Tiger: *Sitting on a blanket on the beach wearing orange and black swimming trunks* I have no idea why you brought me here?

Nurse: *wearing a red one piece swimsuit* Because it's a lovely day to go to the beach.

Tiger: Still, I have important thing to do.

Nurse: Relax, your brothers can take care of it. So just relax and enjoy the day.

Tiger: *sigh* I'll try.

Nurse: Good. Now stay here and I'll bring back some sea salt ice cream.

Tiger: *lays down and puts on headphones*


Willow sat next to the exit, wait for the others to arrive. Jocelyn rested by Willow as he gently patted her head. He then looked at the bandanna around his neck as a faint memory began to form. Willow was no more than six years old with his bandanna hanging in it usual spot. Willow was about to leave the room when his mother came in to see the young Creed.

"Willow, what have told you about playing with my bandanna," his mother said in an annoyed tone.

"Sorry," Willow said as tears began to fill his eyes. His mother let out a sigh as she got eye level to Willow and wipes away his tears.

"Willow, how about this, you can wear it but when I need it, you give it back; deal?"

"Deal." Willow hugged his mother but his memory became distorted as his mother became covered in blood. Her once caring eyes turned into hopelessness. Willow himself was covered in blood as well.

"Willow," his mother said, "please live. For the name of the Creed, live." Willow couldn't believe his eyes as he saw his mother slowly passing away. "Please, my son, live."

Willow, snapped back to reality as Alice shook him.

"Are you okay," she asked with genuine concern. Willow wipes any sweat from his face as he noticed everyone standing around him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Willow got up and mounted Jocelyn with his back toward the others. "Come on, we're burning daylight." Everyone nodded as Alice rode with Viviana and Dan rode with Nickolas.

"Excuse me, Willow was it, but what were you dreaming about," Alice said with her arms wrapped around Viviana waist. Willow ignored the question and rode further ahead. "What's troubling with him so much?"

"I could be the Massacre of the Four."

"Massacre of the Four," Ryder asked in confusion.

"The Massacre of the Four was during the time when we were just building the walls of our kingdoms," Viviana began. "Out of nowhere hundreds of zombies began to swarm us. Naturally, all the kingdoms fought for their lives but one family gave their lives."

"Willow's family," Alice concluded. Viviana nodded as she continued.

"Before then, the Creed family worked hard establish the Iron Fist kingdom we have today. However, the Creeds did not seek to rule but to help and became the official guards of the Iron Fist."

"But after the massacre-"

"They died," Willow said interrupted Alice. "They're dead and I'm alive; just leave it alone." The group began to head up a hill which Willow questioned. "Stay on your guard. This hill wasn't here before." As they reached the peak of hill they noticed Henrik there but doing nothing. They soon reached the knight and witness what caused him to be frozen in place.

Meanwhile, with the Purest Sins, they began the trek through the mud to the misfortune of Elena.

"Are we any closer to the meeting," Elena asked in a tired.

"We would be closer if you didn't whine every five minutes," Thomas said as he, somehow, walked with ease through the mud.

"I'm not whining, I'm just tired of all this-" Elena said before tripping over and getting a mouth full of softened earth. "How much further," the princess yelled as she got up and scraped the mud out her mouth.

"Calm down princess," Keiji said placing a hand on her shoulder, "hey Shane, can you carry Ele for a bit?"

"Yeah, no problem." With very little enough, Shane manage to pull Elena out of the mud and onto his back. Thomas just shrugged as they continue to move forward."So, Thomas what does someone like you do for a living?"

"Various jobs; finding lost items, delivering packages, assassinations, mass murders of gangs." Elena, Keiji and Shane looked at Thomas strangely as he listed of the jobs he's done. "What, not all of us can be born to be a knight or a nobleman; some of us have to work and survive for a living." As their conversation continued, their path slowly became vertical and into a hill. Elena look ahead and saw a few others on the top. They sped up to regroup with the others but soon looked at what caught their attention.

Many mouths, except Willow and Thomas, looked down at the Cognitio kingdom as it was now in ruins. The once grand castle that rested in the center was now a few pieces of stones. Paper once used for documents were blowing in the wind. The smartest kingdom was now gone with no signs of life from where they were. As the others stayed silent, Thomas, Willow and Jocelyn ventured forward.

"What are you two doing," Viviana yelled.

"There might be survivors," Thomas said. Soon the rest of the group slid into the crater and began to search the kingdom. As they began their search, the faint sound of weeping could be heard. "A survivor," Thomas asked

"Or a weeper," Willow said cracking his knuckles.

"Weeper," everyone questioned. Sure enough, a bare foot girl was being chased by zombies with blood pooling and flowing down their eyes. The girl was wearing a dress in pale faded yellow, which is tight in the chest and flowing to her knees, with long sleeves. She also had on a large forest green cloak with a heart shaped gem in green.

"Princess," Henrik shouted. Thomas and Willow nodded to each before going into combat.

(Battle theme: Rules of Nature)

Thomas took out his pistols but was greeted by the click of an empty gun. He quickly holstered them and switched to a spiked mace. Willow, on the other hand, was busy dodging and punching zombies while protecting the girl. Thomas soon followed by swinging his mace and sending a head flying into the unknown. As the two fought, they fail to realize a weeper sneaking up on them with killer intentions. When Willow and Thomas turned around, the saw their zombie for but it had two new arrows in its eyes. They looked over and saw Shane with a bow in one hand and a few arrows in the other. He was about to shoot another arrow but a different arrow struck the weeper in where its heart would be; causing the undead body to fall. The three then turned to see Alice with her own bow in hand. She smirked at three guys as she loaded three arrows and managed to hit a zombie with all of them. Viviana provided cover for Alice with her fist as Ryder and Nickolas began to take down some zombies. Henrik protected the girl with his sword as Dan used a makeshift sword, made up of a piece of sharpened metal, to cut through the horde. Elena used her dagger hairstick with the elegance of a ballerina as her dagger pierced through the zombies.

Meanwhile, Willow and Thomas began to work in tandem; switching between Willow's fists and feet and Thomas' mace. The two seemed unstoppable until they saw another horde was coming their way.

"Ready for round two," Willow asked cracking his joints.

"Just don't slow me down, old man." Before either one could touch a zombie, an explosion was set off. The explosion killed the horde in one go and covered most of the group in blood. Willow wiped his face and saw a woman walked through the cloud of dust wearing a long sleeved silver colored dress coat with a silver belt lined with black fur. She wore a warm black hat, gloves, scarf,and boots often as well. She also wore a crystal necklace that completed her outfit.

"You guys alright," the woman asked as she strutted towards the group.

"Strange," Willow questioned, " You managed to kill an entire horde with one grenade?"

"Well not exactly. I made these," she then showed Willow small balls that were no bigger then her hands. "These are extremely powerful bombs; just one of them can burn down a city block in a second."

"So, you did all of this," Nickolas said entering the conversation. The woman let out a never laugh as the conclusion was soon made. "Well, since you and her survived, there may be others."

"Right," Viviana said, "let's split off into groups. Alice and I will are a team."

"Me and Nickolas are teaming up," Ryder said

"Hey Shane, wanna team up," Keiji said.

"I'll go with Shane as well," Elena spoke.

"Princess," Henrik spoke, "allow me to protect you."

"Don't call me princess, call me Cora."

"Hey, cloak boy, wanna team up," Willow asked Thomas.

"Sure, Thomas Parker by the way."

"Willow Creed." The two shook hands as an icy chill blew through everyone.

"I'm joining you two," the girl said, "name's Calista but you can call me Callie."

"Okay," everyone move out." Everyone went in their own direction but left Dan alone. He quickly ran towards Ryder and Nickolas.

"Guys wait for me!"


Tiger: Well another chapter is in the can. Now, it's time for-

Nurse: Here's your ice cream.

Tiger: Oh hell yeah! Can you do the reviews while I eat?

Nurse: O-Okay.


Review Replies

TheNightGirl-

Indeed, There is a lot of tension when it comes to Henrik but not all of it is directed at Willow.

Happy77123-

Glad you like how Tiger introduced her to the story and I'm sure you'd like how he depicted her in the fight.

Rexlerod-

Hey, at least feel like you care if someone died in the story and I think the plan is that Henrik will be more hostile around Iron Fist members while more relaxed around other kingdom members

KorianneAnders-

Thanks for the compliment. As for Willow and what he said, *sigh* that something I wish Tiger would learn.

Guest-

As for DPB, Tiger has given full ownership of the story away to another writer who shall remain nameless for her protection from fanboys and fangirls

Awesome D.T (1 of 2)-

Nurse: Please stop drooling, it's unbecoming of a young lady. Tiger isn't sadistic, sure he's a masochist but not a sadist. Anyway, Tiger, got a haiku based on the story.

Tiger: *stops eating*

The four dead kingdoms.

Only a handful survived.

What do they do now?

Nurse: Thanks and as for Tiger's theory on happiness, that's just something he says when he's depressed so pay it no mind.

Awesome D.T (2 of 2)

Nurse: Personally I ship Willow and Thomas than Willow and Henrik. But, I do ship Dan and Vivi.

Tiger: My nurse the shipper ladies and gentlemen

Nurse: As for why Ryder and Nickolas were helping Alice, they just wanted to be nice. However, there's a reason why strength and stamina are different in any RPG game. Jocelyn closeness to Willow will be explained as The Massacre of the Four gets more details.

Fairiesandtails-

Tiger is trying to introduced the characters where they would benefit the plot. So, sorry to everyone who's character hasn't been seen yet. The next chapter would probably have everyone introduced and part of the team.


Tiger: *finish eating* Well until next time, she's my nurse and I'm Prince Tigermasters saying-

Both: Ciao