"Well, well, well. What are we doing down in the dungeons…?"

Cooro jumped with a small start; he hadn't realized he was being watched. After regaining his composure, he turned and saw Noïr leaning up against one of the cell doors. The pale yellow from the torchlight swam across her face, which was forcing itself not to contort in anger. Her tail whipped around viciously, striking the steel bars with a sharp "clang!" With her arms crossed in front of her chest, she pushed off of the cell and strolled up to the crow +Anima.

This girl was the vision of danger. It didn't take much for Cooro to realize this; once he did, he went on the defensive. "Zeke told me I could come down here."

Noïr scoffed with disdain. "Gonna ask Zeke if you're allowed to breathe?" She came closer and closer to Cooro, almost enough to reach out and grab him. "I don't like all the attention you're getting from him."

Her statement was confusing to Cooro. "W-why shouldn't I talk with him? We're allies."

Throwing her head back in an evil laugh, Noïr replied, "Allies, yes. Lovers, no."

Heat rose up to Cooro's cheeks, and his entire face began to glow red. "N-no, that's not how it is!" He threw his arms up to reinforce his point. It had little effect, at most, because while Noïr stopped cackling, she brought her joy down to a small, menacing giggle. A dainty index finger held itself against the girl's lips; her whiskers danced.

"The way you two've been acting, that's what you'd think. At least, Zeke's got the hots for you." Upon noticing the mystified expression on the boy's face, a blend of embarrassment and confusion, she elaborated. "Oh, come on – you'd have to be an idiot to not notice all the advancements he's been making on you." Rather rudely.

The crow +Anima rapidly shook his head.

"Look, I'm not asking you to betray us or anything." The words Noïr spoke could be misconstrued as comforting had one not looked at her face, and the sardonic smile her lips were forming. In a second, she lashed out at Cooro, grabbing his wrist with her strong right hand. Heaving the boy backwards, she slammed him into the cell wall, which was unfortunately made of bars. Cooro cried out before being silenced by a hand on his forehead.

Noïr's eyes were full of repressed hatred. Leaning into Cooro's ear, she whispered in a menacing tone, "Stay away from Zeke – he's mine."

Then, her point being made, the mouse +Anima let the boy go. She turned on her heel and walked away as if nothing had happened. Wordlessly, she disappeared.

The crow +Anima didn't, though. He merely sat on the stone floor, thinking. Maybe he'd known all along that Zeke was attracted to him, but he was trying to deny it for reasons unknown. The crow +Anima sighed – he didn't want anything to interfere with his friend's plans. If the brown-haired girl wanted him to keep away from Zeke, then keep away he would.

"Are you alright…?"

Cooro looked up and saw a girl he'd never seen before. Actually, hold on…He had seen her face before, but only once. When he was being introduced to everyone, she'd stood behind Tommy and said nothing. Now, the black-haired girl was sanding over him with a small clay bowl of water and a rag. Her emerald eyes were large and glistening, but were also shaking and not making contact with Cooro's.

The girl's frail frame sat down next to Cooro. Her bleak gray dress rubbed against the floor as she did, creating a weak rustle. Still, though, she refused to make eye contact. "I…I heard you and Noïr…" she said quietly. Before anything else happened, she offered the bowl and rag to Cooro. "I was going to clean for Zeke, but if you need it…" Her voice was like a whisper on the wind, soft and clear but impossibly quiet.

The boy didn't quite know what to do. He uncertainly reached out and took the bowl from the girl, and did nothing but stare at it.

"Noïr comes off as fiery, but she's really nice…" the girl continued. "You just need to spend more time around her, so she'll get accustomed to you…"

Cooro stared at his own reflection in the water. "She said Zeke was hers…I'm not trying to steal him away…"

"I believe you…" the girl answered. "But lately, I haven't been able to tell exactly what our leader's thinking. He obsesses over Noïr, and now he's doing the same thing to you…" She sighed. "Sometimes I wish he'd just acknowledge me…" Cooro leaned over and peered inquisitively into the girl's eyes – they were full of longing and regret, glimmering with the glossy signal of tears.

The girl shook her head away from the thoughts in her head. The two proceeded to sit in a noiseless, awkward silence.

Finally, Cooro spoke up. "My name's Cooro…"

"I know…" the girl breathed. "I was there when Zeke introduced you." Now she turned full front to face the crow +Anima; her eyes persisted, and she didn't look him in the eyes. "I'm Greta." She extended a trembling hand towards the boy. Before he took it, he noticed there were small black spots on her skin, which was a strange shade of golden, completely different from the light the torches were giving off. When they did shake hands, Greta seemed to smile a tiny bit.

If she had, it was gone in a flash. She grabbed the bowl and rag away from Cooro, hurriedly leaving with a quick, "Goodbye" barely getting out. Her soft footsteps were gone less than a minute after she left.

Cooro was left to his own devices, but his thoughts were clogged with Noïr and getting revenge against humans. His eyelids were getting heavier by the second, and soon he had drifted off into a blissful world where humans didn't exist, and the only person that mattered was a pretty boy with bluish-silver hair and large aquamarine eyes.

And no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't put a name on the boy.

The shadows obscured Zeke expertly, but it wasn't like anyone was going to glance up to the balcony. From his third-story vantage point, he could scout out the capital city's entire central square with relative ease.

Members of the infantry were all around, so the +Anima had to be careful. Nothing would come from drawing unnecessary attention to himself, but it might be unavoidable. After all, he had to find the girl he had met a few years ago.

She still owed him for nearly taking his head off.

What Zeke remembered was that she frequented the capital city, being a thief and all. Just her and her little brother, which made them the ideal prey. The only hard part of his plan was finding them; thieves were renowned for hiding themselves.

"Where are you, pestilent woman…? I don't have forever to wait…" His eyes continued to scan; they wanted to droop, and it was all the +Anima could do to stop them.

"You wouldn't be talking about me, now, would you?"

Startled, Zeke whirled around and was faced by two people – one was a small boy with a baby face and shoulder-length scarlet hair. The one who'd spoken, a woman, was tall and wore gloves; her nails were long and curved like claws; her hair was also scarlet. When Zeke assimilated this, he couldn't help but smile.

"Look at that…Just the person I was looking for…" The woman smirked sarcastically and tilted her head to the side. "…Rose."