-Chapter 7: Complications-

Bridget sighed as he sat beside May and Dizzy, playing idly with his yo-yo while the trio sat outside the manor, upon what could be considered as the "porch" of the manse. Johnny was nowhere to be found. In fact, he'd been missing for the past seven hours! Venom and Zato had been missing for even longer. And the three were left with only each other and their own musings. Finally, after the boredom became too much to bear, May spoke up.

"You know, Johnny's been gone way too long, you guys. I think we should find out what it is he's up to," she muttered. Bridget stopping playing with the yo-yo to respond.

"But we already know what it is he's doing, May—chasing women!"

"Exactly! He should be here with us, planning to help these assassin people out!"

"But we haven't come up with a plan yet, May," Bridget said, setting the yo-yo into his lap. May growled, causing Bridget to think twice about what he'd said.

"OF COURSE WE HAVEN'T!!!! THAT'S WHY HE SHOULD BE WITH US—TO HELP!!!" she roared. Bridget chuckled faintly.

"Ah heh…well…I can go find him May!!" he quickly offered. "And you can stay here with Dizzy, okay?" he said, standing up. May seemed to lower her temper upon hearing those words.

"Fine," she muttered. "But hurry up."

"Okay!" Bridget yipped, turning around to go into the manor to search for Johnny. As he opened the doors and walked into the massive place, he looked over the dark setting. As usual, silence was always to be found, along with the massive gothic statues that were loitered along the walls here and there. Partially afraid of the grotesque statues, he meandered through the halls, testing his accuracy with his yo-yo out on the air every now and again in the process.

"Jeez... this place is creepy!" he murmured, noticing how dark the atmosphere was.

"You think so?" a voice echoed throughout the halls. Bridget turned around almost instantly.

"Huh?" he gasped nearly. The owner of the voice stepped into view…it wasn't Zato or Venom…a tall man with a tie that resembled a crucifix stood before him now…and Bridget somehow felt that this man was far older than what he looked. "Who are you?" he asked. The man chuckled and bowed gracefully before speaking.

"A friend, my dear…are you lost?" he asked. Bridget shook his head.

"No. I'm looking for Johnny," he responded. Slyer cleared his throat a moment before smiling broadly.

"Are you sure that he is here?' he asked. Bridget again nodded enthusiastically.

"Uh huh! He's been here for a while. Mister Zato and Mister Venom said we could all stay a few nights," he went on. The man's eyebrow arched quizzically before he exhaled a moment.

"Oh? Is that so?" he questioned, watching the boy nod some more.

"Yeah! We're supposed to be helping Dizzy with some dream she had," he said. The man rubbed his chin a moment before clicking his tongue a few times.

"I see..well, you know what? If you want, how about I help you find this Johnny of yours, mm?"

Bridget seemed overwhelmed with joy at hearing that.  It would be a lot faster to find Johnny with two people instead of one anyway.

"Okay!" he chirped. The man chuckled and began to walk ahead of the boy, motioning for him to follow.

"I think I know where to find him, as a matter of fact," the man added. "This shouldn't take long.."

-

Zato began to sweat as the darkness was beginning to take hold of him. He couldn't breathe..he was trying to gasp for a breath of air, but it wasn't working. He was suffocating. And whatever was inside of him was taking over. Just as he felt himself losing it, an image of Venom broke into billions of pieces, right before his eyes. And afterward, everything stopped. He was dead.

"Ga-ah!!" gasped as he sat up in bed quickly. Panting, he wiped the cold sweat from his brow, and quickly looked around him. It was dark. And Venom was still there, by his side, dreaming away silently, as usual. Placing a hand over his own heart, Zato realized that he had been dreaming. Another nightmare. The third, to be exact. And they all were the same: of himself and Venom being destroyed simultaneously. Did this mean that it all would come true?  Slowing his breaths, Zato looked at Venom once more before pushing himself out of bed. The floor was cold…thus, this was proof that this was not another nightmare. Sighing, Zato slipped on a pair of leather pants, and stepped outside the bedroom, and into the hallway. Silence. Shaking his head a moment to clear away a barrage of thoughts, Zato decided to take a walk through the small forest that surrounded the manor. Once within the main hallway, he began to admire the grotesque statues scattered throughout the massive room. In a way..they mirrored him. Great titans…dark…yet somewhere, within them…a light lingered. A faint sigh erupted from within him before he continued toward the door, and opened it. As he did so, a sharp pain shot through him, and he gasped, collapsing onto his knees, and held his stomach. As he looked down at his hands, he noticed that blood was beginning to stain them. Looking back toward the opened door, Zato could only manage a few words.

"…M…Millia Rage…?" he uttered. The partially decomposed body that belonged to Millia smiled evilly in turn, her tone of voice distorted greatly, as though her vocal chords had partially decomposed as well.

"Good to see you again, Zato," she said, her eyes narrowing as parts of her partially decomposed body was beginning to regenerate, and her tone was beginning to return to normal. Her image was the last he saw before darkness filled his world, and he collapsed on the ground. Millia stepped over his body as she sighed, looking back at his sprawled form before smirking.

"I used to think that there was a balance in this so-called family," she began. "But now I see that that is not true…you always favored Venom…" she said in disgust before continuing on.

"So I might as well allow him to join you."

-

Johnny smirked as he left the doorway of one of the women assassin's rooms. Of course, he'd failed in getting anywhere with her, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't go away on an angry note. Instead, he smiled at her and closed the door with a goodbye. Once the door was closed however, he cursed extravagantly underneath his breath.

"…Goddammit why can't they just say 'Okay Johnny, we love you come into our bedroom?!?!?!' But noooooooo, it's 'I'm sorry, Johnny, but our code prohibits us from blah blah blah blah blah' shut the hell up!!" he growled as he walked briskly down the hall. His tone disappeared as he caught sight of Bridget, who was walking and talking alongside a taller, older man. Quirking a brow, Johnny stopped in his tracks, and pulled his sunglasses down a little so that he could look at them a little better. Bridget was the first to notice him, and made it known by waving extravagantly.

"JOHNNY!" he yelped before taking off toward the pirate, and expressing his great amount of joy by leaping into Johnny's arms.

"May's been looking all over for you!" he yipped. Johnny chuckled as he caught Bridget, and set him on the ground.

"I figured. Who's that guy?" Johnny asked with a motion of his hand. Bridget turned around, but the man he meant to introduce was no longer there.

"Um…I didn't get his name…he just said that he'd help me find you.." he murmured. Johnny blinked a few times. "Bridge….you sure you weren't seein' anything?" he questioned. Bridget blinked a few times before gnawing on his thumb absent-mindedly.

"Umm…yeah, I'm pretty sure that he was there…" he said. Johnny rubbed his temples a moment before sighing.

"Alright, kiddo…let's go," he murmured before he and Bridget continued on down the hall.

-

Venom woke quickly, sweat pouring down his face as he gasped for breath. There was something incredibly wrong. He could feel it. Placing a hand where Zato should have been, beside him, Venom found nothing more than a handful of bed sheets. Not wanting to waste another second, Venom pushed himself out of bed almost impulsively, and dashed outside of the room and into the hallway.

No…no, it's not happening again…I won't let this happen again…I will be responsible! I will—.

Venom's train of thought was halted immediately as he beheld a fully regenerated Millia Rage, whose smirk widened even more as she looked at him.

"We meet again, brother.." she said, almost in sarcasm. "It is time for you r sister to put you to bed, just as you have for her…once, already. But this time," she began, wiping a smidgen of dirt from her face before continuing. "Unlike me…you won't be coming back from your trip…"

"Is that so?" Venom growled as his single visible eye narrowed greatly. Millia nodded gently.

"Yes…because, without your dear Zato, you …are…nothing," she sneered. Venom's eyes widened gently, but not enough for her to notice.

"If you hurt him, I swear—."

"He's already dead, Venom. Again, even. So," she began, as she watched Venom's visible eye twitch in grief briefly. "I think it's time you joined him."

-

Dizzy looked at the sky as the dusk began to melt into night gently upon the horizon. Hugging her knees close to her chest, she sighed as a cold feeling began to creep along her spine. May noticed this, and brought it to attention.

"What's the matter, Dizzy?" she asked. Before Dizzy could answer, a dark shadow swept by them both before a tall man clad in black, yet as pale as death stood before them; a crow perched upon his shoulder, and a scythe in hand.

"Dizzy…I received your call. What is happening?" he asked. Dizzy shuddered violently as her jaw began to clench.

"I…I don't know, Testament..the feeling is getting worse…but I'm trying to place it. Something is happening…something horrible.." she whispered. Testament breathed silently as he closed his eyes, tuning into his own sense as well. As he was doing this, Sol Badguy stopped beside him. Looking at the both of him, he growled faintly.

"You don't need intuition!! There's a fight going on in there!" he bellowed. Both Dizzy and Testament shook their heads simultaneously.

"No…something else..something far more terrible…so many things.." they said in unison. Sol blinked, along with May.

"What the hell..?" Sol began. As he and May pondered what they were talking about, the door to the Assassin's Guild flew open, and Venom flew outside, slamming back first into a nearby tree with a groan. Sliding to the ground with blood beginning to trickle from his mouth. As he did his best to stand, Venom noticed that the others were beginning to attempt to battle with the undead Millia. Throwing his hand ahead of his face, Venom shouted quite loudly as to stop them.

"STOP! DON'T TOUCH HER! THIS IS TO BE HANDLED ONLY BY ME!" he ordered. Everyone stopped and looked at him, while Millia slowly stepped down the stairs, and began to approach him.

"But…but Venom," Dizzy began.

"NO! SHE.." Venom began, fighting back tears of both rage and sorrow in the process before the next words were able to part from his lips. "SHE KILLED ZATO! HER LIFE IS MINE TO TAKE!" he roared. Testament sighed before stepping back, pushing the others with him in the process with an unseen force.

"He is correct. Revenge should only be for him, for he is the mourner…" he said slowly, Sol bit his lower lip before holding in a gentle mutter of words that would normally have been emitted.

"SOL!" a familiar voice rang throughout the air as the onlookers of the duel between Venom and Millia turned around quickly to see who the possessor of the voice was. Ky Kiske. Standing a few yards or so away; the thunderseal in his right hand as he looked on with a bright smile on his face….and again, that name was emitted from his lips a little more gently…as if he were speaking that name from the heart once more for himself.

"Sol…I….I missed you…" he whispered. To his dismay, however, Ky's bright greeting was not met with the same response as he'd hoped for. Instead, Sol gave him a soulless glare, sighed, and turned back around.

"Ky. Leave. Now. Before you lose your mind," Sol ordered. Testament heard all this, and did not move nor speak. He looked at Sol a moment, then back at Ky, knowing where all of this was beginning to head. As Ky heard those words, his smile began to fade, and a more of a confused look was scribbled upon his visage.

"What…what do you mean..? Sol…?" Ky asked, remembering now the tracks that he saw. He hoped the words that came from Sol's mouth next weren't what he thought they would be. They couldn't be. They'd better not be…

"Ky..I don't love you. Now go," were those words that came from Sol's mouth blatantly. And just as cold-heartedly did Sol watch Ky's expression of puzzlement fall into that of deep despair and sadness.

"….You…you…you used me…didn't you?" Ky whispered as a few tears began to form in his eyes. "You…bastard…you lied to me.." he said, a bit of hatred growing in his tone. "No…no…you would never say that…no…not…no…it was him, wasn't it?!" Ky accused, pointing his thunderseal at Testament, who looked back at him just as heartlessly as Sol did. "IT WAS YOU! YOU MANIPULATIVE FUCK!! YOU DID IT, DIDN'T YOU?! DIDN'T YOU?!?!" Ky cried insanely as his eyes began to widen. Sol turned his back on Ky.

"I told you to leave…you're only hurting yourself," he muttered. Ky became blind with jealousy and hatred. His thunderseal began to crackle with that same hatred, as the pure blue electricity began to crackle and ensnare the thunderseal completely with his growing fury. Sol could feel his hatred—his animosity towards Testament growing more and more with every passing second. And it was because of that that the fireseal was beginning to glow with its own fury. Sol clenched his fists, feeling the rush of adrenaline pulsing through his body. Testament could feel it, too. But nothing escaped from his mouth. Ky's fury grew too much for him to bear, and as he charged on, towards Testament with a hatred raging far more than that of Sol's blood when in battle, the fireseal blocked his swing toward the Gear.

"I'm sorry, Ky…but I can't allow you to harm him," Sol said nonchalantly. This made Ky even madder.

"HOW COULD YOU!!?!" he roared. Sol shook his head.

"I thought I loved you, but I don't."

Ky's tears began to flow more freely.

"Why…..why are you doing this..? I loved you!"

"But I don't love you…I'm sorry.." Sol said again.

"I…can't believe you…..I…won't be able to forgive you for this.." Ky whimpered, retracting the thunderseal. Sol sighed, stepping in front of Testament. The fireseal was brought in front of his face as his eyes closed.

"Then Ky…we are as we were before….let's rock."

-End Ch 7-