Something moved beside me and out of a reflex I jumped to my feet, holding my guns at the face of the attacker.

"Hell it's just me! Calm down!" Lass yelled.

Slowly I put the guns away. "I'm going to work. When you go outside take the keys with you and leave the freaking guns here." He told me.

"Why?" My guns? There was no way I'd go outside without protection.

"Because they'll arrest you when they see you running around with weapons! It's not allowed anymore. You should go find a job if you plan to stay longer. I barely have enough money to get food and pay the rent."

I frowned. Was that the reason why Kanavan had gotten so rich? Taking the money from the poor? I put a small bag on the table. My money should be enough for a while. Considering how greedy that woman earlier was…

"What's that?"

"Bounty rewards."

"Are you serious….?" Lass seemed unsure for a second.

"I am in a town that I don't know, I have no idea what happened, and my only way back vanished in thin air. I am dead serious."

"For starters," Lass began, opening his shirt and moved over to a chair to grab a white shirt. He was wearing another shirt under it without buttons. "This is Kanavan, 600 years passed, Magic is useless and you, my friend, are trapped here." He proceeded in buttoning the shirt up, then walked into another room. From there he still talked to me.

"Maybe Dio can help you. You can ask him later. He and Zero wanted to stop by. I have a day off tomorrow, so we had planned on watching movies."

I frowned. Lass… friends with a pervert and an antisocial demon that was even worse than me? And why the hell would they watch a Moo-vie for? Whatever that was. For now I just assumed it was some kind of new monster or animal. It sounded a bit like the sound a cow made.

"Don't you have any questions?" Lass asked me. He walked back into the room drying his hair with a towel.

I sighed and thought for a moment. I had a lot of questions. But would I be able to deal with the answer?

"What happened to her…?" I muttered, already afraid of the answer.

Lass sighed deeply as he put on his shoes. "It was fast. She didn't feel any pain."

He was lying. But I couldn't take the truth, he probably knew it. I watched him as he opened a box in what appeared to be the kitchen.

"I put something to eat here. Just heat it up when you're hungry." Lass explained.

What a quick change in topics…

"So… how's Luca?"

"Happy that daddy's gone?" A smile spread over my face. I was proud of that boy, and everyone should see it.

"How does he look like now?" Lass took something out of a cabinet, then put it on the table in the kitchen.

"You won't be able to tell us apart."

Lass grinned at me then took a key out of his pocket. "I put the key here. I'll be back at nine."

I nodded, then searched for a clock. Lass was already out of the door and I couldn't find anything that looked like a clock.

For a while I sat there, then I got curious. The black box in front of me was drawing my attention now. Blue numbers were displayed below it. And they had changed… 16:29 it showed. The boy itself had a lot of buttons. One of them had the word 'Power' written on it. Power. Was that some kind of Mari's machinery? I chose not to find it out. The stuff of that girl either exploded right away or did so when someone touched them.

After a while I found what seemed to be a bathroom and chose to take a shower. As I only had the clothing I was wearing I borrowed some of. Lass' It still didn't fit me. And he had not a single shirt with short sleeves! I thought about buying something new to wear, but then I remembered what Lass had said about guns. I couldn't take them with me. I never left the building without my eyeteeth. I couldn't remember the last time I did.

Sighing I inspected the food Lass had put on the counter.

"Heat it up. He said… and with?" I muttered to myself.

I couldn't tell what kind of food it was and the smell didn't tell me either. Sighing I choose to wait. The windows in the living room were big and I could see the whole town. Far away I saw something that faintly reminded me of a castle. It looked more like a ruin now though. Slowly I started to regret coming here. It would have been better to believe everything was fine. It wouldn't have hurt that much.

Sighing I sat down next to the big window and stared down at the people rushing buy. As it slowly got dark it started to rain. It was amusing to watch them running away from the rain. Rain never really bothered me.

The door opened and I jumped on my feet. Lass was standing there, went into the bathroom and came back a second later.

"I see you found my clothing… You're still too small." That chuckle made me sigh.

"I'll put your clothing into the washing machine. And- Hey you didn't eat anything!"

I flinched. Of course I was hungry… But…

"Lass. I don't know this timeline. I have no idea what a washing machine is, although the name is pretty obvious… I couldn't see anything to make a fire with and I don't even know where the clocks are."

Lass frowned, then hit his head with his palm. "Sorry… I'm too used to all this. Alright. The washing machine cleans clothing. That," He pointed to another black box with a lot of buttons. "Is a stove. And the clocks are there, up there and down there."

He pointed to the stove. There were glowing numbers. Then pointed to a drawer. More glowing numbers in a small box. And the last were the numbers under the black box I had noticed before.

I sighed. This would be hard getting used to.

"Alright. I'll heat that up now…" Lass went to work without looking at me again. Something was odd about him. He seemed restless. He always was doing something, but he seemed to be too busy to even get a minute of rest.

A little later he put a plate on the table. "What about you?" I asked.

"I already had something." He turned off the stove and rushed into his bedroom. Came back a moment later with small black packages and put them on the table in front of the couch.

"I'll take a walk-"

"Sit down." I ordered.

"Rufus, what-"

"Sit. Down."

Lass complied, although he didn't seem happy about it. His eyes were glistening, his whole body was shaking. And he seemed not only afraid but nervous. Was it my presence? I was staring at him until he looked away. He was hiding something.

"What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing." Another lie.

"What are you hiding?"

"Rufus, stop it. I have changed. And I take a walk now. I'll be back in a bit."

Before I could say anything he rushed out of the apartment. I sat there, wondering what had happened. I finished whatever food he had made, but I didn't think about it. The taste was awful anyway.

I spend the next twenty minutes with staring at the wall, trying to find a reason why lass acted like this. I couldn't find one. Either the war was worse than I was thinking, or something else had happened.

The door opened again, Lass reappeared. He seemed calmer now. "I'm sorry… It all gets too much and… now you're back… and memories are coming back and… I tried to forget them… but…"

I sighed. "Tell me what happened."

"Zero and Dio will be here in a bit, I have to-"

"Answer me!"

He flinched, then shook his head. "I-I can't."

"I never knew you were a coward."

Lass turned away then sat down on the ground and leaned against the wall.

"You don't know anything. I…-"

A ring prevented him from explaining. He jumped to his feet, obviously glad the whoever interrupted. A minute later Two familiar faces showed up in the living room.

Dio frowned, Then started to laugh. "And we all thought you died." He grinned. What was wrong with him? Why did he suddenly care? And… Did Zero just hug Lass?!

I blinked, not quite getting the situation. Zero looked at me, dark glasses covering his eyes. "It is nice to see you again, Rufus."

At least he still spoke normally.

"I couldn't prepare anything-"

"Ah shut up. Sit down let me do the work." Dio hissed. When he took off his jacket I noticed his left arm was missing. I frowned, then flinched ad a familiar sting suddenly raced through my left arm. The thought of losing a limb was not exactly pleasant. And I already knew how it felt.

"Stop staring at it, it won't come back." Dio grinned. Then returned to the kitchen. He seemed quite used to it. I remembered that it took forever to get used to the fake arm… but imagining me with only one arm? What would I do?

"How did that happen?"

"I can't provide a fancy Dragon-story like you. It was a stupid sword. But that was long ago and it's no use talking about it." New all avoided the war-topic. So there had been something else happening than just everyone getting killed.

And Dio's behavior was creepy. He usually said what he thought, but he seemed to be thinking about a lot of things and didn't voice anything.

"So… why did it take you so long to come back?" Dio muttered silently as if trying to avoid that Lass heard him. I knew Zero would hear us anyway.

"I spent sixteen human years in the underworld-"

"But you came back now… that means… 50 human years are one year in the underworld… Hell. That's twice as much as in Elyos."

I frowned at how fast Dio calculated that. Never thought he was good at mathematics. Maybe Zero taught him something. I watched as Dio prepared food and wondered who was going to eat it. But the question vanished into thin air when Dio picked up a slice of a carrot and ate it.

"What? Those stupid humans don't give off enough energy anymore. And without my rake hand I'm useless when it comes to hunting."

"So you got used to that awful taste?"

"We had no choice."

I nodded, then sighed and sat back on the chair I had been sitting on earlier. I wanted to know what really happened. But I wasn't sure if anyone here was willing to tell me anything. I silently watched them. Lass didn't touch the food and slowly I began so see how thin he was. Was that the reason for him to only wear long shirts like that? To hide it?

"So… what movies did you pick out this times?"

These Moo-vies again. This really seemed like a species of animals. Picking them out… to hunt them?

"Older ones. I found some earlier."

Was that why he went out? Dio pointed with his fork towards me. "What about him, maybe he wants to watch too."

"I don't know what strange hobbies you developed, but I am not interested in watching animals or monsters or whatever Moo-vies are."

Dio looked at me and suddenly burst into laughter. I just opened his mouth when zero began to speak. "A movie is a row of pictures that is shown in a certain timeframe to make it look like the pictures are moving."

"Like flipping fast through a stack of photos. Got it?"

"You're watching people that move?"

Dio sighed deeply. "Just join us, you'll get it then."

I shrugged and stared at Lass again. "Say… why are you suddenly friends with each other?"

Zero surprised me when he suddenly stood and took a plate next to Dio. While he was doing so he looked at me. "Do not speak about it. I will talk to you later." He explained, took the plate and sat down again.

What was that? Some kind of conspiracy?