie did not see, a small twinge of remembrance that he wished he could ignore.

"You were the last one with her, so you tell me what happened," Marie said, crossing her arms over her chest. Johnny rubbed his forehead, sighing. It was hard enough to explain to his son why he didn't have a mother, but trying to explain a sister's death to a Von Helson was much worse.

"I have, countless times. I can't help but wonder why you don't believe it. You both saw the signs. You knew it was hard on her. In the end, her body just gave out." He looked over Marie's shoulder at Gino, who looked more interested in leaning against the boulder and looking up at the sky above then at the conversation. Perhaps it was a glance to hide a twinge of pain that came upon his eyes, to shield it away from Marie. Whatever it was, she would have ignored it anyways. "Can we discuss past events another time? I have more important things to do then to talk with you."

Marie frowned, watching Johnny's gaze return to her. She knew who he was looking at, wondering if the boy was trying to listen in on a conversation he might not remember in the future. Johnny knew that his current memories weren't affected by the amnesia caused by the Halloween incident, but he did not want to let the sisters know something was wrong besides the obvious. That was the main concern at the moment, keeping Gino safe from them and out of their clawed reach.

"You never told him of his mother, did you?" Marie asked, shaking her head. "That's sad, him not knowing anything about his mother. It really is."

"It is none of your business what I tell or do not tell my son," He snarled at her, the anger that she had seen in his eyes returning full-force. I have every right to step in when need be."

"What's going on?" Gino asked from behind Marie. Johnny blinked, seeing his son look up at him as he pushed himself away from the boulder and stare into his eyes. Everything about him changed, his face softening from the expression he had been giving Marie, the flames in his eyes becoming faint embers, and a genuine smile pressed upon his lips. "Who is she?"

"I'll talk to you later, Gino. Go inside," Johnny said, nodding towards the shack. Gino stood there, unable to hide his own surprise that he hadn't been answered as quickly as he had hoped. With a raise of his voice, his father could make sure that his son obeyed him without even having to raise a hand to him. "Gino, inside."

"Yes sir," The boy said meekly at the slight elevation in Johnny's voice. He spun around quickly, nearly running to the run-down shack and flinging the door open. Casting one last glance at Marie, Gino shivered at something that he faintly remembered and moved inside where it was warmer then it was outside.

"You can't keep him in the dark forever. He has a right to know things," Marie said, looking back at Johnny after watching the boy move inside without much word. If her father had told her to go inside when she had wanted to know something, she wouldn't have just given a quiet response and done what she had been told.

"I tell my son things when I decide he has a right to know," Johnny snapped at her, walking towards her before stopping by her side. He lowered his voice, his eyes falling to the ground without even a glance towards her. "I suggest you leave, now. It's for the best that he doesn't remember certain things right now. The past isn't always kind to those that don't wish to remember."

"I won't tell Anna where you are, that much I can tell you right now. She'll eventually find out, so I wouldn't linger here for long," Marie said, her expression softening for a single second before it reverted back to it's cold, uncaring state. "Don't think I am keeping your hiding spot a secret from her for you. It's for Gino and him only. Anna hates you more then I do and that's saying something. I honestly don't give a damn about you. You can starve to death for all I care."

"I don't expect anything from you or Anna, but thanks anyways. The feeling is mutual," He replied with what was masked as a glare but Marie saw the understanding in his eyes. She knew what it was like to be out in the cold with no where to go and no one to help her except for the one that she had spent her life with. It was only that one thing that she held in common with the man that turned his gaze away and strode to the shack that he shared with his son.

Marie stood there for a moment more, contemplating the thought of rushing to her sister and giving her the information of Johnny's whereabouts. That would give them more then enough reason to go back out into the cold, braving everything for a revenge that was beyond sweet. Her sister would find out about this shack eventually and she planned on telling her about it herself. The only difference would be that the shack would be empty of all but it originally contained other then the two that dwelled in it from the cold.

The two that, she knew, she would see again very soon.

Until Next Time