A/N: Okay then. So, this took a little longer than it should've. I mean, between all the school projects, family outings, and general lack of computer access...
I still should've been able to have this out months ago!

So for that, I'm deeply sorry for how much you've all had to wait. But, at least I finally managed to get this thing out! It's a tad longer than the previous ones, hope that makes up for the delay.

Enjoy!

My POV

He's only had the disguise for 15 minutes and I'm already doubting its superiority over the pimp suit. I mean, it's doing its job properly; no weird looks are being sent our way...

But seriously? Out of all the possible articles of clothing he could've gotten, that's what he ends up with?

These brain cells could've been used to formulate the perfect plan to escape this realm! Instead, they're stuck on the fact that he looks like Alucard from Hellsing!

It didn't help that the overcoat itself was several sizes too big, and the only reason it wasn't being dragged through the ground was because Buwaro was holding it up with his wings. It gave the distinct impression that he had really broad shoulders.

So I've been spending most of those 15 minutes trying to stop grinning like an idiot. And then Buwaro ended up getting lost almost immediately and Rhea's exhausted ranting followed that. Combine the fact that the sun had set by the time we found him...I least I managed to stop grinning.

I nearly sighed in relief when we finally got to the inn. It wasn't particularly large or nice-looking, but at this point I'll take what I can get. I just wish we got here sooner; it's already colder than I can stand out here, and this jacket does NOTHING!

"Hello, and welcome to the Snow Drop Inn, travellers!" said a gruff voice from behind the counter as we came in. "Hey, aren't you a little late to the festival, miss?" It's playing out just like before. "And your coat-"

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before." Rhea interrupted him. "I have a condition, so I don't have a winter coat, okay? Just hook us up with a room for three."

Yep, almost exactly the same. The only difference is my presence, in this toasty warm place...

No time to zone out just yet, you lazy moron. You've got shit to do.

The innkeeper grumbled something under his breath. "We don't have rooms for three people..." he grunted, handing Rhea a dip pen...?

Oh, right. Ballpoint pens don't exist. Still getting used to this.

"At this point, I'll just have someone sleep on the floor." Rhea said as she took the pen and wrote her name down on the ledger.

Buwaro, meanwhile, looked around the room in obvious wonder, and one of the paintings on the wall caught his eye. It was a rather uninteresting image of a summer forest, but Buwaro seemed completely riveted, approaching it to take a closer look...that is until he spotted a flower vase a couple feet away and started poking the flowers.

Heh. Little kid indeed.

"Pardon me, but," the innkeeper said. "Your friend seems rather strange..."

Same comment as before. At least now he's referring to Buwaro's behaviour and not his clothing.

At least mostly...I think. At the very least how someone with that clothing would act. Or how disproportionally big it is.

"Don't mind him, he...just doesn't get out much."

Awesome cover story there, Rhea. Really.

"Hey, my friend Ramirez's name is in this ledger! What gives?" Rhea said.

"Oh, Mr. Bloodeyes? Yeah, he said he was leaving the village to study medicine in some big city. I forgot which one it was, though."

And it was supposedly an unexpected thing for him to do, if I remember correctly, and if Rhea's expression was any indication. But between witnessing the tragic death of a friend and some possible friction with the rest of the villagers, it's actually pretty reasonable, and sad.

Even though the knife was up to the hilt in her chest, possibly hitting her heart or even her spine, it's unlikely that Rhea's death was instant. She probably died in Ramirez's arms. That would've been traumatic.

Then again, I was never that good at Biology. And God knows how different a Jakkai's anatomy actually is from a human's.

"Your name is Rhea Snaketail?" the innkeeper asked.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"The three of you are friends of Carrie Susan, right?"

Rhea glanced at me. I shrugged.

I mean, I knew, but that'd be my reaction if I didn't.

"Sorry, sir. We don't know anyone with that name." Rhea said.

"Oh, I'm mangling her name again! You know, the angel!"

"Oh! Yeah we know her."

"She told me that you'd be coming. If you're all friends with a sweet girl, then the room's on the house."

"Heh, looks like being with an angel has its advantages!" Rhea noted triumphantly.

"I'll still have to charge you for food, though." And there goes her bubble.

"Thanks, you're a real saint." she groaned rudely.

I lightly slapped her ear. "Rhea…" I warned. I turned to the innkeeper. "Don't mind her, she's just been having a bad time."

He looked me up and down. "I could say the same thing about you." he stated.

"I suppose Kieri told you what happened." I sighed. "I was sort of hoping I could borrow some clothing for now while I have this washed."

"Yes, I could lend you some of my old clothes for the time being, but..." He looked at me up and down again. "I don't think I have anything your size."

"Eh, anything will do for now. Don't worry."

Buwaro suddenly came up behind us. "So what are we waiting for?" You. "Let's go see Snowy!"

"We should give her some time alone" I suggested, because Rhea was too busy glaring at me. "Time to catch up with her brother, y'know?"

"Her brother's not here." the innkeeper blurted out.

The three of us froze.

"Not long after she disappeared, her brother and his friend packed up their things and left to who knows where." he explained. "I swear I heard her heart break when I told her that they were gone."

I didn't even need to look at the two of them to know how they felt in regards to this.

Kieri essentially lost the chance to reunite with her only family in Medius.

"You're her friends, you should make sure she's okay." the innkeeper suggested. "She's in room three, right next to yours."

We exchanged looks, and then went up the stairs in silence.

The stairs led to a short hallway with six or so doors evenly spaced between each other. It was a little hard to tell though, because the hallway lacked any lights. The only lighting was from downstairs.

"So, our room's room two," Rhea said. "I think that's further down the hall."

"Actually, it's right here." I pointed at the door that was right next to us. The number 2 wasn't difficult to make out for me, so even less so for her or Buwaro.

Rhea just groaned. "Shut up, I haven't been here in a long time..." she said, unlocking the door, and going inside.

Behind the door there was a fairly spacious room, with two forest green beds on one side, a pair of windows and matching drapes, and an almost-empty-but-not-quite lantern hanging from the ceiling by an iron chain.

The room was admittedly...kind of messy. There were cobwebs here and there, a round spot on the wall, where there might've been a mirror, and a burn mark on the adjacent wall for some reason; I get the idea someone's fire elemental kid failed to control his magic. But at this point, I'd gladly sleep on the floor. At least now I'm not in imminent danger of freezing to death.

"C'mon, let's go see Snowy." Buwaro insisted.

"Can't we just rest for a bit?" Rhea sighed, as she put her stuff on the bed closest to her. "Today's been even more insane than usual;" she sighed again and scratched her chest. "I'm starting to feel sick..."

"Well," I said. "You can go ahead and rest. If you need us, we'll be in the other room with Kieri."

Rhea just nodded and hopped onto the bed, as Buwaro and I stepped out of the room and closed the door behind us.

Unfortunately, there was too little light for me to see any room numbers aside from room 1, so I had no idea where room 3 was.

"He said Snowy was in room 3?" Buwaro asked.

"Yeah, but...I can't tell which one of these it is. It's too dark. You can see in the dark, right? Wich one is it?"

"I..." he trailed off.

Oh wait. Right, I forgot.

"I don't know how to read." Buwaro sighed. "I don't understand any of these symbols. I mean, there wasn't much else in Hell other than rocks, so..."

"Look, don't worry, I get it." I said. "I guess we could just...wait until my eyes adjust or something..."

"Hmm..." he seemed to perk up. "I know!"

"Buwaro, what are you gonna do-?"

And suddenly, Buwaro's eyes started glowing. I'll admit, it startled me at first glance.

"Jamal, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just...caught me by surprise is all. I didn't know you could do that."

Actually I did but- you know what? Never mind.

"All demons can do this." Buwaro explained. "I saw Sakido, uh, do it a couple of times, so I decided to try and see if I could do it. Everything looks brighter when I do it."

Not the best logic, and the glow was actually rather faint, but it was good enough. At least now I could see which door was which. I walked over to Kieri's door and knocked, waiting for her to open the door.

And Kieri was promptly greeted with the sight of a large shadowy figure with glowing red eyes.

A figure that excitedly called out "Hi Snowy!" and threw itself on her and hugged her.

"It's me, Buwaro!" Buwaro quickly calmed her down, removing his bandana to show her. "I'm in disguise!"

"O-Oh, I see..."

"We came to see how you were holding up." I told her. "As for Rhea, she's taking a break in the next room." I sat down on her bed. "So, are you alright?"

"Yes." She said quickly.

...

She sighed and sat down next to me on the bed. "No. Kazai left with Zahariah days ago."

"They're probably looking for you right now." Buwaro put forth, sitting down with us.

"The innkeeper told me they headed east." Kieri said.

"That's the completely wrong direction." I noted. "We found you to the west of Farun."

Kieri looked downtrodden.

"So they're either completely lost trying to find you, or..."

"Or...?"

Or they did in fact leave her for dead.

No, actually. That's too far. Think, what other reasons would they have...?

"...You said that the three of you were chasing a demon when you were separated, right? They might've correctly assumed you were kidnapped and incorrectly believe that that demon in particular was the one responsible, so they're still chasing him."

"But if that's the case," Kieri sighed. "Then there's too far gone to reach..."

"Don't worry." Buwaro assured her. "We'll help you find your brother!"

Yes. We will. But as much as I want the matter to be undisputed...

I'll have to argue against.

"That's easier said than done." I stated flatly. "We're about as far west as we can get, so east for us means virtually the whole continent to search."

I know for a fact it isn't the case, but unless someone points it out...

"Don't give up so easily!" Buwaro shot back. "We have to help!"

"I know and I want to!" I raised my voice a little. "But it's going to be borderline impossible when we have to look literally everywhere, from the towns, to the forests and mountains!"

Take the hint, take the hint, TAKETHEHINT-

"Wait!" Kieri cried, pushing us apart. "Please stop fighting!"

...

I sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just...I'm trying to see how we're gonna be able to reach them..."

Buwaro counted something with his claws, and then spoke up. "It's only been two days since they left! They can't have gone far!"

"You're right, but...where exactly would they have gone?"

"Well..." Kieri said. "Neither of them know how to s-survive on their own, especially in this climate. If they went anywhere, it almost certainly was another town."

"...Which means they must've gone to Riverside City." I said. "It's a few days walk and it's directly east from here. They might've gotten there already if they flew."

I stood up. "So it's decided. We leave tomorrow morning. We'll help you find your brother."

"...Thank you." Kieri said, clearly relieved.

"No problem!" Buwaro said cheerfully, wrapping his arm around her. "What kind of friends would we be if we didn't help?"

She smiled at that. Coupled with that noticeable blush on her cheeks...

We were set. In more ways than one.

"We'll have to get some supplies first, for the trip." I reminded them. "A map, food, some extra clothes, and...yeah, I think that's it."

"I'm gonna go tell Rhea!" Buwaro said, as he quickly made to leave the room...

...and proceeded to trip on his overcoat and faceplanted on the floor.

I held back the need to laugh. "Yeah, that coat is definitely too big for you." I deadpanned.

"Come on!" Buwaro whined, getting up off the floor. "I least I look good in it!"

I smirked. I'll admit, I couldn't help but tease him just this once. "Buwaro, that's debatable. You're too short for it. I mean, I'd probably be a better fit-"

My answer came in the form of Buwaro throwing the coat at me. "Here. You try it!"

"Sure..."

I decided not to bother with my jacket; the coat would've still looked baggy on me otherwise. It stunned me that Jake's shop had something this size, and that's not counting the fact that it was very recognizable...

"It's too big even for me..." I muttered. "Okay, how do I look?"

Kieri smiled at me. "I think you look good."

"Point proven." I took the coat off and handed it back to Buwaro. "Just be careful next time, Buwaro."

"Okay!" he said, putting it back on and leaving the room. "Bye, Snowy!"

"Bye, Buwaro."

"And now, if you don't mind," I said as I stepped out. "I'm gonna go to the laundry room."

Kieri's POV

I was once again alone in the room. But my previous thoughts were replaced with new ones.

Those three...they were far different, than anyone else I had seen so far.

Buwaro was the complete opposite of what I expected the first time I saw him. He was incredibly friendly, generous, and...rather warm in a sense. Despite him being a Demon, he showed absolutely no malice, at any point, towards me, or his companions. He'd worried for me, and immediately jumped to my defense when Lazuli came back for me...

Rhea on the other hand, was much more rude and easy to anger...but she'd still lent a hand. Behind the fiery temper and flippant attitude, she did care; though it looks as if it's the first time she's gone this far in order to help. Considering her story, she might be trying to redeem herself, now that she has a second chance.

And then there was Jamal...

From the way he dressed to how he carried himself, he managed to stick out like a sore thumb. He's stayed mostly polite with everyone, but seemed like he preferred the sidelines to direct action. Despite that, he had a deadly serious air about him, and only lost his composure when we fought Lazuli. Not to mention how quickly he managed to incapacitate her...

I was torn between being thankful or unsettled.

It wasn't just because of that. There was something oddly...fami-

There was a knock on the door.

"Hey, Kieri, it's me." I recognized his voice. "Can you let me in, please?"

I stood up and opened the door for him.

He muttered a thank you before coming in, carrying two trays of food in his hands.

I decided to take the chance and have a closer look.

He was wearing a plaid shirt along with bright blue pants, and both of these were obviously a few sizes too small; but they still managed to fit him. I realized that he was much...scrawnier than I initially believed, for someone of his height. He even had a small amount of stubble on his chin. If I had to guess, I'd say he was about 19 years old.

Maybe younger.

"I got us some food on the way here." He said, handing me one of the trays. It had a steaming bowl of rice, along with a full glass of juice and even a small amount of salad. "I told the innkeeper I'd get something for you, so he gave me both trays for free."

He sat down and started to eat. "Well, what are you waiting for? You can go ahead and eat."

"I..." I sighed. "It's just...Everyone's been so...nice to me. I haven't done anything to deserve it. Besides, I-I'm not that hungry anyway..."

Jamal took a moment to swallow his food before answering. "They're just trying to help. I mean, what kind of people would they be if they left you to suffer like that?"

...

"Besides, we haven't eaten anything decent in over a day. You have to eat that."

Now that he mentioned it... the only things I've had to eat were a few berries and nuts. Tasty, but not very filling...

And he's had nothing but bread. No wonder he's eating that fast.

We ate in silence. My mind continued to wonder...

Everyone had come to help... even Jamal; he put his own problems aside...

His problems...

He was stuck here, much like I was; only he didn't even remember how he got separated from his family. He didn't even remember what his family was like...

...If he wanted me to receive the help that everyone was giving me, then he'd surely accept help given to him. But how do I talk to him about it?

...

"So...how will you find your family?"

Jamal froze, his fork holding the very last piece of his salad above the plate.

...Mother Gaia, I am terrible at starting conversations.

"Well..."

...

He slumped. "I don't know." he groaned. "I tried to see if I could remember anything else; I-I've been so caught up in the whole waking up in the middle of nowhere thing and fighting DEMONS that I hadn't tried to see what else I could remember."

He stood up suddenly, almost causing his plate to fall off the tray. "I forgot more than I thought." he said. "I forgot the names of all my family members, I forgot several important dates in my life, I even forgot how to use my magic!"

"Wait, what?!" His magic?! How does one forget how to use magic?!

"I don't even know what my surname is, or what day it is, or what type of magic I have!" he dropped face-first on the other bed. He mumbled something I didn't manage to understand.

"B-But," I tried to think of something that could lift his spirits a little. "You can't have forgotten everything." ...Why is that the only thing that came to mind?

Surprisingly, it worked. He sat up. "You're right. I might not be able to remember where I live, but I remember what it was like. It was warm, and it didn't snow at all. I think it was close to the sea, too. That puts me somewhere around the east coast, in one of the larger cities."

It's almost like he forgot I was even there... Almost as if...

"So, yeah." He turned to me. "I'm gonna be okay. For now, finding your brother takes priority."

..What..?

One second, he was lamenting himself, and the next he's suddenly back to his earlier attitude? I'm...

"We should get some sleep." he suggested quickly.

You know what? I'm not going to press the subject. He's probably just a little shaken after everything that's happened. I guess we all are.

I think I'm just going to finish my meal.

I grabbed my fork again and continued eating. I think I might've eaten what was left a little fast, because I was done much quicker than I thought I would've been.

"You know," he said, breaking the silence. "You could probably teach me."

"What?"

"Magic. Like, tomorrow, you could help me learn magic again."

"I...I'm not sure how much help I could be. I have no idea where to s-start. I've never taught anyone before..."

"You'll be fine." he assured me. "You're really good at magic. I'm certain we'll be able to work something out."

"But...What if you're not a water elemental?"

He thought for a moment. "...I think you'd still be able to get me started, if that's the case. At this point, it'd be more than enough."

He lied down on the bed. "I mean, we're not gonna know unless we try, right?"

I didn't answer. Silence filled the room.

I could feel today's event catch up to me; I hadn't realised just how exhausted I was.

With nothing else left to do, I decided I should just go to sleep. I pulled the covers back on the bed opposite Jamal's, lied down, pulled the covers back up over myself and waited for sleep to come.

I didn't have to wait long.

"Kazai?"

"Yes, sister?" he replied.

"What are we going to do?" I asked him. "We don't belong here. What if..." I stuttered. "What if we can never return home?"

Kazai put his hands around my shoulders. "Don't worry Kieri." he comforted me. "As long as were together..." he paused. "We can get through anything."

But as I looked in his eyes, behind the smile he gave me...

When we had arrived in that cemetery, he had immediately taken charge of the situation. I'd failed him. I got separated from him, and now there's little chance of us reuniting. I...

I just wanted to apologize. For being a burden...

"Brother, I-"

But suddenly, a series of blood red spikes shot out of the ground. Before I could react, the spikes then surged around me, trapping me between them.

"What is this?! I-I can't move!"

"Well, would you look at that!" a voice growled out from my surroundings, which had now become as featureless and dark as the spikes. "All that struggling for nothing!"

The owner of the voice stepped into view.

It was Lazuli. But she was hardly recognizable. Her clothing had changed, her fur had darkened...and all her injuries were there. All the cuts were vividly visible, all of them were bleeding and her leg...

"Worthless wretch...you thought it would be that easy?!"

"N-no, no, you shouldn't be-you shouldn't be here!"

"But I am NOW!" she shouted angrily. "And this time, I'm going to finish the job!"

I desperately called for help. "KAZAI! ZAHARIAH!"

"Shut up!" Lazuli smacked me across the face. "No one is coming to save you! Why would anyone save a freak like you?!"

I watched in horror as my hands slowly grew fur and morphed into paws. I could feel my ears becoming longer and growing fur as well.

"N-no!"

All of a sudden they were in front of me. Both Kazai and Zahariah were standing before me, with looks of disgust and rage.

"Disgusting monster...how dare you call me 'brother'!"

"We were right to leave her behind, after all..."

"NO!" I was screaming now. "I'M NOT A MONSTER! NO-!"

"I said, shut up!" Lazuli reappeared and smacked me harder. I was vaguely aware of something wet on my face. She must have cut me with her claws when she struck me.

"You weren't worth it to keep alive for this long..." she growled. "The moment you showed up it was nothing but problems and more problems!"

She stepped forward, raising her hand, her horribly scarred hand, over her head. "It's time to fix this issue..."

But then, a small pebble flew out from the darkness and hit Lazuli's head.

"Leave her alone!" A voice called out. Lazuli turned around in the direction of the voice.

It was Buwaro and Rhea. They had...

"We're not gonna let you kill her!" Rhea shouted defiantly.

"Heh," Lazuli huffed. "As if you and that runt will be able to stop me! I'm not afraid of you!"

"YOU SHOULD BE!" Rhea shouted, and she and Buwaro charged at Lazuli.

Lazuli hadn't reacted fast enough to stop herself from getting tackled, but she'd almost immediately negated their efforts by just standing up. She shoved Buwaro off her, and grabbed Rhea by her tail.

Buwaro, however, got back on his feet and punched Lazuli hard enough to make her stumble, but then she swung Rhea by her tail and threw her at Buwaro, knocking them both down.

She raised her hand, charging a spell. "You know what? That's it! You'll all the same fate!"

"That is unlikely!" Jamal had suddenly appeared in front of Lazuli, and had wasted no time in attacking. He kicked her leg, knocking her off-balance, before punching her to the floor. But Lazuli quickly got back up, charging at him. He dodged the first punch and threw his own, but she caught it in her hand, grabbed him by his shoulder, and headbutted him, and he careened backwards, clutching his face.

Rhea leapt out at her, hoping to catch her off-guard again, but Lazuli was faster and smacked her out of the way.

The situation was hopeless. They weren't fighters. They wouldn't last long against her.

Why am I just standing here, watching them die?

...

Why am I still standing here?! They need my help!

I pushed against the spikes holding me in with all my strength. I'm not going to let them die!

Jamal and Buwaro had both resorted to grabbing Lazuli by each arm and were attempting to force her down; with Jamal slamming his elbow down on her back repeatedly and Buwaro biting down on her shoulder, but it wasn't having any effect.

Rhea jumped on top of Lazuli, trying to claw her back open, but at the continued punishment, Lazuli pulled both Jamal and Buwaro off their feet, forcing them to let go, before grabbing Rhea again, this time by her arm, and opened her jaw, ready to bite her head off.

I could feel my ears shrinking, and could see my hands quickly lose their fur, now able to grasp the spikes harder than before.

Come on! Give! I'm not going to let this happen!

Jamal promptly kneed Lazuli in the stomach, and she let go of Rhea, but she instead knocked Jamal down with a powerful swipe, and stomped down on his chest with her mangled leg.

And then Buwaro charged at her from behind, yelling loudly, claws raised over his head. Lazuli turned and stopped Buwaro dead in his tracks by grabbing his throat, before slamming him down harshly. Her free hand sparked with magical energy.

NO!

The spikes shattered, and I was free.

I charged forward, sword in hand, wings and halo flaring out. Lazuli barely had enough time to look up before I reached her.

And with one swing of my sword, she was gone.

Seeing that the danger was gone, Buwaro, Rhea and Jamal all shakily got up and approached me with smiles on their faces. I spoke.

"Thank you, for coming to rescue me..."

"No problem." Jamal said.

"It was nothing!" Rhea added.

"Yeah!" Buwaro said. "After all..." he gave me a hug, which I returned.

"What are friends for?"

A/N: And there we go.
I realize that I cannot promise a regular update schedule, but I can promise that I'm not ending this just yet, and that I'll try a little harder to avoid updates taking too long. Although I might go back and edit previous chapters to make the whole thing flow a little better. Who knows?

Guest: You guessed right on the costume being Alucard's. It's also his size, so in other words no one in the group can wear that thing comfortably. On another note, Rhea's had her POV shown before, and she will have it shown again. Soon, I believe.

SlyRiolu: Okay.

Guest (2): It's pretty clear that this is an eventuality. Jamal's had time to think up a good cover story to buy him time and keep questions about his past away, but it's not perfect, and he saw himself forced to modify it on the fly in this chapter. Plus, he's not the best actor out there.

Guest (3): Worry not, my friend, for I have come to deliver this chapter, and am ready to continue delivering.

See you next chapter, everyone. Here's to hoping it doesn't take as long.