I quickly trot through the forest, unable to find a path that could lead anywhere. I've been walking aimlessly for hours now. What in the world am I going to do? My eyes scan the forest, calling for Jaiden and Jett but trying to be quiet. They will be able to follow my scent if they are near but I can't sit around and hope they come across it. I don't want that rabbit man thing finding me at all. I-If he comes at me like that again I might actually hurt him.
"Oh, there you are!" A cheerful voice cries. I whip around and take a step back, staring at the red eyed brunette in soldier like attire hop out of the woods and into the small clearing I am in.
"Y-You-!" I stammer, retreating a step, "how are you alive? I saw you disintegrate in front of me!" I cry, too frightened to think anything else. He looks at me with a puzzled smile, giving a light shrug.
"I don't remember. But, I was able to get away with this," he cheekily grins, happily presenting a slender little vial with a heart stopper.
"W-What is it?" I stutter, watching as he takes the top off and slips it into a pocket.
"It's the Potion of Hearts. I have no idea how I got it but since I do, that means Mr. Sidney doesn't have it. I wonder if I stole it from him?" He asks more so to himself before laughing in a carefree way. "Oh well! Either way, the foreigner gets to play the game now~," he starts towards me with a confident grin, placing his thumb over the top of the vial to keep liquid from spilling out.
"Eek! No, no don't come any closer! I-I-I'm warning you-!" I shout, about to get into my fighting stance before tears of a small girl floods her mind. N-No, I didn't mean to hurt her. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. She came at me like a wildcat and there was nothing I could do but defend myself. The boy cheerfully smiles as he drinks down the potion. W-Why did he-
I bulk as the boy hooks his fingers around my head and pulls me down to connect our lips. W-Wait, how should I react to this?! Normally I would hurt him b-b-but what would a girl do? And to top it off he's just a kid! All thoughts freeze as I feel something warm slide between my lips, a sickly mixture of sour and bitter liquid flow between my teeth.
"YEEEEEEEEEKKKK!" I screech into the contact, punching him right in the throat. He jerks back, startled as I cough out the awful drink. Ew ... I s-swallowed some.
"Ow~ that's not fair! You need to drink it all~ down." He smiles, presenting the same vial with only a few drops missing. My hand flies to my chest, gripping the suddenly dry material. H-How did that happen? I thought it spilled onto my shirt. "Now be a good foreigner and-,"
"NOOOOOOOOO!" I scream, taking off into the woods. He won't be able to catch up to me running. I know he won't. My heart races with fright as I hear him barreling through the woods after me.
"Wow you're fast~!"
"STOP FOLLOWING MEEE~!"
BLOOD'S POV
My, how awfully boring these faceless are. Dusk shifts to Night rather quickly as we carry out our business of exterminating some bold rats who thought they could steal information from me without consequence. I'll bet these men are working for Bermuda in an attempt to undermine me.
One by one they fall under the power of the firepower of my gun. Can't anything interesting or exciting happen? If it is simply a sign or a hint of something interesting then I will accept it. I glance to the side, noticing another faceless trying the same boring tactic. So pathetic, armed with a bat and he's trying to get to me? Heh, I'm tempted to let him get close so I can actually have some fun.
I turn my back to him and pretend to survey the massacre of faceless, intently listening as he slowly approaches before running at me. My eyes flash as I whip around, spying a streak of black leap into the air and sink it's teeth into the man's arm holding the bat.
"AAAAAHHHHH-!" The man screams as the Doberman viciously tears into the man's arm, vigorously shaking back and forth as though to rip it off entirely. Oh ho~ what is this? A rabid dog? No, it has a collar and harness on it. I watch, rather pleased as the dog rips the man off his feet and to the ground, it's jaws never loosening from the man's forearm.
"C-Call it off! Call off your dog-!" The man pleads, punching the dog's head with his fists in a desperate attempt to get free. The Doberman snarls and yanks it's head back, tearing away a decent amount of the man's flesh. He takes the opportunity to get up and run but the wild hound is right after him, sinking it's teeth into the man's thigh and bringing him down once more. I look to either side, searching for who it's owner could be. This dog has been trained. I can tell by the persistence in its attacks and ferocity thereof. Unless, of course, it is simply rabid.
"EEEEEEEKKK!" The man screeches, punching the Doberman's chest repeatedly as it climbs on top and bites the man's neck. In for kill, is it? I watch as the man grabs the dog's jaws but it already has a firm grasp on his windpipe before ripping the man's throat out. The faceless wildly rasps for air as the dog climbs off and circles him, madly barking and snarling until the faceless stops moving. What an interesting dog. The barrel of my gun aims at its head if it decides to attack me as well. That faceless was exceptionally weak to be taken down by a dog ... with eyes?
The dog shakes itself out after realizing the man is no longer a threat, trotting over towards me and circles around my legs before obediently standing by my side. He sniffs the air, as though asking for praise for his work well done. I study the hound for a few moments before shifting my gun into my cane and crouching down so I can look at its tags and harness. Police? Who Police? The tags balance on my palm as I look over the name. So Jett is the dog's name. Avery Fernandez, the name of the owner ... how thrilling! A dog with eyes ... perhaps, is there a chance this dog is a foreigner? My cheek twitches into a smile.
Which means there must be a young man walking around with a beating heart.
"M-Master Blood, are you alright?" A servant asks, a little out of breath and scraped up from being ambushed.
"I am perfectly fine. Rather, I am much better than I was before." I answer before heading down the alley where I could hear Elliot's shooting frenzy. A light jingling catches my attention as I glance down, spying the hound walking right beside me without a leash. Very, very well trained. I'm getting more and more interested as to who this Avery sir is.
"Elliot, leave the small fry. I want you to find someone much more entertaining."
JERICHO'S POV
I gently thump my fist against my lower back, letting out a pained sigh. I need to go see a chiropractor soon or something. All this digging is beginning to wear me down. I glance over to some fellow workers, noticing their concerned looks.
"How about you go rest, Don? We can take care of the rest." One grins as he jut his thumb towards the Art Museum.
"No. I still have a role to perform. I'll be fine," I reassure, continuing to dig a deeper hole. My eyes roll towards the gates, spying a gravedigger breathing hard from running make it through the gate. There's the scout I stationed near the tea shop Blood likes. He supports himself on his knees, catching his breath before presumably looking around for me.
"I'm right here. What have you found?" I call out, letting out a small grunt as I hop out of the hole. Ugh, curse this back of mine! My face remains neutral as I stand up and head towards the clearly breathless faceless. The smell of burned wood and fire needle the rims of my nose, coming from the gravedigger's uniform. That doesn't smell good. "What happened?"
"D-Dupre happened." He breathes, hoarsely coughing to clear his throat. A few other gravediggers listen in, curious to know what has become of their comrades.
"And?"
"He burned down the shop. Killed the owner and a patron but I and the rest got out alright. I was almost buried under rubble myself but a faceless pulled me free. I doubt he realized I was a Bermuda, though." He says, running a hand through his hair as he visibly calms himself down again.
"That's unfortunate. I was hoping to make it out a little longer with that shop but we've learned what we needed to, haven't we?" I ask, trying to get some answers out of the man. I should let him rest but I want a general outline of what happened.
"Y-Y-Yes, mostly. Not sure of the time precociously, but he's most assuredly is p-planning an attack on the Train Station soon." He huffs.
"Thank you for your service. Go get some rest. You've earned it." I encourage, patting his shoulder. He looks like he's had a long day.
"Yes, Bermuda." He agrees with a relieved smile, limping towards the entrance. That doesn't look too good. Before I can give the word a gravedigger walked up to him, letting him drape and arm over his shoulder and helped to walk him to his apartment nearby. I smile at the gravedigger who went and helped without being told to. That's what a real subordinate is. I turn back towards the grave I'm digging, pausing as I spy nearly the hole loosely filled to the brim with dirt.
"Alright who's jerking my chain?" I ask aloud with a small smile but an annoyed breath. At least the ground is loosely placed rather than packed in but who in the world did this? A nearby gravedigger looks up from the hole he's digging and spies what has been done to mine.
"Whoa. I didn't hear anyone." He notes, sounding troubled. Hm, right. He was probably the one that filled it in. I look around, watching the gravediggers and trying to see who is the one adverting his eyes from me. Alright who's punking me?
"Whoa, whoa HEY! A**HOLE! You're flinging dirt into my grave!" The worker angrily accuses before falling silent. I look back, spying the back end of a dog as he makes one last powerful dig. He shoves nearly his entire face into the pile of dirt, audibly inhaling the smells as his tail wildly wagged back and forth. A stray dog? Or maybe one that got loose from his owner due to the harness on him.
"Well, now we know who the culprit is." I breathe out a small chuckle, rather enjoying the presence of the dog. Not too many animals can sneak in here without getting noticed like that. I'm impressed. The German Sheppard pops his out of the hole, shaking himself out and flinging dirt everywhere. The gravedigger turns away, trying to rub out what got in his eyes.
"Geh. I was never a dog kind of guy." He complains, hopping out of the hole to avoid any more dirt pieces being flung into his eyes.
"It's a nice change though." I chuckle, walking up to the dog. The dog happily pants with his tongue lolling out of his jaws, snapping to attention as something in the wheel burrow catches his attention. He hops right past me, snatching up a bright blue ball from the things and happily squeaks away on the loud dog toy.
"Hey-!"
"Let him enjoy it. He's not causing harm to anyone." I laugh, getting back to digging but keep an eye on him. The dog playfully growls, madly shaking his head and hopping around the graveyard. He pops the toy into the air and catches it in his jaws, swinging his head back as he hops along right into a tombstone. He stumbles back, shaking off the hit and happily trots back in our direction. He comes right up to me with little hesitation, setting the ball down and expectantly looks at me.
"What, you want to play?" I smile, crouching down and taking the ball. The dog excitedly prances in place, his tail wagging as he excitedly waits for it. I crank my arm back and throw the ball far watching the dog take off after it. With a quick jump he spins in the air, catching the ball and neatly landing on his feet.
Whew~ I'm impressed with his flexibility. He looks pretty old for a dog and has an experienced eye. The dog happily runs back, running right past me and practically tackling over a large pile of loose dirt. He happily rolls around in it, the ball entirely forgotten and on the ground.
"Hey, hey you're going to cause trouble for your owner getting all dirty like that." I laugh, setting my shovel down entirely as I walk over to him. He flips to his stomach, eyes suddenly tense as he eyes the ball between us. I pause, crouching down a little and match his gaze evenly. Without warning he flings himself into the air and narrowly tackles into me as I grab the ball and move to the side, watching him roll into the partial hole I dug. He pops back up, happily shaking himself out before pacing within the self made cage in small, happy circles. I'm starting to wonder if there's something not quite right with this dog.
"Ah~ what a distraction." A gravedigger asks. I look up, noticing just about every gravedigger in the vicinity is watching my interaction with the dog.
"Is something the matter?"
"Not too many things can distract Don from his work and a dog has to not only get you out of the hole but stop working entirely." One observes, sounding somewhat happy from the find.
"Ha ha, that he did." I chuckle, somewhat sheepish for getting distracted so easily. I couldn't help it. There is something different with this dog that got my attention. I look back over to the dog, watching his hunched over figure as he tries to dig the hole deeper but most of the dirt just builds up on the walls.
"Alright, that's enough of you. Return to your owner." I say, reaching into the hole and grabbing his harness. In one pull I haul him out, setting him on the ground beside me. I glance at his face, noticing something on his eyes.
"Is there a place on you that doesn't have dirt on it?" I laugh, wiping the dirt from where his eyes should be. I blink, wiping his eyes again as they open to caramel colored irises looking up at him. Eyes ... this dog as eyes? The dog sneezes and pulls back as I try to clean off the fur again, making sure what I'm seeing is the real thing. A dog with eyes ... which means it's a foreigner dog. Does this mean that there is a foreigner running around Diamond?
"Joe, Jerry, I've got an assignment for the both of you."
‡
Didn't take long for the Role Holders to figure it out. Now she has half the Role Holders tracking her down. How long do you think little Avery will last? 10 REVIEWS for the next chapter~