Before I post chapter 8, I'm going to be doing some major rennovations on it. It could be a while before I actually post it. I'm currently trying to find out where I want to go with this whole story. Oh well, hopefully I won't make some lame ending like "it was all a dream!" I hate endings like that.

I feel like I'm not even halfway done with this whole story.

And.

This is definately the last chapter for Marianna and Cherie. I mean, appearance-wise.

And also.

Faust is hardcore. Thought you should know that.


The Mad Dr. Baldhead

Sol woke up to the sensation of warm air on his chest. Sure enough, it was where Lydia had fallen asleep. With his charm, he convinced her to give him a massage for his "sore back". And with Sol, things always lead to another. Which a chuckle, he slipped from under her somehow and quickly put on his clothes. Grabbing his sword, he started to walk out the door and leave Lydia's house.

"You're pretty rude, Sol." He turned around only to see Cherie. She was sitting on the edge of a table with her arms crossed. "You keep Marianna up half the night with your 'activities', and then you leave without so much as a sorry or a thank you to her."

"Thank you? For what?" Sol asked. But he had an idea what. She was probably going to remind him about how Marianna saved him.

But she didn't. "You know, she knew you would go back out to find A.B.A, and strangely, she still packed you some things for your trip." She pointed to a bag sitting by the door. "I don't know why she keeps doing things like this for people like you."

He hesitated for a moment. Cherie was a smart kid for her age. At the very least, she deserved an explanation. "Please don't hold it against me, Cherie. I'm a bounty hunter, and it's my job to find A.B.A before she discovers her true powers and hurts someone innocent." He paused a bit. "Maybe someone like Marianna." Cherie looked away. She had the opportunity to see what A.B.A could accomplish in her best and worst mindset.

Sol stood there silently for a moment. Then he walked towards her. "There was something I was going to give you after I captured A.B.A, but I guess this is as good a time as ever." He handed her a large wad of money.

At first Cherie couldn't believe it. It was the first time in a long time anything had surprised her so much. "It's to pay for a new house, y'know, since I burned yours down and all," Sol continued. "Look, do what you want with it." He turned around and left without another word. He did end up taking the bag of supplies Marianna poured her heart into. For a little girl, she sure knew how to get to him.

Cherie didn't have to speak any more. She just folded up the money and walked back to her room. Perhaps Marianna had something with this 'being nice to everyone' thing.


A.B.A spun around instinctively only to see Dr. Baldhead (though she had no idea) standing tall in the doorway. "I thought I told you all to leave me alone!" he shouted through the bag over his head. He lunged at A.B.A with his large scalpel.

A.B.A dodged to the side, but she realized she wasn't as mobile with her heavy coat. It got pierced and ripped. She had to take it off. It may have been cold, but she had no choice. If she left it on, there would be no way she could fight back. She clawed at her coat, and eventually managed to get it off. But in that struggle, she didn't notice what Faust was doing. He dashed at her and tackled her right out the window, causing the glass to shatter into tiny little crystals matching the snowflakes.

She landed in a snow bank with barely a scratch. After all, she had been bleeding already, so it wasn't like you could really tell if there were any more injuries. But now, she had her Paracelsus. Her eyes flashed red as she strained to move faster in the deep snow to her weapon. It didn't matter how strong she was. She was nothing without Paracelsus. Her teeth gritted and chattered against the wind.

Meanwhile, Dr. Baldhead was now outside, ready to finish her off. But even for his tall physique, the snow was too much for him as well. Even he found it tiring to make his way to her.

This snow was only serving to anger A.B.A even further. What was once a miracle sent from the gods was now an obstacle to her lover, leaning patiently against the wall of Faust's house. She couldn't take it anymore. With a mighty roar, a ball of light surrounded her and spread out, taking out everything in its wake.


"It's her!" the man in the lab coat shouted over the intercom. It startled Joanna from her work. "A.B.A! Her powers! She…! It's unbelievable!"

Joanna tried to make sense of things. "Please, I can't understand anything." She tried to speak calmly, but it was hard to keep a low and professional voice with him screaming.

"Just get him. Get him. Now!"

Joanna blinked at the intercom before pressing a button. "Sir, it's something about A.B.A…."

The owner of the room walked out just in time to hear the man in the lab coat yelling even more things. "She's tapped into her powers! We just received the results, and there's strong waves emitting from somewhere! The energy waves are off the charts! She's doing it!"

The owner of the room didn't say anything. He only hoped she wasn't destroying a village in the process.


The snow surrounding them was nothing but a memory. Even the snow falling from the sky briefly stopped. Dr. Baldhead just barely made it out unscathed. He didn't know what she had done or how she did it, but it only seemed to make this game even more interesting. With blinding speed, she rushed over to Paracelsus and lifted him up. She growled before speeding into Dr. Baldhead.

Dr. Baldhead was amazed at this girl. She was wrapped in bandages, and clearly she had been bleeding quite a bit, and by the look of it, whatever made her bleed was a huge wound. She was pale and sickly, almost ghoulish. And she even had what looked like a key lodged right through her head. How she was swinging this something-hundred pound axe like nothing was beyond him. And at blinding speed. He almost couldn't keep up. He didn't know what he unleashed, but he had to trap it again before she eventually got a hold of him. He wasn't one to like living, but even he didn't want to go this way.

I don't think anyone does.

A.B.A wasn't used to such skill. Most the people she had fought were weak mindless soldiers who hid behind their guns and simply followed orders as brutely as possible. They simply did one thing, and that was stand there. At least, that's what they did around her. She started to spend her time putting strategy in her attacks, something she didn't really know how to do. But she had unlimited energy right now. She probably would have had time to perfect that ability.

Dr. Baldhead, still analyzing who she might be and where she may have come from, dodged each move carefully, and in probably the most comical fashion. As a matter of fact, if it weren't happening in real life, one would have thought it was a cartoon of some sort. She may have been tiring him out, but he didn't seem to mind. As a matter of fact, he was enjoying the entertainment. But as you know, good things must come to an end.

Eventually, he had an idea. Ducking down, he stuck his leg out. Her humiliating defeat came about as she tripped on his foot and fell right into Paracelsus. Then she collapsed, unconscious. Faust fell back, exhausted.

"That was the most fun I've had in years," he said.


Sol spent his silent walk thinking about Marianna and the other children. Lydia had told him that she always wanted to have younger sisters as she was raised in a family of all males. Cherie was very responsible for her age (probably because she took care of all of those children for those years), and Marianna was a very caring little girl. She was glad to take care of them. Even the other villagers were happy to have their new visitors around. There was a newlywed couple that couldn't have children. Lisa and Jeremy were exactly what they wanted. There was an older widow who lost her little boy and husband to the ocean. When Brent walked into her door, it was a miracle. One of the younger women agreed to take a child under protection. When she saw this child was Erica, she couldn't contain her tears. Erica was her sister's unwanted child. She wanted to keep Erica for her sister, but she was just too young at the time. Now this woman felt it was her responsibility to make up all those years little Erica lost. The children now had a future.

Then a thought struck him. It was, after all, because of A.B.A that they ended up in actual homes now. Maybe the red haired demon was actually an angel. Well, a very deadly angel.

He sighed in a sort of attempt to forget about everything but the task at hand. Currently, he had a lot of ground to cover. There were no signs around him to indicate that she had come this way. Not even from that weapon she dragged. He had no clue where she could be. So he just kept walking. Eventually, he would come across a town and all he would have to do was listen for the inevitable rumors to indicate what town she had passed. The wind picked up, tossing snow into his eyes.

It was times like that when he wished he had a helicopter. If he ever got in contact with the Institution, he would definitely make mention of that.


Dr. Baldhead stared at her in vigilant fashion. Afraid that she would randomly wake up and start attacking, he didn't want to move her. At the same time, he wasn't going to just leave her there if she was going to die. He noticed the blood on her bandages. It was a dark hue, most likely because it was old blood. But then he investigated a little further (careful not to awaken her). In the very center was an increasingly growing wound where new blood was escaping from her. He hadn't attacked her directly, and he certainly hadn't even touched her abdomen, he curiously leaned in closer, so close in fact, he could practically feel her heartbeat without actually touching her.

It was indeed more blood, possibly from exerting her body. What confused Dr. Baldhead, however, was the fact that this blood was just now coming from her. If it were really from her attacking, she would have been bleeding a while ago.

Left with no other choice, he reluctantly and gingerly lifted the unmoving A.B.A (as he was sure she was out cold) and brought her inside. He vaguely remembered a promise he had made to himself about never going back to being a doctor until the body of that man (you know, that man) laid lifeless at his hands. He quickly concluded by saying that he was simply doing a nurse's job, and he hadn't made any promises against that. Leaving poor Paracelsus in the cold, he made his way inside.

Which was easy, since A.B.A had been so kind as to 'shovel' the pathway.


Now, I would like to take a brief journey to the future. Not the future of Sol, A.B.A, or even the owner of that room. I want to tell you the future of Cherie and little Marianna.

You see, since everyone had homes, Cherie didn't really have much of a use for the money. Sure, she could have kept it for herself and had her new family move to some high class town. Instead, she came up with an idea.

She knew there would be children just like they were, and she knew that another miracle brought by another red-haired demon was most likely not going to happen. So, just three years later, at the age of eighteen, she started work on an orphanage, using the money from Sol as well as some extra she had saved. And just years from that day, it was finished. She decided to work there, taking care of the children just as she did all those years ago when she first ended up on the streets.

Marianna meanwhile grew from an adorable little girl into one of the most beautiful women in that town. Many of the men wanted to take her hand in marriage. But Marianna had other plans. You see, she never forgot A.B.A, and at the age of nineteen she decided to go in search for her to make sure Sol never caught her.

It was during one of her visits in a somewhat large city that she came across the strangest girl with a tail and talking wings. This girl told her about the adventures they had on the seas traveling. Marianna was captivated by the idea and immediately abandoned her search (eventually figuring that A.B.A was probably perfectly fine) and decided to travel with the winged girl who called herself Dizzy. And when she was introduced to the suave playboy Johnny and the energetic child-like May as well as the others, she knew in her heart that was where she belonged.

And don't you worry about the other children. They all grew up to be fine young men and women. Maybe, if you ask around, you can find out what happened to them, too.


Mizuchi: Yeah, yeah, brief mention of Dizzy, Johnny, and May. They won't show up again. Sorry. Anyway, I've decided that I want this whole story to officially take place three years before A.B.A actually appears in Guilty Gear Isuka. No, that does not mean I have confused the plot (if Marianna had joined at the age of 19, that would mean this story took play way before then). I just think that May, Johnny and the crew would be traveling around even many many years later. I swear, this is not a plot hole with a weak excuse for its existence. I will wait for this game to prove me wrong.