Masomi

I woke up, still on the couch in Bertha's home. The smell of food was already flooding the house. If Bertha hadn't ever became a Caretaker, she probably would have gone into the restaurant business as much as she cooks. But it was clear to see she was happy working with us Fallens.

It honestly didn't ever seem to matter to Bertha where she ended up in life. I sat up on the couch, my back popping several times because I hadn't moved all night. My stomach growled, telling me that I wanted whatever that smell was. In order to find out, I walked into the kitchen.

Just as I pictured, Bertha was over at the stove and cooking away. She only cooked like this when either she had a large crowd to feed, or she was really stressed out over something. And since it was just me, her, and maybe one other Fallen hiding in the house, she was probably stressed.

She had every right to be. Kiba was trying to start a war, and no telling what else his twisted mind had thought up. "In a cooking mood this morning?" I asked her, trying to lighten up the tone. She hadn't even noticed that I had been in the kitchen until I said something.

"Oh. Don't startle me like that, Masomi." I rolled my eyes. Yeah. She was stressed. If Bertha was ever so focused on frying bacon that you snuck up on her, then she was almost to the point of pulling her hair out. I placed my hand on her shoulder and said, "Calm down. You don't have to watch the bacon that intensely."

She sighed. "I know, Masomi. But you know how I get when I'm under stress." I nodded. She had mellowed out in her age, but I had heard stories about when she first became a Caretaker. She could hardly handle the stress of tending to the Fallens, much less accepting the fact that we were real beings, and not just creatures from books.

I was happy that I Fell when she had gained more experience, because I was getting cut up around every corner until I learned who I needed to keep my mouth shut around. She put the bacon down on a plate with paper towels. There had to have been an entire package of bacon that she cooked.

I stared at it, and began to wonder if she had cooked anything else. If she had, then I didn't see anything else sitting around. "Planning on feeding an army?" I asked and then realized the irony in my statement. Bertha and I were pretty much planning on building our own army to counteract Kiba's.

She smiled, obviously not catching to accidental joke I made. Or if she had, she wasn't going to acknowledge. Bertha does know how my mouth gets me in trouble. I grabbed one of the strips of bacon and took a bite. "So, how are we going to plan out this thing against Kiba?" I asked between bites.

I finished the strip, then looked back at the plate. The amount that she had cooked was ridiculous. I knew I could only be killed by another Fallen, but I was pretty sure that much artery-clogging meat would kill me. "We need to find somebody to start recruiting. That's the only place we can start," she said while scrubbing the skillet she cooked in.

If that was our square one, then we didn't have much choice but to go along with it. "But who can we get to go around and recruit? They at least have to be somebody that's in pretty high-standings with the Fallens. Or else they won't listen to him." It was for sure that none of the Fallens were going to listen to or take me seriously.

So, I was out of the question. We sat there, a plate of bacon between us, and thought. I could practically feel the smoke coming out of my ears. Everybody I thought of, already seemed to be on Kiba's side from what I had been told. Bertha was coming up empty-handed as well.

"What about Paul?" she asked. I cringed at the name. "Seriously? Paul?" Of all of the Fallens she could have picked, she had to pick the most arrogant one of them all. I hadn't ever talked with the guy personally, but I did know a thing or two about him. He was like that kid in your class that thought they were better than everybody, and you didn't want to admit that they were.

"I think Paul would be a good candidate for our recruiter," said Bertha, not understanding the loathing I felt for this certain Fallen. But Paul was fairly respected among the Fallens, despite his young age. Everybody always would say something like, "Oh, it's because Paul is wise beyond his years."

I rolled my eyes. Bertha sighed. "I know you don't like him, but what other choices do we have?" I thought for a moment then smiled and said, "We could get a sewer rat. I'm sure that will work just as well as Paul would." Bertha narrowed her eyes at me, making my sarcastic smile vanish.

I growled, not wanting to admit that Paul was the only option we had at the moment. "You're right. But I don't even know where he's been hiding out," I told her truthfully. Paul had pretty much vanished recently. Almost around the time Kiba started to make his move.

Did Paul know what was going on before it really started up? Bertha traced circles on the table with her finger. "I'm sure I can find somebody who knows where he's at." If anybody could, it was Bertha. I stood up and said, "Well, you can hunt for him, Bertha. I'm going down to the hangout for a while." I pushed the chair back under the table.

Masomi

I had to shield my eyes when I stepped outside. Even though the sun and sky were shielded from all Fallens, it was still brighter than I expected it to be. This is what I get for staying in Bertha's dimly lit home for so long. You could pretty much plan on going blind if you stayed too long at Bertha's.

She only seemed to keep one lamp on. Sometimes she'd have on two, if you were lucky. I went down the well traveled path back to the hangout that every Fallen in the city went to. I still couldn't believe nobody had bothered to name the place. It was probably for the best so humans wouldn't find it.

I knocked on the door, and immediately thought of Landis. He wouldn't be answering that steel door ever again. I wondered if anyone had found his body. Everybody probably knew though. Or were at least wondering why Landis wasn't at his usual post. I knocked on the steel door.

When it opened, it was somebody completely new. For a moment, I was actually expecting Landis. This is going to take some getting used to. The new Fallen didn't speak, but only opened the door for me, and closed it when I walked inside. Rude.

There was a somber feel in the air, which meant that the Fallens in here knew that Landis was dead. I found a Fallen that I knew and asked him, "Do you know if Kiba is back there?" I didn't want to run the risk of running into my new enemy, since he had made sure to keep me out of this place for a long time.

The Fallen shook his head. "He never showed up this morning." I thanked him and went to sit at the bar. I sat down on one of the spinning stools, and turned a few circles until I got dizzy. I stopped, and allowed myself to let my vision settle back in. I then began to look over the crowd of Fallens that were sitting around on couches and chairs.

How many of them were on Kiba's side? It was so hard to tell now that Kiba had his roots so deep within the Fallens. I sighed and turned around to face the bar. The bartender, also a Fallen, offered me something to drink.

I shook my head, declining his offer. Maybe coming here wasn't the best of ideas. Something caught my eye further down the bar. I turned and looked to see who it was that I recognized. Sitting there, at the very end, was Paul.

Masomi

My jaw almost hit the floor. Of all places to find him after he went into hiding, he was sitting in most popular spot for Fallens in Bay City. He was sipping on some kind of drink. How had nobody been able to know where he was at, when he was sitting right there?

My natural hate for him began to stir, but I had to subdue it when I remembered that we needed him on our side. I got off of the bar stool, and walked over to him. What if he didn't want to help fight against Kiba? I stood there next to him. Paul glanced up at me and said, "Can I help you with something?"

I hated the tone in his voice. It told me that he was already annoyed with me. "Could you come with me to Bertha's?" He turned around on his barstool, and raised an eyebrow. "That Caretaker lady? Why would I want to go there?" I was biting the inside of my cheek, trying not to come up with something smart to say. "Because, we need some help with a problem, and you're the only one we could think of."

I didn't want to blurt out that we needed him to help stop Kiba, since I was standing in a room filled with Fallens, and half of them were on his side. Paul kept the same annoyed expression on his face. "What problem?" This guy wasn't making it easy for me to explain to him our issue.

If it were anywhere else than this place, I would have blabbed to him the whole story. But, I wasn't anywhere else. I was in this place. The home base for Kiba. The very place that I had introduced to him. "I can't really talk about this problem here, cause this is where the problem kind of is. If you would just go with me to Bertha's, I'll explain everything you want to know. Then you can tell us whether you'll help out or not."

He sat there for a moment and thought over my offer. I was tapping my foot as I waited for his answer. How could anyone take this long to answer a simple yes or no question? Especially since he had been hiding. And I seriously doubted he had any plans or dates to go on later this afternoon.

"Alright. As long as I don't have to worry about you bothering me if I say no." He stood up and started to walk away. I stood there, stunned that he had flat-out insulted me. "Hey! Are you going to show me where this woman lives, or not?" Paul yelled across the room. A few Fallens were looking back and forth at the two of us.

Yeah. Could you be anymore obvious? I hurried across the room to catch up with Paul, who had already walked out of the steel door. The new Fallen who had taken Landis's place, still said nothing to me as I walked by, or anything to the Fallens who were walking in at the same time. Already, the world seemed to be changing.

spur of the moment inspiration. :p gotta love it so. i'm sure you all saw what i did there. ;p because i dont. XD lol. there might be another upload sunday, i doubt friday since i'm busy as a bee that day. well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~