She plunged the knife deep into his throat. It was a calculated swing- landing right above his high-collared armored chest plate. His blood, thick and black, splattered onto her face and lips while his fist hovered just centimeters above her face. It was as if she had paused time- Klaus was frozen on top of her, his eyes widened in disbelief and a pained squeak escaped his lips as the knife stuck out from his throat.

She felt disgusted with herself. If Winona didn't feel as though her survival depended on it, she probably would have let the Demon punch her- but she knew that his state of mind was dwindling and the chances of him simply killing her out of rage were greater than the chances that he'd let her live. Despite the fact that the situation was dire, she still felt a wave of remorse and guilt wash over her body. She'd just stabbed her only companion of ten whole years, and it certainly didn't make her feel good.

They spent one last moment together as allies staring into each other's eyes. Then, Klaus's body slowly slumped onto the floor. Winona let the knife fall with his body and for a moment, she felt too afraid to move from the bed. However, with the knowledge that one singular blow to the neck was hardly enough to kill a Demon, she forced herself to shakily crawl from the bed and run to her shoulder bag which she'd planted beside the hotel room door. With the business card still crumpled and clutched in her fist and the bag clutched tightly to her chest, she made a run for it.

As she sprinted down the hallway, the reality of what she had just done hit her like a wall of bricks. She may as well have taken a wasps nest and shaken it up. She knew it would be stupid to assume that she would escape Klaus's eventual rampage unscathed- so, she made sure that she was at the stairwell before he even got the chance to get up off of the floor where she'd left him. She skipped the stairs haphazardly in her panic and even tripped and tumbled down the last few. Luckily, she would reach the first floor with nothing more than a couple of bruises and a scrape on her knee.

The receptionist looked at her strangely while she ran at full speed through the lobby and out the door into the parking lot, but Winona had no time to be concerned about how crazy she might have looked. Not when the Demon who was chasing her could phase through walls. He could be at her side within seconds. So, Winona had no time to waste. The Witch scurried into the street, being immediately pummeled by the shower of rain. It was cloudy- and with the light from the moon obscured, the only light she had come from the light posts that hung over the black pavement of the glossy road. She'd planned to avoid standing in their yellow light so that she could not be detected so easily, but when one of the lights on the street behind her flickered out of the corner of her eye, she paused and slowly turned around.

Klaus stood beneath the flickering street lamp, his bloodthirsty black mist of an aura cloaking his body. Slowly, the mist crawled up the side of the lamp, enveloping it until the light suddenly went out completely. She whimpered and then dashed down the street as quickly as she could. Her heart was thumping so loudly in her ears, amplified by the warm panic that made her tremble. The tears that she cried were hidden amongst the plethora of rain droplets that hit her face sharply as she began to yell out for help- but her cries went unanswered. Her plight could not be heard by the sleeping citizens of the city since it was muffled by the loud heavy rain and crashing thunder.

She wasn't even sure if the Demon was actually chasing her, but she knew it would be a mistake to turn around to find out. So, she let her legs carry her until she was well within the heart of the city. Her lungs were screaming in agony and she had no choice but to stop and catch her breath. She ducked under a bus shelter and puffed on her inhaler, allowing herself to sit and rest for what she told herself would be just a moment. She was beginning to wish she hadn't chosen to wear one of her shorter skirts- but the weather was so lovely earlier in the day. She simply couldn't have predicted a storm as harsh as this. So, she held her shivering body in a desperate attempt to keep warm. As she sat in a ball on the bench beneath the shelter, the flash of approaching headlights blinded her eyes.

It was a black van that approached the bus shelter, rolling slowly until it stopped right in front of her. Winona stood from the bench immediately as it braked and inched close to the sidewalk. She couldn't see who might have been inside of the vehicle due to its dark tinted windows. However, she knew from the awful churning feeling in her stomach that whoever they were, they couldn't possibly have good intentions. She swallowed nervously, refusing to take her eyes off of the vehicle.

Whoever was driving the van must have taken the keys out of the ignition because the lights turned off suddenly and the car stopped running. After a few long agonizing minutes, the passenger-side window slowly rolled down and Winona met eyes with a stranger in a black gas mask. The stranger had yelled something inaudible to her under the deep rumble of thunder, then looked at her as if expecting her to respond. Hesitantly, she shouted back.

"...E-Excuse me?"

A deep, gruff voice came from the stranger in the gas mask. "Are you the Witch?"

She took a step backward, "H-How did you know that?"

The stranger said nothing further to her, maintaining his stare as he grabbed something from his lap. It was a walkie-talkie that he lifted closely to his mask while one of the back windows began to roll down. She adjusted her glasses and squinted, gasping when she noticed the second stranger in a gas mask pointing a crossbow at her from inside the vehicle. The man in the passenger seat spoke into the radio in his hand.

"Target acquired."

As if on cue, the crossbow sent a sharp arrow flying in her direction. She shrieked and ducked to the pavement on the sidewalk while the glass bus shelter shattered from the impact of the arrow. The glittering shards rained over her body, slicing and impaling into the exposed skin on her arms and legs. As the second stranger in the van loaded a second arrow, she dashed out back into the sidewalk only to be stopped by a third man in a gas mask, who stepped out from behind a wall and towered over her clad in a black militaristic uniform. She was going to back away, but the men in the van began to exit the vehicle. So, terrified, she instead rushed out into the road, whimpering and shouting aimlessly in distress.

She now had four pursuers to her knowledge- Klaus and three masked strangers with crossbows and bulky equipment strapped around their belts. She felt like a little critter, scared and vulnerable, being hunted by savage predators whose ultimate goal was to bring her to her very end with the help of their arrows, which they shot at her- catching her by surprise and causing her ankle to fold beneath her. As she tumbled to the ground and yelped in pain, her glasses fell from her face, crunching beneath her knee. She fumbled for them for only a second, but pushed off the ground and left them behind when she heard the boots from the men behind her splashing in a nearby puddle as they got closer.

She had no decent or logical explanation for who those uniformed men who were chasing her might have been. Though, one thought certainly came to mind.

Witch Hunters.

She could think of no other reason for it. Even though it was an illogical, whimsical idea that Klaus planted in her head to keep her imprisoned and isolated inside that hotel room. Even if she knew that her old school textbooks would tell her that Witch Hunters only existed in the dark ages, that's what she called them in her head.

She was faster than the Witch Hunters. It seemed that all of the bulky equipment on their bodies slowed them down significantly. She was actually able to lose them briefly after cutting through an alleyway to the road parallel to the one that they chased her on- so she knew she had to be quick to make her escape- she just didn't know how she was going to pull it off. She collected herself, stopped her whimpering, and gulped her fear. She had to be calm if she was going to survive. So, she slowed her pace after gaining some distance from the Witch Hunters, allowing her thumping heart to rest a bit as she crept upon an empty intersection.

And there it was. Her saving grace.

On the other side of the intersection on the corner of the street, Winona was able to make out the blurry image of a telephone booth. Oh, how her heart rejoiced and fluttered at the sight of it- it seemed that the crumpled business card in her hand would finally be of use to her. However, the emptiness and quiet of the intersection made her pause. Certainly, she couldn't be heard if she made a run for the booth- but she was afraid of being so visible in the wide-open space of the crossroad. She kept trying to force herself to make a run for it, but the anxiety of being a clear shot out in the open like that made her hesitate. Her shoe hovered off of the curb, and she didn't dare budge until she heard a crashing noise from the alleyway behind her. She began to breathe heavily, her breath visible in the cold of the night.

That's when the idea occurred to her. She huffed again, letting the ghostly vapor escape her mouth and nose and disappear into the air. She closed her eyes to concentrate, focusing her intention into every steady exhale. Wet footsteps were now approaching, but she couldn't afford to lose her focus. The vapor that escaped her mouth began to thicken so significantly that she could taste the moisture. Yes. Perfect, her plan was working.

She was enchanting every breath that she forced out of her lungs, breathing a heavy fog into the air like a dragon. It felt like she was blowing mist into the city- but when she opened her eyes she was amazed to see that it was more like she was breathing clouds. The entire road was now hidden away behind the fog that she created. She smiled proudly and wiped the wet rain and tears off of her face. While clutching her bag close, she scurried over to the telephone booth, comfortable under the veil of haze that she had created with her magic.

Espio was having the strangest dream. It was a lovely dream- but a strange dream nonetheless.

Surrounded by bubbles, pearlescent in color, and fragrant like perfume. He sat in the middle of it atop a white, smooth crystal rock. Dipping his feet into the warm, bath-like pond. Fluffy white and pink peonies surrounded its perimeter and the pink petals of cherry blossoms decorated the air like confetti. It was the definition of serenity. The epitome of tranquility. He'd never had such a vivid dream before. He was always such a light sleeper that he hardly even dreamt at all. He didn't mind it, of course. It was the perfect way to unwind before the hard day of work ahead of him.

There was one little detail about this fantasy of his that was beginning to trouble him, however. It was faint, but every once in a while he could hear the squeak of a voice in the distance, however, it was inaudible and weak. After a moment of silence, he'd return to his fantasy, wading his feet in the sudsy water below. This happened a few times until the squeak turned into more of a whisper, then, a whimper. Then, after some time, it turned into a cry. He blinked off into the incomplete distance of the little palace he'd created in his mind, trying to figure out where the cry was coming from.

"Hello?" He called out gently.

The cry responded almost instantaneously. So, he repeated his call out into nothingness.

"Hello? Is somebody there?"

The cry evolved into a word, "Help."

It wasn't desperate. In fact, the pleading sounded puny and feeble. It reminded him of the voice of a scared little kid. He stood on his crystal and peered out into the foggy world around him.

"Hello? Are you hurt? Where are you?"

The cry persisted around him, fluctuating in volume until it became something else. It was no longer a voice, but a sound. A persistent sound that was beginning to annoy him more than concern him. It didn't sound like a person anymore, in fact, it kind of sounded… digital. That's when he realized that the noise from the phone downstairs was beginning to cut into his fantasy.

He rolled over in his blankets, groaning in agitation and holding a pillow over his ears. The phone was blaring in its spot beside the front door in the bar- and there was no way that Espio was getting up at four in the morning to answer it. So, he laid there on his side, allowing the phone to ring for a minute longer until it finally stopped. Relieved, he let out a tired sigh and let himself begin to drift off again until-

RING, RING!

He groaned louder and tossed himself in the other direction, holding the pillow even harder to his ears, allowing the second call to go voicemail. Whoever was on the other line was persistent, but that was going to be Vector's problem in the morning, not his. He sat awake for a few minutes after the last ring before he allowed himself to fall back asleep. But, of course, as soon as he'd drifted back into that fantasy of his, the phone rang. Again.

Angrily, he jumped from his bed on the floor and flung his bedroom door open. He struggled to keep his heavy eyelids open as he marched down the stairs, through the kitchen, then slammed the bar door open. He grabbed the phone with a grip so tight that his knuckles turned white.

He spoke quickly through clenched teeth, "Chaotix residence. I sincerely hope you have a perfect excuse to be calling at such an ungodly hour."

"Espio?"

He recognized Winona's voice as soon as she spoke his name, and he would have been pleased that she had called if the way she said his name didn't sound so distressed. His anger immediately subsided and was replaced by concern.

"Winona? Why are you calling so late?"

"I-I really, really need help." Her voice cracked and exposed her fragile state. Suddenly, the Ninja felt a great sense of urgency.

"What's wrong? Did Klaus attack you?" He glanced over to the kitchen where he saw Vector sleepily descend the stairs, rubbing his eyes and yawning. The Crocodile entered the bar and raised his arms up at the Ninja in confusion as if asking for an explanation nonverbally. Espio could hear Winona stifle a cry on the other end of the line.

"Yes, but, please- I- I'm being chased by someone else now too-"

Espio replied in a dark tone. "Where are you?"

"The city. I escaped Klaus, I think-" She sniffled, "But these guys came out of nowhere and- and there's glass all over and-" The panic in her voice intensified the longer that she rambled, and Espio, in an effort to make sense of what she was telling him, cut her off.

"Calm down, Winona." Vector raised a brow as if interested and listened to Espio, who continued to assure her with a tone that was both severe and delicate at the same time, "You're going to be fine. We're going to come and find you, but you'll have to tell us where you are. Do you know what street you're on?"

"No, I don't. The fog is too thick and I've lost my glasses so I can't read the sign. But, I'm at a phone booth at an intersection- I think... I think there's a pharmacy? I- I'm not really sure. Oh god," She whimpered, then began to whisper into the phone, "Oh god, I heard a noise."

Espio looked outside, thoroughly confused by what she'd just told him. There was no fog. Or, at least, there was no fog visible from their side of the city facing the coast- what on earth was she talking about? He'd grown silent in his confusion, prompting Winona to panic even more.

"E-Espio? Are you still there?"

He cleared his throat, "Y-Yes, sorry. One more thing, Winona." Espio glanced at Vector, whispering at him to go start the car and waving the Crocodile away in the direction of the keys in the kitchen, "What do these men look like, the one's chasing you?"

"I can't see their faces. They're wearing masks and they've got all this stuff- And, they're armed, they shot at me with crossbows and-"

Espio felt like a ton of bricks had just fallen atop his chest. He felt ashamed, just how careless and irresponsible could he be? He was only just assigned this mission a few days ago, and his subject was already in life-threatening danger. His Master was not going to be happy to hear about this.

"Did they hurt you?!" He asked.

"N-No, but they've gotten close and-"

Out of nowhere, the call dropped and Winona's sentence was cut off.

"Winona?" He attempted to call the number back, but he was met with nothing but dial-tone. "Shit!" He hurried outside into the rain where Vector was waiting beside the car with a lit cigarette halfway hanging from his mouth. "Get in the car and drive!" Espio commanded, "Now!" The crocodile responded, flailing his hands around.

"Okay, okay, alright!" Vector let the cigarette fall from his mouth and onto the wet pavement, then climbed into the driver's seat and shifted into reverse before Espio was even buckled in, "Can you tell me what in the hell's goin' on here? What's wrong?"

Espio quickly buckled himself, speaking rapidly to his partner, "Winona's in danger. Klaus attacked her and now she's being chased-"

"-Chased by Klaus?" Vector asked anxiously.

"No, somebody else." Espio reached into the back seat of the car where he kept a tool box full of his own equipment for emergencies. He held the box in his lap and entered a four-digit combination into the lock that kept it firmly shut- a safety precaution he had to make after Charmy ransacked his bedroom when he was nine. The Ninja continued speaking as he opened the box, "They're armed, you might want this." He handed his partner a small pistol, which looked rather ridiculous in the Crocodile's giant hands. Vector looked at Espio like he was stupid.

"You think I need this thing?"

Espio rolled his eyes, "Yes, and you better hope that you won't need it. They have long-distance weapons and they'll be sure not to let us near them. Now, go. Hurry."

Vector pulled out into the city, driving slowly so that Espio could scan the sidewalks as they passed- there was still no visible fog like Winona had described, so Espio urged Vector to lay on the gas and go just a little faster. They were about four blocks into the city when they finally saw it. It was a little hard to miss, actually. As soon as they turned a corner, their windshield was met with a barricade of cloudy mist that not even their headlights could penetrate. The detectives looked at each other with matching boggled expressions.

"What is goin' on here?" Asked Vector in quiet wonder as he pulled over to the curb and turned the car off.

Espio had the chills. The fog reminded him of his dream- where, just beyond his pond of bubbles and wall of peonies, the world was nothing more than a vague white mistiness. And from that mist, a voice called to him, pleading for help. He couldn't ignore how prophetic it felt to now be sitting in the warmth of their little grey car, surrounded by a cloudy fog and knowing that Winona was out there somewhere desperate for their aid. It was no coincidence, he was certain of it.

The deja-vu overwhelmed him, rendering him speechless. Vector stared at him from the driver's seat and waved his hand in front of his face.

"Earth to Chameleon! Helloooo?!"

Espio returned to reality with a jolt, blinking at his partner in surprise, then promptly looking away with slight embarrassment, "L-Let's just go." The Ninja ignored Vector's bewilderment and stepped out of their vehicle, stocking kunai and shuriken into the tactical harness that he strapped on his chest. Vector appeared at his side, maintaining a concerned gaze on Espio, who continued to ignore him.

"This fog is thick, we'd better stick close or we might lose each other." The Ninja said as they both paced the sidewalk and readied their weapons. Besides the sound of the rain crashing onto the ground, the city was otherwise quiet. The silence coupled with the fog created an eerie atmosphere that one would expect in a horror movie or a sci-fi film- and it made the detectives all the more cautious. As they passed the alleyways, they would strategically scale around the corners of the buildings, then scope out every nook and cranny so that they couldn't be taken off-guard. They repeated this strategy until they were four blocks in the heart of the city- and still, they hadn't found Winona. Espio's concern was beginning to swell in his chest, and he didn't feel any bit better when they found the shattered bus shelter.

"Jesus. What coulda' happened here?" Vector wondered aloud as Espio crouched to examine the broken glass on the ground. He grabbed a sizable shard off of the sidewalk and lifted it to his eyes. As he took a closer look, he found remnants of blood on its sharp edges. He felt his fingers and face begin to tingle- somehow, he knew that the blood belonged to Winona.

"Nothing good." The Ninja replied in a dark tone as he stood and dropped the glass back onto the ground. "Let us continue. We're wasting precious time."

The Crocodile nodded and followed Espio down the road, their pace quickened significantly. They searched high and low as much as they could, but the thick and unrelenting fog made it nearly impossible. He was growing impatient and perhaps even a little anxious, but he had no time to dwell on his emotions. So, he allowed his disciplined mind to push his feelings back into the back of his head. He had one thing to be focused on, and nothing else; the safety and wellbeing of Princess Winona Aetherborn.

The detectives cleared the entire street and took their pursuit to the other side of the block. Once they had cleared not even half of the second street, Espio stopped himself after he heard a crunch beneath his shoe. He lifted his foot then crouched at the spot, grabbing the mangled remains of Winona's oval glasses. As if it was a relic, the Chameleon could feel some sort of energy emanating from them. They made him feel something that he simply couldn't explain. Fear in its most primal form. Terror like he'd never felt before. But it wasn't his feelings that he was feeling- no, he wasn't the one who was afraid. It was like her glasses were enchanted- coded with the emotions that she'd been feeling before she'd discarded them.

"God damn it." He muttered in a growl, looking down the street wondering just where the Princess might have been taken. The scope of the fog was huge, and they hadn't even searched half of it yet. He crouched to the ground, supporting his body on his tiptoes as he closed his eyes to think. Vector loomed over his shoulder, frowning as he set his eyes on the ruined pair of glasses.

"That's not good." The Crocodile whispered, shaking his head, "Who do you think these guys chasing her might be? What's their motive?"

Espio released a sharp exhale as he stood, "I haven't any idea. She said they were masked-" The Ninja looked down at the golden framed glasses that glinted as he turned them over in his hands, "Assassins, perhaps? Mercenaries hired by her brother to kill her? There's a number of possibilities." He turned away from his partner and held the golden framed glasses tight between his fingers, "Regardless of the reason, we're going to stamp them out."

"You mean- have them arrested, right?" Vector asked nervously as he observed Espio's vicious tenacity. "You're kinda makin' it sound like you're going to kill them."

"...Certainly, if it's necessary." Espio whispered.

"What? Speak up, Es. You know, you've been acting really weird about this-"

Espio silenced his partner by shooting him an intense warning look and spoke quickly as if annoyed, "I'll answer whatever questions you have later, but for the time being I don't have time to address your concern, Vector." He then stood, squinting and peering into the white misty void. Vector seemed a little offended and unsatisfied with Espio's answer. He had opened his mouth to reiterate his suspicion, but he stopped speaking as soon as a shattering sound could be heard nearby. The two detectives looked at each other with their mouths agape and slowed their pace.

Then, there was a scream.

Winona.

Espio didn't even think, the heels of his feet just pushed off the ground and he disappeared, sprinting right into the fog. Vector called after him, but the Ninja ignored his fellow detective's pleas to slow down so that he could catch up. The rain felt like needles on his face as he rushed against the flow of the wind in the direction that the scream originated from. Espio felt the pressure of his Master's expectations weighing on him, and he had no interest in letting her down. He wouldn't accept failure- Not when he had the opportunity to prove himself as the mighty Shinobi that knew he was. It was a fantasy that motivated him to push his body past its limits. Winona's vitality was his goal, and it was a goal he was going to achieve no matter what it took.

The men in the masks had to be eliminated.