Hallo guys... I'm back. Happy New Year. I would've uploaded sooner but I was sleeping until like eleven in the morning. ...Hey, I was up until 4:30 AM! Don't judge! Aaaanyways, to celebrate I'm gonna upload this chapter. Enjoy a new character.

Chapter Eight

In the dense forest you could see nothing but leafy trees for miles. There were only a couple disturbances that could be major - a brown bear, a fallen tree, and a twelve-year-old boy running.

He wasn't going as fast as he had, because he knew how that had ended. But he had to run before the Alchemists caught his scent with their Earth Powers. As he ran he thought about her, and his last words and interactions that would ever be friendly.

She stood with her back to him, long, curly blond hair concealing her outfit all the way down to her knees. Even through the thick curtain of golden locks, he could clearly see her shaking shoulders.

"A-Are you okay?" He asked tentatively. He put a hand on her shoulder, catching sight of a white lab coat.

White lab coat?

"Of course I'm not okay!" The girl cried out, turning away from him again. He didn't try to reach her again as she began sobbing while talking. "I - I was forced to join the Alchemists because they threatened to kill me. Master Ryuku-sama said he'd kill me in front of you - I can't have that happen, you're so young..."

"I'm 4 1/2 months old! That's older than Luka and Maiku!" He argued. "And - and..." He looked down, heartbroken, as her words sank in. "I... thought... I thought..."

"Thought what?" She snapped, agitated.

He looked up with sadness and fierceness in his brown-gold eyes. "I thought that you'd keep your promises! Remember, just two months ago? You and I promised that no matter what we wouldn't go against each other-"

"They would have killed me!" She yelled, anguish, sorrow and anger clear in her face and dark eyes. "I love you, but I don't - don't want to ...to die..."

He turned away partly, as if shunning her. "Promises like that one are worth so much more than lives, SeeU."

SeeU's cheeks were stained wet with silent tears as she choked out the next line. "O-Oliver... I love you, I really do, but -"

"Don't."

The word was simple and curt, and the meaning was clear. Oliver's eyes watered and he blinked furiously so he wouldn't cry. He had once loved SeeU, the girl with long blond hair and stunning eyes and perfect everything - but she had gone against their promise and joined the people he hated. So he didn't love her any more.

Cries and shouts sounded from the hall. "Destroy him!" "Where did he go?" "What about SeeU?" "Who cares! FIND NUMBER EIGHT!"

SeeU reached out a tanned, freckled hand for her former lover, but he didn't bother looking back as he jumped out the open window.

Oliver remembered the rest of that meeting. Upon jumping to the ground he'd nearly broken his ankle, and the stall had given SeeU and the other Alchemists time to catch up to him. They'd tried to kill him, but all they'd done was give him scrapes on his ankle and legs. The worst thing they'd done before he got away was a Fire spell to his left eye and it was now bandaged as well as his legs were they had managed to cut. While they argued, he ran away and they'd chased him for 3 hours until he hid and got away.

Now he was searching for civilization. For a normally city-filled place like this it was really hard to find a town. Or maybe he was just unlucky. Whatever the case, he was getting tired.

Oliver's nose caught the scent of food - real food. The wind suddenly moved to blow from the source to himself and he could also catch the scents of other house things - and he could hear very faint shouting. The town was probably beind a couple lines of trees.

Good thing I didn't miss it, he thought, or I would probably be killed. Not that it won't happen anyways.

He jogged through the trees, being careful on his bandaged ankle, until he reached the fences of the backyards of the houses. He found the smell of the yummy food coming from the house directly in front of him, with a plastic white fence made to look like wood. Sounds of a small, happy family sounded from inside, and Oliver decided it would be a good place to crash.

As he vaulted the fence effortlessly and headed for the front door he heard the voices inside. "Ah, Henry... Do you think our lovely Cerisya will ever return home?"

"I'm sure, dearest. She promised to be home tomorrow." He noted that they spoke in English, his favored language.

At Oliver's knock the voices quieted. The door opened to reveal a portly black-haired woman with a curious smile and small brown eyes. She looked at the bandaged boy on the doorstep before saying kindly, "What is it, little one?"

Oliver smiled back. When he spoke, the English held a British accent. "Hello. Sorry to be so sudden, but have you heard of the Alchemists?"

"Of course, but what's this all about?"

"Well, I was just running from them and... this happened. I'm trying to find a place to stay for tonight, but it's getting late and you seemed like nice people. Could you allow me to stay for one night?"

The woman smiled, pulling the door open wider. "Of course! We seem to be a magnet for travelers and wanderers. This isn't the first time someone has come to stay for a night or two." Oliver stepped in, and was enveloped by nicely hot air and lamplit halls. "However, you're the youngest boy I've tended to. What would someone like you be doing running from Alchemists?"

Oliver weighed his options. He could tell the truth or he could keep this to himself and lie... but he hated liars, and he wasn't about to become one himself. "I don't know if you've heard, but the Alchemists have been doing studies on human souls. They've been creating a type of artificial human called Vocaloids - it means False Human in the Alchemists' language."

As he spoke, they walked, and the last part was heard by a thin, blond-haired and balding man sitting at the kitchen counter. He chuckled. "Ah, the Vocaloids... Yes, we've heard of them. A fascinating experiment, don't you think so? Our daughter Cerisya works there as an Air Alchemist - she has a knack for the element."

"Ah yes," the woman exclaimed, snapping her fingers as she returned to something simmering over the stove, "Names. I am Dewata Penelope. This is my husband, Henry, and our daughter Cerisya will be returning tomorrow night. What is your name?"

"Funonori Oliver," he replied, nodding.

"Nice to meet you Oliver," Penelope smiled over shoulder as she spoke. "You are our eighth traveler this month."

Oliver laughed, and got a questioning look in the piercing hazel eyes of Henry. "Eight is a strange number for me. I'm a Vocaloid, and that's my number."

Penelope stopped stirring for just a second. "You're a Vocaloid? Really? You seem like a completely normal human, not an artificial one..."

"That was the point of Vocaloids, to create an artificial human you can't tell the difference of. Humanoid robots and the like, they have settings and they're usually loyal. Plus, their brain structure is different than a human's by a long shot. Vocaloids, on the other hand, have the same brain and soul structure as normal humans. We don't have alliances, we have free will, and we're usually smarter than you'd expect for whatever we look like. Anyways, I'm the eighth Vocaloid, so that's my number." Oliver pulled his left sleeve further up his arm past his elbow. On the inside of his forearm was a red number - 08 - and under was his name in smaller letters, Funonori Oliver. "These are our tag numbers - they're tracked by the Alchemists of our element."

"It's nice to meet a Vocaloid after hearing about them," Henry remarked. Penelope simply nodded and set soup out on the table. There was not much more talk after that, because the three were all digging into their food.

"Rin?"

"Yes, Len?" Rin marked the page of her romance novel with a finger and turned to her brother, who was sitting cross-legged on his bed with his left side facing her. He was tracing the 02 Kagamine Len mark on his shoulder as he spoke, the book in his lap forgotten. "What's this for?"

"Um-"

"And what's this for?" He held up the necklace he wore with his other hand, still not looking up. Rin could have ignored him, but there was a kind of determination in his voice that said he wasn't giving up until he found his answers.

"Well-"

"And these?" He dropped the necklace and tapped the ear of the headphones. "I know there's something about these things. Kaiko has them all too, but her number is 05. I want to know, and if you won't tell me then someone else will."

Rin sighed. He might as well. She closed the book completely and turned to fully face him. "Okay... I'll tell you."

Shameless short Len part was shameless. I didn't want to make this longer than the 1,611 words it is already. So... next time, friends. Next time. See ya.

-Kara