I don't have too much to say before this chapter, but just another breif apology on the wait for this chapter, but, I promise, the wait was worth it.

~Tiruneko ;3

X~26~X

"Dad!" Lapis puts her hand on the door handle to the hotel room, contemplating actually leaving. He told her to stay put but… he's been gone for a long time now. But then again, she shouldn't get involved with his work, should she? What does he even do?

Lapis inhales deeply, letting her breath out of her mouth in a large sigh.

He never tells me anything. She thinks angrily. With a sudden burst of anger, mixed with a little mischievous curiosity, she pushes down on the handle, pushing open the door and sticking her head out into the hallway of the fancy hotel. The doors are dark wood with shining silver handles, and the hallways are made with visible dark wood boards only hidden in some areas by paintings in fake silver frames. A voice familiar to Lapis carries down the hallway, but sounds like muffled arguing.

Slowly and gradually she places one white-socked foot out of the door, and eases it closed gently behind her. She is wearing a pair of baggy grey sweat pants and a white spaghetti strap tank top, showing a brilliantly shining blue gem charm on a gold chained necklace. Slowly Lapis makes her way down the hallway, following the sound of one of her father's co-worker's voice. The voice is female, and belongs to a hot headed, pink haired woman named Luka Megurine, just like the boy that saved Lapis earlier.

Once she thinks she found the door, Lapis cups her hands over her ear and presses it against the cold and smooth surface of the door.

"-and the thought of it happening again, Gakupo I will beat the crap out of your sorry-" Luka spits violently until being swiftly cut off by the silver haired woman.

"Enough. Obviously the approach we're taking isn't working. We need to become either less, or more aggressive. I vote more." Her voice is the softest, and hard to hear even when in the room with her, which makes Lapis' spying even harder.

"I agree." Kaito's girl friend pipes in. Lapis doesn't care for the woman all too much, she sees her as over bearing and a little sadistic sounding at times. Honestly, she scares Lapis just a little. But as long as her father is happy with her, then she thinks it's best to be cordial to her.

"No, there is no need to change our approach entirely, besides, bursting into a busy place and then trying to do it would be impossible, terrify civilians, maybe even get us into trouble with more than Lily." Kaito continues. Lapis's heart jumps slightly at hearing her father's voice. This is the first time she's heard him speak of his job.

What does he mean "terrify civilians?" She thinks, closing her eyes and listening closer.

"Then how do you suppose we get them?" Luka hisses.

"The reason we're failing each time is because we haven't been able to kill any of them. We just need to disguise ourselves, then get close enough to them, in an unpopulated place, to be able to pull the trigger." Lapis' heart jumps and her eyes snap open as she sucks in a breath in surprise.

Kill them? Kill who? No, no, calm down. He must mean it figuratively.

"Well how do you expect us to do that if we don't know where they are? For all we know it was an actual criminal firing shots in the subway, not our targets. We could have just been following a blonde haired boy and his girl friend or sister down there, but Shion just had to go firing shots back and send the public into a panic." Luka grumbles.

Dad fired those shots! But why? Is he some sort of cop? Lapis' mind races with questions.

Their conversation continues, but softer, making it nearly impossible for the girl to understand. The few words she is able to make out are mere fragments, consisting of, cells, ammo, paper work, Lily, and call. All of this, to someone who is hearing these words for the first time, and over hearing plans of capture and slaying, the idea of her father being involved with the FBI or some sort of law enforcement agency crosses through her mind. After all, what other profession could involve tracking and killing someone? And it would explain why her father doesn't talk to her or tell her about his job if he's involved with some sort of secret government agency of some kind. But these rational explanations are just the product of a panicking girl worried her father is a killer.

If he's a cop or FBI agent than he must have some sort of proof in his brief case somewhere. Did he leave it in his room? She thinks, standing and racing down the hall to her father's hotel room, fumbling with the extra key card he gave her in case she needed something.

Inside the room is dark and shadows stem from her feet, streaming in from the florescent light bulbs behind her and blending gradually into pools of white light cast down from the open shutters across the room. Two queen sized mattresses with crisp red sheets, just like her own, are pushed against the wall immediately to her left and separated only by a bedside table and one of the tap on lamps. To a door on her left is a small bathroom, filled with assorted soaps varying from watermelon gum scented to ocean spray scented. Sitting in the middle of the bed farthest from the door is the black locked briefcase, seeming as if it is teasing Lapis with all of her father's secrets kept from her for the longest time.

Everything she's ever wanted to know about her secretive father, is sitting there, right there in front of her, in that little black box with a handle. Lapis was practically raised by her mother as a baby, her father never really around then either. Both of her parents were devoutly religious back then, and spoke about it frequently in front of the blossoming child, giving her the sort of mystical and gentle air to her and the natural curiosity in her mind, for a lot of their bizarre religion was never necessarily explained to her, more of talked about in front of her. So it never really stuck. Then her mother died suddenly and unexpectedly shortly after having a simple Lasik surgery. The coroner said her cause of death, was an overdose of her pain medications, a simple accident. Her father fell apart after that, leaving her care, the care of a five year old girl who just lost her mother, to a variety of nannies and care takers. Since then her relationship with her father has barely morphed at all. A silent closed off man on a different planet than his daughter, so when he invited her to come travel with him around the country for this new job assignment, every part of her was delighted, well, until she found out for the majority of this trip she'd be wandering cities by herself, and sitting in various fancy hotel rooms drinking soda and watching local TV programs by herself.

Now her mysterious father, the thing she's most wanted to know about him, is right there, staring her in the air. The only question on her mind, do I open it? Subconsciously, her body makes the decision for her, slowly, almost agonizingly so, approaching the case, one foot in front of the other. Images of her mother, Kaiko, play back in her eyes making it a little hard to see, but maybe that's just the welling tears.

But no, don't cry, she tells herself. You're about to meet your father, don't cry. And suddenly, as fast as they had come, those creeping tears disappeared and a determined smile crossed her face as she spins the case around, staring at the lock. Four numbers were needed to open it.

Her birthday is the first thing that crosses her mind, but there only being four numbers to input, she tries just the day and year, but it doesn't work. So she tries her mother's birthday and immediately the case clicks, meaning it's surrendered its battle with her.

A mound of disorganized papers greet her. No police badge, FBI badge or ID, no government-looking documents, nothing she had hoped to find.

Well maybe he just keeps them with him or something. Yeah, that must be it.

One paper with a paperclip and picture attached stands out to her. She picks up the paper, holding it under the light so she can better read it. The picture is of a girl probably about ten years or more younger than her, with long matted teal hair, and large purple bags under vibrant red eyes. The eyes seem to hold tears that look like they're about to spill out over the page and wet Lapis' thumbs. A large cut is under the girl's left eye and she is such a ghastly pale it makes her shiver.

Looking at the eyes of this girl has almost a physical effect. The tears welling up in their corneas seem to stand out more than the girl's shining teal hair and the bloody cut seems to ooze right before her eyes, like this sad girl is right before her. The eyes are unbelievably sad, and they strike an unbridled fear and an aching feeling of loneliness into Lapis as well as a sense of abandonment. She forces herself to continue reading the paper, only after turning the picture over to stop herself from crying over it.

After reading through the first page, she stops, starts at the top, and reads it, all the way through again. And again. After a moment, she regains her composure, and reads the second and third page. Then reads them again.

"This… this isn't real…"

Then reads them yet again. And then another time, all the way through, the words becoming familiar having read them enough. After another heartbreaking and terrifying moment resulting from having read through again, she sets the paper down, picking up another one with a picture. And this picture is hauntingly familiar.

A boy about her age, with shoulder length stringy and oily hair in desperate need of a wash, mixed with chunks of hardened blood and dirt with haunting red eyes. These pair of eyes strikes back at her with anxiety. Not fear, but distinctly anxiety and stress. Not fear or sadness or loneliness, but anxiety. This boy looking back at her is Lee, the boy who saved her earlier. There is no doubt in her mind. The way he looks out of the page is the same way he looked at her through that fence.

His papers are the same, reading the same chilling information. And she reads them again. And again. And again. But nothing changes. The words don't magically get up and re arrange themselves. They give her the same chilling message.

Knowing her father will be back soon, reluctantly, as if tearing off a band aid, she places the papers with the girl and Lee back into the case. There seemed to be three more, but she doesn't have the time.

Subconsciously, her body makes the movements for her, slowly, almost agonizingly so, locking the case and turning, one foot in front of the other. Lapis closes her father's hotel room door behind her, and moves like a ghost to her own. Once inside she walks the same speed over to her balcony, and puts her arms on the rail, leaning into it and letting the chilling night air sway her vibrant blue hair in the wind.

If what she read is true, her father is a monster.

If what she read is true, the world she knew was all so wrong.

If what she read is true, the children in those photos, are immortal.

And if what she read is true, the world is coming to an end.