Disclaimers: They don't belong to me, except for Iri, though. Iri's all MINE! Hehehehe.

Warnings: This chapter contains. . . not much, really. It's really short, as my chapters go. Have fun reading.

Schuldich carefully watched his sister's reactions. First came shock, followed closely by something akin to disgust. He turned away, unable to meet her gaze. Consequently, when she spoke, it took him completely by surprise.

"I can't believe she asked that of you, Viccy." Iri said, her voice still carrying tones of disgust.

Schuldich's head whipped around to stare at his sister.

"I . . . I wouldn't have been able to do that. God, what a selfish bitch." Iri continued.

"It wasn't her fault," Schuldich found himself instantly defending his mother. "She was never as strong as Father.

"Still, to ask a 13 year old to end a life . . . that's selfish and cruel. I don't think I can forgive her."

"Don't blame her. It was those Estet bastards that pushed her off the edge."

"Don't make excuses for her. She was your mother. She should have been thinking of you first . . ."

Iri would have said more but just then, Crawford cleared his throat.

" 'Those Estet bastards' are gonna show up in 20 minutes let's wrap this up. Iri, why don't you come with us? we can talk in the hotel room"

"Okay," Iri replied without hesitation.

"Wait, Iri, aren't you gonna go tell Uncle Vince where you're gonna go? He might get worried." Schuldich asked.

At Iri's weary look, Schuldich asked more closely.

"You are still living at Uncle Vince's, aren't you?"

"Yes . . . but he won't be worried." Iri replied, evasively.

Schuldich sense her evasion and narrowed his eyes once more.

//There's something you're not telling me. Something big. What is it?//

//I don't want it to ruin our reunion. I'll tell you latter.//

//You better.//

With one last suspicious look toward his sister, Schuldich moved toward the stairs.

"Alright. Let's go," he said as he passed Crawford.



The hotel key slid through the lock with little resistance. The light on the lock turned green and Crawford opened the door. The sight that greeted them was not that which was expected.

"YIYYYYYYYYYYYYYIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII," Came the war cry. Farfarello came flying at them, his knife in hand and his single golden orb opened wide.

"Nagi," Crawford said sharply. Farfarello, froze in mid pounce.

//Meet our fourth and final team member. That mad gentleman there is called Farfarello. We sometimes call him Farf, or Farfie. He doesn't seem to mind so . . . .//

//Mad?//

//Yup. Certifiably so.//

Iri's eyebrow but otherwise didn't comment. Instead, she watched Nagi methodically pack Farfarello into a straightjacket. As soon as Farfarello was safely secured, Crawford took out a syringe from his bag and inserted it into Farfarello's neck. He injected half of the contents of the syringe into Farfarello's system before withdrawing the needle and putting it away.

"That should hold him for at least 4 hours," Crawford said calmly.

Schuldich's face became a mask of frustration, anger, and annoyance.

"You had sedatives all this time and you didn't even tell me?!" he asked Crawford accusingly.

"Yes," Crawford replied simply.

"Why?" Schuldich asked. "He almost drove ME mad on the trip here!"

"I didn't have enough to keep him sedated for the entire trip. Thought it would be better to wait till you found Iri before I used what I had," Crawford replied simply.

Schuldich looked like he wanted to protest but couldn't think of anything to say. Instead he just stared at Crawford accusingly. Crawford chose to ignore Schuldich's baleful stare.

"Welcome to the team," Nagi whispered to Iri. "I just wanted to warn you that your sanity is going to be sorely tested these next few months. Hope you're up to it." Having said that, he went to lay Farfarello down on top of one of the beds with tenderness.

//It's way too late for my sanity, Nagi. You have no idea,// Iri thought.

//Welcome, sister,// Schuldich thought at her and grinned. //You'll fit right in.//