Hey guys! I may be a "stranger" now, I know I haven't updated in a LONG time, and for that I extend my sincerest apologies. I just got inspiration today, and I don't like writing stories when I'm uninspired, because it's slow, painful, and dreadfully boring work. I figured that you may not want a dreadfully boring story, so I've been plotting, and I finally came up with something good. Hopefully you can forgive me for the super long hiatus, hopefully this bit of story is worth the wait.

Thanks to my followers, favorites, and reviewers, I really appreciate the feedback and support. Happy reading!

~TPWG

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Erik took one look at Nadir and Nadir looked back at him, probably trying to gauge what his next move would be. He wrapped Erika Rose up in the blankets that she came in and he bolted. He raced out of the concert hall as quick as he could, dodging people, questions, and anything that stood in his way. As he left, Ada spotted him running out, and she decided to tag along.

/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\

Ada POV:

I only just noticed him as his coattails flew behind him, long, black, and whipping around as he broke camp, practically running out of the theatre. He always struck me as peculiar, don't get me wrong, but this was particularly peculiar, thus, I had to check it out. I saw him as he thrust open the door with one hand, but it looked as if he had something in the other. I put my violin back in its case and took off behind him, bursting through the door and looking both ways down the street to see if I could find him.

I hadn't anticipated that following him would be so difficult. It was as if he vanished once he made his way through the door. It was weird. He was nowhere to be found. I even asked around some to find out if anyone had seen someone of his likeness, which would have been fairly easy to tell. After all, not many people are blessed with his height, or run around wearing a white mask over half of their face. Since I couldn't find him anywhere in the street, I figured I'd intercept him at the apartment.

/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\

Erik POV:

I wasn't going to stick around, not with this huge curveball, plot twist, cruel game, whichever term you prefer to coin having been thrown at me. The fact that the child was mine was hard enough to believe. According to my sources, I'm not exactly what one would call a "ladies man". Trying to figure out who could have possibly had the kid was mind boggling, as far as I knew, I hadn't even lost my virginity.

"That in itself is sad," my mind told me, much to my dismay. I seem to be my only company, so my mind racing and insulting me was the norm. Occasionally I do talk to myself, just to put off the illusion that I'm not lonely. I think what happens more often than not is people getting this crazy idea that I'm psychotic.

So I bolted.

Like a bullet out of a gun.

Fled.

Like fire was at my feet.

Ran.

Like I didn't care to look back.

Far away.

Because now two big cities had chewed me up and spit me out.

Far away from judgment, harassment, and pain was the only place I wanted to go. Taking off into the street, I made sure that our faces were covered before I looked up at anyone. I ran fast through the streets, pushing through the throngs of people commuting.

"Dear god! How many people live here, exactly?"

"Too many for my taste," a stranger said behind me. I turned and looked at him, acknowledging his presence, then ran even faster, cutting through crowds like butter. It was hard to think - too cold, too many people, too many thoughts bouncing off the inside of my head. I tried to think, but no coherent thought would form. I'd get one word, or some random phrase, or a name, but beyond that, nothing.

I think I'm somewhat legend for running away from things. Whether it be gypsies, opera stars, or the Shah of Persia, you name it, I can run away from it. Nonetheless, I wasn't quite sure how I was going to run away from this. I held Erika close to me, wrapped up in blankets in my arms. She wasn't crying, which was good, she just nestled into me, in a way. No one has done that to me before, so naturally my response was awkward. Taking Erika and holding her at arm's length, I looked at her with apprehension. Making eye contact, I asked her,

"What are you doing?"

"Eeeh?" She replied, tilting her head to the side, mimicking me. I glowered at her temporarily and pulled her back to me. I felt her little form shivering against mine, so I made sure she was completely covered in the blankets, doubling them up in spots to keep the warmth in. Holding her with both arms and wrapping us in my cloak, I gently pushed open the door to the apartment building with the side of my arm. There was an instantaneous gust of warm air that flooded me, and I soaked it up, knowing Erika was doing the same.

"Ah, hello Mister . . . ?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Mister Doesn't matt-" the man greeting me paused. "Now what kind of name is that?"

"Doesn't matter."

"I think you're hiding something."

"Do you?" I asked him shortly. My patience for this idiot was quickly beginning to ebb.

"I think you need a nice warm hug."

"Uh, how about a big fat NO?"

"Aw, I still think you need one."

"Think it all you want, just don't implement it, otherwise you might find yourself on the receiving end of my wrath."

"Definitely need one."

I beheld the overly cheerful man with livid golden eyes. The man backed away, thoroughly shocked by this. "Your eyes were, they were brown! Just a minute ago! I saw it!"

"If you wish to see them brown again I suggest you don't speak of the hugs henceforth. Understood?"

The man nodded, the rest of his body paralyzed.

"Good," I quipped as I strode up to the elevator, letting myself in and shutting the door behind me.

/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\

As soon as the door had shut, Erik lazily slumped against the far wall, staring at his reflection in the wall opposite him. Almost at his breaking point, he hesitantly peeked under his mask for a moment, then ripped it from his face completely.

"How did this happen?" He asked his reflection. "What did you do?" The reflection seemed to shrug at him. He ran a hand down the deformed side of his face as his body shook with exhaustion and fear.

Replacing his mask, he stole a glance down at the fragile infant in his arms, not knowing what he was going to do with her. He was terrified. The more he studied her, though, the more familiar she seemed. It was strange that he saw almost two different faces, until he looked up at his reflection, realizing that she wasn't the only one with two different facades. He was having trouble pinpointing who exactly he saw in her besides himself, knowing that the deformed side came from him.

The other side was too angelic to be his. Her soft, baby pink lips were slightly larger than most, but not as swollen as his. Her skin resembled smooth porcelain on one side, but damaged leather on the other. Scars littered the right side of her face, some deep, some shallow. Her right eye looked normal, but the skin surrounding it was swollen slightly. She had no right eyebrow, but a cute, button-like nose and a pair of fierce hazel eyes that gazed up at him with curiosity. Her left cheek was lightly blushing as he studied her, almost as if she knew what he was doing. Little wisps of pale blonde hair protruded from her scalp, which was, except for one fissure on the right side, normal.

When he reached his floor, he opened the door and sped out of the lift, down the hall, and to his door, quickly locating the key and inserting it in the lock. Pushing open the door, he hurriedly closed it behind himself and rushed to find a safe place to put Erika. Finding nothing of the sort, he resigned to putting her in the middle of his bed, wrapping her up in her many blankets, and keeping close tabs on her from the next room over.

Reaching the bathroom, he turned the faucet on and laid his mask on the counter. Cupping his hands under the stream of water, he splashed his face repeatedly, trying to make himself think.

"Whose is she? How is she mine?" He asked himself repeatedly, splashing himself in the face with handfuls of water every time he didn't reach a conclusion.

"Better yet, how can dear Daroga even waltz into my life and drop her off like he's sending her to summer camp? THIS IS NOT SUMMER CAMP!" He shouted angrily. "He can't just do this to me, how can he do this to me? I'm losing my mind trying to figure out how I'm connected to this kid!" His eyes widening, he listened intently for some sort of noise. Hearing nothing, he quickly slapped the mask back on his face and rushed into the bedroom to find Erika on the edge of the bed. She inched up further and started to fall off the side of the bed in slow motion.

"NO!" Erik yelled, racing to the bed, swooping to catch the falling Erika in his long, graceful arms, just in the nick of time. He brought her up to eye level with himself and stared her down for half a minute.

"How," he slowly questioned, "did you get out of the blankets? You were wrapped up in maybe four of them!"

Erika started to cry fitfully, squeezing her eyes shut and forcing hot tears to spill over onto her cheeks.

"No, no, why are you crying? Make it stop! Don't do that! Why are you doing that? Stop it!" Erik started bouncing her up and down in his arms, suddenly remembering that some people did that with their kids and it worked. Unfortunately, it didn't on Erika. "Sh-h-h, stop it, don't do this to me . . ."

He thought he heard something strange happening in another room, and his head shot up. Touching Erika's nose and lips delicately with his pinkie finger, he motioned for her to be quiet. Her final tears fell and her crying quickly abated, much to Erik's amazement. Ears trained, he silently stepped into the main room of the apartment. His eyes scanned the whole of the room, not missing a single nook, cranny or crevasse. He saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just when he thought he must have been going insane, he saw the doorknob jiggle. His eyes widened even more as he devised a plan to get out of the apartment with haste. Without going through the door. Or leaving Erika. His eyes darted from side to side, then steeled themselves, straight ahead of him. He whipped his cape around him just as the door opened, and the intruder entered to find nothing out of the ordinary. Erik was gone.

/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\

Ada shifted her violin case on her back as she pushed through the door and out into the street. Waving at people she knew, she smiled briefly as she brushed past them. She would normally stop and chat, but today was different - she didn't have time.

Erik had left abruptly on his first day of work. Even with strangers like him, leaving work that early on the first day was not a good sign.

Following her gut instinct, she headed further down the street towards the apartment building. Pushing an errant lock of blonde hair out of her face, she pressed on through thick crowds of people to get where she was going. As she was about to cross the street, someone tapped her vigorously on the shoulder. She whipped around to face a peculiar Persian man in an Astrakhan cap. He smiled curtly, then asked,

"Have you seen a man, several inches taller than me, wearing a white mask recently?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"You're looking for him?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Yes, yes I am, as it happens."

"Maybe you can help me find him. Which way would he go?"

"How should I know? I only just got here!"

"Why are you so intent on finding him then, if you don't know him?"

"I never said I didn't know him, I just said I had only recently come here!"

"Well then where would he go? Do you know anything about his habits? Behavior patterns? Emotional ties?"

"There aren't many of the latter."

"Okay," Ada thought, "Maybe . . . Do you think he's just gone home? Perhaps he needed a break?"

"He'd just started work."

"I know that!" Ada hollered at him. "I didn't know if he was one of those people that took breaks often."

"No, he doesn't have dedication issues."

"Good, because honestly, I was beginning to get pissed for putting my ass on the line for him so he could get a job if he was going to neglect it."

"Don't worry about that. Let's just find Erik and we'll get this whole mess straightened out."

"What mess is this, exactly?"

"I'll let him tell you when we find him."

"Mhm," Ada hummed skeptically, seeming unconvinced.

"Listen, everything will become a lot clearer once we actually find Erik, understood?"

"Mhm," Ada hummed again.

"Where were you going?"

"To my apartment. Why, you going to follow me there?"

"I was hoping you'd stay out and help me look for our mutual friend."

"My apartment is right across the hall from him, why don't we start there?"

"WHAT? This whole time we've been talking, you never thought to mention that you live next to him?!"

"You never asked!"

"I assumed it would have been pertinent information!"

"Don't assume things, and learn to ask sooner! I'm not going to give you the story of my life on a street corner when the only thing we have in common is a tall masked man whom I hardly know!"

Nadir looked at her with a pointed expression. "Let's just go to the apartment."

"Probably a good idea."

With that, the two crossed the street at a run and didn't slow down until they reached the double doors of the apartment building.

"What floor do you live on?" Nadir demanded urgently.

"Just get in the elevator."

"Why do you call them that?"

"Call what, what, exactly?"

"Why do you call elevators, elevators?"

"I dunno, elevator, elevate, why?"

"I just thought 'lift' was more suitable."

"We're discussing this now?"

"Just a thought that happened to cross my mind."

"Get. In. The. Elevator."

Nadir quickly jerked his head to the side and said, "Ladies first."

/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\

They reached their floor and stepped out of the elevator.

Lift.

Elevator.

Lift.

Shut up.

Very well.

After they stepped out of the elevator, they hurried down the hall and Nadir pulled a thin strip of metal out of his pocket, attempting to jimmy the lock.

Ada watched for a minute, amused with Nadir. Then she heard someone crying. After she'd had enough of watching him get nowhere with the lock, she caved in.

"Move over."

"What are you insinuating, that your lock-picking skills are superior to my own?" He asked, mildly perturbed. "I was on the Persian police force for several years!"

"And I have a key."

Nadir opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. He stepped to the side, gestured to the doorknob with his hand, and said, "By all means."

"Thank you."

"I suppose you're one for giving information only on a need-to-know basis, am I correct?"

"More or less," she agreed as she turned the knob and opened the door.

When the two burst through the doorway, they looked around the apartment, confused.

"I could have sworn I heard crying in here . . ."

They searched the entire apartment, but didn't find a soul.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

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Okay guys, what did you think? Let me know in the comments, I love feedback!

Thanks, and happy first day of autumn!

~TPWG