"Looks like the Abbey is onto us after all, we'd best assume they've already found the tunnel." Velvet's stone hard voice cut through the howling winds like a knife, storming past the group of sailors with the other two at her heels. Catching up to her side, the samurai scratched his chin with a contemplative look at the sudden turn for the worst.

"No point trying to buy a ship now," he mused with a tired expression as their plans kept falling apart. Sarid inwardly cursed to himself at his lack of foresight for such an event, but as the trio shuffled to catch a look at the guarded gates; Velvet's words ran cold when the half-malak caught wind of her intention.

"Then don't buy one, steal it," she stated without a single look in their direction. The idea came off as a direct order, one that Sarid had trouble following. He brushed off the icy flakes that settled on his jacket's firm olive shoulders, and voiced his concerns in a low and stern tone.

"Steal a ship from the city? We aren't thieves, the Abbey is our target here," he attempted to dissuade with a crook in his brow. The daemoness finally thought to glance at the one's she spoke so lowly to, and her gaze was harsh on the mysterious man.

"You aren't a thief, but I never said I was a loyal citizen." Velvet's golden stare seemed blighted and dark, the tightened fists settled at her side told the malak enough about his attempted arguement. "I told you this clearly, I will do whatever it takes to reach my goal. I'm not unwilling to go to severe lengths to get them." Sarid pushed his weight onto his back foot, the barrier between Velvet and the purity of the world growing ever thicker.

Rokurou's hand sank onto the malak's arm as he backed up, and soon the samurai cast his questioning sight over the ravenette who now lent against the rock with a repetitive tap of her bicep. The Yaksha attempted a more reasonable persuasion, as his words would be naught against the woman's fiery conviction. "Steal a ship from Hellewas? Just the three of us? You remember what happened last time," he reasoned with a slightly baffled look.

As he spoke, Velvet's firm expression lightened ever so slightly, as her heart washed with relief as the half-malak's irritating questions died down.

She was sick of her mind fumbling over words that should be left unsaid.

"We have at least one other on our side," she reminded without a hitch in her face as the boulder's deathly cold surface only soothed her stiff back and her tapping grew more incessant with every minute passed.

"Dyle?"

"He said he can navigate. If he joins forces with us, all the better," she explained with no hesitation in letting the daemonic lizard assist them in their venture.

Sarid's arms crossed with an annoyed look crawling up his features, "Great, more daemon's to add to our little band of murderers-"

"Sarid, shut up!"

Velvet's shout came out with a raspy snarl - her foot having stomped forward in the blanket of white - as it echoed around the chilling icecaps. Sarid, and even Rokurou, flinched at the sudden explosion of emotion. His mild insults forced her simmering anger over the edge, and she had to harshly pull the reigns on her daemonic nature to stop her claw from tearing out his throat. The woman creeped back away from the intimidating pouncing position her body forced itself into, snapping her mouth closed from the show of daggered pearly white teeth that were revealed in her yell, and gripped her bandaged arm tightly as it rumbled under its cloth cage. Her mind suddenly toiled in a storm of thoughts she believed weren't her own, and she whipped around the rock and stomped away and into the snowy wild.

The half-malak's heart sank with shame, and he shook his head at the samurai's confused gaze. "Get after her, I'll catch up." His light and cool voice had shrunken into a sorrowful groan, as his thoughts tumbled with indecision. Rokurou once again gifted a concerned but understanding nod, and dashed off to catch up with the seething daemon, not without a pat of assurance from the disgruntled malakhim.

Velvet's body grew hotter with irritation as she immediately noticed the rapid stampede of footsteps close in on her. Her emotions bubbled and boiled, as the hefty and uncaring crunch of white revealed the pair as not the ones she had travelled with. "Excuse me, ma'am? Is everything alright?" The hollow voice of no emotion panged her heart with a beat of a hammer, and the familiar echo inside a metal helm signalled their occupation. A hand suddenly laid on her shoulder with a firm hold, and her senses grew direct on the unfortunate soul who made that choice. "I'll ask again; is everything alr-"

Velvet's palm latched onto the extended limb, and her golden gaze blew fury.

Snap!

The exorcist's cries ran free and unheard in the deep wind of the wild, and the pain of another brought peace to the mess of her mind.

~~~

"But, what happens to Magilou?"

The repetitive drip of water throughout the cave resounded in their ears once again, as Velvet and Rokurou traversed the crystal lit depths as a pair in search of a certain lizard.

Despite the violent splotches of ivory she sported once again, the daemon's expression was one of cool concentration, her daemonic appendage pleased for the time being after the consumption of two meddling exorcists. The sound of the Witch's name only bore a huff from the woman's mouth as she rolled her eyes away from the travelling samurai. "That's up to the Abbey, but she's just useless baggage anyway," Velvet coldly responded without a single care in the world.

Rokurou let out a long blow of air at her dispassionate words, "Sorry Magilou, rest in peace," he said with a momentary bow of his head and closed eyes.

The daemoness was not unaware of the lack of a third pair of footsteps trailing behind. "Where is Sarid?" At her sudden question, the samurai looked up with confusion at her extremely mild concern after what had transpired.

"Sarid? He said he would catch up after you cool off."

The woman scoffed, "After I 'cool off'? Whatever, he better hurry up, I'm not waiting around for him," she stated with a flick of her hand. Multiple questions hovered around the samurai's head about the woman's constant change in feeling about the strange half-malak, but her cold exterior dissuaded him from bringing it up. "Enough talk, enemies ahead," Velvet suddenly announced as her steel boots screeched across the stone.

Rokurou let out a chuckle of glee as a trio of disgusting octopus crawled over with the constant squelching of their tentacles, bulging eyes scouring them like fresh meat. He grinned, and his amber daggers were released with a clean shing, the shining bronze being overcome with the brilliant azure of the cave walls. "Finally, I was getting bored," he growled with a feral look. Spinning his daggers across his palm, his knees bent, until he raced forward with a blast of shrill air. "Don't die too quickly!"

~~~

"Last one! Velvet!"

The monster let out a desperate squeal as its gelatin-like head was crushed under heel by a glaring warrior, her wristblade cast out among trails of magenta as their writhing tentacles elicit one final spasm, before falling lifeless. Casting her predatoral gaze up, she eyed the final beast that shrieked through the shallow cuts that decorated its bulbus skin. It's appendages lashed out like a whip, and sliced through displaced air as the samurai sprang well out of reach. The Wolf allowed the whims of a feral glare to etch upon eyes, and she pounced in a cloud of fluttering black.

The rocky gleam of azure struck first, as her feet crashed against the ground with an alarming force, sending a spark of panic through the amorphous daemon. Before it could turn, one of its many tentacles was siezed in a bone-crushing grip, and its body soon left the comfort of the icy ground. The limb was slick and moist in her hand, but Velvet was unafraid of rendering it into mush from her strength. Wrenching the beast from the floor, she cartwheeled as it came with her, swinging it into the rocks with a smash and sickening crack!

"I'm finishing this one!" The daemon's blood oozed from its broken body, and the samurai's ferocious storm of steel flew towards it like a hurricane. His amber daggers sliced its buttery flesh, rendering the octopus into a shower of purple that sloshed over the cave's beauty. Although, Velvet would admit that the unnatural mix of teal light and violet insides created a fairly mesmerising palette that pleased her corrupted eyes.

Rokurou's laugh echoed throughout the system as he lazily wiped away the rain of liquid that stained his kimono, pleased by the battle. "I gotta say, it's a bit more difficult without someone like Sarid watching our backs," he admitted as evidenced by his slightly laboured breath. The daemoness hummed in response, noticing the sudden climb in ambushes they had to deal with through this venture.

"You're not wrong, his speed his fairly helpful in battle," she mused with a thoughtful look. "Where is he? You said he'd catch up," she said with a bite in her tone. All the samurai did was shrug with a similarly perplexed expression. "Urgh, nevermind, let's go grab Dyle," she stated, and turned on her heel to approach the chamber the lizard still resided within.

The rapid steps that disturbed his thoughts alerted him to the visitors, and he immediately recognised the unusual pair that intruded once again. The late of tar that had once erupted into a lake of flames had long been extinguished, and the harsh stench of thick smoke permeated the serenity of the azure cave. "What are you two doing here? And where's the third one?"

"Things didn't work out. We'll lend a hand with your raid."

"Feh! Awfully presumptuous, aren'tcha?" Dyle questioned with a sliver of his lizard tongue.

"I'm a daemon. Comes with the territory," Velvet responded with a dry expression. Apparently, that was hilarious, as Dyle exploded into a fit of laughter at her response. Even Rokurou was slightly surprised by her dry attempt at humour.

"You got me there! Ah, gods. I think that's the first time I've laughed since turning into a daemon," he bellowed with a hearty pump of his chest. However, his amusement soon died down as he focused on the raid. "But are you sure about this? It's suicide, y'know?"

"Maybe not, I have a plan. The exorcists are using a hostage to lure me into the city."

"Hmm, then we can sneak through the tunnel into the storehouse..."

"No, I expect they'll have an ambush ready there. So instead, we hit them with a direct frontal assault." Her sudden 'idea' knocked into Dyle like a mallet.

"You call that a plan?!" he spluttered out with a look of bafflement.

"No, I call that a feint. As their forces converge on the front; a group slips in via the tunnel, strikes the docks, and secures a ship. After that, the two groups meet up and we all sail away, and I want you at the helm."

Dyle nodded to himself as he recounted the words in his head, until one more thing came up. "Answer me this then," he started with a cross of his arms, "Who's making this frontal assault of yours?"

"I will, naturally."

"That works. When?"

"Tomorrow. Can we rest here until then?"

The lizard's face contorted as he attempted a grin. "Make yourself at home, nothin' so comfy as a bed of tar!" he barked out with a laugh. Velvet turned as she recieved a nod from the samurai, until a glint from the rock below caught her eye. A blade, sank tip deep, was protruding from the ground. The woman's eyes narrowed at the sight, until Dyle's voice came from behind her again. "By the way lady, striking the city... it's already all prepared," Her eyes did not separate from the blade, as she sighed in final recognition.

"...I'm guessing Sarid was here before?" she questioned, plucking the familiar kunai from the rock face.

The lizard hummed as she turned with the flawless knife in her hands, turning it among the shine of the crystal cave, "Yeah, that guy relayed an idea of his own just a few minutes ago. I was wondering why he wasn't with you both," Dyle explained. Rokurou's eyes lit up as the gleam shined his way.

"So, that's why he never caught up with us..." he chuckled with a stroke of his chin.

"We were catching up to him." The dagger sparked in Velvet's hands, until the cave recoiled with a beautiful flash of gold light. The daemon stumbled back with a silent gasp as she felt something appear right next to her, before leaping back. As quick as it came, the light vanished, and in its place knelt a man with snow white hair still swaying in the wake of his arrival. Shaking her head from the slight disorientation, Velvet could feel a fuzz immediately build upon her senses catching the half-malak in its view, and her arm tingled that familiar sensation once again. The ravenette groaned, as he stood up with a swipe of his blackened pants, "About time, half-malak." At the sound of sharp voice, Sarid snapped up with a nervous smile.

He chuckled, "Uh, hey Velvet, sorry about before," he apologised with a scratch of his neck.

She flicked her hand in the air dismissively, "I don't care about that, what I do care about is you going behind our backs to pursue a plan you didn't tell anyone else," she growled with crossed arms.

Sarid looked down with a sigh, before raising his hand openly towards her, "I'll explain, but can I have my kunai back?"

Velvet stood still, the same look on her face.

"Please?"

Her eyes shifted to a violent glare.

Hours later, as each one of them laid hesitantly against the sharp protruding rocks they slept against, the shifting and clinking of metal repetitively rapped against the cave's hollow ground; slumbering creatures groaning in the wake of her isolation. The woman traversed the winding tunnels alone, glancing ever so often at the lone blade that gently swayed in her unusually dainty grip - its flawless surface seemingly humming in the oceanic aura of the mountain - as Velvet lumbered onwards with a determined expression plastered over flickers of undoing pressure. The taps of glass slightly colliding sounded from the opposite hand she had balled, the silent sloshing of a mysterious liquid inside flinching away from the sudden crack over the vial's form, while she stomped towards the glistening stars in the blightless night sky.

~~~

"Velvet?"

Her head boomed with the weight of a thousand headaches, and a haze filled her senses as she tugged her eyelids open as if they weighed a ton.

"Velvet!"

As her orbs of gold were pried open, they were flooded with a heavenly white light, and a shrill tingle held her body like continous goosebumps. Until, she saw him. "Laphi...?" His blonde hair, matching eyes of beautiful hazel, and an innocent face that didn't deserve to face the horrors of the world.

"You were crying out... Were you having a nightmare?"

Velvet struggled up as her body screamed against her wishes, and her mind cried against its chamber. But, it was all whisked away when her eyes finally adjusted to the vision that lay before her. Tears welled up in her eyes as the shine the once bore pulsed with happiness, gazing upon the only person she had left in this world. Her arms skirted around him as tight as possible, his lime tunic unblemished with a sickening red; skin as warm as blood should be. "I was... Oh Laphi. It was terrible..."

"Hey, c'mon, let go of me. I have to go, I have something important to do."

His arms slipped from around her, and a tingling feeling settled in the pit of her stomach once again. "What's that?"

"Arthur told me to come meet him at the Shrine of Tranquility."

And she felt it all come crashing down.

Her breath siezed, and her brother turned away from her, and began walking off into the blinding whiteness. "No, Laphicet. No!"

That same feeling took hold, as a searing pain held her wrists and legs in immovable despair. "Listen to me! Artorias is... He's going to...!"

All that answered, was the shrill howl that traversed through Hadlow Hollow.

"Are you alright? You were tossing and turning," Rokurou asked from his place on the uncomfortable rock, a concerned expression over his face as Velvet's was still morphed in painful surprise.

It eventually sank into shallow hurt, as the woman looked off to the side with lidded eyes. "I'm fine... I just didn't get much sleep." She made sure to keep her gaze away from the malak who watched at the side, as a part of her body still pinged with a present sharpness that she hunched over to conceal. "It was just a dream..." she whispered with a lowly tone, her face sinking into her arms that lay crossed over her knee. The warm sensation that trailed down from one of her sockets betrayed that notion, and a certain half-malak looked away with a grimace at the discomforting sight.

After the trio were all up and ready, Velvet turned with a rare somber expression. "If you two don't want to go with me, I understand," she stated with a unreadable tone.

Rokurou's eyes closed with a shake of his head, "That wouldn't do. How would I repay you if you die?"

Velvet just sighed with a raised brow, "You ARE an odd one."

"Really? I always just thought of me as just, me." The samurai posed proudly with a strong thumb to his chest, his grin the widest it has been in a long time. The ravenette shook her head at his prideful look, and turned her gaze to the half-malak who mindlessly stood with his back to the group. The slight wind that followed through the countless caverns cast an irritating chill across his back; a familiar crawl that he would get when Velvet settled her eyes on him with suspicion. His hair swayed again as it covered any inkling of his expression, and so she spoke his name with neither softness or harshness.

"Sarid."

The white-haired man sighed and steadily turned his gaze to the daemon, and all the woman could see for the slightest of moments, was a broken mirror that reflected the monster she had become. But, her eyes did not waver, and neither did the struggle of her claw sour her thoughts. "...You're my one way ticket to Loegres, I'm not leaving you to die." The man lied through his teeth, and everyone that stood in the crystal lit chamber could see through his words like a window. Velvet's grip on her hip tightened as she saw the malak eye her volatile appendage, a sentence to destroy everything he had gone through on the tip of his tongue.

Alas, he did not allow his doubts to overcome him this time.

"...And I'm interested in where this band of misfits end up. I'm not letting some exorcists kill you without my questions being answered." He bit his tongue before anything else could be said, and a single brow raise from the daemoness hitched his breath.

"I guess that's the best we'll get from you," Velvet allowed with a relaxed expression, turning towards the cave exit that bellowed with the remnants of the blizzard.

Rokurou had one final thing to say. "Velvet... Who's this 'Artorias'?"

The daemon's breathing halted abruptly, and Sarid couldn't stop the sigh from drawing out as he realised the samurai's lack of subtlety. The ravenette's face shifted with flashes of emotion, her mind riling up different responses to the samurai's stupidly blunt question. Her left arm reflexively clenched, but before any brash action could be done, she swallowed the building blaze in her chest; and answered. "...My target. He killed my brother." At the mere mention of his horrendous deed, her face scrunched up and a small growl came from her throat.

Rokurou didn't make a single reaction to the information she revealed, only letting his expression drop for a moment of respect, until the smirk crawled up again. "We're ready. Dyle should be waiting near the entrance."

"Let's get going then," she responded, her face going back to its typical half-scowl. Soon, both Velvet and Rokurou felt Sarid rest his hands on their shoulders again, as he smiled with a nod to both.

"Hold on," and so they were gone. Like a flash of lightning.

Crackle!

Dyle stumbled back with a small cry as three figures appeared before him with a spark of gold briefly illuminating the area. He sighed with relief as he suddenly recognised the same appearances from just the night before. He grumbled as Velvet walked up to him, the shining daylight just a step behind, along with the apparent chill already getting to Sarid as he sighed shakily. "Sleep well?"

"Just fine, thanks. And your... special concoction?"

The half-malak stepped in as the question was asked, "Flamestone, sulfur and oil. All ready, placed across the non-residential area over town, waiting for activation." Velvet - paying no mind to the description, as if she strangely expected it - looked over in interest at his incentive for non-residential. However, Sarid frowned at the look she gave, and turned back to Dyle after a single glance. As she looked to the lizard, the half-malak's words mulled over her mind, and so she sent a subtle nod of confirmation towards the sailor.

"By the way, I never caught your name?" The lizard asked the daemoness, who turned with an expressionless face.

"Velvet."

"We'll sail together if you live, Velvet. If not, I at least know what to put on your tombstone."

Her eyelids lowered slightly, "You've got a sharp tongue," she stated with a bite in her words.

Dyle exploded with laughter again, uncaring of the dark look she bore "I've always been that way!"

Rokurou stepped forward and towards the glaring sun, a enticed toothy grin displayed in all its glory; "Right then, we're off to attack Hellewas!" he shouted in anticipation, as the half-malak still frowned over the situation.