Hey, chapter ten is here (wow, it's been a while) and I just want to say thank you to everyone who's read and/or reviewed any of the past chapters. It's been a blast writing this for you guys and trust me, there's plenty more to come.

A little reminder that it is advised that before you read this you should probably be done watching the anime, 'cause there are tons of spoilers… so yeah…

Please read and review!

Enjoy ;D

Encounter Ten: A Detective, a Scientist, and a Drunk

"My Lord Darcia," Neige cut through the silence, "Inside the keep there's-"

"A wolf," Darcia interrupted.

"Yes…" Neige said.

Neige, Lord Darcia's faithful servant and seer, sat near the large closed doors on one side of the chamber. Darcia sat in the corner, when he had returned to his keep earlier he found his love, Hamona, stripped of her life. He knew who did it, but at the moment revenge was out of the question. The pain of losing Hamona was just too much to bear...

"My love…" The Noble said softly, "Now that I have lost you… Paradise holds no meaning for me… And yet-" He grabbed his left eye, which pained him so, "This wolf's eye throbs. Why? What is this feeling that threatens to overwhelm me? My beloved Hamona, tell me. What should-" He began to sob quietly.

After Darcia had thrown her earlier, Cheza had landed in the middle of the chamber. As she lay there quietly, Cheza slowly opened her eyes. She could feel him. He was coming for her.

Suddenly, his presence was stronger than ever as he drew closer to the chamber.

"He is here," Cheza gasped.

…

Kiba ran as fast as he could. The worn out walls of Darcia's Keep surrounded him, but he knew exactly where to go. He could feel Cheza's presence near; he knew he would find her.

…

"So this is the Keep if Darcia…" Tsume said as the pack finally arrived to their destination.

"Place looks like it should be haunted," Ry commented, the six wolves gazed up at the castle looming in front of them, or at least what was left of it.

"By what?" Toboe asked looking at Ry.

"By the ghosts of all the cursed Nobles," Hige replied with a hoarse voice.

"Ah!" Toboe jumped, scared by Hige's sudden outburst, "Come on don't say stuff like that," Toboe said innocently as Ry and Hige began to laugh.

"Cut it out guys," Rayne interrupted.

"But still, are you sure that girl is inside of there?" Blue inquired as Hige and Ry's laughter died down.

Hige sniffed the air. "The scent is faint," He answered, "But it's definitely a lunar flower."

The pack walked across the narrow bridge towards the keep. They stopped at the sight of an abandoned red car up ahead.

"He's got visitors," Tsume said.

Blue gasped. She pushed past Hige, Rayne, and Tsume and began towards the car.

"Hey, hold on!" Hige shouted after her.

She peered inside the window, the car was empty. Blue smelt the snow-covered ground and caught on to a familiar scent, "Pops is here…" She murmured.

"Blue, what is it? What's gotten into you?" Hige said running up behind her. Blue didn't respond as she ran toward the entrance to the castle.

"Come on," Rayne said as she and the others ran past Hige to catch up with their friend.

…

"Who are the Nobles anyway?" A man in a blue trench coat asked the blonde woman walking next to him.

"There was extensive literature dealing with the nobility, but most of it was lost with the decline of civilization," The woman replied calmly as they continued to walk through the halls of the Keep of Darcia, "Yet there are some things we do know. They say that long before the world became as it is now, the Nobles extolled the virtues of this culture. By using an amazing form of alchemy, they blazed a path to the stars and opened the doors to space and time. But in an instant, all of it simply vanished. No one really knows what happened then, but many people disappeared… The development and execution of their alchemy came to be a secret, known only to the remaining Nobles, that was never to be passed on to the people," She and the man stood in front of a decorated wall that displayed stars, flying crafts, strange mechanisms and circles, possibly planets, along with designs of all sorts, "All of that happened almost 200 years ago…" The woman sighed.

A man in a large brown trench coat walked up behind the two, a shotgun in hand. The man was not an enemy of theirs; in fact this drunken fellow with a low, gravelly voice was a friend. The man gave no regards to the intricately designed wall and continued to walk down the corridor, saying "And now what remains of this world is slowly fading away… Along with the blood red moon."

…

"He is here," Cheza said softly. Slowly, she stood up and faced the door as a smile spread across her face.

The doors swung open suddenly and a white wolf ran into the room.

"Cheza!" Kiba shouted as he stopped in front of the doorway.

"Kiba!" Cheza said happily.

…

"Why the hell are you in such a rush?" Hige asked as he, Toboe, and Ry caught up with Blue.

"It's Pops," Blue replied as her friends tried to keep up with her, "I know he's here."

"But do you really wanna see him?" Toboe asked, "That Pops guy?"

Blue looked at Toboe as she suddenly stopped walking, "No. It might be better if I didn't…"

"But maybe the reason he's out her is to find you," Ry at Blue. The four wolves stood there silently for a moment.

"So? What if he is?" Tsume said from behind, they all turned to look at him and Rayne standing there, "Are you gonna go back to being that humans dog?"

"Hey lay off," Hige said.

"Yeah. Be quiet Tsume. You don't know what it's like," Toboe said.

"I guess I don't," Tsume continued, "Unlike the two of you, none of us have ever had the pleasure of being kept as a pet."

"Look guys, let's go find Kiba and Cheza. We can fight later," Rayne interfered. All she wanted to do was find Cheza (she didn't doubt the fact that Kiba would be with the flower maiden by now) and get out of here; Rayne had the strange sense that something bad was about to go down.

"Yeah, the flower scent's coming from over there," Hige added, eager to move on.

…

"The worship of wolves, eh?" The man in the blue coat said as he inspected yet another decorated wall. This wall, unlike the last they came across, had wolves painted on it.

"But it's not just a simple animal cult," The woman said, "It's deeper than that. I think the vision of this world has spilt somehow. There's one we humans can see and one we must've lost sight of at one point. I'm fairly certain the animal's are aware of that."

"Including the wolves?" The man asked just before he sneezed.

"What the hell brought that on?" The other man with the shotgun asked.

"I have a terrible allergy to dogs," He responded, pulling out a handkerchief to cover his mouth and nose as he sneezed again.

"That a fact? Then they must be over this way," The man with the shotgun said, walking away, "Those allergies sure do come in handy."

"Glad I could help," The man responded following his friend.

The woman stared at the figure of a howling wolf in the center of the wall. She didn't know why, but she felt the wolf meant something important. Why else would it be in the center? What were the Nobles concerning themselves with when they painted these wolves on here? What does it all mean? There's something we humans don't have a clue about, but what could it be? The woman turned to follow her companions, Maybe it's better if we never find out.