Disclaimer: I do not own Shadow Hearts.

SHADOW HEARTS: A NOVELIZATION

Chapter Two

(Yuri's POV)

ALRIGHT. A BACKTRACK of everything that just happened: I got on a top-notch Japanese army train, defeated some big bad guy that practically killed every officer in the car, and saved a cute girl from abduction from said bad guy. Pretty nice job, if I did say so myself.

(And now we were in the middle of nowhere. What was that about a pretty nice job again?)

Well, "we" was probably not the right term to use. The girl was still asleep. I had laid her on the ground as I took a look at our surroundings.

We were in an open field, near the train tracks where we just jumped off. There was no sound of anyone wandering near, only the crickets that chirped and the water flowing in a small stream. I tapped my foot impatiently.

Now whaddya want me to do, Voice?!

No response. No orders, no whispers, no nothing. Only a soft moan as the girl woke. I turned to her as she stood back up again, probably a little dizzy from the busy train ride. She regained her stature and blinked her blue eyes up at me.

"Yo there. Finally comin' to, huh? If you're looking for the train, it's long gone," I said.

I watched the girl as she turned her head around. Though she wore a navy blue and white dress, it barely revealed any skin. There were long sleeves with white ruffles at the end, and despite the fact that the skirt of her dress reached above her knees, her legs were covered with tall white stockings. I assumed her light-blonde hair could reach past her shoulders, since it was braided all the way back into a bun. She even topped it off with a tidy blue bow.

She was, awkwardly, prim and proper.

(Hmph. That's no fun.)

But still, she was cute. I had no idea what a white girl was doing in the middle of China (then again, people were probably suspicious of what I'm doing in China too), much less why she was even being escorted on the Japanese army's train. But who cares? She was attractive.

"Heh heh… pretty exciting, huh? You getting a tingly feeling?" I asked, then took a step closer and reached towards her. "Right about here?"

Her immediate reaction was squeaking and jumping back. "N-No… stay away!"

"Stay away?!" I baffled. "I haven't even done anything yet!"

The girl stared at me, terrified, trembling like she was in some sort of unsteady mental state. She backed away slowly, the soles of her small shoes pressing on the thin grass.

"Stay… stay back, please… I… I can't…" The light-blonde clasped the cross on the neck of her dress tightly, mumbling weird, inaudible sentence fragments. I wasn't sure if she was talking to me, or to herself. "No… I… I can't do anything, I…" She spun around and made a run for the other direction.

I balked. "Huh?! Uh… where do you think you're going? I'm telling you, it's not safe that way."

Past the grass, she was a tiny blue dot. I shook my head. "Aw, give me a break… hey—" I tried to think of her name, "—girlie! Don't run off like that!"

Despite my hollers, she completely disappeared. There was only one thing on my mind: this chick was nuts. Then, another thing: Ehh, I'll catch up with her sooner or later. I strolled lazily over to the direction she ran in,

Suddenly a sharp pain jolted in me. I fell to the ground, my fingers clutching my head to keep it still. No, it was still – but it felt like my brain was about to burst, as it pounded on my skull and clobbered my head. Then, the voice spoke to me.

DARK… AND LIGH… REUN..ED… PROTE… A… FIND YO… REAS… FO… LIVING…

The echoes stopped. The gushing of water in the stream came back again.

(Pant, pant…)

"ARRGH!! That hurts! Not that damn voice again!" I yelled. Taking a last deep breath, I stood back up. "Stupid voices! Okay, I got it… I'm supposed to protect her, right?"

I had no idea why I was supposed to in the first place, but I ran after her anyway. I followed a dirt path past the trees, and she was still nowhere in sight. How the hell did she run so fast? Rotten girl's the whole reason why the voice is bugging my brains off now! Why I oughta…

"Eeeeek!"

I jerked my head up at the sound. She was nearby, and couldn't be far – this path was only one-way anyway.

I hastened my footsteps, following the trail until I spotted the girl lying on the ground.

"Hey! What are you doing? Wake up!"

She stayed still.

"Were you attacked or something? I TOLD you it was dangerous, didn't I…"

I examined her closely. Her chest moved up and down, so she was still breathing and, luckily, alive. Her bangs brushed against her eyelids lightly, and her pink lips stood out against her light skin.

I grinned. "Looks like I'm the one who's getting all tingly inside. Maybe I should make a move. He he…" I stifled my snickering, and moved closer, asking as innocently as I could, "Um, hello?"

She flinched. Her eyes had blinked hard underneath those pale lids and her eyebrows were now furrowed.

Damn. So she is awake.

… Well, this could be fun.

I kneeled down, murmuring to myself rather loudly, "Wonder if she'd mind if I…"

There was no change except for the extra tight clench of her fists. She was probably waiting for my next move, and then she'd whack me repeatedly in the head or something. And I already had enough of headaches for today, thanks to that voice.

I exhaled noisily, already tired of our little mind game, and stood back up. "Hey! Girl! Don't just lie there like a dead fish! Get up!"

Alarmed that I had known, she scrambled up to her feet. The girl turned around to face me, until she realized our faces were now in close proximity of a few centimeters.

She made a small gasp and jumped away. I glared at her in return.

"I bust my hump savin' you, then you take one look at me and run off… then you faint?" I thrust a pointing finger at her. "You got no manners, y'know that?"

I was surprised when she started talking. "A… A monster just suddenly…" she began explaining.

The girl's talk faded when I nodded back. Monsters were pretty common in this area – no, not just this area, but everywhere – so it'd be inevitable for a wanderer to get attacked along the road.

"Yeah. There's lots of hungry wolves and bloodsucking bats around here." I kept a wary eye out for any of those animals nearby as I talked. "You're probably attracting them. You smell pretty good, y'know."

The light-blonde was silent, as if unsure of what to say. So I continued.

"Anyway, don't run off like that, okay? 'Cause if I don't do like the voice says—" I jabbed a finger at my head, "—my head's going to split open!"

This time she stared at me, perplexed. "… Huh?"

I gave her a look back. "Don't 'huh?' me. Someone, or something, is pretty damn insistent that I protect you."

"Protect… me?" She seemed even more confused now, but I ranted on anyways, venting out my frustrations.

"That's right. It's always 'Go protect that person!' or 'Go to that town!' Stupid voice jumps into my head all the time. And now it's orderin' me to protect you. Anyway, at least I'm never bored. Wherever it tells me to go, there are always plenty of monsters."

It was true. If it weren't for that voice, I'd probably be wandering around aimlessly, with nothing to do but scrounge up some money and get in a bunch of arguments with shopkeepers. Now, I could scrounge and argue while being on an adventure. At least it kept me busy.

(But I could do much better without those damn headaches.)

Still, this particular adventure was different from the rest – for one thing, I never would've imagined I'd be stuck with this girl.

And this girl was now coming to understand what was going on. "So that's why you were on the train?"

"Yup. But thanks to that voice, I'm changing from your ordinary bad boy type into a real psycho."

I thought she'd agree with me. After all, it wasn't everyday that a random street rat would go out and grab you from the train, then go off ranting that it was because "the voice inside his head told him to". That sort of thing was how people end up locked in the looney bin.

But instead, her shoulders drooped down comfortably. She was less stiff, and definitely less jumpy, than before.

Why?

"Hey…" I dared to take a step closer to her. "What about you? Hey, are you psycho, too? Do you see weird things?"

It took her a minute of thinking before she nodded, and answered, a bit mysteriously, "… Maybe."

I gaped at her. A girl like her hearing voices too? She wore a cross on her dress, and the Bible was even peeking out of her pockets. The Bible, for god's sake. (Whoa, no pun intended there, heh heh.)

She was a typical, normal, goody-two-shoes church girl. How could the total opposite of me be hearing voices too?

"Well, you don't seem quite like me, but… whatever." No sense standing around figuring out what these cuckoo voices are up to. "We can't just chat all day. First, we've got to find a place to rest. And I'm getting hungry."

I started walking ahead, listening to the following footsteps behind me. They were slow and hesitant. The mood felt kind of awkward.

Oh. I know.

I stopped to turn and look at her. "Whoa, almost forgot. My name's Yuri." She blinked at the sudden introduction. "You can call me Yuri," I added lamely.

"Yuri…" She recited the foreign name, a small trace of an English accent revealed through the attempt. "I'm Alice Elliot. Please, call me Alice."

I grinned at her unnecessary courtesy. She really was the total opposite of me, but at least I didn't have to call her 'the girl' anymore. "Heh heh, Alice, huh? Even your name's cute."

The mood got awkward again.

"Okay! I got it! I won't touch you!" I broke the silence, swiveling back so I couldn't see her tentative expression. "Right, we're off!"

We walked along the narrow road for a while in total silence. Along the way, I concluded that Alice was either one, still suspicious of my trustworthiness, or two, a very, very slow walker. Her footsteps against the earth were barely audible.

I wasn't one to care about other's impressions of me, but if I had to be stuck protecting this girl – I mean, Alice – then she should at least have a bit of guts to walk next to me! What would happen if someone had snuck behind and grabbed her? I wouldn't have a single clue.

We found a stray path on the road that seemed to follow a good lead, but water had covered it to make it impossible to cross. Alice and I continued further on until I looked back and saw that she was several feet away from me.

"Hey! Why the hell are you so far away?!" I had to holler out to her. "You tryingto be kidnapped or something?"

"I-I'm sorry," she apologized hastily.

(Well, sorry's not good enough!)

I marched up to her angrily, my shoes stomping the gravel and kicking the dirt back behind. I stopped in front of her and she had to tilt her head slightly up at me, nervous. She controlled her breathing steadily, anticipating what I was about to do next.

I narrowed my eyes down at her.

"You… how old are you?"

Alice blinked, seemed to be taken aback by my question. "I'm… twenty years old."

I snorted. "Well, I'm twenty-four! I'm older, so I'm wiser, and I know what I'm doing! So ya gotta listen to me, and trust me some more, okay?"

Yup, that's what my mom always told me as a kid. Listen to your elders, they're wiser! At least now she'd know I wasn't leading the two of us to a dead end or something.

… Not. Alice looked around, and then asked dubiously, "Okay… so you know the way?"

"Yeah! In fact, we're—" I turned around and realized the path in front of us had stopped, nothing more than a bunch of sluice gates and oversized trees that blocked our way. "We're at a dead end."

"Um…" she walked up next to me and fixed her eyes on the gates. "Maybe if we do something with this sluice gate, we'll be able to cross the river."

"Huh?" I looked at the gates. Then at Alice. Then back at the gates. Then it dawned on me. "Ah, of course! Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing."

Awkward silence.

(Damn it, where was that voice when I needed it?)

I scratched my neck. "Er, anyway, let's have a little search, then." I could have sworn she shook her head once I turned my back to her.

We investigated all three of the gates, but found most of them rotten. The last one remaining seemed solid enough, and it proved to be working after Alice suggested using the nearby handle to open it up (to which I quickly interjected and said that I saw the handle too). The entry opened and the speed of the water poured rapidly.

I clapped my gloves together, dusting them off after a job well done. "Perfect! A little rusty, but I ain't complaining."

Though the water streamed even faster now, it still had a long way to go before the river would completely empty out.

"Looks like it'll take a while for the water to drain… Hey, I say we take a rest over there."

"R-Right."

THE BONFIRE DANCED over the twigs and pinecones collected. I was sprawled over the flat ground close, watching its flames flicker heavily. Red and orange were the only colors that shimmered in the black of night. It gave light to the trees and the river.

It gave light to Alice.

She had lied down on her side, her hands folded as a pillow underneath her head. Her eyes fluttered just a little as she breathed quietly, but she still remained deep in her sleep, forgetting the night she had just experienced. Like she was in a different place now.

(She's asleep.)

What's that all about?! She's got some nerve…

I gazed at her. Her face glowed in the fire, and I noticed her bangs had the habit of brushing her eyes every time she was asleep. Maybe 'light-blonde' was not enough to describe her hair color. It was light enough to even be considered as white. I had never seen such a strange shade on a girl.

She could be pretty, I thought, if she didn't braid her hair so modestly.

I distinctly remembered myself saying I wouldn't touch her. I didn't remember promising I wouldn't.

Yeah, to hell with it. I'm just gonna…

Before I could inch any closer, Alice suddenly burbled a low noise and stirred in her sleep. I jumped back, afraid that I had voiced any, uh, lewd thoughts out loud.

"Unh, uhh…" she mumbled. "Father…"

My shoulders loosened up. "Wha… you talkin' in your sleep?! Don't scare me like that!"

The girl continued sleeping. She hadn't woken up after all.

Boy! Why am I stuck protecting this damn girl?

My eyes ate the twenty year old with annoyance. And of all dreams, she had to dream about her dad. Oh, please…

(Maybe I'm being a hypocrite…)

But, looking closer, I realized the subtle somberness of her expression. Her face softened and her lips curled downwards. Her breathing was slower.

It made me wonder where her dad was. I wondered what on earth she had been doing on that train without her dad. I wondered if she missed him.

Missing your dad, huh…

Something in my chest sank a little as I imagined the thought. But that same something started beating faster when the large bonfire suddenly burned out. A menacing air filled the smoke from the fire. The one I'm all too familiar with.

I jumped to my feet, raising my fists in panic. My voice wavered, shaky. "This aura, it's…"

And then he appeared.

The man who emerged above the bonfire. The man who wore a long trench coat. The man whose face was masqueraded by the same fox mask I've remembered since childhood.

"At last we meet…" he spoke, his voice that could almost cut anyone's throat dampened by the mask.

"Dad—" I whispered hoarsely. "What—what are you doing here?!"

"I've come to visit you, boy. The souls of the monsters you've killed are quite lonely, you see…"

Something was stuck in my throat. "Souls of the… monsters…?!"

The man turned to Alice. The black oval eyes of the mask gazed down at her. "What a lovely face. And yet, I must show proper courtesy. It is thanks to this woman's power that I am even here."

My breathing turned hard as I stared wide-eyed at Fox Face. "Her power? What?!"

"Haven't you noticed? This world overflows with the ghosts of the monsters you've slain. The gate of eternal darkness was closed until now, you see… this woman is causing it to open!" He motioned towards Alice. "The ghosts inside the darkest depths of your heart… they call to me, boy. And they demand that I take your soul!"

He bellowed with laughter, an evil laughter that could scare away the whistle of the wind and the hoots of the owls. Fox Face disappeared above the bonfire, and reappeared in front of it. Each time his body was gone, it would re-emerge closer and closer to me.

"Stay away!" I yelled, swinging my arm as I backed off. For a few seconds he had completely vanished, until I turned around and saw black eyes, Then I was struck against the head.

Darkness.

A high-pitched creak that grated my ears.

The smell of the dead…

When I opened my eyes again, gray fog clouded my vision. If I squinted hard enough, past the mist there were several graves up ahead. An iron fence ran around the outside of the yard. It occurred to me I was still lying on the ground.

I leaped back up and almost hit myself against the lantern from the gate behind. The headache faded away into fatigue.

"Unh,.. What's goin' on… Where am I?! This is just like my dreams!"I rolled the neck of my trench coat up. Unlike my dreams, I could actually feel the coldness from the mist.

Then I realized what just happened. "Huh?! Where's…?! Where is he?!" I put my fists up. And this time, I'd be ready.

But he was gone for good now.

"Heh heh, so he didn't come with me, eh? Damn! I can't believe this." I unclenched my fingers and dropped them to my sides, deciding to observe the small graveyard instead. "Honestly, this is a pretty lame illusion."

(If… if it is an illusion.)

I trudged further in, passing by gravestones with strange marks on them. They were all the same size, but each picture etched on the stones was different. I counted how many there were.

Six.

"Yup, this is it all right. The graveyard from my dreams. Aw, man, I don't wanna be remembering this!"

Flashbacks of nights from the past ten years spilled in my memories. I'd be lost, running around aimlessly across the misty yard, souls of the monsters floating out of the graves and chasing me. They'd stretch their arms as long as they wanted. Their claws would scrape against the flap of my jacket. I'd be too slow, or I'd trip, or I'd run into a dead end, and…

And then I'd wake up in a cold sweat just as a monster's about to devour me.

I shook my head, as if to somehow wobble off the surreal experiences. "No, no, NO! Nothin' but trouble ever since that voice freakin' showed up! Maybe I've lost it completely."

I didn't notice I was pacing around in circles, ranting off to myself about how everything was going wrong.

"First, Dad jumps out of my nightmare and shows up right before my eyes… and now I'M in the dream! I save that girl and I don't get so much as a SMILE. C'mon, aren't they supposed to get all dewy-eyed—" I clasped my hands together, batting my eyelashes, "—'Ooh, Mr. Yuri! Thank you ever so much! SMOOCH!'"

The raspy creak of the old, worn-out gate was the only sound that filled the silence after that.

"… Ain't that how it's s'posed to go?"

Creeeeeak.

(Oh man, now I'm all depressed.)

Obviously, going off on a tirade wasn't helping any. For one thing, I was still stuck in the graveyard. Damn graveyard. Damn voice. Damn girl.

I trekked up ahead until I reached a mausoleum. The crypt seemed to be completely shut, with no lock to try to fix open, so it didn't look like I would be able to enter past the chamber.

Not only that, there were four masks guarding in the front. They floated with permanent sinister smiles as I approached them.

"That door…" I examined it, then said, "Now I see. So it was you all along pulling the strings, eh?"

The sword mask was the first to speak. "We are pleased to meet you, boy… The detestable young Harmonixer who damned us to eternal hell…"

I laughed, waving my hand in modesty. "He he, no need to thank me. But to be honest, I really haven't missed you guys at all."

"Ho ho ho… your pathetic bravado can't hide your fear."

I glared at the staff mask and put my fists back up, prepared to fight. "Keep laughin'!!" I dared. "I'll slice that stupid mask in two!"

The third mask that taunted me reflected off a gold color. "Ha ha ha! Your mind may not comprehend this place, but your heart understands it full well. This world is a reflection of your own mind's darkness, darkness you have created yourself."

I created this?

There was no way. I hated this place. I hated the monsters and masks that inhabited this place. I'd be the last person to create a world like this… and yet, I kept my mouth shut.

The masks didn't.

"Ho ho ho… The more of our brethren roaming around the world you strike down, the more you shall become saturated with venomous Malice, born of their bitter vengeance…" The grail mask scooted farther near the tightly-closed door.

"And when the limit is passed, so then shall HE be reborn into the word of the living. Ho ho ho… The man, the very thought of who make you shrink in terror…"

Fox Face appeared behind the door, laughing as I startled backwards. He disappeared.

My hands started shaking. My head grew hotter. I was fuming like a tea kettle.

"Enough! Shut your stinkin' mask face! That's enough!!" I walked up the steps and faced each one of the four masks. "You think I'm scared?! Don't make me laugh! I've been huntin' monsters for over ten years."

I swung my arm towards them threateningly. "I can handle one or two of those guys with a flick of a finger! You got that, you bodiless freaks!"

The sword mask chortled, his empty eye sockets in the hilt staring down at me. "Ha ha ha… Don't get so excited. You loved your father so much, that now you're wandering aimlessly in search of him."

I locked eyes at the mask, heaving a dark glare at the mention of my dad. "Stay out of this! It's none of your concern!"

Who do they think they are… what the hell is so wrong with going out for revenge for my parents…!

"Heh. Strange words for someone who still desperately wants to believe his father is alive somewhere…"

I snapped my head up at the staff mask and clenched my fists. My fingers could've broken off any time soon.

"You… now you're really starting to me piss me off! Say another word and I'll smash your smirking faces in!!"

The gold mask took a liking to my idea of a fight. "Ha ha ha! Slow down, boy. Worry not, we have a proper opponent for you. To sweep away the accumulation of Malice, you must do battle!"

All four masks began calling forth something from behind the gates. The doors flung open, and red eyes shone behind the darkness. A creature emerged from the black, his back hunched and his tail dragged across the ground.

Once the lizard-like monster spotted me, he charged forward. His mouth bared sharp teeth, his claws dug into the soil. He swung his tail at me, but I dodged and quickly loped towards the monster. I smashed my knuckles into the scales of his face, beating him up repeatedly until he could no longer stand.

I laughed as he fell limp and no longer moved. Typical monster opponent.

"Hah!! C'mon, at least give me some sort of challenge! Who's next? You guys?!"

"Ho ho ho… Well done. Your victory has swept aside the vengeance of our brethren. And it appears that the reactions of that cursed talisman you hold have vanished as well," the grail mask noted.

Huh? I looked down at my pendant. The gem from the necklace had turned to a light color of blue.

That's weird, I could have sworn it was an orange-red shade earlier…

The sword mask interrupted my thoughts before I could make any sense of the talisman. "Heh heh heh… It's too early to get cocky, boy. This purification is only temporary."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" I asked. For some reason the rasp of his words seemed threatening.

"Ho ho ho…" the staff mask answered for the sword. "When you return to your world, killing our compatriots will only result in increased Malice. Then you will come back here to lower it. No matter how many you slaughter, this hell will continue."

"Ha ha ha! Then, in due time, HE will be resurrected… The man you fear more than Death itself!" the gold – or was that the staff? – argh, forget it, it didn't matter which mask said what! I was too confused with their lame-ass ominous foreshadowing to pay any attention.

"Tee hee hee… Do you intend to keep on running away forever…?"

"Ho ho ho… How much easier it would be for you to simply come here in death."

I turned around, waving a finger at the four freaks behind. "Enough! Shut up!"

And I walked away. How easy it could've been if I had just done that in the first place. I couldn't believe I actually wasted my time killing off some weak monster, and what's worse, listening to those masks yap on and on.

What was that again? Something about killing monsters and increasing their Malice? And then having to go back to that godawful graveyard…

(Yeah, there was no way I could've made a world like that.)

And then he will be resurrected… the man I feared the most…

Who?

I asked myself this question by the time I reached the gates, at the spot I was the first time I came here. Who was the man I feared the most? I didn't know anybody, and I sure as hell wasn't scared of anybody.

Those masks were probably bluffing, that was it. They just liked to toy with my mind.

But if that was so, why would my blood run cold every time I thought of "that man"? Why would I tremble? Why would I be afraid?

… Why would I feel like he was coming soon?

"… EASE! Wa… up!!"

… Huh?

I swiveled my head around, but no one else was in the graveyard. That voice, it was not the usual voice that would order me around and tell me to do this and that, it was not the voice that had haunted me for the past few years, but it sounded so familiar…

"Yuri…! Please, open your eyes!"

Yuri. A slight English accent.

My knees fell to the ground as I gripped my head. "Aargh! My head again!!"

I blacked out. But I felt Alice's presence beside me.

"Wake up! Wake up, please! Yuri…! Please, open your eyes!"

I did. Her face was the first thing I saw. She was kneeling beside me, staring down, eyes so worried and frightened. They relaxed when I became conscious again.

We both stood up. I gazed at the burnt pinecones and twigs where the fire used to flicker.

"So… he's back." I murmured to myself.

"Are you all right?" Alice roused me from my dark train of thought. "You were having a nightmare… Mumbling about masks… And 'Malice'."

I waved a hand while shaking my head. "… None of your business. My head's really starting to hurt, that's all." I stroked my forehead tiredly. "Whew… how long was I out?"

"Only two or three minutes since I found you," Alice explained, her hand wrapped into a fist against her chest. "But you seemed to be in such pain…"

"Nothin' to worry about. I always have nightmares. Ever since I was a kid."

I stopped mumbling and looked up at the night sky. The full moon was going to disappear soon – the dark clouds would cover it.

"… C'mon, let's go."

WE CROSSED THROUGH the path from before, the river having emptied out. I didn't speak much after what happened. I was too busy with my own thoughts.

Our tracks continued to another road that was, just like the other one, a one-way. For a while I thought we'd be going off to nowhere.

Then, as I squinted and tried to see far ahead, I realized there was a small glow illuminating from a place. I perked up at this and pointed at the glow.

"Hey! Look at those lights! It's a town."

I looked back at Alice, who was staring at me, her lips in a silent firm line.

"Why the long face? We'll have food, and a bed to rest on!" With those pros in mind, I quickened my pace towards the town. Alice seemed to follow slowly. I was about to spin around and call her to walk faster, until a familiar pain took a stab in my head.

I dropped down, my brain rattling against my head. This time it was even louder. The voice was more vigilant than usual.

BE CAREF… …. … GUAR..IAN … PURG…TORY … MAN..EATER.. TR..P …WAIT…

(Pant, pant…)

The jangling stopped. I found myself staring at my hands and the dirt.

"It's… gone…?" I stood back up, scowling. This time I had enough – I was freaking pissed at all the headaches that'd occurred to me in one night! I kicked the ground, sending small rocks and gravels flying off a few feet away.

"Aaargh!! Leave me alone! Damn you!! Leave me ALONE! I'm not a damn marionette, you hear me?!"

"Um, Yuri…" Alice spoke up. "That voice."

"Yeah, what about it?!" I stopped shouting at the sky and reeled a glare at her.

She looked intently at me before saying, "I heard it, too…"

I gawked. It took a while before I could catch my breath again. "Really?!"

Alice nodded.

"Yes. I don't think it means us any harm. I didn't sense anything evil about it." She gazed up at the sky, a bare difference compared to when I was yelling and shaking my fist at it a few seconds ago. "I think… It feels like it just wants to tell us something."

I stared at her in silence for a while. She was so calm and serene, watching the clouds crawling over towards the moon. For some reason, her rational thinking cooled me down too.

It also amused me. She acted like she was talking about somebody else. "Oh yeah?" I asked. Alice didn't seem to notice my grin.

"Let's head for the village," she suggested, walking over to the direction of the dim light. She passed by me and her scent wafted through my nose for a few seconds. It was the first time she had ever walked ahead.

That Alice… She hears the voice, but it doesn't bother her!

Why?

Before I could come to any conclusion, I realized she was now several feet ahead of me.

"Hey, wait up! Don't leave me here!" It was also the first time I had to catch up with her.

As I ran after my new accomplice and the village, the pendant swished around my neck, dangling through the jog. If I had stopped to look at the talisman encrusted in the middle, I would have noticed the clouds that began to form beneath the stone.

I would have noticed it was not the same shade of blue as it was before.

I did not realize until it was too late that that this was the moment the Malice started changing – from the light blue it held in the graveyard, to the greenish color it transitioned into as I ran up to Alice.

And then, sooner or later, it will change into the blood red color the Malice was meant to be.

But that was sooner or later.

And right now, the only thing I focused on was finding a place to rest.

To be continued.

Author's Note: Third chapter, in Alice's POV, will be posted next week.