Author's note: Hey! How ya doing? Well anyway, the next chapter is here. I don't need to tell you this...ah well! I enjoyed writing this chapter for no reason. As for the title, it's from Dear Vienna by Owl City (love every song by him).

And arigato to ChaoCream for reviewing! The owl thanks you especially! (OvO)

3

I Regarded the World as Such a Sad Sight

"GRIIIIIIIILL!"

Grill was tackled by small witch like thing holding a miniature broom. It was beige in colour with no facial features at all. Grill shoved the little thing off and smiled. "Hey, it's been a while hasn't it?"

I couldn't come up with anything to say that sounded smart, so I stayed silent. The tiny witch's species had a name, but I couldn't figure it out. It was there in my mind though I just couldn't reach far enough to get it. Was it Broom Hatter..?

"Marx!" I jumped at the sound of Grill's voice, "This is Lilura. She's a friend of mine. Lilura, this is Marx. He's a kind psychopath who's helping me escape."

Lilura waved to me. "Hello young sir! I like your bowtie, it's very cute!"

I laughed even though Grill just acknowledged I was a psycho (which I'm not). "Thank you, I'm glad someone's nice enough to give me compliments." This was directed at Grill, who glared at me after the words left my mouth.

"So Lily, now that I have a partner we can escape, right? How do we do it?" she asked. Lilura walked over to me and began to study my face.

"Do you have a good reason to get out of here? Because if you don't it won't let you go," she started poking me on my right cheek until it stung.

"Ow! Why are you poking me? Stop that!" she stopped and I let out a sigh, "Now to answer your question, yes I do have a good reason to go back. My girlfriend is waiting for me and I promised to come home as soon as could. I miss her too…"

Lilura stared at me, then at Grill and back to me. "What a heart touching story, and coming from someone with such a sweet face. Unfortunately I just can't bring myself to believe it. You seem like the type who tells lies."

My jaw dropped in disgust and surprise. "Wh-what's that supposed to mean? Are you saying she doesn't exist? I can tell you all about Dee if you want! If that's not it…why don't you come and meet her? She's a good person! She takes care of everyone and puts herself last and…and she's amazing…" I began to cry so I turned away from Lilura.

"There's no need to cry about it," Grill chuckled coldly, "I know you miss her but you don't have to do some big emotional display."

Everyone grew quiet as I dried my tears. I then looked at Lilura, who seemed pleased. "Good. You've passed this test with flying colours. I conclude you're a kind person who cares for others." She picked up her tiny broom and swept the ground while humming pleasantly.

"Test? TEST? You were testing me? You mean that I cried for no REASON?" I spit on the ground and she swept over it, "Whatever, just tell us what we need to do, asshole."

Lilura was silent for a few moments as she continued with her sweeping. "Today you must raise the bonds between each other. Without a strong connection you won't be allowed to escape. That's all for now."

"What?" Grill yelled, "you're kidding right? While we travel we'll become better friends so we don't need to stop now, do we?"

"If that's how you feel, then I suggest you visit the elderly woman living in that hut over there," Lilura gestured to the tiny building next to us.

Grill waved goodbye and forced me to move along by pushing me with her broom. She was walking backwards, however "Thank you Lilura, have a nice afterlife!" she turned around and we kept going. The distance looked short from our first perspective, though it was actually quite a long way. It must've been because space was warped there.

"Who exactly is Lilura, anyway?" I asked, wanting to start a conversation. The awkward silences were more annoying then they used to be and I just had to break this one.

Grill shrugged. "I don't really know. She's some old witch who died trying to steal a powerful spell book. I don't know all the details, but apparently it was pretty gruesome," she shuddered at the thought, "Anyway, she isn't talented or anything and she likes sweeping. Goodness knows why, but I think it's something everyone in her species like. She's a really nice person when you get to know her."

"Wait, you said 'old.' Isn't she younger than us?"

"Um, no. She's just smaller," she giggled and hit me on the head with her broomstick, "Idiot. Do you know anything?"

I paused, then laughed along with her. "Yeah, I guess that is pretty stupid…but hey, she referred to the woman in this hut as 'elderly.' Doesn't that make her young? That means you lied!"

"Lilura is young compared to the person in there. Apparently they died when they were around one hundred," Grill stopped before the house and examined it closely, "I guess we should knock first, huh?"

"No, we need to enter creatively!" I shouted a bit too loudly, "Like, through the window or something." I strolled over to the blacked out window in the back of the house. It was actually quite large and the two of us could probably fit in a once.

Grill tugged on my hat and I fell to the ground. "I don't really want to waste time you know. I'm starting to doubt you even want to go home to your girlfriend."

"Of course I do, but the two of us go separate ways once we escape. So I want to spend as much time as possible as I can with you! Don't you want to be with me longer?" I got up and tilted my head sideways. I knew I could use this technique (since I was a little kid) to get whatever I wanted, whether my victim was male or female.

"Damn you cute Gods for lending this boy your power," she muttered under breath, thinking I couldn't hear, "Just do what you want, but I'm not being part of it!"

I shoved my face close to hers. "Are you sure? I thought for a second we were actually becoming friends. Was I wrong..?"

Grill's cheeks flushed bright red as I stood back, laughing cruelly. She took a step toward the window and placed her hand on it. "So what are we going to do? Should we break through this or something?"

"Well, that would cause a commotion or…what the hell, let's do it!" I grabbed Grill's broom with my mouth and smashed the window. It shattered to pieces and I jumped in, followed by Grill who violently took her broomstick back from me.

"Seriously Marx? You broke a window with your mouth? You're a tough little-"

"You didn't knock," a sweet feminine voice spoke, "it's very rude to break into one's house."

Both Grill and I turned to the girl who spoke while she lit a candle. She looked like a fairy seen on Ripple Star and I felt like I met her before. Was it…no, that was… "Peachy! That lady running the hot air balloon lot! You're the spitting image!" I shouted. The fairy smiled.

"Yes, she's my great grand daughter! I'm impressed on how far she's gotten, isn't she just adorable too?" she chuckled a cute little laugh, "Oh, my name is Josephine by the way. I'm happy to meet you two!"

"We're happy as well," Grill bowed low, "My name is Grill, a witch, and this is my ally Marx, a talented magician."

I laughed at the label she gave me. "Yeah, yeah, enough with the introductions. We need to see a kind old lady. She's telling us how to get out of here."

"Well you see Mark…that would be me! To explain further my body is eternally youthful here as an award for being a good person in life!" Josephine tucked some loose hair behind her ear. She really was just like her great grand daughter, except for the fact that her hair was a soft green and longer.

"My name is Marx and we need you to tell us what to do. We really don't belong here and need to get home, so just help us and we'll leave you alone. Alright?" I stared at her expectantly as she just floated in the air with a cheerful expression on her face.

Grill poked me with her broomstick before I could say anything else. "So Josephine, why are you here in this world if you're a good person?" she asked. I couldn't figure out why she was postponing our escape.

Josephine seemed shocked for some reason. "You don't know? Well that's only expected. See, I want to continue to do good here in the afterlife too, so I talk to other spirits and they are allowed to move to the next level. I do it in this one for those in the last two cannot change without a miracle. I'm afraid I'm just not that miracle." She let out a disappointed sigh.

"I see," I thought out loud, "so that's why Lilura told us to come to you. She knows you can get us to the next level!" I felt as if I just solved a great mystery, though it was actually pretty obvious.

"Lilura? Ah yes!" Josephine nodded, "well since a good friend of mine recommended you, I should get started!" she flew over to me and placed a small hand on my forehead. I laughed for no reason at all. It wasn't funny or anything, I just felt like laughing.

"What's going on?" Grill asked as Josephine shoved me to the floor, "Hey! Don't push him like that! He's fragile!"

"I am?" I stood up, wondering why she said that, "I can't remember ever being fragile."

Grill opened her mouth when Josephine put both of her hands on the witch's head. They were both quiet for some time until Josephine pulled away from her. "Yes, I can let both of you proceed. However, Marx has a choice to make at this moment."

"Choice? What do you mean?" I paused, deep in thought, "Hey wait, why didn't you throw Grill to the ground like me?"

Josephine ignored me and turned to Grill. "There are two more levels before this. Grill, you can enter the next one with my help but Marx can enter the one after that. That level is exclusively for heroes and he has worked very much since the last time to be a better person. Therefore, because of the love and care in his heart, he is allowed there."

"Wow, so he's a good guy," Grill didn't even look at me as she said this, "Does this mean I can't go there with him, like, ever?"

"Not on your own, so now he must choose to either help you there or just leave by himself." Josephine looked to the floor and sniffed. There was really no reason for her to cry.

"Um, why are you talking about me like I'm not here?" I asked flatly, "I mean, I can hear everything you're saying."

They both looked in my direction. "Ah yes, we're very sorry," Josephine sighed and placed her right hand over her heart, "so Marx, please make your choice."

"That's easy, I want to stay with Grill and help her escape too. I don't know how, but I'll try!" I smiled at no one in particular.

Grill looked ready to faint from pure happiness. "You'd really do this for me? But that's so sweet! It's like you love me more than your girlfriend…" she was about to hug me but stopped herself for some reason.

"Okay then, please come here and I'll let you go there." We both nodded and followed Josephine's orders. She whispered something and everything around us began to transform into light. I gasped after realizing we were the ones turning into light and not the things around us. I squinted at the figure shaped like Josephine. It waved before disappearing. I turned to Grill, who was smiling happily back at me.

"You're wrong by the way," I muttered loud enough for Grill to hear, "I could never love you more. I'm only doing this to be a good person. So if you think there's any chance that I could actually like you, then you're wrong."

She gave me a shocked expression and was about to reply when we collapsed onto something hard. I looked up to see we were in a field filled with people picking flowers. A few scarfies were floating around the people and even cuddling into them. It was actually quite a pretty place.

"Wow, this is so nice," Grill said in awe, "I want to come here when I die the next time!" she got up and stretched her arms before picking up her broom.

"Yeah, it's cool," I stood up as well. We weren't actually in the field but more just on the outside. No one seemed to notice us at all, so I began to walk away from the field. Without questioning my actions Grill followed me.

We travelled quite a long way before resting. It was silent for more time and I found myself staring intently at the ground. I didn't know where we were at all. It had the same terrain as the field but with a few trees. It too was beautiful.

"So, I guess you'd have to be a good person to come here huh?" Grill tried to start a conversation. I just nodded in response which made her frown, "Did it really bother you that much, what I said earlier?"

"Doesn't matter," I stated simply. She shrugged and looked away from me.

After some more time passed, Grill decided to speak again. "I don't like you though. No offence or anything, you just aren't the type of guy I like." She smiled and looked as if she was actually sorry.

"Good," there was another silence after I said this but it wasn't awkward. To tell the truth I wasn't sure if I meant that. Maybe I wanted her to love me in that way. Still, it didn't matter. That would complicate things and only stupid people get caught up in these love triangles. I wanted to look at these people and laugh at them, saying how sad they were. I could never be part of it.

Author's note: Two OCs and the mention of another I used in Dissimulation…cool XD! And the scarfies, I just ADORE scarfies! They're cute and freaky all at once! Go scarfies!

Okay, thanks for reading. I look forward to the next chapter (I hope you do too!)