Chapter 2
Fall of the Rose King
He left school a little early that day, he didn't want to deal with the people there for now. Walking around the city streets he could only think of his shelter for tonight. In this dimension he did not have shelter provided for him, he had to find one. This was going to prove to be a more difficult task.
Looking around, not many places were available for him. He decided that he must take one for himself; but where? He needed a good place that was close to the queens, and he didn't even know where they were. He desperately began to look around for even one of the queens, any of them would do. Looking around he finally saw her. She had blonde hair that came back into two ponytails that came down to her feet. She was walking by herself, only a small black cat following her. Her girl's outfit skirt flying back and forth with each of her steps. This was the Moon Queen, head of all the queens of the planets.
She was walking along the sidewalks, inspecting a locket she held in her hands, and holding it as if it was her most precious possession. Suddenly, as he was watching her, she turned off into an apartment complex. "That must be it," he said to himself as he followed her.
Walking up to the apartments, he watched her go into her room, it was on the top floor of the building. That made it much easier to spy on her. He began to look around for a good room to take from their occupants. He then noticed in a nearby building of the complex was a vacated room, it seemed perfect.
When Zeo went to the room, he found that it was, in fact occupied. There in the middle stood a small creature that was only about two feet tall. It had a demon like appearance, having a deep red skin, a bald head with two small horns coming off of it. Two small bat-like wings came off it, helping him to hover, as his scrawny legs could not do so. It carried itself in a hunching manner; almost gliding across the floor as it hobbled up to Zeo. Zeo began to reach back for his scythe as it came up to him, rubbing against his feet.
"Hello there, Zeo." It said to him in a raspy voice. "Welcome to your new home..." It trailed off, walking back into the apartment, beckoning him to follow. Zeo walked in and noticed that the apartment had various pieces of furniture littered about the place. The demon thing offered him a chair and took one nearby and began to speak.
"Oh I'm sorry, my manners are terrible. My name is Yuugi, and I have been sent to inform you of the distractions. You see, Huyi has foreseen that the sailor scouts will notice you if you do too much or be too active, so she has sent some forces to distract their attention from you. She does want you to know one thing, though they may be her forces, your mission is more important, and they do not know about you. If one gets in your way, you may kill it at your pleasure." The thing paused for a minute, letting this fact sink into the mercenary as he continued, "Also she sent me to prepare this place for you." It motioned to the room. "I hope it serves you well, until we meet again, good luck on your task." It waved a strange stick around and it disappeared into nothingness.
Zeo looked around the room, noticing the décor was awfully new. No dust or decay, nothing. He saw that on the couch was a small stuffed animal. He picked it up and began to inspect it and noticed immediately that something was wrong. It was ripped open in the shape of claws, there was blood all over it, and was seemed to be a lock of hair was imbedded in it. "Someone had lived here, and he killed them... killed them for... me?" The thought shocked him at first, but he soon lost caring as he took the doll and tossed it into the air. Before it could hit the ground, balls of red energy shot from his hands, making the doll burst into flame and turn into ashes almost instantly. He only smirked to himself as the ashes hit the ground. "Well might as well fix this place up..." He finished, looking around.
***
After a good few hours of work, Zeo felt that the room met his tastes. The walls were colored a deep Red, with Black Furniture everywhere. Inside he made the walls somewhat crushed in, but not weak. He liked that beaten up look. Also he had changed his bedside so it had more weapons nearby, you never know when to be prepared. Various swords, daggers and knives of all kinds surrounded it. After he finished he began to notice it was getting dark. It was time to go retrieve his clothes and get ready to begin his mission.
He left the apartment, wearing his schoolboy uniform. Traveling through the streets he kept noticing the people that passed him by. All their faces, with some other form of imperfection. This made them all distinguishable to Zeo. Some had scars, others had crooked noses. All the way he kept nothing his favorite imperfections as he traveled to the spot with his leather.
Traveling into the spot, he noticed the boy's body was still there, now only it smelled worse. His skin also now had a greenish tinge to it, the look of horror still upon his face, which was two feet away from his neck, from his death. He felt somewhat sorry for the pour soul, forced to smell and see the decay and festering of his own corpse. Zeo decided it would be best, for him and the boy, to destroy the corpse. He raised his hand, a small ball of energy gathering in his hands. It glowed a deep blood red as he released it and it flew toward the corpse, the body then burst into flame as it hit it and began to burn into ashes.
Zeo watched the dancing of the flames mystifying him and he could only hook his smile into a crooked grin. The body finally after ten minutes stopped flaming and was now mere ashes upon the floor of the alley. He walked across the ashes, his boots kicking them softly as he walked over to his outfit and retrieved it, brushing off any ashes upon it as he walked out of the alley, the boy's ashes flowing in the wind behind him.
* * *
Walking along, it was now getting dark, and Zeo began to walk back to his new home to get ready to kill the Moon Queen tonight. Walking along he heard screams of terror coming from a abandoned building nearby. He walked up to the building peering within the cracked windows. Inside he saw a sight that made him smile brightly. The queen of Jupiter was inside, and she was in trouble. One of the monsters sent by Huyi was attacking her, and she was alone, very alone. As he looked in she was shouting, "Jupiter Power! MAKEUP!" and out of her locket she began to transform.
Zeo decided to intervene would be fun, and he quickly threw off his schoolboy outfit and threw himself into his leather. He threw his school clothes aside as he jumped into an upper level window. He snuck his way through the upper levels of the building, making his way down to the battle. Various animals scurrying away as they crossed his path. He had to look at the floor, to make sure it wasn't going to give way beneath him. Many steps he took, the floor creaked and sounded like it was going to break, but he moved away just in time.
His heart beat, faster and faster with every step he took closer to the battle. The excitement was almost too unbearable, he wanted to strike now upon her, make her scream in agony for all the pain she had caused him. To do so was childish however and Zeo restrained himself as he finally got to a ledge nearby, a clear view of the battlefield below him. The ledge was shrouded in darkness and he decided here was a good place to start. Jupiter was the only one there, fighting what looked like some kind of insect creature.
It stood almost seven feet tall with four arms, all were razor sharp on the end for stabbing. Jupiter was trying to use her earth abilities on it, and it was holding him back, but it was obvious it was not even hurting him. Try as she might, he kept coming back for more from her. Zeo smiled as he gathered another red energy ball similar to the one he used on the boy. He released it and it hit Jupiter straight in the back.
"AAAGH! What the hell was that?!" She cried in pain. Only to jump aside from the Insect monster's assault. It kept coming for more, but in her horror she realized she was on fire, her sailor outfit now being consumed by flame. Zeo chuckled silently to himself as he moved to another part of the ledge and was preparing to fire another, bigger blast, when suddenly the door burst down. A wave of water consumed Jupiter and put her out, as the other sailor scouts came flying into the building. The queens then hurried to their injured comrade, all except for the Moon queen who shot the monster a dirty look and posed in a battle position.
"You.... How dare you hurt my friend! You only cause pain and suffering! So in the name of the moon..." she then went into another pose, this time pointing at the monster, "...I will punish you!" She finished. Zeo only rolled his eyes in amusement. That seemed so childish, so meaningless, "Just attack him if you're that mad," he said to himself. She then began to assault the monster, shooting various attacks at it, and this time it began to feel pain. Her wand waved with a gliding motion, the monster screamed in agony and Zeo decided now would be good to kill the Moon queen, her comrades still attending to Jupiter.
He gathered a ball again, this time it was a gold, yellow color. He gathered as quickly as he could and shot it. To his horror she stepped out of the way and the insect moved into the way, taking the full blast in his stomach. The creature could only scream in pain and rage as he began to dissolve into nothingness. His body seemed to turn to acid, falling to the floor, making it turn an unusual green color. He cried one last time, his body now fully deteriorated, the last drop of his remains hitting the floor of the building with a loud drop.
The Moon queen could only look up in surprise, trying to figure out whom had helped her. She then caught a glimpse of Zeo's face; it slightly illuminated by the energy still in his hands. A look of pure rage upon it as he quickly put his energy's illumination out and ran up and away as fast he could. As he ran out of the building he heard behind him, "Who was that guy?"
* * *
Zeo was now back in his home, swearing in languages that he didn't know he knew. He threw his school outfit aside; the force of it hitting the wall almost made it the wall break. He smashed his hand into the wall, his hands now bleeding profusely. He cursed more at the pain and sat down on his furniture to fume. All that he had accomplished was to injure one, but only injure; she would be fine by tomorrow. He cursed more, he had a chance to kill them all; if not all, at least one of em. It was now gone, they were now in the safety of their homes. The thought almost made him cry, he had failed, when it would have only been so easy to succeed. His faith in his ability to do his mission was now slipping.
As he thought this, it occurred to him, the Moon queen lived only a small walk away, and her fight now weakened her. It was a perfect time to strike her and kill her, while she was alone. An evil smile crossed his face, his doubts and rage disappearing and replaced by pure glee. Zeo got his things and patched up his hand before he got up and left. Making sure that the walls had no marks left in them.
He got up onto the rooftops and began to jump from roof to roof, looking for her window. As he looked and looked for what seemed forever he saw her, lying in her bed asleep. A wicked smile crossed Zeo, "This is too easy," he muttered to himself. He began to gather some energy in his hands when suddenly a rose cut the ball in half. The rose then fell to the building, impaling the roof, the rose now sticking out. Zeo held for a few seconds before looking over to his attacker.
He stood tall, wearing a black tuxedo with a black top hat, a cape flowing from his back. A mask covering his face, a rose in front of the mask held in his glove hands. He looked to Zeo, his mask facing him.
"I don't know who you are, but you are so not welcome here!" He then threw a Rose at Zeo's head, and he only laughed evilly as he moved his head to the side, his legs not moving an inch.
"So your Tuxedo Mask... or Darian... or the Rose King... which do you preferred to be called? Or should I just call you dead?" Zeo said as he pulled the scythe off his back. A smile still across his face. The man seemed taken aback, shocked that this unknown killer had known his name; not just one, all of them.
"How do you know who I am?!" He cried to Zeo, you could almost see the confusion through the mask. Zeo laughed to himself.
"I'll tell you if you manage to beat me," He raised his scythe, the blade now ready, "that is... if you can beat me." He then charged the man as he prepared another Rose. The Rose king jumped aside as Zeo took a swipe with his scythe and threw a rose at him. The close range may have meant Zeo's death, but he then turned quickly to the side as he sliced the rose in half with his blade, each half going to one side of his face.
"Is that it?" Zeo mocked him. The man grunted in anger and out from his cape came a cane that he began to use as sword. He slashed it at Zeo, only to have it blocked by the shaft of the scythe. Zeo laughed into the man's mask. Mocking him further, the rage growing in him was obvious as he charged Zeo in an all out assault. A scream of rage filled him as Zeo only jumped to the side and swiped at the man. The scythe tore through the king's flesh, and a scream of pain filled the air as blood began to drip from his side. He grabbed his side in a reflex, trying to make the bleeding stop, and the pain. It was no use however, the fear now beginning to show through his mask. As he looked upon Zeo, blood now upon his scythe. Zeo then cocked his head to the side, a bigger smile upon his face.
"Any last requests, dead?" Zeo said, mocking him again. The king's filled with hatred and anger. He kept staring at Zeo, who kept mocking him. The man could only grunt in rage as he pulled one last rose out and threw it at Zeo. Zeo smiled more as he grabbed the rose in mid-flight. The man's eyes went wide in shock as Zeo then brought it up to his nose and smelled it.
"What a lovely scent" Zeo muttered as he threw it at the man, the rose driving deep into the man's tuxedo. Blood began to leak from it as the man's eyes filled with more fear than Zeo had ever seen in any one person, as suddenly his eyes grew dead. The king's arms fell to the side of his body and he began to fall, the last thing he heard was Zeo's piercing laughter and mocking as the body hit the floor of the roof, very limp. Zeo walked up to his body and kicked it over the side of the roof, a grunt of happiness and victory issuing from Zeo's throat. It fell to the floor of the street below with a thud as Zeo jumped after it.
Zeo thought at first of incinerating the body, but the thought was too merciful to this man, who had done so much to him. A sewer drain was nearby and Zeo's glee only grew as he kicked his body into it, hearing it hit the murky water with a large splash. He heard the body begin to float downstream.
Zeo decided that was enough for the night, and the Moon queen could wait another day. He began to run back to his home, as he heard the queen's voice behind him.
"Who's out there? What's going on?" She cried out. Zeo ran more quickly, hoping to avoid her gaze. He then heard her window close behind her and he breathed a sigh of relief. He walked slower, trying to look casual as he climbed the stairs back into his home. He threw his clothes aside, and not caring he was half-naked, fell upon his bed and quickly went to sleep.
Fall of the Rose King
He left school a little early that day, he didn't want to deal with the people there for now. Walking around the city streets he could only think of his shelter for tonight. In this dimension he did not have shelter provided for him, he had to find one. This was going to prove to be a more difficult task.
Looking around, not many places were available for him. He decided that he must take one for himself; but where? He needed a good place that was close to the queens, and he didn't even know where they were. He desperately began to look around for even one of the queens, any of them would do. Looking around he finally saw her. She had blonde hair that came back into two ponytails that came down to her feet. She was walking by herself, only a small black cat following her. Her girl's outfit skirt flying back and forth with each of her steps. This was the Moon Queen, head of all the queens of the planets.
She was walking along the sidewalks, inspecting a locket she held in her hands, and holding it as if it was her most precious possession. Suddenly, as he was watching her, she turned off into an apartment complex. "That must be it," he said to himself as he followed her.
Walking up to the apartments, he watched her go into her room, it was on the top floor of the building. That made it much easier to spy on her. He began to look around for a good room to take from their occupants. He then noticed in a nearby building of the complex was a vacated room, it seemed perfect.
When Zeo went to the room, he found that it was, in fact occupied. There in the middle stood a small creature that was only about two feet tall. It had a demon like appearance, having a deep red skin, a bald head with two small horns coming off of it. Two small bat-like wings came off it, helping him to hover, as his scrawny legs could not do so. It carried itself in a hunching manner; almost gliding across the floor as it hobbled up to Zeo. Zeo began to reach back for his scythe as it came up to him, rubbing against his feet.
"Hello there, Zeo." It said to him in a raspy voice. "Welcome to your new home..." It trailed off, walking back into the apartment, beckoning him to follow. Zeo walked in and noticed that the apartment had various pieces of furniture littered about the place. The demon thing offered him a chair and took one nearby and began to speak.
"Oh I'm sorry, my manners are terrible. My name is Yuugi, and I have been sent to inform you of the distractions. You see, Huyi has foreseen that the sailor scouts will notice you if you do too much or be too active, so she has sent some forces to distract their attention from you. She does want you to know one thing, though they may be her forces, your mission is more important, and they do not know about you. If one gets in your way, you may kill it at your pleasure." The thing paused for a minute, letting this fact sink into the mercenary as he continued, "Also she sent me to prepare this place for you." It motioned to the room. "I hope it serves you well, until we meet again, good luck on your task." It waved a strange stick around and it disappeared into nothingness.
Zeo looked around the room, noticing the décor was awfully new. No dust or decay, nothing. He saw that on the couch was a small stuffed animal. He picked it up and began to inspect it and noticed immediately that something was wrong. It was ripped open in the shape of claws, there was blood all over it, and was seemed to be a lock of hair was imbedded in it. "Someone had lived here, and he killed them... killed them for... me?" The thought shocked him at first, but he soon lost caring as he took the doll and tossed it into the air. Before it could hit the ground, balls of red energy shot from his hands, making the doll burst into flame and turn into ashes almost instantly. He only smirked to himself as the ashes hit the ground. "Well might as well fix this place up..." He finished, looking around.
***
After a good few hours of work, Zeo felt that the room met his tastes. The walls were colored a deep Red, with Black Furniture everywhere. Inside he made the walls somewhat crushed in, but not weak. He liked that beaten up look. Also he had changed his bedside so it had more weapons nearby, you never know when to be prepared. Various swords, daggers and knives of all kinds surrounded it. After he finished he began to notice it was getting dark. It was time to go retrieve his clothes and get ready to begin his mission.
He left the apartment, wearing his schoolboy uniform. Traveling through the streets he kept noticing the people that passed him by. All their faces, with some other form of imperfection. This made them all distinguishable to Zeo. Some had scars, others had crooked noses. All the way he kept nothing his favorite imperfections as he traveled to the spot with his leather.
Traveling into the spot, he noticed the boy's body was still there, now only it smelled worse. His skin also now had a greenish tinge to it, the look of horror still upon his face, which was two feet away from his neck, from his death. He felt somewhat sorry for the pour soul, forced to smell and see the decay and festering of his own corpse. Zeo decided it would be best, for him and the boy, to destroy the corpse. He raised his hand, a small ball of energy gathering in his hands. It glowed a deep blood red as he released it and it flew toward the corpse, the body then burst into flame as it hit it and began to burn into ashes.
Zeo watched the dancing of the flames mystifying him and he could only hook his smile into a crooked grin. The body finally after ten minutes stopped flaming and was now mere ashes upon the floor of the alley. He walked across the ashes, his boots kicking them softly as he walked over to his outfit and retrieved it, brushing off any ashes upon it as he walked out of the alley, the boy's ashes flowing in the wind behind him.
* * *
Walking along, it was now getting dark, and Zeo began to walk back to his new home to get ready to kill the Moon Queen tonight. Walking along he heard screams of terror coming from a abandoned building nearby. He walked up to the building peering within the cracked windows. Inside he saw a sight that made him smile brightly. The queen of Jupiter was inside, and she was in trouble. One of the monsters sent by Huyi was attacking her, and she was alone, very alone. As he looked in she was shouting, "Jupiter Power! MAKEUP!" and out of her locket she began to transform.
Zeo decided to intervene would be fun, and he quickly threw off his schoolboy outfit and threw himself into his leather. He threw his school clothes aside as he jumped into an upper level window. He snuck his way through the upper levels of the building, making his way down to the battle. Various animals scurrying away as they crossed his path. He had to look at the floor, to make sure it wasn't going to give way beneath him. Many steps he took, the floor creaked and sounded like it was going to break, but he moved away just in time.
His heart beat, faster and faster with every step he took closer to the battle. The excitement was almost too unbearable, he wanted to strike now upon her, make her scream in agony for all the pain she had caused him. To do so was childish however and Zeo restrained himself as he finally got to a ledge nearby, a clear view of the battlefield below him. The ledge was shrouded in darkness and he decided here was a good place to start. Jupiter was the only one there, fighting what looked like some kind of insect creature.
It stood almost seven feet tall with four arms, all were razor sharp on the end for stabbing. Jupiter was trying to use her earth abilities on it, and it was holding him back, but it was obvious it was not even hurting him. Try as she might, he kept coming back for more from her. Zeo smiled as he gathered another red energy ball similar to the one he used on the boy. He released it and it hit Jupiter straight in the back.
"AAAGH! What the hell was that?!" She cried in pain. Only to jump aside from the Insect monster's assault. It kept coming for more, but in her horror she realized she was on fire, her sailor outfit now being consumed by flame. Zeo chuckled silently to himself as he moved to another part of the ledge and was preparing to fire another, bigger blast, when suddenly the door burst down. A wave of water consumed Jupiter and put her out, as the other sailor scouts came flying into the building. The queens then hurried to their injured comrade, all except for the Moon queen who shot the monster a dirty look and posed in a battle position.
"You.... How dare you hurt my friend! You only cause pain and suffering! So in the name of the moon..." she then went into another pose, this time pointing at the monster, "...I will punish you!" She finished. Zeo only rolled his eyes in amusement. That seemed so childish, so meaningless, "Just attack him if you're that mad," he said to himself. She then began to assault the monster, shooting various attacks at it, and this time it began to feel pain. Her wand waved with a gliding motion, the monster screamed in agony and Zeo decided now would be good to kill the Moon queen, her comrades still attending to Jupiter.
He gathered a ball again, this time it was a gold, yellow color. He gathered as quickly as he could and shot it. To his horror she stepped out of the way and the insect moved into the way, taking the full blast in his stomach. The creature could only scream in pain and rage as he began to dissolve into nothingness. His body seemed to turn to acid, falling to the floor, making it turn an unusual green color. He cried one last time, his body now fully deteriorated, the last drop of his remains hitting the floor of the building with a loud drop.
The Moon queen could only look up in surprise, trying to figure out whom had helped her. She then caught a glimpse of Zeo's face; it slightly illuminated by the energy still in his hands. A look of pure rage upon it as he quickly put his energy's illumination out and ran up and away as fast he could. As he ran out of the building he heard behind him, "Who was that guy?"
* * *
Zeo was now back in his home, swearing in languages that he didn't know he knew. He threw his school outfit aside; the force of it hitting the wall almost made it the wall break. He smashed his hand into the wall, his hands now bleeding profusely. He cursed more at the pain and sat down on his furniture to fume. All that he had accomplished was to injure one, but only injure; she would be fine by tomorrow. He cursed more, he had a chance to kill them all; if not all, at least one of em. It was now gone, they were now in the safety of their homes. The thought almost made him cry, he had failed, when it would have only been so easy to succeed. His faith in his ability to do his mission was now slipping.
As he thought this, it occurred to him, the Moon queen lived only a small walk away, and her fight now weakened her. It was a perfect time to strike her and kill her, while she was alone. An evil smile crossed his face, his doubts and rage disappearing and replaced by pure glee. Zeo got his things and patched up his hand before he got up and left. Making sure that the walls had no marks left in them.
He got up onto the rooftops and began to jump from roof to roof, looking for her window. As he looked and looked for what seemed forever he saw her, lying in her bed asleep. A wicked smile crossed Zeo, "This is too easy," he muttered to himself. He began to gather some energy in his hands when suddenly a rose cut the ball in half. The rose then fell to the building, impaling the roof, the rose now sticking out. Zeo held for a few seconds before looking over to his attacker.
He stood tall, wearing a black tuxedo with a black top hat, a cape flowing from his back. A mask covering his face, a rose in front of the mask held in his glove hands. He looked to Zeo, his mask facing him.
"I don't know who you are, but you are so not welcome here!" He then threw a Rose at Zeo's head, and he only laughed evilly as he moved his head to the side, his legs not moving an inch.
"So your Tuxedo Mask... or Darian... or the Rose King... which do you preferred to be called? Or should I just call you dead?" Zeo said as he pulled the scythe off his back. A smile still across his face. The man seemed taken aback, shocked that this unknown killer had known his name; not just one, all of them.
"How do you know who I am?!" He cried to Zeo, you could almost see the confusion through the mask. Zeo laughed to himself.
"I'll tell you if you manage to beat me," He raised his scythe, the blade now ready, "that is... if you can beat me." He then charged the man as he prepared another Rose. The Rose king jumped aside as Zeo took a swipe with his scythe and threw a rose at him. The close range may have meant Zeo's death, but he then turned quickly to the side as he sliced the rose in half with his blade, each half going to one side of his face.
"Is that it?" Zeo mocked him. The man grunted in anger and out from his cape came a cane that he began to use as sword. He slashed it at Zeo, only to have it blocked by the shaft of the scythe. Zeo laughed into the man's mask. Mocking him further, the rage growing in him was obvious as he charged Zeo in an all out assault. A scream of rage filled him as Zeo only jumped to the side and swiped at the man. The scythe tore through the king's flesh, and a scream of pain filled the air as blood began to drip from his side. He grabbed his side in a reflex, trying to make the bleeding stop, and the pain. It was no use however, the fear now beginning to show through his mask. As he looked upon Zeo, blood now upon his scythe. Zeo then cocked his head to the side, a bigger smile upon his face.
"Any last requests, dead?" Zeo said, mocking him again. The king's filled with hatred and anger. He kept staring at Zeo, who kept mocking him. The man could only grunt in rage as he pulled one last rose out and threw it at Zeo. Zeo smiled more as he grabbed the rose in mid-flight. The man's eyes went wide in shock as Zeo then brought it up to his nose and smelled it.
"What a lovely scent" Zeo muttered as he threw it at the man, the rose driving deep into the man's tuxedo. Blood began to leak from it as the man's eyes filled with more fear than Zeo had ever seen in any one person, as suddenly his eyes grew dead. The king's arms fell to the side of his body and he began to fall, the last thing he heard was Zeo's piercing laughter and mocking as the body hit the floor of the roof, very limp. Zeo walked up to his body and kicked it over the side of the roof, a grunt of happiness and victory issuing from Zeo's throat. It fell to the floor of the street below with a thud as Zeo jumped after it.
Zeo thought at first of incinerating the body, but the thought was too merciful to this man, who had done so much to him. A sewer drain was nearby and Zeo's glee only grew as he kicked his body into it, hearing it hit the murky water with a large splash. He heard the body begin to float downstream.
Zeo decided that was enough for the night, and the Moon queen could wait another day. He began to run back to his home, as he heard the queen's voice behind him.
"Who's out there? What's going on?" She cried out. Zeo ran more quickly, hoping to avoid her gaze. He then heard her window close behind her and he breathed a sigh of relief. He walked slower, trying to look casual as he climbed the stairs back into his home. He threw his clothes aside, and not caring he was half-naked, fell upon his bed and quickly went to sleep.