Thunder rumbled over the house, briefly blocking out the sound of the flames crackling in the fireplace. Eva came into the front room to refill her father's teacup, and she would have left the room feeling as though it were any other night: a time to wind down and prepare for the following morning. Instead, a particular spectral being caught her eye. She let out a soft gasp, slightly leaning the teapot in her hands. At first, Polnareff didn't feel he should glance over, what with his attention to his innermost turmoils.

But the unnerving feeling that a pair of eyes were watching him brought his attention out of his depths of introspection and across the room, where he locked eyes with hers; downturned eyes gave him the impression she had a naturally sad face, though the purple hue of her irises were striking. Could she really see him? Maybe there was something behind him that caught her attention? Far as he could tell, nothing but the flashes of heat lightning in the window.

Well, that definitely wasn't it. Part of him wanted to look back at her, but that feeling of someone staring at him just made things feel all the more awkward. It was the eyes he wanted to see, maybe not while they were in his general direction; at least not with her heightened sense of fear present. Nobody had ever looked at him in a fearful manner before, not in the five years his soul was confined to Mr. President.

Now that someone had, he wasn't sure whether to feel rejected or guilty for worrying them. Tea spilled into the floor from the teapot as Eva stood there frozen in time, with her gaze fixed on Polnareff. Quickly reaching for the teapot, Marlin tilted it upwards in Eva's hands. Her trance was broken and she gasped at the puddle of tea at Marlin's feet.

"Zounds, child!" he exclaimed, then signed to her. "What is it?"

She would've answered him if she had known how to describe it. Instead, she placed the pot down on the round table and hurried out of the room and down the hall. Marlin extended his hand in an attempt to stop her, his words becoming caught in his throat.

"Strange. It's as if she's seen a ghost."

That statement left no doubt in Polnareff's mind. She COULD see me. Then she must be...

Marlin coughed into the clenched crease between his thumb and index finger then spoke up with slightly more enthusiasm. "Pardon my manners, my name is M. E. Ambrose; you may refer to me as Marlin. And you are, ser?"

Gaelstrom looked up from his drink. "Gaelstrom Callaghan." he answered, then returned his gaze back to his tea, thinking he saw a foreign substance floating at the top. Turns out, it was crumbs from one of the sugar cookies he'd eaten.

"So, then. Master Callaghan. You speak with a Celtic accent, are you Scottish by chance?"

"Actually, I'm Irish." he said, using his thumb to steer the crumbs to the side of the cup. He wiped it upwards and squinted at it. "Thought you were a sly one, eh?"

Marlin wrinkled his nose, watching him talk to his thumb. He closed his eyes and shook his head as a way to dismiss whatever he was thinking of Gaelstrom, not wanting to judge him since they'd only just met. "Ahh, well, what brings you and your, um..." he glanced at Coco Jumbo, "...tortoise...to Austria?"

Gaelstrom took a sip of his tea and swallowed. "I'm on vacation," he lied, "just out an' about."

"I see."

Clunky footsteps sounded from down the hall and grew closer to the front room. Standing in the dimly lit entryway was the figure Gaelstrom had perceived shortly after his arrival. Polnareff sensed something malicious about him as he entered the room and took a seat in one of the chairs near the fireplace. His slouchy posture, as well as his unkempt and stained, discolored clothes, gave him the notion that the man hardly gave a damn about his own appearance.

Andrej's sharp gaze lingered on the fire, occasionally leering over at Polnareff and Gael. "What're you starin' at, you ugly sack o' dog vomit?" Gaelstrom murmured.

"Ah, Ser Andrej, so nice of you to join us," Marlin said, "we were just getting better acquainted."

"Hmmm..." was the only reply he could muster as he sat there watching the fire.

Marlin's smile fell away and he withdrew his hand, placing it back in his lap. He shrugged and spoke again to Gaelstrom. "Master Callaghan, if you don't mind me asking, which part of Ireland do you hail from?"

"Galway."

"Ah! Would you happen to be from Athenry specifically, or am I assuming too much?"

"Nah, I've been to Athenry, but I don't live there. I live by the bay."

Marlin nodded. "That sounds pleasant. I've been to Galway Bay before, come to think of it. But that was many years ago. You must get a lot of fishing done."

Gaelstrom squinted his eye into his tea again, after taking a bite of a cookie. "When I get the chance I do." He held his tea directly in the light of the fire, examining it more closely. Polnareff arched a brow.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Crumbs fell in my drink." Gaelstrom explained in a hushed voice.

"Oh, gross."

"Think I should go pour it out and just get some more?"

"Shouldn't you ask first?"

"Gee, no, I'm an inconsiderate sod. Of course I was gonna ask, ya gombeen!"

"Hmph!" Polnareff crossed his arms. "Well, excusez moi. You don't have to be a smartass about it."

Andrej could hear Gaelstrom whispering to someone and he looked over, catching a glimpse of an ethereal man out of his periphery. He did a double-take, not certain he'd really seen him. Polnareff felt a pair of eyes on him again, but unlike when Eva saw him, the feeling churned dread in his stomach. Without looking up, he knew exactly where it was coming from and he wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of returning a glare right back. Though he did look up when Eva re-entered the room and took a seat by Marlin.

"You've met Eva." he told Gaelstrom.

Gaelstrom smiled at her and gave her a brief wave. "Howaya?" he greeted.

Eva waved back reluctantly with a faint smile. Gaelstrom frowned a bit, mumbling to himself about how she may not like talking to strangers, or that perhaps she was shy. Polnareff assumed the latter.

"I'm sorry, she can't hear you," Marlin said, "Eva was born completely deaf."

Gaelstrom's eyes widened, his face paling. "Oh, shite, I'm sorry. I didn't know that."

"It's alright," Marlin assured him, "she takes no offense, I'm sure. Most of the locals don't understand how to sign with her as well as I do. Which, to be honest, when I took her in I didn't know much in the way of hand signaling myself. What I did understand of it I learned from an American in the late 60's."

"Not tryin' to pry or anything," Gaelstrom said, "but you said you took her in?"

"Yes." Marlin replied. He let out a breath, reluctant if he should say anything. "You see, when I found Eva, she and her little brother were living on the streets in Germany."

Andrej's eyes wandered over to Marlin, piercing through what would be his very soul as he continued to tell Gaelstrom the story. "I was in Berlin in 1981 looking for another place to live. While I didn't find anything that suited me, there was a very nice hotel on the East side, so I stayed there for a night and would try my luck the next day. Of course, I had a difficult time sleeping and decided to go for a late night stroll, when I saw a ball in the middle of the street."

Andrej leaned forward in his seat, resting his elbows over his knees as he looked into the fire intently, listening to every word coming out of Marlin's mouth.
"The ball," he said, "read Tobias. I thought nothing of it and kept walking, when I heard a scream coming from a nearby alley. My initial thoughts were to mind my own business and don't look back, lest I get too involved. But something stopped me in my tracks that night. I felt guilty for pressing on. I peeked into the alley and that's where I found Eva."

Gaelstrom held Coco Jumbo in his lap, sitting cross-legged on the floor. The firelight danced on his skin as the fire flickered beside him, leaving the other half of him unilluminated. Marlin clutched his cane, his words catching at the back of his throat again. "Forgive me," he said, "I don't mean to hesitate. It's just that...what I'm about to tell you is disturbing. If you wish for me to stop, I'll stop."

"Might as well tell me," Gaelstrom said, giving him his undivided attention, "I got a cast iron stomach."

Marlin looked up at him as if he were about to let out what he wanted to say, but withdrew his words once more to muster up the courage. "Very well," he said, and continued. "In the alley, there was a man pinning a small child down on the ground. Making out his face was impossible in all that darkness, but the cries weren't coming from the victim. Eva was sitting next to the brick wall of a building screaming incessantly, watching with the most pitiful and frightened look on her face. My heart shattered and I knew my gut telling me to go back was the right thing to do."

Images played through Polnareff's mind of how the incident took place, according to the way Marlin was telling it. Why anyone would intend to harm a child made no sense; the thought of it alone infuriated him. Gaelstrom frowned, but Andrej sat unfazed by his words. His elbows still rested over his knees as he leaned towards the fire, waiting for Marlin to reach the end of his daughter's little sob story. Marlin loosened the grip on his cane but his gaze fell to the floor in front of him. Eva hadn't realized he was talking about her as she sat and drank her tea nonchalantly.

"I tried to intervene," Marlin explained to Gaelstrom, "but when I saw what the man was doing to the poor boy, I grabbed Eva by the hand and I ran away. She was fighting me, wanting me to go back. I put up a rather good fight myself, but she ran back and started hurling rocks at him from the street."

"Heh! Sounds like me as a kid." Gaelstrom remarked.

"I saw the man take his hands away from the boy's throat," Marlin said, choking on his words, "and I just knew that he was gone; and my guilt consumed me. Had I acted sooner..." his hand covered his brow, shoulders drooping as his chest quaked.

Brief silence, all but the crackling of the flames, filled the room until Gaelstrom spoke up. "Hey," he said firmly, "what that murderer did wasn't your fault. That kid's blood's on his hands, not yours."

Marlin hesitated to respond, exhaling as he removed his hand from his brow. "I know you're right," he said, "but it's so hard to believe, knowing I was there and could have saved his life."

Gaelstrom couldn't find the proper response, not wanting to offend Marlin for how he felt. He withheld the need to say anything and allowed the next person, whoever that would be, to speak in his place instead. After a long pause, Marlin chose to finish telling him the story.

"Someone else heard Eva screaming," he told him, "several people rushed over to the alley to see. Before I, or anyone else, could do anything...the killer fled the scene. A few others went after him while I stayed by Eva's side. Words cannot describe the pain I still feel when I think back to her brother's corpse falling like sand from her fingers."

Gaelstrom's head snapped up from looking in his cup. Polnareff went from expressing silent condolences to feeling suspicious. "Sand?" he questioned. Thinking back to the rest stop from earlier that evening, and how they'd found that crumbling corpse in the bathroom, Polnareff grasped an uncanny comparison. "Gaelstrom! You don't think he's talking about that Nightwalker of Warsaw, do you?"

Gaelstrom acknowledged him, looking off with his hand to his chin. "Aul man, you said he was like sand?"

Marlin tried to swallow away the tightness of his throat. "That's right."

"Was his body all shriveled up like a raisin? Hollow-like?"

Andrej clasped his hands around his knees tightly, glaring over at Gaelstrom as though he realized something about him in that moment; a recollection from some distant memory. "Callaghan..." he said under his breath. "...the one that got away."

Marlin sniffed, speaking in a more firm tone than before. "Yes! That's exactly the way to describe it. It's curious to me now that you mention it...some of the farmer's cows have gone missing as of late. He even mentioned that he found a mound of dust in the pasture, and believe me. I've seen it; it's the very definition of out of place. I wonder..."

"Okay, but it is dried up looking at first, right?" Gaelstrom pressed.

Marlin nodded. "Yes. Not long after I took Eva in, she used to draw around the outline of her hand with her crayons. But you know, something always baffled me about her pictures. In each one, she'd draw a snake eating its own tail around the knuckle of the thumb."

"Ouroboros!" Gaelstrom exclaimed.

"Ouro-what?" came Polnareff's baffled tone.

Eva gasped as Marlin choked on his tea, coughing harshly with a hand clasped over his throat. Gaelstrom hurried over and gave him a few pats on the back. "You alright there, Mr. Ambrose?"

He made an attempt to speak through his wheezy voice. "I'm alright." Marlin cleared his throat and took a breath. "Master Callaghan, I must ask that you never say that accursed word again."

"Why's that?"

"Let's just say that word is the bane of my existence."

Andrej smirked, his eyes glued to the fireplace. He rose up from his seat and brushed his dark strands out of his eyes. With an insincere grin on his face, he looked Marlin in the eye. "I'm afraid it's late. I'm going to be turning in for the night."

"Of course. Sleep well, Ser Andrej."

As Andrej's boots clomped over to the hallway, he rolled up the sleeves of his tattered jacket, revealing a tattoo of a snake eating its tail by his thumb knuckle. "Not as well as you will be, Merlin."

🔸️ 🔸️

Marlin handed Eva Gaelstrom's belongings and asked her if she would be so kind as to take them to the second floor for him. She nodded and did as he asked of her. Having made her way up the hall, she looked back and saw that Gaelstrom was still in the front room talking to Marlin.

He seemed harmless.

In a room on the second floor, dust covered the shelves on the wall above the bed as well as the chair set against the wall. Eva went to place the jacket down in it when the sword's case fell to the floor making a loud clunk. One of the locks on the case flung upward.

Dammit.

She examined the lock piece, finding that it was fairly worn and a little misaligned. Through the crack, something glistened through the shadow. Whatever was in there had to be of importance to Gaelstrom. Maybe just a little peek inside. Opening it, the opalescent sheen of the sword shone bright as a flash of lightning illuminated the room. Eva gasped and shut the case back, unsure of what she had just seen. Part of her wanted to take another look to feed her curiosity, but the worry of Gaelstrom walking in on her casted doubt. It were as though a little devil on her shoulder kept poking and prodding her. Come on, you know you want to.

Just for a few seconds and that's it.

Eva reopened it and gently lifted the blade, glancing over her shoulder in hopes that Gaelstrom wasn't anywhere nearby. She held the sword upright in front of her. A confidence came with grasping it in her hands, like she could defend the weak and take on any foe with ease. Empowering, and yet out of fear, she hurried to place it back in the case before Gaelstrom could walk in and catch her. Realigning the top and bottom, she forced the lock back over the metal piece and left everything as if she never touched it.

Passing Gaelstrom on the staircase, she avoided eye contact. Polnareff appeared from the key moments before and when he saw her again, he was surprised she didn't acknowledge them. But Eva had something else on her mind; Marlin. Usually, after finishing their evening tea, he'd help her wash the dishes before settling in. With strangers staying the night - or nights in the case of Andrej - she thought to ask him what he had planned to do on the morrow. And this was her chance. She approached the kitchen, knowing he'd already gotten a head start.

Eva walked in with a smile on her face until she felt something press into the outsole of her shoe. Plucking the bright blue fragment out addled her mind as to how it got there. What's this? A broken plate?

She looked all around the kitchen floor and realized that there were more shattered pieces lying around. What happened? Looking around the edge of the table, she saw a beige, withered hand on the tile. Reaching her hands up to her mouth, she suppressed a scream. Eva's knees trembled. The lights flickered throughout the house until Eva found herself standing alone in the dark. On the tile, brought to light by the lightning flashes, was a dessicated corpse.

Empty sockets where eyes should've been. A gaping maw without a tongue nor teeth. A grotesquely skeletal body defiling its former recognition. No, it couldn't be him. He wasn't supposed to be dead. He wasn't supposed to leave her behind, not like this. It was Tobias all over again, she had failed in protecting both of them. Eva dropped down on her knees, defeated, and took heaved breaths as tears dripped from her eyes and onto the shell of Marlin's former body. She ululated loudly over him, questioning to herself how it could've happened. Had she not been wasting time upstairs...

Eva reached over to his face, wanting to deny that what she saw was real. Marlin's face collapsed inward, then the rest of his body, reducing him to a mere pile of dust under his stitched coat. Sobbing was all she wanted to do, that and exact revenge. She clenched the broken plate fragment in her hand, drawing blood. Which of their tenants did it? Was it the man with the tortoise? Wait. Was it the man in the tortoise? Why was there a man in the tortoise anyway!? No. It had to be Andrej. Pegging Gaelstrom as the murderous type didn't quite feel right. Andrej, however, raised one too many red flags over the course of the past week

She tried to gather her thoughts together as she stepped toward the hallway. An idea sprang to mind. She'd go upstairs and try her best to inform Gaelstrom. If he was truly the one that did it, she'd know. And if not, maybe he could help her? The hall was even darker than the kitchen. Not a single glint of light could be traced from the staircase to the front door, save for the windows in the front room. But any light coming from there would be too far away to make a difference. Eva carefully walked towards the staircase when someone swiftly brushed up behind her and clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Shh, shh, shhh!" Andrej hissed into her ear. "We wouldn't want our friend upstairs to hear you, now would we?"

Eva fought to pry his hand away but his grasp was unrelenting, pressing much more firmly to her face. His body put off a putrid odor making standing close to him all the more unbearable as she tried to wiggle free.

"Ah, ah, ah, ah. You don't want to introduce yourself to Testament?" Andrej held up his other hand at the level of her throat. A long, six-inch, translucent needle ascended from his palm. "Don't you want to be with your little brother again?"

Get off me!

A glowing white strand winded from her long, taupe hair, curving one way then another, making its way into Andrej's ear. A periwinkle unicorn, with the upper half of a feminine humanoid, appeared over his shoulder with four more white strings weaving about gracefully through the air. The strands were likened to a bar for reading music. Its eyes were black, upside-down crescents, both having two conjoined, lilac pupils.

The stand slid its finger over the strand attached to Andrej's eardrum to which Eva could feel the motion as sure as if someone were gliding their own fingers across her skin. Incoherent vibrations traveled from Andrej, through the strand, and reverberated in Eva's body, and that was all she needed to make her move.

"I don't have to kill you right away," he purred into her ear, "you can cut the deaf girl act and help me find where your father hid that relic. Who knows? If you find it for me..." he ran his other hand down her waist and over her hip, making his way to her inner thigh, "...I might let you live."

The stand plucked the string, sending a sharp, piercing tinnitus ring into Andrej's left ear, rupturing his eardrum. He yelled in agony, releasing Eva and cupping his hand over his bleeding ear.

"You fucking cunt!"

As he ran into the wall wailing, Eva climbed the steps with an occasional stumble. Wiping tears from her eyes, she clambered to the second floor, each breath drying her throat out as her heart pounded in her chest. Thankfully, she made it to Gaelstrom's bedroom door just in time before that monster could think to pursue her. And he would, she knew without a doubt the fight was only beginning.

🔸️ 🔸️

Gaelstrom had thrown his entire body onto the mattress with a restful sigh after walking into his room. "You know," he said to Polnareff, "this is so much better than staying put in a car on the side of the road, don't you think?"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it, alright? You told me so."

"I didn't say that."

"You were thinking it."

Gaelstrom chuckled. "Well, no shit, but I didn't say it."

"Keep your gloating to yourself. It's a bad look for you."

Gaelstrom crossed his arms behind his head and scoffed. "Speak for yourself there, hypocrite. Your ego's the size of Jupiter."

"Don't pretend like you know me."

"Please, you still hardly know yourself."

Polnareff shot a look at him. "Do you ever shut up?"

"No."

"Hmph. At least you're honest."

Gaelstrom didn't bother to reply and he lied there, staring at the ceiling, watching the flashing from out the window flicker above him. Dark, light, dark. Dark, light, flicker, dark. Polnareff tapped his fingers on the key and gave an annoyed sigh as Gaelstrom hummed to the tune of Dulamán. He hummed the opening of the song and started singing the first verse, starting off soft, then slightly raising his voice the closer he came towards the chorus. Polnareff caught himself tapping his fingers rhythmically, but didn't mind it so much as it was a little amusing to hear that song after so many years.

"It just occured to me," Polnareff said, "I have no idea what this song is about."

"Seaweed." Gaelstrom informed.

"Oh...wait, really?"

"Dulamán is seaweed, Jean."

"Seriously? That's one catchy tune about seaweed."

"You bet."

Gaelstrom started on the last verse, just a hint more enthusiastic than the first time, keeping his voice somewhat in tune better than when he started. Polnareff hummed along with him, having no clue what the lyrics were exactly, or how to pronounce them correctly. Without warning, Gaelstrom stopped mid-chorus.

"Hey!"

Polnareff stopped humming and turned his attention to him. "Yeah?"

"Whaddaya say we go to Ireland and walk around Galway Bay?"

"What about your dad's research?"

Gaelstrom waved a hand. "Ahh, we can still do that. I just mean you can come see my home since I always came to see yours. You'll love the bay. And Connemara...ohhh, just wait until you see Connemara National Park."

Polnareff sighed. "I told you. I'm only here to help your dad and then it's back to Italy for me. I have a promise to keep for someone, besides...there's nothing in Ireland for me."

Gaelstrom sat up. "What're you talkin' about? There's plenty in Ireland for ya. You got me." he gestured to himself with a crooked smile.

"Ha! I'll take my chances."

Gaelstrom frowned and lied back down, staring at the ceiling. "You really know how to cut a man deep."

"And you really know how to take advantage of people who've had their heart broken."

"Aww, don't start your shit, we were just havin' a bit o' fun and you gotta go and ruin it."

Polnareff fumed. "I have a right to be angry."

"Yup, sure." Gaelstrom dropped his pillow over his face and placed both hands over his stomach.

"Gaelstrom!" No answer. "Don't act like you don't hear me! Bastard...you know what, fine. Don't bother owning up to anything, you damn coward."

He lifted the pillow up. "What was that? Did you just call me a coward?" Gaelstrom laughed. "Are you really this dense?!" He turned and faced Polnareff, sitting on the edge of his bed. "Come on, did you really believe that I would lie to you? I'm your friend."

"Friends don't go defiling my mother's belongings! They don't betray my trust and my sister's. Do you have any idea how painful it is...!" Polnareff could feel the tightness in his throat and chest, the need to cry rearing its ugly head. "...how angry it made me feel...you weren't there...you weren't there when she...nevermind, what do you care. Let's just stop talking about this."

Gaelstrom placed his hand on the chair right next to Coco Jumbo. "Maybe you need to talk about it."

"No!" Polnareff slammed his fist down. "Ever since you showed up again, all you've done is remind me of this pain that just won't die! Why I'm always in the dark. First it was my mother, then my father, then my sister, then my friends! Wonderful friends that died to save my life. That shit destroyed me! Do you know what that feels like?! Do you?! Do you know how it feels to have to hide my feelings and act strong all the time, pretending I've moved on? Do you know how it feels to have to carry on when they can't and should be? I'm the one that shouldn't be here, dammit, not them! What do you know about losing something precious to you!?"

Gaelstrom listened, keeping his hand next to Coco Jumbo with a dejected expression present on his face. "More than you think..."

Polnareff hung his head, feeling a weight well in his chest. "Then for me to try and forget about you and how we said our last goodbye. I never wanted to revisit that part of my past so long as I lived. I never brought myself to tell anyone about...so many things. I never even told my friends. I just can't do this anymore. What did I ever do to deserve this? What did my family ever do to deserve to die...am I not allowed to get close to anyone? Am I just a pawn in fate's sick game?"

"Hey," Gaelstrom spoke softly, "you're no pawn. You're a knight."

Polnareff hid his face in his arms as he slumped over the key. "Don't try to make me feel better."

Just then, the lights flickered and pitch black swallowed the room. "Shoulda seen that comin'." Gaelstrom lied back on his bed, staring up at a dark ceiling. Polnareff listened to the thunder rumbling in the sky and rattling the window. It helped to release his burdens, even if it was Gaelstrom that was listening to him.

"Ya know," he said, "when I was in hiding in Italy, that's something that managed to cross my mind every now and then."

"What's that?"

Polnareff's breath shuddered. "I kept thinking: what if I could've done things differently? Maybe my friends wouldn't have had to die the way they did. I should've made better decisions. I should've thought things through. Then there's my sister. I used to wonder if there was a way that I could bring her back, but after my little run-in with Judgment in '88, I put those thoughts out of my head for good. I'd give anything to spend one day with her again."

Gaelstrom turned over, facing him. "Jean?"

"What?"

"What if I told you that there is a way to bring her back?"

Polnareff scoffed. "Gaelstrom...come on...you and I both know tha-"

"What if I told you that I've had something in my possession this whole time that could bring anyone you wish back to life?"

Polnareff gave him an unimpressed look. "I'd call you a liar."

"You know I'm not a liar," Gaelstrom said, "I'd never lie to someone like you."

Polnareff's interest piqued, though he had his doubts. Listening to him go on about resurrecting his loved ones sounded ridiculous to him. It just wasn't possible. There's no stand on earth that could resurrect anyone. So what made Gaelstrom think he'd found the holy grail of resurrection? There was no bringing anyone back: not his mother, not his sister, not Avdol or Iggy, nobody. But he'd allow Gaelstrom to explain as it was a tad amusing to hear him sound so sure of himself with no evidence.

"Fine," he said, leaning his chin into his palm, "enlighten me."

"Alright, I will." As Gaelstrom went to stand up from sitting on the bed, the door burst open and running into the room was Eva weeping uncontrollably. Polnareff and Gaelstrom would have exchanged glances were they able to see each other clearly. All Polnareff could think in that moment of hysteria was: What the hell is going on?

Eva ran into Gaelstrom, nearly pushing him over. He grabbed her shoulders, trying to calm her down. "Hey, hey, hey, take it easy. What's the matter?" She pushed him aside and flipped up the locks on Gaelstrom's case.

"Hey!" he barked. "What the fack do you think you're doin'!?" As the word doing came out of his mouth, she pulled out the sword and ran to the middle of the room, wielding it as though she were ready to strike at whoever came through that door. A few seconds passed as they remained where they were, just watching her in bemusement.

"What provoked all this?" Polnareff asked himself.

Gaelstrom scratched his head. "How'd she fackin' know there was a sword in here?! Hey! You been goin' through my stuff?"

"She can't hear you, remember?" came Polnareff.

"Oh, shite, I forgot about that...how do I calm her down then?"

"How would I know?"

A foul odor seeped into the room as boots clomped across the wooden floor and into the barely furnished room. Andrej had a hand clasped over his ear, a stream of blood trickling between the crease of his fingers and down to his wrist. He extended a hand out to the sword as Eva stepped back trying to get away from him.

"You do have Evanescence," he spoke in a raspy voice, "that belongs to Lord Mordred, give it to me."

"Like hell it does!" Gaelstrom bellowed, pointing at him.

"Mordred...?" Polnareff mused.

Gaelstrom's eye contact trailed off. "Don't worry about it." he told him.

Don't worry about it? Was it that he didn't know how to relay the information, or that he felt it was none of his business? Way to leave me in the dark, asshole. The translucent needle protruded from Andrej's palm, then another hand appeared from his, followed by an arm and an entire body; a stand. A gray, musculature form appeared before Eva. In its skull for a head glowed bright red beads in two large sockets. Jagged horns rose up all around its cranium in the shape of a crown; a black-purple, tattered sash blew in the absence of wind.

As it descended behind Andrej, a breath of flames exuded from its fanged jaws. Eva lowered the sword, recalling the night she saw this same stand murder her little brother. The hilt rattled, still she stood her ground, determined to avenge him as well as her father. Gaelstrom's off-yellow face blanched. Polnareff noted the way he stood frozen, seemingly forgetting how to blink. He'd call up to him with no luck.

"What's wrong with you? Answer me, dammit!"

"...Warsaw of '86..." Gaelstrom's voice trembled. "...oh, god, help me. Oh, god, help me! Don't tell me this whole time I've been sitting next to a fireplace with...!?"

Andrej smirked as he brushed his sable hair out of his eyes. "Why, Callaghan. You didn't really think you could avoid me forever, did you?"

"Jean...this whole time, we were sitting next to him."

"Who?!"

"...only the most elusive serial killer in Eastern Europe...the Nightwalker of Warsaw."