Devil's Masks

by ariescelestial

AU Shadow Hearts timeline. Alice returns to Rouen, only to find tragedy once more...one man's whim has a drastic effect. [Covenant Spoilers]

2. Fengtian: Tiny Missteps

Disclaimer: I don't own Shadow Hearts. Which means I don't own anything in this rewrite. Fizzerschnitzels.

**

I found myself sitting in a darkened room, seeing little more than shadows. Across from me, a woman was huddled over, crying softly, strapped in a chair. I couldn't reach out, so instead I watched as her body trembled. Still sobbing, she choked out the words, "Sasha…help him…"

She had the same voice as Sasha's 'witch'. But she wanted to help him? I tried to speak, but gradually I realized I wasn't really there, simply…perhaps summoned by this woman.

"Save him…his heart…maimed," she whispered. Her words were disjointed in her pain, but I understood the message. A metal door groaned open, and both the woman and I turned to see Roger Bacon. He chuckled.

"The keys have met then. And yet, will you talk to only her and Sasha? That will not do at all." His hand moved to a lever on the wall, which he pulled down. The woman screamed in pain. She was strapped in an electric chair! I could feel the electricity too, crawling along my skin and piercing my mind. As the pain increased, I twisted and turned for a way to get out of the nightmare—

"Hey."

I cried out and hit the face looming over mine. Sasha backed away and rubbed his cheek, wincing.

"I was gonna ask if you were alright, but you seem energetic enough," he groused. He kept rubbing his cheek as I woke up. My bed for the night had been a bench, so my head was a bit sore. The sun was directly overhead, blocked only by a stature over the bench. It was noon then.

"Oh. Sorry," I said halfheartedly, still looking around. We were in a city, surrounded by tall buildings. Then I was distracted by a lone puppy sitting a few feet from us, barking energetically. "Oh, how cute!" I gushed, picking him up.

Since I had vacated the seat, Sasha sat on it, munching on some food. "Typical. First thing you notice is a stray."

"But he's adorable," I said. "I love dogs." The puppy licked my face as I held him. I giggled.

"Well, I got some food if you're hungry. Fried rice." He passed me a small box, along with some chopsticks. Luckily, I knew how to use them. The puppy with light brown fur whimpered when he saw me eating. I picked out pieces of beef and tossed them to him. He jumped in the air to get the scraps.

"Don't feed the damn dog," Sasha said.

"He is not a 'damn dog'," I retorted. "He's a puppy and he's hungry." After giving him all the meat, I ate the rice and vegetables. It was enough to appease my growling stomach.

"Whatever. I'm not buying any more food until dinner, so if you get hungry, tough luck."

I ignored Sasha and patted the puppy's head. He barked and rolled over, letting me scratch his little tummy. "Good boy."

"Good God," I heard Sasha mutter behind me. A little louder, he asked, "So what were you dreaming about?"

"It was nothing." All the other times I had tried to tell him the witch might be helpful, I had been met with skepticism and disbelief. I doubted it would be different now. I was confident the witch wanted to help him. But why? And why did he need help?

I looked behind me. Sasha was meticulously eating with his chopsticks, his leather gloves stripped off to handle them better. He paused when he saw me watching and raised an eyebrow to question. I turned back around and petted the puppy when he yipped.

Did Sasha have a maimed heart? The idea seemed ludicrous. If he did, he was an excellent actor. If anything, he had a heart of ice, devoid of any morals.

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong?" he asked.

"Yes."

He sighed. "Alright then. Where do you think we should go from here?"

"I have to go back to Changchun. I want to tell the missionaries I'm all right. And they might have somewhere for me to go."

"That's too obvious," Sasha said. "You've already been there, both Dehuai and the Japanese army know that."

I scooped up the puppy and glared at him. "Well then, you pick," I snapped.

He frowned at me, his eyebrows drawing together. "What'd I do?"

"You kidnapped me!"

"Not technically—"

"For all practical purposes! You won't let me make my own decisions!" The puppy whimpered at my yelling and I stroked him absently.

"Alright," he said. "We'll go to Changchun if you want. Keep your voice down." He looked around nervously, hoping no one had heard me. Though, since I'd been yelling in English, probably no one would have understood. "I'm just saying it's not a smart idea."

"That's your opinion."

Sasha grumbled and shook his head. "Fine. Let's see when the next train is. Train station's this way," he said, beginning to walk away. I quickly followed him, still holding the small puppy. My mind was split between appreciating the dog's cuteness and being annoyed with Sasha for pretending to give me a choice and then trying to take it away. I was settled on the opinion that he was another captor, though the least of evils; he wasn't malicious, at least. It was more than I could say for Dehuai, who had destroyed an entire village, and the army, who had shot two of the missionaries while capturing me. They hadn't even allowed me to try healing them after I'd agreed to go with them. Sasha, on the other hand…well, he hadn't done any harm yet.

Sasha suddenly pushed me to the side, making the puppy growl at him. "What is it?" I asked.

"Stay behind me, there's a soldier."

Up in the street, a Japanese soldier and a Chinese civilian were arguing. Their voices were too distant to make out what they were saying, and their expressions hard to decipher over Sasha's shoulder. The civilian was obviously disgusted as he walked away. Then he spotted us. He began waving, indicating we should come in the building he was standing at. I could just hear him say it was his store. The soldier had left, so Sasha nodded and, grabbing my hand, led me inside. Before we could enter though, the man made it clear the dog had to be left outside. He whimpered when I put him down.

It was to our surprise that we found none other than Meiyuan standing inside. "Are you stalking me?" Sasha asked.

"You got it!" and he winked at Sasha. I began laughing as he shook his head.

"Where's that Adept?"

"At the train station. He got another job in Dalian. I'm supposed to be getting supplies, but since you're here, handsome, why don't we…"

"We've got a schedule of our own," Sasha interjected. Meiyuan pouted and said nothing more. As Sasha passed him, however, he took the opportunity to slap my companion's rear and call him a 'cutie-pie'.

Both Sasha and I were red in the face and I quickly pretended to be looking at the accessories on display as he inquired to the woman—probably the owner's wife—what prices were. A book caught my eyes. It had a gold embossed cover and a lovely picture of a falling star in a sunset sky. Picking it up carefully, I flipped it open and began to read, delighted to see English letters.

Seated in the corner next to a radio playing static, I began reading. It began with a description of a fantastic land, too wonderful to be real; where flowers and trees were in full bloom all year long, and there was neither death nor decay. Five pages later, I was interrupted by Sasha, who was holding up two brown skirts.

"Which one would fit you?"

I took both leather skirts and held them against my lower body. Both seemed short, but then I realized that was part of their design. I handed the smaller one back to him. "Too small."

"So the bigger one?" he asked, reaching for that one as well.

"Yes." When he turned to go, I asked, "Um—this seems like it would make a good weapon." I held up the book, facing the cover out for his inspection.

"Do you want to whack monsters with it, or do you want to read it?" It was clear he thought that I would only read.  He'd found me out. Was I that obvious?

"Well—I'd fight with it too—"

"No," he interrupted. "Besides, you shouldn't be doing any more fighting."

"Then why are you buying that?" I asked, pointing to the short skirt.

"Just in case. You don't need anything for offense, and you're silly if you think a book will hurt Dehuai. Hey—what's wrong?" he asked, baffled, as I began to sniffle.

I easily worked my way up to tears, having figured out a long time ago how to cry on will. "You're—you're so mean Sasha," I sobbed in Chinese. "First you kidnap me, then you threaten a poor old man, and now—"

"Alright, alright! I'll buy the book," Sasha said hastily, well aware that the couple in charge of the shop were listening to my outburst. I handed the book to him and, as Sasha handed the book to the woman, heard him explaining, "These European girls…always so demanding, and they throw the wildest tantrums…kidnapping, when I try taking her out somewhere…"

The husband was actually nodding sympathetically as his wife rung up the purchase of steel blade knuckles, a black leather vest, and my book and skirt. Sasha presented the snake card and, after seeing it, the couple informed him they were members of the guild and that the card was good for a ten percent discount.

Once the exchange was done, Sasha slid the book on the counter to me. "Didn't know you could act like that. Did you guilt trip your parents a lot or something?"

"No," I said, my cheeks flushing slightly, "I want to be an actress."

Sasha gave me an odd look. "Okay," he said, straightening from the counter. "I've never heard of an exorcist wanting to be an actress. But alright. Well, let's find somewhere for you to change skirts. We should probably get going anyway."

As if cued by his voice, the static from the radio changed to an announcer's voice as a terse report in Chinese began.

Kshh… Kshhhh… This is an emergency broadcast from Fengtian Radio. The Army has issued the following report: criminals suspected in the mass murder of army soldiers aboard the Changchun-Fengtian train today have disappeared into Fengtian. The ringleader is a thin Caucasian female. All suspicious persons are to be reported to HQ immediately.

I turned to Sasha, my face filled with shock. They were blaming us for Bacon's deeds! The wife cried out, "Those people on the radio—you're them, aren't you?"

"Let's go!" The fighter grabbed my hand and the armor he had bought, the weapon already on his hands. I ran too out the door, struggling to keep both the tome and my bible in my arms.

My mind was reeling; how could this be? I was being blamed for what Roger Bacon had done while trying to kidnap me. This wasn't fair!

The door slammed open, making the small puppy yip excitedly at us. We made it out to the middle of the street before there was an intense flash of light and a loud, booming sound, like an explosive. Both of us were knocked down to the ground by the force.

My vision was a blur of gray, but I could hear heavy boots clomping on the ground.

"Oh good, you're alive," a woman's voice remarked in French. This interested me enough to drag up my aching head. She was examining Sasha, her ponytail of blonde hair slipping off her shoulder.

"Hey lady, I can see your underwear," Sasha told her in English.

"Then why are you looking? Like what you see?" she said in a teasing voice, switching languages. She was practically flaunting her blue leather skirt. Noticing my observation, she asked, "Are you alright?"

I looked at myself, glanced at the two books, and nodded. Slowly I got to my feet, trying to shake away the ringing noise in my ears.

"Oh, don't worry about that, it'll go away soon," the French woman told me. Then she looked above and beyond me. "Oh damn, the cavalry's come."

I turned around and saw two Japanese soldiers. Seeing me, the one on the right turned pale. They began communicating quickly, clearly panicking, and then ran off. I felt aggravated. Their fear had been obvious; they really did believe I was a murderer.

"Ha! All these cowards can do is run away," the woman gloated. "So you guys are wanted too? I'd recommend the sewers, that's my escape route." She was walking towards an open manhole. The belt on her light blue jacket clinked against the first metal steps as she lowered herself down. "Well, see you around."

Then she had disappeared down the hole. Sasha only looked around once before sighing. "That's as good as well get. Come on, you first."

"Me?" I looked down into the dark sewers. Little light reached the water, but what I could see disgusted me. Still, it was better than being caught by soldiers. I quickly climbed down and then watched as Sasha lowered himself. Partway down, he began dragging the cover over the opening, gradually obscuring the sunlight. Concentrating my magic, I found that I could make some light to be able to see.

"Right, that'll buy us some time," he muttered. He rubbed his red eyes. Sasha was getting tired; I wondered if he had slept at all, or if he'd been watching over me, like he had in the plains last night. I looked at the fighter with some concern.

"Have you slept at all?" I asked.

"I had a rest before the job."

My eyebrows pulled together in confusion. "The job?"

"The kidnapping job?" he said slowly.

"Oh." It did lessen my concern somewhat when he reminded me he was my kidnapper. Still, that meant he'd had no rest in spite of all the monsters we had fought, and all the distance we had walked—and the distance he had been forced to carry me. "Do you need to rest?"

"Sure, you wait until we're on the run to ask if I need to rest."

"Well—I'm sorry for being worried!"

"You could be worried at a more practical time," he said, sounding thoroughly annoyed.

Just ignore him, I told myself. Don't get upset. Ignore him. I walked in front of him with my ball of light, carrying myself with a straight back. We first headed straight from the ladder, then followed the wall. It took us left, then right, and I could see a dim blue glow.

A magic circle was inscribed on the floor. It was identical to the one we had seen in the plains. The circle came to life when we stepped on it, sending light blue waves over our feet. "Does this mean there're monsters here?" I asked uncertainly.

Sasha kicked it viciously. "Just our luck. The exit better be close." He scanned the area and then jabbed his finger. "More light."

There was a blue glow on the ceiling. Sasha must have been guessing sky, but I could feel a magical aura. "No, it's another circle…on the ceiling?" I approached it, lifting my hand for more light and a better view.

It was a manhole cover, but someone had placed a magic circle on it. Sasha climbed three rungs on the ladder, then placed his right hand on the circle and pushed. He did this for a moment, then took his left hand off the ladder and pushed more. I hovered behind him, watching closely.

He swore and then pressed his palm flat against the blue design of the circle. Black snakes wriggled out of his hand, onto the lines.

"Wait!" I grabbed the leg of his pants to make him stop. "What about the safeguards?"

He looked down at me curiously before his almond eyes widened. "God, I'm going to get myself killed for that one of these days." Sasha shook his head. "Do you sense anything?"

My 'Demon Eyes', as he called them, probably made him think I could detect different kinds of magic when they were mingling with each other. In fact, I found I could after a few minutes. "There's a summoning spell in it. Two…no, three…" I bit my lip. "I think three monsters."

"Eh, three too many for me," Sasha groused, hitting the circle to show his irritation. "Let's find a cover that hasn't been screwed with."

I agreed with the sentiment, though not the wording, and the path ended only a few feet around the next turn, so we retraced our steps. The fighter lagged behind me as we walked back to the entrance. When I glanced back, he was shaking his head, holding his forehead. He really was tired…but he didn't want my concern. Hopefully we'd find another safe place for rest soon.

Suddenly there was a yell and the sound of a body being dragged. I spun around and heard Sasha yell again, this time in pain instead of surprise. Panicking, I increased the light and saw a giant frog sliced open in the abdomen. Sasha extracted his leg from its mouth and kicked aside the large tongue that now hung out. His pant leg was covered in a mixture of saliva and blood and the new knuckle blades were coated with a mysterious, viscous substance.

"Well, that woke me up," he said, trying to give a confident smile. But when he rose to stand, he grit his teeth in pain and I realized just how much blood had stained the dark pants.

"Sit down!" I said, hurrying over to him. I rolled his pants up and felt the red skin, torn open in a curve. I took the Shooting Star Tome, knowing intuitively its magic was stronger than the bible's. His skin seemed to melt together as it healed. I tested the flesh, pressing with gentle fingers. I laughed suddenly. "You see? New book means better healing."

He laughed shortly, hushing when we began to hear his echoes. His face was still pale. As much as he tried to hide it, the attack had given him a bad scare. Sasha's guard had been completely down out of exhaustion. He was completely awake now, but as soon as he got over the ambush…Healing magic couldn't cure fatigue. I didn't think he would last much longer.

I brightened the light, hoping to scare off any other monsters. Upon reaching the entrance, we turned right. It was the only way left to us.

"That woman must have gone this way," Sasha said.

We walked forward together slowly. Sasha insisted I keep next to the wall. That way if there was another attack, he would probably be the target. I didn't think this was wise at all, but he was adamant. I wondered if he thought I was too weak to withstand an attack.

I paused when we reached a split: left or straight. Towards the left I could hear boots and recognized the woman's Water aura.

"That way?" I suggested to Sasha.

He shook his head. "I'd rather not get mixed up with terrorists."

I frowned as we walked on, past the turn and the one after that. "Why are you calling her a terrorist?"

Dark, tired eyes darted to me. "Alice—are you dense or just naïve?"

"I beg your pardon?" I said slowly, not knowing why he had insulted me.

"It's kind of obvious she set the bomb."

"You shouldn't assume."

"She was way too calm for a bomb just exploding."

"You were calm too," I said indignantly. "You were looking at her panties."

"Yes, but we're both criminals," Sasha said, dismissing my point. "Anyway, she even said the army was after her."

"And they're after me too, but I've done nothing wrong." I folded my arms and waited for Sasha to counter.

"You are naïve," he said emphatically.

Bristling, I kicked a pebble forward and heard a splash. Looking up, I realized we had come to another dead end. Water blocked our path from another walkway. Without a word, though Sasha shook his head in disgust, we turned back. This time we turned at the first chance, heading right.

The fighter was trailing behind me again. We would probably have to rest soon; hopefully outside the dank sewers, but there was always the warding circle. Still, he didn't seem quite ready to call it quits.

I was quite comfortable with his silence until I noticed a hole in the sewer wall. My light barely reached into it, but just enough for me to see two eyes watching me.

"Something the matter?" Sasha asked as I stood still.

The small silhouette barked, and I was pleasantly surprised by the emergence of the light-furred puppy from before. He stood on his hind legs, his small claws digging into my stockings. I didn't mind; he was too cute to get mad at.

"Crazy dog, must've followed you and now he's lost," Sasha muttered.

"Well, so are we," I said. The dog whimpered, dropping back down. His hind ankle was bent awkwardly. "Oh, you poor thing!" I picked the dog up and cradled him. "You fell, didn't you?"

"How else would he get down?" Sasha asked. I ignored him and held the tiny leg in one hand. With a Cure spell his ankle was as good as new and he was so happy he licked my face. I laughed and set him back down.

"You want to come with us, boy?"

"That mangy mutt is not—"

Sasha's argument was cut off by a sound I had heard only twice before: gunfire. Two shots were fired; then there was silence. I rushed in the sound's direction before Sasha could stop me, aware that someone was hurt.

It was the 'terrorist', lying helpless on the floor. No, not quite helpless; two large frogs were on their backs in the sewage. Both had bullet holes in their chest and were quite still.

"Hmph. Only two?" Sasha said. "That's pathetic."

"Excuse me, sonny?" The woman stood up slowly, shaking her head. "I'd like to see you do better. Oh—" She held her head. There was a trickle of blood in her blonde hair.

"Could I—see your head?" I asked hesitantly. Her deep blue eyes only showed puzzlement as I placed my right hand over the red color. Just beneath, there was open skin. Both of us winced when I touched it, but the wound was easy to heal. "Is that better?"

"Yeah." The blonde looked at me curiously—she almost seemed to be studying me. "How'd you do that?"

"Alice, we're going to have a serious talk about using your magic on complete strangers."

I turned to Sasha, folding my arms. "That would mean I shouldn't use magic on you."

The brunet smirked, ignoring my glare. "C'mon, I'm not a stranger. I'm your kidnapper."

"That's less reason for me to heal you," I said sternly.

"Wait, kidnapping on top of terrorism?"

"You're the terrorist," Sasha said, annoyed. "We're just a couple of helpless 'murderers'."

"Maybe you are, but I'm not," I said crossly.

"And I'm not a terrorist either," the blonde said, putting on a fake pout. "I'm a spy."

The fighter seemed tired of this whole conversation. "Alright, you're a spy. Good for you." He rubbed his nose before looking up at the woman. "Wait. Who are you a spy for?"

"Well I wouldn't be much of a spy if I told you that," she said, bemused. She leaned towards him, hands on her hips. "Now would I?"

"I'd hit you with Nightmare if I could cast it," Sasha muttered darkly.

"Ignore him, he's rude to everyone," I told her. "My name is Alice."

"We also have to talk about introducing ourselves to strangers."

"He's Sasha."

"Don't give my name too," Sasha protested.

The blonde spy shook her head. "He is rude, isn't he? My name's Margarete." Margarete then frowned, tilting her head as she examined Sasha. "You seem familiar…I've heard of a Sasha with a similar description…now what was he wanted for…"

I glanced at Sasha. He did not have the most innocent expression, but quite the opposite. There was a guilty smile he was trying to fight down. I waited to hear the worst, hoping it would not be true.

"Ah, that's it! Drug trafficking."

Immediately Sasha's expression changed, flickered. The guilt was thick in him. Margarete had remembered the correct Sasha.

"I can't believe you!" I exclaimed. Kidnapping, drug trafficking—what else had he done?

"It wasn't that much—"

"You're not exactly a small-time crook, either," Margarete informed him, almost laughing at his denial. "Seeing as your case reached the highest levels…"

Sasha saw that I was getting more upset by this. "I can explain," he said to me. I didn't let him get any further.

"Explain? It's obvious you're a vulgar, common criminal—you—ugh, there aren't even words! Come on, Tiny!" Picking up the newly named dog, I walked where the spy must have come from, the one turn we hadn't taken yet. My small shoes managed to make a racket as I stormed away.

"I don't want to interrupt this temper tantrum, but that's a dead end."

With just a bit more light, I could see that Margarete was right. It was a dead end. And here I'd been, storming away…I turned back, offering a sheepish smile but frowning when I saw Sasha's grin.

"But then, where's the exit?" I asked. "The only other manhole is blocked."

"Blocked, huh? Show me where it is," Margarete said. I nodded, although Sasha did not seem happy about the spy accompanying us. Still, he kept his mouth shut as we headed back towards the manhole.

"It's left from here," I mentioned at the place where we had entered. I looked up at the manhole cover curiously. No Japanese soldiers had come down yet, and at this point it seemed unlikely they would. But to be safe, we should leave as soon as possible.

I shifted the two books under my arm awkwardly. Along with my leather skirt and my jacket, it was hard to hold all the items at once. Margarete pointed her lantern at me and asked, "Isn't that hard to carry?"

"Yes," I admitted. "I was supposed to change into these," I said, holding up the brown skirt.

"Yeah, that'd be better than those ruffles." I shifted, setting all the ruffles in my blue skirt to movement. The leather probably would be better for battle. "Why don't you change now?"

"Now?" I asked incredulously.

"Why not?" She turned to Sasha and pointed with her pistol. "Go on, turn around. You peek, I shoot," she told him cheerfully.

Sasha sighed in aggravation but turned around with Margarete watching him. Though both their backs were turned to me, I was still nervous about changing, especially in here. Mentally I searched around, trying to sense any nearby monsters. There were none.

I bent over and fiddled with the leather belt, undoing the buckle. The belt fell on the floor with a clatter. Next was the skirt, awkward to slide off over stockings and shoes. For a few seconds I was wearing only the stockings, shoes, a white cotton blouse, and pink panties. If either of them had looked I would have died. The leather skirt was quickly thrown on and I put the belt on as well before working to straighten out the skirt. "Alright, I'm done."

Margarete and Sasha turned around simultaneously. The fighter raised an eyebrow while the spy said, "hm."

"Wh-what are you looking at?" I asked nervously.

"Just that leather doesn't go with those stockings."

I looked down at my brown leather skirt and white cotton stockings, which were almost touching each other, and compared that to Margarete's blue leather skirt with black fishnet stockings. Admittedly, her clothes suited each other much better than mine did. Mine looked ludicrous. I comforted myself that I was aiming for function, not fashion, and my stockings would keep me much warmer than hers would.

"Well, anyway, we better get going," Sasha said. With Margarete's help I managed to stuff my jacket and skirt in his pouch, leaving me with only the two books to carry.

As we proceeded to the other manhole, we were attacked twice: the first time by a trio of bats and two frogs and the second by some nasty spiders. Sasha went into the thick of the fights both times, while Margarete and I stood back. The constant gunfire made me flinch often, but I remained calm. Margarete was proving herself to be a skillful shooter, and I…was only healing occasionally. Healing was not needed often when one of the fighters could stay completely out of the monsters' range, and Sasha did not want me to get close enough to the monster's so I could attack, the reasoning being that they could then attack me too. Instead half of the time I was simply standing around, observing the fight and hoping for a chance to help. I felt superfluous; it was obvious Sasha and Margarete were fine on their own. I wished I could help them in a better way.

Margarete seemed impressed and fascinated with my healing skills, though. She told me that her 'intelligence' had told her about magic, but that it was a different thing to see it in action. I wondered what she would think of Sasha's fusion ability.

The spy herself was a marvel to see in combat. She would spin around and cartwheel as she fired, each of her bullets hitting its target. I wondered if she had ever been a dancer, so agile was she.

We rested for five brief minutes in the monster ward; it was long enough for Sasha to doze off against the wall with his arms and legs sprawled out in front of him and his talisman glowing with orange to match his bandanna. As the other woman tapped her foot impatiently, I shook him awake. His eyes took a few too many seconds to focus; he was near the end of his strength. Still he staggered up, with a kind of determination I had never before seen. He seemed past the point of caring about his physical limits.

Margarete climbed up the ladder, accidentally showing her pink polka-dotted panties. She tapped the center of the design, which had a circular groove. "I've heard about this, it's occult Feng Shui. If memory serves…"

"It'd better," Sasha called up.

"We have two choices kids. Either we find the seal that goes in here or we fight the guardian."

I frowned, remembering the three monsters I had sensed. They seemed stronger than the sewer monsters, so maybe it would be better to risk it down here. Still, the fighters' opinions were more important and I waited for their judgment. Margarete and Sasha had agreed to search for the seal just as the floor shook. Had we set off the summoning spell?

I looked around nervously as I heard rock falling, remembering Yamaraja. If there were three of his kind here we wouldn't have a chance. But the tremor stopped, and no monsters emerged. A shaky sigh of relief escaped me.

Sasha looked more alert now; he was scanning the area for any threat, relaxing when I shook my head. "No monsters? Than what the hell was that?"

"Well," Margarete said, "Let's go see."

It had been to my left, and so we headed back to the other side. Margarete's lantern seemed to be keeping most of the monsters at bay; when I saw a frog creeping up on us, I flashed a brilliant orb of light at him, one as large as my book. The frog was dazzled and temporarily blind. I ran to keep up with Margarete and Sasha, who hadn't seemed to notice. We still got into a fight when we encountered one frog eating another. It was on the legs, the limb, webbed feet sticking out of its oversized mouth. "That's disgusting," I said in disbelief.

"Tell me about it," the blonde muttered, taking out her gun. The frog gulped down the last bits and turned to us, its skin beginning to glow. Its whole body seemed to pulse and I realized it was getting bigger.

"It just ate its thousandth," Sasha said. His voice held an odd note of excitement. "Wait. Let it finish the transformation."

Margarete gave him an incredulous look, but though she kept her gun trained, she didn't fire.

It had eaten its thousandth? Its thousandth frog? The thought was sickening. How could it eat its own kind?

The transformation seemed to be complete. Some liquid dripped from its skin, making it gleam silver, and it was around twice the size of the normal large frogs, making it level with my waist. Its class had been changed, to my surprise—from Water to Light—and its magic seemed stronger.

"Wow," Sasha said appreciatively. His fists tightened around the knuckle blades as he grinned. "Alright, the frog can die now."

"Well, since you say so," Margarete said sarcastically. She fired once, directly into the head. The frog didn't even seemed fazed. Frowning, she continued shooting bullets as Sasha dashed in. His fists low, he brought them up to rake the frog's underside—but the frog evaded him. He was starting to slow in his attacks.

The changed frog countered his attempt by hitting him twice with its tongue. A minute later it succumbed to Margarete's bullets, allowing me to check Sasha. He had used his arms to shield himself, and the skin on his forearms looked like it had been rubbed open with sandpaper—the frogs' tongues were quite rough. By now I was becoming accustomed to the routine of healing.

"Hmm…now I see how curiosity killed the cat," Margarete said, eyeing Sasha. The Eurasian fighter shrugged.

"I'm not dead."

"Sure look it," she said lightly. "Why are you so tired anyway?"

"Because I'm her bodyguard," he answered, jabbing his thumb at me, "And she keeps getting in trouble."

"I do not. And you can call yourself whatever you like, but you're my kidnapper."

"Okay, I've got to ask," Margarete said, grinning. "Why do you heal him if he's your kidnapper?"

It was a good question. The only answer I had was to shrug. "Well, we'd be down a fighter if I didn't."

"Ah, screw him. We can take care of ourselves."

"I don't like the sound of this," Sasha interjected. He glared at the spy as she beamed back at him.

The rumbling sound had turned out to be a section of the sewer wall, which had collapsed into the water. Sasha was not pleased. He turned to the spy and said simply, "If that bomb makes these sewers collapse, I'm casting Nightmare before I die."

Margarete only looked puzzled. "Nightmare is a Dark-classed magic," I explained, "And you are not casting it on her." The last part was directed to—who else? —Sasha.

"Well, if this sewer collapses, we're all dying anyway," he said. "I might as well get a shot in."

I shook my head before sensing something. It felt like magic, but wasn't malicious. Scanning the darkened sewers unlit by Margarete's lantern, I found a blue glow beyond the debris, at the walkway that had been blocked by water before. "What's that?"

The blonde handed the lantern to me and then jumped from piece to piece of the fallen wall. She picked up a small ring and waved it at us. "I think it's the seal."

That had been easy. Sasha followed her, intrigued, and examined the piece. "I'll be damned," he muttered.

Margarete smirked. "See, it was a good thing I put extra powder in that bomb."

The fighter's eyes flickered to her. "You made the bomb?" When she nodded, he shook his head. "My God."

"I'll have you know I've made plenty of bombs," she retorted, folding her arms. As an afterthought she stuck her tongue out at him.

I laughed at their argument. Despite our disagreements, we seemed to do quite well at fighting together. But then, both Sasha and Margarete were professionals, however lax their attitudes. And being with them wasn't that bad. Margarete was nice, if a little cocky, and Sasha…Sasha was still a mystery. Judgment reserved for later, when I knew more.

"Well, we're done," I said, relieved. "Let's go back."

Sasha turned and nodded, the small, dark orange talisman swinging on its cord. We made our way back for the second time, nearly at the first entrance when it happened.

It began as a routine fight: there were three frogs, one the silvery color of a transformed cannibal. I wondered vaguely why the other two frogs were with it. Perhaps they stopped consuming frogs after they changed? Margarete shot twice and Sasha brought his weapons down on one of the regular mutants. The frog croaked, rolling over onto its back.

In the poor light, I thought I saw the frog's spirit rising from its body, headed for--Sasha? As the fighter pounced on another hapless frog, a fine gray mist seemed to spread from his body. I blinked my eyes furiously, wondering if something was wrong with them or if I was hallucinating. The fog thickened as it spread out to me. Little figures appeared in the mist as Margarete's gun continued to fire; there were wolves and spiders and demon cats along with others, many others. Their minute details faded as the mist touched me, seeping into my skin.

"Alice, I need a healing," Sasha called. The frog had struck him on the chest three times, leaving his vest ragged, shirt ripped, and skin bloodied. I couldn't answer; I couldn't move. My insides were cold as the mist crept up and wrapped against my hammering heart. "Alice?" The last frog was dead, its innards hanging from his bladed knuckles. His brown eyes were wide and confused as he watched me, his talisman red as it leaked out the souls of vengeful demons. Neither he nor the spy had any idea what was happening.

The horde of demons pressed in, in on my heart. I burst out in a scream so horrible it echoed throughout the sewers. I sunk down to the ground as the pain continued. It only increased as the souls' malice did.

"Alice!" Sasha seemed to forget about his chest as he knelt by me. He grabbed my shoulder. "Here." Without a question, he gave me a Thera leaf, pressing it to my lips. Even after swallowing it, the agony went on. The tears were streaming down my cheeks as I rocked back and forth against him, both of my hands clutching the blouse's fabric. I tried to heal myself, but my magic seemed to be draining away, into the souls.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Margarete asked. "She wasn't attacked."

"I don't know," Sasha said. "Alice? What's wrong?"

His confused eyes were pleading for an answer, but I couldn't give one. How should I know what was happening? It was his talisman. Sasha caught my gaze and looked down at it.

"Red...what does that mean?" he wondered. I laughed in a choked sob; he didn't even know what was wrong. They were going to crush my heart and I would die and he didn't even know why. "...My God," he breathed suddenly, realizing. His voice was so filled with fear and hatred and guilt I became nauseous, overwhelmed with his emotions and my pain.

I cried out as the souls and mist poured out of me--and with them, my magic. I was weak in both body and spirit, but I followed the mist with my Demon Eyes and watched as it condensed into a vaguely human shape.

The fighter holding my shoulders saw my gaze and followed it as the 'body' darkened to a green color and shaped itself into a coat. I felt myself thrust into Margarete. "Get her out of here. Now!" he said when Margarete began to protest, "There's no time."

"But he's from the army," she argued all the same. She pointed her gun as a mask began to take shape and shot. The bullet struck the wall behind the animal mask, which grinned in a humorless fashion.

"Don't be an idiot!" Sasha yelled. "Take the seal and get out!" As the man with the fox mask turned to him, he planted his heavy boot in the man's stomach. This actually seemed to harm the phantom, unlike Margarete's ineffectual bullets. The spy took my right arm and slung it over her neck.

"Come on girl, walk," she told me. We adopted an awkward, fast-without-running gait as I forced my knees to support myself. The spy knew we were both limited in this position and in her free hand, carried a grenade. Luckily, that lasted us until the ward, thrown when an obtrusive frog got in our way.

I shakily collapsed into the magic circle. It kept away monsters, so I trusted it would keep away that demonic being. The sounds of fighting echoed in the sewer system.

Margarete glanced back towards the sounds' sources. "He's probably right. We should get out."

"I can't stand," I said feebly. I had a raging headache, and my legs were shaking from the last walk. "What happened?"

"You're asking me?" the spy said. "How should I know? That guy just showed up from nowhere. Why didn't my gun work?" With an exasperated air she examined the pistol and checked the bullets inside. "Was he human?"

"I don't know. He wasn't a ghost." My voice trembled as I spoke. I rested my head on my knees and tried to breathe steadily. That man—that being—had something to do with Sasha. How else could he have harmed him when Margarete's gun had done nothing? His talisman contained the souls of demons we had fought and they had attacked me, stealing my power to make that masked being. What was going on? Sasha was dangerous to be around, but why? What was he?

"Can you stand now?"

I tried to and Margarete assisted me. I was standing when a new sound reached my ears, a tiger's roar. Sasha had fused. Was the fight going badly for him? I pulled away from Margarete and staggered along the sewer wall. Sasha might need someone's help. Though, I wasn't sure what kind of help I could give.

"Alice, he said to get out!"

"I have to check on him," I called back.

"Goddamn—wait a minute, you can't go without backup!" I heard the spy's heavy combat boots stomping after me. Her concern almost made me smile before I rounded the corner and saw the battle.

Sasha as the tiger was crouching in the corner under the manhole. The green fur of the tiger was matted down with his blood. He was trying to heal himself, but the little Earth magic he was able to conjure was ineffectual.

In front of him was a great demon with a skull as its head. It unfolded its bat-like wings and flew at him, its claws already dripping with Sasha's blood. The tiger made an attempt to evade that was slow and pathetic. The claws tore into his chest and he yowled in pain.

"Margarete, the demon!"

"What about it?" she snapped, looking around wildly. "Where's Sasha?"

"He's the tiger!" I yelled. Margarete stared at me as if I was crazy. "That's his magic. I'll explain later. Just shoot the demon!" I made my way to Sasha, knowing I couldn't heal him at this range. I guided myself along the wall, walking faster as my legs became steadier.

The blonde spy pulled out her gun and aimed at the dark gray monster. It was hard with both creatures moving around, the tiger countering the demon. The Dark-classed demon hardly seemed affected. Sasha's fatigue was catching up to him at the worst possible time. Margarete fired four times, one after another, but all of them passed through the demon, hitting the wall behind the two beasts. Was this demon the same as the being with the fox mask?

The demon threw the tiger into the sewer water. Sasha struggled to the surface and pulled himself up with long thin arms. He was coughing so hard he began hacking up blood from his injuries. I quickened to a run as the demon swooped down on him and attacked brutally. He rammed Sasha's head into the cement; the tiger's body slipped back into the water before the devil cast his arm in and fished out Sasha, back in his human form and unconscious. Blood covered the fighter's clothes and trickled from his mouth.

Sasha revived for a moment, raising his head. Our eyes met and I felt a rush of anger directed at me. He thought I was an idiot for coming back.

The demon tossed him. He hit the wall and fell down, returning to unconsciousness. He was only a few feet away. I felt the edges of my Shooting Star Tome. Hissing, the gray, winged creature raised his claws. My tome took the blow as I stepped between Sasha and the demon.

It hissed again, menacingly. I backed up until my feet hit Sasha but stood my ground between the demon and his intended victim. Sasha was weak from the times he had stayed awake, protecting me. I had to return the favor now and protect him too. Whether or not he'd be grateful didn't matter.

Still making the same angry sound, the skull stared at me with hollow eyes as it stepped back. Contrary to its Darkness class, a bright light enveloped him and a second aura emerged. It was Dark class as well, but stronger and more shadowy. Now two slits in a fox mask glared at me.

So the masked man was the same as Sasha. They both had the same powers, to turn into monsters.

The fox mask began talking, unfortunately in Japanese. Only from his tone could I understand he wanted me to move. Move so he could kill Sasha. I shook my head.

"I can't let you. He's protecting me."

The man must have understood, because he burst out laughing. He obviously thought the idea of Sasha protecting me was ridiculous. How did I even know he would?

"He promised he would. That's good enough for me."

A torrent of speech followed my statement. I couldn't make heads or tails of anything he said, except for his derisive tone as he looked down at Sasha. The masked man thought he was weak, too weak to protect me.

"He's not weak!" I yelled back at him. "He's not weak, he's just tired. And the only reason he's tired is because he's done such a good job of protecting me. He didn't get any sleep because he's been watching over me, and he's already fought dozens of monsters. So you—you leave Sasha alone!"

For a few minutes the mask simply stared at me. I met his gaze, gripping my book tightly in case he decided to attack.

He pointed at Sasha and spoke to me in Japanese, enunciating every word clearly. It sounded like a threat.

"Go away," I responded, knowing I couldn't make him. If he did attack I would certainly die. My magic was returning, but only slowly. The only hope I had was that he didn't seem to want to hurt me.

And the masked man did that. He turned away and faded, mist emerging from his body. The monsters' souls returned to Sasha's talisman. I sighed and sank down to the ground, looking at Sasha. "Well," I said quietly, "I think that makes us even."

"You have a death wish or something?" Margarete called as she walked over to me. She held the lantern high to scan for monsters as she continued. "Going up against something bullets can't touch?"

I shook my head. How to explain it? "It was the right thing to do."

"Mm, sure, morality-wise. Going by intelligence it was more on the stupid side," she told me lightly.

"I had faith."

"Faith." Margarete shrugged, reluctant to get into that conversation. "Well, it worked. Are you going to wake him up?" she asked, swinging the lantern towards Sasha. "He's raising one hell of a stink."

It was true, though anyone would after being dunked in sewer water. I cast two cure spells on him before I felt completely powerless and settled for shaking him. "Sasha? Sasha, wake up." I looked up at Margarete. "I think he's sleeping. He's been really exhausted."

"I know, but he's got to wake up. This isn't a safe place to sleep, once the Army wises up…hold this." She gave me the lantern and knelt in front of Sasha. "Hey! Up and at 'em!" she yelled. "Kiddo! Come on!"

"Leave me 'lone Olga," Sasha complained, shaking his head.

"Olga?" Margarete mused for a minute, then shrugged, and slapped Sasha soundly.

"Margarete!" I exclaimed, shocked. Sasha was coughing up water—apparently he'd swallowed some while in the sewage. My nose wrinkled, but I tried to maintain an indignant expression.

"What? He's a fighter, he can take a little smack."

"He's been smacked around enough!"

"Can I—please—kill her?" Sasha asked between coughs. "Give me a Mana leaf. I'll Nightmare her."

I looked around and found his satchel. Unsure which was which, I tried picking a Thera leaf for him. He took the leaf and his lips puckered at the taste. "Did I give you a Pure?" I asked.

"Yeah, a potent one." He swallowed. "Well, that feels a bit better. Now let me see before you waste another."

I yanked the cord to close the satchel and tossed it to him. "Here." It was time to get out of these sewers. "Could I have a mana leaf, please?" I asked. Although the pain had left, my magic was still low. He handed me the leaf and I chewed on it carefully.

"Alright, you guys ready?" Margarete asked. "I want to get out of this dump. I'm already late for my contact."

"I have to clear out my malice," Sasha said. He was gripping his talisman, still a bright red, tightly. "If I don't, he might come back."

"Who was he?" I asked.

"I don't know." Sasha had a straight face as he met my eyes, but I could sense his reluctance. He was lying.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

My hands curled into fists before I simply walked away. As I got to the fringes of the lantern's light I conjured my own. It was so bright I blinded myself despite anticipating the increase. Undoubtedly I had blinded both Sasha and Margarete.

"Five minutes and you've already made her mad," Margarete noted.

Sasha did not answer her, but I could hear his footsteps behind me. His shoes squelched with each step. "Why are you mad, Alice?"

"I'm not mad." It was nothing to be mad about, after all. Simply because he had kidnapped me and was keeping a secret that had almost killed me just now and might later. No, nothing wrong with that.

"I know you're lying."

"That's nice." I splashed through the small puddles on the sewer's floor. "I know you're lying too. What did you say I have? Demon Eyes? Did it ever occur to you that lying to me is useless? Just say you don't want to tell me, because God forbid we be on an even footing," I spat out, turning to him. Behind him Margarete was listening intently, curious. "Don't say you don't know, say you won't tell me. I may be naïve, Sasha, but I am not an idiot."

"Okay, fair enough," Sasha conceded.

"Like you even care about fair."

Margarete's chuckles echoed through the damp air. "Yep, you've definitely ticked her off."

The man sighed as we proceeded back to the monster ward. "I won't lie to you anymore, Alice." I considered this for a moment. Coming from my captor, he had promised to not lie and to protect me. That was probably as good as I was going to get.

"Alright then."

When we reached the blue circle Sasha laid down in it. "Stay in the circle," he told me. "I know it wards off monsters further away, but the malice—"

"I'll stay," I said. I had no intentions of being used to create some—some demon again. The pain and fear had been enough for once.

"What are you doing, anyway?" Margarete asked the fighter.

"I'm going to go to the Graveyard. It's…never mind, you wouldn't understand it if I explained. But I have to be asleep to go there. It's a place in my soul."

"Oh." Margarete looked thoroughly confused. She glanced at me but I knew nothing. I had never heard of something like that.

As Sasha fell asleep I examined the Shooting Star Tome. The demon's claws had ripped the illustration on the cover, though the cover itself was still fine. The magic within the book still seemed intact. I opened it, only glancing through the pages for some of the depictions of the continent.

After a few moments, I looked at Sasha as he lay sleeping in the circle, watching the gentle waves of magic mix with his aura and turn to a darker blue.

"Do you think he's alright?" I asked Margarete, watching him. After the run-in with that masked man, I wasn't really sure. The spy shrugged, tossing her mane of gold hair.

"Do you think he's even doing anything? 'Malice' or whatever he was going on about...just sounded like some dumb excuse to take a nap." I knew it was important, but I wasn't sure how to tell Margarete. I had been the only one to see the monsters' souls. "Hmph. You guys are slowing me down. Forget this, I'm getting out. I'll leave the seal in for you two."

"Oh--wait!" I burst out as she walked away. My voice was so loud it echoed throughout the dank sewers. It felt nice to have another girl around, even if she was a bit pushy. It wasn't likely I'd meet anyone else from Europe anytime soon. Besides, there was safety in numbers, wasn't there? I didn't really want to be alone with Sasha. "I'll--Didn't you want to know how I did my magic?"

She stopped. Slowly, she turned around. Her face was blank, but as a Demon Eyes I could sense her rising curiosity. "You going to show me?"

"I could teach you a spell," I offered. Anything to slow her down for a few minutes, make her stay until we were out of these sewers at least. She didn't seem too talented, but she could probably manage to imbue objects with her own aura. "You know how you're a Water class?"

"Yeah, you told me that." Her tone was still bland, but I knew she wanted to know where this was leading.

"I'll teach you how to make other things Water class too. I can make things Light class; it has to do with what element you're aligned with." The older woman was sitting back down as I explained, letting her mask of disinterest slip bit by bit. "Hold out your hands."

She held them out, and I demonstrated the ability, explaining as I did. Her hands were soon glowing with white sparkles of light.

"Now you try," I said, holding my own hands out.

It took her a few tries; between each time I would glance at Sasha anxiously, wondering when he would wake up. He had started turning a bit in his sleep. His body was on the edge of the magic circle now.

"Easy," Margarete crowed. I turned to look at my own hands and saw blue sparks. There was a curious feeling in my hands, as though all the blood in them had been thinned with water. They both felt light, fluid.

"Yes, that's it," I said. "You want to practice a bit?"

"You think I need practice?" She certainly could be boastful, but her confidence was somewhat uplifting. As if since she thought there was nothing to worry about, everything really was fine. "But if you want to practice...let's use Sasha."

I looked at the sleeping man and laughed. It would be funny to see his reaction when he woke up, covered in blue and white sparks of light. "He's a Dark class, so you'll have it easier," I said, explaining, "His aura will resist mine more. But I bet my spell will be more effective than yours."

She took the statement as a challenge. "Oh really?" Margarete said, raising an eyebrow. "Let's see who can cover his whole body in her element first."

It sounded like an amusing idea, competing to mask Sasha's aura. We were both bored, looking for something that would seem the least bit interesting. I also wanted something to distract me from the worrisome problem of why Sasha had this malice in the first place, and a competition would delay her long enough to get Sasha awake. I nodded and then we got started.

"Ready...set...go!" Margarete said, instantly diving in to start the spell. I followed, covering his head in white sparks. On the other side of Sasha, Margarete was placing blue sparkles around his feet.

I was quickly covering more space than the spy, reaching Sasha's hands fairly quickly. Margarete was doing the legs more haphazardly, with wide gaps in between areas of sparks. We'd learned the spell in the same day, but I had much more practice with my magic.

"This isn't even a challenge," I teased her.

She was frowning as she surveyed Sasha's body—and then she suddenly smirked. She reached down to the crotch of Sasha's pants. Blue sparks appeared and I looked at them, then gaped open-mouthed at her.

"You did not do that."

She was grinning triumphantly. "Oh yes I did," she said. "Go on, cover them up—you have to if you want to win."

"That is vulgar," I said, both disgusted and awed.

"You forfeit then. Miss Spy Genius wins!"

Sasha groaned then, making us both stop and look at him guiltily. He sat up slowly and glanced down at his body, marked with blue and white sparks. "Okay," he said slowly. "First rule, ladies: never mess with my class while I'm in a malice fight." It was then that he noticed the phenomena occurring in his pants, and he frowned. "That isn't going to give me blue balls, is it?"

Margarete burst into laughter as I turned a bright red, not quite sure what he meant but guessing close enough to be embarrassed. I tried to ignore the crude humor and focused on the matter at hand.

"Is your malice gone?" I asked Sasha. He nodded.

"All I had to do is fight another monster. See? Back to blue," he said, holding his talisman for inspection. "We're safe."

"That's good."

The Eurasian fighter watched me closely, his bangs partially obscuring almond eyes. "Did you guys fight him off earlier?" Some of the sparks around him were beginning to fade.

"No, Alice defended you," Margarete told him. "You should have seen her. That other guy kept telling her to move but she kept blocking him. Of course, it wasn't smart, but that's what she did." Her sea blue eyes were laughing at me as I shook my head.

"I did what I thought any good Christian would do."

"Help their kidnapper by putting their life in danger?"

I folded my arms crossly and turned away from both of them. "Maybe it was idiotic."

"That man was a ghost," Sasha said suddenly. It startled me and I looked back to see him staring at the ground. Was he telling me now as thanks?

"But Alice said it wasn't a ghost."

Sasha's head shot up, his brown eyes widening. "Not…? What made you think that?"

"He—he didn't feel like a ghost." I looked away from them, embarrassed, to the water trickling down the stones. "Something about him didn't seem human. There weren't enough emotions. Most people when they die have so many emotions—they're just obscured by the strongest ones. But he only despised you. I couldn't sense anything else. And he was too abstract."

"Abstract?"

"Um, how do I explain…" I closed my eyes, searching for the right words in my mind. Water gurgled as it traveled slowly, sometimes unevenly through the pipes. "He didn't seem real. It felt like the monsters were manifesting an idea, not…oh, that's stupid, isn't it," I said suddenly. Both Sasha and Margarete had puzzled expressions. They didn't understand what I meant. I wasn't even sure what I meant. Maybe I had perceived him as unreal because I didn't want to accept that he could be real. Like how Zhaoyang village had seemed a nightmare. I just didn't want to face facts. "Forget it. You're probably right, Sasha."

He raked his hair. "Well, it's not like I want to be," he said. His nose suddenly wrinkled. Holding his arm up to his face, the fighter sniffed and grimaced. "When is this smell going to go away?"

"Hopefully soon," Margarete joked, hitting his arm lightly, "Because you don't smell like roses. We need some open air." She held up the ring for the seal, still glowing blue in her hands. "Let's go."

The manhole was only a short distance away, so it was easy to reach. Sasha took the ring from Margarete and ascended the ladder. "Alright, let's get out of here." The light blue ring was carefully inserted into the design.

Another rumbling began. I hoped it was the seal coming undone, but I could sense three auras rising within it. "Sasha, get down!" I yelled at the moment a red creature emerged from the seal. It bore down on the fighter, knocking him off the ladder and down to the ground before Margarete shot the human-like creature off him.

"Are you alright?" I asked, helping the dazed fighter up.

"Yeah, yeah. I hate kappas," the fighter complained as he checked his bladed knuckles. Two more were emerging from the seal, these green. The three kappas arranged themselves in a line, one green on each side of the red and slightly behind.

Despite their varying colors, the kappas' physiques were similar; they looked human except for their webbed feet and hands and claws. There were various markings on their skins. Strangely, they all had bowls on their heads and were looking around in confusion. Sometimes they were so confused they held their heads in pain. They were more comical, if not pitiful, than fearsome.

Sasha shook his head. "The kappa. Platypus of the monsters. You just have to wonder why."

"Later," Margarete said tersely. She continued firing into the red kappa until she ran out of bullets. The kappa appeared to be weak for a moment, but then the green one on the right threw up his hands, as if beseeching some divinity. Incredibly, a rain cloud formed, right there in the sewers, over the kappas, and a gentle rain came down. The Fire-classed kappa was healed. Margarete swore as she finished reloading. "So we have to kill the green ones first."

The other green and red, perhaps angry, came after her. Sasha drew off the green one by slashing into its sides, leaving Margarete to deal with the red. It attacked using its large, webbed feet to kick the blonde. She ended the assault with a bullet to the head, which only cracked the bowl but made the kappa moan loudly in pain. It drew back to be healed by the same Water-class as before. In the meantime, I cured Margarete and she watched as the kappas regrouped.

"Right, let's do this the easy way," Margarete said. She drew out from her light blue jacket a grenade and motioned Sasha back. Then she simply pulled the pin and tossed the grenade at the monsters. The red one stared at it, puzzled, until it exploded. The Water class Sasha had attacked died, and the other two were weaker with the shrapnel in their bodies. Sasha immediately went after the green one before it could heal. With both greens gone, the battle was reduced to two rounds of punches, shots, and spells.

"I thought it was supposed to be the seal or the guardian," Sasha said, glaring at Margarete.

"Hey, don't blame me! Blame whoever was cowardly enough to double-lock a seal. Anyway, we still won."

I bit my lip, hesitant to agree. "There's still an evil aura here…it feels like someone's watching u—aah!" I screamed when a loud bark startled me. "Tiny!"

The small puppy barked again, apparently happy to see me. "Oh, where have you been?" I asked. He gladly jumped into my open arms and whined until I petted him. "Did that big scary ghost frighten you? It's okay…"

Sasha and Margarete were talking behind me. I could hear Sasha's exasperation as he described Tiny as 'some strange mutt with fleas'. I thought the same could probably apply to him.

"Alice. Alice!"

"What?" I asked, turning to Sasha. He sighed.

"What about the aura?"

"What aura?"

He stared at me with his almond eyes before declaring, "You're hopeless." Before I could counter this rude remark, he had gone up the ladder again and was pushing the cover open. Margarete and I were standing beneath him, waiting for news, when he ducked back down and muttered, "We're dead. So dead."

Margarete leaned back, placing her hand on her hip. "What is it?"

"It leads out to a Japanese base!"

"So?"

"You mean you knew?" Sasha demanded.

"Yeah. Where else around here are you going to find an airplane?"

"Are you insane?!" He caught my look and sighed, shaking his head. "Alright, it's suicidal, but I guess we don't have a choice."

"That's the spirit," Margarete said brightly. "Just shut up, follow me, and you guys will be safe."

But it didn't work out that way. I was the last one to come out. Having only one free arm made climbing a bit difficult. As I emerged, Tiny leapt from my arms and ran towards the hangar. "Tiny," I said, dismayed.

"Ah, don't worry about him, Alice," Sasha told me. "The mutt's just glad to be outside."

Tiny sat down and began barking loudly. "Tiny, shh." But it was too late. I could sense two auras coming near, drawn by the sound. "Someone heard him."

"Damn dog," Sasha muttered. Tiny ran off but before we could move, two soldiers emerged from the hangar. Seeing us, one of them exclaimed something that was probably a swear and cocked his rifle. The second lifted his weapon as well. Before I could react, there were two simultaneous shots as Margarete shot one of the soldiers in the brain. I gasped at the burst of blood from his head. The bullet embedded itself and bodily fluids in the faded green paint of the building. Another shot split the air before Sasha disarmed the second soldier and knocked him out with a swift blow. The spy winced, grabbing her right arm. The second shot had been at her, and the bullet had passed through her arm. Margarete smiled gratefully as I concentrated my energy to heal. But she paled as I heard two more rifles being readied. "Sasha!" she called.

I whirled around and saw another pair of soldiers. One had his rifle aimed at me. Sasha was occupied with disarming the other soldier. The soldier's finger tensed on the trigger. There was no time to think, only react. I took the orb of magical energy and threw it at him. He cried out as the Light magic hit him, his grip on the trigger loosening, and dropped down.

"Nasty," Sasha said, looking at the fallen soldier. "Remind me not to piss you off again."

I stared at my hands. Had I just cast Blessed Light? I'd never been able to before…I shook my head and then noticed Tiny sitting only a few feet away, his tail wagging. No more soldiers were coming, so this would be the best time to go get him.

Walking towards the puppy, I held out my hands. "Here boy, here—" my words were cut off by an explosion behind. I turned around and saw the plane in the hangar had caught on fire, Sasha and Margarete just as surprised as me. That would attract even more soldiers. We had to leave now.

I turned back to the dog and screamed. His aura had completely changed into a malevolent one of Fire. Did the explosion have something to do with him? A human voice came from the dog when it saw my confusion.

"Hee hee hee…what's wrong, girl? I'm just your cute dog, Tiny!"

"That's not cute," I whispered.

"Get the hell away from her, Dehuai!" Sasha spat out. "God, a dog? How low can you go?"

The Fire aura flared around the dog. "And you, traitor! I knew it was a mistake to send you. If that meddling warlock hadn't insisted—"

"Oh, someone sounds sore," the brunet cut in. "Bacon knew nothing about my plans. Don't blame him."

Is he…defending Roger Bacon? I wondered.

The dog snarled. "Fine then. I'll simply rend your body to pieces and end your pathetic life!"

"Can you just feel the testosterone building up?" Margarete asked rhetorically.

"The key is mine!" Dehuai shouted. The puppy's body began to change. It grew larger in all ways, legs and body and teeth. It snarled at us with saliva dripping from its mouth as a color like magma snaked across its white fur. Two horns sprouted from its forehead and two tails formed from the one. I frowned, thinking this demon might just ruin my love of dogs.

"Well, since you'd kill me either way…time to show you a secret I've been keeping." Sasha held out his arms and concentrated. With a sudden yell, his whole body shone with a great light, as the masked man before had. When the light disappeared, there stood the tiger he had turned into in both Zhaoyang village and the sewers. Dehuai was surprised to see the change, but hesitated only for a second before lunging at Sasha with more ferocity than he had shown before. The tiger went down under the beast's brunt, but managed to slice quickly at the exposed underbelly. Margarete shot at the huge dog and I cast Blessed Light again, determined to defeat this new evil.

Dehuai retreated, a bit weakened and more cautious. Sasha also showed some wisdom by placing a spell of protection on himself with the tiger's Earth magic. A wall of rock rose around him and then fell away, strengthening him.

"Margarete, that spell I showed you," I called to the spy. "Cast it on Sasha's fists." After all, the dog was a Fire class. Water class attacks would be more effective then. As the blue sparks appeared around Sasha's claws, I began casting Cure on him.

Dehuai had recovered now and was concentrating; wisps of fire curled about in the dog's mouth before he breathed out waves of flame. I cried out as the magic flames licked around my skin, burning it. I shielded myself with my left arm and paid for it with horrible burn marks up and down. The smell of flesh burning almost made me ill. I focused on healing my wounds and then Margarete's as Sasha used the tiger's powers to cure himself. Margarete spent the time shooting the dog, although the beast seemed to hardly mind each individual bullet. What if this monster was too strong for us? No, I shouldn't think like that.

Sasha proved the effectiveness of Margarete's spell when he gouged the dog's eye. It howled in pain, the sound horrible to my ears. Blindly the dog leapt out and managed to grab the tiger's arm in its mouth, worrying the limb like a bone. The tiger's shrieks of pain grated against my ears. Sasha finally escaped the grasp, but he lost quite a bit of skin. Margarete tossed a grenade at the monstrous dog. It landed under the creature's belly and exploded, shrapnel cutting into its flesh. Margarete smirked as she aimed her pistol. In the meantime I healed Sasha, seeing the green fur stretch over the sinewy muscles again.

The tiger roared so loudly I thought more soldiers would come. If they did, would they help us or fight against us? The tiger's Earth magic formed small pieces of rock, which flung themselves at the monster. The dog flinched, wavering on its feet.

"Alright, let's finish it off," Margarete said. She fired repeatedly into the beast, Sasha ripping into the already existing wounds. The dog cried out in pain and I remembered the little puppy with his tail wagging in happiness. Still, this wasn't a puppy anymore. It was a demon. Wasn't it? I felt sorry for Tiny.

"Blessed Light!" I yelled, gripping my tome tightly. The stream of white lights flooded into the dog.

It still wasn't dead. When would this be over? When we were dead? Except he wouldn't kill me, he would use me for something—something horrible. Why wouldn't he die? I gripped my forehead, feeling a headache start. Sasha and the dog were a tangle of bluish-white and green limbs, blurring as the pounding increased. I knelt down, trying to pull myself together.

"Hey," Margarete called, "What's wrong?" Her voice was too loud for my head. It hurt so much. She needed to shut up. Please. I closed my eyes, trying to shut everything out.

Long, slender fingers that ended in sharp nails grasped my face. I opened my eyes to see that the nails were claws, and that the green tiger was silently proffering a leaf. I ate the bitter medicine and felt the headache fade away, my confusion and panic dulled…that was until the dog attacked, gripping Sasha in the back with his large jaws. The tiger howled in pain and then fell forward when he was released. I shot to my feet to catch him. He was surprisingly heavy for his appearance, but I managed to keep both of us upright as I healed his back.

Margarete shot at the beast, forcing him away from us. As soon as the healing was done, Sasha tore after the beast and I cast Blessed Light one last time. The spy ended the fight with another grenade at its underbelly. The monster collapsed, its limbs splayed out, and faded away, leaving a tiny body behind.

Sasha emerged from the fusion and looked at the dead puppy. "Poor mutt."

"I'll go find us an airplane," Margarete said before running off. I hardly noticed her absence as I silently prayed over the dog. When I opened my eyes even that was gone.

"Hey, you alright?" Sasha asked. He yawned, apparently still tired, and sat down on the grass.

I nodded. "I was only hit once," I pointed out.

He shook his head. "Not physically. I've never seen someone break down that fast in a fight."

The comment made me embarrassed. Did he mean there was something wrong with me? I thought the average person would have been terrified of the dog. Hadn't I done well? "Was it really that bad?"

The fighter shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. It might just be because you haven't fought that much. Here." He took his satchel and tossed it to me. "You'll need the Pure leaves more than me, so you can hold onto them."

"You trust me?" I asked, astonished.

Sasha raised an eyebrow. "Is there a reason I shouldn't? Besides, this'll free me up to do more attacking while you do more healing. I got the impression you liked healing better."

"I do, but…I'm surprised you trust me with the money," I said. My face brightened as I realized something. "Does this mean I get to shop for equipment now?"

Sasha looked surprised for a moment. I don't think he had remembered that in the bag with the leaves, jacket, and skirt, was a large amount of Chinese money. He took one look at the shooting star on my new book and his face darkened.

"Give me the money, Alice."

I pouted. "But you said you trusted me."

"No, I asked you if there was a reason I shouldn't, and I've just remembered there is. Now give me back the money."

"I promise I'll get good weapons."

Sasha seemed ready to yell at me; it was rather funny seeing him so irritated. "You'll buy books. I know you will. Now give me back my goddamn money before I--"

"Hey kiddos, look what I found!"

We both turned around and Sasha stood as a small, gray plane rolled across the grass to us. The paint was fading and there were a lot of spots covered in rust. Margarete waved to us from the pilot's seat.

"What do you think? It seemed abandoned, but it started with a swift kick!"

"Oh yeah, that's a hand-me-down," Sasha said, his eyes lingering on the wings' rust.

"You want us to ride this thing?" I asked in disbelief.

The madwoman was smiling. "Bingo! Stop your chatting, kids, and hop on in!"

It was either stay at the base and be captured or risk our lives on a rundown airplane. Surprisingly enough, both Sasha and I climbed in. He sat down in the passenger's seat, and I stumbled in after him, tripping and landing on his lap.

"S-sorry Sasha."

"Eh, don't worry, you're light. Now…" He plucked the satchel from my hands and quickly fished his money out, stuffing it into one of the vest's pockets. "Okay, now I trust you with the items," he said, dropping it back into my hands.

"Time for takeoff!" Margarete announced. I was trying to sit ramrod straight on Sasha's knees, but that was hard to do with the plane rattling. I fell back against Sasha's chest, my braid quickly becoming undone. The bandanna in my hair fell out onto his lap.

"It's r-really shaking!" I exclaimed.

"You're going to crash it," Sasha predicted ominously.

"For God's sake, Sasha, you're a BOY!" Margarete said, annoyed. "Show a little more gumption!"

"I didn't know gumption was the same thing as death wish!" Sasha snapped.

I was pressed back into his body by gravity as the plane tilted back. We were going into the air. My heart was pounding as the wind whipped past. My whole body was tensed as I prepared for the engine to fail or a wing to snap off. After five minutes, I heard a light snore and stared at Sasha. He was sleeping, and at a time like this!

I sighed, trying to calm down. If Sasha was asleep he must think it was safe. Either that or he was too fatigued to stay awake another minute. The latter was more probable.

To distract myself I began picking apart my ruined braid, my hair falling down to my waist. I twisted around in my seat to retrieve my blue bandanna without waking Sasha up and tied it around my thick bundle of hair.

Margarete laughed beside me. "Don't fuss, Alice. I've flown plenty of planes. Granted, not as old as this one…but I think we'll be fine."

"I—I trust you."

This elicited another chuckle from the spy. "You're the worst liar I've ever heard Alice. But I like that about you, means I don't have to worry. Now, him," she said, jerking her head at Sasha, "I have to keep an eye on."

"Yeah," I agreed, eyeing the plane's instruments.

"You know, for him being your kidnapper you seem awfully friendly to him," the spy said slowly. I knew what she was getting at. She seemed trustworthy enough.

"Well…it's hard to explain. I was being kidnapped by another man, and Sasha was helping him. I was unconscious, and when I woke up, the other man was gone."

"So you don't know what happened?"

I shook my head. "No. But I'm sure he's still after me. I'm not quite sure why Sasha insists I stay with him." There was the witch, who seemed to want us together, but that couldn't be it. Sasha loathed her, why would he listen to her? But they had been kidnapping me for Dehuai, and he seemed angry with the warlock…did he take me for a revenge of some sort? What did he have against Dehuai? "But he's promised to protect me, and he has."

"So basically, he's your best bet. That still doesn't explain you two being friendly."

I shrugged.  The shoulders of my cotton blouse rippled in the wind.  "He seems alright at times."

"I wouldn't trust him," Margarete declared. "Especially with what that masquerader said."

"From the sewers?" She nodded. "You know Japanese? What was he saying?"

"You didn't know? Sure sounded like you did. He started off telling you to get out of his way. Then you said you couldn't let him kill him because he was protecting you. Then he said something like 'how do you know that coward will protect you?'" As she spoke she imitated the man's deep, authoritative voice. "Then you said he'd promised. How could you answer if you didn't know what he was saying?"

"I mostly guessed."

Her cynical blue eyes glanced over my face before she responded. "Hm. Well, you pissed him off and he started saying Sasha was a weak bastard who could never keep a promise. That was the nice part, it got really slanderous. He mentioned another girl he promised to protect. Some Anne. Sounds like she's dead now."

"Dead…?"

"Yeah, doesn't sound too promising, does it?" She looked over and saw my ashen face. "Don't worry, Alice! I'm sure it was just bad luck or something."

"I haven't exactly had the best of luck either," I said in a weak voice. Choosing a cannibal village as our first destination certainly did not portend good fortune. Was I ever going to get back home?

"Look, where are you going to?" Margarete's usually cocky voice was softened by concern. She felt sorry for upsetting me. "Maybe I could arrange something for you. My supervisor owes me a few favors."

I had wanted to go to Changchun, but I remembered that I was a murderer here. No place in China would be safe for me now with the Japanese army after me. I really just wanted to go straight home. "Do you think I could go to Zurich?"

"Sure," she said cheerfully.

"Thank you."

" Don't mention it."

After this I could think of nothing to say, too happy at the prospect of going home, and Margarete said nothing either. I opened my tome after a few minutes and began reading more about the mythical country. This way I wouldn't have to worry about whether or not the plane would fail on us.

As the hours passed, I found myself being lulled to sleep. The story would have to wait for later. I was a little more than halfway through, and the signs of decay in the plants intrigued me, seeming symbolic of the corruption in the people's hearts. Reluctantly I slipped the ribbon in to bookmark my place and leaned back. Sasha's leather vest made a rather nice pillow…

My teeth rattled as the airplane shook. It looked to be around four or five in the afternoon by the sun's position. But what got my attention was that I was seeing the sun through a cloud of smoke.

"Margarete! What happened?"

"The engine's shot, that's all."

"That's all?" I echoed. My heart had dropped into my stomach and both were searching for room in my legs. "We're going to crash, aren't we?"

The spy gritted her teeth. "I'm looking for a place to land."

"What's wrong with where we—" I leaned slightly out of the plane and realized what was wrong. We were flying over water! There was only a small strip of land at the far horizon. "We're over water!"

"Tell me something I don't know!" the blonde snapped, her hair whipping into my eyes as the plane's nose dipped.

Sasha leaned against me and I realized he had to be woken up. If we landed in the water, there was a chance we'd be able to swim to shore. But if he was asleep, he'd almost certainly die.

I turned around and shook the fighter. His face was twitching, as though he was dreaming. "Sasha! Sasha, wake up! Please!"

Oblivious to everything going wrong, Sasha murmured meaningless words, garbled Chinese.

"Wake up, wake up!" I was shaking him very roughly, and it surprised me when he cried out.

"Dad, Dad, help! They're coming to kill Mom!"

"Shit, is he having a nightmare now?"

I ignored Margarete for the moment, too intent on Sasha's movements. He was tossing his head, back and forth, short cries of panic issuing from his mouth. "Wake up! Please!"

His eyes opened, wide and terrified. For a moment, he seemed to be a scared child. His unfocused gaze was directed at me. "Mom?…" he asked softly, still using the Chinese.

"Sasha?"

His eyebrows drew together in confusion. Of course, Sasha was not his real name. His mother had called him something else. The dark eyes composed themselves. "Something wrong…?" He was fully awake now.

"You bet there is, sonny!" Margarete yelled. "The engine's busted!"

"The hell did you do?" Sasha demanded, all the fear of his nightmare replaced by anger in the face of a tangible peril.

"Look, either shut up or help!"

There was nothing I could do, didn't seem like anything could possibly be done, so I turned to Sasha. "I heard you. You said 'Dad, Dad, help, they're coming to kill mom'." He was silent, and I knew he'd let something slip in his dream.

"This is not the time for a casual discourse on somniloquy!" the spy said. At the same time, the plane's nose dipped further and the plane went into a steeper dive. It was painfully obvious we would not reach the small village in sight, so far away. "We're going to crash!"

"Gimme that!" Sasha said, leaning over. He yanked on the steering instruments and pounded on some others. "Rise you damn bucket of bolts—"

Perhaps he had done something useful, because the nose rose slightly—and that was when we hit the water.

**

Author's Note: Um, I'm still not sure what color Margarete's skirt is…but I thought it was blue. Oh well if I'm wrong.

The kappas didn't have bowls in the game, but I read in Shonen Jump they did. It seemed funny enough for inclusion.

Anything else…?

**

Reviewers:

MikoNoNyte: I said they had bear bodies because they seemed too stocky for a cat's…wait, I answered your review earlier, didn't I? .

Sasha will grow on Alice for a while, she'll love him for a while, then she'll hate his guts. ^_^

Nightraven Rue: Enemy at the Gates? Don't know it.

Er…Shadow Souls may take a while longer, but it should be up…maybe next weekend? . Lots of homework piling up…