Chapter 39

Greed ran down the street. Well, maybe 'run' wasn't the right word. He walked, quickly. Lights flicked by as he passed. They were nice to look at, he wanted one when this was all over, but he wasn't too grateful for them now. They put him in plain sight, and he was trying to hide. He had to escape from . . . someone. He couldn't remember right now. It was right there. In the back of his head. He tried to focus on it. He promptly decided he didn't want to know after all.

Greed hung a sharp right into an alleyway. Then he started really running. He went through the streets at random, sometimes climbing up buildings and moving across the rooves. One time he just jumped through a window and ran inside. Good thing no one had been in that room.

He reached the edge of town, at the edge of a sort of swamp, and smacked into something so hard he bounced away, falling on his back.

"Huh?"

No one answered. It was far too quiet, wherever he was. He could really use someone accompanying him.

Greed got up and looked in front of him. But he didn't see anything.

He waved his hand in front of his face. He could still see his hand, but not whatever he'd hit. He moved forward, but slower this time. He bumped against something. He pressed his hand against it. It was metal, taller than him, and kind of sloped. But it still wasn't in sight. And the sun might be setting, but it sure wasn't dark. Invisible building? Well, it would work as a good hiding spot.

Pride and Lilly walked down the main street of town. The Doctor said this place was called the City of Lights. It lived up to the name. All sorts of different lights. Light bulbs, fairy lights, little floating lights that looked like fireflies, glowing rocks. But the main street was the highlight. (No pun intended.) This street had essentially captured things from space that cast light, and used them in street lamps. Stars and extremely condensed suns mostly.

The Doctor had started out enthusiastically telling them about it all, then decided she should go talk to someone and make sure no one had been using those suns. She left the two of them on the street.

"She really likes lights, doesn't she?" Lilly commented, admiring one of the streetlights.

Light had once been rather important to Pride, since he needed it to use his shadows. The Doctor would know that, since she'd been visiting his life. He still automatically kept tabs on how much light was in a room before reminding himself it wasn't important.

"I wonder if it's intentional," he muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing you need to worry about."

"Then why are you telling me?"

"I wasn't. Try to be aware of when someone's addressing you."

"We're the only ones here!"

The lights around them flickered and Pride looked around. It was empty here, but that was kind of strange. While a lot of work was put into the lights, not a lot was put into the buildings. They were all basic, and similar looking. He didn't see anyone coming in or out of them. Surely, someone else should be out here enjoying the sights. Or the Doctor should've gotten back to them by now.

"We should find the Doctor," Pride said.

Lilly pulled back, surprised by the change in subject. But she nodded. "Come on. I think she went in that building." She pointed at a building on the left.

"The Doctor went a lot further back down the street," Pride pointed out. "Come on." He started walking, passing the building she'd suggested.

"We should check this building while we're here. What does it matter if we get it wrong a time or two? Are we in a hurry?"

As she spoke, Pride saw something stir in an alley. The alleys weren't exactly well lit, but there was a still a glow that should allow him to see anyone moving in the area. So what was going on? He didn't see anything solid, but one of the shadows flickered. Oh, he was not writing that off. Which meant it would be bad if they took a long time to find the Doctor.

"Yes," he said, answering Lilly's question.

"Pride! You're the most difficult person I've ever met! Does being right matter so much-!"

"Lilly shut up," Pride cut her off, turning to glare at her. "I think there's someone here."

Lilly suddenly got pale and wide eyed, pointing at something over Pride's shoulder. Right. He had looked away from the danger. He spun back around. There was a figure standing right in front of him. They weren't invisible per say. It was more like they were wearing a suit that allowed them to camouflage with everything. It was disorienting, but this close with this much light, the figure's silhouette was visible.

Unfortunately, it was a bit late to do anything. Pride automatically clapped his hands together. The figure back handed him, sent him to the ground, and he felt something sharp against his skin, a little too sharp for normal human hands.

He reached up, and pulled a needle from his cheek. Oh, that wasn't good.

"Pride!" Lilly shouted.

She ran towards him and the figure, though everything around her was starting to go blurry.

No you idiot, Pride thought. You're just going to get yourself caught too. You should . . . get to . . . the Doctor.

[About Greed. You have no idea how hard it was to keep his arrival a secret sometimes. There will be an explanation for how he's here, despite being dead. We won't get to it for a while, but you might be able to guess before I say.]