Thank you all who gave me good reviews.

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Gene woke up slowly the next morning. He was still curled up against the wall in his bedroom, and he forced his bloodshot eyes open. He had not gotten much sleep that night.

He stood up stiffly and walked over to his bedroom door. He moved to open it, but his hand stopped an inch short of the keypad. He sighed sadly. He would not be able to face Aisha this day. Not after what he had almost done. He forced himself to open the door, and stepped out into the hallway. Staring at the floor, he made his way reluctantly to the kitchen.

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"Where's Gene?" Jim wondered aloud. He was sitting at the breakfast table with Melfina and Aisha. "That lazy bastard! Is he still asleep?"

Melfina shook her head sadly. "I don't know. He didn't look too well yesterday."

"Yeah," Aisha chimed in. "He looked like somethin' scared him."

One of Melfina's eyebrows rose questioningly. "Not much can scare Gene. are you sure?"

Aisha just shrugged. She was about to say something, but as soon as she opened her mouth, Gene entered the kitchen. He moved slowly, with a pained look on his face, but when he saw Aisha he quickly turned to look the other way.

Jim glanced at his sullen friend, and then he gave Aisha a look that said, "What the hell is wrong with him?"

Gene sat down quietly next to Melfina, as far away from Aisha as possible. For once, Aisha didn't even try to start a fight with him, only gave him a worried look.

After a quick glance around the table, Gene turned to Jim. "Where's Suzuka?" He asked.

Jim smiled at him in an attempt to lighten the solemn mood in the room. "Oh, don't worry about her. She went out to buy some supplies somewhere."

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Suzuka walked down the busy streets, a large bag in one of her hands. It was quite heavy, but it didn't seem to faze the warrior. Suddenly she stopped to lean against the front wall of one of the buildings. She looked across the street at all of the shops in front of her. She would need to stop at most of them; Gene's "supplies" covered a wide range of items.

"Twilight Suzuka," a voice behind her stated, startling her. She spun around to find who had made the remark. Her eyes met with those of a blond haired man in a long, black trenchcoat. His cold blue stare burned into her eyes. If she was not as disciplined as she was, she would have flinched. "Strange finding you here," the man continued.

Still keeping her face as smooth as ever, Suzuka asked, "Who are you?"

"Gene has met me. I'm surprised he hasn't mentioned me."

"He hasn't. But, how do you know my name?"

"I have my methods." The man chuckled. Suzuka began to back away slowly. This man was very strange.

"What do you want?" She demanded.

"What I want? I want to duel you. Ah, yes. the great Twilight Suzuka. A superb challenge."

Suzuka cringed inwardly. This man was treating a duel like a game! He was crazy!

Slowly, she drew her boken. "All right then. if you really want to fight me, we'd best take this somewhere a bit less conspicuous."

The man in the trenchcoat nodded. "Follow me," he said simply.

Suzuka glanced back and forth nervously as the man led her through winding streets to a dark back alleyway. He walked to its dead end and stopped, turning around to face her. "There," he said. "Is that good enough?"

"Yes." Suzuka muttered uneasily. She had a very bad feeling about this. This man could be leading her into a trap.

"Ready?" He asked casually, whipping a long gun out of his trenchcoat. Suzuka stared at it in surprise. It looked almost exactly like Gene's Caster, but different. Simply looking at it made the hardened warrior want to shiver.

"Ready," she replied as calmly as she could, holding her boken out in front of her with both hands.

"All right, then," the man whispered. "Fight!"

As soon as he uttered the last word, Suzuka was charging at him in an attempt to get a first move in. Right when she was almost upon him, he stepped casually aside. Suzuka gritted her teeth as his fist connected hard with her back, and she was sent sprawling forward. She stood up quickly, gasping. "Damnit!" She yelled at him. "I couldn't even anticipate that!" The man simply smiled. He raised his gun to fire, and Suzuka ran.

Her eyes locked forward, she was about to glance to her left to get her adversary in sight, when the energy blast slammed into her side. She gasped as she was smashed against the concrete wall, the air rushing out of her lungs.

Seth walked over to the fallen warrior, frowning. "Damn," he said. "I thought you'd be more of a challenge that that."

Suddenly, Suzuka's arm whipped out and her boken slammed into the ground at his feet. A huge explosion seemed to shatter the alleyway, and when the noise subsided, she looked up. The man in the trenchcoat was gone. Suzuka sighed and stood up.

She froze as she was pulled up the rest of the way, feeling a cold gun barrel pressing into the side of her head. Damn! She thought. How could I let him trick me like that?

"Alas, even an experienced member of the OLS crew is uninteresting. Oh, well, maybe I'll have better luck with the others." The man sighed. "Oh well, I am done with you," he continued. "Do you want to know who I am? Listen carefully, because it is the last name you will ever hear. I am Seth Furngollse!"

That final statement echoed darkly in Suzuka's mind in the few seconds before the man pulled the trigger.

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Gene lounged on the couch at Starwind & Hawking's, eyes narrowed with boredom as he flipped idly through the channels. They had not gotten one call that day asking for their services.

Suddenly, something on a channel caught his attention, and he switched back to it hurriedly. He did not know exactly what made him do it.

It was a news program. There was an announcer on the screen, standing by the entrance of an alleyway. There was screaming that could be heard in the background, and silent lights flashed. Gene turned up the volume slightly.

"To all who are watching this," the announcer began, "Heifong has just experienced a second horrific murder, both on the same day. The first victim was identified as a salesman named Fred Luo. I don't know how they did it; there wasn't very much left of him."

Gene's eyes widened, and his mouth quivered. He could not believe this was happening.

"It now appears that the grim remains of yet another victim have been found in this very alleyway that I am standing by. Officials have already identified the person as a young woman by the name of Twilight Suzuka. Officials say that-,"

Gene switched off the TV. The controller fell from his shaking hands, and tears welled up in his eyes. The slaughter had begun.

"SETH!!!" His scream of rage could be heard all throughout Heifong.

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To be continued.