I blinked a few times at the little girl in front of me, startled by her just suddenly appearing. She blinked back and I looked back at LJ for at least some kind of explanation, but he just narrowed his eyes at me in irritation.

"Uh-" I tried, but the little girl interrupted me with a squeal of joy.

"Jack!" She squeaked and ran over to the entity. "You're back, you're back!" I watched as the little… dead child cling to LJ's leg, blinking in surprise as he ruffled her hair a bit with a small smile.

"Hey kiddo, how's it going?" He greeted, not maliciously or jaded like he usually was, a smile creeping on my face. Was this what LJ was doing for who knows how long? I smiled a bit more until LJ caught my stare and glared.

"What?" He snapped and my grin widened.

"Nothing." I replied cheekily and LJ narrowed his eyes at me. I shrugged and looked back at the little girl when three more kids came up out of nowhere and clung to the entity. I laughed and the kids looked up at me in surprise.

"Who're you?" A little boy asked.

"Yeah, are you a friend of Jack's?" Another girl chirped.

"Jack's got a new friend? Yay!" I could hear LJ groan at the excited chatter of the kids, who seemed to be quickly multiplying from four to six. To ten. To twelve. I laughed as the now group of kids started questioning LJ about who I was and why I was here. There were so many of them, it was like being in a classroom full of kindergarteners.

But the best part was LJ wasn't really annoyed or malicious like he normally is.

"For a guy that doesn't like people, you sure got a lot of kiddos clinging to you." I pointed out as LJ scowled at me.

"Shut up." He muttered. I grinned playfully as a couple of kids walked up to me, eyes full of curiosity and wonder.

"How do you know Jack?" One asked and I shrugged.

"He was hanging with this orphan kid at this place my aunt was investigating." I replied, earning a few 'oohs' and 'ahhs'.

"Yeah, and you caused a lot of trouble." He pointed out.

"Did not, you started it." I countered before raising a brow. "And you haven't said a single cuss word since we showed up here, what gives?" LJ rolled his eyes and motioned to all the kids.

"You think I want a horde of kids repeating that stuff?" He asked. "Yeah, right, I ain't going to be teaching these kids any of that…. stuff." I laughed and was about to reply when I was cut off.

"Laughing Jack you filha da mãe!" A sharp voice barked, causing all of us to jump and turn towards them. I blinked and studied the woman before us all. She was clad in what looked to be leather armor covering her chest, her pelvic area, and her arms. On her back was a wooden bow adorned with leather, feathers, and some beads made from what seemed to be aquamarines or turquoise. Her dark hair was tied back with a strip of leather and her emerald eyes narrowed at the tall, monochrome entity. She looked like that one chick Xena from the TV show Xena: Warrior Princess or whatever it was called. LJ narrowed his eyes at her as well.

"What? And what the f…what did you just call me?" He snapped at the woman, the group of kids huddling around as if they were watching a TV show.

"Filha da mãe." She stated, but slower, as if she was talking to a small child and put a hand on her hip. "It is what you are. Now where in the name of the gods have you been, you lazy good for nothing!"

"I was busy!" He growled.

"Doing what?" Her glare hardened. "Consuming the demon rum?" I blinked at this. The demon rum? Did she mean…

"You drink?" I asked as the two looked at me. LJ seemed livid that I asked and I almost burst into laughter there. What I wouldn't give to see LJ stumbling around in a drunken stupor.

"Used to." LJ ground out, turning back to the Amazonian. She glared at him before looking at me curiously.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"My name's Allie." I greeted, nodding towards her with a raised brow. "And you are…?"

"Aviana." The Amazonian replied proudly. "It is nice to meet you, Allie. Why are you around this idiota?" I snickered as LJ gave a low growl.

"Well…" I trailed off and put my hands behind my head, letting out a long whistle. "It's a bit of a long story."

"I wanna listen!" A little girl squealed in excitement, rushing over to me and sitting down.

"Me too! I wanna hear a story!" Another piped in and followed.

"Yay! Stories!" I laughed as all the kids began demanding a story while Aviana and LJ had a glare war between each other.

"Yes, I would like to know where this desgraçado went." Aviana stated as she waves a hand at LJ, whom gave her the most offended look.

"Did you just call me a disgrace?" LJ growled.

"Close enough." Aviana huffed with her arms crossed and I laughed, shaking my head at the two.

0o0o0o0o0o

"So…" Aviana murmured, tapping her chin in thought. "You saved that idiota?" I nodded while LJ growled at the way she put it. I giggled at his reaction and dodged a hit from the entity.

"Hey, I pulled her out of the da—stupid building." LJ said and Aviana scoffed.

"Because of your recklessness you almost got several people killed." She scolded and LJ raised a brow.

"My recklessness? What the f-hell are you talking about?" LJ snapped. "I was watching over a kid!"

"You were not told to watch over the boy and you have several dozen children to watch here." Aviana countered.

"What, you expect me to just leave the kid by himself?" LJ hissed. "I'm an asshole—" A collection of gasps along with an apology from LJ. "—But I'm not heartless."

"Nah, I'm pretty sure you're heartless." I grinned at the entity while LJ just glared at me dully. Aviana shook her head.

"Regardless, Laughing Jack, you're a desgraçado." LJ snarled at her and turned away, glaring at one of the broken down tents. I snickered and looked back at the Amazonian.

"So, how do you know LJ?" I asked and Aviana got this disgusted look on her face. Like my very question offended her.

"He stumbled upon my tribe, drunk." She told me dully. "Idiot wanted to bet, so I took him up on his offer. Somehow the drunken babaca won." I blinked in surprise at this. LJ drunkenly won a bet? Not with just anyone, but an Amazonian?

Had to give the guy some credit there.

"What was the bet?" I pressed, wanting to know the details, but she just glared.

"I would rather slit my wrists than to talk about the shame of that day." She deadpanned while LJ laughed and we looked at the entity.

"What? Don't wanna admit a drunken desgraçado beat you?" He taunted as Aviana snarled at him.

"Shut your mouth, idiota." She snapped, causing LJ to laugh again and I shook my head.

"Wow, you guys fight like a married couple." I stated and they both looked at me with horror and disgust.

"Hell no!" They both said at the same time before glaring at each other, causing me and the other kids to laugh.

"Enough." Aviana murmured, rubbing a temple and looking at me once again. "Now, what is it you said about the Tall Man? He wishes to… 'train' you?"

"Yeah, basically." I replied. "Since the whole 'soul bound' thing, he thinks we need training."

"Stupid f… monster." LJ muttered, crossing his arms with a pout. I almost lost it and started laughing at the sight. "I don't need any fricking training."

"Jack, you're an idiot and you need much training." Aviana snapped. LJ turned to her and glared, growling lowly at the Amazonian. I snickered at their behavior, wondering if I should tease them about the whole married couple thing again, but brushed it off.

"Honestly, I think we both could use it." I said, causing LJ to look down and glare at me. "I'm sure we can defend ourselves fine on our own, but together? Hell, I think we're going to kill each other before any demon can get ahold of us."

"Ditto." LJ agreed.

"Then it may be best to try and work as a team. I pity you, Allie. I would sooner impale Jack rather than work with him." Aviana said with a grimace and I laughed lightly.

"You already work with me." LJ reminded the woman as she glared at him.

"Not by choice you filha da mãe." She retorted in spite and LJ shrugged.

"Hey, I didn't remember sh-crap. You could've pretended that the bet never happened." He pointed out.

"It would be against my code of honor."

"F-Screw your code of honor."

"I'm this close to shooting an arrow in your eye. Again."

"Okay, that's enough." I said as I walked between the two of them. "Come on LJ, I'm sure it's close to morning and I'd like to get some sleep tonight." LJ growled at the Amazonian before turning away and walking off. A few of the kids made disappointed sounds as I followed, making me look back and see their sad faces. I wonder how long it had been since he'd last been here. Did he come when Cory was sleeping? I was surprised when LJ paused his gait and turned back, saying his goodbyes before we walked out of the carnival.

"So…" I started, putting my hands behind my head as I could feel irritation begin to come from the entity. "An Amazonian, huh? Not just an Amazonian, an Amazonian warrior princess…"

"Yeah, what of it?" LJ snorted and kicked at a rock. "She's a bitch." I laughed lightly and whistled

"You kidding me?" I asked. "She's hot." LJ stopped walking again, turned to look down at me and gave me the most confused and appalled look.

"The fuck kid." He deadpanned.

"What?" I countered with a mischievous grin, knowing that I was pretty much freaking him out at this point. "I'm just saying. If she stepped on me, I'd thank her."

"Jesus Christ." LJ groaned as he turned and started walking away from me. "That's… no. Just no."

"Totally mommy material."

"Just… shut the fuck up kid."

0o0o0o0o0o

And that's that! For a bit anyways... I'm still working on chapter 29, so the updates might be slower from here on out.

Sorry if the portuguese is off! I had to use google translate... but a friend helped me with a few translations. :)

Until next time! Don't forget to comment and all that good stuff. It's nice to hear what you, the reader, thinks of my story!