'Damn it Cinna! Knock it off!' Blank yelled flailing at the bearded, red nosed thief in a white chef-like hat.

'Time to wake up Blank! Cid's got some work for us!' Cinna told the red haired thief in patchwork armour.

'More?' Blank moaned.

'Yeah, we got to take Zidane and Dagger's engagement present to Alexandria.' Cinna told him.

'What's that?' Blank said wearily.

'The latest thing in mechanical entertainment!' Cinna said excitedly.

'Oh God.' Blank groaned pushing the belt he wore around his head down over his eyes.

'Hey don't be like that… just cause they messed up your Tantalus action doll!' Cinna said to him.

'Messed up? I walked all stiff and they got my patches wrong!' Blank said huffily.

'Well Cid's done them a mechanical puppet show for "I Want To Be Your Canary"' Cinna told him.

Blank pushed the belt from his eyes which blazed. 'What? That's our gig!' he snapped angrily.

'Well we kinda have better things to do.' Cinna said backing away.

'Yeah like delivery… If Ruby heard you say that…' Blank retorted.

'Just cause you're sweet on her.' Cinna teased.

'Why you…' Blank growled and dived at Cinna, the two of them rolling on the floor, flailing at each other.

'Will you kids pack it in?' Marcus muttered as he sauntered into the room.

'Kids!' Blank snapped hotly.

'Yeah kids, when you act like adults I'll call you one.' Marcus said grinning.

Blank pushed himself up off Cinna and stood facing Marcus off.

'Calm down Bro, it was a joke.' Marcus told him and leant down to help Cinna up.

'Do we really have to do this?' Blank whined.

'Aww come on, don't you want to see Zidane? Besides it's a good excuse to drop in on Ruby.' Marcus replied winking.

Blank held back the angry blush. 'Yeah well.' He relented.

'Good. The Boss wants us at the Hilda Garde 3 now.' Marcus said with a smile his pointed teeth poking from his bottom lip.

Steam filled the room, hiding the machinery that whirred behind the screen of fog, the mist condensing on the cold metal above, dripping down slowly. Although it had never been on this contraption it was aware of a feeling of familiarity. It knew it was due to its draining of the minds of its prey, the sapping of memories and emotions to feed its imagination and new needs.

It sensed a presence wandering in the mist that it had stowed away in. It tensed in a corner waiting for it to come near, a shadowy figure unaware of what lay in wait for them.

The presence passed them by without noticing, their head so full of thoughts, it could read them at this distance. It grinned in the murky mist as it recognised faces in the cacophony of thoughts. It so wanted to play with this noisy creature but it had to act fast to assume its place. If the others became aware of its presence they would stop it from getting where it wanted and needed to be.

Cinna wandered the engine room whistling as he checked the various levers and valves. He did this automatically, his thoughts on other things and so didn't notice the clawed hand that came shooting from the steam, embedding itself in his throat, destroying his thoughts in silence as blood trickled from the small circular wounds as the claws withdrew. It was then that the shadow pounced on Cinna's corpse and began devouring.

It went up to the deck, the breeze tickling its skin as Alexandria Castle grew larger in the distance.

'Hey Cinna, here's your coffee bro.' Marcus said handing over the steaming cup.

'Thanks bro.' it replied in Cinna's voice, holding the cup in its empty hand whilst it held

Cinna's hammer in the other.

Marcus then wandered off unaware that the eyes that watched him go weren't Cinna's.

It looked blankly at the black hot fluid that burned its fingers through the metal cup. Finally realising it would be out of character to stare at the cup, it took a swig of coffee, surprised as it burnt the back of its throat and then the caffeine hit.

It gasped in surprise as the drug blazed through its system. It hadn't been expecting this, this jolt of exhilaration, this white hot feeling that awoke all its synapses and set them tingling. There was a sensation of white lights flickering in its sight that then faded as the rush washed away. It was all it could do not to revert to its natural form under the effects of this beverage, this coffee that this form's personality had loved with a passion and it was easy to see why.

It greedily drank the remaining liquid, not caring as it scorched its throat, the bitter taste swilling in its mouth as the last drips trickled over its tongue.

It blinked furiously as the caffeine threw its thoughts into overdrive, it had wanted to slowly devour the crew of this ship taking the last one as they reached this castle of Alexandria but with this feeling coursing through its body it could no longer hold back, besides it was aware of only five other crew on this ship three of which wouldn't offer much entertainment, though these two brothers of its current form would make an interesting distraction in the next couple of hours before they reached the castle.

Zidane and Steiner couldn't believe their eyes, the carnage surrounding them worse than anything they had witnessed in all the things they had been through. The populace of Alexandria had watched the Hilda Garde 3 come crashing down on the plateau where Alexandria nestled, forest and earth torn up in a collision with metal hat left both twisted and mangled.

And so they had both rushed out with a group of Alexandrian soldiers to see what had happened, if there were any survivors and all they had been met with was torn metal, corpses and splashes of blood.

Zidane grew more and more agitated as they came across the bodies of members of Tantalus, the three brothers Benero, Genero and Zenero were mere husks, their bodies devoured and discarded with abandon, their blood speckling the deck and walls around them, what remained of them covered in livid tooth and claw marks.

There seemed to be no sign of struggle the three of them dispatched in close proximity to each other yet it was if it had happened so fast there was no time to respond.

Steiner paled at all the slaughter around him, even a battle seasoned warrior as himself was unable to stomach the devastation that had occurred and no matter how he tried he couldn't see this as the result of the crash, rather that someone or something had been the cause of it.

'What could do such a thing?' Steiner spoke aloud his hand gripping his sword tightly.

'Hell if I know Rusty' Zidane said trying to hold in his anger and fear.

They continued to search the ship finding Cinna's bloodstained hat and clothes in the engine room, Zidane's arms trembling as he held the hat in his hand, trying to hold back the tears.

'No! Dammit!' he yelled, clenching the hat tightly as he closed his eyes.

Steiner couldn't console him, knowing whatever he said would sound hollow.

'Let's see if the others are here… they may still be alive' he told Zidane softly.

Zidane opened his eyes which were covered with a sheen of tears, his gaze becoming steely in rage.

The two of them continued through the wreckage coming over the ravaged corpse of Marcus, his bandana torn from his head and tied around his throat strangling him, his pointed teeth ripped from his jaw and embedded in his eyes.

'How can this be?' Zidane whispered trying to deny what he could see with his own eyes.

'What thing could be able to beat my brothers like this, torture them without them resisting?' his voice rising.

Steiner could not reply, just as bemused as Zidane was by what lay before him.

'Blank…' Zidane muttered to himself. 'Blank!' he yelled out the wreckage shuddering, dust drifting down from above.

'Zidane! Lower your voice or you'll bring the whole thing down on us!" Steiner hissed urgently.

'Where's Blank? We've searched the whole ship and there's no trace of him… where can he be? Where? Blank!' Zidane still cried frantically.

There was an ominous creak and a shower of dust as the tortured metal buckled above them and started to collapse on them. Buried in this cacophony was the clanking of Steiner's armour as he rushed at the almost hysterical Zidane and bore him to the ground, the pair of them sliding across the deck as it all came crashing down upon them.