"As if life wasn't enough of an action movie!" Sam hollered amidst a hail of bullets.

"I don't want to think about that right now!" Faye grimaced as she fought to make sure she ran in a straight line. Ahead of them, Brutes were charging at them, only to be gunned down by Lewis and Maru behind them. And when serpents followed behind, the bullet storm doubled, and monsters were felled by the dozens. The wind was whipping up sharply, and they were nicked by flying leaves, twigs, and sand.

Upon reaching the beach, they stopped abruptly in their tracks. There was a waterspout formed near the beach dangerously close to Willy's shop. And as if the flying twigs, leaves, and sand were not threatening enough, swarms of serpents were coming in from the direction of the waterspout.

"Willy," Faye whispered fearfully, and they both dashed for the fishing shop. It creaked weakly as they rummaged through the broken display cases and up the store ladder. To their mixed relief, Willy wasn't there.

"Elliott's place," Sam said next as they ran back to the beach. To their shock and regret, Willy's shop and part of the supporting docks collapsed into the sea. They turned towards Elliott's cabin, which was surprisingly holding its own ground.

"Wait!" Faye dug through her pack on Sam's shoulder, taking out the Wizard's bottle of Barrier. Hoping it would work the way she envisioned, she uncorked it, poured some of its powdery contents into the palm of her hand, and flung it outwards.

Immediately, a glassy red screen expanded itself across the shoreline as far as they both could see. It stopped large incoming waves of monsters, but not all along with the wild winds. They gawked a few more seconds, and the barrier proved to stay put.

"That should be enough for now right?" she asked Sam unknowingly.

"I think so. Hordes won't be as bad!" he assured her, "Come on. We need to get to Elliott." Wanting to find him and seek shelter from the few oncoming serpents, they barged inside his cabin.

Elliott was hunched over his piano, almost maniacally, playing rapidly elegant pieces that pushed his fingers to bleeding. His usually-luxurious chestnut hair was in matted tangles, and his clothes were also patched and shredded in some parts. The look on his face was that of someone who was reaching a breaking point. Each note he played caused the winds to whip harder.

Promptly, Faye and Sam tackled him away from the piano, crashing into the table that held a typewriter, some paper, and bottles of black ink. As they all crumpled to the ground, Elliott glared at them, his eyes an icy blue and his lips curled into a snarl.

"What are you doing interrupting my art? My isolation?" he growled. He strode quickly back to the piano and began playing again. Droplets of black ink in the ground rose and formed themselves into needles. With a smashing pound on the keys, they flew and pierced the two regaining their footing. Spurts of blood dotted the floor. "I just had the best ideas for the greatest piece I could ever create."

"You don't have to lash out for inspiration!" Faye gasped from the blitz. In an instant, Elliott zoomed up to her face.

"This coming from someone who moved from the city to start life anew?" he spat, his eyes boring into hers. She fought to hesitate, but they cut her.


Faye was sprinting through the woods clad in athletic body armor under an adventurer's cloak, and behind her was a boy dressed similarly. As they both ran, a number of men was in pursuit wielding guns.

"Faye! Catch!" the boy laughed as he threw a vial containing a piece of paper inside. He then ran up a nearby tree and flung a throwing knife, which struck its target in the throat.

"Who knew they cared so much about exploitation papers?" she jeered. She, too, threw a throwing knife, and it halted in a crony's chest. "Emile! Don't hog all the fun."

"You rotten brats! You deserve what's comin' to ya!" yelled one as he fired off a few rounds. One grazed Faye in the leg, causing her to stagger.

"Hey! You alright?" Emile called after her, "We're losing them!" Faye tossed the vial to him. Another gunshot, and she fell. Gasping in pain, her leg gushed a thin stream of blood.

"Shit," she muttered as Emile landed beside her, "Get out of here, Emile. I can buy time for you to get away." A shower of bullets rapidly followed.

"Not a chance. Let's go." He promptly scooped her up in his arms and began sprinting. "You've seen Joja's dirty work first-handed. That and these papers could put them down for good."


"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Faye bellowed as she headbutted Elliott. He landed on the ground, and Faye looked up to see Sam busy with a swarm of cave bats. She drew her sword and joined him.

"Did you get Elliott?!" he yelled as their blades swung everywhere. He promptly received a swipe to his face, adding to his numerous other gashes. To answer his question, Elliott snuck up and threw Faye against his cabin's wall.

"Not yet…" came the weakened response. The impact caused a hole in the wall and cracks that allowed parts of the roof to fly away.

"Don't you know, Faye?" Elliott growled maliciously as another flurry of ink arrows flew in all directions with the wind, puncturing black in everyone and everything. "Pain brings about the best art. For me, it's all the pent-up rage from a broken home."

Faye slashed at him as her thoughts began surfacing violently. "Did you always want to kill? You're better than this!"

"Say that after a life with an abusive alcoholic of a father, a junkie of a mother, and manipulative devils of siblings!" Elliott screamed as he bore through Faye's eyes again much to her extreme aggravation.


Emile was chained by his wrists to two trees in the far-off distance a good height from the ground. He had quit his struggle and hung there limp. Faye, who had been hampered by three bamboo traps, two pitfalls, and four assassins, dashed as fast as her tired body could muster. But just before she reached the clearing, she was swept up in a rope trap.

"SERIOUSLY?!" she screeched as she fumbled in the net for a knife at her waist.

"I'm afraid that won't work, little Faye. That net is made of a special spider web. You'll dull your pathetic blade just trying."

Her frustration heightened when Morris appeared in the clearing. He looked up at her with a spiteful sneer.

"Hand over the documents and I MIGHT consider letting your boy go free," he hissed. She saw a number of Morris's cronies lining the clearing with guns in their hands.

"I don't have them!" Faye replied flatly as she revealed her empty pockets, "They're long gone."

"Is that so? I'm afraid the same shall goes for your boy here then," Morris said gleefully. Faye struggled against the net.

"Emile! EMILE WAKE UP!" she cried desperately. She watched as he stirred, and his dulled green orbs found her blues.

"Faye..?" Hi voice was riddled with torture and pain as he was gashed and bleeding everywhere now that she was much closer to him to see.

"Emile! Just hang on! I'm here!" she tried to urge him.

"I love you, Faye."

And the shots rang out. Morris grinned up at Faye.

"Happy 18th birthday, my dear."


"EMILE!"

Tears were flowing freely as Faye swung at Elliott, her body taken over by blind rage and adrenaline. All she saw was black. She got him across the chest, and it began bleeding profusely a brilliant green.

"A family like mine can crush your hopes and dreams right into the dirt," Elliott murmured darkly, "But a past like yours can revive everything tenfold."

"You don't know anything about me," Faye spat coolly. As she moved to strike him, her mind suddenly blanked out.


Her view began to jump like a silent movie as flashes of a young Elliott ran across her mind. She saw him running across the fields of a lavish house with a small book in his hands. Then she witnessed his mother, a stately woman with a lazy and lofty face, doing a line in front of him as Elliott seemed to try talking to her about his latest accomplishment. She only brushed him off, zoning out and no longer listening.

Faye then followed him to another room. His father, a tall man playing a façade in a suit, was lounging in an armchair, empty bottles of brandy surrounding him. Elliott was speaking up to him, but his father rebounded and began yelling at him like he was interrupting his time. At any chance of trying to speak up, Elliott got himself smacked, one finally forcing him to writhe on the ground.

A brother and a sister of his seemed to have come in, hearing the commotion. They were arguably a lot younger, looking four or five and still wondering about the world. As Elliott was left to his father's rampage, they picked up his self-made book and ripped it to pieces gleefully, sticking some of the pages to their mouths and using them as playthings.


Faye blinked rapidly.

"You saw a bit, didn't you?" Elliott asked her excitedly as he prepared for another attack at his piano. Another tauntingly lovely piece, and another wave of ink needles headed her way, and having enough, she grabbed a nearby book at the expense of her sword and flung it open. There, the needles splattered onto the pages to create ink blots. "And that was just the tip of the iceberg."

Seeing Sam grab the Galaxy Sword out of the corner of her eye, Faye slammed the book in Elliott's face and lunged at him.

"A rotten family is no excuse to hurt others!" she growled as she yanked at his hair, digging her nails into his scalp as he howled in pain and visual distraction. "Now Sam!"

And the shank through the back appeared. Elliott emitted an ear-splitting shriek as the long-held Stardrop drifted into the air from his wound. Faye snatched it as the exuding black from Elliott's puncture wound dissolved into dust and he collapsed. However, Faye continued to maul Elliott in the face, the blackened blood becoming scarlet.

Sam unsheathed the sword from Elliott's body in alarm and worked to pry Faye off of his unconscious body. What he got was a low snarl from a girl whose face went from being dead set on ending all this mayhem into something manic and demonic. Her eyes flashed red like fire, and the bloodlust was all too evident as she punched away.

"There is NO excuse for killing others. My past is no inspiration."

"Faye! I don't want to have to stab you too!" Sam grunted as he yanked on Faye by the arms. As the wind whipped up even harder around them, a bolt of lightning shot across the sickly sky.

It seemed to have done the trick. In an instant, Faye came to. The force of Sam's pull sent them flying into Elliott's bed with a toppling crunch. The cabin creaked warily until it all came tumbling down.

"Shit."