A/N Notes: A warning to all readers. Something… unpleasant is going to happen near the end of this chapter, so if you want, you can skip this one. There is some important plot points here though, so I suggest you weigh your options for now.

Deep below the Catacombs, underneath Rome/April 7th, 2010/1:34 PM

Sophia and Singer emerged from the shadows they had arrived in. Neither had any trouble seeing in the dark, Sophia having living in such conditions before and Singer not really needing to see. They walked for a little while, before Singer held up her hand. She called out to the darkness in front of them:

"Padre di Cranio! It is I, Singer To The Despairing Soul! I wish to talk with you once more, as friends do!"

A voice from the dark replied. "Of course, of course! Come, Singer, the dead always welcome their fellows! But who is this living woman you have brought with you?"

"This is Sophia. I believe I told you about her?"

"Oh yes, I apologize Lady Sophia. Those living in the dark are just as welcome as the dead in these catacombs!"

Sophia giggled before she curtsied. "Thank you, my lord. I've just come to help serve as transportation for Singer."

"Of course, I understand, though you are always welcome to join us in our talks. Come on now! The parlor is just ahead."

The two walked in the darkness, lead by the man they had quite a difficult time seeing. Eventually, though, the man clapped his hands and torches all around became alight with blue flame. Having the proper amount of light to really see details, Sophia looked toward this 'Padre di Cranio'. He was a skeleton wearing old robes weaved out a material she could not recognize, though it was very thin. Is that spider silk? That must have taken quite a while to collect and weave.

He lead them to a small wooden table and some old, creaky chairs. He gestured for them to sit down. "I apologize for the lack of comforts, but we cannot get new things to decorate the place."

Sophia looked at him, her eyes brightening. "Ooh, I know! I can always transport some new stuff to your guy's place."

"Oh, my lady, you do not have to do that."

"Nonsense, it's no good if you are guys are just stuck down here with nothing to do! There are plenty of things on the surface that I can bring down for you guys to use!"

"No, my lady, that would just be a wasted effort. Especially after tomorrow."

Singer looked at him sharply. "What's happening tomorrow?"

If a skeleton could grin beyond what he was already capable of, Padre di Cranio would have been doing that at this moment. "I bring you and all of our undead brethren good tidings, for tomorrow our savior shall be born."

Sophia frowned in thought. "Did you steal that from something..?"

"Yes, from the Christian Bible. I thought the reference might catch your attention. But yes, Woe, Avenger of the Desecrated Graves, shall be born tomorrow eve."

If Singer had eyes to widen, she would have done so. "Wait, that man you always prophesy 'will come soon'? You finally have a definitive date?"

"Yes indeed, and our brethren are already rejoicing. That's why we are all alone, actually."

Sophia asked the obvious question. "Um, who is this 'Woe' guy?"

"Oh, yes, you've never heard of the prophecy my lady. I shall fix that posthaste. Have you heard of our predicament."

"Well, Singer told me you guys were trapped down here somehow."

The skeleton nodded. "Indeed. I will not explain the full backstory, that would take away too much precious time, but yes, we are cursed to remain down here. The only way to break the curse is to have 'a Son of Rome, born in undeath from a nightly battle,' command us. Due to the necromancy used to raise our corpses, we cannot just leave here of our own volition, or the volition of living beings. For the longest amount of time, I and the rest of elders could only see that he would 'come soon' to us, but we didn't have a definitive time frame until today. But now, our lord will save us from this awful curse, that we might love and enjoy the surface once more!"

"But, um, what about the humans?"

Singer, hearing this, immediately made the 'Do not proceed' sign with her arms, but Padre di Cranio merely put a hand on her shoulder.

"That is an issue that must be addressed, I'm afraid. In truth, I do not bear much ill will towards the living, it was not their actions that condemned us. But if our Lord commands that we must rise up with acts of force, then we simply must obey. We cannot afford to disobey our messiah, and ruin our chance of being free. Which leads me to another point."

He turned to Singer. "Singer, I must tell you this now. When Woe comes to free us, I will try with all my power to convince our lord that you and your organization would be great allies. However, if he still refuses… I am afraid that we would be on opposite sides of the battlefield."

Singer smiled in sympathy. "Do not worry, Padre, I and my lord understand. Still, we would wish that he could join us in our own little crusade."

"Ah yes, your master. Are you sure he is a living being. For being made out of metal, that phrase seems… off."

"Yes, I am sure, though I will admit that his essence is a little strange. It is not like most human beings. I'm not actually sure if he's human or just pretending to be one. All I can say is that he is most assuredly committed to our goals."

"Very well then, I believe you. Now, I'm afraid that I simply must be off to prepare my rituals. This event demands a formal ceremony, after all."

He made to leave, but Singer put a hand on his shoulder and whispered to him. "I still have one last question. Is Woe… still alive right now? Will he die tomorrow?"

He looked at her, then slowly nodded. "Yes. There will be a great tragedy tomorrow, and I'm afraid our lord will be at the center of it all. I suggest you prepare your defenses, I'm not fully sure what specifically will happen, but I do know it will be terrible."

She nodded back glumly, then looked to Sophia. "It's best that we go now. We have a lot of things to prepare for." Sophia nodded, then grabbed her hand and the two melted into the shadows…

The undead priest looked on as they disappeared, then walked into another room. Several Thousand Skeletons looked back at him. He raised his hands, and shouted to the crowd: "My people! Lord Woe comes tomorrow eve! We must chant praises to his holy name! For he is our salvation, he is one of us, he is us!"

The crowd repeated the chant, their dread voices shaking the foundations of the crypt.

"Woe is us, Woe is us, Woe is us, Woe is us…"

That day, the italian government reported what seemed to be a small earthquake, centered underneath Rome. It was very small, and so, no one cared.

Merlin's dojo/3:56 PM

Baldur had gotten dressed in his workout clothes and had jogged the way to the dojo. He was quite excited to be able to learn some of the stuff he saw in movies. Of course, he knew that some of the more 'mystical techniques' were impossible, but that didn't stop his excitement. He reached the door to the dojo, checked his watch to see that it was just about the appointed time, and walked in.

It was a very simple place. The walls were left white, though with the occasional wall buffer to soften the blow of whoever crashed into them. The floor was padded to also reduce the injuries caused by such lessons. In the center of the room was a boxing ring with gold, silver and bronze ropes (the color was just from the paint of course); slightly rare but not that unusual to see. He saw hooks on the back wall for gloves, equipment and presumably also clothes as well. He could also see locker rooms in the back. But that wasn't what caught his attention.

What caught his attention was seeing a strange man in a leather duster, tricorne hat and glowing red eyes standing in the middle of the room. Baldur was taken aback, wondering who this could be.

"Who are you?"

The man thought, then raised his pointer finger as he went ooh… "That's right, you've never met me in this state, have you? Well," his appearance changed into Merlin's, "does this form seem familiar to you?"

Now Baldur recognized him. "YOU!"

Merlin smirked as he replied: "Me!"

"So wait, you have powers as well?"

"Yes, sort of like Mr. Cain's and Ms. Burlington's, but different in it's own unique way. Although, for this lesson," he switched back to his Mab state, "this form will be the one I require."

Cue Maria walking into the dojo. She too took in the sight of it, before becoming astonished at the presence of Mab. "YOU!"

"Me!"

"What are you doing here?"

"Because I am Merlin. Have been for the past few years. And we are still awaiting one more person…"

Natalie walked in and saw Mab standing in the middle of the room. "Oh, right, it's you-"

Mab interrupted her. "Me!"

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry, I've just been reading a great book series and I wanted to finish the joke. In any case, hello, my future students. My name, outside of this form at least, is Sensei Merlin Arthrawes. Fun fact, 'Arthrawes' is Welsh for 'Teacher', which is quite appropriate for this moment. I will be teaching the three of you in the days to come how to properly throw punches, kicks and other physical blows before we move onto the complicated maneuvers. But first, an object lesson."

"The three of you are going to take turns punching me. Don't worry," he quickly added as he saw their faces, "I've dealt with far worse. As you hit me, I am going to critique you on how well you did and how you can improve. Often times, the answer will just be: 'Do more push-ups each morning', 'Do more lunges', and so on. Other times, however, I will be showing you the proper technique and let you practice until you have it worked out."

"Now Baldur, here, is going to be doing something a little more advanced." Baldur looked at him critically. "Normally, we do a one-hour lesson each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday at 4 PM. He is going to be doing a three-hour lesson starting at the same time and ending at seven."

Now Baldur looked at him in shock. Mab just grinned and smacked his fist into his palm. "This is going to be fun, fun, fun…" Baldur gulped as he comprehended his now guaranteed doom.

An Hour Later…

The three of them were sweaty and tired after practising with Mab. It was one thing to throw a punch. It was another to learn how to throw a proper one, and dozens of times at that. Mab, or Merlin now (he had switched back at the end of it) knew they probably couldn't hold a pen for the next few days. Which suited him just fine.

Maria and Natalie walked out the door, while Baldur stayed inside per Merlin's orders. Merlin looked at him for a moment and said: "You and I are going to spar. You seem to have a natural talent for this sort of thing, so we are going to practice. Afterwards, some meditation is in order. Join me in the ring." Then he leaped the rest of the way into the ring. Baldur's heart sank further at this superhuman spectacle.

Well, crap.

The Streets near the Hotel/A Few Minutes Later…

Natalie and Maria had separated since Maria needed to buy food for Dinner. So, Natalie walked alone down the streets. There was definitely still light in the sky, so that wasn't a problem, but the sunset left creepy shadows in it's wake. As she walked along, she heard the sound of something hard fall onto the ground. She noticed a man had dropped something on the ground, the rest of his arms full of bags containing groceries.

"Um, excuse me miss? Can you grab that thing for me?" To her surprise, he spoke in English. She nodded back to him.

"Of course!"

She picked up the white round object. It looked to be a mask of some sort, albeit one without detail. She picked it up, but the man said: "Actually, I'm not sure that I can carry that home. If you want, you can have it." There was something about him that raised an alarm, but she didn't know what.

(Cue Undertale OST - You Idiot)

"Oh, no, I couldn't take this, it's yours!"

"Actually," the man began. He dropped his bags, took the mask and slammed it on her face. "I must insist," said Angau.

Before she blacked out, she finally realized what had been bothering her:

The man had shown no fear to her presence whatsoever.

Somewhere else/Sometime later…

She woke up. She tried to move, but her body wouldn't respond. She watched as the man before her as he noticed she was awake. He grinned a terrible grin as he saw her predicament.

"Noticed you can't move, Lassie?" He spoke in a vaguely scottish accent. "Well, that's a problem. I wonder why that is. Oh wait, I do know!" He pulled two small figurines out of his pocket: A heart and a sword. He pointed to the sword. "Your new Sword Grace. I own it. That's all you need to know about it. And this," he pointed to the heart, "Your Heart Grace. With it, I own you. You are my servant. I decide when you harm and when you don't. You will kill people in my name. You will kill people in my employer's name. But most important of all, you will kill people. You will slaughter them in droves. You will burn down their homes. You will torture anyone they love, and you will keep doing it until it becomes the only way that you can find pleasure. You will become just like me, a guy who kills and kills and keeps doing so because it's fun. Because it feels so good. That is your new life." He chuckled darkly. "I suggest you get used to it. And your new form, I should mention."

She looked down, and indeed her form had been changed. She was wearing a green and gold silk dress that was both free-flowing and yet scandalously short at the same time. Her hands, normally much abused due to her career, were now soft, yet tough, and the nails were painted a dark purple. She was wearing shoes that looked like the kind you saw on elves in those Keebler commercials. Her hair, normally in some form of ponytail or braid, flowed down her face. Her body had changed as well. Her breasts were much larger and fuller and her legs were longer (It was easy to see in the dress she was wearing). When she touched her face, all that she could feel was something akin to lacquered wood. But what hit her the most was how… empty she felt. She often felt more 'empty' than the usual human being, and until this morning had no idea what that meant. But this was worse. Before, her emotions were subdued, but they still existed. Now, she felt… nothing. She was probably in one of the worst situations a person could be put in, and yet she felt nothing. The man in front of her just kept on laughing, before pulling her face close to his.

"Listen, b %&$, I own you now. You disobey me," his hand seemed to morph and shift before a spearhead emerged from his wrist," and this goes there," he pointed to her heart, then pointed to his crotch, "and this," he pointed to her mouth and eyes, "goes there. You understand me? DO YOU?"

She hurriedly nodded, and he laughed. "That's right. Remember it. You're not human any more. You don't have a soul. You're a puppet, one for the real people of this world to use as they will. I will use you until I use you up, and then you'll be sent to junk heap, along with the rest of the trash. Now, I have a job for you tomorrow, so I suggest," he smacked her upside the head with enough force to knock her unconscious, "you go to sleep."

Back at the Dojo/5:38 PM

For some reason, Merlin had an ominous feeling, so he wasn't paying attention enough when Baldur finally managed to punch him in the face. His celebrating came almost immediately after.

"YES! I DID IT! TAKE THAT, OLD MAN!"

Merlin shook off the ominous feeling and gave Baldur a small smile. "Well done, you took advantage of my distraction. Now, I think that's enough sparring. It's time for meditation." The two of them got out of the ring and sat down on the mat. Merlin entered a lotus pose and Baldur tried to do the same, however he, along with many people trying out meditation for the first time, discovered the uncomfortable truth:

Unless you spend years working at it, the Lotus pose is really comfortable to maintain.

Baldur kept on fidgeting, the pose making his legs sore and constantly hurt. How do those guys in India do this? This is the most terrible thing I have experienced! Merlin secretly smirked at Baldur's discomfort. Programmable muscle memory. You gotta love it. "Now, Baldur, I want you to picture something in your mind's eye. Picture a well. A dry well. In order to get the water you need, you're going to have to dig. Picture a shovel in your hand, and in your head try to dig. Dig and dig until the water sprouts up once more."

Baldur did so. He picture him, at the bottom of the well. He pictured the shovel in his hand, ready to go. He began to dig. He kept on digging, and something began to come out, but it wasn't water. It was bones. Old bones. Giant ones, like you see in a dinosaur skeleton. Excited, he kept on digging more and more. And as he did so, Merlin opened his eyes. They soon widened in shock. Baldur was still meditating, but he was radiating a black aura. In Baldur's mind he kept on digging, excited at all the bones he had found, and in reality the black aura grew bigger and more substantial. As it did so, it cloaked Baldur in it's great darkness. Panicking, Merlin called out to him.

"BALDUR! ENOUGH!"

Baldur's eyes opened immediately in surprise, and the aura dissapeared the moment his concentration slipped. "What?"

"Um, I think that's enough time spent meditating. Let's get back to sparring."

Baldur became exasperated. "Again?! I still haven't recovered from the practice with the girls!"

"Just do it, we're on a time crunch here."

"What do you mean? I'm here for another hour or so."

"That's not what I meant. I have an ominous feeling about tomorrow. I don't think we're going to have a lot of the time we need in order to train."

Somewhere else/Some time later…

Angau walked into the interior of the base. His employer noticed his presence.

"Have you eliminated one of the team members yet?"

Angau laughed harshly. "Better." He beckoned to the darkness behind him. From that emerged a woman in a green and gold dress, with loose hair and long, elf ears. Covering her face was a white mask. Angau looked back at the employer. "I know she looks different, but doesn't she seem… familiar?"

The man shook his head, but a dark shadow emerged from behind him and surrounded the woman, who didn't seem to respond to even that. He eventually fell away her and merged back into the man's shadow.

"I don't know where you got that mask. But I'm not going to question your actions. She's the one without a soul isn't she. You used the mask to transform her into one of the Fair Folk."

"Yep, and I have possesion of her Sword Grace and her Heart Grace."

"What about the other three?"

"I wanted her to get her assignments to get done, so I let her keep the Staff Grace. And I want her to keep the Ring and Cup Graces, because well," a malicious smile appeared on his face, "how else could she suffer?"

"I'm sure Malfeas would love someone like you. Anything else you have for us?"

"I don't think-" he stopped speaking as he sensed something. A frown appeared on his face, and he seemed to concentrate on the ground below him. His face then turned to one of shock. " #%&."

"What is it?" Said his employer.

Angau didn't reply. Instead, he began to furiously dig into the ground, despite the concrete barring the way. Somehow, though, his hands powered through the rock and stone. The boss was confused, and was about to speak, but the shadow hushed him. Angau spent what seemed like an hour digging away. But eventually he stopped, and then leaped out. In his hand was what seemed to be a metal box, slowly building itself into completion. He pointed to it, the fury on his face obvious.

"That," he said in a growl, "is a nuke."

"WHAT?!"

"Wow, that actually caught me by surprise. How did you sense it when we couldn't?"

"I have an… affinity for weapons. So when something is designed to kill a lot of people, it's pretty easy for me to sense. Still, how did this get get so far down below your base? I can tell you now, it wasn't because of some sort of tunnel."

"The Metal Man. Apparently we have underestimated him once more, though how he got access to radioactive isotopes is beyond me."

"He probably used his powers to bring them to him."

"True, but what are we going to do about it?"

"How does any gang try and stop another?"

The man and the shadow looked at Angau. "A turf war?"

"Close, but not quite. Intimidation. It's how anything on the streets gets done. It's why minions obey their bosses until their bosses seem weak. You just have to make them afraid. Demonstrate your power. Summon more of those things you summoned the other day, but in a bunch of place at once. Have your men perform more overt actions. Anything that causes fear, helps."

"For once, a good plan. I like it. And we don't have to tell the people who we are, they will just assume that Rome is being invaded by aliens again."

The boss cringed at the mention of aliens. Angau took notice of this. Is he scared of those Rajita-things that invaded the earth all that time ago? The shadow was watching this as well. Boy, improve your control on your emotions. Or else, I might just have to ditch you for someone else. I can't have my servants be manipulated instead of doing the manipulating.

Back at the Hotel/8:45 PM

Lily was panicking. Natalie had gone missing, and no one knew where she had went. Merlin was too busy teaching Baldur to watch her leave. Maria had gone a separate way in order to buy groceries. And Joseph had looked for a while, but couldn't find her. What am I supposed to do without Natalie? She was my camera-woman, my partner, my friend… Without her, even with these new people…

I'm alone.

She kept pacing around the room, looking at a map of the surrounding area, wondering where Natalie could have gone. She couldn't have abandoned me. This is her career at stake. Plus, she would be trapped in a foreign country. It's a stupid decision to leave me here… isn't it?

This thought made her pause. Wait, I'm acting like how I was with the card. Then, there's no reason why I should be feeling this way, right? It's all just smoke and mirrors, plus brainwashing. She's not that important to me…

...isn't she?

There she was, trapped between admittance and denial, between need and self-preservation. What could she do? Wait. She thought for a while, before admitting, This is an emergency… She grabbed her purse and pulled out something she never had wanted to use again, until now. The card. The Exaltation. It could help her here. Breathing deeply, she raised the card above her head, anime style, and began the chant she had only used once before on instinct.

(Cue Super Smash Bros for Wii U OST - The Valedictory Elegy)

"The Moon Changes! Time Passes! All shall transform in the journey for a better tomorrow! Power of the Moon! EXALT!"

The familiar silver light embraced her and she felt herself grow more confident, more determined. The silver tattoos now on her body began to glow pure white. With a determined look, she ran and jumped out of the open window, shapeshifting in midair into a hawk. My name is Silber, the silver moon. My friend is lost, my chick is gone. I am the hawk, the eagle, the one who rides on harsh winds. Idiots, Villains, Scum, do you really think you are safe from my searching eye?

That night, the moon shined down it's approval.

%\%\%\%\%\%

Thus, Silber is truly born.

Thankfully for Natalie, her friend decided to man up (woman up?) and go look for her. Fun Fact of the Day: As a Changing Moon Caste Lunar, it is her job to sneak, search and slay, all in one fun package! Boy, I'm sure the bad guys will be glad to hear this?

In all seriousness, however, I apologize if the scene with Natalie and Angau brought back some bad memories for people. However, this is what stories are for: They are a catharsis, a way of dealing with these terrible memories and emotions. Though, even I feel bad for Natalie upon rereading this. And I'm the guy who knows that in the end she will come out ahead! Spoiler Alert, I guess, but honestly, even I'm not that kind of person to just pile tragedy after tragedy on a character. Now for the other characters… He he he he he he…

In brighter news (well, technically darker) the undead guys are going to be free of their curse soon… yay? I know that I'm only just now bringing the undead (who's backstory will be expanded upon, oh, I'd estimate by about Chapter 20 or so, as a safe estimate) but they lead to a transition for a new character: Woe, Avenger of the Desecrated Graves a.k.a. Mr. Abyssal Exalt! I know I shouldn't just have 'one character per exaltation' but- wait, I don't have just one, I have both Sansion and Dialydd Mab as Sidereals! Ha, in your face, um, internet, I guess? In any case, Rome is about to experience two terrible things tomorrow: The greatest incursion it's had so far, and the Skeleton Union going on strike. I still think the Skeleton Strike is going to be the greater of the two evils (though, the incursion might create more skele- wait, I'm the author, I know it's not going to create more Undead besides Woe).

As you can tell, for this chapter's author's notes, the theme is "Can't Make Up Your Mind"!

Oh, and the Metal Man's plot was foiled as well. Too bad. In the real world that plan would have been ingenious, but this is Anime Land, and as such, anime tropes apply. So, we can't have the villains defeated until all the heroes assemble! (Yay.)

Also, just to make sure I got everything, yes, I know 'The Valedictory Elegy' is originally from Baten Kaitos Origins, I just like the Smash Bros version better. Not that people have been complaining about that sort of thing, this is just to prevent the complaints.

I think that covers just about everything, so, thank you for your reviews, keep them coming, please continue to keep up with the series, and I will wish you all a good night!

Fare thee well,

Critian Caceorte