((All right... I forgot a bit about this fic, I confess. To those who've read this story as well as Worlds Collide, you'll notice that these chapters are significantly shorter than in the other story. Well, to be perfectly honest, chapters one through six are already written for this story, and it wasn't up to my standards. And yet... when I tried to change it to make it longer and more descriptive, it just didn't flow the same. So, from seven on, the chapters will be significantly longer, mmkay:)

Concerning a received review from Lemurian-Girl, yes, I know that her supports mention Huey, but I prefered the name Makar. Apparently my phrasing of that was a bit off... I was trying to tell reviewers not badgering me that Huey was missing, not telling them that Huey never existed at all. Sorry for the mixup. :p ))

Ch.2

"Linus! Linus! Where are you!" Lloyd roared as he ran down the halls, passing the flinching forms of many underlings as he stampeded by. Their leader was not normally one to be so rash, let alone to act so much like his brother. Even now, his anger and confusion were clearly evident in his voice, leaving the rest of the Black Fang to put the pieces together for themselves.

"Your brother is over there, White Wolf." A voice cooed from the corner of the room, making Lloyd freeze in his tracks. Stepping from behind the curtain to her room, Ursula smiled at him as she pointed in the other direction. The blue-haired Valkyrie knew better than to let Lloyd lose his temper; though it was a rare sight to see, it was always catastrophic. She wanted to avoid this at all costs… plus, seeing the man was reward enough. Smiling coyly at him, she laughed a bit before walking calmly back into her room to read more of the spell tomes she had recently received from Lady Sonia herself. To be rewarded with a Fimbulvter tome was a rare prize, after all, and the texts it contained were a marvelous sight to behold.

"My thanks, Blue Crow." Turning away from her, Lloyd sped off in the direction she pointed to. He cared not that he trampled several servants beneath his boots as he ran through the stone corridors of the Hideout, nor did he care when Sonia gave him that same cold glare that would normally send chills down his spine. No, he was intent on finding his brother, and he was more than ready to interrogate him concerning the girl in his room.

"…" Taking Lloyd by surprise, Jaffar slipped from the shadows, holding a stunned Linus by the collar. All was not as it seemed, however; the red-haired assassin kept one of the twin knives at the other man's throat, rendering escape impossible. Normally, he would not do such a thing for another, but the cacophony had proven far too great to ignore. Dropping the stunned man to the ground, Jaffar looked coldly down at him before hearing Lloyd speak.

"Thank you, Angel of Death. By the way… Nino was searching for you. Best be off." The said assassin paused for a moment, not quite sure how to handle the latter piece of information. Nino, the adopted daughter of the Lady Sonia… a cheerful but naive child, she was firmly convinced that the mistress of the Black Fang leader Brendan Reed was her true mother. As such, she was always looked at with disdain by her foster mother, but was always welcomed with open arms by the Reed brothers. As such, Jaffar knew better than to leave the child to her mindless searching. As swiftly as he appeared, the silent warrior was gone, melting into the shadows as if he had never existed.

"…I heard you wanted me. Why? Out with it, brother." Linus growled, standing up and brushing off his clothes. Though slightly taller than his brother, he was still the younger of the two, and therefore needed to address Lloyd with some respect. But siblings would be siblings, and so they were; Linus quite frankly didn't give a damn about his younger status. His pride had been dented, and there was to be no fixing it for a while. Linus Reed's brown hair was slicked back, and carried a red tinge to it; a drastic difference from his brother's unkept bangs and slightly longer gold strands. Linus was of a stronger build than his brother, and was proud of it; however, Lloyd had proven on many an occasion that his precision and speed with a blade proved far more deadly than Linus's strong but wild swings.

"There was a girl in my room this morning. Who is she, and why is she not of the Fang?" Lloyd asked calmly. Now that his search was over, his anger was sated; however, his curiosity and confusion were far from being satisfied. He wanted to know who she was, where she had come from, and, most importantly of all, why she had been in his room. Apparently, she had no idea of what had happened either, and she was clearly afraid of him; questioning her was a seemingly impossible task, at least until she had at least calmed herself down a bit.

"…don't you remember? We took her yesterday from the camp of that Pheraen shrimp in order to convince them to leave. They didn't leave, so we kept her. Plus, Sonia wanted her for some reason… something about blood, remember?" Linus told him with an arched brow. Lloyd was not one to forget things, and, surprisingly enough, he too was met with the same expression.

"I remember none of it. Was I not informed?" He asked, blinking his eyes momentarily before, realizing his brother was serious, he sighed, running a hand through his hair as if it was going to relieve his stress.

"…you were there with me. Are you sure you're okay?" Linus asked carefully, putting on a fake look of concern while placing his hand on his brother's forehead. The message was painfully clear; he wanted to make sure his brother wasn't sick in the head, and was feeling for a fever to make sure.

"Of course I am." Lloyd moved his hand away with a sense of general annoyance, feigning ease as he watched his brother snickering at him. He in truth was greatly perturbed… why couldn't he remember anything from the day before? And, furthermore, why had his brother's memory remained unaffected? If he was there with him and neither of them could remember, they could easily tie it to the crafts of the evil Lycian lords. However, considering they had gotten away with the shy one and that Linus now recalled everything, all his questions began to focus on himself… and the girl in his room.

"Pshaw. You never are. I mean, after all, how many captors take their prisoners out of the dungeons to dine with?" Rolling his eyes, he allowed himself to be punched playfully by his brother as he laughed in response. However, once the words sank into Lloyd's mind, he looked up at his brother with an arched brow.

"What do you mean? Who went into the dungeons?" As soon as the question left his lips, dread filled his heart that he would somehow already know the answer that his brother was about to tell him.

"You." Frowning at his brother's constant stream of seemingly idiotic questions, Linus scowled at Lloyd, as if prompting his brother to tell him that the joke was over. Sadly enough, Lloyd wished he could have said the same thing. His mind swam with questions, and the moment one was answered, ten more took their place.

"I beg your leave, brother." Feeling the sharp pain of a migraine beginning to set in, Linus could only stare inquisitively at his brother as the blonde swordsman walked absentmindedly back to his own room. Though Linus argued to himself for a moment, he vouched to let Lloyd find out on his own that the girl was too afraid to leave the room.

--

What have I done to deserve this? Did I not pray to Saint Elimine enough…? Perhaps she has forsaken me for not confiding with her clerics, but I so loathed speaking to Serra… oh, that was a terrible thing to think… Such thoughts ran through the poor Pegasus Knight's mind as she sat there on the floor, stunned, but at least properly clothed. At least the man had been decent enough to leave her be as she changed… considering the men they had already encountered from the organization, Florina had thought all of the Black Fang to be vicious thugs, the likes of whom no longer deserved to be classified as men, but as savages. And yet, this man had helped her… or, at least, tried to.

What are you talking about, Florina! This man might have taken advantage of you, for all you know! Slapping herself on the forehead, she slumped forward, letting her forehead strike the floorboards as tears threatened to escape from the corners of her eyes. Her mind was confused, her body was tired, and she wished only to return home… if one would consider her army to be a home. Perhaps a second home would be a far more accurate description, as she considered Lady Lyndis to be a closer family to her than her sisters, sometimes, with all their bickering and whatnot. Sitting up, she made do with leaning on the side of the bed, allowing her head to crane upwards to stare at the ceiling.

Little did she know it then, but all this talking to herself was actually serving to calm her down significantly… when she couldn't confide information with her steed, it turned out that her own mind was the best barrier from the outside world, however temporary. In fact, she scarcely noticed at all when Lloyd entered the room, as his light feet and his ease with silence made his entrance all the more undetectable by the momentarily detached girl. It was strange to him at first that she did not shriek like a banshee upon his entry, but took it as a blessing rather than as a precaution.

Though he had thought for a moment to stay at a distance to rouse her from her apparent daydream, her open eyes seemed to signal awareness. So, gingerly walking to a nearby chair, he simply sat there for a moment, putting his head in his hands and wondering just what he was going to do… with her, as well as with his lack of memories.