Shocked you? Good. Sorry for being so harsh, but that was the only way to make some people realize that I have a life, and that writing Fanfictions is not the only thing I am doing.

There's another thing I want to say. My nickname is relating to Ronan, as he is the "lap-dog" of the queen. That's why I came up with Guard Puppy. Sieghart is calling Ronan 'Puppy' because he has names for everyone. Please don't use this in your Fanfictions.

Describing a car in Rufus' words is extremely hard xD

Aaaand. If you want to read more about Zero and Dio visit SuperPaperBag's profile ^-^

A cold hand on my cheek made me blink. Did I fall asleep again? The sun was still shining brightly, forcing me to close my eyes again.

"Why the hell did you attack Ronan?" I heard Lime say. Her voice was distant, as if she was far away.

"It is his right…" Ronan answered. "I cut his arm off…"

Arme and Lime gasped in shock. "Why would you do that?!"

A shadow settled over me face and I was able to open my eyes now. Looking up I saw my father holding a jacket to block the sun from my face. I nodded to thank him, then turned my head to watch the others. Lass was sitting next to Arme, Lime next to Sieghart, Zero still between Ronan and Dio.

"I was blinded by panic." Ronan answered, head hanging down. "To imagine I did this to a comrade… It was only right that they left me to die in the castle."

Wait.. I thought he died when he collapsed? What was going on here?

"Listen Puppy, I had two choices. Saving you, or saving Dio. And considering that everyone else was already dead I chose Dio."

I never thought Sieghart could think logically.

"I understand your reasoning."

"You don't understand anything!" Dio hissed.

"I tried to save your ass and you cut my arm off!"

"Dio, cease to yell."

Slowly I sat up, almost hoping for the pain to be gone. It wasn't. Obviously. Dio looked at me, something close to an apology on his face. I just nodded. There was nothing to say about this.

"So… what are you really doing here?" Arme asked Ronan, probably trying to distract them from the real topic.

"Watching the town for any unusual activity…" He seemed like he didn't really want to do that.

"Still a mutt of the queen?" Sieghart wanted to know.

"Not willingly. My parents in this timeline left me no choice… However, I don't agree on the Queen's way of seeing things…" He looked at Zero for a moment, then stared at the blanket as if he had done something bad.

"She wants to execute every demon she finds. You guys are not save here… And she is going to kill me if she ever finds out that I let demons get away…"

My father shifted, then moved closer to Ronan. "Are you saying we are supposed to hide?"

Ronan shook his head. "She is searching for a powerful demon. She wants a slave, one that would do what she is ordering to. She had him at one point, but he got away."

I frowned. What kind of messed up queen was that?

"Are you betraying your queen?" Sieghart wanted to know.

Ronan chuckled. "Yeah. I was the one who made his escape possible."

"Who was it?" Arme wanted to know. "All demons I ever knew where in the chase."

"Is it one of us?" Lime asked.

"Can't be me anymore." Dio muttered, accompanied with a glare to Ronan.

"Ley wasn't that strong… Rufus is only average…"

I sighed. Thanks for the reminder. But maybe I was lucky that the queen wouldn't target me.

"Then there's only Zero left…"

"Zero is pretty powerful." Lass said.

"The Grandark was the source of my power . Since I released it from the blade I am not as powerful anymore."

"Yeah but you could still use its power if you wanted to."

"That is correct. However, I am fairly sure Gran will not willingly return to the blade."

"Why did you release it?" Arme asked.

Zero looked away for a second. "There was an incident. It was better this way."

"What kind of incident?"

"I do not wish to speak about it."

Arme crossed her arms. She seemed offended. Of course. She was a curious person and usually poked until she had the answer she wanted. She'd come back to it later, I was sure about that.

By then clouds had blocked the sun and it looked like it was about to rain. Lass had noticed it as well. He stood, just wanted to warn everyone when the first drops fell. They fell through the shield of Ronan.

I shivered. Rain was nice, but I was still freezing and wounded. There was nothing worse than wet bandages… Slowly I tried to get up, only to realize once again that my legs where still too weak to hold me long enough. At that point I started to wonder why. Any poising in the bullet should be gone by now, and I slept enough. My father threw the jacket he had in his hands over my head, then pulled me to my feet.

"Forget it." I muttered.

He nodded and picked me up, stormed through the park to get back to his car. He wasn't fast enough the prevent me from getting soaked. He shut the door and walked back to help them getting the stuff in the cars. It took a while and without me wanting it I was thinking again. What would Luca think? Would he even miss me? He always complained about how annoying I was, that he was no child anymore, that I acted like he was stupid. I didn't want anything happening to him. It was not just because of my father. It was also because I failed to help him when he needed it that one time. He lost vision in his right eye. It was my fault, we both knew it, but he never blamed me. What would Lime say when I told her? Would she understand it?

Lass climbed into the car, sat next to me. "What happened? You look awful." He muttered.

"Nothing… just thinking."

"Must've been pretty depressing…"

"You don't know what it's like… having a child…"

"But I know how it's like to miss someone. By the way, shouldn't your legs be okay now?"

I shrugged. "All I know is that they aren't… maybe I just got weak…"

"Nonsense."

I turned my head away, staring out of the window. Who knew. Could I even trust those people so easily? They weren't the same anymore.

My father opened his door and sat down. He was complaining about having to clean up the car and that we better watch where we put our feet because he didn't want the mud on the ground. It was like back then when I had played outside instead of using my freetime to train… he always caught me, complaining that I shouldn't waste my time with playing in the backyards with my classmates.

I couldn't remember if it had been my wish to become a bounty hunter… Maybe it wasn't. But what use was it to dwell about that…?

"Rufus are you alright?" My father wanted to know.

"Of course…"

"You're too quiet."

Was I? I didn't even notice that Lime and Arme were also in the car now and that we were driving already.

"A lot to think about…" I answered, then stared back outside.

Suddenly the car stopped rather violently, forcing a pained yell over my lips. The seat-belt, like lass called it, was pressed onto my chest, making the wound hurt again.

"Why the hell did you-" Lass started, but quickly got silent as our father turned around.

He pointed towards the window behind us. I turned and a feeling of dread spread inside me. Lass realized faster than I what had been happening.

"That's a joke.. Zero's not that reckless!" Lass yelled.

"Oh my gosh…" Lime whispered.

Arme was already out of the car and stormed over to the crashed cars. The front of the silver car was pressed into the side of the black one, a blue car barely managed to doge them. Sieghart and Ronan standing beside them. I saw Sieghart yelling something, throwing his arms in the air.

"I-is that Zero on the dashboard?" Lass asked. I had no idea what he talked about, but the silver hair of that demon was pretty visible. There was something like a pillow under his head, the window cracked.

"Why would he… Why the hell would he crash?!"

"Lass calm down." Our father ordered, having his phone at his ear as he walked over to Arme.

My brother was trembling with fear. I put my hand on his back to calm him down. Ronan was walking over to us while Sieghart tried to get Dio out of the silver car.

"What happened?!" Lime shouted at Ronan as she opened the door.

He was pale, shaking about as much as Lass did. I wasn't too sure what I should do now.

"Sieghart was too fast… I almost crashed into him myself… Zero couldn't break… Shit… Shit!" Ronan cursed?

Lass climbed out of the car, stormed over to Sieghart and punched him in the face.

"Is Zero alright?" I heard myself ask after I didn't see the demon move.

"I don't know!" Ronan yelled.

Shaking my head I opened my door and stepped out of the car. It was hard to admit but I was worried. I forced myself to walk over to the others. It was still raining like crazy. Dio was sitting on the ground, shaking badly. He had a cut on his arm but that was the only visible injury. Zero slowly lifted his head, looked around.

"Thank goodness!" Arme yelled. "Sieghart you freaking idiot!"

"It's okay shortcake. It's okay…" Sieghart seemed pretty pale as well.

Zero moved over to the other side of the car and slowly climbed out. There was a wound on his temple, bleeding slightly. Dio jumped to his feet, hugged Zero tightly.

"Waah, don't move!" Arme complained, rushed over to Zero and Dio to heal them.

Ronan looked at me, then frowned. "Your legs are shaking…"

"Thank you, I didn't notice…" I muttered sarcastically.

"You're still the same. That's good."

I shrugged, decided to walk back to the car. The rain had drenched every piece of cloth. There was nothing dry left. The wound was bleeding again. My legs felt like something was holding them trying to keep them on the ground. It started to scare me. What was happening here? I should've feeling better by now, but it was getting worse!

Back at Lass' apartment the ranting began. They had to tow Zero's car as it wouldn't move no matter what they tried. Ronan was had been driving home. Dio was now walking up and down, cursing and shouting. I was changing into Lass' clothing again, changing the bandage as well. Listened to them as I was in the bedroom.

"You could've killed Zero!" Dio yelled.

"I know, kid…".

"Our car's destroyed…"

"I'll pay for it."

"It's not about the car you idiot!"

"I know…"

"You don't know anything! You can't die!

"You're the immortal guy?" My father wanted to know, when I just came back. My legs still refused to do what I wanted.

Sieghart looked up. "Yeah… whoah-"

I was stumbling, almost falling down. "Hell Rufus why are you still so weak…" Sieghart muttered after he caught me. I sighed in resignation.

"What do I know…"

"You used your flame to counter Lass'. It's pretty normal you're exhausted like that." My father tried to explain.

"I didn't use mine."

"I'm pretty sure you were burning too, my boy." A shiver raced down my spine as he said that.

For one thing he called me that, and the other… did I really not notice that I used my flame?

"Hey we were arguing here!" Dio interrupted.

Sieghart helped me over to the couch and I sat down, then their arguing continued. I didn't listen anymore. Were the days back when the Chase was still there this exhausting too? Lass moved over to the armchair after he had changed clothes and sat down. Now he was staring at our father who was sitting on a towel on the carpet without his shirt as he had no spare clothing with him and was obviously too tall for Lass'.

"Can you… teach me… how to control it? The flame I mean…" my brother muttered. "I… know you don't like me… but I don't want to hurt Rufus again…"

My father looked up and I was a bit surprised. Lass sounded almost scared. Totally unlike him.

"I don't dislike you, Lass and yes, I can teach you."

Lass probably needed him more than I did. He still believed in him, I didn't.

"We can start when the rain stops."

Lass nodded. He seemed relieved. Must've taken him a lot of courage to ask.

"So… we're walking him now?" I heard Dio ask.

"There seems to be no other way." Zero answered.

"So much for 'a relaxing day off'." Dio muttered.

Sighing I buried myself in the pillow, almost hiding under the blankets. I didn't like being this weak. I wanted to do something!

"I need to get back to the bookstore, I can drive you home… " Sieghart muttered.

"I will drive." Zero declared, obviously not trusting the skills of the immortal. Understandable.

"Alright alright…"

The sound of keys.

"You're working tonight Lass, right?" Dio asked.

"Yeah… "

Then they left. Arme was soon gone too, having to work. Only my father stayed. Lime went to her apartment to change clothing, came back a bit later. The silence let me notice how tired I was. So the flame was at fault? It was nothing out of the ordinary? Then why did Lass feel alright and I didn't? I heard my father and Lass leave sometime later, then it was only Lime and I in the apartment.

"We're alone…" I muttered.

"I know…" a giggle.

She kissed my cheek and I moved an arm around her.

"Your eyes are glowing…"

"They're always glowing…"

"But this is the special glow. Like… when you really want something…." Her mysterious grin made me laugh.

"There is one thing I really want now…"

She tilted her head.

"What is it?"

"I want you to shut up." I whispered, leaning in to kiss her. I heard her giggling into the kiss as she was stroking my hair. She began to open the buttons off my shirt, but when I moved my hands towards hers she broke the kiss and grinned.

"No. Just me doing things. You relax."

"Lime-"

She silenced me with another kiss, made me forget the world when her kisses trailed off to my neck moving closer to my stomach and sending shivers down my spine. How I had missed that.